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According to our Prime Minister democracy is simply an expensive waste of time. Not surprising as democracy isn't exactly something this bully government gives a lot of thought to. Radio NZ reports: Prime Minister John Key says the Te Tai Tokerau by-election was an expensive…
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A victory for Mana or a victory for Labour? Actually, it was a win for both, and a win for the Left. The losers in Te Tai Tokerau were the true enemies of the Left - the kupapa Maori Party and National. Turia put up…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Hone Harawira has won the by-election for Te Tai Tokerau, despite the best efforts of the msm, John Key's endorsement of Kelvin Davis, dirty tricks from the Maori Party, and despite Labour's typically ill-considered, hamfisted attempts to wipe out Mana at its first election. At last we…
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Te Tai Tokerau includes the North Shore, so there's been a by-election in my patch today. I had good fun participating in the Get Out The Vote effort across the Shore with many other friendly volunteers. The polls have just closed, so soon we get…
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I don't proclaim to be an expert on insurance. Weaknesses in govt's Christchurch buyout plan were pretty obvious who thought about it for a couple of minutes. Option 1: GV for land & property, would not be enough to buy replacement for most. Option 2:…
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Things are bad for the ski industry: No snow: Mother Nature's cruel blow Unseasonably warm weather is keeping skiers off the slopes and putting pressure on the multimillion-dollar ski industry at popular tourist destinations around New Zealand. Weather analysts expect snow to fall soon, but…
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The spotlight was on Christchurch last week, and will be on Te Tai Tokerau over the weekend. Lots of stories are slipping by under the radar. But both of these pieces deserve further comment. Tim Watkin at Pundit takes John Key to task: The PM's…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Fascinating column by Paul Krugman in the NYT. America's growth is slowing, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernancke has just anounced that he doesn't understand why the recession is going on so long. Krugman's focus is on employment, and he says: The latest economic data…
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Sometimes you have to simply start from 1.0 for Godwin's Law. This pretty much applies to anything re-subtitled from the movie "Der Untergang" (english "Downfall"). The latest one that I have seen is this side splitting rendition of exactly what has been going on inside…
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Reprinted from No Right Turn (see also Red Alert). Schrödinger's cat is a famous thought experiment in quantum physics, which illustrates the indeterminacy of quantum events. A cat is stuck in a box with a tiny amount of radioactive material - enough to statistically produce…
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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Amazing what a bit of political pressure can do. Christchurch package announced yesterday was clearly put together in the space of a couple of days. Released at last moment before Key went overseas. Buy-out at government valuation is the obvious solution but will see many…
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The National Research unit has created National pollster David Farrar has taken time out of his holiday to create a graph showing the reduction in tax across incomes. Supposedly it shows National's tax cuts weren't for the rich after all - we just imagined it!…
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What about: 'see ya, I'm off to India'?
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As of last night the most useful practical summary was in The Herald here. The piece leads with the headline that, while many now have a concrete deal in front of them, twice as many do not: 5100 lose homes, 10,500 in limbo More than…
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Now this is genuinely hilarious: Though if you've got half an hour this performance for Campbell Live is possibly even funnier. H/T @davidfarrier (no no, the good one)
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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I suppose one must be grateful to Alasdair Thompson for one thing; at least he didn't imply that we feeble little women should just avoid all sudden movement lest our ovaries fall out. (This is not to say that all women have ovaries, or even…
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Eddie called it. Christchurch announcement is today. There are very high hopes. Points to watch: how many in the 'don't know' category & are payouts at pre-quake market values? Notable release is this afternoon just before Key leaves. Makes it difficult to get reaction from…
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A nice graph sourced from here that highlights the basis of some of the sillier denier arguments. One swallow doesn't make a spring and a couple of cooler years doesn't break a trend. Oh, and 2010 isn't on the graph. It was the warmest on…
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The Christchurch earthquakes have created a challenge which is unprecedented in this country (and probably very rare in the modern world). Large, densely populated areas are not safe to rebuild. Any government would have struggled with this. National I think have done poorly so far.…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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This story from the Washington Post: As many as 1.5 million current and former female workers could have been included in the class suing Wal-Mart, the world’s largest private employer, and the company faced the possibility of owing billions of dollars in back pay. But…
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I see Key is due to fly in to help announce the bad news in Christchurch tomorrow only to fly straight out to India the next day. It's seems to me the timing is all about keeping Key's brand away from the bad news -…
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Well, the Government's managed to set another record: 3300 Kiwis have managed to 'catch up' with Australia in a month. That's the new record for number of Kiwis leaving for Australia, set in May. The previous record of 2900 was set in 1979. And it's…
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Perfectly understandable. Reckon it'll be up heaps this month. Not so understandable is the government's blase attitude to how the rebuilding will happen: Hon David Cunliffe: Given his aspirational reply to my earlier supplementary question, is it now he who is dancing from cloud to…
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With the high profile by-election going on in Te Tai Tokerau, comments yesterday by Tariana Turia attracted a lot of attention: Te Tai Tokerau race 'extraordinary' Four days out from the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia is steering voters away from…
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It’s been a tough week. Right now Christchurch is a city of two halves. I am fortunate enough to work on the west side of town, but unlucky enough to live on the east side. It feels odd to write about an east west divide…