Written By: - Date published: 3:57 pm, November 16th, 2008 - 68 comments
Categories: act -
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No Right Turn blogs on the National/ACT coalition agreement. Of particular interest is the clause he’s pulled out that shows ACT will be funded by the taxpayer for consultants and research:
To enable ACT to make a substantive contribution to the government’s programme, it will have adequate access to funding, in a bulk form or for specific projects, to enable it to commission contract research or other consultancy assistance. The terms of such funding will be a matter for the Leadership Council to decide.
Nanny state anyone?
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Scoopit!
g – crush – is – a – machine
a nactional agreeing and explaining machine!
I think I preferred bad Rob – at least his love for JK was sincere if unrequited
Don’t give GC too much of a hard time. I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of what he says, but at least he contributes in a reasonably constructive, conversational manner rather than just throwing lines out.
hopefully Rodney Hide getting the redtape portfolio will shut him up a bit, thats one of the positive things to come out of labour losing the election..
I’m just amazed at the flow of interaction on this site – in particular the random pot-shots fired by the likes of John BT.
I expected some response to my post above – the reference to Pol Pot while demonstrably valid was intentionally provactive, but the overall comments I put some thought into constructing what I hoped was some well-articulated and challenging thoughts.
I thought some ACT supporters might engage in some response.
But… each time I post some analysis of this sort, it’s by-passed. Seems the John BT’s of the world just want to indulge in slanging matches, sloganeering and “we one, you lost, eat it” chest-beating.
[lprent: Yeah eventually they do it enough that I notice, classify as trolls, and moderate or ban. To me a troll doesn't participate, or they start doing something stupid like self-allocating points to themselves, or... Well they usually find out and have to get themselves another identity. So far this one is being less stupid that the normal run. But they do tend to avoid talking about anything of any significance. Sometimes they have even been known to drop out of the idiot KB mode and actually contribute.]
tw
they are c/t programmed machines
trained to ignore anything except theline that has been fed into them
they have very small algorithms
Timewarp – I disagree that Act are a highly principled party , their policies contradict themselves with a market will solve everything dribble 30 point plan sounding like a weight loss infomercial. Rodney after the 05 election went AWOL on an ego bender dancing with the stars jamboree, if any average Joe blogs working in mainstream NZ asked for a 3 month paid leave, the boss would say yeah and don’t come back. What still astounds me was that in a poll he came up as one of the most trustworthy politicians , no wonder most of the Bluechips, Equity corp cowboys of the world do so well here, taking hard earned money of Kiwi’s is like taking candy of a baby..
Randal
you still here? I thought you had been banned as a result of producing a sum total of nothing to any debate,.
[lprent: Ummm pot and kettle]
IrishBill if that’s hypocrisy then so is ACT standing for parliament. An MP’s salary is state funde, yet you still see even the Libertarianz standing for office.
ACT stands for less government. Like all political machines they have to be pragmatic, they have to engage in the system to change it. It doesn’t mean they like it, it doesn’t make them hypocrites.
A Big Game Hunting Council sounds a bit silly to me but I am sure that nice Mr Key Knows what he is doing.
One thing I do know a bit about is possums and 1080. The lefties on this site think I know diddly about politics so possums it is.
In the late 1970s that nasty Mr Muldoon increased the withholding tax rate for possum skins from 7.5% to 25%. The drop in the number of possum hunters was even more dramatic. It is possible, in my opinion, that some of these people could have been avoiding their tax obligations. Bastards.
At the same time the govt, lead by the afore mentioned nasty Mr Muldoon, started spending a lot of money on 1080.
However, the effectiveness of this left a lot to be desired. (Personal experience).
I doubt if things have changed.
I do know that 1080 kills a lot of animals and birds that are not part of the plan.
I also know that 1080 does not kill as many possums as claimed and we are the only country in the world still using it.
It would also be nice if we had more bambis to shoot, so maybe Mr Key does know what he is doing.
I think I’ll just wave the rellies good bye, pack up and head off to Aussie.
Bobo – I said they used to be principled. Parliament over the years has gone to their heads, and recently an opportunity in cabinet more so.
The thing that really surprises me is Roger – who it appeared had maintained his principles, and therefore distanced himself from dancing Rodney – selling out for a backbench position.
Timewarp, you are right (so to speak) about me indulging myself in chest beating. Sorry, but I just cant help myself. Even my wife says that if I must play on the computer I should do something more constructive. She suggested porn. God, I love that woman.
It is just that after so much of Aunty Helen we finally feel free. Or something.
Sorry, but I dont know what provactive means and ,no you are not well articulated but you might be challenged.
How do you do those little smiley faces?
[lprent: look in the FAQ for how to do smilies and all of those other blogging tricks]
[lprent: Also look at Policy. I just added you to moderation as a probably troll after looking at your comments today. Write a few comments that make you look as if you're not a troll and we'll let you out. Of course you can complain (see Ban in the policy)]
However, the effectiveness of this left a lot to be desired. (Personal experience).
I doubt if things have changed.
I do know that 1080 kills a lot of animals and birds that are not part of the plan.
I also know that 1080 does not kill as many possums as claimed and we are the only country in the world still using it.
Well yes we are the only country in the world cheap enough to be using it. (And we are the only country in the world with a pest possum problem.) There are alternatives, but they cost more and no-one has put their hand up to fund that. (Mainly because a portion of the funding comes from farmers to pay for TB eradication.)
As for the rest. Well a friend of mine who has 30 years of actual in the field experience is round for dinner as I write. He’s just looked at what your comments about 1080 and snorted with derision.
The general experience with 1080 is that it does have an unintended by-kill, (especially if the field operators are not competent), but that is now a well proven fact that these losses are more than made up for by reduced predation.
No-one really likes 1080, not even the guys who use it. But it is the only thing they are funded to use. The real question is this. It’s cheap and easy to rant on about how much you don’t like 1080; but what is your alternative?
Abandoning eradication altogether would be a huge and costly blunder.
Trapping is and only ever was part of the answer, even old trappers acknowledge that. (And not a lot of aspirational young folk really want to do it these days.)
Or spending more on the alternatives to 1080? And if the farmers won’t accept the higher cost, does the taxpayer get to foot the whole of the extra bill?
Sorry John BT, but it’s not a good look for you to mention porn and beating within the same comments.
Off Topic:
One sunny day in 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, ‘I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.’
The Marine looked at the man and said, ‘Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.’
The old man said, ‘Okay’ and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, ‘I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.’
The Marine again told the man, ‘Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.’
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U. S. Marine, saying ‘I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.’
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, ‘Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?’
The old man looked at the Marine and said,
‘Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.’
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, ‘Sir, See you tomorrow Sir.’
hahahaha @ timewarp nice one lol
great to have a bit of levity
JohnBT – You say it would be nice if there were more bambis to shoot while talking about the ineffectiveness of 1080 in erradicating possums. I see a contradiction.
I see a dick cheny style event in the making
Pascal” Bookie: funny!
“Nanny state is the term used to refer to paternalism, when the government makes decisions and interferes with the life and liberty of law abiding citizens on the grounds that such citizens cannot make the right choices for themselves.”
It’s been how many hundred years since Leviathan was published, and some people still don’t get it.
Groan…
John Key described Steven Joyce on Nat Radio as a ‘high quality individual’. So who would he consider a low quality individual – Rodney?
Janet,
The rest of his caucus?
In their rush to kiss the hem of Key’s robes the media are lauding how quickly he’s brought together these deals.
But as others have pointed out the deals are loud on sentiment and quiet on policy. Total recipie for disaster – clearly the devil is in the detail here and once the details start bubbling to the surface it will make for a rocky government. Instead of creating stability, Key is creating chaos. Thanks John, we SO need chaotic government at the moment… Key has rushed this through so he can go meet other leaders and giggle about how he is the Prime Minister – in doing so he’s created a series of problems that will see him out of the top job within two years.
The quote given doesn’t say where the funding comes from. You’ve all assumed state. You’re probably right, but it is an assumption.
It seems likely to me that it’s a slice of the share that would normally go to any “government” and the article makes it clear that ACT will be getting a share as it is a multi-party government.
Also, the quote clearly does not say that ACT is on any ‘Leadership Council”. It only says what it will do, not who is on it. Could be 100% National for all we know. More likely it is 1-2 leaders from each of the parties that National is cooperating with. The fact that it’s only mentioned in the Act agreement does not given any indication of its composition.
My bet is that John will go to Peru and realise what great mana Helen had in such international fora, and how disappointed they all are that she was replaced by such a lightweight. I hope he is quizzed on the ETS and he will squirm as he tries to justify NZ’s great leap backwards on climate policy.
And then having Murray McCully as foreign minister will be the final insult to our international reputation. (At least Winston knew how to charm Condolezza and others of importance, and Helen kept him in check).
As Linley Boniface describes Key in today’s Dominion – and she’s no leftie – is ‘all smile, no substance’.
Ianmac wrote:
“The fact that a Political Party can be provided with the tax-payers money to carry out a policy is plain wrong.”
Um, that’s what people elect them to do; to make their policy promises become reality via the taxpayers purse. I am a libertarian and I get that. What are you, an anarchist?
As Boniface worries in her column today, perhaps we really have elected Forrest Gump.
Thanks Iprent,
For fixing the bug and the updated smily page.
Shonkey: Thanks for the Boniface link. She says what I think.
The first part of the 21 Century will in due course be seen as the “Golden Years.”
“The quote given doesn’t say where the funding comes from. You’ve all assumed state.”
Where else is it from – Owen Glenn or the Vela brothers?
Shonkey – that is not really fair to Forrest Gump who was a well-meaning Asperger-like character with a kind heart and no malicious or devious intent at all.
Although he was often a victim of devious people.
Sjonkey,
I think that to call leaders who apparently do not have their voters interest at heart and seem to be doing every contrary to what would be thee right thing to do, incompetent is actually really unwise.
The Bush administration is extremely successful. It is just that to them success is not what most people would think of as successful. First of all they don’t give a toss about the average American. They don’t have the interest of the average American at heart.
They want to rule because they need the power to enrich themselves and to get what they want. Most senators and governing Senators are bought and paid for by the military industrial complex and they have made masses of money and wealth in the last eight years. They control everything and actually work towards the collapse of the US. By outsourcing all the US jobs to cheaper countries the earned more money than ever and the US is maxed out with an out of control debt and within months we will see blood on the streets.
In the last recession 7 million people died of starvation in the US alone.
John Key is a very smart man with an extremely smart team of PR and strategy advisors. If we get chaos in this country than that is because they want it to be so.
Chaos is a great tool for the Shock capitalist to get what they want. More state control, more fear in the streets and people looking for leaders to help them out.
It’s the classic formula for shutting down a free society.
Shonkey – We?