McCain panders to the religious right

Yes well picking Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin may be wise, on the surface, by putting a woman as the vice presidential running mate. Not the first time of course, as Geraldine Ferraro had her own shrill leftwing tilt at it in 1984, with Walter Mondale - a ticket doomed to fail against Ronald Reagan.

However she IS a Christian Conservative. A wise move again for a Republican who many on the religious right see as not being one of their own, but it isn't a wise move for freedom.

The Republican Party is a broad church of social conservatives and small government liberals. McCain has a bit of both, but he is no Bush - he isn't from the religious right. However his platform sounds an awful lot like he is. Now the Vice President isn't important, at all. Let's face it, who was voting for Bush when they voted for Reagan, who was voting for Quayle when they were voting for Bush, who was voting for Gore when they were voting for Clinton. It is really a stand in position, and little more.

So it is time to shine a light upon John McCain's policies. Obama is an unabashed big government statist, who (until recently) would rather Iraq fall to Islamists than let the US support the democratically elected government that is now in power there. He's not fit to be President, but is McCain?

ETS benefits?

Go on, give me one.

I don't mean "makes environmentalists feel good". I want something quantified, preferably one that will offset the increased costs to consumers and producers.

Bjorn Lomborg's book "The Skeptical Environmentalist" has as its primary thesis that even if anthropomorphic global warming is occurring, it may be more beneficial to humanity to NOT intervene to change this, but to rather target other issues, such as trade, clean water supplies, sanitation and inoculations in developing countries.

In other words, when you take a cold economic appraisal of the problem, it may not be worth addressing it. Certainly, New Zealand going alone whilst the likes of China, Russia, India and the entire Middle East do nothing is madness.

Yet it is mainstream politics to go along with it. What is the imperative for New Zealand to lead on this? What are the costs? More importantly, why do almost all political parties in Parliament sign up to it?

Bloggers vs journalists

Not PC mentioned about David Cohen's amusing dig at bloggers in the NBR. David Cohen is one of the few NZ journalists I rate, because he can write well, and he thinks. Indeed, as I have said before there is a difference between journalists and reporters, and sadly far too many in the mainstream media (and TV is significantly worse) are reporters. Their idea of a story is:

- The government announced it would do X today. It said that doing X would solve a long standing problem of Y and Z. The cost of doing X is $A, which Minister B said would be great value. Lobby group C supported the move cautiously saying while a step forward, it wasn't enough. National spokesperson D said it was too little too late.

Cohen put forward a 20 point test that is meant to mean you've moved from being a "mere blogger" to being a journalist. How destroyed is my ego that I haven't passed, (well I got 10) though I'll live as I am lot happier actually doing stuff than just writing about it, and my bank balance is happier too.

After all I am paid for my writing, I think my formal qualifications in law and public policy don't make me cry about having not done journalism, my writing is typically peer reviewed, I know the difference between practice and practise, I've used the OIA (and see how poorly a few journalists use it as they don't know enough to ask the right questions), I've often met deadlines, I've had my work read by Cabinet Ministers and Chief Executives of public and private sector organisations. So on and so on.

Keith Ng has a good set of questions too in response. My favourites from his are:

Do you ever write stories where more than half the content comes from one press release?

Do you ever write a story about a report solely from the press release accompanying the report, without having read the report itself?

Both are far too common, and infantile. Why should people pay to read such drivel when they can go to Scoop and read the press releases as they are?

I have a better set of questions for journalists, to see how smart and honest they are:

Do you make your political and religious affiliations transparent to your readers? Do you declare any political parties you have been a member of or donated to?Do you questions assumptions made in government reports and press releases, as well as opposition ones?

Have you ever asked a politician whether the answer to a problem is for the government to do nothing? Have you ever written an article where you analyse what might happen if the government did less not more in a particular policy area?

Do you ever make an Official Information Act (or LGOIMA) request knowing exactly what it is you need to know to determine what has gone on?

Have you ever written about H2's control on the areas of government policy she has the greatest interest in and which the PM trusts her in? Do you even know what she does?

Could you get a similar level job writing for The Times, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian or The Independent (UK not NZ!)? (or even the Economist?)

Do you understand that the value of money declines over time so quoting financial statistics without adjusting for this is not comparing like with like?

Can you accurately name under which Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers the NZ government privatised NZ Rail, privatised Telecom NZ, corporatised the Railways Department and privatised NZ Post? (trick question)

Do you know what onanism is (without going and Googling it now) and have you never had anyone describe your work as such?

Oh and while I'm at it here are some examples of journalism missing a point:

1. This article doesn't mention that Telstra Clear didn't install its own network, it is using Telecom's, so it is competition on unequal terms.

2. This article, didn't include any interviews with any school principals, even though it is about schools.

3. This article, quotes Chris Turver, ignoring that he was once a Wellington Regional Councillor until last year. It also doesn't even note that funding has been approved to extend the electrification of the rail network to Waikanae, so it looks like another problem ignored.

and that's just today.

Labour's list could see some joblessness

Well one can hope, but with Judith Tizard at number 38, and Nikki Kaye fighting hard in Auckland Central, it might be the end for the Tizard dynasty - a dynasty that has long been a triumph of mediocre obscenities and grumpiness over talent, temperance and taste.

Mark Burton, Mahara Okeroa, Martin Gallagher, Dave Hereora (who?) and Louisa Wall all look like they might have to look for real jobs as well. Grant Robertson has to win Wellington Central to get in, against Stephen Franks for National - so unlike previous elections it truly is a battle between the two main parties.

Also notable is Raj Prasad, former Families Commissioner - so a man used to undertaking useless jobs (although I'm aware he is quite a thoughtful gentleman, I'd have thought he'd have better judgment than to be spoilt by Parliament).

A few others are new, who appear to be 20 something wannabe control freaks (I mean seriously, why would anyone want to be a Labour MP today unless you wanted to boss people around and use their money?).

Notable is that Jordan Carter isn't on the list (sorry 70 is like being 17th on the ACT list). He isn't that keen on being an MP, or is it that the Labour Party isn't that keen on HIM being one?

Key rules out Winston: good!

According to Stuff, John Key has emphatically ruled out any deal with NZ First after the election. That means coalition, confidence and supply and as a result any chance Winston Peters could ever be a Minister. Good.

Unsurprisingly, Deputy PM Dr. Michael Cullen has now said that this is unfair saying "John Key's stance shows that he has no respect for basic New Zealand values of fair play".

I see - so the party of multiculturalism thought it was fair to make a man who has built part of his political career opposing Asian immigration the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

At least now it is clear - if you vote NZ First, you are going to be supporting a Helen Clark led Labour government, because that is exactly what has happened since 2005, and it is the only option for NZ First in 2008.

So Mr Key, what might you compromise on if you turn to the Maori Party or the Greens then?