Archive for June, 2008

Not funny

Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, June 17th, 2008 - 89 comments

Kiwiblog now has a cartoonist and it’s simply disgusting stuff. I’m not going to post the cartoon because I don’t want the image on our blog (you can see it here) – it mocks Folole Muliaga, an ill woman who died needlessly. It’s irredeemably uninsightful, unfunny, and offensive. It really speaks to both David Farrar’s […]

Firefox download day

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, June 17th, 2008 - 22 comments

Sick of Internet Explorer for being slow and buggy and not open-source? Why not try out Firefox instead? It’s a free, open-source browser, developed collaboratively for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s claimed to be (and most people seem to agree) the fastest most secure, most customisable browser. On June 17, 2008, Firefox wants to set a […]

What went on at the ‘horn?

Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, June 17th, 2008 - 55 comments

Reports have been circulating around Wellington for several weeks about a night on the town for John Key with a couple of senior (though not old) Press Gallery members. Apparently John called them up and said he was in town and did they want to go out for a drink. One drink turned to a […]

CFL FTW

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, June 17th, 2008 - 24 comments

And the winner is… the compact fluorescent lightbulb! Stuff reports that “from late next year, the old incandescent bulbs will be phased out as part of an Efficient Lighting Strategy”. The strategy aims to reduce lighting energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2015 and to help some energy efficient bulbs will be subsidised. PS. If you […]

Roger Awards open

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, June 17th, 2008 - 16 comments

Nominations have opened for this year’s Roger Awards, naming and shaming the worst transnational corporation operating in New Zealand in 2008. Previous winners have included Telecom, Progressive Enterprises and TranzRail, but I reckon Rio Tinto and Spotless Services would have to be odds-on favourites for this year. For more information and a nomination form click […]

Petrol price hits parties in the polls

Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, June 17th, 2008 - 120 comments

A reader sent us this graph. It plots President Bush’s approval rating and the price of petrol. (the price of petrol is upside-down, a fall in the price is a rise on the graph) As you can see, spikes in the price have been followed by a fall in Bush’s support and the reverse is […]

Keeping it in the family

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 10 comments

The ODT reports that Bill English’s brother, Conor English, has been picked as the new CEO of Federated Farmers. Once the press secretary to National Government Lands Minister John Luxton, Conor replaces ex-National MP Annabel Young as CEO.

National ‘bereft of compassion’

Written By: - Date published: 4:44 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 36 comments

That is the reported view of the secretary of the Sikh Council of New Zealand in response to some attention grabbing behaviour from National Manakau East candidate in the wake of the tragic shooting of Natjev Singh. Specifically the article says: Mr Verpal Singh said they were “utterly disappointed at a singular lack of understanding […]

Fundrace

Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 7 comments

From The Huffington Post’s “Fundrace“ website: Want to know if a celebrity is playing both sides of the fence? Whether that new guy you’re seeing is actually a Republican or just dresses like one? If your boss maxed out at that fundraiser or got comped? Whether your neighbor’s political involvement stops at that hideous lawn […]

California to ban cell phone use for teen drivers

Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, June 16th, 2008 - Comments Off on California to ban cell phone use for teen drivers

Apparently California is, on July 1, to become the 15th US state to ban cell phone use for teen drivers. In what looks like major differnce to the proposed new rules here though, unlike older drivers these younger Californians won’t even be allowed to use hands-free kits.

Facing up to peak oil

Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 38 comments

The Government’s independent report on petrol prices is bit of a sop to be the public, really. The world oil price is driving petrol prices; any efficiencies that could be gained in New Zealand would be small and would not change the upward trend. Nor is a Fuel Watch website like Australia’s going to do […]

Matt McCarten from the Herald on Sunday

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 15 comments

Worth a read: Remember when George Bush’s administration promised the world that the invasion of Iraq would be over in a few weeks? We were assured that the Iraqis would throw flowers at their liberators, the war would make a tidy profit and petrol prices would plummet. Next time you fill up your car think […]

He would say that wouldn’t he

Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 21 comments

Stuff reports that  National Party energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee has labelled the government’s inquiry into petrol pricing a cynical move that would not make a difference to prices. A similar inquiry in Australia resulted in a decision to provide increased transparency for consumers by stipulating that the petrol was to be set and notified by petrol companies […]

Kremlinology: National on ACC

Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, June 16th, 2008 - 41 comments

In most countries, accident insurance is big business. Insurers and lawyers make billions off premiums, claims, and court cases but many people don’t actually get any cover if they are injured. The Third Labour Government set up ACC to ensure everyone would have cover if they were injured. It also freed up the court system […]

Key’s slippery promises on waste

Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, June 14th, 2008 - 50 comments

National has staked it all on delivering bigger tax cuts than Labour. To remain credible, they need to deliver $20 a week on average more than Labour. That’s $3 billion a year. The operating surplus is gone, so where will the money come from? John Key has been repeatedly referencing the fact that the government […]

The Standard Week – 06-13 June

Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, June 14th, 2008 - 4 comments

Another week of shadow boxing, as National tried to keep its policy secret and hints leaked out. But it gave us the chance to debate some of the big issues. And the threads that developed showed that, contrary to what Key says, people can understand and are interested in complex ideas. Here’s our favourite posts […]

Why is reported violent crime up?

Written By: - Date published: 5:02 pm, June 13th, 2008 - 40 comments

As you know, crime is down in New Zealand, which is not surprising – crime is a symptom of social deprivation and we’ve had eight years of high employment and rising incomes easing that deprivation. But reported violent crime is up. Why? One reason is 35% of the increase is in the “threats and intimidation” […]

Political monogamy

Written By: - Date published: 1:42 pm, June 13th, 2008 - 43 comments

Thought this might make a good followup to Steve/Trotter’s comments in the post below. It’s from the group TruthThroughAction.org – a group of independent filmmakers who create content in support of Democratic causes.  It may also serve as a timely warning to any women planning on attending the next of John Key’s young professional networking […]

The dark side of the Right

Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, June 13th, 2008 - 118 comments

Trotter is on the money today: …[A]ll of you young, confident women of the 21st century urgently need to pause and reflect upon what is happening especially all you young, confident women thinking of voting for the National Party. Why? Because behind National, hidden by all those glossy placards depicting the handsome John Key, marches […]

The gods of greed

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, June 13th, 2008 - 19 comments

The Guardian has extracts from a new book by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future, in which they explain “how the reckless speculation of a super-rich elite has left us all the poorer”. They promised economic stability, order and prosperity. But instead the […]

Comparatively, gingers have it easy

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, June 13th, 2008 - 2 comments

Last month Mike Hucknall, lead singer of Simply Red, asserted that ‘ginger jibes’ were a form of racism. Opinion was divided. As you ponder that one, spare a thought for Tanzanian albinos. The New York Times reports that in the past year at least 19 albinos there have been killed and mutilated – victims of what Tanzanian […]

Monte Ohia

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, June 13th, 2008 - Comments Off on Monte Ohia

It’s sad to learn of the sudden death of Monte Ohia, the Maori Party candidate for Te Tai Tonga. Ohia was a prominent educationalist and would have been an enourmous asset as an MP. He had been tipped to pose a major challenge this election to Labour’s Mahara Okeroa, to whom he polled a respectable […]

Treating the voters like children

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, June 13th, 2008 - 30 comments

Keith Holyoake used to say “tell the people, trust the people”; be honest about the benefits, trade-offs, and costs of policies and trust the people to judge you in an adult manner. Central to Brand Key, however, is playing to voters’ baser desires, especially greed, and fomenting juvenile beliefs, including that it is possible to have ones cake and eat it. For […]

The wage gap and the Nats’ crediblity gap

Written By: - Date published: 5:01 pm, June 12th, 2008 - 32 comments

Remember when National was all about the wage gap, whinging about it every day? Heard them talk about it lately? The last mention we can find is three weeks ago. Has the issue suddenly gone away? No, there is still a wage gap and solutions to it require serious debate. But National wasn’t talking about […]

Behind the secrecy

Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, June 12th, 2008 - 8 comments

Reading a_y_b’s piece on National’s policy talks with the Real Estate Institute I’ve got to say it struck me as having shades not so much of the Brethren fiasco as the leaked Insurance Council memo from the last election. According to a letter given to Labour’s Clayton Cosgrove by a member of REINZ, the real […]

Benson-Pope rejects Legalise Cannabis Party offer

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, June 12th, 2008 - 19 comments

Reported today in the ODT: Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope will not be accepting an invitation to stand as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party’s (ALCP) electorate candidate at the next election. “Their judgement has obviously been impaired by their recreational habits,” he said when contacted.

I did not have policy relations with REINZ

Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, June 12th, 2008 - 23 comments

With tones of the Brethren debacle we’re getting conflicting reports from the National Party as to whether or not they have haven’t have met with the Real Estate Institute of NZ. Simon Power says unequivocally that National hasn’t met with REINZ since the Real Estate Agents Act Bill [cheers lemsip, typo] went for public submissions. Yet […]

With friends like these

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, June 12th, 2008 - 85 comments

One thing that puzzles me about righties is that half the people on their side of the fence are racists, bigots, misogynists, homophobes or religious zealots and, yet, this doesn’t seem to make the rest of them re-evaluate own their beliefs. If, for example, I were a National MP and in the same caucus as […]

BBC/TVE Earth Report special: NZ

Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, June 12th, 2008 - 15 comments

BBC and TVE screen an Earth Report special this week focussing on New Zealand’s objective to become carbon neutral: New Zealand, host for World Environment Day 2008, plans to be the first to create a completely carbon neutral economy. Their target is 2020 and they have ambitious plans to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions with […]

GWOT comics

Written By: - Date published: 6:49 am, June 12th, 2008 - 8 comments

Ah, Iraq invasion satire. thank god that war is over, eh John? [GWOT – Global War On Terror, official acronym. You can’t make this stuff up]

Happy families

Written By: - Date published: 6:11 pm, June 11th, 2008 - 48 comments

The New Zealand Herald’s latest anti-Labour beatup took an unfortunate twist this afternoon. Having spent the best part of a day making hay over Labour being caught, er, using stock photography in a flyer, the Herald was over the moon to discover the offending image had also been used by Kevin Rudd’s Australian Labor Party […]