Ralston now blogging

August 1st, 2008 at 2:24 pm by David Farrar

Fairfax have out together a good mixture of bloggers at their Business Day site. They have Nick Stride and Nick Smith from the Independent. Shareholder activist Bruce Shepherd, professional protester John Minto, Vernon Small from the Dom Post and the pugnacious Bill Ralston. Most of these blogs are now added to the blogroll.

Bill blogged yesterday on Winston’s latest allegations:

He claims he is being persecuted by a media conspiracy. In the House, referring to the time when I headed news and current affairs, he alleged: “TVNZ have had two private investigators, detectives, sniffing around since they were sued for defamation some years ago, an action which is still alive today.”

This is completely untrue. In my time at TVNZ we never hired any private detectives to investigate him. Winston is fond of calling people ‘liars”. I will simply call him “mistaken”.

Winston has repeated this ridicolous claim several times now. Journalists should call him on it, and to use his own language ask for substantiation? Apart from his fevered imagination, does he had a shred of proof that TVNZ has hired private investigators against him?

If Helen Clark or John Key made an allegation like that, and could not back it up, they would be hounded out of their jobs.

Ralston then turns if TVNZ hiring of Phil Kitchin a few years back:

Winston might want to pause here and think hard about the multiple Qantas Award winning Kitchin’s track record. I hired Phil after a story he wrote broke open the Pipi Trust and exposed then MP Donna Awatere Huata’s fraudulent activity. Donna and her husband went to jail as a result.

Kitchin came to work at TVNZ and broke the Louise Nicholas story (simultaneously published in the Dom Post). A couple of former police officers and other sexual offenders are still doing time as a result of that investigation.

In fact Kitchin’s investigations in various TV and print stories have put several people behind bars, including the murderer of a small baby, and sparked those things Winston once loved – police investigations and Commissions of Inquiry.

Yes Winston has called for such things in the past. And there is one thing Winston has called for which I think is a good idea. Winston would agree it is also, as it is one of NZ First’s 15 fundamental principles:

An independent anti-corruption commission will be established to enable New Zealanders to have confidence that their institutions are working properly.

I think that is one NZ First policy which is well overdue for implementation!

Tags: anonymous donations, anti-corruption commission, Bill Ralston, Business Day, Phil Kitchin, TVNZ, Winston First

This entry was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under NZ Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

37 Responses to “Ralston now blogging”

Lee C (4,499) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I actually think that Winston’s mind is going. Has he been diagnosed?
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David Baigent (172) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Lee C asks,

Has he been diagnosed?

Yes, by me though admittedly from a distance.

However I do have relevant experience for this question. I am a retired veterinarian.
Fortunately the requirements for privacy prevent me from inventing and describing the condition
and providing a prognosis.
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Rex Widerstrom (4,971) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:14 pm
And yes, lest anyone think that I must have been barking mad to have anything to do with the guy, do please read those “Fundamental Principles”. At that time Winston was surrounded by people like Ross Gluer, Brian Donnelly, Terry Heffernan and myself who would have ensured he abided by those principles even if he didn’t believe them (and to be fair, at the time I believe he genuinely did).

How they can keep those on their website and behave as they are today without feeling a soupcon of shame is beyond me. Perhaps you’d better screen capture the page, David, before they wake up and take it down.

David Baigent: surely you could provide a more generalised description of the likely veterinary ailments though. I can think of one immediately: you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
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Danyl Mclauchlan (1,042) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
An independent anti-corruption commission will be established to enable New Zealanders to have confidence that their institutions are working properly.

I’m sure Mr Peters would be happy to head up such a commission should the Prime Minister decide to create it.
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:32 pm
hey..!..rex..!

how do you feel about people running around telling lies/bullshit about cannabis causing male impotence..?

..and then just running away when they are called on it..?

or does that not come under your much vaunted ‘integrity’..

eh..?

all that you’ve proven with that little outing..

..is that you’re a bullshit artist..

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Adolf Fiinkensein (2,467) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Good God, phil. You haven’t been fathering more, have you?
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getstaffed (9,188) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Rex – Even fleas have standards. They wouldn’t stoop so low as to grace Winnie with their patronage.
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
and i hope ralston tries a bit harder than he does in the sunday rags..

..he persists in/with this ‘grumpy old man’ affectation..

..which comes across as just that..

..and he achieved a personal nadir of sorts a while back with his ill-considered rant against radio new zealand..

..he truely was just blowing it out his butt..thatday..

..and he just had all his facts so wrong..

(he was talking about aradio new zealand of ten years ago..not the beast as it is now..

..the generational change has happened there..ralston is the one lagging behind..)

..and hey..!..wasn’t this the guy who oversaw/drove the dumbing down of television new zealand news..?

..and then he did the same thing to metro..

..have we all forgotten that..?

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Manolo (10,202) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
“how do you feel about people running around telling lies/bullshit about cannabis causing male impotence..?”

No, no Whoar. It causes BRAIN impotence.

It also causes laziness, the uncontrolable desire to be a bludger and rip off taxpayers. The symptoms fit your description. You’re an excellent example of it.
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
man-so-low..every time you tap on a keyboard..

..you just confirm what a simple one-trick-poney you are..

..you are totally unable to point anyone at anything you’ve written that is anything more than an anti-pot/anti-sole-parent exercise in bigotry…

congratulations..!..you’ve managed to combine both in this one..

(better save it..eh..?..so you can use it time and time again..

(it saves thinking..dosen’t it..?..numbnuts..?..)

all you seem to be any good at is pushing alcohol onto waiting/eager addict-customers..

..classy way to make your money..eh..?

just about everyone has the right to look down on you..

..esp. sole-parents..

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Fisiani (670) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Helps to look in the psychiatry textbooks.

see below

Paranoid personality disorder is characterised by an excessive sensitivity to setbacks and anything which might be interpreted as negative feedback. Patients are suspicious and are sensitive to criticism.

It probably refers to a spectrum of disease, at one end of which is the shy person, the other end is the assertive, reactive person who reacts aggressively to even slight provocation

Anything in this definition sound familiar?
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:05 pm
redbaiter..?

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Hagues (711) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Philu “man-so-low..you just confirm what a simple one-trick-poney you are.. all you seem to be any good at is pushing alcohol onto waiting/eager addict-customers..”

Philu you are so predictable that when I see Manolo post I know that there will be a post soon by you talking about him selling booze. Pot/kettle etc etc. At least selling booze is a totally legal business, and I must say appreciated by law abiding citizens.
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:11 pm
yes..as i said..his anti-pot rants are just an exercise in bigotry/hypocrisy..

your point..?

“..Pot/kettle etc etc..”

..and what are you fucken insinuating by that..

..i smoke pot..end of story..

..i made the call a long time ago that i couldn’t risk losing my son from getting busted..

so..what are you fucken insinuating with yr ‘pot/kettle’ line..?

eh..?

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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big bruv (11,253) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Phul

Surely you must realise that you are living proof that cannabis is harmful.
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gd (2,286) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
As to the members of the membership of the Commission I nominate RedBaiter Gooner Adolf and myself .

the TORs will be very simple There will be no TORs

The only other condition will be that water boarding and other similar truth extraction methods will be enabled.

We will commence with the members of the Parliament in alphabetical order so we show no biase.

We will them move to the Judicary again in alphabetica order Then to the Civil Service and Police

At that point the Agean Stables will have been throughly sluiced out and we will have a corruption free zone.
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Portia (204) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
“Paranoid personality disorder is characterised by an excessive sensitivity to setbacks and anything which might be interpreted as negative feedback.”

Hey, but just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re NOT out to get me
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Hagues (711) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Holy Shit everyone is right Philu, your brain really is fried! Pot/kettle etc etc refers to the saying “Pot calling the kettle black” The point was the reference to the fact you were complaining that Manolo is a one trick pony, when you yourself resort to the same line (booze selling) every time you comment on Manolo. I thought that would have been obvious with the context and the fact that the pot/kettle saying was so common.
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:35 pm
“..# big bruv (1163) Add karma Subtract karma +0 Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Phul

Surely you must realise that you are living proof that cannabis is harmful..”

no.. i am a walking example/’proof’ of the efficacies of a vegan/alcohol-free diet/life..

haven’t you heard yet that alcohol kills brain-cells by the bucket-load..?

..y’know..that rheumy-eyed/vacant-place-stare place…?

..most of you will end up at..?

eventually..some sooner than others..

..and don’t get me started on how seriously you are fucking your health/shortening your lives..

.. by sucking up animal fats..

..and artery-clogging/stroke-causing dairy/cheese..

..eh..?

..better ‘straighten up..and fly right..!’..

..eh..?..

..phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Rex Widerstrom (4,971) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 5:51 pm
philu says:

hey..!..rex..!

how do you feel about people running around telling lies/bullshit about cannabis causing male impotence..?

..and then just running away when they are called on it..?

or does that not come under your much vaunted ‘integrity’..

eh..?

all that you’ve proven with that little outing..

..is that you’re a bullshit artist..

Go find someone with a higher IQ, like a passing school child, to read you this comment in which I politely said I didn’t want to threadjack on David’s blog but:

…put up your own post on the topic, give me a heads up… and I’ll come over and debate you on your turf, not David’s. It’s called manners.

Then either:

a) apologise; or
b) fuck the hell off.

There, in 13 years of communicating with thosands of people online, you’ve earned the singular honour of being the first person I’ve ever sworn at.

edit: In fact no, I’m trying to earn a living here and I’m already wasting enough time with one impotent narcissist. Just choose b.
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3-coil (1,149) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
philu – you don’t come across as a great advertisement for cannabis use here… because you always seem so angry. Where’s the fun in that?
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 6:20 pm
rex…you are the one making the cannabis/impotence claims..

..and bluster away..!..eh..?

the simple fact is that you made the ludicrous claim..

..and when called on it..claim you can’t answer for fear of ‘threadjacking’..?

yeah right..!

the fact is you are a bullshit artist..

..and have been ‘called’/sprung’..

..end of story..

..you are standing naked..

phil9whoar.co.nz)
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big bruv (11,253) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Phul

Don’t you ever get tired of being hammered day after day?

I will give you a bit of advice………….STOP!,……. you are simply embarrassing yourself.
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Rex Widerstrom (4,971) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Aside from it being bad manners, you uncultured loon, another reason I don’t wish to debate the issue here is that Kiwiblog traps as spam anything containing more than 3 links. Otherwise I could give you enough research to last you the weekend because there’s a myriad of modern references.

“More than 50% of tobacco and cannabis smokers and more than 75% of ex-smokers suffered from ED” according to this study in the International Journal of Impotence, republished in Nature.

Or we could go all the way back to Galen (c 50 AD) who wrote that overuse of hemp seeds led to stomach aches, headaches and finally impotence.

Aside from the depressive effects of marijuana (76.5% of those suffering from depressive symptoms in that study reported ED) smoking anything causes narrowing of the blood vessels, with obvious counter-Viagra like symptoms for those so affected. Though since cannabis smoke is inhaled deeply, held for much longer and contains more tar than tobacco, cigarettes are arguably healthier. But I’ve never touched a (nicotine) cigarette in my life either.

However I think the most applicable quote for you, phil, was written a few hundred years later. The Abbess Hildegard von Bingen (who was quite positive about it’s effects on the stomach – “…it removes the slime within and can be digested easily…”) warned that:

He who has an empty brain shall be caused pain by indulging in hemp

Now, I quite enjoy a good debate even if it’s about a subject I really don’t give a damn about. I’d have willingly (when I had more time) gone to your blog and discussed it with you. But as you’ve now questioned my integrity on two occasions despite my responding to your earlier challenges, I refer you back to my suggestion above.
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philu (13,393) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 7:21 pm
as ‘evidence’ you present an ad for viagra..?

“..This study was supported by a research grant from Pfizer Inc..”

nearly as laughable as your other piece of ‘evidence’..

that herbal/miracle cure..for every addiction from alcohol to heroin..eh..?

you are a feckin’ joke..

eh..?

and the ‘joke’ continues..

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Inventory2 (8,893) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Actually Phil, I think the joke’s on you!
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PaulL (5,235) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Phil, give it up. Rex has a bunch of things interesting for many of us to hear. We don’t need you stalking him around the internet asking him about impotence and pot smoking. We don’t give a shit. Sorry that you do, I can only guess that you are sensitive about something. But give it a rest and let the rest of us hear what Rex has to say without your drivel filling up all the white space.
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Inventory2 (8,893) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Amen to that PaulL!!
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Grant S (146) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Rex.

Do you actually take the time and effort to actually READ and respond to that mad, deranged gibberish from that drug atrophied, catatonic sponger phil u[seless] ?
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Adolf Fiinkensein (2,467) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 8:12 pm
David, it’s long past time you cleaned up your house. The place is just plain untidy.
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Rex Widerstrom (4,971) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Grant S: Until I got to the end of that sentence there I thought you were on about Winston

Actually they have even more than that in common. Winston thinks there needs to be a conspiracy of senior ex-NZF figures, the media, and “powerful shadowy interests” before someone thinks to ask a simple question about where cheques have gone.

phil seems to think Pfizer need to somehow place the blame for all erectile dysfunction squarely at the feet of marijuana when in fact they’d have a vast market just from those gazillions of blokes who have a problem in that area but who don’t use cannabis.

I can see it now… Pfizer HQ… a meeting with their advisors (Crosby Textor, probably, in phil’s fevered imaginings)…

Evil Pfizer executive:”Look, we’re just not shifting enough of this stuff to well heeled middle aged and elderly blokes with good incomes who want to keep their wives and mistresses happy. What we need is another lucrative, wealthy market who can afford to pay our exorbitant price of $80 for our small blue pills. Any ideas?”

Even eviler C/T advisor: “Ummm… how about habitual pot smokers?”

EPE: “Christ, no wonder John Key sounds like a twat. You’re fired”.
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tom hunter (3,852) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hmmm. Okay the following is a bit of thread jack – and something I posted a few months ago in response to some of Philu’s taunting – but most of you should get a kick out of it. It’s some quotes from a piece by a former Otago university professor describing his efforts with the Phil’s of NZ:

linkouthttp://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=6625&IBLOCK_ID=35

For those of you who don’t want to read the whole thing (but you really should for a chuckle) here are some choice cuts:

“I was booked to speak at Dunedin’s J-Day rally in the Octagon, the city’s central square. I was hyped, ready to get up there and force the Presbyterians who run the city to deal with a senior academic making an in-your-face pro-drug speech. I imagined crowds of red-eyed pot-heads chanting and fanning out across the city to take the struggle right to the enemy.”

”But when I got to the Octagon there didn’t seem to be anybody there — just a slight increase in the number of bums sitting on the steps. The only people who looked serious were a trio of well-dressed grownups. I went over to them and asked if they were the organizers.”

Turns out these are the media. They direct him over to the “bums”.

“……Finally I said, “Uh, hi, I’m here for, uh, J-Day? Anybody know who’s in charge?” There was a long, sneery silence. Then one of the coolest — you could tell he was cool because he had bleached hair in his eyes like a sheepdog, and drawled reeeeeally slowly — came out with this: “I don’t think there’s like a ringleader, dude.” The rest of them just sat there, smiling little smug smiles at the coolness of the reply.”

He praises the NORML organiser – Duncan – as a hard working organiser and a good activist but…..

“…….he was the only one in town. It wasn’t the old “German officer, Italian troops” deal; it was more like “German officer, row of shrubs.”

Duncan organises a meeting at which this guy can thunder away about the drug laws. Needless to say the crowd does not impress:

“What made it worse is that these people didn’t walk very well. I mean they seemed to’ve forgotten how; they loomed slowly, and veered aside even more slowly, like drugged groupers on a night dive.”

“……They didn’t get any of it. Well, they got it — there were a few slow claps and mumbles of “yeah!” — but the timing was off; the cheers came halfway through my next sentence. There’s a reason Cheech & Chong were that slow, and told the “Dave’s not here” joke ten times in a row: they understood the mental metabolism of the pot-head in a way I just don’t.

Incredibly (this guy’s a glutton for punishment), he attends next years “J-day”. The results (even for a smart, funny speaker from the Greens) are the same:

…The reporter came, saw that there was nothing to report, and left, long before the hippie bus with the amplifiers and turntables finally chugged into sight. Then we waited for them to get set up. This, of course, was a Cheech & Chong routine in itself. “Wire? What wire, man?

With the final result:

“So you see, you stoners: I didn’t come by my contempt for your potential as anti-DEA allies casually. To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, I went as far as I could with you waterheads. There’s just no point in courting you, because you’re worthless troops. With troops like this, you couldn’t take a sauna.”
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Fisiani (670) Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Wrong thread but cannot post there for some reason

Tui next ads if forced to take down the ‘offending’ one

We are not allowed to take the piss out of Winston YEAH RIGHT

We agree with government censorship of Tui Yeah Right

The Labour-led government supports free speech Yeah Right
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KennyJelly (32) Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:29 am
I see that Winston has already dropped out of the radar from the news this evening. I think it’s important that the media (especially TV1 and 3) do not let these “mini-scandal” fall off the radar too easily and should keep pursuing until either Winston explains himself fully or (preferably) gets dumped by Aunty Helen. After all, he is accusing (without any proof) that the media organizations are conspiring against him and making things up.
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expat (3,991) Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:57 am
Bloody Oath.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10524883

The only joker at Auckland Panel and Print who is planning to vote Labour is….

“The solitary Labour voter, a 35-year-old Kiwi who declined to be named, said the Labour Government had not been good for him but he didn’t think National would be any better. He and his partner are moving to Australia next year.”
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expat (3,991) Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:04 am
Thanks Hulun, send some more tradespeople to Aussie and import some no skill migrants.
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stayathomemum (140) Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Re expats link:
I don’t understand why women tend to favour Helen – I fear that many of them vote for her purely because she’s female.
What a worry!
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