Island Life: Hunting Squirrels
121 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 Newer→ Last
-
So Chicago school style free trade has gotten a thumbs up from the posters on NZ's preeminent leftie blog!! How times change!! Never would have been the case 20 or even 10 years ago, but this would seem to be evidence that the laws of economics prevail over time. Cause for optimism indeed!
James, I've been a rules-based free-trader for a long time, and I think you'll find that most of the people who comment here don't cling to any boilerplate ideology.
It always amuses me when I see myself or Public Address being decried as "extreme left" on some wingnut blog. The funny thing is that the Nielsen demographic for Public Address is a wee bit more upscale than those for certain other online champions of enterprise. I hugely admire the company that Don Christie has built, for instance. And I certainly want to succeed financially. I just take the view that there's no need to be a dick about it.
Typical chardonnay socialist, I guess ;-)
-
Paul
There was another side to National's reply, detailed here:
-
Quite so. Nice to see how a real journalist works, apparently.
Oh, and I guess Cullen's own outraged PR was just released to keep a typist busy and intended to ever be quoted on the record? Sorry, Don, but this stinks of another "neutron bomb" that's turning out to be a damp squib.
As I said, I can't get the outrage gland pumping over what Key actually said or Cullen's 2005 Waitangi Day speech. Neither man is some domestic version of David Irving, and this is exactly the kind of nonsense that might suggest why politicians and journalists don't exactly top any survey of public regard or trust.
Meanwhile, I did have to chortle at the stories on One and Three News. Perhaps they could lead by example, because Hamish Keith's excellent 'personal view' of New Zealand art history, The Big Picture, should be the rule not the exception. It isn't.
-
. And I certainly want to succeed financially. I just take the view that there's no need to be a dick about it.
Typical chardonnay socialist, I guess ;-)
There's a collection of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoons called 'I'm Not Anti-Business -- I'm Anti-Idiot' which is about where I come in. :)
There was another side to National's reply, detailed here:
Funny that Mr Soper fails to mention that National had laid a formal complaint with NewsTalk ZB. Strategic memory loss or pre-emptively defending yourself against a potential visit to the BSA, Bazza?
-
Paul
There was another side to National's reply, detailed here:
I think this tiff is already past its use-by date, but Soper does have a point there.
-
Whoops, just answered my own question. From Mr Soper:
And with their leader making what was an obvious gaff his spin doctors were fair humming, threatening to take our media outlet to the Broadcasting Standards Authority for producing what they claimed was an unbalanced and inaccurate story.
But they didn't file a case simply because they know they couldn't win it.
Bullshit on your breath, Barry. Because if you don't know how the complaint process really works you should. Nothing gets "filed" with the BSA, in the first instance, as opposed to a complaint citing specific grounds being addressed to the broadcaster concerned.
So, what is it Barry -- strategic memory loss, or have you just lied to your listeners?
-
Sorry, Don
Craig, I am not particularly bothered with this "incident" one way or another. It was your claim that "real journalism" was taking place when in fact, it wasn't.
-
Chardonnay is so passe.
Pinot noir is the new red, as in the song.
The people's wine is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our drunken dead,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts' bloods best at 5yrs old.Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within each glass we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red wine flowing here.Look 'round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise,
In Moscow's vaults its hymns are sung
Chicago swells the surging throng.Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within each glass we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red wine flowing here.It waved above our infant might,
When all ahead seemed dark as night;
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We must not change its colour now.Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within each glass we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red wine flowing here.It well recalls the triumphs past,
It gives the hope of peace at last;
The label bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within each glass we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red wine flowing here.With Suits today the weak and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
To cringe before this rich man's town,
And haul the sacred emblem down.Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within each glass we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red wine flowing here.With heads uncovered swear we all
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our party hymn.Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within each glass we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red wine flowing here. -
Your singing has created an awkward silence.
-
Isn't that an awed silence?
-
I was just lost for words. In a good way.
Shit, really need a tipple now.
-
OMG, I once attended a Association of University Staff retirement gig at the Parliamentary Grand Hall where the Red Flag was sung... they should have substituted your version Shep.
It was a sureal moment; all these distinctly well-healed, middle class retirees with super-to-die for singing the Red Flag while supping their flash vino rouge and discussing the renovations on their holiday homes!
-
Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our party hymn.Awesome.
-
And just for reference, this (as of 3:13pm) is what an awkward silence looks like.
-
It always amuses me when I see myself or Public Address being decried as "extreme left" on some wingnut blog.
Come on, I described PAS as "NZ's preeminent leftie blog", I thought you would be flattered!! You are to the left of center, I would have thought that this would have been a fairly uncontroversial statement.
After reading positive comments about the China deal on this blog it is interesting to stop and think that not so long ago Nixon said "we are all Keyensians now", Muldoon had a wage and price freeze on in NZ on and every country around the world had all manner of tarriffs and trade restrictions. The only criticism Bill Rowling or Bob Tizard would have had of Muldoon's controls and restrictions was that they weren't strong enough. And now a Labor Govt run by Helen Clark is a huge fan of free trade, signed a deal with China and is now wants to start talks with Japan and South Korean. You have to admit, that is one hell of a big change.
Glad to read that making a few bucks is no longer viewed as such a bad thing in NZ. I get that feeling when I come home for vacation, but I certainly remember the " if you got rich, you obviously screwed a bunch of people over" view that was so prevalent when I grew up in NZ.
-
So Chicago school style free trade has gotten a thumbs up from the posters on NZ's preeminent leftie blog!! How times change!! Never would have been the case 20 or even 10 years ago, but this would seem to be evidence that the laws of economics prevail over time. Cause for optimism indeed!!
Nothing's what it seems when even John Pilger is calling for the dismantling of trade protectionism.
-
Come on, I described PAS as "NZ's preeminent leftie blog", I thought you would be flattered!! You are to the left of center, I would have thought that this would have been a fairly uncontroversial statement.
Sorry -- that obviously wasn't clear. And I wouldn't call you a wingnut.
No, I was referring to quite a few Kiwiblog comments loons over the years. I once chanced upon a Trade Me forums discussion where one guy was breathlessly informing another that I was an "extreme Marxist". That was funny in a slightly disturbing way ...
-
"we are all Keyensians now"
That would be the voters canvassed in the latest Colmar poll...
-
James....
yes, YOU said "NZ's preeminent leftie blog"... and Russell said "I see myself or Public Address being decried as "extreme left" on some wingnut blog."
I dont believe Russell was saying YOU were a wingnut blog... Places like Whaleoil and no minister, and not DPF himself but his commenters DO frequently say "extreme left" or usually less polite euphamisms and insults.... Maybe your less extreme comment just reminded him of others?
As it happens, I agree with your basic premise..... what passes for "the left" in NZ (and other places) these days is to frequently is less interventionist than what was considered centre or right a few decades ago....Didnt Tony Blair call it "the third way"? To extremists from both left and right it frequently gets painted as confused cant make up your mind fence sitting..... or selling out your ideals to get some voter traction.... but some of us actually think the middle IS better than either end of the spectrum.
-
Whoops...
A few extra small words in there make it look like I was trying to say "is too frequently".... that was not my intention...
"is frequently" was what I was thinking...
-
David,
I think there’s a fair appreciation of what Labour have achieved in 9 years in a social sense but economic accolades are quite small amongst the public because salaries are still so small.
Who can get those salaries up while developing growth ? Tell me that strategy.That’s the game…but if it’s growth independent of significant salary rises,well fuck that.
Labour have been branded well and truly as a ‘social policy” party .National have been able to keep the natural party of business mantel to themselves even in Opposition.
Labour need to stun the marketplace literally with some big grand visions of advancement that also have corresponding COSTING and DETAIL.
The National Party broadband policy announcement was their best freshest announcement for 20 years but it seems to have been uncosted , and this from the party of spreadsheets. Who is the best party for business? Who will look after the participants of the marketplace fairly?
Labour and National need to appeal to new business and freethinking aggressive business. They need to present new business and new generations of strategic thinkers with reasons to want to thrive in the marketplace.
-
To extremists from both left and right it frequently gets painted as confused cant make up your mind fence sitting.....
ITA, Fletcher. I've certainly gotten more than a few pained glares from various wing-nuts upon suggesting that by any reasonable standard National and Labour are hardly the Milton Friedman Squee Squad vs. the Shining Path. :)
-
The rights and wrongs of their actual policies aside, should Labour lose the election, it's remarkable that Helen Clark will have been Prime Minister for longer than anyone else in the past 100 years, with the exception of Keith Jacka Holyoake.
Holyoake was PM for 12 years, Muldoon for nine. But I recently looked through a book on NZ PMs which listed each PM's term from first day to last and Clark will beat Muldoon by about four or five months. I find that absolutely bloody amazing and a mark of her political skill and tenacity.
If you'd told me 20 years ago that the then-Minister of Housing would be one of our longest-serving PMs, I'd have thought you were certifiable. Yet she has been in the top job longer than Holland, Muldoon, Lange, Bolger and several others.
If John Key is still PM in 2017, I'll be surprised, but impressed. -
My five positive thingies are:
1 pay equity for kindergarten teachers
2 economic stability
3 having a leader who's actually a career politician rather than a businessman or an accountant, or god forbid, an ex playcentre mother
4 low unemployment
oh, and did I mention5 pay equity?
Ya, I've heard a lot of people say stuff to the effect that Labour's done a good job in government, but it's only fair that that they step aside and let National have their turn now.
I just don't understand why we need to change our government for the sake of change. I don't get it, at all. Fickle, fickle, fickle.
-
can’t seem to open the website to try to post this to Granny so might as well dump it here. Please feel free to plagiarise it and submit it as your own work if you want to, provided you are not a constant letter writer they screen. errr...though if a couple of people actually do it that could be odd...but anyway...will finish reading the thread now...
Dear Sir,
What does John Key remember?
He has trouble remembering what he said to journalists, what party he is leading and what he intends to do if he gets into government.
Now he is airbrushing not only his own slippery asset-selling, Iraq-invasion-supporting tendencies, but also our history. Without the Waikato war, men such as John Logan Campbell wouldn’t have made it quite as rich with their newly acquired farms. The families of Parnell and Auckland may not have been gifted the pleasant Cornwall Park, which Campbell bequeathed for their recreation.
Nor would we have the Great South road that was built by Governor Grey to march troops into the Waikato.
The nearly 30 years of the New Zealand Wars shaped the population of the North Island. It was a formative violent struggle. The wars sufficiently fascinated New Zealanders to rate a 5 part television series, fronted by James Belich, with his arms earnestly waving.
To deny it was like a civil war is to take the iwi out of kiwi. We have struggled in our history and in the last 30 years for our history. Let’s tell it like it is, not like they wish it was
Post your response…
This topic is closed.