Posts by Chris Waugh
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I'm sure somebody already mentioned this on one of these threads, but never mind.... This is disturbing:
But Mr Watson posted on Facebook this afternoon that he had just had a "super interesting chat with The Electoral Commission just now".
"It appears we may be gagged."
He later posted that "the story is the Electoral Commission have advised a Access Radio station not to play Planet Key as it may be a contravention of the act."
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Hard News: The silence of the public square, in reply to Brent Jackson,
Are such papers, whether they're spoilt or left blank, actually counted? Do they have any effect on the outcome?
It would be nice to think an electorate could elect "Nobody" if a plurality of the voters thought all the candidates were rubbish, and have that electorate's seat sit pointedly empty in Parliament for a full term. And have that empty seat recorded as an "abstention" every time Parliament votes, and yet still require the government to win a full majority, and not just a majority of those seats not empty, to pass any legislation.
ETA: I would also like electorates have a right of recall and electorate MPs as independents rather than party members, but it's a minimum of 8 months until I'll be able to register on the electoral roll again, so this is about as much influence as I could possibly have on these things right now.
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Hard News: The silence of the public square, in reply to blindjackdog,
The You lose your right to complain argument is so stupid that anyone making it loses their right to have opinions.
No, it has a certain validity. When people don't vote out of laziness or apathy, I have no problem with them being told not to complain. If you've got the motivation to whinge, you've got the motivation to get yourself to a polling station and cast a vote. What annoys me about the "you lose your right to complain argument" is that it denies people the right to abstain as a conscious decision.
showing their true colours as they maintain that only particular forms of political discourse are legitimate.)
Yeah, I've been enjoying watching from this distance as Kim Dotcom shakes things up like a court jester gone feral.
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Like this?
Or like this?
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This way?
Or this?
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Looking for…
...the lost?
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I think as we're encouraging people to vote, we need to remember that abstention can also be a perfectly valid exercise of one's democratic rights. Not abstention out of apathy or laziness or because some parties are ok but not good enough (they ain't gonna get better unless people take part). But Craig's given one example of all the options being too bad, and there are plenty more. Sometimes it's better to stand up and say, "No, I have no confidence in any of the options, I refuse to take part".
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Setting sun
Working again! So, what I tried to post earlier.
And this would seem to be some rather early change going on.
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Capture: See Into the Trees, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Gah! That’s annoying! It’s not me hitting ‘stop’ or closing the tab early, it’s something in the pipeline or machinery between me and wherever the appropriate server is. Trying yet again…. ....failing yet again. Seven-ish more months and I'll be back in Aotearoa.</frustration with the side-effects of heavy internet c3ns0rsh1p>
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Trying again...
