Archive for December, 2007

  • Russel Norman

    Stiglitz on Bush’s economic legacy - by Russel Norman



    Good article by Stiglitz about the economic legacy of Bush. Stiglitz was Chief Economist at the World Bank and chaired Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. Stiglitz went on to be highly critical of the World Bank and especially the IMF for destroying the economies of developing countries. He infuriates the neoclassical economists with his theory of [...] read more
    December 28, 2007 6:07 pm - 47 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Wind assisted shipping - by Russel Norman



    On a more positive note, the Beluga Shipping co. will use a Skysail kite to assist a 132m container ship across the Atlantic in January, according to an article over at Worldchanging. The kite is supposed to reduce fuel consumption by 50% at maximum pull and up to 35% on average. If the trial is successful [...] read more
    December 27, 2007 11:41 pm - 67 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Want toilet paper with your towel? - by Russel Norman



    It’s christmas. Time to go for a quick dip in the local lagoon. Or maybe not… because it’s full of shit. A despatch from the Hawke’s Bay: A warning has also been issued for Waipatiki Lagoon, also north of Napier, which has raised levels of E.coli after heavy rains upstream washed effluent from farmland and [...] read more
    December 27, 2007 11:30 pm - 2 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Cycle tracks - by Russel Norman



    Went for a bike ride out to Petone day before yesterday. It could be a great ride, next to the Harbour from Wellington CBD out to the beach at Petone. But the bike track is really bad – it’s rough as guts, has lots of glass on it, is covered in loose gravel in various places. [...] read more
    December 27, 2007 2:40 pm - 26 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    The Swarm - by Russel Norman



    The holiday season is pleasantly underway. Over the last two days I read a work of fiction for the first time in, well, quite a while. I read The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. It’s pretty good. It’s long at 881 pages but pretty easy to read, in between bottles of red as befits the season. [...] read more
    December 26, 2007 9:37 pm - 44 Comments
  • frog

    Bob Clarkson 2 - by frog



    Is it unfair to keep picking on him?  Maybe he is shy.  Maybe he’s a man of actions rather than words.  According to the TheyWorkForYou website here are Bob Clarkson’s verbal contributions to Parliament in all the furore before the house rose for the year.  (12 Dec 2007) Interjection: “You’d better hurry; this is under [...] read more
    December 22, 2007 10:58 am - 20 Comments
  • frog

    Test. Cricket. - by frog



    I have only ever thought of cricket in culinary terms, being a frog and all. However, last night a perfectly good political thread was interrupted by an outbreak of cricket. So this is a test. Not test cricket, but a test of having a cricket conversation on a political blog. Toad has shared his/her preferred [...] read more
    December 21, 2007 11:04 am - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Super cheap solar - by frog



    Nanosolar, a new solar energy company started with money from Google’s founders, has finally delivered on its promise to produce solar energy for less than $1 per watt. Technology announced several years ago, that avoids using expensive silicon and instead prints a semiconductor ink onto a thin film, has just started rolling off the production [...] read more
    December 21, 2007 10:18 am - 74 Comments
  • frog

    The price of food - by frog



    I’ve talked a couple of times in the recent weeks about the global price of food, and its links to peak oil. At the moment the world is experiencing dramatically increasing food prices after decades of falling prices. Interestingly in New Zealand the Department of Statistics latest figures confirm that peak food may be an [...] read more
    December 20, 2007 9:12 am - 22 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Jeanette is Colin James’ politician of the year - by Russel Norman



    Jeanette has been named as Colin James’ politician of the year. But best have been the Greens: almost always positive and principled, patiently scoring points and this year getting some significant bills passed (Sue Bradford, Sue Kedgley) and getting (at long last) action on energy efficiency. I single out their very long-serving co-leader, gracious, generous, [...] read more
    December 19, 2007 11:16 pm - 33 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    The electoral finance rules - by Russel Norman



    At yesterday’s get together for parties, the Electoral Commission and the office of the Chief Electoral Officer I had a chat with various electoral staff about the third party regime.  Of those I spoke to, they were of one mind that the ads that Tim Shadbolt had published, expressing his opposition to the govt policy that would he [...] read more
    December 19, 2007 11:05 pm - 5 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    New species discovered in Papua - by Russel Norman



    The debate around the Bali climate change conference focussed on deforestation to the extent that it results in greenhouse emissions. However, there is more to forests than a bunch of stored carbon, there is also an amazing diversity of animals and plants. Underlining this is a June expedition to the Foja mountains in West Papua by [...] read more
    December 19, 2007 10:28 pm - 2 Comments
  • frog

    Pay rises are easy if you use monopoly money - by frog



    Bunnings workers trying to negotiate a new collective agreement with their Australian employer were apparently offered petrol vouchers and a Monopoly board game to go with their 0% pay offer. The workers have been protesting the pay offer since last week, with workers at the company’s Newtown store becoming the eleventh store to take action [...] read more
    December 19, 2007 3:08 pm - 1 Comment
  • frog

    Citizens’ Jury to examine electoral laws - by frog



    Metiria and Russel have just announced that they have secured an agreement with the government to have campaign funding and finance examined by a Citizens’ Jury. The jury will include representatives from every electorate in the country and will be resourced so as to provide a considered opinion about the future of political party and [...] read more
    December 19, 2007 11:58 am - 51 Comments
  • frog

    World’s poorest hit by food shortages - by frog



    The United Nations is warning that food supply around the world is rapidly and unexpectedly dwindling and that those who go hungry as a result are most likely to live in poor underdeveloped countries. Food costs have risen dramatically, as I noted last week, while supply and reserves are down all around the world. Diouf [...] read more
    December 19, 2007 11:33 am - 13 Comments
  • frog

    Electoral Finance Bill, 3rd reading - by frog



    The third reading has begun, after many passionate speeches in the house. I have a particular liking for this one: Phew! read more
    December 18, 2007 5:25 pm - 48 Comments
  • frog

    Government commits to ride in BMWs to save climate - by frog



    To prove its commitment to saving the climate government MP’s aren’t just changing light bulbs, they’re replacing their carbon emitting $70,000 Ford Fairlane and Holden Statesman fleet with $120,000 BMW 730Lds.  Apparently BMWs have better ‘whole of life’ cost efficiencies. Well, I guess while we’re waiting for strong action on deforestation, coal mining, public transport and [...] read more
    December 18, 2007 4:30 pm - 24 Comments
  • frog

    Politicians of the Year - by frog



    There is an interesting theme coming through in many of the newspapers and magazines’ annual Politician of the Year awards. North and South’s Guyon Espiner gives Sue Bradford, ‘who achieved more from the backbenches than most ministers do from the front’, Backbencher of the Year. He then gave Russel Norman, ‘who couples and easy and [...] read more
    December 18, 2007 3:13 pm - 21 Comments
  • frog

    Exxon may have mistakenly paid for denier to go to Bali - by frog



    According to Greenpeace ExxonMobil funded a New Zealand-based climate change denier, Bryan Leyland, to the Bali climate change talks. Leyland was in Bali last week heading the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow delegation. Leyland says on the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition website: “We should probably ask why we have 10,000 people here [in Bali] [...] read more
    December 18, 2007 1:52 pm - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Big money buys delay at Bali - by frog



    Guardian commenter, George Monbiot, is in a grumpy mood in the aftermath of the Bali talks on climate change.  To his way of seeing things the US has sabotaged the potential of both the Kyoto talks ten years ago and now the Bali talks by demanding terms that were unacceptable to developing nations, threatening to [...] read more
    December 18, 2007 12:24 pm - 9 Comments
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