Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman is expected to announce soon that Prime Television will join Freeview in the next six to eight weeks.

This is a good move as it will get all free to air channels on Freeview, and is a good contra for TVNZ 6 and 7 going onto Sky.

Bernard Hickey complains (as I often have done) that we are paying $79 million into TVNZ6 and TVNZ7 yet they won’t make them available on Sky TV. He quotes former TVNZ Head of News Paul Norris in support – they have a reponsibility to make them widely available and could extend them with a flick of a switch to 700,000 households overnight.

Andrew Bolt has a fascinating exchange with an academic over the “stolen generation”. While there certainly is much in Australia’s past that was deplorable (as in NZ), it is apparent that certain portions of it such as the “stolen generation” have been over-hyped. He cites the example of one Aboriginal leader who claimed to be part of the “stolen” generation who was “taken from my family” but in fact was put up for adoption by her father who could not cope with five children.

Lindsay Perigo writes a moving account of his last face to face meal with Anna Woolf, who is dying of brain cancer. Even just reading his account makes the eyes water – I can’t imagine how hard it is for those who are close to Anna, let alone Anna herself.

The Telegraph points out that if Michael Phelps was a country, he would be coming 5th on the Olympic medal table – ahead of Italy, Russia, Australian and Great Britain.

Frog Blog joins Nick Smith on wondering why DOC is spending so much money on a new corporate brand, when it has just laid off 60 workers to save money.

Liberty Scott exposes Sue Kedgley’s scaremongering over cellphone towers. Good God, this debate was settled over a decade ago in terms of science. I’d be more inclined to take Sue’s campaign against the towers seriously if she’d give up her cellphone.

Lindsay Mitchell covers the launch of a second Maori based party. The Hapu Party is led by David Rankin, and three policies to date:

1. To have Maori eligible for the pension at age 56, because of the lower life-expectancy of Maori
2. To introduce a flat rate 18% personal tax and GST rate.
3. To immediately allocate all treaty settlement money directly to hapu and marae

They have me with policy No 2. Policy No 3 is between Iwi and Hapu to resolve in my opinion, and Policy No 1 has no chance. Worryingly for the Maori Party, Rankin also talks of financial irregularities with a Maori Party MP and a SFO complaint.

But I must say the Freeview PVR described in the Herald sounds good:

It also features a impressive work around for timing clashes between shows.

Browning explained that – using Shortland Street as an example, if the receiver has a programming clash for a weeknight episode, it will look forward and choose between rescreenings on other digital channels, or pick the episode out of the weekend ‘Omnibus’.

Now that’s smart.

Here are some things we can look forward to learning about Barack Obama:

That he was mentored in high school by a member of the Soviet-controlled Communist Party.

That he launched his Illinois state Senate campaign in the home of a terrorist and a killer.

That while serving as a state senator, he was a member of a socialist front group.

That his affiliations are so dodgy that he would have trouble getting a government security clearance.

The newspaper is sceptical, saying:

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy took a blow with Hillary Clinton’s exit. But it is regrouping, and finding plenty of sinister things to say about Obama — even if he didn’t trade cattle futures.

Hillary invented the term VRWC to describe her foes. If the VRWC is now targeting Obama, Hillary is probably funding them

“He’s a member of an organization (that is) openly a front for two socialist groups,” reported another participant, Trevor Loudon.

“Obama was raised and educated in a very Marxist-rich environment, which often would limit his worldview,” reported a third, Max Friedman.

In college, Obama “admits selecting Marxist professors among his friends and attending socialist conferences,” Kincaid went on. In Chicago, he said, “Obama launched his political career back in 1995 at the home of communist-terrorist Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn,” the two Weather Underground figures who have already made a cameo in the campaign. Kincaid then made the unilateral decision to accuse Dohrn of the 1970 killing of a policeman, a charge no prosecutor has made.

Personally I’m not too worried about communist influences when people were young. Hell Stephen Franks was a communist as a student and he has turned out fine

But I do hope the election in the US will focus on the policies, not just the rhetoric, of the two candidates. For example John McCain is staunchly in favour of genuine free trade agreements with as many countries as possible. Obama is not only against further FTAs but wants to renege renegotiate on the ones already signed such as NAFTA.

The Government and TVNZ is trying to force everyone to have two set boxes – MySky and Freeview. The problem is they have an inferior product in Freeview.

It is not just about the cost, even though it rankles I am paying through my taxes for two TVNZ channels that the Government refuses to allow me to access without an unnecessary purchase.

But the big issue if convenience. I don’t want to have to flip between two boxes to see what is on TV. I don’t want some shows recorded on one box, and some on another. I want to be able to, in fact, just get one listing of upcoming shows and decide which ones to record.