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I'm going to just repost in full a post by guest author Hugh Pickens on Slashdot: Dr. James Hansen, director of the NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who first made warnings about climate change in the 1980s, says that public skepticism about the threat of…
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We all know that many Kiwis choose to leave and never come back. Student loans have created a new incentive, and a new class of expensively educated loan refugees. Currently we're loosing folk to Australia in record numbers (another "successful" Nat election promise). And now…
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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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Recall the Nats' promises on the tests for proceeding with asset sales ("mixed ownership model"): The Government’s five tests for proceeding The Government has decided to pursue extending the mixed ownership model after being assured the following five tests can be met: The Government will…
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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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There is more and more (and more and more and more) evidence accumulating that "fracking" is a Bad Thing. So it's great to see that Christchurch City Council has (unanimously) banned the practice - Christchurch is a frack free zone. A symbolic gesture? Maybe, but…
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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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So Bill English wants to make history and be the first to use the financial veto on a whole piece of legislation. It's only ever been used before on amendments, usually added by oppositions to make a political point. Not on an actual fully-fledged piece…
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Looks like Stuart Nash is going to quit as Shearer's chief of staff and return to Napier. He has 2 solid reasons to do so: his 3 month old and his excellent chance of beating Tremain in 2014. Don't actually think chief of staff was…
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It was a bad day yesterday for the 'heavy hitters' of the Collins faction, Slater and Lusk. First, Ports of Auckland admitted supplying them with a workers' private details. Then, the smear on the Meatworkers that they had orchestrated with Talley's was shot down by…
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Last week, David Farrar demanded to know where the government is getting $62m for youth mental health services... Actually he didn't (they're stealing it from other health funding) but he is demanding Labour explains where it would get $125m a year for extending paid parental…
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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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Ports of Auckland management have called for facilitation, claiming the union won't shift. By not shift they mean the union won't sign up to a deal that allows the port to contract out whenever it likes. This is an interesting situation. If it goes to…
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If National believe in the free-market like they say they do, they need to send the correct market signals. If there is no cost to farmers polluting, there will be no innovation or strong action on improving their greenhouse gas emissions. Where we could be…
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. . .
bill english humour john key Judith Collins Metiria Turei russel norman
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Every time Simon Lusk's name gets mentioned, Whaleoil (which is only Cameron Slater and has nothing to do with Lusk </sarcasm>) responds with a vitriolic and revealing tirade. In the latest, Whaleoil insists there are no National factions, before insulting and demeaning each of the…
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Cut the public service to save money and what happens? Well, lots of things, but one of them is that you end up spending more money on consultants. Surprise surprise: Spending on consultants rises under National Some government departments have tripled their spending on consultants…
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The government (at least, the National and Act parts of it) have signalled they’ll veto Sue Moroney’s bill to extend paid parental leave on the grounds that it would cost too much. (May I just say as an aside, GO SUE!) Zetetic has shown that…
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Parliament is supposed to be the sovereign body in our government. So, how come the Executive has an unchallengeable power to veto any legislation it chooses? As I/S explains, the roots of the financial veto go back to when Parliament was a servant of the…
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Slater/Lusk have been running a series of posts on the finances of the unions. Pretty weak stuff. All Slater/Lusk have proven is that they don't understand the corporate structure of unions, they can't read accounts, and they can't do research. Still, you knew they were…
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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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With the effective withdrawal of Rick Santorum from the Republican primary process (how he ever made it this far is a scary mystery to me), Mitt Romney is now all but certain to be the Republican nominee to go up against Barack Obama in the…
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Hidden away at the end of this story, hidden away out of most media view, hidden away from Housing New Zealand, and from society... ordinary people being shafted by National's cuts. Housing NZ offices getting shut (with the workers not even allowed to attend their…
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As the Nats try to spin us into accepting another zero budget, focus is turning to two big holes that their policy decisions have created. The first is the billion dollar a year plus spend on the low to negative value Roads of National (Party)…
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The Right says that extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks is too expensive. Typical. The bastards know the price of everything and the value of nothing. If anything, Sue Moroney's Bill doesn't go far enough as it doesn't extend eligibility to the nearly 60%…
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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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Sue Moroney's 6 months of Paid Parental Bill looks like being a second Labour private member's bill that will proceed against National's wishes - Mondayisation of Waitangi / ANZAC being the first. United Future campaigned on increased Paid Parental, and the Maori Party are apparently…
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Ruth Richardson pushed Fiscal Responsibility and as part of her legacy we have the Fiscal Responsibility Act, meaning that all policies are measured for their financial implications. This hasn't always worked brilliantly. It's pushed Treasury to the fore, and their required predictions aren't always very…
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The Nats are awash in the grubby side of political power. Take cronyism, for example. Political appointments to the boards of RNZ and TVNZ. Judith Collins cutting corners in the appointment of Nat Wayne Mapp to the Law Commission. Brownlee's appointment of Jenny Shipley and…
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http://vimeo.com/39937744 h/t Carol. Apparently some people are only seeing a blank white space where the opening frame of the vid should be. Clicking on the blank space should start the vid. Sheesh. Then it didn't embed at all when I added the explanation! So 'fraid…