General Debate 16 September 2013

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Doctor Who

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11125046

“Look at me I’m a cannibal.”
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September 16, 2013 8:01am
Colville

Note to Dean Barker : Keep the boat upright!

Go team ETNZ! 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:01am
Ian McK

“Poof” and the opposition was gone!
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September 16, 2013 8:01am
Andrei

America’s cup is boring, arm wrestling is the sport of the moment and the champion is ……
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September 16, 2013 8:28am
wreck1080

I’d suppose the start is more important than many thought!!!
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September 16, 2013 8:38am
Don the Kiwi

The start is always important – it enables you to pick the favoured side of the course and then keep covering your opponent – that is, keeping yourself between the next mark and the other boat.. Its obvious that Oracle have re-configured their boat to match Team NZ upwind speed – good win to Oracle.

Lets see what Barker can do with the favoured start position next race.
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September 16, 2013 8:50am
wreck1080

@don:: I agree the starts are important.

But, when I wrote this earlier on….

“I think Dean Barker could be doing far better on the starts though.

He loses just about every start — maybe NZ won 1 of the starts.”

I got tons of negatives on that.

Apologies please!
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September 16, 2013 9:05am
wikiriwhis business

Cynthia McKinney
Has the U.S. order to deploy troops in Syria already gone out? Take a look at this: We must STOP U.S. troop deployments all over the planet. Only the people of the U.S. can stop the raging U.S. war machine. It will not stop on its own!!

The White House and the Pentagon have repeatedly ruled out “boots on the ground” in Syria, but Defense Department officials were less certain Thursday on whether U.S. military personnel might be sent to help secure or destroy Syria’s chemical weapons.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little gave a vague answer when asked if U.S. troops were prepared to assist should an international agreement allow Russia to take control of the tons of chemical weapons believed to be in the stockpiles of President Bashar al-Assad.

“I’m not going to speculate on who may or may not be participating in a process that may or may not take place,” Little said. “We’ve got to see where the process goes” before the U.S. military considers involvement, he said.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/09/14/securing-syrias-weapons-may-require-us-troops.html?comp=7000023317828&rank=1
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September 16, 2013 9:11am
PaulL

New IPCC report may say global warming not as severe as models previously forecast. Wall Street Journal reports that there’s a 50/50 chance that warming until 2080 will be net positive for the planet. IPCC authors reportedly in crisis talks, and science is not settled at all. No material warming for past 17 years. Wonder what Griff will have to say.
http://click.e.theaustralian.com.au/?qs=3084f9573094fd608cdca4b0e28888b7c6ba4a4ce794b64ae25f9687083c65b8ed0b30b29a5239e6
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September 16, 2013 9:19am
jcuk

DW 8.01 ….People who disfigure their bodies should expect to be banned … if you want to be in-fashion then use the stick-on version.
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September 16, 2013 9:38am
Colville

DW @ 8.01
Japanese think that tats are a sign of organised crime groups.
They need to realise that Maroi are not that organised.
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September 16, 2013 10:02am
Don the Kiwi

WOW !!!

That last race was a nail-biter.

There is really a full on contest out there now – Oracle have really picked up their speed.

But if Barker can win his starts from the leeward position as he did in race 10, because Spithall will certainly win his favoured starts – then the regatta should last 2 more days – barring postponements due to overstrength wind.

I hope I’m right 🙂
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September 16, 2013 10:04am
Colville

wreck1080 @ 9.05.
I think today showed that the port advantage going into the start box is huge.
Barker won both starts yesterday and 1/2 today.

Awesome win today. 🙂 Two more !
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September 16, 2013 10:06am
wikiriwhis business

World Bank sanctions at seven-year high
By Caroline Binham, Legal Correspondent

World Bank sanctions are at a seven-year high after efforts by the bank to clamp down on fraud and corruption in the far-flung projects it funds.
The World Bank blacklisted 250 entities and individuals in the first seven months of 2013, four times the amount over the whole of 2012, and more than the total number of debarments of the previous seven years recorded, a new report details.

The development bank has the power to debar companies permanently from tendering for projects that it funds. It can also order companies to instigate costly compliance and monitoring regimes if it finds evidence of fraud, corruption, collusion or coercion.
The multinational’s powers were highlighted in April when SNC Lavalin, a Canadian engineering group, was banned from tendering for a record 10 years following a World Bank corruption investigation into a bridge-building project in Bangladesh that it funded.

The case has largely fuelled the dramatic uptick in the number of debarments this year, according to the World Bank, as it blacklisted over a hundred of the company’s subsidiaries.
However, even based on the number of matters investigated by the development bank rather than by entities debarred, there has been an increase from 73 investigations in 2011 to 81 in 2012, according to its numbers.

“We’re not a global policeman but what we can do is facilitate the global conversation against corruption,” Stephen Zimmerman, director of operations at the bank’s integrity division, told the Financial Times. “The World Bank is unique in that it’s the only office in the world that looks at corruption cases globally; law enforcement tends to be national by its nature.”
Healthcare, water, energy, transport and agriculture were the sectors most heavily targeted by the bank’s investigative division, according to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the law firm that compiled the report.

“When a major company is implicated in this sort of activity, reputations can be seriously damaged and it can stand to lose large contracts and the ability to bid for future ones for years to come,” said Jane Jenkins, a white-collar lawyer at Freshfields. “Multilateral development banks, led by the World Bank, have assumed a role similar to US and UK authorities that enforce the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act and similar laws against white-collar crime.”

Worryingly for companies, a World Bank investigation can alert other such authorities to alleged wrongdoing, and sanctions from the development bank have proved to be the first step in a lengthy and painful journey for some.
Two divisions of Alstom, the French engineering conglomerate that is the subject of investigations by the US Department of Justice and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, were debarred by the World Bank last year over a Zambian hydropower project and made to pay $9.5m in restitution payments.

The SFO in particular has acted on several referrals from the World Bank, including those of Macmillan and Oxford University Press, both of which investigations were concluded by civil recovery orders.

World Bank contracting has long been plagued by waste and loss due to collusion and bribery, but the multinational revamped its anti-corruption efforts after the scandal associated with the Iraq oil-for-food programme.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7b08e5a2-1c9d-11e3-8894-00144feab7de,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F7b08e5a2-1c9d-11e3-8894-00144feab7de.html%3Fsiteedition%3Duk&siteedition=uk&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ft.com%252Fintl%252Fcms%252Fs%252F0%252F7b08e5a2-1c9d-11e3-8894-00144feab7de.html%2523comment-5332832%26h%3DfAQGwc2-T%26enc%3DAZNSm5FEXc0ShKdeHDEbO-YybCb_ovanZIY-Yh3_Zrx2kmpPNoUF_y0loamYH1yE_aUbzT2FnPG0p30-SyH8nt0mocTtVLeH1dKw2tTW47egYQEe2phwUPUWyAp27WnrO8UFP9o66SIKAmuUSMCLyo55%26s%3D1#comment-5332832
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September 16, 2013 10:26am
kowtow

Colville

The Maoris are very organised.So organised they practically control the gummint .
Not only are they organised whole sections of the non Maori community are rallying around to make that control tighter.

Separate maori rights are in the constitution by stealth etc etc The name of the country is being changed incrementally by stealth as is our language ,culture and traditions.
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September 16, 2013 10:28am
UglyTruth

They need to realise that Maroi are not that organised.

Yes, they might be at risk of thinking that a group of people called Maroi actually exists.
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September 16, 2013 10:34am
wikiriwhis business

Books by Chalmers Johnson answer that question

“Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire”

“The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic”

“Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic”

Maintaining an Empire is an expensive proposition. Historian Howard Zinn once pointed out that the best way to undermine a tyrant is to give him everything we wants – and then sit back and let him manage it.

At last count the US had 737 military bases in foreign countries. Each one requires hundreds and sometimes thousands of troops, full armaments and a massive support staff. They burn fuel, consume electricity, eat food, receive medical care. This is an expensive proposition and takes money from development at home.

How long can this drain of resources take place?

By more striking is what are they doing there in the first place?

Why should any country have troops in another countries borders, let alone permanent military installations.

Put the shoe on another foot for a moment.

How would you like it if the Russians had a military based up the road from you. Or when you went to the beach, the Chinese Navy occupied some prime real estate.

The whole system is quite mad and as Chalmers points out bound to end badly. – See more at: http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/government-corruption-1/how-empires-decline-including-ours.html#sthash.Y3dFLhhR.dpuf
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September 16, 2013 10:40am
Jack5

No sign of Pete from Dunedin yet this morning.

Perhaps he has taken up our suggestion and is at anger enhancement theory. Maybe he’s even flown up to Tauranga to take the honours course under Redbaiter.

If Pete George does successfully metamorphose into a fire eater, we’ll know first in this general thread. It will be the first post of the day:

Morning, motherfuckers! Let’s get things straight. I’m no pet monkey of the Great Possum. In fact, I’m the brains and backbone of United. So no more bullshit about me or United in this thread! Understand?
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September 16, 2013 10:48am
Kea

as is our language ,culture and traditions.

I am no friend of Maori activists, but it is a bit rich to speak of “our” in that way. If you want to preserve “your” culture and traditions then return to where they came from.

I think the way forward is to find what works for us without reference to the past of either culture. Until we learn to do that we will not mature as a nation and will continue down the path of separtisim.
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September 16, 2013 11:06am
Jack5

Matthew Hooton on Radio NZ’s Labour Programme today talked about fibre network and said he was working for TUANZ,
the industry pressure group misleadingly named the telecommunications users’ association.

So Hooton is the puppet master running the campaign to defend the hiked price on the copper network to subsidise fibre.

The whole fibre-to-the-home project is a stuff-up.

Telecom/Chorus initially didn’t want it. Since both political parties (and the Greens I think) energetically pushed for fibre to the home, Chorus is left in a jam.
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September 16, 2013 11:31am
Longknives

Regarding the facial tattoos- What both Morgan Tait and Erana Brewerton are missing is the massive irony that while they are stamping their feet and screaming “Japan MUST respect Maori culture” …both are showing absolutely no respect whatsoever for Japanese culture itself!
Why must Maori culture be revered and pandered to yet Japanese Culture is wrong? Who the hell are we to force Maori culture on Japan??
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September 16, 2013 11:41am
kowtow

Jack5

Nah PG is still mealy mouthing .In a relatively large item on the mayoralty race he gets the last paragraph with a pathetic “we need to work together” blah blah

whereas Hilary gets a big hand for saying “accountability and fewer rates rises”

Even when he gets coverage it’s as an “also ran”.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/273278/cull-says-hope-still-invermay-jobs
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September 16, 2013 11:59am
Pete George

When media shut you out it’s difficult to make an impact, but that only tells a part of the story. Despite actively contributing to topical stories I’m being ignored, and none of the reporters covering the campaign have taken the time to check me out in person. That’s how media works in our so called democracy.

After the forum last night a number of people showed support, including two current councillors who made it clear they want me on council. I’ve also had support from outgoing councillors, a returning councillor as well as two MPs.
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September 16, 2013 12:13pm
kowtow

Name them.
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September 16, 2013 12:17pm
Pete George

Vandervis and Stevenson. Noone, Brown, Weatherall, Butcher, Collins. Dunne, Woodhouse. I’ve talked with all of them and all have been supportive to varying degrees.
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September 16, 2013 12:28pm
kowtow

Fair enough ,thank you.
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September 16, 2013 12:31pm
duggledog

Note to Meatloaf from the dead thread of Metiria Turei’s statement posted yesterday, re:

‘Also she explained that you wouldn’t let the equity drop all in one go. You’d let it drop a little to start off with. And then keep it steady.’

Who here believes the Greens and Ms McGillifatty would be realistic and reasonable regarding ‘rich people’s’ equity. The Greens are firmly on the side of the 5%. They are crusaders. They will press the nuclear missile button without hesitation.

Remember what Douglas and co. did to farmers in the late eighties, i.e. lift interest rates so high so quickly that many many farmers had to walk off their land in best case scenarios, and quietly put a bullet through their heads in the implement shed worst case scenarios.
Labour even took away the advisory body for farmers (which cost fuck all) and one MP even went to far as to call farming a ‘sunset industry’

(This is why farmers could give a f*** if townies have to pay what foreign customers pay for milk etc)

My point is: if the 4th Labour Government could do what they did to farmers – OK it was in extremis – don’t believe for a second that the Greens would be more vicious if they ever got their hands on the levers of power.

I wouldn’t trust them with anything ever
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September 16, 2013 12:33pm
wikiriwhis business

Max Keiser Report Many people including observers inside the United States have on frequent occasions called the September 11 attacks in New York an inside job.

Numerous theorists have spoken out over the past 12 years talking about the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center, Israeli complicity in the events, and many other issues.

Critics questioning the US version of the 9/11 attacks have indicated, among other things, to bombs and explosives planted at the World Trade Center that demolished the buildings, jubilant Israeli intelligence agents photographing the attacks, made-up phone calls from the planes, and a warning by the Mossad (the Israeli spy agency) one day before the attacks to Israeli Tower workers and occupants to stay away from the buildings.

A former CIA agent has also emerged with new revelations on the attacks, blaming the attack on the US intelligence apparatus.

Susan Lindauer talks about the CIA’s detailed knowledge of the time, target, and means of the 9/11 attacks over the months prior to the events.

“The lies are so much bigger than what you know and it’s so much deeper and it’s so much more tragic once you have the truth,” says Lindauer.

Her evidence shows how the World Trade Center buildings were brought down by controlled demolition. Lindauer explains how thermite bomb, “an extraordinary heat-reducing bomb” which “takes steel” and “creates molten steel,” with potential sulphur in it was planted at the buildings. http://www.presstv.ir/…/

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/15/324167/excia-agent-911-lies-big-and-tragic/
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September 16, 2013 12:41pm
wreck1080

Poor losers!
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September 16, 2013 12:42pm
wikiriwhis business

A former CIA agent has also emerged with new revelations on the attacks, blaming the attack on the US intelligence apparatus.

Susan Lindauer talks about the CIA’s detailed knowledge of the time, target, and means of the 9/11 attacks over the months prior to the events.

“The lies are so much bigger than what you know and it’s so much deeper and it’s so much more tragic once you have the truth,” says Lindauer.

Her evidence shows how the World Trade Center buildings were brought down by controlled demolition. Lindauer explains how thermite bomb, “an extraordinary heat-reducing bomb” which “takes steel” and “creates molten steel,” with potential sulphur in it was planted at the buildings.
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September 16, 2013 12:42pm
hj

I think the tattoo is unfortunate in so far as tribalism is opposed to universalism. The thing about yakuza is their loyalty only to their own interests. This aspect has shown up here in conformist Japan.
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September 16, 2013 12:46pm
Weihana

Longknives (2,909) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 11:41 am

Regarding the facial tattoos- What both Morgan Tait and Erana Brewerton are missing is the massive irony that while they are stamping their feet and screaming “Japan MUST respect Maori culture” …both are showing absolutely no respect whatsoever for Japanese culture itself!
Why must Maori culture be revered and pandered to yet Japanese Culture is wrong? Who the hell are we to force Maori culture on Japan??

It is not their culture any more than it is our culture to require a Muslim woman to remove her veil for some security purposes. Japanese have a fear of tattoos because of perceived links to organized crime and so for practical reasons they are banned. That is not cultural in my view.

Even if we were to accept the Japanese attitude as cultural, following that line of logic to complain of discrimination against Christians under Sharia Law is disrespectful to the local and dominant Islamic culture. Or for a woman to wear a bikini on a Saudi Arabian beach. But as you would surely agree, being a Christian does not impinge on anyone else. Nor does wearing a bikini. It is the Muslim, under Sharia, that impinges on the Christian and the bikini wearer.

Similarly, a tattoo does not impinge upon anyone. Rather it is the ignorance of many Japanese (and fair enough, why would they know anything about Maori culture) that impinges upon someone with a traditional Maori tattoo.

Unlike many New Zealanders who seem to hate all things Maori, I think most Japanese are not out to offend or discriminate against Maori. It is simply the case that there is a very negative attitude towards tattoos which is understandable.
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September 16, 2013 12:48pm
cha

lift interest rates so high so quickly that many many farmers had to walk off their land

Wrong, interest rates were on the way down – scrapping the SMP scheme was the final straw that broke the camels back.
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September 16, 2013 12:52pm
liarbors a joke

“Unlike many New Zealanders who seem to hate all things Maori,”

Have you ever asked yourself why that maybe…
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September 16, 2013 12:53pm
Kea

Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane’s report
Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country’s civil war

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10311007/Syria-nearly-half-rebel-fighters-are-jihadists-or-hardline-Islamists-says-IHS-Janes-report.html

These are the wonderful democracy loving humanists Obama is supporting.
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September 16, 2013 12:54pm
Weihana

liarbors a joke (861) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 12:53 pm

“Unlike many New Zealanders who seem to hate all things Maori,”

Have you ever asked yourself why that maybe…

Maybe the same reason why some people hate Catholic Priests (or Catholics in general). Because they judge the many by the actions of a few. The tendency of people is to identify with a “tribe” and then demonize anything and everything about the other tribes: i.e. people who do not fit into their neat little idealized view of the world.
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September 16, 2013 12:56pm
Weihana

Kea (7,510) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 12:54 pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10311007/Syria-nearly-half-rebel-fighters-are-jihadists-or-hardline-Islamists-says-IHS-Janes-report.html

These are the wonderful democracy loving humanists Obama is supporting.

And by that logic those who support doing nothing support Hezbollah. There are no simple answers to this conflict that will fit with our western sensibilities. Which is perhaps why no one is suggesting another invasion to bring “freedom”. The only suggestion is to use force against a regime which appears to have used chemical weapons against its citizens. In fact it appears that even less is being suggested: rather it is to threaten that regime in order to bring about a diplomatic resolution.
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September 16, 2013 1:00pm
liarbors a joke

or maybe its the apartheid we have running in NZ , the sucking up of the brown vote , the constitutional changes that are to be rammed down our throats or maybe its just the majority sick of being shat all over by the minority?
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September 16, 2013 1:08pm
PaulL

Chemical weapons. Refer: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/syria

I think they crossed the line well before using chemical weapons. The problem isn’t whether there are things that are going on that we don’t like. The question is whether there is anything sensible that we could do with a high probability of it helping.
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September 16, 2013 1:13pm
Weihana

liarbors a joke (862) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 1:08 pm

or maybe its the apartheid we have running in NZ

You think that living as a white man in New Zealand is comparable to living as a black man under Apartheid?

maybe its just the majority sick of being shat all over by the minority?

I suspect Maori circa 1900 might find that statement somewhat ironic. But okay, that was then this is now and it’s just happy coincidence that Pakeha’s have inherited what their forebears left them. Even if we assume that the mediocre privileges of Maori constitute “apartheid”, why then did anti-Maori attitudes prevail 100 years ago? It’s not as though anti-Maori sentiment came into existence over the last few decades. Or was the situation 100 years ago also an age of privilege and discrimination in favour of Maori?
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September 16, 2013 1:18pm
Weihana

PaulL (5,418) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 1:13 pm

I think they crossed the line well before using chemical weapons. The problem isn’t whether there are things that are going on that we don’t like. The question is whether there is anything sensible that we could do with a high probability of it helping.

If Syria believes the threat of force is real and hands over its chemical weapons without a shot being fired by the US military, then that seems a win to me regardless of who wins the war.

The problem is that the US is always in a murky no-mans land between the extremes of “world policeman” and total isolationism. It is inevitable that whatever it does it can be regarded as hypocritical, selective, and inconsistent.
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September 16, 2013 1:23pm
wikiriwhis business

“why then did anti-Maori attitudes prevail 100 years ago?”

Because Maori had land.

Notice Europeans never complain whether Islanders are mixed race. Because europeans can’t get their land. There’s no point railing against Islanders.

But the case is strong to complain about bloodlines in Maori to strip them of land.

and you can’t figure out why Maori protest to retain what was heritaged to them from ancestral rights as in any race.
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September 16, 2013 1:24pm
wikiriwhis business

How did George Carlin know this back in the 90’s??

Why We Might Bomb Syria Is Explained Perfectly By — A Dead Comedian ?
Non-Televised Truth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fgAVpPNusTs
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September 16, 2013 1:31pm
Kea

PaulL & Weihana, can you please:

1. Direct me to the EVIDENCE Assad was behind the attack. I missed it (so did the UN)

2. Explain how it is Obamas business ?

3. Share your theory as to why Assad invited an international group of inspectors and chose that exact moment to launch a large chemical attack… against civilians ?

And spare me the bullshit about US concern for human rights. I am not a fucking idiot. They sat on their arse and did nothing when the biggest genocide in years occured in Rwanda. There are any number of poor African countries they could be assisting in to this day. Instead the only thing Obama is doing to sending drones.
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September 16, 2013 2:12pm
UglyTruth

The problem is that the US is always in a murky no-mans land between the extremes of “world policeman” and total isolationism. It is inevitable that whatever it does it can be regarded as hypocritical, selective, and inconsistent.

It’s got nothing to do with being a “world policeman”, they behave more like a psychotic crime syndicate.

One of the many unexplained (at least not officially) anomalies of the persons claimed to have carried out the Boston Marathon bombings is the presence of key CIA figure in the direct family of the accused brothers. Ruslan Tsarnaev, the outspoken uncle of the brothers was married to Samantha A. Fuller until 2004. Samantha’s father is Graham Fuller, the senior CIA person who architected the Afghan Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen war against the Soviets. He is also implicated in creating a global jihad network, presumably acting on behalf of CIA interests.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article178524.html
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September 16, 2013 2:19pm
Weihana

Kea (7,511) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 2:12 pm

PaulL & Weihana, can you please:

1. Direct me to the EVIDENCE Assad was behind the attack. I missed it (so did the UN)

http://www.hrw.org/node/118725/

2. Explain how it is Obamas business ?

He’s the most powerful man in the world. 🙂

3. Share your theory as to why Assad invited an international group of inspectors and chose that exact moment to launch a large chemical attack… against civilians ?

Because it will make you ask that very question. They are a pawn. Why are you surprised that a country with a large stockpile of chemical weapons, and which is not a signatory to the prohibition on them, would use them?

He may be dominating the civil war but it’s been going on for a long time now and parts of Syria are nothing but rubble and millions have fled. The resistance is stubborn and there are external factions participating. Chemical weapons are very deadly and cause minimal damage. They would be an ideal weapon for areas that have remain stubbornly under the control of the opposition. The only question is what are the consequences of using them. From Syria’s point of view, if they use them and it turns out the US won’t tolerate it and he has to give them all up, what has he lost? On the other hand if he calculates that the US is not prepared to do anything (because of public sentiment) then he could continue to use these very effective weapons.
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September 16, 2013 2:37pm
Weihana

UglyTruth (1,606) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 2:19 pm

…Boston Marathon bombings…

Is there anything these days that isn’t some type of conspiracy by the shadowy world government?
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September 16, 2013 2:40pm
dime

“Despite actively contributing to topical stories I’m being ignored, and none of the reporters covering the campaign have taken the time to check me out in person. That’s how media works in our so called democracy.”

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHA]

I cant imagine why!
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September 16, 2013 2:49pm
Pauleastbay

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/273275/cunliffe-quick-demand-loyalty

Curran, sycophantic tart, at least have the tits to back your man, but no they grovel and bullshit trying to get little jobs.

Ho -hum

Opponents of Mr Cunliffe will need to express unreserved support or face life on the backbenches or retirement at next year’s general election.

Sounds very controlling doesn’t it, all hail, all hail, all hail
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September 16, 2013 3:07pm
Kea

Weihana , once again you display a clear double standard based on skin tone. You would not be writing any of that uncovincing disingenuous drivel if it were Bush we were talking about. You are generally one of the more considered contributors, but you can not see past your racial bias. Unfortunately that special consideration does not extend to the coffee coloured folk of Syria.
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September 16, 2013 3:08pm
Weihana

Kea (7,514) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 3:08 pm

You would not be writing any of that uncovincing disingenuous drivel if it were Bush we were talking about.

Actually I supported Bush at the time and voted for him 🙁
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September 16, 2013 3:30pm
dime

Kea – relax. the yanks arent gonna bomb for beloved dictator.

you know Dime loves a good air offensive against arab countries.. but even i disagree with this one. zero upside. too tough a sell for the yank people too.
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September 16, 2013 3:37pm
Kea

Actually I supported Bush at the time and voted for him

Weihana, I stand corrected. So what is your reason for supporting this modern crusade ?

I was against all these wars, including the first Iraq war. I was young at the time, but I remember being horrified how easily people were aroused by obvious propoganda. And it was obvious even to me, a person who did not follow politics. I have seen nothing to make me reconsider my anti war position.

Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr

“I call on the young men of America who must make a choice today to take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late. The book may close. And don’t let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, “You’re too arrogant! And if you don’t change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I’ll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name. Be still and know that I’m God.” ”
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September 16, 2013 3:47pm
Kea

dime, my little zionist puppet, lets see you fly those planes without my cuzzies oil. 😉
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September 16, 2013 3:49pm
dime

Kea – the yanks have enough of their own to fly a few missions. its all it will take. your slingshots are useless against an F-18
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September 16, 2013 3:52pm
Kea

dime, if the F-18’s are so great, why do they attack dirt poor goat herding peasants living in mud brick houses out in the backwoods, on the remarkable basis they are a “threat” to the entire US military machine ?
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September 16, 2013 4:02pm
dime

Kea – cause the public like excuses 😀

If they came out and said it was for sport it may not go down too well.

but youre right. it should be a much fairer fight. thats how war works
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September 16, 2013 4:04pm
PaulL

@Kea: because the American public are less tolerant of deaths from foreigners attacking them in America than they are of deaths from poor driving skills, over eating or any of the myriad of other things who kill Americans. And instead of treating terrorism as a police matter that is appropriately dealt with the same as any other violent crime, they decided to raise it to the status of a war.

Once you make something a war you can use the military on it. Of course, the war on drugs didn’t go so well, so I don’t have very high hopes here either. So far this war appears to mostly have the outcome of increasing the number of militants on the other side.
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September 16, 2013 4:07pm
Kea

dime, a few Saudi’s did a pretty good job with a couple of box cutters. I do not mean to make light of that, but it shows how vunerable we are, regardless of our military power. As PaulL says, the US has simply increased the number (and determination) of militants.

War is not working. That is not simply an ideological point of view. It is a pragmatic observation. Once again I remind you that relations with Russia and China did not improve by war, but by trade and internal pressure. Having a strong military helps “diplomacy” but mostly if you don’t use it.
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September 16, 2013 4:17pm
Weihana

Kea (7,517) Says:
September 16th, 2013 at 3:47 pm

Actually I supported Bush at the time and voted for him

Weihana, I stand corrected. So what is your reason for supporting this modern crusade ?

Because so far this “crusade” has not involved firing a single shot and we have at least the appearance of a diplomatic agreement to get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons. So far, so good.

I was against all these wars…

And yet you still drive a car which depends on oil… which depends on security in a region where much of this oil comes from… which in turn invites a US military presence. 🙂
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September 16, 2013 4:17pm
dime

kea – i just dont care. sorry. i shouldnt bait you.

Dime is bored with the terrorist thing. Dont care what the yanks do. Hell, i wouldnt care if they nuked the entire middle east
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September 16, 2013 4:21pm
Kea

dime, neither would I. As long as they nuke the source of the problem. Israel.
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September 16, 2013 4:25pm
Kea

Weihana, if Griff has his way we will power our brave new world with windmills and sunshine. Then the Arabs can go back to growing dates and camel riding, without Obama worrying about their “human rights” !
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September 16, 2013 4:29pm
Odakyu-sen

Weihana noted: “Japanese have a fear of tattoos because of perceived links to organized crime and so for practical reasons they are banned. That is not cultural in my view.”

It’s far deeper than that. The link between tatoos and criminality are very strong in Japan, and goes back over hundreds of years.
Ref: http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/japan-criminals-of-edo-era-were-often.html

If this isn’t cultural, then I don’t know what is.
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September 16, 2013 4:45pm
Kea

Odakyu-sen, With Weihana the important thing is skin colour. The Japanese are too pale and rich, so they must be [gasp!] “racist”. It is a simple formula.

If for example a Maori was smashing a Japanese persons head into the pavement, and the Japanese hurt the Maori, that would be a racially motivated attack by the Japanese person.

I am sure she will be along shortly to expand on my point 🙂
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September 16, 2013 4:52pm
Longknives

“How did George Carlin know this back in the 90′s??
Why We Might Bomb Syria Is Explained Perfectly By — A Dead Comedian ?”

George Carlin was a comedian?? I thought he was just a talentless c-grade actor who played Rufus in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure…
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September 16, 2013 5:00pm
Odakyu-sen

Kea comments: “The Japanese are too pale and rich, so they must be [gasp!] “racist”. It is a simple formula.”

I can assure you that whites do not have a monopoly on racism.
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September 16, 2013 5:10pm
Longknives

“Unlike many New Zealanders who seem to hate all things Maori, I think most Japanese are not out to offend or discriminate against Maori”

Mate Maori bring it all onto themselves. When I see Willie Jackson spouting off on TV telling me that as a lowly Pakeha I won’t even have the right to vote once “Aotearoa” gets it’s shiny new Constitution, I get angry and disillusioned. Hence my revulsion at self-righteous dropkicks like Ms Brewerton running crying to the media just because the rest of the World doesn’t cower and pander to Maoridom like we do in New Zealand…
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September 16, 2013 5:15pm
Kea

Odakyu-sen , no whites only have a monopoly on being accused of it.

The fact is there exists sound evolutionary reasons for preferring your particular group. It is not because of fear or ignorance as we are told, though those things can be factors. It is about survival of your genes. The same reason we love our own kids more than others. I have no problem with racism, only with mistreatment of others. If someone thinks they are the superior race, then good on them. It is what they do that matters.
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September 16, 2013 5:18pm
Odakyu-sen

I do see some parallels between the debate over “indigenous people” in NZ and in Japan.

Japanese, it seems, are not the indigenous people of Japan. That would be the Ainu to the north, and the Okinawans to the south (although the Okinawans had their own kingdom until one of the larger Japanese clans annexed it several centuries ago.)

There are moves in Japan to recognize the political and cultural achievements of Japan’s indigenous minority.
Ref: http://www.japanfocus.org/-simon-cotterill/3500

My point is that I agree with you that similar political approaches and points of view are at work in Japan among “indigenous” political activists as among their counterparts in NZ.

If the Japanese cannot be “indigenous” after 2,300 years of developing a unique culture, then perhaps it is time that the whole “indigenous is somehow better” notion be discarded. Does “getting there first” give you some automatic moral advantage for all eternity? It’s a fascinating topic for discussion…
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September 16, 2013 5:53pm
Longknives

‘Indigenous’ means originating or occurring naturally in a particular place.
Maori are NOT ‘Indigenous’…
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September 16, 2013 6:04pm
Longknives

Lookout IT- Greedy ‘Tangata Whenua’ are staking a claim for the internet as well…

http://news.tangatawhenua.com/archives/23990

These people appear to genuinely believe that they are ‘The Superior Race’ (As Kea puts it)
I rest my case….
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September 16, 2013 6:16pm
jcuk

What disturbs me about the current situation is that Obama said he needed to punish those responsible for the sarin attack.
Trouble is Syria has quite a stock and if some was destroyed in Obama’s retribution on behalf of humanity there would still be some left for Syria’s retribution, perhaps against Obama’s allies.
So when an off the cuff statement points to an alternative solution … removal and destruction of chemical weapons … everybody jumps on the idea and to hell with making somebody pay for the attack … like a mis programmed missile which takes out Assad and let the evil muslims win the war and …. yippee! …. we can have another war against the jihadists etc. which will help America to be prosperous on the back of the arms industry … and so it goes on …. and on … and on….

Sorry … have my 82 years made me too cynical?
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September 16, 2013 6:16pm
Odakyu-sen

Maori are NOT ‘Indigenous’…

Like I said, this whole “indigenous” thing needs to be debated in the public arena. Like the word “racist,” it has many meanings to many people, depending on one’s political alignment and motivations.

I look at “indigenous” as being a more fluid concept. Over time (particularly where there is a high degree of isolation) a culture can arise that is unique to that place. I would argue that such a culture has thus gained the status of being an indigenous culture.

How about that: diversity through isolation. (It worked for Darwin’s finches, didn’t it…)
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September 16, 2013 6:20pm
jcuk

Unlike the aboriginals in Australia the Maori are not the indigenous but simply immigrants like the rest of us not born in NZ but since they got here first are naturally fighting to obtain their superiority which would have been theirs had they not decided to fight against the white takeover and had run with the ball and learnt the white-mans’ ways becuase they certainly had the brains.
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September 16, 2013 6:25pm
nasska

I read a while back that a cafe in Wellington is now selling an $20 cup of coffee. You’ll experience “an earthy flavour with aspects of nectarines, plums and cocoa inside the cup”.

Outside the cup you’ll find a pretentious wanker who spends twenty dollars on a coffee.

Ref: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/8289599/The-20-cup-of-coffee
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September 16, 2013 7:03pm
Kea

nasska, I paid $190,000 IDR for enough coffee to make one cup, in Indonesia. Kopi Luwak. That is about $15.00

I reckon a good Welly expresso in a paper cup would beat it easy. $3.50 🙂
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September 16, 2013 7:15pm
nasska

At that price I’ll carry a Thermos & a 100g pack of Special Blend from Pak & Sav next time I take my chances in the big smoke. 🙂
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September 16, 2013 7:19pm
Lucia Maria

For Reid: Did Pope Francis say atheists don’t need to believe in God to be saved? (9 things to know).
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September 16, 2013 7:27pm
Kea

Lucy, don’t worry there other 40,000 other christian sects to choose from. Let alone what are estimated to be millions of alternative gods, most far older than your one. And nicer too 🙂

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations
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September 16, 2013 7:36pm
Kea

Gosh I hope Griff is ok ! Has anyone heard from him. Maybe someone should paddle out to his solar powered Ark in Auckland harbour. It breaks my heart to think of him out there all alone at a time like this.

PUBLISHED: 21:01 GMT, 14 September 2013 | UPDATED: 08:21 GMT, 15 September 2013
Global warming is just HALF what we said: World’s top climate scientists admit computers got the effects of greenhouse gases wrong

Leaked report reveals the world is warming at half the rate claimed by IPCC in 2007

Scientists accept their computers ‘may have exaggerated’

A leaked copy of the world’s most authoritative climate study reveals scientific forecasts of imminent doom were drastically wrong.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2420783/Global-warming-just-HALF-said-Worlds-climate-scientists-admit-computers-got-effects-greenhouse-gases-wrong.html#ixzz2f2Vbrd2W
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September 16, 2013 7:47pm
Longknives

Nasska come to Auckland- We can go for a coffee on Ponsonby Rd.
You will pay that much plus you get the thrill of being looked down upon like a piece of shit by one of Ponsonby’s resident ‘celebrities’ like Colin Mathura Jeffrey, Sally Ridge or even the newby to the ‘socialite’ set Anna Guy..
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September 16, 2013 7:51pm
Odakyu-sen

“I paid $190,000 IDR for enough coffee to make one cup, in Indonesia. Kopi Luwak.”

It must have tasted a little–as Austin Powers would have said–“nutty”!
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September 16, 2013 7:51pm
jcuk

But Nasska they will charge you $19.90 for the hot water 🙂

Lucy .. obviously the Pope is struggling for converts 🙂
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September 16, 2013 7:51pm
Steve (North Shore)

Nasska,
Outside the cup you will find a wanker who drinks expresso and espresso, Maybe one has come from an elephant’s arse – dunno.

Prefer Tea old boy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA
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September 16, 2013 7:52pm
Kea

Odakyu-sen, well it is not that bad when you consider a Million Dollars IDR was $140 NZ .

The main problem is Asians can’t make decent coffee 🙂
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September 16, 2013 7:57pm
nasska

Pass thanks Longknives. 🙂
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September 16, 2013 7:57pm
nasska

Barrack Obama is talking to one of his aides about his reputation with the public after all the controversy over Syria.

“What are they saying about me, Bob?”

“Well, everyone’s mentioning you in the same breath as JFK and Abraham Lincoln, sir.”

“Really? That’s awesome!”

“Not exactly, Mr President. They’re all saying they hope you get assassinated.”
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September 16, 2013 8:00pm
PaulL

@Kea: he’ll wait for the official release. That official release won’t mention any of those bits, and will be all doom and gloom and flooding. Then he’ll be back.
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September 16, 2013 8:01pm
Longknives

Figured as much.
As a South Islander I’d much prefer a game of pool,a quiet beer and a bit of classic rock on the jukebox…(Alas there are no ‘pubs’ like that in this part of the world)
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September 16, 2013 8:01pm
Kea

Maybe one has come from an elephant’s arse – dunno.

“More than 20 elephants in Northern Thailand’s Golden Triangle region produce the world’s most expensive coffee beans.
The elephants are being fed coffee cherries produced on nearby plantations, and then mahouts (elephant drivers) and their wives pluck the beans from the dung. The beans are then sun-dried and roasted.”

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/photos-elephant-dung-coffee-the-world-s-most-expensive-323746.html
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September 16, 2013 8:01pm
Kea

PaulL, have some humanity. We should at least paddle out ( NO motor !!!) and give him a bag of weed or something.
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September 16, 2013 8:04pm
Johnboy

Perhaps we could feed coffee cherries to our dairy herds to provide jobs for our many benes Kea?

Highflying birds could eat them too and shit on all from above! 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:09pm
Johnboy

http://www.royal.gov.uk/List%20Images/QV%20Education%20project/Source%2011%20-%20Image.jpg

A bit of style for all you peasants who were wondering! 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:14pm
Kea

Johnboy, I was hoping for this AGW to kick in so I can get a few more thermals, so I am pretty gutted.

It is hilarious reading the frantic attempts by the warmist industry to explain away the leaked report. I read on one alarmist site that the “leaked” report was for “policy makers” only. I immediately wondered why the report was not released, rather than leaked. After all, we all paid for the bloody thing ! The general tone of the warmist industry reeks of desperation following this leaked revelation from their most revered authority.

Not even David Bain could have shot down AGW theory to this extent. With the Pope now admitting the whole God thing was also overstated, we can just about close down General Debate 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:22pm
Kea

A bit of style for all you peasants who were wondering!

Johnboy, can you get fries and a can of Tui with that ?
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September 16, 2013 8:24pm
Johnboy

The Pope is a virgin Kea so he has never understood the real meaning of the phrase “Oh Fucking God!!!!!!” 🙂 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:26pm
nasska

Kea

With AGW heading down the toilet The UN must be desperate for another vehicle to scare the sheep into socialist world government.

Any guesses on what the new scam will be? 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:31pm
thedavincimode

Johnboy!

Welcome back to the dark side!

I thought the judiciary was overly harsh on you given that the subject of your alleged indiscretion was already public domain. After all, and as they say: “Don’t shoot the messenger. Always aim for the innocent bystander.”
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September 16, 2013 8:33pm
Johnboy

Ah…World hegemony by the filthy rich Illuminati nasska?

(unless they draw a salary from the UN of course) 🙂
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September 16, 2013 8:34pm

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