Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Muse: Shelf Life: The Dying Elephant in…, in reply to Sacha,
Thanks for that, Sacha. As our host could tell you, self-publishing requires a hell of a lot of work -- and it helps when you've got someone as disturbingly omni-competent as David Hayward teching the tech. (And though Russell would be far too modest to say so, he's not bad at self-promotion either.)
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Sacha,
Think of it as whispering truth to power
Oh, that's a good line - stealing that. But seriously, we should remember the Fourth Estate is also a "power" with agendas and biases that need disinfecting sunlight as well.
Anyway, I'm rather chuffed if any initial estimate of destruction and death end up being flat out wrong. Remember when the CW was that the death toll would be anywhere between 300-500? It wasn't totally irresponsible scaremongering at the time -- and any deaths are terrible -- but I'd be pretty glad if the damage estimates went the same way.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Karen Crisp,
Cops were from NZ, according to this.
OK, am I the only person who thinks we’re drawing a distinction without a difference here? What may be acceptable -- or at least tolerated -- in the animal kingdom of Melbourne gang-land doesn't fly here. Ever. From nobody.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Sacha,
To some extent the facts don’t matter to journos aware of that power struggle. We’ll probably see other oblique stories about it too.
And whatever you think of Key and Brownlee (let’s assume the default position around PAS is: nothing nice), is that actually good enough? If journos are going to slide into campaign mode, I’d prefer they do it upfront not passive-aggressively.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to izogi,
According to some of the crap I saw on Channel 7 during the week or two afterwards, Australians were practically the only authorities in Christchurch — certainly the only ones doing anything useful — and they were all heroes!
Australian media being awfully parochial in finding a local angle on an international news story? Thank Clio we never, ever do that here. [/snark]
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Russell Brown,
But I can still be angry at Michael Laws, right?
If you weren't permanently, I'd be most severely displeased.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Idiot Savant,
If they can’t, they have no business in law enforcement.
Or teaching or nursing or any job involving heavy machinery or sharp blades. Jus' saying.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Rich Lock,
The ‘violent’ sanction that society employs is the threat of loss of liberty and rights that go along with that.
And also the idea that, for most of us, a criminal conviction carries a social stigma and practical consequences -- for example, a lengthy prison sentence for P dealing will definitely be injurious to your future career options and ability to travel to parts of the world that don't give visas to convicted drug dealers. But that's only "violence" if you're at some poli sci tutorial discussing anarchist/libertarian theory or a meeting of the Robert A Heinelin Fan Club.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Sacha,
Take the right-wing tosh elsewhere, David.
And please get the hell out of my line of sight before espousing that it is “right-wing” as opposed to generally vile to espouse the notion that the ever present threat of rape and Police thuggery is what keeps the rule of law working, thanks.
Like it or not, Laws is just as entitled to express his point of view as anyone else.
Yes, I’ve said here more than one that being a free-speech fundamentalist requires defending people you wouldn’t let in your house without making sure you had a hazmat suit and a taser. But my freedom of speech does not come with freedom from criticism or consequence. (If I said half the idiotic shit Laws does on my PA Radio slot, I suspect both the producers of the show and Radio Live would exercise their right to decline to continue giving me a platform. Not that difficult to grasp, sir.)
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<i>I’m very uncomfortable overall with the over-reporting of these pretty insignificant ‘looting’ stories</i>
I'm getting really fucking sick of hearing this. Here's the deal: Next time you want to say someone having their house looted is "insignficant" or "trivial" please post your home address and leave your keys and alarm codes in the letter box.
At PAS we're capable of holding more than one idea in mind at the same time. So try this out.
1) Anyone accused of a crime (however heinous) does not "deserve" to be raped, beaten or otherwise abused by anyone.
2) People who put giving a shit about their neighbours and community above securing their own homes do not deserve to have a further violation dismissed as "insignificant" "bullshit".
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