The Daily Blog Watch Thursday 8 August

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Today’s Daily Blog Watch Round-Up of matters that have attracted the attention, assessments, and articulations of this country’s leading bloggers and on-line satirists…

NZ Left Blogosphere

No Right Turn offers up;

Savant writes that it is Manifestly unjust for a judicial system to blame one person for the mis-behaviour of another. Who said we’re not a Police State yet??

Our spying Prime Minister – and this time it’s Winston Peters who has been the target of National’s dubious activities. Bad choice, Mr Key. Winston is the last person you want to mess with.

Saved by the fillibuster – the GCSB Bill is shelved for a couple of weeks. Thank god for what’s left of our democracy.

On the Tiwai Aluminium smelter/Meridian deal, Savant charges the Nats are Selling out New Zealand. And this is the government that fought tooth and nail to resist food in schools for starving kids???

Truly, they are one fucked-up unit.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

The spy bill: More amendments from the Greens, who are leading resistance against creeping fascism in this country. Never have so many sleepy hobbits owed so much to so few principled politicians. Question; do we really deserve a Green Party??

National’s on again, off-again environment report – The fricken Tories dumped one environmental report and are bring in another. It must be election time soon?

On Whoar!, Phillip Ure highlights issues surrounding  “..New Zealand’s Environment-Friendly Image Marred..” and  “..In South Korea – Wireless Charging Powers Electric Buses..”

Now why aren’t we looking into electric vehicles instead of coal mining?? Electric vehicles ARE the future, and National is holding back this country from investing in green technologies!

And this damning piece, from Savant,

48,000 out of work under National – 

The Household Labour Force Survey is out, showing a rise in unemployment to 6.4%. There are still 153,000 unemployed – 48,000 more than when National took office…

I wonder who the Nats or John Key will blame for this?

Frankly Speaking gives us  Some more repetitive bene-bashing & a reply, and a Borat-style Welcome to new glorious People’s Republic of New Zealand

Let’s see what The Civilian has to offer us… just the heads, this time. They are funny-as-fuck and you really should read each one…

Study reveals people with cancer more likely to have cancer…

Shock as McDonald’s outlets found selling dead animals to children…

Chinese media says problem with New Zealand economy is that it isn’t ruthless dictatorship…

‘I’d never buy Fonterra milk,’ says man purchasing three bottles of Anchor…

Experts say only thing botulism kills is spying scandal…

On Labour’s Red Alert, David Cunliffe writes about  That Guy (nice pun!), and sez that  “the Minister of Primary Industries, Hon Nathan Guy, is floundering”. David is being polite of course. The rest of the country wouldn’t say that Nathan Guy is “floundering” so much as fucking up. There. Fixed it.

If you haven’t already, check out Tim Watkin on The Pundit where he discusses the   Poll of Polls update – stopping the rot & what Winston wants – a look at Winston Peters’ and how he might jump post-2014. This is an excellent analysis of the issue. Also check out the Winston quotes from Andrew Geddis.

Did Winston really say all those thing???

Scott Yorke on Imperator Fish suggests it’s  Time to rebrand on the Fonterra, polluted rivers, and other environmental disaster courtesy of this lunatic dollar-driven government. And Scott presents  An update on That Thing.

Morgan Godfery on Maui Street  looks at  Dirty words: (re)distribution – and remarks on Meka Whaitiri’s maiden speech in OParliament. In a good way.

Open Parachute re-visits flouridation in Hamilton and states – Hamilton,  the water is the problem, not the fluoride!

On Frogblog, we have,

Mojo Mathers scrutinises National’s policy on Future proofing social housing

Social housing is an important means for providing affordable housing for those who are not able to afford private housing and fills a fundamental human right. Currently there is a serious lack of accessible housing for disabled people or older people with mobility impairments, forcing people into unsuitable housing that doesn’t meet their needs…

Catherine Delahunty looks at Family carers, discrimination and the law ,

Earlier this year, the Government forced a Bill through the House as part of the Budget which discriminates against citizens wishing to challenge on human rights issues, specifically issues around disability and family care…

Kennedy Graham chides the National government when it has No time for climate change – we’ve got more important matters down here…

It may beggar belief, but perhaps it was inevitable. The NZ Government does not have the time to tackle climate change.  It’s focused on milk damage-control.  And it can only do one thing at a time…

Parliament needs to curb gambling harm   – Sez Denise Roche,

Te Ururoa Flavell’s Gambling (Gambling Harm reduction) Amendment Bill should be going through some of its latter stages in the House this week.  Sadly the Green Party is no longer supporting this legislation due to some pretty massive changes that were made at the select committee stage…

In  The Susan Wood trilogy, the blogger-known-as Bat, Bean, Beam looks at mainstream media personalities and wonders at their disconnect from the poorer, disenfranchised parts of our society.

Ian Anderson on Fightback! reports on the Queer Avengers press release: Solidarity action with Russia’s LGBTI movement. Considering Russian state-sponsored suppression and terrorisation of the LGBT community in that country, this is a timely issue to look at.

Maybe it’s time to boycott the next Olympics in Russia?

As usual, the Auckland Transport Blog is more than “just a blog” – it is a valuable on-line resource for those interested in  Auckland issues.  Matt L writes that the  CRL Hearing Begins,

The notice of requirement hearing for the City Rail Link project began yesterday – marking an important phase in securing the necessary resource consents to both protect the route and then enable the project’s construction. Compared to other major transport projects in recent times (Waterview Connection comes to mind as the best example) the consenting process for CRL seems to have been fairly low-key and almost slipping by without much notice. I think this reflects that the vast bulk of the project is in a tunnel (thus minimising its effects) and that the public strongly supports the project generally.

And on 7 August, Matt L made a  CFN presentation to the Transport Committee,

Yesterday we presented our Congestion Free network proposal to the councils Transport Committee. Unfortunately it wasn’t filmed but here is our presentation (3.5MB). Much of it readers will have seen before so don’t be surprised if you have seen most of it already.

This is citizens journalism mixed with community action in perfect tandem.

Chris Trotter, the Moral Shepherd of the Left posits an excellent question on Bowalley Road, with an intriguing dichotomoy within the title,  Democracy versus The Majority,

How should we respond to these responses? How does one argue against the expansion of the state’s surveillance powers, and the violation of a journalist’s privacy, when the reaction of the overwhelming majority of the population is either bland indifference, or (even more alarmingly) active support for the Government’s position?

If you haven’t already, check out Gordon Campbell on the Fonterra milk powder scandal, and the ongoing Dunne email saga. As usual, Gordon fills in the yawning gaps which the msm fail to fill in…

On Ideologically Impure, QoT has some  Non-random recommended reading: Hugo Schwyzer

Porcupine Farm takes a satirical swipe at our environmental mess, and suggests some Heavy-Duty Damage Control With the Biohazard Boys

From The Standard, the bulwark against neo-liberal nuttiness, we have;

Have Winston’s rights of privacy been breached? –  writes,

As noted by Idiot Savant Winston Peters has made some startling claims in Parliament this afternoon.  He asked the Prime Minister if he was aware of any occasion where Key’s staff had sought or reviewed the phone records of a private citizen for reasons other than national security?  Key could not rule it out.  Then Peters in the general debate claimed that Police had wanted to access his phone records because someone wearing a New Zealand First T shirt had been seen outside the venue of the Teapot tape when the famous cuppa occurred.  This information is apparently contained in the information release about the teapot case that recently occurred.

Bob Jones – National vs Labour on the economy –  writes,

In an otherwise dull piece in The Herald recently, Bob Jones finished up with a typically blunt assessment of the impact of Labour and National governments on the economy:

It’s no secret the commercial property industry, numbering over 100,000 people in all of its ramifications, favour Labour governments simply because they like vibrant economies. As the past 40 years show, these always accompany Labour’s periods in office.

Still waiting for that recovery –  –  writes, 

So the economic data is out and unemployment is up and wages are flat – the lowest rate of wage increase since 2010 (1.7%).  45% of employees didn’t get a pay rise, and the gender pay gap is now up to 13.24%.

Support for off shore speculator ban…

Hypocrisy in the House: GCSB Bill

Last night the filibster of the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill – Committee Stage – Part 1, delayed the passing of the Third reading until at least 20 August.  Last night’s speeches put the hypocrisy of John Key and Peter Dunne under the spotlight.

Chorus of opposition to Key-Dunne spying Bill continues –  writes,

Yesterday Opposition parties filibustered, and successfully delayed the passage of the Key-Dunne spying Bill (linked article includes clips of some of the speeches). This buys more time to protest, and to put pressure on MPs.

Dodgy as hell –    writes,

The government selling off prime real estate to the governing party. It sounds like something out of a banana republic. But it’s here.

The National Party (via several fronts) has bought the former Prime Ministerial/ministerial residence at 41 Pipitea St from the Crown.

World smells 100% pure bullshit writes,

We’re living a lie in New Zealand. We tell ourselves and we tell the world that we’re this amazingly environmentally conscious and sustainable country when, in fact, we’ve turned most of it into a giant farm, most of the rivers are unsafe to swim due to the farm run-off, and it would be worse, we just haven’t had the time. The Fonterra scandal may be the final straw for the 100% Pure slogan.

600,000 Comments

Eddie predicted back in December 2012 with that we’d hit 600k comments on the 6th of August 2013. He was slightly out as it was a comment by Rosetinted on the 3rd commenting about another commenter. But so far Eddie’s other prediction looks like a safe bet

The trend will see us hit 1 million August 3 2015….

Congratulations, Lynn.  A job bloody well done!

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From the Daily Blog

Bitterness, Anger and Deep, Deep Division: Labour prepares for its 97th Annual Conference –  Chris Trotter  writes,

To many Labour members, Caucus comes across as an entity entirely alien to the broader labour movement. A collection of petulant egos, hell-bent on turning the annual conference into a rubber stamp for MPs over whom the party organisation no longer exercises even the slightest control.

What are communities worth? – By Stuart Nash  13 hours ago

I have always believed that society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable, and Jacaranda House is one of the important threads that holds Napier’s community together. If one starts pulling these threads, civilised society slowly begins to unravel. This is what is happening in Napier; and across many provincial towns and cities.

It’s time: Free Teina Pora –  By Martyn Bradbury  writes,

TThe Police framed a young kid to take the fall and what we now see represents the worst miscarriage of justice ever in NZ history.

20 years inside for a rape murder he never committed, and all because he was young and brown.

The NZ Police have a lot to answer for here and that O’Connor has come out so late in the piece wanting to smoother those questions should be a flashing warning signal that the cops know they are in trouble on this.

Also from Martyn,

Unemployment rises – where are the jobs Paula Bennett? –  Martyn Bradbury  writes,

The yawning gap of inequality between the 1% richest and the rest of NZ will swallow an entire generation if we have political leaders who believe in government with a microscopic g, NZ needs bold leadership, and we are waiting for the Opposition to provide it.

Helen Clark – reminding Key & Co what’s important –  Frank Macskasy  writes,

No doubt John Key will make some derisory, dismissive response to Ms Clark’s justified concerns. He’ll conveniently forget that under Labour, unemployment dropped to record lows…

And also,

USA, Vietnam, Peter Dunne – Pot, Kettle –  Frank Macskasy  writes,

Yes, of course our American cuzzies want the Vietnamese people to allow ” information individuals can share via personal social media accounts and on websites”. Then their National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s GCHQ can mine that data via their PRISM, XKeyscore, and god-only-knows what other systems are used to store data on citizens.

All our eggs are in one breakable basket –  John Minto  writes,

As well as calling our clean, green image a “festering sore” China’s state- news agency attacked New Zealand’s free-market ideology and as an example gave the leaky homes fiasco where lack of regulation led to homes built which were unfit for purpose.

100% Pure no more – By The Jackal  writes,

It astounds me that it has taken 15 months before Fonterra’s management even cottoned on to the fact that 38 tonnes of whey protein concentrate was contaminated with a bacterium that causes botulism, a toxin that can lead to paralysis and death.

No McLeod’s daughter –  Coley Tangerina  writes,

There’s something about continually giving media platforms to a transphobic, whorephobic, sex negative, slut-shamer who’s still stuck on Betty Friedan and what she’d think of tongue piercings that irks me.

Meanwhile, back at Bellamys – Simon Prast writes,

images

Meanwhile, back at Bellamys…

And this just in:

BREAKING: Fonterra Contamination Scandal: “An open secret”, “from the start”Chris Trotter writes,

WORD IS SPREADING through the Waikato that Fonterra’s Hautapu manufacturing facility knew “from the start” (May 2012) that it had dispatched a potentially contaminated batch of whey. That the “single pipe” at the centre of the widening botulism scandal constituted a potential food safety hazard was, according to local accounts, “an open secret”.

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Blogpost of the Day

The Jackal reports that there is  Dissent in the ranks Farrar and Slater are hammering National for (a) quasi socialist policies that would make a Polish Shipyard nod in approval, and (b) how to really piss several thousand recreational fishers right off.

This was National’s “shower head” moment.

How does it feel for right wingers when their Party tilts to the Left, I wonder?

Oh, pretty much like how left wingers felt in 1984, when Labour lurched to the right.

As Dr Smith used to say;

"Oh the pain, the pain..."
“Oh the pain, the pain…”

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Direct Actions

By 16 August

Are you one of the 70,000 who just got un-enrolled?

The Electoral Commission have just had to remove 70,000 New Zealanders from the electoral roll, after the election packs they sent out for the local body elections later in the year were returned, saying ‘gone – no forwarding address’. This was part of the checks to make sure that everyone who’s eligible is correctly enrolled to vote.

This means that there’s 70,000 people out there who have moved house but may not know even realise that they won’t be able to vote at the election.

If you think you might be included in this number, don’t despair! You’ve still got time to re-enrol in time to vote at the local body elections this year. Just head to www.elections.org.nz, freetext your name to 3676, call 0800 36 76 56 or go to any PostShop by August 16th.

Hat-tip: Frogblog

By 22 August

Submit!

The Commerce Committee has called for submissions on the New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill (AKA the crony convention-centre bill). You can submit directly via the link above, or by sending two copies to

Commerce Committee Secretariat
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
Submissions are due by Thursday, 22 August 2013. Topics to raise: the unconstitutionality of the bill purporting to bind future Parliaments to compensate SkyCity of there is a change of government (and of policy); the anti-freedom of speech clause in the deal and its incompatibility with the Bill of Rights Act. While the latter isn’t actually in the bill, criticism by the committee could see it removed from the deal, or make a future BORA case against its exercise substantially easier.

 

Hat-tip: No Right Turn

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Thought for the Day

Ruled by criminals

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~ Joe Blogger,

“The Daily Blog Watch” Editor, Imbiber of Fine Sugary Drinks,  & moa-whisperer

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~oo~