Posts by ScottY
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(`Who cares how it's done' also applies to the Poor Law, and I'll be damned if I'll like that, even if it was better than nothing.)
Am I right that you've just compared a bunch of celebrities acting like fools for charity to the evils of the Victorian workhouse system? Or have I misunderstood something?
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Of course, Scotty, it would have been infinitely preferable if he'd had a pressing engagement elsewhere so you could complain about what a heartless Tory cunt he is. Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Craig, I just don't hate Key enough to describe him in that manner. In fact I don't really hate him at all. And, however misguided some of his policies are, I'd never describe him as heartless.
Given that child poverty is a symptom of Governmental failure. I'd have preferred no politicians to have been involved with the event. And that goes for Phil Goff (who was also filmed grinning like a buffoon, next to an All Black). After all, it's not as if child poverty only became a problem from election night.
So we need to be entertained in order to give a damn?
If the end result is that poor kids get food and clothes, then who cares how it's done?
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But why not support the people trying to do some good?
Because the idea that child poverty should be a matter for charity is disgusting.
Are you advocating that we stop supporting this charity? Because that's where your argument is going logically, i.e poverty is a government problem, so we mustn't support any non-government organisations or charities who try to address it. I'm sure you're not. It's okay to be angry at Key and the politicians. Let's not get angry at the people trying to help.
But as for Key, I wanted to scream at my TV when that grinning buffoon of a PM showed up. It's funny how he managed to make sure he was near an All Black almost every time the cameras turned to him.
It's not the Telethon that gets me exactly; it is the relentless happiness & seeming normality of the whole thing
It's a fun event, which is why it works to raise money. If it were a depressing event almost nobody would watch, and few would donate.
The corporates did a great deal of raising awareness of themselves. Nothing wrong with that, per se - other than the inherent tackiness - but they should be paying sufficiently for it. Anything else is exploiting the poor and needy, even if it does help them.
Who was exploited? And isn't this the model of capitalism that we all want? If being a good corporate citizen is good for business, won't it mean more companies start getting involved in charities and helping communities?
What are our taxes being paid for, again?
Bill English's mortgage?
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I don't understand some of the criticism and cynicism directed towards the Telethon.
Of course the Government should do more to alleviate child poverty. But because no government has ever done enough to help the poor and needy, charities exist.
The Telethon was nothing more than a fundraising exercise for a deserving charity. A whole bunch of people and communitiy groups got together to help. A whole pile of corporates got involved (I get the feeling some people think that is a bad thing. Why?). And it raised awareness of a major problem.
By all means attack the Government on its inaction in alleviating child poverty. But why not support the people trying to do some good?
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Scotty: I've got a sneaking suspicion Ingram could have racked in a damn sight more in nine months of billable hours as a QC specializing in commercial law -- and without the gallons of virtual froth spat in his direction by both wings of the wingnutter-tariat. Also, if he was out to line his pocket I don't think he would have taken on a inquiry originally expected to last a matter of weeks.
I know. But I couldn't resist.
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bastard still owes me $14 for Mission Impossible III
The first two films weren't a clue that III could be naff?
Reminds me of a proverb involving a fool and his money. :)
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I wonder what Spot is up to now that Richard Hammond has taken his job.
Spot's not well
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Give poor McCaw a break. He's only just come back from a long injury layoff.
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On the subject of Key and what he should not be saying, how about this?
When asked what he thought of the call by Niuean Premier Toke Talagi for the people of Fiji to rise up against the military regime, he said:
"You can't have a good coup and a bad coup."
Key clearly has no idea what a coup is. The great Wiki God defines a coup d'état as:
the sudden deposition of a legitimate government, usually by a small group of the State Establishment — typically the military — to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military.
How is a mass movement by the people a coup?
And I can understand why we might not officially sanction such a move - although behind the scenes it may be a different story - but why speak against it?
Maybe Key should have stuck to money-trading.
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Personally, I suspect the poor bastard isn't going to be taking any more calls from the Beehive. :)
And yet I'm sure Ingram found some consolation in the $479K he charged.