Hard News: Little pieces of a big picture
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But I heard SBW was arrested for looting!
No, SBW apparently said on Friday it would take an earthquake for the All Blacks to win the Rugby World Cup in 2011. I think that's right.
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How bizarre. This morning's Herald editorial appears to have been written on a different planet to yesterday morning's Herald on Sunday editorial:
Christchurch and its neighbouring centres face an unprecedented reconstruction effort in local terms. The reassurance so carefully spelled out by Prime Minister John Key of Earthquake Commission funding and of central government assistance will help to provide hope of resolution. Mr Key's urgent visit to the city of his childhood was a necessary duty performed with clarity and purpose.
Civil defence and emergency service officials also acted and communicated through the weekend to a high standard of professionalism. Authorities can plan for such disasters but the reality, as in Christchurch, is that they must deal with peculiar circumstances.
It must have been difficult for the first 90 minutes or so of darkness to estimate reliably the extent of the catastrophe. Once assessments could be made and reports collated, the civil defence response seemed better than for the near-misses of threatened tsunamis in the past few years.
I suspect the HoS hysteria hasn't exactly impressed some other people in the building at APN.
Edit: HoSteria!
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Also, Lilith, you live quite close to us, I think.
Huh, and I thought you were a West Chch girl, Emma! Don't know why I thought that, must have made it up. That's nice to know you're nearby! I like Southeast Chch a lot, it's a good place to live.
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Re the Anderton comment on CTV and the Whaleoil edit. If they'd just looked at the second Anderton segment, at 5:28, they'd have found the REAL reason:
CTV's "Picture of the Week" is a "reminder that spring is just around the corner" and shows the corner of a brick building with a spring lurking behind it! Spring--tension--tectonics, get it?
On the question of telecomms, did Twitter overload at any point? When the FIFA World Cup was being played, here in the Bay Area, I would often get that Twitter graphic showing lots of twitter-birds with strings in their beaks holding up a giant whale.
I saw on one website that Vodaphone was asking people to stop uploading photos and video of the damage because it was overloading the network.
This morning's print Oakland Tribune shows a picture of rubble surrounding a "damaged telephone booth" but apart from a few dings on the metal exterior, it doesn't look too damaged to me. Perhaps they've mistaken the fern pattern glazing for cracks. Great of Telecom to offer free calling from phone booths. It wouldn't matter if anyone did that here--there AREN'T any phone booths!
The online Trib story, which doesn't have that photo, is here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_15998643Paiapoi? Where TF is Paiapoi!
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The reassurance so carefully spelled out by Prime Minister John Key of Earthquake Commission funding and of central government assistance will help to provide hope of resolution.
According to Bomber over at Tumeke, Key has categorically ruled out any government/EQC money for uninsured households in Christchurch.
Assuming he is correct, was that a "carefully spelled out" position from the PM or an off the cuff response to a media question?
Because 10,000 households appear to have been thrown to the wolves with absolutely zero assistance and zero mention...
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The story put about yesterday by the Herald that Jim Anderton declared on CTV on Friday that it would take "an earthquake" for Bob Parker to win the mayoral election is SIMPLY WRONG.
I am, and I don't quite understand why, absolutely fucking FURIOUS to hear that. We're still having significant aftershocks and the Herald is treating this like some kind of media point-scoring game.
Huh, and I thought you were a West Chch girl, Emma! Don't know why I thought that, must have made it up
I was, until March, when we moved to Bromley. We could afford a nice, and apparently very sound, house, and I just love it over here.
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absolutely fucking FURIOUS
So was I. Very angry tweet fired off within a minute of two of learning of the deception.
Normally I take things at a very measured pace.
We both probably reacted becuase, love Anderton or hate him, the fiction is one that will stay with public consciousness for simply years.
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I am, and I don't quite understand why, absolutely fucking FURIOUS to hear that. We're still having significant aftershocks and the Herald is treating this like some kind of media point-scoring game.
It seems the story actually came from Newstalk ZB -- the Herald often copies stuff from their newswire (they're related companies) and the reporter on the job did just that.
I gather both NZPA and Radio NZ are looking to publish corrections, and the bogus story has been removed from the Herald website.
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According to Bomber over at Tumeke, Key has categorically ruled out any government/EQC money for uninsured households in Christchurch.
Assuming he is correct, was that a "carefully spelled out" position from the PM or an off the cuff response to a media question?
Because 10,000 households appear to have been thrown to the wolves with absolutely zero assistance and zero mention...Key's indicated that there will probably be some limited assistance - I imagine it will be emergency welfare payments. I guess they'll hammer it out in cabinet today. It's not as if people have been thrown to the wolves - they had the option of buying insurance and chose to take the risk not to do so.
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And would a decent correction and apology from NZ Herald and Newztalk ZB be too much to ask for?
Decent, as in not buried away on page F85 under the Lost Cats ads.
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On the question of telecomms, did Twitter overload at any point?
Not that I noticed, but Kanye was on a roll, so I'm guessing the pressure was probably more from that side.
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It's not as if people have been thrown to the wolves - they had the option of buying insurance and chose to take the risk not to do so.
There are times, when money is tight, that insurance is seen as an option that can't be afforded.
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Newstalk ZB still has its bogus story up.
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The contrast in how uninsured homeowners and Allan Hubbard's investors are recompensed from the public purse will be interesting to watch as it unfolds this week.
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JLM,
@ David Searle, thanks for strolling out from the non-wreckage and adding your voice. Would be nice to hear from more "long-time readers, first time posters".
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It's not as if people have been thrown to the wolves - they had the option of buying insurance and chose to take the risk not to do so.
In my experience, when things are tight (like during a recession maybe?) insurance is one of the household expenses that gets shunted right to the bottom of the priority pile because spending money on something that will probably never happen is far less pressing that eating and keeping warm.
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Update on "looters" in court this morning.
Seems to be more than one incident, but it's clearly difficult to separate ordinary burglaries from actual looting.
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Compare the risks of a massive quake in Christchurch from an unknown faultline to a finance company underwritten by govt making dodgy investments.
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The contrast in how uninsured homeowners and Allan Hubbard's investors are recompensed from the public purse will be interesting to watch as it unfolds this week.
Actually, I can see the dilemma here - the whole EQC system relies on people first having insurance. To pay out anyway would undermine what is currently thought to be an important component of how we pay for disasters in this country.
I am more interested to know if he just made up his position as a result of an instinctive bias (given his instinctive bias was to help out the National party's rump squatocracy that had money in SCF), or if it was a thought through response.
Key does have a bad habit of saying stupid shit when he shouldn't be saying anything at all.
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And how on earth is the same afternoon "too late" for the PM to get to Christchurch on a military flight?
If he'd been properly prepared he would have been there early.
Yeah, like the night before.
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It turned out that one of the "completely trashed" houses actually suffered two broken crockery bowls and the CD rack had fallen over.
You want to see completely trashed? This is completely trashed (pics on right side of page).
In my experience, when things are tight (like during a recession maybe?) insurance is one of the household expenses that gets shunted right to the bottom of the priority pile because spending money on something that will probably never happen is far less pressing that eating and keeping warm.
We're having a really interesting time getting advice on who to get contents insurance from in America, because no-one seems to have it - or know who does good insurance - on the grounds that "they can only sue you for what you have if the house burns down, and if you're a student you won't have anything anyway!"
The concept that you might want to make sure, for a reasonably small sum of money (smaller than I paid in NZ, for more coverage) that if a disaster does happen you can replace your possessions - or that you might have a moral obligation to make sure your landlord is compensated if you burn the house down - doesn't seem to occur. It's a bit bizarre.
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Crikey, underneath an LA Times article;
New Zealand troops take over security as southern city begins clean-up after major earthquake.
Was this;
WHAT'S ALL THE EXCITEMENT...NEW ZEALAND'S ON "THE RING OF FIRE" AND DOOMED TO DISAPPEAR UNDERWATER, SOONER OR LATER...WITH PACIFIC SEA LEVELS RISING AT ALARMING RATES, WHILE FRESH WATER LAKES AND RIVERS ARE DISAPPEARING, IT WILL PROBABLY BE SOONER. AND NEW ZEALAND'S NOT ESPECIALLY SAFE. THERE'S LOADS OF PROPERTY CRIME ON BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH ISLAND. AND THE OCCASIONAL HOMICIDE OR MUGGING. WHAT'S LAMENTALBE IS THAT NEW ZEALAND, BEING A COMMONWEALTH COUNTRY, MAINTAINS COURTS THAT TAKE AN ANNOYING CLEMENCY TOWARD FELONIOUS CRIME AND THE THUGS (THEY'RE NOT ALL MAORI, BY THE WAY) WITHIN ITS BORDERS.
Hopefully whatever they have in the way of moderators will take care of it, along with the others, but what brought that on? Whoever it is, maybe they should apply for a job at the...
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This is the video that Whaleoil has put up of Anderton.. ... It's not even funny.
Well, I thought the story was funny. And so did Anderton.
In the unlikely event, as they say on the plane, collective responsibility means any other Minister can immediately act.
That's what collective responsibility means? I thought it was all about not ragging on each other.
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the National party's rump squatocracy that had money in SCF
Many people apart from horrible Tories had money in SCF. Eg, my Dad was advised by professionals to put money in there several years ago, in securities that still haven't matured. At the time this seemed neither greedy nor rash, and I'm certainly glad he's come out ok. I think we could ease up on the black and white thinking, and the conclusion jumping.
At some point I would love to see a Media 7 that reviews the marvellous coverage Hubbard and SCF received last year, the year before, and further back, and asks whether financial journalists could have tried a bit harder. I know there was a great episode with a retired finance journo a few months ago, but one that focussed on the creation of the Hubbard myth would be nice.
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The big question we should be asking is "Why did Switzerland do this to us?"
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