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More economic illiteracy from our old friend: Certainly given the rhetoric from the finance minister of late I'd thought the numbers would be worse than the Budget, not better. Um, everyone knew they would be better. We've known for months. The recession was over earlier…
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Another government-appointed taskforce of rightwing, market ideologues (this time appointed by Labour, the fools) has reported and, surprise, surprise, their report is a rightwing prescription without any supporting argument that it would be good for the country. The headline recommendation of the Capital Market Development…
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James at Editing teh Herald has started the Golden Garth awards aimed at rewarding the recipients at the Granny. You should all get over there and suggest candidates. I'm puzzling on it myself because there are so many good candidates. I'm aware that some think…
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Over at FairDeal, NZEI have announced that the support staff in schools have managed to get a wage increase. The campaign by support staff members and the wider union has finally resulted in a settlement of the support staff collective agreement. There is now a…
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Cartoon by Nick Anderson.
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An extraordinary moment in Question Time as John Boscawen skewered National's hollow promise to close the wage gap with Australia by 2025. Watch the video and listen to Bill English's voice. He was simply left high and dry when Boscawen asked him for some actual evidence that…
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There are some very wealthy industries that make their money off burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases. It is in their financial interest to prevent action to tackle climate change, so they fund lobby groups and denier propaganda. There is a large population of 'useful…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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NZPA: The Maori Party has withdrawn its support for a government bill after its bid to have Maori members on polytechnic councils failed. The Maori Party put up an amendment which would have ensured that councils had at least three Maori members. The Government didn't…
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It's interesting to look at the trend behind the headline 11 point poll lead Len Brown has opened up over John Banks as reported in today's Herald. In April Brown was only rated as preferred mayor by 6% of Aucklanders verse 17% for Banks. A…
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Colin Espiner: After making inroads in the latest TV3 poll, Goff has clearly taken fright after the reaction to his nationhood speech. How else to explain his perplexing decision not to comment on the announcement by Prime Minister John Key that the Maori tino rangatiratanga…
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In a recent post my good friend and fellow concern troll DPF covered the Associated Press review of the leaked "climategate" materials. The review concluded that the science of global warming was genuine. But DPF had some concerns: "My worry is that there is now…
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With huge infusions of EU cash and deregulation that brought in foreign companies looking to make a quick buck, Ireland's economy grew pretty quickly over the past 25 years. On the back of their new-found wealth, Irish governments implemented a neoliberal revolution - cutting taxes…
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National claims it created 2,300 jobs with its stimulus spending. Of course, most of this supposed stimulus was smoke and mirrors - re-announcing existing spending - and 2,300 is bugger all when there are over quarter of a million Kiwis out of work. But I…
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Reading the Dom Post's editorial pages over my morning coffee today, I had one of those moments when you suddenly remember how insufferably, shamelessly right-wing our print media can be. Top left is an editorial attacking the teacher unions and confirming the newspaper's support for…
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I'm fine with a flag representing Maori flying on Waitangi Day. Some argue there are constitutional concerns with flying a flag representing Maori self-determination next to the New Zealand flag. They say it implies (as Pita Sharples seems to believe) two separate sovereign powers in…
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According to myth (it seems), Lenin called socialists in the West 'useful idiots' - people whose ideological fervour saw them accidentally aid the realpolitik aims of the USSR. Similarly, an army of useful idiots are the greenhouse polluters' best weapon as they attempt to save…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Waatea News on RNZ this morning. Pita Sharples admitted that the Maori Party knew supporting National's ETS would mean worse environmental outcomes and would cost the country $110 billion in subsidies for polluters but they did…
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In a year when New Zealand factory farming practices for pigs (and earlier for chickens) have been widely exposed and shocked the country, our dairy industry is looking at adopting similar practices for dairy cows. In a year when climate change has been on the…
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Colin Espiner has a piece in the Dom Post today attributing Labour's four point rise in the polls to Goff's 'Nationhood' speech. He goes on, in what can't help but be interpreted as a wee dig at The Standard: after 30 years in politics, it's…
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"Govt stimulus creates 2300 jobs" reads the headline! It's a bit misleading though. A more accurate headline would have been - "Labour Govt stimulus creates 2300 jobs". How's that, I hear you cry? Follow the money: The Government estimates its economic stimulus package has created…
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This is the first in a three part series on the climate change denial industry. I'm trying to understand why there is such a powerful, well-funded, and ideologically solid body of opposition to a body of scientific evidence that even the scientists employed by one…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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David has a new innovation at the sewer. The old comment voting system has been enhanced to, amongst other things, hide comments when they receive enough votes against. I had some fun testing this last week under various logins that I set up some years…
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I think it is a pity that the currently dominant country / culture in the world, America, has had such a short history. Pakeha history in New Zealand suffers from the same limitation. All of our history has been about expansion and growth. "Progress". It…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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This is a guest post by Jasmine because I couldn't be bothered writing it myself ;-) Today Rochelle and I were hanging out in Levin, as you do on a Saturday afternoon, and decided to go check out the local layer hen slaughterhouse. There was…
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The more I ponder the scrapping of the TVNZ charter the dafter it seems. There are obvious downsides. What is the upside? What possible reason could there be to further weaken the already vestigial representation of our own culture on our main free to air…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...