Political speculation (the fall of John Key)

Well, it all is isn't it? Trying to predict and guess what this party or that politician might be planning or scheming.
There's a lot of discussion pinging about the rarified layer that sits like thinning ozone over the heads of most busy people, around the probable/possible fate of Hone Harawira. Speculation around Sue Bradford's future too is up there too along with that of Matt McCarten. Will a new 'far-left' party congeal around these three fire-brands? If so, will it harm National, Labour, the Greens even?
I've fabricated a theory about this and here, for the very little worth it has, it is.
The scary lefties McCarten, Bradford and Harawira will form a party and use it to destroy National and John Key before the election arrives all sweaty at our door.
Bob Jones did it to Muldoon's National Party and these guys will go on the road to bring down what they see as the enemy of New Zealand society.
There! I've said it!
Can't be much loopier than the theories I'm reading elsewhere.

Today's tie - dairy for life

Pat from ES (with monarch)

*Larger version available

Images from the Bugfest

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Huge case moth 'case' made from felt

Monarch with ukulele



Atawhai's butterflies



Brian Patrick - butterfly expert and magnet

Monarch on bergamot

Bugfest

Off to the Catlins today, armed with apiaceae and advice to gardeners wanting to attract insects to their gardens.
Maybe I'll meet wildcrafty there?

Today's tie - the Order of the Phoenix

If ever I'm to meet Dumbledore.

Again with the Archdruid

" We’ll be discussing various ways to cut back on dependence on fossil fuels and the goods and services they provide. Much of the material to be covered in the posts to come will involve tools and devices of various kinds – most of them cheap, many of them suited to basement-workshop manufacture, all of them means toward a certain degree of independence from the vagaries of an industrial civilization that faces a rising spiral of crises and an increasing lack of ability to provide its inhabitants with the goods and services they have become used to getting from it.

The power that remains

Letters in the rag

For a local lad, today's letter to the editor column was a lively one - Dave Kennedy stropped up the Government for its foolishness over debt and asset sales, Keith Cook did the same and Dave Taylor, DOC area manager, wrote about the 'dolphin incident' responding to my earlier letter. He pointed at the serious fines that follow prosecution for harassing marine animals and chided the jetskiers for wasting taxpayer money. Unfortunately the way Dave framed his letter sheeted some of the blame, inadvertently I'm sure, for the potential money waste to me. That's sometimes what you get for being a noisy guy :-)

Today's tie - donkey and cart

(Don't put one before the other)

Are you happy (now)?

"So why are the Danes so damned chipper? In Denmark..people also benefit from a government that provides excellent public services (such as health and education); great access to theatres, galleries and museums, exercise-promoting initiatives like bike lanes and nature walks;and, perhaps most important, a strong social culture...and all of this despite high taxes."

The New Zealand Listener prints an article that seems to deny the ideology of the present Government.
I don't know if the article is on line but the adventurous reader could easily find out.
Rodney Hide, well known for his attempts to rid 'the State' of their obligations toward libraries and swimming pools, would do well to buy a copy.

Hectoring the dolphins #2

A couple of telling images.

The pod consisted of at least one small calf. I wonder how close it is to the propeller blades in this shot?

Asking the Key question

John Key intends to sell 49% of our assets. What's he going to do with the money?

Tumeke asks the question in typical Bomber style!

"And what about this investment you intend to make from this privatization? Into more irrigation in the South Island? You more mean infrastructure investment into Dairy who continue to steal and pollute our diminishing water resources in the South Island?


That's what we are selling our assets off for? South Island Dairy Industry interests? Shouldn't you be a little more honest? Surely allowing Bill English to have a dirty lignite production facility in his own electorate to power his Brother's Federated Farmer's industry cheaply was payment enough for services to be rendered? "

Selling silver

There are opinions galore on Key's plans to sell assets to pay, he says, for New Zealand's debt.
No Minister has a pithy post that appeals to me and seems as clear as a bell and on the button at the same time.

"There's a fairly obvious flaw with that plan that even I, not only not the Smartest Man in the Room, but completely untrained in finance and economics, noticed immediately: one receives a payment for the assets, but then forgoes the future earnings of said assets. Bernard Hickey explains it this morning:"

The link to Bernard Hickey's column is well worth following.

Hat-tip No Minister

Coffee trials

There are cafes popping up all over Riverton this summer and they're serving very good coffee to boot.
Our own shop has a machine that grinds and brews pretty good coffee too, but were wondering if we could improve our customer's coffee experience by switching to a different brand of coffee. While in Dunedin, Robyn bought 4 brands that we've not used in the shop before and I've been saddled with the task of tasting and rating each one.
It's challenging work.
You might be able to help.
If you are a coffee drinker and are familiar with any of the brands we've chosen, your opinion would be appreciated and will help me with my final decision. I like most coffees, so I'll be taking any advice seriously.
Here are the brands (each is 100% organic, naturally):

ZUMO-TWO  (a full bodied coffee with a big flavour and subtle herbal aftertones)

Hummingbird  (URBAN - Rich and Bold)

KAWATIRI - Roasted Arabica coffee "Okari Dark"

AVALANCHE - Fair Trade

Tie Grotesque - Edvard Munch

The Cry - It'd make you want to, if you met some sap wearing it!
I'm saving it for a special occasion. Perhaps if Rodney Hide wins Epsom...

Threw in Ren as well, just to show how oddball the collection is!

Solid Energy thinks it's Christmas

While experienced and rational heads are shaking at Key's privatization plans, vested interests are going light-headed at the prospects.

Solid Energy support for move to partial assets sales




“I believe that the intention of this announcement is entirely consistent with my public position and statements over the past year which recognises the opportunity for New Zealand that can be created by moving in this direction and the mixed ownership model that is under discussion.”

Chairman, John Palmer.

Campbell bursts Keys bubble

The Prime Minister's roasting from John Campbell was painful enough but Key must be really smarting today from another from a Campbell. This time Gordon Campbell applies the blow-torch to Key's plans to privatize our assets.

" Make no mistake: the partial privatization plans are a mechanism that will deliver Australians and Asians even greater control of the New Zealand economy"

You can witness the scalding here.

They're talking about our coal - in Wellington!

Keep The Coal In The Hole: Why Southland Lignite Shouldn't Be Mined




Coal Action Network Public Meeting

When: Wednesday 16 February

Where: St John's Church Hall, cnr Willis and Dixon Streets, Wellington

Time: 7pm

Speaker: Jeanette Fitzsimons, climate change campaigner, former co-leader of the Green Party

Why Come Along?
Government-owned Solid Energy and other coal companies want to mine the massive quantities of lignite, a low-quality brown coal, that lies under Southland farmland. They plan to turn it into briquettes, urea fertiliser, and synthetic diesel.
Mining and processing lignite will cause extensive local pollution. Even worse, it will lead to huge greenhouse gas emissions. In her recent report *Lignite and climate change: The high cost of low grade coal*, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, estimates that there are at least 6 billion tonnes of economically recoverable lignite reserves in Southland. Using all this, as the mining companies intend, would lead to at least 8.7 billion tonnes of Co2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions - a huge increase in New Zealand's emissions, and a significant increase in emissions on a global scale.

Germany keeps Neferetiti

I spotted this tiny article in a newspaper yesterday and found it interesting in a 'well, that's humankind for you' sort of way.

Berlin/Cairo

A Gernman foundation rejected yesterday an Egyptian request to return the 3400-year-old bust of Queen Neferetiti, which draws over one million viewers annually to the Neues Museum in Berlin.
"The foundation's position on the return of Neferetiti remains unchanged," Prussian Cultural Foundation president Hermann Parzinger said. "She is and remains the ambassador of Egypt in Berlin." - Reuters

Oh it's a tangled web we weave.

Yuan for Crafar

The infamous Crafar farms look set to be sold to the Chinese after all.
The offer from the Chinese Pengxin International Group for the 16 Crafar farms has been accepted by the receivers and they are awaiting the rubber-stamp from the Overseas Investment Office.

"Receivers Michael Stiassny and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha said the Pengxin offer was "by far the best offer we have." It was now a case of waiting for OIO approval.


"We understand that the lodging of their OIO application is expected to occur in March," the receivers said.

Mr Key has said he doesn't want us to be 'tenants in our own country'. I hope he is keeping a close eye on how the very thing he talked about is unfolding.

Shooting endangered birds

I like a good image and everybody it seems, likes this one!

(From the New Zealand Herald)

This breathtakingly detailed photograph by New Zealander Shane McInnes of an endangered kakapo has won first prize in an international contest to capture the world's rarest birds.


The competition aimed to secure images of the 566 most threatened birds on earth, and managed to motivate photographers to uncover nearly 90 per cent of the species categorised as either endangered, critically endangered or extinct in the wild.

Solid capital

One of the reasons given by local commentators on the lignite mining proposals for Mataura, for the unlikelihood of Solid Energy being able to make real their plans, was their inablity to raise the huge capital necessary to scrape out an open-cut mine and build the plant needed to process the brown coal into something useful.
With yesterday's announcement by Key on selling just less that the majority of Solid Energy to 'investors', the problem of raising the cash for the mining looks less likely to be a factor. Bringing in foreign money to facilitate the project has to mean that profits from the mining will go off-shore as well. For the taxpayer, that's us, who has owned the state owned mining company all these years, it's hard to see where we might benefit from selling 49% of it to people who don't live here and who haven't contributed to it for all of their earning lives. The remaining shares will be available for sale to New Zealand investors, giving you and I the chance to buy part of Solid Energy as well, but don't we already own it??
There will be clever folk who can correct me on this I'm sure and I welcome their comments.
This article in the Southland Times suggests that it's 'southern investors' (Southland mums and dads) who will be blessed by this wonderful opportunity to buy into the mine.

Today's tie - taking the mickey

It's surprising how many Mickey Mouse ties there are out there in tie-world.
I have three different versions of the cheerful wee rodent and one where he looks more manic than mouse.
I've not worn this one yet, but will.

What am I?

Is it a coral reef or something less healthy.
* Clue - I took the photo.

The world according to Shane

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.


-- Voltaire (1764)

Shane Pleasance has a great list of political quotes on his Big Sky Southern New Zealand blog.
 
Number 14 (above) is one of 24 pithy sayings from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain and even Will Rogers!
 
I enjoyed them all.

It was all talk - the talk goes on.

Banning the use of cell phones whilst driving has not been successful according to this report published by the New Zealand Herald.

"Drivers are flouting the ban on hand-held cellphones - new figures show a phone-related car crash almost every two days, dozens of injuries and five deaths last year."

It was interesting to see the National Party, so quick to lambast Labour for even discussing bans of anything at all, so quickly move to ban cellphones and other troublesome items - such as cough mixtures, defying their own rhetoric about the Nanny State and excessive political correctness. This report might give them and their supporters pause to think about hypocrisy as well as the effectiveness of bans as a method of changing behaviour.

February 14

I took this photo to make a card to give to my wife on Valentine's day. It's sad but true that I sometimes 'fail to remember' some very important dates, through the pressure of a busy life, so I'm getting in early with this pre-Valentine e-card, waiting here to be discovered if by chance my romantic partner browses my blog, (just to see that I'm okay :-) while she's away in Dunedin.

xxx

Today's tie - the 'Cachelot'

A must-have tie for the bleeding-heart liberal.
I'm keeping this one tucked away til the day Japan declares an end to their whaling programme or until the Sea Shepherd announces that they've had such a successful season on the Southern Ocean that no whales we killed for any purpose, research or otherwise.

Bros

Photo - Hollie

Solid Energy ready to rumble!

The date has been set (May) and the ground marked for the conversion of brown coal (lignite) to briquettes at Mataura.

"Solid Energy's general manager of conversion, Greg Visser, said yesterday construction of the plant could begin in May this year, subject to consent applications to the Gore District Council and Environment Southland which will be lodged shortly."

This is exciting! When this comes up I'll be all ears and full of quizzicalness.

I wonder how much greenhouse gas the process creates? None I hope!
If it does produce significant amounts that need to be paid for (Thank you ETS!), will it be Solid Energy that foots the bill or will it be muggins (the taxpayer)?

Read all about it here.

Today's tie - octopussy

Perhaps for meetings with fishing industry reps?
Or Bond Industries.

Getting under the Bluegreen boat

"Green MP Gareth Hughes plans to protest underwater ahead of the Bluegreens Summer Forum next weekend to highlight their lack of influence over the National Government.


Mr Hughes will scuba dive and unfurl a protest banner underwater at the site of the proposed Dan Rogers marine reserve which the Minister of Conservation, Kate Wilkinson, recently declined. The Bluegreens plan a harbour cruise in the same area."

I hope to hear first-hand all about these goings-on from a couple of people I know will be attending the Summer Forum ( and several I know who aren't).
Gareth, like Russel, it seems, doesn't mind getting a dunking for the cause.
Good man!

"“I’m hoping my protest will draw attention to the fact that the Bluegreens need to do more than just talk about environmental outcomes.


“Hopefully Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson will be moved by the beauty of the harbour and the poor ecological condition it is in and revisit her decision,” said Mr Hughes.

Me too Gareth. Me too!

Bluegreens Summer Forum

They're heading for Akaroa this year, to hear themselves think. The Bluegreens have chosen a wonderful image to advertise their world view on their web-page and I'm sure that, like me, you will find it revealing.

That's beautiful, isn't it?
A dessicated, almost tree-less landscape - the future of our environment under the Bluegreens!
Good grief!

Red Alert! Government hypocrisy over environment!

"National Ministers Carter and Wilkinson intervened to allow the continued grazing of land around Lake Ellesmere for a farming mate."

"This is a scandal. Ministers of Conservation and Agriculture influencing the decision to extend, on conservation land, a polluting grazing licence that DOC had told the farmer was not going to be renewed - meanwhile no consultation with iwi and the joint management plan for Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), ignored.

Several blogs are reporting this morning on what appears to be cronyism or political interference around the extending of grazing rights for a farmer adjacent to Lake Ellesmere (Te Waihora), an area DOC and Ngai Tahu have worked to clean up after serious degradation resulting from farming.
Red Alert has their view here and Mars2Earth here. The Standard takes an even dimmer view.

Believe it or not!

Photo Hollie

Photo taken through the upstairs window, looking west in the evening.

Today's challenge

Painting the roof.

The log of wood is back!

Nope. Not that one.

This one!

Hectoring the dolphins

The Southland Times published my letter today - very quick that was!

We were very lucky out here in Riverton at the weekend. A family of little Hector’s dolphins swam up the river to a spot under the bridge were they spent an hour or two feeding on fish that were coming up with tide. Plenty of locals enjoyed watching them from the bridge and a lot of photographs were taken. There were a couple of tiny calves with the parent dolphins and they kept in close to the adults for protection. They were lucky too, the Hector’s dolphin family, that they weren’t hurt by the thoughtless jetskii riders who swept back and forward over the tiny family, trying to get a closer look.

Birthday portrait

Hollie's a photographer. Here's the birthday portrait she took of her dad at the beach after my wonderful birthday bike-ride and picnic. It's a lovely shot.

Today's tie - snails

Every good greenie should have a snail tie - perfect for wearing to mining protests in national parks.

Blank slate

Political blogs regularly provide a free-for-all post for discussions generated by 'viewers'.
This space is blank 'at the minute' as Sam would say, but may fill with debate (let's hope!).
Suz has talked a little about reforming the welfare system or at least my views on it and may like to take up the cudgel here.

Absolutely everyone else is welcome to light their own little fire here as well. Shunda will perhaps want to talk about witches :-)

Trees are made of wood

This is very clever. The bloke who made it does other clever things with wood and withies.
His website is here.

Tree shallots

31 kg.
Onions next, then garlic.

The ties that bind

I collect ties - neck ties.
It's nobody's fault but my own.
I have a great number of them, yet just the one neck.
I'm constantly encouraged to a) stop collecting them and b) reduce the collection by at least 50%.
I do neither.
I'm determined to share my passion for ties with the wide world; by wearing a different tie to each formal occasion as it arises, and I do, as well as sharing them with any poor soul who stumbles onto this blog. And so I will, by publishing one a day for the next year.
Here's the first. It's just a plane tie, nothing fancy :-)

The bees! The bees!

The native broom carmichealia odorata is driving my neighbour's bees crazy!
Must be excluding a powerful scent of nectar.

What are you doing?

We're plaiting the shallots in the shade of the kowhai.
What's happening at your place?

Something crook at the nook

How bizarre!

Picturesque and quaint, Cosy Nook near Pahia on the South Coast is a stunning place to visit, especially on a tempestuous day where the waves and foam are whipped up like a boiling broth and swirl around the massive blocks of granite that sit solid in the mouth of the natural harbour, Matariki island with it's turbulent history, sitting just off-shore. It's a bay beloved by artists (Nigel Brown lives on the crest of the hill above the bay) for its spectacular aspect. The most curious of cribs line the narrow winding road that snakes down to the waters edge then peters out into pasture. Polly-filla Villa and it's long-time occupant are known far and wide and they are both, along with others who sit and live in the Nook, under trespass notice. Trespass notice, for the gentle folk of Cosy Nook! It's outrageous! Why would someone as caring and gentle as artist Nigel Brown and his partner Sue have been served with a trespass notice?? I'd stake my reputation and all that I have on their good names being entirely deserved and those of the other residents there.

Someone is playing silly games here and those games have a nasty edge.
There have been issues with cows and dogs in the recent past - matters that the police have been involved in.
There's talk of the iconic cribs being demolished, residents moved on.
This is not a healthy situation.
Here's the article from today's Southland Times.

Here's the point

If you've not been to Riverton, you'll not have seen the Point.
Here's a photograph of it, sent in by keen photographer, writer and now artist, 'C' of 'C&D' fame.
Our beaches here along the south coast are especially beautiful and various. You'll see penguins on them occasionally, though today's newspaper carries a story about the starvation the little blues are suffering from just now. The number dying and the starved condition of those surviving is being attributed to La Nina but it's interesting to note that according to the expert quoted in the article, such events while natural, are occurring with greater frequency than ever before. With the owlets and the tui suffering from the heat further North and the penguins starving to death down here, things look ill for the avian world this season.
I understand the jellyfish kingdom is thriving though. That'll give you little cheer, if you've followed that sorry tale.

Ancient map of the unknown world

3 new suspects

Good Citizens Carol and David have sent in photographs of 3 characters of whom they are highly suspicious and feel could well be responsible for dismembering our mighty stag.
Could one of these be the emasculator?
Might they have worked in cohoots?
Am I going too far in wondering whether the faces of Carol and Dave might be amongst these mugshots and that they might be playing a cunning game of cat and mouse with us?
Has anyone actually seen 'Dave' and 'Carol'?

Might this be 'Carol'?
Or for that matter, 'Dave'?

Magic

I'd trade the cow for these.

They're the sweetest, plumpest broad beans you'll ever see.
These ones will go on to become 63.
Those in turn...it's mathematics Jack.

Owls now (who would 'a thought!)

The moreporks of Northland, unable to keep their yunkers cool, are biffing them out of the nests.

Young tui too are walking the plank, or at least the branch, to escape the clammy heat and, like their owlish friends, plummeting to the ground to die. Or be rescued by the bird rescuers who say that this is unprecedented, this over-heated weather and mass nest clearance. It doesn't bode well for birds that are threatened anyway by all manner of mankind-induced calamities. Cranking up the heat with our fossil-fuel burning ways will have more negative ramifications than we have counted on - who amongst you considered the fate of the native owls?

Not I.
Til now.

On fish

Concerned for the others fishes, mammals and birds of our oceans?
Read this and weep.
Pundit's Claire Browning prises open the scab on a long-running fishing ulcer.

"Species ranked ‘nationally critical’ are dying in our fisheries. Legislative fixes have twice been voted down by the National party"

"Former Fisheries Minister, Hon Jim Anderton, put independent observers on 4% of all fishing boats: one out of every twenty-five boats. He found that one hundred percent of all reported by-catch of birds, seals or dolphins happened on the boats with observers aboard."

"“There is no Minister in any Cabinet who faces more litigation, legal challenges, or development of jurisprudence around the area of his or her portfolio than the Minister of Fisheries. That is the nature of the industry,” says Eric Roy, who chaired the Fisheries Act rewrite."

Even the commenters hit hard. An ex MAF observer says:

"But fisheries is the most corrupt industry in NZ, and the entry of former Soviet kleptsiarchs via the leasing/foreign crews mechanism has done nothing to improve that. The Vietnamese crewmen who recently perished down south are only the most recent victims of a perniciously under-regulated industry that should, properly administered, be safe, and returning several times as much as NZ's total agricultural production - because that is the scale of the resource involved."