Posts by Craig Ranapia
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I predict that GOP media will now feel that they have over-reached with their vitriol for anything President Obama.
Economist blogger ‘E.G’ seems to agree with you. I hope you’re both right, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on the Tea Baggers (and their GOP panderers) having a rational neuron in their empty little heads.
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Hard News: You know what ..., in reply to Lucy Stewart,
Oh, you science types, with your tiresome insistence that words and numbers have meaning, and should be used with care and precision. "Pshaw!" I say to you, Madame! Tish-tosh! :)
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Hard News: You know what ..., in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,
I get the sentiment, but I’m not sure what that would achieve. There’s no doubt about his crimes or culpability.
So, Danyl, the post WW2 war crimes trials in Nuremberg and Tokyo (flawed and ambiguous as they were) didn’t achieve anything – as opposed to going past the judge and jury and straight to the executioners?
With all due respect to President Obama, vengeance is not justice. It wasn’t in 1946, and it isn’t now. Justice is hard and elusive; perhaps we will never find it in this world, or any other. But I just thought we were supposed to be better.
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Hard News: You know what ..., in reply to Russell Brown,
And, of course, it has nothing to do with the substance of the story.
No. And one could be a tad bitchy and note that the Prime Minister took retired prank caller 'Hone' Carter seriously enough to make him Civil Defence Minister. :)
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Hard News: You know what ..., in reply to Russell Brown,
They basically dared people to call Jerry Mataparae a liar instead.
Pick me – because I’m finding it increasingly difficult to escape the conclusion that if Jerry Mateparae wasn’t lying (either by commission or omission) he was promoted above his level of competence more than a decade back.
And I think this allegation should be easy enough to substantiate, shouldn't it?
Mr Key hit out at Mr Stephenson's credibility, saying the journalist had once impersonated TV broadcaster Duncan Garner to get Mr Key to call him.
"I hung up on him because when people impersonate someone else I don't take them seriously," Mr Key said.
"I just don't think he's credible. If you look at the assertions he's made in this article they're actually not supported by the investigation from the New Zealand Defence Force."
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I’m determined not to blog about the killing of Osama Bin Laden until I’ve formed a coherent view
At the moment, my only coherent view is seeing mobs exulting in the deaths of human beings (even a vile shit-stain like Bin Laden) is no more endearing in the United States than it is down on the “Arab Street”.
And the most stupid local statement I’ve seen (don’t have the heart to go looking) came from DPF who piped up, “Today is the equivalent of having the guy who killed your Mum or Dad sent to prison for life.”
I can’t even begin to parse all the ways in which that analogy is horrifying wrong.
BTW, could we stop trying to put Al Quaeda on a "my body count is bigger than yours" league table? Vile and callous.
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Legal Beagle: Practical considerations, in reply to Craig Young,
And at least Russell Norman got in via the Green Party list.
Wasn't he co-leader outside Parliament for over two years before entering Parliament? And one could say that folks who party voted Green (and members who participated in the democratic list formation) didn't vote for Mike Ward and Catherine Delahunty to stand aside. That's the problem with playing legitimacy bingo -- it so often comes back to bite.
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Legal Beagle: Practical considerations, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
So if he is doing it for the money he has stuffed up big time but not for the first time
Honestly, trying to figure out what’s flitting through Hone Harawira’s mind at any given moment is like trying to do one of the super-sized sudoku puzzles with a hangover. Big ups if you can do it, but I’m not smart or masochistic enough to try.
Indeed. And I expect that if Hone wasn’t seeking a new mandate, the same people currently complaining about the cost would be complaining that he was illegitimate because he had founded a new party.
Well, of course I’d say this, but Phil Goff’s concern trolling about the public purse was delightfully amusing. What did he think would be the outcome when he was calling for Pansy Wong’s resignation? Also don’t remember him having a damn thing to say when the incumbent MP for Mount Albert announced her intention to “force” a by-election the day she was returned with a near ten-and-a-half thousand majority.
Having said that, that kind of political concern trolling is far from exclusive to Labour. National was so desperate to avoid a by-election in New Plymouth, they happily voted to retrospectively amend the Electoral Act under extreme urgency.
Either change the damn law so no MP can trigger a by-election unless they’re dead, gaga or being sent to prison or STFU.
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Hard News: Any excuse for a party, in reply to Lea Barker,
I can see the argument there, but I'd rather do without a head of state who has to meet a religious qualification -- imposed by a foreign Parliament three hundred years ago -- that would not only be unjust but illegal to impose on our government.
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but I appreciated Danyl’s observation:
Oh, frak that -- the concern trolling about the public purse gets trotted out by political hack too bloody often.
Well, you know something -- democracy costs. So does a police force and judiciary in a national with any pretensions to civilization. YMMV whether whether you'd like to life in a nation that's that efficient.
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