ABSOLUTE POWER - The Helen Clark Years.

[MisterD]

In NZ???? The average kiwi looks straight past all that in their rush to see how many baubles Cullen "suddenly finds" due to a Treasury oversight just before election day.

The same dumb fucks that fall for the Auckland airport "saving strategic assets" populism...I'll say it again, it's time we had a test and a licence before you were allowed to vote.

[jrandom]

What can be said, really?

Ian Wishart is a slimy cunt, and I shan't be contributing to his coffers, but the fact remains that Clark & Co appear to have slid towards an oligarchic approach to governance, and thereby betrayed the fine ideals of socialism and eroded the foundations of democracy.

All we can really hope for is that the electorate will not be so stupid as to allow them to continue, and that the replacement National (inevitably) government will have the courage to reverse Labour's most egregious errors of hubris.

[ManDownUnder]

Ian Wishart is a slimy cunt, and I shan't be contributing to his coffers,

Oh the pain... agreed entirely... Oh the pain...

All we can really hope for is that the electorate will not be so stupid as to allow them to continue, and that the replacement National (inevitably) government will have the courage to reverse Labour's most egregious errors of hubris.

I hate to say it but I foresee the following.

National get in, recession hits, people see "bad" in the economy, National gets blamed, Labour gets back in as recession lifts, they look good again

[SPman]

What can be said, really?

Ian Wishart is a slimy cunt, and I shan't be contributing to his coffers, but the fact remains that Clark & Co appear to have slid towards an oligarchic approach to governance, and thereby betrayed the fine ideals of socialism and eroded the foundations of democracy.

All we can really hope for is that the electorate will not be so stupid as to allow them to continue, and that the replacement National (inevitably) government will have the courage to reverse Labour's most egregious errors of hubris.

National! Courage! - Ha! Integrity - thats a toothpaste, isn't it!
Things will be just as bent under National - just a different small sector of cronies will be picking up all the bucks!
The average population will still be under the lash - just not Madam Lash!

The only way things will change is if the population of NZ stop watching "reality" shows and NZ Idol on TV and start taking an interest in where their country is actually going, and where they want it to go, and actively do something about it.
Otherwise, it'll be the same old, same old. - National, Labour, Act, etc etc - not an original thinker among the lot of them - well, not one with any say or influence!

[jrandom]

National get in, recession hits, people see "bad" in the economy, National gets blamed, Labour gets back in as recession lifts, they look good again

Perhaps so, but it's not so much a matter of Labour vs National; after all, either party could conceivably have made the errors that the Labour government has made over the last several years. It seems, as I said, more to do with the attitude of individual policymakers.

National may like to quote its 'natural party of government' line, but I've always felt that the constitution of the average Kiwi lends itself better to a socialist rather than a capitalist approach, and that traditional Labour policies, correctly implemented, are a better fit for our milk powder and woodchip economy and cannabis-smoking electorate.

Because, quite frankly, there's nothing wrong with milk powder, woodchips and cannabis. Long may our odd little corner of the world continue as a bastion thereof!

[vifferman]

All we can really hope for is that the electorate will not be so stupid as to allow them to continue

Yes.

... and that the replacement National (inevitably) government will have the courage to reverse Labour's most egregious errors of hubris.

I don't have much hope that the next Gubmint will do any better.
Maybe if they fire most of the current crop of senior bureaucrats, scrap some of the very silly bits of social programming and bureaucracy we've been lumbered with...
But then again, what I really hope for is the repeal of most of the local and central Gubmint laws, rules and regulations, and adoption of more sensible, non-Real Estate "industry" based economic policy models.

It'll never happen...

[jrandom]

*curmudgeonly mutterings*

Sigh.

Yeah, wot 'e said.

[MisterD]

National may like to quote its 'natural party of government' line, but I've always felt that the constitution of the average Kiwi lends itself better to a socialist rather than a capitalist approach, and that traditional Labour policies, correctly implemented, are a better fit for our milk powder and woodchip economy and cannabis-smoking electorate.

Except that thankfully, for those of us that would like to give less of our hard-earned to that smug git Cullen, they still haven't figured out that what Kiwis really want is less government meddling in their lives.

[mstriumph]

Why was I not surprised this morning, with her comments on the Chinese protestors being beaten and killed over the Tibetan issue?

...........

there's a deathly hush of anything except polite 'now, now, chaps...' from the aus. government, too .......... same stable, same blinkers

[MisterD]

......... same stable, same blinkers

Indeed.....

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accompanied a Chinese importer of Australian telecoms products on a paid trip to the African nation of Sudan in June and July of 2006, where the company pursued a number of business deals in a region afflicted by what some describe as a government-backed genocide against the non-Arab minority. Beijing AustChina Technology also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the NSW Labor Party in the lead up to last year's state election, with the company's CEO Ian Tang later handed an honorary ambassadorship by NSW Premier Morris Iemma.

[Jantar]

I'd rather pull my teeth out with rusty pliers than read anything by Ian Wishart...

So you judge what you read solely on the author rather than on what it contains? I can understand that attitude when readinmg fiction, but not with non-fiction.

However recent polling shows that you have that in common with 36% of the population.

[Finn]

Except that thankfully, for those of us that would like to give less of our hard-earned to that smug git Cullen, they still haven't figured out that what Kiwis really want is less government meddling in their lives.

You mean like this...

* Labour has had education bureaucrats grow in number by 40% compared to 12% growth of teacher numbers

* Central Health bureaucrats up 51% while medical professionals up 28%

* MSD policy staff have increased 109% while MSD service staff only 23%

* Overall an increase in bureaucrats by 37%, and 1 in 50 employees in NZ is now a bureaucrat

* Salary costs for policy departments have increased 142%

* Government Administration has been the fastest growing sector of the economy

[Finn]

The same dumb fucks that fall for the Auckland airport "saving strategic assets" populism...I'll say it again, it's time we had a test and a licence before you were allowed to vote.

Even the NZ Super Fund (Cullen Fund) has both voted for the Canadian offer and agreed to sell its 77 million shares...

A massive 63% of shareholders (close to 90% when you exclude the Council stakes) have agreed to sell their Auckland Airport shares to the Canadian pension fund.

Why so many?

Simple. The Government’s actions have driven the current share price down so much, that it has made the Canadian offer much more attractive.

The next step, assuming over 50% have also voted for the bid, is for David Parker and Clayton Cosgrove to pretend to impartially consider the bid. They will go through the farce of asking for reports, and taking time to make a decision, and then shock horror they will turn it down.

And then the Canadian pension fund will haul their little behinds into court, and point to massive and compelling evidence they predetermined the matter because persons no less than the Prime Minister (who can sack them) and the Finance Minister (who controls their budgets) has made it very clear they are expected to turn the bid down.

And so the Canadians will get their 24.9% voting share - which is less than the current level of overseas voting strength I suspect.

Labour morons.

[Swoop]

All we can really hope for is that the electorate will not be so stupid as to allow them to continue

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[jrandom]

So you judge what you read solely on the author rather than on what it contains? I can understand that attitude when readinmg fiction, but not with non-fiction.

Given that the gentleman (and I use the phrase loosely) in question has a history of shit-stirring, biased 'reporting' and general scum-sucking and bottom-feeding, I strongly suspect that this new book will be nothing more than a careful mix of unfounded assertions and ridiculous extrapolations from fairly innocent data, liberally seasoned with emotive language.

Mr Wishart's fallacious ranting does nothing to bolster the position of those who have legitimate concerns with our current government; rather, it throws the whole anti-Labour movement into disrepute with anyone possessing an IQ in excess of their shoe size.