Posts by Craig Ranapia
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The funny thing is, if an equivalent story to the Rudd one had broken here, it would not have centred on any alleged moral failing, but on the fact that this was a taxpayer-funded trip...
No, I think folks might have been wondering WTF the leader of an opposition party was doing getting shit-faced with a tabloid hack in a titty-bar. Not looking at any politicians much closer to home... Nope.
As for that simply bizarre e-mail from Paul Campbell. Well, perhaps we can have Air New Zealand draw up a public no-fly list of people that might make their planes "a target for terrorists". Think it though, Paul - if Salman Rushdie ever visits New Zealand, should come on a rowboat? And I must tell queers of my acquaintance to stop flying ANZ to Sydney for Madi Gras - I'm sure they'd hate the though that they're putting you and your family at risk of being murdered by homophobic lunatics.
Seriously, Paul, what a shabby, shabby argument.
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BTW, as a blog courtesy - hat-tip for the link in the final par. above to Paul Litterick @ The Fundy Post.
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Our senior ministers were in a purely domestic tizzy about being kept in the dark over a flight to Kuwait that everyone else seemed to know about. It was Downer who raised the stakes, surely.
Well, yes, you would say that - and you're wrong. Hard as this may be to accept, Air New Zealand (which is not an SOE or Crown entitly, BTW) entered into a lawful and legitimate charter contract with the ADF. I'm not seeing anyone worth taking seriously suggest anything to the contrary.
And like it or not (and I guess most PA readers would go for the latter), Australia is a sovereign nation whose government doesn't require a permission slip from the Beehive to conduct its foreign policy - and deploy its armed forces - as it sees fit.
Also worth pointing out that Iraq is another sovereign nation whose internal politics - such as allowing members of the ADF to be within their borders - doesn't require the approval of the New Zealand Government.
To be quite blunt, if anyone has dragged the Australian Government into New Zealand's domestic politics, I suggest Clark stop pointing the finger at Downer and take a hard look at herself.
Maybe the answer is at least partly that with Downer virtually guaranteed to lose his job in the upcoming Federal election, she can get away with it?
Two observations, Julian: You'd think Clark, of all people, would treat polls with extreme skepticism. Second: do a flip test on that statement, and tell me it doesn't stick in your craw. I believe both New Zealand and Australia elect their respective governments, not have them selected by a consortium of pollsters and should be treated accordingly.
But if it came up that John Key had popped in to Showgirls on a night out a few years ago, having had one too many, do we think it would ruin National's poll ratings?
No, but when Key and Clark start campaigning for the 'holier than thou' vote at places like this, I think it would be quite legitimate to raise an eyebrow.
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Would also be mildly amusing from the north as well - after this debacle
I'd vote for any non-incumbent with voluntary bowel and bladder control. I'm sure it seems a real parish pump niggle to most PA readers, but is mere competence an unreasonable expectation? -
TomS:
Well, I guess "a A mayoralty with no real power" is pretty tough on people whose school reports were full of phrases like 'does not play well with others', but I can live with that. And I guess that's the big question mark I have about Swiney. Does he have any better grasp of the difference between being a mayor and a lobbyist, than Hubbard had adjusting to the notion that he was no longer CEO of a closely-held private company? Remains to be seen.
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I think Alex Swney will be worth watching.
Certainly - but who is going to be doing it? Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but Auckland's sole daily newspaper is giving me little hope that their local body election coverage this time is going to reach the dizzying heights of superficial mediocrity.
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And as for 'reliably amusing Instaputz' - thanks for reminding me why about 95% of the American blogs I currently check out regularly are about anything except politics.
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She strikes me as a bit of a noob. The reliably amusing Instaputz has been keeping score.
Oy... someone really needs to engrave this phrase on Althouse's laptop: DON'T FEED THE TROLLS AND WING-NUTS. She is a really excellent law-blogger, but lately she seems to be rising to every bit of bait flame-trolling wingnuts put out there. Why does she bother?
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BBC's initial story neglects to mention BBC-sourced edits, many of them innocuous, a few likely to bring the Beeb into disrepute.
Well, with all due disrespect to the Beeb, Russell, you'd think its employees would be too busy trying to restore their own credibility to be flushing Wikipedia's down the loo.
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OK, that sounded far too harsh - I doubt Trotter would appreciate the comparison, but he's a lot like Christopher Hitchens: intelligent, literate, writes a feel for language and a bitchy, pugnacious wit I find attractive. But, every so often, you trip over the peculiar hobby horses and Old Testament world view where there are angels (us) and devils (them) and absolutely nothing in between.
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