Received a link to this vid from a mate in class and thought it was important to spread it further. If I didn’t already know it this would have confirmed that the Nats are morons. The govt. has stopped funding for sustainability education (Enviroschools) in schools from the end of this year. At a cost of just $19.4m over 4 years, this policy was some of the best value spending the government had in place, axing it makes NO sense whatsoever. Teaching kids right from a young age about the concept of sustainability and of sustainable living practices is essential for us as a country and as a world to move towards true sustainability. It is much harder and costly to change unsustainable practices that people have been practicing their whole lives than it is to start kids off with an understanding of sustainability from the beginning of their education. Politically, Enviroschools was a danger for the Nats. It educated future voters about the realities of sustainability, and any educated person would not vote for the Nats based upon their sustainability policy (or lack of). I’ll be writing to “Chopper” Anne Tolley highlighting my disgust at this fucking ridiculous decision.
Morons
June 26, 2009John Key Likes the Cock
June 16, 2009The Nats seem to be no longer employing right-wing spin doctors Crosby-Textor. Mt Albert was a complete and utter shambles (I won’t go into this now), and now John’s posting videos on the net where he states (@ 2:30) that hes going to go back to having a diet cock!
Disclaimer = I have nothing against those who are into cock, diet or otherwise.
UPDATE: Crosby-Textor are back from holiday. The video has been removed from youtube and the Nats website, and now abruptly cuts to a black screen at 2.24.
Comments on the “Standard but Poor” budget
May 29, 2009Phil Goff said in his speech in reply to yesterdays budget that it was a ‘standard but poor National party budget’. I couldn’t agree more.
Bill English did not write this budget for hard working New Zealanders, instead he wrote this budget for Standard and Poor’s.
He did not use this opportunity to protect the jobs of average New Zealanders, instead he used it to please Standard and Poor’s – the people who have helped the world get into the mess we are in right now.
With treasury predicting 1000 job losses a week into next year what New Zealand needed from the government was leadership, someone with the balls to make the hard decisions and to pull our country through the recession. We did not get it.
What most people would have seen was the backtrack on the unfair tax cuts that John Key promised were affordable during the election campaign – even though he knew they weren’t. He was dishonest then, and he’s being dishonest now. The tax cuts have not been “deferred” – they’ve been cancelled.
Over at No Right Turn, Idiot/Savant has a graph showing how the ten year “suspension” of payments into the Cullen Fund will kill superannuation. The Nats have only been in power for six months and already they’ve fucked over KiwiSaver and trashed the Superannuation Fund. Great!
They’ve made a good move politically, however, with the home insulation policy. After the massive balls up that was the cancellation of the Labour-Green policy for home insulation, the Nats have introduced a similar policy and named it their own!
Whilst they are trumpeting their own horn for increases in Health funding, and especially for elective surgery, they aren’t nearly as public about the slashing of primary healthcare funding! What they’ve done here is nothing short of moronic. You DO NOT shift funding for barriers at the top of the cliff to the ambulances at the bottom of a cliff!
Thank god we had Labour and Michael Cullen at the helm for the last 9 years. New Zealand is in a better position for it, and we will weather the global recession better because of it. But things are going to be harder for the average, hard working New Zealander because the National Government has wasted the last 6 months and has come up with nothing but the cycleway to protect jobs.
The Week in Politics
February 14, 2009They say a week is a long time in politics, well here’s a wrap up of my top 5 stories of the week.
#5 : Obama-Watch.
Obama’s economic rescue package finally passes in the House – however no Republicans voted for it. He faces more trouble with his nominees for Cabinet, with his second nominee for Commerce Secretary withdrawing.
#4 : Putting the EFA behind us.
The Electoral Finance Act repeal process begins – However Leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee fucks up and the second reading of the repeal bill won’t be till next week now. The repeal will be almost unanimous with only the Greens opposing.
#3 : NZ First back from the summer hiatus.
Suggestions from within the party of a serious run for Mt Albert if (when) Helen Clark steps down / Further suggestions of adopting a co-leader structure (As if Winston would share) / Party President unsure if party leader would turn up to a major meeting on the parties future / Deputy Leader Peter Brown resigns.
#2 : Zimbabwe finally begin to sort their shit out.
A so called “unity” government was formed between Zimbabwe’s two political enemies, with Robert Mugabe remaining president and arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. Tsvangiari has said that it is time to move past the political situation and to focus on urgent issues such as widespread poverty, the 90% unemployment rate and hyper-inflation.
#1 : Only Recycling the Nats are doing is of Labour’s Policies.
The National Govt released a very underwhelming infrastructure programme as part of its “rolling maul” (make-it-up-as-we-go-along) recession fighting policies. The $500m package consisted mostly of projects already announced by the previous Labour-led government, only brought forward a few months, and was very Auckland / North Island centered – the lower South Island gets nothing. The Nats predict that it will save or create 2000 jobs – which is sweet F A when you look at the number of jobs lost recently and predicted for the rest of the year. There was nothing for public transport and an effective reduction in the number of state houses to be retrofitted and built – not very forward looking. While National was quick to lambast Labour’s planned December mini-budget it is clear that they have no plan of their own to help the country weather the current economic situation.
Of The Left
February 13, 2009I’ve always had an opinion on most things, especially those political. Having your Dad share his opinion on almost every item on the 6 o’clock news for 18 years would teach anyone to do so. However, and whilst I’m sure my friends and family would disagree, I’m not always the best at voicing these opinions. This blog will provide me an opportunity to do so.
My political opinions are based around strong beliefs in equality, social justice and environmental stewardship, thus are Of The Left. Whilst I have spent many years throwing my allegiance between the Labour and Green parties, working on Clare Curran’s successful campaign for Dunedin South last year and seeing how Labour has re-grouped and re-energised after the loss of government, has helped me finally find a political home. On Monday I will join the New Zealand Labour Party.
