0 Here comes the back-down

Labour appears to be backing away from its proposal to reverse the burden of proof on consent in rape cases; Newstalk ZB reports:

A case of Andrew Little thinking out loud.
Labour's downplaying its justice spokesman's proposal to shift the burden of proof in rape cases.
The party wants the Law Commission to consider a shift to an inquisitorial system - to make courtrooms less combative for alleged victims of sexual assault.
Mr Little's suggested the defence should have to show there was consent, to prove the accused's innocence.
But leader David Cunliffe says Labour will await expert advice on the idea.
"I think he was saying what I've been saying which is that it is a matter for the Law Commission.
"There's a range of options on the table.
"One possibility could be - dot, dot, dot." 

David Cunliffe has obviously been holding his finger up to the winds of public opinion on this important issue. He's know starting to back away from what Andrew Little was proposing with no ambiguity whatsoever up until Tuesday.

This is vintage Labour Party policy-making on the hoof. Announce something, then back away from it when you get an adverse reaction. That is no way for Labour to be demonstrating that the party is a credible alternative government-in-waiting.

It reminds us of the infamous Groucho Marx quote:

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.

We're pleased that David Cunliffe has seen sense, and will not be going ahead with this proposal, for now, anyway. But the mere fact that it was raised at all suggests an absence of good judgment on the part of Labour's MPs.

0 Jones on Dotcom's "pretend party"

Bob Jones is in fine form this morning in his weekly NZ Herald column. Under the headline Dotcom, your no-hopers won't save you Jones opines:

My urging John Minto to shut up and acquire a hobby induced his response claiming he once thrashed me in a Victoria University debate (I've never debated him or indeed anyone at Vic) and challenging me to debate with him publicly on any of a wide range of subjects.
As I, like everyone else, want him to shut up, I'd hardly provide him more oxygen by doing that. Minto repeated this in a letter to me. I replied by helpfully suggesting he could satisfy his pathetic craving for attention by putting on a one-man black and white minstrel show and suggested he start practising singing Swanee River.
And given his life-long socialist belief in spending others' money, I offered to buy him his banjo and face-paint. He would have gone down a treat in old folk's homes, but acting altruistically in a meaningful way is alien to him, aside from which there's the awkward need to smile, so instead he's shamelessly joined Dotcom's pretend party.

Dangle money before hardened lefties and they'll sit up and purr every time.

Bob Jones hits the nail on the head here (sorry Rex). The political Left loves money, especially when it belongs to the long-suffering Someone Else. That is the only reason why the Mana Party has agreed to the MegaMana rort deal; Dotcom's money.

Of course, it matters not to Hone, Laila, Annette and John where the money came from; Jones continues:

Kim Dotcom was granted residency in November 2010 under the "investor plus" category, despite his past offending in Germany, his persona-non-grata status in Thailand and his minor securities conviction in Hong Kong, the Immigration Service making a marginal judgment call given his expressed investing commitment.
This decision was thereafter supported by his generosity to a range of causes, and he quickly became a larger-than-life, jolly-jumbo figure who brightened our lives. But today, three years later, his world has collapsed and, flailing in desperation, he's become politically involved, something I'm sure he never anticipated given his background of frivolous excess. He's now best described as the Milan Brych of New Zealand politics.
So what went wrong? That's simple: specifically the revelation of his wealth source, namely the large-scale copyright theft of Hollywood movies, which has led to the extradition order by the FBI. Due to preposterously idiotic behaviour of the police, who, instead of knocking on his door and handing Dotcom a summons, mounted a scandalously infantile raid by 76 armed police and two helicopters, then wrongly threw him into prison, the public reaction became hugely sympathetic, more so when it was revealed he had been illegally spied on by the GCSB clowns.
Dotcom's loveable maverick reputation collapsed, despite his vigorous legal efforts to prevent it, once details of the FBI's claim became public. Hitherto he had presented his business as that of an innocent bystander, akin to a taxi driver delivering a passenger to a bank, then subsequently being charged with aiding and abetting a crime after it was found his fare had robbed the bank.
But the FBI claims he had the means to control his Megaupload site's content, but far from doing so, actively incentivised the placement of movies on his site.
In rebuttal, Dotcom points to the terms service users were obliged to agree to, which included an undertaking not to post copyrighted material. He further argues that the sheer volume of material was such as to prevent practical policing.
The user copyright undertaking won't wash in any court and he knows it. It was his primary income source, arising from many tens of thousands of downloading users exploiting his site's stolen movies, but Dotcom, the site owner, implausibly claims this was all unknown to him.
Anyone wrongly charged with a serious crime should be ultra-eager to get into a court and argue their innocence. Instead, Dotcom has wasted millions trying to avoid doing so.
So he has resorted to a final desperation measure, namely to spend millions attempting to buy a change of government, which he hopes will override a court-backed extradition order, an inevitable outcome once he's used up all of his legal ploys.

Dotcom's money is not "clean" money, despite one of the serious criminal charges he is facing in the USA being Conspiracy to commit money laundering. But that won't stop Hone Harawira and his whanau. Their loathing of "rich prick" John Key means that the end justifies the means in getting rid of him, in their eyes. 

Of course that ignores the obvious hypocrisy of taking money from another rich prick, but Dotcom gets a free pass because he despises John Key too. Principles disappear out the window when the cheque book comes out.

Jones closes, with final digs at Dotcom, Harre and Minto:

He's wasting his money as no government will do that, regardless of any undertakings from the soul-selling abysmal no-hopers he has garnered together to fund as a political party. If anything, his efforts will hugely harm the Opposition cause in Balkanising and confusing its message, thus presenting an electoral option with, on one side, a rabble of dissimilar, mutually antagonistic parties, all with unpopular leaders and wildly different messages, set against a stable governing party with the most popular leader in our history.
This is the fifth party Dotcom's new leader, Laila Harre, has belonged to, which speaks volumes. Laila will always be remembered for the funniest political gaffe in our history when she explained her 2002 defeat by lamenting on television that voters had voted with their heads rather than their hearts.
If she wants hearts, then far better she assists Minto with a one-man black and white minstrel act which will pull the punters in droves, but when it comes to heads, like Dotcom, she's history.

Jones is once again quite right. The Herald-DiigiPoll released this morning shows a small rise in support for MegaMana at the Green Party's expense. A congested hard-Left is hardly going to filch votes from the centre, or the centre-right. All that will happen is that the same volume of votes on the Left will be distributed among more parties.

Of course, we're not going to complain about that outcome. It'll be a nice farewell gift to New Zealand from Dotcom as he is jetted off the the USA to face the trial he has tried so hard to avoid. 

0 Scary, scary, scary...

Turn you mind back just two months, when the Herald reported this:

If Kim Dotcom becomes part of a king-making triumvirate in September, I will run around the neighbourhood waving my undies in the air.

All we ask of Pam Corkery, now that she is on Dotcom's payroll is that she gives people fair warning about where she lives so they can leave town and avoid life-long trauma.

Pam Corkery is another so called "principled" leftie who has fallen down to worship at the altar of Dotcom's supposed wealth. The political Left has shown its true, greedy colours this week.

 But please; no more talk of Pam Corkery's undergarments...

0 A Green SMOG

We've blogged in the past about one of the Green Party's values which urges members to "Engage respectfully, without personal attacks". So we wonder what Green MP Jan Logie was thinking when she fired off this tweet from Parliament's Debating Chamber:

That's a definite SMOG from Ms Logie and the Greens who always pretend that they are above such puerile stuff.

0 "Technically legal" but "not right"

The Greens are upset that people are prepared to pay money to dine with the most popular Prime Minister in New Zealand's history. Whilst we all know that the Greens are pushing hard for taxpayer funding of political parties, the Green-eyed monster is also at work here; the Greens are openly jealous of John Key's popularity, and National's ability to fundraise.

Even Russel Norman concedes that fundraising dinners break no rules. He was quoted in the Dom-Post yesterday as saying they were "technically legal". Forget the word "technically" Dr Norman; dinners such as that run by Chris Parkin are 100% legal, and the money raised and donated to the party has been declared as required by law; end of story.

But Dr Norman himself doesn't have to look far for something that, whilst it may have been "technically legal" certainly stretched the bounds of right and wrong. Bear with us as we tell this little story.

It all began with the death of Green Party co-leader Rod Donald. We suspect that Mr Donald would have been horrified with what followed his passing.

In June 2006, the Greens elected Russel Norman as co-leader, by-passing Nandor Tanczos, the party's most senior male MP. 

Mr Tanczos was clearly disappointed by his rejection. At the beginning of election year 2008 rumours began to surface about the likelihood he would retire. His decision was confirmed in this presser on 17 January 2008. There was no mention of a successor.

And that's where the fun began; the "technically legal" but "not right" fun. It was assumed that Russel Norman would saunter into Parliament, but there was one slight problem; he was not the next MP on the Green Party list. Mike Ward and Catherine Delahunty had been ranked ahead of him in 2005.

Mike Ward, to his eternal credit, wasn't playing the game. So the Greens had to paper over the cracks that were appearing; check out this story from 3News in April 2008:

One of parliament's more colourful MPs is still refusing to say exactly when he will walk away from politics, despite a bill in his name gaining the traction it needs to become law.

Green MP Nandor Tanczos announced earlier this year that he's to quit politics, but wants to see his Waste Minimisation Bill passed first.

That is now likely to happen later this year after it came back from a select committee with the support of National and Labour.

His resignation would create an opening for the party's co-leader to enter parliament - but Mr Tanczos is not committing to a date.

With all respect to Mr Tanczos who we believe to be a principled man, despite a very different worldview to ours, we don't buy that excuse. The reason that his departure was delayed was the unholy bun-fight going on for his seat in the House; before it had even been vacated!

The the story changed again; check out this story from the Otago Daily Times of 22 May 2008:

Green MP Nandor Tanczos will stay in Parliament until the election after his attempts to let co-leader Russel Norman take his seat ran aground. Mr Tanczos is retiring from Parliament at the election and had hoped to go earlier.
He wanted Dr Norman to take his seat but for that to happen, the next two people on the party's list had to step aside to let Dr Norman through.
Candidate Catherine Delahunty was prepared to, but former Green MP Mike Ward was not.
A seat in Parliament would have helped lift Dr Norman's profile going into the election campaign and also given the party access to more resources in the lead-up to the election. 

We've highlighted that last sentence, because this is what this story is all about. Getting Dr Norman into Parliament BEFORE the House rose for the election would have allowed him to campaign for the Greens on the public dime, using his access to taxpayer-funded travel and accommodation. But Mike Ward stood in his way wanting to claim the seat in Parliament that was rightfully his according to the rules by which the Greens ranked their Party List. 

It was all too good to last. The Herald reported on 4 June 2008:

The Green Party member who refused to step aside so his party's co-leader could become an MP has backed down.
Russel Norman will now enter Parliament before the election after the surprise about-turn by party member Mike Ward, who had previously blocked Mr Norman's bid to replace Nandor Tanczos.
Mr Ward's change of mind comes after the party said Mr Tanczos would stay until the election because Mr Ward was refusing to cede his list ranking.
The party had planned that Mr Tanczos would quit Parliament and Mr Norman would take his place by leapfrogging Mr Ward on the party list.
"While there are plenty of people who support my stand, it seems to me if Nandor would rather not be there, then Russel would probably be better off in his place," Mr Ward said.
"I just decided that it was time to just move aside."

One can only wonder what pressure was brought on Mike Ward between 22 May and 4 June 2008 to make him change his mind. But one thing is clear; the Green Party's principles went out the window in the quest for power at all costs.

DPF called it as he saw it. In a post entitled The fix is in he blogged:

Mike Ward has succumbed to the pressure and has agreed to refuse his place in Parliament so Russel Norman can use taxpayer funded resources to campaign.
I blogged a couple of weeks ago that the Greens were trying to do two things – both of which work sit badly with me. The first is having MPs resign before for their term in Parliament is up, purely for tactical partisan reasons. You rejuvenate a party at elections, not between them.
The second is changing the order of the list post election. The Greens put a lot of stress on the fact their members rank the list, yet they have ignored the will of their members who ranked the 2005 party list – the only one which the public have had a chance to vote on with their party vote.
There is no way one can stop an MP resigning early, but one could have a simple law change to remove the ability for a list candidate to refuse to become an MP. They could still be elected and then resign, but that extra step might stop them from doing private deals to change the effective order of a list post-election.

DPF is absolutely right to call this a "fix". The Green Party rulebook, principles and statement of values went out the window for a chance to rort the taxpayer of a few more dollars to promote the party. Mike Ward became the sacrificial lamb.

You're not ever likely to see a complete rehash of this sad episode in the mainstream media. The irony is, of course, that it took us five minutes on Google to compile the links referred to above. We are by no means "decent journalists,trained and skilled"; we're just a keyboard warrior who is sick of Dr Norman's sanctimony when there is a very large skeleton in his own closet.

So next time you hear Dr Norman say that something is "technically legal" but that it is "not right", remind him via whatever medium you have access to that he himself is far from squeaky clean, and that his own entry to Parliament was essentially on the back of a rort. 

The Greens may claim to be the party of principle, but when there's a bag of Other People's Money to be grabbed, principles disappear very quickly, and the Greens are exposed as being as venal and unprincipled as any of the parties they criticise.

0 The Mana implosion begins

A week is said to be a long time in politics. But the last 24 hours have seen plenty happen within the Mana Party; the Herald on Sunday reports:

Sue Bradford and other leading Mana Party figures have walked out of the party's AGM over its decision to continue negotiations towards an alliance with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party.
After discussions which went into the night at Mataikotare Marae near Rotorua yesterday, Mana's branches "unanimously'' agreed to move forward with the negotiations.
The party has given its leaders a month to negotiate, before they put any proposed alliance out to the party's local branches for consultation.
However, Mana President Annette Sykes this morning said : "Our movement, I was concerned that it may be fragile and some of our membership - I don't know whether some have chosen not to come back today.''
"There's quite a number. We're not talking hundreds, but we're talking people who I think are leaders young and old and they are principled people who I have respect for. They've gone back to reflect with their branches.''

Ms Bradford this morning confirmed she was among those who had walked out.
"We left us last night so she perhaps includes us among those people because there was deep debate, deep dissension and resistance to the idea of going into an alliance with the Internet Party.''
"Some of us, both Maori and Pakeha, are really disturbed by the idea of going into an alliance with a neo-liberal billionaire.''

Kudos to Sue Bradford and the other members of Mana who can hold their heads high. They have put principles ahead of dirty deals, and Kim Dotcom's tainted money.

What is left of the Mana Party is a joke. Principles have been abandoned, and instead, the promise of clutching the hem of Dotcom's rather ample garment is now what drives the party. And don't get us started on Hone Harawira; in terms of venal behaviour, he makes Winston Peters look like Mother Teresa.

The implosion of the Mana Party has begun. We warned several weeks ago that this would end in tears, and that now seems almost a certainty. 

And in the meantime, Cameron Slater has pointed out a huge disconnect between what Dotcom told Mana members yesterday, and previously published details about his upbringing. Like David Cunliffe, Dotcom brings different messages to different audiences.

Haere ra Mana Party. Don't say we didn't warn you.

0 Haere ra Mana Party

It's the beginning of the end of the Mana Party, and they can't say they weren't warned; the Herald on Sunday reports:

Hone Harawira and Kim Dotcom have taken the next step in their slow dance, after Mana Party members agreed late last night to move forward in negotiations with the Internet Party.
The Mana Party has given its leaders a month to negotiate, before they put any proposed alliance out to the party's local branches for consultation.
Dotcom put his case to about 200 Mana members gathered for their annual meeting at Rotorua's lakeside Mataikotare Marae yesterday.
The internet tycoon and his entourage arrived at the Mana annual meeting in large Porsche and Mercedes SUVs but he pulled out all the stops to convince Mana of his working-class credentials.
He had spent the journey down from his Coatesville mansion being briefed by a Ngati Whatua kaumatua on marae protocol and the Treaty of Waitangi.
The German millionaire and alleged internet pirate spoke of his impoverished terror-stricken childhood as the son of an alcoholic father.

Having grown up poor he was committed to Mana's core principles of tackling poverty.
"I'm all for the betterment of Maori, I'm all for social justice. Just because I live in a big flash house doesn't mean I don't care about people who are disadvantaged."
Dotcom also laid out his vision of how technology could help the Mana Party engage with voters and could alleviate poverty.
"I was in a low social situation. Technology has helped me to become an entrepreneur and to become successful so why shouldn't that be replicated for young people in New Zealand who are not living in the big cities and are disadvantaged right now?"
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira told reporters Dotcom "did extremely well".

Kim Dotcom is full of it. He didn't "care about people who are disadvantaged" when he left creditors and staff unpaid for two years. Some of those staff remain unpaid, and Dotcom is now being sued by them. He didn't "care about people who are disadvantaged" when he conspired to rip off the creators of original content by paying people to steal it then upload it to his "data storage locker".

Hone Harawira and some of his Mana Party colleagues can't see past the dollar signs in their eyes. Dotcom brings the kind of wealth and privilege they could only dream about, or so they think. They need to ponder Alex Mardikian's warning; "no one rides for free with Kim".

If the Mana Party goes ahead with its alliance with Dotcom, it will have abandoned the "principles" on which the party was formed. It is heading for dog tucker territory.