April 2010

Again from John Ansell

John Key on Carbon Trading

I am yet to see a valid reason for New Zealand to add huge costs to our economy to mitigte a problem which is still only  theory and far from proven. John Key and Nickpocrisy Smith seem hell bent on making business as difficult as possible, particularly for our exporters.

It should be relatively simple to put through an amendment to place a moratorium on the ETS until 75% of our major trading partners implement a similar scheme. It makes sense.

I have been watching with some bemusement at the media flapping their gums over the SFO investigation at ACC.

Bemusement?

Yes, because this little rort has been going on for years and has been well known in Wellington amongst the wider property management sector and has also been talked about in not so hushed whispers in Auckland, which is where I have heard about the carry on. The tip-line has been buzzing hot since Malcolm Mason – National Property Manager ACC got the DCM. We are talking tip of the iceberg stuff here, not just one skanky little building in Nelson.

On this matter there is some very interesting stuff and when you dig a little deeper (Companies office) you find out the details.
I am aware of 5 additional  players than those touched upon by the once over lightly of the New Zealand news media. They are:

• Rohan Hill – Owner Bayleys Commercial Wellington
• Greg Hutt – Hi-Tech Commercial Interiors Limited You would think with all that government money they would get a better website.
• Lloyd Cundy – Developer
• Paul Coffey – Alligator Limited
• Luke Vodanovich – Partner – Thompson Vodanovich.

Lloyd Cundy, his wife and Luke Vodanovich are also shareholders in Lace Bark Corporate Trustee Limited.

What we have here appears to be a cosy little arrangement between friends for the leasing, interiors, legal work, management, and security/access control for ACC buildings.

What is not shown is that these six  are tight friends.  Very Tight Friends.

ACC property have never tendered out any work for property projects in Wellington – Malcolm Mason’s friend Greg Hutt gets all the fit-out work.  Malcolm Mason has only ever dealt with Rohan Hill for any property leasing work. Malcolm Mason has presumably been living life on the large for putting work the way of the boys.  Certainly he has been seen around Wellington driving Greg Hutt’s Porsche.  Malcolm Mason has also enjoyed generous hospitality at Rohan Hill’s holiday house at Millbrook in Queenstown, and at every event at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

If people with greater capabilities than this humble blogger can do a search on all properties controlled/owned by Lloyd Cundy.  Then see where ACC are tenants. SNAP!

This cosy little club has been blown apart and the questions that need to be answered include:

• Can the property concerned be taken under  the Proceeds of Crime Act?
• What other deals have these parties (or some) been involved in? Rohan Hill was the agent involved in the ACC lease of new premises at the Vogel Building in Wellington, do the math on that deal, 13,000m sq @ $500psm x 19% commission = $1,295,000
• Where was the tender process on this deal?
• How many of the jobs given to Hi-Tech in the past 10 years were tendered on a competitive basis?
• How much of Greg Hutt’s multi-million dollar house and $2m Lake Taupo holiday home have been funded by us, the tax payer, through no bid/none-tendered contracts.  Because of the cosy club most contractors will not bother tendering because the work will always be given to Hi-Tech and Greg Hutt.

Kudos to Nick Smith (crikey, did I just say that?) who smelled a rat and ordered an enquiry into ACC property matters following on from complaints about the ACC office in Nelson.

Much, much more to come on this. It certainly looks like there has been zero prevention, no care and we can only hope that the recovery option is valid for getting back the taxpayers millions.

And to think the deaf, dumb and blind men at Transparency International think there is no corruption in New Zealand.

According to Nanny Rahui the following foods should be GST free because they are “healthy”.

• Fruit and vegetables (including fresh, frozen, canned and dried):
• Breads and cereals (including all bread, grains, rice and pasta):
• Milk and milk products (including cheese, yoghurt and plain milk, but excluding ice cream, cream products, condensed and flavoured milk):
• Lean meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes

Soooooooooooo…..Lucky for KFC, almost all of their food is “healthy” and thus would be GST free. According to the American KFC site (NZ’s doesn’t have a full list of ingredients) their original chicken recipe is Fresh Chicken (no GST) Marinated With: Salt (GST), Sodium Phosphate (GST) and Monosodium Glutamate (GST).  Breaded With: Wheat Flour (no GST), Salt (no GST) and Anti-caking agent (GST), Nonfat Milk (no GST), Egg Whites (no GST), Colonel’s Secret Original Recipe Seasoning (probably a mixture because it contains herbs (no GST) and spices (GST).  Contains Egg (no GST), Milk (no GST), and Wheat (no GST).

So the Original Recipe KFC is largely GST free except in minute quantities in the seasoning. That makes the Double Down an almost GST free, healthy, hunger buster for starving Maori. The only thing in it that would attract GST is the bacon and they could avoid that if they made it with “lean” bacon.

I can see KFC’s marketing now – “Double Down – Nothing but Healthy Food”, “KFC – The choooice for healthy Maori”

There was a good Mediawatch on Sunday.

How the media make use of social networking websites – and why you need to be careful; why political reporters try to pick winners; misunderstanding the nation’s nuclear policy. (duration: 35′27″)

Mediawatch, 25 April 2010

Sent in by a loyal reader.

Mullet failure

TOM Smitheringale wanted to prove the world was warming. Now he’s another alarmist with frostbite.

The 40-year-old from Perth planned to be the first Australian to trek unassisted to the North Pole, but announced he’d raise some consciousness along the way.

As he wrote on his website: “Part of the reason Tom’s One Man Epic is taking place now is because of the effect that global warming is having on the polar ice caps.”

Indeed, he wanted to see the North Pole while it was still there: “Some scientists have even estimated that the polar ice cap will have entirely melted away by 2014!”

But Antarctica isn’t melting away, and Arctic ice has slowly increased since its big low in 1997.

But no one seems to have told Tom, who soon found his extremities freezing.

Two weeks ago he nearly called off his trek after suffering excruciating pain in his fingers and thumbs, forcing him to call in emergency help.

And last week he had to be rescued by Canadian soldiers after falling through the ice sheet.

These blithering idiots seem hell bent on killing themselves trying to prove something that isn’t true. I say let them die. If you to extreme climates and do extreme things there is a good chance you won’t come back. But this fool isn’t the only one.

This is actually now the fourth year running that warming alarmists have had to be rescued from expeditions to prove the Arctic is warmer than it actually is. It’s a metaphor.

Last year it was British eco-explorer Pen Hadow and his two-person team who had to be flown out mid-stunt, after battling brutal sub-zero weather conditions that gave the team’s photographer frostbite.

The year before, eco-adventurer Lewis Gordon Pugh was similarly thwarted.

He’d planned to kayak 1200km to the North Pole to raise awareness of how global warming had allegedly melted the ice sheet so badly that scientists warned the North Pole that summer could be ice-free.

No such luck. Pugh had to pull out, still 1000km from the finish, when a great barrier of sea ice blocked his route.

The year before gave even more farcical entertainment.

“Explorers and educators” Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen said they were off on what reporters described as “a historic 75-day expedition to the North Pole and beyond to raise awareness of global warming’s impact on the fragile Arctic”.

It turned out that what was fragile was not the Arctic but the alarmists, who had to call off their big trip not long after it started, when Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold drained their batteries.

Explained a spokesman: “They were experiencing temperatures that weren’t expected with global warming.”

Newsflash idiots! The Polar icecap isn’t disappearing, it is fricken cold up there. Has anyone wondered why the Russians don’t seem to have very many climate scientists trying desperately to convince the world that the north is thawing when it isn’t?

“It is disgusting. Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See has been in to see the Secretary of State and explain what happened and this will all be relayed to the Pope.

“It’s even possible the trip could be cancelled as this matter is hugely offensive.”

Nowhere near as offensive as covering up boy buggering and blaming the whole thing as a conspiracy by the Jews.

Ok, well he didn’t quite say that but he may as well have. Charlie Shovel was commenting on some comments about his poorly constructed segue from an ANZAC post to a political attack on the Maori and National parties.

It didn’t quite come off but I know what he was trying to say with his post. His comment however leaves no room for debate. Charlie Shovel thinks that is you use a pseudonym then you are classless. All those Labour/Green felch-mongs out there like Spud and Zetetic, Michael Foxglove, R0B, Eddie (especially Eddie), Marty G, All_Your_Base, Toad et al are all without class. Classless commentors who can be safely ignored. The Standard is class-less, according to Charlie Shovel‘s criteria.

Charlie is not going to be too popular with the paid lap-bloggers at the EPMU and the political wing of the EPMU Labour party.

Charlie Shovel talks about Class

We can deal with reality or;

Versus

Blithering Idiots of our Time

Greenpeace nutters and spokes-nutters “Lucy Lawless and Robyn Malcolm launched the campaign at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks just 50 kms southwest of the proposed mining sites.”

Oh lordy just 50kms away from a mining site! Terrible.

Where I live is Howick is merely 13kms from the massive Winstone Quarry (next to Phil Goff’s electorate office!) Oh no!

Are these fools saying that a coal mine 50km’s away from the Pancake Rocks is going to be devastating for tourism?

Reefton is less than 50kms away from Punakaiki and has fricken heaps of mines, none of which has damaged tourism to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks.

Just exactly how many carbon miles does Lucy Lawless burn a year en route to/from Los Angeles where she lives?

I’m sick to death of air-headed celebrities claiming they know everything about saving the planet.

Government Ministers in the UK have apologised to the Pope.

The Government has apologised to the Pope over official documents that mocked his forthcoming visit to Britain by suggesting he should bless a gay marriage and even launch Papal-branded condoms.

The astonishing proposals, leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, were contained in secret papers drawn up earlier this month by civil servants following a ‘brainstorm’.

The ideas, included in a memo headed ‘The ideal visit would see …’, ridiculed the Catholic Church’s teachings including its opposition to abortion, homosexual behaviour and contraception. Many appeared to be deliberately provocative rather than a serious attempt to plan an itinerary for the September visit.

The proposals, which were then circulated among key officials in Downing Street and Whitehall, also include the Pope opening an abortion ward; spending the night in a council flat in Bradford; doing forward rolls with children to promote healthy living; and even performing a duet with the Queen.

Why didn’t they insist he takes up the suggestion in the documents?

In reference to the hugely sensitive issue of child abuse engulfing the Catholic Church, the Government document suggests that the Pope should take a “harder line on child abuse – announce sacking of dodgy bishops” and “launch helpline for abused children”.

The document was sent out by a junior Foreign Office civil servant with a covering note admitting that some of the plans were “far-fetched”.

Apparently people who received the memo were appalled at the content, including the Foreign minister David Milliband.

Frankly, I’m appalled that the UK is letting the head of the biggest paedophile ring  in the world Catholic Church into their country at all, considering that King Henry VIII took great pains to ensure England was rid of the Catholic menace.

We boycott African nations and places like Fiji for lack of democracy and human rights abuses, perhaps we should put the Vatican on a travel boycott until they address the issue of their priests buggering boys.