GCSB- Questions?
John Key has been twisting himself out of shape answering questions about spying on New Zelanders by the GCSB under the GCSB amendment Bill that is currently before the House. [Update] Video Qu One & Three [Update] Qu 1 transcript.
Big gay rainbow
Is this a question buddy?
Yesterday Scoop’s Alastair Thompson started to ask John Key a really difficult question essentially about the unprecedented powers that Key is giving to the GCSB. Key responded by walking out of the post cabinet press conference. So much for being on top of his game. And last night’s Auckland Town Hall was a stunner. The Bill is due to be debated again today. If only a Government MP or Peter Dunne would develop some principles …
The voices of the GCSB protest
The Auckland Town Hall was full – nearly 2000 people – for the GCSB protest last night (with more people being turned away at the doors). Update – full video of the whole event (all speakers) is now up on YouTube. Meanwhile the Campbell Live poll had 89% of respondents opposed.
Roy Morgan bounces left
National 44 (down 7), Labour 34 (up 5), Greens 14 (up 4).
Open mike 20/08/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Be there – tonight
Final reminder of the pro-privacy anti-spying meeting tonight. Also worth noting in this context is Alastair Thompson’s excellent open letter to Peter Dunne. Read it. Will Dunne be a hero?
Would you trust this politician?
As inspired by Toby Manhire…
Plans to “wiretap” the net
The second of the weekend’s must-read pieces. This one is by Vikram Kumar (CEO of Mega) published in the NBR, on plans to require internet service providers to install a “backdoor for the government”.
Peak driving & what National’s doing with $12 billion of your money
National’s desperately racing to lock in Transmission Gully and the Puhoi to Wellsford Holiday Highway ahead of the election, in case they lose. Those two projects are nearly half of their $12 billion ‘roads of national significance’, 300km of roads costing an outrageous $40,000 per metre. Now, you would think if the Government was spending $12 billion, it would be to meet a growing demand. Think again.
Oram on Nats’ economic bungles
The first of two required reading pieces from the weekend. Financial journalist Rod Oram sums up the Nats economic performance in an excellent piece in the SST. “Is damage control an economic development strategy?”
Happy Marriage Equality Day
Open mike 19/08/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Will MPs have to take the test?
Paula Bennett wants to introduce a new regime that screens all government employees to stop child abuse.
MPs have a lot of interaction with children.
So will they be regularly screened? And if not, Why not?
Sunday Reading
My semi-regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere. This week: capitalism, fraud, Guantanamo, the internet, Geek Week and a naked-rights hiker.
Paula Bennett plans legislative witch hunt
Paula Bennett’s latest idea is to remove the rights of natural justice for state employees who do not take the proposed child abuser vetting test, even though the test has not even been designed. Even for Paula the stupidity of this idea is extreme …
Auckland Council Elections out west
Some thoughts on the battles out west for seats on the Auckland Council.
1938 14
A Sunday feature – each week a random section scanned from a copy of The Standard, September 15th, 1938. Find out more here.
Open mike 18/08/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Be there
Poverty Watch 44
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. Last week CPAG published a report on the links between poverty and child abuse, and why current government policy is misguided. So what did the second part of the report have to say?
Cheap and nasty
Having been burned by the cheapest tender and the leaky building fiasco, the Nats say that they have now worked out that the cheapest tender is not necessarily the best. (Brilliant eh?) If only it was true that they had really learned the lesson…
Open mike 17/08/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Auckland Council Elections
Nominations are closed and Auckland Super City’s candidate lists have been published. Following are some comments on the Mayoral candidates. I also hope to post on the Councillor contests, where interest will be greatest.
Wellington quake
Another quake near Seddon that shook Wellington hard. Various reports of strength, probably 6.2 at 8km. Hope all are well…
Weekend social 16/08/2013
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Statistic of the Day
Percent of Auckland City Mission food recipients who are working: 25%
Not how a democracy works
Key and his cronies have a long history of passing laws that give themselves sweeping powers and promising (honestly, truly) that they won’t use them. How many times has King Brownlee found himself in court for abusing his dictatorial powers, despite the ouster clauses in his enabling Act? Now, Key, says he won’t actually use the powers he’s getting the the GCSB Bill.
Kiwis say no to welfare-bashing
Stuff’s polls aren’t usually known for their left-wing bias. Indeed there’s a tendency for them to pitch the other way. Which is why I clicked on the results button for their latest (self-selected) poll with some trepidation. after all the question was “Should doctors be encouraged to question unemployed patients on their career goals?”
John Key – GCSB fool (or liar)
On Campbell Live, and on other occasions, John Key has claimed that critics of the GCSB spying bill were all wrong. The Human Rights Commission – wrong. The Law Society – wrong. The Privacy Commissioner – wrong. Dame Anne Salmond – wrong. Everyone else wrong – only he – John Key – and his secret advisors were right, and we the sheeple have nothing to fear.
Now in a stunning embarrassment it is Key that has had to admit that he was wrong. Or a liar.
Open mike 16/08/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Key vs Campbell: the transcript
The interview of John Key by John Campbell last night on Campbell Live (on the GCSB Bill), showed what a formidable spin merchant Key can be. It is important to understand Key’s MO. This is a work in progress – transcript of the first 10.44 12.27 mins. completed.
The Daily Show on Oz election
Jon Stewart is on leave, but John Oliver is doing a great job filling in on The Daily Show. Here he is enjoying some of the nonsense coming out of the current Australian election campaign.
Statistic of the Day
Percent of New Zealanders with not enough money to make ends meet: 15
Percent unemployed: 6.4
It wasn’t a dirty pipe
It wasn’t a dirty pipe. That is the claim made by veterinarian and farm performance consultant Frank Rowson, as reported by Stuff yesterday. Rowson says “This disease originates in contaminated feed and animal manure”. Let the enquiries begin – we need to be honest about the problem and fix it.
Tech Liberty on GCSB Bill
Thomas Beagle at Tech Liberty has done a great job at presenting the technicalities of the Key-Dunne GCSB spying bill – see for example: “Does the new GCSB Bill give them the power to spy on New Zealanders?”. (Spoiler Alert! The answer is Yes.)