Brazil

Isn’t this nice. El Presidente Patrick Lee-Lo and his sidekick Marja Verkerk jetted off over to Curitiba, Brazil recently for… wait for it… the World Federation of Building Service Contractors 2012 Congress!

Here’s a photo of them enjoying themselves. Unionists really know how to trough it up.

From left, Marja Verkerk (BSC NZ), Mary Grant (Consolidated Property Services, Melbourne) and Patrick Lee-Lo (BSC NZ national president)

Wonder whether the grass-roots membership of the BSC even knew about the junket, let alone the Samba dancers.

Then again, what’s the bet they don’t know about the $1.8m that El Presidente Patrick Lee-Lo is sitting on.

But one thing will be for sure. Patrick’s mates in the SFWU will know all about the $1.8m.

This seems to be a clever and constructive initiative:

Some of Brazil’s most notorious inmates will be offered the chance to trim time off their jail sentences by reading books.

The government has announced that they will have four days knocked off their sentence for every book they read.   Read more »

Margaret Thatcher gave Francois Mitterand a good bollocking after the Poms found out that the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys were trying to smuggle Exocets into Argentina at the height of the Falklands war:

Margaret Thatcher warned that Britain’s relationship with France would suffer a “devastating” blow if the latter allowed Exocet missiles to be smuggled to Argentina during the Falklands War.

In a secret telegram to French president Francois Mitterand, the Prime Minister even cast doubt on the future of the Nato alliance, should he fail to stop shipments of the anti-ship missile, then being used with awful effect against Britain’s task force in the South Atlantic.

The sea-skimming Exocet was the most feared weapon in the Argentinian armoury, accounting for the destroyer Sheffield and the container ship Atlantic Conveyor, and posing a mortal threat to Operation Corporate, the mission to recover the Falklands.

Fortunately for Britain, only five of the missiles, manufactured by France’s Aerospatiale, had been delivered Read more »

May I introduce you to the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.

Other world leaders aren’t scared of public opinion. They get the job done. So instead of lengthy debates about gay shirts, or fat idiot Germans, anyone sufficiently outraged should be sent on their way with a “so what?”.

If this is your last term John, don’t you think it’s time to start cracking some eggs to make a decent omelette?

What sort of Legacy would you like the Key Government to leave? What do you think people should still be talking about 20 years later? That you managed to sell 49% of a few power companies?

Is this the limit of your ambition? Surely not?

What eggs would you be cracking open if you were making a decent John Key omelette?

Seriously…think about it…two mothers in law!

Three people have been allowed to enter into a civil union in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo.

Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, a public notary, granted the wishes of the man and two women, saying there is nothing in law that prevents such an arrangement.

The trio have lived together in Rio de Janeiro for three years, and have a joint bank account, sharing bills and expenses. The union was made formally three months ago, according to Globo TV, but only became public this week.

“We are only recognising what has always existed. We are not inventing anything,” said Ms Domingues.

“For better or worse, it doesn’t matter, but what we considered a family before isn’t necessarily what we would consider a family today.”

Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva, a lawyer, told the BBC it was “totally illegal” and “completely unacceptable which goes against Brazilian values and morals”.

Riiight, Brazilian values and morals?

This from the country of Mardi Gras and Brazilian waxing.

No, not in getting rid of excess unmentionable body hair.

Apparently they have the same goal as Lyin’ Len and want to make Brazil livable, but they are willing to do it through the private sector.

Under the terms of the new program, the government will award private companies concessions for construction, maintenance and operation of the projects through a competitive bidding process – an approach that was widely hailed by the business sector here. Officials said calls for offers would go out in the coming months, with projects awarded the lowest bidder.

Clesio Andrade, head of the industry group the National Transport Confederation, praised Rousseff’s left-leaning administration for opening the investments up to the private sector.
“It’s important that after more than 20 years, the government has left behind ideology and opened the projects to participation by private enterprise,” Andrade said. “That gives a lot of strength to the projects and will help generate more jobs.”

And Brazil’s plans have already found favour with a Kiwi politician. It seems that Clare Curran is a big fan of what Brazil is up to and even exhorted the government to take note.

NZ Govt take note “@rnz_news: Stimulus package announced by Brazil bit.ly/PF0Pei”

— Clare Curran (@clarecurranmp) August 18, 2012

No doubt Steven Joyce is even now preparing a large list of projects to open up to PPPs knowing that at least some in Labour support it.

ᔥ Springwise.com

Here is an idea for Anne Tolley to consider. It is great idea for low risk offenders in NZ. High risk offenders should just have this as part of their punishment.

The Greens should be all for this one!

Film lovers in the UK have already experienced screenings projected the environmentally friendly way with the pedal-powered Cycle-in Cinema. In Brazil, the Santa Rita do Sapucaí prison has taken a similar approach in its attempts to produce green energy – harnessing the pedal work of its inmates.

According to reports, two exercise bikes have been placed in the courtyard of the penitentiary and are hooked up to batteries. Cyclists’ kinetic energy is converted into electricity which charges the battery and a device on the handlebars alerts the rider when it’s time stop. The fully charged batteries are then taken into the city and used to power street lamps – one day’s cycling can provide enough energy to run six light bulbs. On a mass scale, the country’s prisoners could be a source of alternative energy for illuminating a city’s worth of street lights. In order to incentivize use of the bikes, city judge José Henrique Mallmann is waiving a day off the sentence of prisoners for every 16 hours pedalling they complete. The facility aims to install a further eight bikes following the success of the scheme.

ᔥ The Sun

A classic case of stupid is as stupid does:

A PRANKSTER was red in the face after painting himself green – when his new colour wouldn’t wash off.

Brazilian man Enrique dos Santos,35, a swimming pool attendant, was trying to look like superhero The Hulk but used a paint reserved for ballistic missiles and nuclear submarines.

The comic book fan tried to scrub off the glossy green in the shower, but the substance stained his skin.

And more embarrassment was heaped on him when local papers in Brazil said the woman trying to help him was his girlfriend – when in fact it was his mother.

This is not going to end well:

Hospital officials in northern Brazil say a woman has given birth to conjoined twin boys with one body and two heads.

Obstetrician Neila Dahas of the Santa Casa de Misericodia Hospital in the city of Belem says the twins were born Monday, local time, by Cesarean section.

She said on the hospital’s website that each boy had his own brain and spinal cord, but they shared all other organs, including the heart, lungs and liver.

Dahas said it was too early to tell how the twins would develop.

She said one of the boys was having respiratory problems and required “special care.”

The boys are named Jesus and Emanuel.

Unfortunately not here in Auckland where a drunk, illiterate clown should be denied a seat on the Super City Council at the ballot box, but in Brazil.

A former clown who is expected to win a seat in Brazil’s congress when the country goes to the polls on Sunday will be prevented from taking office until he passes a test proving that he can read and write, a judge in Sao Paulo has ruled.

Francisco Silva, a circus performer turned TV comedian who is better known by his stage name “Tiririca” – the colloquial Portuguese word for “grumpy” – is accused of being among the one in 10 of his countrymen who are virtually illiterate.

The allegation could prevent him sitting in congress, even though polls suggest that he will win more votes than any other candidate, since (for mostly practical reasons) the Brazilian constitution requires all of the nation’s politicians to be able to read.

Ahhh the problems of clowns standing for office, it seems it is world wide.

Let’s hope that the good voters of Albany Ward vote for Slater to rid themselves of the Clown of Campbells Bay.

Vote Slater - Albany - Auckland - Keeping the Buggers Honest