Lhaws: ‘look at me! I crave your attention’

32 comments on “Lhaws: ‘look at me! I crave your attention’ ”

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1. mickysavage 1

   17 September 2009 at 10:16 pm

   There must be more important issues facing the country and the world than the spelling of the name of a quite small provincial town in New Zealand.
   • ak 1.1

     17 September 2009 at 10:57 pm

     Au contraire mick. Bulging out from behind that skinny aitch, this is the issue: the one that dragged the tories up from 20% – the filthy rock upon which they are built, and the reason 15% of our population dies 8 years earlier than those with lighter skin toning.

     It’s also the issue that the tories don’t want aired at this stage of the electoral cycle (lesson from 2004) which is why I’m picking the media will do its best to bury it quickly, Laws will be buffoonerised, and Key will give Turi her aitch.

     It’s also an ancient boil that if finally lanced could deliver a seismic shift and colossal benefits that could restore NZ’s proud reputation as a world leader.

     Which is why a courageous and progressive Labour leadership would leap in boots and all, apologise for F&S and kick Laws into his hole.

     But for that you’d need a commando rider: not a poseur on a mate’s plastic triumph. Time for the prospects to speak up, or hand in your patches.
2. JohnDee 2

   17 September 2009 at 10:23 pm

   Michael Laws. Piss-ant major of a Piss-ant little town.
3. Lew 3

   17 September 2009 at 10:40 pm

   I welcome Michael Laws making this his personal crusade. He claims he will appeal the decision. To whom?

   The government? Excellent. That forces them to declare their hand: are the māori party only partners of convenience? Are the ghosts of Orewa genuinely exorcised? Is this pragmatic government prepared to dispense with expert advice when it’s convenient to do so?

   The courts? Marvellous. An opportunity to relitigate all manner of symbolic tino rangatiratanga issues on a highly public stage, alongside the Foreshore and Seabed Act and with a tikanga Māori political party in government.

   The sphere of public opinion? As long as proper legal recognition is granted to the name, long may the good burghers of Whanganui howl their fury from the rooftops. Even the maaries can’t take that away from them; nor would they want to, and that’s a key difference between the groups.

   The electoral system? I hope so; a sideshow which will distract and divide the right and unify the left would be grand, and lord knows there are a few members of the fourth estate who wouldn’t mind another crack at Laws should he dare to strut once more out on the national stage.

   Keep paying out rope, I say.

   L
4. NickS 4

   17 September 2009 at 10:46 pm

   It’s Laws, any noise that distracts the public from the real issues is good noise, not to mention ratings for his [horrid] talk-back radio show
5. Tim Ellis 5

   17 September 2009 at 11:13 pm

   I think Mr Laws is doing an excellent job. Sure he is scratching a rather unpleasant itch, and the issue that he is lying down in the ditch over is very trivial. But he has done more to put W(h)anganui in the news and keep it in the news than any of his predecessors. The worst thing you can do to Mr Laws is to ignore him. If you respond to his baiting or give him an opportunity as Mr Mair has then it just gives him licence to grandstand.
   • Galeandra 5.1

     17 September 2009 at 11:35 pm

     What job is (L(h)aws) doing, pray tell? ‘Keep(ing) (W(h)anganui) in the news….the issue is very trivial’ Got an idea in there anywhere? And excellent is word of the week, then? (Ex)cell(ent).
   • Pascal's bookie 5.2

     18 September 2009 at 5:25 am

     “Sure he is scratching a rather unpleasant itch, and the issue that he is lying down in the ditch over is very trivial.”

     I’m getting a clearer picture of why the iwi/kiwi campaign didn’t bother you overly much.
     • felix 5.2.1

       18 September 2009 at 6:37 am

       Not overtly much anyhoo.
     • Tim Ellis 5.2.2

       18 September 2009 at 8:30 am

       Oh that’s a relief PB. I’m pleased you’ll be able to get more sleep at night instead of lying up awake obsessing over this trivial issue.
       • BLiP 5.2.2.1

         18 September 2009 at 8:48 am

         As John Key’s personal cock puppet it probably suits you to attempt to frame it as trivial – yet it is all over the news.
         • Tim Ellis 5.2.2.1.1

           18 September 2009 at 9:35 am

           I very much doubt the prime minister lies awake at night concerned about how W(h)anganui is spelled. He is probably pleased that a town with so little else going for it has probably put New Zealand in the oddstuff section of newspapers around the world though.
           • felix 5.2.2.1.1.1

             18 September 2009 at 10:42 am

             Any publicity being good, eh?

             Explains what your boy John is thinking with the ETS then.
         • Tim Ellis 5.2.2.1.2

           18 September 2009 at 10:58 am

           Thanks for the reminder BLiP that the “sewer” isn’t just at Mr Farrar’s blog.
           • felix 5.2.2.1.2.1

             18 September 2009 at 11:14 am

             You’re a constant reminder of that, pro troll.
           • Tim Ellis 5.2.2.1.2.2

             18 September 2009 at 11:27 am

             I know you recognise the irony in your own statement felix because although you make a habit of personally abusing me at every opportunity (and LP nor any other moderator seem to call you up on it), I know you’re only looking for a bite.
           • felix 5.2.2.1.2.3

             18 September 2009 at 12:39 pm

             You wish. I’d actually prefer it if you just fucked off back to your “auditing”. I’m not looking for a bite or anything else from you.

             Not sure what you’re accusing me of with the second part of your comment. Just come out and say it, wimp.
           • BLiP 5.2.2.1.2.4

             18 September 2009 at 1:14 pm

             Timmy

             he is scratching a rather unpleasant itch – he is lying down in the ditch – the prime minister lies awake at night – lying up awake obsessing

             Your metaphors are getting creepy . . . is there perhaps some inner turmoil, a little cognitive dissonance slithering into your soul? Get some help. I mean it.
           • felix 5.2.2.1.2.5

             18 September 2009 at 2:45 pm

             BLiP, that looks like the classic result of too many late nights staying up til dawn hitting the pipe to get the auditing done.

             The thoughts become dark, the mind turns on itself and the metaphors – well, after a while they stop being metaphors.

             I’d say it’s time for wee Timmy to replace all the missing lightbulbs in his house and have a bit of a break.
       • Pascal's bookie 5.2.2.2

         18 September 2009 at 9:06 am

         Speaking of relief, you should probably get some ointment for that unpleasant itcht.
   • ak 5.3

     18 September 2009 at 9:31 am

     Predicted tory line right on cue: “No use to us till 2011 – all outlets to hint of blurry compromise and bury forthwith. Keyword trivial.”
6. BLiP 6

   17 September 2009 at 11:54 pm

   Is Lhaws really so passionate about perpetuating a spelling mistake that he is blinded to the opportunity an act of grace could present? The situation could be so easily turned into a really positive experience for Whanganui rather than yet another grievance to be sorted out by the next generation.

   What about an abjuration from division and adopting a celebratory approach to renaming the city – good Heavens, what about an afternoon off school for all the kids in the City to come down to the town hall and take part in the “re-launching” of Whanganui? Such an approach would do far more to heal the seeping wounds that have resulted in the social ills Lhaws rails against than any more of his current nonsense. It would also confer upon him and his city some real mana as the rest of the country watches – its such a peculiar story that, properly managed, it could even get international coverage and bring mana to Aotearoa as a whole. Surely a celebration like that would give Lhaws an abundance of the attention he so craves. It would reframe him as a leader and not a divider, a healer and not a physical manifestation of the sickness of racism. The media would love it. Shame on me for suggesting it, but even John Key could attend and bask in the reflected glory.

   But, I’m being naive, I guess. Such a festival assumes that Lhaws is genuine in his concern for Maori children and Whanganui City, and not simply herding the white trash into voting booths at the next election. As we have come to learn, however, Lhaws is a small mind running a small city with small ambitions and repugnant enough to refuse a small change for a greater good.

   Whanganui and Lhaws represent the failed opportunities of Aotearoa.
7. Ron 7

   18 September 2009 at 8:12 am

   I’m not convinced that Micael is well He seems – well – ill – to me
8. Dan 8

   18 September 2009 at 8:14 am

   What’s in an extra letter Mr Laws? Claws: I guess they are out! Flaws; there are many in this instance.
   Maybe two letters: bylaws. Or three: outlaws, lawsuit. Or the ultimate, “scofflaws”.

   Wats a whanker? Whake up!
9. toad 9

   18 September 2009 at 8:16 am

   And look what crawls out of the cesspit on the analogous Kiwiblog comments thread.
10. Bearhunter 10

    18 September 2009 at 9:56 am

    “Is Lhaws really so passionate about perpetuating a spelling mistake…”

    No, he’s not. This simply gives him the out he needs to backtrack on his public declarations that staying in the post of mayor beyond two terms was pointless and wrong. He initially said he would be a one-term mayor, just there to turn the place around and then ride off into the sunset. He went back on that using the excuse that he had to in order to keep rates down (and that the public had cried out for him to stand again). That only works once, though and if he can keep this argument rattling along until the next election, the rednecks will vote him back in overwhelmingly. He doesn’t give a fiddler’s fuck about Wanganui, he cares only for Michael and the advancement of Michael. He is all perception and no substance, much like his repeated claims that he donates his mayoral salary to charity and public events – what charity? The only public event that has ever received his funding has been the mayoral mile, named in honour of? Michael “Me, me, me” Laws.
11. Killinginthenameof 11

    18 September 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Has anyone noticed how heavily Micael Laws channels fox news rhetorical devices in his interviews and statements?
    • Cal 11.1

      19 September 2009 at 7:17 pm

      Yep, especially Glenn Beck and his chalk board. The two of them seem to have a problem when it comes to spelling (I’m referring to the time Beck tried (and failed) to spell “oligarhy”)

      Seriously, why can’t Micael be more like Tim Shadbolt? There’s a reason that guys been mayor for so long.
12. jabba 12

    18 September 2009 at 7:21 pm

    hi all .. lets 4get about the Wanganui thing for a moment .. there is no way in hell that Wanganui is the last change.
    I challenge any of you to say that you will be happy to “right all the wrongs” in the spelling debate. There have already been a few changes but they have been small and local with Wanganui being the 1st biggie.
    You all (well most) are slagging off the Maori Party selling their sole to the Nats, and I,m starting to see that there are cases that you maybe right (in a left sort of way).
    As far as the pronounciation of Wanganui .. some are now saying that it’s the W that is silent, not the missing H .. just listen to Ms Turia sometime say Honganui.
    • Pascal's bookie 12.1

      18 September 2009 at 9:31 pm

      I think we should right wrongs jabba. If something is spelt wrong, then I reckon it should be spelt right. If we are going to use Maori names for things, why on earth should we spell them wrong?

      It seems to me that the only argument for not changing the wrong spellings is to claim that those ‘wrong’ spellings are now english words, and so are spelt differently. Growing up in ‘Wanganui’ I was always told that it was a Maori word that meant ‘big harbour/river mouth’. Turns out that’s not true, that word (the word with the meaning of the name of my hometown) has an h in it.

      On Whanganui, it’s the wh sound that posh poms use when saying when which and why, (not the wen witch and wy that I use)
13. jabba 13

    18 September 2009 at 10:22 pm

    Pascal .. I spent the 1st 25 years of my life there and the meaning of the name was never mentioned .. ever.
    When the spelling of the river and district were quietly changed, I thought ok, that’s a good compromise .. a $ each way. Now I am pissed off that mair/Turia etc couldn’t let it go .. I hate to say it BUT it is now all on for young and old and it will get nasty taking race relations back decades. Add the Ak Super City scrap over Maori seats and the fact that they now want seats on ALL councils and we are in for a very rocky road.
14. North 14

    20 September 2009 at 8:59 am

    Laws fancies himself the mini-Muldoon. Good on him but he’s no less a piece of crap than the original………though dear old Piggy never displayed whacked out narcissism like the wannabe I do acknlowledge.

    I want to know more about the dishonesty of the man (???), those years ago in Napier. Anyone help out there ?

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