Open mike 30/10/2011

54 comments on “Open mike 30/10/2011 ”

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1. Carol 1

   30 October 2011 at 6:39 am

   SHAME on you Stuff/Sunday Star Times!

   Headline article on Stuff website this morning:
   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5876627/Race-for-votes-kicks-off

   And the article is topped by a smiley picture of that nice smiley man Mr Key with smiley fans. Where’s the balance? Positive pictures of other party leaders? Of Goff? A mention of Key’s grim failed campaign opening speech? And no mention of Labour’s very highly commended and wel-made campaign opening vid.

   The first couple of paragraphs (always the most influential part of news articles), just mentions a significant announcement by Key and his visit to Chistchurch yesterday.

   So here we see just HOW balanced the MSM is.
   • Colonial Viper 1.1

     30 October 2011 at 8:56 am

     Phil Goff leads from the bottom

     Yes thats the title of the NZ Herald web article.

     http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10762609

     And they quote the “KEY POLL” (wtf, I wonder who paid for it) as saying that 26% of respondents put Goff down as their least preferred Prime Minister.
   • Draco T Bastard 1.2

     30 October 2011 at 2:04 pm

     The MSM is owned by and operates solely for the benefit of the rich. Which means promoting NAct and pretty much making it seem that all other parties don’t exist.
2. T 2

   30 October 2011 at 8:21 am

   As get-out-and-vote ads go, I quite like this one from Tunisia.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxWvgASA_Q4
   • Campbell Larsen 2.1

     30 October 2011 at 12:01 pm

     I feel the same outrage when I am confronted with pictures of el Shonkey in the paper, but no matter how many pages I tear aside in disgust and anger there is no redeeming message that tells me that it is just a joke and that encourages democracy and informed participation to be found inside.
3. Jenny 3

   30 October 2011 at 9:02 am

   Boycott Quantas

   Quantas locks out it’s workforce to crush international solidarity among it’s workforce.

   Quantas has locked out all it’s unionised workers grounding all flights, both domestic and International.

   Twenty-eight international flights and 36 domestic flights were in the air at the time of the announcement of the lockout. More than 7000 passengers affected. No advance warning had been given of this wild cat action by the company.

   The Lockout tactic by Quantas is to enforce lower wages and poorer conditions onto international employees of the Airline over the objections of their Australian workers.

   The msm has been deathly and uncharacteristically uncomplaing in reporting the hardships foistered on the traveling public by this industrial action by the company to enforce their demands to pay slave wages to non-Australian employees.

   Just imagine the screams from the corporate media if the workforce had walked out grounding a total of 64 flights and stranding 7000 passengers without notice in wildcat industrial action like this.

   All Australian airline workers are asking is that foreign workers employed by Quantas have the same employment protections as Australian Quantas employees.

   This is an unselfish demand by the Australian employees of Quantas in the highest traditions of trade union solidarity.

   They deserve our full support

   The locked out Quantas employees deserve the support of all those who believe in fairness on both sides of the Tasman and around the world.

   New Zealand unions must join in international solidarity against Quantas and deny all services to this company until the lockout is lifted and beyond that until Quantas agrees to pay it’s workforce fairly regardless of nationality.

   The vicious Quantas lockout must be crushed international support in this struggle could make all the difference.
4. DJL 4

   30 October 2011 at 9:05 am

   The Heralds best TV election broadcast poll has not changed in 24 hours. Hummm…me wonders.
   • Tiger Mountain 4.1

     30 October 2011 at 11:17 am

     Yeah they seemed to withdraw the vote button early Sat afternoon.
     • DJL 4.1.1

       30 October 2011 at 1:05 pm

       The vote button was up last night. From when I made my comment this morning to now there have been at least 1000 more votes…… Hang on it looks like the undecided went up 1%
5. Jenny 5

   30 October 2011 at 9:14 am

   Talking about corporate media reporting.

   Just watched a news flash on TV1 at 9.00 on the Quantas lockout.

   TV1 said that the lockout would be enforced until the unions signed a deal.

   Careful avoidance of the “deal” that Quantas want to enforce with their lockout.
6. Jenny 6

   30 October 2011 at 9:21 am

   Quantas demand that they are trying to bludgeon their workforce into accepting is racist.

   Why should workers be paid less due to their nationality?
   • Draco T Bastard 6.1

     30 October 2011 at 2:14 pm

     They shouldn’t be. In fact I think a law that says that people employed in foreign countries by a domestic business to get the same legal status and thus the same conditions as local employees needs to be written.
7. Jenny 7

   30 October 2011 at 9:54 am

   “All Qantas flights grounded indefinitely”

   Stuff.co.nz Headline

   Just imagine the headlines if Unions had announced an indefinite strike to enforce higher wages for Australian workers over foreigners.

   I imagine that the headlines would read something like this.

   “Racist”, “Greedy”, “Wreckers”, “Holding the country to ransom”

   Yet this is what Quantas is demanding of the their workforce. The lockout is about bludgeoning Quantas’ workers into accepting discriminatory wages and conditions.
8. Sanctuary 8

   30 October 2011 at 9:59 am

   Read the sober, balanced coverage of the Qantas dispute in the SMH, The Age, and the Australian and recall the drivel of orchestrated propaganda that spewed from our media during the Hobbit dispute. Then weep.
   • millsy 8.1

     30 October 2011 at 10:05 am

     I must be psychic because I probably already know what they Australian newspapers are saying…

     Taking the side of Qantas I presume…
9. millsy 9

   30 October 2011 at 10:03 am

   The Qantas lockout seems to be more about the management turning its customers against the unions than anything else.

   Incliding a CEO who has just pocketed a 2 million dollar payrise might I had, and from where I am sitting wanting to cut the wages and conditions of the airlines workforce. That includes doing what Air NZ is doing here,and employing staff on lower wages thru subsidaries.

   Airlines are doing this all over the world. Buying flash flying palaces with showers and cuddle class and then sending the bills to their workers.
10. millsy 10

    30 October 2011 at 10:14 am

    The Qantas dispute should be seen as a warning by those planning on moving across the Tasman: Dont count on wages and conditions being high for long. If the airline wins this dispute, then it will give every other employer in Oz free reign to slash wages and conditions, and break the unions. And the government wont lift a finger to stop them.
    • The Voice of Reason 10.1

      30 October 2011 at 10:40 am

      I’m not sure what you would expect the Aussie Government to do, Millsy. Gillard is hanging on by her fingertips, relying on the support of conservative independents who can veto any legislative change she might want to make in order to intervene. The grounding of the planes is an attack on her leadership as well, and has already been used by Liberal state premiers overnight to attack her as indecisive, when she no ability under current law to interfere.
       
      Big ups to one independent, though. Nick Xenophon is on the money.
      • Zaphod Beeblebrox 10.1.1

        30 October 2011 at 11:52 am

        Even Australians like me refuse to fly Qantas. Not because their fares are high, but because their service is crap. Blaming the unions for the crap standard of management and culture they have created is just pathetic. Thank goodness for Rob Fyfe.
        • Vicky32 10.1.1.1

          30 October 2011 at 5:05 pm

          Even Australians like me refuse to fly Qantas. Not because their fares are high, but because their service is crap.

          My son went to Oz  in 2009 and again last week, and armed with his advice, I had long since decided I won’t fly Qantas! 
11. millsy 11

    30 October 2011 at 10:31 am

    Check out this SST article bashing licencing trusts

    Apparently people are willing to destory a community owned organisation which is democratically elected so they can buy cheaper booze at a supermarket.
    • Colonial Viper 11.1

      30 October 2011 at 11:31 am

      That is what the supermarket owners will be pushing for actually, not the regular punters, in a bid to push their volumes and margins up.

      BTW that link didnt come through?
      • millsy 11.1.1

        30 October 2011 at 11:48 am

        Here it is
    • Draco T Bastard 11.2

      30 October 2011 at 2:23 pm

      I didn’t get that sense from the article. I got the impression that it was questioning the conflicting interests of one person who had directorships in the multiple organisations that were involved.
12. tc 12

    30 October 2011 at 10:59 am

    Watched the nats launch……amateur and key looked positively ghostly with some crap lighting and the profile isn’t flash and as for the hand rubbing……oi vey never buy retail my son, game on.
13. thejackal 13

    30 October 2011 at 11:24 am

    Oakland Police Brutality

    A young 24 year old man named Scott Olsen, was seriously injured by a police projectile during a protest in Oakland last Tuesday evening…
    • Colonial Viper 13.1

      30 October 2011 at 11:32 am

      And he wasnt just any young man, he was a talented computer network engineer AND decorated Marine veteran. Veterans groups around Oakland are VERY pissed off with the police there at the moment.
      • AAMC 13.1.1

        30 October 2011 at 1:24 pm

        This woman from Oakland writes an inspiring account of her awakening due to the police butality.

        http://www.theawl.com/2011/10/the-livestream-ended-how-i-got-off-my-computer-and-into-the-streets-at-occupy-oakland
14. Fortran 14

    30 October 2011 at 1:07 pm

    Jenny

    QANTAS = Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services
    • The Voice of Reason 14.1

      30 October 2011 at 6:35 pm

      I was told by a staffer at Melbourne Airport many years ago that it really stood for Queer And Nasty, Try Another Service. Doesn’t seem so funny now.
       
       
15. RedLogix 15

    30 October 2011 at 1:15 pm

    A good interview with Steven Keen.
    • Draco T Bastard 15.1

      30 October 2011 at 3:18 pm

      Like this guest post on Keens blog. It clearly points out why the economic paradigm we slave under doesn’t work.
    • Colonial Viper 15.2

      30 October 2011 at 7:35 pm

      thx guys
16. Carol 16

    30 October 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Three women that were part of a group protesting the Nat launch today, got into the venue, and briefly interrupted Key’s speech, chanting stop the war on the poor

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5877791/Asset-sales-for-Future-Investment-Fund

    The security breach happened about five minutes into Key’s speech and the protesters shouted “stop the war on the poor” before police escorted them from the venue, where about 1000 National Party delegates were present.

    They also appeared to throw something on the stage where Key was speaking.

    The protest raises questions about security at the event after the women insisted they had attended after receiving an invitation.

    One of the protesters moved to pull the invitation from her bag to show media but was stopped by the other two members of the protest.

    They were part of a small but noisy group led by Mana Party candidate Sue Bradford which protested outside the campaign launch.
17. mickysavage 17

    30 October 2011 at 4:42 pm

    So National’s policy launch has happened and they are going to sell assets and put the proceeds into a fund to fund new assets.

    Projects will have to stack up, presumably in financial terms.

    As a first consideration for the fund can I suggest that it invests in an absolutely vital piece of infrastructure that provides a very good return and will become strategically more and more important as we run out of oil.

    Yes ladies and gentlemen National should consider investing in power companies.  

    Of course they could always decide to keep what we have and avoid the sale and purchase costs. 
    • Anne 17.1

      30 October 2011 at 8:11 pm

      Love it. 😀
18. Adrian 18

    30 October 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Carol, Stuff say 1000 yet Radio NZ says 200? Who’s right? If it is the smaller number Stuff is deliberately lying. Must be catching.
    • Carol 18.1

      30 October 2011 at 5:32 pm

      RNZ says about 700. Not that much difference, but a bit of an inflation by Stuff.
    • marsman 18.2

      30 October 2011 at 6:08 pm

      Stuff stated 1000 TWICE in the one article, desperate.
19. Kty 19

    30 October 2011 at 7:00 pm

    N.Z. Herald says N.Z. First Also had about 700 at their launch could be interesting.
20. thejackal 20

    30 October 2011 at 7:20 pm

    Operation 8 on Maori Television at 8:30 tonight. Watch it.
21. lprent 21

    30 October 2011 at 7:28 pm

    The 10 minute outage was due to a operating system upgrade requiring a reboot. It should have only taken the system out for a minute or two. But it decided to take a lot longer than it did on the test of the backup systems (now I have some logs to read to find out why). I was hovering over the DNS to reroute it to the backup when it returned again.

    We shouldn’t require any more maintenance until after the election.
22. The Voice of Reason 22

    30 October 2011 at 7:31 pm

    5% drop in support for National in the latest 3news/reid research poll. And this was all before the nation got to see Key’s opening address!
     
    National 52.3
    Labour 30.2
    Greens 9.4
    United Future doubled, (or maybe even tripled!) their support to a solid 0.0%.
    • felix 22.1

      30 October 2011 at 7:48 pm

      Wow, National just dropped 10% of their supporters.
      • Colonial Viper 22.1.1

        30 October 2011 at 8:08 pm

        The rot has just started to set in, in earnest.

        Question: will there be enough time in the next 4 weeks for the rot to spread and sink their little blue neoliberal ship of capitalism 🙂

        Key was an idiot to delay elections so late until after the RWC. He’s going to wish that he’d picked a mid August date.
        • M 22.1.1.1

          30 October 2011 at 10:30 pm

          ‘Question: will there be enough time in the next 4 weeks for the rot to spread and sink their little blue neoliberal ship of capitalism 🙂 ‘

          I hope so CV – had the Labour candidate drop by my house tonight to thank me for letting Labour have space in my yard and he thinks that if Labour can get to 36% plus 12% for the Greens this would have National sweating it. A righty friend was so impressed with his action that she’s giving him her electorate vote – just gotta convince her on the party vote now. Btw good on you for donating money to the cause – wish I could but I’ll be collecting Labour voters on the 26th who may find it difficult to get to polling booths so with any luck victory will be his and the left’s overall.

          ‘Key was an idiot’

          So glad, so glad : )

          Oh, and he reads the Standard.
          • Colonial Viper 22.1.1.1.1

            30 October 2011 at 10:37 pm

            🙂

            PS Greens will never hit 12%, this time. Perhaps 9.x% if they perform very strongly.

            Labour needs at least 39% to have a real chance of leading the Government. Anything under that and it gets increasingly unlikely very quickly.
            • Sookie 22.1.1.1.1.1

              30 October 2011 at 11:19 pm

              I just got surveyed by UMR today, lots of questions about Labour and Rena and the blimmin’ Rugby World Cup as well as the vote question. Needless to say I was very uncomplementary about National. Will be interesting to see the results of that one.
            • swordfish 22.1.1.1.1.2

              31 October 2011 at 1:31 am

              “Greens will never hit 12%, this time. Perhaps 9% if they perform very strongly.”

              Agreed. The Greens tend to end up (at the election) a point or two down on their average poll rating for the month or so before the election. Would not surprise me if they ended somewhere between 8 and 9 %. I’d be surprised if they took more than 10.
    • The Voice of Reason 22.2

      30 October 2011 at 8:05 pm

      Only a third of those polled thought John Boy did a good job on the Rena grounding and his approval rating has clearly dropped as a result. Good summary from Garner, especially noting that only a few more points closer and Key will struggle to muster the numbers.
      • Colonial Viper 22.2.1

        30 October 2011 at 8:09 pm

        Gotta lay waste to ACT. Dunne gone too. And the Mp down to 2 MPs at most.
    • McFlock 22.3

      30 October 2011 at 11:47 pm

      RE: the 3news poll: A hiccup ain’t a trend, but it sure is funny 🙂
       
      Be sure that key probably has some photo-ops lined up which will be dutifully promulgated by the town criers. Although if their start is anything to go by, they’ll probably screw it up.
       
23. Draco T Bastard 23

    30 October 2011 at 8:56 pm

    Well, it looks like the capitalists England is getting upset about all the ships being pirated.

    Ships sailing under a British flag will be able to carry armed guards to protect them from pirates, the prime minister has announced.

    David Cameron says he wants to combat the risks to shipping off the coast of Somalia, where 49 of the world’s 53 hijackings last year took place.

    Yep, armed merchantmen with license to kill.
    • McFlock 23.1

      30 October 2011 at 11:43 pm

      Bring back letters of marque and reprisal!

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