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The Government announced that it was withdrawing its Alcohol Reform Bill today and introducing prohibition after it realised that alcohol was used by the 'Beast of Blenheim' to stupefy young girls. "It's what we'd do if it was any other drug, particularly as it's associated…
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Old rich man, Don Brash, arch-advocate of private property rights, on Q+A arguing against the property rights of iwi because they're Maori. He says we shouldn't have race-based ownership. No-one's arguing for that. Only the Right are making this about race. Iwi are arguing for…
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I’m going to try and put up a piece each Sunday of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t…
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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 joined Mighty River Power today. They visited and offered me $150 incentive payment, no contract and a cheap rate guaranteed until April 2013. So, I intend to use them through winter, use up my $150 credit, then switch back to powershop when their rates get…
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Reports of a good turn-out around the country, although bad weather has obviously kept many more indoors. Funny, weren't pro-Government media saying all the fuss would die down after the legislation was passed...
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When you have the legal power to control aspects of how something is used, those are property rights, and when you have the legal power to exclude use of something by someone -for instance, by allocating exclusive usage rights to someone else - that's ownership.…
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The Government has binned part of the Northern Wellington Corridor 'Road of National Significance' - the four-lane expressway between Otaki and Levin that would have cost $400m. The government's not getting enough road tax revenue and they had already cut all other transport funding to…
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So the plan to screw down police wages isn't working, and National are having to keep going with their other approach. But not everyone is taking death by 1000 cuts lying down. So apparently the police is no longer a service and should be run…
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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's an extraordinary row going on in the ALP at the moment, with right faction leaders attacking the Greens as financially incompetent and politically marginal. The NSW Labor conference this weekend will debate a motion by the State Secretary Sam Dastyari that Labor not automatically…
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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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Last month, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett caused outrage when she suggested somehow banning child abusers from having children. The suspicion at the time was that this was a desperate and cynical attempt to distract the public from the government's hypocritical and deeply unpopular plans…
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Now, I'm no big city lawyer, but it seems to me that John Key may be walking on some mighty thin ice by telling prospective investors in Mighty River not to worry about the Maori Council's water claim. If it goes wrong, isn't he exposing…
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John Key has been saying variants of this a lot lately: "I'm the Government's major spokesperson and I need to spell out the Government's position, and the Government's long held, and very strongly held, view is that nobody owns water." Key's just being cute with…
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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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Climate change is causing the world's temperatures and seas levels to rise but this isn't a steady process. Instead we see more frequent and more extreme weather events. The record-busting heatwave in the US and floods in Russia are examples. So, a few people die…
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In what passes for political comment in today's increasingly anorexic DomPost, we read that David Parker issued a speech that "criticised National for failing to boost imports and control housing prices." That didn't sound like David Parker. Sure enough, his speech actually put the finger…
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Seeing coverage of the apparently unhurried steps towards Labour party members having a say in future leadership bids made me want to stop and ask some questions about whether they are telling the full story: 1) Will members have the same say as MPs? And…
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Some of the media reckon that Key slagging off the Waitangi Tribunal was an accident of honesty: he was just stating reality that the Tribunal's findings aren't binding, he didn't realise it would provoke a firestorm of reaction. Others say he knew exactly what he…
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The oceans are doing their best to save us from climate change apparently... but just ending up dooming us in another way. Oceans are absorbing a large amount of the excess CO2 that we're putting out. But it results in coral and shellfish unable to…
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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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After Five Years: Report Card on Crisis Capitalism Monday, 09 July 2012 By Richard D Wolff After five years of crisis - with no end in sight - it's time to evaluate what happened, why and what needs to be done. One key cause…
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When the Dotcom raid happened, I was taken in. Sure the Police are playing FBI wannabes with the armed cops and helicopters, I thought, but there must be some truth in it. Now, it's shades of the Urewera shambles as Dotcom's extradition drags out. It'll…
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So, just 32 hours after Key started running the line that the Government would ignore the Waitangi Tribunal's decision on the Maori Council water rights claim if it didn't go his way, the Maori Party reacted. Key is abusing the privilege of his office by…
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While the energy companies are profitable for the government to own - thanks to its 3.5% cost of capital - they're not for 'mum and dad' because the dividend return is going to be 4% pre-tax and 'mum and dad' have a mortgage, or an…
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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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New Zealand-registered shell companies are being used for money laundering, according to Mike Field's story in today's DomPost. Here's a summary: in the last two years Fairfax Media has exposed hundreds of companies on the Companies Registry used to launder money. Last week New Zealand…
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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. One of the weaknesses of our democratic system is that it gives people the opportunity to buy political influence. I don't mean…