Stephen Jones in Wasilla Alaska last night was great.

Wholeheartedly agree. Skewered so effectively in only a few minutes that you won't need to read the screeds of coverage about Palin's incompetence. Go watch if you haven't seen it.

Paul Mason looked at the twin long term trends of falling real wages, disappearing jobs and how easy credit…

Really? I've never really been a Colbert fan

I'm not either — Colbert works, or not, to the extent you're familiar with the O'Reilly/Sean Innanity school of right-wing screaming skull talkback television he's parodying.

Oh, I'm very depressed by this assessment. I actually think Colbert's 'thing' is so, so much…

Oh, and more Aasif Mandvi should be mandatory.

Stephen Jones in Wasilla Alaska last night was great. He interviewed the current town mayor ("yes, being Mayor of this town prepares you for being VP of the USA"). He then asked her what she actually did. She listed all the things…

Really? I've never really been a Colbert fan

I'm not either — Colbert works, or not, to the extent you're familiar with the O'Reilly/Sean Innanity school of right-wing screaming skull talkback television he's parodying. Suspect that gets lost in translation, while Stewart's meta-parody is of the content-free news show.

Oh, and more Aasif Mandvi should be mandatory.

If only every awkward cross-over segment with Stephen Colbert could be replaced with Jon in furious proud New Yorker mode.

I must disagree. Any day which includes Stephen Colbert in any form is a good day.

No, Kyle, Labour should "put it out there" because we deserve to know whether it wins votes or not. Especially when said Labour Party is busy accusing others of holding back a 'secret agenda' from voters, don't you think?

Well, if Labour don't release some further details before the election,…

"Last night's Daily Show had a hysterical (and very pointed) segment addressing just this issue. They're getting very angry this election, and it's mostly making them funnier."

Agreed. I am very pro-Incredulously Angry Jon.

Solidly thirded here. If only every awkward cross-over segment with Stephen Colbert could be replaced with…

Are you prepared to admit, Craig, that Labour's in no position to know now what our economy will look like in December?

Matthew: Nobody knows that with any degree of certainty, so if you're willing to give everyone a pass on pulling vague, number-free policy out of their collective recta…

Do have any idea of what's in Labour's stimulus package, what it will cost and how it will be paid for? Armstrong doesn't, and I don't think he really cares. He should. We all should.

We've got an idea of what's in it. More of an idea, in fact, than…

Now what has happened to Lockwoods advisor Dr Clydesdale?
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-us/news/article.cfm?mnarticle=pacific-peoples-report-welcomed-26-08-2008

Way to miss the money quote Craig, and wreck the context.

You're half-right, Kyle. I should have included the next par, because "foreshadowing" is always a meaningful substitute for actual, properly costed policy. Not.

Armstrong was saying that, for purposes of winning votes, Labour should put it out there.

No,…

Were Lockwoods Smith racist comments designed to test the waters for a race based campaign?

No – and if that's what some emplyers are telling Smith, perhaps it says more about the casual racism of using the Pacific as a cheap pool of "guest workers".

Meanwhile, dumbest campaign commentary of the day from John Armstrong on the front page this morning

Way to miss the money quote Craig, and wreck the context.

But there is no point in preparing a package if it is never going to see the light of day.

The party will…

Same applies to National, Craig.

Yes, Matthew, which I've said repeatedly untill (miracle of miracles!) I'm almost sick of the sound of my own voice. And National has actually faced some critical scrutiny of that policy, and deservedly so.

But, hey, National actually released that policy before the election Matthew…

There is no point is us dipshit voters getting to assess Labour's spending promises — and how they're going to be paid for — before the election

Same applies to National, Craig. I'm really curious what they're going to "refocus" in the existing Police budget in order to find several…

They're getting very angry this election, and it's mostly making them funnier.

Take your point, Lucy, but I guess it stops being funny when you're the one having your faith, honour and honesty attacked day after day by a habitual and pathological liar who is apparently also functionally illiterate. As…

They're getting very angry this election, and it's mostly making them funnier.

Agreed. I am very pro-Incredulously Angry Jon.

The crisis gave Helen Clark a heaven-sent opportunity to reinforce her "no change-trust us" theme.

Labour says it will bring forward construction projects to keep "real people in real jobs" and is already working on…

Speaking of interesting comments, Bob Novak's 'Powell was never much of a Republican' column in the Wapo got a hostile reception.

And, in a classic case of burying the lead, I was intrigued by Novak's last par:

The popular general resisted efforts to enlist him as a party fund-raiser, and…

Highlights include:

I get it. General Colin Powell is not a "real" Republican. Liberals who live in Virginia are not "real Virginians." Muslim Americans are not "real" Americans. Women…

But these are old figures, and as Danyl pointed out, Kiwisaver will be changing them significantly.…

Hmmm... 50% of Americans would see through that story. Changing size in response to environmental factors smacks of evolution. Surely NZ rats, like US rats, are sized in accordance with God's plan, independent of the presence or absence of foxes.

Evidence of God's plan would surely mean they were bite-sized…

Hmmm... 50% of Americans would see through that story. Changing size in response to environmental factors smacks of evolution. Surely NZ rats, like US rats, are sized in accordance with God's plan, independent of the presence or absence of foxes.

Ah, but wouldn't a wise God design bigger rats for…

When you're that funny on your first post Mr Webber, you're a welcome addition to PAS.

Thinking of my brother in law specifically, that statement was true a few months ago, but no longer.

Yeah, there will be lots of exceptions. As was pointed out, a bunch of people working minimum wage will have signed up to kiwisaver and will therefore probably own some shares. Possibly…

Am I an idiot for being disappointed that, rather than say "this is absurd, false, and insulting to my country to be lumped in with Zimbabwe and Nigeria", he used it as an excuse to say "Liarbore is teh evil…

but it's not rocket science to say that shares will be much more likely to be owned by people who are richer than those who don't own shares.

Thinking of my brother in law specifically, that statement was true a few months ago, but no longer.

Out of interest, how do you know?

I don't know about overwhelmingly rich people, but it's not rocket science to say that shares will be much more likely to be owned by people who are richer than those who don't own shares.

Government intervention to prop up or boost or…

Are you sure Kyle?

That's not me you're quoting. So I'm probably not sure :)

Out of interest, how do you know?

Standard power law distribution. I've been digging through statsNZ looking for some neat figures, but sadly can't find any yet. But here's some scary data: According to SOFIE wave 2 (2004), 716,000 kiwis (24.4% of the population) owned financial assets, with a…

But seriously, isn't it weird that 'we' are arguing over whether the State (through it's Super Fund) should be buying into the NZ sharemarket when it's the Nats who are saying 'Yea' and Labour saying 'Nay'??

John: Seriously, my weird-o-meter broke a while back. Sorry for sounding like a broken…

Why haven't the people said "enough!" and stuck the lot of them in jail?

There's a lot of ppl pinning those hopes on an Obama Administration.

They're electing Obama, not Castro.

And throwing the capitalists in jail doesn't work, coz they eventually get released and return, zombie-like. Look at Russia.…

I'm not so sure; that would require a management culture interested in investment rather than asset-stripping, and willing to sacrifice short-term gains for longer-term returns.

Yup. Most of my arguments are predated on a rosey view of 'what could be'. Unfortunately reality often proves to be the opposite.

FWIW – I…

Andrew: if you check their source – a list of "The World’s Ugliest Elections" in Foreign Policy – they think we're "dirty" because of... Googlebombing John Key?!?

That might be the silliest thing I've read all year. And ...

National Party supporters retaliated, causing a search for “Labour-funded lackeys” to…

only rich people own shares?

If you look at the Household Savings Survey, half the population has negligible net worth (of any sort). 20% of the adult population owned shares, and these are concentrated amongst the richest.

Idiot, why do you persist in this delusional belief that only rich people own shares?

Not "only", but certainly overwhelmingly.

Over 800,000 New Zealanders have KiwiSaver accounts – almost all of them will have a share-market component to them. And many employers in New Zealand have pre-existing retirement schemes that…

That's a long way from telling your bodyguard to drag your opponent off the debating stage and shoot them (Russia), or whipping up…

overwhelmingly

Out of interest, how do you know?

On most of the company reports I have seen recently, small holdings account for the majority of the shares. Of the remainder most large holders are investment firms that are front ends for super schemes, nominee companies representing many investors, or insurance…

Picking recent and ongoing campaigns in Nigeria, Russia, Austria, New Zealand, Taiwan and Zimbabwe, they remind that we're watching a Stepford Wives Tupperware gathering by comparison, with all the venom of virtually any congressional hearing ("I thank the gentle lady from Florida....").…

I'm stunned that Obama is ahead in the polls. I am trying not to become complacent. It could still all go horribly wrong! Wrong I say!

There's always Diebold. Or voter disenfranchisement.

As usual, I'm boggling at the practices of American political parties and wondering how the hell they get…

Idiot, why do you persist in this delusional belief that only rich people own shares?

Not "only", but certainly overwhelmingly. Your investments don't disprove the thesis one iota, any more than the old Merkin / Libertarian chestnut of one person having "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps" and overcome…

conspiracy theory that Rupert Murdoch was forcing his newspapers to take a pro-Iraq editorial line, using the truly eccentric methodology of looking at editorials on the subject . It simply wasn't true — at least in New Zealand

Rupert Murdoch doesn't own any papers in NZ.
Was this a while…

'In a world without that guy who did the voiceovers... '

I was impressed to learn that he had come up with that catchphrase himself. Now there's cultural influence! Along those lines, "Business time" must be one of our most successful exports (other than corrupting the Aussies into doing the…

conspiracy theory that Rupert Murdoch was forcing his newspapers to take a pro-Iraq editorial line, using the truly eccentric methodology of looking at editorials on the subject . It simply wasn't true — at least in New Zealand

Rupert Murdoch doesn't own any papers in NZ.

Was this a while…

I'm stunned that Obama is ahead in the polls. I am trying not to become complacent. It could still all go horribly wrong! Wrong I say!

I cannot shake the feeling that, whatever happens on US election day, Americans and the rest of the world are in for either

a)…

Vibrant capital markets depend on a high level of integrity and investor confidence.

Investor confidence was extremely high in the 1980s when individuals dived into the sharemarket and bought large quantities of shares in a plethora of high-flying companies including Chase, Equiticorp,…

Given that unbundling the local loop knocked around 20% off Telecom's value in March 2006, how willing would the government be to pass regulations that knock say $100m or 0.77% off the value of its portfolio (1.9% of its NZX portfolio)?

Thanks Paul. For clearly and simply making the point…

Imagine if the Super Fund owned Telecom, Rail, BNZ, Air NZ, V/42 Below, NavMan, and Watties

OK, so imagine if the super fund, worth say $13bn, is required to invest 40% in the NZX, by my maths, that's $5.2bn. So if that $5bn is spread amongst all companies on the…

I believe KiwiSaver, rather than the Cullen Fund, will be the eventual ice breaker for the NZX – think of it as sharemarket investment for the non-investor, maybe even the anti-investor as well.

Perhaps you're right, I tend to conflate them and I know I shouldn't. But if you are…

Why is it that when our businesses reach a certain size they get sold off?

My pet harangue-people-when-drunk theory is that New Zealanders have a very high personal discount rate. This manifests in she'll be right, bodged repairs, deferred maintenance, houses that fall apart, all sorts of short term thinking.…

One woman had to ask her husband (first tipoff, ask her husband?)... the response was "We're voting for the ni*r"

My husband and I have been making 'can you believe this shit?' jokes about that one for a day or two. I can't work out whether it's more horrifying than…

I'm stunned that Obama is ahead in the polls. I am trying not to become complacent. It could still all go horribly wrong! Wrong I say!

The smart thing the Obama campaign is doing already is locking in that polling by getting hundreds of thousands of people, particularly in swing…

The Cullen Fund isn't there to prop up our economy, it's there to ensure that we can afford to have an aging, retired population in 20, 30, 40 years' time. Propping up NZ's under-performing markets isn't compatible with that goal.

That's certainly been my understanding. Forecast growth in dependency/worker ratios…

Didn't the guy who did all those voiceovers just die? How will they introduce his replacement? 'In a world without that guy who did the voiceovers... only one man could take his place...'

Heh yourself. I think it was slimy Ben Elton who did a pretty good piece about voiceover…

I take that to mean your next coffee maker will be so large as to require its own room.

Confession: I did download Google Sketchup .

:) Did the same for the computer. So many wires, so little space.

He was a man who played by own rules. A maverick. A hero. And now he had less than two weeks to destroy his enemy and save the world. John McCain is... "Screwed." Only in theatres.

Heh. Didn't the guy who did all those voiceovers just die? How will they…

I'm always amazed that there are any liberals still living in the USofA, I'd have fled screaming years ago.

But – to use the same point I used earlier, in a different direction – it's their home. (And a lot of it is fantastic.)

Re the Robocalls – SO SO annoying. I struggle to see how even a crazy person would be convinced to vote for someone on the basis of a robo call. Especially with the voice that's used – it's like an action movie trailer.

He was a man who played by…

but now whenever it transpires with somebody back home that I live in New Zealand the response is invariably a variation on "you lucky bastard"

If I had a dollar for every american that had said that to me over the last 16 years... I'd have ...$2.49
I'm always amazed…

How long til you retire

It's a long-term proposition :P

As I said, who else is going to buy into our sharemarket a.k.a. back NZ business? The NZX is likely to remain stagnant for some time, one possible outcome being that the Aussies will come over and buy us up…

You don't accept that there is a newspaper monopoly in every NZ city Craig?

I was thinking more of the "National Party pamplet" crack, Rich. And I do happen to think that whoever has the Treasury benches in three weeks will have marginally more pressing concerns on their minds. Or…

Where can I buy a copy of the Wellington Times, the Wellington Herald or the Wellington Guardian then?

England in the 1950s

– No central heating
– No double glazing
– 20/30 year old cars
– Motorcycle gang panic
– Amphetamines
– Fizzy beer

I love it here really!

It was as if I'd never existed until I entered the US, and leaving it meant that I would cease to exist again. I was heading off to the Inferior, non-USA Area of the Globe.

It wasn't so much the case ten years ago, but now whenever it transpires with…

Because ours are worried that if they explicitly declared themselves to be National party pamphlets, a non-National government might notice that they are an unregulated and abusive monopoly?

*sigh* Rich: Even if I accepted your premise, which I don't, I'd like to give any future "non-National government" a little more…

'Why are you doing that?'

It was as if I'd never…

It could also explain those Britons' belief that NZ hasn't progressed since the postwar period.

A sizeable proportion of Britons seem to (consciously or unconsciously) think that Britain hasn't progressed since the empire disintegrated.

"Two world wars and one [soccer] world cup", anyone?

Local pig-ignorance is not a local phenomenon.…

Idiot, why do you persist in this delusional belief that only rich people own shares?

What, you mean my retirement savings don't consist of a plantation of magic money trees? Bugger. :)

Interning for a tabloid in NY, I was asked, on more than one occasion, when I'd get around to speaking with an American accent.

"I'm only here for two months," I'd tell them.

"So? Speak like an American," one replied.

Of course, in New Zealand, you'd never anyone snigger at…

On your own site and here you seem unable to cope with the concept that ordinary people have investments.

I actually like the idea of our Super Fund investing in the NZ share market for the next few years. Gawd knows no-one else is going to.

So our superannuation fund should prop up the asset values of the already rich?

No thanks.

John, the 40% has been reported as of the total fund, not of only new investment.

Well that's silly. My portfolio is down 25% but I'm not 'divesting'. You hang on to what you've got – unless they're dogs and /or you need the money.

John, you don't invest in the…

Why do US newspapers come out and endorse candidates and ours do not?
Well, not explicitly.

Because ours are worried that if they explicitly declared themselves to be National party pamphlets, a non-National government might notice that they are an unregulated and abusive monopoly?

I believe it's called Mutually Assured…

Whilst I'd agree that National should have actually said so, I'm pretty sure that they didn't mean for the policy to run forever. Like Labour's bank deposit insurance scheme, these ideas are only for the short term to increase confidence.

John, you don't invest in the stock market "for the…

Ah, le rugby

Daccord. I was walking down Queen Street in Auckland one night, the night of a big game between Les Touts Noirs and Ingerland. Such was the enthusiasm for the game among one group of young men that they were haranguing passers-by. As I passed, one of them…

The world is not entirely ignorant of NZ though. The missus and I were once driving around…

One of the great aggravations of my life was getting to the Gerard Durrell book where he goes to New Zealand and having him describe it as just like being in England. Admittedly, this was the fifties . . t

Alexei Sale dumped on NZ in a similar fashion after…

Several others thought that NZ was like England in the 1950s.

One of the great aggravations of my life was getting to the Gerard Durrell book where he goes to New Zealand and having him describe it as just like being in England. Admittedly, this was the fifties, but after…

it would be madness to require the fund managers to divest foreign holdings at the present time

Were they asking for divestment, or simply suggesting that 40% of all new funds should be dedicated to the NZ sharemarket?

I'm guessing you have no immediate plans to float PAS Enterprises, Russell?

:…

You give full marks to Labour for quickly 'fixing' the shortcomings of their policy, but assume National's is set in stone?

Yes, actually. There's a huge step in principle there that can't just be tweaked — no one's even bothering to suggest a tweak. Expanding a deposit guarantee scheme is…

The full interview where she denies having said Obama "may have anti-American views" and then goes on to dump a trailer load of campaign slime.

Funny thing, though. Bachmann sought a pardon this year for a gangster called Frank Vennes, after he'd donated tens of thousands to…

but raccoons are so cute, especially the babies .... until they sneak thru the cat door after the catfood and can't get out, and mum gets really mad .... (but can't fit through the same cat door) ....

I heard a tale of someone running the After Dark screensaver on…

I should also add that, upon telling people trying to register me to vote that I am not a US citizen, more than one has said 'that's unfortunate'. I politely told them that it's…

I don't think that'll work, so there won't be any below-BB rated firms around. Maybe the higher rated ones will stick around, but like I say they'll be essentially banks.

Excellent analysis Rich. The scheme – in it's current evolved incarnation – won't be lending to Petricevic et al to…

I'd guess they probably map quite neatly onto raccoons in that sense.

On a recent drive from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati and back I saw many many dead raccoons on the side of the highway.

And whilst in Cincinnati I met an who knew a considerable amount about New Zealand's proportional…

Several others thought that NZ was like England in the 1950s.

I'm occasioanlly of the opinion that WWII was the last time that the US had to pay attention to the rest of the world, and once that was over, they no longer bothered, leaving their impressions of other countries…

(I also do not handle the 'I normally don't like Americans, but I like you!' thing he gets particularly well. O RLY? Met 300 million people from vastly diverse backgrounds, have you, and disliked them all?)

Agreed, and your point is conversely aligned to the one that says if you…

They're, I think 3rd or 4th in the list of visitors now, after Japan and China, and I think, South Korea, depending on which figures you see.

WTF!!! someone tell rudd that australia is being SWAMPED BY ASIANS!!!

I do wonder, though, what Americans would make of kea. They look so cute, until you find out just what vicious vandals they actually are!

I'd guess they probably map quite neatly onto raccoons in that sense.

And people wonder why I…

Oh Tom – we have to get our stories straight – you have to talk about the giant keas, evolved without mammalian competition, that rip tents apart, the windscreens from parked cars, eat live sheep, attack trampers for their butter

Yeah, but the problem with that is that it's true.…

dude... bali is in queensland. why else would there be so many aussies there?

They're, I think 3rd or 4th in the list of visitors now, after Japan and China, and I think, South Korea, depending on which figures you see.

I retaliated by warning him not to go hiking alone in the bush…

"So? Speak like an American," one replied.

reminds me of the outrage about obama saying "paak-is-staan" not "pack-iz-dan". you know, the way they say it over there.

If I could count the number of times I've had to correct a comment about Bali being in Thailand, or, once, Queensland.

dude...…

Interning for a tabloid in NY, I was asked, on more than one occasion, when I'd get around to speaking with an American accent.

"I'm only here for two months," I'd tell them.

"So? Speak like an American," one replied.

Did you reply "Only if you start writing in English!"?…

Why do US newspapers come out and endorse candidates and ours do not?

All New Zealand newspapers, with the exception of, I think, the ODT, are owned by one of two large Australian companies – APN and Fairfax. Corporate New Zealand, on the whole, doesn't support Labour.

Sure, the US…

"I'm only here for two months," I'd tell them.

"So? Speak like an American," one replied.

I don't think that'll work, so there won't be any below-BB rated firms around. Maybe the higher rated ones will stick around, but like I say they'll be essentially banks.

Which is why including finance companies is a bad idea in the first place. If they're as safe as a…

It was no better in the UK in the 60s & 70s.

I was asked a question about keeping the Maori tribes out of the settlements in Slough circa 1990.

But it's very easy to get righteous about all this. I'm overwhelmed, but no longer surprised, in NZ by the amount…

But the rates they actually offered to investors were not that much higher than the banks... many of them maybe 1-2 % higher from recollection... So having heard that return reflect risk, you might assume that a return "close" to a banks would also be a risk close to a…

total no-brainer to invest in finance companies for a 10% return

Except that if the finance company is rated below BB, then they would have to pay a 3% insurance premium. Plus (I think) they'll be putting half that money in the Reserve Bank at base (7.5%). Which means that…

However the "few exceptions" sadly includes political calls (after all guess who writes laws ...)

When canvassing, I've always refused to consider political material "junk mail". I'm sure that didn't reflect the opinion of at least some of the dwellers.

Exactly — and just to add insult to injury, it's one form of spam nobody is interested in regulating in the United States.

Actually the US has a pretty good anti-phone spam system -p certainly better than here. The "do not call list" is a list of phone numbers that…

Next question: who would benefit from such an asset bubble?

Ooo oooo I know this one – John Key and his compatriots?

The whole point of their higher rates of interest is that it's meant to reflect the higher risk associated with where their investments lie

But the rates they actually offered to investors were not that much higher than the banks... many of them maybe 1-2 % higher from recollection... So…

Excuse my ignorance, but what actually is a "robocall" ? I assume it's an automatically-generated phone call that indiscriminately rings loads of people and recites dodgy messages to whoever answers ?

Exactly — and just to add insult to injury, it's one form of spam nobody is interested in regulating…

Starter for ten: what do you get when you have too much money chasing too few goods?

A tax cut?

Bzzzt! The answer is "inflation" – and specifically an asset bubble. It would do for stocks what we've just seen happen to housing, with the Cullen Fund picking up the…

Questions asked of me/my mother/other foreign friends while living in Texas and/or Louisiana

I spent an evening in a bar on Long Beach Island, NJ in 2006. The bar was owned by one Mr Batista, who was running for the local mayoralty. His son was behind the bar serving, granddad…

and upon hearing we were to live in Lower Hutt, we were asked who would be living in the Upper Hut and were they far away.

People still ask that question.

You'd expect (assuming some return to normality) that the NZX total market cap would have increased substantially by 2025, so the Cullen Fund money would be less of a proportion of this?

Yes, one hopes the NZX will grow in the next 17 years. However, it's distinctly undesirable for any…

That's the kind of question a programmer would ask when reviewing a specification document.

Heh! One of the askers was a programmer.

It's slightly arbitrary that when northern hemisphere people visited or lived in the southern hemisphere for the first time they chose to associate seasons with the suns angle.

The Maori had a word for "spring", and spring is the season when certain things happen, and not certain others (my trusty…

I was asked this month by two separate and equally intelligent persons whether in NZ we called the northern winter months "winter" or "summer".

That's the kind of question a programmer would ask when reviewing a specification document.

That toeing the line. But yes.

noooo... my eggcorn is much better. especially when you're talking about a room full of blokes pulling the rope together.

You want "interesting" questions, try travelling Greyhound non-stop from NY to LA with a funny accent.

i'm amazed the SPCA didn't put you in…

Questions asked of me/my mother/other foreign friends while living in Texas and/or Louisiana:

'So, y'all have Christmas in July?'

It was no better in the UK in the 60s & 70s. Spending a year back there after 4 years in NZ I was asked mostly

"Is it hot?" I ended up…

Though I did hear an American friend of mine (recently arrived in NZ) say proudly the other day that he was nearly able to distinguish between the New Zealand and English accents...

Hee. I can't really blame them for that, actually. Particularly given that some of them only ever hear…

the country where people walk on their hands with hats on their feet

I convinced a North American that the reason a dryer was hung upside down was that it was a northern hemisphere model and they didn't work in the southern hemisphere unless you inverted them.

Because ours are worried that if they explicitly declared themselves to be National party pamphlets, a non-National government might notice that they are an unregulated and abusive monopoly?

Be fair, I'm sure there's a couple of student mags that would endorse centre-Left parties.

Some had a reasonable idea what or where NZ was, others less so.…

Why do US newspapers come out and endorse candidates and ours do not?
Well, not explicitly.

Because ours are worried that if they explicitly declared themselves to be National party pamphlets, a non-National government might notice that they are an unregulated and abusive monopoly?

texan: wurz noo zeel-and?
me: an island in the pacific ocean
texan: iz that south a' mexico?
me: pretty much.

You should have told him it was next to Rand-McNally: the country where people walk on their hands with hats on their feet, and hamburgers eat people.

(What I'm *really* waiting for in terms of outspending is the half-hour TV spot Obama has purchased for Oct. 29 to address the nation. It's both audacious and brilliant.)

Yep. I've got my mediaphile hat on for that one. I really want to see what it looks like.

I was asked this month by two separate and equally intelligent persons whether in NZ we called the northern winter months "winter" or "summer".

It's slightly arbitrary that when northern hemisphere people visited or lived in the southern hemisphere for the first time they chose to associate seasons with the…

Crazy-ass congresswoman Michelle Bachmann may find that crazy-ass ranting on national television has consequences.

Short version – her opponent in the district has raised six hundred thousand dollars in 48 hours since said rant aired!

Which will doubtless be why she's now claiming she never said what she said ...…

I assume it's an automatically-generated phone call that indiscriminately rings loads of people and recites dodgy messages to whoever answers?

Bullseye.

Favourite, possibly apocryphal but who cares, story about Quayle

Better than wishing he knew Latin so he could better converse with the people of Latin America?

Excuse my ignorance, but what actually is a "robocall" ? I assume it's an automatically-generated phone call that indiscriminately rings loads of people and recites dodgy messages to whoever answers ?

Precisely so. Used mostly by cash-strapped campaigns, because Americans have become so inured to them they tend to hang…

But it was hard to keep a straight face on occasion.

I asked an American here if he liked Thai food. He said, dude, I've only been in transit in Taiwan.

she forgot to ask for money

Word from my Twitter friends is that the Dems have largely stopped asking for money on the phone calls and are instead making sure you'll vote. Sample size small, of course, but that's the impression I got.

From my armchair, this band deposit scheme still…

The McCain campaign have done some digging on this Powell guy and apparently he has never done a day's plumbing in his life. Ergo, his endorsement counts for 'zippo, nada , nothing.... '

Quayle authored a memoir, Standing Firm, which became a bestseller

Bet he didn’t, bet he used a ghostwriter. He may have subsequently read it, but there are no guarantees there either.

Favourite, possibly apocryphal but who cares, story about Quayle came from mid-campaign. The feeling was that they thought he…

Short version – her opponent in the district has raised six hundred thousand dollars in 48 hours since said rant aired!

I was asked this month by two separate and equally intelligent persons whether in NZ we called the northern winter months "winter" or "summer".

I was asked the same thing when I was living in the UK. By my manager at the time. He'd been wondering for ages whether we…

'So, y'all have Christmas in July?'

I was asked this month by two separate and equally intelligent persons whether in NZ we called the northern winter months "winter" or "summer".

'So, y'all have Christmas in July?'

'What language do you speak in New Zealand?''

'I met a guy from Australia who runs a big Ford car dealership. Do you know him?'

'You have your own money? I…

Serious Question:

What’s Dan Quayle up to these days?

Oh, being looked after as you'd expect:

It was reported in the May 5, 2007 The New York Times in an article about a lawsuit filed by Greg LeMond against Timothy Blixseth, that Dan Quayle and Bill Gates both have homes…

To those who wrote me to demand, “Cancel my subscription,” I was able to quote the title of my father’s last book, a delicious compendium of his NR “Notes and Asides”: Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription.

That's gold.

Starter for ten: what do you get when you have too much money chasing too few goods?

A tax cut?

"towing the party line" was more than evident. i genuinely thought he was a conservative getting the shaft from lunatics.

That toeing the line. But yes.

like explaining the subprime mortgage crisis to a basset hound.

my oft-related story is explaining where nzl was to a texan.

texan: wurz noo zeel-and?
me: an island in the pacific ocean
texan: iz that south a' mexico?
me: pretty much.

Undoubtedly, although [colin] was not the hawk in that particular room.

that was always my reading. i saw news reports that compared his thoughts on iraq before and after 11 sept.

"towing the party line" was more than evident. i genuinely thought he was a conservative getting the shaft from…

"You do realise I'm in New Zealand right? it's 6am"
(quiet moment while they process this)

Heh. Their minds are often cutely blown by those kinds of things. Because very few of them travel internationally, and because their media is so insular, the mere idea that you would be living…

But I'm still gob-smacked at the Chicago Tribune endorsement — which has never gone to a Democrat.

The Chicago Tribune is the newspaper that in 1948 released an early edition the day after the election, before they knew the poll result. They picked that Dewey would beat Truman, and turned…

Cheap capital…

One thoughtful correspondent, who feels that I have “betrayed”—the b-word has been much used in all this—my father and the conservative movement generally, said he plans to devote the rest…

What’s Dan Quayle up to these days?

What about the fact that the scheme doesn't seem to distinguish between deposit-takers

New finance companies rated below BBB- won't be able to enter the scheme, whilst those rated below BB will have to pay a 3% fee. I'm assuming that the new regime for them will also involve the…

shades of the 1997 UK election....all the major UK papers deserting the tories like rats off a sinking ship.

But I'm still gob-smacked at the Chicago Tribune endorsement — which has never gone to a Democrat.

The story pointed out that by 2025 the 40% of the fund that National wants to force into local investment will by be $43.6 billion: bigger than the entire market cap of the NZX-50 plus the expected value of Fonterra were it to be floated

Starter for ten: what do…

"You do realise I'm in New Zealand right? it's 6am"
(quiet moment while they process this)
"but you have a 510 number ..."
"yes it's in NZ…

re: Colin Powell – while generally agreeing with you, I personally find it very difficult to forgive him for the part he played in the run-up to the current Iraqi mess.

Undoubtedly, although he was not the hawk in that particular room.

right-leaning newspapers that endorsed Bush four years back

shades of the 1997 UK election....all the major UK papers deserting the tories like rats off a sinking ship.

re: Colin Powell – while generally agreeing with you, I personally find it very difficult to forgive him for the part he played…