US Vice-Presidential hopeful Sara Palin

[jrandom]

hey, I'd rather watch a speech by Palin...

I'm just waiting for her to hop up on a lectern and start shooting ping-pong balls out of her pussy.

You gotta figure there's some hidden talent McCain knows about that we don't...

[The Stranger:Me]

I'm just waiting for her to hop up on a lectern and start shooting ping-pong balls out of her pussy.

You gotta figure there's some hidden talent McCain knows about that we don't...

Good luck with that one, whatever you look for in a VP I guess.

Seems he does, he was trailing hugely at the polls until he nominated her.

[alanzs]

Very shaggable, agreed, but she's also a loopy fundamentalist Christian with an IQ that matches her shoe size.
("Gentlemen! You can't fight in here...")

If her shoe size was metric it would be even bigger than the US size. A size 6 to a 34 - big difference. Still a fucking moron though... But, hey she can gut a moose.

[James Deuce]

There is a large question mark over whether this has ever benefited anyone other than accountants, and companies which would have been quite successful even without it.

Part of the problem is that to get a tax credit, you have to have revenue in the first place, and if you have revenue you're generally in a position to fund R&D via further investment anyhow. The tax credit is just... not the right answer.

I have actually done some study in this arena at a post graduate level and actually feel that I am, for once, qualified to comment.

The return on R&D investment from a Government or Government agency takes at least a generation to materialise, in much the same way culturally diverse immigrant social groups to begin to contribute to the greater society in which they now live, once there immediate descendants enter the work force or University. The short term rationale that "there is no measurable return" is what has lead to the dissolution of seemingly "useless" tertiary courses and the promotion of vocational Polytechnics to University status. This has effectively removed the platform on which any quality economy is built. Committed, knowledgeable, educated trades people. Long term positive change requires firm direction and positive encouragement. You can study your arse off in NZ, either trade related or at a tertiary institute, and all it does is make your fiscally poorer in the long run. There is no return for real effort. Unless you're a goober like me and personal satisfaction plays a big part in your life.

The R&D tax credit was a response to finally noticing that quality academic resource was emigrating rapidly and the IP of Universities and medical facilities was going with them. Too late, but better than nothing. Unfortunately most Universities and Hospitals, including the teaching ones are now run by "managers". This is entirely consistent with free market economic practice, but is fraught with danager if not managed by a Government capable of a long view. The last 10 years have created a hole in our intellectual psyche that will most likely be filled by the philosophies of a different culture and take 30-50 years to happen. Watch our standard of living relative to the rest of the world slip in the meantime.

I am not being alarmist. You sir have alarm bells going off because there is primordial twitch alerting you to the potential for fundamental change in NZ society. Thing is, we need it desparately. The protest generation of the '60s have done vastly more damage to the societies they have been entrusted with than any government before them. Without even a major global war, they have managed to wedge our heads up our arse and taught us that Government means "bad" and everything different from our society is to be feared, while at the same time demanding that we accept changes that have a negative net effect on our quality of life without question. The protest generation are a graphic example of what happens when Universities and Societies are caught in a morphic dialectic. The old guard can;t see it coming and the n00bs get swept away in a tide of self-importance, because they "know more" than the rest of thepeople in the society in whihc they live. Every person you meet will have a level of importance in your life and they deserve your attention. Otherwise we get Helen Clarks and Junior Kahuis living side by side.

A Government's role is not to effect fundamental short term change, but to manage the effects of long term change. Abolish the 3 year term and replace it with a minimum of 5 years (my preference is for 10 - people might actually think about the consequences of their actions if they are around in a position of responsibility to see them play out over time), and use John Key's new Prisons to lock up people don't vote.

[Ixion]

.. Abolish the 3 year term and replace it with a minimum of 5 years (my preference is for 10 - people might actually think about the consequences of their actions if they are around in a position of responsibility to see them play out over time), and use John Key's new Prisons to lock up people don't vote.

That just goves the rat bags more time to feather their nests undisturbed.

A better solution to the problem of forcing governments to take a long term view (and they will always need to be forced), is a House of Lords. We suffer badly from not having one.

But what has any of that to do with rooting Sarah Palin - which I would definately be up for. She shoots meese and bodybuilds. What do you suppose those pussy muscles would be like?

Who carees if she doens't know anything. McCain does, and he's a relatively young man, no danger he won't see out the term. So Sarah can focus on bonking and opening shooting galleries. And being ornamental sexual fantasy material . Which neither the Biden fellow or Obama are.

[BarBender]

But what has any of that to do with rooting Sarah Palin - which I would definately be up for. She shoots meese and bodybuilds. What do you suppose those pussy muscles would be like?

I think its her mouth you'd have to worry about

Who carees if she doens't know anything. McCain does, and he's a relatively young man, no danger he won't see out the term. So Sarah can focus on bonking and opening shooting galleries. And being ornamental sexual fantasy material . Which neither the Biden fellow or Obama are.

She's only a McCain heartbeat from the presidency should the GOPs pull through so the bonking should sit well with her domestic economic policies / continued screwing of Joe Six Pack by corporates and the shooting galleries be in line with Rep foreign policy and stance on Iraq.

[Ixion]

I think its her mouth you'd have to worry about
...

Oh my goodness. I think I need to go and have a wee lie down.

[Robert Taylor]

Oh my goodness. I think I need to go and have a wee lie down.

Me too, I need to rest my dirty right wing fascist / capitalist head! Generated some more tax to pay today to keep societys drones happy.

[Headbanger]

Did you know: Firefox spellcheck's first correction to 'Arab' being spelt without a capital A is 'crab'?

Yours must be dodgy.

[jrandom]

I have actually done some study in this arena at a post graduate level and actually feel that I am, for once, qualified to comment.

My main point was that a tax credit isn't necessarily the best mechanism for encouraging R&D - it only works when there's already a positive revenue stream.

Which means that:

(a) it encourages a very short-term business focus; and

(b) it's useless for blue-sky research that isn't already backed by a profitable enterprise.

Ergo, scrapping the tax credit does not necessarily constitute an attack on R&D.

You may consider your broader unrelated comments about how society's going to the dogs duly acknowledged...

[Coyote]

There is no return for real effort. Unless you're a goober like me and personal satisfaction plays a big part in your life.

I must be a goober. I chose to go to Weltec to study Auto Refinishing since it was a trade I was interested in. I've seen shows like Monster Garage, American Chopper and Pimp My Ride and seen what they can do with paint and saw some nice show cars and thought "I want to be part of that". Of course, I'm now looked down upon many people thinking I'm just another high school drop out that's been forced to do a trade. The best example by far has been when my mum said to her boss what I'm learning, the boss replied "but I thought he was meant to be smart?". I thought I was being smart by not spending 5 years at uni, but go figure.

Personal satisfaction reminds me of an article I read in Time magazine at the doctors office (not sure which issue, it went on about Hillary versus Obama though). Apparently people that are very happy with their lives often don't earn as much money or aren't as successful as those that aren't so happy. The conclusion they came to from this: being happy can stop you from becoming rich and successful so it's best not to be so happy. Sigh...

[Coyote]

Even more juvenile I guess is that I tend to root for the underdog.
Given the somewhat extreme left stance of the press and media, I hope McCain/Palin win just to spite them.

That and hey, I'd rather watch a speech by Palin than Klark anyday.

The "liberal media" is a joke. When Fox News became popular for it's obvious Republican bias, the other networks fought for ratings by doing the same thing. They've cooled down now and only Fox has continued.

The Democrats are about as left wing as my right foot. And news outlet with a bias toward them is not extreme left

Got to love Firefox spellchecker. First spelling suggestion to Obama is, you guessed it, Osama.

[k14]

Most of you probably missed it, but John Key said "most patients don't care about the medal on the Nurse's uniform."

Lol, I think you better put that in context. He was talking how national will let use more spare capacity in private hospitals and referring to the fact that paitents don't care if its public or private (different nurses/doctors) all they care about is getting the operation!!

[Street Gerbil]

Guys, I can see why you think this way. Were I born in a happy Kiwiland I would probably have rooted for the "cute underdog fighting for simple folk" like you guys do. But I was born and spent my teenage years in the communist paradise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and that experience caused me to develop intense disliking of and distrust to anything reeking of Marxism. I hear Obama's "change" mantra and I recall lessons of the History of RSDLP in high school. I hear "Obama" and I think of Lenin. That's all.

No we're not. [...]
John Key has already stated that the tax rebate for R&D is going to be abolished if National get in. NZ's leadership plainly don't want innovative niche manufacturing in NZ.

That's why I said that elections are all about compromise. I don't like the R&D part a single bit (I work in R&D too, you know), but better that than the whole economy ran into the ground with cockamamie global warming taxes and suicidal trade agreements and local businesses running for dear life overseas.

You prefer candidates on the basis of likeability? Me, I'd vote for a complete bastard if I thought he was more likely to make the right decisions in office.

That's the whole point of me disliking Obama. His track record shows that he will be making *left* decisions.

It seems clear that the local anti-Obama faction are reacting instinctively to his personal manner, rather than disagreeing with any actual policies or philosophical positions of his camp.

Please see above. I think Obama is very likable and I could not care less about his color of skin. I only disagree with his radical left ways.

Not that it matters. We're spectators.

You are right, J. However, I managed to talk my friend in US out of voting for "change". :-)

Personally, I'd favour settling the election with a fight to the death between the VP candidates.

Hell yeah! I am with you on this one. That would be a sight to behold - Palin gutting Biden like a moose.

meese

What a beautiful word! It shall take the rightful place in my vocabulary alongside "irregardless" and "disconcerning". Well deserved bling is on the way.

[Ocean1]

The short term rationale that "there is no measurable return" is what has lead to the dissolution of seemingly "useless" tertiary courses and the promotion of vocational Polytechnics to University status. This has effectively removed the platform on which any quality economy is built. Committed, knowledgeable, educated trades people. Long term positive change requires firm direction and positive encouragement. You can study your arse off in NZ, either trade related or at a tertiary institute, and all it does is make your fiscally poorer in the long run. There is no return for real effort. Unless you're a goober like me and personal satisfaction plays a big part in your life.

Most of the tertiary courses recently offered and even more recently deceased were constructed for one purpose only: To tap the government’s new tertiary funding model. Most of them were unmitigated content-free crap, of zero commercial use.

You’re right about R&D funding though, the perception is that the IP returns are exclusively in marketable product. They’re not, they’re in the institutional knowledge base hard wired into the development tech’s. Some of the goobers use the same clever tricks again and again, refining them for different applications. The cumulative effect is what forms those senior tradesmen you mentioned.

It’s rare, now, to find one of the old government trained tradesmen still working in their trade, though. Faced with offers based on the perception they’re “skilled labour” they fuck off to far greener, if less productive pastures. When the steady supply of techies from govt training grounds dried up it took industry the better part of two decades to take up the slack. When they did instead of fitters we got “maintenance and diagnostics technicians”, a good insight as to what industry thought they wanted from the trades. Still, the syllabus’s the same, and most of them are as good as their fathers were at that age. However they also tend not to stick around too long, they’re young, they’ve got debt here, not too many ties, and the grass is way greener over the ditch.

Unfortunately most Universities and Hospitals, including the teaching ones are now run by "managers".

You’ll be delighted to learn that the “managers” at your local DHB are, in fact, nurses.



Scary as fook they are too.