Archive for September, 2007

  • Russel Norman

    A rough beast slouching towards Wellington?



    Chris Trotter has used his column in the Sunday Star Times to argue that National’s slipup over caps on GPs’ fees and the sale of SOEs revealed the true National Party. He finishes with the line: “But, now we’ve seen these masters of deception vexed to nightmare by a colleague’s indiscretion, we know, for certain, [...] read more
    September 30, 2007 2:24 pm - 56 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    The dairy sector and emissions



    Rod Oram has another good article on climate change in today’s Sunday Star Times,  this time engaging in the argument over whether dairy can reduce its emissions and whether it will make money or cost money. The basic argument is around the role of nitrification inhibitors. Nitrous oxide from fertilisier and urine is about a third [...] read more
    September 30, 2007 10:51 am - 4 Comments
  • frog

    even Aznar tried to slow the gun-slinger down….



    The transcript(and in English) of a meeting between Dubya and Spain’s former PM Jose Maria Aznar has been published and reveals some interesting stuff about the myriad of ways this bloody mess could have been avoided. The White House has not denied the authenticity of the material, and Bush has skipped town. read more
    September 28, 2007 4:58 pm - 1 Comment
  • Russel Norman

    ANZ finances logging in Tasmania



    The bank workers’ union, Finsec, have a story about ANZ financing logging of old growth forests in Tasmania. We have criticized ANZ for providing financial services to Rimbunan Hijau, the Malaysian logging company that is clearing rainforests in PNG. ANZ Group is again under pressure from environmental groups for its support of unsustainable logging. Last week BankTrack, [...] read more
    September 28, 2007 11:50 am - No Comments
  • Russel Norman

    What does it say about John Key and National?



    The really interesting aspect of the  GP cap episode was John Key’s instinctive response at the press conference announcing the health proposals – the Standard has the tv3 video footage.  He immediately jumped to an abstract theory of how markets work – people could just go to another doctor if they didn’t like the price – without understanding how [...] read more
    September 28, 2007 9:32 am - 8 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Nats do U turn on GP cap?



    In spite of all the spin coming from the National Party, and its blog supporters over at KiwiBlog  justifying the position of removing the cap on the cost of GP visits, National are now backing away from the position. This is good. We need to keep an eye on them to make sure they actually do change their position, rather [...] read more
    September 28, 2007 9:10 am - 7 Comments
  • frog

    Cheat Neutral



    This is not new, but is pretty clever. In the great tradition of the Yes Men, these guys perpetuated a fairly clever launch of their new business, Cheat Neutral. They, and the issues around carbon offsetting, got a huge amount of publicity. The vid has been viewed on YouTube around 16,000 times since July, [...] read more
    September 27, 2007 4:09 pm - 4 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Nats want to make GP visits more expensive!



    First it was selling off public assets and now it’s removing the pseudo-cap on the cost of GP visits. National is proposing some very stupid things. Making primary healthcare more accessible to everyone by reducing fees improves people’s health. It’s a genuinely good thing. My GP now charges $29 per visit, whereas previously it had been $60. It’s true [...] read more
    September 27, 2007 3:31 pm - 10 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Nats, privatisation and electoral finance reform



    So if National gets control of the treasury benches after the next election, and they move to flog off state assets to their mates for a song (like Labour and National did last time), how will we be able to scrutinise them to determine whether they are giving our public assets to their mates in who funded National’s [...] read more
    September 26, 2007 5:38 pm - 21 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    All things are connected



    Frogs are getting terrible deformities in the US because of phosphorous and nitrogen run-off from farms, according to this report. The interesting aspect is the way that the connectedness of ecological systems results in cascading events. The runoff sets in motion a series of events in lakes and ponds where frogs live, the researchers said. The [...] read more
    September 26, 2007 5:14 pm - No Comments
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