by frog
Published in THE ISSUES by frog on Tue, September 28th, 2010
Tags: general debate
General debate, September 28, 2010
Published: September 28, 2010
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Please use 
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Please – lets not sell off New Zealand, even the crappy bits – once sold it is gone forever, so there is no permanent benefit to the country.
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That’ll teach them to mess with us
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problem is that not only will no-one invest in New Zealand, no-one will trade either.
Look at Venezueala. Huge oil exports but no investments means that Chaves hold on dictatorial power is weakening.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100927/wl_nm/us_venezuela_election_18
The term “Banana Republic” comes to mind.
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at the risk of getting onto the CERRA topic again:
http://pundit.co.nz/content/an-open-letter-to-new-zealands-people-and-their-parliament
sums it up nicely, really
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“no-one invest in New Zealand, no-one will trade either.”
vs
“Huge oil exports but no investments”
It is the investments that dry up, not the trade. If you have something of value to trade (financial fraud doesn’t count), you can almost always find a buyer.
To get people to not trade with you, you have to do something bad enough to get yourself slapped with sanctions. Not so easy for us… though certain parties probably could manage it given their advertised policies
I think Rimu has a point. I don’t actually think that all that “foreign investment” we’re getting is doing us a lick of good. Not in the form it is taking. If it isn’t, then the “wealth” it creates is a fraud… it doesn’t stick to NZ, but wanders off to wherever the wealthy care to go… usually not here. It isn’t apparently re-invested in productive NZ enterprises.
respectfully
BJ
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BJ
Try selling NZL apples into Australia, Sheep meat into the USA, or importing Canadian salmon here.
Just examples of trade restrictions in place.
Not to mention Greenpeace trying to prevent the trade in palm kernels. Restrictions will pop up everywhere.
Try importing second hand cars into Australia. No show except for special vehicles.
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“…The Men’s Journal Guide to Going Vegan
All it takes is three weeks of eating vegan before you start to feel positive effects.
But it isn’t easy changing lifelong eating habits.
Here’s all you need to know at the grocery store and in the kitchen.
I. First, the Ground Rules
• Obviously red meat, poultry, and fish are all off the menu.
But also no eggs or dairy, which includes ice cream, cheese, butter, and even cream in your morning coffee.
Eggs and milk are also common ingredients in pastas and bread.
In fact, nearly all commercial baked goods have an ingredient that’s not vegan … so it’s usually best to steer clear.
• You’ll also need to start scouring labels for egg and milk derivatives like casein or whey, two popular health-food protein sources.
They’re found in a lot of snack bars, fitness foods, and, of course, protein powder supplements.
• Don’t forget multivitamins: Gelatin isn’t vegan, so find pills with a vegan coating, as listed on the label.
II. What to Expect
Week One:
Your entire body will feel lighter, as the meat built up in your gut is literally forced out by the deluge of fiber from all the vegetables.
You will also feel less sluggish.
“You start to come out of this fog that many people have from eating heavy, fatty foods,” says Susan Levin, the director of nutrition education at the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
“When you give up dairy, you immediately breathe easier.”
You’ll also have to deal with cravings for things like cheese.
Find an appropriate substitute, like soy cheese.
Your taste buds will adjust within a week.
Week Two:
You will have noticeably increased energy, and you’re likely to see some slight weight loss, because your overall calorie intake has likely gone down.
“Not much weight loss,” says Levin.
“We don’t want people dropping weight like crazy.”
With increased energy, she says, you will find your workouts getting better and, as pro athletes have noted, your recovery time will become shorter.
By the end of your second week, says vegan ultramarathoner Scott Jurek, you won’t feel as achy after your workouts.
With more energy, says Levin, comes a brighter mood and outlook.
According to a 2009 Arizona State University study, people who cut all meat from the diets, including fish, showed less tension and stress.
Week Three:
“Enjoy everything you had in week two, but even more energy and probably a final layer of weight loss,” says Levin.
But really, this week is where it gets molecular.
“If you were someone who was meticulous and into blood labs … you’d actually see your blood sugars and cholesterol levels go down,” says Levin.
“Your blood pressure will also fall as you’re breathing better … and your arteries are clearing out.”
III. Your New Shopping List….” (cont..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2010/the-men%E2%80%99s-journal-guide-to-going-vegan/
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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PUTTING CERRA BACK ON THE AGENDA! ! ! ! !
nommopilot; Thanks for that link man, I took a copy of it and I am going to put it on the local board.
The most obvious and fundamental question that is in most minds is:
Why did the government have to draft a bill like the Canterbury Earthquake and Responce Recovery Act(CERRA)when it is obvious to everyone that existing bills should be adequate in dealing with the situation in Christchurch?
That is what came to my mind; so did our MP’s ask themselves this very question?
I think that the Green MP’s have to deal with this square on because parliament was hijacked and our MP’s, I believe were manipulated.
Make no mistake about it the National Party are no longer ‘conservative’ and the tail that is wagging the dog is ACT an evil extremist party that is willing to sacrifice democracy to it’s corporate backers.
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Correction; I meant existing ‘laws’ not ‘bills’ getting late.
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Drakula,
Someone previously mentioned a book called “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein. I’ve just started reading it today, and I think you might also like it. The underlying hypothesis (as far as I can tell from reading the first chapter) is that in the last thirty or forty years disasters and other crises have been used by the neo-liberal, free marketeers to advance their interests.
I haven’t yet read enough of the book to be able to critique it … but its certainly a thought provoking hypothesis.
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Gerrit: bananas are delicious
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This is interesting
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/opinion-why-we-must-abandon-economic-orthodoxy-and-embrace-capital-trade-and-exchange-rate-controls
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You beat me to it pingpong
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that is quite the astounding volte-face from hickey….
an (economic) road-to-damascus revelation…no less…
http://whoar.co.nz/2010/hickey-recantsrightwing-pundit-has-economic-road-to-damascus-revelationsand-spurns-decades-of-dogmaas-a-great-fraudthey-privatised-profits-for-themselves-and-socialised-the-losses-for-us-all/
and i recommend that all read it…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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i would also recommend reading the comments thread in the hickey-piece…
as an ideological equivalent/opposite…
..this mea culpa (his words) from hickey…
..would be like keith locke or sue bradford announcing they hd been ‘wrong’ all their lives..
..and were off to join the business roundtable…
it’s a real ‘whoar..!..’
..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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what will hickeys’ (former) ideological-compatriots do…?
in reaction to this denunnciation of alll they hold dear…
..by one of their former spokespeople/scribes…?
and will his (former) fellow-righties mount an ideological-intervention on hickey…?
will they kidnap him…take him to a motel room…
..and force him to read from ‘the collected works of fran o’sullivan’…
… until he cracks/breaks back to the right…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Hickey has a good point which will (unfortunately) get more press than any of our little efforts.
Here’s why.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/introduction-road-through-2012-revolution-or-world-war-iii?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
…and Zerohedge is an economics blog.
Good luck, we’ll need it.
respectfully
BJ
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“…In the Western world today, there is a group of people who live in a haze of unreality, and are prone at any moment to break into paranoia, hallucinations, and screaming.
If you try to get between them and their addiction, they will become angry and aggressive and lash out.
They need our help.
I am talking, of course, about the Drug Prohibitionists:…
… the gaggle of politicians, bishops and journalists who still insist that the only way to deal with the very widespread drug use in our societies …
… is for it to be criminalized, where it is untaxed, unregulated, controlled by armed criminal gangs, and horribly adulterated.
An addict can only really begin to grapple with his problem when he hits rock bottom.
This year, the prohibitionists hit theirs … as they unleashed the destruction of Mexico.
But in Britain, there was a smaller story that serves as a perfect parable for how fact-free their cause now is…”
http://whoar.co.nz/2010/drug-warriors-its-time-for-you-to-go-to-rehab/
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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heh heh
“Signs that your opinions function more to signal loyalty and ability than to estimate truth:”
1. You find it hard to be enthusiastic for something until you know that others oppose it.
2. You have little interest in getting clear on what exactly is the position being argued.
3. Realizing that a topic is important and neglected doesn’t make you much interested.
4. You have little interest in digging to bigger topics behind commonly argued topics.
5. You are less interested in a topic when you don’t foresee being able to talk about it.
6. You are uncomfortable taking a position near the middle of the opinion distribution.
7. You are uncomfortable taking a position of high uncertainty about who is right.
8. You care far more about current nearby events than similar distant or past/future events.
9. You find it easy to conclude that those who disagree with you are insincere or stupid.
10. You are reluctant to change your publicly stated positions in response to new info.
11. You are reluctant to agree a rival’s claim, even if you had no prior opinion on the topic.
more http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/09/opinion-warning-signs.html
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http://whoar.co.nz/2010/the-capitalist-commandments/
“…1. Do unto others before they do it unto you.
Beggar thy neighbor and trade their employments without offset, tariff, or compensation to secure a bountiful profit from the greater slave.
Engage the most authoritarian of regimes and let no morality, nor powers of the vast majority, interfere with the greater profits to be had from preserving disparities and all the powers of predation enjoyed by the rich.
2. In all things, see that your capital-defined Efficiency shall remain the only god, and let no morality, freedom nor ecological concern interfere with your divine right to profit and enclose and privatize for your benefit.
3. Thou shalt make money and power thy only god and pursuit, and not suffer any foolish idleness opening one to other occupations or dangerous revelations.
4. To secure thy power, thou shalt not let the people own or control their central banks – despite constitutional purse powers to the contrary -
- for debt money is the central power and motive force before which all others pale and remain impotent.
5. Thou shalt own and control all media and news dissemination agencies.
Let not any editor be elected lest the people influence what they see, hear and read.
Let all books, media, and education grow our values exclusively.
Let not any fairness doctrine nor any notion of labor-capital “factor” balance interfere with this, our grand design.
6. In all things, thou shalt make Growth and per-capita ruin thy only gods, and defeat Balance at every turn.
Thou shalt see that humanity endlessly multiplies.
Let no balance of population arise which might serve to pass on the same quantum of freedom, earthly space, natural right and pleasure even to thine own children -
- as this would destroy our precious and profitable Growth.
7. In all things, thou shalt resist Balance, and both factor and gender equity for I, your male Sky God, have told you so.
8. Let no free commune or cooperative emerge, nor any non-profit venture succeed – for such competition is to be feared and prohibited.
Privatize everything as it is your right .
Control the reigns of power so the vast majority own no debt-free estate …
… nor access any means with which they might secure their domestic freedom, independence, and democracy.
9. Let Nature’s realm be conquered and set to your profit purposes.
Patent and own all of nature’s pharmacopeia.
Change the nature of animals and humans alike to serve your ends.
Render off limits those fertile lands and plants by which the masses might enjoy leisure, acquire natural freedom, secure refuge from our Free Market …
… or stumble upon any revelations of a non-egoic, cooperative, and spiritual nature.
10. Let enclosure reign, for the landless and dependent are fodder for thy greater objectives.
Let our Interdependency forever be mediated by the rich and powerful … and secured in the name of an Efficiency serving our ends alone.
Seek to destroy any remnants of natural freedom, commonwealth, and domestic independence.
Let our Free Market of neo-slavery prevail … and thy will profit beyond one’s wildest dreams…”
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Samiuella Thanks for that I must put that in my must read list, I am writing a book so not much reading is being done.
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rob…you are a plant-expert…
can we get this one here…?
and if not..why not..?
“…“… A chance discovery by a Berkshire allotment-holder that a plant widely available in garden centres has the same effect on men as Viagra has been confirmed by experts at one of the world’s leading botanical institutions.
The plant is winter-flowering heather, and botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, many of them heather experts who have recognised the source of its active ingredient, now expect it to be the next must-have plant in British gardens.
Demand is already high. Nurseries and garden centres in some areas are having trouble finding sufficient supplies as word spreads of the plant’s unexpected properties.
A spokesman for Wyevale Garden Centres, which has 106 UK branches, said:….
… “At first, it was just a trickle of inquiries, but now stores are virtually being besieged each weekend.
We have had men buying dozens of the plants …
… and, at one store in Croydon, there were men old enough to know better fighting over the last remaining trays.”
The latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery by a 55-year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford, on his allotment.
He was always experimenting with drinks made from different plants … and one day he tried an infusion from his winter-flowering heather.
He said: “The effect was almost immediate.
I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street.”…
http://whoar.co.nz/2010/grow-your-own-viagra-craze-hits-britains-garden-centresthe-effect-was-almost-immediatei-had-to-stay-in-my-potting-shed-for-an-hour-or-so-before-i-could-decently-walk-down-the-street/
eh…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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“Not a gardener Sir?” I was asked at the weekend by an assistant who doesn’t read the NZ Gardener.
The article doesn’t give the latin name Phil, so I guess it’s maybe, perhaps, could be Erica carnea but I wouldn’t go making tea out of it til I was sure. Anyway, it’s bad enough as it is! (What did he do during that half-hour?)
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um…!…surveyed the scene…?
gave it a bit of a nudge…?
looked around for volunteers…?
tried to wear it down by a process of attrition..?
(i am also trying to think of alternatives to the blood ‘n suffering economy in sthland…
..and ‘the herbal-stiffy capital of the world’ did ring a bell…)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Hard men, us Southlanders Phil (but then we could export to the droopy North)
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yeah..i’m angling for the jafa-franchise….
..”..Hard men, us Southlanders..”
yeah…that’s what i’ve been told..’hard’ to find…
(something to do with the cold…as i understand it…)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Ha ha hard!
Who holds the Shield Phil?
Hard to find, if you’re looking for it north of the Bombay Hills.
Very hard.
Go the Stags!
(There’s some rutting imagery for you Phil – a spread-antlered stag in full roar!)
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“..Who holds the Shield Phil?..”
what is that..?…some kind of contraceptive device…?
..(the phil-shield..?)
or a southern take on auto-eroticism…?
(‘shaking/polishing -the-shield’..?…)
and..
“..(There’s some rutting imagery for you Phil – a spread-antlered stag in full roar!)..”
that’d be purely aspirational…?..eh..?
(c.f. previous ‘cold’-reference..)
and i see you refer to ‘hard to find’…yet again…
..a local-theme/plaint…?
and how long have you called breasts..’bombay hills’..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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No doubt you’ll remember what Mick Jagger called Invercargill, Phil, so you’ll understand why we think of the Bombay Hills that a’way!
(and down here, auto-eroticism is term that describes the love we have for our cars!)
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does that make wellington the lint in the belly-button…?
and..
“…(and down here, auto-eroticism is term that describes the love we have for our cars!)..)
whoar…!..the love that dare not speak its’ name..!
..eh..?
..got any vids..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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what did Meek Jaggaire call Invers then?
That Cargill feller – we had to change the family Crest!
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suffice to say the greenbelt around the burg…
…would be the bum-fluff…
…eh..?
i think of it as more ‘the kaitaia of the south’…
…eh…
minus the warmth/sun….
(and a different skin-tone to go with the red knecks…eh..?..)
phil(whoar.co)
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The meek, they say shall inherit but the Jaggy One dubbed Invers the ars*h*le of the world!
Blumsky, otoh, wants us to adopt the title ‘Invergiggle’ – now, which is worse?
Vid available on demand Phil but you’re # 6834 and we thank you for your patience.
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‘necks’ Phil, ‘necks’ (how many times must I tell you
knees necks, knights nights.
It’s how we do it in Southland!
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Or you could just do like the United States, hand the country over to lawyers who have never operated a business in their lives…..that always works!
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Christopher James par-leeeez!.
Go drum up some bid-ness sum where else yo!
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