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<channel>
	<title>PLIGG_Visual_Name - PLIGG_Visual_RSS_Published</title>
	<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz</link>
	<description>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_Description</description>
	<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:29:40 NZDT</pubDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Afghanistan and border security: Do we need a war on terrorism?]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Afghanistan_and_border_security_Do_we_need_a_war_on_terrorism-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Afghanistan_and_border_security_Do_we_need_a_war_on_terrorism-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:29:40 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Politics</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Afghanistan_and_border_security_Do_we_need_a_war_on_terrorism-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Research indicates that terrorism related deaths have dropped considerably in the last few years.Before we commit more lives and dollars to the war against terrorism let's make sure that that commitment is actually necessary and justified. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://soapboxnewzealand.blogspot.com/2010/03/afghanistan-and-border-security-do-we.html'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
	</item>

	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Will New Zealand be drawn into a war in Iran?]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Will_New_Zealand_be_drawn_into_a_war_in_Iran-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Will_New_Zealand_be_drawn_into_a_war_in_Iran-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:15:51 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>World</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Will_New_Zealand_be_drawn_into_a_war_in_Iran-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is concern that Iran is on the path to acquiring nuclear weapons. A military strike by Israel to prevent this is likely if diplomatic pressure on Iran is unsuccessful in the short term.To oppose a war with Iran, or to urge caution, does not imply support for the regime. Instead it indicates awareness that the consequences of action could be far worse than those of inaction. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://soapboxnewzealand.blogspot.com/2010/03/will-new-zealand-be-drawn-into-war-in.html'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
	</item>

	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Auckland Super City and the American Revolution]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Auckland_Super_City_and_the_American_Revolution-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Auckland_Super_City_and_the_American_Revolution-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:46:58 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Politics</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Auckland_Super_City_and_the_American_Revolution-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[War is not an appropriate response to this dictatorial imposition; however, it is to be hoped that Aucklanders will not have forgotten who is responsible, for giving them rates taxation without proper representation, at election time. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://soapboxnewzealand.blogspot.com/2010/03/auckland-super-city-and-american.html'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
	</item>

	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Destiny Church - legitimate Christianity or false idol?]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Destiny_Church_-_legitimate_Christianity_or_false_idol-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Destiny_Church_-_legitimate_Christianity_or_false_idol-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:27:45 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Commentary</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Destiny_Church_-_legitimate_Christianity_or_false_idol-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Although it is traditional for Bible based religions to encourage some form of giving, it is usual for this to be in accordance with the financial ability of the giver and with the focus of the gift being on helping the parish as a whole and  those less fortunate. A religion that requires money that people probably cannot afford to give and then uses that to enrich the leader shows its true purpose. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://soapboxnewzealand.blogspot.com/2010/03/destiny-church-legitimate-christianity.html'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
	</item>

	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Cycle superhighways: a poor review]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Cycle_superhighways_a_poor_review-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Cycle_superhighways_a_poor_review-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:26:57 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Commentary</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Cycle_superhighways_a_poor_review-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A pair of pilots for Mayor Johnson's forthcoming dozen cycle &amp;quot;superhighways&amp;quot; were announced last June and promised to be complete by May of this year. The two pilots were Route 3, linking Barking with Tower Hill, and Route 7, joining south Wimbledon to Bank. You can see their routes in orange on this helpful map and you can see what it's like to actually ride a section of Route 7 in the helpful video below. Thanks to thereverent for finding it.[Video]The maker of the clip isn't impressed. He writes:    I hope a few of the pinch points are sorted out. at present i can't see this being any benefit over the much smaller cycle lane that was there as the actual lane widths for cars hasn't changed.Some of the commenters are less charitable. Hmm. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2010/mar/08/boris-johnson-cycle-superhighways-london-poor-review'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
	</item>

	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[IMF "Economic Medicine" Comes to America]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=IMF_Economic_Medicine_Comes_to_America-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=IMF_Economic_Medicine_Comes_to_America-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:26:26 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Commentary</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=IMF_Economic_Medicine_Comes_to_America-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In addition to mandatory private health insurance premiums, we may soon be hit with a &amp;quot;mandatory savings&amp;quot; tax and other belt-tightening measures urged by the President's new budget task force.  These radical austerity measures are not only unnecessary, however, but will actually make matters worse.  The push for &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility&amp;quot; is based on bad economics. When billionaires pledge a billion dollars to educate people to the evils of something, it is always good to peer closely at what they are up to.  Hedge fund magnate Peter G. Peterson was formerly Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and head of the New York Federal Reserve.  He is now senior chairman of Blackstone Group, which is in charge of dispersing government funds in the controversial AIG bailout, widely criticized as a government giveaway to banks.  Peterson is also founder of the Peter Peterson Foundation, which has adopted the cause of imposing &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility&amp;quot; on Congress.  He hired David M. Walker, former head of the Government Accounting Office, to spearhead a massive campaign to reduce the runaway federal debt, which the Peterson/Walker team blames on reckless government and consumer spending.  The Foundation funded the movie &amp;quot;I.O.U.S.A.&amp;quot; to amass popular support for their cause, which largely revolves around dismantling Social Security and Medicare benefits as a way to cut costs and return to &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility.&amp;quot;  The Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform has pushed heavily for action to stem the federal debt.  Bills for a budget task force were sponsored in both houses of Congress.  The Senate bill was narrowly defeated, and the House bill was tabled; but that was not the end of it.  In Obama's State of the Union speech on January 27, he said he would be creating a presidential budget task force by executive order to address the federal government's deficit and debt crisis, and that the task force would be modeled on the bills Congress had failed to pass.  If Congress would not impose &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility&amp;quot; on the nation, the President would.  &amp;quot;It keeps me awake at night, looking at all that red ink,&amp;quot; he said.  The Executive Order was signed on February 17. What the President seems to have missed is that all of our money except coins now comes into the world as &amp;quot;red ink,&amp;quot; or debt.  It is all created on the books of private banks and lent into the economy.  If there is no debt, there is no money; and private debt has collapsed.  This year to date, U.S. lending has been contracting at the fastest rate in recorded history.  A credit freeze has struck globally; and when credit shrinks, the money supply shrinks with it. That means there is insufficient money to buy goods, so workers get laid off and factories get shut down, perpetuating a vicious spiral of economic collapse and depression. To reverse that cycle, credit needs to be restored; and when the banks can't do it, the government needs to step in and start &amp;quot;monetizing&amp;quot; debt itself, or turning debt into dollars.   Although lending remains far below earlier levels, banks say they are making as many loans as they are allowed to make under existing banking rules.  The real bottleneck is with the &amp;quot;shadow lenders&amp;quot; - those investors who, until late 2007, bought massive amounts of bank loans bundled up as &amp;quot;securities,&amp;quot; taking those loans off the banks' books, making room for yet more loans to be originated out of the banks' capital and deposit bases. Because of the surging defaults on subprime mortgages, investors have now shied away from buying the loans, forcing banks and Wall Street firms to hold them on their books and take the losses.  In the boom years, the shadow lending market was estimated at $10 trillion.  That market has now collapsed, leaving a massive crater in the money supply.  That hole needs to be filled, and only the government is in a position to do it.  Paying down the federal debt when money is already scarce just makes matters worse.  When the deficit has been reduced historically, the money supply has been reduced along with it, throwing the economy into recession.  Another Look at the Budget Reform Agenda That raises the question, are the advocates of &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility&amp;quot; merely misguided?  Or are they up to something more devious?  The President's Executive Order is vague about the sorts of budget decisions being entertained, but we can get a sense of what is on the table by looking at the earlier agenda of Peterson's Commission on Budget Reform.  The Peterson/Walker plan would have slashed social security entitlements, at a time when Wall Street has destroyed the home equity and private retirement accounts of potential retirees.  Worse, it would have increased the social security tax, disguised as a &amp;quot;mandatory savings tax.&amp;quot;  This added tax would be automatically withdrawn from your paycheck and deposited to a &amp;quot;Guaranteed Retirement Account&amp;quot; managed by the Social Security Administration.  Since the savings would be &amp;quot;mandatory,&amp;quot; you could not withdraw your money without stiff penalties; and rather than enjoying an earlier retirement paid out of your increased savings, a later retirement date was being called for.  In the meantime, your &amp;quot;mandatory savings&amp;quot; would just be fattening the investment pool of the Wall Street bankers managing the funds. And that may be what really underlies the big push to educate the public to the dangers of the federal debt.  Political analyst Jim Capo discusses a slide show presentation given by David M. Walker after the &amp;quot;I.O.U.S.A.&amp;quot; premier, in which a mandatory savings plan was proposed that would be modeled on the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (FSP).  Capo comments:    &amp;quot;The FSP, available for federal employees like congressional staff workers, has over $200 billion of assets (on paper anyway). About half these assets are in special non-negotiable US Treasury notes issued especially for the FSP scheme. The other half are invested in stocks, bonds and other securities. . . . The nearly $100 billion in [this] half of the plan is managed by Blackrock Financial. And, yes, shock, Blackrock Financial is a creation of Mr. Peterson's Blackstone Group. In fact, the FSP and Blackstone were birthed almost as a matched set. It's tough to fail when you form an investment management company at the same time you can gain the contract that directs a percentage of the Federal government payroll into your hands.&amp;quot; What &amp;quot;Fiscal Responsibility&amp;quot; Really Means All of this puts &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility&amp;quot; in a different light.  Rather than saving the future for our grandchildren, as the President himself seems to think it means, it appears to be a code word for delivering public monies into private hands and raising taxes on the already-squeezed middle class.  In the parlance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), these are called &amp;quot;austerity measures,&amp;quot; and they are the sorts of things that people are taking to the streets in Greece, Iceland and Latvia to protest.  Americans are not taking to the streets only because nobody has told us that is what is being planned.  We have been deluded into thinking that &amp;quot;fiscal responsibility&amp;quot; (read &amp;quot;austerity&amp;quot;) is something for our benefit, something we actually need in order to save the country from bankruptcy.  In the massive campaign to educate us to the perils of the federal debt, we have been repeatedly warned that the debt is disastrously large; that when foreign lenders decide to pull the plug on it, the U.S. will have to declare bankruptcy; and that all this is the fault of the citizenry for borrowing and spending too much.  We are admonished to tighten our belts and save more; and since we can't seem to impose that discipline on ourselves, the government will have to do it for us with a &amp;quot;mandatory savings&amp;quot; plan.  The American people, who are already suffering massive unemployment and cutbacks in government services, will have to sacrifice more and pay the piper more, just as in those debt-strapped countries forced into austerity measures by the IMF. Fortunately for us, however, there is a major difference between our debt and the debts of Greece, Latvia and Iceland.  Our debt is owed in our own currency - U.S. dollars.  Our government has the power to fix its solvency problems itself, by simply issuing the money it needs to pay off or refinance its debt.  That time-tested solution goes back to the colonial scrip of the American colonists and the &amp;quot;Greenbacks&amp;quot; issued by Abraham Lincoln to avoid paying 24-36% interest rates. Economic Fearmongering What invariably kills any discussion of this sensible solution is another myth long perpetrated by the financial elite -- that allowing the government to increase the money supply would lead to hyperinflation.  Rather than exercising its sovereign right to create the liquidity the nation needs, the government is told that it must borrow.  Borrow from whom?  From the bankers, of course.   And where do bankers get the money they lend?  They create it on their books, just as the government would have done.  The difference is that when bankers create it, it comes with a hefty fee attached in the form of interest.  Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been trying to increase the money supply; and rather than producing hyperinflation, we continue to suffer from deflation.  Frantically pushing money at the banks has not gotten money into the real economy.  Rather than lending it to businesses and individuals, the larger banks have been speculating with it or buying up smaller banks, land, farms, and productive capacity, while the credit freeze continues on Main Street.  Only the government can reverse this vicious syndrome, by spending money directly on projects that will create jobs, provide services, and stimulate productivity.  Increasing the money supply is not inflationary if the money is used to increase goods and services.  Inflation results when &amp;quot;demand&amp;quot; (money) exceeds &amp;quot;supply&amp;quot; (goods and services).  When supply and demand increase together, prices remain stable. The notion that the federal debt is too large to be repaid and that we are imposing that monster burden on our grandchildren is another red herring.  The federal debt has not been paid off since the days of Andrew Jackson, and it does not need to be paid off.  It is just rolled over from year to year, providing the &amp;quot;full faith and credit&amp;quot; that alone backs the money supply of the nation.  The only real danger posed by a growing federal debt is an exponentially growing interest burden; but so far, that danger has not materialized either.  Interest on the federal debt has actually gone down since 2006 -- from $406 billion to $383 billion -- because interest rates have been lowered by the Fed to very low levels.  They can't be lowered much further, however, so the interest burden will increase if the federal debt continues to grow.  But there is a solution to that too.  The government can just mandate that the Federal Reserve buy the government's debt, and that the Fed not sell the bonds to private lenders.  The Federal Reserve states on its website that it rebates its profits to the government after deducting its costs, making the money nearly interest-free.  All the fear-mongering about the economy collapsing when the Chinese and other investors stop buying our debt is yet another red herring.  The Fed can buy the debt itself - as it has been stealthily doing.  That is actually a better alternative than selling the debt to foreigners, since it means we really will owe the debt only to ourselves, as Roosevelt was assured by his advisors when he agreed to the deficit approach in the 1930s; and this debt-turned-into-dollars will be nearly interest-free. Better yet would be to either nationalize or abolish the Fed and fund the government directly with Greenbacks as President Lincoln did.  What the Fed does the Treasury Department can do, for the cost of administration.  There would be no shareholders or bondholders to siphon earnings, which could be recycled into public accounts to fund national, state and local budgets at zero or near-zero interest rates.  Eliminating debt service payments would allow state and federal income taxes to be slashed; and the public managers of this money, rather than hiding behind a veil of secrecy, would be opening their books for all to see. A final red herring is the threatened bankruptcy of Social Security.  Social Security cannot actually go bankrupt, because it is a pay-as-you-go system.  Today's social security taxes pay today's recipients; and if necessary, the tax can be raised. As Washington economist Dean Baker wrote when President Bush unleashed the campaign to privatize Social Security in 2005:    &amp;quot;The most recent projections show that the program, with no changes whatsoever, can pay all beneﬁts through the year 2042. Even after 2042, Social Security would always be able to pay a higher beneﬁt (adjusted for inﬂation) than what current retirees receive, although the payment would only be about 73 percent of scheduled beneﬁts.&amp;quot;Today incomes over $97,000 escape the tax, disproportionately imposing it on lower income brackets.  Projections over the next 75 years show that just removing that cap could eliminate the forecasted deficit.  When the Democratic presidential candidates were debating in the fall of 2007, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were the only candidates willing to seriously consider this reasonable alternative.  President Obama just needs to follow through with the solutions he espoused when campaigning.  The Mass Education Campaign We Really Need What is really going on behind the scenes may have been revealed by Prof. Carroll Quigley, Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown University.  An insider groomed by the international bankers, Dr. Quigley wrote in Tragedy and Hope in 1966:     &amp;quot;[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.&amp;quot; If that is indeed the plan, it is virtually complete.  Unless we wake up to what is going on and take action, the &amp;quot;powers of financial capitalism&amp;quot; will have their way.  Rather than taking to the streets, we need to take to the courts, bring voter initiatives, and wake up our legislators to the urgent need to take the power to create money back from the private banking elite that has hijacked it from the American people.  And that includes waking up the President, who has been losing sleep over the wrong threat. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&amp;aid=17881'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Ashcroft's plans for online media empire]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Ashcrofts_plans_for_online_media_empire-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Ashcrofts_plans_for_online_media_empire-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:12:52 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Commentary</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Ashcrofts_plans_for_online_media_empire-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to weekend reports, Lord Ashcroft, the billionaire Tory backer, will stand down as deputy chairman of the Tory party after the election and plans to turn his attention to building up an online media empire.Although he is better known for his business interests in Belize and donations to the Conservative party, the peer has already quietly established a formidable foothold in the Tory blogosphere. In 2008 Ashcroft bought a 25% share in Total Politics, a non-partisan Westminster magazine, and last year added controlling stakes in PoliticsHome and ConservativeHome, two influential political websites.The acquisitions mean Ashcroft has commercial links with the two most influential Tory bloggers, Iain Dale and Tim Montgomerie.Ashdown's involvement has caused unease among a number of the contributors and editorial board members of the websites. Last night Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said he would resign from the editorial board of Total Politics if there was any evidence that Ashcroft was attempting to interfere with its editorial policy.Ashdown said: &amp;quot;I am extremely alert to the fact that he might attempt to influence it, I have not seen any evidence that he has and therefore I do not believe in guilt by association and am not planning to leave. But if I saw any evidence that his stake in Total Politics in any way affected the editorial line I would leave immediately.&amp;quot;Ashcroft now owns controlling stakes in two powerful political new media outlets. In September, he took 57.5% stakes in ConservativeHome and PoliticsHome. As a result, 30 members of a consultative panel of PoliticsHome resigned. Ashcroft's investment is financing a relaunch of the site with plans for a paid-for media monitoring service. Stephan Shakespeare, chairman of PoliticsHome, insisted the site would remain independent and that he would have &amp;quot;a casting vote on a board of two&amp;quot;. But former board members believe there has been a subtle editorial shift since Ashcroft took over.Tom Watson, the Labour MP and blogger, who resigned from the political panel of PoliticsHome when Ashcroft bought it, said: &amp;quot;I resigned because it's simply not credible when the proprietor is the deputy chairman of the Tories and their biggest funder.&amp;quot;There will be an inevitable chilling effect on what stories they lead on. It's obvious. When the editors of the site sold out, they must have known that.&amp;quot; The editor of PoliticsHome, Freddie Sayers, insisted that Ashcroft had no editorial input into the site.After selling off ConservativeHome, founder Montgomerie said: &amp;quot;I have been given solid assurances by Michael that he does not wish to interfere with ConservativeHome's editorial policy in any way. I am completely satisfied with those assurances and am delighted that such a major figure in the Conservative party is willing to invest in the future of this website.&amp;quot;Ashcroft also owns 25% of Biteback Media, which publishes Dale's magazine Total Politics, and is the 85% owner of Biteback Publishing, which publishes political books.Total Politics, a cross-party journal whose editorial board includes the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, Ashdown and the Green party leader, Caroline Lucas, is edited by Dale, one of the best-read Conservative political bloggers. Today there were suggestions that some of the members of the board of Total Politics were also reconsidering their position in light of last week's revelations. Ashdown said his position was dependent on Ashcroft maintaining the journal's editorial independence.Ashcroft's acquisitions put him at the heart of the rightwing political blogosphere but his publishing company boasts a more ecelectic catalogue: one of the books featured on its website is entitled Why vote Labour?. Biteback Publishing was also behind the brutal insider account of life inside the Labour party by former general secretary Peter Watt.A spokesman for Ashcroft could not deny or confirm reports over the weekend about his ambitions to expand his media empire.The journal Total Politics was hit by a separate controversy after the former minister Denis MacShane resigned from its editorial board overs plans to feature the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, ahead of the election. Lucas also resigned from the board, though she could not be reached for a comment.Dale responded that he regretted MacShane's decision. &amp;quot;I and my editorial colleagues deeply reject the inference that giving an elected politician an interview amounts to any sort of propaganda triumph,&amp;quot; he said. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/09/michael-ashcroft-online-media-empire'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Green opportunities far outweigh the costs]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Green_opportunities_far_outweigh_the_costs-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Green_opportunities_far_outweigh_the_costs-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:21:41 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Business</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Green_opportunities_far_outweigh_the_costs-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Phillip Mills looks at a low carbon future based on switching the dialogue from costs to opportunities. The opportunities are those inherent in the clean technology boom and they are huge. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.celsias.co.nz/article/green-opportunities-far-outweigh-costs/'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[John Key: Part 1, the attack on the NZ dollar in 1987]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=John_Key_Part_1_the_attack_on_the_NZ_dollar_in_1987-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=John_Key_Part_1_the_attack_on_the_NZ_dollar_in_1987-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:37 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Politics</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=John_Key_Part_1_the_attack_on_the_NZ_dollar_in_1987-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[John Key and the things he does not want you to know: Part 1, the attack on the NZ dollar in 1987 &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/john-key-and-the-things-he-does-not-want-you-to-know-part-1-the-attack-on-the-nz-dollar-in-1987/#more-1998'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Iceland: 93% vote against debt repayment]]></title>
		<link>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Iceland_93_vote_against_debt_repayment-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Iceland_93_vote_against_debt_repayment-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:53:29 NZDT</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<category>Commentary</category>
		<guid>http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=Iceland_93_vote_against_debt_repayment-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Voters in Iceland have overwhelmingly rejected proposals to pay the UK and the Netherlands in the wake of collapse of the Icesave bank.With a third of results counted, 93% of voters said &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; in a referendum.Iceland's prime minister says her government will remain in office and continue to seek a repayment deal.The British and Dutch governments want reimbursement for the 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn; $5.2bn) they paid out in compensation to customers in 2008.Talks between Iceland, the UK and the Netherlands three countries broke down on Friday without agreement.Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said she would not vote in Saturday's poll as her government was seeking to continue the negotiations. .. snip .. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8553979.stm'>PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews</a>]]></description>
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