General Debate 31 December 2010

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Yvette

D’abord
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December 31, 2010 8:02am
RobbieBlack

What the hell, my Maori mates told me they had been here since Winston ruled the Earth:

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/video/19467489/
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December 31, 2010 8:03am
Manolo

A long littany of lies from the warmists: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/30/botched-environmental-forecasts/
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December 31, 2010 8:08am
jaba

I see another celebrity has been arrested for behaving badly but has name suppression??
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December 31, 2010 8:22am
jaba

Daddy Cool has karked it
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December 31, 2010 8:24am
wreck1080

Well, on the last day of what has been a truly awful year for NZ, I see the pound has reached an all time high against the NZ dollar. I’m wondering, could we see a pound 1:1 with the NZ dollar? Probably not but it is over halfway there already.
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December 31, 2010 8:27am
mattyroo

Very pleasing to see Ray Avery has been Knighted – To all the handwringers out there who think the UN and other associated feel good charities etc. are the cure to the developing worlds ills, can I suggest you spend half an hour with this truly inspiring gent.

As someone who has long been involved in similar sorts of projects in the developing world, I can only endorse what he does and the effectiveness it has.

But really, what the fuck has Alison Holst done to earn a Dameship??? Were they struggling for candidates?
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December 31, 2010 8:33am
TripeWryter

Mattyroo:

Dame Alison Holst’s is years overdue. I think you might find that hers will be a very popular choice.
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December 31, 2010 8:50am
Pete George

Alison Holst may be credited for helping significantly transform the typical Kiwi diet from meat and three veg to a vast range of cuisine. She has played a part in transforming a major part of our culture, maybe the most culturally influential people in New Zealand.

It’s not just scones and pikelts
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December 31, 2010 9:00am
Pete George

Ran out of time on edit – it’s not just scones and pikelets any more.
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December 31, 2010 9:05am
morris

RIP Daddy Cool…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5gNYVia2rg
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December 31, 2010 9:07am
TripeWryter

But still no honour for Nancy Wake.

Judith Collins was very staunch about this when she was in the opposition.

She gave encouragement to two Auckland schoolgirls who took up the cause.

Is there something about Nancy Wake that there’s a huge ‘Stop’ sign on her file somewhere?
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December 31, 2010 9:17am
wynkie

Roger Sowry – shoe salesman & failed MP.

Officer of NZ Order of Merit. What a fucking joke. It is awards made to losers like him that totally degrades and devalues the NZ award system and is a bloody insulting to every other holder of the Officer award in NZ.

Clearly Bill English, Nick Smith and Tony Ryall have their influence all over this.
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December 31, 2010 9:25am
Pete George

Nancy Wake may be turning down the honour, I’m sure that must happen a bit.
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December 31, 2010 9:25am
Put it away

Mattyroo Alison Holst is the main reason your dinner tonight isn’t going to consist of an overcooked lamb chop covered with tomato sauce ( watties, inevitably), a pile each of soggy peas and corn with the colour and flavour boiled out of them and a dollop of mashed potato made with just potato and water.
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December 31, 2010 9:35am
Pete George

PIA, Friday night was stew night, and the peas and corn were cooked (even longer) with the meat, and the stew gravy meant tomato sauce wasn’t necessary. Or was it sausages? In that case the recipe was about the same except the meat had bones removed and skin reapplied – but there was a choice, thin or thick, same sausage meat.
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December 31, 2010 9:47am
Fletch

mattryroo –

+1 for Ray Avery

Saw that thing on his life on 60 Minutes or whatever it was. Guy deserves it for the wonderful contributions he has made to society.
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December 31, 2010 9:51am
nickb

Good to see increased efficiency in the public service:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4504184/Labour-now-Department-of-Mucking-About
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December 31, 2010 10:05am
reid

what the fuck has Alison Holst done to earn a Dameship??? Were they struggling for candidates?

No it was that damned Key fellow. He refused to allocate the usual quota to the loyal civil service, leaving one or two left over for the rest of you. It’s appalling.
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December 31, 2010 10:11am
grumpyoldhori

Why the hell the push for Wake to get another award ? she got the George medal and the rules are that if you get a Commonwealth award from one country you do not get another award from another Commonealth country for the same action.
I do not hear people saying Upham VC should be given another bar to his VC.
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December 31, 2010 10:13am
wf

@ Pete George – surely fish and chips were de rigeur on Friday night? We all used the RC ban of red meat on Friday as an excuse to indulge and for mum to have a night off cooking. By the time Alison Holst came along most home cooks were being a bit inventive and trying new things. I remember trying recipes that had sour cream in them – getting the sour with lemon juice was not entirely successful lol.
Anyway, I think she has done a good job over the years.
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December 31, 2010 10:16am
grumpyoldhori

OK using Sir Ed as a standard Sir Ray Avery has earned his.
But a cook and a bloody jeweler, the jeweler made himself rich, good stuff, but it smacks to me as being as the same standard as that bastard Fay.
A cook being at the same standard as Sir Ray Avery, not even fucking close as much as others will argue the point.
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December 31, 2010 10:22am
Put it away

Pete – weeknights my mum would cook and it’d be the lamb chops and three soggy veges every time, on the weekend the old man would do it, luckily he’d been to Europe and developed a taste for casseroles with paprika and red wine and other things that had actual flavour, so that was a bit better. I think the only people eating food with interesting flavours in the 60s were people who’d been overseas or come from overseas. No wonder half the post-WWII european refugees got into the food business, sure as shit there was no one doing it properly here!
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December 31, 2010 10:23am
Pete George

wf – we had a different excuse for fish and chips. I was a country kid so ate lunch at school, Monday’s excuse was no fresh bread (last delivered Friday) so in my early days we had a pie for lunch on Mondays. Then when the fish and chip shop opened (mid sixties) we changed to that. We didn’t have fish and chips at home very often, apart from cost it meant a trip to town. But we did cook our own chips – in mutton fat.

Things I never had until after I left home – margarine, cooking oil, pasta (except Watties), pizza, savoury rice, wine, coleslaw, and many more.
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December 31, 2010 10:24am
TripeWryter

Hori:

Well, I wasn’t aware of the rules as you have put them.

As for Captain Upham, VC and Bar … those awards for bravery would not have precluded his being awarded a knighthood.

When I lived in Canterbury a rumour I sometimes heard was that he declined a knighthood.

Thus I would not have thought that Nancy Wake, who was awarded French and imperial (i.e., British) military honours, would have been prevented her from being awarded a damehood.
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December 31, 2010 10:26am
grumpyoldhori

Oh horrors,a muslim who of course has to be a terrorist picked for the Aussie cricket team for the fifth test.
Jeez, that will be funny an empty stadium for the match.
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December 31, 2010 10:30am
Pete George

PIA, my father had been to Egypt, Italy and Japan (WW II) but never cooked. My mother grew up very rural during the depression and WW II so probably never experienced much variety, and wasn’t much into cooking anyway. I remember her first trying some fancy casserole recipes in 1971.

Nancy Wake keeps getting mentioned around honours time, if she had been given a gong years ago she would probably be pretty much forgotten.
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December 31, 2010 10:30am
grumpyoldhori

TripeWryter Capt Upham VC declined both a knighthood and a farm that the people of his region wanted to buy him.
His reasons, he had done nothing more than his men who did not make it back to NZ.

A George medal is near to a VC and bar in deserving a knighthood, not even close.
Or because she is a woman does she deserve a knighthood ?
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December 31, 2010 10:40am
tom hunter

This article describes the awful farming and economic situation that has developed in the Central Valley area of California, where the place is starting to develop Dustbowl type conditions. The thing is that it’s not caused by AGW, it’s the Federal government:

Local newspapers and Fresno County officials are trying to rally Facebook users to vote for Fresno in a corporate contest sponsored by Wal-Mart for $1 million in charity food donations for the hungry. Fresno, a city of 505,000, has taken the national lead because 24.1% of Fresno’s families are going hungry.

Civic spirit is good, but something big is wrong here. Fresno is the agricultural capital of America. More food per acre in more variety can be grown in the fertile Central Valley surrounding this community than on any other land in America — perhaps in the world.

Yet far from being a paradise, Fresno is starting to resemble Zimbabwe or 1930s Ukraine, a victim of a famine machine that is entirely man-made, not by red communists this time, but by greens.

State and federal officials, driven by the agenda of environmental extremists, have made it extremely difficult for the valley’s farms, introducing costly environmental regulations and cutting off critical water supplies to save the Delta smelt, a bait fish. It’s all driving the economy to collapse.

In the southwest part of the Central Valley, water allotments as low as 10% of normal have created a visible dust bowl. The knock-on effect can be seen in cities like Fresno, where November’s unemployment among the packers, cannery workers and professional fields that make agriculture productive stands at 16.9%.

Every time I have to deal with Environment Waikato I think of this. But to me what is really beyond belief is that Californians have, and will continue to, vote the Democrat Party into power. Incredible.
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December 31, 2010 10:58am
reid

Oh horrors,a muslim who of course has to be a terrorist picked for the Aussie cricket team for the fifth test.

Crikey grumpy, this is a crisis. When the team arrive at the stadium, the security people are trained to observe the crowd not the team. Where the hell are they going to look now? Maybe they should get some of those tiger masks the villagers wear to make it look like they’re not looking away.
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December 31, 2010 11:00am
Manolo

The peaceful professor Rawiri Taouni (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/4366846/Outspoken-Rawiri-Taonui-resigns) chooses Harawira as the politician of the year: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/4494758/Year-of-struggles-and-triumphs

These two are made for each other, and how can the Dom Post print this rubbish?
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December 31, 2010 11:20am
Chuck Bird

I see the Herald is discussing the Bain Case.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10697020

Do any of the legal experts know what can be looked at if compensation was being considered?

I was thinking of evidence not allowed to be presented to the jury specifically Bain’s fantasy about raping a female jogger.
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December 31, 2010 11:45am
tom hunter

A staff writer for the Washington Post comments on the US constitution during a TV interview:

The issue with the Constitution is not that people don’t read the text and think they’re following. The issue with the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than hundred years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done….

The writer is the semi-famous Ezra Klein, a left-winger who is regularly linked to and paraded in the blogosphere as a typically highly intelligent left-winger with things to say on various issues that we really should listen to. I’m sure he will continue to be referred to, with no sense of shame. As the commentator at the link notes:

But lets cut Ezra some slack. I mean just look at the first amendment. It’s confusing as hell:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“Congress shall make no law”. What in the world could that mean?

I can’t wait for the next time Ezra and co. imply that Palin is stupid.
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December 31, 2010 11:49am
reid

Some of Pepe’s usual perspicacity on Afghanistan.

I can’t wait for the next time Ezra and co. imply that Palin is stupid.

She’s the second most popular woman in the States. Isn’t that horrible. However these are the same people who gave us Bush, Clinton, yet another Bush and then Obama so I’m not very confident in their perspicacity that’s for sure.
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December 31, 2010 11:50am
Chuck Bird

I just received an offer for my Vector shares.

I will not be throwing it in the bin but sending it back in the reply paid envelope with a note saying I hope enough others do likewise and eat into any profit this scumbag may make.

This gut is not smart or clever just a bottom dweller hoping to prey on the elderly.

I hope others do the same with or without a note. If enough do he could make a loss.
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December 31, 2010 11:57am
reid

And another good piece from Spengler.

History speaks of a PaxRomana, a Pax Britannica, and a Pax Americana – but no other namable eras of sustained peace, for the simple reason cited by Henry Kissinger: nothing maintains peace except hegemony and the balance of power. The balancing act always fails, though, as it did in Europe in 1914, and as it will in Central and South Asia precisely a century later. The result will be suppurating instability in the region during the next two years and a slow but deadly drift toward great-power animosity. Those who wanted an end to US hegemony will get what they wished for. But they won’t like it.

I just received an offer for my Vector shares.

What’s the offer vs current price Chuck?
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December 31, 2010 12:00pm
joana

Matty roo
We are not all third world huggers. You must have missed all that good kai when you overseas on all your do gooder trips.
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December 31, 2010 12:05pm
Ed Snack

Holst as an agent for change in cooking, rubbish, just another case of the media assuming an influence it doesn’t have. Not only have people cooked in different ways and with differing degrees of quality throughout time, they still do. Anyone who thinks that the era of the thrice cooked vegetable has disappeared has never attended one of my company’s Christmas dinners.

And I flatly defy you to say a word against my mother’s cooking; we had interesting and filling meals from way back, and she didn’t need no TV cook telling her how to do it. Then again, I invite you to be as rude as you like about one of my ex-girlfriend’s mother’s cooking; 30 minutes wasn’t enough for the greens, “just a little longer to make sure that they’re cooked through…”. At least she didn’t add baking soda to make the colour more vivid.
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December 31, 2010 12:12pm
Pete George

More from Klein on the Constitution…

….the Constitution is not a clear document. Written more than 200 years ago, when America had 13 states and very different problems, it rarely speaks directly to the questions we ask it.

…as the seemingly endless series of 5-4 splits on the Supreme Court shows, even the country’s most experienced and decorated constitutional authorities routinely disagree, and sharply, over what the text means when applied to today’s problems.

In reality, the tea party — like most everyone else — is less interested in living by the Constitution than in deciding what it means to live by the Constitution.

No matter how well a Constitution (or Treaty) is written, it will always come down to interpretation, intent, and application to a wide variety of issues.

“Abiding by the Constitution” sounds fine, but in practice it’s often impossible to achieve to everyone’s satisfaction.
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December 31, 2010 12:12pm
tristanb

I see another celebrity has been arrested for behaving badly but has name suppression??

The papers are giving his age!!
“The 46-year-old entertainer appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday charged with disorderly behaviour. His name and all details were suppressed.”

And they’ve stated he’s a household name.

Quickly looking at Wikipedia article for 1964 shows that two male NZers were born in this year and notable enough to make Wikipedia.
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December 31, 2010 12:13pm
tom hunter

No matter how well a Constitution (or Treaty) is written, it will always come down to interpretation, intent, and application to a wide variety of issues.

Which is only a problem if you regard the thing as akin to the Ten Commandments, written in stone and forever unchangeable.

Of course that is exactly what much left-wing sneering about the US Constitution is about – that’s it’s a dusty old tomb written for a different age (“Written more than 200 years ago, when America had 13 states and very different problems, it rarely speaks directly to the questions we ask it.”) Obama is right in there with his TV interview years ago in Chicago where he complained about the Warren Court having not gone far enough in extracting economic civil rights out of the document.

The only thing that Klein achieves with his written comments is a further demonstration of his stupidity. The people who wrote the constitution 250 years ago knew that it would have to change and they knew that examples of that change would be situations where the Supreme Court could not decide or made crap decisions with 5/4 splits – or effectively declared that the text could not be used to decide at all. So they built in a whole amendment process: 2/3 of the Congress and Senate, ratification by 3/4 of the states. It’s been used successfully 27 times.

The most famous example of such a poor decision was the Scott Dredd case. But decisions like that are actually part of the process: that’s why it’s so important that the Supreme Court and other legal geniuses are not supposed to extract anything new out of the text. They interpret only, and if their interpretation angers a lot of US voters, or if they feel they can’t reach a decision, it’s actually their job to throw it back to the voters, in effect saying, you fix it. With the 14th amendment the voters did: Scott Dredd was never reversed, merely bypassed and made obsolete.

Of course Klein and the rest of the modern US left don’t talk about this much, at least not since recent amendments such as the ERA went down in flames. Combined with the left-wing win-via-Court-decision of Roe v. Wade in the same decade the US left pretty much abandoned the whole amendment pathway with regard to other desires like gun control and the death penalty and decided to pursue the Supreme Court alone.

So much for faith in winning debates in a constitutional democracy, and when all you have left is a hammer you get seemingly intelligent arguments like Klein that are actually very stupid – or perhaps deceptive as the following comment explained from my original link:

By the way, in case it isn’t clear, the reason these two liberals want people to believe the constitution is impossible to decipher is because they despise the constitution. Liberals want the government to have limitless power and that is in direct contrast with what the founders designed the constitution to do.

Of course the constitution allows for its own amendment but liberal policies simply aren’t popular enough to garner constitutional amendments thus simply ignoring the constitution is the next best step.

Plus who cares about rule of law when it comes down to it? We’ve got a liberal utopia to build!
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December 31, 2010 1:18pm
Pete George

So they built in a whole amendment process: 2/3 of the Congress and Senate, ratification by 3/4 of the states. It’s been used successfully 27 times.

You’d better let the Tea Party know there’s been a few amendments. Ah, hang on, don’t they already know that? Apparently some of them want to repeal them. Religious fundamentalists want constitutional fundamentalism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/us/politics/06religion.html
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December 31, 2010 1:27pm
tom hunter

Religious fundamentalists want constitutional fundamentalism.

So no counter-argument on point but back to banging the well-worn drum about US Christian fanaticism and the Tea Party movement – and enlisting the NYT also I see…

…one might better understand it through the prism of religion.

… with it’s never-ending, but now seemingly futile quest, to reinforce that message.

Oooooooo – scary. You’d better let the NYT know that the smear had already failed big time three days before their article was written. Apparently they did not know that.
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December 31, 2010 1:50pm
Manolo

Iluminating article on the correlation between evil and the many illnesses fostered by the welfare state:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_4_oh_to_be.html
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December 31, 2010 1:54pm
tom hunter

Arghhhs@&&%@%@%@

….that’s it’s a dusty old ~~tomb~~ tome….

Sigh! I’m sure humourists can have fun with the former description!
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December 31, 2010 1:57pm
tom hunter

Jesus – this is getting worse…

….that‘s it’s a dusty old ~~tomb~~ tome
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December 31, 2010 2:04pm
Redbaiter

Serves you right for doing the deranged PG the courtesy of a sincere response. I guess when you’re not posting here you bang your head against brick walls for some relief.

Religious tyranny is not Conservative.

Pro-life liberalism is not Conservative.

Authoritarian statism is not Conservative.

Constitutional conservatism is Conservative.

Pete would differ on all of these, and of course, way down there in the avenues of Dunedin, and full of bullshit from his far left propaganda sources, he’d know wouldn’t he?
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December 31, 2010 2:09pm
Pete George

Your continued attention is flattering Red, but you’re making things up again. Your attempted point is obscure, but I’ve never commented here on anything you list, so you can’t have any idea whether I would differ or not. You can’t see my mind from your house, not even from a wee island offshore.
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December 31, 2010 2:32pm
tom hunter

Serves you right for doing the deranged PG the courtesy of a sincere response.

Indeed.

I guess when you’re not posting here you bang your head against brick walls for some relief.

But it feels so good when I stop!

All jokes aside – as I’ve said before, I’m writing this stuff less for Pete George than for silent readers who may think the same as him – and in NZ there are lot who, out of ignorance or sheer prejudice, think like that. Preferable to leaving his claims unanswered in such a widely read forum. You and I disagree on this approach and it is a faint hope I know but still …..
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December 31, 2010 2:33pm
Pete George

for other silent readers

If that’s the case you may be more successful by being more concise, getting carried away with arrogant eloquence can get a bit boring for others.
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December 31, 2010 2:40pm
tom hunter

What I wrote was shorter than the Klein and NYT articles you linked to.

It would seem your attention span shrinks when it has to cover arguments you don’t like.
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December 31, 2010 2:45pm
redeye

“# Chuck Bird (1,351) Says:
December 31st, 2010 at 11:45 am

I see the Herald is discussing the Bain Case.”

The one comment in this article;-

“My2BobsWorth (Whanganui)
07:37PM Thursday, 30 Dec 2010
I thought our justice operated under the premise that one is “innocent until proven guilty”. David Bain has not been proved guilty of any crime. As I understand it he is a free man. In which case he was jailed unfairly for years and is surely entitled to compensation. So, why does he have to prove he is innocent?”

Anyone care to answer him?
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December 31, 2010 3:26pm
Chuck Bird

I was thinking of answering but I was wondering if the State would look at lacking evidence not just what the jury seen.

It is nice to see such caring people who are only too happy to spend my money.

If was on a jury and thought the person was guilty but there was say a 1 in a 100 change the person was not guilty I would find him or her innocent. Many people might set a different standard. However, I would hope someone would find a person not guilty if say there was a 1 in 10 chance they were innocent.

Not guilty is not guilty not innocent. If a person does not understand that what can one say except suggest he donate his own money.
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December 31, 2010 3:49pm
backster

Anyone care to answer him?……………………No, I will endeavour to answer you. As I understand it the burdon is on the Crown to prove a case beyond all reasonable doubt. If the Judge or Jury decide the Crown has not discharged that burdon they find the Defendant Not Guilty.. That does not establish innocence, merely that a doubt as to guilt has been raised in the mind of the Jury.In the Bain case the first Jury had no doubt the second founbd some doubt.
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December 31, 2010 3:55pm
Pete George

I doubt many people would accept giving compensation to everyone found “not guilty”, that would result in guilty people who got off the charge getting compensation virtually automatically.
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December 31, 2010 3:59pm
Redbaiter

Hey Manolo, if you’re out there, I think you will approve of my annual award (2010) for The Most Despicable Politician in Parliament”.

http://truebluenz.wordpress.com/
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December 31, 2010 4:19pm
redeye

Backster; well I didn’t want to just rewrite his question, nor did I want to plagiarise:-)

Regardless, you haven’t answered the question. I understand the ruling of proof of innocence but why should he have to?

The privy council found his jailing to be wrong. Illegal Immoral and Fattening.

Surely therefore he is entitled to some compo, guilty or not. The people of this country have illegally locked him away for 10+ years.
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December 31, 2010 4:26pm
Chuck Bird

redeye, if new proof comes up that show almost 100% that he is guilty would you be happy to compensate him with my money as well as yours.
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December 31, 2010 4:34pm
Pete George

Fuck Red, I sometimes wondered if you saw yourself as some sort of political commentator, but obviously not. As long as you get a pat on the back from a few like-minded you’re happy.

That really is a credibility cruncher. It’s clear you’re not interested in being taken seriously. It’s like boys skiting about the best fart.
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December 31, 2010 4:49pm
TripeWryter

Hori:

I follow your first sentence well enough.

You make Upham’s knighthood refusal definite; refusing the farm was common knowledge, as well.

His case for refusing the farm was common knowledge.

The rest of your post I don’t understand.

Clearly Upham’s holding two VCs had not precluded him from being offered a knighthood, even though he declined. Similarly, holding the VC had not precluded Berard Freyberg’s being knighted, and later raised to the peerage.

None of the other honours to Nancy Wake should preclude her receiving a damehood:

George Medal
Companion of the Order of Australia
US Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm
Légion d’honneur (the highest French decoration)
Croix de guerre
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December 31, 2010 4:51pm
Redbaiter

Ahhh Pete, always so stunningly incoherent.
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December 31, 2010 5:04pm
Akaroa

Crikey!

I just saw a headline: ‘Clarke receives temporary Coronation’

I thought, ‘Oh no!. Not her!. Not that!”

Then it was – Phew, What a relief! –

The item was about some cricketer after all!

Blood pressure returns to normal!
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December 31, 2010 5:45pm
Manolo

… I think you will approve of my annual award (2010) for The Most Despicable Politician in Parliament”.

Who would disgaree with the choice of Smith as the most unprincipled NZ politician of the year, maybe the decade.

His many 180-degree changes, his absolute derision for the middle class, his obssesion to impose an ETS on NZ, his staunch desire to appease the lunatic greens and those who long for the demise of our contry’s economy, make Nick Smith the Most Despicable Politician in Parliament. I do agree.
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December 31, 2010 5:54pm
bhudson

@redeye,

I’ll answer him – Because that is the test set down by our democratically elected Government and backed by statute enacted by a majority vote by our (again, democratically elected) representatives in the House.

Just as it was the same process and House that enacted statute(s) which enabled Bain to have multiple avenues of appeal, which finally led to the raising of some measure of reasonable doubt and his release from gaol.
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December 31, 2010 7:00pm
Dazzaman

Alison Holst may be credited for helping significantly transform the typical Kiwi diet from meat and three veg to a vast range of cuisine….

Really? Obviously her advice didn’t reach my place!

Crikey, a cook for GG, might be a change from a lawyer or a used-polly.
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December 31, 2010 7:04pm
jaba

I understand that the “cook” also raised $4mil for charities??
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December 31, 2010 7:07pm
Manolo

Read the following lines from Noelle McCarthy, a true imbecile, and puke:
The values of social justice are not incentivised by our economic system. This is why social workers make their own sandwiches, and property developers have lunch at Soul.

If you have the intestinal fortitude the whole “article” can be found at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-government/news/article.cfm?c_id=144&objectid=10697138
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December 31, 2010 7:55pm
Fletch

Hitler finds out that Kodachrome has been discontinued…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDWeAHd6D6w
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December 31, 2010 8:48pm
nickb

Lol what a fucking joke Manolo.

I can picture that pompous tart would be far more at home over a Ponsonby latte than making her own sandwiches. Stupid hypocrite. “Let them eat cake”, indeed.

Oh and Noelle, was this your own article? Or did you rip someone else’s off? Because, you know, you seem to have a bad habit of doing that.
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December 31, 2010 10:09pm
grumpyoldhori

TripeWryter Wake got her Commonwealth award of a George medal for her actions in the forties.

Comparing her to Lord Freyberg is a real push, wounded twelve times, three more bars to his DSO for different actions in WW2, so no she does not come close to the same standing.

A relative of mine was awarded the DCM, which is roughly in line with the George medal, should he get a knighthood for his grave ?
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December 31, 2010 10:49pm
Guy Fawkes

A very amusing take on the best moments of 2011’s UK and International Politics.

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2010/12/31/2011-the-year-in-review/

The Author is a keen Socialist, and he has no reverence to his faith. At all. Very Good.
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January 1, 2011 7:27am
hj

Good to see the Iwi/Kiwi billboard in Linwood Ave, as at least it will make people question what’s going on.

They get: Mineral rights, development rights, veto rights and their name on the door which could bring a gigantic mind shift as we grew up naively believing in a Queens chain. Imagine if children born henceforth were to associate the seas around the country with tribal ownership.. “all you have to do is ask”.. as if asking is nothing. As payment for killing someones daughter in a traffic accident a young drunk driver had to send a check of $1 each week to the parents. In the end he preferred the prison sentence (was on 60 minutes or similar).
It looks as though they have to prove continuous and contiguous connection which is where Maori are today for those who have existing title to foreshore and seabed. Wahi tapu is a potential fishhook.

I think there is a need to counter the “Maori only want justice meme” as what they really want is recognition of aboriginal title (based on ancestral connection) being embodied in common law and coated in a sugary myth of sacred duties to look after guests and conservation ethic.
Picture a small fish with large jaws trying to swallow a much larger fish.
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January 1, 2011 9:46am
thedavincimode

Manolo

You’re only upsetting yourself by even taking the time to read the dopey plaguarising woman who is striving to somehow make herself relevant to someone; anyone. Treat her columns like those of the pompous twat Rudman and the equally dopey Tapu Misa. As I’ve said before, they’re there to signal its time to turn the page.
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January 1, 2011 11:15am
hj

Google Maori + ” thousand years” (thousands of hits)

For example:
While New Zealand is a relatively young country, it has a rich and fascinating history, reflecting both our Maori and European heritage.

Amazing Maori historic sites and taonga (treasures), some dating back almost a thousand years, are a contrast to many beautiful colonial buildings.

http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/history.html

Tangata Whenua: the World of the Maori

A thousand years ago, the Polynesian ancestors of the Maori travelled to Aotearoa in giant sea-going canoes. Here they developed a rich and complex culture, with an artistic output unparalleled in the Pacific. In this easily understood introduction to all ‘things Maori’, Don Stafford explains the origins of the Maori, their vast migrations, their arrival in this country and their development here in both pre- and post-European times.

http://www.wheelers.co.nz/books/9780143010074-tangata-whenua-the-world-of-the-maori/#desc

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend

Margaret Orbell

The nineteenth-century writings of Maori authorities have left us a vast heritage of myths and legends. These speak of a thousand years’ experience of Aotearoa, and also recall in their origins the first human explorations of the islands of Polynesia.

Pita Sharples:
It is a connection which has been sustained for over a thousand years; a connection which will be sustained into the next thousand years to come.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/whenua-sustainable-futures-m%C4%81ori-land

HONE HARAWIRA: I mean if it’s true that we’ve been here for the last thousand years and we’re going to be here for the next thousand years, why are we rolling over and playing dead on one piece of legislation?
http://hone.co.nz/2010/11/02/transcript-willie-jackson-hone/
Tariana Turia Speech – Sharing and partnership
Monday, 15 December 2003, 11:11 am
Speech: New Zealand Government
Just outside the window we can see a permanent record of the history of Kupe – the first navigator who sailed these shores a thousand years ago.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0312/S00357.htm

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Has the Minister received any reports from his Māori colleagues in the Labour Party caucus, namely the Māori colleagues who promised the Māori people the earth, before the election—and the seabed, and the foreshore—and they will now see themselves losing their riparian rights, which they have owned for a thousand years; and what sort of representation is that?
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/1/6/2/47HansD_20030806_00000238-Questions-for-Oral-Answer-Questions-to-Ministers.htm

Catherine Delahunty
In the meantime Betty Williams, (of Ngati Whanaunga/Ngati Pukenga from Hauraki), the woman who educated me about Te Tiriti, had arrived. I had invited her to share my space before the committee as she had not been given one. Fired up by NURM’s example I began my presentation by telling the Committee off for refusing to come to Te Tairawhiti.
I explained that as a Pakeha I had a very limited relationship with the foreshore and seabed but “loved the beach” generally. This did not compare well to the 1000 years of whakapapa and site specific responsibilities that Betty and her hapu maintain to this day. Yet she had been refused a chance to speak. I also waved a copy of Te Tiriti around in a flamboyant manner.
Betty talked very clearly about her people and their relationship to their foreshore and how Te Tiriti reaffirms their customary rights, therefore the Bill cannot pass. She is 71 years old and has given her whole life to kaitiakitanga. It was a privilege to be beside her. It was also great to have Tariana and Metiria at the table emanating their respect and love for her korero. From the window we could see across to Hauraki and Te Moehau the mountain shining on the horizon as she rises up from Tikapa Moana.
http://www.greens.org.nz/misc-documents/diary-debacle-archive-6th-september-15th-september
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January 1, 2011 11:16am
hj

Maori roadblock stops rimu logs leaving district

Ms Fitzsimons said any financial returns from felling the ancient trees by Wildlife Properties should be forfeited. She believed the Proceeds of Crimes Act should be enacted and Wildlife Properties would stand to lose any financial returns from its logging.

“The local Maori have been kaitiaki for so long and I feel (for) their loss.”

Tamahaki iwi chairman Boy Cribb said iwi expect to be party to the consultation between Wildlife Properties and the Wanganui District Council next week.

“This is our land and is under claim with the Waitangi Tribunal. We have been on this river for over a 1000 years, and our tupuna (ancestors) left this land for their descendants. They cut down our children’s legacy? their actions were criminal,” Mr Cribb said.
http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/local/news/maori-roadblock-stops-rimu-logs-leaving-district/3615268/
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January 1, 2011 11:35am
Manolo

Than you, thedavincimode. From now on I shall heed your advice.
The Irish plagiarist is entirely forgettable.
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January 1, 2011 12:44pm

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