Friday, January 31, 2014


From the time he sacked the democratically elected Hawkes Bay District Health Board only a few weeks after they were elected I have considered Cunliffe to be an Arrogant Prick. In the last couple of weeks he has proven himself to be more than that and I now consider him to be a Stupid Ignorant Arrogant Prick. It worries me that there are voters equally stupid who may cause him to be elected Prime Minister of New Zealand by this time next year and I say - God Defend New Zealand from that fate.

Thursday, January 30, 2014


Yesterday I posted, basically on the serious threat to free speech, I regard the DDOS attack on Slater's Blog WhaleOil presents as an outcome.

Not surprised at the vitriol and hatred towards Slater it generated, however very surprised at the apparent acceptance of the freedom principle I addressed, by so many  as being entirely acceptable, primarily because the main protagonist is viewed by many as an undesirable.

I wonder what would be the reaction if say, a well resourced mate of Banksie, entirely fed up with the braindead pursuit of funding involved in a failed Mayoral campaign four years ago, made a concerted attack on The Daily Blog, The Standard, Red Alert (would anyone notice) , Frogblog and the NZLP and GP websites. You see I view some of the muck flung at John Banks, someone I hold in high regard for many reasons, to be undeserved, unfair, unjustified inappropriate and totally OTT, though clealy a perceived weak point for attack to cripple Key's administration.
Maybe though, such an action would be entirely OK even though much of the opinion emanating from those sources is sometimes regarded by many, as economic sabotage, hate speech and/or downright lies.
Supporters of those websites would of course all just suck it up based on the accepted theory that such action could be justified logically and morally by the perp.


What WhaleOil publishes is not what some consider good taste, accurate or even relevant in the opinion of some and always in the feeble minds of the disloyal opposition.
However Open Parachute's monthly rankings suggest the true remarkable success of WhaleOil.
On monthly visits it is just under a million , three times second placed Kiwi Blog who is about level with third and fourth combined,
When Pageviews are used WO is way out front at nearly two million from KB at just over half a million and that is barely headed by combining third and fourth.
Whatever the political persuasion of the hundreds of thousands who view those top four political blogs might be, it should be of concern that such a popular resource can be taken out without the damage to the information flow even mattering.

I am one of a growing number of people who having abandoned the dead tree press, over a decade ago, keep abreast of the world via blogs and other media on line and often it is a blog that triggers a wider search for additional info.

Some may discount WO as of any value, they may hate CS and all he represents but to dismiss the mindless serious threats as (a) deserved, (b) unfounded,  (c) unlikely or (d) not valid, spare a moment to consider the tragedy that unfolded in St Leonards on Otago Harbour when a nutter fulfilled the promise made to Kill his own kids to get back at their mother, his ex partner.
His threats were not acted on for a number of reasons but those two innocent children are now still quite dead.

Hate is a terrible and insidious thing and although politics can inflame passions markedly, murder, rape, thuggery, stalking, or any other serious retribution issued as threats is never OK in a civilised society.

My faith in the basic good in human nature has been somewhat shaken in recent days, "take it easy out there people."

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Speaking of "utter wastes of money..."

Recall the referendum on asset sales?  Sure you do - it was only a couple of months ago.  According to the country's then Prime Minister, John Key, having to spend $9 mil on such a referendum was an "utter waste of money."

It's kind of weird, but on Stuff right now there's a guy who's presumably the same John Key (because it says he's the Prime Minister), who's talking about holding a referendum on the not-exactly-urgent question of whether we should ditch the NZ flag in favour of, er, how can I put this? A sports logo.

After devoting some thought to the question of whether this really can be the same person, I have to conclude it is - same gormless expression, same mangled pronunciation etc, it all matches.  So, yeah, it's the same guy.  But what changed his mind about referenda?

After further thought, I've figured it out.  See, the November referendum was a mere citizens' initiated referendum, in which hundreds of thousands of absolute nobodies put their signatures to a request to hold a referendum on something as utterly trivial as the privatisation of public assets.  Of course spending $9 mil on that kind of thing is just a ridiculous waste of good taxpayers' money.  The Prime Minister's referendum, on the other hand, is proposed by an Important Person, not a collection of nobodies, and deals with a matter of such vital importance to the nation that of course $9 mil would be money well spent on it.  Or something.

National's Best Electoral Asset - David Cunliffe

Cunliffe has just gifted the National Party with NZ;s middle NZ swinging voters.

All those low to middle income families with young children well be taxes by Labour to give a new welfare payment to rich pricks who decide to have another baby.

And I men real rich pricks.  Couples with pre=copulation incomes of $300k or more will be paid an extra $60 per week of new welfare.

Way to go, Cunners.

Can't wait to see the next lot of opinion polls.

The DDOS assault on Whale Oil Beef Hooked.

Cameron Slater's Blog, Number one in New Zealand, has been unreachable for days now and I for one find that very disturbing.

Yes Slater's team post some challenging stuff, news, opinion, videos from within NZ and overseas.
The posts are sometimes, in a current descriptive, "edgy".

Whatever your take on the amorous and dodgy behaviors of recently re-elected Mayor Len Brown, the dealings around Hell Pizza franchises, Many things politicians of all hues would rather never made headlines, inner workings of political parties around finance, candidate selection and mp behavior plus some very interesting goings on in the wide world, Slater's blog unearths stuff that otherwise would never see ink on paper or create TV images.

There is absolutely no compulsion for a single one of us to even visit his blog but just as some who would rail about who can access, Playboy, Penthouse, Red Alert, The Standard or any other repository of pornography, in error carry on as if they were compulsory activities.
Sheesh the greatest right the interwebby has delivered is freedom of access to information on just about anything one wants to know about.

Threats to that information flow being disrupted are recurring, remember how Y2k threatened civilisation as we knew it, various tales of how a national armed force could be paused with a cyber attack on comms and weapon systems. Some Governments, for obvious reasons limit, control or prevent citizens accessing the Web
Slater's busted blog is a reminder of what might  be achieved, by a deranged misguided individual
Rumours abound as to cost, hardware/software needed, where the DDOS attack could be initiated, then carried out from and the big question WHO.

Who might be motivated sufficiently to risk reputation, livelihood and even freedom if found to be complicit.

Well Cameron Slater does not want for suspects;
Mayor Brown and his spin team,
Mathew Blomfield,
Martyn Bradbury,
Kim Dot Con and his troubles with Uncle Sam,
The internet party and Alister Thomson,
POA Unions,
Various minions in The NZLP,
National Headquarters and executive,
The Standard to mention a few.

Now whatever Slater does, has done, or might do in future does not, ever, ever  earn death threats, rape of his daughter or any other threat to his family, friends or associates.
I have removed some troubling comments from my very inconsequential efforts here on No Minister, but pretty innocuous compared to what has been threatened to Cameron Slater.
A couple of "cant wait for you to be dead",  "you should be careful we know where you live" and one " I would come and sort you out but I can't be bothered".

What Slater is reputed to have said re the passenger killed in the estimated 150 kph rollover and collision with a house, who is a sibling of one of the Pike Mine dead, clearly was seen as insensitive and in poor taste but the quoted retaliation on social media is way OTT and completely unacceptable.
Of course had that wreck ended in a bedroom with half a dozen teen girls having a sleepover, sentiment would have been somewhat different.

Whether the DDOS attack is related or as I suspect coincidental albeit maybe launched under the cover of the reaction to his 'feral' post, remains to be seen.
That said freedom of speech is the greatest weapon available to free people, It shattered the Berlin Wall, something I believed would never happen in my lifetime, when it was erected over half a century ago.

There are so many quotations on freedom, below is one that resonates with my self image;

― Robert A. Heinlein

This shutting down of Whale Oil beef Hooked should be viewed seriously by every free thinker who ever visits the Bolgosphere when where or why, the mind that precipitated the DDOS attack should trouble all who do so.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sigh - you know, I am going to say "I told you so"

Sorry, long post.

Although I've defended Labour's "Best Start" announcement under The Veteran's post below, I'm not happy with it either.  I'll try and explain why.

First, what's good about it.

1. It's a well, duh.  If there's a problem with children being raised in poverty, seeing to it that people with children get more money isn't exactly counter-intuitive.

2. It's a combo shot in that it's also an education policy, and a far more useful one than the expensive idiocy announced by Key last week.

The education thing is important, so I'm going to elaborate on it a bit.  Education policy is a problem for National, and not just because they can't think past their desire to break the teacher unions.  The big reason it's a problem for them is that the cause of this "long tail" of underachievement they love banging on about is poverty. Nats like to pretend that studies have shown family income and home environment  to be trivial influences on educational outcomes, and that the most important factor is teacher quality.  I don't know how journalists keep from laughing in Key and Parata's faces when they peddle that one, because it's a barefaced lie.  They know very well that teacher quality is merely the most important in-school factor, and is dwarfed by external factors like wealth or poverty. They know it because no academic qualifications are needed to know it - the very fact that a school's decile is a useful proxy for the academic achievement of its students is a conclusive demonstration.  Certainly the nation's parents don't have any problem identifying school decile as a proxy for educational performance, even if they don't think about what that means.

The reason National MPs lie about poverty's influence on education is that if they were to accept it they'd be obliged to do something about it, which is not what their constituency elects them to do.  Hence we get bizarre education policies from them - the nuttiness of their latest one is well illustrated by Danyl in this post.

Labour and the Greens, on the other hand, are well placed to be able to publicly recognise the problem for what it is and do something about it. Labour's policy of doing something about it by just giving parents some money strikes me as both simpler and less undermining of parents than the Greens' approach of trying to take over the parenting.

So, what's bad about it then?

Well, I don't think it's the lack of targeting, even though that's where Nat supporters are attacking it.  It may not make economic sense to provide financial assistance to parents with a household income upwards of $100,000, but it makes a lot of political sense.  Such is the game, no point in whinging about it.

No, the bad part is the incentive effect - what you subsidise, you get more of.

I've made a prick of myself over at the Standard for years now, in that every time someone posts a hand-wringing "won't someone think of the children" post about child poverty, I comment along similar lines. Goes like this:

1. If the problem is that someone doesn't have enough money, giving them money will (in many cases) address the problem.

2. However, there are downsides to paying people without the means, the ability or even the inclination to raise children, to create children without giving it a moment's thought. It results in increasing numbers of children being raised in sole-parent beneficiary households.

3. Being raised in a sole-parent beneficiary household raises your risk for pretty much every shit indicator, including being 13x more likely to suffer abuse.*

4. Most people are aware this is the case, which means a policy of dishing out more money to parents of children in poverty without some corresponding measures to reduce the likelihood of it increasing the population of children in poverty is high-grade voter repellent.

I think Labour's Best Start policy falls into this trap and is at great risk of repelling voters. Lindsay Mitchell outlines the risks very well in this post, but here are a couple of them that illustrate what I'm on about very well:

The main reason for child poverty is between a fifth and a quarter of babies born every year will be benefit-dependent by the end of the year. Effectively increasing the Sole Parent Support (ex DPB) by $3,000 a year isn't going to discourage that pattern of behaviour. This policy risks growing the number of benefit-dependent children which will achieve the very opposite of what Cunliffe claims to want.

It will undermine the welfare reforms aimed at reducing long-term dependency by making benefits more attractive. Of course there is no guarantee the new work-testing will be retained if the government changes anyway.

TL:DR version: a policy of paying people to have children without also including some means of reducing the incentive effect on careers as sole parent beneficiaries lets political opponents portray you as running a waster breeding programme.  Best Start has this flaw.

* The 13x figure applied to being raised on a benefit, not necessarily by a sole parent, but you get the idea.

Which Way, With Whom

Over recent days,  three politicians have articulated their vision for this country moving forward as 2014 unfolds.

Well it is on the way really with January almost a spent force.

Key opened with a massive revamp of education where excellence, effectiveness and efficiency will be finally brought to bear, as the major plank of a 'state of the nation' speech that pointed firmly to the countries future through improvements in education.

That was followed by an ideologically based step back to totalitarianism with a co leader of an extreme socialist party policy to replace deadbeat parents with significant state intervention into nurture and care of some of our vulnerable young that would sweep up children loved and cared for by good parents who happen to live within the catchment of lower decile schools.

Then yesterday the current leader of her majesty's loyal opposition made a massive move to bribe middle New Zealand voters with a blatant $60 pw for virtually all mothers of babies in their first year of life after birth. The parameters included doubling Cullan's "rich prick" income level from $70k to $150k.

So we had a State of the Nation , a Shape of the Nation and finally the Fate of the Nation.

Hosking summed it all up this morning, I am paraphrasing; 'the choice is simple we can advance by opening books with Key or opening legs with the other options.

Monday, January 27, 2014

This God Moves in a Predictable Way.

Women having a sprog will get an extra $60 a week for the first year.

Here is the kicker, it will be paid to those poor buggers struggling along on up to 150k a year.

Surprise surprise a humble back bencher will qualify, they only get around 144k

Well done Davy some of those  out on the Waitemata today, pictured in the background, will definitely need it to put diesel in the tank tonight.

A real posterboy for those on struggle street.

How much is the running total of bribes from you and your melon mates, and it is still January.

State of the Nation pfft, fate of the Nation more like, and that will be dire indeed, if you and your melon mates get the keys to the Crown Cars.

Now that nice kindly looking old man pictured on the wall of your office when you were placed in that job way above your station, did not intend to give such largesse to those earning over four times the median income, it was a safety net for those who found themselves in a degree of want that current  claims about poverty levels makes for a very sick joke.

Allah on a bike even your illustrious predecessor, Dr who couldn't cure a fungal infection Cullen, had rich pricks at around half your qualifying  income levels.

Show us the money, David I, David II or even Padre David III, any old dave will do or have you a davess with an opinion.

Btw nonce it is Lorde with an e and you use her music, I hope you pay for it.


The announcement by Cunliffe that Labour is committed to paying a $60 per week 'breeding' bonus to Labour Back Bench MPs is quite rightly receiving universal condemnation.

Ignore for a moment the fact that Labour MPs shouldn't be encouraged to breed but clearly Cunliffe/Labour have yet to take on board the old aside the old adage that those who refuse to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

Some will correct me if I am wrong but didn't Labour try the same stunt back in 1975.    The really encouraging thing about that was they spent the next nine years in the political wilderness. 

Just how dumb is Cunliffe in trying to play a broken record?


Whoever in 'Tui' dreamed up the $100,000 cricket catch competition deserves a promotion.    The $200,000 cost (to date) will have been well and truly offset by the resultant publicity (and, dollars to donuts, they would have purchased insurance cover to further mitigate their potential liability).

Then of course there was the $30 Tui T-shirt you had to buy to enter the event.   With a marginal cost of probably less than $5 that would have produced a healthy profit to further limit Tui's financial exposure. 

So there it is.    7 hours of prime-time viewing each match x 12 and the Tui T-shirts 'in your face' for a fair proportion of that.    Brilliant marketing by any measure.    Congratulations to whoever who came up with the idea and to Tui for having the 'cojones' to run with it.  

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Just When We Thought The Silly Season Was Finished,

Ex Mcgillycuddie, Legalise Hooch parties,  now current clothes horse for the overweight fashion garment industry, has a policy launch in Wellywood.

Quite an appropriate location really, for a fairytale or was that a horror story.

Mad Tuatara has suggested New Zealand place children from Decile 1,2,3and 4 schools in an institutional environment to provide education, shelter, health, welfare and food in a socalled better  way.
The move to this radical policy in potentially improving outcomes for such spawn will be provided by the Party in "HUBS" at a very affordable ninety million dollars pa.
What will be the Latin Te Reo lettering over the entrance for such anti family  institutions.
Didn't Soviet Russia have a similar system.

Many thinking citizens saw the provision of brekkie as a move to a slippery slope.

Will a rich kid whose Mum n Dad happen to live within the district where the only school is D2 be forced into this system?
What about visitation rights.
What about the welfare such children generate will it be withdrawn to fund the child at the Hub or will the poor parents retain it so they vote green to make it happen. The ninety mill cost required suggests the latter
What an opportunity for those who preyed on  defensless kids in times past; priests, matrons, the cunning  and  the philosophically inclined to make hay in such a golden opportunity. What a unique chance for predatory as yet uncovered paedo teachers, they will get much closer involvement with their targets in a favorable environment.

Parents have children and then  they look after them. Support them yes, put policy in place to allow them to get on with it, then get the hell out of their lives with such  pseudo support disguised as help in another form of welfare.
Remember the most scary words you will ever hear; "I am from the Government and I am here to help" Ronald Regan.

 Back under your rock you intellectually challenged bint, go back to your holidays, welfare is the root cause for much of what you are using to justify such arrant nonsense, kids need and deserve much better, certainly  less of the soul destroying corrupting consequences such rubbish will deliver.


The last few days have seen various commentators 'wet' themselves over John Key's supposed u-turn regarding future dealings with Winston First.

The height of silliness was John Armstrong's piece suggesting that National might consider installing Peters as Prime Minister in order to guarantee his support.    John A, whatever medication you are on get it checked out and quickly.   In one column you have managed to blow completely any credibility you had as a political commentator.    Peters has as much chance of becoming PM under National as Hone or Wussel has.     

So, lets start from the point that John Key said that is was extremely unlikely that National could work with a Winston led NZ First and assess the various coalition options for them in descending order..   Can I preface that by acknowledging that in an earlier post I predicted ACT as unlikely to make it back into Parliament.    That prediction was made before John Boscawen threw his hat into the ring for Epsom.   Boscawen is a proven safe pair of hands.    I am assuming he gets the nod.

Coalition options for National (in descending order)

ACT - preferred on the basis that Boscawen gets the nod from Act and acknowledging National would once again have to persuade their core support in Epsom to split their votes.  
United Future - preferred.   Again, National would need to make it happen. 
Conservative - possible.    Unlikely to reach 5% so National would have to gift them a seat.
Maori Party - possible but unlikely.   Likely to be be a weakened force with Flavell suggesting that they had heard the message from their constituency not to go with National.
NZ First - unlikely (unless Winston steps in front of a bus and then they are history anyway).   Not going to get a constituency seat so have to get over the line.   Part of their problem is they are in competition with the Conservatives for the same vote.    Possible they could decline to support both National and Labour and deal with legislation on a case by case basis.   That could result in a true 'minority' government which, by its very nature, would be hamstrung and inherently unstable.
Labour - impossible.   Forget about the nonsense of a so called 'Grand Coalition'.
Greens - impossible.
Mana Party - impossible.
Crim.Com - Won't make it over the 5% and no-one, but no-one, is going to gift 'him' a seat.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Thats how someone else sees things.

Something from The Pickering Post

Australia is not the biggest country in the world, but it is still massive and it’s extremely difficult to comprehend the size while drinking lattes in Lygon Street. 
I needed to try to understand, so I left Sydney in a Robinson R22 helicopter and returned five months later from the opposite direction. 
In the meantime I had circumnavigated Australia at 500ft. If only it had been a 53 seat helicopter I could have shown those ice-breaking-global warming galahs stuff they’ll never understand.
It’s the sheer size that makes you feel incredibly insignificant. The permanent fires that litter the endless horizons, the billions of trees that die only to become carbon food for new ones. 
The billion year-old mountain ranges that retain residual heat to attract endless life-giving rains for thirsty plains.
The Aboriginal tenants who, over 60,000 years, grew to understand, rather than dictate, the magic balance. 
I have never felt so small amid the unknown vastness of the Kimberley, which can only be seen with pre-arranged fuel drops. Where uncatalogued species survive and thrive without fear of the human they have never seen.
Somewhere in this unknown world of the deep Kimberley is a tribe of white Aborigines. Well, the Bushtucker Man, Les Hiddins, claims to have seen them.
I didn’t, but when you see the Kimberley’s fertility and imagine the Portuguese and Dutch sailors that were shipwrecked on this foreign coastline 200 years before Cook was born, well, maybe, just maybe. 
I still can’t get my head around the magnitude of the expanse or its boundless unclaimed fecundity and diversity. Just how little effect man could possibly have on all this becomes clear when, what Greens call “damage”, is seen to regenerate and display a resilience greater than before.
Grand cities are mere pinpricks producing miniscule amounts of carbon that convert to miniscule growth.
If a global warmist can comprehend that then he/she has a far bigger mind than my feeble one. 
Okay, then take in the surrounding oceans and their effect and the close proximity of another land almost twice the size of Australia... yes, Antarctica.
Does a warmist stand astride these two continents like a controlling Colossus?
No. He/she is no more than a piece of dried goanna scat blowing in the wind.

Of course such would not be seen on the ALPBC, Fauxfacts or any other dribbling content written by skilled and trained journalists.
Thanks Larry.

Whats In A Name.

It gives instant identification of an individual accepting the occasional confusion with duplication.
A problem that requires additional Id such as gender, age, address, photo etc to resolve.

Then we come to names that ascribe a belief, a calling, an activity or a social bloc.

These names/titles/ descriptives are often abusive, denigrating or embarrassing and all too often do not relay accurate information such as maybe intended.

In the 17th century political power was in the hands of The Torys and their opponents The Whigs, two groups of a ruling class that allowed no real input from the lower classes.
Torys, largely supported the Stuart restoration while the Whigs supported the protestant line that lay with the Hanoverians. With the failure of the Stuarts following the glorious revolution those two movements morphed into Conservatives for Torys and Liberals for the Whigs.
Now the Whig brand has disappeared with time and the Liberals have largely been supplanted by Labour although the Lib Dems in the UK are resisting their slide into oblivion.
However Tory has survived and is still used today to label any right of center advocate as a denigrating epithet,

Right and left also are very inaccurate descriptives as what I consider to be an example of Right Wing has very little presence in our political spectrum today. That said many so called capitalist barons can be found in labour ranks.
That blurring leads me to employ terms such as Socialist, Marxist, Anarchist, pragmatist and Capitalist, often in the interests of accuracy

The real chaotic confusion at present, is the remarkable scenario of an extremely wealthy foreigner, who, in flailing around in a variety of machinations to avoid the law, run a dodgy business empire from his rented home, make music that has been widely panned as below par and of course the latest,  launch a political party to contest the election scheduled for this year, represents the despised 1% yet is the posterboy for many deeply embedded on the extreme left.
Traditional pigeon-holing would have this very highly rated BMI individual,  wanted by American Courts to be placed firmly in classifications variously labeled capitalist, greedy rich prick, tory, plutocrat, bourgeois, oppressor, whatever.
Surprise surprise though, have a gander at those who grope for the coat-tails of this convicted criminal;
Politicians from John Banks down, various sympathetic socialist  Journalists from the NZ Herald, Socialist columnist Chris Trotter from Bowally Rd, and one of the most deeply embedded socialist activists Martyn Suicide Bomber Bradbury, apparently with no problem attatching his sorry carcass to one of the despised 1% for the reward of a few shekels.
Another who has lost his cover as a credible journalist, the general manager of "Scoop", a news organisation accredited to the Parliamentary Press gallery, one Alistair Thompson, who has dumped any last shreds of dignity by casting his body on the funeral pyre as would a loyal Hindu Wife.

Calling me a Tory is laughable as I would never have held the social status to
be given an opportunity to join either The Whigs or the Torys but a capitalist, albeit very modest, I most certainly am.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014






Herald Makes Up News - Again

Adam Bennett is flat out plain wrong. 

Note the headline:

Key softens stance on deal with Peters

I'm sorry to tell Mr Bennett but Mr Key may have indicated there is a remote possibility of discussions with NZ First after the election but at no stage did the PM give the slightest hint he would deal with Winston Peters.

I think Mr Key may just have given some in NZ First a bit of encouragement to throw the doddery old bullshitter Peters out onto the scrap heap where he belongs.



Divide and rule

Watching and listening to the "experts" over the last day it has occurred to me that most if not all of them are completely clueless when it comes to understanding the thinking in the current crop of leaders in the National party.
The reaction to John Key offering a luke warm response when asked if Winston First could be a potential partner in government has led to shock horror at this sudden about turn.
What these fuckweasels in the media have failed to grasp is the scale of the strategic brilliance being deftly deployed.
You have to achieve 5% to get tickets to the show.
Colin Craig and Winston Peters are going to cancel each other and both fail to get over the threshold.
Thus our wildly popular PM gets to avoid dealing with a religious nutbag and the biggest crook to ever sit in the house.

Well done sir.

On another note, I read the Horrid story this morning that was the latest offering from Len Browns multi- million dollar rate payer funded dept of "save our jobs".
Anybody following Bernard Orsman on various social media sites and through his utterings in the Horrid will surely agree that he is now the closest thing we have to Comical Ali in this country. Browns media apologist in chief this morning allowed what can only be a massive press release to go out under his byline. Takes "phoning it in" to a whole new level. To think that Brown is considering running for a third term beggars belief. He will be lucky to survive the public contempt til Easter.
The only thing keeping him in the role is the fact that all of his confidantes and advisers are so hopelessly linked to him for their daily bread. There will not be anybody in the dept of spin weasels suggesting he takes a revolver and a glass of scotch to the drawing room. They will all end up out of work.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014


When the motor car became the preferred road vehicle, owners of horse drawn vehicles were significantly concerned about safety with the noisy fume emitting faster machines bringing danger to traditional road users to protest.

Nanny state was alive and well even all those years ago and legislation was passed requiring a walking person carrying a red flag to precede each and every one of the new fangled machines.

Yesterday another educated numpty had a brainfart and called for reversing cameras to be mandatory on all vehicles to prevent the horrifying but easily preventable death by reversing vehicle.

It is illegal to leave a child under 14 unattended.
The vehicle operator cannot run over a child legally.
If the driver has an unattended child around , put the freakin kid in the cab.
We have three ankle biter dogs and they are secured before anyone goes to a vehicle, no fatalities yet.

I will wager a hundy to a knob of dogshit the first fatality after this stupid idea gets introduced, and it will happen,  will be a vehicle where the Camera has either been pawned for a bit of 'gear' or is broken and no-one did anything about fixing it.

Common sense will trump technology every time.

Sheesh walk around the vehicle even if only to ensure the four tyres are there with enough air and no obstacles, it might just avoid another krushed kid.

Hey people the little bugger might just be retrieving its ball out of sight of the camera!!!!

A large notice in the carpark of The Tree Fellers Arms reads; "parked cars dont kill".

Monday, January 20, 2014

Many just do not get it and mediocrity prevails for The NZLP

Went off road to The Standard primarily to gauge their treatment of Mayor Brown's use of seven security guards for the opening of the Panmure Railway Station, his first meet and greet for weeks after the ACC unanimously voted a motion of censure in response to his cavalier attitude to what the powers and responsibilities of his high office actually represent in the eyes of  many
Not surprisingly it was not worth a post there but then the despicable little scroat has done nothing wrong I guess,  in the view of those deluded souls.

While loitering without intent I noticed a post from "Micky Savage" aka Greg Pressland on the announced retirement of three term Wairarapa MP John Hayes, inferring the usual mantra that ten National MPs, Hayes makes ten, is some sort of negative for the National Party.
John Hayes is Sixtyfive in March and nine years as an electorate MP and a serious challenge from successful local man Alistair Scott is probably something Mr Hayes cannot be bothered fighting.

Scott  with an impressive CV, yet to gain selection of course, with success in several fields and current involvement in local affairs in his community where the Seat now incorporates most of Pahiatua blue ribbon with the "bellwether" seat that usually went with the FPP winner of the Treasury benches.

I have no knowledge as to the motivations of the departure of all of the ten but on the published information they seem pretty  understandable.
John Hayes has a very solid career starting as an Agricultural Economist,  moving into Public service then diplomatic service in the Asian region with serious involvement in the 'Bouganville troubles', having his chopper shotdown by rebels among incidents that culminated in a solution reached,  for which he was awarded the ONZM.

Yes John is a white heterosexual male with a record in public and private commercial work who lived in Greytown and successfully saw off the NZLP candidates in three elections the last with a majority of over 7000.
The Man who seeks to replace him has on published information an equally impressive CV with the added plus he is almost 20 years younger than Hayes.
They are records that along with creating a stinging contrast to the desperate trough toiling that a person wanting to be in the Labour Pen must have to survive, both make for a widening of the knowledge and experience needed by a modern broard church political party currently offering such riches to Team Key.

The renewal occurring in National could not be a greater contrast with Cunliffe's tired old troughers who would struggle to gain any meaningful work away from The Parliament let alone anything as financially rewarding. Only Ross Robertson has accepted the march of time and retired, albeit to a sinecure at Community board level for some pocket money and maybe a bit of relevance, leaving a bunch of tired old hacks.
Phil Goff who first entered the House when Wallace Rowling who got monstered by Muldoon, was leaving after twentytwo years.
Annette King,  Trevor Mallard, Ruth Dyson and Clayton Cosgrove all entered the Parliament last century, the first two when Lange ended Muldoons administration in 1984,  all show no signs of leaving anytime soon.

Colin King, Chris Auchinvolle, Shane Adern, Kate Wilkinson, Chris Tremain, Jackie Blue, Katrina Shanks, Eric Roy, Kate Wilkinson and now John Hayes all from successful and varied careers, came, contributed and now leave.
The best the poster and his inane bunch of sycophants can counter with , is references to Richard Worth, and Aarron Gilmore, they just do not get it, sadly for NZ politics and Cunliffe's future.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Len Brown

A little bird tells me that TV news tonight will expose that Auckland ratepayers are being 'done' for megabucks by the hiring of Security Guards to 'protect' Labour's Len Brown whenever he distains to appear in public.

Ok, so the simple question is .... are the Security Guards there to protect the Mayor from the righteous anger of Auckland ratepayers pissed off that they have as their 'First Citizen' someone so completely compromised as to have no moral authority to lead the 'Queen' City .... or are they to protect vulnerable females from the unwelcome attentions of a predatory male.

Just wondering.   


It brings joy to the heart to witness sundry Australian Labor Party/Green Party politicians and their effete, chardonnay swilling, hangers-on, apoplectic with rage over the success that that Tong Abbot has had in 'turning back the boats'.  

How dare he not reveal in detail every intercept operation.   How dare he have the audacity to have crews rescued from international waters where they scuttled their boats, return them to Indonesian waters, place them in special life boats complete with cell phones, GPS and sufficient fuel to return them back to the land from whence they came and set them loose.

To all those wankers I say wake up and smell the roses.   Abbott is effectively at war with the people smugglers and Abbot will win.    These are not refugees in the true sense.  They are, in the main, economic refugees prepared to jump the queue at any cost, attracted to Australia where, under a Labor Government they were welcomed with open arms and attracted a range of benefit payments that were the envy of many hardworking ordinary Australians.

In war you don't telegraph your intentions to the enemy.   In war you do the unexpected.   Abbott is doing just that.   All power to his elbow.   People smugglers need to realise the dynamic has changed.

Australia is not the soft touch it was under Labor and the Greens.   Well done Tony Abbott.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

That is How Shan is Coping.

Mayor Brown finally ended his skulking avoidance of exposing his decaying carcase to a no longer enraptured public, enraged might be more accurate, to celebrate a train station opening at Panmure today

In reply to many media questions he chose ignore or no comment but in one reply PDB replied he and Shan and family had had quality holiday time including Facetiming.

Now most here will recognise the video link available between apple devices called "Facetime" that for the unknowing is a cheap face to face replacement for landline/cell communications with concurrent video. Zero call time cost over whatever an existing internet costs for the option.

Apparently that is how he and the "innocent" woman are communicating!!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Wake Up New Zealand

Want to know what life will be like under a Labour/Greens/Mad Dogs administration?

Here's a preview from Tasmania which has enjoyed the economic deprivations of a Greens dominated Labor gummint for the past good few years.

Tasmania’s youth jobless rate has more than doubled to 15.9 per cent, from 6.7 per cent in November 2007.

Bloody good, eh?

Outside Hobart, one in five Tasmanian job seekers aged 20 to 24 is out of work.

"Good" boys

Seems like every time there's some horrendous crime, there's also some friend or family member of the perp who's happy to tell journalists what a "good" person the murderer/rapist/whatever is.

In the latest example, we have Mr Edward Livingstone, who was apparently one of those guys who decides that if he can't be boss of his family everyone has to snuff it.  After multiple breaches of protection orders that went ignored by the justice system (surprise, surprise), he did what these guys do.  The only bright spot is that he didn't manage to kill his wife (although you have to figure there's a question mark over exactly how 'bright' things are for you when you survive the shotgun murder of your children).

And right on cue, here's a friend to tell us what a great bloke he was:

"He was a good man," friend Chrissy O'Connor said by email.
"He loved his family dearly, and this tragedy has evolved from a situation where the loss of his beloved family has been more than he could emotionally bear."

Could we stop being polite to these people?  Just for the record, Chrissy:

1.  The fact that he murdered two small children with a shotgun is pretty solid evidence that he really wasn't a good man.

2.  What he felt for his family wasn't "love," it was "pride of ownership."  Maybe you can't tell the difference, but the rest of us can.

3.  You really, really want to seriously reconsider the definitions you're using for the words "good" and "love," because the ones you're using right now are badly broken.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Democracy Flourishes In Fiji

Adolf notices a press release from the mob which steals its members' PAYE deductions.

They're whinging about a few Union leaders in Fiji being thrown in the slammer - hell it was only for a few hours.   From what Adolf knows of the Bainimarama regime, they do not put people in jail for fun.

Looking at the commentary from the usual suspect sources - ABC, ACTU etc it is interesting to note they do nothing but bluster.  There is no hard factual commentary on just what it was these Union thugs were up to.  Also interesting to note they were not arrested until ten days after the event at which they appear to have transgressed.   Sufficient time for the authorities to carefully weigh the available evidence.

Cop the language used by the socialists at ABC News.


(You don't hear the ABC use such derogatory terms in referring to North Korea or Thailand or Burma.)  But did you notice the worst criticism was that of being heavy handed.  You'd expect them to at least come up with some good reason why these characters should not have been arrested?  Perhaps there is no good reason.


People all die, many unavoidable or unexpected  as to timing.














Wednesday, January 15, 2014


One of the continuing failings of governments, of all hues, without exception, is the always demonstrated outcomes of inefficiency and expense incurred by managers with "no skin in the game", when Government attempts to solve problems in business by legislating or involving, totally or by degree.

Of course there are some tasks that will be left to the legislators as they are inherently only a cost center with no profit available. Defenc being one of a very few.

Occasionally an outcome seems on the surface to have been successful but for whom and at what cost is often hard to discover. On the surface bailouts can look good as in Air NZ, The BNZ, South Canterbury Finance (very clouded in most minds by the complicated associated entities involved) and even the Racing Industry lol.
When a bureaucracy picks winners, any reference to predicted and eventual outcomes is revealed as a yawning chasm but usually hidden by confusion and elapsed time

The "market" sans government input has a resilient way of correcting such problems without the cost of such corrections falling on taxpayers, a resource of compulsory acquired funding.

Sadly that does not stop the well intentioned and/or the agenda driven from repeating the mistakes and expecting a different outcome.

Key's cabinet resolved to prop up Rio Tinto and the Bluff Smelter on the grounds that it was an entity with current and future value, suffering what they saw as a temporary slump in demand for the only product produced, aluminium metal.
The Burnside Workshops OTH were judged to be without future although the traditional outputs were no longer wanted in volume, or able to adapt to any that would ever be profitable.

That did not satisfy the economic illiterates who judged the former as pandering to big business mates and the second as condemning good skilled workers to the scrapheap.

I see a difference here that the market could solve if it was a good idea and not just ignorant wishful thinking. If the Burnside closing was wrong commercially then why would not an entrepreneur step in and continue the business. Well quite simply it was just like Holden in Australia, it had no future.
The Bluff Smelter was only different in that a decommissioned smelter is little more than a junk yard as much of the infrastructure value is lost in the decommissioning. I reluctantly accept the support for Rio as justified, almost, if it turns out to be a one off.

I am a little mystified as to how the same busload can contemporaneously condemn both government decisions but they managed it with consummate ease and not many noticed the hypocrisy or even the irony.

Socialists just love creating employment that contributes little by way of creating a bigger pie, their efforts only create a greater demand for money and energy with an added bonus of a net gain in electoral support.
A diatribe in support of NZ socialism was presented by one Peter Davis as an article in the Herald from a rant prepared for the Fabian Society, anyone who thinks Cunman and Norcliffe are the answer should read it but then most would not understand what such tosh would actually mean for NZ Inc as an impediment to real sustainable growth.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014


In France rooting away is almost mandatory for Politicians, at least it is no embarrassment.
Here in provincial  NZ many of the citizens have a more moral view on such infidelities, particularly in the modus operandi.

Laughable Len brown made a few alterations to the script that Hollande and his predecessors among rooting French leaders followed.

Len vicariously carried out his fantasies on council premises, in working time, using council resources, in total defiance of the rules of employment for other council officials and included some suspected beneficial acts of reward for the object of his lust.

Hollande, the latest in a long line of French leaders otoh, met his "actress" in a Flat belonging to an actress friend of the paramour, after hours.

Len used Hotels that possibly came within the perks for his job.

Hollande admittedly employed a 'chauffeur,' Len used the Limmo complete with driver to get the few meters from office to boudoir and also used the Limmo to send Bevan away home. More importantly m Hollande travelled on a freakin "scooter".

On the evidence known Len made moves to advance his Giesha Girl, whereas good old Francois appears to be just a user, whether that is a plus for Len I am not sure.

About the only commonality existing for the two rooting socialists is in their economic management skills and they are not flash.

Scooter Rooter has overwhelming support, The First Lady not so much, The Actress, well nobody cares, just much apparent jealousy and/or envy.
Poor old Len has support that can be counted on two hands, Shan Inglis has sympathy, and Bevan Chuang is dogtucker


I see that TV1 is reporting that Tall Fern Basketballer Jordina Katu is seeking a 'discharge without conviction' when she is sentenced in the Auckland District Court today after being caught drink driving when she blew a reading of 704 mg/ltr of breath which is almost double the legal limit.

The incident occurred following a birthday party Katu attended where the so called designated driver had too much to drink and she decided to take over driving duties.

Katu is arguing that a conviction could limit her international travel and ruin her dream of competing in the 2016 Olympics.    She said that being discharged would not be seen as showing favouritism to sports stars.

To that I say BULLSHIT.    She should be treated like any other person caught drink driving.   No better and certainly no less.  I expect the Judge to do his/her duty and act without fear or favour.

Updated 16.47 ... Away from court, a Basketball New Zealand spokesman said Katu had a trial for the team but wasn't asked back."She's not even on the radar for the Tall Ferns.''

So, she lied (or at least misspoke).   Funny that ... trust the Judge was made aware of this.


Monday, January 13, 2014

That is not News!!

Try the journalism course again and if you still think it is, you are too thick to graduate.

A once convicted, then acquitted after a Privy Council directed review leading to a retrial, that 40 something year old man gets married.
He and his now wife turned down multiple offers from the glossys for an 'exclusive' and held the ceremony in a wedding venue South West of Christchurch but didn't think to follow Dan and Honor Carter's lead and get a no fly zone in the airspace above.

However what passes for News gathering here in NZ and to be fair it is not just local, decided that the nuptials of a man many are convinced slaughtered his entire family nineteen and a half years ago at "65 Every St", lol, Andersons Bay Dunedin, have made extraordinary efforts to make it News during the traditional News drought of our summer hols.
The latest "scoop" reveals his Groomsman to be a convicted killer and rapist who became Bain's bestist mate in prison, now on lifetime parole for his act of butchery
This chap killed a woman in Hokitika about one month before the dysfunctional Bain family perished from rifle shots, a crime far too many believe David, the sole immediate family survivor, committed.

This is not about Bain, his culpability or his marriage to the daughter of one of his supporters.
This is about the MSM attempting to make content to put in their broadsheet toilet wipes in a forlorn effort at making readership with disregard for what seemed to be an understandable desire for privacy.

Bain has been acquitted of the crime by a justice system we can all find fault with, but  he is currently now officially "innocent".
Minister Collins is still grappling with the question of compensation for alleged wrongful incarceration.
 Such largess to be accessed and awarded, requires under our system, for Survivor Bain to basically prove beyond doubt that he is indeed innocent on a balance of probabilities.  For the shallow carpark puddle of talent that is todays MSM to ignore the clear wishes of this pathetic bunch for privacy is imo appalling and inappropriate.
We mostly accept that not guilty is what it says and makes no decision on the truth or facts. In the absence of a not proven option, thats it.
I guess my call is for the inane journalistic profession to go and find something else to put on their frontpage and leave Bain, Karam and the POS Paul Russell Wilson to  live their lives within the parameters our current justice system delivers.
A "best Man" is regarded by many as just that, a best mate, so if not Joe Karam where else would Bain find a  best mate other than where he spent so many years with a very small bunch of candidates. His little brother Stephen, regretfully is no longer available.

Bain getting married, who attended and where, is not freakin news.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Be careful what you wish for




Th first quote is vile.  The second is less harmful.

Wallbank comments on the first quote:

The punchline though is this (from Andrews):
Just a minority.  So why are they stereotyping Indians?

Indian or Pakistani?  Aaahhh, who cares!

Then there's Barry:



The report that Rodney Hide had been approached to re-enter politics and stand in Epsom and his statement declining the offer has well and truly opened the door on the 'silly season' in politics with one commentator suggesting that Epsom is now Dotcom territory for the taking.     Clearly delusion rules supreme in that persons mind.   It takes two to tango and the thought of John Key reaching any sort of accommodation with the soon to be launched (perhaps) 'Anything to Muddy the Waters in my Extradition Hearing' Party is about as bizarre as Kim Dotcom himself.     

There is much talk about ACT and Epsom and Ohariu and Dunne.   Clearly both of those parties are 'damaged goods' and some might argue that the ACT brand is toxic to the point where it should be written off and consigned to the dustbin of history.     A more considered view is that both have been dependable coalition partners and that MMP is all about coalitions and coalition politics.

Consider this (and for the purpose of debate let's forget about the possibility of 'overhangs') ..... National scores 44% and wins Epsom and Ohariru = 53 seats.     National scores 44% and reaches an accommodation in Epsom and Ohariru won by ACT and United Future = 55 seats.  

Factor in the Conservatives at say 4.6% with one electorate seat in an accommodation deal = 6 seats (I can't see them breaking 5% barrier let alone the 10% claimed by Craig supported by some very shonky polling) and you have the framework for a centre/right government without having to rely on the Maori Party to which I would offer the Speakership so as to further cement support.

A couple of tenths of a decimal point and the picture changes again but whatever, it's a tight race and only a fool would think otherwise.

Yep, the Conservatives are flaky (to a degree) and, like Winston First, are led by a Messiah who pulls the strings.   But I'm not sure Craig is into the politics of destructive destabilisation that characterises Winston First.  In short, I would hold my nose and give them a chance to prove themselves in government.

Can I therefore urge National to think very carefully before writing off ACT and UF.    Do that and victory becomes just a tad harder and NZL can't afford to see the very real progress of the last six years of responsible financial management coupled with the ongoing reforms in social welfare and a wind-back of the RMA undone in a stroke by Labour, propped up by the two extreme parties of the left, the luddite Greens and the Racist Cargo Cult Hone Party.



In spite of the BS those who wish to denigrate him would want to be the truth.

Stuff have a poll running on the Springbok Tour and the protest.

After 650 responses:

Do you remember the Springbok Tour?

Yes, I was a protester

224 votes, 34.5%

Yes, I supported the tour

253 votes, 38.9%

I was here but can't remember what I thought

86 votes, 13.2%

No, I wasn't around

87 votes, 13.4%

Total 650 votes

Unscientific probably but closest to Key's claimed position  has 86 supporting.


Patriot, statesman, demagogue, terrorist, bully, criminal or just a good bastard doing his best.
The rubbish that passes for journalism in our inane and increasingly irrelevant MSM tells us a very negative story but there may just be another side to it all

Cameron Slater who is about to appeal a lower court decision ruling him not to be accorded the protection of sources enjoyed by historical "media" has posted on the current constitutional status in Fiji, his birth place.

Head over to Whaleoil and read a different slant on what you thought you knew about the progress to a true democracy under one person, one vote, one value that should as well as demolishing the power of the Council of Chiefs,  bring a much fairer plurality to all those who make up the Fiji nation c2014.

His post that includes a body of information I have not encountered anywhere in our excuse for media is yet another bit of evidence that Slater is a real journalist in that he states what he has encountered on a recent visit,  as opposed to relying on propaganda dished out from those with a very different agenda.

Well done that man.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Psst, the weather changes, pass it on.

Summer came to 'The Peninsula' in November this season,   December delivered over five inches (130mm)  last  month. I think it was 1952 in the Amuri, no hay was made on many farms when the     weather gods sent twelve inches of rain during December, all unrequested.  But I digress.                                                                                                       

Lake Michigan, forming ice shingle and boulders from a combined polar cold and wind during the recent travels of the 'polar vortex', a phenomena not seen for some years.

The massive movement of the polar vortex that has brought devastating cold weather over much of the North American continent has highlighted for many,  how "bad weather" can be a capricious bitch.

As a child growing up in the Amuri basin of North Canterbury, memories of cold clear frosty winter  days are many. The playground of Waiau School remained frozen for successive days with the only respite being a muddy sheen by 3 00pm bus time where the weak winter sun thawed the surface leaving a treacherous slippery surface.  Areas that never saw the Low orbiting sunshine remained frozen all day.
On returning home from 4 years at college the young farm worker revelled in such times as feeding stock could be done with the 1936 V8 pickup instead of the Massey Harris tractor and trailer, faster warmer and altogether so much more fun.

Nowadays when I return to 'the home farm' to assist little bro, such weather is but a memory. The grass seems to grow every day and that is not such a bad thing in truth.

Such change has been a part of this planet for thousands of years and it will continue until the sun dies, as it will, or a catastrophic volcanic eruption plunges the place into a suffocating insulating blanket of ash  that prevents the suns rays from reaching the surface. A third and equally life ending event could be a collision with another of the gazillions of bits flying through space, one big enough to cause serious inconvenience.

'Buy of the week', would a bag of these be good for the logburner and cheaper than dry firewood?

Insects such as ants, bees, and others create magnificent little colonies on earth that are but microscopic replicas of human development but no one ever considers the existence of them as threatening the future of the planet we call earth, similarly massive herds of Buffalo, Bison, Antelope, Reindeer and other animals, feeding, farting, and defecating to their hearts (and bowels) content, yet disaster was averted. Was that because "man" drastically reduced the 'numbers' before calamity ensued. I don't think so.

So my question is, since man is but a larger insect on the planet,  why will our infinitesimal CO2 emissions make the predicted catastrophic doom for the planet, actually occur.
What are the so called Green house gasses again and what are the proportions in the atmosphere.
Don't plants need CO2 to grow?

I see where yet another oxygen thief, this time at The James Cook uni in Queensland has "discovered" that the Conch Snail will be gone in 86 years from the Coral Reef due to the suffocating effect of rising CO2,  the poor little buggers will be slowed by increased CO2 levels to "leap" to safety.
Mind you, to get that priceless little gem publicised, the Fiji Times was needed as a conduit.

ps around the three quarter mark of last century we, along with a few mates used to travel to the McKenzie Highland show at Fairlie with a couple of trucks of ponies and  caravans on an annual basis as an end to "the A&P show season".  Now that was on Easter Monday, a movable date from late March 22nd to April 25th with all the accompanying cooling autumn alpine weather.
Today is the Centennial show at Duvauchelle and we had many, maany warmer sunny days at Fairlie than the c2014 aficionados are enduring this morning  at the northern end of Akaroa harbour, but at least it is not raining, yet.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014





I think not.


Hippie economics

In the Guardian, the Tory Environment Secretary (who knew?  The mind boggles) has given a speech suggesting that perhaps the UK should take a science-based approach to GE, rather than pandering to 'big-agriculture' conspiracy theorists.  Sounds reasonable, you might think.  Not so, says the president of the Soil Association:



I think Mr Melchett needs a refresher on the meanings of the words 'investment' and 'subsidy.'  Still, it's a thought for the Green Party in this country - we too could see rapid growth in organic farming if we subsidised it at hundreds of dollars per hectare...

Monday, January 6, 2014











This man should carry a health warning.

He has a book coming.

He was released from his employment at NIWA for good reasons.

Do you think his latest grab for relevance in matters weather has any connection?
"NZ has second warmest year on record"

This comment from The Pickering Post has  greater relevance, do you think?

Please help me out here.
I was thinking about all those fires in Australia over the last five years and what caused them.
I came up with the following list. What have I left out?
1. Arsonists and fire bugs
2. Deterioration in the aging power lines 
3. Accidental such as sparks from using machinery ( big one in WA two years ago)
4. Accumulation of dead growth due to green council regulations
5. Reduction in use of firebreaks
6. Sudden change of wind during back burning
Then I asked myself could these fires have started if the temperature was five degrees lower, the answer is simply yes they could have.
Is there anything to support the labor green argument that “global warming” oops “climate change” is causing the fires?