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Yesterday, the OECD released its annual comparison of educational achievement in different countries. This study compares half a million kids' aptitude in reading, maths, and science. Kiwi kids come out pretty damn well: 7th in reading, 13th in maths, 8th in science. And, guess what,…
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Paul Quinn's appalling Electoral (Disqualification of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act passed last night with the support of just two parties - ACT and National. We've talked about why this law is so bad in the past. The Attorney-General agreed it is an unjustified breach of…
act democracy under attack democratic participation law and "order" prisons
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At Copenhagen, the NZ government said it would reduce CO2 emissions by 20%. But a proposal to manufacture diesel and urea from low grade Southland lignite would increase CO2 emissions by 20% and cost us taxpayers about $NZ 1 billion in free carbon credits to…
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Even Fran O’ Sullivan has been moved to admit (ht: ianmac) that our current Emperor has no clothes: Speaking frankly, aren't we all starting to get a bit concerned that the National-led Government seems asleep at the wheel when it comes to dealing with our…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Fresh evidence was presented in the House yesterday by rortbuster Pete Hodgson that makes a lie of testimony Sammy Wong gave to the investigation into his and his wife's travel on taxpayer money. A proper inquiry by the Auditor-General must now be undertaken. There are…
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A fascinating side-effect of the attacks at various levels on Wikileaks in the last week has been a demonstration of exactly how tough it is to take out a site without widespread support from people on the net. renesys.blog has a excellent post looking at…
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I saw this old American comic and the coincidence was just too bizarre. I had to share. I guess his name really is perfect for TV. (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is quite amusing in general)
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In the Herald yesterday, there was a half-page ad thanking Pansy Wong for her "significant contribution" to National's coffers the country. John Campbell went in hunt of that contribution. Worth watching all the way through for Duncan Garner's assessment. As a bonus, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi…
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ISOC - the internet society that is probably the closest thing that the internet has as a governing body said The Internet Society on the Wikileaks issue Recently, we have witnessed the effective disappearance from the Internet of a website made infamous through international press…
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I'm in favour of lifting the retirement age. Life expectancy continues to rise and is now 80.4 years. A man aged 65 can expect to live on average another 18 years, a woman 20. That's a hell of a long time to be getting the…
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You not only can expect to be spied on more after an overhaul of the SIS, but you sure as hell shouldn't be allowed to know how they are going to do it. It's your freedom they're protecting, so you should expect a reduction in…
accountability auckland supercity bill english democracy under attack Gerry Brownlee john key national/act government
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Now that the Swedish prosecutors have finally given the British police a document that they can work with, Assange turned himself in, and has gone before a British court on the extradition request from Sweden. The court has remanded him without bail. I have already…
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One of the features of the neoliberal revolution has been the outsourcing of public service delivery, usually to not-for-profits, sometimes to profit-making entities like private hospitals. Whanau Ora is an extension of this. Two recent stories have exemplified the risk of this model. First, there's…
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I think most lefties would agree that the market is bad at hard problems. It is focused on short term gain -- quarterly profits -- with little motivation to consider the long term. It concentrates power and wealth towards a few at the top, with…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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The Nats like to talk tough about "benefit fraud". This interesting investigation by ONE News certainly puts the problem into perspective: Welfare errors cost taxpayers millions Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being mistakenly handed out to beneficiaries every year, contributing to a debt…
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From the Herald: Parliament's security and intelligence committee, chaired by Mr Key, is expected to accept public submissions on the bill, but hearings will be held in private for security reasons. "It won't be in the public interest to have it open, for a whole…
accountability democracy under attack democratic participation john key Parliament
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19 dead in Police chases in 12 months. You're more likely to be killed in a police chase than by being shot. Most of the dead were being chased for minor traffic offences. What a waste of life. Collins' response: harsher sentences. Cause tougher sentences…
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The other week we talked about what a new economic order should look like, following the neoliberal experiment's resoundingly failure. Sustainability and fairness need to be at the heart of the system. Government acts on the economy through law, taxation and income redistribution, and as…
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In a surprise to no-one, John Key has appointed 3 time election loser Hekia Parata as the replacement for the latest of his corrupt ministers to walk the plank - Pansy Wong. I'm hoping Parata will be less of a disgrace than Wong. It wouldn't…
human rights national/act government racism racism workers' rights
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Goff started the year with an excellent speech, The Many, Not The Few. He followed that with an alternative vision for a budget, Higher Incomes, Better Jobs, and a Conference address that broke the stranglehold that neoliberal thinking has had on the economy for decades.…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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The 2011 election may not be the fait accompli for right-wing doctrine many predicted after Labour's demise in 2008. National vs Labour is always a hard fought battle no matter what. And there is a real chance Labour could get over the line. But even…
act greens maori party national nz first Politics united future
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Much to the delight of the right wing chattering class, the Te Atatu electorate has written a letter attacking Labour leadership: Labour's Te Atatu electorate committee has written for a second time to the party backing expelled MP Chris Carter and effectively expressing no confidence…
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The modern urge to label leaders who perform adequately during an emergency as 'heroes' astounds me. Particularly in the case of Pike River. Peter Whitall is a boss who just had 29 workers die on his work-site. While reserving judgment on his blame for that,…
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More go bankrupt from job loss "Nearly 3000 New Zealanders went broke in the year to June because of losing their jobs." 150 printing jobs lost "Around 150 people face a jobless Christmas and a bleak future after a major south Auckland commercial printer closed…
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Great excitement in the Sunday papers over Winston Peters / NZF. Exhibit A: Poll puts NZ First back in contention A new poll has New Zealand First at 6 per cent of the vote - enough to see its leader, Winston Peters, return to Parliament…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Warners bludge $30 mil out of us. Kiwifruit growers get a blank cheque while other firms go under. Farmers have their hands out cause it hasn't rained. Rich finance investors get us to cover their losses. Now, a $10K a night resort wants us to…