Political Endorsements: Spot the Difference

Respectable organisation uses politician to promote it:










Old twat recruited by bunch of whores:

A respectful homage to the Champions League Final

Come on Barcelona!


I am sure the Scum are going to be smashed around Wembley Stadium good and proper. If possible, if I am not too busy in Riga this weekend, I may try and catch a sneaky view of the game on TV.

Where are the joke emails?

There is a President in the White House who has made some rather silly gaffes.

Gaffes that would have used to ridicule former Presidents.

Gaffes that would have ignited a million emails around the planet poking fun at "that buffoon in the White House".

Gaffes that would stimulate conversations by people who have sudden knowledge of the complexities of American politics despite having little education themselves.

But silence when it isn't the Former President George W Bush. Even gaffes that you would think were really very small, but incredibly stupid - you know - the same ones you imagined President Bush had committed.

Things like...

Earlier in the day the President wrote a heartfelt note in the guest book during a half-hour visit to Westminster Abbey, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge married last month, but dated it "24 May 2008". A Westminster Abbey spokeswoman confirmed it was the president who had made the mistake.

or

When he won the presidency, Mr Obama made a mistake during the oath he took at his inauguration ceremony, meaning he had to be sworn in for a second time to make it legal.

And he once gave then Prime Minister Gordon Brown a box set of classic American DVDs, which don't play on UK DVD players.

In 2009, the President made a joke on US TV's Tonight Show, hosted by Jay Leno, referring to a bad bowling game as "like the Special Olympics or something".

But no, not a peep from the people who joyfully sent emails around the planet denouncing a man they knew very little about, as an idiot.

Speaks volumes about all those who piped up then and not now.

Roy Morgan poll shows a very minor boost for ACT

The first major poll since Don Brash taking over ACT shows a very minor lift for ACT (1% lift to 2%) and a 3% drop for Labour to 28%.

Let's see what the other polls say before coming to any conclusions but I was hoping for more of a lift - like to 5% or whatever.

What is your prediction for ACT's polling and what do you think ACT will get at the election?

http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2011/4669/

WALLY-WOOD

In what is a complete public relations disaster, Wellington International Airports Chief Executive Steve Fitzgerald has decided to erect a huge 3.5 metres high and 28m wide Wellywood sign on the hillside next to the Miramar Cutting.

However stupid as this idea is, I somewhat disagree with the other points the article made:

Branding expert Wayne Attwell, from Bold Horizon, said the city's overall brand was sophisticated and encompassed its culture and environment. "The sign is positioning the city as `We are Wellywood. We are a bit try-hard. We are a bit behind the times. We are a follower.'

"I think personally it is quite crass and it's going to downgrade the overall perception of Wellington as a sophisticated city. A big bold sticking-out sign will also look pretty trashy."

Say what? Wellington sophisticated? I beg to differ. Too many bureaucrats and sickly lefties reside there for it to be even close to sophisticated. Lets not be silly about it but the sign will be tacky but it won't drag Wellington down that much.

Spot the Difference

RIP Randy Savage

Many long term readers of the blog as well as friends of mine know that I have been a fan of pro wrestling since I was probably 7 years old or so. Never a fan of the good guys, I was always supporting the "baddies" like Mr Perfect, Rick Rude, Andre the Giant, Ted Dibiase and had a bloody good time of it. Such a pity that everybody on that list is dead, apart from Ted Dibiase. The excesses of the 80's and 90's wrestling world was too much for so many of my childhood heroes and it's always sad to hear of another one dying.

So when the news came through today that Macho Man died today due to a heart attack when driving, it was also shocking. He was one of my most favourite wrestlers and had a personality that helped carry the WWF (now WWE) through the 80's and this was matched with his in ring performances and abilities.

Plenty of you who read this will probably scoff at why I'd watch something as silly as wrestling - but it was (and still is) a really entertaining spectacle that have some awesome athletes involved with it. Sure it is scripted, but you cannot make up many of the moves you see wrestlers perform in the ring week after week. These guys are crazy but they put their bodies on the line every day for the fans. When I was younger at school, I remember using some of the moves I watched on TV to prevent me getting completely beaten by bullies, many times being able to fight myself out of situations and eventually I was left alone.

Macho Man - aka Randy Poffo was one hell of an accomplished wrestler, an icon of the wrestling world and although he has been out of the ring for some time, I always believed he would make some sort of comeback or appearance in WWE again and he more than deserved a spot on the Hall of Fame, I hope Vince speeds this process up.




Rest in peace Macho Man.

19

Nineteen is better than eighteen, nineteen means you are number one, nineteen means that you overtake a small club from the hell hole of Merseyside and become the greatest football club in the world.

Reforming MMP

I think that after fifteen years of getting used to a new political system, very few New Zealanders are entirely happy with MMP. It is certainly more democratic than the old first past the post system, which distorted election results and even saw Labour win the popular vote in '78 and '81 but still lose the election. However, there are huge issues with the undemocratic nature of list MPs and how they are selected, as well as the fickle nature of the 5% threshold.

Some minor tinkering with MMP would eliminate these problems:

1. Introduce Preferential Voting for the Party Vote;
MMP was supposed to eliminate the phenomenon of a "wasted vote". However, any vote on a party which fails to reach 5% is still wasted. Preferential voting would eliminate this, and eliminate the barrier to voting for a party perceived to be "not making it". A good laissez faire voter could vote 1 - Libertarianz, 2 - ACT, 3 - National safe in the knowledge that, should their first two preferences fail, at least their vote would help stave off the commies. (In fact, I am surprised that the Libertarianz have not thought about, or campaigned for, a change like this);

2. Abolish double candidacy;
If you go on the party list, you shouldn't be allowed to stand for an electorate, and vice versa. This gets rid of the problem of all those mediocre Labour MPs who got turfed out in the provinces getting back on the list and hanging around parliament like a bad smell, to nobody's benefit.

That would be the least I would hope for. But I think we can do even better...

3. Apportion list MPs according to the number of electorate MPs from the largest party;
At the moment, list MPs are elected on the premise that there should be fifty of them. However, if that number were determined by the number of electorate MPs elected from the largest party, it would see proportionality retained with the need for (usually) significantly fewer list MPs.

For example, if applied to the 2008 election, National was the largest party with 41 electorate MPs and so would get no list MPs. Labour would be topped up with 10 list MPs to give them 31. The Greens would have 6 in from their list. ACT would add 2 to Epsom to give them 3 MPs. The Maori Party, having won more electorates than their party vote, get none from the list and remain at 5 MPs. And Jim Anderton and Peter Dunne would have no change either. The result would still be proportional, and the government would be the same, although the Maori Party's overhang in this case makes it much more precarious (Which is why the Maori seats should not exist). Proportionality is achieved, but with only the need for 18 list MPs instead of 50.

But I think we could go even one better than that...

4. Get rid of List MPs altogether and give the party leaders a proportional vote on confidence and supply;
Why have list MPs at all? The key element is the proportionality, and if the votes are vested in the party leader, then proportionality is retained. On confidence votes, and money bills, this would mean Phil Goff would cast ten votes, Russell Norman would be the solitary Green MP with six votes, and Rodney Hide would cast three (it might make leadership coups in ACT more difficult!). On all other votes in the House they would have just one vote each.

Any of these changes would make for a significant improvement to our electoral system.

While we are at it, there are a few other things which we could do:

5. Ditch the Maori seats;
It's appalling that these anachronisms from the 19th Century still remain a blight on the New Zealand political system. They cost National the election in 1946 and currently form an undemocratic overhang corrupting the proportionality of our parliament.

Ideally, there would be no race-based elements at all in our system of government, but I am sympathetic to the idea that the indigenous people of New Zealand should have no barriers to representation. I see no problem with having, say, a 10% threshold of Maori voters, which would ensure that parties with strong Maori support would be able to retain seats in parliament.

6. A Legislative Council/Senate
We need some sort of safeguard to stop our House of Representatives from passing ridiculous laws like the Electoral Finance Act, and scrutinise laws properly. The select committee system is not enough - it's still foxes in charge of the henhouse. An elected Senate would fill the gap. I envisage 20 Senators, with two elected at-large every year for a single, term-limited ten year term;

7. An elected Governor General
Why not put it to the vote?

My fears for the Rugby World Cup

Brand New Zealand has got a little ahead of itself over the last few years. Whenever an overseas columnist dares to comment that NZ is expensive and for many tourists a rip off - they get drowned out by the local rabble, most who have never left our shores - by saying that because NZ is so much better than everywhere else, they should be willing to pay for more quality.

NZ isn't an economic powerhouse. Over the last 50 years countries that we used down on are leaving us for dead. Kiwis are flocking offshore to seek their fortunes and our country is digging itself into a debt hole that our grandchildren will not be able to pay off. The country is putting all of its efforts into the rugby world cup and yet there is no long term plan for if we win or dare I say it... not win the cup.

What makes it worse is that some Kiwis think it is their right to rip off tourists and their own countrymen in the run up to the cup. Hotels, motels and B&Bs are charging through the roof for average accommodation and no doubt restaurants and bars will finish off the hard earned dollars of those coming to NZ. Now I believe in free enterprise, but the fact of the matter is that the NZ dollar is strong, tickets to NZ are expensive and NZ is NOT a cheap holiday destination.

I could go watch the FA Cup final at Wembley, go to a local pub and have a few pints of beer and stay in a B&B in West London for cheaper than going to watch the All Blacks play. Aussies are staying away, preferring to stay at home to watch the games - which is alarming considering our biggest rivals are only a short flight away. English and Asian fans and tourists have also dropped in numbers coming to our shores and if we put off tourists coming to NZ today, why will they come back tomorrow?

If we don't win the cup then everything was for nothing. The short term greed, the small town parochialism - everything, all ruined because of a game of rugby.

And no amount of Hobbit movies will bring back the tourists. Sad.

Contributors and New posting policy

Hey all, just some more spring cleaning for the blog. Just to inform you all, there are four contributors on the blog at the moment. Blair, Big Bruv, TB12 and myself.

At the end of every post the authors name is already on it, however to avoid confusion the contributors will also be adding their names to the tags on the end of the post. Therefore if you have to address a poster, you can do it without automatically thinking it's me :)

As well as that, I have already explained my new comments policy here. I am quite happy to delete anything that even remotely pisses me off and I have already encouraged my co-bloggers to follow my lead on that. Cheers.

I am going to invite one or two more people to join the team over the next few weeks. If you want to join, pop your details in the comments. Thanks.

A week is a long time....especially if your name is Jordan Carter and you are spending other people's money!

Jordan Carter thinks he has all the answers. See here - http://jtc.blogs.com/just_left/2011/05/a-week-is-a-long-time.html

I wonder what Jordan would do to the $300m being borrowed each week? You don't even need to answer. Because the answer is NOTHING. In fact, he would increase it.

Jordan does talk, though, about NZ's savings problem. Unfortunately he just mentions it, doesn't put any meet or substance behind it. Would be keen to hear what he thinks and I'd be keen to hear what other parties propose.

GOT THE BASTARD: BIN LADEN DEAD!

Fox News is reporting that Bin Laden was killed a week ago by a US bomb. Obama is about to make a statement shortly...

UPDATE: It wasn't a bomb - the special forces shot him in a firefight. Freaking awesome!

Happy Six Years to the blog and important changes

When I started this blog in May 2005 it was primarily began to have a light hearted discussion about my opinions on everything like sports, politics and my adventures in London and travels. It gradually progressed into a political blog that I used to help push the ACT message for no less than 2 elections. In fact I have been a member of the ACT Party since 1995 and have always two ticked them for every election.

I have decided that I am going to sit back from the serious political debate on the blog for my part. My co bloggers Big Bruv, Blair and TB12 are doing a fine job discussing centre right politics and there is plenty to come from them over the next few months as we work towards the 2011 election in NZ. I have always enjoyed blogging and for me much of the fun has been winding up people who take life too seriously, and unfortunately for me the fun has gone out of politics, especially recently.

I will still be blogging, but I am going back to my roots. I will be discussion things that I am interested in life. Sports, humour and as I do plenty of travelling I will share my experiences with you too.

With that comes a new blog policy. Myself as well as my co-bloggers will be enforcing a new editorial policy in regards to comments. ALL off topic remarks, trolling and abuse will no longer be tolerated. Any person that comments in any way that pisses me off will be deleted. Simple as that. I will be encouraging all my contributors to follow my lead in this policy as lately there have been a growth in absurd and abusive comments that have sucked out much of the fun here. No second warnings.

But as I said above, this blog is 6 years old this month. It has outlasted loads of New Zealand blogs and the stats show we get around 200 new visitors a day, on average 3-7 minutes for each person reading every day. Posts on Ukrainian topless feminists and the Latvian Blonde festival have also bought in tens of thousands of extra hits in the last 2 months too... mental! 59% of the visitors to the blog are from New Zealand, 10% are British and 8% originate from the US. We also have regular readers from Chile, Saudi Arabia, India and Japan. Nice.


Anyway thanks for reading and I look forward to many more years to come.

Royal Wedding Commemoration Post

Welcome back Brash

Welcome back to Don Brash, I look forward to your positive contribution in NZ's parliament.

I know not everyone on this blog is in favour of Brash, but times move on. I have no doubt that Don gives ACT a fighting chance of getting beyond 5%. I have a pint on Brash getting 10% in the first set of polls post his taking the ACT leadership. The challenge will be to maintain it.

My prediction is Heather Roy being elected ACT parliamentary leader and Deputy leader. 2 reasons being a) reward for supporting Brash's coup, b) ACT historically struggling with female voters.

A very interesting election awaits!