The Daily Blog Open Mic – Wednesday – 12th February 2020

By
The Daily Blog
-
7
73

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

7 COMMENTS

  1. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409322/salvation-army-says-government-hasn-t-done-enough-for-impoverished-families
    and
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409323/police-say-family-of-severely-beaten-child-in-flaxmere-must-front-up
    And what will happen then. Someone locked up, roundly berated in Court first and what passes for life goes on.
    Maori were relatively happy before the mean ways of neoliberal economics and the open borders of free markets undermined our way of life. National have shown themselves bereft of anything but worship of materialism and comfort. That’s been around for yonks, but a country wanting a better, fairer system, still with rewards for the quick and adaptable, but ensuring a base of economic life with everyone contributing something, would have tied us loosely together.

    This Maori family with this extremely brain injured child will need lots of help. Invite those who wish to take a nursing course so they can work with the child. To end up with everyone in the family doing something that was paid work, and all working at something they can cope with and earning, would turn their lives around and act as a template for other similar opportunity family ‘enhancement’.

  2. Slack NZ with numerous nit-picking regulations about possible harms. Yet when something serious happens the systems slow and stop in shock. The whole idea apparently is to have zero accidents and events, and when life happens while they are dreaming up forms, there is no system for an appropriate response. We live in dreams in this country, where everything matches the PR of an advertising blurb. Actually we are pretty wild west, and civilised behaviour developed in the 20th century is being stripped away.

    Worksafe’s ideas on health and safety. (Still trying the low regulation and control, but work with and beside the business to raise standards – (called ‘capture’ of the authority by the cynics.)
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/407883/broken-ribs-crushed-truck-and-worksafe-won-t-investigate?autoplay=true

    The NZ response to Whakaari Island disaster would have been viewed overseas with dismayed surprise at the timidity shown by authority. We make our tourism money selling NZ as an adventure playground, not a type of euthanasia plan, and people expect us to be up to the mark, in running businesses which carefully limit the risks by having good equipment and procedures. We have been roundly criticised by family of a dead adventure tourist. – I think she was a Scot

    The attitude of the police is underwhelming. I think that they should not be in charge of rescue attempts, and are caught by their need to investigate and prosecute and limit hazard and they seem hamstrung.
    They do not co-operate well with people, defaulting to an authoritarian stance. I think this helicopter pilot’s story has given me a clear picture of the Whakaari Island disaster and the admirable work done by civilians to provide much needed immediate help. It is notable that the police are not forthcoming with information they request.
    . https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409269/whakaari-helicopter-pilot-wants-update-on-people-he-rescued
    First responders:
    “We’re not too sure who survived and who didn’t from who we brought out. And obviously with some of the injuries and some of the identification processes that have to go on, it’s all kind of lost track of who came in where. Yeah, it would be nice to know how they’re getting on.”
    The eruption on 9 December last year has to date left 21 dead and 25 seriously injured, some of whom remain in hospital facing a long road to recovery…

    Kāhu NZ pilot Tom Storey helped to rescue 12 people after the eruption, along with colleagues Mark Law and Jason Hill.
    “I got a phone call from one of the other pilots from work saying that the island looked to be erupting,” he said.
    “I was building a house at the time just down the road from the airport so I just dropped my tool belt and made my way as fast as I could down to the hangar.”
    He gathered water, first aid kits and gas masks and jumped into a helicopter with Jason Hill. Mark Law took another chopper.
    “We didn’t know if anyone was on the island at the time, we just knew that Volcanic [Air] had had a trip out there … so we were just going out hoping that no-one was on the island. But unfortunately, yeah, there were some people that got caught out.”

    Once they landed, Law – who runs the businesses – came up with a plan of action and delegated tasks.
    “We saw some bodies from the air so we just bee-lined it straight to them and, yeah, started with that group and just worked our way through,” he said.
    “There were some deceased, there were some that were conscious, there were some that were unresponsive but still alive.

    “Once Mark found out that Westpac [Rescue] weren’t coming out to help us, that’s when he made the call that we were going to turn into the old rescue team. That’s when we started picking up people and carrying them to the helicopters.”
    They loaded five of the injured into Hills’ helicopter, five in Laws’ and another two in a chopper belonging to Tim Barrow from Volcanic Air, who had arrived to help.

    Storey remained on the island.
    “By that stage people if they hadn’t died already were very close to dying. I made them as comfortable as I could and sat with them in their last few moments.”
    This included his friend Hayden Marshall-Inman, a guide from White Island Tours…
    Storey then continued to look for survivors, checking in an emergency shelter to see if anyone had made it there.
    He had thought the helicopters would be back shortly to pick up the bodies, but authorities decided it was too dangerous for them to fly over the volatile volcano.

    Unfortunately, Marshall-Inman’s body was washed out to a sea and has not been recovered…
    “We were under the impression we were heading back out that afternoon or that evening to get the remains of everyone else. I’d love to have got all eight bodies off before I got off.”

  4. Tiwai – do we want them. Whatever we do will they sue us through the Kangaroo Trade Court?
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409387/gore-council-fuming-after-deal-to-move-dross-turned-down

    Is it a case of getting rid of them while we can. And can they tell us what they will do with the ouvea or whateva poisonous stuff when they take it away. How can poor little Gore deal with these bruisers in suits.
    Our Wellington chooks haven’t much heft either. Let’s get some advice on how to punch above our weight or at least put a knee in their groin.

  5. These economists haven’t had a new idea since Adam was a cowboy. (Very old saying – deep in history.)
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/409362/reserve-bank-of-new-zealand-keeps-official-cash-rate-at-1-percent
    The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) has held its benchmark interest rate at a record low, but signalled it’s ready to act if the impact of the coronavirus threatens the economy.

    Do you remember how various countries laughed at Greece? They were in a mess haha, but don’t be sanguine about our status.

Comments are closed.