Well Fuck You Australia

Yeah  fuck you. Friends loo k  after each other

U-20 All Whites sticking to the plan

Carrying a couple of injuries at the moment that mean I can't do anything very physical which was a bit unfortunate when a former girl friend popped up to Auckland for a night a week back, so to amuse myself I declared war on the American right wing on Friday night nothing very unusual in that other than I have managed to sustain it for the remainder of the weekend.

So to keep myself entertained between blogs I have been watching sport on TV and reading the highly entertaining and totally un PC Jeremy Clarkson's book " how hard can it be " which I have to review for the next edition of the magazine. OK there has been lots of Rugby to watch.

I am now watching the Under 20 Soccer World Cup I am not a big fan of the beautiful game.

Here's Clarkson's take on soccer and rugby.

In football there are seventeen laws - or eighteen if you count the unwritten stipulation that you must be a wet fart to play it in the first place - whereas in rugby there are twenty two laws. And that is before you get to the subclauses and subdivisions that conspire to make the whole thing more complicated than the assembly instructions for a space shuttle. I know a great many rugby fans who claim to know what is going on out there, but that is just the beer talking. The fact is no one does. And despite this the game works.

I fairly much agree with him soccer pisses me off and New Zealanders pretending we can play soccer pisses me off. Our goalie took out a Cameroon strikers  foot with his head giving them a penalty  that he initially saved but gave the ball back to the guy taking the penalty who the scored so maybe  that will have been a consolation to the striker as he limped from the field praying that he had achieved a minor concussion. Clearly if you are going to use your head to take out an opponents foot you are far better suited to rugby.

At last years world cup we went through the tournament with out losing a match the problem was we didn't manage to win a match either. Today the U 20's stuck to the plan a came away with a 1 all draw.  

How America got there

It is kind of ironic that had things turned out a little differently back in 2000 in the Florida fiasco .

" The controversy over the 2000 presidential election, which concluded with a Supreme Court decision that placed George W. Bush in the White House, featured numerous complaints of civil rights abuses on the part of the Florida state government. With the presidency riding on a breathtakingly close finish in Florida, a huge number of African-American Floridians argued either that their votes for Bush's opponent Al Gore had been improperly excluded from the state's official totals—or that they had been denied the opportunity to vote in the first place."
I might not be writing this blog. but first up a chart from The New York Times

That tells a story  and it is a story the right can attempt to deny. In short Bush screwed your economy

" With President Obama and Republican leaders calling for cutting the budget by trillions over the next 10 years, it is worth asking how we got here — from healthy surpluses at the end of the Clinton era, and the promise of future surpluses, to nine straight years of deficits, including the $1.3 trillion shortfall in 2010. The answer is largely the Bush-era tax cuts, war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recessions."


This isn't rocket science. Now I happen to think a budget deficit in a recession is not a bad thing while Bush was running massive deficits the NZ Government was running massive surpluses and  the government chose not to cut taxes  but to pay back foreign debt and although it wasn't popular and eventually cost them the treasury bench's it was the right thing to do. The current recession probably wouldn't have hurt us very much except in New Zealand it has been compounded by the Christchurch earthquake that has forced us to borrow far more than we would normally have had to and instead of looking at surpluses next year it will take us until 2015.

Now this next graph is even more telling

That is just piss poor policy those tax cuts are the ones New Zealand wanted and remember we were in surplus but our government of the day said no we are paying back debt first.


"...that under Mr. Bush, tax cuts and war spending were the biggest policy drivers of the swing from projected surpluses to deficits from 2002 to 2009. Budget estimates that didn’t foresee the recessions in 2001 and in 2008 and 2009 also contributed to deficits. Mr. Obama’s policies, taken out to 2017, add to deficits, but not by nearly as much."

Now that is probably as I argue above probably not a bad thing for the Obama administration to do  recession can be blunted  by deficits.

" A few lessons can be drawn from the numbers. First, the Bush tax cuts have had a huge damaging effect. If all of them expired as scheduled at the end of 2012, future deficits would be cut by about half, to sustainable levels. Second, a healthy budget requires a healthy economy; recessions wreak havoc by reducing tax revenue. Government has to spur demand and create jobs in a deep downturn, even though doing so worsens the deficit in the short run. Third, spending cuts alone will not close the gap. The chronic revenue shortfalls from serial tax cuts are simply too deep to fill with spending cuts alone. Taxes have to go up."


" In future decades, when rising health costs with an aging population hit the budget in full force, deficits are projected to be far deeper than they are now. Effective health care reform, and a willingness to pay more taxes, will be the biggest factors in controlling those deficits."

Again the right will yell the Tea Party will   go into the usual deny everything  that is even remotely rational on the grounds that batshit insanity  is a much better way to manage the economy.

President Obama is trying to save America from destroying herself and the Republicans for reasons I can't fathom are behaving like .....like drink addled idiots. Just a little thought for you all to ponder.

Pension funds invest  massive amounts in the American economy and they are very conservative investors  most of them have rules like only investing in places with a AAA credit rating something America has at the moment but probably won't have unless a deal is done  soon. You can't avoid earthquakes  but I have never heard of a country voting for one.

Been laughing at this all monining

Danyl at the Dim-Post has produced a fantastic piece of satire today taking the piss out of NZ politics and politicians. You don't need to be a Kiwi to enjoy it trust me.

campaign National to spot Labour Steven Joyce during election 

Filed under: Politics,satire — danylmc @ 10:11 am 

Senior government Minister and key National Party campaign strategist Steven Joyce will be spotted to the Labour Party for the election campaign, Prime Minister John Key announced today.

The surprise announcement comes after weeks of dire polling for the Labour Party, compounded by a series of public relations fiascos. Joyce is regarded as Key’s closest advisor, and National’s strategic mastermind.

‘This will make the 2011 General Election a fair fight instead of a somewhat undemocratic cake-walk,’ Key said in his Beehive Press Conference. He added that came to the decision after speaking with Joyce, who ‘loves a challenge.’

Joyce will work closely with senior Labour MP Trevor Mallard, who is currently running Labour’s election campaign. Joyce has insisted that the two men will work together as equals.

‘Trevor’s role will be crucial to our success’ Joyce announced in a joint press conference with Labour leader Phil Goff. ‘In light of recent information security problems, Trevor will safeguard our campaign strategy documents in a tent on the Auckland Islands.’

The Auckland’s are an unpopulated sub-Antarctic island group with no phone or internet access. ‘Everything depends on this,’ Joyce insisted, as Mallard’s tiny orange dinghy sailed out from Invercargill into fearsome three meter swells.

Joyce has lost no time bringing his expertise to bear on Labour’s internal organisation, making sweeping changes to staffing, especially in the public relations area.

‘Previously the role of the media communications team was to communicate their hatred of the media to the rest of the party. We’ve re-tooled that, and the focus is now on communicating party policies to the media. Likewise, Labour’s polling team will now canvas the public on their feelings towards Labour, rather than the other way around,’ Joyce said.

He also dismissed suggestions that Goff was not the best person to lead Labour into the election. ‘I’m supporting Phil because he’s a maverick outsider who came to Wellington to clean up this town,’ Joyce said.’Some know-it-all university academics and faceless grey bureaucrats say Phil is too much of a reckless outsider, too much of a vagabond with a heart of gold who plays by his own rules to run this country. Not me.’

He also supported Labour Deputy Annette King who, he claimed, kept a mysterious box in her office that she would only open if Labour were voted into office. Recent polls indicate that 80% of voters support Labour’s new ‘opening mystery box’ policy.

Although they’ve been critical of his performance as a Minister, senior Labour figures are happy to have Joyce aboard. Up and coming MP Grant Robertson has welcomed him to the Labour team. Appearing in a ten page photo shoot in New Idea magazine, Robertson praised Joyce’s understanding of media strategy and coyly played down recent rumours that the Wellington Central MP had fathered four love children with four different Shortland Street actresses.

Joyce will also make National’s reckless spending on roading infrastructure a central issue during the election. ‘What dirty deals were done to justify borrowing billions of dollars to spend on roads that go nowhere? These are the questions that the National Party will have to explain to the people of New Zealand.’

In the interests of party balance, Labour has traded Joyce for Dunedin South MP Clare Curran, and she’s believed to be behind the Prime Minister’s shock announcement that he will conduct the remainder of his campaign in virtual reality environment Second Life, and prefix every single word he speaks with the letter ‘i’.

The Prime Minister’s fairy-winger avatar commented on the new strategy when he addressed an online press conference of goblins, virtual journalists and the National Party Cosplay Association this afternoon.

‘iI imay ihave imade a ihuge imistake,’ Key said.

Taxation stupidity

Demanding tax cuts and refusing to accept that the rich should pay your way can produce some interesting graphics.

Hat tip Kiwiblog

Tea Party, , Glennm Beck . Right wing America get stuffed.

A bunch of kids

 The Glenn Beck Program, the conservative commentator said: "There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler Youth or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics?


 "There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler Youth or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."


Glenn Beck the fucking hero of the Tea Party and Neo Nazi American  lets fucking hate every  person.  He is a fucking nutter trust me this man  is  scandinavian.

And I always thought of them as the lucky country

From today's NZHerald

" Indians get lesson on 'dumb' Aussies

Australia is the world's "dumbest continent" where people "drink constantly" and are "quite racist", according to training at Indian call centres.

Staff are taught "how to act Australian" and are told to "speak slowly" because Australians tend to be technologically "backwards".

They are also warned that Australians are "touchy" about their pets and their preferred term for Indians is "brown bastards".

The revelations appeared in an article in the US news magazine motherjones.com, which also refers to the British as sarcastic and Americans as shouty and "free with their anger".

Perhaps mercifully, there is no reference to New Zealanders.

Journalist Andrew Marantz spent weeks training in India at the Delhi Call Centre. "For three weeks, a culture trainer will teach us conversational skills, Australian pop culture, and the terms of the mobile phone contracts we'll be peddling," he writes.

The training programme taught employees about conversational skills and Australian pop culture in the hope that they would build a rapport with the person they were trying to sell to.

In "dissecting" the Australian psyche in 20 minutes, the teacher told the class, "Just stating the facts, guys: Australia is known as the dumbest continent. Literally, college was unknown there until recently, so speak slowly.

"Technologically speaking, they're somewhat backward, as well. The average person's mobile would be no better than, say, a Nokia 3110 classic" - a reference to a phone released four years ago.

That revelation "drew scoffs from around the room".

"Australians drink constantly," the teacher warned. "If you call on a Friday night, they'll be smashed - every time. And don't attempt to make small talk with them about their pets, okay? They can be quite touchy about animals."

When one student asked what kind of people lived in Australia, the teacher replied: "They are quite racist. They do not like Indians. Their preferred term for us is ... 'brown bastards'."

Actually I think it says more about some Indian attitudes than it does about most Australians. The last time I hit an Indian help desk was when my old Dell Computer decided to display horizontally rather than the more conventional vertical manner that I was used to.

After going through all the rigmarole of serial numbers etc. I was told the machine was out of warranty but because he was a good guy he was going to help me anyway. Whilst waiting for the solution I decided that religion  cricket would be a great subject to chat about. After a few minutes in which I had been doing most of the talking I discovered I had met India's only cricket atheist. I can't remember  his words but they were quite indignant.

Our Sisyphean task. It isn't just Norway.

When the massacre in Norway news came through I assumed it was an act of political terror related to the Muhammad cartoons and when it became apparent that it was the act of a lone individual I immediately made it clear in the comments that I was probably wrong on that assertion. Much to the delight of one troll.

I saw this on the roarprawn blog by Lambcut

"We don’t know yet if Norway’s gunman is a lunatic, a criminal or a terrorist. And, it won’t matter to his victims how we define him. What we do know is that efforts to control such horrors are Sisyphean by nature."


That is an excellent point and since  that observation was made more information has come to light. From the NZHerald

"A rambling 1,500-page diary apparently written by the Norwegian man accused of killing more than 90 people in twin attacks says he has been preparing the operation since at least autumn 2009.

The Internet document is part diary, part bomb-making manual and part political rant in which Anders Behring Breivik details his Islamophobia, attacks on Marxism and his initiation as a Knight Templar 

So clearly this was an act of terror and I wasn't to far of the mark with my initial thoughts.

" Norwegian media have also attributed a long and hate-filled YouTube video featuring tirades against Islam, Marxism and multiculturalism to Breivik.Oslo police could not immediately comment on whether he was behind the 12-minute video that alternates between praise for Medieval Crusaders and Islamophobic rants.

The film, which was removed from YouTube late Saturday for not conforming to the website's rules, shows him in three photographs, including one where he aims an assault rifle. "

Now I don't intend to get into a gun control debate here but it would seem to me Breivik was a person who would not have been able to own a weapon under NZ law.

What is of more concern is this.

"Meanwhile it's emerged police arrived at an island massacre about an hour and a half after the gunman first opened fire, slowed because they didn't have quick access to a helicopter and then couldn't find a boat to make their way to the scene just several hundred meters offshore.

The assailant surrendered when police finally reached him.

Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing has detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted -- and how long victims waited for help"

That is just not on. This is a major failure to protect the lives of Norwegian citizens and that is the first and most important tasks of every government.

Ironically the NZ left have used the Obama - Key ( NZ Prime Minister ) press conference to try and sink the boot into  Key. This was obviously the issue of the day and the President of the US  had better have some answers  and he did, Key I thought did a bloody good job of backing up President Obama but  my misguided  friends on the left over here still can't see the big picture and that is why we  will not be in government after this years general election.

I hope President Obama notes the left wing fools who made these statements and should Labour in NZ get into government later this year ignores them for the remainder of his second term.

Batshit crazy arrives Downunder

A new grouping of right wing morons have established themselves  in New Zealand

I was having an average sort of day today but this is great news when I saw the logo yesterday on   Kiwiblog I didn't take in it was actually establishing itself  as an independent political party but having had a read of No Right Turn's blog I discovered my oversight, Idiot / Savant the owner of No Right Turn puts it far better than I ever could.

" New Zealand now has its own Tea Party, pushing the same brand of less tax, less government, climate-change denial and racism seen in the US. The problem for them is that this niche is already well-populated, most notably by ACT, but also by other minnow parties such as Libertarianz and the Sovereignty Party. Meaning that even if they do manage to scrape up the 500 members required for registration, they're unlikely to get anywhere."

He is spot on the far right in New Zealand seem to hate each other almost as much as they hate the left and the centre right are not batshit crazy as anyone who reads Kiwiblog would attest. ( Any gay readers might want to follow the link to No Right Turn and read what he has to say about Ghana an opinion I completely agree with. )

Anyway back to the fun. I am sure that should the the NZ Tea Party manage to get 500 members it will take a principled position and not accept state funding just like all the other right wing nutters , oh hang on sorry they do accept funding...  well who would have thought it.

Joy of joys they have a website you need a strong stomach to read it.

"  Tea Party Secretary < peterb@nzteaparty.co.nz > Peter J. Bird - contact  

Brief Bio: Upper Hutt resident, 36 years > 20 years in the security industry

---

 Tea Party e-tek coordinator < smart.teknz@gmail.com > Murray Pepperell 
Bio: Wellington> 10 years security industry> 15 years, energy consultant "




You have to laugh at that and I am afraid google was unable to enlighten me further. Can anyone explain to me what the security industry is ?  Pub bouncer, SIS oh shit on that would be a civil servant website is quite clear on that evil.

" Currently  (WE OVER TAX) hard working Kiwi's and distribute their money onto beneficiaries. " 

Sensible policies for a fairer New Zealand if you are white, employed, male, but what happens if you are Maori,

"It is imperative upon full and (final settlement payment) that we move to the next phase of
the partnership, which is becoming one united nation under one flag with equal rights for all

After Maori have received all negotiated grievance payments,  that will be the time to move
from our current divisive model to a "universal electoral system" without privileged seats to
any group based upon gender race, or religion. It is condescending to treat Maori differently"

Your fucked bro. We are flying our flag, ironically the one with a Union Jack in the corner ( guess they didn't actually check out what the original tea party was all about )  but you Maori can forget about your symbolism aspirations culture you are now white.

I love the  " grievance payments " we Pakeha ( European NZ ) signed a deal and then fucking ignored it and nicked a bloody country, bothers and sisters not far from my house there is a memorial to the Maori people that is how bad it got. There is a word for that, it is genocide.

" ...from our current divisive model.... without privileged seats to any group based upon gender, race, religion..."

Actually there are 7 Maori seats in a parliament of 120 seats  actually I think it is 122 due to MMP overhangs there are no seats allocated on gender or religion, you sort of think they might be aware of that. The Maori electorates are the same size population wise and if I want to I could stand in one so that argument falls over as well.

Lost in the woods

Never  fuck a kiwi, if they have fucked up we will do it,  but if you have fucked up and can't accept you are well toxic and then to kill off a mate just remember who bloody well " took your back "

Not needed ?

Tiger,  Steve Williams is not cad you are, he is a caddie a bit ironic that he
now works for Adam Scott a man rated higher than you. You are history Woods  and you are the author of your own demise.

Hat tip Keeping Stock

A cartoon, fuck them

All of us should angry and many will post Oslo, FFS  a cartoon and  as Norway comes to terms with this, all I can say is today you paid the very high price for exposing religion as a joke be it any flavour,  I don't know what to say to you Norway, but thanks. Americans  talk about freedom  in fact demand it invade and kill in the name of freedom and the rest of the  so called west pays the bill.  You paid the bill.

" Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. "

" Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. "
Henry David Thoreau.

Maybe that is something the English Rugby Union should be thinking about. Actually there hasn't been an uproar down under but trust me there will be if this  is true and it would disgust me.

" In an article in British newspaper The Daily Mail, award-winning journalist Martin Samuel has criticised the decision saying England have 'stolen the sacred attire of the host nation' he also asks the question 'has there ever been a marketing exercise quite as crass as this?'

Sammuel believes that the kit, complete with Maori motif, has been designed to play mind games with the All Blacks before the tournament has even begun.

But he also thinks it is a desperate measure from a team who should concentrate on beating their opponents on the field, rather than annoying them off it. "

You don't take Maori culture without permission and if as reported they have a Maori motif then they should have consulted Maori, who would have given permission and then helped out in what was appropriate. Why the hell would we object to the English playing in black when the All Blacks often play Scotland and France in white.

" However, several prominent Kiwis have criticised the decision to copy the All Blacks jersey, which has a 127-year history.Rugby commentator Keith Quinn is one person to voice his dissatisfaction with England's plans."Of all the colours in the rainbow, why would they choose the colour of the host nation?" he told theDominion Post."

Look I love Keith Quinn he is a man who has forgotten more about rugby than any of us collectivly know. He is wrong though, we now play in a professional era and this is about marketing or more acuratly merchandising.

England will fail yet again to win the world cup this year. Wouldn't it be great to see Samoa in the semi finals ?

" All the world will be you enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. "

"All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed." 
— Richard Adams (Watership Down)


Israel doesn't have friends, Israel prefers associates, friends are a pain they have to be listened to, they have to be shown respect and Richard Adams quote sums up the paranoid view of Israel very well. The Christchurch earthquake was, well a game changer and this is in no way an attack in the Israeli victims of the the disaster. In 2004 Mossad agents were gaoled in New Zealand over passport fraud.

" The prime minister of New Zealand angrily denounced Israel and imposed diplomatic sanctions on it after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for trying on false grounds to obtain a New Zealand passport.

The plot, which involved obtaining a passport in the name of a tetraplegic man who had not spoken in years, provoked a furious reaction yesterday.

"The breach of New Zealand laws and sovereignty by agents of the Israeli government has seriously strained our relationship with Israel," said the prime minister, Helen Clark.

"This type of behaviour is unacceptable internationally by any country. It is a sorry indictment of Israel that it has again taken such actions against a country with which it has friendly relations."

You have to seriously piss us off to get that sort of reaction and relations really only normalised last year with the re-accreditation of an Israeli ambassador to New Zealand based in Canberra. Today things turned to custard again. The Security Intelligence Service ( SIS ) probably one off the more incompetent branches of the New Zealand Government ( trust me these guys have left brief cases on trains full of top secret documents and strangely in one case Playboy magazines as well and another a half eaten meat pie ) but that aside we have this today.

" Police say they are confident their computer system is secure, as Prime Minister John Key declines to answer questions over Israeli spy claims.

The police national computer has been under scrutiny in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake in February because of fears Israeli agents loaded software into the system that would allow backdoor access to highly sensitive intelligence files.

The Security Intelligence Service ordered the checks as part of an urgent investigation of what one SIS officer described as the suspicious activities of several groups of Israelis during and immediately after the earthquake.

Three Israelis were among the 181 people who died when the earthquake destroyed most of Christchurch's central business district on February 22. One was found to be carrying at least five passports.

An unaccredited Israeli search and rescue squad was later confronted by armed New Zealand officers and removed from the sealed-off "red zone" of the central city. "

Now that is odd to say the least and the Prime Minister is now saying it is a non issue, the problem is for the PM that there are a lot of questions  that just don't add up.

" Key also insisted there had been no misuse of New Zealand passports but when asked to confirm one Israeli had five passports he would only say he was aware they had several in their possession but refused to elaborate.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Key four times on the day of the earthquake but Key would only discuss part of those phone calls, which he said were to offer help and advice.

He would not discuss other aspects of the calls.

But when asked repeatedly if the Israeli government had done anything wrong he would not answer, saying it was not in the national interest for him to do so. "

The journalist who wrote this is  old school or not News Of The World ( I may well have met him but I can't remember him )

" EVENTS AFTER THE QUAKE

The response of the Israeli government to the three deaths appears extraordinary. In the hours after the 6.3 quake struck:

• 1) Prime Minister John Key fielded the first of four calls that day from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• 
  

• 2) Israel's Ambassador in the South Pacific, Shemi Tzur, who is based in Australia, booked flights to Christchurch, where he visited the morgue.
• 
  

• 3) Israel's civil defence chief left Israel for Christchurch.
• 
  

• 4) A complete Israeli urban search and rescue squad was assembled and flown to Christchurch, arriving about the same time as ...( That is what it says )
• 
  

• 5) Three people who had smashed their way out of a van crushed by a concrete pillar in the central city, leaving a fourth person dead in the vehicle, arrived back in Israel."

Now this is in my opinion a legitamate reason for NZ authorities to investigate I just wish it was the police  not  the SIS, for reason outlined above, today the NZ Herald did something smart. and got one of the sharpest  brains in NZ to do a live chat , Paul Buchanan is probably the best international relations guys I have seen, many of my readers will have read my reposts of Pablo  but this struck out.


" The reason this will be of concern is that NZ and Israel are already intelligence-sharing partners, so it can be deemed offensive and outside of the "gentlemen's agreement" between them to have Israeli operatives engaged in illegal or unauthorised activities on NZ soil. it is also a sovereignty issue, for those more nationalistically inclined. If it turns out that the Israelis were trying to obtain NZ citizen identities, that would violate the assurances given by the Israeli govt in 2005-06 that such incidents would never happen again. in other words, it would be bad diplomatic form for the Israelis to conduct such operations in a "friendly" country with which it already shares intelligence. "


What the fuck,  Israel needs to front up. New Zealand needs to think about friendship. 

Too fucking crazy to count as politics

I have done a few blogs on the insanity that is the extreme right generally and on the insanity that has infected the New Zealand version of the Republicans, ACT. In NZ we are blessed with the brilliant Danyl who runs the Dim-Post blog and daily manages to crack me up. I never read his blog with  anything in my mouth anyway he follows up on an ACT staffer who had a melt down a couple of weeks ago and got the boot, John Ansell.

" Via Blair McCarthy on Twitter, John Ansell’s letter to the Dom-Post endorsing Judith Collins as leader of the National Party, reproduced in full, because what would you cut out?

I quite agree with Vipi Gregory- Meredith (Letters, July 14) that former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had the courage of her convictions. She was the role model for all conviction politicians (and conviction copywriters, for that matter).

But I don’t agree that she was a woman. Mrs Thatcher was, in fact, the greatest male politician of recent times and possibly the greatest politician, period. (Or should I say full stop, lest I suffer further odious comparisons with former Employers & Manufacturers Association (Northern) chief executive Alasdair Thompson.)

And just as Maggie was a great bloke, Prime Minister John Key is undoubtedly one of the weakest of female politicians, with his readiness to put popularity before all those boring “economicky” things, such as catching up with Australia and slamming the anchors on New Zealand’s voyage to the bottom of the OECD.

As people can see, my gender definitions differ from many. I generalise for effect, and there are always exceptions.

On the same note, the strongest man in National’s caucus is undoubtedly Judith “Crusher” Collins. The sooner she takes over the leadership the better. "

JOHN ANSELL

Oh and I love his final observation.

" If Collins ever becomes National leader I’ll join the Labour Party and volunteer for them. Leafleting. Door-knocking. Anything."


I suspect Danyl is like me on the centre left and shares my contempt  for the Labour Party in New Zealand because they are a bunch of bloody incompetents. Ansell is a sexist  fool, but reading through the comments I discovered this.

"It is highly amusing how he use gender as proxy for qualities he likes/dislike rather than actually describing the actual qualities he likes in people. I wonder if he goes about his day identifying everyday objects as being male and female. V8s, obviously male. Meat, male as well. Veges, female, no doubt. I am aware that some European languages attach gender to many nouns, but I’m sure he will attach gender to objects based entirely based on what he likes/dislikes. Everything that is good must be male, of course.

It seems to be the weird “manliness is good, if you eat/drink/buy this you are manly” advertising meme taken to a whole new level. Never quite understood how that approach actually works. But maybe us males really are that naive and shallow. 

Comment by wtl — July 19, 2011 @ 5:57 pm"

Another fantastic piss take. I am not great at satire so confined myself to this

1. " I take your point but Ansell obviously didn’t read this.

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/john-pagani-left-leaning

   Comment by IHStewart — July 19, 2011 @ 6:00 pm"

Danyl  is, probably unintentionally a comic genius.

Hat-tip Dim-Post

The US President and the NZ Prime Minister

They get on very well, actually that doesn't surprise me at all. A center / right wing NZ politician is a Democrat Obama and Key could swap offices and nothing would change. I gather they are the same age and as such represent a new leadership joined by not a few political leaders born in the early 60"s.

OK fine photo opportunities all round  but a former New Zealand Prime Minister and a Labour PM current NZ embassardor to the US  said this.

Despite the debt drama, New Zealand's ambassador to the United States, Mike Moore, says the Americans are determined to see Key's White House visit through.

"I just got a call minutes ago from the chief of staff saying it's locked in; he's available. It's a difficult time in Washington, it is a crisis time but the chief of staff said to me [the president] is looking forward to this meeting, [he] recalls his meetings with the prime minister and there are certain economic things they wish to talk about. The meeting is on, that's all there is to it. I think that shows the strength of the personal relationship."

That looks like a sort of get fucked, right wing America, it also shows a small nation that has always been friendly to the US we might still be mates.

Now if America elects the morons that are putting  the hand up for the GOP well great we will dislocate.

America you have a great President.

Rugby: Samoa stuns Wallabies

Samoa are a world class rugby team and while the Wallabies are either the second  or third best team in world rugby behind the All Blacks but either in front or behind the South Africans, they are the only team to win two world cups ( remember  Samoa has made the 1/4 finals before ) so today's result was not so much astonishing but more inevitable. Australia coached by Kiwi Robbie Deans got arrogant.

" The committed Samoan tackling was also unsettling the Australian ballrunners, with center Seilala Mapusua directing the midfield defense and Tuilagi smashing Mark Gerrard with a perfectly timed hit in the 33rd to shut down a scoring chance.

After turning down the chance for three penalty goals within easy kicking range, Giteau took a shot from 45-meters in the 25th minute and it was waved away."

That is just poor decision making. The Rugby World Cup just  got more interesting.

Congressional Insanity

An interesting take on the debt ceiling over at Reuters by Felix Salmon pointing out the potential consequences of insanity.

" The base-case scenario is, still, that the debt ceiling will be raised, somehow. But already an enormous amount of damage has been done: the US Congress has demonstrated clearly that it can’t be trusted to govern the country in a responsible manner. And the tail-risk implications for markets are huge. Think of the speed with which the Egyptian government collapsed earlier this year, or the incredible downward velocity of News Corporation right now. When you build up large stocks of mistrust and ill will, nothing can happen for a very long time. But when something does happen, it’s much quicker and much worse than anybody could have anticipated. The markets might not be punishing the US government at the moment. But the mistrust and ill will is there, believe me. And when it appears, it will appear with a vengeance."


Now will the world end if the August 2 deadline is missed, probably not but a lot of bad stuff will happen. The US has defaulted before in 1933 and in 1979


"You hear lot of people say, 'The government never defaulted.' The truth is, yeah, they did. … It might have been small, it might have been inadvertent, but it happened," said Terry Zivney, a finance professor at Ball State University who co-authored "The Day the United States Defaulted on Treasury Bills."


That had consequences America.

" The study by Zivney and Dick Marcus found that even a brief interruption in paying obligations has consequences, the Post said. It said the "series of defaults resulted in a permanent increase in interest rates" of more than half a percent that translated into billions of dollars in increased interest payments on the nation's debt over time.

"The impact is smaller at first because only new debt is affected," they wrote. "But over time, as the older debt matures and becomes refinanced at higher rates, the entire cost of the default is realized."

Are the Republicans aware of this ? I doubt that the credit rating agencies are going to give America much longer. This isn't rocket science which makes me wonder about the sanity of the Republicans, wreaking your economy isn't smart politics in my view. At the moment America can roll over debt as the markets still trust  America but the Republicans are taking you down a road that you really don't want to travel, take a look at Greece and the problems happening in the wider Euro zone. When markets won't lend  you are stuffed.

Easter agony has a reward.

Easter in the deep south of New Zealand is an amazing place and I was down at my parents place last Easter and it happened that I was their for the harvest.

My parents have a small vineyard and got the nod from the wine maker that it was time to pick on the day I was heading back to Auckland  fortunately for the parents in the late afternoon. Dad told me that I was responsible for getting the nets off the night before and warned me it was the hardest job because there would be a ground level frost.

I started at 7.30 am and the pickers  sister, brother in law, parents, nieces, nephew and some friends turned up at  8.00 am and I managed to stay ahead of them and actually was able to take over from Dad  managing the packing of grapes at about mid day for an hour or so allowing him to get organised to get the grapes to the wine maker.

My Brother in law and I were transported to Queenstown airport  for flights to Wellington and Auckland and unceremoniously dumped, we sat outside and reflected on or skills and what we needed to do to upgrade them and get gainful employment in  New Zealand's wonderland.

You can see why. Well yesterday  Dad sent me an email and a photo.

" Just got it-better than last lot

Dad "

The result and if Dad is saying it is better than the last lot I am guessing it is very good. If you look through the windscreen you can see the snow.

It is a magic place.

The Anglo Saxon fist is whole again

I have no real objection to this other than I don't think it is very smart to get back into bed with America. For the UK, Canada and Australia it is a given but New Zealand with our expulsion from ANZUS back in the 80's forced us to grow up as a nation and develop an independent foreign policy some thing that has served us well. From todays New Zealand Herald

" Prime Minister John Key's visit to Washington next week could be used to announce a return of United States marines to New Zealand soil, symbolising the resumption of closer military relations decades on from the Anzus rupture.

The visit would coincide with the 70th anniversary of the arrival of marines in New Zealand in 1942 and, while seen as symbolically significant, would be less politically sensitive than a visit by a US naval ship – the catalyst for the Anzus bust-up in the 1980s over New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance."

I think all this will achieve is a benefit for the US and a photo opportunity for President Obama and Prime Minister Key.

" Mr Key will use his trip to press the case for a regional trade pact – the Trans-Pacific Partnership – and will also have meetings in Silicon Valley with executives from social media giants Facebook and Google and representatives of The Hobbit co-producer New Line Cinema.

But his meeting with Mr Obama is also expected to canvass closer defence ties, including New Zealand's involvement in Afghanistan.

Lance Beath, Victoria University senior fellow in defence studies, said a ship visit would be the most obvious gesture to make to symbolise warmer defence relations. "

You have to love the spin, the TPP is more about Asia than the US from a NZ perspective and  America under both Democrats and Republicans have shown time and again the don't give a rats arse about free trade so I would suggest why the hell bother with them.

As for a ship visit good luck President Obama selling that to the Pentagon, remember that your military wouldn't allow our warships to dock at American Naval bases last year when on a Australia / New Zealand good will visit.


But his meeting with Mr Obama is also expected to canvass closer defence ties, including New Zealand's involvement in Afghanistan.


Most New Zealanders are uncomfortable with our involvement in Afghanistan and it seems quite a price to pay for a PM photo opportunity.  

Race card has been played

What can I say, well a lot but first I want to say how bloody sick I am of the race card played by ACT and Mana and I would expect New Zealand First to get involved soon but they will hate Asians and hope that hate will get them back into parliament. It won't.

Maori and Pakeha New Zealand are married to each other and divorce is not an option. We are designated mates by our constitution. That will not change.

On a personal note my I guess  Ex girlrfriend 20 + years ago but would be my best bet at a current Girlfriend and is Maori might laugh. She is viasiting soon.

White Supremacist Wants Help ? Get Fucking Stuffed.

I actually am struggling with this shit oh and he is a shit.

He is expecting the New Zealand taxpayer to fund the removal of  his skin head tattoo something he acquired in gaol  for race hate crimes I am not a hate person but  this made me stop and think  ?


" A former white supremacist wants taxpayers to help him remove his "skinhead" tattoo so he can start living a new life.

Carl Nathaniel Drewett, who has an extensive criminal record, was once proud to wear the tattoo across his forehead."

A former... well no


"He was convicted in the Rangiora District Court on Friday on a charge of intentionally injuring a man and two charges of drink driving causing injury. He was sentenced to home detention and was also disqualified from driving for a year and a day."


So what has changed ? Well according to our cuddle crims. society nothing. That is fine we will put resources into a white fuckwit who hates and deny it from a Maori child who might become the boss at the UN. Do I want to help him, well no, sorry last Friday he was convicted  of more criminal offences  I want to throw await the key.

Lets hate, I mean really hate people who have nothing Australasian style.

It was great to see New Zealand fall in behind Australia today and I was so proud of our Prime Minister when he came out with this attack on those who lets face it deserve our compassion.

" The Prime Minister is being accused of tarnishing New Zealand's reputation as a compassionate country with his attacks on asylum seekers.

In response to reports a boatload of nearly 80 Sri Lankan people might be heading for New Zealand, Mr Key said they would not be welcome.

The boat has been detained in Indonesian waters by local authorities.

People on board had flags and signs referring to New Zealand that prompted Mr Key to state the boat could have been in its way to the country.'

It was great to see that  Labour agreed.

" The Labour Party said Mr Key's statement that asylum seekers are not welcome is a bit harsh, but agrees with the Government's general stance.

But the Green Party said it is shocked by the Prime Minister's attack on vulnerable people and New Zealand's reputation as a compassionate nation will suffer as a result. "

Only the Greens stood up and told the  truth.

Yeah well fuck Labour in New Zealand. I used to stand for Labour, I still stand for that little girl but I have lost touch with the New Zealand Left you stand for nothing other than yourselves Labour.

They are of course Tamils, and as such not wanted  in New Zealand by the ex-pat  Sri Lankin population, and so the hate continues, lets send some immigration people up to Indonesia and see if they qualify under UN law. Lets try to be part of the solution rather than the problem.