Orcon

via paulineh.com

I think the Asset Sale protestors have been caught napping at their computers.  They have been so busy buying collecting signatures for the power company asset sales referendum, this one has slipped under their radar altogether:

…state-owned Kordia has confirmed its retail ISP business, Orcon, is on the block.

“Kordia has been in discussions regarding the sale of Orcon with several parties over a number of months.  Interest in the business intensified following the announcement of the integration with Kordia in November last year,” a spokesman said.

Read more »

I was sitting in my bathroom in quiet contemplation when I heard the pitter-patter of little feet. I looked up and was confronted by the biggest fricken spider I have ever seen in New Zealand. I kid you not the footsteps could be heard.

Rod Jendon if you are reading this I want some of your product, a whole lot of your product because the size of this thing is something to be believed. I think it would take a whole container of stuff to even knock it out let alone kill it. I hope that applicator gun really does reach 4m because I consider that to be the minimum safe distance from this spider. (Can you chuck in some Shower Witch too please)

Yes that is a two dollar coin that I got the daughter to place in the general vicinity of the massive fang equipped behemoth. You didn’t think I was going to get within venom spitting distance of that did you?

You know how everyone hates being door-knocked by Jehovah’s Witnesses and you know that if you take a Watchtower that you are destined for monthly visits for the rest of eternity.

Well for the past week I have had the Twitter equivalent from Global Warming adherents who have taken upon themselves to try to “convert” me to their religion of snake-oil and false deities who spout inconvenient truths that are actually proven lies.

I have been bombarded from nice, well meaning but ultimately annoying adherents of this new religion proslytizing the news by sending me links to articles about “consensus”, “the science”, anything that proves their point of view.

Every time I respond with a corresponding link that disproves their “consensus”, scientific “proof” and other general proven lies. It is like trading verses of the bible against muslim adherents throwing sura from the Qu’ran.

Further the adherents of the new religion use much the same tactics as Muslim jihadists. They use terror (seas rising 100′, terror (ice floes melting), terror (Polar Bears being slaughtered) and terror (hurricanes, floods, typhoons and cyclones).

Every time I send them information it is instantly dismissed with lines like “That’s just a data point, not scientific consensus…” in response to empirical data that shows the opposite of what they believe and  “The evidence is very clear for anyone who actually wants to look at it and understand it. If 30,000 don’t, too bad.” in response to evidence of more than 30,000 scientists who aren’t in agreement with “consensus”.

Their actions are nothing better than the Jehovahs Witness or the Jihadi terrorists trying to proslytize their world view, except they use Twitter and modern technology. I however remain true in both cases to the ability to reason and to think and to question for myself.

Two things is for sure, the science is most definately not settled and there is no such thing as scientific consensus when it comes to the new religion called Climate Change.

Govt to let employers buy back holidays – The Government will let employers offer staff a cash payment to replace the fourth week of their annual holidays, reversing a crucial element of the previous Government’s Holidays Act. Labour’s law made it illegal to pay cash in… [NZ Herald Politics]

Well done National for planning to allow workers to cash up their 4th week of holidays. This was perhaps the single biggest productivity killer that Labour brought in and they took away the right of a worker to cash it in at the same time.

Andrew Little must be getting anoyed that everytime he pipes up for the EPMU the Herald notes he is actually “Andrew Little – who is also Labour Party President”

My little story about the Clown from Campbells Bay, North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams and his 72 bottles of piss has made the NZ Herald today in an article by Bernard Orsman.

I even get named, not once but twice and so does the blog. Thanks Bernard.

However the Mad Mayor still doesn’t get it and blames everything on a conspiracy against him and takes another flick against Mayor Banks.

Mr Williams will not be over-imbibing: “If you have too much of it it leaves a really bitter taste in your mouth. It’s best in small doses.”

I’ll tell what is bitter, the taste of paying rates for this complete numpty fool with a persecution complex.

As a public service here is the list of all people involved in the conspiracy against the Clown of Campbells Bay, Andrew Williams, the Mayor of North Shore, since the following have all been critical of Williams or have represented a “dark force” against his Mayoralty. I have helpfully assorted a score out of ten to assist readers understand how involved they are in the conspiracy.

Whaleoil – 10
Cameron Brewer, Newmarket Business Association – 8
Cr Chris Darby, North Shore City – 9
Cr Margaret Miles, North Shore City – 9
Cr Aaron Bhatnagar, Auckland City – 8
Cr Ann Hartley, North Shore City – 8
PM John Key – 3
Hon Jonathan Coleman – 4
Hon Wayne Mapp – 4
Hon Rodney Hide – 7
Chairman Mike Lee of the ARC – 5
Mayor John Banks – 6
Bernard Orsman, Herald Reporter – 6
John Roughan, Herald Columnist – 6
Ed Rooney, Editor of the Aucklander – 8
Esther Haward, Sunday Star Times reporter – 5
Gooner and others from NoMinister.blogspot.com – 7
Basketball NZ – 2
The Lamborghini driver on Hurstmere Rd who allegedly parked on a yellow line at night – 1
The Cafe owners who didn’t recognise Andrew Williams – 2
Youth Town, who didn’t do as Williams wanted – 2
Paul Henry, Breakfast TV – 5
Justice Peter Salmon, Royal Commissioner – 9.5
Ambulance officers – 3
Former North Shore Mayor George Wood – 7
Anyone who voted for former Mayor George Wood – 5
Senior North Shore council officers – 5

If I’ve missed anyone, my apologies. Please let me know and I can add your name.

1. Why would Stuff re-design ther website and not have RSS feeds for their “blogs”?
2. How many Mayors around the country have a press secretary?
3. How many of the 72 bottles of piss are left?
4. Will Masakari enter the NZ political lexicon?
5. Does Cactus feel just a little bit silly mistaking washing powder for coke?
6. Surely she could’ve done a taste test first?
7. Wouldn’t that have been funnier?
8. Which Mayor must have at least two council officers present when meeting with staff?
9. Will Pork Chop ever update her photo on the front page of Spy?
10. Will someone complain to the Press Council about that blatent mis-representation?

Key confirms TVNZ charter for the chop – Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the government will abolish the TVNZ charter. The cabinet was working on the issue, he said. [Stuff Politics]

Bloody good show. It is about time that these funds were made contestable then we can have some quality instilled in the shos we as taxpayers cough for rather than applying the funds to TVNZ’s pet projects and bubble gum shows.

It also means that the likes of Richard Harman’s Frontpage can foot it against TVNZ for a quality current affairs show.

Hell, maybe I’ll even contest for some funds to make a show about the Blogmobile.

Direct from Tim Blair. There is nothing I can add to this post other than the rather obvious suggestion that you pick your causes a bit more carefully next time…if she gets a next time.

Canadian journalist Beverly Giesbrecht, who converted to Islam following 9/11 and launched the website Jihad Unspun seven years ago, faces beheading after being kidnapped by jihadists in Pakistan:

A video of a Canadian journalist held captive in Pakistan surfaced on the Internet Thursday in which she said her captors would “probably” kill her by the end of the month if their demands weren’t met.

“The time is now very short and my life is going to end,” a pale and tired Beverly Giesbrecht says on the video before it fades out.

The Vancouver journalist is shown sitting in a chair with a dagger mounted on the wall behind her, pointed at her head.

“We have a very short time now, I’m going to be killed, as you can see,” Giesbrecht says.

Post-conversion, Giesbrecht changed her name to Khadija Abdul Qahaar. Not that it makes any apparent difference to her Taliban captors.

UPDATE. JeffS asks: “Is she being held by moderate Taliban?”

UPDATE II. Rayhan looks on the bright side:

It is always heart warming to hear people coming to Islam especially prominant figures like journalists. Thanks for notifying us of her conversion.

The eminently sensible MacDoctor gives the Ginga Espiner a good fisking for his silly, shrill post about the pending Three Strikes legislation. Legislation I might add that I am yet to find a person opposed to.

I really, really struggle with people who loudly claim that three time rapists have human rights….really struggle….yet there are people out there who think these c**ts can be rehabilitated.

MacDoctor refutes Espiner’s silly contentions well but in particular the tired old ‘facts’ that keep getting spouted.

Espiner brings out the tired old factoids.

1. Longer incarceration makes no difference to the crime rate. This is only partly true, it makes little difference to the overall crime rate but drops the serious crime rate over time. Most studies use five and ten year time frames, but the likelihood is this will take 15 or more years to make an appreciable difference. It is usually years between each serious offense. It takes time to catch and convict criminals. All of this adds to the lag time between enforcement and decreased crime.
2. The cost will be astronomical. The cost of $5 billion has been mooted. The assumptions behind this figure are highly questionable, including that crime rates will go up rather than down, that costs of incarceration will not be contained and that most serious offender will wind up as third strikers.
3. It’s unfair. Only if you adopt California’s rather senseless three strikes law which does not distinguish between strike and triggering strike offenses (and also has far too many things that are counted as strike offenses)
4. We don’t have enough jails to house them all in. Like that is such a good argument for allowing dangerous recidivists to wander around maiming and killing. </sarcasm>
5. The way we treat our fellow human beings is how we are judged as a society. A lesson sorely missed by the criminals we are talking about. The fact that we wish to restrain these predators rather than simply kill them, makes us a more humane society than 90% of the rest of the planet.

I am not in favour of simply increasing all sentencing, but increasing the sentences of people who are dangerous and un-rehabilitatable makes good sense to me. It will make New Zealand society a safer place to live. Even for sheep.

The simple real fact for me is this. The current systems aren’t exactly doing a bang up job for society tright now are they…no…so lets try this.

There are plenty of useless Facebook apps and this one isn’t particularly useful but I have eff-all else to do when it popped up as an invite from someone so I gave it a go.

The app is Which President are You? and you get , as is usual with these things, to answer some silly questions.

Anyway as you can see I am Andrew Jackson and the advice given is sage if you happen to want to cross me. I think the quiz is very accurate.

If anyone gets Obama take yourself out the back and shoot yourself in the head will you.