And We’ll be Reich Back …
The Southern/Molyneux hatefest is back on.
Social issues
Ethics
My Little Eye…
Something beginning with…wtf?!
Underpants not Underarm
In the days of the British Raj unsportsmanlike behaviour was condemned by saying “it isn’t cricket.” Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft hiding ball-tampering sandpaper in his trousers in a forlorn attempt to avoid the cameras showed that for Aussies “it is cricket.” We’ve seen it before of course with the Chappells. Heads must roll.
The Humanity.
Thoughtless thugs. Killers.
Voltairine de Cleyre
When history buries treasures, those treasures don’t have to remain buried.
Gower – Nats the biggest liars
Sure would be good if some other media called the Nats out on this too.
Trying to bury bad news
It’s a busy news day, so… Government axes Lifeline contract. Yes, we still top the western world on youth suicide. We still have […]
The Catholic Church is urging its parishoners to vote
The catholic bishops of Aotearoa have released a pamphlet urging parishoners to vote. And apart from conservative positions on euthenasia and drug liberalisation the policies they support have a decidedly progressive bent.
This is not an image of a Low Flying Penguin.
It’s also is not a picture of a person claiming entitlements who has not felt compelled to bend the truth when dealing with WINZ. Both images would be equally difficult to find.
Why no inquiry into abuse in state care?
As we celebrate Parliament’s apology for historical convictions for homosexuality, it surely raises the question of why the government is so hardheartedly against an inquiry into historical abuse.
The view from Southland
A Southland Times editorial has a pretty blunt assessment of the PM: English wasn’t there for us. “In what he has done and in what he has failed to do, English has himself become a party to the deception of the public.”
Gower is correct – police must reopen Barclay case
English is trying, many days too late, to shut up about the scandal in his old electorate and hope that it will blow over. It won’t – too many loose ends. In particular, Patrick Gower is right, the police must now re-open the Barclay investigation.
Follow the money
Bill English’s texted electorate chair Stuart Davie on 21st February 2016 saying Glenys Dickson was given an extra payout from the Leader’s fund “to avoid potential legal action.” It was the only source available for an extra payout for confidentiality. English said today no-one in February knew there was any issue of illegality. Then what legal action and why an extra payment?
Oil and Water Mix.
Our economic paradigm (market capitalism) and oil don’t mix. False hope (BECCS) and survival doesn’t mix. Current political settings (Paris pledges produce 3- 4 degrees C warming with the US on board) and intelligent action don’t mix. Incrementalism (time is not on our side) and AGW doesn’t mix. Whatever can’t be mixed into some AGW solution needs to be flushed.
Scary, huh? Well, yes and no…
Party donations analysis
Max Rasbrooke has done an analysis of donations to political parties, and raises the concern that donations buy influence. There is a solution to this problem.
Labour oppose visa scams – Nats would rather have the quick bucks
Labour is right to stress the many advantages that immigration brings to NZ, and right to address the major way in which it is being abused – student visa scams. Bill English has made National’s position clear, they would rather have the quick bucks.
UN calls for investigation into Operation Burnham
Well well. What will you do now Bill?
Seymour on Nat properties and policy
Mediawatch on Hit and Run
“Has the meaning of book Hit and Run been obscured by all the claims and counter-claims in the media?” – Yes of course it has, and that is a deliberate strategy on the part of people who are desperate to avoid an inquiry.
Social investment meets the surveillance state
First they came for the budgeting services. Now we know that every social service agency has to provide clients’ private personal data to […]
Free speech vs hate speech
Auckland Uni is in a difficult position – a classic dilemma with two important principles at stake.
Dodgy foreign trusts – will English take action?
Matt Nippert continued his excellent work on foreign trusts yesterday in The Herald. Will Bill English clean up the mess that John Key was determined to ignore?
Post-truth post-ethics
The McCully / Sheepgate thing is just the latest in a long line of “morally flexible” Nat fiascos. In a world where truth or ethical standards mattered this government would have ended long ago.
Tory MP resigns on point of principle
No, not in NZ, of course. With bonus notes on a “grotesque folly”.
Check your Kiwisaver
An excellent piece by Matt Nippert, Caleb Tutty, Olivia Carville in The Herald is generating a lot of discussion this morning. Are you unknowingly investing in tobacco and munitions?
Pack Mentality
The Waikato Chiefs rugby franchise have admitted two incidents of abuse at a drunken post season celebration. Their response to claims of sexual abuse? Blame the victim.
EDIT: The CEO accepts he got it wrong and has made a modern ‘if offence was taken’ style apology on Radio Sport. No direct apology to the woman concerned, however.
The Ray White – China deal
Real Estate agent Ray White has formed a partnership with China’s Lianjia to market NZ houses to about 260 million Chinese buyers. They say it’s the government’s problem – and they’re right.
We need to talk about Islam
A post in which Ad responds to TRP’s recent post suggesting that all religion should be banned by suggesting that religious tolerance is a necessary feature of a liberal democracy.
NZ wins nuclear war
Nothing like a good clickbait headline eh!
God Botherer
God’s been a bit of a let down recently. Is it time for Him to retire?
Dodgy Niue deal back in the headlines
As Bryan Gould put it – “In any other country, and especially in those where such deals are commonplace, no one would be in any doubt as to what had really happened. In New Zealand, however, we are naively inclined to accept the blank-eyed, slack-mouthed assurances that it was all a coincidence and that nothing untoward had happened.”
Indigenous Perspectives
“It is possible to live in a society with a world view that does not include empire”
– Winona LaDuke
Dodgy Niue deal back in the headlines
Good of the hotel to keep the Nats’ dodgy deal in the headlines. Andrew Little has called their bluff – of course.
The hidden homeless and the speculators
Speculators keep buying houses while families live in garages and cars. This is a moral failure, a leadership failure, a market failure – it is every kind of failure.
NZ exporting poverty
By enabling tax evasion for the rich in other (notably South American) countries NZ is exporting poverty. It’s all perfectly legal. And that’s exactly the problem.
Obama calls for international tax reform – what will Key do now?
Key has made it clear that he doesn’t care that NZ is operating as an international tax haven. When The Greens called for action he called them “barking mad”. But last night President Obama called for international action on tax reform. What will Key do now?