The Mein Kampf distraction
Slater and TV3 have double teamed an attack on Kim Dotcom suggesting that he has Nazi tendencies the day before the launch of the Internet Party. Is the main stream media being manipulated?
Op Ed: Press want to control political blogs?
John Drinnan has written on the upcoming opening of Press Council membership to bloggers. He offers some positives. But I don’t see anything much in it for political bloggers. It would mean being dominated by a flawed Mainstream Media – the very thing many blogs aim to critique independently.
Billy Bragg
I can’t think when the last time I’d been along to a gig or a concert was. Years probably. But Lyn dragged me (kicking and screaming) to the concert by Billy Bragg last night at the Powerstation in Auckland that was pretty damn good. These days I’m pretty portably connected so I don’t feel like I’ve left half of my brain behind when I head off on holiday or to a social event. So I was watching for trolls while Billy was singing about them…
Polity: The buck stops with Hekia
Just when you think that Hekia Parata couldn’t make more of a shambolic mess of the Kohanga Reo review, it turns out that she could and did. Rob Salmond at Polity (and Audrey Young of the Herald) has a look at it.
Open mike 26/03/2014
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NRT: I don’t see it either
The “big” political news today (this being a non-sitting week when the politicians are on holiday, some of them literally) is that the Internet Party is in talks with Mana to form an electoral alliance (which presumably means a joint party list). Like pretty much everyone else, I’m boggled by this.
A tool for real democracy
“Loomio is a user-friendly tool for collaborative decision-making” … because “Democracy isn’t just about politics – it’s people getting together and deciding how things should be”…
The struggle over gambling corruption
There has been a long struggle by the Problem Gambling Foundation & others against SkyCity & the powerful and secretive Pokie Trusts. The government has tended to support the trusts, while maintaining their distance from them. The defunding of the PGF is the latest chapter in the struggle.
Power disconnections increase as hardship grants are cut
Radio New Zealand has reported that power disconnections have soared at the same time that WINZ hardship grants have plummeted. Simon Bridges has suggested that it is the power companies fault. The Government should be blaming increasing poverty and inadequate WINZ hardship grants instead.
IF: A day in the life of Matthew Hooton
[Satire] I has a dream… Winston retired from politics and went on to set up a bird rescue centre in a remote spot in the Raukumura Range, but the centre was burned down after two teenagers high on glue broke in and set it alight. The delicious smells of hundreds of roasted native birds attracted the attentions of the poor for miles around… desperate and hungry people tore at each other to get into the still-burning sanctuary… I awoke in a fever and ran to my computer, and in seconds flat I had my NBR column finished.
Open mike 25/03/2014
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NRT: Stinkier and stinkier
In the ongoing saga about the Problem Gambling Foundation, The Salvation Army were unaware that the Ministry of Health had decided that they would take over as the national provider. They hadn’t even applied for it. It appears that only thing driving the ministry’s decision was the complaints from the gambling industry about the PGF trying to reduce problem gambling…. Is the gambling industry is thoroughly corrupting National’s ministers?
Polity: Buy low, sell high. Except National.
Rob at Polity points out National’s intensely unstrategic view about investments and asset sales. In a down market where all the indications said “buy,” National sold our assets for a pittance, and refused to invest in the Super Fund. The Super Fund has been making returns of 21%, far exceeding the Crown’s cost of borrowing. And National will only start investing in the Super Fund when equities are expensive again. It is almost as if they wanted to waste taxpayers funds eh?
NZ Herald: Key cracks joke
Yes, this is an actual number 3 story (and top politics story) on the NZ Herald.
LocalBodies: National Slumps in Polls As Ministers Struggle
There is danger of reading too much into polls months out from an election. Commentators were claiming that National was too strong to lose the next election based on a rogue poll. Few looked at multiple polls, accounted for the margin of error nor the trends over past months. The last fortnight has seen a National with the latest Roy Morgan Poll plummeting from the Colmar Brunton result of 51% to 45.5%. And it is based on a lack of ministerial performance…
When John Key leaves Parliament he wants to …
Guess what John Key wants to do when he leaves politics?
Open mike 24/03/2014
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 …
Assuming justice and creating justice
I’ve been thinking about politics, assumptions, and justice. I sat in on a recording of The Egonomist on Friday – thanks for having […]
Which MP is Kim Dotcom talking to?
Has Kim Dotcom actually signed up a sitting MP to his new party and if so who is it?
A bunch of 14 year olds show up Tony Abbott
Recently Australian PM Tony Abbott decided to speak to a group of 14 year olds who were visiting Parliament. Unluckily for him this particular group of 14 year olds were very sophisticated and asked him a series of questions which neatly skewered four of his main policy positions.
Open mike 23/03/2014
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 …
NRT: One way of fixing it
No Right Turn looks at one reason why Yahoo moved from the UK to Dublin. Escaping the ubiquitous and ever increasing surveillance requirements of paranoid security agencies who appear to only be interested in protecting elites rather than citizens. As it is, it is preferable to site site servers offshore away from silly unenforceable laws. They’ll just go to locations that offer the best server security.
Corporates for TPP
Big (US) Pharma has been the leading lobbyist that has shaped the TPP, followed by corporates in the following industries; Hollywood, automobile, textiles, dairy. This makes the TPP a major threat to the interests and well-being of Kiwis. Good reasons to take part in next Saturday’s Day Of Action (29 March 1pm) across NZ.
his precious $
As reported on TV3 news a few nights ago, John Key said that “I have a very strong sense of how precious children […]
Open mike 22/03/2014
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And now for the real news…
“Rockstar economy”? Let’s hear it for another chorus of,”There is no depression in New Zealand”! Demographia reports on absolute food and housing poverty for too many Kiwis. Simon Collins reports on the ethnic inequality gaps & high rates of Maori imprisonment.
Polity: Looking behind the Kohanga finger pointing
The news this morning has all kinds of finger pointing between Hekia Parata, Derek Fox, John Key, the Kohanga Reo trust board, and others.
Why are so many people pointing fingers all over the place? Because everyone involved has screwed up one way or another.
Polity: National cuts charity funding because charity criticises National
You’d have to ask if skycity asked the government to get rid of this turbulent critic? After all their brief is to reduce problem gambling.
There is something wrong with the latest Herald Digipoll
The latest Herald Digipoll has caused many commentators to claim that Labour’s support is declining. But there is something strange with the figures, particularly those about Len Brown’s previous and current support.
Open mike 21/03/2014
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 …
NRT: A good idea from NZFirst
From an environmental economics perspective, mining is a wealth transfer, shifting public wealth (minerals) into private profits of mining companies. Along the way, it creates jobs, but it is basically spending capital. When the resources run out or become unprofitable to extract the jobs disappear and a regional economy geared solely to resource extraction withers and dies. NZ First wants to change that.
Warm, dry homes – let’s just do it
Making sure every rental property is a warm, dry home should be a no-brainer in the 21st century. Parliament will shortly get the chance to vote on my Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill. The vote will sort the parties for whom this is a genuine belief from those who just pay it lip service.
Parata replaces Collins and Adams as National’s weakest link
This week Hekia Parata has achieved what I thought was impossible. She has shown even worse judgment than Judith Collins and is threatening to replace Collins as National’s minister who is most in trouble. Hekia’s days as a Minister must be numbered …
What use is oil extraction here?
One of the more irritating traits of National politicians is their bone-headed and short-term obsession about being rentiers selling raw and lightly processed […]
Open mike 20/03/2014
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Labour and the Greens announce forestry policies
Labour announced policies today seeking to reinvigorate the Forestry Industry and to promote more local processing of logs. And the Greens have announced a policy designed to increase the use of wood in local buildings.