Archive for December, 2005

  • frog

    Hopping off… - by frog



    I’m hopping off this lily pad now and will be away for Parliament’s two-week break. I will hop on to another and do posts if anything really significant comes up, but otherwise, the frog says Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and see you all back here on 9 January. read more
    December 23, 2005 12:24 pm - 4 Comments
  • frog

    Whale spin - by frog



    Three cheers for Greenpeace! Their campaign to save the whales from Japanese harpoons is to be applauded. The Greenpeace website contains some fantastic footage of Greenpeace bods taking on the Japanese whalers. One can only admire the courage and tenacity of those activists clinging to their rubber inflatables in the face of water cannons, trying [...] read more
    December 23, 2005 9:51 am - 8 Comments
  • frog

    LA tribute to Rod - by frog



    Check this out: It arrived at the Greens’ national office in the last couple of days. A recurring theme in discussions about Rod around here has been the realisation that he touched so many more lives than we ever knew; this is just the latest example. Seems that Rod visited California Green and former Santa [...] read more
    December 22, 2005 12:41 pm - 3 Comments
  • frog

    Harvard is taking it seriously - by frog



    Someone should tell The Dominion Post that climate change denial is SO last century. Their editorial on the demise of the carbon tax today shows a stunning level of ostrich syndrome. They write: The whole affair is yet another example of the muddle-headed hysteria surrounding the discovery that the Earth appears to be going through [...] read more
    December 22, 2005 11:53 am - 11 Comments
  • frog

    Fiddling while the planet burns - by frog



    The Government’s decision today to scrap the Carbon Tax is unfortunate in itself, but the really worrying thing is the change of thinking that it points to. What is clear from the policy review (offline) that prompted the decision is that the Government views the rise in New Zealand’s carbon emissions as inevitable and that [...] read more
    December 21, 2005 4:55 pm - 36 Comments
  • frog

    Wrapping up Christmas - by frog



    Today is December 20 and unless you’re all masochists and love being crushed by sweaty, bag-laden shoppers in the last minute Christmas shopping frenzy, all your present purchases are tucked away in the wardrobe – right? But now comes the hard part – the wrapping! This year, instead of adding to the mountains of colourful [...] read more
    December 20, 2005 3:57 pm - 10 Comments
  • frog

    The insurers are taking it seriously - by frog



    Next time you hear someone telling you that we don’t need to do anything about climate change you may want to refer them to the insurance industry. IAG is the parent company for NZI and State. It’s 2005 sustainability report ‘see’ has an excellent graphic showing the cost of recent weather events in New Zealand. [...] read more
    December 20, 2005 2:23 pm - 9 Comments
  • frog

    Carbon emissions, consumption omission - by frog



    It struck me that the two high profile international summits of the last few weeks ended in much the same way. Both the climate change talks in Montreal and the trade talks in Hong Kong ended with committments to keep talking and not a lot else. Not surprisingly, whether you thought this was a good [...] read more
    December 20, 2005 11:51 am - 6 Comments
  • frog

    Festive fare pay - by frog



    The hospitality and tourism industries have today come out with ‘dire’ predictions that as many as 50 percent of restaurants and cafes will probably not open over on public holidays over Christmas and New Year. The reason? Well it seems that the price of paying workers time and a half and having to give them [...] read more
    December 19, 2005 11:57 am - 21 Comments
  • frog

    “Good losers” - by frog



    Bouquet and brickbats for the Greens from the Sunday Star-Times’ Helen Bain today. In Class of 2005 – the winners, the losers we feature in both columns: WINNERS 10 THE GREENS. They got cheated out of government again, so could technically be categorised as losers. But by being such good losers, they are winners (some [...] read more
    December 18, 2005 12:51 pm - 2 Comments
  • frog

    Albatrosses in the soup - by frog



    The Conservation Department has sadly reported today (offline) that there has been a significant drop in the number of nesting pairs of Northern Royal Albatrosses at the Taiaroa Head colony near Dunedin. The birds breed every two years and Department of Conservation rangers had expected 25 pairs during this year’s breeding season, but five pairs [...] read more
    December 16, 2005 12:15 pm - 12 Comments
  • frog

    Tim on Rod - by frog



    A reader alerted me to a nice tribute to Rod that Tim Barnett ran this week in his local electorate newsletter Tim Talks. Tim’s office here tells me it was the speech that he wrote but never got to deliver in Parliament. Happily, it turns out to be posted on the Labour website here. Have [...] read more
    December 15, 2005 4:27 pm - No Comments
  • frog

    Is Cronulla Australia’s Orewa? - by frog



    Don Brash has this morning condemned a white supremacist group circulating posters around Wellington’s more upmarket suburbs that call for race riots, a la Australia. The good doctor calls the campaign by The White Crusaders of the Racial Holy War “anti-Kiwi”. What to think about such a move? Pleased that a major political figure is [...] read more
    December 15, 2005 11:30 am - 41 Comments
  • frog

    The monster outside the Greens’ office - by frog



    In response to my earlier post on the Kong event, stuey asked for a better view of the tripod. Here it is as seen from the window of the Greens’ national office on another, not so busy, day. read more
    December 14, 2005 11:05 pm - 6 Comments
  • frog

    Green gorilla - by frog



    The Green Party’s national office is on the corner of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace, so when Monsieur Jackson has his film premieres we get ringside seats. Your friendly frog is therefore blogging with the King Kong red carpet business unfolding beneath. Not so much a corridor of power as an avenue of enthusiasm. While [...] read more
    December 14, 2005 7:14 pm - 4 Comments
  • frog

    Aussie Green on NZ Greens - by frog



    The Aussie Greens’ site has a report on the NZ Greens’ recent election campaign. Elena Jeffreys visited Auckland and spoke to Jeanette, Rod, Sue B and key Auckland Greens. It is a reasonable snapshot, although it overall portrays a more conspiratorial take on media coverage of the Greens campaign than I think any of the [...] read more
    December 14, 2005 10:33 am - 2 Comments
  • frog

    To Wiki or not to Wiki - by frog



    As does DPF, I like the Wikipedia, in my case because it provides a ready reference for linking to complex concepts. In recent weeks I’ve been able to refer to it for things like the Precautionary Principle and moral panic. However the Seigenthaler story has given me pause. The BBC reports: The man behind a [...] read more
    December 13, 2005 4:39 pm - 24 Comments
  • frog

    A new blog on track - by frog



    The new Future Auckland describes itself as “A blog which discusses how Auckland could re-invent itself as a truly INTERNATIONAL city.” It gets a bouquet from me for lots of pics in its first few weeks, particularly the 1950′s view of future Auckland . read more
    December 13, 2005 3:32 pm - 44 Comments
  • frog

    A real alternative on the remote - by frog



    Sue K this morning released a leaked copy of a memo from outgoing CEO Ian Fraser to the TVNZ Board back in October. In it, he argues that TVNZ, as a commercial broadcaster, simply can’t meet the public service goals set by its Charter. To realise the need for true public service television Fraser suggests [...] read more
    December 13, 2005 1:40 pm - 15 Comments
  • frog

    Dextro-generosity - by frog



    The Right continue to generously help advertise the vacancies here at the Green Parliamentary Office. Following Gerry Brownlee‘s and DPF‘s free plugs a couple of weeks ago, ACT’s The Letter today has a crack at helping us find some staff. Admittedly they describe our ten vacancies as a “bloodbath” and “nearly a complete clean out [...] read more
    December 12, 2005 5:53 pm - 14 Comments
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