Search Results

  1. Surveillance state

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 9:26 am, October 16th, 2009 -  22 comments
    Categories: law and "order", national, Spying
    Tags: ,

    One of the most dishonest, yet most successful tactics of National in opposition was to rant on and on about the “Nanny state”. Here’s John Key fairly foaming at the mouth: I’ve had nine years of being told what lightbulb I can screw into the house, what shower I can take, what food I can […]

  2. Fool me once…

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 9:05 am, October 14th, 2009 -  50 comments
    Categories: maori party, national/act government
    Tags:

    They say pattern recognition is a vital part of healthy cognitive function. I wonder it Sharples sees this one: Every time an issue the Maori Party cares deeply about comes up, Key makes soothing noises. Promises they’ll get what they want. Then when crunch time comes, he screws them. Fire at Will Bill – Maori […]

  3. Too late 2

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 6:19 am, October 8th, 2009 -  4 comments
    Categories: climate change, Environment
    Tags:

    From Inter Press: Climate Change: Food Supply Hangs in the Balance Uxbridge, Canada – Rocketing food prices and hundreds of millions more starving people will be part of humanity’s grim future without concerted action on climate change and new investments in agriculture, experts reported this week. The current devastating drought in East Africa, where millions […]

  4. Too late

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 9:25 am, October 7th, 2009 -  18 comments
    Categories: climate change, Environment
    Tags:

    From The Guardian: Arctic seas turn to acid, putting vital food chain at risk With the world’s oceans absorbing six million tonnes of carbon a day, a leading oceanographer warns of eco disaster Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered. Research carried out […]

  5. Who would replace Bill?

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:49 am, September 29th, 2009 -  35 comments
    Categories: bill english, national/act government, uncategorized
    Tags:

    There’s a grim irony to Bill English’s career. Despite being regarded as competent and having a Cullen-like role as the heavy-lifter in this government, he has also been at the centre of the worst National screw-ups of the last decade. As Minister of Revenue, he was heavily involved in the sale of Wellington Airport, which […]

  6. Nats’ ETS a polluters’ charter

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 9:26 am, September 21st, 2009 -  6 comments
    Categories: climate change, maori party, Media, national/act government
    Tags: ,

    Rod Oram, as usual, has set the standard in commentary with his piece on the National-Maori Party ETS. The full article is here but I’ll lift the core points: Oram argues a climate change policy package needs three things: Put a price on emissions to incentivise change. We chose an ETS as the most effective […]

  7. Politics more than politicking

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:32 am, September 20th, 2009 -  8 comments
    Categories: climate change, Media
    Tags:

    I get sick of hearing our illustrious fourth estate refer to some piece of politicking as ‘good politics’.  Who decides what’s ‘good politics’? The commentators, of course. And they define good politics as maneuvering to ones advantage, rather than getting good policies in place. Take the ETS issue. If they wanted, the commentators could say ‘National has […]

  8. Nick Smith’s dirty dealing

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 9:33 am, September 18th, 2009 -  8 comments
    Categories: climate change, labour, maori party, national
    Tags: ,

    Labour’s Charles Chauvel has released the paper records of Labour’s attempts to agree a bi-partisan ETS with National. In total, Labour presented three draft MOUs detailing possible agreements, each moving towards what they believed to be National’s position. Additionally, there was a letter from Phil Goff to John Key a month ago that clearly laid […]

  9. It isn’t a game

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 2:30 pm, September 17th, 2009 -  25 comments
    Categories: Environment, Media, scoundrels
    Tags:

    People who treat politics as a game annoy me. People who see it all in terms of power and cliques and scoring points and winning at all costs annoy me a lot. These people have lost the plot. Politics is not a game. Politics matters. It matters to society, the lives of individuals, and the […]

  10. Short term thinkers

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 1:30 pm, September 16th, 2009 -  27 comments
    Categories: Environment, maori party, national
    Tags:

    It never ceases to amaze me what short term thinkers National are. The plan (with the Maori Party) to gut the ETS highlights this issue very starkly. For the sake of short term appeasement of their backers in the polluting industries National are prepared to abandon the much more important long term considerations.  Considerations like […]

  11. Kaupapa for sale

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 9:08 am, September 15th, 2009 -  6 comments
    Categories: climate change, maori party, national/act government
    Tags: ,

    A few important passages from the special select committee report on the Emissions Trading Scheme: In the long term, price caps stand in the way of market development and shield business from the real price of carbon to the economy…[National and United Future] recommend to the Government that if a short-term price cap is introduced, […]

  12. Be bold on smoking

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 9:27 am, September 14th, 2009 -  21 comments
    Categories: health, maori party, national
    Tags:

    Very good piece by Anthony Hubbard in the Sunday Star Times: The Maori Party is pressuring the government to take tough new anti-smoking measures including a hefty price rise and a ban on retail displays and is calling for a select committee inquiry to “bring these bastards from the tobacco companies out in the open”. […]

  13. Redundancy protection – it’s only fair

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 3:00 pm, September 11th, 2009 -  20 comments
    Categories: employment, unemployment, Unions, workers' rights
    Tags: ,

    A coalition of unions, Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, and community groups has come together to support Darian Fenton’s Redundancy Protection Bill. There’s a website, facebook group, petition, and other ways you can get involved. The Bill, due to be debated later this month, would set a minimum level of redundancy protection for all […]

  14. Firestarter

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 9:01 am, September 10th, 2009 -  51 comments
    Categories: activism, crime
    Tags:

    r0b’s post on John Key’s ‘uprising’ comment (which was written last night) seems grimly ironic in light of this morning’s news. Someone has thrown some kind of incendiary device, like a molotov cocktail, through a window of Key’s electorate office. Obviously, such actions are to be condemned and it’s good to hear the damage is limited. […]

  15. Angry sadsack still at it

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 3:00 pm, September 7th, 2009 -  27 comments
    Categories: local government, scoundrels
    Tags:

    Michael Laws: get on with your job and stop prancing around on the media stage. Laws has put out a second (yes, a second) press release justifying being rude to some schoolkids who wrote to him. Apparently, Laws can think of no better use of his time and of Whanganui ratepayers’ dollars than continuing to […]

  16. Let them drink… bottled water.

    Written By:  RedLogix -  Date published: 8:09 am, September 2nd, 2009 -  4 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    Not surprised to see that the Government has confirmed the Drinking Water Subsidy Scheme is being put on hold and reviewed. The subsidy aims to improve drinking water supplies in small communities of under 5000 people, and improve life for the 9% of the population whose current supply is sub-standard. Those of us living in […]

  17. Devil in the detail

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 4:00 pm, September 1st, 2009 -  31 comments
    Categories: climate change
    Tags:

    I’ve had a further read of the select committee report on the Emissions Trading Scheme, and found a huge problem – National, United Future, and ACT want to get rid of the cap on emissions. The normal emissions trading scheme is called cap and trade. A cap on the total number of carbon credits is […]

  18. Emissions Trading Scheme report released

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 4:44 pm, August 31st, 2009 -  25 comments
    Categories: climate change
    Tags:

    The report of the special select committee on the Emissions Trading Scheme has been released. I’ve only had a chance to read the recommendations and the minority reports (the whole thing is 130 pages). The committee (with the exception of ACT) says that the climate change is a real and serious environmental and economic threat […]

  19. The smiling snake bites

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 2:36 pm, August 25th, 2009 -  18 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, maori party, national/act government
    Tags:

    The Herald editorial is pretty scathing of Key’s Government for rejecting Maori seats on the super-council but I have to take issue with this par: The Cabinet’s decision to reject Maori seats on the Super City Auckland Council is a retrograde step that undoes much that has been accomplished over the past nine months. What […]

  20. Snake oil

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 1:16 pm, August 25th, 2009 -  18 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, democratic participation, john key, local government, maori party, Maori seats, national/act government, same old national, slippery
    Tags:

    I’m surprised that the Maori Party have rolled over so easily on the issue of Maori seats on the Auckland council. I will be even more surprised if the Maori people follow suit. Because they have every right to be angry. Remember what Key said of the Hikoi? The hikoi was sparked over the dumping […]

  21. Eventually but not yet

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 11:43 am, August 15th, 2009 -  40 comments
    Categories: labour, phil goff, polls
    Tags:

    John Armstrong quotes a man who ran into Phil Goff during Labour’s reconnection tour last week: “Listen, mate. You know we voted these guys in seven months ago. You don’t expect us to come up and say we did the wrong thing yet, do you?” Now, Armstrong takes that as dooming Labour but look at […]

  22. Unemployment back to English’s ‘realistic’ level

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 5:11 am, August 7th, 2009 -  33 comments
    Categories: bill english, employment, unemployment, workers' rights
    Tags:

    Who said this? “if we continue with National’s policies over the next three years we will be able to create another 115,000 jobs and bring unemployment under 6%. These are realistic targets…Labour’s claim that it can bring the unemployment rate down to 3% is also a hoax” It was Bill English in 1999. Of course, […]

  23. Flag it, more important things to do

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 2:00 pm, July 21st, 2009 -  15 comments
    Categories: maori party, national/act government
    Tags: ,

    I’m just trying to understand this Maori flag thing. The Crown (in the guise of Minister Pita Sharples) has decided that Maori will only get to choose from four designs – the United Tribes (or Busby) flag, the Tino Ringatiratanga flag, the New Zealand Ensign, and the New Zealand flag. The last two are just […]

  24. Wee gripes: 2 of 3

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 3:52 pm, July 16th, 2009 -  30 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff
    Tags:

    Maori unemployment is ballooning day by day but the most important thing that Maori Affairs Minister Sharples can spend his time on is debating which flag will fly on the Harbour Bridge next Waitangi Day. “Having a flag under which Maori can rally under is really, really, really important. And people might see it as […]

  25. The compensation that is and the compensation that is not

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 7:40 pm, July 7th, 2009 -  55 comments
    Categories: maori party
    Tags:

    Key has claimed the foreshore and seabed issue is not about compensation. Tariana’s answer? This has never been about money says Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia “I am astounded and disappointed that some critics of and commentators on the report of the ministerial review panel have chosen to highlight the possibility that compensation may become […]

  26. Symbol or substance?

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 9:11 am, July 7th, 2009 -  28 comments
    Categories: economy, maori party, national
    Tags:

    It seems to me that National has fundamentally misunderstood what the foreshore and seabed debate is about. Key’s statements yesterday suggest it is about a mere symbolical recognition of an iwi’s traditional ties to sections of foreshore and seabed. It’s not. He seems to think it’s about beaches. It’s not. He seems to equate mana […]

  27. Cowardice, bigotry and saying whatever it takes

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:00 am, July 2nd, 2009 -  77 comments
    Categories: labour, maori party, national, racism
    Tags: , , , ,

    I’ll be glad to see the back of the Foreshore & Seabed Act. For many on the Left, including myself, its been a monument to Labour’s failure of nerve in the face of a campaign by National to exploit the underlying racism of Pakeha New Zealand for electoral gain. Yes, there was a certain electoral […]

  28. Foreshore review dead-on

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 3:16 pm, July 1st, 2009 -  106 comments
    Categories: human rights, racism
    Tags:

    The Foreshore and Seabed review panel have reported back with the recommendation that the law be scrapped and people be allowed to attempt to prove ownership rights over the foreshore and seabed in court as they can with any other land. Good. Ever since the Government issued a proclamation in 1872 to stop the Native […]

  29. National’s successes

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 3:30 pm, June 27th, 2009 -  72 comments
    Categories: john key, national/act government, the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags: ,

    National’s 2008 election victory was undoubtedly a great success for the Party. Just two terms after humiliating defeat under the leadership of Bill English, National rose from the ashes to claim a convincing win. Forming a broad coalition that brought the Maori Party into the fold, thus simultaneously broadening National’s coalition options and lessening the necessity to […]

  30. The mask slips

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 8:44 pm, June 22nd, 2009 -  102 comments
    Categories: child discipline, referendum, scoundrels
    Tags: , ,

    The child beating lobby launched its “Vote No” campaign site today. They’ve worked hard in this campaign to present themselves as regular Kiwis standing up for common sense values, so I find it interesting they’ve chosen to decorate the front page of their campaign with this racist, sexist cartoon: The cartoon is clearly designed to […]

  31. Submit!

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 12:17 am, June 3rd, 2009 -  1 comment
    Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack
    Tags:

    Over at No Right Turn, Idiot/Savant writes:- The Auckland Governance Committee has called for submissions on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. Two copies, by Friday, 26 June 2009, to: Auckland Governance Committee Secretariat Parliament Buildings Wellington The bill contains the details of the government’s Auckland Supercity, including its plans for at-large election, no Maori […]

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