Whale Oil

So the latest news is that the Whale Oil blogger has put the name of a Nelson person who is on sex charges kind of on his site. Kind of because it is there in binary. Well kind of because actually the binary turns up a hexi-decimal string that then needs to be converted to ASCII.

The Whale Oil site is currently being attacked. So it is off line. It would be interesting to know who is doing the attacking. HOWEVER... good old google caches so much stuff that it is available through google cache. Bad luck the idiots trying to block the site through the DoS attack.

Anyway... it will be interesting to see if the Whale Oil guy gets charged with this one. Because he hasn't put the name on his site. He hasn't even put the binary conversion of the name.

3 News > Video > Campbell Live > ACC cuts off payments to victim of dolphin accident

3 News > Video > Campbell Live > ACC cuts off payments to victim of dolphin accident


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A classic example of bureaucratic idiocy. Every way you look at this ACC have been gumbies. They should have at least put someone up who was presentable to respond. And better still, sort the issue out ASAP.

The Economic 'Crisis'

It seems to me that the economic 'crisis' is very much a self fulfilling prophecy. The more people talk and worry about it, the bigger the impact.

All the issues have come about because people have taken too many risks. The principle of being conservative when it comes to money has been thrown out and the specter of big 'returns' has caused many people to be pretty headless. Take for example someone paying $500k for a house when the build new price is $250k. Absolutely nuts!

The only thing more stupid than the risk people have taken is the response to it. To me these can be classified into three categories... only one of which makes any sense.

The first is what most governments have chosen... prop up the idiots who have been taking the big risks. Specifically banks. Many times governments get criticized for "picking winners". In this case they have lost the plot and picked the losers. My absolute guarantee is that spending money to prop up banks and other idiots who have taken too many risks will only deepen and lengthen any 'crisis'. It will protect the idiots from learning a very valuable lesson, it will be inflationary (which always hurts the less well off) and it simply just delays the inevitable.

The second approach is the "head in the sand" approach. This has a lot more going for it than it may appear. If people don't panic then it probably will minimise the impact. However if people panic, the 'crisis' will turn into a MAC truck and sticking ones head in the sand will not protect ones butt from being run over. Unfortunately I suspect the panic has happened enough for the MAC truck to be approaching. Already in NZ we are seeing empty shops and people reducing their normal consumption. There is no need to reduce consumption. Just be wise in what is spent.

The third approach is where we probably have to go. Governments, because they have the power to mortgage our futures, should use the recession to change some of the economic and social paradigms. A recession presents a great opportunity for doing this as resources become under-utilised and hence more flexible and less expensive.

What this could look like is as follows:

1. Infrastructure investment in energy efficiency. I'm talking upgrading homes so our average house temperatures come into the healthy zone. I'm talking at demand generation (ie solar). I'm talking better transmission.
   
2. Infrastructure investment in telco. I'm talking 1Gbit/sec to every home minimum! 100Mbit/sec is not a paradigm shift. Just an incremental improvement.
   
3. Reduction in the working week (when was the last time we reduced the number of hours people worked?). I'm not advocating forcing people to work less. Just that if they work more than say 30 hours, then employers should be paying through the nose! Likewise if shops want to be open at Christmas, then they should have to pay an overtime rate of five times!
   
4. Government generating a market for a new fuel like hydrogen or electricity by upgrading public transport and government vehicle fleets
5. Changing the tax system so your tax rate is based on your contribution into the community. I have no idea how this could work but such an approach has the potential to turn our social structures upsidedown.
   
6. Encouraging community based education coops through provision of resources through the web. Long term schools are a goner as technology allows the very best teachers to teach not just 20 kids but thousands!
7. Dump the NZ dollar and use Aussie money. It is going to happen one day so why not bite the bullet. Really... what are we afraid of?
   

These are just a few ideas. There are a billion and one possibilities... most of which I can not imagine. The important thing to realise is there is an opportunity to paradigm shift.

This is our second opportunity to paradigm shift in the last decade. The first was the period of effectively zero unemployment. Surprisingly the Labour government missed this opportunity (Labour governments tend to be the reformers). Now is National's opportunity with an approaching recession. Hopefully they don't miss it.

Obama wins (and so do we...)

It is with great relief and joy that I see Barack Obama win the US Presidency.

It is a joy to see the American people take a decisive step out of their history of racism. I have worried whether, as a nation, America would struggle to break the hold of this scourge. But they have done it. I congratulate all those who voted (both blue and red).

I am hopeful that Obama will live up to the expectation he has set.
I am hopeful that the idiocy of the last 8 years will be reversed.
I am hopeful that gross injustice of the war in Iraq, Guantanamo, the racial profiling of travelers and the spying on people who are different will be a thing of the past.
I am hopeful that America, for all its faults, will return to driving the world forward in technologies... particularly energy efficiency and re-usable technologies.

I worry that there will be some in the US who will not accept the decision of their democracy that they purport to defend and desire. I worry that there may be some who will not be able to look past the colour of Obama's skin and will resource to violent means. I hope they will stop and think about what has happened today. Democracy has worked. The people have spoken (rightly or wrongly). A new government is in place. That government is there by God's will. Don't believe me? Read your bible (Romans 13).

More health frustrations

We have been experiencing some challenges with the NZ health system. Capital and Coast Health is our health provider... or should I say they are meant to be... providing a service seems to be a little beyond them currently.

The story goes like this...

We were seen by the head pediatrician at the hospital for Katya's hearing. He has some concerns about whether her deafness is due to a skull abnormality. He admitted Katya into the pediatric clinic program at the hospital so that the services she needs would be co-ordinated. He booked us in to see him just before Christmas and sent various appointment requests to various hospital units for various things.

The key request is for a CT scan. Everything else follows the outcome of this scan. You would think that this would be the first appointment we got? Apparently not.

We now have all the other services requested supplying appointments that we can not use because the Radiology department can not understand its link in the chain. We keep getting told 3-4 months even though the Pediatric department has told them twice now that the scan must be complete before Christmas.

What is frustrating is that I can see this is going to only get resolved when the head pediatrician wanders over to Radiology and cracks some heads together. Which is a colossal waste of resource. A good administrative person would be able to make these things flow but it seems like such people are few and far between in the health system.

This lack of basic administrative competence is starting to fuel my desire to get back involved in politics. Fortunately this will probably die away before it is a good time to jump in within the election cycle.

What won't die away is the fatherly instinct which will result in me applying some of my hard earned bureaucrat management skills to "manage" this situation to the conclusion that we need. This may be a bit of a bruising journey for some of our less than cooperative and competent hospital staff members.

New SNL Sarah Palin/Tina Fey video

SNL with Palin and Clinton

If you are following the US elections you will enjoy this...

US Presidential Video

Man of the Year

I just watched this movie. An entertaining flick with a good social commentary. I guess the basic assertion, which is now being fully explored in US politics with Obama in the race, is that the political system is corrupt and people have had enough.

There was one really cool line...

Politicians are like baby diapers. They should be changed regularly... for the very same reason that a diaper should be.

As a young father and someone who is pretty cynical about politics... I relate to this comment.

Job pressures in NZ

This morning there was an interesting article in the Herald....

Pressure mounts for pay rises
5:00AM Sunday May 04, 2008
By Andrea Milner


The rising costs of living are prompting calls for pay increases, but employers say high prices are hitting businesses too and workers will have to push hard for a raise.

Employees are now demanding and receiving compensation for higher inflation, says Westpac chief economist Brendan O'Donovan, who predicts a "miniature wage-price spiral" as salary pressure continues.

Salaries have been picking up pace over the past couple of years and are set to rise even more rapidly over the next 12 months.

O'Donovan is forecasting a 1.1 per cent increase in the mean salary this quarter and expects the labour cost index to reach a record 3.6 per cent this year.

However, employees will need to present a business case for a pay rise as firms become more cost-conscious.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly says price increases mean companies have less capacity to increase pay.

Alasdair Thompson, Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive, says it's hard to get business credit from banks now, interest rates are high, and the high exchange rate is eating into exporters' profits. "So if an employee says, 'The cost of living has risen, give me more money,' that's not going to work."

The key to gaining a salary increase is understanding what the benefit to the employer will be. Don't look like an "increase beggar", says Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett. "Show the value you bring over and above what someone else might offer, your point of difference from others in the market."

Frog Recruitment director Jane Kennelly agrees: "It is never good to just state you want a salary increase - you need to be able to demonstrate why you deserve a pay rise."

To support their case, employees need to consider how they can increase their productivity and the success of the business and outline their strategies to achieve this, Thompson says. Employees must be able to tangibly link the reason for seeking a pay rise to something that is going to benefit the organisation.

Julie Cressey, of Madison Recruitment, says knowing your impact on productivity, profitability and sustainability is key, as well as understanding how you are measured in the role.

Articulate the future value you can bring to the role through continuing to develop professionally, Bartlett says, and point out what you have done to enhance your skills and be able to show you have excelled in key aspects.

Proactive employees are cherished inside organisations. Workers should be specific about extra tasks or areas of responsibility they've added to their position, and their accomplishments - especially revenue earned or saved for the organisation, Kennelly says.

Examples include positive customer feedback, special projects taken on over and above the position description and delivered well, systems and procedures implemented that have created efficiency in the organisation, and working extra hours.

If an employee has good skills, drive and commitment, then they've got something to sell and can put that to their employer, Thompson says.

To understand their worth, Annemarie Duff, of SEEK Limited, recommends employees investigate what other employers are offering in similar jobs. And Kennelly says there has been an increase in people canvassing her agency to research their market worth this year.

Advise your employer you want to discuss a salary increase when preparing for pay rise negotiations, and have the discussion face to face, says Kennelly. Never bring up the topic in a social situation and maintain professional decorum. A good tip is to pretend you're negotiating on behalf of someone else. Present supporting documentation, such as a list of key achievements.

An employee should know what increase they want and not be drawn into "jockeying for position", Kennelly says, but also be aware this isn't a situation where the employer is left with no option. Threatening to leave can leave a sour taste in an employer's mouth. Be firm in negotiating, but don't get emotional. Instead, have a good attitude and be confident.

An employer likes to hear you are committed to the firm - so express it, adds Thompson.

If an employer turns down a request for a salary increase, ask why they said no because the answer could indicate whether or not to stay in the organisation. Explore other opportunities available and then make the decision.

Ultimately, the biggest saving businesses can make is retaining their current, highly productive staff. The cost of going back to market, having that role vacant and filling it has a huge bottom-line impact on businesses.

Barnett estimates the cost to an employer of replacing an employee is probably more than 125 per cent of their salary. Cressey frequently hears of "huge" counter offers being made to prevent staff accepting employment offers from other organisations in the current market.

TOP JOBS IN AUCKLAND

Each year the Auckland Chamber of Commerce surveys members to find out what employees are being paid in the region.

The membership database predominantly comprises Small and Medium Enterprises (companies with less than 10 employees). There were more than 2500 responses last year.

Popular top earners:

CEO / MD - $126,422.

General manager - $120,827.

ICT manager - $104,363.

National sales manager - $109,145.

HR manager - $99,523.

Finance manager - $98,645.

Marketing manager - $98,277.

These figures are averages including allowances such as bonuses and commissions, vehicles, and any other income subject to fringe benefit tax such as medical insurance, low interest loans or superannuation.

CASE STUDY

Office manager Anna has worked for a professional business services firm for three years.

As often happens, her role has developed into a broad collection of tasks and functions.

They include supplier management for the organisation's technology and telephone systems.

Recently, Anna felt it was time to broach the topic of a pay rise.

She says she loves her job, but "I just wanted to feel I was getting the right money".

Anna was uncomfortable asking for a pay increase. "I was worried my boss might say 'no', because reviews had been happening annually." However, she was aware that her position was diverse, more time was needed to do the job, and that other people in the company had received increases.

Anna took a three-step approach to preparing for the conversation. She:

Called an agency to find out what other opportunities were out there to get an idea of comparable salaries.

Reviewed her initial job description to see what had changed as her role had developed, listing things she was doing that involved more responsibility.

Emailed her boss and asked for a meeting to discuss a pay rise. "I really felt I could not ask face to face."

Anna was nervous at the meeting, but she was successful in securing an increase. She says having reference information to hand really helped.

In this case she presented her job description together with a list of additional tasks she had taken on during her time in the role, plus a list of the achievements.

In one area, she was able to show that a small modification to the telephone system of about $1000 had saved the company a portion of a part-time salary.

This represents a very short sighted view of employment matters. The reality is that of employers do not at least keep up with cost of living increases, staff will leave. Chasing them as they go out the door is too late. Employers need to be proactive. They need to make sure they look after the staff they want to keep by lifting salaries. Those they don't need to understand that in the current job market they can get a job easily and they should move on. They will probably find a better place to work for at least the same money.

Unions may cry out about the unfairness of this. However it is the best outcome for all.

In NZ we now face an opportunity to lift our salaries to international levels, can the low value add jobs and have a bit of a shuffle around so people move from long term employers that they don't enjoy.

Employers need to understand that this is going to happen whether they like it or not. The difference is whether they are pro-active and retain their good staff or whether they have to invest significantly in staff replacement instead of other productive areas. Only one of these choices is sustainable.


By the way... does anyone else find it ironic that it is a Labour government that is taking us into a wage-price spiral!!!???

NZ Justice System

This morning there was an interesting article in the paper...

Barlow 'foolish but not a murderer'
The Dominion Post | Saturday, 19 April 2008

John Barlow is taking the fight to clear his name to the Privy Council and says that though he has done some foolish things, he is not a double murderer.
"I maintain my innocence, as I have always done," he said in an exclusive statement to The Dominion Post.
"I know I did some foolish things and to some it looks suspicious, but I am not a murderer."
Barlow was convicted, after a rare third trial, of the 1994 murders of father and son businessmen Eugene and Gene Thomas in their offices on The Terrace in Wellington.
He was jailed for a minimum of 14 years and is due to be considered for parole for the first time in October. His lawyer Greg King says the focus is still on clearing his name, however.
"John Barlow wants to leave prison an innocent man, not a paroled murderer," Mr King said.
Barlow now has one last chance to clear his name, this time with the Privy Council in London.
"I am very disappointed that the Ministry of Justice refused to refer my case to our own appeal court but we are confident the Privy Council will give us a fair hearing," he said yesterday.
His appeal documents were filed with the Privy Council this week.
The court has rarely agreed to hear criminal cases from New Zealand and Barlow can ask for an appeal only because the Court of Appeal decided his case before the Supreme Court took over as this country's top court.
Last month Governor-General Anand Satyanand refused to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal.
Mr King is confident that if Barlow can clear the first hurdle of persuading the Privy Council to hear his case the convictions will be overturned on a full appeal.
Barlow was convicted after two High Court juries were unable to agree on verdicts. Mr King says the extra evidence at the third trial - which compared the composition of the metal in the bullets that killed the Thomases with bullets Barlow had - came from a United States witness from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The technique the witness used has now been discredited and convictions in the US have been overturned as a result.


I personally have no idea whether Barlow is guilty or not. To me it does not matter. The issue is that he has requested an appeal and the Ministry of Justice has denied him this. Since when have we as a nation agreed to bureaucrats being the gatekeepers to justice. I thought everyone was entitled to appeal. I have no confidence in bureaucrats making these decisions. I have much more confidence in our judges making these decisions.

I guess the argument is that if we had appeals available to anyone who asked for an appeal, the court system might get overloaded with spurious cases. A simple and fair solution to this would be to impose a penalty if the appeal was unsuccessful. Say 20% increase in sentence.

While we are at it, we also need to direct home some responsibility for unfair imprisonment. If this Barlow person is eventually freed, then those who have made decisions like this to deny him an appeal, need to feel it in their pockets... just as he has felt it in having his backside sitting in prison.

Sicko and The Kingdom

I have just watched two DVDs.

The first was Michael Moore's Sicko. Good thought provoking stuff. You have to hand it to the Cubans. They really know how to stick it to the US. The most interesting part was where he showed how much people like Bush and Clinton had been bought for. It is messages like this that will be what wins the Democratic nomination for Obama.

The second movie, The Kingdom, I found awesome. I thought it was going to be a shot'em up movie. Instead it turned out to be more of a social commentary than Sicko. The final scenes where each side says that their driving desire is to "Kill Them All" is what got the US stuck in Iraq and the Israeli's into their hole.

It got me thinking that Jesus preached an upside down kingdom... where to win you have to lose and so forth. He would say the only solution to the rubbish happening in the Middle East is forgiveness. However it seems forgiveness is impossible after so much bloodshed. I admire the Sth Africans and their approach to reconciliation. Essentially if you fessed up you would be forgiven and you would be free of punishment. This approach kept Sth Africa from turning into a blood bath of reprisals. Similar approaches have been applied in Ireland. Many nations with issues (NZ, Australia, various African nations, Palestine) need to learn from this.

Another brick bat for the Labour Dictatorship

One of the things we love about traveling through Singapore is that you can transit within Chanai Airport without going through customs. This contrasts with the pain of having to get visas and go through customs when we travel through China.

It is therefore upsetting to read the following in the NZ Herald this morning....

Passengers transitting in NZ to require visas
3:43PM Wednesday March 26, 2008

The Government is changing the rules for passengers in transit through New Zealand.

Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove says as of Friday, transit visas will be needed for all people travelling via New Zealand, unless they are specifically exempted by immigration policy.

He says the change is due to increased security requirements and changing travel patterns.

Mr Cosgrove says the new policy will strengthen risk management and future proof border control.

This of course will necessitate more customs officials, make lines longer at customs and move NZ further away from being a civilized, non-paranoid country like Singapore and into the camp of over-the-top, security obsessed, government-with-its-beak-into-everything countries like the US and China. Of course we can expect nothing else from a government that is making Rob Muldoon look decidedly non-interventionist.

ASB, the Banking Ombudsman and Cash Advances

I am currently in a fascinating discussion with the Banking Ombudsman about the term Cash Advance.

I have a credit card but I keep it in positive balance. My fifth form economics teacher told us about how he had got into credit card debt and used credit cards to pay off credit cards. I guess it scared me for life so I am very careful with them.
Anyway, ASB have started charging what they call a Cash Advance fee. This use to be when you took money out of an ATM and drove your balance into negative. This never affected me because I had a positive balance. We use our credit cards for getting cash out overseas because it is very convenient.
Recently they seem to have changed this and this year when we went to Siberia we got whacked with these Cash Advance fees.
I have two issues with these fees. Firstly, I am not happy paying NZ$5 on top of the already high fees for overseas transaction to withdraw my money out of an ATM. Secondly, the term Cash Advance is misleading. It certainly applies if I am using the credit provided by a credit card. But if I have a debit balance, it is not an advance. It is a withdrawal.
In the past ASB have been very customer focused. However recently they have started stinging us every which way with fees. When I rang up to query this they were not very responsive.

SO... the time has come. We are voting with our feet and moving to KiwiBank.By mid March we will have moved everything to Kiwibank. So far they are very customer focused. They have some really nice touches like giving us 30 days to get all our accounts and APs etc sorted before charging setup fees. They are paying everything to move us from our other banks. The deal they do on the mortgage is good. Their people seem very nice. I can understand why they are growing and other banks are not. I philosophically disagree with the government owning a bank but I can not argue with the service and the option it gives us.

Back to the Banking Ombudsman. So far the word useless is an apt description of this office. I have Bachelors and Masters degrees. Yet even I could not make head nor tail of one paragraph they wrote to me.

While there is a prima facie case for such a role, it seems that there is little point in our tax payer dollars being wasted on such a position. It would be better to make the same amount of funding available for lawyers to bid for so they could take class actions against organisations when they breach consumer law. Such an approach is litigious but is better than the alternative which seems to be sector capture (when the Ombudsman does the bidding of the sector they are suppose to be policing).

So my recommendations...

1. Avoid ASB like the plague. My prediction is that they will be regarded as being like Westpac in less than 5 years time. A good business bank but does over the individual.
2. If you have issues with your bank, go to Kiwibank.
3. if you are in the National Party and want some quick runs on the board when Labour gets the boot, look first at the Banking Ombudsman. You won't lose anything by giving this black hole of tax payer money the flick.

Finally, this hassle with ASB has reminded me of just how much of a difference good customer care makes. Many years ago I signed up for a Vodafone plan. It was perfect for me. Eventually they phased out that plan. Then they forced me onto a plan that was not as good for me. I wrote to them and they recognised the change was a step back and gave me $200 credit. I was very happy with that. Five years later I am still a very happy Vodafone customer and I have finally been able to give Telecom the flick because Vodafone launched a plan that was perfect for me. I am sure that they have well and truly made back that $200. AON Insurance is another organisation who has seen me right and given very good customer service. I have been a customer with AON (and their predecessors) for over 15 years.

Election Year

This year is election year. I tend to support this approach...

The principle reason is that I am unhappy with the invasive and hypocritical approach Labour has taken to running NZ.

A secondary reason is that I believe that Labour has run out of ideas to move NZ forward. I would suggest that the following are major policy changes that would make a significant improvement to NZ:

1. Remove withholding tax
2. Purchase the roll out of fiber-optic cable to every home in centres with more than 10,000 people

When a new government is elected, I would really like to see the Electoral legislation revert back to what it was.

Hypocrisy defined

This morning I walked past parliament to have a catch up with someone from church. As I went past the main gate a new Crown car rolled up and drove in.

In New Zealand we seem to be on a big ting about "being green" and "zero emissions" and "carbon footprints". This has been spouted by our various ministers and this current government is making this issue a key platform for the next election.

So what do you think this new Crown car was...


A Prius??? No. Too small.


Maybe an LPG powered Falcon??? No. Obviously too Australian.


Well at least it wasn't a Hummer.

BUT it wasn't far short of it...

It was a new Chrysler 300..


That's anything up to 6.1L of V8 fuel sucking, environment bashing grunt.


Now personally, apart from them being butt ugly, I have no probs with such a vehicle. However if you are running an "everyone should be reducing their emissions" message... it is a bit rich buying these.

Smoking increases

This morning there was an interesting article in the Herald. It is included below.

Basically it says a study is showing smoking is on the rise. But people are surprised.

I am not surprised. If you have walked in Wellington CBD recently you will have noticed the increase in walking chimneys. In the last three years smoking has increased significantly. I tried to see if there were any long term studies or data sets to prove this. I could not find anything. I would have thought the Ministry of Health and Stats would have such information as tabacco sales. But no.

I put it down to the "cool"/rebel thing and ALSO an increase in workplace stress. People are working a lot more recently and in more corrosive work and societal conditions.

Anyway... watch this space. I think we are in for a lot more issues in this smoking area.


>>>>>

Young rebel over tobacco health alerts
5:00AM Tuesday November 06, 2007
By Simon Collins

Young New Zealanders are reversing smoking trends by smoking more. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Smoking has become more popular among younger New Zealanders, possibly reversing a 30-year decline in an apparent backlash against a Government drive to stamp out the habit.

A Massey University survey for the Ministry of Health has found the number of people aged 15 to 45 who have smoked at least once in the previous year has increased from 31.1 per cent in 2003 to 35.8 per cent.

"There seem to be social negative connotations with tobacco use and that is contributing to less lifetime use, but there may have been some backlash since 2003," said researcher Chris Wilkins.

"It may be there was a general decline in lifetime use for tobacco, but the groups that were picking up smoking were doing it because it was seen as 'cool' and somehow anti-establishment. That included some young people, particularly young women, who were reacting to the Government regulation and the social intolerance that was developing for smoking."

Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said the findings were surprising.

"I think there is a possibility of a sort of backlash against the welter of public health information that New Zealanders as a population are being bombarded with,' he said.

"As a sector we are certainly seeing that amongst our patrons - that they are expressing around the bars a view that they're getting a bit sick of the constant barrage of public health messages, whether it's gaming, alcohol, eating, drinking or smoking."

The Ministry of Health and Dr Wilkins warned that the survey might be a statistical "rogue" result that would need to be confirmed or disproved by future data.

Other sources, including last year's Census and annual surveys by AC Nielsen, continue to show a declining trend in tobacco use since at least 1976.

Censuses show a consistent reduction from 36 per cent of the total adult population in 1976 to 24 per cent in 1996 and 21 per cent last year.

They show a continued fall even in the 20 to 29 age group, where smoking remains most popular, from 32 per cent in 1996 to 30 per cent last year.

The ministry's chief adviser on public health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, noted that the Massey figure of 35.8 per cent of 15- to 45-year-olds was virtually the same as in Massey's first two surveys in 1998 and 2001, suggesting the low 2003 rate of 31.1 per cent was a statistical quirk in the sample for that year.

"There is still a concern there from a policy perspective that it's not coming down, apparently, but our particular interest is in regular smokers because that's where we get the long-term harm."

Smokefree Coalition director Mark Peck said the survey showed the need to raise taxes on roll-your-owns.

Tax is based on the weight of tobacco. Roll-your-own cigarettes average only half the weight of tobacco in ready-made cigarettes.

Mr Peck said roll-your-owns' share of the tobacco market had risen as a result from 30 per cent to 48-49 per cent, while ready-made cigarettes had dropped to 43-44 per cent, with pipe smoking accounting for the balance.

Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor acknowledged that there was an "anomaly" in the current tax regime, which makes the effective tax on a ready-made cigarette about twice the tax on a roll-your-own one.

Zaoui

This image from the NZ Herald is very important for New Zealand. It represents the closure of one of the most embarassing chapters of New Zealand history. At last Ahmed Zaoui and his family are reunited.
One can but hope that a picture like this... of a family reunited after so many years... so many years that New Zealand tax payer funded officials have contributed to... might just make some of these tax payer funded officials realise that the cost of "security" can be too high.
In many respects the terrorist movements have won in countries like New Zealand... even though we have not seen the carnage of a 9/11 event... by the very fact that we have turned paranoid and surrendered some of the stuff that makes us who we are as a nation. Perhaps the only way to beat the terrorist is to ignore or forgive them.

John MacArthur on war

[Edited after feedback]
I have been pondering whether to place this on my blog and whether to comment on it for days. I came across this interview on YouTube while watching a number of other sermonettes and interviews. There is a lot of resource out there.



In the end I have decided to put it up. I am making no comment about the war in Iraq. I do have views on this but this is not why I have put this up.

I am also not dissing America or Americans. There are Americans I love and care for deeply... just as there are Russians who I love and care for deeply. Also America has Crispy Cream donuts... hmmmm dooonuts!!!

Seriously... Why I have decided to put this video up is to encourage people to be discerning about what people in positions of authority or responsibility say. We all struggle with our humanness when it comes to applying what Jesus says.

Maternity care

I have recently had a rant about the poor state of maternity care in NZ. The cartoon below by Tom Scott indicates that a few others share the same views.