Open Mike 22/03/2017

22 comments on “Open Mike 22/03/2017 ”

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1. Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster 1

   22 March 2017 at 6:26 am

   I don’t know the psychology of this, but I can easily see a revenge attack as part of Key’s character. He was nick-named the smiling assassin during his days at Merrill Lynch. I think he’s not a fully developed ‘man’ at all – a schoolyard bully with only embryonic and not fully rounded emotions. He’s ego-centric to an extreme, and very possibly saw the killing of a NZ soldier as a personal affront which needed to be ‘utu’d’! Certainly I don’t see compassion or empathy as part of his developed character.

   But the first lesson to be taken from Hager’s book is NOT TO BECOME INVOLVED IN AMERICA’S WARS!
   • Cinny 1.1

     22 March 2017 at 7:37 am

     Strongly agree, well said TV.

     The Herald appears to be burying the story on their website, i find that very telling.
2. Morrissey 2

   22 March 2017 at 7:03 am

   THREE’s three giant intellects grapple with Hit and Run
   Wednesday 22 March 2017

   On Television One’s Breakfast, at 6:25 a.m., Hillary Barry interviews Nicky Hager.

   Meanwhile, over on the AM SHOW on THREE, a guest of considerably lesser stature pontificates learnedly….

   MICHELLE BOAG: It’s VERY DIFFICULT to see who kills who in war. And frankly, who CARES?

   DUNCAN GARNER: But surely it matters if the government has been telling us the truth?

   MICHELLE BOAG: [with a scowl that could split a rock] This book has been written to besmirch John Key on the day of his valedictory speech.

   ……..Advertising break…..

   DUNCAN GARNER: Mark, you’ve got a strong position on this book.

   MARK RICHARDSON: Yeah. Firstly, these guys should be KICKED OUT of the country if they’re wrong. But you keep talking about the TRUTH. We don’t have a right to the truth. If these guys feel they’re being constantly scrutinised…. It’s all very fine for us tucked up warm and comfortable….

   AMANDA GILLIES: It’s that classic line, isn’t it, “We can’t handle—-”

   MARK RICHARDSON: Yeah! Jack Nicolson got it right!

   DUNCAN GARNER: Classic line! “You can’t handle the truth!” And here’s another line: Shit happens in war.” Doesn’t it! … If you keep having an inquiry into everything that happens in a war zone, you’ll constantly be having inquiries. And you can’t keep doing that.

   ad nauseam….

   [Morrissey, can you please clarify if that is transcript, or a reconstruction? Given the importance of the subject I think a clarification is warranted. Thanks – weka]
   • Gabby 2.1

     22 March 2017 at 8:36 am

     Mandy and Marky know Jack was playing the baddy, right?
     • Morrissey 2.1.1

       22 March 2017 at 8:36 pm

       Mark Richardson knows nothing about sport, and less about movies and politics. His bristling hostility as he sat opposite Jon Stephenson this morning was nothing short of hilarious.

       As for Amanda Gillies, she’s a simpering nitwit if ever there was one.
   • greywarshark 2.2

     22 March 2017 at 11:04 am

     Yes Morrissey we need to know that you aren’t paraphrasing with your own words or remembered lines. It all sounds very predictable – we have to know if it is part parody and your interpretation. Do you record and save and then write, I guess you must?

     Interesting how Amanda calls to mind that phrase from Jack Nicholson, but how and to whom was she applying it? Mark R was applying it to our Defence Force and our actual grunts –
     {North American informal – a low-ranking soldier or unskilled worker}
     “he went from grunt to senior executive vice president in five years”on the ground

     American Rhetoric: Movie Speech from A Few Good Men – Colonel …
     http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/…/moviespeechafewgoodmencodered.ht...
     Did you order the “code red?!!” Judge Randolph: You don’t have to answer that question! … LTJG Kaffee: I want the truth!
     Col Jessep: You can’t handle the truth!

     Notice how USA terms come to mind in this discussion?
     • Morrissey 2.2.1

       22 March 2017 at 8:38 pm

       Yes Morrissey we need to know that you aren’t paraphrasing with your own words or remembered lines. It all sounds very predictable – we have to know if it is part parody and your interpretation.

       Actually, shark, I scribbled it down in disbelieving fury and put it on Open Mike as fast as possible. If I’d had more time, I would have done a verbatim recording. I think that I have still managed to capture the vacuity of Garner, Richardson, and Gillies, as well as the extraordinary callousness and viciousness of Michelle Boag. If I have time, I’ll make a full transcript of this shameful broadcast.

       Do you record and save and then write, I guess you must?

       I do when I have the time.
   • Whispering Kate 2.3

     22 March 2017 at 1:23 pm

     So they have dug up Morticia from the crypt again to protect her precious man – thank God I didn’t see it, she is nightmare material and I mean that seriously. Some corpses need to be laid to rest and left to rest – for the health and sanity of the living.
     • Cynical jester 2.3.1

       22 March 2017 at 6:27 pm

       Morticia !! Yassss!
   • Morrissey 2.4

     22 March 2017 at 8:40 pm

     Sorry, Weka, it was as accurate as I could get it, but it is, as you rightly suspect, a reconstruction rather than a transcript. I’ll make this clear in future.
     • weka 2.4.1

       23 March 2017 at 5:28 pm

       Thanks for clarifying Morrissey.
3. aj 3

   22 March 2017 at 8:16 am

   “Combat is chaotic. Combat is primal. And something surfaces in you, especially when you see people close to you fall. And it’s very difficult to control. Your job as young officers is to monitor those men who are pulling the trigger to make sure that that primal instinct, you have to keep it in check somehow.”

   Lawrence Colburn, My Lai Massacre hero.
4. Cynical jester 4

   22 March 2017 at 10:30 am

   Have not seen the nat bots out in such force in forever. Oh they are getting threatened. Fantastic.
   • Johan 4.1

     22 March 2017 at 10:06 pm

     You should have heard nat bot, Hosking’s signing-off rant on his am radio show. Utterly contemptible and probably libellous towards Hager.
5. Infused 5

   22 March 2017 at 12:17 pm

   Oh blip, what will you cry about now without your pal JK?

   [BLiP: Personal attack on author = banned for one week. Deliberate off-topic troll = banned for another week. Been around long enough to know better = banned for another week. Total ban = three weeks. Return date = 12 April 2017.]

   [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
   
6. Once was Tim now no longer 6

   22 March 2017 at 2:02 pm

   Where’s Wayne?
   Earth to Wayne Mapp (going forward).
7. Whispering Kate 7

   22 March 2017 at 3:11 pm

   I have found this intriguing new site – a theory that the police covered-up a vessel in the Scott Watson case, to be able to convict Scott, as the sole perpetrator. It is rather interesting; it covers a rather large area of the case that Ian Wishart partially covered in his book Elementary. Apparently this researcher Alexandra Moore gave Ian Wishart the police files for his book Elementary. Alexandra seems to have undertaken a more in-depth analysis. I read on Kiwiblog once that these two had a falling out after his book release but both Wishart and Moore remain adamant – holding the same views on this cover-up of this vessel called MEA NZ. Moore seems to be backing Wishart on this one. A good read anyway.

   http://www.free-scottwatson.com
8. Glenn 8

   22 March 2017 at 3:18 pm

   From The Edge

   “New Zealanders would be shocked to find that since 2001 and throughout all of the Labour years, social spending as a percentage of GDP has been on or below the OECD average. New Zealand has consistently appeared in the lower half of OECD social spending, closer to the United States than to countries like Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and even France and Germany, which rank far above it.
   Nonetheless, popular myths about New Zealand’s safety net persist….

   ….decades of neoliberal reforms have not only hardened social attitudes and eroded some of the country’s greatest legislative accomplishments, but also rolled back many of the elements central to its self-image. A country once proud of its egalitarianism now has higher income inequality than much of the developed world. A country once known for its prosperity now suffers with shameful levels of poverty. A country that markets itself as ‘clean and green’ now must face the reality of its environmental degradation.

   by Branko Marcetic, Jacobin, March 15, 2017

   http://www.nzedge.com/news/new-zealands-neoliberal-drift/
9. Glenn 9

   22 March 2017 at 3:18 pm

   From The Edge

   “New Zealanders would be shocked to find that since 2001 and throughout all of the Labour years, social spending as a percentage of GDP has been on or below the OECD average. New Zealand has consistently appeared in the lower half of OECD social spending, closer to the United States than to countries like Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and even France and Germany, which rank far above it.
   Nonetheless, popular myths about New Zealand’s safety net persist….

   ….decades of neoliberal reforms have not only hardened social attitudes and eroded some of the country’s greatest legislative accomplishments, but also rolled back many of the elements central to its self-image. A country once proud of its egalitarianism now has higher income inequality than much of the developed world. A country once known for its prosperity now suffers with shameful levels of poverty. A country that markets itself as ‘clean and green’ now must face the reality of its environmental degradation.

   by Branko Marcetic, Jacobin, March 15, 2017

   http://www.nzedge.com/news/new-zealands-neoliberal-drift/
10. Glenn 10

    22 March 2017 at 3:19 pm

    Sorry doubled up.
11. esoteric pineapples 11

    22 March 2017 at 7:13 pm

    This interview gives a fascinating insight into the current state of the United States Military Industrial Complex. Interesting fact: Former generals earn six figure salaries as miitary commentators on television encouraging the need for more weaponary.

    “Abby Martin interviews retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former national security advisor to the Reagan administration, who spent years as an assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell during both Bush administrations. Today, he is honest about the unfixable corruption inside the establishment and the corporate interests driving foreign invasions.

    Hear a rare insider’s view of what interests are behind U.S. wars, the manipulation of intelligence, the corporate media, the intertwining of the military and corporate world, and why the U.S. Empire is doomed.”
12. esoteric pineapples 12

    22 March 2017 at 7:41 pm

    Interesting fact: Russia and the Ukraine are virtually at war while the Ukraine supplies around 30 percent of Russian heavy military arms. Russian arms buying is vital for the Ukraine economy.

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/industry-ua.htm

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