Search Results

  1. Denier dissected

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 7:49 am, June 6th, 2010 -  35 comments
    Categories: climate change
    Tags: ,

    “Lord” Christopher Monckton is a high profile climate change denier. Professor John Abraham examines his claims in detail, and shows Monckton to be a serial liar, misrepresenting the science at every turn. What makes a person tell lies that are going to cost us the earth?

  2. Complaint over “drunken” Minister

    Written By:  Michael Foxglove -  Date published: 6:30 pm, June 4th, 2010 -  36 comments
    Categories: drinking liberally, Politics
    Tags:

    National Party Trade Minister Tim Groser is facing allegations he was behaving drunk and rowdy on a flight back from a trade meeting in Dubai. Though a humourous image, if true, this is unacceptable behaviour from a Minister. Groser needs to chill – maybe he should’ve smoked that spliff he denied taking instead?

  3. Honest John

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 2:43 pm, June 4th, 2010 -  15 comments
    Categories: john key
    Tags: , ,

    A short video from Red Alert. All that you need to know about John Key in less than one minute…

  4. Funnily enough, it really was about trust

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:47 pm, June 2nd, 2010 -  39 comments
    Categories: gst, john key, privatisation, treaty settlements
    Tags: ,

    I am ruling out selling Kiwibank at any point in the future/Asset sales are on the table for a second term
    We won’t be raising GST/We’re raising GST
    My trust is so blind I have no idea what’s in it/Owning a vineyard is great fun
    Anyone else seeing a pattern?

  5. Key breaks Kiwibank pledge

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 4:13 pm, June 2nd, 2010 -  54 comments
    Categories: assets, Politics, privatisation
    Tags: , ,

    In the May budget Key broke his pre-election promise not to raise GST.

    Today, in the House, Jim Anderton foreshadowed what looks like the next unequivocal promise that’s set for the chop.

    Anderton pointed out that during the 2008 TV3 Leaders’ Debate Key promised not to sell Kiwibank “ever”.

    The video is embedded below.

  6. The misleading Mr English

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:00 am, June 2nd, 2010 -  5 comments
    Categories: bill english, budget 2010
    Tags:

    Bill English in the House yesterday: “In the Budget the projected wage increases exceed projected inflation.”

    From the Budget: change in real wages over March 2011 year, -1.4%. change in real years in year to March 2012, -0.6%

  7. Journos don’t buy Key’s “may or may not” defence

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 8:43 am, June 2nd, 2010 -  42 comments
    Categories: accountability, john key
    Tags: ,

    Feeling the heat in Highwater-gate, John Key resorted to a ridiculous ‘may or may not’ defence in the House under questioning from Pete Hodgson. No-one’s buying it. Colin Espiner writes “Everyone in the press gallery knows that Key has an interest in a vineyard… we all got very nice bottles of pinot noir from Central Otago last Christmas, with “JK” emblazoned on the label.”

  8. Climate change deaths

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 7:34 am, June 2nd, 2010 -  26 comments
    Categories: act, climate change, ETS
    Tags: ,

    Worldwide it is the hottest Jan-Feb-March-April on record. Heat waves have already killed tens of thousands in the last few years. In India 2010 is believed to be the hottest summer in the country since records began in the late 1800s, and hundreds are dead. While ACT and Federated Farmers bitch and moan about the costs of the ETS, the deaths will keep coming.

  9. The weak neolib defence of asset sales

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 9:16 am, June 1st, 2010 -  23 comments
    Categories: assets, class war, Economy, privatisation
    Tags: ,

    The neoliberal dinosaurs at Anti-dismal have presented their defence of National’s privatisation agenda by responding to my post “Privatisation: the facts”. Their responses offer an insight into the neoliberal mind – asset stripping is good, it’s fine to get ripped off when selling assets, and who cares that the ‘mums and dads’ line is bollocks, the rich deserve the assets more.

  10. Haden stays, McCully seeking 7ft carpet

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 10:02 am, May 31st, 2010 -  25 comments
    Categories: accountability, leadership, national
    Tags: , , , , ,

    It seems former All Black Andy Haden will keep his job as Rugby World Cup Ambassador after having apologized and withdrawn his allegations that the Canterbury Crusaders have a limit on the number of Polynesian players they recruit. Fair enough, perhaps. But Murray McCully’s decision to not “shoot” Hayden on the grounds that if he […]

  11. The science of motivation

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 5:32 pm, May 30th, 2010 -  16 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, Politics
    Tags: , ,

    From the RSA, a short video based on a seminar by Dan Pink.

    Dan was once Al Gore’s speechwriter.

    Here he “illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace”.

  12. World Cup could bypass Welly overnights?

    Written By:  Tammy Gordon -  Date published: 6:47 pm, May 27th, 2010 -  6 comments
    Categories: rumour, uncategorized
    Tags:

    Seems that negotiations are underway to allow Wellington Airport stay open all night (last flights now are about 9pm) during the World Cup so that fans can travel direct to the next game thus avoiding the need for an overnight in Welly.

  13. SuperCity not Solved

    Written By:  Bunji -  Date published: 1:00 pm, May 27th, 2010 -  9 comments
    Categories: accountability, auckland supercity, democracy under attack, rodney hide
    Tags:

    Rodney Hide’s new line is that he has listened to the people, democracy has triumphed, and the SuperShitty is all better now. It isn’t. We still have CCOs imposed by government. And the vast majority of submitters that wanted more powers for local boards have largely been ignored. Rodney still has no idea how much this SuperShitty is going to cost. But rates are going one way – up.

  14. Key’s wine excuse hard to swallow

    Written By:  Michael Foxglove -  Date published: 9:28 pm, May 26th, 2010 -  151 comments
    Categories: accountability, Politics
    Tags: ,

    TV3 has reported tonight that John Key admitted on video to owning an Otago vineyard, and providing free wine to “people that help me”. This, despite Key telling the public all his assets were in a blind trust. Key, painted with his Tranz Rail eyes, has responded by still insisting he doesn’t know about his assets – but that’s a hard excuse to swallow in wake of solid contradictory evidence. [UPDATE: video added]

  15. Who pays for climate change, polluters or taxpayers?

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 9:53 am, May 26th, 2010 -  65 comments
    Categories: climate change, ETS
    Tags:

    We pay for the need to reduce greenhouse emissions one way or the other. There’s no point complaining about the cost of the ETS on power and fuel. What we should be more pissed off about is that we are being expected to bear half the cost as taxpayers. We have to pay, the question is whether we put the cost on pollution to discourage pollution or we just lump it on taxpayers.

  16. Second thoughts on three strikes

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 3:55 pm, May 25th, 2010 -  42 comments
    Categories: crime, International
    Tags: , , ,

    “Three strikes” is likely to become law today. This video shows that three strikes legislation hasn’t worked overseas. It’s unlikely to work here. It’s a crime bill that is not expected to deter or reduce crime and may increase murders.

  17. Daily Show on lucky duckies

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 1:53 pm, May 25th, 2010 -  7 comments
    Categories: class war
    Tags: , ,

    Seeing as the theme of the day has been inequality and class war, this video from the Daily Show is very appropriate. Interesting to see that in the US the Right is running the same ‘lucky ducky‘ line about the poor who are supposedly getting it easy because their incomes are so low they don’t […]

  18. Tax cuts don’t cause growth

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 6:51 am, May 24th, 2010 -  30 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, economy, tax
    Tags: ,

    Tories claim that tax cuts “cause growth” in the economy – they “grow the pie”. But it’s rubbish. No honest review of the long term historical picture can sustain the claim. Tax cuts don’t cause growth.

  19. The Bechdel Test

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 6:59 pm, May 23rd, 2010 -  46 comments
    Categories: blogs, feminism, Media, Politics, youtube
    Tags: , ,

    “The Bechdel test” requires a movie to pass three questions:

    1) Does it have two or more women in it (who have names)?

    2) Do they talk to one another?

    3) Do they talk to one another about something other than a man?

    This two minute video explains…

  20. I can’t believe it’s not satire!

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 12:44 pm, May 23rd, 2010 -  94 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, class war, Media
    Tags:

    The other day, we had a satire guest post about ‘thank the rich day’. Michael Laws appears determined to out do us: “On Thursday, this Key/English administration decided to abandon the pretence that we are an egalitarian society, or that we should ever attempt to be so. The wealthy are the wealthy because they merit that status, was the prime minister’s underlying message.”

  21. The borrowed bunny

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:56 am, May 22nd, 2010 -  41 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, public services, spin, tax
    Tags:

    It’s interesting to see how Irish’s ‘rabbit from a hat’ metaphor has taken off for describing this Budget. Some, like Tracey Watkins, are even using it positively. She needs to have a bit more of a think about what the rabbit from a hat is. The rabbit itself is nothing special. In fact, in this case it’s a borrowed bunny, despite the media’s tendency to portray tax cut as costless.

  22. Government Propaganda: Corrected

    Written By:  Bunji -  Date published: 12:30 pm, May 21st, 2010 -  20 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, class war, spin, tax
    Tags:

    There’s some useful scenarios to look at on the beehive’s tax site. They show how we all pay less tax, even after GST, and somehow the government also gets more tax. I love maths like that. But some of them seem to have something missing, so I thought I’d correct a couple of them…

  23. The courage of his convictions

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 10:18 am, May 20th, 2010 -  56 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, class war, gst, maori party
    Tags: ,

    Hone Harawira does not want to vote for the ‘don’t be jealous’ budget and he doesn’t think the Maori Party will be standing true to its principles or supporters if it does. Harawira sought permission to vote against the Budget. Tariana Turia, who is awfully comfortable in the back of her Crown limo, refused. Let’s hope Harawira has the courage cross the floor anyway.

  24. So what’s the rabbit?

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 8:32 pm, May 19th, 2010 -  53 comments
    Categories: class war
    Tags:

    The Nats thought they could spin anything. Even more tax cuts for the rich.

    But they were wrong.

    What rabbit will they pull out of the fiscal hat now? And who will fall for the trick?

  25. Inequality Aspiration Envy

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 11:04 am, May 19th, 2010 -  71 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, capitalism, class war, equality, john key, national, Social issues
    Tags: , , ,

    Inequality is terribly damaging to society. National want to increase inequality by transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. They argue that this provides “incentives” for the vast majority of the rest of us to “get ahead”. But this aspirational argument is both incoherent and absurd.

  26. Eat the Rich

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 10:50 am, May 19th, 2010 -  22 comments
    Categories: budget 2010
    Tags:

    Some how it just seems right for John Key’s “Don’t Be Jealous” Budget. Or if you want something a bit more high brow but still with the big hair, there’s Brian Edwards on $50 Million PM Counsels Poor Not To Envy Rich. Me… I say Eat Them!

  27. Excusing the ‘Don’t Be Jealous’ Budget

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 9:00 am, May 19th, 2010 -  15 comments
    Categories: budget 2010, class war, spin, tax
    Tags:

    Tomorrow, National will give huge tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders. $12,000 a year for a typical CEO or a Prime Minister on $350,000 a year. $290,000 a year for Paul Reynolds, the CEO of Telecom. The Right are trying a bunch of excuses for this unneeded gift to the richest people in the country, paid for by working Kiwis. Let’s debunk ’em.

  28. More dim bulbs

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 1:22 pm, May 18th, 2010 -  11 comments
    Categories: act, climate change, humour
    Tags:

    Yesterday I posted on John Key being named “Dim bulb of the week” by the San Francisco Examiner. Continuing with a dim bulb theme – let’s talk about Edison Hour, as it is explained to us by a budding genius from ACT…

  29. World Bank opens up its data

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 1:45 pm, May 17th, 2010 -  1 comment
    Categories: International, Media, youtube
    Tags: , , ,

    As well as releasing its yearly report on World Development Indicators last month, the World Bank opened up its data. It has included a public API and access to over a thousand indicators. In the video below, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick speaks about the Bank’s open data initiative.

  30. Murdering thieves ‘joke’ clouds Treaty talks

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 10:40 pm, May 13th, 2010 -  51 comments
    Categories: colonialism, racism, Satire, treaty settlements
    Tags: ,

    Embroiled in fraught Treaty talks, Tuhoe negotiator Tamati Kruger has made things worse with an inopportune joke: “The good news tonight is that I was having dinner with my whanau as opposed to with the representatives of the Crown in which case I would be lucky to get away without having my land stolen and my family murdered”.

  31. What could possibly go wrong?

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 2:05 pm, May 13th, 2010 -  11 comments
    Categories: Environment, International
    Tags: , ,

    The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could be stopped with an underground nuclear blast, a Russian newspaper reports. Excellent idea, what could possibly go wrong? That was sarcasm, by the way.

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