Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics

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  • Gareth Ward,

    How ironic, given that I suspect Gibbs' farm specifically owns foreshore land or at the very least denies public access to it. Happy to be proven wrong...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Should such a movement emerge, I have this horrible feeling it will be wearing (per a recent ETS protest and IIRC originating with the farmers land-access protest) an orange fright wig.

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

    Also note the ‘don’t tread on me’ flag in one of the pics, which seemed otherwise irrelevent.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Samuel Scott,

    I want to visit 'The Farm'. They have giraffes! And Jim Hopkins!

    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 event look better?

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Do not calle up that wych ye cannot put downe

    H P Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    warm itself on the embers of Act’s credibility.

    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.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Muriel Newman's tin-foil hattery on Maoridom is nothing short of the old Terra Nullius doctrine.

    Any WikiLeaks stuff on all the above?

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    I shall refrain from commenting on the Coastal Coalition and NZCPR, lest I be accused of blatantly promoting the word "twatcock".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • MikeE,

    As someone who has voted for ACT the last 3 elections, few things scare me more than Muriel Newman getting back into parliament.

    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 gig in the days where party pills were legal and hearing her reccomend (I shit you not) at some meeting on the shore - that we cut the hands of shoplifters .... then some crazy fucker with a neck beard start a 20 minute rant on the evils of the word "liberal"...

    Washington DC • Since Nov 2006 • 138 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Another problem with forming a Bell Tea Party is that, unlike the castrated moderates in the Republican Party, people like Chris Finlayson are willing and able to call bullshit in no uncertain terms.

    BTW, Muriel, it's a little disingenuous to whine about Finlayson "not having an open mind" when the Coastal Coalition is appearing in front a select committee it has previously assailed as a "travesty of democracy" it has no confidence in or respect for.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    Amy Brooke's annual Summer Sounds Symposium

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

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

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

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to MikeE,

    I'll never forget coming down after a gig in the days where party pills were legal and hearing her reccomend (I shit you not) at some meeting on the shore - that we cut the hands of shoplifters .... then some crazy fucker with a neck beard start a 20 minute rant on the evils of the word "liberal"...

    And the irony of these Wahhabists-by-another-name invoking the Eurabia domino theory isn't lost on us.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I'd never heard of the Summer Sounds Symposium. I see that it describes itself as 'the most stimulating intellectual event on the year's calendar' and that the master of ceremonies is Herald columnist Jim Hopkins.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Two statements that immediately and abruptly contradict each other.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Heh, they needed a special comment to explain after all the leading questions that 52% of respondents still rated National's performance as "average to excellent".

    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 a Scientology book. So long as you are only asked how close to perfection you are (and display normal human modesty), then the form is designed to make you feel stink about yourself. They were more careful about asking questions that actually outright asked you if you wanted to buy a book about Scientology, to which the answer 100% of the time would be "Hell, no". I really put the guy out of kilter, though, when he produced the book, and said it could help me with all my problems if I just bought it, when I responded (truthfully) "I doubt it man, I got that out of the library years ago, and it obviously hasn't helped". Same answer could actually apply to the formation of a new right wing party. It happened years ago, and it hasn't helped.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Meahwhile, what's scarier -- getting an anatomically implausible tea bagging from the Herald on Sunday or the Sunday Star Times not only giving Winston Peters a front page blow job but swallowing the jizz and asking for seconds? Not for the first time, I've got to ask WTF is up with the toxic waste bromance between Peters and the meedjia.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    I get the distinct feeling that you RB and the rest of us at PA would love to see a far right party
    Just for the fun we could have blowing it out of the water
    Talk about fish in a barrel
    I think (or rather I hope) its popular support would be hardly above the margin of error
    But then there is support for those old troppers Jim A and dear old Winston so who knows

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Raymond A Francis,

    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.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to giovanni tiso,

    Two statements that immediately and abruptly contradict each other.

    One year they had Jim Hopkins and Kerre Woodham.

    Suck on that, scholar-boy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

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

    About same amount of thoughtfulness as Muriel and co..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    I really put the guy out of kilter, though, when he produced the book, and said it could help me with all my problems if I just bought it, when I responded (truthfully) “I doubt it man, I got that out of the library years ago, and it obviously hasn’t helped”.

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

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    To be fair, there is a delightful drinking game you can play with the Winston Peters interview:

    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.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Russell Brown,

    One year they had Jim Hopkins and Kerre Woodham.

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

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    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.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Just as Ms Woodham pulled a sane post out of the bag recently, I have to congratulate Deborah Coddington on her reasoned analysis in that column.

    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 enough votes to be a potential swinging coalition partner for Labour (much like Bob Jones' role in 1984)? Only the Nats could hold their nose long enough to negotiate with Brash or Newman but Key could make mileage by publicly refusing as he did with Winston and with Roger Douglas.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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