The Daily Blog Watch Wednesday 19 June

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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…

NZ Left Blogosphere

Phillip Ure on Whoar looks at NZ Herald Tracey Barnett’s column on human rights, privacy, and the  “..Grim precedent pulls plug on our human rights standing..”

Something is seriously rotten in the States of the West that more interest is not being shown in the uncontrolled growth of State surveillance power.

ScubaNurse on The Hand Mirror, blogs on Auckland Libraries push past expectations. Something about “challenge and celebrate sex and sexuality on the page, stage and screen with a special series of thought-provoking events for over-18s“. (Is it just me or was the font-size unfeasibly small??)

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

No Right Turn’s Idiot Savant condemns Some “reforms” that have been mooted by the Maori Party as  “ a sick joke”.  An extra 3% allocated to sports groups and other community organisations is supposed to make up for the neutering of the gambling reform bill? No wonder Savant is furious.

Savant sez it is  An awful precedent when New  Zealand abandons human rights considerations when it comes to National’s new refugee detention law. Savant writes,

This is going to have consequences. We’re a small country, with nothing much to offer anyone; as a result, our foreign policy is basically mana-based. Our ability to get what we want depends crucially on our strong advocacy of human rights and international law

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National doesn’t care about that; all they care about is toadying to the strong by kicking the weak. The rest of us should care. National’s actions are robbing us of our international voice and attacking our national identity. And if we want it to stop, we need to kick them out of government.”

Well, said Savant.

As well, Savant is highly critical of Labour and Christchurch East,  pointing out that,

“ …parachuting Clayton Cosgrove – a man without a connection to the area, but with a very strong connection to David Shearer – into the seat, so they can in turn get Kelvin Davis – another man with a strong connection to David Shearer – in off the list.

This encapsulates everything that is wrong with the Labour Party…”

The Labour hierarchy should take note of Savant’s comments. They explain why so many voters are disconnected from Labour.

And something to bring a smile to your face, and a skip and a jump in your steps, Savant reports that the UK’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has suggested that  Jailing the bankers is actually a good idea.

As the characters in Team America were fond of exclaiming; Fuck Yeah!!!

Russell Norman and Catherine Delahunty blog on various issues. Russell announced today that after due consultation, they will not be pursuing their policy on Quantitative Easing. Personally, I find this a gutsy step to take – it’s not often that a Party will openly and honestly announce they are changing policy because it lacks public support. Russell announces the Green’s Next steps on a fair exchange rate, and the democratisation and proposed transparency for the Reserve Bank is a good start. (No doubt National and right wing nutty bloggers will find some reason to oppose it.)

Catherine Delahunty blogs on Gifted kids at Parliament and suggests we should be diverting funds to supporting gifted kids rather than wasting taxpayer’s money on “assessment mechanics”. But that would be just too much common sense to expect from National/Act.

QoT sez what’s on the minds of 99% of people. In Ideologically Impure she de-constructs Saatchi’s press release statement and come to the inexorable conoclusion that   Charles Saatchi is a fucking sociopath.

One thing QoT forgets to mention is that this event has illustrated that spousal abuse knows no class boundaries. Violent arseholes can be poor, lowly educated, morons – or well-educated, wealthy, morons. This kind of violence transcends classes. in case people nbeeded to be educated of this salient fact.

Charles Saatchi – the new posterboy for sociopathic dickheads.

Frank on Frankly Speaking gives us an udate on Ongoing jobless talley for 2013 and alerts us to who is gathering our information;   KGB, CIA, STASI, SIS… Facebook?!

As the planet is gripped by extreme weather events  (caused no doubt by evil lizard aliens, and not the more outrageous explation of climate change factors), Gareth on Hot Topic launches into a debate on his blog;  People talking #11 – take part.

And I, for one, bow down before our cold blooded Overlords from Zeta Reticulii…

On Red Alert, Iain Lees-Galloway writes on the problem that Dodgy Taxi Cameras are creating for the taxi industry.

As part of the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti  by-election campaign, Labour candidate, Meka Whaitiri writes that Major issues need major solutions.

Scott on Imperator Fish, also blogs on the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-electionand issues this Breaking News:   All four candidates will win in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti!!!

Scott also informs us which particular   Machinery failure affected NZ Herald publication this morning. You’ll never guess!

Socialist Aotearoa reviews the TV series,  Harry – Like a P pipe in the dark? and looks at the political implications of the P Trade and how the series neglects to touch on wider issues and problems. As the blog author writes,

It would have been fantastic to have seen the self-organisation of communities who are fighting meth dramatised on our screens. Like the work of iwi raising awareness about the damage meth does, or the mahi of old school gang members working within gangs to stop the trade, or Murupara’s innovative fight to make it “P” free.

It would have been fantastic to have seen the environmental effects of the meth trade shown as well. Toxic waste bring poured into stormwater drains, the effect on buildings used as labs and the fires and explosions that often result.

Harry could have easily pulled this side of the meth story into the plot maybe by leaving out some of the more psycho-dramatic stuff about Angelsea and his daughter.”

On a much much lighter note, The Civilian gives us,

 Just the thing to read before switching on the telly for your daily dose of grim and ghastly “news” at  6pm.

Back to serious again, The Jackal shares his (her?) wisdom with us today,

  • Something to do in Patea tonight– a public meeting on deep sea drilling. mining, and other issues affecting the local community.

  • Fonterra’s fracked milk – the revelations that dairy farms in Taranaki have been spraying liquid fracking over   pasture – where dairy cows have been grazing – is most likely a ticking time bombs for our protein export industry. The Jackal pulls no punches in his condemnation of this practice,

Not only does fracking waste contain a number of highly toxic chemicals, some of which are known to cause cancer, it also contains Radium 226, often well above safe levels.

The fact that this hazardous practice was allowed to occur in New Zealand at all is astounding!

‘Fonterra already accepts milk from six farms but has said no more will be taken on, Radio New Zealand reported this morning.’

Thankfully Fonterra have finally realised that accepting milk from any new landfarms will be detrimental to their clean and green image, something the dairy industry relies heavily upon for much of its profits from overseas markets.”

  • And if you haven’t read it yet, check out Jackal’s de-construction of why    Family First is wrong on sex education. Their so-called “export – Miriam Grossman – is a well-known (and mostly derided) right wing neo-conservative fruit-loop. Families put their faith in this strange woman at their peril.

On The PunditNature’s rights … left far behind writes  Claire Browning, and share her thoughts on our journey toward a written Consitution,

New Zealanders have been asked to think about our constitution – what it is that makes us or, as one judge described it, “the mirror of a nation’s soul”.”

This evening, on  the Standard,

  •  The nub of the issue, writes  Eddie, who asks “So, John Key can’t admit there’s a crisis in manufacturing” even with 40,000 losing thier jobs in the last four years.

Eddie puts a few questions for Key to address. Not that he will. Not without admitting that yes, there is a crisis. The Nats simply don’t want to admit it.

Lianne Dalziel’s confirming her run for the mayoralty of Christchurch will be great for the people of the city…

The mood in Christchurch has toughened against the government since the 2011 election as people, particularly out east, feel abandoned and have to suffer injury upon insult from Hekia Parata, Gerry Brownlee and National.  So there’s every chance for Labour to win, but its going to be a long way from a cake-walk.”

  •  Networks of influence: Lobbyists – an excellent analysis by  karol, drawing on work by Green MP, Holly Walker, and  Moral Shepherd of the Left and Lovable JAFA, Chris Trotter. Karol writes,

The Speaker of Parliament has issued an updated lists of Lobbyists given a swipe pass into Parliament. As Audrey Young reports, this list has doubled in the last year.  This elite group of lobbyists gives a clue as to who is engaged with some elite networks of influence over political decision making and activities.  The group includes powerful corporate representatives, people with links to political parties (especially the National Party), dominant voices within the MSM and public relations.

Simon Bridges’ loose relationship with the truth has got him in trouble just a few weeks into his first big test as Minister of Labour. It started last week when he got caught off guard by an innocuous question from Darien Fenton about what advice he had taken about whether his new employment law breached International  Labour Organisation conventions

This was his answer (you really have to watch the video to appreciate just how creepy the wee fella is)…”

Read the full blogpost ands repeat after me;  Bridges; liar, liar, Key-like liar!

The proposed changes to employment law make massive changes to the right to strike. Those opposed to the Bill by Jamie Lee-Ross to allow replacement labour during strikes, need to be consistent in this view and should also be very worried about the main Employment Relations Amendment Bill now in Select Committee.”

Helen goes into some detail as to why Ross’s Bill is destructive, divisive and anti-democracratic.

No wonder Peter Dunne will not have a bar of it. (Good on you, mate.)

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On The Daily Blog

Our digital strip-search, by Burnt Out Teacher , who writes,

If you have nothing to hide, from now on I’d like you to leave your bedroom curtains open when you get changed, please.

If you have nothing to hide, I look forward to seeing the footage from the 24/7 webcam you are apparently about to install in your bathroom and toilet. Thanks in advance!!

If you have nothing to hide, then I can barely contain my excitement – you are quite obviously about to self-publish the entirety of your bank account and credit card details, your emails and texts, your pornographic predilections (including what sites you go to, what you watch, and for how long), your browser history, everything you’ve bought online, your address and phone number, all the photos and videos on your hard drive, your – oh, wait, what? You’re not? That makes no sense. I thought you had nothing to hide.”

People have learnt nothing of history, when they willingly abandon their privacy and stand naked before Big Brother Inc. It’s no use saying, “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Big Brother Inc.  may decide otherwise.

Len Brown betrays Maori and Pacifika families in favour of a Remuera-by-the-Sea, writes  John Minto,

No matter how the National Party and Len Brown try to tart it up the so-called Tamaki redevelopment programme is nothing short of ethnic and social cleansing of Glen Innes, Point England and Panmure.

Maori and Pacifika families on low-incomes are to be shunted out to make way for McMansions for the rich around the lovely Tamaki estuary.

And so yesterday morning Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Housing Minister Nick Smith met in Glen Innes to launch a “draft blueprint” for the redevelopment of Tamaki. The meeting was not advertised to avoid protest from local residents but with last minute notice a group of locals turned up to hold Brown, Smith, their property developer mates and hand-picked local collaborators to account.

OUR HISTORY: 1937 – When workers took control  – By Dean Parker

In the back files of the NZ Herald, Jan 14, 1937, there’s a photo of a crowd standing and seated round a young Maori bloke.

The young bloke is strumming a guitar, grinning and singing away.

Some of the crowd gathered round are draped in blankets. Some wear hats. A Labour government had introduced a 40-hour working week, but freezing workers found they were still doing a 44-hour week without any compensation in pay.

When their grievance was rejected by the freezing companies, the men began a go-slow on the job.  The response from the companies was to threaten to dismiss the work-force.

The response to this, from the men, was unprecedented in New Zealand industrial history.”

Dunedin Succeeds In Building Minds, Missing In Action When It Comes To Keeping Them –  Aaron Hawkins writes,

It is easier for David Shearer to argue on points of raw data than on nuanced issues of indigenous rights, social equality or environmental protections. Party strategists seem more keen to scream “They’re leaving!”, than ask “Why would our policies make them stay?” On a personal level, I resent being used as a political football. As one of many New Zealanders with whanau living across the ditch – my mother is now an Australian citizen – I resent MPs trying to politicise me being close to my family sometimes.

Out-of-Parliament Experiences: The Rise and Fall of Democratic New Zealand, writes Chris Trotter ,

How often do we see democracy at work in New Zealand? Outside of Parliament and our city councils, how common is it to witness citizens engaged in the debate and resolution of substantive issues? How often do we see people voting for or against policies which they expect the rest of us to take seriously? The answer, sadly, is: “Not very often at all.”

It was not always so. As recently as the 1980s, out-of-parliament democratic experiences were commonplace in New Zealand.”

Out protesting – home and away. Brazil rocks, Auckland’s doing its bit –  Sue Bradford writes,

Our group Auckland Action Against Poverty called the picket because we seek to use every opportunity available to expose the daily damage Bennett, Key and their mates are inflicting on unemployed people, beneficiaries, low wage workers and their families.”

Events here, and overseas, whether in Turkey or Brazil, or New York suggest that momentum is growing. Something is happening; there is change afoot. Big change. The times, they are a changing

 

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Blogpost of the Day

From Public Address, Emma Hart writes this impassioned Open Letter to the Labour Party from a People of Christchurch. It is along the same vein as No Right Turn’s blogpost (see above), and ciondemns any suugestion of ‘carpetbagging’ someone into the elecorate who has no ties with the community. Emma is blunt,

Look, I don’t know if you noticed (no, seriously, I don’t know if you noticed) but we had an earthquake. Everything changed. That’s the only issue there is here. We feel abandoned and betrayed. We feel like we’re fighting a war, and Campbell Live are the only people who know it’s happening. That might not be a fair appraisal, but it’s how we feel. 

This is not the time to be taking us for granted.”

And Emma offers an equally blunt suggestion,

I would love it if at least one of the candidates you chose, for Central or East, actually was one of us: the exhausted scary fucked-off mothers of Christchurch.”

No wonder she begs Labour not to fuck this up.

 

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Action of the Week

Tax Havens and the Rule of Law

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Fabian Society presents Nicky Hager on “Tax Havens and the Rule of Law” at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, Wellington, at 5:30pm on Friday 21 June 2013.

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Thought for the Day

John Key selling our assets for his pals

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~ Joe Blogger

“The Daily Blog Watch” Editor, Imbiber of Fine Sugary Drinks,  & Cat Herder

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~oo~