gnats are little pricks

How to distract people National 101 - bash the beneficaries - yeah that always works - plus it will distract people from the mining - yeah that works too.

But let's be clear - this idea is not about accountability, or saving money or creating efficiencies - it is a thinly veiled punch in the face to the less fortunate in our society and it just happens that maori are over represented in those groups.

No Right Turn is on the money with this post

"The government has released its latest welfare "reforms" - and as floated last year, they centre on forcing sick people to work, parents to ignore their children, and the long-term unemployed to re-apply after a year in the explicit hope that the new administrative barrier will cause some of them to fall through the cracks.

Then there's the question of where the jobs these people are supposed to do are going to be coming from. We're in a recession, and unemployment is at a 15-year high. Under these circumstances, imposing work requirements on beneficiaries is simply sadism. But again, that's the point: by making demands which are near-impossible to meet, the government will be able to throw these people off their benefits, thus cutting welfare costs. As for the actual welfare of those people or their kids, well, this government doesn't care about that. Tax cuts for their rich mates and "shrinking the size of the state" are more important than whether every New Zealander has food, clothing, and a roof over their heads."

and so is Tumeke

"Don't you LOVE their timing? The day after the Government announces they will mine precious conservation land, National call a press conference to play out one of NZ's favourite cultural past times - BASH THE FILTHY BENNIE.

It also looks like Nikki Kaye's position is less principled than first reported, turns out she had discussed it with Key yesterday...

...this smells funny now. National's strategy is to oversell the value and fold on one symbolic mining site they don't have much intention of mining to make it look like they are being moderate while pushing ahead with the rest of the mining agenda."

The bloggers are fighting hard to get the truth out. The gnats are little pricks and they will feel the displeasure of the electorate.