You can't unshit the bed, Mr Key

*Advice from danylmc @ The Dimpost

Besties

Beasties

Join the dots

John Slater, Cameron Key

Nasty Politics

Russel Norman reveals the National Party as corrupt

I don't like wetlands, they're swamps

Sabin: Environmentalists are concerned about digging up the area.

Collins: Are they? Oh well...

Swamp kauri.

Nasty orcs.

From The Porcupine Farm

(Click for larger view - visit the farm)

Dead cows could affect election

Federated Farmers' dairy chairman Willy Leferink is advising farmers to keep hidden the carcasses of dead animals so as not to influence the coming election, according to this report.

Kinda sick, isn't it.

Ludemann - gutter-talk exposed

Annette Gunther's as Blue as they come. She served the National Party as electorate chairman back in the day and has been outspoken in the media in response to several letters that I've written over time, so her political preferences have never been a mystery. Today, that changed, thanks to the snarky public comment by Ele Ludemann, published in The Southland Times recently.
Here's the letter from Annette, published in today's paper:

"Comment unwarranted

As a former electorate chairman for the old Awarua electorate my voting preferences in the past didn't take a rocket scientist to work out.
 However, the report in Monday's edition of your paper has truly altered that preference.
 The National Party regional chairman Ele Ludemann's comment on the benefit of Labour having an "unwanted candidate" for the Invercargill electorate has sadly cost Invercargill and Ms Dowie my vote.
  This comment is totally unwarranted and I hope the Invercargill campaign does not continue this trend toward the gutter."

ANNETTE GUNTHER
Wallacetown.

Ms Ludemann was ill-advised, and advised I'm sure she was, to make the un-called-for comment. Her doing so was however, no surprise to me, having heard on many occasions at public meetings, Bill English employ the same "gutter" methods in order to cast aspersions on his opponents and where the slagging was too nasty even for him, use proxies in the audience to do the sledging. All part of the National Party (un) fair-play-book.
Ms Ludemann should be ashamed, but I suspect she'll brash it out, just as Collins, Parata, Bennett, Tolley et al do on a regular basis. It's nasty behaviour, in my opinion, from a party that embraces such behaviour and even seems to revel in it.

Collins - deeper hole, still digging

It's getting worse for Judith Collins. People are noticing. And writing comments. Here's one:

Clemgeopin6
19 March 2014 at 12:52 pm

Some thoughts:

[1] Cup of Tea Collins says, “So I had no idea where I was.” Does she know where she is at now?
[2] Key said she was on her final warning. Hasn’t she passed it now? Will Key sack her now or just swallow?
[3] Key said the Cabinet office ‘cleared ‘her! How do we know that to be true? Why then does he not release the advice?
[4] Key’s and Nat party response so far is a clear indication that Collin’s Oravida BS has already harmed and will continue to hurt Key and the National party.
[5] Key today advised Labour saying, “Oravida focus bad for votes”! Since when was Key a well wisher of Labour party? Is he saying that Labour should simply concentrate on their policies but even though they are the main opposition party, they should simply ignore the corrupt goings on with regard to Oravida and Collins? I think Key is actually very worried that the Oravida scandal and knows that it is bad for ‘National’ vote, not Labours!
[6] Some NAT/ACT supporters are deliberately or cunningly missing the point: It is the corruption angle for personal gain that is paramount in this scandal here.
[7] Also, now in China they shoot the bribe taking corrupt officials. Hence that custom official’s presence at the dinner is so significant. Something is rotten in the states of China and New Zealand!
[8] It is obvious and any fool will know that it was a pre-arranged dinner, not something she just happened to ‘pop in for a cup of tea’ on way to the airport. This sort of crap explanation to justify BS is unforgivable and insulting to our intelligence.
[9] Seems like a tax payer funded misuse of official position/trip for personal/family financial benefit and also party’s benefit in donation. Definitely serious conflict of interest.
[10] On the one hand, I think Collins very unbecoming behaviour with the Oravida saga is definitely a sackable shameful offense, but on the other hand, it would be good if she remains until the election so that every time we look at her or Key, we will be reminded of how discredited and corrupt this coalition regime has actually been!

Right-wing support for Judith Collins' lies - Te Reo Putake comments

(Background: Judith Collins claimed she 'popped in for a cup of tea/milk on her way to the airport.

Seems it wasn't a cuppa, wasn't popping in, and the venue was no where near the 'way to the airport').

Te Reo Putake3
19 March 2014 at 11:21 am

Because they are so very consistent, I’m expecting howls of indignation from the right about this. After all, when Helen Clark was driven through Canterbury at high speed, and said she didn’t really notice because she was head down concentrating on her work, the right called for her head.

Of course, there is a small difference; Clark said she was working, Collins said she was goofing off because she had nothing better to do while waiting for her flight. Gosh, it’s so hard to tell which is worse, eh?

The stupidest blog-post I've ever read

Yes, it's Keeping Stock again. Not surprised? Nor I.
Here is his vacuous, petty post in full for your entertainment. It's not every day he reaches this level of puerility, so it's worth having a quick read to see just how silly he, and those who thrum to his words, can get.

A wasteful stunt



How much would 83,000 plastic spoons cost?


Why would we ask this question? Well; check this out:

Thousands of spoons are being transformed into a graphic sculpture in West Auckland in a bid to draw attention to the plight of impoverished Kiwi kids.

Work began on the roadside artwork in the suburb of Te Atatu at 8am today. The project is the brainchild of Auckland artist Donna Turtle Sarten.

By 8.30pm on Sunday, 83,000 white plastic spoons will be inserted along the verge of the seaward side of the road before and after the Gloria Ave roundabout.

Each spoon represents a child in New Zealand that goes to school with no food each day.

''We are installing 83,000 spoons ... that is how many children go to school everyday without lunch,'' Sarten said.

''I believe we need to feed the kids in schools so they have a better chance at learning.''

One hundred and twenty volunteers are involved in the installation of the artwork, each placing about 690 spoons into the turf during their allotted three-hour shifts.

Work is to continue on Sunday between 8am-11am and 5.30pm-8.30pm.




So we did some research. The Party Warehouse sells packs of 100 spoons for $6.90 (GST inclusive); 6.9 cents per spoon. you'd need 830 packs of 100 spoons to get your 83,000 total, so that's $5727.00, just for the spoons. Add in the cost of all the 120 volunteers getting there, and you're probably looking at something between $7,500 and $10,000 being spent.


Let's settle on a figure of $8,000 all up. With a 1kg box of Weetbix on special at Countdown this week (containing 32 Weetbix) at $4.99 (down from $7.49) and a 1 litre bottle of Home Brand milk at $2.25, you could put a lot of food in a lot of kids' bellies for $8,000. In fact a large packet of Weetbix and a bottle of milk is pretty much the same price as 100 plastic spoons, so let's round everything off, and say that you could give around 6,400 hungry kids Weetbix and milk for breakfast one day.


We wonder if Donna Turtle Sarten and her fellow protestors/artists have thought this stunt through. It's blatantly wasteful, and given that the spoons won't be able to be reused after having been stuck into ground where goodness only knows what has been, they'll clog up a landfill somewhere.




If you're going to protest against child poverty, then good on you. But to do it in such a wasteful manner is both irresponsible, and hypocritical.

But if it’s not illegal is it cheating?

Ele Ludemann, Rightwing blogger, National Party stalwart, friend of John and Bill asks:

"But if it’s not illegal is it cheating?"

There it is, ladies and gentlemen.

The Blue Bottom Line.

Kinda creepy, given that their answer is and always has been, "Well...no!"

Greens skewer Key on asset-sale wastage

National has cost taxpayers over $440m so far with its asset sales policy, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.


The Crown Financial Statements to the end of November 2013, released today, show that the sale of Meridian and Air New Zealand added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the asset sales programme. When the cost of those sales is combined with the cost of the Mighty River Power sale and ancillary costs such as the Rio Tinto payout, the total cost of the asset sales now stands at $440m.

“John Key has mishandled the asset sales so badly that it has cost taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars,” said Dr Norman.

“National told us they would make hundreds of millions of dollars by selling the assets for more than their book value. Instead, they’ve lost over $200m by hocking the assets off cheaply.

“On top of that, there’s been the hand-out to Rio Tinto, Waitangi claim costs, and tens of millions of dollars to the brokers, ad-men, and lawyers.

“A decent government would be spending its time and money on creating well-paying, sustainable jobs for New Zealanders. National’s wasted its time and the public’s money on an asset sales agenda that New Zealanders didn’t want.

“New Zealanders voted by a margin of more than 2 to 1 against National’s asset sales in the referendum held in December. It’s time National listened and abandoned the sale of Genesis,” said Dr Norman.

Magnets banned!

The National Government has banned magnets.
Banned.
Magnets.
National.

Robert Winter uses "internecine"

I used the word myself recently, in jest, and wondered if it might be sitting anywhere else about the place by way of example and was delighted to stumble across it this morning, in a very well written piece by Robert Winter @ Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. Internecine (Inter - knee - sign). It's a powerful word.
"Today's Herald editorial shows how the sun has set on Teflon John's world. Up to the Teapot Fiasco, he was invulnerable. A mistake made? He boyishly shrugged it off, and we (apparently) forgave him and thought what a refreshing change from the steely (and professional) Ms Clark. Caught fibbing? We accepted human foibles, and waved him on.
Now, with his government in constant crisis, his policies in wreckage, his party riven by internecine dispute about succession, MPs worried about their career prospects after 2014, and the polls falling, the Herald no longer sees the boyish amateurism as attractive. It's become an insulting behaviour, compounded by arrogance and a profound sense of the right to govern regardless of popular concerns. Mr Joyce, nowprimus inter pares amongst the ministerial crowd, is the epitome of this arrogance, and one hears about its ramifications across Wellington and the public service.

How the mighty have fallen. Politics is a hard road to follow."

Shameless Strippers

"61 politicians just conclusively proved they are crooks. Voting for the asset stripping bill."


Kerry Thomas

Private school privilege

Why is it, people might be wondering, that New Zealand's private schools received a $35 million 'boost' from the National Government, soon after they took office? Why is it, they might continue to wonder, that private schools were not included in National's national standards reforms and don't have to test and report the way state schools do?
Why is it, do you think, that private schools are able to continue to advertise the educational advantages of lower class sizes, while State schools are told that class size makes no difference and that they will have to have larger classes now, thanks to the latest Budget?
It's very odd.
Someone has pointed out that the children of National Party MPs generally attend private schools, recipients of National's largess, schools that are exempt from the austerity measures of the Budget and exempt from the authoritarian national standards regime.
Those making the suggestions that the National Party MPs putting these measures in place might be doing so because they and their children will not be affected by the cuts and extra pressures, are being accused by the commentators of the Right, of being 'envious'.
I suppose they might be a little. Watching one section of society being treated in a privileged way can be irritating, to say the least.
Hekia Parata's Budget stuff-up, where she's gutted the Intermediate schools in one arrogant stroke of her blue pen, shows how haughtily out of touch National ministers have become and how damaging to New Zealand society their self-serving decisions are.
Back to school, all of them. A State school, that is.

National Party philosophy, revealed!

Ele Luudman, friend to all who are Blue, posting on her blog Homepaddock, today confirmed a key piece of National Party policy with this nugget:


"The golden rule still applies – those with the gold make the rules."

It was such a clear expose of Natty belief that I can't really add to what Ele has said, so I'll leave it as it is, trumpeting loud and clear the intentions of Bill, John and the rest of Team Midas.