National Party Father of all Budgets, and by the looks of it Dad is an angry drunk with a penchant for grievous bodily harm

The National Party aren't even bothering to lie to us anymore about their wet dreams to slash public services by hiding the cuts behind the quake, now they just let Labour's super nova implosion distract media attention while they tell us all in passing that they intend to axe all services they deem non-essential.

Do you really want the laughing clown and Bill English deciding what is and isn't an essential service? Doesn't Bill English strike you as the sort of devout catholic family man who self-flagellates? Do we really want a masochist deciding what is non-essential anymore than we want Gerry Brownlee with his Hulk Hands to be left in charge of rebuilding Christchurch?

Seeing as Key thinks people wouldn't die if he cut off their welfare and that the poor who need food parcels have themselves to blame, isn't leaving the axis of dribble in charge of pruning public services a little like Darren Hughes hosting a blue light disco?

How can we in the face of the worst recession since 1929 look to start cutting public services when the public desperately need those services?

It's those public services which saved lives in Christchurch, it's those public services that keep communities together, it's those public services that promote a standard of living that every NZer has as a right in this country of plenty to expect.

National had $1.7billion to bail out Mr Maggoo at South Canterbury Finance, National had $34 million for private schools, National had $15 million for the manufactured crises at The Hobbit while borrowing $120million per week for tax cuts.

If we are looking for things to cut, how about the $875 million on new frigate missiles? How bout less luxury BMW's? How bout those wealthy who have done so well from the tax cuts and the corporate business tax breaks pay some of it back?

Why is it always the weakest and most vulnerable in NZ who have to pay?

How's that 'change' feeling?

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Banning 'legal highs' - YAWN

Restrictions on legal highs coming
Legal products that mimic the high given by smoking cannabis are set to be banned for under-18s. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne today signalled the Government will tighten up its controls on synthetic "cannabinoid" substances.

Oh here we go, what's this bullshit Peter Dunne is pushing now, the man whose Party supports tobacco, alcohol and gambling - what is the crap reason these 'legal highs' are being banned? Oh it's bad for our health is it? These 'legal highs' are 'dangerous' are they? You know what, if it was really about 'our health', Peter Dunne would be banning the KFC Double Down Burger, heart disease kills many more NZers than illegal highs plus 'legal' highs combined.

This is just so Peter Dunne has something to go to the electorate to rattle his dags over.

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Bomber's Blog - The War on News - TONIGHT 10pm Stratos Freeview 21 & Sky 89

The War on News NEW TIME AND DATE – NZ News Satire on Stratos Freeview 21 10pm Thursday & simulcast on Sky 89.

It’s just like 7 days on TV3 but with fewer dick jokes.

Stratos is now broadcast on Freeview terrestrial 21

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Case: CERA

Whatever will be.

Brownshirt's Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority is another blot on the same stained Action Man bedsheets as his other wet dreams, in particular the abolition of the democratically elected Canterbury Regional Council so that the water aquifers can be drained by the dairy farmers without the hassle of meddling townies.

Is CERA really necessary? It looks to be something of a slap across the face for Bob the re-builder and his Christchurch City Council. The City Council already covers all the quake-damaged area and holds those responsibilities. The City Council delivers public works, co-ordinates infrastructure etc., and covers the brief of reconstruction, surely. How can the addition of more centralised, executive-style control over what is essentially other people's projects and interests be more efficient or more equitable? Why would a CERA plan over-ride or countermand a CCC plan or operation?

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the establishment of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) will provide leadership and coordination of the recovery effort following the February 22 earthquake.
[...]
“Today’s announcement is the result of a consultative approach between senior local government officials and central government, and reflects the many business and community groups who have voiced their support to us since February 22 for a single authority to manage Canterbury’s rebuilding process.”

Mr Brownlee said CERA would have wide powers to relax, suspend or extend laws and regulations which would be used responsibly and for clearly defined purposes related to earthquake recovery.

“These are essentially reserve powers and there will be checks and balances on the use of these powers so the public can have confidence they are being used wisely and with restraint.”

And it's all based on what occurs in Australia - the most bloated and over-layered bureaucractic form of governance known to humanity.

Mr Brownlee said many of powers in the proposed CERA legislation, which will be introduced to Parliament in the coming weeks, were based on those put in place when establishing the Queensland Reconstruction Authority following the state’s devastating floods in January.

Functions relating to working closely with affected communities and collecting and collating information about infrastructure and other property, and community services, come from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Act 2011.

Powers that relate to CERA’s ability to acquire, hold, deal with and dispose of property and the Minister’s ability to call-in the powers and functions of a local authority or council organisation are also based on those outlined in the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Act.

Is it some anonymous acronymed government body that will erect the New Babylon from the dust of this Revelationesque apocalypse? Under its authority Brownlee's bulldozers will raze the CBD and beyond. The only thing going for Christchurch was the Victorian structures and these are being hastily torn down in the same way everything is being hastily torn down.

The most likely scenario is that the darling gargoyles of Cantabrian architecture - and also the least inspired - Warren and Mahoney, will be given free reign amid the demolition to create a horrid, windswept, sharp-edged, monotonous, right-angled, grey concrete dystopia in their brutalist style. Far from being Bob the Parker's optimistic opportunity to create a beautiful 21st century city, it could be the worst rebuild imaginable if those draftsmen have any input.

Paula Bennett and Double Down burgers

Bennett's blame on minutes disappointing - Mayor
Paula Bennett's claim that a minute-taker recorded a false account of her meeting with the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs is disappointing, Otorohanga Mayor Dale Williams says. The taskforce, which represents all but three of the country's mayors, met the Social Development Minister on March 10. The minutes show tension arose when Ms Bennett said the Government could not commit itself to the taskforce's Youth Transitions programme beyond the next year. When asked about the relationship between the Government and the taskforce, Ms Bennett said the taskforce "appeared to be a lobby group for pet projects". The mayors felt they had been treated with disrespect were "extremely disappointed" with the minister's response, according to the minutes. The minutes are no longer available on the taskforce's website, with a note saying that was "due to circumstances beyond the control of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs".

Paula Bennett got angry this week at a minute taker who suggested that after she spat in the face of the Mayors Taskforce on Jobs, that the meeting got tense.

(Apparently writing 'bitch' and underlining it as a minute wasn't a fair representation of the meeting).

Paula told the Mayors Taskforce on Jobs that they were simply a lobby group for pet projects, and the minute taker noted the anger this comment caused the Mayors but Paula says that's a lie and that all the Mayors love her.

Yeah nah.

Paula Bennett getting shitty at minute takers noting the disgust the Mayors Taskforce felt for her is a little like KFC getting shitty at anti-obesity campaigners showing their disgust for the Double Down burger. In fact Paula Bennett and the Double Down burger have a lot in common. Their both bad for beneficiaries, won't improve their well being and will both lead to early preventable deaths.

The only difference between a Double Down Burger and Paula Bennet is that I can throw up a Double Down Burger.

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Ghost writer for a zombie reader

Publisher: No crime in ghostwriter for Garth McVicar
BESTSELLER? Garth McVicar says he has read all of his book but not the finished product. The publishers of crime crusader Garth McVicar's new book are defending promoting him as its author although a ghostwriter was used and McVicar is yet to read the finished product.

Sensible Sentencing Trust Grand Wizard and recreational gallows enthusiast, Garth McVicars released his memoirs this week, but because he didn't write it, he hasn't read the whole thing yet.

It's a case of Ghost writer for a Zombie reader,

Garth's memoirs start when he was just 15 months old. He was playing in the sand pit and some darkie kid stole another kids spade and bucket. Young Garth had to be held down by four kindergarden teachers to stop him from stringing the thief up from the swings on the play ground.

Garth touches upon important moments in NZ history, his abuse of Police who didn't kick Springbok tour protestors when they had fallen over, his throwing up on the day the Homosexual law reform bill and his dismay at the rise of chicks in Parliament.

It's a riveting ramble through the angry misinformed mind of 1950s white NZ, so its exactly like listening to Newstalk ZB.

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90 day right to sack and more public service cut backs

Union continues to fight against 90-day trials
New Zealand's largest private sector union has launched a campaign against the 90-day trial period for new employees, which comes into full effect on Friday. The trial period was previously limited to employers with 20 or fewer staff until a law change last year extended it to all businesses. The bill was vigorously opposed by unions and the Labour and Greens. A campaign launched today by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents 43,000 workers, is demanding employers pledge not to make use of the trial period. Law changes had also restricted union access, allowed employers to demand medical certificates for a single day of leave, and allowed a fourth week of holiday entitlement to be traded in, the union said.

The last attempt to judge how the 90 day right to sack was impacting on employment was a farce as it was taken over 60 days! Kate Wilkinson originally told the Government NOT to expand these powers which were gifted to small business, but National decided not to listen to their own Minister of Labour and needlessly gave ACT a bone.

Why is ACT being given that level of love and isn't that simply the tail wagging the dog? When you compare the amount of love John Key has given Rodney compared to the dead rats the Maori Party have to swallow each week, one should be questioning the menu.

As the economic meltdown reaches double dip stage two, the GST rise will increasingly hurt NZers while draconian labour laws that give bosses the right to sack will stop any middle class person with large ongoing costs changing jobs for fear of getting sacked.

Meanwhile the Government keeps softening the country up for the most radical dismantling of the the state for the wet dream fantasies of the neoliberal agenda.

More public servants face the axe
More job losses are set to sweep through the public service as the Government heads toward a record deficit. In a speech to public servants yesterday, Finance Minister Bill English stepped up his warning that some programmes and departments were luxuries the country could no longer afford. He said the Government was eyeing up spending on things that might be "nice to have", but which came at the expense of necessities.

Implementing Milton Friedman, neo-liberal, low tax, deregulation, free market dogma domestically to solve a global economic meltdown caused by the very same Milton Friedman, neo-liberal, low tax, deregulation, free market dogma is the very definition of insanity...

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.

Massive cuts to social welfare and austerity measures are the exact wrong position to be adopting and add to this the usual privatization agenda National always concoct to help their wealthy mates buy state assets and we have the exact wrong direction for the economy. What National are banking on is redneck hate to see them through as they start to punish the most vulnerable and weakest in society for a global economic crises the weakest and most vulnerable had no hand in making.

Personally I find it INCREDIBLE that the Finance Minister doesn't ONCE get questioned on his dodgy deal with PEDA. I mean this is supposedly the Finance Minister telling NZers that we all know there isn't any money, and yet here he is trying to hand over $4.8 million in a dodgy deal.

Thank God for a compliant mainstream media, I'm surprised the Polls aren't 75% in favour of John Key with this kind of uncritical coverage, why bother with Crosby and Textor when the corporate media are so terribly willing?

To use an economic phrase, the neoliberal freemarket model has been well and truly rooted and other than bennie bashing, union bashing, tax cuts for the rich and rivers of corporate welfare, John Key’s all out of ideas.

Sadly his hard right stormtroopers are not. In the intellectual vacuum I like to refer to as John Key’s leadership, his Milton Friedman admiration glee club inner caucus have set in place all the mechanisms required to privatize the continental shelf of NZ. The slashing of public services when desperate NZers need them most is more sadist than masochist even though the long term consequence of their actions is corporate coercion over the State.

The 2011 election will be fought on economic ideology, which will be difficult as every news reporter in NZ is banned from ever using the words economic ideology on TV for fear that concepts more complex than eating bugs guts while bathed in maggots will be too difficult for the most educated generation in human history .

The danger for National is that John Key told people they would be better off from the Tax cuts funded by a rise in GST, they are not and John Key's brand of vacant aspiration politics can't work in a recession. With Labour offering a real economic alternative to Nationl's bankrupt mix of corporate welfare and neoliberal pretensions, voters for the first time in 25 years have a choice.

If only Labour could pause in self mutilating itself for 5 minutes.

One person Hughes implosion will benefit is Winston Peters, who may be on the turn from his 3 hard right policies after initial testing suggested a pavlov dog voter would be the only outcome. The Standard are smitten with Winston and rather than chasing rump National Party vote the old king of spin may be re-inventing himself as a social democrat.

Oh the laughs we'll have this election.

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PM's Electorate Chairman to decide political doco fund

The Prime Minister's electorate chairman, Stephen McElrea has been appointed to the NZ on Air board to decide who gets funding for political documentaries about health, education, welfare and law and order.

I wonder how my application for 'National party rich pricks we slavishly love' will be received by NZ On Air now?

Brothers and sisters, isn't allowing John Keys electorate chariman to decide what political documentaries get funding a bit Orwellian?

What documentaries do you think will come out of that board now?

Great things John Key has done for Health?
Gosh John Key is handling corrections well?
Why teachers are wrong and John Key is right?

We need political documentaries that challenge policy not parrot them allowing John Key's electorate chairman to decide the funding for documentaries isn't NZ on air, its political propaganda.

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How can the answer to questions about Police shooting NZers be 'more guns'?

Latest shooting justified - Greg O'Connor
An inquiry into the fatal shooting by police of a man near Napier will show the officers involved were "left with no option", the Police Association president believes.

Police Cheerleader Greg O'Conner has responded to a Police shooting in Napier that killed a man by demanding Police should have more guns.

O'Connor said the Police Association's view was that all police should be armed. "At least make firearms more available so that when situations like this arise, police are not only able to protect themselves but just as importantly able to protect the public." O'Connor said it would take a person going on a "rampage" before the step was taken for police to be fully armed.

I'm not sure how giving more guns to Police would have stopped the Napier man from being shot dead, what does Greg want here, cops to have guns for both hands when they confront people?

How come every time anyone pokes O'Conner these days his first bark is always, 'More guns now'? His last 'more guns now' moment was over the shooting of two Police Officers who entered a home in a random warentless search based on little else other than, 'I can smells me some marijuana' only to be ambushed by the paranoid stoner. In that case O'Conner's 'more guns now' would have only worked if the Police had entered the house with guns drawn. Think about that, do you really want to give undertrained Police the powers to conduct random warrentless searches in your house with guns drawn?

Only Gaddafi wants Police to have those kind of powers.

And while the 'more guns now' mantra is ringing in our ears, here's the case of West Auckland Police Sergeant Martin James Folan who is accused of bashing 5 prisoners, one of whom he assaulted so viciously, the prisoner had to have his testicle removed.

What about him Greg, are we giving a gun to West Auckland Police Sergeant Martin James Folan, does he get gun too? He does? Oh he does, yay. Whanau, do we want cops like West Auckland Police Sergeant Martin James Folan having guns or do we want those Police who are highly trained to deal with the pressure of armed confrontation having the guns?

When it comes to arming all Police, I hate to use a Paula Bennettism, but 'Yeah Nah'.

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John Key isn't laughing at himself, he's laughing at you!

Politics is brutal, Goff crucified for loyalty and principle that still fall short of what we demand of a Prime Minister, yet John Key is filmed mocking us for his BMW luxury deal at a time when he is crippling the Welfare State and Key gets described by the media as 'laughing at himself...

PM John Key pokes fun at himself to promote tourism
Prime Minister John Key has appeared in a video laughing, joking and poking fun at himself during a session with Australian comedian Peter Flaherty.

Flaherty's character Shaun Wayne, who bears a remarkable resemblance to cricketer Shane Warne, ambushes Key in a car for the unscripted, seven-minute piece.

Key tells Wayne he works for the government – the Aussie has no idea he is talking to the country's leader.

The subject of the government's new BMWs become a reason to laugh. "They're nice. They're good value," Key says in the video.

"I heard that nice prime minister talking and he didn't have a clue what was going on. He bought 34 of them and he didn't have a clue what was happening. "Honestly, the things they try and whip through, sometimes it's beyond me."

...he's not laughing at himself you Shire Volk, he's laughing at you! He can't believe he gets away with it either.

John Key is the piece of aspirational cheese just out of reach of a hungry rat on a mouse wheel, his policies are damaging and will damage the 43% of NZers who earn less than $45 000 in this country while those of his wealth class get more.

He's laughing at how the little Shire Volk complain about him buying his luxury BMW's, the way a person with $40 million and an Hawaiian mansion laughs at being threatened with a parking ticket. He decided to purchase luxury vehicles in the same week he called on beneficiaries to get less, and he wasn't honest with his answers when questioned on when he knew about the BMW deal after it was revealed his ministers did in fact send letters to each other and Key had signed them off.

He's laughing at you about that.

Yet this is the compassionate bloke at the top of the food chain that we want running the country through its worst global economic recession since the 1929 stock market collapse?

This is the bloke who says bugger all would starve to death if he cut off all welfare and the bloke who says that if you are poor and needing food parcels that it is your own fault.

The total ignorance he exposes when talking about the poor from his on high perch increasingly suggests to me that the political leaders of NZ are totally unaware of how much anger and resentment is bubbling up. The street riots in London have me constantly asking if there will be a riot in Queen St this year as forces collide in Auckland at the height of the World Cup. With Unions looking to politicize action while the World Cup is here, there are plenty of potential flash points looming.

It is NOT impossible for Labour to win, National can't get above their 45% high tide party vote to gain the 47% that would gift them majority status, Charles can beat Dunne and Rodney is looking like toast in Epsom.

National will need to rely on the Maori Party as a coalition partner, an equation National made last year which is why the expulsion of Hone was always a foregone conclusion.

Without coalition partners for National, Labour could win with a majority consisting of NZ First (whom must surely benefit from the Hughes event), the Greens, a decimated Maori Party (whatever is left of it) plus Hone Harawira with a friend.

One thing is certain, come November the economic recession will be biting hardest and for the first time in their lives some middle class NZers are not going to feel middle class.

That anger and the anger of all those beneficiaries and minimum wage workers will want political representation.

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World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles review 1 star

The movie was called Battle Los Angeles but expanded to World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles for the all important international market which yearn tirelessly for Aaron Eckhart, however seeing as the entire movie has to be one of the most crass attempts at recruitment for the Marines, the movie should be called World Invasion: Recruitment Los Angeles.

Fighting in today's US Army just doesn't have the appeal it once did during the only 'good' war of the Second World War, when everyone was good because Hitler was so bad. Hitler was so bad he made crazy old Stalin look like an ally. These days there's all this talk of war crime prosecutions linked with the US Army alongside a deeply entrenched cultural cynicism that this is all corporate inspired war for profit anyway, so Battle Los Angeles cleans the slate on the question of immoral military behaviour by fighting an enemy we all want to kill, weird squid-like aliens.

It is in pap military movies produced for the entertainment of Indy 5000000 fans that the American Military Industrial Complex most clearly spells out its messages and myths to the recruitment pool of tomorrow and those messages are, 'if you are Hispanic enroll your child into the Marines right now, and if you have sinned in the past for killing lots of people in a needless war, well someone has to make the decision to keep our country safe from weird squid-like aliens and democrats, so man up'.

Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz is about to resign his commission as his last mission in an undefined American war under questionable circumstances didn't go so well and there were deaths. Nantz is questioning his resolve in a moment of existential angst as he ponders the totality of his sins under the yolk of corporate merchant of death status.

He's conflicted, we see him offer his final salute to the flag on his last day and say a silent prayer asking God to bless all those 3rd world nations he napalmed for American economic hegemony. Such navel gazing is thrown aside however as reports come in that a meteor strike is slowing down.

The war room has bewildered military officers shocked at the news that NASA has reported these meteors are mechanical as no one in the military thought NASA could do anything useful. Game faces are put on as civilians are in danger and off the Marines go to battle an enemy not armed with weapons 5 decades old, they look frightened. It's the first time a Marine knows what it's like to be a member of the Taliban.

The weird squid-like aliens kick arse as the Marines get beaten up, with Breaking News the aliens are stealing our water and invading inland, they sounded like a heavily armed Fonterra.

In the Guantanamo Bay justification plot line, Marine Staff Sergeant Nantz grabs an alien and sets to work out via torture what kills the alien. Armed with a 'shoot it where it's heart would be' actionable intel taken under stress positions gives the Marines the edge to battle their way to the Hispanic civilians, the father of whom tells Nantz that he can have his son as a recruit any day. Young 'Hector' crys as Dad dies and Nantz reminds him he is a Marine now, and to bottle those tears for release on the battlefield and at home in domestic violence flash back episodes.

The Marines seem to have multiple skills in saving the Civilians lives that go well beyond what one normally associates with the US Army and their needless deaths inspire the Marines to out think the aliens and come to the conclusion the drone ships are controlled by one large mother ship and that if only they attacked the mother ship, then all of humanity would stand a fighting chance

Which is what happens. Personally if I were a taxpayer on the weird squid-like alien planet, I'd be doing my nut at the weird squid-like alien president about why our military had flown half way across the bloody galaxy to invade a planet with one great big Achilles heal like 'knock the mother ship out and the rest fall over' crap. How the hell can we master inter stellar flight but can't beat the snot out of a bunch of hominids that evolved out of monkeys who only have M-16 rifles which we are getting chewed up and spat out over? Oh and why wasn't the mother ship armoured? Come on, whoever planned this military strike has to lose at least 6 of their 8 legs over this balls up.

I give it one star out of 10.

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Earth to Labour Party: DANGER, DANGER, FLASHING RED WARNING LIGHTS OF IMPENDING DOOM!

You know when Chris Carter starts making sense that something terribly wrong has happened.

Is it just me or does it seem a tad optimistic that the Labour leadership seemed to think that an 18 year old running naked from a former Minister's home he shares with the Deputy Leader at 2am in the morning wasn't going to be newsworthy enough to get out to the media? What headlines were Phil Goff and Annette King banking on to remove the publics gaze? Alien invasion? The second coming? OJ Simpson breaking out of prison live being chased in a car with a gun to his own head ringing into Pierce Morgan to confess he killed lots of white women? I mean what the fuck?

Regardless of whether Darren is guilty or not, the massive lapse in judgment of having an 18 year old at your home at 2am in the morning after a boozy night on the town is enough to have been stepped down immediately, to allow this farce to continue under the presumption of innocence is not what mates do. Mates go, 'Maaaaate, that's some pretty heavy sexual allegation shit right there, you'll be standing down immediately and I will be making a statement right after you stand down'. That's what mates do, they hurry their mates into making the honourable and righteous decision when allegations are this serious. Mates don't stay shtum.

This is the Labour Party, not the Catholic Church.

Who know's if Darren was trying to personally extend his slim majority, what consenting adults in the privacy of their homes do ain't my business, but the fact he put himself into that position at all suggests his step down should have been a foregone conclusion rather than a timing issue through the media.

That Andrew Little didn't know beforehand is staggering.

The frustration is that when the Government are most vulnerable, when the reality of their disorganization in Christchurch is starting to become apparent, when their zero budget is being announced, when their crippling of the welfare state will go ahead, when the lives of the 43% who earn less than $45 000 per year are about to become increasingly more difficult, we have a political opposition in total disarray.

Now we have Judith Tizard telling everyone it will take her a week to decide if she'll come back just to stick it to those who don't want her back. Andrew Little has told her and the next couple of bozos to stand aside for the incredibly talented and under rated Louisa Wall, yet Tizard is playing the exact same pain in the arse bullshit that made her so annoying in the first place. What's the difference between the Labour Party and the Fukushima nuclear reactor? The Fukushima nuclear reactor knew when to stop melting down!

Is the leadership of Phil Goff now being questioned? If it isn't, Labour are officially the most stoned Caucus in the history of the Westminster system, the dilemma is who to replace him with. It can't be the usuals, it has to be the new face of Andrew Little who would bring a little radical twist to the fight. Would they go there? Who knows.

The only silver lining for Labour is that by November, the reality of privatization and the demolition of public services will have left the promising Mr Hughes as fish and chip wrapper fodder, and the public will be feeling the full bite of the recession. There is a political battle to fight and the Labour Party need to start asking themselves if they have the right leader for this fight.

They need to decide now.

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Q+A review

Opening monologue, half these jokes are mine, I'm sending Damien Christie an invoice. Yeah-nah!

Guyon is taking it to Rudd over the Libyan bombing, he needles him about oil, 'why aren't we bombing Syria if it is about humanitarian abuses'? Rudd is good, he addresses the issues head on, Libya is a special case, its abuse has been extreme, that's why we are bombing it and yes oil is a factor. Guyon asks does the West have any credibility when it comes to invading country's after the illegal war of Iraq (yes Guyon used the word 'illegal war'). Rudd was able to fire up and state that as the leader of Labour he had criticized the occupation of Iraq (yes his words, "occupation of Iraq"), and his argument is that if the UN didn't do something we would be talking about Ghadafi's massacre.

Guyon NAILS Rudd with the following question, "Do we tell China to be a democracy". Rudd refuses to answer the question directly, Guyon asks again, 'do we tell China to be a democracy', Kevin gets angry and trys to tell him that we tell China that some broad waffly things that don't mean much are us telling them to be a democracy. Guyon asks again, 'do we tell China to be a democracy?'

No he doesn't tell China to be a democracy.

Guyon makes the point that we are telling Libya what democracy should be with bombs, we don't whisper it much to China.

They clash again when Rudd pulls Guyon up about referring to Gillard as his predecessor and Guyon goes back and specifically notes she rolled him, ohhhhhhh the look in his eyes.

The panel is Jon, Matt McCarten and Don McKinnon.

Phil Goff is up against the wall. He is trying to defend Darren, he is attacking the 'trial by media', he is now on ice so thin it is astounding he's trying to pull this shit. He is claiming that he was protecting Darren's presumption of innocence by not going public.

His defense is extraordinary. He is doing the exact wrong thing. It's like watching a truck jack-knife in slow motion.

His loyalty to Darren is incredible, but as leader to the Party he has failed.

This could be the last interview Goff will be conducting as the leader of the Labour Party.

Holmes is hammering now, hammering nail after nail after nail into Goff's political coffin.

Goff is fighting for his political life, the smirk at the end of the interview was wincing.

It made Casey's bully smack down look like gentle kitten play.

Matt claims Labour are just going through the motions and don't believe they can win. Don says that he would have thought Phil after 30 years in politics would have been smarter, Jon points out the country need a bloody decent opposition. It's been badly handled and their loyalty to Darren has outshone their responsibilities to the country as an effective political opposition.

Paul Holmes showed today why he can be such a great interviewer. The interview found Phil utterly lacking for a better justification to behaviour by Darren that showed a massive lapse of judgement, regardless of guilt or innocence other than presumption of innocence.

Ouch.

Citizen A - ONLINE NOW!

Citizen A this week with bloggers Phoebe Fletcher and that awful cameron Slater

Issue one:
Auckland Unleashed sounds like a political fart, but did the day long talk fest listen to Len Brown's spatial plan or are the Auckland hating Government just wanting to promote motorways for trucks?

Issue two:
Is John Key using the Christchurch Earthquake as an excuse to slash and burn the public sector?

Issue three tonight: At $569 000 per tomahawk missile, isn't Gaddafi glad Obama decided to attack him during a recession



Citizen A now plays 7.30pm Freeview 21 & Sky 89 Fridays

Citizen A Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern First Debate 1st April

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Bomber's Blog - The War on News - ONLINE NOW!

THE WAR ON NEWS: In this weeks political media crimes against reason kill zone

Ken Ring plus moon quakes plus psychic cats equals what the fuck?

Is the invasion of Libya called Odyssey Dawn, because like the Odyssey it's going to take 10 years to complete and when are we enforcing a no fly zone over gaza?

Rodney Hide steals Gerry Brownlee's magical mystery mining money machine in the most grossly offensive misapplication of intellectual property rights since Whale Rider sushi


The War on News 2010 – NZ News Satire on Stratos 10pm Thursday Freeview 21 & simulcast on Sky 89. Posted online at Scoop.co.nz as their Weekend Watch.

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Citizen A - 7.30pm tonight

Citizen A - 7.30pm tonight Stratos Freeview 21 & Sky 89

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 Phoebe Fletcher and that awful Cameron Slater...

Issue one:
Auckland Unleashed sounds like a political fart, but did the day long talk fest listen to Len Brown's spatial plan or are the Auckland hating Government just wanting to promote motorways for trucks?

Issue two:
Is John Key using the Christchurch Earthquake as an excuse to slash and burn the public sector?

Issue three tonight: At $569 000 per tomahawk missile, isn't Gaddafi glad Obama decided to attack him during a recession?

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DON'T FORGET: Citizen A Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern Debate 1st April - Stratos available to all on Freeview from 1st March

Takutai Moana Bill: It's over for them

Third reading now:

Tariana Turia speaking: "conscience asks the question - is it right?" MP support this bill - right to repeal, right to restore... day in court." Meaningful representation. Work with govt., whoever the govt. is. "The politics of possibility" [ridiculous, now she's sounding ridiculous] we've honoured our word and got this 2004 law off the books, now test new law. [But test is fucked and ends with an invitation at sec. 60 (3) for the courts to find it doesn't exist at all FFS.] Grasp opportunity on a case by case basis, fooling no one if we think we've repealled it [!?] progress, improvements made. [Yeah - but not under National, that is what Finlayson has said, they won't be changing it.] Finlayson is good. I commend this bill to the house. [Oh that was sad, there is no support and the bill is so flawed.]

[Interruption from gallery. Man in Te Reo shouting down from the galleries. Security called. Speaker: you can have a waiata at the end as arranged. Yip. His protest was interpreted as a miscue of the "official" Maori cultural sanctioning of it. I feel ill.]

Shane Jones: Riddled with sanctimony, politics of betrayal. Suits the interest of corporates. Legal cases an expensive road, precious little result. Fossilise Maori rights, not evolutionary or dynamic, Maori rights viewed through prism of 1840. Ideas provided by Dr Cullen. Why are they tethered to National? What is left of their membership. We have heard of repugnance and disdain, Iwi loath this bill, curse the day they helped the Maori Party. A hollowed husk of a right. It's Hone in adversity has spoken something closer to the truth, the courage to stand. Submitters treated badly at the select committee. A sell out. This level of decit will be driven home by us. They have been sold out. The Attorney-General... No one will get near customary title. Dover Samuels has told me she didn't say anything in meetings. They've been sold out by Tariana Turia.

Bill English: Why does labour sound like Hone Harawira on this legislation? Maori and Pakeha learning how to work together in NZ. Solve the problem. Different views and history - how to express it, difficult to solve. This bill not what National wanted either. Testing issues over last two years, A-G deep respect and evenness of temperament. At least 3/4 of parliament able to wrestle with problem. [ie. acknowledgment that FSA2004 is being equated with what this bill is.] A step forward. Not a perfect answer, but I suspect a lasting one. A future Labour govt. will not undo this legislation.

Kelvin Davis: Process was flawed. Deliberation impossible. Legal anaysis was withheld... this whole horrible bill.

Metiria Turei: "No raupatu in our time" is what we stood for. Cowardice in 2004 and again have to be played out again. Divide and rule tactics by National. The right to be Maori in our own land denied. Confiscation. One difference - a Maori political force has for the first time a position to say no, and whether this confiscation goes ahead. 4 Maori MPs exercise this political power because of the hard work of others. Thousands have struggled and fought for. Why are they going to pass racist legislation. In 2004 we fought an enemy descended from the colonial forebears - then a genuine alternative, a Maori party. If Maori had power we would have a just outcome. Now betrayed. Greens have been tireless. Under this bill Maori customary rights are gone. Plea to Maori Party [good she's naming them individually.] Turn your faces to them, tell them you haven't been abandoned, but they will turn their backs. The Greens have not turned our backs on you.[That was the best speech I've heard in a long while.]

John Boscawen: This bill will create division and why we oppose it. Judges in 2003 Ngati Apa case that they can stake their claim in court - Act supports this. Ability to go and amount derived reduced so we opposed it. Another injustice. Codifies test not left to court. 12,500 private titles Maori have 3,000. Mineral wealth - iron sands. Test is a very high test the Nats have said, but that is not test - in 1840 our territorial limits were 3 miles, but now its 12 miles legislated for in 1977. David Parker has said a vote for the maori Party is a vote for the National Party. We have sought to educate, has National been honest with people. The boaties are going to get a surprise - temporarily anchor. Has been a racist element. Our position is different from Coastal Coalition - we beleive Maori have right to go to court, a tragedy for Iwi and Hapu and everyone.

Pita Sharples: [in Te Reo]... [both Te Ururoa and Rahui were listening to the translation. I'm glad I didn't hear whatever justification he had.]

Tau Henare: Be able to go to court to seek justice. I was on ZB talking about that. I marched over the harbour bridge in 2004 to seek justice. I was chair of select committee. The Maori Party have had to put up with vitriol. I accept apology Marayan Street made, time to move on. There will always be people who say this is my beach, can't do anything about this. This bill is "a wee bit better than the 2004 Act". To talk about colonialism, as the sister did, is 1850s, 1860s not now. Hone. Democracy works when you have dissent. To hikoi - mostly my relations - I congratulate them in their manner and brought their message. Do not commend Coastal Coalition and the One NZ Foundation and Act Party - causing racial troubles. This bill is the first step in playing in the big sand pit together. [And in this big sand pit Maori are left with the dog turds.]

David Parker: Sad this bill doesn't settle it. Very close to settlement. Assertion by Nat's it is settled is a fiction. Issues have narrowed. Never been about access to beaches. Maori Party blocked it, PM didn't pick up phone, we [Labour] were prepared to move in order to have a settlement with Nats and Maori Party to get certainty.

Parekura Horomia: Maori Party said they came here to repeal the bill, they have repealed the title. Undermine nature of commercial aquaculture. Don Brash red neckedness. Worst vitriol from Pakeha in Act Party - nothing worse than extreme Pakeha... and that's extreme Maori. It's about numbers. Maybe in 2004 we could have done better. In same catch-22 situation. I humbly ask them [MP] to reverse the decision. They have four of the defining votes. Irrespective of the law and courts we [his Hapu/Iwi] will determine there.

Hone Harawira: Rangatiratanga, our sovereignty is lost under this law. Opposed to this racist law - will become law when . MP votes against the people who put them in power. 89% of Maori do not want it. Te Ururoa when asked whose bill this was he said: National, whose timetable? National. [That's from my report - good on Hone for picking up on what people are saying]. Rahui and his statements . I support the repeal and a two year moratorium to come back with a better deal. Acknowledged support Greens, Maori people. This land we call Aotearoa. Takutai Moana: I pledge this fight will not end. Tu Motuhake. [Applause from gallery]

Chris Finlayson: Protect rights of all NZ, public access, navigation. Rights protection on an equal basis. Ancestoral connections to parts. Hone asking for a delay. [Gives timetable fromm two years ago.] Over 6 months noise does not equal principled opposition. [!?]. Agreement on repeal and on ability to seek title. Also view of Cullen, certainty and equity so should be codified, I have thanked him for his support. Never met a single Iwi leader who wanted to stop public access. Incumbent on parliament to put things right. We've struck right balance. UN Rapporteur spoke positively of bill [But as a hope not of substance]. They have repealed 2004 Act and no one can take that away from them. [Yucky bullshit. Theatrics, pouring it on.] This recognises interests of all NZers, rights a wrong, a just solution. [Applause. Good speech considering what the bill is, racism.]

Vote: Maori party: 4 votes "Very happily in favour". [Rahui - idiotic, disgusting. She gets to re-cast it.]

Hone: [in Te Reo].

Speaker: No vote cast.

Hone: Order! Why did they cast Maori party vote!? [Trying to get the Maori Party vote struck out, this battle is all the way to the line.]

Speaker: Vote had to be clear. I've ruled on matter.

John Carter: Seek leave so Harawira may recast. [given]

Hone: [Te Reo]

Ayes 63, Noes 56. Agreed to. [Order]

[Now singing a Maori song that the Pakehas might know. What an awful touch for this confiscation law. National MPs are standing as is gallery. Shame, shame, shame.]

Darren Hughes should have been stood down from Parliament immediately

Hughes stood down from portfolios
Labour leader Phil Goff has announced that his MP Darren Hughes has been stood down from his portfolios while a police investigation into him is completed.

Mr Goff said Mr Hughes would remain in Parliament but he now expected the police inquiry to take longer than initially expected.

Mr Hughes' jobs as education spokesman and senior whip will go to David Shearer and Steve Chadwick respectively.

I'm afraid Darren Hughes is losing the scratch and sniff test for me. If it was a high ranking National Party MP who was caught with an 18 year old in his home at 2am when an allegation was made, we would be demanding accountability far more wide ranging than portfolio loss.

While we don't know the detail of the allegation, and everyone must be considered innocent before proven guilty, what we do know is a terrible lapse of judgement on the part of Darren. As a front bench member of a Political Party, inviting an 18 year old back to your house after a bout of late night drinking raises serious questions before the guilt or innocence of the allegations are even decided.

I say this as someone who respects Darren highly and as someone who is in no way a prude, what happens between consenting adults ain't no business of mine, but the power dynamics here between a first year Uni student and a high ranking former Minister of the Crown leaves a bad taste in everyones mouth.

Darren should have been stood down immediately once Phil Goff was aware of it.

I have respect for Darren's mana and political talents, hell I've even debated against him at David Shearer's celebrity debate (I didn't go drinking with him afterwards though) but inviting drunk 18 year olds back to your house at 2am is about as wise as allowing Charlie Sheen to look after your pets for a week.

Darren must be demoted and stand down completely from Parliament until the Police investigation is over. If charges are laid, he must remain away from Parliament until his guilt or innocence is decided.

It is a sad day for Darren personally and a difficult one for his friends, whanau and colleagues, but it is the 18 year old in this situation who deserves our concern and protection.

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Takutai Moana Bill: final reading

The Takutai Moana/Common Marine and Coastal Area Bill will be read a third time this afternoon I understand. In the NZ parliamentary system there is just ten or so speeches to the final vote. If passed it will go to the G-G to sign. Then it will be the law.

A law, but one inconsistent and in breach of the letter and spirit of the Treaty. A law inconsistent with constitutional and human rights laws, and - in the words of Tariana Turia who has strapped them as a suicide vest to her Party's body - isn't 'fair just or moral' either.

It will be the law because it will be a statute with the signature of the NZ Governor-General. It won't be a law with Britain that signed the Treaty - it will never be part of British law. It won't be a law with the Iwi and Hapu who signed the Treaty either - it will never be a part of Maori law.

This law will end in a decision of Pakeha lawyers in a multi-million dollar egg shell in Wellington, not the Privy Council in London. This law is an instrument of the NZ government and is an act of hostility toward Maori by the NZ government in the same way that the original Foreshore and Seabed Act of 2004 was an act of hostility, in the same way every piece of legislation of this type is an act of hostility.

In English it is "confiscation" a term for the seizure of something valued off another by someone asserting authority or right to do so. In Te Reo Maori it is "raupatu," acquiring a territory by conquest. It seems that Maori gave up their raupatu rights, only to have it practised henceforth by a predatory colonial government down to the present day.

This law will be barely more than a restatement of the 2004 Act - the Prime Minister is comfortable describing it as such, as Michael Cullen v2.0, which is what it is: still an Englishman's view of what a Maori might expect to get out of English common law, ie. nothing or whatever is next to nothing. That is the agreement amongst the elders of the white folk, the people who operate the NZ government and its justice system. The same as all the other white folk in colonial regimes who use their own rules to strip native territory off their own supposed "citizens." Nowadays land rights are part of 'developing common law' and are manipulated by statute and other orders of the respective governments in an attempt to read down all notions of the inherent equality and worth and faculties of the indigenous people and attempt to twist and thwart native populations and their forms of authority.

It comes down to this: If a white man touches it, he has a cause of action under common law to claim it is his by way of use and that in itself ought to be enough to extinguish all Maori rights to it. That is what this bill is about (sec. 60 and 61) and that is why Maori are aghast appalled and angry, and why non-Maori are uninterested, ambivalent or in agreement. The effect is to cancel Maori ownership and upon that non-property the NZ government (on behalf of the white folk in whose interests the NZ government was established) can then create their own property out of it according to their own rules. Maori in the meantime get the rights only a patronising Englishman could come up with - a right to launch waka and gather hangi stones.

New Zealand is a white man's country for the white man. When the Prime Minister and seemingly every other politician says the test for Maori customary title should be high and tough and difficult to establish what they mean is that extinguishing Maori property rights should have a low test and be an easy thing to do. Maori are not accepted for being Maori in their own land. This bill is nothing more than Pakeha making Maori jump through their hoops and perform their tricks before they can get a fraction of what they already had. It is a sickening position.

This bill and the 2004 Act is the same type as all the other acts of the Crown and NZ government from this bill to the first land claims commissions of the 1840s that used outside claims lodged against Maori land as a cause to seize that land without consent or compensation. Every confiscation scheme of the NZ government and their instruments are the same. If they want to steal Maori land on any scale (and sell it off and take for itself under any number of guises) then they have to define a general area (on an arbitrary basis), and then define a confiscation area within the general area (on a more specific basis). All confiscation follows the same administrative pattern: The confiscation/evacuation/declaration of War from Gov. Grey in 1863 defined the general area to "the waters of the Waitemata" for example and then defined the confiscation areas within that. This bill - as the 2004 Act did - defines the general area as the high water to the territorial sea, then defines the confiscation area as the general area minus private freehold interests and Crown interests. The confiscated parts are available for immediate issuance of title to private individuals/Pakeha who have full rights of title and rights to compensation and recourse to justice; the Maori parts reserved or claimed are given a lesser status and subject to other private and Crown interests and indeed all of the public, and will be subject to further confiscation without consent or compensation. This is the pattern with all the big confiscations.

When Don Brash snuck down to the beaches with his NZ flag to reclaim them, will that count toward extinguishment of Maori customary title? Will John Banks' frollicking on his Jet Ski in Hobson Bay extinguish Ngati Whatua title? Under the bill it's a moot point, at the part to exclude these activities from consideration they do not, nor do they exclude unlawful activities as being an act of extinguishment of Maori rights either. That's quite deliberate - they want everything to count against Maori so the government's court case of extinguishing the rights is massively stacked in the government's favour. The bill says it is to be determined in the High Court, not the Maori Land Court, so already the rigging has begun by the Crown. And then there are the obstacles on the ground.

Does the Auckland Harbour Board Act 1875 that vested large sections of the bed of the Waitemata Harbour in the board (which itself is extinguished) of itself extinguish a customary title? Does the title persist? The Crown's titles certainly seem to persist don't they. Just keep going, still on the statute books all these vesting orders, even if they don't need to, its just convenience and the preservation of the government's full control. They also act to cut off and keep in abayance Maori claims.

The concept of customary title is governed by this bill. So when it says at section 60 in the third and last part of the description of what defines this "customary marine title" - this shadow of a land interest prone to the rapine of government and private seizure - that it may not exist at all "in fact of law", then the bill is more Russian roulette than legal remedy. Meaning if the prohibitive tests they have thrown up in the bill negate the possibility of exclusivity - and pending the outcome of other colonial jurisdictions hostile to native rights with their white judiciaries like Canada and Australia informing the NZ courts' thinking - then customary title as a concept is still very much in doubt. The concept that Maori may have any claim or right of title is in doubt. Rather than affirm customary title the Crown has done the exact opposite: built a self-destruct button into the bill and are leading the courts to it. And then there will be nothing.

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The War on News NEW TIME AND DATE – NZ News Satire on Stratos Freeview 21 10pm Thursday & simulcast on Sky 89.

It’s just like 7 days on TV3 but with fewer dick jokes.

Stratos is now broadcast on Freeview terrestrial 21

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The Father of all Budgets - Key uses quake for neoliberal agenda

For those younger readers, the 'mother of all budgets' was Ruth Richardson's budget abomination in 1991, it slashed Government spending and punished those on welfare. It sent NZ into a steeper recession and deeply damaged society as a whole in such a way that all those connected with this nightmare have forever been held in a sort of political contempt for the rest of their lives.

Well forget all that, because John Key is about to break new ground in terms of implementing hard right economic policy as social policy by launching his economic Darwinism father of all budgets, and by the looks of it, dad is an angry drunk with a penchant for grievous bodily harm.

John Key is despicably using the quake in Christchurch to justify a gutting of the Government and implementing the widest swath of neoliberal small Government bullshit this country has ever witnessed...

Govt cost-cutting hits wide range of programmes
The Government's budget cost-cutting is likely to wipe out or delay a wide range of programmes and projects including those initiated by its support parties, ministers indicated today.

Working for Families is not 'middle class welfare' - it's welfare that makes NZers feel middle class, it's welfare for those NZers who generate most of the tax and is the only thing for many families that keeps them above water each week.

Does anyone remember why we have interest free Student loans? Do you remember how you are eligible for interest free student loans? The Student has to stay in NZ to be eligible, remember in 2008 the National Party screaming about our brain drain? Yeah, well interest free student loans is the tiny bit of policy we have to try and keep our students here in NZ.

But the cuts will come regardless because Key is using the quake as his justification, forget the fact that the entire economy was tanking in 2010, well before the earthquake hit.

Of course National won't allow some of their pet projects to be put on hold like their bullshit $2 billion motorway expansions...

Rebuild 'must not stall Auckland'
Prime Minister John Key says rebuilding Christchurch must not come at the expense of Auckland "grinding to a halt" as he prepares the country for a flatline Budget. There were concerns a fortnight ago that some major roading projects - including the Puhoi-to-Wellsford road and Waikato Expressway - would have to be delayed for at least a year to free up money for Christchurch.

...and note Key has the audacity to claim he's 'keeping Auckland moving' with this bullshit motorway yet won't give Aucklanders rail. We are no longer fearing a double dip recession, it's a triple dip recession...

Economic outlook grim until 2013 - NZIER
The outlook for New Zealand's economy will be grim until 2013 after Canterbury's twin earthquakes devastated the region and undermined an already struggling national recovery.

...and Key's response to a triple dip recession? A zero budget.

NZers need to grow up and look past the smile and wave spin and comprehend Key is an outright danger to our expectations of what Government in NZ should be.

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Takutai Moana Bill: Hikoi

The hikoi has reached parliament and I hope Hone is making the most of it.

[The Hikoi was] met by several MPs including Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson, Greens co-leader Metiria Turei, Labour's Shane Jones and Parekura Horomia, and independent MP Hone Harawira.
[...]
Afterwards, Mr Harawira said he had been moved by the hikoi, even though it was a fraction of the size of the 20,000-strong hikoi that protested against the 2004 legislation.

"I would expect even my erstwhile colleagues in the Maori Party [would have felt] a sense of the pain in the gathering today."

Mr Harawira said the tangi was held to "return the pain".

"They were laying down the Maori Party flag, I think, because they had a sense it was the Maori Party that was here in 2004, but sadly the Maori Party is also party to this bill. They were laying down the NZ flag on top of the Maori flag to remind us how dominating, still, that is.

"They were laying down those acts because those brought pain to Maoridom right across the country."

He said the smaller numbers of the hikoi could be because it was hard for Maori to march against Maori.

Mr Finlayson described the hikoi as very respectful, and "very small".

It would not make a difference to the bill, he said, which is going through its committee stages and is expected to pass by the end of the week.
[...]
When asked what he got out of the hikoi, Mr Finlayson said: "I got wet".

Mr Harawira said Mr Finlayson did not understand Maori.

"He has no interest in Maori tikanga (customs), he has no interest in Maori kaupapa (concepts and principles)."

Earlier, Mrs Turei revealed Justice Ministry advice that said the bill created a double standard, because it excluded the parts of the foreshore and seabed that were already privately owned.

It doesn't look like the numbers will be enough to sway the Mational party in and of itself, but that group huddled in what looks like bleak conditions on the parliamentary grounds are the tip of a very wide and deep section of the Maori constituency opposed to the continued operation of a confiscation and is representative of opinion across all classes of Maori and the views of Maori organisations.
In pushing to keep the Maori Party pinned down to the text of the same prejudicial and prohibitive restrictions that amount to a re-assertion of the 2004 confiscation National risk either:

A) The Maori Party caucus passing the bill against their own constituents' interests and consent.
Result: MP lose a minimum of two and perhaps three or even all of their seats in the backlash. The party vote numbers will flow from MP to Hone's new party, Green and Labour and that could mean one or two more anti-Nat MPs in the House. Without the MP numbers behind Turia National is in weaker position than it otherwise would be come 27 November.

or

B) The Maori Party caucus not passing the bill and either:
1. Maori Party then agree to pass a different bill dealing only with the substantive matters from the bill that can be immediately resolved without major friction, this bill could be made contigent on the repeal of the 2004 Act - foreshadowing the actual repeal, the bill could be led by a MP minister; and/or
2. MP and National will resume debate on Takutai Moana issue when Rahui Katene's private members bill on repeal of the 2004 Act comes up in May - which is sitting in the background acting as the backstop option. National's Marine and Coastal bill - or what is left of it after a different bill is passed - could then be used as the basis for Katene's repeal bill if she agreed to make it a government bill - perhaps under a MP minister's reigns, or back with Finlayson.
Result: MP may still lose Te Tai Tonga if Katene is not seen to have redeemed herself for supporting National's original bill, and with that same proviso so Sharples and Flavell will also be in stronger positions than if they had passed the original bill. National would thus be in a better position.

Every vote that flows back to the Maori Party as far as National is concerned is a vote for a National-led government (especially now that Hone has been shown the door). Every red neck vote gained by Act if the legislative process drags closer to the election will not harm National in the sense every vote from National to Act is still a tick for a National-led government.

There seems more to be gained by finding a way out and through than keeping an unconscionable bargain the result of which is mutual destruction.

Aotearoa McPrison Nation

As we build towards our prison Nation we must now fear that corporate profits from the private prison industry are influencing raw meat law and order policy that seeks to lock people up for longer and longer in the same way the mining industry influence policy to mine conservation land. Seeing as the Sensible Sentencing Trust refuse to allow their donations to be public, tat influence may already be here.

The McPrison Nation is already bulging at the seams and is leading to policy change within the prison environment destined to cause grief...

Prisoners prepare for smoking ban
Almost 2000 prisoners nationwide have taken steps to quit smoking the habit in the lead up to this year's prison smoking ban, the Corrections Department says.

...the Joke here is that the reason why prisoners are being forced to quit smoking is because prisons will be double bunked because we are throwing them into prison as quickly as we possibly can, and that the Government would be open to legal action by double bunked prisoners who got ill from second hand smoke.

The conditions of aggression being created in over crowded, double bunked prisons don't matter because as a society we don't care for prisoners rights. Nothing highlights that better than the despicable decision to alienate prisoners even further by stripping away their rights to vote.

Gordon Campbell at scoop.co.nz point out the words used by the European commissioner of human rights. Thomas Hammerberg...

“It may be sobering to remind ourselves that democracy was once established through the idea of universal suffrage. Our forefathers accepted the principle that not only male persons, nobles, and those who owned property or paid taxes should have the right to vote, but everyone – irrespective of their status in society. We may now feel that some of these right-holders do not deserve this possibility, but to exclude them is to undermine a crucial dimension of the very concept of democracy – and human rights.”

It costs $100 000 per year to house a prisoner, money that could be much better spent elsewhere, yet our appetite to keep throwing NZers into prison continues unabated, as Tapu Misa points out...

In 1999, we imprisoned 150 people per 100,000; 10 years later that had risen to 195 per 100,000 - one of the highest in the OECD, and significantly higher than rates in Australia, England, Ireland and Canada. Yet it's made no real difference to our crime rates, as even Treasury has acknowledged. In a 2009 report, it argued that "investing in reducing the number of people who enter the criminal justice system would likely provide better value for money - and better societal outcomes - than locking up more people".

...and we just can't wait to speed the process up to throw people into prison despite these changes deforming our legal rights...

Judges at loggerheads with Govt over new law
The Chief Justice has made a stinging criticism of the Government's sweeping reforms of the criminal justice system. Dame Sian Elias' objections - revealed in a submission to Parliament's justice and electoral committee - place the Government and the judiciary firmly at loggerheads. Dame Sian said the proposed changes were being made too quickly and threatened a defendant's long-standing right not to help the prosecution. The reforms are in the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill, which is before the committee.

...and the Government now wants to raise the threshold on bail to stop teenagers from being automatically considered for bail.

The speed with which we want to throw NZers into an over crowded, violent, dehumanizing prison system for private corporate profit is bewilderingly counter productive when one considers these prisoners must one day be released.


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Fonterra screw NZers

Kiwis slam milk pricing
A Consumer New Zealand weekend survey has found 91 per cent of New Zealanders think they are paying a high price for milk compared with other supermarket staples and 79 per cent want a government inquiry into milk pricing practises. The survey of 1,000 New Zealanders asked for their views about milk and other dairy prices. Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin said the survey showed 66 per cent of people knew that one milk processing company - Fonterra - collected 90 per cent of all milk produced in New Zealand and 79 per cent of them thought that led to higher prices for consumers. Eighty per cent either agreed to strongly agreed that greater competition in the domestic dairy market industry would lower prices.

The National Party's best friend, Fonterra tell us we need to pay the international price for milk, but don't we already pay an unseen price for that milk? With rising demand on the horizon as Asia's middle class demand the creamy taste of Western diets, our future price for a product we grow here will only increase using Fonteera's argument.

But don't we already pay this politically well connected monopoly an unseen price?

Increase in dirty dairy farms unacceptable, says Fonterra
An increase in the number of farmers failing to meet effluent rules is unacceptable, says dairy giant Fonterra. The update for the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord showed significant non-compliance increased by 1 per cent to 16 per cent for the 2009/10 season. Overall the result for dairy effluent being appropriately treated and discharged increased 5 per cent to 65 per cent, reclaiming the lost ground from the 64 per cent result in 2007/08.

So Fonterra pollute our water, pollute our atmosphere with global warming gases AND they steal water that led to the Government robbing South Islanders of their democratic representation over water allocation. This is a cost we all pay as NZers.

To allow this Monopoly to degrade our environment AND THEN they have the audacity to tell us all that we must pay the global price they can achieve on the open market of international demand is an insult too far. How can 4 million Kiwis compete with 100 million mouths wanting our milk? We can't, we already pay a deep price to our environment by the production of dairy, why isn't that cost factored into the price and subtracted for the domestic market?

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Paula Bennett's Baby Farms - 'yeah nah'

Come July the Government will allow childcare centers to have up to 75 under 2's in their 'care' to force solo mums back to work. Babies need nurturing, they don't need to be dumped into one of Paula Bennett's Baby Farms so that the Government can go ahead with their legalized discrimination against solo mothers and now we have the report to show that Paula Bennett's Baby Farms are the exact wrong thing to be doing...

Under-2s best at home, says report
The Children's Commissioner has called for a review of paid parental leave, suggesting it is time to help parents to stay home for the first year of their children's lives instead of subsidising care elsewhere.

The suggestion, one of several in a report looking into the care of under-2s, has been welcomed by many - especially parents who want to stay at home but are struggling financially.

Commissioner John Angus said an increasing number of under-2s were being enrolled in childcare and for longer periods than before.

While many started between the ages of 12 and 24 months, there were cases of babies less than 10 days old being put into childcare so their parents could return to work.

The commissioner's report found childcare was not bad for very young children as long as the quality of care was high, but there were inconsistencies.

Dr Angus has now suggested the Government look at more flexible parental leave provisions in order to help more parents care for children under the age of 1 at home.

...isn't it hilarious? NZers screamed that the politically correct stormtroopers of the dykeocracy were taking over by attempting to end the legal defense to beat your children and decried it as as the worst of social engineering, yet dumping babies into Paula Bennett's Baby Farm evoking visions of Eastern European Orphanages doesn't register any social engineering fears whatsoever?

Is it because they are solo mother babies and as such deserve less empathy? Babies need love, why force them away from that love just to pursue discriminatory punitive social policies that don't work? What will be the long term impact on babies forced away from being nurtured to simply being watched in Paula Bennett's Baby Farms, and will we blame solo mothers for the results?

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