Posts by Kumara Republic
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Hard News: Gaying Out, in reply to Russell Brown,
I feel like I'm all 4Chan and shit.
Or possibly even the Anonymous/Planet Chanology guys.
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Field Theory: An important message for…, in reply to Sacha,
Strong men delight in that. The problem goes deeper than sport.
Probably for the same reasons that soccer hooligans in England rouse their rabble - that sense of decaying empire, and the desperate, insecurity-driven urge to dominate something. Only here in NZ, it's the mouths that do the kicking, not the boots.
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Hard News: Gaying Out, in reply to Russell Brown,
What Key said on stage – we won’t take away any rights you’ve already got – was hardly the same thing.
And then his refusal to answer a straightforward question about how he would vote on the civil unions bill today – because apparently we’d have to wait for his fucking book – was contemptuous, especially in that setting. To be honest, I feel more angry about it the more I think about it. Who does he actually think he is?.
There seems to be a difference between broad church appeal, and trying to please everyone, and the above you described seems to fall into the latter. I just hope Goff will resist the temptation to chase the boofhead vote, and concentrate support in the cities. The good folks at Urban Archipelago offer some useful pointers:
And the challenge for the Democrats is not just to organize in the blue areas but to grow them. And to do that, Democrats need to pursue policies that encourage urban growth (mass transit, affordable housing, city services), and Democrats need to openly and aggressively champion urban values. By focusing on the cities the Dems can create a tribal identity to combat the white, Christian, rural, and suburban identity that the Republicans have cornered. And it's sitting right there, on every electoral map, staring them in the face: The cities.
The urbanites. Howard Dean had it wrong when he tried to woo the "Pickup Truck with Confederate Flag" vote. In fact, while Kerry won urban areas by a whopping 60 percent--that actually represents a 15 percent drop in urban support from 2000 when Gore won the election. The lesson? Democrats have got to tend to their urban base and grow it.
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Muse: TV Review: Good Gods Almighty!, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Quite - I'm huge fan of Chinese and Japanese culture, but would still tread very carefully indeed before appropriating something as deeply culturally significant as The Journey to the West or The Tale of Genji. They're not just literary classics to be plundered at will like some Orientalist dress up box. They exist suspended in incredibly complex social, political, religious and cultural contexts that should be treated carefully. Not out of political correctness, but simple honour for other cultures that deserve it.
Yep, the hoary old chestnut of Authentic History vs Theme Park History.
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Hard News: Gaying Out, in reply to Russell Brown,
Anyone remember that NZ Butter advert with Lenny Henry and the Ponsonby Rugby Club?
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to Steve Parks,
Why are these types all so arrogant?
Clinical psychopathy, that's why. And Damien Grant, like other privatisation fundies, displays the kind of cargo cultism that persists even though John Frum never turned up.
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Up Front: Giving Me Grief, in reply to Rex Widerstrom,
Danielle, Robert, thanks to you too. Robert, suicide is far from painless for those left behind.
And lest we forget Finn Higgins...
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CGT or no CGT, I think we all agree that the speculation industry is at the heart of the problem, as codified by Inside Job. Ideally there'd be a Tobin Tax or FTT, but there needs to be international backing behind it to work.
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Hard News: "Orderly transition" in #Egypt, in reply to Dismal Soyanz,
On a more long term note, I hope that the eventual political setup in Egypt gives rise to a democratic country that effectively gives the finger to US foreign policy (in the nicest possible way), showing the RWNJs that democracy doesn't mean thinking like Limbaugh or O'Reilly.
Like, for instance, Turkey? It seems to get on fine with most Western, Mid-Eastern and Far Eastern nations. With the possible exception of Armenia & Cyprus.
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to Matthew Poole,
We're a relatively smart country, but there are some incredibly stupid aspects to the economy, not least of which is the absolute stranglehold that housing has on the investment market. Banks are obsessed with the stuff, as are "mum and dad investors", which is to the long-term detriment of our economy.
Like the poor guy up in Whangaparoa who lives in the same street as the 50-something-house landlady and had to go overseas to get $2m in capital investment for a software project. She can leverage about $10m in lending out of banks, but he can't find a fifth of that for something that will create high-value jobs.
Ah yes... Baker vs Straker. And the Productive Economy Council, headed by another software entrepreneur, has some useful pointers too.
It only reinforces my theory about the unholy alliance of anti-intellectualism and cargo cultism. The Dancing Cossacks of 1975 were one of the most obvious examples.