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A couple of months after Hekia Parata was promoted to Education Minister (seemingly solely on her showing in Mana, certainly not on the strength of her performance as Acting Energy Minister), her sister has been promoted to a very senior position in the Ministry of…
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While most of us talk about "saving the world" some people act. I have a lot of respect for the Greenpeace activists, including headline-woman Lucy Lawless, who are occupying a Shell Oil drilling ship, to prevent its departure to start drilling operations in the Arctic.…
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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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National's man in NZ on Air, John Key's electorate chairman Stephen McElrea, was terribly worried about New Zealanders seeing a documentary about child poverty before the election. Informative TV has no place being funded with the public purse in National's New Zealand. But no such…
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If "you don't wear your guns on the outside", where do you wear your guns?
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Directorships are the golden ticket in the world of the business elite. You attend maybe 10 meetings a year, sign whatever's put in front of you, typically get paid $3-4K a pop, and do it over again half a dozen times or more for various…
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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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David Shearer spoke to Greypower in Auckland today about the difference between Labour and National: The difference between Labour and National is this: They want to continue with the tired ideas of the past, just selling and cutting. We want the government to work in…
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Danyl's Chart of the Day a few days ago had this chart saying.. So here’s the list results for the last four elections, but instead of calculating the percentage of votes each party received, I calculated the percentage based on the total number of voters…
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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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Google news has 1.5 pages of articles mentioning David Shearer to John Key's 13 in the past week. The only ones directly about Shearer or Labour are saying 'where's Shearer? He's wasting his honeymoon'. Since that honeymoon is with the press, when they start saying…
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In a perfect world, we would all live free, in some kind of ideal democracy. We're not there. But what we and the rest of the developed world have is a hell of a lot better than what the people of Syria have: despotic rule…
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This was sent to us by a reader (not by Garry Parsloe or MUNZ). Thank you Thank you for showing your support for the MUNZ workers in the Ports of Auckland dispute. The Maritime Union appreciates the community support so far. While we continue to…
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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 this countdown timer, there are only 34 hours left... Dear friends, In 48 hours Australia could save one million square kms of ocean -- but the commercial fishing industry is vigorously opposing this move. The government is holding a public consultation to get…
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Hey remember how the Nats weren't going to cut frontline staff? How's that working out? Headlines from the last few days: 'Broken promise' claim as frontline Defence jobs slashed Frontline health jobs on the line as cuts bite 'D-Day' for MFAT staff Front line staff.…
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As a followup to the "big media" coverage of Christchurch, there are plenty of people posting on their experiences of life in the quake-ridden city. One that I follow is the blog of award winning Kiwi author Helen Lowe. She's been posting occasionally since February…
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Since New Zealand skulled the neoliberal cool-aid, hospital admissions for infectious diseases, the diseases of poverty, increased 51% while dropping in the countries we should consider our peers. The working class life has gotten worse; our wages are lower, our jobs gone, and our families…
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Steven 'White Elephant' Joyce isn't content with building highways to nowhere with costs that exceed the benefits. Now he wants an international convention centre in Auckland that's just as pointless. But he doesn't want the government to pay. So, he's cutting a dirty deal with…
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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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Kevin Rudd resigned as Australian Foreign Minister in a midnight speech from Washington. It resembled his midnight speech after he was removed as Prime Minister; a desperate attempt to appeal to the people over the head of caucus. He will now return to Australia, consult,…
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Steven Fry's outburst on broadband in NZ, however confused, did at least succeed in putting the state of our broadband access back in the headlines for a bit. It's an issue that the Nats would rather we forgot. Remember these empty promises back before the…
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Asset sales will only happen if Peter Dunne votes for them. It is his choice whether we keep our strategic assets, or lose control of them forever. So, constituents in Dunne's electorate of Ohariu have established the Citizens' Select Committee to hear the arguments that…
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Today is, of course, the first anniversary of the quake that hammered Christchurch. 185 were killed and more than 11,000 were injured. The thoughts of the whole country are with Christchurch today. Because the choice of local coverage is overwhelming, and because it is sometimes…
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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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National's getting a reputation for not being able to keep its secrets secret. When it's National's political plans (Hollow Men, "we would love to see wages drop", secret tapes, tea tapes) it's a public good when this info gets out. When it's free and frank,…
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Consciences are uncomfortable things and mine's been giving me a bit of trouble lately. I've been on the horns of a dilemma (sorry for the cliche but who can resist the imagery?) about employment practices. We allow ourselves a handwringing moment, a short burst of…
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RadioLive asked "Did the PM's hour influence your vote?" on its website last Friday. Billy the Kid commented: It was my first election. I heard Key and thought he sounded pretty cool so yeah I voted for him. All it takes is one. That confirms…
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Phil Goff must be feeling slightly odd right now. He campaigned relentless on the 'own our future' message for six months and, suddenly, everyone's talking about it - 3 months too late. Economic sovereignty is suddenly the hot issue with the vast majority of Kiwis…
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Key upbeat about quake recovery work - Headline Man, if that guy was any more up beat, he would be speedcore. Well, here's a couple of numbers that might sober Mr Smile and Wave: 28,200 fewer jobs in Canterbury now than a year ago. 1…