w h o a r . c o . n z

um..!..wd it be out of order to ask for a bit of transperancy around this $1.75 billion ’soaking’ we have just taken…?

namely…did any of those who granted this mountain of money….

did any of them have any conflict of interests running here..?

as in..were any in national taking advantage of that hubbard-potion of high interest rates..

..and a gold-plated gummint-guarantee…?

..should it all turn to custard..?

(i mean..why wouldn’t they..?..eh…?)

in effect…i am asking if any of them lobbied for/voted for..

..a bailout for themselves..?…

..eh..?

(hidden away in ‘trusts’/w.h.y…?..)

(i’m just asking..!..)

i am just watching the re-run of ‘the nation’…

and sean plunkett starts up with a follow-through from a previous week..

..in that plunkett had been ‘hard’..on some leftys…(much as labour likes to be seen to be ‘hard’ on benificiaries..and didn’t they succeed at that..?..eh..?..)

anyway..plunkett did this rigorous interview with a lefty-group putting together a blockade-breaking convoy for gaza..

apparantly george galloway heard/saw this piece…and it pissed him off…

and he asked/demanded(?) an appearance on the show…to rebut the theses of the plunkett..

..and plunkett/the nation said ‘no!’…(?)

i mean..w.t.f. are they thinking..?..

aside from any ideological-consideratons…and just on a pure telly-level….

..it would make great television…

a smackdown between plunkett and galloway…?

whoar…!

(were i a producer at the nation i wd have fallen upon that offer with sobs of gratitude….’yes please..!’..)

..as i said…w.t.f. is wrong with them..?…

..that they can’t seem to see that…?

the first issue here is that this is a programme that is trying to be something for too many people…

this weekends’ offering being a case in point…

we start off with politics….

then we veer into a ‘country calender’ episode on small-town new zealand memorial halls…

(a worthy piece in its’ own right…but w.t.f. was it doing levered into a politics/currents affairs show…?..)

more politics….

..and then we have an ‘arts on sunday’ piece…on an exhibition in melbourne of designer frocks…(!)

and then of course there is the silly/annoying go at a quizz show/competition…popping up at regular intervals…

i mean..do the programme makers think we don’t have the attention-span-stamina to be able to handle a full hour of politics..?

isn’t there already a surfeit of quaint-rural/frock-shows on the telly…?

do they think there are not enough issues around to fill a whole hour…?

i saw the nation as having the opportunity to be what q&a isn’t….a serious/considered examination of the issues…

..which brings us to the long-interview…

and i gotta say…why are they letting duncan garner do the corner-stone-interview…?

two reasons for that question….

one is that they have in the host…a person who has been inhaling long-interviews…five days a week…for years…

i mean..i thought that was why he had been brought onto the show…to do a political-radio-with-pictures for us…

..to echo the grillings/cross-examinations he subjects pollies to on morning report on nat-rad..

(with the extra bonus for us being able to see their lying-eyes and face-clawing lying in general…(not to mention the sweating/squirming…)

but no..today garner gave paula bennett a long kneck-rub…(and asked if she’d like any ‘extras’..)

it was such a pathetic attempt at holding her to any account/rational-explanation for her deeply-irrational railings against benificiaries…

(last week it was sole-parents….this week its’ sickness-benificiaries…)

you could see in her eyes..that bennet could hardly believe her luck…

..she had garner so much in her hand…that he ..at the roundup at the end..

..echoed/repeated her shock-statistic-du-jour….that some benificiaries cd work part-time..but aren’t…

garner got quite heated/worked-up over that one….(taking the thought of ’skiving-sickness-benificiaries’ quite personally…)

so much so you could imagine him joining bennett in a posse-of-two….(camera-crew in tow..)

..to drag one/some of these skiving-benificiaries out of their luxurious digs/lives-of-plenty…

..and into the harsh light of the camera….

which brings me back to the long-interview issue…

garner is not trained to dig..and dig….he is trained for the short ‘did you? no..?..alright!’-segments of the evening news….

he needs to be sent back to where he is most comfortable…

…the quizz/country-calendar/frock-components need to be ditched….

and then they can get paula bennett back again…

..for that long overdue hard-questioning of this irrational/agenda-driven targetting of the weakest/poorest ….

..i think sean plunkett should be up for it..

..eh…?

being somewhat opinionated on a regular basis…i have succumbed to the lure of twitter…

my twitter-name is vegandogs50

“…Rodney Hide was an abusive, intimidating bully who tried for months to discredit Heather Roy into quitting as deputy leader …

… according to statements Mrs Roy made in a confidential document.

The 82 pages of supporting material - obtained by the Herald - outline her defence, given in a statement to the Act caucus, against concerns about her behaviour …

.. and are an attack on Mr Hide’s leadership.

They paint a picture of a fractured party that has been infighting while pretending to be unified …

… and of an insecure leader who moved to demote Mrs Roy … without just cause…”

(and..for a bit of balance here…hide has the moan that roy has been useless as a minister..

..and i hafta say..that when roy was appointed consumers affairs minister…i thought it was a sick joke…

(kinda like keith locke being put in charge of the spooks…eh..?…)

..and that she would be useless in the role..

..and this has come to pass…

..roy has been invisible in her role of ‘battling for consumers’…

..have we heard even a peep from her since her appointment…?

(see what i mean about a ’sick joke’…?..)

go to source/story>>>Inside view of party not a pretty sight - Politics - NZ Herald News

“…John Armstrong writes that the working group’s prescription for change may be blinkered by ideology such as time limits.

There it sits, a very large and seemingly very juicy statistic buried in the back pages of this week’s discussion paper on welfare reform; …

… a figure which screams for attention as indisputable evidence that the present benefit system must get the chop or, at a minimum, serious restructuring.

Or so the first offering of substance to emerge from the welfare reform think-tank established by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett would like the rest of us to believe.

The inclusion in its discussion document of a $50 billion estimate of how much those now on a benefit will cost the state over their lifetimes is a clear pointer to the direction in which Bennett’s welfare working group - to give it its official name - is heading in terms of options for change.

Its recommendations are still some months away.

The question is whether this advisory group will come up with something truly innovative to cut back the numbers of those who have spent a long time on the unemployment, domestic purposes, sickness and invalids benefits …

… or whether the group’s prescription for change will be blinkered by ideology …

… and it will recommend measures such as time-limited benefits …

… which have had very mixed impact on beneficiary numbers in the United States.

The tone of the discussion document suggests ideology will win.

While that may please some … though not necessarily all the present inhabitants of the Beehive …

… any such surrender to dogma will prove counter-productive in the long term …

… if the Labour Party and the Greens cannot stomach the working group’s recommendations…

The Government has accordingly sensibly ring-fenced some areas from the review - the level of payment that individuals get, for starters.

It is also seeking “practical” recommendations from the working group.

However, in setting up the group which is ably led by former chairwoman of the Commerce Commission Paula Rebstock, National has effectively shattered what was an informal consensus on welfare policy.

That consisted of National trying to look more caring towards beneficiaries after its track record in the 1990s … and Labour trying to look tougher.

The net result has been the imposition of more obligations on beneficiaries to find work …

… backed up by increasingly tougher sanctions for non-compliance.

The working group will instinctively feel it has to be more radical than that to justify its existence.

It could hardly serve up a centre-left package for a centre-right government.

Likewise, its terms of reference requiring it to tackle “welfare dependency” … effectively preclude it from endorsing the status quo.

It has accordingly been quick to denigrate the present benefit system as “outdated” and “unsustainable”.

It seems to have few scruples about the way it is going about trying to reinforce such a view.

The “future liability” of $50 billion in benefit payments is a case in point.

Many news organisations covering Monday’s release of the discussion document highlighted that figure.

It gave a fresh angle on what was otherwise a rather long rehash of old arguments …

… about the consequences of being dependent on a benefit … and the desirability of finding paid work.

But the $50 billion figure is rather meaningless.

You could add up the lifetime costs of paying someone state-funded superannuation …

… but that would not be a reason on its own for no longer paying it.

Beneficiaries are in a different political category to pensioners, however.

The $50 billion figure has been concocted to paint the benefit system as an intolerable financial burden.

If this was part of a strategy to manipulate at an early stage what promises to be a humdinger of an argument …

… once some reform options go on the table …

…. then it worked even better than its proponents would have been hoping.

The $50 billion was widely misconstrued as being an estimate of the future size of the annual benefit bill.

For that to be the case, the total amount budgeted for welfare payments would have to blow out by nearly eight times its present levels…

The benefit system would have well and truly become unsustainable.

That is about the only funny note in a document that amounts to polemic masquerading as analysis.

It is highly selective in citing statistics that suit its argument.

It uses the experience of other countries to point to the relative failings of New Zealand’s social assistance policies.

Perhaps worst of all, it makes assertions that are just plain wrong…” (cont..)

(this has astonished me all week….how the media have just swallowed/regurgitated that ‘clownish’ $50 billion figure….

..with nary a demur/question…

..this was/is a total exercise in opinion-manipulation/black propaganda/marginalisation of the weakest poorest…

(..and incidentally…just another pre-election broken-promise from key….remember..?..)

..perhaps the key-figure/stat to take from this early report..

is that..in their worst-case scenarios…the percentage of beneficiaries in 2050…will blow out from 13% to 16%..

i mean..even aside from the farcical-nature of such ‘predictions’…

..where/what is the problem..?…)

go to source/story>>>John Armstrong: Huge numbers only part of benefit story - Politics - NZ Herald News

for those who don’t know him…farrar is a widely-read rightwing-blogger…

he is also the one who does much of the polling/focus-groups for national..(an ‘insider’..by any measure…)

..and he worked in shipleys’ office when she was prime minister..

and on his blog..has spoken with pride of ..at that time..urging shipley to cut more ..! more…!….during the ‘welfare-reforms’ of that government..

(that which sewed the seeds of the social-whirlwind/underclass pay-out we are now reaping/’earning’…)

..the beginning of this black-campaign from farrar is not unexpected…as bennet is now trying to sell this package…

..and farrar is..if nothing..always in sync…

..the problem for farrar…is that he ‘jumped-the-shark’ on this welfare-issue…some time back..

..when he published on his blog…a post from a ‘guest-columnist’…a (supposed) benificiary/sole-parent…

where this ‘benificiary’ wrote of scenarios of/in her life…

..the most incendiary for his frothing/foaming rightwing readership/audience…being..

of her sitting on her lawn with her other sole-parent mates..drinking beer…waiting for the pizzas to arrive…(the ‘good life’)

..and/while laughing at her neighbours …as they drove off to work…for being such mugs..

..(his ‘bubbly’ audience..reacted to this ‘revelation’ as expected/on cue…)

(and…just to add to the texture/colouring of this exercise…the fake-benificiary was maori….Tara Te Heke was the (eponymous) name chosen…)

this piece of vile/marginalising black-propaganda stands alongside the worst of the yellow-peril/anti-chinese-pamphlets…

..from back in those days of racist-shame…

(..but this is 2010…eh..?..you’d think ‘fomenting’ such hatred/prejudice as this..wd be against the/some law..eh..?..)

..and the ultimate irony in all this..is that farrar is using the same tactics as goebbels did against the jews…

(dissembling/lies/half-truths/’fake-profiles’…all designed to marginalise the targets…

…and all to inflame prejudices/hatreds/political-action against them…)

..yet farrar himself is european-jewish…(go figure..!..eh..?..)..and currently on holiday in austria/vienna…(!)

(quick..!..oxygen..!..i’m coming down with irony-overload..!..)

..farrars’ fake-benificiary was a nadir in the nz blogworld….(and his publishing career..)

…and totally destroyed any impartiality/credibility he may now claim to have on this issue…

..so we can expect nothing more from farrrar..

..except more of the same…

..and funnily enough..the most sense/clarity i have seen/heard on this issue came from rightwinger gareth morgan…(on national radio…)

who (having read the full report..rare amongst commenters on it/other experts..)

…expressed his disdain at how the terms of this inquiry had been orchestrated/fixed by key/national…

..in that the committee were proscribed from examining the two basic facts/components of the whole social welfare issue….

…namely…’is the level of payment sufficient to live on?’..

..and … about the onerous/crippling rates of clawback on any part-time-work monies..

(i.e..everything over $100pw faces ..after tax..an 85% payback to social welfare…

..plus..if a sole-parent lives in a state house…they face the double-whammy of the 85% clawback….plus their rent rising..)

these are some of the main bars on the/any poverty-trap….eh..?

and (’funnily’..again..)..morgan was in sync with the greens…(!)…

..calling for a basic guaranteed income/livable wage for all…and then take it from there…

..(morgan arguing the obvious benefits/lower-overheads/ease of administration/fairness .. of such a ‘real reform’..)

i have linked you to the start of the campaign from/by farrar…

…and on health/hygiene/’splash’-grounds…

..i wd advise donning full-body protection…

..before entering the fetid-swamp that is kiwiblog..(especially the comments-threads..)

..eh..?..

go to source/story>>>Armstrong on Welfare Reform | Kiwiblog

“…My readings tell me that:

1. The overuse of preventive antibiotics is probably fostering antibiotic resistant bacteria that can infect humans.

Antibiotics are needed to treat sick animals so they cannot be banned.

But they should not be used on all animals as prevention because they are kept in too close quarters.

2. There is a small but significant quantity of valid, scientific, peer-reviewed research that calls into question the meat industry’s claim that growth hormones are harmless.

Even if there was no contradictory research, the levels that the US Government sets for some meats as “GRAS” (generally regarded as safe) are not thoroughly tested and are unacceptably high to many other countries, including the European Union.

3. The use of CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) create major waste disposal problems for soil and water that are significantly lessened by distributed farming.

There are many good books on the subject, but here is a free document from the Union of Concerned Scientists “CAFOs Uncovered”.

If you are busy, at least read the executive summary at the beginning.

I understand that we are addicted to cheap protein as much as we are addicted to cheap oil.

I understand that cheap protein has helped the poor feed their families and kept school lunch prices down.

I understand that improved animal husbandry will likely mean higher meat prices.

If so, I think that we can absorb them.

I think that we have alternatives.

Those of us who can afford it will buy slightly more expensive meats.

Or maybe we will buy less.

Maybe some of us will buy other forms of protein and more fruits, vegetables, and grains.

And this might not be bad.

In addition to my desire to send a message, I have two other motives:

1. I have read scores of testimonials from vegetarians about how going meatless made them feel great.

I want to see how it makes me feel.

2. I love veggies and carbs almost as much as meat.

I want to challenge my outdoor cooking skills and see if I can discover and create new dishes that will satisfy my meat loving readers.

I will also use this as an opportunity to overcome my fear of flour.

I will try to learn to bake on the grill.

So beginning August 9, for 30 days I will become an ovo-lacto vegetarian.

That means I will forswear all animal flesh, but I will allow myself eggs and dairy.

Why not go all the way and leave out the dairy and eggs?

Because I’m chicken.

Ummm, I mean, I’m afraid.

I’m afraid that my cooking skills will let me down, that the temptation to stray will be too great …

… and that nutritionally there are some pitfalls to the strict vegan diet … and I am not knowledgeable enough to implement.

I have learned that one must really understand nutrition to be a strict vegan…”

(sheesh dude..!..it’s not that riddled with ‘pitfalls’..eh…?..that vegan-thing…

you could let google be yr friend… or you could check the vegan-section here at whoar…more info/recipies than you can poke a stick at..eh..?..

..and on a personal/anecdotal level…i’ve been vegan for about 11 years…and lacto-veg for 15 years before that…

..and as for the ‘feeling-good’-factor…?

i can confirm what those vegetarians have told you..and further tell you that one of the big surprises for me in going vegan…

..was that my expectations were for a minimal movement in that feel-good-factor..

..and i was surprised at what actually happened…

..the change from vegetarian to vegan…delivered a quantum-leap in said feel-good-factor..

..and i would submit that the change from vegetarian to vegan..delivers much more than you could possibly hope for…

i also have an 11 yr old vegan-dog…who looks/acts/moves/runs etc….like a hound a quarter of her age…

..(she salivates as i cut up apples for her..and loves tofu/seitan…both major sources of protein for her…)

so dude..why not step it up..?..and go the whole hog…?…eh..?)

go to source/story>>>Meathead Goldwyn: Meathead To Go Meatless: Call Me Potatohead

(this is the prediction i made back on feb ‘09…

..in the context of the current story that follows/confirms…

..it bears repeating….)

“…i’d like to go out on a limb here…and present what i think is obamas’ plan to prevent what is looking like a trainwreck of a mid-term election..

one that threatens to derail his presidency..forever..

there is one certainty around any predictions about the ’secret-plans’ of the obama team..

..that is that they will have to be radical .. to stop the current slide..

just to back up for a minute..what got me thinking about all this was an item buried on the business page of the new york times earlier this year.

..(and not commented on/examined in the american media since then..)

..that item was that obama had issued a presidential order/decree of sorts to the management of the (govt-run/owned) fannie mae..and freddie mac..mortgage companies..

that decree was that the previously-mandated limits on the monies the mortgage-companies could call on the federal government for were to be removed..

..and not only that..but that in the future there would now be no ceiling/limits on the amount of monies the companies could ask for…

now..that got me scratching my head..

..why was this done..?..

..there is/was no obvious answer that explains such a radical move..(more on that later..)

..my wondering/pondering on this was in conjunction with another examination of what obama has/has not done…

what brought this on..was that having published/linked to the earliest critiques of obama..(during the messianic-stage)..

..i now found myself running with the pack..on obama..

..and running with the pack makes me very very nervous..

..as the pack is usually way way behind the/any actual game..

so..i started looking at what obama has done..from a different perspective..and that proved to be somewhat revelatory..

the perspective i took was based on some givens:..

the first was the (previously-noted) train-wreck destination…(unless radical plans are enacted..)

the second was the political ’smarts’ of obama..(and how he cannot fail to see this ‘wreck’..)

..the third was that those political smarts were earned in one of the most brutal/cynical political machines in america..

..the chicago/illinois democrat party-machine..

i then moved to the history of democrat administrations…and what has traditionally nobbled/castrated them..

..and all of this led me to the conclusion that obama is one smart cookie..who is playing a ‘long game’…

..and that we are now (only) just past the end of year one of that eight-year game-time/plan…

and let’s look at what obama has done/achieved in that year..

two of the power-blocs in america that have traditionally opposed democrat presidents..are the military-hawks/industrial-complex…

..and wall st/’the banks’..

..and (however wrongly implemented)..obama has silenced both..for the seeming duration of his presidency..

..however you argue the rights and wrongs of the wars…

..their engagement there takes the military-industrial complex (sorta) out of any serious oppositional role against obama..

..(they are ‘too busy’..as it were..)

and as for wall st/the banks..?

once again..however arguably ineptly executed..obama inherited the world that bush jnr left him..and had to stop the collapse of the global financial system..

and in that execution..the banks/wall st have been given enough greed/corruption-rope..to hang themselves..

..and hang themselves they have..

..(is anyone else surprised at the rapid changes in reputational-fortunes of the (former) ‘masters of the universe’..?

..from hero to below zero..in the snap of a crash..)

the banks/wall st/financial establishment have..given the ‘bank’ of hatred they have built up..

..totally disempowered themselves for the duration of obamas’-game..

..and are now low hanging fruit..unable to mount a single moral argument against serious regulatory-reforms of their industries..

..so..at the end of year one..of eight..obama has emasculated/castrated two of the traditional anti-democrat power-blocs..

..no mean feats..!..eh..?

and feats..i would submit..that only strengthen my long-game thesis…

so..what will obama do..?..to ’save’ the midterm elections..?

one plan he has up his sleeve is a green-stimulus package..

(he still has most of his stimulus-money left..so i think it is a no-brainer that a ‘grand green stimulus plan’ will be announced pre-midterm..)

the other move he will make will not be less ‘grand’..but perhaps less obvious..

which brings us back to that fannie mae/freddie mac item/news from earlier in the year..

..now..we all know that nothing happens for no reason..esp in the world of politics..

..so..my conclusion/prediction is that obama will use those govt. agencies as the vehicles for a radical defacto nationalisation of the american mortgage industry..

..one of the main criticisms of obama to date has been that everything has been done for wall st..

..and nothing for the struggling american working/middle classses…

so..any move..to have any hope of success..must directly answer/deflect those valid criticisms..

..so what obama will do..

..is that he will tell all of those americans facing foreclosure/losing their homes..

..that they will be able to transfer their mortgages to fannie mae/freddie mac..

..and re-negotiate those mortgages to reflect their straightened economic circumstances..

..and i see this as being somewhat of a ‘brilliant stroke’ by obama..

..for two reasons…

..he ends those ‘nothing for main st’ criticisms ..in a spectacular manner…(back to hero..from zero..)

..and the cherry on this cake..is that he need not go near the (possible roadblocks/spoilers) senate/congress for any approval..

..he can just tell fannie mae/freddy mac to ‘just do it’…

..and the answer to ‘why that piece in the nyt?’..

..is that that is/was just the preparing of the ground…

(and those who would scoff at any ‘nationalisation-idea’..

..should maybe ponder the fact that due to the govt taking over the assets of banks as they crash..

.that the american govt is already the largest real landlord/’owner’ of private property in america..

..expanding the roles of fannie/freddy in a ’saviour-deal’ is not that much of a step further..)

..obama the man..wants to be bigger than fdr/’the new deal’..

he still has seven years to achieve that in..

..and if the ‘long-game-thesis’ holds true..

..is firmly on-track..

(sorry..!..having started with a train-pun/metaphor..(i couldn’t resist returning there for a full-stop..eh..?..)

go to source/story>>>whoar.co.nz » Blog Archive » comment@whoar:..how obama will ’save’ his presidency..(and is he (successfully) playing ‘the long game’..?..)

(and the answer to that ‘why?’ question has two threads…

..one being our govt sucking up to america….for a hoped-for ‘free-trade’-deal…as the reward…

..the other being the armchair warrior auto-erotic fantasies of key/power/this govt…

(who can forget that moment that simon power jumped the war-shark…back when bush was lying his way to the invasion of iraq..?

..his quote at the time was ‘all the way with bush..!’..)

and for what…?

the week that obama announces the pullout of american troops…has been one of the worst for iraq…

..as in ..the most civilians killed…

…they have no (promised) ’stable-government’….

..and despite the billions soaked up contractors….

..basic water/power infrastructures are still not in place…

so…why were they there…?

..and perhaps power could tell us why he was so gung-ho to send our soldiers to be killed in that folly…?

..and if he now resiles from his ‘all the way’/war-fever outburst…?

and if not….why not…?

..and latterly..who can forget key being totally seduced by the war-talk of mccrystal..?..

and coming back here…still breathing heavily…and promising our soldiers…for the forseeable future….?

does he now resile from from that little period of over-excitement…?

..and if not…why not..?

which brings us back to the original question…

just why are we in afghanistan…?

(for all the macro-reasons why nobody should be there…insert the word ‘afghanistan’ into the whoar search-engine…)

go to source/story>>>NZ soldier killed, two hurt in Afghanistan - National - NZ Herald News

as it stands now….19 yr olds must have no alcohol….but the day they turn twenty….they can kneck nine beers…

…and still legally drive off down the motorway…?

..how is this not utter madness…?

you’d have to be a serious/heavy/regular drinker …with a high tolerance…to even think about driving after nine beers…

so..why is the alcohol limit geared to those heavy drinkers…?

most people couldn’t drive safely on nine beers….

that key won’t see sense on this….just indicates how much the big booze-pushers have this govt in their pocket….

(keys’ excuse of ‘more research needed’…is absolute obfuscating-horse-shit…)

“…Prime Minister John Key says he wouldn’t have more than one wine or two beers before getting behind the wheel of his car …

… but he is standing by the decision not to reduce the current blood alcohol limit until more research is done.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce last week announced a zero limit for recidivist and young drivers …

… but said New Zealand-specific research over the next two years would look at the level of risk posed by drivers with a blood alcohol limit of between 0.05 and 0.08 (50mg-80mg).

During today’s post-Cabinet press conference, Mr Key was asked if he would do a test to see how many drinks he could consume and remain under the legal limit, after a newspaper staffer was able to drink nine beers and still legally be able to drive.

“No, because I need to run the country the next day and I’d be messy after nine beers,” he replied…”

(what further ‘research’…is needed….?

our roads are far worse than other countries with the lower limit…

our binge-drinking culture..is only strengthened/emphasised by our legal approval of knecking nine beers in one sitting….

….(and then hopping behind the wheel of a car…(!)..woo-hoo..!…eh…?

but the strongest argument…is that most of us couldn’t drive after nine beers….

..so it is ..again..’utter madness’… to have the alcohol/safe-driving limit set to that ridiculously high level…

…key/national are totally swimming against the tide on this one…..(as they seem to be on quite a few fronts….eh…?)

..the mood of the country is for a tightening up on booze….on multiple fronts….

..you could almost see a prohibitionist party cracking 5%…

go to source/story>>>I wouldn’t drive on more than one wine - PM - National - NZ Herald News

i am just watching the re-run of the nation…

(and..i mean..first off…what’s with that programming meltdown..?..who the hell is so sad they will consciously sit down at 11.00am on a sat morn..to watch a political babble-fest..?

i am a political junkie…and have only ever watched the re-runs at 8.00am on a sun morn…

…why didn’t they originally schedule it for that time..?…it’s a perfect run-in to q $ a on one at nine..eh..?)

anyway..todays’ panel of experts are pontificating on the carter/goff brouhaha….

and what surprises me is their seeming ignorance of the fact we are living in an mmp world….

..they are all banging on about these matters with their fpp-blinkers firmly on…

..this isn’t a popularity/presidential contest between key and goff…

..there are also all the other players to consider…

..the next election will be a clear ideological battle…

…the conditions imposed/actions of this national party/leader have de-fuzzed the lines between the two old parties…

..(clark had dragged labour so far to the right..that key..(during his election campaign/promises..)..had to pretend to be more caring/sharing/centreist than clark..

..and he succeeded…it was a hollow-man performance par excellence…

..but now the mask has so badly slipped it is askew…

..and we/most can see it is just the same old same old….farmers’ subsidies are back at muldoon-levels..(ets-’exemption’..)..

..workers are being screwed over….(remember keys’ most potent-hollow-promise..?…’closing the wage-gap with australia..?..

..the hollow-echo from that one is quite resounding…(and leaves key standing naked/self-refudiated….eh..?..)

and then there are the massive tax-cuts for the top-earners…(which we are borrowing millions to pay for..(!)..i mean…how fecken stoopid is that..?..)

by election-time next year…this will all be much-worse…

..and if labour are not able to mount/fight a resonant old school (green-themed) labour-campaign around that scenario…

..they really should pack up and go home…eh..?

..my point being that the next election won’t be like the last one…which was presidential/personality/change-driven…

..this one will be about politics/ideology…

..and many of those who were seduced by key/change…have been badly hurt by the political realities of a rightwing national government…

..and the broken promises of key…(’i will not raise gst!’)…are the dead albatross he will be dragging into the next election..

..which brings us to the mmp-aspects of elections..

at the moment national has act…dunne….and the maori party…

..and under fpp wd hose into the next election…

..but the maori party are not a certainty for key/national next time out…

(maori are amongst those most hurt by the policies of this government….and they are/will be ready to be wooed back…

..i mean..what else can key offer/bribe with…?…his gift-bag is empty…)

the greens will go with labour…

(and i must eat some humble pie for grumbling at them for not even considering tying up with national last time..in hindsight..that wd have been disasterous..)

dunne may or may not be there…but he has already proven he is anyones..

..peters will be there…(and key tried to/succeeded in burying him last time…so..?..)

..now..to me…that all spells a very good chance for a labour party to return to its’ core-beliefs…and to be part of a centre-left/green coalition government…

i mean..you just have to do the maths..!..eh..?

…without even going into the succession what-if’s/who’s….questions….

..labour has no need to replace goff…

..and goff will be forced more to the left by his caucus/the unions/the times…

…i am still strong in my prediction that ..despite his high personal ratings…that key will suffer the ignominy of being a one-term prime prime minister…

..his policies/mmp will see to that…

(update:…goff has strengthened his case with a more than capable showing on q & a…)

the anatomy of a cunning plan:..

claim to open mining in schedule four land….

and then ‘bow to public pressure’….

..and get the green light to go gung-ho with the/any mining … outside of section four land..

brilliant..!

had the government come right out and said they planned to map/extract in northland/west coast…

..they would have faced the uproar they faced for their section four proposals…

..and now…?

..they have ‘listened to the people’…

(is that called ‘the strawman-con’..?

..or ‘the bait and switch’..?..)

“.. Mr Key denied there were divisions between ministers over the extent of planned mining, saying Mr Brownlee had proposed scrapping the plans and the Cabinet was unanimous.

But both he and Mr Brownlee made it clear that they now considered the Government had a green light to allow mining on any areas outside schedule 4.

“As the discussion has progressed, it’s identified very clearly where the industry can go and where it can’t go in the future,” Mr Brownlee said.

The Government would fund a significant aeromagnetic survey of non-schedule 4 land in the West Coast and in Northland to identify mineral deposits, with an “expectation” of increased mining.

But WWF NZ executive director Chris Howe said the Government did not have a mandate to allow mining anywhere outside schedule 4, and the areas to be surveyed, including the world heritage site, had high conservation values…”

go to source/story>>> Heritage site at risk of mining | Stuff.co.nz

i don’t really like watching sports that much…

..and rugby has been pretty boring for quite a while..

..in years past the ‘boy’ and i gave it a go…did the father/son watching the rugby test together thing…

we both found our interests fast waning..(c.f..’boring’-rugby..)..

and ..through mutual agreement..we drifted away/couldn’t be bothered…

he played soccer for quite a few years..so we did that number…

now..i don’t really write/bang on about sport that much….

..but the compare and contrast from last weekend…had me sitting up straight…and puzzled that nobody else seems to have noticed/compared…

..c’os on sat-nite we had this absolute ripper/cracker of a rugby game…(that had me going ‘whoar!’…repeatedly….)

i just had the delayed broadcast from prime playing in the background…and it quickly became my foreground..

…heavy/brutal/fast rugby..at it’s very best…..and compelling to watch…..

then on on morn….we had the soccer/’football’/w.h.y. final…

and that was an exercise in tedium…and strikingly like that simpsons’ piss-take on soccer/f.b./w.h.y….from way way back….eh…?

yet the media seems to have been all over the ‘excitement’ of that soccer/f.b/w.h.y. world cup final…

…and missed that game of champagne rugby…..

i hope they can do it again tonight…..eh…?

..much more of this and i’ll have to alert the ‘boy’…to have another look…

..eh..?

“…They’re often 20-something, usually blonde and not too hard to look at.

But a former newsreader and journalist reckons that is all viewers are getting with the current crop of female television reporters …

… whom she says provide great “eye-candy” … but deliver little else.

In her blog Adjust Your Set, former reporter Janet Wilson gives rival stations and her old bosses TVNZ and TV3 a serve …

… saying they are guilty of hiring pretty, young females for their looks and not their news-sense.

“They’re not there because they can do the job better than anyone else; sniff a story out at ten paces or craft a yarn that makes us think,” said Wilson.

“They’re there because they simply LOOK good.

Try contrasting that with female reporters in the American networks who aren’t considered up-to-speed journalistically until they’re approaching middle-age.”

Just one TVNZ reporter, Christchurch-based Charlotte Bellis, who was schooled in journalism in the United States, escapes Wilson’s tirade…”

(now…where to start with this one…?

1)…we are expected to presume that when wilson..in her telly-career…was hired for on-screen roles…

..that her ‘tits and teeth’ had nothing to do with it..?

2)..these young reporters are told what subjects to cover…by their bosses..

..so..to sheet the crap news/current affairs ’standards’ in this country…

(cf…’08 global-meltdown…that somehow..they didn’t ’see’ coming…and at the time..if you remember…they all just parroted the treasury ‘recession over by feb’ next yr bullshit/election-spin..eh..?…

how much more of an indictment of them could just that ‘one’ be….eh..?)

so..to blame our crap news/current affairs on these ‘young reporters’….is actually pointing to the wrong people..eh..?

which brings us to 3)….the irony overload/meltdown…

..in that the partner of wilson…one bill ralston…is the one generally credited with the institutional dumbing-down of our news/cf content..

..during the very long time he ran tvnz news/current affairs..(!)…

..whoar…!…eh…?

..he is the one who brought us to this place….

…and of course….both ralston and wilson have now gone to the ‘dark-side’/public relations….

and will now obfuscate/’spin’ for the highest bidder…eh..?

(ralston is currently ’spinning’ for both john banks…and the chinese dairy company trying to buy the crafer farms….)

..so…’y'know….!…i didn’t even have to go anywhere near ‘older woman jealousy’….to totally fisk this pile of bullshit….eh..?

go to source/story>>>Young female TV reporters all ‘tits and teeth’ - National - NZ Herald News

steel yrselves…!

the msm-media is covering the news that ‘take that’ are reforming….!

(i know..!..i know…!…)

and if that wasn’t bad enough…?

y’know..!…some people posit that one of the seven-circles of hell…

..is being forced to face an eternity of listening to duets by michael bolton and celine dion…

..i would add that lead singer from simply red to that horror-pantheon…

and the bad news is that they are coming here…to inflict their aural-miseries upon us…

..the only good news is that they are claiming this is a ‘farewell-tour’….

you have been warned…!

(and…no..!..i’m not going to give you any links..!..

..if you want the grisly-details….you know what to do…eh…?..)

“…The number of people on the unemployment benefit has jumped in the past month …

… while the total number of people claiming a benefit has also gone up, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says.

About 2000 more people applied to be on the unemployment benefit last month, Ms Bennett revealed yesterday.

The number of people on any welfare benefit rose by 1.1 per cent.

She said the increase in those receiving the unemployment benefit was expected, caused in large part to seasonal work coming to an end.

“We knew recovering from a recession would be a long and bumpy road … but there are pockets of success.”

(really..!…’pockets of success’….eh..?..that’s a hoot…!..eh…?

..they’d be small-’pockets’…eh..?…those ‘pockets of success’…?

..more fob-pockets really…eh..?

..i mean…wtf has this govt done…(now half way through its term)..to fufill that pre-election job-creation promise/big-fat-lie….?

…eh..?

..from here…it looks like s.f.a…eh…?..

..all the ‘pockets’ look empty/’success’-free zones…eh…?)

go to source/story>>>2000 more collecting the dole - Employment - NZ Herald News

“..The political destruction of the Labour Party continues. I hope it is final and permanent…”

..the above is a comment @ (rightwing) kiwiblog…

and i disagree…

goff will see a fillip in the polls…

he has shown himself to be decisive/strict….

(as opposed to key..with heatley ..who actually falsified his receipt..to make it eligible…and got a wee smack on the hand from key..for that)

the actions of goff..just show up the inaction of key..

and perhaps more importantly…

..the public now know that goffs’ expenses..for nine years…have been gone through..

..and he is squeaky-clean…

the import of that for the electorate will only grow between now and the next election…

(especially when they look back..and consider/remember heatley/double-dip from dipton..tim ‘hic!’ groser..

..the list is long..and tawdry..and is guaranteed to be longer by election time..)

whereas goff….has proven he can be trusted to be both trusted…

..and to do the right thing..when required…

..to be ‘a leader’..

(he had no choice..of course…but he did do it..when it was needed..

..the voting-punters will remember/respect/like that..

..(whereas..once again..key has proven a failure at that..)

..now..up until now..i thought goff wd have to go…and the sooner the better..

..for labour to have any chance…

i have now changed my mind on that…

..and see (a young-looking) goff…after the reshuffles complete the generational change/break with the past..

..leading a young/fresh/smart/’honest’ labour team into the next election…

..with him as mr squeaky-clean/a man of his word…..

..goff will be able to stand tall…and list the litany of broken promises from key/national..

..how national lied about so many things before the last election…

this will be ‘telling’..on key/national…

(and i think all but the devoted will be over ‘glib’..by then…)

..and i see goff as with a much better than before chance …

… of becoming prime minister next year…

on q & a this morning…there was the clearest demonstration of parliamentary-troughing….

guyon espiner held up the file of the expenses of shane jones….

..it is the size of the auckland telephone book…(white-pages)

..he then held up the expenses-file for the same period of time..of michael cullen…

..this is a couple of sheets of a4….

whoar…!

..(’holy serial-gouging/troughing..!..batman..!..”..

and ‘holy presbyterian-fiscal-rectitude..!..batman..!’..

..in all areas of the life…)

and i guess that now would be a good time to give a nod of respect to cullen…

…for his meaness/parsimony in paying down our national debt..

..during the ‘good times’…

had cullen not done that..and had he heeded the call from national of wholesale tax cuts instead…

..we would now be in a far more parlous state than we actually are..

and the riff/meme that key/national run..is that they inherited this ‘mess’ from labour…

key knows that this is actually total bullshit….

..and that the ‘.meaness’ of cullen…

..was for all our ‘good’….

“…New Zealand’s first openly gay Cabinet minister is close to quitting Parliament because he is sick of being attacked as a “luxury-loving gay boy”.

Labour’s Chris Carter and his civil partner Peter Kaiser angrily hit back yesterday after being condemned for being among the worst offenders in the MP expenses scandal.

Party leader Phil Goff is tipped to demote Carter to the backbenches …

… after he topped the list of personal spending from the public purse during the term of the last government.

.
In an interview with the Herald on Sunday yesterday, Carter said: “I just have to make a decision: Do I want to keep putting up with this?

“Do you want to live your life with this stuff going on all the time?

You know, I love being an MP.

But there might well be a point soon where I think this is just not worth it.”

(so..carter is playing the tizard-card…by threatening to go….

..’cos if he bails out…judith tizard is next on the list…..

..and that would see her back in parliament…

(the ghost of useless-past..as it were…)

..and nobody but judiith…wants that…

and the question is…..will that bluff by carter steel goffs’ hand….or weaken it..

‘cos what goff has to take on board here…is that for labour to have any chance next time out…

..he has to make that clean break with the past..

…that past that carter et al just constantly remind us of…

goff has a team of next-generation very capable mp’s..

..and could replace most of his front bench….

..with nobody missing much those gone…

..and a new/fresh labour…raring to rip into national..

..i hope goff calls carters’ bluff..

..’cos if he dosen’t…he is just hastening his own death-warrant…

go to source/story>>>Big-spending MP may quit - National - NZ Herald News

the good:..

Phil U

‘Phil is the ‘Mad as hell and I’m not taking it anymore’ kinda blogger. His frenetic machine gun musings on the ills of a world gone mad are a soul preserving antidote to the banality of so much that passes as opinion. His ‘but Helen is at the UN’ is a joy..”

the bad:…

Phil U
Comments: “A stream of unconsciousness. If you read it like Sam Hunt was reading aloud one of his poems it makes it a lot easier to persist with what is essentially a ticker-tape of disjointed rambling shit dribble”…

(heh..!..heartfelt…eh..?..)

the first comment is from bomber bradbury…

the second comment is from a tim selwyn…

(you wouldn’t know him….he is that (unusual) bearded-person who did some time in jail for throwing that brick through helen clarks’ office window…(!)

..remember that einstein-moment..?..in new zealand political/protest-history…?

..so i guess i should try not to take his critique too much to heart…eh..?

..and that can only be confirmed by reading his writings…

..and you can judge his writing for yourself..at tumeke…

here are the entries i submitted…

http://whoar.co.nz/2009/commentwhoarthe-kids-up-north-have-still-got-rotten-teethbut-heyhelens-at-the-uneh/

http://whoar.co.nz/2009/commentwhoaravatara-review/

http://whoar.co.nz/2009/commentwhoarhow-the-new-media-is-just-pissing-all-over-the-old-mediain-their-coverage-of-the-unfolding-events-in-iranand-wont-someone-think-of-the-trees/

http://whoar.co.nz/2009/commentwhoartv-one-descends-to-mind-numbing-stupidityyou-betchaheylets-mini-audit-them/

(the winner was the rightwing lawyer ‘cactus kate’…all entries links in link..)

Air New Zealand Best Blog Award

yesterday in questiontime…key answered a variety of questions about his (supposed-blind) whitechapel trust….

..and yesterday hodgson demonstrated that this was really a see-thru trust..and that he..hodgson..was able to access the details..

..yesterday key gave the rote-answer that the trust could be looking after any number of peoples assets…

today hodgson revealed that the only contents of this trust….are the assets formerly owned by key..

key wd not respond to this question/assertion from hodgson…

….and evaded it…

..today he dodged any questions with the rote-reply..

‘the prime minister has no ministerial responsibility for this trust’.

(nice and ‘open/transparent-government’ there..eh..?..)

this story is far from over..

..key just looks uncomfortable..under questioning…

..(and his second-row nodding-chorus dives for cover..)

..the ’serious-mask’ key was acting out for the cameras….slipped just once…

.. just after his first use of the ”no responsibility’ answer-evasion..

..when the camera caught an (unfortunate(?) shot of key smirking over at labor…

….’twas/is very revealing….

..and one thing that is guaranteed…

..is that this story has ‘legs’..

..there was also another interesting question in that conflict-of-interest-vein..from boscowan from act..

..he asked how many ministers owned forest-holdings…and would benefit from the big payouts tp forest-owners..from ets..

..key dodged the question..

..but that is also another road to be followed…

..just how much will each of them make..?

..key..and his see-thru-trust..included…

(in fact..watching key dodge and weave around the questions from hodgson..caused that old song from the dixie-cups to pop into my head..

..”..i’m gonna whitechapel..to-hoo .. check my money-maker..”

..going to the witechapel…i love..hah-ha-ha..love..

..every day..it just gets..bigger and bigger..

..soon it will stretch into the sky…

..but i know nothing about it…my oh my..

so..i’m gonna whitechapel ..to-hoo … check my money-maker..

…going to the chapel of loot…”

(ahem..!..apologies to the dixie-cups’..)

tolley was also given a serious working over..mallard pointing out she was telling the house she was unable to multiply $1-50 by 40..heh..!

tolley is drowning out there…

..and her eventual executioner..dr death/joyce..sat just behind her..

..watching/looming over her hapless performance…

..i’m sure she felt his eyes boring into her from behind..

go to source/story>>>New Zealand Parliament - Parliament TV

“…Rugby World Cup ambassador Andy Haden will stay on in his role after a ruling was made that he had made a mistake, apologised -

- and that that was the end of the matter.

Haden’s comments last week - that the Crusaders Super 14 franchise had a limit to the number of Polynesian players they had - sparked heated debate nationwide.

His use of a racial term many regard as offensive sparked even more controversy.

“Once they’ve recruited three, that’s it.

That’s their ceiling.

Three darkies - no more,” he said on the Deaker on Sport TV panel show…”

(i mean..!…y’know…!…w.t.f..!..eh..?…he should have been fired so fast..his feet didn’t touch the floor…

..end of story..

..and..um…!..d’yareckon national have shored up their maori-support..?..

..with this promotion of the return of a particularly distasteful (historical..think tom sawyer..!..) racial slur..

and um….?..aren’t ‘ambassadors’..as a basic requisite..meant to display some degree of ‘class’…?Haden to keep Cup role despite ‘darkie’ jibe - National - NZ Herald News

this morning i was musing on the similarities between now….and just before the last election….

how we were existing in this la-la land fantasy…totally divorced from the global realities that surrounded us…

(does anyone remember those pre-election treasury-forecasts..?..of happy days are here again..!..in a coupla months..?)

..while outside the 2008 meltdown was in full swing…

..but no politicians mentioned it…and of course..the media/chattering classes played along with/helped feed the group delusion..

and now we have the same thing happening..

outside we have the european union teetering on the point of (seemingly inevitable) meltdown/break-up…

and what nobody is mentioning there..is that most of that greek/spanish/portugese debt…is owed to the two supposed pillars of the eu…france and germany…

..and the american banks are also hideously involved..(globalisation…eh..?..)

and that is just part of the global shit coming down…

and here….we have a budget…that we are told..everyone is happy with..(except the poorest..and/but who gives a flying fuck about them..eh..?)

yet it is a budget that rewards the richest…in both individuals..and companies..and throws crumbs to the (seemingly) dumb rest of us…

..(and please..!..park that bullshit of ‘john key gives away his pm’s salary’ over there..!..eh..?

just consider for a moment..how much a multi-millionaire like him..and his cohorts..(hello lord ashcroft..!..pay day..eh..?..)..will make from his policy..”

it sets a new benchmark in political self-interest gratified/rewarded…

and of course..the budget addresses none of the major issues we face…

..(these were tidily summarised by russel norman from the greens..in his reply-to-budget-speech..)

and..also ignores those outside economic-meltdown reaities….

this of course amply illustrated by the farcical/deluded ‘forecasts’ from guess who..?

you got it..!..it’s those seers/sages at ‘treasury’….

and of course i find it somewhat disconcerting that so many new zealanders are so ignorant of the problems/realities we all face..

(..this of course due in no small part…to the failures of our media/chattering classes…)

and then i saw this quote from george orwell..and it sorta fitted..

“..They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality..

… because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them …

.. and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening..” : George Orwell

(this first part is from matt mccartens’ latest column..)

“…Friday’s Herald-Digipoll showed Manukau mayor Len Brown beating Auckland’s mayor John Banks 48 per cent to 37 per cent in a two-way race for the Supercity mayoralty.

That would have shocked the establishment - and a few of Brown’s supporters as well.

Until this week I worried about Brown’s mayoral campaign.

For weeks, Banks has been successfully hogging the media and framing the campaign on his own terms.

Whenever Brown got into the picture it was as an afterthought.

Banks’ campaign is well funded and has a formidable team with heavy hitters: …

… former National Party president Michelle Boag as his campaign chair; Bill Ralston as his media minder; and David Farrar as his pollster.

However letting chief head-kicker Aaron Bhatnagar off the leash as his campaign’s official attack dog is counterproductive, I would have thought …

… given that Banks is trying to convince us he’s morphed into good ol’ mainstream Banksie …

… the champion of ordinary folk.

Banks’ summary of his own polling earlier this week showing he was slightly ahead seemed a little suspicious since he didn’t release the details…”

(um..!..does anyone else remember when ralston used to pretend to be ‘the champion of ordinary folk’..?

banks..boag…ralston..farrar..

..kinda like the four horse-people of the (auckland) apocolypse..eh..?

..and with (wannabe)-’heavy’..(snigger..!) bhatnagar..lurking in the background…cracking his knuckles…(and then going..’ow..!..that hurt..!’)

it’s great to see that everything is gong so bad for them..eh..?

..and ralston doing ‘media’..?..(double-snigger..!..)

whoar..!..cutting-edge..!..eh..?

this is the ol’-fella who puts his slippers on..and shuffles up franklin rd to collect his (days-late) print version of the british sunday papers..

..(instead of just clicking-online..?..)

..yeah..he’ll do some ‘cutting-edge-media’ for ya..eh..?

..that’s if yr into paper-cuts…eh..?..)

which brings us to farrar…

and anyone looking for the reasons key did the dirty on tuhoe..

..need look no further that the ‘focus-groups’ run by farrar in that centre/ghetto of auckland white-flight…the north shore..

surprise..!..surprise..!….they all leant in with the panic/racist point of view..

..is that the result farrar ..and those who ‘advise’ him wanted/were angling for…?…

‘cos..y’know..!..i cd gather a bunch of racist north shoreites..(lots of sth africans in the mix there..?..farrar..?..)..and come up with the same result..

whereas anyone not from that demograph..looks at the historical-facts/that case for tuhoe..and goes..’fuck..!..they were ripped-off/screwed-over..eh..?..

..why not give them back the ureweraweras..?..at the very least..?..

(i mean..are white middle-class/rich-folks wanting to flock there to build ‘beach-houses..?

no..!..’cos the settlers/colonialists stole all the tuhoe ‘good-land/coastal-access..eh..?

..and pushed them back into the bush…)

(i mean..even chris finlayson ..keys’ attorney-general sees no problem with returning..in some form..’ownership’ for tuhoe.

..and as a stickler for procedure..i am picking he is spitting tacks over key pulling the rug from under him…

..in such a pre-emptory/sudden/direction-changing manner..)

of course..when considering farrar..(nationals’ chief-spinner’)..it pays to take into account that he runs the rightwing blog..kiwiblog..

..and if you go there..(i wd advise donning full-body protection before entry..i always do..)

..there you will find a forum for the most vile/racist attitudes towards maori..and any idea of any restitution for past wrongs..

..and farrar ..while censuring/banning those critical of the vile ideas peddled in that little sewer..

…never demurrs…and these racists..and their racist-poison..

..they are enabled/have free-rein to say whatever they like about maori..(or as they say..’maari’…)

..that could not be a clearer indication of where farrar is coming from…

..and i wonder if key realises he has likely been ‘played’..by darker/racist forces within the national party/this govt..)..

..he has been ‘played’ by the reactionaries…

..aided and abetted by the centre-of-white-flight-chosen ‘focus-groups’…

(could we call this collection of reactionary/rightwing ‘identitys’..clustered around banks…a ‘coven’..?

..is that going too far..?..)

(and finally..here is the ultimate reason you should not believe the lies/bullshit from this little ‘coven’.,)

“..In the past, Banks has made selective use of poll data to position himself as the front runner.

The Herald obviously got wise to that tactic and commissioned its own.

Banks’ strategists are going to have a hard time getting media to believe their political spin from now on…”

go to source/story>>>Matt McCarten : Brown’s hope as Hide bulldozes public opinion - Politics - NZ Herald News

“… A growing band of stay-at-home dads and working mums are changing the face of parenthood.

Ahead of Mother’s Day, Indulgence spoke to parents about the juggle of modern life …

… and found it is no longer safe to assume that dad is looking after the baby only because mum is sick.

The Dad

Paul Waechter has to stretch his mind back more than four years to the last time he wore a suit and tie.

His uniform the day he answers the door at his Churton Park home is a pair of jeans and a loosely fitting bright- yellow T-shirt.

Not far behind him bounds his four- year-old daughter, Aneke. She proudly shows off her room, which is draped in her favourite colours, pink and purple.

Paul, 33, runs a tidy house. On the kitchen wall is a blackboard scrawled with the ABCs and a list of meals for the week.

When Aneke was born, Paul’s fiancee, Tina Long, stayed at home for the first six months.

Paul then took the remaining parental leave and had six months learning the ropes of full-time daddy day care.

The couple both worked at the same bank as bank officers, but it was easy to decide who would take over at home.

“We always wanted one of us to be at home,” Paul says.

“It just worked out better for me. It was surprisingly easy to walk away from work really.”

In the last four years, Paul says he has noticed more men taking on what has traditionally been seen as a woman’s role.

However, they are still among the minority, and he still gets the same questioning glances and curious comments when he ventures out with Aneke.

“You always have to explain yourself, whereas a woman wouldn’t have to.

If you’re a dad, you have to explain, ‘I’m not filling in because mum’s sick.

It’s not my day off.

I’m here because this is what I do’.”

Archaeologist and part-time childbirth educator Mary O’Keeffe teaches expecting parents at antenatal classes for the Wellington South Parents Centre.

She says watching apprehensive male partners begin to see their part in the childbirth process is an absolute delight.

“Suddenly, they really engage. You see them quite literally sit up in their chairs, lean forward and start to ask questions.”

Society has changed to the point where fathers are expected, and permitted, to be both at the birth and heavily involved from the first minute of their children’s lives, she says.

“In a sense, there isn’t men’s work and women’s work any more.

There’s just parenting…”

(disclaimer:..i have been doing this for the last decade and a half…being the prime-caregiver…since my son was born…

..and i hafta say…it has been an enormous privilege to have been such a large part/role in my sons’ life…

..and ..if you are so inclined..and are able to…i can recommend this choice to other men…

..it is a long slog..and if you factor in things like walking to and from school..and soccer-dad…and..and..

..it is surprisingly time-consuming…

..but as always..the years fly by…

..and really…i wouldn’t have done it differently…

eh..?..)

go to source/story>>>Taking on the mother load - life-style | Stuff.co.nz

(what follows is the latest example of black propaganda/lies..about cannabis..

they start off with the current big lie..that the pot is so much stronger these days..(ooohh..!!..)

“..Cannabis now four times stronger..”

..which it is not…

the proof..?

two threads:..one personal/subjective..the other factual/objective..

first the personal/subjective:..

i have smoked pot since the late sixties…

..during the seventies etc…we had durban poison from sth africa..we had poisonously strong pot from indonesia..(sumatran..)..

..we had ‘buddah-sticks’ from thailand…we had hashish”.. and we had (high-quality) hash-oil…

..all of which were of very high quality…

..plus we had the beginnings of a healthy local-product..grown from the seeds of that imported pot..

..the pot now..is not stronger than those..some is equal..which is good..

..and hey..!..so what if cannabis is stronger..?..you need to smoke less..to get high..(what/where is the/any problem there..?..

or is it fear of overdoses..?..(snort..!..)

now..the objective/fact-based dismissal of this bullshit..

those facts come from the courts…in that over the years..as a component of court-cases..cannabis has been tested for thc-content/strength..

..these records..both here and in america….show that the thc-content of seized pot..has stayed roughly the same..

..facts that are hard to deny..eh..?

anyway..lets break down this piece of black-propaganda..eh..?

“..A secret police study involving scientists growing crops of cannabis has revealed New Zealand now has super-strength strains of the drug.

In May last year, Sunday News revealed police and Environmental Science and Research (ESR) used sophisticated hydroponic equipment to complete three cannabis growing cycles, nursing six plants at a time, 18 in total, to maturity.

The findings of the study, to be published in Forensic Science International, and released exclusively to Sunday News earlier this week, revealed the drug is now more than four times stronger than it was when ESR last tested it in 1996..”

so..what that tells us..is that scientists..able to work in optimum conditions..with none of the travails/dangers of blackmarket growers..

..were able to follow the textbook..and grow really good pot..eh..?

that’s all that tells us..

“..The THC level – the primary intoxicant – varied between 4.35% and 25.3% during the study completed under Ministry of Health licence between 2004 and 2006.

When ESR last tested the Class C drug, they found an average THC level of just 6%.

The THC levels varied considerably, as did yields, during the latest study – due to the growers lack of cannabis-cultivation knowledge, the ESR report read.

“The inexperience of the growers was evidenced by different problems encountered in each of the three cycles, each of which would be expected to negatively impact the yield and THC data obtained.”..”

so..what that tells us is that these scientists..should now be able to author/edit a killer ‘how-to’ book/pamphlet..eh..?

..(suggested title:..?..’know your cycles:..the definitive guide to growing cannabis’..)

..lets’ lift our national thc-rate..eh..?..”new zealand..we’re number one..!”..eh..?

“..Cannabis potency is believed to have remained stagnant from 1976 to 1996. But police believe it has increased significantly in recent years due to criminals using more sophisticated growing methods, helped by the availability of specialised equipment, like that sold at hydroponic specialist shops some of which police raided across the country this week. ..

..there you go..!..there is the reason for this latest bunch of lies/propaganda..

..two-years of police-time/resources..on a gardening-supplies chain..(!)

..while the streets are awash with ‘p’…?

and all of this at a time when california has had medical pot since 1994…and in november will vote in a binding referendum..to fully legalise/tax cannabis..

..here we just get anti-pot hysteria…up there with the best/worst of the ‘reefer-madness’ tales of yesteryear..

..eh..?

go to source/story>>Cannabis now four times stronger - national | Stuff.co.nz

and also..at the same time..the govt refuses to raise the excise tax on this addictive drug..

(so teenagers can still buy $2 booze-hits..and the booze-barons are kept ‘happy’..eh..?..)

..and we have california..which has had medical-pot since the early nineties..

..now having a binding referendum (in nov.) on full legalisation/taxation..etc..of cannabis..

as i said..how seriously out-of-whack is all that..eh..?..

go to source/story>>It’s Cannabis & Co - cops - National - NZ Herald News

those wondering if labour will ever start acting like an opposition party..

..should go to tvnz on-demand..and watch goff vs. henry on todays’ breakfast show..

..there you will see phil goff doing a worthy demolition of the ideologies/class-warfare behind the tax-’cut’ plans of national..

(plus he demolishes paul henrys’ spin/pleas/mewls for the long-suffering rich..

..(he even used the word ’screwed’..as in what national is doing to middle/low-income nz’ers..three times..(!)..)

but seriously..!..well done that phil goff…!

that combined with the lucid demolition of nationals’ lies about our ‘debt’..(as in …most of it is private-debt..not govt.-debt..by cunnliffe..

..gives one cheer..

(also of note recently..has been worthy performances in the house..from both the green party co-leaders..

and the new green..hughes..rattled mccully the other day..when he bored in on the whales-issue..heh..!)

..all in all..i am somewhat cheered by these developments..

national/key have been allowed to just get away with their lies/spin..for far too long..

..eh..?

(y’know..!..apart from anything else..can’t ‘damage’ the bar-take from the rugger-bugger fest..eh..?'’..and this isssue is a good political-’distraction’..eh..?..

..keeps the mug-punters/chattering-classes occupied/talking..while national/the govt can get on with their class-war-driven secret-agendas..eh..?..)

“..It is extremely unlikely that the Government will move to raise excise tax as part of its alcohol reform agenda,” Mr Power said this afternoon.

There would be a full outline of the Government’s position on the report within weeks, he said.

“The commission’s 153 recommendations require a considered response from the Government,” Mr Power said.

“I have previously made it clear that legislative changes to alcohol laws are likely, and my intention is to deal with this before the end of 2011..”

(gee..!..i wonder if the booze-barons have been ‘lobbying’ the gummint much on/over this one..eh..?..whaddayareckon..?..

..i wonder why power is so dismissive of one of the strongest recommendations..?..before even reading the bloody thing..eh..?

..has he/national already promised the booze-barons they ‘won’t raise the tax’ on alcohol..?..eh..?..whaddayareckon..?..

..sucessful lobbying by those booze-barons..?..or what..?

..and of course..those booze-barons ‘donate’ to both political parties..

..and have always had both ‘in their pocket’..

..some things don’t change..

go to source/story>>Government rejects liquor tax hike | Stuff.co.nz

my great-uncle died at monte cassino..

..my sons’ (german) great-grandfather died in a russian prisoner of war camp..in 1947..after the war..

(one would imagine it was not an ‘easy’ life/death..for either of them..)

..i/we would like to pay our respects to both of them..(both victims/sacrifices of their times..)

..and would like to note how little we appear to have learnt from these historical-horrors..

..(c.f..’afghanistan’..)

(he sheds a few crocodile tears…and then delivers his prescription ..

..of back to youth rates in wages…(sue bradford is apparantly responsible for the economic meltdown..who knew..?..eh..?)

..and that our wages in general are too high..(!)

..and our unions are too powerful..(!)..

..oh..!..and ‘welfare-reform’…’to remove the incentives of welfare’..

(no surprises there..eh..?..does any of that sound familiar..?..)

..and..as for kerr..and his outdated/disgraced ‘new-right’ politics of personal greed..?..(”..less tax for me..!..and screw the poor..!”..)

..god loves a trier..eh..?..

go to source/story>>Roger Kerr : Apathy towards jobless issue does us no credit - page 2 - Opinion - NZ Herald News

(now..now..!..c’mon..!..let him make his case..!..)

“.. Steve Anderson said Foodstuffs had a unique structure and while it respected its main rival, Woolworths, “we’re not having cups of coffee with them”.

“Our structures having independent operators running multiple retail brands means that I don’t see it as a duopoly ..

.. I see it as a large number of independent stores trying to protect ourselves against a large Australian multi-national..”

(so..did you get that..?

..it’s all about plucky little kiwis being forced to muscle-up against a big aussie monolith/behemoth…got that..?..

..that we have some of the highest costs for food..(especially emphasised as we are such a low-wage economy..eh..?)

..and that these high prices are set by two companies..who between them control the market..

..which..on the surface..looks/feels/smells/walks just like a duopoly..that is not the case..

..it’s more a wee echo of those darkest days of ww2 that the brits faced..eh..?

you go..!..you plucky kiwis..!..eh..?

(fuck..!..the new head of one half of the food-supply-duopoly we currently labour/sweat/are grossly-exploited under ..

..must just naturally assume that we are all as thick as pig-shit..eh..?)

a pox on both their duopolic-houses..eh..?

(new word alert..!..’duopolic’..i like it..!..)

go to source/story>>Keeping Foodstuffs in the black - business | Stuff.co.nz

“..U.N. highlights the struggles of developing countries in the fight against drug addiction

While celebrities earn notoriety from publicly going into rehab, millions of impoverished drug addicts are being ostracized, do not have access to doctors and are often imprisoned, a senior U.N. official said Monday.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, also said the developing world — already struggling to deal with health, education and unemployment problems — lacks the treatment facilities and law enforcement to control narcotics.

“Poor addicts — and there are millions of them — have been pushed to the margins of society, deprived of medical attention, often exposed to conditions, including imprisonment, that exacerbate their illness,” Costa said according to a copy of a speech he delivered at a Vienna meeting of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

“Strikingly, the addicted rich, singers, models and bankers alike, enter posh private clinics in a deluge of camera flashes — and amuse themselves in the role of trend setters,” he added.

Costa said his office is working with the World Health Organization to achieve universal access to drug treatment and urged governments around the world to protect and respect the human rights of imprisoned addicts and drug users in general..”

(gee..!..going on the criterea cited here..new zealand is most definitely in the ‘developing-country’ grouping..eh..?..

..wot with our barbaric attitudes towards/non-treatment of .. the health issue that is drug addiction ..eh..?..

..our ostracising/denial-of-treatment/imprisonment of our addicts..eh..?..

..all the cited-hallmarks of the ‘developing-country’..eh..?..)

go to source/story>>Plight of the impoverished drug addict - Drugs - Salon.com

i’d like to go out on a limb here…and present what i think is obamas’ plan to prevent what is looking like a trainwreck of a mid-term election..

one that threatens to derail his presidency..forever..

there is one certainty around any predictions about the ’secret-plans’ of the obama team..

..that is that they will have to be radical .. to stop the current slide..

just to back up for a minute..what got me thinking about all this was an item buried on the business page of the new york times earlier this year.

..(and not commented on/examined in the american media since then..)

..that item was that obama had issued a presidential order/decree of sorts to the management of the (govt-run/owned) fannie mae..and freddie mac..mortgage companies..

that decree was that the previously-mandated limits on the monies the mortgage-companies could call on the federal government for were to be removed..

..and not only that..but that in the future there would now be no ceiling/limits on the amount of monies the companies could ask for…

now..that got me scratching my head..

..why was this done..?..

..there is/was no obvious answer that explains such a radical move..(more on that later..)

..my wondering/pondering on this was in conjunction with another examination of what obama has/has not done…

what brought this on..was that having published/linked to the earliest critiques of obama..(during the messianic-stage)..

..i now found myself running with the pack..on obama..

..and running with the pack makes me very very nervous..

..as the pack is usually way way behind the/any actual game..

so..i started looking at what obama has done..from a different perspective..and that proved to be somewhat revelatory..

the perspective i took was based on some givens:..

the first was the (prevously-noted) trainwreck destination…(unless radical plans are enacted..)

the second was the political ’smarts’ of obama..(and how he can not fail to see this..)

..the third was that those political smarts were earned in one of the most brutal/cynical political machines in america..

..the chicago/illinois democrat party-machine..

i then moved to the history of democrat administrations…and what has traditionally knobbled/castrated them..

..and all of this led me to the conclusion that obama is one smart cookie..who is playing a ‘long game’…

..and that we are now (only) just past the end of year one of that eight-year game-time/plan…

and let’s look at what obama has done/achieved in that year..

two of the power-blocs in america that have traditionally opposed democrat presidents..are the military-hawks/industrial-complex…

..and wall st/’the banks’..

..and (however wrongly implemented)..obama has silenced both..for the seeming duration of his presidency..

..however you argue the rights and wrongs of the wars…

..their engagement there takes the military-industrial complex (sorta) out of any serious oppositional role against obama..

..(they are ‘too busy’..as it were..)

and as for wall st/the banks..?

once again..however arguably ineptly executed..obama inherited the world that bush jnr left him..and had to stop the collapse of the global financial system..

and in that execution..the banks/wall st have been given enough greed/corruption-rope..to hang themselves..

..and hang themselves they have..

..(is anyone else surprised at the rapid changes in reputational-fortunes of the (former) ‘masters of the universe’..?

..from hero to below zero..in the snap of a crash..)

the banks/wall st/financial establishment have..given the ‘bank’ of hatred they have built up..

..totally disempowered themselves for the duration of obamas’-game..

..and are now low hanging fruit..unable to mount a single moral argument against serious regulatory-reforms of their industries..

..so..at the end of year one..of eight..obama has emasculated/castrated two of the traditional anti-democrat power-blocs..

..no mean feats..!..eh..?

and feats..i would submit..that only strengthen my long-game thesis…

so..what will obama do..?..to ’save’ the midterm elections..?

one plan he has up his sleeve is a green-stimulus package..

(he still has most of his stimulus-money left..so i think it is a no-brainer that a ‘grand green stimulus plan’ will be announced pre-midterm..)

the other move he will make will not be less ‘grand’..but perhaps less obvious..

which brings us back to that fannie mae/freddie mac item/news from earlier in the year..

..now..we all know that nothing happens for no reason..esp in the world of politics..

..so..my conclusion/prediction is that obama will use those govt. agencies as the vehicles for a radical defacto nationalisation of the american mortgage industry..

..one of the main criticisms of obama to date has been that everything has been done for wall st..

..and nothing for the struggling american working/middle classses…

so..any move..to have any hope of success..must directly answer/deflect those valid criticisms..

..so what obama will do..

..is that he will tell all of those americans facing foreclosure/losing their homes..

..that they will be able to transfer their mortgages to fannie mae/freddie mac..

..and re-negotiate those mortgages to reflect their straightened economic circumstances..

..and i see this as being somewhat of a ‘brilliant stroke’ by obama..

..for two reasons…

..he ends those ‘nothing for main st’ criticisms ..in a spectacular manner…(back to hero..from zero..)

..and the cherry on this cake..is that he need not go near the (possible roadblocks/spoilers) senate/congress for any approval..

..he can just tell fannie mae/freddy mac to ‘just do it’…

..and the answer to ‘why that piece in the nyt?’..

..is that that is/was just the preparing of the ground…

(and those who would scoff at any ‘nationalisation-idea’..

..should maybe ponder the fact that due to the govt taking over the assets of banks as they crash..

.that the american govt is already the largest real landlord/’owner’ of private property in america..

..expanding the roles of fannie/freddy in a ’saviour-deal’ is not that much of a step further..)

..obama the man..wants to be bigger than fdr/’the new deal’..

he still has seven years to achieve that in..

..and if the ‘long-game-thesis’ holds true..

..is firmly on-track..

(sorry..!..having started with a train-pun/metaphor..(i couldn’t resist returning there for a full-stop..eh..?..)

(here is the evidence..)

“.. There are three things I acknowledge, and accept that they exist, but which I have never been able, for the life of me, to get my head around. They have always remained far beyond my understanding, no matter how much I ponder them or how old I get.

The first is child abuse, paedophilia and cruelty to domestic animals; the second is male homosexuality; and the third is vegetarianism.

I have written often about child abuse and paedophilia, have touched on male homosexuality ..”..(heh..!..’touched on’..)

“.. but find it expedient these days simply to ignore such an infinitesimal minority, and every time I encounter a vegan or vegetarian (I’m told there’s a difference) I simply shake my head in wonder..”

(wot..?..’in wonder’ at how fit/healthy they are..?

as opposed/compared to one who has spent a long life ‘knecking’ animal bits/fats..such as yrself..?

..and where has it got you..?

..ripped off yr gear and looked in a mirror lately..?

do that..then go look at some vegans/vegetarians of yr advanced age..then get back to me..eh..?

(now..we have homophobia to explain georges’ mental-condition around homosexuality..

..but we don’t have (yet) a word to explain such a ‘mental-condition’ as george also has..

..his irrational/phobic attitudes to vegans/vegetarians..

..perhaps it is his role to be the stimulus for the creation of the appropriate labelling of this display of blatant ignorance..

..i mean..vege-phobia comes to mind..?

..but perhaps ’silly old bastard’ will have to fit for now..?

..eh..?

..garth..?..)

go to source/story>>Garth George: Animal cruelty the realm of psychopaths - Opinion - NZ Herald News

(it’s in paratai drive..didn’tyaknow..?..and he knocked over three houses..so his one would be big enough..eh..?..)

“..Mr Hotchin applied to the council in 2006 for resource consent to build on the 4322sq m section made up of three previous properties at 56 and 58 Paritai Drive and 4 Huriaro Place.

Paritai Drive is one of Auckland’s most exclusive streets, prized for its views of the Waitemata Harbour and proximity to the city..”

(and the house hotchin is able to ‘afford’..?..here are some specs..)

“..The Hotchin mansion

* Seven bedrooms, including art room and study on second floor.

* Theatre, games room, study, gym, living room, family room, kitchen, children’s room, various dining areas on ground floor.

* Garaging for 12 vehicles.

* Swimming pool.

* Tennis court and pavilion area.

* Minor dwelling on southern side of site.

* Land area 4322sq m…”

(i wonder how all those mum ‘n dad investors who trusted their life-savings to hotchin..are feeling about his new ‘digs’..eh..?..

and how many millions was that in special/directors-fees hotchin and watson ‘pulled’ from hanover..?..not that long before it crashed..?

all totally ‘legal’ of course..eh..?)

go to source/story>>Hotchin clear to exceed council building limits - National - NZ Herald News

“..Staff at Remarkables Primary School are set to adopt some remarkable job titles when it opens next year.

Teachers will be known as “expedition leaders” ..

.. while the school receptionist will become the “director of first impressions”.

Principal Debbie Dickson said the staff had been given titles that reflected the school philosophy of teaching and learning.

“Through our curriculum the children are going through learning pathways … and as learners there are many pathways –

- the expedition leaders guide them through that learning.

“The director of first impressions is Angela (Murray) ..

.. in the sense that she will greet most of the visitors into the school and so we wanted to give her that title.”

Head teachers Melissa Mitchell-Bain and Grant Hammond are to be “learning community leaders”, and will each oversee a group of four classrooms ..

.. known as a “learning pod”.

Job titles for Ms Dickson and deputy principal Sarah Graham are still being worked on.

It had not been decided whether pupils would address their expedition leaders using traditional honorifics or their first names.

“We need to talk about that as a whole staff. At the present time it is conventional names but it’s something we will discuss further ..

.. as we journey forward.”

(i dunno about you..but that last ‘journey forward’ has me screaming..and running head first into a wall..

and the thing is..that people like this actually talk like this..and are deadly serious about it..

..this never ceases to amaze me..and usually just leaves me at first gape-mouthed..

wit the next instinct being ..’run..!..run for your life..!’..)

go to source/story>>Remarkables School, remarkable titles | Stuff.co.nz

(this is a comment/response i just posted at (rightwing) kiwiblog..where a john ansell is trying to argue the brash-formula/plan..

ansell is a former national-supporter/now is an act-ite..

he was also the author of the racist iwi-kiwi meme from the 2005 election..)

“..# philu (7059) 0 0 Says:
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 am

“..The only party that’s ever had a plan is ACT, who took the trouble to The only party that’s ever had a plan is ACT, who took the trouble to cherry-pick the best-working policies from all round the world. If Brash’s policies looks similar, that’s why.

Would we rather he drew inspiration from the basket-case countries?..”

and..heh..!..number three..

“..cherry-pick the best-working policies from all round the world..”

here’s a thought..!

why not cherry-pick the ‘best’ working policies from those countries which self-evaluate as the ‘happiest’ countries in the world..?

wouldn’t that make some sense..?

but whaddaya know..!

those countries just happen to be those higher-taxing/higher social support/higher govt. spending as % of gdp..scandanavian countries..

y’know..!..where there are no underclasses for scum to exploit/demean/persecute/scapegoat on..eh..?

oh..!..guess what..!..those countries also come with low levels of crime/social unrest/child poverty etc..

hey..ansell..!..didyahear how the decades of your ‘wrong’ policies..(more on that later)..

have taken us to the top of the child poverty rates..?

we’re number one..!..we’re number one..!..noo zeeland..!

there’s a lot there to be proud of..

now..back to the ‘wrong’ policies..eh..?

you ansell..have obviously not yet seen the recant/mea culpa from allan greenspan..?

where he admits to a congressional inquiry..

that his life-long-held ‘freemarket’-beliefs..are..in his words..’wrong’..

and that those ‘wrong’ policies.. are what caused the american/global economies to implode..

i really think you need to go and see that mea culpa ..eh..?

and why don’t you take brash with you..?

eh..?

phil(whoar.co.nz)..”

go to source/story>>The 2025 taskforce recommendations | Kiwiblog

“..It’s fast getting to the point of saying if New Zealand wants to catch up with Australia .. it should get rid of the political middlemen and just apply to join the federation..”

(hmm..!..i find that rightwinger fran o’sullivan has come to the same conclusion i argued on kiwiblog yesterday..)

namely..that we are poland to australias’ european union..(she didn’t say that..i said that..)

..and that full economic union with australia..

..is the only way we will close the wage-gulf/’catch-up’..

and what is so wrong with that idea..?

i’m not tallking about losing our ‘identity’ as a nation..

i mean..poland..tho’ it has joined the european union..

is most definitely still poland..

so those who oppose such an idea on ‘nationalism’-grounds…

can still their fevered brows..eh..?

and maybe give the idea some reasoned consideration…?

and of course the ultimate irony here..is that don brash..in his fierce ‘freemarket-advocacy/policies..

..has always been a mini-me to the american freemarket-guru..allan greenspan..

yet what brash does not appear to have caught up with yet..

is the recent grilling greenspan received from a congressional committee..

where he admitted that in his over-arching economic worldview/long-held-beliefs/policies….

that he had been ‘wrong’..(the crash of ‘08 having poured that realisation over his head..)

maybe brash should get a copy of that ‘grilling’/mea culpa from greenspan..

..off that inter-webby thingy..

and take it along to the next act caucus meeting..

for a group viewing/conciousness-raising/political ‘lesson’..

eh..?

it wouldn’t hurt..eh..?

go to source/story>>Fran O’Sullivan : Key’s faux pas looking like Freudian slip - Business - NZ Herald News