Posts by Craig Ranapia

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  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    InternationalObserver:

    Oh sweet baby Jeebus - NSFW tag, please! :) But yes, I do find all this 'I hate Auckland - and the disrespect is entirely mutual' crapola rather tiresome. Hell, my default setting is that everyone irritates me, on way or another, and have seen little reason to change.

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

  • Hard News: Some things you may not know,

    PS: Wellington readers: another remind about the Hustlle for Autism on Monday night, which will launch David Cohen's book, A Perfect World and my new autism website, Humans, and raise money for the Autism Intervention Trust.

    Give my regards to David, Russell, and I really look forward to reading the book. I'm sure some PA readers shudder at the mention of his name, but I was pleasantly surprised - and impressed - by Welcome to the Campus of Struggle, which is mostly a collection of work he's done for the Chronicle of Higher Education (who also own Arts & Letters Daily).

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

  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    Feh... everyone's a bloody critic. :)

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

  • Radiation: Back to the 80s,

    You killed Aurora! You bastards! Quite shocking, actually. Is OF being taken in a much darker direction this season? Hmmm ...

    Is it just me, or was OF always a little more sophisticated than to fall into the 'lovable rogues' cliché? The thing I've come to love about this show (apart from it often being screamingly funny character-based comedy) is that you can identify with the Wests, without particularly liking any of them - which is much harder than it looks. Or am I just way over-thinking here?

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

  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    But to be honest, the Setchell case was also basically a Wellington story. I'd wager conversations about it were a lot shorter in Auckland: DBP couldn't keep his story straight, again, and it was the final straw.

    It was significant that it was David, as a former Prime Ministerial speechwriter, who posted on it; not that many people in Auckland had much of a feel for it because we don't work those jobs.

    Well, yes and no Russ. I've had a lot of conversations over the last three plus years about how Wellington is a geat sucking leech squatting on the head of Auckland, and giving little in return. :) And I wonder how many Herald readers who don't live in Auckland City zone out every time they see the words 'Tank Farm', 'Hubbard' or 'Banks' in a story? Sorry for jacking this thread to take a hobby horse out for a canter, but the NZHerald (you know, the only daily newspaper in these parts) just has to lift its game this local body electoral cycle.

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

  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    Ben:

    Should say this more often, but thanks for the cogent and thoughful response. Not for the first time, I think we agree on more than might be apparent at first sight. :)

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

  • Hard News: The cane and the strap,

    FFS, I guess we can relitigate the smacking ban until the sun goes cold, but can I take it as read that we all agree any deliberate act that puts a three year old in a coma - and requiring a ventilator to breathe - sucks, blows and chokes? Sorry for getting snappy, Ron, but I do have to wonder sometimes - and I'm talking as someone who was a very heavily qualified supporter of the repeal of S. 59.

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

  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    But hey, if we regulate party pills, why not other such drugs?

    Well, I come at it from a slightly different angle. No matter how "slow and gullible" I may be, I'd rather like (at the very least) to make an informed choice before dosing myself with 'natural' dietary supplements that demonstrably cause - or at least increase the risk of - damage to various organs I can't really afford to put through the mill again. And if I ever did, the three martini breakfast sounds much more fun.

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

  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    So don't give me any of this "delightfully naive" bs, I'm clued up enough to know that I don't know, and why. It's not for lack of interest or trying to find out.

    Well, Ben, I actually thought it was delightfully naive to believe Labour won't start scaremongering about National's evil "hidden agenda" no matter how many reams of insanely detailed policy they produce. Or were we in alternate universes during '95?

    And to be quite cynical, why wouldn't you if you're desperate enough - the more unhinged corners of the local blogisphere suggest that there's no conspiracy theory that doesn't have an audience. Last time I looked, sadly, we let the crazies vote too.

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

  • Hard News: Idiotic and lamentable behaviour,

    This was an opportunity for that overworked word, statesmanship.

    Certainly, Don - and that works both ways. So does good faith bargaining.

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

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