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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
It’s Budget Day. So let’s see what bloggers have to say…
No Right Turn – Idiot/Savant’s response to Da Budjit is a succint “Meh“. Can’t says I blame him. I/S writes,
“That’s the only way to describe this year’s Budget. Another privatization – Meridian Energy this time – and a lot of reshuffling of spending, to achieve what? 5%-plus unemployment, stretching on as far as the eye can see. National’s supposed “recovery” will be a jobless one, which will grow the underclass while funneling more money to their mates at the top…”
It is her job, writes I/S about Collins, who is refusing to sit down and negotiate with other political parties over the Electoral Commission’s recommendations on MMP.
Read why multinational Amazon are Still tax cheats. Until multinationals are treated with the same disdain that Tories view so-called beneficiary cheats, countries will miss out on tax revenue and ordinary people will suffer austerity policies from their governments. Yeah, it’s that simple.
Idiot/Savant writes briefly on two private members’ Bills Drawn in the House.
One of the shortest blog-posts on Frankly Speaking (Frank does not do “short & concise”), Frank Macskasy writes that if Meridian Power is next on the block to be sold, he’s changing to Genesis. Well, it is. And he is.
On Frogblog, we have;
- Kevin Hague makes a pre-Budget Health Budget predictions and alternatives. Compare for yourself what Kevin has predicted and what has come to pass.
- In Green vision for education or charter schools? by Catherine Delahunty, she condemns the Bill facilitating Charter Schools saying,
“We utterly reject the concept of unregistered teachers, business models in schools and the lack of scrutiny that the Bill sets up.”
- Hands across the sand opposing risky deep sea oil by Gareth Hughes, who is promoting a campaign (via Facebook) to oppose the dangers of deep sea drilling of our Coastline. (See more below under “Action of the Day“)
Question of the day has to go to Phillip Ure on Whoar!, who has a comment:..some budget-questions. And a very good question it is! Phillip also makes some excellent points in a simple way, without all the economist’s bullshit jargon.
Micky savage on Waitakere News sez that The GCSB will neither confirm nor deny that he is one of the GCSB 88. Mickey sez that in response to an inquiry, the GCSB responded that they can “neither confirm nor deny” that he is one of the 88 that the spy agency illegally spied on.
To which Mickey replies,
“All this neither confirming nor denying made me feel like I am a nuclear weapons capable US warship.”
ROFLMAO!!!
Danyl in The Dim Post writes about the Voight-kampff test of the day, and Judith Collins’ response. I looked at it… and looked… and looked… I know Collins was trying to ‘make funny‘… but… Collins? Funny?
Verdict: fail.
The Civilian gives us his response to The Budget,
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What’s in the Budget? – The BEST analysis since… whenever! It makes as much sense (more, actually) then English reading it out. Have a read. Seriously. You’ll be sniggering for days to come…
- Initially, though Bill English leaves Budget at home, says printer broke. Seriously? Why not – the practical result might be the same.
- And read up on Budget 2013: New Zealanders hope for state-owned Georgie Pie, concerned about possibility of llama tax. If you own a llama, you may want to read this.
On Labour’s Red Alert, Sue Moroney announces that her Privacy Bill will be Debated in the House. Sue writes that,
“From ACC to EQC, through to the deliberate privacy breaches committed by Minister Paula Bennett against two sole parents, the breaching of New Zealanders’ private information has been rife under National.”
Put it into the Bucket, Sue, for reforms after the 2014 general election. The incoming Labour-Green-Mana(-NZ First) government is going to be very, very busy after 2014.
Check out The Pundit for 15 things you need to know about Syria, by Josie Pagani. Josie presents a cogent set of arguments on both sides, whether or not to intervene in Syria’s civil war. This is a Must Read, if only to put the daily ‘stories’ on TV news into some kind of coherent context.
Check out QoT’s piece on [Ill-fitting] bras are tools of the patriarchy. Whether you’re a bloke, blokette, trans-bloke, trans-blokette… (I’m gonna get my spotty bum whacked for this), this is a damn fine blogpost on Ideologically Impure. Supposedly about bras – it’s a whole lot more. As ever, QoT puts a new slant on things that is definitely outside-the-box. Recommended.
Tumeke’s Tm Selwyn analyses Budget 2013, and makes a very interesting observation,
“Government to use bulk purchasing power to buy cheaper whiteware for beneficiaries.
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Isn’t this another rung on the ladder of dependency? Are they going to offer cheap cars too on the same rationale? This is not what I would expect from the anti-nanny Nats. Here the Nats were in hysterics claiming the Labour-Green policy of a government buyer of electricity on the consumers’ behalf was communism, and now: a government buyer of electrical appliances. Confusing. Hopefully a good deal for everyone, but confusing coming from National. Being the Nats, I wonder if this is really just a bit of corporate welfare for one of their mates (retailers or manufacturers).”
Interesting, eh?
Bulk-buying of electricity (by Labour-Greens): bad.
Bulk-buying of white-ware (by National-ACT-Dunne): good.
Sometimes I’m stuffed if I know what makes a National Minister’s brain tick.
Matt L on the Auckland Transport Blog writes that Government will override their Housing Accord with the Council. Indeed, if New Zealanders noticed, central government has taken a centralised planning/decision approach that would make North Korea and Cuba blush,
“In other words, if the council and government can’t come to an agreement on the locations for the special housing areas, the government will simply override the council and do what they want.”
Fuck me! And the Nats complained of Helen Clark’s “Helengrad”???? This is Back To The Future with Muldoon-style centralised planning from the Ninth Floor. (Are the Nats trying to put marxists out of business? C’mon you naughty Tories, stick to your own right wing shit. Leave socialism to the Left!!!)
We might as well do away with local bodies altogether.
Just put Nick Smith in charge of every city and town in the country!
Meanwhile, the Greens – on their Party website have condemned National’s cutting of payments to people caring for disabled family members. (Remember, what the Nats give with one hand… ) In Green Party response to family care legislation, Catherine Delahunty wrote,
The Government’s rush to pass legislation to restrict payments to those caring for disabled family members is deeply disappointing, Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty said today.
Parents caring for disabled children haven’t been allowed to receive payments for the work they do. However in 2011, the Human Rights Review Tribunal ruled that such families were being discriminated against. The Government unsuccessfully appealed this decision all the way through to the Court of Appeal. In Budget 2013, the Government tabled legislation that would restrict future claims by carers for compensation.
“This Bill is an attack on the rights of disabled people who want to pay a family member to care for them and an attack on the right to challenge discrimination,” Ms Delahunty said today.
“National’s actions will lead to more stress for families caring for their disabled offspring.
“The families caring for their disabled family members are not greedy people.
“The work they do is hard and demanding.
“The $92 million, budgeted over the next four years, is not going to be available to family carers unless the Ministry of Health or the district health board decides to pay them and then they can be paid less than non-family carers.
“The aim of this legislation is to stop pay-outs, not to assist families,” Ms Delahunty said.
Ok, that’s a media release, I know. But it shows the depths to which National will go to deprive New Zealanders of what is rightfully due to them.
On Open Parachute, read why the Pseudosceptics are at it again – misrepresenting and attacking climate scientists. It’s a critique on Rodney Hide’s bullshit in a recent NBR op-ed. Hide writes,
“That’s religious zealotry in action. Science is never that certain.”
Really, Rodney? Let’s put that to the test, shall we?
Go to the top of Auckland Sky Tower. Stand out over an open ledge. No parachute. No harness. No ropes. No personal jetpack. Say to yourself, “gravity is a myth – it does not exist”. Step out into open air. Await result.
Right wing anti-intellectuals – always on some crazy, goofy, crusade to return us to the Dark Ages.
The Standard has a good look at the Budget,
- A Budget Round-Up. Looking at the main points. Excellent bullet-points of main areas.
- A banquet for the elite, crumbs for the poor, sez
- ‘That’s what the fuss is all about’ – where
- More on Labour on MMP “consultation”, by
- And Strong support for NZ Power, with a “Greens commissioned poll that shows 40% of people support NZ Power and 34% oppose. Interestingly, 34% is approximately the percentage of National’s base support. I wonder if National supporters can be identified and excluded from the NZ Power programme – whilst the rest of us are offered cheaper electricity….? Just a thought.
And probably the best Budget summary, by Keith Ng, on Public Address. Read Budget 2013: Bringing Down the House (Prices), but not really for a good look at the ins and outs of English’s attempt at a Budget. (And then weep for our country, for the half-wit that Southlanders elected.) Keith points out that,
“”[Extending] the child support border arrest system for the most non-compliant overseas-based borrowers”
That’s kinda like how North Korea operates it’s border policies.
And people thought that the Left called Key ‘Dear Leader’ flor a joke? Fuck no. It was a glimpse into our future.
God help this country.
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Action of the Day
With the Government’s announcement a couple of weeks ago that they are opening up 190,000 more square kilometres to oil drilling, there’s never been so much at stake in the movement to protect our waters, coasts and climate from deep sea oil.
And Aotearoa is responding. Opposition to this risky extreme form of oil extraction has been building steadily, and this weekend folks are coming out all over Aotearoa to draw a line in the sand and say no to deep sea oil, and yes to a more sustainable future.
Hands Across the Sand is a global day of action and there are events popping up all over the place. Check out the list below, and there may be more to come!
The movement against deep sea oil is growing stronger every day, and I’ll be getting along to the Wellington event this weekend to join with other kiwis drawing a line in the sand against deep sea oil.
Auckland North Shore: https://www.facebook.com/events/158426560993768/
Ohope: https://www.facebook.com/events/474087352660025/
Wellington: https://www.facebook.com/events/360254350743502/
Golden Bay : https://www.facebook.com/events/362837330494867
Motueka – https://www.facebook.com/events/564546143568206/
Nelson: https://www.facebook.com/events/453304271417629/
Kaikoura: https://www.facebook.com/events/459355244142855/
Christchurch: https://www.facebook.com/events/371511899631561/
and Dunedin: https://www.facebook.com/events/520755497982218/
Gareth Hughes will also be holding a stall on Cuba street to let other Wellingtonians know about the threat to our very own coast and give out some information, he’d love for you to join me! He’ll be at the bucket fountains at 11am, or check out the Facebook event here:
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Thought for the Day
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~oo~
