As I said all along.. regarding the Hobbit

I tell ya what, I love being proved right. Shit it feels good.

Media Release - The Hobbit 271010

Add to that an excellent piece by Patrick Gower... and we can safely put this to bed.

McCarten for Mana

Why not?

Matt McCarten has absolutely nothing to lose. Kris Fa'afoi isn't a candidate that was supported by the local Labour Party and Hekia Parata is already in Parliament languishing in the backbenches - so it would be refreshing to have a stroppy far left candidate in Parliament throwing a few loose punches into Labour and National.

What's better? Watching the rival unions competing against each other. The far left Service and Food Workers union (SFW) and Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) against McCartens Unite. The EPMU/Labour funded blog the Standard are not impressed. They have dismissed his chances saying he will only hurt the Greens rather than the Labour candidate that the EPMU/Labour HQ/Standard candidate. Also, Policy Parrot - whos true identity I have forgotten, but he is very close to Labour HQ, has shown his disappointment over McCarten not standing for Labour originally.

Bring on the warfare on the hustings!

International Congress of Blondes

It was good to see many of my friends I met at the Latvian Blonde Festival in photos during this weekends ICB in Sofia - Bulgaria. Whole I was not able to attend this year, it looked like an excellent time.

Once again, the middle finger is pulled at political correctness as Thousands of blondes from all over Europe attended this event, celebrating all that is good about blondes and their achievements.

Events included photoshoots, charity events, their infamous parades and a beauty contest - surrounding discussions around politics, womens health, children and families and culture. Olga Uskova, head of the International Association of Blondes has done an incredible job to organise this event. She is an amazing woman and a lot of fun, having met her in Riga, and she would have made this event was very good.

It looked like a great fun event! As I will be attending the Latvian 2011 blonde carnival, I may try and fit this into my calendar as well for next year. :)



See also "Sofia sees importance of being blonde"

Blondes March in Sofia.

The event website here.

The left this weekend

It's Sunday, I'm busy prepping a roast and trying to stay warm. Bloody freezing in London at the moment, time to pick up a Sunday paper and relax I think.

Here are the news snippets that got me laughing this weekend:

Simon "All we ever sought was a meeting" Whipp backtracking furiously in the papers today crying about actors forced into low paying jobs. He even had the cheek to mention how the Employment Contracts Act had eroded the union... if I remember correctly, if this was the case it was because actors were no longer forced to join them. In all a good law! Had to laugh when he said his union didn't go just for the Hobbit, We've sought to negotiate with the producers for Outrageous Fortune, This is Not My Life, The Cult – all of whom have told us they have no interest in talking to us." Ha ha ha. That's right, other producers have also given them the big middle finger.... I wonder why?

Next, working actor Mark Hadlow who has given plenty of years to the industry tells us why he ignored the texts from Actors Equity asking him not to work for Jackson in the Hobbit film. "What arrogance. What is that about?" He said he didn't care about the potential wrath of actors involved in the dispute.

"No one tells me where I can or can't work." Damn right Mark. You echo most actors feelings not just here but around the world. Most actors I know work bloody hard to get roles and when they are not working are doing all sorts of work to keep themselves going. I went to drama school myself and know a lot of people in this industry - please do not try and tell me that all actors are on great salaries. It is creative arts - there are not unlimited millions to pay every actor well. To get a good job in film or TV you need to do the hard work first. Mark knows this and that is why is is one of NZs most beloved actors. Actors Equity say they didn't text him... more porkies? Most likely. Especially as they organised the international blacklisting of Peter Jacksons production. Story here.

From one good actor to another ungrateful one. Robyn Malcolm, who I have met when I was a drama student, is now crying foul over the treatment she deservedly got when fronting up for her militant union and their demands. She again reiterates the lines about how badly paid actors are... nobody forces people to go into acting Robyn. It's tough, but only the tough survive. Toughness in actors allows them to negotiate with producers etc... I don't buy her argument that actors are weak and powerless, you can't be like that in the acting profession.

Helen Kelly is also backing down... But again not sorry about her deeds. The funny thing is that unions across the board are incredibly unproductive. They do not run businesses, they stop workers from working if they want, they make expensive demands to all our businesses and the union leaders attract above average salaries but yet do not work for them like their fee paying members do. Kelly can say and don what she likes, but what's the bet she (like other unionists like Andrew Campbell in FINSEC) have not done an honest days work in their lives... instead they bath in the blood of the workers. Oh I like using their words against them! :)

And finally...possibly more shocking than ever... it seems that Phil Goffs new left wing makeover has much to do with finance spokesman David Cunliffe and Jordan Carter!Jordan Carter you say? The man this blog has an unquenchable distrust of? Whoever thought that the economic ideas of Jordan Carter was the answer was obviously too incredibly drunk to remember what the question was. This short term push for Goff and his wacky far left reincarnation won't last long. Give him a year and Goff will be looking for a new job. Jordan can try in the meantime to increase his standing in the party - ranked 70th on his parties list (lower than my ACT list spot and I don't even live in NZ) and hope that one day that golden trough that he has dreamed of since he was a young University student, will come through.

I predict that we will keep the films in NZ. Kiwis do rather like a bit of sensationalisation. But the problem is the unions are still milking this to their advantage. Once this dies down, they will still be trying to subvert other productive parts of our society. We need to be vigilent in preventing this.

In the meantime, maybe Robyn Malcolm should be getting out there and actively getting people to vote Greens?

Rugby World Cup in danger

The CTU say it won't happen... so it's gonna happen. Helen Kelly, a woman scorned by John Key is out for bitter revenge. Her fairness at work campaign was found out to be grossly dishonest and after the Nats bent over backwards (and leftwards) to accomodate the CTU, she has a lot of work to do to get her union back up to the pace of attacking anything the "non Labour" Government is doing.

You think the Rugby World Cup is safe from these sorts of guerilla union tactics? Think again. We have the Olympics in London in 2012 and the unions in London are gearing themselves up for a war. The city is regularly being shut down by the tube workers and we are still not sure if them and the public sector workers will calm down before 2012 after promising an Autumn of Discontent. There is a general feeling that the unions will play a huge part in deciding if the Olympics are successful or not... bugger the fact that taxpayers are funding this to the tune of over 10 billion pounds. Ouch, that is a lot of money.

Helen Kelly, obviously enjoying being mentioned on this blog, has decided to confirm what we all feared:

CTU President Helen Kelly says Mr Lowe is using The Hobbit dispute as an excuse to grandstand again the union.

There are no plans to target the World Cup for industrial action, she says.

"He is winding up a serious Hobbit dispute. It is opportunistic.

"If he wants he can call me and we can set up a team - them and us - to make sure this is a great World Cup.

If he wanted to do that, we'd jump at the chance."

It is impossible to guarantee there will be be no industrial action in an event that is still a year away, she says.

Reading between the lines makes for grim reading...

"call me to set up a team" = I want to be part of a team that will ensure the Cup is run ok. Not that ordinary Kiwis get a say in this!

"We'd jump at the chance" = We have been rejected by most Kiwis to play a role in the cup, so we will do what we can to muscle in... unless you ask us nicely.

"It is impossible to guarantee..." = When it does happen I will have my back covered as I didn't promise anything.

You have been warned New Zealand, Labour have been nuturing their union buddies for 9 long years. This is payback. National are far ahead in the polls and Labours leader is less than 12 months from being out of a job. As we saw this week, unions have been causing plenty of trouble. They could have cost us thousands of jobs in our film industry (and hundred of millions of investment) and are impeding kids learning and slowing down our productive sectors.... there needs to be an effort to fight back and to stop the militancy.

For now... watch out for when they really start to kick off.

Story here

Meet Helen Kelly's LYNCHMOB

Quotable quotes from Helen Kelly... the CTU President and apparently a supporter of the workers..

Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said the crowd was "in a lynch-mob mood thanks to Richard Taylor, who has obviously wound them up like springs" and actors had to call the meeting off. "It was too dangerous."

That left throngs of film workers chanting "Save The Hobbit" to march down Willis St and Lambton Quay to the Cenotaph, where Taylor addressed them through a loudspeaker.

and

Ms Kelly today also accused Jackson of being ''a spoilt brat'' over the issue.

And then the zinger... from the union; Outrageous Fortune star Robyn Malcolm had to be escorted by police from inner city restaurant Matterhorn after being intimidated by technical workers.

Malcolm was met with a barrage of abuse from people gathered outside the restaurant after dining with CTU boss Helen Kelly. Walsh said the union could not subject actors to that kind of behaviour and had called off the meeting in Auckland to discuss terms and conditions for actors working in New Zealand

We'll see this "escort" a little later on. And then the "generous" offer of peace from the union. New Zealand Actors' Equity had offered six months of industrial peace that might have let The Hobbit go ahead, the Screen Producers and Directors Association has revealed.

6 months? Keep in mind that this union has 80 members in New Zealand, less than 5% of the actors in NZ. Get real.

Anyway back to this lynch mob.

Did these guys come to town?
US rock band led by David Lynch?

Or was she confronted by these bad asses?
Da Lenchmob, The West Coast hip hop group consisting of rappers J-Dee, Shorty, T-Bone and Maulkie?

Oh no no! It was this... a few questions and no answers.
Where is the police escort? Where were the answers? Why is Robyn Malcolm such a silly woman? Why is Simon Whipp from the Australian Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance too cowardly to answer one question? Why has this union (that has ruined the Australian industry) been able to hold up a NZ film when it only has 80 New Zealand members?

I actually believe that it will all calm down in a few days and the film will be made in New Zealand and a grateful New Zealand will thank Peter Jackson for fighting to keep it here. There will be short term damage to Actors Equity, they may even lose a few members over this. The Aussie union MEAA will be very unpopular for a little longer, but Robyn Malcolm, who has been slated over this online and even on her facebook "fan" page - is going to be hit the hardest. Little surprise that she is also a prominent Green Party activist>

Which brings me to the last point. This was never a political issue until the militant left wing MEAA got involved along with the NZ CTU unions. We have seen enough protests in NZ this week thanks to other unions stirring the pot against the Govt but this time people fought back against the tide of stupidity. New Zealanders saw their livlihoods affected because of the actions of a few selfish power hungry unionists. The problem is that our unions are ALL doing this - if not with the film industry then with our economy and our recovery from the economic crisis.

Ask any Labour or Green MP, and their supporters (and the mayor of Wellington) what their opinion is of this issue and they will all side with the union. No question. They want NZ to be unionised, all actors, all students and all workers. And we will not have a choice about it. I encourage all New Zealanders to openly question union motives because if you scrape away all the rhetoric (and red flags) then you have a very selfish, radical, socialist interior underneath this.

And now on a lighter note... lets hear the real Lynch Mobs...


and

Chris Trotter vs Peter Jackson

Chris Trotter has never been popular on this blog. He has said some pretty stupid things in his life and for some reason feels he needs to try and jump on the Hobbit bandwagon... albeit in support of his union comrades.

Yes the same ones who are threatening to destroy the New Zealand film industry. the MEAA union that has 80 actors in NZ – less than 5% of the total acting workforce - 80 people holding the entire 500 million project and the NZ film industry to ransom.

Trotter is hardly holding back... and I quote from his blog:

And striding at the head of this rabble of hysterical computer geeks, dull-witted gaffers and troll-like grips was the wizard of Weta Workshops, Sir Richard Taylor, energetically playing the role of Saruman to Sir Peter Jackson’s Sauron.

Trotter also says that Jackson was planning this all along...a conspiracy no less.

AND WHAT A COINCIDENCE (if coincidence it was) that Jackson’s vicious display of anti-union fury should occur within 24 hours of 22,000 workers turning out to demonstrate their opposition to the National Government’s Employment Relations Amendment Bill.

How convenient, because, who knows, without the scurrilous, unsubstantiated and completely self-defeating claims scattered around by the DHBs; without Taylor’s mob and Jackson’s scaremongering letter; the New Zealand public might have been able to concentrate their minds on the issues being raised at the CTU’s "Fairness at Work" rallies.

Trotter is really upset that this has taken the shine off the unions week of unrest; teachers, public servants etc on the street collectively pooling their stupidity against the National led Government.

...more and more evidence is emerging that the furor over the production of The Hobbit has been almost entirely of Sir Peter Jackson’s own making.

You know what Chris? You're a dinosaur. An out of touch unionist who supports an ideology that is still declining. Give it up. The union disorder we have had to watch this week is nothing compared to the ones we had 20 years ago and in 20 years we will see an even smaller presence by your comrades. Your union leaders feed off ignorant or uneducated workers, or those who are new to the NZ workforce so are vulnerable... look at all the ethnic workers caught up in the unions today. In their countries they would have not been in a union - but in NZ they are exploited.

Exploitation by these far left ideologs is not unusual. Look at how socialism reached out into Europe after WW2. Poor, desperate people were exploited by socialist agitators which ended up badly as the people of Central/Eastern, Southern and Northern Europe were enslaved for decades and are still today trying to shake off the effects of this dangerous destructive ideology.

Chris cried when the Berlin Wall collapsed. But not for the reason that we did.

Peter Jackson cares more about the NZ film industry and the people who work in it more in his little toe, than Trotter, Robyn Malcolm, Actors Equity and the CTU do. This is an assault on our economy over power and influence - not fairness.

It has to end.

Read:

Kiwiblog vs Chris

Trotter vs Jackson.. on Trotters blog Part 1

Trotter vs Jackson (more rambling from Trotter) pt 2

Thanks... F.A.G s

So the Hobbit could be made offshore, costing our economy millions of dollars and the lavish praises of hundreds of millions of potential tourists...


Even Hard News F.A.G. Russel Brown is making some sense.

There are even ANTI union protests in Wellinton!! How exciting, we should have more of these! Especially against teachers and public service workers.

If they relocate the film it will no longer be known as a Kiwi film, it will be just another big studio flick made in a studio somewhere. The romance of the "Rings" will be over and NZ will have to spend millions again advertising our country around the world.

Thanks to the unions, New Zealand is becoming a very sad, bitter angry place. No surprises that this happens in a week when all the other unions are out on the streets causing trouble and disharmony.

Do the unions in New Zealand want us all broke and miserable? We are borrowing hundreds of millions to keep the Government running and they still want more. The actors unions are well known for driving other productions to cheaper locations and driving up production costs elsewhere. I only hope that the unhappiness with this union will spread to other unions as we simply have to fight their influence if we are to have a strong economy.

If Goff won't... the unions will

Phil Goff is a leader who cannot control his party, he is miles behind in the polls and his entire career has led him to a job that he cannot do anymore. It is tough times for the Labour Party.

Thankfully for them they have their member unions who can cause more political points for them. Labour didn't ignore their union friends for the 9 years they were in power - they ensured that they were well looked after. We all remember the Employment Relations Educational Contestable Fund (ERECF) as I mentioned here back in 2008. This was of course challenged by Tane from the Standard which further lent credibility to the "union money go round" patronage we knew existed under Labours rule.

Now that Labour is out of Government it's payback time. This week we are beginning to see more evidence of how far Labours Union friends will go.

First up... the CTU and the EPMU...big friends of Labour.

Union leaders are cagey about how many workers will be involved in two-hour stopwork meetings today in opposition to the Government's planned workplace law changes.

The Council of Trade Unions is predicting thousands will be involved in marches and rallies at 25 venues around the country, and is expecting big crowds in Wellington and Auckland where some workers will be bussed in.

Christchurch has been excluded because of the earthquakes there.

CTU president Helen Kelly said the protests, involving 15 unions, constituted the largest collective union action for many years.

Unions that have lodged stopwork notices include the Corrections Association, the Engineering Printing & Manufacturing Union, the Finance Sector Union, the Public Service Association and Unite.

Mr Conway said the union movement was pressing for the law changes to be dumped and it would also raise the issues in negotiations. If the Government did not reconsider, protests would continue through next year.


Next, another breeding ground for aspiring Labour MPs, the PPTA...
Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Kate Gainsford said on Monday that teachers decided to strike after the Government's latest offer fell flat with the PPTA national executive.

She said that after three days of negotiations there had been no substantial shift since the Government's initial offer in June.

She told Campbell Live yesterday that teachers would only return to the bargaining table if the Ministry offered more money, removed clawbacks on conditions from the table and offered improvements in areas such as maximum class size.

There needed to be a cap of 30 students per class "so the proper kind of kind of teaching and learning can take place", she said.

I expect more to come. Unions will lead the attack against National and are ready to dig in and cause trouble for as long as it takes. Labour can't do it until they galvanise under a new leader after the 2011 election so we have a lot more of this to deal with.

Oh dear.

Who do you believe?

Does anybody else remember James Sleep? Aparently he has been caught lying to a select committee and Tau Henare gave him a good serving for doing so.

I don't need to say too much... follow these links for some gentle reminding:

I give him shit in 2007.

Kiwiblog took offense to James when James called him a Melestering Brethren member.

In 2008, James again bent the truth to a police investigation about a National MP.

And then in the comments here, Cactus Kate teaches him a lesson.

This kid was indoctrinated at an early age and has attached himself to many Labour MPs for years in order to give himself a name. I never even knew there was a CTU youth organisation, sounds like a bloody communist youth wing for re-education. I suspect he is hoping to be a Labour MP in the future, surely with the comments he has made online, he might have a difficult time of it.

I believe Tau, and even if he is wrong, Tau has gone up in my books. Don't apologise Tau!!!!

VSM Bill second reading...

Today (Wednesday) the 2nd reading of the Education (Freedom of Association) Ammendment Bill will be at Parliament from 7:30pm.

I am sure there will be a lot of people around during that time and I hope that it passes without too much trouble so that the third reading is not held up, whenever that may be.

Get along there and support the ACT and National Parties as they bring freedom to all students and deliver a crushing blow to compulsory unionism...

The Facebook event can be found here.

Carter names his 17 anti Goff supporters... exclusively to this blog!

Chris Carter is a gift that keeps on giving. First he warns Labour that it is war, and now he says that he'll never expose the 17 MPs who wanted to overthrow Phil Goff.

Unfortunately for Labour, he did manage to leave his list in the Koru Lounge and I can exclusively reveal them and other juicy insider titbits.

1) Iain Lees-Galloway, ex MUSA president who never trusted Goff after he was the first politician to put fees onto students studying at University.

2) Dr Rajen Prasad - Race Relations Conciliator from 1996 to 2001 and out for revenge because Phil Goff didn't attack John Key even more for his inaction over Paul Henry.

3) Chris Hipkins - Ex staffer to Helen Clark who still has her on speed dial and a hefty phonebill to match. ex NZUSA President - like Iain, has an old grudge to put to bed.

4) Clare Curran - Simply because Phil is just not left wing enough. Knows her seat is safe enough for her to leave Dunedin fulltime and leave a giant whalebone to run in her place and still beat the National candidate by 10,000+ votes.

5-8) Carol Beaumont, Lynne Pillay, Darien Fenton, Sue Moroney - Unknown left wing unionists who feel Labour is headed in the wrong direction under Goff. Desperate to make themselves into a household name and if they fail perhaps become the new Labour singing quartet

9-12) Kelvin Davis, Ross Robertson, David Parker, Stuart Nash - Unknown non Unionist MPs who feel Labour is headed in the wrong direction under Goff. Pining for the 1980's Goff to re-emerge but given up hope. Could easily swing back behind Goff if Clark comes back to NZ.

13) Grant Robertson - another ex Clark advisor and first term MP. His arrogance and ambition has given him the impression he is the great white hope for the Labour Party. Has no idea his colleagues may not share this belief.

14) Charles Chauvel - Is close to Chris due to their love of flying often on the taxpayers teat. Charles, another pro Clark MP, and who likes to get liquored up on flights and insult children would love a bigger spot on the Labours front bench and knows that a new leader may give him that push - either that or the opportunity for more travel....

15) Annette King - A surprise entry on the list but desperate to have her last few months in Parliament as Labour Leader before they get obliterated in the '11 elections. Feels that it may serve her job ambitions further like it did Mike Moore and Geoffrey Palmer and not Harry Holland and Arnold Nordmeyer. Will not like her cover blown as generally seen as loyal to Goff. Knows her best days in Parliament are over.

16) Darren Hughes - A strong believer that this could be the only time a Ginger has a chance to win the NZ Labour leadership to emulate the Australian Labour Party and win the '11 election.

and 17) Pete Hodgson... Doesn't like competition on the dance floor... you be the judge.

vs



With such talent, surely Goffs time is up? Next question will be who would lead them to glory in '11 and beyond?

**Update**

Even before I post, revelations emerge that Charles was indeed in the office the evening that 3 MPs discussed rolling Goff. Apparently Dyson was in there as well... god I wonder who was allowed to drive home that night?

It's an English football calamity!

Good god, what on earth happened in the Euro 2012 qualifying game against Montenegro?

I can tell you right now. Lazy players, bad management and a complete disregard to every lesson they have been taught ever since the horrific world cup performances. They are in such absolute denial that England Captain Rio Ferdinand BLAMED the referee for a poor performance rather than the fact that England could not beat a team ranked 40th in the world. It was an absolute outrage that Fifa put Englands ranking UP to 6th place after the world cup in the first place...

This substandard team of overpaid old men and players who believe they are as good as they think they are need to be cut and we need to start injecting proper youth and hunger into the national squad. Spain, Germany and Holland spend between 15 and 20 per cent of their annual budget on youth development while the UK spends far less - and as for coaches employed, England has 2,769 while Spain 23,995, Italy 29,420 and Germany 34,790. They truely value their youth development while England still sends out Ferdinand, Wright-Phillips and Kevin Davies(??) who once again disappointed a nation already sick of lacklustre performances.

Capello has NOT learned anything ever since they were destroyed by a youthful German squad in South Africa. In fact even beforehand they were shown up by the Americans and Algerians and the game against Slovenia was painful to watch (moreso the crowing afterwards that the 1-0 result was proof they deserved to win the group, which they didn't.)

There are several problems with the set up in England.

1) Overpaid players with low education.
I am not disputing market forces that dictate player values, I am talking about the lack of support and education given to players who are then expected to handle the pressure of £50k+ a week wages.
In the US, professional athletes usually have to go to college and graduate in order to play professional sport. The behaviour that our "top" players display are embarrassing to the sport.

2) Ignoring Youth development.
WHY is the manager ignoring our quite successful under 21 squad? There are a few players there that would benefit NOW from better coaching, skills training and big games to build them up for the next World Cup. Forget the Euros, England should give up now and get these boys ready for the World Cup in Brazil.
Another interesting article (as long as you ignore the premise of the article) can be found here. It is pretty much saying that our development of youth players is not based on skill and technique at an early age like other more successful countries are.

3) The £6 millon pound Manager.
Not worth even half of that. I belong in the school of thought that you cannot blame the manager for poor on-pitch performances - you cannot shine shit into polished stone. But he is constantly sending out uninspiring players and ignoring the fact that people like John Terry are just overhyped and poison both on and off the pitch.

4) No winter break.
The England team can only have one excuse that I'd be willing to listen to about their pisspoor performance at the WC and that would be the lack of a meaningful break. By saying that, the players all swanned off on vacations and kept pretty busy outside football since the cup and are still playing badly for the national team.

and 5) The Premier League is overhyped
English players don't want to play overseas to hone their skills. Why do that if you're going to earn less money and not be a celebrity? The only players who end up leaving are doing so for ridiculous money (Beckham) but you won't find youth players or others actively seeking work on a mid placed Bundesliga team or Ligue 1 or 2 team to better themselves. Players stay here because it is more important to have an "image" a permatanned girlfriend and celebrity friends than to be a technically brilliant footballer. Falling out of clubs like Chinawhite and fighting is acceptable behaviour while those who stay at home and keep quiet are known as boring. Players here believe that they are the best in the world in their position (Terry, Lampard, A Cole) and act accordingly only to be shown up at internationals. Terry believes the hype so much that he wrecked Englands world cup set up singlehandedly because of his bitter vengence about being dropped as Captain for his off pitch behaviour that he never apologised for because he didn't feel like he did anything wrong.

There needs to be an enormous clear out, both in the FA and at our managing and coaching levels to ensure that the future is positive for the national team. At the moment, I can safely say England will NEVER EVER win the football world cup in the next 15 years. No chance in hell. I don't care if the coach is English or not, he needs to have players that are not affected by outside influences (Rooney) and players who want to play and learn techniques.. backed by training and development that grabs players when they are very young and teaches them proper football.

Will it happen?

See also David Bond @ BBC youth article

The roll of shame - the England playing ratings after last nights disgraceful match.

Going going.....

While the media has been feeding off the ACT problems lately, they have kept a somewhat muted distance from the other two parties that are in a spot of trouble. The Maori Party is under immense pressure from its activists to change its view on the Marine and Coastal Bill. The grumblings especially from Hone Harawira could very much mean a split in the party that could bring Maori voters back to the Labour Party depending on how short a memory these supporters have.

Either way, if you thought ACT was finished before the end of this term you'd be sadly mistaken. The Party to watch is the Maori Party. Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia have a very difficult time ahead and I don't envy them at all.

As for the next party to disappear - Jim Anderton has announced he will retire from Parliament at the next election. Jim is apparently the leader of the Progressive Party, although his staff and activists are all active in the Labour Party. This technicality has allowed Jim to get a bigger salary than an ordinary MP which of course this blog has been vocal about being against for years. Jim is no stranger to the ridiculous. When the Alliance Party imploded Jim decided to stay in Parliament and was technically the leader of the Alliance within the house but outside he was the leader of the Progressives, a competing political party. He did this because if he left the Alliance officially, he'd have to leave Parliament and Jim is a man who needed to have his face in the trough continuously - so this led to a very embarrassing political situation for New Zealand.

At the 2011 general election we will be without one party on the left and potentially a very divided Maori Party. With Peter Dunne pretending to be a party leader, it could actually be a very interesting election indeed. As ACT have now sorted their immediate problems out, they have the chance to go into this election running and to cement their place in the next Parliament. The National Party may need them more than ever if the Maori Party begins to leak support - or we could very well have a Labour Government led by Goff, supported by *some* of his Labour Party, apart from the 17 who don't back him, the Greens and whoever has potentially split from the Maori Party which would be disasterous. The Greens especially will be excited, as they have been mistreated pretty badly from the Labour Party in the past, so they will wish to extract as much as possible from a weak and divided Labour Party.

Exciting times ahead....

And here is ACTs newest MP Hilary Calvert and her Maiden Speech


and Part 2:

Carter gone....from Labour

Good to see that the Labour Party have finally cut loose Chris "airmiles" Carter tonight. Of course Chris will stay on in Parliament to collect his paycheck and to keep a hold on all the goodies that MPs are allowed.

I wonder if Chris has thought about setting up his own "Labour" Party? That way he can be like Jim Anderton and pretend to be a party leader in return for a higher salary. Works ok for Jim.

Chris Carters expulsion is fair punishment for what was a remarkably stupid action. Especially stupid considering he is in constant contact with Clark who must have been either in full support of his deeds - or face palming every time he opened his mouth. It seems to be the former - which makes you wonder if Clark is trying to stir up more trouble for Goff. We all know Goff will be gone after the next election, pushed or to resign, and replaced with an Andrew Little led faction that will push Labour a little more to the left.

Labour should have been decisive and got rid of him earlier - however the damage is done and the problem solved for now.... I suspect there will be plenty more to come in the months ahead!

Advice for Chris Carter

Chris Carter is upset again according to his latest interview with GayNZ.com

Two weeks ago he received an invitation from the British Labour Party to come and speak at the Rainbow Network Fringe event in Manchester.

"I felt that I couldn't go because of my estrangement from the Labour caucus. No other New Zealand Labour Party politician has ever been invited to speak at the British Labour Party Conference before."

Carter says he has a personal connection to the area as his family emigrated from Preston, near Manchester.

"That's been my greatest disappointment really, in this whole drama. Because I would have been so proud to have gone and talked about the achievements that Helen Clark's Government did for equality in our country really."

Simple bit of advice for Chris. You're on £145,800 a year, on a backbenchers pay - meaning you have no real work to do especially as you have been around for many years. Why don't you.......

Pay for it yourself?

Simple really. Chris could have easily accepted the event spot and put his own hand into his pocket and paid for flights to the UK. His excuse doesn't work when he is on that sort of income. As for the "equality" that Clark achieved while in Government, does he mean the equality of misery or the equality of spending like Greece?
The 5th Labour Government, the most feminist Government in New Zealands history, didn't even change the laws to get women paid the same as men - and they had 9 years to do that.

Carter has got to get over the homophobia victim mentality as well. He has been around long enough to know this isn't the case and is desperate to blame everybody else, without recognising that the blame is squarely on him, another trait of the previous Clark administration.

Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that isn't yours is an issue for us all - what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom isn't anybodys business but your own.

Good to see Carter has pulled out of the running to be the Te Atatu candidate although the people competing to replace him doesn't inspire me. A funeral director, a student, an academic and Kate Sutton the communications consultant will be competing against 2 lawyers and a list MP that has had trouble so far being selected for a seat to call his own.

What was Kate thinking? She has more than a few skeletons in her closet. Lindsay Mitchell discovered the chip on her shoulder before the last election, while on Facebook the allegations around her "fake rape" complaint are available for all to read.

It seems that she had one look at the mental wellbeing of Chris Carter and thought that she would fit in right away.

This blog supports Blonde Island

Now all long and medium term readers of this blog know that I have a particular interest in Blonde issues. Back in 2009 I spoke out about the Latvian blonde economic stimulus plan which later turned out to be a fully fledged Blonde Parade. As you all know, I went on to actually go to the Latvian Blonde parade this year where I met the ex Mrs Universe Marika, as well as the Bulgarian President of the International Blondes Olga and we now stay in constant contact :)

I am currently running a tour group to the 2011 Blonde Carnival in Riga with the backing of Go Blonde and have many friends in Riga who are going to party hard with us. Many of my new friends I met in Riga come from Lithuania - another blonde loving nation.

Lithuania love their blondes so much, Olialia a Lithuanian country is going to set up a holiday island in the Maldives run entirely by blondes. Outstanding.

Olialia's managing director Giedre Pukiene says the resort will prove that blonde women are just as intelligent as everyone else.

"Our girls are very smart and they have degrees," Md Pukiene said.

"All of them want to do something with their lives. They have lots of business ideas."

However the resort, scheduled to open in 2015, has already come under fire.

"This is racist and should not be allowed in the Maldives," wrote one reader identified as Ablo on the Maldivian new website Minivan.

The company may find it difficult to employ only blondes, as legally resorts in the Maldives are required to hire at least 50 per cent local staff.

Ah yes, the PC brigade would say that - of course in the Maldives blondes are in the minority so hiring blondes would of course mean that they are actively employing a minority group... and I applaud that :) As for the typical comments that these women, or indeed the women who I met and know through the Latvian blonde organisations, are stupid or slutty then that too is really dumb. Every woman I met was very clever, several ran businesses, successful and a lot of fun. They loved taking the piss out of the stereotype and turning it into a fun, loud, dancing, pink festival that raised money for charity.

I can't wait for Riga 2011.... and although I believe this Blonde Island idea may be a little bit of publicity, it's damn good publicity. In fact ever since it was announced a few days ago, this blog has been hit hard with new readers from all over the world. Yay!

Here is more from the advertising brand Olialia..

"Typical" response over Paul Henry from the left

A quick update, read this post from Cactus Kate , it's brilliant and of course bang on.

Isn't it funny that Paul Henry is loved by so many New Zealanders and yet loathed by the left and unions? I guess a quick snapshot of New Zealand here shows that our unions are indeed declining powers and our union leaders are sour angry humans devoid of a sense of humour.

The protests from the unions about Paul were pretty sad. Now we all know that our union leaders and John Minto support (or have supported) regimes that don't allow freedom of speech or expression - but they have no right to try and push their beliefs onto us all in New Zealand. The same with the Greens - ironically Keith Locke (the Pol Pot apologist) who say that Pauls apology didn't go far enough. In Keiths world, all people speaking out would be shot. It certainly worked when he supported the Khmer Rouge genocides in Cambodia.

Suspending Paul Henry is a silly knee jerk reaction and once again proves that people are bored and need a distraction from their boring lives. It worked before when TVNZ and TV3 worked themselves into a tizzy when a very well refreshed Charles Chauvel harrassed a parents kid on a Air NZ flight. Cue hysteria.

I accept Pauls apology. Although he did probably offend a more than a few gypsys along the way :) He wouldn't have been allowed to use that phrase over here in the UK, but that's Paul Henry for you. Let him do his job and if you don't like it? DON'T WATCH IT.

Simples.

Paul Henry... it's *just* TV kids...

Somebody at TVNZ must be laughing all the way to the bank. So what, Paul Henry makes a few more off colour remarks on live TV and every man and his dog think he should be off TV.

Forgetting that Paul has just won a "viewers choice" award for most popular TV talent and his breakfast show killed off the pathetic TV3alternative. While we may disagree with what he says now and then, we still (as far as I know) live in a free country.

As usual some will want to protest this, but if you remove Paul Henry - it will make TV a much less interesting medium to watch. Whatever next, we ban everything that may upset us?

Danyl at Dim Post as usual... doesn't. get. it. Instead he uses Paul Henry as cheap publicity for his blog... the same guy who celebrated the death of Sir Ron Trotter.

Lets watch it again...

Why do we accept this?

Every right thinking person, in fact any left wing person too - shudders at the idea of lining up for basics like food. It harks back to times when extreme poverty was about. It also was the norm for people living under Socialist and Communist regimes, and even today North Koreans and Cubans still suffer under hard restrictions with food.

Lining up for basics is something much of the western world has thankfully forgotten except for one major item...

Healthcare.

We may laugh at the idea that Russians lined up for hours for a loaf of bread and yet we find it normal for us to go to an A&E and wait for hours to be seen by a doctor or to have basic healthcare. What about seeing your GP? Some waiting rooms resemble a war zone and it is sometimes usual for people to expect to wait for over an hour past their scheduled appointment time. As for operations; people accept the fact that they will be put onto a waiting list and will eventually be seen. We already know that in more urgent cases, people are known to die waiting to be seen.

And people say we live in modern times....

Why is it then that the only people in society that have a choice on a bad system and a good system are the wealthy - and National, Labour and the Greens all support this? Why do far left and centre left parties (not to mention the Socialists) believe that the priviledged few should have access to private health while the poor and middle classes survive on a overregulated and bureaucratic system that can't help everybody?

The excuses the left use are ridiculous. They say that private healthcare is not as good as public health and they tell us that the American system is terrible and underfunded. Really? By the year 2000, the United States health funding was $4,631.00 per capita. New Zealand it's $1,623.00 and in the UK it's slightly better than NZ at $1,764.00. The UK NHS system is the worlds 3rd biggest employer (behind Indian Rail and the Chinese army) and yet where is all the money going?

You ask any insured American how they feel about their healthcare when they are abroad and they will tell you how good it is in their own country. The poor and elderly are covered by Medicare or Medicaid BUT it isn't a perfect system.
60% of the people insured are insured by their employer, 14% BY Medicaid, 13% By Medicaid/SCHIP, 9% Directly Purchased their Health Insurance, 4% Get Health Insurance Through The Military leaving 16% or 45.8 million Americans who are uninsured - and The true number of chronically uninsured people is closer to 12 million. Either way, it is a FAR cry from what you see in Hollywood that strangely glamorises the "horrors" of uninsured Americans when in reality it's far less than 16% of the population.

But I digress.

The question that every taxpayer should be asking their MP is why we are allowed to pay for a system that has a one size fits all approach, that allows people to die and will not prioitise for anybody. We should ask why only the rich can get better care and why if you do manage to save up for private healthcare that you end up paying twice for it.

There is no point for us to even think we have moved on from the time of rationing or to feel smug that we are better than the countries that had people lining up for fruit at Christmas - when we still allow the state to screw us over our health system.
We can learn from the American system - and not have a closed mind about allowing private enterprise into the health system. So too should we make it easier for every single citizen to have a choice over their health provider.

Does that sound extreme?

Sir Roger continues the commonsense

Of course you have Nats who are more than happy to claim the successes of Rogernomics as their own and are acting bloody ungrateful to the good work of Sir Roger.

According to "Right wing blog" No Minister, Sir Roger and ACT are too radical for New Zealand

I guess if spending less and getting people less reliant on the state is radical, then the Nats should give up any pretence that they are any better than the Labour Party. They are two sides of the same coin.

The Red Flag... why?

Slightly baffling bit of denial at the Labour Party conference, Ed Miliband said he hated the nickname Red Ed and then launched into singing the Red Flag at the close of the conference.

I do believe that our New Zealand Labour Party also sing the Red Flag at their conferences, although I’d be more than happy to be corrected on this.

Why sing a song about a red flag? Considering the red flag symbolised the oppressive and murderous Soviet and Chinese regimes, and militant (and prehistoric) workers unions there isn’t really much there to sing about that would be positive would there?

The song starts like this:

The people's flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyred dead,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts' blood dyed its ev'ry fold.

Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.

You can find the rest of these god-awful lyrics here.

Red Ed Miliband is a confused man indeed. So will be the country if he or his comrades get near the treasury offices in the near future. We'd all be wondering where our money is disappearing to.

Click here for the end of Labour Conference 2010 new story.

Click here to see the parody Twitter page for Red Ed :)

Tax Cuts vs GST rises

A couple of things I must point out. While I think the National Party has been foolish by increasing GST and introducing ETS - any attempt to bring down income tax (which I call a fine for working) is admirable. The statistics show that these tax cuts will provide working people with more in their back pockets every week.

Now imagine that if National understand what small cuts would make, imagine if they were really committed to more personal wealth?
I believe it would look a little like this...

Labour on the other hand have it all wrong. The party that bought us the biggest tax cuts we'll ever see (Sir Roger cut it down from 66%) Now they want to cut GST on fruit and vegetables only, despite a nationwide campaign to cut GST completely.
Considering most westerners waste an awful amount of fresh fruit and vegetables - how can this be good policy? Why does rewarding tax lawyers and confusing our already messed up tax system seem like a good idea?

Labours ideas are going to leave us like this...