General Debate 26 March 2015

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Manolo

Charging a traitor: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/03/25/bowe-bergdahl-once-missing-u-s-soldier-charged-with-desertion/?hpid=z1

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who was recovered in Afghanistan last spring after five years in captivity, faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, his lawyer said Wednesday.
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March 26, 2015 8:03am
dave_c_

Just read about how the TPP has included provision to reduce the non GST taxable amount of goods that can be brought into the country (for an individual returning from holiday for example)
This is what NZ are signing up to as we speak

It is clear to me now why there has been such a public spat in recent weeks about the very subject of slapping these purchases with GST, and reducing the allowable amount

It probably has nothing to do with retailers making noises, rather the government softening up the public to this fait a compli decision that is being implemented behind our backs !
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March 26, 2015 8:08am
oldpark

Heard the cantankerous “Angry Apartheid Andy Little”, on the radio this morning, the wee gnome without an electoral home. Wee gnome, the trade union installed mouth piece for the Liebour Party,poked his head over the parapet, desperately hoping that the demise of the National Party was at hand. All he seemed to be depicting, was that he was a Little shiver ,looking for a spine to crawl up. What an obnoxious pest, masquerading as a future leader of a proud nation, whose life style and well being has known no bounds, under the great stewardship of John Key our man for all reasons and seasons, and the progressive National Party.
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March 26, 2015 8:09am
IGM

WO has a very interesting report on jihadists beating the shit out of an old guy in a Auckland mosque. These bastards nearly killed the old boy, as he had the audacity to trespass them for radical behaviour. There has been no mention of this on radio, Tv, or print . . . why. We don’t want any of these scum in NZ, and where is Winnie on this topic, are there a few rug pilots in Northland he wants votes from? Not only are these muslim leeches getting a free ride from Devoy to spread their evil doctrine, but also unionised media hacks.
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March 26, 2015 8:16am
Harriet

“…It probably has nothing to do with retailers making noises, rather the government softening up the public to this fait a compli decision that is being implemented behind our backs !…”

There is a broad range of major retailers in NZ who are Aussie, and the aussie public are allowed $1000 gst excluded, and those retailers are saying jack shit to Canberra over GST. They are however calling for a reduction of the $1000.

Afterall, who would shop with a business that requested that customers should pay more tax?

Surely no business in NZ would be stupid enough to publicly ask for that. I’d think National is lying if they say businesses are calling for customers to be taxed more.
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March 26, 2015 8:22am
Keeping Stock

I’ve got a suggestion for whoever is the Match Referee for today’s second World Cup semi-final between Australia and India.

When the players arrive at the ground, lock them in their respective dressing rooms, and give every player in each team a copy of Andrew Hughes’ excellent Cricinfo piece on sledging (see the link below).

Then, when they have read and understood it, show them video of the last few overs of the first semi-final, including the aftermath where two teams of cricketing gladiators embraced one another. Although one team was ecstatic and the other was despondent, there was a spirit of respect between the teams. Both teams had given everything for their respective country, but had done so in the best traditions of cricket, a sport which will still be around long after the current crop of players have gone out to pasture.

I have loved the sport of cricket for near enough to 55 years. But I don’t love what cricket has sometimes become, especially when players such as James Faulkner regard abusing and belittling their opposition as a key part of the game.

New Zealand and South Africa set a very high standard on Tuesday night, both in terms of their on-field conduct and play. Can Australia and India maintain that standard?

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/855331.html
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March 26, 2015 8:29am
dave_c_

Harriet – you miss the point – the retailers are not asking for new zealanders to pay more for products they sell themsleves through NZ retail outlets – they are asking for imposition of GST for imported products which currently evade such collection
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March 26, 2015 8:30am
Jacob

IGM, below is the HERALD item Slater refers to.
I find it annoying that Whaleoil does not reference sources in the usual way with a proper link, and the source given at the bottom of Whaleoil items sometimes make it difficult to identify all quotes.

Muslim man trespassed from mosque: ‘Jihad will start from here’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11422984
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March 26, 2015 8:30am
James Stephenson

I find it annoying that Whaleoil does not reference sources in the usual way with a proper link,

It’s tit-for-tat because the MSM never attribute stories that they lift from blogs.
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March 26, 2015 8:33am
Harriet

“…..Harriet – you miss the point – the retailers are not asking for new zealanders to pay more for products they sell themsleves through NZ retail outlets – they are asking for imposition of GST for imported products which currently evade such collection….’

You are missing the point – the public who purchase directly over the border currently pay no tax. Hence NZ business is requesting that their potential customers be taxed. And they are not evading tax as it is legal.

No business would be foolish enough to advertise that in NZ….just ask Gerald Harvey……or any of the aussie majors in NZ. 😎
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March 26, 2015 8:36am
doggone7

oldpark @ 8:09 am

Andrew Little surely has the same electoral home as Steven, (Desperate Dan) Joyce seen out riding the range with Hoss this week.
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March 26, 2015 8:41am
dave_c_

Harriet – rephrase my original text, if its not clear enough –
“they (the retailers) are asking for imposition of GST for imported products brought into the country by individuals who can currently evade such GSTcollection….’
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March 26, 2015 8:41am
Inandout

IGM: The Northland election may just further weaken the government, giving these Islamic bastards a free ride. Our national security is continually hamstrung by a timid government with a slim majority, and God knows what Winston is thinking day to day if we are forced to have him as King maker.
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March 26, 2015 8:44am
doggone7

IGM @ 8:16 am

Yes indeed where is Winnie on this topic?

And our elected leaders like John, and Bill too for that matter seeing they have the power, the power that matters. Oh, I see, they’re busy, feverishly trawling the few rug pilots in Northland they want votes from.
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March 26, 2015 8:45am
doggone7

Inandout @ 8:44 am

Okay what has your government, your oh so strong government with more than a slim majority, done over the past few years with the overriding confidence of the electorate, to prevent the sort of situations you’re worried about?
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March 26, 2015 8:48am
RF

Who in the hell is Mikey…. I know he is from Auckland as phones ups ZB talk backs shows usually at night. Currently he is staying with his dear mother in Glasgow and shares all his family secrets with the listeners. He sends the hosts gifts of facial products and its obvious he is gay. Somewhere in the mix there is weightlifting and a taxi firm. Too much bloody information…. Mikey get a life and don’t bloody share it with me…..
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March 26, 2015 8:54am
Harriet

“The rich pay more tax so the middle and lower classes should too.”

That’s all that National is argueing for when they say GST should be collected on all overseas purchases. They are selling a tax as ‘fairness’. But the public don’t pay tax on imports up to $400. That seems fairer. Fuck me National. 😎

There is no real arguement to tax these people – what exactly does government want the money for? and business isn’t in dire straits because of it.

And what EXACTLY are people buying over the net from overseas anyway – something that is currently being made in NZ by high wage tradesmen ect – or something that is simply retailed by some minimum wage part-time aspiring law student?

As if the bookstores, music shops, and ladies ‘fashion shops’ were the backbone of the NZ economy. fuck me.
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March 26, 2015 8:55am
jcuk

I have some sympathy for the NZ business on the question of GST. But to make it right they need to up their game. A few years ago I wanted a small item and at the shop was told you will probably find it easier on-line and three weeks later was told it was not available in NZ. I had wanted to support my local business BUT ….within a few minutes of searching on the web I found it and about a week later had the item.

Now why couldn’t the business in question have done that search and importation and both the business and government would have got their ‘cut’ and I though down financially would have had the satisfaction of supporting a NZ business.

Another time I asked a local business to get an item for me [ cost around $500 ] and it took about 2-3 months by the time the local business contacted an importer and they ordered the item and it sat in Auckland over Christmas [ because of course Kiwi’s have to have their break ] … whereas if I had bought it on-line it would have taken three days to get to NZ and a week or more to clear Customs and I would have had it well before Xmas.

Why I suggest NZ Business needs to up its game.
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March 26, 2015 9:00am
kowtow

From the Herald story about the jihadi trial in Auckland

“The incident came about after a group of Muslims accused of extremism – including Hamam and his father Salafist Imam Sheikh Abu Abdullah – were trespassed from the Avondale Islamic Centre”

Salafist Imam? How do we come to have a salafist imam in New Zealand.This is what the MSM need to chase up and question, or would that be racist?
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March 26, 2015 9:14am
jcuk

Dave-C …. Evade is illegal and avoid is legal …. currently we such importers are legally avoiding GST but personally since my imports are not readilly available in NZ and more than the $400 limit in most cases I am not even avoiding GST but have the wait of it going through NZ Post/ Customs system as they use snail-mail to tell me what I owe and within minutes I have paid by CC with Westpac taking their cut …then another three working days for NZ Post to get it from Ak-Dn. [That is City to City not rural ]
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March 26, 2015 9:15am
Inandout

There has since MMP been no government that wishes to make bold decisions. We now have governments which rely on bed swappers such as Dunne, and we shall see Islam thrive.
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March 26, 2015 9:16am
stephieboy

kotow, where did you get your report about proceedings from the Jihad trail ?
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March 26, 2015 9:19am
Harriet

And what EXACTLY are people buying over the net from overseas anyway – something that is currently being made in NZ by high wage tradesmen ect – or something that is simply retailed by some minimum wage part-time aspiring law student? As if the bookstores, music shops, and ladies ‘fashion shops’ were the backbone of the NZ economy.

And National has already pointed out that there is no manufacturing crisis in NZ – infact the opposite is happening – manufacturing is increasing!

So why should a part-time aspiring law student have her living expenses propped up by a tax that is not needed? At worst, why can’t she put some of that on tick like she does with her education?

The public shouldn’t have to face the imposition of a tax to maintain part time retail jobs when they arn’t needed. Afterall, Andy will then want it for all unionists.

Progressive NZ. LOL 😎
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March 26, 2015 9:23am
jcuk

LOL …stephieboy asks a question that Kowtow answered in his first line 🙂 And I had read before I wrote my pieces 🙂

Plus I check my pieces, aided by spell-check, before pressing the send button.
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March 26, 2015 9:23am
dime

HJ – todays game will be a hate fest. it will be a nasty little encounter. aussie will disgrace themselves. india wont be much better.

i suspect there wont be an image like the elliot/steyn one at the end of our semi.

hopefully NZ win the WC. it will be good for cricket.
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March 26, 2015 9:24am
kowtow

Our MSM should be all over these stories about how much South Africa has progressed, afterall they like to take the credit for overthrowing the old government and installing the corrupt,inept black communists

“Like many fellow citizens, the young tailor is worried about the state of South Africa. “I am telling you, this country is going down,” said Tyabule.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/03/crippling-blackouts-paralyse-south-africa-150312044353795.html
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March 26, 2015 9:32am
publicwatchdog

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Looks like Winston Peters is going to NAIL it, and National are going to get a HAMMERING as they (un)comfortably lose this once safe National Northland seat?

So (formerly) ‘Mr Popular’ Prime Minister John Key, is going to make a last minute ‘dance of the DESPERATE’ in Dargaville this afternoon?

ipredict his reception may not be quite what he expects when he tries his ‘okey blokey’ mix and mingle gig?

I mean how many genuine Kiwi blokes are going to queue up to shake the hand of the man who has never held a hammer?

We shall see …..

Penny Bright

http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
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March 26, 2015 9:40am
jcuk

While we are beefing about the systems I will add another …. I understood that it was ‘illegal’ or at least contrary to banks rules to place a handling surcharge on top of a CC transaction ….Yet that is what Westpac are doing with payments to Customs ….
Customs want all the blood bless them 🙂
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March 26, 2015 9:45am
renderer

Penny you are vile, vindictive and morally corrupt
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March 26, 2015 9:45am
jcuk

You have a point there Penny at 9.40 🙂
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March 26, 2015 9:47am
jcuk

Penny …. But then how many of those good keen kiwi blokes have handled a hammer in these days of inter-generational welfare? 🙂

I’m off now so I wont get replies until later 🙂
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March 26, 2015 9:52am
kowtow

“Judge Strettell told the court Sherman would probably have been jailed if homophobia was shown to be the motivating factor the assault.”

Are there grounds to send people to gaol over the motive of the crime?

Are our judges being activist ?

Any legal opinions out there?

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/337208/gay-bar-assault-not-homophobia
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March 26, 2015 9:54am
calendar girl

“I mean how many genuine Kiwi blokes are going to queue up to shake the hand of the man who has never held a hammer?”

That’s strange. I thought that you yourself publicised evidence of John Key using a hammer only a week or so ago.
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March 26, 2015 9:55am
Dave_1924

Re the “Jihadi” piece in the Herald.

The incident is almost a year in the past and was widely reported at the time. Why do we have Salafist preachers in the country? Because its a major movement in Islam and has been since the early 1900’s, if not early.

And if you want to know where the money for the export of Salafist and the similar but different Wahabist Imams come from look to the various Petro-Dollar rich Governments and Islamic “charities” in the Gulf states and Saudia Arabia. Wahabism is basically the state religion in Saudi, as the ruling family and the Wahabist clerics of Saudi have had an accommodation for many decades….
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March 26, 2015 9:58am
Inandout

kowtow: SA must be a cot case, as even arch supporter Minto has misgivings about its future. Sure they have thrown off the shackles of apartheid, but replaced it with utter chaos. I wonder what your average non white in SA thinks when they look back?
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March 26, 2015 10:00am
stephieboy

jcuk, yes trial not trail. The facts remain that kowtow moaned about the MSM but it was the very same media that reported the Jihad trial and the Salafist Imam Sheikh Abu Abdullah.

Should the Herald MSM headline and highlight “Salafist Inman ” to satisfy kowtow and you to satisfy both your paranoia ?

Kowtow , they have been saying South Africa is going down the gurgler ever since 1994.

Is it realistic and desirable in your estimation for a return to the old Apartheid regime ?

https://www.google.co.nz/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=end+of+apartheid+sout+africa&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=EyITVcL9FMnu8wea3YHoCw
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March 26, 2015 10:00am
Harriet

“…I mean how many genuine Kiwi blokes are going to queue up to shake the hand of the man who has never held a hammer?…”

That’s mancho talk…..

……spoken like you’ve once strapped on a hammer and nailed something yourself Penny. 😎
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March 26, 2015 10:03am
Jack5

Penny Dull’s campaign post at 9.40 for Yul Grinner included:

…how many genuine Kiwi blokes are going to queue up to shake the hand of the man who has never held a hammer?

Penny, admit it: you’re a chardonnay socialist. Why are you portraying yourself as a champion of the blue-collar world (where nail guns have largely replaced hammers).

Has your dazzle-teethed Yul Grinner ever swung a hammer?

Few, if any, of your Lefty mates in Labour come from the Blue Collar class. Labourites now seem overwhelmingly to be lily-handed activists – lawyers and life-long politicians whose “hammer” days were spent stirring up fellow youngsters in student politics.

Meanwhile, today’s tradies are upwardly mobile, mostly keen to get into self-employment then their own small businesses.

Do you yourself, Penny, use a hammer for anything but knocking up propaganda placards?
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March 26, 2015 10:03am
Manolo

Socialist Venezuela on the verge of collapse: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102534656

An economic implosion is becoming increasingly likely in Venezuela, and the country’s debtholders, trade partners and neighbors are bracing for the fallout.

The country’s energy-dependent economy requires oil prices above $100 per barrel in order to sustain itself. Oil accounts for 95 percent of the country’s export earnings, and combined with gas, it’s 25 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, a combination of inflation and currency controls have generated scarcity of basic needs such as flour, toilet paper and medicine. Venezuelans stand in lines for hours waiting to buy whatever may be available. Shortages have even diminished the country’s ability to provide medical care.
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March 26, 2015 10:06am
Andrei

Its nothing to do with Venezuela being socialist Manolo, its all to do with the exceptional nation’s sanctions on Venezuela and deliberate disruption of Venezuela’s trade with the outside world.

The exceptional nation’s vulture capitalists are pissed that Venezuela took back control of its own resources and that they can’t steal them anymore.
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March 26, 2015 10:12am
Viking2

Those criticizing Penny for not knowing about hammers should realize that she was indeed a tradie and can do this stuff.

Don’t shoot me do your homework.
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March 26, 2015 10:30am
Viking2

Now here is an interesting piece all about corruption in NZ.

Clearly supports what Penny has been trying to say.

New Zealand’s transparent and ethical image has been challenged by a new report suggesting bribery and corruption are a real and growing issue.

The survey, carried out by by professional services firm Deloitte, canvassed 269 public and private organisations across New Zealand and Australia.

It revealed almost a quarter had experienced domestic corruption in the last five years, and of those incidents, more than half occurred in the last twelve months.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/67511312/bribery-and-corruption-a-growing-threat-in-nz-deloitte

But you will all carry on in denial.
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March 26, 2015 10:32am
Harriet

Viking 2#

There are hammers…. and then there’s ‘hammers’. Penny ain’t got a ‘real hammer’. 😎
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March 26, 2015 10:35am
IGM

See the Public Dog still spouting venom . . . wait till the old hag is tossed out of her hovel, and sued for defamation; she may even need to, for once in her disgusting life, find a job. I would love to see her on our staff list, she would get a real good time . . . Yeh right!
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March 26, 2015 10:38am
Keeping Stock

So (formerly) ‘Mr Popular’ Prime Minister John Key, is going to make a last minute ‘dance of the DESPERATE’ in Dargaville this afternoon?

ipredict his reception may not be quite what he expects when he tries his ‘okey blokey’ mix and mingle gig?

I mean how many genuine Kiwi blokes are going to queue up to shake the hand of the man who has never held a hammer?

That makes a mockery of what you told the NZ Herald a while back Penny, when you answered their 12 Questions; remember #8?

8. What philosophies do you live by?
I hate lies and I detest liars. I don’t do gossip or personal comments. I don’t do political dirt.

That sure reads like “personal comments” to me, and your “gossip” and shadow-boxing around the reasons for Mike Sabin’s resignation certainly meet the criteria for “political dirt”. I hate lies too; just sayin’ 😉
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March 26, 2015 10:45am
Jack5

Re Viking2 at 10.30 defending Penny Bright….

I doubt Penny was ever a hammer hand. She’s been an activist all her life, and in mid-life became a welder to support her passion for activism. Here’s what the Hooerald reported of the Blue Collar phase of her life:

I think I was the oldest apprentice in the history of the world. I was 34 and I’d been working in an engineering factory, just on the line and I thought I’d do welding. Yeah, it was a male environment but most of the guys were lovely, and I’m used to sticking up for myself. I have Advanced Trade in Sheetmetal Engineering, was New Zealand’s first ticketed female welding inspector, and was a welding tutor for nine years. I’ve also done quality assurance so I know systems and I’m a good organiser from my political background. If I can organise the big black hole of an engineering workshop, I can organise anything.

Note Penny’s words: “I can organise anything”. She wasn’t a “tradie” so much as a “trade union-ie”.

Penny celebrated her 60th birthday not long ago, as readers of her posts will remember. She became radicalised more than 40 years ago during the anti-Vietnam War movement (that was probably subsidised by the Soviet Union, as the international anti-nuclear movement was).

The Hooerald piece on Penny:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11350182
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March 26, 2015 10:47am
mandk

@ Manolo

I read somewhere recently, can’t remember where, that surveys show Venezuela as one of the happiest places in the world.

Can’t imagine why – unless it is because all the girls are so gorgeous.
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March 26, 2015 10:49am
Lance

@Penny
Is that hammer as in “dumb as a bag of hammers”?
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March 26, 2015 10:55am
ciaron

A small mind and a big mouth are usually found in the same place.
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March 26, 2015 10:55am
James Stephenson

Do you yourself, Penny, use a hammer for anything but knocking up propaganda placards?

Great, now I have a mental picture of Penny in MC Hammer trousers.

All together now….can’t touch this.
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March 26, 2015 11:05am
Keeping Stock

Do you yourself, Penny, use a hammer for anything but knocking up propaganda placards?

I was tempted to say she used a hammer for knocking down John Banks’ placards, but that wouldn’t be true. Penny only defaced them by putting stickers on them. It’s vandalism nonetheless, and also probably comes under the category of “political dirt”.

I wonder what Penny’s views on weapons-grade hypocrisy are 😉
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March 26, 2015 11:11am
Ed Snack

Andrei, that’s stupid, even for you. The US “sanctions” are against named officials. The shortages of items such as toilet paper are quite different, they result from the fact the Venezuela wants to buy these items but can’t (or won’t) pay for them. Why is it OK in your head for Russia to demand payment from the Ukraine for gas or it will be cut off, but it seems not OK for foreign suppliers of Venezuela to want to be paid ?

Venezuela has turned into a basket case almost entirely because of the economic policies implemented by Chavez and continued by Maduro. They’re not helped by the low oil price, but the troubles and shortages began well before the oil price dropped to its current levels. They’ve set out to prove Thatcher’s dictum that the problem with socialism is that one eventually runs out of someone else’s money, and they’re almost there.
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March 26, 2015 11:34am
G152

Let Winston have Northland.
Just remove all funding from any infrastructure so that he’ll be able to
get it all funded himself when requested by those who voted for him.
And no doubt the constant stream of complainers waiting for his trips to the north
to complain in person

“Well, Winston we elected you now earn your pay”
Monty Python script
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March 26, 2015 11:38am
Colville

To be fair to Penny she has I believe advanced trade cert in sheetmetal engineering.
So she would have spent many hundreds of hours with a hammer in hand knocking over seams.
They aint called tin bashers for nothing.

But to hall this comment back to reality, Penny did go from being a tradie to being a welding tutor and that tells us She didnt actually like working for a living.

If you can do it you do do it , if you cant do it then you teach it.

As a first year apprentice I was certified well above my welding tutor , I did get down graded however for bad attitude 🙂
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March 26, 2015 12:01pm
Shawn Herles

“Its nothing to do with Venezuela being socialist Manolo, its all to do with the exceptional nation’s sanctions on Venezuela and deliberate disruption of Venezuela’s trade with the outside world.”

Because socialism always works, right Andrei?

Er….no. Venezuela’s economic collapse is directly caused by it’s insane socialist economic policies, the same policies Russians stupidly pursued for over 60 years, despite the obvious failure of those policies from the start.

Those policies turned Russia into the basket case it is now, a rapidly dying population, extreme levels of alcoholism, epic levels of corruption, and a quasi-fascist leader who has his critics murdered.

Russians have a long history of being weak willed whingers with no sense of self-responsibility. To Russians, their own idiocy in supporting and enabling bad government is never the real reason for their national failure, it’s always someone else’s fault, always the Jews, or USA, or the so-called decadent West (Russia is one of the most morally sick and decadent nations on earth.)

I recently watched Citizen X, based on the true story of Russia’s most prolific serial killer. He was able to murder 53 people, over half children, because the stupid Russian state refused to believe that there were any serial killers in Russia. Their fatuous claim was that serial killers were an entirely American/Western “decadence” issue, and not something found in glorious Russia.

Children died as a result of that egotistic stupidity.

Sadly, rather than learn the lesson, and grow up, Russians like you continue to behave like whining children, blaming the rest of the world for problems you have created yourself.

And you wonder why most of Eastern Europe trusts the EU more than Russia.
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March 26, 2015 12:12pm
doggone7

G152 @ 11:38 am “Let Winston have Northland. Just remove all funding from any infrastructure…”

Yeah punish those scummy, uppity Northlanders! Here Rio Tinto, have another 30 mill for Southland.

Don’t throw your toys out of the cot yet, Mark might get in.
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March 26, 2015 12:17pm
CharlieBrown

I have been thinking about the whole GST “issues” for online purchases and was wondering why we don’t charge gst on foreign exchange transactions. Can someone with more economic knowledge than me explain why we don’t do that? It seems so simple that there must be some compelling arguments against it that I’m not seeing. Surely it will be simpler than trying to force online retailers to adhere to our tax system.
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March 26, 2015 12:59pm
cha

Er….no. Venezuela’s economic collapse is directly caused by it’s insane socialist economic policies

I think you’ll find Venezuela’s been a basket case, beset by violence, misery, revolution and economic calamities of one sort or another, since Columbus sat down with his sponsors and made the business case for a third voyage.

http://www.timelines.ws/countries/VENEZUELA.HTML
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March 26, 2015 12:59pm
Andrei

Whoo hoo the Saudi’s are bombing Yemen preparatory to an invasion.

Remember that Arab Spring thing?

Another brilliant American foreign policy success story in their campaign to spread “freedom and democracy™” and make the world a safe place for sodomites to marry each other and even their shih tzus if they so desire
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March 26, 2015 1:01pm
stigie

Let Winston have his 2 and a half years of glory i say, he will tire of trying to get around such a big electorate at his age preferring to stay in Wellington where his favourite eating places and clubs are.
National will regain Northland in 2017 because they will see what Winston has really done for them….Fucking nothing
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March 26, 2015 1:05pm
G152

Well doggone7 the north vote for him then they must be happy with not only his promises
but also with his ability to deliver on those promises.
And since Winston First is allied to Liebor and the left that aint going to happen.
And he will be as ineffectual then as he is now.
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March 26, 2015 1:08pm
CharlieBrown

Stigie, throw the partisan attitude out and look at winstons history as an mp for Tauranga. He did a hell of alot for Tauranga. I don’t like the guy and would never vote for nzfirst but he does serve his voters bloody well. The reason I don’t like nzfirst is his policies, no matter how much they benefit me in the short term aren’t good for the country. But saying he doesn’t serve his electorate is just a fallacy.
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March 26, 2015 1:23pm
doggone7

G152 (@ 1:08 pm

Thank you for your interest in our well-being. Of course we are used to politicians who are liars, don’t keep promises and are ineffectual so we should be fine.
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March 26, 2015 1:32pm
wreck1080

I’m gonna take a guess and say that the plane crash in france is partly caused by anti terrorist measures.

The pilot had some serious stroke/heart attack and the other pilot who had just used the toilet couldn’t get back in as the cockpit door was locked.
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March 26, 2015 1:33pm
kowtow

Andrei

There’s no way the Saudis would allow a Shia Iranian proxy to take over Yemen.

This action , will have Obama ‘s , (Hope and Change) ,full blessing, if not active support.In fact he may have told the Saudis to get stuck in, but we’ll never know, because his WH is the most transparent in history……..
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March 26, 2015 1:46pm
Andrei

This action , will have Obama ‘s , (Hope and Change) ,full blessing, if not active support

Well the support of the USA has been admitted and you can count on it that they are pulling the strings because this is about them getting their puppet, President Hadi, back in power
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March 26, 2015 1:59pm
Odakyu-sen

From the Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11423528

“One pilot on the doomed flight [Flight 4U 9525] which crashed killing 150 people had left the cockpit and was unable to get back in, investigators have told the New York Times.”

Whew! And to think I was worried about the over-sophistication of the Airbus A320’s fly-by-wire systems…

Looks like human factors. I hope we can learn more about the pilot at the controls and his background.
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March 26, 2015 2:32pm
cha

heh

GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz could soon be buying his family’s health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act he has vowed to dismantle.

http://news.yahoo.com/cruz-eyes-insurance-via-obamacare-law-vows-scrap-125540406–election.html
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March 26, 2015 2:59pm
Inandout

Odakyu-sen: I just hope that there is nothing sinister here. The pilot still in the cockpit has not been named yet, but please don’t have a child of Allah handle.
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March 26, 2015 3:36pm
jcuk

I assume that the nail that John Key struck and it didn’t go into the wood but bent off at an angle.

So based on my experience as an amateur house builder with two houses and other various projects completed that I know for sure that those little 100mm x 2.8mm spikes have minds of their own and unless you are very careful the little bastards will bend off at any angle other than how you want them. Particularly when they are showing off for national television.

So if I had seen the event then my amusement and possible laughter would have been in sympathy with John Key as it happens to me often enough … too often do the little varmits play up.

I have also done a bit of tin-bashing too …. along with copper moulding on occasions. Along with experience of knocking the sods back into shape.
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March 26, 2015 4:02pm
minto57

Any link between mass immigration and corruption
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March 26, 2015 4:03pm
Tauhei Notts

I see that as a grumpy old man I am to get a $5.84 net payrise next month.
The solo mother I know (not in the biblical sense of the word) who is on the Minimum Family Rebate, gets a payrise of $5.00 per week.
I think that the electoral clout us old fogies have is not good for our country.
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March 26, 2015 4:15pm
Inandout

Pete on WO is in a slash and burn on commentors at present. Must have got a new sabre.
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March 26, 2015 4:31pm
Shawn Herles

“Another brilliant American foreign policy success story in their campaign to spread “freedom and democracy™””

Bullshit. The “Arab spring” was not an American policy nor was it created by the USA.

Yemen has a serious al-Qeada problem and that needs to be dealt with.

Oh and given your country’s current tin pot leader for life likes to get his shirt off and prance around for the cameras, you probably shouldn’t bring up the gay issue.
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March 26, 2015 5:28pm
cha

The “Arab spring” was not an American policy nor was it created by the USA.

Of course it was miracle boy, it was called democracy promotion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_democracy_promotion_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa
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March 26, 2015 5:44pm
cha

Yemen has a serious al-Qeada problem and that needs to be dealt with.

Doing a Beirut and scuttling off home isn’t dealing with the problem.

btw, what’s next, invading Grenada as a consolation prize?.

Secret files held by Yemeni security forces that contain details of American intelligence operations in the country have been looted by Iran-backed militia leaders, exposing names of confidential informants and plans for U.S.-backed counter-terrorism strikes, U.S. officials say.

U.S. intelligence officials believe additional files were handed directly to Iranian advisors by Yemeni officials who have sided with the Houthi militias that seized control of Sana, the capital, in September, which led the U.S.-backed president to flee to Aden.

[…]

“The news from Yemen is all bad,” Schiff said. “I have to think that given the magnitude of the support we have given and the rapidity with which large portions of Yemen fell to Houthis, that a significant portion of military support is now in the hands of people who are not our friends.”

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-us-intelligence-yemen-20150325-story.html#page=2
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March 26, 2015 6:38pm
Andrei

Poor old Shawn, thinks America can do no wrong and it is all benevolence, along with dollops of Mom’s apple pie.

Whereas the USA is extremely good at breaking things, there is none better in the world today, but hopeless at putting them back together again.

Tell me Shawn why does America need a new stealth bomber that can fly undetected to anywhere on the globe and back home againn undetected if it doesn’t have sneak attacks on the unsuspecting in mind?

The USA can’t build anything anymore and has become a nation of pirates smashing up other peoples countries then looting them, leaving a trail of death and devastation where ever they go

Look at Iraq “liberated” over a decade ago, look at Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Kosovo, the list just grows longer and longer

And there is always some excuse for these crimes, crimes committed by hi tech barbarians
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March 26, 2015 6:40pm
Ryan Sproull

Here’s something I’ve wondered. Andrei, are you the same Andrei who is/was active on Ian Wishart’s blog?
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March 26, 2015 6:43pm
Odakyu-sen

I know that the job of newspapers is to sell the news.

Re: the A320 crash in the Alps
“The New York Times cited a senior military official involved in the investigation as saying the black box data indicated one pilot was locked out and tried unsuccessfully to smash his way back in.”

Just because the New York Times claims its source said something, are we supposed to take it as being true?

Time will tell if the NYT story is true. (or not)
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March 26, 2015 6:52pm
Lucia Maria

Here’s one reason why I’m glad the US has stealth bombers: NATO fighters have scrambled to intercept supersonic Russian bombers
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March 26, 2015 6:52pm
cha

Daesh on their northern doorstep and Houthi in the south.

Ali AlAhmed ‏@AliAlAhmed_en

We estimate that over 1/2 million IDPs will emerge in #Saudi Arabia. There are still over 50,000 IDPs from 2009 war with #Yemeni rebels. @Ap

https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/580967977647996928
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March 26, 2015 6:58pm
stephieboy

Andrei, some corrections there. The UN mandated NATO intervention in Kosovo – Resolution 1244 ( Russia voting for and China abstaining I believe ) and the same with Libya Resolution 1973 ( Russia and China abstaining ) .

Somalia, ? Do you support piracy on the high seas and the country run by a bunch of war lord thugs ?

Yemen ? An lets just stand aside and let Al Qaeda take over ? Right ?

Why does Russia and Putin have to be always right ?
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March 26, 2015 7:07pm
Andrei

You are aware Stephieboy that UN resolution 1244 was adopted after Yugoslavia had been bombed to force the surrender of it to NATO and the only viable way forward was annexation by NATO in order to lessen the humanitarian catastrophe that had been unleashed by the illegal bombing

Probably not

And what has Russia got to do with the problems in Iraq, Libya, or Yemen etc?
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March 26, 2015 7:21pm
stephieboy

Andrei, just explain why Russia voted for the Resolution ?
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March 26, 2015 7:37pm
stephieboy

There is an early report indicating that one of the Pilots was locked out of the cockpit suggesting Pilot Suicide . Early days of course but one that will likely become a magnet for Conspiracy kooks .

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html?_r=0
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March 26, 2015 8:06pm
Colville

Is this a massive Aussie choke or what?
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March 26, 2015 8:06pm
UglyTruth

… the never ending idiocy of stephieboi …
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March 26, 2015 8:59pm
Viking2

Just for Aucklanders.
Why you should stop storing cars in the middle of town.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=858801704179593
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March 26, 2015 9:13pm
Sponge

UT

No doubt this will be some sort of “false flag”operation…..
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March 26, 2015 9:14pm
stephieboy

Ugly Truth, were you the one that proposed that MH370 was an Israel / CIA hatchet job with that woo about a plane clone/swap thingy.?

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/mh370-clone-being-held-by-israel.3361/
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March 26, 2015 9:15pm
minus

Mr Key was greeted by another candidate, Bruce Rogan, who is an advocate for the Mangawhai ratepayers concerned about Kaipara District Council’s debt and the sting to ratepayers. Mr Rogan was carried a poster promoting Mr Peters’ for the MP.
A handful of anti-Trans Pacific Partnership protesters were also there, as well as veteran protesters Penny Bright with a poster about former MP Mike Sabin.

Couldn’t help herself, eh?
May be interesting to eventually know what the poster said, to see just how bright Penny is.
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March 26, 2015 9:26pm
Nostradamus

Stephieboy:

I won’t paraphrase UglyTruth – these were his exact words:

UglyTruth (5,636 comments) says:
August 3rd, 2014 at 3:42 pm

David,

There are many different theories out there, the following is what I think is the most probable one.

The theory is that the two “Iranians” were Mossad agents who were to carry out a hijacking in order to implicate Iran (i.e. the modus operandi was similar to the Lavon Affair). According to the theory the hijacking didn’t go to plan and the hijackers were locked out of the cockpit. The pilot then made a descending left turn to return to Indonesia. Soon after that the theoretical conspirators activated the BUAP and gained control of MH370. The plane then flew west, generally avoiding radar and populated areas, and also using the standard flight corridors, which would avoid attracting the attention of commercial traffic. In theory after clearing populated areas the 777 descended to low altitude and used the ground effect to save fuel and increase range. It was observed approaching Diego Garcia, where access had been restricted to keep unwanted witnesses away. Theoretically, once at DG the passengers and crew were unloaded and the 777 was refueled and flown out for destinations unknown. Fate of passengers unknown.

The theoretical plan for MH380 was probably abandoned with the loss of the Iranian hijacking meme and the discovery of its twin in storage in Israel. MH17 was linked to MH380 by a photograph of a section of fuselage allegedly from the crash site at Donetsk, in which the window positions matched MH380, not MH17. Either the photo is a fake or the wreckage matching MH380 was dumped at Donetsk in order to encourage wild theories which would discredit the saner ones by association, eg the “no planes” theory of 9/11.

The theoretical purpose of the MH17 hoax was to served as a distraction from the assault on Gaza which occurred at around the same time, and also to vilify Russia. This didn’t go so well when the BBC interviewed witnesses who said that MH17 was shot down by fighters. Russia claims possession of radar records which prove that other aircraft were accompanying the fake MH17. A german pilot also alleges entry and exit bullet holes in the wreckage at Donetsk.

I await the outcome of UglyTruth’s investigation into the Germanwings flight 9525 crash…
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March 26, 2015 9:27pm
stephieboy

Nostadramus,, I wonder if UT has advanced the dumb theory about a passenger putting his cell phone up his rectum at Diego Garcia ? Rather more plausible than that poppycock of his August 3 2014,

http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/malaysiapicture.asp

Could he tell us where the crew and passengers have gone and why Chinese Intelligence have not got wind of the dastardly plot ?
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March 26, 2015 9:36pm
cha

I await the outcome of UglyTruth’s investigation into the Germanwings flight 9525 crash

Should be fun….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrDXNqr5OJw
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March 26, 2015 9:43pm
wreck1080

It is a bit sickening watching the arrogant joyce throwing cash around northland.

The smell of desperation stinks and is a big turnoff for northland voters.
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March 26, 2015 9:46pm
stephieboy

Andrei, did Russia support or not support Resolution 1244 ? Thats what counts and of course the world standby s as Serbia is given a free hand in Kosovo ?

What did Russia do to protest the bombing of Yugoslavia. ? Convene a session of the Security Council ?

All I know Russia abstained on the bombing of Libya Resolution 1973. Why did it not exercise its power of veto as with 1244.?

Iraq and the Yemen ?? None I suppose because I guess Putin had his hands full quelling a rebellion in Chechnya and dealing with Georgia .
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March 26, 2015 9:46pm
Reid

Sometimes some people on this blog remind me of the people who must have mocked Gallilee Gallileo for coming up with a strange and mysterious proposition the like of which they’d never seen nor heard and who therefore, naturally, being ignorant and foolish peasants, completely dismissed the very suggestion that the Earth wasn’t flat and that sailors wouldn’t fall off should they dare to sail over the horizon. Well I never, they’d cackle to themselves, in the taverns, back in those days.

Of course the people on Kiwiblog are much much worse than those poor ignorant peasants, because the peasants didn’t know any better and couldn’t possibly have any means at their disposal to correct their wretched and profound and of course, incorrect, ignorance.

Kiwibloggers of course have no such excuses.

Lest people misunderstand, I’m not advocating any particular perspective.

I’m simply saying that the people decrying the possibility of a false flag are:
a) ignoring the fact no such allegation has been made in the first place by anyone
b) wouldn’t have the first clue about recognising a false flag anyway, since they’ve never, like the peasants, bothered to educate themselves on them.

That’s all I’m saying.

So stephie, pray don’t hallucinate anything will you, there’s a good little moron.
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March 26, 2015 9:46pm
stephieboy

Reid, and you don’t regard the Flight 370 Israeli clone / swap nor the cell phone up a bum strange and mysterious ?

What do you think Gallilee Galileo would of made of it out of interest ?
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March 26, 2015 9:51pm
cha

FFS Reid.
//

A curious example of this mistreatment of the past for the purpose of slandering Christians is a widespread historical error, an error that the Historical Society of Britain some years back listed as number one in its short compendium of the ten most common historical illusions. It is the notion that people used to believe that the earth was flat–especially medieval Christians.

It must first be reiterated that with extraordinary few exceptions no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat. A round earth appears at least as early as the sixth century BC with Pythagoras, who was followed by Aristotle, Euclid, and Aristarchus, among others in observing that the earth was a sphere. Although there were a few dissenters–Leukippos and Demokritos for example–by the time of Eratosthenes (3 c. BC), followed by Crates(2 c. BC), Strabo (3 c. BC), and Ptolemy (first c. AD), the sphericity of the earth was accepted by all educated Greeks and Romans.

[…]

In my research, I looked to see how old the idea was that medieval Christians believed the earth was flat. I obviously did not find it among medieval Christians. Nor among anti-Catholic Protestant reformers. Nor in Copernicus or Galileo or their followers, who had to demonstrate the superiority of a heliocentric system, but not of a spherical earth. I was sure I would find it among the eighteenth-century philosophers, among all their vitriolic sneers at Christianity, but not a word.

I am still amazed at where it first appears. No one before the 1830s believed that medieval people thought that the earth was flat. The idea was established, almost contemporaneously, by a Frenchman and an American, between whom I have not been able to establish a connection, though they were both in Paris at the same time. One was Antoine-Jean Letronne (1787-1848), an academic of strong antireligious prejudices who had studied both geography and patristics and who cleverly drew upon both to misrepresent the church fathers and their medieval successors as believing in a flat earth, in his On the Cosmographical Ideas of the Church Fathers (1834).

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/history/1997Russell.html
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March 26, 2015 9:51pm
UglyTruth

On the subject of flat earthers…

Despite them being unable to explain obscure astronomical phenomena like sunrise and sunset, they do have some real empicial evidence which tends to support their position that the earth is flat.

Apparently it all started with the Bedford level experiment. With a circumference of roughly 25 thousand miles, the surface of the Earth should have a measurable curvature, but the Bedford level experiment and others like it do not conform to the theory.

For two points on the surface of a approximately spherical Earth, the distance from the midpoint of the arc between the two points to the line between two points (i.e. the “bulge”) in feet is given by:

d = (c / (2 * pi)) * (1 – cos (pi * l / c)) * 5280

Where l in the arc length in miles, c is the circumference of approx. 25000 miles, and 5280 is the number of feet in a mile.

So for an arc length of one mile there is a bulge of about two inches, and at a distance of six miles the bulge is around six feet, which should be quite measurable with a telescope and a “flat” surface like a lake or slow moving body of water.

The initial experiments by Rowbotham with a telescope eight inches above the water showed no loss of visibility over the six mile distance. Later experiments made futher away from the surface of the water showed that a bulge existed, but the measured values were still less than the theoretical values.
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March 27, 2015 6:11am

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