Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Still crazy after all these years

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  • giovanni tiso,

    You should also read Ben Wilson's wonderful, heartful post about his son, Marcus.

    Hear, hear.

    On the subject of the Act conference and Ms Newman, see also this wonderful post over at Reading the Maps. I can't recommend it enough.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    On the subject of the Act conference and Ms Newman, see also this wonderful post over at Reading the Maps.

    Good grief. I didn't realise half the money raised by the Gibbs event will go to the NZCPR. Perhaps a newspaper journalist could write a story about how Alan Gibbs is fixing to give a whole lot of money to a nest of paranoids, racists and anti-semites.

    I mean, wouldn't that be news?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I mean, wouldn't that be news?

    You would think so. And by the way, Scott Hamilton (aka maps) and Matthew Dentith (aka our very own HORansome) have been doing consistently terrific work in these very areas. You would think that our esteemed journalists would bother them for regular quotes, instead of keeping the McCroskries of this world on their speed-dials.

    In an ideal world, I mean. One in which they had a basic idea of what their job entailed.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Muriel Newman:

    "who scrutinises all these Waitangi claims to make sure they are correct? Does anybody? If not, there is nothing to protect taxpayers from exploitation,"

    Historians, great whopping scads of them. The claimants have them, the government has them,the Tribunal has them, and they excavate the history with a fine-tooth comb. Which is one of the reasons the process takes so bloody long: because the claims are checked (and because an important part of it is having the story fully told).

    But I guess actual facts about the process don't sit well with Newman's desire to bury the crimes of the past and paint Maori as the modern equivalent of the C16th's "sturdy beggars".

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    Muriel Newman has always been pretty crazy, but I think she's no more crazy than some members of other parties (admittedly, I'm using "crazy" in the non-pejorative sense of "holding extremely unorthodox beliefs"-Keith Locke, who I respect immensely, has similarly divergent views from "majority" New Zealand.) It's that Kiwi politeness that has meant that her outbursts haven't been as politically crippling as they might be in a more critical culture-we just nod and smile politely and move on when we hear this stuff.

    The "racist" adjective is pretty much par for the course these days when discussing anything Maori from an ACT perspective, too. It's one of those things she can say because she can afford to say it-noone who votes ACT is going to object to the intellectual gymnastics required to define the most inoffensive policies as "racist" as long as ACT isn't depending on Maori Party support for anything.

    As for the Kurariki case...I don't know. In a rational world, his behaviour would be taken as evidence that there's no benefit to society to subject a thirteen year old kid with obviously limited coping skills and parental supervision to multiple environments that will only reinforce those deficits, but what do I know? (Seriously, that's not a rhetorical question.) Once again I'm struck by the way reaction to crime is apparently predicated by one's political views: for the most part, those on the right use such events as another excuse to get angry, while those on the left (myself included) are saddened by the tragedy and waste of the whole thing. This kid is gone, and I don't know if he'll ever come back.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Angus Robertson,

    If senior members of the Maori Party had come out with anything approaching that degree of weirdness, it'd be front-page news.

    The Maori Party actually hold real political power, what they do matters because they control swing votes in the centre. The ACT and Green parties are outlying appendages to National and Labour. They contain the crazier wings of right and left where they can generate ideas that might be adopted by their respective allies, but they are never going to climb into bed with the other side.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Luke Williamson,

    Agreed on Kuariki Andre. It just saddens me to see the journos prodding and prodding to try and get some newsworthy reaction while offering nothing positive for a young man who has got off to a disastrous start. The whole HOS story reeks, I think. The basis for going there in the first place is suspect, sending two women is suspect and not just getting up and walking out when it was obvious that the situation was unpleasant is suspect. The media are going to continue to hound him until he messes up big time again, despite the fact that he looks like he'll do it all by himself anyway.

    Warkworth • Since Oct 2007 • 297 posts Report Reply

  • cindy baxter,

    Ms Newman also leads the charge on ACT's denial of the climate science.

    auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    o And by the way, Scott Hamilton (aka maps)

    Thanks for directing us to this site, Gio. It is rather excellent--and easy to post a comment (Mr/Ms 'Anonymous' is obviously enraged by the discussion).

    Re Junior Kauriki. Through a chain of events, I was privy to the history of his early life. It was such a dismal story, it almost made me cry.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Muriel Newman has always been pretty crazy, but I think she's no more crazy than some members of other parties (admittedly, I'm using "crazy" in the non-pejorative sense of "holding extremely unorthodox beliefs"-Keith Locke, who I respect immensely, has similarly divergent views from "majority" New Zealand.)

    Aw, nah ... I might disagree with Keith Locke on some things, but he's rational, which sets him apart from explicit paranoids like Loudon.

    Really, go and look at some of the fruiter threads on Newman's website. And then consider that Gibbs et al are about to give her a whole lot of money.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Really, go and look at some of the fruiter threads on Newman's website. And then consider that Gibbs et al are about to give her a whole lot of money.

    Maybe its an art project? Or an experiment into whether a monkey with a computer and an internet connection can produce Shakespere.

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    It doesn't take much for the fringe to move to the front.

    As Russell points out, Muriel Newman was Deputy Leader of ACT.

    In 2005, the ACT party list ranked Newman at number 3, below Heather Roy. So when Rodney Hide won Epsom, Roy survived, but Newman missed out.

    So Don Brash did one good thing in politics. He attracted enough voters away from ACT (who, it's generally forgotten now, got over 5% in their three previous elections) to reduce ACT to only two MPs.

    Otherwise Muriel Newman, Deputy Leader of ACT, would now be a Minister in John Key's government.

    Thanks, Don!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm not sure there was a more depressing story in the weekend's papers than that of the unraveling of Bailey Junior Kurariki. Two Herald on Sunday journalists, both women, visited Kurariki's house in the hope that they could tap him for a little more spectacle to help them in the Sunday paper chase. He exposed himself to them, masturbated and groped them as they left

    Does Kuariki have any combination of a parole officer/counsellor/responsible adult involved in his life any more? Because if this guy has issues regarding appropriate sexual behaviour around women, then I don't think the HoS helped at all.

    I'd also suggest whoever is pretending to be the responsible adult at the Herald on Sunday these day might want to ask thenselves if they'd be patting themselves on the back for their scoop if he'd tried to rape or physically assault one of these alleged journalists.

    This could have escalated from grotesquely distasteful to tragic -- bad show from all concerned.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Did the HoS actually have a stated reason for the two reporters to be going round there? Or did some shitbag editor somewhere just go: 'hmmm, slow news week. Need a headline. You and you, you've got tits, get round the Kurariki house and poke him with a stick'.

    Seriously, I reckon the HoS missed a trick or two. Next time they should just hire a couple of strippers and send them round with a photographer. Not only can you get the 'outrage at his animal behaviour!' angle, but you could probably work in something along the lines of 'look what your taxpayer dollars are funding now '. I mean, truth and facts are so over-rated when you've got a deadline to meet, right?

    Actually, scratch that: Seeing as how times are tough and you need to save a bit of cash, just fire a few reporters and use the rest to make shit up as you go along. Tell us he's got Elvis in there or something. That should shift a few units.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I'd also suggest whoever is pretending to be the responsible adult at the Herald on Sunday these day might want to ask thenselves if they'd be patting themselves on the back

    Can I just say it's not the bodily gesture that I associated with the editors involved upon reading the article?

    As you were.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    Really, go and look at some of the fruiter threads on Newman's website. And then consider that Gibbs et al are about to give her a whole lot of money.

    I've been doing just that, and fair enough, there are some pretty certifiable people on that thing. The link above to Maps' blog was enlightening too.

    But how much of that stuff ever makes it past the forum (or the podium) into real policy? I'm not trying to suggest that this sort of stuff should be tolerated from elected officials who are actively making policy, but for all that I personally find a lot of what goes on in Muriel Newman, et al.'s head offensive/repulsive, as long as it stays there...

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    One of Muriel Newman's more recent conspiracy theories was that the Chinese reached NZ before the Maori - and therefore Maori weren't tangata whenua - effectively invoking the terra nullius argument.

    Also, she's previously invited British anti-PC 'expert' Frank Ellis to speak in NZ, who was later found to have ties with the Bloody Nasty People.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Or did some shitbag editor somewhere just go: 'hmmm, slow news week. Need a headline. You and you, you've got tits, get round the Kurariki house and poke him with a stick'.

    Well, remember this is the newspaper that had to issue Sharon Shipton a grovelling apology (and a tacit admission of fabricating a direct quote) for announcing her impending divorce -- which came as a great surprise to her. Otherwise, even my subterranean expectations of the Herald on Slum-day aren't that low...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart,

    But how much of that stuff ever makes it past the forum (or the podium) into real policy?

    Andre, pretty much all the weird stuff on climate change on Muriel Newman's surpassingly weird website translates into ACT party policy on climate change.

    Here's a sampler:

    Oil is NOT a Fossil Fuel
    By Peter J. Morgan B.E. (Mech.), Dip. Teaching


    We all grew up believing that oil is a fossil fuel, and just about every day this ‘fact’ is mentioned in newspapers and on TV.

    Take that, you ... geologists.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Have you seen what the Bloody Nasty Party have been up to lately ?

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    who's at the bottom of your swimming pool...
    Now Rusty - come clean - I'm sure I remember you doing lengths in Mr Gibbs Judge's Bay swimming pool some years ago... :- )

    re: the unraveling of Bailey Junior Kurariki...

    Two Herald on Sunday journalists, both women, visited Kurariki's house in the hope that they could tap him for a little more spectacle to help them in the Sunday paper chase.

    Now I'm sure you meant trap him that seems to be the new way of creating "news"...

    re: funding the NZCPR
    now there was me thinking this was some organistion trying to resuscitate New Zealand
    - but I see it is chest beating of a different kind...
    and as for CRMS - well obviously the "I" is missing

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report Reply

  • Tristan,

    Ok you have a kid who has spent much of his life in jail..you interview him and during the interview he exposes him self...

    Do you...
    A. Say that's inappropriate
    B. Try to leave
    C. Pretend nothing has happened and carry on

    If you selected C are you surprised he moved on to groping you?

    You sat their and talked to him while his dick was hanging out for a mixed up kid that looks a lot like consent.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 221 posts Report Reply

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    The money raised by the 'open day' at Gibbs' property will be thrown at two right-wing websites...

    Art for Arse sake?

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Now Rusty - come clean - I'm sure I remember you doing lengths in Mr Gibbs Judge's Bay swimming pool some years ago... :- )

    Not me. I did visit one evening, but it would be inappropriate to discuss that here.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    Andre, pretty much all the weird stuff on climate change on Muriel Newman's surpassingly weird website translates into ACT party policy on climate change.

    Fair enough, you can cherry pick craziness rather easily on the Internet these days, but I'm still not convinced that you can get from there to what is a pretty unremarkable (although IMHO stupid) pro-business/global warming-denialist platform and say that the former caused the latter.

    I mean, I remember sitting at a suburban Labour Party get-together in the late 90's (thrown by a local MP, if I remember correctly) and being extremely uncomfortable as a couple of (apparently well-known and tolerated, though not elected) members railed on about the CIA spying on everything we did and Jews driving wages down. I don't for a moment think that those people had an effect on Labour party policy even though noone ever explicitly tried to distance themselves from the statements at any point. These people are part of the Labour party, and may well share some of their more extreme beliefs privately with even elected officials, but as long as those beliefs aren't included in achievable public policy, I really don't care that much.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

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