Open mike 20/06/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 20th, 2011 - 58 comments
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58 comments on “Open mike 20/06/2011 ”

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  1. travellerev 1
    20 June 2011 at 8:15 am

    And so it goes:

    Radio active tea found in Paris, 60 km south of Tokyo (Fukushima is North of Tokyo)and the Netherlands. Radio active fish found near Hong Kong 3000 km away from Japan. Radioactive Wales 650 km North East of Japan.

    A 35% spike in infant mortality in Western cities in the weeks after the Earthquake of the US could be related to the radiation fall out the EPA is not testing

    Rumour has it that Radioactive Iodine and Caesium has been found in the waters around Australia and New Zealand but I’m still trying to find confirmation for that.

    But hey, we should all just trust our Main stream media and our official Radiation experts who I’m happy to report are on the case.

    Well at least they were on the 23th of March.

    Yep, that was before the MSM reported that three full meltdowns and melt throughs had been reported.

    • travellerev 1.1
      20 June 2011 at 8:33 am

      Oh, and then there is of course the Radioactive metal in cars. Geiger counters only pick up the radioactive gasses and not the “fuel fleas” as Arnie Gundersen explains.

      • Tigger 1.1.1
        20 June 2011 at 8:51 am

        But didn’t DPF tell us on Jim Mora’s show that everything would be okay? Surely we can trust that little man?

        • travellerev 1.1.1.1
          20 June 2011 at 9:05 am

          You mean the guy installed as a columnist for the NZH and stuff.co.nz? The guy who had a private visit to the halls of the Knesset hosted by chairman of the Knesset and Likud member Reuven Rivlin? You mean that guy?
           
           

          • Tigger 1.1.1.1.1
            20 June 2011 at 9:19 am

            Yes that guy. See here is the Standard comment about his remarks about how wonderful nuclear power is. http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15032011/#comment-308257 I mean, he’s an expert about it, right?

            But in all seriousness, this story isn’t getting the air it needs in the MSM. Then again, can you name me a serious issue that actually is getting proper treatment by the MSM?

            • travellerev 1.1.1.1.1.1
              20 June 2011 at 9:31 am

              And the guy for Nuclear advancement says it was the Tsunami what did it and that we can mitigate that. ROFL.
              It was of course the quake which caused the damage as it turned out.

              And now there is a second nuclear plant up shit creek in Nebraska. Not that you would know from our MSM. Of course.
              We’ll embrace nuclear power. Like hell we will!
               
               

            • Colonial Viper 1.1.1.1.1.2
              20 June 2011 at 12:44 pm

              Then again, can you name me a serious issue that actually is getting proper treatment by the MSM?

              That’s why we need a Left based MSM not controlled by corporate powers.

          • Morrissey 1.1.1.1.2
            20 June 2011 at 11:11 am

            Even more disturbingly, he was hosted by Young Likud. Farrar is either too dim or too uncaring to notice just how extreme these people are.

            • travellerev 1.1.1.1.2.1
              20 June 2011 at 11:44 am

              This is a video of John Key visiting the New Zealand Zionist federation. (One of the photos in the top slider shows a character on the right side which looks suspiciously like whale blubber but I’m probably wrong)

              I don’t think that Farrar is stupid. I think he’s a nasty malevolent piece of shite and to think that him being such a clear national mouthpiece visiting Israel a year after the election of John Key (Who has walked out on Ahmadinajad’s speech at the UN with all his Zionist mates) and him being hosted by young Likud should be viewed as very suspicious indeed.

              Added to that the fact that he is now a columnist for both the NZ herald and the Waikato times should make us wonder since it was announced that the AIPAC wanted to extend its influence
               
               

  2. mickysavage 2
    20 June 2011 at 8:16 am

    I was at Avondale Market yesterday with other Labour Supporters, Phil Goff and David Cunliffe and some Labour MPs including Kelvin Davis.  Maori party MPs including Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia were there as well as their candidate Solomon Tipene.
     
    I was struck and pleased by the friendliness of the interaction between them.
     
    Louisa Wall has long advocated for a respectful relationship between Labour and the Maori Party.  After all they have far more in common with Labour than National.
     
    After the dust settles this weekend I suspect there will be a reexamination of the current relationship which needs to be improved.
     
     

    • Portion Control 2.1
      20 June 2011 at 10:46 am

      Labour will need a new campaign manager if it wants to forge a better relationship with the Maori Party. Trevor Mallard has a history of slagging the Maori Party off, if Labour are serious about forming a government in the long distant future then they have to stop Shane Jones and Trevor from trying to kill them.

  3. Janice 3
    20 June 2011 at 9:12 am

    If Kelvin Davis wins the byelection on Saturday does that mean that Labour will be able to bring in the next person on the list?

    • ianmac 3.1
      20 June 2011 at 9:43 am

      That question has been asked before and I think that the answer was no. Lists are activated at General Elections or resignations. I think.

    • The Voice of Reason 3.2
      20 June 2011 at 9:54 am

      I think the answer is yes, if they want to. There was some discussion on the Standard at the time the by-election was announced, but I can’t recall the verdict. One possibility raised was that as the overall numbers for Labour don’t change, no additional MP is required.
       
      The scenario if they do bring someone in is that Davis wins the by-election, resigns his list seat and assumes his electorate seat. Labour then bring in the next suitable candidate to the list.
       
      However, I think it has already been decided not to exercise the option to bring someone in on the list as it is too close to the general election and not worth bothering with. Or it was never an option at all, which given the lack of blogs screaming about the potential return of Judith Tizard, may be the case.

    • Colonial Viper 3.3
      20 June 2011 at 11:10 am

      Davis is already an MP so if he wins, proportionality in Parliament remains unchanged. LAB does not get an extra MP from the list in that event, because doing so would change proportionality in Parliament.

      • Janice 3.3.1
        20 June 2011 at 11:21 am

        However won’t parliament be one short without Hone?

        • Colonial Viper 3.3.1.1
          20 June 2011 at 11:23 am

          Yes, the Maori Party would get a new list MP. (I think…)

          • The Voice of Reason 3.3.1.1.1
            20 June 2011 at 11:34 am

            Nah, if that were the case, they’d have got one when he resigned from the Maori Party. They have no list MP’s now, just four electorate seats. And they won’t have them, either, come November.

        • The Voice of Reason 3.3.1.2
          20 June 2011 at 11:28 am

          I think there are already two overhang MPs, making a total of 122 in the house. Losing Hone will drop that back to 121, one more than the nominal 120 MP’s Parliament is supposed to have.

        • Draco T Bastard 3.3.1.3
          20 June 2011 at 12:29 pm

          Nope as we have an overhang at present. The Maori Party has too many MPs for its proportional vote.

      • freedom 3.3.2
        20 June 2011 at 12:17 pm

        Hone did make a very good pont in his response to the opening question of the Marae debate yesterday
        “If you vote for me you get me and Kelvin”
        Having both of these strong supporters of everyday Maori in Parliament is definitely better than one, so he had a point i reckon.

        • Draco T Bastard 3.3.2.1
          20 June 2011 at 12:35 pm

          His whole point of resigning and forcing a by-election was to get a mandate for his new party. Voting for him because you would get both him and Kelvin would actually be against that mandate as he’s effectively saying voting for me is a for Labour.

          • freedom 3.3.2.1.1
            20 June 2011 at 12:48 pm

            yes, but i am more interested in the people that are in Parliament rather than what party they represent.  I have this silly dream that with strong focused people in that building who actually want to help New Zealand we stand a chance of utilising the benefits of MMP and might actually crawl out from under the cheeks of the capitalist arse.  This is more important than the gamesmanship endlessly repeated by the partisan manipulations of the process.
             
            I do understand that Hone has employed these very methods to create this situation but sometimes, as any firefighter will tell you, you need a second fire to control the first.

            • Draco T Bastard 3.3.2.1.1.1
              20 June 2011 at 3:03 pm

              Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t be adverse to Hone using that line but as he explicitly forced the by-election to seek a mandate for his party he shouldn’t be.

  4. Jared 4
    20 June 2011 at 10:19 am

    I met Sue Moroney at the Fielddays on Saturday who when asked why Labour hadn’t removed GST from Fruit and Veges in 2008 when they were asked to and had the chance told me that it was different back then. Newsflash, it wasn’t that different. Families were still struggling, and food was just as unaffordable, Labour had the opportunity and they didn’t.

    • KJT 4.1
      20 June 2011 at 10:34 am

      Labour was still stuck in the Neo-Liberal mindset. Just with some tinkering around the edges.
      Globalization, destroying NZ jobs, meanness towards the low paid and beneficiaries and allowing the banks free rein continued under the last Labour Government.

      I hope they have changed, but I am not that optimistic. Most of the same players are still in Labour.

      Personally I think we should leave GST as it is. Nice and simple to administer and calculate.

      Compensate those on lower incomes with a Guaranteed minimum income which allows them to live at a reasonable level. Administer this through IRD and simplify the whole tax/benefit system.

      • Herodotus 4.1.1
        20 June 2011 at 11:14 am

        Agreed with you totally here. From household surveys by Dept of Stats, Lab are being mischievous at best and manipulative fib telling at worst in regard to the affect that this policy will benefit households, and that is if the full 15% reduction is passed on to the consumer (Which there is no guarantee). Far better policy to increase min wage & benefits, but then there are those who miss out,so the Ax the Tax campaign would not have a direct impact on their day to day lives.
        An extremely poorly thoughtout policy as a reaction from Labour getting badly caught with their pants down. 🙁

    • Colonial Viper 4.2
      20 June 2011 at 11:13 am

      Families were still struggling, and food was just as unaffordable, Labour had the opportunity and they didn’t.

      Technically speaking, food is 10-15% less affordable now than in 2008, plus there are far more unemployed struggling on the dole.

      But yeah, Labour was has not been a left wing party of the working class for some considerable time.

      • Herodotus 4.2.1
        20 June 2011 at 11:44 am

        But what many forget CV is that household disposable incomes have improved since 07/08 with the huge reduction of mortgage rates (those with mortgages saving on average $3-$6k p.a.) renters have been the big loser both with rentals increasing and the cost of food- But no other party would have solved the issue to improve the stress that these households are under.

  5. prism 5
    20 June 2011 at 10:45 am

    Jared – That is a good example of Labour’s confusion. They have said when introducing GST that it should apply to everything which would make it efficient, ie save expense of time and expense of money on handling GST. This is a mantra now, and so taking it off fruit and veges seemed too difficult, fiddling with the tax scheme once would lead to further calls for change, and criticism of extra cost to business, and drawing the line as to where the categories free of tax started and finished had lots of fishhooks.

    Labour finds it easier to manage the economy with a tweak here and there, rather than attempt to deliver policies that assist the country to cope with situations now, attending also to the past, and being cognisant with likely future problems. The middle class lawyer is the bellwether for the party, happy with status quo and comfortable in themselves.

    Looking at Phil Goff’s background on Wikipedia – he worked hard to get advanced education beyond the skilled tradesman level he might have chosen, ending up lecturing in Political Studies and worked hard for the Labour Party so it would seem he would support policies that advanced the interests of those on basic incomes. But “In the disputes between Roger Douglas (the reformist Finance Minister) and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade.” He later said that it’s failure was from lack of communication about it.

  6. prism 6
    20 June 2011 at 11:00 am

    The comments I have made about the foolishness of young women in sucking in too much alcohol making them helpless to being sexually abused are confirmed by recent findings. One thing that the survey has turned up is that many are also on prescription drugs such as anti-depressants. They may be caught up in the self-medication that I think is behind much over-use of alcohol. But with dangerous consequences for young women who have suffered this invasive and intimate attack.

    Further the favoured drink type is the RTD, and some might drink over ten during a party at 8% alcohol. Finally there is the very unfair way that the female body metabolises alcohol differently to men, apart from body size affecting it, and so women generally get higher blood alcohol faster than men.
    The point about the date rape drugs is that many women have blamed them for the vulnerability leading to the sexual attacks, but this study has shown it is the alcohol that is the problem.
    Radnz – 9.07 20/6
    Menace of date rape drugs may be overstated
    Professor David Wells is an Associate Professor at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne. He has researched the incidence of “drug facilitated sexual assault” or date rape. He is joined by Dr Cathy Stephenson a Wellington GP and DSAC doctor,(Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care). (20′53″)

    • Colonial Viper 6.1
      20 June 2011 at 11:15 am

      Man you are in for another beating 😛

      There is an atrocious human cost to the massive amounts of dirt cheap alcohol being consumed in this country, however.

      Major interventional controls are necessary.

    • Carol 6.2
      20 June 2011 at 2:19 pm

      That sounds more like an argument for banning men drinking alcohol because they are the ones who largely commit the sexual attacks.

    • McFlock 6.3
      20 June 2011 at 4:22 pm

      You note they bent over  backwards to avoid victim blaming, they stated the number of alcohol-involved sexual assaults was increasing but made no comment as to the proportion of sexual assaults that were alcohol involved, and they also mentioned a high incidence of prescription psychopharmaceuticals use, which actually lends support to other factors affecting rapists’ decision making rather than just alcohol.

      But one thing they can’t control for is whether the precipitating factor is exposure to large amounts of alcohol, or exposure to a rapist. I bet 99% of the survivors in the study were not drinking alone (locked in a panic room and popping anxiety pills like tic tacs).

      The other point is that even if it weren’t a bit off to say that your drinking puts you at risk of other people’s choice to assault you, sexual assault is a much smaller risk than the stuff people actually cause themselves when they’re pissed.
      Got Pissed, Fell Over.

      The doctors also mentioned the low reporting rate and the poor attitude of some juries regarding victim blaming, by the way. Keep that problem going, why don’t you.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    20 June 2011 at 11:45 am

    Sella

    Sella was created out of the desire to give Kiwis a choice when it came to them wanting to buy or sell something online.

    They obviously don’t understand the concept of “choice”. People may need a choice in products but they don’t really need a choice in identical services especially when it so obviously makes it far more expensive. Two auction sites? Yeah, that means that I have to do twice as much work to find what I’m looking for if I want the best deal. Auction sites work well as monopolies which is why Trademe should be government owned and tax supported.

    I was going to point out the existence of Zillion but they’ve already bought it. Apparently their desire to offer “choice” doesn’t extend very far.

    This is an interesting page giving a short history of auction sites in NZ. It clearly shows that choice isn’t what people need or want in auction sites.

    • Lanthanide 7.1
      20 June 2011 at 12:06 pm

      Sella was created out of the desire to give Kiwis a choice when it came to them wanting to buy or sell something online.

       
      Seems you’ve fallen for the marketing speak, Draco. Sella was created because the owners thought they could turn a profit doing it. That’s the end of the story.
       
      Sella have no fees, and directly went with a marketing strategy of attracting corporate auctions, like Air New Zealand for example, and having ads on the site (which trademe also does). Customers are better served by all auctions being on one site, but having said that, customers would be better served if that one site was sella instead of trademe, just on the basis of fees. Trademe also has atrocious customer service that I don’t really think justifies the fees they charge.

      • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1
        20 June 2011 at 12:25 pm

        Did you see the bit about government owned and tax supported?

        And why are you quoting the same Sella quote back at me? I was ripping it a new one.

  8. Draco T Bastard 8
    20 June 2011 at 12:21 pm

    Why Standardized Tests Kill the Joy of Learning

    We need to wake up. When a bureaucracy rewards schools primarily for high standardized test scores, teaching becomes self-serving—for school districts, not for children. Impressive school rankings are meaningless if schools don’t embrace the value of a lifelong love of learning as the clearest pathway to success.

    NAct have brought back the failed learning environment of the 1970s (1870s?) with their National Standards. Testing to ensure you remember what you were told but ignoring the process of learning and understanding which is far more important.

    • ianmac 8.1
      20 June 2011 at 3:50 pm

      Well found Draco and even the comment from Jodi:
      “December 3, 2010 at 1:30 am
      I could not agree more. Today’s standardized tests are sucking the life out of teaching and learning…. not to mention the test preparation invalidtates the scores.”

      And just bumped into a reading advocate/consultant who said she had just come from a school where they were greatly stressed in trying to fit the demands of NS with their reports due out soon. We agreed that the new-ish NZ Curriculum which respects skills and thinking processes, is getting sidelined for the sake of a political ideology. It is the first time ever that a teaching/learning process has been laid on Primary Schools on the whim of a PM and imposed by a Minister who, I have a sneaking suspicion, doesn’t believe in it either. (Some schools are of course giving a minimum lip service and are by-passing NS.)

  9. Carol 9
    20 June 2011 at 2:21 pm

    There’s a Stuff poll on .

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/5166512/Trust-Conchords-have-it-politicians-don-t

    Do they think women are not trustworthy all? They seem to be worse on this issue than the original survey, which is top heavy with males.

    • ianmac 9.1
      20 June 2011 at 3:59 pm

      Hone is only slightly worse placed than John Key and Paul Holmes. So who do they trust more of those three? Who cares as they all wallow in the same hollow.

  10. freedom 10
    20 June 2011 at 3:39 pm

    It is said you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff.  I believe if you pay attention to the detail the big picture takes care of itself. So don’t laugh but the last few weeks have seen some remarkable victories for everyday people in our community. The Wellington City Council  has backed down on increased charges to parking and an extension of parking fee hours.  Infratil has admitted its was in error to exclude Wellington from the discussion of how best to scar a hillside.  Wellington Combined Taxis has realised its clients accept being video recorded but havng ears in the cars is unwarranted.  The events mentioned above all have powerful common elements.  They were implicitly voiced as a fait accompli.  They were intrusive to the day to day social function of a community.  Most importantly they were being declared without a just mandate.   They were all stopped. 

    This occurred because of the community sharing information and the acknowledgement of public discourse.  These are still the greatest tools that we have.  The disparity with how much we communicate today is that we use them not often enough.  These are tools that are being constantly dulled by an ever expanding net of surveillance and a media sideshow that commands distraction.  Each of the incidents above were a minor but very real real threat to the freedom of the community involved.  A public that can collectively express reservation and together find a purpose to bring change is a community that can achieve far greater success.  New Zealand has these tools in abundance.  It is high time they were taken out of the shed, unbundled from the camping gear and used to build the country that we all know is possible.

    • Draco T Bastard 10.1
      20 June 2011 at 4:19 pm

      A public that can collectively express reservation and together find a purpose to bring change is a community that can achieve far greater success. New Zealand has these tools in abundance. It is high time they were taken out of the shed, unbundled from the camping gear and used to build the country that we all know is possible.

      Agreed but I’m going to have to point out that the “wins” on the parking were backing the wrong horse.

      • freedom 10.1.1
        20 June 2011 at 4:37 pm

        using an example that could be said to defend the use of private cars over public transport did hurt a bit, but the objective is valid.

  12. freedom 12
    20 June 2011 at 4:58 pm

    (in his best Joker’s voice )
     
    and     away       we         go
     
    Mr Key, do you still support the bailout to SCF now that it is currently being investigated by the SFO which has admitted it is an investigation that will take some time to complete?
     
    “The SFO has another investigation in early stages probing related party transactions at the failed lender South Canterbury Finance, previously largely owned by Southbury Group, the Hubbards investment company.  That investigation still has a long way to run.”

  13. William Joyce 13
    20 June 2011 at 5:26 pm

    As the years go by you get a bit jaded and take it in your stride when you encounter what amounts to utter bollocks – but I was taken back by the editorial in today’s Herald. I was unprepared for an editorial to be so utterly blinded to the truth….

    Environmentalists are a long way from convincing the country that rural waterways are degraded in ways that really matter.

  14. mickysavage 14
    20 June 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Latest Roy Morgan is out.

    Bouncing all round the place, groan …

  15. Samuel Hill 15
    20 June 2011 at 6:54 pm

    My blog:

    The path out of debt is the most exciting one.

    http://tiny.cc/deleted

    [lprent: If you are going to link whore, then make it relevant to the people on this site.

    Your previous comment/link to this same post did not show the relevance to the topic. Neither comment gives enough information for people to decide not to click through. Explain why they should look at it.

    Do not copy/paste comments between posts either.

    Otherwise persisting with this behavior wil result in a ban. in the meantime I am wiping the links to encourage you put in better comments. ]

  17. Oleolebiscuitbarrell 17
    20 June 2011 at 7:17 pm

    Everyone seems to be courting my vote. John Key was at my neighbourhood cafe on Saturday. And when I went to lunch today, there was Mike Williams, two tables away.

  18. Morrissey 18
    20 June 2011 at 10:57 pm

    Monday 20 June 2011
    Mark Sainsbury discomfits Israeli ambassador with some hard questions

    http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/monday-june-20-4250637/video

    Kiwi hero Harmeet Sooden is off on the next Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. On NewstalkZB today, there was the usual hysterical, sarcastic, angry, and (most of all) baffled reaction to this news, but on Television One, Mark Sainsbury actually made a half-decent attempt at confronting the Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, Mr Shemi Tzur.

    It’s worth watching this ten-minute clip, entitled Kiwi’s daring Gaza mission….

    “Nine peace activists were killed. How many Israeli casualties were there?” A clearly embarrassed Mr Tzur pauses a long time, then launches into a wandery diversion. Disappointingly, Sainsbury does not press him to answer the question straight, and lets him slide away.

    But, unexpectedly, instead of letting Mr Tzur run the interview down with outrageous claptrap about “legitimate channels of aid”, Sainsbury rattles him with two more pointed questions: “Do you think Harmeet Sooden is a provocateur? Is he an arms smuggler?”

    The ambassador pauses significantly, then says with all the affected sincerity he can muster: “No, he has been misled. Look, they are opening another huge mall in Gaza. They might be short of a few things, but…”

    Sadly, though, Sainsbury doesn’t follow through and the interview winds down to a limp ending.

    But it’s much better than usual from Sainsbury.

    Performance rating: 6 out of 10.

    http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/monday-june-20-4250637/video

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