Hard News: 2011: The Year Of What?
222 Responses
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JLM,
We know what 2011 is going to be now - the year of the (zero damage, zero death) Washington Earthquake...
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Lucy Stewart, in reply to
We know what 2011 is going to be now - the year of the (zero damage, zero death) Washington Earthquake...
If it was meant for Washington, God's aim is, once again, terrible.
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On a micro level, 2011 was the year of the dogs for Ian and I. Our old girl, Cleo, died in May. Our new girl, Ruby, came to us in June. All too quick for me at the time, and by gum, it's a pain in the arse training a pup, but worth it in the long run. It was the year my friend Kath finally let go of a long held romantic dream and realised that living on your own isn't so terrible. It was the year I got to go to Fiji for the first time, and found a place that I really loved, for all it's political shenanigans. On a macro level, it's been a bit of a shit, hasn't it, all round? I, like Ben, think we're on the cusp of something but I'm not quite sure what, yet. Really, though, 2011 is another year. Calendar numbers make no difference - time rolls on inexorably, and life has it's ups and it's downs like it always does.
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Didn't Nostradamus or Edgar Cayce or one of those seers say something about the east and west coasts of the US falling into the sea?
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Rich Lock, in reply to
So you mean you don't loathe National?
I've mellowed considerably in my old age. Like a vint...aged cheese.
Satan will be riding a yellow dog to work through the snow before I vote for them, but no visceral loathing any more. Besides which, the National Party here are a different beast to the vile tories of my UK youth.
Having said that, I find the proposed Great Family Silver Sell-off just incredible. How can an idea that bad have got this far?
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National however are intimately tied in my psyche with the Muldoon of my youth ....
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Having said that, I find the proposed Great Family Silver Sell-off just incredible. How can an idea that bad have got this far?
Confidence and supply.Anything under urgency gets through pretty quickly, and if National get through again it will be worse with Brash and the other National Acts. Last night the 3 news did say on polling, more people preferred Labour policies to Nationals selling assets. Trouble is no one will notice until the shit hits the fan and we have nothing left .
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Sacha, in reply to
How can an idea that bad have got this far?
Ask the 'opposition'
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BenWilson, in reply to
Ask the 'opposition'
Sure, they're lame. But that doesn't force Kiwis to vote National. That's the worst part about all of this, that polls are suggesting these guys are going to improve their majority, despite not one single thing having improved on their watch. I can't understand it, and I think it comes down to not enough people shaking better sense into their friends who are proudly saying they will vote National just because Phil Goff is a numbnut. Or proudly saying they won't vote at all. Vote frikken Green if Labour isn't left enough for you. I think we're not shouldering enough of the blame ourselves, as a people, if we just let National do this.
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recordari, in reply to
Having said that, I find the proposed Great Family Silver Sell-off just incredible. How can an idea that bad have got this far?
For the record, I agree. When 51.5% of your own voters favour an opposition policy over your own, it's pretty clear there's a problem.
Given the other polling, most particularly with the 'opposition', as Sacha points out. Goff keeps saying 'If not me, then who?' To which Labour supporters could be forgiven for replying 'If not now, then when?'
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BenWilson, in reply to
When 51.5% of your own voters favour an opposition policy over your own, it's pretty clear there's a problem.
Yeah, I'm not convinced the problem isn't stupid NZers, TBH.
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Sacha, in reply to
Not stupid, just human. People will vote for who they trust to deliver over what will be delivered, unfortunately. When some politicians seem like they not only can't organise a piss-up in a brewery but don't want to, there's really little viable choice for voters. That failure to lead is not good for any of us.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
I think it comes down to not enough people shaking better sense into their friends who are proudly saying they will vote National just because Phil Goff is a numbnut.
I don’t know anyone who says that, and you lay a finger on me I’ll break all yours. Individually. Slowly. And take great pains to cause as much permanent neurological damage as inhumanly possible.
Perhaps I’m an old-fashioned kind of gal, but I’ve found the persuasive mode more effective than screaming “oy, you’re a fucking idiot” and wondering why I’ve got a sore head.
For the record, I agree. When 51.5% of your own voters favour an opposition policy over your own, it’s pretty clear there’s a problem.
Then again, if the question's been framed as "do you prefer the Yellow peril owning all your shit or making some rich prick cry?" (and I can't find the questions asked anywhere), I'd agree there's a problem but where it lies isn't entirely clear to me. Who knows, perhaps Labour is doing something right by accident.
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recordari, in reply to
Yeah, I'm not convinced the problem isn't stupid NZers, TBH.
What the ones voting for National, or the ones not voting for Labour?
[Redacted] I just remembered I don't do this anymore.
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Idiot/Savant on Labour 'winning' the policy argument but not votes.
Why the disconnect? Labour people will no doubt be tempted to fall back on their usual excuses of voter ignorance and media bias - "the peasants are too stupid to know what's good for them, and its all a conspiracy by Duncan Garner and Guyon Espiner" - but the truth is simply that there's more to politics than policy. People vote for governments for all sorts of reasons, including things like trust, likeability, and competence. If people don't like and don't trust you, or see you as a bunch of arrogant incompetent muppets, then the best policy in the world isn't going to help
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
"How can an idea that bad have got this far?"
Ask the ‘opposition’Perhaps if folks like Sacha could stop campaigning for Nact dear old Phil will have a chance.
On the asset sale bollocks I call bluff. They did it with the strip mining of our National parks... "Oooo, see? Look how we listen to the people, we have decided not to do something really unpopular and stupid"
On the lead up to the Election we will be told that "The economy is doing so well under National that we no longer have to sell your Granny, ain't we Great?"The Opposition have done plenty to voice their displeasure at the idea of asset sales and the latest rumblings from Hone Harewera about rolling Goff and the "Old School" for younger Labour reps is just foolish, we all know young people take far too many drugs, lack discipline and drive badly to be able to run the country.
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Lucy Stewart, in reply to
So you mean you don’t loathe National?
I was a die-hard National supporter from ages nine through, oooh, sixteen. Trufax.
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Sacha, in reply to
Perhaps if folks like Sacha could stop campaigning for Nact dear old Phil will have a chance.
Tribalism may be touching, but it doesn't seem to be working very well for the left, does it? I've said clearly many times before that the problem is not with one person. And if you think I support this government you nead your head read.
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Sacha, in reply to
Look how we listen to the people, we have decided not to do something really unpopular and stupid
The govt are quietly planning further mining. Fortunately the environmental movement are somewhat more effective than Labour right now so you may get to see some opposing of those plans after the election.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
The govt are quietly planning further mining. Fortunately the environmental movement are somewhat more effective than Labour right now
There you go, bagging Labour again.
The only reason they can be "quietly planning further mining" is because they scared the horses with the mind numbing idea that we could do it open pit, open slather in our precious National Parks, wildlife sanctuaries and Kiwi nests.
It ain't easy being a serious opposition when Nact has some powerful propaganda foo and just twists the knife while cynically smiling and waving.
I think you are blaming the wrong folks here Sacha, if you think Labour are bad then you have just been suckered by the PR scam that is Nact. -
Rich of Observationz, in reply to
Exactly.
For reference, I primarily won't vote Labour because of their policies:
- I don't support locking innocent people up without trial
- I want the right to choose what I put in my body
- I don't want NZ entering into undemocratic 'free trade' agreements
- I don't want NZ troops sent off to colonial wars, however much they want to goThe incompetence of Goff is a side issue (and the fact Labour can't find a decent leader is partly a consequence of their political stance)
We've got MMP (still) and that gives us the freedom to vote for who we agree with, not be forced into a binary Labour/National choice.
If Labour wants an enthusiastic support base on the Left, then it needs to radically rethink its whole policy structure.
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Sacha, in reply to
Yes, Steve, I'm just too stupid. Like all those other voters.
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I think it comes down to not enough people shaking better sense into their friends who are proudly saying they will vote National just because Phil Goff is a numbnut. Or proudly saying they won’t vote at all. Vote frikken Green if Labour isn’t left enough for you. I think we’re not shouldering enough of the blame ourselves, as a people, if we just let National do this.
Quite.
It doesn't help that every political 'journalist' is treating this like Survivor Wellington and waiting for all to convene on the last Saturday in November.
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@CraigR: "Then again, if the question’s been framed as “do you prefer the Yellow peril owning all your shit or making some rich prick cry?” "
Sounds more like Winston First to me.Goff's Labour has rightly latched onto privatisation as a hot-button issue, but the problem is, it takes far more than lampooning pop-culture icons with Adobe Flash to make the button hot. It simply doesn't have the Dancing Cossacks effect - a good start would be something along the lines of "you can own your future, or the banksters will". Or "Mum & Dad investors approve asset sales" - with a photo of the Madoffs.
I liken the current situation to choosing between a Toyota Avalon and an HSV.
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