Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to AlistairC,
you’re too old for her anyway :)
I'm sure she'd take it if I gave it :-)
As for obsession, hardly. I'm disappointed, slightly. We'll see, now. My prediction, the IP is screwed. I consider that a bit of a pity, a might-have-been. The upside is that Mana get some money so I think we'll get a much better view this election of what their true support is.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Sacha,
Not sure that's really so bad. If they endorse the policy, it's something for National to attack them with. The Greens can fight to defend their own policy. At least Labour are not wasting energy and camera time arguing with the Greens.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Rob Stowell,
First I get the impression $3m isn’t much to him. And he’s likely to lose it anyway. Ego and grievance is probably part if it. He’d like to take down the government. Plus a sense of mischief. And maybe somewhere in there a desire to help others. It’s not impossible :)
I think all of those are true to some extent as well.
I think Labour would say no if such a deal were offered. It’d look too bad. And there’d be incredible scrutiny and a threat to relations with the US etc etc.
I don't think it would look that bad to oppose something that is, after all, a pretty extraordinary measure by those seeking KDC's extradition. I actually think it looks quite a lot worse to allow it.
As to a threat to relations with the US, pffff. They threaten that to everyone about everything. At best it's a threat to relations with Hollywood, which is not the whole US, and as if Hollywood is going to pull the pin on NZ. They get a sweeeeet deal from us already. If anything, that itself should be used as plenty heaps of reasons NOT to let them extradite people from here over something that is barely considered criminal by a huge segment of the population, and which is indulged in on a far more massive scale all around the world by many, many people, including in the USA itself.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Rob Stowell,
They have zero chance of getting the Justice portfolio.
A low chance, maybe, depending on the extent to which they hold the balance of power. But getting the Justice portfolio is obviously not the only way to wield influence over this. They just have to make it clear what they want and how much they want it, and Justice can take it's impartial and majestic course <sarcasm>.
What could Mana threaten? Not to go to National.
To not support the government. That could easily be enough to give a concession over, it's not like Labour's got a horn to do KDC in anyway. If Labour can't form a government without them, then that could actually mean a National Party minority government. I really don't think that Labour would want to go through that, just to hold out on a minor issue.
This is, of course, IF Mana/IP hold the balance of power, which is, in itself, highly unlikely at this point. I think it's more unlikely since IP made a leadership decision that will be unlikely to reach out to a new demographic of support. They're banking on the Mana brand itself, with sufficient money. I hope they do better than they did last time. I really do.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Rob Stowell,
The claim from Key (parroted widely) that that’s the whole point, Kim Dotcom is buying a shot at foiling his extradition, is just not credible.
I’ll give you that it’s disputable. But it’s not incredible. Dotcom showed no interest at all in NZ politics until he was facing these charges*, and his party formed it’s most basic principles in direct opposition to what is happening to him. He is pouring huge amounts of money into it, and would appear to be quite willing to hand over most of what it seemed to stand for initially just to get a real practical shot at having a representative in Parliament. That comes across as very desperate to me.
Hone and Laila have both said it’s never been raised. They don’t strike me as lying
Well politicians are natural born liars, so their body language is hardly going to give much away. But even if it’s true that it has not been overtly discussed, you have to be willfully blind not to see that it’s a massive agenda here. Dotcom doesn’t even have to say anything to them, they just have to like having his money to spend, in order to wish to strongly protect his rights, especially since they are openly sanctioned to do exactly the thing that all politicians most want, to raise their profile and increase their power.
If we are so ready to raise this argument every single time National works in the interests of power and money, what stops it from being a compelling argument here? Nothing.
Which brings us to the more useful argument. It’s not about whether or not Dotcom is buying influence. That’s ridiculously obviously the case. It’s about whether it is right for him to do so. Whether it is ethical to be bought in such a way, whether our system is meant to work like this. And that is where the objections of the likes of Key fall down. That is precisely how our system works. All that is objectionable is how blatant it is. That it’s only a tiny bit more blatant than the obvious connection between Key’s colossal wealth and his accelerated ride to being the most powerful man in NZ. Key doesn’t want that shoved in everyone’s face by some fat foreign barbarian that he is just a leaner more Kiwi version himself, a person who made his wealth in a way that many find highly objectionable, is hard to pin down on any principles, and has no scruples about using political power to advantage his mates at every turn, or allying even with complete twits like Banks just to cement that.
*Other than to buy a politician to ease his right to reside here, that is. It didn’t seem to matter to him at all what that politician stood for, that he was virtually the antithesis of the Mana Party.
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I was expecting a job. Since I've got no qualifications or ideological alignment, I'm the perfect candidate. But I'm probably a wee bit too young.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to ,
Sold. I'm voting for Bill English, because Layer 7.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
If they’d had parliamentary democracy in 15th century Germany, I wonder if they’d have had a “Printing Party” and people whinging that its leader really didn’t have a deep enough knowledge of movable type.
One thing is for sure, if there was a leader who couldn't even read or write, there would be plenty of people who would say that didn't matter at all, so long as they showed enough pedigree. Because there will always be courtiers, calling themselves "realists", who think that movements form around the internecine machinations of elite cliques, rather than the underlying technologies that drive them.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
So you expect an expert geek? To lead a political Party? I think it’s “youth” that’s the direction they are heading .
So they recycle an old politician? Hmmm.
And ? This National Govt has shown complete manipulation of the Electoral system totally within MMP and the public have voted that that’s ok.
Look, I'm not saying I dislike Harre, or Mana, nor am I against Dotcom completely bankrolling them to the tune of millions if that's his bag. I also don't think he deserves to be extradited for what he did, and don't really have anything against him. I hope his money helps Mana grow their vote.
But I also can't feel any love for this "Internet" party. I really no longer see the point of it. I'm hoping Harre can enlighten me why I'd vote for IP rather than Mana. Because if she can't do that, then whatever buzz they had picked up is going to come crashing down in a screaming heap, real soon. And as I see it, she doesn't even have an interest in doing that. Because Mana party votes are votes for her. To her personally, it would make no difference.
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Hard News: The Digital Natives, in reply to Moz,
And honestly, I’d be shocked if Lalia Harre couldn’t do that.
I'm sure she'll do an admirable job of pushing her long held and well known agenda. I don't even have a problem with that agenda. I just thought that the Internet Party might have been a change, something new. I thought it might actually be something that might reach out to more people than are already covered by the existing parties. Silly me.
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