Posts by Steve Withers
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Muse: Indecision '11: Outrageous!, in reply to Martin Lindberg,
The Herald's editorial strategy seems to be:
1. Ignore National's faults.
2. Magnify Labour;s faults.
3.Collapse the Green vote.Check tomorrow's front page for the re-play.
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Cameron Brewer lived down to my expectations of him with his comments about Robyn Malcolm. I had given him the benefit of the doubt until now....but that sentiment is now fading. It's a shame he's the ONLY Auckland Councillor who got more than 50% of the vote in his ward. Most of the rest (13 of 20) didn't break 30% of the vote. On that basis it looks like he'll be free to be a prat for a good while to come if he chooses to stay in local politics.
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Excellent analysis in my humble opinion. Just one of about 300 reasons to NOT vote for the National Party. But you have to KNOW the reasons and it appears roughly 50% of voters don't. Not sure they will ever know, either.
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I'd recommend voting to keep MMP and make STV your backup choice. It's the only alternative on offer that is remotely proportional....despite the talk of only 3 to be elected for district....which would NOT be proportional. It's still better than one (a.k.a. "PV", which is really just a single-member version of STV)
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Hard News: Ante Up, in reply to Russell Brown,
TVNZ 7 is awesome.
My 30 years of watching events leads me to conclude that if there is something good going on in NZ you can RELY on the tiny minds infected with dogma, prejudice and preconception that call themselves the (Multi-) National (1%) Party will move Heaven and Earth to screw it up for everyone.
From public transport in Auckland, to public broadcasting to offshore drilling to selling energy assets *just* as peak oil is about to make energy resources PREMIUM assets….to pay down debt that costs less than the return on the assets (well…that was last week’s excuse)…..I COULD GO ON……the (Multi)-National (1%) party are the only real enemy the people of this country face on an ongoing basis.
I’m an immigrant. I wasn’t raised to think these things. I’m not tribal.
Across 30 years, from Muldoon to Steven Joyce….National TAUGHT me to think this way.
Yes. I am angry.
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Hard News: Dropping the Bomber, in reply to Steve Parks,
Bomber isn’t so much a conspiracy theorist as he is a person who speculates freely based on past behaviour of those he is speculating about. His ‘theories’ tend to account for much of what actually happens….while those who accuse him of conspiracy theories often fail to provide a credible alternative narrative that accounts for all the actions and behaviours we observe from some politicians.
Like: Why is the National govt deliberately running up a huge debt? On the face of it they seem to following the same template the GOP followed in 2001: Cut taxes for the rich, blow the deficit up as much as you possibly can…and then use it as an excuse to sell profitable state assets to your mates and backers, dismantle the welfare state, and gut the regulators and call it all “small government”. We can see how well that has worked out for the US. The top 1% make out like bandits and every one else gets screwed.
I’d call that a documentary at this point…not a theory. Bomber has this one right. It’s a big one, too….even if he was wrong about everything else.
Bomber definitely needs counselling on his presentation skills. He talks far too fast.
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Jim Mora’s panel segment often comes across as the ‘National Party Happy Hour’ where Michelle Boag and a motley collection of grumpy Garth George sound-alikes and climate change deniers air their prejudices and preconceptions freely, without let or hindrance.
I heard Bomber going off and found it quite refreshing. He wouldn’t be the first to read out written thoughts when asked to say what was uppermost in his mind…as this segment does after the 4:30-ish news.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to James Butler,
The Greens don't waste much time on local candidates. There is no reason to as under FPP locally they stand NO chance of actually winning a single seat in NZ. It's all about the party vote.
I live in Northcote, one of the safest National seats around. I probably won't even bother with the local vote. It's waste of time. The party vote is the only one that matters...and if we lose MMP and up with FPP down the road it's very likely I will never bother voting again. Period.
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A lot of people I know can't be bothered with the election. They feel the Kiwi public isn't listening and there is no point wasting the effort on those in the thrall of bread and circuses who don't want to know anyway.
As in the US, you can't easily shift the great weight of the Big Stupid....and it's VERY big and heavy right now.
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This government's actions make perfect sense if you bear in mind their policies are designed to support and extend the business models of Sky, Infratil / NZ Bus and Fulton Hogan. Hence the hostility to public broadcasting and anything other than roads, trucks and buses. These are the most obvious ones I'm sure there are many more that are lower profile.
What's good for New Zealand or for the future isn't even a concern as far as I can tell. It's business as usual: payback for donors and a full trough for cronies.