Open mike 25/06/2010

29 comments on “Open mike 25/06/2010 ”

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1. Pascal's bookie 1

   25 June 2010 at 7:20 am

   QOTD: young tories (bless) edition:

   Eyebrows began being raised soon after the election over the role of the Government’s 20-something “ministerial advisers”, mostly recent graduates from the Young Nats. At Beehive meetings, business leaders have been startled to find these youngsters interrupting their own ministers, sometimes even taking over the discussion.

   One foreign government is now said to have raised a formal diplomatic complaint after an “adviser”, still barely shaving, decided to take it on himself during an overseas trip to negotiate direct with its minister, sidelining his own boss. Labour and National have always promoted party activists to Beehive roles above their abilities, but seasoned observers say they’ve never known them to be quite so full of themselves.

   (Source: Granny Herald, weird business liftout section, pge 27. (not online AFAICT))
   • vto 1.1

     25 June 2010 at 9:37 am

     ha ha, being on the other side of an issue and having to negotiate with some young upstart with no experience, surely the thing to do is take advantage for the benefit of your own ends. Play with them like a cat plays with a mouse.
     • Pascal's bookie 1.1.1

       25 June 2010 at 10:48 am

       One would think so eh. But I guess rubbing your opponent’s nose in the shit they brought to the meeting also has it’s attractions.
   • Pete 1.2

     25 June 2010 at 10:57 am

     Malcolm Tucker is a big fan of them in ‘In The Loop’ – worth a watch if you haven’t seen it already.
2. mickysavage 2

   25 June 2010 at 8:49 am

   From Radio New Zealand

   Primary school principals in Auckland are in open revolt against the Government’s national standards in reading, writing and maths.

   In a statement issued on Friday morning, the Auckland Primary Principals Association says the national standards policy is irreconcilably flawed, confused and unworkable.

   It recommends that its members do not attend any training around the implementation of the standards.

   The association says principals who have attended training have very serious concerns about the inability of the trainers to answer crucial questions about the standards.

   It says it will take further action if its concerns are not addressed.

   Though individual schools have declared they will not implement the standards, the association is the first major grouping of principals to oppose the standards.

   It represents primary school principals from Franklin to the Hibiscus Coast.

   Says it all really.

   This is what happen when you insist on slogans taking precedence over informed analysis.

   Link is at http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/06/25/12480a9e0dc8
   • Lanthanide 2.1

     25 June 2010 at 9:31 am

     Just need a few more groups doing this, and Tolley is going to be in hot water.

     captcha: dump
   • jcuknz 2.2

     25 June 2010 at 10:51 am

     Or when faced by folk with a bee in their bonnet on a matter …. that applies both ways and I’m pretty well equally suspicious of both sides of the debate. It cannot be just the Minister but a fight between headmasters and education department staffers?
     • ianmac 2.2.1

       25 June 2010 at 11:26 am

       jcuknz: If the Minister had presented a background planning and evidence that National Standards were well researched there would be no problem getting cooperation from schools. There wasn’t and isn’t.

       I have heard that the Training programs reflect the absence of good planning and substance that could translate into action. Schools have to pay out of their own scarce funds to pay for attendance at the Training meetings. If they are poorly run (probably because the people running them are in the dark as well?), why waste the kid’s money?
     • mickysavage 2.2.2

       25 June 2010 at 11:31 am

       Not at all.

       The staff charged with doing the roll out have been busy trying to make sense of the policy and have managed to change it to something different to what the Minister thinks it says. The teachers response is that they may as well just continue to use the current PAT and ASTL tests.

       Privately I bet the staff agree.

       The Minister is on her own here …
3. joe bloggs 3

   25 June 2010 at 10:01 am

   There’s more to the Hubbard statutory management situation than met the eye at first sight.

   It now emerges that one of the members of the Securities Commission which recommended Hubbard be placed in statutory management is also the brother of a businessman placed in receivership by South Canterbury Finance last year.

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/3851886/Hubbard-case-conflict-of-interest-raised

   Is the statutory management the result of spiteful payback rather than a genuine action?

   Only time will tell however it’s evident that the attacks on Alan Hubbard that have been voiced
   may be premature.
   • vto 3.1

     25 June 2010 at 10:13 am

     There was also a Botherway who worked at SCF. Smells very stoogeish.

     In addition, it is suspected by many that this will result in yet another backlash against this govt. A smaller scale version of the ecan backlash.
     • I dreamed a dream 3.1.1

       25 June 2010 at 10:16 am

       Family feud?

       Remember Dallas?
     • Pascal's bookie 3.1.2

       25 June 2010 at 10:54 am

       parrently it’s more to do with the fact that he transfered ownership, to some lawyers, of some assets that were a lrge part of the reason SCF got it’s gauranteed depositor in-sewer-ants thingie.

       Seeing he no longer owns the assets, and he’s backstopping SFC, that backstop doesn’t look so solid as it used to, leaving the taxpayer on the hook. Govt might be interested in why that happened I suppose…
       • vto 3.1.2.1

         25 June 2010 at 2:37 pm

         oh. bery interesting..
4. pollywog 4

   25 June 2010 at 10:02 am

   Haven’t been following the latest on the PEDA LTD debacle. So what, is that it, done and dusted now ?

   Blinglish lies and squirms his way out of another embarassing ‘hand in the cookie jar’ moment ? Only this time dishing the bikkies out for his brown ‘mates’ while claiming it’s for the invisible Pasifikan underclass yoof.

   Everybody STFU now, move along, nothing to see here. But what happens if the community don’t support PEDA and don’t buy into their bullshit schemes ?…*sigh*

   I guess the thing that pisses me off most, is that the powers that be think we need patronising in this manner. How very fucking condescending to think we can’t self educate ourselves and utilise established training providers to achieve without a govt handout to some of our “successful” business leaders like PEDA LTD to dish out in Pasifikan styled schemes that will essentially duplicate services.

   The problem as i see it isn’t that the training and education systems aren’t in place for us to capitalise on. Its that beyond that, theres a lack of ‘friendly brown money’…ie venture capital for Pasifikan businesses to start up, branch out and employ people and that young Pasifikans are largely ignorant to existing opportunities. The funny thing being, that what Blinglish has gifted to PEDA LTD is essentially venture capital.

   Only what PEDA will produce as a business won’t be actual jobs, it’ll be another level of welfare dependent, bureaucratic bean counting and box ticking for the gov’t to reel off in parliament as having supported Pasifikan intiatives without having gotten down and dirty with what the real problems and needs are in the community…creating jobs and educating the youth to existing opportunities.

   And whats really laughable, is that by gifting this money, the only opportunity to branch out and employ people will be done by franchising the PEDA brand to other fly by night PRIVATE Pasifikan companies in other centres to aspire to.

   Like i said..nice work if you can get it. Only some of us don’t want it like that. We’d rather earn it by good old fashioned hard work and gaining the respect of our peers, knowing that we did it without being patronised or pitied for being Pasifikan.

   Yet some of us do want it exactly like PEDA LTD has. Backroom deals by good ol boys done with a nod, a wink, a shake of some very greasy hands and publically sealed by sharing a coconut cup of symbolic kava.
   • ianmac 4.1

     25 June 2010 at 11:18 am

     One of Bill English’s lines is that “We are doing something concrete to help uneducated, unemployed Pacifikan youth, so if you find fault with that plan then you must be against helping those youth.” Really? I would have thought that having a transparent contestible well planned project would be more likely to help?
     Very strange how interest seems to have evaporated.
     • pollywog 4.1.1

       25 June 2010 at 12:49 pm

       I wouldn’t trust anything Bill English says. HE ain’t doing shit.

       What he is doing, is giving away 4.8 mill to someone else to try and help ignorant jobless Pasifikan yoof and is now trying to wash his hands of the whole debacle !

       And maybe PEDA LTD will help…who knows ?

       …but you can pretty much guarantee only after they’ve finished helping themselves and helping National with hi profiling a few token freeloading Pasifikan freshies earmarked for higher honours in the party list

       I cant wait to see what concrete purchases Bill has made and how many jobs this will create.
       • prism 4.1.1.1

         25 June 2010 at 5:59 pm

         Perhaps the concrete purchases will be like the King of Tonga is making on getting his palace upgraded. And his income also. Seeing that Tonga gets so much of its income from NZ based Tongans, can we count that as foreign aid?

         The fact that Tongans are sending money home, is an example of how well they are doing – that shouldn’t be talked down by superior NACTS. PIs have variable levels of success in coping with education and jobs not just one. Small enterprise loan schemes and small business and trade training would be useful now so that there is a career path out of factory work and road works and sewing and shelf filling etc.
         • pollywog 4.1.1.1.1

           26 June 2010 at 10:29 am

           I’m curious as to how PEDA LTD came up with the ballpark 4.8 million $ figure to achieve whatever it is they promised to deliver.

           There must be a hell of a lot of fat built into that by way of directors fees, team building exercises and overseas based, up skilling and fact finding missions/conferences.

           Spreading 4.8 mill out to set up scholarships and fund small businesses with viable plans would ensure some measure of success, giving it all to PEDA LTD with no detailed business plans is in some way setting them up to fail, with the gov’t being prepared to write that off for the sake of trying something new and being seen to be proactive.

           It’s just another example of this gov’ts hare brained schemes being set up with no negative forethought as to the real consequences for the public at large. As long as they and their mates are positively sorted, fuck everyone else…
   • Draco T Bastard 4.2

     25 June 2010 at 2:35 pm

     I guess the thing that pisses me off most, is that the powers that be think we need patronising in this manner.

     It is the nature of authoritarian regimes that they think they know best and NACT+MP is an authoritarian regime.

     …that young Pasifikans are largely ignorant to existing opportunities.

     That’s true of the majority of everyone else as well.

     Only what PEDA will produce as a business won’t be actual jobs, it’ll be another level of welfare dependent, bureaucratic bean counting and box ticking…

     National is all about giving the communities resources to it’s mates. It’s not about what’s best for the community.
5. jcuknz 5

   25 June 2010 at 10:06 am

   I think an interesting backgrounder opinion piece on the sacking of General McCrystal ….
   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/opinion/24ricks.html?th&emc=th
   We might solve problems quicker if we sacked the generals more often to let fresh young blood through up the ranks as apparently happened frequently in WWII but not is subsequent conflicts..
   Then read this one on the subject ….
   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/opinion/24truscott.html?th&emc=th
   • Pete 5.1

     25 June 2010 at 11:11 am

     It should really be about appointing the most appropriate and knowledgeable person for the job. ‘No End In Sight’ did a good job of presenting the incompetence of the (occupation authority) reconstruction team deployed to Iraq, and how it was more a case of ‘jobs for the boys’ than a measured response to the needs of the Iraqis.

     I assume that Afghanistan was much the same (though I know what assuming does).

     Check it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_End_in_Sight

     On the face of it it seems hard to tell whether sending McCrystal packing is a Good Thing or not (though nobody would question whether it was a Good Thing politically), but then that’s American politics for you – cloak and dagger and behind the scenes machinations for the ruling elites and lobyists is the general rule-of-thumb.
6. aj 6

   25 June 2010 at 10:57 am

   Cycle way-laid

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/3852232/Go-slow-on-cycle-trail-as-council-awaits-cash
7. Bill 7

   25 June 2010 at 11:54 am

   Meanwhile the Whaling Moratorium stands.

   http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/victory-for-antiwhaling-campaigners-2008900.html

   “The deal which failed yesterday was originally proposed by the United States, which was seeking agreement with Japan to secure whaling permissions for its Inuit native peoples in Alaska, without the Japanese making tit-fot-tat trouble because of American support for the moratorium.”

   And Johnny Boy jumped into bed with the US on this why, again?
   • joe90 7.1

     25 June 2010 at 2:19 pm

     Bad news:
     Toxins found in whales bode ill for humans.

     Sperm whales feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth’s oceans have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals, according to American scientists who say the findings spell danger not only for marine life but for the millions of humans who depend on seafood.

     The consequences of the metals could be horrific for both whale and man, he said.

     “I don’t see any future for whale species except extinction,” Payne said. “This is not on anybody’s radar, no government’s radar anywhere, and I think it should be.”

     You would think that the disaster of Minamata Bay and the ongoing tragedy would turn the Japanese away from the consumption of whale meat.
8. marty mars 8

   25 June 2010 at 3:40 pm

   How can this shit happen?

   “A 700kg load of rat poison has fallen from a helicopter on to Fiordland’s Anchor Island, a safe haven for endangered kakapo.

   A storage pod full of brodifacoum cereal pellet baits fell from a helicopter yesterday and landed in the large freshwater lake on the 1300ha island in Dusky Sound, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson said.”

   http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-coast/112425/700kg-rat-poison-spills-fiordland-bird-sanctuary

   if they were aiming for the lake on the island they’d miss it yet ‘accidentily’ they hit it
9. prism 9

   25 June 2010 at 6:11 pm

   Rat poison falls from helicopter in specially protected nature area. Person falls from a bridge drop to their death.
   There is a comparison between these. one being the carelessness when safety is paramount.
10. prism 10

    25 June 2010 at 6:21 pm

    Good news about Landcorp proceeding to its board with the proposal to buy the Crafur farms. The last thing we want is some business outfit either foreign or local speculator, doing another leveraged buy in and playing around with our major income earner. That’s actually how the Craters built up their dark empire isn’t it? And dug a hole for themselves – funny to hear the spokesman defiantly badmouthing the big bad banks. And the animal welfare misdemeanours are never mentioned. In fact the inspectors are being themselves criticised, they are not being nice enough.
11. prism 11

    26 June 2010 at 5:38 pm

    Heard two women on Jim Mora afternoon panel this week. Thought it strange to hear them complain about young people drinking (think it was the complaint about violence in EDs by nurses rep) and then they questioned why people expect the government to do something, it’s a matter of personal responsibility. Wondered who these fine middle-class madams were – Joanne Black and Deborah Cohen something.

    What a regressive society they would have us accept, people abandoned to whatever money-making scheme to undermine people and society that has been developed.

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