The Greens cosy up with fascism

This is the party I once belonged to.

It is almost beyond me to express the feeling of disgust I feel with the blue Greens (as they are now) cosying up to Key and his fascists, doing the Dirty on Labour, NZ First and the people of NZ in this act of political opportunism that will most assuredly backfire on them.

They continue to betray the founding principles of the Party as they lie to the public about the train wreck of catastrophic abrupt climate change in their pathetic attempts to be part of government (ANY government) at any price.

In the meantime while Key gets us talking about a flag and a panda bear we have this -

"Satellite data suggests sea levels in the south-west Pacific are rising up to five times faster than the global average - 7.7 millimetres a year in the capital Honiara, to the south, and up to 16.8 millimetres a year in the ocean to the country’s north.

Greens cosy up with National to shank Labour – Red Peak indeed

Martyn Bradbury

the Daily Blog,

24 September, 2015

The Twitterati has had less impact on the Red Peak issue than they will acknowledge. National used the opportunity to work with the Greens to stick it to Labour after the Greens broke ranks to get the flag onto the ballot.

Gen X and Y are design freaks so the opportunity to have a rave about aesthetics pretended to create meaning in an otherwise dull flag debate. This is the generations of interior and exterior font design so the Greens captured that zeitgeist and rode it home with the help of National.

The great masses who are not hipsters and buy their clothing from the Warehouse don’t care about this flag issue, they’re struggling to pay for the electricity bills this month.

I just wish the bloody thing was done so we could get back to the actual issues like the pending signing off of the TPPA. The flag could be a Karen Walker knitted quilt depicting glitter beards with dyed armpit hair and it won’t mean a damned thing if US corporations get to own it.

What a flag represents is far more important than it’s design.

Anger over 'Nazi Swastika' New Zealand flag entry

Martyn Bradbury

the Independent,

23 September, 2015

A wildcard entry in New Zealand’s flag referendum has been likened to the Nazi Swastika symbol by politicians.

Prime Minister John Key had previously refused to add the new 'Red Peak' design to the contest, which already comprised of four entries.

But the inverted V-shape flag will now been included in the referendum due to take place in November after 52,000 people called for it to be allowed, the BBC reported.

And the news will add to the fury felt by the New Zealand First party, who suggested the design could be misappropriated as a symbol of Adolf Hitler's evil regime.

During an occasionally bizarre debate in parliament on Wednesday, Denis O’Rourke MP demonstrated how the design could be made to resemble the Nazi Swastika if four of the flags were placed together.

NZ First Godwins the flag referendum debate pic.twitter.com/tNljm9ifPQ

— John Hart (@farmgeek) September 23, 2015

The deputy leader of the party, Ron Mark, also compared the design to insignia painted on the side of Nazi sentry boxes.

The BBC reported that he said: "How offensive is that to veterans? It's going from farcical to ridiculous. We don't want a bar of it."

Ron Mark compares Red Peak design to Nazi insigniapic.twitter.com/foUx30Jalo

— Jane Patterson (@janepatterson) September 23, 2015

Social media user, John Hart, suggested that parliament should invoke Godwin’s Law.

Oh for a Speakers ruling that recognisesGodwin's Law: "Red Peak looks like a naz..." [Speaker] "OK that concludes the second reading"

— John Hart (@farmgeek) September 23, 2015

The unofficial Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies was developed by Mike Godwin in the 1990s as a counter-meme. The theory behind the so-called law is that "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one".

Red Peak was designed Aaron Dustin, who said on his website that the "the 'First To The Light' flag was intended to be a 'new' symbol that expressed our NZ identity".

Three of the other flags in the contest feature a fern which is a national icon. The fourth design features a koru, which is frequently seen in Maori art.

The flag isn’t distracting voters from the TPPA anymore – wheel in the pandas

Martyn Bradbury

the Daily Blog,

23 September, 2015

Surprise surprise, Key predictably u-turns on Red Peak – the man will do anything to keep his vanity project alive. Seems the flag isn’t distracting people enough from the TPPA, hungry children, unaffordable housing and an economy on the slow down anymore, so it’s time to wheel out the pandas…

Kiwi could be sent to China if it helped a New Zealand zoo secure giant pandas, Prime Minister John Key says.

Mr Key said he would be open to the possibility – which has been previously floated – about sending kiwi if it helped close or bring down the price of a deal.

As well as putting up taxpayer money, he could also talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping in an attempt to bring giant pandas here.

…the obviousness of it all is as sad as the fact that it will probably work.

Tim Groser the Trade Minister says NZ is 90% certain to sign TPPA that isn’t ‘gold plated‘ and what’s leading News? The bloody Red Peak nonsense. Maybe Key doesn’t need the pandas yet? The NZ electorate are as easy to distract as a British Prime Minister around pork.