Open mike 26/03/2016

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 42 comments
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42 comments on “Open mike 26/03/2016”

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  1. 1

    Now we’ve wasted a lot of time talking about flags, maybe we could talk about some more pressing issues……

    Climate scientists’ global warning

    Study suggests the impact of global warming will be quicker and more catastrophic than envisioned.
    An influential group of scientists led by James Hansen, the former Nasa scientist often credited with having drawn the first major attention to climate change in 1988 congressional testimony, has published a dire climate study that suggests the impact of global warming will be quicker and more catastrophic than generally envisioned.
    The research invokes collapsing ice sheets, violent megastorms and even the hurling of boulders by giant waves in its quest to suggest that even 2C of global warming above pre-industrial levels would be far too much. Hansen has called it the most important work he has ever done.
    The sweeping paper, 52 pages in length and with 19 authors, draws on evidence from ancient climate change or “paleo-climatology”, as well as climate experiments using computer models and some modern observations.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11611840

    2. 1.2

      Even the extremely atypical string of 30 degree-days that hit Chch in the second half of summer didn’t get much of a mention in the MSM – and where they did get noted they were mainly attributed to the El Nino, not to Global Climate Change.

  2. 2

    Climate change is real, of course, but two new scientific papers out this past week say that it’s happening a hell of a lot faster, and in a more dangerous direction, than scientists were even considering as a worst-case scenario just a few years ago. We need a rapid worldwide shift away from fossil fuels now”

    “Published Mar 24, 2016”



  3. 3

    The impact of new transnational companies on tax take and jobs.

    Air BNB
    Call for level playing field over Air BnB accommodation.

    Hospitality NZ national president Adam Cunningham said there did need to be a level playing field between all accommodation providers.
    “We can’t have an industry where one part of the industry has to pay commercial rates, pay GST, pay to be a commercial business, and have that impacted by environments and holiday homes that don’t have to cover any of that, including insurance.”

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/299881/call-for-level-playing-field-over-air-bnb-accommodation

    Uber

    Kenya – Uber car burned in tension with traditional taxis
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11610842

    Indonesia – Jakarta taxi drivers protest against Uber and Grab
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35868396

    India
    How Ola, Meru and Uber Are Crushing Independent Taxi Service
    http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/news/How-Ola-Meru-and-Uber-Are-Crushing-Independent-Taxi-Service/2016/03/20/article3336043.ece

    And if you don’t pay taxes and create precarious jobs at the expense of decent jobs, you become a billionaire.
    http://www.forbes.com/profile/travis-kalanick/

    Neo-liberalism is destroying the world.

    2. 3.2

      Neo-liberalism is destroying the world.

      That does seem to be the inevitable result of usury and greed. The more that the rich have the more they push society towards collapse as they rort the system so that they can have even more:

      By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the risk of collapse today: namely, Population, Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Energy.

      These factors can lead to collapse when they converge to generate two crucial social features: “the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity”; and “the economic stratification of society into Elites [rich] and Masses (or “Commoners”) [poor]” These social phenomena have played “a central role in the character or in the process of the collapse,” in all such cases over “the last five thousand years.”

      We cannot afford the rich.

  5. 5

    An interesting doco on glyphosate and the accompanying chemicals- filmed largely in Europe. There is also mention of TTIP and US standards being inflicted on Europe in the last section.

    1. 6.1

      Anything but real news to distract the sheeple, this stuff is exactly what herald editors look for to fill up their bucket of dross.

  7. 7

    As the flag story unfolded, my apathy and disinterest gradually changed into mild curiosity. As more people talked it became impossible to ignore and eventually views and feelings strong enough to elicit voting behaviour emerged.

    Leaving the irritating Key factor aside the main focus was on the flag(s).

    The left leaning community may be able to use the flag experience to ensure that the focus of the million or so currently uninterested non voters is on real issues, ignoring the irritating Key factor and generating feelings strong enough to elicit voting behaviour in the forthcoming election.

    Not sure how to ignore the influence of the tame celebrities who are regularly dragged out of their expertise areas and right wing ‘mediacritics’ or should I say ‘mediocratics’ like Young, Small, Watkins, Hoskings, Henry, Gower and their paymasters whose sole function seems to be to build up the focus on John Key and belittle Andrew Little.

    1. 8.1

      “It comes down to the ratepayers paying for it and Franz Josef has 300 locals but the population grows to up to 5000 tourists a night. So who pays? We don’t have the money, neither do the ratepayers, nor the regional council,” he said.

      Wait, what?

      Isn’t tourism supposed to be a source of income that pays it’s own way?

      1. 8.1.1

        The tramping community is grappling with similar issues … significant costs are being imposed on the public domain, especially DoC, by the sheer numbers of travellers using the Conservation estate for almost nothing.

        Yet the private sector which profits from the use it pays nothing for their benefit.

        1. 8.1.1.1

          Yet the private sector which profits from the use it pays nothing for their benefit.

          Exactly. The private sector takes the profits and dumps the costs upon the rest of us. For some strange reason, our governments haven’t seen this as erroneous and have, in fact, backed down from imposing the costs upon businesses when the businesses get word that the government may be about to do that and start whinging about paying those costs.

      2. 8.1.2

        Irrespective of who should pay it speaks to the fact that what is possible and what is practical….how often will society be able or willing to keep rebuilding any of these increasingly damaged infrastructure?

  9. 9

    Some reasons NOT to vote for the NZ Labour Party…it is a follower of the right wing in the USA:

    ‘NSA must end planned expansion of domestic spying, lawmakers say’

    https://www.rt.com/usa/337233-nasa-planned-expansion-representatives/

    (….but ….Sir Michael Cullen of the New Zealand Labour Party has just agreed to expand domestic spying… and Andrew Little supports Hillary Clinton

    ‘New Zealand government plans further expansion of spy powers’

    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/03/19/gcsb-m19.html

    “Claims by Cullen and Reddy that their proposals would strengthen “oversight” of the spy agencies are a sham. The GCSB and SIS would be permitted to spy on anyone if they obtained a warrant from the attorney-general and a judicial commissioner. When agencies decided that an operation must be conducted “urgently,” they would be able to conduct warrantless surveillance for 48 hours.

    Spies would also be given “immunities from civil and criminal liability” if they broke the law during undercover operations. The GCSB currently has immunity when acting under authorisation and for “any act done in good faith to obtain a warrant or authorisation.” This would be extended to cover SIS agents. Immunity would also be given to “anyone required to assist the agencies, such as telecommunications companies” and “human sources.”

    ‘One law for all spy agencies?’

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/298493/one-law-for-all-spy-agencies

    ‘Trump or Clinton – who would be better for New Zealand?’

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/298063/who-would-be-better-for-nz

    Andrew Little: “Hillary Clinton offers a safe, steady pair of hands in the presidency which is why I think she would be attractive to a lot more Americans.”

    1. 9.1

      CHOOKY the National Party Rooster Cock a doodle do.

      Crowing from the rooftop.

      Chooky posts this rubbish on this thread at 10.13am and then posts it on Labours 10 Ideas at 10.33am.

      Should be called Speed Gonzales perhaps?

      Go crow somewhere else Chooky you are a waste of time.

        1. 9.1.1.1

          I will say something Chooky, and I am a Bernie/Corbyn supporter who often agrees with you. The statement of Andrew Little’s is not “My Hilary right or wrong” – it is a careful response from a leader of the opposition in NZ, who, if he wins the next election, will have dealings with the next US president whoever it is. Given the background circumstances of Little’s leadership, the small, entrenched nature of the caucus he has inherited, and the fact that we have not managed to form ourselves into a passionate mob, crying out for change, I think you need to be cautious of parsing his every utterance for signs of duplicity. Trying to mislead us into voting against our interests is one thing, and I have no reason to think Little is doing that in this instance. Giving a diplomatic answer to a question is another, and I think you should be careful not to mistake the second for the first.

          1. 9.1.1.1.1

            @Olwyn
            Reasoned opinion not emotional reaction. Good from you Olwyn as usual. A good lead for us to follow.

          2. 9.1.1.1.2

            @ Olwyn…Little might have been better to have refrained from supporting Hillary Clinton nevertheless…

            …I note John Key refrained from supporting one over the other , a more considered diplomatic and strategic political response

            …particularly as Hillary Clinton is under FBI investigation and could come under indictment…also what the emails reveal is down right scary

            http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/if-america-cant-see-hilla_b_9530100.html

            http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/8/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-probe-confirmed-state-d/?page=all

            http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/21/critics-aghast-disgusting-speech-clinton-just-gave-aipac

            https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328

            http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-hillary-clinton-helped-topple-gadhafi-france-uk-fought-libyas-oil/215104/

            http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/13/exposing-libyan-agenda-closer-look-hillarys-emails

            1. 9.1.1.1.2.1

              OK, it’s true he could have said nothing. But at the same time, that he said what he said in that instance is not something to get too exercised about. And I should add that I am no fan of Hillary Clinton, and hope that Sanders ends up with the nomination myself.

          3. 9.1.1.1.3

            and that’s exactly why I like Andrew Little, reasoned, not seduced by the media pressure to produce “soundbites”, and reassuring, that as the next PM, that he thinks before he acts.

              1. 9.1.1.1.3.1.1

                Aye to that, except if he does have to work alongside her in the future….Bernie looks to be gathering momentum, and if the Democrat elite have any sense they will see that they have to get the masses on side, not just the “insiders”. Cheers to that.

  10. 10

    Trump vs. Clinton

    https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/336868-clinton-trump-foreign-policy/

    “The foreign policy establishment vs. the novice – Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. Identified as a liberal interventionist, Clinton’s views are hardly distinguishable from those of the neocons. Trump, on the other hand, holds a number of unconventional – even controversial – foreign policy views. For better or worse, voters just might have a meaningful choice when they cast their ballots in November.

    CrossTalking with James Jatras, Daniel McAdams, and Richard Goodstein.”

  11. 11

    Moving a discussion from another thread,

    “I would personally feel better if Little had something positive to say about Sanders, and Cullen had actually made spies accountable”

    Of course, me too. I don’t vote for Labour. But what does that have to do with r0b’s post? Chooky didn’t relate her comment to the post in any way at all, she just used the post to Labour-bash. I asked what is the strategy in that, because whacking Labour each time it gets something right looks like a lose-lose proposition to me. You at least attempted to relate your comment to the post. I have no problem with critiquing what Labour do. I do have a problem when it’s done gratuitously from so called lefties with a thoughtless agenda.

    http://thestandard.org.nz/labours-ten-big-ideas/#comment-1152360

    1. 12.1

      🙂 what a magic moment – I hope it augers well. There is still hope with big wins in Utah and Idaho. Keith Locke has a piece here

  13. 13

    Sometimes satire is so reflective of real life:

    http://www.theonion.com/article/mattel-releases-new-male-barbie-inspire-girls-imag-52635

    I can’t help but think of that early act of National to hold a business think-tank jobs summit.

    “In a continued effort to make its iconic line of dolls more representative of today’s culture, Mattel announced the release Friday of its first male Barbie, which it hopes will inspire girls to dream about what it’s like to hold a top-ranking job in the workforce.

    According to a press release from the toy manufacturer, the 12-inch-tall male figurine comes with a bespoke gray suit, polished black wingtips, and a plush leather chair, allowing girls to pretend that they too might one day be able to reach a powerful executive position in whatever profession they choose.”

    There’s a nice touch in the last sentence as well.

  15. 15

    Global terrorism good for New Zealand: John Key

    John Key is positioning New Zealand as an Asia-Pacific “Switzerland” – a beautiful and wealthy bolthole for high net-worthers seeking to escape from an unstable world. Key believes that free-flowing terrorism is here to stay. To the Prime Minister, this simply makes New Zealand more attractive and will result in more high net-worth consumers wanting to come here – a theme he is developing in business briefings.

    – Franno

    Dear leader then goes on to tell ISIS where they should be bombing. They’re not doing it right, according to him.

    His hypothesis is that if Isis wanted to destabilise Europe, it would insert a Jihadi amidst the refugees and get them to kill people in the middle of Berlin, then turn the gun on him or herself.

    This would not only destabilise Angela Merkel’s leadership, but with it, Germany’s leadership of Europe.

    – Franno

    WTF?

    Can’t imagine other leaders being very impressed with these uttering to the IDU. Franno seems to love the concept, though.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11611816

    1. 15.1

      Just going on your comment it makes Key sound like a cynical $profiteer$ of death and free market apostles such as Franno would always cheer if the market ‘capitalises’ on opportunities – God forbid that it plays a part in finding solutions.

      Each time after a major terrorist action somewhere in the world the NZ dollar drops in favour of safer currencies, which seems paradoxical to Key’s opinion.

      I find it incredibly ironic that Key is eager to welcome “high net-worth consumers” with open arms but at the same time refuses to take in more refugees who are real (!) victims.

  16. 16

    I must say there has been a lot of dry-humping of John Key’s used and bloody carcass by his simpering troupe in the political editorial media.

    Yes, Audrey is at it again, working right through her Easter weekend in order to coquettishly defend the prime minister in his time of need. Surely this article is no more than her letter of application for a job in the office next to his…

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11611838

    With the benefit of hindsight, the flag referendum was conducted too quickly.

    – Audrey

    Hindsight? They are supposedly the best government New Zealand has ever had according to Audrey and others. They had $26M to spend. Why on earth would they need hindsight to get things right?

  17. 17

    Here is an example of gross stupidity! Bunnings have squandered an opportunity to create some positive public vibes

    Defibrillator has to go: Bunnings
    By Shawn McAvinue on Sat, 26 Mar 2016

    Bunnings management has “put its foot down” and forced its Dunedin staff to gift the store’s defibrillator to a community group.

    A Bunnings staff member, who did not want to be named due to fear of disciplinary action, said Bunnings New Zealand manager Jacqui Coombes visited the Dunedin store on Wednesday.

    The management “put their foot down” and forced staff to remove the defibrillator from the store and give it to a community group.

    “They said ‘it has to go, it’s not staying here’.”

    The staff member did not know which community group would get the defibrillator.
    ……
    Social club members from Bunnings Dunedin raised $1300 to buy the defibrillator about three years ago, after one of their colleagues died from a heart condition.

    In a leaked email, Ms Coombes said the defibrillator was removed because “as a group, we do not hold defibrillators at our stores”.

    “There are a number of reasons for this, including maintenance of the units and the availability of trained teams to operate the units,” she wrote.

    http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/377525/defibrillator-has-go-bunnings#sthash.vKwyk03u.dpuf

    Let’s hope the manager of Bunnings doesn’t have a cardiac arrest while in a Bunnings store.

    Wonderful PR job, Bunnings! (sarc)

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