Archive for November, 2009

Not walking the talk

Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, November 8th, 2009 - 18 comments

I’m not against Prime Ministers making limited use of Airforce aircraft when necessary – when commercial flights or (better) surface travel aren’t practical. It’s cheaper and more efficient than having dedicated aircraft that would hardly ever be used. But Key using two Iroquois, each flying for eight hours, just so he could get from Blenheim to Kiakoura […]

Walking the talk

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, November 8th, 2009 - 5 comments

A shout out on a Sunday to a family who are walking the talk: Pastor Murray Smith preaches a message of generosity in his sermons and says people need few material things in order to live happy and fulfilling lives. So Pastor Smith, his wife, Michelle, and their three young children are giving up their […]

McCarten on capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, November 8th, 2009 - 32 comments

Matt McCarten’s Herald column this week is a call for every working New Zealander to go and see Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. I haven’t managed to catch it yet, but judging by McCarten’s review Moore’s latest will be a must-see: Some of the points he raises – such as workers having representation on […]

One of these things is not like the other IX

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, November 8th, 2009 - 35 comments

One of these things is not like the other, One of these things is not quite the same… Can you guess which one is not like the other, Can you tell me before I finish the game?

Open mike 08/11/09

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 8th, 2009 - 12 comments

Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…

Hide slammed for telling the truth on Key

Written By: - Date published: 4:52 pm, November 7th, 2009 - 33 comments

Some pretty damning pieces on on Hide today from John Armstrong, Tracy Watkins, and Fran O’Sullivan. They compare him to Winston Peters and say he ought to apologise to various groups for his troughing and his comments that John Key “doesn’t do anything”. What I find fascinating, though, is that a senior and powerful minister gave his […]

We are New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 7th, 2009 - 10 comments

Hattip: tumeke

Guilty until proven innocent

Written By: - Date published: 1:01 pm, November 7th, 2009 - 9 comments

We are continuing our chilling progress towards a surveillance state. The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 is another brick in the wall. Apparently this act reverses the fundamental presumption of innocence with respect to assets (possessions, wealth). If the police decide that your possessions were gained via “significant criminal activity” you are guilty unless you […]

The Good Oil: Blast the Right

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, November 7th, 2009 - 2 comments

God knows you’ll never hear this sort of stuff from the transnational corporate duopolies that are our erstwhile msm, so many thanks to one of our readers who kindly put me on to this excellent US grassroots site by Jerold Block. It’s a repository of podcasts that basically just contain countless well put counter-arguments to […]

Hone to leave Maori Party?

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, November 7th, 2009 - 82 comments

The Dom Post reports that Hone Harawira is considering leaving the Maori Party. Hone told the Dom this before Hone’s offensive email hit the media later in the week. Firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira under attack for an explosive email says he could quit at the next election over his party’s support for National. […]

Unbridled power

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 7th, 2009 - 11 comments

The government and the Police are spinning all the new security measures as a national security matter and a crack-down ONLY on the leaders of organised crime, watching how the worst villains spend their ill-gotten gains and preventing them from corrupting police and politicians (snort) etc. Police minister Judith Crusher Collins: “Gang bosses have grown […]

Oh Dear. Buster Perky hits the canvass again

Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, November 7th, 2009 - 8 comments

Hypocrisy is such a difficult tag to shake in NZ politics. After blowing $50,000 of tax payer money on a trip with his girlfriend to visit her brother and wander around Disneyland, it seems like Rodney Hide has been caught yet again pilfering public funds to help with his romantic chances, this time another $10,000 […]

Open mike 07/11/09

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 7th, 2009 - 5 comments

Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…

OIA docs confirm English wrote propaganda ad script

Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, November 6th, 2009 - 38 comments

Documents that the government was forced to release under the Official Information Act reveal that Bill English exercised extensive control and sign-off over each stage of his million dollar political propaganda ad, funded by publicly-owned broadcaster TVNZ. The documents (which, unfortunately, the media organisations have not seen fit to release to the public in full) […]

Act as we say, not as we do

Written By: - Date published: 2:43 pm, November 6th, 2009 - 31 comments

Banks’ leadership takes battering

Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, November 6th, 2009 - 6 comments

Fresh from pulling the pin (then blaming others) on a Queen’s Wharf redesign competition he himself conceived, led and championed, Remuera mayor John ‘in your guts you know he’s nuts’ Banks has again flip-flopped on a policy proposal from his council. Yesterday the Banks’ and C&R led proposal for after-hours car parking charges for Auckland’s […]

Climate Change: Looney Tunes from Lord Monckton

Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, November 6th, 2009 - 121 comments

Rob Salmond In attempting to cover for DPF’s embarrassing disaster of a post on climate change, in his comments section some prominent right wingers (most notably John Ansell) pointed to a recent presentation by Lord Monckton. The presentation got a lot of publicity this month, including thinly veiled advertising from Fox News’ Glenn Beck, for arguing […]

Government MPs’ travel woes

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, November 6th, 2009 - 65 comments

Not content with living in a fantasy world, Rodney Hide had to spend taxpayer money to visit Disney World as well. OK, actually it was Universal Studios but it looks increasingly like Hide’s $50,000 trip kindly paid for by you and me was actually nothing more than a world tour with his girlfriend. Sure, they […]

A tale of two Johns

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, November 6th, 2009 - 12 comments

We were offered two very different views of John Key PM yesterday. The first by a pair of love-struck journalists. We’ll start with them. Let’s have a big hand for Garth George folks! Garth George: We should all salute our wonderful PM It comes as no surprise that John Key and National remain top of […]

Over-promise, under-deliver

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, November 6th, 2009 - 5 comments

If there’s been a motto of this government, it’s the one above. We’ve been promised the world – tax cuts, better public services, higher wages, more growth, less regulation, lower crime, better education, lower carbon emissions – and none of it has been delivered or looks likely to be delivered at any time by this […]

The myth of upward mobility

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, November 6th, 2009 - 62 comments

Yesterday, we looked at what a vastly unfair and unequal system capitalism is. The control of the fruits of production by the few means that wealth accumulates to them and the rest of us get a pittance. The wealthiest 10% of people own over half of the wealth of this country – net worths of […]

Hide shoots the messenger

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, November 6th, 2009 - 18 comments

Hide says his comment that Key “doesn’t do anything” was “taken out of context” by the reporter. It’s a direct attack on van Beyan’s professionalism. Reminiscent of Key’s smears after his “we would love to see wages drop” quoted was reported.  Van Beyan should stand up for himself and his profession by releasing his full notes […]

Open mike 06/11/09

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 6th, 2009 - 22 comments

Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…

Herald scathing of Tolley

Written By: - Date published: 5:22 am, November 6th, 2009 - 5 comments

The Herald was just about as damning as they get of National on Tuesday, with Claire Trevett’s piece on Anne Tolley. Of course, the Herald is never going to out and out criticise a National minister but between the fluff and odd anti-left remarks (“lippy unions”, “excessive regulation”) there’s some pretty tough comments. That Tolley […]

Rodney Hide caught in a lie

Written By: - Date published: 5:28 pm, November 5th, 2009 - 40 comments

Interesting comment from ‘gobsmacked’ on Rodney Hide’s statement that John Key “doesn’t do anything” and how he as a minister can ram pretty much anything he likes through cabinet: There’s a bigger story here, incidentally. Rodney Hide has been caught out in a lie. The whole ‘fundraiser’ row was all about whether Hide was acting […]

Why National really hates proportional electoral systems

Written By: - Date published: 2:22 pm, November 5th, 2009 - 25 comments

These data, taken from the Elections NZ site, show election results since National’s inception up until the last First Past the Post (FPP) election in 1993. I think they show fairly clearly why National is so keen to dump our proportional electoral system in favour of FPP or its drag cousin Supplementary Member (SM), which […]

16,000 more jobs lost

Written By: - Date published: 12:40 pm, November 5th, 2009 - 14 comments

The number of employed people fell from 2,170,000 to 2,154,000 in the three months to September*. There are 54,000 fewer people in jobs than December last year. 16,000 jobs were lost in three months – 240 per work day. Unemployment rose another 0.5% to 6.5%, the first time it has been that high since National […]

Key is weak

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, November 5th, 2009 - 100 comments

Let me start by saying I understand that Key is loved for his laid-back common touch, I don’t think it makes for good governance but I realise it makes for a good political product. However there’s a big difference between laid-back and weak and letting Rodney Hide spit on him in public only to claim […]

Is this as good as it gets?

Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, November 5th, 2009 - 66 comments

Most of the wealth in New Zealand is owned by a tiny fraction of the people because our political/economic system makes it that way. 10% of people have more income than 50% combined.   That’s just income. The inequality of wealth distribution is far greater. The net wealth of 10% of people is 20 times […]

Chilling

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, November 5th, 2009 - 39 comments

The Search and Surveillance Bill is making its way though the bowels of the government law making process. This is a terrible law, described by the Human Rights Commissioner as “disproportionately invasive” and “chilling“: Sweeping powers to spy, bug conversations and hack into private computers could be given to a web of state agencies as […]

Key “doesn’t do anything” – Hide

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, November 5th, 2009 - 45 comments

It took a few cocktails to loosen Bill English’s tongue when he thought he was among friends. Rodney Hide just needed his coco pops. At his highly dubious ministerial function/ACT fundraiser breakfast*, Hide told his table that John Key “doesn’t do anything”. The only ‘achievement’ by Key that Hide could identify was the cycleway, which, […]