Irony.

I am not completely convinced that this is not some stupendous wind up.

"Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station, by the pilot of a ski plane practicing emergency evacuation procedures.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing", recounted the pilot, Jimmy Dolittle. "There were two snowmobiles with cargo sleds, a tent, and a bright orange rope that had been laid out on the ice, forming the words, 'HELP-COLD'."

One friend of Prof. Schneider told ecoEnquirer that he had been planning a trip to an ice sheet to film the devastation brought on by global warming. His wife, Linda, said that she had heard him discussing the trip with his environmental activist friends, but she assumed that he was talking about the Greenland ice sheet, a much smaller ice sheet than Antarctica.

"He kept talking about when they 'get down to chili', and I thought they were talking about the order in which they would consume their food supplies", Mrs. Schneider recounted. "I had no idea they were talking about Chile, the country from which you usually fly or sail in order to reach Antarctica."

Apparently, while all of Prof. Schneider's friends were assuming that the July trek would be to Greenland, during Northern Hemisphere summer, his plans were actually to snowmobile to the South Pole - which, in July, is in the dead of winter.

Mr. Dolittle related how some people do not realize that, even if there has been warming in Antarctica, the average temperature at the South Pole in July still runs about 70 degrees F below zero. "Some people think that July is warm everywhere on Earth."

LINK

The wife sounds sharp!

When will this madness end?

Andrew Williams facebook page with a pic of Rodney Hide morphed into Hitler superimposed over a swastika.
Nice. If you are a 12 year old retard.
Click the pic for a link through to the post at Gotcha.
Clearly Williams is completely and utterly unfit for any type of role where he is responsible for other people and their money.
Personally I don't have much time for Rodney and as I am still waiting for anybody to show me (or even claim) that ratepayers will enjoy lower rates from the super city changes I am just clinging to the fringes of support for the idea in the vain hope that we will see less drunk, racist fuckwits like Williams anywhere near the ratepayers pockets.

Hide & Smith make a monumental gamble

It seems to me that certainly Nick Smith and possibly Hide have made a monumental gamble that may be a cockup over the decision to sack ECan. Surpassed only by the turkeys at the various councils voting for Christmas by eagerly pushing for ECan to be sacked.

If you are not familiar with the detail The Press and Claire Browning at Pundit have some useful background. Kiwiblog and Idiot Savant have been crossing swords over the anti democratic aspects of it. It is anti democratic and to be deplored but very far from being Fiji. Central government is acting in accordance with precedent and law.

It does not take much nous to figure out that Hide has obviously made a comparison between the super city planned for Auckland and the multiplicity of councils around Canterbury. Hide thinks big is beautiful which is why he is pushing the super Auckland city. He is from Canterbury and will be thinking to do the same thing as he is doing in Auckland. So the turkey mayors who have been bitching about ECan's performance celebrating now can expect to have a reasonably short lifespan themselves. Look for a Canterbury super city proposal in the next 6 months to be bedded in before the next general election due in around 18 months time. Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas. gobble gobble gobble now lads.

Nick Smith apparently said "there would be no extra cost to ratepayers of appointing commissioners". Meaning only that central government will foot the commissioners bill thereby sharing it with the rest of New Zealand. That will cost ratepayers in their other guise as taxpayers money. Councillors have contracts. They are contracted by the voters. Ratepayers will be paying the full value of the contract but not getting a return. Ratepayers are also voters. Value for money here is not a big deal in the scheme of things.

From everything I have read farmers were not happy and greenies were not happy which probably means that ECan was cutting a reasonable central path. Nick Smith's Department for the Environment has not issued any national water management standards that ECan could have used as a framework for their regional plan and water is vastly more important to Canterbury than other regions at present due to the combination of dairy conversions and an already low base. It seems there were some bureaucratic stupidities in the nineties that gave away water for long time frames with few controls. When the ratepayer owns a scarce resource why would their appointees be stupid enough not to get maximum value then or now. It would be very easy but monumentally stupid for the commissioners to simply sign away the rights to water to whomever wanted them. Auction of tightly controlled extract & effluent rights with some options to renew would seem far more sensible to me. The highest bidder values them most.

So in 18 months time the people of Canterbury will be looking for some magical progress on cleaner and more water in irrigation. Lake Ellesmere is a toxic algal cesspit. Does anybody really imagine that water quality is going to be demonstrably better in 18 months time?

The Canterbury Water Management Strategy was issued by the mayoral forum and was due for agreement with ECan over the next six months. So commissioners will not get any credit for coming up with a credible resource plan from scratch. They will simply look to expedite that plan and as many irrigation schemes as they can find. Do not expect commissioners to bother trying to bring half arsed resource management applications up to scratch. Do not expect anything that seriously balances the desires of dairy farmers for increased water with the desires of VOTERS for clean pristine water.

I don't doubt the competence of Margaret Bazley, but she is not a miracle worker.

The problem that Hide and Smith have is that they have taken on complete responsibility for the total solution in a relatively short time by sacking the council. There is no plausible way they can satisfy both farmers and urban voters. If they had adopted the ECan proposal and put commissioners alongside the existing council they would always have had a scapegoat. That possibility is gone. There must be a permanent resolution in the next 12 months of both water and governance so that there is time to sell the success into the next general election. Otherwise National will face an extremely disgruntled Canterbury electorate, having lost their local democracy and yet not had a better water solution than ECan and the CWMS would have brought.

Which means Hide must genuinely believe he can bring a super council to the region to replace all the existing councils. And Smith believes the commissioners will work with the mayoral forum at the same time to achieve sufficient irrigation schemes approved along with public consultation to keep farmers happy whilst improving water quality. At the same time as the mining development conversation is going on. And they are hoping that all of this change will please the voters. Big balls!

There is a reason why a water strategy takes so long to develop. There are many competing priorities. Voters will not see much in the way of material benefit from irrigation and mining proposals for themselves but the Greens and Labour will certainly help them to identify the degradation of water quality for leisure and tourism.

Canterbury, Hide, Smith and Bazley look set for interesting times.

Disclosure: I am related to a sacked Ecan councillor. These are my own opinions and speculation.

Another Universe?

Politics in that other universe, the United States, has some interesting lessons for New Zealand and it appears John Key is doing his homework well.

President Obama was elected on an almost unprecedented wave of emotional popularity, defeating a president and his party which had lost their way. 'Independents' carried the day (and between them and the Democrats they elected a symbol when they needed a president) and swept the Republicans aside on a catchy slogan, 'hope and change.'

The Democrats and their president embarked on an ideological and extreme legislative programme which introduced socialism on an unprecedented scale, starting with the nationalisation of the auto industry and culminating in the takeover of the hitherto private health care and insurance industries.

They succeeded in alienating many of those independent voters and more importantly, they (a) galvanised the aimlessly drifting conservative side of politics into a cohesive and noisy anti-Democrat movement called the Tea Party and (b) shocked the Republican Party into putting aside some of its divisions and going back to its roots - which largely coincide with the ethos of the Tea Party. Since the enactment of Obama's health care putch, his ratings have been languishing between 16% and 21% negative - the lowest ever. It is an unprecedented reversal of political fortunes in so short a time.

Americans got more change than they bargained for, no change where they wanted it and no hope for any improvement in their daily lives.

Translate this scenario to New Zealand and you begin to see why our current administration is in no big hurry to strip away the follies of Labour's nine years.

To do as the IMF suggests and as many of the people Adolf called 'shouters of the right' suggest will simply hand to Labour the wherewithal to recreate itself on a wave of media induced public outcry and hysteria aimed at our very own 'independents' otherwise known as swing voters. Labour will have its very own Tea Party - with some damn fool name like 'Fair Go' or 'Down with Rich Pricks.' These are the people who deserted Labour and NZ First in droves and put NACTionalMP into power.

You have only to cast an eye over The Herald's and the left's beat up on the Mining discussion paper to get a sneak preview of the media onslaught which would follow slashing of the public service, removal of interest free student loans and free doctors visits and the winding back of WFF.

The IMF needs to understand that New Zealanders have been brainwashed into becoming a nation of welfare dependents. The unpicking of this disastrous mindset requires much care, cunning and patience. It seems to me John Key, Rodney Hide and Tariana Turia have enough of these qualities to carry the day but they will need another term to complete the job.

Sister Cities

I thought today's big press conference at 1300 was all about the new Sister City deal between North Shore City and Jerusalem.





Jerusalem has The Wailing Wall





North Shore City has The Pissing Tree

Red Alert strangely quiet.

Why have the mp's at Red Alert not yet had a go at Heatley getting his stripes back?

Answers in comments. A virtual prize for the most bizarre comment.

John Machiavelli Banks

Some questions;

*Anybody else waiting with baited breath to see what the Clown of Campbells bay is going to slur into the microphones this afternoon?

*Is Banksie walking around happier than a dog with two dicks today after Tamihere took time out of the pub to raise his flag in the race for the supercity mayoralty?

Personally I do not think Len Brown has a hope in hell of winning next year.
Once Sue Bradford declares she is standing for council the billboards will be up telling us that she is one heartbeat from the Mayoralty. With Browns serious health issues who would want to vote for him knowing one more greasy burger in his gob could see Bradford elevated? Certainly not the Polynesian populus of Auckland who deserted Labour en masse after Bradford stopped them thrashing their kids.
As for JT, he will split the left vote nicely giving Banksie the big job with around 30% of the vote (with a 50% turnout) and enough to win.

We can then look forward to Bomber Bradbury spontaneously combusting in a frenzy of angsty blogging.

Everything is coming together quite nicely for NZ's number 1 royalist.

Happy days.

Merkel in Turkey

Everything to explain why Turkey and Germany won't ever be friends in one article:

Two years ago in a sports stadium in Cologne, Erdogan caused outrage in Germany by dubbing alleged policies of assimilation of the Turkish minority as a "crime against humanity".

At the weekend he upped the ante by calling for the establishment of special Turkish high schools in Germany and the abolition of a German ban on dual citizenship so that Turks in Germany could acquire German passports while keeping their Turkish ID papers.

Merkel:

"What we want is people who live among us over several generations to integrate into this country," she said. "That obviously involves learning the German language and obeying German laws."

Erdogan:

"Why this hatred against Turkey?"

Our readers might like to ponder for a moment the fate of minorities in Turkey who reject "assimilation" - it's not pretty...

Still Much To Do........

.......Tony Ryall.

This evening Adolf was struck down by an intense guts ache. So intense was it that after two hours he gave up, got dressed and drove down to A & E at North Shore Hospital.

Seeing a sign 'Patient's Car Park' he left his car and spent ten minutes finding a door which would let him into the establishment. Eventually a creature turning up for work was able to wave vaguely in 'that direction' and direct the dying patient to the A & E entrance.

I kid you not. 'What if I die before I get there?' I asked the creature. He had gone. Eventually I found my way to the reception. Some fool asked "Are you right?" I refrained from the usual reply which is "I'm never known to be wrong" and asked instead "No, do I look right?"

A person with a stethoscope then asked a few questions and directed me to take a seat and await a doctor. I asked "Do you know how long I might be waiting?"

''We can't give you a time but it is unlikely you will see a doctor in less than four hours." came the encouraging reply.

One hour and $100 later I was on my way home with an ECG record and a diagnosis of gall bladder issues. That was from the private clinic across the road. They said "You were lucky. Most people have to wait six hours or more."

Shortest post ever

Should ACT put themselves in the same basket case as the Greens and the Maori by having a Co-leader?
NO

Pissed Again?

The Shiraz Mayor just can't get anything right.

Remember his outburst a couple of weeks ago? Our bepiddled hero had found a windfall billion dollars worth of GST and license fees in the leaky homes saga.

Bad luck Andy. Treasury doesn't agree with you.

You'd better hot foot it back down to GPK for a bit more of that Barossa valley Torbreck shiraz at eighty bucks a throw
.

Next project an RPG

flame thrower scooter

Oh! Well That's Alright Then

So long as it's in the dark, that is.

The wriggling and spinning from the daft supporters of the Shiraz Mayor are as entertaining as they are pathetic. Take this delightful bit of nuancing from this morning's Herald:-

Another councillor, Jan O'Connor, said she had confidence in Mr Williams, saying the allegations that appeared in the Sunday Star Times were "about as low as you get".

She did not condone men who urinated outside bars in Takapuna, but said Mr Williams would have been in the dark at the council.

"If he was up there and he watered a tree, he watered a tree."

The dear lady does not seem to realise how close she is to the truth. Mr Willliams is in the dark at the council most of the time it seems. He's perpetually pissed if comments from respected politicians like Labour's Anne Hartley are anything to go by.

One of the signatories, Ms Hartley, a former Labour MP, said Mr Williams' behaviour last Thursday summed up the past two-and-a-half years.

"We have had to put up with a lot of very questionable behaviour from the mayor," she said.

"He is quite a bullying person and gets away with it because he has his 'A' team who support him 90 per cent of the time."

The Shiraz Mayor has made a strategic blunder. He has denied the incident even took place. The drinking and driving, that is. He would not comment on dropping his dacks outside the council office. (Good God, only girls drop their dacks to wee!)

First the denial, then the crucifixion over Easter as video of the mayoral stumblebum piddling his way back to his car hits the airwaves just in time for Good Friday.

Mr Williams, who was at GPK bar and restaurant on Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna, with friends on Thursday night, said he consumed a "very minimal" quantity of red wine with food from about 6pm to 9.30pm.

"I went to GPK at the conclusion of council business. This is my private time. These are friends who just want to meet up, have a bit of a yarn and catch up on things. They don't have to get involved with the mayor's business. They were acquaintances who invited me, end of story."

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

The conversations which were loud and overheard by many, apparently had much to do with council business and how the Shiraz Mayor 'enjoys his role.' Adolf understands the bar tab came to a pretty penny that evening. It must have been a very minimal quantity of Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

Lets check red alert moderation

Following up on red alert moderation

Phil Sage (sagenz) says:

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

March 28, 2010 at 8:24 pm

and maybe if you were serious about this you would get on with it on National terms rather than immediately spitting the dummy and braying about it online

Fair and Balanced

The Broadcasting Standards Act requires radio and television news reports to be fair and balanced.

Adolf reckons that means of all reporting on matter remotely political, Labour should get no more than 30% air time with NACTionalMP entitled to at least 56%.

Now THAT would make some sphincters quiver at TVNZ and Radio Left Wing.

A couple of days ago, Pita Sharples walked all over the dosey old commie Geoff Thingummy on Morning Report. Radio Left Wing had been busy trying to create news by way of OIA requests about his e-mails. Dr Sharples pointed out that he had sought more information on the particular subject of his e-mail and, as a result, had changed his mind. The concerns he had were now satisfied. In fact, he told the silly old shit that the report made him sound like 'a secret agent within the gummint' which was simply nonsense.

A great example of the actions of a rational man rather than an ideologue.

Well the lefties at Radio NZ didn't think so. They led the news with the story all day but it was headlined - Sharples CONCEDES he has changed his mind.

What a brillant idea

So Tariana Turia reckons she has the answer to our esclating violent crime.

Spend $2mil taxpayer money and we'll be a step closer to solving the problem.

What a bloody brilliant idea.
If only she had thought of it sooner.

Time Treasury Got a Shake Up

Sub title:

Why NZ is F****d #15

Have a look at this little revelation of socialist group think from within Treasury.

From this morning's Q and A interview with Paula Bennett-

Bennett also denied that she had ignored Treasury's advice which recommended the work tests should not go ahead because some people would end up working for nothing.

Treasury gave the example of a beneficiary on minimum wage who would only receive $1 extra an hour.

Notwithstanding the notion that $8 per day is 'nothing,' Adolf hopes Treasury doesn't think beneficiaries should stay on the benefit when they are capable of working. It appears that is the advice our minister is receiving.

It's time to put the advisers Treasury onto the job market where they can do something useful like shovelling shit in Louisiana. (With apologies to general Patton.)

They have institutionalized the notion that a benefit somehow is of the same value as being in work. In other words, unless once can make a 'big margin' over and above the benefit, one should not feel obliged to work.

Pissing Your Rates Up Against a Tree

The appalling embarrassment occupying the North Shore Cit mayoral will have some trouble lying his way out of this one.



Drinking for six hours, dropping his dacks and pissing on a council owned tree and then driving himself home. Shit, he didn't have enough brains to call dial a driver. Well of course he couldn't do that or the word might have got out.

The local Gummint minister has had enough of this alcoholic keyboard basher's antics and is calling for the immediate resignation of our pisstank mayor.

He talked to a couple at the popular eatery and could be heard referring to himself in the third person. He said he was North Shore's mayor and enjoyed his role.

Inquiries with two bar staff revealed Williams had been drinking red wine at the establishment since 4pm. Six hours later Williams left GPK alone and headed down Hurstmere Rd towards the offices of the North Shore City Council, where he has been mayor since 2007.

On his way he stopped, pulled down his trousers and urinated on a tree outside the council offices.

Williams then headed for the council underground carpark, collected his mayoral vehicle and drove home to Campbells Bay, a 6km trip.

I'll bet he enjoys the role. My rates are keeping this jerk in a perpetual state of intoxication.

He goes on to concede (reading between the lines) that he spends more time at GPK drinking my rates than he does on genuine council business:-

Further inquiries that evening at GPK revealed the mayor was a "very frequent visitor", "possibly one of our most regulars", said one waitress.......

.......... Asked if he had been working on Thursday evening, Williams replied: "I can't recall. I might have been. I go to meetings every day, every night." .

Those meetings must be pure hell. So tiresome, so boring, so DRY.

Adolf looks forward to his contrived explanation.

Will he allege he is being stalked by ACT party members disguised as journalists?

Will he allege that his belt broke as he was walking back to the car park and simultaneously his bladder malfunctioned?. You know, it happens as you get older. Ask Dover Samuels.

It's high time for an OIA request (go for it Whaleoil) for the records of his spending on his NZCC credit card.

Classic Comment

Over at Farrar's place as Phil Goff last Thursday makes the biggest blunder of his career since he held hands with Arafat:-

1. Michaels (784) Says:
   March 27th, 2010 at 10:16 am

   Mr Goff……..

   Just like the old hooker on K Road after 30 years…..

   Everyone knows she’s there, but no one cares anymore.

Obama's foriegn policy steps up a notch

Two long but worthwhile articles on the subject of Israel and geopolitics. The first by George Friedman of Stratfor seeks to provide context on the US Israel relationship as part of wider US strategy. It talks of the American desire to maintain the balance of power in three relationships. Israel-Arab, Iran-Iraq, India Pakistan. Personally I think that American strategy towards India has moved well beyond balance of power maintenance and more towards seeing it as a strategic ally against both China and militant Islamism. It is democratic and not Muslim. Pakistan is important for its influence over Afghanistan and the Taliban.

Friedman makes a persuasive case that Arab anti Americanism predates its support for Israel and whilst addressing the Israel-Palestine issue is important the relationship is complicated and at a point where the US is not prepared to accept.

The fundamental problem with the theory is that Arab anti-Americanism predates significant U.S. support for Israel. Until 1967, the United States gave very little aid to Israel. What aid Washington gave was in the form of very limited loans to purchase agricultural products from the United States — a program that many countries in the world participated in. It was France, not the United States, which was the primary supplier of weapons to Israeli.

The fact is that while the argument that U.S. Israel policy caused anti-Americanism in the region may not be altogether true, the United States does not need any further challenges or stresses. Nations overwhelmed by challenges can behave in unpredictable ways. Netanyahu’s decision to confront the United States at this time on this issue creates an unpredictability that would seem excessive to Israel’s long term interests. Expecting the American political process to protect Israel from the consequences is not necessarily gauging the American mood at the moment.

The second article provides a focused assessment of the outcome of Netanyahu's visit to the US where he was humiliated by the Obama administration. It compares the Bush-Baker approach to Israel in 1991 that prefaces what is becoming clear will be an exceptionally robust approach to Israel now that Obama has a health care victory under his belt in line with his previous policy position of being more sympathetic to the Arab view of the world.

Nearly twenty years ago, President George W.H. Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker made it clear that they were not going to pursue the pro-Israeli policies of the Reagan administration and were expressing strong criticism of the "Greater Israel" policies of the Likud government in Jerusalem as they attempted to revive the Middle East peace process.

He concludes:

There is no reason why President Obama and other officials should not use the American connection with Jerusalem to try to strengthen those forces in Israel whose vision of the country's future converges with American interests and values. That would mean taking sides in the ongoing debate in Israel by making it clear that the settlement policy threaten Israel's ties with the United States, its lifeline to the international community. An Israeli leader who fails to maintain the American connection or worse, one who harms those ties - would eventually be punished by the Israeli voters like Shamir had been in 1992. A tough stand by Obama would force Netanyahu to consider that unless he changes Israeli policies he too could be facing the same political fate. It would be his own choice; but Obama could help him make it.

It seems likely that Obama will turn his focus to the international scene now that he has a substantial domestic victory with the healthcare vote. Netanyahu has been wrong footed over the settlements in east Jerusalem to the point where a populist opportunity presents itself to Obama to make real progress over peace talks by continuing to push Israel. That could result in a fall of the Israel coalition government as moderate Israeli's fear the long term impact of antagonising America. The difficulty will be to identify Palestinian leadership that has sufficient vision and strength to do anything other than posture.

Phil .... on the road again

China has 3 1/2 times the steel capacity of Europe.

Sometimes its the statistics mentioned almost as an aside that give you the most insight into how far things have changed. The one below is mentioned in a piece on how a global trade war was averted indicates to me just how far heavy industry has moved towards China.

China produced about 30 million tonnes of steel in the 1980s but in mid-recession last year it produced 568 million tonnes, 14 per cent more than the previous year. Steel analysts say China’s total capacity is close to 700 million, compared with European steel-making capacity of about 200 million tonnes.

That lead me to wonder what is current global steel production. Wiki as always provides an answer for 2008 in m tonnes.

• World 1326
• China 500
• European Union 198
• Japan 118
• USA 91
• India 55

That says a lot about where the world is heading to me.

Now Get Rid Of It

A heaven sent opportunity.

Blend the bloody thing in somewhere and give it six months to wither and die as the departmental CEO redirects its funds to something useful.

Those Dirty Little Diggers

Gerry Brownlee paid back Mallard today during Question Time.

He produced a large colour photo of Mallard, Goff and Co taken outside the Black Ball miners hall during the 2008 election campaign. There they were, the dirty little diggers, swearing allegiance to the industry which spawned their party but now is all BAD BAD BAD.

These are the same guys who issued 218 mining permits on the DOC estate when they were in power.

So, today's Labour brains trust consists of who and what?

Mallard the Miner




Goff the Gouger



King the Komatsu



Barker the Bucket Wheel



Dyson the Dump Truck


Cunliffe the Conveyor



Parker the Pick Axe



And so it goes on..............

Our not so brave new world

So the Crafar farms and a milk powder plant are likely to go to the Chinese.
What does this tell me.

1. We are failing as a people when we have lost the ability to even control our own means of production.

2. We have poured our money instead into speculative investments run by people with big hats and no cattle, because we thought we could get a lazy profit.

3. Have we lost the ability to work with our brains as well as our hands.

4. Our mineral wealth will probably be stripped out by overseas interests as well because we will be too stupid to even set up and invest in our own mining companies.

5. All the while we argue about who pays for our welfare state and who will spot us the next $250m.

6. I wonder where this will all end up?

One day "To go surfing" may take on a different meaning here.

What Were They Thinking?

The Gnats, that is, when they released their discussion paper on mining.

No information whatsoever on the real benefits to New Zealanders.

Were they mad? Adolf thinks so and apparently so does The Herald. This from yesterday's editorial:-

"Yet there is nothing in the stocktake about the possible economic upside, either in jobs or general benefits to GDP or direct financial gains for the Crown.

The amounts the Government might expect as royalties from private companies exploiting non hydrocarbon deposits are likely to be small. The absence of an economic case, even theoretical, is an important omission. "

Thinking, nobody could be as dumb as that, Adolf put a call into Gerry Brownlee's office and discovered to his amazement that his staff could point to not one piece of analysis. None of the questions raised by Adolf are able to be answered.

Gummint will gain immediate GST revenue from all exploration expenditure excluding wages and salaries.

Gummint will gain PAYE revenue on all those wages and salaries and GST when they are spent.

Gummint will gain a significant boost to GDP from exploration activity, extraction activity and sale of product. (More on this later)

NZ will gain thousands of jobs in support industries with consequent inflow of skilled migrants and boosts to GST and PAYE - this is precisely Australia's experience.

The Gnats put up Brownlee as their opening bowler and he threw down a rank long hop to Labour and allowed Phil Goff a free hit to the boundary. Goff is being ably assisted by the Herald which is running a daily torrent of jacked up adverse commentary. More today.

Meanwhile Whaleoil, bowling from the other end, beats the bat a couple of times with an excellent maiden over - brilliantly exposing the cant and hypcricy of the anti-mining brigade. A blogger is doing the job the Brownlee is hashing up.

The only consolation is that there's sufficient time to recover but by hell they'd better not muck this up for too much longer.

Vastly Improved

When Labour's Shane Jones is not trying to be a smart arse, is not engaging in contrived theatrical histrionics, is not spitting all over the poor bastard seated in front of him, he comes across quite well. Almost civilized, even.



Today Adolf happened to see his speech on the Seafoods something or other bill and he was very impressive. For a time, coherent. Full marks.

Regrettably, he was followed by some dork from National who stumbled through an awful mangled and embarrassing attempt at a greeting in Maori. It was the fool from Whangarei, Heatley.

If people have insufficient brains to learn how to correctly pronounce the beautifully melodic and phonetic Maori language they should not make goats of themselves in public.

Phil Heatley, go away, a long long way, and learn the language.

Nauseating Baloney

The Herald seems intent on publishing as many pieces as it can muster whose aim is to misrepresent the Gummint's discussion paper on mining in the conservation estate.

Notwithstanding that Labour has been doing nothing less for years, suddenly our world is going to crash around our ears when National moves to continue this most sensible policy. Or so you would think if you believed the vacuous Ms Malcolm.

It is a bitter irony to me that the very image of NZ which entices the rest of the world to our doorstep - tracts of untouched country and its unique eco systems, miles away from big Global industry and development - is about to be gutted "surgically", leaving only the odd "thumbprint".

I do not pretend to be a mining expert. I also do not wish to present an hysterical response.

That says it all really.

Another silly bitch with no brains.

Stick to acting girly, where unreality, fiction and make believe are the order of the day.

The Phil U Test

Gooner has coined the phrase below - the Phil U Bill.
Well another phrase would be - the Phil U Test.
Because I get the gut feeling that Paula Bennetts so called welfare reforms will turn out to be mostly academic.

The DPB is a lifestyle choice for many people, so the Phil U Test will be to see what he actually is doing in a year or even two from now.
My bet is nothing different, for him and countless others.
Apart from popping out more babies to ensure they always have one under 6.

I know several people from South Korea and they all tell me the same thing.
After the war they had two options.
Work or starve.
The fact that they are alive and rich tells you something.

Tell Us More...

.....says The Herald as it bemoans the lack of economic forecasts in the Gummin't discussion paper on mining in the conservation estate.

(There was no comment on the possibility that perhaps there might have been more if the papers had not been leaked to the Green Wankers before preparations for an orderly release were complete.)

Meanwhile, back at the mine, phailed phlailer Phil Goff and his incompetent wailing mates were busy trying to prove there's no bonanza for the Gummint in these potential mines. (That gap in his teeth looks like an open cast mine on Coromandel.)



You know, the sheers gall of these idiots is amazing.

Every time someone says 'let's catch up to Australia' they cry 'it can't be done so don't bother trying. Australia has all those minerals.' Then, when someone says 'hey look, so do we, lets dig them up and sell them so we can buy some better roads and hospitals' they want you to believe that the wealth is a mirage.

Fortunately, voters are not nearly as dumb as the liars from Labour.

Anyway, Adolf agrees with the Herald, so here's an uneducated go at listing the ways in which mining will grow the public purse. I'll be interested to see the official projections when they arrive.

First up, all the wailers' arguments seem predicated on the notion that mineral royalties will be 1% of sale value.

1. I would put each mining license out for tender, carrying an up front 'entry fee' payable along with competitively bid royalties. There might be some sites which would bear a 5% royalty.
2. Gummint will gain immediate GST revenue from all exploration expenditure excluding wages and salaries.
3. Gummint will gain PAYE revenue on all those wages and salaries and GST when they are spent.
4. Gummint will gain a significant boost to GDP from exploration activity, extraction activity and sale of product. (More on this later)
5. NZ will gain thousands of jobs in support industries with consequent inflow of skilled migrants and boosts to GST and PAYE - this is precisely Australia's experience.

The detailed calculations are beyond Adolf but as a broad rule of thumb, one can reckon that if Labour says the benefit from just one mine is worth only $43 million, one can confidently expect to receive $430 million.

Oh yeah, what about that increase to GDP?

Well folks, if you can bump your GDP up by five percentage points, suddenly all the bad ratios become good ratios. Suddenly the nation gets credit upgrades instead of downgrades. Suddenly there's less interest to pay on overseas borrowing. Suddenly there's less need for overseas borrowing. Suddenly there's more to spend on infrastructure, better education, better health care and so on and so on.

But Labour doesn't want that. They want to keep you poor so that you can rely on the Gummint for a hand out and they can rely on you for a vote.

The most dangerous drug

Charlie Brooker in the Grauniad writes "The most dangerous drug isn't meow meow. It isn't even alcohol ..."

In its purest form, a newspaper consists of a collection of facts which, in controlled circumstances, can actively improve knowledge. Unfortunately, facts are expensive, so to save costs and drive up sales, unscrupulous dealers often "cut" the basic contents with cheaper material, such as wild opinion, bullshit, empty hysteria, reheated press releases, advertorial padding and photographs of Lady Gaga with her bum hanging out. The hapless user has little or no concept of the toxicity of the end product: they digest the contents in good faith, only to pay the price later when they find themselves raging incoherently in pubs, or – increasingly – on internet messageboards.

Who has really sinned?

Some long overdue tinkering of welfare is finally on the cards.

Phil Goff puts his 2 cents in by prattling on about the children not suffering because of the "sins of the parents".

Well he should understand that for the many, many, many years that he has been in politics, he has helped oversee the endless rise of the welfare state.
His party in particular have been zealous advocates of making people dependant on the State.

So Phil, if you want to see the real sin here, then look no further than the end of your own nose.

Mallard season is open.

Tiger pig has just given the entire blogosphere the green light to trawl through his every online utterance and pull him up on every spelling and grammar mistake. As for Private Dancer? Well you would think he would be keeping his head down after trying to shag a male staffer at the press xmas party.
Silly boys

The Phil U Bill

Further to Adolf's post below on the wonderfulness (is there such a word?) of John Key, we really do have a wonderful thing National is bringing in - courtesy of the soon-to-be ex MP for Waitakere (if the labourites are to be believed) - the Phil U Bill:

The Government is taking aim at 43,000 solo parents who it says should go back to work.

Prime Minister John Key and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett have this afternoon unveiled a major package of welfare reforms.

Ms Bennett said that for some beneficiaries "the dream is over".

There were 43,000 single parents on the domestic purposes benefit whose children were of a school age and who were ready to transition back to work.

"We expect those people to be at work for at least 15 hours a week," Ms Bennett said.

Polish the shoes and buy a new tie Phil. You're off to work.

New Blog

Adolf has been accused by more than one or two from the uber-right of being in the pay of John Key's PR people. The fact that Adolf vehemently opposes My Key's policies on Fiji and the ETS not withstanding, Adolf reckons John Key is the best thing that has happened to NZ in at least twenty years.



Anyway, I was pondering the notion of starting a new blog, the sole purpose of which might be to elevate in the public consciousness the innumerable virtues of this virtuoso politician.

I'm thinking of calling it




Wait for it



Be patient



YES!!!!!!!!!


KEYWIBLOG

Update from Farrar's Troll Farm: "You're onto it, Richard. Now I know why Coromandel and Barrier were specifically mentioned. Two of our greatest Meccas for the unemployed. It's a brilliant jobs creation scheme funded by the mining industry at the behest of the Gummint.

The brilliance of John Key knows no bounds.

hattip: Keywiblog"

Labour's Porcelain Mug

Pissed on daily by Labour.

If You Believe This .........

You'll believe anything.

Here's what you get when meddling regulators take complaints from people's competitors.

The note to the widow was sensitive and not at all intrusive.

Adolf's bet is the bitch agent from Mangawhai thought she had a sure listing and suddenly someone else was on the scene. Why didn't the reporter tell us whether the house had since been listed for sale or not?

Pigs Really Do Fly.......

......... over at Red Alert.

As Suicidal Labour Selects Seppuloony, skin and hair flies. It's worth dropping in for a look just for a bit of humour. Illiterate bovver boy Mallard goes feral over Chris Trotter's measured, accurate and thorough evisceration of Labour's woeful selection. In so doing Mallard cops a subtle shellacking from Trotter and reveals his Wainuiomartian grasp of the English language. The poor bugger can never hope to best Trotter in a verbal stoush which requires more acumen and intelligence than scuffling fisticuffs in the parliamentary lobbies.

1. 1. Trevor Mallard says:

   March 22, 2010 at 1:59 pm

   Chris we don’t know who it is.

   On the other point you drunk with dogs and caught some of their fleas.

   It was a nasty little post and I hope you feel a bit of shame soon.
2. 
   
3. Chris Trotter says:

   March 22, 2010 at 2:23 pm

   The day I need lessons in shame from you, Trevor old son, I’ll let you know.

Adolf's polite response was removed by the commie sensors.

Adolf Fiinkensein says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.

March 22, 2010 at 10:26 pm

An education spokesman who doesn’t know the difference between drank and drunk?

While all this is going on Phlailing Phailing Phil has a bleat on TVNZ about Gerry D10 Brownlee digging up jewels from the jewel of the conservation estate. Adolf is larfffing his arrrse off at the mischievous naming of Coromandel and Great Barrier Island as potential mine sites. How incendiary! Why on earth have they not included Waiheke Island? A couple of pit mines soaked in cyanide next door would do the world for Chris Carter's land values.

This is certainly much better sport than anything at the Basin during the last few days.

Dig Baby, Dig

When Adolf wins Lotto he's going to send Gerry Brownlee one of these.

1,150 raw horse power. Enough to rip Keith Locke's arse off fifty times and still have plenty left for the dipsticks at Forest and Bird.

Watch for the avalanche of lies and emotive crap from the greens and their followers.

Racemania

Dr Shaples thinks this is what our country needs

Democracy only through race based politics,
Adopting some duck brained UN declaration,
Making one (Maori) vote worth more than others
and having an apartheid team at a RWC

Here's an idea.
Lets do away with the Race Relations Day.

What useful purpose does it serve other than give a platform to moan and bitch about the world.

And while we are at it, let NZ use the upcoming debate on MMP to question why we even need Maori seats.
Because it seems to me that through them, a Maori vote is already worth more than anyone elses.
They have the Teaty of Waitangi, is that not enough?

Sharples Speaks, Jones Lies

An interesting headline leading to yet another example of why Labour just don't 'get' reality.

Maori Party questions one party, one vote concept

Well that's his opinion but he's pretty lonely.

The real story was about the tensions and difficulties experienced by Dr Sharples in managing his relationship with National. Well, that's about what you would expect in ANY coalition. (Like Doug Anthony and Malcolm Fraser.) Wouldn't you? Of course you would.

But then along came Jones. Pot gutted Jones. Loud mouth Jones.

Labour Party MP Shane Jones says the comments by Dr Sharples outlining tensions in the governing relationship is an admission of failure and a plea of desperation.

Mr Jones says the Maori Party has found itself in an agreement where it lacks the strategy and the imagination to take the country forward.

It's time this idiot went back to the bush to grow kumara and dig fern roots while the nation waits for the trial of his mate Bill Liu. (If there is one.) He's not doing any good for his party, that's for sure.

PC CRAP

That Air NZ saw fit to apologise to the Tongan Community for a comment in their Crew Manual warning of the propensity on Tongans on the NukuAlofa-Auckland run to 'drink the plane dry' is a sad commentary on the mess we have gotten ourselves into by refusing to face facts.

Many of us who have done that trip would testify as to the accuracy of the observation.

Equally, many of us who have done the Apia-Auckland trip would know that many Samoans ask for blankets. Big deal.

And HongKong Chinese are fussy. Ok with that too.

Just what is wrong with alerting Cabin Staff to the issues they are likely to face?

One observation that apparently does not appear in the Manual is that Cabin Crew hate the Auckland-Perth flight given the propensity of EVERYONE on board to drink the plane dry.

They Paid Their Own Way

Unlike our many, tax payer funded, business class, brown gallivanters who travel far and wide to perform 'blessings' in all sorts of strange and often luxurious foreign places.

What's more, these guys are going to take home some of their ancestral fish's eggs.

That's not a bad start. I wonder if they will take the Waihope Three along as well and let them loose on the dams. I hope they do because the Yanks won't muck around with some damn fool jury.

The power of prayer

It's amost worth seeing the Waihopai vandals get away with the crime when you see just how much it annoys Michael Laws.

But I'd go further - Christians around the country will be rejoicing at the sight of what, to them, must be an awe-inspiring demonstration of the power of prayer. Consider: the three are patently guilty. It's inconceivable that a jury should aquit them. How then has it come about that a jury did aquit them, knowing full well they did the deed? Only one answer suggests itself: all three are Christians, all three and their supporters have presumably prayed fervently for their release. It appears God heard their prayers and softened the hearts of the jurors. It also appears God is a hippy commie terrorist-lover, which is more than a little worrying...

Cutting Off Labour's Knees

The Sunday Times's Greg Ninness is speculating that Bill English will change the rules concerning LAQCs and PAYE write offs. He is suggesting such a move in addition to the removal of a deduction for depreciation.

THE GOVERNMENT looks likely to escalate its tax attack on investment property by clamping down on the way losses can be offset against other income.

There is already a wide expectation the May Budget will axe depreciation on buildings, one of the tax reform options raised by the Tax Working Group (TWG) in January, along with cutting income tax and raising GST.

Adolf has long considered such a move fair but in past conversations with Gooner, my co-author has maintained it is not possible to separate a taxpayers PAYE liabilities from his business related tax liabilities and therefore the move is not possible. Gooner also suggests that one does not need an LAQC to arrange these tax write offs and Adolf is not sufficiently versed in accounting law to argue one way or the other. The figures would suggest otherwise.

According to IRD, the number of LAQCs filing returns more than doubled between 2003 and 2008, from 63,400 to 129,900, and the total tax losses relating to residential property investments owned by LAQCs increased nearly 800% over the same period, rising from $105m to $812m.

However, I'm inclined to think he is right on the latter point, so the Gummint will need to simply focus on PAYE payments and forget about LAQCs..

It really appears quite simple to me.

All Blenglish has to do is to tweak the law so as to require (a) all PAYE to be deducted at source and (b) those seeking tax deductibility for rental property expenses to declare their salaried income on their tax returns along with the amount of tax already paid on that income and (c) disallow return of PAYE to the tax payer.

If a tax payer incurs a loss on his rental property, then he will simply need to increase the rent or sell the property. No more taxpayer subsidies distortion of property rental and sale values. What's so hard about that? Just have a thought for all those people currently renting who suddenly will be able to buy these properties as their values decline due to the removal of taxpayer subsidies. That's got to be good for lower income people.

The political ramifications are delicious. Can you imagine Phil Goff trying to spin this package as a gift to rich pricks? Can you imaging how much this would cost the Bilious Bitch via her rental property empire?

Braindead Labour choose Sepuloni the phony

What the hell are Labour thinking?

It’s been announced that Carmel Sepuloni, the latest in phony, insincere Labour harpies, has been selected to be the Labour candidate for Waitakere.

In doing so, they rejected Phil Twyford, perhaps the only Labour politician who has been able to whip up public discontent over a government policy – the Auckland supercity.

Sepuloni is famous for not very much, except her ability to whinge about a lack of speaking rights at a Polynesian festival the other week. (Come to think of it, it now seems awfully contrived given that her selection was coming up, doesn’t it).

The other Labourites seeking nomination included Hamish McCracken, a former gameshow winner who grates worse than an early 1990s boy band and wannabe Labour MP, and Ann Pala. According to my sources, Pala gave a speech so bad that it probably prevents her from holding any kind of quasi-political responsibility anywhere in the nation. I’m including DOC boards and the local school board in that assessment too.

But back to the main contenders – Sepuloni and Twyford.

Waitakere is a largely middle class electorate. For all the talk about westies and bogans, the locals there are aspirational. Its 60% European, 14% Maori, 17% Pacific Islander and 13% Asian. Given that Paula Bennett of National is part Maori, and Sepuloni is Polynesian, neither would have any tactical advantage in appealing for votes on race.

But there is an issue that is up for grabs out west – the supercity. It’s not an issue associated with either Bennett or Sepuloni, but the people out west are nervous about loss of identity. It would be an issue Twyford would have been able to artfully pursue, and one Bennett would have been unwilling to debate Twyford on. But the lazy, shrill Sepuloni will not be able to prosecute that argument anywhere near as effectively.

Instead, Sepuloni would have to rely on other Labour talking points, plus make the argument for change based on personality. But why would anyone vote out a prominent, pleasant, part Maori youthful cabinet minister for a less prominent, unpleasant Polynesian backbencher? There’s no compelling need for people to change their allegiances to Labour, no “unique selling point” for Sepuloni to accentuate?

So why did Twyford lose? My header suggests that Labour were braindead to choose Sepuloni, but there must have been more to it than political incompetence by the party. Twyford must have abysmally weak links into the party faithful if he is incapable of gaining the nominations for Mt Albert, Auckland Central and now Waitakere. He will now be damaged goods in Parliament for this third rejection.

Twyford, as a rather intelligent looking middle class white liberal male must be completely out of kilter with the factionalised gay/maori/polynesian/trade union Labour Party. Put short – he’s a smart man who has failed to build his links into a party that is factionalised. Twyford, ironically, would have thrived in the Greens, who could have used an erudite, middle class looking white man with real world talents to lead them.

For example, Twyford’s background as former head of Oxfam will mean he will have skills in management, humanitarian issues, advocacy and analysis, international relations and diplomacy. These are all valuable skills in the real world and in productive government. But they are not values of a defeated Labour Party that seeks to reward race and mediocrity instead of real life talents.

And that’s precisely why Labour are in opposition, and will continue to remain there.

Arse quiver

I have always liked the term "arse quiver".

It's that sinking feeling that you experience when you realise that you have over committed, been caught out or stuffed up, finally sinks home.

It is usually accompanied by a stuttering "but, but..." as you cling to some desperate excuse.

So I well and truly look forward to a butfull of quivering amongst the previous government's MPs as 7000 pages of their spending records are made public.

Of course being New Zealand, nothing of real consequence will happen as "mistakes and errors of judgement" are unearthed, but at least we will get to witness some fine examples of ring puckering.

Disgraceful Conduct

Adolf can't be bothered wading through the cumbersome comments registration thingy at Whaleoil's blog where a recent post deliberately and provocatively identified a blogger who, like most of us, uses a pseudonym.

I'm not going to grace that post with a link but suffice it so say Whale, this is where you lose me. You have crossed the line where one can agree to disagree. How am I to know that one day, should the mood take you, my own identity might not appear in the midst of unfounded innuendo, slander and other crap?

I'm very much aware of some of your victim's transgressions but NOTHING justifies your actions here. Perhaps you might consider a grovelling letter of apology, or are those reserved for MP's who have the resources to successfully threaten you with defamation?

Roy Morgan Signals End of ETS

For more than a little while Adolf has been wondering how Mr Key will extricate his government from the disastrously foolish Emissions Trading Scheme which before long will commence stripping away what little wealth we have left. The other day I pondered the possibility of ACT and the Maori Party ganging up at the next election and making the scheme's repeal a condition of continued support for National.

Yesterday's RoyMorgan poll contained a hint that the ETS and people's loathing for it might already be seeping into the political consciousness.

".......comprising National Party 51.5% (down 2%), Maori Party 2% (down 0.5%), ACT NZ 2.5% (up 1%)......"

For the first time in I don't know how long, one can see a one percent drift from National to ACT. I suspect this represents a growing dissatisfaction by conservatives over the apparent unwillingness of National to act on a whole raft of issues, with that dissatisfaction focusing more and more on the ETS. (The last time such a swing lasted for more than one month was Feb - April 2009 when National moved from 56 to 54.5 to 50.0 while ACT moved from 1.5 to 2.5 to 4.0.)

Adolf was all in favour of the ETS until climategate came along and pulled the rug from the hitherto ascendant global warmenisers. Even before that, the ETS was always a political rather than economic or scientific device. It was never going to have the slightest effect on reducing CO2 emissions but it was going to have a huge effect on protecting our export markets in the lands of the deluded. Those Eurowankers who would lock us out of our markets at the perceived drop of an incandescent light bulb.

But that's all history now.



The carbon trading markets have died as people lose faith in the global warming religion and it's disciples are revealed to be really a bunch of conniving international con men. The US will not go to cap and trade, Rudd is set to lose the next federal election because of his fixation on his version of ETS and NACTionalMP will go the same way if they persist with it.

Perhaps the ETS will be the defining issue for ACT between now and November 2011?

Keep an eye on the next Roy Morgan poll for further clues.