The Daily Blog Open Mic Thursday 21st May 2015

1. Where is the New Zealand Labour Party on the TPP?….the silence is deafening!…..

   ‘Show us the deal: Senators Warren, Manchin demand Obama disclose TPP’

   http://rt.com/usa/260197-warren-manchin-obama-tpp/

   “Two Senate Democrats have sponsored a bill demanding the White House reveal the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to the public at least two months before Congress could give President Obama fast-track authority.

   Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in proposing the two-page Trade Transparency Act, reports The Hill. If adopted, the bill would require the White House release the “scrubbed bracketed text of any trade agreement” no less than 60 days prior to a vote in Congress on fast-tracking the treaty….

   Congress is currently considering a bill giving the White House fast-track authority to negotiate the TPP, a trade pact that would include 11 Pacific Rim countries, notably excluding China. Warren and Manchin maintain that keeping the details of the agreement classified makes it impossible for legislators to amend the treaty, and difficult to block its final approval.

2. The Wasp… Inside the Rotten Apple

   YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   I’ve a mate of working in the GCSB as a surveillance technician. His code name is, ‘The Wasp’
   Here’s a transcript of a conversation he surveilled.….

   “Hello John, Bill here.”

   “Wassup?”

   “I’ve got Annie here and she’s struggling a bit because she’s copping a bit of flack over us cutting funding to Relationships Aotearoa.”

   “Tell her to man up and stop sniveling… and while she’s at it she can stop making stupid comments about not propping up organizations that don’t deliver. If anyone pays enough attention and realizes that’s exactly how we operate we’re all screwed.”

   “OK. I’ll let her know.”

   “Jeez Bill, she should be able to figure it out… you seem to forget that we don’t have the money because in 2010 we borrowed $2 billion so that we could give top income earners, people like you, me and Annie, tax cuts. That meant we took almost $2 billion less in tax and the loan has to be repaid. The money has to come from somewhere and it’s not going to bloody well come from me.”

   “Yeah, I’m just wondering if that was such a good idea…”

   “Are you pulling my bloody ponytail!!!? Try this for size! Do you want to be seen in last year’s Audi? Do you have any idea what a new Ferrari cost? It’d take someone on the minimum wage a bloody lifetime just to pay for a new set of tyres.”

   “Ok, but it’s a few billion in the hole.”

   “What are you worrying about? You don’t have to pay it. What do you think middle & low income taxpayers are for?”

   “Yeh, someone once said the poor would always be with us.”

   “I’ll make bloody sure of that! We’ve always gotta have brutes to bear the burden… OK, enough of this… I’ve gotta call Tim and make sure he’s on track securing our corporate future for when I’m no longer Pryme Sinister…. Later!”

   (I said you wouldn’t believe it)

   • NEWS FLASH – JOHN CAMPBELL SACKED. STRAIGHT AFTER BUDGET RELEASE 2 PM TODAY.

     A COINCIDENCE.? – NOT. A POLITICAL DECISION? YES.
     Well – well after Radio NZ News at 3PM announced the Budget they announced that TV3 was dropping Campbell live was sent in a letter just after the 2pm how insidious was that for TV3 to drop the sacking straight after the budget???? John has left TV3.
     URGENT OPPOSITION PARTIES.
     I hope Opposition parties NOW WAKE UP AND PLACE A WRIT IN COURT TO ORDER HALF TVNZ/RNZ BACK INTO THEIR HANDS TO PRESENT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY AND HIRE JOHN CAMPBELL!!!!

3. There is a Neolib view in New Zealand that restricting the DPB stops teenage pregnancies ( see Post comments by Andrew on Miteria Turei’s May guest blog on the ‘Daily Blog’)

   This is counter to the international prevailing view that looks at other social issues such as young female wellbeing and rights ….contraception, supportive family , education and employment independence opportunities etc…better to address these issues than chauvinist female victim blaming and making children of the poor even more disadvantaged

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy

   “In developed countries, teenage pregnancies are often associated with social issues, including lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer life outcomes in children of teenage mothers. Teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage, and carries a social stigma in many communities and cultures.[8] By contrast, teenage parents in developing countries are often married, and their pregnancies welcomed by family and society. However, in these societies, early pregnancy may combine with malnutrition and poor health care to cause medical problems.

   Teenage pregnancies appear to be preventable by comprehensive sex education and access to birth control.[9] Abstinence-only sex education does not appear to be effective.[10]”

   http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/36/4/415.abstract

   In countries where women have equality of opportunity and good contraception options they do not choose to have teenage pregnancies…this is a feminist issue , a human rights issue and also an overpopulation issue

4. John Campbell is leaving. A sad day for the ordinary Kiwi battler, now left without a public voice to hold corrupt government and it’s bent cronies to account.

   He’s obviously had a gutsfull. A victim of state interference in media! Says a lot about where NZ is heading and it’s not a nice direction I’m seeing.

   Kia ora John. Thank you for everything you have done. You will be sorely missed. I wish you well in whatever you choose to do for the future.

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/68739990/john-campbell-to-leave-tv3

5. The Budget!!!, i am a little lost for words, a wee bit red-blue is my first impression,

   And,(you may figuratively put me up against the wall and call in the firing squad for this if you must),i never thought i would see the day when i would give any applause for a National Government budget,

   i did tho, the raise in the base benefit level for kids dependent on a benefit and the lift in Working for Families for those earning the least, it provoked from me a slow hand clap,

   All those kids will take it and deserve it, it ain’t a huge amount but every little bit helps,

   i get the feeling from Bill English’s comment, ”in the end we believe in parental responsibility”, that there may have been a debate within National about the ‘food in schools’ programs advocated by many of us,

   The numbers ain’t in yet but i will do the riffmatic just to see whether a school breakfast and lunch program might have reached far more kids and their families,

   This is the first rise in a base rate for any benefit since the Government of Norm Kirk, so far from quibbling i am going to sit back and applaud ”one small step for the betterment of the most vulnerable kiwi-kids”,

   Where Labour now has to move,(except match English’s example in it’s
   first budget), is a wait and see…

6. Campbell Live and its Discontents: The Culture Industry, Repressive Desublimation, and Investigative Journalism in New Zealand

   http://potentialhumanist.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/campbell-live-and-its-discontents.html

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