Yesterday Opposition leader Simon Bridges let forth in parliament with a rant of name calling that would get him banned from my page .
I have the no name calling rule because we can’t have a decent society if we don’t behave decently ourselves.
We have many serious issues confronting our nation that need urgent attention and deserve intelligent debate in our House of Representatives.
Rheumatic Fever , for example – a disease of poverty that affects children in low income families and shortens their lives – is on the rise. Why? Answer – poor housing and a health care system that is particualrly failing Maori and Pasifika kids.
Hunger – 140,000 of our children live in homes where the family income is so low that these families have to cut back on food just to pay the rent and electricity
Housing – yes we STILL have a housing crisis because the gap between what people earn and what houses cost is huge and,like it or not, the government has just rejected Capital Gains Tax – the only thing the government ‘s own tax working group recommended to put a leash on the runaway tax free wealth of the few over the needs of the many .
The Freshwater issue – everything from our tumbling reputation in the world for water quality in our rivers and lakes, to the way fresh water is managed in our country – yes I’m talking about water bottling (especially by overseas interests) and the unresolved issue of Maori rights to this primary resource under the Treaty.
And why are we not hearing these issues feircely argued by “The Opposition” ?
Because there IS no opposition.
There is no real difference in economic philosophy between the Labour led coalition and the National /Act Opposition. They are ALL neoliberals at heart.
The wealthy have nothing to fear from them while the 40% of us who desperately struggle to make ends meet each week pay a 15% tax on their food.
Name calling Mr Bridges?
Really – is that it?
Is that and slushies all you’ve got to show us for the $288,900 base salary plus allowances we pay you each year?
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
Simon Bridges is a demented stool pigeon for corporate global pimp.
he is showing he is very unstable and not well, possibly due to the Jami Lee Ross scandal and pressure on him from Judith Collins.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107848792/national-party-leader-simon-bridges-set-to-announce-outcome-into-expenses-leak-inquiry
He showed a pure ‘crazed’ action of blunt crass yesterday in which the right wing agnostics will relish his aggressive insulting abusive name calling that he seems to want to make it as a normal attitude of parliament.
I agree Bryan that we should turn away from giving this demented man any more oxygen by totally ignoring him, and pressuring Labour to return to the promises made to improve our environment and return a ‘safe healthy well being’ to us all
Hmmm? And still no mention of the rapidly worsening environmental emergency.
For what it’s worth:
‘MPs endorse Corbyn’s call to declare climate emergency
Environment secretary calls for cross-party approach as Labour leader says vote can ‘set off wave of action’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/01/declare-formal-climate-emergency-before-its-too-late-corbyn-warns
Kiwis are getting concerned and involved as the seriousness of CC gets through to even the most ill informed.
https://extinctionrebellion.nz/
https://extinctionrebellion.nz/2019/04/16/press-courageous-rebellion-takes-off-in-aotearoa/
Bridges wife called him a dirty little street fighter. Probably the best pr by a loyal wife. he’s overpromoted yes, but in a way I think Bridges is overpromoted, but genuine and in National because its somewhat conservative and not ultra liberal. Like John Key the core of the current National Party is pretty much the same mix of ambitious noentities, hard left professionals and fillers as Labour. The genuine National party economic liberals were destroyed by Bill English. Brash like some other MPs simply looked like the old National Party but was primarily a useful idiot to help get people like English and Collins into power.
The one think National has going for it is the ultra libertarian constitution which the party was founded with in 1938 that defined it as a capitalist party defending ultra individualism. Most of the MPs have always said it has nothing to do with what the party was about for the last 50 years except in 1985-1999, But the few MPs who genuinely believed in some of the real things National is supposed to be for such as JohnKey, Williamson, Fletcher, Shipley last century and concievably Colman a stauch defender against the medical communists and possibly like Mark a somewhat decent Minister of Defence. The words in that founding constitution provide some sort of frame that socialists bastards like Bill English and most MPs can be fought. And yes Maggie Barry is in some ways a stauch fighter for freedom and a million times more genuine North Shore MP than the communist front and naval budget slasher Wayne Mapp who really is hard leftist who should have been placed with hard hopeless leftist functionaries like Megan Woods and Webb. Ive just watched the Shooton Morrison debate on sky and it was shockingly boring like the plod Morrison< im not sure the liberals are worth anything Credlin is a mutant version of Hanson all out lower police and military recruitment standards lowering varsity fees etc. Like here they really dont differ from Labour and are in many respects worse. Dutton who knows I actually for many aspects of the hard line immigration policies and understand why. But Quuensland and WA are different countries somewhat related to provincial NZ and Auckland. The real Australia in Syndey and Melbourne is half intelligent and half anarchistic.
100% correct. We have a political class divorced from the reality of New Zealand who embrace a divisive destructive ideology: neoliberalism. Campbell live addressed some of these issues as a journalist should compared with entertainment journos we have now.He was too serious and depressing so he disappeared. Now we have 7 sharp with its narcissism and shallow gloss entertainment.
Very good point here, that the Nats aren’t addressing issues which are impacting dreadfully upon the lives of so many New Zealanders.
Why ? Because they don’t care, that’s why.
I saw Bridge’s performance online, and for the first time I thought him a grubby little ratbag. I assumed that he was emulating John Key’s histrionic fishwife outbursts, and that this is how he’s been told to behave to get traction.
The real issues, rheumatic fever, ruined fresh water rivers, homelessness, record suicide deaths, evil electricity costs. hungry kids, etc they are not addressing.
Why ? Because they don’t care, that’s why.
Further, they are directly responsible for most, if not all of it.
I remember as a primary school girl a pupil getting rheumatic fever, and the shock impact at school, and in the local community. It was spoken of in the same hushed tones as a murder, so much so that I went home and asked my mother how LD got rheumatic fever and she said by doing things like wearing wet school uniform blouses.
In Christchurch, in those days, that family was stigmatised for carrying rheumatic fever, which was thought shameful.
It is sobering and shocking that rheumatic fever is now prevalent in deprived communities. It is outrageous. It is sad.But I am not going to blame only National for that, when govts have been underfunding and wrecking our social systems for years. Trashing people.
Defence of the realm ? Nah. Defence of that small minority best able to defend themselves.
Bridges trying to channel his mentor and look like he’s a tough guy.
Remember this https://youtu.be/tID_62Po0ms (watch Bill English).
Excellent post Bryan, low wages vs high housing costs is the main issue for the underclass. It gobbles up so much of our meagre incomes that cause the struggles for the bottom 40%. Labours cowardly rejection of a CGT is disgraceful and shows a disturbing support for neo-lib. I totally agree Bryan that so many just don’t care, at all for the bottom 40. So glad I backed NZF, they despite their faults are sort of working against the neo-lib and help the less well off.
I read a book once. It was a good book. I liked it.
It was a science fiction book and no, it didn’t have pictures. It was all words, thank you very much to those of you with inquiring minds.
It was about a space ship fresh out of a time/space jump whereby the crew thought they knew what they were doing, but didn’t, so it transpired. “Oops!” was what was most said on board as they untangled themselves from the tubes they had up their bums as they vomited on the floor while coming out of suspended animation. It’s what happens, apparently.
So, there they were in God only knows where in deepest space. Think the vacuum where judith collins’ heart should be?
But wait? There’s more!
What they discovered was that the Universe visible to those on board was cleanly divided in two. One half was stars and galaxies etc; the other half was black as ink. Nothing.
So, they deployed their mighty instruments to try and figure out what, the fuck, the Big Black was.
It was solid-as man! What’s more and to the delight of the on-board toilet paper salesperson, ‘it’ was mysteriously pulling them toward ‘it’ at an alarmingly increasing speed against which the crew and their trusty space ship were powerless to resist.
Faster! Faster! Ever Faster! Think your wages disappearing before your very eyes while the surly, low paid check out person at the supermarket ratchets up the cost of your sugary-shit groceries?
Faster! ! ! !
The vast Big Black was now taking up the entire windscreen as their spaceship hurtled towards it!
The Mighty Instruments were being less than reassuring by telling the crew that impact was imminent and at great speed so expect a less than desirable outcome!
Just then! They began to slow down mysteriously and as they neared the surface of the Big Black, at about 10 km out, a port hole appeared on the surface just large enough to allow the ship to pop through unharmed and behold! They found themselves inside a vast bubble, in the middle of which was a warm sun shinning out onto a world, inside out and lining the sphere! I know! Awesome right?
Having regained control of the ship ( Or did they crash land? I can’t remember.) Because of their speed, they landed millions of kilometres away from their entry point in a rich jungle at the foot of huge mountains by a lake etc. And so began their adventures.
My point is:
‘They’ have us so entwined in AO/NZ’s Big Black Lie that we can’t see it for its size and proximity to us.
And all our politicians find they can do once elected, even the rare ones with good intentions, is to do their best at keeping our country’s float bladder correctly inflated lest the wonderful/shocking truth gets back out the porthole so as we can pull the tubes from out our bums and spew our guts out once we discover the horrible truth. That we’ve been fucked over. For years. And years and years. 4.7 mil of us. AO/NZ? 25 K sq km BIGGER than UK @ 70mil. AO/NZ = rich-as in vital, life sustaining, globally vital resources yet flat broke and in debt to foreign banksters?
Does anyone else wonder why that is??? Use your common sense. Never mind the brain fogging MSM with its gibberish and pap. They’ve demonised our agriculture, they have us hating on filthy farmers, the farmers who farm the stuff that we sell to make our money! ( Excluding Dairy. That’s a different, disastrous and industrialised thing. You wait? Until the U$A’ers get here with their feedlot ‘farming’. ) They keep us tethered by debt to the cities, they lie to us as they pimp booze at us via supermarkets to assuage the anxiety they sell us and by doing so, they knowingly addict us to ethanol… Does anyone else not think that, that is all a bit iffy? Anyone? Poverty, homelessness, despair then madness then the grave ( Yay! Nick Cave! ) isn’t the problem by and of itself. It’s a symptom. You guys just need to wake the fuck up. C’mon! Time’s running out!
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