Key’s support ebbing
National have gambled everything on “Team Key”. They may yet wish that they hadn’t.
Open mike 12/09/2014
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Electoral Commission warning on photos
Publishing a photo of your voting paper could earn you a $20,000 fine, and other warnings from the Electoral Commission.
Giovanni Tiso on Dirty Politics
In a series of tweets Giovanni Tiso has highlighted important issues concerning the relationship between the media and National as disclosed by Dirty Politics.
NRT: The left should not support prison slave labour
With Labour supporting the plan, I/S at No Right Turn makes the case against “working prisons”.
Campbell: Reasons Why We Can’t Afford Another National Government
Gordon Campbell posted an excellent piece yesterday on 19 Reasons Why We Can’t Afford Another National Government. I’m sure that Standardistas can add to the list…
Open mike 11/09/2014
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
800,000 Comments
Well that time rolled around again today some time. We are now past 800,000 comments. It seems like only yesterday that we were at 700,000. But it turns out that was just over 6 months ago.
A clear Cunliffe win
David Cunliffe’s performance in tonight’s head-to-head with John Key was exactly what I wanted to see from the next Labour Prime Minister of NZ.
Cunliffe v Key – Round 3
Round three between David Cunliffe and John Key is scheduled for tonight. John Campbell will moderate and Paul Henry will provide expert comment …
The only way National know to grow the economy
On Firstline this morning, John Key tried to compare National’s and Labour’s policies by saying “You can’t grow the economy when you restrict labour laws.” It’s nonsense, and it’s scary.
NRT: Fundamental incomprehension
Idiot Savant nails the basic issue that commentators like John Armstrong and many others simply don’t understand about the Greens. They aren’t particularly interested in the political game. They are interested in effecting change. But that’s the problem with the galley: they don’t think policy matters. The idea that some victories aren’t worth winning is something they just don’t understand.
The extent of public interest hacking?
Last year, there was a major hack, in which data from some GCSB staff, parliamentary staff, police, & others were copied & stored in various places globally. Surveillance technologies can be used by both state agencies and its critics. Update: Some 2013 history & Anonymous
Slater backs down
The Slater application for an injunction against various media outlets has been settled by the media agreeing to not to use information that was not in the public interest, including but not limited to Mr Slater’s wife, children, medical information, the death of his mother and other inherently personal information regarding Mr Slater and his friends. The way is now clear for further stories on Dirty Politics.
Emmerson – What they did in the shadows
Poverty a National disgrace
Advocacy groups are calling for action. People are marching for action. The parties of the left are ready to take action. Only National stands in the way.
Open mike 10/09/2014
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Dirty Politics Watch I
A new series on happy mischief and paying back double.
No One’s Fault But Ours
Nothing so clearly demonstrates John Key’s contempt for the New Zealand voter as his confidence that we will believe whatever he tells us. […]
Imagine if National had not sold the shares in our companies
The twelve month financial performance results for all of the sold off companies have recently been announced. And as predicted NZ Inc is taking a bit of a bath.
NRT: That empty void again
A bit over a week ago, I complained about the empty void at the heart of the election: Nationals refusal to release policy. And it has struck again today, in the form of Nationals fiscal “plan”. We actually have a government seeking re-election while offering no specifics about what it intends to do in office. But don’t they have a lovely picture of John Key?
Polity: Key waves hands, insipidly
Nationals hypothetical tax cut package has not gone down well. People do not appear to like the fact that it is small, hypothetical, and irresponsible, all at once.This is what you get when you have a prime minister so weakly desperate for public approval that they make up policy by accident and then push that poor decision through their cabinet and caucus.
Nats useless on economy
The economy is a mess, the Nats have no ideas, and their current policies (e.g. hypothetical tax cuts) are getting laughed out of town. National is useless on the economy, and the sooner we the people wake up to this fact, the better off we will be.
Open mike 09/09/2014
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Vid of Nicky Hager talk tonight, Waikato
Nicky Hager’s talk at the University of Waikato was very well attended. It was livestreamed. A video of it is now available online,
Cartoons
Our political cartoonists seem to be aware that something smells fishy:
Caption contest
What kind of government would National lead?
The choice for NZ voters is becoming clearer in the last days of the 2014 election. The irony is that after John Key’s scaremongering, our options are a three-headed coalition of natural allies versus a five-or-six headed hydra of extremists and sworn enemies.
Is National’s sleaze unit feeding the Slater again?
Cameron Slater, National’s attack blogger has written a sleaze post on Martyn Bradbury. This shows far too much intelligence for the ever lazy Cameron to have researched it. Has National’s research unit (into dirt) resumed using that sock puppet again? We should be able to look and find out which blackmailed journalists they touch up as this story progresses. Time to follow the dots.
Where is Jason Ede?
Jason Ede’s disappearance from public view suggests a cover up in response to Hager’s Dirty Politics. The book implicates Ede (past PM staffer) in a coordinated black ops smear machine working with blogs like Whale Oil. Key may need to come clean soon about some of Ede’s activities.
National’s mating dance with the Conservatives II
National is now talking up the possibility of a post election accommodation with the Conservative Party. But the thought of the Conservatives having a significant say in policy formation should make all progressives very afraid.
Open mike 08/09/2014
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Tax cuts – simple question simple answer
Duncan Garner asks – “when we’ve just borrowed $55b over 6 years how on earth are tax cuts suddenly affordable?”. Presumably it’s a rhetorical question…
Meet The Standard
Some of you will be wondering what the announcement at the top of the screen about an outage tonight is about. I have to power down the system to put in uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to handle possible power outages. After 5 years on server farms, The Standard has moved home
“Democracy Under Attack”.
How long before “they” use control of the internet and media to bury adverse information, subvert democracy and vilify and silence those who disagree. “They” are doing it, NOW! A Government no longer has legitimacy, when they regard their own citizens as the enemy.
Airbrushing the VRWC
In today’s Sunday Star Times, is an article on a Matthew Hooton & the VRWC (Vast Right Wing Conspiracy). Hooton criticises John Key, does a couple of mea culpas, but ultimately, airbrushes the whole disgusting mess of dirty politics. [Updated: comment from Bill]