General Debate 28 February 2010

February 28th, 2010 at 8:47 am by David Farrar
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50 Responses to “General Debate 28 February 2010”

  1. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    Tea Party movement moves to the UK. Daniel Hannan sets the left all a tremble with plans for a grass roots tax revolt in Europe.

    http://video.foxnews.com/v/4056122/british-tea-party

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  2. dad4justice (7,339) Says:

    I do wonder when the headlines read a massive earthquake has struck New Zealand?

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  3. Adolf Fiinkensein (2,467) Says:

    NZ media panic as eight inch Sue Naami hits NZ.

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  4. dad4justice (7,339) Says:

    The NZ media will crap themselves when the big shake comes along Adolf. The Walrus and Mike MacRobot will cry.

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  5. mavxp (439) Says:

    Please lobby the NZ government to send support to Chile, including our Search & Rescue teams.

    We desperately need the training for our civil defence – our day will come here in NZ soon enough being also on the Pacific ring of fire. Murray McCully seemed to think it was OK not to send our guys to Haiti – perhaps for valid reasons, or perhaps for just being a tightwad.

    Well, buddy, how about we stump up the cash and send our people to Chile? A very worthwhile investment methinks, and a darn sight better value than sending troops to Afghanistan.

    Chile = developed economy with modern building technology – our engineers and SAR teams can learn a lot and help a lot from this event.

    c’mon John and Murray. Lead the way!

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  6. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    Thomas Sowell on “intellectuals”-

    ——————————

    Sowell: I define intellectuals as persons whose occupations begin and end with ideas.

    I distinguish between intellectuals and other people who may have ideas but whose ideas end up producing some good or service, something that whether it’s working or not working can be determined by third parties.

    With intellectuals, one of the crucial factors is their work is largely judged by peer consensus, so it doesn’t matter if their ideas work in the real world.

    ——————————–

    He’s talking about the left. The Labour Party and the Democrats pusue and hold dear academics and “intellectuals”. Dream world idiots with no idea what occurs in the reality the rest of us have to deal with. Helen Klark and Barack Obama are prime examples. Busy fouling life for everybody else while they pursue their unworkable idealist ambitions.

    http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=522457

    An article well worth reading if you want further insight into the minds of the utter idiots of the left.

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  7. m@tt (503) Says:

    Tsunami deniers. Awesome.
    Suggest you go for a wee swim in protest.

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  8. Dave Mann (993) Says:

    The effects of Chilean and Haitian earthquakes serve to demonstrate the huge differences between the more developed countries and the Third World. Both Spanish speaking, both in the Americas, but as different as chalk and cheese.

    Haiti became (more of a) living hell and remains, by all accounts, devastated, whereas Chile seems to have benefitted hugely from their advanced anti-eathquake building codes. Not to say that it is a picnic there by any means, but loss of life appears to be in the hundreds rather than the hundreds of thousands. Interestingly, Google News Chile edition didn’t have a lot to say about the earthquake though, while it seems that our own media are, as usual, running around like headless chooks trying to generate public panic over the possibility of NZ being inundated by 30cm ‘tsunami’ wavelets. Pathetic.

    I agree with mavxp that we should offer assistance to Chile – but for rather more humanitarian reasons than simply to gain experience. There will be huge infrastructure damage to roads, dams and buildings etc which will need shitloads of work and investment to fix after this.

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  9. LeftRightOut (622) Says:

    Is this the same Thoams Sowell, economist? A profession that by definition can only deal in ideas?

    Russell, take your fucking right wing rants over to whaleblog where there’ll at least be one idiot to agree with you.

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  10. LeftRightOut (622) Says:

    And more stupidity from the useful idiots of the right, led by Sean “Under God” Hannity.

    HANNITY: The Obama administration earlier today rolled out the red carpet for a coalition of atheist groups. Now, among the individuals in attendance was Michael Newdow. That’s the California man who sued unsuccessfully to have the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, religious groups, however, have not received this kind of treatment from the Obama White House. Now, last year, the President distanced himself from the National Day of Prayer, cancelling the formal service traditionally held in honor of the day and refusing to attend a Catholic prayer breakfast. So what’s going on? Has the administration demonstrated a pattern of hostility towards religion, or is this merely a coincidence?

    OOOOhhh my gooooosh – atheists being given equal treatment in America. What next? A black president?

    The truth, always a stranger at FOX is that Obama has met with Pope Benedict, Dalai Lama, Mormon president, and Jewish leaders. On July 10, 2009, Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Obama similarly hosted separate White House meeting with a group of more than 16 Jewish leaders, including two rabbis; Mormon leaders, including Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and the Dalai Lama.

    Obama White House hosted health care conference call with religious leaders. Obama spoke during an August 19, 2009 conference call organized by a “coalition of more than 30 faith-based groups” to discuss health care reform. The conference call reportedly included “at least 25 faith leaders — from evangelical Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious traditions.”

    Obama spoke at February 4 National Prayer Breakfast. At the February 4 National Prayer Breakfast, Obama spoke in front of “an array of religious leaders.”

    WH Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership exists to “build bridges between the federal government and nonprofit organizations, both secular and faith-based.” The White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership (OFBNP) states that its purpose is to “form partnerships between government at all levels and non-profit organizations, both secular and faith-based, to more effectively serve Americans in need.”

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  11. LeftRightOut (622) Says:

    Dave Mann (330) Says:

    February 28th, 2010 at 9:40 am
    The effects of Chilean and Haitian earthquakes serve to demonstrate the huge differences between the more developed countries and the Third World. Both Spanish speaking, both in the Americas, but as different as chalk and cheese.

    I don’t think language has much to do with it, especially when the principal written, spoken and administrative language of Haiti is French; when Hait’s other official language is a FRench based Creole and Spanish is spoken by some.

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  12. mavxp (439) Says:

    Nicely said Dave.

    My earlier post was bit knee-jerk and immature I’ll admit.

    Of course we should be sending help for humanitarian reasons, but the pragmatist in me thinks this is an excellent opportunity to gain essential experience for what our Civil Defence people are likely to be faced with when the Big One rocks us here in NZ.

    To not send people is a huge wasted opportunity – to help others and in doing so help ourselves.

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  13. Viking2 (9,608) Says:

    Youth rates bill struggling for support

    Business NZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly says other measures have now replaced youth rates for those sectors who previously paid them.
    (Not sure by what?)

    O’Reilly says it is the joint responsibility of the community and the government to support young people in need of work.

    “New Zealand is a welfare state. I think it would be a hard call to say to a young person first entering a job that they are to provide for their family. And that’s a big ask to say to an employer you should be paying more because this person is supporting their family.”

    He says youth are over-represented in the ranks of the unemployed – currently at 7.3 per cent – but the renewed debate was unlikely to result in youth rates being reinstated.

    O’Reilly said he’d “be very surprised” if the bill to reintroduce them got much support.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/small-business/news/article.cfm?c_id=85&objectid=10628656

    It would seem that Mr O’Reilly doesn’t have the interests of either his employers at the Association nor the interests of young people in his mind at all. Another useless bureaucrat and his association should sack him immediate. Further he does not represent the views of the many thousands of businesses that refuse to join his socialist outfit and clearly he does even bother to read the current research into the subject.
    Anyone who belongs to his association out there? If so send him to the unemployment que.

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  14. Inventory2 (8,891) Says:

    Was this a set-up by the HoS?

    http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2010/02/herald-on-sunday-sting-gone-wrong.html

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  15. Viking2 (9,608) Says:

    More meaness from Nick Smith. When will key fire the useless.

    ACC axed for injured workers fired or made redundant
    By Steve Hart
    4:00 AM Sunday Feb 28, 2010

    Nick Smith. Photo / Supplied

    Don’t get injured at work: under new laws, ACC will snatch your holiday pay if you’re laid off with an injury.

    The move, dubbed “retrograde” by unions, was rushed through Parliament this week as part of a raft of cost-cutting measures.

    the decision to take people’s holiday pay was a “retrograde step”.

    “It seems extraordinary that a firefighter injured out of a job would lose their holiday pay,” he said. “It would be easy to have six weeks’ leave owing and to lose that money would be hard – especially on top of being unable to work.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/government/news/article.cfm?c_id=49&objectid=10628950

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  16. Murray (8,833) Says:

    The hOS is getting even more dodgey as time goes by. they go hunting for a sexual predator with two females, kind of reeks really. My question is did they have some forsight of what was going to happen and seek to provoke it and how does this sit with providing a save work environment for their staff?

    There’s reporting the news and there’s making the news.

    There’s also journalism and NOT journalism.

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  17. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    ..and there are Herald “journalists”, and journalists.

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  18. Viking2 (9,608) Says:

    Politicians apologies. good chuckle and right on the mark.

    http://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2010/02/frank-newman-mps-sorry-bunch.html

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  19. Viking2 (9,608) Says:

    RB; Not at the Herald. Devoid of journalists.

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  20. Inventory2 (8,891) Says:

    Murray – that was the thought behind my post. Kurariki is a creep, and deserves to be behind bars, so why is the HoS:

    * giving him space?
    * initiating contact to get a story on “life in prison?
    * putting staff in a vulnerable position?

    IMHO the best way to treat Kurariki and his like is to ignore them and only report on them when they get locked up again.

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  21. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    Politicians betray citizens once again-

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254142/Lockerbie-bomber-Abdelbaset-Ali-Mohamed-al-Megrahi-beat-cancer-say-family.html

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  22. Murray (8,833) Says:

    Incentory the best way to deal with him would have been to execute him.

    Release the “liberal” hounds who think the answer is cuddle him harder.

    Red lets see if he can beat a Marine Snipers bullet.

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  23. Manolo (10,202) Says:

    “ACC axed for injured workers fired or made redundant”

    Is Nick Smith deranged, incompetent, moronic, or a plain idiot? How has he erred so many times in a short period?
    He deserves to be sacked. Sadly, empty-suit Key will not oblige.

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  24. kowtow (4,583) Says:

    When we get “the big one” I’d like to see the anti US warship crowd try to stop their naval vessels bringing in much needed aid or should we wait for “friendly” ships from South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia to come to our assistnace instead?

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  25. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    List of births in Hawaii issued by authorities does not include names Obama, (or Soetoro, or Dunham or Payne) for period Obama claims to have been born there.

    http://theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm

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  26. Tassman (238) Says:

    I wonder how many nuclear war heads damage would equal to an earthquake measuring 8.8….?

    [DPF: An 8.8 is around 15,800 MTs. Hiroshima was 15 KTs and the Tsar Bomba (largest ever) was 50 MTs so it is equal to 316 Tsar Bombas]

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  27. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    Interesting site where owner argues that public sector unions should not be legal. Makes quite a good case.

    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/02/illustrated-history-of-public-sector.html

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  28. Redbaiter (13,197) Says:

    Report on Tea Party gathering in Dallas Texas.

    Quote

    Celebrating the first anniversary of the anti-big -government Tea Party movement, the crowd that organizers estimated at 2,000 heard passionate pleas for what they call the nation’s founding principles: smaller government, prudent spending and personal responsibility.

    And there was the occasional tweak at MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who chided the Tea Party movement for its lack of diversity but declined an invitation to visit the Dallas event.

    Alfonzo “Zo” Rachel, one of several black speakers on Saturday, accused Olbermann and other liberal pundits of painting the Tea Party as unwelcoming to anyone but conservative white Christians.

    “Now, answer this,” he shouted to the crowd. “Am I welcome here?”

    The response was a thunderous affirmation.

    Unquote

    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/022710dnmetteaparty.15d216f41.html

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  29. Pete George (17,881) Says:

    smaller government, prudent spending and personal responsibility.

    If they can concentrate on this and not get hijacked by special interest (radical) groups they could influence some positive change.

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  30. Inky_the_Red (671) Says:

    I’m wondering with the UK election coming up in June which other party(ies) the Tories will need to form a government.

    The Liberal, Irish Unionists or Scottish Nationalists?

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  31. reid (13,653) Says:

    Apparently, new data has rendered an accurate AGW hockey stick

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  32. eszett (2,025) Says:

    Redbaiter (9019) Says:
    February 28th, 2010 at 9:04 am

    Thomas Sowell on “intellectuals”-

    ——————————

    Sowell: I define intellectuals as persons whose occupations begin and end with ideas.

    Well, by such a narrow and shallow definition, even you would qualify as an intellectual, red.
    Begins and ends with ideas (mostly useless ones).

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  33. Hurf Durf (2,860) Says:

    billybonkers can rename himself all he wants, but that misdirected rage will always be his.

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  34. jaba (1,938) Says:

    bloody hell .. just checked RednotsoAlert and the Ax the Tax bus trip has started .. they started gst AND have already increased it (with out compensation) and now they are against increasing it .. what are they about. I see silent T is with Philin so I guess that means he is in favour of this farcical bust trip.

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  35. Whafe (648) Says:

    if in fact we want people to be interested in politics and our country as a whole, answer this… If the vast majority know that the justice system is well fucked, cant put it any other way, but there are no changes or leaders whom want to own it and begin to fix it…. How can something be fixed if you attack the same way constantly….

    Again, it takes far more than a country having beautiful flora and fauna to succeed….. I have thought about it good and hard, it is difficult to have a discussion with a young graduate type now as to why to stay in this country.

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  36. Whafe (648) Says:

    Your surprised? No didnt think so….. Labour again you lazy ass lefties….

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3381359/Labour-knew-about-ECan-plight

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  37. toad (3,567) Says:

    Redbaiter scored on my 666666 prophecy!

    How amazingly appropriate that ‘baiter comes up with the number of Satan – twice! Be very afraid ‘baiter – there are forces at work here that you do not comprehend.

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  38. Inventory2 (8,891) Says:

    Indeed Whafe – and who was Minister for the Environment at the time? The Hon Trevor (Tiger) Mallard, that’s who. And what did the Minister do? Nothing, because the PM told him to bury it in the run-up to the election.

    Time may dim some voters’ memories of just what comtempt Helen Clark et al held the country in. It’s up to the VRWC to remind people at every opportunuty.

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  39. Pete George (17,881) Says:

    I’m surprised there hasn’t been anything said about Act today.

    I thought Hide came across very well on Q&A this morning. If he keeps following that approach and takes the party with him I’d consider voting Act to try and ensure they maintain a presence in parliament. As long as Douglas stays on the sidelines.

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  40. Whafe (648) Says:

    Pete G, will be interesting to see if those of us whom have voted ACT in the past, and voted National last time around will switch back to ACT….. It will be vital that they get above the 5% threshold……

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  41. Pete George (17,881) Says:

    I’ve never voted Act before, but if National are too timid this year with reform I’d strongly consider it.

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  42. Luc Hansen (4,573) Says:

    Bernard Hickey in the Sunday Herald said that we (NZ) have a limit to online overseas purchases of $400.00.

    WTF?

    Is that per transaction, per month, per year?

    Where the fuck do we live?

    North Korea?

    He’s joking, surely.

    How do they know?

    Who’s they?

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  43. pjje (27) Says:

    Pete George: many thanks.

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  44. Whafe (648) Says:

    Pete G, sorry I came across like I was assuming you voted ACT, was not meant that way.

    But agree, if J Key doesnt get more assertive and stays as timid as a giant timid thing, ACT may well gain a good number more votes

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  45. Luc Hansen (4,573) Says:

    Can anyone help me out here?

    Is there really a $400 limit on Internet purchases?

    Is Stalin alive and well?

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  46. LeftRightOut (622) Says:

    ot a link?

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  47. Jack5 (3,073) Says:

    Militant Islam infiltrates British Labour Party. One for the multiculturalists to ponder:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7333420/Islamic-radicals-infiltrate-the-Labour-Party.html

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  48. Jack5 (3,073) Says:

    Re Lucy at 9.53….

    Suckers are giving tens of thousands to Nigerian con men every day. The suckers don’t get prosecuted for anything.

    Could the $400 you speak of might related to a limit when GST is imposed on foreign purchases when they land in NZ?

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  49. Luc Hansen (4,573) Says:

    Jackie…

    I don’t know.

    But the Herald published the claim as fact, today.

    First I heard of this.

    WTF!?

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  50. dime (6,426) Says:

    luc – it will be a $400 limit before customs nail you with GST.

    i bought in a few guitars and was charged 2 out of 3 times.

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