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Jon Stewart's Daily Show on the 7th - the day after the American elections - is a classic. Stewart is having more fun than is seemly or decent! I still can't get video embedding from the Daily Show to work (Lprent?), so all I can…
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For the Left to win in 2014, David Shearer has to resign as Labour Leader. This is a big call to make and one that I have agonised over, but the reality has become increasingly clear: under Shearer, Labour is all too likely to snatch…
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Both Key and Shearer have been under pressure from various media commentary of late. Duncan Garner has given Key a telling off on his government's dismal economic performance: Surplus target up in smoke National must surely know its target to reach a surplus in the…
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Welcome to Poverty watch, a weekly update on the National government's lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. A lot of background issues and links are set out in Poverty Watch one two and three. Another week, another warning…
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Press releases on opposition party websites, often highlight issues that the MSM don't pick up on. This often indicates some of the biases and/or weakneses of our news media. It's not always wilful and politcally-biased avoidance. Sometimes it's just that the MSM news looks for…
hone harawira labour Minister for International Embarrassment news nz first paula bennett poverty telecommunications tertiary education
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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According to the Sydney Morning Herald "New Zealand has broken ranks with Australia and refused to sign up to a second round of the Kyoto Protocol." The SMH went on: The announcement comes just hours after Climate Change Minister Greg Combet announced Australia was ready…
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Unemployment - a National disgrace They say there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Well, sometimes statistics tell the truth. And sometimes that truth is damning. There are now 175,000 people unemployed in New Zealand. The unemployment rate is 7.3%. That’s the highest it has…
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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The crises in housing and unemployment are hitting some demographic groups harder than others. There are worrying trends of increasing marginalisation and struggle for some demographic groups. Meanwhile other groups that were previously less vulnerable, are struggling. There has been a significant worsening in employment…
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The last time unemployment was this high, Bill English was Finance Minister and his government was facing electoral oblivion. I don't remember his excuses last time but this time he's taken a different excuse from Key - who refuses to believe the numbers - and…
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Some Republicans have been disgraceful losers in the American presidential race. From Carl Rove denying the obvious on Fox "News", to 400 students in a racially motivated riot, to Donald Trump calling for revolution, a march on Washington and other nonsense. Amongst the noise, one…
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Remember when Key's excuse for rising unemployment was that it was a "lagging indicator" and the numbers would soon fall? Well, that was 3 years ago and its been lagging a hell of a long time because, since then 25,000 more Kiwis have become unemployed.…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Here's another entry in the Very Important Columnist vs Parasitic Bloggers file. While the professional mainstream media were all chanting in unison that the American presidential election was "too close to call", one (famous!) blogger correctly predicted the result - for every state. The Guardian…
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NActUF are very good at using finely-honed, diversionary and distorting spin. However, when debating 2 Private Members' Bills yesterday, already lacking 1 needed vote before the day began, government speakers couldn’t even be bothered trying too hard. Often in the debate son the first readings…
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Donald Trump says its not democracy, but that is essentially the story of the US election campaign. In the end, on-the-ground organisation beat the billion-dollar PACs. Wall-to-wall negative advertising turned the punters off, but people-to-people contact on both sides of the contest meant the turnout…
activism campaigning community democracy democratic participation obama us politics
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Up to his neck in criticism for his batshit behaviour of late, Key petulantly complained: "I dare you to show me one example where I haven't discharged my responsibility seriously, professionally and appropriately" Well I like a challenge as much as the next random blogger,…
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Well, Fran O'Sullivan must be shaking her head in confusion - her endorsement of Mitt Romney somehow failed to get him over the line, or anywhere need it. Maybe she'll find succor in these referenda results: 5 out of 5 states voted in favour of…
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The deficit so far this year is half a billion dollars worse than expected in the first 3 months of this fiscal year. But English says don't worry - he's going to make the 2014/15 surplus, and he doesn't care what he cuts. Meanwhile, the…
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Yesterday, Key denied calling David Beckham "thick as batshit". Specifically, he denied using the word 'batshit'. While it's enlightening to see Key remembers quips to schoolgirls better than he does briefings from his spies, couldn't he just have manned up and told us exactly what…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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17:12: Obama wins As I'm stuck in a hotel room in the US, with cable TV, fast internet and not a lot else, I might as well keep you up to date with what's happening. It's been an incredibly negative campaign - $2.5 billion spent…
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2xM2oXeDos
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Voting starts. What will the new president do about Climate Change? For good or ill, America has a tradition of global leadership. When it comes to climate change America needs to lead more actively in the world - not from behind, but from the front. It's…
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Today is Housing Crisis Day of Action with a march on parliament in Wellington (see Facebook page). The government's response is "cautious" as it doesn't want to interfer too much in the housing market. It is putting too much emphasis on encouraging the building of…
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Yesterday, 60 highly paid jobs at Rakon where lost and we learned 5,700 manufacturing jobs had been lost in the past year. The reason, the high dollar made manufacturing here untenable. Steve Joyce shrugged his shoulders and said it was the company's call to do…
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John Key says whatever it is convenient for him to say at the time. Usually he can keep track of his many faces well enough to avoid blatantly contradicting himself. But maybe the strain of his recent string of batshit behaviour is starting to tell,…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...