Posts by nzlemming
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Woh.
Somebody's going to need a new arsehole...
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Alfie,
In the meantime, Trump has pissed off the GOP again by going off message, encouraging Russia to hack Clinton’s personal server and release whatever they find there. The man's seriously unhinged.
But can you imagine the GOP's response if a Clinton did it?
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Hard News: The Unitary Plan and grown-up…, in reply to Russell Brown,
They actually have to put on grown-up pants and go make a case to a court, instead of just broadcasting misinformation.
And get costs against them when they lose.
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Hard News: The Unitary Plan and grown-up…, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
Maybe we should follow Singapore and just abolish local government altogether. There are major geographical differences obviously but not a major population difference (Singapore has a few hundred thousand more people than NZ.
Wow. Way to make a false equivalence. Singapore is a city state of 687 sq km with 5,674,472 people in it (according to the CIA. Mind you, they also still think Rodney Hide and Jim Anderton are still political leaders in NZ, but I doubt that SG has managed to increase its land). In land (i.e. infrastructure) terms, that is local government. Big population and high density, but centrally located because no choice, right? Unless they invade Malaysia - so not going to happen.
Auckland is 1,890 sq mi (which is the administrative reach and responsibility of the council). The population is much more spread out, which is actually more costly in terms of infrastructure provision than high density is. And Auckland council already did do away with local government to create the SuperCity - something for which, I seem to recall, you were an avid cheerleader.
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Joe Boden,
Actually he could have stood for election again, because he served only the final 14 months of Kennedy's term. Here is the language of the relevant amendment:
Oh really? I thought he was there longer. Huh. Retract. Thanks, Joe.
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Mark Cubey,
This New Yorker piece on Gary Johnson is fascinating
Yes, I've been watching him. Not a snowball's chance in hell (probably less than Stein) but he may prove a safety valve for Republicans who can't stand voting for Trump and can't bear to vote for Clinton.
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Zach Bagnall,
Presidential terms becoming entrenched at 8 years is making campaigns more fraught, I feel. When each administration is going to be there for half a generation, the stakes are high. The last single term president was Bush (Senior).
Meh.
Since the amendment's adoption, four presidents have served two full terms: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Barack Obama has been elected to a second term, and will complete his term on 20 January 2017, if he does not die or resign before that date. Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush sought a second term, but were defeated. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, but resigned before completing it. Lyndon B. Johnson was the only president under the amendment to be eligible to serve more than two terms in total, having served for only fourteen months following John F. Kennedy's assassination. However, Johnson withdrew from the 1968 Democratic Primary, surprising many Americans. Gerald Ford sought a full term, after serving out the last two years and five months of Nixon's second term, but was not elected.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States#Tenure_and_term_limits
It's easier for an incumbent to be re-elected than a challenger to break in. Johnson would probably have been re-elected (despite the war) in 1968 over Nixon, but he could not stand again under the 22nd Amendment.
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Just now, from Bernie Sanders at the convention:
"I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States."
That's the man I salute, as much for this as for anything else. Love to have him in the White House, but glad he's having an impact wherever he is.
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Leaving aside how one defines 'peacetime' (the US has been engaged in near-perpetual war since at least 2001
The US has been engaged in perpetual war since 1942. The military-industrial complex didn't happen overnight in 1958 when Eisenhower warned about its growing power.
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Hard News: DNC 2016: Beyond weird, most…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Autism isn’t an “epidemic” and it’s not caused by bad food.
Vaccines, innit. (I'll go get my hat...)