Posts by dc_red
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Funding churches and families in New Zealand can be the most direct and fastest means of getting assistance to those affected in the islands. Making that flow transparent and accountable should not be difficult.
My hunch is it would be quite difficult, as the first concern of many would be to make out like bandits.
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I agree with Russell; I was inclined to give John Key a good deal of credit for how he handled the results of the referendum, and the whole passage of the legislation, until he made this unfortunate comment which has just re-muddied the waters. It's kind of analagous to the PM encouraging drivers to exceed the speed limit - though not by more than 10 km/h, mind.
Especially since one of the mantras of the right is "Parliament makes the law, the judiciary only interprets it". Activist judges = bad, and what have you.
Now the PM claims not only to make the law, but to offer the definitive interpretation, too. An interpretation that is not strongly supported by, umm, the legislation he actually voted for.
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The Dom-Post missed the memo, RB, and is happily quoting Bob again today.
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Craig, if Key believes he has been misquoted (as per the "I'd love to see the gap widen" comment) he's more than capable of saying so. Until I hear otherwise from the great legislator, I'll resume my light smackings....
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Exactly. If he actually said that, the Herald should've been right up in his grill about it. I thought Key had handled things very well until I read that. Perhaps he's a friggin' idiot after all.
The Herald quotes him as saying:
"Lightly smacking a child will be in the course of parenting for some parents and I think that's acceptable. It is up to individual parents to decide how they're going to parent their children ... Some people will continue to lightly smack their child for correction, some will not. It is up to them to decide."
I'm not very relaxed about that.
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I thought that would be being PC.
Given that PC means nothing more nor less than "something right wingers don't like", you'll have to pop over to kiwiblog and see if they're for it (in which case it's the "common sense of mainstream New Zealanders") or against it (in which case it's "PC"). Simple, really.
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The Herald calls him "Dr Latta". This honorific doesn't seem to appear on Latta's website, where he notes his psychology qualifications are an MPhil degree and a postgraduate diploma. Neither of which a "Doctor" make.
More notably, this same story feature PM Key basically giving parents carte blanche to go back to smacking their kids provided it's "light". Which is not what the law Key voted for actually says, but apparently he, not Parliament, is the supreme authority on such matters.
It does occur to me that he'd be better off dispensing light smacks to errant Cabinet ministers.
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Oooh. Are we doing bible quotes?
Exactly. As Dawkins illustrates very clearly in The God Delusion , wherever we get our moral code from, it's sure not the Bible. Divinely-mandated infanticide and incest being exhibits A and B. Much of it is reprehensible by modern standards - and any attempt to follow it literally would lead you directly to jail, without passing go.
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@George
Also, Australian houses are a huge pain to heat and cool, one of the reasons with coal-fired electricity they have the highest emissions of any developed country.
I believe Canada now takes the prize of highest emissions per capita. Thanks to plenty of coal-fired electricity, gas-heated homes, and ... the piece-de-resistance ... the Alberta oil sands.
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@Sacha
"...if you let rich folk pay less tax they will invest the bounty in productive enterprise rather than german cars, italian marble and coastal real estate."
If I was to enjoy a tax break of Brahsian proportions, I would pretty much follow option B.
Pay down mortgage.
Buy nice car.
Re-do kitchen.Assuming I had any money left for such frivolity after paying for privatized social services, of course.