Posts by dc_red
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Trudeau also once wore a cape to a football game ... and gave some protesting farmers (is there any other sort?) the finger out of a train window. Top bloke.
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I'm interested to know more about these "evangelical atheists" you speak of, Craig. The atheists I know (and that's a lot) keep their views to themselves, except when someone - an individual, or the state - is trying to force religiosity on them, or invoke some religious power in their name.
i.e., Atheists will defend their views, and defend secularism, but I don't see how these defensive positions could be equated with evangelism. Perhaps you have different experiences?
I would have thought that atheists don't have much reason to impose their views on others. Note: this is distinct from defending secularism, which many religious believers of different stripes also think is a good idea. It is also distinct from entering into debate with religionists, where all concerned consent to that debate.
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As for using contraception when they are not meant to. Isn't that why they have confession?
I think you're expected to be genuinely repentant, and not planning on committing the same sin again in the immediate future.
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With regards to the deleted material ... the first para speaks to the way in which conservatives like English translate "moral disapproval" of certain things into support for criminalization.
e.g., one can think that prostitution is a "bad thing" - but still see that there is a convincing case for legalizing (or at least decriminalizing) it. Decriminalizing or legalizing something doesn't mean that you approve of it, or that you're going to use it, but merely that there is no strong case for threatening those involved with criminal sanction.
Put another way, what's the logical connection the Pope/the Bible/the Koran saying "prostitution is an offence against the will of God" and the desire to criminalize it? Surely eternal damnation would be sufficient, without incarceration too?
As a side note, does anyone else think that English's party is having a free ride on the s59/referendum thing? They voted for Bradford's bill, but somehow seem to be riding a wave of public opposition to it? Just an idea.
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My understanding is that $46k is the average full-time salary.
The term "average wage" presumably (properly?) refers to the mean income of everyone who earns at least a buck a year ... and would be a hell of a lot lower than $46k?
Which would go a long way to explaining why, as I/S established, around half of all earners pay less than $3600pa in tax?
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2008 is shaping up to be the year New Zealand got a new hairstyle - "I just felt like a change".
Yeah, and where the hairdresser promises you a decent society style, but gives you the radical neoliberal look instead.
It takes years to grow back, y'know.
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Snowy (Milo in the French) said:
lucky for him the mainstream media are being so charitable though because Key seems incapable of uttering an unscripted and vetted line without making himself look like an arse, or at best an amateur who's way out of his depth.
Yeah, I'm beginning to suspect very strongly that the public has stopped listening to Helen Clark, and Labour more generally. They could be singing "tax cuts for all, petrol prices halved, and mortgages at 4%" and people would still be moaning about political correctness and how they're off to Australia.
But ... are people listening to Key? If they were, the might notice that after 1-2 sentences of platitudes, he gets himself in an awful pickle. Indeed, everytime he opens his mouth for longer than 30 seconds, he does maketh an arse of himself. It doesn't seem to matter.
Which is a bit strange.
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Kracklite opined:
One, in a number of professions, universities are churning out far more architecture graduates and designers than there are jobs. This is the result of 'aspirational' marketing and enrolment (and that's why I hate that particular buzzword). This is compounded by the fact that these professions have international cultures and no-one can get real experience without at least a wanderjahr. ...
As for the universities themselves, of course they depend on international exchange and high specialisation. Most of my friends and colleagues there have gone/come from/to overseas. Business is no doubt similar; Globalisation is simply the rule now, and has been for a long time.
...Eventually, when I finish my PhD, I'll probably be off to the UK ...
Indeed. I'd add to your comments that Universities are churning out far more PhDs than there are jobs where that qualification is a bona fide requirement ... also due to "aspirational marketing and enrollment", and deliberate policy.
There aren't too many options for many of these PhDs in New Zealand ... permanent academic positions are generally few and far between (and theoretically a supervisor only needs to have one PhD student in his/her entire career to replace him/her). That leaves the middle-to-upper echelons of the public service, private consultancy, or .....
In the public service and consultancy there's probably some qualification inflation going on, too, as previously a Masters sufficed for many of those jobs.
Not much for many of those newly-minted PhDs in NZ except a one-way ticket to somewhere else.....
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John Key has been caught telling the Keri Keri District Business Association he'd love to drive down wages and all the plonkers in the media want to talk about is middle class tax cuts, smacking and non-existent "scandals".
Indeed. I look forward to the swivel-eyed ones frothing at the mouth over Key's remarkable statement <cough>admission</cough>. A lead on the evening news, and an incredulous 56-pt headline on the front of the Herald, for staters.
"NATS PLAN ATTACK ON WAGES" should do.
Followed by weeks of blather and journos interviewing each other about how hard they work for their current salaries, and how they wouldn't "love" seeing them driven down.
Followed by some unsolicited advice to the Nats about who should, and shouldn't be on their front bench, and which "under-performers" should be put out to pasture.
Rinse and repeat.
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Michael Fay, anyone?