Posts by Sacha
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Yes, Simon, so how long they knew becomes a deciding point in who will pay to terminate him - Veitch or his employers.
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That Tui billboard is like some of the sick “she asked for it” comments on the newspaper sites. Says a lot about our national character, and I'm finding it sobering to realise how many proud celebrators of thugby culture are still among us.
Vicious sustained beating is a crime against society as well as the person it is directed at. The police are obliged to pursue this on behalf of all of us despite the probable lack of evidence without testimony about who caused the injuries. I take Russell's point that if the details published were wrong, Veitch would have sued someone by now.
That performance yesterday seemed mainly aimed at influencing what his employers do next, given the very deliberate wording that he used (after spending a couple of days with lawyers working out what to do next). No doubt the earlier hush agreement was similarly careful to avoid acknowledging a crime. Women’s Refuge made the point that he never said what he has learned from the experience - so it’s hard to know whether he will act out again, despite his apology.
Even if there is little chance of justice against colluding parties, they might pay attention to their wallets. TVNZ and TRN appear to have made some rather cynical commercial decisions between when they first knew of this and now. I hope major advertisers now make it clear how they feel about having their brands associated with this smug creep every night and every morning.
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The brilliant George Lakoff writing about why Obama should not lurch to the right, following from his earlier analysis of the Democratic Party's failings in the 2000 and 2004 elections:
First, voters mostly vote not on the details of positions on issues, but on five aspects of what might be called “character,” as Richard Wirthlin discovered in the 1980 Reagan campaign.
They are Values (What are the ethical principles that form the basis of your politics?); Authenticity (Do you say what you believe?); Communication (Do you connect with voters and inspire them?); Judgment; Trust; and Identity (If you share voters’ values, connect with them, tell them the truth effectively while inspiring trust, then they will identify with you — and they will vote for you).
Positions on issues matter when they come to stand symbolically for values.
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Unfortunately, I feel less relaxed about a National-led government than I did a month ago.
You felt relaxed? I'm looking at the front bench and it's feeling like back to the 90s. Katherine Rich was a great loss. No doubt Key will be ok with some good guidance but where is that going to come from? McCully?
Which brings us to Crosby Textor. Commentators seem to be overlooking the obvious point that National are going to great lengths to hide their association with the Aussies. That's surely more the issue, given their allegedly unsavoury behind the scenes involvement last time around according to Hollow Men (down, Craig). Doesn't really matter whether they will actually do anything dodgy, the perception is that National are being less than trustworthy - just like the perception that Labour are nannying and not keeping prices down.
Voters are not stupid but nor are we rational.
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"unless they're damaged, or they're by Paul Holmes, we'll take anything."
Classic...
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I tend to agree, Stephen. It's one example, but not many people use braille out of the number who face barriers to voting within the current set-up. I know the Electoral Office have been improving the range of other options like early voting and suchlike. If they can address the security concerns that people have so eloquently raised here, then online voting may cost-effectively remove many barriers to everyone exercising their vote. Nice to be having the conversation, anyway.
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show me how you voted
Just as well you are not blind, Rich. That's exactly how it stands for them now - minus the offers/threats, hopefully...
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You design it, I'll break it
Aahh - software testing at its most elegant...
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What Kyle said, I think.
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I won't pretend to understand the statistical geekery at anything beyond surface level. Oversampling gives them big enough sub-samples to separately do statistically valid analysis of Pacific and Maori populations. No idea how they subequently adjust the total sample to acknowledge that they've skewed it.
However, the methodology seems solid for the survey as a whole so I'm pretty confident they won't have made fundamental stuff ups - other than seeing mental health through a clinical lens and following the WHO's dodgy understanding of disability.
Much like distorted interpretations of drug usage by those with an interest in stoking fear...
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