Open mike 20/10/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:40 am, October 20th, 2013 - 94 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…

94 comments on “Open mike 20/10/2013 ”

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  1. Paul 1
    20 October 2013 at 7:14 am

    Hidden in this article ‘Palino denies plot to take down Brown’ in the 9th paragraph.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11142972

    “His words came amid a bitter battle yesterday between senior members of the Palino team and National Party insiders.”

    I sense this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Nats are panicking about the polls and there is a war going on for who takes over from Key. Slater and the tea party fringe support Collins and the other slight less extreme group ( clearly supported by the finders of the NZ Herald) back Joyce.

    What’s going on behind the scenes is the story.

  2. Paul 2
    20 October 2013 at 7:43 am

    We continue to subsidise large Corporates.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11142910

    “Fast-food giant McDonald’s has been paid $272,000 by the Government to help unemployed people get back to work.
    It was part of $22 million in wage subsidies paid by the Ministry for Social Development in four years to June this year, an Official Information Act request reveals.
    Other fast-food chains also received whopper payments – believed to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
    Work and Income deputy chief executive Debbie Power said 21,145 beneficiaries got jobs through the schemes at a cost of $1022 a client.”

    Unbelievable. A true scandal.
    So companies with bad work conditions who fail to pay their workers a living wage get rewarded by this crony government.
    They are the government for the large multinational corporates.
    I wonder how small NZ cafés in competition with these mega corporate bludgers maintain their competitiveness as they don’t go cap in hand to government so they can pay even less on their wages. The free market. What a load of utter bs. Can’t believe that even the ideological free-marketeers can support this.
    Hope Labour and the Greens pick up this story.
    This is wrong from so many angles.

    • David H 2.1
      20 October 2013 at 8:56 am

      So Macca’s get a Grand a ‘client’ so that they can exploit some poor kid on less than the minimum (youth rates) wage. No wonder they are doing so well, soon they won’t need to sell their crap.

      • Paul 2.1.1
        20 October 2013 at 9:00 am

        Wonder if they fire them before 90 days up, if they can get another client for the same price.
        That would be 4k a year off the salary bill.

  3. marty mars 3
    20 October 2013 at 8:36 am

    An interesting read

    Call me old-fashioned, but as far as celebrity outlaws go, I’ll take Ned Kelly over Chopper Read any day…

    Ned Kelly, on the other hand, achieved fame and notoriety for entirely different reasons. The son of an Irish convict, sent to Van Diemen’s Land by the British occupiers for stealing two pigs, Kelly represented a distinct social layer — the often Irish Catholic rural poor who represented one of the lowest rungs in the social order of the white colonisers.

    https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/55165

    Do we have the same affection for the ‘Ned Kelly’s’ of the world here? Who would our ones be – Tame Iti comes closest I think but the outlaw bit is more a media generated selling point than fact imo.

    • The Al1en 3.1
      20 October 2013 at 8:57 am

      No, iti is just a repeat ignorant criminal separatist pushing his own agenda. Hardly a Kelly representing a distinct social layer.

      But good sunday morning chuckle, though. Thanks for that.

      • marty mars 3.1.1
        20 October 2013 at 9:11 am

        Lol – hardly ignorant allen. Can you see any robin hood’s out there allen?

        • weka 3.1.1.1
          20 October 2013 at 10:30 am

          Maybe Robin has to be white to be worthy? 😉

          • The Al1en 3.1.1.1.1
            20 October 2013 at 11:12 am

            “Maybe Robin has to be white to be worthy?”

            Not as far as I’m concerned, so sort of resent the insinuation, if of course it is an insinuation and not just a bit of passive aggressive racism, in which case I resent it a lot.

            • weka 3.1.1.1.1.1
              20 October 2013 at 11:29 am

              I suppose that’s what you get when you throw out casual observations about serious things.

              • The Al1en …
                20 October 2013 at 12:09 pm

                ‘serious things’, no, that can’t be right.

                There’s no link between not accepting iti a kiwi icon and me being a racist, casual comment or not, so I’m still not sure why you’d do that, but put your pitch fork away, love, I don’t care if an arseh*le is black, white, brown or yellow, the colour of mine won’t stop me calling one out.

                • weka …
                  20 October 2013 at 12:49 pm

                  It doesn’t bother me if you don’t accept Iti as a kiwi icon (not sure that’s what marty was doing anyway). We are allowed to disagree after all. I was just responding, in like, to your superficial characterisation of the man.

                  Was Robin Hood an arsehole? How would we know?

                  • The Al1en …
                    20 October 2013 at 12:53 pm

                    iti is no Hood, but nice try with the iconisation through association by stealth 😆

                    • weka …
                      20 October 2013 at 3:18 pm

                      I don’t think Iti is a Hood. Nor a NZ icon. Nice try at rewriting my comments though. And avoiding what I actually said.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 4:53 pm

                      You’re so right, I don’t know whether Hood wasn’t an arsehat, but I won’t insinuate racism as the reason if a non anglo saxon says he was. Know what I mean?

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 6:51 pm

                      Fame at last The Al1en, shining from a Star.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 7:59 pm

                      I don’t know if you’re telling me off again, or not, but I’m quite sure it’s not warranted if you are. Nothing controversial or infamous here.

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:11 pm

                      I have never been so Bold ; clearly you can play at this level.
                      ( Texas hold ’em y’all. 😉

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:27 pm

                      I wasn’t playing, just disagreeing with a comrade and then clearing up a what I considered to be a bit of a cheap shot. No biggie, really.

                      It’s not like I hide aces up my sleeve or anything.

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:30 pm

                      Hiding Aces can get ya shot for no-good reason.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:33 pm

                      And the two of cauliflowers get you clubs

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:37 pm

                      Good Game! Cambridge Rules.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:43 pm

                      Only in the boatrace

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:45 pm

                      sleight of hand.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 8:55 pm

                      “sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation (“quick fingers”) ”

                      Sounds like a scandal I’d be assured of coming out better than 4/10

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 9:03 pm

                      unwell ends. To lose the Way is easy.

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 9:14 pm

                      24 well-followed steps. (I say goddamn The Pusher man).

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 9:28 pm

                      The Newton bomb – Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Push back.

                    • weka …
                      20 October 2013 at 9:42 pm

                      “You’re so right, I don’t know whether Hood wasn’t an arsehat, but I won’t insinuate racism as the reason if a non anglo saxon says he was. Know what I mean?”

                      Not really. I have no idea if you are racist or not*. My original comment was just a way of mirroring how superficial and off-point your comment about Iti was. I think it just derailed a potentially interesting conversation that marty started. But fair doos, I carried on the derailment 🙂

                      *although I always find it interesting that being accused of being racist is worse than actually being racist.

                      “iti is no Hood” is such a lovely sentence construction.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 10:06 pm

                      “Not really. I have no idea if you are racist or not*”

                      I’m surprised you can’t tell, either way, seeing you’re usually so perceptive and all.

                      *although I always find it interesting that being accused of being racist is worse than actually being racist.”

                      Well I’m sure that’s not true, but falsely accused is still pretty bad, especially when it’s something like racist, wife beater or terrorist for example.

                      ““iti is no Hood” is such a lovely sentence construction.”

                      My bad luck the booker prize has already gone, though truth be told I fluked it, so probably not so meritus really.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 10:11 pm

                      “Effortlessly 😀 ”

                      And these are the big girlz and boyz you’re so in awe of? 😆

                      You’re having a bubble, bruv.

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 10:21 pm

                      open-eyed 😀 (not a lot to compare in the Styx).

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 10:35 pm

                      “open-eyed 😀 (not a lot to compare in the Styx).”

                      Brave new world never looks better than the first time you see it.
                      Slip the ferryman a quid and have a butchers.

                    • weka …
                      20 October 2013 at 10:44 pm

                      ““iti is no Hood” is such a lovely sentence construction.”

                      My bad luck the booker prize has already gone, though truth be told I fluked it, so probably not so meritus really.

                      I think it was a combined effort :-p Plus a late appreciation on my part of the use of the lower case for iti 🙂

                      Racism… I tend to the view that we have all internalised racism to an extent, so I don’t consider questioning racism in people to be the Big Bad Thing you do. If you say to me that you are not racist, to be honest I don’t even know what that means. Racism is so complex and such a multiplicity of things, can any of us say we are truely completely free of racism? (well, yes, we can say it, but what does it mean?). I’m also not a fan of the idea that racists/wife beaters/terrorists are only those bad people over there, different from us, and us non-racists over here are the good people.

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 10:59 pm

                      “Plus a late appreciation on my part of the use of the lower case for iti”

                      See, now there’s the perception thing I was talking about 😉
                      Again, not a racist thing, but definitely deliberate to indicate my lack of respect for the bloke. Well spotted.

                      “can any of us say we are truly* completely free of racism?”

                      I can say I don’t judge my worth to be better than another’s because of the colour of our skins, just like I don’t think worse of women for not being men.
                      I don’t know if that makes me uniquely not racist and sexist, but I hope not.

                      Ps.
                      * I edited the word ‘truly’ in your quote when I was composing my reply as the little red line underneath it was pissing me off 😉

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:10 pm

                      [Won’t] “pay the ferryman ’til he gets me to the other side”

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:11 pm

                      Get a gold card off Winston and you’ll be sorted, pops. 🙂

                    • weka …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:45 pm

                      Maybe that’s the beauty of the sentence too, because I liked the te reo puns and the juxtaposition with English language rules of capitalisation (iti is no Hood, Iti is no hood), without seeing that as being a slight against Tame.

                      “I can say I don’t judge my worth to be better than another’s because of the colour of our skins, just like I don’t think worse of women for not being men.
                      I don’t know if that makes me uniquely not racist and sexist, but I hope not.”

                      And if that was the full extent of what racism is (or sexism) I might agree with you 🙂

                    • weka …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:47 pm

                      Anyway, going back to Robin, I don’t know that much about the meta-cultural aspects of that particular tale, who was telling the story for instance, and whether one can be an arsehole and useful to the community at the same time.

                      Likewise Ned Kelly. Was there an elevation of one criminal over another? Why?

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:52 pm

                      “Maybe that’s the beauty of the sentence too, because I liked the te reo puns and the juxtaposition with English language rules of capitalisation (iti is no Hood, Iti is no hood), without seeing that as being a slight against Tame.”

                      I’ll take your word for it. Human isn’t my first language 😉

                      “And if that was the full extent of what racism is (or sexism) I might agree with you”

                      Full extent or not, without a check list, it’ll have to do for starters. 🙂

                    • The Al1en …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:56 pm

                      “who was telling the story for instance, and whether one can be an arsehole and useful to the community at the same time.”

                      From recent personal experience, though free of criminal activity, I would have to answer yes and yes. 😆

                      Good night, Weka.

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      20 October 2013 at 11:59 pm

                      Rust Never Sleeps Crazy Horse.

                    • The Al1en …
                      21 October 2013 at 12:01 am

                      That aint no rust, that’s my ferric oxide.

                      Night, Rogue.

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      21 October 2013 at 12:11 am

                      ferrous, the two of us, than to Try valiantly

      • McFlock 3.1.2
        20 October 2013 at 5:13 pm

        That’s probably what a few folk said about kelly at the time – in fact even to this day.

        I guess one has to recognise the existence of a distinct social layer and the validity of its concerns before one can distinguish between a common criminal and someone reacting to systemic injustice – or indeed recognise that the two might be one and the same.

        I’d say that Iti is much more aware of his context within any political issues than Kelly every was.

      • Adele 3.1.3
        21 October 2013 at 7:07 am

        Al1en

        No, iti is just a repeat ignorant criminal separatist pushing his own agenda. Hardly a Kelly representing a distinct social layer.

        You wouldn’t know an ignorant criminal separatist if he/she bit you on your overinflated arse.

        Tame is very much an icon in Aotearoa. Not perhaps to the racist, neo-colonialist, white supremacist, paternalistic, or ignorant (tick the box). His name will be spoken after his death and his legend will perpetuate as tūpuna.

        Unlike Kelly, Tame has never killed anyone. He has not robbed multiple banks, or taken hostages. His shooting to death of a flag and firearms convictions has no moral equivalence to the killing of three policemen – yet, Kelly is iconic and Tame is a criminal separatist.

        Tame’s story is one of a continuous and consistent conflict against an inherently corrupt system. That social layer that you are too cock-eyed to perceive is greatly evident in Māori homes and hearts. Tame represents a significant voice – his is not a monologue.

        • The Al1en 3.1.3.1
          21 October 2013 at 7:24 am

          “You wouldn’t know an ignorant criminal separatist if he/she bit you on your overinflated arse.”

          I throw that back right at you 😆

          “. Not perhaps to the racist, neo-colonialist, white supremacist, paternalistic, or ignorant (tick the box). ”

          None of the above, but nice try.

          “His name will be spoken after his death and his legend will perpetuate as tūpuna.”

          I’m guessing only by the very easily impressed.

          ” yet, Kelly is iconic and Tame is a criminal separatist.”

          Fair comment, at last 😉

          “Tame represents a significant voice ”

          See comment RE: Easily led

          ps. You suck 😆

          • weka 3.1.3.1.1
            21 October 2013 at 8:15 am

            What was the point of that reply? It doesn’t actually say anything? I thought Adele raised some good points deserving of consideration.

            • The Al1en 3.1.3.1.1.1
              21 October 2013 at 8:46 am

              Yeah, I replied as I saw fit, but you’re free to consider and give your own opinion though, being a free country and all.
              I might even read it after work.

          • Adele 3.1.3.1.2
            21 October 2013 at 8:41 pm

            Al1en

            I don’t suck actually.

            I think you are ignorant. Your prejudices are obvious which makes you also a hypocrite.

            I think you are part of that other Labour. The Labour that is narrow-minded, with bourgeois tendencies, and has pretensions towards egalitarianism. That other Labour that wouldn’t know a worker if they fell over the mop.

            I can’t debate with ignorance. It’s a waste of energy and precious time (insert emoticon shaped like a pūkana).

  4. The Al1en 4
    20 October 2013 at 9:18 am

    Ignorant is relative, I s’pose.

    No Robin hood, but the wannabe merry men playing in the forest should note that video evidence will be admissible next time 😉

  5. The Al1en 5
    20 October 2013 at 9:31 am

    Pompous is relative, I s’pose 😉

    Good job I didn’t try and spin a nugget into a treasured national icon then.
    But of course your opinion is just that, a personal opinion, yet probably not one representative of the wider Kiwi community.

  6. Morrissey 6
    20 October 2013 at 9:48 am

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/18/thinktanks-kurt-campbell-lowy-institute

    It’s time we stopped drinking the thinktank kool-aid
    Business, power and politics rarely mix without controversy. It’s essential that the media asks the uncomfortable questions
    by ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN, The Guardian, 18 October 2013

    The ABC TV Lateline interview with Kurt Campbell, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was cordial, even reverential. It was conducted in the middle of March this year, more than a month after Campbell had left the state department.

    Interviewer Emma Alberici asked Campbell about the transformation of Burma and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. He gushed that it was remarkable, and gave some folksy anecdotes about a “better future” for the Burmese. The interview then swiftly moved on to focus on the prospects of Hillary Clinton running for president in 2016. There were no questions about Campbell’s push for greater ties with the Indonesian military despite its shocking record of abuse in West Papua.

    There were also no questions about Campbell’s Washington and Singapore-based investment organisation, the Asia Group, and its efforts to win lucrative contracts across the Asia-Pacific region. After all, his company had been launched before this interview took place and surely warranted some questions about the appropriateness of setting up a company so soon after leaving government.

    It might be considered an example of the unwillingness of the mainstream media to challenge potential conflicts of interest when it comes to the murky melding of business and politics. With the announcement in August by the Lowy Institute that Campbell was its 2013 distinguished international fellow, it’s vital to question the ways in which our media has drunk the thinktank kool-aid.

    The Lowy Institute sees itself as Australia’s leading foreign affairs thinktank. Its fellows and staff routinely appear in the media pontificating about global affairs, including a push for greater defence spending that would allow countless contractors to earn billions of dollars. Its head Michael Fullilove, who’s also a non-resident senior fellow in foreign affairs at the Brookings Institution, writes longingly about former US national security advisor Henry Kissinger as a “realist”, despite…

    Read more….
    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/18/thinktanks-kurt-campbell-lowy-institute

  7. bad12 7
    20 October 2013 at 9:53 am

    ”Give them a taste of Jake the Muss”, so said actor Temuera Morrison in the lead up to last nights televising of the All Blacks V Wallabies ‘bloody-slow cup’ rugby game in Dunedin last night,

    You seriously have to wonder what the f**k goes on in the minds of the New Zealand Rugby Union or Sky Television if this were solely the work of the broadcaster,

    The character of ‘Jake the Muss’ from the movie ‘Once Were Warriors’, for anyone that doesn’t know, was an alcoholic child abusing wife beater at the head of a totally dysfunctional family who had among His friends at least one child molester happily brought home to the party,

    And that’s what the New Zealand Rugby Union wants to portray on prime time television as an example to and of our All Black team???,

    Whoever in the NZRFU sanctioned that piece of ugliness to be used in conjunction with the All Blacks name should be given the kick into touch they fully deserve…

    • miravox 7.1
      20 October 2013 at 10:17 am

      That’s appalling and certainly doesn’t fit with the NZRU social responsibility aims – rugby is still meant to be a family game isn’t it?

      I’ll stop watching the ABs if they start going down that road. I didn’t see it where I watched the game – I’m guessing it was a particular channel?

      • bad12 7.1.1
        20 October 2013 at 10:44 am

        No Sky TV here, so it was Prime Television, Sky’s poorer sister that broadcast this particular ugly piece of jingoism which could have only appealed to the most crass of rugby supporters,

        At first i thought ‘the piece’ was simply an ‘Ad’ but as it continued, 5-10 minutes, my disgust rose and it ended up spoiling what was a ‘festival type’ game of running rugby where the All Blacks seemed to give the Wallaby’s every chance to shine,

        ‘Jake the Muss’ as portrayed by Morrison in the ‘Once Were Warriors film’ brought to life for many in this country an impoverished section of New Zealand society inflicted with all the negative social baggage that such poverty brings, in a word ugly,

        Temuera Morrison, obviously paid for His work screened on Prime Television last night, making references connecting both ‘Jake the Muss’ and ‘Once were Warriors’ to the All Blacks playing in Dunedin last night was for want of any better vocabulary equally as ‘ugly’…

        • muzza 7.1.1.1
          20 October 2013 at 11:18 am

          Well the NZRU have allowed AIG to be a major sponsor, so anything is possible I guess!

          AIG – Responsible for abuse of men, women and children of all age, among other financial crimes etc.

        • miravox 7.1.1.2
          20 October 2013 at 9:35 pm

          I share your view that it’s ‘ugly’. Worth a note to the NZRU about whether they want to be associated with this type of promotion of their sport – especially given that there appears to be links between watching rugby and domestic violence and NZRU has a social responsibility programme.

          e.g. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829563

          I’ve met so many people who believes this stuff doesn’t happen (or only happens in a few Maori families so don’t see anything wrong with a ‘fictional’ portrayals of these men (thanks, Alan Duff for not putting any Pakeha dysfunctional families in the movie to reinforce the stereotypes and division). So I guess that whoever did this and approved it comes from those who approve of the the ‘Muss’ behaviour, believe it’s a fiction, or have never seen the movie and just see a hero.

          Tem Morrison should take a good hard look at what he’s selling himself for as well.

    • QoT 7.2
      20 October 2013 at 10:29 am

      WTF. Bookmarking this for the next time an All Black gets a discharge without conviction for beating his partner …

    • Murray Olsen 7.3
      20 October 2013 at 9:35 pm

      The idiots in charge of the Warriors decided at one stage to give every player a theme song, which they’d play at the stadium. Steve Kearney got the theme to Once Were Warriors and kicked up a stink until they got rid of it. Once again the black wifebeater wearing crowd showed itself 20 years ahead of the lounge suit wearing dinosaurs running union.

      • miravox 7.3.1
        21 October 2013 at 2:56 am

        I always thought Steve Kearney seemed like one of the good guys. Pleased to to see there was a reason to think that.

  8. Te Reo Putake 8
    20 October 2013 at 10:06 am

    GREAT SPEECHES OF OUR TIME

    Accurately transcribed by Morrissey.

    No1. MLK.

    And so even though we face the difficulties of Toady and Tamara, I still have a drain. It is a drain deeply rooted in the American drain, leading down from the mountain top.

    LONG EMBARRASSED SILENCE.

    I have a train that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true moaning of the band Creed: “We hold these truths to be half-evident, that all men are created. Equal is as good as sugar.

    I have a dram that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sun will shine on farmers and farmer slaves and the sons of former farmer slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table at the back of the restaurant, by the toilet of brotherhood.

    I have droned that one day even the state of Mrs Hippy, a state swallowing the plate of justice, will be transformed into an oasis of fruit and juices.

    I have a dream that my four little chickens will one day live in animation where they will not be judged by the color of their crispy skins but by the content of their charcoal.

    NEXT WEEK: FROST/NIXON:

    Nixon: I am not a crockpot!

    Frost: LONG EMBARRASSED SILENCE

  9. greywarbler 9
    20 October 2013 at 10:38 am

    Just a reminder about a lecture on a topic close to our hearts- for Wednesday 30th.
    2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture:
    Sir Edmund Thomas –
    Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause

    The speaker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at The University of Auckland, argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid-1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned.
    A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result. Reforms to counter this inequality are widely mooted. But increasing focus and discussion on the topic is confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened.
    The speaker advances a strategy designed to provide a coherent impetus to reduce the rank inequality that now prevails.
    The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas will deliver the 2013 lecture on Wednesday 30 October, 6.30pm, at the Maidment Theatre (bar opens at 5.30pm).

  10. Rogue Trooper 10
    20 October 2013 at 11:59 am

    Winston Peters, on a ‘State Insurer’, and an early election (April ; fools ’em every-time ) 😀
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11143113

    • RedBaronCv 10.1
      20 October 2013 at 4:15 pm

      He could go a lot further than that. Insurers are pocketing about a billion dollars a year from homeowner insurance premiums. Are they subsidising something else with this money?

  11. greywarbler 11
    20 October 2013 at 12:06 pm

    Interesting stuff we should all know about.
    Deposit guarantee scheme, depositor insurance, capped bank scheme – only Israel and New Zealand don’t have these in the OECD.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
    Audio will follow soon.

    11.40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
    Five years ago this month the global financial decline kicked in deeply. Wayne looks at the implications of the next meltdown that some punters are predicting, and the potential for serious social unrest. Chris follows up with Dr Bill Rosenberg, economist at the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

    The British were apparently freaked out by bankers like Goldman Sachs into with scary scenarios
    of rioting and looting if banks collapsed.

    Bill Rosenberg says that NZ’s bank accounts can be as low at times half of NZs with bank a/cs have less than $580 in their account. How would we manage if there was a collapse of our banks?

    Most of our banks are owned by Australians – except Kiwibank thanks Mr Anderton, and some ex building society ones still not sold off to furriners. Australian banks have a deposit guarantee scheme but it doesn’t apply to us though we banks with those Oz banks in NZ! The usual way of treating NZ by that country. The funds of Australian banks would be drawn on to meet their obligations in Oz. It could be that funds from their branches in NZ would be utilised to meet the extra demand, with no legal responsibility to provide for us here. Great, Ansett all over again. Getting NZ to pay for what would be otherwise an Oz obligation. We bought Ansett, like naive idiots, and we naively have allowed Oz to get their beefy hands on our banks too in line with our friendly relationship under CER.

    Also interesting.
    Sir Alan Mark – Wise Response Update ( 10′ 41″ )
    09:45 Sir Alan Mark talks with Chris about the progress of the Wise Response
    initiative – backed by a number of well known New Zealanders – that asks politicians to
    acknowledge environmental, economic and social risks affecting us all.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday

    • Rogue Trooper 11.1
      20 October 2013 at 12:25 pm

      became friends with a chap yesterday, a soil scientist for a large fertilizer company, and he’s english, yet he confirms all the criticisms environmentalists on the left have of current farming practises and fracking in particular. Sees his role as mitigating the influences of farmer’s fathers and grandfathers upon the practises of today. Also not a supporter of the RWSS.

    • Chooky 11.2
      20 October 2013 at 1:43 pm

      ..thanks greywarbler…will listen

    • Clare 11.3
      20 October 2013 at 7:43 pm

      Thanks for that. I have been aware of this problem for some time and emailed the RBNZ and other trading banks. They said the government needed to legislate as the Oz government did. So I emailed the PM and was politely told to sling my hook.
      I’ve no doubt that we would be the losers with the Oz banks taking from NZ savers to give to Oz customers.

  13. Draco T Bastard 13
    20 October 2013 at 3:26 pm

    Edison’s revenge

    It seems that DC power is becoming fashionable.

  14. greywarbler 14
    20 October 2013 at 9:54 pm

    There was a connection between two items on Radionz tonight. One was the news that fire services in Australia are fairly sure that some will have been deliberately set by firebugs crazy enough to trash lives and the environment .

    Destructive bugs have travelled in wood used in crates and pallets etc in shipping between countries. The more shipping, the more the problem. A lot of the extra exports and imports caused by the free market with countries taking a deliberate bias against being self-sufficient has resulted in the spread of insect bugs to new countries where the trees have no natural weapons against them and they are trashing the environment.

    One has a name like the emerald beetle which is killing ash trees big time along with a fungus called ash dieback and between them have decimated ash trees in the west with 99 per cent having died off in some places.

    Then there is a red fungus that has hit plane trees in Europe and has spread along the line of established trees lining French canals.

    Then there is a bug that is serious that is being spread by campers in Canada and USA who take their own firewood with them, which includes the bugs which on their own would not be able to spread this far. Probably it is something that good campers have always done so that they don’t touch the natural forest environment, but it is turning out to be a bad thing.

    All very bad news for a planet that is in a delicate state of imbalance already. Trees are supposed to be great helpers – they are going to be under pressure from droughts, torrential rainfall, high winds, now insects and organisms that are practically unstoppable. And then there are humans that are in a strange space. They think and act not like informed, educated, thoughtful modern men, nor do they think and act like savvy ancient men. They are another sort of scourge that we have bred and allowed to be dragged up by whoever, and they might be the catalyst that brings our demise, not climate change.

  15. Ugly Truth 15
    20 October 2013 at 10:30 pm

    Fox News plays dubbed audio of stenogapher Dianne Reidy’s rant. There’s some audio missing at the beginning, but they make it look like they reported what she said from the podium.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3yfOhwF0DV8

    “She said something about the devil. It was sudden, confusing and heartbreaking. She is normally a gentle soul.” ~ Ros-Lehtinen

    Incomplete transcript:

    “He will NOT be mocked!” (x3)

    (from the elevator:)

    “The greatest deception here, is this is NOT one nation under God. It never was. Had it been…no…it would not have been…the Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons that go against God. You cannot server two masters! You cannot serve two masters… Praise be to God and the Lord Jesus Christ!”

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