Open mike 27/10/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 27th, 2015 - 41 comments
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41 comments on “Open mike 27/10/2015 ”

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  1. Paul 1
    27 October 2015 at 7:08 am

    This article is worthy of a post In its own right.
    Rachel Stewart’s article needs to be widely read.

    ‘New Zealand has reached the pinnacle of world number one in domestic violence’

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/73339236/New-Zealand-has-reached-the-pinnacle-of-world-number-one-in-domestic-violence

  2. Morrissey 2
    27 October 2015 at 7:22 am

    Paul “Kill Them All” Henry counsels his slaves: “Trust Bill English.”
    This pathetic little exchange perfectly sums up the New Zealand media
    Paul Henry, TV3, Tuesday 27 October 2015, 7:06 a.m.

    People in Bill English’s department have been up to some kind of shenanigans involving inappropriate conduct with a sheep. Bill English denies it, and that’s good enough for New Zealand’s version of Sean Hannity (sans the sensitivity and compassion)….

    PAUL “KILL THEM ALL” HENRY: [carefully] I would venture to trust Bill English on this more than I would the media.

    HILLARY BARRY: [dubiously] Mmmmm.

    GEOFF McTAINSH: [unhappily] Mmmmm.

    PAUL HENRY: Ha! Because we ARE the media.

    HILLARY BARRY: Snort.

    ….ad nauseam…

    More sheep news….
    http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/sheep-kills-ageing-owner-in-saudi-2015-10-26-1.608139

    • Paul 2.1
      27 October 2015 at 7:29 am

      Reckon Hoskings is more like Hannity.
      The NZ media are repeaters not reporters.
      They repeat what they’ve been told to say by the finance and banking industry, as does our banker PM Key.

    • savenz 2.2
      27 October 2015 at 1:43 pm

      @Morrissey – love it

  3. Manuka AOR 3
    27 October 2015 at 8:30 am

    On Thursday Auckland Council vote on oil exploration of Auckland’s west coast. Voting is divided, though Len is indicating he won’t be supporting it: “In particular, I’m concerned for the protection of the remaining Maui’s dolphin population, for Kaipara Harbour, which is nursery to an estimated 95 per cent of West Coast snapper stock, for the shellfish gathering, shorebird habitats and the recreational assets of our beaches.”

    Steve Abel from Greenpeace will be making a formal presentation, and says that more than 8,500 people have emailed in their opposition. http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11534676

    • savenz 3.1
      27 October 2015 at 8:42 am

      Yes interesting to see how they all vote on that one. Most of the council seem very keen to destroy our Natural heritage for the promise of magic beans and piles of cash (for others).

      Would be nice for Len and other councillors to stand up for the environment for once.

      • savenz 3.1.1
        27 October 2015 at 10:21 am

        And under the Natz bringing in TPP we will not be able to say NO to every foreign oil company anyway without being hit with massive financial risk to ‘compensate them’ for their right to expect profit from NZ oceans.

  4. savenz 4
    27 October 2015 at 8:38 am

    God I happened to come across a herald as I waited for a takeaway. Could not believe how shallow, thin and pathetic it was! On the last page it was going on about ”best political interview ever where JK reveals about weeing in the shower etc. Could not believe how biased it was! Really took my breath away – and really trying to make Little look bad too. At one point they compared how everyone said they stole something but Little said no ( in a way to imply you should steal something or maybe little is lying?) So subtle but I am starting to see why mainstream NZ are still voting the Nats. Every sentence was political pro JK and anti Labour. It even went as far as talking about the stats between Labour and Nats shaving ‘their downstairs’ in a way to make out the Nats were better. It was so repulsive.

    Even a weeing, stealing, PM is such a bonus for the country according to the Herald!

    The political interview of a century where 10 trivia questions totally unrelated to policy are discussed as AMAZING political interview! Really?

    We are in BIG trouble as a nation.

    • ianmac 4.1
      27 October 2015 at 10:00 am

      What would have happened had the first question to Key been, “Did you back the 81 Tour?” An honest answer forthcoming do you think?

      • savenz 4.1.1
        27 October 2015 at 10:17 am

        PM – Well at the end of the day I’m comfortable with not remembering…

        • Tracey 4.1.1.1
          27 October 2015 at 10:29 am

          With everything he has forgotten in his life, it’s interesting to note what he remembers… like the deleted texts between he and Ritchie McCaw

  6. Draco T Bastard 6
    27 October 2015 at 11:11 am

    What the Steve Jobs Movie Won’t Tell You About Apple’s Success

    It’s not about lack of opportunities. It’s because businesses are choosing to hoard profits or to use them to simply prop up stock options (and hence executive pay). That is bad for innovation and there is nothing inevitable about it. At the same time, governments are being asked to cut back with the austerity craze that continues to plague many nations. So we have a crisis of investment on both the private and public side.

    Innovation policy itself should be seen as part of the deal: the NIH could say: look, we will continue to spend on innovation, but only if you, Big Pharma, also increase your investments along the whole chain. Instead, Big Pharma gets its way and is able to do record-level share buybacks while lobbying for regressive tax policies, falling regulation, and a parasitic patent system which is blocking future innovation.

    It’s an interview with Mariana Mazzucato and goes over how the government is often the basis of any advancement in technology and products on the market contradicting the belief that it all comes from the private sector.

    It’s something that our politicians need to learn both from the standpoint of boosting R&D and then getting the businesses that use that R&D to pay for it in some way.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    27 October 2015 at 12:01 pm

    Governments shouldn’t count on low oil prices: IEA

    If prices continued at current levels, oil investment was likely to decline again in 2016, mainly in high-cost regions, after sliding this year by more than a fifth, said Birol, who took over the top post at the Paris-based IEA in September.

    “If it comes true, this will be the first time in two decades we will see oil investments declining for two consecutive years,” he said. “One should think about medium and long term implications of this lack of investments.”

    U.S. production of light tight oil production had peaked and was expected to decline by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, he added, tightening supplies further.

    So much for having centuries of cheap oil to fuel the economy.

  8. Saarbo 8
    27 October 2015 at 12:14 pm

    Just listened to Deborah Russell on RNZ Nine to Noon….excellent improvement on Williams…I hope she becomes a regular commentator. Instead of agreeing with Hooten she successfully challenges him, he doesn’t sound happy.

    She would make an excellent Finance Minister one day.

    • tracey 8.1
      27 October 2015 at 1:21 pm

      Oh, they had to have a different person to his replacement from last week? I presume he is at the rugby world cup?

  9. Draco T Bastard 9
    27 October 2015 at 12:35 pm

    TPP, TISA and TTIP agreements are massive Corporate power grabs dressed up as trade deals

    Geraint Davies (UK MP) “The harsh reality is that this deal is being stitched up behind closed doors by negotiators, with the influence of big corporations and the dark arts of corporate lawyers. They are stitching up rules that would be outside contract law and common law, and outside the shining light of democracy, to give powers to multinationals to sue Governments over laws that were designed to protect their citizens.”

    Caroline Lucas (UK MP) pointed out in support of this that “the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, who are in trade agreements that include this kind of investor-state relationship, have been sued 127 times and have lost an amount of money that could have employed 300,000 nurses for a year“.

    We have to acknowledge the simple fact that the TPPA is nothing more than a corporate power grab that will be detrimental to NZ and then get the parliamentarians to withdraw from it.

  10. tracey 10
    27 October 2015 at 1:22 pm

    Interesting piece from Gordon Campbell today on the pay gap. Has rewritten a couple of famouse male quotes in a humourous ay to make his point

    http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2015/10/27/gordon-campbell-on-the-gender-pay-gap/

  12. savenz 12
    27 October 2015 at 1:47 pm

    The Natz wet dream for education in NZ (don’t worry will share with Maori party, plenty of free state education money to ‘vanish’ too)

    The Center for Media and Democracy has released a disturbing year-long report on the lack of accountability, transparency and oversight in the $3.7 billion given to charter schools instead of public schools since the 1990s.

    The report looked at over two decades of appropriations for 11 states and Washington, D.C. The way the process works is the annual budget allocates funds and states apply for the funds which are distributed to the schools. The schools in some states have the ability to apply directly to the Department of Education. What you see when you look specifically at Michigan, who received more than $3.5 million, is that 20 percent of the schools who applied for funding never actually opened. So where did the money go? Does the state or federal government get that money back? No. It just disappears with no accountability. When someone proves they can’t manage funding they get from the government, generally they lose that funding. At the very least there’s a hearing. In Michigan, you can just start another charter school.

    http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/miscellaneous/shocking-report-us-privatized-charter-school-program-riddled-with-fraud-abuse-and-waste/

  13. tracey 13
    27 October 2015 at 1:52 pm

    Little payin ghis own expenses on trip to World Cup Rugby Final.

    English claims the government is economising by having meetings att eh same time. But Key has warned kiwis to brace ourselves for high bills due to much higher costs in London because of the World Cup.

    So, in some instances it’s costing us more to have them there at a peak time?

    The Government is mentioning that Chairing a right wing leaders meeting is part of this economising?

    Should “we” be paying for this, something which is much more “party” or ideologically focused than of wide benefit to NZ?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Democrat_Union

    The International Democrat Union (IDU) is a conservative international alliance of political parties. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway,[1] the IDU comprises 71 full and associate members from 63 different countries.[2] It is chaired by John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand.
    The IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organisational interest. From this, they act cooperatively, establish contacts, and present a unified voice toward the promotion of centre-right policies around the globe.

    • savenz 13.1
      27 October 2015 at 2:18 pm

      I think it is pretty clear that Key does not work in the interests of NZ at all, but in the interests of The International Democrat Union (IDU).

      The want the return of the empire a one world order controlled by a handful of extremely wealthy white men.

      • Draco T Bastard 13.1.1
        27 October 2015 at 3:28 pm

        +1

      • Tracey 13.1.2
        27 October 2015 at 4:48 pm

        Interestingly the media just reprinted it, without helping people understand that this is NOT a “NZ” gig but a right wingers unite to dominate the world thing…

        I wonder if the person copying and pasting English’s Press release even bothered to do a search?

  14. Draco T Bastard 14
    27 October 2015 at 3:26 pm

    How is our economy really performing?

    Five headline indicators of national success

    In our new report released today, we set out five headline measures of national success for the UK. Our aim is to re-align government policies with what evidence has shown that we, the UK public, want our economy to deliver.

    Adopting these indicators – which capture performance on Good Jobs, Wellbeing, Environment, Fairness and Health – will provide a clear picture of the UK’s social and economic performance, and focus policy-makers attention on the things that genuinely matter to the UK public.

    Sounds like a good idea for NZ to implement. It would certainly be better than the rather limited GDP in combination with the ZOMG, we’ve got a surplus!!!! that both National and Labour think matters.

    The five are:

    1. Good Jobs – not just any job at any cost.
    2. Wellbeing – Improving people’s lives should be the ultimate aim of public policy.
    3. Environment – Our prosperity, and that of future generations, depends on a healthy environment.
    4. Fairness – High levels of inequality have been proven to have corrosive effects on both society and economy.
    5. Health – Good quality healthcare and public health provision is a pre-requisite for all other social and economic goals.

    The present government would, IMO, fail on all of them especially after their attacks on beneficiaries.

  15. Anne 15
    27 October 2015 at 4:06 pm

    It looks like the latest revelations re -the police activity against Nicky Hager are now getting top billing in the MSM.

    … before seeking any legal order in the Hager inquiry, the police went to 16 banks, airlines and phone companies to seek personal information belonging to Hager. For example, detectives wanted Air NZ to reveal any flights he had taken – and who was sitting next to him.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11535858

    And the police claim Hager was only being treated as a witness and not a suspect criminal? Pull the other one!

    • McFlock 15.1
      27 October 2015 at 4:21 pm

      lol
      talk about fishing: “hi, we need to talk about this illegal act or you need to pass me something, let’s book the only form of transport where your seats are allocated with proof of ID”.

      I hope they spent hours contact-tracing the person in the next seat before they found out it was a travelling sales rep.

      • Naturesong 15.1.1
        27 October 2015 at 5:29 pm

        If past behavior is indicative of future action, for the sake of that innocent person, I really, really hope not.

    • Tracey 15.2
      27 October 2015 at 4:51 pm

      In order for the bank to have so easily handed over the information AND meet their obligation for reason to believe a serious crime is being committed the police MUST have told them they believed HAGER was the criminal. The Bank, to defen itself MUST put forward the basis for its belief a “serious” crime had been committed or would be committed by Hager…

      • Draco T Bastard 15.2.1
        27 October 2015 at 5:57 pm

        The only possible defence that the bank has (Should have) is if the police turned up with a warrant which would prove that due consideration has been given. Without a warrant the police shouldn’t have been asking and the bank shouldn’t have been handing information over.

        This obviously needs to be spelled out clearly in legislation so that the police and the banks understand it.

        • Tracey 15.2.1.1
          27 October 2015 at 8:23 pm

          Draco “reason to believe” will also have had judicial consideration in our Courts.

    • RedbaronCV 15.3
      27 October 2015 at 11:09 pm

      So if you happen to wind up quite by accident sitting next to Nicky on a plane the police want your name?? Why- in case you pinched his boiled lolly – that’s a pretty big breach of privacy with respect to unknown third parties?

  16. Morrissey 16
    27 October 2015 at 5:01 pm

    “I interviewed Alistair Campbell a little earlier, and I didn’t bring that up with him, unfortunately…”
    Jesse Mulligan is already apologizing for his pisspoor interview of Blair’s most brutal henchman.
    Radio New Zealand National, Tuesday 27 October 2015, 3:10 p.m.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201776237/feature-interview-alistair-campbell

    The long awaited “interview” with Alistair Campbell (obviously with conditions attached) was not, as it should have been, conducted from within the confines of one of Her Majesty’s prisons, or from one of the hellholes in Iraq or Afghanistan to which so many of his victims were condemned without trial. It is one of the many unconscionable facts of our time that this loathsome, self-pitying monster continues to roam free, appearing frequently and without impediment on the BBC and anyone else who will promise not to ask him any questions about the crimes he has committed. People like Jesse Mulligan for instance, who treated Campbell with the kind of reverence usually extended to someone like the Dalai Lama.

    I’m preparing a verbatim transcript of the whole wretched 25 minutes, but here’s a quick “highlight” reel of the Guru of Burnley’s timeless wisdom….

    1.) Clive Woodward says there are three kinds of people in a team—the warrior, the leader and the talent. “Some people are all three, of course. I like to think I was part warrior, part leader and I was a talent in the Blair government.”

    2.) The Alistair Campbell technique for stress release—rubbing the thumb and forefinger together. “It just calms me down, like when I’m at the Iraq inquiry, coming under aggressive questioning.”

    3.) He didn’t put Vladimir Putin on the cover of his book—because to do so would imply a positive view of Putin. Campbell admits that Putin has been a success—“if you believe that politics is exercising power.” He had an unpleasant experience with him in the build-up to the Iraq War, Campbell says. Putin just lost it, screaming at Tony Blair. “He was just vicious,” recalled Campbell, with a shudder.

    Tough-guy comedian demands yet more violence in Syria

    Twenty minutes later, in the pre-show segment for the light chat show The Panel, producer Zoe George brought up Tony Blair’s defiant reiteration that he had done the right thing in supporting the aggression against Iraq, because Saddam would have been worse than Assad, and history would show that Blair and George W. Bush are in fact heroes instead of the mass murderers they appear to be. Mulligan, who obviously feels some sense of embarrassment at failing to confront Campbell, said: “I interviewed Alistair Campbell a little earlier, and I didn’t bring that up with him, unfortunately…”

    Blair’s dodgy attempt at self-absolution goaded one of today’s Panelists, Jeremy Elwood, to show just what a deeply moral and thoughtful person he (Jeremy Elwood) is. “Why does it have to be an either-or thing? They got rid of Saddam, which is great, but when are they going to do something about Assad?”

    Not one of the other guests in the studio—not his fellow guest Gary Moore, not Zoe George, not host Jesse Mulligan—said a single thing to contest Elwood’s bloodthirsty support for Al Qaeda and the Al Nusra Front.

    Lovers of black comedy might enjoy Jeremy Elwood’s bewildered thoughts about Gaza….
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17072014/#comment-850030

    And here’s Elwood being bullied by Nevil “Breivik” Gibson….
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18102013/#comment-712798

    • Paul 16.1
      27 October 2015 at 5:41 pm

      Why does Elwood get invited on the Panel?
      He lacks insight, originality, intellect, courage, wisdom, humour, …

  17. Morrissey 17
    27 October 2015 at 6:56 pm

    You’ve just answered your own question, Paul.

  18. Morrissey 18
    27 October 2015 at 8:27 pm

    Just how depraved is the American political scene?
    Just look at what this Democratic Party candidate says to impress voters.

    “My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi.”

    —- Jim Webb, Democratic Party candidate.

    Did candidates for political office in West Germany in the 1950s boast of their sons having fought on the bloody streets of Warsaw, or the bloody streets of Stalingrad, or the bloody streets of Leningrad?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/us/politics/democratic-debate-transcript.html?_r=0

    First Democratic Presidential Debate 2016 by CNN 10-13-2015 – FULL