So I guess I understand the temptation to call them clowns.

Also note the ?don?t tread on me? flag?

Dick Frizzell donated some art works to a Labour party fundraiser this year. Maybe he is hedging his bets? Or maybe Frizzell wines didn't really sponsor the event, but were just added to the list to make the?

H P Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror.

Ha! That's very good.

Attention wing bats. If the ACT party is (was) just too mainstream, sensible and populist for you, here's an attractive alternative!

You can fight the Libertarianz for their 1176-strong base.

Any WikiLeaks stuff on all the above?

The words "Bat Shit Crazy" come to mind, and thats from one of them crazy right wing gun totin rednecks...

I'll never forget coming down after a?

BTW, Muriel, it's a little disingenuous to whine about Finlayson "not having an open mind" when the Coastal?

That link should come with a Papyrus warning. Which at least shows they're not "clowns", since clowns would obviously use Comic Sans.

The questions reminded me the those notorious "free personality tests" which were a ploy to get you in a room to hassle you into buying?

I get the distinct feeling that you RB and the rest of us at PA would love to see a far right party

No, not really. Torturing puppies meets all my brain-melting sadism needs.

One year they had Jim Hopkins and Kerre Woodham.

Suck on that, scholar-boy.

About same amount of thoughtfulness as Muriel and co..

Every time he tells a transparent falsehood, take a drink.

Call me when you get out of detox.

All brought to you as part of the Sunday Star Times' 'two facts max' campaign.

Dear Lord. What would I give to have been a fly on the wall. A dead one, preferably.

This is an entire argument for the public library system, right there.

Yes, freely appreciating good books is only half of it. Freely debunking utter shite is also important.

There is certainly enough unhinged money sloshing around to bankroll a spoiler campaign next year. I wonder if a dry redneck party might deny Winston?

Didn't a certain theo-con eat into John?

But, this being the internet, the truth is still out there:

While our government appears to hold tightly onto the view that Maori are tangata whenua (with even the stories of the early Moriori occupation that our generation was?

Muriel Newman is downplaying her pseudo-history fancies in the Herald today.

And as I've seen with my own eyes, trying to take on Finlayson with truthiness is bringing a toothpick to a machete fight. Whatever else you say about him, he does take serious arguments seriously but you can't wing?

But when, oh when, will she investigate the even more sinisterly politically-correct disappearance of phlogiston and Lamarckian evolution from our curricula?!?!

Pick between The Standard and Kiwiblog.

Oh, sorry, I thought you said septic tank

I call bullshit. The Earth would not have stood the strain.

It is pretty odd that the neoliberal?

In my view Don Brash the politician is actually a very interesting mix of radicalism, populism, and principled and opportunistic politics.

In other words: genuinely nuttily right-wing, but still cherished hopes of being elected?

From the gutter to the cellar? Oven-fresh cookies for everyone!

Oven-fresh cookies for everyone!

For me, they are only a sometimes food. Nom, nom!

If you were a right-wing squillionaire who was disappointed at the poor showing and low influence of your chosen right-of-National-party?.

Might you not find it worthwhile to spend a small pittance on funding a extreme-right-of-National party? not because you think it?s got a shit-show?

Just what then is New Zealand's leading Internet-based think tank?

I think you might be writing on it ;-)

Yes, Coddington seems to have lifted her game dramatically this year.

I agree. Her column was reasonable, that's a significant improvement on previous ones.

On a slightly different tangent; what is it with all these has-beens and retreads in the media? Newman, Peters, Brash? I say they should fuck off?

Shameful wouldn't be the half of it. And there's a good chance the position he took while head?

Craig Y

There?s more to it than making National look good or siphoning off nut cases. Under MMP you need a coalition partner because no party gets more than 50% of the party vote.?

It is pretty odd that the neoliberal diehards are unhappy. National and ACT are in power and odds-on faves to hose in next year, yet they still whine ? Surely they'd be happy with how things are and take a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach ?

Much?

I?

Funny, I don't really get that impression of a party that's pushing for investment in high-quality public transport.

I wasnt so much talking about making National look good, as providing a third leg, so that Act look more central...

Can you grow Act back into relevance by creating some loonies further out than them??

Well, technically ACT is as close as it gets. New Zealanders don't fight over social issues with the same passion as many other democracies, so social policies tend to be largely fair weather constructions. Hide has deliberately downplayed that aspect of ACT's policies to the point?

the return-to-feudalism of the Greens

But hey, we?d have the world?s first Feudal Republic.

No windows! And the air con wasn?t working so I couldn?t locate the vents. Also the elevator required a swipe card, and we were on the 12th floor.

I wasnt so much talking about making National look good, as providing a third leg, so that Act look more central?

Can you grow Act back into relevance by creating some loonies further out than them??

There wasn't a window to escape out of? Maybe an air duct?

My cousin had been cornered by the same guy as me. But he said he did about a third of the questions, then just bolted when the guy's back was turned.

I'd have done the same, but I'd?

?what they would do if they were New Zealand?s dictator for a year!?

Can we all have a turn? Maybe its a new game, the whole nation could play.
Me I'd just try to resurrect a form of Saturnalia suitable to these modern times.

It's possible that the loss of radical aspects from each side would moderate the discussion enough to give peace a chance, but I just don't see it.

I never thought I'd see Labour in bed with NZ First, or post-Orewa National with the Maori Party. Funny old game.

And no less creepy?

I'd say the opposite was true – they broadly?

According to Paul Goldsmith?s hagiography, Brash cut a pretty mean rug in his younger?

Jason Gunn and Paul Henry will be your hosts as the nation looks for the next Kiwi to be granted extraordinary powers.

If other reality TV is anything to go on, the contestants should all be wash-ups who absolutely hate each other, and all they will actually win is a?

I thought Murray McCully was next in line, with the extraordinary RWC liquor licensing powers granted to him.

But being dictator would be nice. I'd like a bigger?

What is it, can?t they find anything else to do, are?

Not neccesarily.

National got 58/122 MPs at the last election and ACT 5. If ACT had disbanded and all their voters switched to National (as one might expect), then National would have?

I think "reality television" has beaten you to that...

I once spent a couple of days in LA as a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir. On our one precious free afternoon, someone in the organisation had arranged for us to visit a local landmark and perform to a group?

My first girlfriend was Jewish. She didn't receive any repeat calls from those selling the Watchtower once she informed them of this....

It's what I usually claim to be. It's been successful so far. One fool tried to follow it up a bit: "Oh? Well we're in the same book?

Says who? The senders? I thought this was supposed to be the liberty-loving "archaeology wants to be free" crowd that always gets into dark mutterings about the establishment burying the truth. Without being overly conspiratorial (zing!), what?

I know the feeling. I once bought an Ian Wishart book. I thought that as the years passed the pain and feelings of humiliation would recede, but they don't.

At least I bought the first Paradise book when he was still vaguely sane. And I worked at the IRD ;-)?

__Ellis has worked closed with these very groups. His book on political correctness, published by Maxim, is meant?

In the interests of accuracy, I'm sure you'll all thank me for pointing out that Bananarama don't have a lead singer. In fact their Wikipedia entry once noted that they are 'known for their?

I find a painted goat skull in view once the front front door opens works pretty well

I've long been a critic of political correctness myself. But these days I feel uncomfortable criticising it. Not because being PC is a wonderful thing but because the antiPC advocates are using their campaign to cloak some very hateful views.

That's bang on. Too often I've been mildly critical of?

Mind you, my accostings were largely on campus at Canty, and eighteen-year-olds eager to Save The World are a little easier to intimidate than the older, more experienced ones.

For sure, particularly when it's on your doorstep, so they know where you live, and you can't just run away, you?

I answered the door in my dressing gown, and told them I wasn't interested, and would they?

That's not only rational, it's beautiful.

Not nearly as mean as the time I was accosted walking along Ilam road, and I told them I didn't have time to listen, but that my flatmate was home, and gave them our address, though.

Well, they were on a mission from God too.

You know how they often try to break the ice by commenting on the weather or something? Well my cat was sitting there and one of them said, ?what a pretty?

And apparently you can take advantage of?

This has never failed.

It's failed me. But I have had some success with telling it to them repeatedly whilst slowly but firmly closing the door. I've never been thanked.

And she was bigger than you, eh?

Craig?

and that's an understatement.

Communist works quite well, too.

I've always thought that being PC was just another couple of words for not being a vicious bastard.

core of any successful technique – head em off at the pass

The differences between parties A & B in each country have been so homogenised for public consumption that voters apparently flip a?

Trouble is, vicious bastards can be quite vicious and bastardly about their "right" to continue to be such.

IIRC, the term "politically correct" was originally intended as satire. Sadly, no-one noticed.

I owned book back in the?

I think that's what I was thinking of.

__There once was a young person named Red Riding Hood who lived with her mother on the edge of a large wood. One day her mother asked her to take a basket of fresh fruit and mineral water to her grandmother's house — not?

Have noticed!

A quick copy and paste into Excel, sort and remove duplicates knocks 12,000 or so down to 9,000. ZJ Poplawski of Timaru supported it so much he signed 6 times. That doesnt take?

It just so happens that all of these people live on my street.

Technical question (because I;m writing on this topic at the moment); why did you use the term "conspiracist" to describe Doutre and Hilliam rather than conspiracy theorist? I'm not convinced there is a right or wrongness to whichever term gets used, but I'm just curious to know if?

The chap's my neighbour. He has a panda bear named "George Robinson".

Edit: Ooops I guess I meant conspirators.

To most Cantabrians, ?Zenith Applied Philosophy? (Z.A.P or Zappers) public persona, was its high profile ?open all hours? fast food outlets – that proliferated central Christchurch in its heyday,?

It's really impressive when the myth about the Moriori is the most accurate thing in a list of whackjob beliefs.

At last a chance for all those who were considered for Dancing With the Stars, but were rejected because?

The dilemma is illustrated in the range of scenarios that one can consider arise from the phrases,?

Only insofar as they might fail.

Craig Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZuh367BFFo&playnext=1&list=PLB804A7300A0F0765&index=19

Do not calle up that wych ye cannot put downe
– H P Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror.

and

IA! IA!
PH?NGLUI M?GLUNAFPH DON BRASH OREWA ROTARY CLUB WAGH NAGL F?TAGHN!
THE STARS ARE NIGH TO COMING INTO THEIR RIGHT ALIGN, LO!
THE GREAT OLD ONE SHALL ARISE FROM BEING DEAD-BUT-DREAMING!?

And you get to feel special when the
roadie does sound check.

...and if you are of the Emo /Goth persuasion
the roadie will give you the special attribution
of "Test test, wan too..."

* Is it Lola?
an Umberto Umberto Echo?

Yes. Like Fran O'Sullivan, I am most concerned about...

an increasingly socialist-minded New Zealand

In the words of Dan Sloan, commenting on this story via Facebook:

I look forward to living in a world with interest on student loans, 20% GST, means-tested retirement and where house prices escalate to preserve current returns after a CGT has been deducted. Oh?

Why didn't she suggest that Northland stump?

There's little evidence that the Puhoi hoilday highway will benefit anyone much – and it will throw away between 20 and 60 dollars for every 100 invested from the public purse – unless you accept the flaky?

Ben – as a fellow Avondalite, here's some very good news – the commissioners have made a decision on the Rosebank pohutukawa.

"10th December 2010

Rosebank Pohutukawa Saved ? Tree Council Vindicated!

The Tree Council is very relieved that independent commissioners today?

If the holiday highway has solid tangible benefits, then let's hear them. I'd be very interested to hear a business case that?

Also, Puford actually doesn't have a solid justification. The safety benefits can be achieved for a fraction the price of the four-lane highway, and much more immediately. Based on historic fatality rates on the road, another?

If the usual suspects claim that NZ is bankrupt, how did they suddenly manage to play Santa with the holiday highway and mismanaged finance companies??

Though we do have a party in office that refuses to take bids from local carriage makers,?

Now, that I like ;-)

Yup, I remember reading her cranky views on literature discussed on PAS before.