The UN has delivered a withering verdict on the US’s human rights record, raising concerns on a series of issues including torture, drone strikes, the failure to close Guantánamo Bay and the NSA’s bulk collection of personal data…
…The committee also expressed alarm about the continued use of the death penalty in a 16 states, the “still high number” number of fatal shootings by certain police forces, notably in Chicago and the high proportion of black people in the country’s jails.
And the gall of the USA to condemn the Russian invasion of Crimea without loss of life after USA invaded Iraq with the loss of 100 X thousands of innocent life. The cheek of it!
If you actually bothered to connect to the real world, the Ukrainian death toll is currently at 75 and will no doubt be vast if Russia and Ukraine go to war. I see no value in jumping around and pointing fingers at the sins of the US when a possibly even worse bloodbath is about to occur
Yes, what’s a little torture between virtue ethicists. They’re our friends! They only torture bad guys, except for when they get the wrong guy, but you can hardly blame them for making a mistake! Everyone makes mistakes.
Today’s sick offering in Stuff illustrates why Duncan Garner’s work needs to be digested with a clothes-pegged nose. Today he starts with a story of a glazier who couldn’t obtain a building apprenticeship, while Fletcher Construction and fellow travelers are importing workers for the Christchurch rebuild. He then blows on the old dog-whistle, implying that the young unemployed are feckless dole bludgerswho should to be forced to work on the Christchurch building sites. Since Fletchers and others are the recipients of massive corporate welfare, they should be forced to provide employment and trade training opportunities for our youth. Instead, they are maximising on the unique profit-making situation the Government has gifted them by bringing in overseas navvies.
Seemingly, Garner’s brain cells are more idle than the hordes of lazy dole bludgers that exist more in his imagination than reality.
As PG seems to be here on TS a lot lately, I thought I would check out Politicheck’s website and their Twitter account to see what was happening.
There seems to be nothing new on the website since the announcement of staff appointments on March 10. Likewise, the latest entry on their twitter account was on March 15.
All these examples of dirty tricks, whisper campaigns and character assassination go by without comment. Our media are captured, lazy and unable to function properly.
Can’t forget the new front in the Nats media machine Gossip.
something ‘funny’ has also happened to john armstrong over the last couple of days..
..after earlier in the week penning one of the few intelligent/considered looks at the possible benefits for both mana party and internet party from forming an alliance-lite umbrella party to fight the election..
..today he is right/write on message – with the official-line..
..and has done a piece that totally pisses all over/rips up what he wrote 48hrs earlier…
..and is basically a vomit all over dotcom and all he stands for..
..and he laughs hysterically at any possibility of any electoral-success..
..on so many levels/ways..w.t.f. happened..?
..and which john armstrong should we give any credence to..?
Barking mad the lot of them, the dogs of National’s disinformation service, Armstrong, Trevett, O’Sullivan showing spasms of the fear that they echo on behalf of the 9th floor of the Beehive,
Does Armstrong have info from someone that us mere peasants are not privy to, in this morning’s grand gush of vitriol He does not mince words about the chances of DotCom being extradited,
”When he is extradited” is Armstrong’s ‘line’ pointing the finger at the Judiciary as having already decided the fate of DotCom,
What causes Armstrong to be so certain about the outcome, has He had word, along with the order to bark long and loud in an attempt to disparage DotCom that ‘the system’ has agreed to close ranks to rid the country of this interloper onto the political playing field???,
To pen such words as ”when He is extradited” with regards to DotCom implies certainty of knowledge from Armstrong, within such an admission is one of broader concern which suggests, far from the common belief, that the Judiciary is as tainted by the same open bias that appears to be the driving force behind the scribblings of Armstrong and the other dogs of the National Party disinformation service…
Armstrong does makes some valid points. Particularly relevant are those about would be voters for the ip not really being the mana demographic, friend of the poor/left which is quite unbelievable given his past form, which does make many think ‘wool over eyes’, and of course the whole paragraph about the real motive behind the party launch – To keep .com from being extradited.
The Alien, reading your comment i just about had a little ‘barking fit’ of my own, ”When He is extradited” is definitely what i read this morning,
Just about makes me want to go out and find the print edition of the Herald(National Party disinformation service),
Could John have been awoken from His slumbers at his computer terminal by the editorial staff telling Him to edit that piece because they have read the inference that i make about the words ”when He is extradited”,
While i cannot ‘swear’ that what i read this morning was what i read my opinion is the piece has suffered a speedy ‘edit’, to subtly change the blunt statement ”when He is extradited” to something a little more elongated but in essence saying exactly the same thing, Paragraph Six says this:
–”And that it will not fold the moment He and the Party’s main source of income move offshore through being extradited to the United States” unquote John Armstrong
There is no IF evident there,so it is still an event that Armstrong ‘sees’ as a given although as exhibited by the part of Paragraph Six i reproduce above there is an obvious softening from the blunt ”when he is extradited’ that i read this morning…
I don’t doubt what you read as on-line content is subject to change, just saying I didn’t see it in the article I linked to, speaking of which, I prefer this quote.
“Dotcom’s purpose in setting up the Internet Party is solely to make it a bottom-line of any post-election talks that whoever is Minister of Justice quash any court ruling which would force his extradition. Such a bottom-line would be preposterous and would amount to Dotcom’s party being the sickest joke played on New Zealand voters.”
i think Armstrong has something wrong with His memory, ”National will not be raising GST” widely broadcast as coming out of the mouth of Slippery the Prime Minister in 2008 prior to the election was a far sicker joke than a slight corruption of the system that Armstrong points to when that system already corrupted itself by allowing DotCom and any number of other’s who could be said to have characters far from unblemished into the country based upon their having ‘money’…
The nats letting weirdo colin and who ever is leading act at the moment in to parliament rivals the .com party as far as sick jokes go, but sadly, that’s what politics seems has come to in it’s race to the bottom.
I’m well aware your not fond of Kim Allen, but a question?
Do you think what Kim allegedly does is a criminal matter or a civil matter.
Because all I see is a civil matter.
If the Hollywood studios can’t sort this civil matter out without having to call in our very own ‘Keystone cops’ The New Zealand Police force, that by the way was seemingly handed over to them by a subservient Government then Hollywood have real problems.
And to take this a bit farther and I’m just day dreaming a bit now, but you really have to wonder if Key in one of his big headed moments, with a nose full of coke said, “leave it to me boys I can save you a fortune in Lawyers fees, I’ll just have the GCSB and the NZ Police sort it out.”
I’m no Lawyer either but I have a lot of faith in the system that we have and basically it works like this, when something new comes to light, it will be tested in law at some stage, I think this is a good system, sure there will be some winners and losers initially at times and some people will make a fortune if forward thinking, but lets take a breath and look at the alternative, which is every new idea has to be tested in law before we have any idea what will happen when it’s used in the real world, which is basically impossible, the genie is out of the bottle.
So basically Napster was a president in Law and since then the music industry has used that to protect and fight for their intellectual/property rights and the same applies here, yet in this case they tried to go down the criminal path from the beginning, when it really was only a civil matter, sure the US have thrown in money laundering and racketeering with the copyright infringement but really it’s about copyright infringement first and the rest is up to the tax department, lets not forget copyright infringement goes on every day in just about every house in this country.
As I understand it the presiding judge looks at the information presented for the extradition hearing by both parties, and makes a decision based solely on that information to make a decision, which is whether there is a case to answer, or not.
And that is all.
There is no jury or anything else – this is in accordance with the Extradition Act.
No you are quite wrong. Most of the decision is made by the judge and much of it is about the applicability of the extradition application to laws in NZ. Since the laws he is charged under in the US aren’t appliciable here, I would say it is a travesty.
Rather than being a lazy papa, raise your standard and read the MFAT summary. It will make you look less of a stupid limp dick…
Checked out the internet party app last this morning. The list of permissions is a bit different to most.
Allow to send messages, record audio, take pictures stand out. Seems unnecessary but I don’t really know how these things work all my other apps dont allow these.
Can anyone offer a more qualified opinion?
They’re attacking a fairly frivolous, comparatively-small amount of spending. It allows them to say ‘look, we attack National government spending too!’ and thus ‘prove’ that they’re independent and unbiased. This comes in handy when they’re later asked why they never criticise the huge wastefulness of the costs of flogging our assets, or the massive amount spent by Treasury on consultants, etc.
There is nothing odd about it at all. I would not be providing financial support to the Taxpayers Union if it was partisan. It is not aligned with any political party:
“The Taxpayers’ Union is 100 per cent politically independent. We are not affiliated with any political party and will never become a political party. ”
Its objective is to promote fiscal responsibility. Indirectly it also promotes policies that protect the poor. It is the poor who get screwed by poor government.
Morrissey………you’re too much. First good belly laugh of the day for me !
Moving on to other matters. Russel Norman on The Nation with Potty G.
“Have you ever smoked a joint ?” “Yes”.
That’s it. A simple, no bullshit “Yes”.
No no no hang on……..it was Gower doing the asking.
Watching it the words “Have you……you prick ?” immediately sprang to my mind. Not Russel Norman though. Perfectly done. More impressive every day that man.
My answer – “Nah……Morrissey, legally as yet, gives me all the giggles I need”.
“When so-called iwi leaders condemn teachers for daring to highlight the massive failings of the New Zealand education system for Maori children in case the Minister of Education might be embarrassed, then they show themselves up as a sad and pathetic group for whom the warm embrace of government has become more important than the needs of their own children and grandchildren.”
…“I am gutted that people who purport to represent Maori people could be so bloody selfish and blind, and I urge them to face up to the realities and demand concrete action to eliminate child poverty in this land of enormous wealth.”
Way to call it Hone, ‘the Iwi Leaders’ look way out of line barking their objections to legitimate protest,
i suppose having the likes of Parata and Slippery the Prime Minister paying to fly them here and there along with the tongue bath of the major ‘Slurps’ dished out their way for the ongoing support of the current regime must make them feel ‘big’,
Its sad to see ‘the leaders’ take the side of the Government while ignoring the plight of the worst off of their people, but,it’s happened befor and i dare say will happen again…
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a happy ending, more a barely adequate resolution:
The Dunedin City Council has paid $3900 for the leg irons Mayor Dave Cull pulled from an auction after an investigation he instigated confirmed they could have been used to restrain Maori political prisoners almost 150 years ago… Mr Cull said although the shackles were already Dunedin City Council property, it was easier to buy them from Mr McCormack than start legal proceedings… The North Island descendants and Otakou runanga would be consulted on the future of the shackles. ”They are still ours and we get the final call, but out of respect since it was their tupuna shackled up in the damn things, we will ask them what they would like to see happen to them.”
Still no answers as to what happened to the other shackles that were there when these were stolen. Plus, with this precedent; it now seems to be open season on any historical artifact in Dunedin that can be swiped with 3 hacksaw blades or less.
They would appear to have rusted away. The obvious deteriation was the reason McCormack nicked them in the first place. Those caves should be made into a museum of this shameful and neglected episode of NZ history.
I’m not convinced by the “rusted away” story – though do recall it from the initial auction article. I strongly suspect the remnants of those shackles are in private hands (perhaps those that looted them, or maybe not even still in the country). Toitu (the Otago settlers museum) was supposed to be in charge of the artifact investigation. Perhaps their examination of the historical site will yield further information?
Reading between the lines, I’d say it was likely to be McCormack’s “late brother” who wanted to hold onto the things. It certainly seems likely that they were shown to others in the 40-odd years since since they were taken (and reconnected with a few links of train chain). But i doubt that an altruistic urge to arrest the artifact’s deterioration was the reason for them sawing their way into a locked cave.
Phil – you are on a roll although I wish you weren’t 🙂
The Greens could be part of a government that signs up to the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement, co-leader Russel Norman has conceded.
His comments on TV3’s The Nation this morning come ahead of nationwide marches against the TPP which are due to take place this afternoon.
Just watched the interview and this is closer to what Norman actually said “The TPP would have to change “very significantly” before the Greens would vote in favour of it.”
Of course the GP could be part of a govt that does things that the GP disagrees with. How else can coalitions be formed?
I’m not clear re the TPP, whether a house-wide vote is required, or whether they mean a decision within caucus. Does anyone know?
Any good reason why the GP in govt can’t abstain on votes or vote against legislation act by act?
Metiria Turei has posted this on Facebook:
“Metiria Turei
Don’t listen to Paddy Gower, he twists everything to what he wants to say not what is real. The Green Party opposes the TPPA. If we are in a govt with Labour it will be bec we have influence and we will use that influence over the TPPA as well as lots of other policies. We will have more influence if we have more votes so we need your Party Vote on September 20 to strengthen our arm in the negotiations. You have the power to influence the outcome on the TPPA and deep sea oil drilling. For the sake of our people and oceans, please use that power on September 20.”
Given that we’ve all seen what wee Paddy can do, I believe her.
In that case you should get in touch and ask her. As unbelievable as most of us would find it, your posts and your blog may not be the first items on her list of “must reads” each day.
Nah, with you, it’s always about you. You crave attention so much you have a Pete George like ability to settle for abuse and contempt. It’s about you so much that you expect that people will pay to read your blog. You have one of the largest and most undeserved egos I’ve ever come across. You misunderstand almost everything you read, then call others liars. Oh, it’s about you alright. You have a total inability to let it be about anything else.
Basically, Norman said the Greens would be pragmatic in any post-election deals as they have been in every case in the past (excluding GMO). Meanwhile Gower was trying his damndest to put words in Russel’s mouth.
What did you expect Russel to say, Phil?
“I’m not going to compromise on anything!”???
Can’t wait for the spun version of the interview from Gower on TV3 tonight.
Did he say he was going to compromise on everything?
No he did not.
He was realistic that whatever they could achieve would be dependent on their party vote. At one point I think he actually implored the viewer to vote Green so they would have more bargaining power post-election.
He wasn’t going to be drawn into a crystal-ball session just because Gower wanted him to say something he could hang him on.
I hope that Labour changes their position on TPP. I’m hoping that their position is really just Goff’s position and that Labour will change that in the near future.
They look foolish and untrustworthy to bang on about neoliberalism and then still support TPP.
Yeah OK Phil – welcome to ShonKey Python, then the Milky Bar Crud, then the poncey wee Simon Bridges, then some entitled little Young Nationals git who right now is still at Kings College – as our prime ministers from here until 20 years hence.
You’re reminding me of the virgin who while aching to get into it absolutely won’t get into it for fear that it won’t be perfect straight off and it might be messy. And fuck’n moaning about the lack of it. Lighten up for fuck’s sake.
Russel Norman/Metiria Turei/all the Greens are light years more real and gifted than ShonKey Python and his band of venal, mainchance sociopaths. They’ve been the only real opposition to the sociopaths for at least the past three years Phil ! Give them a little bit of credit man. Instead of being insufferably impeccable all the time. Grizzling old virgin you.
I’m not a Greenie either. Renewed my MANA Movement membership just the other day. Shit it felt good !
Can folks on The Standard pool information about which of our Member of Parliaments were speaking or standing with the people at the 16 locations this afternoon?
Quite obviously, Natz puppets would be safely tucked away in their corporate cupboards.
Greens have been very visible all round the country, I understand.
Were any Labour MPs or candidates out and about, and where?
I don’t have to spin anything, especially you making contradictory statements in the space of two posts, that’s plain to see by all.
I’ll wear your pedant medal like I wear the chuckle at your disingenuous perception.
For the record, I’m watching the replay of the nation and Norman explicitly said he was against deep sea drilling… That’s strike one.
On the tpp about whether the Green party could vote for the tpp he said, “it could potentially, but it depends” [on the size of the green vote and what the tpp contains]. Strike two
I can only repeat what I’ve just seen and heard, but it does differ from what you’ve stated, well the first time any way. The second time, when you said “he may well vote for the tpp” you got it correct.
Most rational folk will agree that Norman’s main thrust was the more votes the Green party gets, the stronger it’s negotiating position, and thus more party policy makes it to the statute book.
I’m happy to disagree, but certain those more qualified and invested in Green politics than I, can explain it to you.
I don’t have TV reception, and can’t see any online clips yet on the TV3 site of Norman’s Nation interview. However, I am more inclined to regard The Allen’s summary as the accurate one. I guess I’ll have to wait until after tomorrow to know for sure.
It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.
“..It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it…”
doesn’t it..?
..you could call this the exposing the inherent contradictions interview for norman..
..and i guess..like allen..you will see/read/believe what you want to see/read/believe..
..but i don’t think i will be the only one making that call on normans’ revelations..
I don’t see how, the caveat on my music page clearly states I can’t sing or play, and I do advise the listener have cotton buds and bleach close to hand, just in case they need to rinse their ears.
Likewise I’m sure the Greens aren’t trying to con anyone out of a vote by becoming seriously electable and using the tools at their disposal to put forward their message. It’s not a sin or crime or double standard, just like Dylan using an electric guitar wasn’t a sell out or a bad thing.
But the Greens are doing well as a 15% party vote shows. They can sing there own tunes, with or without electronic aid, I don’t mind 😉
“If I were an old school green party supporter I would be feeling a bit gutted by this, and as I am, I am. What the fuck have they done to ‘my’ party?”
The edit is mine, as a little Saturday gift 😉
To answer, I think what they have done is make the party much more electable to a wider section of the electorate.
It’s still my intention to give them my party vote in September, and I’ve seen or heard nothing from them that has caused me to contemplate changing my mind. The party looks to be in good shape, based on sound principles, headed by professional, dedicated mps.
Who could want more from a left of centre party than an electable, credible partner in government shaping the direction of a still ‘wonky’ Labour party?
“It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.”
It would indeed if Norman had said that, but he didn’t. What he said was that the agreement would have to change hugely for the GP to support it. He also didn’t say that he or the GP will support deep sea oil drilling or fracking. Nor did he say that legalising cannabis isn’t a priority. It was actually Gower that said the first two things and phil that said the third thing. I think The Al1en’s summation above is pretty good, and here is the link for those that can watch it online
No he didn’t say those things either, and I didn’t say he did. You really do have trouble with comprehension phil. All I have done is watch the video and point out that your portrayal was quite inaccurate. I’m not the only one that has done that.
Norman confirmed there were no bottom lines for the Green Party to support a Labour-led government.
Unlike genetically engineered organisms in 2002, the TPPA is not a bottom line for the Green Party in 2014. Whatever else he says, this is the pertinent point.
He also said he did not think legalising cannabis would be on the party’s key priority list in post election negotiations.
They’re valid questions, because this once radical party may be on the brink of holding ministerial posts.
As Sue Bradford suggested in the panel discussion afterwards, the party has changed and is now focused on the centre vote, and more willing to compromise.
Having said that, Gower needs to broaden his question base from bottom lines, it’s tiresome.
Surprisingly, Phil is completely wrong. Russel Norman explicitly says the Greens are against deep sea drilling and fracking, and support the decriminalisation of cannabis. Gower tries hard to push him into a corner, but is not successful.
What he says about the actions of a government in which the Greens might play a part is quite reasonable. They will fight for their policies and how successful they are will depend on the weight of seats. From his point of view, it would be irresponsible to say much more than this.
No-one is claiming the Greens will actively support policies against their core principles, just that they are not making them bottom lines in terms of giving support to Labour to form a government. There is a difference. Sue Bradford on the panel afterwards said that if she was a Green member, she would be worried by the extent to which the party has moved to the centre. She said she was surprised by some of Norman’s answers. Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.
“Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.”
I’ve lived in NZ for nearly 50 years and I’ve never had a govt or political party who met my expectations. I don’t really know why people on the outside of the bell curve expect things to be the way they want. I thought the point of being on the edge was to lead the way. The GP have been doing that for a long time. It’s now time for them to step into the responsibility they’ve been working for and that means being mainstream. There will have to be compromises, but I don’t see any problem with what they have done to date. Once the GP gain govt, I expect to be thoroughly pissed off with them within the decade, but I completely support the move they are making in that direction now. The best thing about that TV3 piece was Fitzimmons saying how not having cabinet posts worked in their favour and for the betterment of the country. The point there isn’t that staying outside of govt is best, but that the GP plays the game smart. They still are, it’s just that smart is a different strategy now. She also said that it was more important back then for them to build the GP long term. I feel such gratitude to her and those other GP workers right now, because that foresight and hard work is about to pay off.
Yes people can feel disappointed, but then they start slagging off the GP by misrepresenting what the GP is doing then they can expect to be called on it.
People can listen to it for themselves. He said decriminalisation woudn’t be on the top 10 issues. Anyone who hadn’t rotted their brain cells past the ability to write a coherent sentence, let alone understand one, would be able to see that.
It’s you that is outright lying phil. Decriminilising cannabis is still GP policy. Before the election they will name their top ten issues so that people will know what will be the key areas on the table for post-election negotiations, and Norman expects that cannabis won’t be on that list. But that is completely different than saying it’s not on their to do list.
No they fucking don’t. They think that there are at least 10 other issues more important to be dealing with as a priority this election (actually, we don’t know, because the GP hasn’t named that list of ten yet, Norman just said he doubted cannabis would be on it). Most GP voters will agree with that (and most NZers).
There is nothing to stop GP members or MPs advancing the cause of legalising cannabis in the next electoral cycle. What are you doing to help them phil?
“phil, there’s a difference between a list of stuff you want to do and a list of stuff you think you can do given your circumstances.”
Indeed, but I’ll just point out that all Norman said was that he doubted that cannabis decriminalisation would be in the top ten. He didn’t say it wasn’t going to be worked on, and in fact reasserted that decriminalisation is still GP policy.
Even if the GP were polling higher than Labour, I doubt that they would consider decriminalising cannabis as in the top ten (they might, it’s up to the party, not Norman). There are many urgent issues out there. Will be interesting to see what the top ten are this year.
Phil, all I am asking of you is some intellectual honesty. You are misrepresenting Norman’s words to suit your own agenda. Puts you in the same bracket as Gower. That’s up to you, but when it distorts the political discussion, that makes it other people’s business.
Thanks for the link. PU seems to have manned the barricades on this one, but Norman is no more pro-TPP than he is pro-deep sea drilling. No contradiction.
Too much time spent on David Hay in the preamble though, why is he so keen to be where he’s not wanted? And there were a few points where one might validly criticise Norman’s performance; fortunately PU and Gower seem to have missed them entirely.
Yeah, I thought the focus on Hay was ott (thankfully the guy seems to have gotten the message now). Am curious as to the points you where might criticise Norman’s performance.
Chris Trotter had a think about the Te Kohanga Reo and Maori TV situations that have been in the news lately.
His comments on Maori direction seem to fit what I observe.
…the next big challenge facing Maori. Either the gains of renaissance and revolution will be captured by an increasingly authoritarian and self-protective Maori middle-class, or they will be extended to all Maori people – especially those young Maori trapped in the poverty-racked and crime-ridden ghettoes of major cities.
The Kohanga Reo scandal (itself the result of young journalists from Maori Television’s `Native Affairs’ refusing to be intimidated by the trust board’s networks of patronage and protection) is, therefore, much more than an issue for Maori to sort out on their own.
The fruits of renaissance and revolution in Aotearoa-New Zealand cannot be secured for Maori in the face of Pakeha indifference.
Looking at the Maori Party and the behaviour exhibited by many iwi following treaty payouts and the still deplorable situations of many young urban Maori, one doesn’t need to be Nostradamus to work that one out.
Film-maker Ken Loach argues in the Guardian this week that Labour is part of the problem, not the solution.
It’s worth a read and applies equally in NZ; no party’s tapping into fragmented and various social causes and protest movements. The surge of enthusiasm we saw last year in the unions and to an extent the electorate for Cunliffe was in my view expressing hope of a new left movement. My fear is that if Labour loses this election the right of the party will firmly take control, under the phony pretext that the electorate rejected the move to the left, which never eventuated as Cunliffe turned out to be business as usual.
From Loach’s piece:
‘We know that housing support goes to rich landlords, that benefits for the working poor subsidise employers who pay poverty wages. We read that benefit fraud is a tiny fraction of the overall welfare budget, far less than unclaimed benefits, and is nothing compared to the amount lost through tax dodging. But as we rail against the injustice and hypocrisy, we fail to ask one big question. Where is our political fightback? It should be led by the Labour party but therein lies the problem.
The coalition parties proclaim the importance of the market economy. So does Labour. The coalition cuts back on public enterprise and prioritises the interests of big corporations and private companies. So did the last Labour government. Whenever workers organise to defend jobs, wages or conditions, who supports them? Not Ed Miliband or other Labour leaders.’
The coalition parties proclaim the importance of the market economy. So does Labour.
And therein lies the problem. Labour refuses to accept that the free-market dogma that they saddled us with in the 1980s is the problem and thus Labour remain part of the problem and not the solution.
Good comment worth reading – here are some bits of gold from Ken Loach leftunity article.
Labour’s rhetoric may be softer than the Tories’, but its fundamental stance is limited by the same imperative: profit comes before all else. Can the Labour party be reclaimed? Or, rather, made anew into one that will represent the interests of the people?
History suggests it cannot. The high-water mark of 1945 is long gone. The many great achievements of that government have largely been dismantled, either with the collusion of Labour or directly by the party when it has been in power. The Labour left has all but disappeared, and even Tony Benn’s voice is now sadly silent. A Miliband government will not reverse any of the privatisations in the health service or elsewhere. It will not take the railways back into public ownership – despite the popularity of such a move – or even reclaim Royal Mail…….
The Labour manifesto of 1945 would be a better inspiration. It promised “a socialist party and proud of it. Its ultimate purpose … is the establishment of the socialist commonwealth, free, democratic, efficient, progressive, public-spirited, its material resources organised in the service of the … people”.
A new party must be democratic, principled and properly organised. It needs an analysis of contemporary politics with a set of immediate demands: an industrial strategy to create green jobs, a statutory living wage, a public housing programme and a cap on private rents, an end to all privatisation in the health service.
Left Unity has a conference in Manchester on Saturday (29 March). Visit http://www.leftunity.org
Here’s more evidence that National’s anti-Internet-Party blitzkrieg is partly motivated by the fear that dotcom may get more votes than the MSM suspect.
Keith Locke talks about how National’s attempts to paint the Greens as extremists backfired and contributed to them breaking the 5% threshold to get into parliament.
Perhaps the same could occur with the Internet Party.
Just wanted to acknowledge the recent deaths of two important Wellington progressives:
Today’s Dominion Post included an obituary for trade unionist, feminist and activist, Viv Walker. Viv’s agenda “was not to get more women into the board rooms of CEO’s offices; it was to get rights for the women who cleaned the boardrooms and corporate offices.” She was active in the anti-apartheid and feminist movements and it’s typical of the modesty and humility of people like Viv that she left instructions that no-one was to make her into a hero at her funeral – she wanted to be seen as ordinary.
(Brilliant but self-depreciating activists like Viv are worth a thousand Helen Clarks and other status-seeking, power-hungry upper-middle class liberal elites in my opinion. She’s one of the true heros, even if she denied as much).
In January, long-time and legendary Victoria University Political Scientist, Les Cleveland , died (aged 92). He had a highly colourful life, fought as a member of the 2NZEF in the Pacific and Italy in WWII (a keen moutaineer, he scaled Mt Blanc as part of his own post-WWII victory celebration), a poet, singer/song-writer, authority on wartime songs, press gallery journalist, photographer, short-story writer and folklorist. Cleveland was also a long-time protester, as a relatively recent Dominion Post obituary put it: “there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
Thanks swordfish. I like this comment on Les Cleveland –
“there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
If all Labour had had that deeply embedded then we wouldn’t have lost Savage’s commitment to people and had it replaced by devotion to The People, The Party and to maintaining the Left idea in politics and unions, rather than the Left ideal.
“We’re cautious about saying, ‘Medical marijuana laws definitely reduce homicide.’ That’s not what we’re saying,” Morris said. “The main finding is that we found no increase in crime rates resulting from medical marijuana legalization. In fact, we found some evidence of decreasing rates of some types of violent crime, namely homicide and assault.
my comment is ,just to ask you why any body like my self who has spoken out about an issue that I feel needs a public discussion and has affected my whole adult life , find my self ignored should feel ok with democracy as it is . .five years is a long time to wait and if others have been brushed aside as I have been then all is lost . there is no longer any interest in what others who want my vote have too say yet again I will throw my vote away on a minor party .
Question Why pay attention to Dotcom.
Answer Because this is a political stage and all of us merely players: –
And now he is on our side. Why can’t we accept what could be a helping hand when we are stretched. Get real Pop. And don’t waste your venom on left supporters. We may be lesser beings to yourself but we have our uses.
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
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A positive, inspirational report to start the day, surprisingly the lead story on Stuff at the moment at least.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9881861/Driven-by-fight-for-justice
And best wishes to all of those able to make it to the various demonstrations happening throughout the country today.
EDIT – Snap with North at 2!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9881861/Driven-by-fight-for-justice
Beautiful !
US human rights high ground under pressure
And the gall of the USA to condemn the Russian invasion of Crimea without loss of life after USA invaded Iraq with the loss of 100 X thousands of innocent life. The cheek of it!
Turkey initiates Youtube ban to constrain inconvenient evidence.
http://rt.com/news/turkey-syria-phone-leak-861/
Turkey a NATO member seems to be implicated in a Wag the dog experiment.
If you actually bothered to connect to the real world, the Ukrainian death toll is currently at 75 and will no doubt be vast if Russia and Ukraine go to war. I see no value in jumping around and pointing fingers at the sins of the US when a possibly even worse bloodbath is about to occur
Yes, what’s a little torture between virtue ethicists. They’re our friends! They only torture bad guys, except for when they get the wrong guy, but you can hardly blame them for making a mistake! Everyone makes mistakes.
well don’t do the crime…geezzz
Today’s sick offering in Stuff illustrates why Duncan Garner’s work needs to be digested with a clothes-pegged nose. Today he starts with a story of a glazier who couldn’t obtain a building apprenticeship, while Fletcher Construction and fellow travelers are importing workers for the Christchurch rebuild. He then blows on the old dog-whistle, implying that the young unemployed are feckless dole bludgerswho should to be forced to work on the Christchurch building sites. Since Fletchers and others are the recipients of massive corporate welfare, they should be forced to provide employment and trade training opportunities for our youth. Instead, they are maximising on the unique profit-making situation the Government has gifted them by bringing in overseas navvies.
Seemingly, Garner’s brain cells are more idle than the hordes of lazy dole bludgers that exist more in his imagination than reality.
As PG seems to be here on TS a lot lately, I thought I would check out Politicheck’s website and their Twitter account to see what was happening.
There seems to be nothing new on the website since the announcement of staff appointments on March 10. Likewise, the latest entry on their twitter account was on March 15.
Dead in the water?
Waiting, waiting – 1,2,3,……
If there was ever any chance that Politicheck would succeed, it ended with the appointment of Pete George.
pete gorge has singlehandedly turned politichek into an antipodean marie celeste..
..”..unmanned and apparently abandoned..”
..heh..!
Peter Cook channels Fuctcheck’s Pete George (finest description of PG ever at 4.20): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0lraX7Hmk
“Is that a fact?”
rofl. Cheers TRP.
Two days, two articles, two different media outlets admitting that they know National use Slater/Farrar to smear and dissemble.
Both media outlets admit they are still happy to run those lines without attribution to who actually provides the source material.
Drinnan in The Herald & Watkin’s at Fairfax.
All these examples of dirty tricks, whisper campaigns and character assassination go by without comment. Our media are captured, lazy and unable to function properly.
Can’t forget the new front in the Nats media machine Gossip.
Good comment, – worth putting in a quick post, if you don’t mind, andy?
something ‘funny’ has also happened to john armstrong over the last couple of days..
..after earlier in the week penning one of the few intelligent/considered looks at the possible benefits for both mana party and internet party from forming an alliance-lite umbrella party to fight the election..
..today he is right/write on message – with the official-line..
..and has done a piece that totally pisses all over/rips up what he wrote 48hrs earlier…
..and is basically a vomit all over dotcom and all he stands for..
..and he laughs hysterically at any possibility of any electoral-success..
..on so many levels/ways..w.t.f. happened..?
..and which john armstrong should we give any credence to..?
..if any..?
Barking mad the lot of them, the dogs of National’s disinformation service, Armstrong, Trevett, O’Sullivan showing spasms of the fear that they echo on behalf of the 9th floor of the Beehive,
Does Armstrong have info from someone that us mere peasants are not privy to, in this morning’s grand gush of vitriol He does not mince words about the chances of DotCom being extradited,
”When he is extradited” is Armstrong’s ‘line’ pointing the finger at the Judiciary as having already decided the fate of DotCom,
What causes Armstrong to be so certain about the outcome, has He had word, along with the order to bark long and loud in an attempt to disparage DotCom that ‘the system’ has agreed to close ranks to rid the country of this interloper onto the political playing field???,
To pen such words as ”when He is extradited” with regards to DotCom implies certainty of knowledge from Armstrong, within such an admission is one of broader concern which suggests, far from the common belief, that the Judiciary is as tainted by the same open bias that appears to be the driving force behind the scribblings of Armstrong and the other dogs of the National Party disinformation service…
”when He is extradited”
Can’t see that bit in Armstrong’s article.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11228272
Armstrong does makes some valid points. Particularly relevant are those about would be voters for the ip not really being the mana demographic, friend of the poor/left which is quite unbelievable given his past form, which does make many think ‘wool over eyes’, and of course the whole paragraph about the real motive behind the party launch – To keep .com from being extradited.
The Alien, reading your comment i just about had a little ‘barking fit’ of my own, ”When He is extradited” is definitely what i read this morning,
Just about makes me want to go out and find the print edition of the Herald(National Party disinformation service),
Could John have been awoken from His slumbers at his computer terminal by the editorial staff telling Him to edit that piece because they have read the inference that i make about the words ”when He is extradited”,
While i cannot ‘swear’ that what i read this morning was what i read my opinion is the piece has suffered a speedy ‘edit’, to subtly change the blunt statement ”when He is extradited” to something a little more elongated but in essence saying exactly the same thing, Paragraph Six says this:
–”And that it will not fold the moment He and the Party’s main source of income move offshore through being extradited to the United States” unquote John Armstrong
There is no IF evident there,so it is still an event that Armstrong ‘sees’ as a given although as exhibited by the part of Paragraph Six i reproduce above there is an obvious softening from the blunt ”when he is extradited’ that i read this morning…
I don’t doubt what you read as on-line content is subject to change, just saying I didn’t see it in the article I linked to, speaking of which, I prefer this quote.
“Dotcom’s purpose in setting up the Internet Party is solely to make it a bottom-line of any post-election talks that whoever is Minister of Justice quash any court ruling which would force his extradition. Such a bottom-line would be preposterous and would amount to Dotcom’s party being the sickest joke played on New Zealand voters.”
i think Armstrong has something wrong with His memory, ”National will not be raising GST” widely broadcast as coming out of the mouth of Slippery the Prime Minister in 2008 prior to the election was a far sicker joke than a slight corruption of the system that Armstrong points to when that system already corrupted itself by allowing DotCom and any number of other’s who could be said to have characters far from unblemished into the country based upon their having ‘money’…
The nats letting weirdo colin and who ever is leading act at the moment in to parliament rivals the .com party as far as sick jokes go, but sadly, that’s what politics seems has come to in it’s race to the bottom.
I’m well aware your not fond of Kim Allen, but a question?
Do you think what Kim allegedly does is a criminal matter or a civil matter.
Because all I see is a civil matter.
If the Hollywood studios can’t sort this civil matter out without having to call in our very own ‘Keystone cops’ The New Zealand Police force, that by the way was seemingly handed over to them by a subservient Government then Hollywood have real problems.
And to take this a bit farther and I’m just day dreaming a bit now, but you really have to wonder if Key in one of his big headed moments, with a nose full of coke said, “leave it to me boys I can save you a fortune in Lawyers fees, I’ll just have the GCSB and the NZ Police sort it out.”
Not being a lawyer I wouldn’t have a clue, it’ll be a guess at best.
For the copyright infringements I’ll plump for criminal, citing Napster as a precedent, and the money laundering, if true, likewise.
I’m no Lawyer either but I have a lot of faith in the system that we have and basically it works like this, when something new comes to light, it will be tested in law at some stage, I think this is a good system, sure there will be some winners and losers initially at times and some people will make a fortune if forward thinking, but lets take a breath and look at the alternative, which is every new idea has to be tested in law before we have any idea what will happen when it’s used in the real world, which is basically impossible, the genie is out of the bottle.
So basically Napster was a president in Law and since then the music industry has used that to protect and fight for their intellectual/property rights and the same applies here, yet in this case they tried to go down the criminal path from the beginning, when it really was only a civil matter, sure the US have thrown in money laundering and racketeering with the copyright infringement but really it’s about copyright infringement first and the rest is up to the tax department, lets not forget copyright infringement goes on every day in just about every house in this country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&M_Records,_Inc._v._Napster,_Inc.
This was nothing more than New Zealand bending over and taking one in the Ass for Uncle Sams Hollywood executives.
As I understand it the presiding judge looks at the information presented for the extradition hearing by both parties, and makes a decision based solely on that information to make a decision, which is whether there is a case to answer, or not.
And that is all.
There is no jury or anything else – this is in accordance with the Extradition Act.
No you are quite wrong. Most of the decision is made by the judge and much of it is about the applicability of the extradition application to laws in NZ. Since the laws he is charged under in the US aren’t appliciable here, I would say it is a travesty.
Rather than being a lazy papa, raise your standard and read the MFAT summary. It will make you look less of a stupid limp dick…
@Karol: Help yourself, I am not a writer so please feel free to expand. I am quite dejected about the poor state of our political media.
The Standard is suggested to be the leftwing counterpart to Whaleoil in the Watkins piece. Ugh.
The thing about Whaleoil is that it takes the heat off of David Farrar/KiwiBlog/Curia who I think is more destructive than Cameron Slater.
@ geoff..re slater/farrar comment..
..+ 1..
this is a really well-written piece of longform-journalism..
..it us a total delight..actually..(lyn of tawa prounciay-tion of ‘is’..)
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/28/dave-eggers-starship-mohegan-sun-casino-connecticut
cool guy goes to mock – a 70’s revival-band..and stays to praise…
Checked out the internet party app last this morning. The list of permissions is a bit different to most.
Allow to send messages, record audio, take pictures stand out. Seems unnecessary but I don’t really know how these things work all my other apps dont allow these.
Can anyone offer a more qualified opinion?
What’s going on here?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9877103/Taxpayers-Union-slags-Americas-Cup-spend
‘Taxpayers’ union (David Farrar + Jordan Williams) having a go at Steven Joyce.
Odd.
Explanation?
they support collins against joyce in the national party succession-battle..
..they see him as ‘wet’ vs collins’ ‘dry’..
..and this pushes that ‘wet’-meme..
..and is a dogwhistle to the party members/party-base..
..that could well be a component of that ‘explanation’..
They’re attacking a fairly frivolous, comparatively-small amount of spending. It allows them to say ‘look, we attack National government spending too!’ and thus ‘prove’ that they’re independent and unbiased. This comes in handy when they’re later asked why they never criticise the huge wastefulness of the costs of flogging our assets, or the massive amount spent by Treasury on consultants, etc.
There is nothing odd about it at all. I would not be providing financial support to the Taxpayers Union if it was partisan. It is not aligned with any political party:
“The Taxpayers’ Union is 100 per cent politically independent. We are not affiliated with any political party and will never become a political party. ”
http://taxpayers.org.nz/pages/q-a
Its objective is to promote fiscal responsibility. Indirectly it also promotes policies that protect the poor. It is the poor who get screwed by poor government.
So – I am surprised that you are surprised.
SSLands you wouldn’t be providing financial support to the Taxpayer’s Union if you were not a certifiable idiot of the worst kind…
membership/donating-member numbers..?
..and who are the selected wealthy rightwingers who are paying for this..?
..funding what is essentially a rightwing attack-machine..?
..like i believe the bullshit williams spouts..
It is the poor who get screwed by poor government.
Good to know you think National are a poor government.
Let’s work together to get rid of them!
Any movie makers out there?
(Serious ones, that is: not that bearded fat creep in Wellington)
Plot idea: 97 per cent of the world’s scientists contrive an environmental crisis, but are exposed by a plucky band of billionaires and oil companies.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1395825903.html
Morrissey………you’re too much. First good belly laugh of the day for me !
Moving on to other matters. Russel Norman on The Nation with Potty G.
“Have you ever smoked a joint ?” “Yes”.
That’s it. A simple, no bullshit “Yes”.
No no no hang on……..it was Gower doing the asking.
Watching it the words “Have you……you prick ?” immediately sprang to my mind. Not Russel Norman though. Perfectly done. More impressive every day that man.
My answer – “Nah……Morrissey, legally as yet, gives me all the giggles I need”.
did you not think it more of note that he said that ending pot-prohibition would not be on their/his list of priorities..?
..and doesn’t that so much more bring into focus tureis’ criminal inaction on that medical marijuana bill..?
..eh..?..
..and take note of this..
..should the internet party..
..(on personal-freedom/evidence-based/harm-reduction grounds..what they claim are the rationales underpinning all their policies..so..?..)
..should they come out with a sane/rational legalise/regulate/tax cannabis policy..
..they will hoover up many votes..
..and not a few of those votes will be lost to the greens..
..’cos that was their mandate..and they have not delivered to those who first got them into parliament..(their ingratitude has been epic..)..
..and norman now confirming that no..they won’t be doing anything about prohibition..
..that leaves a huge vacuum/opportunity..
..one that i am sure dotcom and his advisers/policy-makers will also see..
..and..they would be mad not to really..
..and it wd hardly be radical for the internet party to go hard on pot..
..as this link shows..just a day or so ago..the southern state in america deemed to be the most conservative state in america…
..unanimously passed what they are calling ‘cathys’ law’..authorising serious funding for research into the seizure-prevention qualities in cannabis..
..we are told both sides of the house chanted in unison:..’pass the law..!..pass the law..!’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/27/conservative-south-states-ready-to-break-the-marijuana-taboo_n_5006454.html
..and this in the most conservative state in america..
..and meanwhile here in nz…?
..our green party hasn’t even got in anywhere on their to-do list..
..what is wrong with that picture..?
..it may be time for mr dotcom to step up to the bowl..
..and won’t a sane/rational pot-policy get that disenchanted youth motivated enough to go and vote..?
..eh..?
..it also puzzles me that the green party seems unable to see/understand this political-fact..
..i guess they are blinded by those bmw-badges..
..by their personal ambitions..
..how can this not be the case..
..and tho’ that rightwing green twerp who was interviewed..
..is/was wrong on so many levels..
..(especially in his craven self-serving during his time as candidate in epsom..)
..one thing he said cannot be contradicted..
..that is the insane pattern of the green party studiously ignoring where one third of the voters lie..
..from fitzsimons’ always just turning right at the airport exit..
..and driving to the coromandal..and was never seen in auckland..
..to former aucklanders norman and turei now in wellington and dunedin respectively..
..auckland is still clearly suffering from that benign neglect..
..one of them should be based in auckland..
..and part of their job being seen..
..at all ak has to offer each and every weekend..
..and their neglect is mirrored in their support here in ak..
..where their cote is much lower than in the rest of the country..
..the green party..putting the ‘belt’ in beltway..
..eh..?
Good response from Hone and Mana
http://mana.net.nz/2014/03/no-prestige-in-trying-to-hide-poverty/
Worth reading the whole press release imo
Good on yer Hone.
Way to call it Hone, ‘the Iwi Leaders’ look way out of line barking their objections to legitimate protest,
i suppose having the likes of Parata and Slippery the Prime Minister paying to fly them here and there along with the tongue bath of the major ‘Slurps’ dished out their way for the ongoing support of the current regime must make them feel ‘big’,
Its sad to see ‘the leaders’ take the side of the Government while ignoring the plight of the worst off of their people, but,it’s happened befor and i dare say will happen again…
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a happy ending, more a barely adequate resolution:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/297047/shackle-buy-better-court-cull
Still no answers as to what happened to the other shackles that were there when these were stolen. Plus, with this precedent; it now seems to be open season on any historical artifact in Dunedin that can be swiped with 3 hacksaw blades or less.
They would appear to have rusted away. The obvious deteriation was the reason McCormack nicked them in the first place. Those caves should be made into a museum of this shameful and neglected episode of NZ history.
I’m not convinced by the “rusted away” story – though do recall it from the initial auction article. I strongly suspect the remnants of those shackles are in private hands (perhaps those that looted them, or maybe not even still in the country). Toitu (the Otago settlers museum) was supposed to be in charge of the artifact investigation. Perhaps their examination of the historical site will yield further information?
Reading between the lines, I’d say it was likely to be McCormack’s “late brother” who wanted to hold onto the things. It certainly seems likely that they were shown to others in the 40-odd years since since they were taken (and reconnected with a few links of train chain). But i doubt that an altruistic urge to arrest the artifact’s deterioration was the reason for them sawing their way into a locked cave.
I am only citing the answers they gave to the media, I do not claim to be able to do Vulcan mind melds.
russel norman is currently doing serious damage to the green vote/support..
..on the nation..
..they will support deep-sea drilling..
..changing cannabis laws is not a priority..
..they will suppport fracking..
..they will vote to support a tpp-deal..
..what..the..fuck..???..!!!!
..they will be a total sellout..to everything that matters to those whose shoulders they stand on
..and all just for fucken ministerial roles…
..fucken hell..!
..eh..?
..why the fuck would anyone vote for them..?
Re the TPPA – how does what you have written above reconcile with this
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151946683671372&set=a.489359751371.266952.10779081371&type=1&theater
it totally contradicts it marty…
..and i guess i wd lean to the words out of normans’ mouth under questioning..
..that i just heard..
..that he may well vote for the tpp..
..than a promo-poster..
..which wd you believe..?
“..they will vote to support a tpp-deal..”
“..that he may well vote for the tpp..”
“..that i just heard..”
“..which wd you believe..?”
what is the difference..allen..?
Really? One is a definitive, the other is not.
you get todays’ pedant-award..
..the bottom-line is that norman said that as part of a coalition with labour..
..they would support deep-sea-oil-drilling/fracking/wouldn’t decriminalise cannabis..
..and would vote for a tpp-deal..
..go on..!
..fucken spin that..!
Phil – you are on a roll although I wish you weren’t 🙂
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11228752
Just watched the interview and this is closer to what Norman actually said “The TPP would have to change “very significantly” before the Greens would vote in favour of it.”
Of course the GP could be part of a govt that does things that the GP disagrees with. How else can coalitions be formed?
I’m not clear re the TPP, whether a house-wide vote is required, or whether they mean a decision within caucus. Does anyone know?
Any good reason why the GP in govt can’t abstain on votes or vote against legislation act by act?
weka..
..and yr spin on the vote for fracking/deep-sea-drilling/no decrim of cannabis..?
..would love to see/hear how you will package that doozy-trio..
and seriously..!..one persons’ ‘significant-change’..
..is anothers’ s.f.a..
“..Any good reason why the GP in govt can’t abstain on votes or vote against legislation act by act?..”
..no weka..they can’t..it’s called collective cabinet responsibilty..
..if they slide their arses into those bmw’s..
..they will have to vote for whatever piece of shit labour may throw up..
..and they can’t even speak out against it..
..how’s them berries..?
Metiria Turei has posted this on Facebook:
“Metiria Turei
Don’t listen to Paddy Gower, he twists everything to what he wants to say not what is real. The Green Party opposes the TPPA. If we are in a govt with Labour it will be bec we have influence and we will use that influence over the TPPA as well as lots of other policies. We will have more influence if we have more votes so we need your Party Vote on September 20 to strengthen our arm in the negotiations. You have the power to influence the outcome on the TPPA and deep sea oil drilling. For the sake of our people and oceans, please use that power on September 20.”
Given that we’ve all seen what wee Paddy can do, I believe her.
i want to see her deny/promise the greens wd vote for the tpp..
..anything less is nothing…
..and just confirms that they wd..
..and how about the deep-sea-drilling/fracking/fuck pot-reform..?
In that case you should get in touch and ask her. As unbelievable as most of us would find it, your posts and your blog may not be the first items on her list of “must reads” each day.
it’s not about me muzza..
..it’s about the green party..
..eh..?
..and i’m sure i wouldn’t be the only one seeking that (elusive) assurance..
..you really have to pin lawyers down..
..i find..
Nah, with you, it’s always about you. You crave attention so much you have a Pete George like ability to settle for abuse and contempt. It’s about you so much that you expect that people will pay to read your blog. You have one of the largest and most undeserved egos I’ve ever come across. You misunderstand almost everything you read, then call others liars. Oh, it’s about you alright. You have a total inability to let it be about anything else.
was it something i said..there..?..muzza..?
http://www.3news.co.nz/Norman-sets-sights-on-deputy-PM-role/tabid/1348/articleID/337889/Default.aspx
I just watched the vid.
Basically, Norman said the Greens would be pragmatic in any post-election deals as they have been in every case in the past (excluding GMO). Meanwhile Gower was trying his damndest to put words in Russel’s mouth.
What did you expect Russel to say, Phil?
“I’m not going to compromise on anything!”???
Can’t wait for the spun version of the interview from Gower on TV3 tonight.
As Norman says:
“Well, no, Paddy- you can paraphrase it like that, but..”
“..What did you expect Russel to say, Phil?
“I’m not going to compromise on anything!”???
..maybe not..
‘i’m going to compromise on everything’
..eh.?
..i mean..why would you bother voting for them..
..if they are just fucken labour-lite..?
Did he say he was going to compromise on everything?
No he did not.
He was realistic that whatever they could achieve would be dependent on their party vote. At one point I think he actually implored the viewer to vote Green so they would have more bargaining power post-election.
He wasn’t going to be drawn into a crystal-ball session just because Gower wanted him to say something he could hang him on.
“Greens opposition to TPP remains. Our ability to deliver on this position, and others, in any post election negotiations depends on our vote”
https://twitter.com/RusselNorman/status/449778285874905089
Doorknocking for the party of David Cunliffe and Phil Goff won’t guarantee opposition to the TPP.
I hope that Labour changes their position on TPP. I’m hoping that their position is really just Goff’s position and that Labour will change that in the near future.
They look foolish and untrustworthy to bang on about neoliberalism and then still support TPP.
@ geoff..
“..Did he say he was going to compromise on everything?
No he did not…”
..yes he did..
‘we have no bottom-lines..’
..w.t.f does that mean..if not that..?
Tell me what minute in the video he utters the words “I’m going to compromise on everything”
Yeah OK Phil – welcome to ShonKey Python, then the Milky Bar Crud, then the poncey wee Simon Bridges, then some entitled little Young Nationals git who right now is still at Kings College – as our prime ministers from here until 20 years hence.
You’re reminding me of the virgin who while aching to get into it absolutely won’t get into it for fear that it won’t be perfect straight off and it might be messy. And fuck’n moaning about the lack of it. Lighten up for fuck’s sake.
Russel Norman/Metiria Turei/all the Greens are light years more real and gifted than ShonKey Python and his band of venal, mainchance sociopaths. They’ve been the only real opposition to the sociopaths for at least the past three years Phil ! Give them a little bit of credit man. Instead of being insufferably impeccable all the time. Grizzling old virgin you.
I’m not a Greenie either. Renewed my MANA Movement membership just the other day. Shit it felt good !
Meteria in Auckland for the TPPA demo today.
Can folks on The Standard pool information about which of our Member of Parliaments were speaking or standing with the people at the 16 locations this afternoon?
Quite obviously, Natz puppets would be safely tucked away in their corporate cupboards.
Greens have been very visible all round the country, I understand.
Were any Labour MPs or candidates out and about, and where?
cunnliffe was booed in ak..(over his weaseling around tpp….)
..he was the only labour person i saw..
..and a clutch of greens..were present….
(i saw roche/turei/graham..
..i actually complimented graham on the death-stare he employs/deploys in parliament..)
Cheers, phillip ure.
And, thanks to Poission for pointing out the press release from NZF which is clear and says:
“New Zealand First MPs will take part in the national day of action against the TPP.”
Can someone explain Labour’s penultimate paragraph with the specific reference to two weeks: https://www.labour.org.nz/tppa ?
I would like to see that explained too. I hope it is a typo – if it is not it is an insult to our intelligence.
Was hard to see in Auckland
David Cunliffe (Labour).
Asenati Lole-Taylor (NZ First)
I don’t have to spin anything, especially you making contradictory statements in the space of two posts, that’s plain to see by all.
I’ll wear your pedant medal like I wear the chuckle at your disingenuous perception.
For the record, I’m watching the replay of the nation and Norman explicitly said he was against deep sea drilling… That’s strike one.
On the tpp about whether the Green party could vote for the tpp he said, “it could potentially, but it depends” [on the size of the green vote and what the tpp contains]. Strike two
he says he will vote for them..
..take the cloth out of yr ears..
..you can’t polish a turd..
..no matter how hard you try..
Are you doing that ‘puppy thing’ again Phillip, must have a look at the Nation replay tomorrow to see if what you seen is what you seen…
I can only repeat what I’ve just seen and heard, but it does differ from what you’ve stated, well the first time any way. The second time, when you said “he may well vote for the tpp” you got it correct.
Most rational folk will agree that Norman’s main thrust was the more votes the Green party gets, the stronger it’s negotiating position, and thus more party policy makes it to the statute book.
I’m happy to disagree, but certain those more qualified and invested in Green politics than I, can explain it to you.
I don’t have TV reception, and can’t see any online clips yet on the TV3 site of Norman’s Nation interview. However, I am more inclined to regard The Allen’s summary as the accurate one. I guess I’ll have to wait until after tomorrow to know for sure.
It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.
“..It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it…”
doesn’t it..?
..you could call this the exposing the inherent contradictions interview for norman..
..and i guess..like allen..you will see/read/believe what you want to see/read/believe..
..but i don’t think i will be the only one making that call on normans’ revelations..
..if i were an old skool green party supporter..
..i wd be feeling a bit gutted by this..
..and as i am..i am..
..what the fuck have they done to ‘my’ party..?
” i guess..like allen..you will see/read/believe what you want to see/read/believe”
That’s The Al1en to you, and a little irony lol for fun 😆
Have a nice day Mr Ure.
Isn’t that the same as rerecording your songs without the electronic voice?
woops should be for the comment below – sorry
I don’t see how, the caveat on my music page clearly states I can’t sing or play, and I do advise the listener have cotton buds and bleach close to hand, just in case they need to rinse their ears.
Likewise I’m sure the Greens aren’t trying to con anyone out of a vote by becoming seriously electable and using the tools at their disposal to put forward their message. It’s not a sin or crime or double standard, just like Dylan using an electric guitar wasn’t a sell out or a bad thing.
But the Greens are doing well as a 15% party vote shows. They can sing there own tunes, with or without electronic aid, I don’t mind 😉
I meant the editing of phil’s prose but it all went askew when I put the comment in the wrong place.
Fair enough, I didn’t get it, but was just spinning it for spins sake, just in case 😆
I’ll hum it if you sing it https://soundcloud.com/theal1en/easy-street
“If I were an old school green party supporter I would be feeling a bit gutted by this, and as I am, I am. What the fuck have they done to ‘my’ party?”
The edit is mine, as a little Saturday gift 😉
To answer, I think what they have done is make the party much more electable to a wider section of the electorate.
It’s still my intention to give them my party vote in September, and I’ve seen or heard nothing from them that has caused me to contemplate changing my mind. The party looks to be in good shape, based on sound principles, headed by professional, dedicated mps.
Who could want more from a left of centre party than an electable, credible partner in government shaping the direction of a still ‘wonky’ Labour party?
who would want another party just like labour..?
+1, nicely put Al1en
Hard to argue
+1
sounds like John Minto spoke well about Mana and the kaupapa on TV – will try and catch it online tomorrow.
minto kicked arse..
..and manas’ mana is rising moment by moment..
..it is fast becoming clear that they are the only party for serious change..
..the greens have become just another same-old same-old party..
..maybe they should go for a colour/name change..
..how about the beige-party..?
tve has a basic language/comprehension-fail..
..they are interpreting minto saying ‘there is no deal on the table’..
..as minto saying no-deal outright..
..whereas minto actually listed what is ok about i.p policies..
..and that mana is waiting to see the social-policies..
..’deal on the table’..means deal ready to be signed..
..how can they be such fucken morons..?
“It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.”
It would indeed if Norman had said that, but he didn’t. What he said was that the agreement would have to change hugely for the GP to support it. He also didn’t say that he or the GP will support deep sea oil drilling or fracking. Nor did he say that legalising cannabis isn’t a priority. It was actually Gower that said the first two things and phil that said the third thing. I think The Al1en’s summation above is pretty good, and here is the link for those that can watch it online
http://www.3news.co.nz/Norman-sets-sights-on-deputy-PM-role/tabid/1356/articleID/337889/Default.aspx
haha..!..hilarious..!..there weka..
..so norman actually said no..we wont vote for tpp..
..and..we will vote agaimst deep-sea-drilling..
..and we will vote against fracking..
..and we will fight for pot-decrim:..’it’s on our list’..
..eh..?
..right ho..!
..carry on..!
No he didn’t say those things either, and I didn’t say he did. You really do have trouble with comprehension phil. All I have done is watch the video and point out that your portrayal was quite inaccurate. I’m not the only one that has done that.
i just went and watched it again..
..and i don’t resile from a word i said…
NZ first is both supporting the protest and calling for increased transparency.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1403/S00570/lift-the-black-out-on-sneaky-treaty-negotiations.htm
Norman confirmed there were no bottom lines for the Green Party to support a Labour-led government.
Unlike genetically engineered organisms in 2002, the TPPA is not a bottom line for the Green Party in 2014. Whatever else he says, this is the pertinent point.
He also said he did not think legalising cannabis would be on the party’s key priority list in post election negotiations.
They’re valid questions, because this once radical party may be on the brink of holding ministerial posts.
As Sue Bradford suggested in the panel discussion afterwards, the party has changed and is now focused on the centre vote, and more willing to compromise.
Having said that, Gower needs to broaden his question base from bottom lines, it’s tiresome.
Surprisingly, Phil is completely wrong. Russel Norman explicitly says the Greens are against deep sea drilling and fracking, and support the decriminalisation of cannabis. Gower tries hard to push him into a corner, but is not successful.
What he says about the actions of a government in which the Greens might play a part is quite reasonable. They will fight for their policies and how successful they are will depend on the weight of seats. From his point of view, it would be irresponsible to say much more than this.
No-one is claiming the Greens will actively support policies against their core principles, just that they are not making them bottom lines in terms of giving support to Labour to form a government. There is a difference. Sue Bradford on the panel afterwards said that if she was a Green member, she would be worried by the extent to which the party has moved to the centre. She said she was surprised by some of Norman’s answers. Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.
“Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.”
I’ve lived in NZ for nearly 50 years and I’ve never had a govt or political party who met my expectations. I don’t really know why people on the outside of the bell curve expect things to be the way they want. I thought the point of being on the edge was to lead the way. The GP have been doing that for a long time. It’s now time for them to step into the responsibility they’ve been working for and that means being mainstream. There will have to be compromises, but I don’t see any problem with what they have done to date. Once the GP gain govt, I expect to be thoroughly pissed off with them within the decade, but I completely support the move they are making in that direction now. The best thing about that TV3 piece was Fitzimmons saying how not having cabinet posts worked in their favour and for the betterment of the country. The point there isn’t that staying outside of govt is best, but that the GP plays the game smart. They still are, it’s just that smart is a different strategy now. She also said that it was more important back then for them to build the GP long term. I feel such gratitude to her and those other GP workers right now, because that foresight and hard work is about to pay off.
Yes people can feel disappointed, but then they start slagging off the GP by misrepresenting what the GP is doing then they can expect to be called on it.
i’ll come back later and unpack that one for u weka..
..but where to start..?
..news calls for now..
@ olsen..now you are just fucken outright lying..
..norman said pot was not on their to-do list..
..w.t.f.was unclear about that..?
.and he also admitted to being ready to comprimise on all those key issues..
..i repeat..w.t.f.was unclear about that..?
People can listen to it for themselves. He said decriminalisation woudn’t be on the top 10 issues. Anyone who hadn’t rotted their brain cells past the ability to write a coherent sentence, let alone understand one, would be able to see that.
+1
It’s you that is outright lying phil. Decriminilising cannabis is still GP policy. Before the election they will name their top ten issues so that people will know what will be the key areas on the table for post-election negotiations, and Norman expects that cannabis won’t be on that list. But that is completely different than saying it’s not on their to do list.
the logic/faith you display there weka..
..is worthy of something or other..
“.. Norman expects that cannabis won’t be on that list.
But that is completely different than saying it’s not on their to do list..”
fucken brilliant..!
..should i have called it their:..’might possibly think about at some time in the dim/dark/distant future list’..?
..would that ease yr unease..?
..fuck..!..yr funny..!
(and chrs 4 the early-morning belly-laughs..!..eh..?)
.and i am sure those fighting for an end to the evils of prohibition..
..will be both calmed and reassured by yr words..eh..?
..’rejoice..!..rejoice..!..it is still on a list..somewhere..’
and i’m telling ya..warning ya..
..that should the internet party come out with a sane/colorado-model policy to legalise/regulate/tax pot..
..that sucking sound you will hear will be a disturbing number of yr longterm voters..
..pulling away their support for you..
..don’t say you haven’t been fucken warned..eh..?
That’s probably true.
And unfortunate, because the IP are not going to find themselves in any position to negotiate legalisation.
And those voters are going to be super pissed off when they figure that out post-election.
phil, there’s a difference between a list of stuff you want to do and a list of stuff you think you can do given your circumstances.
correct..
.and they have pot on their can’t do list..
..yr point..?
Just the bleeding obvious. The Greens know that pushing legalisation will get them nowhere given their current circumstances.
Thing about circumstances is they change.
d’you know how far we are lagging behind the most conservative/southern states in america..on this issue..?
..i repeat..’the most conservative/southern states’..
..and all of yr protestations/pin-head-dancing to one side..
..the facts/perceptions still stand..
..and if dotcom comes out with a sane pot policy..
..the green party will lose an (unquantifiable) number of votes..
..to the internet party..
..spin that fact how you like..
“.and they have pot on their can’t do list..”
No they fucking don’t. They think that there are at least 10 other issues more important to be dealing with as a priority this election (actually, we don’t know, because the GP hasn’t named that list of ten yet, Norman just said he doubted cannabis would be on it). Most GP voters will agree with that (and most NZers).
There is nothing to stop GP members or MPs advancing the cause of legalising cannabis in the next electoral cycle. What are you doing to help them phil?
“phil, there’s a difference between a list of stuff you want to do and a list of stuff you think you can do given your circumstances.”
Indeed, but I’ll just point out that all Norman said was that he doubted that cannabis decriminalisation would be in the top ten. He didn’t say it wasn’t going to be worked on, and in fact reasserted that decriminalisation is still GP policy.
Even if the GP were polling higher than Labour, I doubt that they would consider decriminalising cannabis as in the top ten (they might, it’s up to the party, not Norman). There are many urgent issues out there. Will be interesting to see what the top ten are this year.
Phil, all I am asking of you is some intellectual honesty. You are misrepresenting Norman’s words to suit your own agenda. Puts you in the same bracket as Gower. That’s up to you, but when it distorts the political discussion, that makes it other people’s business.
Weka
Thanks for the link. PU seems to have manned the barricades on this one, but Norman is no more pro-TPP than he is pro-deep sea drilling. No contradiction.
Too much time spent on David Hay in the preamble though, why is he so keen to be where he’s not wanted? And there were a few points where one might validly criticise Norman’s performance; fortunately PU and Gower seem to have missed them entirely.
Yeah, I thought the focus on Hay was ott (thankfully the guy seems to have gotten the message now). Am curious as to the points you where might criticise Norman’s performance.
btw..porridge-recipie update:..
..i have come to the conclusion that both pear and (chopped up) dates are essential-ingredients..
..if seeking that transcendental-porridge-experience..
..my taste-buds are currently cossack-dancing all around my mouth..
..i have a serious afterglow going on..
Chris Trotter had a think about the Te Kohanga Reo and Maori TV situations that have been in the news lately.
His comments on Maori direction seem to fit what I observe.
Looking at the Maori Party and the behaviour exhibited by many iwi following treaty payouts and the still deplorable situations of many young urban Maori, one doesn’t need to be Nostradamus to work that one out.
Film-maker Ken Loach argues in the Guardian this week that Labour is part of the problem, not the solution.
It’s worth a read and applies equally in NZ; no party’s tapping into fragmented and various social causes and protest movements. The surge of enthusiasm we saw last year in the unions and to an extent the electorate for Cunliffe was in my view expressing hope of a new left movement. My fear is that if Labour loses this election the right of the party will firmly take control, under the phony pretext that the electorate rejected the move to the left, which never eventuated as Cunliffe turned out to be business as usual.
From Loach’s piece:
‘We know that housing support goes to rich landlords, that benefits for the working poor subsidise employers who pay poverty wages. We read that benefit fraud is a tiny fraction of the overall welfare budget, far less than unclaimed benefits, and is nothing compared to the amount lost through tax dodging. But as we rail against the injustice and hypocrisy, we fail to ask one big question. Where is our political fightback? It should be led by the Labour party but therein lies the problem.
The coalition parties proclaim the importance of the market economy. So does Labour. The coalition cuts back on public enterprise and prioritises the interests of big corporations and private companies. So did the last Labour government. Whenever workers organise to defend jobs, wages or conditions, who supports them? Not Ed Miliband or other Labour leaders.’
And therein lies the problem. Labour refuses to accept that the free-market dogma that they saddled us with in the 1980s is the problem and thus Labour remain part of the problem and not the solution.
Good comment worth reading – here are some bits of gold from Ken Loach leftunity article.
Labour’s rhetoric may be softer than the Tories’, but its fundamental stance is limited by the same imperative: profit comes before all else. Can the Labour party be reclaimed? Or, rather, made anew into one that will represent the interests of the people?
History suggests it cannot. The high-water mark of 1945 is long gone. The many great achievements of that government have largely been dismantled, either with the collusion of Labour or directly by the party when it has been in power. The Labour left has all but disappeared, and even Tony Benn’s voice is now sadly silent. A Miliband government will not reverse any of the privatisations in the health service or elsewhere. It will not take the railways back into public ownership – despite the popularity of such a move – or even reclaim Royal Mail…….
The Labour manifesto of 1945 would be a better inspiration. It promised “a socialist party and proud of it. Its ultimate purpose … is the establishment of the socialist commonwealth, free, democratic, efficient, progressive, public-spirited, its material resources organised in the service of the … people”.
Left Unity has a conference in Manchester on Saturday (29 March). Visit http://www.leftunity.org
Thanks E.R. for the link. Got to keep chewing on this bone.
Tamati Coffey selected as labour candidate in rotorua.
Here’s more evidence that National’s anti-Internet-Party blitzkrieg is partly motivated by the fear that dotcom may get more votes than the MSM suspect.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Minto-Mana-open-to-Dotcom-deal/tabid/1607/articleID/337923/Default.aspx
Key is really trying to drive home the Kim dotCom = Nazi meme.
Their efforts may well be counter productive.
In this vid (about 4mins in):
http://www.3news.co.nz/Minto-Mana-open-to-Dotcom-deal/tabid/1607/articleID/337923/Default.aspx
Keith Locke talks about how National’s attempts to paint the Greens as extremists backfired and contributed to them breaking the 5% threshold to get into parliament.
Perhaps the same could occur with the Internet Party.
Just wanted to acknowledge the recent deaths of two important Wellington progressives:
Today’s Dominion Post included an obituary for trade unionist, feminist and activist, Viv Walker. Viv’s agenda “was not to get more women into the board rooms of CEO’s offices; it was to get rights for the women who cleaned the boardrooms and corporate offices.” She was active in the anti-apartheid and feminist movements and it’s typical of the modesty and humility of people like Viv that she left instructions that no-one was to make her into a hero at her funeral – she wanted to be seen as ordinary.
(Brilliant but self-depreciating activists like Viv are worth a thousand Helen Clarks and other status-seeking, power-hungry upper-middle class liberal elites in my opinion. She’s one of the true heros, even if she denied as much).
In January, long-time and legendary Victoria University Political Scientist, Les Cleveland , died (aged 92). He had a highly colourful life, fought as a member of the 2NZEF in the Pacific and Italy in WWII (a keen moutaineer, he scaled Mt Blanc as part of his own post-WWII victory celebration), a poet, singer/song-writer, authority on wartime songs, press gallery journalist, photographer, short-story writer and folklorist. Cleveland was also a long-time protester, as a relatively recent Dominion Post obituary put it: “there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
Two great progressives who deserve recognition.
Thanks swordfish. I like this comment on Les Cleveland –
“there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
If all Labour had had that deeply embedded then we wouldn’t have lost Savage’s commitment to people and had it replaced by devotion to The People, The Party and to maintaining the Left idea in politics and unions, rather than the Left ideal.
I regret to inform you that you have all forgotten about Earth Hour, which finished 10 minutes ago. Does nobody care about the Earth any more?
Tell us more jaymam. I have forgottn anything I knew about this.
What’s not to like about a study that says medical marijuana’s legalization may lead to lower crime rates.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0092816
Press release:
“We’re cautious about saying, ‘Medical marijuana laws definitely reduce homicide.’ That’s not what we’re saying,” Morris said. “The main finding is that we found no increase in crime rates resulting from medical marijuana legalization. In fact, we found some evidence of decreasing rates of some types of violent crime, namely homicide and assault.
Bombast Bradbury desperately defensive that his Dotcom/MANA deal has fallen through and is now impossible.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/03/30/cameron-slater-press-gallery-hubris-and-bloggers-inside-the-press-council-tent/
my comment is ,just to ask you why any body like my self who has spoken out about an issue that I feel needs a public discussion and has affected my whole adult life , find my self ignored should feel ok with democracy as it is . .five years is a long time to wait and if others have been brushed aside as I have been then all is lost . there is no longer any interest in what others who want my vote have too say yet again I will throw my vote away on a minor party .
Why would anyone who believes in socialist principles vote for a charicature of capitalist greed, consumption and excess like Dotcom anyway?
I don’t imagine anyone who believes in socialist principles ever would.
Then as per usual you have not been paying attention, you irredeemable tosser
Sure. I guess you can demonstrate this somehow, perhaps some links to a few lefties/socialists saying they’ll vote for Dotcom.
Otherwise it’s all in your imagination. As usual.
Question Why pay attention to Dotcom.
Answer Because this is a political stage and all of us merely players: –
And now he is on our side. Why can’t we accept what could be a helping hand when we are stretched. Get real Pop. And don’t waste your venom on left supporters. We may be lesser beings to yourself but we have our uses.