*** Would you please consider this contribution for publication on The Standard as a post rather than a comment. I’ve had a couple of emails bounce back to me from the gmail submissions address, so making the request here since I know it will end up in moderation. Feel free to edit what ever. I am happy to be identified as the author. If you decide not to publish it, I would appreciate any feedback you might offer with a view towards how it may be tailored to better suit your requirements for publication at a future date, if at all.
Kind Regards,
BLiP ***
New Zealanders put their trust in John Key. As the 2008 election neared, New Zealanders sensed a positive change was in the offing, a change driven by optimism which held out the reassurance that the darkening and ominous clouds heralding financial meltdown gathering around previously rock-solid international banking institutions didn’t have to reach as far as us. In fact, a multi-millionaire, a man who had made his fortune working with those very institutions had stepped up to offer his talents and to soften any impact such impending fiscal threat imposed. And look – he grew in a solo parent family dependent on a benefit for his family’s very food and rent. He knows struggle street, he’ll look after us, he’s one of us. Consider his own example; that’s how we work things out – be positive, couple our inate Kiwi optimism with a sturdy and aspirational mind-set to embrace a new New Zealand offered by John Key. Sure, we can make mistakes, heh, just look at all that silly fuss about the Coldplay song on that promotion CD the nice smiling John Key sent to us. He won’t us down. Yes, its time for a change. And guess what? John Key has promised live on television to never lie and to always do his best.
Now, four-and-a-half years later we know that was his first lie, and it certainly wasn’t going to be his last. And these are only the ones we know about. In fact, as the litany of lies still spills from John Key, it must be asked: is the litany orchestrated?
06 – We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
50 – oh, maybe our SAS soldiers were in the Kabul hotel gun fight but they weren’t wounded by friendly fire
51 – New Zealand has lost $12 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . oh, it might actually be around $15 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . Blinglish said what?
I think David Shearer and Co. really need to be honest about how they are going to approach the election. They can’t be unrealistic about what John Key’s approach will be. It’s going to be the bullying ‘show me the money’ angle where Key tries to make Shearer look like a bumbling fool under the pressure of live TV. If an experienced politician like Goff can lose to Key that way then it is quite likely that Shearer will be crushed.
So he needs to not play that game. Admit that he can’t play the slick, salesman routine like Key can. People love an underdog who shows some humility(that was one of Helen’s weaknesses, too much pride).
Shearer should instead try to occupy the moral ground (but without the typical labour party smug sanctimony ).
I think National’s strategy will be to start announcing sweeteners soon in the form of election bribes while continuing with the beneficiary bashing and getting tough on crime angle. I don’t think Key will necessarily want to go head to head with Shearer too often because, as long as Shearer can rattle off a few of Key’s failures, that’s where Key will get tripped up. Instead, Key will continue to rely on a biased media to paint him in a good light… No journalist asking the hard questions will be allowed. There will likely be a play of extended coverage about a minor controversy leading up to the election to ensure Key is in the limelight where he can smile and wave till the cows come home. Labour will try to outplay the Natz with their own happy go lucky clown card.
biased media indeed Jackal; see comment on the news coverage of the “far left” and investors “scared off” by Labour and the Greens; freakin’ toadies; the ghost has no respect for the majority of them, though he must understand them all the same.
Shearer was absolutely pitiful on Morning Report this morning about the polls. “What it shows is that Labour are beginning to show themselves as a credible party”, “We’re showing that we really can give John Key a run for his money” or words to that effect. Just pathetic. He should be dismissing the polls as having limited value when the shifts are so small, that this is reflected in the different poll results, and then move quickly on to how that John Key’s a dishonest schmuck who doesn’t care about the majority of New Zealanders, only the rich, and that for these reasons he’s not fit to be prime minister. Short of making defamatory statements the guy needs to harden up and tell it how it is. The way Shearer’s behaving at the moment I’d be embarrassed if were to become the prime minister. Pathetic.
Shearer sounded like the Labour we’re tired of – interested in getting elected primarily, so interested in whether they have gained some advantage over the other Party. And strangely referring to leaks from Key’s side as if that was of real importance to voters.
He should have been talking about how Labour is going to roll up its sleeves and get busy for NZ with good policies (a stirring class image). Great if he’d talked about things NZ need done – for the economy, for profitable businesses that have thought for their workers and society, with encouragement from government, also environment maintaining, enhancing, saving etc. No it’s all about the voters realising that Labour has something to offer. Labour don’t wait for us to realise, repeat about firm vision again and again!
We who derive from early colonisation that left an industrial society for a better life and opportunities to get ahead will suffer increasing disappointment as years of this economic management continue. Now we are sinking back into the old feudal agricultural economy of poor farm workers and impoverished town dwellers, with a sprinkling of jobs in the new industrial trend that allows oppressive surveillance from new technology allowing the wealthy to keep the poor distant from government – NZ Housing is just the start. What a damnable place this country is turning into under these bourgesoisie in government.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —that is right, $385,000—and there apparently was not any audience at all, apart from mum and dad and the cousins down the road. That is the kind of shambles that Mr Williamson allowed to happen. So why he is talking during this important speech, I do not know. Then, of course, he went off and he made a colleague of his a multimillionaire.
Hon Maurice Williamson: Which one?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Mr Steven Joyce. He gave out licences under a Vickrey sale process—a Vickrey sale process. I want to remind everybody listening that this is the kind of money that has gone into this. The Vickrey sale process goes like this. Up comes this item for purchase. Mr Williamson is heading the sale. A bids $1 million, B bids $100,000, and C bids $50,000. A gets the tender—
Hon Maurice Williamson: We could have a royal inquiry.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —well, it deserves an inquiry, all right, but not, I think, from that member—because A bid $1 million, but he does not pay $1 million; he pays what the second guy, B, bid. He pays $100,000. Now every morning, and five times a day, Mr Joyce gets up and he points his face towards Pakuranga. He gets down on his knees and he prays to the Mecca of Pakuranga who made him a multimillionaire, and then he walks into the House and calls himself a self-made man.
have banked your component specs and a 4-year-old transaction machine gifted by a fellow philosophical communitarian today is going into the shop for an increased horse=power deposition tomorrow. Cheers (further disclosure may be harnessed from the Pogues and Rolls bridle.)
Well no, it is an assumption. But what of the water that never touches the lake bed? It just seems to be an illogical argument that is straight from the capitalist rentier book.
Similar to land, people do not own the entire column of atmoshere that exists above the land. And it is very clear that their ownership is limited to the bed and does not include the entire column of water and atmosphere that exists above the bed.
I think tranzrail tried something equally silly and money-grubbing over its rail lines some years ago.
I wonder whether there is some fuzzy-wuzzy thinking going on in Tuwharetoa land. A few weeks ago someone there (I think) was bemoaning the first-in-first-served principle under the RMA that operates when allocating the country’s resources. Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle. Perhaps they need to get some sea air to clear the fuzz and the wuzz.
I don’t like your term fuzzy wuzzy so please cease using that insult.
I would say all of the water touches the lake bed at some point so all good.
You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.
“a very small percentage of the populace, even if they are first arrivals.”
Māori are not just ‘first arrivals’, the culture developed here and that is why they are indigenous to these islands. As wikipedia outlines, “Indigenous peoples are ethnic minorities who have been marginalized as their historical territories became part of a state.[1] In international or national legislation they are generally defined as having a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and to their cultural or historical distinctiveness from politically dominant populations. The concept of indigenous people may define them as particularly vulnerable to exploitation, marginalization and oppression by nations or states that may still be in the process of colonialism, or by politically dominant ethnic groups.”
It is a very important concept to grasp and I emphasise it because too often the line ‘first arrivals’ is used to marginalise and denigrate Māori as if somehow in some strange universe they are not indigenous and by not being indigenous, under this worldview, they are not due the rights and respect that indigenous peoples should be given in this world. I say should because the sad truth is that that rarely has happened unless the dominant culture decides to misappropriate some aspect of the indigenous culture for their own purposes.
Understanding the indigenous culture of a land people choose to live in imo should be step 1 otherwise we end up with the sorts of negative social statistics for marginalised indigenous cultures we see here and around the world.
I know it is a tangential point but I felt I had to make it to correct any misunderstandings that may be there with the use of the term ‘first arrivals’.
Perhaps they need some sea air? Why don’t you leave them alone instead of the bullying, snide, nasty putdowns vto or are you just feeling mean this morning.
the culture apart from a few local variances arrived fully formed with the first Pasifikans. Very little actually developed here indigenously.
Choose any indicator you like, language, dress, customs, traditions, gods…
But i still afford 1st nation status, with all sovereignty rights conferred, to Maori even if you are a multitude of disparate tribes sharing a common aesthetic masked as a united people.
finders keepers
though you still shouldn’t have signed that bloody treaty eh. 🙂
polly – that ‘fully formed’ argument is the same as ‘not first here’ except the other way round. We can be Pasifikans and have our own cultural identity – it is not mutually exclusive. I think we are becoming more united 🙂 and true about that treaty bro, so trusting and so let down.
the culture developed here and that is why they are indigenous to these islands.
Just saying if the proviso of indigineity is that the culture developed here, but it didn’t, then it calls into question the nature of indigenousness ?
Hasn’t a unique kiwi culture developed more here since the Euros arrived, but are they indigenous?
I’d stick to the rights of finders keepers and possession being 9/10ths of the law 🙂
If pollywog is right then at some point the multiple cultures of NZ must become one culture (in one sense) which incorporates those that exist now and then such as the current indigenous one. At that point the indigeneity shifts, does it not, to that next point along the timescale where the ‘new improved’ culture is the reality and the previous cultures drift back in time not forgotten but not used.
We could be at that point now. Surely not too far off atthe most. Or perhaps when that point arrives indigeneity simply stops and no longer exists….
It makes my eyes cross-eyed like looking at concentric rings.
I don’t mean one culture as in homogeneity, that’s why it was framed with “(in one sense”).
But indigeneity must have moved along that timeframescale for today’s Maori culture to be indigenous, given the difference with the first Maori cultures here. Those original ones have morphed into today’s one through population increase, migrations, time, changed habits, etc , hence the claim to being indigenous here.
But that process must surely still apply. If it were not to apply then indigeneity must stop when cultures change (which leads to todays maori not being indigenous). As such, at some point the indigenous culture of NZ must come to include other arrivals such as the europeans.
“You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.”
You could have quoted my reply, which from memory was something like “that’s not how I meant it at all”, so plenty of distance between myself and the intent of your ignorance barb.
The copied piece refers to understanding and respect for a developed culture lest negative things arise. That is all genuine and credible sure, but it is not the sole consideration in application of the first-in-first-served principle. It is merely one of many factors to consider. It does not deliver a knockout punch.
It smells of framing an argument to support a predetermined position, rather than understanding the pricniple in the first place and then applying particular circumstances around it.
(You may like (but probably not) a couple posts made on open mike yesterday around the constitutional review and the place of te tiriti and others….)
vto said, “Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle.”
I said, “It is a very important concept to grasp and I emphasise it because too often the line ‘first arrivals’ is used to marginalise and denigrate Māori as if somehow in some strange universe they are not indigenous and by not being indigenous, under this worldview, they are not due the rights and respect that indigenous peoples should be given in this world.”
You know by your logic there is no-one who is indigenous because they “all came from somewhere” even though unique and valuable cultures developed.
And as for the silly notion you propose below where some water molecules are supported by the lakebed and others not – you do know they are all, sort of moving around a lot in there – you know in the water itself.
I don’t believe I made any mention over who is indigenous and who isn’t, or what effect such indigeneity has, I merely spoke of the principle of first in first served.
Sure, Maori are indigenous here, that is clear. And sure, people may well do what you intimate there and use it to denigrate. I don’t disagree with you but it still misses the point made in response – namely that such issues are tangential to the principle and are merely considerations in the application of the principle and not determinative.
First in first served is a poorly principle with few good applications in the wanderings of manwomankind across the planet. This was recognised by Tuwharetoa themselves when they recognised its weaknesses in its application in the RMA. They and I are on the same page on that – it is just where it is being chosen for application that was bemusing.
Oh and on your ‘inadvertent’ use of the term – perhaps stop and think about how that might hurt a group of people in society, that inadvertent language happens all the time and hurts people all the time. I said that your use of that term in regards to this iwi was “bullying, snide, and a nasty putdown” you said, “nope. typical.” The truth is that you are/were wrong and your “nope. typical” was incorrect wasn’t it?
I raise this in some detail because it was typical but just not in the way you thought vto.
I see that marty. Things is there was no intention to insult, it was truly inadvertant. That was why I said nope – at that stage its meaning was still flying around in the wind.
You may well see that it sprang to mind because of its use in distance days past, when it was used to insult etc (not by me I would hope but perhaps by others in my vicinity which was picked up on). Such is the nature of man and the long timeframes that are often required to change flawed ways.
Yep, a deliberate racist insult. You’re usually far cleverer than that VTO.
And, to go back to your original question, all the water in Lake Taupo is supported by the lake bed. The bed holds the water that later gets used in a profit making business. Fair enough that the owners of the lake bed would want their interests recognised.
Yes it was inadvertant. One of those never-used terms that popped to mind from distance days past and plunked out with no thinking.
As for the bed issue – don’t agree. Just like tranzrail some years ago the claim is unsound and smacks of rentier behaviour that is of no benefit to anyone expect the capitalist. The country is moving away from rentier behaviour so they are running against the grain in attempting to grab it. Don’t blame them though – all’s fair in love and war apparently and it is only what the corporates do themselves, so good on them for giving it a crack.
Only the water on the bottom is supported by the bed, all else is supported by the water below it, just as the air above the lake surface is supported by the lake itself. Quick send a bill to the nearest windfarm.
The water is in that location due to gravity and the higher topographical position of surrounding property, not the lake bed. See how silly it is?
Nope, I don’t think you’ve thought this through properly, VTO. Water is a liquid and water in a lake is a contiguous mass. All the water is supported by the bed, which is actually shown by your example, not disproved by it.
The phrase ‘hydro storage’ just popped into my head. I’m guessing that the claim probably has a basis in the fact that lake bed performs a role in the overall process of generation, even if it’s only storage. It just seems reasonable to me for that to be recognised.
Yes I do (although probably quite differently than you). But tell me this vto, who put Tuwharetoa in the position where they had to use such silly arguments to reinstate their capacity to maintain their culture and people? And who gave them those tools of argument in the first place?
Personally, I find many Western concepts of relationship with nature pretty bizarre esp this idea that nature is primarily a set of resources for our use (thank-you Judeo-Christian peoples). But we can hardly blame Maori for using and developing those concepts when they’ve been forced to by the dominant culture.
vto, if you turn up with a 750 ml bottle of whisky at my door, how much can I take because it hasn’t touched the sides of the bottle? Your argument makes absolutely no sense. If the water isn’t supported by the lake bed, what happens if the lake bed drops by 100m?
When you load logs on a truck, are only the ones which touch the truckbed supported by it? The springs might argue with you there.
Yes well I’m just trying to apply the logic to this situation whereby logic is spinning down a hot pool whirlpool.
For the water molecule to get to the turbines it needs to go down this path…….. flow down a river some goddamn other place and out to sea, then it gotta drift around over some sea bottoms for an age or two before being lifted to the sky when it gets too close to the surface on a hot day due to wind blowing down off somebody’s mountain range over the horizon. It then finds itself drifting helplessly in clouds of other water molecules with the same dilemma, floating over all sorts of peoples places like my house (I’ve seen them) and lots of other peoples houses and farms and cemetries. Then whoever owns Mount Cook is lucky because all them wee molecules gather together at places like that where it’s mr gravity’s turn. Heshe pulls them back down to the earth where they belong. Water doesn’t like flying. If they are in a Taupo catchment they will fall onto the land and property of individual private people, businesses, government, iwi, nobody, roads, crown, and even people’s own heads. Then, quite tired by now, it wends its way back to where it likes to be – a drain, a creek, a low area, a swamp, a culvert, river, pipe, drink bottle and lake taupo.
why thanks ghostrider. Hopefully it highlights the silliness of the claim. (or if it is a legit claim then perhaps all landowners should follow suit with same logic) Another one could be put up around wind farms and neighbouring properties too, along with many more.
Yes Ad. Although was late arriving because I got lost… another story. Very nice, spacious office. It was packed to the rafters. Just about every ethnic group was represented. I picked up that David Cunliffe and his supporters are in a good place.
I was also pleased to see Phil Twyford there… and Louisa Wall and Carmel Sepuloni. And for those of us getting a bit long in the tooth, so was Jonathon Hunt.
Matthew Hooton is feeling the pressure
Right-wing pundit’s embarrassing performance on radio this morning From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, Monday 22 April 2013
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
A flustered Matthew Hooton nearly melted down a few minutes ago. He’s usually so calm and in control of himself, but these latest polls, plus the popularity of the Labour-Green electricity price policy, have evidently upset the poor fellow. Mike Williams’ knowing laughter will have infuriated him even more…
MATTHEW HOOTON:[steadily rising tone of hysteria] They’ve crashed the stock market with just a press statement! God knows what they’d be like if they were in office!
KATHRYN RYAN: The stock market has NOT crashed. That’s nonsense.
HOOTON: But, but! aaaaarghhh!…. they, they…
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.
KATHRYN RYAN: They did NOT crash the stock market. That is NOT true, Matthew.
HOOTON: They have CHOSEN to go to the left…politics of envy… [mutter, choke, splutter with indignation]…
He also made a comment about it being a wealth destroyer…and Williams told him it was about wealth distribution.
Maybe someone can compile a list of all the effects of NZ Power ( as described by the hysterical right) and make a post based on it…like the list of Key’s brainfades posted today.
Mike Williams gave his best performance yet with some excellent advice to the Labour Party.
Get out there and SELL the policies from now through to the election. Don’t do what you’ve tended to do in the past and that is… assume everyone understands them. THEY DON’T!
Hey Morrissey Breen, please stay off my blog, you have been trolling it, since I started it five years ago, you have also been trolling my posts for the 20 years, starting with usenet in the mid 90’s. (not political posts, but sporting ones)
Its a bit weird, that someone would do this for nearly 20 years, your not interested in a discussion, your trolling, any posts you do at my blog, will now will be deleted.
You made some particularly foolish remarks on this forum. You have provided a link to your blog, which I clicked on. Presumably that is what you WANT people to do.
I felt compelled to comment on a few of your more ridiculously stupid opinions, but you obviously lack the wherewithal to defend your statements. Go ahead and ban me, but bear in mind that I was your only reader.
Morrissey
You must watch your addictions. Put Brett Dale down now. 20 years of him seems excessive. And sometimes you can never find even a tiny gap to slip your arguments through.
Better play Kiss the Postman with someone more accommodating.
I’ve put down the poor fellow so often that I actually feel a bit guilty.
20 years of him seems excessive.
It certainly does, and it is. Poor old Mr. Dale has doubled the length of time I’ve been on Usenet. Twenty years ago, I couldn’t even turn on a computer.
Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond? That’s pretty cutting edge stuff, Brett, no wonder nobody else comments. I think you should give Mozza a medal if he’s been putting up with that quality of posting for 20 years.
Like I said, its just my wee blog, just my thoughts, not suppose to be cutting edge. If someone is consistently going to the blog, but not interested in the subject matter, then they’re trolling. The fact that he has been trolling my posts over the internet for 20 years about Garth Brooks and sports that anit rugby union (when he has no interest whatsoever in these topics) shows me that he is trolling/bullying.
I’ve had that impression for a long time now. He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why. Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
Er, actually, Lanth, I heard two of Morrissey’s letters read out, in part, on RNZ shows last week. One of them (about ‘Lord’ Monckton) even made me laugh and not in a roll your eyes kind of way either.
He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why.
You make it seem like I send a flood of correspondence to Radio NZ. I’m sure you intend to create that impression, but of course you are wrong. I occasionally post to Radio NZ, as in roughly once a fortnight, and contrary to your mean-spirited allegation, the majority of my e-mails have been read out on air—whether by Bryan Crump, Chris Laidlaw, Kim Hill, Kathryn Ryan or Jim Mora.
Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
I work hard at writing clear, punchy communications. Of course I welcome the fact they get attention. You think I want to write for an audience of none, like some sad bloggers we know?
Thanks for the kind words, my friend. Lanthanide started off as one of my admirers—if I were an Auckland Blues star or a pop singer, like my namesake, he’d have been classified as a “groupie”—but then I started treading on areas that he didn’t appreciate. Since then it’s been all downhill.
Don’t sweat it Morrissey, the *self styled* here, have little useful to offer, many will never have sent a single letter, email or turned up on a picket, or at a protest, or spoken face to face with a radio host, and MP or any such thing.
And some will stroke their egos by kidding themselves that they are better than their peers. How is project Onan going, Muz? Any closer to releasing the results?
“Interesting comment about ego, from someone who openly attaches his own self to a political entity!”
Surely attaching one’s self to another entity is a denial of ego?
“Whats this peers nonsense, we are human beings…”
We don’t need your steenkin’ thesaurus …
“The results of the projects (not mine), are clear for all those who are paying attention to see, its called NZ!”
So you aren’t going to be transparent with project Onan after all? Your mates at Lordy Find’em aren’t going to be pleased with you. They’re all about teh openness, or so they say. Which reminds me, did they ever do that expose on the Standard they promised? It’d be fascinating reading.
B’Jesus Morrissey you’re a frustrating bugger……..here I am tryin’ to back you up bro’ and also make a point about the whiff of a slightly sniffy “Beltway” happening on TS. Whadda you do ?
Did anyone see susan devoy’s interview with JC last week. He asked her who rang her and she said that they did not say who they were and she never found out.They just advised her to ring phone number supplied and there would be a job there for her that she might be interested in.A ghost caller.Spooky. Then again maybe it was discussed over the neighbouring back fence with the fairy at the bottom of the garden.
Naughty Chrissy ! Maybe not. Look at the National Party votes for and against……….?
You know it’s the height of fashion to turn your lime green check table cloth into a business shirt with an orange and purple paisley tie underneath a navy two inch wide pinstripe.
Have to own that one re sartorial. Sorry, from the bottom my garden. Something went wrong in the North.
Then I see the name “undefined” is replaced by “North”. Oh well since I’m here might as well add this: VERY large lime green check under VERY lawyerly two inch wide pinstripe.
Gee that’s interesting, how do you get to be a Dame or Sir, just hang around in the vicinity of the political electrical field and hope you make contact with someone live?
You play some sport really really well for a considerable time (with attendant reflected glory for the nation) OR you make heaps of money and give a smidgen of it away with strings attached OR you inherit a fortune and donate some to the ****** party OR you do exacting legal work for the government laying the basis for privatisation…….Damehoods and Sirhoods…. piece of cake!
PS Do not under any circumstances do long term unnoticed work in an old peoples home or unpaid for the community. No gongs available there.
Yeah. We have Sir Roger Douglas but never Sir William Sutch. He mingled in the wrong electrical fields. Ouch.
Though I was just thinking of Sir Angus Tait – someone who was a worthy knight.
Wikipedia – Bronze bust of Sir Angus Tait as part of the Twelve Local Heroes sculpture … He served with the Royal NZ and also Royal Air Force instructing as a Second…
After the war, he designed and built mobile radio equipment, although his first company went into receivership. In 1969, he founded Tait Electronics Ltd, now operating as Tait Radio Communications, Christchurch (New Zealand), with men who had decided to remain loyal and see him through; now his company is considered a world leader in mobile radio. He had persisted in keeping his manufacturing base in New Zealand, with 95 per cent of production exported to 160 countries.
I looked up the Twelve Local Heroes sculptures – The Twelve Local Heroes is a series of bronze busts located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand on Worcester Boulevard outside the Arts Centre to commemorate twelve local Christchurch people who were prominent in their respective fields in the latter part of the 20th century.
I can’t remember if they are still there – this happened in 2009 and the earthquake cluster started end of 2010 I think.
Re knighthoods and so on: at the risk of attack from TS Beltway for reposting one’s letters and what-not on TS, I have to offer this in response to Prism at 15 above. Came to me in a disturbing dream after Shonkey Python excitedly told his acolytes in the media that he’d offered Richie McCaw a knighthood – obviously he was after a “testo-top-up”.
ON KNIGHTS AND DAMES AND OTHER BULLSHIT
I heard a dirty story
It’s truly damned horrific
Shyster Boy Smiley Key
He’s selling honorifics
First he went to Richie
“Cos he’s a real man
Said Shyster Boy to Richie
Help me if you can
Take this crappy medal
It’s such a thing to show
And ‘cos I gave it to you
I’m basking in your glow
Richie he’s a cagey guy
He sussed the slimey game
He yelled out loud “Piss off you ponce…..
Go find yourself a Dame”
Tari proved no problem
For this she’d always itched
“Dame Toryana Torya”
The whispering old witch
“Pita” “Peter” take your pick
Demands he had a few
Pension with the knighthood
And Bee Em Double U
This was getting crazy
And people thought it stank…..
Shyster Boy pulled out the sword
Sir Botox Bloody Banks…..!!!
North
Blistering stuff. That little blister King John of Charmalot will be impervious to it of course. I think he’s one of those boys whose mother loves him as in Lyrics Freak supplied words of Paul Simon – Loves me like a Rock.
Songwriters: SIMON, PAUL
Words & music by paul simon
When I was a little boy, (when I was just a boy)
And the devil would call my name (when I was just a boy)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (when I was just a boy)
I’m a consecrated boy (when I was just a boy)
I’m a singer in a sunday choir
Oh , my mama loves, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me
Like she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like the rock of ages
And loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me
When I was grown to be a man (grown to be a man)
And the devil would call my name (grown to be a man)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (grown to be a man)
I’m a consummated man (grown to be a man)
I can snatch a little purity
My mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me…
And if I was president (was the president)
The minute congress call my name (was the president)
I’d say “who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? (who do you think you’re fooling)
I’ve got the presidential seal (was the president)
I’m up on the presidential podium
My mama loves me
She loves me… etc
Another nice start to the week for National today – not!
There is nothing yet on the RNZ website (or on Stuff or the Herald), but one of the top stories on RNZ National midday news was that apparently a Court this morning has put a stop/hold on the long awaited and not yet completed investigation and report by Paula Rebstock into the leaks from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – a witchhunt that has already cost a quarter of a million dollars.
If I heard it correctly, someone – presumably an MFA employee only referred to as Complainant A (or similar) – has filed to stop the report on the basis that publication would infringe their rights to natural justice.
“…The order comes ahead of a judicial review of that restructuring, which starts next week in the High Court.
…That follows an application by someone known as Applicant A, who is seeking the judicial review.
Applicant A argued Ms Rebstock’s draft report would amount to predetermination of his position and a breach of natural justice.
In the High Court, Justice Dobson agreed and prohibited Ms Rebstock from completing her report in a way that contains any findings against Applicant A.”
Goff has called for the whole inquiry to be abandoned.
Edit – SNAP. Thanks Karol and R0b. Your links went up while I was typing.
New laws to allow spying on New Zealand citizens is a step towards totalitarianism, says a professor of cyber security and forensics.
“The idea of placing innocent citizens under constant surveillance is one definition of totalitarianism,” Hank Wolfe, an associate professor in the Information Science Department of Otago University’s School of Business told the Herald. “It will inhibit free thought and association. This has been demonstrated historically time and again where repressive totalitarian regimes have installed pervasive surveillance to watch citizens.”
Hugh Wolfensohn left the GCSB employment in february as a kind of persona no grata, after being there 25 years. He was put on gardening leave because of his role in the illegal operations relating to Kim Dotcom.
The spymaster who oversaw the Kim Dotcom raid left the GCSB without a golden handshake, gold watch or even a sausage roll….
Soon after Mr Wolfensohn became involved in questions around the case in August, he was put on “gardening leave” before the bureau confirmed last month that he had left.
The GCSB confirmed he had resigned on a Thursday and left on a Friday. It told the Herald: “Mr Wolfensohn has not received an exit payment, leaving function, dinner or present.” David Fisher
Mr Wolfensohn has not received an exit payment, leaving function, dinner or present.”
As a former government employee that story sounds familiar. It usually means the department or agency is on the backfoot for some reason and they immediately cast around for a “scapegoat”. It has been reported ‘Mr Wolfensohn’ was overworked and understaffed and that has to reflect back on both the agency bosses and the govt. of the day.
sorry I was late, had to see a man about a star…
and on the 8th day…
TAG (fracking representatives) “worse than the worse used-car salesmen he’d ever met” (Ever)
according to one Dannevirke farmer interviewed by Don’t Frack The Bay.
Auckland Airport (and Tourism) are marketing directly to Chinese micro social media (like twitter) and a plugged in audience of 500M; go littlewood, go chicky; Cool Bananas!
just like White-caps
(remember those Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies?)
There’s something mildly illustrative about racists sending “go back to where you come from” messages to the other end of the country. One can’t help thinking that many/most Aucklanders would wish that the racists had followed their or advice.
I did indeed, felix. That was the renowned but (at least on this occasion) rather bewildered Don Donovan. I thought Michele Acourt and Noelle McCarthy were both remarkably restrained and good-humoured in their treatment of him. I’m not sure that he was entirely genuine in his befuddlement; in the past he has seemed quite tolerant and liberal in his attitudes.
To Morrissey and Felix: you two made up have you ? Lovely !
Apropos your comment at 20 above Morrissey, I steeled myself and (very rare for me) went to SLATER PORN to check out HAZARDS001. Not before warning everyone in the house to bash me with a chair and call the cops the moment I started to froth at the mouth.
Well, I did, and they did, and I’ve got a bloody great egg on my noggin. Still, I am grateful. Fortunately the cops accepted my explanation and they’ve gone.
But what utter OBSCENITY on SLATER PORN !
Tell you, were I still the cute young fulla I was 40 years ago I would consider it very, very, very hazardous to be around HAZARDS001.
HAZARDS001 is absolutely OBSSESSED with anal rape. How I pity HAZARDS001’s monitor and keyboard. And any youngster in proximity.
There must be the most horrific background story there !
HAZARDS001 is absolutely OBSSESSED with anal rape. How I pity HAZARDS001′s monitor and keyboard. And any youngster in proximity.
Michael Jackson takes a little boy out for a walk in the deep dark woods late one night. Finally, trudging miles from anywhere, the young boy, totally scared says, “It’s so dark and cold, and these trees are so frightening”
Jackson replies “you think that’s scary, but I’m the one who has to walk back by myself.”
I CHALLENGE YOU ! – TAU HENARE – NATIONAL PARTY LIST MP – I CHALLENGE YOU !
Tonight, Tuesday 23 April 2013, I’ve watched a replay of Native Affairs Maori Television from Monday night.
I understand that your vote is all that’s needed to progress Mana’s Feed The Kids.
I URGE YOU TO VOTE FOR IT !
If you intend not to do that I CHALLENGE YOU to come to Kaikohe for korero with me. I can be found most days at the Kaikohe District Court. I’m not gonna give all my details here but all you need to do is to ask at the court office where to find a tall, skinny, early 60s, balding, sometimes grumpy Pakeha. First name starting S. Alternatively you might check with the young Maori fullas you’ll see wandering up and down Broadway Kaikohe, no jobs. If you’ve got the balls to come and have that korero, you’ll end up doing your duty and voting right.
You see Tau, rightly or wrongly I have this view of you: you’ve been an MP 1993 to date, apart from ’02-’05. So that’s 17 years in Parliament. During that time, in which you’ve paddled in three different waka, you’ve pulled, let’s see, average $150K a year. Mate ! That’s $2,500,000. Two and a half million bucks. And throughout that time you’ve been as useless as tits on a bull, sorry. Here you are saying that we don’t need Feed The Kids ? How the fuck would you know ?
Kaikohe where the median income is $17,000 dollars a year. Let’s see – 17 by 17. Oh Jesus how handsome is that – $289,000 over a whole generation. A little over 10% of what you’ve had. And you’re not gonna do the decent thing ? Because Shonkey Python says “Nah !” ?
Tau, I’m gonna say this. In the 9 years I’ve worked at that court in Kaikohe, me, the Pakeha, he’s done twenty times for your people what you have. For maybe one quarter what you’ve pulled. Legal aid ain’t flash. But that’s algud. For this reason – your people and me have given to one another. Actually they’ve given much more to me than I’ve ever given to them. Aroha. Whanaungatanga. You know about those ones Tau ?
YOU DON’T ANSWER THE CHALLENGE TAU……..YOU GOT NO BALLS. KIA ORA. KEEP ON SUCKING TE PUTEA.
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Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
*** Would you please consider this contribution for publication on The Standard as a post rather than a comment. I’ve had a couple of emails bounce back to me from the gmail submissions address, so making the request here since I know it will end up in moderation. Feel free to edit what ever. I am happy to be identified as the author. If you decide not to publish it, I would appreciate any feedback you might offer with a view towards how it may be tailored to better suit your requirements for publication at a future date, if at all.
Kind Regards,
BLiP ***
New Zealanders put their trust in John Key. As the 2008 election neared, New Zealanders sensed a positive change was in the offing, a change driven by optimism which held out the reassurance that the darkening and ominous clouds heralding financial meltdown gathering around previously rock-solid international banking institutions didn’t have to reach as far as us. In fact, a multi-millionaire, a man who had made his fortune working with those very institutions had stepped up to offer his talents and to soften any impact such impending fiscal threat imposed. And look – he grew in a solo parent family dependent on a benefit for his family’s very food and rent. He knows struggle street, he’ll look after us, he’s one of us. Consider his own example; that’s how we work things out – be positive, couple our inate Kiwi optimism with a sturdy and aspirational mind-set to embrace a new New Zealand offered by John Key. Sure, we can make mistakes, heh, just look at all that silly fuss about the Coldplay song on that promotion CD the nice smiling John Key sent to us. He won’t us down. Yes, its time for a change. And guess what? John Key has promised live on television to never lie and to always do his best.
Now, four-and-a-half years later we know that was his first lie, and it certainly wasn’t going to be his last. And these are only the ones we know about. In fact, as the litany of lies still spills from John Key, it must be asked: is the litany orchestrated?
You decide. Take the “power” back.
01 – I promise to always be honest
02 – We’re not proposing to change the Employment Relations Act in a way that weakens unions
03 – we are not going to sack public servants, the attrition rate will reduce costs
04 – we are not going to cut working for families
05 – I firmly believe in climate change and always have
06 – We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
07 – National Ltd™ will provide a consistent incentive for both biofuel and biodiesel by exempting them from excise tax or road user charges
08 – I didn’t know about The Bretheren election tactics
09 – If they came to us now with that proposal [re trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods regime], we will sign it
10 – I can’t remember my position on the 1981 Springbok Tour
11 – Tranzrail shares
12 – I did not mislead the House (1)
13 – Lord Ashcroft
14 – National Ltd™ would not have sent troops into Iraq
15 – Standard & Poors credit downgrade
16 – the double-down grade doesn’t really matter and its only about private sector debt
17 – I did not mislead the House (2)
18 – I didn’t say I want wages to drop
19 – the real rate of inflation is 3.3 percent.
20 – the tourism sector has not lost 7,000 jobs
21 – no I have never heard of Whitechapel
22 – I won’t raise GST
23 – people who are on the average wage and have a child are $48 a week better off after the rise in GST
24 – the purchase of farmland, by overseas buyers will be limited to ten farms per purchase
25 – the Pike River Mine was consented to under a Labour Government
26 – no promises were made to get the remains of the miners out of the Pike River mine
27 – I did not provide a view on the safety of the Pike River coalmine
28 – I did not mislead the House (3)
29 – capping, not cutting the public service
30 – raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cost 6000 jobs
31 – north of $50 a week
32 – privatisation won’t significantly help the economy
33 – wave goodbye to higher taxes , not your loved ones
34 – I never offered Brash a diplomatic job in London
35 – Tariana Turia is “totally fine” with the Tuhoe Treaty Claim deal
36 – Kiwisaver
37 – National Ltd™ is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector
38 – tax cuts won’t require additional borrowing
39 – New Zealand does not have a debt problem
40 – New Zealand troops in Afghanistan will only be involved in training, not fighting
41 – the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia has closed under my National Ltd™ government
42 – It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy
43 – National Ltd™ has changed the Overseas Investment Act to include 19 different criteria
44 – the price of goods and services has risen by 6 per cent since the last election, while the has actually gone up by 16 per cent
45 – no, although its a week ago and here I am being interviewed on television about them, I havn’t seen Gerry Brownlee’s comments regarding demolitions in Christchurch and which caused such outrage, but I can talk all about them
46 – our SAS soldiers were not involved in the Kabul Hotel gunfight
47 – the use of the Vela brother’s helicopter was required so I could attend meetings relating to national/international security concerns
48 – the DPS makes the decision about accompanying the Prime Minister or not, I had no choice but to take them on holiday to Hawaii
49 – I did not mislead the House
50 – oh, maybe our SAS soldiers were in the Kabul hotel gun fight but they weren’t wounded by friendly fire
51 – New Zealand has lost $12 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . oh, it might actually be around $15 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . Blinglish said what?
52 – 10,000 houses will have to be demolished in Christchurch due to the earthquake
53 – 14,000 new apprentices will start training over the next five years, over and above the number previously forecast
54 – Our amendments to the ETS ensure we will continue to do our fair share internationally
55 – we are committed to honouring our Kyoto Protocol obligations
56 – any changes to the ETS will be fiscally neutral
57 – we [NZ] have grown for eight of the last nine quarters”
58 – National Ltd™ will tender out the government banking contract
59 – we will be back in surplus by 2014-15
60 – Nicky Hager’s book “Other People’s Wars” is a work of fiction
61 – unemployment is starting to fall
62 – we have created 60,000 jobs
63 – we have created 45,000 jobs
64 – the 2011 Budget will create in the order of 170,000 jobs
65 – I don’t know if I own a vineyard
66 – no, I did not mislead the House (4)
67 – the Isreali spy killed in the Christchurch quake had “only one” passport
68 – the Police will not need to make savings by losing jobs
69 – GCSB re Kim Dotcom x 3 (that we know about)
70 – I did not mislead the House (5)
71 – I voted to keep the drinking age at 20
72 – New Zealand is 100% Pure
73 – I’ve been prime minister for four years, and it’s really 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year
74 – baseball in New Zealand is attracting more government support
75 – the decision to buy brand new BMWs was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me
76 – I didn’t have a clue that Ministerial Services, which I am in charge of, was going to buy brand new BMWs
77 – even though two of my ministers knew all about it, I didn’t have a clue that brand new BMWs were being bought.
78 – even though my Chief of Staff met with officials to discuss purchase of the the brand new BMWs, I didn’t have a clue
79 – Labour forced us into buying the brand new BMWs, its their fault
80 – ummm, look, sorry about that BMW thing , it was because I was so upset about the death of a New Zealand soldier and Julia Gillard was visit too
81 – the public demanded that we change the labour laws for The Hobbit
82 – “The Hobbit” created 3000 new jobs
83 – we have delivered 800 extra doctors in the public service
84 – I did not mislead the House (6)
85 – I wasn’t working at Elders when the sham foreign exchange deals took place
86 – I was starting School Certificate exams in 1978
87 – I don’t know who arrived on the CIA jet to visit the spies I am responsible for
88 – reducing barriers to property developers will increase the availability of affordable housing
89 – Labour left the economy in poor shape
90 – forecasts show unemployment will fall
91 – we have closed the wage gap with Australia by $27
92 – Ngati Porou and Whanau Apanui are not opposed to mining
93 – I have not had any meetings with Media Works
94 – our [NZ’s] terms of trade remain high
95 – the TPP is an example of democracy
96 – National Ltd™ will use the proceeds of state asset sales to invest in other public assets, like schools and hospitals
97 – New Zealand troops will be out of Afghanistan by April 2013
98 – overseas investment in New Zealand adds to what New Zealanders can invest on their own
99 – overseas investment in New Zealand creates jobs, boosts incomes, and helps the economy grow
100 – National Ltd™ will build 2000 houses over the next two years
101 – there are only 4 New Zealand SAS soldiers in Bamiyan and all working in the area of logistics and planning only
102 – selling state assets will give cash equity to those companies
103 – the Sky City deal doesn’t mean more pokies
104 – there was nothing improper about the Sky City deal
105 – my office has had no correspondence, no discussions, no involvement with the Sky City deal
106 – SkyCity will only get “a few more” pokie machines at the margins
107 – any changes to gambling regulations will be subject to a full public submission process
108 – Sky City has approached TVNZ about the purchase/use of government-owned land
109 – the Auditor General has fully vindicated National over the Sky City deal
110 – there’s a 50/50 chance the Hobbit is going off shore unless we do something
111 – David Shearer has signed up for the purchase of shares in Mighty River
112 – Solid Energy asked the government for a $1 billion capital investment
113 – fracking has been going safely on in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues
114 – no front line positions will be lost at DoC
115 – Iain Rennie came to me and recommended Fletcher for the GCSB job
116 – I forgot that after I scrapped the shortlist for GCSB job I phoned a life-long friend to tell him to apply for the position
117 – I told Iain Rennie I would contact Fletcher
118 – for 30 years, or three decades, I didn’t have any dinners or lunches or breakfasts with Ian Fletche
119 – I did not mislead the House (7)
120 – No, I did not say we would follow the US and Australia into a war against North Korea
121 – I paid for that lunch and I’ve got the credit card bill to prove it
122 – I called directory service to get Ian Fletcher’s number
123 – I did not mislead the house (8)
124 – I am honest and upfront
125 – cyber terrorists have attempted to gain access to information about weapons of mass destruction held on New Zealand computers
126 – the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom was an isolated incident
127 – New Zealand has an arrangement to have asylum seekers processed in Australian detention camps
128 – the law which says the GCSB cannot spy on New Zealanders is not clear
129 – the only way net new jobs can be created is by private investors putting their money into businesses in New Zealand
130 – an increase in the number of people looking for work indicates that confidence is returning to the economy
131 – the 10 percent of taxpayers in New Zealand who are the top earners pay 76 percent of all net personal tax.
132 – I did not mislead the House (9)
133 – the substantial wage growth under Labour was eroded by inflation
134 – National Ltd™’s 2010 tax changes were fiscally neutral
135 I did not mislead the House (10)
136 – the bulk of New Zealanders earn between $45,000 and $75,000 a year
137 – Pike River Coal did not put profits and its production ahead of the safety and lives of those 29 workers.
138 – Radio Live had sought advice from the Electoral Commission about my show just before the election
139 – it is because of National Ltd™’s policies that the price of fresh fruit and vegetables has dropped.
140 – the length-of-the-country cycleway will create 4000 jobs.
141 – police training for next year has not has not been cancelled
142 – National Ltd™ has only cut back-office jobs in the health service
143 – The Crown’s dividend stream from the Meridians, the Mighty Rivers of the world is large and there is no motivation to sell assets
144 – Gross.
Blip
That is a massive effort to inform. Thanks. The length of the list illustrates the disgraceful dealings of the NACT government.
Take a bow BLiP – Thats outstanding work!
Awesome stuff BliP
I think David Shearer and Co. really need to be honest about how they are going to approach the election. They can’t be unrealistic about what John Key’s approach will be. It’s going to be the bullying ‘show me the money’ angle where Key tries to make Shearer look like a bumbling fool under the pressure of live TV. If an experienced politician like Goff can lose to Key that way then it is quite likely that Shearer will be crushed.
So he needs to not play that game. Admit that he can’t play the slick, salesman routine like Key can. People love an underdog who shows some humility(that was one of Helen’s weaknesses, too much pride).
Shearer should instead try to occupy the moral ground (but without the typical labour party smug sanctimony ).
Key is damaged goods: smug arrogance may work for Mr. Popular but it’s a bad look on dead meat.
Heart of OAK
What an attractive picture.
I think National’s strategy will be to start announcing sweeteners soon in the form of election bribes while continuing with the beneficiary bashing and getting tough on crime angle. I don’t think Key will necessarily want to go head to head with Shearer too often because, as long as Shearer can rattle off a few of Key’s failures, that’s where Key will get tripped up. Instead, Key will continue to rely on a biased media to paint him in a good light… No journalist asking the hard questions will be allowed. There will likely be a play of extended coverage about a minor controversy leading up to the election to ensure Key is in the limelight where he can smile and wave till the cows come home. Labour will try to outplay the Natz with their own happy go lucky clown card.
biased media indeed Jackal; see comment on the news coverage of the “far left” and investors “scared off” by Labour and the Greens; freakin’ toadies; the ghost has no respect for the majority of them, though he must understand them all the same.
Shearer was absolutely pitiful on Morning Report this morning about the polls. “What it shows is that Labour are beginning to show themselves as a credible party”, “We’re showing that we really can give John Key a run for his money” or words to that effect. Just pathetic. He should be dismissing the polls as having limited value when the shifts are so small, that this is reflected in the different poll results, and then move quickly on to how that John Key’s a dishonest schmuck who doesn’t care about the majority of New Zealanders, only the rich, and that for these reasons he’s not fit to be prime minister. Short of making defamatory statements the guy needs to harden up and tell it how it is. The way Shearer’s behaving at the moment I’d be embarrassed if were to become the prime minister. Pathetic.
+1
Shearer sounded like the Labour we’re tired of – interested in getting elected primarily, so interested in whether they have gained some advantage over the other Party. And strangely referring to leaks from Key’s side as if that was of real importance to voters.
He should have been talking about how Labour is going to roll up its sleeves and get busy for NZ with good policies (a stirring class image). Great if he’d talked about things NZ need done – for the economy, for profitable businesses that have thought for their workers and society, with encouragement from government, also environment maintaining, enhancing, saving etc. No it’s all about the voters realising that Labour has something to offer. Labour don’t wait for us to realise, repeat about firm vision again and again!
We who derive from early colonisation that left an industrial society for a better life and opportunities to get ahead will suffer increasing disappointment as years of this economic management continue. Now we are sinking back into the old feudal agricultural economy of poor farm workers and impoverished town dwellers, with a sprinkling of jobs in the new industrial trend that allows oppressive surveillance from new technology allowing the wealthy to keep the poor distant from government – NZ Housing is just the start. What a damnable place this country is turning into under these bourgesoisie in government.
And right on cue, salesman Key never turns down an opportunity like this:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878940
Let’s not forget that super popular ‘gay-icon’ Maurice Williamson was the very man who gave us the gift that keeps on stinking….Steven Joyce.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/e/a/b/50HansD_20130322_00000008-M-ori-Television-Service-Te-Aratuku-Whakaata.htm
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —that is right, $385,000—and there apparently was not any audience at all, apart from mum and dad and the cousins down the road. That is the kind of shambles that Mr Williamson allowed to happen. So why he is talking during this important speech, I do not know. Then, of course, he went off and he made a colleague of his a multimillionaire.
Hon Maurice Williamson: Which one?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Mr Steven Joyce. He gave out licences under a Vickrey sale process—a Vickrey sale process. I want to remind everybody listening that this is the kind of money that has gone into this. The Vickrey sale process goes like this. Up comes this item for purchase. Mr Williamson is heading the sale. A bids $1 million, B bids $100,000, and C bids $50,000. A gets the tender—
Hon Maurice Williamson: We could have a royal inquiry.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —well, it deserves an inquiry, all right, but not, I think, from that member—because A bid $1 million, but he does not pay $1 million; he pays what the second guy, B, bid. He pays $100,000. Now every morning, and five times a day, Mr Joyce gets up and he points his face towards Pakuranga. He gets down on his knees and he prays to the Mecca of Pakuranga who made him a multimillionaire, and then he walks into the House and calls himself a self-made man.
The truth is that nobody is a self-made manwoman. No such person would have done so without the following lowly or nowly paid people. None…
Mother (and Father)
doctor and nurse
plunket
kindy teacher, primary teacher, secondary teacher
road worker
postman
cleaner
police, defence force
This is the unrecognised base from which most all wealth springs.
Not from the likes of Joyce. Joyce on his own without any of those things would be ….. well you can only imagine.
How about Gerry Brownlee?
I don’t think self-made refers to a large physique as a result of too many calories.
I was referring to imagining him “on his own without any of those things”.
In his birthday suit? Gagh!
So what’s the bet that Labour/Greens will water down the NZ Power plan between now and the election?
Err, why would they do that?
Their best bet would be to strengthen it by re-incorporating all the state owned power companies.
It would be better if they strengthened it by taking control of strategic needs such as water and energy.
and the banking + EFTPOS transaction network.
have banked your component specs and a 4-year-old transaction machine gifted by a fellow philosophical communitarian today is going into the shop for an increased horse=power deposition tomorrow. Cheers (further disclosure may be harnessed from the Pogues and Rolls bridle.)
Ref Roy Morgan Polls.
We lost the 2008 Election with National on 45% and Labour on 34%
Currently it is National on 40.5 % and Labour on 35.5%
National has been consistently on 45% through Goff and Shearer’s time.
Labour has been consistently on 30-32% through Goff and Shearer’s time.
National has dropped a bit as a result of massive foul-ups.
We are picking up an additional 3-4 people out of 100 only.
We have a lot more work to do.
what were the greens on in 2011?
It isn’t a two horse race.
How can Tuwharetoa charge for use of the Lake Taupo bed when most all the water that passes through the lake never touches the lake bed?
Doesn’t the air do the same thing over land?
Bloody rentiers
Are your really sure that “most of the water that passes through the lake never touches the lake bed” because that doesn’t seem correct to me.
Well no, it is an assumption. But what of the water that never touches the lake bed? It just seems to be an illogical argument that is straight from the capitalist rentier book.
Similar to land, people do not own the entire column of atmoshere that exists above the land. And it is very clear that their ownership is limited to the bed and does not include the entire column of water and atmosphere that exists above the bed.
I think tranzrail tried something equally silly and money-grubbing over its rail lines some years ago.
I wonder whether there is some fuzzy-wuzzy thinking going on in Tuwharetoa land. A few weeks ago someone there (I think) was bemoaning the first-in-first-served principle under the RMA that operates when allocating the country’s resources. Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle. Perhaps they need to get some sea air to clear the fuzz and the wuzz.
I don’t like your term fuzzy wuzzy so please cease using that insult.
I would say all of the water touches the lake bed at some point so all good.
You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.
Perhaps they need some sea air? Why don’t you leave them alone instead of the bullying, snide, nasty putdowns vto or are you just feeling mean this morning.
yeah nah Marty
the culture apart from a few local variances arrived fully formed with the first Pasifikans. Very little actually developed here indigenously.
Choose any indicator you like, language, dress, customs, traditions, gods…
But i still afford 1st nation status, with all sovereignty rights conferred, to Maori even if you are a multitude of disparate tribes sharing a common aesthetic masked as a united people.
finders keepers
though you still shouldn’t have signed that bloody treaty eh. 🙂
polly – that ‘fully formed’ argument is the same as ‘not first here’ except the other way round. We can be Pasifikans and have our own cultural identity – it is not mutually exclusive. I think we are becoming more united 🙂 and true about that treaty bro, so trusting and so let down.
Just saying if the proviso of indigineity is that the culture developed here, but it didn’t, then it calls into question the nature of indigenousness ?
Hasn’t a unique kiwi culture developed more here since the Euros arrived, but are they indigenous?
I’d stick to the rights of finders keepers and possession being 9/10ths of the law 🙂
If pollywog is right then at some point the multiple cultures of NZ must become one culture (in one sense) which incorporates those that exist now and then such as the current indigenous one. At that point the indigeneity shifts, does it not, to that next point along the timescale where the ‘new improved’ culture is the reality and the previous cultures drift back in time not forgotten but not used.
We could be at that point now. Surely not too far off atthe most. Or perhaps when that point arrives indigeneity simply stops and no longer exists….
It makes my eyes cross-eyed like looking at concentric rings.
Indigineity only applies in the literal sense until all treaty claims are settled, then its about cultural evolution and convergence.
Fun times ahead, especially when framed by the question…
What does it mean to be Maori ?
He’s not right imo and I find the concept of one culture to be repellant – I love diversity and uniqueness too much.
I don’t mean one culture as in homogeneity, that’s why it was framed with “(in one sense”).
But indigeneity must have moved along that timeframescale for today’s Maori culture to be indigenous, given the difference with the first Maori cultures here. Those original ones have morphed into today’s one through population increase, migrations, time, changed habits, etc , hence the claim to being indigenous here.
But that process must surely still apply. If it were not to apply then indigeneity must stop when cultures change (which leads to todays maori not being indigenous). As such, at some point the indigenous culture of NZ must come to include other arrivals such as the europeans.
I look forward to this point in time, if still around.
I can’t see it being a proviso, maybe an attribute and it did develop here, which answers the ‘calls into question’ bit.
like i said…yeah nah 🙂
“You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.”
You could have quoted my reply, which from memory was something like “that’s not how I meant it at all”, so plenty of distance between myself and the intent of your ignorance barb.
yes you said it didn’t relate to you and your views and therefore wasn’t relevant. Sorry to have not mentioned that.
I don’t really care that much, I’m just cruising with the window wound down, looking for a fight 😆
been there done that haha
In a glowing orb? I bet not 😆
“insult bullying, snide, nasty ”
nope. typical.
and i don’t think your copied piece addresses the principle of first-in-first-served at all. It addresses tangential issues to the principle.
edit: reply to the post of marty mars above
in what way is that tangential – it seems to cover your use of the term.
plus
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/146100.html
noted on the fuzzy wuzzy. inadvertant.
The copied piece refers to understanding and respect for a developed culture lest negative things arise. That is all genuine and credible sure, but it is not the sole consideration in application of the first-in-first-served principle. It is merely one of many factors to consider. It does not deliver a knockout punch.
It smells of framing an argument to support a predetermined position, rather than understanding the pricniple in the first place and then applying particular circumstances around it.
(You may like (but probably not) a couple posts made on open mike yesterday around the constitutional review and the place of te tiriti and others….)
vto said, “Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle.”
I said, “It is a very important concept to grasp and I emphasise it because too often the line ‘first arrivals’ is used to marginalise and denigrate Māori as if somehow in some strange universe they are not indigenous and by not being indigenous, under this worldview, they are not due the rights and respect that indigenous peoples should be given in this world.”
You know by your logic there is no-one who is indigenous because they “all came from somewhere” even though unique and valuable cultures developed.
And as for the silly notion you propose below where some water molecules are supported by the lakebed and others not – you do know they are all, sort of moving around a lot in there – you know in the water itself.
I don’t believe I made any mention over who is indigenous and who isn’t, or what effect such indigeneity has, I merely spoke of the principle of first in first served.
Sure, Maori are indigenous here, that is clear. And sure, people may well do what you intimate there and use it to denigrate. I don’t disagree with you but it still misses the point made in response – namely that such issues are tangential to the principle and are merely considerations in the application of the principle and not determinative.
First in first served is a poorly principle with few good applications in the wanderings of manwomankind across the planet. This was recognised by Tuwharetoa themselves when they recognised its weaknesses in its application in the RMA. They and I are on the same page on that – it is just where it is being chosen for application that was bemusing.
Fair enough – thank you for that explanation.
Oh and on your ‘inadvertent’ use of the term – perhaps stop and think about how that might hurt a group of people in society, that inadvertent language happens all the time and hurts people all the time. I said that your use of that term in regards to this iwi was “bullying, snide, and a nasty putdown” you said, “nope. typical.” The truth is that you are/were wrong and your “nope. typical” was incorrect wasn’t it?
I raise this in some detail because it was typical but just not in the way you thought vto.
I see that marty. Things is there was no intention to insult, it was truly inadvertant. That was why I said nope – at that stage its meaning was still flying around in the wind.
You may well see that it sprang to mind because of its use in distance days past, when it was used to insult etc (not by me I would hope but perhaps by others in my vicinity which was picked up on). Such is the nature of man and the long timeframes that are often required to change flawed ways.
Thanks again vto for your reply.
Yep, a deliberate racist insult. You’re usually far cleverer than that VTO.
And, to go back to your original question, all the water in Lake Taupo is supported by the lake bed. The bed holds the water that later gets used in a profit making business. Fair enough that the owners of the lake bed would want their interests recognised.
Yes it was inadvertant. One of those never-used terms that popped to mind from distance days past and plunked out with no thinking.
As for the bed issue – don’t agree. Just like tranzrail some years ago the claim is unsound and smacks of rentier behaviour that is of no benefit to anyone expect the capitalist. The country is moving away from rentier behaviour so they are running against the grain in attempting to grab it. Don’t blame them though – all’s fair in love and war apparently and it is only what the corporates do themselves, so good on them for giving it a crack.
Only the water on the bottom is supported by the bed, all else is supported by the water below it, just as the air above the lake surface is supported by the lake itself. Quick send a bill to the nearest windfarm.
The water is in that location due to gravity and the higher topographical position of surrounding property, not the lake bed. See how silly it is?
Nope, I don’t think you’ve thought this through properly, VTO. Water is a liquid and water in a lake is a contiguous mass. All the water is supported by the bed, which is actually shown by your example, not disproved by it.
The phrase ‘hydro storage’ just popped into my head. I’m guessing that the claim probably has a basis in the fact that lake bed performs a role in the overall process of generation, even if it’s only storage. It just seems reasonable to me for that to be recognised.
“See how silly it is?”
Yes I do (although probably quite differently than you). But tell me this vto, who put Tuwharetoa in the position where they had to use such silly arguments to reinstate their capacity to maintain their culture and people? And who gave them those tools of argument in the first place?
Personally, I find many Western concepts of relationship with nature pretty bizarre esp this idea that nature is primarily a set of resources for our use (thank-you Judeo-Christian peoples). But we can hardly blame Maori for using and developing those concepts when they’ve been forced to by the dominant culture.
vto, if you turn up with a 750 ml bottle of whisky at my door, how much can I take because it hasn’t touched the sides of the bottle? Your argument makes absolutely no sense. If the water isn’t supported by the lake bed, what happens if the lake bed drops by 100m?
When you load logs on a truck, are only the ones which touch the truckbed supported by it? The springs might argue with you there.
Yes well I’m just trying to apply the logic to this situation whereby logic is spinning down a hot pool whirlpool.
For the water molecule to get to the turbines it needs to go down this path…….. flow down a river some goddamn other place and out to sea, then it gotta drift around over some sea bottoms for an age or two before being lifted to the sky when it gets too close to the surface on a hot day due to wind blowing down off somebody’s mountain range over the horizon. It then finds itself drifting helplessly in clouds of other water molecules with the same dilemma, floating over all sorts of peoples places like my house (I’ve seen them) and lots of other peoples houses and farms and cemetries. Then whoever owns Mount Cook is lucky because all them wee molecules gather together at places like that where it’s mr gravity’s turn. Heshe pulls them back down to the earth where they belong. Water doesn’t like flying. If they are in a Taupo catchment they will fall onto the land and property of individual private people, businesses, government, iwi, nobody, roads, crown, and even people’s own heads. Then, quite tired by now, it wends its way back to where it likes to be – a drain, a creek, a low area, a swamp, a culvert, river, pipe, drink bottle and lake taupo.
i mean …
was a lovely reed though vto
why thanks ghostrider. Hopefully it highlights the silliness of the claim. (or if it is a legit claim then perhaps all landowners should follow suit with same logic) Another one could be put up around wind farms and neighbouring properties too, along with many more.
Yet another scaremongering article in the Herald,,this time by Liam Dann.
At least this NZ Power issue is flushing out who all the neo-liberals are. People need to remember who the defenders of big business are.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10878895
Scaremongering is the only ammo these fools have.
Hooton just said on RNZ that Labour and the Greens had “crashed the share market” with their press conference on NZ Power.
I wonder if they remember the story of Chicken Licken?
Bryan Gaynor another wealthy disappointment.
That would be the brother of Corin Dann? TV1s political editor?
Yep!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10878895
(had to unload the paste)
Anyone get to the New Lynn electorate office opening yesterday?
Yes Ad. Although was late arriving because I got lost… another story. Very nice, spacious office. It was packed to the rafters. Just about every ethnic group was represented. I picked up that David Cunliffe and his supporters are in a good place.
I was also pleased to see Phil Twyford there… and Louisa Wall and Carmel Sepuloni. And for those of us getting a bit long in the tooth, so was Jonathon Hunt.
I would have gone if I’d known, and wasn’t working. Or was it just for NZLP members? Where is the new office?
All comers welcome, you don’t even have to live in the electorate 🙂
I’ve been to Cunliffe’s old electorate office, on the corner of Great North Road and Rata Street. The staff were very friendly and helpful.
They don’t like to be called “staff”, I believe the correct term is “disciples”.
That’s only in National offices.
Or the Exclusive Brethren branches of the National Party at least.
Matthew Hooton is feeling the pressure
Right-wing pundit’s embarrassing performance on radio this morning
From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, Monday 22 April 2013
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
A flustered Matthew Hooton nearly melted down a few minutes ago. He’s usually so calm and in control of himself, but these latest polls, plus the popularity of the Labour-Green electricity price policy, have evidently upset the poor fellow. Mike Williams’ knowing laughter will have infuriated him even more…
MATTHEW HOOTON: [steadily rising tone of hysteria] They’ve crashed the stock market with just a press statement! God knows what they’d be like if they were in office!
KATHRYN RYAN: The stock market has NOT crashed. That’s nonsense.
HOOTON: But, but! aaaaarghhh!…. they, they…
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.
KATHRYN RYAN: They did NOT crash the stock market. That is NOT true, Matthew.
HOOTON: They have CHOSEN to go to the left…politics of envy… [mutter, choke, splutter with indignation]…
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
He also made a comment about it being a wealth destroyer…and Williams told him it was about wealth distribution.
Maybe someone can compile a list of all the effects of NZ Power ( as described by the hysterical right) and make a post based on it…like the list of Key’s brainfades posted today.
Mike Williams gave his best performance yet with some excellent advice to the Labour Party.
Get out there and SELL the policies from now through to the election. Don’t do what you’ve tended to do in the past and that is… assume everyone understands them. THEY DON’T!
Please stop trolling my blog, your messages will now be deleted.
Why on earth are you talking about that on a thread about Matthew Hooton?
Clearly, you’re still as confused as ever you have been.
I wish the housing market could be crashed as easily as Hooton is saying the stock market has been.
I suspect the Hysterical reaction of the Nats also had an effect on the energy companies fall.
Hey Morrissey Breen, please stay off my blog, you have been trolling it, since I started it five years ago, you have also been trolling my posts for the 20 years, starting with usenet in the mid 90’s. (not political posts, but sporting ones)
Its a bit weird, that someone would do this for nearly 20 years, your not interested in a discussion, your trolling, any posts you do at my blog, will now will be deleted.
You made some particularly foolish remarks on this forum. You have provided a link to your blog, which I clicked on. Presumably that is what you WANT people to do.
I felt compelled to comment on a few of your more ridiculously stupid opinions, but you obviously lack the wherewithal to defend your statements. Go ahead and ban me, but bear in mind that I was your only reader.
You have been doing this for 20 years though,You dont find that a bit sick? Again, any comment you leave, wont be read, but will be deleted.
Again, any comment you leave, wont be read,
Well, no, it won’t. Not if it’s on your blog.
Hey Brett, if it’s wordpress blog you can just feed him to Akismet.
Good Lord, felix, that sounds…. ominous. What will this Akismet do to me?
Probably nothing, but it’s not really about you.
It’s about what it will do for Brett, which is make sure he doesn’t have to put up with your trooling.
It’s about what it will do for Brett, which is make sure he doesn’t have to put up with your trooling.
You mean my drooling, surely?
Very interesting Brett.
I’m starting to get the impression that Morrissey is a deeply troubled individual.
We’re all deeply troubled, felix.
Morrissey
You must watch your addictions. Put Brett Dale down now. 20 years of him seems excessive. And sometimes you can never find even a tiny gap to slip your arguments through.
Better play Kiss the Postman with someone more accommodating.
Put Brett Dale down now.
I’ve put down the poor fellow so often that I actually feel a bit guilty.
20 years of him seems excessive.
It certainly does, and it is. Poor old Mr. Dale has doubled the length of time I’ve been on Usenet. Twenty years ago, I couldn’t even turn on a computer.
Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond? That’s pretty cutting edge stuff, Brett, no wonder nobody else comments. I think you should give Mozza a medal if he’s been putting up with that quality of posting for 20 years.
Like I said, its just my wee blog, just my thoughts, not suppose to be cutting edge. If someone is consistently going to the blog, but not interested in the subject matter, then they’re trolling. The fact that he has been trolling my posts over the internet for 20 years about Garth Brooks and sports that anit rugby union (when he has no interest whatsoever in these topics) shows me that he is trolling/bullying.
The fact that he has been trolling my posts over the internet for 20 years
Wrong. I have been trolling Usenet since the end of January, 2003. Before then I never even owned a computer.
about Garth Brooks
Wrong. I have never ever written a single word about Garth Brooks. Ever.
…and sports that anit [sic] rugby union [sic]
You have been reminded several times now that nobody other than you and Murray Deaker ever calls it rugby union.
“Wrong. I have been trolling Usenet since the end of January, 2003.”
Wow, that really showed him. 🙄
Actually, felix it did show him. So there.
I’ve had that impression for a long time now. He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why. Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
Er, actually, Lanth, I heard two of Morrissey’s letters read out, in part, on RNZ shows last week. One of them (about ‘Lord’ Monckton) even made me laugh and not in a roll your eyes kind of way either.
He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why.
You make it seem like I send a flood of correspondence to Radio NZ. I’m sure you intend to create that impression, but of course you are wrong. I occasionally post to Radio NZ, as in roughly once a fortnight, and contrary to your mean-spirited allegation, the majority of my e-mails have been read out on air—whether by Bryan Crump, Chris Laidlaw, Kim Hill, Kathryn Ryan or Jim Mora.
Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
I work hard at writing clear, punchy communications. Of course I welcome the fact they get attention. You think I want to write for an audience of none, like some sad bloggers we know?
Keep it up Morrissey, appears some natives to this blog don’t appreciate your comms to here and elsewhere. We are so tribal methinks.
Thanks for the kind words, my friend. Lanthanide started off as one of my admirers—if I were an Auckland Blues star or a pop singer, like my namesake, he’d have been classified as a “groupie”—but then I started treading on areas that he didn’t appreciate. Since then it’s been all downhill.
Here’s the first time we fell out….
http://thestandard.org.nz/continuing-nuke-crisis-in-japan/#comment-309036
And here’s the second…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30082011/#comment-369493
We argued about the World Cup Final: for the record I was right!
Boy, Moz, the thread in that second link didn’t work out too well for you, did it? Dunno who that Voice of Reason bloke is, but man is he persuasive!
Yeah, he/she kicked my asssss, all right. When I work out who he (or she) was, I’ll give him/her what for.
Oh yes.
Frankly it’s just creepy that you have those links around.
It’s not the comms, it’s the solipsism that comes with them.
“Solipsistic”? This writer, i.e. moi?
lolz
Don’t sweat it Morrissey, the *self styled* here, have little useful to offer, many will never have sent a single letter, email or turned up on a picket, or at a protest, or spoken face to face with a radio host, and MP or any such thing.
Keep at it!
And some will stroke their egos by kidding themselves that they are better than their peers. How is project Onan going, Muz? Any closer to releasing the results?
Interesting comment about ego, from someone who openly attaches his own self to a political entity!
Whats this peers nonsense, we are human beings…
The results of the projects (not mine), are clear for all those who are paying attention to see, its called NZ!
Heal the world, make it a better place…
“Interesting comment about ego, from someone who openly attaches his own self to a political entity!”
Surely attaching one’s self to another entity is a denial of ego?
“Whats this peers nonsense, we are human beings…”
We don’t need your steenkin’ thesaurus …
“The results of the projects (not mine), are clear for all those who are paying attention to see, its called NZ!”
So you aren’t going to be transparent with project Onan after all? Your mates at Lordy Find’em aren’t going to be pleased with you. They’re all about teh openness, or so they say. Which reminds me, did they ever do that expose on the Standard they promised? It’d be fascinating reading.
You could not be more wrong!
No idea about LF!
What is project onan ?
I thought the project referred to must be an ism
“Surely attaching one’s self to another entity is a denial of ego?
You could not be more wrong!”
Ok then, prove me wrong.
“No idea about LF”
“One of our regular readers, Muzza, posted a comment the other day … ”
You do remember that you’re a regular reader, dontcha?
I have nothing to prove to anyone!
You referred to the *exposure of the standard* – Yes LF did an article on TS some time back!
I’m no more invovled with LF, than I am with TS!
I also have heard Morrissey’s letters read out on NZ National.
AND, AND
Guess what the album of the day is today on Mora’s afternoon show?
Morrissey
On now….!
Morrissey = entertaining.
Some who lash him = justified.
Some who lash him = boring.
Some think they own TS = yes.
Those who are perfect = none.
Stick around Morrissey = yes.
Those who are perfect = none.
Jessica Alba?
B’Jesus Morrissey you’re a frustrating bugger……..here I am tryin’ to back you up bro’ and also make a point about the whiff of a slightly sniffy “Beltway” happening on TS. Whadda you do ?
Blow me down………come back all bloody human !
Sorry, North. I meant to say: Mother Theresa.
Did anyone see susan devoy’s interview with JC last week. He asked her who rang her and she said that they did not say who they were and she never found out.They just advised her to ring phone number supplied and there would be a job there for her that she might be interested in.A ghost caller.Spooky. Then again maybe it was discussed over the neighbouring back fence with the fairy at the bottom of the garden.
That’s a load of bullshit, just like the “If you deposit $10,000 into this Nigerian bank account…”
Naughty Chrissy ! Maybe not. Look at the National Party votes for and against……….?
You know it’s the height of fashion to turn your lime green check table cloth into a business shirt with an orange and purple paisley tie underneath a navy two inch wide pinstripe.
Too Gock for me……..
Have to own that one re sartorial. Sorry, from the bottom my garden. Something went wrong in the North.
Then I see the name “undefined” is replaced by “North”. Oh well since I’m here might as well add this: VERY large lime green check under VERY lawyerly two inch wide pinstripe.
Gee that’s interesting, how do you get to be a Dame or Sir, just hang around in the vicinity of the political electrical field and hope you make contact with someone live?
You play some sport really really well for a considerable time (with attendant reflected glory for the nation) OR you make heaps of money and give a smidgen of it away with strings attached OR you inherit a fortune and donate some to the ****** party OR you do exacting legal work for the government laying the basis for privatisation…….Damehoods and Sirhoods…. piece of cake!
PS Do not under any circumstances do long term unnoticed work in an old peoples home or unpaid for the community. No gongs available there.
😀 reverb: wah wah; just a minor burgandy E DS (GT) du Pre concerto
Yeah. We have Sir Roger Douglas but never Sir William Sutch. He mingled in the wrong electrical fields. Ouch.
Though I was just thinking of Sir Angus Tait – someone who was a worthy knight.
Wikipedia – Bronze bust of Sir Angus Tait as part of the Twelve Local Heroes sculpture … He served with the Royal NZ and also Royal Air Force instructing as a Second…
After the war, he designed and built mobile radio equipment, although his first company went into receivership. In 1969, he founded Tait Electronics Ltd, now operating as Tait Radio Communications, Christchurch (New Zealand), with men who had decided to remain loyal and see him through; now his company is considered a world leader in mobile radio. He had persisted in keeping his manufacturing base in New Zealand, with 95 per cent of production exported to 160 countries.
I looked up the Twelve Local Heroes sculptures – The Twelve Local Heroes is a series of bronze busts located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand on Worcester Boulevard outside the Arts Centre to commemorate twelve local Christchurch people who were prominent in their respective fields in the latter part of the 20th century.
I can’t remember if they are still there – this happened in 2009 and the earthquake cluster started end of 2010 I think.
Re knighthoods and so on: at the risk of attack from TS Beltway for reposting one’s letters and what-not on TS, I have to offer this in response to Prism at 15 above. Came to me in a disturbing dream after Shonkey Python excitedly told his acolytes in the media that he’d offered Richie McCaw a knighthood – obviously he was after a “testo-top-up”.
ON KNIGHTS AND DAMES AND OTHER BULLSHIT
I heard a dirty story
It’s truly damned horrific
Shyster Boy Smiley Key
He’s selling honorifics
First he went to Richie
“Cos he’s a real man
Said Shyster Boy to Richie
Help me if you can
Take this crappy medal
It’s such a thing to show
And ‘cos I gave it to you
I’m basking in your glow
Richie he’s a cagey guy
He sussed the slimey game
He yelled out loud “Piss off you ponce…..
Go find yourself a Dame”
Tari proved no problem
For this she’d always itched
“Dame Toryana Torya”
The whispering old witch
“Pita” “Peter” take your pick
Demands he had a few
Pension with the knighthood
And Bee Em Double U
This was getting crazy
And people thought it stank…..
Shyster Boy pulled out the sword
Sir Botox Bloody Banks…..!!!
North
Blistering stuff. That little blister King John of Charmalot will be impervious to it of course. I think he’s one of those boys whose mother loves him as in Lyrics Freak supplied words of Paul Simon – Loves me like a Rock.
Songwriters: SIMON, PAUL
Words & music by paul simon
When I was a little boy, (when I was just a boy)
And the devil would call my name (when I was just a boy)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (when I was just a boy)
I’m a consecrated boy (when I was just a boy)
I’m a singer in a sunday choir
Oh , my mama loves, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me
Like she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like the rock of ages
And loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me
When I was grown to be a man (grown to be a man)
And the devil would call my name (grown to be a man)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (grown to be a man)
I’m a consummated man (grown to be a man)
I can snatch a little purity
My mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me…
And if I was president (was the president)
The minute congress call my name (was the president)
I’d say “who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? (who do you think you’re fooling)
I’ve got the presidential seal (was the president)
I’m up on the presidential podium
My mama loves me
She loves me… etc
Another nice start to the week for National today – not!
There is nothing yet on the RNZ website (or on Stuff or the Herald), but one of the top stories on RNZ National midday news was that apparently a Court this morning has put a stop/hold on the long awaited and not yet completed investigation and report by Paula Rebstock into the leaks from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – a witchhunt that has already cost a quarter of a million dollars.
If I heard it correctly, someone – presumably an MFA employee only referred to as Complainant A (or similar) – has filed to stop the report on the basis that publication would infringe their rights to natural justice.
Watch this space ….
Thanks for the tip, veuto. RNZ print report on it is here.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/133310/court-order-blocks-mfat-restructuring-review
Edit to the above – here is the RNZ link
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/133310/court-order-blocks-mfat-restructuring-review
“…The order comes ahead of a judicial review of that restructuring, which starts next week in the High Court.
…That follows an application by someone known as Applicant A, who is seeking the judicial review.
Applicant A argued Ms Rebstock’s draft report would amount to predetermination of his position and a breach of natural justice.
In the High Court, Justice Dobson agreed and prohibited Ms Rebstock from completing her report in a way that contains any findings against Applicant A.”
Goff has called for the whole inquiry to be abandoned.
Edit – SNAP. Thanks Karol and R0b. Your links went up while I was typing.
Two interesting GCSB-related articles:
Phil Taylor in today’s NZ Herald writes about how Key’s new spy laws are comparable to Big Brother. The article begins:
Hugh Wolfensohn left the GCSB employment in february as a kind of persona no grata, after being there 25 years. He was put on gardening leave because of his role in the illegal operations relating to Kim Dotcom.
As a former government employee that story sounds familiar. It usually means the department or agency is on the backfoot for some reason and they immediately cast around for a “scapegoat”. It has been reported ‘Mr Wolfensohn’ was overworked and understaffed and that has to reflect back on both the agency bosses and the govt. of the day.
It is called a cover-up.
Exactly, Anne – scapegoat and cover-up.
He didn’t get a sausage when they rolled him. It’s a serious game when you get into the civil service, as the name is becoming an oxymoron. Beware.
you’ve been talking like the end of the world
sorry I was late, had to see a man about a star…
and on the 8th day…
TAG (fracking representatives) “worse than the worse used-car salesmen he’d ever met” (Ever)
according to one Dannevirke farmer interviewed by Don’t Frack The Bay.
Auckland Airport (and Tourism) are marketing directly to Chinese micro social media (like twitter) and a plugged in audience of 500M; go littlewood, go chicky; Cool Bananas!
just like White-caps
(remember those Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies?)
I’m for the hippopotamus
Watch out
you’rewe’re madIDIOTS
yep.
There’s something mildly illustrative about racists sending “go back to where you come from” messages to the other end of the country. One can’t help thinking that many/most Aucklanders would wish that the racists had followed their or advice.
a few typos lately Flockie; u OK?
The Insult File. No. 1: Hazards001
Monday 22 April 2013
“Give yourself an uppercut you arrogant pissant.”
Insulter: Hazards001
Insultee: Morrissey (i.e., moi)
Forum: The Whaleoil blog
“Give yourself an uppercut you arrogant pissant.”
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/04/a-violent-little-scumbag/#comment-871573385
Morrissey did you happen to hear The Panel today with that bewildered older gent who couldn’t figure out whether he was married to a man or a woman?
I did indeed, felix. That was the renowned but (at least on this occasion) rather bewildered Don Donovan. I thought Michele Acourt and Noelle McCarthy were both remarkably restrained and good-humoured in their treatment of him. I’m not sure that he was entirely genuine in his befuddlement; in the past he has seemed quite tolerant and liberal in his attitudes.
To Morrissey and Felix: you two made up have you ? Lovely !
Apropos your comment at 20 above Morrissey, I steeled myself and (very rare for me) went to SLATER PORN to check out HAZARDS001. Not before warning everyone in the house to bash me with a chair and call the cops the moment I started to froth at the mouth.
Well, I did, and they did, and I’ve got a bloody great egg on my noggin. Still, I am grateful. Fortunately the cops accepted my explanation and they’ve gone.
But what utter OBSCENITY on SLATER PORN !
Tell you, were I still the cute young fulla I was 40 years ago I would consider it very, very, very hazardous to be around HAZARDS001.
HAZARDS001 is absolutely OBSSESSED with anal rape. How I pity HAZARDS001’s monitor and keyboard. And any youngster in proximity.
There must be the most horrific background story there !
I think you’ll find that, like most of the commenters on Slater’s blog, it’s Slater.
True ? Well, there’s a 10 times tragic story.
Michael Jackson takes a little boy out for a walk in the deep dark woods late one night. Finally, trudging miles from anywhere, the young boy, totally scared says, “It’s so dark and cold, and these trees are so frightening”
Jackson replies “you think that’s scary, but I’m the one who has to walk back by myself.”
I CHALLENGE YOU ! – TAU HENARE – NATIONAL PARTY LIST MP – I CHALLENGE YOU !
Tonight, Tuesday 23 April 2013, I’ve watched a replay of Native Affairs Maori Television from Monday night.
I understand that your vote is all that’s needed to progress Mana’s Feed The Kids.
I URGE YOU TO VOTE FOR IT !
If you intend not to do that I CHALLENGE YOU to come to Kaikohe for korero with me. I can be found most days at the Kaikohe District Court. I’m not gonna give all my details here but all you need to do is to ask at the court office where to find a tall, skinny, early 60s, balding, sometimes grumpy Pakeha. First name starting S. Alternatively you might check with the young Maori fullas you’ll see wandering up and down Broadway Kaikohe, no jobs. If you’ve got the balls to come and have that korero, you’ll end up doing your duty and voting right.
You see Tau, rightly or wrongly I have this view of you: you’ve been an MP 1993 to date, apart from ’02-’05. So that’s 17 years in Parliament. During that time, in which you’ve paddled in three different waka, you’ve pulled, let’s see, average $150K a year. Mate ! That’s $2,500,000. Two and a half million bucks. And throughout that time you’ve been as useless as tits on a bull, sorry. Here you are saying that we don’t need Feed The Kids ? How the fuck would you know ?
Kaikohe where the median income is $17,000 dollars a year. Let’s see – 17 by 17. Oh Jesus how handsome is that – $289,000 over a whole generation. A little over 10% of what you’ve had. And you’re not gonna do the decent thing ? Because Shonkey Python says “Nah !” ?
Tau, I’m gonna say this. In the 9 years I’ve worked at that court in Kaikohe, me, the Pakeha, he’s done twenty times for your people what you have. For maybe one quarter what you’ve pulled. Legal aid ain’t flash. But that’s algud. For this reason – your people and me have given to one another. Actually they’ve given much more to me than I’ve ever given to them. Aroha. Whanaungatanga. You know about those ones Tau ?
YOU DON’T ANSWER THE CHALLENGE TAU……..YOU GOT NO BALLS. KIA ORA. KEEP ON SUCKING TE PUTEA.