The not guilty verdicts in the Waihopai spy base case is a victory for the peace movement and proof of the value of the jury system. A jury of the activists peers were able to decide that it would not be just to convict them. Strict legalism could not beat society’s innate sense of justice. Unfortunately, National is moving to restrict our right to trial by jury.
There’s a danger in being a government that does nothing except pay of its rich mates, and that’s losing faith with the conservative base. Garth George is the slightly mad, always irritable voice of this demographic, so it’s worth watching as his initial love for John Key wears off to be replaced by despair (and rising anger) at Key’s failure to deliver the brighter future he promised.
As you’ll be aware, I’ve been pretty flabbergasted by the way day after day Bill English is getting up in the House and telling out and out lies about Labour’s record on the economy only for Labour to sit there and take it. Well, I’ve been thinking about this a little more and I think I get it now. He can’t talk up his own performance – there’s nothing to skite about and it’s against his political strategy even if there were some successes to point to
Which minister will be next to go? Rodney Hide or Anne Tolley? If competence was a condition of keeping their job, both would […]
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David Farrar is not stupid. Like everyone with a brain, he knows that climate change is a real and dangerous threat caused by human greenhouse gases emissions. Yet he persists in making denialist dog-whistles to his readers, always being careful never to outright deny climate change himself. He and all the leaders of denialism are telling what they know to be lies to people they know to be idiots.
In a letter to the Herald today, responding to Mike Lee’s op-ed of yesterday, Steven Joyce says:
“Contrary to what Mike Lee says, the Auckland Council will be able to appoint or dismiss any member of the Auckland Transport Board at any time.”
Problem is, Mike Lee didn’t actually say what Joyce says he did.
I tried to write a satire of John Armstrong’s column today along the lines of the ‘Beloved Key‘ one I did the other day. But I’ve had to give it away. It’s beyond parody.
So, I guess I’ll do some serious analysis instead.
World Renowned evolutionary biologist and atheist, professer Richard Dawkins, presents the case and evidence for evolution. His New Book, The Greatest Show on Earth, explores the evidence for evolution and why it should be considered fact, not theory. Links to the Podcast of his talk in Christchurch.
The New Zealand Herald has never been shy of attacking blogs for their lack of journalistic standards and editorial rigour, but given some of their recent work you’ve got to wonder who they think they’re kidding.
Take today’s woeful piece by Dita De Boni pontificating about Charles Chauvel and those screaming kids on his plane.
People like to talk about how great Steven Joyce is. But he’s not got a single run on the board.
Am I missing something or is just talking about how good you are all that’s needed nowadays?
Just a quick question: Why is John Key giving $300,000 to the All Whites’ World Cup campaign when they’re already making a $6 million profit from the $10 million they get for qualifying? Why is there money for that while elder care and other value for money programmes are getting cuts? Looks like we’re paying for some more John Key photo ops.
During Question Time yesterday, Metiria Turei exposed National’s plan to subsidise mineral exploration by foreign companies in the most important parts of our national parks.
John Key refused to confirm Turei’s information but couldn’t deny it. Clearly, the Nats had been planning to slip it through in the Budget unnoticed.
Bill English can’t defend his economic record, 2.2% fall in GDP, still rising unemployment, falling wages, GDP per capita still falling and not expected to return to pre-recession levels until 2012, so he’s telling more lies about Labour’s record instead. Meanwhile, the Do Nothing Prime Minister is still daydreaming about his cycleway, which he now says will create “a lot more” than 4,000 jobs.
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
We’re used to Key and his ministers hiding from their duties. Now one of them has taken it to a new level. Journos wanted to ask Pacific Affairs Minister Georgina Te Heuheu about the rumours her ministry is getting the chop. At the sight of them, Te Heuheu ran away. Fran Mold reportedly said she’d never seen anything like it.
The recent recession represented a spectacular failure of unfettered capitalism. One of the main causes in America was a picking apart of financial regulations. This allowed the “innovative” products and practices that brought the system down. Perhaps America has learned the lesson. A new Democratic proposal outlines “the biggest overhaul of regulations since the New Deal”.
Stuff.co.nz’s decision to turn an anonymous, politically motivated smear from an ACT Party activist into a front page tabloid screamer is gutter journalism for sure, but it’s only the latest example of a worrying trend.
It’s what happens when the right-wing smear machine meets an increasingly tabloid news media.
Anne Tolley put out an odd media statement on Friday. She reckons Trevor Mallard, opposition spokesperson for Education, dominated two public meetings in Auckland on her Government’s unpopular national standards policy. Which begs the question, was she actually all there at either meeting?
Felix can hardly contain himself at the prospect of National’s tax changes: Woohoo!! Told you my mate Mr Key would be able to deliver a ĂąâŹĆnorth of $50 a weekĂąâŹÂ tax cut. And you all said he wouldn’t. So who’s looking stupid now eh? I mean sure, you need to bring in $180,000 a year to get it but just get off your arse and be a bit more ambitious whydontcha?
My mouth dropped yesterday when I read in the Dompost an editorial lamenting the “scientifically ignorant public, suspicious of the work many scientists do”. What shocked me was the chutzpah of the lament coming from a newspaper that fuels scientific illiteracy. Today, the Dompost has yet another anti-science, illiterate climate change denier column. Meanwhile, for all its talk, Key’s Government is cutting science jobs.
The New Zealand economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were largely a failure. This can be seen from the large negative divergence […]
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My Granddad grew up in Te Aroha near Tui Mine. The mining ruined a large swathe of the land and toxic tailings were left behind which polluted the river and turned a large patch of bush into a desert – it is a scar on the face of my Granddad’s mountain which looks over his grave. As I write this I can hear him reciting this poem:
I didn’t actually realise that the fact that Andrew Little is considering standing for Labour in New Plymouth in 2011 was news to anyone. I would think that New Plymouth is a natural seat for him.
Farrar’s analysis makes the old mistake of looking at the party votes instead of the candidate votes.
First it was the Wellywood sign, now it’s a statue of a guy standing in a giant pile of manure while holding aloft a golden testicle.
And you thought the only Mayor who delighted it making their constituency look stupid was Tim Shadbolt.
Lorraine Kerr, head of the NZ School Trustees Association is one of National’s few supporters on National Standards. She says a survey of boards of trustees gives her a mandate for this position, with only four boards opposing the Standards. Now, she has been forced to admit that only 14 schools were included in the survey result.
The Herald has a little shock piece on child offending: “5-year-old sex offender on crime list“. Of course, what the offence was isn’t […]
Forest and Bird has obtained information that Prime Minister John Key is looking to mine Paparoa National Park [pictured right], Great Barrier Island, and areas surrounding the Thames township. The final details of the discussion doc will be decided at Cabinet today. Mr Key, you’re in for a fight on this one.
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My absence this weekend from moderation and posts has partially been because of going to the excellent Fabian seminar today. However it has largely been due to trying to get a workable search system running. One that didn’t bring the whole server crashing around my ears every few months and cut the issue of everyone having to stop receiving data for up to a minute when someone used search. One that allowed comments to be accessed as easily as posts.
It looks like it is finally working correctly, but I’d like feedback on any errors that show up.
Updated: Several different server and site updates.
The numbers of National’s tax money go round leaked to the SST. I have worked out who wins and who loses. Key claimed that no-one will be worse off and the bulk will be much better off but 10% are worse off and 80% get next to nothing (without even counting the rent hikes). The elite get $100 in net tax cuts for every $1 the typical Kiwi gets.
Under National’s proposed tax cuts and GST increases someone on the average wage of $48,000 comes out about $5 to $10 per week ahead. But 70% of Kiwis have incomes under $40,000. Their tax cuts will barely compensate them for the GST increase. How can National go on claiming that ĂąâŹĆthe vast bulk of New Zealanders will be better offĂąâŹÂ?
