The irony. The National Party have been caught up in a copyright lawsuit over using the opening chords of an Eminem song on probably what is the main National 2014 election TV Commercial. You know, the one with a bunch of young, fit athletes in a canoe powering down the "8 Mile" creek to an unknown destination.

A "picture" of stable, decisive government in action right?

But hang on! Let's get a little more realistic about the stability of the current government. What we need to remember is there are actual National Party members rowing this boat. 

Let's announce the team...

John Key as the cox barking orders at a sweated out Gerry Brownlee who's experienced in rocking the boat in the Avon, Maurice Williams quits after being caught influencing the race officials, Tony Ryall bails out into retirement, Paula Bennet is busy knocking the heads of the poor fish, Hekia Parata has her oars tangled up in Novopay, Nick "the DOCtator" Smith dropping Big Oil exploration rigs into endangered Dolphin sanctuaries and Bill English as Head of the O.I.O. is busy christening the creek the Yangste. Then to top it all off during the last mile Judith Collins is finally shoved out because at the other end of the boat she has been steering the boat deep into dirty waters with the help of a slimy little Blogger Whale!

Powering ahead or floundering in the mud? Maybe there's a picture here?

Anyway back to the story - the Nats are pleading innocent and that the song's license as been purchased legitimately. I suppose the artist's representatives are so uncomfortable with being connected artistically to this Political campaign or this Political Group that they feel within their rights to object to the association.

So if ever there is an outcome of a court case or if anything comes of the lawsuit and the campaign promo is found to have breached copyright laws then we'd expect a suitable penalty.

A substantial fine maybe? Nah, how about we show some consistency and raid their homes with a 70-odd, heavily armed force, seize there business assets, take their personal possessions, put them in holding cells for 2 months, break up their families and serve them with pending extradition orders. It was ok to do this to Kim Dotcom - a New Zealand Resident by using an admittedly and illegally obtained warrant. Fair is fair!

But let us and the Media focus too much on this - "It's just not the same" the honorable John Shady will lyricise.

He would know... Operation Speargun Phase One is complete.

Felloffasofa

The Christchurch rebuild has had a 3 year bout of Christchurch City Council Constipation and by looking at the gutted state of the Christchurch's CBD don't expect any great improvements any time soon. To add to this stagnancy the residential suburbs of Christchurch are not faring much better.

But wait... how about the CCC's proposal to build a $400 Million Stadium?!... that'll improve the situation.
And it will only take Gerry Brownlee the Minister in charge of the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery's signature to get this project off the ground. This is a well thought out plan because as we all know building stadiums is one of the top priorities in all Disaster Recovery Programs.   

So Gerry's list must go something like this:

Take Scenic Flight over City
Turn Power On
Drop off Port-a-loos
Start Demolition of half the CBD
Build a group of Shops made from Shipping Containers
Build a mini Town Square made from Wooden Pallets
Build a Cathedral made from Cardboard 
Approve Plan to Build $400 Million Dollar Stadium 
Finish Demolition of half the CBD
Repair Rail Network
Repair Roads
Repair Sewer System
Repair Residential Housing
Repair Schools
Repair Hospitals
3 Years on Commission Report on why the recovery plan is not working
Blame it on somebody else.......

Is this really what Christchurch needs right now? I think there are more important things to focus on and I doubt the people of Christchurch have much cash left over to even go watch the ruggers as they continue to pay to rebuild their lives. This is a luxury they just can't afford.

But like flies to a Brownlee BBQ some big NGOs will be salivating to bite into this dirty great construction contract and the CCC and GB will be happy to give it to them.

The Christchurch people need their houses, streets, services fixed and the port-a-loos removed first Gerry... but you seem quite comfy going on this one.

Felloffasofa.

PS: Keep an eye on that Kordamentha crowd who were contracted to make the Report on the CCCs Recovery Spending - they're an NGO in themselves and making millions off this and other government debacles.