Open mike 21/06/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 21st, 2011 - 84 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 link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

84 comments on “Open mike 21/06/2011”

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  1. felix 1
    21 June 2011 at 7:16 am

    If someone says they want to burn your house down you wouldn’t let them move in, would you?

    You wouldn’t hire someone whose stated aim is to destroy your company, would you?

    So why do we allow randians to work in government jobs? Seeing as Key and English think we have too many public servants anyway, lets have a purge.

    And let’s start at the top.

    • RedLogix 1.1
      21 June 2011 at 7:25 am

      Absolutely felix. So why do we let it happen?

      Because we have been discouraged from believing that the State was ours. We no longer believe in the power of the collective to do good. (Well it does all the time, but we’ve been trained not to see it.)

      If the house is not yours, what do you care if it gets burnt down?

      • Bored 1.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 7:34 am

        Nice comments Felix, thought what Kunstler says this morning might bear some relevance to the corporate predeliction for Randian superheroes. Kunstler is talking about the inability of American (read Western) males to be and act as mature humans, and why… The same country that furnishes an endless diet of super-hero movies to pubescent males who are not expected to develop normal adult coping powers

        He then goes on to state what this Randian obsession has actually lead to….The same country that supplies gruesome, sado-masochistic video games to occupy the idle hours of young men – and then lets them take those “skills” to some tilt-up bunker in Nevada where they sit in air-conditioned comfort and direct drone aircraft ten thousand miles away to incinerate suspected “enemies” in mud villages. (Sometimes “mistakes are made” and they blow up a wedding party or something – but the drone controllers still get to leave the bunker at the end of their shift and roll down the strip for a plastic tray full of burritos.)

        • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1
          21 June 2011 at 12:16 pm

          Yeah, the concept behind drone killing is horrible really. Total disassociation from the act itself.

          • Kevin Welsh 1.1.1.1.1
            21 June 2011 at 1:43 pm

            I agree Draco, but is it really that different to ships firing cruise missiles from 100s of kms away, pilots firing missiles from up to 100km away, or ground based artillery firing up to 20km away?

            The 18-25 year olds have always been at the pointy end of what are essentially political decisions made by the suits, safe in their air conditioned bunkers.

        • Colonial Viper 1.1.1.2
          21 June 2011 at 12:20 pm

          The same country that supplies gruesome, sado-masochistic video games to occupy the idle hours of young men – and then lets them take those “skills” to some tilt-up bunker in Nevada where they sit in air-conditioned comfort and direct drone aircraft

          Of course, not all these people can work as drone pilots, so you get the spillover which is the abuse at Abu Graib prison and the civilian killings by security firm formerly known as Blackwater.

          And in both Libya and Afghanistan multiple reports of civilians being killed by western air forces.

        • rosy 1.1.1.3
          21 June 2011 at 7:31 pm

          Ed Vulliamy has more on the theme of the ultimate outcome of these Randian superheroes with regard to the Mexico border towns…

          So Mexico’s war is how the future will look, because it belongs not in the 19th century with wars of empire, or the 20th with wars of ideology, race and religion – but utterly in a present to which the global economy is committed, and to a zeitgeist of frenzied materialism we adamantly refuse to temper: it is the inevitable war of capitalism gone mad.

          • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.3.1
            22 June 2011 at 12:23 am

            Narco-cartels are not pastiches of global corporations, nor are they errant bastards of the global economy – they are pioneers of it. They point, in their business logic and modus operandi, to how the legal economy will arrange itself next. The Mexican cartels epitomised the North American free trade agreement long before it was dreamed up, and they thrive upon it.

            And yet it is this vision that this government takes us towards. A failed society of murder and corruption.

      • travellerev 1.1.2
        21 June 2011 at 8:06 am

        And we have been manipulated into believing that being critical equals “conspiracy theorist”. Here is a nice article written by Paul Craig Roberts, former Wall street journal editor and assistent secretary of Treasury under Reagan, about how that works
         

    • rosy 1.2
      21 June 2011 at 8:29 am

      They’re burning down the house called Greece. In The Guardian today is an article that basically stating that inflation could be the lesser evil when trying to get the euro-linked economies through the debt crisis.

      Instead of encouraging Greece and other troubled euro-linked economies to go through additional rounds of austerity, which will only lead to further declines in GDP and higher unemployment, the IMF should be telling the European Central Bank (ECB) to increase its inflation target to a 3-4% range.

      If the euro zone maintained a moderate rate of inflation, it would allow the Greek economy to become competitive without experiencing a wrenching process of wage deflation. It would also erode the real value of debt alleviating the burden on both heavily

      The article links to a .pdf from last year when the IMF chief economist argued that the current consensus around macroeconomic policy is flawed, that monetary policy from the central banks and regulatory policy should be coordinated along with openly recognising exchange rate stability as an objective in small open economies. These can provide a comprehensive set of cyclical tools in a debt crisis.

      A manageable level of inflation during the debt crisis can reduce the amount the likes of Germany would have to lend and inflation would eat up the debts owed, reducing the austerity measures that are causing so much social unrest. Rules would have to be in place so that a return to the inflation objective was re-instituted when the crisis was over. His argument doesn’t seem to fit the current IMF paradigm.

      • Lanthanide 1.2.1
        21 June 2011 at 9:44 am

        Inflation is a funny beast, really.
         
        If all countries in the world simultaneously inflate at the same rate, then trade differences don’t really change at all. But existing debts will simply melt away. Put in that context, it seems weird that we have to have this back-door debt cancellation policy (with side-effects) that everyone just accepts as a fact of life, instead of just having a blatant debt-cancelling policy up front that does what it says on the tin and can be wielded more precisely against the debts that need cancelling.

  2. travellerev 2
    21 June 2011 at 7:28 am

    Yesterday the NATO had to admit that civilians had been killed in a bombing raid.

    Euphemistically called Kinetic Military action and humanitarian aid to liberate the Libyan people it should not surprise anyone that civilians would be the victim of what amongst us commoners is normally called illegal war of aggression and conquest which was declared the biggest war crime of all.

    They were not the only ones nor will they be the last. Like in any war culture is being destroyed. Libraries, schools and make no mistake Tripoli is an ancient city and so are most of the other major cities and bombing them will inevitably damage the leftovers of Phoenician, Roman and Bedouin culture.

    Depleted Uranium will make sure of that. Bunker busters and tomahawk missiles are always made with DU heads, make no mistake about that, which means that Tripoli a city of more than 1 million people the size and population of Auckland will be for the next 4.5 billion years spawning deformities amongst it’s infants and cause cancer and sickness defeating any pretence of “humanitarian” intervention.

    Yemen is being bombed as I write this and according to reports coming from army personnel at ford Hood Troops are being prepared to invade Libya in contravention of the UN resolution which explicitly forbade boots on the ground and the congress has been effectively ignored in it’s wishes to have the law with regards to the president needing approval to wage war respected.

    Syria is next. the European Union has put economic sanctions in place and US war ships have been moved to the coast of Syria. Anyone with the eyes to see knows what happened to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    One definition of a World war is that the population of two or more continents must be affected over a period of several years and I dare say that with the Asian, European, African and American continents being involved and affected we have come perilously close.

    • travellerev 2.1
      21 June 2011 at 9:15 am

      Update: If you are easily grossed out maybe this is not the link for you but if like me you are driven by the need to know and want to know what happens if you bomb a library then perhaps it is the link for you.

      We “the West” are committing atrocities hidden behind the words “Kinetic military action” and Humanitarian aid in the form of bombs and we accept that it is done in our name because the people it happens to are far away in countries we don’t know and who have brown skins and a religion we are afraid off.

      It is that simple.

      [lprent: removed excess bolding. ]
       

    • Pascal's bookie 2.2
      21 June 2011 at 9:38 am

      Wee point on this bit :

      “congress has been effectively ignored in it’s wishes to have the law with regards to the president needing approval to wage war respected”

      You are letting congress off the hook here. The congress can wish all it wants to, but unless it is prepared to act then the Pres is under no obligation to pay them attention. Congress can defund military activities at any time it chooses, and it can impeach and remove a president. Absent those things, the stated ‘wishes’ of its critters are just smoke.

      Congress doesn’t have to wish a president would ask them for approval. When they cry about that, they are just shifting the buck.

      • travellerev 2.2.1
        21 June 2011 at 9:42 am

        Tigger,

        Thanks, I agree.

        PB,

        I agree. The whole lot are callous out of control and a corrupt pork barrel swilling lot and the French had a perfectly good solution for that problem. It comes with a very sharp blade and a loud thud. LOL.

      • Colonial Viper 2.2.2
        21 June 2011 at 10:23 am

        Congress doesn’t have to wish a president would ask them for approval. When they cry about that, they are just shifting the buck.

        This is the same with congressmen and senators wailing at and telling off banking executives when they turn up at hearings.

        Don’t bleat ineffectually to get prime time TV soundbites senators, simply make sure that the machinery of government and of the regulators enforces the rules already in place and puts those guys behind bars.

        Never going to happen though is it.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.2.2.1
          21 June 2011 at 5:00 pm

          In the Westernised World, rules are only for the “little” people.

  3. Tangled up in blue 3
    21 June 2011 at 8:16 am

    So the NBR is running the Labour/NEIS email story.

    “Labour says email addresses harvested solely for campaign”
    http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/labour-says-email-addresses-harvested-solely-campaign-ck-95615

  4. jackal 4
    21 June 2011 at 9:42 am

    A Room Full of Typing Monkeys

    It was rather amusing to watch Bomber beat himself raw about DPF getting his very own Herald column a few weeks ago. Bomber was incensed and obviously had to check himself before he turned into the hulk and went completely berserk on us. He does raise a serious issue though, that is becoming more and more problematic; the right wing is trying to take over our airwaves.

    • travellerev 4.1
      21 June 2011 at 9:45 am

      No, they have taken over our airways.

      • jackal 4.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 10:10 am

        Perhaps a better word to use was media.

          • jackal 4.1.1.1.1
            21 June 2011 at 6:25 pm

            I notice your still using copyrighted material on your pathetic blog travellerev… Hypocrite!

            • travellerev 4.1.1.1.1.1
              21 June 2011 at 6:50 pm

              Well I didn’t start this one.

              I’ll try to explain it one more time to you.

              There is a common courtesy while using other peoples material online. You only quote part of it and you link to their publication in the hopes of spreading their work while acknowledging their right to be named as the owner and above all you never ever claim something from someone else as written by yourself. That would be stealing.

              And as for my “pathetic” blog; many of the writers I quote and link to are co-activists and and are happy to share their material because of the greater good they are trying to achieve and even though I have published parts of other peoples work for five years I have never ever had the request to take anything down.

              You on the other hand STOLE someone else’s work and published that as you own. That is dishonest and shows like, by the way this ignorant remark, that you are lazy and dishonest and people have lost University jobs, book publishings and their careers over the sort of behaviour you exhibited when you STOLE the article you posted under you own name.

              Now my blog might be pathetic to you which I might add says more about you than about me but I can hold my head high as I have never ever STOLEN other peoples work and presented it as my own.

              Apart from publishing my own work (Which can also be used in the above described manner and which is used by others in the pursuit of spreading the truth) I have linked to other peoples work in the hopes of spreading their often excellent work.

              The fact that you don’t seem to understand the difference is greatly troubling but I see you did not publish this week so perhaps I’m not alone in this sentiment.

              I will also forward this to Iprent because I have no need for another silly and above all limitless exchange with someone I consider to be defective in the integrity department and I think that you need to sort out your attitude with the writers here and not with me.
               

              • jackal …
                21 June 2011 at 7:03 pm

                travellerev

                I have never ever had the request to take anything down.

                Dito

                When you STOLE the article you posted under you own name.

                pft!

                I have never ever STOLEN other peoples work and presented it as my own.

                Bullshit!

                I see you did not publish this week so perhaps I’m not alone in this sentiment.

                ? I’ve published this week Dick! Not only on The Jackal I might add. Scroll up to see one of today’s posts.

                I consider to be defective in the integrity department and I think that you need to sort out your attitude with the writers here and not with me.

                Ha ha ha! That’s the funniest brain fart I’ve seen in a while.

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    21 June 2011 at 10:10 am

    Aucklanders not paying your water bills?

    Expect to go thirsty then, thanks to the kind folks at “Watercare”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733531

    • g_man 5.1
      21 June 2011 at 12:37 pm

      Put in your own water tank. No more reliance on Watercare.

      Simple.

      • Janice 5.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 1:21 pm

        They still charge you for wastewater though!

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.2
        21 June 2011 at 2:01 pm

        Can you get consent approval for roof sourced water containment systems for potable water? I didn’t think this was possible in Auckland.

        Watercare owns the monopoly on a literal necessity of life.

        • g_man 5.1.2.1
          21 June 2011 at 2:14 pm

          I must admit I don’t know about the ins and outs of resource consent, etc. But living in a semi-rural community north of Auckland, we’re all on tank water of course. And as I recall, neighbours of ours in Manurewa had tank water a few years ago (don’t know if it was just for the garden or for drinking).

        • M 5.1.2.2
          22 June 2011 at 12:45 am

          Echoing evermore the state of play in the US:

          ‘ (NaturalNews) Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I’m about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.’

          http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html

          Heads on pikes when there’s no energy to pump the water?

    • Jim Nald 5.2
      21 June 2011 at 12:38 pm

      The corporates and super rich are a bit despondent that they can’t privatise oxygen and sell that.
      Yet.

    • RedLogix 5.3
      21 June 2011 at 7:19 pm

      Before everyone gets high and mighty here, bear in mind that every other TA charges for water supply via their rates.

      And rates are subject to pretty similar non-payment provisions. Not much different really. And Water Care is totally owned by Auckland City Council.

      What this does show up is how unwise it is to split out water supply into separate entities, and to charge seperately for the service. It just riles people up.

      • Colonial Viper 5.3.1
        22 June 2011 at 12:54 am

        I guess splitting water out into a separate business entity might make it easier to sell off when our bankster occupiers demand it.

        And allows councils to pretend that they can’t control the decisions of the organisation.

  6. randal 6
    21 June 2011 at 11:33 am

    some people in the labour party should remember that the original labour party newspaper went down in flames when the bluenoses would not let them publish race results. good thinking guys. and now that we have progressed into the twenty first century it is possible to buy micropulse line of sight fm radio stations for less than $5,000.
    Time to wise up and tackle the spin meisters head on. the trouble is everybody in the labour party who has any money has already fallen under the capitalist spell of using it to browbeat their bank manager for sport rather than investing in something that would make a difference.

    • Colonial Viper 6.1
      22 June 2011 at 12:56 am

      +1

      but screw FM radio, that is too 1970’s, I want HD digital TV with surround sound broadcasting the Message of the Left.

  7. randal 7
    21 June 2011 at 11:35 am

    and furthermore the mor people use this space to display their erudtion and learning about the byzantine minutae of the workings of the united states congress then the more the spotlight shifts off the neanderthals currently in charge here.

  8. fatty 8
    21 June 2011 at 12:26 pm

    I always thought of TVNZ News to be one of the better news sources in NZ…they have proved to be stupid idiots…they fell for anti-capitalist satire, no wonder NZ is so stupid
    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/online-outrage-quake-profiteers-4248164

    • Jim Nald 8.1
      21 June 2011 at 12:36 pm

      I hate to say this and please note the qualifiers …

      Most of the A-list left the country,
      increasingly, more of the B-list are fleeing,
      and we have to make do with the C-list.

      We can talk, or hear, about being ‘ambitious’ for all we like –
      But if we do nothing, if we don’t follow up talk with action,
      we bleed more of our B-list overseas.

      This is called self-selection down the spiral –
      Dumbing down produces dumbs.

      May New Zealand not descend to the levels of New Dumbland.

      • Jim Nald 8.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 2:22 pm

        ~ Newsflash ~

        [quoting National(‘s) Business Review]
        http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/record-number-leave-live-australia-ck-95729

        “New Zealand had a net migration loss for a third consecutive month as large numbers of people continue to head to Australia to live … The net outflow of 3300 migrants to Australia last month was up from 1700 in May 2010 …”

        While Key blunders and plunders, Kiwis increasingly vote with their feet.

        Smile and wave goodbye to your family, friends and work mates!

        Now, what else is there left to ambitiously sell and shut down here?

  9. gobsmacked 9
    21 June 2011 at 12:43 pm

    John Key makes incredible statement on Pike River …

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733536

    This fits the usual pattern:

    1) The comments are made to foreign media.

    2) The comments totally contradict his earlier statements (even the Herald notices this).

    3) The comments will finally be picked up by the Labour party some time after everyone else has …

    Yep, the usual pattern of NZ politics today: two-faced Prime Minister, feeble domestic media, and a useless opposition.

    This should be THE lead story. Key should be facing a grilling when he gets back. But who from?

  10. JS 10
    21 June 2011 at 2:08 pm

    Completely stupid and senseless imprisonment. What a farce the drug laws are http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5170738/Rock-legend-Rick-Bryant-jailed-for-drugs

    • travellerev 10.1
      21 June 2011 at 2:11 pm

      No, no we have to rid the world of evil cannabis smokers. F*&king hell!

    • Draco T Bastard 10.2
      21 June 2011 at 5:27 pm

      Prosecutor Evan McCaughan said Bryant’s house was protected by a CCTV set-up which was inconsistent with his admissions of low-level drug dealing to friends over the past two years.

      Better tell all those people who set up their houses with security cameras that, if they’re investigated by the law, that it’s going to be assumed that they’re criminals.

      /sarc

  11. Penny Bright 11
    21 June 2011 at 2:15 pm

    The appalling way that Vince Siemer has been treated by the NZ ‘Justice’ system helps confirm why our New Zealand so desperately needs real checks and balances to help ensure an ‘open, transparent and accountable’ judiciary?

    SUCH AS:

    1) An enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for Judges.

    (Preferably based upon the ‘Banagalore Principles for Judicial Conduct’

    http://www.unodc.org/unodc/search.html?q=Bangalore+Principles+of+judicial+Conduct

    2) An enforceable ‘Register of Pecuniary Interests’ for Judges.

    3) ALL Court proceedings to be recorded, and records made available to parties who request them.

    __________________________________________________________________________

    Vince Siemer was denied leave to appeal by the NZ Supreme Court on 3 June 2011:

    BACKGROUND:

    On 23 December 2008, Cooper J delivered his judgment awarding the first respondent, Michael Peter Stiassny, defamation damages against Vincent Ross Siemer, totalling $825,000 and the second respondent, Korda Mentha, damages of $95,000 ($75,000 for defamation and $20,000 for breach of an agreement settling a dispute between the parties).

    This was the highest ever defamation award in New Zealand.

    (Korda Mentha v Siemer HC Auckland CIV-2005-404-1808, 23 December 2008. )

    “An unusual feature of the case is that Mr Siemer had been debarred from defending the proceedings.”

    Whatever happened to ‘Justice 101′?

    That there are always at least TWO sides to the story, and in order to get a ‘fair trial’ you are supposed to be able to defend yourself?

    Vince Siemer appealed to the Court of Appeal against J Cooper’s decision, and lost.

    (Siemer v Stiassny [2011] NZCA 106. )

    He then sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, but his application was dismissed.

    ((SC 49/2011) [2011] NZSC 63 3 June 2011 )

    The judgment of Cooper J accused Vince Siemer of engaging in “vile racist abuse”;

    Subsequently, a comment was made by the Court of Appeal that its attention had not been drawn to a worse case of defamation in the British Commonwealth and that its own researches had not disclosed one.

    (Following comments from Steven Price Media Law Journal on these matters)

    http://www.medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=205

    http://www.medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=452

    That’s pretty heavy stuff!

    Vince Siemer was denied his day in Court to defend himself at the defamation hearing at which he got the highest ever defamation award against him and he has been denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court about the accuracy of the comments upon which the defamation award was based.

    How would you like this happening to YOU?

    BEWARE! If it can happen to Vince Siemer – WHO IS NEXT?

    Having STUDIED the recent SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT 3 June 2011 (SC 49/2011) [2011] NZSC 63
    http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments

    I cannot find ANYTHING Vince Siemer said about Michael Stiassny that was ‘anti-semetic’ or constituted ‘vile racist abuse’.

    VERY interested in the CONSIDERED opinions of others on this matter.

    What EXACT ‘defamatory’ statements made by Vince Siemer about Michael Stiassny were relied upon by Judge Cooper from the High Court; Judges Arnold, Glazebrook and Hammond from the Court of Appeal; and Judges Blanchard, Tipping and William Young from the Supreme Court as being:

    a) ‘anti-semetic’?

    b) constituting ‘vile racist abuse’?

    c) constituting ‘poking racist jibes’?

    WHAT DO YOU THINK?

    YOU BE THE JUDGE!

    Penny Bright
    http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
    [email deleted]

    ‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
    Attendee: Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (APSACC) 2009
    Attendee: Transparency international 14th Anti-Corruption Conference 2010

    • Oleolebiscuitbarrell 11.1
      21 June 2011 at 2:20 pm

      Hard to feel sorry for Seimer. He repeatedly, consistently and fragrantly put himself above the law by breaching any order of the Court he felt above. Which turned out to be most of them.

  12. Scott 12
    21 June 2011 at 2:25 pm

    One of the interesting things, for me at least, about the recent Deaker controversy was the way that both the man’s detractors and defenders seemed to assume that the racist phrase he used came from a society far, far away, and didn’t have any organic connection to this part of the world. It’s certainly true that ‘working like a nigger’ is a phrase connected to slavery, but was slavery really unknown to New Zealanders in the nineteenth century? The truth is that we were trading in slaves foro/f the years after the end American Civil War:
    http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-zealands-slaving-history.html

  13. the pink postman 13
    21 June 2011 at 4:23 pm

    Well at last the serious fraud office has charged “that lovely old man ” Hubbard. My opinion is that he is a con man of the very best. Interesting that he is friendly with Key and interesting that when the shit hit the fan he said “this would not have happened if Mr Key had been in the country.

    • rod 13.1
      21 June 2011 at 5:10 pm

      Well the One Man Band is busy wowing them in Ushtralia and he’s even taught the Mad Monk to smile and wave.

      • travellerev 13.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 5:24 pm

        He hopes to one day be the president of the Pacific rim Federation of Nations.
        He like his masters believes no doubt that we would all be better off being farmed by sensible bankers.
         

  14. Morrissey 14
    21 June 2011 at 5:42 pm

    Radio lightweights sling off at Miss USA
    National Radio, “The Panel”, Tuesday 21 June 2011
    Jim Mora, Susan Baldacci, Graham Bell, Julia Hartley Moore

    Last Wednesday, the target of their scorn was a Playboy bunny-girl. This week, another young American beauty has drawn the contempt of some of radio’s finest intellects…

    MORA: Uh, Susan Baldacci, what’s the world talking about on the social networks?
    SUSAN BALDACCI: We’ve got a new Miss USA!
    MORA: Hur, hur, hur!
    GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
    BALDACCI: Yes! Miss California, Alyssa Campanella, crowned as Miss USA in Las Vegas on Sunday, says she’s a history geek!
    MORA: Oh really? Hur, hur, hur, hur, hur!
    BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
    BALDACCI: Yes, she says she has watched Braveheart, Gladiator, and Shakespeare in Love. And she’s a huge fan of Camelot, apparently.
    BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! She probably thinks Camelot is about the Kennedys!
    MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! She probably DOES think that!
    BALDACCI: Ha ha ha ha ha!
    BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
    BALDACCI: And she made an unbelievable speech! The judges asked her about her thoughts on the legalization of medical marijuana in California. Here’s what she said: “Medical marijuana is sort of like medicine. I’m not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war. That kind of tells me there’s a war going on, and the people on drugs are winning. America doesn’t lose wars. So we need to get the Army in there and take down the Islamic pot lords. I mean, it’s abused today, unfortunately, so that’s the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it’s OK. And if the law-making people legalize it, then that would be great too. But I still wouldn’t do it because my friends tell me that weed makes you hungry, and I can’t risk eating food at this stage in my career.”
    MORA: Hur, hur, hur, hur, hur!
    BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! She’s obviously a towering intellect!

    ———————————————————

    After the 4:30 news, the Panelists get their chance to say what’s on their minds. As you read what they have to say, bear in mind that, unlike beauty contestants, these two have had days to come up with something witty and/or intelligent to say. Let’s see how they did…

    Here are the considered thoughts of panelist Julia Hartley Moore: “Greece is the dirtiest country I’ve ever been to. Is it something to do with the people? The mindset? I dunno.”

    And here are the considered thoughts of panelist Graham Bell: “There’s a number of things that RANKLE me and FRUSTRATE me….Some time, just once in a blue moon, I’d like to get TWO biscuits with my cup of coffee, not just one biscuit!”

    If only Miss USA could be serious and intelligent, like these people.

  15. Draco T Bastard 15
    21 June 2011 at 6:20 pm

    Question 10: Darien Fenton to the Minister of Labour
    Her response to the last question asked by Jacinda Adern is, effectively, I’m not telling, neeya, neeya, neeya.

  16. jackal 16
    21 June 2011 at 6:25 pm

    Stay off the Pipe

    Last week, Chris Cornell sat down in Los Angeles with David Farrier for an interview. Chris was the front man of the hugely successful band Soundgarden. He then embarked on other endeavours such as Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and his solo career. The seminal statement in the interview was “stay of the pipe.” Although Chris delivered this with humour, it’s a serious topic that needs further investigation…

  17. logie97 17
    21 June 2011 at 6:33 pm

    Joky Hen on this evening’s news. (re mining)

    “There’s two different standards…” – it’s singular John, FFS.
    This joke, who is pushing for literacy standards, wouldn’t pass a Year 5 (Standard 3) test.

    It is not surprising that his speeches are written for him – he is just left to struggle with the phrasing and intonation when he reads them to make it sound as though he is making sense. Goodness knows what his speeches would be like if he wrote them himself. I guess it is what we can expect from MBAs though. They’re not interested in the Arts or the intricacies of the English language, as long as they can spell “Dollars” and “sense”.

  18. prism 18
    21 June 2011 at 8:42 pm

    Did anyone pick up Simon Power’s comment on Radionz about his true feelings concerning the rorting of low income people with 500% p.a. loans using texts? Super fast money, once cleared for credit the loan can be sent to your bank account in 4 minutes! It went something like this – that the government can’t bring in controlling legislation on innovative financial packages. This means that all the repeated media coverage about his concern for ordinary people on low incomes taking on vicious loans, and how something should be done about it, is just a smokescreen.

    Loans available via text – Radionz 9.31am Tues 21/6
    A global finance company, offering high interest micro-loans via text message, has begun operating in New Zealand. These loans have been met with despair by family budgeting services. Kathryn talked to Peter Sykes, CEO of Mangere East Family Service Centre, and Labour consumer affairs spokesperson, Carol Beaumont. We also hear from a spokesman for Ferratum, the finance company concerned. (24′59″)

    Carol Beaumont, Labour’s Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs had a bill about this that National and ACT voted down. She spoke well, very impressive. Also to note is that barrister Catriona MacLennan has been advocating for action for ages. Herald piece – Labour MP Carol Beaumont is to introduce to Parliament a member’s bill designed to cap New Zealand’s interest rates. The Credit Reform (Responsible Lending) Bill provides for the Governor of the Reserve Bank to set maximum annual percentage rates of interest payable on consumer credit contracts. The bill also requires lenders to make inquiries to ascertain that borrowers have a reasonable prospect of repaying loans. Catriona MacLennan: Govt chance to reel in loan sharks

    Power thinks that if people are informed of all the factors, then they can make smart, informed decisions and after that they are on their own (the suckers). They are just patsies to be bled by business people who like that sort of business. Not his cup of tea, he makes his money being a clever lawyer, but it takes all sorts doesn’t it. He belongs to the group that is willing to make money from tempting people to do something that will be injurious to them, and then condemn them for being foolish in falling prey to the scam.

    There are psychological drives to gain instant gratification in people deprived of discretionary income or who are prone to impulsive action. If fully informed they may still refuse to accept that they are stepping into a debt quagmire which will suck them down. I don’t know what enforcement system this outrageous new loan scheme will use when people can’t pay back all the debt and all the interest – 91% for an 8 day debt, rising.

    • Jim Nald 18.1
      21 June 2011 at 10:45 pm

      I read/heard (?) somewhere about simple simon and a “financial summit” in august.

      Given this government’s track record (ahem, job summit), let’s just be very very polite and say we wish the summit all the very best.

    • Colonial Viper 18.2
      21 June 2011 at 11:05 pm

      Poor people deserve to be fraked over while the National Government helps invest in the financial institutions doing the fraking.

  19. Lanthanide 19
    21 June 2011 at 10:48 pm

    Another sizeable aftershock just now. At least 5, probably 5.0 to 5.5 I think.

    Lots of little rumbles in the last few minutes after it, too. No damage here, as usual. Lights are still swaying though (quite long pendants).

    Edit: another rattler, good 4ish in size. Jumping for doorways ’cause I don’t know if they’re going to get worse :/

    Edit x2: Getting little tremors about once every minute. Can hear them, sometimes the house creaks and can feel a small judder. Pretty unnerving.

    • Lanthanide 19.1
      21 June 2011 at 11:01 pm

      Geonet update, 5.3M, 10km west of Akaroa:
      http://geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3533107g.html

      I’ll just add, for those who haven’t experienced them, that the constant small tremors are a strong reminder of the aftermaths of the 7.1 and the 6.3 from February. Not so much last week’s 6.3, though. So having so many small quakes puts me on edge for something bigger about to break.

      Looking at the location on the map, right in the centre of banks peninsula, Akaroa probably got quite a rocking from reflected waves, I would think. Could be a bit of damage there.

      • Colonial Viper 19.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 11:05 pm

        Yeah time for a calming cup of tea.

      • lprent 19.1.2
        21 June 2011 at 11:30 pm

        How do you know you’ve been too long in Christchurch?

        When you know the underlying fault structure like a geologist..
        When you can estimate the effect of reflections of P waves off local basalt..

        More come to mind…

        But it is actually better to have lots of slightly larger 5’s than those 4’s, it probably means that nothing is jamming up for a bigger one as that whole area destresses.

        A bit harder on the people and already stressed buildings with repeated shakes.

  20. ianupnorth 20
    21 June 2011 at 11:04 pm

    Anyone able to tell me how to insert an image into a post?
     

    • Lanthanide 20.1
      21 June 2011 at 11:05 pm

      I don’t think the comments support that here.

      The FAQ doesn’t mention anything about image tags: http://thestandard.org.nz/faq/

      • Colonial Viper 20.1.1
        21 June 2011 at 11:07 pm

        I’ve seen it once or twice before but I dont know if they were flukes.

    • lprent 20.2
      21 June 2011 at 11:38 pm

      In a comment? You can’t here. Just editors and above when they use the moderating editor.

      There are many nasty things that can be done to our layout with images, so I have it off. The plugin fix sometimes gets bypassed with wordpress updates. KSES isn’t exactly finished.

      testing…. Um mm..

  21. lprent 21
    21 June 2011 at 11:41 pm

    Test as logged out.
    Good. Still protected. KSES swallows non allowed HTML and discards it.
    Looks like wordpress are doing a better job on layout these days

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