General Debate 27 July 2009

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment48

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (48)

Login to comment or vote

Simon

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst — and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us.”

Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930

“I think that we have stepped back from the abyss. I think we’ve put out the fire,” he said in an interview with PBS according to a transcript released by the TV station.

Obama June 2009
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 7:27am
calendar girl

Good luck with the moderation experiment, DPF. Anything will be welcome that eliminates ‘ad hominem’ abuse, blatant trolling, link-whoring (specifically where the self-link is not directly on-topic) and deliberate diversion.

The principal challenges will be to achieve such objectives without inhibiting a robust exchange of views, or classic witticisms (many not strictly on-topic) which – at their best – make KB a special forum.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 7:35am
DeepScience

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586650
“they struggled to accept a forgiving embrace from Sophie’s mum after the verdict…”

“We were ambushed in the foyer,”

Nature or nurture?

[DPF: Yeah I wouldn’t call a hug from the victim’s mother an ambush. A hug from the killer’s family could be considered an ambush.]
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 7:37am
siobhan

Just listened to some boffen from Greenpeace on the radio, describing the economic modelling used to put a value on the cost of cutting carbon emmissions as “poor” and “scare-mongering”. Would that be anything like the modelling used to describe future climate change?

POT meet KETTLE.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 7:54am
Youth Against Child Abuse

Rodney Hide says NO to the Anti-smacking law and child abuse.

http://yaca.org.nz/?p=41
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 8:06am
Graeme Edgeler

Hey – why has no-one snapped up http://www.iwiblog.co.nz/ ?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 8:11am
philu

britains’ top economists have sent a letter of apology to the queen..

..for their failures in predicting the current global unravelling..

http://whoar.co.nz/2009/top-economists-write-to-the-queenapologising-for-getting-it-wrongin-failing-to-predict-the-current-collapse-of-the-global-economy/

“..“a failure of the collective imagination of many bright people”

and..

“.. the letter tells of the “psychology of denial” that gripped the financial and political world in the run-up to the crisis..”

phil(whoar.co.nz)
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 8:19am
hubris

How about a nice, good news article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586815

Bill’s so lucky!
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 8:31am
peterwn

See:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2675096/Snapper-to-bite-back
I think the Auckland Public Transport proposed ticketing system is going to turn into another INCIS debacle. Snapper seems to be in the sidelines ready to come to the rescue. Apparently Snapper is ‘unsuited’ to train ticketing for Auckland but Snapper will apparently be on Wellington trains by year end. Snapper is being installed in all Wellington taxis the big driving force being to have a fully automated method of handling concession fares and subsidies for disabled people, but everyone can use it.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2675384/Tasers-pose-new-problems-for-doctors

So some Oz doctors have done a study. I have done a quick alternative armchair study. This shows that offenders who have the alternative G.U.N. system used on them arrive at A&E in an even bigger mess than the T.A.Z.E.R ones.

Exemptions for cellphones while driving. I guess there will be so many that the legislation might as well be scrapped. Perhaps 111 or *555 is one thing, but exempting the cops is another. Face reality – Stephen Joyce.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 8:36am
philu

was/is the ‘shrub’..just really ‘evil’..?

http://whoar.co.nz/2009/revealed-the-secret-evidence-of-global-warming-bush-tried-to-hide/

phil(whoar.co.nz)
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 9:30am
mattyroo

What the fuck is up with the taxi federation wanting the gummint to pay for security cameras in their taxi’s?

Next time I or one of my employees goes to the airport, do you think the taxi’s are going to subsidise the journey?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 9:36am
Patrick Starr

“4. Look how red/brown/black I’ve got.
Kua pakaka/parauri/pango/ katoa taku kiri.”

is it just me …or…….?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586810
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 9:43am
CraigM

Once again the facts get in the way of the real inconvenient truth.

3,000 Low Temp Records Set This July!

http://www.accuweather.com/mt-news-blogs.asp?blog=weathermatrix&partner=&pgUrl=/mtweb/content/weathermatrix/archives/2009/07/1000_low_temp_records_set_this_july.asp
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 9:46am
grumpyoldhori

Redbaiter and his fellow birthers seem to confused.
Suggesting that Obama’s father was the only president who did not have both his parents born in the good ole US of A makes them look like complete dickheads.
It seems that at least three other presidents had at least one parent born outside the US.
It would not be that some of those white,hard working, firearm worshipping , idiots looked at Obama’s colour would it ?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:06am
big bruv

I have plans this week that depend on the weather, I got out of bed this morning, turned on TV One to have a look at the weather forecast for later this week and was confronted by a map that looks a lot like New Zealand but had place names that I have never seen before.

While it was a bit confusing I managed to work out what our forecast was for the day, however, the long range forecast was impossible to work out as for some strange reason they used words to describe the days of the week that mean nothing to me.

While I appreciate that TVNZ is horrendously PC do you think it would be possible for them to at least use language that most Kiwi’s can fucking well understand?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:24am
Ryan Sproull

Big Bruv,

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/398
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:28am
KiwiGreg

@ big bruv I couldn’t even begin to remember the last time I turned the TV to TV1.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:32am
big bruv

Greg

Nothing on earth would convince me to watch socialist TV aka TV3
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:34am
bringbackthebiff

I’m not one to link whoar but in the interests of free advertising, and the fact that this is a general forum, I have decided to post a link to the Warrnambool Plovers RUFC http://www.warrnamboolrugby.rugbynet.com.au/.

If any readers of this blog a considering heading to Australia, even the one sole who will turn out the lights, and you want to play rugby, consider the south west of Victoria. Same goes for anyone you know who may be considering a shift.

We are almost at seasons end and will probably stir the pot with a wooden spoon. It is the infant clubs second season. After a season in Vic Country we are now in Vic Metro 2nd div. Player recruitment in the tight shorts wearing AFL belt is a tough ask. The bulk of the team at the present are expat kiwi’s so you know we know how to have a good time.

What do we offer? Punishing road trips to Melbourne involving some alcohol consumption, and good mates.

What does the region offer? Good lifestyle, good work prospects, this is a growing part of the dairy sector as well as the oil and gas industry.

Even if you don’t give two hoots, have a look, a laugh, and a great day.

Cheers
BBTB
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:41am
starboard

..if you really wana heave..watch the Good morning show on TV1 now…
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:44am
kiwipolemicist

I have my own theories about why schools have ID cards these days but I haven’t been able to find out what the official excuse for them is. My contacts are in primary schools that don’t have ID cards and I can’t find anything on the web.

Does anyone out there is Blogland have a reliable report of the official reason(s) for issuing kids with dog tags?

Thanks in advance.

I’m reminded of a science fiction books where aliens called Tripods ruled the earth and would put some sort of cap on children when they reached a certain age (or something like that). The leftist feminazis that run our schools are definitely aliens 🙂

http://kiwipolemicist.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/thinking-about-state-schools/
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:47am
MT_Tinman

Seves you right for looking to the television for anything other than mindless entertainment BB.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:48am
MyNameIsJack

It is often said that untried opposition leaders have a hard task proving they are fit to run the country. Without experience of the pressures of government, they can demonstrate their competence to the voters only by the successful management of their own party.

So, who is this?

John Key prior to the elction of his Notional Government?

Phil Goff right now?

Barak Obama?

Or the poster boy for the UK right?

On this test, David Cameron emerges as a boy running for a man’s job, a student politician so lost in his ideological obsessions he cannot produce a morally or intellectually coherent foreign policy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/26/david-cameron-eu-far-right
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:52am
MyNameIsJack

kiwipolemicist (373) Vote: 1 0 Says:

July 27th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I have my own theories about why schools have ID cards these days but I haven’t been able to find out what the official excuse for them is.

There are generally two answers to this type of question.

1. If it is done in schools, it is to soften the students and make them more maleable. Such as homework is an insidious way to get kids thinking that it is necessary to continue work in their own time, thus making them more accepting of “unpaid overtime” aka theft by employer. The same with school uniforms – as the great industrialist Riccardo Semler said “Uniform dress leads to uniform thinking”.

2. Much of this type of thing is done, not because there is a need, but because there is a technology available. It is the same as the police wanting cell phone text messages stored “just in case”, when they would never countenance photocopying every letter sent through the post. Technology makes surveillance easier, but not necessary.

I had a similar debate with ecan regarding the bus apss system they use. On application you are required to provide date of birth and ID. For a fucking bus ticket!
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:57am
kiwipolemicist

Jack: You’re thinking along the same lines as me. It does appear that Big Brother employs a few boffins whose sole job is to monitor technological advances and figure out how each one of those can be used by their master.

I’m not familiar with the bus pass that you’re talking about, but for something like Snapper there is no good reason for giving any personal data when you get a bus pass: even if you want to have have the ability to lock the pass in the event of loss (to prevent loss of funds) all that’s needed is the pass number and a security question or PIN.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 12:10pm
Cerium

“Nothing on earth would convince me to watch socialist TV aka TV3”

?? Aren’t TV3 a privately owned company. A capitalist sort of thing?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 12:51pm
MyNameIsJack

kiwip, here’s a link to the application form.

http://metroinfo.org.nz/docs/metrocard-application-form.pdf

Metrocard is like snapper, but low tech.

there is no valid reason why anyone should have to provide ID for a bus ticket, wet or dry.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 1:31pm
big bruv

Cerium

Yes they are a private company, a piss poor private company but still one not owned by the tax payer.

If the people running TV3 had any brains they would drop the socialist crap and become more right wing, it works well for FOX in the USA so I cannot see why they do not do the same here.
For a start they should get rid of Campbell and Driver, hire a couple of conservative replacements and really go after the pinko’s, their ratings would soar.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 1:32pm
MyNameIsJack

really BB? I dont think that you and redbaiter would be enough. Aren’t you hard righties always telling us the “market will provide”, that markets are “perfect”?

I guess TV3 have looked at the market and decided there is no call for a brain dead brain washing show aimed at the already brainwashed.

If fox is so good, why do you watch TV3? Oh, hang on, you DON’T watch TV3, so you’re just like the censorious god botherers who don’t need to see a movie to know it offends them.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 1:45pm
NOt1tocommentoften

BigBRuv, thanks for reminding me. E aku iti, e aku rahi, nau mai, haere mai ki tenei Wiki o te Reo Maori!

Isn’t it great to live in a country with three official languages. Wouldn’t it be good if everyone could spend this week getting to know more than one of them a little better.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 1:46pm
Cerium

“If the people running TV3 had any brains they would drop the socialist crap and become more right wing”

So I still would hardly ever watch them. I watch Fox occasionally to see what they are doing but most of it is a bit pathetic. Like TV3, just in a different way.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 1:49pm
MyNameIsJack

Why?

Sign language appears to be different to sign language in other countries.

te reo is unusabel outside NZ.

English is the Lingua Franca of the world.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 1:50pm
big bruv

Not1

“Isn’t it great to live in a country with three official languages.”

What is great about it?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 2:14pm
Chuck Bird

I think the following article will help explain Weatherston’s decision to take the stand and blame Sophie.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586650

This is what Weatherston’s parent think.

That is why they insist his defence team was justified in arguing he was provoked.

They are going to be on 60 minutes tonight.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 2:24pm
terry

WASTEOIL HAS HAD PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT…..maybe the bnz…?

wasteoil says

“Let me make one thing clear, having worked for a major bank in lending,…”

http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/content/spam-journalism-10-homes-day-taken-banks
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 2:49pm
big bruv

Fantastic news!!!

MAN SHOT BY POLICE.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2678248/Man-shot-by-police-in-Auckland

I applaud this action by our Police, if it ever comes down to a choice between the Police and the criminal scum element then as far as I am concerned “shoot baby shoot”
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:08pm
Hurf Durf

When even the Obummer administration is tired of NZ’s so-called “independent” foreign policy, you know you have problems.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586805

“Nice country, it would be a shame if something…happened to it.”
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:11pm
Chuck Bird

A woman stripped of her teaching licence after inappropriate relationships with two female students has admitted abusing a position of trust.

Can one imagine a male teacher only receiving a warning after the first offence? Why were the police not called? I thought it was against the law for an adult to have sex with a student in his or her care under the age of 20. Does the law not apply to lesbians?

According to the decision, the 40-year-old former computer teacher singled out one girl for special meetings and encouraged her to lie to her parents. She received a warning after management discovered the relationship but continued a secret infatuation with a second student.

Teacher kicked out of school

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586690
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:14pm
racer1

“big bruv

If the people running TV3 had any brains they would drop the socialist crap and become more right wing, it works well for FOX in the USA so I cannot see why they do not do the same here.”

The fox news model is not political orientation dependent, it is not about being far right (or far left for that matter). Instead it is acknowledging that there is always going to be some level of bias in the news, and instead just being open about it, leaving the public to make up their own minds.

It does not have to be far right, to do this, it could also be far left and achieve the same purpose. Which is where things get a bit odd, surely if people demand that tvnz is run in a commercially viable manner, including it’s news program, then why do people object to it following the fox news model, and being biased (quite openly so) in their reporting.

(note: I don’t believe that tvnz (or tv3 for that matter, hardly a difference between the two) is biased in its reporting, and am undecided on the fox news model, but though I would make a comment based upon the prevailing beliefs here)
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:19pm
NOt1tocommentoften

Chuck – how many contradictions are in your comment? I’m unaware of such an offence, and even if it was, why would she be charged? There’s no evidence of sex here…
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:22pm
Chuck Bird

Chuck – how many contradictions are in your comment?

None

I suggest you read the article again and reread my post. Where did I say she should be charged?
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:43pm
racer1

Your splitting straws suggest anything else could be taken as the meaning of your comment when you have said “I thought it was against the law”, and asked “Why were the police not called?”.

You may not have said the words “she should be charged”, but that is exactly what you mean by your comment.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:49pm
racer1

you’re not your, sorry.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 3:52pm
hubris

Apparently he left with a smile on his face.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10586923
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 5:33pm
big bruv

More commuter mayhem for Wellington

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2678886/Train-outages-in-Wellington

Remember this when it comes time to cast your vote, remember that it is the duplicitous and communist Green party that wants to force us all onto public transport.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 5:34pm
Buggerlugs

well done to the roosters who thought this up:
http://opengovt.org.nz/cat/
hopefully it takes off – could save Parliamentary Services millions as Labour could use it in lieu of a research unit…
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 8:59pm
Jack5

NZ’s high kiwi dollar is a king-size drag on recovery, if Iceland’s contrary experience is an indication. Iceland’s currency has done the opposite to the kiwi and has fallen near 50 per cent. An article in the UK Telegraph (link below) says this is helping a good recovery and bounce in the Iceland recovery, devastated when the credit crisis crushed its new international internet banks.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/5912682/Icelands-krona-proves-the-magic-wand-as-Europe-ails.html

What do NZ and Iceland have in common? Big levels of debt and a high reliance on international trade and tourism.

No-one seems concerned about the high kiwi dollar, which is playing hell with some exporters.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 27, 2009 10:09pm
Glutaemus Maximus

Irony Central:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5907383/Global-cooling-hits-Al-Gores-home.html
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
July 28, 2009 6:38am

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« Holmes on smacking referendum

Why no elections in Fiji »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 37.4K other subscribers

Highlights

Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments
Health Target 3 – Emergency Dept Waiting Times
Health Target 2 – Immunisations

Links

Olivia Pierson: A Hikoi vs A Country
Breaking Views
Drawn
No Right Turn
Regulatory Reform: Timid and too easily tamed?
Not PC
Congratulations Karen Chhour Your Trial Youth Camp Produced An Over 80% Success Rate To Date.
No Minister
Daily review 21/11/2024
The Standard
Word of the day
Hompaddock
Three minutes after midnight, police make arrest under new gang patch law – but the boot camp news is disappointing
Point of Order
Hunger, poverty and disease explode in New Zealand – We need another Hikoi!
The Daily Blog
Cold, Hungry, Mass Unemployment, No Cars, Blackouts–Welcome To Starmer’s Dystopian Future
Utopia
The transgender agenda sunk Kamala
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
What does “reciprocity” mean in New Zealand laws?
Croaking Cassandra
A Day of Reckoning
NZCPR
Media Link: “A View from Afar” on the US elections.
Kiwipolitico
This will not end well
Offsetting Behaviour
Top 14 Predictions for Round 10
Stats Chat
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz