National Thus Far

[CCS]

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Classic fucking National in the news this morning, claiming a win over a projected boom in the construction industry, a success of government policy apparently.

"We predict this will happen! This means we're awesome!" Just like their fucking predicted surplus they were trumpeting that's probably not going to happen. Pretty much what the election campaign was run on, when not setting up traps to catch the opposition in.

Not to mention that what was described sounds suspiciously like a bubble waiting to pop.

I'll just leave this here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...falls-to-5-4pc

[Lightspeed]

Key channels his inner Cheney and forms a group to help protect us from unknown unknowns.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/n...ectid=11353239

[pxpx]

Ugh. Foreign Policy creation, LinkedIn style

[[Malks] Pixie]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Key channels his inner Cheney and forms a group to help protect us from unknown unknowns.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/n...ectid=11353239

While I dislike the way that this group was formed (and doubt that they can actually perform any useful function at all) I have two points.

1) It was Rumsfeld and not Cheney who used that phrase.
2) There was actually nothing at all wrong with what Rumsfeld actually said, if anything it was a fairly good break down on the issues of the limits of knowledge in regards to planning.

Pixie

[crocos]

Don't forget the out of place TERRIST VIDIAHS for extra FUD - ISIS is surely a KNOWN threat, thus outside the realms of this money wasting "think" tank.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by [Malks] Pixie

While I dislike the way that this group was formed (and doubt that they can actually perform any useful function at all) I have two points.

1) It was Rumsfeld and not Cheney who used that phrase.
2) There was actually nothing at all wrong with what Rumsfeld actually said, if anything it was a fairly good break down on the issues of the limits of knowledge in regards to planning.

Pixie

Yeah, but it's Cheney who people remember hating, and hardly anyone cares to think about the limitations of knowledge, so... I reject your points.

The group's a joke though, a bunch of power players being round up to think of reasons why NZers should be scared.

[Ab]

Yeah, there are lots of things to hate Rumsfeld for but that speech ain't one of them. It was perfectly sensible.

[[Malks] Pixie]

The really strange thing is that the basic idea behind the group is solid - but I have zero confidence in their ability to actually rationalise any threats outside of their own areas of expertise.

The one "info-graphic" I've seen produced by the group is so predictable that it could have been done by a 1st year Philosophy or Statistics student (with all the errors of methodology and thinking that comes with that) and that makes it next to useless.

Pixie

[Lightspeed]

Indeed. If the group was intended to do the stated job, I think it would be quite differently composed.

Nah, I reckon this is part of whatever smoke and mirrors game Key has cooked up next.

[Ab]

The latest jobs and wages data from Stats NZ finds:

Employment up 72,000 in last year, being 66,000 full-time and 6,000 part-time

Unemployment down 14,000 in last year

Labour force up by 57,000

Unemployment rate down to 5.4%, from 6.1% a year ago

NZ 9th lowest unemployment rate in OECD of 34 countries.

Unemployment rate now 0.7% lower than Australia and US, 0.9% lower than
UK and 1.5% lower than Canada

The NEET (Not in employment, education or training) rate for under 20s
down to 7.2% from 8.1% a year ago

Average weekly earnings up (over year) 1.8%, being 2.2% in private sector and 1.4% in public sector

Average hourly earnings up 2.4%, being 3.0% in private sector and 1.0% in public sector

Male hourly earnings up 2.0% and female hourly earnings up 2.7%

just because of farmers and or Christchurch of course

[Lightspeed]

Well I would be curious to see if you could point to any initiative by National that even somewhat could be credited for these improvements.

Though I have some wonderings about the figures. Like what are the median earnings? What are the changes in average earnings once we exclude the top 10% of earners?

[Lightspeed]

Can any refute this opinion piece?
Govt loath to let facts come between friends

As they point out, it's all well and good to have a laugh at the some back bencher with interesting ideas about health science, but what about National's pick-and-choose approach to science?

[Ab]

The words "Dita de Boni" refute it pretty well. I assume that anything she posts is wrong.

Don't get me wrong though, I think Governmental muzzling of scientists to be fucking horrendous. Hell, I live in Australia under the Abbott government.

[fixed_truth]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Well I would be curious to see if you could point to any initiative by National that even somewhat could be credited for these improvements.

From an earlier link:

The building boom is responsible for almost half the big lift in jobs in the past year, with most of that concentrated in Canterbury and Auckland.

[Nothing]

Originally Posted by Ab

The words "Dita de Boni" refute it pretty well. I assume that anything she posts is wrong.

I thought you were someone, Ab, who had some critical thinking skills. Surely you're aware that the two sentences quoted above are a shining example of an ad hominem fallacy.

[pxpx]

Didnt Dita Di Boni write a parent blog for a while?

[CCS]

Getting a bit ad hominem there bruh.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Nothing

I thought you were someone, Ab, who had some critical thinking skills. Surely you're aware that the two sentences quoted above are a shining example of an ad hominem fallacy.

Make up your own mind:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/dita-de-bo...e.cfm?a_id=611

[Nothing]

Originally Posted by Ab

Make up your own mind:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/dita-de-bo...e.cfm?a_id=611

You're not making it any better.

[CCS]

EVERYTHING THE DE BONI SAYS IS GOSPEL! THOUT SHALL NOT QUESTION THE WORD OF THE DE BONI!

[pxpx]

Originally Posted by CCS

EVERYTHING DE BONI SAYS IS GOSPEL! THOU SHALL NOT QUESTION THE WORD OF DE BONI!

Altered for my own personal chortle value.

[Nothing]

Originally Posted by CCS

EVERYTHING THE DE BONI SAYS IS GOSPEL! THOUT SHALL NOT QUESTION THE WORD OF THE DE BONI!

Yeah, this is just inverse ad hominem, and it's also fallacious.

[pxpx]

parklife

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Nothing

Yeah, this is just inverse ad hominem, and it's also fallacious.

You'll make no traction. You may as well ask these guys to go without oxygen.

[CCS]

Originally Posted by Nothing

Yeah, this is just inverse ad hominem, and it's also fallacious.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

Make up your own mind:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/dita-de-bo...e.cfm?a_id=611

Some believe that truth is always truth, whether from a saint or an ass.

[Lightspeed]

Key used GCSB for political ends prior to 2014 election

But this isn't a problem because JK is okay with it and we know that humans when they come to power turn into the most decent people in the world and would never do anything to ensure their own power to the detriment of those who put them in power. /s

[spigalau]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Key used GCSB for political ends prior to 2014 election

But this isn't a problem because JK is okay with it and we know that humans when they come to power turn into the most decent people in the world and would never do anything to ensure their own power to the detriment of those who put them in power. /s

ROFL - you are using a Green Patry press release as a fact. Can you get any lower down that barrell ?

[Lightspeed]

Are you suggesting the Greens are lying about the content of the response to their OIA request? lolz, I don't think I'm the one scraping here.

Actually, I'm sorry, you're probably doing a good impression of a National party member. An accusation of an abuse of power? Hey look at that over there!

[pxpx]

Didn't everyone know about this already? Didn't JK say "I'm going to release this information in order to protect my reputation" ahead of Greenbob and Assange's fizzler with the fat german cunt?

Or was this a different release?

[Ab]

Another example of election derangement syndrome. Norman doesn't appear to have grasped that the election is over and that National won.

[Lightspeed]

When did the world turn into 1984 for you Ab?

[Ab]

Norman's been going on about this for two months nonstop. Noone gave a shit in September, noone gave a shit in October, and noone gives a shit now.

[Lightspeed]

You mean no one who matters? Or are you trapped in some kind of filter bubble?

[Ab]

IIRC the big reveal at TEH MOMENT OF TWUTH was supposed to be that the govt was eavesdropping on NZers. This was not in fact the case, but the proof that it was not the case was in documents that were classified. Wussel was counting on the fact that Key could not make that proof public.

So Key had the GCSB declassify the document, used the info in it to prove that the govt wasn't doing the shit that TEH MOMENT OF TWUTH was supposed to be all about, and Wussell has been butthurt about it for two whole months.

Think about it. What he's so pissed off about is the manner in which John Key proved that the government was not doing anything wrong. HOW DARE HE.

[chubby]

poor ab- hates the boomers with such fervor,yet cant see how his vote is allowing their nefarious plans come to fruition.

[Ab]

"vote"?

[spigalau]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Are you suggesting the Greens are lying about the content of the response to their OIA request? lolz, I don't think I'm the one scraping here.

Actually, I'm sorry, you're probably doing a good impression of a National party member. An accusation of an abuse of power? Hey look at that over there!

No I am suggesting that anyone can still out a press release and if you want to make a mountain out of a mole hill, pick a topic that no one in the last 2 months has given a shit about. And for the record, I have previously voted for both Labour & the Alliance, however these days I am a realist and realise that the left is still stuck in 1953.

[Lightspeed]

Oh okay. So what you're saying is it's only really National that can pull that kind of thing? It makes sense I guess, it does take a kind of critical mass, some kind of position of authority to effectively make a mountain out of a molehill as National has been effective at, mountains some around here are so eager to climb up.