spin

Categories under spin

Schadenfreude

Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, August 5th, 2013 - 59 comments

Schadenfreude.

First they came for……………….

On converting .pst, government style

Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, August 4th, 2013 - 49 comments

Were David Henry and his staff the right people to pursue an inquiry? They were incapable of opening a Outlook .pst file. And this appears to have held them up for days. They had the files before they even requested permission from Peter Dunne and (apparently) only their incompetence prevented them from their intent of reading the emails. If they’d been capable of using google, then our political landscape might look quite different..

This is Key’s scandal

Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, July 31st, 2013 - 64 comments

Key’s loyal retainers are trying to keep him out of the Vance spying scandal. Major players are straight-out lying. Sadly for Key, the evidence of the timeline is clear. This is his scandal, start to finish.

Andrea Vance’s phone records were handed to Henry by Parliamentary Services

Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, July 30th, 2013 - 80 comments

GCSB Maxwell SmartDavid Henry did but didn’t get Andrea Vance’s phone records from Parliamentary Services and Speaker David Carter said that the information had not been disclosed but had been disclosed.  And they expect us to believe that Henry did not look at the phone records despite asking for them.

Confused?

The non-resident property speculators are….?

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, July 30th, 2013 - 50 comments

An NZ Herald Editorial exposes John Key’s politically motivated spin against Shearer’s housing policy, but also takes some swipes at the “left”. Gower misleads, by repeating Key’s “anti-Asian” smears, supported by the eg of a website targeting South African property speculators.

A king is born: Long Live Inequality!

Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, July 25th, 2013 - 87 comments

UK children born on the same day as the new prince will get a silver penny: but their lives will be vastly different.  Left foot Forward spells out the inequalities between these new born.  John Key gushes over the new prince, while his government slashes, burns and fuels inequalities.

Latest poll is good/bad for Labour/National/Winston

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, July 23rd, 2013 - 32 comments

The latest poll results are [fantastic/terrible]!

John Key, Crosby & corporate lobbyists

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, July 16th, 2013 - 40 comments

Joining the dots: David Cameron is under fire for his links with lobbyists for big tobacco & big oil, via his link with Lynton Crosby.  John Key, with links to Crosby Textor, has also bowed to big tobacco. Networks of Influence.

GCSB – independent inquiry needed

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, July 10th, 2013 - 32 comments

A full, independent inquiry of the GCSB is needed , as argued by the Green & Labour Parties, and politics lecturer Damien Rogers.  NZ First & Dunne – don’t support Key’s dodgy law changes! Key is masking political motives with spin and secrecy. [update]  Campbell Live tonight – must see viewing.

A problem of “masculine” values

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 7th, 2013 - 121 comments

The MSM coverage of the Labour Party remit, led by right wing propagandists, is riddled with sexism and the same traditional masculinist values that marginalise the poor and those with least power. I repeat my post that critiques a speech on gender & politics at the 2012 Labour Party Conference.

Man ban – Geddis on DPF

Written By: - Date published: 4:09 pm, July 4th, 2013 - 108 comments

Labour is proposing female-only candidate selection in some cases. Andrew Geddis has indecent fun as he schools DPF on his “man ban” spin. Extracts below but go read the whole thing on Pundit.

Who benefits?

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, June 21st, 2013 - 42 comments

The leaderless uprising in Brazil exposes unbearable inequalities in a dysfunctional post-growth world.  Extravagant sports events and expensive stadium contrast with anti-public service austerity measures.  Home building lags in Christchurch, while Key looks to asset sales to fund a stadium.

Hooton spouting nonsense

Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, June 11th, 2013 - 179 comments

Matthew Hooton is spinning like mad to talk up the economy. Unfortunately his spin sometimes bends the truth beyond breaking point, and there were three examples of that yesterday.

Whistleblowers and services to journalism

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 10th, 2013 - 57 comments

Two leakers (one a true whistleblower), are in the news right now, both focused on the US-led surveillance society, operating in the interests of corporate power.  And today, in relation to this, 2 journalists show the importance of the fourth estate to democracy. Kim Hill & Glenn Greenwald take a bow.

The Greens: Party democracy and parliamentary politics

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, June 9th, 2013 - 106 comments

John Armstrong follows Lusk’s plan in attacking The Green Party’s democratic change to Conference remit procedures. Isaac Davison gives a more balanced account& points to preparation for a Labour-Green government.  How much bottom-up democracy can there be in a top-down parliamentary system?

Tory journalist of the year

Written By: - Date published: 3:44 pm, June 8th, 2013 - 16 comments

And the winner is – Tracy Watkins.

The policing of women’s bodies

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 6th, 2013 - 116 comments

(Socialist) feminism seems to be on the rise internationally, exposing how threats to “old boys” corporate-aligned power are countered by policing women’s bodies. Sue Bradford highlights the contradiction between Owen Glenn’s paternalistic corporate capitalism and the feminist-aligned participants in his Inquiry. Jan Logie addresses the gender pay gap.

The power of blogs

Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, June 3rd, 2013 - 221 comments

One of the most bizarre aspects of the Collins / Lusk faction’s plans (as per the leaked Lusk paper) was their perception of and plans for blogs.

Shocking the people into submission

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, May 29th, 2013 - 24 comments

Last night The Shock Doctrine (2009) aired on Maori TV.  John Key, and his cheerleaders have followed their latest series of shock-inducing attacks on democratic processes and (low income) people’s rights, with positive forecasts for our future. Meanwhile, the gap between the haves & have-nots has grown.

Back to the future: John Key’s Dickensian values

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, May 27th, 2013 - 161 comments

John Key has been shamed by Hone Harawira’s “feed the kids” private members Bill.  Key’s approach to child hunger is a sly use of Dickensian-type PPPs & charities to absolve the government of responsibility, while falsely presenting a caring face.

How far right is John Key’s “centre”?

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 pm, May 26th, 2013 - 69 comments

Once again the MSM reports John Key’s assessment of his party’s place on the political spectrum without any critique.   The NZ Herald has repeated Key’s line about his government being “centre right” and the Greens being “far left”.  Key’s government’s continuing abuse of democracy is a long way from the centre of  the “right”.

Opposites day

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, May 20th, 2013 - 38 comments

I had heard that National’s internal polling was showing they were becoming vulnerable on social equity issues. For some reason New Zealanders are coming to think of them as a government that looks after its rich mates at the expense of everyone else

NRT: National’s “innovation” agenda

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, May 19th, 2013 - 65 comments

No Right Turn on National’s science funding scam. Read it in conjunction with this piece in Stuff today on falling numbers of senior students following National’s axing of the postgrad student allowance. Welcome to the Brighter Future.

So. Very. Funny.

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 pm, May 16th, 2013 - 54 comments

Just in case you haven’t seen this work of genius by Danyl…

Dim-Post on two comparisons

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, May 13th, 2013 - 4 comments

Danyl at Dim-Post on the strangely muted media response to the GCSB spying legislation, the witch-hunt against NZ Power, and more. Plus – check out Danyl’s (first) book – looks like a treat in store…

Caption Contest

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 pm, May 8th, 2013 - 95 comments

Well Key’s cornerstone policy, the one that many commentators claimed was him showing his mettle, has come to fruition. And it’s such a poison chalice he didn’t even have the guts to show up for the big reveal in person (spoiler: less than half the number of people who signed up to oppose asset sales signed up to buy).

Nats have held us back for four years

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, May 8th, 2013 - 22 comments

We’re in yet another round of talk of “green shoots” of economic recovery, complete with the hype of an optimistic budget. Maybe they’re right this time, but the recovery, when it does happen, will be in spite of the National government, not because of them. All National have done is hold us back for four years.

Someone is lying about MRP float

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, May 5th, 2013 - 78 comments

The “market specialists” say that the loony left have scared of all the Mum and Dad investors. The “investment sources” say the Mums and Dads are signing up in droves. I’m so confused! Why oh why would those nice “market specialists” be lying to us about the effects of the Labour / Green electricity policy? I just can’t work it out…

John Key’s NZ: the nasty side of the “brighter future”

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, May 5th, 2013 - 45 comments

John Key promised a “brighter future” – “wave good-bye to higher taxes not your loved ones”; a higher standard of his MPs, and honesty for the PM. John Key’s NZ is actually one of callous entitlement of the elite, and dis-entitlement and Struggle Street for battling Kiwis.

It’s all in the “game”

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, May 4th, 2013 - 192 comments

Supporters of the sale of the powercos, portray the Labour-Green NZ Power policy in terms of political strategy and game-play.  They focus on the “market”, risk, profits & “fat cat hatred”. They avoid dealing with the guts of the issue: fuel poverty, income inequality & damaged lives.

Key goes negative

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, May 2nd, 2013 - 156 comments

John Key has gone hard negative, with his rants about North Korea and communism, and now an attack on the Greens. Negative is where you go when you don’t have a positive story to tell the electorate. I wonder if the Nats’ internal polling has got Key spooked…

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