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If you think that John Key gets a lot of soft coverage, John Armstrong explained why yesterday: Key's soaring popularity has made him virtually untouchable Now, you and I might see a certain circularity to that logic - after all, anyone given constantly positive coverage…
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I'm not against Prime Ministers making limited use of Airforce aircraft when necessary - when commercial flights or (better) surface travel aren't practical. It's cheaper and more efficient than having dedicated aircraft that would hardly ever be used. But Key using two Iroquois, each flying for eight…
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A shout out on a Sunday to a family who are walking the talk: Pastor Murray Smith preaches a message of generosity in his sermons and says people need few material things in order to live happy and fulfilling lives. So Pastor Smith, his wife,…
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Matt McCarten's Herald column this week is a call for every working New Zealander to go and see Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. I haven't managed to catch it yet, but judging by McCarten's review Moore's latest will be a must-see: Some of the…
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One of these things is not like the other, One of these things is not quite the same... Can you guess which one is not like the other, Can you tell me before I finish the game?
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you...
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Some pretty damning pieces on on Hide today from John Armstrong, Tracy Watkins, and Fran O'Sullivan. They compare him to Winston Peters and say he ought to apologise to various groups for his troughing and his comments that John Key "doesn't do anything". What I find…
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Hattip: tumeke
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We are continuing our chilling progress towards a surveillance state. The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 is another brick in the wall. Apparently this act reverses the fundamental presumption of innocence with respect to assets (possessions, wealth). If the police decide that your possessions were…
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God knows you'll never hear this sort of stuff from the transnational corporate duopolies that are our erstwhile msm, so many thanks to one of our readers who kindly put me on to this excellent US grassroots site by Jerold Block. It's a repository of…
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The Dom Post reports that Hone Harawira is considering leaving the Maori Party. Hone told the Dom this before Hone's offensive email hit the media later in the week. Firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira under attack for an explosive email says he could quit…
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The government and the Police are spinning all the new security measures as a national security matter and a crack-down ONLY on the leaders of organised crime, watching how the worst villains spend their ill-gotten gains and preventing them from corrupting police and politicians (snort)…
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Hypocrisy is such a difficult tag to shake in NZ politics. After blowing $50,000 of tax payer money on a trip with his girlfriend to visit her brother and wander around Disneyland, it seems like Rodney Hide has been caught yet again pilfering public funds…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you...
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Documents that the government was forced to release under the Official Information Act reveal that Bill English exercised extensive control and sign-off over each stage of his million dollar political propaganda ad, funded by publicly-owned broadcaster TVNZ. The documents (which, unfortunately, the media organisations have…
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Fresh from pulling the pin (then blaming others) on a Queen's Wharf redesign competition he himself conceived, led and championed, Remuera mayor John 'in your guts you know he's nuts' Banks has again flip-flopped on a policy proposal from his council. Yesterday the Banks' and…
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Rob Salmond In attempting to cover for DPF's embarrassing disaster of a post on climate change, in his comments section some prominent right wingers (most notably John Ansell) pointed to a recent presentation by Lord Monckton. The presentation got a lot of publicity this month, including…
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Not content with living in a fantasy world, Rodney Hide had to spend taxpayer money to visit Disney World as well. OK, actually it was Universal Studios but it looks increasingly like Hide's $50,000 trip kindly paid for by you and me was actually nothing…
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We were offered two very different views of John Key PM yesterday. The first by a pair of love-struck journalists. We'll start with them. Let's have a big hand for Garth George folks! Garth George: We should all salute our wonderful PM It comes as…
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If there's been a motto of this government, it's the one above. We've been promised the world - tax cuts, better public services, higher wages, more growth, less regulation, lower crime, better education, lower carbon emissions - and none of it has been delivered or…
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Yesterday, we looked at what a vastly unfair and unequal system capitalism is. The control of the fruits of production by the few means that wealth accumulates to them and the rest of us get a pittance. The wealthiest 10% of people own over half…
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Hide says his comment that Key "doesn't do anything" was "taken out of context" by the reporter. It's a direct attack on van Beyan's professionalism. Reminiscent of Key's smears after his "we would love to see wages drop" quoted was reported. Van Beyan should stand up…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you...
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The Herald was just about as damning as they get of National on Tuesday, with Claire Trevett's piece on Anne Tolley. Of course, the Herald is never going to out and out criticise a National minister but between the fluff and odd anti-left remarks ("lippy…
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Interesting comment from 'gobsmacked' on Rodney Hide's statement that John Key "doesn't do anything" and how he as a minister can ram pretty much anything he likes through cabinet: There's a bigger story here, incidentally. Rodney Hide has been caught out in a lie. The…
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These data, taken from the Elections NZ site, show election results since National's inception up until the last First Past the Post (FPP) election in 1993. I think they show fairly clearly why National is so keen to dump our proportional electoral system in favour…
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The number of employed people fell from 2,170,000 to 2,154,000 in the three months to September*. There are 54,000 fewer people in jobs than December last year. 16,000 jobs were lost in three months - 240 per work day. Unemployment rose another 0.5% to 6.5%,…
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Let me start by saying I understand that Key is loved for his laid-back common touch, I don't think it makes for good governance but I realise it makes for a good political product. However there's a big difference between laid-back and weak and letting…
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Most of the wealth in New Zealand is owned by a tiny fraction of the people because our political/economic system makes it that way. 10% of people have more income than 50% combined. That's just income. The inequality of wealth distribution is far greater.…