He does, all the time, the whole 4 or 5 of Him, depending upon the scene that is set Slippery can transform Himself from Dances with transvestites to discussing issues upon the world stage with international leaders in the blink of an eye,
The reshuffle was one such rare moment.
No-one saw the knives go in, everyone was surprised, the new order settled in seconds.
“I can smile, and murder while I smile.”
Thanks. Read the first bit. Will read the rest after work today.
This quote from Arundhati Roy, is very relevant at home and abroad:
This theft of language, this technique of usurping words and deploying them like weapons, of using them to mask intent and to mean exactly the opposite of what they have traditionally meant, has been one of the most brilliant strategic victories of the czars of the new dispensation. It has allowed them to marginalize their detractors, deprive them of a language to voice their critique and dismiss them as being “anti-progress,” “anti-development,” “anti-reform,” and of course “anti-national” – negativists of the worst sort. To reclaim these stolen words requires explanations that are too tedious for a world with a short attention span, and too expensive in an era when Free Speech has become unaffordable for the poor. This language heist may prove to be the keystone of our undoing.
But according to you Karol as a Deconstructionist, language is meaningless anyway, so what does it matter, language and words are only good for “deploying…like weapons”?
According to Deconstructionism, isn’t Roy’s world view, just that, a purely subjective experience, there is no objective reality out there for it to attache to, its no more truthful or valid or evil than Hitler’s world view?
Does she really need her girl pal QofT to rush in snarling and biting?
QofT, you repeatedly avoids stating what intellectual school she subscribes to.
What are you afraid of?
For the record, QofT, your girl pal has admitted she is a Deconstructionist, with a small qualification interestingly enough – ‘for the most part’ was it if I remember correctly – a failed attempt to hedge her bet I think.
Some of us get bored with your fixation.
You tried this ages ago, then never replied to Karol when she explained herself.
It was either sniper shots at Karol, or sniper shots at those troublemakers born on another patch of dirt. Got stats yet?
I remember Karol saying she was a bit of this a bit of that.
It’s BS of course.
Acting like you are scouring a rubbish tip of discarded and broken ideologies you don’t actually have a clue about, picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’ to your vested interests is called creating propaganda.
Marxism, neo or whatever, Deconstructionism/Postmodernism or whatever those flaky followers like to call it, are ideologies which make truth claims about the way the world is. Claims that are easily disprovable.
You build your world view/argument on these failed ideologies as Feminists do, then you are exposed to the same failures.
Wailing that you are being “pigeon holed” doesn’t change that.
Ditto for neo-liberalism/neo conservatism and those scrambling to defend it in the wake of 2008.
Acting like you are scouring a rubbish tip of discarded and broken ideologies you don’t actually have a clue about, picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’ to your vested interests is called creating propaganda.
Just because you do it doesn’t mean that everyone does. Karol certainly doesn’t share your attitude toward “thinking”. Perhaps if you gave the rather pathetic misogynist stroking a rest some time, maybe the blood will flood back to the organ that is responsible for actual thought.
In case that was too subtle for you…
Most people think about things before they spew it out on the rest of us… You just seem to wank a lot when you get excited. Your keyboard must have a sticky problem whenever you reply to a female commentator.
Lol, I’ll leave the rest of your ignorant absurdities to others, but seeing you are so hung up on labels, please enlighten me on what happened with regard to neo-Conservatism in 2008.
Pretty strong suggestion in that comment that you don’t know anything about Neo-Conservatism.
k_p: I remember Karol saying she was a bit of this a bit of that.
It’s BS of course.
Acting like you are scouring a rubbish tip of discarded and broken ideologies you don’t actually have a clue about, picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’ to your vested interests is called creating propaganda.
Gee, you sure do show your superficial understanding of the umbrella terms you are referring to. I assume you mean that comment fatty helpfully linked to, of which I associated myself with bits of poststructuralism and neo-Marxism, etc. Do you understand the meaning of “heterogeneous” as used at the link?
Note in the second line the reference to “critical theorists” as being included in the general collection of post-structuralists theories. Click on the link and you will see that neo-Marxism is included there.
ie I was referring to an eclectic mix of related theories all included under very general terms that you don’t really seem to understand.
I don’t know how anyone can do anything but pick out various bits of each, as ones they most agree with.
Scouring rubbish tips for discarded and broken ideologies about and picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’.
That’s not creating propaganda.
That’s bricolage!
Especially when it’s women writing, because our ladybrains can’t come up with awesome arguments about deconstructionist marxist neo-anarcho-eco-feminism like k_p’s.
k_p: But according to you Karol as a Deconstructionist, [citation needed] language is meaningless [citation needed] anyway, so what does it matter, language and words are only good for “deploying…like weapons”? [citation needed]
For an objectivist, you make a lot of loose claims based on little evidence.
Do you have anything to contribute about the significant article GeoffC linked to, or are you just trying to divert his thread?
This “theft of language” is being most effectively deployed by the coal industry to hide the dirty nature of their business, using words to mask intent and to mean exactly the opposite of what they have traditionally meant. For example Fonterra say they plan to excavate a major “Escarpment Mine” Just south of Auckland, that looks likely to become the ground zero in the fight against climate change in the Auckland area. Fonterra facing unexpectedly stiff opposition from local residents and Auckland based environmentalists, hoped an “Escarpment Mine” wouldn’t get the same emotional response from Aucklanders that “Open Cast Mine” might.
Everyone knows what an open cast mine looks like, from unpleasant pictures seen on television and in books.
“Escarpment” in geology means a natural feature of the landscape, either a very steep natural slope, or slanting cliff face. The coal mining industry have subverted the original meaning of this word, for their own uses. Using the word ‘Escarpment’ avoids the unpleasant mental pictures that automatically form in people’s minds on hearing the words ‘Open Cast Mine’. ‘Escarpment Mine’, much more pleasant.
<blockquote.Dairy juggernaut Fonterra is planning a major new coal mine in north Waikato, saying that will be cheaper than buying coal from Solid Energy, the state-owned enterprise axing 120 jobs at Huntly, blaming falling prices.
Fonterra's coal mining company Glencoal is about to apply for resource consents to develop an open cast coalmine on 30ha of farmland it has owned for 10 years between Mangatawhiri Rd and the new State Highway 2 at Maramarua.
The name Mangatangi is more familiar to Aucklanders as being the location of the Mangatangi Dam, Auckland’s largest water-storage dam. With a capacity of 39 million cubic metres, it supplies nearly a quarter of the city’s bulk water.
Aucklanders are not too happy to learn that it will also be the location of the regions biggest opencast coal mine. Oops, pardon me ‘escarpment mine’.
PS. This proposed mine was originally going to be publicy notified with a chance for public submissions. But on meeting unexpectedly stiff resistance from locals and environmentalitst, this is now in doubt with Fonterra considering seeking fast track permission. (Maybe the language trick didn’t work).
The Truth-Out.Org article – the politics of disconnect. And we wonder why the polls read as they do. “Mr Key’s a ‘nice man’……..honourably doing all he can in the circumstances. Very well. Kia Ora……”
Deliberate is what it is………brought here to do the business.
Not an easy article to read being so very very American, but quite unnerving with a clear echo with what’s happening here in NZ. Makes one wonder where the brief is coming from?
He is his usual aggressive obnoxious self but amongst the abuse and self obsessed diatribe are a couple of pearlers. About Paula Bennett he says “I can’t stand what she is doing to beneficiaries, I just won’t tolerate taking a stick to the most vulnerable, who, by and large, don’t want to be there.”
And about the distribution of wealth he says “[i]n this government, the few get rich in the name of the many. That just can’t continue.” So government, he says, has to become far more involved.
If only he learned to be more civilised and circumspect he could become a very good politician.
Yes. I read it and thought he was very good on the class/beneficiaries/anti-wealthy elites stuff. But his prejudices against people/qualities outside of various socially constructed “norms” undo all the good stuff he says.
There you go with that Deconstructionist nonsense again, Karol.
“various socially constructed “norms””
What about your socially constructed feminist ideas, values, attitudes? Can’t they be deconstructed as well, aren’t they also just another set of self serving formulae, Karol?
It’s like that nonsensewith gay “marriage’, you were banging on about “binary opposites” – that’s just pure academic pedantry.
Ditto with the “essentialism” cry that goes up around here to dismiss any opinion you lot don’t like. It’s a bit of jargon made up by the Academic Left, premised on the same old flaky, 1970’s French philosophy, Deconstructionist/Feminist nonsense.
Oh, k_p. It’s seriously cute how you keep popping up whenever a woman has an opinion to try and score some pseudoacademic point about what you think the term “social construct” means.
@Kiwi Prometheus
Having looked it up, it appears that Deconstructionism is about finding meaning in texts by uncovering underlying assumptions. The Basics of
Philosophy pages. point out that it is “notoriously difficult to define” and that some critics have “gone so far as to claim it is a dangerous form of Nihilism”.
Nihilism appears to be where K.P is pushing it.
You can push any philosophy or analytical approach to extremes and it will be…well…extreme. Keeping an eye on a wider perspective, therefore is required with any philosophy or analytical approach.
With regard to deconstructionism, it appears useful; if we don’t check up on our basic assumptions from time to time we really will deviate from our aims and ideals. I believe doing this “checking” is part of what is commonly called “thinking”.
I can imagine that those who are “winning” under the basic assumptions going by unquestioned would not like this form of analytical approach.
I would question those who think they are “winning” under basic assumptions going by unquestioned. I really don’t think there are many people at all who are currently “winning” at present. That is, not unless you thrive in living in a divided, unhappy and stressed society that is heading for financial, social and environmental meltdown.
Interesting that there is no reply from K.P. One could be forgiven for thinking that this “deconstructionism” argument was a poorly thought out faux intellectual comment that was in actuality simply trying to get someone to STFU.
Good points there, bl @1.28pm. And after a day at work, I am not that interested in untangling all of k_p’s off-target claims, unsubstantiated and loose assumptions, and poor understanding of theory/ies. I have other more useful things I’d rather be doing.
k_p: There you go with that Deconstructionist nonsense again, Karol. How did you decide that I was deconstructing and not doing an older form of semiotic (structuralist) analysis, or some discourse analysis, or applying critical theory, or just doing what most folks do here when they critically read a newspaper article?
Where did I mention “binary opposites” on open mike today?
Tamihere has an image in his head of the good deserving worker (generally male) that Labour should go into bat for. It’s a cloth cap vision that was not even entirely relevant in the 1930s. As far as I’m concerned, he’s far too much like Shane Jones, and can shove his political aspirations up his back pussy. In today’s world he would do far more harm than good.
The fact that he can say something that sounds militant and left wing only serves to show how far to the right Shearer and the ABC have remained. Instead of complaining about a male beneficiary on a roof, Tamihere would complain if they weren’t driving a ute. I thought the left in general had moved well past his sort of blokiness, but maybe not.
What a hypocrite. He was waving his own stick around years before Paula even thought about picking hers up.
And it is all well and good saying “So government, he says, has to become far more involved”, he really needs to spell out that policies he would adopt.
And didn’t he take the side of the POA against their workers in that dispute?
Well he’s got the right level of arrogance and double standards to be back in parliament amongst like minded characters and he’d know all about diversion of public monies for personal gain.
What DS needs to realise is he’d stab him in the back given half the chance and is not a team player so it’s a major judgement call, if JT can take a seat off the nat’s why not I say as they’ve got plenty of candidates who can’t do that so far.
Agreed. The Labour caucus would be benefit from his energy and passion. However JT’s unrestrained “bull in the china shop” manner during his previous term as a MP lost him a lot of friends on his own side (and continues to alienate to this day). Without wise mentoring I suspect JT would stumble back into his familiar form and serve as a liability rather than an asset to the caucus.
Duh!? What a pointless comment, k_p@10.06am. When you strip way your emotive, subjective sneer, all you are doing is outlining my comment in general terms: i.e. I agree with some things Tamihere says and not others. And that is unusual or wrong,…. how?
Why not try engaging with the substance of my or others comments, instead of such pointless general sneers?
lol
Even if the military analogy stood, why would that be wrong?
Or do you believe that the appropriate response to being struck by so-called “friendly” fire is “thank you, sir, may I have another”?
If only he learned to be more civilised and circumspect he could become a very good politician.
Yeah, unlikely, micky, given he says:
“Tamihere reckons it’s not what he says, but how he says it that gets him into trouble. He reckons people know he’s saying the right thing, “but they might be far more genteel or academic [how they say it]. I’m not”.”
Because you know, he’s clearly just saying what we’re all thinking, he just doesn’t sugar-coat it, man. Just like Paul Henry.
I greet this new “positioning” from a man who is interested in charter schools with some caution. It looks as if he is shaping himself up for one of the West Auckland seats; either Carmel’s, or if they take Hooton’s advice, New Lynn. Hooton, who seems to take “left” and “sinister” as across the board synonyms, was earlier this week suggesting that they metaphorically “cut Cunliffe’s throat,” as well as making oblique remarks about his family.
I agree with you, Olwyn. I’ve just read the story in SST re Tamihere, and I don’t think he’s changed one little bit. What I find interesting is that Shearer has endorsed his re-entry into Labour membership, and it sounds as if he (Tamihere) is going after the Waitakere seat. Which, after the hard yards put in by Carmel Sepuloni to get in behind with only nine votes to win it, is cheeky to say the least. I hope the Waitakere Labour people can see behind the cheeky grin and charm to the self-interested, egotistical rightwing boy who wants another “go” at Parliament.
It is hard to tell just how much influence Hooton has, but it seems as if there are certain quarters that are not content to bury the hatchet now that Shearer has been endorsed by his colleagues, but instead want to continue to sideline the centre-left of the party while tacking rightwards. Not only that, they seem to favour right wingers on that ground alone, with competence, hard work and even the ability to win seats coming a distant second. I will be interested to see what shape the reshuffle takes.
Yeah but ….. Mickey …. (in reply 37) you know as well as I do sometimes those selections can be “rigged” by certain members of caucus/HO – and Tamihere WAS endorsed by Shearer – which speaks spades to me !
What I also found fascinating in the SST story is that Tamihere is going to ask Maori to change from their Maori vote ie Te Tai Tokerau – to a General vote. That’s pretty cheeky on his part.
“… it seems more likely Tamihere wil persuade Labour Maori members to swtich electoral rolls into the Waitakere seat, giving him enough clout to win selection and he hops, beat Bennett”
However, the story also mentions he’s popular out South Auckland way, so maybe he’ll have a tilt at Ross Robertson’s seat if RR decides he’s had enough !
I agree that you have a perfectly good MP Micky, I just do not trust the decision makers, and do not think I have good reason to trust them, to be honest.
I think the revolt would go beyond New Lynn Olwyn. In fact the party would be decimated and it would take years (if ever) for them to get back to it’s present state. They could kiss goodbye to the next election or failing that, they would be a one term govt. and that would be the end of Labour for a long time.
That’s why Hooton et al are working their butts off fomenting as much mischief as they can.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Oops Olwyn. I was grazing over my recent comments and I came across this one. My last sentence. I wasn’t referring to you when I said that. Rather the ABC club…
It’s OK Anne – I got what you meant. I notice that they never seem to distance themselves from Hooton’s comments. The fact that he supports Shearer appears to licence him to say what he likes. That headline in the NBR last week was simply outrageous.
I’d like to see JT take back a seat, none of this safe seat comfy stuff, he has to earn it.
Mangakiekie is winnable and has an ordinary and lazy candidate who got walked over in debates by slimy smiley Sam. Win that and you deserve a go, not as a minister just an MP.
I thought Brendan Who was imported into NZFirst to fulfill that particular role, shame He has been so efficiently kneecapped and dispatched to Siberia…
Interesting to read 3 columns about Waitangi Day especially relating to Titewhai Harawira.
Matt notes the pathos
When Key slunk back to the local flash hotel among his own, he huffed in a speech that he’d had enough of protesters ruining our national day.
In fact, the only protest at Waitangi this year was a peaceful march of several hundred against domestic violence.
But then Key’s also the man who can’t remember what he thought as a young man about protests against apartheid or nuclear ships – although he’s happy to take credit on the international stage for the reputation New Zealand now enjoys because of those stands.
Rodney Hide – that sad wanker reminds us all of why we can be thankful he’s out of parliament – he is so subtle not
The day could work if there was something big happening that would lift us and give us pause for thought. Like New Year’s Eve fireworks, only bigger, or Concert in the Park.
Instead, our political leaders all sweep up to the Bledisloe-gifted grounds, far away from most of us
It is very hard to argue against the line that Titewhai uses that, “We get benefits as a Treaty partner because we fight for them.” It seems to me to be very true and one of the major reasons that the fight will continue – because equality has not arrived in this country yet.
And these lines are exceptional from the Day interview
She resents the governments’ (past and current) financially based solutions to the issues of the Maori underclass.
Although Key says Treaty stimulants are the “biggest stimulus on the horizon” that will “financially empower iwi”, Harawira believes the approach neglects the real problems faced by Maori and the real obligations of the Treaty of Waitangi.
“The Treaty has been reduced to a document that we’ve got to give those Maoris a dollar for then it will all disappear. Well it won’t. The injustice continues.”
Money will not solve an education system, health statistics and housing situations that continue to be disastrous for Maori, Harawira said.
Oh dear that buggers up the bullshit memes put forward against tangata whenua.
The only way imo to sort these issues out is for some humbleness – and not from tangata whenua.
Titewhai hit the nail on the head when she said about Key – “he’s just talking to Pakeha……”.
Muttering conceived by spin doctors and calculated for throw-away line delivery at Waitangi.
The rationale – to tap the subliminal anti-Maori racism rampant in this country. And like the seasoned real estate agent talking heads (“we are part of the story”) Gower et al close on Key’s behalf.
These contributions encapsulates the situation of NZ quite well. Geoff and Karol’s : “the new extremism…” and a quote from Arundhati Roy vis a vis the statements from Titwhai Harawira. Given the landscape and situation of NZ – is was never so important to be “one people” and yet there is constant work on creating two nations. One wonders to whose benefit.
One people, eh? How about we all become Maori, or Polynesian. That would solve the perceived problem would it not? Or are you suggesting that the only option is for us all to be Pakeha?
So we should all accept being part of a political entity imposed by Europeans, and named after a mainland European Dutch province. Can’t help thinking that this is a little bit exclusionary. Why does this group get naming rights above anyone else? Are they more cleverer than everyone else? Are they more moral than everyone else? Are they more superior than everyone else? Two things are certain: They are more whiter, and they are more racist than everyone else.
Yeah, like I said, the only option is for us all to be one with the dominant culture ie Pakeha.
Of course we are already all NZers, all that is required for that is to either be born here or to jump certain citizenship hoops. Once you have a NZ passport or entitlement to one then you are a NZer. What you really mean is you want one people culturally. Which takes me back to my first point – which culture do you want us all to be? And why should Maori be assimilated into that when they have equal rights to their own sovereignty under Te Tiriti?
@ Colonial Weka
I think Foreign Waka was referring to something a whole lot wider than creating one dominant paradigm, rather seemed to be referring to asking NZers to unite and strengthen themselves against this (failing) dominant paradigm. I read FW’s comment as speaking to the need for the people of NZ to become less easily divided on important issues.
I don’t really follow that blue leopard. I feel solidarity with many Maori re the dominant paradigm. I also recognise that they have been thinking about this, and working hard, for generations in ways that my people haven’t. That counts for something. I don’t need to be ‘one’ with Maori in order to work with them against oppression. All we need to common ground and common purpose, and that exists to varying degrees, but I don’t beleive that we have to be the same or of one mind. In fact I think that lessens us in many ways.
FW specifically refers to two nations, and I took that to be about Maori and Pakeha. FW states it as a bad thing. I don’t see this divide you talk about. I see Maori issues continually being sidelined, or ignored, or not even recognised by the dominant culture. Hence Titewhai’s comment that they have to fight for their treaty rights. And when they do, they get accused of creating divisions. Sorry, but IMO it ain’t Maori that are causing this problem. It’s Pakeha unwillingness to deal with reality and other ways of understanding the world than their own that creates the problems. We WANT Maori to assimilate into Pakeha culture. They can keep their groovy cultural things that we like (haka, art, some te reo), but we will not tolerate them existing as a people in their own right and self-determination. Hence the fight and what you see as division (I think).
I used to think that Pakeha needed to change, but I don’t hold that hope so much any more, although I will still work for that. I think in reality
time will resolve the problem – eventually Polynesians will outnumber European descendants and NZ will become a Pacific Island once again instead of an outpost of the Queen of England.
btw, I find the notion of ‘one people’ pretty offensive. It takes me immediately to people like Pauline Hanson. I’m not sure that is where you are, but if you are going to use those terms then please understand the political context they exist within. Hanson’s ‘One Nation’ ideas are racist and exclusionary and in complete denial of the reality of Aboriginal people. She would get on well with John Ansell. These are not people who will join use in the fight against oppression.
@ Colonial Weka
Well perhaps I was misunderstanding Foreign Waka’s comment. I understood the message to be similar to what you write here. Waka’s comment referenced not only Titewhai’s comment, also Geoff’s, link, which I only had a quick scan of, however believed it to be about the divide and rule and distraction techniques being used on us nearly constantly. Therefore not specifically about race; that is only one division being used, there are many, low waged vs unemployed, middle income earners vs lower income earners, employers vs employees, gay vs straight the list is endless.
I understood the “two nations” to be simply “dividedness”; not as in race. It depends on what particular issue is being presented as in which way our nation is being split in two in any particular moment.
Your btw links in as an example of what Karol quoted Arundhati Roy as saying. (comment 2.1 above). Are you saying that we can’t use the word “one nation” anymore without bringing up the spin of exclusionary and racism that some bigot in Australia sold? Thats very sad. She doesn’t have exclusive rights to the concept of people uniting.
Yes, it’s possible that I have misunderstood FW too. Perhaps they can clarify.
“Are you saying that we can’t use the word “one nation” anymore without bringing up the spin of exclusionary and racism that some bigot in Australia sold? Thats very sad. She doesn’t have exclusive rights to the concept of people uniting.”
It’s not about the words so much as the concept. The words could be reclaimed. I just don’t agree with the basic premise of ‘one people’. We are NOT one people. We are a nation of many peoples, and the reasons we don’t have as much unity as we might want is because of lack of cultural awareness. Trying to merge all cultures won’t solve that.
Where the right or whoever are creating division as a way of gaining political power, then I agree this is a problem. I just don’t believe the ‘one people’ meme is the solution. Worse, it plays directly into their hands. Have you seen John Ansell’s rhetoric?
“Have you seen John Ansell’s rhetoric”?
Lol, no thank goodness!! Yet I can imagine….
Yes, I think there is not really any argument here. It ends up being what we associate words with. I have no problem with “One” being a concept involving uniting whilst still retaining diversity; yet I can see how you associate it with a concept involving a merging cultures.
I agree that merging cultures is not a positive way to go. Acknowledging and appreciating differences, to me is far less “ist”. We can’t all be exactly the same, and how horrid if we were!.
Seems that you have not cottoned on that these constant divisions amongst the races is giving advantage to someone. You figure out who that is and you might just see what the real game here is. It does not matter what race you are (really!) but it does matter whether the homophobic tendencies on anyone’s part is being used to undermine NZ as a whole.
OK – are you making the comment BECAUSE my synonym says FOREIGN or do you want to reinvent biology? You can replace the term if you want to with “ethnic group” or “different people”. Don’t politicize the word race, its perfectly legitimate in a scientific sense. Besides, you comment just shows exactly what my point was and thank you for demonstrating so vividly the issue at hand.
Not sure what you mean otherwise. Biologically, there is ONE human race (Homo sapiens). NZer is not a race. We are all the same species.
I think you are talking about ethnicity and culture. I don’t understand why you want that to be ‘one’. But as blue leopard and I were mentioning, perhaps you have been misunderstood. Would you care to clarify your point?
Pretty absurd responses to your accurate comment. I, too, would like to know to whose benefit actively dividing us is for? I sure as hell wish the majority would realize that its not to their benefit.
“One people” is an attitude of inclusiveness, the responses from CW & Jenny omit to acknowledge this. There can still be diversity and an attitude of “we’re all in this together”. We don’t have to become one colour, or clones. How foolish to even suggest that.
Britain after Stonehenge program on Choice TV relayed how the Romans gave a hoard of silver and gold to a “friendly” Scottish tribe to keep them onside and try and divide the clan loyalties. This was over 1000 years ago. Do we not learn anything
Please people, try and engage and see what games are being played on you. This is getting really serious. Look at what is going on overseas. Our paradigm is not working. We need collective force to shift toward a more positive direction.
I agree…Our biculturalism is Pakeha defined biculturalism and it is not working.
But I don’t see the problem as being that we are not “one people”. Biculturalism would work better if it was not within a neoliberal paradigm – that is the problem.
There would be nothing wrong if we had two cultural norms, so long as they were both given equal opportunity to exist. Currently, we have token Maori culture that gets further subjugated by our racist economic system.
We need to redefine biculturalism so that both cultures can exist. Promoting only eurocentric ideals failed us before, during the 1970s, and this was after 2 decades of an equity based economic system.
To ditch biculturalism now, we would be left with the worst possible combination of economic and cultural systems. – neoliberalism and mono-culturalism. Yuk.
An attitude of “we are all in it together” has nothing to do with colour, bi-culturalism, gender or any of these other ways of dividing us up.
Our dominant paradigm has been referred to as the “white male paradigm” by some. I will use this term to get my point across.
My observation is that the closer you are to a white male mentality the more likely you are to be “successful” in that hierarchy, I emphasize “mentality” because those who are “winning”, recieving accolades and value in the hierarchy and whom support and promulgate this dominant paradigm are not solely white nor male; we all know examples where some of the worst offenders are quite other than that physically. and those losing are not solely brown, pink, yellow, red. They are also white. And they are also white and male.
The more people who realize this the more we realize we are all in this together and the less prone we will be to being distracted and divided and ruled.
I need to add that I don’t believe many people are “winning” at all currently. Some might think they are, however there has to be some denial involved when the trends overseas are taken into account. It doesn’t matter whether you are “middle class” (what ever that means) and/or “non-political” and fairly “comfortable”; these groups of people are being affected by the state of chaos that our Western society has become. It doesn’t matter whether you are brown, black, white. It doesn’t matter what your gender is. Most peoples interests are being adversely affected.
There are problems that need to be dealt with and aren’t being, and one thing that would help is that we realize our similarities; we breathe, we love, we hurt, we all want what is best for ourselves.. If we could realize what unites us, we would start respecting one another, and one anothers’ different interests and start ensuring we were moving toward a better direction. This is not what is occurring at present. We are being more and more pitted against one another.
Yes, when I read those last two comments, and the one that I replied to, I have no idea what your point is…but I am interested
The problem is that the term ‘one people’ or ‘we are all in this together’ is usually a call to end biculturalism…that is how I read it.
Yes, I wondered whether that was the case re you referring to biculturalism, which wasn’t what I was talking about.
Basically I’m commenting on getting NZ people in a state of mind where they are not so damned dividable! (My comment was in response to Foreign Waka’s comment at (5) and the response FW got to that comment.)
If people see what they have in common with one another, they are more likely to work together and be less easily divided.
re There are problems that need to be dealt with
I guess I am being deliberately vague because I’m not in the mood for searching for links to substantiate my point!
I’m referring to the type of problems illustrated out of the global financial crisis; how we are witnessing less and less morality and integrity from those in the upper echelons of our society (Western, not solely NZ), where people still appear to be giving our superiors credit for “knowing what they are doing” where its no longer due. I mean, these people such as bankers and politicians have been caught red-handed again and again and again, yet no real response or change to anything; not rectifying regulations, not the way things are reported and not how people vote. Just denial.
When a movement began that would have started getting the problems addressed, (Occupy Wall Street) here in NZ, it appeared people were more concerned over the state of our public lawns?? Our media, along with our lawn-valuing population, appear to have entirely checked out; I live amongst people of many different nationalities and I am constantly hearing how particularly dreadful New Zealand media is and how uninformed the people are (not surprising really).
I’ll make a short mention of the entirely illegal wars our Western society are involving themselves in, ones where there are war crimes committed and the initiators of which simply go on to get another, probably higher paid jobs, rather than be done for their crimes
Despite all these issues our media continues to push the lowest common denominator in attitudes. For what? Ratings? And in the meantime, it appears that people are still merely supporting a government because the main frontsperson “seems like a nice guy” despite oodles of dodgy, dodgy behaviour, incompetence and fiascos. And do I even bother to mention the approach our largest opposition party…is…taking…nah, I think you’ll probably get my point…
These are the types of problems I was referring to needed to be dealt with.
The issue with our media is a big one. We tend to have a bland and predictable media who perpetuate ignorance, but I think that is partly to do with the size of our population.
Mainstream sources of media – TV/newspapers/radio have such a limited amount of people to aim at, as a result they all sit in the middle and offer nothing. Compared with the UK – they have enough people to support left wing and right wing papers, as a result there are contrasting views and an environment is created where debate will occur…overcoming this is difficult.
This is compounded by the general agreement of most of our political parties. In a way, the demise of ACT has almost been a burden for the left…without them contrasting opinions also disappear. Nothing promotes true left policies more than an ACT supporter opening their mouth.
The population issue is a real one. But it pays to remember that in the UK you get the tabloids as well as the Times, The Gaurdian, and the Independent. While you do get more top notch stuff, you also get a lot more crap.
Hmm interesting . That gives me some insight thanks.
It is rather strange though, I was just considering how that we are a small nation, one might hope that spinning bigoted type attitudes wouldn’t “work” because we are only a few degrees separated and most of us must know plenty of others from different walks of life, therefore understand how different people’s needs and the issues they face are. This has certainly been what has caused me to open my attitudes up and pull my horns in and learn to consider a matter from different angles before drawing conclusions.. I would think we would be more understanding (and thus tolerant) toward one another’s different needs and issues for this reason. This does not appear to be the way it is working though.
Madoff would have arrived here in the nick of time to see the whole s**t-pile collapse as the likes of Sir Doug et al beat him by a long nose to suck all the cash out of the bloated upper-middle class with finance schemes that bore a remarkable resemblance to Madoff’s very own little money spinner…
2014, once again, will see politicians from all sides promising much,smiling and waving,
speeches that convince some, that’s the trickery,the hoodwinking of the political game,
once elected the hammer comes down,all bets are off,they are in office,why should
they care, or even stand by the words they uttered, prior to gaining office.
‘Democracy means government by discussion,but it is only effective if you can stop
people talking’ By Clement Atlee.
‘Democracy is the name we give the people, whenever we need them. By Robert,
Marquis de Flers and Arman de Caillavet L’habit vert.
Yes it works. Now for someone to explain to me – in laywoman’s language – how you create a link using your own words like “this” or “have a look at this” etc.
Umm… not layman enough for me. I will print a copy and find someone to explain what it all means and how it translates into practice. Thanks anyway joe90. It’s a start. 🙂
I can try in lay-person 🙂 In this example I’ll use square brackets [ ] so we can see what’s going on, but when you do it for real you’ll use angle brackets .
There are three bits to remember. The opening tag (which includes the address), the clickable text, and the closing tag.
————————-
The opening tag starts with a bracket, the letter a, and the phrase href=
Like so:
[a href=
That bit will always be the same for every link you make. The “a” means “this is a link”, and the href= means “this is the address the link takes us to”
We put quote marks around the address which mean “this is the beginning and end of the address”, and then a bracket, and that’s the end of the opening tag.
Like so:
[a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY”]
————————-
Next is the text that you want to be able to click. This can be anything at all. It doesn’t need quote marks or anything, whatever you put here is exactly what you’ll see.
Like so:
[a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY”]felix’s new band
————————–
The last bit is the closing tag. It’s just a bracket, a slash, another a, and another bracket. It means “this is the end of the link”.
Like so:
[a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY”]felix’s new band[/a]
————————–
And that’s it! Replace the square brackets in the example with angle brackets and this is what you’ll get: felix’s new band
One of my younger incarnations in the sixties was as a bass and slide guitar player. Now play slide lapstyle and bottleneck- deeply satisfying music. Still raises my neck hairs when I hear a slide player…….
I was disappointed to hear that Phil Goff, Phil Twyford and others apparently supported John Tamihere’s return to the party; perhaps they could share their reasoning here at The Standard. In today’s newspaper article John sneers about ‘the sisterhood’, and his comments about Paula Bennett’s appearance are an absurd sideshow, a circus he would bring to Parliament should Labour be foolish enough to let him swan back. He asks whether instead of calling Paula fat he should describe her as morbidly obese. Why does he make any negative comment about a woman’s appearance? What does this say about his character, about him as a man, and about those who overlook his ugly proclivities to renew his footing in Labour? In light of recent party tensions, I find myself wondering what sort of government Labour would make with its current team; not, perhaps, one that ordinary party members might feel proud of, or part of. I find myself hanging back from this party, which wears the cloak of Labour, but whose heart may no longer be truly Labour. I watch with interest the jostling for list positions as we approach the next election. Shane Jones, like John Tamihere, has an overworked ego but has achieved little in Parliament; he flaps his lips at media moments but is not the thoughtful leader we hoped for (and thus does not warrant in my view a high list position). Other list MPs have accepted positions, or taken stances, for rewards that may be as illusory as their list rankings in the months to come. I do not personally care who is the leader of the Labour party. But I care very much about the heart of the Labour party, as one little cog that has kept it beating in the provinces. Attention seeking opportunists like John Tamihere and Shane Jones come and go. But I thought more of Phil; as a woman member of the party, I can’t overlook sexism which, like any other kind of ism, can only exist if good people condone it.
It would be good to read a response from a member of caucus to what you write here. When people express doubts about a party on The Standard, it would be interesting to know how many they represent. In this case, a lot I’m sure, which makes me view it a worthwhile activity for caucus members to respond.
I know Phil Twyford and it puzzles me too. I can only assume he was approached and he agreed to let him have another chance. I presume Tamihere’s negative personal comments re Paula Bennett is tied up with his desire to win the candidacy for the Waitakere seat. (I know he says he’s not interested but who believes a politician even a past one).
I suspect it’s an attempt to attract the red-neck, anti-female politicians brigade to support him in his cause. Remember the previous candidate was Carmel Sepuloni and she indicated her intention to run for the candidacy again some time ago.
As a happily hetero sport-loving beer-drinking bloke, I find Tamihere’s attitude infantile at best, offensive at worst. Worse still is this patronising notion that people like him and Shane Jones speak for a large chunk of society, and voters will return to Labour in droves if only Tamihere and Jones could be to the fore.
If these two “blokes” are such vote-magnets, how come they keep losing elections?
Are you meaning that these bloke-types are to appeal to the female vote?
Or that these bloke-types are bitches?
I guess I personally would agree with the second option, however, if you are meaning the first, I wonder whether this is true? Or is it that blokes don’t vote for chicks? I have wondered how the genders are split with regards to political views; whether there is a distinct trend amongst the genders. It was certainly mentioned during election-time that Act has a hard time appealing to the female voter.
From memory, I think he called certain women (was it women Labour MPs including Helen Clark?) bitches earlier in the 2000 decade when he was given the push. Something along those lines anyway. Someone will correct me if I’m wrong.
Yes, Virginia Linton, I – too – am seeing a much more sexist Labour caucus re-appearing with John Tamihere’s endorsement by so many of the rightwing blokes and their takeover of the caucus.
And I regret to say that I think we’ll see the so-called re-shuffle of front positions due to be announced
soon by the Leader reinforce this blokey-bent.
Hi lprent,
I posted a query a few Open Mikes ago, not realising you were away.
Its simply about the “notify me via email” function, which no longer works. Its no biggy really, yet I was wondering if there was some way to get this function back? If there was any setting I could change from my side? I am on Safari 5.something and gmail email.
I will go back and find my last query because there were a few others commenting in response.
Ah. Thanks for reminding me. I’m just fixing one of the backups that isn’t working too well. I’ll reconnect and start the mail server after that. It was simply an oversight when I shifted the server in Jan. Ummm people may get a pile of banked emails when that happens.
It was more that my brain was elsewhere. The code I was trying to build/fix was complicated and I had to kind of stretch to make it work at all well in the target platform.
As well as The Standard I was somewhat vague about really important things like sleep, Lyn, bills and taking pills.
Oh cool! Thanks lprent, and thanks for the work you do, its most appreciated.
(Hopefully you’ll address the really important things first, I’m sure none of us would begrudge you that 😯 )
Lynn,You have to take your medication, and get some sleep. The days of SysOp’s surviving on 4 hrs, and umpteen cups of corrosively strong coffee are long gone now lol. And never forget the better half! Mental note to self, don’t forget your pills!
Chris Laidlaw’s lame quip trivializes and undermines a serious point
Radio New Zealand National, Sunday 10 February 2013, 11:10 a.m.
Chris Laidlaw interviewed Seyed Majid Tafreshi Khameneh, the Iranian Ambassador to New Zealand.
LAIDLAW: Iran has supported Hezbollah, hasn’t it.
TAFRESHI: Hezbollah has not invaded any other territory. They are
defending their land. They are freedom fighters.
LAIDLAW:[guffaws nervously] Well, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.
Disappointed in Laidlaw’s lapse into hard right propaganda, I sent him the following e-mail….
Dear Chris,
After the Iranian ambassador had pointed out that Hezbollah is an indigenous self-defence organization, and had never sent troops to invade any territory, you quipped that “one man’s freedom-fighter is another man’s terrorist.” That was not only a banal observation, it served to trivialize and undermine the point that the Ambassador had just made.
@Morrissey
I find this sort of thing really shameful. How rude and uninformed we can be.
It is probably beyond any “middle” NZ to grasp the concept that the word “freedom fighter” isn’t synonymous with terrorist The word “terrorist” can, thus be effectively used to stamp out any opposition to the status quo, and noone seems to mind that the status quo way of doing things is leading us to hell in a handbasket.
Its just shameful to be lumped in with this type of mentality (if you can even call it that).
NZ must not change as there is no alternative.
Meanwhile –
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) has made it official: After its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
If Key and Gillard in Queenstown are supposed to signify the ‘ANZAC Spurrut’ at play, then I want no part of it.
Yet another Key venture in self-aggrandisement, sucking up and selling out.
It’s interesting when you look at the definition of a psychopath available on the internet. I think it’s Wikipaedia that has some interesting characteristics. You could provide a match with the various categories more precisely than you coud with the likes of Bainimarama or Mugabe.
Yet – still the populace worships! – aided and abetted by an uncritical MSM.
As they say though – the harder they rise, the harder they fall!
(and if EVER there was a travesty to an OZ Labor Party it would be Joolya – I keep wondering if NZ’s equivalent are an ABC club and a Shearer).
Hey! – btw (as they say amongst the connected) – what’s happened to that noice little boi FanClub, or FanBoi – or whatever the fuck he pops up as? AND – WHERE lately is the Hataitai pacifier that not only now wants to review the ‘used by’ label expiry date, but also the ‘RRP’ [or recommended retail price]. Bugger! I forget her name just at the moment – hold on – for the benefit of precision, I’ll just Google her shall I? ………
Oh fuck – it seems she’s become irrelevant to GOOGLE too!
Anyway – you fellas should know who I mean – she’s a foreskin in the ABC club along with the Mallardy bovver boy and a host of other amusements
Didn’t you get the memo? Drinking to excess is only bad when it’s Yoof (i.e. anyone who looks “young” to a Campbell Live producer) doing it. Grown-ups can do whatever they like, it’s not like they set examples or contribute to drinking culture or anything.
So the future isn’t a boot stamping on a human face, forever. It’s a person in a beige business outfit advocating beige policies that nobody wants (but nobody can quite articulate a coherent alternative to) with a false mandate obtained by performing rituals of representative democracy that offer as much actual choice as a Stalinist one-party state. And resistance is futile, because if you succeed in overthrowing the beige dictatorship, you will become that which you opposed.
Despite being hypocritical and increasingly a parody of shit sensationalism and faux community concern, it looks like the Campbell live team just keep getting lucky breaks.
Someone at TVNZ made something much much worse.
It’s called lose lose for those who watch rather than ‘make’ TV.
“it’s not like they set examples or contribute ”
Not one reply, not even a nibble.
Someone get me a two headed tortoise and JC’s extension number.
Someone should tell David Shearer to stop listening to what He is saying when speaking in front of a camera,
Shearer i noticed on the news tonight has a bad habit of self editing in the middle of making a comment, this also brings in the aaah as He searches for the words He wants to use as a clarification in the middle of a comment to the media…
I think I might have mentioned it before, but I doubt very much it’s searching for words, just making sure he remembers to use the ones he’s been told to.
Speak from the same sleeve you wear your heart on, or learn to fake it better.
He should just stop speaking and get someone competent doing it. If I were fixing my car and reached the limit of my incompetence, I’d get hold of someone who knew what they were doing. I wouldn’t burn down the closest workshop and carry on.
Labour voter??? Labour Party member???, rather have Slippery leading the National Party to victory in 2014???,
The vote has been had, is there another in February 2014???, if not such denigration of those the Labour Caucus voted for as Leader is pretty pointless and it’s only possible out-come is to increase the chances of Slippery being the Prime Minister until 2017,
Myself, i would rather work toward not having the worst case scenario occur and would suggest that if you are a Labour Party member your energies would better be spent ensuring the Party Members have the ability to ‘trigger’ the scheduled leadership votes under the ‘new’ rules into the future,
Shearer may have made that abhorrent bene-bashing speech and His ‘worker in the pub’ one wasn’t something to cheer about either,
Compare this tho to another Labour Leader as Prime Minister, ”Beneficiaries will not be included in Working for Families as this will encourage them to get a job”-Helen Clark,
Who was Prime Minister when income tax was applied to welfare benefits,none other than David Lange,
Or is every one still imbibing sour grapes about the other Dave’s failure to topple Shearer…
“Labour voter???” – Nope. Not any more.
“Labour Party member???” – Nope. Never joined any political party.
“rather have Slippery leading the National Party to victory in 2014???” – Nope. that doesn’t sound like me at all. Besides, I reckon you’ll need many more than just my vote for that not to occur. Good luck, best get your lucky red socks out of the bottom drawer, bless.
And none of those answers above discredit or give less validity to me stating opinion in any way shape or form, Comrade. Do feel free to prove they do if you’re bothered.
As for the rest of your post, all I can give you is a bit of a shrug, apart from
“Or is every one still imbibing sour grapes about the other Dave’s failure to topple Shearer…”
As opposed to you sipping the dregs of the sweet nectar of success dripping off the bottom of Mallard’s poisoned chalice.
You were doing alright until the spurious final comment, my feelings on Mallard are pretty plain in the comments on the post on that subject,
Spoze the likes of Trev and Shane with their open attacks on the Green Party are a bit like the anti-Shearer crew here on the Standard, Trev might have caught it by being entangled with McCully’s ex and Shane well wanker’s never really stop themselves from gushing,
Lolz i should really just scroll past the ‘i hate Shearer comments’ but even that’s damn hard as i found out today reading one interesting comment on an entirely unrelated subject that ended with a ‘i hate Shearer’,
Hate on, but, unless there is a vote in February 2014 and a willingness of caucus to put that vote to the wider Party which considering everything is a small flight of fancy then Shearer we are all stuck with and no amount of venting will change that,
Nah not red socks, my feet are Green from having roamed my patch to often without any on…
John key got a mixed reception at the Big Gay Out today, according to Stuff:\\
Today at the Big Gay Out he donned a yellow polo shirt and chatted convivially with drag queens, gay men and women and almost nude couples painted in tiger stripes. But when he took to the stage at the invitation of Miss Ribena, a drag queen with a penchant for purple, there was a slight shift in mood.
“F*** you John Key,” several voices in the crowd called.
“Don’t worry they must be from West Auckland,” Miss Ribena said.
“That’s alright,” Key replied. …
And then, Auckland local Andy Lawrie attempted to reinforce the point that Key might not be as progressive as he purported. Lawrie was seen lowering a coat hanger affixed to a bamboo pole over the head of the Prime Minister.
“It’s just a little reminder,” he said.
On the coat hanger was a “gay” red shirt.
“It’s just to make people remember.”
The Greens seemed to be more in tune with the event. Loiusa Wall got various mentions because of her marriage equality amendment bill. But the rest of Labour MPs seem to have been MIA.
Meanwhile, Lucy Lawless turned up to do a little Community Service, and probably mingled today:
Lucy Lawless will be among the thousands at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland.
“BigGayOut this weekend. Could life be more colourful? Hooray for everything!” she has tweeted.
GayNZ.com Daily News hears the actress, who has a global following, particularly among lesbians, even helped out by pitching in to erect tents yesterday.
Long term plan for NZ’s move to Charter or Partnership Schools might go like this.
The full extent of Michael Gove’s (UK Sec Education) plans to revolutionise education are revealed today in a secret memo showing he is considering outright privatisation of academies and free schools. All academies and free schools in England, which are the Education Secretary’s personal obsession, would be free to become profit-making for the first time, and be entirely decoupled from Whitehall control. ……Mr Gove is considering the radical step because massive expansion of academies and free schools is costing government too much money.
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by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Rioting broke out in Manokwari, West Papua, today as local people – mostly university students – protested against racial abuse of Papuan students in East Java, reports TheJakarta Post. The protesters blocked a number of major streets in the city this morning, cutting down ...
By Ben Bilua in Suva Multimedia skills and innovation are key to adapting to the changing media landscape, said US academic Professor Debora Wenger as newsmakers around the world continue to grapple with challenges arising from the transformation of technology and social media. Speaking to journalists at a regional ...
The new RBNZ seems to crave the limelight and be known for advocacy of new causes, and that has not impressed macroeconomics professor Robert MacCulloch. ...
The prime minister won't meet with Ihumātao protesters before Thursday - the deadline given by the group to stop them marching to her Auckland electorate office. ...
Cabinet ministers will discuss possible law changes to what mail can be received and sent by prisoners, after the accused Christchurch gunman was able to send mail to supporters. ...
The Catholic and Anglican churches are still considering quashing legal agreements that may prevent abuse survivors from giving evidence to the inquiry investigating historical abuse in care. ...
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...
Alex Casey chats to Bree Tomasel about hosting Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, farting in the ZM studio and going viral on the regular. The most important thing you need to know about Bree Tomasel is not the fact that she peed her pants during Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, but the glee ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsAnalysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The election race is on. The nominations process for local government positions has now closed, and the political campaign is officially underway. But does the public care? Will many of us even vote for any of the various mayoral or council ...
At Eden Park on Saturday night, the Wallabies were on the receiving end of a ruthless players’ revenge, writes Scotty StevensonThe rain came. It always seems to at Eden Park, just as the Wallabies warm up on the pitch, dreaming of ending a drought. It came from the west, the ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Michael Fallow (Stuff): Your council – what’s its job description? Dileepa Fonseka and ...
Protesters occupying land at Ihumātao will begin a four-hour hikoi to Mt Albert on Thursday to present a petition calling on the Prime Minister to visit the land. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Walvisch, Lecturer, Monash University This morning an Extinction Rebellion protester was arrested after hanging from a rope over the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane, blocking all lanes to peak hour traffic. And earlier this month in Brisbane, more than 70 climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Jobson, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Monash University Many of us enjoy writing in a diary, reading autobiographies or nostalgically reflecting with others about past times. Why is remembering our past so important? Are there downsides? And what can we do ...
Roll Red Roll is a brutal, painfully illuminating documentary on the Steubenville High School rape case, a shocking crime that made headlines worldwide. Emily Writes reviews. This review discusses rape and sexual violenceAugust 11, 2012: two teenage boys rape an unconscious teenage girl as two of their peers watch and ...
By RNZ Pacific Tuvalu’s Prime Minister has condemned the Australian Prime Minister’s conduct at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum, calling Scott Morrison’s attitude “unfortunate” and “neo-colonial,” and questioning Australia’s future in the 18-member body. In an interview with RNZ on Sunday, Enele Sopoaga also threatened to pull Tuvaluan labour from ...
The second hui of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki takes place in Hamilton today. Newsroom, in partnership with Radio Waatea, are broadcasting it live from 1pm. ...
Prolific, award-winning Palmerston North poet Paula Harris somehow manages to be stroppy and properly vulnerable all at once. Here, she writes about her first slam competition – and why she cried all the way home. I am old enough to have given birth to most of the people here.Sure, there’s a ...
High speed rail links between cities could play a massive role in revitalising regional New Zealand, says a visiting transport infrastructure expert. Professor Andrew McNaughton spoke to Alex Braae. Imagine commuting from Hamilton to Auckland, and it only taking an hour to get there. It’s a vision of how the right ...
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change.This piece originally appeared on Bike AucklandMy first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was ...
It's not since 1989 that a mayoralty campaign in the southern city has been so unpredictable - a record 14 candidates have put their names forward. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Hon Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney On the morning of the last Monday in April, 2019, federal election officials opened the doors of more than 500 pre-poll voting centres around Australia, and waited for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Veronica Alfano, Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University Memorising poetry was once common in classrooms. But it has, for the most part, gone out of style. There are good reasons for this. Memorisation can clash with creativity and analytical thought. Rote learning can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darren Paul Fisher, Head of Directing, Department of Film, Screen and Creative Media, Bond University What do J.J. Abrams, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shonda Rhimes, David Lynch, Aaron Sorkin, Donald Glover, Jenji Kohan, Jordan Peele, Tina Fey, and Joss Whedon have in common? They ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mayors launch bids to return in Auckland and Wellington, Hamilton’s skyline could change significantly, and support for cannabis legalisation plummets in poll.Two incumbent mayors have launched their re-election campaigns over the weekend, with a bigger fight on their hands than ...
MediaWorks has been lobbying the Government to turn TVNZ 1 into a non-commercial channel to help stem its own financial bleeding. Frustrated, and getting nowhere, it’s decided to change tack. ...
Open mike 10/02/2013 
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...16 hours ago
Last week, Australia sabotaged the Pacific Forum by opposing action on climate change. Their Deputy Prime Minister followed that up by saying that Pacific Peoples could always pick Australian fruit - just as they had done in the era of blackbirding. And now, that arrogant, tone-deaf approach has drawn a ...16 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...2 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...2 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...3 days ago
4 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...4 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...5 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...6 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...6 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...6 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...6 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...6 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 6 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...7 days ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...1 week ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...1 week ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...2 weeks ago
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...2 weeks ago
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...3 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...11 hours ago
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...1 hour ago
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...2 hours ago
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...2 hours ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell has no desire to see any further degradation of the news media in New Zealand, but something has to change. ...2 hours ago
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...2 hours ago
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...2 hours ago
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...2 hours ago
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...2 hours ago
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It’s really bugging me. Is John Key our Richard III ?
He seems weighed down by the cares of office, his hair
increasingly tinted white at the temples.
I saw no hint of his goofy ‘youf’ persona around Julia Gillard.
Like Ric, he might find his own troops deserting him.
Would the real John Key please stand up ?
He does, all the time, the whole 4 or 5 of Him, depending upon the scene that is set Slippery can transform Himself from Dances with transvestites to discussing issues upon the world stage with international leaders in the blink of an eye,
He is after all Slippery…
Richard III is a bag of bones – true, there may be some similarity there!
The reshuffle was one such rare moment.
No-one saw the knives go in, everyone was surprised, the new order settled in seconds.
“I can smile, and murder while I smile.”
Interestingly, that line is only in the McKellen movie adaptation of Richard III, not the play – it’s originally from Henry VI Part 3.
Interesting and valid article on the demise or dismantling of democracy and the rise of authoritarian..
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13998-the-new-extremism-and-politics-of-distraction-in-the-age-of-austerity
Thanks. Read the first bit. Will read the rest after work today.
This quote from Arundhati Roy, is very relevant at home and abroad:
But according to you Karol as a Deconstructionist, language is meaningless anyway, so what does it matter, language and words are only good for “deploying…like weapons”?
According to Deconstructionism, isn’t Roy’s world view, just that, a purely subjective experience, there is no objective reality out there for it to attache to, its no more truthful or valid or evil than Hitler’s world view?
Still pigeonholing people, k_p? Interesting.
Can’t Karol stick up for herself?
Does she really need her girl pal QofT to rush in snarling and biting?
QofT, you repeatedly avoids stating what intellectual school she subscribes to.
What are you afraid of?
For the record, QofT, your girl pal has admitted she is a Deconstructionist, with a small qualification interestingly enough – ‘for the most part’ was it if I remember correctly – a failed attempt to hedge her bet I think.
What are you afraid of?
Some of us get bored with your fixation.
You tried this ages ago, then never replied to Karol when she explained herself.
It was either sniper shots at Karol, or sniper shots at those troublemakers born on another patch of dirt. Got stats yet?
I remember Karol saying she was a bit of this a bit of that.
It’s BS of course.
Acting like you are scouring a rubbish tip of discarded and broken ideologies you don’t actually have a clue about, picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’ to your vested interests is called creating propaganda.
Marxism, neo or whatever, Deconstructionism/Postmodernism or whatever those flaky followers like to call it, are ideologies which make truth claims about the way the world is. Claims that are easily disprovable.
You build your world view/argument on these failed ideologies as Feminists do, then you are exposed to the same failures.
Wailing that you are being “pigeon holed” doesn’t change that.
Ditto for neo-liberalism/neo conservatism and those scrambling to defend it in the wake of 2008.
Oh my god, k_p, do you mean you don’t actually get why people keep using the word “pigeonholed”?
I’ve only linked to the reason a few dozen hilarious times now.
Just because you do it doesn’t mean that everyone does. Karol certainly doesn’t share your attitude toward “thinking”. Perhaps if you gave the rather pathetic misogynist stroking a rest some time, maybe the blood will flood back to the organ that is responsible for actual thought.
In case that was too subtle for you…
Most people think about things before they spew it out on the rest of us… You just seem to wank a lot when you get excited. Your keyboard must have a sticky problem whenever you reply to a female commentator.
Lol, I’ll leave the rest of your ignorant absurdities to others, but seeing you are so hung up on labels, please enlighten me on what happened with regard to neo-Conservatism in 2008.
Pretty strong suggestion in that comment that you don’t know anything about Neo-Conservatism.
k_p: I remember Karol saying she was a bit of this a bit of that.
It’s BS of course.
Acting like you are scouring a rubbish tip of discarded and broken ideologies you don’t actually have a clue about, picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’ to your vested interests is called creating propaganda.
Gee, you sure do show your superficial understanding of the umbrella terms you are referring to. I assume you mean that comment fatty helpfully linked to, of which I associated myself with bits of poststructuralism and neo-Marxism, etc. Do you understand the meaning of “heterogeneous” as used at the link?
Note in the second line the reference to “critical theorists” as being included in the general collection of post-structuralists theories. Click on the link and you will see that neo-Marxism is included there.
ie I was referring to an eclectic mix of related theories all included under very general terms that you don’t really seem to understand.
I don’t know how anyone can do anything but pick out various bits of each, as ones they most agree with.
Scouring rubbish tips for discarded and broken ideologies about and picking up fragments that you think are ‘useful’.
That’s not creating propaganda.
That’s bricolage!
I don’t have any subscriptions, it’s just too difficult keeping my address and direct debits up-to-date.
I am sure that Karol can and will reply to you in due course.
Perhaps you need to read her comment at 2.1 again – in particular the first line.
“Thanks. Read the first bit. Will read the rest after work today.”
Note the bit about “‘after work today”.
Come on, you don’t really expect k_p to read what people actually write do you?
Especially when it’s women writing, because our ladybrains can’t come up with awesome arguments about deconstructionist marxist neo-anarcho-eco-feminism like k_p’s.
Edit – reply to CW
LOL – no!
Just could not help myself – I usually try to ignore idiots.
k_p: your girl pal has admitted she is a Deconstructionist, [citation please.
Why do you continue to insist that people are what they’re not?
k_p: But according to you Karol as a Deconstructionist, [citation needed] language is meaningless [citation needed] anyway, so what does it matter, language and words are only good for “deploying…like weapons”? [citation needed]
For an objectivist, you make a lot of loose claims based on little evidence.
Do you have anything to contribute about the significant article GeoffC linked to, or are you just trying to divert his thread?
This “theft of language” is being most effectively deployed by the coal industry to hide the dirty nature of their business, using words to mask intent and to mean exactly the opposite of what they have traditionally meant. For example Fonterra say they plan to excavate a major “Escarpment Mine” Just south of Auckland, that looks likely to become the ground zero in the fight against climate change in the Auckland area. Fonterra facing unexpectedly stiff opposition from local residents and Auckland based environmentalists, hoped an “Escarpment Mine” wouldn’t get the same emotional response from Aucklanders that “Open Cast Mine” might.
Everyone knows what an open cast mine looks like, from unpleasant pictures seen on television and in books.
“Escarpment” in geology means a natural feature of the landscape, either a very steep natural slope, or slanting cliff face. The coal mining industry have subverted the original meaning of this word, for their own uses. Using the word ‘Escarpment’ avoids the unpleasant mental pictures that automatically form in people’s minds on hearing the words ‘Open Cast Mine’. ‘Escarpment Mine’, much more pleasant.
<blockquote.Dairy juggernaut Fonterra is planning a major new coal mine in north Waikato, saying that will be cheaper than buying coal from Solid Energy, the state-owned enterprise axing 120 jobs at Huntly, blaming falling prices.
Fonterra's coal mining company Glencoal is about to apply for resource consents to develop an open cast coalmine on 30ha of farmland it has owned for 10 years between Mangatawhiri Rd and the new State Highway 2 at Maramarua.
ANDREA FOX AND MATT BOWEN http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/business/7759938/Coal-costs-force-Fonterras-hand
The name Mangatangi is more familiar to Aucklanders as being the location of the Mangatangi Dam, Auckland’s largest water-storage dam. With a capacity of 39 million cubic metres, it supplies nearly a quarter of the city’s bulk water.
Aucklanders are not too happy to learn that it will also be the location of the regions biggest opencast coal mine. Oops, pardon me ‘escarpment mine’.
PS. This proposed mine was originally going to be publicy notified with a chance for public submissions. But on meeting unexpectedly stiff resistance from locals and environmentalitst, this is now in doubt with Fonterra considering seeking fast track permission. (Maybe the language trick didn’t work).
The Truth-Out.Org article – the politics of disconnect. And we wonder why the polls read as they do. “Mr Key’s a ‘nice man’……..honourably doing all he can in the circumstances. Very well. Kia Ora……”
Deliberate is what it is………brought here to do the business.
Not an easy article to read being so very very American, but quite unnerving with a clear echo with what’s happening here in NZ. Makes one wonder where the brief is coming from?
Thanks GeoffC, very interesting. A lot of parallels between US and NZ.
There is an interview with John Tamihere in the SST this morning (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8279775/Tamihere-wants-to-return-to-politics/). The headline says it all, he wants to get back into Parliament.
He is his usual aggressive obnoxious self but amongst the abuse and self obsessed diatribe are a couple of pearlers. About Paula Bennett he says “I can’t stand what she is doing to beneficiaries, I just won’t tolerate taking a stick to the most vulnerable, who, by and large, don’t want to be there.”
And about the distribution of wealth he says “[i]n this government, the few get rich in the name of the many. That just can’t continue.” So government, he says, has to become far more involved.
If only he learned to be more civilised and circumspect he could become a very good politician.
Yes. I read it and thought he was very good on the class/beneficiaries/anti-wealthy elites stuff. But his prejudices against people/qualities outside of various socially constructed “norms” undo all the good stuff he says.
There you go with that Deconstructionist nonsense again, Karol.
“various socially constructed “norms””
What about your socially constructed feminist ideas, values, attitudes? Can’t they be deconstructed as well, aren’t they also just another set of self serving formulae, Karol?
It’s like that nonsensewith gay “marriage’, you were banging on about “binary opposites” – that’s just pure academic pedantry.
Ditto with the “essentialism” cry that goes up around here to dismiss any opinion you lot don’t like. It’s a bit of jargon made up by the Academic Left, premised on the same old flaky, 1970’s French philosophy, Deconstructionist/Feminist nonsense.
Oh, k_p. It’s seriously cute how you keep popping up whenever a woman has an opinion to try and score some pseudoacademic point about what you think the term “social construct” means.
Do you not know what Deconstructionism is?
Ooooh, yeah, k_p, educate the feminist, that’ll show her, oooooh you’re such a master debater!!! *orgasm*
hahaha K_P needs some aloe vera for that burn! It would seem he lets the dictionary do the thinking for him.
@Kiwi Prometheus
Having looked it up, it appears that Deconstructionism is about finding meaning in texts by uncovering underlying assumptions. The Basics of
Philosophy pages. point out that it is “notoriously difficult to define” and that some critics have “gone so far as to claim it is a dangerous form of Nihilism”.
Nihilism appears to be where K.P is pushing it.
You can push any philosophy or analytical approach to extremes and it will be…well…extreme. Keeping an eye on a wider perspective, therefore is required with any philosophy or analytical approach.
With regard to deconstructionism, it appears useful; if we don’t check up on our basic assumptions from time to time we really will deviate from our aims and ideals. I believe doing this “checking” is part of what is commonly called “thinking”.
I can imagine that those who are “winning” under the basic assumptions going by unquestioned would not like this form of analytical approach.
I would question those who think they are “winning” under basic assumptions going by unquestioned. I really don’t think there are many people at all who are currently “winning” at present. That is, not unless you thrive in living in a divided, unhappy and stressed society that is heading for financial, social and environmental meltdown.
Yeah, as I understand it deconstructionism of more of an analytic tool than a philosophy.
Interesting that there is no reply from K.P. One could be forgiven for thinking that this “deconstructionism” argument was a poorly thought out faux intellectual comment that was in actuality simply trying to get someone to STFU.
My money’s on copy-pasta/reworking of something k_p saw on a men’s rights forum, probably Reddit-based.
Good points there, bl @1.28pm. And after a day at work, I am not that interested in untangling all of k_p’s off-target claims, unsubstantiated and loose assumptions, and poor understanding of theory/ies. I have other more useful things I’d rather be doing.
kiwi_prometheus – do you know what ‘stalking’ is?
k_p: There you go with that Deconstructionist nonsense again, Karol. How did you decide that I was deconstructing and not doing an older form of semiotic (structuralist) analysis, or some discourse analysis, or applying critical theory, or just doing what most folks do here when they critically read a newspaper article?
Where did I mention “binary opposites” on open mike today?
Tamihere has an image in his head of the good deserving worker (generally male) that Labour should go into bat for. It’s a cloth cap vision that was not even entirely relevant in the 1930s. As far as I’m concerned, he’s far too much like Shane Jones, and can shove his political aspirations up his back pussy. In today’s world he would do far more harm than good.
The fact that he can say something that sounds militant and left wing only serves to show how far to the right Shearer and the ABC have remained. Instead of complaining about a male beneficiary on a roof, Tamihere would complain if they weren’t driving a ute. I thought the left in general had moved well past his sort of blokiness, but maybe not.
What a hypocrite. He was waving his own stick around years before Paula even thought about picking hers up.
And it is all well and good saying “So government, he says, has to become far more involved”, he really needs to spell out that policies he would adopt.
And didn’t he take the side of the POA against their workers in that dispute?
Well he’s got the right level of arrogance and double standards to be back in parliament amongst like minded characters and he’d know all about diversion of public monies for personal gain.
What DS needs to realise is he’d stab him in the back given half the chance and is not a team player so it’s a major judgement call, if JT can take a seat off the nat’s why not I say as they’ve got plenty of candidates who can’t do that so far.
Agreed. The Labour caucus would be benefit from his energy and passion. However JT’s unrestrained “bull in the china shop” manner during his previous term as a MP lost him a lot of friends on his own side (and continues to alienate to this day). Without wise mentoring I suspect JT would stumble back into his familiar form and serve as a liability rather than an asset to the caucus.
So he gets your cooing approval if its an enemy target he hits, but squeal in outrage when you come under friendly fire, LOL.
Duh!? What a pointless comment, k_p@10.06am. When you strip way your emotive, subjective sneer, all you are doing is outlining my comment in general terms: i.e. I agree with some things Tamihere says and not others. And that is unusual or wrong,…. how?
Why not try engaging with the substance of my or others comments, instead of such pointless general sneers?
lol
Even if the military analogy stood, why would that be wrong?
Or do you believe that the appropriate response to being struck by so-called “friendly” fire is “thank you, sir, may I have another”?
If only he learned to be more civilised and circumspect he could become a very good politician.
Yeah, unlikely, micky, given he says:
“Tamihere reckons it’s not what he says, but how he says it that gets him into trouble. He reckons people know he’s saying the right thing, “but they might be far more genteel or academic [how they say it]. I’m not”.”
Because you know, he’s clearly just saying what we’re all thinking, he just doesn’t sugar-coat it, man. Just like Paul Henry.
“Just like Paul Henry.”
A left arse cheek to match the one on the right.
Any volunteers to occupy the centre ground?
Well … not if we’re going to keep running with that analogy … 😛
Ba dum tish 😆
I greet this new “positioning” from a man who is interested in charter schools with some caution. It looks as if he is shaping himself up for one of the West Auckland seats; either Carmel’s, or if they take Hooton’s advice, New Lynn. Hooton, who seems to take “left” and “sinister” as across the board synonyms, was earlier this week suggesting that they metaphorically “cut Cunliffe’s throat,” as well as making oblique remarks about his family.
I agree with you, Olwyn. I’ve just read the story in SST re Tamihere, and I don’t think he’s changed one little bit. What I find interesting is that Shearer has endorsed his re-entry into Labour membership, and it sounds as if he (Tamihere) is going after the Waitakere seat. Which, after the hard yards put in by Carmel Sepuloni to get in behind with only nine votes to win it, is cheeky to say the least. I hope the Waitakere Labour people can see behind the cheeky grin and charm to the self-interested, egotistical rightwing boy who wants another “go” at Parliament.
It is hard to tell just how much influence Hooton has, but it seems as if there are certain quarters that are not content to bury the hatchet now that Shearer has been endorsed by his colleagues, but instead want to continue to sideline the centre-left of the party while tacking rightwards. Not only that, they seem to favour right wingers on that ground alone, with competence, hard work and even the ability to win seats coming a distant second. I will be interested to see what shape the reshuffle takes.
There is no way he would succeed in Waitakere and New Lynn would revolt rather than support him. We have a perfectly good electorate MP right now …
Yeah but ….. Mickey …. (in reply 37) you know as well as I do sometimes those selections can be “rigged” by certain members of caucus/HO – and Tamihere WAS endorsed by Shearer – which speaks spades to me !
What I also found fascinating in the SST story is that Tamihere is going to ask Maori to change from their Maori vote ie Te Tai Tokerau – to a General vote. That’s pretty cheeky on his part.
“… it seems more likely Tamihere wil persuade Labour Maori members to swtich electoral rolls into the Waitakere seat, giving him enough clout to win selection and he hops, beat Bennett”
However, the story also mentions he’s popular out South Auckland way, so maybe he’ll have a tilt at Ross Robertson’s seat if RR decides he’s had enough !
I agree that you have a perfectly good MP Micky, I just do not trust the decision makers, and do not think I have good reason to trust them, to be honest.
I think the revolt would go beyond New Lynn Olwyn. In fact the party would be decimated and it would take years (if ever) for them to get back to it’s present state. They could kiss goodbye to the next election or failing that, they would be a one term govt. and that would be the end of Labour for a long time.
That’s why Hooton et al are working their butts off fomenting as much mischief as they can.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Oops Olwyn. I was grazing over my recent comments and I came across this one. My last sentence. I wasn’t referring to you when I said that. Rather the ABC club…
It’s OK Anne – I got what you meant. I notice that they never seem to distance themselves from Hooton’s comments. The fact that he supports Shearer appears to licence him to say what he likes. That headline in the NBR last week was simply outrageous.
I’d like to see JT take back a seat, none of this safe seat comfy stuff, he has to earn it.
Mangakiekie is winnable and has an ordinary and lazy candidate who got walked over in debates by slimy smiley Sam. Win that and you deserve a go, not as a minister just an MP.
Tamihere already stood for mayor of Waitakere City and he lost. What makes him think the Waitakere electorate would be any more keen on him?
It does not matter what Tamihere says under any circumstances.
There have been too many examples of his lack of judgement for him to e treated with any respect.
The count of sins commences at the figure 192,000 and goes upwards rapidly.
When he last ran in Tamaki he never once thanked the electorate workers who canvassed and erected signs for him.
I’ve never met a west Auckland labour volunteer worker who would piss on him if they found him on fire.
Yep. I put up billboards for him once. You could tell my ones, they were the ones with two extra staples – one through each of his nasty piggy eyes.
You know JT would make a great heir apparent to lead New Zealand First – if his ego and Winston’s could work with the other’s!
I thought Brendan Who was imported into NZFirst to fulfill that particular role, shame He has been so efficiently kneecapped and dispatched to Siberia…
quod erat demonstrandum 🙂
Interesting to read 3 columns about Waitangi Day especially relating to Titewhai Harawira.
Matt notes the pathos
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10864403
Rodney Hide – that sad wanker reminds us all of why we can be thankful he’s out of parliament – he is so subtle not
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10864396
And a very nice article from Simon Day
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8283238/A-tete-a-tete-with-Titewhai
It is very hard to argue against the line that Titewhai uses that, “We get benefits as a Treaty partner because we fight for them.” It seems to me to be very true and one of the major reasons that the fight will continue – because equality has not arrived in this country yet.
And these lines are exceptional from the Day interview
Oh dear that buggers up the bullshit memes put forward against tangata whenua.
The only way imo to sort these issues out is for some humbleness – and not from tangata whenua.
Titewhai hit the nail on the head when she said about Key – “he’s just talking to Pakeha……”.
Muttering conceived by spin doctors and calculated for throw-away line delivery at Waitangi.
The rationale – to tap the subliminal anti-Maori racism rampant in this country. And like the seasoned real estate agent talking heads (“we are part of the story”) Gower et al close on Key’s behalf.
No Key only talks to RICH Pakeha, the rest of us are ignored.
These contributions encapsulates the situation of NZ quite well. Geoff and Karol’s : “the new extremism…” and a quote from Arundhati Roy vis a vis the statements from Titwhai Harawira. Given the landscape and situation of NZ – is was never so important to be “one people” and yet there is constant work on creating two nations. One wonders to whose benefit.
One people, eh? How about we all become Maori, or Polynesian. That would solve the perceived problem would it not? Or are you suggesting that the only option is for us all to be Pakeha?
Just all New Zealanders would be a good start.
So we should all accept being part of a political entity imposed by Europeans, and named after a mainland European Dutch province. Can’t help thinking that this is a little bit exclusionary. Why does this group get naming rights above anyone else? Are they more cleverer than everyone else? Are they more moral than everyone else? Are they more superior than everyone else? Two things are certain: They are more whiter, and they are more racist than everyone else.
“Just all New Zealanders would be a good start.”
Yeah, like I said, the only option is for us all to be one with the dominant culture ie Pakeha.
Of course we are already all NZers, all that is required for that is to either be born here or to jump certain citizenship hoops. Once you have a NZ passport or entitlement to one then you are a NZer. What you really mean is you want one people culturally. Which takes me back to my first point – which culture do you want us all to be? And why should Maori be assimilated into that when they have equal rights to their own sovereignty under Te Tiriti?
@ Colonial Weka
I think Foreign Waka was referring to something a whole lot wider than creating one dominant paradigm, rather seemed to be referring to asking NZers to unite and strengthen themselves against this (failing) dominant paradigm. I read FW’s comment as speaking to the need for the people of NZ to become less easily divided on important issues.
I don’t really follow that blue leopard. I feel solidarity with many Maori re the dominant paradigm. I also recognise that they have been thinking about this, and working hard, for generations in ways that my people haven’t. That counts for something. I don’t need to be ‘one’ with Maori in order to work with them against oppression. All we need to common ground and common purpose, and that exists to varying degrees, but I don’t beleive that we have to be the same or of one mind. In fact I think that lessens us in many ways.
FW specifically refers to two nations, and I took that to be about Maori and Pakeha. FW states it as a bad thing. I don’t see this divide you talk about. I see Maori issues continually being sidelined, or ignored, or not even recognised by the dominant culture. Hence Titewhai’s comment that they have to fight for their treaty rights. And when they do, they get accused of creating divisions. Sorry, but IMO it ain’t Maori that are causing this problem. It’s Pakeha unwillingness to deal with reality and other ways of understanding the world than their own that creates the problems. We WANT Maori to assimilate into Pakeha culture. They can keep their groovy cultural things that we like (haka, art, some te reo), but we will not tolerate them existing as a people in their own right and self-determination. Hence the fight and what you see as division (I think).
I used to think that Pakeha needed to change, but I don’t hold that hope so much any more, although I will still work for that. I think in reality
time will resolve the problem – eventually Polynesians will outnumber European descendants and NZ will become a Pacific Island once again instead of an outpost of the Queen of England.
btw, I find the notion of ‘one people’ pretty offensive. It takes me immediately to people like Pauline Hanson. I’m not sure that is where you are, but if you are going to use those terms then please understand the political context they exist within. Hanson’s ‘One Nation’ ideas are racist and exclusionary and in complete denial of the reality of Aboriginal people. She would get on well with John Ansell. These are not people who will join use in the fight against oppression.
@ Colonial Weka
Well perhaps I was misunderstanding Foreign Waka’s comment. I understood the message to be similar to what you write here. Waka’s comment referenced not only Titewhai’s comment, also Geoff’s, link, which I only had a quick scan of, however believed it to be about the divide and rule and distraction techniques being used on us nearly constantly. Therefore not specifically about race; that is only one division being used, there are many, low waged vs unemployed, middle income earners vs lower income earners, employers vs employees, gay vs straight the list is endless.
I understood the “two nations” to be simply “dividedness”; not as in race. It depends on what particular issue is being presented as in which way our nation is being split in two in any particular moment.
Your btw links in as an example of what Karol quoted Arundhati Roy as saying. (comment 2.1 above). Are you saying that we can’t use the word “one nation” anymore without bringing up the spin of exclusionary and racism that some bigot in Australia sold? Thats very sad. She doesn’t have exclusive rights to the concept of people uniting.
Yes, it’s possible that I have misunderstood FW too. Perhaps they can clarify.
“Are you saying that we can’t use the word “one nation” anymore without bringing up the spin of exclusionary and racism that some bigot in Australia sold? Thats very sad. She doesn’t have exclusive rights to the concept of people uniting.”
It’s not about the words so much as the concept. The words could be reclaimed. I just don’t agree with the basic premise of ‘one people’. We are NOT one people. We are a nation of many peoples, and the reasons we don’t have as much unity as we might want is because of lack of cultural awareness. Trying to merge all cultures won’t solve that.
Where the right or whoever are creating division as a way of gaining political power, then I agree this is a problem. I just don’t believe the ‘one people’ meme is the solution. Worse, it plays directly into their hands. Have you seen John Ansell’s rhetoric?
“Have you seen John Ansell’s rhetoric”?
Lol, no thank goodness!! Yet I can imagine….
Yes, I think there is not really any argument here. It ends up being what we associate words with. I have no problem with “One” being a concept involving uniting whilst still retaining diversity; yet I can see how you associate it with a concept involving a merging cultures.
I agree that merging cultures is not a positive way to go. Acknowledging and appreciating differences, to me is far less “ist”. We can’t all be exactly the same, and how horrid if we were!.
very quaint and naive otv
Seems that you have not cottoned on that these constant divisions amongst the races is giving advantage to someone. You figure out who that is and you might just see what the real game here is. It does not matter what race you are (really!) but it does matter whether the homophobic tendencies on anyone’s part is being used to undermine NZ as a whole.
Foreign Waka, there is no such thing as race. We are all one species. It’s the belief in race that is one of the causes of racism.
OK – are you making the comment BECAUSE my synonym says FOREIGN or do you want to reinvent biology? You can replace the term if you want to with “ethnic group” or “different people”. Don’t politicize the word race, its perfectly legitimate in a scientific sense. Besides, you comment just shows exactly what my point was and thank you for demonstrating so vividly the issue at hand.
No, nothing to do with your name.
Not sure what you mean otherwise. Biologically, there is ONE human race (Homo sapiens). NZer is not a race. We are all the same species.
I think you are talking about ethnicity and culture. I don’t understand why you want that to be ‘one’. But as blue leopard and I were mentioning, perhaps you have been misunderstood. Would you care to clarify your point?
We are supposed to ALL be New Zealanders.
Quite right.
David, what makes you think that all New Zealanders are not ALL New Zealanders?
+1 Foreign Waka,
Pretty absurd responses to your accurate comment. I, too, would like to know to whose benefit actively dividing us is for? I sure as hell wish the majority would realize that its not to their benefit.
“One people” is an attitude of inclusiveness, the responses from CW & Jenny omit to acknowledge this. There can still be diversity and an attitude of “we’re all in this together”. We don’t have to become one colour, or clones. How foolish to even suggest that.
Britain after Stonehenge program on Choice TV relayed how the Romans gave a hoard of silver and gold to a “friendly” Scottish tribe to keep them onside and try and divide the clan loyalties. This was over 1000 years ago. Do we not learn anything
Please people, try and engage and see what games are being played on you. This is getting really serious. Look at what is going on overseas. Our paradigm is not working. We need collective force to shift toward a more positive direction.
Our paradigm is not working.
I agree…Our biculturalism is Pakeha defined biculturalism and it is not working.
But I don’t see the problem as being that we are not “one people”. Biculturalism would work better if it was not within a neoliberal paradigm – that is the problem.
There would be nothing wrong if we had two cultural norms, so long as they were both given equal opportunity to exist. Currently, we have token Maori culture that gets further subjugated by our racist economic system.
We need to redefine biculturalism so that both cultures can exist. Promoting only eurocentric ideals failed us before, during the 1970s, and this was after 2 decades of an equity based economic system.
To ditch biculturalism now, we would be left with the worst possible combination of economic and cultural systems. – neoliberalism and mono-culturalism. Yuk.
I think you miss the point here, Fatty.
An attitude of “we are all in it together” has nothing to do with colour, bi-culturalism, gender or any of these other ways of dividing us up.
Our dominant paradigm has been referred to as the “white male paradigm” by some. I will use this term to get my point across.
My observation is that the closer you are to a white male mentality the more likely you are to be “successful” in that hierarchy, I emphasize “mentality” because those who are “winning”, recieving accolades and value in the hierarchy and whom support and promulgate this dominant paradigm are not solely white nor male; we all know examples where some of the worst offenders are quite other than that physically. and those losing are not solely brown, pink, yellow, red. They are also white. And they are also white and male.
The more people who realize this the more we realize we are all in this together and the less prone we will be to being distracted and divided and ruled.
I need to add that I don’t believe many people are “winning” at all currently. Some might think they are, however there has to be some denial involved when the trends overseas are taken into account. It doesn’t matter whether you are “middle class” (what ever that means) and/or “non-political” and fairly “comfortable”; these groups of people are being affected by the state of chaos that our Western society has become. It doesn’t matter whether you are brown, black, white. It doesn’t matter what your gender is. Most peoples interests are being adversely affected.
There are problems that need to be dealt with and aren’t being, and one thing that would help is that we realize our similarities; we breathe, we love, we hurt, we all want what is best for ourselves.. If we could realize what unites us, we would start respecting one another, and one anothers’ different interests and start ensuring we were moving toward a better direction. This is not what is occurring at present. We are being more and more pitted against one another.
I think you miss the point here, Fatty.
Yes, when I read those last two comments, and the one that I replied to, I have no idea what your point is…but I am interested
The problem is that the term ‘one people’ or ‘we are all in this together’ is usually a call to end biculturalism…that is how I read it.
There are problems that need to be dealt with
Can you be more specific? I am confused
Yes, I wondered whether that was the case re you referring to biculturalism, which wasn’t what I was talking about.
Basically I’m commenting on getting NZ people in a state of mind where they are not so damned dividable! (My comment was in response to Foreign Waka’s comment at (5) and the response FW got to that comment.)
If people see what they have in common with one another, they are more likely to work together and be less easily divided.
re There are problems that need to be dealt with
I guess I am being deliberately vague because I’m not in the mood for searching for links to substantiate my point!
I’m referring to the type of problems illustrated out of the global financial crisis; how we are witnessing less and less morality and integrity from those in the upper echelons of our society (Western, not solely NZ), where people still appear to be giving our superiors credit for “knowing what they are doing” where its no longer due. I mean, these people such as bankers and politicians have been caught red-handed again and again and again, yet no real response or change to anything; not rectifying regulations, not the way things are reported and not how people vote. Just denial.
When a movement began that would have started getting the problems addressed, (Occupy Wall Street) here in NZ, it appeared people were more concerned over the state of our public lawns?? Our media, along with our lawn-valuing population, appear to have entirely checked out; I live amongst people of many different nationalities and I am constantly hearing how particularly dreadful New Zealand media is and how uninformed the people are (not surprising really).
I’ll make a short mention of the entirely illegal wars our Western society are involving themselves in, ones where there are war crimes committed and the initiators of which simply go on to get another, probably higher paid jobs, rather than be done for their crimes
Despite all these issues our media continues to push the lowest common denominator in attitudes. For what? Ratings? And in the meantime, it appears that people are still merely supporting a government because the main frontsperson “seems like a nice guy” despite oodles of dodgy, dodgy behaviour, incompetence and fiascos. And do I even bother to mention the approach our largest opposition party…is…taking…nah, I think you’ll probably get my point…
These are the types of problems I was referring to needed to be dealt with.
well said, I get your point and agree with you.
The issue with our media is a big one. We tend to have a bland and predictable media who perpetuate ignorance, but I think that is partly to do with the size of our population.
Mainstream sources of media – TV/newspapers/radio have such a limited amount of people to aim at, as a result they all sit in the middle and offer nothing. Compared with the UK – they have enough people to support left wing and right wing papers, as a result there are contrasting views and an environment is created where debate will occur…overcoming this is difficult.
This is compounded by the general agreement of most of our political parties. In a way, the demise of ACT has almost been a burden for the left…without them contrasting opinions also disappear. Nothing promotes true left policies more than an ACT supporter opening their mouth.
The population issue is a real one. But it pays to remember that in the UK you get the tabloids as well as the Times, The Gaurdian, and the Independent. While you do get more top notch stuff, you also get a lot more crap.
Thanks Fatty,
Hmm interesting . That gives me some insight thanks.
It is rather strange though, I was just considering how that we are a small nation, one might hope that spinning bigoted type attitudes wouldn’t “work” because we are only a few degrees separated and most of us must know plenty of others from different walks of life, therefore understand how different people’s needs and the issues they face are. This has certainly been what has caused me to open my attitudes up and pull my horns in and learn to consider a matter from different angles before drawing conclusions.. I would think we would be more understanding (and thus tolerant) toward one another’s different needs and issues for this reason. This does not appear to be the way it is working though.
Your Conspiracies Today Breaking News!
No. 94: Christpher Dorner.
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/news/2013/02/08/12476/lapd-manhunt-some-cheer-on-fugitive-christopher-do/
How is that a conspiracy?
It’s not, but that won’t stop the wackjobs. The first facebook link:
We Are All Chris Dorner
Christopher John Dorner is the victim of a manhunt and smear campaign. 5 years ago he was fired…
For many his allegations about police conduct ring true hence the support.
Great Bernard Hickey interview with the guy who spent a decade trying to get peoples attention about Madoff’s ponzi scheme.
He even got a couple of guns and sent his wife to shooting school, it was getting that hairy.
He reckons Madoff was burning through the world markets and clients and would have reached NZ eventually if it hadn’t crashed.
Now he makes a fortune detecting and alerting US authorities about ponzi schemes.
He describes the clues that give a ponzi schemer away.
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/63049/double-shot-interview-harry-markopolos-how-i-found-worlds-biggest-ponzi-scheme-8-years
Madoff would have arrived here in the nick of time to see the whole s**t-pile collapse as the likes of Sir Doug et al beat him by a long nose to suck all the cash out of the bloated upper-middle class with finance schemes that bore a remarkable resemblance to Madoff’s very own little money spinner…
2014, once again, will see politicians from all sides promising much,smiling and waving,
speeches that convince some, that’s the trickery,the hoodwinking of the political game,
once elected the hammer comes down,all bets are off,they are in office,why should
they care, or even stand by the words they uttered, prior to gaining office.
‘Democracy means government by discussion,but it is only effective if you can stop
people talking’ By Clement Atlee.
‘Democracy is the name we give the people, whenever we need them. By Robert,
Marquis de Flers and Arman de Caillavet L’habit vert.
Above quotes sourced from the Collins Thesaurus.
Record snow in a warming world: The science is clear.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8283594/King-find-recalls-Savage-mystery
Hi Anne, success, i hope the above link works,
thanks for your help. 🙂
Savage was one of our ‘truly great’ PM’s
He was indeed.
Yes it works. Now for someone to explain to me – in laywoman’s language – how you create a link using your own words like “this” or “have a look at this” etc.
Anne.
http://www.ironspider.ca/format_text/hyperlinks.htm
Thanks joe90…. Mystery solved, I’m a bit ashamed to say.
Umm… not layman enough for me. I will print a copy and find someone to explain what it all means and how it translates into practice. Thanks anyway joe90. It’s a start. 🙂
I can try in lay-person 🙂 In this example I’ll use square brackets [ ] so we can see what’s going on, but when you do it for real you’ll use angle brackets .
There are three bits to remember. The opening tag (which includes the address), the clickable text, and the closing tag.
————————-
The opening tag starts with a bracket, the letter a, and the phrase href=
Like so:
[a href=
That bit will always be the same for every link you make. The “a” means “this is a link”, and the href= means “this is the address the link takes us to”
The next bit of the opening tag is the address you want the link take us to. In this example it’s a youtube video address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY
We put quote marks around the address which mean “this is the beginning and end of the address”, and then a bracket, and that’s the end of the opening tag.
Like so:
[a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY”]
————————-
Next is the text that you want to be able to click. This can be anything at all. It doesn’t need quote marks or anything, whatever you put here is exactly what you’ll see.
Like so:
[a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY”]felix’s new band
————————–
The last bit is the closing tag. It’s just a bracket, a slash, another a, and another bracket. It means “this is the end of the link”.
Like so:
[a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRPmPn8pCY”]felix’s new band[/a]
————————–
And that’s it! Replace the square brackets in the example with angle brackets and this is what you’ll get: felix’s new band
Your turn…
Testing:
(ahref=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjQimIWClEw”) If you like Patti Smith You Might Like This(/a)
Many thanks Felix. I’ve been wanting to learn how to do this for ages
edit – bugger!
You need to use angle brackets, like < >
Also put a space between the “a” and the “href”
Apart from that you’re golden
second time lucky
edit: yes!
Ta Felix
Riverdance
Here goes
edit: She’s done it. She’s so clever. 🙂
Thanks felixviper.
Yay!
That you with the white hat and the slide guitar, felix?
could be…
One of my younger incarnations in the sixties was as a bass and slide guitar player. Now play slide lapstyle and bottleneck- deeply satisfying music. Still raises my neck hairs when I hear a slide player…….
I hear you. Something primal about slide that you don’t get from regular guitar.
Sonny Landreth: Almost Everybody Slides.
Probably drilled by him spinning in his grave.
I was disappointed to hear that Phil Goff, Phil Twyford and others apparently supported John Tamihere’s return to the party; perhaps they could share their reasoning here at The Standard. In today’s newspaper article John sneers about ‘the sisterhood’, and his comments about Paula Bennett’s appearance are an absurd sideshow, a circus he would bring to Parliament should Labour be foolish enough to let him swan back. He asks whether instead of calling Paula fat he should describe her as morbidly obese. Why does he make any negative comment about a woman’s appearance? What does this say about his character, about him as a man, and about those who overlook his ugly proclivities to renew his footing in Labour? In light of recent party tensions, I find myself wondering what sort of government Labour would make with its current team; not, perhaps, one that ordinary party members might feel proud of, or part of. I find myself hanging back from this party, which wears the cloak of Labour, but whose heart may no longer be truly Labour. I watch with interest the jostling for list positions as we approach the next election. Shane Jones, like John Tamihere, has an overworked ego but has achieved little in Parliament; he flaps his lips at media moments but is not the thoughtful leader we hoped for (and thus does not warrant in my view a high list position). Other list MPs have accepted positions, or taken stances, for rewards that may be as illusory as their list rankings in the months to come. I do not personally care who is the leader of the Labour party. But I care very much about the heart of the Labour party, as one little cog that has kept it beating in the provinces. Attention seeking opportunists like John Tamihere and Shane Jones come and go. But I thought more of Phil; as a woman member of the party, I can’t overlook sexism which, like any other kind of ism, can only exist if good people condone it.
Well said, Virginia Linton.
It would be good to read a response from a member of caucus to what you write here. When people express doubts about a party on The Standard, it would be interesting to know how many they represent. In this case, a lot I’m sure, which makes me view it a worthwhile activity for caucus members to respond.
+1 to Virginia Linton.
I know Phil Twyford and it puzzles me too. I can only assume he was approached and he agreed to let him have another chance. I presume Tamihere’s negative personal comments re Paula Bennett is tied up with his desire to win the candidacy for the Waitakere seat. (I know he says he’s not interested but who believes a politician even a past one).
I suspect it’s an attempt to attract the red-neck, anti-female politicians brigade to support him in his cause. Remember the previous candidate was Carmel Sepuloni and she indicated her intention to run for the candidacy again some time ago.
Virginia +1.
As a happily hetero sport-loving beer-drinking bloke, I find Tamihere’s attitude infantile at best, offensive at worst. Worse still is this patronising notion that people like him and Shane Jones speak for a large chunk of society, and voters will return to Labour in droves if only Tamihere and Jones could be to the fore.
If these two “blokes” are such vote-magnets, how come they keep losing elections?
If these two “blokes” are such vote-magnets, how come they keep losing elections?
Because bitches, that’s why.
@Pascal’s Bookie
I don’t understand?
Are you meaning that these bloke-types are to appeal to the female vote?
Or that these bloke-types are bitches?
I guess I personally would agree with the second option, however, if you are meaning the first, I wonder whether this is true? Or is it that blokes don’t vote for chicks? I have wondered how the genders are split with regards to political views; whether there is a distinct trend amongst the genders. It was certainly mentioned during election-time that Act has a hard time appealing to the female voter.
From memory, I think he called certain women (was it women Labour MPs including Helen Clark?) bitches earlier in the 2000 decade when he was given the push. Something along those lines anyway. Someone will correct me if I’m wrong.
Ah cheers Anne,
A case of projection I would conclude 🙂
Yes, Virginia Linton, I – too – am seeing a much more sexist Labour caucus re-appearing with John Tamihere’s endorsement by so many of the rightwing blokes and their takeover of the caucus.
And I regret to say that I think we’ll see the so-called re-shuffle of front positions due to be announced
soon by the Leader reinforce this blokey-bent.
Twyford and Goff are all part of the Mallfaria, see where this is going out west. They just can’t help themselves.
Watch that space and DC and CS better watch their backs, even more so now.
watch Labour do it all in public whereas the NACT do the deals, sort out the spin and everyone then gets on with it.
A really well-composed comment, Virginia.
Sorry about that brief outage. Didn’t notice a mysql update amongst the security fixes.
Hi lprent,
I posted a query a few Open Mikes ago, not realising you were away.
Its simply about the “notify me via email” function, which no longer works. Its no biggy really, yet I was wondering if there was some way to get this function back? If there was any setting I could change from my side? I am on Safari 5.something and gmail email.
I will go back and find my last query because there were a few others commenting in response.
(There was also another query to you at post 19 on the same Open Mike.
Thank you
Ah. Thanks for reminding me. I’m just fixing one of the backups that isn’t working too well. I’ll reconnect and start the mail server after that. It was simply an oversight when I shifted the server in Jan. Ummm people may get a pile of banked emails when that happens.
It was more that my brain was elsewhere. The code I was trying to build/fix was complicated and I had to kind of stretch to make it work at all well in the target platform.
As well as The Standard I was somewhat vague about really important things like sleep, Lyn, bills and taking pills.
Oh cool! Thanks lprent, and thanks for the work you do, its most appreciated.
(Hopefully you’ll address the really important things first, I’m sure none of us would begrudge you that 😯 )
Lynn,You have to take your medication, and get some sleep. The days of SysOp’s surviving on 4 hrs, and umpteen cups of corrosively strong coffee are long gone now lol. And never forget the better half! Mental note to self, don’t forget your pills!
Thank you, and thanks for the work you put in. It lets us write and perhaps even be heard now and then.
Chris Laidlaw’s lame quip trivializes and undermines a serious point
Radio New Zealand National, Sunday 10 February 2013, 11:10 a.m.
Chris Laidlaw interviewed Seyed Majid Tafreshi Khameneh, the Iranian Ambassador to New Zealand.
LAIDLAW: Iran has supported Hezbollah, hasn’t it.
TAFRESHI: Hezbollah has not invaded any other territory. They are
defending their land. They are freedom fighters.
LAIDLAW: [guffaws nervously] Well, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.
Disappointed in Laidlaw’s lapse into hard right propaganda, I sent him the following e-mail….
Dear Chris,
After the Iranian ambassador had pointed out that Hezbollah is an indigenous self-defence organization, and had never sent troops to invade any territory, you quipped that “one man’s freedom-fighter is another man’s terrorist.” That was not only a banal observation, it served to trivialize and undermine the point that the Ambassador had just made.
Your interview was otherwise fair and thorough.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
@Morrissey
I find this sort of thing really shameful. How rude and uninformed we can be.
It is probably beyond any “middle” NZ to grasp the concept that the word “freedom fighter” isn’t synonymous with terrorist The word “terrorist” can, thus be effectively used to stamp out any opposition to the status quo, and noone seems to mind that the status quo way of doing things is leading us to hell in a handbasket.
Its just shameful to be lumped in with this type of mentality (if you can even call it that).
NZ must not change as there is no alternative.
Meanwhile –
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) has made it official: After its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years.
If you have even the remotest interest in public broadcasting, I cannot recommend the following link enough. Truly inspiring!
frackin’ hell
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130209/OPINION/130209230/1119
…and you thought Atlantis was a disaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/09/lawless-high-seas-threaten-the-planet
growing a clam-shell economy
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/02/09/1563101/national-journal-warns-the-economic-price-of-climate-change-is-already-here-and-growing/?mobile=nc
“oh my gully goodness gracious me”
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/02/09/bangladesh_faces_mass_migration_loss_of_land_from_climate_change.html
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
If Key and Gillard in Queenstown are supposed to signify the ‘ANZAC Spurrut’ at play, then I want no part of it.
Yet another Key venture in self-aggrandisement, sucking up and selling out.
It’s interesting when you look at the definition of a psychopath available on the internet. I think it’s Wikipaedia that has some interesting characteristics. You could provide a match with the various categories more precisely than you coud with the likes of Bainimarama or Mugabe.
Yet – still the populace worships! – aided and abetted by an uncritical MSM.
As they say though – the harder they rise, the harder they fall!
(and if EVER there was a travesty to an OZ Labor Party it would be Joolya – I keep wondering if NZ’s equivalent are an ABC club and a Shearer).
Hey! – btw (as they say amongst the connected) – what’s happened to that noice little boi FanClub, or FanBoi – or whatever the fuck he pops up as? AND – WHERE lately is the Hataitai pacifier that not only now wants to review the ‘used by’ label expiry date, but also the ‘RRP’ [or recommended retail price]. Bugger! I forget her name just at the moment – hold on – for the benefit of precision, I’ll just Google her shall I? ………
Oh fuck – it seems she’s become irrelevant to GOOGLE too!
Anyway – you fellas should know who I mean – she’s a foreskin in the ABC club along with the Mallardy bovver boy and a host of other amusements
Just saw Key on the News playing a drinking game, and sculling a glass of beer. Nice to see he supports safe drinking habits.
Didn’t you get the memo? Drinking to excess is only bad when it’s Yoof (i.e. anyone who looks “young” to a Campbell Live producer) doing it. Grown-ups can do whatever they like, it’s not like they set examples or contribute to drinking culture or anything.
Missed that memo. Thanx for the heads up. A case of do as he says, not as he does huh?
Charlie Stross on the beige dictatorship. …sigh…
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/02/political-failure-modes-and-th.html
So the future isn’t a boot stamping on a human face, forever. It’s a person in a beige business outfit advocating beige policies that nobody wants (but nobody can quite articulate a coherent alternative to) with a false mandate obtained by performing rituals of representative democracy that offer as much actual choice as a Stalinist one-party state. And resistance is futile, because if you succeed in overthrowing the beige dictatorship, you will become that which you opposed.
Thoughts?
“a Campbell Live producer”
Despite being hypocritical and increasingly a parody of shit sensationalism and faux community concern, it looks like the Campbell live team just keep getting lucky breaks.
Someone at TVNZ made something much much worse.
It’s called lose lose for those who watch rather than ‘make’ TV.
“it’s not like they set examples or contribute ”
Not one reply, not even a nibble.
Someone get me a two headed tortoise and JC’s extension number.
Someone should tell David Shearer to stop listening to what He is saying when speaking in front of a camera,
Shearer i noticed on the news tonight has a bad habit of self editing in the middle of making a comment, this also brings in the aaah as He searches for the words He wants to use as a clarification in the middle of a comment to the media…
I think I might have mentioned it before, but I doubt very much it’s searching for words, just making sure he remembers to use the ones he’s been told to.
Speak from the same sleeve you wear your heart on, or learn to fake it better.
I pity the Hansard editor.
He should just stop speaking and get someone competent doing it. If I were fixing my car and reached the limit of my incompetence, I’d get hold of someone who knew what they were doing. I wouldn’t burn down the closest workshop and carry on.
Labour voter??? Labour Party member???, rather have Slippery leading the National Party to victory in 2014???,
The vote has been had, is there another in February 2014???, if not such denigration of those the Labour Caucus voted for as Leader is pretty pointless and it’s only possible out-come is to increase the chances of Slippery being the Prime Minister until 2017,
Myself, i would rather work toward not having the worst case scenario occur and would suggest that if you are a Labour Party member your energies would better be spent ensuring the Party Members have the ability to ‘trigger’ the scheduled leadership votes under the ‘new’ rules into the future,
Shearer may have made that abhorrent bene-bashing speech and His ‘worker in the pub’ one wasn’t something to cheer about either,
Compare this tho to another Labour Leader as Prime Minister, ”Beneficiaries will not be included in Working for Families as this will encourage them to get a job”-Helen Clark,
Who was Prime Minister when income tax was applied to welfare benefits,none other than David Lange,
Or is every one still imbibing sour grapes about the other Dave’s failure to topple Shearer…
“Labour voter???” – Nope. Not any more.
“Labour Party member???” – Nope. Never joined any political party.
“rather have Slippery leading the National Party to victory in 2014???” – Nope. that doesn’t sound like me at all. Besides, I reckon you’ll need many more than just my vote for that not to occur. Good luck, best get your lucky red socks out of the bottom drawer, bless.
And none of those answers above discredit or give less validity to me stating opinion in any way shape or form, Comrade. Do feel free to prove they do if you’re bothered.
As for the rest of your post, all I can give you is a bit of a shrug, apart from
“Or is every one still imbibing sour grapes about the other Dave’s failure to topple Shearer…”
As opposed to you sipping the dregs of the sweet nectar of success dripping off the bottom of Mallard’s poisoned chalice.
You were doing alright until the spurious final comment, my feelings on Mallard are pretty plain in the comments on the post on that subject,
Spoze the likes of Trev and Shane with their open attacks on the Green Party are a bit like the anti-Shearer crew here on the Standard, Trev might have caught it by being entangled with McCully’s ex and Shane well wanker’s never really stop themselves from gushing,
Lolz i should really just scroll past the ‘i hate Shearer comments’ but even that’s damn hard as i found out today reading one interesting comment on an entirely unrelated subject that ended with a ‘i hate Shearer’,
Hate on, but, unless there is a vote in February 2014 and a willingness of caucus to put that vote to the wider Party which considering everything is a small flight of fancy then Shearer we are all stuck with and no amount of venting will change that,
Nah not red socks, my feet are Green from having roamed my patch to often without any on…
John key got a mixed reception at the Big Gay Out today, according to Stuff:\\
The Greens seemed to be more in tune with the event. Loiusa Wall got various mentions because of her marriage equality amendment bill. But the rest of Labour MPs seem to have been MIA.
Meanwhile, Lucy Lawless turned up to do a little Community Service, and probably mingled today:
Lolz dances with transvestites, Slippery gets the first comment of the day and maybe the last of the night,
Imagine the Gordon Brown type comments that must flow from the mouth of that chameleon as the limo whisks Him off from such events…
Long term plan for NZ’s move to Charter or Partnership Schools might go like this.
The full extent of Michael Gove’s (UK Sec Education) plans to revolutionise education are revealed today in a secret memo showing he is considering outright privatisation of academies and free schools. All academies and free schools in England, which are the Education Secretary’s personal obsession, would be free to become profit-making for the first time, and be entirely decoupled from Whitehall control. ……Mr Gove is considering the radical step because massive expansion of academies and free schools is costing government too much money.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/secret-memo-shows-michael-goves-plan-for-privatisation-of-academies-8488552.html
That’s the point they’ve reached in the United States, thus allowing the far-right Republicans to argue for voucher schools. Fortunately the latest effort in Louisiana was overturned late last year: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324705104578151570134436156.html