Jordan likes the colby cheese budget

Jordan Carter, the Labour Party candidate for Hunua, unsurprisingly likes Michael Cullen's ninth and final budget.

His 'Budget Reflection' is more about his Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday activities. What's for breakfast? what's for lunch and what's for dinner? After this budget, we know Jordan will be doing a Shane Warne and hitting the toasted sandwich maker and using his tax cuts on a block of cheese and gorging himself stupid on cheese pies.

Nevetheless, those on the right should be wary of this budget. It may have some effect on Labour's polling but more it clearly positions Labour to pounce should Key get the tax policy wrong. That's the danger that National keep their powder dry too close to the election and get brutalised by the electorate. I'd be getting major policy out now and over the coming months to avert that. By doing that, we can guarantee Jordan more cheese and more cheese pies.

The end is nigh

We'll probably add some enlightened comments about the budget soon, but I am at work and have a drinking session to enjoy first, so expect it Friday (UK time) or over the weekend.

From what it seems, Labour have pretty much conceeded the election and gave nobody any real reason to come back. Scarily enough, Cullen and Clark have managed to make the worlds 2nd biggest surplus disappear - at the same time as polling started turning against them.

No surprised then that they are going to call a late election.... That's about the time they need to mess the rest of the economy up leaving National with dust in the cupboards.

National shouldn't have said they will not sell anything or cut the public service... what were they thinking? That is conceeding that Labour is doing the right thing!!

Shocking. At least we know the shredding machines will be on full power until at least mid October.

Rugby and Marx

Have just watched the European Cup Final. One of the beauties of being a capitalist prick is that I set my days off. I don’t need a union to “guarantee” it.
Anyway, what a game. I have no great love for either of these teams (my allegiance lies in a distant league devoid of success), but this game exemplified why Rugby is completely fucked and Association Football will ALWAYS be the world game.

Firstly the game is simple, powerful, elegant and skillful. This game had all the elements. The truly remarkable Ronaldo scores with surgical precision, the recently bereaved Lampard equalizes, electric passing and shots stretch Cech, the woodwork is pounded, the niggle escalates to blows, Giggs breaks Charltons record, red card to Drogba. Penalty shoot out and as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow…….an Englishmen misses a penalty.

Association Football is successful because of the INDIVIDUAL nature of the clubs. They run like businesses. They are owned, have shareholders. They are efficient and produce a marketable product and they work fucking hard ……….they have to or they will die.

Rugby is a Socialist sport. It is centrally regulated and owned, has caps on pay in the interest of equality, has collective contracts, constantly changes the rules to desperately try and revive its fortunes without addressing the essentials and in true socialist fashion they moan like girls if they have to heaven forbid play three games in a row!

The result is a stale failing product going through the motions with a mistaken belief it is doing the right thing…………..a bit like the Labour government

More links

I have added Dave G into the main links, "Govt in exile" category. I have known Dave since 1996 when I just joined ACT. Good man.

Check out his blog here.

An Australian Project

This was sent to me by a senior exec in Sydney. not quite sure if it is complimentary or defamatory.

I'd like to interpret as Kiwis going to Oz are diligent and productive..............our loss I suppose.


Or maybe just we are far too gullible as a people.

Bring it on!

View the entire pledgecard here. (PDF file)

The pledgecard is a briliant piece of work, and something EVERYBODY of any political persuasion should look at and debate. I personally think this IS the agenda the right in NZ should be following and I challenge National/United and any other centre right party to come up with anything that will be as successful as this is.

Yeah you know it!

It's funny what makes some women hysterical... a story about a horse and her clothes horse friends :)

Obligatory You Tube weekend post

Brilliant. A hair commercial for the blokes. (like we need them)

Blog roll changes

I have changed around the order of some of the links on the left side of the blog. The Government in Waiting selection has increased and I have also added KiwiTrader to the list. I especially share his love of blondes :)

If anybody else wants to be added, post a comment and I'll sort it out for you.

(no not you Maia or Jordan!) :)

Get drunk and forget you are about to lose the next election

Jordan Carter has finally embraced what he will be doing for this years election camapaign. Fair enough too... with Labour polling so bad I'd be turning to copius amounts of drinking to forget! :-)

Read more here.

A lovely image for the weekend

Who are the 14 sitting Labour MPs who will lose their jobs? Furthermore does this mean the long awaited political careers of Jordan Carter and Kate Sutton will have to wait at least 4 more years? The other downside to this is that we will have to endure 4 more years of Jordans blog! Nooo.

Hat Tip - Stuff

Greenie madness

The Stuff website have some very interesting blogs, but there was one I came across the really made me cringe.

The Eco-centric blog  http://stuff.co.nz/blogs/eco-centric is run by Matthew & Natalie Cutler-Welsh. The first disturbing part is they've obviously taken each other's names and hyphenated them into a sickening combination of political correctness and stupefying wetness. 

I read a particular post about an eco friendly wedding. One of the comments in the comments section talks about doing away with wedding rings and getting some bloody pounamu stone to have something "alternative" as a way of recognising a marriage. Look these types are probably very nice people but their rhetoric is very dangerous. This environmentalism is like a religion and how dare anyone disagree with them. I for one do care about the environment but I won't go round raving like an idiot about pounamu stones as wedding rings or any other madness.

The next part is their byline about the blog. They're about being "cool, credible, and life-enhancing". I'm not sure what's cool about it, but if it makes them happy so be it. But credible? come on. A bit over the top more like.

There needs to be some toning down of the green rhetoric, more of the likes of Chris Carter, Nick Smith, and Rodney Hide where it is less of a religion and more practical in application.

All this climate change stuff has turned into a dangerous cocktail of mindless chanting and unquestionably accepting everything we are told. 

Union seeks clamp on public objections

Labour's biggest union ally wants the public stopped from raising concerns about the political links of groups seeking to run big spending campaigns on behalf of political parties.


The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union has asked the High Court to rule that the public has no right to object to non-political parties applying for permission to spend up to $120,000 in an election year.

Say what?! Are our unions really stooping this low to ensure they can spend bulk cash on keeping Labour in Government? That's sick. It will be interesting to see what the judgement will be on this case.

How dare Unions block public submissions on this. Another case of the left acting against the publics wishes.

Story here

Really?

I thought she was ok...


and you boys don't think so!



I blame all the exposure to Helen Clark for all this!

More of Jayde Nicole here... Kiwi boys, you should be ashamed of yourself!!

A good cause?

A story that I was drawn to a while back was of the two men who were caught taking Ngai Tahu greenstone. They were both given jail time and ordered to pay Ngai Tahu $300,000 in compensation.

David and Morgan Saxton have a lot of support on the West Coast and a trust was set up to fight the sentances and to protest the unfairness of the ruling, which in their words was harsher than punishments given to "sexual offenders, violent offenders and recidivist drunk drivers."

Fair call. The Saxton Appeal Trust was created to rally support for these two men due to the huge amount of respect they have in the community and the amount of work they have done for the West Coast. So far around $150,000 has been raised to help their case.

This will surely be boosted by the latest efforts from the "Wild on Saxton" women, who have today released a nude" calendar to raise even more funds. The woman of Haast have put together a rather good effort, which as already added more publicity to this interesting case.

Story here.

Spit Roast Kiwi style..

I had to check out this story after seeing the headline but it ended up being something completely different.

If this was in the UK it would have involved many Manchester United footballers and a few semi attractive but really dumb girls......:)



Story here..

Roy Morgan poll - forecasting the next couple of months

As predicted by this writer, the latest Roy Morgan poll shows a gain to National - now at 49.5% (up 2.5%) and Labour 35.5% (up 1%).

At the same time consumer confidence is at an all-time low in the latest morgan poll. It doesn't look good for Labour. After showing some signs of governing, they've had their worst week this year.

Interesting to see Beefy (aka Jordan Carter) get wound up about the ETS.

We miss you BZP...

As predicted by the sensible people AND this blog, the number of people admitted to hospital after taking the new untested alternatives to BZP have risen dramatically.

BZP killed nobody despite Kiwis consuming 26 million of them over 8 years, but yet Jim Anderton managed to convince enough MPs (109-11) to ban them.

"I believe that party pills will virtually disappear from New Zealand following the enactment of this bill," was what Labour MP Mr O'Connor said while freedom loving National MP Jacqui Dean supported the bill but said there was no reason to wait until April 1st - and said Mr Anderton had taken too long to act.

Only the Greens, Maori and ACT parties voted against the bill... hmmmmmmn. Need I say anything about the others?

Story here

More Governmental stupidity....

The nationalisation of the rail is going to cost taxpayers and the incoming National Government more than $1.5 billion over the next few years before it would be able to sustain any of the "freight" that Cullen has said it would be able to. Of course this purchase was done with the huffing and puffing that it would return this key industry to the safe hands of Government.... but we all know it was a sick excuse to fuck over the incoming Government in yet another scorched earth policy by Labour.

These is so much work to do and to complete it it's going to cost millions and take many many years. Cullen doesn't care, he will be on his taxpayer funded super and far far away from this shambolic clusterfuck.

And will Kiwis remember this when they turn on National in 4 years? Probably not. But that is exactly what Labour is planning for. Key said he would not sell any assets in the first term so what is stopping Cullen from nationalising as much as he can before he gets booted out of Government?

See - Taxpayers taken for $1.5 billion ride.

Peak Government

I woke up this morning in a cold sweat, freaking out as the world is going to end soon as we have hit PEAK GOVERNMENT, and no one seems to give a damn!!

The cost of government has been spiraling out of control for nearly nine years now, our hunger for regulations, laws, committees, commissions, BMW’s, crayons and tennis balls so insatiable that we have reached……….the Tipping Point.

Simple and validated politicoeconometric analysis (source wikipedia), has demonstrated that our thirst for government has now outstripped supply from its source (Pols department, schools and unions). The main reason being the inability or reluctance of the source to reproduce.

People just don’t seem to realize that we are going to have to learn to live without government. Alternative ideals such as individual and personal responsibility along with free enterprise MUST be advanced as soon as possible to avert a social and economic apocaplyse.

If we can’t do this………….GOD HELP US ALL.

Strike!

The current junior doctor’s strike is nothing but old fashioned militant union thuggery, except rather than the unloading of ships being compromised, it is patient’s lives.

There are several factors that lead me to this conclusion.

The actual “lot”, of a junior doctor is a very good one. They have a robust collective contract. Pay varies from $60 000 pa through to $120 000+. This being dependent on hours worked and level of experience. Add on to this six weeks annual leave, 12 weeks study leave, free meals, and full coverage of the rather considerable training costs that they can incur. Plus a super scheme more generous than Kiwisaver. Not bad for someone graduating in their mid twenties with an INTEREST FREE student loan. Now this can always be improved, but to STRIKE as a medical professional over this I can only describe as immoral.

Most junior doctors do not work the “slave like hours”, they would have you believe. There are strict limitations on hours, but the fact of the matter is that medicine is a demanding profession and in order to obtain the required skills to practice safely, you need to do the time. Many junior lawyers, vets, accountants etc work longer hours for less pay. They know though that there work will pay off in the long run.

These doctors on the whole are training and not productive. They are actually very green and inefficient when compared to their senior colleagues. They are actually in training ( and hence costs are covered), but to be paid a six figure sum whilst only being able to do half the job is not exactly a recipe for a productive health service.

These guys need to be careful; they could be pricing themselves out of the market. It doesn’t’ take a brilliant economist to work out the huge increase in cost incurred for no, in fact less productivity is not sustainable. This could lead to an americaninisation of training were trainees work longer hours, often in private institutions for less money, but REALLY get the rewards when they graduate.

These junior doctors eventually become senior doctors. Here I can see the concern. Some senior doctors can earn over $1million pa. A few earn $500,000-$1million. Most earn between $200 000 and $500 000. Now this is a secure job with steady increases without the risk of litigation for years and years. GP’s may struggle though. This in part can be addressed by a change in public policy. The higher end of the pay for senior doctors reflects private practice income (Note there are no junior doctors in private practice, yet it runs very efficiently.) and it is more than likely that this will become more and more of a factor in the future as the public health service is crippled by bullies like Deborah Powell. So the future isn’t to dull for these young bucks. Some would even say bright!

It is my belief that these Doctors are brainwashed by Powell. Powell is responsible for most of the industrial action in the health service through her private company and she personally benefits greatly from this. She manipulates and lies to these young minds. THIS I FIND IMMORAL. Read what follows. This was sent to me by a specialist friend in the ASMS (from their latest newsletter). It highlights how deceptive and manipulative Powell is. Remember, they are compromising patient health, whilst being highly paid as professionals, whilst receiving excellent holiday conditions and training cost, free meals and a very bright future………….yet they engage in this deceptive manipulative unionist game at the expense of a human beings health.



2. Comments on RDA claims about Provisional SMO MECA

The RDA’s comments on the provisional SMO MECA cover nearly every issue. Below is a summary of them with a classification, in each assertion, of ‘credible’, ‘misleading’ and ‘piffle’ (it assumes the RDA description of the DHBs’ position is reliable; the DHBs may contest this):

ASMS (SMO) Provisional MECA Settlement
RDA comparisons of proposals to SMOs and RMOs
ASMS Assessment of RDA comparisons
ASMS comment

1.Independent commission
SMOs:
Investigate and make recommendations on competitive terms and conditions of employment for SMOs.

RMOs:
Assess RMO workforce dynamics, workforce restructuring, and RMO remuneration.

Credible.
The SMO commission was an ASMS initiative (not the DHBs). The proposed RMO commission is a DHBs’ initiative and therefore has a different emphasis.

2.Base salary increases

SMOs:
Three 4.25% increases (covering a 34-month period).

RMOs:
Two 4.25% increases (covering a 24-month period).

Credible.


3. Flow-on of salary increases to allowances, on-call rates, etc
Offered to SMOs but not to RMOs.

Misleading.
Flow-on can’t be an offer; it happens if there are linkages (e.g., availability allowance to base salary). The SMO MECA appears to have more elements in it that can flow-on compared with the RMO MECA.
Additional steps

4. Two additional steps for SMOs; none for RMOs.

Misleading.

The SMO workforce is permanent covering up to around 30 years; the RMO workforce is temporary up to around 7-8 years.


5. CME expenses ($8,000 increase)
Incorrectly described as an ‘allowance’ and claimed not offered to RMOs.

Misleading (very).

Wrong to suggest reimbursement of actual and reasonable expenses is remuneration. RMO already provides for reimbursing training costs. Calling it remuneration means double-counting it.

6. Lump sum payment ($10,000)
Not offered to RMOs.
Misleading.

This is compensation for the lost 12 months of 2006-07 for which there is no salary increase. The DHBs’ proposal to RMOs has no ‘lost’ months.

7. Extending T1.5 for after-hours shifts (e.g., emergency departments)
Not offered to RMOs.
Misleading.

This extension is simply correcting an anomaly where T1.5 applies for after-hours call duties but not shifts. Some EDs already have deals that equal or exceed it.

8. Paid time for non-clinical duties.
No offer to RMOs.
Misleading.

As it was already in old MECA; there was never an ASMS claim, just an unsuccessful DHBs’ claw-back counter-claim.

9. Remuneration for SMOs covering unplanned RMO absences.
Not offered to RMOs.
Piffle.
This is codifying a rate that was already the national standard. RMOs have own arrangements for covering RMO absences and don’t cover SMO absences.


10. Extensions of paid education leave.

Not offered to RMOs.
Piffle.

This is for SMO professional activities such as teaching on courses and running examinations (not RMO activities.)

11. Good quality overnight accommodation.
Not offered to RMOs.

Piffle.
Doesn’t seem to be claimed by RDA.


12. Contribution splitting for KiwiSaver.
Not offered to RMOs
Double Piffle.

Only states in plain language what KiwiSaver legislation allows for. Doesn’t provide an additional entitlement to existing superannuation.


13. Bargaining fee
No offer.
Double Piffle.

Simply enacts a legislative right; not a fiscal cost to DHBs and not something they can offer.
The morale of the story of doing things that drag the ASMS into a dispute is to be careful what you ask for because you might get it!

So Powell is releasing misleading and deceptive claims to hide the extreme nature of their claim. Par for the course, I understand she has had "issues" with honesty in the past.


Anyway I am at least pleased to see that there is some intelligence and moral fortitude left in junior doctors. Looks like over a third have told Powell to stick her bullying.

Read Here

Hmmmn

....it seems National voters in New Zealand swing to the left when contemplating US politics, with 55 per cent preferring Obama over McCain (20 per cent) and 53 per cent preferring Clinton to McCain (25 per cent).

Really? I put it down to ignorance to US politics to anything else.

Unless my readers can shed light on this :)

Story here

NZ Elections 2008

Knot Astute will be covering 3 interesting Auckland electorates this election

Auckland Central
- Can the lovely Nikki Kaye unseat Judith Tizard?
- What impact will Nandor's departure have on the political landscape?
- Will Thomas Forde use his craic and wit to expose political folly?

Epsom
- Can Rodney win the seat again?
- Can Richard Worth try and not be a sore loser?
- Can Kate Sutton say anything sensible without sqwuaking?

Hunua
- Will Sir Roger make an impact?
- Will Jordan fix his lisping problem in time?

We expect these three to be interesting and Knot Astute (anyone good at anagrams) will be there to cover it.

Is Helen Clark a lesbian?

That's the question Ian Wishart asks in his explosive new book "Absolute Power".

I purchased "Absolute Power" on the day it came out (no pun intended) and I must say how I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Wishart asks the hard questions and exposes many of the Clark government's fallacies for what they really are. He takes a swipe at the Peter Doone fiasco. He supposes on the Paintergate scandal - did Chris Carter lie?

All in all though, Ian poses over many pages whether or not Clark is a lesbian and how this relates to her relative performance as Prime Minister and how this has shaped the way she views the world. Clark may well be a lesbian but I felt Wishart went a bit too far, I don't think it's relevant to how she does her job and I think she's pretty pragmatic to the varying audiences that vie for her attention.

Don't get me wrong - I want Key as Prime Minister. I also enjoyed Wishart's book. But I just can't agree with why this was such a big part of the book.

Priorities please!

Labour have done it again! They have announced that they are renationalising the Ferries and Rail...for the princely sum of $665 million.

Where is the sense in this? Why is running rail and ferries more important than reining n Govt expenditure when it's blowing out? Why is it more important than waiting lists, better schooling, life saving drugs, cutting taxes etc etc.

It's crazy stuff from a desperate Govt hellbent on fucking us up as much as they can before they get booted out. Governments should not be running this, they should be involved in policing, security and justice.

The sad story can be found here.

The kindness of Socialism

Ahh yes, read this thread on Facebook on a pro Socialist group.

They are planning to crash Margaret Thatchers funeral when it happens.

How low is that? Not surprising considering how bitter socialists are. We have our own pet idiots on the NZ blogosphere too, Tane, Sonic etc.

They are just sad.

911 never happened... the theories live on....

Heh. But seriously. Are there people out there who think 911 was faked and just a cover for Bush?

NSFW...

Ahhh, lets just say that this little video might typify what just happened to Red Ken, and what I hope happens to Labour at the elections..And I mean...

Gets totally fucked.

Don't watch this with children or Maia around. You have been warned.

DIDDUMS to Ken

And there you go, you read it first here.... Boris Johnson is the NEW Mayor of London.

Half a million more Londoners voted this year than last time... and they spoke out loud and clear... FUCK OFF RED KEN!

Ken is gone and sensibility is BACK in London. Excuse my sporatic posting but I am celebrating with loads of bubbly.

Update, hehe yes I called it BEFORE the result :)

Boris's speech was great. He is a guy who will make us chuckle and give London a boost of optimism. As soon as I find his speech I will post it.

Links - BBC

Update 2

The BBC were groaning when Boris ended his speech with this quote:

“lets get cracking tomorrow, and lets have a drink tonight!”.

They are speaking to Boris's sister on BBC (on the phone) and shes a little intoxicated and the TV presenter has got her to seek out the Shadow Chancellor so he can speak on TV.... that will be funny if he has been on the champers as long as I (I mean he) has :)

Ahh she failed and instead she got her Father on the phone and he is sorting it all out now. The BBC are asking him if he will stand for Boris's vacant seat for the Torys. Boris needs to vactate his seat now that he is Mayor.

UPDATE 3

See speech HERE

The Lib Dem candidate is bitching about being ignored now too.... waa waa waa

A few minutes away for Boris

Boris is just about to be announced as the new Mayor of London.... The BBC are holding out, but it is looking like Ken won't even be saved by the second preference vote.

Ken did a cute deal with the idiot Greens to get their 2nd preference vote, of course the Greens were willing to forget that Ken has advised his "ministers" and advisers as well as himself, to travel over a million airmiles to far flung Ken safe zones like Venezuela and Cuba. So much for Green sensibility!

It doesn't matter now, Ken won't be mayor during the Olympics and that is a good thing! The tube unions will now become more militant but Boris is the man to fight them.

BBC are saying 5 mins away..... more soon!