Act 'hijacks' lecture

Some Labour party pip squeak, who didn't want to be named is upset that Kiwis may like the idea of lower of tax rates. Could it be that Mr P Squeak didn't want everyone to know that he is still on the tax payer teat after all these years?

Act 'hijacks' lecture - 30 Mar 2008 - NZ Herald

Another Global Warming Scam

The great thing about being green is that it allows you to get away with the most outrageous scams. Air New Zealand is the latest to understand this and you can now off set the carbon foot print you leave when flying on the national carrier by buying into a carbon offset scam .. oops sorry scheme!

It doesn’t work anywhere in the world, but hell, Kiwis will buy into, because like Kermit we love being green or is that being scammed.

And what will our brave little green airline do with the indulgences that are paid to it. My guess is that they’ll say thanks and go to lunch!

Watch Their Noses Grow

In politics trust is gold. If the voters believe that a politician is not trustworthy their chance of getting elected are slim. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have shown themselves to be untrustworthy.

Senator Obama would like people to believe that he knew nothing of the inflammatory racist comments Jeremiah Wright was making in the church that Obama was a member of for twenty years. And no ordinary member. He once donated $20,000 to the church.

Hillary Clinton claims she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. This is truly hilarious. Senator Clinton was born in 1947 – six years before Ed Hillary became the first to climb Mt Everest.

She has now made the startling revelation that she came under sniper attack when she visited Bosnia in 1996. She now acknowledges that she never dodged a bullet in Bosnia and says she “misspoke”.

The two Democrats have a problem – creditability.

Hard right? No, they're hard left

Roger Douglas answers his socialist critics for whom the only solution for the problems facing New Zealand is more government intervention and higher taxes.

Roger Douglas: Hard right? No, they're hard left - 24 Mar 2008 - Opinion, Editorial and reader comments from New Zealand and around the World - nzherald

Freedom, not climate, is at risk

The author Michael Crichton stated it clearly: “the greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda”. I feel the same way, because global warming hysteria has become a prime example of the truth versus propaganda problem. It requires courage to oppose the “established” truth, although a lot of people – including top-class scientists – see the issue of climate change entirely differently. They protest against the arrogance of those who advocate the global warming hypothesis and relate it to human activities.


FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment - Freedom, not climate, is at risk

Moves to stop Council flying sovereignty flag

Proposals to fly the Tino Rangatiratanga flag outside the Manukau City Council are being challenged by a group of councillors opposed to the move.
A group of nine councillors, representing half the membership of the Council, have lodged a Notice of Motion seeking a council decision to refuse the flying of the flag.

Scoop: Moves to stop Council flying sovereignty flag

Regulations Are at the Root of U.S. Housing Mess

With the U.S. economy on the ropes and esteemed financial institutions such as Bear Stearns Cos. and the Carlyle Group suffering major losses, policy makers are outdoing one another in the search for creative intensive care. The irony is that the latest research suggests that government policy makers started this mess in the first place.
Mr. Hyde put us in the hospital. Dr. Jekyll has met us at the operating table.

Read more:

Bloomberg.com: Opinion

Flag decision sent back for more consultation

A decision on whether Manukau City Council should officially fly the Tino Rangatiratanga flag has been delayed pending the development of a comprehensive report on a flag flying policy for the council.

The council’s Te Tiriti O Waitangi Committee last night considered whether to approve in principle the flying of the Tino Rangatira Flag for five days leading up to and including 6 February 2009 and annually thereafter.

However, committee chair Cr Alf Filipaina said that, after a very full discussion, members felt the decision could not be made without first investigating and approving a flag flying policy to cover all instances of when it might be appropriate for the council to fly any other flag alongside the New Zealand and the Manukau city flags. The committee resolved to request a report outlining issues and protocols for flying flags on Manukau City Council facilities be presented to its meeting on 12 June, 2008.

Cr Filipaina said the committee also acknowledged the special relationship that the council has with Tainui and Kingitanga and sought to investigate whether it would be appropriate to fly the Te Kahu flag for the day of Koroneihana in August 2008 and annually thereafter. It has asked officers to bring a report back on this issue to the committee by May, 2008.

“We have indicated to officers that we expect there to be comprehensive community consultation as part of developing these reports,” Cr Filipaina said.

Cold Water on "Global Warming"

"It has almost become something of a joke when some “global warming” conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather.

But stampedes and hysteria are no joke - and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global-warming “crisis.”

They mobilize like-minded people from a variety of occupations, call them all “scientists” and then claim that “all” the experts agree on a global-warming crisis.

Their biggest argument is that there is no argument.

A whole cottage industry has sprung up among people who get grants, government agencies who get appropriations, politicians who get publicity, and the perpetually indignant who get something new to be indignant about. It gives teachers something to talk about in school instead of teaching."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/29/opinion/main3893146.shtml

Brian Gaynor: Shades of Muldoon in Cullen's edict - 08 Mar 2008 - NZ Herald: New Zealand Business, Markets, Currency and Personal Finance News

Brian Gaynor: Shades of Muldoon in Cullen's edict - 08 Mar 2008 - NZ Herald: New Zealand Business, Markets, Currency and Personal Finance News: "Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen's decision to effectively stymie the partial takeover offer for Auckland International Airport (AIA) is an unwanted reminder of the meddling policies of former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.
Dr Cullen's edict was so appalling, and so inconsistent with his policies of the previous eight years, that one can only conclude it was strongly influenced by political considerations ahead of this year's general election.
A restriction on the overseas ownership of strategic assets is not uncommon in other countries, particularly Australia, but the timing and method of the AIA decision was totally unsatisfactory for investors and overall sharemarket confidence."

Labour's Attack on Property Rights

The government demonstrated that politics come before business with its decision to tighten overseas investment rules. But this is more than just Labour’s populist instincts to bash big business it’s an attack on private property rights. Michael Cullen has effectively cut 18% off the price of the AIA share price with his announcement today There has been overseas interest in the Auckland International Airport for two years and now that Labour is trailing by 20 per cent in the polls they suddenly decide that the new rules now need to extend the ‘importance of local control’ to the approval process.. So much for economic transformation. When votes are at stake Labour will do anything to remain in power and that includes turning New Zealand into the North Korea of the South Pacific.