If National wins ...

[BlackPeter]

National already on the attack blaming Labour for this, that & the other thing re Trade deals.
If they are resorting to blaming a party that has been in power for 7 years & a deal they have negotiated shows how desperate they are.
NZ cannot stop member countries of the TPPA buying property in NZ, however apparently Australia has maintained their rules around foreign investors.
NZ sold to the highest bidder. Just great National.
They were so desperate to get a deal signed they have signed a deal that compromises NZs current ability to govern in the best interests of New Zealanders.

Are you sure? I guess its normal in a negotiations that you have to give as well as take - and what we've heard so far sounds like that the benefits for NZ are larger than the drawbacks.

Obviously - being excluded from the TPPA would have been quite negative for a minnow like NZ ... and I remember it was Labour which first gave up some of NZ's sovereignty when signing the Free Trade Agreement with China.

So - what really is that bad about it, other that it was not your preferred party negotiating it?

I hear even Helen Clark is supporting the deal ...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...ppa-trade-deal

Funny that - did she just change the party - or is she by now so grown up that she is even able to back the right thing even if it was not Labour negotiating it?

[Sgt Pepper]

Never mind about the TPPA
John Key has secretly visited Iraq it has been disclosed. It is too early to say but this could be the end of the ISIS threat. Seeing John in his Flak jacket, dark glasses and hands on his hips he looked the part. He may impart his vast military tactical knowledge while there, as apparently he may have watched the Guns of Navarone when he was a youngster. It must make Crosby Textor very proud.
PS: I wonder if he is allowed to keep his NZ Army cap?

[neopoleII]

""Seeing John in his Flak jacket, dark glasses and hands on his hips he looked the part""
if john doesnt win his fourth term we can look forward to seeing little, winnie and the co green leaders having a shot at an iraqi photo shoot.
little could pull off a really cool soldier look but the other 3 leaders of a 4 way primeministership would struggle.

[neopoleII]

on another note.... anyone who thinks we can be outside of the TPPA or for that matter
thinks we can or could get a better deal is not looking at what is happening in the real world.
having said that.... it saddens me greatly that the world has found us and uses it economic and political might
to dictate terms over us.
how this changes the future of NZ im not sure, but change is coming and we best adapt to it and try to profit from it.
in the old days weapons were used to secure new things.
but in this modern age.........

[Sgt Pepper]

Neopole

Nah, Winston would send Ron Mark. Ron has considerable military experience both in NZ and Qatar

[BlackPeter]

Never mind about the TPPA
John Key has secretly visited Iraq it has been disclosed. It is too early to say but this could be the end of the ISIS threat. Seeing John in his Flak jacket, dark glasses and hands on his hips he looked the part. He may impart his vast military tactical knowledge while there, as apparently he may have watched the Guns of Navarone when he was a youngster. It must make Crosby Textor very proud.
PS: I wonder if he is allowed to keep his NZ Army cap?

Are you sure John stops with just ending the ISIS threat? I guess there are bigger nuts to crack for him in the region while he is there: Russia needs his guidance and help to keep their fighter planes in future out of NATO airspace (maybe a Trimble GPS could help?), the US needs help to avoid bombing raids on civil hospitals (a pair of glasses for the pilots?) ... and the Iraqi soldiers need clear direction what to do when the enemy attacks (No, NO, NO - NOT running away, as they tend to do ....). I am sure John will resolve these minor issues by lunchtime - maybe he could use the rest of the day to teach Assad the haka - wouldn't this be fun?

Sad state of affairs .... instead of sending more than hundred soldiers plus our PM to Iraq to increase the mess, should we better use the money to accept a meaningful number of Syrian refugees who are fleeing from the very war we support in NZ. Yes, I know, we just teach the "good" guys - do we?

[elZorro]

I must have been asleep during June this year, when Cameron Slater was caught out trying to get a hacker to bust into "The Standard" website. He paid the money but didn't get the goods (list of contributors and commentators) as it seems to be well protected. Some of the posts must have got up his funder's nose.

http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thena...#axzz3cElION6D

[elZorro]

Bernard Hickey on the TPPA.

http://www.interest.co.nz/property/7...8+October+2015

Bryan Gould has an opinion piece in the Herald, and short form here. Excellent cartoon from Emmerson.

http://thestandard.org.nz/gould-on-the-tpp/

[elZorro]

""Seeing John in his Flak jacket, dark glasses and hands on his hips he looked the part""
if john doesnt win his fourth term we can look forward to seeing little, winnie and the co green leaders having a shot at an iraqi photo shoot.
little could pull off a really cool soldier look but the other 3 leaders of a 4 way primeministership would struggle.

NeopoleII, perhaps the irony has escaped you - National can only properly govern with the help of ACT (one elected MP), United Future (one elected MP) and the Maori Party. That's four parties. It must get confusing, all those different ideas, policies and agendas. Your argument would be that this has worked out fine.

I'd be happier with a straight shooter as the PM.

[neopoleII]

gee...... elz you got banned....... that is not like you....
regarding national and its partners...... they invited the smaller parties to join them and formed a government.
they could of stepped back and let ALL the minority parties try and form a government.... but...
ALL the smaller parties couldnt make it work.
JK is petty straight compared to the other options.
being a democratic country ..... there is nothing stopping labour, the greens, nz first, and the maori party joining forces and become the new government.
but the said four parties have too many differences.
the fact that the maori party is siding with national should be a wakeup call to all left wing voters.
as i have said many times.... i dont vote national or labour anymore.
and i do believe in mmp.
i also believe that most kiwis are good people and vote for what is right instead of voting from the wallet.
re..... we have a "hard" center right government propped up by a visually left wing party ..... the maori party.
the only good thing i can see from a 4th term of national is that labour will be forced to clean house of its radical leftism and
join the majority of centralist kiwis.
if anything...... this is what your nemesis "textor" has played on.... the left wing fell off the left cliff.
the right wing moved to the center.
all the other parties a swimming around.
i love this country as much as anyone, and am by no means rich, and earn just enough to get by, so policy is important to me
as much as anyone.
hope to see you back soon ELZ