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How Obama reinvented campaign finance
Click for the full-res version. (an infographic by XPLANE)
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Search · 2008-06-01 to 2008-06-30 · Page 2
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Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 31–60 of 140
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ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill English says "under any tax plans we might have government spending will continue to increase* but [we need] more effective public services…
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PSA broadens tax debate
It's good to see the PSA broadening the public debate on tax cuts with a UMR poll showing the majority of Kiwis don't want bigger tax cuts if they come at the expense of public services. To summarise: 71% of New Zealanders would prefer to…
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A big week for Treaty settlements
Tihei Mauri Ora Ki nga hou e wha Tena koutou Tena koutou Tena koutou Huri noa i te ao hurihuri, it te ao ipurangi Tena tatou katoa Mauri ora This week is the biggest 'Treaty Settlement' week in the history of settlements and it's a…
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Deja vu
I was having a look through some old campaign PR yesterday and found this gem: It seems John Key ripped off more than just Coldplay when he made his DVD.
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Blog reader survey
Dear Blog Reader, My name is Andrew Cushen, and I am conducting a survey of New Zealand Political Blog Readers. This survey is part of my research toward a Master of Arts in Political Studies at the University of Auckland. As the reader of a blog that…
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You call that policy? This is policy
National has released a brochure, laying out all its policies. They take up two A4 pages of double-spaced bullet points. That's incredibly lightweight. Contrast that with the policy files of another party outside government, the Greens. National has 14 vague policies. The Greens have 51…
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Reflected by the internet
Clayton Cubitt (friend of one of the editors of BoingBoing) has recently visited NZ. He's posted some fantastic visual material to his tumblr site including the video below - a short interview with Vic Taurewa Biddle. More of Clayton's Kiwi content here but (warning) it's not a…
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The grass isn’t greener across the ditch
The cornerstone of National's 'New Zealand sucks' campaign is that Australia is much better (and we have to lower taxes and slash work rights to catch up). Now, the Sunday-Star Times produced a well-researched article on standards of living here and in Australia. A year…
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A foolish promise
Simon Power promises a new prison in a National government's first term. What a glib and foolish statement. Had he paused to reflect before his opening his mouth, Power would have realised this cannot be done. Gaining cabinet approval, identifying a site, completing the resource…
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National breaking promises already
As you know, National promised to cap core public servant numbers at 36,000. That was going to deliver each of us a whopping 50 cents a week tax cut. Well, that one single solid policy promise from National is already in serious jeopardy. Corrections staff make…
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Contrast
National has been going on about the number of comms staff at the Ministry of Social Development. Rather than ask 'what do these people actually do that the Government employs them, rather than undertaking other spending or giving bigger tax cuts?', Bill Ralston parrots the…
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Daily Show on Baracknophobia
Hat tip: onegoodmove.org
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Hollow Men film to premiere next month
The Unionist reports Nicky Hager's book The Hollow Men has been made into a film and will be screening as part of this year's New Zealand International Film Festivals. The 98 minute documentary is directed by Alister Barry, whose previous work includes the excellent In…
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More bluster, still no policies
Every month, Stats releases migration figures. Each month, they show little change in the pattern from last month. And each month, National comes out all in a fury over the figures as if they herald Armageddon while offering no substance, just a lot of bluster.…
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The headline you didn’t see
‘Unemployment benefits at record low.' The number of people receiving the unemployment benefit has fallen to just 17,465. That's the lowest number since at least 1979. At the same time, Sickness Benefit numbers fell 1,542 (3%) in the last year, DPB numbers are down 12%…
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Reverse graffiti
It's a viral ad, but still pretty cool...
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Old man’s law
Frogblog has footage of Nandor Tanczos blasting the Government's anti-tagging legislation and noting that "Judith Collins would be screaming about the nanny state if we tried to tell her that she had to keep her Chardonnay under lock and key." Sounds like Hone Harawira was…
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The Standard Week – 13-20 June
Both major parties show-boated over getting tough on crime this week. The only difference being Labour actually had policy; National, just slogans. We generally steer away from covering 'I'm tougher than you' politics on The Standard. Instead, we focused on the fundamentals that matter to ordinary Kiwis,…
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The definition of irony
When a band who sued after their work was famously plagiarised by a certain leader of the National Party is themselves sued for plagiarism. All it needs now is for National to sue the guy suing Coldplay and they'll have completed the circle. [Creaky Boards'…
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ToryAid: Wastewatch (2)
Here's the waste National has identified so far: 1) Embassy in Sweden - approx $3 million capital, $3 million operating 2) Badges about Te Teo for school kids - $56,000 Why it's waste: badges for Maori language! Next they'll be wanting their land back. Why…
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How to harm your brand
Kiwibank, New Zealand's supreme award winning Sunday Star-Times/CANNEX best value bank for the third year in row, the Socialist Bank of Jim Anderton, the one doomed to failure but making healthy profits, is now advertising on Kiwiblog. Strange, 'cause I wouldn't have thought that the Kiwiblog right are quite…
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Act now to protect workers’ wages
Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set to rise to 4.5-6% (still well under 1990s levels). The wages of those who keep their jobs won't rise as fast. At…
benefits economy election 2008 greens labour tax wages workers' rights
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EFA lets voters know who bankrolls parties
National has announced that John Key donated $30,000 to the party this month. That's all well and good; Helen Clark donates a similar amount to Labour most years. What's new is that the donations Key and every large donor to National or any other party are…
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Oops
For everyone who says apostrophes don't matter, try telling that to the Bioethics Council.
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Key promises productivity magic
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality' government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation is projected to run at 4.7% this year. The Government makes up a third of the economy. If Key was to bring…
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Creeping socialism in Australia
Kevin Rudd's Labor government has begun the roll-back of John Howard's unpopular WorkChoices legislation with ten new National Employment Standards aimed at providing a safety net for all Australian workers. The new standards include a 38-hour maximum working week, 12 months unpaid parental leave (24…
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Slippery John’s “after-tax incomes” line
You'll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing 'after-tax incomes'. Even when he's asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, he responds that National would increase their after-tax incomes with tax cuts, not by increasing their wages. But anybody can see that…
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Hit and Run
I put a comment on one of Steve's posts a few days ago and he suggested I put it up as a post so here goes: National have been playing a hit and run public relations game for a few years now. It's not a…
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WhaleOil – Technically Challenged
I was just checking the links to the standard and I see that Whale is being his usual self. It looks like he has finally managed to read a DNS. He has discovered that I run a server at home, and that I'm a labour…