Global Warming???

The PM can forget about her next job saving the world from climate change and taxing the hell out of NZ through Kyoto - it seems that alternative experts here have finally got their act together with a petition promoting on opposing view climate change.

Their petition over at The Heartland Institute, says in part

"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."

That's more like it - two sides to a story that has been going on for millenia! Seems there are 17000 plus scientific types suggesting the current hysteria is not warranted.

Hat tip: Crusader Rabbit

In the semis

Some good news from the States.

It seems that despite her non-US accent, a Kiwi 13 year old from a mainland college has got to the semis in the spelling bee competition.

Well done Kate - hope you continue to excel!

Police still not getting it right

On Monday, Mr Kahui charged with the murder of the twins failed to report for one of his bi-weekly bail checks with the Police.

His lame excuse was that he thought it was a public holiday and thus did not have to report - he was only on holiday a week early! Now on Tuesday, he firstly rings his lawyer, knows his rights this one, not the Police as a courtesy. The lawyer advised him to get down to the cop shop where he was promptly arrested for breach of bail and fronted before a beak.

The judge stated that his excuse was a little bit thin and got the usual wet bus ticket. Now after all the bail breach issues supposedly recently sorted after Burton went amok, whilst the authorities diddled around working out just when they might act on him breaching bail, one would think that Mr Kahui would have been chased and arrested on Monday as soon as bail as breached.

Had the Police taken any action prior to him turning up on Tuesday? I suspect not.

The show goes on, next court appearance is in August and hopefully the issue will not arise again at Labour weekend as he could be on a permanent holiday courtesy of the Queen.

ARC vs ACC

Mr Lee on the regional council is telling, a Mr Hucker, 2IC of the Auckland City Council to stay true to his elected platform and stop supporting the proposed horrendous water price rises.

Almost 10 years ago, control of water was removed from the regional council and given to to the local councils who now want to operate it as a cash cow, paying divendends and offsetting equally horrendous rates rises.

Mr Hucker has been nothing short of a thorn in the side of the council, having told the then recently elected Mayor that he was effectively in control and that he would not be listening to him anytime soon. The saga continues to fester, with ratepayers being stiffed from all angles, especially through water which is being used to fund all manner of 'nice to haves'.

Mr Lee says,

"You can't have an absolutely unchallenged monopoly gouging prices from a captive audience that cannot possibly do without water and be treated as a slush fund for hiding rates increases."

Congratulations to Mr Lee for standing up to this jumped up fence sitter. The bottom line is that all councils need to do some basic budgeting - if you cannot afford it, do not even think of buying it! Tell the would be 'needy' recipients, with their hand out for more that the money is not there and there will be none available any time soon!

Mr Lee sums up concisely the ratepayers mood,

"All that can come out of this is growing cynicism about politicians and politics."

Zaoui again???

Here we go again!

Why does NZ continue to be the soft touch for these people?

He came here on his own volition, protested, had his five minutes of infamy supported by a union, was obviously noted at home, now send him home again before he becomes another taxpayer leech.

Obvious!

What else would you expect to find in the 24x7 PPPPaaarty Town???

A tragic tale

A woman who used a mains powered a mains powered oxygen dispenser to assist her in breathing difficulties tragically died shortly after the local power board pulled the plug.

This happened yesterday, the actual disconnection was actioned by a subcontactor, who was advised of the situation and shown the powered dispenser in use by the homeowner.

All sorts of people have expressed sympathy over the tragedy, with many calls for heads to roll, including MP Sue Bradford who nows comments on any topic, now the Greens are wagging the government dog.

The underlying issue of that of the subbie pulling the plug after being directly advised by the homeowner and possibly not following special disconnection procedures, could leave him exposed to murder/manslaughter charges as detailed technically over at No Right Turn.

I would expect most power boards have some sort of set procedures to deal with this situation - this was not a short term illness - they should have been directly advised if there was critical medical situation which required power 24x7. Maybe there is a DHB running damage control as I write. You can bet the employing power board is working overtime on the spin, distancing itself from the subbie, who will be made the scapegoat and charged with everything possible.

The local Medical Officer, suggests this patient was not critical, but needed oxygen as an assist, not full time, so why did the patient or others in the house not call 111 when power went off? Why did they not see a neighbour to jack up an extension lead for alternative power? What would they do if the power was knocked off due to say an accident or other natural castastrophe? Surely an oxy bottle can be put to manual dispensing?

To get to the actual disconnection, the power board would have been through an already rigourous procedure of notification, which was not heeded by the homeowner, hence the action they took to stop them and other customers being further robbed. There is a limit to theft a company will stand, the terms of supply are well documented and we are all more than aware that disconnection will ensue on continued non-payment.

This tragic incident will hopefully give all essential services a shakeup to ensure that this never again happens. We can but hope that all events that led to this tragedy are fully investigated and a better way is found how to deal with it.

Drink Drive Problem?

The Police are telling us that after stopping 43,000 drivers this weekend, 340 drivers stand to be prosecuted for being DUI. Now, they would have us believe that these numbers are horrendous and drunk driving is out of control. I would suspect that if 1 out of 43,000 were found, this would be indicative of an out of control situation.

I suggest not, the percentage shows us otherwise. 340 out of 43,000 is very small, being below 0.8 percent. While any drink driving is unacceptable, the question must be asked what is the target at which the powers to be are aiming for? Is it 0.5 percent or 0.05 percent or even less? There is never any quoted target percentage - just how do we stack up against say Victoria, the UK or even the States percentage wise? Are we actually as bad as we are portrayed or is this just government spin at work?

Quoting numbers of offenders gives shock horror media sales, but does not show the true picture. Most would suspect that some nutters will always drive with a skinful of turps, so there must be a lower limit which we as NZ society would find acceptable. This should be where we are aiming and agencies such as the Police should be using this target as the base figure against which measurements are made.

Mr Tamaki is stirring the pot yet again by reminding people that NZ is a Christian society, not open to migrant faiths and as below, and should not be given not be given any primacy.

Bishop Tamaki is promoting the primacy of Christianity and says while other religions should not be excluded, they should not be given equal status.

Although I would never openly support Mr Tamaki, he presses a button, I cannot but agree with him on this issue - we have certain traits that makes New Zealand a favoured place under the sun, which may or may not agree with the migrant view. I suggest that any person suggesting otherwise, bugger off to whence they came!

Grandma's Brag Book

Here we go again - serious assault on the working bank balance again - number 2 grandchild is on the way.

The photo's have started and the brag book is being created as I write. We have just received a tiddly card with scanned photies at 3 months, or thereabouts and her indoors is going gaga, talking of migrating back to JafaLand to witness (read pay for!) said number 2's entry to this world under a corrupt government.

Now son has been advised he is now on permanent stoppage, birthdays and Christmas if he is unlucky. He advises me that as long as it does interfere with his fishing and after hours entertainment sampling all flavours of alcohol, so what?

I have news for him and it is all bad! He is buggered, now on a very short leash and the next 20 odd years are downhill. I can only wish for a second grandson (unfortunately I cannot yet ascertain from the dodgy photos whether number 2 has a toggle and two!), to be able to instil the correct ways of men and where female genes fit into their world!

Wanganui DHB

A Wanganui elected member on the local 'Good Health' DHB is a whistleblower with balls of steel.

Elected member, Clive Solomon has been putting the DHB on the spot since 2001 re the lack of paediatricians on the hospital board, bungled sterilisations and various other matters relating patient safety. Now they want him removed forthwith because he is not voicing the party line.

The board is actively denying all, while using every means available to silence Clive. He seems a straight shooting guy who says there is a problem patients should be aware of. Pity there isn't one of him on every DHB or every government department!

The matter has been been put on hold for two weeks while lawyers talk at each other. I suspect as usual, the Ministry Of Health, will announce in two weeks that the matter has been thoroughly investigated and it is time to move on.

Clive will be invited to move on, never to be able work in NZ again and the matter will die an unnatural death as will Wanganui DHB patients.

Another tax coming our way!

Harry Dunhoyven, Minister of Transport, has been got at yet again by the self promoting Insurance Council through the gang of 20 on the so-called Mayoral Taskforce. The Insurance Council has for years been pushing the third party insurance wheelbarrow at every opportunity to raise their members revenues past the already obscene premiums.

I feel extremely strongly there is no need to acquire such insurance - we are already medically well covered under no-fault ACC and pay handsomely for such cover in our motoring registration tax. If Harry is suggesting that I need to pay an extra premium to cover some other nutters flash car, in the event of me crashing into him, then that is a chance I will take, just like I can take my chances with or without house and contents insurance. I suppose compulsory house and contents insurance will be next thing on the social engineering agenda, so that if a recently paroled thug burns my house to the ground I might be covered - will he have insurance???

Those with the modern cars can make a personal decision to cover their flashy vehicles by whatever manner of insurance they may require, without forcing their costs on me. If I drive recklessly, an accident caused by me could render me liable, but I take my chances in court on that score.

The gang of 20 are supposedly looking to stop boy racers. Now if large numbers of youth can effectively tell each other where the action is, why cannot the Police do the same covertly or otherwise and take more of these racers off the road. Media seem readily able to film the action, but Police do nothing about collaring the players.

Reportedly, so far about 2000 vehicles have been removed from the road - a very small proportion of all vehicles. Should all drivers are to be penalised for the actions of a few with compulsory insurance? I say no. Just another tax if it is ever implemented.

The other hoary old myth about drunk driving getting worse is well documented as Lindsay Mitchell blogs - the numbers do not stack up at 2.9 / 100,000 drivers, down from prevoiusly high levels of 8.5 20 years earlier. There will always be some nutter who wraps himself around a power pole. Sure there might be well publicised media over specific incidents, but will banning drinking in all public places stop drink driving?

The gang of 20 should focus on more relevant and pressing issues, like how to reduce the rampant bureaucracy in their fiefdoms. The Police have the legal tools to arrest, confiscate cars and jail boy racers - they need using forthwith!

Mt Cleese

After a recent performance in Palmy, NZ's 5th largest city, John Cleese, of Fawlty Towers fame, deigned to call the city 'the suicide capital of the world'.

Now certain local wags took offence and have named the local tip 'Mt Cleese' where 'all manner of crap' could be recycled. Apparently a large dumping of compost is due any day soon...

Rod of Corrections

An observation:

There are a few both in our current society and also some locked away from it, who would do well under Vernon Winfrey's disciplinary methods he admits to using on young Oprah.

Seems Oprah could have done with more by all counts - she even credits her old man for keeping her on the straight and narrow - getting her toward present day success she enjoys, for apparently she was a stroppy cow.

Mr Winfrey suggests;

'Children need roots, limits and discipline and I don't mean time in, time out. I mean the rod of correction, swung hard and often,'

Now these tenets may be well contrary to Sue Bradford's weird views on parenting recently forced upon NZ parents, congratulations to New Idea for bringing up a real world practical view of what is needed.

Capitalism vs Socialism

Mr Cullen would do well to follow this short lesson on capitalism vs socialism and the reason one works.

It seems that a 10 year old grasps the topic succinctly, while a history teacher seems not to understand.

Update from the comments in the article;

In his economics text 'Eat The Rich', P.J. O'Rourke distinguishes between the four different ways you can spend money.

1) you spend your own money on yourself. You look for quality and value.

2) you spend your own money on other people. You still look for value, but quality's not so important.

3) you spend other people's money on yourself. Quality - and don't worry about the cost.

4) you spend other people's money on other people. Any old thing will do - and who cares what it costs.

O'Rourke remarks "Unfortunately, most government spending falls into this last category. This is how the grateful citizens of the Soviet Union got Chernobyl."

I suspect that item 4 would also confirm New Zealanders fears over the rampant bureaucracy in NZ and why the government has just taken their long announced tax cuts away, having replaced it with a payroll tax in the guise of Kiwisaver.

ETNZ loses again

Another early morning watching the video tape. Yet again a NZ sports team is heading towards snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Barker is doing nothing for my blood pressure with his poor showing in the start box. Once the start is lost, it becomes a procession to the finish, unless the rival slips up. Two more chances and they will be following Oracle home.

Now there was a rout if ever there was. The initially lippy Dickson has finally been put in his place - been very quiet of late! It was a good move on ETNZ's part to let the two reasonable contenders / high threats sort it out amongst themselves, rather than initially taking on one of them ourselves.

Come on ETNZ - get it over and done with - excuses do not count in this game. As the Spanish so passionately said the other day, they are always there to win the next race.

Whoever gets to the final out out of NZ or Spain has a formidable opponent to face in Luna Rossa. They have always looked strong and I would bet that they are as strong as either NZ or Spain.

Greater Auckland Council

The wheels of the local bureaucracy continue to rotate. After the proposal back in December last year to amalgamate the Auckland councils into 3, which was roundly set upon as an underhanded proposition, the councils have been doing further work, heading toward getting one of their ilk elected as Lord Mare.

Supposedly the newly mooted Greater Auckland Council (GAC) is to provide regional leadership for Auckland taking the existing roles of the Auckland Regional Council together with an expanded role in regional economic development, tourism promotion and events management, funding and owning regional facilities and amenities, and advocacy to central government on regional issues.

The GAC will be driven by recommendations from the Regional Sustainable Development Forum (RSDF) whose role would be the development and recommendation to the GAC of the One Plan which would drive the region with supposedly with consensus.

Membership of the GAC could be via the status quo - 14 elected members as are now elected to the ARC. Other alternatives are all looking to expand the fiefdoms of TA's - needing legislation to implement.

A hot issue is how the GAC Chair would be elected. It could done internally within its own membership or via a directly elected Lord Mayor (this requires legislation).

Government could be expected to be bound by the One Plan decisions as they are likely to have a rep or two cutting their teeth on the RSDF making sure the plebs are toeing the central party line. Hell knows, they might even provide some funding to go with this representation - one can assume no rep, no funds! Now I know where Mallardrome MKII (as I blogged earlier) is going to be funded!

Maori are likely to have their own consultation process, with full voting rights, as is usual, being different and separate from general public, continuing to promote apartheid in this country.

Any decisions implemented by the GAC from The Plan will be implemented without further consultation directly into local TA's LTCCP's. Nice one - so much for community consultation.

Existing regional forums could be wiped - good for reduction in bureaucracy - yeah right! Local TA's will have to cede sovereignty in more areas than they would care to admit. To implement the GAC and The Plan, there will have to be serious horse trading with all councils. One sticking point already identified is Watercare - Auckland City is pumping up the price of Metrowater now ready for value on sale!

If there are legislation changes needed these will be actioned before the next crop of suspects get elected this October.

Various parts of this topic can be read at;
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0705/S00530.htm

Full report at Stronger Auckland
http://www.strongerauckland.org.nz

Mallardrome MkII

Today an agreement for eden Park has been signed and a new board set up.

Still no funding in place, but they still have great big expensive plans on the drawing board.

Apparently the board is responsible for funding, with a government underwrite and future changes in governance laws, but this gem sets the warning bells going;

there is already a high level of confidence that significant contributions will be coming from sources other than the government," Trevor Mallard said.

This can only mean one of two sources - either the 10c/litre regional petrol tax announced is going to be used to fund the stadium under the guise of electrickering the transport system, or the the long suffering ratepayers on all councils in Auckland are about to be stiffed, by a new taxation law, to pay for a private enterprise stadium.

I would guarantee that whatever Trev and this corrupt government does, it will cost Aucklanders dearly for not previously supporting Mallardrome MkI. I also strongly suspect that Labour sycophants like Bob Harvey have sold their respective ratepayers souls (and wallets) to get the toy electric trains.

Rain in NSW

It is being reported that heavy thunderstorms are occurring in Western NSW after many years of drought.

The 50mm plus of rain is a good follow up to the lighter rain that fell a few weeks ago.

Exorbitant rates rise

The budget this afternoon has just given councils a licence to implement their wildest grandiose dreams. Mr Cullen has announced that councils will be left to their own devices charge "something around" 10c/litre on fuel for "transport" projects.

I suggest that this Clayton's tax will bring every hare-brained scheme, even if slightly connected to transport, to the surface. We will be charged accordingly, at whatever rate (10c is the starter), to meet needs of the local rapacious tax collector council. No doubt the 10c will have the usual obscene double taxation icing with GST on top!

Now for some non-NCEA math - assuming my car goes through 50 litres/week, which is a tankfull, that means it will cost an extra $5 plus GST for the new regional tax of 10c/litre. That will be 5 x 52 = $260 extra (plus GST) per year.

Now the average rates bill is say $1500 plus GST for a half decent property in a larger city, so now I am effectively paying $1760 plus GST in rates tax. In my book that will be a minimum increase in my rates of 17.5%, which will be added to the already hideous rates increases currently being implemented!

There will be no limit to this funding method, as this budget forces opens the floodgates, with no cap on the top end. Councils will continually look upon this regional tax as a cash cow and a few cents will added often to cover their new schemes.

One of two councils will be the first to enact bylaws - either Auckland or Waitakere, both of them being staunch Labour strongholds.

I put my money on the eco-city being first out of the blocks, always wanting to socially engineer Westies some more.

The only guarantee I can see is that councils and consultants will see most of this tax before one cent gets spent on a road!

Only in America!

WITHOUT even spending any time behind bars, hotel heiress and notorious party girl Paris Hilton has had her prison term halved for good behaviour.

This could only happen in the US of A - before June 5th she will probably have home detention. The US judiciary must be using the NZ manual for soft sentencing...

HT to The Australian

Plastic Soldier

It has been reported that Cornet Wales is now not to go to Iraq with the rest of his company. It has been decided the risk is too high. That decision will really wreck the UK forces - him going to the front would have been a massive morale booster, now the UK public will deeply question the reasons for Britain being in this war at all. Similarly questions will be asked of the need for royalty - it would have given public morale a boost.

No wonder they are losing personnel daily - MOD does not have the bottle to fight the war! They are playing directly into the enemies hands who will make big news of this.

Next we will see Harry plastered all over the news front pages as he goes on a bender to drown his sorrows of being demoted to a plastic soldier, even though he accepts the decision.

Not in NZ

As of last night, with the passing of the law criminalising all parents over future smacking their children, a beating like this would never be allowed in NZ.

"People like this need to be publicly beaten," reads one blog comment. "This asshole is possible the worst little piece festering of pond scum in years."

Seems the blogger has created a shooting game based on the VA Tech murders and has predictably aroused a hornet's nest. The games creator is stirring the pot even more by asking for donations in US currency, before he will pull the game off various websites.

What a sicko!

2 out 9

ETNZ has won 2 in a best of 9 to go forward to the semis in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Well done!

Meanwhile the other two are 1 all. Oracle will fight to the bitter end.

Move on - there is nothing to see here!

A busy day today watching all sorts of damage control over the Investigate article - seems to have opened a large can of worms. The PM is suggesting there is nothing to see here, move on!

The MSM are fixated on the tacky movie and are running sod all about the MP's involvement in the alleged matters. There is a bigger here story than Howard's going away piss-up! As expected, Helen has clamped down on the MSM this afternoon making the comment below.

sometimes though people go over a line which is very clear, and I am sure all media are mindful of that

That comment is an un-veiled threat to the freedom of speech if I ever saw one!

Various claims and counterclaims are emerging thick and fast - Helen has implicated the EB as the root cause of the story, dragging a PI into the frame. The PI has retaliated saying the movie was zip to do with him. I would think that most males of the era would have seen more than one or two tacky movies or in later times, videos.

Helen has taken the soft option by giving the allegations to the PCA to investigate their own, directing the supposedly impartial judicary to run with this: "I urge her to". A royal commission would better serve the public to get this whole issue sorted once and for all.

She also suggests that "Other more extreme allegations cannot be published for legal reasons" - Get Real! - the multiple allegations are already in print far and wide!

Chiming in on time, 2IC Michael is not denying he may have seen such a report, but instead "accepted he may have circulated a report into the allegations". Interesting.

I notice that Kiwiblog is very quiet today - no real change since early yesterday - David must be busy...

Congratulations for David Bain achieving bail this afternoon - something really stinks with that case!

Revenue gathering at its worst

As if VTNZ has not got enough to spend its taxpayer funded monies on, they have recently been out to Durville Island to do their twice yearly WOF checks on local vehicles at great expense.

There were only 19 vehicles in this check and any that failed need to be shipped back to Havelock to get a recheck within 28 days. Some would wonder why put these vehicles to the test - only 40 people live on this island and there is only 75Km of dirt roads!

I suppose next there will be regular booze buses and speed cameras in umarked cars. And the local council will be out any time soon to grade the roads...

Human rights abuse!

I wonder if the Commissioner spotted anything in the text that protects the long suffering ratepayer from continued human rights abuse such as wallet rape.

According to this gem by LGNZ (see pdf here with detail), rates over the next decade are set to rise 60% to cover the grandiose schemes already mooted by councils and in Waitakere's case more plaques.

I wonder how much these plaques and pictures with Bob's name on them have cost the ratepayer? Really, if any one needs to abuse their own human rights by wading through the UN charter - it is far easier to look it up on the interweb thing! Ratepayers do not need tiddly pictures, with a plaque and a poem by some no doubt handsomely paid iwi in the Mayors mausoleum.

Ratepayers funding wrecks

Judith has finally found out where Jafaland is and concocted this harebrained idea pay the owners of barely mobile vehicles $400 to get onto public transport.

Seems these wrecks might be a major cause of air pollution which can be fixed by paying out heaps of ratepayers money - these usual fix for a cash strapped government. Never any thought of fining hell out of the owners for using these air pollution devices without a warrant or other legal niceties to swell the ratepayer coffers.

Now, should such a scheme get off the ground, those with half a brain cell will be queuing up at the local car yard for a mobile wreck and going straight to Jude's place for a cash refund. I can see vehicles coming from far and wide, especially from south of the Bombays. Get caught on the way by the fuzz? - Just plead I am saving the planet and am on my way to get on Jude's bus!

The Real Treaty?

It appears that the radically driven Waitangi gravy train might have something to think about with more noise being made about the confirmed existence of a earlier version of the treaty.

It seems that this English version, known as the Littlewood version, was lost until 1989 when it was turned up by descendants of a solicitor practicing at that time. This English version is likely to have been a master from which the Maori version was translated.

The differences between versions are apparent and it is suspected that the later Maori interpretation is not the true version. The government has recently conducted a road show on the treaty, with most people being totally uninterested and with poor numbers at showings.

I would suspect that this newly found version, which has not been well publicised or even had answered direct questions about it, is the true version. The various governments have certainly kept it quiet, preferring to continue pedaling their socialist agendas re Maori.

Not a good look, as the current Maori version has a whole racist grievance industry based on it, looking for large 'full and final settlements' that can be overturned every generation. The latest was the Maori Party coming from 10 left saying that even the smallest settlement should be accompanied by $20M minimum.

The bottom line, is that the largest empire in the world, hell bent on colonisation in the 1840's, would have not given anything away politically. Because of that, I suspect that this earlier version is authentic, but does not conveniently fit the recently rewritten history we have been force-fed. NZ was colonised 170 years ago, get over it and move on - no amount of present day hand-wringing or handouts will ever change that!

Jets sold. Yeah Right!

Mr Goff has been for a jolly to the US of A to peddle our case to the State Department and told to bugger off. Hell, they even said sorry to us!

The diplomatic word is that the issue lies internally with the States, but every one knows that the real issue is that as long as NZ does not have combat wing, these planes will never shift. The US has been paid for them and there is no interest on their part but to laugh at us.

On top of that, being an anti nuke peacemonger does not help one little bit - these are military aircraft that should be being used for what they were purchased for - combat.

We have had our bit of anti-nuke fun, the sooner we go nuclear the better. No more issues with power shortages. I look forward to the future day when the wind farms are all stopped due to no wind and and the lights go out. That day will come soon, and then there will some serious discussion on nuclear energy.

You expect that then...

Over at granny's place this morning, the trolls are out in force defending the indefensible.

All sorts are coming out of the woodwork - no doubt looking for this to be closed down asap because if it ever got to a full on enquiry it would be anybody's guess what might be under a few stones.

Seems the main man is doing it Howard's way, by not denying the tacky movie, but equally assuming whilst he is still polishing the commissioner's seat;

"I also understand I have the confidence of the Prime Minister,"

Someone ought to tell him that he remains totally at her pleasure, I suspect there will not be too much of that emanating from the ninth floor today, with various named Cabinet Ministers involved in this so called witchhunt.

The Police Minister will have had a somewhat busy weekend running coverup since the full and frank briefing by Howard on Saturday night. One can only wonder where this will go.

The main issue is not Broad, he is only the vehicle - the most interesting is the named ministers allegedy colluding with Police to cover up a porn ring run in Dunedin. It is a pity that the MSM cannot do their job and push the MP's with some pertinent yes/no questions.

Watch this space - no doubt 'facts' will flow loose and fast today backing up Howard, but all the while pushing the real topic to the rear.

Move along, there is nothing to see here...

Retiring?

A judge, with an apparent history for telling anyone who cares to listen, has suggested that Mr Blair, were he to stand trial for war crimes, with out the current immunity he enjoys, he just might be found guilty.

Now, as usual, all sorts of people are running for cover and muttering things like 'Hey chap, that's just not the done thing!". Others like Keith Locke, are saying good on him for saying what need to be said.

Seems like all sorts, upon imminent retirement, or having announced their retirement, start frothing at the jawline. Tana did a very good example the other week upon his departure, muttering something about useless refs. I would suspect that this judge will soon be drawing on his no doubt very large government pension.

It is a pity that these people while in office do not consistently push the envelope with such comments, instead opting to keep quiet, protecting their large paypackets!

'Ello! ' Ello! 'Ello!

What's going here then??? I just could not resist that!

Looks like Helen's, pure as the driven snow, handpicked poodle in charge of the Police is in for a bit of time on the mat.

Seems he hosted a dirty movie session in his abode in the 80's for the Police Club and is now denying he ever viewed the tacky illegal movie. Others seem very keen to say otherwise. This looks like another Strike 3, you're out for the constabulary.

The next few days will be very interesting, watching claims and counter-claims - it also seems an as yet unnamed Cabinet Minister may have also seen said movie. Seems heaps in the current government knew of the parallel cover ups and have been keeping their gobs well shut to date.

Hat Tip to WhaleOil

Jeez, that was a big one!

The recent Kahawai legal challenge made in favour of the recreational fisherman is being appealed by the commercial fishing industry.

"An inalienable right that goes back to the Magna Carta, the ongoing priority of the peoples common law right to fish and feed themselves", is a pretty strong statement in favour of the recreational fisher.

The challenge was taken when our esteemed mate DBP, the then Minister of Fisheries, allocated 25% less kahawai catch to both the commercial and recreational take, on the advice of the Ministry of Fisheries who were obviously heavily swayed by commercial interests.

Now that decision was found to be unlawful, as he "had made an error in law for not properly allowing for recreational fishing interests and their well being". Apparently in the original 20 year old law, the original commercial allocation did not take notice of the mandatory requirement as below;

The findings against the Minister of Fisheries included the fact that a total allowable commercial catch for kawahai had been set without having proper regard to the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of the people

So the original commercial catch level was too high and DBP illegally reduced it further.

Also the judge pointed out to the commercial fishers at the time of the ruling as below;

“For years the fishing industry has maintained that the economic benefit generated and their commercial fishing property right (quota) is more important than the interests of the people of New Zealand,” continued Richard Baker,” but at last with the findings of Justice Harrison the people’s wellbeing is the ‘starting point’ and priority when setting allowances.”

Recreational fishers were predictably ecstatic with that ruling, stressing that the recreational take was the starting point and commercial take would be above that to the sustainable limit.

Now the commercial interests want to appeal that starting point - this will be really interesting, especially because the recreational take must be defined before setting any commercial take.

I might just have to forgo my weekly purchased fresh dollop of omega-3, boycott the commercials and get down to wharf to catch a kahawai. Maybe I could start a bloggers against the big three commercials!

Take a kid fishing!

Health database

Now I always thought that in our 'world class' health system, that under ISO quality assurance practices a measuring point (KPI in technical jargon) might have already been established to note and record the number of deaths in our hospitals along with the cause.

A so called 'client' popping their clogs whilst under the direct care of our eminent surgeons is a KPI that should have some extremely rigourous follow up procedure to establish a cause of failure. Taking your last gasp on the table would be in my book an indication of some sort of serious failure, but Ms Kedgely tells us that a database is needed to 'help reduce the high rate of death and disability caused by hospital error' which occurs often - nice to know the public health service client is in good hands!

It is also nice to know that some bottom feeder swimming in the health pond needs another 1/2 mil or so to set up such a database and record what might be possibly a few deaths each year - or is it a bloody sight more that Pete the health man has not told us about? Maybe he has been gilding the lily over our world class system!

Could I suggest for $1K that Mr Gates could sell them a gold plated copy of MS Access which more than suffice! Might even set it up for them! Alternatively the good people over at OpenOffice will let you have a database at no cost, but it is a 100 Meg download. Just how many records are we talking abut here - even SQL Server does not cost that much, hell, one of the overpaid surgeons could afford a licensed copy of that!

Ms Kedgely, just because your mate Sue has almost got her bill through, it does not mean that every hare-brained thought that the Greens might have is worth further thought or action, let alone spending money on it.

Stealing from Subway

No, I did not subscribe to the 'bloggers against Subway' over at Aucklander at Large. The student and union rent a mob made enough noise for the world to take notice.

It appears that the management contacted police for guidance in the matter almost two months ago, using Subway's unequivocal policy re theft. Subsequently the Police decided to prosecute as was noted here (read comments) at InfoNews. Today the charges have been dropped in court, but possible unfair dismissal remains an issue.

As noted in a previous post, I still feel, as most appear to, that Subway could have handled it much better. Now it will go the full distance, continuing to buy extremely negative publicity, especially as the union is involved, actively telling lies on television last night.

I did see a similar Walmart case for a similar type charge over $7 with very good results as can be seen in this great picture. Very effective punishment!

I still think theft is theft and Subway was right to initiate proceedings especially since the Police obviously thought it warranted action. I am sure all employees are made very aware of the policy re theft upon employment. Unfair procedures to dismissal maybe another issue.

We won!!!

Congratulations to ETNZ for winning Round Robin 2 of the America's Cup, with an unbeaten record in this second series.

All eyes will be on watching the LV Cup next week and I wish all New Zealander's participating on various boats the very best. Thanks for the entertaining series so far - it has been worth getting up in the middle of the night to watch the races.

Corrupt government

The supposedly apolitical and independent head of the Law Commission recently deposited an openly public 'personal' $11K donation into the Labour Party coffers.

This action has caused serious allegations to be made re the continued impartiality of the head of the commission. It also seems that the same office has often been asked by the current government (read PM) to report on their views re new legislative proposals and like a good Boy Scout, the office always seems to have the required report ready for distribution at short notice.

Now some would ask how is this so, when under previous governments, reports are typically slow to surface and the head does not lightly make public announcements as this one does. It has been suggested that this office is nothing but a front for a ninth floor extension, noting that Mr Palmer was previously a high ranking Labour minister.

Various persons are calling for his immediate resignation. As expected, the PM has reacted vocally, defending the Labour Party supporter,

"Sir Geoffrey is the most honest, transparent individual you could ever come across," Miss Clark said.

That may be so, but the only problem is that from this side of the fence, Sir Geoffery is dealing with the most secretive, dishonest and corrupt government that has ever held power in NZ.

Once again the Deputy PM has been very vocal on the subject, trying to shift the light onto donations made through trusts to various parties. No mention of the donations made by unions though!

Auckland's second airport?

As previously noted, WCC has bought itself a fight re the proposed district plan change.

Submissions closed recently and WCC reports that over 2,650 submissions were made, 82 for and the rest against. It seems more than a few were made using the pro-forma provided the by opposition over at WAAG and Cr. Hulse seems to suggest these submissions are of less stature than those formally written!

Also it seems that many of these pro-forma ones are from out of district submitters from across the water on the North Shore. Funny that - especially when Shore residents will have live with the noise and pollution from aircraft transiting over their lovely houses on the nothern beaches, downwind of the proposed 24x7 airport! I wonder do they really know how much airport noise carries at night?

This exercise must have stiffed ratepayers a bundle so far because every submitter apparently now has been directly notified that they can view all the submissions and can make further submissions to their original one. What a hell of an amount of paper, keeping NZ Post in business, no doubt all of it on non-carbon producing eco-city recycled paper. I sure would love a forest of the trees that produce that paper - I could be a squillionaire!

Cr. Hulse even goes so far to admit it is a bureaucratic procedure which must be endured. I would bet that she has not done one thing during her term of leeching off the ratepayer to reduce said bureaucracy.


UPDATE:

WAAG has posted their reaction 10/5. Notable points 97% against and also that the WCC deliberately did not ask for submissions from the North Shore City residents across the water who lie under the approach paths

Ethnicity census results

Mr Farrar over at Kiwiblog tells us that about 1/8 of New Zealanders considered themselves in the recent census as 'New Zealanders' which has apparently buggered comparisions of ethnicity with previous censuses.

The inclusion of the term 'New Zealander' was long overdue and personally have always made a point of marking the 'Other' box on official forms and manually entering 'New Zealander', without any qualifying ethnicity.

Statistics NZ (SNZ) continues to use the derogatory and offensive term 'Pakeha' as a qualifier - the term is always used with negative connations. I am definitely NOT a 'stranger' in my birth country.

Also SNZ keeps probing to to find out how much New Zealander a person might be, providing choices such as 'European New Zealander' or 'Pakeha New Zealander'. SNZ marks all persons who mark Other/New Zealander as NZ Europeans, further skewing results. If a person is born in NZ, they should be a 'New Zealander' - end of story! Should SNZ need other genetic makeup questions, they should be asked separately.

I have spent many years representing my country, in various locations around the world and know from first hand experience that the unqualified "New Zealander" is the only way we are known overseas.

Letter of the law

Subway has not been doing itself any favours of late in Dunedin. It appears that an employee consoling her mate is being taken directly to face a beak for stealing a $4 (retail) drink.

Agreed, such petty theft could be seen as start of the slippery slope...

Now some union has got involved, upping the ante - I ask why not a legal aid employment lawyer rather than the union? This issue appears to have nothing to do with a union, but is an issue where an employee was summarily dismissed for stealing. The method of dismissal appears questionable, but I think that Subway could have handled the incident internally much better.

Unfortunately, now the union is involved and as is normal in this overly socialist time of ours, is seeking mass media attention. This will not do Subway any good as the progress through the courts will attract very negative publicity. Subway made the necessary stand against crime and the union should butt out!

Undue risk to society

Just as I recently mentioned in despatches here, a lawyer has popped his head above the parapet screaming about prisoners having rights!

Now, I do not agree with all the proposals, but at least they are a step in the right direction.

Criminal Justice Reform Bill

* Aims to reduce the number of people in prison by relaxing bail rules and creating new sentences such as home and community detention to replace jail for less-serious offences.

* Lengthens non-parole periods to two thirds of a sentence, up from one third and allows no parole for prisoners with jail terms of 12 months or less.

* Gives the Parole Board power to summon witnesses and keep some information confidential from the prisoner and his or her lawyers. This could, for example, protect the source of the information.

* Requires that police be told when a prisoner is released on parole.

* Allows Commissioner of Police to apply to have a paroled prisoner recalled to jail if there is an "undue risk" to public safety.

* The Sentencing Council will set guidelines and work on policy for sentencing and parole. It will include four judges and five non-judges, chosen by the Government.

Soft bail options such as home detention should not be considered - the custodial sentence is to teach the criminal a lesson re their anti-social behaviour.

Parole should be totally abolished and sentences served in full - keeping the scumbags who plague our society off the streets. Also, the Parole Board and its minions, with all its attendant paperwar on prisoner rights would cease to exist.

Why do we need yet another layer of bureaucracy known as a Sentencing Council? Surely the expensively overpaid judiciary have the means to actually to get together over a gin and sort out what sentences the scumbags deserve.

This lawyer should be locked up for causing said 'undue risk to public safety'...

5 Bar Accommodation

A classic cartoon - some would say she deserves what she gets...

Knots for the wannabe Girl Scout

The good people over at Mother Earth News have the clearest pictures and diagrams I have ever come across of the 10 most used knots you will ever need.

Hat Tip to LifeHacker

WAAGing the tail

The mayor of our one and only, thank God, eco city continues to get his knickers in a twist about the number one commercial Auckland Airport supposedly underhandedly funding a local nimby organisation (WAAG) against his pet project, a second commercial airport.

Waitakere City Council has reputedly spent thousands on consultancy re the airport, although we cannot yet ascertain how much, compared to the supposed 'tip of the iceberg' funding by Auckland Airport of WAAG to the tune of $19K.

It seems the said mayor, a close mate of the current corrupt government, who was a recent Labour Party President, wishes to continue spending ratepayers squillions on his pet project, which is being roundly opposed from many quarters, especially the adjacent nimbies in their highly priced waterfront mansions, not to says the thousands of people on the North Shore that lie in its flight path.

The company that stands to gain from the eventual closure of the Whenuapai Air-Force base (yes, that's what it was when we had a real combat air-force!) and subsequent passing from Defence ownership is none other than the council's incestuous business trading partner Infratil. I am sure any business decisions affecting rates are taken with the fullest impartiality...

Now it seems that WAAG has asked the council, in a tit-for-tat, under Official Info request procedures, how much the ratepayers have been stiffed to date and council has sent an initial bill back for a large sum deposit before starting said process. Now as I saw somewhere else, I thought a council that has about a $100M budget might have a half decent accounting system, but then given the track record on accounting of their political mates, anything is possible!

I can see this saga getting really dirty, this mayor has a long history of fighting many fights below the table (remember a certain marina, and also the Waitakere Ranges bill?) and would suspect these are only opening shots.

Ratepayers can look forward to their this year's yet again massive rates hike being well spent. The last thing they need as a ratepayer is the council to try running an airport.

Opening reports are here and here...

Hat tip to Gooner at Sir Humphrey's

Tragedy in Wanganui

A tragedy occurred on Saturday where an innocent 2 year old girl was shot dead as she was sleeping, late at night, as the result of a drive by shooting between warring factions of a local gang.

This type of violence occurs far too often in NZ, often appearing to be turf related and no doubt will continue to escalate as the financial returns from 'P' rise.

We know the gangs in NZ tightly control the manufacture and distribution of most drugs, with many ending up in the news and ultimately in the courts. Unfortunately, the courts issue soft sentences to the charged individuals, usually abetted by some civil libertarian lawyer, leaving the Police to be the meat in the sandwich, when they next meet them on the street.

I agree with those saying that the offender centred rights currently delivered to prisoners are wrong. Number one premise - A prisoner does not have rights other than food and water. Secondly, a prisoner should not have direct communication rights with the outside world. They made their choices in life, prison is where they go to "repay their debt to society". End of story!

The Police are being shafted from all sides - they do not have the numbers, the public does not think they are doing a good job because these thugs continue to roam the streets, they still cannot get 111 emergency responses correct yet. On the other side, their political boss does not support the working police because every time something like this occurs, she asks for yet another witchhunt / enquiry, rather than addressing the real issues head on. All she is interested in is getting re-elected next year, while quietly keeping the Police awash in the bureaucratic paper war!

The Commissioner of Police was politically appointed, plainly for all to see and he acts like the minister's lap dog, never commenting unless directed from on high. If he had some mongrel in him, he would be leading his troops from the front, not worrying about whether he is currying favour with the ninth floor. I ask the question why does the Police Association rep have to ask all the hard questions and make the statements the Commissioner should be making as part of his job?

I think NZ has had an aboslute gutsful of these so-called inclusive gangs lurking in our neighbourhoods delivering nothing but grief and crime on a daily basis. Sure it will subside with the heavy Police presence, but as soon as they depart it will business as usual. The Police need to given the means from Parliament to go in hard and root out the gang criminal culture - zero tolerance is what is needed. Also the judiciary needs to follow up any convictions with extremely long non-parole sentences to match, noting that any request for leniency in favour of the convicted is declined.

Parking woes are universal

While Auckland City Council seems to be able to come with any excuse to top up their coffers while you are hard out earning your dosh or maybe spending it elsewhere, a similar exercise in revenue gathering in evident here.

Maybe the council has been using the same master tape measure the Ministry of Fisheries use after giving out thousands of these stickers for measuring fish...

Itzy Bitzy Spider

Found this gem - now I reckon this could be why a certain person would not discuss this in detail. Might be part of a clinical trial...

"On my lower leg, if you must know, and that's the end of the prognosis."
* Foreign Minister Winston Peters says where he was bitten by an insect before coming down with a mysterious disease and denying rumours he sat on a spider."

Didn't he recently go to Argentina? Isn't that very close to Brazil???

Must drink more beer

By drinking more beer we can produce clean electricity as per this article.

Fosters would have us believe that the only byproduct is water. I find that hard to believe of a rough Aussie gargle - now a decent NZ beer would produce nothing dangerous.

I know from many years of first hand experience that I can convert Tui into water...

Reverse Direct Marketing

Bruce over at Aardvark has a discussion on the bane of the dinner table - the telemarketing phone call (4 May 2007 The Aussies have got it all wrong - could not find the atricle link). Apparently our cobbers across the ditch have introduced some law having a Do Not Call list for telemarketers, but excluded guess who - those who wrote the law! Good one, we expect nothing less of those in the trough looking to self preserve at any time!


As a regular recipient of this extremely intrusive form of marketing, I have found an entertaining method of getting rid of the sods. Sometime ago I saw a comment (on a blog?) re the method described below and can assure you that it works very well.



It goes something like this...


cue Phone ring

Me - Good After tommorrow (phone onto speakerphone so the better half can have a laugh too)

Tele - Good evening, Sir, I am calling on behalf of XYZ..

Me - What are you selling?

Tele - No I am not selling anything - I am calling on behalf of XYZ..

Me - What are you selling?

Tele - No I am not selling anything - I am calling on behalf of XYZ..


Me - Look you have called at a very inconvenient time. Can I have your after hours home phone number so that I can call you back at some time more convenient to me.


Tele - I am calling on behalf of XYZ..



Note from Me - Sometimes I have to ask the question for their home phone number 3 or 4 times before the Telemarketer gets the drift and finally ceases spewing forth of their set-piece spiel.



Me - Now that you have stopped your sales pitch, can I have your after hours number? I will advise you that I regularly suffer from insomnia and possibly could find a time convenient to me, but maybe extremely inconvenient to you, to return your call.



Tele - Sorry sir - I cannot give you my personal phone number.


Me - You have mine - why can I not have yours?


and so on..



Other tips - Always hang up when you are talking to an undesirable, never when they are talking. They never call back as they put the disconnect down to Telecom's gear performing normally at 5x 9's!



Going mobile is useless as marketing companies probably generate batches of not so random phone numbers and on sell these to other marketers with your number on them. Hence the reason you are hammered for about two months and then it goes quiet for a while. I am sure my number is the random number seed...

Hyperintelligent pan-dimensional beings

So you thought that nifty piece of plastic and metal you are reading this blog on was capable of a lot more.

No way! What is probably the most powerful computer in the world cannot even match half a mouse's brain and has a much longer way to go to get anywhere near the fffickest human, let alone near self confessed smartie, Mr Farrar...

Users being ripped off

Once again Waitakere leads in their exorbitant fees to cover so called user pays.

Just exactly what does this council want to do to warrant raping the consumer's wallet of more than $4K for an average new house building consent. Similarly for the other Auckland councils - why does it cost so much?

It might be argued as a few percent of the cost of a new house, but with all the detailed work being supposedly done by an architect at great cost to produce up to spec working plans, the council should purely be an inspectorate. Which means to me a council worker with a good knowledge of the building code / plumbing / drainlaying codes drives out, looks at the job in hand and says yay or nay at the prescribed inspection times.

On completion a code of compliance is issued and the paperwork is filed against that property. End of story! Other building codes such as electrical function this way with inspections and codes of compliance for around $100 - why not the building of a house? Even if there are multiple inspections required - up to $150 per inspection would be a fair charge - not over $150 as suggested by some councils in the article. Waitakere says that 2 extra inspections would cost $304 required for monolithic cladding, so why not the base inspections at say $150 per inspection?

It does not mean that the building consent fee should be funding the hidden costs of government sponsored, but unfunded, changes to the building codes, or in Waitakere's case the funding of their new mausoleum and 'son of Britomart' in Henderson housing a massive and expansionary bureaucracy.

The recent changes in the building codes, supposedly to fix leaky housing, were government and council induced. The government remains totally responsible for the fiasco without taking any of the blame, leaving the council who corporately absolved themselves of any liability citing that was the done thing at the time. The councils did not suddenly lose years of accumulated expertise during the leaky home period, they knew what the results of using untreated timber would be in the NZ climate, as well as using mediterranean type construction. The councils of the day just turned a blind eye to the future problems.

I do not see any council providing a cast iron local government sponsored guarantee or insurance idemnity for the newly proposed hideous fees. Government has made it so impossible for private certifiers to setup as inspectors, so the councils must now take the ultimate liability. But unfortunately, they are just as likely to shaft the consumer with some LIM report notation that directly affects the future property value, if not built 100% and not directly notify the home owner of the notation. They are about to repeat this performance with recently mooted LIM notations for DIY type work on a property!

I assume that the council / local government / central government will still not be held liable for any failing under the new building code regime - the only sure guarantee would be that they would have an inbuilt mechanism in the code to cover their gold plated backsides if a recently inspected house started to leak.

Not enough time

An example of a council with not enough time to get the basics right while getting their eco message out.

Note the council rep does not even have time to get his reply correct, or maybe that was the intended answer?

Council Bureaucracy Gone Mad

How long before this occurs in NZ?

A prime example of a council with too much time on it's hands.

One Catherine from Poole is a decidely unhappy camper...
Having visited a pub on the harbourside this evening, I was extremely disappointed with my two cocktails, Screaming Org*sm and S*x on the Beach, I don't recall an org*sm and I remain a virgin! I will be contacting trading standards first thing tomorrow morning to ensure that they investigate this and I'll be demanding my money back! I'm so disappointed I need a sugar fix, someone send me a Pig Tart!

I suspect this will occur here much sooner than later and would not be surprised to find that bylaws already exist to cover mis-represented product!

A backdown by any other name

The PM suggestion that the amendment proposed today over the anti-smacking bill is not a backdown is ludicrous.

For ages Sue Bradford has been threatening to pull said bill if any amendment was made - we now have a multi-party agreed amendment, but Sue has not pulled the bill - a backdown in my book!

This farce has now played into National's hands with John Key being the concilatory mediator, implementing exactly what was proposed by Chester Borrows months ago and pooh-poohed by Labour because it was suggested by National.

The picture tells all...

Send the bill to the government

The Hamilton City Council reports that their ratepayers are being stiffed to the tune of $5M or more implementing new central government laws and foregoing rent on Crown properties.

The cost of complying to Government legislation is significant, yet is an area that many ratepayers have little understanding of. Compliance costs are growing and growing and will be an area of expenditure that will go under particular scrutiny at a national level over the coming months.

The central government passes all these new taxes (60 odd since 2001, not bad for a goverment that was not going to add any new taxes) continually expecting the little old ratepayer to stump up.

Of particular note in the report was the almost $500K directly attributed to one off costs for Prostitution, Building and Dog Control acts. How the hell does it take this much money to implement these acts? Now if one council out of 80 odd councils has incurred these costs, would it be fair to say that NZ ratepayers have been suckered for 80 x $5M - $400M or more...

It should be mandatory with any taxes that are imposed on local councils that the funding should be costed and permanently funded by the legislator, namely the Crown from the Consolidated Fund. Any costs incurred by councils should be directly billed back to the government, so they can see the true cost of their wanton largesse.

Finally I have arrived in the blogosphere!

I have been considering this move for some time, and have actually decided to do something about it - the grass always seems to grow faster than it should or some other trivial matter takes precedence...

As will be noted from my 'About me' comments, I do have an interest, as a local ratepayer and a taxpayer, in the rampant bureaucracy that festers within our councils and government. Having read a lot of blogs, particularly NZ ones, I find that some of the correspondents are engrossed in them vs us discussions and a lot of personal slagging off is evident. Whilst I could never hold court with their lofty levels of debate, I have opened this blog to add my tuppence worth on matters many and varied.

Please feel free to add your own comments, email me if you wish.