Posts by Richard Aston
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Dinah Dunavan,
the media is his poodle again.
Dinah the media have always been his poodle ( with some exceptions) he whistles and they came running up like puppy dogs eager for some action.
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Hard News: Criminalising Journalism, in reply to Gary Hutchings,
Sounds like Winston’s just played the media big time…
Yup business as usual for Winston.
The media’s fascination with him is weird to watch – he treats them like shit but when he needs them , look how they jump up like puppies licking their cruel master – kinda like a Stockholm Syndrome / Battered Woman thing.He should be ignored.
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Its karma man - seriously bad karma for trying to hustle the Epsonites
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Legal Beagle: The New Zealand Election Tax, in reply to BenWilson,
I often wonder if he does that sort of thing deliberately, and what’s on the secret tapes is him talking with a posh school accent and no noticeable lisp
Interesting idea Ben, I like it. His lip movement doesn't seem to be different though , still looks like his vowels are strangling his consonants.
I wonder how an experienced lip reader would go with Key - my guess is his lips would be unintelligible.
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Lets not forget the joke parties in all this - I think they add a welcome crazy element to elections - Bill and Ben , Mad Hatters Tea Party, McGillicuddy Serious Party etc
We need to make it easy for them to stand - they represent a noble tradition of jokers, jesters and fools back through history.
I have suggested elsewhere we need a jester in parliament - especially for some of those tedious third readings of minor bills. -
Great idea Graeme and I especially like the community nomination idea. It grounds the political process so well. My preference would be a minimum of 100 . If you cannot get 100 people to sign up their support for your nomination what possible chance would you have getting even 1% of the party vote.
Your point about the advantages the large incumbent parties have is well taken. Aside from ministerial services ( which are supposed to be curtailed in the election period) what about all that free domestic travel elected MPs have to rock up and down the country.
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Legal Beagle: The New Zealand Election Tax, in reply to NBH,
On a completely unrelated note, the 'Family Tree' on the Kiwi Party's Wikipedia page is pretty amusing
NBH - that is a very interesting little political whakapapa indeed. Not a bad idea for all parties to show something like that.
But man those Christians parties have family backgrounds that look um.. biblical. -
Looking at your photo Russell - of Johns X2
There seems to be bugger all else on that table except a big black bag. I wonder if the conversation went like
JB" eh John is that your manbag?"
JK " not exactly Johnny B, I passed my bloke test, don't use manbags"
JB " um whose is it then?"
JK " dunno... um "
JB " How about that Piri eh , love to kick arse like he does"
JK " um yeah, whats with the marihuana and porn Johnny B? "
JB " eh .....um "
JK " What ever gets you through the night uh? "
Dorks. -
Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Ian thanks for the Plato cave reference - Allegory of the Cave - isn't it amazing how we interpret - Your channeled Plato sees the shadows on the cave wall as illusory - a dim reflection of reality but not reality. Plato's reality seems to be an objective external one.
I was attracted not to the shadows but the process of watching them.
I saw our cave shadow watching ancestors slipping into the imaginary sphere , that liminal space where we humans start to create our reality, our story , our world view ... our internal reality.
Lost in fire caved shadows dance
All that was, returns to Haunt
Indifferent walls of rockImagination flames & flickers up
To see what could be or not
Smoke shadows showingSlumber in the liminal place when
Cave Fire explodes a snapping crack
A vision comes, startling clearThe world is born again
In here -
Legal Beagle: Infrequently asked questions, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
they’re going to be there anyway, you might as well, give them a chance of being effective (in proportion to their share of the party vote).
Thanks for the explanation of the single seat exemption Graeme - I am still not convinced of the rationale above, it seems a bit wooly compared to the generally rigorous efforts to facilitate proportionality and ensure a stable parliament. They are in parliament anyway so we will give them a few bonus seats ... In practice it seems to give distorted power to those small parties that gain one seat and as the Epsom case is showing this distortion is deliberately being used to gain disproportionate power in parliament.
Sorry but I still don't get it.