Open mike 30/11/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:59 am, November 30th, 2013 - 49 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

openmike

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step right up to the mike …

49 comments on “Open mike 30/11/2013 ”

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  1. David H 1
    30 November 2013 at 7:47 am

    Watching the Last Citizen A, David Cunliffe has a lot to say and as usual it all makes sense.

    • Tat Loo (CV) 1.1
      30 November 2013 at 8:00 am

      Yep. He’s definitely the right guy for the job. Victory 2014!!!

    • karol 1.2
      30 November 2013 at 8:04 am

      Yes. He came across really well – succinct and well focused on the policies and issue.

    • Tat Loo (CV) 1.3
      30 November 2013 at 8:25 am

      One pedantic point – Cunliffe mentioned that “of course” Labour is going to run a government surplus. In fact, it’s crucial that it doesn’t. It’s really important that we all get out of the orthodox economics mindset of the Government running a surplus at any cost.

      NZ experiences an ongoing, large current account deficit. It was over $10B last year. It will worsen with the asset sales. With that net money leaking out of the country monthly the only way a government can run a surplus is to take it from the hands of the private sector and the people i.e. the government can only run a surplus by forcing the private sector to run a deficit and removing future savings from the hands of people.

      The answer – clamp down on that current account deficit (increase NZ owned exports while reducing imports and minimising trans-national corporate profits shunted overseas), while making sure that NZ’s income is shared more fairly. I would also issue new money into the local economy at 1/3 the rate NZD are leaking offshore, to reduce reliance on the international banking system to finance the NZ Govt.

  2. vto 2
    30 November 2013 at 8:18 am

    How come we can’t discuss the Christchurch east by-election? Does that apply across the entire NZ population? Why just on the Standard? I thought this place was just a bunch of independents with no formal link to political parties? Is it no longer so?

    • mickysavage 2.1
      30 November 2013 at 8:29 am

      Safety precaution vto. Section 197 of the Electoral Act 1993 states:

      197 Interfering with or influencing voters
      (1) Every person commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 who at an election—
      (a) in any way interferes with any elector, either in the polling place or while the elector is on the way to the polling place with the intention of influencing the elector or advising the elector as to the elector’s vote:
      (b) at any time on polling day before the close of the poll in or in view or hearing of any public place holds or takes part in any demonstration or procession having direct or indirect reference to the poll by any means whatsoever:
      …
      (g) at any time on polling day before the close of the poll exhibits in or in view of any public place, or publishes, or distributes, or broadcasts,—
      (i) any statement advising or intended or likely to influence any elector as to the candidate or party for whom the elector should or should not vote …

      None of the provisions are a clean fit but it is best to err on the side of caution.

    • karol 2.2
      30 November 2013 at 8:31 am

      Show me any other NZ news media or blog that is discussing, posting or publishing about the by election. It’s usual on election day to have a news shut down on the poll throughout NZ.

  3. logie97 3
    30 November 2013 at 8:28 am

    So our NCEA system is apparently still failing (would appear to be a Ministry driven curriculum issue – not the assessment system itself).
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11164854

    An observation. Parata is an expert on National Standards, but her grasp of NCEA appears lacking – as evidenced by her lack of comment on this issue in recent years.

  4. Tat Loo (CV) 4
    30 November 2013 at 8:39 am

    21 year old guy cons 426 young girls to FB friend him, and gets intimate pictures from them

    NZ case. Pretends to be a 16 year old guy. The young girls clearly don’t know him but send him intimate photos of themselves anyway. And then he tries to blackmail them. A WTF moment on all counts. PLus its not his first offending and who knows if he is going to get the counselling and supervision he needs in order to not become a bigger problem to society in the future.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9460449/Young-victims-shouldn-t-have-been-on-Facebook

    • Lanthanide 4.1
      30 November 2013 at 9:25 am

      We can be thankful that he was so inept at it.

      He only managed to get anything from 3 of the girls and they all balked at his blackmail attempts.

      • Tat Loo (CV) 4.1.1
        30 November 2013 at 9:27 am

        Yep. Nb 3 that they found sufficient evidence for to bring up in court…they’ll have to sort him out properly if he’s not going to be doing this kind of thing again at 45…

  5. Paul 5
    30 November 2013 at 8:44 am

    “She’s back – return of the Nanny State”
    I see that revolting meme is back again, coutesy of Shane Jones.
    Every time I hear that lazy right wing slogan, I think of the workers of Pike River, the forestry workers and the people in the CTV building who all died because New Zealand is the very opposite of that, a country lacking the basic regulations to protect people at their places of work.
    Shame on Shane Jones. He’s like those Labourites who betrayed the country in the 1980.
    And the Herald calls protecting children from physical abuse nanny state. I’ll remember next time that rag of a paper grumbles about obesity, that it supports the Tories on their dismantling of sensible regulations on tuck shop food.
    These people are Neanderthals.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11164905

    • Tigger 5.1
      30 November 2013 at 8:56 am

      Also microchipping dogs. How is that nannyish?

    • karol 5.2
      30 November 2013 at 8:59 am

      The bottom bit of the article is the most important – the stuff about Bennett’s reforms and the restrictive and punitive “social obligations that now apply to the poor. And, of course, it’s relegated to the bottom of the article.

      Jones is partly pointing out the Nat’s hypocrisy. Though fenced paddling pools seem like a good idea.

    • Lanthanide 5.3
      30 November 2013 at 9:30 am

      Funny thing is I agree with all of the changes, except for the “Health and Welfare” ones at the bottom, where only the booster seat one is sensible. For the two beneficiary ones, they seem like sensible ideas on the surface but it seems like another avenue for bashing and I’m doubtful how effectively the policies will actually be implemented.

      • bad12 5.3.1
        30 November 2013 at 10:34 am

        Yeah Lanth you agree with National’s urgent Legislation to allow them to give 4000 tenants the kick as well,

        Are you sure that little flag your carrying is the right color…

        • Lanthanide 5.3.1.1
          1 December 2013 at 7:47 am

          Moving tenants out of state houses who have a much lesser need of those state houses than other people is pragmatic. I don’t have any qualms with backing pragmatic policies.

          Of course, it is not the *only* solution that should be being pursued; of course with National it is. But I have difficulty rejecting pragmatic policy, even if it is implemented in a vacuum.

          • bad12 5.3.1.1.1
            1 December 2013 at 8:08 am

            Pragmatic??? such a joyful word to use when describing moving tenants of State Houses where those who were previously ‘priveledged’ with State Housing will be tossed out into worse conditions so as to make someone else ‘priveledged’,

            Rotational housing just like the current National Government rotational employment policies, unfortunately Lanth i don’t see your attitude as any great departure from the average as far as Labour Party supporters goes, which just leaves the Labour Party if Socialist at all as the Socialism of,for, and by the middle class arm-pit deep in the ‘ownership game’ where they ‘victimize’ those who cannot afford such ownership by piling en masse into the rental market while applauding the ‘rationing’ of affordable rental accommodation and sucking up the States resources via the tax breaks and Accomodation Supplements available to them through such ‘ownership’,

            Only a fool would believe anything that this National Government has to say about anything, the trail of lies is a mile long, why you or anyone else would believe the words of housing Minister Nick Smith that he if freeing up 4000 HousingNZ homes for those who ‘need them more’ is beyond me,

            Smith and National have NO intention of retaining those 4000 properties in the States housing portfolio and as the tenants are given the kick by Smith the properties will be sold,

            Those Labour supporters involved of course will all be on the sidelines applauding as Smith creates more demand in the property market both for rental and ownership and my only question would be are you one of them…

    • Tat Loo (CV) 6.1
      30 November 2013 at 9:14 am

      Pretty sure the Green Party MPs are citizens too…why can’t they start a citizens initiated referendum? And if enough NZers support it then it’s a valid statement of democracy right?

      • chris73 6.1.1
        30 November 2013 at 9:27 am

        I agree I mean its not like the Greens have any other means to try to get their way

        Still its interesting for Cunliffe: Does he continue to sit on the fence and let the Greens garner the media attention or does he make a declaration for one side or the other and risk alienating one side

        • Tat Loo (CV) 6.1.1.1
          30 November 2013 at 9:31 am

          I don’t think that’s the question at all. Coming up with a joint strategy for 75% of the campaign next year with 25% differences is the key.

          Also…the experience from the operational exercise of the referendum has been very, very good for the Greens…

      • Lanthanide 6.1.2
        30 November 2013 at 9:31 am

        The article is wrong anyway. The CIR was started by Grey Power, who aren’t actually a parliamentary party.

    • karol 6.2
      30 November 2013 at 9:31 am

      Nah. It’s just more NZ Herald propaganda for Key’s government – aimed at trying to limit the amount of people who vote in the referendum because Key will use a significant non-vote in his future PR/spin.

  7. phillip ure 7
    30 November 2013 at 9:25 am

    an excellent interview on kim hill..on things ‘pot’..

    ..phillip ure..

  8. bad12 8
    30 November 2013 at 10:46 am

    How’s the umm leadership coup going in the Green Party then, for a bloke what has university degrees in this that and the other i reckon David Hay has just produced lesson 101 in how not to advance your political career,

    The blokes ego seems to have got the better of Him, why would anyone as yet not even elected to the Parliament first publicly diss the current leader of the Green Party by saying He was after the job and could do a far better job than Russell,

    What did He expect??? Russell Norman to tuck tail and roll over like a puppy, what He got was exactly what would be expected, the Party moving to block such a stupid leadership challenge in an election year and laughably Hay then runs to the mass media bleating of unfavorable treatment at the hands of the Party,

    i still havn’t been able to ascertain whether or not the Green Party David Hay who works for the City of Auckland is in any way related to the David Hay, christian fundamentalist, who has served as a councillor, Lolz but the formers behavior smacks of the suggestion that whatever it is that ails the latter might be catching,

    My advice to the Green Party is do not drop nor lessen the Party focus on Social justice issues, there’s a large % of the Green vote as much concerned with issues of equality in all it’s forms as they are the core value green issues…

  9. Tat Loo (CV) 9
    30 November 2013 at 11:12 am

    Hooten says boycott climate talks farce

    OK Matthew. Then what? Will you do a follow up piece which describes the steps you recommend to follow beyond “let’s boycott”?

    You do realise you are young enough to see catastrophic changes in climate conditions world wide to happen within your life time, right?

    http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/lets-end-climate-talks-farce-matthew-hooton-149298

    • Rogue Trooper 9.1
      30 November 2013 at 12:00 pm

      Thanks for the overview Tat; however, I find nothing of merit in most of what Matthew has to say, so do not read his op eds.

      • Tat Loo (CV) 9.1.1
        30 November 2013 at 12:53 pm

        It’s poor writing and editing as well. For instance, the opening sentence is:

        This month’s Warsaw climate change talks have concluded, um, “successfully”.

        Yes, um, wtf.

  10. Draco T Bastard 10
    30 November 2013 at 1:05 pm

    For years now I’ve been watching people, such as JM Greer, say that with power down life is going to become hard as we all wander off to work on the farms and there won’t be any spare time for other pursuits. Well, the reality is something different:

    When workers fought for the eight-hour workday, they weren’t trying to get something radical and new, but rather to restore what their ancestors had enjoyed before industrial capitalists and the electric lightbulb came on the scene. Go back 200, 300 or 400 years and you find that most people did not work very long hours at all. In addition to relaxing during long holidays, the medieval peasant took his sweet time eating meals, and the day often included time for an afternoon snooze. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure.

    The agricultural revolution allowed for the time to start innovating that hadn’t been available before. Of course, that innovation was then taken by the feudal lords/capitalists for their own benefit but that’s the exploitation that we need to stop.

    In a similar vein we have:

    More broadly, though, it is important to remember that American workers are actually more productive than their German counterparts by some measures. Raising retirement ages for pension plans given this is simply a product of the power of the right to create the impression of poverty.

    Here is the ultimate lesson to learn: US workers are productive, and the United States is a rich country. A rich country with productive workers should be talking about lower the retirement age, not raising it.

    That applies just as well to NZ.

  11. Rogue Trooper 11
    30 November 2013 at 3:27 pm

    Stanley Hauerwas ; Post-Liberal Theologian

  12. Rogue Trooper 12
    30 November 2013 at 7:30 pm

    Migrant workers for Chch rebuild overwhelming ED’s
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9460474/Migrants-clogging-hospital

  13. bad12 13
    30 November 2013 at 10:25 pm

    Lolz,what happened to the real standard, this one looks like i was kidnapped by aliens while sleeping off the overdose of tonights dinner and transported to a parallel universe where everything is bat-shit crazy…

  14. bad12 14
    30 November 2013 at 10:28 pm

    And then i said that and the startled aliens dropped me back in this one where the Standard appears in normal script again, weird…

  15. bad12 15
    1 December 2013 at 6:48 am

    Am i a little slow,(rhetorical question please do not answer), Blubber Boy has been dragged into the Courts,(again),sued for shooting off His mouth about allegations He made of Bevan Chuang and an Auckland businessman being ‘involved’,

    The District Court have told Blubber to produce emails and stuff showing the ‘source’ of the information that ‘wail oil’ used as the basis for publishing the allegations telling His ‘lowness’ that He cannot hide behind the media’s ‘right’ of protecting the source of it’s information as in terms of the ‘Evidence Act’ He aint media,

    Such a ruling, which His holiness of the church of foul mouthed scribes is said to be appealing to a Higher Court seems to have alluded,(without me actually having read the Judges decision),to the fact that far from being media poor old Blubber is publishing online foul mouthed ‘opinion’,

    ‘Too big for His boots’ would have said my Irish Grandma and the story published in the Sunday Herald alludes to poor old Blubber Boy fast being sucked dry of cash by the defamation case that until now i hadn’t even heard of,(perhaps the ‘Wing-nuts’ could start their own save the whales campaign)…

  16. greywarbler 16
    1 December 2013 at 11:08 am

    Lanthanide thinks it is pragmatic to review state tenancies every year. Poor people who don’t know where they will be living from year to year? That’s the problem that gypsies have in Europe. Always on the outer, not accepted, they’re not like us etc. Great. And offering an unstable educational and social background that will further marginalise their children.

    Sounds like the ideas come from Peter Dunne’s common-sense lucky dip Lanthanide. Do you drive on the left or are you one of those sad cases that are likely to cross the centre line and cause a fatal head-on crash?

  17. greywarbler 17
    1 December 2013 at 11:29 am

    lprent
    I have been unable to get onto the Standard at all for a day, either under thestandard.org.nz or, as I have recently been forced to do, going through Google. I kept getting a 1000 DNS message about conflict within Cloud Flare caused by address problems – or approx.

    My son has got me in at last but it’s a different page to the usual. He found using the Google DNS servers has helped to get onto the Standard and I’ve been automatically logged in but without normal layout – the CDN content still has Cloud Flare errors.

    And recently I have either not been given the automatic log-in at first, or I have, but then find I that disappears and I go back to not logged in. And I have learned to select and copy before I let my great prose float off into the big sky.

  18. greywarbler 18
    1 December 2013 at 11:29 am

    lprent
    I have been unable to get onto the Standard at all for a day, either under thestandard.org.nz or, as I have recently been forced to do, going through Google. I kept getting a 1000 DNS message about conflict within Cloud Flare caused by address problems – or approx.

    My son has got me in at last but it’s a different page to the usual. He found using the Google DNS servers has helped to get onto the Standard and I’ve been automatically logged in but without normal layout – the CDN content still has Cloud Flare errors.

    And recently I have either not been given the automatic log-in at first, or I have, but then find I that disappears and I go back to not logged in. And I have learned to select and copy before I let my great prose float off into the big sky.