us politics
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- Kamala Harris (2)
US midterms – deflation the risk so be afraid
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 pm, November 3rd, 2010 - 23 comments
As predicted, the US midterms have not gone well for the Democrats, as they have lost control of the House of Representatives. But they retain a majority in the Senate, so some are predicting that the most likely outcome is a repeat of the gridlock of 1994, after a similar conservative revolt led by Rush […]
Key to get White House invite?
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, November 1st, 2010 - 45 comments
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on her way to New Zealand this week, bringing the customary promises of good will and better relations between our two countries.
The big question is however: Will Clinton be bringing the overdue White House invite for our Prime Minister? John Key has claimed after all he and Obama are best pals… and he can pick up the phone anytime. Now’s the test.
Stewart interviews some guy called Obama
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 pm, October 30th, 2010 - 15 comments
It’s a strange world we live in when comedians step out of the box and become the best political interviewers that America has to offer. But so it goes! Here is Jon Stewart interviewing President Obama. It will be interesting to see how the Stewart / Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity goes this weekend.
Phil Davison, bringing the passion back to politics
Written By: - Date published: 5:33 pm, September 19th, 2010 - 8 comments
Some people are passionate about local government finances. Really, really, really embarrassingly passionate. Love when he says “If nominated tonight, I can guarantee with 100% certainty that what you are seeing tonight will be what everyone outside those doors will see over the next 8 weeks”. That’d be the clincher for any undecideds.
Rally to restore sanity
Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, September 19th, 2010 - 10 comments
Remember Glen Beck’s “Rally to restore honour”? Depressed about America apparently spiralling out of control into political insanity? Me too! But now, at last, someone speaks up for the 70 to 80% of Americans who aren’t crazy.
Good luck I say
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, September 14th, 2010 - 24 comments
It seems Sarah Palin is stepping up her campaign to be the Republican’s candidate to run against President Obama in 2012. The world couldn’t ask for a better candidate to oppose Obama: She won’t have a show in hell.
No victory in Iraq
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 6 comments
Barack Obama declared the U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially over on Tuesday but said he would not take a “victory lap”. No victory? That’s quite an understatement…
The ground zero mosque
Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, August 29th, 2010 - 31 comments
“The ground zero mosque” is the latest focus of and flash-point for deranged American right wing anger. The Guardian’s Charlie Brooker explains.
Rough Justice
Written By: - Date published: 10:28 am, July 31st, 2010 - 16 comments
The Economist has a great article looking at the American propensity to deprive their citizens of their liberty for trivial offenses. We have the same stupid political ratcheting here that causes it. A large part of that is fueled by groups like the Sensible Sentencing Trust. There needs to be a broad agreement across the political spectrum about such hysterical groups before they cause more damage.
Pray you don’t get endorsed by Sarah Palin
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, July 30th, 2010 - 10 comments
A recent poll in New Hampshire showed that being endorsed by Sarah Palin was an immediate turnoff to moderate voters. Similarly the RWNJ’s of the ‘tea party’ have managed to succeed in getting ideologically ‘pure’ but politically lower quality candidates selected where the GOP has undemocratic systems in place. Is this the beginning of the end for the RWNJ’s in the US as voters reject their candidates? Now if only WhaleOil would endorse candidates here…
Truth out on wars
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, July 27th, 2010 - 13 comments
Deputy PM and leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, caused a bit of a sensation last week when he pronounced Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war illegal. And yesterday Wikileaks published a massive cache of American military files exposing the truth about the war in Afghanistan. Not a good week for warmongers.
Financial regulation in USA
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, July 17th, 2010 - 17 comments
The recent global recession represented a spectacular failure of unfettered capitalism. We never felt the full force and completeness of that failure because the worst was averted – or rather just delayed – by vast injections of Government bailout money. America has learned its lesson, yesterday passing the strictest restrictions on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression.
Bypassing the media
Written By: - Date published: 3:10 pm, July 7th, 2010 - 1 comment
Not long after The White House Correspondents’ Association met with Obama’s Press Secretary to complain about limitations on their access, The White House launched its own weekly video blog. Presidential administrations have always tried to harness new communications technologies to shape a favorable image, says Mordecai Lee, a professor of governmental affairs at the University […]
Senator Alvin Greene?
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, June 16th, 2010 - 29 comments
Alvin Greene is an unemployed military veteran who received an involuntary discharge and is currently on felony pornography charges. He has a degree but seems a bit, um, challenged. He received 60% of the vote in the Democratic Primary for South Carolina senator, despite having no experience, no backing, and no campaign. No-one can explain it. See the Daily Show’s take:
Nats set the places for their own tea party
Written By: - Date published: 10:01 pm, May 18th, 2010 - 27 comments
The US Republican Party faces destruction at the hands of the Teabaggers, a reactionary movement based on ignorance and fear that the Republican leadership purposely created. National faces a similar risk. It cynically fed its members anti-climate change conspiracy theorist nonsense. Now the Nats have to govern but their knuckle-draggers are fighting back.
On GEO group, conservative politicians, lobbyist groups, and prisons
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, May 2nd, 2010 - 9 comments
In Florida, a legislative plan to close as many as five state prisons and ship inmates to a private prison run by GEO Group was scaled back last month.
The feds may be searching to see if former state House Speaker Sansom received any kickbacks from the company. The GEO group are also contenders for running private prisons here.
Stewart vs. Fox
Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, April 22nd, 2010 - 19 comments
When will conservative commentators stop picking fights with Jon Stewart? It never ends well for them.
If smiles equaled FTAs Key wouldn’t be a do nothing PM
Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, April 18th, 2010 - 7 comments
Journos. Obama didn’t meet Key before dinner on a big stage in front of the media because it was just practical. The leaders didn’t stand with awkward grins for the group photo because it was a crucial step in the diplomatic process. This is being done for you. Only you. It is meaningless apart from the fact they know the media will lap it up. They think you’re saps. And you keep proving them right.
NZ should be a proud world leader on nukes
Written By: - Date published: 10:54 pm, April 13th, 2010 - 49 comments
How wonderful it is to have a US President that rejects the evil of nuclear weapons. Finally the world is catching up with us. While the powers were locked in the stand-off of Mutually Assured Destruction, New Zealand rejected the madness of that logic and we declared ourselves nuclear-free. Our Prime Minister should be celebrating that fact and pointing to our achievement as a model for the whole world.
Nuke free US ships already welcome
Written By: - Date published: 6:13 pm, April 10th, 2010 - 13 comments
Geoffrey Palmer needs a holiday. It’s bad enough that he’s acting as the mouthpiece for John Key’s pro-whaling policy that has the Japanese applauding and our allies shaking their heads in dismay. Now, he’s saying we should allow visits by US naval vessels. If the US wants to send navy ships for a visit then all it has to do is what other nuclear powers like the UK do: confirm that the vessels it sends don’t breach our country’s laws. Is that too much to ask?
The Waihopai spy base
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, April 9th, 2010 - 31 comments
The Waihopai spy base is very much in the news. Last month the Waihopai Three were acquitted of charges, provoking a storm of controversy (and congratulations). Yesterday came the news that the Government is considering further action against the three. There was also a “very unusual” statement about the role of Waihopai from the GCSB. Who to believe?
Obama delivers change
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, March 23rd, 2010 - 36 comments
It has taken nearly a year and cost President Obama a lot of his popularity, thanks to the spineless behaviour of many House Democrats, but the final barrier has been passed to the US getting universal health-care. Obama’s health reform bill passed the House yesterday by a narrow margin. It now needs to win a […]
Crossbreed a dumb mistake with wingnuts
Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, March 21st, 2010 - 6 comments
An amusing tale of how Rush Limbaugh screws up, and a pile of wingnuts immediately jump to the wrong conclusions.
American wingnuts at their most ridiculous. But we have the angry and irrational breed here as well.
Financial regulation in USA?
Written By: - Date published: 3:51 pm, March 16th, 2010 - 24 comments
The recent recession represented a spectacular failure of unfettered capitalism. One of the main causes in America was a picking apart of financial regulations. This allowed the “innovative” products and practices that brought the system down. Perhaps America has learned the lesson. A new Democratic proposal outlines “the biggest overhaul of regulations since the New Deal”.
Corporation to run for US Congress
Written By: - Date published: 12:36 pm, February 5th, 2010 - 8 comments
Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. today announced it was filing to run for U.S. Congress. Read the whole press release. Here’s their first campaign ad:
Obama’s State of the Nation
Written By: - Date published: 4:11 pm, January 29th, 2010 - 5 comments
I suspect more than one reader of the Standard would have been glued to the live stream yesterday of Obama’s state of the nation speech. If you’re interested in reactions there’s a useful summary over at the Huffington post, which appears mixed. But what I really enjoyed was this visual from the Guardian, which asks […]
Massachusetts not about health care
Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, January 26th, 2010 - 39 comments
I’m getting a bit sick of commentary suggesting Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts Senate race was a thumbs down for Obama’s universal health care package. It wasn’t. Health care was not an issue in the Massachusetts senate election. Why? Because in 2006 state-wide health care and coverage was enforced by Massachusetts law. Wikipedia’s […]
A fighting Left
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, October 2nd, 2009 - 32 comments
This live performance on CNN by Congressman Alan Grayson gives me some hope for the American Left. Unlike nearly every other Democrat I have ever seen Grayson doesn’t back down and when the Republicans try to attack him for lowering the standard of debate (ironic considering their “death panel” smears) he just slaps them right […]
Political debate done right
Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, September 7th, 2009 - 3 comments
The last video I posted had Democratic Congressman Barney Frank taking the fight to a woman in the audience of a townhall meeting who had just compared the proposed health care reforms to Nazism. He finished by saying: “trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to have a conversation with a […]
The F word
Written By: - Date published: 2:47 pm, August 29th, 2009 - 33 comments
It probably isn’t possible to have rational discussion about the F word. It has been trivialised by overuse as a meaningless term of abuse. But in its real meaning it is an important word, and some people are taking it very seriously just now. So let’s at least try and confront the big F. Fascism. […]
Truly ambitious for America
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, July 28th, 2009 - 15 comments
America faces a hell of a lot of problems at the moment, but if there’s one man with the ability to inspire and lead them through, it’s Obama. “when I see the young men on the corners [of the ghettos] I say there but for the grace of God go I. They are no less […]
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