Chocolate milk shortage and creepy Santa? Let’s talk about real news

By
Latifa Daud
-
23
6

the-revolution-will-not-be-televised-thats-what-the-internet-is-for-300x225

Child poverty is still a scarily serious problem in this country and house prices are soaring through the roof to the point where it is simply impossible for the average New Zealander to buy a home. There is also little accountability by the government for these problems.

The Child Poverty Action Group has said that the current actions taken by the Key led government is simply not substantial enough. Key also came out and basically said that first homebuyers should consider buying an apartment rather than a house, as if the solution to this issue is as simple as that.

Yet when I check the news what are the first two things I see? We have a serious chocolate milk shortage and creepy Santa might be a no show this Christmas.

I may have just had one of those weeks where every little thing pissed me off because I don’t understand how these are New Zealand’s most pressing issues right now.

I mean, I’ve tried the liquid gold and its pretty amazing but we’ve shown the true colours of our demanding, mass consumption culture when we expect something as obscure as flavoured milk right at this very second and get shitty when we can’t have it. This is a small company that is already doing everything they can to keep up with demand. Cut them some slack, guys.

And about this Queen Street Santa, or whatever he’s called. I’ve lived in Auckland my entire life and feel zero connection to that installation. At first I thought it was because I don’t celebrate Christmas, but then I found out it costs $150,000 to put that thing up every year, and then I thought no, this is ridiculous. Think of how much food you can give to schools so they can feed hungry students with that money. Food for thought.

The elections may be over but the same issues still persist. I’m not saying not to have these things in the news. If this is what kiwis are truly worried about, by all means, go for it. However I’m sick of reading the news as if New Zealand is some type of utopia where ours biggest problems include chocolate milk and a giant Santa, because it definitely isn’t and we know it.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

23 COMMENTS

  1. Cut them some slack? Nope! Green Valley Dairies are opportunists who also do the Oravida Contract. They are owned by Bruce Pullman of HEB ‘repute’. Whole lot of ‘funny business’ goes on at that site. Milk’s supplied by Marphona Farms next door, animal welfare continually questioned by authorities. They ‘lose’ over 300 cows each season from stress related issues, embarrassed by the fell monger calling each day they now dump the carcases in an offal pit on the farm. Cut them some slack? Not from me!

  2. That’s because the media is controlled and manipulated by corporate NZ. The only decent stories are those lifted from the British press, and on TV they buy the stories in from the BBC and US sources.

    Every time you hear about child poverty the brand names of Fonterra and Wheatbix crop up. It’s about marketing and PR, not news. The rest of the time we are whitewashed with stories banging on about how lucky we are. A nice view doesn’t put dinner on the table.

    • I don’t remember anything in the election being about voting for truth about Jason Ede. Can you show me where that was, please.

  3. Think of how much food you can give to schools so they can feed hungry students with that money.

    This is a failure to understand economics. Putting santa up will not take away from feeding people as the resources used are different from those used to feed people. The reason why we have people going hungry in NZ is because the government chooses for us to have poor people so that a few can have more money than they know what to do with.

    http://thestandard.org.nz/social-democratic-economy-part-2/

    If this is what kiwis are truly worried about, by all means, go for it.

    It’s not. I’m pretty sure that most people are, like me, going WTF, who gives a toss about santa?

    However I’m sick of reading the news as if New Zealand is some type of utopia where ours biggest problems include chocolate milk and a giant Santa, because it definitely isn’t and we know it.

    The MSM are working to hide the sickness underneath. The sickness caused when a society caters only to the rich.

    • “Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
      Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!”

      Or Santas, as the case may be. For helping to set the scene and mood for end of year shopping – which may, or may not, generate at least temporary work, with pay, and help a few more people enjoy something of a treat.

      We can have the hair shirts and abnegation for the rest of the year, perhaps.

      “Putting santa up will not take away from feeding people as the resources used are different from those used to feed people.”

      Thanks, DTB, for pointing this out.

  5. I think what nauseates me most about the Santa issue is Sky City helping to fund its retention. SC could make a far better contribution to the people of Auckland by looking at its dubious employment practices.

    The greatest service of all would be to go out of business but that is clearly fantasy on my part. However for the evil it perpetrates it could make a real contribution to alleviating poverty rather than this nonsensical PR puffery.

    As for chocolate milk; I despair. Apart from the contribution to obesity and tooth decay, there will be those who use the issue to argue that there cannot be much poverty given the demand for over priced syrup.

    • 2014
      Auditions have been held for those with wagging fingers to replace Santa.
      Santa could be replaced by Mike Hosking.
      If Mike is unavailable, Paul Henry is second cab off the rank.
      Only if he can abolish the poor people.
      Problem solved.
      Both Mike and Paul will cancel Christmas if the animals can’t afford it.
      Can’t have them wasting tax-payer benefits on fags, beer and presents FFS.
      Fags are OK, beer is not….
      Roll on 2017.

    • Sky City are actually very smart, they know how marketing works, and by doing a bit of much publicised “social good”, they will be noticed, their name will be mentioned, and the message will go out, “oh, those Sky City managers, they are real nice persons, they actually care”.

      It is the same reason why Fonterra and Sanitarium (with their “weetbix” “donations”) have “volunteered” to supply schools with free milk and food. It is not free at all, it is paid for by the customers that buy the usual products, and also for the advertising, and for the marketing, and for PR, and so the customer fools out there are sold all this, to make them believe, oh, what a “sacrifice” our “caring” big businesses are making.

      And so the fools will feel assured and encouraged, to spend the “public holiday”, or rather “public shopping day” that is Labour Day, out there, spending yet more money on the products of such businesses at the retail shops.

      Sky City can then say also, hey we are “good guys”, give us a break, and do not criticise our gambling business, some of it goes into “good deeds”. Never mind the addicts, we also spend a bit on them, for treatment, but leave us alone, and earn yet more, thank you. And the population, media, council and government, they will all think, it is good in our land, rates, taxes and more will flow, and leave them alone, they are “good fellas”.

      That is how it all works, the whole society we have, based on commercialism, profits, and all the side shows and deceit.

      • Not forgetting, of course, that Sanitarium is a charity so the company pays no taxes. Given that the raw materials that go in the food they give away costs them only a few cents, they get a pretty good deal.

      • It is the same reason why Fonterra and Sanitarium (with their “weetbix” “donations”) have “volunteered” to supply schools with free milk and food. It is not free at all, it is paid for by the customers that buy the usual products,

        Yep and I’m always surprised by the fact that so many people fall for that line.

        In Auckland here a lot of our bus stops are privately owned and carry advertising on them. This is advertised as not costing us anything but of course it does – it’s just not accounted for in our rates bills. Instead the cost is put on to everything else we buy and ends up costing us more than it would if we’d had the transparent accountability of the council paying for it.

        It’s that non-transparent costing us more bit that the privatisers really like as it means that they get to pocket more of our money while we’re left scratching our heads wondering where our money went.

  6. Santa and a shortage of chocolate, this is a cartoonists dream. Perhaps the NZH might come up with one if they can tear their adoring gazes away from their dear leader for a few moments.

  7. Animal Farm

    But if there were hardships to be borne, they were partly offset by the fact that life nowadays had a greater dignity than it had had before. There were more songs, more speeches, more processions. Napoleon had commanded that once a week there should be held something called a Spontaneous Demonstration, the object of which was to celebrate the struggles and triumphs of Animal Farm. At the appointed time the animals would leave their work and march round the precincts of the farm in military formation, with the pigs leading, then the horses, then the cows, then the sheep, and then the poultry. The dogs flanked the procession and at the head of all marched Napoleon’s black cockerel. Boxer and Clover always carried between them a green banner marked with the hoof and the horn and the caption, “Long live Comrade Napoleon!” Afterwards there were recitations of poems composed in Napoleon’s honour, and a speech by Squealer giving particulars of the latest increases in the production of foodstuffs, and on occasion a shot was fired from the gun. The sheep were the greatest devotees of the Spontaneous Demonstration, and if anyone complained (as a few animals sometimes did, when no pigs or dogs were near) that they wasted time and meant a lot of standing about in the cold, the sheep were sure to silence him with a tremendous bleating of “Four legs good, two legs bad!” But by and large the animals enjoyed these celebrations. They found it comforting to be reminded that, after all, they were truly their own masters and that the work they did was for their own benefit. So that, what with the songs, the processions, Squealer’s lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their bellies were empty, at least part of the time.

    1945

  9. Dear Daily Blog

    WTF happened to my Animal Farm quotation?

    But if there were hardships to be borne, they were partly offset by the fact that life nowadays had a greater dignity than it had had before. There were more songs, more speeches, more processions. Napoleon had commanded that once a week there should be held something called a Spontaneous Demonstration, the object of which was to celebrate the struggles and triumphs of Animal Farm. At the appointed time the animals would leave their work and march round the precincts of the farm in military formation, with the pigs leading, then the horses, then the cows, then the sheep, and then the poultry. The dogs flanked the procession and at the head of all marched Napoleon’s black cockerel. Boxer and Clover always carried between them a green banner marked with the hoof and the horn and the caption, “Long live Comrade Napoleon!” Afterwards there were recitations of poems composed in Napoleon’s honour, and a speech by Squealer giving particulars of the latest increases in the production of foodstuffs, and on occasion a shot was fired from the gun. The sheep were the greatest devotees of the Spontaneous Demonstration, and if anyone complained (as a few animals sometimes did, when no pigs or dogs were near) that they wasted time and meant a lot of standing about in the cold, the sheep were sure to silence him with a tremendous bleating of “Four legs good, two legs bad!” But by and large the animals enjoyed these celebrations. They found it comforting to be reminded that, after all, they were truly their own masters and that the work they did was for their own benefit. So that, what with the songs, the processions, Squealer’s lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their bellies were empty, at least part of the time.

    Typical Communist media, denying a socialist perspective on media scapegoats like Santa when children are starving.

    In the original draft, I mentioned another diversion which you all missed….

    Not one of them, not even the youngest, not even the newcomers who had been brought from farms ten or twenty miles away, ever ceased to marvel at that. And when they heard the gun booming and saw the green flag fluttering at the masthead, their hearts swelled with imperishable pride, and the talk turned always towards the old heroic days, the expulsion of Jones, the writing of the Seven Commandments, the great battles in which the human invaders had been defeated. None of the old dreams had been abandoned.

    which changed to …

    There had also been a very strange custom, whose origin was unknown, of marching every Sunday morning past a boar’s skull which was nailed to a post in the garden. This, too, would be suppressed, and the skull had already been buried. His visitors might have observed, too, the green flag which flew from the masthead. If so, they would perhaps have noted that the white hoof and horn with which it had previously been marked had now been removed. It would be a plain green flag from now onwards.

    Yours sic-cerely Eric

  10. The solutions could be damned simple:

    Introduce free breakfast and lunches in all schools, make this an obligation for schools, pay for it with taxes (it will not cost as much as this government may complain), and do what schools in countries like Sweden do, one leading developed nation, where this seems to be standard. NO child would go hungry, and it can be done to turn this into “social events”, that create “bonding” and help develop a companionship spirit amongst students, rather than have some come with well filled lunch boxes, and others without anything turning up, creating envy.

    Re housing, firstly bring in a register that all private home sellers and buyers have to file reports with, about who buys what home, and whether the person is a resident, citizen or overseas investor, ask for passport or other ID numbers, and do a proper check on all this.

    Perhaps do the same for landlords, that let out properties to private tenants, and have them report on who pays what rents, and so forth.

    Bring in a law stopping all foreign purchases of residential properties, for people who are not at least permanent residents, bring in a new immigration capping rule, so that when a certain number of “migrants” coming into NZ a stop is put onto new permanent resident applications and grants, so that no unreasonable pressure is put on housing and other essential infrastructure.

    Start a massive social housing program, use land and properties Housing NZ owns, to build new and better and more homes, rather than sell these to private property “investors”, or rather speculators.

    Introduce a capital gains tax, and also a land tax, to stop speculators making unreasonable profits on residential and even some commercial real estate, as I have seen with my own eyes, how properties have turned over a few times in ownership in the same place repeatedly, over a few years. Also “land banking” must be stopped, so a property or land tax kicks in, if empty, unused land and properties are not invested in, improved or sold for reasonable prices within say 3 or 5 years.

    Maintain Hosing NZ and bring in a rent to buy social housing policy, that the corporation will manage, using methods where low interest affordable loans (guaranteed by the state) are offered to low income earners, to buy their own homes, whether standalone or apartments.

    I could add much, much more to the list, it would all be affordable, easy to manage, and take pressures of parents with school kids, and off the housing market, but as I am not an “advisor” to Labour or other parties, I leave it at this, and challenge them to simply meet this, for a start. It should be their damned job to come up with ideas, but we only get so much, so far.

    There are some ideas also, for the new Labour “leader” candidates, to build on. Cheers, and have a good night!

  11. Here’s some real news not carried by the MSM:

    Australian government warrantless data requests pass 500,000

    The number of requests by far exceeds the more than 300,000 requests made in the 2012-13 financial year reported by the Attorney-General’s Department in its Telecommunications (Interception and Access) report last year. The report for this year has yet to be tabled in parliament.

    A spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Department had not responded to a request for comment on the disparity at the time of writing; however, security agencies such as the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) are not required to publicly report the number of metadata access requests they make.

    http://www.zdnet.com/australian-government-warrantless-data-requests-pass-500000-7000034890/

  12. FYI

    Purge our NZ/Aotearoa of the Banks . It’s that simple .

    ” What’s financialism, and how is it destroying your life? ”

    ” As businesses start retaining and investing larger cash-reserves, they’re turning into banks. Banks, meanwhile, need to find another line of work: they become asset traders. Meanwhile, your wages have been stagnant for decades, which means that in order to survive, you must become a debtor.
    An interview with Costas Lapavitsas from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies sets out a good explanation of “financialization” and how it’s colonized every corner of our world. ”

    http://youtu.be/QsXmi58N3CA

  14. I nearly brought up my breakfast when I saw that picture of that hideous santa on the front page. There are many, many more pressing issues our media could and should be covering.

Comments are closed.