While the whole country (or should I say, the closet brownshirts in the middle class) is in an uproar about the latest commie plot to steal our precious bodily fluids, (the bill to repeal section 59).
A more pressing problem is sitting right under our noses
This accomodation crisis is not limited to the main centers, it is everywhere. Rents are going up...and up....and up and up, and incomes are pretty much staying put, with the political right, (and Dr Cullen), pretty much taking the line that they should stay there (incomes that is).
The likes of Family Integrity, Family First, etc seem to think that the right to hit children as the glue that binds a family unit together, but the fact is, a family also needs a secure afforable place to live as well. Do I see them organising a march for accomodation such as increased state housing, higher accomodation supplement, etc? NO!
The struggle that some people face in finding a roof over their heads is very real, and in my opinion, something that needs to be debated. The trouble is, the National party, in its infinite wisdom, sold state houses at cheap rates to property developers who then charged exorbitant rents to low-income tenants who had to deal with a woefully inadequate accomodation supplement.
This, folks is what people are dealing with every day....
More later.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Monday, March 5, 2007
Bio-Fuels - The New Snake-oil?
If we didnt have the climate change, we wouldnt have a blogosphere. Like the Iraq/Afghan/US v Al Queda(sp) war it had been the issue that is fuelling the blogosphere. Without it, our blogosphere would be basically about 20-something women writing about their sexual adventures and sexually frustrated losers reading them (either calling them sluts or wanking off to them...excuse my language..)..
Anyway, speaking of fuel, bio-fuels have to be one of the biggest magic bullets touted about to kill the demons of climate change and peak-oil, however, there is some skepticism about their viability, and fair enough too, I suppose. I point thee to todays NZ Herald's editorial, which makes a few fair points.
To be honest, while I agree with bio-fuels in principle, I doubt that they would completely replace petrol in terms of the fuel of choice. I mean, I would like to think that the energy costs needed to extract enough biofuel to, say power the average family car for a year. More than petrol I imagine. A lot more, in terms of sowing crops, harvesting and processing them. I doubt you would run a modern industrialised economy on biofuels.
I think the best place for biofuels would be in niche, special purpose areas, such as powering buses, taxis, some trucks, and perhaps our trains....perhaps power stations could also be possible? as mentioned in the editorial.
Can you imagine a bus fleet powered by bio diesiel?? I can. I think that we should start looking to achive that goal. The government (as un-PC as it may sound) should even start up a new Crown Research Insitutue, call it the Sustainable Fuels Institute or something , and charge it with bio-fuel reserach, developing a method to have all our buses and trains running on biofuels by 2020 and subsidise bus operators to switch their fleets over. I think that is a good target for sustainabilty, and our buses spew more crap into the air than most cars...
It sounds good to me I guess.....but will everyone else think so?
Anyway, speaking of fuel, bio-fuels have to be one of the biggest magic bullets touted about to kill the demons of climate change and peak-oil, however, there is some skepticism about their viability, and fair enough too, I suppose. I point thee to todays NZ Herald's editorial, which makes a few fair points.
To be honest, while I agree with bio-fuels in principle, I doubt that they would completely replace petrol in terms of the fuel of choice. I mean, I would like to think that the energy costs needed to extract enough biofuel to, say power the average family car for a year. More than petrol I imagine. A lot more, in terms of sowing crops, harvesting and processing them. I doubt you would run a modern industrialised economy on biofuels.
I think the best place for biofuels would be in niche, special purpose areas, such as powering buses, taxis, some trucks, and perhaps our trains....perhaps power stations could also be possible? as mentioned in the editorial.
Can you imagine a bus fleet powered by bio diesiel?? I can. I think that we should start looking to achive that goal. The government (as un-PC as it may sound) should even start up a new Crown Research Insitutue, call it the Sustainable Fuels Institute or something , and charge it with bio-fuel reserach, developing a method to have all our buses and trains running on biofuels by 2020 and subsidise bus operators to switch their fleets over. I think that is a good target for sustainabilty, and our buses spew more crap into the air than most cars...
It sounds good to me I guess.....but will everyone else think so?
'Ello 'Ello 'Ello 'Ello! What's all this then?!
Clint Rickards is most probably one of the most hated men in New Zealand, and I extremely doubt that he would be invited to speak at a women's conference in the immediate to long term future....
What ever your position on Rickard's guilt, we all have to agree that there is something horribly wrong with our police force. Never a week goes by without something wrong happening with our men in blue. Sending out taxi's, downloading porn, pack-raping young women (even though a woman enjoys sex with a variety of men, and is known to be a "slapper", no *still* means no...), using police resourses to stalk their girlfriends, brutality, oh god, the list goes on and on. Really.
This certainly erodes the myth that our cops are squeaky clean, and are envied all over the world, and it confirms that they are, in the words of a good friend, a gang that look after themselves, and only begrudgingly serve the general public. Dont get me wrong, there are a few honest cops out there who try to do their job, but as I said, there are only a few.
The public are rapidly losing confidence in the police force, and only the most ardent right-wing middle aged conservative would have to still think that they are squeaky clean. And we are talking about a few incdents in the 1980's, it is really just the tip of a huge, dark, and menacing iceberg.
As for Rickards, I doubt that he will ever have a prominent poisition in the force ever again, his desire to get his old job back as Auckland's commander is delusional. He may have been found guilty, but his attitude towards women has been laid bare for all to see. I personally think he should never be in the police again, but he will be probably get a desk job or something. This is a guy who swore an oath to protect women.
Its not really on. Escpecially if you are to protect and serve.
What ever your position on Rickard's guilt, we all have to agree that there is something horribly wrong with our police force. Never a week goes by without something wrong happening with our men in blue. Sending out taxi's, downloading porn, pack-raping young women (even though a woman enjoys sex with a variety of men, and is known to be a "slapper", no *still* means no...), using police resourses to stalk their girlfriends, brutality, oh god, the list goes on and on. Really.
This certainly erodes the myth that our cops are squeaky clean, and are envied all over the world, and it confirms that they are, in the words of a good friend, a gang that look after themselves, and only begrudgingly serve the general public. Dont get me wrong, there are a few honest cops out there who try to do their job, but as I said, there are only a few.
The public are rapidly losing confidence in the police force, and only the most ardent right-wing middle aged conservative would have to still think that they are squeaky clean. And we are talking about a few incdents in the 1980's, it is really just the tip of a huge, dark, and menacing iceberg.
As for Rickards, I doubt that he will ever have a prominent poisition in the force ever again, his desire to get his old job back as Auckland's commander is delusional. He may have been found guilty, but his attitude towards women has been laid bare for all to see. I personally think he should never be in the police again, but he will be probably get a desk job or something. This is a guy who swore an oath to protect women.
Its not really on. Escpecially if you are to protect and serve.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Concerning Kiwis (With apologies to J.R.R Tolkien)
New Zealanders are generally laid back, caring, compassionate, easy going, and open minded. They belive in justice, fairness, helping each other and giving everyone a fair go. Especially those in a minority.
Or do they? Is it all crap? Scratch the surface, and a nastier kiwi emerges. A kiwi who is full of hatred, intolerance, resentment, evil. A kiwi who, rather than giving their fellow man a helping hand up, who is willing to kick him while he is down, with the size 10 steel capped boot. And again for such good measure. A kiwi who resents and is afraid of minorities, such as the non-white, the sick, the poor, the workers, women, children, academia, etc to the point to pouring out vile critisim which wouldnt be out of place in the Germany of the 1920's and 30's, and even go as far as to push them out of any position of voice in this nation.
I could go on. One only has to turn on talkback radio or read the letters to the editor in the local paper to know what I mean. A foul hatred emerging from so called "middle new zealand", stirred up by right wing politicans and the overseas owned media. You know it is bad when a prominent columnist and former MP openly calls for the sterilisation of those he considers "unfit parents", and lobby groups with "Family" in their names openly oppose legislation that would protect children from assaults by their parents of caregivers, those who are mean to care for them and nurture them. You know it is bad when people oppose free lunches in schools because in their own twisted little minds, they think that the parents would have a "disincentive" to feed their kids. (Even though the practise is common in other nation..)
One wonders what people think of our nation. They must think we are nuts, and I would agree with them. We seem to be in our own dimension, carrying on doing our own thing. Its strange. You would think after 23 years of liberal reform, we would be able to become a part of the world. But we are still quite insular with regards to some aspects.
What is wrong with our nation? That would require an answer which time and bandwidth do not permit. But, let us take a journey and find out. Who knows where we might end up?
Or do they? Is it all crap? Scratch the surface, and a nastier kiwi emerges. A kiwi who is full of hatred, intolerance, resentment, evil. A kiwi who, rather than giving their fellow man a helping hand up, who is willing to kick him while he is down, with the size 10 steel capped boot. And again for such good measure. A kiwi who resents and is afraid of minorities, such as the non-white, the sick, the poor, the workers, women, children, academia, etc to the point to pouring out vile critisim which wouldnt be out of place in the Germany of the 1920's and 30's, and even go as far as to push them out of any position of voice in this nation.
I could go on. One only has to turn on talkback radio or read the letters to the editor in the local paper to know what I mean. A foul hatred emerging from so called "middle new zealand", stirred up by right wing politicans and the overseas owned media. You know it is bad when a prominent columnist and former MP openly calls for the sterilisation of those he considers "unfit parents", and lobby groups with "Family" in their names openly oppose legislation that would protect children from assaults by their parents of caregivers, those who are mean to care for them and nurture them. You know it is bad when people oppose free lunches in schools because in their own twisted little minds, they think that the parents would have a "disincentive" to feed their kids. (Even though the practise is common in other nation..)
One wonders what people think of our nation. They must think we are nuts, and I would agree with them. We seem to be in our own dimension, carrying on doing our own thing. Its strange. You would think after 23 years of liberal reform, we would be able to become a part of the world. But we are still quite insular with regards to some aspects.
What is wrong with our nation? That would require an answer which time and bandwidth do not permit. But, let us take a journey and find out. Who knows where we might end up?
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