Hard News: God's squads
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Bills Gate
Quick, give this man a Pulitzer!
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andrew llewellyn:
With even more due respect, I remember when it was the shit-stir de jour to say Michael Cullen was doing the numbers to roll Helen Clark, and that had the plausibility factor of a real live coup attempt.
I'll wait until six, and if Duncan Garner runs true to form the Trump of Doom is going to sound a lot like a wet fart.
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I'll wait until six, and if Duncan Garner runs true to form the Trump of Doom is going to sound a lot like a wet fart.
You're probably right.
The shit stirrer in me would enjoy the entertainment of a genuine nucular strike against someone though. Anyone.
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Meanwhile, if Jenny Kirk is around bugger - the Vast Right Wing Media conspiracy strikes again!:
The Press Council has rejected a complaint against the Herald brought under fast-track procedures during the election campaign.
Rejecting a complaint about the Herald's coverage last week of Labour's just-announced Job Search Allowance, the council went further and praised the newspaper for not taking a party press release at face value.
It used its fast-track procedures because it believes there is no point giving rulings once the election campaign is over.
Complainant Jenny Kirk, an ex-Labour MP and current party activist, claimed a story and headline on October 31, headlined "PM puts working couples first", was inaccurate and misleading.
She said the package was for all working people, not just working couples.
Ms Kirk, who copied all correspondence on her complaint to Labour party president Mike Williams, said the Herald's reporting "very cleverly obscured and misrepresented the proper meaning of the announced policy".
In an email of complaint to the editor of the Herald Tim Murphy, Ms Kirk said a fact sheet that would have been available to reporters showed that single and married people, solo parents and couples with children were all included.
But Mr Murphy said Ms Kirk had compared a discrepancy between the Herald article and the policy releases and assumed the newspaper was wrong.
The fact sheet Ms Kirk referred to was misleading in that it referred to net and gross figures for every category of worker, giving the impression that the figures were the amounts all workers would get for the allowance, the paper said.
But the allowance was available for 13 weeks only to workers made redundant with a spouse working and was at the same rate as the unemployment benefit. The Prime Minister's office had confirmed that the allowance was for two-income families only.
Mr Murphy said the Herald's Press Gallery staff had complained loudly to the Prime Minister's office about the "misleading nature of the material that was handed out".
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I took a look at Family First. No doubt they are the first to talk about 'nanny state' but Conservatives are the actual control freaks - and I doubt that nanny would have much say in their rule making.
I'm glad somebody besides me has thought this as well. Conservatives do enjoy exercising that control, just look at the Business Roundtable and the influence they exerted over everything from dismantling an excellent health systems to sale of NZ infrastructure such as communications and transport. Their interest has more to do with easy access to resources (ecology and public safety be damned) and nothing to do with the public good. And their reforms invariably wind up costing more for all their cost cutting measures and money making initiatives. Supposedly costs were cut during the era of Rogernomics, but for every dollar that was supposedly saved in health costs, many, many times as much was spent down the line to clean up the problems caused.
All through history this is especially true in the area of epidemics, and for anyone who enjoys reading history, it's fascinating to see in every era the rich conservatives resisting every move towards sanitation in any form until the cholera/typhoid/diphtheria/smallpox/meningitis/rheumatic fever/pertussis reaches their own neighbourhood.
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Meanwhile, [[http://www.stuff.co.nz/vote08/4749915a28435.html|Winston rides again]! Ariba!
Feck me, Rasputin was easier to kill.
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Mikaere: A very technically slick Family First Video but not sure what they are saying or asking for. I'd watch out for men on a dark night who take little boys for a walk.
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"No Immigration Control Whatsoever" policy. Also, when I pointed out that their "MPs should get paid the average wage" policy would result on largely really rich people being in parliament,
I think these policies are reasonable if you assume that full-on socialism is also implemented, which is the doctrine of the Workers Party.
Immigration controls (which are intrinsically racist) are only really justified to prevent businesses importing cheap labour. Under socialism, everyone would have to be paid a fairly high wage so there would be no point doing this.
Equally, MPs only earn a lot because we have a system that expects high-end white-collar jobs to be rewarded with a salary several times the average. Under socialism, this wouldn't be the case. (There also wouldn't *be* any rich people to become MPs).
Not that I neccesarily support Trotskyism, but these policies are internally consistent.
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Meanwhile, Winston rides again! Ariba!
Meh, he's still Dog Tucker.
He'll lose Tauranga by more than 3000 votes, and if NZF can break 3.5% of the part vote I'd be surprised.
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Feck me, Rasputin was easier to kill.
And just as expensive a date...
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a wooden stake, it's the only way I tell you
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And Duncan Garner has teasted the explosive 'secret tape', which now seems to be Bill English on Obama, American foreign policy and "what an Obama Presidency would look like" -- and one might reasonably surmise that he's not a fan.
Unless English calls Obama a "raghead nigger", I suspect the wet fart is going to be a bass-baritone. And if English is smart he'll have someone compiling a list of every midly disobliging thing Clark has ever said about the outgoing administration, and reiterate what both Key and Clark said last night on the Three debate. Whoever wins the election, the government of New Zealand will work constructively with the government the American people elect tomorrow.
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Also, when I pointed out that their "MPs should get paid the average wage" policy would result on largely really rich people being in parliament, the nice young volunteer ventured that he didn't really understand all the policies...
Eh. but that's not the point of that policy; it's pure dog whistle. If you recognise that policy, it's meant to get at your gut, at the hindbrain, and say fuck it, do you want to vote for the Versaillais?
(And, of course, if the SWP get their way, there wouldn't be any really rich people to be in Parliament, anyway. You know, the class war and all.)
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a wooden stake, it's the only way I tell you
No, that's for Bram Stoker's Dunne.
I think with Winnie it's a silver bullet. Which he'll then pull out of his own corpse and swear he's never been given silver by anyone in exchange for his death or anyone else's death and he's suing you anyway so can't talk to you...
Is that it for the formal charges now for Winston though? -
So if the NZ First vote was to collapse in the next few days, where would it go?
Apologies for the slightly tricky question, but attempting to get inside the minds of NZ1st voters has been a bit of a hobby of mind for the last 15 years. And I’m no better at it now either.
About as addictive and impossible as solving the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Meant to say hobby of mine
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Eh. but that's not the point of that policy; it's pure dog whistle.
True. Perhaps hanging out with Green MPs (as well as campaigning) has left me feeling that the pay rate isn't that high once actual hours are factored in. Plus the nights and weekends away from whanau...
I'm not saying that all MPs work that hard, but the Greens certainly do, and I suppose my hindbrain has noticed.
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Just listened to the tape on TV3 - I'd say it's nothing.
No Neutron bomb here mate. -
Yah. It plays into the whole "National would have gone to Iraq" narratrive that Labour's been pushing for ages, but it isn't anything particularly shocking.
Now that that's over with, how bout we focus on the election tomorrow for the next 36 hours, then shift back to NZ?
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a wooden stake, it's the only way I tell you
I say we nuke Tauranga from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
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I say we nuke Tauranga from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
It's good to see that all that higher education hasn't dulled your finer sensibilities, Lucy ;-)
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My summation from correspondence with one Bob McCoskrie:
Family First seems genuine in their desire to be seen as 100% pro-life. Yet Bob seemed totally unaware that both The Family Party and Kiwi Party are unashamedly pro-choice. He also quoted Taito’s NZ Pacific Party as having adopted their policy, but I was unable to quickly find anything on him (Is that just one guy?).
In conversation with a Family Party proponent over at a place called Semper Vita it is clear that the idea of being "comprehensively" pro-life in New Zealand is somewhat of a misnomer. It seems to actually mean "less pro-abortion than any given opposition".
So, forgive my scepticism of your analysis, Russell. I guess you will not be overly concerned that the pro-life movement is compromised though :)
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Also from Mr. McCoskrie (for Sam F):
Family First's policies by themselves do look comprehensively against abortion:
Amend the law to protect the unborn children from conception (18,000 abortions per year represents the worst of child abuse)
Parental notification automatically of teenage pregnancy and abortion except in exceptional circumstances approved by the court
"An exceptional circumstance would be where the teenager was at risk of family violence from one of the parents if they were informed of her pregnancy". - Bob.Promote married couple adoption
It is only their misrepresentation of Family and Kiwi that leads me to believe otherwise.
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how bout we focus on the election tomorrow for the next 36 hours,
Here's a start.Who needs 36 hrs when the first few will indicate if the votes are above board. It's happened before, and here, some would suggest Winston is a dirty rotten scoundrel.
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