Posts by 3410

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  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    With a taste in music history - tell me Einsteins - where do I go to buy a copy of Thomas Edison reciting "Mary had a little Lamb", pre 1914 - hell - pre 1900 recordings of all sorts, obscure comedy tracks we used to have on 78's, long broken.

    http://www.archive.org/details/EDIS-SCD-02

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    They surely can’t imagine guys like me will continue to repurchase in a third format can they?

    Dude, what with "bonus track editions", "special tour editions", "xxth Anniversary Remastered editions" and the like, they gleefully get people to repurchase second and third times on the same format, whilst at the same time asserting that you can't copy it for the car, because you're not buying the CD, you're buying the license for private use of the material within.

    Which reminds me of another important point. How much industry revenue these days (compared to 20 years ago) is from long-since-paid-for back catalogue?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    I would have thought that $35,000 worth of lawyering would have procured a little more accuracy.

    Well, it probably would have if that was the goal, but clearly it isn't. The fact that RIANZ would make such propagandist submissions to a Parliamentary committee is disgraceful. Equally disgraceful is that most, if not all, committee members are probably too ill-informed to recognise it for what it is.

    One more "equally disgraceful": those Bic-bashing dickheads on "Your Views". I'm no huge fan, but what kind of person is mean and nasty to Bic Runga?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Solipsistic Left,

    James,

    You said,

    I read the posts after my listing of a handful of the nasty things to happen within the Islamic world with resignation, not disbelief. There really is deep seated denial in the world today, truly a case of none so blind as those who will not see.

    So, the only possible explanation for anyone disagreeing with you it that they refuse to see the truth.

    Unfortunately in this politically correct world we live in today, to be frank and honest is to risk being called a racist or bigot or whatever other pejorative is the favorite of the day, which greatly hinders progress. How can you do anything about a problem, if political correctness prevents you from being able to speak about it?

    and everyone who calls you out for errors of fact or logic is hampering your free speech.

    The reason you keep getting complaints here is that you are intellectually dishonest, and here are ……… more examples. Neil said

    …at present there are more Muslims that aspire to spread their religion violently but I believe that is caused by young men coming from conservative tribal backgrounds and feeling alienated by modernity. With a few lunatics like bin Laden thrown in.

    And your response to that is

    Mohammed Atta "came from conservative tribal backgrounds and feeling alienated by modernity". That seems a bit of a stretch.

    You are misrepresenting what he said. Then there’s this straw man:

    Only the nonsense of the multiculturalism leads to this kind of ridiculous thinking, that for example it is racist or discriminatory to point out that honor killings, the cultural acceptance of wife beatings, the burqa etc are all primitive and unacceptable and have no place in a civilized society. Instead we are supposed to go "oohh" & "ahhhh", "who am I to say such things, I have no right to judge others". What utter crap.

    What utter crap, indeed. Demolishing an argument that no-one is making doesn’t fool anyone. Then there’s this red herring,

    How many Hindu, Buddhist or Christian suicide bombers have there been over time? Not too many.

    Even if true, it proves nothing about anything other than suicide bombings. There’s plenty of evidence that US troops have raped young women, killed babies, tortured people and murdered entire families, causing the deaths of more than half a million civilians in this decade alone, but since that doesn’t quite fit with your thesis that Islam is the evil one, you fail to mention it.

    You hold Islam responsible for the following statements,

    "Human rights are a Judeo Christian construct that have no place in Islam": Iranian ambassador to the UN in 1986

    "To take as a wife a girl before she becomes a woman is a divine blessing": Ayatollah Khomeini.

    … but you show no eagerness to hold Christianity responsible for these statements,

    "(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." – Pat Robertson

    "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this [9/11] happen.'" – Jerry Falwell

    … and yet when someone says that your opinions seem prejudiced, you respond,

    I read the posts after my listing of a handful of the nasty things to happen within the Islamic world with resignation, not disbelief. There really is deep seated denial in the world today, truly a case of none so blind as those who will not see.

    You admit to being,

    no expert on religion

    yet keep posting many long comments based on your admitted

    little knowledge that I have of Islam

    And now, when anyone contradicts your flimsy theses, they are not only stifling your free speech and 'in denial', but also doing spadework for Al Qaeda.

    Grow up, you twit.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Solipsistic Left,

    Unfortunately in this politically correct world we live in today, to be frank and honest is to risk being called a racist or bigot or whatever other pejorative is the favorite of the day, which greatly hinders progress. How can you do anything about a problem, if political correctness prevents you from being able to speak about it?

    James, you've been banging on about Islam on this thread for days, yet who's preventing you from speaking?

    Free speech means that you can say that my opinions seem to be prejudiced and not-very-well-informed rhetoric displaying a tenuous grasp on logic, and that I can say the same about yours, which I do.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Speaker: Part 11: Death and Weirdness in…,

    Richard,
    You mean Andrés Escobar. Pablo Escobar was the head of Colombia's Medellin cocaine cartel.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Solipsistic Left,

    I would like to know what those who opposed the war had as an alterntive.

    Wha?! Obviously, the alternative is not engaging in unjust wars.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Solipsistic Left,

    Just to be clear, here's thier complete section on terror[ism]:

    9) United against terror.
    We are opposed to all forms of terrorism. The deliberate targeting of civilians is a crime under international law and all recognized codes of warfare, and it cannot be justified by the argument that it is done in a cause that is just. Terrorism inspired by Islamist ideology is widespread today. It threatens democratic values and the lives and freedoms of people in many countries. This does not justify prejudice against Muslims, who are its main victims, and amongst whom are to be found some of its most courageous opponents. But, like all terrorism, it is a menace that has to be fought, and not excused.

    As a position, that's just half-assed. They don't even offer a definition beyond "deliberate targeting of civilians", which, if that is their definition, obviously includes a whole lot more than "muslims", yet they frame terrorism as a muslim problem, whilst complaining of terrorism being framed as a muslim problem.

    Disappointingly sophomoric.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Solipsistic Left,

    As political philosophy, the Euston Manifesto doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny.

    Case in point: section “9) United against terror.”
    The Manifesto devotes just seven lines to this crucial issue, including the assertion that “Terrorism inspired by Islamist ideology is widespread today”, without any acknowledgement of the well-documented 50+ year history of theft, terrorism, murder, and political interference in the region by the US / Britain axis, for example.

    I gave up at that point. If I want to read sixth-form-school-project-style journalism… well, I don’t.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Hard News: Some Politics,

    James,

    Richard Armitage a "non Bush insider"? Are you sure that's what you meant to say?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

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