Plagued by right wing hypocrisy

Today, Stuff reported:

Crown minister Chris Tremain has been accused of double standards for lobbying to ban oil and gas exploration in parts of his back yard.

Tremain, the Minister of Internal Affairs, of Local Government and Associate Minister of Tourism, is a member of a government caucus that supports offering large blocks of New Zealand countryside for oil and gas exploration, including the use of the controversial fracking technique.

But in a message to constituents in his Napier electorate, Tremain has written that exploration has been outlawed from geology around aquifers - or underground wet rock - in Hawke's Bay.

The water sources are crucial for the region's horticulture and agriculture industries.

As is the water from aquifers vital to many industries in other areas National wants to frack.

In an article outlining the "huge" financial opportunity oil and gas exploration offered "The Bay", Tremain wrote: "Sure, there are risks involved, but there are risks in everything we do from driving the car to playing a game of rugby.

"In the case of the oil and gas industry, Craig Foss [National Party MP for Tukituki] and I have worked with the Minister of Energy to remove our Hawke's Bay aquifers from exploration."

The double standards couldn't be more apparent... Here we have a National MP ensuring that his constituency is removed from the permit process while still promoting it elsewhere.

I wonder what Tremain's reason is for not wanting fracking in the Hawkes Bay? Probably the same reasons to not have it anywhere else in New Zealand.

The National party has made numerous attempts to mislead the public concerning the safety of fracking, while Tremain won't accept it in his own back yard.

Hypocrisy is obviously at epidemic proportions within the National party, but what else is new?

Meet the Young Nats same as the old Nats

Yesterday, the Young Nats finally let rip with some highly self-important criticism of Nationals arch enemy, Winston Peters:

“Richard Prosser has attacked a sector of the community; and shamelessly defended this bitter and nasty attack – and Winston Peters is doing nothing about it” says Young Nats President, Sean Topham.

Richard Prosser took no responsibility for this attack; instead hiding behind a weasely-worded press release issued by Winston Peters, which had no apology.

But perhaps the most conceited bit is when Topham writes:

“The racist record Winston Peters and NZ First have racked up since their party’s formation is a pitiful contribution to politics and must stop.”

In my opinion, it's rather hypocritical of the Young Nats to be screaming blue murder about racism when their track record on the issue has been particularly reprehensible.

Young Nats member does Nazi salute 2012

Where was Sean Topham's apology for Young Nat member's showing their support for fascism and white power during their annual ball, and then uploading their racist photos to the internet for the world to see?

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Propaganda

Cameron Slater vs Colonial Viper

On Friday, Cameron Slater claimed that The Standard was allowing death threats to be made against John and Josie Pagani, basing the accusation on his misinterpretation and an obvious lack of Sci-Fi knowledge. He was responding to a comment by Colonial Viper, who wrote:

Time to put Zarak and Gaeta back in their place.

This seems rather innocuous to me. Here's a recap of the particular episode referenced:

Colonial Viper has clarified the situation:

The bottom line being, if the Paganis had performed a bloody coup to overthrow the legitimate Colonial Government in the SyFy universe, while co-opting local military forces (as Zarak and Gaeta had, at gun point) then they might be in a spot of bother today, in some faraway fictional universe. Anything else is up to Whale’s fevered, and vastly overstretched, imagination.

Now let me make this clear... Writing something like this:

They are uncouth, they are scum who should be gut-shot and left to die. They have no respect they are opportunists and did I mention scum. I think the Police need a SOS policy Shoot on Sight for looter and thieves.

...Breaches New Zealand's laws, which state:

Threatening to kill or do grievous bodily harm

(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who—
(a) threatens to kill or do grievous bodily harm to any person; or
(b) sends or causes to be received, knowing the contents thereof, any letter or writing containing any threat to kill or do grievous bodily harm to any person.

Referencing a BattleStar Galactica episode is not a death threat, which makes Cameron Slater's next statement all the more ludicrous:

Josie and John must be beside themselves. They have a young family and those are serious threats.

The Pagani's have the option, just like Arie Smith-Voorkamp, of making a complaint to the police. However I can assure readers that the police would simply laugh in the face of anybody making a complaint concerning Colonial Viper's comment, unlike Cameron Slater's disgusting breach of the law when he called for Arie Smith-Voorkamp to be gut-shot.

Of course this isn't really about upholding high moral standards at all, and is simply being used by the hypocrite Cameron Slater to undertake another baseless attack on the excellent leftwing blog The Standard:

The authors of The Standard and Lynn Prentice as the ostensible “owner” of The Standard know a great deal about this commenter…for a start with all of Lynn’s self professed IT literacy he will certainly know the ip address from which those comments were posted.

The authors at The Standard like to call my blog and DPF’s blog – “The Sewer”. I think that title has been snatched beyond doubt now by The Standard.

Talk about pot calling the kettle black. This has now all disolved into an attack on annonimous bloggers in general.

Today, Whaleoil posted:

An anonymous coward from The Standard Lynn Prentice’s blog has taken objection to my post about the disgusting treatment of the Pagani’s.

I have a very simple message for “Colonial Viper” and all the anonymous cowards at The Standard Lynn Prentice’s blog and it is about accountability for what you are writing online.

[...]

They are so cowardly none would write the same way if everyone in the blogging community and mainstream media knew their identity.

Which makes the next observation from the comments on that post all the more interesting:

A fair enough assertion considering some of the underhanded tactics the rightwing employ to try and close down their critics. The response was:

Clearly the comment was directed at Cameron Slater... It was however answered by the anonymous Joe Bloggs... including a spelling mistake that Slater often makes as well. God forbid Slater has adopted a pseudonym to make anonymous comments at his own and other blogsites? Oh the irony!

Key is a hypocrite

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

John Key is facing a storm of internet protest after the republication of a 2005 article in which he appears to praise private schools for having smaller classes.

The Prime Minister told the Listener he sent his children to private schools for educational reasons, including smaller classes and better resources.

It was not a direct quote, but a picture of Mr Key with the comment alongside was posted on Facebook yesterday and by last night had appeared on numerous blogs and been shared by more than 6000 people.

Comments about it included labelling Mr Key a hypocrite for arguing now that increasing class sizes in the state sector would not affect standards of education.

It might not be a direct quote, but it certainly shows Key to be a complete hypocrite.

Cathy Odgers Muppet

Click image to enlarge

There's something that separates many right wing bloggers out from the rest of the pack... their continued hypocritical commentary.

On 19 December, the invective Cathy Odgers complained on The Standard about a post entitled Prick, that was published on The Jackal:

Obviously being attacked by an anonymous blogger and comments here as a prick with my name doesn’t give me a right of reply using the authors real name back. Charming. (sic)

I know precisely who the Jackal is and given the depth of bile written on his blog about others, I’d say all bets were off Lynn.

All bets are off? As far as threats go… that’s decidedly pathetic!

Then three days after her whinging about being called a prick, she launches her immature Prick Awards... what a complete hypocritical Muppet!

Act... stable?

Hat tip Toad

National's Message off Target

Click to enlarge

It's interesting to see how hypocritical National is with their blame Labour, the Christchurch earthquakes and the recession for everything.

They simply don't accept any responsibility for the last three years of inept management, which has seen government debt grow by $38 billion.

You're probably already aware that there's a number of website that are highlighting National's failures. But you need look no further than National's own website. Here's the latest advertisement:

Good to see National finally being honest.

Addressing the Imbalance

A month ago there was a little bit of media coverage concerning the wage difference between males and females in New Zealand. The impetus for that reporting was to highlight the defunct thought process of Alasdair Thompson who was dismissed from the EMA for his sexist remarks.

Although slowly declining, wage inequality is still a problem that disproportionately attributes wealth based on a male dominated hierarchical system.

But it’s not just wage disparity that’s the problem... The New Zealand blogosphere is an unequal realm where males outnumber females by around ten to one.

So what could be the cause? Is it indicative of our unequal society or does sexism have little effect in causing the online gender imbalance?

The blogosphere is much like a community in the real world, where shit happens. However in the real would there are rules and people there to enforce them. There are no such enforceable rules on the Internet. You cannot make a complaint to the BSA for instance because they have no legal mandate over blogs.

Sure, there are things in the real world that can be applied to try and deter Internet abuse and some websites have mechanism for dealing with it. However there are ways around the rules and the cost of taking any legal action is usually a deterring factor.

In light of this, it is helpful to have a Blogger's Code of Conduct which was a proposal by Tim O'Reilly for bloggers to enforce civility on their blogs by being civil themselves. It has been widely praised as well as deconstructed, but remains the closest thing to a rule of thumb that the Internet has.

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

I must admit to breaking a few of these rules myself from time to time. In the future, I will try to abide by Tim O'Reilly's self imposed rules, even if others don't.

Stop State Persecutions

A day after the charges against Tiki Tane were amicably resolved, many of those charged after the Urewera raids of 15 October 2007, also found themselves free from further Police persecution… with a few notable exceptions; Tama Iti is still facing firearms charges despite them being weak and the continued backtracking making the crowns case look like a sick joke!

What is clear after millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent is that the initial raids were completely unjustified and the Police have simply wasted time playing repress the natives instead of catching real criminals.

Tim Selwyn over at Tumeke writes:

The Police and Crown prosecutors were all hyped up from chasing their own shadows, preparing for a terrorist show trial in Auckland. A mass trial the likes we had never seen before. It was all a police fantasy fueled by their own prejudices, hazy intel from hazy narks, endless hours of inconclusive stoner ravings in sheds that were bugged, and the spectacular scope and cost the operation had generating its own pressure for a visible return. In this light perhaps 'Operation 8' refers to an $8 million budget?

The international furore surrounding terrorism and a fear response an obvious incentive behind the heavy handedness and continued violation of peoples rights. This is not justice, it’s abuse of power based on ignorance and ulterior motives. For there to be no apology for that is a travesty.

This sort of crap must end. The flagrant abuse of our democracy by those who have a constitutional duty to uphold the law and not pervert the course of justice is unacceptable! When the powers that be rewrite regulations to specifically target law-abiding citizens, we no longer have a democracy, we have a dictatorship, which is ultimately detrimental to society.

The fact that the Crown is slightly waking up to the smell of their own bullshit doesn't absolve the fact that there’s been a continued abuse of New Zealand's laws by those who are meant to uphold them. The early morning inquisitions to determine whether protests will occur around the RWC, yet another fear response with zero credible evidence to support such a waste of Police time and resources. Let us not forget the continued persecution of the Waihopai three at the cost of millions without any reasonable expectation to return a single red cent.

I'm all for accountability when it's warranted, but I happen to think that accountability applies to those in positions of power as well.



After all of this it seems reasonable to assume that the law is an ass, ridden roughshod into the distance where democracy and "justice" is but a dream.

The Contradictions of David Farrar

Now we all know David Farrar from Kiwibog can be inconsistent at the best of times, but once in a while he really outdoes himself. 

His contradictions based on political preference are so blindingly obvious; I often wonder why the commentators over at the sewer don't mention it more often.

To help people wake up to Farrar's incongruity, I’m going to highlight and showcase instances of his idiotic and inconsistent ramblings from now on.

Let's take for example the 2^nd September post called Labour’s biggest bribe ever, where Farrar postulates that Labour is going to make a policy announcement on the anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquake. He then goes on to accuse Labour of vote buying.

Then on the 4^th September Farrar wrote a blog post called Owen Glenn pledges $100m to New Zealand Youth. If we combine these two articles, what we get is pure and unadulterated dogmatism:

• Hyde 2^nd  Labour on Sunday will announce their biggest election bribe ever.  

• Jekyll 4^th That is a stunningly generous pledge. He made it on The Nation yesterday.

• Hyde 2^nd  I understand they will use the emotion around the anniversary.

•  Jekyll 4^th They chose Winston over Owen Glenn, and alienated a man who had been their biggest supporter. 

• Hyde 2^nd  They will have to announce a new tax on all New Zealanders (or maybe just on the rich pricks) to pay for it.

•  Jekyll 4^th Peters and his lawyer were exposed as blatant and repeat liars.

•  Hyde 2^nd  As they have already spent the revenue from the CGT many times over.

•  Jekyll 4^th On oath to the Privileges Committee he told the truth.

I've taken a bit of artistic license here, but you get the point. David Farrar's arguments are extremely inconsistent. He's the straw-man of the New Zealand blogosphere. Anybody got a light?

Throwing English Out

Consider if you will the huge amount of attention given when the Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith, threw Hone Harawera out of Parliament. That story made the Six O'clock news and was the topic of heated debate for ages.

However the MSM have remained silent on the matter of Bill English being thrown out of parliament. Likewise the RWNJ's have been quieter than a church mouse on the subject.

It was good to see Lockwood Smith dishing out some well-deserved chastisement for Nationals continued and flagrant abuse of parliamentary process. Blinglish was clearly being an arrogant tool and was out of order and summarily dismissed, and rightfully so in my opinion.

Compared to the racist fracas the right wing caused when Hone Harawera was thrown out, the amount of attention given to Bill English's abuse of Parliament seems rather hypocritical. I presume this is because many of the so called arguments they used then now apply to one of their own. You know, upholding etiquette and respecting hierarchy and all that rubbish!

So in light of the disparity of media attention between these two similar occurrences, I have uploaded the video of the Minister of Finance getting thrown out of Parliament. If you want to cut to the chase, Blinglish gets down-trowed at 7:30.

Anything that gets up Tau Henare's nose has got to be good!

Bombing them Back to the Dark Ages

List of countries the USA has bombed since the end of World War II 

China 1945-46

A child wounded in Farah, Afghanistan.

Korea 1950-53

China 1950-53

Guatemala 1954

Indonesia 1958

Cuba 1959-60

Guatemala 1960

Belgian Congo 1964

Guatemala 1964

Dominican Republic 1965-66

Peru 1965

Laos 1964-73

Vietnam 1961-73

Cambodia 1969-70

Guatemala 1967-69

Lebanon 1982-84

Grenada 1983-84

Libya 1986

El Salvador 1981-92

Nicaragua 1981-90

Iran 1987-88

Wounded and orphaned Iraqi child.

Libya 1989

Panama 1989-90

Iraq 1991 2003

Kuwait 1991

Somalia 1992-94

Bosnia 1995

Iran 1998

Sudan 1998

Afghanistan 1998

Yugoslavia - Serbia 1999

Afghanistan 2001

Libya 2011

Cameron Slater - Asshole of the Week Award

Now we all know Whaleoil is a bit of a twat at the best of times, but once in a while he really outdoes himself. The last moronic outbursts are to do with looters in Christchurch. After getting on his high horse to say:

"They are uncouth, they are scum who should be gut-shot and left to die. They have no respect they are opportunists and did I mention scum. I think the Police need a SOS policy Shoot on Sight for looter and thieves."

and... "They have prob­a­bly been remanded in cus­tody to pro­tect them from being tarred and feath­ered then stoned to death. Instead of cus­tody couldn’t some stocks be made from some recy­cled tim­ber that is lying around all over the place."


"These scum should be hung, drawn and quar­tered"... etc.

Whaleoil AKA Cameron Slater has this to say about Phil Goff:

"He not only suggested that looter be court-martialed and shot but also that perhaps some could be “shackled to shovels” and put to work. That is quite different from suggesting as he claims that they “should be part of the effort to clean up and help others as a form of restorative justice.”

The statements are equally wrong to right thinking people. The similarities in their sentiments are uncanny. Oil lard then follows up with:

"Of course I have also copped a flogging for suggesting that looters be gut-shot, but the reality is the case of Arie Smith-Vorkamp hardly constitutes looting and certainly wouldn’t have passed my threshold of tolerance" 

Well Arie certainly registered on somebody’s intolerance meter didn’t he fatso... But now that we know he suffers from autism, you suddenly change your tune. Dickhead! Thank god you're not a judge.

So for incitement of hate and hypocrisy, this week’s special bonus Asshole of the Week Award goes to, wait for it... Cameron Slater. Hurrah!