Fossil watch

25 comments on “Fossil watch ”

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1. the bean 1

   12 February 2009 at 1:31 pm

   Wow! That is hilarious. What other history has the Herald re-written?

   This is getting somewhat Matrix like…perhaps National never actually won the election but the Herald got a press release saying it did….?

   Arrrrgggg what is reality, must go away and ponder the meaning of life and whether a chair is really a chair
2. Mike 2

   12 February 2009 at 1:51 pm

   And to add to the hilarity, a blogger at the US neocon National Review cited the ‘new’ Roger Douglas plan and NZ as a great place to restart the free market revolution. Obviously unaware of Roger’s time in the revolution of the 80s.

   Communism, as Boris Yeltsin famously declared, should have been tried in a small country first. Now a trial run in a small country has started to look like the best hope for capitalism.

   Enter New Zealand.

   Sir Roger Douglas, a prominent figure in the ACT Party, the party of traditional liberalism, has just proposed a sublimely simple new plan. Any New Zealander who agreed to provide for his own health insurance and retirement would receive his first $30,000 in income tax-free. And every dollar after that would be taxed at the flat rate of just 15 percent.

   Michael Steele, book a flight to Wellington.
3. sweeetdisorder 3

   12 February 2009 at 1:55 pm

   For a speech that you don’t care much for, why is this the 4th thread on it? Protest too much perhaps?
   • lprent 3.1

     12 February 2009 at 1:57 pm

     sd: Because it is funny?

     We do a certain type of satirical humor here as well. Of course the right tends to not like it all that much – but who cares.
4. outofbed 4

   12 February 2009 at 2:01 pm

   Bean
   A chair is only a chair if you address it

   thought that might help
5. Brett Dale 5

   12 February 2009 at 2:06 pm

   Its a common practice for this to happen, the media may get a advance and then will just write up a report about it, no big news.
6. lprent 6

   12 February 2009 at 2:07 pm

   oob: I dress chairs a lot. Usually while sorting the washing. I can feel a existential singularity forming around me. Because of the clean shirts I’m creating a gap for old demons to arise once more… It’s name is Dou… (urrhh!!!)

   Ooops – kiddies – that is what happens when you read Stross late at night. Just read the sequel novel for The Atrocity Archives.
7. Quoth the Raven 7

   12 February 2009 at 2:45 pm

   Brett – It maybe common practise, but it just seems like incompetence to me. I guess you can’t expect anything more than incompetence from conservatives.
8. vto 8

   12 February 2009 at 3:09 pm

   ha ha funny funny… my own funny bones have deserted right now, so …

   Let’s say technical aspects of the fund-your-own healthcare etc were sorted so that nobody was left worse off than they are now. Then, why on earth would people be unhappy with the first $30,000 and $50,000 tax-free? Sounds pretty dam good to me.

   Or is it just too much to get the head around…
9. Rex Widerstrom 9

   12 February 2009 at 3:17 pm

   Pffft… I’ve seen speeches handed to reporters who were at an event, then the speaker deviated substantially from the text. But not only were the additional ad hoc bits not mentioned, the bits that were dropped were reported as though they’d been said.

   You quickly learn not to give the bastards anything to eat till after the event, no matter what the time, or they have a little siesta 😀

   “A lean journo is an attentive journo” 😈
10. Steve Pierson 10

    12 February 2009 at 3:23 pm

    you’re never going to get around the problems with the idea – do those too poor to buy insurance get health care, do children, the elderly, those too shortsighted to buy insurance? Or do we let them die in the street? do we let a large population without healthcare rot and be a breeding ground for disease? let alone the economic cost – effectively the wealthy help subsidise the health of the poor, yes, but they need a healthy lowincome workforce to work in their factories, staff the shops etc etc
11. vto 11

    12 February 2009 at 3:34 pm

    No no no Mr Pierson. First, what I said was, subject to those problems you mention being able to be overcome, then why would people object to the first 30 or 50,000 tax free?

    Second, I always vehemently object to society’s rules being based on its extremeties. Don’t make the rules on the basis of the 5%, base them on the bulk 95%. And put safety nets in place for the 5% (who struggle to look after themselves no matter what rules are in place anyway). Lordy, its like being back at school and having the teacher keep the whole class behind because of a lone coozer who threw a dart.

    Third, of course there will be a way around those problems. Be positive man. You live in that absolutely positive place don’t you?
12. IrishBill 12

    12 February 2009 at 3:37 pm

    vto, laws are written for the margins. Or do you think laws against rape, murder and fraud shouldn’t exist as only a tiny fraction of the population indulge in them? Now sit still and pay more attention.
13. Felix 13

    12 February 2009 at 3:45 pm

    It was vto who threw the dart anyway, miss.
14. vto 14

    12 February 2009 at 4:09 pm

    Was not felix. You just wait till after school.

    And Mr Bill sir, I meant rules around society, not criminal laws. The rules around how healthcare is paid for and provided for example. It makes sense to base such rules around how the bulk of the population require various aspects of their life to operate, not the bulk to adjust around the dart-thrower. Criminal activity is quite different sir.
15. deemac 15

    12 February 2009 at 4:18 pm

    of course Sir Dudley Useless didn’t even need to turn up, let alone give the speech (or variant thereof)…
    hilarious
16. BLiP 16

    12 February 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Sweetie said:

    ” . . . For a speech that you don’t care much for, why is this the 4th thread on it? Protest too much perhaps? . . . ”

    Any ooportunity to highlight the idiocy of Roger Douglas is a good opportunity. Any opportunity to highlight the idiocy of Roger Douoglas AND the indolence of the New Zealand Fox New Herald is a GREAT opportunity.

    We only do this for the benefit of those, such as yourself, who still deny reality or, more likely, simply don’t understand. Consider it our voluntary contribution to the community.

    Where you get the idea that we don’t care about Douglas spouting disproved and dangerous economic theory to the masses?
17. BLiP 17

    12 February 2009 at 5:00 pm

    vto said:

    ” . . . You just wait till after school . . .”

    Your bully boy bullshit won’t work here, mate.
18. Paul 18

    12 February 2009 at 5:07 pm

    oh wow – that has to be the funniest think I’ve heard in a while – so they actually reported the words of the sock puppet huh?
19. vto 19

    12 February 2009 at 7:15 pm

    blip i sincerely hope you too are apt named …
20. rainman 20

    12 February 2009 at 8:44 pm

    LOL!

    That brought a smile to the end of a shitty day…
21. Ag 21

    12 February 2009 at 9:38 pm

    The rules around how healthcare is paid for and provided for example. It makes sense to base such rules around how the bulk of the population require various aspects of their life to operate, not the bulk to adjust around the dart-thrower.

    You do realize that public health care is a form of insurance, right?
22. Steve Pierson 22

    12 February 2009 at 10:44 pm

    vto. saying ‘sbuject to the practical problems being fixed, who wouldn’t want the first $30K tax-free?’ is like saying ‘subject to it being free, who wouldn’t want to go to Paris?’ – sure, who wouldn’t, but it’s a pointless question.
23. vto 23

    13 February 2009 at 8:12 am

    It is far from pointless Mr Pierson. The fact you think so says more about you and any ability to consider anything outside the square. By your own statement further above it is only those who are unable to look after themselves that prevent this from being genuinely considered. That is a small problem. (but it exemplifies the flaw in expecting politicians to solve anything, when they are so lost in their ideologicality)

    Wake up you old conservative.
24. the sprout 24

    13 February 2009 at 9:27 am

    that is disgraceful, the Herald should be taken to the Press Council for its ficticious reportage.

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