The Daily Blog Watch Friday 21 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

If you haven’t already, check out QoT’s observation  that Family First and Dr Miriam Grossman are still lying about sex ed. Ideologically Impure at it’s finest.

No Right Turn has Idiot Savant questioning Bryce Edwards suggestion that the Greens are Losing their soul? Savant points out why Bryce is drawing a long bow on this issue.

After all, did the Nats “lose their soul” when they backed down on not raising GST? Or backed down on increasing classroom sizes? Or backed down on fixed fees for legal aid lawyers? (Mind you, that’s pre-supposing that National has a soul in the first place???)

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

It’s About time, sez Savant,

National isfinally putting the government banking contract out to tender….

Considering how Westpac has not being paying taxes, you have to wonder why any government would reward them with such a lucrative contract?

Find out what The fallout is over the NSA accessing US-based cloud-computing or Skype services,

The NSA have probably just destroyed cloud providers’ entire business model. Their business depends fundamentally on trust – that they’ll keep our data secure, and not hand it out to anyone but us. The NSA has destroyed that trust. The upshot? The cloud can not be used for anything but the most trivial data. Writing larps and storing lolcats on it is fine. Anything serious with privacy, professional or business implications is probably a no-no.

Morgan has new New comment rules  on Maui Street.

Chris Trotter in Bowalley Road sees the Syrian civil war as An Assad Victory as  Syria’s (And The World’s) Least-Worst Option. Chris writes,

By upholding Syria’s rights as a nation-state, China and Russia are, contrary to most Western commentary, making the most useful contribution to the preservation of both the regional and the global peace. It is the United Kingdom and France – both major arms exporters to the leading Sunni monarchies and emirates – that have opted to further inflame the Syrian crisis by bullying the European Union into lifting its ban on selling arms to either side of the conflict.”

Thought it could be asked – would Chris’s option be a license for authoritarian regimes to hold on for grim life, no matter what the cost?

And is world peace (or a facsimile thereof) predicated on some nations’ misery?

But then again, what does it benefit the world to see a dictatorship overthrown – resulting in an entire region explode into conflict?

Sometimes, there seem to be no clear-cut answers.

But things seem more clear cut when it comes to marty writing on mars2earth about some nutter called John Hamilton indulging in  white and black trash hate speech. I would have doubted that such a spiteful, bigotted piece of shit like Hamilton could exist in this country.

But after watching The Vote on Wednesday, nothing surprises me any more.

Some interesting Corporate Wars between Pizza Hut and Hell’s Pizza being reported by Stop Press, when Hell nails a unique cease and desist notice to Pizza Hut’s door. Shades of  The Civilian and Imperator Fish!

Speaking of which,  Imperator Fish’s  Scott releases  The other most-trusted list released today – and blow me down, I can’t tell if it’s real or satirical, without visiting Kiwiblog. It’s worrying when real life is indistinguishable from satire. Well done, Scott!

And the Civilian reports that  Wild weather smashes open Beehive, releases bees,

Wellington has spiraled into chaos this afternoon after extreme winds battered the city overnight, smashing open the iconic Beehive and releasing all its bees.”

But wait! There’s more!

Man convicted of killing sheep to eat them!!!

“… the judge who convicted Clark has condemned him, saying the manner in which he took their lives was “brutal and inhumane,” and if he really wanted to eat a sheep, he would wait for it to be packaged and sent to a supermarket, so that both he and society as a whole could be sufficiently removed from the situation so as not to feel morally culpable.”

On a more critical note, The Jackal demands that we  Stop poisoning beesJackal writes,

Today, an industry associated lobby group for most of the major agrochemical businesses in New Zealand, AGCARM, released a so-called Fact Sheet On Neonicotinoids (PDF), which is filled with inaccuracies and blatant lies.”

It seems that AGCARM is trying to pull a swiftie with BS propaganda, so as to prevents it nasty chemicals from being restricted or banned outright. This is the sort of thing that people need to be wary of; whether multi-national corporations or pressure-groups – watch out for junk science and mis-information.

There’s trouble at the national council of women  reports 

he National Council of Women is in financial trouble.  The troubles arise from loss of charitable status (leading to some rather large tax bills) and some unexpected expenses related to property maintenance.”

It seems that part of the neo-liberal agenda is to commercialise society to such an extent that non-profit organisations find it harder and harder to survive. Read Stargazer’s blogpost and see why losing the NCW will not hbe a good thing for New Zealand.

On Frankly Speaking, see what happens when The “right to bear arms” is taken to it’s lunatic conclusion. It was inevitable, really…

The Dim Post  cuts to the chase to  show us the difference between polls that adjust for bias; do not adjust for poll bias; and a song by the muppets. I think Danyl is trying to tell us something.

By the way, place your cursor over each circle. Each circle represents a poll by a company. Notice which ones are more accurate?

Lots of good stuff on Whoar. To many to lists – but check out  Phillip’s blog. Literally there’s something for everyone…

And also lots more on Werewolf

  • Having It All, Doing It All, by Gordon Campbell – More women are earning more than their spouses, and doing more housework/childcare at the same time

  • Talking Dotcom, by Gordon Campbell –  interviews with Kim Dotcom, his lawyer Ira Rothken and Eric Goldman
  • Mining Below The Floorboards, by Alison McCulloch  –  an unprecedented proposal to mine underneath residential homes in Waihi raises the question: Is there anywhere it’s not OK to mine?

While on The Standard,

Who benefits? asks Karol, as she looks at uprisings in Turkey and Brazil, and analyses dysfunction economies and governments that are not meeting peoples’ needs.

It’s a brilliant insight as to why we are seeing people take to the streets – and in the case of Syria, descend into civil war.

Mana housing policy needs work sez Anthony R0bins, who comes to the conclusion that National is highly vuulnerable on this issue.

OP: Fluoridation – it does reduce tooth decay

Ken Perrott at Open Parachute has been debunking some of the nonsense surrounding the debate on fluoridated water by investigating claims made against fluoridated water. His background is in scientific research, so he tends to actually read the papers cited by others. Unsurprisingly there are some of the weird nonsense interpretations around of papers because many people appear to avoid actually reading the details. This post was published on his site yesterday and has been reposted with permission.”

Extreme weather, and that we  should be prepared for more such events, as climate change puts more heat and energy into our weather systems.

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On The Daily Blog

Citizen A: With Martyn Bradbury, Efeso Collins & Selwyn Manning

As Broadcast on FaceTV – “On Citizen A this week, host Martyn Bradbury is joined by Efeso Collins and Selwyn Manning to debate the following issues:
Issue 1: State house tenant evictions in Glen Innes. Is it all about middle class gentrification?
Issue 2: Does the Gambling Bill re-write mean Auckland will remain cursed by pokies?
Issue 3: Does NZ need employment law reform to legalize scabs?”

Building peoples power today,  by Mike Treen

I continue to believe that the alternative that is instinctively being sought is some form of democratic, cooperative, socialist society. Given the problems the planet is facing nothing else makes sense.  But the traditional left from either the social democratic or Stalinist traditions have nothing to offer for this vision. Even the left social democrats share a “Statist” approach to politics which has the liberal do-gooders fixing things for the ignorant masses. They think politics is the State doing things for us rather than empowering people to do it for themselves. Stalinism is simply the most grotesque form of this type of politics.”

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

THE HISTORY of New Zealanders’ extraordinary love-affair with democracy is not, however, quite so easily expunged. It remains: as both an inspiration and a warning to succeeding generations that, like all other human accomplishments, the practice of democracy is not innate. It must be learned and mastered by doing it over and over and over again.

Somewhere along the line, New Zealanders went from being involved and engaged – to dis-interested and divorced from the political process and the egalitatian nature of our society. How elsre do we explain the inhuman creatures we have in our midst; the Tamakis, the McCoskies, and the Rankins?

The Dunne & Vance Theory conclusion, by Martyn Bradbury

The mainstream media are still playing catch up on this story, and I suspect some real doubts are now starting to be cast on the Vance/Dunne flirtation narrative and there is a dawning realization Dunne was a reference for Vance rather than the direct source.”

And thusly Martyn wraps up an intriguing look at the machinations that he theorises may have led to Peter Dunne’s downfall. Was it true – were “Blue Patriots” the “Second Gunmen” on Parliament’s grassy knoll? We may never know…
Surveillance laws, Strikebreaking, & Subversive groups, by Frank Macskasy

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” – say  those who attempt to justify the  increasing surveillance power of State’s, multi-nationals, and internet “webcorps” like Facebook and Google.

Frank looks at the inter-weaving of National’s legislation and policies, and finds the common thread; our society is changing, and we are facing a growth in executive power at the expense of our freedoms, rights, and privacy.
Whale army fails to materialize,  By The Jackal,

Clearly somebody as morally corrupt as Slater wasn’t a suitable candidate to be editor of The Truth, which was purportedly attempting to clean up its act at the time…what on earth was management thinking?”

Jackal de-constructs and analyses what went  terribly wrong with Cameron Slator and ‘The Truth‘. Simple truth – Slater simply wasn’t up to it. I guess being an offensive jerk doesn’t guarantee success in a business venture? Who the feck knew?

 

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Blogpost of the Day

Phillip Ure on Whoar critiques TV3’s The Vote – and tears to shreds the right wing panel,

the vote:..a review:..stand and take a bow..!..national – labour- and the mainstream media – and david farrar..!..for your successful 30 yr campaign of marginalisation/prejudice/hate-mongering against the sickest/poorest..your creation of the most vulnerable in our society as ‘the other’..and as such only worthy of contempt/support-tearing-away – from their ‘betters’..

This is one Phillip’s best blogposts, and his feelings and thoughts on the issue are straight forward, passionate,  and plain. This is righteous anger which every fair-minded New Zealander should be sharing – but sadly won’t.

Phillip writes in his inimitable style, which simply adds to his message.

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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

The world will be destroyed by those who do nothing - Einstein

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~ Joe Blogger

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

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~oo~