An excellent idea

The Yanks have it right.

The law requires those with convictions to pay any child support owed and satisfy all restitution requirements from their sentences before they can vote.

Should be applied forthwith here to anyone in receipt of a benefit or WFF, excluding Super.
Would immediately lessen the socialist desire to redistribute my taxes.

PM puts off election

The Prime Minster has decided to put off calling a general election for the time being in order to deal with the global financial crisis and the country's economic woes, a news agency has reported.

Relax, its only democracy going out the door in the the land of the rising sun. We would never entertain such a move here, right?

Want more political sideshows, bossy government and yesterday's fights?

Then vote Liarbour.

Want less of this?

• Sick of struggling to keep up with the cost of living?
• Sick of worrying about soaring interest rates?
• Sick of higher taxes?

Then vote National.

There is only one choice - it is yours - get rid of Liarbour and Winston forever.

While her indoors is gearing up for a new bureaucracy to regulate the flowrate of your shower, the government in waiting outlines how to improve flow rates that really matter in this economy.

Peters to get DCM

It is stating the obvious to say Winston Peters should have resigned as a minister some time ago. And that he should go now, after the censure delivered by Parliament's privileges committee.

The guts of the matter is

There is no compelling argument to deflect from the significance of the censuring of Mr Peters for filing a false return to Parliament, in which he did not declare a $100,000 donation

There were those who saw it differently and brought their bias to the Privileges Committee, although they would have us believe otherwise.

The Prime Minister sought to construct one by calling the committee "tainted" and suggesting most of its members were politically motivated. The criticism was tawdry.

Congratulations to the minor parties for standing tall and united in their convincing views aligned with the majority. Theirs was not an axe to grind but on the evidence presented a censure and contempt was warranted.

Yet the only consistent theme to the NZ First leader's version of events was bluster and inconsistency, none more so than his reaction to the committee's draft report.

The actions of Labour and NZ First post yesterday's vote is something else to see. Unbelievable hypocrisy. Along with Anderton's abstaining from the final vote in Parliament.

Mr Anderton, explaining his decision to abstain from yesterday's vote in Parliament, noted that NZ First had been accepting donations while attacking other parties for taking money from big business.

"For that, the party has some explaining to do to the voting public," he said. Mr Peters now has the time to do just that. He will not because he cannot. Nor will he sign a letter of resignation. Voters will have to do that for him.

Yes, although a gentleman would have resigned a long time ago, the senior politician that is WRP will never back down.

Voters will have to deliver the unrepentant Winston a DCM on Nov 8th. I can only hope the same applies to the Labour for their complicit biased involvement in these matters.

from the Herald Editorial

Labour admits to being confused

Liarbour is confused while it 'wrestles with the truth' over it's affiliations with unions and small parties.

So much so, the union has gone for legal advice on where the spending on union ads attacking National will fall post-election. They could all have a liability under the 'chilling' EFA which could upset some budgets.

Now, if you were not spending all your life being in Liarbour's back pocket and actually spent hard earnt subs money on helping members instead of running interference for your party bosses, you wouldn't have such problems.

Love the body language Helen. Says it all what I perceive about unions - confrontational, with attitude. How is megaphone Len these days? Soon to be charged?

All of this is their own making,being too clever by half. And perception is everything in this game of trust.

Last call?

Breaking news:

The second female Prime Minister of New Zealand, who has overseen the most corrupt government in our short history, has called a snap Press Conference.

Presumably to announce an election date.

Hopefully the last time she will ever perform that job.

Dirty politicking starts

Shades of upcoming campaigns here? Watch out for the dogs being unleashed in the trenches.

Polls scaring this horse

Just what the hell is National doing?

Scaring the hell out of this horse.

This indicates a lack of trust within National's inner circle.

Leaks continue to well up in their boat, how do outsiders get near or hold of such info? Mind you, Maurice shooting his mouth off doesn't help. Parting shot from Brian O'C? Who needs enemies?

Every drop in the polls is what you have reaped. Time to stop being Liarbour-Lite and start making a difference.

Liarbour has not released one iota of policy, yet seems to be cruising to victory. Nats are certainly not going the right way about becoming the next government.

Starting points for difference are - work for the dole, end maorimander, ditch Maori seats, toll the roads, tax cuts, take a razor to the bureaucracy in both central and local government.

Put a stake in the ground and do it soon. The alternative is horrendous - massive government in your face on all levels, all sorts of bludgers with their hands out for a cut of the taxpaying cake which will diminish at an even higher rate as the taxpayers vacate Godzone for another country that actually seems to favour workers.

Worst slump in 60 years

The government was plunged into turmoil yesterday as the chancellor admitted the full scale of Britain’s economic crisis.

Downing Street and the Treasury launched a desperate damage limitation exercise after Alistair Darling declared that Britain was facing “arguably the worst” slump in 60 years. As Treasury aides claimed that he had been misrepresented, Darling took to the airwaves to clarify his remarks.

However, instead of reassuring voters, the chancellor risked compounding the crisis by failing to modify his dire assessment. Darling insisted it was his duty to be “straight” with people. His warning that the slump will be “more profound and long-lasting than people thought” comes at the worst time for Gordon Brown as he struggles to shore up his leadership.

Others are trying to limit the damage, downplaying the message from the man controlling the money.

We know things are tough and understand that people are worried. But Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong.

This hardly gives activists a morale boost. We are out on the doorstep, trying to reassure people, at the same time as Darling is telling them we are all doomed.

Who is telling the truth at the top of government? It’s not clear whether Alistair Darling meant to tell us the truth about the mess that 10 years of Labour have left our economy in, but he has certainly let the cat out of the bag.

From comments.

Oh dear doesn't a service based economy work? Surprise surprise!!
Having either scrapped or sold off the engine (Design & Manufacture), the economy won't drive fwd.

and

It is capitalism that builds the house you live in creates the materials that build it, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the booze u drink, the wealth that pays your pension or dole, the drugs that cure illness and the medical devices that help us.

Says it all. The Chancellor with the figures or those looking to be re-elected?

This has parallels here in NZ and I know who I would believe.

An orchestrated web of deceit and deception

The saga continues.

Therese Arseneau on Close Up stated the case with slightly different twist.

She says the good parliamentary manual states

1. Ministers must act lawfully
2. Ministers must uphold the highest ethical standards
3. It is the Prime Minister's duty to see that 1 and 2 are upheld

Winston has failed on both, her indoors on the last two. I would not be surprised all three.

Rodney asked in Parliament today about the web of deceit and deception that should have been exposed early in the piece. He was shot down, but asked why the standards had not been upheld, as every decent New Zealander might expect.

Therese suggests that her indoors has failed in her duty to uphold the highest standard by sitting on the information for seven months.

The question again is why did she act as she did and what hold does Winston have over her?

A vote for Winston is a vote for Liarbour

Keeping Stock sums it all up after the line was drawn.

I am ruling out Mr Peters. He simply doesn't have the integrity in my view unless he can somehow change that.

The whole picture changed just before Te News last night. Mr Key changed the election into a moral vs immoral political practices contest. No arguments, no innuendo, no guessing game. Make your choice and stand by it.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters' job is safe for now but his future would not be bright under a National government.

Notice has been served to her indoors, whom Winston is hiding behind her skirts, sort this mess out.

Stark choice, it needed saying and was never going to come from those in play. Congratulations to Mr Key for taking the stand.

Green email

Like others that have sent their well worded missives, I too have composed and sent an email to the Greens at ets@greens.org.nz

Hi,

The Green Party has always appeared to be a party of clearly stated principles to which you strongly adhere. Whilst I do not and never would consider myself aligned to your party, I have noted the odium you attract by virtue of association in this Parliament with Labour, often being treated with disdain and long being used as Labour's 'handbag'.

Having been seriously compromised right from the get go to bolster numbers in a 'control at any cost' minority government, your call for public input at this stage is crying wolf at best. Where was your cry for further extensive public input when the highly modified select committee changes to the ETS appeared? Such a call at this late stage looks suspect to say the least and as some suggest, avoidance behaviour.

If you have not changed principles on the matter, you must take a stand.

Do you go with what you already know? That the changes need further extensive public consultation and that they do not go far enough to meet your stated principles? But you could live with that to remain in government. Or do you run with the status-quo, getting some low quality watered down principles in place before the election, in the vain hope that they might be strengthened later post-election.

I strongly believe your only option is to stand or fall on your principles and not support the ETS in it's current form.

Only then will the Greens reaffirm their place in my view as a party of principle.

Regards

pm of nz

List of Actoids

Rodney - Heather - Roger
Rodney - Roger - Heather
Heather - Roger - Rodney
Heather - Rodney - Roger
Roger - Rodney - Heather
Roger - Heather - Rodney

See? There were only six combinations for the List. Nobody else rates in their world.

Not much news today. But there has been heaps of piffle, like this post, written over the Actoid List. All the other nobodies (apologies to fellow blogger Lindsay) below these 3 will remain such in their less than 5% world.

As if there was ever any choice bar the first line.

The postie has been

Great stuff, rural mail. Always turns up at the same time every day. Friendly operator.

Anyway, there must be an election somewhere in the near future. Rodney's dance card has turned up with the junk mail. First of the electoral crap that will no doubt flood into the letterbox.

He wants me to party vote for Mr Jekyll and Mr Hide. Even offers a 'the juiciest election bribe ever'. Him and the ancient has-been reckon their party could be kingmakers.

Kingmakers are the worst arrangement in politics, based on horse trading at the basest level. You scratch mine, I'll scratch yours, stuff the voters. We have been paying dearly since MMP was introduced for the results of such horse trading by political shysters.

Thank God Winston is doing his level best to leave the trough this time around.

Yes Rodney and Roger, I have 'the guts to do what is right'.

It is time to light the fire. Now, where is the rest of that junk mail?

People want dignity from their politicians

Dignity from politicians in NZ.

Now that would be nice. New kid on the block, Simon Bridges is offering dignity, not playing the personality game.

The numbers game could be all over for Winston First. While he is the centre of the media universe of late, acquiring all that free publicity, his failure to come clean on perceived dodgy funding methods is costing him dearly.

More significantly, the party vote apppears terminal. The wisteria rinse brigade is so over the poodle.

without Tauranga or 5% of the party vote the race could be well over

After all the financial house fallouts of late with the associated wheeling and dealing of sharks in that industry, the older generation who typically may have been financially secure, are now seriously exposed. The last thing they trust is some politician who continues not answering financial questions.

A healthy dose of dignity in matters political is something we could all do with.

Explaining is losing - Operations 101

As John Key has to explain his position, some would say he has lost the battle. While Mickey can raise borrowing through 20% GDP and her indoors is still the Messiah, John Boy gets shafted for suggesting another 2% to fix our woes, with total borrowing still way below domestic and world standards.

But when it comes to taking the handouts from the redistribution tax WFF from our children or grandchildren, all Nat principles disappear out the door.

a National delegate's plea to John Key not to strip away her daughter's Working for Families entitlements – money her daughter and grandchildren needed to stay afloat. That issue alone would, the delegate suggested, decide where her daughter cast her vote.

A rock and a hard place. Suppose they have to go with the status quo, get in and then explain to the electorate prior to the next triennial election round. Far better way to do it. Do not frighten the horses this time, get in and then have some proper discussion, driven by their agenda.

But then explaining is seen to be only for losers.

A different way might be to adopt some of these:

1. Use surrogates to attack your opponent. Never let your guy (or yourself, if you happen to be running) rip into the other guy. Find some lackey who’s more than willing to get vicious ugly for you. Your guy will look like a disinterested prince.

2. Leak harmful information. This is pretty much your basic opposition-research stuff. But leak it; don’t announce it. And certainly it helps to develop friendly relations with journalists of a whorish bent. Devastating information on your opponent isn’t worth much if you can’t get the word out.

3. Turn rumor into fact. Better yet, start a rumor about your opponent and use the media whores with whom you’ve developed a good relationship to hammer away at whatever you’ve invented. Before long everyone will at least assume that where there’s smoke there’s fire.

4. Use well-organized 3rd-party groups to make allegations. This is closely related to #3. In short, if you can find a Swift-Boat kind of outfit to go libelous on your behalf, do it. Also see #1 – surrogates and the disinterested prince.

5. Funnel money to a 3rd-party candidate similar in ideology to your opponent’s to dilute your opponent’s vote. Self-explanatory.

6. Use ties to law enforcement to launch bogus investigations against your opponent. You’ll need to be comfortably in bed with a high-powered D.A., though, so this tactic isn’t for the chronically un-empowered. You also can’t harbor any compunctions about bankrupting an innocent person through legal expenses or even sending him to jail and destroying his family. This is rather big-league stuff, and not for the squeamish.

7. Associate your guy’s political positions with God and flag. Be creative. If needed, rewatch Animal House for inspiration, the part in which Otter defends his incredibly guilty pals before a college court in a rip-roaring burst of offended patriotism. It can be done.

8. Always position your opponent as an agent of the status quo, your guy as the candidate for change. Self-explanatory.

9. Build your messages on what the public already believes in. Closely related to #7. Don’t ever try to introduce the electorate to something unfamiliar or convince it of something new. Another angle is to play on preexisting prejudices. If the public hates freckled people, your guy hates freckled people. Always has.

10. “Explaining is losing.” This is the only direct quote I’ve lifted from the book, because it is key, absolutely critical. If your guy has to explain anything – his policies, his past, anything – then your guy is playing a losing game. Voters in general don’t want to be burdened with policy details and candidates certainly don’t want to get mired in personal explanations. Just forget explaining anything -- anything at all -- and move on. It’ll work. You’ll be amazed.

11. Use push polling. Again, this is high-powered stuff for the monied pros. Don’t call registered voters and ask if they like so-and-so’s position on something. Call and ask if they like the satanic plan your Illuminati opponent wants to shove through Congress should he get there with all his corrupt campaign cash. You get the poll results you want, and better yet, you leave the right impression of your opponent in the minds of the questioned.

12. Pick off special-interest support for your opponent. In other words, be a hypocritical flip-flopper like all get out (and don’t bother explaining it). Bush’s decision before the 2004 campaign on erecting steel tariffs is an excellent example.

Probably seen before and we need reminding. Looks like an excerpt from Liarbour Ops 101.

Used elsewhere, but could be easily fisked to suit her indoors.

Borrowing to get rid of Winston First

Yes, it's Monday morning again. For those of you who have to haul your sorry ass out of bed and disappear into the dark, wet cold morning, here's some comfort for you.

It's going to be a big week.


Sense has come out of the Nats conference giving a strong, positive direction and points of difference. Instead of the self-serving negativity that continually emanates from Liarbour.

-I believe in hard work.
-I believe in education.
-I believe in a fair society.
-I believe in playing by the rules.
-I believe in the power of families.
-I believe in being pragmatic, and not being blinded by ideology.

Most of all, I believe that this country, that New Zealand, is capable of so much more.

JK gave a speech that has a sense of purpose and long term direction. Just what the seriously disgruntled electorate requires. His 10 points are inspiring and forward thinking, not just about maintaining the status quo.

Sure, there will be derogatory comment from the other side over a couple of percent extra borrowing in an $180bn economy, but it much less than most punters have on tick with a mortgage and other credit. Today's voter's are comfortable with high debt, particularly debt that is properly used for long term asset purchases, not frivolous discretionary spend on nice-to-haves.

And instead of raping your overtaxed wallet for the $5bn, they will only have to free some moths from the cobwebs there-in to service the interest of say $750m. It is sound economics to me, just the same way families should be operating their budgets. And getting a tax cut to boot might be the massive stimulus the economy requires. Some will say we are borrowing to fund tax cuts, others for infrastructure.

Pure semantics, have you never run a holiday up on tick so that you feel good and can put your head down upon your for the next few month's?

And the other topic for the week is will Winnie make it to Friday drinks at Bellamy's?

Keeping Stock has a great analysis. Action after the vote of confidence scenario looks tempting. Used and abused to max by the black widow herself. She will be ever anxious to cast off the Winston First millstone to improve polls.

I suspect that Winston will be cast adrift before Friday, but then he has lived through worse times. 5% is not a difficult target and any publicity...

So have a nice day while you commute in the smog, contemplating all this. I am off for a coffee and then will commute to my workplace at the dining room table from the lounge.

Have a good one, don't work too hard.

Dingoes to win? AB's to lose?

It doesn't matter what happens tonight or who wins as two sport mad nations face off over the national game for a piece of battered silverware on the hallowed turf.

Turf that will be used for the last time tonight and then be remodelled at extreme expense to ratepayers for one game in a few years time.

But hush my mouth. There will be a real winner tomorrow, irrespective of any perceived outcome tonight.

Mr Key will deliver his main speech to the conference tomorrow morning.

It is expected to focus on economic matters.

Timing could not be more impeccable. The effect on the national psyche will be massive.

Yes, John Boy will bribe us with the detail of fast tracked tax cuts, ostensibly under the guise of borrowing for infrastructure and we will feel good.

If those underhanded dingoes who stole our Robbie win yet again, John's message will soothe our hurt pride. If our beloved team wins, the Sunday offerings yet to come will seem like cream.

Anyone who would dare to naysay will be cut down in the clamour of the withering policy storm. As mentioned on other blogs, the game has now gone up more than a notch, the other side is now on the back foot and fighting a rearguard action.

And of course, as I crack open a Tui, the AB's will win.

Liarbour MPs gather to strategise

to figure out what they can do to turn the polls around

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

from Act IV Scene 1 Macbeth

The fun continues

Following on from the last post, Winston First has stepped into Rodney's firing line.

"Amongst all his demands for transparency and accountability, it never applies to him.

"He can't answer the most basic questions to do with public money and his own behaviour."

This will be fun to follow.

Her indoors thinks the campaign has not started.

"That's a question I'm not even prepared to contemplate," she said when she was asked about the leadership

Reminds me of Custer's last stand. Methinks it will be over before she realises. The campaign started on Jan 1 with the EFA. I notice that bully boy Trev is becoming more vocal. More feral perhaps, nothing to lose?