Open mike 17/04/2012

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 79 comments
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79 comments on “Open mike 17/04/2012”

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  1. 1

    String these three articles together: This morning in the Herald: Sky city boss wants more cashless pokies, and says lotto does more harm: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10799411

    Why the Dept of Internal affairs has banned the cashless pokie machines Skt City is asking the government to legislate to let them have more of: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10799166

    Yesterday afternoon in the Herald: Parents of kids found screaming their heads of in a van outside sky city go to court:
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10799336

    There are lots of kinds of evil: but I think this one is right up there.

    2. 2.2

      Pump and Dump

      Reminds me of the tip newsletters that recommended shares.
      Price was pushed up by buying on the recommendation and then the those who tipped the shares they had bought before the recommendation.

  3. 3

    Wanganui collegiate and others.
    A spokesperson for the independent schools has made some reference to the treasury making a net gain from increased subsidy to these schools. Of course she did not factor in all the tax kick-backs that individual families receive through “charitable” status of these schools, declaring donation here, donation there…

    1. 3.1

      What donation – what tax kickback ?
      You do talk bullshit.
      Any donation to a registered charity is tax recoverable – eg Salvation Army.
      Wanganui Collegiate – crap.

        1. 3.2.1.1

          The pricks have ethnically cleansed their name! It was still spelt with the H last time I looked, which was during the great debate over how to keep our maori history hidden, sorry, how to spell the city’s name. The school was used as an example of common, long time usage with an H in it.

          For example, this item from days gone by.

          Bloody ringies, think they own everything. Even history.

  5. 5

    For some light relief: the DimPost has an excellent post on the home-rennovation adventures of Bill English. Link in blogroll.

    3. 7.3

      Sorry, but allowing Breivik the freedom to make fascist salutes and a media platform from which to express his views is ridiculous.

  8. 8

    Not OK to hide domestic abuse figures

    “When the Police released their annual crime statistics earlier this month they also announced they will no longer collect statistics that specifically identified family violence-related offences.

    Yeah, like that’s really to help. /sarc

    To be able to do something about an ill you need to know about it.

      1. 8.1.1

        The Freudian slip which was most revealing was when the police spokesperson on 3news (the deputy commissioner?) referred to a need to be able to compare stats across different precincts.

        Only we are not talking about within NZ – he was referring to Australia and the US….

        Sovereignty? What sovereignty? As far as the cops are concerned NZ is just a police precinct! One that must be aligned under the undeniable imperative of ‘best practice’ (/sarc)

        There was a time when we made our own laws, ones that suited NZ – now thanks to operation UNITE our laws will be written for us in Canberra and Washington. We will never get to vote on these policies and yet we will be forced to live under them

        I’m beginning to think that the police deserved to be heckled by Tiki Tane.

        1. 8.1.1.1

          Had a nodding acquaintance with those or similar stats (I think the DV forms). Year on year comparisons were pointless because different regions adopted them at different rates between and within different districts, so the deniability for shite stats over several years was always “reporting factors”. Now they’re being ditched just as they might form a baseline of data? Quelle surprise.

          Humphrey Appleby would be proud.

          1. 8.1.1.1.1

            Not publishing the Domstic Violence statistics – lots of flow on effects the Nacts will lurve…
            If you don’t measure it you can deny it exists.

            There are some 70,000 to 80,000 recorded instances a year and rising. There are some 20,000 protection order breaches.
            Number of protection orders made these days – around 1,500 a year under a watered down law Nact put in place but now there will be no basis for suggesting a tougher law. [and where are all the law’noder dudes – oh that’s right not really a crime huh?]

            No stats – no need to fund the Women’s Refuge and other like programmes.

            No stats – can make Family Court reforms at will including fees.

            No stats No protection orders – makes it harder to protect children inside the family court system. Much easier to paint her (and the children) as just being unco-operative, not frightened, and push court fees at these discussions around “access”. These discussions are costing c.$75m per annum.

            No stats No protection orders – Number of males who don’t apply for custody around 92% but without the violence stats her custody/parenting can be seen as “Competed for and voluntary” not protective of the kids.

            No stats No protection orders Her parenting – she “won” it she can pay for it so don’t need to firm up the rules so child support is paid. Removes any desire of the Courts to make adequate money orders as benefits tighten. Money thr’ the courts is currently a pathetic joke.

            Lastly, this clears the way for the big Nact “bene bashing” which has strong overtones of the behaviour associated with DV. Make her do it all, make her pay for it all, and someone will be supervising just in case she doesn’t.

            Can’t wait for the day when someone stands up in parliament and points out that a large junk of the DPB and WFF is a reward to males for their DV. Not all I know, but when we have DV stats we can hazard a guess.

            The DPB lifestyle subsidy for males protects their assets and income from the needs of their children.

            And in my experience this sort of stuff really lights up women right across the political spectrum
            along the lines of “just what is he doing – anything at all?”

        2. 8.1.1.2

          Perhaps the NZ police establishment are like the NZ military establishment.

          I’ve just finished Hager’s ‘Other People’s Wars‘ and, frankly, the picture he paints (in a well-supported, scholarly manner) is of a military (and military/intelligence/MFAT bureaucracy) intent not on serving New Zealand’s interests as articulated by the government of the day but, principally, on being able to play with the ‘big boys’ (aka ‘traditional allies’).

          To my mind, that attitude skates very close to the wind of treason, if not legally then certainly morally.

          1. 8.1.1.2.1

            the picture he paints is of a military (and military/intelligence/MFAT bureaucracy) intent not on serving New Zealandā€™s interests as articulated by the government of the day but, principally, on being able to play with the ā€˜big boysā€™ (aka ā€˜traditional alliesā€™).

            I havn’t read the book, but that is certainly what happened in the 1980s and early 1990s.

            I was a civilian working on an Air Force base for five years between 1987 and 1992 – the years of the big standoff with the USA. I can tell you there were plenty of Air Force personnel on the ground who were pissed off with David Lange and co. for buggering up their cosy relationship with their American counterparts. So much so, I had to hide my anti-nuclear sympathies. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Someone got wind of it, and I came under a lot of suspicion. From personal experience I can attest to the paranoia that was rampant at that time.

        3. 8.1.1.3

          “The Freudian slip which was most revealing was when the police spokesperson on 3news (the deputy commissioner?) referred to a need to be able to compare stats across different precincts”

          – Was that the official announcement of the NZ police state?

          1. 8.1.1.3.1

            Meet the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)

            ANZPAA is committed to conducting all business activities legally, with strict observance to the highest standards of integrity and propriety. Good corporate governance is a fundamental part of the culture and business practice of ANZPAA.

            Why am I not reassured by the fact they feel the need to tell us that they are committed to acting legally?

            And why does the mention of 'good corporate governance sent the bad kind of shivers down my spine?

            Who is really calling the shots when it comes to law enforcement policy in NZ?

            1. 8.1.1.3.1.1

              “ANZPAA is committed to conducting all business activities legally, with strict observance to the highest standards of integrity and propriety. Good corporate governance is a fundamental part of the culture and business practice of ANZPAA.”

              – The propaganda rule book is short

              1: Make people believe you are, what in fact you are not
              2: Do whatever needs to be done to protect rule one

              Formed under the last Labour Government by the looks of it….Argh, continuity of agenda!

  10. 10

    Humanity continues on its Suicidal Fossil Fuel extraction course which is accelerating Climate Change. (Feel free to accuse me of scare mongering but this is what Lucy Lawless was protesting for on an oil rig set for the new Arctic Frontier enabled by the melting ice cap.)

    “As Ice Cap Melts, Militaries Vie for Arctic Edge”

    Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/16-1

    “I will say it again… When a few billion tons, (two or three), of methane gas escapes into our atmosphere from that melting ice and permafrost, there won’t be any more fighting… It will cause runaway, irreversible global warming and soon after when billions more tons release, it will kill every single person on the planet….. Any who argue it or deny it are either crazy or stupid.

    It is absolutly “unbelieveable” that world governments are determined to get the oil and minerals and ignore the science that proves the Arctic methane is the most serious issue humanity has ever faced in human’s recorded history.

    “Unbelieveable” is the wrong word,,, because it is happening. “

    1. 10.1

      In this mornings Herald you can find the word “growth” repeated ad nauseum. The most nauseous is the Ruth Richardson column in which she thinks that “growth” is possible, but only if you gut the “public” sector and privatise the lot. Ideological metaphysics at its most pathetic. Just reading this bollocks is enough to give you instant brain fade.

      In a round about way this relates to the “unbelievable”….we are constantly bombarded with ideas and terms that we are supposed to “believe”. You are not supposed to question or propose that all is not as presented. You can empirically demonstrate that the ice is melting, science backs you up, but we are still supposed to believe two diametrically opposed propositions… we can stop global warming AND we must carry on growing.

      What we have fallen to is lazy thinking that prevents challenging orthodoxy (the preserve of those in power / in the money). We are encouraged to believe it is somebody elses problem (an SEP), and that a magic party called “they” will fix it. There are no “they”, there is only us individuals, and we need to get together and take up our pitchforks and poke those who would encourage us to believe in “they” as far as the metaphorical gallows.

      3. 10.1.3

        Yeah good old Ms Richardson thinks that the ipad and iphone owning youth will fight the “control” of the Government. Of course, you have to weathly enough in the first place to buy the technology….

      1. 10.2.1

        It is pretty accurate from what I know.

        The risk area is a methyl hydrates in cool shallow seas around the Arctic and Antarctic where rapid temperature changes in those regions could potentially cause shifting ocean currents. The problem is that the methane is “locked” by a temperature/pressure gradient with some quite sharp phase changes. In the polar regions shallow seas the lock is less on the pressure and more on the temperature.

        A rapid shift in the temperature of the surrounding water across a wide enough area in a shallow sea like the Ross sea or the like could cause some extensive rapid releases.

        The problem as usual is the lack of knowledge because the required information has never been systematically collected. We don’t know how sensitive current movements are to climate shifts. We don’t have good estimates of the amount of methane in those areas. We don’t know how much would reabsorbed into seawater because we don’t fully understand the observed processes.

        It is a risk factor that more work needs to be done on…

  11. 11

    Biggest growth “industry” in NZ?

    New Zealand’s biggest growth industry isn’t agriculture or manufacturing ā€“ it’s poverty, a Waikato University professor says.

    So, three decades of neo-liberalism has made most NZers worse off. Yes, most:-

    According to figures, the richest 1 per cent of the population owns three times more than the combined cash and assets of the poorest 50 per cent.

    A few people have benefited though.

    1. 11.1

      Excellent article A very apt summary of the situation.

      Poverty was a growing problem that was exacerbated by the way it was dealt with, she said.

      “If you privatise the support for people in poverty, or for people on welfare, or for people in need of assistance, then you are growing the industry. You are creating an industry and growing it.”

      Profiteering out of poverty!

    2. 11.2

      One good thing about poverty in this day and age, it is catching. And lets face it if we don’t want fracking, or ‘drilling’ for methane hydrates, then we have to all get a lot poorer.
      We all have to accept we are pasted the age of growth, and that most defiantly includes population.
      That is one good thing about peak oil, eventually it will level out the irregularities in this system, as we all join the same class, the hungry one)

  12. 12

    Can anyone shine a light on why John Key would be out of the country when a high profile Chinese delegation is visiting NZ? Couldn’t he have rescheduled? Is he trying to avoid them or was it a mistake?

    1. 13.1

      based on that polemic platitude to profit,
      it looks like ol’ Ruthie has officially decided to stop thinking.

      1. 13.1.1

        “Ruth Richardson is a former Finance Minister. This article is an edited extract from The Next 10 Years, published by London-based think tank Reform”

        – Bruce Richardson has sold/souled out in every sense of the word!

        1. 13.1.1.1

          We have a similar ‘think tank’ in NZ, it is of the same ilk as Richardson’s and of course the Business Round Table- they are out and out neoliberal parasites and troughers.

  14. 14

    Lotto worse than pokies?

    The main difference between Lotto and SkyCity’s pokie machines is the return they provide to communities. While SkyCity only gives 2.5% to a charitable trust, NZ Lotteries distributes 20% of the profits from Lotto to communities throughout New Zealand…

      1. 14.1.1

        Agreed, the constant ‘Lotto’ stories annoy the shit out of me. Often multiple lead stories. We’ll have maybe a big overseas one, one about a local recent winner, and a follow up story on the last local winner.

        They breathlessly report on a lotto story like it is a great human interest story or something. To me it is absolutely no different to a story about someone winning a big texas hold’em game at skycity, or about some nice old lady that popped into SC to put her last $2 in a slot machine and won a $50k jackpot. What’s the difference it’s all gambling. One thing that burned in my memory was watching a jaded world weary looking woman efficiently checking ticket after ticket at one of those self checking machines, literally dozens of them, chucking them all in the bin one after the other, then walking up to the counter and asking how many more lotto tickets she could get for 80 bucks. What’s the difference between that and pokies seriously.

        It’s all a bit hypocritical that they play concerned personality about Skycity expanding, yet treat a lotto winners like nobel prize winners of our times. A bit of consistancy at the very least would be nice and less tiring.

        Bread and circusses shite the lot of it.

        1. 14.1.1.1

          What’s the difference you ask… well if you’d bothered to read the article you’d know that around 80% of problem gamblers use pokies as their primary mode of gambling. Don’t get me wrong; I think Lotto is a crock as well. But the social issues created by problem gambling from addictive pokies are far worse.

          1. 14.1.1.1.1

            Good points. I’m just trying to make the point that Lotto is gambling too. And that it’s a shame we treat the winners as heros. There are much more important reasons to celebrate our fellow folks than them getting lucky in some mainstream money competition whatever it’s form.

  16. 16

    Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University and a former top official at the International Monetary Fund, said Kim’s medical background gave him vital experience in solving problems facing developing nations.

    “He will need to dispel any notion that he is there to serve the interests of the US rather than the interests of developing countries,” Prasad said

    But they put a “black man” in chage who won a peace prize, so you can’t call him racist or a neo-con warmonger…..wait a minute…

    Argh, now I see what these “appointments” are for!

    1. 17.1

      But that’s madness! Think of the inefficiencies! Think of all the lost profits! Think of all the money that will now be going to the government and not offshore! Madness!

    1. 18.1

      Couldn’t help but notice he dropped his lady friend of many years within 24hrs of Paula Bennett walking back into his life. Well he would woudn’t he. She’s a cabinet minister (no less) on a hefty salary?

      Yeah cynical I know but….

  19. 19

    Deny the facts when they contradict the theory

    Conclusion

    The mainstream financial press have been keen to quote Alesina and Perotti (1995) and related publications in the 1990s which purported to show how nations that engaged in fiscal contraction at a time when economic growth was faltering were able to recover. These article are used to justify the fiscal austerity now being imposed at massive cost in many nations.

    However the same commentators have not seen fit to quote or refer to Perottiā€™s 2011 research which demonstrates that the conditions that might have allowed some nations (in isolation) to successfully grow during a period of fiscal consolidation are not present now in Europe or elsewhere and so fiscal austerity will only cause damage.

    Why are the conservatives so selective in their citations? No need to answer ā€“ we all know it.

    Surprise, surprise, conservatives and associated libertarians are cheery picking their sources to prove their theory when reality proves them wrong.

    1. 19.1

      Thanks for this Mr Bastard.

      Austerity works when economic growth is guaranteed, as it has been for most of the last thirty years. The IMF defines a global recession as a period where GDP growth is less than 3%. The last time average GDP growth in first world countries was close to that was in 2007. We have essentially been in a recession since 2007 with little chance of increasing growth by anything close to the required levels due to the high price of oil. This graph here shows it all: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Cjs5tNgpAI/T4fVFKUjH3I/AAAAAAAAADo/4xWusSBm68g/s1600/Crude+oil+prices,+advanced+economies+GDP+growth+and+recessions,+1970-2012.jpg

      From the graph we can see in past recessions that oil prices crashed which enabled countries to ramp up energy consumption and everything else that comes with that. This time is different because after an initial price crash oil prices have steadily been climbing since 2009. The age of cheap energy is over and with it the age of growth is also over.

      http://www.southernlimitsnz.com/2012/04/prediction-is-messy-business-and-has.html

  21. 21

    What a joke Russell Norman is, a green party leader to be rabbiting on about the high value of the NZ$ WTF?
    What would the Green Party be happy with? A NZ dollar @ 45 cents US would do what?
    It would make raping the New Zealand environment so mush easer for everyone the government is selling NZ to ….. how green is that?
    But it would more than likely drive petrol through the $3.00 mark, forcing ‘greenies’ to walk more, maybe a hidden agenda?
    What a dick

    1. 21.1

      Robert a low NZ$ would make petrol and diesel much more expensive yes.

      That is actually a good thing, in terms of encouraging transition and encouraging people to listen to the likes of yourself.

      It would make raping the New Zealand environment so mush easer for everyone the government is selling NZ to ā€¦.. how green is that?

      A high NZ$ is not an effective barrier.

      1. 21.1.1

        But Norman was going on about how good for the economy a low dollar would be?
        The ‘economy’ is what is killing what Norman is meant to be standing for??? Isn’t that what the greeds are all about? …. ‘Giving’ the children a brighter future …. or was that National?

        A high NZ$ is not an effective barrier. – True ‘they’ can print any amount of money to buy NZ regardless.

        And lets face it there are only 2 places worth investing in globally at the moment, funeral homes and new Zealand.

  24. 24

    Unfortunately for the environment to support seven billion + people, we will all have to have a foot print the size of a Portuguese peasant, so as distasteful as it is, the above link is a good thing.
    And just when we were all getting use to the 48 inch+ wide screen.

    1. 24.1

      The environment supports 7B+ people now mate, and I don’t know about you, my eco-footprint is quite a bit bigger than a Portuguese peasants.

      1. 24.1.1

        Only while resource extraction from the environment allows it to. When that extraction goes into permanent decline then the world will no longer be able to support 7b.

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