Backscratchers Anon out in force today

Former Christchurch mayor Sir Bob Parker is the highest honoured Cantabrian in the 2014 New Year's Honours

Another gong for someone just doing his job he was paid to do from Backscratchers Anon.  All the hallmarks of a Anderton/Dalziel nomination.

Trelise Cooper ... Dame Companion of the Order

Karen Walker has been made a companion of the order for services to fashion design, and World co-founder Francis Hooper has been made a member for services to fashion design

More undeserved backscratching of the highest order for running their businesses with zero community service.

What next from Backscratchers Anon?  I suppose Lying Lenny will get nominated next to get him to piss off from the public trough he's wallowing in.

Tui Time: 40% of Kiwis want more taxes

Nearly 40 per cent of New Zealanders believe GST should be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown.

The Government is estimated to miss out on up to $300 million in sales tax each year.

Really? 

What would gummint do with another $300M of taxes other than waste it on benefit bludgers, 'poverty' stricken middle class families breeding on Working for Welfare or giving useless scum like list MP's and judiciary massive annual pay rises?

It's never too early for a Tui.

Joy to the World from the farm

Chorus assets are heading to the scrap heap

Like the ancient copper local network, the newly installed Chorus fibre network is put on notice by the fast changing  wireless technology.  Both fixed networks are heavily subsidised by the taxpayer, one is still being installed as you read and will be superceded about time the install is completed. 

Telecom only recently launched its 4G mobile network using the latest equipment from Huawei but the Chinese company is already working on its next generation of technology.

Huawei is helping to develop global standards for 5G with the hope of offering data speeds of 10gbit/sec, 10 times the best achieved so far by 4G.

This would make 5G comparable with fibre broadband and capable of delivering high definition and 3D movies to mobile phones.

Widespread deployment of 5G might be some five years away.  It would complement not displace fibre broadband.

Tui time, I predict wireless networks will replace the fixed networks within 5 years, rendering Chorus assets and the company worthless.

But no doubt, New Zealand taxpayers will be forced yet again to pay dearly over the next decade for both copper and fibre assets in a private company which has failed to adjust its business model to cater for changing technology.

Labia Party Pressers? [updated]

'poor at attracting talent'

Funny that a couple of days ago we get this sycophantic press release for the Labia Party new talent, one Deborah Russell.  

Then today via Silent T's alma mater if his dodgy CV is to be believed, the Harvard Business School, we get today another press release mentioning a 'researcher' and an un-named blog.

Coincidence?  Bollocks, sounds like Labia Party pressers to me.  The dearth of talent continues in the implementation of the Man-ban.

[minor correction to text]

Granny subbies on holiday already in Northland

Here at the NZ Herald.

2 Minute Lenny: Has an arrogance and a sense of entitlement

there is serious discontent with Brown and the EY report across party lines

Some councillors who had been prepared to continue working with Brown for the benefit of Auckland were stunned by his lack of contrition after the report was released and believe some form of formal censure needs to be handed down.

"There is an arrogance and a sense of entitlement there"

Finally, maybe we'll get some action. About bloody time these overpaid elected tossers actually stood up to the immorality and a lack of integrity this nightmare brings to the reputation of the JafaLand mayoralty.

Drill it, Mine it, Sell it!

Comment of the Year: "I’m fighting dirty all the time"

Check your guilt at the door, and be informed and entertained.

At least I have the honesty not to pretend we’re doing anything more honourable than a dirty game of politics.  

Come on in, the mud is warm, the pig is happy, and the wrestlin’ is easy.

WhaleOil explains the game as the truth disappears in leftie spin.

Nats will not be happy with result [update]

Only 44% of voters turned up to have their say in the partial asset sale referendum.  So not a massive turnout, continues to show that voters are not interested in politicking.

Apparently of those that voted, 67% voted no to the non-binding expensive $9m political stunt by the Greens, whilst the Government has said rightly it will take no notice.of the result.  Genesis remains on the block for the New Year.

No doubt every leftie who got their nose out joint over the partial asset sales made sure they turned out to vote.  The naysayers from the Labia Man Drought, the Communist Feral Watermelons, the Apartheid Maoris, Winston No Foreigners and Hone's Racist Mofos parties will all have done their duty in ticking the No box.

Unfortunately for the Nats and New Zealand, assuming a similar turnout Nov 2014, that same 67% bloc of naysayers will be looking to form a coalition of the damned.

[update]
Even worse, a good 25% of the naysayer vote came from the Nats themselves.  These traitors will be ripe for plucking in November.

Green MP: We want a lynching

Twelve charges laid against former Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall in relation to the 2010 disaster at the mine have been dropped

not appropriate to continue with the prosecution against Mr Whittall 

And predictably the ferals go ape.  As well as some locals.

West Coast based Green MP Kevin Hague said it was "absolutely outrageous" that Mr Whittall would not face charges

Not willing to endorse innocence before guilt, the MP is looking for blood.  Nothing short of a lynching will suffice.

The Government deserves to be embarrassed, those failings deserve to be pointed out

Typical feral, always looking to cause maximum political harassment.

Banning homosexuality is key to ensuring children’s normal development

law criminalising homosexuality will remain in effect

At least one country gets it right.

A Farmer's Chore

Great stuff.  Keep them coming, guys.

Kapiti Expressway: The taniwha is stressed, bribe required

It didn't take long.  Gerry only turned the first sod last week and the taniwha has awoken to the smell of money.  Taxpayer money.  Lots of it.

A Labour MP has accused Kapiti Expressway workers of being "extremely offensive" to Maori by eating their lunch at a wahi tapu site as historical human remains lay nearby. 

Bloody Labour MPs looking for traction whilst their Dear Leader is looking at a conviction for electoral corruption.

I was pretty gobsmacked by it all. People are already stressed enough.

Code for 'we want some more taxpayer wedge'.

But there's more.

Workers were assembling to be briefed by iwi and the archaeologist. We are not aware of any concerns about conduct from the mandated iwi.

As I thought, just Labour MPs  attempting to extract more taxpayer dollars in return for the local native vote.  No doubt the locals currently figure large in the expressway budget and now the taniwha requires more to go back to sleep.  Extremely predictable, I guess there's a contingency in the budget for such bribes.

"Incompetence is not a crime"

The Auditor-General has apologised unreservedly to the people of Kaipara for the failure of Government auditors to spot an $80 million debt blowout at their local council

we found no evidence of corruption or criminal activity

Since the gummint auditors failed to spot a mere $80m incompetence, one wonders what other 'trifling' amounts may have escaped their notice.

Incompetence is not a crime

It should be. The watchdog auditors and the financial types in the council failed ratepayers miserably.  Just not good enough, someone's head should roll.

What is the matter with men?

Come spring this year, my life changed massively when I met someone and it made me feel so happy, so safe ...

Sounds OK so far.  Then this.

That someone is a guy

Unbelievable.  Another male of the species, one of the best in the world in his sport, goes off the rails and turns queer.

What the hell is wrong with our society that males continue to resort to homosexuality in droves?

And they want equality?

Brazilian who auctioned off virginity wants to sell it again

First thought, must be a blonde.

KiwiSlaver Mk II: Another way to lose your money via extortionate FSC fees

the FSC advocates - to make it compulsory for people to spend part of their KiwiSaver funds on purchasing an annuity at retirement

Compulsory annuities?  Not content with their extortionate fees whilst you contribute to KiwiSlaver, Financial Services Council members now want to have a second bite of the cherry managing your KiwiSlaver Mk II annuity.

One can see your initially minimal KiwiSlaver asset nose diving into red terrority as the FSC vultures take their ongoing cut out of your capital.

When will the suckers wake up to doing your own money management is a much better option?  I'm just waiting for one like the Kiwibank KiwiSlaver to go belly up.

There's going to be a lot of well fattened FSC members, but some real grumpy voters.

The state is an institution of theft

Can't argue with that.  Coming to government near you.

Eh?

Anti-mining groups in Northland are planning to block State Highway 1

they were legally entitled to block the stretch of highway as it was on Maori customary land

Eh?  SH1 is now customary land?  How the f**k did that happen?  Have there been any other State Highways given over to natives? 

Next thing there'll be a bloody toll booth to pass into and exit the area.  Oh, that's right they've already got the money extraction bit operational - via the Waitangi Tribunal.  Nearly as bad as paying to access beaches.

The hordes are getting stroppy and need to be put their place.

National Standards are working as intended

An academic from that bastion of the arts and culture that is Waikato Uni says that National Standards are showing good results.

trends had popped up in schools since the standards for reading, writing and mathematics were implemented in 2010

subjects had become the focus for some schools who wanted to make sure its students were meeting national levels. 

This meant subjects such as art, history, social studies and other activities had been left behind

Well, that should get the critics exercised.   Who would have thought that wishy-washy arts type courses might lose currency in favour of actually teaching core real world subjects like reading, writing and mathematics.

Long may National Standards continue!

Pests and Environment Southland

Fallopia japonica, commonly known as Japanese knotweed

one of the world's worst invasive species 

 
The invasive root system and strong growth can damage concrete foundations, buildings, flood defences, roads, paving, retaining walls and architectural sites. It can also reduce the capacity of channels in flood defences to carry water.


It is a frequent colonizer of temperate riparian ecosystems, roadsides and waste places. It forms thick, dense colonies that completely crowd out any other herbaceous species and is now considered one of the worst invasive exotics in parts of the eastern United States. The success of the species has been partially attributed to its tolerance of a very wide range of soil types, pH and salinity. Its rhizomes can survive temperatures of −35 °C (−31 °F) and can extend 7 metres (23 ft) horizontally and 3 metres (9.8 ft) deep, making removal by excavation extremely difficult.
The plant is also resilient to cutting, vigorously resprouting from the roots. The most effective method of control is by herbicide application close to the flowering stage in late summer or autumn. In some cases it is possible to eradicate Japanese knotweed in one growing season using only herbicides.


Classed as an unwanted organism in New Zealand.

 Straight from Wikipedia.  A right nasty pest plant indeed.  

And here we have an Environment Southland councillor apparently actively growing Japanese Knotweed.  Not bad for one supposedly educated and knowledgeable in matters green so he often tells all and sundry.  

mostly I use it to terrify pest-plant officers

To give the local bio-security officer conniptions by his own words.

Some might say one pest growing another pest.

Keep on keeping on, Colin Craig, you'll get my vote

You know you're on the right track when both sides of the political divide are rubbishing you this far out from an election.  The attack stories have featured large these past couple of weeks.

One one hand, we've got an avowed liberal right wing blogger denigrating you as 'the cult of crazy' multiple times, whilst the other side has this morning delivered their attack piece referring to your party as 'a noxious political potpourri'.

I smell desperation from both sides. 

The rabid left see Winston First seriously bleeding votes and thus their chances of another MMP stitchup coalition doomed for another term.   And the right wing see their divine chance at a 100% mandate under MMP slip sliding to a lacklustre almost passed outcome, requiring negotiation with 'a Christian crazy'.

Yes Colin, you'll get my vote.  I would never vote anywhere left, period.  The current option of the Nats is not suitable for a lot of voters voting right as they've openly faciltated racism and sat on the fence, ditching long held principle for votes.

 Keep on keeping on, Colin Craig, you've got them rattled.

About bloody time

There's at least one JafaLand councillor ready to take on his boss.  A furtive, of late always missing in action, boss who saw fit to hide an 'official' trip funded by others leaving him open to allegations of corruption.

Auckland councillor Cameron Brewer wants a council review into Len Brown's affair with Bevan Chuang widened to investigate a trip the mayor made to Hong Kong

Are there any other councillor's willing to take a stand on this ineffective Mayor?

Greens want to regulate farmers out of existence

Our brief is to govern and regulate

We have clearly got to be strong, we have got an obligation to be strong

some councillors were reluctant to regulate the industry because they did not want to "upset" stakeholders

A councillor known for not toeing the council line gets his five minutes of fame.

the council used a mixture of education and regulation and encouraged best practice

His boss refuses to endorse his statements as her council is rightly more pro-active in educating the community whilst supporting local businesses.

I think the farming community and the farming industry have always had a significant influence over Environment Southland through industry-friendly councillors. I think that influence has grown significantly

Some councillors were holding the economy in "higher regard" than the environment

The balance is swinging towards economic development and the not the environment

At least his intent is now fully in the open.  To legislate farmers out of existence.


Nothing but feral greenies lurking at the farmer's fences, looking to get their backs up, ever ready to wreck the economy of this country.  Just as we've witnessed with their recent economy wrecking power manifesto and the anti-mining/oil ethos of late.  Why do people continue to vote these losers onto our councils?

Another taniwha that will require a bribe

Maori are threatening to issue a trespass notice on oil drilling company Anadarko nearly a week after its drillship the Noble Bob Douglas arrived in what they are claiming is customary fishing waters

Everywhere people are looking, there is a new mine or oil site. The whole country has been surveyed off

As usual, all can be fixed with a bribe. 

it's not the New Zealand way to gift our land for bugger-all

As an aside, I did note however that a prospective miner withdrew from the Whangarei region the other day.  Obviously they couldn't agree on the size of the bribe.

So Mr Key, yet another looming cost of pandering to natives.  How much will it be this time to quieten the taniwha?   And the next? 

Nothing but political whores looking to extract maximum dollar from the taxpayer for services.  Just the price needs agreement.

Peak oiler hypocrites have nice day at beach

More than 1000 people turned up at one of Auckland's famous west coast beaches to protest against deep sea oil drilling in New Zealand waters today

A nice day at the beach for the peak oilers by the look of the pics.  Some no doubt even flew nicely painted beach flags made of synthetics.  Some will have sat in nylon tents.  Others dressed in synthetic swimwear, will have ventured into the tide using plastic based swim aids.  And Twattered to the world their cause celebre on yuppie phones made of mined precious metals and yet more plastics.    

Meanwhile 4 million others who live in real New Zealand got on with life.   It was a nice day here too, 80 km from the beach.  Burnt a few hydrocarbons mowing the lawns and tidying up the garden.  At least I didn't have to put up with listening to feral deluded greenies trying get the rabble on board.

Protesters joined hands to form a human chain from the land to the sea, and a haka was also performed

Yep, resorting to a war dance, will really make the government take notice.

Bet 99% of them drove to the beach using vehicles fuelled from oil wells.  Lubricated by hydrocarbons, also from oil wells.  Most made of copious amounts of plastics and some might even have carbon fibre components.  And on roads nicely sealed with asphalt.  No doubt the food they ate at the each was processed by hydrocarbons and the like. 

You know the story.  Happy to have all the trappings of a hydrocarbon based lifestyle, never prepared to ditch the oil based products they consume and use daily.

What we saw today at the beach are nothing but effing hypocrites, beholden to the communists at Greenpeace.

"Won't someone think of the children" crock by strident greenie loons

The environment commissioner has just delivered a report for Southland and Canterbury on the future waterways and the potential long term effects of farming.  Note I say potential.

A damning report released yesterday has shown a clear link between dairy farming and the degradation of New Zealand waterways

Southland, along with Canterbury, is supposedly leading the way in destroying the ecosystems in its waterways.  But hold on, this report is only one end of a modelling exercise.

Ms Timms said the report was only as good as the information in it. "We have also got to be aware that this is just a modelling exercise." 

Councils and farmers country wide continue to improve their practices, particularly in dairy.  

Improving water quality is the council's top priority and has been for some time. We've been very clear about that

Anyone, townie or farmer, that hasn't got that message yet should be locked up.

Unfortunately like the climate change outright lies and GoreBull fed to the productive taxpayers of this world, there are those in our regions, including some on councils, latching onto this report and predicting an apocalypse of nitrates in our creeks.  Similarly ferals like the government funded Fish and Game want to utilise this report to regulate farming out of existence.  Why we continue to fund these economy haters and wreckers like F&G and EDS is beyond me, suppose it is part of keeping your enemies closer.

view was not shared by Fish and Game. Southland Fish and Game operations manager Zane Moss said the report was a "strident warning" for the path Southland was going down

Hold onto your waders Zane, it is only an initial cut of  a model that will be refined.  But the same goes for the luddites who won't have a bar of any other economy lifting activities like mining and drilling for oil.


The more strident, some might suggest loony greenies, that pervade our societies these days are predictably crying "Won't someone think of the children?".

from comments (sic) - I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

I wonder waht stories you will tell your grandchildren about once pristine rivers and waterways where people used to go for picnics , camping , swimming and fishing

Things are being done, just not fast enough for some desperate to make political hay on these matters, including some councillors.

the council was well aware of the link between changes in land use and levels of nutrients and was working with farmers

We've got a responsibility, but we also want to live and have jobs in our communities ... we can have both economic growth and water that we can swim in

Unfortunately the loonies are in charge of the asylum these days, as always being very vocal on their soapbox, trying to wreck New Zealand farming.

Two choices, only one answer

YES,

is the ONLY answer

And if the question had been for 100%, the answer would be the same.

Do you support the Government selling up to 49 per cent of Meridian Energy, Mighty River Power, Genesis Power, Solid Energy and Air New Zealand?

Yes voting papers have arrived.  Time to deal to the rabid greenie ferals, make your vote count.  

The government has no right to be running private businesses.

 

Comment of the year!

But I'm fucked if I'm EVER going to support the fact that there are useless lazy bludging cunts in this society that feel they are entitled to live in a house provided by me and mine for the rest of their miserable woe begotten fucking lives!

Exactly!  From here.

That will be fun!

Cars that run on hydrogen and exhaust only water vapor are emerging to challenge electric vehicles as the world's transportation of the future

three automakers were unveiling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to be delivered to regular people as early as spring of next year

Just wait till a Taleban suicide bomber looking for 72 virgins drives one of them into Times Square. 

It's only a matter of time before one of these H2 cars detonating puts any Chevy Volt or Prius electric car battery fires to shame.  The only thing required afterward will be a D9 dozer to fill the hole.

Pissed sportswoman "not happy with the result", plays her ace

very disappointed and very upset, ... We are not giving it up.

It will have real consequences against her career. She won't be able to travel and she competes in this sport, and travel is very important to her, to get to Canada and those types of places

Should have thought about that before she drove pissed. 

admitted she had been "unlawful and stupid" but asked for a discharge without conviction because she was having a bad time after breaking up with her boyfriend

Aah, the mitigation sob story.  But then she plays her ace.

Ms Insley had successfully argued for leniency, saying it was rare for a Maori woman from a poor upbringing to excel in sport

Really?  In this modern age, there's always the race card for your A game.

Making sure the whitewash is really dry

An Auckland Council review of any use of council resources by Mayor Len Brown in his affair with Bevan Chuang is taking longer than expected
 

undeclared freebies leave any politician open to the suggestion ... that they have been bought

The report will be lost in the late December pre-Christmas / Summer Hols dump.  In the New Year, Lenny the Liar will be deemed to have fully travelled the road to redemption.

By then the whitewash will have dried, E&Y will be paid handsomely from ratepayer funds with a Christmas bonus.  And Len's spin doctors will continue to suck from the ratepayers teat, always deflecting from the truth.

Unfortunately for JafaLand ratepayers, the stench of corruption will now forever pervade the Office of the Mayor.

Nepotism by any other name

nepotism [ˈnɛpəˌtɪzəm] 

n favouritism shown to relatives or close friends by those with power or influence

Another meritorious appointment at Silent T and Cunliffe.

What's Jim Hickey got lined up?

flotilla was a loose alliance who wanted to halt exploration

One hopes that a decent southwesterly blow will soon disperse the ragtag bunch of losers around North Cape. Come in Jim Hickey, we need a decent blow over the next week. 

The drill ship will remain on site, no doubt steadied with state of the art geo-positioning equipment.

Another Labour rort

Ms Mackey, recently promoted by Labour leader David Cunliffe, has an office in Customhouse St in Gisborne which property records show belongs to her mother Janet Mackey

could not remember the monthly rent bill but said it was below the market valuation

Charging rents below market valuation?  I'm sure the IRD would love to know that Labour is aiding and abetting  another rort on the taxpayers of New Zealand.

Only thing missing are the pitchforks [updated]

A modern day lynch mob baying for blood has been out and about today.  Thousands apparently.

There are "many parts" to the discourse, including whether rape took place, about victims' rights education and "to make sure that we don't see young guys engaging in behaviour which is just not acceptable.

Hung, drawn and quartered, before being tried, let alone accused.  The only things missing are the pitchforks and something or someone to burn at the stake.  I fear the roasting Messrs Tamihere and Jackson received in recent days for daring to comment will not suffice.

Prime Minister John Key says he understands protesters "feel very strongly."

Some will be seen to be doing something.  Anything.  But then I'm sure the alleged perps will get a fair hearing, should matters require a trial.  Only if the lynch mob doesn't get to them first.

[update]

A well known author dares to comment ...

Stead wrote the nation had become gripped by a collective hysteria

... and the Twitteratti lynchmob is let loose.

Hitler gets Obamacare

Hitler has his substandard health insurance cancelled...



"I suppose it could be worse, I could be young and healthy and get to pay for this crap"

Stuff stuffs the Friday Dump

Stuff regurgitates an old video that did the blog rounds three, probably four months ago to fill in a slow news day in their Fiday Dump.

Another Stuff stuff up.

The only news we want to see is that Lenny the lounge lizard has resigned.

Union bullies dispensing standover tactics in Northland schools

Northland teachers have been banned by their union from any interaction with charter school staff ... described as "bully tactics"

The principals [in Whangarei] are rattled. They are being stood over by the PPTA and they have no room to move

The government needs to show some mettle and put these union thugs in their place. 

Complete the job that should have been done 5 years ago Mr Key.

NSFW: Lily Allen bitchslaps Miley

A lot more NSFW detail here.

That should make the tart take notice.

Now, that's the sort of "ongoing significant change" I like

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has warned of "significant changes" to the public sector

the Government was bringing corporate treasurer-style expertise to its balance sheet

the new attitude was going to create "ongoing significant change" in the public sector

I look forward to the rapid implementation of such "ongoing significant change".

governments had some "pretty bad habits". 

Those included thinking of capital as 'free', as taxes could simply be coerced from an endless supply of customers

the real challenge was managing the government's enormous property portfolio, including $17 billion worth of houses, $13b of schools and $8b of hospitals. 

All of these are poorly managed ... the benefit of PPPs was not so much cost savings, but because we learn so much ...  external parties who would be putting capital at risk are much more sensitive to the risks of the project and have a much better toolkit for those risks.

The sound you can hear is Labour, teachers and the unionised choking their last gasp.

That should put the faceless bureaucrats in central and local government on notice.  

"All part of a cunning plan"

Arise, Sir Baldrick!

We're getting to the real action at last

What was that the Reserve Bank was saying about expect an increase next year? 

Westpac is cutting its two year fixed rate to match that of rival ASB

More like rates will keep tracking down as banks seek to retain market share.  This LVR thing must be hurting their usurious trade.

The law of unintended consequence.  Must be time to look at some more investment properties while the first home buyers are out of the market.

Nanny desperate to get those that Darwin misses

Stopping the use of quad bikes in farming has been raised as a prospect by a coroner in his written findings into five deaths related to their use

Beware farmers! Nanny is afoot with another hoary old ban.

• overturned during weed-spraying ... had been smoking cannabis
• was spraying a hilly slope for weeds when his quad bike rolled
• died when trapped between her quad bike and an electric fence after trying to tow a trailer of silage up a hill
• weed-spraying when he was found dead ... had cannabis in his system consistent with smoking a single cannabis cigarette

Geez, Darwin got a few there.  Unfortunately, I fear that like ill thought out anti-smacking laws, Nanny will apply a blanket ban to a great farm tool.  A tool that is utilised by thousands of farmers daily without incident. 

Like legislating for a zero road toll, you will never save idiots from themselves, with any amount of training or guidelines.

Granny breaches privacy laws

The release of LINZ real estate data says that it is given iaw the Privacy Act 1993 which says:

Privacy Act 1993 Clause 59 Public Register Privacy Principles …
Principle 2 Use of information from public registers
 
Personal information obtained from a public register shall not be re-sorted, or combined with personal information obtained from any other public register, for the purpose of making available for valuable consideration personal information assembled in a form in which that personal information could not be obtained directly from the register.

That's the law.  No for the privacy breach.

More than 7.2 million property records were extracted from Land Information titles and owners' lists. These records were combined using cloud servers to create a searchable database of property records.

Since the property titles data do not include addresses, a piece of custom software was created to identify and locate each property, while another extracted MPs' trusts, companies and declared properties from the Register of Pecuniary Interest.

Combining all of these tools resulted in a map of properties owned by every MP, both personally and through trusts, superannuation schemes or companies. 

After telling the world that they’ve merged two public datasets to get at the personal info, I look forward to Granny explaining that to the Privacy Commissioner.

OSH would have a fit, but "Yes, Please!"

Yes!  A definite must-have on the farm for those 'with plenty of space in the top paddock'.

might look very loosely like a farm quad in a dream fuelled by mescaline or LSD

features a 3.0-litre Ferrari V8 coupled to a BMW M3's six-speed sequential gearbox

 
I can imagine explaining that to Mr OSH it's perfectly legal on the farm without a helmet, now bugger off, you're trespassing.

two distinct disadvantages: it doesn't carry dogs or straw bales

However getting NZ$300K past the IRD and onto the books as a farm tool might prove difficult.  I wonder if I could claim the GST?

But hey, dreams are free.

Len's Trainset: "A fiscal nightmare"

a fiscal nightmare that would only ever be undertaken by a government or council

The numbers just do not stack up*.

Let's take for example, the following:
250 seat trains
Three trains per hour
Six hours capacity per day
Two commuter train lines
$10 per round trip
246 workdays per year
Using these figures, rush hour commuting can only ever raise up to $22,140,000 of annual revenue.

Finally, some public transport figures that really make sense.

a fiscal nightmare that would only ever be undertaken by a government or council with

 a) too much cash and not enough assets,

 or b) absolutely zero oversight and a borrowing power which doesn't match it's own sense of responsibility

Not considered are the outgoings.

You've now got to pay the train station sh*thouse cleaners, conductors and the drivers a living wage, not to mention the six-figure salaries and perks for council wallahs to run the show. 

No doubt any debt repayments, including interest, for the multi-billion build comes from the same low income.  Sometimes maintenance and spares might be required.  Also there will be the local taniwha to pay on a regular basis to keep them quiet.

As well as the whole package is fuelled somehow.  Or maybe they run on all that free greenie type hot-air so prevalent round these public transport projects.

A lose-lose for poor put upon ratepayers who have to fund Len's fiscal nightmares into eternity.


*numbers are as proposed for newly taxpayer cash rich Village of the Damned, but I guess Len's toy trainset is modelled with similar fiscal restraint.

Retail faces of those on offer

I'm kind of the retail face

Seen the retail face of the Opposition?  Starting with Silent T, a whole host of half-sucked Throaties obviously chosen to fit a quota for their looks.  A retail face of two sides, one desperately looking for centre-right votes, whilst the other is lurching violently leftward to Communism.

No wonder John Boy remains Mr Popularity. 

Though, I still wouldn't waste my vote on the Nats without principles.

Bloody thieving socialists at it again

Len Brown will propose a "living wage" of $18.40 for all Auckland Council staff at a council meeting today

In an effort to divert from his repugnant actions of late, JafaLand's NightMayor is apparently to front today on his road to redemption with a diversion in hand.  Maye wrong choice of words there, as he has had rather a lot 'in hand' of late.

the wage would not have a big impact on ratepayers

an incredibly small amount of money in the multibillion-dollar budget that the council has

It's always "a little bit more, you will not notice"  The twisted line of thought of thieving effing socialists ever ready to further rape our wallets for more taxes to impose yet more unproven and unwanted social engineering.  That line of thought is exactly why we have council thieves extracting and squandering our multi-millions.

Someone has to clean sh*thouses for a pittance so that they will learn, like the rest of us have done so the hard way long ago early in our careers, to get off your backside and up-skill yourself for better wages.

As for the nightmare, stand down and resign.   You are now a lame duck, too scared to front.

A reminder

101 to go to 50,000

Have you signed?

The taniwha needs bribing before the white mofo dam proceeds

An iwi opposed to the Ruataniwha dam says if the scheme proceeds it should be scaled back by a third

Consultation on the proposal had been insufficient, the iwi says

That didn't take long.  A stone age mythical taniwha has reared its ugly head in the dam proceedings and is hungry for a bribe koha.

users charged a 5c per cubic metre levy to mitigate the ... cultural effects of the project

such monies to be used for iwi/hapu cultural monitoring and kaitiakitanga [guardianship] purposes

'We want our race based cut' is the cry or no dam.  Never ceases to amaze that money will assuage all matters cultural.  Was always going to happen, just the price of accommodating these cultural whores needed to be set.

Labour backtracks on another 'set in stone' policy

The Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union had moved a motion wanting the party to oppose the TPP, in line with a position taken by the Council of Trade Unions conference last month.

would have posed a major shift in the party's position.

Stroppy unions flexing their new found muscle are having to be reined in.

Mr Cunliffe got a consensus to support a Dairy Workers' Union resolution to ''withholds support for the TPP until full details are made available and there is clear evidence that the agreement is in the best interests of New Zealand

Labour flip-flopping continues unabated as Silent T has a bob each way.

Cunliffe: Setting the tone for re-election in 2023 or further.

This government is tired, arrogant, and out of touch.

He launched into an attack on National, listing its "Hall of Shame" as Warner Brothers, SkyCity, Rio Tinto and Chorus

Dirty, personal, negative attack politics.   After wishing to sell Mr Key's dear long departed mother earlier in the week, his opening gambit in the speech to the slavering unionised is to play the man.

We have all heard about our current Prime Minister's own humble beginnings, his overseas success and his money trader's fortune

Yep, that should do it, about 2023 for the Labia Party is looking good.

Friday Dump: Another NZ business suffers terminally under the hand of Cullen

New Zealand Post says it will reduce its work force by up to 2000 staff

Cullen's fickle hand roots another Kiwi business.  The Kiwi Rail buyback gave the country a decade of deficits, now he's firing his own staff in a mass layoff.  That will go down well.

EPMU said the changes were "cruel" and came with little warning

The unionised would do well consider their choices at the Labia Party gabfest this weekend.  Daresay Silent T will have his hands full keeping his baying union hounds on the leash.  They'll get no sympathy from Joe and Jane Public, only got themselves to blame for chasing blue sky ideas such as living wages.  And the writing has been on the wall for years to reign in labour costs.


An excellent Friday Dump on the unions.

National's partner problems

The Prime Minister said some of Mr Craig's views ... were "definitely" not aligned with those of the National Party.

Therein lies the heart of the problem.  If National had stuck to and upheld long held core principles instead of pandering for votes from the progressive left of centre,  Mr Craig wouldn't be needing to have views.

He has some ... views which would probably be different to our take on things, but you've got to remember those ... issues are a conscience vote so even if he got into Parliament it doesn't mean that agenda's going to be progressed because it would take the majority will of the Parliament.

Mr Key will no doubt revisit that statement in a different light early December next year.  The alternative will be no 3rd term and donning rose coloured glasses.

Union loving thugs and bashers on the people's wharf revising history

Sir Bob, a former president of the Labour Party, said he agreed with Mr Lee that the figure might offend some people. 

Even though it was an honest account of the wharf's history, he had requested that it be removed today.

The artwork had been covered up this morning.

Typical Labour supporters.  Rewriting the record when unionists cannot stomach the truth of history. 

Pity unions were not removed in 1913 and finished off in '51.

Labour away with the fairies

Forget the man-ban.  Or maybe it is still in force, just real men not allowed.  Labour wants to befriend all minorities in exchange for their vote, particularly wanting more out there homosexuals in the ranks. 

Labour Party conference in Christchurch this weekend looks set to approve a remit that will require its list to "fairly represent" gays and lesbians among candidates

the list-ranking committee to pro-actively ensure that its list fairly represents "sexual orientations", as well as tangata whenua, gender, ethnic groups, people with disabilities, age and youth

That will go down like a cup of cold sick with the electorate who only want sound well founded economic direction.  And since when did selecting on the colour of your skin become legal? 

another remit, Labour's list-ranking committee decisions will also have to aim for a caucus of at least 45 per cent of women next year

Increasing envy taxes, pandering to queers and the like are not ways to win large quantities of votes from a generally conservative electorate.

After first polls since the coming of their Messiah David #2 showing absolutely zero traction, the Labia Party remains definitely away with the fairies as far as real world voters are concerned.

Coming ready or not, Mr Key

People-smugglers in Indonesia are promoting a passage to New Zealand in shipping containers for up to $17,000 a person and are describing it to would-be customers as "the cruise ship option"

New Zealand is very clear ... Everything is better than Australia ... New Zealand is a golden opportunity. You can take your mother, your brother, all of your family after proving they are in danger too.

The 'cruise ship' option for illegal immigration is about to loom in our waters.  Are our laws ready, Mr Key? 

He says a law passed in June for mass arrivals means New Zealand is prepared if any do

amendment to the Immigration Act allows immediate detention of mass arrivals - 30 people or more

the ability to seek further detention for 28 days at a time until the asylum seekers' bona fides are established

I fear not, the mealy-mouthed civil-liberty types will spike them just like they did to the laws we had in place for the Urewera terrorists.  They will turn up in boatloads of 29 or less, effectively bypassing your useless immigration laws.  The do-gooders that infest our Dominion will welcome them in with open arms just like they did with the illegal hordes that Labour's she-beast let in previously via Nauru.

And no, they are not asylum seekers, they are illegal immigrants that need to be re-exported back to source.  No detention, just send them back immediately.

Schools and teachers being measured, found wanting

That's very problematic for both teachers and parents because if you're a parent and you've been told that your child is reading at the standard last year and you rock on up to the teacher and discover your child is now performing at below standard then you're likely to say, 'what the hell have you been doing? He was at the standard last year'

Eh?  The head honcho at the Federation of Principals is effectively saying if your rugrat was up to speed last year, but is not meeting standards this year, don't blame our teachers.

What bollocks.  Measuring teachers failings is the only way to start improving the output quality of our education system.  Daily we see the swathe of illiterates produced by the current system in which education unions have stoutly resisted improvements for so long.

the profession continued to have no confidence in national standards

I say get on with the measurements, yours is not the right to argue. Unfortunately, the unionised are pushing their bogeyman of being paid for performance like everyone else that actually work for a living.  Real world performance that is evaluated by the hour.

In the real world far from Planet Brown

This young woman came looking for a job and you took advantage of your position

The judge locks up a villain that raped an employee. A half decent sentence.

has been jailed for seven years and nine months for raping a teenage girl who was doing work experience in his shop

Some work experience.  Day two and the boss has his wicked way.  Enough to put the lass off work for life.

Sounds just like the proceedings on Planet Brown, a place with not one iota of moral or ethical consequence. 

It's going to be a long weekend as Lenny hopes memories of his sordid adventures will fade by Tuesday and his spin merchants can continue refreshed on our taxpayer's dime.

Labour MP nearly chokes on complimenting Nats

Jacinda Ardern said ... the wing needed upgrading ... must show value for taxpayer money

It is good to see Ms Tolley acknowledging that improvements need to be made around staff safety and better mental health services for prisoners

We are absolutely capable of building an innovative state-of-the-art wing

A Labia MP complimenting the Nats?  That must stick in her craw somewhat.  It must be gagging for the poor dear!

But wait there's more...

It's up to Ms Tolley to demonstrate why we should want to be venturing down this disastrous privatisation path again

Thought it was too good to be true.  Labour ideology gets in the way of getting big government out of businesses that will do a whole lot better when served by private industry to measurable and enforceable contracted standards.

Russians cave into greenpeace pirates

the charges against activists who protested at an oil platform last month had been changed from piracy, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 12 years, to hooliganism which has a lesser punishment

Why?  These bastard green terrorists should be locked up forever.

I thought Putin had it in him, obviously doesn't have the cajones.

At last, a politician willing to take a stand on the two minute Mayor

high-profile opponent of Len Brown cancelled a meeting with the mayor and said he should resign in the wake of the sex scandal

Mr Brewer passed on a message earlier in the week that indicated the mayor did not have his confidence

Someone with a sense of what is right, what the current Mayor needs to do and one I'd vote for.

Greenie part-time leader home from European junket, defaults to lying

It put the Australian government approach to refugees into very stark relief

Refugees?  That's really stretching the truth, even for a greenie.

They're not refugees or asylum seekers, but illegal immigrants that need returning to country of origin on the next available flight.

Whitewash in progress: Flock of flying pigs sighted

I did not abuse my position of power

Unbelievable!  Must be the quote of the century.

Lefties just do not know when their game is up and resign.  Irrespective of her ulterior motives, screwing any help in work hours, on ratepayer premises is an employment no-no.  For others, a sackable offence, no questions.  But the Left continue to defend their man suggesting he can be rehabilitated.

review is not specific to the elected members' code of conduct but will cover council policies and procedures and will provide background information should any code of conduct review be initiated

Meanwhile the whitewash is truly in progress.  Ernst and Young will be paid handsomely to deliver the required outcome, whilst they do not engage with the person at the root cause of this travesty.

review has the support of the mayoral office which will cooperate fully with it

From our illustrious leader downward there is not one politician worth his salt ready to stand up and state what he's done is morally and ethically repugnant.  To date all have condoned his actions (more like a case of  "There for the grace of God...") in one way or another.  The sooner this whole viper's nest of despicable centre-Left politicians is routed, the better New Zealand will be.

Journalist "trained and skilled"...

Disgraced high-ranking navy officer Commodore Kevin Keat has asked not to be dismissed from the service immediately so that he can leave with some dignity at the end of his present engagement in February

With dignity, why you may ask.   After what he's done to that sheila?    Where's the Tui?

But any real journalist would know that any MP, Judge, air line pilot, members of the Armed forces or Police or many civilians in public service would stand to lose their superannuation if awarded a DCM.

Those that were compulsory members of  GSF pre-1992 (when they closed their scheme to new members) and having been since time-serving polishing seats, are likely to now have a serious wad of super ready to retire on.  A stash which will not be forthcoming upon instant dismissal.  Them's the rules of the game, dismissal was something to be well avoided before you reached your term in the military.  I've seen it happen with a few months to go before someone's 20 years.

Trained and skilled journalist?  Not!  It's bad enough that the word Navy is not capitalised.

The iceberg is melting on the hot asphalt

refused to provide inducements and his company paid the price

"We just didn't play that game ... and we were left out in the cold as a result."

In light of the likely fallout from the this week's over-exposure, for want of a better term, of council leadership, is it any wonder?  They say a fish rots from its head.

Offices at several major roading contractors and subcontractors have been raided by fraud investigators.

SFO ... "We are looking at all the suppliers."

The downfall of Blacktop leaves a so-called "big five" companies to bid for road maintenance contracts in Auckland - Fulton Hogan, Higgins, Transfield, Downer and Heb.

I'm sure, although it will hotly denied, fraud and corruption is behind these contracts.  Perception is everything, so while the boss had his eyes on other now not so fresh game, the minions will have been garnishing their meagre 'Oh, for a living wage' six figure salaries.

The hot asphalt is about to expose more of the fast melting iceberg that is the left leaning JafaLand Council.

Is this who you want in the second most powerful political position in New Zealand?

has turned out to be way bigger than just a rooting mayor

…it now involves favours for floozies, graft, bribery, secret commissions, breaches of the Code of Conduct and likely to reveal additional affairs and murky dealings with a major player in Auckland that could only be construed as graft and corruption

Really?

Chef's Special: Braised Brown Rump

And Emmerson makes it 5 for WO down at Palino's.  A great cartoon.

He's got all the main players of the week, although I cannot read what is on the back of Bank's menu.

Roll up! Roll up! Last chance at this price!

Last day today!

The Meridian Share Offer is now open. It's your chance to invest in New Zealand's largest electricity generator and a company that generates energy from 100% renewable resources. Meridian also sells electricity through more than 270,000 connections in homes, farms and businesses under the Meridian and Powershop brands. The Meridian Share Offer is on!

Like Lotto, you've got to be in to win!

The truckload of whitewash has been delivered

Auckland Council chief executive Doug McKay is this afternoon expected to announce an inquiry into the Len Brown sex scandal.

whether Mr Brown's affair breached the council's code of conduct and conflict of interest policies.

About time.

We'll soon see how much whitewash was ordered. Won't the spin weasels have fun delivering their daily reports?

BREAKING: Len's Gone!

That got you! 

One can only hope he will be gone by lunchtime. 

Meanwhile something from the man of the moment hopefully about to get a top notch political scalp.

The guy is a rat bag, he has a proven history of rat bag behaviour and I am going to continue to hold him to account irrespective of his politics. 

If that was a National MP or a right wing councillor, or a right wing mayor anywhere else in the country, I will run them through just as hard

If he had any decency, he'd go. Now.

The lurid scandal continues to develop and as much as he likes to pretend, Len's position becomes more untenable by the hour.

Lance (2,132) Says: October 17th, 2013 at 8:02 am
So I am hearing the general tone here is that the facts are not in dispute, just that the slutty little tramp should have kept her mouth shut?
Fuck…. what century is this, the 19th?
Fucking hypocrites on the left, fight for womens rights and then call out the harlot. Now she is receiving threats!
I’ll say it again… I thought it was about a powerful elected figure who didn’t have the personal discipline to keep his dick in his pants…. AT WORK.

Once again the powerful elected figure is winning with a team of spin merchants at the ready.

davidp (2,988) Says: October 17th, 2013 at 7:50 am
These are the questions that I think Len Brown needs to address:
Brown says that Cheung didn’t work for the Council. Cheung says she was employed at the Art Gallery and that Brown visited her there. Who is telling the truth? If it is Cheung, then did Brown help her obtain the job?
We know that they socialised together in cafes. Did Brown expense this?
We know Brown phoned and txted Cheung. Did he use a work phone? If so, did he compensate the Council for the calls?
Were Brown’s gifts to Cheung expensed?
We know that Brown took Cheung to meet a Chinese airline executive at a restaurant. This is a valid business meeting for Brown, but must comprise hospitality for Cheung. Who paid? If it was the Council, then did Brown compensate the Council for Cheung? If it was the airline, then did Brown declare that hospitality as a gift?
We know that Cheung interviewed Brown on a Chinese current affairs show. Did Brown tell the current affairs program that there was an ethical issue regarding the objectivity of the interviewer? Shouldn’t the viewer have been told?
Who cleaned up the body fluids in council offices? Were council staff or cleaners exposed to Brown’s ejaculate?
There are two accounts of when Brown told his family of the affair… before and after the election. Which is true, and why do two accounts exist?
Has Brown notified all his sex partners that he has been exposed to venereal disease and that he may be spreading it? Has Brown been tested for or treated for venereal disease?
Was any pressure placed on the security guard to hush up what he had seen? What was said at the time… did Brown ask the security guard to stay silent, or did he threaten him? Was anything said to the security guard or his supervisor after the event?
Didn’t Brown think that having sex in a room of cultural significance to Maori was insulting to Maori?
Didn’t Brown think that using terms like “Geisha girl” to refer to a Chinese woman was insulting for both gender and racial reasons?
Was Brown conducting the affair while his wife was recovering from cancer?
Has Brown had sex with any other women on Council premises?
Has Brown masturbated on Council premises?
We know that Brown and Cheung had sex in a hotel room. Who paid? If it was the Council, then did Brown compensate the Council? If it was corporate hospitality, then did Brown declare the hospitality as a gift?
Who sent the txt threats to Cheung? It is hard to imagine a reason for anyone not associated with Brown to threaten Cheung? Who did Brown notify of the affair before the date and time the first threat was sent? Were any of the people notified Council staff? If yes, then why would they be notified if this is a private matter?
Did Brown order the threats? If not, does he recognise the sender’s phone number?
Have Council PR staff assisted Brown to handle media inquiries or Brown’s media response? If so, how does he reconcile this with assertions that this is a private matter? Will he compensate the Council for the staff time involved? Should Auckland ratepayers pay to sort out Brown’s personal scandal?
Was Cheung first invited to Brown’s office because of her duties on the ethnic advisory panel? If this wasn’t an attempt to groom Cheung, then why wasn’t the chairperson of the panel also invited? If Brown used ethnic matters as a pretext to groom Cheung, then did Brown promise to fund any ethic advisory panel activities or programs in the course of his grooming?
Does Brown often invite women that he wishes to groom to his office on spurious business pretexts?

Many questions indeed that require answers.  I'm sure there's more.

As for trotting out his daughter to stand by her Dad, nothing short of despicable.

If he had any real gumption, like Banks, he would resign.  Now.

It is time the LGA Minister stuck Len on gardening leave and conducted an inquiry.

On sister city junkets to world-class JafaLand

When private behaviour becomes public knowledge it cannot simply be washed from everyone's mind. 

The mayor will wear this embarrassment everywhere he appears and every time he speaks for the city. 

The record is never wiped clean. Auckland knows its mayor a little better now than it did a week ago.
 

I do wonder how Len will handle future sister city junkets to his "world-class" city.   I can just see delegations from numerous Asian Tiger cities being willing to shake his hand in the Ngati Whatua Room.  Much more like they will have taken notice of his actions, particularly how he fails to support one of their own.

All class, indeed.

Cheap fares on GrabaSeat for those that need to exit JafaLand with haste...

Here.

Who woke Winnie?

The so-called informant, or the whistle-blower, if he thinks that he's got integrity on this issue, then he has to answer: Why didn't he let the information go when the people would have had that information before they made their electoral judgement?

As usual Winnie has all the facts.  Apart from the fact the whistleblower is a she.

Who disturbed Winnie from his afternoon nap?

Will it all end in tears?

share price has continued to skyrocket and has broke through $22 today

share price has climbed by $16.71 over the last year, a rise of 310 per cent

I'm no judge of these things, but often wonder about this startup and its short debt-ridden history.

That it is still hideously awash in debt, beholden to a single god-like leader obviously full of self-pride with a highly visible sh*t locker of good living, even with all these purported converts from many countries supposedly willingly paying the bills for their no doubt overpriced accounting add-ons**.

Do we have another upcoming Dot Com failure (no not the large German type) so prevalent a decade or so ago?  Or maybe this media darling is the real thing and I'm green with envy that I missed the boat on the IPO?

Will it all end in tears?

** Things you could do at zero cost with some double entry book-keeping to keep a feel for your business or an open source product like GNU Cash

"ARROGANT SELF-ENTITLED WANKER"

iT’S A GOOD IDEA IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED IN THIS PROFESSION NOT TO COME ACROSS AS AN ARROGANT SELF-ENTITLED WANKER.

yOU MIGHT GET AWAY WITH IT OCCASIONALLY, BUT YOU CAN ONLY PLAY THAT GAME SO MANY TIMES BEFORE THE PUBLIC SEE WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

rEMEMBER THAT A LITTLE HUMILITY CAN BE A GOOD THING.

iF YOU CAN MANAGE ALL OF THAT, THEN YOU HAVE A LONG AND GLORIOUS POLITICAL FUTURE AHEAD OF YOU

A timely piece, maybe a slightly sarcastic piece in best iFISH manner.  Unfortunately, after yesterday's events of the afternoon, the wrong wanker.

Any use of council resources?

absolutely not!

she and Brown were having sex in the Ngati Whatua Room at the Auckland Town Hall when a security guard burst in through the door.

“It was horrific. I had no clothes on and Len had his pants down around his ankles. The security guy was clearly embarrassed and made some apologetic noises before closing the door and leaving.

That's right, straight from the horses mouth, apparently no dodgy credit card transactions, but I guess the lights were out, when allegedly caught by a security guard with butt naked partner and his daks round his ankles.

I'm sure there were no council resources used at all!

Great news!

One of the New Zealand Greenpeace activists being detained in Russia has been refused bail

... they can start the more formal legal proceedings

The sooner these greenie pirates are locked up, enjoying a Russian winter or three,  the world will be a better place.

Wouldn't be great to have a real government like Putin's Russia here in New Zealand ready to show Greenpeace the door and effectively control its border?

Len's Bylaws: For some, not others

An Auckland landlord has been fined $60,000 after illegally converting North Shore garages into flats

Auckland Council was sending landlords a message that non-compliant activity would not be tolerated

Good to see Len's building inspectorate Stasi do actually enforce their bylaws on the affluent.

But in Len's slum residential areas of South and West Auckland, garage living appears to be the norm. Bylaws are obviously not enforced with the same vigour when these are your prime constituents.  And their vote is desperately required tomorrow.

NZ Beef outlook good

An unusually early and enormous snowstorm over the weekend caught South Dakota ranchers and farmers unprepared, killing tens of thousands of cattle and ravaging the state's $7 billion industry — an industry left without assistance because of the federal government shutdown.

As many as 75,000 cattle have perished since the storm slammed the western part of the state Thursday through Saturday with snowfall that set records for the entire month of October in just three days, state and industry officials said.

A vicious storm with 70 mph winds which will have disastrous long term effects for the domestic American meat market as tens of thousands of calves and breeding cattle perished.  Many cattle busted fences and wandered miles downwind looking for shelter before succumbing in drifts 6 feet deep.

Some are making political capital trying to blame Republicans or lack of Federal assistance, when the shutdown is all Obama's making.  No doubt the usual feral greenies will soon be blaming global warming or the like.

New Zealand beef will get a lift long term from being able to supply some of that market with their quality product.

Clint's getting a pay rise

Cunliffe pledges $18.40 an hour for 16 year old state sector office assistants

Hey Clint!  You're getting a pay rise.

Flagrant violation of building code

lavalavas are attached to the ceiling for insulation

You'd think with the super expensive rates paid to Len's mates at the council they might enforce building codes that do not allow residential developments in garages. 

Must be another one of Len's "we won't mow your berms" type enforcements. Two years you say?  Must be some of his core voters.

I'd bet if I tried to setup residence and rent out my garage some officious jackboot from a council inspectorate would doorstep me.

A real government willing to protect it's borders

Russia has charged Greenpeace activists with piracy over a demonstration last month against Arctic oil drilling, a charge that could bring long prison terms for a protest

Putin's Russia shows the world how greenie intruders should be dealt to by a real government willing to protect it's borders.  Time our government was prepared to do the same.

Concern for the environment must not be a cloak for illegal actions, no matter how high-minded the principles motivating participants

 

As for the ferals about to endure a few harsh Russkie winters, I say you deserve everything coming your way.  Long overdue.

Will Trev show? [update]

The summer hols are over at the rich man's yacht racing in the city of queers that is San Francisco.   And today is one of the few days each year when Parliament is actually open for business.

Time for the prodigal son to show his face in the bear pit and meet his newest Dear Leader.

[update]

Cocked that up, didn't check, assumed a normal Tuesday.  Trev will be a no show for another couple of weeks. 

Every other wage slave has already been at work for a full day this week.  Apparently these buggers have the school holidays off too.  Like teachers, your overpaid / under worked politicians are never on the job.

Skimming the Jafaland electoral dross

Below is my cut for skimming the dross as offered in the main Jafaland election.

Name	Pros	Cons
Berry, Stephen	Male	Wants to double dip by also standing in wards, Libertarian
Bright, Penny		Female, barking mad
Brown, Len	Male	Wants to tax the hell out of already over committed ratepayers for his toy train set, leftie
Butler, Jesse	Male	Unemployed professional student looking to bring his bros to the trough, supports living wage and other leftie socialist
Cheel, Tricia		Female, practices black arts of homeopathy water dilution, looking to double dip in DHB
Duffy, Paul	Male	Another fanatical adherent of sustainable living
Goode, Matthew	Male	Away with fairies
Hussey, Emmett	Male
Kruger, Susanna Susara		Female, feral greenie import
Minto, John	Male	Communist, supports Hone, teacher, unionist
O'Connor, Phil	Male,supports anti-abortion
Palino, John	Male, real world business skillset
Shadbolt, Rueben	Male	Trading on his old man's name
Unasa, Uesifili	Male
Vermunt, Annalucia		Female
Willmott, David	Male
Young, Wayne	Male

Simple when you know how to skim the dross.  I see Mr Palino appears to be the stand out offering.

I shall weed the other would be troughers at local board level in a similar manner.  Anything female or left of centre gilded offerings like Future West and particularly any rabid greenies will be firstly culled.

May the best man win.

Spring: Forward

Old, but I like it.

Absolutely not!

he understands why New Zealanders turned on him after he quit Team NZ for big-spending Alinghi.

Coutts suggested the issue is now something of a historical point and that the public might have moved on.

 ''It was big news at the time, but I think people have moved on. I don't actually blame people for having certain views," he said.

''I've got to admit I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it these days."

I've got news for you Mr Traitor.  Real Kiwis do not abandon their country. Ever.  Some of us will never forget what you did.

is moving back home and refuses to rule out a return to Team New Zealand

As well as being forever tarred with the stain of being the leader of a team of cheats which never said sorry for bringing the world's greatest sport into disrepute, the traitor is now looking for a hometown parade and ultimately a job.  Both of which I hope he never gets.

You can bugger off and I hope you're happy with your thirty pieces of silver.

Dot Com funding the Traitor's team.  Now there's a sinking idea.

Barker: "We let NZ down"

No, you will never win against those who cheat.

Len Brown: Not core business - creates fire hazard

Yesterday, Mr Brewer mocked Mayor Brown pushing through support for the $30 million whitewater rafting facility in Manukau City, while treating berm cutting as "no longer core council business".

So Jafaland is set to burn this coming summer with knee high tinder dry grass on the berms.  And ratepayers will pay indirectly via increased insurance premiums for more Fire Service callouts.

Saving minor dollars from a 10year budget of $58bn for his train to nowhere.  Time to get rid of him.

Indonesians crying a river

This is additional burden for Indonesia. We could've just let them sail to Australia, but no, we respect Australia's wishes. "This is a dilemma. If we don't save them, then everyone will be blaming us for not respecting human rights ... But if we let them [sail to Australia] then Australia would be yelling at us why we let them go.

Obviously don't like doing what should have been done years ago.  Stop the illegal immigrants at Indonesian borders, instead of sliding the problem onto Australia.  Stop crying Indons, get on with your job as our neighbours.

I await New Zealand adopting the same policy as Australia, ie turn them back. Unfortunately we all know what will happen - a boat load of illegals will turn up off our coast and pull the plug yelling 'Mayday'.  Yes the lefties will then have a real 'May Day' screaming about the cruel heartless Nats not offering every accommodation and handout to the 'asylum seekers'.

NZ Chokes [updated]

The cheating traitor has held onto the Auld Mug.

[update]

At least I won't have to listen to that aging lefty sing an overworked 'Loyal' yet again, but a different fat lady's song.

Phase III begins today

Double Nightmare

Day whatever update [updated]

[updated]

The traitor's boat gives NZ a masterclass in how to piss away $36M NZD.

UPDATE: 1118 hours

The past three days in San Francisco have featured winds too unstable for racing, fresh winds for two races on Sunday, and one race yesterday in winds that were too light to complete two races. Today, it’s yet another scenario with the wind forecast to gust to 25 knots or stronger.

“We’re back more to the San Francisco that we all expected, a building southwest breeze,” said Regatta Director Iain Murray. “Already there’s 15-16 knots on the racecourse, so the breeze has signaled its intentions early. We’re expecting it to keep building through the day.

“We have strong limits today, 24.7 knots for Race 1 and 24.1 knots for Race 2, so lots of current assist,” Murray continued. “We’re concerned about getting the second race away because of the wind limit. There’s a lot of wind forecast.”

And our geriatric grinder is back on board today.

The question is will I turn the telly off again before they get to the first mark?

Telly turned off

Barker has lost this race already.

Race update

“You’ve all been outside and noticed the wind coming from the east. That’s not a good start,” said Regatta Director Iain Murray at his morning briefing. “The forecast is essentially light and variable, magnificent for water skiing. We expect the wind to come from the southwest, it’s a matter of when it happens.

“We’ve got varying forecasts,” Murray said. “The lower end is 9-10 knots at the start up to 14 knots at the finish, and maybe 18 knots towards the end of what would be the second race. It’s a promising day, just a matter of whether it gets going early enough.”

That forecast does not look good.

Emmerson senses blood in the water

Today in AC history as desperation sets in

Today in America’s Cup history
Historian Hamish Ross looks recalls the advent of the nationality rule during the 1980 America’s Cup season off Newport, R.I.

1980, Race 4, Australia vs. Freedom – Freedom wins by 4:48. Skipper Dennis Conner takes the New York Yacht Club to match point at 3-1 in the 24th America’s Cup Match.

After an American sailor, tactician Andy ,Rose had sailed with an Australian challenger during the 1977 America’s Cup season, the rules regarding the nationality of crew and designers were first implemented by the New York Yacht Club on July 15, 1980, prior to the 1980 match, but to take effect after 1980. Designers and crew were thereafter required by a new Trustee Interpretative Resolution to be nationals of the country of the respective competing yacht club. Immediately, issues arose as to what constituted a “national” of a country and with the Defender seeking to access foreign design talent, the new nationality rule was soon undermined by an amending Trustee Interpretative Resolution on March 9, 1982, permitting nationality to be attained by holding a passport, having domicile, or by having a principal place of residence in the country concerned for a period (usually about 18 months to two years) before the match. The rule was now easily, if sometimes expensively, satisfied by designers and crew renting a residence in a country as from a fixed date. The advent of almost fully professional crews after 1987 put more pressure on the new nationality rules as more mobile professional sailors and designers sought to take up America’s Cup opportunities across national boundaries.

The designer and sailor nationality rules were abolished after the 2003 match, after the rules had lost credibility and only added an additional expense for competitors. The America’s Cup then returned to the position in which it was prior to 1983, when there were no restrictions on the nationality of crew or designers.

Historically, America had engaged six English sailors and an English pilot to win the Cup in 1851, and American defenders routinely used Scandinavian crews. Use of an all-American crew on Defender was headline news in 1895. Early challengers engaged local pilots to help them navigate the tides and shoals of New York Harbour.

The issue of crew nationality remains alive in many quarters in a search for balance between a representative national team to promote national public support, and encouraging new countries to enter the America’s Cup competition by making accessible skills and experience necessary to compete effectively. At present, a competitor has the discretion as to whether or not they engage nationals as their designers and crews, but a defender and its challenger of record have the freedom to mutually consent to crew and designer nationality rules as part of their mutually agreed terms for their forthcoming match. It would take a change to the Deed of Gift if a rule were to apply to all future matches.

 
If you want to know about the actual race Dance of the Desperates, look here or watch it yourself.