Blogging isn’t the problem Mr Key

Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, September 3rd, 2014 - 26 comments
Categories: blogs, john key, Judith Collins, national - Tags: , , , ,

John Key has been pushing the “they blog on the left too” line, but he’s deliberately missing the point.

It’s ethics that matter.

Not whether some in the Leader’s Office used to blog, but what they did and wrote.

John Key’s coup de grace is about “the left” (that hideous multitude hive mind I presume he means) recording conversations at a National Party cocktail party in 2008 and this blog covered that (but did not initiate it).

But given that was an incredible public interest story – Bill English and 2 other Nat frontbenchers revealing that they had a secret agenda including selling off Energy SOEs (and they fulfilled that agenda in the second term) – surely the public had a right to know that before they elected them?

This is very different from someone who’s in contact with the Justice Minister trying to undermine the rule of law for money.

Or someone in the PM’s office doing heads up on secret SIS information and how to word an OIA to get it as soon they’ve declassified it.

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John Key deliberately misses the point not infrequently, like all his protestation on Government Inquiry vs Royal Commission.  That is indeed a relatively minor point.

Compared to the Terms of the Enquiry, which he’s made ridiculously narrow.

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And indeed on the focussing on one small area of the CGT. So much wrong is so little space.  There’s not 300,000 homes in trusts, it’s estimated at 215,000 – which isn’t 215,000 NZers, as some people will have many homes in trusts… so it’s affecting fewer and fewer people … and then Key was wrong and Labour will look-through trusts and still the family home won’t be subject to CGT – and indeed CGT isn’t payable on inheritance, so inherited holiday homes won’t even cause money to the taxman.

Of course – as needs stressing – it’s a capital gains tax, not a capital tax, so you only pay tax on your profit, not the value.  And why shouldn’t unearned income be taxed like all of our earned income?

Those who can afford to shelter homes in trusts can generally afford the tax…

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John Key’s been wrong about a lot of things recently, and it’s good to see Radio NZ setting up Fact Checking.

Particularly grievous for John Key on fundamental facts about the economy he claims to be so good:

Mr Key has also repeatedly said the country is now earning more than we spend.

In fact the country is not earning more than it spends. The current account – the difference between what the country earns and spends overseas – is still in deficit and the Treasury expects that to get bigger.

If Mr Key meant the Government when he said it, then he has a point. But it is still based on forecasts. The Treasury is forecasting the Government’s books will be in surplus at the end of this financial year on 30 June 2015. But even if that occurs it will not be a cash surplus so the Government will continue borrowing for a few years yet before it can start repaying debt.

There’s also Judith Collins’ stating the Privacy Commissioner had cleared her (yeah right!)

David Cunliffe does much better – he gets pulled up on claiming that the poorest are paying 60% more for their electricity (it’s only 30%), and he’s proven right about 500,000 Kiwis not going to the GP because of the cost.

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So who do you trust to be your PM New Zealand?  An economic liar, proven to push through a secret agenda – or someone who doesn’t scoff about 250,000 children in poverty, but has a Best Start package to make sure no child in this country is left behind.

Your choice.

lprent: I despise gutless cowards like Cameron Slater, Judith Collins, and now John Key who attack people who blog – not for what they wrote but because they are cannot reply or they are easy to attack. It has been a characteristic of the right generally and a few on the left to attack anyone that they know or even suspect may be writing material that they don’t like. They don’t deal with what they said. They just seem to try to get them fired. The Colins/Slater campaign against Simon Pleasant is a good example.

Cameron Slater is the worst around for it. However watching John Key last night and reading whaledumps on Judith Collins made it clear to me the type of despicable people that the Slater man-child probably learnt his socially unacceptable attitudes from.

My best advice for younger bloggers has always been the same for the last 30 odd years on the net. Always use pseudonyms wherever possible. There are always lazy psychotic predators like John Key or Cameron Slater or Judith Collins who will attack you simply because you are visible, don’t agree with them, and aren’t in a position to defend themselves. Then they will use an apologist like Farrar to excuse their contemptible behaviour.

26 comments on “Blogging isn’t the problem Mr Key ”

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  1. Lanthanide 1
    3 September 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Ugh, that RNZ website layout is horrible, so much dense text!

    At least it looks more lively than Pete George’s http://politicheck.org.nz/ which seems to have died without so much as a whimper.

  2. crocodill 2
    3 September 2014 at 2:00 pm

    Want to put the “Best Start package” through the fact check, because then the statement that “make sure no child in this country is left behind” can be adjusted for accuracy. i.e. no child born on or after April 2016 will be living in an environment where their parents get potentially up to $60pw depending on their income… and then you’ll have to qualify in light of recent media comments about whether or not anything will have to be cut back/rejigged to meet “fiscal responsibility” goals etc. It’s not as sound-bitey, but surely the facts are what matter? Yes? no?

  3. disturbed 3
    3 September 2014 at 3:30 pm

    Well if this dictatorship carries on in the NAZI style they have become accustomed to, they will follow Joseph Goebbels plan in 1933 and silence all opposition.

    That would include people like us who wish to be heard by the only method we are now able to communicate with short of meeting on a street corner and discussing the events of the day.

    The Government is waging war on freedom and democracy as we speak.

    [lprent: It is a …bad… idea going silly and doing a irrelevent godwin on me. I tend to go sysop on you in response. ]

  4. AmaKiwi 4
    3 September 2014 at 4:05 pm

    “John Key deliberately misses the point not infrequently,” and the main stream media’s disgrace is they almost always let him get away with it.

    I disagree with Cunliffe today. The narrow terms of reference are far more than “a joke.”

    This is a cover-up.

  5. Gareth 5
    3 September 2014 at 4:08 pm

    Someone needs to start doing something like The Trews https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCswH8ovgUp5Bdg-0_JTYFNw

    Create a video showing John Key “debating” points or his stand up media events and interject some fact checking, preferably with some mild humour.

    Then post the video on YouTube and link to it everywhere.

  6. Andrew 6
    3 September 2014 at 4:21 pm

    “Of course – as needs stressing – it’s a capital gains tax, not a capital tax, so you only pay tax on your profit, not the value”

    But it completely ignores the cost of borrowing, i.e. interest paid against the loan. So its not really profit at all. As (capital gain – interest expenses) = profit.

    in many cases, if interest paid was taken into account, there would be no profit at all, sometimes a net loss.

  7. Tracey 7
    3 September 2014 at 4:30 pm

    lprent

    I came to make a comment and saw your addition to the post.

    Remember National Standards, the scheme allegedly designed to give us a yardstick by which to measure children? Well, what about National’s Standard, a yardstick by whitch to measure their cabinet and MPs. We can link it to performance pay… Pass or fail Ms Perata?

    Perata made Tolley look competent and Collins makes Perata seem like the Virgin Mary.

    So, National’s Standards anyone?

  8. The Real Matthew 8
    3 September 2014 at 4:45 pm

    “It’s ethics that matter.”

    So will you deny the rumour that their are bloggers from The Standard on the Labour Party payroll?

    Will you categorically deny that their is any communication between bloggers on The Standard and politicians?

    If ethics really matter The Standard should take the lead and advise the greater public what happens behind the closed doors of this blog.

    [lprent: There are no authors on the Labour party payroll that I know of. The qualification to that is that Mike Smith has been known to give them advice from time to time despite his profound addiction to golf in his retirement from being gensec. But I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t get paid for it.

    Of course we communicate with politicians. Just in the standards email account they send us emails with their press statements. They send us exhortations about policy. In my private emails they plead for donations.

    You really need to ask this of each author – there are about 12 of them active at present. Of course if you do, then I will be forced to ban you for a few years for harassing my authors with demands – see the policy. But I personally see and talk to many politicians when I am at protests or meetings. They are like roaches at food. But that is what we pay them for. I also show up at party conferences as media. I have them trying to tell how great they are on TV… etc etc… But my exposure is probably a damn sight less than most party members or journalists.

    We already tell you what is happening “behind the closed doors of this blog”. The problem is that you really don’t want to listen. You prefer playing with the stupid conspiracy theories like a comfort object that you can stroke as your paranoid opinion leaders feed you bullshit. I guess that is better then sending some blood to your brain and using that..

    At various stages I’ve even published the accounts for this site in the same way that I do for the stats. Essentially everything here is pretty open except for what is in the privacy restrictions. Those are there because of unethical arseholes like John Key, Judith Collins and Cameron Slater who like to exert non legal coercion – ie being bullies (and you sound like one too).

    If you are going to be a complete gormless fuckwit then please learn to be precise about questions rather than this damnfool stupidity that you pulled here.

    And BTW tell me, what happened when you demanded to look at the accounts for Whaleoil, including the payments for writing attack posts for instances like Blomfield, Ports of Auckland dispute, Amy Adams, and many other instances of suspicious behaviour… ]

    • karol 8.1
      3 September 2014 at 4:51 pm

      Danyl McLauchlan last night tweeted:

      Jesus, if you actually read The Standard it’s all like ‘We must reform the Reserve Bank Act!’ Who cares who writes it?

    • emergency mike 8.2
      3 September 2014 at 5:26 pm

      Yeah, because there’s been a huge scandal caused by a book showing that David Cunliffe, or at least his office, has been abusing his prime ministerial powers by feeding privileged information to this notorious blog. Why will The Standard not answer these charges?

      • Tracey 8.2.1
        3 September 2014 at 5:51 pm

        Stop it! That poster wants to equate rape with dating.

        • weka 8.2.1.1
          3 September 2014 at 5:57 pm

          what?

          • Tracey 8.2.1.1.1
            3 September 2014 at 6:00 pm

            I wanted something stronger than compating apples with oranges, because equating dirty politics to an apple seemed too ridiculous.

            I could have called the real mathew on false equivalence but given the misogynistic nature of some of the people in dirty politics it seemed apt.

            Sorry for any offence

            • weka 8.2.1.1.1.1
              3 September 2014 at 6:03 pm

              That’s ok. I think rape analogies are inherently problematic.

              • Tracey …
                3 September 2014 at 6:14 pm

                I get that. After reading the way those guys talked about female young nats and used prostitutes to try and blackmail people made me angry @ the real matthew buying this shit tgat all Slater does is blog.

    • weka 8.3
      3 September 2014 at 5:42 pm

      I think the statement you made recently Lynn, that the standard doesn’t allow staffers to write posts here, is important too.

  9. TheContrarian 9
    3 September 2014 at 5:53 pm

    It occurs to me that if Key actually could ‘name names’ re: Labour Party feeding info to blogs on the sly he would have when this whole business started.

    • karol 9.1
      3 September 2014 at 5:56 pm

      Eh?
      Oh. OK.

      All he could come up with is Clint Smith.

    • Tracey 9.2
      3 September 2014 at 5:58 pm

      And if you read the dirty politics, you know that Slater will have done everything to find it, if it existed.

    • lprent 9.3
      3 September 2014 at 6:04 pm

      Yes. The reason is that it would have been the same old tired list that Josie Pagani sprouts out at every possible opportunity like some kind of ridiculous parrot (it just happens to overlap with some of her and John’s selected political enemies).

      That was the moronic list that Cameron Slater made up out of pure speculation back in 2008/9. The one that as authors like Anthony came forward (r0b =/= Rob Salmond), has proved to be a complete lie.

      As I’ve said many times, the only person who could have any real idea who most of the authors are is me because I’m the person that hands out logins and has access to the logs before they self-destruct. I’m only interested in authors behaviour in much the same manner that I’m interested in that of commenters.

      John Key is just being gutless liar playing bluffing games. That is the kind of shallow lying dipshit he has always been.

      • Tracey 9.3.1
        3 September 2014 at 6:15 pm

        Is this the Slater who said he never emailed Jason Ede about a SIS OIA but actually did?

      • TheContrarian 9.3.2
        3 September 2014 at 6:36 pm

        Also perhaps he is getting confused between Labour Party ‘members’ and Labour Party ‘staffers’.

        I sure an author may have a paid membership here, but that is meaningless. It’d be like suggesting that if a member of the Anglican Church wrote here it makes The Standard an Anglican blog…if you follow me

        • Tracey 9.3.2.1
          3 September 2014 at 6:39 pm

          Nope, not confused, running a deliberately planted meme.

          The only thing worse than being a fool is being a fool who keeps being duped by the same gig

    • emergency mike 9.4
      3 September 2014 at 9:09 pm

      Yep it’s just a variation on one of his trademark bluffs that he uses anytime he’s presented with any inconvenient fact or expert opinion. How many times have we heard Key say:

      “I could find a lawyer/scientist/[insert subject here] expert who says different.”

      But he never does; and he’s never challenged to.

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