Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Labour leader Phil Goff says there are some good ideas in the report but the moves have to be looked at closely and the law always needs to discourage people from taking harmful drugs.
Sorry, but WTF does “the law always needs to discourage people from taking harmful drugs” actually mean? Serious question. It sounds nice – after all, what sane person would encourage someone to become a raging meth-head. Or an alcoholic, for that matter. But the more I think about it, the more fatuous that statement becomes.
As you all know, I'm a recovering alcoholic and have very personal reasons for hating drunk drivers with a passion. It would make my reptile hind-brain very happy if drunk drivers were "discouraged" by a sliding scale of public stocks, flogging and televised executions. How useful it would be for people who often have severe multiple addictions, little impulse control and roughly no ability to reason out the probable consequences of their actions? Not so much.
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The Law Commission […] would be better to spend its time working out how to cut crime rather than trying to relax the country’s laws.
Which would probably lead to a frothy BOPT editorial about unelected (and unelectable) pointy-headed academic wankers who need to come down from their ivory towers now and then…
is the most heroic tolerance for cognitive dissonance I have ever seen.
Don’t be silly, James. Self-inflicted ethyl alcohol poisoning isn’t drug abuse. Nice “responsible” white, middle-class professionals can stop any time they like. Reefer is used by nig-nogs, poor people and beatnik commies who have to be saved from their degenerate selves. Or something.
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Police Association president Greg O’Connor insists that letting minor offenders off with a warning would encourage drug use.
I wish someone would have the stones to ask Greg O'Connor why he's so keen on a status quo that arguably only encourages organised crime and all the social toxic waste that follows. One might also like to ask the members of the Police union whether the war on drugs places them needlessly in harm's way and chews through enormous amounts of public money (courts and prisons don't come for free) when they're being told modest pay increases are unaffordable.
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180 Seconds with Craig Ranapia – 8th May, in reply to Public Address Radio,
Hey, that's... totally true. Bastards.
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Matthew Poole,
He’s so tightly wedded to his ideas that Rod Oram, as espoused in a recent RNZ interview that I was listening to in the gym, suspects he’ll really struggle with the compromises that are integral to really playing in politics.
Definitely – though part of wishes Harawira actually finds himself in a position where he actually has to lead a party that’s part of a government where Goff or Key are quite willing to call his bluff. Hone might find it a little more challenging that flame-trolling around the Press Gallery. (I'm trying to remember who said MMP was short for 'More Migraines Please'.)
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless, in reply to Russell Brown,
I honestly do not believe he would have had a shred of respect for Maori culture, in which song and idolatry (and I do not use that word in any negative sense) are so central
For that matter, I fail to see any evidence than Bin Laden and the Talitubbies have any respect for great swathes of Islamic art, literature and society. That’s a tragedy that should be pointed out more often.
Would the Māori resistence and resentment towards the imperialist colonialists not count in their favour?
Chris: If Harawira wants to be a radical chic tweenie in the throes of his first crush, I'd respectfully suggest there are better candidates closer to home. Hone may be Team Osama; I'm on Team Te Whiti o Rongomai.
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Robert Fox,
I agree that Key probably is a pluralist, its just a shame he fronts a party with a large cohort of members who’s version of pluralism excludes most Polynesians and is also directly proportional to an individual’s credit rating.
Frankly, Robert, I just wanted to Hulk out and smash the Labour MPs who stoop up during the third reading of the Civil Unions Bill and told folks like me and Emma to STFU about marriage equality because, hey, we should be thankful we're allowed to sit at the back of the bus rather than being thrown under the wheels.
I'm disappointed (to put it mildly) that the current Government is continuing the Fifth Labour Government's shoddy record on eroding civil liberties and due process. (Which may explain why a party lead by 'Talk Tough" Goff is leaving all the heavy lifting to the Greens, and roundly abusing them for doing so.)
None of that means I buy into the wing-nut narratives about anyone in New Zealand's Parliament being out on the flaming fringes. Anyone who really thinks that needs to get out of the house more.
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Joshua Arbury,
To be fair to Labour, they’re in a bloody difficult situation with their economic arguments at the moment. The more they slam the state of the economy, the more National will use that to justify spending cuts.
So, Labour's not presenting any coherent policy because the National-lead Government might go out and make a different case? Dude, that's piss-weak diluted by the contents of a swimming pool.
I know this is wading into the river denial and trying to save folks who don't want to be saved, but here's a crazy idea. The next time Labour wants to run an "Ax The Tax" bus tour, actually ax the fucking tax. M'kay?
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to bmk,
How they should play it, I think, is by pointing out that the huge deficit has arisen from the tax cuts given.
Not actually true, but never mind...I guess we've all given up on the idea of treating the electorate like grown-ups who don't have ADHD. Of course, if you want to have a chat about Labour and National operating under the shared delusion you can cut government income, hike spending and it just doesn't matter...
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Since his behaviour in the House is a combination of arrogance and ineptitude, this is especially galling to Labour MPs, who are very frustrated that the public doesn’t see Key the way they see him every day.
If Labour MPs really think that, then I’ve got to say Freud’s theory of projection is a theory no longer…
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