The focus on government spending

I pity Bill English come Budget time. However, in times of adversity comes opportunity. Richard Prebble has written an excellent piece on the numbers and how serious it is. And a little number crunching by my spies shows the following.

Government spending per person in 1983/84, 2009 dollars, was $11,527.35. Government spending per person in 1995/96, 2009 dollars, was $11,292.22. Government spending reduced over this time saving each of us about $230.00 per year.

Yet government spending per person in 2008/09, 2009 dollars, was about $19,000.00. So between 1983 and 2009, the increase cost you about $7,500.00 per year. But which Government stole more?

National: $2,662.22 (4 years)
Labour: $4,905.41 (9 years)
Total: $7,567.63

This increased cost of Government for families is as follows:

Family of Three
$22,702.90

Family of Four
$30,270.53

Family of Five
$37,838.16

Family of Six
$45,405.80

Productivity, not government spending, is the driver of our wealth and wages. High productivity growth will deliver high wage growth. But unfortunately, high taxes and poor quality spending decrease productivity. We are paying for government twice – once through taxes, and once through lower wages.

Productivity growth from 1984 – 1990 was 2.8%. In 1990 – 2000 it was 2.5%, yet in 2000 - 2008 it was a mere 1.1%. This cost in lost wages adds up over time. The difference between 1% productivity growth and 3%, over ten years, is almost 25%. That is, policies which lowered our productivity growth have resulted in wages 25% lower than they would otherwise be. For the average wage earner, that’s over $10,000 per year.

So what's the future?

Let's take a "two futures" look for the year 2021. If we do the same as we have done over the last 12 years from now till then government spending will be $31,500.00 for every man woman and child: the average income will be $54,600.00.

But with quality policies, which involve reduced government spending at just $19,000.00 for every man woman and child in New Zealand, plus inflation adjustments, the average income will be about $69,000.0.

Do you want a big government in 2021 or a small government? The burden of Government per person could be $31,500.00 or $19,000.00 and therefore an average wage of either $54,600.00 or $69,000.00.


Your choice.

Norman 'not a serious contender' says Standard 'Greenie'

Barnsley Bill told me the other day that The Standard is losing its Greenery.

Commenters like Tane, Steve Pierson and Irish Bill claim to have some Green ancestry in their politicking and this is confirmed by a look at Tumeke!

Barnsley noted that one might expect the Greenies among its ranks just might want to say something about their beloved co-leader Russel Norman standing in the Mt Albert by-election.

Indeed, on the day of the confirmation that the great man is standing, we see nothing on the announcement from the great blog of the left.

Now, the Standard has often claimed to be 'independent' of Labour, even though bloggers like Whale Oil and David Farrar so comprehensively showed how Labour and the Standard were joined at the hip, via the EPMU and through government departments prior to Election 2008.

Looking at its opinions, dissent from the Labour line is very rare, where it exists at all.

Now, I did look hard to find commentary from its so-called Greenies about the Mt Albert by-election. I do see such commenters claiming Liarbour affiliations too, but the lack of support given to the Greens is illuminating.

Here's what Tane blogged a week ago about Russel Norman.

Speaking of the byelection. Interesting choice for the Greens to go with Russel for their candidate (it’s not official yet until the local party makes its choice but even in the Greens the leader gets what the leader wants). It will be an opportunity for Russel to increase his profile and it will be interesting to see how he campaigns on the streets. He’s obviously not a serious contender for the seat and I don’t think he will split the Left vote to any significant extent. Labour would never have counted on the Greens to give them a free ride or expected it.

Well, if that's what you get from so-called supporters like Tane this is not good for the Greens, unless of course Tane really has no Green credentials at all, and is simply a Liarbour stooge claiming to be something else, with the Standard the Liarbour 'lapblog' as I have always claimed!

Crossposted over at The Fairfacts Media Show

Nothing Better To Do?

What on earth did they expect to find?

Adolf has no particular sympathy for trading banks.

However, every day people sign loan agreements with banks. These agreements are binding contracts between both parties, in which the financial penalties for breaking a fixed rate loan agreement (it's the agreement which is broken, not the mortgage, shit for brains journalists) are clearly stated.

When you break an agreement there are penalties. If you don't like the way your bank calculates break fees, go and find another bank. If you can't find a bank with break fees to your liking, DON'T BORROW the bloody money in the first place. Most of all, DON'T GO COMPLAINING to the Commerce Commission because you lost the bet on whether rates would go up or down.

Will New Zealanders ever grow up? Have they become so used to turning to Nanny State to bail them out of their own self made troubles?

If this is an example of how the Commerce Commission uses our tax dollars then it is a prime candidate for severe and immediate downsizing. Next thing you know, they'll be accusing McCains of collusion with Watties because both companies sell frozen peas which are the same colour. (At least they don't include the berries of Deadly Nightshade.)

I'd rather have another thousand hip replacements thanks.

Cullen gone - last nail in Labour's coffin

Considering the Clyde dam delivered electricity to help give Cullen a very comfortable lifestyle, it's a bit rich (prick) having a crack at it now. Only annoyed by this comment because I worked on the dam as an engineering student one summer and well remember that it was hard and occasionally dangerous work. We should be proud of it as a nation.

If he is going to go down in history as a wit then I'll believe half of what I hear.

I Still Can't Find It

Update April 30th: The United States economy shrunk during the first quarter of 2009 by 6.1% (annualised rate) Curiously, that's exactly the same rate at which the Chinese economy grew during the same quarter. Now you know where to look for early recovery for New Zealand. More trade with China and India. (They are spending) and less trade with Obama's US of A which rapidly is becoming the economic train wreck of the 21st century.

The bloody recession, that is.

I see Fonterra is about to TREBLE its sales to China and has just cracked open the Egyptian market for its Anchor range of products. Sounds to me like the cow cockies will be having a pretty decent recession this time round. Anyone else picking better than $6.00 per Kg next year? With interest rates half the rate of a year ago?

The Herald reports that China is having a tough time because it's GDP increased by ONLY 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009.

Well folks, so much for the world wide recession. China appears to be not part of the world because recession means your GDP is in decline (euphemistically termed negative growth) for two consecutive quarters.

"China has reported its worst economic growth data since 1992. Growth slowed in the first quarter of this year to 6.1 per cent, but some analysts see signs of a recovery with hope that the last quarter was the trough.

Growth was 6.8 per cent in the last quarter of last year, but the first-quarter GDP figure dropped as exports fell 17 per cent last month."

Accordingly, Adolf asks that journalists cease the use of this outrageously exaggerated term 'world wide recession.' It is damaging negative propaganda and it is a lie.

I wonder how certain other countries are getting on? The ones which do not suffer from tax and spend socialist governments and their cradle to the grave social services and bloated public services? No doubt NZ, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada are in recession but what about India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore?

Where can I get a look at their 2009 first quarter figures?

Update: From the OECD website - final quarter 2008:-

India ....... GDP 5.92
Indonesia GDP 7.78
Czech RepGDP 0.32
France .....GDP 0.88
Germany .GDP 1.17

Italy .........GDP 1.47


So there you go. It's a world wide recession which doesn't include China, Indonesia and India - must be nearly half the world's population.

Michael Cullen's valedictory

The disembowelment of Labour is almost complete: Cullen is gone.

What were his four main low points?

• The failure to stop the philistine obscenity of the Clyde high dam.
• The lack of consensus around the foreshore and seabed issue.
• The difficulty of getting a simple approach to the problem of leaky homes.
• The failure to get the majority of the press gallery to understand fiscal policy.

Not a word about Rogernomics.

What does that tell you.

Champions League 2009: Arsenal v Manchester United

The title to this post alone should get us a few hundred overseas hits and raise our stats counter.

Tomorrow, 6:45am NZT, The Arse v Man U at Old Trafford, Leg 1.

In about a week's time Cactus will be ~ $250 poorer and writing in glowing terms on her blog about Arsenal.

Magic.

Advertorial. New magazine available now.

New title available at all good book stores tomorrow morning.

Testimonials..
Dick Cheney: This is a must read for all right thinking people.
Haliburton: This is a must read for all gun owners wanting to put their weapons to profitable use.
Phil Goff: Use of mercenaries is paid murder, but the cartoons in this magazine are really cool.

From the brain of Barnsley Bill... Actual komputer creation courtesy of the Death Star

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides...

And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger... those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers!

STILL PONDERING WHETHER I (or any other person as partisan as me) WOULD BE SUITABLE TO WORK IN THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.

Perhaps my three regular readers (yes, that includes you mum) could advise whether a ranting hate monger from the right (or left) should be trusted to offer impartial research assistance to our parliament.

Antarctica is a big girl's blouse

Idiot/Savant over at No Right Turn has put up his daily shrill on climate change. This time it's on the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica which has collapsed. It is now a race to see what kills us all first: climate change or swine flu.

But isn't Antarctica just bloody soft? I mean, climate change, if it has occurred at all, might have raised the temperature in Antarctica over the last 100 years by...............wait for it...............3 degrees. Yep, a whole 3 degrees. So if we apply averages to that, Antarctica has gone from its usual average of -49 (that's minus 49!) to - 46 (minus 46!). That's not during the last year, but the last hundred!

If Antarctic ice can't handle that then we are well and truly stuffed because it shows how fragile the World really is.

If the World is this fragile, that it cannot handle a minuscule increase in temperature without ice breaking up all over the place, then I'm buggered if I'm going to spend my only life on this planet worrying about trying to save it when on this evidence it cannot be saved.

Antarctica is a big girl's blouse that can't handle a little hot air.

Pic stolen from FFM.

From Mesopotamia to Mt Albert: The politics of left-wing amnesia!

One of the issues that was certain to drive a reaction over at No Minister and its forerunner, Sir Humphreys, was the rights and wrongs of the War in Iraq.
Indeed, Tim Selwyn at Tumeke! says its endless debates over Iraq helped create the Tumeke! blog.
But what gave the debate added frission was the evidence that senior Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Al Gore believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that George Bush was right in trying to remove him.
As for President Pantywaist, he too will have changed his views with the political wind.
How the Democrats have changed their views over the years, out of political opportunism, or what, becomes ever clearer with a few more embarrassing facts.
Just as President Pantywaist is revealing various details of how, why and where the US carried out certain practices like waterboarding, we see senior Democrats up to their neck in it, despite Pantywaist’s attempts to release information to embarrass the old Bush presidency.
Andrew Bolt has published some comments from former CIA director Porter Gross, accusing the Donks of a ‘disturbing epidemic of amnesia’ while giving away too many secrets that help our enemies.
His op-ed in the Washington Post tells more.
The Wall Street Journal looks at the issue further in The Politics of Liberal Amnesia.
House speaker and arch lefty Nancy Pelosi seems the greatest sufferer with her coming under greatest scrutiny, of more from bloggers and sympathetic media, rather than the MSM.
The Bulletin of Philadelphia says she has conclusively lied over her denials of previously approving such waterboarding.
But apparently,Pelosi now wants records kept secret.
And as Democrats talk of indicting George Bush, Dick Cheney and other prominent Republicans over the interrogation techniques, aren't Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democrats like Harry Reid now equally guilty of ‘war crimes’ and shouldn’t they also face trial for allowing waterboarding?
Of course, I have no problem with waterboarding as a technique itself.
The issue is also not so much about state secrecy but one of rank hypocrisy.
Indeed, back in New Zealand, looking at the Mt Albert by-election, that is what makes the Shearer revelations all the more interesting.
Labour looks set to stand a candidate whose rightist beliefs, learnt at the foot of Rodney Hide, conflict with everything the Labour Party supposedly believes.
Its leader Phil Goff has been seen as a rightwinger by Labour standards, but Shearer’s views on private armies would even put him on the right of ACT, even some libertarians.
Fortunately, Shearer has owned up to his beliefs, especially when confronted with concrete evidence of them, even if the Liarbour leadership would prefer to forget them and wish they not might exist.
But considering how lefties everywhere can be exposed for hiding their previous views, I am sure ‘the Politics of Labour Amnesia’ could well make an excellent subject for an article on the Labour candidates for Mt Albert, as well as what it did concerning what top US Democrats actually believed, condoned and supported during the War in Iraq!

More Crap From The Herald

Here's the headline:-

'Insensitive' insurance company forced to pay worker $17,000

But wait.

It's not an insurance company, its a pissant back yard insurance broker.

BIG DIFFERENCE

Insurance companies are major corporates who generally treat their staff very well.

Insurance brokers are often erstwhile backyard fraudsters who operate on a shoe string and treat their staff like newly arrive dog turds.

I hope the Insurance Council brings a complaint.

Another Sign Post

Do we need a ministry for men??

Do we in the pussy whipped nation of New Zealand need a Ministry for Men?

After being ridden roughshod over by the harridans of Helengrad, isn't there now a case for the tide to turn?

Over in Britain, Conservative Home looks at the issue, as Gorden's Brown's number 2, Harriet Harpie, brings in fresh new 'equality' legislation.

The article looks at issues like education, cancer, crime, domestic violence; where there is a marked difference between the sexes. Yet government is doing little here and men are significantly worse off and discriminated against.

We could easily argue the same applies here in New Zealand.

Now, you might argue that things are bad for Britain, if their Conservatives are now going down a similar PC route.

Unless, of course, the aim is to highlight the inconsistencies of ministers for women, ministers for minorities and other supposed discriminated groups.

And we must not forget the plight of that most abused minority, the taxpayer, who has to foot the bill for such follies.

As New Zealand faces a tough budget, perhaps a government reflection of such activities, ministers and ministries might lead to the abolition of such posts here.

Surely in the name of equality, in a country where women have achieved so many top jobs, such organisations and roles are archiac and patronising.

Furthermore, you also cannot have one without the other!

ACT's Trojan Horse

Rodney Hide and, more likely, Roger Douglas have thrust a spear deep into the vitals of a struggling Labour Party. They achieved this remarkable feat by way of a Machiavellian combination of KGB like patience, Greek cunning and Schindlerlike deception. Did they manage to plant a sleeping Trojan Horse in the Labour Party as long ago as possibly the late eighties, about the same time Roger Douglas was fathering the ACT Party? Looks like they did.



The sleeper's name is David Shearer.
When you read his paper on privatization of the armed forces and then look at his subsequent opinions on privatization, published when he was a member of Phil Goff's staff, no less, you begin to wonder exactly what Mr Goff meant when he described Mr Shearer as 'a very special person. (AVSP)

His 'specialness' appears to be an uncanny ability to make ACT MP David Garrett look like a weepy eyed liberal by comparison. In that he has been consistent all the way through. No flip flops from this right wing hard liner.

All the Gnats have to do is put up a couple of platoons of school cadets marching though the streets of Mt Albert with bayonets fixed and rifles at the slope, shouting "Labour's Private Army" in between singing verses of the Waffen SS's favorite Wagnarian marching songs.

What will Labour do next? Put up Dr Michael Bassett as their new 'surprise' candidate? You'd think they would at least had enough political nous to put up someone called Clark.

Sad news

I remember LWR from when I was a kid so this is sad news.

What annoys me is this statement.

"Hundreds of jobs are at stake and we are sure that poor management is at the heart of the problem," said the secretary of the union's clothing and textiles section, Maxine Gay.

Talk about kicking the owner Ken Anderson in the balls. I don't know Mr Anderson but I would imagine that he didn't invest in LWR only to mismanage the company into oblivion. Mrs/Miss/Ms Gay should make constructive comments or pull her head in.

Maybe Ken's problem was banking with Westpac.

Gore exposed as money-grabbing fraud,just like global warming!

I was watching Ian Wishart promoting his new book AirCon on Breakfast yesterday.
The book comes as Australia also has a similar publication attacking the current orthodoxy that man’s activities are causing ‘global warming.’
Anyway, the best news on the climate change front this week just emphasises how much of it appears to be a con- a ruse by governments everywhere to increase tax revenues and control of economies.
Indeed, New Zealand’s own emissions trading programme would have left our government with a $22 billion surplus as well as bring in a host of legislation and controls.
Well, over in the USA, government hearings into proposed emissions trading legislation has heard a Democratic Congressman admit its ETS plans are a ‘great tax.’
Better still was Al Gore being exposed as someone who will profit greatly from cap and trade legislation.
Gore also lied about his financial dealings too.
Indeed, it pays to go green and make millions from spreading fear.
But what can we expect from Al Gore, whose house hypocritically uses far more power than the one George W Bush has!
Oh and how is that Global Warming coming along?
In retreat like those fabled glaciers, it seems.
Ditto in Australia, and I saw plenty of snow on Ruapehu and the Kaikoura ranges last week!
Just as events gave Ian Wishart plenty of fresh material for new chapters when he published Absolute Power a year ago, thus it will be the same this time round, with plenty of new material to back his case in Air Con.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit, Andrew Bolt

New No 1 Best Seller

Film rights are currently being negotiated with Hollywood's elite scrambling for lead roles.



Subtitled "How The left Was Spun," this fascinating story of lust, deceit, betrayal and pure dumb arsed political naivete could have been written by Ludlam.

From the invisible party leader, the cast ranges though the carpet bagging neo fascist ring in 'good guy', a neophyte teenage party hack, the aging bumbling apparatchiks, the desperate but futile press releases, leading up to the thrilling denouement of a by-election in which any one can win.

Anyone but Labour, that is.

The Recession Is Over

For the dairy industry at least.



Today Fonterra increased the milk solids payout for the current season. Expect more to come.

"Powder prices on our global Dairy Trade platform have increased and our global sales team has made good progress in selling product at these improved prices. As a result, we now have the cautious optimism necessary to signal a modest but welcome increase in payout."

Those with eyes and ears have seen this coming for some time. The world cycle for dairy products started to trend upwards some months ago but there was little media comment. Fonterra cracked the Egyptian market recently and expects sales to China to triple in the near term.

You can be sure this will have been one of the reasons for PM John Key's optimistic assessment of our ability to come out of recession sooner, rather than later.

Astute watchers have been keeping a close eye on lamb prices as well. A typical 17kg lamb which would have fetched $60 last year is currently bringing $95 and is expected to sell for up to $120 next season. Some recession!



These things all mean prosperity for New Zealand about which Treasury had not the faintest idea when it issued it's gloomy predictions before Christmas.

Top 10 Quintessential Kiwi Foods

Adamsmith 1922 over at The enquiring Mind has been drooling over The Top Ten Kiwi Tucker Icons. Adolf has always been a bit of a tooth man so, for what it's worth, here is my ten penneth worth.

Right at the very top of the list is NZ's traditional national dish.

1. Roast lamb (Merino/South Suffolk cross - killed at 14 months) and mint sauce, accompanied by steamed new potaoes, fresh green peas and sweet corn on the cob, all with lashings of butter.

2. Carefully prepared Maori hangi - pork, mutton, potato, kumara, beet root, puha.

3. Steamed pipi, cockles and kutai (mussels) with lots of fresh bread and butter.

4. Steamed Tarakihi or Hapuka with mashed potato and kumara (combined) and plenty of fresh greens. Plenty of salt and cracked black pepper along with lemon juice over the fish.

5. An eighteen inch long slab of sirloin steak, turned on the char grill for forty minutes while continually basted in a brew compising red wine, worchester sauce, tomato sauce, hot chilli sauce, garlic, soy sauce, balsamic viegar and any thing else which gets in the road. Black on the outside, nipple pink in the middle. Char grilled vegies on the side.

6. Steam pudding with custard sauce.

7. Roast chicken with roast vegies and silver beet. Lotsa gravy.

8. Bacon and eggs with baked beans and tomato.

9. TipTop Icecream

10. KFC for South Aucklanders.

Dunne up to his old tricks

You would think that the Minister of Revenue would have better things to do with his time these days. This guy will say anything to get his photo in the paper.

The reporter may as well have gone straight to the last line.
"Prime Minister John Key could not be reached for comment last night"

Maybe Worth Has Value?

Adolf has been puzzled as to the reasons Prime Minister Key has backed Richard Worth after so many apparent gaffes and lapses of judgment. John Key is not a fool and he will have had good reason.



Maybe there's a clue in Mr Key's pragmatic approach to politics - 'what's good for New Zealand is what we'll do.'

Last week Adolf posted on those countries which are NOT in recession. These represent a surprisingly large swathe of the world's population. They include China, Indonesia and INDIA.

Richard Worth appears to have close contacts and a long association with New Zealand's Indian community and with business people in India itself. Here lies the Key philosophy. If we want to get out of recession quickly then we need to rapidly expand our trade with countries which can afford to and want to buy our goods. That means India. That means Richard Worth might be able to help make it happen.




Adolf predicts MP Richard Worth will shortly resign as a list MP and accept a specially created role as New Zealand Business Ambassador to India, based in Mumbai and reporting directly to the PM.

Just goes to show, everybody has some value, if little worth.

Phil, send the signs back, the signwriter missed a line

Putting Mt Albert first.

Unusual billboard when you consider Labour and it's blog mouthpiece are doing anything but putting Mt Albert first.

Is forcing Twyford to stand aside putting Mt Albert first?
Is trying to squash Meg Bates candidacy putting Mt Albert first?
Is flying in a carpet bagger, a failed candidate from previous elections, a man who is rumoured to be from the Roger Douglas end of the old Labour party, a man whose sole qualification seems to be being an old school buddy of Goff putting Mt Albert first?
I don't think so.
Putting aside the fact that labour and it's blog mouthpiece have developed a testicular torsion brought on by the Machiavellian manipulations of Blofeld and Darth Blogger they really have shown themselves up for the command and control clowns that they are.
Using senior labour staffers to run the on the ground campaign while still blogging "anonymously" at the Standard is a plan doomed to fail.
Labour will win the by-election, but at what long term cost to their credibility and Leader?

The Clark faction led by the Tizard trough feeding dynasty and the Edwards family is pushing hard for Bates while the parliamentary leader is pushing for his school chum. This will end in tears.

NZ Govt Acts Decisively

In the face of the sudden threat of Mexican Swine Flu, Prime Minister Key this morning has announced decisive action.

"Mr Key said the Government was invoking its flu plan and health officials hiked the potential influenza epidemic status to yellow, just below the code red response phase.

"I think New Zealanders can be confident that the government has a plan............."


In addition, all Labour Party MPs, party office bearers and union officials are to be immediately screened to make sure the swine aren't infected. (To ensure compliance, arrest warrants have been issued for ex president Mike Williams on account of his swinish visage and demeanor. It is suspected he was a latent carrier of the desease during the 2008 election campaign.)



Labour Party public meetings will be restricted to a maximum of twenty attendees.



For the duration of the emergency, all commercial piggeries are off limits to Labour Party members and trade union officials so as to ensure the swine don't infect the national pig stocks.

Party leader Phil Goff said "These restrictions will have little adverse effect on our campaign for Mt Albert as we don't ever get more than fifteen people at our meetings.

Please help Phil

The Labour Party today released this photo of their candidate for the upcoming Mt Albert byelection, seen here delivering pledge cards. Anyone knowing the identity or whereabouts of this person is asked to contact the Labour Party immediately on 0900 MISSUHEL*, so Phil can do a proper campaign launch.
*a $20 donation to the Labour Party will be deducted from your account.

Only One Pea In Three

Is not Deadly Nightshade

Freedom

I copped a bit of flak in my ANZAC post below so it got me thinking.

I linked the sacrifices made last century to what I think are the threats to our way of life today.

Arthur Lloyd sacrificed his life in a simpler world. He could literally look his enemy in the eye over some rotten piece of no man’s land. His enemy had a spiked helmet, bolt action rifle and bayonet.

As many better people than me have pointed out, we are spending what he and thousands like him paid for.

If I ever had the opportunity to talk to my 20 year old ancestor and ask him his view, I am picking that he would tell me something along these lines.

“My enemy is not the rifle or the bayonet but the man behind it. That man may be an innocent 20 year old like me but we are all caught up in forces greater than us as individuals. Regardless, he is the threat I must deal with today”

And if I could ask him for advice, maybe he would tell me

“Know your enemy because he knows you”

Now I have lived through the cold war. I remember, as a 14 year old, being taken to South Korea by my war veteran father. We visited Panmunjeom, the village in the middle of the Demilitarised Zone, where the original peace talks were held. This was a surreal place were 6 foot 2 inch American GI’s towered over their North Korean counterparts and a meeting room was set exactly on the border. The table had a line running down the middle. Everything had its place down to the size and position of the little flags on either side. No quarter was asked for or given. This was the absolute coal face between the West and Communism. There you could still look your enemy in the eye.

Now 35 years on, I have had a great life spending the freedom paid for by past generations. I have had the luxury of a good education, traveled freely around the world and had business opportunities my ancestor’s would not have thought possible. Thankfully I have never had to look an enemy directly in the eye.

But does that mean that they don’t exist? No.

Many human threats exist to our lifestyle and more importantly, the future lifestyle of our children. In fact baring natural disasters, which can be partially mitigated by risk management, 99% of all threats are from other humans. The problem is that now they don't come clearly labelled with bolt action rifles and bayonets.

I won’t name them here because that is not the purpose of this post.

I merely point out that I for one will not waste the lesson that Arthur left for me on the fields of France.

Another one for Macdoctor's list

Here is another example to add to the long list that Macdoctor calls Spam Journalism.

Somehow one branch falling on a powerline equates to the RWC being an unmitigated disaster

McCarten Calls Mt Albert.

The best humour is that which is not written. Today's startling column by Matt McCarten had Adolf chuckling.

"I salute the right-wing bloggers, who mischievously instigated a destabilising campaign against Labour by writing that National could win Mt Albert if Twyford was the Labour Party nominee......

......The bloggers claimed that Twyford's campaign would be overshadowed by the furore of the supposedly unpopular Tizard slipping back into Parliament.

Privately, none of the bloggers believed that their strategy would amount to much, but were incredulous when certain media players started taking it seriously.

What gobsmacked the bloggers particularly - and fatally for Twyford - was that the Labour Party panicked. "

You see, McCarten just could not bring himself to write the words 'Kiwiblog' and "Whaleoil" as he blamed unspecified evil 'right wing bloggers' for the Labour Party's forthcoming loss of the Mt Albert By election.

(Adolf can picture him sitting there, eyes screwed up tight, white knuckles gripping his pen, hand shaking. Anger welling up at the sheer incompetence of the bimbos over at the Labour Party's outlet for flatulence, The Standard. He's right of course. Both Whaleoil and David Farrar are intelligent successful men while the Standard is run by pimply faced school kids.)

Yes, that's right. Before the candidates are even chosen, McCarten is calling a win for National.

Of course he doesn't actually SAY that but you can smell it in everything he says. The left has thrown in the towel before the race even starts.

McCarten even gives the tortured Phil Goff the political doup de grace he deserves.

"If I was a Labour MP I wouldn't volunteer to share a foxhole with Goff when the shooting starts."

But What About The Successes?

Granny Herald is back to it's old game of sensationalising one side of a story while studiously ignoring the other. Previously I had thought this practice was confined to tabloid shows like TVNZ's Fair Go and Sunday programmes.

This time it's the losses incurred by Auckland City Council's trading arm, The Edge. The Edge runs, among other things, the Aotea Centre and Aotea Square. According to its website it is required as well to provide for a number of non profit activities for which funds are provided by the council.



The big whinge from the Herald and others is that recently The Edge made a trading loss of some $1.9 million on a production of My Fair Lady. This somehow was likened to the ARC's disastrous Beckham debacle.

Adolf would feel better informed if he knew how many times and to what value The Edge has turned a profit for the rate payers of Auckland,

Accordingly he has written and asked for copies of the organisation's last five year's profit and loss accounts. (For wet behind the ears accounting graduates that's real English for "statements of financial performance.)

I'm more than intrigued as to why Mayor Banks has not called for this information.

Could it be that there has been no profit?

If so, the first thing he should do when he is elected Lord Mayor is to sell off all these unprofitable liabilities with their associated bricks and mortar to private companies who will take the decisions necessary to render them profitable. Then all his grand council will have to do is pay the businesses to provide the council designated non profit activities.



If he's not prepared to do that then he is no more than just another Fiddler on The Hoof

ANZAC

We remember those who sacrificed their lives to give us freedom today.

Pvte Arthur Thomas Lloyd, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, my Grandmother's brother.
Killed in action in the field, France, 1st September 1916, aged 20.

I am thankful that my Grandfather returned, likewise my 2 Uncles from WW2 and my own father from Korea.

War takes much but also gives much.

We were given the precious gift of freedom and in many respects, a gift that we are now squandering.

We have lived well on the back of those sacrifices but those days are drawing to an end.

Like all centuries before, this one also poses a new set of challenges. We would be fools to think that mankind will live in peace forever more.

As I read, hand painted on the back of a truck in Niger many years ago
"Life is war have a safe journey"

There are many dangerous people out there.

Environmentalists who deny our very right to exist.
Socialists who desire to tell us how to live.
Muslims who wish to impose their beliefs on our culture.

Each time we take a single step back we are just bringing the new risks one step closer.

Update. Right on cue, a gutless, anonymous apologist who rates my ancestor's and every other fallen soldier's sacrifice worthy of a 4/5 rating. These are the people who take not one but 2 steps back.

Now this is a conference I would like to go to

This one.

Let's hope the organisers and attendees have read this post and this post.

It's good to see acknowledgment that the USA's War on Drugs has been an abject failure, except for the prison construction industry.

Facts: the USA has spent $US 1,000,000,000,000.00 [One Trillion dollars] on the issue; the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) budget in 1971 was $75 million dollars, in 2001 it was $1.6 Billion; as a result of this “war on drugs” drug arrests quadrupled and the percentage of prison inmates committed for drug offences increased from 26% in 1973 to 56% in 2001; yet the drug ‘problem’, and of course related crime problems, have got worse.

The War is lost. Time for a new direction.

Auckland Governance referendum

I see the malcontents and disaffected are calling for a referendum on the Super City. I think that's a good idea. Let the people of Auckland decide. I've even drafted the question (yes/no answer of course):

Do you agree that the Auckland region should be governed by a Super City council that has a vision for Auckland that Auckland needs an overarching vision for the region uniting Aucklanders to achieve prosperity for all, quality of place and lifestyle, and enhanced well-being for the region’s diverse and growing population; and that the Auckland Council should include a vision for the region in its spatial plan; and that the Mayor of Auckland’s annual "State of the Region" address should describe progress towards the attainment of the vision; and that Auckland needs governance structures for economic development capable of working effectively with central government to address major regional issues as well as meeting the localised needs of Auckland’s communities and businesses; and that partnership should be developed between central government and Auckland’s local government to address the region’s long-term economic development and to formulate immediate responses to the current economic conditions; and that the Auckland Council should adopt a comprehensive regional economic development plan and an associated funding plan; and that the Auckland Council should establish a) a regional economic development agency within the Auckland Council with functions and activities b) local economic development agencies reporting to the regional economic development agency (existing economic development agencies may be retained where appropriate) & c) a high-level, regional cross-sectoral advisory board comprising representatives of central government, local councils, business, education, and not-for-profit organisations; and that the regional economic development agency should take an innovative approach to developing long-term funding relationships, drawing funding from the regional budget, central government economic development programmes, and the private sector on specific projects; and that the transition should comprise of a Cabinet Committee and Minister for Auckland which should begin work immediately with the Establishment Board to lay the ground for the Auckland Council’s work in priority areas, including the Rugby World Cup 2011 and broadband; and that as a basis for future decision making by the Auckland Council, the Establishment Board should review whether existing local economic development programmes are delivering value for money; and that Urban Design, and Heritage Auckland needs governance arrangements for the region’s built and natural environments to ensure Auckland’s quality of place is maintained and enhanced; and that the Auckland Council should establish an Urban Design Panel to review all major developments throughout the Auckland region, with sign-off power for major projects; and that the Auckland Council should establish a Heritage Advisory Panel to assist it with the identification of heritage buildings and places, and the formulation of rules to ensure their preservation; and that the Auckland Council and the Northland Regional Council should develop a co-management regime in respect of the Kaipara Harbour, involving relevant territorial authorities and mana whenua representatives from local iwi with the final structure and responsibilities to be determined by the Auckland Council and the Northland Regional Council; and that the Auckland Council should a) undertake environmental monitoring (potentially in collaboration with the Ministry for the Environment) b) benchmark progress and collaborate with central government on environmental programmes, including the limiting of air pollution from motor vehicle emissions c) appoint a park ranger with responsibility for volcanic cones d) prepare an internal code of conduct including procedures to manage councillors’ involvement in individual regulatory decisions; and that central and local government’s annual social well-being spend is in the vicinity of $12 billion in the Auckland region so it is critical that these resources are applied effectively, to achieve the best outcomes and accordingly, Auckland needs a governance structure for social well-being that enables local and central government to share decision making and accountability for improving the effectiveness of resources spent, and addressing the critical social issues in Auckland; and that a Social Issues Board should be established as the main governance body for social issues, with central and local government membership with the powers of the Social Issues Board to be set out in Terms of Reference approved by the Cabinet Committee for Auckland and the Auckland Council; and that the Social Issues Board should develop a Social Well-Being Strategy and Implementation/Funding Plan with a Social Issues Advisory Group of officials to be established to support the Social Issues Board which should be co-funded by central and local government with responsibilities; and that the Auckland Council role should centre on providing leadership and facilitating improved social well-being outcomes but direct delivery of social well-being services by the Auckland Council should not duplicate central government responsibilities and should be part of the Social Well-Being Strategy and Implementation/Funding Plan; and that the Government should give consideration to aligning geographic boundaries of local government and central government agencies responsible for the delivery of social well-being services; and that the Establishment Board should ensure the necessary structures and processes are in place to ensure that the Social Issues Board, the Social Issues Advisory Group, and the Auckland Council are able to commence work on their immediate priorities; and that Auckland needs governance structures that promote the benefits of diversity and support culture and recreation; and that The Mayor of Auckland should take a leadership and advocacy role in promoting and welcoming diversity, and encouraging acceptance of migrants and minority groups in Auckland; and that the Auckland Council should establish two advisory panels, one relating to the arts and the other to recreation and with the assistance of the advisory panels, it should develop strategies for regional arts and recreation activities and their associated funding; and that Local councils should be responsible for implementing culture and recreation policies in their communities, partnering with local groups where appropriate, and representing the views of local communities at regional level; and that the Auckland Council should consider establishing a council-controlled organisation ("CCO") to hold and to operate the regional arts, entertainment, convention, and major event facilities; and that the Government should give consideration to the introduction of a four-year electoral term for local authorities in New Zealand; and that the Auckland Council as a unitary authority should be formed to assume all local government responsibilities in the Auckland region; and that when the Auckland Council is established, the following existing local authorities should be abolished:Rodney District Council, North Shore City,Council, Waitakere City Council, Auckland City Council, Manukau City Council, Papakura District Council, Franklin District Council, Auckland Regional Council; and that the Auckland Council should operate and have representation at two levels: the elected Auckland Council, and six local councils; and that all local councils should be given Māori names and these should be determined by the Local Government Commission after consultation with mana whenua, with the new Māori names used by the Commission being the suggested starting point for consideration with the interim names of the six local councils to beRodney Local Council, Waitemata Local Council, Waitakere Local Council, Tāmaki-makau-rau Local Council, Manukau Local Council, Hunua Local Council; and that the Auckland Council should comprise a single organisation, with a single staffing and management structure which should employ one chief executive officer, who will employ all other council staff (but not staff of council-controlled organisations) at both Auckland and local levels, including local council managers for each local council; and that staff from the eight abolished councils should be transferred to the Auckland Council, at least initially; and that local councils should share the governance of their areas with the Auckland Council but will be subsidiary to it; and that the Mayor of Auckland should preside over the Auckland Council and should be elected at large by the electors of Auckland; and that the Auckland Town Hall should be the symbolic centre for the Auckland Council; and that when the Auckland Council is established, all existing community boards within the territories of the abolished local authorities, except for the Waiheke and Great Barrier Island Community Boards, should be abolished and a new City Centre and Waterfront Community Board should be established; and that the assets and liabilities of abolished territorial authorities and of the Auckland Regional Council should be transferred to Auckland Council. However, a fair apportionment of the assets and liabilities of the Franklin District Council and Auckland Regional Council should be made between the Auckland Council, the Waikato District Council, and the Waikato Regional Council, to reflect the boundary changes proposed by the Commission; such apportionment to be made in accordance with the Local Government Act 2002, Schedule 3, clause 69; and that all existing interests in council organisations, council-controlled organisations, and exempt organisations held by current councils should be transferred to the Auckland Council on the establishment date; and that the Establishment Board should develop the proposed structure of the elected Auckland Council and local councils (including the committee structure and advisory panels and groups); and that the Establishment Board should develop the proposed organisational structure of the Auckland Council which will include defining the key roles and positions for council administration, staffing levels, staff locations, and the systems necessary for the Auckland Council to operate on the establishment date; and that the Establishment Board should review the functions and activities currently carried out by the Auckland Regional Council and seven territorial authorities, identifying those that will continue to be carried out by local councils, and those relevant functions and activities to be undertaken directly by the Auckland Council; and that the Establishment Board should determine the location of council offices (particularly Auckland Council, and Tāmaki-makau-rau and Rodney Local Councils) and service centres; and that the elected Auckland Council composition, role, and functions should comprise 23 councillors elected or appointed as follows:10 councillors elected at large, eight councillors elected in four urban wards, two councillors elected in two rural wards, two councillors elected at large by voters on the Māori electoral roll, one councillor appointed by the Mana Whenua Forum; and that the role and functions of the Auckland Council should be as prescribed for unitary authorities under the Local Government Act 2002 and other legislation, and as may be additionally prescribed in any future legislation referring specifically to the Auckland Council or any of the abolished local authorities; and that the Auckland Council should be responsible for all asset management, debt management, and revenue raising. It will also develop one set of financial plans and policies for Auckland; and that there will be one rating system for Auckland and ratepayers will receive one rates bill; and that the Auckland Council should operate a hierarchical and integrated planning framework; and that there will be a new regional spatial plan and one district plan for Auckland; and that the Auckland Council should be responsible for the production of the long-term council community plan and annual plans as required by the Local Government Act 2002, for its own operations and the operations of local councils. There will be one long-term plan and annual plan for Auckland; and that the Auckland Council should establish advisory panels and groups as necessary to ensure appropriate expertise is available to it and the Auckland Council will appoint an Appointments Advisory Panel which will assist the Auckland Council to recruit directors or representatives to serve on boards of council-controlled organisations, external entities (for example the Auckland Museum Trust Board), advisory panels, and forums; and that the relationship between Auckland Council and each local council should be governed by a three-yearly governance agreement negotiated in the year following each local body election; and that the Auckland Council’s annual report under the Local Government Act 2002 should include separate sections on the operations of the elected Auckland Council and each local council; and that the State Services Commissioner should be asked to assist in developing the job description and design of the performance management framework, and in conducting the initial screening and short-listing for the chief executive; and that the Government should enter into a partnership agreement with the Auckland Council and appoint a senior Government minister as Minister for Auckland; in addition it should appoint a Cabinet Committee for Auckland comprising Ministers with portfolios of significance to Auckland, and the Cabinet Committee should be supported by an officials committee; and that the functions of the Cabinet Committee for Auckland should include a) consulting with the Auckland Council through the Minister for Auckland b) setting priorities for Government spending in Auckland and deciding on the allocation of discretionary funding c) overseeing events of international significance affecting Auckland; and that the Auckland Council should meet regularly with representatives of the neighbouring regions of Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty to consider issues of mutual interest; and that the Minister for Auckland should consider convening an annual forum comprising the Auckland Council and relevant interest groups (including regional and territorial councils and business groups) from the Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty regions to discuss matters of mutual and topical interest; and that the Establishment Board should review all current council advisory panels and groups and report to the Auckland Council on which current advisory groups should be continued by the Auckland Council and the Establishment Board should appoint an interim Appointments Advisory Panel which will assist the Establishment Board to a) undertake the review of existing advisory panels described above b) prepare draft terms of reference for new and continuing advisory panels c) identify potential candidates for such panels d) recruit interim directors for council-controlled organisations, as necessary.

These are the Royal Commission's recommendations succintly put together into question format just for the referendum.

So what's it gonna be? Yes, or no.

UPDATE: I see over at The Standard this morning they suggest the question is simply: " Do you support the super-city that the Government proposes?". That's worth a post tonight but for now the only referendum Aucklanders will get will be in about October 2011.

Arm wrussling for Mt Albert

Here is an interview with wannabe Mt Albert MP, Wrussle Norman, from before the last election. The one where the Greens promised the green Earth but delivered the red Mars, yet again.

I am sure he will again be campaigning on being "mainstream" but the reality is that once Jreenette goes, poor old malecoleader Russel is going to have a foot on both sides of the proverbial electric fence. Wackos on one side and a MOU with National on the other.

Talk about doing a Dunne and having a foot in both camps.

All I can see is pain, followed by extinction.
(and National taking another Labour scalp)

David Farrar and Russell Brown in new alliance!!

Interesting little story from John Drinnan at the New Zealand Herald concerning the country's top two bloggers fronting an advertising campaign for Powershop.

Now, I have no beef with bloggers making money in advertising, as long as they make it clear what is paid-for content.

Bloggers like David have gained much trust in recent years, so they do need to be careful. I have wondered about comments elsewhere on other blogs, thinking 'have they been paid to say that.'

Anyway, I am sure David makes a lovely Uncle Sam.

But trust Russell to choose the face of a killer.

Those lefties still have much to learn!

A New Leader of the Oppostion?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You saw it first here at No Minister on April 14th - ten days ago.

Clark's legacy just keeps on keeping on. The destruction of the Labour Party.

The latest blow is the decision by The Greens to field a high profile candidate in the Mt Albert by-election. Adolf wonders if it will be Russel Norman himself. Yep. Sure is!




A win for him in Mt Albert would catapult The Greens into prominence and a substantial increase in support at the next general election - possibly more seats than Labour.

Congratulation are in order for The Greens. At last they have divorced themselves from their erstwhile fickle friends who gave them nothing and took everything for nine long years. They will guarantee themselves success in 2001 if now they can remove their communistic rump and transform themselves into a SANE environmental party.

NZ Labour reminds Adolf of the hapless but once powerful battleship Bismark, sailing in circles with it's rudder jammed by an attack from seemingly ineffective string bag WWI torpedo bombers (The Maori Party) while an overwhelming force descends upon it (NACTionalMPGP) and prepares to deliver the coup de grace.

The only real difference is that in 2009, the rear admiral and the kapitan managed to scuttle away to the safety of foreign shore before their ship sank.

The Bill's too big already Bill! Life is taxing enough!

Bil English today is talking gloomy. He has done for some time.

Is he shaping the country up for a cancellation of further taxcuts, as Not PC notes today.

He could be. If National stood for one thing, it was tax cuts and the party owes it to New Zealand to be faithful to its pre-election promise.

We already knew things were gloomy last October, so saying the situation is worse than expected will not wash either.

I can picture all the cries from Labour about National u-turning, being weak, betraying the voters, not to be trusated, even if cancelling taxcuts is what Labour would have delivered too.

However, Bill English rightly raised the cost of government debt and the burdens being passed on to future generations.

People are waking up to the costs of government debt the world over.

In the UK, figures like STG 20,000 or $50,000 per person have been bandied about.

The US also has a huge black hole of debt, being quadrupled by you-know-who.

Australia has blown off its government suplusses it inherited from Peter Costello and massive debts will follow.

We also need to look at the economic consequences too, the messages being sent.

Bailouts and big spending as shown by Obama and Brown have actualy weakened confidence and are fuelling the recession. There have been the Tea Party Protests across America as people see the debt burden being generated.

After two stimulus packages, which have failed, in Australia Kevin Rudd now talks of a third package. The economic forecasts for Australia today have just worsened.

And as Cactus Kate rightly notes, Britain's new 50% tax rate at the top will drive away the wealth creators.

So here's my advice to Bill English as he contemplates his budget.

Play it steady. Keep your promises on tax, you are rightly wary of debt, but if anything has to go, it has to be government spending.

The left paint this government as a slash and spend monster anyway. However, most normal people realise we face hard times. They have experienced a growing tax burden and seen little extra for all that extra government spending.

You will have to weild the axe and blame the previous government for it. After all, Clark, Culen and co were never afraid to blame National when it suited them. So get the knife out Bill.

Here is a time when New Zealand can set itself apart from the tax and spend debt monsters of overseas. We can be wise and prudent with low tax, an island of enterprise amid a sea of socialism! Just the thing to bring the jobs and economic growth we need.

Some Very Fishy Dots............................................???

I see the MSM in the form of the NBR has picked up on Ian Wishart's expose of Helen Clark's real agenda for the UN.

World domination by a UN with its own armed forces.



Here's a snippet from Ian Wishart's piece.

The UN, with two parliaments, one for the nations as exists now and another for individual parliamentarians, would gradually take over responsibility for the military forces of nation states, and control world economic flows.
The briefing paper draws heavily on reports by Kemal Dervis, Helen Clark’s predecessor as UN Development Programme head, which indicates Socialist International has been working closely in plans to reform the United Nations along these lines.

This is a euphemistic description of Soviet style world domination.

So it is no wonder Adolf's antennae twitched a little when yesterday's Herald announced that the Labour Party is favouring a new candidate for Mt Albert. One David Shearer, currently Middle East chief of which organisation? Yep, Helen Clark's very own UNDP.



Ask yourself, how does a humble secondary school science teacher from Papatoetoe quickly rise through the ranks of the UN to such a senior position in one of the world's most corrupt organisations?

How is it that he suddenly and conveniently is able to front up for what has been a safe Labour seat for decades?

Is he, like Helen Clark, a member of Socialist International?

Is this fellow to be our representative in the Socialists' brave New World Order?

Will he take the May Day salute?



There is much work here for New Zealand's few remaining competent journalists.

Go to it, Mr Gibson.

Spare a thought for Poor Phil-in!!!

Spare a thought for Philip Bruce Goff this fine evening.
At long last you have achieved what you have always wanted- the leadership of the Liarbour Party.
But is it what you expected?
You come after a huge towering figure, one who made her mark on the country, for better or worse.
Who could follow her record? Who could also make as much an impact? Who?
Indeed, as you see the first poll results you are but an invisible pygmy. An impotent midget against a most virile colossus.
Phil Who? Phil-in, Mr Invisible? It all sounds so cruel and most unfair.
You bided your time and served loyally. But it seems your party has just set you up for the fall.
You compete against a fresh new prime minister who it seems cannot put a foot wrong.
He looks like he will be around forever, whereas you are older, a relic from the 1980s when the rookie PM was but a boy.
You note the economy is turning to custard and try and push him on policy, saying the country needs some extra stimulation, some extra spending.
But it’s a hard task convincing a man who madeh is money on the markets and has a sounder grasp of economics than you will ever have.
It makes the task even harder that your former government spent all the money when the sun shone, saved nothing for our rainy day, and left debts so large the markets would downgrade the country’s credit rating if they spent more, like you seek.
Deep down you know you cannot push the issue too far, for you were a senior man in the old government, even if others made the decisions, but you’d be blamed all the same. You are but tainted, tainted by their failed government, the government you once served in.
Indeed you tried to break free, mooting a change on the smacking bill, but you decided you better not run the wrath of your party. You have enough on your hands dealing with the opposition now serving in government, never mind the opposition in your own party, the left faction, the bigger faction, Helen’s faction.
Indeed, she rebuilt the party in her own image. Her immediate legacy is a by-election and what a problem that is. A wrong candidate, such as list MP like Phil Twyford, means the return of her ‘Handbag,’ an old face as old as you, another relic from another age.
Thus you seek fresh faces. The much mooted rejuvenation. Megan Bates, Conor Roberts, both presentable faces, but aren’t both Clarkist clones, or at least youthful members raised at the feet of Helen, keen to carry on her work?
Your options are closing fast.
So you look around at your old government. There’s Helen now in New York, with Heather to help her out. Michael Cullen has swallowed his dead rats, sold out, and is to work for Bolger at NZ Post.
There’s always jobs for the boys if you are good. Politicians always look after each other, don’t they?
So you cheer up thinking, ‘serve a decent time , lead the party to respectable defeat in 2011. Let that nice Mr Key enjoy an extended place in the sun’. He’ll need it to undo the mess your old government made.
You remind yourself to tell him. If Cullen can have an SOE, then so can you. You go away and smile thinking your future is secure. Then you remember this National government, its promises, and the economic crisis your government left behind. The Nats might keep you waiting so long, there might not be any SOEs left to chair when you need one!!

Enjoying a golden autumn

There’s nothing like an autumn drive across the fine New Zealand countryside.
I have just arrived in Picton after 3 hours on the Arahure Interislander ferry.
Now, I was supposed to be heading south relocating a campervan for a hire firm so I pay bugger all for it, , but since I don’t like vehicles with manual transmission, I was able to swap for a huge Mitsubishi 4wd auto, still paying bugger all.
As wise move as it turned out. I spent last night in Ohakune and there was frost on the roadsides as I drove towards my first interview.
Why rough it in a little campervan when you can have all the comforts of a decent motel? The one I had been given was not at all like the luxurious Winnebago bloggermobile David Farrar enjoys on his adventures.
I am having what you might call a working holiday, interviewing various provincial businesses for one of the business titles I work for.
Trouble is, combining the work with the driving has left insufficient time to catch up with people properly or at least give them fair warning. The unpredictable and busy traffic on the Kapiti Coast Highway does not help either. It’s almost as bad as Auckland yet the hillsides, the houses and the railway get in the way of any simple road widening. The capital certainly needs Transmission Gully and a motorway to Levin, at least.
But roads are being improved, even in the very hilly Wanganui District, where SH4 is as twisted as the government we booted out in November. The autumn colours on the trees looked particularly good, just as they did in the Waikato and King Country yesterday, passing west of Hamilton.
I also enjoyed the snow early on Ruapehu and the mountain’s pinky-orange glow at sunset as I arrived at the carrot capital just after 5pm yesterday.
So tomorrow, after working in Blenheim, I hope to pay homage again to the homes of Wither Hills and Alan Scott. I might even get some of that bottle fermented beer his son Joshua makes.
Then it’s Kaikoura, some decent kai moana before heading to the Garden City to drop off the car late Friday.
After catching up with ACT blogger Rick Giles over the weekend, I expect I’ll be ready for heading back north early next week.

Cul len de sac

Fran O'Sullivan says it all

What the OECD has prescribed is not radical New Right theory, nor is it a
neo-liberal prescription, nor is it the line-up of usual suspects, or any of the
other Pavlovian responses which jump up whenever outsiders attempt to forge
debate on just how New Zealand's lagging performance might be enhanced to get
ourselves out of the cul de sac into which the Labour Government parked the
economy.

All the Paris-based organisation has done is come up with solutions to
some of New Zealand's short-medium term fiscal problems such as cutting
spending, selling mature assets to reduce debt and free up capital for new
investment, and increasing the revenue line.

This is bog standard stuff for New Zealand companies right now as they get
their balance sheets into order to withstand the international recession. Why
should it be any different for Governments if they are to match the
international norms necessary to attract top-flight investment capital and
secure the retention of our own best companies and talent?

Labour's cul len de sac. It wouldn't be so bad if he had parked up a Rolls Royce but all we've got is a clapped out Corolla, with bald tyres, on tick to a finance company. While the driver has hitched a lift with a NZ Post truck and dun a runna.

Sack Him And His Boss - Now

Now you can see why those Israeli ladies who were refused service in Invercargil would have wasted their time appealing to our pathetically biased and mis-named Race Relations Conciliator.

Joris de Bres

This idiot attended the appallingly discredited Israel bashing UN conference organised by Islamists when the rest of the civilization stayed away. Not only that, his actions are a direct slap in the face to the government of the day which has openly repudiated Labour's barely concealed hatred of Israel and support for the so called Palestilian cause in Gassa.

Mr de Bres attended the conference independently and publicly criticised the Government for pulling out, implying it was trying to please the United States. But Mr McCully believes Mr de Bres has no business criticising foreign policy and implied that Mr de Bres was a Labour Party hack.

You can tell the prick is a Labour hack. Just look at his teeth. He goes to the same veterinary tooth doctor as Goff and Clark.

The HR Commissioner obviously need to be sent packing as well.

Chief Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said she did not believe he overstepped any line.

What a sour looking hack she is. She even wears Labour's (Clark's) colours.

Both these people are streets ahead of Richard Worth in the 'lack of judgement' stakes. In fact it could reasonably argued that Worth is chronically stupid while these two characters are deliberately undermining their country's foreign policy.

Such is the legacy of nine years politicising of the public service.

Australia in new people smuggling scandal

I think the New Zealand Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson must have been thinking of events back home with today's cartoon.

Emmerson is Australian and is/was based in Queensland. This cartoon comes as Australia is embroiled in a new row over refugees, with a scandal threatening to be as big as the one over the Tampa refugees.

As Andrew Bolt notes, following Tampa, the number of boatloads of refugees heading to Australia tailed off. But when elected over a year ago, new PM Kevin Rudd weaked the rules and this has led to an upsurge in people smuggling to Australia.

The Australian government and its media lapdogs are doing their best to spin and evade but the truth has a habit of coming out, eventually, like the refugees blowing up the boat themselves!

Even the immigration minister Chris Evans sees Labor's law change as affecting the people smuggling problem. The Rudd government, despite what it claims, had also been warned its policy would lead to more people smuggling.

Now we see a cover-up. Just what is Rudd hiding? That there was a deliberately engineered case of arson by the refugees?

Indeed, Tim Blair spells it our clearly: They blew the boat up and the Rudd government is covering up as the truth doesn't fit their narrative.

Of course, we might wonder why we Kiwis should be interested in what might be seen as an Australian problem. Remember what happened to the Tampa refugees? Uncle Helen brought many of them to New Zealand, and while some may have done well here, the question is, do we in New Zealand want any more refugees?

Of course, John Key is now prime minister and we can only hope that he won't be a pushover like Uncle Helen, who actually boosted people smuggling by what they claim to be more refugee-friendly policies. It might seem harsh but Rudd has been making people smuggling easier, and is indeed luring people to their deaths, as Andrew Bolt explains.

Hat tip: Tim Blair, Andrew Bolt

Murdering the Media: Death By PR

I have been in Auckland for a dinner put on by a large corporate.
The dinner was for the journos and the company wanted better relations with the journos, so what better than a good nosh up at a fancy restaurant overflowing with fine wine.
Like many such gatherings, conversation turned towards ‘how’s business.’
Business for this large corporate is doing very well and its trans-Tasman operations are also growing.
The market this business serves also continues to enjoy strong growth.
Government is a major client but since this corporate sells items that improve efficiency and reduce expenses, a cost-cutting government might actually be good for their business.
The recession too as it forces organisations to think about doing things differently and cheaper.
Indeed, this large corporate has also been re-engineering its business, bringing its communications in house and away from PR agencies. I heard one of their PR staffers mention that the business hopes to slash advertising too, in favour of its marketing budget going into PR and comms.
But as I said to one of the company bosses later, when I was asked how’s business, I pointed out my employers were suffering and work was not available as it was just six months ago.
One major publisher has halved the frequency of some of its titles, another publisher is on the market, and another has closed several titles.
Today, Fairfax announced 70 redundancies as it moves to a centralised subbing model, which is causing errors to creep in at the NZ Herald. At the Herald, I was told, after earlier joblosses, those left behind remain ‘ nervous.’ CanWest has also been clearing out staff at some of its radio stations. TVNZ has also laid off staff.
So when I said I had just heard that this corporate was seeking to slash its advertising in favour of PR, I told the bossman sitting at my table that titles rely on advertising revenue to survive. The cover price just about covers the cost of printing. Indeed, while working for one large newspaper some years back, I was told advertising generated 80% of company revenues.
Thus, if this large corporate stops advertising and others do likewise, then there may not be any publications left to run the press releases put out by their comms teams!
The bossman I spoke to, and have known for some time, told me he would warn his marketing team about the dangers of slashing advertising budgets.
Indeed, such moves won’t foster good relations with journos if it means their employer loses so much money, it cannot afford to give any pay rises , or worse still, puts the journos out of work.
So much as we bleat and whine about the media, enjoy it while it is still there. Trade press included.

Six Percent Braindead

Six per cent of Aucklanders are on hospital waiting lists, awaiting brain surgery.

According to the latest UMR opinion poll which shows 17% support for John Banks as Lord Mayor of Auckland and a huge six percent supporting the country's moat recently exposed fraudster, The Horse Wankerer.

Of course, the poll was really a waste of time as it gave far too many options for the job.

Adolf would be more interested in a poll which included only Banks, Harvey, Tizard, Williams, Tindall, Brown and Tiugamala.

Somewhere in New York, 14th June 2009

US Shock at 'Moonbat Central"!!

Just how damaging to our international reputation were the nine years of Helengrad??

Obviously world of John Key's election has still to filter through to some of the American Right.

However, Little Green Footballs, who expresses shock at New Zealand's decision not to attend Durban 2, calling us 'Moonbat central', is actually one of the more moderate and rational righties.

Fortunately, John Key can set about repairing the damage caused by our former Dear Leader.

Our foreign minister Murray McCully rightly sees an orgy of Israeli-bashing and sucking up to Palestinian terrorists.

Indeed, what a refreshing change to see New Zealand up there with sensible countries like Canada, Australia and the European mainstream, that also includes the Netherlands and Sweden.

Even the chief of the moonbats, the Chavez and Cuba loving Barack Obama, won't be there.

It does make you wonder what strange company we would keep if we attended Durban 2 as Liarbour and the Greens wish.

Anyway, I am sure John key will help us earn plaudits with much of the sensible world.

Trouble is, now that Uncle Helen is on the world stage, as number 3 at the UN, how much will WE be still tainted by association with her. After all, our chief moonbat has just had a promotion!

How much will the world see her and blame us for what will in time be her very silly and extreme decisions, especially if she's aided and abetted by her chief henchwomyn Heather Simpson!

Crossposted at Fairfacts Media Show

Cowardly? no, Insanity? yes

This is damn fine news.
If Commie Keith says yes, that alone is a good enough reason to say no.

But this is the United Nations at it's very worst and should rightfully be ignored by sane thinking people.

Unfortunately however, the real insanity is the radical Muslim world now hijacking racism as another tool in their "kill the infidel" box, in a forum mostly paid for by western democratic, christian people, who then refuse to attend.

You get the feeling Helen and the UN will get along just fine.

They Left Us Too Poor and Bankrupt for a Stimulus!!!

Well done Helen and Michael!

No wonder they are going while the going is good.

Today comes news that we should not expect a budget stimulus but rather government spending cuts.

The reason: Liarbour left such a legacy of debt that to add to it, would make matters worse and downgrade our credit ratings.

In other words, Liarbour left us too bankrupt and poor to afford a stimulus!

Fortunately wiser heads prevail here rather than in the US, so we are spared the horrors of this.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Crossposted over at The Fairfacts Media Show

A New Game In Town

At last there is something worthwhile on which to keep an eye. To distract us from the endless, mindless torrent of bullshit about Obama and UK Labour; to offset the nauseous reporting on the private life of Tony Vietch.

Taito Philip Field goes to court today.

Charges include bribery and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Where Adolf comes from we call that sort of thing corruption.



Adolf will be following proceedings as closely as he can - via the media.

Update: Radio Left Wing reports Labour MP Ross Robertson from just over the fence will be called as a witness for the prosecution.

Of particular interest will be:-

................. the cross examination of people from the equally corrupt Labour Party.

................. potential revelations by Field on the inner workings of the Labour GOTV machine in South Auckland.

................. the total amount of money collected under the table from many hundreds of would be immigrants and the way in which such funds found their way into Labour Party bank accounts.

It's going to be might good entertainment for a crusty conservative.

Let the sport begin!!!

Common Sense Dawns - Just

In a No Minister first, here is the second consecutive post on The Honorable Murray McCully.

Audrey Young has spotted a change in Mr McCully's attitude to Fiji. You'd almost swear that he has been reading No Minister, Whaleoil and Gordon Campbell. She reports on his interview with Q & A.

It seems in the slanging match between NZ and Fiji which has been going on for three years , the first one to blink is NZ. And a jolly good thing it is too.

"We can't make them have elections and we can't stop them wrecking their economy either if that is what they are intent on doing and that appears to be the case.

"What we can do is make it clear that the international community is there to lend a hand if they need a hand when they are ready to be helped. If they are not ready to be helped at the moment, we are going to just let them work it out."

McCully has implicitly repudiated all the earlier tough talk, admitted that such an approach is counterproductive and conceded that the end result of same has been increased influence for China in the Pacific.

In the interview McCully was interesting on China, effectively confirming there are the polite views one expresses in public about its chequebook diplomacy in the Pacific, and the real worries about it acting alone without reference to other donors.

"First of all the official line is that we welcome China's generosity in the Pacific, as we welcome anyone making a significant donation to people who need assistance,'' said McCully is what was a small slip.

Well spotted, Audrey Young

It now remains for the Foreign Minister to convince the Prime Mnister that a change of approach by NZ, isolating itself from the agressive Australian foreign affairs poobahs, is the best thing for all parties in this mess and particularly for Fiji and its long suffering people.

Where The Rubber Hits The Road

A few days ago Adolf took an Indo Fijian family to see our mutual MP Murray McCully, or more precisely, his electoral office staff. These people are my neighbors and I was happy to help them out. They are model citizens who are having difficulty getting residency.

I have nothing but praise for the way the young lady from Mr McCully's office handled the interview.

I'll keep you posted once the review process has run its course. Sufficient to say the work done thus far by Mr McCully's staff has done much to alleviate the stress to which this family was subjected - largely due to ignorance of what they could or could not expect from the system.

In all of this I am wondering, for what the hell did they pay thousands of dollars to an immigration consultant?

Serious questions need to be asked.

The End of Christian America??

Newsweek this month sparked a controversy with its report about "The End of Christian America."

Especially as it appeared in the run up to Easter.

The Wall Street Journal spoke of the 'End of Newsweek' citing declining audiences for its liberalism!

However, the (UK) Daily Telegraph says the religious right has conceded defeat, and the election of Obama has set America on a path of permissive secularism.

The Washington Post says amid a general shift to the left, religion is polarising between red and blue.

The Christian World Net Daily says America has never really been Christian but is in danger from moral decline.

Britain's Archbishop Cranmer blog notes the moral decline, but says it is not over for Christianity nor the Church.

Cranmer wonders how much the church is suffering because it became too political.

Some reports say the church may even be suffering from its association with George Bush.

Yes, Dubya gets blamed for this too!

As for Obama, while the muslim-raised boy president has dismissed Amercia has no longer a Christian country, Cranmer notes the word of God in its constitution, coins, etc.

President Obama is neither the Messiah nor the Antichrist: he is just another man to occupy another political office, and, like all Democrats, he seeks to make the United States more statist, Socialist and amoral.

He concludes:

The Christian response is not to curse God and die, but to repent, believe and trust; indeed, to rejoice in suffering, because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Hope that the Forces of Conservatism shall soon be on the ascendancy, and that government shall once again soon be concerned with whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable.

Indeed, 'hope' seems to be the watchword of 'The One' who maybe to blame for the current decline in religion in America. After all, there's only room for one Messiah at a time, isn't there!!

Fabian socialists never say sorry.

Until Gordon Brown did this week, we all usually leave the cartoon cut and pastes to Adam Smith but this one was too good to pass up and was drawn by the incomparable Peter Brookes at the Times. Just like our very own Clark Beast the monocular nose farming twat that is Gordon Brown has found the word sorry to be too hard to clearly enunciate. Guido Fawkes has crippled his adminstration and shown up the MSM in Britain to be repeaters rather then reporters.

Really Mr President, you should keep better company than this!!

Well, there's reaching out to enemies, and reaching out!

After all the sucking up to various Islamic leaders (which George Bush did too) we now see Barack Obama has met Hugo Chavez.

What a despicable and loathsome act from a most despicable and loathsome leader.

This Dear Leader cheated his way to power using ‘gigantic fraud’ in his revolution.

This Dear Leader is rapidly extending the scope of the state and threatening its freedom.
This Dear Leader has nationalised much of the finance sector in his country and is now firing industry bosses at will, as well as controlling their wages.
This Dear Leader’s socialism is so extensive and revolutionary, it could bankrupt his country.
This Dear Leader benefits from a fawning media, yet his supporters plan to legislate against the media that opposes him.
This Dear Leader’s government has recently branded those who oppose him as dangerous ‘right-wing extremists.’
This Dear Leader’s government is riding roughshod over his country’s constitution.
This Dear Leader is funding a youth wing of volunteers to push through his agenda for change.
This Dear Leader's public funding of radical groups leave opponents fearing for democracy.
This Dear Leader recently met many European leaders.
This Dear Leader seeks friendly ties with Cuba and other radical leaders, as he eschews the ways of his predecessor.
Indeed, this Dear Leader is noted for his links to terrorists and has received much support from terrorists.
Good grief!! Who will he meet next?
Chavez really needs to keep better company!!!

Crossposted at the Fairfacts Media Show

Is the staff culture at the herald the problem?

Sorry Adolf, three posts I know but your post deserved a little more than a supportive comment.
The Herald has become a disgusting cesspool of sensationalist max clifford type stories and poorly written unresearched gobshite penned by childlike twats. A kiwi red top.
The Veitch story tonight is no surprise to me. The Herald On Sunday deputy editor was cracking very poor taste jokes on Twitter last saturday. At the same time as they were penning the sympathetically written story about the North Shore girl who lost a leg in a car accident he was twittering about north shore kids driving and ending up legless. Jono Milne should be fired.

Media Gloats As It Pushes Human To Suicide

I'm breaking the two post rule.

The utterly disgraceful and discredited NZ Herald has plumbed the depths of depravity with it's late evening report of Tony Vietch's alleged suicide attempt today.

One can only ask why this was deemed worth reporting.

One can only wonder what Mr Tim Murphy would think if the Fairfax empire published selected episodes from his own medical dossier.

Leave the poor bastard alone, Mr Murphy. Leave him alone. You and your paper have become the epitomy of gutter journalism.

The body politic is a rotting corpse.

Since my conversion from Tory to "Anarcho-Libertarian" a few weeks ago I have been struggling to find the motivation to post on the kiwi body politic. The appointment of Cullen to a big fat retirement gig by National was a dead rat to far for this blogger.

This puts me in a difficult position as somebody who has spent 21 years in this country attacking the socialists. I recognised them early on in my tenure in this country as a combination of well meaning innocents who have absolutely no idea how the real world works and scheming, bitter trolls determined to punish anybody who has ever dared to rise above the chaff in our society. The best example of this is the Clark beast who no doubt had a dreadful time at her exclusive middle class school. Imagine if you can, a girl who is at best described as plain arriving from the Waikato and being dumped in a school of urban "sophisticates". The bullying and torment must have been horrendous. Such is the forge that a socialist is cast in. The other end of that would be the Kedgely idiot who is best categorised as the food Stasi. Basically an interfering busybody, a vegan grinch.

Then we get to National, a party I have supported and worked very hard for over the last three years. My support for them is probably rooted in the belief that to get rid of the socialists we need to get national in.
When key announced he had done a deal with the Maori party and Act I was thrilled. At last (I thought) we might see progress for Maori and having Act in might help us see some fiscal prudence as well.
Further to that I hoped we would see an end to the corruption and lies that were the hallmark of the Clark years.
So far we have, but of course it is very early and the decision to reward Cullen has just shown that it will be business as usual with our political class.
Quite how you can spend years attacking (quite rightly) Cullen for his mistakes (of which there were many)and his shameless use of our money for political (plenty of these too) point scoring is beyond this blogger.
This has led me to the point of realising they are all as bad as each other.
My contempt for our government is total, this includes the PM right down to the local councillor for my area who was recently quoted in the paper arguing against not taking her pay rise because "being a councillor is my job and I deserve it". Anybody who believes being a councillor is a job should be barred from standing.

So in conclusion I no longer wish to be categorised as a right wing blogger. Left, right, red or blue, you are all the same. Self serving trough feeders who should constantly be held to the light so all may see how foul you are.

If I post about another disgusting incident involving one of the wankers from Labour, never fear I will blog about similar incidents when they are perpetrated by National. No ass kissing hypocrisy will be posted here. If you want breathless adulation of one particular philosophy I suggest you fuck off to the Standard.

And before I forget, does anybody know who is paying for those scroungers from Tainui to accompany Clarkula to New York? Please tell me they are paying their own way, Please.

As shameless crossposting seems to be okay I will put this on Barnsley Bill as well!

George Bush: Man of Vision!!

As much of the world still bows at the feet of the Messiah, let us look at some of the big issues on the global stage.
There’s Iran doing its utmost to develop nuclear weapons, despite how much the UN may huff and puff about it.
Ditto with North Korea, who has already begun testing missiles off the coast of Japan.
Now, in 2002, George Bush coined the phrase “axis of evil” and was widely ridiculed at the time.
Saturday Night Live was one of the great offenders, with Will Ferrell regularly taking the piss.
This is what George Bush said then of Iraq, Iran and North Korea:

“States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.”

Iraq seems okay now, thanks to the US liberation but on the others Dubya was entirely correct.
Indeed, Dubya increasingly seems a man of vision, a president ahead of his time.
Take this editorial from The (Melbourne) Age.

“Imagine if, only a year ago, the President of the United States had visited Turkey, addressed its parliament, then kissed the Prime Minister on both cheeks.

“That might have been considered far-fetched, but so, too, would have been the President’s affirmation that his country was not at war with Islam and that being Muslim in the US is part of the fabric of life. "

Thus as one of Australia’s leftist rags applauds the Messiah for such activities and saying Dubya would never do it, as Andrew Bolt reveals, Dubya did.
Indeed, Dubya is a most misunderstood guy, seeing which nations would prove most troublesome and reaching out to Islam in ways they praise the Messiah for. If anything, Dubya has been too friendly to Islam and the Saudis than many of us righties would wish, though at least he never prostated himself before a Saudi Prince like Obama did.
Anyway, if ignorant ridicule from the likes of The Age and Saturday Night Live helps determine a great president, imagine the heights Sarah Palin will take the world in her two-term US presidency!!!

Hat tip: Andrew Bolt, InstaPundit

When did No Minister become a sport blog?

And more importantly why are there posts dedicated to discussing the two most despised football teams in the history of... Just about forever.



The Arse have been shite since this guy hung up his boots and his always pulled down socks. Even being the team in the magnificent book and film version of Fever Pitch could not make me like the team that was the closest top flight club to where I grew up.

And then we have this shower of shite from the North, northern monkeys is the only epithet worthy of these cock trumpets and their millions of mong fans who seem to have infested the entire planet from Invercargill to Hong Kong and beyond.



Makes me long for posts about Obama!

Going, going, going.....gone, gone, gone

So today is the day. Clark has gone, left, vamoosed, departed, fled, moved on and any other word for buggered off that I may have missed. All I can say is YES and crack a bottle of good red to toast the occassion. ( It's really a shame they don't make a good blue for days like this)

As Audrey Young points out , good luck to the UNDP. Not that luck has anything to do with spending OPM.

I was talking to a friend from Burundi an hour ago and he reckoned that if she hadn't solved Nz's problems with the billions she has wasted here, there really isn't much chance spending more billions at the UNDP will be any better. Just goes to show Africans have a good relationship with reality. Mind you they tend to live next door to it.

I agree with him, but as I'm just a taxpaying pawn in Clark's game of chess, what would I know.

It's Not Easy Being Green!!!

There is actually a television programme of this name, and where is it shown, but on the BBC, of course!
And it is so very, very true, especially when you consider the contradictions of this new religion.
This week, Contact Energy announced plans to have a few dams on the Clutha River.
And of course there will be those who don’t want valleys flooded, etc, etc.
Or, you can cover your hillsides with ugly noisy windmills, whose blades kill birdlife.
And windmills don’t always work either, and are costly.
But isn’t this supposed to be the kind of renewable energy we supposedly want?
Either way, we still need extra power, or else the lights will go out.
Britain also faces such a dilemma.
On one day we get reports about how short the country is on power generation capacity, the next day we have the Blue Labour Tories coming up with similar plans for the government to have electric cars.
But where will these cars get their power from? From the National Grid which is barely able to cope with existing demand, never mind all the extra electric cars the politicians seek.
And will such extra power generation be any cleaner with less CO2 than a petrol or diesel engine in all those vehicles? Apparently not!
America also faces similar issues with the environment.
The Washington Post reports on a major renewable project that has its own environmental contradictions and could split the green movement.
Of course, we have seen so many instances of enviro-mentalism where the results have not been what had been expected, suggesting other agendas.
You know, the eco-friendly lightbulbs that contain deadly chemicals.
The eco-friendly Priuses, whose batteries contain deadly chemicals.
The biofuels that wreck wildlife habitat and also negatively impact on C02 production.
It all makes you wonder why bother.
Indeed, why not stick to traditional coal-fired power stations, who will efficiently produce the power efficiently where it is wanted, and which will need coal to be transported by rail, thus making Cullen’s train set less of an economic burden.
In the meantime, think of the current cooling trend of the climate, the latest ever snow in Las Vegas as America enjoys yet another late dumping!

Crossposted over at the Fairfacts Media Show

Retailing is a blood sport.

Bank of New Zealand economist Stephen Toplis puts that down to the impact of the sharp drop in the kiwi dollar last year, which makes imported goods more expensive.

"Retailers can't keep discounting for ever," he said.

Now that is a line I can't agree with.

Being at the cutting edge of capitalism, retailing is a blood sport and retailers do whatever it takes to make a sale. If that means discounting to survive, then that is what will happen, now and forever more.

And what exactly is discounting anyway? It assumes an original fool price or rrp, which is a meaningless concept as the old adage says something is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Sure there are some people out there who are prepared to pay a full rrp and good luck to any retailer who can cater to that market and survive.

But there are many more people who want a deal. If you don't believe me go to your local DressSmart and see retail discounting in all its glory. And remember that the middle class has already reached peak shopping ( in my opinion anyway).

The retailers who survive are the ones who can evolve with the times, control their overheads and are prepared to accept lower profits from time to time.

Which reminds me that lowering taxes is also a valid way to increase profits. (please take note Bill English)

For retailers, living to fight another day is a more preferable option than death.

And Now It Takes Three

The other night Adolf took The Cook out for dinner. It was her wedding anniversary, you see. We went to that nice little el sheapo Vietnamese place (run by Koreans) just down the road.

The Cook invited the oldest offspring and the father of her children, along with said children and Adolf decided at the last minute to go across the road and get some better quality wine than that available at the eatery. He carefully selected three bottles - chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and cabernet sauvignon- of significantly higher than usual price and marched up to the check out.




"Would you mind removing the price tags from the bottles? It's my wife's wedding anniversary and if she sees those she'll divorce me."

"Oh thats nice. How many years?

"Thirty seven."

The bloke waiting behind me chipped in. "Jees! Do you still have to get her drunk?"

Time For Tea

Some wit and humour from a number of tea parties (courtesy Powerline)



Baltimore

and Washington DC

Adolf gives Obama less than a year before his administration, built on dishonesty and incompetence, implodes.

Another reason Labour is stuffed.

Another reason why Labour will never control Auckland and hence NZ again.

My opinion is that Asian people haven't come to NZ to become socialists.
They are fundamentally capitalists at heart and long term thinkers.

Labour will struggle to attract the Asian vote for the simple reason that a vote for Labour is the quickest and surest way to guarantee remaining poor.

Best One Liner of the Week

From Roarprawn on the quality of writing from political commentator Colin James, the leftie who claims to be neutral because he doesn't vote. What a Dick!

"James on the other hand is toast made out of cheap supermarket white bread."

Stalinist Cindy Leaves Her Mark!!

Stalinist Cindy, the woman who sought to nationalise our children is leaving town.

Kiro is heading off to the wide blue yonder, and social welfare minister Paula Bennett has announced a replacement, while she seeks a permanent successor.

Roarprawn notes Paula's must withering put down or understatement, calling it the quote of the week.

"Dr Kiro has been a strong advocate for the rights of children, and she has left a lasting impression."

Indeed she has, but it wasn't a good one!

All those child killings under her watch, her push for the anti-smacking bill, and mass surveillance of the nation's children.

Indeed, there is a mass of material of what Kommissar Kiro had in mind.

Trevor Loudon also looked at her radical background.

Such was her extremism, wags like Zentiger and Jim Hopkins were able to poke fun.

But such a commissioner's role is serious business.

So let us hope that her successors will have a more successful impact.

And one final thought. With yet another of Helen's henchwomyn getting the boot, the post of her police patsy, Commissioner Howard Broad looks even more vulnerable tonight.

How long has he got?

Hat tip: Roarprawn, No Minister, Liberty Scott, New Zeal.

What's With The Herald?

This morning Adolf opened a copy of the Herald before breakfast in a pleasant Rotorua hotel.

The front page and the following two or three pages could be described by only one word.

Nauseating.

Wall to wall Tony Vietch.

Did you hear that, Tim Murphy?

Who cares about Mr Tony Fucking Vietch and his personal peccadilloes? Is there no real news to report?

What once was a top rate daily paper has sunk to the depths of printing trash and gossip. The sooner it's sold off, the better.

Mt Albert candidates

Heard on Newstalk ZB this morning (paraphrased):

National has three nominations for the Mt Albert byelection, Korean broadcaster
Melissa Lee, 2008 candidate Ravi Musuku and ACT party stalwart Blair
Mulholland.

Say what?

The Cost of Green Jobs

There’s been much said lately about ‘Green jobs’.
Barack Obama plans to create ‘millions’ of them, Gordon Brown plans for several hundred thousand and Kevin Rudd has similar ambitions.
But do they work? Can government’s actually create ‘Green jobs.’
The political leaders see such ideas as a way out of the current economic difficulties and as a way to excuse the spending of billions of dollars of our money.

However, it looks like the projects that they propose could cost more jobs than they actually creat.

If we take a simple example of wind power.

Yes, I am sure jobs will be created in building such wind turbines, but if they need a subsidy to jusitify their existence, than how might that money have created jobs in other areas, say in areas not needing subisidy for survival.

The Economist looked at the matter this month, and noted the cost of 'Green' jobs, especially if they needed subsidy.

It also noted how subsidies for say renewable energy might also cost jobs in coal mines.

Here, a story notes Britain's Gordon Brown seeking 400,000 such jobs, but Britain lacking the skills to generate such work. But others still see a role for government to step in.

However, in Spain we see what seems to be the most comprehensive study of such investment in green jobs by the Spanish government. It found 2.2 jobs were lost for every green job created and only one in ten of the green jobs were permanent.

The report has fuelled sceptism as to Obama's renewable energy proposals, as well as the costs of the government subsidy to help make them happen.

As Britain plans a 'new deal' in its government helping create such new jobs, The Register also fears the costs of supporting them.

And as the New South Wales government announces a subsidy to help such jobs, you can but wonder if there is a better way for governments to spend hard earned taxpayer dollars.

For if these green jobs were cost effective and they had a real business case, they would not need subsidies to help make them happen!!

Cross posted over at Fairfacts Media

Challenge to Cactus Kate

Manchester United v Arsenal, Champions League semi final, 28 - 29 April & 05 - 06 May.

The loser owes the other drinks for a night next time Cactus is in Auckland and a public humiliation on the loser's blog by the loser publicly praising the other's winning team.

Deal?

Liarbour's failed productivity legacy confirmed!!

A few months back at the PM's job summit, Treasury laid bare Liarbour's shocking record on productivity.

Now, the OECD is pouring over the figures and comes to the same damning conclusions.

That Liarbour failed, and failed bigtime.

The Emissions Trading Scheme and Resource Management Act needed attention to improve regulatory quality and eliminate uncertainty, while the financially struggling health sector needed restructuring.
Among other things, low productivity performance was put down to "sub-optimal" policies and new regulation which was sometimes poorly designed.
"Such measures have increased the costs of doing business and sent bad signals to foreign investors."
The report urged the Government to strive to create an attractive business environment - something which would require structural policy changes in many areas.

Considering how such international reports tend to be couched in diplomatic-speak, I guess the message could not be much clearer.

Interesting that the CTU was quoted in the NZPA story since their policies and the way the Clark government acceded to their wishes means the CTU was also to blame- a bit like quizzing Hitler over the causes of the second world war!!

UPDATE: The OECD also slammed Liarbour's record in November.

Crossposted over at the Fairfacts Media Show

Timeless commonsense

Sir Roger Douglas talks economic sense.

"We cannot spend our way out of a recession and we cannot borrow our way out of debt,"

"The idea that we should increase spending when our debts are large is lunacy,"

"We need to insist that the Government stops spending so much of our money."

"When the Government is financing its spending through a massive expansion of public debt, and when the average household has lost thousands on the sharemarket or in finance companies, then there is little to be confident about,"

"People got caught up in a bubble mentality, believing that house prices would continue to soar, that finance companies would never collapse, and that Government could massively increase spending, with no additional burden on the taxpayer."How would continuing this exercise in self-delusion help us to start living within our means."

"But National is now in Government - it has a duty to do what is necessary to build confidence. That means it must stop spending beyond its means. If we do not do this then future generations will be crippled with debt repayments."

"The Government cannot continue to finance spending through debt. The Government cannot continue to throw money at health, welfare and education without caring about incomes."

Soaring property prices, free equity, high commodity prices, endless growth and easy credit have been the economic buzz words that bullshitted us through the last decade but now there is only one word the banks want to hear -INCOME, preferably used in the same sentence as "strong and secure".

The government is no different. They cannot continue to spend if their income streams (taxpayers) are under threat.

The world is addicted to easy money but we would be fools to think that there is a never ending supply of cheap fixes with no long term consequences.

Idiots like Matt McCarten can label ACT as stormtroopers and as hanger-ons but the reality is that good economic sense is not right wing extremism.

Mugs with Mouths

New Zealand Labour, that is.

Yesterday one Brendan (????????? Oh yes, Burns I think) declared that the end of the world is nigh because SkyTV have been granted TV rights to world cup rugby.

It took a long time to scroll down the Labour website to find him. Here's the line he used:-

"New Zealanders have been denied their birthright..." because they will have to pay for Sky in order to watch ALL OF THE MATCHES. Never mind the fact that negotiations are will underway for free to air broadcast of a large number of games.

Today plug, four on the floor, Cosgrove picks up the baton with this gem of a flat out lie:-

"Your wife gets raped by a Pakeha, and he goes to the clink, the prison. Your wife gets raped by a Maori person, and he goes off and goes flatting with his mates in some sort of strange separatist concept."

Never mind that yesterday Dr Sharples had pointed out that the proposed facility will only be used for carefully selected inmates and used toward the end of their sentences.

Perhaps one day Dr Brian Edwards might bash a few heads together in the Labour caucus and instruct them on the folly of moving the mouth before the brain has calculated how many votes will be alienated by the mouth.

These two remind Adolf of the retired surgeon who made a fortune patching up Labour Party members. "They're damned easy to work on you know," he said over an evening gin. 'They've only got two moving parts, the mouth and the arsehole and they'reboth interchangeable."

National Good, Labor Bad?

A few weeks back, the New Zealand government announced details of its broadband package.
$1.5 billion of taxpayer funds will create a government entity which will help create local joint ventures to deliver fibre to the home.
Our own IT Minister Steven Joyce received much praise for his proposals from across the New Zealand ICT sector.
Soon after, when Kevin Rudd announced a similar proposal, a national broadband network to be built with the setting up of a similar company, he was lauded in New Zealand for copying John Key.
So how have the ‘right’ in Australia responded to their own NBN network which supposedly echoes that from a more market-minded government in New Zealand?
They are not happy, with blogger Andrew Bolt reeling a raft of negative media, which also includes that from left-wing media such as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as the more centrist technology press.
Much criticism centres around the cost of Ruddnet, A$43 billion dollars, around A$2000 for each Australian; and around ten times the highest estimates of the cost of New Zealand’s NBN equivalent.
Furthermore, it also appears the Rudd government has not fully costed its proposals, nor prepared a cost benefit analysis. There are also doubts about whether fibre is the best technology when wireless-based systems might be best for such a vast continent.
Indeed, when I first began thinking about the contrast in the coverage given to two apparently identical programmes, I did wonder whether it was a case of “National Good, Labor Bad”; a complete reversal of the “Labour Good, National Bad” view we used to see from the old Liarbour government and its media lapdogs.
But it really does seem that our own ICT Minister Steven Joyce has done his homework is presenting a feasible, cost-effective project that has widespread support from the ICT industry in New Zealand.
In contrast, while National here, the Rudd government has been busy frittering money around on various bail-out schemes, increasing the size of government, and eventually tax; and this has got in the way of sound financial, business and technological planning.
Indeed, it truly is a case of National Good, Labor bad, but a view based on reality not rhetoric!

Hat tip: Andrew Bolt, Kevin Rudd

New figures confirm Kyoto con!!!

If there’s anything as dodgy as the science behind global warming / climate change, it must be the mathematics behind the Kyoto Protocol.
No wonder critics are keen to point out the protocol was dreamt up by the guys at Enron.
Indeed, weren’t we sold a protocol on the most dubious grounds.
Remember, Liarbour said New Zealand would profit from it.
Yet their own figures soon showed how ‘clean green’ New Zealand would be paying dirty Russia!
The figures showed the country was set for a billion dollar-plus liability, then half a billion, and now a surplus!
Apparantly, it comes down to the number of trees we have , as well as farting sheep in a drought!
What a bizarre situation we have?
Indeed, much can be said about our proposed Emissions Training Scheme, which seems to be on the backburner, unless the Key-led government is keeping quiet about it.
Unique among other countries, New Zealand has agriculture in its scheme.
Yet it could well be argued that many agricultural and farming activities are carbon neutral, so why include farming?
Sheep nibbling at grass, which encourages grass to grow faster, will increase the consumption of CO2 by grass, regardless of how much a sheep or a cow farts!
But it wasn’t so much about CO2 and alleged climate change.
Yes, Uncle Helen could prattle on about sustainability, as if that was her only vision of the future. For Michael Cullen, ETS was also about the $21 billion of extra taxes he aimed to screw us for.
As I noted yesterday, the environment is being abused as an argument for higher taxes.
And the fluctuating figures for New Zealand’s Kyoto liabilities, shows the dodgy figures behind it all, the scam behind the scenes.
And all to curb a problem that doesn’t exist anyway!
Not unless you mean the problem of excessive government spending!!

Fiji v Russia: comparisons

From Granny.

MOSCOW – It is 11am and the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta is holding its editorial conference. Seated at the top of the table Dmitry Muratov, the paper's bearded editor-in-chief, is flanked by his senior team.

Over cups of tea, the journalists mull over the morning papers. They discuss possible stories: the Kremlin is spending more on propaganda; migrant workers in Russia are leaving; there is trouble in Chechnya. Oh, and two fed-up hacks working for Russian television have locked themselves in a cupboard.
The mood is good-natured;there are arguments and jokes. But nobody doubts the seriousness of Novaya Gazeta.

On the wall is a photo-gallery of dead colleagues. There is Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya's feted special correspondent, shot dead in October 2006. Next to her is the paper's deputy editor Yuri Shchekochikhin (mysteriously poisoned). Then there is reporter Igor Domnikov (bludgeoned to death). Two new black-and-white photos have just been hung on the wall.

One shows Stanislav Markelov, who was one of Russia's best-known human rights defenders. The other is of Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old freelancer for the newspaper.

An armed assailant killed them both on January 19, a few minutes' walk from the Kremlin. Markelov died instantly; Baburova lay dying in the snow.

The photos provide a constant reminder of how dangerous the most basic function of journalism - telling the truth - has become in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Soft censorship defines the media landscape, and editors know instinctively which boundaries not to cross (the most important rule: never criticise Putin). Novaya is the last major publication consistently critical of Kremlin power.

It covers corruption, human rights abuses in Chechnya and the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan, and the work of Russia's post-KGB secret service, the FSB. It is, in short, dedicated to real journalism, unlike Russian television and most other newspapers, all under Putin's thumb.

Why is Novaya allowed to continue to publish? According to Andrei Lipsky, its deputy editor, it plays a useful role for the Kremlin, allowing it to ridicule the frequent charge in Washington and European capitals there is no freedom of speech in Russia.

More importantly, he adds, it provides information on the state of the nation for the country's nervous ruling elite.

"Novaya Gazeta lies on the tables of the presidential administration and all regional governors," Lipsky says. "Putin reads it, or people around him read it for him. The newspaper is a crucial source. They have liquidated many real sources, starting with television."

"Rich Prick" American Lawyers

...are profiting from the downturn it seems.

The law firms working on various pieces in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy have begun submitting their fee applications, and the early returns are fittingly big for the largest and most complicated Chapter 11 in U.S. history: Legal fees and expenses covering the period September 15, 2008 (the day Lehman died) through January 31, 2009, total more than $84 million.

Leading the way, naturally is Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Lehman's lead counsel. So far, the firm has billed the bank $55 million for 100,296.40 hours of work. As the New York Times helpfully points out, that adds up to more than 700 hours per day, seven days a week. Harvey Miller has billed the most hours--794.80--at a rate of $950 an hour.

But that doesn't make him the firm's highest biller, at least not echnically--exchange rates are pushing the fees of Weil's London-based lawyers to over $1,000 per hour. Michael Francies, managing partner of the London office, wins the fee derby with a rate of $1,170 an hour for nearly 78 hours of work this year. All told, 128 Weil partners and of counsel have done 29,398 hours of work.

Corrrr!

Racism is the new black!

Cracking column from Andrew Bolt, a favourite Australian columnist and blogger.

Andrew looks at the new Australian fashion for politicians and others to claim aboriginal ancestry.

I guess it follows from the November election of you-know-who to the White House.

Pollsters have reported many voted said his skin colour was a positive factor as to why they voted for him. He won because he was black.

But I guess New Zealand has had this same affliction, of people trading on their ethnic roots, for some time, gaining support thanks to a prevalent political correctness.

I've often found it funny that the NZ Maori rugby team appears more pakeha than the All Blacks, and when Christian Cullen was reported as Maori, well, that made me laugh.

Oh well, but I am sure many on the right will agree with me and Andrew Bolt when we say this:

"..this self-identification as Aboriginal strikes me as self-obsessed, and driven more by politics than by any racial reality.
It’s also divisive, feeding a new movement to stress pointless or even invented racial differences we once swore to overcome. What happened to wanting us all to become colour blind? "

Comment of the Decade

From Sue Kedgeley's fake twitter account.

"@MaryanStreet I miss Helen too, she was an inspiration to powerful intelligent women who know what's best for other people

01:27 PM Apr 08"

Couldn't see anything from her old friend and concrete mixer Tim

Why He Was Thrown Out

Now, thanks to ACT's Heather Roy and her blog, you can see why the snivelling, leftie prick of a journalist was thrown out of Fiji.



Says Heather of this odious dissembler and perverter of the truth:-

"I draw the line, though, at his statement that ‘mercenary work in the UN had, at times, brought in more dollars to Fiji than tourism and it should be stopped.’ If that statement is true, then our Kiwi peacekeepers are also mercenaries. Nothing could be further from the truth and it is an insult to every NZ serviceman and woman as well as their whanau."

Well spotted, Heather.

How the global left seek to wash the brains of our kids!!

Now who was it who said something about getting hold of the minds of the young so they can be controlled and manipulated?
A few recent events seem to confirm how the left seek to brainwash the young in their countries.
In Australia, we see plans to instill the minds of kindy kids with political correctness.
In the United States, we see the Messiah creating an army of followers, the Obama Youth.
And in Britain, Gordon Brown hopes to make volunteer work compulsory.
As if years of state education is not enough to drum values of liberalism into a country’s youth, the left are planning major extensions of government power and indoctrination.
Thank Christ Uncle Helen did not get re-elected last November, or else we might see yet more specimens of earnest young Clarkula Clones!

Hat tip: Andrew Bolt, Gateway Pundit, Kiwiblog

US$

Just to note that around 59c to the us$ we are at the historical equilibrium level. Not sure if it has any particular relevance.

The Tea Party Protest is Our Protest Too!!!

Tomorrow in America, April 15, is Tea Party Day. More than 500 US towns will be protesting about Obama's tax and spend budgets.
US residents fear the legacies of debt that will be passed on to them and their children.
Taxes will also rise and there will be new taxes to pay for the extra spending.
For many, the battle is not just about their growing tax burden under the Obama presidency, but the direction of America towards a socialist state.
Obama's budget will give Amercia deficts of US$9.3 trillion over ten years and despite what Obama has promised on taxes for lower and middle incomes, people see the red ink and they don't believe him.

This is helping push Obama's ratings down, now at +2 in the Sunday Rassmussen Daily Tracking Poll, a record low under Obama, as tax rises up the list of concerns for US voters. In Britain, there is growing support for government spending cuts.

Of course, our tax burden is far higher in New Zealand, but Australia is catching up as government grows over the Tasman. The spendthrift Kevin Rudd has increased government spending by 20% in little over a year, a faster growth of government than during the 1972-75 Gough Whitlam period. Growing debt is causing concern over future tax increases.

Quiggin canvasses what no politician is yet prepared to acknowledge: that the consequences of bigger government is higher taxation. Given the future need to reduce government debt, as well as fund a sustained increase in public spending, he estimates that taxation's total share of national income is likely to rise from 30 per cent to 35 per cent.

Australia, the US and Britain are experiencing the costs of left-wing government. We experienced it ourselves under Uncle Helen, with its growing tax burden, higher government sopending and failing economy, leaving our finance minister Bill English, a legacy of deficits to deal with.

But with the trend for excessive spending and debt, as seen in Britain under Gordon Brown, Obama and Rudd, though not Europe, it is fortunate Liarbour was not re-elected in New Zealand. We can only dread to think what Cullen or his successor might have done in a Liarbour fourth term.

This is why America's protest is our protest too. All us taxpayers need to constantly remind our political leaders that we don't want to see New Zealand swim under Brown /Obama-style red ink, or face an orgy of spending like Australia is facing, wiping out the surplusses of the Howard and Costello years, giving Australia a $100bn deficit over three years.

That is why maybe we Kiwis too should make our own protest as Bill English prepares our own New Zealand budget. We should join our American friends and send Bill and other MPs a teabag too!! Our own politicians also need reminding of the need to keep government spending and debt, and hence our taxes, down!

How the Navy Seals saved that sea captain!!

The spinning has begun over the role you-know-who played in the Somalian sea rescue by the US Navy Seals.

However, Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive, one of the specialist US Military bloggers uses his specialist knowledge to explain what actually happened.

The standing authority gave them clearance to engage the pirates if the life of the captain was in imminent danger. The on scene commander deemed this to be true and gave the order to fire.

Uncle Jimbo also said:

This was not a rescue attempt ordered by National Command Authority i.e. the President. It was a reaction by the on scene commander under standard authority to safeguard the life of a hostage.

Now, certain media and especially liberals are talking up the Messiah's role in the affair, but Uncle Jimbo clarifies further:

He did affirm the military's authorization to use force if the captain's life was in danger, but they already would have had that authorization as part of their standard rules of engagement.

If there are innocents about to be slaughtered the same reasoning that authorizes self defense also covers an imminent execution unless the ROE specifically forbid it.

The AP is making it sound like there was an active rescue ordered by the President. It was not, there was an imminent threat and the local commander gave the order to fire.

Good on Obama for ensuring their authorization was clear, but let's also be clear that he did not authorize or order an active rescue attempt.

Indeed, what brilliant news the rescue by the Navy Seals was and I will give credit to Obama for giving the approvals he did and not standing in the way of the necessary action. And full marks to the Navy Seals.

Now, there remains other ships still being held by pirates in Somalian waters, and the pirates are threatening revenge on America.

And whatever 'distractions' a president may have, as Mark Steyn argues in this excellent essay, pirates must be dealt with, or the world will become ever more 'reprimitivized' as 'civilisation walks the plank.'

UPDATE: Obama should act tougher against piracy, say ship crew.

Why Somalian piracy is booming?

Could Gunboat diplomacy work?

Efforts on land needed too.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

UPDATE2: Powerline looks at Obama's conditions of approval:

Whether the "imminent danger" standard was satisfied or not, its real effect (and, I suspect, its real purpose) was to give cover to our fledgling President's rear end. If the affair had turned out badly--as could easily have happened, had the snipers been less accurate--the White House could either have distanced itself from the commander by saying he exceeded his authority, or taken the position that there was no choice but to act because the captain was in "imminent danger."
In fact, the White House gave the most cautious authorization for the use of force that it possibly could have. Obama--like, more significantly, Captain Phillips--was saved by the willingness of the on-scene commander to stick his neck out and the skill of the Navy's snipers.

Why Auckland needs reforming

I was going to post on this earlier but I see DPF and Whale Oil have beaten me to it so I'll keep it brief.

Mayors calling each other names. Abusive texts sent by the North Shore Mayor. Mayors unable to organise a meeting and decide on who is to attend. The list goes on.

The simple truth is that those mayors are very worried their ego trips and ratepayer funded junkets are about to end. They are soon to relegated to running for a 'mere' local board and then try to obtain chairmanship of that. Their delusions of grandeur, suitably evidenced by Andrew Williams, are soon to end.

This is why they are going troppo. And this is why Auckland needs reforming. The sad thing is that none of the mayors can see past the end of their noses and acknowledge it.

If they really cared about Auckland, as they say they do, they would cooperate with John Banks, fall in behind and do something constructive. I realise that is asking far too much of Andrew Williams but I thought Bob Harvey and even Mike Lee were better than that.

Desperately seeking a celebrity!!!

You can't help but laugh at the panic within Labour concerning the Mt Albert by-election.
They are now seeking a big name, celebrity MP, one that will help them win the seat, and also Stop Tizard.
How, Helen's handbag must feel at yet another attempt to keep her out!
Anyway, Liarbour has commissioned a polling company to whet the voters appetite.
But the names they came up with, either aren't standing are or associated with National.
It all smacks of desperation to me.
Indeed, both Kiwiblog and Whale Oil report Liabour's panic.
Which brings us back to Judith Tizard.
As the party does its utmost to stop her going into bat for them again, what names could they come up with?
Let us hear your suggestions.
And might Tizard need the bat on the left to deal with Andrew Little!

Time to buy?

The Sunday papers today are talking up the housing market.

But suggesting it is more than just an attempt to butter up one of their major sources of advertising, the Patron St of Taxpayers, Bernard Hickey, has joined in the spruiking.

Bernard has tended to predict savage cuts in house prices, but now he says it is time to buy. His view is based as much on the costs of rent v the costs of a mortgage and other costs associated with owning a home.

Nonetheless, the state of the economy and rising unemployment may still cause further price declines, he admits.

However, over at the Sunday Star-Times, because the New Zealand housing market was less speculative than in other countries, there is less potential for a downside.

The SST also notes lower interest rates v the rental costs, plus impact from immigration affecting future prices. Supply is also being hit by a slump in new housing starts.

However, citing rising unemployment, some economists still say hold off.

But with growing talk and practice of mortgage holidays, this just might give more confidence to a depressed market, with homeowners knowing they still have upto a year to find work if the worst happens. Even if such holidays come with a cost of rolled up interest.

In Kerikeri, though, I still see falling prices. But this is perhaps an area that boomed more than most in recent years. Perhaps there will be significant regional variations to this story.

What do you think? Is now the time to buy? And where?

The Fingerwaggers v the Followers of Jesus!!

Just arrived back from Auckland. Since they were discussing sport on Newstalk ZB, I gave the radio a miss this afternoon and concentrated more on the towns and countryside.
Since today is a public holiday, well, there is certainly a mess with what trading is and isn’t allowed, along with what is actually offered.
On Friday, staying in the CBD, I ventured into K Rd for something to eat. The bars were closed but the cafes were open. The dairies were open and you could buy porn but no Friday Herald, as it did not publish that day.
But the sex shops were closed, so no porn there. And if you wanted condoms, again, forget about the sexshop, but I did see a pharmacy that appeared to be open.
As I left with a pizza, I did note the working girls were hoping for a Good Friday, while the bars and clubs were waiting to open at Midnight.
Today’s retailing mish-mash is equally puzzling.
I drove through K Rd in the early hours and it seems the bars were closed but a couple of clubs were open. Perhaps it is legal for DJs to work Easter Sunday, but not Drag Queens!
Today, at Auckland Fish Market, you could buy fish, meat and other foodstuffs, but no wine, unless you were dining.
But what is the difference between buying fish, meat, etc, at the fish market, as opposed to a supermarket?
I see Four Square has been open but the larger retailers haven’t been. Auckland’s Sylvia Park and other malls were closed.
And driving through Waipu, I am sure I saw a Mitre 10 open.
It all seems one unholy mess.
I can understand arguments to keep Easter special and for the family, etc, but surely we need to come up with rules that make sense and avoid the strange inconsistencies I have come across.
Indeed, I remember once being in a Pahia bar on a Good Friday where you had to pay a dollar for a meatball so you could buy a drink.
I guess the issue is finding some sensible rules that can be agreed upon, otherwise a free-for-all may well be the most sensible solution.
This brings me back to Christianity, the subject of a post on Good Friday.
Driving down to Auckland on Friday afternoon, Newstalk ZB was still talking about religion.
They mentioned ‘followers of Jesus’ rather than Christians. These people go out of their way and help others, like taking in the homeless and finding them jobs, etc. This is in contrast, said one FOJ, to ‘Christians’ who tend to sit a lot and wag their finger in disapproval at something they dislike.
Later that night while in K Rd, I wondered what the Followers of Jesus might say or do about the various people making their livelihoods that night. Would they wag their fingers in disgust or help the individuals concerned?
The FOJs seem to offer a more positive version of religion, even if it might seem like the touchy-feely stuff I was criticising on Friday. And the FOJs just might accept a right for everyone to go about their business as they see fit and avoid the mishmash of rules we have today.
Who offers the best way for Christianity, the FOJs or the fingerwaggers?

Crossposted over at No Minister

Andrew Williams forgets his holidays

Our resident leftie, Psycho Milt, is away for a week or two in the South Island fishing with his family. The Mad Mayor of North Shore, Andrew Williams, was recently there too, cycling around some tracks. He just happened to be there the week the Royal Commission report on Auckland Governance was made public. Indeed, on the very day it was released the media tried desperately to contact him for comment but he was in absentia. That's odd for someone who seems to be such a staunch critic of the Super City. He obviously doesn't really give a stuff.

Anyway, he has issued an 'odd' press release claiming the mighty ACT Party that dominates parliament with 5 MP's is "hi-jacking" the Government over the issue. In hindsight it's not an odd press release at all; it's a normal press release issued by an odd guy.

Rodney Hide's response is as priceless as it is truthful.

But Mr Hide said he spoke to other Mayors the day the Royal Commission released its report, a day when Williams was in the South Island."

Andrew Williams wasn't there when the Royal Commission released their report, and I don't know why, so we did our best," he told NZPA.

Thanks goodness Williams' job will be redundant when the restructuring is complete which of course is the reason he's so worried.

Hat Tip: Whale Oil.

Life gets tougher for President Pantywaist

Not sure where Pantywaist comes in but the Messiah gets the bash after his Grand European vacation.

Gerard Warner of Britain's Daily Telegraph brands Obama s 'surrender monkey' for giving things away and getting nothing in return.

President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. You name it, he blew it. What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit?

Another massive stimulus package, globally funded and co-ordinated. Did he achieve it? Not so as you'd notice.

And don't forget how Oballsup cut missile defence spending as North Korea fires its new weapons.

Watch out, France and Co, there is a new surrender monkey on the block and, over the next four years, he will spectacularly sell out the interests of the West with every kind of liberal-delusionist initiative on nuclear disarmament and sitting down to negotiate with any power freak who wants to buy time to get a good ICBM fix on San Francisco, or wherever.

If you thought the world was a tad unsafe with Dubya around, just wait until President Pantywaist gets into his stride.

Charles Krauthammer continues the theme in Hotair .

Our president came bearing a basketful of mea culpas. With varying degrees of directness or obliqueness, Obama indicted his own people for arrogance, for dismissiveness and derisiveness, for genocide, for torture, for Hiroshima, for Guantanamo and for insufficient respect for the Muslim world.
And what did he get for this obsessive denigration of his own country? He wanted more NATO combat troops in Afghanistan to match the surge of 17,000 Americans. He was rudely rebuffed.
He wanted more stimulus spending from Europe. He got nothing.
From Russia, he got no help on Iran. From China, he got the blocking of any action on North Korea.

Andrew Bolt notes challenges for the Messiah like the Somali pirates that Hillary finds so funny.

There is Iran and its nuclear programme, which this blog noted yesterday.

Gateway Pundit adds the economy, with the deepening debts Obama's spending is creating.

No wonder the boy president has been reported as finding things overwhelming.

I can just imagine him letting old Hilldog answer that 3am phonecall!

No wonder The One has had a bad few days in the polls, which will only get worse as knowledge of his failures sink in!!

Hat tip: Andrew Bolt, Gateway Pundit. Hot Air

It's all a joke for Hilldog!!!

Good grief, why aren't the media all over this?
They would be if Dubya was doing it.
Now, we have Somalian pirates demanding a ransom and threatening to kill a US citizen.
But the Hilldog thinks it is so funny as this clip shows.
It wasn't that long ago Barack Obama laughed his way through a tv interview when being asked about car bail-outs.
Just what is it with the US government under the Democrats, treating tragedy as a joke?
Have they no hearts?
One can only imagine what stick Liabour would kick up if Key and co laughed over various dramas.
For all her faults, I don't remember Uncle Helen ever doing anything like it, or did she?

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

More Dissembling From The Herald

Surprise surprise. The Herald carries this story headlined:-

Most don't want tax cuts through borrowing, says survey

Funny thing is, The Herald doesn't tell you who commissioned the survey. They didn't want you to know it was carried out for that little coven of lefties known by the euphemistic title "The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development" but you've got to visit The Press to find that out.

Neither newspaper thought to publish the actual questions asked, so that the discerning reader could see what bias might be associated with their wording and you can be sure they were worded to gain the desired result.

It's high time people realised that tax cuts and borrowing go hand in hand, just so long as the borrowing is funding capital expenditure and only sufficient tax is taken to fund operating costs and service the debt over the lifetime of the asset. This common sense concept of course was foreign to spendthrift Cullen and all his mates in The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development and the news media.

Adolf will bet pounds to peanuts that the survey did NOT ask:-

"Do you approve of tax cuts provided they are not funded directly from borrowing?"

Isn't it funny how there was not a whisper from the media as Labour funded all sorts of election bribes in 2005.

Question. Was there no government borrowing that financial year?

Update:

Answer. Between June 2005 and June 2006 the Clark Labour gummint borrowed an extra $2.192 billion.

That was to pay for interest free student loans and Working For Families.

. Govt Debt

Jun. 2005	144,041	94.8	16,236	10.7
Sep. 2005	143,010	92.9	18,195	11.8
Dec. 2005	148,112	95.2	17,829	11.5
Mar. 2006	164,472	104.5	18,191	11.6
Jun. 2006	161,776	102.0	18,428	11.6

An Honorable Man/And It's All Legal

Updated:

Adolf is larffing his arse off as the Commodore outflanks everybody and mounts another bloodless coup, in order to prevent the do-gooder busybodies from imposing a crook election on his country. He's just too smart for the whole lot of them. You see, this time it's all legal.

Maybe the weepy eyed liberal lefties might think again before they wish upon New Zealand a presidential model. Maybe McCully and John Key will one day come to their senses and realise they can't impose their will on Bainimarmama and 90% of the Fijian people.

"Observers said Friday's announcement by the aged and ailing Iloilo had the stamp of Bainimarama, and that the measures he announced appeared to prepare the way for the president to reappoint Bainimarama as prime minister."

Always be wary of reports of unspecified 'observers.' This is media speak for the opinion of the journalist or his carefully selected leftie.

"It looks like a prepared statement by Bainimarama, delivered by Iloilo," Rod Alley, a senior fellow at New Zealand's Center for Strategic Studies, told The Associated Press."

Just who exactly is this Rod Alley? Why, he's an avowed leftie of course, snuggling in with all those other lefties.

"Rod Alley (Wellington)
Roderic Alley is Convenor of the organising committee of the Peace Foundation Wellington."





The Peace Foundation of Wellington?

I rest my case.




In a move which would never have happened in NZ between 1999 and 2009, Commodore Bainimarama has stood down as Interim PM of Fiji. This is the action of an honorable man.




Why? Because the country's Supreme Court has held that his appointment was illegal.

Had such a decision been handed down in NZ, our erstwhile PM would have legislated retrospectively to render the illegal appointment legal. She was very good at that sort of thing.

Now it remains to be seen what the next moves in Fiji will be.

Of one thing we can be sure. Bainimarama won't give up on his campaign to clean up and clean out corruption in Fiji. Nor will he let go and allow a new gerrymandered election to be held under the current racially biased dogs breakfast of a constitution put together by various do-gooders including our very own Rev Paul Reeves.

Bainimarama will win the day eventually, in spite of court decisions, bullying by Australia and New Zealand, exhortations from Clinton and her own band of corrupt crooks and the mewling of the Pacific Forum nobodies. He will win because he has the solid support of a huge majority of the people.

Christianity: Too 'nice' to survive?

I've just been out driving and as always Newstalk ZB was on.

They were talking the usual Good Friday religious thinking.

And it got me thinking about God and Christianity too.

A look at some of the headlines today reveals some worrying things.

Islamists planning to kill Easter shoppers in Britain.

An Islamist state moving further down the road to possessing nuclear weapons.

Islamic pirates causing mayhem off the coast of Africa.

Meanwhile, a UK Christian leader is happy for sharia law to operate in Britain.

The UK Conservatives talk about how they won't pass by on to the other side of the road.

The Christians are so full of touchy feel-good liberalism.

But what is winning hearts and minds?

Where are the conversions taking place?

Who is growing more powerful?

I'm not suggesting Christians should suddenly start bombing people, taking hostages and hanging or stoning those who disagree with them, or doing things the church disapproves of.

But perhaps a more rigorous defence of what it believes in might work. A rigorous defence of its values. Less tolerance or acceptance of rival faiths seeking to usurp it. Christians actually standing up for Christianity and doing more to promote it.

And certainly defending the culture, the economic and political systems and freedoms that stemmed from it.

Is Christianity too 'nice' to survive?

The Bible might say 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' but based on current evidence, I have my doubts there.

Happy Easter to you all!

I'll Take Roy Morgan Before Small Vernon

Roy Morgan's poll last night makes interesting reading.

First, a swing from National to ACT and the Maori Party leaving Labour lamenting like a love lost loon.

Well done ACT - not far off the 5% threshold.

In early April support for John Key's Coalition Government is 58.5% (down 1%) with National Party support 49.5% (down 5%), Maori Party 4% (up 2%), ACT NZ 4% (up 1.5%), and United Future 1% (up 0.5%) according to the Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll conducted March 23 - April 5, 2009.

NACTionalMP maintains a solid margin of 19 points between Labour and the Greens. For some inexplicable reason Roy Morgan insists on including the dead, sclerotic and putrfied NZ First party as though it is in opposition. It is not in opposition. It's in rigour mortis.

The most significant result however is the rise in consumer confidence which gives the lie to Treasury's pessimistic and gloomy forecasts and makes leftie Vernon Small look like a bit of a dil.

"The rise in the Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Rating, up 4.2 points to 97.6 has been driven by increasing confidence amongst New Zealanders about the national economy over the next 12 months and next five years - this confidence reflects well on Key's ability to lead New Zealand out of the more than year-long recession.

"A sustainable increase in the Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Rating will give Key a great amount of strength to continue implementing the policies he was elected on at last year's election - cutting red tape and increasing New Zealand's productivity and competitiveness."

A coincidence? I don't think so.

Vileness stolen shamelessly from the tumbleweed blog who really deserves a few more readers.

Poor, Poor Winston!! Time to take up blogging again??

Spare a thought for Winston Raymond Peters this fine evening.
There he is sitting in his comfortable Herne Bay home overlooking the sea and wondering.
If John Key can support Helen Clark going to the UN, why no job for Winnie?
If John Key can give a job to Michael Cullen, why no job for Winnie?
If John Key can sign a love-in with the Greens, why oh why is there no job for Winnie?
It all seems so unfair.
John Key has extended the hand of friendship to those who were so against him, so against the National Party, and everything they stood for.
John Key is now helping his supposed enemies, but he still draws the line at Winston Raymond Peters. Why won’t John Key extend the hand of friendship, bi-partisanship, and reach out once more across the political divide?

All those years of service for your country. And for what?
Life is just so empty nowadays. There’s been the days spent fishing, and visiting the races where a warm reception is always given in recognition for services rendered. The Green Parrot, Courtney Place, Auckland’s Viaduct and Ponsonby Road, well, you’ve done them all.
But it’s not enough compared to the joys of office and those beloved baubles.
And if there’s anything worse than being abused by the media, it’s being ignored by the media.
“Hello! Hello! Remember me? I still exist!,” you want to scream.
It seems ages since you were in the papers, or was on telly crossing swords with one of the Pauls. Still things could be worse. All those scandals with the Velas, Owen Glenn, the Spencer Trust, the ministerial car, and others too numerous to mention, seem to come to nothing.

Those jackals in the press whip up a storm and then it all collapses like a house of cards.
Nothing ever seems to stick. The police and SFO will never prove anything!
And the party still has you has leader, though you don’t recall anything that pleasant young weatherman has said lately.
There’s also Jan, who stands by you steadfastly and loyally, something certain others don’t have. And so you sit back and consider that maybe things aren’t so bad after all. They could be far, far worse, especially if those nasty bloggers had had their way.
Indeed, maybe that’s how you should fill your time now. Yes, that is how you can do it. That’s how you can regain your power, your voice. Bring back that blog you haven’t touched since November!

Chinese aggression targets Oz and US, again!

One of the acclaimed successes of the Helengrad years was the free trade deal with China.
But as I noted at the time, this was with a tyrannical regime with global aspirations.
And the deal contrasted with Uncle’s inability to secure something similar with our ‘best friends, if not allies,’ the Americans.
Now, this week has seen further developments that may make us question this totem of Uncle Helen’s legacy.
The Chinese are believed to be hacking into to power supplies of the Americans, giving them the ability to bring it down, should they need to.
And then we have the situation in Australia.
The scandal grows ever deeper.
As noted over at The Fairfacts Media Show, the Chinese have been busily buying up Australia, it’s minerals, its politicians and even its prime minister.
Kevin Rudd has been noted for his pro-China comments and downplaying the scandal, which centres around his defence minister.
This defence minister has been exposed for receiving gifts from a Chinese woman with strong links to the Chinese government.
It all does make you wonder why and what are the Chinese up to?
It also makes me thankful that Chinese influence in this country just seems to stretch to the food sector, cybercafés and filling Auckland’s CBD with students.
We should be on our guard.

Hat tip: Andrew Bolt

Crossposted over at Fairfacts Media

Unfit To Wrap Fish

The Herald, which once was a newspaper, has become a sorry and tawdry vehicle for sensationalism, misrepresentation and plain downright lies.



A quick skim of just two pieces today provides these examples:-

The gross and untruthful exaggeration of a downturn in tourism. The headline shouts about a decline of 8% when the real decline is only 5%.

Then there is this extraordinary claim that nobody will be able to watch any world cup rugby unless they have Sky TV. The facts of the matter are that negotiations for free to air coverage have not yet been finalised by Sky TV but you'd never guess that from the headline.

It's high time Mr Key called in the editor for a chat about ethics and the damage to the nation which results from this sort of irresponsible crap.

The saddest part of it all is that it won't help sell one more newspaper. The fools who run the Herald might pause to wonder how much worse off their shareholders will be if the recession is prolongs as a result of their own paper's ridiculous fear mongering.

Maori Fishermen Tell Filk to Fa'a Goff

Well done Sealord. Union reps are one thing but self seeking politicians are entirely another.


The sanctimonious claptrap from Labour continues:-

"...some of the workers had been keen to speak to me so it's disappointing that the company feels that sensitivities are such that we can't go on the job site today," Mr Goff said.

"Essentially we wanted to be there to address any questions asked by workers, to express our sympathy and support for people who have been laid off through no fault of their own, and not having the opportunity to do that is regrettable but that is a call that the company has made."

If you believe that, you'd believe anything. He was there to stir up trouble and try and get himself noticed.

The CEO of Sealord's operation got it pretty well right with this rejoinder:-

"We've had enough disruption to the workplace," he told the newspaper.

"They've (MPs) got enough mileage out of this political football."

David Bain question for the day

Will there be any cross examination by Bain's lawyer of Crown witnesses relating to the movements of Robin Bain into the bedrooms of the murdered victims?

So far, Michael Reed has focused on the fact that Robin Bain could have killed himself. He doesn't need to prove that, he simply needs to elicit reasonable doubt that David Bain is guilty. In my view he shouldn't go anywhere near the possibility that Robin Bain went through the bedrooms, murdered his family and then left behind bloodied gloves and a glasses lens as there is no evidence that occurred. He should just focus on the fact that Robin Bain could have committed suicide.

But will he try it on in cross or with his own witnesses?

That should be a point the Crown can nail.

Pity Poor Helen: All Home Alone in New York!!!

Spare a thought for Helen Elizabeth Clark this fine evening.
You should be on top of the world, a well-received valedictory speech, a new career in New York, even a kiss from that darned prime minister who replaced you.
But you look around and nagging thoughts enter your mind.
Won’t you miss your old friends and workmates, even if much was based on respect rather than true friendship.
What about that huge chasm in your life, in your heart, in your bed.
Michael Cullen and his missus are building a new life together in Ohope, ending his years as part of a contented couple.
But what fate awaits you when you get home from the office, from those cocktail parties that Jeanette Fitzsimons said you were all too familiar with.
There will be no-one to microwave cups of tea, or read you in bed juicy titbits from the Guardian or the New York Times.
Oh how you will miss your special friend Peter.
Oh how you will miss your special friend Judith too!
Oh how you wish times had been different and you could have lived the life you wanted, with whom you wanted, but that’s why you pushed your social change.
And away from prying eyes, new special friends can be found, but it won’t be the same.
But yes, you can look back with pride at what you have done. Years of service to your country, but is it enough? And for what?
No, New Zealand was too small, with a population no larger than a decent city, making you as significant as say a Mayor of London, New York, Chicago even.
Indeed, the world needs you, especially in the times of current crisis. Oh how you wish you could have been at the G20 Summit, have told Barack and Gordon and those Europeans what to do, just as you ordered your MPs.
But there will be greater conferences ahead. You will make the UN relevant. You will give it power. You will ensure it cannot be ignored. New World Order? You will deliver!
Climate change, financial stability, world peace, poverty, starvation, the world awaits you and lies at your feet.
Lies? Did anyone say lies? Well a few untruths will help get you there, like it did in the past. General Secretary? The World’s first president, who knows? There’s plenty of life left in you yet.
You give a cackle and think of that rookie PM making mincemeat of your party and who kissed you earlier. Machiavelli, you know Machiavelli too!
And you have all that time, those empty nights and weekends for plotting, just as John Tamahere once noted.
“You think you’ve got it made”, you want to tell the rookie, “Just you wait. I will get my revenge. It won’t be long before you answer to me! You will ALL answer to me!”
New World Order, New World Order, New York, New Helengrad!
But despite it all, you will be all alone!

Three strikes put right

I'll be quick as Underbelly is on in 10 minutes.

This Stuff article said this:

The ACT Party's highly publicised "three-strikes" sentencing policy would not have saved the 77 lives they claimed, according to new figures.

ACT's tough anti-crime election policies included a three-strikes policy, which would give a sentence of 25-years to life to anyone convicted three times of a violent offence.

During the campaign Mr Hide placed 77 coffin lids against the wall of Mt Eden prison to highlight the lives he said could have been saved by the policy.

But information provided under the Official Information Act to Rethinking Crime and Punishment's Kim Workman, an opponent of the policy, showed of the 423 prisoners serving life sentences not one would have been stopped by the proposed three-strikes law.

And then this:

ACT law and order spokesman David Garrett said the "original ACT version" of the policy would have saved the lives but the National version would not.

"The bill is currently before select committee and during this process the bill can be further modified to better achieve its purpose or remove unintended consequences."

Labour Party leader Phil Goff said ACT campaigned on the lives that would have been saved.

"I think the ACT party was elected on a fraud.

David Garrett issued this press release which was repeated over at Farrar's place:

“Mr Workman claims that none of the 423 prisoners currently serving life sentences would have been stopped by the ‘Three Strikes’ component of the Sentencing and Parole Bill. He is correct: the definition of violent crime was modified when ‘Three Strikes’ was incorporated into the current Bill.

“The Bill is currently before Select Committee and during this process the Bill can be further modified to better achieve its purpose or remove unintended consequences. The public has its say through submissions - and, contrary to Mr Workman’s claims, I have not instructed anyone on what to say.

“Further, evidence for the pre-election claim that 77 victims - now 78 - would have been saved had my ‘Three Strikes’ law been in place when they were killed lies in two letters from the Corrections Department in response to questions asked by me under the Official Information ACT. I am happy to provide copies of those letters to Mr Workman or anyone who asks.

“Mr Workman is clearly aware that National’s ‘Three Strikes’ is significantly different to ACT’s. It is heartening to see that he is now trying to help ACT highlight that fact, and I welcome his support,” Mr Garrett said.

Graeme Edgeler has done a superb job on this Bill over here.

It's very simple for those who lack basic English comprehension, including the leader of the failed Opposition.

ACT campaigned on a Bill that would have saved 78 lives. The amended version, that the Nats require, won't do that. Workman is wrong. Filk Off is wrong. Stuff is wrong.

Graeme Edgeler, David Garrett, and bloggers are right.

Shit, it's 8:28. Underbelly then Prison Break. Cool.

Comment of The Decade

As the senior (most aged in a number of respects) author at No Minister I'm going to break the two posts per day rule for this pearler over at Farrar's place on the Clark valedictory thread..

1. baxter (850) Vote: 6 0 Says:
   April 8th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

   Will there be a haka party or a female stripper?

What's Left of L....r?

What's left of Labour? Not much, really.

Whaleoil talks about John Key gutting Labour like a trout and he's right.

Mr Key has skillfully removed Labour's last remaining power points in Clark and Cullen, both of whom have been neutralised by their recent appointments and while the Actoids are still screaming and rending their clothes over the injustice of it all, Mr Key has moved to neutralise the Greens.

Extraordinary stuff, as Pscyco Milt commented this morning but not totally unexpected if you had eyes to see and had carefully watched the way John Key operates politically. And they tried to tell the people he has no experience!!! He has more experience in his little finger than Clark and Cullen had in their sorry carcases.

If I do say so myself, I think I saw it coming when back in December 2007 I predicted the rapprochement between National and the Maori Party. I certainly did not foresee the brilliant pincer movement of this week's accommodation with the Greens.

It's highly likely we will see a two decade term for this Prime Minister.

So what's left of Labour? Nothing much except a few union hacks and a whole bunch of mediocre poofters.



Adolf predicts that Andrew Little will create an almost unrecognisably new Labour Party. One which eschews the trendy liberalism of the Clark Cullen social engineers and instead focuses on social justice, workers' pay and conditions, creation of jobs and economic prosperity.

Who knows, they may even embrace nuclear power as the only clean large scale source of renewable energy for our continuing economic recovery.

Green string beans

I get the feeling that by the time Key has finished MOUing the Greens, they will be genetically modified from water melons to string beans.

Wrusleandyetobenamedfemalecoleader may find themselves in an even smaller space than Goff.

If that is even possible.

WTF !!! John Boy!!!!

He's lavished praised on Uncle Helen and sent her off to the UN with our best wishes.

He's given a job to her number 2, Michael Cullen.

What more could John Boy do to cause a storm?

Snuggle up to the Greens???

Well, guess what?, according to Roar Prawn that is underway.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the GNats and the Watermelons is to be signed today!

OMG, TVNZ has just confirmed it!

I fear for my friend Barnsley Bill.

He was angry enough at Key's rehabilitation of Cullen and Clark.

This could just be the final straw.

He will have to take some very deep and very slow, calm breaths, as Whale Oil suggested.

Now, Whale Oil and others all see a cunning plan by the PM to marginalise Liarbour and keep it out of power for years and years.

Even so, I am sure the next gatherings of the VRWC will certiainly have some lively debate on the merits or otherwise of Key's methods in achieving this.

Some of us might have preferred the courts, an anti-corruption commission looking at Liarbour's nefarious activities.

Either way, it all comes just when I though New Zealand politics was getting boring!

Crossposted over at The Fairfacts Media Show

The Aussies Can Have Him

Before you looked at the byline you could smell political studies and Waikato University

It is along time since I have read such a load of disingenuous rubbish in which history is rewritten and white painted as black in order to support a predetermined selfish point of view.



So according to this academic genius (not even a senior lecturer) who is currently engaged in the pursuit of poisoning Australian young minds, there should have been race based seats on the new Auckland council because Maori were the 'first occupiers' so the seats are not really race based. No wonder he's got an O' in front of his name. If you take his argument to its logical conclusion you might have to go back a hell of a long way to find the original occupiers who were beaten up and conquered by another tribe who in turn were beaten up and conquered by an other tribe who in turn ........ and on and on until the white man arrived.

He's just another liberal white leftie bullshit artist.

Dr Sharples on the other hand knows reality when he sees it and reality is that it is one thing to concede on established Maori seats in Parliament but it is entirely another thing to create a new set of apartheid laws relating to local government. John Key and Rodney Hide know this and rightly have booted them into touch.

Pita Sharples is simply playing to his constituency. If he wants Maori councilors, then let him put up some good quality candidates - there are plenty of them - who can win seats fair and square, just like anyone else.

How the Super City must work

Personally I am delighted with what the Government has announced with the Auckland Council and peripheral matters. Sure, the devil will be in the detail but the broad framework that John Key and Rodney Hide announced today is a great start. However, there is one very important thing that the government must get right if this structure of one overarching council and 20-30 local boards is going to work: power.

As it currently stands, community boards are creatures of statute. They exist because sections 49-53 of the Local Government Act create them. Section 53 is the critical part:

53 Powers of community boards

(1) A community board has the powers that are—
(a) delegated to it by the relevant territorial authority in accordance with clause 32 of Schedule 7; or
(b) prescribed by the Order in Council constituting its community.

(2) The powers of a community board prescribed by Order in Council expire at the close of 6 years after the order comes into force.

(3) Despite subsection (1), a community board may not—
(a) acquire, hold, or dispose of property; or
(b) appoint, suspend, or remove staff.

Subclause (1)(a) is the important bit. Community Boards have all the powers that councils delegate to them, but they cannot deal with property, levy rates or hire or remove staff. As an example, the North Shore City Council allows its boards to decide whether a homeowner can clip a branch off a tree or whether no-parking lines should be drawn on Hurstmere Rd. Wow. Basically, North Shore community boards can do nothing. The council delegations are pitiful and confusing to the extent that the document that lists them confuses powers with a board's functions and its role. And the councillors and Mayor who decide on the delegations are obviously not going to grant a whole lot of power to community boards when they can take the limelight and pontificate on issues themselves. After all, it helps get them profile and possible re-election. Why give that opportunity away by devolving power to the community?

And so as a result of this you get limp-wristed community board members wishing they actually could do a whole lot more for their local community but being hamstrung by the councillors and to some extent by legislation.

This very dichotomy is what has to change. If community boards are given many more powers then their decisions will affect many more people and as a result you will get more community involvement. That means better democracy, accountability and transparency.

But these powers must come from statute. Current experience shows that if the Auckland Council is allowed to dictate to community boards what they can and/or cannot do then the whole purpose of today's announcements is wasted. If the 20-30 local boards that are to be established are so subservient to the Auckland Council, and have no real powers, then what will eventuate is lessening local democracy, even lower voter turnout and an Auckland aristocracy that will to the detriment of Auckland not to its benefit.

I know the Minister for Local Government reads this blog from time to time so here's the challenge to him and John Key. Give the local boards extensive powers through statute and I think you'll see much, much better local democracy, services and accountability. But if you leave the powers to be delegated by the Auckland Council then Auckland's communities will fall apart.

David Bain questions for the day

Well, not so much questions but unlikely events from the evidence of the pathologist, Dr Alexander Dempster.

Never seen a self inflicted gunshot wound like it (on Robin Bain).

If Robin Bain inflicted this on himself, it would have been very unusual to have worn headgear.

My conclusion is that it is unlikely to have been a self inflicted wound.

Gunshot residue fairly much unimportant as only present in 20% of cases with .22 rifles.

Even if Robin Bain had gunshot residue it is not a conclusion that he killed himself.

"It seems to me that using this particular rifle, with the silencer, makes it awkward for this trajectory. There are much easier ways of triggering that firearm other than holding it to your head at an angle of 45 degrees, front to back."

Dr Dempster said that, in a reconstruction with the same rifle pressed against his left temple, it would seem impossible to fire the rifle with his right arm.

However using his left arm, he was able to reach the trigger with the tip of his middle finger and activate it.

And the Crown rests its case.

Some video here.

Pity poor Michael: Having to suck up to the "Rich Prick" for a job!!

Spare a thought for Michael John Cullen this fine evening.

There’s Uncle Helen, whom you loyally served as deputy for the last decade or so, a time so long you that you cannot care to remember.

She’s all excited and is preparing her valedictory speech before she heads off to the world stage and the bright lights of New York.

So what hope is there for her number 2, you, always the bridesmaid but never the bride.

All those loyal years of service to Liarbour and for what? What have you got to look forward to?

That rich prick John Key has 50 million tucked away, the sign of a successful career, and he and his wife, and the kids will never want for anything ever again.

True, a former minister’s pension ain’t that bad, but you want to live well in your closing years, so what’s a man to do?

You were respected, but never loved by your colleagues, so they won’t miss you fleeing the nest. In fact you’re damaged goods now, ’dead wood’ when the party seeks ‘fresh faces’ for ‘rejuvenation.’

But your party is not in power now. You played a great role in ensuring that, with your management of the economy as well as how you and your boss behaved.

Indeed, no self-respecting private business will touch you with a bargepole. No chance of any exciting directorships like Jenny Shipley or Ruth Richardson have , and you’re not bright enough to create your own business.

You made no impact in global affairs, so following on from Mike Moore is a non-starter too.

Academia no longer holds any interest either, so what’s a man to do?

You go cap in hand to that Rich Prick and grovel for a job, pointing out that while you might not have business acumen, at least removing your political skills from the bearpit will make life easier for some of his weaker members in the house. Your departure might cause some difficulties for your party as well!

You would prefer a chairmanship, but the prick says that would cause him too much trouble with his party, so a deputy-ship will have to do. ‘But I was finance minister and deputy PM’, you tell him.

And you remind him, when the boot is eventually on the other foot, that Liarbour, whoever is leading it by then, will take care of him and his ministers.

But realising your party seems out of office for a decade or so, your party’s new leader is making no headway at all, you accept what is offered, with a promise you might be considered for promotion.

Still, at least you can take heart that even the lowly role you have been offered is winding up his party supporters terribly, particularly those nasty bloggers.

Of course, you will have a price to pay. You will be deputy to an old opponent. But since you won him over with top jobs when you were in power; being his understudy, his lackey, his 'bitch' as one nasty blogger described you, won’t be that bad.

Of course, you will face some sort of exile and banishment from your ungrateful party for sucking up to your new bosses, just as your new boss faced from his when you helped him. But needs must and all that. There is a recession on after all, even if it is one you helped create and deepen.

And so you look again at your former Dear Leader. A fresh start for her, and she’s leaving with the best wishes of the house, bar one or two, a new peak beckons for her to conquer. As for you, all you have, is a new office just down the road.

You sigh, but realise that’s the best you can do and you should be eternally grateful to your new masters. But you cannot help but mutter to yourself: ‘Lambton Quay is no Manhattan.’

Cullen lives to ballsup another day.

Milt, I tried laughing but it just didn't work.

Maybe the world really is f***ed and it's every man for himself.

As an aside a great line from 1ZB this morning

Judith Tizard is a lone shag on a political rock.

Now that did make me laugh.

Key: I was wrong

In a remarkable turnaround, John Key has effectively admitted he was wrong in his pre-election attacks on Michael Cullen's abilities, by appointing Cullen to the board of NZ Post.

I suspect that my fellow bloggers here will find this altogether less hilarious than I do...

Meet Bolger's Bitch!!!

We righties can stop foaming at the mouth now.
This is almost too good to be true!
Cullen is to be Bolger's bitch!
The fiscal fool is to be his deputy at NZ Post!
Yes, Number 2 to the Great Helmsman.
I can't say I am too happy at the government giving him any job.
Maybe National was playing an expectations game with earlier stories about one or two chairmanships, skilled tacticians that they are, so we are relieved Cullen is to be a Number 2.
But to think that Cullen is to end his political career to be a deputy, and a deputy to a former National PM, even if Bolger was acused of selling out to Liarbour.
I might even go so far as to say Cullen has sold himself short, or more likely that is all we have for for a man who squandered the best economic circumstances in a generation, indulged in an orgy of government spending, and got such an amazingly bad deal with Kiwirail.
Maybe Cullen realises this and he should be glad at what he has been given.
Stuff notes, there's many a GNat that would give him nothing but a prison cell!

When Have They Ever Been Right?

Teasury, that is. About anything.

Vernan Small needs his arse kicked until his nose bleeds.



(Dammit, that's the wrong Vernon Small. No kidding, it's a pommy Ayreshire bull named Vernon Small. There seems to be a considerable likeness although the bull doesn't need glasses)



His effort in the DomPost this morning is just what is needeed if we want to ensure the recession goes on just as long as possible.

The trouble with Treasury forecasts is that the forecasters are a leather arsed bunch of gloom merchants who have never ventured out of Wellington and who ALWAYS hedge their bets by being ultra conservative. Adolf can't remember when Treasury ever provided accurate predictions of surpluses in good times or deficits in bad times. It's quite damaging to harp on about predicted job losses without taking into account (a) the new jobs being created in some industries or (b) the unpredicted prosperity already flowing in from the export sector or (c) the likely effect on our prosperity of a major drop in value of the US dollar resulting from Obama's amateur and destructive intervention on the US economy or (d) the recent upsurge in the Auckland housing market.

John Key is absolutely right to take an optimistic viewpoint and Adolf hopes he calls the head of Treasury in for a stern chat. This sort of pessimistic nonsense is almost treasonous.

Pity poor Judith: Unloved, unwanted and unemployed too!

Spare a thought for Judith Tizard this evening.
Imagine how you might feel after decades of loyal service to your beloved Liarbour Party, the party turns it’s back on you in such a humiliating fashion.
There’s your party president talking about ‘rejuvenation’ concerning the Mt Albert by-election.
The party wants candidates who are not MPs, as it indulges in a power play to keep you out.
The top selling daily in the country, your morning daily, describes you as a ‘timebomb.’
Other publications note how your party ‘fears’ you might come back.
In other words, old trouts like yourself need not apply.
But it’s not just about your age.
It’s about how you performed , or rather not performed, as well.
You were just the handbag of your Dear Friend, the country’s former Dear Leader.
And you simply got your seat way back when through an accident of birth, because of who your parents were.
And you lost your seat, once safe, to National.
Furthermore, you left a toxic legacy of legislation like Section 92, which your party soon dumps anyway.
So spare a thought for Judith Tizard this evening, unloved and unwanted, not to mention unemployed and living with a flea-ridden stray cat.
What is there to gain by sticking around? You might as well bugger off to New York too!
If only she’d have you....

Especially as hubby is staying at home!

Biggest tax haven in Obama's backyard

Remember how at the G20 meeting in London Obama promised, amongst a plethora of other things, to end the tax haven industry.

Well maybe he should start with his own backyard first.

A money-laundering threat assessment in 2005 by the federal government found that corporate anonymity offered by Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming rivalled that of familiar offshore financial centres. For foreigners, America is a particularly attractive place to stash cash, because it does not tax the interest income they earn. Thus with both anonymity and no taxation, America offers them all the elements of a tax haven.

And let's face it. The tax evasion industry only exists because of welfarist high tax and spend socialist policies. If taxes were lower, flat and simplified Cactus Kate would be out of a job.

Surely that's enough motivation for lefties!?!?

Talley Ho? Not On Your Nellie.

The following is reproduced in its entirety with thanks to MacDoctor for a valiant public service.

Contamination

April 6th, 2009 | Posted in Competition, Safety, Society

I am horrified that the frozen vegetable maker, Talley’s, is taking such a lackadaisical attitude to the contamination of packets of frozen peas. Up to 50% of their peas have been found to be black nightshade - a fairly poisonous berry. Have they ordered a recall? No. Have they shut down the line and checked their product? Apparently not. And the response of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority is “to give them a call”. A kick in the backside would seem more appropriate.

Talley’s attitude is in marked contrast to Fonterra’s response in February to a possible further melamine contamination. Fonterra stopped shipment of their products immediately and did not restart until they were sure that the contamination was contained. Talley’s has these contaminated packets out in the community and all they can offer is a vague promise of a “review of its processes”. Their first complaint was six months ago and they are offering this wishy-washy garbage this week. What have they been doing in the meantime?

It is not as if this contamination is benign. Even at the level of a tablespoon per cup, they are likely to cause a great deal of nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhoea, At 50% contamination they could easily be lethal to a toddler. It is perfectly possible some unsuspecting mother is mashing peas for her infant right now, not realising she is about to kill her child. If that is not motivation enough for Talley’s to recall it’s product and fix its systems, I don’t know what is.

This also demonstrates the toothless nature of the Food Safety Authority. They were informed of this problem several weeks ago, and are only calling Talley’s now that the contamination is in the media. In fairness to the NZFSA, the most they can do is fine Talley’s via the court. They have no power to shut down production or order a recall.

Which shows how the food industry is virtually unregulated in terms of safety standards.

MacDoctor’s advice to all is to stop buying Tally’s products immediately, throw out the stuff you have in your freezer and re-purchase a safer brand. If you are using any of their pea-containing products, under no circumstances give it to your children. Do not buy Talley’s products again until Talley’s:

1. Informs the public where the problem was and how they fixed it.
2. Apologises for it’s lackadaisical attitude.

If we can’t have regulatory muscle applied, there is still consumer power. Other blogs are invited to pass this on to their readers:

Talley Ho? Not On Your Nellie.

The Obama disaster: At home and abroad!!

If we ever thought the tax and spending debt-fuelling Obananomics was bad enough, let us take a look at the Messiah in the world of defence and foreign affairs.
How delicious that the One calls for a nuclear free world just as North Korea fires a test missile .
Even the Obama-phile ABC News notes the timing.
But let us look at Obama's other recent forays into foreign policy.
His government was meant to change so much and be so friendly with Europe after the Bush era. But what did we see?

The mainland Europeans were not keen on his big bailouts, however much Gordon Brown wanted them. There's little/no help from Europe with Afghanistan and the Islamising Turkey remains hostile to the Messiah, even though he supports their bid for EU membership!
We must not forget the Taliban too. There, the Messiah and his government talked of negotiating with 'moderate' elements of the Taliban, something that was quickly rebuffed by the Taliban leadership.

Obama's attempts at reachi