How times change

Written By: - Date published: 5:01 pm, August 10th, 2013 - 36 comments
Categories: accountability, john key, Spying - Tags: , , ,

nixon-resigned

The Nixon link…

36 comments on “How times change ”

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  1. Anne 1
    10 August 2013 at 5:21 pm

    I remember it as if it only happened yesterday. During the resignation speech on the telly, my late father literally jumped up and down with glee. It was a glorious end to an infamous scandal and a scurrilous US President. But it’s the same old story… each generation has to learn the lessons of the previous generation all over again. History apparently teaches some people nothing.

    NZ’s Spygate will play out differently because no two cases are the same, but I’m hopeful the truth will eventually come out into the open. Kim Dotcom and John Campbell have kicked it off nicely. Now for some more investigative journos and maybe a few brave insiders who will finish it off nicely.

  2. Rosetinted 2
    10 August 2013 at 5:26 pm

    Perhaps there should be a class dropped at school and human dynamics and the use of analogy as a comparative learning tool inserted. To see beyond what is happening now to something else that has happened would perhaps get us past the barrier we have to history. It’s only in Dr Who etc that humans can move in their minds from one period and see the similarities to another while they are living their lives and experiencing things personally.

  3. Murray Olsen 3
    10 August 2013 at 10:02 pm

    I think Nixon may have still had some vague memory of what ethics were, which helped him decide to resign. I don’t think Key, or the vast majority of present day politicians, ever knew. Key would have to be removed, sacked, arrested, or whatever, and even then he wouldn’t understand what he’d done wrong.

    • Greywarbler 3.1
      11 August 2013 at 12:51 pm

      And Jokeyhen no doubt works on the ‘principle’ of ‘If it ain’t broke (for me and my supporters) then don’t fix it’. Naked focussed ambition that suits his present class, not serving the country and its needs – what old hat stuff is that, for fools!

    • Rodel 3.2
      11 August 2013 at 8:42 pm

      MO; Your comment…….’…..even then he wouldn’t understand…. etc’
      I’ve said it before and will again.. .The mafia are not aware that they are the mafia.
      We are not quite there yet but the thin end is showing its beginning

  4. Rhinocrates 4
    10 August 2013 at 10:09 pm

    Nixon’s a fascinating character, Shakespearean in his complexity, potential and tragedy. One should never forget his achievements such as the establishment of the EPA, the withdrawal from Vietnam, detente.

    Now Key… Well, he’s as corrupt as Nixon for sure, but he never even had the potential to have been as great as Nixon could have been.

    There’s no tragedy in Key, not in a dramatic sense.

    • Sable 4.1
      11 August 2013 at 9:17 am

      Nixon was also responsible in large part for the privatization of US healthcare that has resulted in death and misery for millions. The man was scum.

      • Rhinocrates 4.1.1
        11 August 2013 at 2:50 pm

        Indeed – I meant in a dramatic sense that he could have been great and that fact that he wasn’t is tragic. It’s purely a literary point no more – Nixon as a “character” could have been great. In reality, he was evil. The gap between potential and reality makes tragedy. The fact that there is no gap at all between Key’s potential and his reality is not the material for art at all – instead it’s mere banality. The banality of evil as Hannah Arendt wrote.

      • Rodel 4.1.2
        11 August 2013 at 8:44 pm

        Sable
        Interesting..Where can I go learn more about that?

    • Greywarbler 4.2
      11 August 2013 at 1:01 pm

      Thinking of tragedy I looked up pathos then I thought I would look up bathos too.
      The words seem to be appropriate for our constant see-sawing political scene.

      From yourdictionary.com – seems pretty good reference point.
      Aristotle’s “ingredients for persuasion” – otherwise known as “appeals” – are known by the names of ethos, pathos, and logos. They are all means of persuading others to take a particular point of view.
      Meanings of Ethos, Pathos and Logos
      Ethos, pathos and logos each have a different meaning:
      Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.
      Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response.
      Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.

      Then there is bathosfrom vocabulary.com
      If something starts out serious and then turns trivial, that’s bathos. If you’re watching a serious drama about Poland’s transition to capitalism and it suddenly ends in a giddy car chase, you might remark on the film’s unexpected bathos.

      The word bathos came into English in the 17th century from the Greek word bathos, which literally means “depth.” In the 18th century English poet Alexander Pope gave the word its current meaning of a descent from lofty to trite. We often use it for movies or books. Bathos is usually unintentional — which means you can laugh at it. Bathos can also be used more broadly for something that’s trite or overly sentimental.

  5. Populuxe1 5
    10 August 2013 at 10:30 pm

    I find it hilarious that Claire has reinvented herself as a defender of privacy and free speech.

    • IrishBill 5.1
      11 August 2013 at 12:00 am

      Claire who?

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1
        11 August 2013 at 12:04 am

        Indeed. Clare who? 😈

        • Populuxe1 5.1.1.1
          11 August 2013 at 2:42 pm

          Aw, sorry about the speling, but you remember Clare CV, she was the one who ordered you to STFU? 🙂

          • Rhinocrates 5.1.1.1.1
            11 August 2013 at 2:55 pm

            No, she didn’t “order” CV to STFU, she – just like Bennett – tried to use blackmail and bullying.

            But that’s alright, ‘cos if it’s done under the “Labour” logo, it’s good.

            Really don’t know what his/her problem is, actually, seems a mite obsessive…

            BTW, my mother, who turns 80 this year, has voted Labour her whole life… but she’s in Curran’s electorate and has said that this time coming, she won’t vote.

            Note to the ABC club, who do read blogs, even if they call them “rubbish” : we see how you behave and we take notice. Eight hundred thousand stayed at home for the last election. A half dozen soft National votes won’t make a difference.

            But all you care about are your meal tickets at Bellamy’s, right? Bugger New Zealand – look at the menu!

      • Rodel 5.1.2
        11 August 2013 at 8:44 pm

        Clear what?

  6. Sable 6
    11 August 2013 at 9:15 am

    I’m not sure how much worse it has to get for Keys and co to be removed from office. The evidence is clear and yet these individuals have not been stood down. Personally I think at this time democracy is DEAD in New Zealand.

  7. Brett Dale 7
    11 August 2013 at 10:16 am

    Yeah People like Bradly Ambrose and Nicky haguer should lose their jobs.

    • Pascal's bookie 7.1
      11 August 2013 at 10:34 am

      Why? And how do freelancers ‘lose their jobs’?

    • North 7.2
      11 August 2013 at 10:55 am

      @ Brett Dale…….re Ambrose and Hager…….the redacted portion of the aspirational bucket list probably. Can you imagine the ShonKey Pythons (which includes Lord Jackson of Miramar Movie Mogul fame) ever having a good thing to say about the likes of them or Robyn Malcolm ?

      The muscles of Power are underused, rightful entitlement not realised, when they’re applied only to further enrich the oligarchy. Ambrose, Hager, Malcolm et al……..fuck them up good !

      That’s how the whanaungatanga of the NAct Beltway, Warner Brothers, the Wellington and Northern clubs, works.

    • Colonial Viper 7.3
      11 August 2013 at 11:43 am

      And without journalists like them, how are you going to keep checks and balances against the misuse of governmental powers and decision making?

      Please do try and think more than one step ahead at a time.

      • Sable 7.3.1
        11 August 2013 at 12:03 pm

        I think the point that needs to be made is we need genuine “objective” journalism and that is a very rare thing in this country today.

    • One Anonymous Knucklehead 7.4
      11 August 2013 at 2:04 pm

      Brett Dale get off your knees.

        • One Anonymous Knucklehead 7.4.1.1
          12 August 2013 at 8:16 am

          Nope, you’re still behaving like a sycophantic power-worshipper. Hager and Ambrose have more integrity than you. Get used to it.

          • Brett Dale 7.4.1.1.1
            12 August 2013 at 12:19 pm

            Yeah Ambrose has integrity, thanks needed a laugh on this monday morning.

            • One Anonymous Knucklehead 7.4.1.1.1.1
              12 August 2013 at 12:24 pm

              I said he has more than you Brett, as you hasten to find him guilty in your mind.

              • Clive Bixby …
                12 August 2013 at 12:58 pm

                Yeah he just left a tape recording running on the PM’s desk, accidentally of course. I can imagine if Slater did that to Shearer, what you would be saying.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  12 August 2013 at 1:03 pm

                  I dunno how about “oh I organised this public event with lots of press around and people sitting about everywhere having coffees, I guess I shouldn’t act like a dick and pretend that its a private function”

  8. big bruv 8
    12 August 2013 at 6:18 am

    Wow!….all these years have passed yet the leader of the CTU is still telling bare faced lies.

    • Te Reo Putake 8.1
      12 August 2013 at 8:04 am

      Wow! Your comment makes no sense. I can’t recall the leader of the CTU lying. Perhaps you are mistaking her for a libertarian MP who lived a lie for 30 years having stolen the identity of a dead child?

    • Tiger Mountain 8.2
      12 August 2013 at 8:24 am

      Just been released ‘bruv’? haven’t seen your mate ‘Rod Beater’ aka ‘Red Baiter’ make an appearance for a while either. Helen’s statements are usually supported by thorough research so I am backing her take on Nixon and ShonKey.

      • One Anonymous Knucklehead 8.2.1
        12 August 2013 at 12:27 pm

        Helen’s summation of Nixon’s demise is fine. Bruv is just throwing his temper.