The most sincere form of flattery

"Weird Al" Yankovich has been parodying hit songs for many years. Some work, and some don't.

But we love what he's done to Lorde's Royals; check this out:

The latter part of the song is especially pertinent, with all the conspiracy theories doing the rounds at the moment out of the Kim Dotcom camp. Perhaps Weird Al could make a hat for the Large German Gentleman to wear as he plays out his bizarre fantasies about conspiracies which apparently go all the way to the Oval Office.

But anyway Lorde shouldn't be too unhappy. They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery!

MegaMana steals more Green policy

Yesterday the clean rivers policy Laila Harre had written for the Greens became Internet Party policy. And today, Ms Harre is sounding like Gareth Hughes; the Herald reports:

The Internet Party wants a moratorium on what it calls "risky energy and mining industry practices" such as fracking, dumping of oil wastes and deep-sea and undersea extraction.
In its final environment policy released today the internet Party also sought to restore the "absolute right" of New Zealanders to protest at sea against deep-sea oil exploration.
"National has been pushing New Zealand towards a greater dependence on the extractive industries at a time when climate change and land and water protection demand the opposite," said internet Party leader Laila Harre.
"We will place moratoria on the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells, and deep-sea drilling. The direct safety risks of these industries have not been adequately investigated or managed.
"Their impact on climate change would also have to be countered before any resumption of these activities would be considered. In the case of deep sea drilling we do not see any likelihood that benefits to New Zealand will be shown to outweigh the risks."

The cost of an accident to New Zealand's marine and coastal environment would be simply too high, she said.

We wonder if Ms Harre has ever discussed these policies with her paymaster, the Large German Gentleman. After all, all those computers that Herr Dotcom has must have consumed a good slice of mineral resources in their construction.

And just think of Dotcom's transport habits. He's definitely more fond of helicopters and Hummers than he is of hybrids, so how is mimicking Green Party policy on fracking, even if it was drafted by Laila Harre consistent with Dotcom's fossil fuel excesses?

Quite why MegaMana is targetting Green voters with its policies is anyone's bet. The Green vote is not a huge slice of the market, and two into one doesn't go, so someone is going to be disappointed.

It's little wonder that Danyl from the Dim-Post described Ms Harre's provocative actions as "Political biohazard watch". We don't think it's going to be long before Gareth Hughes is going to be calling for a moratorium on MegaMana!