0 What the 2014 General Election is all about...

Mike Treen is the national director of the Unite union. In 2011, he was one of the organisers of a group of unionists supporting the Mana Party. It's safe to say that he is one the far Left of New Zealand politics.

Mr Treen also blogs at Martyn Bradbury's union-funded Daily Blog. And our attention has been drawn by a reader to this paragraph in a lengthy blog-post written by Mike Treen and published yesterday. In one paragraph, he tells readers what the 2014 General Election is all about:

That's right Dear Readers. This election isn't about the economy, about health, education, crime or poverty. It's not even about the trade unions' hoary chestnut of a living wage. Mike Treen has declared that this year's General Election is about Kim Dotcom getting his revenge on the Government.

So forget all the bullshit and rhetoric about the digital economy, and about better access to the internet for everyone; that's just a front. MegaMana is all about a rich convicted criminal, wanted in the USA trying to escape justice, and trying to get his pound of flesh from the Government who allowed US authorities to try and extradite Dotcom.

We suppose we should be grateful to Mike Treen; at least he has called it as it actually is, rather than feeding us sugar-coated bullshit as Dotcom, Hone Harawira and Laila Harre have done. But as the countdown to the election continues, let's not lose sight of the fact that Dotcom is trying to subvert New Zealand's electoral system for his own ends. 

There's a word for that.

Kim Dotcom wants to take his revenge on this government. This is perfectly understandable. He has every reason to do so. In fact, given his treatment, he has more reasons than most. The most effective way for that to happen is for this government to be defeated in the coming election. The Mana-Internet party alliance is the best way to make that happen. He was smart enough to see that. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/06/12/why-the-mana-internet-alliance-is-a-potential-game-breaker/#sthash.hjSfLLzz.dpuf

Kim Dotcom wants to take his revenge on this government. This is perfectly understandable. He has every reason to do so. In fact, given his treatment, he has more reasons than most. The most effective way for that to happen is for this government to be defeated in the coming election. The Mana-Internet party alliance is the best way to make that happen. He was smart enough to see that. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/06/12/why-the-mana-internet-alliance-is-a-potential-game-breaker/#sthash.hjSfLLzz.dpuf

Kim Dotcom wants to take his revenge on this government. This is perfectly understandable. He has every reason to do so. In fact, given his treatment, he has more reasons than most. The most effective way for that to happen is for this government to be defeated in the coming election. The Mana-Internet party alliance is the best way to make that happen. He was smart enough to see that. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/06/12/why-the-mana-internet-alliance-is-a-potential-game-breaker/#sthash.hjSfLLzz.dpuf

Kim Dotcom wants to take his revenge on this government. This is perfectly understandable. He has every reason to do so. In fact, given his treatment, he has more reasons than most. The most effective way for that to happen is for this government to be defeated in the coming election. The Mana-Internet party alliance is the best way to make that happen. He was smart enough to see that. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/06/12/why-the-mana-internet-alliance-is-a-potential-game-breaker/#sthash.hjSfLLzz.dpuf

0 Cash for credibility

Having purchased himself a political party, Kim Dotcom is now looking to buy his way out of extradition; Stuff reports:

Kim Dotcom is offering $5 million to anyone who can help him with his extradition case.
The US is seeking to extradite Dotcom to face charges of copyright conspiracy, racketeering and money-laundering allegedly carried out by his file-sharing company, Megaupload.
Earlier this year Dotcom lost his final bid in the Supreme Court, to gain access to evidence the US government had against him in his case.
The matter of disclosure had already been ruled on in three courts. Two judges - one each in the District Court and one in the High Court - ruled that Dotcom should be allowed to see all the information, but this year the Court of Appeal ruled against him.
The German internet mogul and founder of the Internet Party is now offering $5 million to anyone who can prove government corruption over the handling of his case. 
"We are asking for information that proves unlawful or corrupt conduct by the US government, the New Zealand government, spy agencies, law enforcement and Hollywood", Dotcom told website Torrentfreak.com.
"It is the opinion of my legal team that disclosure of such information would be lawful. I would also guarantee that any whistleblower coming forward would have the best legal representation at zero cost."
Dotcom said he was talking with his lawyers about the logistics of such a payment. It would most likely be paid to a trust, with terms and conditions to anyone who submitted information. 

For the last two years there have been plenty of bullish tweets from Dotcom saying that he will prove his innocence, and prove that governments conspired against him. He claims to have evidence that will bring down John Key and his government.

It would seem that Dotcom has been talking up the "evidence" he has, and that it simply doesn't stack up. Why else would he be prepared to shell out a small fortune to save himself a US government-funded trip to the Land of the Free?

And even if said evidence can be found (or concocted), will he or can he pay the ransom? 3News suggests not:

Music and movie giants have joined forces to freeze Kim Dotcom's assets, but they'll have to negotiate conditions first.

Lawyers appeared at the High Court in Auckland on Monday on behalf of four music industry companies and six Hollywood film studios seeking to have Dotcom's assets frozen ahead of their claim against him.

The record labels are understood to be Warner Music, UMG Recordings, Sony Music and Capitol Records, while the film companies are 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures and Warner Brothers.

The companies say the now defunct file sharing website Megaupload and its key operators, including Dotcom, facilitated, encouraged and profited from massive copyright infringement and want Dotcom's New Zealand assets to remain frozen while their case is under way.

Lawyers appearing for Dotcom and his wife Mona said the estranged pair were prepared to maintain the current freeze, but the companies needed to offer security first.

Dotcom's lawyer Robert Gapes said the companies should put up NZ$250,000 (AU$232,742) for Dotcom, and a further NZ$250,000 for Ms Dotcom.

If Dotcom's assets are frozen, but he is having to demand cash security from those who are suing him, where is all the cash coming from? He has already shelled out up to $4 million on his political game-show, his legal bills both here and in the US are mounting, he still has staff owed wages, but suddenly he has $5 million for someone who saves his not-insignifcant posterior.

 

Dotcom's date with destiny in the form of his extradition hearing is now less than four weeks ago. As the reality kicks in, it seems that he is falling back to his default setting; splashing cash around. But no amount of money can buy evidence that doesn't exist, and you can't buy credibility.

0 Laila the waka-jumper

We came across this interesting gem hidden away on Stuff; check this out:

Laila Harre is on the spot changing trail
Meanwhile, Norman revealed that new Internet Party leader Laila Harre had wanted to be a Green Party MP before she quit her adviser role in December.
A spokesman confirmed s he was also on the campaign committee until a fortnight ago.
Kim Dotcom’s $3.25m donation to the Internet-Mana alliance was registered with the Electoral Commission at the weekend.
Harre will draw a $148,000 salary. Records show Colin Craig also injected another $55,000 into his Conservative Party.  

This is fascinating. Right up to two weeks ago, one week before she became the leader of the Internet Party, Laila Harre was actively working on the Greens' election campaign, albeit in a voluntary capacity.

What changed? How can someone go from actively campaigning for one party to being the leader of a completely different party in just seven days?

As we see it, there are two possible explanations, and neither of them is especially palatable. The first is that Laila Harre has sold the Green Party down the river by jumping (politically, of course) into bed with Dotcom, and taking his tainted money. Given that Laila Harre has previously been involved with Labour, New Labour, the Alliance and most recently the Greens, she has certainly been politically flexible!

But here's the other possible explanation. Is it possible that the Greens have been in cahoots all along, despite Russel Norman's statement earlier in the year that he was trying to talk Dotcom out of launching a party?

It makes sense. Both parties claim to appeal to younger, tech-savvy voters. The Greens certainly have a high digital/social media presence. Both parties are anti-GCSB/SIS/USA. Neither party thinks Kim Dotcom should be extradited to the USA, and both see him as more saint than sinner.

So has the Green Party actually done a dirty, back-room deal with Dotcom? It's time for an absolute denial that Laila Harre has not jumped into the German waka with the Greens' blessing, and a similarly categorical denial that no money has changed hands.

0 Espiner (C) on MegaMana

There has been a lot written in the last week about MegaMana, Kim Dotcom, Hone Harawira, Laila Harre et al. 

MegaMana Fatigue Syndrome is fast approaching, and a Dotcom-free day beckons, but it's not here just yet; not whilst people like Colin Espiner are making their voices heard. Under the headline What's behind Dotcom's civil union? Espiner (C) opines:

Say what you like about the sacrifice of conscience for cash - a great big German spanner has just been flung into the machinery of this year's election campaign.
I wasn't going to write about Kim Dotcom's vanity party again this week. It has had far more publicity in its short life than it deserves.
Plus, it seems that everywhere you look Dotcom is there. Giving evidence in the John Banks trial. Breaking up with his wife, Mona (on Twitter, of course). Fighting Hollywood over access to his millions. Calling on Prime Minister John Key to resign (again).
Shortly, it will be Dotcom in the dock as he fights extradition to the United States on fraud and racketeering charges. Forget Banks and buckets of mud - that hearing is going to be the trial of the year. So a bit of Dot-gone seemed like no bad thing.
And then suddenly, there he was in a civil union with the beneficent ghost from socialist Christmases past: Laila Harre.
The media was expecting Dotcom's Internet Party would announce a flake as its new leader. Or a complete moron. Either would have done just fine. We could have ridiculed them, and moved on to more important matters.
But Harre isn't a flake. And she's certainly no moron. She's one of the most driven, persuasive and intelligent politicians I've met. I don't know how Dotcom managed to put a ring on the darling of the Left but on the face of it, it's a major coup.
The question, though, is for who?
Harre is an old-school socialist. She's from a trades union background. She's a former member of the Labour Party, of New Labour, and of the Alliance Party. She's most recently worked for the Green Party.
She's mates with most of New Zealand's remaining old hard Lefties, including Matt McCarten (now Labour leader David Cunliffe's chief of staff), rent-a-protester John Minto (also in the Internet Party tent), ex Green MP and now ex Mana candidate Sue Bradford, broadcaster and former Alliance MP Willie Jackson (who's flying a kite about standing for the Internet Party himself) and radical Maori separatist Annette Sykes (president of Mana and number two on its list).
Harre was one of Jim Anderton's stars when the Alliance Party won 10 per cent of the vote and entered government with Labour in 1999. She quickly rose to Cabinet rank, and was a capable minister.
But when the Alliance imploded three years later, Anderton and Harre fell out. He went on to form the Progressive Party, returning to Parliament on the back of his safe Wigram seat. Harre took over as leader of the Alliance, and lost, badly, in the 2002 election.
On the face of it, then, Harre is likely to appeal to older Lefties who admire her feminist principles and strong trade union credentials. 

And therein lies the problem for Dotcom's "Internet" party; older Lefties are already voting for the parties of the Left, so all that is likely to happen is that the votes of the parties of the Left will get further diluted. MegaMana may get a bigger share of the vote, but it will be at Labour and the Greens' expense, and a few conspiracy theorists may be lured away from Winston First. Will that change the Government? Probably not.

Espiner (C) continues:

It's hard to see her appeal to young, internet-savvy geeks though. Last time Harre was in Parliament the internet was barely out of short pants. And the people she's trying to persuade to vote for her weren't born and certainly wouldn't know her from a 33K dial-up modem.
But does it matter? Probably not. As long as Harre gets votes, neither the Internet Party nor Mana will care where they come from. And she's got $3 million of Dotcom's money to spend - that's more than any other party contesting the election, including Colin Craig's Conservatives. 

It's going to be fun over the next few weeks going through speeches made during the Electoral Finance Bill debate. We've already made reference to Hone Harawira's remarkable transformation from one who hated the influence of money in elections to one who has $500,000 to spend this time around. 

And the Hansard extracts we've saved so far have some really doozies in them that we'll share a little closer to the election as the political landscape takes shape.

Here's the remainder of Espiner's piece, where he gets right to the heart of the issue, and what this obscene display of money-flashing is all about:

On the face of it, the Left has engineered a spectacular reverse takeover of Dotcom's party. It's like a reunion of every failed candidate from every disappeared political party of the past 20 years, funded by an avowed capitalist whose fundamental philosophy - the freedom of movement of capital and people - runs counter to everything his candidates stand for.
But remember, Dotcom doesn't really care. His political aims are pragmatic, not philosophical.
In my opinion, there are two reasons why Dotcom is manipulating the political process. First, he wants rid of Prime Minister John Key. Second, he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in a United States penitentiary. If the Internet-Mana party is elected with more than a couple of MPs, then Dotcom is likely to achieve the first objective.
There is no possibility the party could side with National. So a vote for Internet-Mana is a vote for a Labour-Green-Internet-Mana-and-possibly-New Zealand First-Government.
On the second objective, it's possible Dotcom could delay any extradition ruling against him long enough for a change of government to take place. The new multi-tentacled administration could overturn a court ruling. It would be foolish and contrary to the rule of law, but it could.
The Internet-Mana party may also either confuse or scare the bejesus out voters and strengthen National's hand. Blue-collar, socially conservative, Labour-leaning voters - who'd only just got their heads around the idea of dealing with the Greens - may not countenance their vote ushering in a potential coalition led by far-Left feminist and Maori radicals.
In her acceptance speech of the Internet Party leadership last week, Harre admitted her party was gaming the MMP system in a bid to get into Parliament. But she said it was "time for New Zealanders to take back MMP".
It was a nice line, with a ring of socialist rhetoric to it. But nothing could be farther from the truth. The Internet-Mana party may be successful or it may fall flat on its face.
But it is Dotcom who is attempting to take over MMP. And it is for no-one but himself. 

Kudos to Colin Espiner for calling the MegaMana marriage for what it is; a cynical piece of manipulation by Dotcom, to his own benefit. And shame on all the supposedly principled Left-wing politicians like Harawira. Laila Harre and John Minto who are standing by and letting it happen.

In this case, the end does NOT justify the means. The largest attempted rort of our political democracy in this country's history is underway, and it needs to be strongly condemned. Roll on July 7th.

 

0 Dotcom's mission to "destroy"

Here's a story that you might find if you dig around the news websites, but you won't see on TV; Stuff reports:

Kim Dotcom vowed to "destroy" John Banks and Prime Minister John Key, MP Mark Mitchell has told the High Court in Auckland.
Mitchell, the National MP for Rodney, today gave evidence for the defence at ACT MP Banks' trial for filing a false electoral return.
Mitchell said he had met Dotcom at a barbecue in his electorate where the internet entrepreneur was "agitated" about the case to extradite Dotcom to the US on criminal copyright charges.
He said Dotcom told him: "I'm going to destroy John Key, I'm going to take down John Banks, I'm going to take down the Government."
Mitchell's other evidence was suppressed. 

We blogged about a speech Mark Mitchell gave in Parliament recently. If you want the detail of what Mr Mitchell alleged, the full Hansard transcript of his speech is on that post.

Mark Mitchell's evidence yesterday certainly suggests that Kim Dotcom had an ulterior motive in the evidence he and his estranged wife gave against John Banks last week. Mr Banks' wife Amanda gave evidence yesterday which contradicted that of the Dotcoms.

Over at Homepaddock, Ele comments on this issue:

Dotcom ought to be very grateful he’s in New Zealand which shows a great deal more respect for the law and democracy than he appears to.
In many other countries that sort of tirade against a Prime Minister and MP would result in a charge of treason and in some they wouldn’t bother with such niceties as a fair trial before reaching a verdict.

We couldn't agree more. The sooner that Dotcom's extradition case is heard and a decision made, the better for New Zealand

0 So how did that "truth come out" Kim?

Kim Dotcom was bullish when he headed to the District Court (again) a couple of weeks ago; check this out (lifted from Whaleoil):

He wasn't so bullish yesterday when Judge Nevin Dawson handed down his decision; Stuff reports:

A summary of the FBI's case against Kim Dotcom has been made public in a District Court decision released today.
It alleges the German millionaire knowingly infringed copyright, monetarily rewarded other people for doing so and made more than $175 million in the process.
Judge Nevin Dawson lifted the prohibition order on the FBI's case against Dotcom, which the Megaupload founder had hoped to keep secret.
At the centre of the argument is a document called the "Record of Case", a summary document from more than 22 million emails obtained by the FBI.
The summary of the FBI's case was released by a United States district judge to potential victims at the end of last year.
The summary is no longer subject to prohibition orders in New Zealand.
In it the FBI alleges Dotcom, who with Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato is charged money laundering and copyright infringement, made US$25m (NZ$18.3m) through online advertising and US$150m through premium user subscriptions on the Megaupload site.
The "Mega Conspiracy" also rewarded users who uploaded copyright information by paying a total of more than US$3m through e-commerce site PayPal, it said.
The FBI alleged that Dotcom was aware of copyright infringements and had received emails from copyright owners, including Warner Brothers, to take material off Megaupload.

And Dotcom has every reason to not feel bullish. Judge Dawson saw this legal challenge by Dotcom for what it was; a stunt; check out this passage of the learned Judge's decision, especially para 49:

Kim Dotcom is in danger of becoming a latter-day Winston Peters, though less well-dressed; a conspiracy theorist par excellence who over-promises and under-delivers. 

He has repeatedly promised to bring down the PM, just as Peters swore black and blue that Judith Collins would be gone by Monday two weeks ago; and of course, she hasn't. And John Key is still the Prime Minister, whilst the date of Dotcom's extradition hearing draws ever nearer.

And for those interested in the Record of Case now that it is no longer suppressed, here it is:

   Mega Evidence by Eriq Gardner

 Make your own judgment on whether or not US authorities have established a prima facie case against Kim Dotcom and his fellow accused. That is what the Judge who hears the application for extradition will base their decision on, not all the other extraneous matters.