Tubemeke New Year's Special playlist. Can't figure out how I fluked the embed last week for the Christmas special - must be time to start drinking. Mr Wayne Anderson still in the first ten.
The war on news salutes 2010's finest moments of farce, hypocrisy and outright idiocy that seems to pass as public debate in this country. As the most vulnerable we're left to rot on the scrapheap of recession, our news media focused lazily on the trivial chump change of Ministers over spending money on petty crap to the life and death of psychic octopuses.
Let's honor that which deserves collective contempt and collective praise. But mostly collective contempt.
The Cameron Slator annaugral what-did-you-think-they-were-going-to-do-when-you-openly-pissed-into-the-face-of-800-years-of-legal-tradition-by-breaching-suppression-orders-you-dumb-clown-cha-ching-that'll-be-ten-grand Award for stupidity beyond the call of ideology this year goes to Anne Tolley for poisoning education with National Standards that have nothing to do with actual educational achievement and has everything to do with introducing competition into education via league tables by stealth.
Academic's called National Standards possibly one of the worst things ever to happen to education in NZ, while Anne Tolley nonchalantly went about gutting adult education while handing private education an extra $35 million. Brothers and Sisters, Anne Tolley is to education what Tony Veitch is to blind dates, Stalin himself would bow at Anne Tolley's attempt at mutilating one of the best public education systems in the world merely for dogma. Ha Ha.
The-NZ-Pork-boards-Pigcare-brand-of-false-propaganda-smokescreen-Award-for-2010 goes to Lockwood Smith's inquiry into Pansy Wong and her door to door hovercraft salesman husband's use of public funding for private deeds done dirt cheap. Seems the inquiry has more leaks than a Julian Assange condom. The inquiry concluded that the Wongs only went to one business opening when the Beijing Today newspaper carried an article saying otherwise including the signing of a 'co-operation' agreement between a company Sammy Wong owns and the local Government. The inquiry says the Wongs only mixed business with public funds once, we count 3, which suggests the inquiry is as credible as a meth addict holding onto your rent money for safe keeping.
The 'You-are-guilty-of-child-abuse-until-you-are-proven-middle-class'-Starship- Children's-Hospital-One-Eyed-Statue-of-Justice Award this year goes to everyones favorite Ministerial sadist, Simon Power. His conveyor belt of cheap justice minus the mercy stripping away Jurys, implementing dehumanizing trial by TV screens and robbing legal aid of any independence based on mere gossip by Dame Bazely are but some of the highlights of Simons ruthless drive for efficiency.
When in opposition, Simon pretended that Prisons were adult Disneylands with flat screen TVs, underfloor heating and landscaping that rivaled the great gardens of Europe, now he's big dog he can't move fast enough to erode legal protections all in the name of judicial haste. If speed was the main concern here, why not just build more Courts? If you either poor, young or brown and get stuck on Simon Power's conveyor belt of cheap justice minus the mercy, you're fucked.
The Tiger-Woods-eeeeeeeeew-she's-a bit-ugly-you're-the-richest-athlete-in-the- world-you-should-be-able-to-pull-a-lot-better-than-that Award for sex details none of us were interested in goes this year to Michael Laws and his tedious sex confession about having consensual sex between adults.
How the mascarraed rednecked one wants to spend his personal time isn't our business, I just think we are all collectively surprised that Michael Laws has time for sexual relations. I imagine him after a long day of stoking talkback bigotry going straight home to shimmy out of his human skin to start swallowing small rodents.
The Telecom XT miscommunication of the year award 2010 goes to Chris Carter and Phil Goff. Phil told Chris to man it up bitch, Chris thought Phil said bitch it up man. Somehow Chris construed, 'will you please stop being such a dick and shut up' as 'please launch the worst coup in political history with hand written notes to the media'. Only North Korea has a looser grasp of comprehension skills.
The-David-Fane-abusive-comedic-timing-award 2010 goes to John Key and his cannibalism joke aimed at Tuhoe the day after he dumped their land claim because white focus groups on the North Shore told him to.
When our Optimist Prime wasn't lying about raising GST, over seeing the largest Union protests in a decade while reawakening a 50 000 strong environmental movement and dismantling our democratic oversight by ramming more legislation through under a misuse of urgency than any other Government since Roger Douglas wrote his love sonnets to Milton Friedman, he was appearing on David Letterman and laughing it up with Paul Henry. John Key's optimism was wide ranging and far reaching, it extended to Afghanistan, the economy and his vasectomy. John Key was so optimistic, he recently informed church leaders that if he cut off welfare to all 338 000 beneficiaries that bugger all would starve to death. Of course if I had $40 million and a Hawiiaan Mansion, I'd be pretty bloody optimistic as well, runner up for the David Fane abusive comedic timing award 2010 was Maurice Williamson with his hilarious observations on Muslims and anyone who looked like an over stayer.
You can take the National Party front bencher out of Parliament, but you can't take the redneck out of the National Party front bencher.
The memorial-Shane-Jones-adults-only-movie-collection-Best-Minister Award for 2010 has to go to Tony Ryall whose wardrobe is so far in the closet, it's in Narnia. Like magician David Copperfield making the statue of liberty vanish, Tony has made Health disappear and where ever he has hidden it, he seems to have made Ruth Dyson disappear as well. Ruth Dyson has been about as effective as an opposition spokesperson on Health as Paul Henry has been at race relations.
Best supporting actor in a corporate negotiating tactic has to go to Sir Peter Jackson for the manufactured crises at the Hobbit. New emails released under the Official Information Act show Peter Jackson telling the Government that the actors boycott will not send The Hobbit overseas which of course was not what he was telling the public. The1950s esk anti-union hysteria by the mainstream media mixed with John Key's desire to use divisive politics to get one over the Union movement combined to see legislation rammed through Parliament that changed our labour laws to make Warner Bros happy. You just know on their jet flight back laughing at how easy they took $30 million from us that the Warner Bros Executives refer to NZers as 'shire folk'.
The female-comedian-cloak-of-invisibility-on-7-Days-award-this-year-for- creative-editing goes to Sensible Sentencing Lynch mobs political representation within ACT- David Garrett. This is a man who stood against suppression powers, he stood against clean slates and he stood against second chances for prisoners, yet while he was ramming raw meat law and order bullshit through parliament with 3 strikes and you get locked up forever legislation that only benefits private prisons, he was secretly using suppression orders to clean his slate and get a third chance. Only Michelle A'court on 7 days has received that kind of editing.
The US-Army-drone-strike-extreme-violence-against-the-vulnerable Award this year goes to Paula Bennett and her bennie bashing welfare cuts. After illegally releasing personal details about solo mums who dared to challenge Paula cutting benefits she herself had benefitted from, she appointed an ideologically stacked welfare razor gang who went about using voodoo math to justify forcing solo mothers, the ill, the mentally unwell and the handicapped back to work so John Key could have enough cash to keep giving the rich tax cuts.
The blind-leading-the-blind-Award-for-economic-stewardship-2010 goes to the National Party and their utter ineptitude with the Economy. As NZers woke to the realization that the green shoots of recovery were really the dried snot of recession the Government attempted to solve a global economic crises caused by neoliberal, low tax, deregulation, free market dogma by implementing neoliberal, low tax, deregulation, free market dogma. Handing out $1.7 billion to Mr Magoo at South Canterbury Finance when South Canterbury Finance shouldn't have been included in the protections was another bumble in a long list of bumbles like the GST tax rise which was supposed to turbo charge the economy when in fact it ended up seeing a massive drop in revenue by companies. All this Government has to offer NZers is an economic Darwinism that sees the weak eaten or traded in for their body organs, if you are one of NZs 650 millionaires who have received $1000 in tax cuts since October, you'd be pretty chuffed though.
The leaking-like-a-BP-oil-well-Award-for-media-bravery goes to the slightly creepy Julian Assange for his wikileaks extravaganza that is holding the powerful to account in a way we've never witnessed before. While at home the Government were ramming through secret powers for the SIS and vast new erosions of our civil liberties under the new search and surveillance powers that legalize the Police spying without warrants, we can still hope that the freedom to question authority is enshrined by online political activism that refuses to allow the grip of totalitarian rule to smoother or silence our voices. As NZ starts to resemble a quaint Police state with a mainstream media asleep at the wheel, let's celebrate those who would stand up for us while the majority cower in the corner too frightened to think for themselves.
Finally brothers and sisters, to our most coverted award, The Garth-George- blaming-abortion-for-our-need-to-increase-the-retirement-age-and-claiming- global-warming-won't-flood-the-earth-because-God-promised-Noah-he-wouldn't- Fox-News-media-award-for-absolute-bullshit 2010 and the nominees are
Paul Holmes for anti-union bashing over the manufactured crises at the hobbit that had nothing to do with the actors union boycott at all.
Paul Henry for insinuating that only white people could be real NZers on the state broadcaster during an interview with John Key
And John Armstrong for bizarrely blaming the left for minimizing John Key to a smile and wave charactature when in fact it was the Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and the leader of the political party National govern with, Rodney Hide, who actually first described Key as a puppet figure head.
And the winner of the The Garth-George- blaming-abortion-for-our-need-to-increase-the-retirement-age-and-claiming- global-warming-won't-flood-the-earth-because-God-promised-Noah-he-wouldn't- Fox-News-media-award-for-absolute-bullshit 2010 goes to the one and only Paul Henry. He's overseas now pitching for a realty TV show called 'My time as an ompa loompa of hate', the former National Party candidate shone this year as TVNZ let him off the leash to rev up ratings from rednecks, indeed the term 'Paul Henry Supporter' has become synonymous with intolerance, ignorance and book burning. Paul Henry's extraordinary brainfart that the Govenor General wasn't a real NZer came while the Prime Minister lamely smiled and joked along in a spineless manner. The GG of course was born in Auckland and has lived his entire life here, unlike Paul Henry who left the country as a child, so by Paul Henry's own definition, the GG is actually more of a NZer than Paul Henry is. TVNZ's initial claim that Paul secretly thinks what we all think suggested that TVNZ thinks the entire country is a pack of closet racists, for those still sad at Paul leaving, don't think of it as losing Paul Henry to Hollywood, think of it as amputating a tumor.
This is the final War on News for 2010, the next show is on the 11th Jan, have a great Summer
O'Donovan is far more upbeat: "Personally I think New Zealand could have a ripsnorter of a year and I think we could be on the cusp of a golden decade in terms of economic prosperity.
"I know that is extremely unfashionable. We only seem to be happy when we are miserable."
Ummmmm, what? Are Westpac employees sniffing glue? There seems to be a mentality amongst some that if we just put on a smile and a cheery disposition, this recession will be over and the lambs will be lying down with the lions and world peace will break out. If O'Donovan had been on the Titanic as it was sinking he'd be explaining how great the ocean views are and that now was the time to buy another ticket. he's as delusional as desperate Real Estate agents screaming there's never been a better time to buy property.
So according to O'Donovan, this is NOT a crises of Capitalism, it is in fact "the cusp of a golden decade in terms of economic prosperity."
Sadly for O'Donovan, I just finished reading 'Crises' by Alan Bollard, and his thoughts on the current recession. Surprisingly the Central Bank Governor doesn't seem to share O'Donovan's optimism.
University of Chicago academic Raghuram Rajan author of 'Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier' 2005 doesn't agree with O'Donovan either and neither does Gillian Tett, author of 'Fool's Gold: How the bold dream of a small tribe at JP Morgan was corrupted by Wall St and unleashed a catastrophe' 2009.
But fuck them, according to O'Donovan, it's cusp time.
Forget that (as Alan points out) that these financial instruments were misused and ended up with derivatives that wrote up a quadrillion dollars - that's $1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000. Fuck that right, cause O'Donovan says it's a mere flesh wound.
Alan recalls a late night phone call with the chairman and deputy chairman of a giant international bank who told him this is the worst crises of their careers. But screw that right O'Donovan?
Alan of course himself described the crises as the largest financial shock since the Great Depression - WHAT DOES HE KNOW? O'Donovan says it's a cusp.
All Governments did was take on the debt of the greedy private sector, we've simply kicked the can of the correction down the road a couple of years, but screw that right O'Donovan? This is a mere bump in the road towards prosperity, the way President Hoover would keep crying out during the Great Depression, 'Prosperity is just around the corner".
What we saw from this great recession was the US Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of China, the Bank of England, the Swiss and the Swedes all cut their rates by 50 points on Tuesday 7th October 2008, the magnitude of what happened demanded that response, to claim that we are now on a cusp after those types of reactions misses what happened and what's left to come by such a spectacular amount, I feel the need to urge Westpac to piss test O'Donovan.
According to O'Donovan, this isn't a global reshaping of the hegemonic economic super structure of the Washington Consensus, oh no, this is the beginning of the age of Aquarius.
I like Israeli central bank Governor Jacob Frenkel who said "We've spent the last ten years talking about imbalances building around the world. We all agreed those weren't sustainable. What did you expect"? But what does he know eh O'Donovan?
Ben Bernanke in a Time interview in 2009 said, "We came very, very close to a depression. The markets were in anaphylactic shock" - what does he know?
In October 2008 we had a run on $100 notes - YAWN. By the end of that month the equity markets around the world lost half their value, $30 Trillion US - as Alan points out stock prices had dropped deeper, over a longer period BUT publicly listed companies had been a much smaller part of the economy and did not figure in most people's savings, where as nowadays the impact is across society and damages many more.
The current recession is steeper and deeper than the 1973 oil crises, the 2000 tech crash, the recessions of 1980, 1990 and 1981 yet according to our boy O'Donovan, the good times are about to roll.
I don't think for one second this recession has even played out to half time yet, and that the best case scenario is un-ending economic pain till 2018.
Mr O'Donovan is as medicatedly optimistic as our Prime Minister. Sticking ones head in the sand is not a solution.
We are in for very hard times and the most vulnerable in our society are the ones who will be asked to pay for the greed of corporate America.
NZ soldiers murder Afghan civilians for oil pipeline - you have blood on your hands Mr Key
NZ soldiers in botched Kabul raid - report SAS soldiers involved in a Kabul raid in which two Afghan security guards were killed acted in self defence, the New Zealand Defence Force says.
The SAS soldiers led the NATO International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) raid which left two civilian security guards dead, the Times of London newspaper reported.
ISAF said the Christmas Eve operation had been aimed at stopping a car bomb attack on the US Embassy the next day. It said it was a "credible threat". However, no explosives were found at the scene.
The Times reported it was led by New Zealand soldiers identified as the commander "Sean" and his deputy "James".
Afghan authorities protested strongly and, according to the New York Times, Colonel Mohammed Zahir, director of criminal investigations for the Kabul police, who arrived at the scene shortly after the raid began, said both victims had been shot in the head.
"It was murder," he told the New York Times.
"I have seen a lot of cases of violence, but I have not seen an incident where they kill civilians like this for no reason."
Are we doing it as John Key assures as 'to punish the terrorism' even though the US Embassy wikileaks cable confirms there are no terrorists in NZ?
Are NZ SAS murdering Afghan civilians to catch Osama Bin Laden when he is widely reported to be in Pakistan?
Are NZ SAS murdering Afghan civilians for freedom and democracy when the current puppet regime rigged and cheated both last elections?
Or maybe it's because Afghanistan has never been about terrorism, and EVERYTHING to do with Oil?
In 1996, the Wall Street Journal declared the Taliban, "are the players most capable of achieving peace in Afghanistan at this moment in history"., this was because they had just defeated the American armed Northern Alliance who had just ended their 4 year 50 000 dead rampage thanks to America walking away without disarming their most fervent anti-soviet fighters (hilariously Osama Bin Laden had been given $4 billion in which to fight the USSR).
This praise of the Taliban proceeded a massive attempt to win over the Taliban so that America could build a vast oil pipe line that enables them to tap into the huge oil fields of the Caspian Sea. Taliban were flown to Washington and wined and dined by George W Bush Snr and entertained in Housten by senior executives of Unocal who offered the Taliban fifteen cents for every thousand cubic feet of gas pumped through Afghanistan.
In 1998, Unocal's Vice-President for International Relations, John J Maresca told a Congressional inquiry that "by 2010, Western countries could increase oil production to 4.5 million barrels a day, an increase of more than 500% in fifteen years". His appeal was for a regime that could guarantee that increase.
At first America did all they could to provide such a regime, Unocal signed a 'memorandum of understanding' to build the pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan, it did this on behalf of Enron, Amoco, BP, Chevron, Exxon and Mobil with the deal makers being none other than Dick Cheney and former Defence Secretary James Baker.
The deal went sour when two American Embassies were bombed in east Africa and Al Queda were blamed. The September 11 attacks provided the perfect pretense to invade Afghanistan under the flag blinded claim of 'freedom and democracy'.
This war in Afghanistan has nothing to do with freedom and democracy, it has to do with securing America's never ending belief that they and they alone have the god given right to take oil resources from any part of the world under whatever pretext they need.
We are killing Afghan Civilians as part of our effort to prop up the great game and to plunder oil reserves, we are no better than the American war machine, because we are willfully part of it. It was disgusting enough to find out that we went into Iraq for Fonterra, it seems white gold warps our foreign policy as much as black gold warps America's.
I'm sick of right wing clowns justifying war for oil as if it's some bullshit fight for freedom and democracy.
A new left wing party would demand the immediate withdrawal from this immoral, despicable war.
The Gunner's Lament
A Maori gunner lay dying In a paddyfield north of Saigon, And he said to his pakeha cobber, "I reckon I've had it, man!
'And if I could fly like a bird To my old granny's whare A truck and a winch would never drag Me back to the Army.
'A coat and a cap and a well-paid job Looked better than shovelling metal, And they told me that Te Rauparaha Would have fought in the Vietnam battle.
'On my last leave the town swung round Like a bucket full of eels. The girls liked the uniform And I liked the girls.
'Like a bullock to the abattoirs In the name of liberty They flew me with a hangover Across the Tasman Sea,
'And what I found in Vietnam Was mud and blood and fire, With the Yanks and the Reds taking turns At murdering the poor.
'And I saw the reason for it In a Viet Cong's blazing eyes - We fought for the crops of kumara And they are fighting for the rice.
'So go tell my sweetheart To get another boy Who'll cuddle her and marry her And laugh when the bugles blow,
'And tell my youngest brother He can have my shotgun To fire at the ducks on the big lagoon, But not to aim it at a man,
'And tell my granny to wear black And carry a willow leaf, Because the kid she kept from the cold Has eaten a dead man's loaf.
'And go and tell Keith Holyoake Sitting in Wellington, However long he scrubs his hands He'll never get them clean.'
Right wing genetically more fearful and less courageous
Political views 'hard-wired' into your brain Tories may be born not made, claims a study that suggests people with right wing views have a larger area of the brain associated with fear.
Scientists have found that people with conservative views have brains with larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the centre of the brain often associated with anxiety and emotions.
On the otherhand, they have a smaller anterior cingulate, an area at the front of the brain associated with courage and looking on the bright side of life.
The "exciting" correlation was found by scientists at University College London who scanned the brains of two members of parliament and a number of students.
They found that the size of the two areas of the brain directly related to the political views of the volunteers.
One has to simply look at the National Party and ACT caucus for further proof of the right wings genetic mix of fightened cowardice and it helps explain their world view of selfishness as a virtue.
We should pity right wingers becuase they can't help it.
Tune in to join Bomber and his revolving panel of bloggers and Auckland opinion shapers as they offer an up-to-date half hour review of the political media issues of the current week from a very Auckland perspective.
THIS WEEK: Bloggers Cameron Slater and Chris Trotter wrap up 2010 and look at 2011 predictions...
THIS WEEK: Bloggers Cameron Slater and Selwyn Manning
Issue one: Official Information Act emails between Peter Jackson and Gerry Brownlee clearly state the Actor's boycott wasn't the reason Warners Bros were threatening removal of The Hobbit. How easily lead are people by a manufactured crises?
Issue two: Wikileaks Orama - did we go to war for Fonterra? Did Murray McCully lie to Parliament over meeting the Dalai Lama and how good is the free trade deal with America that John Key claimed would be worth billions?
Issue three tonight: Len Brown and his anonymous donors. Is Len looking after Auckland's interests or wealthy Aucklander's interests? And why can't Auckland save historic sites?
Citizen A plays on screen 7pm Thursday on Triangle and 8pm Sunday Sky 89 & Freeview 21 Citizen A Facebook TWITTER
THE WAR ON NEWS: In this weeks political media crimes against reason kill zone
New Peter Jackson emails show he admits Actor's Union boycott WOULD NOT force the Hobbit overseas, we just got played
Australian detention camps run NZ prisons, aussie, aussie, aussie, ouch, ouch, ouch.
NZ butter and Iraqi guns - tell me we didn't go to war for Fonterra?
Plus this weeks wank-o-the-week, sex in the Super City, media hell and the Barack Obama people’s hero of the week award
The War on News 2010 – NZ News Satire on Stratos Sky 89 10.30pm Tuesday & simulcast on Freeview 21. Replayed on Triangle TV 9.45pm Wednesday and posted online at Scoop.co.nz as their Weekend Watch.
It’s just like 7 days on TV3 but with fewer dick jokes.
The Maori Affairs select committee (chaired by Tau Henare) met in Auckland on the 3rd December. I was in a group on Friday afternoon that went on after several guys who looked like Brethren had finished. Much like the two old Pakeha gentlemen to my left they were trying to say that Maori should only be allowed a very small amount of property rights in the foreshore and seabed - based upon a Pakeha determination of what they should get - while the Pakeha get to privatise the coast for themselves by way of reclamation and marinas and aquaculture etc. Their submissions were pretty crude and really nothing more than an unsubstantiated and racist set of presumptions. I sensed they were made more out of a fear that the White Man's position as the superior being was being challenged, rather than fear of what possible changes might happen in the marine area.
The one next to me has a wry smirk when I start talking about the exclusivity test and that making a sandcastle will still be enough under this new law to argue in court that Maori rights have been extinguished. Yes - it is as bad as that.
It was so handy having posted the submission on the blog - it was accessible on the mobile so I didn't need to faff around with notes on paper.
The committee will report back on 25 February 2011.
Ummm - did anyone notice the NZ economy just went backwards?
Ummmm - anyone notice that the economy is now going backwards?
Economy goes backwards New Zealand's economy went into reverse in the September quarter, but hope remains for improvement in 2011.
Figures from Statistics New Zealand today show gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent in the September quarter.
Manufacturing fell 1.7 percent in the three months to September, construction was down 2.5 percent, and mining activity fell 6.9 percent.
For the year to September, GDP rose 1.4 percent compared with the year to September 2009, with primary industry activity up 1.1 percent including a 13.5 percent rise in forestry and logging activity.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said much of the economic weakness was temporary, and he expected manufacturing and housing construction to recover over the next year.
Thank God the ASB Chief Economist expects things to get better, that will make the ratings agencies sleep easier at night. Could I venture that since this is a unique crises of capitalism in the exact same way the 1929 crash was a unique crises of capitalism that the old Free Market models that the ASB Chief Economist, the treasury, the Reserve Bank Governor, the National Party, ACT etc etc etc don't work? That the same old tired ideologically driven brain farts won't be enough to avoid the societal damage this recession will cause and that perhaps a reevaluation of the growth uber allas consumer culture may in fact be timely alongside a genuine look at welfare.
The faith that these oracles of money are putting into this supposed magical turn around in the second half of next year looks almost like a meth induced state of psychosis, pick anyone of the following global tumors that could turn to cancer in 2011; China property market bubble, sovereign debt collapse, banking crisis or Euro disintegration.
The first half of 2011 is predicted to be worse than what we are seeing now, and then magically rise like a phoenix, I however would suggest that anyone of those global threats would have a very low trigger value after such a prolonged recession and that anyone of those events would be enough to spiral the Global economy down worse than these optimistic domestic predictions making any recovery at the end of 2011 simply a falsehood.
We are directing the economy behind the blindfold of falsehoods.
If the economy continues to collapse, and we really are facing a unique economic 1929 crises, then the environment is set for a splintering of the political spectrum.
A new right party under Muriel Newman, John Banks and Don Brash could ignite out of sheer panic if a new left wing party made up of Hone, Sue and Matt were to launch with a direct focus on minimum wage and beneficiaries. There are 338 000 beneficiaries, there were 2 376 480 votes in 2008. That's 14%, 5% = representation, but the ace in the hole is Hone's electorate seat, so a sub 5% tail could get elected. Those crucial extra seats could be the difference between being the new Government and not being the new Government.
One thing is for certain, the 2011 election will be much, much closer than the right wing are currently pretending and the spite shown in the manufactured crises at The Hobbit tells us the next election will be a very bitter and divisive one.
Before the fight begins, let us all take a moment to celebrate the fact that no matter how nasty the election gets, we are one of the few lucky countries in the world where political power can be handed over or maintained by peaceful means in a country where the peoples will can be genuinely expressed. Beyond political allegiance, we can all count our blessings to live in such a strong democracy.
Tune in to join Bomber and his revolving panel of bloggers and Auckland opinion shapers as they offer an up-to-date half hour review of the political media issues of the current week from a very Auckland perspective.
THIS WEEK: Selwyn Manning and Cameron Slater...
Issue one: Official Information Act emails between Peter Jackson and Gerry Brownlee clearly state the Actor's boycott wasn't the reason Warners Bros were threatening removal of The Hobbit. How easily lead are people by a manufactured crises?
Issue two: Wikileaks Orama - did we go to war for Fonterra? Did Murray McCully lie to Parliament over meeting the Dalai Lama and how good is the free trade deal with America that John Key claimed would be worth billions?
Issue three tonight: Len Brown and his anonymous donors. Is Len looking after Auckland's interests or wealthy Aucklander's interests? And why can't Auckland save historic sites??
Love how Uncle Don's website plays up his Orewa, Pakeha mythology, hate-mongering as his defining and most memorable accomplishment; and that it also states that his maiden speech is his 'personal credo' - because he doesn't mention the Treaty or Maori in that speech. It was all - is all - politics.
How old and irrelevant and debunked is Don Brash these days? A lot? The oddly-legalised gambling market says so.
Govt opens ACC to private sector ACC Minister Nick Smith has confirmed the Government will move to allow private insurers to compete with the Accident Compensation Corporation for a share of New Zealand's work place insurance market.
This is being dropped a week out from Christmas to avoid attention, the 2011 privatization agenda is no longer secret, it's out in the open and the spin job necessary to con citizens into privatizing their few remaining social assets has begun.
Tonight at 9pm on TVNZ 7 I am on Backbenchers for their end of year review hosted by Wallace Chapman alongside David Farrar from Kiwiblog,TVNZ Political reporter Jessica Mutch and corporate lobbyist Mark Unsworth.
Peter Jackson emails admit Actors Boycott WOULD NOT force The Hobbit overseas
Sir Peter: Actors no threat to Hobbit Sir Peter Jackson told the Government he did not believe an international actors' boycott would force The Hobbit overseas, emails show.
The message, sent to the office of Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee on October 18, is in stark contrast to comments the film-maker made earlier in the month.
Well, well, well - what do we have here?
Remember when I said that this entire bullshit regarding the actors union was actually a manufactured crises so that Warner Bros could screw us over for MORE money and remember how so many NZers bought into it, remember how the right wing screamed its the actors union and the mainstream media were so anti-union you would need to go back to the 1950s to find a similar level of hysteria?
Remember all that?
Yeah well new emails released under the Official Information Act show Jackson told the Government that the boycott WOULD NOT send the Hobbit overseas which is in total contrast with what he was foaming to the public.
Where the fuck is sleazy little anti-union bashing Russell Brown now huh?
And who loses? Robyn Malcolm and Helen Kelly get denigrated for nothing more than asking for their basic human right of collective bargaining and of course the 26 000 Union protestors who marched on the Monday before the manufactured crises in the largest labour protests in a bloody decade, they lose as well.
You got played NZ, you got played by Peter Jackson who wanted his precious, you got played by Warners Bros who used this as an excuse to increase their taxpayer subsidy, you got played by a mainstream media who turned on the unions and you got played by a Prime Minister who saw this as a chance for political gain by being as divisive with the Unions over The Hobbit as Robert Muldoon was with ant-aparthied protestors over rugby.
And you fell for it, NZ - Jesus Christ my fellow NZers are easy to manipulate at times, you just know the Warners Bros Executives flying home in their jet laughed long and hard at how easy it was to take money from us, you know they must refer to us as 'shire folk'.
I'm embarrassed by how easily led my fellow NZers are sometimes.
Bomber's Blog - The War on News - TONIGHT 10.30pm Sky 89 & Freeview 21
The War on News 2010 – NZ News Satire on Stratos Sky 89 10.30pm Tuesday & simulcast on Freeview 21. Replayed on Triangle TV 9.45pm Wednesday and posted online at Scoop.co.nz as their Weekend Watch.
It’s just like 7 days on TV3 but with fewer dick jokes.
NZ butter for Iraqi guns? Tell me we didn't go to war for Fonterra
Clark sent troops to Iraq over Fonterra - cables Senior Defence Ministry staff told the United States Embassy that former Prime Minister Helen Clark had decided to send soldiers to Iraq to stop Fonterra losing lucrative Oil for Food contracts, WikiLeaks cables reveal.
One of hundreds of leaked diplomatic cables, the information from the US Embassy in Wellington said the identities of the unnamed defence staff should be "strictly protected", after they briefed embassy staff on a Cabinet meeting in which Miss Clark's government did an about turn on sending troops to Iraq, the Dominion Post reported.
"Senior MOD officials (strictly protect) tell us it was not until Finance Minister Michael Cullen pointed out in a subsequent Cabinet meeting that New Zealand's absence from Iraq might cost NZ dairy conglomerate Fonterra the lucrative dairy supply contract it enjoyed under the United Nations Oil for Food program," the cable said.
It said the prime minister "found a face-saving compromise" by sending non-combat engineers to be embedded with British forces.
Ummmmmmm, what? We went to war in Iraq to make sure Fonterra made money from the food program? Oh you have got to be joking me, NZ butter for Iraqi guns? This is about as low as it gets, how much influence and power does Fonterra have dammit? They managed to censor chapter 13 of the ten yearly environmental report into how much damage their industry causes the environment...
Hard-hitting green study doctored Officials suppressed a hard-hitting final chapter to the landmark State of the Environment report that blames farming for causing many of the country's environmental problems. The ditched chapter 13, leaked to the Greens, says increasingly intense farm practices have left a legacy of pollutants and contamination. And it says the scale of the problem is so big that voluntary accords with the dairy industry and other measures to clean up farming will make little immediate difference. "The pulling of the chapter suggests someone in the government didn't want the full story out there," Greens co-leader Russel Norman said.
...so the Dairy industry can censor environmental reports AND get us involved in wars? Black gold warps American foreign affairs, does white gold dictate ours as well?
The cable from February 2006 describes a move to change National Party policy to unreservedly support anti-nuclear legislation introduced by Labour in 1984.
Despite the policy change, many National MPs privately supported overturning the anti-nuclear legislation, the cable says.
Of those Mr Finlayson - then a rookie MP - is cited as supporting an immediate end to the ban on nuclear ships entering New Zealand waters.
"We know only one National MP - the newcomer Chris Finlayson - who thought a National Government should change the legislation right after winning an election, without a referendum. But he also thought the Government should then shelve the issue by not encouraging or allowing any ship visits for a number of years," it says.
National changed its policy to endorse anti-nuclear legislation after the 2006 meeting described in the cable from US Ambassador Bill McCormick.
Its previous policy of supporting a change if a referendum found there was public support for the move had been attacked by Labour.
The cable says the policy change was motivated by a need to create a political defence against those attacks, rather than broad ideological support for the move from within the party ranks.
So Don Brash wanted nuclear free gone by lunchtime, where as Chris Finlayson wanted it gone before breakfast? Changing nuclear free without a public referendum is an extraordinary measure that leaves one shocked, horrified and a little sick to the stomach, what other bits of legislation did Chris Finlayson want to ram through without referendum? Dumping MMP? Getting rid of that whole pesky universal suffrage stuff and those annoying Bill of Rights protections?
How on earth would NZ have reacted if Finlayson had his wish and dumped nuclear free the second they got into power? Thankfully calmer minds shut this down, but it is a reminder that you can never take your eyes off National for a second.
Sources indicate the bureaucrats left the politicians with little choice. They were told Auckland City had done a deal with Viaduct Harbour Holdings, a big private landowner in the area - a deal which itself was so secret, the parties are sworn to deny its very existence - that the old city would not add any extra buildings to its initial list of eight.
By law, Auckland Council is bound by any agreements made by the various councils that morphed into one on November 1, including that one.
There was reportedly strong opposition from former ARC parks and heritage chairwoman Sandra Coney and former ARC chairman Mike Lee leading to the concession that the council resolved it would support the right of the ARC's ally, the Art Deco Society, to carry on the battle in the Environment Court.
Witnesses say Mayor Len Brown and councillors agreed that this decision be recorded in the published minutes. But council staff on Friday denied there was any such resolution and the published minutes show no sign of it.
...first the bureaucrats set up a secret deal that can't be discussed, then they leave any mention of support from the minutes, it seems Len Brown is getting played, Aucklanders expect more from their Lord Mayor.
So what has the National Party been caught out lying about?
Key exposed over Dalai Lama Among the cables is a briefing which stated that Key told Jiabao in April last year neither he nor any of his ministers would meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The statement broke a promise Key had made before the election - and reassured the Premier almost eight months before the New Zealand public was told. But the statement might also have landed Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully in trouble after he assured Parliament that there was no boycott.
So John Key spinelessly assures the Chinese that we won't meet with the Dalai Lama but then has Murray McCully tell Parliament - LIE TO PARLIAMENT- that there is no boycott of the Dalai Lama. Why should be doing the bidding of China and why should we put up with the Government lying straight to our faces about doing the bidding of China?
What else have they lied about? They are lying about the so called benefits from this free trade deal with America...
US free-trade deal suspect A FREE-TRADE deal with the United States may not be the economic miracle it's been painted as.
New Zealand's chief trade negotiator Mark Sinclair privately told a visiting US State Department official that New Zealand had little to gain from a free-trade agreement. This view – recorded in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks – differs from the one the public has been given.
When the US joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in November last year, Prime Minister John Key said it could be worth "billions and billions" to New Zealand, and that a deal would "position New Zealand brilliantly for growth".
But in a meeting in February, Sinclair told US Deputy Assistant Frankie Reed "there is a public perception that getting into the US will be an `El Dorado' for New Zealand's commercial sector. However, the reality is different".
He said New Zealand would need to "manage" public expectations about the benefits of a US free-trade agreement.
...so this free trade deal won't be the wonderful skip to the pot of gold at the end of the free market rainbow, yet John Key is pretending that it is, and as for corporate meddling in NZ politics, what about the revelations that the pharmaceutical industry attempted to get rid of a Minister of the crown OR that they attempted to use free trade agreements to screw us...
WikiLeaks: Drug firms tried to ditch Clark Drug companies tried to get rid of Helen Clark when she was health minister, leaked US Embassy cables claim. They also claim that one major drug firm so strongly objected to restrictive drug buying rules that it lobbied against New Zealand getting a Free Trade Agreement with the US.
...yep, them corporates care about us.
What about the wider wikileaks debate? The constant drip, drip, drip is never ending. Currently they have released a mere 1788 cables. Just think about that, look at the damage those 1788 cables have caused, look at the startling revelations that our own Government have lied and lied and lied about literally everything in their arrogance to rule rather than represent.
The balance of power in the real world is controlled by nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers and large armies, in the cyber world one person can effectively take on a super power, this imbalance will not, can not be tolerated by the super power, the empire will strike back.
1788 cables since first released on the 28th, that's 77 cables a day, there are 251,287 cables, at this rate it will take 3240 days, that's a decade of leaks. What impact will a decade of leaks have on any system? This growing reality means the response will be extraordinary and unrelenting. There are 49,500,000 results on google for rape, there are 30,500,000 results on google for Assange and rape, that's one hell of an effective smear campaign.
What is most revealing in this torrent of information is the audacity of American diplomats thinking they can play god and the out right duplicity involved in American foreign policy, nothing shows it better than this example...
In early 2009, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey wrote to Hillary Clinton to prepare her for her visit with Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit. The cable is a model of diplomatic acumen, providing a character sketch of Gheit (“smart, urbane with a tendency to lecture”) and offering a series of options that Gheit might push Clinton on (such as an invitation to the Gaza Donors' Conference in Cairo). Scobey, a career foreign services officer, knows her business. No wonder that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs asks its trainee diplomats to study the cables “and get a hang of the brevity with which thoughts and facts have been expressed”.
Early in the cable, however, Scobey reveals the problem with her profession. She correctly points out to Hillary Clinton that Gheit “may not raise human rights (specifically Ayman Nour), political reform, or democratisation; but you should”. Ayman Nour is the leader of the El Ghad liberal party who had been in Cairo's prisons since 2005 (he was released shortly after Clinton's meeting with Gheit).
The problem here is that while Scobey tried to push the agenda of human rights in one room, in other, more shadowy rooms, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and military intelligence officials of the U.S. carried a more powerful brief. Since 1995, the U.S. government has provided the Egyptian secret service (the Mukhabarat) with various prisoners through the extraordinary rendition programme. These prisoners, often suspected of being Al Qaeda members, are alleged to have been tortured in those very jails that Ambassador Scobey criticised.
...the Ambassador couldn't critique human rights in Egypt because the CIA were quietly kidnapping people and using secret torture chambers in Egypt.
This constant drip, drip, drip is a cyber water torture corroding State authority in a way no other dissident could manage.
The revolution will not be televised, it will be on wikileaks.
New Breakfast hosts confirmed Petra Bagust and Corin Dann will be the new hosts of TVNZ's Breakfast show, replacing Paul Henry and Pippa Wetzell.
Dann has been filling in on the show as a frontman since Henry resigned in October and Bagust will replace Wetzell, who is going on maternity leave after today's final show for the year.
The worst kept secret in television was confirmed during a live broadcast of Breakfast's final show of the year this morning.
The move marks the end of a 14-year relationship between Bagust and TV3. She first found national fame as co-host of the network's Ice TV in 1996.
I actually think this partnership will work. For me the State Broadcaster has to do more than just provide entertainment, for the correct functioning of a democracy, it must actively hold the powerful to account while explore issues beyond the headlines. Where Paul Henry fell down was that he used the State Broadcaster to do the exact opposite of what it's supposed to do, rather than break down those stereotypes, he reinforced and laughed at them.
While Paul's insinuation that only white people could be 'real NZers' meant he simply could not stay on, the last show of the year did play some of his highlights which was fitting as Henry could be a genuinely funny broadcaster, pity about the casual racism.
Some will cry that Breakfast is just entertainment and that it shouldn't be taken so seriously, I disagree. This year John Key quietly dumped his interviews on bFM, Kiwi and RDU while having his people censor questions during radio interviews on ZB. The ten minutes weekly on Breakfast with the Prime Minister IS important because in so many other media areas he has completely shut down any debate.
Corin Dan is a good interviewer. His stint as host certainly showed that he would challenge Key during their interview (it was the first time I'd seen Key look uncomfortable on Breakfast) and he has been good on the economy. He will be a good interviewer in an election year.
Petra Bagust is the new Judy Bailey and thank god TVNZ saved her from that abomination @Seven. Petra's no slouch and her 'What's really in your food' series has shown she can do public broadcasting style TV with class. Their teaming up shows that Generation X are finally getting some respect at TVNZ.
Yeah, so that massive $2 billion deficit that Bill English intends to make up by making massive cuts into welfare don't really suggest much of a solution when noting what is happening in the US...
The magical 2.2 housing ratio between median nationwide home prices and household income – Nationwide home prices still inflated by 30 percent based on 50 years of household data. The typical American family is facing the biggest economic uncertainty since the Great Depression and must feel like their lives are in a washer spin cycle. Many unemployed Americans are now entering a stage where unemployment insurance is being cut off which will send tens of thousands of people into the street. The mainstream media won’t cover this because they rather gossip about the next tan face to drink themselves into a gutter at a nightclub. 43 million Americans are receiving some kind of food assistance yet this is some kind of recovery? Many are wondering how banks can produce such large profits without actually producing anything real or of substance in the economy. Yet banks are largely casinos that now operate to siphon off real wealth from the economy through bailouts, frauds, and other activities that harm the overall economy.
...or indeed advice out of Japan...
Years of global slump ahead - Mr Yen In an era where forecasts by permabears have got ample attention and vindication, few are as disturbing as this: a world recession until 2018.
It comes from Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's former top currency official, known as "Mr Yen" for his ability to move markets.
Because Tokyo's revolving-door politics often sends a new face to each Group of 20 meeting, he is one of the few Japanese constants in market circles. Sakakibara was a key player when Japan faced everything from the Asian crisis to Russia's default to the onset of deflation to a banking collapse that saw the demise of Yamaichi Securities.
So, when an economist as well known as Sakakibara says "the world is set for a long-term structural slump reminiscent of the 1870s", when average global annual growth was about 1 per cent, I can't help but listen.
The reason for the slowdown? Governments put fiscal austerity ahead of restoring stable growth.
...the austerity measures being promoted by the right wing to justify deep cuts to social welfare and public services will only serve to drive the global economy into deeper recession.
As the economy continues to collapse, the political spectrum will splinter and the protests will get angrier as the most vulnerable are told they will be cutting back so that the wealthy elite of NZ (John Key included) can take more.
In the screams of anguish on talkback radio at how much we are borrowing, no mention of the tax cuts that National are borrowing for or the fact that this GST tax rise to fund a tax cut for the wealthy was supposed to 'turbo charge' the economy but didn't.
One gets the feeling that the situation goes beyond the vulgar economic Darwinism National are offering...
US jobs market woe dampens optimism America's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose last month, delivering a blow to recent optimism that a recovery in the world's biggest economy was finding some momentum. The increase in the rate to 9.8pc from 9.6pc in October, will do little to comfort the US consumer, whose spending helped power the global economy until the financial crisis.
...American real estate could be near another meltdown...
Dr. Doom Predicts Another $1 Trillion in Housing Losses As Nouriel Roubini heads to Athens to meet with investors and policymakers potentially about the debt crisis in Europe, the economist says he’s increasingly worried about a problem closer to home: America’s real estate mess.
The country’s real estate problems are “underappreciated,” and banks could face another $1 trillion in housing-related losses, Mr. Roubini said in a phone interview with DealBook on Monday. At the same time, he played down the issues in Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, calling the matter “contained” for now.
The United States “real estate market, for sure, is double dipping,” Mr. Roubini said. “The apparent increase in prices has been fully reversed, demand is falling, and supply is going to increase.”
...and what chances do the Government have in balancing the books by the time Bill English has promised? Not very good at all it seems...
Deficit turnaround 'optimistic' BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said the rates used by the Government were unlikely given expectations that the world economy would recover.
"We think that these forecasts introduce a financing risk for Government as we think the cost of debt is likely to be higher than Treasury currently assumes," Mr Toplis said, despite praising the Government for its cost controls.
If you were one of the 650 millionaires in NZ who have received a $1000 tax cut since October, you'd be as optimistic as a $40 million dollar man in a Hawaiian mansion, however if you are one of the majority earning under $50 000, this Government's economic policy has done sweet bugger all. As this reality sinks in, right when the retail industry is the next one to start shedding jobs and as welfare and public service cuts start biting, let's see the scrutiny turn on what exactly our political leaders can really offer NZers.
2011 will be the first election in 25 years where there will be a clear fight for the ideological heart, mind and soul of NZ.
Company to run Auckland prison "linked to violence" Overseas prisons run by the company that has been chosen to manage Mt Eden Auckland Central Remand Prison have been linked to violence and overcrowding, the Green Party says. Serco, a British company with operations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and North America, was today named as the winner of a contract to manage the Auckland prison.
So it wasn't the company who runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camp or the company that has high prisoner beatings, it's the one with the dodgy track record of abusing and detaining immigrants in Australia, oh yay, how wonderful, what a giant step forward for civilized society.
The lie that this Government continue to spin that the private prison industry will save money (a lie the mainstream media perpetuate) has been shown for the farce it is in the calculations crusher Collins has given regarding the so called $1.2billion 'revenue' from private prisons.
This drive towards a prison nation puts us second in the world for incarceration rates when our crime rate overall actually compare favourably against the rest of the rest of the world has created a Monster Department. It's called the Monster Department because it creates monsters. We have a media who leads if it bleeds (in March 2006, crime was 22% of the monthly One Network News and was in the headlines 29%, but by March 2010, crime was only 14% of the monthly One Network News yet was in the headlines 35% of the time) so the viewer is bombarded with news designed to push their buttons for ratings gain, but the knock on impact is that residual hatred that is created by the media's myopic focus on ratings driven crime leaks into the political sphere where it gets twisted to promote kneejerk 'get tough on crime' crap which push for punitive policy which only produces counter productive outcomes.
The private sector may be able to do some things more 'efficiently' than the Government, but public services are for the benefit of the people, corporations are to maximize profits for themselves - no matter how the right spin it, that is the reality.
THE WAR ON NEWS: In this weeks political media crimes against reason kill zone
National screw prisoners for the sheer joy of screwing prisoners
China threatens NZ over a party we aren't even going to, how needy and insecure
What does Solid Energy, Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa all have in common?
Plus this weeks wank-o-the-week, sex in the Super City, media hell and the Barack Obama people’s hero of the week award
The War on News 2010 – NZ News Satire on Stratos Sky 89 10.30pm Tuesday & simulcast on Freeview 21. Replayed on Triangle TV 9.45pm Wednesday and posted online at Scoop.co.nz as their Weekend Watch.
It’s just like 7 days on TV3 but with fewer dick jokes.
The Epsom equation: who do they hate most? Maori or bullies?
I was on backbenchers last night for their end of year special (it will screen Wednesday next week on tvnz7) with TVNZ's Jessica Mutch, Corporate lobbyist and man about Vegas, Mark Unsworth and Lord of the blog, David Farrar.
I was saying Rodney Hide won't get elected because in the wake of the bullying revelations, my point being many professional women in Epsom would have suffered bully bosses and that would turn them off Rodney in light of his treatment of Heather Roy, David countered that Epsom female voters would be reminded that if Rodney loses, Hone Harawira will hold the country hostage.
It poses an interesting question, who do female voters in epsom hate most? Bullies or Maori? I optimistically think bullies.
Tune in to join Bomber and his revolving panel of bloggers and Auckland opinion shapers as they offer an up-to-date half hour review of the political media issues of the current week from a very Auckland perspective.
THIS WEEK: Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse and blogger Chris Trotter...
Issue one: The GST tax swap didn't 'turbo-charge' the economy after all and the deficit has now blown out with the economic future looking as glum as Chris Carters air points. What politics from the recession will impact the 2011 election?
Issue two: By-election o-rama. What does an autopsy of Botany and Manurewa suggest about Labour and National?
Issue three tonight: Len Brown and his anonymous donors. Is Len looking after Auckland's interests or wealthy Aucklander's interests? Is this what it sounds like when the doves cry?
“If we cancelled welfare to 330,000 people currently on welfare, how many would starve to death? Bugger all.” John Key
John Key is being reported by Sue Bradford to have said to Church Leaders “If we cancelled welfare to 330,000 people currently on welfare, how many would starve to death? Bugger all.”
I can't stand Sarah Palin, and i can't stand her NZ version Kerre Woodham.
They both have simplistic cringe worthy observations on society that bear little resemblance to reality.
Kerre Woodham has regurgitated so many right wing apologies she can justify everything from why bennieficaries should sell body organs to Israeli barb wired kindergartens for Palestinian children.
Her latest talkback redneck kneejerker is over denying prisoners the right to vote, read it here and be prepared to vomit. She accepts denying prisoners votes won't do anything, but she just wants it because the vein of spite she mines is so rich on ZB.
Whanau, In NZ we do everything casual, our racism is casual, our bigotry is casual and in Kerre's case our right wing apologist Grizzly Mama is almost horizontal.
Do we really want to give bored retail staff guns?
Folks, we feel righteously angry when a Police Officer is attacked and beaten up, they are societies ability to maintain law and order, an attack on them is an attack on society, but using these extreme moments of violence against our Police force as the reason we should arm all Police is gun loving opportunism at its worst.
The issue for rural Police is under staffing, why double bunk prisoners when we should be double bunking rural Police? Of the thousands of incidents and 111 calls to police throughout the year, only a tiny percentage require weapons to coerce the situation, if we arm all our ill trained Police force with guns, we are responding to that tiny fraction of conflicts with a lethal force that then bleeds into every other contact between the Police and citizens.
Do any of us really want that 20 year old cop with 19 weeks training, a uniform, a fast car and $50 000 base salary to have a gun as well? The current Police TV recruitment adverts have a bored car park attendant repainting the car parks so customers can't open their doors after they've parked. NZ, do you really want to give a gun to that guy?
Do you really want to give bored retail staff guns?
Better the Armed offenders squad who have more than a couple of hours gun practice a year take on criminals with guns than we simply hand guns out to every Police Officer.
What Solid Energy has in common with Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa
So what does Solid Energy have in common with Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa then? All three wanted to use lignite to make liquid fuels, that's right, it's coal uber alles brothers and sisters as Solid Energy try to quietly slip by that they want to produce the dirtiest, filthiest most-polluting form of coal into liquid fuels.
Solid Energy claim the 12 million tones of lignite they intend to produce is an efficient use of resources that will also fuel a 500MegaWatt power station. But brothers and sisters, we have 1000MegaWatts of wind power and between 360Megawatts and 630MegaWatts of hyrdro power yet to be tapped into, so why, oh why would we use the dirtiest, filthiest 18th century technology for the 21st century?
Solid Energy's boardroom sounds like it is a bad version of Back to the Future with coal eating zombies wandering around hungry because there are no brains to eat.
#1 (-) Kiwiblog : www.kiwiblog.co.nz
06/2003+ "Fomenting happy mischief"
David P Farrar : Right - National : Wellington
#2 (+3) Gotcha! : www.gotcha.co.nz
11/2005+ "Whale Oil Beef Hooked"
Whaleoil/Cameron Slater Right - National : Auckland
GMan Right - ? : NZ
Fried Sushi Right - ? : NZ
Lisa Lewis ? - ? : NZ
Fiscally Conservative Kiwi Right - ? : NZ
The Baptist Right - ? : NZ
#3 (-1) The Standard : www.thestandard.org.nz 08/2007+ "The New Zealand labour movement newspaper digitally reborn"
all_your_base : Left - Labour : NZ
Iprent : Left - Labour : NZ
John A : Left - Labour : NZ
Eddie : Left - Labour : NZ
Steve Pierson : Left - Labour/Green : Wellington
Tane : Left - Labour/Green : NZ
IrishBill : Left - Labour/Green : NZ
Dancer : Left - ? : NZ
Jasper : Left - ? : NZ
Natwatch : Left - ? : NZ
Ralph Malcolm : Left - ? : NZ
Sam Cash : Left - ? : NZ
Tillerman : Left - ? : NZ
ZK Muggletinspofin : Left - ? : NZ
whenua : Left - ? : NZ
#5 (-1) Not PC : www.pc.blogspot.com 04/2005+ "Promoting capitalist acts between consenting adults"
Peter Cresswell : Right - Libertarian : Auckland
Susan Ryder : Right - Libertarian : Franklin
Dr Richard McGrath : Right - Libertarian : Wairarapa
Bernard Darnton : Right - Libertarian : Christchurch
#7 (-) Red Alert : www.blog.labour.org.nz 05/2009+ "Labour MPs on issues that we care about"
Labour MPs (various): Left - Labour : Wellington/NZ
#8 (-) No Minister : www.nominister.blogspot.com 06/2007+ "Sir Humphrey's... [acid reflux]"
Gooner : Right - Act : Auckland
Adolf Fiinkensein : Right - National : Auckland
Psycho Milt : Left - ? : Palmerston North
Lou Taylor : Right - ? : Auckland
Grant : Right - ? : Auckland
Barnsley Bill : Right - ? : Northland
The Veteran : Right - ? : NZ
Sagenz : Right - ? : NZ
#9 (-) Public Address : www.publicaddress.net
09/2002+ "Community of New Zealand-centric weblogs"
Hard News Russell Brown : Left - ? : Auckland
Cracker Damian Christie : Other - ? : Wellington
Busytown Jolisa Gracewood ? - ? : Connecticut, USA
Radiation Fiona Rae ? - ? : Auckland
Random Play Graham Reid ? - ? : Auckland
Fielf Theory Hadyn Green ? - ? : ?
Southerly David Haywood ? - ? : Christchurch
Legal Beagle Graeme Edgeler : Right - ? : NZ
Up Front Emma Hart : ? - ? : NZ
#10 (+1) Frogblog : www.blog.greens.org.nz 03/2005+ "Political blog Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand"
Green MPs (various) : Left - Green : Wellington/NZ
frog : Left - Green : Wellington
#11 (-1) No Right Turn : www.norightturn.blogspot.com
02/2003+ "Irredeemably Liberal"
Idiot/Savant : Left - ? : Palmerston North
#12 (-) Tumeke! : www.tumeke.blogspot.com 04/2005+ "Aotearoa international - current affairs and culture"
Tim Selwyn : Other - ? : Auckland
Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury : Left - ? : Auckland
Phoebe Fletcher : Left - ? : Auckland
#18 (+2) Kiwipolitico : www.kiwipolitico.com 01/2009+ "Environmentalist, centre-left/left-of-centre, public policy and the political process."
Jafapete : Left - ? : Auckland
Anita : Left - ? : Wellington
Pablo : Left - ? : Auckland
Roger Nome : Left - ? : NZ
#19 (-2) The Hand Mirror: www.thehandmirror.blogspot.com 03/2008+ "Feminism"
Lil'E : Left - ? : NZ
Maia : Left - ? : NZ
The ex-expat : Left - Labour : NZ
Undomestic Goddess : ? - ? : NZ
The Bewildering Case of Ms Enid Tak-Entity : Left - ? : NZ
Julie Fairey : Left - ? : NZ
Deborah : Left - ? : NZ
Anjum Rahman/stargazer : Left - Labour : NZ
Anna : Left - ? : NZ
Pres. Barak Obama's speech at Mandela's funeral, Soweto. [DailyTelegraph]
____________________
Nelson Mandela's first speech out of prison. [TDC]
News bulletin [AlJazeera]
John Key PM video journal, on Poverty.[NZNats]
MANA Party series
Te Karere: Ratana celebrations 2012 [TVNZ]
Hone: Sharing the Mana [ManaMovement]
Tipene performs [Tipene06]
Hone Harawira last speech in session [inthehouse]
MANA Movement AGM: 06/08/2011 PART1 [solidarityjoeboy]
MANA Movement AGM 06/08/2011 PART2 [solidarityjoeboy]
MANA Party launch: First Hui 30-04-2011 - Powhiri [SolidarityJoe]
MANA Party launch: First Hui 30-04-2011 - Haka [SolidarityJoe]
MANA Party launch: First Hui 30-04-2011 - Sue Bradford [SolidarityJoe]
FORESHORE & SEABED/Takutai Moana Bill
Hikoi reaches parliament (NZHerald)
Hone Harawira in parliament on Takutai Moana Bill (intheHouse)
Te Karere: Hikoi begins (TVNZ)
Marae Investigates 13/03/2011: Te Ururoa Flavell i/v with Jodi Ihaka on Takutai Moana bill. (TVNZ)
Te Karere: Te Ururoa Flavell MP on Takutai Moana bill. (TVNZ)
Tariana Turia on Taku Taimoana - foreshore and seabed bill. (MaoriParty)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The oddly-legalised gambling market says so.
