I'm a huge fan of Podcasts and one of my favourite podcasts is EconTalk. Now this is an unashamedly free market oriented Economics podcast but it covers some great topics. Here is a great one on Unintended Consequences of Regulation. THe Library of Economics and Liberty also has a good article.

It's this very thing that has jumped up and bitten the New Zealand Government in the ass recently. Bernard Hickey discusses it a bit here but judgging from the comments maybe not in enough detail or in an easy enough form.

It's pretty simple really.

Auckland Airport has been an attractive target for a new cornerstone shareholder. In a fit of naked xenophobia we first scared of the Arabs bt the Canadians have been much more persistent.

First we threw sand in their eyes by chaning the rules around tax and stapled securities. The share priced fell hard.

Next we changed the investment rules for 'Strategic Assets'. The share price fell further.

With the share price falling so aggrresivly (helped in part by the fact that the markets including infrastructure assets have been hammered recently) the Canadian offer suddenly becomes VERY VERY attractive. The difference between the market price and the offer price grew to be quite large. This of course piqued the interest of investors who in turn all voted in favour of the sale.

So in seeking the intended consequence, that of shoring up New Zealand support and ownership, the Government has in fact done quite the opposite.
At the start of the process it was likely that at least one of the councils would have to be convinced to part with their shareholdings in order for the deal to fly. In the end the enthusiasm of the Mum and Dad private holders to take up the offer is what seems to have pushed it over the balance. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this late groundswell of domestic support doesn't see us end up with a higher degree of foreign ownership than might have resulted had a larger proportion of the sellers into this deal been foreign domiciled owners- i.e. I think if the Government had left well alone we'd have seen the Canadians buying more shares from foreigners and less shares from Aucklanders.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?nzgg

Sign the online petition requesting that the GG decline to give his royal assent to the recently passed validation bill.

Bernard Darnton of Darnton v Clark Fame... is auctioning off a framed Pledge Card to support the case... some good comments on there too...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=73761184

Well not really a little boy, more like a crusty old man...

But he waits and waits... by the phone for your donation to his *whip around*....

Such is the financial desperation of the Labour Party now that Mike Williams on National Radio decided that rather than answering the questions he would try and organise a whip around... and advertise his new 0900 LABOUR HAS TO BEG phone number....

I laughed my ass off so hard. This is great. THis is truely a magnificent day... smarmy bloody Mike Williams on National Radio with his begging bowl.

The solution is simple, the whip around should be around the Labour MPs for twas they that incurred the spending.

You do yourself no favours if, as minister of finance, you accuse the entire parliamentary press gallery of being greedy and biased...

...as Michael Cullen does here....

He has surely caught, as My Denny Crane would say, Mad Cow Disease...

Peter Jones of sometimes Dot Net User Group has launched a new more politically oriented Blog site.

Vent

“Vent is here to help.  Use it to have a random rant.  Blow off some steam and get it out of your system.  Send a warning to others.  Enlist an army to take on the ‘system’.  Let people know where you have had bad service, seen a crappy over-hyped movie, witnessed some road rage… whatever you like.   Things may not change but you’ll feel a lot better for it.”

Looks like it's gonna be a hoot.

”

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said the nation will completely

eliminate government net debt Friday, labeling April 21 as "debt free day".

"It is a day we pay off the mortgage," Costello said in a speech to the

Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

“

I am thinking about holding a wee blog sweepstake on how long it will be before the IMF has to bail out the French Welfare state.... any takers?

Craig Ebert of the BNZ takes the Govt. to task over the real root causes of inflation. Well worth a read.

http://www.bnzmarkets.co.nz/downloads/public/22059_0.pdf

“

I heard about the death of Rod Donald as I drove down the Clyde hill on the way back from Queenstown.

Very sad.

As a libertarian I have a great deal of respect for many green policies and, of course, a great deal of disdain for others. The thing about Rod Donald though was that he wasn't a typical politician- he had principles and he genuinely stood up for them. I think of all the politicians in the house left or right, up or down, his Green collegues included, Rod Donald had to be about the most uncompromising of these principles.

Anyway. Linz has written a bit on his passing and it sums up my fealings fairly well. http://solohq.com/Articles/Perigo/Daily_Linz_18_-_Rod_Donald,_Green_Convertible.shtml

...is...
The two new 'In everything but name' Ministerial posts.

Jeanette Fitzsimplesimons is the new Minister (in everything but name) of Solar Water Heating and Rod Donald is the new Minister (in everything but name) of Buying New Zealand Made.

As John Cambell would say....... Maaarrrrvelous.

OK... so according to the great Labour Party, Tax Cuts (aka. Working for Families) should be targetted, abeit to the level that sprog popping Catholics on $120k will get some of the goodies.

But, Health funding (doctor subsidies) and Education funding (Student loan interest) should be spread around as broadly and thinly as possible.

This is complete madness.....

I say we give everyhone in NZ a bit more of their money back- in recognition of the fact that we work our asses off to earn it in the first place. And, I also reckon that if we're going to spend an extra $400 million on tertiary education then it should be spent on people who are genuinely bright and hardworking and who may come from a background that might otherwise prevent them from undertaking advanced study. It should not be spent on families who'll really just se it to reduce the mortgage on their 6th investment property.

This election REALY is about a difference in ideology. Don't let anyone tell you it's not. 

Seems that at east some people read my blog.... I was in the top 10 referrers to DPFs blog this month.

Not sure about others but it's where I go for my NZ news while traveling... Missed the whole PM on the Plane thing last week as I was coming back from BNE at the time.

I reckon there are some fantastic opportunities for tactical voting during this coming election.....

E.g.

If Rodney Hide pushes ahead in Epsom the best thing that Labour could do would be t have their supporters back Richard Worth. If Worth wins, all that ACT vote gets wasted.

I wonder just how educated the electorate is about these sorts of perverse incentives?

But anyway, it looks like he has a pretty good chance so any right leaning voter with half a brain in that electorate should really switch their vote. ACT's still in the game people!

This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Read on -- it does make you think!!

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man — the richest — would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement — until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six — the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too . . . It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man, "why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!

[Nicked from elsewhere BTW]

I think so!

The National Party have released their Tax Cut package and I'm pretty impressed.

This will mean pretty decent cuts for every income bracket.

Bit disappointed that the company rate is not being dropped until 1998 though!

[UPDATE]

See http://www.taxcuts.co.nz/

OK... so I have a dog... and a cat.... they are my de-facto kids at the moment.

When I travel for work they have to go to the boarding kennels and cattery. I reckon I should be able to claim this as a work expense- I would not be incurring the expense were I not travelling for business.

The stinking IRD says that I can't. I could however claim it if they were real children. Though were that the case I'd probably be getting enough Working For Families that I wouldn't need to be travelling and instead could stay at home on my ass watching Sally Jessie.

I really struggle to see why I should be taxed to the eye balls to pay for others to have bloody Kids!

The problem for Labour is that if they keep milking the cash cow all the cows will go abroad..... what do you do then? You'll have to start milking the Goats and all their Kids too.......

[UPDATE]
Using the Labour party ' Sprogs For Dollars' calculator I've worked out that I only need to have 1 kid per year to be able to pocket $1000 a week!

I'm off to tell the missus!

[MORE UPDATE]

When even the crew @ Public Address are bagging it you know that something is wrong!

OK... so you can watch the new National Party 'Southpark' TV add here.

It's pretty good.

For the non kiwis we used to have a thing in NZ called a 'Telethon' where they sang 'Thank You Very Much For Your Kind Donation'...

OK... so Russell Brown has managed to post the audio from the Lange Oxford Debate. Well worth listening to....

0800 DONBRASH

Labour has a piss taking 0800 number setup...... now I'm assuming this isn't like the Working For Famalies Propoganda which was paid for by the taxpayer......

Anyway assuming it is not. I encourage you all to ring it from your mobile phone ('cos that costs them LOTS of money) at least once a day..... If we ca phone bomb this line enough we'll be sure to either

a) Get it pulled or;

b) Send the labour party broke....

I'd be happy with either....

For those with MS Smartphones let me know if you are interested in an autodialer... if there is enough demand I might write one so you can put your phone on the charger and leav it dialing 0800 DONBRASH all day....

First there were the billboard.... and now this 'Taxathon' pamphlet which is hilarious.

http://bhatnagar.blogspot.com/2005/08/thank-you-very-much-for-your-kind.html

... if David Lange dies?

If it happens I reckon it could have a significant impact on the election

If Labour get elected I'm going to try and become a student again, take out a loan and get as much of the loan money as possible into my mortgage account..... I mean interest free money... HOW GOOD IS THAT!

DPF has some more comments here.

I mean Labour is all about income redistribution.... but this policy is nothing but taking from the poor (hard working blue collar families)... and giving to the rich (like me...)... it is completely insane.

It certainly makes the tax cuts (threshold changes) in the Chewing Gum Budget look like peanuts.....

”Around 95% of those eligible for this stage of working for families got their entitlement automatically as they are on a benefit. So the $15 million advertising campaign is to reach only 14,000 families - this is a cost of over $1,000 per target audience member - probably the most expensive advertising splurge in history. “

From McCully

http://www.act.org.nz/item.aspx/27060

Rodney @ #1... no surprises

Pity to see franks above Shirley- not much into the conservative wing of the party me..... particularly not the foot in mouth variety.

Former Libertarian Lindsay Mitchell @ 10.

GREAT to see Willie Martin in @ 14. I gave him a good ranking in my selection form - looks like he is the top ranking young candidate.

And Gavin down @ #28...... We'll need that party vote up Gavin!

I really quite like David Benson-Pope. Were I still in Dunedin South he would have had my electorate seat vote. He was a great asset on the Civil Unions campaign and to be honest he's not a bad guy.

I'm an ACT voter but to be honest I think the party should be doing better things with their time than muck raking over this sort of stuff. Call me judgemental but looking at the guy on the TV I reckon a tennis ball and a bit of duct tape was probably a useful educational tool....

... having said all that....

I agree with pretty much everyone (here, there) that the decision by the Speaker of the House not to forward the Benson-Pope complaint was a really bad one. The allegations are there and I think that it realy needs to go to the comittee to be sorted.

'That' Chris Trotter....

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/archives/010776.html

“Higher taxes are no longer viewed, as they were back in 1999, as the price that New Zealand's better-off citizens should expect to pay for improved social services.

Six years of unprecedented spending on health and education have not produced the anticipated results.

Even on the Left, there is a growing sense of frustration that no matter how much money gets spent, nothing seems to happen.

New Zealand's bureaucratic structures would appear to have an inexhaustible capacity to absorb taxpayers' dollars, along with an indefatigable propensity to divert, discourage and delay any and every attempt to bring about even the smallest of administrative changes.”

http://xtramsn.co.nz/entertainment/0,,12253-4449335,00.html

“Welsh singer Charlotte Church has slammed American President George W. Bush as a "proper weirdo" after he mistook Wales for a town. “

You've all seen the billboards....

http://gonzofreakpower.blogspot.com/2005/06/bill-bored.html

Is this going to be THE viral campaign of the election?

THe ACT Party have moved their website from JSP to .NET.

Gavin has the details here, here and here.

Sounds like they are doing lots of REALLY cool shit such as dynaimically generated RSS feeds- i.e. do a search and then save the search as an RSS feed.....

“Making the switch to a Microsoft product isn't an issue of ideology, it's just that .Net is a great platform for doing the stuff we want to do. Rodney loves the Open Source, but our existing platform had a couple of really frustrating bugs. So we rebuilt it.”

Amen Brother!

Could have given the UI a bit more of a makeover though....It's not immediatly obvious how I use all the whiz bang features.

Tamihere McClairy

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/sounds/Tamihere%20McClairy.mp3

When you are a red blooded bloke like John T you need to speak your mind every now and then.....for example....

"Men's [health] problems are traditionally dealt with by the criminal justice system. Women, on the other hand, get a bloody Cartwright Inquiry and get millions of dollars thrown at their breasts and cervixes. Men get nothing."

I'll tell ya what... a few more breasts like the Mistress had on her blog (semi work safe- no full frontal nudity) this morning and I'll be happy to throw dollers at em!

Roll on Question Time tommorow I say! It should be a BLAST.

On a day when our slimeball money grubbing govt. put the gas tax up 5c (plus Govt. Slavery Tax) the National Party (opposition) has announced that they we reallocate all of the money that is collected in gas tax and currently siphons off to the govt. consolidated coffers to the Land Transport Fund.

If there is one single policay that can reduce our road toll significantly this is it!

Bravo!

But does ACT really, I mean REALLY, need a biggoted loud mouth like John Banks?

I mean what has happened to the PROPER classical liberal roots of the party- free market economics AND free lives......

Matt McCarten has left the Maori for yet another left wing blue collar start up.

O'Herald has the details.

I'm all in agreement with The Right Honourable The Prime Minister with regard this John Farnham singing @ Anzac Cove. A bit insentive really.

But, what I think is also insensitive is for our Minister of Culture and Heritage to be so uncultured as to not know of, nor have ever heard music by probably the most famous popular artist of our nearest geographical neighbor. Talk about small minded!

DPF notes the amazing increase in funding for TWOA.

$8 million to $239 million over 5 years. Now my maths is a bit average... but I reckon that's about a compound  'revenue' growth rate of 234% per annum. That would be enough to put TWOA into the Deloitte Fast 50 every year since it started....

2001 - Rank 12=
2002 - Rank 12
2003 - Rank 30
2004 - Rank 24

I wonder if they'll be entering next year?

http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?ArticleID=3623

“The Education and Science select committee this morning voted to hold an inquiry following an NCEA Level 1 History question which asked students to choose two of three people from whose perspective they were to write: two prominent Maori leaders – Dame Whina Cooper and Eva Rickard - and ‘A National Party Member of Parliament not sympathetic to Maori concerns’. “

You've got to hand it to the Orewa Rotary Club.... one would guess they'll need a bigger room for this event next year.

The full text speech is here...

Now I can't say I'm inclined (or have ever been inclined) to vote National. Too many biggots and law and order crusaders (yes Mr Ryall and Mr Smith!) for me. But, I think in Don Brash they have a leader who might just be able to keep those elements in check... a man with at least liberal (classical) leanings...

But, a few quick notes to Mr Brash...

“National will fix the disincentives in the tax system by giving tax cuts to all working New Zealanders.  We are now focusing on correcting the incentives in the welfare system”

The only way to really fix the disincentives in the tax system is to flatten it.

“It should go without saying that that group includes those 65 years of age and over who are in receipt of New Zealand Superannuation – superannuation is not part of the welfare system. The next National Government will maintain Superannuation unchanged.”

Like hell it's not! We need to encourage savings- people shoould not be sponging off the taxpayer because they haven't saved. We need to create a taxation system that encourages saving, phase out national super over time and leave a basic safety net for 65+ers....

“Since 1975, a period over which New Zealand’s population has increased by some 32%, those on the Sickness Benefit have increased by almost 500%, while those on the Invalids’ Benefit have increased by almost 700%. 

Since 1999, New Zealand’s population has increased by 6%, while those on both the Sickness Benefit and the Invalids’ Benefit have increased by 40%.”

And I would guess that our per capita spending on health care is going up too..... it's as though we've been beset by some invisible plague... If I could ask one question of the Minister of Social Welfare it would be this above question.... it SURELY needs and answer and the ACT and National should ask it from the rooftops until they are blue in the face.

Before I write this article let me say that my libertarian leanings see me fundamentally opposed to any government intervention in what a company may be named...

But wearing my pragmatic hat....

Listening to nat radio this morning about the debate of this Wananga using the name 'The University of New Zealand. University is a controlled word (Education Act I think) as far as naming an institution. The Wananga claim that because University is a direct translation of Wananga that they should be permitted to keep using the word. Here is my argument. Given that a) Maori is an official language of New Zealand and b) University is a direct translation of the Maori word Wananga (e.g. Wananga o Otakou- Otago University)... then Wananga should also be a controlled word under the Education Act also. i.e. Organizations should not be able to call themselves either Wananga OR University without the appropriate approval.

There is much ado about a sheep on a recent postage stamp... Why on earth politicians like Katherine Rich (an otherwise generally intelligent polly) need to get involved I don't know.

But in that vein I've come to the concusion that the sheep stamp is the all but inevitable politically correct by-product of a United Future/Labour Coalition Govt.... it is a chemically castrated solo dad.

As I was flicking through the US election stuff yesterday afternoon I came upon the exit poll stats... which are quite fascinating in their detail. The one that really caught my eyes was the fact the the most important issue for US voters was 'Moral Issues'... eeek!

I was going to write a big post on it but Russell sums it up very well here.

Of course places like Seattle, NY, LA, Chicago all voted for Mr Kerry... I probably would have too... if only US 'liberals' were a bit more classical.... That said I'd take a socially liberal socialist over a socially conservative capitalist any day of the week. Of course the best thing would be a libertarian... but like that's ever going to happen in the Land of the 'Free'....

Just ask Yahoo....

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=who+will+win+2004+election

[via DPF]

A well-known and inspirational speaker, Mike Tamaki, has unwittingly been caught up in the latest tertiary education funding scam says Nationals Education spokesman, Bill English.

I have been advised that people who attended a business lunch in Timaru earlier this year were told that they could stay and hear Mr Tamaki speak if they filled out a form enrolling them at this course at Aoraki Polytechnic.

This form made their attendance at the lunch an official community education enrollment, says Mr English.

This stuff drives me insane! Half of these provincial Politechs couldn't educate a cow in a bloody milking shed. As an employer and taxpayer it makes my blood boil seeing this sort of crap masquerading as education.

P.S. New category added - Taxpayer Ripoffs

Kirk posted something titled 

They don't talk politics on ESPN or The Weather Channel

Bill and Casey are quick off the mark on this one and given my propensity to rant and rave on everything from politics to religion I'm gonna pop my two cents in as well.

I have the advantage that I'm not beholden to anybody when it comes to blogging. I'm my own boss, host my blog on my own server and as such tend to blog about what I feel like. I feel absolutely no obligation to people who read this blog other than to try my darnedest to be accurate and substantial in the things that I post. If you don't like my politics (devout libertarianism) then don't go near my politics category. If you don't like my religious views (devout atheism) then avoid my sacreligion category.... simple huh! Oh, and if you don't like my spelling, typos and grammar... bugger off right now!

I'm no 'self proclaimed expert', but, I take an active interest in politics and in my wonderful democracy that's a darn site better than many useless inert nothings manage. Kirks post almost infers that ones aptitude or capability in different pursuits are wholly unrelated. I think quite the contrary is true- from what i have observed if someone is a clued up cookie in one aspect of life (say technology) then chances are they'll be pretty smart in other areas as well. It's my submission that if your technical content is sufficiently useful to warrant someone like Kirk subscribing then you are most unlikely to be the sort of person who would make 'vote for X' or 'Y is a moron' posts. Rather, you are probably likely to be the sort of person who will at least have something useful, thought provoking and insightful to say on politics- whichever side you happen to say it about.

*Please note that the above applies to politics only. I shall continue to feel unrestrained in so far as calling religious people closed minded moronic idiots (in the nicest possible way). Religion being a fantasy about which nothing useful, thought provoking or insightful can ever be said.

OK... so a few weeks back I posted on a particularly brazen young Destiny Church follower who had been commenting a great deal over on DPFs blog..

A comment on that entry has kinda sparked my interest again... turns out our Destiny supporter is a Health Promoter (whatever that is) @ the Taranaki DHB. Anyway, interest rekindled, I thought I'd whiz through and see what proportion of posts looked like they were done on employers (read Taxpayer of NZ and thus me) time.

Let's be generous and assume a 12am to 1:30pm lunch window....

1. Thursday 19th August, 12:13pm - Covered by our lunch window
2. Friday 20th August 12:02pm - So far so good
3. Friday 20th August 3:50pm - OK... Friday afternoon... was it Beer O'Clock maybe? Do 'health promoters' do Beer O'Clock?
4. Firday 20th August 3:56pm - As above... now at this stage I'm worried I'll make a fool of myself because tommorow is a weekend!
5. But it's OK... because we get radio silence until... she's back @ work on Tuesday the 24th @ 3:02pm - Now please tell me it's not Beer O'Clock on Tuesdays.
6. Wednesday August 25th @ 9:06am... doing morning 'emails'?
7. Wednesday August 25th @ 10:03am... still doing morning emails?
8. Wednesday August 25th @ 10:04am... sure is a lot of emails?
9. Wednesday August 25th @ 10:08am... can you say Acceptable Use Policy?
10. Thursday 26th August @ 4:32pm... again... close enough to end of play to be a gimme.
11. Friday 27th August @ 08:46am... without seeing the IP logs you've got to let this one slip for the possiblity of it being written @ home. Do civil service types get to work before 9am?
12. Friday 27th @ 10:02am.... this one was a WHOPPER... must have been a good 20 minutes worth. Lurker even comments -  I'm guessing naki-girl doesn't hold down a full-time job at the moment... I'm guessing naki-girl doesn't hold down a full-time job at the moment... ... dunno- are 'Health Promoters' full time?
13. Friday August 27th @ 10:36am.... another biggie
14. Friday August 27th @ 10:58am.... I ain't seeing much health promoting going down....
15. Friday August 27th @ 11:35am... TGIF!
16. Friday August 27th @ 11:49am... could call it a tithe @ this rate
17. Friday August 27th @ 11:52am... thats 1 and 1/2 hours by my count.
18. Friday August 27th @ 12:01pm... LUNCH TIME
19. Friday August 27th @ 12:06 pm... still lunch...
20. Friday August 27th @ 12:18 pm... and still lunch...
21. Friday August 27th @ 12:36 pm... and still lunch... but then wasn't 10:30 till midday lunch today...
22. Friday August 27th @ 12:54 pm ... still within our lunch window
23. Friday August 27th @ 01:17pm ... Just as well we allowed for a long 'merchant bankers' lunch
24. Friday August 27th @ 01:24pm ... lunch is almost over
25. Friday August 27 @ 02:32pm ... and now lunch is indeed over.
26. Friday August 27th @ 03:01pm... another monster post this afternoon.
27. Friday August 27th @ 03:09pm ... almost Beer O'Clock.... surely
28. Friday August 27th @ 03:17pm ... it's been a long day at the coal face really hasn't it.... driving Gods Chariot...

... and that's all folks... so let's summarise.

28 posts. 9 within our lunch window, 1 that we suspect as being an early morning not @ work post. So that leaves 18 posts on work time... many of them pretty substantial. Seems god promotion won over health promotion this week.

I don't think I'm right-wing - I just think my life is mine to live pretty much as I please (provided it doesn't intrude on you) and I'd like you to extend the same courtesy to me, thanks very much.

Amen To That!

This post is realy quite NZ centric so all you yanks who peruse these pages might like to switch off now. I may come back and give some context as to our voting system later but no time at the moment.

So anyway... while it's the Local Body elections soon I've been giving the general election some thought and have some ideas on vote splitting. I'm the kind of person that will be VERY inclined to split my vote because being a TRUE classical liberal I tend towards the economic policy of the right and the social policy of the left.

We really have two different types of voting in Parliament. Party Votes and Concience Votes. Under the MMP system, the party votes will be most influenced by your list vote in the election.

Concience votes on the other hand really depend on a much broader set of factors. As a classical liberal- and by this I mean you're likely to support a free market economy in prostitution- I think that vote splitting (in most electorates) is going to be essential. basically what you want to be trying to achieve is to have a right leraning party (ACT is the obvious example) doing well in the list vote. This is because economic policy generally (almost exclusivly) falls under the guise of party voting. Then you want to give your candidate vote to the most socially liberal candidate in your electorate who has a realistic chance of winning. It doesn't matter if they are Labour, National, ACT or even Watermelon (Green)... overhangs are VERY unlikely in all but the Maori seats so realistically you want to use your candidate vote to influence the makeup of the party caucuses such that each caucus (whose total numbers will be determined by the list vote) contains as many socially liberal candidates as possible.

So what does this mean in practical terms?

Well for some people it will be bloody easy. Live in Epsom? Two ticks Rodney Hide as he is liberal on both arms. But say you lived in a hypothetical electorate where the Labour candidate is a good liberal who supports prostitution/abortion/homosexual law reform while the National Candidate is a died in the wool Catholic... You would have to have ROCKS IN YOUR HEAD not to split your vote for Labour. Remember, tha party vote will determine how many Labour MPs et into parliament. The candidate vote importantly helps to determine who those candidates actually are.

Just to show how wonderful the Google ranking system... Technology Head Me who gets most of his Google karma from links with technology sites is ranked @ #2 site for the search term Alison Annan

http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22alison+annan%22&btnG=Search&meta

What a crazy world we live in.... I've posted on this before here, but I wonder if, in this age of all over the subject range blogs, Google are doing anything to correlate their ranking system with subject clustering.

OK.. listened to just a wee bit of the conversation on Nat Radio this morning re: the Dunedin mayoralty. Is Teresa Stevenson on DRUGS!?!

The question was asked what would should be done as far as rates holiday type incentives.

She rambled on someting about there were many dark ally ways in Dunedin that could be turned into Cafe's. We should 'use the internet to contact investors in these venutures' she said. What a ^*&^&^%ing fruitloop! Does she really believe that this will help economic development in the city. I mean even if it were not prima facie daft (which it is) it would still be down right stupid as I doubt we would see a great number of the organic double shot espresso servings being exported out of the Otago region.

Too much under the counter 'special' Chai @ Arc for Miss S I'm afraid.

The smart money (well my money) is on Peter Chin. But in the end I think that anyone but the 'hippy' (above) and the ex con invalid beneficiary will be a darn sight better than the Roger Award judging greenie we've got at the moment!