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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Confusing Backlash to the anti-MMP Campaign


Whale Oil has a good post about the huge backlash to the anti-MMP website.

To quote Whale Oil "Their politics of personal destruction is the nasty legacy of Helen Clark.". Quite.

It's just a friggin website. I don't understand what the pro-MMP people are so angry about - The Standard's posts on the topic went over my head. The names of the people behind the website mean nothing to me, and I would imagine even less to your average non-political types. So attacking them ad nauseum is confusing - midway through the blog post I found myself thinking.. 'wait, what exactly is the problem here'.

I also don't understand why the pro-MMP group frame the argument as left vs. the Right.
If anything, the left have lost more than they've gained outta the system. If Rodney Hide didn't win Epson for ACT in the 2008 election, Helen Clark could've formed a government. And coming into the 2011 election, Hone Harawara's hard-left, racist party could be devastating for Phil Goff if the narrative "a vote for Labour is a vote for Hone" catches on. Also, Labour may find themselves up against a government further to the right after the election if Dr Brash manages to milk MMP for all it's worth.

I suspect my opinion of MMP reflects that Of many New Zealanders - there are parts of it I like, and parts I don't.

I don't know what system should replace it, but to answer the question 'does the system need to be changed', then the answer is definitely yes.


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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Hone Harawira's By-election Victory

In the UK - both Labour & the Conservative Party actually work together to prevent BNP (British National Party) candidates from becoming MPs. By being strategic about whether to stand a candidate they prevent a 'three horse race' & the BNP candidate slipping in the back door.

The same thing should've happened in New Zealand to prevent Hone Harawira from winning Te Tai Tokerau (TTT). After all both Phil Goff & John Key have declared they cannot work with him.

Actually Labour & National did kinda work together with John Key effectively endorsed Labour's Te TTT candidate.

So How did Hone win? A commenter on Kiwiblog summed it up quite nicely "A racist MP in a racist party wins one of the racist seats."

Like no one ever before in New Zealand's history, Hone has taken advantage of the electoral system for maximum gain.

There are literally five ways in which Hone has capitalised on the system.

1. He stood in a Maori seat rather than a general seat (he wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell in a general seat).
2. He forced a by-election right before a general election which historically have a low turn-out.
3. Money. Hone is returned to parliament as a party leader. He get's a salary increase & Mana get parliamentary funding for the general election.
4. MMP. If Hone holds his TTT Maori seat then Mana doesn't need to reach the 5% threshold in order to bring more people into parliament.
5. ... can't think of a five, but I'm sure there's at least one more.

This type of electoral manipulation must be stopped. I'm definitely voting against MMP come the election.

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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Labour's Information Breach - "You Reap What You Sow"

I was greatly incensed when Dr Brash's emails with stolen back in 2004/05. I thought it was bad for democracy for the leader of the opposition to be undermined in such a way (regardless of political persuasion). Private correspondence should be protected. Leaving your politics at the door, it was obvious a bad precedent was being set. Yet, this did not stop leftie activists going to town with the information - insinuating conspiracy theories, & maintaining the data was not stolen.

Well, it's with a huge amount of irony that Labour is now a victim of an information breach - all-be-it on an order of magnitude smaller (well, at this stage anyway).

Reading the protests over at prominent leftie blog 'The Standard' literally made me 'laught out loud' just for the fact they failed to draw a comparision with 'The Hollow Men'.

Nats steal Labour donor data & You can't make this stuff up.

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Friday, June 10, 2011

Academic Lefties

My politics are pretty much middle of the road.  I lean to the left on social issues and government compassion.  Yet I prefer right-leaning political commentary & may even vote for the Brash lead ACT party (as opposed to National). 


Why?  Because hardcore lefties annoy the hell out of me. The academic lefties are the worst.  The ideals they preach are often in total contrast to their life style.  Andrew Bolt hits the nail on the head with his column - 'A Lecture on Emissions from the lady on the Jet'.  

The mind of an academic leftie is so tangled up with ideals, and layers of political correctness that any attempt to offer a counter opinion invites a disproportionate amount of scorn and wrath. 

Here are some classic leftie paradoxes:
Lefties are the first to infer racism. They support mass foreign immigration, but not foreign investment.  The want to let in the 'boat people' while complaining about the number of cars & resource use in general.  The want an ETS on agriculture while eating fine meat & drinking expensive wines.  They detest the Japan's extensive use of nuclear power but drive a late model Toyota or Honda.  

Lefties take the holier than thou side of any issue even when they clash - as they often do.  When it comes down to it, they preach these ideals as a matter of ego (my politics are better than your's).  

I Can't stand it!  

So, what many righties do when engages with the academic left is to just nod and agree with whatever they say (to disagree is to relegate yourself to something below a Nazi who owns a chain of coal factories), then on election day quietly tick the box for Dr Brash.  That'll teach 'em! 


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Monday, June 6, 2011

BBC News - Portugal election: Socialists admit defeat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-europe-13658998

Another leftie government bites the dust.

Left governments are falling the world over. Gillard's government in AU is teetering & even Barrack Obama doesn't look that strong.

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