About

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Welcome…

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G’day & Kia Ora to this,  my Blog on current political, social, economic,  and just plain quirky issues.

Having lived all my life here in New Zealand (and nearly a year spent in Eastern Europe in the 1970s); having lived through Muldoonism in the 1970s and early ’80s; Rogernomics in the late 1980s; National’s “Ruthenasia” in the 1990s; a ‘taste’ of politics-a-la-Winston Peters in the late ’90s;  followed by a period of settled Labour governance in the 2000s; and now a return to National – I think I have witnessed and experienced government of several hues crammed into nearly four decades.

Whether the elected dictatorship under First Past the Post or the complex and messy, directly proportional system of MMP – politics has been interesting; engaging; and entertaining. It has also been cruel; bizarre; and contradictory.

I have seen New Zealand from the naive, closed-economy,  hopeful society of the ’70s – to the still-naive; open-market economy; and somewhat disillusioned society of the late 20th/early 21st century.

I am a social democrat at heart.  That means I view both marxist-leninism and free-market neo-liberalism with equal disdain, as they are the same faces of a very inhuman, inflexible ideology.  There has to be a better way than either extremes, and I think the Scandinavians have it just about right. We could learn a thing or two from our Northern European cuzzies.

I hope you find my scribblings of interest. Feel free to leave a comment – I welcome feedback.  (Anything that is abusive will be consigned to the Waste Bin; the pixels re-cycled; and fed to cyber critters on Facebook’s Farmville…)

I also post the occassional bit of satire – just to lighten the mood a bit. I hope those items bring a smile to you.

Like I said, I consider myself a social democrat – left-of-centre. (Though funnily enough, the things I believe in such as free healthcare and free education were considered mainstream politics not too long ago. My views haven’t changed. Society has.)  So if you have views to the contrary, and can express them fairly well – feel free to share them.

Thank you for visiting. Come again!

– Frank Macskasy

Wellington
Aotearoa-New Zealand
August 2011

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Some Posting rules

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I’m happy for folks to leave their views on whatthey read here, or to engage in debate with other Contributors. But if you do decide to post a message, here are a few simple guidelines,

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1. I don’t particularly enjoy personal abuse. I prefer issues to be addressed, not personalised put-downs.
2. If a contributor posts anonymously, please respect that. Any attempt to “out” a person and/or hint at their real identity will not be welcomed. Again, address the issues, not the person.
3. Please do not post personal/private details of other people. If you have something relevant about a public figure, please contact me first of all. There is a line between information that is in the public interest and gossip.
4. If you’re a troll or  racist or just plain unpleasant – try another Blog.
5. Repetition is something that is boring and uses up valuable pixels (no, the Universe is not infinite). If you keep repeating the same point, question, or comments, after a short period you will not be welcome any more.

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Privacy Policy

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• We do not disclose any information to third parties, unless with a valid court order/warrant. This includes what you add to your profile that is not public on the blog. In particular your real name and e-mail. Similarly if you are not logged in and enter a comment, we do not disclose the e-mail you enter on your message.
• E-mail addresses are only used by Admin if we need to contact you. This will usually be because of your behavior or other peoples behavior to you on the blog. Sometimes it will be used if we’re really interested in something you wrote.
• IP’s are only used when looking at moderation and banning.
• If you are a troll – and a particularly nasty one – the above Policy may not apply to you.

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Privacy Policy Specific to Paula Bennett, her cabinet colleagues, staff,  other State Employees, and National/ACT cadres

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On this blog it is likely that, from time to time, the authors and commenters will criticise government policy, speeches, and political tactics.

We would like to reassert that this is neither explicit nor implicit consent to release any private information about the authors or commenters that is held by any government agency, minister’s office, local government organisation, political party, or any other person, organisation or agency.

For the purposes of clarification this non-consent includes, but is not limited to, the following information:

• benefit status or history;
• family status or history;
• ACC status or history;
• health status or history – including information held by DHBs, PHOs, central government agencies and private providers whether directly or indirectly contracted by the state;
• interactions with justice or law enforcement – including complaints, interviews, interactions, documents supplied;
• employment status or history;
• any grants applied for or received; and
• tax payments, status or history.

In addition we would like to restate that posting or commenting here does not give implicit or explicit consent for any private information held about any author or commenter to be used for a purpose other than the purpose for which is was supplied. This non-consent includes, but is not limited to, the reuse of personal information for political purposes.

Acknowledgement:  Kiwipolitico Blog

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Not keen to leave a post but still want to flick me an email?

Want to send me an idea for a story? Or pics or information?

Or perhaps you’d like to contribute a story yourself?

No probs – here’s the address:

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Look forward to hearing from you!

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= fs =