Archive for September, 2007

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  A rough beast slouching towards Wellington? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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
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  The dairy sector and emissions - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  September 30, 2007 10:51 am - 4 Comments
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  even Aznar tried to slow the gun-slinger down…. - by frog

  
  
  
  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
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  ANZ finances logging in Tasmania - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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 [...] read more
  September 28, 2007 11:50 am - No Comments
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  What does it say about John Key and National? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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
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  Nats do U turn on GP cap? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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
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  Cheat Neutral - by frog

  
  
  
  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, and [...] read more
  September 27, 2007 4:09 pm - 4 Comments
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  Nats want to make GP visits more expensive! - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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. [...] read more
  September 27, 2007 3:31 pm - 10 Comments
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  Nats, privatisation and electoral finance reform - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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
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  All things are connected - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  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. [...] read more
  September 26, 2007 5:14 pm - No Comments
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  A Green Mayor for Auckland City? - by frog

  
  
  
  Auckland City Mayoral candidates put their Green policies on display last night as part of an open public forum. Hosted by the Auckland Green Party, the Mayoral Forum provided 12 candidates, as pictured, the chance to express their policy positions during both prepared speeches and audience questions. Candidates addressed questions based around the Green Party’s [...] read more
  September 25, 2007 7:43 pm - 17 Comments
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  John Key supports restrictions on ‘third party’ spending - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  One of the often overlooked aspects of the debate about the Electoral Finance Bill is that John Key supports caps on spending for third parties, just as Labour, NZ First, United Future and the Greens do. This is what he said to the Press Club: Our view is that changes to the rules around electoral [...] read more
  September 25, 2007 2:58 pm - 54 Comments
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  New electorate boundaries announced - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The Representation Commission has announced new electorate boundaries. There will be 63 general seats and 7 Maori seats for the 2008 election. This also means that the cap on spending for political parties party vote campaigns goes to $2.4million if they stand in all seats. If the Nats don’t stand in the Maori seats, their [...] read more
  September 25, 2007 2:40 pm - 4 Comments
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  penguins are the new canaries down the coalmine - by frog

  
  
  
  according to this article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Some of climate’s best canaries are turning out to be penguins. Down the mine, an upturned songbird in a cage was the first warning of a deadly gas seep. Above ground, an age of fossil fuels later, there are different silences. In the sub-Antarctic, king penguins [...] read more
  September 25, 2007 12:58 pm - 2 Comments
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  The long march - by frog

  
  
  
  Keith Locke participated in the ‘Get Connected’ campaign launch in Otahuhu last Friday. Check out the video of the campaign launch here. “Auckland Green MP Keith Locke and Green members joined several local body candidates for an action to demonstrate the need for better connection between rail and bus services in Otahuhu. The candidates include [...] read more
  September 25, 2007 12:18 pm - 5 Comments
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  Where is National on climate change? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Are National climate change deniers or not? Not an easy question to answer. Bill English from Feb in Investigate (link from the Standard): [I’m] quite worried that policies are going to be driven by this Armageddon mentality that the world has… far too much carbon. Bill again from Agenda on the weekend: GUYON Although just 18 [...] read more
  September 24, 2007 4:12 pm - 9 Comments
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  One law for all dangerous drivers - by Metiria Turei

  
  
  
  Todays article in the Dom Post about a bill to set up a ‘drugged driving’ regime had an interesting fact in it. “One police study of 245 dead drivers found that 129 had drugs in their system. Of those, 80 had drugs and alcohol in their systems, 29 had cannabis only and 20 had prescription [...] read more
  September 24, 2007 4:03 pm - 18 Comments
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  Trotter on EFB - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Chris Trotter used his column in Friday’s DomPost to argue for improvements to be made to the Electoral Finance Bill, rather than throwing it out altogether as the Nats have been calling for. Trotter argued that the EFB needs to be seen in the context of a society where different people have access to different [...] read more
  September 24, 2007 3:53 pm - 13 Comments
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  Is the main course coming back to life? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The fact that NZ contributes just 0.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions is often used as an argument for us to do nothing about reducing our emissions. For example, today in the SST Raybon Kan, tongue-in-cheek, sums it up: Let’s get some perspective. If global warming is a crime, our prints are nowhere near the [...] read more
  September 23, 2007 4:59 pm - 30 Comments
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  Urban sprawl and climate change - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  A new report from the Urban Land Institute in the US points to the role of urban sprawl in adding to greenhouse emissions by increasing the distance travelled by car. They point out that reducing greenhouse emissions from transport is a three legged stool consisting of: fuel efficiency of the cars; the carbon content of [...] read more
  September 23, 2007 3:09 pm - 15 Comments