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After over 1100 submissions and more than 5.5 million total votes cast, MoveOn.org have announced the winner of their "Obama in 30 seconds" homemade ad competition - Obamacan by David Gaw & Lance Mungia. They're now running a fundraiser to get it aired commercially.
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We hear an awful lot from the Right about how much New Zealand sucks: 'crime is up' they cry (when it's down), 'taxes are too high' (when they're down), 'too many dole bludgers' (when benefit numbers are way, way down), 'everyone's leaving for Australia' (when…
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It was disappointing to hear National Radio this morning summarise the recent debate over benefit levels as ‘benefits are not keeping up with the cost of living'. Benefits are keeping up with the cost of living they are adjusted every year to keep them in…
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There was a new Roy Morgan poll out on Friday. No major changes - Labour continues to hover around the mid-30s and National around 50. The minor parties are still all over the place and New Zealand First remains a wildcard. Interestingly Roy Morgan also…
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In an attempt to find a non-ideological ground to justify opposing the Government's buyback of the rail system, John Key and others have been claiming that the $665 million price-tag is ‘over the odds' and $200 million in excess of Toll's ‘book value' for the…
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We're very pleased to have UnitedFuture Leader Peter Dunne respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? At a national level, I am most proud of…
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It has become a media mantra that winning a fourth term of government is nigh on impossible, but is that claim actually based on the record of past governments or just a political myth? The first government formed along party lines in New Zealand was…
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Good to see Ruth Dyson finally admitting we have left beneficiaries behind. I would hope now that there would be a lot more done than simply indexing benefits to wages though. Increasing the benefit to real pre-1991 levels would be a good start. A lot…
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A great interview by Jon Stewart on political blogging. Well worth watching. The part about evolution of blogging in the US is particularly interesting. New Zealand obviously lags behind in some ways but, as is often the case in this small polity, things also have…
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Upgrade is complete There will be a hardware upgrade on monday during working hours (still trying to get the time). The site will be offline for up to an hour while the system gets transferred. The upgrade should eliminate the capacity issues that have been…
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Now that Michael Cullen has ruled out a tax-free bracket but promised that everyone will benefit from Labour's tax-cut package, what cuts will he give? The simplest option would be to cut the bottom tax rate, which would deliver a tax cut for everyone. As…
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Clarkson has jumped before he was pushed - he won't be standing in Tauranga. Peter's hasn't confirmed yet whether he will stand or not. It's always slightly irritated me that the media seem intent on refering to Clarkson as "colourful". It kind of sounds like…
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The Greens have started to use Russell Norman as their primary spokesperson, instead of Jeanette Fitzsimons. Fitzsimons has never been great with the media, particularly in confrontational interviews and on TV. So far, Norman, while he still has much to work on, is a vast…
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A few weeks back ANZ National announced that over the next 12-18 months they plan to export 400-500 New Zealand jobs to Bangalore. In response, the bank workers' union Finsec has started a campaign to stop them in their tracks. If it goes ahead this…
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Our 'Interview the Leaders' series is going well and this week it's your chance to submit questions to the man who wants you to want him to be your next Prime Minister. It's been an interesting week for Key as, once again, a tentative venture…
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Unemployment rose from 3.4% to 3.6% between the December and March quarters. The number of people employed fell 15,000 from 2,162,000 in the December quarter to 2,147,000 in the March quarter. That sickening sound you hear is the Right celebrating because people have lost their…
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It's disappointing that Michael Cullen has ruled out both a tax-free bracket and a GST cut in his tax cut package to be announced at the Budget (not least of all because it means he clearly isn't taking policy advice from The Standard). His reasoning…
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Last night, while walking the tiles, I came across a group of young people. These were ambitious young people, and their ambition was this: find a supermarket trolley, take said trolley, put one of their party in the trolley, then drive the trolley to the…
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Sharan Burrow (President of Australian Council of Trade Unions) talked to Morning Report about the union experiences in Australia under a conservative government, and their hope for the future with Kevin Rudd. She also had some words of warning for NZ workers: "We say to…
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A reader sent us this letter to the Herald's editor, which the Herald has refused to print. When the government moved to block the sale of Auckland Airport to the Canadian Pension Fund, the Herald's editorial proclaimed that anyone who didn't want foreign ownership of…
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In some ways, there's little to tell New Zealand First, other than let Winston Peters be himself. Peters has been (along with Helen Clark), New Zealand's most successful MMP politician he has survived and run good campaigns every time except in 2005. He needs to…
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The Daily Show's John Oliver goes behind the scenes at the Pollies, the US awards ceremony for political ad consultants. Hilarious. Watch the nominees tell Oliver how to destroy hope, make voters fear black people and hang your fragile ego on a yard sign. I'm…
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Here's Gerry Brownlee in the Herald today: Brownlee said the [Whirinaki] power plant, near Napier, was intended as an emergency backup to be used seldomly in dry years. But he said the figures - from use over 32 days in the three-month period - suggested…
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We're very pleased to have Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? I am most proud of having played a…
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The latest tweak on the system are Gravatar/Identicons. Read about it on this site in the Gravatar menu item. Apart from the graphics, it does have a serious purpose. That is to provide some level of personal trust/authentication for those who wish to take advantage…
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Amnesty UK has just released the first of four animations intended to highlight human rights abuses in China during the lead-up to the Olympic Games.
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It seems that NZers are not the only ones interested in petrol prices. From The Guardian: Barack Obama, facing increasingly close primary contests today in Indiana and North Carolina, fought off a populist push by Hillary Clinton to capitalise on American unease at rising petrol…
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This morning on Breakfast Prebble called the government buy-back of trains and ferries "loony". What's alarming is that Prebble is on Mainfreight's board of directors. His comments appear to put him seriously out of step with Mainfreight's chief executive Don Braid, who commented: Provided the…
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National and some of the more wacky commentators are complaining that the $655 million used by the Government to buy back the rail stock should have been used, instead, to fund tax cuts. Now, there's a crucial difference between a tax cut and a one-off…
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No doubt, there will be hollow cries of outrage from Simon Power and Sensible Sentencing over Bailey Kurariki being transferred from jail to home detention for the last months of his sentence. Kurariki has been in jail for five years, since he was 12. His…