Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Jean had a precious bluntness too.
Which can almost literally be a life-saver at time. After my foster Mother and Nan died on the same day (and some associated unpleasantness), I don’t think David quite gets what he did when he said, “You smell rank. Get in the shower, run a comb through your hair and I’ll have some lunch ready when you’re done.” Bless. There are times when a clout in the lug is as valuable as a cuddle.
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Hard News: Nobody wanted #EQNZ for Christmas, in reply to Lilith __,
it’s dash and careen!
That's so what I'm going to call my lame acoustic folk act.
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Hard News: Nobody wanted #EQNZ for Christmas, in reply to Kumara Republic,
And while we’re at it, RadioNZ is reporting that Singapore is making its politicians take pay cuts. I’d like to see the usual cargo-cult suspects come in defence of that.
Frankly, there's a hell of a lot about Singapore that gives the "usual cargo-cult suspects" wood that creeps me out. That said, Marryatt's tin eared tone-deafness should amaze me but doesn't. In the end, I don't believe politicians and civil servants should be eating cat food and living in cardboard boxes. But when you're preaching "austerity", "wage restraint" and "fiscal discipline" to everyone else, it really does matter that you not only practice what you preach but are seen to do so.
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Muse: Merry Darth George Hathos Day!, in reply to Russell Brown,
Actually, Darth was never a neoliberal and has at various times railed against inequality and deprivation. It’s just a shame that most of the time he was blathering about homosexuals and stuff.
Yeah, a little more Ted Olson and a lot less Michelle Bachmann would have been most welcome.
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Muse: Merry Darth George Hathos Day!, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Already, as Russell mentioned on RNZ earlier today, Louise Upston and Tau Henare have opened themselves up to contempt of court charges with their Tweets.
Um, yes... and I've been having a rather *cough* interesting exchange with Henare on Twitter. You'd think a list MP who dropped from 26 to 40 would be taking the hint and start working towards a less marginal position next time around.
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Muse: Merry Darth George Hathos Day!, in reply to ChrisW,
Craig – I understand you may have the hathos for Witi Ihimaera but why the gratuitous use of his name here?
I don't think it's gratuitous at all. George and Ihimaera are both recidivist plagiarists who inexplicably (to me) still have jobs. If APN and the University of Auckland are OK with that, that's their call. (I'm in no position to speculate why Ihimaera's latest novel is published by Vintage rather than Penguin.) But I feel perfect fine about mocking them both in the same breath.
And, yeah, perhaps I've been slightly unfair to George. If you've been in the pundit game long enough, there's a range of subjects and holidays where you're really scratching for anything new to say. An up-front cut and paste from your clippings file is a damn sight less offensive than churnalising another anti-feminist, anti-gay, Green-bashing screed.
But I still say it's possible to be a cranky right-wing gasbag and still follow some basic ethical norms - like properly attributing your quotes and getting basic matters of fact right. Give me a call, New Zealand Herald - I'll do it for a modest fee.
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Having a quiet (and inexpensive) holiday season at home, and praying the Euro collapses so I can turn forty in Copenhagen in some style at modest expense...
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Legal Beagle: 14 Pages of Democracy, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
The votes that interest me are the so called “take-away votes” real room for skulduggery there
I think the law should be tightened up thereI'd agree with you there, on principle. At the same time, I'm sure we don't want to rest home residents and folks in hospital on E-Day effective disenfranchised when they're otherwise qualified and competent to vote. In the end, you've got to start with the presumption that people aren't utter, wretched douchebags and try and find the balance from there.
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Legal Beagle: 14 Pages of Democracy, in reply to Grant McDougall,
The other was that doing so would make Labour look bad to the public; they should quit whining about the result, take it on the chin and stop being sore losers.
Well, yeah... which is why most close results (Tauranga in '99 comes to mind) don't escalate to electoral petitions. As I said elsewhere, it's definitely the costly, time-gobbling. high-risk nuclear option you don't go for lightly. That said, I don't like words like "whining" being thrown around - if Labour believe they have grounds for an electoral petition, as specified in legislation, they're entitled to have it tested in a court of law. End of story.
I love how you can just tell from reading the judgment that when he said it was a privilege to be involved he *really* meant it.
For all my cynical bitching about politics, this is just another data point in my theory that people involved in elections actually take it very seriously. And so they should. I suspect Adams also wanted to make his reasoning and process crystal clear. Won't stop the conspiratorial mutterings of the usual suspects, of course, but I guess you've got to work on the assumption that most people are fundamentally rational.
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Legal Beagle: 14 Pages of Democracy, in reply to izogi,
Aren’t there meant to be party scrutineers during the counts to catch this sort of thing, or does that not always happen at the smaller polling places?
The latter, because they are volunteers after all and it’s simply fanciful to presume any party can supply scrutineers for every booth. I’d also point out that scrutineers are just that – they’re severely (and properly) restricted in how they can respond to situations like that.
I took an implication from that that there may have been some malice/corruption during the original count on the part of those doing the counting, which is very disappointing if true.
Fuck "disappointing", I'd be calling for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. But I suspect the more plausible explanation is scrutineers, who actually have to be extremely careful not to act in a way that could be seen as interfering with the count, being rather unfocused after a long day.
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