THE POWER OF BLOGS

Well they apparently do work as marketing tools.

The Little sis of BB - the pod princess known as Lambcut organised a wee soiree for the Rural Women of NZ -with guest speaker Fran O'Sullivan and her take on blogs.

It was expected to be a small function - its grown a bit - so much so the venue has now changed - to one of our favourite bars - D4...

The power of new media - its seems.

You are invited to the next breakfast meeting of the RWNZ Wellington Network Group, to be held on Tuesday 29 September. Please feel free to pass this message onto your staff and colleagues.

Speaker: Fran O’Sullivan

Topic: An Accidental Empire: The Rise of Political Blogging and its Effect on Conventional Media.

RWNZ is delighted to have special guest Fran O’Sullivan - a columnist for the New Zealand Herald - speaking at this month’s breakfast meeting on the rise of political blogging. Fran's expertise is in politics and business. She was labelled a "right-wing blogger" by Helen Clark - but has yet to launch her own blog.

Time: 7.15am – 8.15 a.m.

Venue: D4 on Featherston Street

Level 1, 143 Featherston St,

PO Box 5815,

Central Wellington

Breakfast: There is no charge for attending RWNZ breakfast meetings. A D4 Breakfast Special costing $12 has been arranged for this occasion. The Special includes bacon, a choice of eggs on toast, and tea or coffee and juice. Or, you can order a continental breakfast with jam and marmalade served with juice, tea or coffee for $12. If you have a little more time, you may wish to order from any of the full range of dishes available on D4’s superb breakfast menu which can be viewed at www.d4.co.nz/menu

Please RSVP to Noeline Holt: noeline.holt@ruralwomen.org.nz

or

Tracy Galland: tracygalland@xtra.co.nz

OF MICE AND URBAN NUMPTYS

Lambcut had the temerity to call BB an urban numpty a while back. Her country creds come from spending half her life up to her low bum in sheep shit under the shadow of the Takitimu mountains.
Anyway out on the block in the Wairarapa, the field mice have been seeking solace in the warmth of the big shed as Autumn's damp chill takes hold.
We don't like mice. We are not scared of them, just think they are vile little bastards that have the ability to pee and poop a lot more than their tiny bodies would suggest.

Anyway a snivelling little mousy poobag ended up inside. I grabbed the very old fashioned cast iron toasty pie maker( the ones designed to go straight in the fire) and wumped him. Mashed mouse. End of story.

However the sheepish Lambcut had her own rodent battle this morning. But she has lost all her cred. She caught one in a trap. It squealed lots as its was trapped in the trap by its paws and as she used to say when she was just a wee tiny thing - "it frighted her very much"
So she went out side had a beer and a fag and got up a bit of courage. Then she took it and drowned it in the guest toilet. What a wuss.
Wrecked the family reputation for being fearless but humane killers of all things great and small.
Embarrassment she is, a bloody embarrassment.

Lambcut's Taser Awards

The latest issue of New Scientist Magazine refers to a new Taser that can be fired from a 12-gauge shot gun. Certain individuals, institutions and events seems to sit up and beg to be candidates for target practice during the development of this device. Today's candidate nominees are:

1. Job losses. Blue Mountain Lumber Mill in Tapanui has announced that 60 staff must go. Lambcut knows the little town well and it won't easily recover from such a blow.
2. The Hamilton woman who its reported tried to bite police that were assisting Council staff trying to remove her dogs.
3. Labour Party President Andrew Little who spoke at a National Press Club luncheon at Parliament today. He seemed a pleasant enough fellow and he had quite interesting material. But he took it and wrecked it with such a staggeringly boring delivery that Lambcut nearly lost the will to live listening to him. He must have some other less obvious talents to have gotten where he is. Speaking clearly isn't one of them.

Further nominee suggestions are welcome.

KEY CHARMS WALL STREET JOURNAL

Now while our new contributor Lamb Cut has been having a bit of a fun with the Wall Street Journal for having a bit of fun over NZ trying to tame the arse breath of our livestock, it appears that John Key has charmed the August journal.

Here's a sample

Mr. Key's coalition government, which includes parties to the right and left of the Nationals, has moved fast to implement a program of tax cuts, regulatory reform and government retooling. He won't label it supply-side economics and smiles when I ask if he's a Milton Friedman or Friedrich Hayek acolyte. "I'm not deeply ideologically driven," he says. "I believe in good center right politics."

Yip we confess we were a bit worried about Key and what he was doing and the speed of prgress on the economic front ( privately and sometimes publicly ) but that was more to do with the lack of a narrative than a lack of trust. Now we get it.

And now we are starting to see it - the unwinding the malodorous barriers to doing business, untangling the red tape ( we will be posting on that soon) but not loading up the nation with too much debt.

So now the Wall Street Journal has cottoned on to what the boy down south is doing and it approves. High praise indeed.