Open mike 31/05/2010

26 comments on “Open mike 31/05/2010 ”

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1. Bored 1

   31 May 2010 at 7:35 am

   Whilst lefties sit staring contentedly at the latest polls showing support for the will o’ the wisp Nats receding like a flood tide ebbing, I sit disconsolate that my plans to holiday on the John Key Memorial Cycleway have been dealt a further blow. Reinga to Bluff, a few weeks pleasant treadling, but no, just 10kms, which according to my calculations means I will have to go 320 times one end to the other over the same route.

   Now 10kms is good, but after 18 months the necessary 1500 plus kms will take another 224 years to complete.

   Granny Herald this morning ran a story on this today, the 10kms so far has cost $600K, which means its $60K per km. That means the $50 million fund might take us about 840 kms……bit short methinks, another case of the Nacts doing things by half. But hey, I will only be 173 years old when the Auckland Wellington cycleway is opened. Hmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Capcha: economy
   • mickysavage 1.1

     31 May 2010 at 8:00 am

     You mean John Key did not say the truth?
   • The Voice of Reason 1.2

     31 May 2010 at 8:04 am

     Bad news for Norman Tebbit’s Dad, then:

     “I grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father. He didn’t riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking ’til he found it.”

     Does Granny say how many jobs can be found on the 10kms built so far, Bored?
     • Bored 1.2.1

       31 May 2010 at 9:10 am

       It seems we are to have some jobs here “The Far North District Council says it has approval in principle for 40 subsidised workers’

       I hope they work fast because.. “A draft feasibility study predicts between 36,000 and 64,000 annual users by its fifth year, given its closeness to large population centres, attracting $8.7 million to $16.4 million of direct spending to an area of below-average incomes’ .which means it’s going to be pretty crowded on the 10 kms ..give the $s above I am going to open several “pit stops’ along the way, mind you the price of land along the 10kms will be astronomical.
       • ianmac 1.2.1.1

         31 May 2010 at 10:12 am

         The 10 km of cycleway reported this morning included:
         ” Mr Key told the Herald he was “happy with the progress”. ”
         That is a big surprise!
2. BLiP 2

   31 May 2010 at 9:49 am

   According to Granny:

   He (that’s King John The Clueless of Charmalot) said he also wanted a “unified New Zealand” that could take on the world and win, not one based on a grievance mentality looking backwards.

   Aaah . . . so that’s why he was ridiculed in the international press for calling the Tuhoe a bunch of cannibals.
   • felix 2.1

     31 May 2010 at 10:00 am

     Mornin BLiP

     It seems you have earned wikileaks a hundred bucks. That’s if the big loser bb comes back and coughs up, he ran away pretty quick after trying to weasel out of it last night.
     • BLiP 2.1.1

       31 May 2010 at 10:26 am

       Gidday Felix

       Yeah, saw that and thanks for your sterling contribution. Big B certainly scarpered pretty quick when the details were presented to him but it seems pretty cut and dried to me. I assume he’ll be emailing lprent a scan of his receipt for verification of debt-paid . . . Tories always keep their word, don’t they?
       • felix 2.1.1.1

         31 May 2010 at 10:37 am

         Of course – and they’re naturally charitable too. But they don’t like to talk about it.
3. uke 3

   31 May 2010 at 12:03 pm

   Just wanted to ask a question re. a point I made on the “Dirty Oil” thread.

   Could a comparison be made – in terms of human and environmental risks – between the disastrous oil extraction in the Gulf of Mexico and that planned for the Southern Basin off New Zealand?
4. ianmac 4

   31 May 2010 at 1:52 pm

   “A Research New Zealand poll this month found 77 per cent of the 502 respondents wanted some form of withdrawal of the elite SAS forces, Fairfax Media reported today.”
   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10648641
   With an eye for polls-driven-decision-making the next thing that Key will do will be…..?
   • Armchair Critic 4.1

     31 May 2010 at 1:59 pm

     “With an eye for polls-driven-decision-making the next thing that Key will do will be ..?”
     Give himself a knighthood and retire to Switzerland, or the Cayman Islands?
     • ianmac 4.1.1

       31 May 2010 at 5:18 pm

       On a RNZAF plane piloted by his mates in the force, singing “Rule Brittania..”?
5. Nick C 5

   31 May 2010 at 2:45 pm

   http://www.salient.org.nz/news/vuwsa-van-to-be-sold#comment-390487

   Agh!! Privitisation!! Asset Sales!! How can this be??

   What if evil foriegn investors buy the van? Then all the benefits will go overseas!
6. The Voice of Reason 6

   31 May 2010 at 5:06 pm

   More fascism in the middle east: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10195838.stm
7. BLiP 7

   31 May 2010 at 5:28 pm

   Sick of Facebook trashing your privacy?
8. Bill 8

   31 May 2010 at 5:33 pm

   Waiting for Clinton to run around the Middle East talking up a robust response to Israel after it’s criminal act in international waters that has (currently allegedly) resulted in a number of civilian deaths.

   ‘Cause if a torpedo that had obviously been lying in the salty brine for months if not years was a good enough reason to crank up the pressure on N. Korea, then surely video or photographic evidence of Israeli armed forces boarding ships in international waters and killing people…

   (sigh) I guess the only consistency will be the media bending reality into strange and wonderful new shapes never seen before.
9. Trasparent 9

   31 May 2010 at 6:31 pm

   Once again the nation of israel proves itself to be a home of terrorism. The government of this country should immediately evict the recently received ambassador, or welcome an Hamas ambassador with the same enthusiasm they displayed in the opening of the israeli embassy.
   The Israeli govt has consistently refused to live by the same rules expected by every other civilised nation on earth, the only feasable conclusion being that they are not a civilised country but a throwback to some pre-civilisation feudal systemm where they are the overlords, and all others subject to their whims. It seems as if NACT sees them as they see themselves with NZ, along with all other nations of the world being said vassals, expected to accept their terrorist acts as some sort of self-defence. Where is the self defence in attacking civilians in a relief convoy 100 miles out to sea? there is none. It’s just the usual Israeli position of divine right, what a load of crap, it’s time someone took them to task but no-one will because the US for some reason wants to protect this nest of terrorist vipers.
   • The Voice of Reason 9.1

     31 May 2010 at 6:39 pm

     I’m wondering how the right are going are going to simultaneously defend Israel while hoping Peter Bethune goes to jail.
     • felix 9.1.1

       31 May 2010 at 7:12 pm

       I’m wondering what they’re going to say about this: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/05/201053082239109343.html

       Probably just say it’s all made up I expect. Written by Arabs and that.
       • The Voice of Reason 9.1.1.1

         31 May 2010 at 8:39 pm

         I’m picking that the Israeli Defence Force will ‘find’ a cache of guns on the boats. Maybe some of Saddam’s missing WMD, too.
       • Bill 9.1.1.2

         31 May 2010 at 8:47 pm

         You do know the media will downplay all this, right?

         I mean, it will grab headlines and some expressions of condemnation will be heard before slowly, slowly the whole thing is brushed under the carpet accompanied by the usual tut-tutting that such a thing ever happened and maybe some headwank about how Israel is a nation under siege etc, etc, etc and how that and all the rest of it explains away or excuses the whole affair.

         And it will be interesting to contrast and compare both the media reporting and the international response to this in relation to the hullabaloo and sabre rattling generated and promoted by the international community and the media following the S. Korean’s naval accident.

         The media itself won’t. They will exhibit a determined obstinacy in not drawing obvious parallels or comparisons.

         Because in a word of consistency (as I commented above), if a piece of old rusty tat from the sea floor is reason enough for H. Clinton to run around Asia expressing belligerent condemnations of N. Korea, then hard evidence of a military murdering civilians in international waters will see her and the whole western media go ballistic, right?

         No, of course not.
10. Pascal's bookie 10

    31 May 2010 at 8:30 pm

    Missed this story over the weekend, Thanks tumeke!

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10648408&pnum=0

    Quoted For Holy Shit:

    One alleged victim has called for an inquiry into police brutality after being injured so badly in a police station cell he lost a testicle….

    …A Police National Headquarters spokesman said no comment would be made on the case or accusations of police brutality. He said it was “not an urgent thing”….

    …The officer refused to speak to the Herald on Sunday. A supporter told the newspaper outside court: “Your sources that tell you things better watch out.”…

    …One of the alleged victims – who also has name suppression – revealed he did not press charges against the officer who appeared in court and has little memory of the alleged assault.

    The man was arrested for being disorderly on January 8 after being involved in an altercation that he said left him concussed and confused.

    He spent the night at a police station in the Waitemata district and was released the next day with little memory of what happened. His injured testicle had to be removed surgically.

    The man said he believed the group he fought with had caused the injury until he was contacted by a detective.

    “I was really surprised. She rang and I asked if I was in trouble. She said … as a result of going through CCTV footage of me in the cells, she discovered I had been seriously injured by police while in custody.”

    He said the detective told him there were five officers in the cell during the alleged assault. He said he was told the footage showed he was in handcuffs.”

    Good on the officers that came forward. And the Minister might want to think about why the Police don’t get the automatic respect she was demanding we all give a while back, instead of …

    Police Minister Judith Collins said last night she had been briefed on the charges faced by the three officers and dismissed the call for an inquiry.

    “I don’t believe there is a culture of violence in [Waitemata] police or among police anywhere else in the country.”
11. Jan 11

    31 May 2010 at 10:18 pm

    Update on the attacks on the Peace Flotilla seeking to break the embargo on Gaza – with minute by minute updates. Some things are just so hard to believe. Shame oh shame on the Israeli government.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/may/31/israel-troops-gaza-ships
12. I dreamed a dream 12

    31 May 2010 at 10:19 pm

    Lprent, I notice that I have not been able to edit my comment as soon as someone submits a new comment on another post. Is that the way it’s supposed to work? Thanks.
    • lprent 12.1

      31 May 2010 at 11:19 pm

      Nope. I’ll have a look at the setting. It seems to not want to ‘take’ when I change it. Might have to file it as a bug (and change in the database). But tomorrow morning.

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