We were, um, graced with the presence of ACT MP David Garrett on The Standard yesterday. Last time we saw him, Garrett was proposing sterilising the poor. Today, he was trying to defend the 3 strikes policy, which should really be renamed the murder increase…
What the hell is going on in Labour? Phil Goff didn't ask the PM about the suppressed advice that 3 strikes may increase homicides. Why? Too busy heaping praise on John Key. Calling him a "good politician". Saying he deserves "credit where credit's due". One…
What I think Pita Sharples fails to understand is that John Key and National don't see international agreements the way the Left does. The Maori Party is dead keen on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples because they believe that by signing on…
So, Nick Smith's brother, Tim Smith, was up on 21 charges from Environment Canterbury for unconsented discharges and buildings at the very same time as Smith was vilifying ECan in the House, then ramming through legislation abolishing the democratically-elected council and replacing it with the…
For about a year now, Paula Bennett has been almost continuously proclaiming victory over unemployment. First, it was the fact that unemployment only rose gradually at the start of the recession (due to the self-reinforcing effect of low unemployment and companies having plenty of over-time…
In 2008 John Key made this crystal clear promise: "That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully." Now, Land Information New Zealand is proposing the sale of seven high country…
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Curious as to why Simon Power suddenly stopped being lead minister on the 'three strikes' legislation, we sent off an Official Information Act request to his office. When the deadline for that request was extended beyond the usual 20 working days, we knew something was…
Patent lawyer John David Hardie is a bludger. You and me, we pay our taxes. We know we get public services and a decent society out of it. This rich prick is trying to get out of a $10.3 million tax bill. I reckon that's tax…
The most over-rated man in New Zealand politics, Steven Joyce, has come up with a bright idea: let's increase the fees for getting high skill degrees in areas where there are big skill shortages. Honestly, what is this clown thinking? Increasing the cost of studying…
The eruption of the volcano under Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland is an example of what we can expect more of due to climate change and actually has a cooling effect, slightly counteracting climate change. Volcanic eruptions have caused temporary cooling in the past - the…
Over the last decade or two there have been some extraordinary claims about the cost of copying and counterfeiting on businesses and economies. However there has been little information that hasn't had some pretty major and almost certainly incorrect assumptions. The US Government Accountability Office…
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...
As I'm sure everyone already knows, Europe is now in the fourth day of an extraordinary paralysis of air travel caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. We haven't seen anything like this since the grounding of (almost) all flights in America…