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Neither do I, but when there are people who don't know whether they're going to have jobs in a year
Oh come on Craig, what part of National's so-urgent legislation makes it any more likely that people will have jobs in a year?
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It's opposition's job to oppose. If that means countering urgency with a filibuster, then that's how it has to happen.
Not under MMP. It's the opposition's (to use the archaic, FPP term) to advocate their own position. This is not necessarily the same as opposing.
As for Craig, I think it would be nice to see the non-government parties standing up against this abuse of the Parliamentary process (and to all the trolls who are going to crawl out of the woodwork whining about Labour's use of urgency, fuck off. Or, more politiely, "go and read 15 years of Hansard to look at how urgency is used and abused, and come back when you have an informed opinion on the matter, rather than whatever crap you picked up from DPF's sewer". Not all urgency is the same, and there's a world of difference between e.g. using urgency to get a bill to committee or pass it through its final stages (fine), or pass your tax bill so that it can all be in place by April 1 (fine), and using to to pass serious non-financial policy without any select committee stage (not fine)).
To get back to the point: National stood up for parliamentary process in 2005 by making the House unamangeable in response to Labour summarily collapsing a member's day so Michael Cullen could go to dinner. That was a Good Thing. And it would be a Good Thing as well if the current non-government parties did the same to defend the Parliamentary process now. Yes, the government gets to set policy. But it should not be allowed to bypass select committee and public scrutiny while doing so.
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Oh come on Craig, what part of National's so-urgent legislation makes it any more likely that people will have jobs in a year?
You could argue that, in relation to the 90 days trial law, it would make it less likely that people would have jobs in a year.
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Are we also beginning to see the beginnings of the terrible fixes the Maori Party are getting into?
Yes. In particular, I wonder how it will play amongst the Maori Party's base that their "representatives" voted to feather their own nests while voting against offsetting National's de facto hike of taxes on the poor with tax credits.
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Yes. In particular, I wonder how it will play amongst the Maori Party's base that their "representatives" voted to feather their own nests while voting against offsetting National's de facto hike of taxes on the poor with tax credits.
I saw on the news last night (TV3 6pm) that the tax changes will not help people at all who are earning below $45K, but already receiving WFF.
I feel completely screwed. The new government promising bigger tax cuts is giving me nothing, while the old government which promised smaller tax cuts, would have given me something.
If we're going to have tax cuts now that the economy is shot, can I at least get some pie while everything goes to hell?
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I saw on the news last night (TV3 6pm) that the tax changes will not help people at all who are earning below $45K, but already receiving WFF.
And just to put that it context: about 75% of New Zealanders earn less than $45 K a year.
If we're going to have tax cuts now that the economy is shot, can I at least get some pie while everything goes to hell?
No. Under National, only the rich get pie. This is what they call "an incentive" (though what for is unclear).
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No. Under National, only the rich get pie. This is what they call "an incentive" (though what for is unclear).
An incentive not to leave the country. The proles we can lose, of course.
We should play a colossal practical joke on them an all leave, on a random Tuesday. All of us, except for the CEOs. I want to see them clean their own toilets.
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if heavier on the Flash that some people will like
Me being one of them. I despise Flash. My primary platform at home is FreeBSD on amd64, and Flash support is a little flaky, at best. So I just don't bother. Some sites offer alternatives, but many don't. And it's getting worse. How they cater to the visually-impaired is beyond me, but it seems that website designers just don't give a fuck about anything beyond pretty, shiny, more! Photo collections on the Herald site are unusable without Flash, unlike Stuff's photo collections which work just fine at home.
News flash to the fucktards: Not everyone who comes to your site has (or wants to have) Flash. Not everyone who comes to your site - at least not all first-time visitors, and the aim is usually to get people to come back - can see the pretty clicky shit that you've got going on. Learn to play nice with the rest of the world, y'bastards!
I should point out that this doesn't apply to PAS, which is highly usable even in a text browser (which is the real test of accessibility).
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Thanks Matthew -- good points. I'll ask Tom Cotter today about how the new site meets the government web guidelines.
The Radio New Zealand site has demonstrated that you can run an attractive site while still making it as accessible as possible.
The designers at AIM proximity come highly touted, and the site was also assessed by Optimum Usability, so you'd hope there's an answer to the question.
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News flash to the fucktards: Not everyone who comes to your site has (or wants to have) Flash.
Hear, hear. I use Firefox for 99% of my browsing, and have not installed the Flash plugin. When I find that I really need it, I fire up Explorer, but the hassle means I mostly don't bother to visit flash-heavy sites.
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I saw on the news last night (TV3 6pm) that the tax changes will not help people at all who are earning below $45K, but already receiving WFF.
Yep. And if I recall correctly, for people earning around that mark, and who don't have children (ie aren't getting WFF), you get a whole $10!
Am I missing something? I thought we were promised $47?
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No. Under National, only the rich get pie. This is what they call "an incentive" (though what for is unclear).
I don't know if they do. Based on my income I'm technically 'rich' (in reality I'm as middle class as it gets) and most - if not all - of what I gain in the tax cuts I lose in KiwiSaver reductions and tax changes to my employer contribution.
I guess rich people who don't have KiwiSaver will make out, I just doubt there are very many of them. This seems less like a tax cut and more like an accounting scam.
Regarding the urgency motion, it seems as if the Nats have confused cause and effect; they've decided to take advantage of their media honeymoon to do something controversial and unpopular without figuring out that their honeymoon was only going to last until they, well, did unpopular controversial stuff.
Those PAS readers who think the Herald are in the tank for National might also want to cast their eyes over Audrey Young's blog.
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No. Under National, only the rich get pie. This is what they call "an incentive" (though what for is unclear).
See, I wasn't depressed after the election, because although I knew it was coming, it hadn't become real yet.
Luckily we fixed that eh! Feels pretty real now...
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I'm enjoying the newly launched TVNZ site. Today's headlines:
*Police roll out Tasers
followed immediately by:
*Christmas Shoppers beware
-Shopocalypse?
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Am I missing something? I thought we were promised $47?
They still haven't come and run fibre optics into my lounge. Yesterday there was a chicken on my drive (once it got over the fence past the gate the dogs got it real quick, scratch one chicken), but I haven't seen anyone on my street get their pony. And now no fucking pie!
That's it, I'm barricading Molesworth Street.
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Maybe this will make me start using an RSS feed reader. Suggestions?
I recently made the switch to using RSS feeds and a reader and find it much better than what I've been doing for years, which is regularly visiting some web sites. I use NetNewsWire, but that might be mac only.
Sage is a good feedreader plugin if you're a Firefox user.
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That's it, I'm barricading Molesworth Street.
I believe its traditional to set fire to things as well. Maybe a protest BBQ?
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I haven't seen anyone on my street get their pony. And now no fucking pie!
No-one I know has got any of the promised cheese yet either. Where's my cheese!?!!11!1!??/?!1!?
See, I wasn't depressed after the election, because although I knew it was coming, it hadn't become real yet.
Audrey Young didn't know it was coming, you see. She took Bill English at his word when he said there would be pies and ponies for everyone.
Mmmm, cheese pies.
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recently made the switch to using RSS feeds and a reader and find it much better than what I've been doing for years, which is regularly visiting some web sites. I use NetNewsWire, but that might be mac only.
I use Firefox, and put the RSS feeds on the toolbar as live bookmarks.
This means you can check them at your leisure and see what has been added before actually going to the page to check the item.
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I believe its traditional to set fire to things as well. Maybe a protest BBQ?
Marshmallows! Parliamentary Order Papers! Ministerial Limos! Burn!
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I believe its traditional to set fire to things as well.
Rioting, let me show you it. Should you need any inspiration.
Isn't it too early to riot on the streets yet? I thought this was supposed to come after the "Great Cheese March' of 2009?
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Just for shits'n'giggles I ran the TVNZ site through lynx (a text-based browser), and it's actually very usable. So kudos to the designers for making something that looks like it'll probably be very accessible to the visually-impaired. I'll have to have a look at home tonight and see how it looks on a browser that's got no Flash plugin available. Will report back.
One of the things I really like about PAS is that it's light-weight and makes very few assumptions about what my browser will support. It looks the same and works the same on Windows, Mac, Linux and FreeBSD, across various browsers. That's my test of a good site. I can use it completely without having to have anything extra installed, which is something I wish could be said about a wider range of sites. Nothing puts me off quite as fast as a site that I can't use because there's no consideration given to non-Flash browsers. -
Could we burn effigies of John Key and Rodney Hide, too? Bags not supplying the yellow jacket, though.
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I/S highlights abuse of urgency by the National government, then shoots at foot by saying that no comparable abuse took place in the previous Labour government. The Labour government undertook urgency to pass legislation immediately prior to the election, this was an unjustifiable abuse for party political ends as there were no impending deadlines that could not be met by a post-election government.
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Nothing puts me off quite as fast as a site that I can't use because there's no consideration given to non-Flash browsers.
Tee-hee. Go check out AIM Proximity's site then? I was keen to see some of the other web design projects they've worked on but all I get from my work PC is: "You need to upgrade your Flash Player. If you're seeing this, it's because you haven't got the right version of the Flash Player installed."
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