Beehive occupation.

[TheDemonLord]

First point, roads. Lowest tender gets the maintenance contract. At least in the SI, only one firm can do a decent job - and in Selwyn they only get called in after the regular contractor's work has failed - twice. If the contracts were performance based the roads would be better.

Something something do it once, do it right something
vs
something something #8 wire, she'll be right something

I don't disagree with the comment about terrible maintenance - only to say that is exactly what will happen under 3Waters.

Second point - being heard. Selwyn has just cut our old ward from 2 councillors to one. Rolleston gets another. Chance of being heard at the Council table just took a 50% cut. It's a bloody big ward too.

Which Sucks - does it change how much representation you are likely to get at the National Level?

I mean - if I use the Gun law changes as an example - that's a voting block that is about 4-5 times the size of Selwyn District - and they didn't give a flying fuck.

[TheDemonLord]

Because privatisation of water is always so much better (especially for the management of these companies)

https://news.sky.com/story/huge-incr...veals-12677730
https://www.independent.co.uk/climat...-b2147947.html

I didn't say Privatisation though, did I?

Infrastructure is one of those things that is a Natural Monopoly. It sucks, I don't like it, but it's reality. As such - Privatization isn't generally a good idea - nor is full nationalization.

Small-ish and locally managed seems to be the better option - because the organization is small enough to change as needed and the proximity to the people the institution serves is small - so when something goes bad, it's easier for people to instigate change to get it fixed.

[neels]

Small-ish and locally managed seems to be the better option - because the organization is small enough to change as needed and the proximity to the people the institution serves is small - so when something goes bad, it's easier for people to instigate change to get it fixed.

Except for the small and local who manage to fuck things up, which is something councils are pretty good at.

In the case of water fucked it up enough that we've got chlorine in our water now, the same water that can come out of the same ground and goes into bottles to be sold overseas.

Or massive rates increases to fix broken infrastructure, because of money being spent on shiny things instead of maintenance.

To be honest, the most prevalent reason I've seen for people opposing 3 waters is the belief that the government is going to give it all to 'the bloody maoris'

[TheDemonLord]

Except for the small and local who manage to fuck things up, which is something councils are pretty good at.

In the case of water fucked it up enough that we've got chlorine in our water now, the same water that can come out of the same ground and goes into bottles to be sold overseas.

Or massive rates increases to fix broken infrastructure, because of money being spent on shiny things instead of maintenance.

To be honest, the most prevalent reason I've seen for people opposing 3 waters is the belief that the government is going to give it all to 'the bloody maoris'

None of which I particularly disagree with - the only point would be to point to Scale.

Councils and Government are pretty much the same - Massive Rates increases vs Massive Tax increases because of money spent on Shiny instead of Maintenance.

The only difference is that the Government is able to fuck things up on a much larger scale than the Council.

Interestingly enough - there's a Maori fellow that goes to my Local Gym who is opposed to it because he doesn't want it sold off to johnny foreigner.

[R650R]

Wasnt so much of a protest as a Tamaki "another-new-party" announcement. Must be hoping for more than the 14000 votes they got last time. Also 2000 people (at the protest) is not "lots". I think we had more for the Bikoi

"...I think come election time Aderns mob is going to face most humiliating defeat in NZ electoral history" Given the accuracy of your previous predictions I reckon Labour will be thrilled

I find it quite entertaining that several media commentators decided to relabel the protest as a political party event. I guess they were diss appointed it was a peaceful protest compared to the other extreme of a “ mostly peaceful protest” (Tm CNN news).

What’s that saying you can’t make someone look like a dictator but you can’t let them behave like one? So if now it’s a political party launch event instead of protest (and govt Intel would know) then we now have our Banana republic leader literally putting up barriers and screaming fire in the theatre just because a mostly irrelevant group dares come to town to speak or protest!

An interesting clip where Brian and Hannah sound like reasonable human beings. Although he’s been rubbishee in media for long time what’s he really done bad aside from being pro religion and owning a Harley? I do think in their quest for rapid expansion by coalition with others will dilute and dissolve their own party.

[R650R]

The Authorities need to identify and apprehend the person/s who tried to throw eggs at Tamaki and give them some training to help improve their aim next time.

They’re actually more interested in people advocating for violence against a person to influence their political beliefs which two people here just have. Which is also one of the definitions of terrorism no matter how funny it might sound to the author.

[pritch]

I find it quite entertaining that several media commentators decided to relabel the protest as a political party event. I guess they were diss appointed it was a peaceful protest compared to the other extreme of a “ mostly peaceful protest” (Tm CNN news).

What’s that saying you can’t make someone look like a dictator but you can’t let them behave like one? So if now it’s a political party launch event instead of protest (and govt Intel would know) then we now have our Banana republic leader literally putting up barriers and screaming fire in the theatre just because a mostly irrelevant group dares come to town to speak or protest!

An interesting clip where Brian and Hannah sound like reasonable human beings. Although he’s been rubbishee in media for long time what’s he really done bad aside from being pro religion and owning a Harley? I do think in their quest for rapid expansion by coalition with others will dilute and dissolve their own party.

You've been reading different things to me. No surprises there. The general consensus I've seen is that this event was a Tamaki publicity stunt. The small turnout should convince a wise person that his political boat won't float. We aren't dealing with wise people though. We're dealing with greedy bastards.

A woman was saying on Twitter that a young friend of hers had commented that Tamati looks like an aging porn star. I'd love that to catch on.

[TheDemonLord]

Although he’s been rubbishee in media for long time what’s he really done bad aside from being pro religion and owning a Harley?

My personal biggest gripe with him is predatory church donations (and possible Profiteering) followed closely by a hard-line version of Christianity - namely he seems to have forgotten the second part of "Hate the sin, Love the Sinner".

However, as the saying goes, even broken clocks are right twice a day.

[Laava]

Tamati looks like an aging porn star. I'd love that to catch on.

That kinda explains all the fluffers hanging around him!

[F5 Dave]

Fuck sake that R666 guy is a complete moron.

Of course they were going to not let that last shit happen again.

You hate the place, please feel free to fuck off somewhere else, but just do it. Or at least from here. Everyone thinks you are a complete egg. Why do you post here?

[husaberg]

Fuck sake that R666 guy is a complete moron.

Of course they were going to not let that last shit happen again.

You hate the place, please feel free to fuck off somewhere else, but just do it. Or at least from here. Everyone thinks you are a complete egg. Why do you post here?

Sorry to burst your bubble its only thursday........

[TheDemonLord]

You hate the place, please feel free to fuck off somewhere else, but just do it. Or at least from here. Everyone thinks you are a complete egg. Why do you post here?

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Tolerance of the Left.

[Kickaha]

Sorry to burst your bubble its only thursday........

You're fucking joking right ? you mean I have another day of this shit

[pete376403]

None of which I particularly disagree with - the only point would be to point to Scale.

Councils and Government are pretty much the same - Massive Rates increases vs Massive Tax increases because of money spent on Shiny instead of Maintenance.

The only difference is that the Government is able to fuck things up on a much larger scale than the Council..

If and when a council get it wrong they can get it spectacularly wrong, eg kaipara district council, building a mega water treatment system to be paid for by illegal loans, and now having to be bailed out by a small ratepayer base. To quite from Hansard "The borrowing for the ill-fated Mangawhai EcoCare Wastewater Treatment Scheme blew out, as the previous member stated, from $11 million to $62 million. The effect of that scheme and its financing has placed a massive financial burden on a small number of ratepayers, particularly those ratepayers in Mangawhai." If a government entity (ie three waters) get it similarly wrong then the burden would be on the government, so all taxpayers carry a much smaller individual cost. But with the audit office and the opposition scrutinising plans and spending, chances are there may not be such an opportunity for fuckups.

[TheDemonLord]

If and when a council get it wrong they can get it spectacularly wrong, eg kaipara district council, building a mega water treatment system to be paid for by illegal loans, and now having to be bailed out by a small ratepayer base. To quite from Hansard "The borrowing for the ill-fated Mangawhai EcoCare Wastewater Treatment Scheme blew out, as the previous member stated, from $11 million to $62 million. The effect of that scheme and its financing has placed a massive financial burden on a small number of ratepayers, particularly those ratepayers in Mangawhai." If a government entity (ie three waters) get it similarly wrong then the burden would be on the government, so all taxpayers carry a much smaller individual cost.

Disasters (financial or otherwise) do not tend to scale linearly with size.

If a Government entity gets it wrong, it can be to the tune of hundreds of millions or even Billions (case in point - The effects of Government policy of the last 2 years)

However, back to your point - what happened to the Kaipara councilors that approved this? Were they voted out of office? I hope so. If not, however, then the people of Kaipara are happy with their money to be pissed away irresponsibly - so they would deserve everything they got.

But with the audit office and the opposition scrutinising plans and spending, chances are there may not be such an opportunity for fuckups.

That word 'May' is doing an Awful lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

I put it to you that with so many cooks in the Kitchen and each cook with their own agenda, the opportunity for Fuckups multiplies (Case in point - every government venture of the last 5 years).