Dipshit of the Week: Joris De Bres

The clash of moronic stupidity vs unmovable pig headed ignorance doesn't make for a pretty outcome but that is what happened this week when the full bizarreness of political correctness collided in a damp stain on your grey matter when The South African Rugby Union has refused to put up their Springboks against the Maori All Blacks in a friendly game of Rugby.

Those Jaapies are saying that they wont play a racially selected team and that is fair enough, the Maaaori All Blacks have to be Maaaori, but they are forgetting to put their best chromosomes forward when thinking over this dilemma because their own team is racially selected because there has to be a quota of black fellas.

Oh how the brain hurts!

But don't worry, Joris De Bres, New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner, former Black & White Minstrels member and part-time cake decorator takes this torment in his big hands and gives it the required bureaucratic squeeze in a letter to the SA Rugby Union.

Joris opines thusly:

As New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner I appreciate why such a policy would have been adopted, particularly because of the racial discrimination in sport that existed in South Africa under apartheid.  However, there is no such discrimination in New Zealand: people of all ethnic backgrounds are eligible to play in New Zealand's national, regional and local representative teams, and alongside that, consistent with the principle of freedom of association, people are free to play together in any other combination.

The New Zealand Maori rugby team has a proud history in New Zealand and has the support of the community as a whole. He goes on...and on...

Joris ignores the fact that the South African National team is racially selected (this time whites are excluded) and that the Maaaori All Blacks exclude white folk.

Didn't we have riots over this in the 1980s?

You would also find that this issue would split opinion country wide, so no consensus and therefore support exists.

The intellectual rigor that leads the former silly putty manufacturer down this garden path ends up making further mockery of his mock position as NZ's "Race Relations" Commissar and calls into question his usefulness.

There is always his former Black & White Minstrels job to go back to I suppose.

Previous Dipshits

Greenpeace

Bob Harvey

Related Amazon Reading

Human Rights and Sporting Contacts: New Zealand Attitudes to Race Relations in South Africa 1921-94 by Malcolm Templeton  Buy new: $29.95 / Used from: $40.79 Usually ships in 6 days

c Political Animal 2009

Time to ditch the dividends

I wrote a couple of days ago about Goodman Fielder Ltd [GFF.NZ] using a dividend re-investment plan to help with company cash-flow in these hard times.

Let me add another string to that cashflow bow.

Shareholders in NZX listed companies should expect dividends to be cut even if profits are not correspondingly lower.

Far be it from me to suggest this because many of the companies in the Share Investor Portfolio have good dividend returns but I think it would be a prudent move for companies to lower or cancel dividend payouts until this recession comes to an end.

New Zealand companies pay handsome dividends at the best of times but as we know this aint the best of times.

The scary thought is that some companies even use borrowed money to pay dividends and that isn't wise even when the economy is ticking along nicely and will certainly be more difficult to do during this credit drought.

Unfortunately Kiwis live in some sort of dividend fools paradise where investors often gauge the investing potential of the company by that criteria alone. Company hierarchy don't often help that scenario either by pandering to that market expectation of more company moola for stockholders = a good company.

I have been guilty of this peculiar investor trait! but have learned to relax when a dividend cut is used for a more business efficient purpose-like investing moola back into the company.

Cash-flow is all important for businesses at the moment and it is normally used to pay all sorts of short term liabilities, so clearly having a bigger free cashflow will help a business function better on a day to day basis.

Just remind yourself a dividend cut will not be forever and ultimately it will be good for your investment in the long run-Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has never paid a dividend and its shares are currently traded at around US$84,000.00 each. (Its high was near double that!)

You might even like to to give your CFO a friendly phone call and gently suggest he take my advice.

Recent Share Investor Reading

• Goodman Fielder turning on the DRIP
• Fisher & Paykel Appliance's profit downgrade continues
• Fletcher House is built on hard times
• The Definition of Insanity

Recommended Amazon Reading



Dividend Policy: Its Impact on Firm Value by Ronald C. Lease
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The Standard & Poor's Guide to Building Wealth with Dividend Stocks by Joseph Tigue
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c Share Investor 2009

TV3 News Political Poll: 18 Feb 2009

The bad news for the hapless and hopeless Phil Goff continues.

In the latest TV3 news poll National trumps Labour by a country mile and the former Prime Minister, Helen Clark is Labour's preferred leader!!

The poll provides clear evidence that National voters backed a winner in November and that Labour voters are moving their allegiances to National-as they started to do on election night.

At 60 percent in tonight's poll, National's rating is the highest ever recorded by 3News.

So we asked voters what they thought of Key and National's performance over the first three months in Government.

64 percent say it has been strong or very strong.

Just 4 percent say has been weak.

In the crucial leadership traits, 85 percent consider Key a capable leader - that has rocketed up.

75 percent say he would be good in a crisis, up significantly.

And 77 percent back his judgement. TV3.co.nz

The only question that still remains is just how long Goff can remain as the Labour leader?

Not long judging by his non-performance thus far.

The Labour knives are being sharpened as we speak.

Related Amazon Reading

Politicians Don't Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion) by Lawrence R. Jacobs  Buy new: $20.00 / Used from: $6.49 Usually ships in 24 hours

c Political Animal 2009

Repeal of Electoral Finance Act rekindles democracy

The repeal of the filthy little Electoral Finance Act that stopped free speech was passed yesterday in parliament and now we can all talk freely again in an election year without the threat of some Government stooge breathing down our necks.

Those of you who protested against it, well done, and those of you that voted for it or still support it (like the Greens) should go and live in Zimbabwe.

No surprise that Labour voted to repeal the Act because it helps the incumbent Government, now National , to stay in power.

A new law will be passed closer to election 2011 and this time it will have citizen input and contributions and agreement from all parties in Parliament.

c Political Animal 2009