In Short…
A post puzzling over our collective state of mind in the face of incredible danger and suggesting the only course of action we can take. Covering our eyes and blocking our ears isn’t it.
stupid
Dunedin Hospital
Yes, Dunedin needs a new hospital, but…
Dumbest tweet – Collins vs Seymour
Each in its own way a masterpiece character study.
Right-wing American stupidity is now a global crisis
The Trump regime has begun the process of dismantling environmental protections in America, including those designed to limit carbon emissions / climate change.
Nats push stupidest education plan ever
It’s not April 1st, so I’m forced to conclude that this is a genuine announcement: Students to learn online from home instead of at school under major education reform.
Rodney Hide – stupid, corrupt or both?
Hide’s Herald piece today is straight out of Dirty Politics Farrar’s playbook.
NZ – The underarm bowlers of climate change
NZ under the Key government has hit new depths of ignominy as per capita the world’s biggest climate change cheat. And we plan to keep using the fraudulent “credits” we have purchased.
Housing crisis solved!
I don’t like to boast, but I have solved the housing crisis.
Is this what Key meant by investing in research?
Yesterday Key listed, among the “achievements” of his government for this term: “investing in … research and development”. Was this an example of what he had in mind?
Giving away the shop for nothing
We are giving away the shop and we don’t know what if anything we will get in terms of dairy access yet. Our negotiators have signaled that they are weak. And even if we get what we want it is probably worth bugger all anyway.
Emissions targets an admission that we don’t care
The emissions reduction target decided by the Nat government is an admission that we as a country don’t give a stuff about the future.
NZ emissions disaster in The Herald!
Well knock me over with a feather. The disaster that is NZ’s greenhouse gas emissions has broken out of the ghetto of Twitter and Parliament TV, and made it on the front page of the (digital) Herald.
Nats’ climate negligence
Yesterday was a big day for climate news, highlighting yet again the irresponsible negligence of this National government.
Starving the universities
NZ’s universities are falling down the world rankings. This should come as no surprise, because National have systematically cut funding to the tertiary sector. How stupid do you have to be to deliberately run down our universities?
Stupidest “debate” ever
Tax cuts – because it worked so well last time
The ideological loonies advising the government want us to go even further down the stupid and damaging path of income tax cuts. Surely even the Nats have too much sense to listen this time.
Strategic blunder
Amidst the froth of predatory “excitement” about the sale of our power generation assets, it was refreshing to read in The Herald yesterday a single lone voice who was thinking long term.
Brilliant policy
I’ve got to stay that I stand in awe of this latest tax policy suggestion from the IRD. Simple, fair, easy to implement, it will be wildly popular. I think the Nats should adopt it at once.
NRT: Climate change – Locked out
I/S from No Right Turn describes another brick in National’s wall of stupid. “New Zealand will be locked out of the international carbon market in retaliation for our refusal to sign up for Kyoto’s Second Commitment period.”
Ear treatment cuts another attack on the poor
The Nats want to cut the budget for surgery to install grommets, a technique for treating persistent ear infection (especially in children). Naturally those most effected by this ill-considered move will be children from poor families.
Don’t blame MMP for Nat stupidity
Recent pieces by Bernard Hickey and John Armstrong both highlighted the problem of our aging population and the unsustainability of super – in Hickey’s memorable words we are “consuming our future”. Armstrong tries to balme MMP, but that won’t wash, it’s just the usual short-sighted Nat stupidity…
Ahead of the curve on climate change
Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has defended the Nats’ decision to drop out of the Kyoto treaty, describing the move as “ahead of the curve”. Quite apart from being absolutely stupid short-term thinking and a pathetic abdication of leadership, the idea that this retreat is “ahead of the curve” is a rather unfortunate turn of phrase.
Nats in the bunker of stupid
The bunker of stupid is where you go to hide from facts you don’t like. John Key is there, hiding from the latest record unemployment figures. Joining him today is Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew, reportedly denying the rapidly increasing gender pay gap in NZ.
Energy efficiency
If Europe can ban incandescent light bulbs, if America can legislate to require 54.5 MPG fuel efficient cars, why can’t New Zealand make some progress on energy efficiency?
Racial profiling for the RWC
Lots of countries have daft old laws still on the books. Not many countries drag out these relics and start applying them again.
Happy ECE cuts day
The quality of children’s ECE care clearly influences their later development, and therefore helps to shape their entire lives. It’s probably the best investment any country can make, and the Nats are taking us backwards.
Encouraging savings the National way
Amongst the many vacuous claims made in relation to the last budget, the claim that cuts to KiwiSaver would encourage savings always struck me as the dumbest. Now the facts are in, and guess what…
The Tolley Challenge
On Tuesday Anne Tolley, Minister for wrecking primary education, dropped another pearl. Has there ever been a comment made by any other minister, ever, in the history of New Zealand, that is as stupid, as arrogant, as offensive, as out of touch, as brain-fartingly idiotic a statement of the bleeding obvious as this clanger from Tolley? Anything even close?
Even Banks against Key’s ‘Party Central’ fiasco
At first, I thought I must have been dreaming yesterday morning. There was John Banks loudly attacking central government politicians from Wellington. How dare […]
Stupid stupid stupid
Our government is stupid. Sorry, it’s the only conclusion I can draw. Our government is made up of confused, muddled thinkers incapable of […]