Dancing With the Stars - Part II for this week

Okay, folks - Centrebet have updated the odds.

Dancer	Last Week	This Week
Beatrice Faumuina	$3.00	$1.90
Lorraine Downes	$6.50	$3.00
Danyon Loader	$8.00	$9.00
Angela Bloomfield	$11.00	$9.00
Rodney Hide	$13.00	$12.00

On consideration, the odds on Rodney offer pretty good value. While easily the worst dancer of the series, to survive this week he would have had to be first or second in the public voting - being first in the public voting should get you to the last three at least, and you probably will go into the final.

Greens on New Zealand Planning Laws

One of the defenders of the current RMA is The Green Party. They would even go so far as to say it needed strengthening.

But today, the Greens issue a press release calling on the Government to provide more Youth Justice beds after a 16-year-old girl was locked up in Police Cells last week.

The Press Release also says that the Government should use "land at Waikeria, where a new purpose built facility could be constructed right away rather than going through protracted, expensive processes." (emphasis is mine)

Another nail in the coffin of the RMA.

Party of Principle

Congratulations to Don Brash and the National Party. Prevented by law to pay it's accidental advertising overspend it now has proposed amending the law so it can.

So far the party has owned up to its mistake, offered to make payment and plead guilty if charged. You can't help making a contrast in attitude with another party that broke the law.

And yes, ACT should repay the money spent on the newspaper advertising during the election.

Dancing with the Stars - Week 5

The way Crystal's jaw drop when Jason Gunn announced that David Waikara-Paul had been eliminated was telling. Rodney's dancing was so appalling bad that he really deserved to be eliminated. The criticism that seems to stick is that dancing (especially performance dancing) is more than a group of co-ordinated steps - as one person told me 'it's the vertical expression of the horizontal desire'.

It seems that this turn of events has made Centrebet think again. No odds are available on 'Dancing with the Stars' at the moment.

It also makes me think we should be allowed to have a look at Rodney's cellphone bill! (Actually, I think the National and Labour Caucus might be the suspects here - Labour becuaue he makes them work hard, National becuase he asks the question he should be thinking of.)

With recess this week, and Heather Roy back on deck the week after, Rodney needs to put the extra time he has into rehearsal. He really needs it.

The Crusaders Secret Gameplan

Can someone translate this for me ...

"The framework of the review is horizontal, vertical, fast-track and in-depth. In other words it's dynamic." - Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel, from this press release.

Dancing with Stars

The Judges and Viewers voted off one of the under-performing stars last night in Steve Gurney. Left now in the lower ranks are just Rodney Hide and Angela Bloomfield.

Rodney Hide was much improved on last week, he looked much more relaxed - but it's clear that Crystal is the one who is carrying Rodney. Angela Bloomfield doesn't do badly, but is not in the same league as the others.

Danyon is continuing to improve, Lorraine Downes and David Wikiara-Paul using their performance skills to their advantage and Beatrice Faumuina continuing to shine (although not as graceful as the previous two weeks) it will be interesting to see which of those four are voted off first.

This Weeks CentreBet Odds:

Celebrity	Last Week	This Week
David Wikiaira-Paul	$4.00	$2.50
Beatrice Faumuina	$3.50	$3.00
Lorraine Downes	$15.00	$6.50
Danyon Loader	$4.00	$8.00
Angela Bloomfield	$7.50	$11.00
Rodney Hide	$9.00	$13.00

The Greens vs. Mr & Mrs Ellis

For the past two years, Chaucey and I have competed in the CitySafari - a race in which you visit as many checkpoints in three hours using public transport and foot. (The further away the checkpoint from the start point, the more points you get.) My goal, in both years, was to beat the Green Party Team.
Last year, we trounced them - coming 4th (and 1st Mixed Couple) with 270 points. The Green Party team came 23rd with 125 points.

This year, we didn't do so well, coming 25th with 205 points. But the Green Team only got 60 points - they went to enough checkpoints to amass 260 points, but arrived 20 minutes after the finish time so lost 200 points in penalties.

I know it's petty, but it feels good to be better at using public transport than the people who embrace buses and trains.

Peter Costello Wants You!

Especially if you can play Rugby. From an article in The Age


Kiwis on average wages in New Zealand would "pay a lot less tax in Australia", Mr Costello told ABC Radio.

And high income earners would benefit by relocating, he said.

"I think in New Zealand you go on the top tax rate at $63,000 New Zealand, which would be considerably less Australian, down around $50,000," Mr Costello said.

"In Australia you are not going to go into the top tax rate until you earn above $150,000.

"And this is now becoming a bit of an issue in New Zealand.

"And if there are Kiwis who have skills and who want to come to Australia as skilled immigrants of course they would be welcome in Australia.

"If they can play rugby union they will be doubly welcome."

Consider this ...

I've argued that Telecom should have been compensated for it's loss of value when the Government unbundled the local loop. A counter arguement was raised that Telecom made a large profit from it's monolopy and shouldn't be compensated because of it.

Now, in the last financial year, Telecom had revenue of $5,615 million and a profit of $916 million - a profit of 16% of it's income.

The Government, in it's last financial year had revenue of $44,400 million and a surplus (profit) of $8,500 million - a profit of 19% of it's income. (Yes, nearly one dollar in six of taxation could be returned and there would still be a surplus.)

Chairman Mee-ow

Massey University magazine Chaff has caused some controversy over it's latest issue - it depicts a parody of a Cosmopolitan Magazine cover (calling it 'Commopolitan') complete with Chairman Mao in a dress. Chinese students at Massey University are upset and have protested the publication, likening it as offensive to them as the infamous Danish 'Mohammed' Cartoons.

Of course, Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward created mass starvation and his Cultural Revolution lead to the torture, imprisonment and execution of many Chinese (along with the destruction of items from Chinese History), plus his 'Ballroom Dancing' with teenage girls make him the perfect target for this sort of lampoon.

Delusions of Power

David Cunliffe has obviously let the power of deregulating Telecom's Local Loop go to his head. He decided yesterday to announce that Telecom will need to invest more in it's network and cut it's dividend.

Now that Telecom has to let everyone else on it's network, you think the incentive would be to move investment away from areas where it's competitors will benefit from better equipment - or it will have to get it's money back in higher wholesale line charges.

If David Cunliffe wants to run Telecom, he should stick his hand in his own pocket and buy it. On reflection, he may want to - and keeps talking the price down to make it cheaper.

Internet Banking Security

Today's Dominion Post has a front page story about a couple who had $990 stolen from them when a keystroke logger sent their ANZ Internet Banking Login details to a fraudster. Foretunately the ANZ has tracked down the fraudster and laid a complaint with the Police, and also refunded the couple the lost amount.

However, if they were with the Bank of New Zealand and signed up for the Netguard service (which is free!) this wouldn't have happened. It defeats keystroke logging software by making you enter random characters off a unique grid - each time you login there are different characters so fraudsters can't get past the security.

I use this service, and while it takes a few extra seconds to login into Internet Banking I find the extra security reassuring - especially when you hear of stories like the one in today's paper.

More details of the Bank of New Zealand product, including terms and conditions, are available here. If you want to know more, send me an email (link is at the top of the page) and I'll arrange for a Banking Specialist to contact you.

Rodney Hide - Dancer, Celebrity and MIA?

When it was announced that Rodney was going to be on "Dancing with the Stars" he said:

"I have been managing Parliament [while dancing]. The truth is that even at half steam I do four times more than the average Labour MP."

Last week, how many times did Rodney:

Ask an Oral Question in Parliament?
Ask a Written Question in Parliament?
Make a speech on any bill, motion,report or any other matter in Parliament?

Rodney Hide was elected to promote less tax and less Government - not less Parliament.

Dancing with the Stars - Week 2

Once again, Rodney Hide looked the least accomplished of the celebrities during their routines - Rodney looks to me as though he's too conscious of the cameras, judges and audience. Of course, it's hard to be less conscious when you're trying to focus on looking good for the cameras, judges and audience. Maybe a more enrgetic tempo will bring out the best in Rodney.

Beatrice looked graceful again, but it will be interesting to see how she goes in a quicker tempo dance. Danyon looks as though he is getting the hang of dancing as well - I'm picking the finalists to be Beatrice and Danyon.

Updated CentreBet odds:

Celebrity	Last Week's odds	This Week
Beatrice Faumuina	$3.00	$3.50
Danyon Loader	$10.00	$4.00
David Wikiara-Paul	$3.25	$4.00
Angela Bloomfield	$4.50	$7.50
Rodney Hide	$11.00	$9.00
Steve Gurney	$17.00	$10.00
Lorraine Downes	$21.00	$15.00

Sentencing Laws

In 2002, Labour passed new Sentencing and Parole laws in response to the 1999 Norm Withers Petition on crime - which called for more Restorative Justice and Tougher Penalties. Today, one of the most foul parts of that law was used to sentence a murderer to less than ten years imprisonment.

According to evidence given, Eric Smail stabbed and cut the throat of his victim - hardly the sort of behaviour that would make a life sentence and a ten year non-parole period "manifestly unjust".

Toyota RAV4 Advertisement

I hate the RAV4 advertisement - secretly, I'm glad I don't have to watch it anymore on TV. Everytime it came on it made me want to change the channel - it certainly made me less likely to buy a Toyota than if I hadn't seen the ad in the first place.

While I hate the ad, I realise that the advertisement is merely fantasy and humour, and don't think it should be banned. So I'm glad Anti-PC Sheriff Wayne Mapp has called for the Advertising Standards Board to get a sense of humour.

Far worse violence appears in the average Roadrunner or Daffy Duck cartoon, and no-one raises a peep of protest.

'The Little Red Hen'

I got given a copy of this story in hard copy today. I presume it was collected off the net somewhere - it's an update on the fable of the Little Red Hen, reflecting the values of modern New Zealand.

(If you don't know the original story, have a read of it here.)


Once upon a time, there was a Little Red Hen who uncovered some grains of wheat while scratching in the barnyard. She called to her neighbours and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"

"Not I," said the Mouse. "That's not in my job description."

"I will," said the Pig. "But only on alternate Tuesday mornings. I suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder; I get a Sickness Benefit and WINZ has said that I do not have to work fulltime."

"Not I," said the Duck. "The Department of Conservation may designate this area as a wetland. Do you want to destroy the ecological balance of our barnyard?"

"Are those Geneticly Modified grains?" the Cat demanded to know. "I want no part of that."

"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen; and she did.


In time, the wheat grew tall and ripened into luscious golden grain. "Who will help me harvest my wheat?" asked the Little Red Hen.

"Not I," said the Duck.

"Out of my classification," said the Pig.

"I'd lose my seniority," said the Cow.

"I'd lose my unemployment benefit," said the Horse. "Besides, the mill hasn't been inspected by Occupational Safety and Health in years. Going in there could be hazardous to my health."

"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen; and she did.


At last, it came time to bake the bread. "Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the Little Red Hen.

"That would be overtime for me," said the Goose.

"I'd lose my working for families benefit," said the Duck.

"Baking bread will add to global warming," said the Goat. "You are destroying the earth!"

"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the Rabbit.

"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen. And she did.



The Little Red Hen baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see.

They all wanted some; in fact, they demanded bread. The Little Red Hen offered to share a loaf of her bread if the others would help clean the kitchen.

"No fair!" yelled the Cow, stomping on the ground. "Excess profits! We will set the price for your bread, not you!"

"Capitalist leech!" cried the Duck. "That's price gouging!"

"I demand equal rights!" shouted the Goose.

The Pig grunted and exclaimed, "No justice, no peace!"

They hurriedly painted "unfair" picket signs and marched around, shouting obscenities; got coverage on Campbell Live and Newstalk ZB so they demanded immediate redress from the government.

So a government official came and said to the Little Red Hen, "You must not be greedy; you must be fair."

"But I earned the bread," said the Little Red Hen.

The government official said, "Under government regulations, the most productive workers must divide their product with others. You have way too much bread. We will investigate your wealth and means test your circumstances to determine how much bread you may keep."

And they did.

And so it came to pass; the Little Red Hen had done 100% of the work, but got to keep only 15% of the bread. Still, the government official pointed out; that was more than any other animal got to keep. Many thought she was way too greedy. The New Zealand Herald printed several editorials pointing this out. Her neighbours would snear at the Little Red Hen as she scratched in the barnyard.

And they all lived... but not exactly happily ever after. The Little Red Hen's neighbors wondered why she never baked any more bread.

What Trevor Mallard Said

Trevor Mallard is backtracking on his remarks from last year. Not the remarks he made at 'that' press conference but the remarks he made at the Eastbourne meet the candidates evening.

At the meeting he was challenged to give evidence to back up his earlier claims of National Party policy being written in Washington - he conceded that he had been wrong to make that statement, and that he had got a "talking to" from the Prime Minister about his comments.

And from reading the email contents tabled in Parliament today there is nothing to substatiate the claim - Don Brash is simply saying that two American electoral campaigners want to work for the National Party at the election, but that he doubts their worth and ability in a different environment. Any attempt to take that statment and say National is an American Republican Party Puppet is like taking two, adding two and getting forty-seven.

And seeing what the Government would rather talk about is it just co-incidence that this email comes out the same week a Government report wiping $1.7 Billion of value of Telecom is leaked, and the Taito Philip Field enquiry is concluded?

Dancing with the Stars Odds

It seems that Centrebet agree with my post yesterday that Beatrice Faumuina is the best on 'Dancing with the Stars'.

Odds to win the competition (at 7pm NZST 9 May 2006) are:

Competitor	Odds
Faumuina, Beatrice	$3.00
Wikiara-Paul, David	$3.25
Bloomfield, Angela	$4.50
Loader, Danyon	$10.00
Hide, Rodney	$11.00
Rankin, Christine	$15.00
Gurney, Steve	$17.00
Downes, Lorraine	$21.00

Dancing with the Stars

Last night, I watched most of Dancing with the Stars - I missed Angela Bloomfield as I daren't change the channel before "Top Gear" had finished.

To me, most of the stars were of an equal ability - probably reflected in the spread of scores being so close - but one star stood out. She was graceful, her timing was right on, and her routine was elegant - Beatrice Faumuina was the standout for me.

You can download video of all of the dances at the Official TVNZ Dancing with the Stars Webpage.

Rodney Hide has blogged his experience here.

Rules for a Sucessful Life

In this life, we learn some important things - and we learn to never do them again. So:

Rule 1: Never, ever play drinking games with Clint Heine and his dodgy European Spirits.
Rule 2: If you should ever break Rule 1, never eat a greasy burger afterward.

P.S. Congrats to The Penthouse crew for a great night. And for Gav and Stu being on TV last night (opposite the judges, in the front row - I could see them especially clearly by Lorraine Downes elbow.)

UPDATE: Pics of Heine and Stu, some more of lifes rules, plus a description of events as best remembered by those who were there, is at The Penthouse Blog.

Under the House

Yes, the cleanout from under the house is finished - a total of about 12 hours work which has netted a big pile of rubble on the back lawn. Next projects around the house:

• Paint the splash guard on the new bath.
• Tile the walls around the bath
• Get a skip in for the rubble.
• Get the plumber in for the leak under the shower discovered this morning while under the house.
• Rip out weeds from the garden.

The joys of home ownership.

Smashing Some Myths about Telecom

Interesting to hear some myths about Telecom in the past few days:

Myth 1: Telecom is a Monolopy.

There is nothing (apart from our draconian planning laws) prevent anyone building their own network, except profitability. In Wellington and Christchurch TelstraClear did build it's own network and undercut Telecom's pricing. At my house I could disconnect Telecom completely and still have another telephone provider and a choice of two ISPs. Telecom only has a monolopy because of the failure of anyone else to invest in building a network.

Myth 2: Telecom enjoyed huge profits because it has no competition, so exploited it's monolopy position.

When Telecom was sold in 1990 by the NZ Government for $4.25 Billion, a regulatory framework guarunteed that Telecom could only raise phone line prices at the rate of inflation and would have to leave free calling in place. So, your Telecom phone costs cannot cost any more in real terms than when the Government last provided the telephone service. In Wellington and Christchurch, Telecom cut the price of phone lines to match TelstraClear's offerings, so overall phone lines are slightly cheaper in real terms.

Also, in 1990 the sending data over telephone lines was restricted only to large companies. At this point, Bill Gates didn't think the internet would ever grow into a widely spread network - most of the rest of us didn't even know about it's existance.

In 1990 cellphones were commonly called 'Yuppie phones' as only high paid executives and lawyers had them. The idea that in 15 years time that everyone would have one (or in a lot of cases two) was not widely accepted.

Telecom's profits have grown as the number of different services it offered grew and expanded. If it was still a phone line company it's profits would be nowhere near the amounts it reaches today.

Myth 3: Telecom prevented anyone else from using it's exchanges

If Telecom prevent any rival from using it's exchanges then Vodafone, TelstraClear and any number of other telecommunication and ISP companies wouldn't exist. Telecom allowed access by negotiation with agreed compensation.

Myth 4: Telecom exaggerated the potential losses if the Local Loop was unbundled.

Have a look at the share price and tell me that one again - most analysts picked a 5% fall in the share price when LLU was announced, it's now down almost 15%. Overseas investors who sold out probably won't reinvest in New Zealand again - that's a loss to all New Zealanders.

Myth 5: Telecom had it coming.

This is just plain Government spin. Karl Marx was born 188 years ago this week, he would be proud of how the Government abolished the private property rights that Telecom enjoyed. All those who think this is a great move should consider if the Government can regulate what Telecom does with their property without any compensation, then they can regulate what you do with your property without compensation.


There are real benefits from the Local Loop Unbundling, and it is in the public interest. All the new, fantastic offerings we are hearing about ($10 per month broadband) can now be realised. I'm sure Telecom would have allowed LLU to happen if the Government had the price been right.

But the Governments unilateral decision to take away Telecom's rights to use it's own property how it sees fit has destroyed $2 billion dollars of wealth in New Zealand. When the Government took control of the Rail Network it paid for the leases and land rights it had to take control of (about $50 million) and pledge to spend $200 million on upgrading the tracks. It also gave Toll an effective tax benefit (estimated to be worth up to $70 million) as it had to write off the tracks off it's books at a loss. All up, the cost of opening rail up to competition was about $300 million.

So I don't see why the Government doesn't see paying compensation to Telecom as necessary - as it has essentially done the same as it did with the Rail Track. The only difference is that instead of taking outright ownership it will regulate the local telephone network and determine the price Telecom can charge for services - which is everything that the owner of an asset normally does.

A Non-Telecom Post

I have to behave now I've got the LLU Rants off my chest.

If you catch the train or bus in Wellington tomorrow - have a look out for the posters advertising the "City Safari". Go to the top right corner and look at the handsome face. ;-)

A Challenge to all those who think Telecom will benefit from Local Loop Unbundling in the long run.

Some commentators are saying that unbundling the Telecom local copper network will improve Telecom as it will be more innovative in it's marketing and services. If you are one of these people you should get out of bed tomorrow and run down to your nearest sharebroker and buy 1000 Telecom Shares. I recommend Direct Broking if you don't already have one.

But, (here's the catch) you have to pay $5.55 per share - which is the closing price of Telecom on the New Zealand sharemarket immediately before the Local Loop Unbundling was announced.

After all, you think the value of the shares just improved, so you paying a discount.

Don't Steal - The Government Hates Competitors

Today the Government stole $500,000,000. (Yep, Half a billion dollars.) That's the predicted fall in value that Telecom will suffer as a result of the Government's decision to unbundle the local loop.

Now, you might think that Telecom is a big profitable company - which it is - but to have it's property regulated by the Government to allow others to use it is unfair. It would be the equivilant of the Government letting anybody use your driveway to get quicker access to a beach, or river, or anything without giving you any compensation for the loss of enjoyment and privacy you currently enjoy. And in that situation you would normally stop maintaining the 'confiscated' part of your property.

I'm not a shareholder of Telecom but if I was I would be pretty annoyed with the announcement. Not anywhere does the responsible minister announce that Telecom will get compensation for their obvious loss.

Save the planet one neighbourhood at a time.

Recently The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition was founded out of a frustration that an arguement that man-made carbon was not the leading cause of climate change is not adequatelyt presented. As expected, the Greens have hit back, saying the science proves man-made carbon emissions is the cause of climate change.

Quite frankly, I have no idea what is causing the current period of global tempature rise - I'm no scientist. I am extremely sceptical about the doomsday predictions of the Green Movement - based on the fact that world is still (on average) several degrees cooler than it was 1000 years ago during the medieval warm period.

But one thing I am certain about is that reducing pollution from burning fossil fuels is an excellent idea for improving my local environment. Having to put up with car exhaust fumes as I cycle to work or buses belching black diesel smoke while walking in the city is not fun. And the past few days of stillness (no wind) in Wellington has made it worse.

If the Greens want to stop carbon emissions they need to try and stop scaring us with global doomsday predictions and focus instead on providing a better living environment. The Greens need to stop criticising large industries for their pollution - making us all feel helpless about changing the environment - and focus instead on promoting easy things everyone can do to reduce emissions. Things like converting cars to cleaner buring fuels, keeping you car serviced to improve efficiency, considering hybrid vehicles, or to use Public Transport one day a week instead of the car for commuting.

A cleaner environment is possible, but the current Green approach of making us all accept radical change and blaming large, faceless companies and Governments we don't elect (like the US and Australia) for pollution makes us feel helpless and unable to make even small steps to improving our local environment.

No doubt some Greenies will disagee - but remember I'm an outsider and that's the way I (and many others) percieve you and your message.

Retail Petrol Prices will not drop with a boycott!

By now you've probably recieved an email advising you to boycott one of the main Petrol Retailers. The theory is if you boycott one retailer, it will cut its prices to attract more business, forcing the others to match the lower price. Once all match the price you continue to boycott that retailer, and they have to cut the price again. Only, this is economic bollocks.

The reason is that all of the big four retailers get there petrol from the same wholesaler - Marsden Point Oil Refinery. And Marsden gets it's oil from the international market where the price of oil is set by a oil commodity market. So all have the same source of oil, the same refinery so the same wholesale price. If you are to move your custom from one retailer to another, the first retailer would have to reduce it's order from the refinery and the other would have to increase it's order. But the wholesale price would stay the same.

The retail price in New Zealand is at it's lowest possible point. How? Because is any retailer sold petrol cheaper than the others it would get increased custom. But it could not sell at a loss (for an extended period) without going bust. So, over time, petrol prices have reached an equilibrium where the price is the minimum you can sell and still provide an acceptable economic return.

However, if you are interested in reducing the price of petrol, don't boycott the oil retailers. Boycott the Government. Here's why:

Presently, about 70 cents of every litre of petrol you buy goes to the Government in taxes, ACC levies and excise duties. About two-thirds is used for roading related costs - the ACC Levies pay for accident costs, excise duties pay for roading. But the rest goes into the 'Consolidated Fund' along with all income tax, GST, Company Tax - all Government Charges.

The 'Consolidated Fund' pays for all Government services - Health, Education, Social Welfare, Parliament, Ministerial Services, NZ on Air, etc. And the Government is on track to make a surplus in the region of $8 Billion Dollars this year. That is four times the combined profits of all the foreign-owned Banks.

And since 2000, they've whacked on almost 20 cents per litre in additional taxes - remember in 2000 the Goverment Surplus was about half what it is now.

Despite this massive profit, er, surplus - the Government enacted legislation that means every year the amount of tax on petrol is increased in line with inflation. So next year, petrol will go up another 3c or 4c per litre. And now they're talking about additional charges to pay for regional roading projects like State Highway 20 in Auckland and Transmission Gully in Wellington.

If you want to join in this boycott write to your local Labour MP or United Future MP and tell them that they should reduce the taxes on Petrol, or you will cast your Party Vote for National, ACT or NZ First (you pick) unless they act. Then the price will come down. Send it (no stamp required) to:


Parliament Buildings
Wellington.

Where are you, my comrades?

Today is 1st May, or May Day - the International Workers Day. But in Wellington, not a single rally, protest or singing of the Internationale.

Communism is really dead.