frogblog

I love a good turn of phrase, and “ethical terminators” makes a good turn of phrase. It belongs with the joke about “military intelligence” being an oxymoron. The DomPost reported on this article from the Telegraph today. In an effort to reduce the incidence of war crimes, the US is hiring specialists to help give […]

The Green Party initiative to have electoral reform reviewed and managed by a citizens’ jury has been scrapped by the National government today. While not surprising, it does mean that electoral reform falls back into the hands of the politicians - putting the wolves back in charge of the hen house. The press release came […]

I am utterly dismayed after reading a quote from Dr Wayne Mapp in today’s Dom Post, with regards to the NZ response to Japanese whaling:
I’m not really sure what we will be doing.
It doesn’t get any more wishy washy than that from a Defence Minister. Not that I blame Mapp for the sentiment. A decade […]

Another day, another coloured ribbon. Yesterday, many kiwis spent the day adorned with a white ribbon to show that they don’t condone violence against women. Raising awareness is a key objective of such days and I was disappointed that I did not see any particularly overt press on the subject.
For me, the most salient information […]

The last time the world went pirate crazy, it was Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley who caught our attention. Now it’s the Somalis. But piracy is a much wider problem around the globe, as this Live Piracy Map shows.
I struggle to believe that there have been no reported instances of piracy in or near our […]

It’s official. The electoral commission has published the final results of the election, and the Green Party is up one more MP than previously announced. Kennedy Graham, the number 9 on the party list, is officially in parliament.

Ken teaches (taught?)  international politics and international law at the School of Law, Canterbury and Victoria University, and […]

Things will be a bit sketchy around here at frogblog, as I help the parliamentary team pack up their office and shift further up in Bowen House. With our newer, bigger caucus, we’ll be inhabiting two floors now instead of one.
The views from level 8 were lovely. At almost twice the height, they will be […]

This cartoon is slightly out of date now, except as a tidy explanation of the benefits of two party first past the post presidential style elections so favoured by opponents of MMP.

There is more relevant Christmas themed Captain Capitalism here.

Well, you could go down the clean energy pathway, with wind and solar power, or you could take the other response to peak oil and just nick yourself a Saudi Arabian supertanker.
The capture of the [Sirius Star supertanker] is one of the most spectacular strikes in maritime history.
“It looks like a deliberate two fingers from […]

Well one sector of society had to draw the short straw and get an Act Minister in charge of their area of interest, and this time it was local governments.  But it seems that one mayor, the one in the Rodney District, is looking forward to working with Rodney Hide.
“I am sure the new Minister […]