Non-entity proposes more taxes

Labour leader David Shearer is urging the introduction of a "living wage" movement in New Zealand to pay people what they need to live on, rather than just sticking to the minimum wage

The non-entity that is the purported Liarbour leader suggests a "living wage". Just because the Poms do it.

Uncosted pie in the sky, no doubt to be funded by more taxes on the productive on top of the billions of electoral bribes proposed.

Kiwis have been working harder "than almost anyone in the developed world" for years but were not reaping the rewards

I wonder why that is? Could it be that the hard working amongst us are saddled with funding the endless retinue of Liarbour voters in entitlement mode chasing ever more handouts for doing less?

Routing another union infestation

Great news!

KiwiRail is proposing to sell its Hillside railway engineering workshop in Dunedin

Another engineering institution gets the message from the market. Union infestations do not engender productivity.

Long may this new climate of union busting continue unabated.

We're paying for this crap?

Management professor Ian Yeoman, a futurist with an interest in tourism, and sexologist Michelle Mars have looked to how red light districts might operate in the year 2050

The future of sex tourism lies in robot prostitutes

- Victoria University researchers

One wonders how such studies might help close the gap with Oz.

IMHO, Mr Key, here's where an extremely sharp axe should be wielded.

Government happy to have it both ways with sin tax

The descent to a third world country continues apace as those in Oz now see the shaky isles as a source of cheap labour.

Imperial Tobacco has also said it will move cigarette manufacturing from Sydney to New Zealand

The government no doubt will reap a hefty whack of sin tax from welcoming that venture to our shores with open arms. Remind me how much taxpayer wedge has been wasted on indoctrination and social engineering attempting to make New Zealand smoke free over the past decade.

I now expect the rabid green loonies on the left to question government priorities and look to ban such a move.

Iwi conned again

biggest single investment was more than $12.5m with Australian-based computer software company My Virtual Home Ltd.

The company is in liquidation and with no assets.

Other major investments included $4.39m with Tu Ere Fishing Ltd which is now likely to offer only a very minimal return, and $1.19m with property investment company Open Group Ltd which now has no current estimated value

The loss means Taranaki's most northern iwi, Ngati Tama, has shed all of a $14.5m Treaty of Waitangi payout it received in 2003

But everything's OK folks. The trustees have been replaced and there's a couple of dollars left for the tribal elite. One suspected this might happen at some time.

What next? Maybe those duplicitous colonials will soon give them a treaty top up, or better still, they might be able to apply for yet another 'full and final' settlement.

Mt Bruce: Tired, overpriced

Went to Mt Bruce yesterday. Have been before a few times, last time a year or so ago. Entertaining grandkids as we are the babysitters of choice for these skool hols.

Was surprised in visible deterioration of aviary exhibits in bush. One pen had collapsed perimeter fence requiring possibly a few hours maintenance, in others birds were very difficult to see. Saw a cheeky and very vocal kokako up close though.

The brown kiwi was no where to be seen in the kiwi house. A black hole in Enclosure 1, with Joe Public left stumbling in the dark looking for a brown kiwi whilst adjusting to the sudden lack of light and wondering if the squeaky entry door had caused the bugger to take flight. How about a sign saying "Nothing to see here, move along"? The tourist magnet white kiwi was relatively easy to see in the dimly but properly lit Enclosure 2.

The eel feeding was informative, well the bits we could hear over the noisy cockie gobbing off that he had bigger ones in his dairy shed drain. An amp and speakers are required for the softly spoken DOC lady so all might hear the patter.

I suspect DOC is using Mt Bruce as a cash cow to fund their other over staffed rorts projects on the go around the country. After all, the tourist buses seem to have an arrangement to stop.

IMHO, not good value at $50 for 2 adults and 2x rugrats - tired exhibits, the lack of maintenance is showing. Front of house shop prices are, as with anything touristy, hideous. As a local, I wouldn't recommend another visit to overpriced Mt Bruce.

Far better is the Middleton Model Railway / Cwmglyn cheese maker two minutes toward Alf Grumble's home at the Eketahuna Club. At $10 per family, tons of value with grandkids that were not happy to leave after 2 hours. Plenty of buttons to push for the many kid sized sets and fantastic main layouts for the big kids at heart. The hosts are convivial and the cheese tastes great.

New choppers unfit for purpose

Auditor-General Lyn Provost said in a report published on the Defence Force website this week that the fleet of high technology NH-90s were riddled with problems

Another Labour cockup to fix. Surprise!


As members of the military always remember:

The weapon you are about to use to protect your life was supplied by the lowest tender

Another "good boy" that needs a swift kick

"He's a good kid. He's not the prolific burglar he's been made out to be. He's been made out to be like Bailey Junior Kurariki," the father said

The rellies provide comic relief for the day suggesting the recently nabbed 11 year old Artful Dodger is nothing but a "good boy". And butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

ran away from his grandmother earlier this year and was caught burgling in Napier before being returned to Gisborne

He and his 12-year-old brother ran away again and hitch-hiked back to Hawke's Bay this month.

Both boys were arrested Tuesday afternoon with a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy after being caught breaking into a Napier house

Mr Plod suggests the results suggest otherwise.

try and turn his behaviour around ... has not been successful. His behaviour has now escalated to a point where a secure residential facility is the best option

Just another future gang member and/or Bailey Junior treading the well worn path. Secure facility to mend his ways? Nothing that a good swift kick in the arse wouldn't fix.

Key finally moving in the Right direction?

National says it walked away from plans to expand the working agreement with the Greens because it couldn't find the funding for the party's projects

One can only hope that Key is starting to move in the Right direction having stopped any further bargaining with the raving loons that infest the far left of the political spectrum.

Next stop, cease pandering to the racist separatists and tell Lying Len to stop wasting ratepayer money on his toy train set.

Updated: Key to reward the "bad people"? dodges bullet

"not welcome here"

Prime Minister John Key says accepting a boat load of ... asylum seekers would open the flood gates to "millions of others'' and reward the "bad people''

One wonders if the good Mr Key will welcome the boatload of Falun Gong that will arrive mid-May? As slippery Julia passes the buck.

Key's worst nightmare is unfolding in Darwin as New Zealand becomes the port of choice for the hordes with our lax "no boats will ever get here" immigration.

[Update]
Key dodges bullet as the Darwin 10 opt for an Oz handout courtesy of "we will take all comers, legal or otherwise" Julia. Soon there will be a boat, possibly rating slightly less than Cat 1, available cheaply for sale in Darwin.

A bird in the hand...

You can exceed 100Km/H today...

Mr Plod will be taking a day off after the long weekend of revenue gathering with a 4Km/H tolerance. You can exceed 100Km/H today, but keep an eye out for the grumpy revenue gatherer that has drawn the short straw for today's duty. He still has a quota to meet.

And also a special mention goes to the prick towing a boat at 85Km/H that held up 20 odd cars from Napier to Taupo around 1030-1215 Saturday. I was near the rear of the line behind you. You would not pull to the shoulder and let any cars pass. Even managed to stop my car, change drivers and still we caught up with the rear of your line. Nearly got your car number in Taupo, but got caught in lakefront traffic by the solid stream lemmings heading north from Wellytown.

Women: Listen and obey

a bit of a sissy or you were soft if you talked about your emotions

feminine behaviours" at the bottom of the manly scale - "love, care, empathy, seeking help to deal with issues, even seeking help for healthcare

for sure then you were a little bit lacking in the man department

I say to such men, feminised metro-man will never do well in this dog-eat-dog world.

all agree on what should go at the top: men controlling women, men should be tough, men should be physically strong, they should be providers, financially successful, protectors of women, men are superior, men should always be independent and always know what they're talking about, really in control

And women should listen and obey. Harden up and get on with it.

Spouting forth from ivory towers: KiwiSlaver to become compulsory?

Michael Littlewood, director of the Retirement Policy and Research Centre at Auckland University, said he questioned the need to renew the agreements with the default providers.

"By then, most New Zealand employees will be KiwiSaver members and auto-enrolment will be unnecessary."

One usually never fails to be amused by such plonkers from academia when they spout forth. For example, the estimable Mr Spoonley with his race-baiting rants from the towers provides top class regular entertainment. At least this one does admit a pecuniary interest being a director of a non-default provider.

However I do take issue with his "... New Zealand employees will be KiwiSaver members and auto-enrolment will be unnecessary ...". I would hazard a guess that many employees, like myself, will never join KiwiSlaver no matter what bribes are offered. It's like turning up at the WINZ office for a fortnightly handout. Something I wish never stoop to.

But I do wonder if the nice Mr Key is about to change the KiwiSlaver rules? So that all employees will be made compulsory members in 2014. The spewing forth from the ivory tower of one without skin in the game may have inadvertently given things away.

Unionised: As thick as two short planks

The Maritime Union says it is dismayed the Ports of Auckland has returned to the bargaining table with little change in its position on contracting out stevedoring work

The ports company has said it is determined to continue the contracting out process once the collective agreement is settled

As predicted, POAL has rightly not changed position. One day the unionised will understand.

but union president Garry Parsloe says no worker will agree to a collective which retains the right of the employer to contract out

Poor deluded souls. Maybe the unionised will never understand, but eventually the message will get through their thick skulls as their jobs disappear to other ports.

Locals give natives the message

A rotting deer head has been left outside a North Island iwi office after its successful protest against a car race up Mt Ruapehu

Natives getting a taste of of their own medicine. Long may the fight back continue against these practitioners of stone age dark arts.

In a separate story, the wheel clampers with portable EFTPOS up north deserve a similar dose of medicine.