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Felix can hardly contain himself at the prospect of National's tax changes: Woohoo!! Told you my mate Mr Key would be able to deliver a 'north of $50 a week' tax cut. And you all said he wouldn't. So who's looking stupid now eh? I…
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Yesterday, the Dompost had this to say about public perceptions of science: Science might be finally emerging from the shadows, its non-sexy status having long been reinforced by an often scientifically ignorant public, suspicious of the work many scientists do... How will the May Budget…
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The New Zealand economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were largely a failure. This can be seen from the large negative divergence post 1984 in New Zealand's real output per capita in comparison to Australia, our usual benchmark. New Zealand's comparative position vis-Ã -vis unemployment…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Paul McMahon My Granddad grew up in Te Aroha near Tui Mine and spent a lot of time on the slopes of Mt Te Aroha and in its bush. But mining on the western slopes of the mountain ruined a large swathe of the land…
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I didn't actually realise that the fact Andrew Little is considering standing for Labour in New Plymouth in 2011 was news to anyone. He hasn't announced any definite intention yet and Labour hasn't asked for nominations but Little has been open about his hopes to…
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First it was the Wellywood sign, now it's a statue of a guy standing in a giant pile of manure while holding aloft a golden testicle. And you thought the only Mayor that delighted it making their constituency look stupid was Tim Shadbolt. Please, please…
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Lorraine Kerr is the President of the NZSTA (New Zealand School Trustees Association). NZSTA is an organisation that supports School Boards of Trustees. Kerr is a woman who supports the National Party. She has used the Association to pen several articles in support of National…
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The Herald has a little shock piece on child offending: "5-year-old sex offender on crime list". Of course, what the offence was isn't mentioned and there's good reasons why children aren't held legally responsible for their actions. There is an interesting sentence though: "Although the…
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Forest and Bird has obtained information that Prime Minister John Key and Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee are looking to mine Paparoa National Park (the park of the famous Punakaiki blowholes), Great Barrier Island, and areas surrounding the Thames township. [Forest and Bird] Spokesman Kevin Hackwell…
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"No taxation without representation" was the slogan of the American revolution. American colonists felt deeply aggrieved that taxes were imposed without their involvement and without proper democratic representation. Colonists expressed their feelings by tarring and feathering tax collectors. They were so aggrieved that they went…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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My absence this weekend from moderation and posts has partially been because of going to the excellent Fabian seminar today. However it has largely been due to trying to get a workable search system running. One that didn't bring the whole server crashing around my…
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John Key on the coming tax money go round: "it will make the bulk of New Zealanders either better off or a lot better off, and on a straight GST income tax no one will be worse off" The tax changes leaked to the Sunday-Star…
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OK, I don't get it, I really don't. Can someone please explain. For a long time now Marty G and others here have been pointing out that National's claims on tax cuts and GST increases don't add up. They are promising (1) that the "vast…
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Deborah Coddington writes: "In 1994, not long after Rodney Hide became leader of Act,..." Hide became leader in 2004. I know the papers don't demand any kind of intellectual rigour or evidence-based argument from their celebrity columnists but jeez. To be fair, the rest of…
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As previously posted, there is a Auckland seminar running this afternoon on options for the future direction of the New Zealand economy. Bold Choices for a Better Future is the provocative first seminar in the Resilient Economy Series, entailing a pragmatic 360Ëš view of the economy, its…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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On Monday this week the front page of the Auckland Herald's print edition announced that the paper was going to run a campaign to fight what it called "the lockout of democracy" in the Super City. There was nothing on the Herald website all week,…
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You won't see many nice words written about John Ansell on this site. He's the guy who came up with the Iwi/Kiwi billboards which were a key feature National's racist campaign in 2005. Still, he is a voice of the Right and he takes John…
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I was going to do a post about how National's implementation of national standards is driven by pure ideology, and appears to be based on no evidence whatsoever. Key and Tolley keep making statements about education that make no logical or factual sense at all.…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Check out this video of Fox News talk host Glenn Beck. It's a compilation of his week-long series on how "America is burning to the ground". I think he's trying to argue that Barack Obama is plotting some sort of communist-inspired coup, but it's hard…
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You'll have seen the government's furious response to the Sunday Star Times "commission[ing] people masquerading as terrorists to attend Super 14 Games". From the sound of it, the SST got some people with fake explosives on their person (sticks saying TNT and an old timey…
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British American Tabacco's Graeme Amey has the brazen lie down pat. The guy quit smoking himself but wants Kiwis to keep smoking and dying to make his company profits. When asked why he quit he said "it was just a personal choice". But why? "It…
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We all knew Bill Ralston had become a nutty fringe right-winger despite how much he likes to play the slighted liberal. But his decision to start a Facebook group attacking public broadcasting, and to do so with two nutty Objectivists (one of whom did National's…
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Looking at the leaders for the Fabians seminar on Sunday, it looks to me like it is going to be quite interesting because it is likely to focus more on incremental rather than radical methods. One of the major issues to me with the existing…
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Who would have thought that a Facebook group advocating to keep Radio NZ funded and commercial-free would overtake Prime Minister John Key's fan group for number of members? Well, yesterday at 9.30, just over three weeks since it was founded, the Save Radio New Zealand…
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This year the government will spend $65,520 million. I say 'about' because the government itself only has a vague idea. That estimate came out in December and already it's $678 million out (less spent). It expected gross debt to be $51,716 million. In fact, it's…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...