Open mike 24/05/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 24th, 2011 - 61 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

61 comments on “Open mike 24/05/2011 ”

  1. For those who need some humor in this increasingly desperate NZ check out #BrashRaps on twitter.

    • PeteG 1.1

      Most people don’t drop further into desperation each time another unfavourable poll result is released, they may glance and shrug but will just carry on with their lives.

      You should do something about your Political Delusion/Paranoia Disorder.

      Really, the country will keep chugging along ok, sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse, but it won’t fall off the edge of the earth.

      The Camping Collywobbles are just a passing phase.

      • mickysavage 1.1.1

        PeteG is up early today and is off on his morning troll.

        I was talking about the state of the country, stupid.

        You know the better New Zealand that Key promised where kids eat cockroaches to get by. Where third world diseases have appeared. Where unemployment has soared. Where the economy is out of control and we have just had a budget constructed of lies and pixie dust.

        Where our most profitable sector per head pays less tax than our retired. Where our elected representatives ensure they can gouge themselves on luxuries while at the same time they slash budgets for very important programmes.

        You should get your head out of your arse and have a look around.

        And then be very afraid …

        • Armchair Critic 1.1.1.1

          And it’s a country where the PM’s first example of a growth industry is EQC. FFS!

        • PeteG 1.1.1.2

          Where our most profitable sector per head pays less tax than our retired.

          Can you back up this amazing claim?

          • mickysavage 1.1.1.2.1

            Like I said PeteG you should:

            1. Remove head
            2. Put into air
            3. Open eyes
            4. Look around
            5. Try comprehending

            Then ask all the questions you like.

          • lprent 1.1.1.2.2

            You do read the site don’t you Pete? Try this post on the tax payments of dairy farmers called Creaming It.

            I am puzzled how you could have written comments in the post here and here. But then I realized that neither comment had anything to do with the post.

            In that line of thought… Your comment

            Or maybe one of the aims of the blog is to discuss, debate, challenge. No?
            We don’t all have to piss into the same bottle on command.

            The answer to that is that we’d like the comments in a post to be at least vaguely related to that post. If you want to waffle on something else (and where it does not relate to the drift of the threads) then go to OpenMike. It is preferable to my other alternatives.

            • PeteG 1.1.1.2.2.1

              The so-called cream in that post has proven to be a bit curdled.

              But back to being related to that post – is the level or proposed minimum wage rise sensible:
              – at a time of already high youth unemployment?
              – after three difficult years for many businesses?
              – at a time when wage growth is predicted to spurt anyway?

            • RobC 1.1.1.2.2.2

              I think some of us would prefer your other alternatives.

              In answer to your original question, it has just been proven that PeteG does, in fact, have a reading problem.

  2. Armchair Critic 2

    National proposes to invest less in infrastructure.
    Today it’s a cut in improvements to local roads. The proposed cut is at least $60m and may be up to $200m.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/transport/news/article.cfm?c_id=97&objectid=10727451
    Let’s chuck this on to the list of National’s broken promises.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1

      Well, I suppose that’s where some of the $1b in government savings is going to come from. Of course, they could have done better just by cutting the unecinomic RoNS out all together – that would save $10b.

      “The renewal and maintenance budgets are proposed to be held at close to current levels to drive further efficiencies in delivery,” he said.

      If we don’t pay for them it becomes more efficient 😆

      • Armchair Critic 2.1.1

        Possibly this is where some of the savings will come from.
        RONS is a slightly different thing. The RONS projects are larger scale and the B/Cs on these projects are generally much higher (to the point where most of the projects being cut provide a significant return on the money spent). And the projects affected by this announcement still need to be done, whereas the RONS projects are much harder to justify using complex things like logic. So I suppose calling this a cut is unfair, it’s an indefinite postponement.
        Another thing to consider, part of this investment in infrastructure would have had people doing work, getting paid, that sort of thing. Cutting Indefinitely postponing this work means these jobs are lost. Thanks National.

    • Deadly_NZ 2.2

      What about STOPPING the bloody useless Holiday highway?????? A cut in improvements?? they gonna stop painting the green cycleway lane on every highway, and I have seen some (Cycle Ways) that you would need to have a death wish to use them.

  3. Jim Nald 3

    Forgive me if the following topic has already been covered and if I might be repeating it here.

    As a point to compare and contrast the screams against lifting the minimum wage and the so-called austerity push to slash Kiwisaver:

    – what is the Government doing about capping the rise in ministerial pay packets and benefits?

    – by how much are the superannuation schemes of parliamentarians being cut back?

  4. Campbell Larsen 4

    It seems that the govt is happy to give handouts to companies – Tourism Holdings earnings were up after the quake – all those caravans that no one used (but the govt still paid for) made a big difference to their bottom line – now, I wonder which ministers have interests in tourism holdings or related companies….

  5. Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5

    Didn’t Goff look hopelessly out of his depth on the news last night? Labour would only spend $800m on the R&D tax credit (because that is all they have) but Goff had no idea about how they make sure they stayed under this cap. Didn’t know if the credit would be available to foreign owned companies. Two days after announcing his flagship policy he clearly has no idea what it it about.

    What with the most recent poll, maybe Labour has nothing to lose by changing leaders.

    • Campbell Larsen 5.1

      Not as hopelessly out of depth as shonky did on Hard Talk – maybe National should replace him – oh that’s right he is leaving once he has destroyed the country and ‘earned’ his knighthood.

      • Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5.1.1

        Campbell, can you see the difference? What is 53 less 28?

        • Campbell Larsen 5.1.1.1

          58 less 28 is bullshit polling, that’s what it is – people that believe in what they are doing and saying don’t have to point to what other people apparently think in order to make their point.

          • Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5.1.1.1.1

            Unfortunately for Mr Goff, in a democracy, politics is a popularity contest. If people do not like what you are saying, they will not vote for you. So, if Labour wants to ever again get power, they will have to work out how to be more popular.

            This is not a problem Key presently has.

            • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.1.1.1

              Yes, it is strange that people like a proven liar. Perhaps the problem is that the MSM isn’t pointing out that he is a proven liar.

            • Campbell Larsen 5.1.1.1.1.2

              In a democracy it is supposed to be a policy contest, not a ‘popularity’ contest.
              Smile and wave, or sneer and wave as it has become, is not a policy, it is a distraction, and the sooner people realize that, the sooner we will be rid of Shonky and the misguided cult of personality that surrounds this charlatan.

              • Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                “…and the sooner people realize that, the sooner we will be rid of Shonky…”

                That’s Labour’s plan. Hoping people “wake up”.

                I can see the billboards now:

                “Idiot people of New Zealand, stop being stupid. Vote Labour”.

                • Campbell Larsen

                  LOL – it’s people like you that make suggestions that include calling people ‘idiots’ reasonable

                  Though, becuase I’m not into blaming people for being mislead, I would have gone for:

                  “People of New Zealand, stop fawning over the lying asshole that is trying to destroy your future”

                  I’m willing to give you another chance too – though something tells me it will be wasted.

                  Why do all the trolls try and make out like the left think people are stupid? The very reason the left is still in this to win is bcause they know that people are not. People can be mislead by a complacent MSM and a corrupt government – but eventually they will see through the bullshit.

                  If anyone it is National that thinks people are stupid – they are banking on it – because neither their persons nor their policies stand up to scrutiny.

                  • Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                    Don’t you just hate stupid people? Oh, and I think you meant “misled” (twice).

                    • Campbell Larsen

                      Is that that the best criticism you have got? Spelling? Lame bro, lame – how about you turn off your spell check (it’s disabled in my browser currently) and see how well you do.

                      As for hating stupid people, or just people generally – I’m pretty sure that’s you mate.

  6. Lanthanide 6

    Here’s an “insider view” of Goff at yesterday morning’s weekly press stand-up meeting:
     
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/what-s-he-said/5043611/Labouring-the-point
     
    Doesn’t make pleasant reading. It starts of sounding a bit like spin, but by the end of it it sounds like Goff really should be doing better, as leader.

    Perhaps the media’s continued piling on about Labour is a result of Goff’s poor PR handling. Much as we see Key acting like a child in parliament which never seems to filter back into the media, perhaps Goff acting like a child with the media is what they report on.

    • Draco T Bastard 6.1

      They asked him for policy details and got upset that they weren’t told them. Meanwhile, they’re not even asking Nact for policy details, ie, where are the $1b in government savings coming from? How much did they cut each departments budget to get those savings?

      • ianmac 6.1.1

        Exactly. Key says “could loose 6,000 jobs.” Interviewer should say “Prove it Mr Key.” But no.

  7. Campbell Larsen 7

    ‘Insider view’ Lanth? The whole article reeked of shonky love – I agree completely with Goff – if it weren’t for the fact that Duncan is fat and Guyon skinny it would be hard to tell the rubbish that comes out of their mouths apart.

    • Lanthanide 7.1

      “Insider” in the sense that a journalist has described what actually happened at the stand up, instead of writing a story about what Goff said (or didn’t say).
       
      Maybe they’re biased. But it’s still an uncommon report of an apparently weekly tradition.

  8. Morrissey 8

    More evidence of slipping standards at National Radio [from Friday 20 May]

    On Friday 20 May, this writer (i.e., moi) was challenged by a rather confused and uninformed (these traits always go together) but dramatically ambitious joe90. Unfortunately, our friend Joe did not linger long enough to post up his response to my corrections of his quibbles.

    Perhaps joe90 would like to make a reasoned (i.e., no indolent flinging of empty and abusive epithets like “wingnut”) response at his leisure…

    joe’s original post can be found HERE…
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052011/

    And here is the Breen response…

    Nice attempt at dramatisation, my friend. You should approach that tired old codger John Barnett about a screenwriting job; the ones he employs on his movies are certainly not much chop.

    However, while your dialoguing shows promise, you need to pay attention to your understanding of content, which is sadly lacking. I’ll deal with just the most glaring errors….

    1.) Me….what’s contentious, the US position is bla .bla, the Israeli position is bla..bla..
    Actually, it’s the US and the whole world versus Israel.

    2.) Morrissey…..I’m right and all the world thinks so too.
    That is correct. You are trying to scoff at this writer (i.e., moi) as out on a limb; actually, my position is the mainstream one.

    3.) Me…. Palestine is a fuck up but at least someone is trying,…
    WHO is trying, Joe? And who is it that is responsible for it being a “fuck up”?

    4.) …you’re starting to mirror the wingnuts who as long as they get to be on what they think is the right side don’t give a rats about the people on the other side.
    There you go again! It’s easy to throw around empty epithets like “wingnuts”, especially when you aren’t up to speed on an issue. Have you been listening to that penetrating analyst Leighton Smith on NewstalkZB, by any chance?

    5.) Last word to ME.. he may not have met my expectations but Obama winning another term is the first real opportunity since Begin and Sadat for a lasting peace in the region.
    On what basis do you make that statement? Obama has done precisely nothing to stop Israel’s depredations in Gaza or the West Bank. You would know that if you had any familiarity with Israeli and Palestinian politics.

  9. todd 9

    Worst Budget Ever

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/05/worst-budget-ever.html

    Now there was a fair bit of bagging the budget before it even hit the printing press. Many taking their cues from Nationals indication that the 2011 budget would deliver more of the same ineffectual and outdated policy’s that have led to New Zealands financial difficulties in the first place. As the dust settles, the Jackal decided to have a look at Bill English’s baby, and it’s not a pretty sight.

  10. prism 10

    Heard on Radionz 8.20 this morning.
    1 Kiwirail are worried about low use of Gisborne-Nspier railway. By coincidence I am reading a crime thriller and the hero travels by AmTrack. The author digresses into the history of AmTrack – American Track which was underwritten by the government trying to save the railways from collapse after they had backed freight while discarding passengers by offering them deteriorating services, but then freight went to large trucks. Sound familiar?

    AmTrack did offer a service to travellers taking their cars who drive into a rail van enabling long distance travel in relative ease. If we NZ had that service and used it a lot, and also made car purchases too difficult and expensive for young guys, it could slash our road accidents and release the police to work catching crims and trying to turn saveable youth rather than personning road blocks interfering with thousands of people to catch the trace of gold or rather dross hundred or so over the limit.

    2 Pharmac is one bureaucracy that you would think that a NACT government would like and call efficient and effective. The USA medical system is one of the most expensive in the world and not efficient and effective because only heaps of money will give good outcomes and the devil take the (poor) hindmost. Their medicines are so dear that where USA and Canada are close enough to wave to each other, USA people cross the border and buy their medical needs in Canada.

    If we get a PPPPTTA or whatever the acronym for being throttled with USA ‘free trade’, at the cost of losing Pharmac, we lose in almost all directions. They will screw us abroad and at home, and do the highwayman with our pharmaceuticals demanding – ‘Your money or your life’.

    • ianmac 10.1

      Gareth Morgan has written a stirring defence of Pharmac and concern should National trade its independence for a “Free” Trade deal with USA.
      “The drug company claims that Pharmac has failed are based on the fact that New Zealand’s pharmaceutical budget is much lower and is growing slower than other countries. To suggest this is a bad thing completely misses the point of having Pharmac in the first place. If anything this is a sign of Pharmac’s success. …………National shot itself in the food on the whole Herceptin issue. At the time it was a cynical political vote grab, but now it faces the consequences.
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10727573

      • prism 10.1.1

        ianmac – I really enjoyed reading Gareth’s racy style which speaks veritas, no lightweight fluff. Our butter and wool USA – let’s swop for your Harley Davidsons! Now that’s a good idea.

  11. Morrissey 11

    Brave SEAL teams keeping the world safe—from Grenada and Panama
    National Radio, Monday 23.5.2011
    Noelle McCarthy interviews ex-Navy Seal STEPHEN TEMPLIN, co-author of a book called SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper.

    Back on March 8th, when she interviewed the reptilian supporter of grave-robbing and knife-killing, Garth McVicar, Noelle McCarthy struggled to disguise her contempt and revulsion. See the transcript of that interview HERE…
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09032011/#comment-306178

    With today’s guest, however, Noelle managed to keep a lid on her feelings. Her guest was Stephen Templin, an ex-U.S. Navy SEAL sniper. Rather than confront Templin like she did McTheKnife, this time she let her interviewee hang himself by simply outlining what it was he and his brave mates did, and more to the point, who they did it to.

    What they did and do is standard boys’ own, gung-ho stuff—one per cent of applicants get in, basic training is hell, and no SEAL is allowed to tell even his room-mate what mission he’s been assigned to. A Navy SEAL has to be as fit as a professional triathlete, and be able to swim like a fish. Their commanders have to be skilled lobbyists, in order to keep getting funded by Congress, so that they are supplied with the very latest technology—like Stealth helicopters. All very exciting and derring-do.

    And then, we find out just who are the targets of all this training and firepower. Here, the illusions fall apart somewhat. Noelle had the sense not to challenge him, but instead just let him talk, so that the listeners could savour the absurdity of his message.

    Because anyone with a heart, or a shred of conscience, would be appalled by what Templin revealed….

    NOELLE: What kind of missions have you been on?
    TEMPLIN: Well, the big one was Grenada. Everybody wanted a piece of Grenada!
    NOELLE: Mmmm hmmmm….
    TEMPLIN: Then there was Panama! And there’s a lot of problems with pirates in Somalia. Seal Team 6 took down the pirates on that boat in Somalia…”

    So that’s it, then! How lucky the American people are to have an elite force ready and waiting and fully armed and loaded, at all times, just itching to “have a piece” of tiny, defenceless, third world countries.

    Look out, Tokelau! SEAL Team Six could be headed your way soon!

  12. RobC 12

    Quiz Time: Who said this?

    “NZ does not have a debt problem, NZ has a long-term growth problem. NZ is 22nd in the OECD. We lost 79,000 people last year. Our growth is basically anaemic.”

    • Colonial Viper 12.1

      And the answer is?

      • wtl 12.1.1

        I’m guessing Brash.

        • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.1

          Nope, pretty sure that was JKey in either 2k7 or 2k8

          • RobC 12.1.1.1.1

            Draco gets the prize. It was John Key after the Budget 2008 on Campbell Live. His next sentence was “We can run the economy much better and I think NZers should trust us to do that”.

            • Deadly_NZ 12.1.1.1.1.1

              And now after 2.5 years he now have the answer to that statement. You Can’t run the economy better, and we don’t trust you to do that.

  13. Morrissey 13

    Super-Scary Israeli Commandos in Action

    May 16, 2011

    Israel’s military intelligence capabilities are legendary—a tiny country of peace lovers can’t survive amidst a sea of hostile Arabs without such powers.

    Today we witnessed the best of Israel’s elite undercover crack commando operatives in action as they…arrested and beat up unarmed teenagers.

    http://www.kabobfest.com/2011/05/super-scary-israeli-commandos-in-action.html

  14. Labour’s Chch MPs are still putting out their Christchurch Earthquake Bulletins btw. They’re up to 47 now.

  15. Here is the link to a French inhabitant of Tokyo who has been keeping everybody posted about the Fukushima power plant over the last two months. According to him the Government of Japan has just announced that reactors no 2 and 3 also melted down in the direct aftermath of the Earthquake.
     
     

  16. Gawd, Jim Mora is on the radio with a couple of old grumpy men who know everything and insist on voicing prejudices rather than see the nuances.
     
     
     

    • Colonial Viper 16.1

      I like public broadcasting but it needs to be seriously sorted out.

    • Morrissey 16.2

      What a disgraceful show it was. Jim’s guests were Graham Bell and John Dunne, the brother of the M.P. for Khandallah.

      The way they went after that woman from the council was ridiculous. Neither of them listened to a word she said. And neither did Jim, sadly.

      Bell is a hard-bitten old cop who is accustomed to others deferring to his bluster. Only occasionally is he paired up with someone prepared to challenge him. Gordon Campbell certainly did, and Bell got very upset and angry. He forgot that it wasn’t the squad-room at the CIB, and Campbell is not a man to be intimidated. A pity that the same can’t be said for Jeremy Elwood and Chris Trotter, who have both bent over backwards to agree with Bell.

      Dunne is a great, great football commentator—far and away the best to cover Canterbury games in the last twenty years. That’s where his talents end, though. His opinions are conservative, which is fine if there is evidence of some thought behind them. Sadly, there seems to be little, on this afternoon’s evidence. Although he has a marvellous, sonorous voice, there’s not a lot going on upstairs from the mouth.

      I’m tired of these sad old self-styled “curmudgeons”—Don Donovan, Garth George and Rosemary McLeod are three more—and their gouty prejudices. They seem to think their advancing years lend them some sort of wisdom, or authority. As we heard this afternoon with the rabid, cloth-eared attack on the council woman, that’s not true at all.

      • ianmac 16.2.1

        Yes Morrissy. They are depressing. I gave up after 40 minutes. Note that Bell reckons NZers love to see how their society works bt watching his crime show. If that is so, we are all drunken, sleazy, deviants. But not the people that I know.

        • Morrissey 16.2.1.1

          Then you obviously don’t mix with people from ACT or the S.S. Trust.

  17. McFlock 17

    New Horizon Poll showing Lab and Nat coalition blocks “neck and neck”, even though labour still on 26%.

  18. Craig 18

    Christian Right pressure group “Family First” will be holding its annual “Forum on “the Family” in Auckland on July 6, 2011. Will this ‘pro-family’ group be discussing *real* issues of importance to mainstream New Zealand families like housing, social service cutbacks, access to medical services, income maintenance and support, quality public education, affordable food, homelessness and poverty.

    Well…no. It will, however, have New Right anti-welfare activist *Lindsay Mitchell* as one of its *keynote scheduled speakers*. Note that there is *no one* scheduled to provide a balancing perspective on welfare policy from mainstream social service providers at the coalface. If I were the Coalition for Social Justice, I’d email Family First and ask why. I’ve already tipped off Sue Bradford (hee hee hee)…

    Oh, and brave Phil Goff is going to be quizzed on his deviation from social conservative ideological purity (their version of political correctness) when it comes to (deep breath) abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, prostitution, welfare policy etc etc, along with Key. Incidentally, why is Key never this forthcoming with LGBT interviewers, progressive journalists or media outlets?

    (ugh): Forum on “the Family”: http://www.forumonthefamily.org.nz

  19. Craig 19

    Oh, and fundamentalist pop parenting guru Ian Grant and Jim Wallace of the fundie “Australian Christian Lobby,” notorious for ranting and raving against Muslim Australians and same-sex marriage proper on Anzac Day…

    • Deborah Kean 19.1

      AFAIK, Ian Grant is not a fundamentalist! You really have to stretch the meaning of fundamentalist to get it to include him. (In fact I would love to know your definition of fundamentalist)
      Vicky

      • Craig 19.1.1

        He opposed the Hero Parade in the nineties and acknowledges that his stance on ‘family’ owes a lot to US Christian Right groups like “Focus on the Family’. Yes, he is a fundie.

  20. Herodotus 20

    Why is the RWC being touted as being a winner for our economy (now a big loser ecomonic wise) when we are giving money away and jobs that we cannot afford to. Whos country and economy is this and who benefits and suffers from these crap decisions??
    And why has that useless opposition (labour no good for anything) not got hold of these and run with them hard in the media and at the conference. (If they did then why was there nothing when searching on the net)
    http://www.worldcup2011newzealand.com/2011/05/tax-breaks-for-rugby-bodies/
    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/outrage-over-visa-extensions-rugby-world-cup-4186681

  21. todd 21

    Asshole of the Week Award – Edward S. Lancaster

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/05/asshole-of-week-award-edward-s.html

    Not many people would have heard of Edward S. Lancaster. He’s a forgettable kind of guy. Mr Lancaster is the head honcho of an Aussie mining exploration company called Grey Wolf Resources NL, which has recently been sniffing around New Zealands resources. But before we get ahead of ourselves, there’s one thing you need to know about Mr Lancaster, he’s a complete conman and has a long history of fraudulence and deceit. No wonder Mr Lancaster has come out in support of Nationals plundering policies. It appears that birds of a feather really do flock together.

  22. Draco T Bastard 22

    Spanish Voters Reject Austerity

    The usual IMF solution, involving preserving capital at workers’ expense – a package including wage and benefit cuts, less social spending, privatizing state resources, mass layoffs, deregulation, lower corporate taxes, maintaining debt service, and harsh crackdowns on resisters.

    In the 1980s, it was Reaganomics, trickle down, and Thatcherism. Today it’s “shock therapy,” and forced austerity, the same scheme pitting capital against people – disposable workers tossed out for big money’s gain, bankers most of all.

    Sound like anywhere close?