The Daily Blog Watch Tuesday 23 April

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Today’s Daily Blog Watch Round-Up of matters that have attracted the attention, assessments, and articulations of this country’s leading bloggers…

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NZ Left Blogosphere

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TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

It’s not even Election Year, but still  the country’s political environment is heating up to a campaign-fever level. Whether it’s Labour’s affordable housing project or the Green-Labour NZ Power policy – the opposition is positioning itself as a credible Government-In-Waiting.

National, meanwhile, has an increasingly lame duck Prime Minister whose credibility has had  so many hits that you have to ask; when is the last time anyone referred to John Key as “teflon John” ?

The political blogosphere is still mesmerised by the boldness of the Labour-Green joint policy on NZ Power.  And well it should be. Despite becoming a somewhat cliched term, this is the game-changer. The Right is, well, rightly  running around like the proverbial,

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John Key, Steven Joyce, and Simon Bridges
John Key, Steven Joyce, and Simon Bridges

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So much so that, as Tumeke reports, National Minister, Steven Joyce is just about wetting his ministerial frilly-panties at the thought of a resurgent Left.  Check out Joyce: saboteur where Tim derides the “red menace” scare and puts a size 9 boot into the idea of subsidising share-holders of potentially privatised SOEs. Read and share on Facebook, comrade Kiwis. (If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How can I fight Dear Leader and his corrupt cronies?” – do it through social media.)

The Right Wing hate social media (unless it’s theirs, eg; Fascistbook – not to be confused with Facebook).

The Jackal seems to be on a roll, and his (her?)  Keys track record  is a brilliant expose of Key’s less-than-stirling track record.   Don’t just read this – bookmark it and keep it for future reference.

Also by the Jackal,  Bob wants higher power prices. A good little psycho-analysis of the mental state of free marketeers.

This is what good blogging is all about, peeps.

With Julian Savea charged with allegedly assaulting his partner, Ludditejourno says I want to hear the All Blacks say It’s Not OK on The Hand Mirror. We have a lonnnnng way to go in our society…

Yesterday, I referred to The Dim Post showing that the scare-mongering by the Right on the Fall of Civilisation (and a drop in the sharemarket) was a pile of steaming, warm, fresh, bovine faecal matter. It’s worth presenting the link again to Danyl’s  blogpost;  Chart of the day, destruction of wealth vs destruction of independent thought edition.

So any time some slavish follower of the Share Market screeches and complains that,

  • Shares in Contact Energy are falling,
  • The Sky is falling
  • London Bridge is falling (down)

– just post this link to him/her and tell them to get over themselves. As we tried to reassure and calm  homophobic bigots recently  – yes, Muriel, the sun will rise tomorrow.

The Civilian shares her/his Opinion: I am the man who decided to insert a hot dog into the crust of a pizza. I must be stopped. And makes this observation,

And, lo and behold, Domino’s now have a double bacon cheeseburger pizza on their menu. This is, of course, stupid. If you want a cheeseburger, buy a cheeseburger. If you want a pizza, buy a pizza. If you want both, then you ought to sit down and have a good think about where you’re going in life.

Sound advice for everyone…

The issue of preserving our native long-fin eel is discussed by David Cunliffe on Red Alert in his piece,  Saving New Zealand’s own eel. He makes a good case and anything that raises this problem in the public consciousness is to be commended.

Um… just one question… why is David Cunliffe writing about eels when his considerable talents should be unleashed at this crumbling ‘government’? Not that a threatened species is any less important… but shouldn’t be be primed; aimed; and fired at someone like Joyce or English?

Anyhow, it’s a good piece and worth a read & share. And I hope the incoming Labour-Green government in 2014 (or earlier) address this growing critical problem.

Also on the issue of the long-fin eel, Forest & Bird presents this blogpost by Mandy –  PCE echoes calls for a moratorium on commercial long-fin eel harvestingThe blogpost features an excellent infographic which can be shared on social media. Read and share, folks!

On other environmental issues, Gareth writes on Hot Topic, about the worsening time bomb that is climate change.  Thin Ice: the inside story of climate science, is,

“…a documentary about climate science, filmed and put together by VUW geophysics professor Simon Lamb. The idea for Thin Ice – the inside story of climate science was born over a cup of tea in Wellington in 2006, when Peter Barrett of VUW suggested that Lamb, then at Oxford, make the film. Lamb went on to visit many parts of the world, and talk to a who’s who of climate scientists. Should be well worth a couple of hours of anyone’s time — especially those prone to accusing climate scientists of fraud.”

No Right Turn reviews Gareth Hughes’  “Hey Clint” moment on TV in  A look inside the sausage factory. I saw the item on TV news and whilst it was a typical self-deprecating,  “John Key” blokey-style moment – Labour and Green MPs have to be a bit more careful in trying to pull off that kind of laid-back attitude. It can easily turn to custard.

Even now, Dear Leader’s “laid back-ness” is  seen as more like buffoonery.

And speaking of Key’s buffoonery, Idiot/Savant has a few things to say about Mighty River Power’s  $100 million and where that money is going. Clue; not to us.

Its law – I/S reminds us that Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act  received the Royal Assent today. And also points out that the scorn we place on organised religion is often well-placed, when said Churches insist on maintaining their bigotted stances.

C’mon you fundamentalist fools, grow up. Do you wonder why you’re losing more and more of your congregation?? Because you’re about as relevant to the 21st Century as the guy who used to walk in front of auty-mo-biles, with as red flag…

The reader, on Bat-Bean-Beam writes a very interesting piece on the latest item of 21st Century, gadgetry – the eBook reader. He raises a interesting observation that these gadgets may actually be influencing the way we read.

Personally, I prefer books made of paper and cardboard. (Though the guy who used to walk in front of my car with a red flag suffered a wee “accident” when I planted boot on the accelerator…)

Will eBooks replace paper & cardboard? Nah, not at all. Just as vinyl is making a comeback for music, I think the paper book is something that just feels right in our hands.

An interesting piece from  the  Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective here; Woman Photographs Herself Receiving Strange Looks in Public. Human nature… still a lonnnng way to go.

And then we’re looking at The Standard, where the engine-room of the Left is very much operating at top speed,

  • Economic sabotage, by
  • And more on the issue, in  Loss of wealth? No, a redistribution of wealth by
  • Meanwhile, in the real world, writes Eddie, “John Key, Bill English, and Steven Joyce are now devoting all their energy into trying to stop the asset sales programme collapsing after the Greens and Labour gave notice the excessive profits are going to end, and National confirmed they’re for real by suspending the sale” – and follows up with an apalling story of a family in dire need in Christchurch.

Let us not forget that whilst Share Traders, CEOs, fund managers, National ministers, et al, all wank on about falling share prices and falling profits – that many families are living in apalling circumstances of poverty. Many either can’t afford the basic necessity of electricity – or make cuts in their groceries to pay bills.

And we should be concerned with investors losing out – why?

Screw the share market. Come back to us when you’ve spent a week in a cold, unlit house with no hot water.

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Blogpost of the Day

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From Imperator Fish, Paul Quinn won’t return to Parliament.

Read and snort! (Or, if you’re on-line like me, Read and Laugh Out Loud!)

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News Item of the Day

On Scoop, it is announced that the Urewera Four Declined Leave To Appeal To Supreme Court

Of course.

Allowing the Urewera Four leave to appeal... that would be such a bad thing, right? Jeez-on-a-stick, nek minit, there might be a novel outcome – actual justice! We cain’t have that now, eh Jethro?

The Supreme Court stated,

“We are not satisfied that it is necessary in the interests of justice for this Court to hear and determine the proposed appeals. None of the matters raised is, when properly analysed, of general or public importance. Nor do we consider a substantial miscarriage of justice may occur if we do not hear the appeals.”

Supreme Court, my spotty arse.

More like Supreme Injustice.

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~oo~