Regime Change?

I see that our Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has been strutting about the UN. He will be trying to drum up support for our Security Council bid.

He has also given a speech to the UN General Assembly, denouncing atrocities in Syria and demanding that action be taken.

The Good Farmer: Cunliffe On Economic Development

David Cunliffe today gave another strong speech on economic development issues. A written version of his speech is here.

What Will Replace Close-Up?

TV1's show Close-Up is to be scrapped. But its demise opens up opportunities for other shows.

So what will its replacement be? Will TVNZ stick with current affairs, or will the network go for a reality-TV ratings winner?

Here are my picks.

What Next?

So now that the Neazor Report tells us pretty much what we already knew (should we have expected something more? What an anti-climax), what now? Will anyone be disciplined? Will anyone resign?

Today's Lost And Found Notices

Found: A compass.

No Sympathy

Kim Dotcom has no right to be outraged over the covert recording of his conversations.

If he wanted total privacy he should have held those conversations in an Epsom cafe.

A Day In The Life Of The Sensible Blogger

1:12pm

Oh dear! It appears that my garden shed has caught fire. Although some commentators have suggested that putting water on the flames will dampen a fire down, I think it's premature to adopt any course of action without rigorous analysis. Let's not rush madly into something we'd only regret.

Blame Labour

The week has started badly for John Key. Yesterday we learned that National are down in the latest political poll, and today we hear that our intelligence folk may have been allegedly acting unlawfully. The last bit of news is a bit of a problem for John Key, since he's the guy in charge of that particular area of government. It's going to be difficult for him to say "oh I didn't bother to read the report."

The Dotcom Shambles: A New Chapter

I'm not the biggest fan of Kim Dotcom, but his treatment at the hands of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies has been nothing short of disgraceful.

It began with police raiding the Dotcom mansion and treating Dotcom and his people like they were international terrorists.

A Perfect Plan

I have come up with a great idea to get more publicity for my blogsite.

I'm thinking of drawing a picture of a religious prophet, possibly a Middle-Eastern one, having sex with an animal. I'l post that picture on my site.

It's bound to draw attention to my site, and people all around the world will be paying attention to me. It sounds like a great idea.

I really can't see any downside to this plan. None at all. Why haven't I done this before? It's just so clever.

What could possibly go wrong? It's free publicity, and at no personal cost to me or my family.

The Lovefest Continues

I wonder if there's a new editorial rule at the Herald that mandates that columnists must attack each other in public.

It makes for good copy, I suppose. Today it's Fran O'Sullivan's turn (again) to dish the punishment out.

I suppose it's easy to attack someone you work with when they're based on the other side of the world, and when there's no risk of your bumping into them in the office corridor.

A World Exclusive: See The Alternative The Hobbit Trailer Right Here

Say What You Like, But He's No Criminal

Yesterday's Parliamentary Question Time was dominated by the entirely predictable attacks on John Key over his decision to stick with John Banks, and John Key's clownish attempts to get a laugh out of the situation. Key is vulnerable on the issue of Banks, and Labour and the Greens will want to talk as much as they can about the ACT leader.

The Rule Of Law Needs To Get A Job

Laws with retrospective effect?

No, it's okay, they're really bad people (trust me, they will be. You can trust me, right?), and even though keeping people locked up after they've done their time is anathematic to the whole rule of law thing, I'm sure you'll agree that the rule of law is seriously overrated. How does it help businesses export their products? How much tax does it pay? Will it shave anything off our government's debt levels?

Next Week's Q&A

Shane Taurima again interviews John Key

Shane: Prime Minister John Key joins us now.  Prime Minister, you've taken a lot of heat over your decision to stick with John Banks, and now another of your ministers, Gerry Brownlee, is in trouble.

John: Actually, it's important to put these things into perspective. Gerry's been working in a very dynamic environment.

David Shearer On Q&A

If you had only one word to describe this effort by David Shearer, what would it be?

Law Change May Push Some Over The Edge

As Parliament debates a new law that will prohibit certain types of anti-social behaviour, experts are concerned about the increasing opprobrium being heaped upon those the proposed law is intended to target.

Few of the people affected by the bill before Parliament are prepared to comment publicly on the proposed law change, for fear of being outed.

A Personal Message To Tau Henare

You will never be Speaker. Stop trying.

Seeing you campaigning for this is like watching Eric the Eel at the Sydney Olympics.

A Crime Against Cinema, But Not Guilty Of Murder

Yesterday protesters angry about a film that ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad burned down the US consulate in Benghazi and killed some people.

The film Innocence of Muslims sounds like a truly revolting piece of cinema, and it appears to go out of its way to insult Islam. From the trailers appearing online, it also appears to have few, if any, production values. All religious issues aside, the film looks like a steaming pile of ordure.

A Solution

In the news today:

Opposition parties say minister outside Cabinet John Banks has lost all credibility after fresh revelations into his mayoralty donations scandal

What utter utter rubbish. John Banks hasn't lost an ounce of credibility over these latest revelations.

He Who Consults Wins

* Average taken from figures from 2008-2009 to 2010-2011 financial years. Source 

** Child Poverty Action Group’s estimate of annual cost to provide breakfasts for the poorest 30% of primary and intermediate schools ($18.9 million) Source 

What Did He Do Wrong?

It's common for people to mock the spiritual beliefs of others. I am not a big believer in sky fairies, river gods or underground demons, so it's all to easy for me to fall into the trap of ridiculing the absurd beliefs of other people.

But in a tolerant society we allow people to hold whatever silly beliefs they want, so long as those beliefs aren't harmful to others. So, for example, people who won't get their kids immunised because they worry about the risk of autism, deserve to be ridiculed and shamed. Teachers and educationalists who disbelieve in evolution and think the Earth was created in six days have no place anywhere near a school science curriculum. Politicians who make policy based on what the Bible or Koran instructs should be hounded out of office.

National's Hunger Plan

The National government has launched a new programme to ensure hungry workers get enough to eat.

John Key today announced that the Government will spend millions of dollars to ensure all CEOs and business executives get a proper meal to start the day.

Shearer On Education

I didn't catch David Shearer's education speech yesterday, even though it was in my neighbourhood. The reaction to the speech has been mostly positive, and it is a pleasant change to learn that Shearer has been talking about bread and butter issues for a change.

From Labour's release here are the four main highlights of the announcement:

Should Bain Get Compensation?

The Herald reports that a Canadian Supreme Court judge has recommended that David Bain receive compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

Obama Inspires Crowd With Speech Reminding Them That He's Not The Other Guy

Barack Obama told supporters to remember that he was not the other guy, as he accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president yesterday.

President Obama's speech marked the climax of the three-day convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The President began his speech by setting out his vision for a stronger and fairer America.

The Master Orator At Work

Bill Clinton gave a speech today at the Democratic National Convention. It is lengthy, but the speech is a reminder that, whatever his faults (and they are numerous), Bill Clinton is unrivalled as a speech-maker.

Here it is:

The Patents Bill And Software: Should We Care?

There is much excitement within the legal and software developer communities about the Patents Bill and the computer software exclusion that is or isn't, depending on whose opinion you choose to agree with.

The Patents Bill goes a long way towards modernising our patent system, but the only thing people are talking about is the software patentability issue.

The battle is being mostly fought between those who file and prosecute patent applications for their clients for a living and who would like to continue to file patent applications for software, and those in the software developer community who worry about the threat to innovation and their freedom to develop if the bill is adopted into law without an exclusion for software.

A Note To Readers

I may play around a bit with the format of my blog over the next few days, because it needs a refresh.

Do not be alarmed if some things look a bit weird for a while!

Right Thinking: A Stark Choice

Everyone's favourite libertarian authoritarian returns with a hard-hitting column, and reminds readers that it's only a Godwin if the person's not actually a Hitler in disguise.

Watching the national conventions of the two main American political parties these last two weeks has been a chilling reminder to me of the peril the world stands in.

America is confronted with a stark choice: do they support the man who loves his country and was born in his country, or do they re-elect the crazed foreign-born dictatorial lunatic?

Anyone who reads my columns knows that I eschew extremist language of any sort, because it's not conducive to good debate. But anyone who thinks Barack "Hitler" Obama isn't the greatest threat to the security and peace of all citizens of this world is deluding themselves.

Winston Is Now Writing The Headlines

Bennett Announces Welfare Crackdown

People of Swedish descent who engage in acts of treason while dressed as nuns will no longer be eligible to receive welfare, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett announced today.

Paul Bennett said official Treasury figures showed that the annual cost of providing welfare to people with Nordic backgrounds convicted of acts of treason while wearing religious garb was "more than you'd think, uckshully."

The Tale Goes Ever On And On

Plans are being drawn up to add further films to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy.

"We recognised that the richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, gave rise to a simple question: do we tell more of the tale?" said Jackson in July, when plans for a third film were announced.

But sources within Jackson's camp have confirmed rumours that he does not plan to end the story with this third film.

On "The Issues That Matter"

I see that Jordan Carter has written a piece in response (I presume) to Stuart Nash's blogpost about Labour's "mistake" in focusing on issues like marriage equality.

Nash writes that, while he's a supporter of marriage equality, the whole issue has been a distraction to Labour, and that Labour should be focusing on "the issues that matter".

I'm aware that a number of people within Labour believe that the party came unstuck during the Helen Clark era over a perception that Labour were more interested in social engineering and identity politics than, say, improving the lives of ordinary New Zealanders.

Like Jordan, I really struggle with this viewpoint. Marriage equality is important, because to progressive and liberal-minded people it is unfair that gay couples do not have the same rights as heterosexual ones. Marriage equality may not be the single most important issue of the day, but for many people it is an important one. It should not be written off as a "side show".

What Key Really Said To The US

So John Key now claims he didn't commit New Zealand to assist the US in future wars.

He is claiming that the transcript of his speech contains an error.

Important Questions For Colin Craig

If John Key is too gay for Helensville, just how much gayness would Colin Craig be happy with?