Hard News: Some actual politics
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He has been a good breeder
Que? Has he been working in the animal husbandry industry, or are you simply trying to say he's straight?
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WH,
Our efforts to solve the problem have instead created a counterproductive vicious circle.
Yeah. What really grinds my gears is that this problem is not being addressed in any sensible way.
Its like the people who designed our natural monopoly ownership structures thought they'd have a go at real estate.
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Well I for one would like to see the spot light on Shane Jones
On paper he seems like a prospect for our first Maori PMOur first Maori PM was Carroll I believe. He was Deputy Prime Minister about a century ago, but was Prime Minister for some months while the top chap was off on a boat overseas.
The piece of history that is up for grabs is first elected Maori PM, much like Helen Clark was first elected women PM, Shipley was first women PM.
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Most of the Labour MP’s are invisible as they like to run things on remote control stealth, a bit like the Clayton Cop-out Cosgrove, who fails to answer various requests from concerned constituents about the Bradford anti – family bill. We wanted to ask him -whether on the balance of probabilities did he think that the bill would demonise or criminalise decent parents? He was absent when we had a protest in his electorate town of Rangiora, but to be fair Sue Bradford walked out of the room when I asked her the same question at the select committee that was hearing verbal submissions. I am lost for words at the foolish outburst from the inept Maori party pointing the blame on our white settlers for smacking. What will it be tomorrow for pro smackers = we ALL originated from planet Clare? What else would I expect as opponets of Bardford 's - the help destroy the family even further bill - have been called every sordid word in the collins dictionary .
What level will they go to force their ludicrous social engineering down the throats of a majority of concerned voters? Talk about bloody migraines headaches, every painful day this lost the plot government continues the more nurofen plus I consume.It is little wonder that I detest politicians in any shape or form, as not one can lie straight in bed and all the twisted Wally’s give me the screaming crappers.
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I am lost for words at the foolish outburst from the inept Maori party pointing the blame on our white settlers for smacking.
Actually, the evidence points to that being true. Pre-European Maori were very happy to slice and dice each other in the context of war, but outside of that, it seems that hitting children (or women) was very rare indeed.
The idea of hitting children for correction seems to have come with the missionaries.
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Actually RB, I am surprised that bloggers have provided precious little commentary about macroeconomic policy rather than soft political opinion lately, given recent events. In particular, questioning ( or supporting) Reserve Bank independence on monetary policy, balancing that with Government direction of fiscal policy and whether the instruments used in such policy decisions are appropriate given that OCR rates haven't greatly reduced aggregate demand for housing. Economics and Politics are linked and recent events are a classic example as to how they are linked.
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Actually Kyle, the position that is up for grabs is the first elected woman PM who was not supported by the state for the majority of her life.
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Dave, are you suggesting that MPs should be paid by private interests, or not paid at all? Or that public universities are a bad idea?
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I wouldn't classify University academics as being civil servants. Are universities even actually owned by the state? Or are they just funded by the state? I've heard that in Australia academics at the public universities actually are legally civil servants, and are treated akin to people working for government departments.
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the more nurofen plus I consume
Hmmm. Explains quite a bit.
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James G - not here to argue mate - I was joking - get a grip man .
Russell B - what were Maori doing to each other when the missionaries first arrived , boil the pot bro , I am thankful they corrected that mate .
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Oh yeah, nearly forgot that the ogre of beating and hitting children was started by the missionaries, as Maori were to busy boiling up people due to hunger, while the settlers were hungry to give to the land . Naughty Cook should have never come here eh . Don't answer - as this is so stupid it's not worth talking about the sad state of kiwi politicians .I just watched the ogress Bradford on TV debate discussing the anti spanking bill - God help NZ - what drongo's !!
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merc,
Not to mention music, art, poetry, oratory, astronomy, colleges of learning, belief in a supreme being (Io), complex mythology with a generation myth and numerous more, whilst most early European visitors would have had lived in poor conditions by comparison.
Read, Two Worlds, by Anne Salmon and The Trial of The Cannibal Dog. I get thoroughly bewildered why some feel they can pass such comments as they do without looking at the facts of the past.
Judge things by reason's way, not by popular say.
Montaigne, Of Cannibals, 1578
Kia maarama taku tiriro.
Let my sight be clear.
A Chant by Ererua Stirling, 1980 -
Heh, heh, a Labour-lad government...
Anyway, if the Australia-NZ wage gap is going to become an issue both parties are going to have to get past the easy relief of tales of about the former's mineral export boom. Yes, it's big, but no, it's not that big, and it happens to be rather localised. NSW and Victoria have barely been affected by it, except through its contribution to the overall national balance of payments.
Both NZ parties, if they are serious, will have to wake up and realise that guiding markets through good old fashioned economic nationalism, rather than doing next to nothing except following conventional economic rationalism, along with taking redistribution seriously, are the only things that will close the gap.
Small countries are different to the US or the UK - they really have to do more to look out for themselves.
They might be unpopular to the economic rationalist-libertarians, but introducing nationalistic policies such as compulsory savings by workers and their employers (like Australia), building 'national champion' firms, and increasing wage levels at the bottom and in the middle through legislation and the public sector are the only things that will stop NZ and NZers being treated as marginally as they are now by firms that see the country simply as a profit centre.
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Um, yes... one thing I'd like to see on the political tip is the Maori Party deciding whether they really want to be taken seriously - if they decide to go for the former, then a little caucus discipline really needs to come into play. Turia's essays in Rousseau-and-water 'noble savagery' run the gamut from A(sininse) to B(arking mad) and there's only so many times Pita Sharples can follow up behind with the rhetorical pooper-scooper.
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Anyone remember Mr Key's plans to chainsaw the civil service? I'm not the only one to suspect that the end result would inspire John Grisham to write a book about it.
And with the money potentially saved by Mr Key's WFF cuts, how many water cannon trucks could that purchase?
Would bodyguards become the new plumbers/electricians?
Which would be the first barbed wire manufacturer to float on the NZX?
Does the South African-made Blaster, available as an optional accessory on the latest Hummer/S-Class/Explorer, come equipped with mustard gas?
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Marcus: Re: Australia, we could export some of our water to our neighbors across the Tasman. They're in desperate need of rather a lot of it at the moment. That would be one way to partly relieve our current accout deficit.
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Thank you for the correction Kyle, I did not know that, blame poor teaching of NZ history in my youth
But I think you know what I meant...the first elected PMI/S, I was not refering about his sexual oreintation (who cares) but the fact that he has 7 children (again who cares) but it is rather a larger number than the norm
It is interesting that quite a few observers noted that pre European Maori did not hit their children. It was noted with amazement actually
Just something else that has degraded Maori life since colonization despit what the red necks say -
Deep Red:
I'm glad dollar Tuesday down at the local video store is working out for you, but do you think it might be wise to take the mound of horror DVDs back and let's start having some semi-adult political discourse? I know porn star politics is about the best you can expect in Budget season -- where we're expected to faint at the size of Cullen's bullet points, and not ask too many questions about whether it's actually going to do any good whatsoever. But this stuff -- monetary policy, the role and nature of government, and whether it can actually have any meaningful influence on a complex beast like an economy, and whether political needs and reality are even on the same planet -- actually matters.
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Female comment alert, emboldened by vacuous d4j remarks. Perhaps I could not be worse (grin) here goes ...
I have enjoyed having the Maori Party in the mix. What they say is always worth a second read. My theory is that TT talks more directly to Maori, while Pita translates or whatever for pakeha. Whether or not its a consistently effective tactic it does get two generally complementary perspectives out there for scrutiny. But that pooper-scooper comment was funny.
I too have read that Maori didn't physically punish their children. Those books, I recall one in particular called 'Makareti', were real eye openers at first, but actually explained some contradictions I had noticed for myself firsthand. And (laughing) Shane Jones' breeding ability is matched by many other Maori families isn't it? Maybe his family size is only larger than the pakeha norm. Gawd help the rednecks if his kids are all as smart as their dad. The times they are a changing . . .
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Actually RB, I am surprised that bloggers have provided precious little commentary about macroeconomic policy rather than soft political opinion lately
Well, it's serious wonkery, rather abstract, and easy to get wrong. I dabble a bit, but I'd rather leave it to people who know rather more than me.
Hmmm. Time to grovel for a guest column, I think.
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I/S, I was not refering about his sexual oreintation (who cares) but the fact that he has 7 children (again who cares) but it is rather a larger number than the norm
Right. And how exactly is that relevant to his ability as a politician or future Prime Minister?
This isn't the middle ages. PM's are not expected to produce an heir, nor do they exercise the droit d'signeur. Whether they are a "good breeder" or not (or even a "breeder" at all) is quite irrelevant to the job.
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The Budget will have significant tax cuts, probably, I suspect, greater than those already signalled. You'll get them if you sign up to KiwiSaver.
Cullen said yesterday the surplus is even higher than earlier trends, which, given that it was $1.5 billion above forecasts in December - after the bottom of the economic cycle last year - means big big bucks.
And his comment on National Radio that large surpluses are 'no logner politically sustainable' is an extraordinary admission and means he has given up fighting this battle.
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how exactly is that relevant
well i think it was meant as a lame attempt to depersonalise the subject by using a term not typically associated humans, and to dig at the current PM. very subtle and clever.
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Paula:
Re: The Maori Party. Well, you're right - up to a point. Much as I hate to admit it, Turia does provide a mouthpiece for a nasty strain of "brown neck" bigotry that exists in Maoridom -- and in the end, you've just got to say Parliamentary democracy is a fine and wonderful thing worth dying for, even when it makes you want to smack your head against a brick wall.
Having said that, as it looks increasingly likely that the Maori Party will hold the balance of power after the next general election - no matter who wins - I do really hope we're going to see *cough* a lot less of Miss Turia's brand of playing the racist card at every turn, the 'Yellow tide' anti-immigrant rhetoric, her frankly bizarre and sinister brand of Maori eugenics, and an end to the Maori Party acting as apologists for the likes of Robert Mugabe and every titled kleptocrat and armed thug in the Pacific.
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