General Debate 1 January 2015

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IGM

Poor Mark Taylor . . . he wants his passport back. Best see Russel Norman, he wants his flag back!
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January 1, 2015 8:03am
hj

Diversity training a flop; companies do it to avoid law suits

SOME DECADES AGO, THE POWERS THAT BE declared that employee diversity was a good thing, as desirable as double-digit
profit margins. It’s proving just as difficult to achieve.

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dobbin/files/time_the_diversity_delusion.pdf
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January 1, 2015 8:21am
G152

‘Poor Mark Taylor . . . he wants his passport back. Best see Russel Norman, he wants his flag back!’
I wonder if his buddies know that he wants out..
evidently they don’t like quitters so maybe we should drop a hint
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January 1, 2015 8:31am
Monique Angel

Hows our wee poor sore heads this morning?

Book Review
http://www.enlightenedhousewife.com/2014/12/book-review-man-called-ove/
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January 1, 2015 8:35am
Reid

Ken O’keefe on PressTv exposes Obama, Bush, ISIS, Bankers, Syria – Demoralizes bald shill – EPIC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aYX4WeqQfRo

And some things to watch out for in 2015:

http://eventhorizonchronicle.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/the-great-unraveling-of-2015.html
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January 1, 2015 8:35am
Steve (North Shore)

Wow, what a night. Goodbye 2014, it was not the greatest.
Righto, kick her in the guts Trev, 2015 is all go!
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January 1, 2015 8:41am
jgw739

Apparently people in America are upset that Target have used only white models for the new ‘Annie’ clothing collection in their flyers. Never mind that in the original movie Annie was a redhead and was changed to a black girl for the re-make. What is with Hollywoods obsession with rebooting movies and completely changing main characters anyway? What next – another Superman rehash, this time featuring Nicky Minaj as Kal-El wearing a purple Borat suit & cape?

http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/12/theres-a-petition-against-annie-for-target-ads.html?mid=twitter_nymag
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January 1, 2015 8:42am
flipper

I guess that 2015 will be a year that many MS media shills will want to forget – even before it is a month old. Folk like Armstrong, Watkin, O’Sullivan, Small, Dann, Campbell, Soper, Smalley, Watkins, Gower and Red Radio are reported to be worried, really worried over what Cam Slater has on them, and the criminal Hager.

So a prediction: This time Slater will deliver and the MSM mob will not like it up them. Pity, but that sword cuts both ways.

It will be great sport, probably better than the CWC and the RWC. 🙂
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January 1, 2015 8:46am
IGM

flipper: I hope Cam really sinks some of these left-wing arseholes, especially ones you forgot . . . Garner, Vance, Bradbury!
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January 1, 2015 8:50am
waikatogirl

Bring it on Flipper, what a hoot! Can’t wait to see what comes out of that nasty rotten ball of wax…
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January 1, 2015 8:50am
kowtow

jgw

It’s all very Orwellian. Like this .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2892629/Israel-omitted-HarperCollins-atlas-including-country-unacceptable-customers.html

Appeasing Muslims .
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January 1, 2015 8:52am
Monique Angel

And if any of you characters want a copy use the contact form at the top of my blog and I’ll get my kids to choose the name they like the most and pop a copy in the post. The rest will get emailed only when there is a new book review or when I set up my Facebook page. Reviews, recipes, philosophy and the odd dirty joke.

2014 rocked.

Might not be back for a while as I have a book to write. Hope you enjoyed my links over the past week.

Happy New Year Kiwibloggers.
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January 1, 2015 8:53am
flipper

IGM…Yep, two of the three you name are probably the WORST!
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January 1, 2015 8:54am
Reid

Clueless sheeple. Boy, aren’t you lucky you’re not like them… There’s an interesting short video at the end which shows you how their media is controlled

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/american-people-utterly-clueless-going-happen-enter-2015
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January 1, 2015 9:00am
Manolo

When will they resurface next? http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/31/us-releases-5-more-guantanamo-bay-prisoners-sends-them-to-kazakhstan/
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January 1, 2015 9:08am
Inandout

kowtow: We have a Rand McNally world atlas which cost megabucks at the time, but was hopelessly out of date after 5 years, and apart from nostalgic reasons, it is rarely referred to. Harper Collins is being idiotic in its timidity, but I for one will never purchase any of their publications.

http://www.harpercollins.co.nz/
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January 1, 2015 9:15am
waikatogirl

Manolo, what do you reckon the Yanks will be tracking them? I’d want to know where they were and what their next move would be 😉
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January 1, 2015 9:15am
mikenmild

Hah! Yes, boycott Haper Collins:
‘US-based HarperCollins Publishers is is (sic) a subsidiary of News Corp, whose executive chairman, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is famously pro-Israel.’
You should all refuse to watch Sky TV to be consistent.
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January 1, 2015 9:20am
Hugh Pavletich

CHRISTCHURCH MAYOR DALZIEL:
“BREAD & CIRCUSES” DIVERSION

To start 2015 off on exactly the wrong note, The Press Opinion “Christchurch – It really is happening” (http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/64582160/Christchurch-It-really-is-happening ) ineptly endeavours to gloss over the real issues.

The diversionary ramble commences with …

“OPINION: Mayor Lianne Dalziel says that the Christchurch City Council’s catchphrase for 2015 is “Christchurch – it’s happening”. In many different ways, there is good reason to believe that the year will be one in which the phrase will be borne out. For most property owners it will mean the completion of repairs and rebuilds. For the Government and the Christchurch Central Development Unit it will be the advancing and starting of more of its major projects. For the city council itself it will be further sorting of the on-going problem of the financial hurdles it faces. That will mean, it must be hoped, an insurance settlement and working through negotiations with the Government about the infrastructure bill … “

With this vacuous “theme of hope”, or more accurately diversionary wishful thinking, Mayor Lianne Dalziel in collusion with The Press stating …

“For many Christchurch people, though, it will apply in the sense the mayor was referring to – the rebirth in a big way of significant sporting and entertainment events and the hope of stronger recovery of tourism. While it was not the most important of the losses Christchurch suffered, the damage and destruction of so many of the city’s entertainment and sporting venues struck a blow to the city’s morale that has taken some time to recover. A low point was reached when it was recognised that it would be impossible to stage any Rugby World Cup games here, something that affected even those with only the slightest interest in the sport.”

The Press editorial then explains how some of these sporting and entertainment events are “trickling back”.

This is one of the oldest tricks in politics … the “bread & circuses” approach. Wikipedia explains ( Bread and circuses – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) …

“‘Bread and circuses’ (or bread and games) (from Latin: panem et circenses) is metonymic for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the generation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion; distraction; or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace,[1] as an offered “palliative.” Its originator, Juvenal, used the phrase to decry the selfishness of common people and their neglect of wider concerns.[2][3][4] The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the commoner.”

To be more accurate, however, Mayor Lianne Dalziel and her Council are not providing the “bread” (in large measure bureaucratic bloat has cleaned that out … instead it is provided by Central Government and Insurers in the main) … just the circus”.

There is no mention within The Press Editorial, that the bureaucratically bloated Christchurch City Council is in no fit state to assume full governance responsibility of the City.

Following the CERA Sutton / Rennie debacle of late last year ( Just more bureaucratic institutional failure | Hugh Pavletich | Scoop News ), with its 350 staff incorporating 21 public relations people generating progress fiction, understandably, the Government is rather keen to exit as quickly as possible ( Jenny Shipley: Canterbury must ‘keep momentum’ | Stuff.co.nz and an earlier report Jenny Shipley to lead transition from Cera | Stuff.co.nz ).

Former Prime Minister Dame Jenney Shipley, with no direct experience of urban issues, has been appointed to lead this Transition Team. She is keen to have the process clearly mapped out within 5 months.

No doubt it can’t happen soon enough for Prime Minister John Key … who Shipley will report to, as Recovery Minister Gerry Brownleee is exiting. Why ? We don’t know.

Shipley and Dalziel have made no mention to date of the problems involved, in loading an already dysfunctional Council with additional responsibilities.

Remarkably, The Press has failed to “press” them on these critically important issues.

It is clearly much easier for The Press staff to simply publish the puff pieces generated by the politicians.

It would have been expected local media may have learnt from their earlier failures, such as the one time Deputy Mayor “Fingers” Fahey debacle … and the recent pathetic performances of local journalists at the CERA Rennie / Sutton Media Conference, as explained within “Just More Bureaucratic Institutional Failure” …

“Hutching of the NBR describes the Monday media circus”

“Local long-term and respected correspondent for the National Business Review, Chris Hutching, opined with (behind subscription wall) Sutton, workplace manners and political agenda’s stir up turgid mix on the bureaucratically botched Monday media conference, with Roger Sutton and his wife Jo Malcolm playing to the gallery. He states …”

“The atmosphere at the media conference earlier this week was curious.”

“There were the usual CERA flunkeys and PR hacks on hand to check visitors and steer them to the briefing room.”

“As is the case these days, the media contingent was largely comprised of young women. The cameramen still tend to be blokes.”

“Several of the young reporters prefaced their questions with expressions of sympathy and admiration for Mr Sutton. Many of them have dealt with Mr Sutton in recent years and may enjoy his youthful exuberance when compared with the starchy demeanor of the more typical chief executive.”

“At the conclusion of the media conference at least one senior female journalist went to the front of the room and demonstrated her loyalty by giving Mr Sutton’s wife Jo Malcolm a heartfelt embrace. Ms Malcolm then held her own mini conference at the back of the room where her words were eagerly absorbed.”

“The complainant was notably absent, on gardening leave.”

The issues to be dealt with have been thoroughly aired ( refer Hugh Pavletich | Scoop InfoPages .) The problems and solutions are well known and understood.

The major ingredients lacking are political will and competence. Not helped by a local media more interested in providing a “cut ‘n paste” public relations service for politicians.

Where is the disciplined, impartial and professional local journalism we can trust ?

Hugh Pavletich
Co-author Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/ & http://info.scoop.co.nz/Hugh_Pavletich
Christchurch
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January 1, 2015 9:21am
Inandout

IGM: Silly Mark Taylor, he should have burnt his passport after he boarded the plane, so then he would have been ‘resettled’ in NZ as a ‘refugee’, and had all the churches and left wing parties clamouring for photo opportunities with him. If he can flip burger patties he can start a fast food caravan in some provincial city.
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January 1, 2015 9:25am
Reid

Another excellent summary by Paul Roberts.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/12/30/392396/russia-china-can-foil-us-nuclear-plot/

The unity of the Bear and the Dragon reduces the crazed neoconservatives’ dream of “an American century” to dangerous nonsense. As Larchmonter puts it, “The US and NATO would need Michael the Archangel to defeat China-Russia, and from all signs Michael the Archangel is aligned with the Bear and its Orthodox culture. There is no weapon, no strategy, no tactic conceivable in the near future to damage either of these rising economies now that they are ‘base pairs.’”

Larchmonter sees hope in the new geopolitics created by the conjoining of Russia and China. I don’t dispute this, but if the arrogant neoconservatives realize that their hegemonic policy has created a foe over which Washington cannot prevail, they will push for a pre-emptive nuclear strike before the Russian-Chinese unified command is fully operational. To forestall a sneak attack, Russia and China should operate on full nuclear alert.

The US economy – indeed the entire Western orientated economy from Japan to Europe – is a house of cards. Since the economic downturn began seven years ago, the entirety of Western economic policy has been diverted to the support of a few over-sized banks, sovereign debt, and the US dollar. Consequently, the economies themselves and the ability of populations to cope have deteriorated.

The financial markets are based on manipulation, not on fundamentals. The manipulation is untenable…

…As the Western economy is a house of cards, Russia and China could collapse the Western economy before the neoconservatives can drive the world to war. As Washington’s aggression against both countries is crystal clear, Russia and China have every right to the following defensive measures.

As the US and EU are conducting economic warfare against Russia, Russia could claim that by wrecking the Russian economy the West has deprived Russia of the ability to repay loans to the European banks. If this does not bring down the thinly capitalized EU banks, Russia can announce that as NATO countries are now officially recognized by Russian war doctrine as an enemy of the Russian state, Russia can no longer support NATO’s aggression against Russia by selling natural gas to NATO members. If the shutdown of much of European industry, rapidly rising rates of unemployment, and bank failures do not result in the dissolution of NATO and thus the end of the threat, the Chinese can act.

The Chinese hold a very large amount of dollar-denominated financial assets. Just as the Federal Reserve’s agents, the bullion banks, dump massive shorts onto the bullion futures markets during periods of little activity in order to drive down the bullion price, China can dump the equivalent in US Treasuries of years of Quantitative Easing in a few minutes. If the Federal Reserve quickly creates dollars with which to purchase the enormous quantity of Treasuries so that the financial house of cards does not implode, the Chinese can then dump the dollars that they are paid for the bonds in the currency market. Whereas the Federal Reserve can print dollars with which to purchase the Treasuries, the Fed cannot print foreign currencies with which to buy the dollars.

The dollar would collapse, and with it the power of the Hegemon. The war would be over without a shot or missile fired.

In my view, Russia and China owe it to the world to prevent the nuclear war intended by the neoconservatives simply by replying in kind to Washington’s economic warfare. Russia and China hold all the cards. Not Washington.
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January 1, 2015 9:26am
Inandout

mikenmild: Who said start a boycott campaign? My personal preferences are my own to choose who I buy from, and anyway none of HCs publications interest me in the least.
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January 1, 2015 9:29am
Odakyu-sen

Welcome in 2015…

…the Year of the Sheep.
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January 1, 2015 9:32am
Reid

How appropriate
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January 1, 2015 9:35am
Odakyu-sen

“New Zealand’s provisional road toll for 2014 is 297 – up by 44 deaths on the historically low previous year.” (And that’s not counting the tourist car that went off the bridge on the West Coast.)

The Police’s fixation with 0 km/h tolerance is obviously misguided and ineffective, so resources should be directed towards the areas where fatalities occur: bad decision-making that leads directly to collisions.

The trouble is that unlike speeding, you can’t park up in one place and wait for the revenue to flow in.
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January 1, 2015 9:38am
mikenmild

Inandout
So when you proudly proclaimed you would never buy a Harper Collins product you didn’t in any way think that would be a good thing for other people to do?
So you don’t read books, so your boycott would cost you nothing. Refusing to watch Sky Sport might be too inconvenient?
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January 1, 2015 9:38am
Lucia Maria

A Russian proposal to declare illegal the 1954 transfer of Crimea to Ukraine by the USSR could have chaotic legal consequences:

The USSR changed the borders of the republics many times – at least 90 by one count, and thus “if [Moscow] considers [Soviet actions] illegal, then this means that all its actions are illegal – including the establishment of the USSR in 1922.”

link: The Interpreter
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January 1, 2015 9:46am
EAD

@ Reid,

The term that best describes the sheeple’s state of mind is “selective ignorance.”

People choose to “triage” their “choices.” When they believe that they can’t effect any sort of significant change in life, their critical choices become what choice of beer & chips to buy for the weekly Super XV game

I won’t have that sort of burden of ignorance on my hands. I’ll tear down walls as I see fit.

You challenge their views, and they’ll become hostile, cry, fight you–even try to resort to violence. But the thought lingers on. You can’t fight logic.

You plant that seed in their minds and wait for the right conditions for it to flourish.

Conditions like the bankster driven destruction of the middle class which is now becoming to obvious to ignore. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-30/annihilation-middle-class-beginning-end-modern-america
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January 1, 2015 9:48am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

Russia and China hold all the cards. Not Washington.

Saying this over and over again will not make it true.
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January 1, 2015 9:48am
kowtow

odyaku

2015 the year of the sheep? I see Angela markel condemns germans for being patriotic. People are marching. Hopefully UKIP will make a big impact in May. Even the fact that a far left party might come to power in Greece and upset the cosy EU elites would be a victory of sorts.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/angela-merkel/11319519/Angela-Merkel-attacks-prejudice-and-hatred-of-German-Islamisation-marches.html
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January 1, 2015 9:50am
Reid

Saying this over and over again will not make it true.

Lucia if you can’t see for yourself the conditions Roberts points out you understand nothing about economics or geopolitics. Perhaps you’ve got selective ignorance.
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January 1, 2015 9:51am
mikenmild

‘Hopefully UKIP will make a big impact in May’
My prediction for 2015 – UKIP will be as successful this time round as it was in the last general election.
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January 1, 2015 9:52am
EAD

@ Kowtow – I read the same thing on Breitbart

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2014/12/31/german-chancellor-lashes-out-at-anti-islamification-marches-as-support-grows/

It is interesting to note the top-rated comment below which indicates to me that perhaps the sheeple are finally waking up to what is going on:

“Call me a “conspiracy theorist” if you will, but I think strings are being pulled by an unseen puppet master for an unknown agenda with this whole muslim issue. Nothing else makes sense when you look at the scale of it. It’s happening on a worldwide basis in every western country”
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January 1, 2015 9:54am
kowtow

odyaku

Police and speed.

“However much the government tries to massage the figures, the reality is that about 80% of fatalities occur at speeds below the legal limit. Of the 20% of fatal accidents that occur over the speed limit, most involve either motorcyclists, or working-class males on the edge of the criminal community who are often blotto or tired or both. The government’s own studies show this.”

http://www.dogandlemon.com/media/ticketing-mums-and-dads-won-t-lower-road-toll-say-experts
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January 1, 2015 9:55am
Jack5

The Leftist commentariat and blogariat had a terrible 2015, and they are still moaning about it, as ex-Alliance Party apparatchik and current Otago political “science” lecturer Bryce Edwards notes in his column in the Hooerald.

However, you have to laught at the subheading in his column reading: “National’s horror year”, and his summary of hacks’ opinions that the tide has already turned (in two months) and Key is on the way down and presumably out.

When you get something wrong, as most of the MSM political commentators did in calling the effect of Hager the Horrible on the election restul, the best course is to admit you were wrong and change course.

Is 2015 going to be a year of stand-off? Not so much between the MSM and John Key as between the hackerateri and the public?
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January 1, 2015 9:57am
Odakyu-sen

kowtow

“2015 the year of the sheep?”

Yes, according to Asian tradition. (2014 was the Year of the Horse, and 2016 will be the Year of the Monkey.) So, if you see lots of little sheep toys and cartoons at your local Chinese takeaways, then you’ll know what it all means.

I have a gut feeling that 2015 is going to be a memorable year (but I don’t know what for…)

Any thoughts?
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January 1, 2015 9:57am
iMP

A municipality sign Bill Clinton would never have approved.

https://conzervative.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/meanwhile-in-arkansas-2/
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January 1, 2015 9:58am
kowtow

odie

Kowtow is a rat.
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January 1, 2015 10:04am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

Lucia if you can’t see for yourself the conditions Roberts points out you understand nothing about economics or geopolitics. Perhaps you’ve got selective ignorance.

You know there is another possibility. Perhaps Roberts is wrong.
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January 1, 2015 10:09am
kowtow

EAD

The Swedish political compromise to avert a snap elction (in which the Sweden Democrats were expected to do well) is another example of a conspiracy to allow continued Muslim immigration to destroy the country.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/forget-everything-you-know-about-nice-liberal-sweden–that-country-no-longer-exists-9903417.html
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January 1, 2015 10:10am
Odakyu-sen

“Kowtow (kowtow?) is a rat”

Let’s see what http://www.chinese-astrology.co.uk/rat.html has to say…

“Rat people are born under the sign of charm and aggressiveness. They are expressive and can be talkative sometimes. They like to go to parties and usually spend quite some time chatting with their friends. Although the Rat can be quiet sometime, it is rare to catch a Rat sitting quietly.”

Sounds like a prolific Kiwiblog poster to me, if ever there was one. I wonder if there are more rats out there among the frequent posters?
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January 1, 2015 10:12am
Reid

Perhaps Roberts is wrong.

Like I said Lucia, if YOU can’t see…

In other words, Roberts didn’t point out anything I haven’t known for years and years and all he did was bring the known facts into the current conditions.

For example, I’ve known for years that China does have several trillion in T-bills, which its accumulated over the last decade or so with its trade with the US. Japan has around 1.7 trillion too and one of things Roberts didn’t mention is the possibility there is a secret partnership between Japan and China which if true could see them both deploy those weapons at the same time. But don’t bother discussing that because we’re talking about what Roberts said.

The military and economic coalition between China and Russia has similarly been building for a few years now as well.

The US NATO expansion a.k.a. Russian encirclement has also been going on for years.

etc

If you don’t know these things then you’re profoundly ignorant because they’re all extremely well known and widely discussed in the political world beyond NZ.

And once you do know those things then its simply 2+2 if you understand even a tiny bit of geopolitics.

So no, he’s not wrong. He’s simply stating the obvious. It’s just you’re probably not the only one here to whom those basic facts he mentions are news. That’s why I posted it. So you could file it away into the possible pile and observe as the year progresses.
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January 1, 2015 10:17am
Lucia Maria

If Russia is holding all the cards (along with China), someone forgot to give Russia some of them …

From the Moscow Times : Pensions and Military Spending Strangle Russia’s Floundering Budget

Out of total spending of 13.96 trillion rubles (about $250 billion) in 2014, social benefits account for over 33 percent, and defense and security for 32.5 percent.

Next year, military spending will rise to 35 percent of the 15.51 trillion ruble ($265 billion) budget. That means about $100 billion for defense and security at today’s exchange rates.

At the same time, the weaker ruble will lead to higher inflation next year by pushing up import costs, threatening Putin’s reputation for safeguarding Russians’ living standards.

The lion’s share of social spending goes on pensions, and this will rise sharply due a rapidly aging population unless the government takes radical action by raising the retirement age from 55 years for women and 60 for men.

“Without cutting military spending and raising the pension age, we won’t muddle through. What options do we have? Raise taxes and print money, which triggers a downward spiral of inflation and higher interest rates,” the government source said.
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January 1, 2015 10:18am
waikatogirl

People choose to “triage” their “choices.” When they believe that they can’t effect any sort of significant change in life, their critical choices become what choice of beer & chips to buy for the weekly Super XV game

**

You are giving a large portion of those who ignore information too much credit for intelligence. Most often they don’t even consider “choices”. Too busy not taking notice of anything that isn’t instant gratification
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January 1, 2015 10:22am
srylands

“Which burger goes mouldy the fastest?”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11380818

Morgan Tait. Morgan Tait is the NZ Herald’s police reporter.

Because there are no crimes to report.
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January 1, 2015 10:26am
hj

Immigration a ‘losing game’ according to German economist

President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Hans-Werner Sinn, has challenged a study claiming immigrants are bringing money to Germany. The economist said Germany is a “magnet for unqualified immigrants.”
In a guest contribution to the Monday edition of the German Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, the president of the Munich-based research institute claimed that Germany’s current immigration policy had several failures.

“Immigration as it currently stands is going wrong,” Hans-Werner Sinn wrote.

According to researchers at the Ifo Institute, a study carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation did not take expenses into account. The study, which was released in late November, came to the conclusion that foreigners living in Germany contributed in 2012 22 billion euros ($26,863) to the welfare state.

At the time of its release, the study caused somewhat of a stir in the media as it contradicted popular assumptions among the German population regarding the cost of migration.

In Monday’s edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine, however, Sinn rebuked the study’s claims, saying that “on the net balance sheet, immigration cost the state more in social costs and other issues than it brings in through taxes and social contributions.”

A new calculation Ifo Institute claims that “every migrant costs 1,800 euros more per year than they contribute.”
http://www.dw.de/immigration-a-losing-game-according-to-german-economist/a-18159468
………….
“Point-in-time studies of the net fiscal effects of immigration generally show quite large
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positive effects. The estimated fiscal impact at a point in time depends on the state of
the economy: calculations which are made when an economy is performing strongly are
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likely to overstate the benefits.

These results are unsurprising. Immigrants are typically more likely than the native-born
population to be of working age, and in good health. Healthy, working-age people
contribute more in taxes and use fewer public services. New Zealand has a relatively high
proportion of skilled immigrants, who tend to pay more in taxes than they receive in
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benefits. In most cases, the new host country does not pay for the cost of educating
immigrants, although it generally pays for the cost of educating their children, at least at
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compulsory school ages. However, static assessments showing positive fiscal benefits
of immigration do not provide information about anything other than the short term.

International evidence on the longer term fiscal impact of immigrants is mixed. In part, the
effects depend on whether immigrants stay, or go home. On this point, Cobb-Clark and
Stillman (2008) developed a model which shows that the incentives to return to the home
country are highest at retirement, assuming that wages are higher in the destination
country and costs are lower in the source country. This is plausible, given that migration is
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primarily economically-motivated.

To the extent that immigrants remain in the host country after retirement, their net
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contributions over a lifetime look much more similar to locally–born net contributions.
This is because as immigrants age, they eventually access higher-cost health care,
pensions and aged care. In New Zealand, health and aged care are predominantly
publicly funded, and immigrants who have lived in New Zealand for ten years including
five years after the age of 50 are eligible for national superannuation from age 65.

Over a lifetime, an individual’s net contribution will depend on their relative earnings and
expenses. In the aggregate, generational accounts calculations for the United States have
104
found that immigration typically has minimal impacts on generational balance. Kotlikoff
(2013) says that while it is impossible to draw firm conclusions without redoing the
exercise, the overall impact of immigration on New Zealand’s generational balance is
105
likely to be positive, but smaller than found in static analyses.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/wp/2014/14-10
What’s more DOL Study omitted infrastructure.

Spoonley tells the nation (with regard to number arriving) “we need their skills for the New Zealand economy” – Where are the high paying jobs then??
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January 1, 2015 10:27am
Reid

http://rt.com/news/219123-shanghai-stampede-new-year/

A stampede.

Boy.

Really? People just “stampeded?”

How extraordinary.

Because there are no crimes to report.

Yeah I saw that too. There wasn’t even any conclusion. I guess the who, what, where, when was covered at journo skool but she must have missed the class on the why. What a bimbo.
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January 1, 2015 10:28am
waikatogirl

I have a gut feeling that 2015 is going to be a memorable year (but I don’t know what for…)

**
for a start

Krimdotcon
Slater v Hager
John Banks
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January 1, 2015 10:32am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

If you don’t know these things then you’re profoundly ignorant because they’re all extremely well known and widely discussed in the political world beyond NZ.

You’re being a bit slimey there Reid. I disagree with what Roberts thinks this all means (ie Russia and China holding all the cards) and you attempt to smear me as being ignorant of basic facts. At least argue honestly.
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January 1, 2015 10:34am
Reid

They are basic facts Lucia and Roberts is not painting some awkward construction of them he’s merely pointing out the blinding obvious and if you didn’t know both the facts and the construct already then you are profoundly ignorant when it comes to geopolitics because it’s one of the most straight forward current calculations you can run in that field. I’m sorry if that offends you but I have no idea why because ignorance isn’t an insult it’s a condition which can easily be corrected if one chooses to.
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January 1, 2015 10:42am
wiseowl

Merry New Year to all and sundry.

Some of you will know what I mean by sundry.

The cops in Gizzy are saying that the riot was planned but don’t say by whom.
They also are bleating about alcohol because they couldn’t get controlled sales .
It is not alcohol that is the problem it is the abuse by a few and if they know who spoilt the party for the majority, front up and tell us.
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January 1, 2015 10:47am
Reid

The cops in Gizzy are saying that the riot was planned

So it wasn’t a stampede then. That was lucky, wasn’t it. It probably easily could have been, one imagines.
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January 1, 2015 10:50am
EAD

@ Kowtow

If you want to learn more about who is behind the radical change of Sweden from a mono-cultural society to an increasingly multi-cultural and eventually Islamic society, you would do well to listen to this short clip from Barbara Lerner Spectre who is the founding director of Paideia, the European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFE0qAiofMQ
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January 1, 2015 10:56am
Redbaiter

What is with Hollywoods obsession with rebooting movies and completely changing main characters anyway?

Cultural Marxism. Look it up. Look up Antonio Gramsci. Frankfurt School. Pay particular attention to the use of entertainment media to softly push Progressive political ideas.
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January 1, 2015 10:56am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

I’m not interested in his facts, I like you, have access to many, many facts. Not all facts are important. Not all facts mean what you and Roberts think they mean. I disagree with his (and your) interpretation of his (and your) chosen facts that ignore other facts, and actual reality. Calling me ignorant because I disagree with his (and your) interpretation is slimy.

Though, an explanation for this could be that that you are one of those people who seem to believe that if people are exposed to the “right” facts then they will think the “right” things – except this is not how it works. You want to believe (for reasons that escape me, though maybe you are a believer in Putin’s Orthodox Jihad) that the US is a force for evil in the world and Russia is a force for good. I’m personally far more pragmatic than that, as I believe that there are people you can generally trust and people you can’t and they are on a continuum. Just because I don’t like what is happening in the West in certain areas of life doesn’t mean I’m going to fly into the arms of a tyrant.
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January 1, 2015 10:56am
Redbaiter

Folk like Armstrong, Watkin, O’Sullivan, Small, Dann, Campbell, Soper, Smalley, Watkins, Gower and Red Radio are reported to be worried, really worried over what Cam Slater has on them, and the criminal Hager.

I’m interested and would like to know more about this.

Who has “reported” this “real worry”?
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January 1, 2015 11:01am
mikenmild

Lucia
Reid’s deep understanding of the true geopolitical conditions transcends what we mere sheeple can comprehend. He has sifted through millions of pieces of information to find those few ‘facts’ that fit with his crazed notions that world events are being directed by a secretive, evil cabal. You are very much mistaken if you believe that any study by you of current events could be a match for Reid’s ‘discernment’.
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January 1, 2015 11:06am
Reid

I’m not interested in his facts

What about the FACT for example, that China has several trillion in T-bills, makes it “Roberts’ fact?”

If you don’t even know what a fact is, I’m not surprised Roberts’ article confuses you. In fact one assumes, if this is how you think, that such is not an uncommon state of affairs in your mind.

The US is NOT a force for good in the world. I would have thought the millions of deaths its inflicted on other countries over the last decade or so, might have given you a clue. Of course, if you make a habit of getting your data from the Western MSM, then you’ll be happily baaing and bleating in the green green meadow along with the rest of the sheeple, but surely you’re not dumb enough to do that, are you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVKAjHJEjAw
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January 1, 2015 11:06am
mikenmild

Nice one Redbaiter. I think you are pointing to an article of faith on Kiwiblog – that Slater has the goods on everyone.
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January 1, 2015 11:07am
Redbaiter

“Which burger goes mouldy the fastest?”

You guys criticising this story are out of touch. Such things are of paramount concern to the whitebait emerging from our glorious socialist school system.
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January 1, 2015 11:10am
Redbaiter

I think you are pointing to an article of faith on Kiwiblog – that Slater has the goods on everyone.

Well maybe it is an article of faith, maybe it isn’t.

Its up to Flipper now to help objective observers decide either way.
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January 1, 2015 11:12am
Odakyu-sen

“Which burger goes mouldy the fastest?”

I want the one that went mouldy the fastest. (Maybe there are no antibiotics in the buns.)

Anyway, I bake my own bread (love my Panasonic breadmaker).
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January 1, 2015 11:14am
Lucia Maria

Oliver Stone jumping onto the anti-Ukraine, anti-American propaganda wagon

Oliver Stone Interviews Yanukovych for Documentary on U.S. ‘Coup’ in Ukraine

Hollywood film producer Oliver Stone has said he wants to make a four-hour documentary telling the “dirty story” of the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in what he believes was a “coup” organized with the help of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency.

“A dirty story through and through, but in the tragic aftermath of this coup, the West has maintained the dominant narrative of ‘Russia in Crimea,’ whereas the true narrative is ‘USA in Ukraine.’ The truth is not being aired in the West,” Stone wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

Stone said he had already spent four hours interviewing Yanukovych in Moscow for the project, in addition to several “police officials,” all of whom believe “foreign elements” were responsible for the violent Maidan protests in Kiev that culminated in February with the overthrow of the Russia-backed president.

He also met Putin in November and wants to make a documentary on him as well.
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January 1, 2015 11:19am
Redbaiter

“Call me a “conspiracy theorist” if you will, but I think strings are being pulled by an unseen puppet master for an unknown agenda with this whole muslim issue. Nothing else makes sense when you look at the scale of it. It’s happening on a worldwide basis in every western country”

Actually you can say the same about a lot of things happening in the west.

A failing media. Deteriorating education. Dysfunctional justice systems. Massive debt. Weakened defence forces. Citizens greatly divided on a large number of issues. Elections with little real choice.

For just a few examples.
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January 1, 2015 11:19am
Redbaiter

Anyway, I bake my own bread (love my Panasonic breadmaker).

Have you managed to stop it going stale in a few hours? If so, what is the secret?
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January 1, 2015 11:21am
stephieboy

Reid,

“Michael T. Snyder is a fundamentalist Christian crank who has started numerous blogs as a testament to his raging insane belief that the world is about to end. He started with The Economic Collapse Blog in 2007, with constant articles stating how the world is going to hell every single day since the meltdown started in 2007. It seems as though Snyder blames the government for every ill in the world, because without it everything would be great.

Like most doom-sayers, it doesn’t seem to faze Snyder one bit that every one of his past predictions of economic collapse were dead wrong. This horrendous track record would cause most people to reevaluate their beliefs in the effort to one day be right. Yet, he simply refuses to even address or acknowledge that he has been wrong thousands of times, especially if you count each numbered item of his massive lists. He seems to have explosive diarrhea of the mind that no amount of logic can slow or stop….”

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Michael_T._Snyder

Now Reid who again are the real sheeple ?
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January 1, 2015 11:22am
mikenmild

I’m interested in your latest comment, Redbaiter. A few days ago, you were finding the whole 9/11 conspiracy a bit nonsensical, but now it appears you are buying into an even more widespread conspiracy theory. If you agree with EAD’s take on ‘unseen puppet masters’, you should find it easy to believe in the comparatively simpler task of organising a false flag attack in 9/11.
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January 1, 2015 11:23am
RF

Went to a quiet function last night with a mixture of good folk from rural & urban backgrounds. 15 kind souls.

Somehow the subject of the Greens was raised. Every person there had a very strong dislike for the Green Party and especially for the two idiots in joint leadership.

Question… Who actually votes for those wankers as my group was a snapshot of society and I would have thought a couple might have been green.
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January 1, 2015 11:26am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

What about the FACT for example, that China has several trillion in T-bills, makes it “Roberts’ fact?”

He’s using it for his own ends.

If you don’t even know what a fact is, I’m not surprised Roberts’ article confuses you. In fact one assumes, if this is how you think, that such is not an uncommon state of affairs in your mind.

Another accusation Reid, that is unfounded. I must be seriously unnerving you since you are attacking me in this way.
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January 1, 2015 11:28am
Redbaiter

A few days ago, you were finding the whole 9/11 conspiracy a bit nonsensical, but now it appears you are buying into an even more widespread conspiracy theory.

For fuck’s sake Milky.

Its no fucking conspiracy.

What is the key element to a conspiracy??

I’ll tell you.

Secrecy.

Are the plans of global socialists secret?

No. You can read them on any socialist web site. On any socialist web site you can read socialist’s plans to bring down existing western capitalist power structures and replace them with the socialist model.

So here’s a question for you Milky. (which will no doubt remain unanswered for its your nature to only ask questions and never answer them) If its written down everywhere in plain fucking site, how does it qualify as a “conspiracy”??
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January 1, 2015 11:29am
Reid

Now Reid who again s are the real steeple ?

Here’s a real steeple stephie.

http://www.cvilleindustries.com/steeple/NewOrleans-SeminarySteeple-Crop.jpg

What an extraordinary question.

No wonder people call you stupidboy.

So here’s a question for you Milky. If its written down everywhere in plain fucking site, how does it qualify as a “conspiracy”??

Conspiracy:
When mere information makes a sheeple’s tummy go all ouchy.
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January 1, 2015 11:30am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

The US is NOT a force for good in the world. I would have thought the millions of deaths its inflicted on other countries over the last decade or so, might have given you a clue…

Millions of deaths, huh? What countries, what numbers?
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January 1, 2015 11:30am
stephieboy

Milkenmild, you are right. The year has got off to a bad start for Redbaiter with his issues.!

Lucia Maria , Good points. Yeah Reid what millions precisely ?
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January 1, 2015 11:32am
Reid

Millions of deaths, huh? What countries, what numbers?

Why the fuck don’t you google them yourself. Are you so profoundly ignorant that you can’t even do that?
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January 1, 2015 11:36am
mikenmild

Redbaiter
It qualifies as a conspiracy because you see the agenda of a handful of communists lying behind every social trend or government policy of which you disapprove. You see any change, which you reject in your desire to see society return to some conservative nirvana which only exists in your deluded mind, as a threat and leap to ascribe such change to your chose bogeymen.
You are just as deluded as EAD or Reid, but your reject of some specific whacky ideas suggests you may have some hope.
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January 1, 2015 11:37am
Gulag1917

MH17 witness emerges, claims Ukrainian jet brought down Boeing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TmDNa8lTcI&feature=youtu.be
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January 1, 2015 11:37am
Redbaiter

It qualifies as a conspiracy because you see

Thanks for making shit up about what I see Milky. I know now why your preference is for asking questions. Any attempt to write down your own thoughts exposes you as an irrational dimwit with views that are completely unsupported by facts or logic.
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January 1, 2015 11:39am
stephieboy

Gulag, ah yes the stellar Kremlin controlled RT at it yet again.

Now they have a number of different versions

1 . A SU 25

2 Two SU 25s

3 A Mig 29 or SU 17

4 A Ukraine BUK missile launcher .

5 Witnesses who claimed to have seen the downing and identifying both an SU 25 downing M17 despite 30,000 ft and oops ,cloud cover .!

What other one will they come up with ?

Your pick for the New Year ?
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January 1, 2015 11:43am
kowtow

Mark taylor’s made the news in Britain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2892855/New-Zealand-jihadist-accidentally-posts-location-Syria-Twitter.html
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January 1, 2015 11:50am
Lucia Maria

Reid,

Why the fuck don’t you google them yourself. Are you so profoundly ignorant that you can’t even do that?

I am very aware that there are people and groups that accuse the US of millions of deaths, however, I know most of these accusations have very little basis in reality and are massive conflations rather than real numbers.
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January 1, 2015 11:51am
Lucia Maria

MH17 witness emerges, claims Ukrainian jet brought down Boeing…

Facts, when it comes to Russian sources such as RT (which always goes back to the Kremlin on which stories can be run), are rubbery things based on what they think people will believe.
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January 1, 2015 11:57am
Redbaiter

The Congressional Caucus is the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. It consists of 76 Members of Congress and has close ties to the Institute for Policy Studies, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Communist Party USA

The Congressional Caucus is not any kind of exceptional organisation. It claims to be the heart of the Democrat Party, and it probably is, but its actually just one more group among thousands that exist all over the west and whose objective is to thrust communist/socialist/ extreme left political ideas into the mainstream. They say this in their own words.

And it is those groups that are driving political policy all over the west right now. They have actually been pretty successful in their STATED OBJECTIVE which is to capture each of the main left leaning parties in the west (Labour NZ, Australia and UK) and also capture the opposing parties (UK Conservatives, NZ Nationals, etc).

Yet Milky and his dull witted socialist mates go around in the face of all of the facts saying nothing is going on and dismissing it as a “conspiracy theory” when the plans and objectives and the outcomes are all there in plain sight for anyone to see.

http://keywiki.org/index.php/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus
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January 1, 2015 12:01pm
Redbaiter

For some reason I can’t edit the above but the last sentence in the penultimate paragraph should have read

to capture each of the main left leaning parties in the west (Labour NZ, Australia and UK) and also as much as is possible capture the opposing parties (UK Conservatives, NZ Nationals, etc).

I repeat. This is their clearly stated policy.
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January 1, 2015 12:06pm
Reid

I repeat. This is their clearly stated policy.

Don’t worry RB. They’re who Jack’s talking about. They can’t handle it. Their tummies are too delicate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo
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January 1, 2015 12:25pm
Shawn Herles

@ Reid.

At some point it will be good if I no longer have to preface my responses in this way, but for now it’s necessary. This is not a personal attack on you in any way, but questions and thoughts about the issues.

The US is NOT a force for good in the world.

To me it is one of the few forces for good in the world against the tyranny of Russia and China.

And it has been since WW2.

The US is not perfect, but no country is. That said, it provided the main resistance to Soviet Communist tyranny, and is leading the resistance against militant Islamic terrorism.

The Paleo world view of Roberts and his supporters on KB (Paleo-conservatism and Paleo-libertarianism) are an interpretive lens, not a list of facts. Facts have to be interpreted, and there are many possible ways to do that, and many possible world views through which “facts” are interpreted.

Roberts and those on his side of the political spectrum come from a Paleo point of view, one that assumes, long before “facts” come into it, that the democratic West is always wrong. In this they are very similar to the far Left.

This is one of the two main issues that I find in your posts to be troubling. There is not a single human being in the world who merely looks at facts. All human beings must interpret those facts, and all interpretations are colored by cultural world views and personal experiences. It is impossible to step back and be completely objective. So when you say that you are simply talking about facts, that seems to suggest to me that you are not aware that you are in reality INTERPRETING those facts (assuming they all are facts in the first place).

That other people may look at exactly the same basic information and interpret it differently does not make them stupid, it makes them human.

Lucia is manifestly not stupid, she just has a different world view to you, and so interprets things differently.
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January 1, 2015 12:29pm
stephieboy

Rebaiter , for your New Year’s hopes and dreams for your Conservative caucus

“Conservatives remind me of Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, and Elmer Fudd.
They bring the guns, the stupidity, and of course, the failure.”

“The elephant is the perfect symbol for Republicans: they never forget, lead
each other around by the tail, and think everyone should work for peanuts.”

SAVE AMERICA! ( NEW ZEALAND ): Spay or neuter your Republican! ( REDBAITER !)

“Facts are stupid things.” – Ronald Reagan

“Conservatives are REICH wing.”
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January 1, 2015 12:32pm
Shawn Herles

On the other hand Reid, when he strays from foreign policy issues to domestic politics, stephieboy IS stupid. I think we can all agree on that! 😉
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January 1, 2015 12:37pm
Reid

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/12/iraq-war-syria-doomed.html
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January 1, 2015 12:38pm
Redbaiter

I think we can all agree on that! 😉

How about you learn some manners and speak for yourself only.

God its been so good not having your smug assuming personality and your insipid false smilies all over Kiwiblog the last couple of days.

Nearly twice as many comments as any other commenter last year.
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January 1, 2015 12:43pm
Reid

Shawn, the CIA isn’t an intelligence agency, it’s a regime change agency. As you know it was born out of the OSS and it’s never changed its spots, has it. Not once.

It operates by covertly funding opposition groups and overthrowing regimes which aren’t sufficiently subservient to US interests and they do it in a way where they don’t care if the chosen installation is the biggest bastard in the world to his own people and this has been proven time and time and time again and I hope I don’t need to provide examples because there are many and they are littered all over the world, from the ME to South and Central America and even to Australia with Whitlam.

That is NOT a force for good in the world, and the bullshit they throw out for simplistic idiots – that the big bad meany had to go – doesn’t wash with those of us who aren’t simplistic idiots.

Why don’t you ask the Libyan people for example whether they preferred living under Ghaddaffi or whether they now prefer their shattered, broken lives? Just for one tiny, point, recent example, out of literally hundreds.
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January 1, 2015 12:49pm
Shawn Herles

Shawn, the CIA isn’t an intelligence agency, it’s a regime change agency.

Well, I think that’s an over-statement, but it would not bother me if it were true. Some regimes need overthrowing. From my interpretive lens, that is not a problem for me.
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January 1, 2015 12:54pm
stephieboy

Shawn Herles,

All I ask of Reid ( you included )is to take some trouble , apply some logic and facts by backing up assertions with facts, and not hide behind ” Google it “
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January 1, 2015 12:54pm
Shawn Herles

Why don’t you ask the Libyan people for example whether they preferred living under Ghaddaffi or whether they now prefer their shattered, broken lives? Just for one tiny, point, recent example, out of literally hundreds.

If I did, I suspect the answer I would get is not the one you expect. Revolutions are messy things, and even after the fact take years, sometimes decades, to deal with. But I have no question that the world is not a better place in the long run without Gaddafi and Saddam.
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January 1, 2015 12:57pm
Shawn Herles

Stephieboy, I was responding to your silly claim that conservatives are “Reich Wing” amongst others.

Statements like that are just childish.
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January 1, 2015 1:01pm
Reid

Here’s another example of what the US do, this time, in Syria.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article186317.html
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January 1, 2015 1:14pm
flipper

Red.. and milzop…

Apropos your invitation, I never reveal sources , even when I trust those asking. And you two certainly do not make the team.
If you were “wired in” you would not be asking. And unlike yours, my batting average is about 90%. Eat that and choke for the rest of 2015. 🙂

With that, I’m off on the boat to get a big rainbow for the smoker.
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January 1, 2015 1:17pm
Shawn Herles

Reid, I have no desire to get into a long back and forth debate with you, as this is where we tend to get into trouble. So this will be my last comment on the issue today.

Two points.

The CIA issue is exactly what I am talking about with regards to interpretive lenses. You interpret the facts about the CIA, as far as they can be discerned, in one way, and I interpret them in another. But either way, facts have to be interpreted, and your interpretive lens is just one among many possibilities. That is why “google it” is not really an answer. Even if I or Lucia do so, we are still not going to interpret what we find in the way you, or anyone else for that matter, does so.

The other point is about my desire to respond to your posts in a respectful manner, even when I disagree.

Respect is a two way street. It is very difficult to engage with you in a civil way, when you insist that other people who interpret things differently to you are just brainwashed and/or stupid.

It might help, and this applies as much to me as you, to spend a little time finding out WHY people, such as Lucia, interpret things differently, rather than assuming they are just ignorant. I assumed that, amongst other things, about you, and that was not fair of me.

Anyway, I hope you had a good New Years eve, and blessings to you for the new year. I’m off for a drive in the country
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January 1, 2015 1:18pm
Redbaiter

Apropos your invitation, I never reveal sources , even when I trust those asking.

Ok, so its only a “source” and you prefer to keep it secret.

Sorry, but I don’t see how that qualifies your claim as a “report” given it seems more like rumour inspired by wishful thinking.

Actually, I’d like it to be true, but I’m not going to fall for glib self serving unsupported predictions.
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January 1, 2015 1:21pm
EAD

What is that dollar in your pocket really worth?

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/the-terrible-truth-about-the-money-in-your-pocket_122014

“Nothing. It’s worthless, and that’s the godawful truth. I’m not exaggerating to make a point either. It’s not just overrated, overinflated and backed by nothing but confidence. It is quite literally worthless. Less than worthless in fact! Our fractional reserve banking system spews out “money” that is nothing of the kind.

This thing that we spend our whole lives desperately trying to accumulate; that builds our roads, feeds our bellies, pays our mortgages and fuels our dreams. This glorified token that puts our kids through school so that they may spend their whole lives trying to accumulate it as well, is not really money. It’s debt! And it’s not even your debt. It’s somebody else’s liability.

Hard to believe right?

It’s a bit complicated too, which is probably how the bankers like it. They wouldn’t have gotten away with this con for so long if it were easy for the everyman to digest…….”

If you’re already well versed on the fractional reserve banking scam, send this to your friends and family who are still in the dark. This wicked system thrives on ignorance, and if everyone knew how badly they are being screwed, we could finally put an end to it.
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January 1, 2015 1:23pm
Redbaiter

Reid, I dunno how you can bear that patronizing insipid sense of superiority.

I admire your patience.
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January 1, 2015 1:23pm

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A NEW DEGREE COURSE FOR MASSEY
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
A Day of Reckoning
NZCPR
“Trans & Pregnant” – Biology trumps gender ideology
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
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
Pretty (il)legal
Croaking Cassandra
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