Posts by InternationalObserver
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Cruise is a member of Scientology - which by the way is not a Church but a weird commercial organisation.
The two are not exclusive - the Catholic Church is also quite wealthy via its many commercial holdings. And the 7th Day Adventists own Sanitarium (think about that next time Weetbix ask your kids "how many can you do?"). But I take your point.
It's long been my opinion that CoS was just a tax dodge constructed by L Ron Hubbard, who cruelly died without letting his flock in on it before exiting. [Crikey - imagine if he did make a deathbed confession but his #2 (soon to be #1) STFU??] But I'd also say the same about the myth of Jesus Christ (he's the Son of God, dontcha know?) - so lord knows what CoS will be like 2,000 years from now.
But the horse has bolted and now it's too late to shut the stable door. CoS is now an established religion with tens of thousands of followers. Ditto 'the Moonies' - despite efforts in the 70s to marginalise them as a cult.
As is self evident, I have no 'faith' for religion. I may or may not be in for a dreadful shock when I die.
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Maybe the current TV campaign script should be amended:
Because it's not right. Unless you're on rival teams (sports or politics) in which case a bit of biffo is to be expected. It's the Kiwi Way.And furthermore, if you pay attention to the campaign, rather than simply trying to score points off it...
Hmmm, methinks I hit a nerve. I was not trying to score points off the ad, merely highlighting the acceptance of sports 'biffo'. There are very few ppl who would argue with the ad (no-one is really 'pro-violence', just as no-one is in favour of clubbing baby seals, and we all listen to Morning Report) but if you asked them if sports players are wrong to biff eachother there'd be more than a few who would shrug and say it's all part of the game. If you can't take it you shouldn't play, etc etc.
And that's kinda the response we're getting now from some quarters to defend Mallard. I think your __first __response to my sports analogy was better (heh heh) when you highlighted that some codes are starting to go harder on players that biff. And that's where I see the PM going when she finally makes known her response/judgement on Mallard.
I predict she'll 'sin bin' him by taking his beloved RWC and Sports Portfolios off him, and I'd be happy with that. I don't think he should be prosecuted and nor does Henare (and if he was prosecuted Tau knows Henare would come out the undisputed bad guy). Like many errant Labour MP's before him Mallard will (should) take his medicine, pull his head in, and after a suitable time-frame find himself back on the front bench.
And as an aside: if the TV networks stopped highlighting biffo in their sports news bulletins then maybe that might improve fairplay??
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Careful you don't wind up trivialising family violence there ...
I certainly wouldn't dream of trivialising family violence - it's awful and I've been lucky there's been none of it in my family.
But your reply is kinda my point. No-one would dream of trivialising family violence and yet there is a great deal of trivialising of Mallard's violence right here on PAS. We're all agreed that yes what he did was wrong, but divided on how 'bad' it was and whether Henare kinda deserved what he got cause he kinda provoked it, y'know?
Hence my analogy above. If I slapped my wife how far would I get telling the Police/Judge that she had provoked me by demeaning me in front of others? Even if my wife [this is all hypothetical BTW folks] said "I was goading him and he's never hit me before" the cops would still arrest me regardless.
There's clearly a gender bias in what constitutes assault. If I slapped a guy at a street BBQ the cops probably wouldn't even be called, and if they were they'd probably use their discretion and give us a warning.
And if Mallard had of 'merely' shoved a female MP (presumably harranging him) out of his way whilst storming angrily down the corridor of the Beehive then he would be history by now. He would have tendered his resignation as soon as the first journo asked him "Did you just ..."
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Ah, tofu, my cultural heritage. It's used in plenty of dishes with meat
Yes, and I always feel cheated when I find it in my Chinese takeaway. I'm sure the Chinese word for Tofu is Pad Ding (actually that could be Thai)
If you really want to find the way to a man's heart ...
Yeah, yeah ... lest any women think they're on to something here: can I just remind you that cooking is the second best way to a man's heart. I may be stating the obvious but if you're not doing the first then I can't imagine any meal that could be good enough to make up for ... to make up for ... make up for ... for ... mmmmm ... donut
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__ And he's been 'humiliated'? So he should be - but let's also remember what's NOT happened. He's probably going to be demoted, not removed from Cabinet, let thrown out of Parliament. He's not going to face any criminal charges ...__
Well, Tau could always choose to lay a complaint of assault and take his chances. It doesn't look to me like something that should be cluttering up the courts.
I agree RB, and if my wife makes one more drunken announcement about my tiny penis at the next street BBQ I hope the Police won't be called either if I pop her one on the mouth. I was provoked.
Maybe the current TV campaign script should be amended:
Because it's not right. Unless you're on rival teams (sports or politics) in which case a bit of biffo is to be expected. It's the Kiwi Way.
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'Sopranos' Creator Defends Famous Finale
Chase says the New Jersey mob boss "had been people's alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted 'justice'...
"The pathetic thing to me was how much they wanted HIS blood, after cheering him on for eight years."
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I don't actually know how you get cabbage to go bright purple...
First, buy one of those purple cabbages ...
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Certainly the Republicans will come out guns blazing at it, doubtless hauling out the old "liberal left-leaning Hollywood" argument again. Others will write it off as a typical conspiracy-theory flick where the media and academics set themselves up to be the good guys in possession of greater truths than elected officials and so on.
Fox will have a field-day and that should be fun. Lotsa name-calling is my guess.
You can be sure that many of those 'writing it off as a typical conspiracy-theory flick' will be shills for the Republican talking points. And while Fox et al may be talking down this Cruise movie, you can bet they'll be talking up this one:
Flick Glams Up the Story Of Jailed Journalist Judith MillerMiller was the journalist (possibly the inspiration for the Streep character in the Cruise movie) who worked hand-in-glove with the Whitehouse in promoting it's war on terror. She went to jail briefly for refusing to name her source when she outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. In this film (linked above) she is played as a young sexy crusading principled journo by Kate Beckinsale!! The Republicans have finally got their own version of All The Presidents Men.
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So my vote would be for ...
Voting is just a construct designed to fool the proletariat into thinking they have free choice, when in fact they have none. Observe how the 'free-ist' democracies have the lowest voter turnouts.
</I was joking, but now I'm not so sure>People who write software now have far more impact than people who write poetry.
You could have said the same thing about road engineers. And Paris Hilton.
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Campbell Live on TV3 tonite tackled the issue of the Police's right to take photos of people they've stopped at a roadblock. Lucky for the Police Talking Head someone had laid a complaint with the PCA about it, so he wasn't actually able to provide any substantive answers because ... it's before the Police Complaints Authority. Sweet, eh?
And before anyone plays the race card and sez it was only Maori who got stopped and photographed ... this is not the first time the Police have photographed people en masse. Last time it was the (predominantly) middle class whitey
Detectives investigating a possible drugs-related death forced all the 450-odd people at a Pakatoa Island dance party to line up and be photographed before letting them go home.