John Armstrong has made a full on attack against Russel Norman and the Greens in todays Herald.
Obviously the Greens are starting to worry the National Party’s number 1 PR man.
Norman needs to continue to attack National FULL ON, he has my support 100%. In fact the more Armstrong complains the better, it just provides a gauge on how affective his attacks actually are.
Despite the tight secrecy and media blackout that surrounded the Green Party AGM, details of what went on are starting to come out.
The new rules mean getting a remit on to the floor of the conference will be a logistical nightmare as all remits will require endorsement by two other branches, one of which must be in another region than that of the branch promoting the remit.
Branch remits will be subject to stricter vetting and potential redrafting by the party’s standing orders committee.
If a remit does not satisfy certain conditions, the committee can “suspend” it. If the remit reflects discontent with a wider issue, then it will be subject to a dispute procedure.
A copy of the committee’s proposals for changing the party’s standing orders which was obtained by the Weekend Herald acknowledges remits provide a “safety valve” if a sufficiently large number of members are disgruntled with some aspect of party operations.
But the report says it is possibly more important that unresolved issues between the party at large and a branch does not consume “valuable and finite time” at the party’s annual conference.
All of this has some members crying foul. There is concern that the rule changes will leave branches reduced to chores such as fundraising, leafletting and campaigning and having no input into how the party is run. Annual conferences will likewise become sterile affairs.
There is also suspicion that the effective blocking of a means of expressing dissent is motivated by the hierarchy’s fears the party’s wider and idealistic membership will find the necessary compromises of coalition too hard to stomach.
John Armstrong
If what Armstrong reports is true;
Then it seems that this conference saw a steep reduction in the Greens inner party democracy. With the right to veto membership remits or amend them out of all recognition by the top table, power has been concentrated with the leadership. As well as this, the increased and complex bureaucracy imposed to make branch remits harder to put in the first place, will put a further crimp on the members ability to influence the direction of their party.
In my estimation these new rules to restrict inner party democracy are much tougher than those in the Labour Party. And though I am not as familiar with the remit procedures of the other parties, possibly every other parliamentary party as well.
Business As Usual will not be upset by upstart political parties.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Green Party?
weka has posited here, that it is a natural progression for political parties to become more corrupted as they become more mainstream. (Probably because of their greater attraction for careerists). I would go further and say that it is actually, not a natural progression at all, but a time honoured but still conscious process that protects privilege and power for a minority of elitist self servers from the threat inherent in democracy to challenge both, Privilege and Power and elitism.
I’ve said before that I think it is possible that the GP will eventually compromise too far. That is the nature of politics – those on the edge, as their ideas becomes popular and as they influence the mainstreamthus become corrupted. The difference between you and I is that I just don’t see how that is anything other than inevitable
weka
I on the other hand argue that this degeneration is not inevitable at all.
But it seems the Green Party are determined not to learn from history and not resist the dilution of their inner party democracy, and their transformation into an autocratic top down traditional political organisation.
Personally I think this is a sad day for the Greens. And for our democracy in general. Not to mention the future of our civilisation, which could well hinge on whether leading political organisations can break away from the BAU model or not.
P.S. Suppressing inner party democracy has never succeeded in ending inner party political tensions. That they will break out into the open in some other form, and usually at the worst possible place and time is inevitable. The resulting inner party explosion/implosion, what ever form it takes, could well mark the end of the Green Party as a political force.
That you would take an article written by Armstrong of all people, as proof of the corruption of the GP, says alot about you Jenny.
I’d like to put my earlier comment in context. It’s not that the GP will inevitably become corrupt. It’s that parliament, as it is at this point in time, is a culture that demands certain behaviours. The very nature of the adversarial system is that it undermines creative solutions and co-operation. People who come into parliament as MPs (and I would guess this is true of staff too), have to adapt to the culture or they won’t fit in/be able to gain anything for their party. While I hope that the GP can influence that culture for the better, I’m not sure that it’s their job to transform it.
You look at people like Marilyn Waring, who got out early, and her contemporaries like Clark and Shipley, who stayed in. Waring once talked about what happened to women in parliament, the pressure to become something else. It was brutal. How do people survive that? Her contention was that some just get out, and those that stay get changed by the place. There is no way that Clark would have become PM if she hadn’t adapted in such a way as to be able to take power and use it.
Sad, but true. You can see manifestations of that brutality here on ts, where it tends to be cruelty, both to each other, and towards politicians. What this means is that only the tough survive, both here and in parliament. And thus we lose the more sensitive people who would probably bring much to the table.
Unless MPs are betraying their party, I think that we should be supporting them, and helping them find ways to survive the brutality as long as possible. They are doing us a service and should be acknowledged for that, not pilloried before they even get started (Jenny).
The Green Party IMHO are set on a well worn course for destruction. The question is: How will they avoid the fate of the Maori Party and the Alliance before them?
First off the Green Party could announce that they will not go into coalition with any government that approves the Denniston Coal Mine or Deep Sea Oil Drilling off our coasts.
Which would most likely mean they don’t get to be part of govt. I’m asking you how GP MPs could be part of a NZ govt and not be changed by the experience.
First off the Green Party could announce that they will not go into coalition with any government that approves the Denniston Coal Mine or Deep Sea Oil Drilling off our coasts.
Secondly give the Labour Party Confidence and Supply.
If the Labour Party still want to proceed with wrecking the environment, the Greens need to let them know that they are on their own.
Simple, clear, direct, principled. This will future proof the Green Party. As the coal and extreme oil schemes go sour.
I’m asking you how GP MPs could be part of a NZ govt and not be changed by the experience.
weka
This question answers itself. The Green Party cannot be part of a government committed to Deep Sea Oil Drilling, and mining Denniston. And not be changed.
Mr Armstrong tries a long bow, and drops the arrow on his foot.
Would like to see a more sober account of the Green Party’s remit changes. But even the way it’s told by Armstrong, it doesn’t amount to anything like the anti-democratic practices of Key’s government or Muldoon.
By all accounts, the motion to streamline the party’s antiquated remit system easily obtained the required 75 per cent backing to effect a change to the party’s standing orders.
So that means the vote was well over 75%?
And the “Green’s are thirsting for power”. …. who is using a less than measured tone there, Mr Armstrong, even as you blast Norman for the same, and ignore how much the right wing bloggers and Key use way less than measured tones when they launched the attack on the Greens?
It’s very unlikely that party members voted to reduce the voice of their branches while strengthening the power of centralised control. Not saying it didn’t happen; its far more likely Armstrong has the wrong end of the stick.
Would like to see a more sober account of the Green Party’s remit changes.
karol
Green Party Mt Eden branch convener Jeremy Hall said in the party newsletter Te Awa that there was irony to Greens’ holding a conference on democracy because its rule changes would make it near-impossible for branches to raise issues and participate in the internal democracy of the party.
He added: “It will turn branches simply into volunteer units to just do fundraising, leafletting and campaigning, where their input into how the party is run will no longer be welcome.”
The concerns came from a minority within the party – the remit was believed to have passed with around 80 per cent support.
Green Party members vote to curtail their democracy by 80%
80%?
80 percent support for a vote to limit inner party democracy. The sad thing about such votes, is that by their nature they can not be revisited.
But democracy is a funny thing, you suppress here, it pops up somewhere else, in some other form. Like that other great human impulse, it is as perennial as the grass.
And Armstrong is starting to come across a more than a little hysterical lately.
Now we just have to wait for the hysterical screeching of the Nats number one fan boy, Roughan.
I read it as Key and co, knowing they will most likely lose the election, fucking things up as much as they can, and leaving the cupboard bare, so the incoming Government can change as little as possible.
There is however also the imperative to deliver as much of the “commons” to their corporate funders as possible, before they get voted out to secure their retirement funding.
The feather bedded directorships and sinecures they expect to get, with the private sector, as a reward for stealing from tax payers and wage earners.
@kjt..re yr first paragraph..i don’t know if it is necessarily that..i think it is just them doing what they promised..
..(i mean..i mean..!..did the moronic component of that massive majority opposed to selling our power assets/means into foreign ownership..who voted for national..
..did they think key/national were just joshing when they promised to do just that..?
..how was that for an epic-disconnect..?..on the part of those asset-selling opposed/voting national moron-component..?)
..yr second paragraph i totally agree with..with labour as enmeshed in that corrupt revolving-door process as national..
..with the neo-lib/randite-apologist ex labour party president williams..being a textbook example of a revolving-door too many..
(if you doubt my assesment of williams..go to the radio new zealand archives..and pull up a couple of his recent appearances as .(wait for it!..)..a spokesperson for the left..(!)..)..(as someone else said:..’oh irony..!..thou art a harsh mistress..!’..)
..and looking back to the right-revolution..the then union uber-boss frantically/serially blinked..and just went and sat in the corner..as the right dismantled the welfare state/broke the union-movement..and he uttered not a whimper..
..(but he did do rather well out of it..like williams..seats on boards/honours etc..and both about as far from the shop-floor as you can get..)
..and the contrast with that union leader here of course is australia..
..where the union movement stood up and went ‘no yr fucken not..!’..
..(and what is the size of our wage-gap with aust..?…and growing..we are told..)
..that didn’t work out too well for us..did it..?..
..corruption takes many forms..it isn’t all envelopes stuffed with cash..slipped into pockets..
..our new zealand version is far more subtle..(sort of..)
Interesting how there is liitle by way of useful disucussion, which comes from the NZH, while its no surprise, its become very transparent, that all the NZH has to offer, is proarchial support for the owners, chosen governmnent!
Its rather sad, to see society demoted to such a low level of, *informative debate*
Its the ,confuse, contain, control tactics geared up to prevent people from piecing together cogent views, and the decisions/actions, which might then follow changing view formation.
It genuinely sadens me, this country is under such a ferocious attack, which is even more powerful incentive to stay vigilant, and up to speed.
Its the primary reason I stay in touch sites such as this, for the angles/perspectives which don’t see the light of day elsewhere.
yes, I reckon that the NZH/Armstrong/O Sullivan et al are very effective at creating a support base for National that would be better off voting Left. When you look at Slane’s cartoon on another post here it actually reflects the truth, but National’s support base is much larger than the very small/elite group that benefit from their policies.
Actually the real damage is done by Radio stations like the Edge who insinuate the consumer culture into the young, invite Key along as their best mate etc.
This is where the dumbing down of society is occurring.
Now we have cold war hysteria from Hooten about communists in the Greens. Its going to be one hell of an 18 months, with the Green party on the wrong end of it. Im pretty sure that Key might even try and ban them (like Australia did with their communist party in the 1950’s).
2014 is going to be an ugly election campaign. The neo-libs, god-botherers and RWNJs, along with the swivel-eyed loons are just getting warmed up.
Of course the very system that Dunne appears to have leaked a report on probably has records of Dunne’s emails but cannot release them because that would confirm what Dunne was trying to expose. Spy vs Spy here?
If Dunne was trying to expose anything, that would be a valid reason to do what he has done. He has admitted several times that he has no good reason for what eventuated. Honey trapped buffoon who has far too many skeletons in his closet, absolutely . . . Valiant warrior battling evil, not so much.
On thursday June 5 weka and Jenny went toe to toe on how far the Green Party should be prepared to compromise to gain seats in a Labour led cabinet.
So would you be happy if the GP went into govt and as part of that won an agreement from Labour to not mine Denniston?
weka
Weka, YES. Yes, I would. This would be a major concession from Labour. And major blow to the fossil fuel industry. Stopping Denniston would be a step forward in the war against climate change in this country. I would be overjoyed. I would be stunned if the Greens could win such a concession from the Labour Party.
Jenny
Can one of the Labour people here tell us if that would be a hard thing for Labour to give up?
weka
Yes, come on Labour Party people, tell us what you think.
How about you Colonial Viper? How about you R0B? Or maybe lprent?
Would any of you like to have a go at answering weka’s question?
Maybe even EDDIE might like to share his opinion with us?
Jenny
To date. Not one of the Labour Party people here, have chosen to give up their opinion on this question.
So I thought I would give them another opportunity .
Would any Labour Party People here, like to venture an answer to weka’s question?
Of course, an ominous silence could also count as an answer.
Pretty obvious in my opinion. *Maybe*. Especially in the euphoria of coalition talks post election.
If the Greens were willing to settle for a short term objective in lieu of something more substantive, then I think that Labour would happy to let them take the flak from the coasters. Labour MPs would undoubtedly prefer that Green MPs dissipated their political capital that way rather than in something more widespread like looking at the question of exploration and mining in conservation areas.
I’m not so sure the Greens membership would be that happy after spending decades to get MPs into cabinet to be that concerned with a single bauble rather than a policy shift.
Politics is the art of the possible and the careful use of painfully acquired political capital. I am pretty sure that was what was being discussed in the closed door sessions at the Greens conference last weekend.
Like the others, I am working during the week. Explaining politics 201 isn’t high on my priority queue.
I catch some of these older comments when I’m scanning for people talking to me. In this case the “lprent”.
Nice. I might have to quote that
You’re welcome to it. It is a paraphrase of something that I read or heard somewhere at some time. It is an accurate representation of the practice of politics.
One qualified maybe from lprent and a no-comment from Colonial Viper. It’s not looking good.
So how about you Te Reo Putake?
The question is; If the Green Party refuse to join any coalition which would approve the Denniston Coal Mine. Can you tell us, if that would be a hard thing for Labour to give up?
The discussion on The Nation over the International Transfer of Prisoners was interesting; NZ the only OECD country not a signatory, in fact, the parts of the world that are really only excluded Africa and parts of Asia in the main. It is not politically palatable it seems to have these folk repatriated to serve their sentences, particularly for those chasing the conservative vote as the cost to the tax-payer would be humungous; 850 serving time in Aus, just for starters; that would be around a Billion dollars for the first year for them to be imprisoned here.
Collins generalized that “they are drug dealers and rapists” (from the two featured) and that those in Aus had “lived all their lives there, paid there taxes there” blah blah. Aus keeps hitting NZ govt up about it. They are signatories http://www.ag.gov.au/Internationalrelations/Internationalcrimecooperationarrangements/TransferOfPrisoners/Pages/default.aspx
Some under-arm return for not providing social security measures to kiwis over there. 😉
Anyway, these tory Ministers may have professions to there name yet they sure appear thick!
Next, a critique of the rise of the ‘victim’ culture; like monetary compensation is a reinforcer.
😀
Phoebe Fletcher makes an excellent point today on the Daily Blog: the media storm around Dunne’s resignation is diverting big time from the extremely worrying changes to the GCSB legislation.
I don’t really care about speculation over whether Dunne has done a Clinton. It’s not like he was instagramming his penis like US Senator Anthony Weiner – from all accounts it seems like a couple of tweets and some emails. The more important issue is the legislation, and the potential impact Dunne’s demotion will have on the coalition government. I don’t have to agree with every single statement that comes out of a politician’s mouth to support them on issues of confluence. It seems extraordinary to me that Norman on behalf of the Greens is calling for the police to investigate – it would be better to let Peters lead that line of attack, given that he has continually complained about the level of secrecy around the Security Committee. At the end of the day, it is not about a soap opera, it is about our rights as citizens. And this needs to be the focus of the opposition, not continuing the blood bath for political points.
Indeed, the deflective glare is strong, the focus , hard as it is in this country, must remain on the legislation, because the *grid*, is tightening its grip!
People think little to nothing, about smart meters, the UFB roll out etc, but these are part of the *grid*, and even now, privacy/freedom are concepts, relegated to the history books, never to be seen again, if people don’t get involved.
It occurs to me the latest blog post by Farrar is an outstanding example of how the government use him to try and control the media naarative. Effectively, he is trying to frame how the whole story around the demise of Dunne is told by lazy and/or time pressed journalists by providing in a nice, easy digestible format a whole narrative of the winners and losers. Very cunning, and highlights the lack of a comparable blog on the left.
I would contend that The Standard itself is a blog comparable in influence to Kiwiblog, and further that; The Daily Blog is a rapidly emerging foil to WhaleOil (that there’s some long standing rivalry between Bradbury and Slater has long been evident; even on Tumeke – I imagine it goes back to uni days if not before). Personally, I don’t read either of the RWNJ blogs – life’s too short. Plus Kiwiblog just makes me feel manipulated (DPF is certainly good at what he does!), while WhaleOil makes me feel unclean (though I did have a glance over on Queen’s birthday weekend to savour the panic).
That MSM journalists take their cues from Farrar and Slater probably has more to do with; editorial policies and lack of; time and resources, than; inaccesability of alternate viewpoints on the net.
Was the Dunne/Vance imbroglio a “honey trap” ( to quote an old cold war term )? And shouldn’t the morality and ethics of that be discussed? Admittedly for Herald and Dominion journalists they are almost certainly really big words they would need to look up.
“The Independent
The A-list conspiracy: Did Hollywood tell Obama to take down internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom?
As the infamous file-sharing mogul fights US extradition, Steve Anderson hears his lawyer’s claims of a murky connection between Washington and the movie industry.”
In the UK they are seeing the implications of American big business being able to control politicians and the internet.
Corporate-Political influence in the US is really fubar. It is a broken system. It actively encourages companies to hire people whose only job is to stand in a queue and hold that place until the salaried lobbyist shows up to tell the pretzel-spined politicians exactly what they are doing with their votes that day. We have our problems in NZ but we are not quite that far gone and I like to think we can resist a whilst longer.
On The Nation just now we saw Winston Peters making another series of accusations – that the Dunne emails also contained leaks of other information apart from the GCSB report, and that because of the nature of the leak (effectively a top secret document with limited “eyes only” distribution) the government came under pressure from our ECHELON allies to find out who the potential spy was. Peters also was unequivocally able to state they contained personally embarassing stuff on Dunne. Of course, Peters could be bluffing, but in this case I think he has clearly seen the unedited emails. So, where did Peters get those?
Looks like the GCSB stitiched up Dunne to placate our allies concern over the leak, which raises yet more thorny questions about an agency that has clearly (Kim Dotcom, illegal spying, Dunne) gone rogue. Who is the master of this country, the GCSB (who can clearly access and leak anything about anyone who threatens their mana) or the politicians? Because at the moment, it looks like the spies are getting the politicians to dance to their tune.
I wonder what they said to John Key to ensure the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill was to their liking?
PS I was astonished at how inept Rachel Smalley’s performance was. There was Winston Peters dangling all sorts of juicy tidbits – shadowy foreign pressure to find the leaker, additional sectet material being leaked – she relentless stuck to the pre-scripted panty-sniffing line about trying to find out if Dunne wanted to be a tampon, or something.
Sanctuary – The *presenters*, are simply there to ensure the narrative is controlled, and it is, by the producers.
No need to be astonished, this is what the MSM is designed to do, except that sadly its seems in NZ, we have plumbed even lower depths.
Smalley, not all that long ago had some promise, but over the past 3-6 months, she has become as debased, as the like of Corin Dann, and the other puppets!
The media repeat what they are told to write. Everyone with a modicum of curiosity and critical thinking cano see that.
You want evidence TC? Iraq and WMD.
My question to you.
Why are you such a relentless defender of the corporate elite?
But at least I don’t make completely erroneous statements about imaginary foes based purely on ill informed rhetoric gleaned from conspiracy sites and crank doctors.
But at least I don’t make completely erroneous statements about imaginary foes based purely on ill informed rhetoric gleaned from conspiracy sites and crank doctors.
TC, can you point to the conspiracy sites, which I personally , have linked to on here, you have a problem with.
If you can locate any such links, give your reasoning, why you have a problem, and try to avoid becoming a parody of your handle name, in the process, eh!
You can’t believe a thing you read in Murdoch’s rags. The Guardian, which has just started up in Oz, contains a lot less fantasy. According to Murdoch, they might as well save money and not even have the election because Abbott has already won in a landslide. I hope not, because while Gillard is about as left as Key, Abbott makes John Banks look balanced.
Colonel Viper . Thanks for that link to Andrew Nikifororuk on the characteristics of a Petro State.
Suddenly it all becomes explainable. With fracking and oil drilling in the offing in the Canterbury Basin both on land and at sea…. and the strange undemocratic manoeuverings of the National Government eg.
* extensive GCSB powers to spy on ordinary NZers,
* outlawing of environmental protest where it affects economic corporate activity( whether this be harmful for NZers environment or not),
* promotion of education dumbing down and no standards for charter schools ( undermining a fine NZ education tradition of egalitarian , high quality , state funded , secular education, which promotes critical thinking and scholarship for all)
* ousting of the democratically elected Environment Canterbury away from Cantabrians’ voting control and into the hands of National Government appointed commissioners.
* the prolonged state of emergency in Christchurch and power and control wrested away from the City Council and Christchurch residents.
All NZers should watch this video and be warned of what could be in store!
Interesting interviews on Radionz today. The last one was from Jaron Lanier who explains how he changed his mind about making the web accessible and free to all, as he now sees that the benefits of this are being scooped up by those with the biggest computers. And lots more of intelligent stuff.
He is great to listen to, a lively speaker and thinker and a great laugh. Still with a sense of humour, someone to treasure and pay attention to. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thiswayup
(Who Owns the Future – book)
Jaron Lanier radionz 1.40pm Sat 8/6
Lanier is a miserable whiney bore who is just pissy that the web has left him behind and his precious digital utopia never came about because people would rather watch porn and exchange recipies for meatloaf.
A free colostomy bag if you can spot what’s wrong with this sentence…
Breton Grove resident Marc Nicholas and his Priscilla Cres neighbour Gavin Forman were evacuated from their homes with their families when the slip struck at 4.30am last Saturday.
And at this point I have to say I’m not ‘highly confident’ about this claim:
Wellington City Council city networks manager Stavros Michael said he was “highly confident” the water main had nothing to do with the landslide. Council staff went to check reports of a leak on Friday night, and booked in to do the repairs on Saturday morning. A small hairline fracture was found then.
“There was no indication that the leak had been going for more than a matter of hours.”
I’m thinking that Mr Michael’s staff may have indeed found a hairline crack on the Friday night, but they’ve missed, or are covering up for something much larger. Much better for the man to have withheld comment until all the evidence was in. Because at this early stage such an unsupported claim just looks horribly self-serving.
I wouldn’t want my family to be evacuated in a landslip. The house we were in ?…sure, but damned if i’m gonna let a team suck the shit out of me and mine in an emergency.
mindfulness (or a wee dram). Better go “cook tea” now (before witnessing all the wasted human life (fatalities, local and international) on the box.).
Kind regards, bet it was a cold week down there too.
Daytime TV Review
Three Wise Men discuss “Relationship Woes”
Hands up all those who cannot abide Willie Jackson!
Okay, okay, but first I need to tell you something about a program he featured on the other day….
Good Morning, TV1, 9:10 a.m., Tuesday 4 June 2013 Relationship Woes, a Men’s Panel discussion featuring Wallace Chapman, Miles Davis and Willie Jackson
Trashy television has its charms. Take TV1’s ailing Good Morning program, for instance. Last year, host Jeanette Thomas got hypnotized on air, performed the haka, conducted an imaginary orchestra with a raw chicken, tried to seduce Tom Cruise and had a go at pole dancing. And all of that happened in just one morning’s episode. Over the years, one of the perverse highlights, or lowlights, for this writer, i.e. moi, was watching the perplexed, slightly hostile look on the dial of macho man Brendon Pongia as Steve Gray gave his movie reviews.
Despite all this top quality entertainment, however, Good Morning has been cursed with low ratings, and as a result it has been cut back this year from three hours to just one—from 9 to 10 o’clock.
Today the coiffured blond host, whose name I could not ascertain even after extensive hunting, introduced a semi-serious panel discussion, about Relationship Woes. The three “talents” chosen for the task were lovable and impish professional boy-man Wallace Chapman, professional cheeky cockney chappy Miles Davis, and professional cheeky Maori fulla Willie Jackson.
Here are the highlights…..
MILES DAVIS: You have to admit that ninety-nine per cent of the time the woman is the one in the right. WALLACE CHAPMAN: Yeah, but you don’t want to be a male doormat. MILES DAVIS:[accentuating the East End wide-boy accent] I’m no’ a doormat.
………
WILLIE JACKSON: Ya see, the problem with you Wallace is, it’s all academic, it’s all P.C. with you. You can’t solve relationships with an academic approach and it’s SHOCKING really. WALLACE CHAPMAN:[diffidently and sensitively] I-I-I-I… MILES DAVIS: Talk to us, Wozza! HOST: We’re going to continue our debate on relationships and the blame game with THESE GUYS, after THIS.
BLOND HOST: Well, we’re back with the Men’s Panel discussing Relationship Woes. Wallace, you were talking about your kayaking session.
Wallace Chapman embarks on a long and terribly dull story about going kayaking with his family. Nothing at all seems to have happened, but apparently it was very important for strengthening his family relationships. At least that’s what he reckons. After he finishes talking, there is a long awkward silence….
HOST: That’s it? WILLIE JACKSON: Terrible story. MILES DAVIS: Ha ha ha ha ha!
…….
Later on, Miles Davis talks about how it is possible to argue constructively with one’s wife or partner. This attempt at sensitivity is quickly scotched by Willie Jackson, who has no patience for such displays of SNAGgery….
WILLIE JACKSON: It just gets WORSE!!!! Next thing you’re into a PUNCH-UP!!!!!
Jackson’s main gig these days is the Radio Live program he hosts with the equally erudite John Tamihere. Several years ago, Willie and JT had dwarf-boxing impesario Dean Lonergan on to talk sensitively and learnedly on the subject of marital infidelity. Both Deano and JT made it clear that there was no excuse for violence against any woman, even if one came home one day midway through the afternoon to find her in bed with, say, half the ACT caucus. Willie Jackson, though, was having none of that P.C. nonsense. “If I found out that my missus was fooling around on me,” he said, with quiet sincerity, “I’d put a knife through her heart.”
This shocked even the crass and offensive Lonergan, who felt moved to remonstrate: “I think that’s going a bit far, mate.”
Willie didn’t back down an inch, however. “Nah, nah, nah—don’t give me THAT,” he said, without even a hint of his usual playfulness. “I would. I would put a knife through her heart. I WOULD.”
JT snorted sardonically and laughed, “You’re a mongrel, Willie, a mongrel.”
interestingly, I have an aquaintence (aquainted with his whanau as well) and he did take a tomahawk to the man, in bed with his wife; 4 years later, upon release, no wife. sigh, was getting muscle fatigue keeping my arm up.
sigh, I do have a volume or three of actual / factual stories to tell, I know, as many of us do; fortunately, or other wise, many of them are memorable, yet Robert Plant (another Rock god) advised to keep on rolling and resist writing a book…and I DO NOT YET OWN A WORKING COMPUTER OF MY OWN…yet when it does happen, it could be a lot worse than a hybrid of The Bone People and Tough Guys Don’t Dance with a little Child In Time wound in. 😉 yeeha!
“It’s all about defence! Y’ know, the All Blacks won the World Cup in 2011 because of their outstanding defence!”
—Ant Strachan, Radio Sport, 75 minutes into the New Zealand-France friendly, Saturday 8 June 2013
See also….
No. 17: Stephen Franks: “Peter has been such a level-headed, safe pair of hands.
No. 16: Phil Kafcaloudes: “Tony Abbott…hasn’t made any mistakes over the past eighteen months”
No. 15: Donald Rumsfeld: “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
No. 14: Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question”
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.”
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
I just hope that tomorrow (Sun) someone puts up an interesting enough post or two that we can stop talking about fluoridation and conspiracy theories :-/
Completed reads for June: 4.50 from Paddington, by Agatha ChristieNarrations, by CononThe Vampire (poem), by Rudyard KiplingProgress and Poverty, by Henry GeorgeA Modest Proposal, by Jonathan SwiftThe Horla, by Guy de MaupassantSupernatural Horror in Literature, by H.P. LovecraftTowards Zero, by Agatha ChristieHickory Dickory Death, by Agatha ChristieThe Lady of ...
Looking into a distant mirror The academic publishing process is notoriously stately. Events in the rest of the world happen at their own swift pace as a given article makes its way through the publication pipeline. In the case of Russian climate scepticism: an understudied case, authors Teresa Ashe & Marianna Poberezhskaya submitted their work ...
A ballot for one member's bill was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill (Chlöe Swarbrick) Swarbrick's bill implements a number of past recommendations from government agencies and advisory bodies which for some reason (cough big booze ...
No Common Ground: The destructive and punitive impulses aroused by the abortion issue make a rational, let alone a civil, debate virtually impossible. Indeed, the very idea that those on both sides of the abortion issue might be decent and caring individuals, whose opposing positions are based on reasonable and ...
What Happened Next? After the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1954, overturned its earlier validation of “separate but equal” schools, hospitals, public washrooms, busses and trains for Blacks and Whites, and told the Topeka Board of Education that segregated education is in breach of the Fourteenth Amendment of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Neha Pathak When spring creeps around the corner, pediatrician Aaron Bernstein starts counseling his Boston-area patients and their families about extreme heat action plans. “The first heat wave of the year is routinely the most harmful,” says Bernstein, who also directs Harvard’s ...
On 7 December 1941, Imperial Japan launched a war on the American people. It would forever become a date of infamy, said then US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, eightyone years ago.On 24/25 June 2022, conservatives launched their war on 166.24 million American women. That date, also, will forever live on ...
Stuff has a story this morning about the police juking the domestic violence stats, downgrading family violence crimes to "incidents" so they don't have to be investigated (and so Bad Number doesn't Go Up). That's appalling in and of itself, for the human consequences, and for what it says about ...
Today is a Member's Day, and it looks like its back to local legislation for a while. First up is the committee stage of the highly controversial Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill, which would allow unelected appointees (and a disproportionate number of them, at that) on ECan. This ...
Despite Christopher Luxon’s assurances to the contrary, there is no such thing as “settled law” in New Zealand. Apart from the six provisions that are constitutionally entrenched, legislation can always be amended or overturned by a simple majority vote within our single chamber of Parliament. Luxon’s repeated use of the ...
This is a re-post from the Thinking is Power website maintained by Melanie Trecek-King where she regularly writes about many aspects of critical thinking in an effort to provide accessible and engaging critical thinking information to the general public. Please see this overview to find links to other reposts from Thinking is Power. ...
What a week, month even of deplorable headlines and hysterics we’ve had as a country – and given 2023 is closing in on us (a mere 6 months until Parties shift some gears into election mode really, not that some of them haven’t started already of course), we need ...
Over the weekend, the US Supreme Court followed through on its threat, and overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively outlawing abortion in much of the United States. People were outraged, in America and around the world. And in Aotearoa, this meant a lot of sudden questions for the National Party, which ...
Nothing is evil in the beginning… #TheRingsOfPowerpic.twitter.com/XffZtqp8Yw— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) June 27, 2022 We have ourselves a new breadcrumb (not a leak!) out of The Rings of Power. It is a fifteen second collection of clips from the original teaser-trailer, together ...
The repeal of Roe vs Wade by the US Supreme Court is part of a broader “New Conservative” agenda financed by reactionary billionaires like Peter Thiel, Elon Mush, the Kochs and Murdochs (and others), organised by agitators like Steve Bannon and Rodger Stone and legally weaponised by Conservative (often Catholic) ...
A Dangerous Leap Backwards: A United States forced to live by the beliefs and values of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries cannot hope to go on leading the “Free World”, or compete economically with nations focused fearlessly on the future. The revocation of Roe v. Wade represents the American republic’s most ...
Now that the right of US women to abortion (formerly protected by Roe vWade) has been abolished, the important role of medication-induced abortion will come even more to the fore. Already, research by the Guttmacher Institute reproductive rights centre shows that over half of US abortions are obtained ...
The government is finally moving to improve transparency over party finances, lowering the donation disclosure threshold to $5,000. This is a good move, though it doesn't go as far as it should. And of course, there's a nasty twist: The rules for larger donations are also changing. Presently parties ...
A rare exposure in Western media of the fact that many residents of the Donbass prefer Russian rule to Ukrainian ultranationalist rule. I don’t know why anyone would take advice from UK’s lame duck Prime Minister and well-known buffoon Boris Johnson seriously, but he ...
Jacinda Ardern will need to deploy every aspect of her starpower if she is to have any hope of rescuing New Zealand’s faltering free trade negotiations with the European Union (EU). The Prime Minister has branded each of her four foreign trips so far this year as ‘trade missions’ – ...
It was sometime in the late 1990s that I first interviewed Alan Webster about New Zealand’s part in a global Values Study. It’s a fascinating snapshot of values in countries all over the world and I still remember seeing America grouped with many developing countries on a spectrum that had ...
Today marks Matariki, the first “new” New Zealand public holiday since Waitangi Day was added in 1974. Officially the start of the Maori New Year, this is one of those moveable beasties – much like Easter, the dates will vary from year to year, anywhere from mid-June to ...
The takeaways from the just released data are:1. Any estimate of GDP is subject to error.2. The 0.2 percent decrease in the March 2022 quarter is not precise and will be revised, with the mild likelihood that it will eventually be higher.3. New Zealand has no ‘official' definition of a ...
Guided By The Stars? This gift of Matariki, then, what will be made of it? Can a people spiritually unconnected to anything other than their digital devices truly appreciate the relentless progress of gods and heroes across the heavens? The elders of Maoridom must wonder. Can Te Ao Māori be ...
The internet is a wonderful thing sometimes. Yesterday, I ran across an AI program that generates images via prompt: https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini So I have been doing the logical thing with it. Getting it to generate Silmarillion characters in bizarre situations. Morgoth playing golf, and so forth. But one thing I ...
Stashing renewable energy Do a little internet sleuthing on renewable energy via your favorite search engine and you'll find some honest critique and much more dishonest misinformation (aka disinformation) to the effect that photovoltaic and wind generation are fickle energy supplies, over-abundant in some periods and absent in others. There's ...
The current New Zealand First Foundation trial in the High Court continues to show why reform is required when it comes to money in politics. The juicy details coming out each day show private wealth being funnelled into some peculiar schemes in an attempt to circumvent the Electoral Act. Yet ...
As in so many other areas of public policy, attitudes towards overseas investment in New Zealand – and anywhere, for that matter – boil down in the end to ideology. For proponents of the “free market”, there is really no issue. The market, in their view, must never be second-guessed; ...
Selwyn Manning and I discussed the upcoming NATO Leader’s summit (to which NZ Prime Minister Ardern is invited), the rival BRICS Leader’s summit and what they could mean for the Ruso-Ukrainian Wa and beyond. ...
New Zealand’s Most Profitable“Friend” Dangerous “Threat”: This country’s “Five Eyes” partners, heedless of the economic consequences for New Zealand, have cajoled and bullied its political class into becoming Sinophobes. They simply do not care that close to 40 percent of this country’s trade is with China. As far as Washington, London, ...
I have seen some natter around about how The Rings of Power represents the undue and unholy corporatisation of J.R.R. Tolkien. I won’t point out examples, but anyone who has seen YouTube commentary has a pretty good grasp of what I am talking about – the sentiment that ...
2017’s Queenmaker: Five years ago, Winston Peters’ choice ran counter to New Zealand’s informal, No. 8 wire, post-MMP constitution, which, up until 2017, had decreed that the party with the most votes got to supply the next prime minister. Had National not been in power for the previous 9 years, it ...
I've read some bad stuff about long covid recently, and Marc Daalder's recent Newsroom piece about what endemic covid means for Aotearoa got me wondering about whether the government was thinking about it. Mass-disability due to long covid has obvious implications for health and welfare spending, as well as for ...
Last year, a stranded kiwi criticised the MIQ system. Covid Minister Chris Hipkins responded by doxxing and defaming her. Now, he's been forced to apologise for that: Minister Chris Hipkins has admitted he released incorrect and personal information about journalist Charlotte Bellis, after she criticised the managed isolation system. ...
Gil-galad is an Elven Chad Gil-galad is an Elven Chad But Celebrimbor makes them mad Digesting leaks from Amazon Of Isildur and Pharazôn. The hair is short? The knives are keen. The beardless face of Dwarven Queen? With meteor and man-not-named The fandom temper is inflamed. Of Annatar ...
From the desk of Keir "Patriotic Duty" Starmer:“We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.“However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded ...
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not so far. For example: Albanese has asked for more time to “consider” his response to New Zealand’s long running complaints about the so called “501” ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Biden administration in April 2021 dramatically ratcheted up the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledge under the Paris target, also known as its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The Obama administration in 2014 had announced a commitment to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels ...
Something I missed: the Central African Republic has abolished the death penalty: The National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) passed a law abolishing the death penalty in the CAR on May 27, 2022. Once CAR President Touadéra promulgates the bill, the CAR will become the 24th abolitionist ...
Walking On Sunshine: National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home in the Tauranga By-Election, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support.THE RIGHT’S gadfly commentator, Matthew Hooton, summed up the Tauranga by-election in his usual pithy fashion. “Tonight’s result is poor for the National Party, catastrophic for ...
Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents, Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue descent made a promise at the age of six to his late grandmother, Maata Hiini. “I’ve always had a passion for Māori culture. My first inspiration ...
Dr Carwyn Jones’ vision is to see Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the law given equal mana. Carwyn who holds a PhD in law and society and currently teaches Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa after 15 years at Victoria University of Wellington has devoted ...
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to attend the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Spain – but to skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda – symbolises the changes she is making to New Zealand foreign policy. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starts today in ...
The outlook does not look that promising. Forecasting an economy is a mug’s game. The database on which the forecasts are founded is incomplete, out-of-date, and subject to errors, some of which will be revised after the forecasts are published. (No wonder weather-forecasting is easier.) One often has to adopt ...
by Don Franks It seems that almost each day now another ram raid shatters someone’s shop front and loots the premises. Prestigious Queen street is not immune, while attacks on small dairies have long stopped being headline news. Those of us not directly affected are becoming numbed to this form ...
It’s hard to believe that when we created Sciblogs in 2009, the iPhone was only two years old, being a ‘Youtuber’ wasn’t really a thing and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok didn’t exist. But Science blogging was a big thing, particularly in the United States, where a number of scientists had ...
For 13 years, Sciblogs has been a staple in New Zealand’s science-writing landscape. Our bloggers have written about a vast variety of topics from climate change to covid, and from nanotechnology to household gadgets.But sadly, it’s time to close shop. Sciblogs will be shutting down on 30 June.When ...
Radical Options: By allocating the Broadcasting portfolio to the irrepressible, occasionally truculent, leader of Labour’s Māori caucus, Willie Jackson, the Prime Minister has, at the very least, confirmed that her appointment of Kiri Allan was no one-off. There are many words that could be used to describe Ardern’s placement of ...
A Delicate Juggler? The new Chief Censor, Ms Caroline Flora, owes New Zealand a comprehensive explanation of how she sees, and how she proposes to carry out, her role. Where, for example, is her duty to respect and protect the citizen’s right to freedom of expression positioned in relation to ...
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been taken by our Foreign Minister? Weird, but apparently so. All this week, a series of media policy wonks have been invidiously comparing how many trips ...
Where we've been Time flies. This coming summer will mark 15 years of Skeptical Science focusing its effort on "traditional" climate science denial. Leaving aside frivolities, we've devoted most of our effort to combatting "serious" denial falling into a handful of broad categories of fairly crisp misconceptions: "radiative physics is wrong,""geophysics is ...
Mercenary army of bogus skeptics on parade Because they're both squarely centered in the Skeptical Science wheelhouse, this week we're highlighting two articles from our government and NGO section, where we collect high-quality articles not originating in academic research but featuring many of the important attributes of journal publications. Our mission ...
In the latest episode of AVFA Selwyn Manning and I discuss the evolution of Latin American politics and macroeconomic policy since the 1970s as well as US-Latin American relations during that time period. We use recent elections and the 2022 Summit of the Americas as anchor points. ...
The Scottish government has announced plans for another independence referendum: Nicola Sturgeon plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in October next year if her government secures the legal approval to stage it. Angus Robertson, the Scottish government’s constitution secretary, said that provided ample time to pass ...
So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention has been paid to what having more interoperable defence forces might mean ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
Well, if that’s “minor” I’d be interested to see what a major reshuffle looks like.Jacinda Ardern has reminded New Zealand of the steel behind the spin in her cabinet refresh announced today. While the Prime Minister stressed that the changes were “triggered” by Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard and their ...
A company gives a large amount of money to a political party because they are concerned about law changes which might affect their business model. And lo and behold, the changes are dumped, and a special exemption written into the law to protect them. Its the sort of thing we ...
Active Shooters: With more than two dozen gang-related drive-by shootings dominating (entirely justifiably) the headlines of the past few weeks, there would be something amiss with our democracy if at least one major political party did not raise the issues of law and order in the most aggressive fashion. (Photo ...
Going Down? Governments also suffer in recessions and depressions – just like their citizens. Slowing economic activity means fewer companies making profits, fewer people in paid employment, fewer dollars being spent, and much less revenue being collected. With its own “income” shrinking, the instinct of most government’s is to sharply ...
In the 50 years since Norm Kirk first promised to take the bikes off the bikies, our politicians have tried again and again to win votes by promising to crack down on gangs. Canterbury University academic Jarrod Gilbert (an expert on New Zealand’s gang culture) recently gave chapter and verse ...
Misdirection: New Zealanders see burly gang members, decked out in their patches, sitting astride their deafening motorcycles, cruising six abreast down the motorway as frightened civilians scramble to get out of their way, and they think these guys are the problem. Fact is, these guys represent little more than the misdirection ...
Our Government is committed to making sure that our health system works for all New Zealanders, no matter who you are or where you live. Transformation of our health system will take time, and the step we’re taking today – establishing Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority – ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to announce its support urgently for a moratorium on deep sea mining under the high seas, after Pacific nations joined forces this week to demand change. ...
We’re committed to ensuring that there is every opportunity for women and girls to succeed in Aotearoa New Zealand, with fewer barriers. Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to support women and girls, by improving services like healthcare and tackling issues like the gender pay gap. Here are just ...
Political pressure from the Green Party has pushed the Government to supply free masks to kids and teachers in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Greens have published a joint statement calling for the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement to support climate action, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, cut agriculture emissions, protect human rights, and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to guarantee that it will complete light rail and improve walking, cycling, and bus journeys across Wellington before digging new high-carbon tunnels. ...
The Green Party is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker to commit to stronger ocean protection around Aotearoa and on the high seas while at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Portugal this week. ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has reiterated its concerns over the continued erosion of rights, freedom and autonomy in Hong Kong. On the second anniversary of the introduction of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta says developments in Hong Kong remain a cause for worry. “Two years ...
The Europol Agreement signed is a significant milestone for New Zealand and the European Union’s relationship, and reflects our shared principles of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Prime Minister attended a signature ceremony in Brussels, as part of ...
· New nationwide public health system · 20 district health boards disestablished and deficits wiped · 82,000 health employees directly employed by Health New Zealand · $24 billion health budget this year – up 43% since Labour took office in 2017 – in addition to separate funding for the new ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced appointments to the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Board of Trustees of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura). “Robyn Baker ONZM has been appointed as the chair of the Teaching Council. She has considerable governance experience and is a ...
European Commission President von der Leyen and Prime Minister of New Zealand Ardern met in Brussels on 30 June 2022. The encounter provided an opportunity to reaffirm that the European Union and Aotearoa New Zealand are longstanding partners with shared democratic values and interests, aligned positions on key international and ...
Export revenue to the EU to grow by up to $1.8 billion annually on full implementation. Duty-free access on 97% of New Zealand’s current exports to the EU; with over 91% being removed the day the FTA comes into force. NZ exporters set to save approx. $110 million per annum ...
57,000 EVs and Hybrid registered in first year of clean car scheme, 56% increase on previous year EVs and Non Plug-in Hybrids made up 20% of new passenger car sales in March/April 2022 The Government’s Clean Car Discount Scheme has been a success, with more than 57,000 light-electric and ...
Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua. “These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police ...
Members with a range of governance, financial and technical skills have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board as part of the shift to strengthen the Bank’s decision-making and accountability arrangements. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 comes into force on 1 July 2022, with the establishment of ...
New Zealand to remain at Orange as case numbers start to creep up 50 child-size masks made available to every year 4-7 student in New Zealand 20,000-30,000 masks provided a week to all other students and school staff Extra funding to schools and early childhood services to supports better ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will join Ukraine’s case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which challenges Russia’s spurious attempt to justify its invasion under international law. Ukraine filed a case at the ICJ in February arguing Russia has falsely claimed genocide had occurred in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as ...
The Government has taken another step forward in its work to eliminate family violence and sexual violence with the announcement today of a new Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group. A team of 11 experts in whānau Māori wellbeing will provide the Government independent advice on shaping family violence and sexual ...
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women’s Employment Action Plan was launched today by Minister for Women Jan Tinetti – with the goal of ensuring New Zealand is a great place for women to work. “This Government is committed to improving women’s working lives. The current reality is that women have ...
The food and fibre sector acknowledged its people and leadership at last night’s 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards, a time to celebrate their passion towards supporting employees by putting their health, welfare and wellbeing first,” Acting Minister of Agriculture Meka Whairiti said. “Award winners were selected from an extraordinary ...
Kia ora koutou katoa. It is a rare thing to have New Zealand represented at a NATO Summit. While we have worked together in theatres such as Afghanistan, and have been partners for just on a decade, today represents an important moment for our Pacific nation. New Zealand is ...
Te Arataki mō te Hauora Ngākau mō ngā Mōrehu a Tū me ō rātou Whānau, The Veteran, Family and Whānau Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy Framework “We ask a lot of those who serve in the military – and we ask a lot of the families and whānau who support ...
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio has been appointed by the United Nations and Commonwealth as Aotearoa New Zealand’s advocacy champion for Small Island States. “Aotearoa New Zealand as a Pacific country is particularly focused on the interests of Pacific Small Island Developing States in our region. “This is a ...
An estimated 100,000 low income households will be eligible for increased support to pay their council rates, with changes to the rates rebate scheme taking effect from 1 July. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced increases to both the maximum value of the rates rebate, and the income threshold ...
A long-standing physical activity programme that focuses on outcomes for Maori has been expanded to four new regions with Government investment almost doubled to increase its reach. He Oranga Poutama is managed by a combination of hapū, iwi, hauora and regional providers. An increase in funding from $1.8 million ...
The Government is progressing a preferred option for LGWM which will see Wellington’s transport links strengthened with light rail from Wellington Station to Island Bay, a new tunnel through Mt Victoria for public transport, and walking and cycling, and upgrades to improve traffic flow at the Basin Reserve. “Where previous ...
To Provost Muniz, to the Organisers at the Instituto de Empresa buenas tardes and as we would say in New Zealand, kia ora kotou katoa. To colleagues from the State Department, from Academia, and Civil Society Groups, to all our distinguished guests - kia ora tatou katoa. It’s a pleasure ...
On June 28, 2022, a meeting took place in Madrid between the President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting Spain to participate in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one ...
A six-fold increase in the Aotearoa New Zealand-Spain working holiday scheme gives a huge boost to the number of young people who can live and work in each other’s countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Jacinda Ardern and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón made the Working Holiday/Youth Mobility Scheme announcement ...
A significant barrier has been removed for people who want to stand in local government elections, with a change to the requirement to publish personal details in election advertising. The Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has taken the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill through its final stages in Parliament ...
New financial conduct scheme will ensure customers are treated fairly Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers to be licensed by the FMA in relation to their general conduct Sales incentives based on volume or value targets like bonuses for selling a certain number of financial products banned The Government ...
Legislation that bans major supermarkets from blocking their competitors’ access to land to set up new stores paves the way for greater competition in the sector, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The new law is the first in a suite of measures the Government is ...
The Government has announced an end to the requirement for border workers and corrections staff to be fully vaccinated. This will come into place from 2 July 2022. 100 per cent of corrections staff in prisons, and as of 23 June 2022 97 per cent of active border workers were ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has concluded a visit to Rwanda reaffirming Aotearoa New Zealand’s engagement in the Commonwealth and meeting with key counterparts. “I would like to thank President Kagame and the people of Rwanda for their manaakitanga and expert hosting of this important meeting,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “CHOGM ...
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty officially launched the new Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting (MAR) Centre at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) today. The Government has stood up the centre in response to recommendations from the 2018 Ministerial Review following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2017 Port Hills fire, ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Changes to electoral law announced by Justice Minister Kiri Allan today aim to support participation in parliamentary elections, and improve public trust and confidence in New Zealand’s electoral system. The changes are targeted at increasing transparency around political donations and loans and include requiring the disclosure of: donor identities for ...
The Labour government has announced a significant investment to prevent and minimise harm caused by gambling. “Gambling harm is a serious public health issue and can have a devastating effect on the wellbeing of individuals, whānau and communities. One in five New Zealanders will experience gambling harm in their lives, ...
The Government has widened access to free flu vaccines with an extra 800,000 New Zealanders eligible from this Friday, July 1 Children aged 3-12 years and people with serious mental health or addiction needs now eligible for free flu dose. From tomorrow (Tuesday), second COVID-19 booster available six months ...
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http://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/6810936/Lawyer-named-Shearers-chief-of-staff
Fired. Shearer has fired Roberson’s plant in his office. Cameron was ‘gone by lunchtime ‘ yesterday.
Has Shearer finally worked out that his real enemy is poorly polling Wellington central mp?
“Has Shearer finally worked out that his real enemy is poor polling Welington central mp?”
Nope. His real enemy is his own incompetence as a political leader.
He needs to Fire himself.
Maybe a sex scandal can be arranged?
Where did you get this bit of news from ? I can’t find it on Scoop, Herald, Dom Post – so please elucidate.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10889121
John Armstrong has made a full on attack against Russel Norman and the Greens in todays Herald.
Obviously the Greens are starting to worry the National Party’s number 1 PR man.
Norman needs to continue to attack National FULL ON, he has my support 100%. In fact the more Armstrong complains the better, it just provides a gauge on how affective his attacks actually are.
+1
The Green Party Conference will not be televised
Despite the tight secrecy and media blackout that surrounded the Green Party AGM, details of what went on are starting to come out.
If what Armstrong reports is true;
Then it seems that this conference saw a steep reduction in the Greens inner party democracy. With the right to veto membership remits or amend them out of all recognition by the top table, power has been concentrated with the leadership. As well as this, the increased and complex bureaucracy imposed to make branch remits harder to put in the first place, will put a further crimp on the members ability to influence the direction of their party.
In my estimation these new rules to restrict inner party democracy are much tougher than those in the Labour Party. And though I am not as familiar with the remit procedures of the other parties, possibly every other parliamentary party as well.
Business As Usual will not be upset by upstart political parties.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Green Party?
weka has posited here, that it is a natural progression for political parties to become more corrupted as they become more mainstream. (Probably because of their greater attraction for careerists). I would go further and say that it is actually, not a natural progression at all, but a time honoured but still conscious process that protects privilege and power for a minority of elitist self servers from the threat inherent in democracy to challenge both, Privilege and Power and elitism.
I on the other hand argue that this degeneration is not inevitable at all.
But it seems the Green Party are determined not to learn from history and not resist the dilution of their inner party democracy, and their transformation into an autocratic top down traditional political organisation.
Personally I think this is a sad day for the Greens. And for our democracy in general. Not to mention the future of our civilisation, which could well hinge on whether leading political organisations can break away from the BAU model or not.
P.S. Suppressing inner party democracy has never succeeded in ending inner party political tensions. That they will break out into the open in some other form, and usually at the worst possible place and time is inevitable. The resulting inner party explosion/implosion, what ever form it takes, could well mark the end of the Green Party as a political force.
Game set and match for the establishment.
That you would take an article written by Armstrong of all people, as proof of the corruption of the GP, says alot about you Jenny.
I’d like to put my earlier comment in context. It’s not that the GP will inevitably become corrupt. It’s that parliament, as it is at this point in time, is a culture that demands certain behaviours. The very nature of the adversarial system is that it undermines creative solutions and co-operation. People who come into parliament as MPs (and I would guess this is true of staff too), have to adapt to the culture or they won’t fit in/be able to gain anything for their party. While I hope that the GP can influence that culture for the better, I’m not sure that it’s their job to transform it.
You look at people like Marilyn Waring, who got out early, and her contemporaries like Clark and Shipley, who stayed in. Waring once talked about what happened to women in parliament, the pressure to become something else. It was brutal. How do people survive that? Her contention was that some just get out, and those that stay get changed by the place. There is no way that Clark would have become PM if she hadn’t adapted in such a way as to be able to take power and use it.
Sad, but true. You can see manifestations of that brutality here on ts, where it tends to be cruelty, both to each other, and towards politicians. What this means is that only the tough survive, both here and in parliament. And thus we lose the more sensitive people who would probably bring much to the table.
Unless MPs are betraying their party, I think that we should be supporting them, and helping them find ways to survive the brutality as long as possible. They are doing us a service and should be acknowledged for that, not pilloried before they even get started (Jenny).
“I on the other hand argue that this degeneration is not inevitable at all.”
So tell use Jenny, how you think it can be avoided. Please give specific examples that work in the real world, not just your ideals.
The Green Party IMHO are set on a well worn course for destruction. The question is: How will they avoid the fate of the Maori Party and the Alliance before them?
First off the Green Party could announce that they will not go into coalition with any government that approves the Denniston Coal Mine or Deep Sea Oil Drilling off our coasts.
Which would most likely mean they don’t get to be part of govt. I’m asking you how GP MPs could be part of a NZ govt and not be changed by the experience.
First off the Green Party could announce that they will not go into coalition with any government that approves the Denniston Coal Mine or Deep Sea Oil Drilling off our coasts.
Secondly give the Labour Party Confidence and Supply.
If the Labour Party still want to proceed with wrecking the environment, the Greens need to let them know that they are on their own.
Simple, clear, direct, principled. This will future proof the Green Party. As the coal and extreme oil schemes go sour.
This question answers itself. The Green Party cannot be part of a government committed to Deep Sea Oil Drilling, and mining Denniston. And not be changed.
It’s happening already.
Mr Armstrong tries a long bow, and drops the arrow on his foot.
Would like to see a more sober account of the Green Party’s remit changes. But even the way it’s told by Armstrong, it doesn’t amount to anything like the anti-democratic practices of Key’s government or Muldoon.
So that means the vote was well over 75%?
And the “Green’s are thirsting for power”. …. who is using a less than measured tone there, Mr Armstrong, even as you blast Norman for the same, and ignore how much the right wing bloggers and Key use way less than measured tones when they launched the attack on the Greens?
The bleeting coming from Armstrong and others over Norman calling Key , Muldoon , could end up biting the right in the bum.
In over egging the situation , they’ve raise the bar , or at least drawn attention to the language used by politicians,
This could have a stifling effect on Key , who relies heavily on put downs, and negative name calling etc.
It’s very unlikely that party members voted to reduce the voice of their branches while strengthening the power of centralised control. Not saying it didn’t happen; its far more likely Armstrong has the wrong end of the stick.
GP members here: please confirm.
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/green-party-central-strips-away-power-from-green-party-branches-as-party-hierachy-tighten-their-control-pre-coalition-ed-but-hey-they-are-only-formalising-already-de-facto-means-of-control/
(excerpt:..”..so what will be changed..?..
..when it has always been thus in the green party..
..this is only formalising those de-facto power-realities..
..and as for party conferences being hotbeds of political/ideas-debate..?
..back then they were tightly controlled top-down-exercises..(with (now mp) delahunty being the enforcer of that control..)
..as with most/(all?) political conferences…the green party ones were also exercises in agenda-control/suppressing any dissent/idea-challenges..”)
..this is just an exercise in formalising the de-facto..
phillip ure..
Green Party members vote to curtail their democracy by 80%
80%?
80 percent support for a vote to limit inner party democracy. The sad thing about such votes, is that by their nature they can not be revisited.
But democracy is a funny thing, you suppress here, it pops up somewhere else, in some other form. Like that other great human impulse, it is as perennial as the grass.
And Armstrong is starting to come across a more than a little hysterical lately.
Now we just have to wait for the hysterical screeching of the Nats number one fan boy, Roughan.
Roughan represents the pits of print journalism in this country.
o’sullivan is also getting more and more ‘reds-under-beds!’ hysterical..
..her defence of key as not being muldoonist (published today) is to point at norman and go ‘nyah nyah..!..you are too..!’..
..the right seems to be getting more and more jangled..
..and what a stinking/corrupt govt this has become..
..dunne..and banks..
..and national/key knowing they probably won’t get back in again..
..are going gangbusters..
..stitching together all the dirty-deals they can..
..and key must be torn two ways at the moment..
..he is so bored/over it all..he must be dreading the long grind from now to election-time..
..he must want to go..
..but the other force is all that unfinished (privatisation/union-busting) business..
..which they have to cram /ram through between now and the next election..
..and tho’ that business-imperative is strong..
..i don’t think key is up personally for it all..
..a long/slow grind..to destination failure…
..that isn’t how key sees himself rolling..
..so those two pressures are grinding on key like clashing tectonic-plates..
..something’s gotta give..
..so i would still prepare for an early election..
..with maybe key not being there for that..
..phillip ure..
I read it as Key and co, knowing they will most likely lose the election, fucking things up as much as they can, and leaving the cupboard bare, so the incoming Government can change as little as possible.
There is however also the imperative to deliver as much of the “commons” to their corporate funders as possible, before they get voted out to secure their retirement funding.
The feather bedded directorships and sinecures they expect to get, with the private sector, as a reward for stealing from tax payers and wage earners.
Yep.
@kjt..re yr first paragraph..i don’t know if it is necessarily that..i think it is just them doing what they promised..
..(i mean..i mean..!..did the moronic component of that massive majority opposed to selling our power assets/means into foreign ownership..who voted for national..
..did they think key/national were just joshing when they promised to do just that..?
..how was that for an epic-disconnect..?..on the part of those asset-selling opposed/voting national moron-component..?)
..yr second paragraph i totally agree with..with labour as enmeshed in that corrupt revolving-door process as national..
..with the neo-lib/randite-apologist ex labour party president williams..being a textbook example of a revolving-door too many..
(if you doubt my assesment of williams..go to the radio new zealand archives..and pull up a couple of his recent appearances as .(wait for it!..)..a spokesperson for the left..(!)..)..(as someone else said:..’oh irony..!..thou art a harsh mistress..!’..)
..and looking back to the right-revolution..the then union uber-boss frantically/serially blinked..and just went and sat in the corner..as the right dismantled the welfare state/broke the union-movement..and he uttered not a whimper..
..(but he did do rather well out of it..like williams..seats on boards/honours etc..and both about as far from the shop-floor as you can get..)
..and the contrast with that union leader here of course is australia..
..where the union movement stood up and went ‘no yr fucken not..!’..
..(and what is the size of our wage-gap with aust..?…and growing..we are told..)
..that didn’t work out too well for us..did it..?..
..corruption takes many forms..it isn’t all envelopes stuffed with cash..slipped into pockets..
..our new zealand version is far more subtle..(sort of..)
..phillip ure..
+1
.. re williams
.. (completely, totally, utterly)
Scared, dogmatic, confused old man!
Interesting how there is liitle by way of useful disucussion, which comes from the NZH, while its no surprise, its become very transparent, that all the NZH has to offer, is proarchial support for the owners, chosen governmnent!
Its rather sad, to see society demoted to such a low level of, *informative debate*
Interesting also in how Armstrong is following the Lusk plan to pick up on and circulate propaganda begun on right wing blogs.
Very true, Karol.
Its the ,confuse, contain, control tactics geared up to prevent people from piecing together cogent views, and the decisions/actions, which might then follow changing view formation.
It genuinely sadens me, this country is under such a ferocious attack, which is even more powerful incentive to stay vigilant, and up to speed.
Its the primary reason I stay in touch sites such as this, for the angles/perspectives which don’t see the light of day elsewhere.
+1 Muzza
yes, I reckon that the NZH/Armstrong/O Sullivan et al are very effective at creating a support base for National that would be better off voting Left. When you look at Slane’s cartoon on another post here it actually reflects the truth, but National’s support base is much larger than the very small/elite group that benefit from their policies.
Actually the real damage is done by Radio stations like the Edge who insinuate the consumer culture into the young, invite Key along as their best mate etc.
This is where the dumbing down of society is occurring.
Probably a crosby textor strategy…
doesn’t match this though:
(^=^)
Get Hauraki and some Revolution Rock;
and Rebel Waltz
Maybe someone paid Lusk to pay him.
Now we have cold war hysteria from Hooten about communists in the Greens. Its going to be one hell of an 18 months, with the Green party on the wrong end of it. Im pretty sure that Key might even try and ban them (like Australia did with their communist party in the 1950’s).
2014 is going to be an ugly election campaign. The neo-libs, god-botherers and RWNJs, along with the swivel-eyed loons are just getting warmed up.
Of course the very system that Dunne appears to have leaked a report on probably has records of Dunne’s emails but cannot release them because that would confirm what Dunne was trying to expose. Spy vs Spy here?
I’m inclined to agree with your theory Logie.
Dunne has been played. His vulnerability and vanity has been used to make him impotent!
The spy boys needed a fall guy, a distraction from the past screw ups and probably a third driver that has yet to appear.
Winston is probably being played too, amd perhaps a bit knowlingly…. He is always for sale.
And where has Shearer and Labour been in all this? AWOL
Robertson on TV this morning repeated “if I was Prime Minister” three times. What a fucking boffoon.
Are you being serious? You didn’t mean Ross Robertson by any chance?
Ross Robertson was able to build his electorate and party vote. Definitely not to be confused with the Wellington Central “Robertson”.
Possibly. But I also heard that there were fewer than 100 members in his electorate. Don’t know if that is accurate though.
If Dunne was trying to expose anything, that would be a valid reason to do what he has done. He has admitted several times that he has no good reason for what eventuated. Honey trapped buffoon who has far too many skeletons in his closet, absolutely . . . Valiant warrior battling evil, not so much.
On thursday June 5 weka and Jenny went toe to toe on how far the Green Party should be prepared to compromise to gain seats in a Labour led cabinet.
Pretty obvious in my opinion. *Maybe*. Especially in the euphoria of coalition talks post election.
If the Greens were willing to settle for a short term objective in lieu of something more substantive, then I think that Labour would happy to let them take the flak from the coasters. Labour MPs would undoubtedly prefer that Green MPs dissipated their political capital that way rather than in something more widespread like looking at the question of exploration and mining in conservation areas.
I’m not so sure the Greens membership would be that happy after spending decades to get MPs into cabinet to be that concerned with a single bauble rather than a policy shift.
Politics is the art of the possible and the careful use of painfully acquired political capital. I am pretty sure that was what was being discussed in the closed door sessions at the Greens conference last weekend.
Like the others, I am working during the week. Explaining politics 201 isn’t high on my priority queue.
So it is a *Maybe* from lprent.
Any other takers?
What do you think CV?
“Like the others, I am working during the week. Explaining politics 201 isn’t high on my priority queue.”
I just assumed that by the time the conversation got to that point, no-one else was reading.
“Politics is the art of the possible and the careful use of painfully acquired political capital.”
Nice. I might have to quote that.
I catch some of these older comments when I’m scanning for people talking to me. In this case the “lprent”.
You’re welcome to it. It is a paraphrase of something that I read or heard somewhere at some time. It is an accurate representation of the practice of politics.
How’s your pissing into the tent strategy working out Jenny?
Anyway: when it comes to issues of Labour coalition agreements, I don’t deal in hypotheticals.
One qualified maybe from lprent and a no-comment from Colonial Viper. It’s not looking good.
So how about you Te Reo Putake?
The question is; If the Green Party refuse to join any coalition which would approve the Denniston Coal Mine. Can you tell us, if that would be a hard thing for Labour to give up?
You’re not part of the Greens. You’re not part of Labour.
You have a real issue with being a self righteous and indignant busybody telling everyone else what they should be doing.
The discussion on The Nation over the International Transfer of Prisoners was interesting; NZ the only OECD country not a signatory, in fact, the parts of the world that are really only excluded Africa and parts of Asia in the main. It is not politically palatable it seems to have these folk repatriated to serve their sentences, particularly for those chasing the conservative vote as the cost to the tax-payer would be humungous; 850 serving time in Aus, just for starters; that would be around a Billion dollars for the first year for them to be imprisoned here.
Collins generalized that “they are drug dealers and rapists” (from the two featured) and that those in Aus had “lived all their lives there, paid there taxes there” blah blah. Aus keeps hitting NZ govt up about it. They are signatories
http://www.ag.gov.au/Internationalrelations/Internationalcrimecooperationarrangements/TransferOfPrisoners/Pages/default.aspx
Some under-arm return for not providing social security measures to kiwis over there. 😉
Anyway, these tory Ministers may have professions to there name yet they sure appear thick!
Next, a critique of the rise of the ‘victim’ culture; like monetary compensation is a reinforcer.
😀
NZ politicians, in general, have a super shit and 50 year outdated approach to Corrections.
“If the Green Party refuse to join any coalition which would approve the Denniston Coal Mine”
Wow, you really don’t get what a coalition is do you. Do you honestly think it’s about the GP throwing down demands?
Phoebe Fletcher makes an excellent point today on the Daily Blog: the media storm around Dunne’s resignation is diverting big time from the extremely worrying changes to the GCSB legislation.
Indeed, the deflective glare is strong, the focus , hard as it is in this country, must remain on the legislation, because the *grid*, is tightening its grip!
People think little to nothing, about smart meters, the UFB roll out etc, but these are part of the *grid*, and even now, privacy/freedom are concepts, relegated to the history books, never to be seen again, if people don’t get involved.
Agree about the GP. They’re at risk of overplaying their hand here.
There was some speculation on ts yesterday about why had Dunne actually resigned. Maybe this is it, he’s the diversion.
It occurs to me the latest blog post by Farrar is an outstanding example of how the government use him to try and control the media naarative. Effectively, he is trying to frame how the whole story around the demise of Dunne is told by lazy and/or time pressed journalists by providing in a nice, easy digestible format a whole narrative of the winners and losers. Very cunning, and highlights the lack of a comparable blog on the left.
I would contend that The Standard itself is a blog comparable in influence to Kiwiblog, and further that; The Daily Blog is a rapidly emerging foil to WhaleOil (that there’s some long standing rivalry between Bradbury and Slater has long been evident; even on Tumeke – I imagine it goes back to uni days if not before). Personally, I don’t read either of the RWNJ blogs – life’s too short. Plus Kiwiblog just makes me feel manipulated (DPF is certainly good at what he does!), while WhaleOil makes me feel unclean (though I did have a glance over on Queen’s birthday weekend to savour the panic).
That MSM journalists take their cues from Farrar and Slater probably has more to do with; editorial policies and lack of; time and resources, than; inaccesability of alternate viewpoints on the net.
Was the Dunne/Vance imbroglio a “honey trap” ( to quote an old cold war term )? And shouldn’t the morality and ethics of that be discussed? Admittedly for Herald and Dominion journalists they are almost certainly really big words they would need to look up.
No. An old guy with an unrequited woody for a younger woman does not constitute a “honey trap”.
Millhouse noted this last night.
In the UK they are seeing the implications of American big business being able to control politicians and the internet.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-alist-conspiracy-did-hollywood-tell-obama-to-take-down-internet-entrepreneur-kim-dotcom-8648426.html
Corporate-Political influence in the US is really fubar. It is a broken system. It actively encourages companies to hire people whose only job is to stand in a queue and hold that place until the salaried lobbyist shows up to tell the pretzel-spined politicians exactly what they are doing with their votes that day. We have our problems in NZ but we are not quite that far gone and I like to think we can resist a whilst longer.
On The Nation just now we saw Winston Peters making another series of accusations – that the Dunne emails also contained leaks of other information apart from the GCSB report, and that because of the nature of the leak (effectively a top secret document with limited “eyes only” distribution) the government came under pressure from our ECHELON allies to find out who the potential spy was. Peters also was unequivocally able to state they contained personally embarassing stuff on Dunne. Of course, Peters could be bluffing, but in this case I think he has clearly seen the unedited emails. So, where did Peters get those?
Looks like the GCSB stitiched up Dunne to placate our allies concern over the leak, which raises yet more thorny questions about an agency that has clearly (Kim Dotcom, illegal spying, Dunne) gone rogue. Who is the master of this country, the GCSB (who can clearly access and leak anything about anyone who threatens their mana) or the politicians? Because at the moment, it looks like the spies are getting the politicians to dance to their tune.
I wonder what they said to John Key to ensure the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill was to their liking?
PS I was astonished at how inept Rachel Smalley’s performance was. There was Winston Peters dangling all sorts of juicy tidbits – shadowy foreign pressure to find the leaker, additional sectet material being leaked – she relentless stuck to the pre-scripted panty-sniffing line about trying to find out if Dunne wanted to be a tampon, or something.
Sanctuary – The *presenters*, are simply there to ensure the narrative is controlled, and it is, by the producers.
No need to be astonished, this is what the MSM is designed to do, except that sadly its seems in NZ, we have plumbed even lower depths.
Smalley, not all that long ago had some promise, but over the past 3-6 months, she has become as debased, as the like of Corin Dann, and the other puppets!
Muzza – All fucking talk no fucking facts.
The media repeat what they are told to write. Everyone with a modicum of curiosity and critical thinking cano see that.
You want evidence TC? Iraq and WMD.
My question to you.
Why are you such a relentless defender of the corporate elite?
“My question to you.
Why are you such a relentless defender of the corporate elite?”
Sorry to answer a question with a question but “Huh?”
“Everyone with a modicum of curiosity and critical thinking cano see that.”
Critical thinking =/= believing anything based purely on your say so.
Facts, references, cites and evidence. Please provide,
The media copied the story told them about Iraq having WMD
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036750/ns/msnbc-documentaries/vp/50736581
Can be sourced in multiple places………
Why do you defend the elite?
Pointing out stupid conspiracy fallacies =/= Defending the elite
If you look at your posts that is not what you do on this site…….
But at least I don’t make completely erroneous statements about imaginary foes based purely on ill informed rhetoric gleaned from conspiracy sites and crank doctors.
Is that, really how you see yourself bro?
“Is that, really how you see yourself bro?”
No, it’s how I see you.
TC, can you point to the conspiracy sites, which I personally , have linked to on here, you have a problem with.
If you can locate any such links, give your reasoning, why you have a problem, and try to avoid becoming a parody of your handle name, in the process, eh!
Think you can manage all that?
Hey muzza,
facts?
TC – You making it personal now bro?
So agressive, and angry sounding, you taking anything to manage it?
I’d suggest avoiding alcohol!
It’s just my Morgellons acting up again.
Things are getting interesting across the Tasman Ditch ..
“Rudd blitz begins as host of Labor MPs back a national tour”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/rudd-blitz-begins-as-host-of-labor-mps-back-a-national-tour/story-fnii5s3y-1226659596090
and
http://news.google.com.au/news/rtc?ncl=dpBheRHTARv3I4MW21X_3qszqa4GM&topic=h&ar=1370645967
You can’t believe a thing you read in Murdoch’s rags. The Guardian, which has just started up in Oz, contains a lot less fantasy. According to Murdoch, they might as well save money and not even have the election because Abbott has already won in a landslide. I hope not, because while Gillard is about as left as Key, Abbott makes John Banks look balanced.
Yeah, but who’s laughing right now ?
http://www.smh.com.au/national/rudd-backers-frolic-as-pm-loses-her-grip-20130607-2nviv.html
Probably Gina Stoneheart, at anyone who thinks the Fairfax media isn’t just a crude big mining propaganda bulletin.
Did I get it right?
.. and in Ye Olde Countrie
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2013/06/lord-ashcroft-we-cant-afford-to-waste-another-six-months.html
Canada: undemocratic political behaviour of a petrostate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjl3kgduA3I
Colonel Viper . Thanks for that link to Andrew Nikifororuk on the characteristics of a Petro State.
Suddenly it all becomes explainable. With fracking and oil drilling in the offing in the Canterbury Basin both on land and at sea…. and the strange undemocratic manoeuverings of the National Government eg.
* extensive GCSB powers to spy on ordinary NZers,
* outlawing of environmental protest where it affects economic corporate activity( whether this be harmful for NZers environment or not),
* promotion of education dumbing down and no standards for charter schools ( undermining a fine NZ education tradition of egalitarian , high quality , state funded , secular education, which promotes critical thinking and scholarship for all)
* ousting of the democratically elected Environment Canterbury away from Cantabrians’ voting control and into the hands of National Government appointed commissioners.
* the prolonged state of emergency in Christchurch and power and control wrested away from the City Council and Christchurch residents.
All NZers should watch this video and be warned of what could be in store!
see more on Petrostates in the ‘Slane sums up’ thread.
Interesting interviews on Radionz today. The last one was from Jaron Lanier who explains how he changed his mind about making the web accessible and free to all, as he now sees that the benefits of this are being scooped up by those with the biggest computers. And lots more of intelligent stuff.
He is great to listen to, a lively speaker and thinker and a great laugh. Still with a sense of humour, someone to treasure and pay attention to.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thiswayup
(Who Owns the Future – book)
Jaron Lanier radionz 1.40pm Sat 8/6
Lanier is a miserable whiney bore who is just pissy that the web has left him behind and his precious digital utopia never came about because people would rather watch porn and exchange recipies for meatloaf.
he makes shitty tunes too.
Excellent Gingerbread recipe;
-cream butter and sugar
-add 1 egg
-add molasses
-add flour, baking soda, salt
-add cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, grated lemon.
Mix
Chill
Roll into a log on gladwrap (or generic).
Bake at 180 Degrees celsius, 15-20 minutes.
😀
A free colostomy bag if you can spot what’s wrong with this sentence…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8771257/Slip-victims-Where-did-the-water-come-from
Neighbours with different street names, but looking on map it appears they are on a corner.
or, the article attributes wrong houses to these residents i.e. : Gavin Formans’ house is in Breton Gr.
If I’m correct, you can keep the bag.
I feel for the family without insurance in this very sad event.
Sadly, and indicative of shitty journalistic standards…but no
the clue is in the bag 🙂
And at this point I have to say I’m not ‘highly confident’ about this claim:
I’m thinking that Mr Michael’s staff may have indeed found a hairline crack on the Friday night, but they’ve missed, or are covering up for something much larger. Much better for the man to have withheld comment until all the evidence was in. Because at this early stage such an unsupported claim just looks horribly self-serving.
I concur…
Oh for an Oxford comma or two
I wouldn’t want my family to be evacuated in a landslip. The house we were in ?…sure, but damned if i’m gonna let a team suck the shit out of me and mine in an emergency.
another example of the lack of subeditors.
Hay, Clover, name-checked your worthy self in the ‘Slane sums up’ thread. Bah, Hmmm.
-Bug
good cartoon, but the comments seem to be a bit earnest for my current mood.
Weekend Blues (Sunday afternoon on Bay FM). 😀
nah – more enjoying a quiet day without too much thought. Busy week.
mindfulness (or a wee dram). Better go “cook tea” now (before witnessing all the wasted human life (fatalities, local and international) on the box.).
Kind regards, bet it was a cold week down there too.
Daytime TV Review
Three Wise Men discuss “Relationship Woes”
Hands up all those who cannot abide Willie Jackson!
Okay, okay, but first I need to tell you something about a program he featured on the other day….
Good Morning, TV1, 9:10 a.m., Tuesday 4 June 2013
Relationship Woes, a Men’s Panel discussion featuring Wallace Chapman, Miles Davis and Willie Jackson
Trashy television has its charms. Take TV1’s ailing Good Morning program, for instance. Last year, host Jeanette Thomas got hypnotized on air, performed the haka, conducted an imaginary orchestra with a raw chicken, tried to seduce Tom Cruise and had a go at pole dancing. And all of that happened in just one morning’s episode. Over the years, one of the perverse highlights, or lowlights, for this writer, i.e. moi, was watching the perplexed, slightly hostile look on the dial of macho man Brendon Pongia as Steve Gray gave his movie reviews.
Despite all this top quality entertainment, however, Good Morning has been cursed with low ratings, and as a result it has been cut back this year from three hours to just one—from 9 to 10 o’clock.
Today the coiffured blond host, whose name I could not ascertain even after extensive hunting, introduced a semi-serious panel discussion, about Relationship Woes. The three “talents” chosen for the task were lovable and impish professional boy-man Wallace Chapman, professional cheeky cockney chappy Miles Davis, and professional cheeky Maori fulla Willie Jackson.
Here are the highlights…..
MILES DAVIS: You have to admit that ninety-nine per cent of the time the woman is the one in the right.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Yeah, but you don’t want to be a male doormat.
MILES DAVIS: [accentuating the East End wide-boy accent] I’m no’ a doormat.
………
WILLIE JACKSON: Ya see, the problem with you Wallace is, it’s all academic, it’s all P.C. with you. You can’t solve relationships with an academic approach and it’s SHOCKING really.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: [diffidently and sensitively] I-I-I-I…
MILES DAVIS: Talk to us, Wozza!
HOST: We’re going to continue our debate on relationships and the blame game with THESE GUYS, after THIS.
……….
Shark Steam Mop advert….
WOMAN: What?!!??!? Nine ninety-nine?!!!!??!?? You’ve gone MAD!!!!
MAN: I’ve gone C-R-R-RAAAZY!
……….
BLOND HOST: Well, we’re back with the Men’s Panel discussing Relationship Woes. Wallace, you were talking about your kayaking session.
Wallace Chapman embarks on a long and terribly dull story about going kayaking with his family. Nothing at all seems to have happened, but apparently it was very important for strengthening his family relationships. At least that’s what he reckons. After he finishes talking, there is a long awkward silence….
HOST: That’s it?
WILLIE JACKSON: Terrible story.
MILES DAVIS: Ha ha ha ha ha!
…….
Later on, Miles Davis talks about how it is possible to argue constructively with one’s wife or partner. This attempt at sensitivity is quickly scotched by Willie Jackson, who has no patience for such displays of SNAGgery….
WILLIE JACKSON: It just gets WORSE!!!! Next thing you’re into a PUNCH-UP!!!!!
Jackson’s main gig these days is the Radio Live program he hosts with the equally erudite John Tamihere. Several years ago, Willie and JT had dwarf-boxing impesario Dean Lonergan on to talk sensitively and learnedly on the subject of marital infidelity. Both Deano and JT made it clear that there was no excuse for violence against any woman, even if one came home one day midway through the afternoon to find her in bed with, say, half the ACT caucus. Willie Jackson, though, was having none of that P.C. nonsense. “If I found out that my missus was fooling around on me,” he said, with quiet sincerity, “I’d put a knife through her heart.”
This shocked even the crass and offensive Lonergan, who felt moved to remonstrate: “I think that’s going a bit far, mate.”
Willie didn’t back down an inch, however. “Nah, nah, nah—don’t give me THAT,” he said, without even a hint of his usual playfulness. “I would. I would put a knife through her heart. I WOULD.”
JT snorted sardonically and laughed, “You’re a mongrel, Willie, a mongrel.”
All right, you can put your hands down now.
interestingly, I have an aquaintence (aquainted with his whanau as well) and he did take a tomahawk to the man, in bed with his wife; 4 years later, upon release, no wife. sigh, was getting muscle fatigue keeping my arm up.
Blinking hell, ghostrider! Can you spin that out into a dramatic reconstruction for us? It sounds like a riveting story.
sigh, I do have a volume or three of actual / factual stories to tell, I know, as many of us do; fortunately, or other wise, many of them are memorable, yet Robert Plant (another Rock god) advised to keep on rolling and resist writing a book…and I DO NOT YET OWN A WORKING COMPUTER OF MY OWN…yet when it does happen, it could be a lot worse than a hybrid of The Bone People and Tough Guys Don’t Dance with a little Child In Time wound in. 😉 yeeha!
Al-Qaeda, and post-Assad Syria
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10889164
and from the Business desk;
the diluting of the Infant Formula brand
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10889176
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business-editors-picks/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501981&objectid=10889015 (greed cannot help itself. a New Image? Don’t think so Murry).
“Farming the Elderly”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10889082
(retirement eats capital).
Chocolate Aeroplane 😉 wings
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10889079
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10889128
(price-fixing).
Fonterra share, unit prices, shake-up.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/agriculture/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=10888777
(spilt milk).
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 18: Ant Strachan
“It’s all about defence! Y’ know, the All Blacks won the World Cup in 2011 because of their outstanding defence!”
—Ant Strachan, Radio Sport, 75 minutes into the New Zealand-France friendly, Saturday 8 June 2013
See also….
No. 17: Stephen Franks: “Peter has been such a level-headed, safe pair of hands.
No. 16: Phil Kafcaloudes: “Tony Abbott…hasn’t made any mistakes over the past eighteen months”
No. 15: Donald Rumsfeld: “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
No. 14: Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question”
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.”
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
I just hope that tomorrow (Sun) someone puts up an interesting enough post or two that we can stop talking about fluoridation and conspiracy theories :-/