Southland Regional Council chairman, Ali Timms recently flew to Auckland to attend the Bluegreen forum. The Bluegreens are a splinter of the National Party log, that would, if it could, attract some 'green' vote from the New Zealand public. They failed, at the last election, to do so, according to Ms Timms' report published in the agenda for the up-coming Ordinary Meeting of Council. In the report, our chairman states that "there was widespread acknowledgement that the Green Party has captured most of NZ's green vote." This is no great surprise to a Green like myself and the reasons for National's failure to appeal to the green thinker are obvious - pimping mining, drilling and fracking, the strangulation on the Department of Conservation, the opening up of our marine areas for aquaculture etc, etc are not behaviors that appeal to the environmentally-aware New Zealander, looking to use their vote to protect our country's natural beauty.
I wish I'd been at the conference myself - I'd happily have put them straight on where they are going wrong.
Ms Timms closed her report with a rather odd statement, saying,
"Quote of the day, was about someone "who has voted for the Greens even though their social manifesto was rubbish".
I wonder why she wrote that?
I'll ask at Wednesday's meeting.
I like this woman. The Greens "social manifesto" is rubbish in quite a few areas, it seems like a cut and paste from the Marxist's handbook.
ReplyDeleteI know several people who "against their better judgement" voted for the Greens because of a love for the environment.
But the Greens shouldn't kid themselves, their social policy is at the more extreme end and is largely theory based on extreme left wing ideology that has often been a spectacular failure in the past.
The single biggest limitation to the Greens getting a larger vote is their stubborn refusal to separate the environment from pet left wing ideology.
The environmental movement was hijacked in the 60's, it is time it stood again on it's own.
We have the Mana party for that now anyway.
Please enlarge on your already turgid view here, Shunda. Give us a detail or two of the 'social manifesto' that inflames you so (leave out the 'smacking' stuff if you will. John Key has claimed that as his own.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, my point is, why is Ms Timms publishing a political statement like this in a Council document?
btw, I remember you say this,
ReplyDelete"The single biggest limitation to the Greens getting a larger vote is their stubborn refusal to separate the environment from pet left wing ideology." prior to the last election, when the Green vote increased significantly. I suspect you'll be still saying it when they overtake Labour and become 1st equal in size to the National Party (coming soon!)
May I ask in what capacity Ali attended? i.e. as a rep of the council or otherwise?
ReplyDeleteYes, as chairman of the Council. Last year our Deputy chair attended the Bluegreen conference in Akaroa.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong Robert, the Greens have some good policy that I strongly agree with.
ReplyDeleteBut they only got 10% of the vote when the main left party was in disarray. You may think this is good, but I don't, it appears a good number of people didn't even vote at all when faced with the prospect of voting Green.
The latest intake of new Green MPs seem like more of the same political ideologues to me, with a couple that sound even quite bigoted. One even got a dressing down on her first post on frogblog by (usually) quite supportive people, and quite deservedly too.
The whole stunt with Mojo was a resounding failure and the sabre rattling just puts people off.
Ditch the ideological extremists and watch the votes pour in.
"The greens "social manifesto" is rubbish in quite a few areas,it seems like a cut and paste from the Marxist's handbook"
ReplyDeleteShunda Burunda, I like your style.
Shunda and his 'style' are proving enmpty of substance on this issue. I asked you to provide even one instance, of this 'extreme left-wing ideology' that so irks you, but nothing, not a skerrick, a hint, a morsel of any example of what you so often allude to. I have to assume you're nothing but froth, Shunda, and you, FBB, an admirer of said froth. Where's your argument?
ReplyDeleteI see nothing (apologies to Sergeant Shultz).
I asked you to provide even one instance, of this 'extreme left-wing ideology' that so irks you,
ReplyDeleteAnything to do with legitimateparental authority, anything to do with enabling welfare abuse, anything to do with food, light bulbs, human rights, you name it.
All these things are seen through a very far left lens/ideology and would do a lot of harm to society in my opinion.
You can't make people change, but you can change peoples thinking when you earn a voice and communicate in a way that doesn't unnecessarily offend them.
So Robert, why did Sue Bradford go to the Mana party?
ReplyDeleteWere her critics right about her all along?
crikey RG you will need to send some heart pills to these two old codgers before the cough their last in a fit of apoplexy
ReplyDeletemaybe they would be cured by going to a bluegreens meeting with said chairman
Apoplexy??
ReplyDeleteNo, you quite misunderstand, I didn't vote for the Greens.
"You can't make people change"
ReplyDeleteShunda, Shunda, Shunda. Not swapping over to the new road rules this Sunday then?
As for your 'anything to do with' list, it's pish, entirely lacking in substance and bereft of detail. You can't make claims without some sort of actual example to build a response around, and be regarded as valid.
Give it another go.
As for Sue Bradford's motivation - you what???
Her critics, right about her? Her critics haven't been right about anything Shunda. Why would they have had it right in that instance?
darkhorse - bluegreens meeting? I went to a couple of those. At one, the past chairman of the Council stood up, uninvited, and launched into an over-heated rant on the evils of organic farming. The subject wasn't even vaguely topical. The bluegreens in the room, to their credit, looked slightly disgusted.
ReplyDeleteas in all things reasonable people can be found in the most unreasonable of company and vice versa
ReplyDeleteIt amuses me when people get so enraged at the very small percentage of people who rip off the welfare system yet the hundreds of millions that have been stolen from ordinary New Zealanders through shonky financial dealings hardly gets a mention. The women on DPB get in in the neck yet people are happy to pay $1.5 billion to pay out SCF. I guess it's far easier to kick around those on the bottom of the heap than those at the top.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's far easier to kick around those on the bottom of the heap than those at the top.
ReplyDeleteSo stop kicking them around already.
It disgusts me how the left use the poor as a political football.
And they must keep them as a political football, solving issues that currently get you votes is stupid, isn't it?
And bsprout, what do you really know about people on welfare? what part of town do you live in? I am betting you are on at least a few acres in a nice little spot well away from "the poor".
ReplyDeleteAny time you, or Robert, or Kevin Hague, or any other Greens want a tour, just give us a yell.
And by the way, there is nothing wrong with owning your slice of paradise on the 'outskirts' but please just don't pretend to have authority on the 'burbs'.
ReplyDeleteShunda, Shunda, Shunda. Not swapping over to the new road rules this Sunday then?
ReplyDeleteI will be driving extremely cautiously with an eye out for the ensuing carnage.
Biggest mistake ever.
We'll see how clever making people change will be, good time to invest in panel beating is my bet.
Nick Smith's local government reforms will have a similar chaotic result.
ReplyDeleteGarden Party Robert.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it!!!
So do you want that tour Robert?
ReplyDeleteI will start with the one where the people smashed all the windows in the house, didn't pay rent for 3 months, and when they finally moved out left 3 dogs in the house for a week by themselves (still feeding them) so that they would crap and piss all through the house thus destroying the carpet (and did they what!!).
The landlord was a lady that lost her partner and could no longer live there. She was on minimum wage and couldn't afford to repair the house. This was the third lot of tenants to trash the house in as many years, they were all on welfare.
Tour?
ReplyDeleteWhat 'tour'?
If your story about badly behaved people and their being on 'welfare' is supposed to prove that the Greens have a 'rubbish social manifesto', Shunda, you need to take a deep breath and think again. You are drawing too long a bow and it's not credible.
Actually it is Green MPs that are drawing too long a bow when they say things like:
ReplyDelete"It amuses me when people get so enraged at the very small percentage of people who rip off the welfare system"
Very small? Bullshit.
You guys are seriously out of touch if you believe that, and the talk on Frogblog absolutely confirms it.
The Greens have NOT included sustainable management principals in their social policies, they are just a blatant repetition of extreme left wing ideology and there is nothing innovative or progressive about that.
Perhaps if I can coax Kevin Hague out of his lifestyle block I can show him, or perhaps that other lady from Diamond Harbour, or perhaps the lady from the lifestyle block near Darfield.....
You get the picture.
"It amuses me when people get so enraged at the very small percentage of people who rip off the welfare system"
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't said by a Green MP as you claim, Shunda.
Gotta get your facts right or I'll assume you're wrong about everything :-)
Ooooo, candidate then Mr pedantic!!
ReplyDeleteThat's Mr Pedantic with a capital 'p'.
ReplyDeleteI probably am wrong about almost everything, I just know everyone else is too!
ReplyDeletePolitics aye, what a waste of bloody time.
Unless you enjoy it, as I do!
ReplyDeleteWhy Robert?
ReplyDeleteI find it just pisses me off! Maybe I should stop the blog commenting thing and focus on more constructive things.
Do both, Shunda. Balance is the goal and it's clear you have a need to engage in debate and doing so on blogs relieves the pressure on the udderbarunda. If I were you, I'd try choosing a topical subject, putting your argument clearly, responding fairly to comments and keeping to the topic until some resolution is reached. That's the satisfying way to do politics :-)
ReplyDeleteUdderbarunda actually gets mad at me for wasting time on blogs!
ReplyDeleteI am starting to think a series of extremely negative interactions with certain people has left it's toll on me, It's too easy sometimes to just think "eff the lotta ya!".
Any how, I'm heading down to sandfly central for a few days for work, perhaps the scenery will do me good!