Your worst nightmare is about to be unleashed

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says a decision on Foreshore and Seabed legislation will be revealed in the next two weeks.

The Maori Party wants the legislation repealed and its party president Whatarangi Winiata yesterday said the government had agreed.

The ultimate cost of the unholy alliance with the separatists is about to become your worst nightmare as your beaches are converted to freehold title.

Where's Don Brash when you need him?

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.

Ideals traded for membership

Homepaddock has been increasing membership.

A young woman was about to finish her first year at university. She considered herself to be a Labour supporter and very liberal. Among her liberal ideal was support for higher taxes to support more government programmes, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed of her father who was a staunch National Party member.

The lectures she attended and the occasional chat with a professor convinced her that her father had for years, harboured an evil selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes for the rich and the need for more government programmes. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing at university.

She answered rather haughtily that she had passes in four subjects, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many varsity friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, ‘How is your friend Clarrisa doing?’

She replied, ’Clarrisa is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she has only two passes. But she is ever so popular on campus; varsity for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.’

Her wise father asked his daughter, ‘Why don’t you go to the Chancellor’s office and ask him to deduct a pass off you and give it to your friend who only has two passes. That way you will both have three passes and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of passes’.

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, ’That’s a crazy idea, and how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Clarrisa has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my butt off!’

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, ‘Welcome to the National Party.’

I might as well vote Liarbour

Yet again Liarbour Lite fails to grasp the nettle.

I want vision and the billion dollars associated with donkeys braying in outhouses would have been the perfect place to start gathering funds for a tax cut. What a fantastic place to start pruning the layers off the bureaucratic arts onion that infests our local government.

Spending on the Arts in times of belt-tightening for normal households is at the whim of purely discretionary leisure funds - when is government going to apply the same ethic?

But no, another opportunity lost on 'me too' policies. At least with Don he had the necessary point of difference with Orewa I.

John Key, it is time to stand up and be counted. What is your point of difference???

Seriously considering might as well vote for her indoors.

One down, how many to go?

After vilifying zero interest for student loans at the last election, National has swallowed one dead rat.

I suspect there are a few more, like endorsing Cullen's nightmare for business, KiwiSaver.

Maybe even leaving alone just for this election, with a strong proviso, the holy grail of supporters, getting rid of the divisive Maori seats. Hell, they might just need Tariana's mob to pip her indoors from cobbling together a coalition to get in like she did last time, but once there, mark my words, they will be ditched. It will happen, the sooner the better to stop all flag waving separatism and put paid to the parallel grievance industry.

Hard to swallow, but sometimes these things have to be done.

God help them if they renege on repealing the EFA post haste or implementing the referendum if it meets its' target.