Posts by Mikaere Curtis
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On what evidence?
So, you see no relationship at all between this kind of rhetoric:
We, the undersigned, declare the justice of taking all godly action necessary to defend innocent human life including the use of force. We proclaim that whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child
and a member of the same movement engaging in a terrorist action ?
Do you really believe that promoting extreme violence as a legitimate mechanism for political change is entirely coincidental to the murder of Dr Tiller ?
Add in the weasel-words that fail to condemn the killing as wrong, then yeah, I think we have all the evidence we need to conclude that some quarters of the pro-life movement are functionally acting as terrorism enablers.
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"pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not".
Teach me to use a phrase I originally heard on Laidlaw's Sunday Morning ...
I was not attempting to define terrorism, Mikaere. It is just profoundly disingenuous and dangerous to start painting entire groups of people as potential terrorists on the actions of one man.
What do you call people who promote (either explicitly or implicitly) "justifiable" killings of doctors who perform abortions ? I know that the existence of extremists within a group does not mean that the whole group are extremists. However, if the group does nothing to distance themselves from these calls for terrorist actions, they surely run the risk of being seen as terrorism enablers ?
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Until such a time, and, who knows, you might even find such a group, you are being very irresponsible to suggest this is anything like what should rightly be called terrorism.
So, it's not terrorism until someone issues a media release ?
When you do find evidence of leaders, organisations and groups celebrating Tiller's murder I will happily join you in condemnation of those groups.
There are, of course, groups who will not condemn the murder.
You don't need an organisation behind you in order to carry out terrorism. And terrorism doesn't require cheerleaders, either.
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"Reality" TV is an oxymoron. Any reality is edited out. It is cheap, manipulative TV for stupid people who get given what they deserve. It mostly burns off anyone one with a brain.
I take it you never watch sports on TV, then ?
If sports is the study of humans under pressure, surely this would cover most reality TV shows. Reality TV shows, like drama and sports shows, are about conflict.
I really don't see watching reality TV as being very different from watching a sports telecast. Sure, you have a lot more context with a sport (you know more about the rules, and more about teams and their current form), but other than that you are watching because you like the context and you want to see how the conflict resolves itself.
Me, I've better things to do than watch reality TV, but I certainly find people who sneer at reality TV, yet watch sports TV, are perhaps being somewhat inconsistent.
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For the longest time it seemed that whenever we went into town, we'd always seem to end up at Cause Celebre / Box. As others have mentioned, the jazz was fantastic, especially in the wee smalls. The vibe was great too, chilled and upbeat at the same time. The only thing I remember about the band was that the (very awesome) guitarist was flown of to LA to session on Tim Finn's "Persuasion" single. The lead break is very crisp.
I met my wife at a gig at Temple. After the gig, we all piled down to Cause Celebre and had a really good time. I'll never forget that night...
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Yup, Idiot's right. A civil marriage is not the same as a sacramental marriage in the tradition of the Catholic Church. You are describing the situation as it stands at present. Hence disappointed Catholic parents when their children get married on a beach by a civil celebrant - happened to a lady in my prayer group.
It follows that Catholics should have absolutely no qualms at all about same-sex state marriage. Do you have any qualms ?
BTW, I have achieved five of the seven sacraments in the list you provided, and got married on my marae by a Catholic priest (who also happened to be a friend from our days in London).
We had a really big wedding (first for both families), and our marae - being in a secluded bay the shores of Lake Rotoiti - provided an entirely picturesque backdrop to our celebrations. I like weddings, they are fun.
Inserting my tongue in my cheek for a moment, we'll do it the same way we get everything else done: a Greens Private Member's Bill.
So begins Emma's campaign to become a Green MP...
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Or convince them that marriage is a state arrangement...
Hmmm - that arrangement seems familiar. Oh, that's right - it's what we have now.
I agree that the arrangement is familiar. However, it's the convincing that we need to get right. If someone wants to preserve their <insert religion here> marriage, then if they see it as being an enhanced version of the state marriage, then it it is possible that they will also see a pure state marriage as something less than their preferred religious marriage.
Perhaps if the bigots could say to themselves: "well the gays only have an ordinary marriage, we have the authentic one because it is endorsed by our religion" then perhaps they'll chill out about the whole gay marriage thing, making it both easier and quicker to change the law.
Me, I take my cue from the Homosexual Law Reform palaver - and I reckon it's a generation, not 10 years, before society moves on.
At least you can count on the Greens to support same-sex marriages, so that's a reliable starting-point at least.
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If you want to have gay marriage you have to convince the religious people amoung NZers (Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu...) that their religion is wrong in how it views homosexuallity. Or convince them that the whole organised religion thing is overrated.
Or convince them that marriage is a state arrangement, and that they rebrand it via their religious communities e.g. a marriage in a Catholic church could be called a "Catholic Marriage" (although the legal paperwork would still be the same). They could even issue supplementary (and legally inconsequential) paperwork if they want.
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If we allow gay marriage, the long term effect would be that Bruno would have less material to work with.
Is this really want we want ?
Actually, the most compelling argument I encountered over the issue of gay rights was a king hit at party from a 'phobe who overheard me proposing that
Not as nuanced as other arguments, I'll admit, but certainly got the message across.
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Evidence suggests local Mount Albertians, not South Aucklanders, were responsible for the theft.
And when mine was stolen in February, it was found in Pt Chev ! Surely this a business case for that motorway through Coyle Park, over Meola Reef and thenceforth onto Beachhaven ;)
Uh, okay you guys. I won't be back...
Bugger. @Deepred & Angus, you know that thing about sexists comments being counter-productive...?