Auckland's socialist transport czars

Mike Lee and Dick Hubbard both want you to pay for electrifying Auckland's rail network, whether or not you'll ever use it, you might be in Wellington, Wanganui, Whakatane or Winton, and regardless of whether there are net economic benefits in doing it.

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Both are under the delusion that somehow, a network that the Prime Minister once described as being so good that "most Aucklanders don't live within coee of a railway station", will relieve Auckland traffic congestion. No proper peer-reviewed modelling has been carried out that demonstrates this beyond a tiny margin of error.

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Dr Cullen has said the government (you) will pay the full cost of double tracking the Western rail line and other track improvements that are essential if the system is going to run at any reasonable frequency - while Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) will have to pay for station and train upgrades itself. Fare paying passengers can't even pay for the cost of running the trains (around 20%) so don't even think anyone wants them to pay for the upgrade. Clearly the private sector doesn't think it could attract many motorists or bus passengers so it wont invest. So the question is why should you?

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Well you Aucklanders elected Regional Council Chairman Mike Lee and Mayor Dick Hubbard - they want your income taxes and GST to pay for a big electric railway. They think Wellington is getting a better deal, when in fact it is only getting $65 million of taxpayers money for its rail system (the rest comes from a fare increase, rates and is approved funding from Land Transport NZ from petrol tax). Somehow electrified railways reduce urban sprawl - which is apparently bad -far better to have people live on tower blocks near railway stations (although few MPs or Aucklanders want to do that).

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Lee and Hubbard should butt out - Auckland's congestion is hampered by them both managing most of Auckland's road network not as a business, but as a political toy. If they want to see how public transport can work, they might look at the bus stations partly funded by North Shore City Council along the Northern Motorway. The car parks are filling up every morning as bus services, run by private companies (albeit some subsidised) get patronised - and that is before completion of the busway that will speed them past the traffic congestion approaching the bridge.

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If Hubbard and Lee stopped thinking about flash shiny sexy trains and thought about simple measures to improve the efficiency of the existing roading network, they could make quite a difference to Auckland traffic. If they supported replacing petrol tax with variable user charges it would make an enormous difference. The ARC will hold up the Avondale extension of SH20 because it supports a route that is 33% more expensive with little difference in traffic effect - Auckland City Council opposed the Victoria Park Viaduct duplication project, until Transit changed plans to make it a tunnel, effectively doubling that cost - and you think these bodies are good custodians of your money?

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but they wont support user pays - they are socialists - bent on making you pay for what they want other people to use.

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Nowhere has a new world (North American/Australasian) city invested in new rail and reduced traffic congestion, and spending a fortune on a railway to take people to where only 12% of Auckland jobs are certainly wont do it.

Bush will defend Israel

As he should. Iran should understand that in no uncertain terms the price of an Iranian attack upon Israel will be an attack in kind from Israel and the US.

The Daily Telegraph quotes him "I see a threat in Iran. The threat is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel. I've made it clear and I'll make it clear again, that we will use military might to protect our ally Israel,"

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This should be wholeheartedly endorsed by the EU and New Zealand, among others. Iran’s threats to eradicate Israel are contrary to the much loved UN Charter, and hardly peace-loving. May any leftists who hate Israel consider that attacks on Israel don’t discriminate between Jews, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Israel has never had aggressive intent against Iran.

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The point of Bush’s message is clear – it is futile for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, for if it does it will at the very least face war with the US if it uses them, at the very least may risk air strikes to destroy them. The mullahs in Iran should be overthrown by the Iranian people, but barring that there should be a clear deal – open up your nuclear programme to inspections, make peace with Israel, cease supporting international terrorism – and an end to sanctions and renewal of diplomatic relations. There is a path to peace, Iran can embrace it - the so-called "peace movement" should be encouraging it along that path.

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UPDATE: Oops I typed Iran instead of Israel at the top DOH!

Quotes from Stalin

Next time you see a successful company kowtow to government, apologise for its success, seek to be regulated and show guilt for selling products to customers at a price they are willing to pay and profiting from it, think of this quote:

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"When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use. "

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Alexander Lukashenko learnt from Stalin:

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"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. "

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and finally, why free speech matters:

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"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas. "

Brave people in Minsk remain defiant against duckling strangler

Today, several hundred demonstrators remain in the centre of Minsk protesting the “elections” which saw Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko get re-elected with a supposed 82.6% of the vote. The EU, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the White House have both condemned the outcome, saying the election was severely flawed. Russia and an observer from the Commonwealth of Independent States both claimed the elections were open and transparent – well freedom and transparency are not hallmarks of the Putin regime.
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It is unlikely that this protest will achieve change, too many Belarussians are resigned to their lot, and it is a hefty ask to sit in weather that tops -2 degrees Celsius during the day and as cold as 13 below overnight. However, there are some determined to defy the evil bully Lukashenko’s declaration that he would strangle them like ducklings. Besides being an evil thug, saying such a thing upsets small children – who wants to visualise ducklings being strangled?

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They are cute after all.

Socialist Britain protecting who

A couple of minor gripes:

1. My girlfriend injured her shoulder over the weekend, tried to find a doctor - "oh there isn't an appointment for 2 weeks", "you need three forms of ID including photo ID", "oh we can't see you till April". That's the precious NHS - because you see, GPs are "free" in the UK, so you can't see one when you are injured or sick - she was better off ringing an ambulance (for what is probably a bruised muscle) and going to accident and emergency - except she DID ring the hospital and was told it would be around 4 hours before she was seen. 4 hours!! This is what the Labour Party is so frigging proud of, a system that costs a fortune in taxes, which doesn't deliver when you need it. Where you can't find a private GP easily (they aren't allowed to advertise and the NHS helpline wont tell you who they are) , and the public ones treat you like you're applying for a Swiss passport or have you queuing up for weeks because it's not convenient that you're sick or injured today. I had the same thing happen with a chest infection last year, rang one NHS doctor to find I could be seen in about 10 days, rang another who wasn't there and rang a third who had a even longer waiting list because the masses were getting flu jabs.

2. Health and safety nazis stop a girl with a cut finger getting a plaster because "some kids might be allergic to them" part of the wisdom of council safety guidelines in Somerset - YET, this morning at my local tube station, because the exit side of the lift doors are closed (due to footpath maintenance outside the building), people at peak times are entering and exiting from the same doors. The doors are only open for enough time for one of those movements so as people go in they keep closing on your shoulders - fine for me, but if I was a child or elderly then I'd get whacked by them while some irritating school-ma'amish South Asian voice says "doors closing stand clear". Braindead fucking tube company - how about reprogramming the doors to stay open for longer, or how about the stupid council NOT undertaking footpath maintenance in peak times.

Please stop reading if you get upset at strong language, then click here.

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FUCK this stupid egalitarian socialist system. How fucking long do you have to be off work and ill before you can get service. How fucking long does someone work 2.2 days a week to pay taxes and "national insurance" and find it doesn't deliver unless you plan to be sick at a certain time or have a heart attack or accident. How many people in this country are ill because they can't be arsed wasting their time on waiting lists and how many people are seeing doctors because they have a snotty nose? All I know is this - in New Zealand, which is not exactly the land of free market medicine - the GPs are all private. People on low incomes or the elderly or children of the rich and poor get subsidised treatment, but I can usually get a doctor's appointment within 24 hours. Yes I would pay the equivalent of around £15 for the visit - but it did the trick. I also swapped doctors and lo and behold, I didn't have to take my passport, driver's licence or anything else to prove I'm not trying to steal from the system I am forced to pay for.

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The NHS is a frigging joke unless it is emergency time - wake up Britain - give up this fantasy that having all healthcare for free is working. Why don't you free GPs from the shackles of state control and let them charge you - pay for it - it will be better.

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and yes I know I can leave.