Hard News: Limping Onwards
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Matthew Littlewood, in reply to
On looking through the Press, wonder if the whole Goff/Hughes/nekkid man inverted elephant is purely for delectation of those living in Wgtn and Akd. Having to use a chemical toilet and wondering what has happened to your job, possessions within the Cordon and CD-Brownlee stuffups does skew your persective
It is worth pointing out to non-Southerners that the Hughes story ran on page 10 on the Press when it broke, the previous nine pages were all to do with the (very comprehensive and often excellent) reporting on the earthquakes and the recovery/planning/personal stories. It's fair to say ChCh readers may well be more interested in that than Hughes.
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You’re not wrong Matthew. Rediscovering the meaning of fear does tend to galvanize what’s left of one’s mind, not to mention one's priorities.
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Catching up as best I'm able.
Russell, thanks for this:
However much you love that one, it might be time to make another point.
Precisely. I like Danyl's satire and analysis, but on this issue, I feel it is pure cynicism.
I think there’s a difference between a responsibility and a legal requirement though…
My understanding is that, in Australia, you are required to vote if on the Register but you are not required to be on the Register.
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Che Tibby, in reply to
in Australia, you are required to vote if on the Register
please note: "voting" includes collecting your ballot paper, improving it stylistically by drawing a large phallus or two, and leaving with smug grin.
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Che Tibby;
these guys are likely to pull in 60 seats on the back of Key's charm and their response to CHCH. that really opens up some options.That nice man Key, with his wavey smileyness, will not be winning many hearts in Christchurch methinks. When you have lost your house, your job and many possessions, any reaction by the authorities is not going to be good enough. I heard on Nat. radio this morning that the nice My Key has been studying other Governments reactions to natural disasters, like hurricane Katrina, just one of the things that cost the Republicans the election, as usual his reaction is "More of the same" relaxed and seeing how it goes.
Clint Fern;
I'd certainly agree that Key is highly likely to be the leader of the next govtNow there's a weird thought, Key replacing Goff as leader of the Labour Party.
Seriously, can we stop being so defeatist before the game commences?.Ben Wilson;
I fully expect the Nats to win the next election. I also fully expect the All Blacks not to win the World Cup.There is a widely held belief that if the All Blacks lose then so will National, Kiwis love the blame game. And Ben, why so negetive? why not "If the All Blacks win the people will feel so good about each other they will all vote Labour out of sheer bliss"?
Leopold;
Having to use a chemical toilet and wondering what has happened to your job, possessions within the Cordon and CD-Brownlee stuffups does skew your persectiveReturn to beginning of post, rinse and repeat.
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If the All Blacks win the people will feel so good about each other they will all vote Labour out of sheer bliss
If anything, the All Blacks winning would favor the incumbent. But I'd take it anyway. I wasn't really suggesting any correlation, though, just extracting the principle that just because something is hard is no excuse not to try at it, particularly when that is your actual job.
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Rex Widerstrom, in reply to
Bluntly, I'll vote for whoever the fuck I like, on whatever basis I like. Good policy, tribal loyalty, sex appeal, random choice, pawmistry, whatever.
Do you (and I, and everyone else) not have some moral duty to one anoher to vote intelligently? If our analysis leads us to conclude that John Key is a truthful, visionary leader with a workable plan for the future then fair enough.
But are we not doing a considerable disservice to those who think, and care, by basing our vote on nothing more than "I like the way he smiles and waves"?
Or, for that matter - a mantra I heard so, so often from the other side of politics - "but I've always voted Labour" which translates to me as "...and I'm too intellectually slothful to invest the time and energy needed to re-evaluate that".
Democracy has always coped with the inclusion of the "non thinking voter" of course, but they've tended to be in the minority. Now they constitute a large bloc.
Then there's another cohort - people who, like my parents, used to do their civic duty mindful of their obligation to their peers to have some intelligent basis for their vote, but have been so disillusioned by the mendacity of politicians that they now feel any information on which they might base a conclusion is likely to be false. So they fall back on "we'll vote the way we've voted most often in the past, and hope" or don't vote at all.
I'd posit - with, of course, nothing but anecdotal evidence - that these two cohorts combined now make up the majority of voters. And that's not healthy for democracy or for the nation, nor fair on those of us who give a damn.
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John Morrison, in reply to
But every newspaper promotes a narrative – a large proportion of the articles in the Herald/Press/Dom Post are othering, uncritical presentation of government initiatives, promotion of celebrity lifestyles and politics-as-sport.
Include here please OneNews
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Che Tibby, in reply to
but have been so disillusioned by the mendacity of politicians that they now feel any information on which they might base a conclusion is likely to be false.
+1
although, sometimes i think, "christ, i can't vote for this crowd this time round"
then, the conservatives propose to make families illegal, or dig up the milford sound to look for uranium, or give subsidies to hard-working corporations.
at which point i go, "FFS... watermelon it is. again."
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Islander, in reply to
“but I’ve always voted Labour” which translates to me as “…and I’m too intellectually slothful to invest the time and energy needed to re-evaluate that”.
I've always voted Labour, as have my immediate family - and your translation does not apply to any of us. We re-evaluate our views at *every* election, local body or national. Thus far, we have had no reason to change our votes - except some of us now tend to give the party vote to the Greens. Sometimes, the Southern Maori Labour candidates havent been appreciated - and that's when we look as closely as we can at the general Party policies. And we keep an eye on other Party policies - some of which can be rejected very swiftly (Act, and the Maori Party, insofar as my whanau is concerned.)
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SteveH, in reply to
My understanding is that, in Australia, you are required to vote if on the Register but you are not required to be on the Register.
No, you are legally required to be on the electoral roll if you are eligible to vote and you are required to vote.
ETA: I think it's actually one of the reasons many of the Kiwis over there never bother to get citizenship.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
If anything, the All Blacks winning would favor the incumbent. But I’d take it anyway. I wasn’t really suggesting any correlation, though, just extracting the principle that just because something is hard is no excuse not to try at it, particularly when that is your actual job.
Very true Ben.
Me?. I would forgo an All Black victory to get shot of these mongrels. -
“but I’ve always voted Labour” which translates to me as “…and I’m too intellectually slothful to invest the time and energy needed to re-evaluate that”.
Better Red than Dead I say. The thing that always got me about my parents generation was the attitude of "yes well, it's all very well to be idealistic when your young but when you grow up..."
Both my Mother and Father were staunch Labour supporters when I was a kid, in fact my Mother was once a member of the Communist party. When my Father died she became more and more right wing, to the point of becoming a member of the UKIP. -
Just catching a bit of the news surrounding a new stand-alone authority - the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
Announcing that it will work alongside the Christchurch City council, with Ngai Tahu and Local business people having a right to appeal any decisions made on their behalf... Gee ta. How 'bout just including them in the first place?
I like what Bob Parker said (not),saying it will allow for the right mix of Government, council and resident involvement.
I'll hold my breath..... -
Paul Williams, in reply to
Might be. For me, it's that I'll have to first pay several thousands to be a permanent resident and have my qualifications assessed etc but the only benefit... after two further years... is voting and after this w/e's State election, I'm glad I couldn't.
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Raymond A Francis, in reply to
So during the 1980s when Labour were selling the family silver you had no problem with giving your vote to them?
PS You don't have to answer this, as I feel how some one votes is truely their business and no one elses
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On a side note... the ex-Nat MP who tried to censor the Internet is about to serve time. And his wife is a handbagger to boot.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
“but I’ve always voted Labour” which translates to me as “…and I’m too intellectually slothful to invest the time and energy needed to re-evaluate that”.
I’ve always voted Labour, as have my immediate family – and your translation does not apply to any of us. We re-evaluate our views at *every* election, local body or national. Thus far, we have had no reason to change our votes – except some of us now tend to give the party vote to the Greens.
Quite. I'm not about to prance around changing my vote just to show that I can. While I have great regard for a number of Green MPs, I don't buy big chunks of their policy. It would almost be fun to cast a vote elsewhere, but there's not really anywhere I'd be inclined to cast it.
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Rex, I'm with Islander on this one. I have always voted Labour but must admit that I very much liked when MMP was introduced because it meant that I could not only vote Labour but I could vote for the best ELECTORATE MP. Who, believe it or not, when we were in the Mt Eden electorate, was Christine Fletcher. She was, at one time, a great local MP. Anyway, that's all in the past. I have never seen any reason to change my voting alliance. But then for me, it really is a bit of a tribal loyalty too. Historically, we have always been a Labour voting family. Well, my mother was, my father wasn't - most of the time. And I have carried on that tradition in my own household. Coincidental? Sometimes, I wonder!
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Jan Farr, in reply to
Quite. I’m not about to prance around changing my vote just to show that I can. While I have great regard for a number of Green MPs, I don’t buy big chunks of their policy. It would almost be fun to cast a vote elsewhere, but there’s not really anywhere I’d be inclined to cast it.
I'm not sure that I think democracy is much chop if it's only about voting. For me being active in the Labour Party is just as important. Social Democratic parties are distinctive, not only for their policies, but for the inclusive way they arrive at them.
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I/S
I find the idea that voters have a "responsibility" to elect your preferred government deeply troubling and undemocratic.
And Rich Lock.
If 'The Left' continues to sit around and bitch about media bias, what is likely to be the result?
I find these lucid and impassioned refutations of arguments that absolutely no-one has put forward to be utterly engrossing. Can we have more please?
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Meanwhile in Standardland, Mr Lprent says nothing to see here, move along. Apparently deviations from the party line are because of "astroturfing". Yes, really. Not because of abysmal performance or anything.
What I have seen is quite a lot of ‘concerned lefties’ recently who write like righties in their concerns and have suddenly appeared. They also have some very similar messsage lines that they keep pushing.
It is bloody boring really. Last election we had ‘concern trolls’. This years it looks like we’ll be getting the concerned astroturfers. If it gets to be too much of an issue in interfering in the dialogue, I’ll put some code and policy in place to eliminate the problem on this site.
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Sacha, in reply to
just because something is hard is no excuse not to try at it, particularly when that is your actual job
Yes. We pay for an opposition. Let's have one.
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Clint Fern, in reply to
- Winston return - i'm not sure where this meme comes from. WP has been making some noises, but it's nothing like the Winston of old. he could make a late run, but... i doubt it.
I really hope you're right Che, but Winston has been pretty active on the sly - seems to be at Nelson airport all the time on his way to the Grey Power meetings. Somehow I've caught a lot of him on TV - native affairs and the news - maybe just unlucky timing on my behalf.
He wasn't that far off last time, despite the Owen Glenn thing and this time around he can use the Marine and Coastal Areas Act to get some of the rednecks back from Key. I'd be more surprised not to see him back but I could be just a pessimist.
- Dunne - there's every chance every chance he could be back representing me.
And I thought I had it bad with Nick Smith. God forbid we see the return of the sanctimonious silver quiff.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
I really hope you're right Che, but Winston has been pretty active on the sly - seems to be at Nelson airport all the time on his way to the Grey Power meetings. Somehow I've caught a lot of him on TV - native affairs and the news - maybe just unlucky timing on my behalf.
Who'd succeed Winston Peters as NZ First leader when he retires? None of his brothers have thrown their hats in the ring, and Ron Mark is now Mayor of Carterton. No other obvious names come to mind... with the possible exception of Mr Lhaws in spite of his denials. Lhaws would quite easily take it in a BNP-style direction.
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