Author Archive
Supply Side Jesus
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, March 12th, 2008 - 11 comments
Now to be perfectly honest I’ve never really thought that seven sins was enough. I was delighted to see that the Vatican has added some extras. They are: environmental pollution, genetic manipulation, accumulating excessive wealth, inflicting poverty, drug trafficking and consumption, morally debatable experiments and violation of fundamental rights of human nature. I’m not for […]
Clinton’s 3am ad
Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, March 12th, 2008 - 4 comments
Hillary Clinton’s ad warning of a national emergency at 3am and featuring sleeping children has been considered highly politically effective. It’s spawned hundred of YouTube parodies and was considered potentially damaging enough that the Obama campaign responded publicly. It’s now been discovered that one of the children featured in the nine-year-old stock video footage – […]
$700m for R&D
Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, March 11th, 2008 - 11 comments
The Dom reports that “Prime Minister Helen Clark unveiled the $700 million funding boost for research, development and innovation projects today and said the fund would grow to around $1 billion as it earned interest over the next 10 to 15 years. Industries would be expected to match the government’s commitment, causing the fund to […]
A blast to the past
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, March 10th, 2008 - 21 comments
Polling consistently around 1% ACT have decided that the only way forward is rejuvenation and fresh ideas.
Free Speech Coalition TV spot
Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, March 10th, 2008 - 12 comments
A trusted source tells us that following their most recent failed EFA protest, Cameron Slater (Whaleoil) and National Party blogger David Farrar might be considering buying TV time as part of their civil disobedience campaign. The production company has evidently worked hard to stay true to the Free Speech Coalition’s messages – the ad’s content […]
Once bitten
Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, March 7th, 2008 - 33 comments
No surprise to see English fronting the Toll debate given Slippery John’s abysmal performance this week. Check out Bill in the background of this shot, are those daggers coming out his eyes? To his credit English gave much straighter answers about Toll than we would have got from Key and left little doubt about where […]
Slippery John: trainwreck on Morning Report
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, March 6th, 2008 - 31 comments
Bill English must just be sitting there in his office cringing as he listens to interviews like these. Sean Plunket spoke to Slippery John this morning about his latest policy flip-flops. It was a trainwreck. Have a listen – the text below is just a short excerpt. powered by ODEO Presenter: Is your policy today […]
Hitting a nerve
Written By: - Date published: 6:53 pm, March 5th, 2008 - 22 comments
In this afternoon’s debate Gerry Brownlee tried to have the word “slippery” ruled unparliamentary in relation to John Key. Proof, if any were needed, that Cullen had hit a nerve perhaps? Also interesting to see John Key leading off General Debate in the House – the Nats have done this before when Key’s been in […]
Key abandons Treaty settlement deadline
Written By: - Date published: 4:57 pm, March 5th, 2008 - 26 comments
Further to Dancer’s post below, this morning on Breakfast John Key claimed that National never had a deadline for settling Treaty claims and instead only had a deadline for lodging them. This was possum-in-the-headlights stuff, continuing an extraordinary run of gaffes from slippery Mr Key. Politely put, Key’s done a total rewrite of history. The […]
Playing politics
Written By: - Date published: 3:05 pm, March 5th, 2008 - 2 comments
From John Key’s State of the Nation speech in January: The Youth Court currently has the power to place young offenders in youth justice residential facilities for a period of up to three months. Many are released after just two. Last year, long-overdue legislation was tabled to allow these sentences to extend to six months. […]
Deja vu
Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, March 5th, 2008 - 13 comments
Looks like slipperiness runs in the National Party family…
Mao Zedong features as preferred PM
Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, March 3rd, 2008 - 21 comments
As Helen Clark and John Key continue to jockey for top spot as preferred PM, Mao Zedong has made his first appearance in a Herald Digipoll. Media commentators are pointing to this as evidence that these polls are largely worthless. National aren’t so philosophical. Insiders indicate that National are far from happy with Mao’s appearance […]
For the record
Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, February 28th, 2008 - 103 comments
Like most of his policy positions John Key’s story on his comment “we would love to see wages drop” just keeps on changing. First he was “misrepresented”, then his comment was “lighthearted”, and now he’s claiming he never said it. Which is it John? In an interview today with Mickey Havoc, Key now denies ever […]
someoneorotherisyournewbicycle.com
Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, February 27th, 2008 - Comments Off on someoneorotherisyournewbicycle.com
I bookmarked barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com last week but forgot to post on it in amongst the (not over yet) story of John Key’s admission that: “we would love to see wages drop“. When you hit reload the web site displays a new complimentary message about Mr Obama. The Chicago Tribune has the full story on the site, […]
Bill’s Wikipedia edits
Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, February 27th, 2008 - 39 comments
Again from a Parliamentary address, the following passage was deleted from Bill English’s Wikipedia entry in June last year: He married a Catholic GP, Mary, and they now have six children – five boys: Luke, Thomas, Rory, Bartholemew and Xavier; and one daughter, Maria. He is a devout Catholic himself, and upholds his churches opposition […]
Turnout suppression
Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, February 27th, 2008 - 6 comments
Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the conservative US think tank The Heritage Foundation (which has links to our very own Maxim Institute) once famously remarked: “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. […]
Peas in a pod: Family Fist, National, DPF
Written By: - Date published: 4:10 pm, February 26th, 2008 - 55 comments
National Party blogger David Farrar points to a criticism of the repeal of s59 by Sacha Coburn (“a Christchurch businesswoman, lawyer and mother”): The Government should read this column and be afraid… The whole column is worth a read. And Sacha Coburn will not be an exception – there will be many more like her […]
National’s history of rewriting history
Written By: - Date published: 3:29 pm, February 26th, 2008 - 16 comments
You think they’d learn. Wikiscanner reports that someone in Parliament has been busy – busy expunging potentially embarassing facts about a variety of MPs. This one’s about Allan Peachey. You might remember Allan from such debacles as the Peachey/Rich bulk funding controversy and also the little number above that he’d evidently rather history forgot – […]
Espiner on National’s hypocrisy
Written By: - Date published: 6:14 pm, February 25th, 2008 - 37 comments
From Colin’s blog: It’s time for National to put its mouth where its money is. After a week of climbing into Labour boots and all over the Owen Glenn saga, one thing has become abundantly clear: the Nats have lost any defence of their right to keep their own campaign donations secret. It is the […]
Key resorts to “memory lapse” defense
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, February 21st, 2008 - 43 comments
So without Bill to run interference like he did in the House yesterday, John Key has resorted to the age-old “memory lapse” (aka “Don Brash”) defense regarding his statement to Kerikeri Business Association that “we would love to see wages drop”. Key’s use of the memory lapse defense places him in the illustrious company of […]
Key squirms under scrutiny in the House
Written By: - Date published: 3:18 pm, February 20th, 2008 - 60 comments
Key’s comment that “we would love to see wages drop” to a group of business-people last year has come under increasing scrutiny in the House today. Rather than defend his statement himself, Key sat squirming as English attempted to deflect Cullen’s attack – hardly a good look for the leader of the opposition, getting someone […]
Owen Glenn
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, February 19th, 2008 - 65 comments
John Armstrong’s opinion is that: It is inconceivable that Helen Clark would have blithely offered a wealthy donor to Labour Party coffers a seat at the Cabinet table… Anyone who knows what makes Clark tick knows she is far too clever and far too cautious ever to trap herself into making such promises of patronage. […]
Tim Barnett to leave parliamentary politics
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, February 19th, 2008 - 10 comments
The Press reports that “Christchurch Central MP Tim Barnett has announced he will not stand as a candidate for any seat in the general election.” At the end of October, Labour MP Barnett announced he would not stand for the Christchurch Central seat again. Now he has withdrawn entirely, saying he will not put himself […]
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 pm, February 18th, 2008 - 11 comments
Many, many years ago lived an emperor, who thought so much of new clothes that he spent all his money in order to obtain them; his only ambition was to be always well dressed. He did not care for his soldiers, and the theatre did not amuse him; the only thing, in fact, he thought […]
National’s lack of ambition
Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, February 18th, 2008 - 27 comments
A bang and a fizz and another sort of a bang, and then it was gone. Does anyone know the whereabouts of John Key’s “Ambitious” DVD online? It’s mysteriously disappeared both from their site and from YouTube. They’ve even gone as far as to delete all reference to its release on the 28th of November […]
Claims of Aussie brain drain a myth
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, February 18th, 2008 - 29 comments
Refreshing to see the fourth estate challenging the political spin from time to time. The Independent Financial Review has this on the myth of the Aussie brain drain: Far from losing our “best and brightest” as business lobby groups insist about half of Kiwi migrants are blue collar or “no collar” workers, according to departure […]
Coming unstuck
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 pm, February 16th, 2008 - 51 comments
Only days after trying to eat a plate, in yet another freak (can I call him that?) accident, National Party blogger David Farrar has glued his hand to his face. Bystanders (standing by too close by if you want my opinion) were powerless to help. Could a one-handed Google search save David? Stay tuned.
The power behind the Nats’ message discipline
Written By: - Date published: 8:45 pm, February 16th, 2008 - Comments Off on The power behind the Nats’ message discipline
Had to laugh at this in The Herald on Rich’s retirement: She has told all her caucus colleagues only that morning that she’s retiring. One of them – Simon Power, who entered Parliament on the same date in 1999 – is quietly sitting beside her now for moral support. “It’s like having Big Brother right […]
Rich reaction roundup
Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, February 15th, 2008 - 44 comments
Colin Espiner reckons that Rich’s departure will hurt the Nats. “She represented”, he says, “precisely the sort of social liberal, moderate, youthful face that the party needs to counter the tougher, drier, and more conservative side of National. The one that the public is still, sometimes, afraid of.” He accepts her reason for leaving though, […]
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Perrin Hastings, creator and host of The Gender Agenda, shares their personal journey to making a new local series about gender for rangatahi. From a very young age, I knew I was going off-script. I would sit and study television shows where gay characters were punchlines. If there was a ...2 weeks ago
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- For abuse in care survivors, an apology without action means nothing
Tomorrow, the prime minister will deliver a national apology for abuse that occurred in state and faith-based care. But for survivors, redress and accountability still look to be a long way off, writes Steve Goodlass. As we drew closer to the date of the public apology, the response minister Erica ...2 weeks ago
- Inside the urgent race to solve homelessness in Aotearoa
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