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See the pathetically uninformed Herald editorial writer is crusading for each and every gun to be registered.
A quick search on this issue would have informed him of the futility of this course of action, but since when has real information ever mattered to the pathetic liberal sensibilities of the idiots who run the NZ Herald??
NZ is already awash with laws that are unenforceable or only selectively enforced, and here is this uninformed knee jerk idiot calling for more of the same.
How do these slack jawed morons end up in senior positions at one of NZ’s major daily newspapers? Obviously there’s no intelligence test used in their hiring procedures. I guess they just ask “do you subscribe to every looney left liberal idea out there, and do you pledge to pursue the Progressive political agenda with enthusiam and at the expense of real news and opinion?”, and if its a “yes”, they get the job.
Season’s greetings DPF from a Kiwiblog follower. This blog is always a bright read and a lively open forum. Your seven-days, round-world work keeping it up to date is much appreciated. So Merry Christmas and the very best for 2010 and beyond.
Constable Jeremy Snow’s decision to put a notebook in his breast pocket proved the difference between life and death for the wounded officer.
The 28-year-old is recovering in Middlemore Hospital after being shot three times in a surprise attack in Papatoetoe on Tuesday. It can now be revealed that he was shot a fourth time – in the chest. The bullet was stopped by the 2.5-centimetre-thick police issue notebook in his pocket, and his stabproof vest.
Anyone else think the stabproof vest may have been more instrumental in saving his life.. than his notebook? Perhaps the reporter had just watched Hot Fuzz and been inspired
billy, if you don’t believe there is a God, he cannot.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Others
All the best to you DPF and and your band of followers (both loyal and otherwise). This may be the only time in a year when I would extend compassion and goodwill to some and will enjoy once again being disagreeable in the New Year.
Until then have a great few days, drive safely and may your gods go with you.
What makes it especially funny and ironic is that I have it on very good authority, that what is taught as ‘NZ Standard Maori pronunciation’ in schools and elsewhere, is actually the dialect of a very small iwi in the far-eastern Bay of Plenty, who apparently had one of their own in a strategic location within the relevant ministry when the need for ’standardised’ Maori language to be taught in schools was being debated, and managed to get the jump on the ‘big boys’ such as Arawa, Tainui, Tuhoe etc, with the result that his iwi’s dialect became the ‘official’ version of Maori in schools and elsewhere. The elder (from the iwi concerned) thought it was absolutely hilarious and fully appreciated the ‘burr-under-the-saddle’ effect it had had on the other, larger and supposedly more-important tribes as they were compelled to learn the dialect of a hitherto insignificant little group located out in the middle of nowhere. It apparently rankles no-end – even today.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:50 am
And on cue, billyborker begins another attack on Christians. It’s not longer funny; it’s persistent and blatant trolling IMHO
Hey, idiot, apart from the title of Sam Harris’ book, where I have made reference to christians? Its not the only religion, you know.
Maybe you could do yourself a favour and read one or more of the above titles, expand your horizons a little.
Its not too late you know, at the ripe old age of 85 Jimmy Carter has found the courage to leave his church of over 60 years. A man of principle at last.
I read Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and thought it was a most appropriate title – Dawkins is indeed deluded.
But billy, you know your modus operandi – start off with a wee spark, and wait for the conflagration to begin. For one who purports not to believe in the Almighty, you sure give Him a lot of attention. Not hedging your bets perchance?
No need to hedge bets when its odds on there is no god, no heaven, no hell, just this one, all too brief life that we should enjoy in its fullness and light, not hunkered down in the demon haunted shadows of religion, myth and lie.
Good you read Dawkins, I think you’d find a lot more in 50 voices as there is a broad church in that volume, those who have never believed, those who have and have given it away, all written with humanity, spirit and passion as well as clarity and logic. Its only 45 bucks and it could save the rest of your life.
What has happened to the spirit of youth who marched against oppression and cried out for freedom in the 60’s and today march against freedom (Copenhagen) and cry out for regulation and control…FFS?
Simon, seems that was all about god and his sins, not me and mine. What sort of an arsehole would see his own son murdered and then claim it was for my benefit. How can you believe that shit and think that somehow it is morally good to cause the death of a human?
Except to billy borker whom I have grown to despise over the last 12 months, there is not a redeeming feature to be seen, to him/her I wish absolutely nothing.
Inventory, Personally find it very confirming that Atheists feel the need to constantly attack the basis of Christian belief.
Their persistant obsession, exposes their carefully concealed doubts they harbour about their own (un)belief system. These insecurities are reflected in a desire to attempt to silence a nagging conscience by the constant repetition of anti-christian sentiments in a public arena.
Billy if you wern’t secretly worried you would really care would you?
Reg – I am an atheist – I don’t feel the need to attack Christians. They don’t threaten me and never have in my 48 years on Earth. Being told I am going to Hell for my sins and for not believing doesn’t really bother me at all. Islam however….getting told I should be beheaded for being an atheist…that is another story.
How can you believe that shit and think that somehow it is morally good to cause the death of a human?
I think that tecnically Jesus was a son in the sense of an extension or avatar of the Big Guy, so not a human being in the normal sense of a biological offspring.
The banks have settled with the IRD and we are now officially 2.2 billion dollars better off. That’s a direct 2.2 billion dollars wealth transfer from Australia to us. Hip, hip hooray!
Why can’t we introduce a “profits repatriation tax” so these overseas-owned companies can’t carry on raping us for free?
My Great Grand father as a European child, was bought up in close association with a maori pa, and later in life acted as an interpreter, often on behalf of maori interests of those times.
One of his comments of the time that my Dad told me, was that holding to certain maori pronuciations was akin to the English equivalent to “talking with a plum in your mouth”.
The far Easteren BOP iwi does make some sense of that, as also does the” h” to make “f” but the local maoris of Wanganui do not want the “f” sound for all the hassle of putting the “h” in. There are other discrepancies that other iwi also make.
It is never straight forward as the Queen’s, BBC, Cockney, Geordie, etc, and it is all English.
This all occurs in Japan, where there is quite a marked difference between the East Coast and parts of the West Coast, that they can find it difficult to understand each other in speech.
In the long run I guess it will be homogenized as radio, tv, videos, dvd spread the commonality
Indeed Reg – billyborker’s obsession with the supposed absence of a God is puzzling. If you believe that there’s no-one or nothing out there, what is there to obsess about?
My theory is that billyborker has come from a Christian environment, but somewhere along the way has been hurt or betrayed by a Christian or a church. There’s a heck of a lot of people in the community like that, so if that’s the case billy, you’re not alone, and it isn’t God whom you should be angry with. His followers stuff up just as much as anyone else.
Luc at some point I hope we get to see intricate details of the bank deal.
Given the sums involved, even a small reduction in applicable penalties would cover all of the legal costs of pursuing the case to the end. If the IRD can also charge use-of-money interest then that also means there is no disadvantage to the taxpayer in waiting for the money.
Personally I’d like to see the govt wring every last cent out of this case that it can, and I’m suspicious that this deal means we the taxpayer will forego hundreds of millions that we otherwise deserve.
I have this attitude because Banks have proven themselves to be vicious rorters. They behave arrogantly, and I’d be quite happy to see them all nationalised with no compensation to their shareholders. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen but at least while we’ve got them to rights in this case we can treat them the same way they treat us.
“My theory is that billyborker has come from a Christian environment, but somewhere along the way has been hurt or betrayed by a Christian or a church.”
Yes that’s also been my theory, I2. However if that’s the case then it also means billy is rather light in the IQ dept because any Christian that doesn’t distinguish between G-d and the behaviour of those who profess to follow Him hasn’t really thought too much about what their faith really means.
Probably in the Hindu sense that an avatar is a manifestation of the deity that has descended to Earth in an earthly vessel of some kind – in this case – the body of a man.
Best I get working! Four hours to go until we shut the doors and head south.
To everyone here, billyborker included – have a blessed and joy-filled Christmas season, and a great New Year. After much consideration, I’ve decided that my retirement from blogging was premature, and Keeping Stock will re-launch on New Years Day, so come on by – even you billy!
Matt – in the defence of the crazy Anglicans (who seem to have church that is lead by people who don’t know what they believe – the AB of Canterbury looks and sounds more like the Ayatollah Khomanei’s brother every day) I have to say that even as outraged as they were, there wasn’t a death, cars being burnt, threats of beheadings for insulting Christianity or a single fatwah to be seen or heard.
Yes Red but one must feel sorry for the progressives being Christmas and all. There will be much gnashing of teeth and soul searching now that AGW has been kicked up the arse. I see the MSM is struggling and is in denial that their propaganda did not covert the masses to total AGWisim, still running shots of swimming polar bears and melting ice. There must be revenge, the left shall not be denied. What better way to say we are still here, “lets register guns”, lets try something else. These lefty pricks remind me of shooting rabbits, you blow away 10 in a night and there are another bloody 10 the next night. Fucking loons the lot of them.
Anyhow have to go and put hay away now so like to wish everyone a merry Christmas, better do it today probably won’t be capable tomorrow.
I appreciate that Christianity has contributed enormously to Western Civilisation, with many themes underpinning the rights and freedoms we have. I’m happy to attend Church and partake in traditions that connect me to my culture and history- going back hundreds of years. Atheism doesn’t mean being militant or confrontational.
I hope that everyone here however, has a safe and happy Christmas, in anyway you choose to celebrate it with your friends and family.
Saw this letter in the paper edition of the Herald yesterday –
Tuvalu’s plight
The bleating of the Tuvaluans during the Copenhagen summit was the sound of their own ignorance and greed, blamed on global warming. They use wells and jet pumps to pump the fresh water aquifer under the atolls dry. As the freshwater lens is withdrawn, the sea makes inroads. They thus collapse the land on which they live into the sea.
They have known this for the past 30 years, yet act like people who cut a branch off a tree while sitting on it.
It is not global warming but over-use of resources — that is, their own fault. The same applies to other islands. And in Southeast Asia the collapsing aquifer is awash with septic materials, but it is still pumped for water.
Neil Lopez,
Glen Eden
Yep, I wish more people knew that.
They were just there at Copenhagen for handouts.
Fletch, I also wish a lot more people knew this stuff, but the lamestream media don’t have the mental capacity to do investigative journalism anymore, they’ve dumbed themselves down to have wider appeal.
The real threat to our future can be seen in a movie called Idiocracy. In the future the stupid outbreed the smart.
It’s a silly movie, but bears some resemblance to Labour’s welfare policy.
Fletch – I cannot remember where I read it and cannot be fagged expending the effort to find it again, but remember seeing an article about the sea level guages used in at some Pacific Island somewhere. It wasn’t giving the results required, so it was remounted several inches lower down. Voila – instant sea level rise.
“It wasn’t giving the results required, so it was remounted several inches lower down. Voila – instant sea level rise.”
Exactly right. It was in a NIWA press release in which the organisation bragged about technical cooperation with our Pacific Islands neighbours. The NIWA team was lead by one Jim Salinger.
Potential conflict of interest between NZX’s regulatory and commercial functions is highlighted in the annual review of share market operator NZX by the Securities Commission.
NZX gets a good report and the commission notes action on past issues it has raised. NZX now makes available on its website attachments to company announcements without the need to make a request and has abolished the 20 minute waiting period before general release of the details of company announcements.
The report notes concern about the risk of potential conflicts between NZX’s regulatory and commercial functions as it expands its commercial activities.
In 2010 I would like the to see following agenda implemented by the National government
1. To promote good citizenship and self reliance
2. To combat socialism
3. To maintain freedom of contract
4. To safeguard individual rights and privilege of ownership
5. To oppose interference of the State in business
6. To oppose State control of industry
For those in the Government scratching their heads at this heresy, (and those in Government hearing this for the first time) it is merely the National party Founding Principles from May 14th 1936….
where is philu? I want to tell him I’m on the whisky already .. tomorrow will be mayhem so chilling out now.
and the little red rooster (or rooter) must love being a whip .. lots of smacking to do
reid, I can’t stream video because I only have dialup, but your link reminds me of this story I saw yesterday about how Hitler and the Nazis tried to take Christ out of Christmas (Jesus was a Jew, remember). Interesting reading, swastika ornaments and all…
I’ll be in Christchurch enjoying Turkey with the wider krazykiwi clan, including my 104 year old grandmother who will no doubt regale us (again!) with stories of her Christmas’s over the decades, while enjoying her favourite tipple. She’s a treasure and a legend..!
So to my kiwiblog pals, peers and sparring partners … have a fantastic, safe and relaxing Christmas with friends and family. God bless you all.
Twas the night before Christmas, And John Key was pissed.
He swore at his MPs as he threw down his list.
“Miserable dullards, ungrateful jerks,
I have a good mind to scrap the whole bloody works.
I’ve busted my arse for damn near a year
but instead of “Thanks John”, what do I hear?
I’m not tough enough, says Farrar’s hard right…
bureaucrats want more money, the Maori Party all fight.
Garrett got drunk and goosed all the staff,
And English was paying himself time and a half.
And just when I thought that things would get better,
the assholes from IRD sent me a letter.
Turns out we’re letting the banks off some tax,
If only I’d known that idiot Dunne was so lax!!
And the voters these days, they are all the pits.
They want the impossible, those mean little shits.
I spent the whole year smiling and nodding,
but they all expect far too much mollycoddling.
They want tax cuts and health care,
They must think I’m magic
I’m out of my depth, we’re all looking tragic.
But you think I’m bad, then just picture this:
Prime Minister Goff and his cabal of nits.
Foreign Minister Mallard waving his fist
at some little Ambassador to small to resist.
Health Minister King consulting the moon
While they’re handing out honours to some Monaco tycoon.
I’ve already achieved all I set out to do:
An Obama photo-op and a cycleway too.
I’d quit this tomorrow, there’s just no enjoyment
But now that Bennett’s stuffed WINZ I wouldn’t get unemployment.
# RightNow (567) Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Some reading over Christmas – a complete 30 year timeline of CLIMATEGATE
******************************************
Jo Nova is a disgrace to the term “skeptic.” She trots out the usual selected quotes and distorts the context of those quotes. But good on her for making a bob or two in true capitalist style.
The problem I have with her exploitation of easily confused and susceptible people is that she values making a dollar out of a future crisis (future for some, but current for others like Tuvaluans and Bangladeshis) way above ensuring a future for not only humans, but many other species as well. She is the living embodiment of what we are doing wrong – we are the generations intent on self-gratification at any cost, robbing our own descendants of a future remotely approaching the luxuries and freedoms that we enjoy as of right.
I actually care about the world we leave for our future generations, not just my descendants (may they be plentiful and prosperous) but for all humans and all non-human species.
Those of you, especially those of you who claim to be Christians, who play dice with the future we bequeath need to understand that you demonstrate the modern phenomenon of disconnection from our ancestral lineage.
That’s the sense of understanding inherent in the consciousness of indigenous peoples the world over. It’s about where we have come from and the responsibility to leave a planet in a better, not worse, state.
Luc, she’s not making a bob or two as far as I can tell. People have donated to have 160,000 copies of the booklet distributed (and good for them!). I see it’s in half a dozen languages, too. We just need to get the information out there.
Luc, you ought to read it. There is NO evidence for human caused global warming, and none that CO2 is in any way responsible for warming whatsoever. It’s a total fiction.
Elijah Lineberry (271) Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
In 2010 I would like the to see following agenda implemented by the National government
1. To promote good citizenship and self reliance
2. To combat socialism
3. To maintain freedom of contract
4. To safeguard individual rights and privilege of ownership
5. To oppose interference of the State in business
6. To oppose State control of industry
For those in the Government scratching their heads at this heresy, (and those in Government hearing this for the first time) it is merely the National party Founding Principles from May 14th 1936….
Food for thought for all those National MP’s who don’t know their Founding Document from their Treaty Document.
This should be written in every National MP’s employment contract. Oh they don’t have one. Isn’t that against the Law?
Indeed they should be required to stand up and recite in unison this mantra, every morning.
Most of us expect to assist those that CAN’T help themselves but we rightly resist the mantra that we should give everyone money for nothing.
Want a good example.
For years the IHC ran itself doing tremendous work, built up sheltered workshops etc and care houses. (along with many other groups.)
The socialists just despised those efforts, the unions were completely threatened by the work done in the workshops and by the voluntary time put in by thousands of people.
So they enlisted their mothers little helpers in the Public Service and proceeded with destroying all that was built in place from nothing. (Built by individual enterprise and charity et al).
They destroyed the homes, they destroyed the workshops, they have destroyed the goodwill of the people who built this organization and the last straw is that they have now managed to destroy the financial viability of IHC.
That’s what socialism does, destroys the soul.
So Billy, thanks for reminding us what Key said. People should take note and when the next vote comes around remember what socialism and its attitudes does for and to people.
looks to me like IHC destroyed itself by employing a thief and not having proper financial systems in place, and by expecting employees to work as slaves. IHC appears to be run by retards.
You are full of charity Billy. that is the end result and certainly wasn’t the visions that people had. But then you wouldn’t be aware of stuff like that. You are certainly not a charitable person are you?
Clealry one of the union muppets that thought they would destroy enterprise.
Viking, I have nothing against charity, I do charitable work myself, even giving of my own time last night to help out at a Carols by Candlelight,
But why should a charitable organisatio, such as IHC, expect its employees to be charitable by not receiving fair rumneration for work done? Would you be willing to do a sleep over in a house with some very disturbed people for a payment of a bit over $3 an hour?
* George Megalogenis
* From: The Australian
* December 26, 2009 12:00AM
ACROSS-THE-BOARD income tax cuts are off Labor’s agenda as the Henry review looks instead to ease the burden on individual taxpayers by simplifying returns and reducing churn in the tax and family payment systems.
The compromise at the heart of the report now in the hands of Wayne Swan marks the first occasion that a major tax reform will not be accompanied by tax cuts for all. The budget cannot afford them for at least six years. The fiscal straitjacket also means any lowering of the company tax rate will have to be offset by trimming concessions to business.
The findings of the five-member review panel chaired by Treasury secretary Ken Henry mix relief for families and individuals and controversial measures covering the taxation of bank savings, superannuation, petrol, resources, companies and federal-state financial relations.
The ambitious 20-year reform program delivered to the Treasurer this week aims to focus revenue collection on a “small set of broad-based taxes”, according to a document leaked to The Weekend Australian. The overhaul is driven by the challenges of an ageing population, the new baby boom, the rise of China and India, globalisation and the environment.
The politically difficult reforms – including state-based congestion taxes, a national payroll tax collected on behalf of the states and a shift to a new form of taxation for business – are identified in the report as issues for future debate. This side-steps the need for hard recommendations that would have forced Labor to declare its hand early in an election year.
With the budget forecast to remain in deficit until the middle of the next decade, the Henry review has relied on efficiencies to fund some of its proposals. On the personal tax front, the report points out that Australians use tax agents more than most other nations, but for very little real benefit to the economy.
The report wants to minimise churn by doing away with the need to file paper-based tax returns and to give people the option of claiming a standard work deduction instead of taking on the taxman on each item.
Lower- and middle-income earners are expected to be better off through changes to the low-income tax offset and other incentives. Higher-income earners will lose some of their superannuation tax concessions to pay for new concessions for low-income earners. At the moment, lower-income earners receive no benefit from super contributions because their compulsory savings are taxed at the same rate as their regular income – at 15 per cent.
Any cut to the company tax rate in the short term will need to be revenue-neutral because of the budget deficit.
A briefing note Dr Henry distributed in the final stages of the report, which The Weekend Australian has obtained, outlines a two-way pressure on the budget – on the one hand, the ageing population is driving up spending, particularly through health and aged-care costs; on the other, the revenue surges from the resources sector pose adjustment problems for the rest of the economy. The document links a lower company tax rate to a change in the taxation of resources. Miners would cough up the extra cash to reduce the headline rate for all companies.
The briefing note defends the “broad architecture of Australia’s tax and transfer system” – a signal that overhaul of personal taxes and payments is also off the agenda.
Nevertheless, changes within the existing structure to reduce churn are likely to form part of Mr Swan’s opening response.
The review panel has not fallen for the obvious traps of taxing the family home, or extending the land tax base to households in exchange for the abolition of stamp duty on home sales.
Labor is bracing for a difficult debate on petrol taxes. Treasury used its latest pocket brief on the tax system this week to show that Australia has the second-cheapest bowser prices in the developed world, and the fourth-lowest rate of petrol tax, comprising excise and GST.
Labor’s tax reform dilemma can be summarised as too little revenue and too much regular spending.
Personal tax collections are at historic lows of 9.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008-09, and 9.7 per cent for the present financial year. They won’t return to double digits until 2012-13, but even then the figure of 10.2 per cent would merely match the level that prevailed in 2006-07. On paper, a lower tax burden should be good news for workers. But it comes at the cost of a large deficit.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Hmmmm… me thinks that it may only be public servants left at work today….
December 24th, 2009 at 10:41 am
See the pathetically uninformed Herald editorial writer is crusading for each and every gun to be registered.
A quick search on this issue would have informed him of the futility of this course of action, but since when has real information ever mattered to the pathetic liberal sensibilities of the idiots who run the NZ Herald??
NZ is already awash with laws that are unenforceable or only selectively enforced, and here is this uninformed knee jerk idiot calling for more of the same.
How do these slack jawed morons end up in senior positions at one of NZ’s major daily newspapers? Obviously there’s no intelligence test used in their hiring procedures. I guess they just ask “do you subscribe to every looney left liberal idea out there, and do you pledge to pursue the Progressive political agenda with enthusiam and at the expense of real news and opinion?”, and if its a “yes”, they get the job.
http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/cc_cn_crime_rate_double_us.htm
December 24th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Season’s greetings DPF from a Kiwiblog follower. This blog is always a bright read and a lively open forum. Your seven-days, round-world work keeping it up to date is much appreciated. So Merry Christmas and the very best for 2010 and beyond.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Looking for last minute Xmas gifts?
How about a few books for the season?
“Does god hate women” by Ophelia Benson, an excellent read, but I’ll give away the ending, the answer is Yes.
“50 Voices of disbelief” a great seris of essays on why belief in gods is fallacious, futile and fucked.
ANything at all by Richard dawkins, especially “The greatest show on earth” and “The blind watchmaker”.
“letter to a christian nation”, Sam Harris.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:50 am
And on cue, billyborker begins another attack on Christians. It’s not longer funny; it’s persistent and blatant trolling IMHO
DPF, the best Christmas present you could give your readership is enough demerits to billyborker to give him a two-month holiday – just a thought
December 24th, 2009 at 10:50 am
From Stuff:
Anyone else think the stabproof vest may have been more instrumental in saving his life.. than his notebook? Perhaps the reporter had just watched Hot Fuzz and been inspired
December 24th, 2009 at 10:52 am
You could have given me a hat-tip Manolo
December 24th, 2009 at 10:53 am
billy, if you don’t believe there is a God, he cannot.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Others
All the best to you DPF and and your band of followers (both loyal and otherwise). This may be the only time in a year when I would extend compassion and goodwill to some and will enjoy once again being disagreeable in the New Year.
Until then have a great few days, drive safely and may your gods go with you.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:53 am
IV2 – completely agree. I know what ducks feel like in early May
December 24th, 2009 at 10:56 am
When was this done?
December 24th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Inventory2 (3838) Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 10:50 am
And on cue, billyborker begins another attack on Christians. It’s not longer funny; it’s persistent and blatant trolling IMHO
Hey, idiot, apart from the title of Sam Harris’ book, where I have made reference to christians? Its not the only religion, you know.
Maybe you could do yourself a favour and read one or more of the above titles, expand your horizons a little.
Its not too late you know, at the ripe old age of 85 Jimmy Carter has found the courage to leave his church of over 60 years. A man of principle at last.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Indeed. Credit when credit is due: the author of that witty remark was Inventory himself.
Better late than never.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I read Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and thought it was a most appropriate title – Dawkins is indeed deluded.
But billy, you know your modus operandi – start off with a wee spark, and wait for the conflagration to begin. For one who purports not to believe in the Almighty, you sure give Him a lot of attention. Not hedging your bets perchance?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:05 am
No thanks. This year it is useful stuff like a slasher, a new rifle cleaning kit and more ammo.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:07 am
No need to hedge bets when its odds on there is no god, no heaven, no hell, just this one, all too brief life that we should enjoy in its fullness and light, not hunkered down in the demon haunted shadows of religion, myth and lie.
Good you read Dawkins, I think you’d find a lot more in 50 voices as there is a broad church in that volume, those who have never believed, those who have and have given it away, all written with humanity, spirit and passion as well as clarity and logic. Its only 45 bucks and it could save the rest of your life.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:08 am
What has happened to the spirit of youth who marched against oppression and cried out for freedom in the 60’s and today march against freedom (Copenhagen) and cry out for regulation and control…FFS?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Billy God sent his only son to die for your sins. God is your friend Billy reach out to him Billy you can do it.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Simon, seems that was all about god and his sins, not me and mine. What sort of an arsehole would see his own son murdered and then claim it was for my benefit. How can you believe that shit and think that somehow it is morally good to cause the death of a human?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:13 am
My best wishes to all for the festive season.
Except to billy borker whom I have grown to despise over the last 12 months, there is not a redeeming feature to be seen, to him/her I wish absolutely nothing.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:13 am
So President Carter left his denomination, doesn’t mean he’s had a labotomy and joined your camp Billy.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Merry Christmas to you DPF, and to all your readers and commenters.
Thanks for running an interesting and thought provoking blog….. all the best for 2010
December 24th, 2009 at 11:17 am
“What sort of [a G-d] would
see his own son murderedcreate someone like you and then claimit was for my benefitHe loved the rest of us.”Yes Billy, the ways of G-d are indeed mysterious and sometimes to me, unfathomable.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:18 am
That;s OK lofty, but haven’t you got some vegetables to cook? Mind you don’t break a tooth
December 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Inventory, Personally find it very confirming that Atheists feel the need to constantly attack the basis of Christian belief.
Their persistant obsession, exposes their carefully concealed doubts they harbour about their own (un)belief system. These insecurities are reflected in a desire to attempt to silence a nagging conscience by the constant repetition of anti-christian sentiments in a public arena.
Billy if you wern’t secretly worried you would really care would you?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Reg – I am an atheist – I don’t feel the need to attack Christians. They don’t threaten me and never have in my 48 years on Earth. Being told I am going to Hell for my sins and for not believing doesn’t really bother me at all. Islam however….getting told I should be beheaded for being an atheist…that is another story.
I think that tecnically Jesus was a son in the sense of an extension or avatar of the Big Guy, so not a human being in the normal sense of a biological offspring.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Billy was a Christian but he lost his faith.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am
The banks have settled with the IRD and we are now officially 2.2 billion dollars better off. That’s a direct 2.2 billion dollars wealth transfer from Australia to us. Hip, hip hooray!
Why can’t we introduce a “profits repatriation tax” so these overseas-owned companies can’t carry on raping us for free?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Interesting Brian
How do you define avatar?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Maori dialect.
My Great Grand father as a European child, was bought up in close association with a maori pa, and later in life acted as an interpreter, often on behalf of maori interests of those times.
One of his comments of the time that my Dad told me, was that holding to certain maori pronuciations was akin to the English equivalent to “talking with a plum in your mouth”.
The far Easteren BOP iwi does make some sense of that, as also does the” h” to make “f” but the local maoris of Wanganui do not want the “f” sound for all the hassle of putting the “h” in. There are other discrepancies that other iwi also make.
It is never straight forward as the Queen’s, BBC, Cockney, Geordie, etc, and it is all English.
This all occurs in Japan, where there is quite a marked difference between the East Coast and parts of the West Coast, that they can find it difficult to understand each other in speech.
In the long run I guess it will be homogenized as radio, tv, videos, dvd spread the commonality
December 24th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Indeed Reg – billyborker’s obsession with the supposed absence of a God is puzzling. If you believe that there’s no-one or nothing out there, what is there to obsess about?
My theory is that billyborker has come from a Christian environment, but somewhere along the way has been hurt or betrayed by a Christian or a church. There’s a heck of a lot of people in the community like that, so if that’s the case billy, you’re not alone, and it isn’t God whom you should be angry with. His followers stuff up just as much as anyone else.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:32 am
“Billy was a Christian but he lost his faith.”
Is that true? Billy have you switched from God worship to State worship?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Luc at some point I hope we get to see intricate details of the bank deal.
Given the sums involved, even a small reduction in applicable penalties would cover all of the legal costs of pursuing the case to the end. If the IRD can also charge use-of-money interest then that also means there is no disadvantage to the taxpayer in waiting for the money.
Personally I’d like to see the govt wring every last cent out of this case that it can, and I’m suspicious that this deal means we the taxpayer will forego hundreds of millions that we otherwise deserve.
I have this attitude because Banks have proven themselves to be vicious rorters. They behave arrogantly, and I’d be quite happy to see them all nationalised with no compensation to their shareholders. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen but at least while we’ve got them to rights in this case we can treat them the same way they treat us.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:43 am
“My theory is that billyborker has come from a Christian environment, but somewhere along the way has been hurt or betrayed by a Christian or a church.”
Yes that’s also been my theory, I2. However if that’s the case then it also means billy is rather light in the IQ dept because any Christian that doesn’t distinguish between G-d and the behaviour of those who profess to follow Him hasn’t really thought too much about what their faith really means.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Today I learned the following:
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL
December 24th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Billy just has his own religion is all, ironically without religion he would have nothing to believe in.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Probably in the Hindu sense that an avatar is a manifestation of the deity that has descended to Earth in an earthly vessel of some kind – in this case – the body of a man.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:56 am
You mean like by entering the uterus of a woman Brian, I didn’t know you believed in the Virgin birth
December 24th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Best I get working! Four hours to go until we shut the doors and head south.
To everyone here, billyborker included – have a blessed and joy-filled Christmas season, and a great New Year. After much consideration, I’ve decided that my retirement from blogging was premature, and Keeping Stock will re-launch on New Years Day, so come on by – even you billy!
December 24th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Hey, if you believe in deities and their incomprehensible powers, a little virgin birthing is not a big leap of faith.
December 24th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Excellent point Brian, amazing how few people seem to get that; some obnoxious Anglicans in Auckland for example.
December 24th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Matt – in the defence of the crazy Anglicans (who seem to have church that is lead by people who don’t know what they believe – the AB of Canterbury looks and sounds more like the Ayatollah Khomanei’s brother every day) I have to say that even as outraged as they were, there wasn’t a death, cars being burnt, threats of beheadings for insulting Christianity or a single fatwah to be seen or heard.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Yes Red but one must feel sorry for the progressives being Christmas and all. There will be much gnashing of teeth and soul searching now that AGW has been kicked up the arse. I see the MSM is struggling and is in denial that their propaganda did not covert the masses to total AGWisim, still running shots of swimming polar bears and melting ice. There must be revenge, the left shall not be denied. What better way to say we are still here, “lets register guns”, lets try something else. These lefty pricks remind me of shooting rabbits, you blow away 10 in a night and there are another bloody 10 the next night. Fucking loons the lot of them.
Anyhow have to go and put hay away now so like to wish everyone a merry Christmas, better do it today probably won’t be capable tomorrow.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Some reading over Christmas – a complete 30 year timeline of CLIMATEGATE
http://joannenova.com.au/global-warming/climategate-30-year-timeline/
Or straight to the PDF
http://joannenova.com.au/globalwarming/climategate/history/2009.12.23_climategate_30_years_in_the_making_banner.pdf
December 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Reg- I’m also an atheist.
I appreciate that Christianity has contributed enormously to Western Civilisation, with many themes underpinning the rights and freedoms we have. I’m happy to attend Church and partake in traditions that connect me to my culture and history- going back hundreds of years. Atheism doesn’t mean being militant or confrontational.
I hope that everyone here however, has a safe and happy Christmas, in anyway you choose to celebrate it with your friends and family.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Saw this letter in the paper edition of the Herald yesterday –
Yep, I wish more people knew that.
They were just there at Copenhagen for handouts.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
One of the best Christmas stories I’ve seen.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Fletch, I also wish a lot more people knew this stuff, but the lamestream media don’t have the mental capacity to do investigative journalism anymore, they’ve dumbed themselves down to have wider appeal.
The real threat to our future can be seen in a movie called Idiocracy. In the future the stupid outbreed the smart.
It’s a silly movie, but bears some resemblance to Labour’s welfare policy.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Fletch – I cannot remember where I read it and cannot be fagged expending the effort to find it again, but remember seeing an article about the sea level guages used in at some Pacific Island somewhere. It wasn’t giving the results required, so it was remounted several inches lower down. Voila – instant sea level rise.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
“It wasn’t giving the results required, so it was remounted several inches lower down. Voila – instant sea level rise.”
Exactly right. It was in a NIWA press release in which the organisation bragged about technical cooperation with our Pacific Islands neighbours. The NIWA team was lead by one Jim Salinger.
December 24th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
So this means all we have to do, scientifically, is shift it back again and Tuvalu’s sweet as.
Has anyone told Jim?
December 24th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Looks like the Nats. and Grumpy McCully might finally be coming to their senses.
Key is becoming the Nr Fix-it when his ministers can’t anti up.
Fiji welcomes Key stance change
By MICHAEL FIELD – Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 10:46 24/12/2009
Fiji’s military head Voreqe Bainimarama says Prime Minister John Key has changed his stance toward his country and it is good news for Fiji.
Earlier this week Mr Key told Auckland’s Radio Tarana that he wanted to renew engagement with Fiji and would write to Bainimarama.
More at; http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/3192895/Fiji-welcomes-Key-stance-change
December 24th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
And another small win for Cactus. Still a long way from sorting the problem but then this is the Securities Commission at home.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/3190781/Securities-Commission-identifies-NZX-conflict
Securities Commission identifies NZX conflict
NZPA
Last updated 14:35 23/12/2009
Potential conflict of interest between NZX’s regulatory and commercial functions is highlighted in the annual review of share market operator NZX by the Securities Commission.
NZX gets a good report and the commission notes action on past issues it has raised. NZX now makes available on its website attachments to company announcements without the need to make a request and has abolished the 20 minute waiting period before general release of the details of company announcements.
The report notes concern about the risk of potential conflicts between NZX’s regulatory and commercial functions as it expands its commercial activities.
More at; http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/3190781/Securities-Commission-identifies-NZX-conflict
December 24th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Only because I have been flooded with emails asking…..
http://clintheine.blogspot.com/
December 24th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
In 2010 I would like the to see following agenda implemented by the National government
1. To promote good citizenship and self reliance
2. To combat socialism
3. To maintain freedom of contract
4. To safeguard individual rights and privilege of ownership
5. To oppose interference of the State in business
6. To oppose State control of industry
For those in the Government scratching their heads at this heresy, (and those in Government hearing this for the first time) it is merely the National party Founding Principles from May 14th 1936….
http://www.nightcitytrader.blogspot.com
December 24th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
where is philu? I want to tell him I’m on the whisky already .. tomorrow will be mayhem so chilling out now.
and the little red rooster (or rooter) must love being a whip .. lots of smacking to do
December 24th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Hitler finds out the truth about Santa
December 24th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
reid, I can’t stream video because I only have dialup, but your link reminds me of this story I saw yesterday about how Hitler and the Nazis tried to take Christ out of Christmas (Jesus was a Jew, remember). Interesting reading, swastika ornaments and all…
Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1228630/How-Hitlers-Nazi-propaganda-machine-tried-Christ-Christmas.html#
December 24th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
We wish all of you a safe and very enjoyable Christmas Season.
See you at the midnight mass carols at 10.30pm if you’re in Wellyton.
December 24th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Have an awesome Xmas everyone- even the lefties.
PS- bruv if you are reading- awesome your mate is doing better
December 24th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I’ll be in Christchurch enjoying Turkey with the wider krazykiwi clan, including my 104 year old grandmother who will no doubt regale us (again!) with stories of her Christmas’s over the decades, while enjoying her favourite tipple. She’s a treasure and a legend..!
So to my kiwiblog pals, peers and sparring partners … have a fantastic, safe and relaxing Christmas with friends and family. God bless you all.
December 24th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Yeah, merry Christmas, all. Keep safe and happy!
December 24th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Twas the night before Christmas, And John Key was pissed.
He swore at his MPs as he threw down his list.
“Miserable dullards, ungrateful jerks,
I have a good mind to scrap the whole bloody works.
I’ve busted my arse for damn near a year
but instead of “Thanks John”, what do I hear?
I’m not tough enough, says Farrar’s hard right…
bureaucrats want more money, the Maori Party all fight.
Garrett got drunk and goosed all the staff,
And English was paying himself time and a half.
And just when I thought that things would get better,
the assholes from IRD sent me a letter.
Turns out we’re letting the banks off some tax,
If only I’d known that idiot Dunne was so lax!!
And the voters these days, they are all the pits.
They want the impossible, those mean little shits.
I spent the whole year smiling and nodding,
but they all expect far too much mollycoddling.
They want tax cuts and health care,
They must think I’m magic
I’m out of my depth, we’re all looking tragic.
But you think I’m bad, then just picture this:
Prime Minister Goff and his cabal of nits.
Foreign Minister Mallard waving his fist
at some little Ambassador to small to resist.
Health Minister King consulting the moon
While they’re handing out honours to some Monaco tycoon.
I’ve already achieved all I set out to do:
An Obama photo-op and a cycleway too.
I’d quit this tomorrow, there’s just no enjoyment
But now that Bennett’s stuffed WINZ I wouldn’t get unemployment.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Lol…merry Christmas Rex.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Just finished adjusting the brakes on the little girl’s bike. Just so and not rubbing.
Have good Christmas everyone.
cheers
Malcolm
December 24th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
# RightNow (567) Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Some reading over Christmas – a complete 30 year timeline of CLIMATEGATE
******************************************
Jo Nova is a disgrace to the term “skeptic.” She trots out the usual selected quotes and distorts the context of those quotes. But good on her for making a bob or two in true capitalist style.
The problem I have with her exploitation of easily confused and susceptible people is that she values making a dollar out of a future crisis (future for some, but current for others like Tuvaluans and Bangladeshis) way above ensuring a future for not only humans, but many other species as well. She is the living embodiment of what we are doing wrong – we are the generations intent on self-gratification at any cost, robbing our own descendants of a future remotely approaching the luxuries and freedoms that we enjoy as of right.
I actually care about the world we leave for our future generations, not just my descendants (may they be plentiful and prosperous) but for all humans and all non-human species.
Those of you, especially those of you who claim to be Christians, who play dice with the future we bequeath need to understand that you demonstrate the modern phenomenon of disconnection from our ancestral lineage.
That’s the sense of understanding inherent in the consciousness of indigenous peoples the world over. It’s about where we have come from and the responsibility to leave a planet in a better, not worse, state.
That’s my Christmas message.
Best wishes to all.
May your descendants be plentiful and prosperous.
Peace be upon you.
December 25th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Luc, she’s not making a bob or two as far as I can tell. People have donated to have 160,000 copies of the booklet distributed (and good for them!). I see it’s in half a dozen languages, too. We just need to get the information out there.
Luc, you ought to read it. There is NO evidence for human caused global warming, and none that CO2 is in any way responsible for warming whatsoever. It’s a total fiction.
I will follow her site with interest.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Elijah Lineberry (271) Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
In 2010 I would like the to see following agenda implemented by the National government
1. To promote good citizenship and self reliance
2. To combat socialism
3. To maintain freedom of contract
4. To safeguard individual rights and privilege of ownership
5. To oppose interference of the State in business
6. To oppose State control of industry
For those in the Government scratching their heads at this heresy, (and those in Government hearing this for the first time) it is merely the National party Founding Principles from May 14th 1936….
Food for thought for all those National MP’s who don’t know their Founding Document from their Treaty Document.
This should be written in every National MP’s employment contract. Oh they don’t have one. Isn’t that against the Law?
Indeed they should be required to stand up and recite in unison this mantra, every morning.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:25 am
2. To combat socialism
John Key at The Christcurch Press readers’ forum, prior to the election.
Not once, not twice, but thrice spake he “I believe in the welfare state.”
Looks like you need to change the leader.
December 25th, 2009 at 9:08 am
ITS THE EXTENT OF THAT STATE THAT’S THE ISSUE.
Most of us expect to assist those that CAN’T help themselves but we rightly resist the mantra that we should give everyone money for nothing.
Want a good example.
For years the IHC ran itself doing tremendous work, built up sheltered workshops etc and care houses. (along with many other groups.)
The socialists just despised those efforts, the unions were completely threatened by the work done in the workshops and by the voluntary time put in by thousands of people.
So they enlisted their mothers little helpers in the Public Service and proceeded with destroying all that was built in place from nothing. (Built by individual enterprise and charity et al).
They destroyed the homes, they destroyed the workshops, they have destroyed the goodwill of the people who built this organization and the last straw is that they have now managed to destroy the financial viability of IHC.
That’s what socialism does, destroys the soul.
So Billy, thanks for reminding us what Key said. People should take note and when the next vote comes around remember what socialism and its attitudes does for and to people.
December 25th, 2009 at 9:15 am
looks to me like IHC destroyed itself by employing a thief and not having proper financial systems in place, and by expecting employees to work as slaves. IHC appears to be run by retards.
December 25th, 2009 at 11:24 am
You are full of charity Billy. that is the end result and certainly wasn’t the visions that people had. But then you wouldn’t be aware of stuff like that. You are certainly not a charitable person are you?
Clealry one of the union muppets that thought they would destroy enterprise.
December 25th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Viking, I have nothing against charity, I do charitable work myself, even giving of my own time last night to help out at a Carols by Candlelight,
But why should a charitable organisatio, such as IHC, expect its employees to be charitable by not receiving fair rumneration for work done? Would you be willing to do a sleep over in a house with some very disturbed people for a payment of a bit over $3 an hour?
December 26th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Income tax overhaul off agenda
* George Megalogenis
* From: The Australian
* December 26, 2009 12:00AM
ACROSS-THE-BOARD income tax cuts are off Labor’s agenda as the Henry review looks instead to ease the burden on individual taxpayers by simplifying returns and reducing churn in the tax and family payment systems.
The compromise at the heart of the report now in the hands of Wayne Swan marks the first occasion that a major tax reform will not be accompanied by tax cuts for all. The budget cannot afford them for at least six years. The fiscal straitjacket also means any lowering of the company tax rate will have to be offset by trimming concessions to business.
The findings of the five-member review panel chaired by Treasury secretary Ken Henry mix relief for families and individuals and controversial measures covering the taxation of bank savings, superannuation, petrol, resources, companies and federal-state financial relations.
The ambitious 20-year reform program delivered to the Treasurer this week aims to focus revenue collection on a “small set of broad-based taxes”, according to a document leaked to The Weekend Australian. The overhaul is driven by the challenges of an ageing population, the new baby boom, the rise of China and India, globalisation and the environment.
The politically difficult reforms – including state-based congestion taxes, a national payroll tax collected on behalf of the states and a shift to a new form of taxation for business – are identified in the report as issues for future debate. This side-steps the need for hard recommendations that would have forced Labor to declare its hand early in an election year.
With the budget forecast to remain in deficit until the middle of the next decade, the Henry review has relied on efficiencies to fund some of its proposals. On the personal tax front, the report points out that Australians use tax agents more than most other nations, but for very little real benefit to the economy.
The report wants to minimise churn by doing away with the need to file paper-based tax returns and to give people the option of claiming a standard work deduction instead of taking on the taxman on each item.
Lower- and middle-income earners are expected to be better off through changes to the low-income tax offset and other incentives. Higher-income earners will lose some of their superannuation tax concessions to pay for new concessions for low-income earners. At the moment, lower-income earners receive no benefit from super contributions because their compulsory savings are taxed at the same rate as their regular income – at 15 per cent.
Any cut to the company tax rate in the short term will need to be revenue-neutral because of the budget deficit.
A briefing note Dr Henry distributed in the final stages of the report, which The Weekend Australian has obtained, outlines a two-way pressure on the budget – on the one hand, the ageing population is driving up spending, particularly through health and aged-care costs; on the other, the revenue surges from the resources sector pose adjustment problems for the rest of the economy. The document links a lower company tax rate to a change in the taxation of resources. Miners would cough up the extra cash to reduce the headline rate for all companies.
The briefing note defends the “broad architecture of Australia’s tax and transfer system” – a signal that overhaul of personal taxes and payments is also off the agenda.
Nevertheless, changes within the existing structure to reduce churn are likely to form part of Mr Swan’s opening response.
The review panel has not fallen for the obvious traps of taxing the family home, or extending the land tax base to households in exchange for the abolition of stamp duty on home sales.
Labor is bracing for a difficult debate on petrol taxes. Treasury used its latest pocket brief on the tax system this week to show that Australia has the second-cheapest bowser prices in the developed world, and the fourth-lowest rate of petrol tax, comprising excise and GST.
Labor’s tax reform dilemma can be summarised as too little revenue and too much regular spending.
Personal tax collections are at historic lows of 9.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008-09, and 9.7 per cent for the present financial year. They won’t return to double digits until 2012-13, but even then the figure of 10.2 per cent would merely match the level that prevailed in 2006-07. On paper, a lower tax burden should be good news for workers. But it comes at the cost of a large deficit.
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December 26th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Good, looks like Rudd might be a one term wonder.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Fletch
you are deluded…