Archive for January, 2012

National breaks law on donations

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 52 comments

Donations over $30,000 from the same source must be declared to the Electoral Commission within 10 working days. National overstepped the mark in declaring a total donation of $86,005 from Gallagher Industries outside the limit. These days  the Electoral Commission doesn’t get involved – the penalty is a fine of up to $40,000 on summary conviction.

ImperatorFish: Spears Into The Sea

Written By: - Date published: 6:54 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 3 comments

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here

We need better answers than just “stricter enforcement” to solve the copyright debate – we need some fresh ideas.

Is it just me…

Written By: - Date published: 6:49 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 21 comments

…or is National’s “Ethnic Team” so tokinist it’s kinda racist in it’s own right?

I mean it’s not like there’s a facebook group for National’s Old White Men Team.

Oh wait, there is.

Shut it down

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 38 comments

The same day as we learn that Labour won’t be allowing press gallery journos free access to their wing of Parliament as previously (apparently a desperate attempt at message control by keeping off message MPs and journos apart: someone better tell Fran Mold what a cellphone is), Labour’s bizarre cult of David Farrar has performed its first human sacrifice.

ImperatorFish: Sonny Bill Has No Plans To Sleep With You

Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 2 comments

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here

The stock market dipped sharply in trading today, after no stories appeared in any of the major newspapers about Sonny Bill Williams for almost two hours.

Maori Party to quit Govt?

Written By: - Date published: 2:04 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 86 comments

News in on the Herald says the Maori party are talking the talk over National’s latest insult to Maori.

Will they quit the Government?  Or will the smell of those limo seats  mean another backdown in a couple of weeks?

Poverty: our shame

Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 89 comments

We’ve been told about how bad poverty is here, and how bad it is for our future by the excellent Inside New Zealand documentary – but will it take an outside view to wake us from our slumber?

If so then Christians Against Poverty‘s John Kirkby is willing to provide it for us.

Worth a thousand words: minister of tourism

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, January 31st, 2012 - 28 comments

Kiwis want to keep our land, will Key listen?

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, January 31st, 2012 - 35 comments

I/S at NoRightTurn says we should hold Key to his latest pathetic excuse making for his inaction on the sale of our farmland overseas: “John Key’s excuse for the Crafar farms sale? His hands were tied. But he’s promising to change the law if we make enough noise about it” Unfortunately, Key doesn’t mean it. He has no intention of listening.

Marryatt must go

Written By: - Date published: 6:41 am, January 31st, 2012 - 84 comments

Most Kiwis have had no payrise, if they’re lucky enough to have kept their jobs, in the past few years. Yet Christchurch City Council CEO Tony Marryatt has kept on getting pay rises on his obscene salary, even as his job performance has declined. Now the arrogant bastard is saying he’ll keep $34,000 he doesn’t deserve unless the elected council ‘behaves’. There is no justification for this madness. Sack him.

Open mike 31/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 31st, 2012 - 54 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

Open mike 30/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 30th, 2012 - 34 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

You’ve got to be kidding me

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 pm, January 29th, 2012 - 76 comments

Pike River boss Peter Whittall, the guy facing charges after 29 of his employees died working in his unsafe, ‘profit-over-people’ mine, has set up a mining safety consulting company. What’s next? A Minister of Tourism who always holidays overseas? A Finance Minister who wants to sell highly profitable assets in a down market? … oh … This country is nuts.

Open mike 29/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 29th, 2012 - 69 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

It’s not racist to want self-determination

Written By: - Date published: 2:49 pm, January 28th, 2012 - 139 comments

Danyl at Dimpost says it all succinctly on Crafar Farms: while China is a rising economic super-power and a close trade partner of New Zealand, it’s also a totalitarian military dictatorship. People are allowed to feel apprehensive about such a state building its own vertical supply chains within the New Zealand economy without being labeled xenophobic and racist.

Treachery

Written By: - Date published: 10:09 am, January 28th, 2012 - 703 comments

Fran O’Sullivan is an enemy of the people. Her article in this morning’s Herald will forever brand her as a traitor to this country. She will be shunned and reviled by people who understand what a disgusting sell-out she has become. There is no coming back from this. The Crafar decision is a victory for […]

Open mike 28/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 28th, 2012 - 15 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

Weekend social 27/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, January 27th, 2012 - 9 comments

Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can’t we all just get along?

Ports of Auckland and casualisation

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, January 27th, 2012 - 11 comments

CTU President Helen Kelly talks about the Ports of Auckland and the effects of casualisation on workers and workplace health and safety.

Closing the Gap: who’s listening?

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, January 27th, 2012 - 31 comments

Income inequality is one of the major issues of our time, and is being discussed globally. But our government doesn’t appear to be listening. Now a new organisation is aiming to raise awareness of the issue, and pressure our politicians to do something about it.

Key and Banks on ACT: snap elections, coups & Isaac

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, January 27th, 2012 - 56 comments

The  tea tapes contain a pivotal exchange where John Banks and John Key talk about “restructuring” ACT – including Banks confirming his orders from Key to make Catherine Isaac the new leader. We also learn that National advisors called Key in a panic during the Brash coup calling on him to stage a snap election. It’s an insight into the cynicism of National and Key, and also Key’s poor political judgement.

The numbers man

Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, January 27th, 2012 - 29 comments

Key didn’t exactly live up to his brand as the master politician and numbers man yesterday:
Key in the tea tapes: “we will get to 50. 49-50, anything around there will be good enough. When you are where we are the risk is a landslide” – Oops. 47.3%, one seat majority for rightwing policies
On Winston: “That’s a shut door. He’s currently at 2.5-3. He’ll poll 3 this time. A lot of his constituents have died.” – Oops. 6.6% and back.
“We are still on track to post a surplus in 2014/15 … in the range of $300 to $500 million”. – Oops. That’s down three-quarters from his Budget promise.

Open mike 27/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 27th, 2012 - 72 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

Teapot tattle

Written By: - Date published: 2:25 pm, January 26th, 2012 - 122 comments

The Teapot Tapes have leaked on to the internet.

You can torrent it and listen past all of the noise.

Oz & NZ govts suppress official peak oil warnings

Written By: - Date published: 12:40 pm, January 26th, 2012 - 43 comments

Dennis Tegg has a good piece on the release of a secret Australian government report that warns peak oil is upon us: The Daily Telegraph has revealed how the Australian government has attempted to suppress its own report on peak oil. The response from the New Zealand government had been equally secretive and obfuscating.

Nats preparing to impose Chch dictatorship

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, January 26th, 2012 - 15 comments

David Farrar is calling for the Christchurch City Council to be sacked on the bizarre pretext that some of them have objected to the council CEO’s obscene pay rise. Apparently it’s a crime not to express confidence in your CEO if you’re an elected representative (Farrar seems to have missed the Collins-Matthews affair). But this is all a softening up exercise.

Being tenants in our own land now OK by Key

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, January 26th, 2012 - 585 comments

When he was running for re-election, John Key said he opposed selling the Crafar farms offshore: “I am concerned about the risk that New Zealanders become tenants in their own land”. Now he has won what is very likely his last term, he doesn’t give a damn about the farms going into foreign ownership and our publicly-owned farming company literally becoming the tenant of the land.

WTF is a “primary” anyway?

Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, January 26th, 2012 - 36 comments

Even we political junkies have a hard time figuring out what the heck’s going on in American politics sometimes.

And it’s not like our media are any help.

Queen of Thorns takes a look…

The limits of resilience

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, January 26th, 2012 - 26 comments

Christchurch has been back in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. What’s going on behind the public narrative of a tough and resilient populace soldiering on in the face of all these obstacles?

Open mike 26/01/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 26th, 2012 - 118 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

ImperatorFish: Nats Must Act Urgently To Save Us From The Sun

Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, January 25th, 2012 - 22 comments

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here

The biggest solar storm for six years is headed our way. What is John Key going to do about it?