The Standard Week: 26 September – 3 October

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 pm, October 3rd, 2008 - 31 comments
Categories: standard week - Tags:

So, there’s no articles on Key in this edition of the Standard Week. I know! Hardly believable. But there’s a reason for that. After his dodgy Tranzrail dealings came to light last week, Key has been trying to keep himself out of the media except for the most soft-news photo ops (item: ‘Key feels sorry for sick child’, item: ‘Key cooks breakfast’). In fact, pretty much the entire National frontbench is lying as low as possible these days – every time they show up people are reminded of damaging revelations. Crime continues to fall – the only increase was reported family violence due to increased public recognition that it really isn’t OK. The first round of tax cuts came in. Now, the attention turns to National’s tax package announcement next week. Word is, they’ve brought it forward because they fear it will be a PR disaster. Fingers crossed. Here are our favourite posts of the week:

Attack on democracy
…I’d also like to know what kind of electoral law they envisage replacing the EFA because I have a bad feeling it won’t involve transparency and the removal of anonymous donations…[more]

Nats’ ‘NZ sucks’ campaign vs the facts
National knows that its claims are untrue. The Tories lie to you because they hope people will vote against the Government if they can create dissatisfaction with the state of the country, albeit based on falsehoods …[more]

Crime falls, again
it makes sense that crime would be falling. When unemployment is low, people who might otherwise commit crimes have a constructive way to occupy their time and make a living. High unemployment leads to poverty and alienation – a recipe for crime …[more]

Trivialising the electoral process
… the Herald’s latest election gimmick, which begins today by asking readers ‘Which of these politicians would be most likely to help an old lady across the road?’ FFS. I guess ‘How will these politicians’ policies affect you and your family?’ is too much to hope for in election year…[more]

Great expectations
National has spent 9 years building expectations of the tax cuts it will offer.  Next week, they will finally have to deliver…[more]

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31 comments on “The Standard Week: 26 September – 3 October ”

  1. Aunty Helen is the queen of the soft news item, shes always on tv in a house in South Auckland, telling the folks that live there, dont worry if you cant pay the bills or dont work, Aunty Helen will pay it for you.

    But it’s not Aunty Helen that is paying the bills, is it?

  2. Johnty Rhodes 3

    Yeah, and when they can’t pay their ETS comittment we will get taxed more and we will find our tax cut gets eaten up by more than we were given. A great socialist trick, give a little back and take more by stealth tax. 5c/l here, 5c/kwh there and whammo we are paying more tax.

    A vote for Labour/Greens will shrink your wallet to the point where you not be able to see it.

    The Greens will not have to abolish any of the things we do as we will not be able to afford to do it anyway. No more fatty meat pies, too un-healthy. Dope is ok though.

    But of course, the thick voters out there cannot see it that way as they have had labotomies performed and had Vote Labour chipboards in planted in their pea sized brains. SP is a good example, thinks he is a great spinner of facts but it is all BS. There is no way my electrician brother can earn A$3500 pw in the hand in NZ.

  3. Johnty Rhodes 4

    I may as well have my rant while I can, the seeds of blog censorship is coming with the introduction of laws saying it is up to the ISP to close accounts that do illegal things. It will spread to right wing sites over time if communist clark and her green comrads get hold of power.

    If that happens we will oficially be a 3rd world country, if not already with the history teacher spunking all my taxes up the wall.

  4. Johnty Rhodes 5

    [deleted]
    [lprent: So you’re just trash – well I suppose it is one way of compensating. That one hit my moderation filter and as you’re already banned..]

  5. I guess this nutbar is banned under another name but as he’s just being crazy, not hugely disgusting, i thought i would let if through

  6. T-Rex 7

    I assume you wrote that before reading his third comment above… or didn’t read it at all, which would be understandable.

    Johnty, you’re a gibbering retard. Go gibber somewhere else.

  7. Quoth the Raven 8

    Talking of these shopkeepers Johnty, tell us when were self defense laws last changed?

  8. Johnty Rhodes 9

    QTR – who knows all of the laws? Is it expected that we know before hand what reasonble force is if attacked for the first time? Split second decisions are required. QTR, do you know all of the laws of the land, of course not, nobody does. However, one might think the law of common sense may prevail as fullmoon King keeps telling us wrt SFA. However, in the Otara case this was not the case it seems to me.

    In another twist how come the guy who hit Hawkins with a bible is being charged and Len ‘megaphone’ Richards has not been charged? Seems like everyone is equal but Labour Party Cardholders are more equal than others.

    T-rex, you are an idiot, I did not know that having an above average IQ (top 20%) makes me a retard, by definition you are one as well then along with most readers at this site. I like to have an occasional ‘gibber’ here to wing you lefties up.

    However, all I have said is correct, with colourful language at times but I am right on my facts of who carried out these crimes.

    [lprent: Yeah he is banned. He is a nutbar – but it is quite amusing to let them through at least in an area where there is little debate going on. This is obviously someone who is clueless. So far he hasn’t managed to say a single thing that hasn’t come straight off the troll production line. He seems to read like FFM. Any other suggestions?
    I can’t wait for post-election when I have time to write emulators for some of these idiots. I bet I can write programs with more imagination.]

  9. Johnty Rhodes 10

    Iprent – I am not a nutbar, you just don’t like the idea that I am pretty well right and have a polarised version to your way of thought.
    You ban me, I just get a new log on. So what say it, as long as I am not a naughty boy I can keep on as this log on??????

    At least you admit I can read:).

    After the election I will probably get a knock on the door from the Geatapo as my IP address is being monitored. Will probably get DBP as the torture master, I hear he is good at that.

    [lprent: You give a VERY good impression of being one.

    BTW: I can ban you thoroughly if I need to. The login doesn’t matter. It causes some fuss for other users because I start moderating all of the IP ranges that you access by.

    If I get severely peeved then I’ll start feeding you to the spambot which will then start restricting your access to all wordpress sites (and others). If that is too slow then I’ll lodge a complaint with your ISP.]

  10. ak 11

    On the other hand Rex, it’s somewhat salutary to have the occasional reminder (via Johnty and his ilk) of the very real pain and frustration that has been whipped up by the tory machine and its cynical “NZ Sucks-Helen Corrupt” campaign.

    These tortured shrieks of thwarted bigotry manifesting as naked hatred and misogyny are not the natural preserve of our taciturn kiwi male: they are a direct result of the deliberate and disgusting strategy pursued by key National operatives since 2005.

    Beginning in talkback wireless, (Lew’s done an excellent paper on this) the sheer volume of this unprecedented and unmitigated hatespeak has been adopted and encouraged by the likes of Farrar, seeped into the mainstream media, and thus gained a kind of tacit legitimacy. The “poison-pen letter” of yesteryear is now like the pornography of today: widespread availability has implied societal acceptance, and the “Johnties” of this world feel empowered to give vent to their most base instincts – to their own psychological detriment and obvious distress.

    Sadder even than this, is the reality that the pain so successfully manufactured for the “Johnties” would find but momentary balm on Nov 8th should National succeed: Key’s unctuous attempts to outflank Labour on the left have cemented-in the progressive gains of the last nine years and secured the “dreaded” Hels’ place in history as one of our greatest-ever Prime Ministers. Furthermore, should the Maori Party hold the balance of power, our nation is poised to advance like never before: just think – millions to Maori initiatives from National; imagine the turmoil – and the Farrar-spin!

    Rather than castigate the Johnties of this world Rex, I would urge consideration of the words of another of our worthy philosophers: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Truly, She really does work in mysterious ways.

  11. Ari 12

    Don’t worry about the lack of articles on Key, Steve, before I even skimmed this post I had felt an odd compulsion to write about John “Palin” Key over at G.Blog… 😉

    I hope I’m not channeling the Standard though, as I think I’m a bit too Green to be described as part of the Labour movement, even if I do believe in a lot of the civil rights and workers’ rights stuff you lot care about 🙂

  12. Pat 13

    No articles on Key? What about:

    – Easy to clear up the question
    – Still nothing personal
    – Key’s leadership questioned again
    – Take on Key

  13. higherstandard 14

    Quite right ak just as well that such ‘hatespeech’ isn’t promulgated by the left leaning amongst us.

    ah just a sec…

  14. Pat,

    MAINSTREAM MEDIA

  15. HS,

    How about some actual substance.
    You sad baiter you.

  16. randal 18

    Hi the standard. it has been a very good week here. no where else have the issues been debated with such clarity and fervour. of course the trolls are going to come out with their divisive and diverting nonsense but that that only serves to sharpen up the arguments. I love trolls. Its like getting a free kick in sport. HS take you thorazine and go back to bed.

  17. Johnty Rhodes 19

    Randal – the debate here is just crap, 10-20 hard core lefty people regurgitating their beleifs and a few righties like myself saying what has been posted is a load of lies, crime is down etc. That is false, despite what the statistics say.

    [and yet he can’t stay away. SP]

  18. Ari 20

    Trolls: The penalty corners that just keep on giving. 🙂

  19. Johnty Rhodes 21

    If I get severely peeved then I’ll start feeding you to the spambot which will then start restricting your access to all wordpress sites (and others). If that is too slow then I’ll lodge a complaint with your ISP.]

    Iprent – what have I done that will make the ISP take action? You are acting like a bully boy in the school park. Are ISPs under the control of the ninth floor as well? Sounds like China to me.

    [lprent: The point is that this site is private property (paid for and run by me). It is not public property, doesn’t get paid for from anywhere apart from my pocket. Getting rid of pests off my site seems like quite a legitimate thing for me to do, especially the ones that don’t read and confine themselves to the rules of the site. Read the Policy.

    It was put in place because there have been some quite active attempts to make the comments section unreadable using trolling techniques (which I detest). That was effectively driving out the people who wanted to debate issues. So we stuck in policy and techniques to make sure it doesn’t happen. I happen to enjoy enforcing them as being a way of helping rid the net of puerile dickheads who have no manners or ability to debate with any rationality.

    At the last resort, all ISP’s accept complaints about abuse of their services from abusive e-mails up to and including abusing comment websites. They will make their own assessments about if it is abuse, but usually that a webmaster being bothered to complain is sufficient. For some strange reason no-one really can be bothered with the self-perceived ‘rights’ of wankers who just want to deface the system. It is usually a hard lesson for some newbies to learn.]

  20. Did he actually hit the guy with a mircophone? or was it just swung pretty close? there was a couple of videos from different angles. It’s kind of a pointless debate anyway, we all know if it had been someone from the right they would be praising him for acting in self defence.

  21. Pascal's bookie 23

    The bible bashing incident is a cracker. Some truly quality crazy.

    The guy is known to Hawkins and told him some time ago that he would be hit with the Bible in question. It’s no ordinary bible, it’s got the power! ’twas used to hit a malcontent in Fiji many years back and said malcontent was laid low by the lord and verily did he expire this mortal coil shortly after. The good book wit’ a powerful left hook.

    Given it’s history and the gentleman’s intent that by striking George with it, George should die, attempted murder? Assault with a deadly weapon?

  22. Ianmac 24

    I think that the shopkeeper who was charged with assault in Auck was not being attacked but had come out of his shop and accused the lad of shoplifting then attacked him with a hockey stick which lead to the fracas. So if so this was man attacks boy not man defends self. The boy and others are also charged with assault(?) I think.
    The rants from people like Jonty Roads, appear in many blogs and one’s eye just skids over them and for me I read the reasoned arguments from all sides eg Colin Espiners Blog. The counterarguments on most issues are rather illuminating. Jonty and HS add nothing really.

  23. mhmm that post and discussion is really ripe for pulling out some quotes at a later date. Massive massive hypocracy, people praising a law, saying its well needed and quite reasonable in America, but the same thing in Sweden is the end of the world and will leave Sweden worse than nazi germany.

    Theres also an interesting chain of logic to be extracted.

    P1) Sarah Palin is a moron

    P2) Sarah Palin appeals to “real Americans” because shes like them

    C) ??

    What a pity i’m unable to post there.

    Keep up the good work L Prentice and co, any reasonably intelligent commentator (from either left or right) can see that the moderation policy here relly is getting a better standard of discussion. Its just a pity that both sides aren’t interested in high quality fact based discussion.

  24. HS,

    As I said, you sad baiter you.

  25. higherstandard 27

    Eve dear just pointing out to one of the posters that those of all political leanings are guilty of letting their mouths run off at the expense of their credibility – feel to disagree if you want it’s a free country.

  26. Johnty Rhodes 28

    Well Iprent, you called me a wanker, that is against one of your rules in your policy, but I suppose as owner it is your right to abuse people with differing views.

    [lprent: Actually I didn’t – well not unless you identify yourself as :-

    For some strange reason no-one really can be bothered with the self-perceived ‘rights’ of wankers who just want to deface the system. It is usually a hard lesson for some newbies to learn.

    But hey, if you’re here to try to deface the system, then by all means take the appellation as your own. Of course your lifespan here in terms of numbers of comments could be quite low. You wouldn’t met the local standards.

    I couldn’t care less about your views.

    I do care deeply and forcefully about your behaviour on my site. Scrawling troll graffiti in the comments area has a very fast response. I’d suggest lifting the level of your comments and engaging in useful discussion with other commentators is the fastest way to get out of moderation.]

  27. Johnty Rhodes 29

    Re the EFA, nearly everyone is saying it is a dog of a law, it is even condemmed by Ms Catt who oversees the process. Maybe National if in power will get cross party support for new rules? This will also apply to changes to the electoral act where Labour have been partisan in employing it’s own people to look at. A binding referendum is also more democratic, don’t you think? This is what National are proposing.

    [lprent: But you notice that the Nay’s haven’t described what they’d replace the EFA with. Their immediate objective appears to be to replace it with the EA 1993 again (from the vague description they have given). That was an act that had more holes in it than the current one. They happened to be the holes that the Nat’s have been exploiting undemocratically for 15 years.

    What happens when they propose a new bill and labour does exactly what the Nays did last time – oppose it for electoral advantage. What happens to cross party support then? Or do they just mean parties that agree with them?

    Perhaps you should ask them for more detail about what they propose.]

  28. randal 30

    On the button travellerev. that last post from hs also looks like it is almost on the slippery slope to maudlin alcoholic maundering. physician heal thyself!

  29. higherstandard 31

    Randal – I thought you were off electioneering with Winnie

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