Search Results

  1. Banks threatens your council services

    Written By:  Sam Cash -  Date published: 6:00 am, October 28th, 2009 -  2 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, john banks
    Tags: , ,

    John ‘in your guts you know he’s nuts’ Banks has isolated himself out to the right of Rodney Hide when it comes to the activities of local government. Yesterday Rodney Hide started to backtrack on his promise to restrict local government to providing ‘core services’ (although I’ll reserve judgement until I see his final policy), which […]

  2. State Services to fold into DPMC?

    Written By:  Michael Foxglove -  Date published: 9:52 am, October 27th, 2009 -  10 comments
    Categories: john key, public services, rumour
    Tags:

    I’ve heard the State Services Commission are investigating their own demise, by looking into whether its functions should fold into the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Has anyone heard anything similar? If true, it would be an incredible power shift in favour of the office of the Prime Minister. And you have to wonder, […]

  3. Just ‘cos it’s Labour day

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 12:01 am, October 26th, 2009 -  3 comments
    Categories: Unions
    Tags:

    Credit where it’s due.

  4. Everyone else is doing it so why can’t we?

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 12:41 pm, October 24th, 2009 -  5 comments
    Categories: humour, Media
    Tags:

    Turns out our media aren’t the only ones who, rather than providing analysis and information, act as little more than amplifiers for the best spin.

  5. PMs and dictators

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 12:49 am, October 23rd, 2009 -  6 comments
    Categories: scoundrels
    Tags:

    While I might not put it quite as vividly as Zetetic, I certainly agree that Carter was very foolish to post anything comparing Key to a dictator. That sort of tactic is National Party territory, we don’t want to go there:

  6. Chris Carter you dick

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 11:20 pm, October 22nd, 2009 -  62 comments
    Categories: scoundrels
    Tags:

    I’m not sure if my fellow writers would put it like this. But I’m sure they agree with my sentiment when I say- Chris Carter you utter tool. Shut the hell up and go away. Here’s a list of your achievements in the last four months: extended the story of your travel expenses with the […]

  7. The moral centre

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 1:00 pm, October 22nd, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, Left
    Tags:

    I thought I would take the time to point out this excellent article by Tapu Misa. It has gone with out saying that the emotional and intellectual centre of the Labour movement in New Zealand, from Wally Nash, the welfare state and the first Labour government, has often been from the Bible. It doesn’t hurt […]

  8. What really wins elections

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 12:18 pm, October 22nd, 2009 -  1 comment
    Categories: election 2008, humour
    Tags:

  9. Key’s divide and rule to cut wages

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 8:28 am, October 22nd, 2009 -  20 comments
    Categories: capitalism, john key, national/act government, same old national, Unions, wages, workers' rights
    Tags:

    John Key says that if school support staff want pay-rises then teachers should sacrifice the ones they bargained for. Tell him to get stuffed. I don’t see him and his rich mates handing back the hundreds of dollars a week each in tax-cuts that National gave. I don’t see Key or his buddies Mark Weldon and Rob Fyfe […]

  10. The invisible hand gets frisky

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 11:18 am, October 21st, 2009 -  3 comments
    Categories: economy, humour
    Tags:

  11. Told you so: Right pushes ACC privatisation

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 1:00 pm, October 19th, 2009 -  57 comments
    Categories: ACC, national/act government, privatisation
    Tags:

    Last Thursday, Colin Espiner was mocking all of us who said that National and other rightwing groups were trying to create a sense of crisis around ACC to soften us up for privatisation: “That somehow this is all just a VRWC* to derail the ACC, lower public confidence in it, and then sell it to […]

  12. Ned Flanders without the moustache

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 12:21 pm, October 17th, 2009 -  24 comments
    Categories: humour, john key
    Tags: , ,

    Last night on TV3’s 7 Days panelist Jeremy Elwood described John Key as “New Zealand’s very own Ned Flanders without a moustache.” Ned’s a pretty complex character, with quite a lot of suppressed rage and a dark side that makes his hyper-cheerful niceness actually more of a necessary coping device than an optional expression of […]

  13. Key lashes out at random

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 8:30 am, October 17th, 2009 -  16 comments
    Categories: john key, Media
    Tags: ,

    Key looks like a PM under pressure. He’s started lashing out at random – never a good sign. It happened while discussing Melissa Lee’s repayment of $80,000 of taxpayer’s money that she had somehow managed to forget that she had. (Yes I know – that sort of thing happens to me all the time too.) […]

  14. ACC a good investor

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 10:24 am, October 16th, 2009 -  40 comments
    Categories: ACC, john key
    Tags:

    The other day, John Key said “ACC’s investment portfolio had not been working well”. Now, if there’s one golden rule regarding people with power it’s never take what they say for granted. And that’s never been more true than with this Prime Minister. So, I took a look at ACC’s annual report (Colin Espiner et […]

  15. It’s called politics, Colin

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 4:11 am, October 16th, 2009 -  30 comments
    Categories: ACC, Media
    Tags:

    Colin, I think we need to discuss your work: the conspiracy theory peddled by Labour and the EPMU (i.e. Labour) that somehow this is all just a VRWC to derail the ACC, lower public confidence in it, and then sell it to the highest (or any) bidder just doesn’t ring true for me. Don’t you […]

  16. John Banks lets his city slide

    Written By:  Sam Cash -  Date published: 8:19 pm, October 15th, 2009 -  4 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, john banks
    Tags:

    Far from being a careful steward of ratepayers’ money and someone who takes pride in his city, Auckland mayor John Banks is allowing parts of the CBD to slide. Less than two years ago Banks’ council spent $1.5 million upgrading the central Auckland lane Swanson Street. Yet far from being some kind of urban oasis, […]

  17. Spin-busting: ACC rises and cuts

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 1:45 pm, October 15th, 2009 -  38 comments
    Categories: ACC, privatisation
    Tags:

    The Herald’s editorial today largely reads like it was written by Nick Smith and John Judge, so let’s use it as the basis for some spin-busting (my source is the ACC annual report unless otherwise mentioned): opponents say any change would be a prelude to privatisation. Yet all this exaggeration could not disguise the fact […]

  18. Derek Fox on Rugby World Cup

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 3:01 pm, October 14th, 2009 -  28 comments
    Categories: maori party
    Tags: ,

    Up until a few hours ago Derek Fox was the Chief Press Sec for the Co-leaders of the Maori Party. He resigned from that position this morning, evidently deeply dissatisfied. Shortly after resigning he gave an interview on 9 to noon – scathing of the World Cup bid (embedded below).

  19. Sausages with Darby

    Written By:  Demeter -  Date published: 10:15 am, October 14th, 2009 -  6 comments
    Categories: climate change, humour
    Tags:

  20. 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 […]

  21. Labour drops the ball

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 4:28 pm, October 13th, 2009 -  79 comments
    Categories: labour
    Tags: , , , ,

    Labour’s pathetic response to Treasury’s flat tax proposal has come in for some well deserved criticism over at No Right Turn, and I have to agree it’s a pretty basic failure on Labour’s part. Faced with a reactionary and regressive proposal that amounts to a full-frontal attack on their founding values and the people they […]

  22. Rewinding Fast Forward

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 3:32 pm, October 13th, 2009 -  2 comments
    Categories: Environment, science
    Tags:

    One of the snippets announced while John Key was over performing for Letterman recently was a call for action on research into emissions: NZ pushes for Global Alliance on agricultural emissions Prime Minister John Key says the New Zealand Government is pushing for a Global Alliance to research how to cut world-wide greenhouse gas emissions […]

  23. Electoral SM

    Written By:  John A -  Date published: 7:08 pm, October 12th, 2009 -  5 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    Philip Temple makes some good points in the Herald today: The Minister of Justice, Simon Power, indicated that he would soon present a paper to Cabinet on the proposed referendum on MMP. Presumably this will hold true to National’s election promise, that it will be held “without any further consideration”. Meaning no consultation with the […]

  24. Some advice for the Greens

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 1:25 pm, October 11th, 2009 -  66 comments
    Categories: greens
    Tags:

    The Greens are continuing their idiotic policy of “neither left nor right” today with a calculated smear of Sue Bradford in the Sunday Star Times. As far as I can see the story has been fed out by someone high in the party as a way of distancing the Greens from Bradford and her Left […]

  25. Dead peasant insurance

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 3:33 pm, October 10th, 2009 -  18 comments
    Categories: capitalism, class war
    Tags:

    In case you needed reminding how completely deviod of morals and ethics unbridled capitalism is, meet dead peasant insurance. Here’s Mark Ames of Exiled Online‘s beautiful rant against employers making money off their workers’ deaths, and the whole screwed up, unethical, inhuman system:

  26. “Blow out” more like Blowup

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 1:29 pm, October 10th, 2009 -  11 comments
    Categories: ACC
    Tags:

    Readers of a certain age will remember an Antonioni film called Blowup. The title conceit involves a photographer who finds what appears to be a dead body in one of his photographs but when he blows the photo up to find out more all that happens is the resolution degrades. The more closely he looks […]

  27. Too late 3

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 12:38 pm, October 9th, 2009 -  7 comments
    Categories: climate change, Environment
    Tags:

    I know I’m banging on about it this week, but it’s rather an important topic! This clip from Wake Up Freak Out is an accessible introduction to the science of the tipping points that are going to accelerate climate change. As the title of my posts in this series suggests, I think we’re too late. […]

  28. Photos from the Auckland bus driver lockout

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 4:25 pm, October 8th, 2009 -  18 comments
    Categories: workers' rights
    Tags:

    Some photos from the Auckland bus driver lockout. The drivers showed up to the depots today to demonstrate they were willing to work, while the NZ Bus/Infratil managers stared at them from behind locked gates. These are from the picket line at the Mt Roskill depot: No Right Turn reports there will be a picket […]

  29. Climatic catastrophe lolz

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 7:05 pm, October 7th, 2009 -  Comments Off on Climatic catastrophe lolz
    Categories: climate change, humour
    Tags:

    hat-tip Sam Vilain in comments

  30. Wee gripes: loose thinking/loose slots

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 11:42 pm, October 5th, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, john key
    Tags:

    This the kind of garbage isn’t usually worth my time, but that’s what wee gripes is for: Why are Key, Henry and Watkins so excited that the Youtube vid of John Key’s clowning on Letterman has more hits than the vid of Obama on the same show? For a start, Obama’s vid has more hits. Anyone who […]

  31. Capitalism: A Love Story

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 4:45 pm, October 5th, 2009 -  19 comments
    Categories: capitalism, youtube
    Tags:

    Just found the trailer on youtube. No word yet when it’s coming to New Zealand.

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