The praiseworthy and the pitiful

Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, February 7th, 2009 - 3 comments
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The praiseworthy and a pitiful is a weekly compilation of some of the comments we’ve seen around the traps that warrant some response, whether praise or criticism, whether for the substance of what has been said or the quality of the rhetoric.

David Haywood’s piece on what would happen if the Herald had a ‘your views’ on E=MC^2. A+ Beyond hilarious.

Fran O’Sullivan calls for tax cuts to be canned. A Fran was one of those leading the tax cut mantra in the media. It’s great that she is able to put aside her ideology and recognise that the economic situation we are in demands a change of tack.

Ak comment on the recession A that’s some awesome writing.

Jeanette Fitzsimmons wage freeze plan for MPs C I worry about seeing MP’s pay turned into a political football because that’s a rich man’s game. But, if it is to be done, Fitzsimmons’ proposal is the right way to go about it, short of legislation. A Parliamentary resolution, while not having a force of law, is still the sovereign body telling a subservient body, the Remuneration Board, how to behave. That’s in keeping with our constitutional conventions; the Prime Minister trying to tell a body that has been set up to be independent of the Government’s influence what to do, as Key tried, is not.

John Key and NZPA: “[Small and medium business] employs 95 per cent of New Zealand workers” F- You munters. 96% of companies are SMEs (employ fewer than 20 people) but being small and medium-sized they don’t employ many people each (a large portion employ none). A few large businesses employ the lion’s share of people. I mean, for God’s sake, the Government alone employs 10% of people, how the hell could 96% be employed by SMEs? 30% of workers are employed by SMEs.

Guy from ABN AMRO on One News: ‘SMEs make up 95% of the economy’ F- See above. You’re meant to be a professional.

David Farrar on allegations a sitting MP, presumably Kieth Locke, was being spied on by the SIS as recently as 2006 “It is no surprise that the SIS used to track Locke. He supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan” D- Oh, so now it’s predictable and acceptable that a secret service spies on a law-abiding citizen if they voice support for military action in another country that doesn’t involve NZ? Would Farrar be happy to learn there’s a file on himself arising from his support of the Iraq invasion?

David Farrar on same “There is a certain irony that Helen Clark has the SIS spying on Green Party MPs, if my guess is correct. I can’t imagine the SIS would track an MP without approval from their Minister” F- Bullshit. The Minister does not control SIS activities at an operational level and certainly wouldn’t approve tracking of individuals, or even know about such tracking unless a threat to national security was discovered. I’m not sure what planet Farrar’s on but that’s not how our system of government works. Harsher marking for poor quality of the attempt to get a hit on Labour.

3 comments on “The praiseworthy and the pitiful ”

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  1. Chris G 1
    8 February 2009 at 10:57 am

    ak writes another pearler of a comment. Just thought I’d add the props for the comment SP was talking about.

  2. Paul Robeson 2
    8 February 2009 at 11:09 am

    As Gordon ‘the real’ Campbell was saying on scoop, along with Mr Obama and a few others we get better bang for our buck through spending as opposed to tax cuts at this stage.

    Good to see Fran saying it too. Belief that it will happen. Fairly low.

  3. deemac 3
    8 February 2009 at 12:17 pm

    the belief that individual ministers run the security services would be laughable if it weren’t so widely believed.
    By the way, my answer to the MPs’ salary problem is to pay them at the same rate as their previous salary as per the tax records and ban them from other paid work.