The suspense is too much

The Great Green Greasy Limpopo

Poor Adolf nearly choked when he saw the news.

The seriously nasty David Cunliffe has chosen Nanaia Mahuta as his running mate or Number Two.

Miss Mahuta represents the denizens of the great grey greasy Waikato and is not known for her appeal to the broad community of New Zealanders. Possessing double degrees in one of the 'easy' subjects, she entered parliament at the age of twenty six. Her only asset appears to be the fact she is neither a lesbian nor a unionist.

This move by Cunliffe can only be an attempt by way of subliminal comparison to establish the notion that he himself has charisma.
See if you can spot the difference.

November 30th

Latha Naomh Anndra

Here's tae us; wha's like us? dam few and they're a' deid.

Slangevar

Who Said What?

pic from stuff

Who said?

Wheres my job gone?

I'm going fishing!

Whadya Mean Xmas is canceled?

Friends not foes

There has been much written since the election about the future of right wing parties.

Classical Liberals, Libertarians, Conservatives.

It seems that our only common link is we have is an overriding belief in personal responsibility.

We should focus on what we have in common, not that which divides us.

We are friends not foes.

By dividing ourselves we are only making the left stronger.

Maybe try this.

Apparently There is a hiccup in bringing a resolution of the "occupy" movement's utilisation of Auckland's Aotea Square.

As in Dunedin the Police see a comflict between the Bill Of Rights Act and local authority Bylaws where they, the Police decline to act following the council issuing a trespass notice.

Now the word was a month ago that the protesters would depart following the election but that does not seem to be happening.

Maybe the councils could try lobbying central government to force the occupiers to stay there indefinitly by way of emergency legislation then fence them in.
Might be the cheaper option.

Comments back properly now

Sincere apologies to our readers and commenters. Somehow comments moderation was switched on following the election. I've just published the comments stuck in moderation, and yes we do want people to comment on or posts so please continue to do so. Apologies once again.

Canada to withdraw from Kyoto Protocol

After round two of Climategate, the flies are slowly being swatted.

Money quote:

Delegates at the conference will also be hammering out the details of a plan to administer the Green Climate Fund, money that is to help poor countries deal with climate change.

The fund is expected to grow over the next eight years to eventually distribute about $100 billion a year.

However, it is still unclear where all of that money will come from and how it will be distributed.

In addition to the usual international development funds from the West, proposals include a carbon surcharge on international shipping and on air tickets, as well as a levy on international financial transactions.

Anyone with half a brain quarter one eighth of a brain could see where this was going years ago.

The whole thing has been shown to be a complete con right from the time Mann's Hickey Stock was discredited, through Climategate 1, Climategate 2 and now Canada saying it won't partake in the greatest socialist invention of modern times.

When our government reviews our ETS next year I can recommend the very place for the paper pile of legislation: right next to the guillotine, and then once cut into a million bits taken onto the front of parliament and burned.

I await Phil U to explain to me how a financial transactions tax helps the world to cool.

Is there Global Warming here?

From Granny:

An astronomer has captured the first amateur pictures of another solar system from a tiny telescope in his back yard.

I wonder if there is there Global Warming here.

SOAP - OZ STYLE

The story so far. An unpopular Prime Minister of an unpopular Government relying on the support of a rag tag bunch of so called Independents with a one vote majority in the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister is being quietly (and not so quietly) white-anted by her predecessor and Foreign Minister who wants his job back. One of those independents (lets call him Andrew) is about to pull the plug because the Government is stalling on a key piece of legislation he has staked his reputation on. The Government majority is about to disappear.

In last weeks episode you saw the Labour Party Speaker of the House, a generally inoffensive no-body (lets call him Harry) visited by a couple of ALP enforcers (lets call them Trevor and Clayton) who threatened to break his arms and legs and other bits unless he resigned ... so he did, citing the fact that he was fed up with the Ministerial Salary; his lavish Apartment in Parliament; his generous entertainment allowance and all the free VIP travel around the world - all he wanted to do was to get back to being a humble back-bench MP ... and Labour gets one more vote.

Enter a maverick Opposition MP (lets call him Peter). Peter has had a less than stellar parliamentary career having been caught out rorting his travel expenses and, on one occasion, sleeping through the speech of a visiting Head of State. Peter enjoys the high life which is perhaps a little surprising (or perhaps not) given that he was a former Priest. Problem for Peter is that his past is catching up with him and he is facing de-selection by his Party in his seat (lets call it Fisher) by an ex able Minister (lets call him Mal).

The PM knows Peter is in the deep donkey do so goes to him and asks him how would he like to be Mr Speaker and Peter, after thinking about it long and hard for a whole nano second, said "Yes Sir and where are a keys to the liquor cabinet please". The PM said the jobs yours subject to you resigning from your Party and becoming an Independent and, as Speaker, declining to cast a deliberative vote. Peter sez "I never liked those bastards anyway, can I have the keys please" ... and the Opposition is suddenly down one vote.

Coming Up ....

What will Andrew do now the Government doesn't need his vote?

Is Trevor really going to enjoy life on the back-benches?

What will Andrew's mate Nick, a Senator, think about all of this?

Will the Opposition somehow arrange for Peter to be run over by a bus?

What now happens in 'Fisher'. Will Mal take the seat?

And just what does the Foreign Minister, who wants a clean out of the Party back-room power brokers (and the Prime Minister) think about all of this?

Stay tuned.

Folks. Not a Soap Opera. It all happened last week in Canberra in case you hadn't noticed.

The reconstruction of NZ Labour begins.

Following the election where many of the faces from last century survive and much of the promise of the future is dead or wounded, the caucus should examine how the rebuild will begin before who will lead it back is decided.

My pick is David Shearer with Curran as deputy and give the old guard a subtle hint as to their next career move.
The NZRU got away with a reappointment strategy four years ago but this is a Little different,pun intended.

Would make it very different.

Some suggest to bring a degree of exposure to public opinion for party lists, ranking on electorate outcome could be used.

Now the Great Helmsman chose not to stand in an electorate and it would have been interesting if he had.
That accepted I will leave him at the top but here is the list as actual voters ranked them as opposed to the Party machine construction, in parenthesis.
1 WRP No electorate (1?)
2 Brendan Horan (6)
3 Raymond Dalman (17)
4 Fletcher Tabiteau (11)
5 Kevin Stone (24)
6 Brent Catchpole (13)
7 Barbara Stewart (5)
8 Edwin Perry (21)
9 Pita Paraone (12)
10 Tracy Martin (2)
11 Helen Mulford (9)
12 Doug Nabbs (25)
13 Bill gudgeon (16)
14 Bill Woods (31)
15 Tamati Reid (29)
16 Ian Brougham (30)
17 David Scott (18)
18 John Hall (23)
19 Randal Ratima (19)
20 Arsenati Taylor (8)
21 Andrew Williams (3)
22 Gordon Stewart (28)
23 Dion Jelly (22)
24 Dennis O'Rorke (7)
25 Kevin Gardener (not ranked)
26 Jerry Ho (15)
27 Taliaoa Ilalio (27)
28 Richard Prosser (4)
29 Brent Pierson (26)
30 Bindra Mahesh (20)
31 Allen Davies (30)
32 Hugh Barr (10)
33 Ben Craven (14)

Simplistic and based on Polling night first count but some interesting facts on the value indicated by the intimacy of the electorate's judgment.

I accept that once on the list there was no incentive to campaign for electorate support as it was only the Party vote that mattered and I have no knowledge of the life outside the campaign of the candidates.

Some who stand out Barr at 32 and 10, Prosser 29 and 4, Williams 21 and 3 and O'Rorke at 24 and 7. Barr is just outside the redline and the others are very safe

Dennis O'Rorke has had significant exposure to the Port Hills electorate voters as a City Councilor who have rejected him on more than one occasion and I guess others may have knowledge of the track records of others.

QUIZ RESULTS For Sun 27th

Only the one response so a clear merit pass for Vet, might have been a bit easy for him but no cigar.

Answers
Sir James Henare Commander of the 28th Battallion and outstanding Maori.
Facade of the Robert McDougal Gallery in Rolleston Avenue in CHCH
Premier House in Thorndon Wellington
Ratana Church Wanganui.
The Stone Store Keri keri.

Here I am and starter for 10

The fine folk who post here have asked me to contribute to the blog, and I have taken up their offer. So here I am.

I said I would do it after the election, where my Act Party has all but been obliterated. More on that in due course.

But for the meantime, here's a teaser from the CONservative Party and the pakeha version of Bishop Brian Tamaki, Colin Craig.

The millionaire founder of the new Conservative Party Colin Craig says he plans to stay in politics until he has displaced the National Party as the country's major party of the right.

Maybe with his divine interventions he plans to live until he's 367. It'll take about that long I suspect.

Let the good times roll

Have we just witnessed the last election of a centre right government in NZ.

The left have now successfully split into unbreakable factions who can easily manipulate a referendum surviving MMP to ensure a 50%+ vote in 2014. They will cobble together to vote for letting the good times roll - more tax, more borrowing, more bureaucracy, more rules, more control, more welfare plus encourage any freeloaders who will be more than happy to come along for the ride. Labour, Greens, Winston First, United Future, Mana......they will all be queuing at the trough.

Who leads Labour post Goff will be immaterial. They only need to find someone who can lie with a straight face, so that shouldn't be a problem.

The right have 3 short years to sort out a strategy to counter this threat. Politics in NZ is about to become much more extreme. The days of smile and wave are over.

The demise of ACT in all but name is a good thing as the right can start with a clean sheet.

Opportunity Lost?

I know the the referendum votes cast on election day are not yet counted and the current count is of the early cast papers, some 200 000, and at 54% not to change is probably too high to move below 50% in the final count.

Was the RWC factor, the possibility of an MMP delivered majority party vote and the concerted spend by the Union movement to oppose change too distracting to allow the vote for change to succeed. Notwithstanding the run off may well have delivered MMP again.

Had the referendum vote been held mid term against a backdrop of what MMP was actually delivering rather than the image of what it was possibly delivering with the contemporaneous General Election possibly delivering a govern alone government, would a different outcome have resulted.

Now it would seem the electorate has handed the inmates the opportunity to make the rules for the asylum and thereby leaving the voters peering through the windows as portrayed in the closing chapter of George Orwell's "Animal Farm"

I concur with Cameron Slater's prediction that we are probably witnessing the last National led Government ever as the multitude of ego based single issue minor parties that are more correctly identified as pressure groups, available to be purchased by left of center major parties to fulfill their divine right to rule philosophy.

That a party can win 48% of the vote and be left in opposition to an "Uncle Tom Cobbleigh" coalition of every one but government with all the crazy outcomes that it will produce, confirms my suspicion that MMP as we have it is a NUTJOB system and that is without the travesty of a one man band party with 8 MPs being elected as the "party you can trust" almost gaining a King maker status.

It may still happen 'Napoleon'.

Sheesh John where are Gower and Ambrose

Is everything on that Table Kosher.

ELECTORAL FRAUD

The Colin Craig Party should apologise to the 55,000 New Zealanders he conned into voting for him. All those votes are now dust-binned as 'wasted votes'. His plus the ragtag others (Democrats for Social Credit. Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, Alliance and Liberterianz) boosted the number of wasted votes to 3.6%.

Putting aside the fact that Craig is seen by many as the Pakeha answer to Bishop Brian Tamaki and by others as a poor little rich boy who tried to buy his way into parliament, one really wonders about the ethics of someone who reportedly commissions a raft of 'dubious' polls, run by a company owned by one of henchmen, which purported to show he was going to win Rodney. It was on that basis that he attempted to sell himself to New Zealand as a serious contender.

It is a matter of record that he lost Rodney big time (plus $1.6m). The other big loser was the 55,000 who were silly enough to believe what he said.

There may be a place so another so called centrist Party in New Zealand politics to take the place of United Future. But if there is I'm not at all sure that Craig is the person to lead it.

KNOW YOUR COUNTRY Sunday November 27th

Phil Goof and labours victory speech

Ah, good times

Not a bad result overall: National didn't get a majority, Labour didn't do a Nats-2002 crash and burn, the Greens cleared 10%, the 2.6% of votes that went to the conservatives were lost to the right entirely thanks to the 5% threshold, the voters saw through National's ACT takeover, and funniest of all, Winston is back in the house with another ragbag of leftovers and nutjobs - which is horrendously bad news if you happen to be the govt, but farking funny news if you happen to dislike the govt intensely and want to see them dipped in shit at every opportunity. Ah, good times.

Rant alert force 5

Expect rant levels to increase with Winston Peters dragging the urinator Andrew Williams into parliament.

Comments back on

Labour are delivering their worst EVER result.
Discuss..

Comments disabled

NB: Comments aren't broken, just switched off for election day as we're too lazy to monitor the comments threads.

GERMANY

I am not an economist but I do understand numbers. What happened earlier this week with the failure of the German Government Bond issue is very concerning.

If that government can't raise money on the open market then who can? Methinks the chances of the Euro-zone continuing as is have just gotten a whole lot worse.

And anyone who thinks the fallout from that would be limited to Europe has probably already paid a little boy to clean the chimney so that Santa won't get dirty.

Keeping them honest.

Anybody else listened to the wireless this week, in particular the talkback?
I have and I am still shaking my head in amazement at the number of people calling up and saying they will be voting for Winston; "Coz he will keep them honest".
Farkin hell.
That would be akin to making the bulimic girl the tuck shop supervisor or Darren Hughes a scoutmaster.

PREDICTIONS - WILL I OR WON'T I

Not worth the paper they are printed on but what the hell. Here goes.

National will win 49% of the vote but, once the 'wasted vote' is factored in, that will take it over the magic 50%. National will retain New Plymouth.

Labour will poll in the high 20s. Labour will pick up West Coast Tasman.

Greens will come in at about 12%.

Winston First will make it over the 5% (just). This will mirror, in a small way, the 2002 result when the collapse in National support saw many punters desert that Party and go to NZF. The collapse in the Labour vote this time round will produce the same result.

Conservatives. Won't win Rodney (but will poll well). Nationally they will score 2-3% wasted votes.

ACT. Hurts me to say this but they will loose Epsom. Just why they allowed Brash to bulldoze them into picking Banks is beyond me. Any other of their 'quality' candidates would be a shoe in. ACT votes go into the wasted pile.

United Future. Dunne will squeak in just, producing a overhang (which won't be helpful). His saving grace is that he is acknowledged to be a good electorate MP.

Maori Party. Retains their four electorate seats

Mana Party. Retains Te Tai Tokerau and Hone brings Annette Sykes with him. Proxy votes that Labour doesn't need.

The sun will still come up on Sunday (excuse pun).

Its all over bar the shouting.

And I guess there is another 12 hours of that.





Some random thoughts:

The MSM have successfully made the campaign "their" news, pity about any voter actually seeking information as to policy and the costs that will fall on the dwindling number of wealth contributors.

That some in the Media have succeeded in resurrecting the corpse of Winston First without reminding voters of all the crap he delivered under the cloak of protection of the last Labour Government, is an indictment on their professionalism.

Where's Hager, or will he lob a grenade into the campaign today. A bit late for the book though.

Am I in a minority that thinks the cost of the circus coalition that will bring Goff to PM will make Greece look like the epitome of stability.

If Labour's vote reflects the polls, will any chance of meaningful rebuilding that once proud party be set back 3 more years.

Will ACT rise from the conflagration that Brash ignited with his "last hurrah" with anything resembling a party to the right of National or will that space become the opportunity for Craig and his "fundy" clingons. Gordon f#*king Copeland FFS.

Should the release of Polls be proscribed in the closing days of an election.

Likewise any reality TV effects such as audience polls and worms et al associated with "TV Debates". This manifestation of communicating the message has become the ultimate political infotainment

Should an independent entity be charged with costing of major policy initiatives to increase awareness of potential outcomes among voters becoming increasingly disconnected.

Is the electorate being well served by the ongoing union parallel campaigning.

Do current campaign finance rules create tilted playing fields when manpower is uncounted but finance to purchase such effort is severely curtailed.

Should we have also been polled as to the parliamentary term along with MMP.

Will we ever see the likes of an Oliver Ridell or Hugh Templeton who gave little hint of their Political Hue as they penned their analysis of the political landscape, portraying the reality of what the situation was with little projection of their opinion, again. Probably never as Tabloid Journalism becomes the norm.
Sainsbury, Campbell, Garner, Gower, Soper, Holmes, Espiner, Mutch, Clifton, are all as shallow as a puddle on a runway with their Image driven egotistical approach as to what they see as Political reporting, and that is without their ill-disguised bias.

The sun will still rise on Sunday and we will still hold the Webb Ellis Trophy.

Please no comments after Midnight to comply with electoral law.

Have a great election and be careful what you wish for.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MOBILE BILLBOARD

Yesterday I was dragooned into being a mobile billboard supporting National and Mike Sabin. Resigned to it being 'hard yards' but actually enjoyed the experience so I thought I would put a couple of hours into doing the same thing today.

11.15 Arrived at the Te Haumi Beach causeway and started to wave sign. More friendly toots than fingers.

11.35 Wandered over the guy who has set up a 'Hole in One' golf range extending out onto the beach flats. Congratulated him on his initiative. Was 'floored' when he told me the Regional Council had charged him $1k for resource consent. Just what is the big deal about someone looking to make a buck by offering punters the chance to win $60 by landing a golf ball in a bathtub 70m back from the high tide mark. Where is the danger to the environment? The Northland Regional Council has lost the plot. Off with their collective heads.

11.55 Back to waving my billboard.

12.05 Old gentleman pulls up in a relatively new car. Beckoned me over . Wound down car window and told me that Winston was going to 'f**k all you bastards'. I told him that Winston's sexual preferences didn't matter an iota to me but when was he going to pay back the $150k he stole from the taxpayer. Punter called me an arrogant Tory and drove off.

12.40 Labour Party 'Motorcade' drove past. One grey SUV sporting two Red Labour Flags. Gave me a toot. Waved back.

13.10 Old Toyota, plate no. ST5*** drove past slowly. No rego or WOF that I could see. Full of our best and brightest. Didn't know you could cram so many swear words into a single sentence. Am now more convinced than ever of the need for National Standards and the bringing back of the cane.

13.15 Three cars in a row tooted and waved.

13.25 German tourists in Campervan stopped. Wanted to know where National stood in relation to the Christian Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Social Democrats. Told them it was a broad church Party sitting between the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats. They wished me luck.

13.30 Packed it in. Done my bit.

Predictions. Sunday and beyond.

Just a list, feel free to add yours in the comments.
Predictions.

• Horizon polling is shown up to be more inaccurate than a 7 year old boy trying to pee standing up. (I know this will come to pass because I have just received a results email from them into my six different email adresses all showing me the results of their last pre-election poll and they believe National will poll in the low 30's)
• Mediaworks have been poofingered by Garner, Gower, Campbell and Lush. Their shocking bias will see these four frozen out of opportunities to interview senior government figures going forward. Trying to fill the opposition void because Labour are shite is not on.
• Phill Goff will be knifed by Monday morning, despite this gap toothed time serving mong playing the game of his life and carrying all the strain throughout the entire campaign the massive defeat and the fact that he is not a member of the man hating, right on, cardigan wearing suckhole brigade will see him bleeding at home comforted only by his multi million dollar net worth and Trumpesque publicly funded pension.

He is thick!

A political animal of nearly 40 years involvement wants the grenade he tossed last night returned on tonights news with the Pin missing.
Last night on TV one's leaders show, Phil Goff asserted that the police have been directed by the Key Government to cease recruit training next year as a cost cutting action.
John Key replied it was an operational matter, leaving Goff possibly feeling his shot may have grazed the PM.
This morning Hon Judith Collins refuted his assertion while admitting that the January intake was canceled due to high retention rates. That left Goff safe in his foxhole, unwounded and with his dignity more or less intact and his assertion with a small shred of truth.
Police assn president and Commissioner Marshall backed Collins explanation but Goofy was still relatively unscathed and one would expect him to seek another target with all his years of service and the nine years at the feet of the master politician.

Hell no, the man who seems totally unable to admit error and move on even when close enough to the truth to be able to claim a partial hit, leaps out of his foxhole all guns blazing inviting even friendly fire from a startled Press corps.

In a perfect world he would get his wish but with a media obsessed apparently to try to even up what has been throughout a very one sided affair, I will not be holding my breath.

I just may watch though, curiosity you know.

A theory to live by

Kudos to whoever put this together.
G

Too Much Water In The Whitewash

Do you remember that learned panel of Pommy Lords, Earls and Chancellors who two years ago exonerated the pricks from East Anglia University from all wrong doing?

Looks like it's time to put THEM up against the wall and shoot them.

Two years after Climategate hit the deck the sequel emerges and it is ten times worse. Totally and utterly incriminating.

There actually is not a scientific basis for this so-called AGW theory. The whole thing is a hoax.

Here's what a bunch of modern day big time crooks looks like.




Never in the history of Mankind, have so many been conned by so many to enrich so few.

A nightmare or did it happen?

After three years of Cunliffe,aka the fiscal creep, and Parker et al berating the Key Government for the level of borrowing to soften the landing for New Zealanders, did the Philly Goof come out and say the Key Government should have borrowed "more"

Final Prediction

It's time to wrap up this damned election and get on with what ever it is one wants.

After one of the dirtiest campaigns ever, Adolf has had enough of politics for a while, so here is his final prediction. Some assumptions:-

• National wins Epsom
• National wins New Plymouth
• Dunne loses Ohariu
• Mana wins TTT
• Labour plunges due to dirty tactics in last week, benefiting MP and Greens
• Many Maori electors vote Labour candidate National Party - protest against tactics

Party name	Party Votes won	Party seat entitlement	No. of electorate seats won	No. of list MPs	Total MPs		% of MPs
Green Party	17.00%	22	0	22	22		18.33%
Labour Party	21.00%	27	0	27	27		22.50%
Mana	0.50%	1	1	0	1		0.83%
Māori Party	4.00%	5	4	1	5		4.17%
National Party	51.00%	65	0	65	65		54.17%
Totals	93.50%	120	5	115	120		100.00%

Notes:

CLEARLY GOFF WILL SAY ANYTHING TO GAIN A HEADLINE

Ok, so Phil Goff does it again. Shock, horror, National is going to freeze recruiting for the police - with the clear implication that this will lead to a reduction in police numbers. Problem for Goff is that neither the Government nor the Commissioner know anything about it.

Put aside the fact that National has made good on its promise to recruit an additional 600 new police and the effect of that is already being felt where they are needed most in the Labour heartland of South Auckland.

All organisations manage their staff against approved ceilings. Under Labour the numbers of police quitting the force was at 6.2%. Under National that number has halved allowing the first intake of new trainee recruits to be put back to March. Just where is the shock horror?

The Veteran has been told that later today Phil Goff will announce he has it on good authority that the Jews killed Jesus Christ and that as John Key has Jewish ancestry he should front up and take his share of responsibility for that killing.

My early morning connection to the news.

If reception is available I start my day with Mike Hosking Breakfast.

At around 0620 the program has a segment where the host of Radio Sport, the days News Reader and the host come together to raise issues from their point of view. It is often a bit of a rabble but the Producer (assumed) is a guy called Glen who possesses one of the drollest delivery on the wireless, sometimes intrudes with a voice over.
This morning turned to comedy gold when a discussion of the rubbish of the previos evenings 'debate' was in full swing and 'along came Glen' with:
I was watching it with my son and at about mid session he asked "are they hungry yet".

You had to be there I guess but with his laconic delivery , pure comedy.

Please let it be so

Can't find it again but saw a header over night where the odious Dwarf hankers for some "old fashioned Politics" Oh Yes.

Make the duplitious little old goat stand up to the scrutiny of a bunch of voters who are not living in a fog of dementia affected short term memory loss. Oh Yes Please.

Unless it could be arranged for an electorate consisting entirely of a group of voters tied to a zimmer frame and/or being "assisted to vote" by a group of Winston First electorate workers, he would get his sorry, wrinkled old arse handed to him on an ashtray. Oh Yes Please,bring it on.

Wine Writers

There is little chance of finding more pretentious wankery anywhere other than within the comments written by so-called wine experts.

It seems people who want apricots go and foolishly buy sauvignon blanc, hoping for a whiff of their favorite fruit. Others, similarly gullible, rush off to buy Cabernet Sauvignon when what they really want is half a kilo of blackberries.

Here's a typical example.

2007 Sauvignon Blanc - 100% varietal, this fruit forward wine is bursting with aromas of sweet apricot and citrus, and a faint hint of mineral. The delicate palate reveals ripe grapefruit, lemongrass, and a gently herbaceous lingering finish. Magnificent with poultry, pasta with red sauce, seafood, and grilled vegetables.

One of my endearing fantasies is to sneak in to a wine competition and spike the cheapest bottles of sauvignon blanc with a couple of drops each of apricot juice.

Then sit back and watch the fun.

WINSTON FIRST

Ok, you can't pick your supporters but Winston First must be shi****g bricks with the Neo Nazi 'Right Wing Resistance SG 14' Group endorsing NZF as the only Party to vote for. Perhaps they see Winston First as ripe for a coup d'etat once 'the man' shuffles off stage left on Saturday.

You can see it all at http://rwrnz.blogspot.com/2011/11/elections.html

Mind you, I wouldn't want to be a coloured or Jewish supporter of Winston First with those guys around. Tomorrow Winston, next day ????????????

What a pathetic bunch of toser make-believe tow-rags running around in cast off military clothing.

Hazard a guess and most of them would have small dicks, dirty finger nails and bad breath ... and that's just the females.

What exactly was that Doco on child poverty?

There is some comment about on an "Inside New Zealand" doco screened on TV3 at 07 30 last night so I went to their Website and had a peek. Actually I watched the whole disingenuous load of rubbish. Yes there are too many children being short changed in NZ.

In the rather exercised environment being pursued by Campbell, Garner and Gower during the closing stages of the election campaign, one thing is becoming very obvious. TV3 is in no way being directed by it's parent company Media Works following them having been bought by Nationals "time Payment" for current access to the airwaves.

The Documentary, term used advisedly, was little more than an unauthorized one hour promotion of the NZ Labour Party.

It started with a run down on how the 1950s the frontman, Bryan Bruce, grew up in, had moved from a socialist utopia to a capitalist oligarchy reminiscent of the 19th century.
He received a "free" bottle of milk when he arrived at school and the poor of the 50s relied on various forms of charity in addition to welfare.

BB then moved to Russel St School in East Porirua where the Principal was "forced" to feed her classes , the pupils had to go 2 Kms to access School Dental service, ( Jesus wept I biked two miles to catch a freekin bus), A district nurse could only visit ONCE A BLOODY WEEK, we had a health check once a bloody year.

He then moved to a very dilapidated State Housing Estate where surprise surprise, he found instances of damp, run down, over crowded housing and whole families moved into one bedroom for warmth. My first 10 years were spent in a 70 yo villa with a gap under the back door mice coud traverse, no heating apart from a coal range in the kitchen but it was all Freekin Clean.

We then traversed the "downhill slide" from utopia ( I didn't realise it then) of the fifties when we owned our State owned assets, through the dislocation of the UK joining Europe, The 1973 Oil Shock, Think Big, Muldoonism, Rogernomics and a swift kick for Ruth Richardson to where we are now with such "widespread child poverty".
Not a mention of any socialists apart from that bastard Douglas.

He, the Frontman, wheeled out a procession of activists and 'professionals' who all lamented the terrible state of child health, Susan St John from the Auckland Poverty Action Group and various others calling for more action to deal with "the increasing number of declining child health indicators.

We were then whisked off to Scandinavia where large numbers of healthy children froliced around their classroom in robust pink of good health. No coughing snotty kids with suppurating sores there, a veritable Utopia, yes another one.

Mr Bruce then wrapped up by going back beyond those utopian 50s to where that champion of socialism, Micheal Joseph Savage, rescued the country from the capitalist induced mire of Poverty with "free" school milk, State housing, and the welfare state.

We then had the benefit of the superior intellect of a professor whose name I missed, wearing a suitable dark blue frock, who boldly informed us that Labour always built and upgraded the State Housing stock and National always sold them and let them run down. The prof even managed a kick for poor old Maggie Thatcher to reinforce her point.

Never once did this charade posing as investigating journalism, traverse the destructive elements of welfare, removal of personal responsibility, poor parental choices, why there were double digit people crammed into a small state house, the total amount of welfare being collected on the total occupants, the absence of any men at the house ( in contrast the Swedish group was well represented by FATHERS) or any other of the pertinent facts as to where the carer might be failing.

A very illustrative image near the end for me, was a plastic play house at a play center or similar in Porirua with a large jagged hole in it's wall with a little face framed in it. was there any connection there with that "toy" house and the very decrepit houses portrayed.

Update on the worm

If explaining is losing !!

Michele Levine senior exec of Roy Morgan Australia is doing what exactly?

Its time to stand up and be counted

I didn't need to go bush for two weeks to make my mind up but I have to say, after two weeks to all intents and purposes off line, with the second week in the clear air of the SI high country, my intentions to vote are,

Two ticks National and vote to replace MMP with STV.

My National candidate is Amy Adams and IMO has a good future in national politics.
Communicates well, listens and responds quickly and intelligently when questioned on issues.
My second tick goes to National although frustrated with their timidity on issues such as resource extraction, welfare reform and continuing with a doubtful asset in the form of Simon English with his baggage of double dipping and that 22% tag, I see them as the only option. ACT have lost my support with their appalling performance in leadership, policy tactics and serious lack of political nouse. If Banks is the best Lifeboat they could find then just as happens to a Racehorse with a broken leg get the 12 gauge and do the necessary.

I have consistently opposed MMP for one simple reason, the electorate cannot vote a person out of the legislature no matter how disgusted 90% of the voters may feel, if their party, for whatever reason places them in a high list place and then convinces 5% of the national vote to support them. If I needed any more evidence, the prospect of the odious leader of Winston First at 5% is it.
I will vote for STV where to get to Parliament a candidate must eventually garner the support of 1 vote over 50% of those with the best chance to evaluate the suitability of that person, ie their electorate.

BUGGER, BUGGER, BUGGER THE POLLS

The latest Fairfax Media Research International Poll released 3 hours ago is a shocker (for Labour and the media doomsayers).

The result:

National 54% +1.5%

Labour 26% + 0.1%

Greens 12% -0.6%

Winston First 4% +1.2%

Maori Party 1.1% -0.4%

Mana Party 1.1% +0.4%

Other 1% -1.5%

ACT 0.7% -0.3%

United Future 0.1% - 0.2%

1,000 people were interviewed and the poll has an MoE of 3.1%

Meanwhile Labour's Clayton Cosgrove in Waimakariri looks to be in the deep doggy do. A Fairfax Media Research International snap poll of 250 voters has National's Kate Wilkinson on 53.9% against Cosgrove's 36%. The MoE is 6.2%. In the Party vote National has 71.% support against Labour's 17.4%. Last election the percentages were National 49.4 vs Labour at 33.9%. Last time round Cosgrove decided against going on the Labour List. This time he changed his mind. Wonder why?

It can't get any worserer, can it?

That is what I thought were the remains of the Pin Striped Thief, Luigi.

Since the RWC ended an electorate that had pretty much made it's collective mind up has been subjected to a stream of rubbish from many in the MSM to bring back the corpse of Winston First.

Last evening it appears a dodgy 65 "uncommitted" voters had control of a worm in the studio during a "debate" featuring the PM and The Leader of Her Majesties Loyal Opposition.

Farrer, Slater and others have suggested that the "panel of 65" may not have been quite as Kosher as the muppets at TV 3 would have us all believe.

My cynical mind wonders if a team of Political infotainment hacks led by Campbell, Gower and Garner exhibiting a very transparent agenda and having expended considerable effort to manipulate how the electorate views the current Prime Minister, could be trusted to be "fair" with such an easily manipulated reality TV device.

How easy would it be to have the software running the Worm with an inherent bias to give an erroneous projection without resorting to "stacking" the players.

Farrer has posted on the dangers of using such imagery particularly in the closing stages of an election campaign and the result that catapulted Dunne's mob of nonentities into the legislature would seem to support that research from Professor Colin Davis of Royal Holloway University of London, on the matter.

Move Over, Paul Henry

Here comes Tatiana on Barack Obama.



hattip Tim Blair

Election Night Coverage

For those who can't get near a TV set or who live overseas, TVNZ advises their coverage will be live streamed via the internet.

The link is not yet up but will be in good time for the event.

Go to tvnz.co.nz and look for the link. When it is available I'll put it up here and bump this post to the top of the page.

For me, the fun starts at 4.30 pm when the polls close so I reckon it will be all over by 7.00 pm.

Cripes who wudda thunk that?

Hartevelt on STUFF is predicting three years of the unions confronting a re-elected National Government.

That wont happen will it.

The players should manage the Black Caps
The inmates should run the asylum.
And of course the unions should run the education sector.

Separating management and governance is so 19th century.

One easy question

Will this be the week Labour sets a new record for how much bullshit it can cram into 5 days?

10 GREAT REASONS TO VOTE WINSTON FIRST

#1 If you want Phil Goff to be our next Prime Minister then you should vote for Winston First.

#2 And disregarding the 'no to the baubles of office' pledge, if you believe that Winston would decline the offer of a Ministerial role in a Phil Goff led administration, then you should vote Winston First.

$3 If you believe that a disgraced and beaten former Mayor at No. 3 on the Winston First List is a fit and proper person to be in Parliament, then you should vote for Winston First.

#4 If you agree that Winston was right in demoting former Winston First Party President, Dail Jones, to an unwinnable position on his Party List last time round because he asked the hard questions about the Party finances, then you should vote for Winston First.

#5 If you are in favour of political and economic instability for New Zealand at a time when the world's financial system is in melt down, you should vote for Winston First.

#6 If you agree that Winston First was ethically justified in not paying back the $156k they rorted from the taxpayer to illegally fund their election campaign, you should vote for Winston First.

#7 If you believe that it's ok for a Foreign Minister to attempt hock off a Consul Generalship in Monaco in return for a donation to his Party coffers, you should vote for Winston First.

#8 If you think Susan Couch, victim of the Panmure RSA homicide, has nothing to complain about in respect of her promised donation from Trust monies controlled by Winston, then you should vote for Winston First.

#9 If you think Winston having a sister standing for Labour is no indication when his political sympathies 'lie' you should vote for Winston First.

#10 If you think Winston articulates a vision for New Zealand designed to take New Zealand forward then you should vote for Winston First

KNOW YOUR COUNTRY ANSWERS

Anon came in with three but will not win as no name on the Paper.
Dadster a strong 4, could possibly see 5 from his answer and wins the elollies.
Hp an ncea credit.LOL
PM of NZ got the Flemington I had in mind, I had never heard of the Asburton one

Answers;
1 East of Roxburgh, one of many very Scottish placenames of Central Otago.
2 West of Wanstead in Southern Hawkes Bay was the target but will accept the Mid Canterbury one, thanks for the update
3 One of many early townships that never grew, NW of Fairlie on HWY 8.
4 West of Ngatapa in Gisbourne, 600 acres of exotic trees that can be spectacular in an autumn with little wind and cold temperatures, colors just unbelievable. Planted by a slightly eccentric gentleman whose preferred work clothes were the ones he was born in.
5 The highpoint on a limestone escarpment north of Waiau to the East of the Inland Kaikoura Rd. Traditionally a snow indicator for the Amuri Basin, on the boundary of Annandale and Mason Hills Stations

As Good As It Gets

Did anyone other than Adolf and The Vet watch the President's Cup golf, live from Royal Melbourne?



It was superb. Twenty four of the world's best golfers playing a variety of formats, team and individual, over four days.

The Yanks won and deservedly so. Fred Couples and Greg Norman were excellent team captains.

It was very funny listening to the two Aussie commentators Wayne Grady and Jack Newton. They could not help themselves. Kept referring to the international team as 'the Aussies - sorry the internationals.'

It was noticeable that the South Africans and South Koreans did most of the winning for the Internationals while the Aussies did most of the losing.

President Newt?

Some advice to the foetid few.

"Go and get a job, right after you take a bath."

Quick Right Jab

Tucked right away at the bottom is one of the best one liners from the election campaign.

Asked when he was last frightened, Mr Key said "it happens on a daily basis".

"It's called picking up the Herald."

A new truth

There used to be two truths in the world - death and taxes.

It seems that we can add another one to the list.

Politicians will draw salary until the moment of state bankruptcy.

I guess at that point they will all look at each other and say

"how the heck did that happen, thank goodness we got paid"

KNOW YOUR COUNTRY Sunday 20th Nov

As alluded to yesterday struggling with a link so here are five place names in NZ.

In the spirit of this challenge try without the atlas or google please.

1 Ettrick.
2 Flemington.
3 Kimbell.
4 Eastwood Hill Arboretum.
5 Mt Cookson.

Latest in Green billboard saga

GST now off tripe

Thank goodness Phil Goff is ready for the hard decisions

Looking at Europe's troubles, shouldn't debt be paid down a whole lot faster than you or National plan?

It's a huge reason for making some fundamental changes in the way we run our economy, which we have put up our hand and said we're about to do. We know the world is a fragile place at the moment. Today it is the European debt crisis; what happens tomorrow if the Chinese economy slows down? We've got to put our economy on a strong financial basis and that's why we've taken the hard decisions about GST.

What is your policy on GST?

The GST will come off fresh fruit and vegetables - the whole 15 per cent - costing about $300m a year, for the dual purpose of taking a bit of pressure off the budget of families but, more importantly, sending an economic signal about families needing to make healthy choices in their foods.

Yep that's right- the whole 15% off our veg. Way to go Phil. That's really putting your hand.... somewhere.

Paying down debt via "fundamental changes in our economy" by making carrots cheaper- all in one seamless step. It's so cunningly simple you have to wonder if he is getting his policies from the Blackadder School of Economics.

Quick Phil, phone the Greeks straight away. It will come as a big relief to them that they can get out of the shit by simply lowering the price of olives.

The bigger question is- does this GST exempt tripe actually count as political/economic policy reporting?

Or as an opportunity to hand Goff a free headline.

ROY MORGAN POLL

The latest Roy Morgan Poll released two hours ago and based on data collected as late as yesterday (Friday) sure makes fascinating reading.

It look as though the great unwashed have said 'up yours' to the MSM generated frenzy over an illegally taped conversation.

National 53% No Change
Labour 24.5% down 1.5%
Greens 13% up 1%
New Zealand First 3% down 1.5%
ACT 1.5% up 0.5%
Maori Party 3% up 1%
Mana Party 1% No Change

United Future did not register

No doubt someone will calculate how many seats Labour will shed under this scenario while 'Anon' (that one) will surely want to commit hara-kiri.

A TOTALLY TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC POLL

Yesterday we drove back from Greytown to Paihia, a distance of about 860 km, including a diversion over the Woodville Saddle Road with the Manawatu Gorge Road closed (yet again).

With Radio Sport fading in and out and for something to do 'Mems' and I decided to count the number of election hordings each Party had erected along the way - Ok, bit like pulling wings off flies but what the hell. The result .....

National - 139

Labour - 62

Greens - 27

Winston First -21

ACT - 22

Conservatives - 11

Maori -22

Mana - 13

Democrats for Social Credit (thought they were long gone) - 4

United Future - Zip, zero, nothing

As I said, totally unscientific as a guide to the election result but it does indicate the relative organisational strengths of each Party and a Party with a strong organisational base is more likely to hold to account their parliamentary wing.

The media circus

If what we have seen over the last couple of weeks is the quality of electioneering in this country then we may as well roll over now and hand the keys to Helen's UN.

I put the blame squarely at the feet of the mainstream media.

Gone are the days of unbiased reporting and discussion of fact. They are more interested in creating news. We get dished up a continuous stream of tripe and hogwash. Their heads are so far up their arses that they are beyond recognising the fundamental dishonesty of their actions.

They create, spin and manipulate issues to reflect their own self interests.

They milk a cup of tea, they don't ask some low life cameraman why if he recorded a private conversation by accident, he simply didn't detete it. They ignore the well organised, criminal vandalism of 700 billboards, they talk up some failed hasbeen who still owes us $150k, they have more polls than a bull could shit to manipulate the vote, they ignore the not so little issue of privacy, they ignore the referendum on MMP, they report some oxygen thief benefit conartist like he is some kind of hero.......

Worst of all, they treat New Zealanders as idiots.

They expect us to not only buy their crap but swallow it as well.

They may wish to perform in a circus but don't assume we will be queuing up to buy tickets any time soon.

PHIL - YOU BLEW IT

TV has just returned from a week down country doing 'Gods Work'. Last Monday through Wednesday I was in Wellington attending the RSA National Council Meeting. Council was opened by the GG with the PM in attendance. Later on we were addressed by Ministers Mapp (Defence), Collins (Veterans' Affairs) along with the Leader of the Opposition.

It is no great secret that many veterans are frustrated by the time taken by Government to bring forward new legislation to give effect to the recommendations of the Law Commission Report into the War Pensions Act. The Act is now 57 years old and seriously out of date. The result is that injured service personnel are considerably disadvantaged compared with what is available under ACC to the rest of the population. This needs to be put right and put right soon.

Veterans are aware this is a major exercise involving eleven separate government departments while the replacement Act will require three other major Acts to be substantially amended. But time is not on the side of many of our older veterans.

Phil Goff had an heaven sent opportunity to press the buttons of the 400 delegates present with an 'up front' commitment to the speedy resolution of the matter. Instead he delivered a rambling speech which dealt, in part, on his military links. It was pretty much devoid of policy detail and his throw away remark that "Labour will legislate to give effect to the Law Commission's recommendations" mirrored the position of Government. It went down like the proverbial.

In contrast John Key and Judith Collins had delegates eating out of their hands. Especially welcomed was the advice that any WW2 veteran wishing to attend the 70th Anniversary Commemoration events being planned over the next few years in Africa (Alamein), Italy (Cassino), the Pacific and the D-Day landings would have their expenses including business class travel, meals and accommodation paid for subject only to them having a medical clearance to travel. There will be no ballot. If they want to go and can go then they will go.

And it does take a certain courage to admit past mistakes. There was justifiable criticism that the party of WW2 Crete veterans who went on a private pilgrimage to Crete earlier this year could have been treated better. The Government acknowledged this. That party is having all its expenses refunded in line with the new policy just announced.

Another initiative announced by Minister Collins was that the long proposed 'Peace Park' across the road from the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Wellington will be completed in time for the commemorations marking the start of WW1.

It requires more than words to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed our veterans and action speaks louder than words. But even some words from Phil Goff over and above platitudes would have been welcomed.

NOT SURPRISED BUT A LITTLE DISMAYED.

Watched state TV last night and an intellectual midget interviewed half a dozen voters on a golf course in the west of Waimakariri electorate where in spite of a significant migration of Lianne Dalziel's former captives from Aranui to Rangiora, the Claytons member is in danger of having his arse handed to him by the Minister of Conservation, Hon Kate Wilkinson.

One of the voters, resplendent in a crimson cap, proudly stated he would vote for the retards party because they oppose National Standards. "Terrific"

This tosser was basing his voting decision on a cloth cap attitude, union based, that was as shallow as a puddle on a fairground and opposed for the main reasons; it came from a National government determined to solve the frightening stats that show a fifth of school leavers are effectively illiterate and without basic numeracy skills and possibily threatened the careers of some who should be looking for another line of work.
In a world that has little opportunity for citizens unable to function in an increasingly demanding environment, successful people see that as condemming that 20% to real adult disadvantage and a life of welfare dependency.

National Standards may not provide all the answers but nine years of socialist education management did absolutely nothing to solve possible one of the most debilitating problems, currently confronting thinking on education outcomes. Yes it may identify some in teaching positions who are not up to it but that is "collateral damage" and no where near the damage being inflicted on that unfortunate 1/5 of our young.

It was revealing to me that the strait jacketed man who had made his life's work in a system that is now shown to be failing, was basing his voting decision on such a symbol of his socialist past and at the same time ignoring the economic stupidity that that same bunh of morons were among other inanities, going to borrow billions of dollars from the Chinese to invest in equities overseas as a hedge against the future cost of Superannuation. A pledge that if accepted, suggests he should be prevented from even voting, for his own protection.

FORTUITOUS ?

Still dodging but been a tad frustrated.

Been on safari for 11 days and thanks to Telecom today is the first chance to get the interwebby via my T Stick on the XT network.

Mcleans Island Rd,
Jones Rd Weedons,
Orari Domain just off SH1,
Cave,
Lake Tekapo Had a link but couldnt maintain a connection,
Braemar Stn,
Lake Wardell
and finally Omarama Airfield a tenuous link. In other words it holds for about 10 minutes.

Bloody marvellous aye.

Slam Dunc Garner

Jumped up opinionated journalists should know when they've met their match.

Colmar Brunton tonight kicked TV3's Pie Eater into touch. All his baiting of the PM has been for naught.

National remains as steady as a rock while Labour has plummeted to an all time low. Of course the best news of all is that the Liar and Thief is a looooooooooong way from five percent. All that remains is for them both to be prosecuted for dealing in an illegally recorded private conversation.

National: down 1 point to 53%
Labour: down another 2 points to 26%
Greens: up 4 points to 13%
New Zealand First: down 0.7 points to 2.2%,
Act: up 0.1 points to 1.6%
Maori Party: 1.6%
Conservative party: 1.4%
Mana: 1.3%
United Future: 0.3%

And to make a bad day worse for the Pie Eater, here's his own channel's poll.

Go For It, Fang Wang & Co

hattip Andrew Bolt

Just in time to reassure Australians about Julia Gillard's carbon tax. The one she said she was not going to have.

The journal:

SCIENCE CHINA, Earth Sciences • October 2011 Vol.54 No.10: 1458–1468

The scientists:

FANG JingYun 1,2*, ZHU JiangLing 1,2, WANG ShaoPeng 1. YUE Chao 1 & SHEN HaiHua 1
1 Department of Ecology, Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
2 Climate Change Research Center, Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

The conclusions:

Based on an extensive literature review, we suggest that (1) climate warming occurs with great uncertainty in the magnitude of the temperature increase; (2) both human activities and natural forces contribute to climate change, but their relative contributions are difficult to quantify; and (3) the dominant role of the increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (including CO2) in the global warming claimed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is questioned by the scientific communities because of large uncertainties in the mechanisms of natural factors and anthropogenic activities and in the sources of the increased atmospheric CO2 concentration. More efforts should be made in order to clarify these uncertainties....

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was jointly established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1988 to evaluate climate changes and their effects on natural and social systems as well as the possible strategies that may be taken by humanity for the adaptation and mitigation of certain issues.... Up to now, four assessment reports have been published by the IPCC. In 2007, the fourth assessment report (AR4) was finalized by more than 450 lead authors and over 800 contributing authors from more than 130 countries…

For the mechanism of global warming, the IPCC report emphasizes the impact of human activities and the correlation between the CO2 concentration and temperature increase. However, the Earth is a complex dynamic system with various factors affecting each other; great uncertainties exist regarding causes and effects of the climate changes [7].

Therefore, the claims of the IPCC AR4 have been largely questioned. The Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), established in 2007, has introduced a number of controversial and divisive debates [8, 9]. The “Climate-gate” and “Glacier-gate” scandals have especially questioned the public credibility of the report [10, 11].

The IPCC report is no longer the most authoritative document on climate changes, as it is restricted by its political tendencies and some errors and flaws.

Even If I Do Say So Myself

The Cook is away for a couple of weeks, visiting offspring in Western Australia.

Today, Adolf spotted in Coles some turkey shanks on special - about five bucks a kilo. Two of these wonderful shanks cost about $3.50.

Well, I guess a shank is a shank so let's find a recipe for lamb shanks. Sure enough. So, in went the turkey shanks with white wine instead of red wine and 90 minutes cook time instead of 120 minutes.

To die for. Believe me.

And the other one will do for tomorrow night.

Who said you can't live like a King on the smell of an oily rag?

Look Behind The Obvious

The media and blogosphere are waxing hysterical over the so-called 'teapot tapes.'

Nobody appears to have thought past the first twenty second sound bite.

Clearly, the tape was made intentionally and illegally. Thus, the publication of any of its contents will render the publisher subject to prosecution and possible jail time.

Now, join some dots.

Winston Peters claims to have been given a copy of the tape. As an aside, I wonder if the passing of the tape to him might in itself constitute 'publication?

My pick is that Peters won't be able to resist quoting publicly from the transcript.

The moment he does that he will be the subject of a prosecution and if convicted will forever be unable to be an MP.

Labour and the media have completely misunderestimated the steely resolve of Prime Minister John Key who has absolutely no time for one Winston Peters, liar and thief.

However, NZ First without Peters might well be a comfortable coalition partner in 2014.

Storm in a Teacup

Talk about clutching at straws.

Labour are now pinning their election hopes on an illegal recording of a private conversation.

The legal and moral implications of this action far outweigh any speculation of the conversation.

Mind you legal and moral implications have never worried Labour in the past.

It matters not in the long term as Labour are heading for extinction as a political force.

Their much vaunted policies are quickly running out of steam. Attacking National is their only option and I reckon normal people rank the privacy issues above pathetic political games.

I suppose you can't blame the current Labour incumbents as the party really got cleaned out by years of Clark's ego and manipulation.

They haven't figured out politics for this century.

Mind you, you could say that about most of the parties.

Scarily the Greens may have figured it out the best.

Having the "green" vote tied up they have cleverly upped the stakes by stealing the word "poverty". Of course at the end of the day they are still the same fruitloops but just with a shinier wrapping. People will buy into this crap but the Greens are still idiots that think defacing 700 billboards is a great idea and an even better idea to deny all knowledge..

The world needs to change but we really need it to be based on sound policies based on personal responsibility not idiots telling you what you can and can't do.

This is actually the true challenge for the right.

Post election prediction. Number 2 in a series.

Don Brash will outlast Phil Goff as a party leader. But not by much.

Post election prediction. Number 1 in a series.

Russel Norman will quietly reinstate his EA with a big thanks for taking the fall. And you can bet the EA is serving the "suspension" on full pay.

There Goes Another Bunch of Votes

I can't think of many things more likely to alienate undecided voters than last night's effort by Labour and it's union stooges to deface over 700 National party billboards up and down New Zealand. An interesting operation, impressive for its organisation and cringe inducing for its electoral stupidity.

Of course I can't prove beyond doubt that Labour and the unions did the job but I'll be very surprised if this is not found to be the case. This operation was expensive and well beyond the capacity of the Country Women's Institute. Labour will have provided the idea with some foot soldiers and the unions will have looked after logistics - printing, transport, finance etc.

I sincerely hope the Gnats ask the police to investigate. Of course you would not expect Labour to include the expenses of this effort in its electoral returns so I hope the Commission asks them for detail.

What are the penalties for this co-ordinated vandalism? Are there any penalties?

Give That Man A DB

hattip Kiwiblog

Joshua Drumond, writing in the Waikato Times:-

UnitedFuture is a party of one man, Peter Dunne, notable only because he has a kind of symbiotic relationship with a weasel that lives on his head that can hypnotise people into voting for him. Otherwise useless.

At last, a journalist who simply reports the facts.

Tui Time

The egregious 'Herald' is at it again.

The recording, which was made unintentionally, according to the man who made it,.......


Yeah right.

I thought it was very odd that the Herald was very quick yesterday to deny 'it had a free lance' at the meeting. The Herald doesn't 'have' free lances. Free lances are free.

Like Labour, the Herald thinks New Zeealanders are dimwits who'll believe anything.

Labour backs user pays

Interesting thread over at the Standard, in which various lefty types claim Labour's minimum pricing policy for alcohol is an excellent idea because it means drinkers will cover the costs caused by drunks. (Which it wouldn't, as it's a minimum price not a tax, but for the sake of argument...)

Leaving aside the question of whether the propaganda figures about the cost/benefit ratio of alcohol use in society are correct (they're not), I find it a curious stance for leftists to take, as they're normally flatly opposed to the kind of "user pays" argument they're using here. An argument predicated on sheeting costs home to those statistically more likely to incur the costs has an initial sense of fairness about it that appeals to right-wingers, but leftists are supposedly meant to think of society in less individualistic and vindictive terms. Still, if we did go down that track, as someone completely lacking all interest in sport I wouldn't feel all cut up about the amount of tax the govt could charge you for picking up a rugby ball...