Darien Fenton blogs a CTU video about the evil and oppressive 90 day trial law, quoting a “Florence Coen” who says she got sacked for no reason after 85 days in a job – possibly because she suggested the owner should not play a christian radio station at work.

We don’t know the employer’s side of the story, as they were not interviewed. What we do know, is that Florence Cohen (let us presume they made a typo” is a Labour Party activist.

Now this does not mean Florence’s version of what happened is not correct. But the failure to identify her as a Labour activist is significant, considering the Labour Party is campaigning to get rid of the law, and this means an activist is hardly someone unbiased.

In the comments Trevor Mallard tries to spin this as:

Lots of people join political parties after being treated unfairly. Good on you Florence.

Sadly for Trevor, the Labour site shows Florence joining in April 2009, and the law only came into force in March 2009, so it is impossible for Florence to have only joined Labour after a dismissal at the end of a 90 day probationary period under the new law.

I want to stress that I think Florence comes across well on the video, and I am not disputing she may have had a negative experience under this law. I don’t want people attacking a 17 year old who may have done nothing wrong.

My criticism is of the CTU for not doing full disclosure. Being a partisan activist is relevant information if you are put forward as a “victim” of a law your party strongly opposes.

The Herald reports:

Amy-Rose Allen was a beauty show contestant with a not-so-hidden – and ultimately fatal – secret.

The 22-year-old alcoholic fell victim to what her parents described yesterday as New Zealand’s “widely accepted” binge-drinking culture.

Three months ago, her life support was switched off after she was partially flung from the car she was driving drunk in a crash south of Morrinsville. …

Ms Allen’s grieving mother and stepfather, Catherine and John Peary, yesterday drove to Auckland from their Hamilton home to add their voices to the hundreds who gathered in three anti-alcohol marches that merged at Manukau Square.

Mrs Peary said her daughter had been convicted for drink-driving three times and was before the courts for a fourth offence when she died.

The family will never know if any law changes might have saved her life, but do not want any other families to be left asking such questions.

Mr Peary said one of the main problems he could see was that alcohol was so accessible now.

The Pearys have my sympathy at the loss of their daughter, and in those circumstances, one would want to support any efforts to try and prevent other parents losing their kids so tragically.

But I have real doubts that a law change would have prevented what happened. Amy-Rose had already shown a total disregard for the law – she was on her fourth drink driving charge – which indicates she had probably driven drunk several hundred times – despite it being against the law.

NZPA reports:

One of New Zealand’s most notorious killers allegedly contacted a woman on the jury that found him guilty this month of kidnapping.

George Baker, who is serving an 18-year jail term for murdering teenager Liam Ashley, was found guilty on August 2 of kidnapping, threatening to kill and assault with an offensive weapon.He had taken an elderly prisoner hostage with a weapon at Paremoremo last year and tried to kidnap a jailer.

However, during his trial in the Auckland District Court, a female juror was discharged midway through.

The middle-aged married woman contacted police after receiving a letter signed with Baker’s name at her Auckland home, One News reported last night.

He allegedly sent the letter after getting her contact details from a list of jurors’ names, addresses and occupations.

It is understood the letter had romantic overtures and was not threatening.

Oh yuck. I think that would be even worse than getting a threat.

Two Auckland criminal lawyers said last night that the time had come to legislate to prevent a similar incident and to better protect jurors.

Gary Gotlieb said anyone facing a trial was given a list of around 200 names of potential jurors to look through in case they knew someone on it or lived in the same neighbourhood.

“It’s about six or seven pages and you only get it for about five minutes.”

He said addresses and occupations should be taken off the list, in order to further protect potential jurors.

I agree.

An alternative is that if a defendant chooses, against all advice, to defend themselves that they shouldn’t be given access to the jury list at all. By giving them access if they do turn down legal representation, creates a perverse incentive to do so.

The Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße, or Grossglockner High Alpine Road is one of Austria’s most popular tourist attractions. The road is 48 kms long and goes from beautiful bush right up into snow covered mountain tops over 36 hairpin bends.

Just before the start of the road, in the last town before the big climb.

A map of the ranges you can see as you drive up the road.

Still in the early stages.

A nice view of the road below, with its multiple hair turn bends. And yes lots of mad cyclists who cycle up it. To be fair to them, it will be amazing going down the other side.

The actual Grossglockner peak is the one on the left, behind the other two.

This is close to the end of the road, just before the Kaiser Franz Josefs Höhe Visitors’ Centre. A three sided tunnel is just ahead.

Up on the roof the visitors centre.

These little critters don’t seem to mind the cold so much.

Just below the peak, is this little dam creating a crystal blue lake, as mountain water empties into it.

The road is only 90 minutes south of Salzburg, so easy to do in a day. Traffic actually moves very quickly on the road itself – the biggest time delays are the multiple areas where you can pull over to take photos. We do so at least 15 or so times. The views were worth it.

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Phil Goff said yesterday that KiwiSaver – which workers can opt out of – had been a great success, but had had little impact on overall net savings.

Well then, how can you claim it was a great success? Was that not the entire purpose of KiwiSaver?

This was what many people said at the time – KiwiSaver will not increase overall savings – it will just lead to people moving them into KiwiSaver due to the subsidies.

“We absolutely have to increase our savings as a country. If we want to own our own future we’ve got to have the money to invest,” he told TV3’s The Nation.

“We’re looking to have a universal KiwiSaver programme. Now how we do that, the details of how we do that we’re still working through.”

So because KiwiSaver has failed to increase the overall savings rate of the nation, we will make it compulsory?

Here’s what will over time impact the savings rate – lowering the tax rates on earning and investing, and increasing the tax rate on consumption – the very stuff just done by the Government but opposed by Labour.

Stuff reports:

North Shore mayor Andrew Williams has threatened legal action against right-wing blogger WhaleOil. …

Williams said he was undergoing “harassment” from WhaleOil which was “entirely politically motivated” and no other local body politician had been subjected to such “dirty politics”.

Williams told Fairfax he had already spoken to the police about possible criminal harassment charges and was seriously considering pursuing such an action.

“I spoke to my wife about it today and think I will,” Williams said.

When I read the headline that Williams was threatening legal action, I assumed he was considering defamation. He has every right to take civil action if he believes Whale Oil has defamed him.

But to try and get the Police to charge a blogger with criminal harassment, just because he says mean things about an elected official on his blog is ridicolous and offensive. It is also arguably defamatory itself. The definition of criminal harassment is:

Every person commits an offence who harasses another person in any case where the first-mentioned person intends that harassment to cause that other person to fear for that other person’s safety; or the safety of any person with whom that other person is in a family relationship.

Andrew Williams will be a good fit for NZ First. He is like Winston, in that he can not tolerate criticism.

The Dom Post reports:

Whitireia Polytechnic chief executive Don Campbell said students should be able to opt out of paying the $135 a year compulsory subscription to student associations. “I’m quite concerned about what’s happened.”

In fact they should be allowed to decide whether or not they opt in. It’s very simple. At enrolment they get to tick a box to choose whether or not they wish to join, based on the services being provided for the membership fee.

More than $72,000 was paid out in unauthorised “hardship” grants. However, it appears not all that money went to poverty-stricken students. …

The statements, for the year 2009, show $72,259 was doled out to students who were said to be struggling financially. But Stuff.co.nz has learned of one student who was paid $350 but was recorded as receiving $1170. She received two envelopes stuffed with $150 and $200.

When she demanded to see records, she saw she was noted as receiving $1170. There were five other names on the list who had received up to $1800 each.

Student Association actually boast about how much money they give away in hardship grants, citing them as proof of why they must remain compulsory. My response is that it is unsurprising that if you offer students free money, more and more students will take it up – and that it is the job of WINZ, not student associations, to provide welfare payments.

But the culture of corruption goes deeper, and I do link it to compulsion. I don’t blame the student associations though – I blame Parliament.

The power of compulsory membership and funding is one that should be granted rarely, and with strict controls. Take for example local government – in exchange for the power to impose compulsory rates, they are subject to the Local Government Act, the Local Electoral Act, the Ombudsman, the Auditor-General, the OIA, the Local Government Commission and statutory requirements around consultation, public plans etc etc.

Student associations have been granted the power of compulsion, with absolutely no safeguards. They are not even required to have democratic elections. There is no oversight and no scrutiny. The tales of abuse are legion – and that is because Parliament has given them the power of compulsion, with no safeguards.

Thanks to Mobify, Inspire Net and No Shortcuts Design, there is now a mobile phone version of Kiwiblog.

The URL is http://m.kiwiblog.co.nz and it is customised for better viewing on mobile phones, and to use up less bandwidth. The sidebars are gone, and the photos are smaller. If you are on the mobile site, you can click through to the full site at the top right.

At this stage we have not set it up for auto-detect, as I am assuming people are happy enough to choose the full or mobile site for themselves. But can do so, if people want it.

The SST reported former Detective Inspector Harry Quinn:

Quinn, who also helped set up the national organised crime unit and was involved in numerous cannabis eradication operations, says he took flak within police for writing a report recommending a relaxation of cannabis enforcement, which would have involved issuing warnings to adult social users. …

Quinn told the Sunday Star-Times cannabis law did not need to be changed – but the way police enforced it did. They should rigorously prosecute anyone caught dealing drugs near schools or to youth, and anyone caught with cannabis in a vehicle, but go easy on adult recreational users, he said.

“If someone who is 40 years old is sharing a joint with their 42-year-old neighbour, they should simply tell them to put it out. Why we are wasting time prosecuting adults for the use of cannabis? I’m buggered if I know.”

I’m buggered if I know also.

He said the Misuse of Drugs Act clearly differentiated between those dealing to young people and adult recreational users.

Police ignored it completely and dealt with all offenders in the cannabis realm exactly the same. I think that was a tactical mistake.”

He said there were worse drugs to worry about. “The big guns in the police should be pointed at the drugs which affect people’s lives and can kill people – that’s not cannabis.”

Quinn said senior police needed to take another look at the law and issue guidelines to all officers “so it permeates all through.

“It’s not a soft approach, it’s just a different way of dealing with the problem.”

Sounds sensible.

The balcony of our apartment in Salzburg. As much as I would have rather not have to have worked on my laptop while on holiday, there are worse things than doing so overlooking the Linzer Gasse in Salzburg. We were in the centre of the pedesterian zone and had a huge balcony.

Salzburg is a beautiful city, in Austria’s alpine region. The old and new towns are separated by the Salzach river.

Mozart was born in Salzburg, and the city centre in the Mozartsquare. You can visit the house he was born in, and one he spent many years living in.

The old city centre has a palace and museum next to it, plus is the bottomof the cable car that takes you up to the Salzburg Fortress.

These two cars were parked in the grounds of one of the Consulates in Salzburg. Can you guess which country?

This is the Hohensalzburg Castle or High Salzburg Fortress which overlooks Salzburg. It is one of the largest in Europe at 150 metres by 150 metres. Construction started in 1077.

A view of Salzburg from the Fortress.

Wouldn’t they be nice houses to live in?

The Fortress has a display of weapons and uniforms from WWI.

And a couple of treasures also.

My big advice for Salzburg is to leave the car behind. Many areas one pedestrian only and their one way system was designed by someone high on crack. Even with a GPS, the car was a pain. Having said that, we had it for trips away from Salzburg, rather than in the city itself.

NZPA reports:

The country’s state-owned weather and atmospheric research body is being taken to court in a challenge over the accuracy of its data used to calculate global warming.

The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition said it had lodged papers with the High Court asking the court to invalidate the official temperatures record of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa). …

The coalition said the New Zealand Temperature Records (NZTR) were the historical base of NIWA’s advice to the Government on issues relating to climate change.

Coalition spokesman Bryan Leyland said many scientists believed although the earth had been warming for 150 years, it had not heated as much as Government archives claimed.

He said the New Zealand Meteorological Service had shown no warming during the past century but Niwa had adjusted its records to show a warming trend of 1degC. The warming figure was high and almost 50 percent above the global average, said Mr Leyland.

The coalition said the 1degC warming during the 20th century was based on adjustments taken by Niwa from a 1981 student thesis by then student Jim Salinger, a Niwa employee who was later sacked after talking to the media without permission.

The Salinger thesis was subjective and untested and meteorologists more senior to Dr Salinger did not consider the temperature data should be adjusted, it said.

The coalition would ask the court to find Niwa’s New Zealand Temperature Record invalid.

It would also seek a court declaration preventing Niwa from using the NZTR when it advised the Government or any other body on global climate issues. It would also ask the court to order Niwa to produce a full and accurate NZTR.

One doesn’t go to court on a whim, so the CSC obviously feel they have a case. It will be fascinating to hear the details once it reaches court.

Of all the topics, this poll graph would be for same sex marriage – hilarious 🙂

NZPA reports:

Labour could work with New Zealand First if it needed the numbers to form a government, leader Phil Goff says.

Recently, Prime Minister John Key wouldn’t rule out working with NZ First – which failed to win a seat in Parliament at the 2008 election – but said it was a decision for closer to the election.

Speaking on TV3 political show The Nation this morning, Mr Goff said Labour had worked with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters in the past and could again. Mr Peters was Foreign Minister in the last years of the Helen Clark-led government.

“I think if you’ve got an MMP Parliament and you need to get a majority, you’ve got to consider all options.”

Mr Goff said Mr Peters had good support among elderly people.

“I wouldn’t rule Winston out…I think if he ramps up his campaign there’s every chance he’ll be back in Parliament.”

Sounds almost like a plea for people to vote NZ First. That is because Labour has pretty much no hope of forming a Government without NZ First.

Mr Goff was also open to the Maori Party; “…look I’ll work with any party in Parliament if it’s for what I see as being the good of New Zealanders and for the values that we believe in”.

But his MPs (Mallard, Jones etc) have done everything possible to make it impossible for the Maori Party to go with Labour. That means Labour needs to grow its vote by almost 10% to be able to form a Government – that would be a seismic shift.

So they need Winston, to be able to govern. I fully expect these “almost” endorsements of Winston to continue, and in fact for Labour to actively assist NZ First closer to the election.

I note the PM has not yet ruled out NZ First, or more specifically Winston, saying those decisions are made closer to the election. I certainly hope his 2011 policy will be the same as 2008. No Government with Winston as a Minister in it, has ever ended well. Three times it has ended in disaster.

A NZ First without Winston as Leader would be a different issue. But I do not believe Winston is pathologically capable of being trusted.

After Vienna, we drove across to Salzburg, for four nights stay there. The rental car was a Mercedes (it was upgraded gratis) and much of the route was an an auto-bahn, so I enjoyed the driving greatly. My parents may have different views 🙂

Seriously it is great to drive on a well designed road, with a well designed car. Bliss.

Around 40 kms are spent driving next to the Danube. This picture doesn’t capture it, but it is a beautifully scenic trip on a good day. Hugely popular with cyclists.

I had to get a photo of this memorial, as it celebrates their military victory over the French – in 1805. Beating the French always deserves celebrating.

These are the remains of Dürrstein Castle, where Richard the Lionheart was held captive in 1192.

The main road in Dürrstein town. Austria has many small tons or villages like this.

A tavern since 1437 – very cool.

A highly recommended attraction is the Stift Melk, or Melk Abbey. It was founded in 1089, and the current abbey built in the early 1700s.

In one of the display rooms at the Melk Abbey, they had the mirror room, where you see each state in triplicate.

One of the many ceiling artworks. I got a sore neck looking at them all.

Part of the Abbey, from the rear. The architecture and colour is wonderful.

No flash allowed in this room, so you don’t see the gold covers on almost every book. It’s an amazing library.

The church, in the abbey. There was enough gold in the room to solve NZ’s public debt!

Also near Melk is the Castle Schallaburg – another popular place for tourists.

The SST reports:

Kiwis could soon be made to save for their old age, with compulsory savings back on the political agenda.

The government will put compulsory retirement savings on the table as part of a review to boost Kiwis’ retirement nest-eggs and reduce New Zealand’s dependence on overseas borrowing.

The fate of the Cullen superannuation fund, KiwiSaver and tax breaks for savings – which could halve the tax paid on some bank deposits and other investments – will also be in the mix.

A working group, based on last year’s Tax Working Group, is close to being finalised, and ministers plan to use its findings as a centrepiece of next year’s Budget, and for the election campaign.

Government sources said PricewaterhouseCoopers tax expert John Shewan would be part of the group, possibly as its chair.

I am not a fan of compulsory superannuation, as it forces people into superannuation funds, when a better investment for them may be paying off the mortgage or investing in their own business.

However KiwiSaver is close to de facto compulsory as it is opt out, and the subsidies are so great you have to be very poor or very stupid not to take them up.

Decided to pop over to Bratislava for lunch one day, as it is not a big drive from Vienna. Along the 50 km or so road, there were probably at least 500 wind turbines.  They were everywhere.

All things considered, Bratislava is quite boring. Sharebroker Chris Lee just visited there also and said compared to its neighbour Vienna, it is like comparing Waiouru to Queenstown.

It is quite poor – US$16,000 GDP per capita. Spent several decades as part of the eastern bloc, as part of Czechoslovakia.

The so called border. You don’t have to stop though, which is cool.

I can now cross Slovakia off my list of countries to visit one day.

The Dom Post reports:

A police investigation has begun after more than $750,000 was drained from Whitireia Polytechnic students’ association funds over a year. …

Angry students – who learned their funds had dwindled to just $6000 – demanded the executive step down during the tense meeting. After heated discussions, one committee member broke down in tears as she told students to “have faith” in the new executive, which, except for one member, was elected after the misappropriation took place.

Fulltime students must have $135 deducted automatically from their student loans to pay subs for the Whitireia Independent Students Association. There are about 6000 students at the polytech, half of whom are fulltime.

Yet not a single one of them can quit. They can’t say I do not wish to belong to an association that is so lacking in basic financial controls, that $750,000 gets wasted or stolen.

VSM will attract different people to student associations. Not so much those who want to spend money, but those who want to provide a good enough service that students will want to join. Don’t think that the high level of fraud in student associations is a coincidence. It is a consequence of compulsory membership.

Stuff reports:

The woman at the centre of the Michael Laws affair is a former P-addict and prostitute.

Jacqueline Sperling, 39, said she had explicit text messages from the Whanganui mayor.

Mr Laws announced yesterday that text messages between him and a woman were about to become public. He apologised to his family.

However, the woman said she had shown emails to only one friend and had not shared the text messages with anyone. …

Michael Laws has brought shame on himself needlessly by panicking, according to his managers at Radio Live.

“He thought he was being blackmailed and some private messages were going to be made public and he decided to jump in. He thought that he should front-foot it,” Radio Live general manager Mitch Harris said.

But Jacqueline Sperling, the woman at the centre of the controversy, said she had not gone to the media or tried to make the texts public. On a posting on Radio Live’s Facebook page, she said he “fell for a bluff”.

I actually tend to think Laws did the right thing. Sperling was obviously trying to get Laws to think she might release the texts, and I don’t think you ignore stuff like that – it then gives that person power over you. While a bit embarrassing, he has removed the shock value from them, if she does now release them.

Having said all that, I am mystified about what the fuss is all about. People sexually attracted to each other send dirty messages – this is not new.

Andrew Williams never learns. By attacking Whale Oil, he gets their feud into the pages of the Herald. Cameron gets to have reported his lines:

“I am not stalking the Mad Mayor, the Whale spies informed me of the antics of the Mad Mayor.”

I can’t wait for Williams to stand for NZ First.

The Herald reports on desperate lies from Labour – and paid for by the taxpayer:

Labour is defending information it published in pamphlets being distributed nation-wide which compare household costs with and without a 15 per cent GST.

The taxpayer-funded pamphlets, of which there are hundreds of thousands, zone in on the impacts the Government’s policies are having on public services and the income and spending power of New Zealanders.

The pamphlets include a basic statistics column citing an example of a monthly power bill figure of $189.34, saying “plus National’s 15 per cent GST” of $28.40 it will increase the bill to $217.74.

A desperate attempt to gain relevance, lacking in a skerrick of intellectual honesty.

National Party and Tukituki electorate MP Craig Foss this morning said the comparison as “misleading” and an apology and retraction was needed from Labour.

With GST having already having been introduced by Labour – and increased to 12.5 per cent – years before National came to power, trying to pass the increase off as 15 per cent when it was in fact going up 2.5 per cent from October 1 was not on, he said.

“They totally misrepresent the fact that GST is switching from 12.5 to 15 (per cent)…the fact that the taxpayer is funding these pamphlets makes it worse and I think the Labour Party owes New Zealand an apology and should issue a correction”, he told NZPA.

It would be like National putting out a pamphlet after Cullen’s rich prick tax increase, and saying:

* Your weekly income on $65,000 = $1,300
* Dr Cullen’s increased tax rates = $336
* Your income after Dr Cullen’s tax = $964

I suggest someone complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The Dom Post reports:

Whanganui Mayor Michael Laws says a political agenda is behind the imminent release of his “intimate” text messages.

The claim follows a bizarre statement being released by Laws today, where he admitted a secret relationship with a woman whose life experiences were “completely different” to his.

Just wondering if anyone has seen Cactus lately?