Caption competition
Key admits he’s using our troops as vote-bait
Yesterday the mask slipped and John Key admitted the real reason our deployment to Iraq is only for two years: so he can win an election.
900,000 comments
Yesterday morning we went though 900k comments. We have done another 100k comments in 188 days since September 10th. We are slightly behind our long predicted exponential growth to a million comments in August.
NRT: Who is lying here?
GST wasn’t Key’s only bungle yesterday. I/S at No Right Turn reports…
Len Brown is toast
Bernard Orsman has reported in the Herald today that Len Brown’s campaign team no longer back him and are considering support for a Phil Goff run for the mayoralty.
PM can’t calculate GST
Gotcha politics is all good sport when the opposition makes a mistake. How about Key’s self-inflicted blunder?
Open mike 18/03/2015
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Feed the Kids
Harawira / Turei’s Feed the Kids bill is up tomorrow today in Parliament…
Keep it in the ground
All Apologies
Did commenters on the recent Julian Assange post overstep the mark in their defence of the Wikileaks founder? Are they really rape apologists?
Defining the truth
Changes being considered at Google have far reaching implications. Who gets to decide what is true?
How much is National’s Northland panic costing the taxpayer?
So our PM is cutting short state business for the purposes of party campaigning. Since Key invented the whole silly hats game, I guess it’s fair to ask if he still gets paid as PM when he is acting in his capacity as Party Leader? If so, why?
Open mike 17/03/2015
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The Killing Moon
TV3 have sacked two judges on X Factor NZ, while Jeremy Clarkson is more popular than ever. When is TV going to pull the plug on itself?
And yet the cast of Dirty Politics are still at large in the media
Herald: “Natalia Kills & Willy Moon are no longer suitable to judge X Factor”.
Surveillance newspeak
Key’s attempt to play cute with the semantics of surveillance is part of an international strategy. Here’s Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept.
The Northland coverup
International travel perks for the people who got us into this mess?
The blogosphere leads the way in breaking a story about yet another sack of cash for MPs …
Donate for cyclone recovery
Vanuatu has been badly hit, with many dead, and significant damage. There is a Red Cross donations page here.
Open mike 16/03/2015
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Still making things go boom dangerously
I have been reading Neil Sheenan’s “A fiery peace in a cold war” on the development of the US ICBM forces in the 50s. At the same time I’ve been reading last week’s Economist, including a feature on the current developing arms race in nuclear weapon systems. Quietly falling into another insane arms race.
Two views on Titirangi’s Kauri
Rodney Hide has published a column about the ancient Titirangi Kauri which predictably argues that land owners should do what they want. But John Roughan has argued to the contrary in an article that will make you wonder if he is actually a greenie at heart.
Spying and the terrorism excuse
The next time that John Key says that we spy so as to keep NZ safe from terrorism, could some journalist please please ask him if the PM of the Solomon Islands is a terrorist?
Finally!
Julian Assange to be allowed to answer to accusations…
Heroes and Villains
Thinking authorities in the west have yet discover the difference between their arse and their elbow…
Open mike 15/03/2015
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Chutzpah in Northland
Winston Peters has challenged John Key to a debate in Northland.
Catching up with Key
You can only bungle and lie for so long before people get sick of it. Seems like it’s all starting to catch up with Key at last.
Labour media commentators
Self styled Labour activist Phil Quin has chosen to criticise the party’s commitment to democracy despite the clearly democratic structure the party has. And to repeat criticisms of Labour pre election despite the strong evidence of change that has occurred since. Yet the media go to Phil for comment on what is happening within the Labour Party even though I get the feeling he would prefer that Roger Douglas was still involved, despite the wishes of pretty well everyone else
Open mike 14/03/2015
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Time for the Greens to transcend left vs. right.
The co-leadership race within the Greens has shown that they’re alive and kicking – if nursing a few wounds from the last election. […]
Early heavy voting in Northland
Advance voting only opened on Wednesday in Northland and already double that of the general election. Unusual in a by election for there to be a big turnout, so we will see if it continue.
Nats now threatening Northland
The Nats are now threatening Northland voters with the loss of roading projects and more. Classy.
Are you saving to buy a house?
Are you saving to buy a house? Are you saving more than $1000 a week? If not, you are going backwards.
Terry Pratchett has gone to meet Death
“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it’s called Life.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent
Open mike 13/03/2015
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