"When a government becomes powerful, it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurper which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance for votes with which to perpetuate itself." - Cicero
"Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force." - George Washington
"In all that people can do for themselves, the government ought not to interfere." - Abraham Lincoln
"The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power." - John Stuart Mill
"The government's role is whatever the government defines it to be." - Helen Clark

Blogarama

Review Kiwi Pundit

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A good start

Transit has released its 10 year plan to upgrade our roads. There are details of what will be done in each region. Auckland is getting the most, and deservedly so.

 
True or not?

Anybody know if this is true?

Euthanasia is rampant in New Zealand, according to a study released in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

The study revealed that nearly 700 physicians have admitted to hastening the deaths of terminally ill patients -- even though it is illegal to do so.

Some 693 general practitioners conceded that they had taken part in a physician-assisted death during the last year.

The incidences occurred despite the fact that palliative care was available for the patients.

In a staggering 380 cases, the doctor hastened a patient's death without even talking with the patient first -- an action labeled "legally dubious" by the survey's authors. Dr. Kay Mitchell of the Department of Psychology at Auckland University and British clinical psychology professor Glynn Owens conducted the survey.

The doctors involved said they did not discuss the issue with the patients because the victims were too ill.

However, in 88 cases in which the patient was judged competent by the doctor, there was still no discussion.

I know the source that I linked is questionable, but I'd still be interested to hear what the Medical Journal article actually says.

The 380 cases may include turning off life support for brain-dead patients, with the consent of relatives, but the 88 cases are more of a concern. Reply in comments or email me if you know any more about this.

 
Taxes and Growth

Marginal Revolution notes the recent high levels of economic growth in Iceland:

After years of economic stagnation, unemployment and fiscal disarray, an Icelandic government led by Prime Minister David Oddsson implemented a series of Reaganesque reforms that have turned the economy around. In the 1990s, he reformed the income tax moving it towards a simpler and flatter structure. He also lowered the corporate marginal tax rate from 48 percent to 30 percent. And he also managed to contain spending, got rid of inflation, privatized large public companies and got the government out of the banking industry.

The results were astonishing. Unemployment dropped, the deficit disappeared, as did inflation, and Iceland is now one of the fastest growing countries in Europe--5 percent a year on average for the last 10 years. According to Mr. Oddsson, "This success has been achieved not in spite of extensive tax cuts but, to a great degree, because of them."

Not quite as good as Ireland which averaged 7.65% growth over a ten year period, but their tax cuts were more drastic.

 
Defamation

Winton Peters is suing Television New Zealand, Radio New Zealand, Yvonne Dossetter, Ken Shirley and David Carter over the allegations made against him.

It's ridiculously easy to bring a defamation action in New Zealand and Peters has a decent chance of at least partial victory. If this leads to a substantial tightening of our defamation law it will be one of the few useful things Peters has done in Parliament.

 
Surprised

Last year we made prostitution legal and this year, or early next year, we're going to have effective legal equality for gays. So I'm surprised that a school has been forced to apologize after a student group handed out free condoms to those attending the school ball. The only person defending them is Nandor.

Why is it even news, let alone something to apologize for? This is honestly not a rhetorical question.

 
Supreme Court Decisions

Today the U.S. Supreme Court released three decisons related to Guantanamo and other detainees.

Rasul v Bush held that United States courts have jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities in Afghanistan, and incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The full decision is here. Full decision here.

Hamdi v Rumsfeld held that where a U.S. citizen was detained for allegedly fighting against the U.S. in Afghanistan as an enemy combatant, due process demands that he be given a meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for his detention before a neutral decision maker. Full decision here.

Rumsfeld v Padilla was not decided on the merits because it named the wrong defendant. The Second Circuit decision granting Padilla a hearing was therefore reversed. That decision is here.

Overall this is good news for the detainees, because at least they can go to court and contest their detention. I don't expect that many will ultimately be released by the courts though.

Although Padilla lost on a technicality, he should ultimately win because his case is stronger than the other two on the merits. Here are some excerpts:

Justice Scalia in Hamdi:

The proposition that the Executive lacks indefinite wartime detention authority over citizens is consistent with the Founders' general mistrust of military power permanently at the Executive's disposal. In the Founders' view, the "blessings of liberty" were threatened by "those military establishments which must gradually poison its very fountain." Many safeguards in the Constitution reflect these concerns.

It follows from what I have said that Hamdi is entitled to a habeas decree requiring his release unless (1) criminal proceedings are promptly brought, or (2) Congress has suspended the writ of habeas corpus. A suspension of the writ could, of course, lay down conditions for continued detention, but there is a world of difference between the people's representatives' determining the need for that suspension (and prescribing the conditions for it), and this Court's doing so.

Many think it not only inevitable but entirely proper that liberty give way to security in times of national crisis--that, at the extremes of military exigency, inter arma silent leges. Whatever the general merits of the view that war silences law or modulates its voice, that view has no place in the interpretation and application of a Constitution designed precisely to confront war and, in a manner that accords with democratic principles, to accommodate it.

Justice Stevens in Padilla:

Whether respondent is entitled to immediate release is a question that reasonable jurists may answer in different ways. There is, however, only one possible answer to the question whether he is entitled to a hearing on the justification for his detention.

At stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society. Even more important than the method of selecting the people's rulers and their successors is the character of the constraints imposed on the Executive by the rule of law. Unconstrained Executive detention for the purpose of investigating and preventing subversive activity is the hallmark of the Star Chamber. Access to counsel for the purpose of protecting the citizen from official mistakes and mistreatment is the hallmark of due process.

As always, see Volokh for more.

 
Yes or No?

Does everyone deserve a second chance? Some say no:

In a major escalation of the struggle between John Kerry supporters and independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, Arizona Democrats filed a lawsuit Wednesday aimed at blocking Nader from running in that state.

One of the lawyers handling the suit, Andy Gordon, said that of those names on Nader petitions in Arizona that could be identified as registered voters, 46 percent were Republicans, 28 percent Democrats and 26 percent Greens or independents.

"This is clearly an effort by the Republicans to screw up the Kerry campaign," Gordon said.

Gordon also charged that some of the signature gatherers used by the Nader campaign in Arizona were convicted felons and therefore not eligible to collect signatures.

Others say yes:

A Democrat group crucial to John Kerry's presidential campaign has paid felons - some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary - to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states.

"We believe it's important to give people a second chance," Elleithee said. "The fact that they are willing to do this work is a fairly serious indication that they want to become productive members of society."

You be the judge.

 
More headscarf nonsense

Germany has also banned the wearing of headscarves in public schools. Well, teachers can wear them, but not students.

You expect the French to have no morals or judgment of any kind, but Germans should know better. Maybe this is an opportunity for the European Court of Human Rights to do something useful for once. Don't hold your breath though.

(via Jeff Jarvis)

 
NATO

Patrick Belton at Oxblog has some thoughts and predictions on the NATO meeting in Istanbul. I did not know this:

The US picks up the tab for 64% of Nato military expenditures ($348.5 million, 2002), while all other allies together contribute only 36% ($196.0 million). Of 1.4 million soldiers under Nato arms in October 2003, allies other than the US contributed all of 55,000.

Bludgers.

Also at Oxblog, David Adesnik has the best review of Fahrenheit 9/11 I've seen so far.

 
LOL - Cheney

From the Washington Post:

Cheney said he "probably" used an obscenity in an argument Tuesday on the Senate floor with Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and added that he had no regrets. "I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it," Cheney told Neil Cavuto of Fox News. The vice president said those who heard the putdown agreed with him. "I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue."

Just say it once on camera, please. And include Daschle next time.

 
NZ Blogs This Week

NZ Pundit:Soulan Pownceby, Peters/Simunovitch, U.N. anti-semitism, Conservation, Civil unions, Labour shortage, and Deconstructing our national icon

Darkness: Civil unions, Film Festival, and Hospital Pass

No Right Turn: US/ICC (more), Civil Unions (more), NZ Political Compass, and Soulan Pownceby

David Farrar: The Destiny Cult, Test the nation, National and nukes, Political Compass, Peters/Simunovitch, Civil unions (more), Employment law, and Muldoon

Deborah Hill Cone: Pregnancy

Russell Brown: Rugby, and Civil unions (more)

De-GenerationX.net: Gmail (more), Political Compass, Soulan Pownceby, US/ICC, and Jewish bullets banned in Iraq war

My Right: Soulan Pownceby (more)

Heather Roy: ACC

Dave Crampton: Civil unions (more, more and more)

Canary in the Mine: Stem cells, Civil Unions, and New Bible

Fighting Talk: Rugby

The Whig: Civil unions (more), Destiny, Political compass, and Employment law

John Tamihere: Apocalypse next year

Rodney Hide: Portfolio reshuffle, The real thing, Picture of capitalist schoolgirls, the building that used to house our entire civil service, Journalists, The Treaty and nuclear science, Political compass, and Success and achievement

Syringe: Singapore/Beijing

Jordan Carter: Civil unions (more and more), and Economic growth

The Grey Shade: Peters/Simunovitch, and Double Jeopardy

Capital Diary: Civil unions (more, and more), National's nuclear policy, Peters/Simunovitch (more), CYF/Dyson, Kiwibank, and New tax

Span Blather: Civil unions (more), and where are all the women?

 
Good point

Cardinal Tom Williams didn't get it completely wrong, there really are some 'barbarians' out there:

Paedophile former priest gets seven-year jail sentence

Police may go after the clergymen who hid abuse

Cardinal laments descent to 'moral wasteland'

 
More Compassion

The SPCA is campaigning for all cats to be microchipped, so strays can be identified. They could spend a lot less than $50 per cat and set up a website where owners can look up and see if their cat has been found.

For those cases where people deliberately abandon their cat, microchips are a terrible idea. It's easy for a vet to implant the microchip because they have the right tools, but it's much harder for a cruel and irresponsible owner to remove the chip, because they probably only have a chisel or screwdriver. Also, they might not be able to locate the chip so it could take several attempts before it is hacked out and the cat can be safely dumped without reprisals. If the owner doesn't have the stomach for this, they are forced to keep the cat and mistreat it for the rest of its miserable life.

Next time you go to the SPCA to adopt a cat (or dog) and you notice the nasty wounds around its neck, that is where the previous owner went digging to get the microchip out. Somebody tell me what SPCA stands for again.

 
Compassion

From Jim Hopkins:

You are the leader of a compassionate Gummint whose Budget is unashamedly intended to improve the lot of ordinary Kiwi battlers. Someone rushes into your office and says "Hey, we've just found $54 million we didn't know we had". Do you?

A. Divide the $54 million equally and give it back to the ordinary Kiwi battlers.

B. Build a new hospital.

C. Increase the legal aid available to Ahmed Zaoui.

D. Chuck $33 million at some jokers with a yacht and spend the rest on ads telling people how compassionate your budget really is.

 
Stupid poll watch

From the Herald:

Research by UMR shows a significant shift in attitude between April 2002 and January this year. In the earlier poll, 59 per cent thought Watson was guilty. This had fallen to 44 per cent in January.

Only 25 per cent of those polled in 2002 thought [Ellis] was guilty and this figure declined to 23 per cent in January, when 76 per cent thought he was not guilty or were unsure.

Almost two-thirds of those polled thought Bain was not guilty of the murders of his family or said that they were unsure of his guilt.

I have a suggestion: Why don't they repeat this poll every year for the next 20 years? If a majority vote guilty, he spends that year in prison, if a majority vote not guilty he spends that year as a free man. No need to waste time on investigations, evidence, arguments, analysis, and other justice-related shit like that.

 
Only himself to blame

From Al Gore's latest speech:

The Administration works closely with a network of "rapid response" digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for "undermining support for our troops." Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, was one of the first journalists to regularly expose the President's consistent distortions of the facts. Krugman writes, "Let's not overlook the role of intimidation. After 9/11, if you were thinking of saying anything negative of the President...you had to expect right-wing pundits and publications to do all they could to ruin your reputation.

If Al Gore didn't want people using the internet to criticize the left, then he shouldn't have invented it in the first place.

Here's Gore on Iraq:

Even if we give first priority to the destruction of terrorist networks, and even if we succeed, there are still governments that could bring us great harm. And there is a clear case that one of these governments in particular represents a virulent threat in a class by itself: Iraq.

As far as I am concerned, a final reckoning with that government should be on the table.

That's what he said in 2002. Here's what he says now:

If Iraq had nothing to do with the attack or the organization that attacked us, then that means the President took us to war when he didn't have to.

When you boil it all down to precisely what went wrong with the Bush Iraq policy, it is actually fairly simple: he adopted an ideologically driven view of Iraq that was tragically at odds with reality. Everything that has gone wrong is in one way or another the result of a spectacular and violent clash between the bundle of misconceptions that he gullibly consumed and the all-too-painful reality that our troops and contractors and diplomats and taxpayers have encountered.

So Gore is saying that Bush went to war with Iraq because he gullibly consumed the very misconceptions peddled by Gore himself.

 
Scum

More on Kofigate by William Safire in the NYT:

This was the biggest cash cow in the history of the world," says one of the insiders familiar with the $10 billion U.N. oil-for-food scandal. "Everybody — traders, contractors, banks, inspectors — was milking it. It was supposed to buy food with the money from oil that the U.N. allowed Saddam to sell, but less than half went for that. Perfume, limos, a shipment of 1,500 Ping-Pong tables, for God's sake."

But before the sellers, called "beneficiaries," could be paid (at Saddam's request, in euros, harder to trace than dollars) the bank required a C.O.A., "Confirmation of Arrival," from the U.N.'s contracted inspector, Cotecna of Switzerland.

"The key was Cotecna," says my graveyard source. "Ships were lined up at the port of Umm Qasr, stacks of containers already onshore waiting for inspection. You won't believe the grease being paid. The usual suspects got preferential treatment when the U.N. bosses in New York called the BNP bank to get Cotecna to issue a C.O.A. to release the money."

Last week, Secretary General Kofi Annan claimed that my reporting of what he told me at a luncheon was "a private conversation" (no such ground rule was set) and that "some are jumping to conclusions without facts, without evidence. It is a bit like a lynching, actually."

Kofi and his family and other cronies ripped off starving Iraqis for enormous sums. Finally these crimes are being investigated. Yeah, that's exactly like a lynching. Kofi Annan is truly despicable.

 
The case for Edwards

This, from Andrew Sullivan, is spot on.

To my mind, the obvious choice for veep for Kerry is John Edwards. Ruy Teixeira explains partly why. Edwards would appeal to a very important consituency - the non-unionized white working class. But he's also more comfortable among African-Americans than Kerry. And, as the primaries show, he has real appeal to independents, who are still deeply resistant to Bush, especially after the president's slavish courting of the religious right in recent months. At a deeper level, it seems to me that Kerry is a world-class crashing bore. It's extremely hard to keep your eyes open listening to him drone on endlessly. Part of his recent success is due to his staying out of the limelight, while Bush self-destructs. And a responsible, tedious, upper-class pandescenderer, while appealing to some voters exhausted by the revolutionary zeal of the man from Midland, needs an adrenaline fix. Edwards, whatever his faults, has plenty of zip. People like him. No one really likes Kerry.

Exactly. Anybody but Edwards. Gephardt would be good.

 
Must have felt good

Sounds like Cheney has finally gotten sick of ignoring the baseless and defamatory allegations involving himself and Halliburton:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Typically a break from partisan warfare, this year's Senate class photo turned smiles into snarls as Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly used profanity toward one senior Democrat, sources said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who was on the receiving end of Cheney's ire, confirmed that the Vice President used profanity during Tuesday's class photo.

A spokesman for Cheney confirmed there was a "frank exchange of views."

Leahy would not comment on the specifics of the story Thursday, but did confirm that Cheney used profanity.

"I think he was just having a bad day," said Leahy, "and I was kind of shocked to hear that kind of language on the floor."

Please drop the annoying euphemisms and tell us Cheney's exact words. Better still, I hope that this is on tape and the Media/Democrats play it often.

From CNN via Balloon Juice.

 
Madness

From the Dominion Post:

The Corrections Department is paroling criminals to live in backpacker hostels for months, often without telling the hostels they are there.

Three are living in hostels where they have been for between two and seven months, Corrections probation manager Katrina Casey confirmed last night.

At least one has been convicted of a violent crime.

The department's admission follows the attempted murder of two backpackers by Arthur Alexander Gray last year while he was living under probation supervision at a Nelson youth hostel.

Welcome to New Zealand, enjoy your holiday and try to avoid being raped or murdered while you sleep.

 
Chickens come home to roost

From The Hill:

Michael Moore may be prevented from advertising his controversial new movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” on television or radio after July 30 if the Federal Election Commission (FEC) today accepts the legal advice of its general counsel.

The proscription is broadly defined. Section 100.29 of the federal election regulations defines restricted corporate-funded ads as those that identify a candidate by his “name, nickname, photograph or drawing” or make it “otherwise apparent through an unambiguous reference.”

At issue in the FEC’s opinion is whether documentary films qualify for a “media exemption,” which allows members of the press to discuss political candidates freely in the days before an election.

In its opinion, the general counsel wrote, “In McConnell vs. FEC … (2003) the [Supreme] Court described the media exemption as ‘narrow’ and drew a distinction between ‘corporations that are part of the media industry’ as opposed to ‘other corporations that are not involved in the regular business of imparting news to the public.’”

Nobody has yet discovered a way to prevent rich individuals and groups from spending money to influence elections that does not have very serious consequences for freedom of speech. At least those getting burned are the ones who played with fire in the first place.

 
Civil Unions

Passed the first reading 66-50, the voting record is here.

Three Labour MPs including Ashraf Choudhary (again) failed to vote. I'm guessing Choudhary actually has no plan to represent the views of Muslims, but just isn't honest enough to make this fact plain for all to see.

Deborah Coddington voted against and it would be interesting to hear her reasons. If Stephen Franks couldn't come up with a liberal sounding justification for a conservative position, then one would normally be safe in assuming that no such justification exists. The other Act MP to vote against was the always appalling and anti-liberal Muriel Newman. No surprises there.

Of the other parties, the Greens were 9-0 in favour, Labour 44-6 in favour, National 22-5 against, NZ First 11-2 against and United Future 8-0 against.

 
Best of the Web

Best of the Web is excellent. Read it every day if you don't already. Some content from today's issue:

• In the wake of Ronald Reagan's death and Bill Clinton's memoir debut, it's interesting to reflect on how different the two presidents were, though both had extraordinary political skill. After Reagan died, we heard touching stories about his love affair with his wife. Clinton's book has rekindled memories of his tawdry affair with a woman half his age. (Does anyone even remember who Clinton's wife is?) Reagan's biggest badge of honor was winning the Cold War; Clinton's is getting away with perjury and obstruction of justice.
  
• Andrea Parron, of Harmony, R.I., a self-described "bleeding-heart Democrat," said given the choice of Clinton or Bush, "I'd take Clinton back in a heartbeat. But I would kick him in the groin so he could keep his mind on business."
  
• Trying to erase the image of her husband as aloof, Teresa Heinz Kerry [Friday] insisted Sen. John F. Kerry "likes people" and went so far as to say he would make a great nursery school teacher. "He likes people, in spite of whatever people might think. He'd make the best nursery school teacher in the world, bar none."

 
What he said

Everything you need to know about the two rugby tests between the All Blacks and England is in this post by Max Johns at Fighting Talk:

Pig-headed idiot worse than the half-witted, unskilled loser thugs that he coaches

However, the only reason 'John Mitchell should never have gone' is that he never should have been the coach in the first place.

 
Stupid Fat Men

Michael Moore is beneath contempt, but this exchange from Letterman is too good to pass up:

David Letterman: How do we know what's in your film [Fahrenheit 9/11] is true?
Michael Moore: Because I got most of my information from The New York Times.
Audience: Wild laughter.
Letterman: Strains to repress laughing
Moore: What's so funny?

From Volokh.

UPDATE: Oops, turns out this isn't what was said. The correction is here. Thanks to South of the Suwannwee for the pointer.

 
Advice

If conservatives want to do something useful, instead of targeting people who want to marry, raise a family and take part in church services, they should consider going after the laws that promote and perpetuate single parent families on welfare, or the laws that allow violent criminals back on the street after ridiculously short prison terms.

 
Lies, and the lying liars who tell them

To summarise the Saddam/Al Qaeda/9-11 exchanges:

Bush Administration: 'There are links between Saddam and Al Qaeda'
9-11 Commission: 'There are no links between Saddam and Al Qaeda'
Media: 'Bush lied'
Bush Administration: 'There are so links between Saddam and Al Qaeda'
9-11 Commission: 'Ok, but there are no links between Saddam and 9/11'
Bush Administration: 'Duh. We never said there were'.
Media: silence

 
Living in a Bubble

Tom Gross on the BBC:

"Read history," implored al-Sudais to his massed ranks of followers in another of his sermons, on February 1, 2004, "and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels ... calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers...the scum of the human race whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs.... These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, licentiousness, evil, and corruption...."

But none of this seems to have penetrated the BBC bubble. In its reports last weekend on TV, radio, and online, on Sheikh al-Sudais's visit to Britain, in which he lead 15,000 worshippers at prayer at the opening of the enormous new six-story Islamic center in east London, the BBC mentioned none of this.

"The centre was opened as Friday prayers took place, led by one of Islam's most renowned Imams, and celebrations will continue throughout the weekend," said the BBC. "Worshippers had come to hear Sheikh Abdur-Rahman al-Sudais, Imam of the Ka'ba, Islam's holiest mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.... With many unable to enter the new centre, some worshippers took to praying on a street behind the mosque using prayer mats and even newspapers." We are told that the center "will bolster London's reputation as a vibrant and diverse international city" and has a "spirit of modesty."

There's a lot more, including an examination of BBC coverage of Reagan, Sudan, and Hamas.

From Andrew Sullivan.

 
Zimbabwe Watch

Britain's Sunday Times has a scoop on the latest, which is here, unfortunately behind paid registration. Here the summary from Cronaca:

Evidence that President Robert Mugabe’s regime is considering a plan to rid Zimbabwe of most of its white population has come as little surprise to an embattled and dwindling community.

But the stark language used in a document apparently drawn up by advisers to the director-general of operations in Mugabe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) has intensified concern that after four years of land seizures, Zimbabwe’s whites may soon be facing a new threat.

The paper, which has been leaked to the British embassy in Harare and The Sunday Times, describes a sequence of events that would set the scene for the ethnic cleansing some analysts have long predicted.

It would start with a bomb attack on a strategic economic target in Zimbabwe. British explosives would be used and South African experts called in to verify this. The outrage would then be blamed on “British funded terrorists”, says the document, which is dated June 8, 2004, and headed, “Solution to the White Problem”. . .

British nationals . . . would be given 48 hours to leave, their relatives who had given up British citizenship would probably accompany them and intimidation at roadblocks would encourage many other whites to go too, the document says. It suggests that up to 90% of all whites would be gone after six months. . .

 
NZ Blogs This Week

Time and enthusiasm permitting, this will become a regular feature each Sunday:

NZ Pundit: Brash/Winston, credit limits, the nuclear issue, actual torture vs pants on heads, Bush's poll ratings, and I need a wife

Darkness: Who's kissable?

No Right Turn: Civil Unions (more), the torture memo, Bullshit, Backlash, & Bleeding Hearts, Status Anxiety, America and meritocracy (more), and the aquaculture settlement

David Farrar: Aquaculture, 'community courses' scandal, unusual visitors.

Russell Brown: Clark documentary, and Civil Unions (more).

Running Blog Capitalist: Best President Ever.

Kiwi Pete: Restored faith and Ghanbari

De-GenerationX.net: Images of Phoebe, Meet Joe Blog, the torture memo, Schumacher is a cyborg, and Microsoft and DRM

PNN: Iraqi blood no protection against idiotarianism

My Right: Gerry Brownlee, and taxation

Dave Crampton: Civil Unions (more, more and more)

Canary in the Mine: Lies, damned lies and science, EU elections, abortion statistics, and civil unions.

Fighting Talk: Cons, damned cons, and neocons, Cambridge exam results.

The Whig: ACT tax policy

Rodney Hide: Day One, Super fund, and tax policy (more)

Syringe: Blogging and Google, and Excuse Me Mr Coppa

Jordan Carter: Thai Free Trade Negotiations, work/life balance, civil unions, and ACT tax policy

The Grey Shade: Status Anxiety, The American Dream and the Decent Society

 
Auto-correct

When using Microsoft Word, switch off the 'auto-correct' feature. If you mistype one letter you can end up with a completely different word than the one you intended. For those who really, really cannot survive without auto-correct, at least try to avoid doing typing work for the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, otherwise the following could happen:

Later the same year, after encouragement from Congress, Washington issued his first Thanksgiving proclamation, which began:

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the problems of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor ..."

The word they're looking for is 'providence', not 'problems'.

Via Volokh.

 
ACT's Tax Policy

No Right Turn correctly located the policy, which is easily found on the Act website. The date is 6 Jun 2002 and I campaigned on this basis in the last election so I know they haven't materially changed it.

ACT will:

- Immediately cut company tax rate from 33 percent to 28 percent – below Australia’s 30 percent.

- Immediately reduce personal income tax to two rates – 28 percent (from 39 and 33 percent) and 18 percent (from 19.5 percent).

- Keep a low income tax rebate of 15 percent so no one is worse off, and every working person gets a tax cut.

The policy also indicates a 'long-term aim of a flat tax rate of no more than 20%', which is confusing and redundant but not inconsistent with the above. Somehow the latter quote is the only part that No Right Turn mentioned - then he accuses Rodney Hide of being disingenuous. Hmmm.

Admittedly, the talk of a flat tax isn't strictly accurate when the medium term goal is to keep the current 15% rate and reduce all higher rates to 18%. It's almost flat though.

See also The Whig, Rodney Hide and NZ Pundit.

 
Yeah right

Ruth Dyson must think the public is incredibly naive.

Dyson told Parliament last month that Government records showed the first allegations surfaced in 1993, and it had been up to then Associate Health Minister Katherine O'Regan to order an inquiry.

But Dyson was forced to admit yesterday that Labour had dealt with the issue.

She released papers which she said had come to light only after CYF searched archives that she had not known existed.

Dyson told The Press she had only become aware of the existence of the documents in the last week and had tabled them as soon as she had been provided with them.

Despite repeated questioning by National and Act, Dyson denied the previous Labour government was aware of the allegations. Katherine Rich, without the benefit of hordes of bureaucrats at her disposal, uncovered documentary evidence that Dyson misled Parliament. Now, suddenly, Dyson has discovered new information in 'archives that she had not known existed'.

This sort of thing is becoming a habit for Dyson. See also Dalziel, Lianne.

 
Hopkins

From Jim Hopkins in today's Herald

The Minister of Rorts

Beehive Bank

WELLINGTON

Dear Mr Dullard:

I/we/him/they/the people next door/a bloke round the corner have built a yacht/dinghy/nuclear submarine/steam-driven suppository extractor/mobile sauna and rebirthing clinic which we wish to race/sink/try to get started/sell to Richard Branson at the forthcoming high profile race/regatta/all-in brawl/drugs bust soon to be held in Valencia/Majorca/Constantinople/Dargaville.

We believe our ultimate victory in this event will enhance New Zealand's reputation as a great place for tourists/philanthropists/movie actors/ladies called Shania/illegal immigrants/people who can't make P in Fiji.

Accordingly, we wish to apply for $52 million/a winning Lotto ticket/some Parliamentary taxi chits/whatever's left over to pursue our Kiwi dream and bring fortune to the nation.

Yrs, etc.

C. Ash.

PS: Please make all cheques payable to signatory and, if available, also enclose an Emirates timetable.

 
Steyn on Europe

Writing on the E.U. elections, Mark Steyn says the lunatic mainstream had better start worrying fast. This is priceless:

In France in 2002, the presidential election was supposed to be between Jacques Chirac, the Left of Right of Left of centre candidate, and Lionel Jospin, the Right of Left of Right of Left of centre candidate. Chospin and Jirac ran on identical platforms, both fully committed to high taxes, high unemployment and high crime. Faced with a choice between Eurodee and Eurodum, the French electorate decided they fancied a real choice and stuck Jean-Marie Le Pen in there. Same in Holland until Pim Fortuyn got gunned down by a crazed vegetarian, the first fruitarian to kill a fruit Aryan.

The whole thing is a riot, maybe his best column ever.

 
Rotten to the Core

More on the U.N. and UNSCAM from Claudia Rosett:

What's missing at the U.N. is not another survey by another consulting firm, or another 90-page report, or another investigation which serves chiefly to pre-empt criticism while fixing not much. The basic flaws are simple: Anytime you create a large institution, accord it great privileges of secrecy, give it a big budget, and have it run by someone immune from any sane standard of accountability, you are likely to get a corrupt organization. And unless the ground rules change, Mr. Annan's tactic of exhorting senior staff to be more accountable has about as much chance of success as Mikhail Gorbachev's efforts in the 1980s to fix the U.S.S.R. by telling Soviet citizens to stop drinking.

The problem with the Secretariat isn't "tone" at the top. It's accountability at the top, and secrecy throughout. Perhaps a leader with the character of a Churchill or a Reagan would be willing to address that failing directly--and put his job on the line to push for change. Mr. Annan prefers to issue reports.

Someone needs to help this institution, and it's not a consulting team hired by the same institution, nor is it a batch of investigators operating under terms defined by the U.N., nor is it a grand gathering of staff members being urged to risk reprisals by telling tales of earlier reprisals. A better place to start is the proposal by Sen. John Ensign that the U.S. withhold part of the U.N.'s budget until the institution comes clean on Oil for Food. Better yet would be to tackle the system that engendered Oil for Food. To do that would probably require setting up a competing international institution, based on openness and accountability--and give the U.N. a run for its money. For now, I'm working around to the belief that in the matter of reforming the U.N., the only thing worse than having the U.N. ignore a problem is to have the U.N. investigate it.

There's also this:

The United Nations was rocked by a new scandal yesterday when reports surfaced that the diplomat in charge of rooting out corruption in the world body is himself facing allegiations about unethical conduct.

Fox News reported yesterday that Dileep Nair, the undersecretary general in charge of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight, has been accused of demanding kickbacks and sexual favors in return for promotions inside his office. Nair, a native of Singapore, also has been accused of attempting to thwart the probe into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, although his role in that probe remains unclear.

The allegations that the man in charge of ethics enforcement is himself facing charges come at a time when the United Nations is facing the gravest test of its credibility in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal.

It also comes a day after the United Nations published a shocking survey in which a majority of the U.N. staff said they fear reprisals from their bosses if they step forward with information about wrongdoing.

And this:

Two BNP Paribas sources tell me this: in a storage facility in Lower Manhattan, the bank had a large room containing some 5,000 oil-for-food file folders.

Each folder contained a copy of the bank's letter of credit authorized by a U.N. official to pay a contractor for its shipment; a Notice of Arrival monitored by Cotecna at the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr if by ship, or the Jordanian border crossing of Trebil if by truck; and a description of the contract. The original paperwork went to the Rafidain bank in Amman, Jordan; copies of the damning documents are stored by BNP Paribas in New Jersey.

Though the U.N. purchases were supposedly to supply desperate Iraqis with food or medicine, most of this evidence deals with items like construction equipment from Russia, hundreds of Mercedes-Benz limousines from Germany and thousands of bottles of perfume from France.

Why does any country still keep giving these people money? Rosett's suggestion of a competing international institution, based on openness and accountability, is a great idea.

 
Jobless Recovery

Employment is booming so strongly in the U.S. that even Reuters has noticed:

U.S. companies are gearing up to create jobs at rates not seen since the height of the 1990s boom, a survey released on Tuesday showed, adding to evidence that job growth will keep the U.S. economic recovery rolling

Thirty percent of polled U.S. employers plan to add to their payrolls in the July to September period, the survey by Manpower Inc. showed. That is up from 20 percent a year earlier and 28 percent in the April to June period.

Far fewer companies now plan to lay off employees, the survey showed, making the net year-over-year increase in employers planning to create jobs the largest in the history of the Manpower survey, which was started in 1976.

The survey comes as job-growth begins to catch up with U.S. economic expansion, scotching talk of a 'jobless recovery' and bolstering Bush's claims that his policies create jobs, a key election battleground.

Bush's economic policies have been mostly crap apart from the tax cut, and are not responsible for the increase in jobs in the same way that Labour's policies didn't cause the drop in unemployment here. At least the U.S. is reducing unemployment without increasing the numbers on just about every other benefit and creating new welfare benefits as well.

As Pejman says, it's bad news for Kerry and good news for everyone else.

 
LOL

Latest Scrappleface:

Rejecting a call from Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to resign from the U.S. Senate, John Forbes Kerry today said that missing 87 percent of Senate votes in 2004 has "not diminished my effectiveness in the least."

"If you examine my 16-year record in the Senate, you'll see that I'm just as effective when I'm not there as I was when I was there," said Mr. Kerry. "The major legislation on health care, energy and homeland security that I didn't introduce then, I'm not introducing now. The colleagues who I didn't rally to my causes then, remain unrallied. I think it's disingenuous for Gov. Romney to suggest that my absence from the Senate harms America in any way."

 
The Market's Neglected Virtues

Excellent article by Ramesh Ponnuru in Tech Central Station:

I also prefer the Austrian school of economics -- which includes thinkers such as von Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard -- not least because it does not overemphasize the textbook model of perfect competition, especially by using that model as a stick with which to beat real-world industries. For the Austrians, the essence of economic life is not competition but co-ordination. The metaphor of the invisible hand is a way of explaining how the problem of social co-ordination can be solved without central direction. People with diverse resources and plans can cooperate in ways that leave them all better off. Hence Michael Novak's description of capitalism -- his term, not mine -- as "a creative form of community."

When foreign governments keep people in poverty by denying them customary property rights, when licensure regulations create barriers to self-advancement for the poor here, when tariffs raise the price of children's clothes and block the legitimate aspirations of people in other countries, when health care policies create gratuitous anxieties and tragedies for people: It cannot be said that we have economic freedom, or justice, or cause for complacency. The two government policies that have done the most to fight poverty in recent years have been, essentially, pro-market policies: welfare reform here, and free trade overseas.

Well said. Read the whole thing.

 
Anti-Climax

With a side-step that Joe Rokocoko would be proud of, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to decide whether the words 'under God' that Eisenhower added to the Pledge of Allegiance are a violation of the Constitution, ruling instead that Craig Michael Newdow has no standing to sue because he's separated from his daughter's mother and she doesn't support the litigation.

 
BBC Bias Explained

We thought BBC reporters were outrageously abusing their taxpayer-funded status to peddle extreme leftist propaganda. Actually, it turns out that broadcasting the truth is punishable by law in the UK. Read this decision from Ofcom, the British Broadcasting Standards Authority:

My Word is a personal comment section at the end of an hour-long news programme called The Big Story. On the day of the publication of the Hutton Inquiry Report into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly (which contained criticism of the BBC), John Gibson, the programme anchor, delivered his regular editorial opinion piece. In the course of which, John Gibson claimed:

a) that the BBC had “a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Americanism that was obsessive, irrational and dishonest”;
b) that the BBC “felt entitled to lie and, when caught lying, felt entitled to defend its lying reporters and executives”;
c) that the BBC reporter, Andrew Gilligan, in Baghdad during the American invasion, had “insisted on air that the Iraqi Army was heroically repulsing an incompetent American Military”;
d) that “the BBC, far from blaming itself, insisted its reporter had a right to lie – exaggerate – because, well, the BBC knew that the war was wrong, and anything they could say to underscore that point had to be right”.

[snipped details of reasoning]

Fox News was therefore in breach of Sections 2.1 (respect for truth), 2.7 (opportunity to take part), and 3.5(b) (personal view programmes - opinions expressed must not rest upon false evidence) of the Programme Code.

Those four claims are either provably true or at the very least a matter of opinion, and the BBC/Gilligan don't get an 'opportunity to take part' - especially since the BBC is a public organization with their own media outlet.

(via Jeff Jarvis)

 
Separation of Church and Sanity

Arthur Chrenkoff reports on this column by Father Andrew Greeley in the Chicago Sun Times:

"[Bush] is not another Hitler. Yet there is a certain parallelism. They have in common a demagogic appeal to the worst side of a country's heritage in a crisis. Bush is doubtless sincere in his vision of what is best for America. So too was Hitler. The crew around the president -- Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Karl Rove, the 'neo-cons' like Paul Wolfowitz -- are not as crazy perhaps as Himmler and Goering and Goebbels. Yet like them, they are practitioners of the Big Lie -- weapons of mass destruction, Iraq democracy, only a few 'bad apples'."

Apart from the Bush-Hitler analogy, notice also how he uses the term 'neo-con' to refer to Wolfowitz and only Wolfowitz.

 
Must be some kind of record

Is there a record for the extent to which you can go in defending a villain, just because he's from your own political party?

I ask this because Matthew Yglesias is defending Andrew Jackson.

 
Welfare for Families

When the government pays benefits to people because they have children, it undermines the incentives that would normally persuade people against having children they can't support. On the other hand, the children already exist and it isn't their fault that their parents are irresponsible, so can the government really justify allowing children to grow up in poverty just to serve as a lesson to other prospective parents?

One possible way around this is, when child benefits are paid, the government can reduce the future superannuation entitlement of the parents so they don't pay until after the children have grown up. This appears to give the best of both worlds, ensuring that money is available to help raise children while retaining the disincentive to engage in activity that creates a need for welfare.

For some families, the gap between the current superannuation rate and a subsistence rate would not be enough to cover the amount they receive in welfare payments. However, the incentives in effect before the first child is produced, would in many cases be enough to make people act more wisely.

 
Teletubbies

From Jacob Sullum at Reason:

When my daughter was 6, she spent a morning watching cartoons, during which she saw one commercial after another for cereal, candy, and cookies. Inspired by these messages, she grabbed her purse, drove to the grocery store, and loaded up the car with Cap'n Crunch, Skittles, and Oreos. That was all she ate for a month.

Hehehe. There's also this:

"Our dogs are getting overweight for exactly the same reasons we are," Zywicki noted. "They're eating too much and exercising too little. They're not watching too much advertising."

Read the whole thing.

 
Riemann Hypothesis proved?

The story with links is here.

 
Civil Unions

Interesting discussion on this at Just Left and No Right Turn.

NRT rightly criticizes Jordan's claim that same-sex couples deserve equal treatment because: 'Sexuality is something that is inherent in people. It is a generally stable trait that people don't 'choose' - it is simply a fact of existence.'

Sexuality is a combination of genetics, environment and choice. In some people it's mostly genetic, in others it's mostly other factors. I think genes have a bigger influence than anything else, but we don't even know that for sure. Why should gays be content to rest their claims for equality on a theory that could be refuted by new evidence at any time? After all, it just takes one set of identical twins with different sexual preferences to undermine the argument that sexuality is 100% genetic.

No Right Turn's answer seems to be based around the idea that the government shouldn't regulate private conduct between consenting adults, to the point of absolute equality in legal recognition of relationships.

Readers of this blog will know I'm highly skeptical of the government's ability to make decisions for people. However, the 'private conduct between consenting adults' argument leads to a slippery slope of polygamy, incest, doctor/patient relationships and even (I hesitate to mention this again) the German cannibal case. Some people are so foolish that even the government can make better decisions about their lives than the individuals themselves.

I just don't believe that a father-daughter couple has an absolute right to state recognition of their relationship, or that the Caucus of the Green party should be able to enter into a single, collective, state-sanctioned 9-person (plus existing partners) marriage.

Having government avoid recognising relationships altogether is a tempting option, but there's still the issue of marital property division, medical decisons, child-related decisions, plus the fair allocation of the numerous government handouts.

I think the answer is that the government should decide which marriages to recognise based on utilitarian considerations, provided individual autonomy is given a sufficient high utility. It can be argued that the downside of same-sex marriage, for the couple or anyone else, is too small to outweigh the benefits. For the other examples I mentioned, the opposite can be argued.

The question of whether Civil Unions go far enough depends on what happens next. A good plan would be to gradually merge Civil Unions into marriage so that eventually a marriage consists of a state-sanctioned Civil Union and some other religious or traditional stuff. The state can then quietly let go of marriage and people can just go the church or elsewhere, sign their Civil Union papers, perform any other ceremony they want and regard themselves as married (or not).

I hope this does happen and that gays don't prevent it from happening by campaigning against the Civil Unions bill. The Civil Rights era complaints about 'separate but equal' make sense only when full equality is within reach.

 
Incentives

Memo to criminals: If you don't pay fines, you get let off them. If you don't do community service, you get let off that as well.

Actually criminals already know this. The only fines that are enforced are the ones that are collected by the IRD to punish businesses and working people for earning income.

 
Would somebody please just shoot him

From today's NZ Herald:

The Zimbabwe Government has banned all private land ownership and will nationalise all farmland and privately-owned game parks.

In an announcement in the state-owned Herald newspaper, John Nkomo, the Special Affairs Minister in the President's office in charge of Land Reform and Resettlement, ordered all private landowners to give up their land to the Government immediately.

He did not say when the nationalisation process would be completed.

"In the end all land shall be state land and there will be no such thing called private land," Nkomo said. "It will now be the state which will enable the utilisation of the land for national prosperity."

It's time the U.N. stopped delivering food to Mugabe's thugs and started delivering guns directly to starving Zimbabweans. Without the constant stream of 'humanitarian' assistance, Mugabe would be hanging from a tree by now. Even so, he's soon going to need a gulag or a war, or both, to keep the country under control. It's not like abolition of private property hasn't been tried before.

 
He should know

Op-Ed by Mikhail Gorbachev in the NYT:

I don't know whether we would have been able to agree and to insist on the implementation of our agreements with a different person at the helm of American government. True, Reagan was a man of the right. But, while adhering to his convictions, with which one could agree or disagree, he was not dogmatic; he was looking for negotiations and cooperation. And this was the most important thing to me: he had the trust of the American people.

The personal rapport that emerged between us over the years helped me to appreciate Ronald Reagan's human qualities. A true leader, a man of his word and an optimist, he traveled the journey of his life with dignity and faced courageously the cruel disease that darkened his final years. He has earned a place in history and in people's hearts.

 
Goodbye

Ronald Reagan died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, aged 93.

If I was to make a list of people throughout history who have done the most to make the world a better place, Reagan would certainly be in the top five and possibly number one.

See also this obituary from CNN and this timeline from FoxNews

Here are some famous quotes:

"If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate ... open this gate ... tear down this wall." — June 1987 speech at Brandenberg Gate in Berlin. Remarks addressed to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

"Government is not the solution, it's the problem." — Inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981

"A friend of mine was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist."

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

"The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest." — On 40th anniversary of Normandy invasion, June 6, 1984.

Some interesting facts about Reagan:

— When Reagan left the California governor's office, the state budget showed a $550 million surplus.
— He was the oldest man elected president.
— He was the first Hollywood actor to be elected president.
— He was the first president to have a daughter pose for Playboy magazine.
— He was the first president to have been divorced.
— As a result of his many television appearances he became known as the Great Communicator.
— He appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
— He was the eighth president to be the victim of an assassination attempt — and was the only president to survive a wound.
— When he was reelected president in 1984, he carried 49 states.

Goodbye, we'll miss you - and thanks for dealing to the commies.

 
150 parole rulings thrown into doubt

From the Herald:

Almost 150 Parole Board decisions for some of the country's worst criminals are in doubt after a psychiatrist was alleged to have helped make decisions instead of offering advice.

Health Ministry mental health director David Chaplow disclosed in an affidavit to the Court of Appeal last month that he, as adviser on psychiatric issues, helped the board in its deliberations as if he were a member.

Few New Zealanders could name a single member of the Parole Board and there's no reason to respect their judgment. They have no set prodecures or standards and are essentially a law unto themselves.

If you want an impartial decision, based on tested reliable evidence, of the length of time an offender should spend in prison, then the trial judge is best placed to make that decision. If it's necessary to estimate the risk of releasing an offender early, then a psychiatrist with extensive criminal experience is likely to make much better choices than the Parole Board.

I'd like to see parole abolished completely or at least be decided in court before a judge. At a minimum, the media should be allowed to attend and report on parole hearings.

 
Assorted mass-media nonsense

It's scary how badly the media misrepresent what politicians say. Here are some recent examples:

The Green Party did not say they won't stand electorate candidates. They actually said they will not actively campaign to win electorates - they'll stand candidates who will campaign for the party vote. This is a sensible strategy and it's what Act did last time. (The link is from No Right Turn but the mistake is by TVNZ).

This story from yesterday's Herald horribly misrepresents the views of both Stephen Franks and Rodney Hide, as a cursory glance at the sources will reveal.

This article on last night's speech by John Banks is ridiculous. The Act party invited him to Wellington to give a dinner speech on the topic: "Why Wellington needs Auckland". We knew it would be good entertainment even though the content would be a load of bollocks. Nobody at the dinner took him seriously, except one journalist it seems. Of course jokes doesn't work when taken out of context and interspersed with comments from overly-sensitive Wellingtonians who have no sense of humour. But how is that news?

 
Why Stephen Franks?

Everyone else seems to be having their say so I may as well join in. Here's why Stephen Franks should be the next leader of Act:

It's a choice between Stephen Franks and Rodney Hide. Ken Shirley would do a good job, but won't get the votes, and Muriel Newman is on a different planet than the Act caucus and most of the membership. Here's how Stephen and Rodney compare:


Leadership

Richard Prebble's greatest strength as a leader was his ability to bring together a diverse group of individuals and keep them focused and working as a team. This is particularly important for Act because, by its nature, the party will attract highly capable individuals rather than people who are necessarily team players. Act also tolerates (in fact expects) a much higher level of argument and dissent than other parties.

Under Rodney Hide's leadership, there's a risk that the party will be transformed into a legion of spear carriers in support of the Hide personality cult. This might be ok for NZ First and United Future, where most of the MPs have no ability or interest in thinking for themselves, but it would lead to rapid self-destruction for Act.

Unlike Hide, Stephen Franks has actual leadership experience as chairman and senior partner in the Chapman Tripp law firm. He's much more likely to command respect and get the best out of the caucus team.


Public Profile

Rodney Hide had the advantage here in the past, but it's important to remember how his media profile was built up. Uncovering government incompetence and gross wastage of taxpayers' money is always headline news. An Act MP advocating reform of the tax system is not news. The very activities that contributed to Hide's public profile are the activities that he will no longer be undertaking if elected leader. With Franks as leader, Act will continue to receive the free media coverage from Hide's perk-busting activities.


Policy

The leader doesn't set policy so this is not reason for choosing any particular candidate. I only mention it because some people are mistakenly basing their votes on policy considerations. The comments on Rodney Hide's blog are fine examples of this. Even if they're right that a leadership change would influence policy direction, does Act really want to be reduced to competing with Libertarianz for the geeky anarchist and Ayndroid vote?

I think conservatives who don't like Hide are more likely to vote for another party than are libertarians who don't like Franks. To the extent that voters accidentally confuse Act policy with the leader's personal views, the effect should work to the advantage of a moderately conservative candidate.


Party Vote Support

To really flourish as a party, Act needs to appeal to different groups, each with their own interests and problems. I'd like to see Rodney Hide continue as the champion of those who are oppressed by the IRD, Deborah Coddington to be the saviour of parents who children are forced into underperforming state schools, and Muriel Newman to help out those who lose their kids in secret, biased and unjust Family Court proceedings.

The Act party's image needs to be based around more than just one person. As mentioned above, Hide as leader would mean everyone else blending into the scenery.

Act would certainly like to win an electorate, and Epsom is the best opportunity. It would require a massive effort though, and I doubt that Rodney could devote sufficient time to an electorate campaign while also travelling the country as the party leader. Richard Prebble discovered this when he tried to defend Wellington Central in 1999, and also discovered that a major effort to build support in a single electorate can be wiped out when boundaries are redrawn.


Endorsements

The endorsements from Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson do matter. If they had endorsed Hide, he would certainly be trumpeting the fact from the rooftops. Instead he lamely says:

"That’s a bit unfortunate but I don’t believe that it is too much of a set back."

Douglas and Richardson have done more for NZ than any other politicians in my lifetime. They know the leadership candidates, and are very well placed to judge their relative merits. This endorsement is huge.


Working with National

The acid test for Act will be how well they contribute to running the country after next year's election. If Act fails to achieve real reform, their reason for existence will largely disappear. Especially under Brash, National will not allow the finance portfolio to go to a minor party - remember what happened when Winston Peters was treasurer?

Act should focus on justice and education because these are areas where reforms have wide public support and will certainly succeed and stick if pursued determinedly enough. It would be extremely helpful, but not essential, if the Act leader and deputy were active in these portfolio areas.

 
Brash's Midas Touch

Ftom the Herald:

In a surprise poll result, 53.1 per cent of voters surveyed supported a National Party taskforce report which suggests easing the law that bans nuclear-propelled ship visits, and replacing it with a "policy" ban.

The Herald-DigiPoll found 37.6 per cent of those surveyed did not want any tinkering with the anti-nuclear legislation.

Sacred cow steak for lunch - yumm!