Posts by Keith Ng
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So, it's not "cynically populist" to play up to the NIMBY vote and engage in what can most politely be described as hysterical scaremongering?
Actually, it's Not-Over-My-BackYard. 40m underground in my backyard, that's fine.
It's a serious distinction, though. If they were real NIMBYs, they'd try to get the road back through Rosebank. They're not. They just want the impact of the tunnel to be mitigated by burying it underground.
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Oh, probably. You have to understand that Owen issues his fatwas against selfish suburbanites and their families from the Centre for Resource Management Studies HQ in Kaiwaka, Northland.
Actually, his more fantastic arguments are:
1) All this thought is given to the air quality in the community - what about the air quality for the commuters, who have to be stuck in a tunnel full of *CARS*!
2) All this thought is given to the community's enjoyment of green spaces. What about the drivers' rights to enjoy them, too? (Via looking out their window when they're driving, cos driving through green spaces is sweet.)
I kid you not.
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I hope someone pointed out to him that YOU CAN'T WALK ON THE MOTORWAY IN NEW ZEALAND! Whether it's above or below ground.
With tunnels, there's a special section dedicated to walkers and cyclists. It's called "above".
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If the opposition is undertaking your genocide then surrendering your civillians to them is never a good idea. The narrative is genocide, it would be odd to turn up to one of these rallies with a sign saying in effect "Send Tamils to Conentration Camps".
I don't think anyone actually thinks of these UN camps as concentration camps, not even those who call the war a campaign of genocide.
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Any group of 'freedom fighters' jump the shark the moment they set off a car bomb.
Not saying that terrorism is justifiable, but uneven among unjustifiable actions, there are degrees.
There's a big difference, in my mind, between the indiscriminant killing of enemy civilians via bombings, versus the deliberate killing of your own civilians to threaten them into staying in an area where they will die.
I think the most repulsive part of the latter argument is that the war is no longer the means, but the end, and lives are the means to win the war.
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You opposed the meaninglessness of Earth Hour but find great utility in a motion of the New Zealand House of Representatives? Interesting.
I don't find great utility in it, no. It was a futile but, for lack of a better word, nice gesture in a situation where no clean solution exists.
Flavell's blocking of the motion was an expression of some pretty perverse value judgements, but it wasn't any less futile. As I said, if the government stops shooting, it doesn't mean that any civilians will get saved, or that the war will be peacefully resolved.
But it's not just that Harawira/Flavell's suggestion was pointless, it was more the fact that they were basing it on the idea that ethnic-separatists = right, (pseudo)colonial government = wrong, and allowing such simplistic value judgements to overshadow both reality and basic decency.
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Manners Mall today contains a billboard promoting Earth Hour, towed by an SUV that pours out 3.5 tonnes of CO2 each year.
MOUAAAAA!!! *RAGE*!!!
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The net result of all this is that Australia has the highest per capita emissions of greenhouse gases in the world.
OTOH, the more polluting their electricity is, the more they have to gain from energy efficiency. (i.e. The greater the emissions per kWh generated, the greater the emission reduction from reducing power consumption.)
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Polar bears are dangerous and unpredictable carnivores. I applaud the common sense of our Prime Minister in this matter.
Polar bears are just misunderstood. All they need is a hug.
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Note, that was just the first place I found online that sold them in NZ. You might be able to get a better deal elsewhere.