Posts by Johnny Canuck
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Legal Beagle: The flag referendum:…, in reply to william blake,
Being asked to swear allegiance to a symbol you don’t want is a fundamental of fascism.
New Zealanders aren't asked (and don't have the opportunity) to swear allegiance to the flag.
Many (new citizens, MPs, police officers, military personnel, judges ... and in theory teachers) are required to swear allegiance to a protestant monarch and his/her heirs and successors (presumably for eternity - even if they turn out to be frightful fascists).
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make sense of this whole fucking mess
One thing's for sure, PC Plod will never make sense of it. Seeking and serving search warrants against journalists at the behest of aggrieved National party politicians is one thing. But making sense of techno-blather between bloggers and hackers is well beyond the capability of Her Majesty's Constabulary.
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Re: Waitakere man.
It's worth noting that of the 4 west auckland electorates (New Lynn, Kelston, Te Atatu and Upper Habour), Labour candidates won 3 of them.
The exception is Upper Harbour, only half of which is in west auckland anyway.
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Hard News: Will the grown-ups ever…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
It's a bit like public opinion polling around "which Windsor should be next" to inherit the throne(s) of the UK and commonwealth realms. The whole point of a monarchy is that public opinion is irrelevant and the public doesn't get a say.
Plus what would happen if Tuvalu preferred Wills while the traditionalists in Belize preferred Charles, and the non-conformists in PNG opted for Viscount Severn?
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Thanks from me too: a difficult subject but one that needs to be written about and acknowledged.
The rights-based approach you outline has much potential, but seems so far away as to be almost "unimaginable".
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Envirologue: Branding a Post-Predator…, in reply to Yamis,
the track from Te Henga to Constable Rd at Muriwai in sections looks like it hasn’t seen maintenance for a decade and counting….
It recently benefited from some modest maintenance in advance of the Hillary Ultra Marathon (mostly hacking back the flaxes that were overgrowing the trail in many places) ... but yeah, it's getting rougher by the month through there - and the chances of turning an ankle (or plummeting off a cliff) are increasingly accordingly.
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Hard News: We can make things better here, in reply to Shaun Lott,
It’s long overdue already.
Hell yes.
Bus passengers out West (especially those who live “beyond” Te Atatu) really are third-class commuting citizens. For the most part, they’re stuck with infrequent and expensive services that inch their way along chronically congested arterials (Lincoln Rd, Great North Rd, Te Atatu Rd, etc.) towards the motorway, whereupon they sit in traffic with all the sole-occupant vehicles, only to get off again at Pt Chev.
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Cut the crap, John.
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Hard News: News from home ..., in reply to Andrew Geddis,
But beyond that, if Little was going to win, it should have been in a landslide. A marginal squeak-by on the basis of union executive diktat is the worst possible starting point.
Not sure it matters. Brash beat English by one vote in caucus (after John Key switched sides), and went on to double National's party vote in 2 years. This was the same Don Brash who twice lost an electorate race to ... Social Credit.
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I for one am looking forward to the pundits being silenced for a few short hours tomorrow. Particularly John Armstrong, who so brazenly called for Cunliffe's resignation ... a whole 11 minutes after the "Liu letter" was released under the OIA.