Open mike 23/06/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 23rd, 2011 - 96 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

96 comments on “Open mike 23/06/2011 ”

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  1. Jenny 1
    23 June 2011 at 6:23 am

    In an under reported story of how our leaders are cravenly selling us out;

    Free trade it seems, only works one way.

    China puts tariff on NZ dairying despite free trade pact.

    Lincoln University’s professor of agribusiness Keith Woodford estimates that half of dairy exports have been affected.

    Source: RadioNZ

    The government says no retaliatory protections are envisioned for NZ industry.

    In other news the government of economic traitors favours Chinese train builders over the local rail industry.

    So in practice under “Free Trade”, the bigger more powerful country gets all the advantage while the leaders of the small country get to prostrate our workforce and our economy before them.

    But hasn’t this always been the way?

    Even under the Brits in the 19th century when British imperialism was in it’s ascendency the struggle between the “Free Traders” and those in favour of “Tarriff Reform” was played out. Where the strong country Britain set the terms of trade for their dominions, which were then administered by local saptraps. (Just as in modern New Zealand).

    By sucking up to the superpower of the day the local mercantile ruling elite benefit at the expense of the rest of the local population. As a result of this craven foreign trade policy, the local elite, get to lead lives of privilege while the rest of us are turned into unemployed or low paid serfs in our own land and the local Maharajas, (Jonkey and co.), working in with their foreign partners live it up.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.1
      23 June 2011 at 9:57 am

      So in practice under “Free Trade”, the bigger more powerful country gets all the advantage while the leaders of the small country get to prostrate our workforce and our economy before them.

      Yep and that’s why we’re worse off now after three decades of neo-liberal policies. The economists even know that the smaller economy in the relationship will always be worse off.

      By sucking up to the superpower of the day the local mercantile ruling elite benefit at the expense of the rest of the local population.

      Well, they’re kept in power and are reasonably well rewarded for selling out their country but they don’t do as well as the foreign over-lords.

      • Colonial Viper 1.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 10:11 am

        China is smarter at playing the Free Trade game in their own interests than we are. In fact we are shit at it because we naively believe that there is such a thing as even playing field, everyone gets a fair go “free trade”.

        Please wakeup and grow up NZ.

        • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1
          23 June 2011 at 1:54 pm

          China is smarter at playing the Free Trade game in their own interests than we are.

          If you mean that they’re playing at free trade without actually allowing it you’d be right.

    • Murray 1.2
      24 June 2011 at 7:50 am

      I always thought when Helen Clark was extolling the virtues of the free trade agreement that the Chinese would shit on us somewhere down the line.

    • The Voice of Reason 2.1
      23 June 2011 at 8:14 am

      It’s a funny old world when Ken Mair comes across as the voice of reason, but his description of Hone’s meltdown last night is spot on:
       
      ‘Mr Mair said the change in line-up wasn’t a “cover-up” and Mr Harawira had gone too far.
      “Once again, that’s the style of Hone,” he said. “I was taken back by his rather aggressive style, his swearing. I don’t think it’s appropriate in this type of forum; in particular in front of children and some of our kuia [senior women].”‘
       
      That nicely echoes my comment on the ‘Turia’ post that Hone will lose because of his unparalleled ability to annoy mature voters. The young will support him, but as they’re not on the roll, that’s no help to him now. Maybe, by November, his supporters will get the message and enrol, which could make the vote then closer, but for now, he’s toast.

      • North 2.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 8:45 am

        That bullshitting poacher turned gamekeeper Ken Mair, Vice-President of the Maori Party, needn’t nut off about Hone Harawira using the words “bullshit Maori Party tactics” re Solomon’s failure to turn up at the Tai Tokerau education hui last night.

        The very same Ken Mair of Moutoua Gardens fame, the menacing, shrill hacksaw voiced dork who had the gathered at Waitangi a few years ago pissing themselves at his self-centred “freestyle” haka.

        The idiot who had violent insurgent written all over him, who didn’t give a stuff how many kuia of whatever stripe, or kids, were present when he got off his chain as it suited him.

        Hone says “bullshit” and Mair’s clutching his pearls like some startled Edwardian dowager.

        There’s none like the converted……….for rank hypocrisy that is.

        Away with you Ken Mair…….you egg. You’re not a fraction of the fulla Hone is !

        • The Voice of Reason 2.1.1.1
          23 June 2011 at 10:06 am

          I met Ken Mair on Pakaitore (Moutoa Gardens) during the last days of the occupation in ’95. Despite the tension, the personal attacks he was under, the pressure from his own supporters, he was very welcoming to me and my whanau and took time out to show us around and explain the dispute from his perspective. He was rational, calm and forgiving of my limited understanding of their ties to the river I grew up next to. He was clearly not at all the person maligned in the media or indeed, by you, North.
           
          But perhaps you know Mair better than me or maybe his comment last night just show how far he has come and how far Hone has to go?
           
           

          • North 2.1.1.1.1
            23 June 2011 at 1:32 pm

            Well right back at ya Voice Of Reason………my personal experience of Hone Harawira tells me, using your own words Voice, that Hone Harawira “…..is clearly not at all the person maligned in the media, or indeed by…….” you Voice or by Ken Mair.

            Remains that Mair is hardly one to engage such piety over the word “bullshit”, particularly given that Harawira has never come within cooey of Mair’s excesses.

            A double standard is hardly the voice of reason Voice of Reason.

        • yeshe 2.1.1.2
          23 June 2011 at 2:31 pm

          “……Mair’s clutching his pearls like some startled Edwardian dowager” … best visual of the year so far ! Thank you for the laughter in the grey drear of it all !

    • North 2.2
      23 June 2011 at 9:31 am

      Ah, yeah……..”Mr Out-West Machine Politician Aching To Be An MP” Greg……..

    • marty mars 2.3
      23 June 2011 at 10:39 am

      I hope Solomon is okay – he deserves praise and he is a good man IMO. The voters will vote as they want to vote and that’s the way it should be.

      I back Hone 110% as noted here http://thestandard.org.nz/turia-on-te-tai-tokerau/#comments

    • millsy 2.4
      23 June 2011 at 10:50 am

      The guy’s 56 years old, and a grandfather FFS.

      He really needs to grow up and act his age.

      I really hope he loses this weekend.

      • Deadly_NZ 2.4.1
        23 June 2011 at 12:41 pm

        Hey doofus I am 55 and am the proud father of a 5 week old, just because anyone is over 50 they are not dead. I applaud Tipene for standing up and probably doing something that is probably new to him. And all he gets is ” he’s a silly old man” yada yada yada. Hey Millsy come and say it to my face and I WILL show you where moses bought his beer. fucking tosser.

        • millsy 2.4.1.1
          23 June 2011 at 12:45 pm

          Jesus fucking christ Deadly, I was talking about Hone Hawawira, not Mr Tipene (who IMO come across as far more dignified than Mr Hawawira).

          This is not the first time you have the wrong end of the stick.

          It seems we are crossing swords more often than not on this blog.

          • Deadly_NZ 2.4.1.1.1
            23 June 2011 at 5:34 pm

            Well maybe you should be a little more careful in some of the generalisations you are making ie he’s 56, he’s a grandfather And as PP can also attest that acting our age is one of the last things we want to do. So say he’s a racist shit head or a what ever and I will keep quiet call any other politician and depending on who they are and i may respond, and not nastily. What got my goat was the inference that at 56 everyone should sit back, and rock their grand children to sleep and act our age.

            BTW how is a 56 year old supposed to act like ? what age should i act? you see the endless possibilities in a debate on that fact alone.

            If I hurt your feelings I am sorry.

            • millsy 2.4.1.1.1.1
              24 June 2011 at 9:44 am

              Feelings not hurt – I have had worse over the past 11 years of being online.

              Point taken.

              Still think Hone’s an idiot though.

              56 year olds (or 16 year olds for that matter) should not go into a meeting mouthing off for a start. Anything else, I’m not really bothered.

        • the pink postman 2.4.1.2
          23 June 2011 at 3:03 pm

          Bloody hell! Im eighty and still chasing my lovely wife ,and sometimes catch her.
          However it was Charlie Chaplin who squashed all the old wives tale about us old wrinklies. He was born just around the corner from where I was born so perhaps a bit has brushed off ? hopefully !

          • millsy 2.4.1.2.1
            23 June 2011 at 3:58 pm

            Good to see an old timer such as yourself getting to use the internet/world wide web.

            Bet you never thought you would be using technology such as this when you were younger…

          • prism 2.4.1.2.2
            23 June 2011 at 5:26 pm

            pink postman – Ooh this is good stuff. You can rely on The Standard for lively anecdotes and repartee with style (and pearls). But when it comes to DF it’s pearls before swine!

    • weka 2.5
      23 June 2011 at 12:07 pm

      Reading that article and the party positions…what’s been happening with kohanga reo?

    • Lanthanide 3.1
      23 June 2011 at 9:37 am

      That’s pretty encouraging. The production volumes they outlined, if achieved, will make a big difference to the viability of the industry come oil price shocks.

  4. Draco T Bastard 4
    23 June 2011 at 10:11 am

    Climate of Denial

    In the new ecology of political discourse, special-interest contributors of the large sums of money now required for the privilege of addressing voters on a wholesale basis are not squeamish about asking for the quo they expect in return for their quid. Politicians who don’t acquiesce don’t get the money they need to be elected and re-elected. And the impact is doubled when special interests make clear — usually bluntly — that the money they are withholding will go instead to opponents who are more than happy to pledge the desired quo. Politicians have been racing to the bottom for some time, and are presently tunneling to new depths. It is now commonplace for congressmen and senators first elected decades ago — as I was — to comment in private that the whole process has become unbelievably crass, degrading and horribly destructive to the core values of American democracy.

    And the US does have rules and regulations that, supposedly, control lobbyists etc. I suppose the question now is, are we going to demand that our politicians put in place even stronger rules on transparency? Can’t really expect so from this government as the last time such transparency and regulation was tried we got a faux Democracy Under Attack meme from them that was supported by the MSM.

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    23 June 2011 at 10:14 am

    Goldman Sachs buys into MediaWorks

    Yeah. You read that right. National and Goldman Sachs are just now completing their plans to steal the November New Zealand election.

    I wonder who the lead IB in the sale of our state assets are going to be.

    http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=goldman-takes-13-mediaworks-stake&ScoopSrc=scoopit_latest

  6. Morrissey 6
    23 June 2011 at 10:27 am

    Interesting little confrontation on NewstalkZB this morning (23.6.11)
    NewstalkZB, Thursday 23 June 2011, 7:40 a.m.

    Mike Hosking and Alasdair Thompson vs. Helen Kelly

    Catherine Delahunty’s new Equal Pay Bill has drawn the ire of two of the National government’s biggest supporters: the Employers and Manufacturers Association and NewstalkZB. Time to get one of those lefty pinko commies onto the programme and deal to her, tag-team fashion.

    Whoops! Not only was it was a bad idea, and (as we shall see) badly executed, it never had a chance. Alasdair Thompson up against Helen Kelly? That’s a mis-match made in Employer Hell…

    Helen Kelly begins the discussion by pointing out that the statistics are irrefutable, and show women get lower pay across the board. This prompts Thompson to launch into a windy tirade about the “unreliability of statistics” and the “myth” that women get lower pay. Whenever Kelly tries to talk, he shouts her down, and talks relentlessly. Thompson is aided and abetted in this strategy by Hosking, whose contribution consists of thoughtfully saying “Mmmm, yeah” to show he agrees with everything Thompson says.

    But Helen Kelly is not one to be intimidated and shut down by such behaviour. Last year she faced down the bully-boys and girls from Peter Jackson Inc., South Pacific Pictures, Warner Bros. and the National government. So a windy and incoherent haranguing from somebody like Alasdair Thompson was never going to de-rail her. She finally insists on being heard, and makes him stop…

    KELLY: You can try to talk over me and stop me from speaking, but you won’t succeed. If women and men are equal as you say, why are aged care workers, who do incredibly difficult and responsible work, paid minimum wage?

    THOMPSON: That’s got NOTHING to do with them being women! It’s just an all-woman job, that’s why!

    HOSKING: Mmm. yeah. You can’t argue with that!

    THOMPSON: Look, you have to realize something. Women are different from men.

    HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.

    THOMPSON: They get paid less than men do because once a month they, uh, they have, uh, well, they have “sick problems”.

    HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.

    THOMPSON: They get pregnant, and have babies. And then they have to stay home and look after sick children.

    HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.

    THOMPSON: I don’t like to say this, because it looks like I’m a sexist.

    KELLY: Of course. I’m glad you said it, Alasdair. I let you go on and on with that one.

    Silence. Even the insensitive and brusque Alisdair Thompson realises he has just been horribly and publicly owned.

    HOSKING: Alasdair Thompson and Helen Kelly, thank you very much!
    ——————————————————–
    But that’s not the end of it. Although he has been quite incapable of formulating any response to Helen Kelly while she was on air, Hosking has one more way of getting at her—he can read out any number of hateful texts and e-mails, purportedly from listeners…

    HOSKING: “It seems like a bill rooted in feminist ideology”, says this text. This one says: “HELEN KELLY, WHAT A MUPPET!” And there are many more like this! It’s ten to eight!

    Interesting fact: NewstalkZB’s slogan is “Fair and Balanced”.

    • Carol 6.1
      23 June 2011 at 11:48 am

      Plus @ Anne 11.34am below:

      I’ve noticed this tactic from Nats used alot by their MPs in media debates – they talk over their opponents, interrupt with any old argument they can throw out – which doesn’t matter to them because they don’t allow time for the opposition to respond to point out their factual errors and/or ideological slant.

      Nikki Kaye has used it against Jacinda Ardern in the debates between them on Citizen A – at least, she used it in the first debate, but Jacinda (and Bomber) were wise to it. In the second debate, Jacinda was more proactive about getting her points across, including telling Kaye calmly but assertively not to interrupt when Kaye did so. Kaye looked a little put out and lost when she wasn’t able to bulldoze through with her lines.

      http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1106/S00046/citizen-a-nikki-kaye-jacinda-ardern-debate-2.htm

      Although, this didn’t stop Kaye by claiming, in her final word, that National had a better record and more committment to public transport in Auckland than Labour.

      FFS, as a westie, I noticed the improvement under the Labour-led government in rail transport & station upgrades from the western areas into the city. And National is STILL more committed to their RONS than public transport. Nats think they can swear blue is red and no-one will notice if they talk louder & don’t let the opposition get a word in.

      And as for Kaye repeatedly claiming that Nats were not ideologically-driven…..???!!

      • Morrissey 6.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 12:07 pm

        they talk over their opponents, interrupt with any old argument they can throw out – which doesn’t matter to them because they don’t allow time for the opposition to respond to point out their factual errors and/or ideological slant

        The problem stems from the incompetence or bias of the host (in this case, Mike Hosking). A decent and impartial host would have kept the conversation on track. Hosking made no attempt at all to be fair or impartial; in fact, he slavishly endorsed everything Thompson said.

        Nikki Kaye used it in the first debate, but Jacinda (and Bomber) were wise to it

        I’m impressed by Jacinda Ardern. She’s tough, and regularly shows up Simon Bridges as shallow, vague and poorly prepared. On National Radio last year, Bomber politely but persistently challenged some false statements by Murray McCully’s vile ex-squeeze Michele Boag, reducing her to spluttering incoherence. Obviously Boag doesn’t come across many people brave enough to take her on.

        • Jim Nald 6.1.1.1
          23 June 2011 at 12:47 pm

          This is blatant chauvinism and prejudice openly showing their real faces.

          Can someone castrate this Thompson guy please ?

          “Women earn less due to periods – EMA boss”
          http://www.3news.co.nz/Women-earn-less-due-to-periods—EMA-boss/tabid/423/articleID/216183/Default.aspx

          What are the grounds for filing a BSA complaint against Mike ‘Mmmm yeah’ Hosking who effectively encouraged the dissemination of such bad view and attitude by failing to poke and probe Thompson ?

          • Lanthanide 6.1.1.1.1
            23 June 2011 at 1:09 pm

            You can file any BSA complaint you want, whether there are grounds or not. The BSA then review it and judge it.

            I filed one against The Edge for promoting pot at 8:20am when I was driving to work. The authority said it was very close, but on balance they decided to reject the complaint.

            I think if I had pointed out that they were exerting significant amounts of peer-pressure on a fellow radio worker to eat a cannabis muffin and that this was a bad example for children, that they probably would have upheld the complaint. Unfortunately I didn’t consider that angle until after I’d sent the form off.

            • Jim Nald 6.1.1.1.1.1
              23 June 2011 at 1:24 pm

              Well, I’ve been wondering if I have to pray in the right words to the BSA.

          • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.1.2
            23 June 2011 at 2:11 pm

            http://www.bsa.govt.nz/general-complaint/

            Complaint form

            • Jim Nald 6.1.1.1.2.1
              23 June 2011 at 5:05 pm

              Cheers. I’m thinking that I would be better off posting my used tampon to Thompson, if only I were a menstruating woman.

    • Carol 6.2
      23 June 2011 at 1:32 pm

      Wow! And Thompson is now saying that

      The EMA supports and promotes equal pay for equal productivity no matter a person’s gender, age, or ethnicity, his statement said.

      “It should not matter if a man or a woman is off work on sick leave more than others if their output is high they should be paid highly,” he said.

      “And if a person’s productivity is more or less than someone else, that will be recognised in their pay. It’s a pity if saying this is not PC.”

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5182270/Womens-sick-day-comments-outrage

      Wow! So Thompson doesn’t support a youth wage then?

      • Jim Nald 6.2.1
        23 June 2011 at 1:50 pm

        The thing for Thompson to do … the thing for Thompson – who is a man who doesn’t have “sick problems”, doesn’t get pregnant and have babies, doesn’t have to stay at home and look after the sick – is to apologise for the statements he had made and resign.

        Has Alasdair got the balls that he finds so superior for having as a man?

        • Jim Nald 6.2.1.1
          23 June 2011 at 2:33 pm

          And now Alasdair Thompson provides an excellent demonstration in how not to really apologise:

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5182270/Womens-sick-day-comments-outrage

          • Lindsey 6.2.1.1.1
            23 June 2011 at 3:34 pm

            I didn’t breed and am well menopausal. Where is my pay rise then Mr Thompson??

        • the pink postman 6.2.1.2
          23 June 2011 at 3:19 pm

          This guy Thompson is a typical Right-Wing ignorant loud-mouth.For years now he has been calling for Youth rates , Lowering the mininum wage and attacking unions. Perhaps now is the time for workers to get even. Lets all demand his resignation and bar him from any simular position. Jim N you mention Michelle Boag well there’s the answer put him on a island with her and a diet of viagra . bloody hell just imagine being embraced by her ? Mind you imagine some poor woman being embraced by Thomson.

          • Colonial Viper 6.2.1.2.1
            23 June 2011 at 3:24 pm

            I loved Thompson at the Labour Conference last year saying that we should follow the example of Ireland and axe our company tax rates because Ireland had done so well from it, if you ignore the last few years.

            He actually said that shit the dumb bastard.

          • Jim Nald 6.2.1.2.2
            23 June 2011 at 3:34 pm

            In that scenario and if Boag is well over the reproductive age, the gene pool for the future is safe.

            However, that means the gene pool would be more valuable and so please don’t tell John Key or he will sell that.

      • Treetop 6.2.2
        23 June 2011 at 4:03 pm

        I would like to ask Thompson what research he has carried out regarding menstruation and productivity?

        51 is the average age of menopause. I suppose he has a different comment for women over 50, slow due to declining reflex as a result of the ageing process.

        Does anyone know if Thompson smokes, because smokers can be targeted as not being as productive as non smokers? Obese people have been targeted as well.

    • millsy 6.3
      23 June 2011 at 4:02 pm

      Thompson is a fucking douchebag who thinks he’s in 1911, not 2011.

      The crap coming out of his mouth doesnt suprise me in the slightest. He (as well as his boyfriends Lowe and O’Reilly) think that all workers are somehow expendable, to be thrown away on a whim.

      If Helen Kelly was even remotely her father’s daughter, she would have a picket line outside the studio (and his work) lickety split.

    • Jum 6.4
      23 June 2011 at 4:03 pm

      Helen Kelly certainly won that round. Women, all around New Zealand in Australia and globally will be sent this piece of information from any number of women who are appalled at the idiots Thompson and Hosking’ behaviour and who will now realise that while they were putting aside the feminist mantra thinking most men actually liked, respected and wanted them to have equal pay/pay equity, they now know that is, was and will always be a lie.

      Women, if they don’t want to deserve the unproductive tag that these men have given them, will ensure that they think very carefully come election time knowing now as they do that Thompson and Hosking, not to mention John Campbell and Paul Holmes are on the side of John Key and Steven Joyce the two men of Hollow Men fame and with neo-conservative contacts globally and with their own agenda for taking away the few rights that women own at present, by reducing women’s safety through closing down refuges, reducing their children’s income which is what the benefit is directed at thereby forcing them to stay with violent partners and thereby having no independent voice to state their needs and to demand real equality.

      By directly forcing women into unemployment, this government has a cheap, desperate, voiceless workforce at the mercy of conservative cruelties and and cruel treatment at home if they are unfortunate enough to be forced to stay in an unwanted relationship like that.

      Once again we have a backlash against women; once again women are called upon to stand up and fight back.

    • prism 6.5
      23 June 2011 at 5:40 pm

      Morrissey – NewstalkZB – fair and balanced? Interviewer has blonde hair and is a plonker who specialises in planking? Were you listening to Mary Wilson interviewing Thompson from the employers group? He is too grand to have his spiel interrupted to actually answer her question. And is affronted when she persists.

      He repeated his comments and says he knows from his own, and others experiences, of women who have monthly time off. And of course they have a propensity to have children (my words). Mary wanted to know how many, what percentage, need extra time off monthly. He is a leader in the employers group and he doesn’t bloody well know. He has no personal, particular to NZ, or general statistics. I think such remarks are rich coming from people in good comfortable situations. They don’t want to recognise that having babies is part of life, creates future customers if that’s how they judge everything, and finally that once they, now enjoying the good things in life, were once babies themselves. And then women are generally being paid less than men, which could be argued was reasonable because of extra time off.

      • Morrissey 6.5.1
        23 June 2011 at 11:01 pm

        Morrissey – NewstalkZB – fair and balanced?

        Another of their slogans is “Tune Your Mind”.

        And that is not a joke.

  7. NickS 7
    23 June 2011 at 11:23 am

    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/women-s-monthly-problems-reduce-productivity-ema-boss-4258057
    /facepalm

    It’s still discrimination when you use a person’s abilities to rule them out for getting paid the same for the same freaking work, even more so when there’s a majority of women who don’t have serious period problems. Plus, expecting females to always “take care of the kids” is likewise sexist, as it paints it as being a solely female role, instead of something guys can do just as well (if they actually get over teh stupid man myths and do it that is).

    And the money quote:

    “I don’t like saying this because it sounds like I’m sexist but…”

    Sheesh, just come out and admit it, instead of the usual pathetic “I’m not x, but…” that is used to oft in an attempt to excuses one inability to overcome ones racist/homophobic/sexists/feminazi*/transphopic biases.

    But hey, it’s an old white dudely dude who heads up a club of mostly dudes, so how could he possibly be wrong?…

    /sigh
    ________________________________________
    *i.e. the feminists who treat trans, gays, bi’s and heterosexuals as crap, often with a side of treating sex workers as human scum. see “womyn born as womyn” for the keystone example along with the backing ideas. Doesn’t refer to the porn wars due to the fact that monolithic descriptions are failtastic due to the myriad real issues involved.

    • Carol 7.1
      23 June 2011 at 11:53 am

      I’ve read that men think about sex every minute or so, and more often than women. I think their pay should be docked because they are just not keeping their minds on the job.

      • Jim Nald 7.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 12:19 pm

        If Alasdair Thompson puts Michelle Boag on an aged care job, on the minimum wage, what are the chances that Boag will have the part of anatomy which Thompson values so much being docked?

      • prism 7.1.2
        23 June 2011 at 1:15 pm

        LOL Carol

      • NickS 7.1.3
        23 June 2011 at 2:02 pm

        Hehehehe…

        + 1n hours pay docked for every porno-mail they send.

    • weka 7.2
      23 June 2011 at 12:19 pm

      The use of the feminazi term in your post confuses issues. Not only is it invoking Godwin’s Law in respect of feminism failures and trans culture, but it’s a term used by the racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobics (that you refer to in the same sentence) as a way of undermining the good stuff that feminism does.

      • NickS 7.2.1
        23 June 2011 at 1:59 pm

        And you’re ignoring the major problems within feminism that lead me to re-appropriating that term for a slightly better use, then there’s the white, non-disabled, cis face of some of the more mainstream fractions of feminism, not that they’re as problematic as the feminazis, more varying shades of frustration. And while teh term is loaded, I’d rather re-purpose it to a much better end than let the anti-feminist fucktards lord over it

        Mind you, I do have troll blood coursing through my veins, so yeah.

        • weka 7.2.1.1
          23 June 2011 at 2:19 pm

          I’m not ignoring those problems (I think they need to be critiqued and sorted, although my strategies would be boldly different than yours), I just think appropriating the term in the way that you do creates confusion not clarity.
           
          I do take your point about troll blood though.

  8. Carol 8
    23 June 2011 at 11:30 am

    Campaign to keep Public Libraries free:

    http://kapitiindependentnews.net.nz/home/keep-libraries-free/

    The campaign was launched by LIANZA — the New Zealand libraries’ national association — last month. It aims to raise the profile of the issue in the General Election campaign this year.

    I definitely support this, especially because:

    “Charges would be a personal barrier for many and would restrict libraries supporting all members of the public to be well informed.

    “A well-informed, educated population brings economic benefits to the whole country, so it’s regressive to restrict libraries’ ability to support such a positive social outcome.

  9. Anne 9
    23 June 2011 at 11:34 am

    Yep. Same sort of thing happens most Wed. mornings with Steven Joyce and Annette King. King rarely gets a chance to finish what she’s saying before Joyce shouts over the top of her. More often than not she’s replying to a direct question from Hosking but does he intervene and shut Joyce up? No – hardly ever anyway. Just lets him get away with it.

    It’s bully boy tactics and I believe part of the reason these Ministers (and their mates) get away with it is because todays crop of media types are scared of them… scared if they stray too far out of line they will lose their positions and prospects. I’m starting to pick up some real parallels with the Muldoon regime when journalists and reporters were overtly terrified of him. This time around though it’s not just one person, but a collective group of them.

    oops: meant to be reply to Morrissey

    • Morrissey 9.1
      23 June 2011 at 12:13 pm

      Joyce is a very smooth and competent operator, and King handles herself well in those exchanges, I think. But Hosking really is a disgrace; he makes no attempt to be even-handed or even to ask probing questions.

      The worst bullying, though, happens on Drivetime with Larry Williams. Compared to Williams, Hosking is indeed “fair and balanced”.

      No, not really! Hosking’s terrible. There are some intelligent and hard-working presenters on NewstalkZB, but they are few and far between, and they do not have the prime spots. That’s no accident, it’s company policy. Former CEO Bill Francis said that he preferred extreme right wing hosts like Leighton Smith and Paul Holmes because they were “more entertaining” and “easier to understand”. Naturally, he gave no evidence to back up these statements.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.2
      23 June 2011 at 3:58 pm

      The only way the RWNJs can win the debate is to try and drown out everybody else. If they left it to actual debate on merits and facts they know they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on as nothing they say is related to truth.

  10. Jim Nald 10
    23 June 2011 at 12:56 pm

    170,000 jobs = Aspirational or Bullshit? You’re spoilt for choice.

    And, coming up next, even the military is losing jobs:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5182350/Hundreds-of-military-staff-face-redundancy

    You would have thought that Christchurch needs help ?
    Can this government see dots to join ? Any dots at all ? Hello HELLo ?

  11. Oleolebiscuitbarrell 11
    23 June 2011 at 1:48 pm

    I like the way the Standard Icon looks in the address bar. To me, it looks like a hamburger. This makes me happy.

  12. Carol 12
    23 June 2011 at 2:33 pm

    So the Speaker has just ruled that Joyce is justified in using the term xenophobic in response to Labour’s questions about the rail engineers, asset sales, and not supporting Kiwi workers and businesses over foreign ones because, according to labour, foreign interests will shift profits overseas. The justification given by the speaker was that Labour used an equally emotive term in the question…. the term being privatisation.

  13. Colonial Viper 13
    23 June 2011 at 2:40 pm

    51 minute company delay in raising Pike River alarm, Mine Rescue not allowed access

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733977

    Funny how this gets revealed on the same day as the Christchurch housing buyout package

  14. the pink postman 14
    23 June 2011 at 3:29 pm

    To my fellow lefties out there I need a bit of infrormation regarding some statistics .What was the unemployment figures under the last labour government as against the Nats. Plus what was the sickness benifit figures.

    No nutty replies from the Right please.

    • McFlock 14.1
      23 June 2011 at 4:37 pm

      Not sure exactly what you’re after, so here are some good places to start looking.

      Statistics NZ table builder quarterly unemployment figures from1990

      Statistics NZ table builder Annual Household income from 1998 (select “govt transfers”)
      Ministry of Social Development benefit stats page (the current one is only from 2000, but the sickness benefit sheet on the 2004 page has 10 year trends going to 1994.).

      You might also want to match unemployment rate or benefit levels with quarterly gdp – it’s always looked like an interesting project to me, but I haven’t had the time. Doesn’t quite intersect with my current field 🙂

  15. jackal 15
    23 June 2011 at 4:57 pm

    No Confidence

    Steven Joyce was asked some hard questions today by Labour Minister of Communications and Information Technology David Cunliffe concerning Nationals Privatisation plans for New Zealand’s SOEs. Once again the speaker of the house Lockwood Smith came to National’s rescue. Lockwood argued that Joyce didn’t have to answer a question because the Minister disagreed with the word “Privatisation.” What utter Bullshit!

    • Carol 15.1
      23 June 2011 at 5:03 pm

      Lockwood equated privatisation with Joyce’s use of xenophobia, and said they were both emotive terms. But Joyce’s claim that opposing asset sales on sovereignty issues is xenophobic doesn’t wash… nevertheless, it’s the line NAct is peddling.

      • Colonial Viper 15.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 6:03 pm

        Bullshit right wing constraining of the English language.

        The heart of the Left is in emotive rallying cries, and it makes sense that National would want the language of cold hard rational but false neoliberalism to rule instead.

  16. jackal 16
    23 June 2011 at 5:42 pm

    Since when is the word Privatisation out of bounds… because National says so? Calling somebody xenophobic is entirely different, and Anette King rightly stood up for herself. If the Government can’t even get these simple facts right, it’s no wonder New Zealand is in such a mess.

  17. prism 17
    23 June 2011 at 5:47 pm

    Carol – Perhaps Lockwood should provide a list of words inappropriate because they have emotional contexts.
    I can think of Beemer, babies, going forward, at the end of the day, sheepskin, exchange rate, oh lots just off the top of my head. I think there are 72,000 head words or such in my dictionary. Perhaps he should work through it alphabetically and produce a banned list of yucky words.

    • Carol 17.1
      23 June 2011 at 6:02 pm

      Exactly, jackal & prism. Saying privatisation is an (negatively) emotive word is totally (right wing) ideological on the part of the Speaker.

      I’d also add, kicking the tyres, ambishoush for New Zild, mum and dad investors, more 100% pure than…….

      • Draco T Bastard 17.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 7:34 pm

        Saying privatisation is an (negatively) emotive word is totally Political Correctness gone mad on the part of the Speaker.

        FIFY

      • prism 17.1.2
        23 June 2011 at 8:15 pm

        Carol Just another one. I can’t stand hearing people who boost themselves by saying they are ‘passionate’ about something. Sounds totally pseudo.

  18. Jum 18
    23 June 2011 at 6:02 pm

    Asset Sales to foreignors under the radar?

    Two news items, one from Commerce Commission and one showing the real owner’s details. Looks suspiciously like a sale to a foreign company of New Zealand assets owned by the people of Selwyn District and Christchurch City, 100% being sold off to an American company.

    The Commerce Commission press release doesn’t mention it is a foreign company, knowing that Matariki sounds like a New Zealand business enterprise and doesn’t acknowledge that probably the Overseas Investment watchdog should be looking into it, unless the Commerce Commission can keep it quiet. Let’s not keep it quiet. Is this the work of CERA, selling off assets already, assets which could provide productive work for generations of Kiwis AND the dividends. Go figure.

    ‘Scoop >> Business Thursday, 23 June 2011, 9:48 am
    1 – Press Release: Commerce Commission
    Matariki Forests applies for clearance to acquire the Selwyn Plantation Board’s forestry assets
    The Commerce Commission has received an application from Matariki Forests seeking clearance to acquire the forestry assets of the Selwyn Plantation Board.
    Matariki Forests is New Zealand’s third largest forestry company and owns exotic forests throughout New Zealand. It is the largest forest owner in Canterbury.
    The Selwyn Plantation Board owns exotic forests in Canterbury. It is owned by the Selwyn District Council (60 per cent) and Christchurch City Council (40 per cent).
    The clearance application relates to both parties’ involvement in the supply of saw and pulp logs in the Canterbury region. In considering the application, the Commission’s role is to determine whether the acquisition has the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
    A public version of the application will be available shortly on the Commission’s website:

    http://www.comcom.govt.nz/clearances-register

    2 – Matariki Forests, global forester Rayonier’s New Zealand arm, is seeking Commerce Commission permission to buy a swathe of Canterbury forest and farmland owned by the Christchurch City and Selwyn District councils.
    Matariki, the country’s third-largest forest owner, lodged the application to buy the assets of the Selwyn Plantation Board, a council-controlled organisation, owned 61 per cent by Selwyn Investment Holdings and 39.3 per cent by Christchurch City Holdings.
    Matariki is the New Zealand arm of Rayonier, a global forester based in Florida.
    It is unclear whether Overseas Investment Office permission will be required, assuming the Commerce Commission rules the acquisition is not anti-competitive.

    • Rayonier seeks clearance to buy Canterbury forests’

    • prism 18.1
      23 June 2011 at 8:20 pm

      Good post Jum. I wonder if this sort of deal would get so far if Jim Anderton had been Mayor?

      • Jum 18.1.1
        23 June 2011 at 11:26 pm

        Prism,

        Mmm. I hope lots of people are remembering the fact that Anderton was streets ahead of Parker before the first earthquake; now they know that Parker and his followers are simply following NAct’s instructions, just as they will with Auckland’s freed up asset portfolio in 2012 if they get back in.

        Labour needs to return these assets back to a 75% required citizen agreement before selling.

    • millsy 18.2
      24 June 2011 at 7:38 am

      *big loud sigh*

  19. Jum 19
    23 June 2011 at 6:57 pm

    Let’s show this one again. New Zealand assets being stolen all over the place. And now the election.

    ‘Colonial Viper 5
    23 June 2011 at 10:14 am

    Goldman Sachs buys into MediaWorks

    Yeah. You read that right. National and Goldman Sachs are just now completing their plans to steal the November New Zealand election.

    I wonder who the lead IB in the sale of our state assets are going to be.

    http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=goldman-takes-13-mediaworks-stake&ScoopSrc=scoopit_latest

    Reply

  20. mikesh 20
    23 June 2011 at 7:09 pm

    I see that Papandreou has succeeded in pushing austerity measures through the greek parliament. This looks bad for the greeks, though I’m not really qualified to judge whether default would have been worse. Bryan Gould seems think it would have been preferable.

    “If I have to choose between the posturing of politicians and the greed of bankers on the one hand, and the decent lives of ordinary people on the other, there is no choice. The Greeks must default, abandon the euro and make a fresh start.”

    http://www.bryangould.net/id162.html

    • Colonial Viper 20.1
      23 June 2011 at 7:34 pm

      Papandreaou is the inside man for the bankster occupiers of Greece.

      I’m glad Gould has come to this conclusion. Greece is being asked to sell off all its real hard assets for pennies on the pound to gain less than 6 months worth of additional debt to pay its current debt.

      The financial terrorists are in a race to see who can pick up the most valuable Greek assets at the cheapest price now, because a Greek default is virtually unavoidable.

    • Draco T Bastard 20.2
      23 June 2011 at 7:39 pm

      …though I’m not really qualified to judge whether default would have been worse.

      Would be bad for the EU and the Euro(€) (both would probably collapse (Actually, this reminds me of what happened to the Gold Standard in the late 19th century)) but good for the Greeks. Guess why it’s being rammed down the Greeks throat.

  21. prism 21
    23 June 2011 at 8:34 pm

    When taking issue with Mr Thompson, employer spokesperson, why didn’t Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs, put forward the stats that her department should have had to hand if she had bothered to ask them and do her job advocating and advancing women’s lives.

  22. jackal 22
    23 June 2011 at 10:44 pm

    Asshole of the Week Award – Alasdair Thompson

    Alasdair Thompson is clearly a fully fledged asshole! He typifies the chauvinistic old man, which is unfortunately a prevalent disease in this country. It’s mainly caught by older males who believe they’re somehow superior to woman, who they believe need to be subservient to the status quo.