In the Shut the F Up file

Whaleoil reports on how unemployed ex.never was a Cabinet Minister, Judith Tizard, is slamming the government for delaying enactment of the Copyright Act amendment that she screwed up.

Radiolive reports Tizard saying "artists and musicians are being robbed of their livelihoods by illegal downloads"

Given that:
a. Labour and commentators across the political spectrum are damning the appalling mismanagement of this issue, essentially by her; and
b. She was part of a government that has as its raison d'etre robbing people of their livelihoods in part to pay for the livelihoods of artists and musicians who couldn't earn a living selling their art and music to willing buyers...

I think it's time for Judith to do what she said on election night, and have a quiet life.

Protection of intellectual property is very important, but Tizard has proven she doesn't have the competence to be respected on this issue. Other people are trying to fix your mess Judith. A little humility would go a long way.

Amnesty silent over Hamas encouraging child martyrs

So Amnesty International, once a proud defender of free speech, the right to a fair trial and an open liberal society is now calling for an arms embargo on Israel and Hamas. It calls the rocket attacks by Hamas, and Israel's overwhelming response both illegal and immoral.

The fact Hamas started it is, of course, besides the point.

However, what particularly grates is the political imperative behind Amnesty in making this call. It knows it will go nowhere, primarily because the US wont isolate Israel. Imagine if Israel DID suffer an arms embargo. Might that embolden Iran? Which wants Israel wiped off the map, and is developing a nuclear weapons capability. No, Amnesty is silent about that. Wouldn't Hezbollah then start attacks? No, Amnesty doesn't care about that. Idiot Savant thinks it would help. It's incredibly naive to think that. Hamas is fundamentally evil, it should send shivers through the bones of any liberal minded person in the West to think of such people gaining power - much like neo-Nazis. Sadly, the left just sees someone fighting Israel and turns a blind eye.

More importantly, has Amnesty raised concerns about how Hamas encourages children to be martyrs?



No. Amnesty KNOWS the debate wont be about isolating Hamas and Hezbollah, two organisations that if they ever got into power would be egregious violators of human rights. They would oppress non-Muslims, they would discriminate against women, and brutally suppress non-Islamist politicians, media or speech. Amnesty wont say that.

So fuck them. I'll tell the next naive student who asks me to support Amnesty that I wont as long as it refuses to campaign against Islamism, and while we are at it, it remains next to silent about North Korea's gulags which enslave children.

Farewell to the wolf in sheep's clothing

The departure of Jeanette Fitzsimons from Parliament has produced understandable fawning from the Greens, as she was an asset to that party. An asset only due to the inept vapidness of so much of the media that this earnest, hard working, but not very bright woman is seen as the most trusted politician in the country. The left are uncritical of her, and DPF hasn't a bad thing to say which Cactus Kate rightfully pulls him into line over.

While the Greens obviously love her, the way most of the media have not applied scrutiny over this MP absolutely disgusts me.

The public face of Jeanette Fitzsimons demonstrates that mental emptiness in the media, as public sector officials I knew who dealt with her found her honest in her intentions, someone who listened, but also not the sharpest knife in the kitchen. Although she could bring out the knife when she wanted to.

Her image hid the fact that she led a party that has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for initiating force. The peace and non-violence of the Greens are an absolute farce, as it is the party that most avidly promotes the state increasing the scale and extent of force it applies to people and their property.

I fisked her a while back because of her sheer stupidity:

- She doesn't understand trade. I recall many years ago she once said how bad it was that ships went from country to country, passing each other, when people could just enjoy the things they make in their own country;
- She worships at the altar of the religion of rail. She pushed to make you subsidise long distance passenger trains that she, of course, never uses. Seen her use the Overlander from Wellington to Auckland lately?;
- She led a campaign of irrational scaremongering about genetic engineering, that is akin to saying electricity should be kept in the lab because it hasn't been proved safe yet. ;
- It is ten years since she said it was the last Christmas you could eat potatoes you could trust;
- She doesn't believe in private property rights, talking often about "our land";
- She promotes the anti-nuclear hysteria;
- She promotes hysteria over global warming and the belief that the only way to address it is through austerity, not prosperity and technology;
- She demands private companies be split up to allow competition, but state ones be made into statutory monopolies;
- She spread malicious lies that Don Brash wanted to smash Maori culture and force women to be subservient to men.

There is much more than can be laid at the feet of the wolf in sheep's clothing. She looks like and generally talks like she wouldn't hurt a fly, but the truth is that she has been a force against reason, against science, against economics, against individual rights and has happily used personal attacks when she saw fit to do so.

She is a simpering vapid scaremongerer. New Zealanders should be pleased this nice but dim woman has not been in Cabinet, and has at the most dabbled around the edges of power rather than been in control of it.

A little bit of scrutiny might have asked why someone who says:

“We want more people to share the secret of real happiness and satisfaction in life, which comes not from having more but from being more, and from being part of a society that values all its members, and values the land, the water and the other species with which we share them.”

wants to use force to do this.

So farewell Jeanette, you've been very lucky. However, not as lucky as everyone else who has largely avoided the crippling irrational authoritarianism of your policies.

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Well that worked

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Another reason to avoid Ryanair

Ryanair launches in-flight mobile phone calls

Now I've never flown this airline that exists largely for the lager lout, chav, cheap weekend student and typical Brit drink/shag hedonistically weekend market (and to be fair all the eastern European workers who live in the UK and rightly prefer to fly instead of getting a bus to Romania - yes you can get a bus from London to Romania!).

Some of those using it paying bugger all moan incessantly about why they got no ground service, why Ryanair reschedules flights at times that the trains and buses from the airport stop running, they can't board because they are too late checking in when it is 90 minutes before the flight. You get what you pay for.

I've read enough about Ryanair to know that while Michael O'Leary is a business genius for running a safe cheap and nasty airline, it isn't aiming at those of us willing to pay a little more to fly from airports close to where we leave and where we are going, who have lounge access, business class checkin and luggage allowance as a right with airline alliances, and don't want to be crammed into the tightest possible seats with the demographics listed above.

Frankly when I can book weekends away with BA, Swiss, Lufthansa or other proper airlines for less than £150 return in Europe at good times, why use Ryanair? Especially when even business class within Europe (typically a huge ripoff as the seats are worse that Air NZ premium economy, but you get an empty seat beside you, and a proper meal) now can have surcharges of only £80 each way. I can check in online, choose seats, have decent baggage allowance, pay however I want, have lounge access and pay hardly any different from the likes of Ryanair. Why?

Business air traffic in Europe has collapsed, and airlines serving Heathrow know they lose their valuable slots if they don't use them after a while. So they rather fly empty planes than surrender slots that are typically worth tens of millions of pounds if they can sell the slots. So proper airlines have many cheap deals.

So why the hell do I want to sit on a plane while some onanist says "Hi i'm on the plane" at the top of his lungs like some retarded child excited about the amazing technology that allows him to talk to people far away while being 9km above the earth.

There have been phones on planes for years.

I can only hope that proper airlines resist this, especially in the front end where the money is made. I know Emirates has joined the mobile phone club, which is another reason to not use it (besides it not offering frequent flyer points for Star Alliance or One World). Most such airlines have phones at those seats as it is, which are rarely used, indicating how little demand there really is for this. An alternative is to set aside a small area for people to use to make calls, like the lounge on the Qantas A380.

One of the most annoying features of modern life are ring tones, especially the fools who don't switch off the common bog standard ones. Nokia ones are particularly bad.

So good one Ryanair, attract all the people who want to use their mobiles on planes - and help ensure the proper airlines with service, remain free of noise.