Hard News by Russell Brown

Read Post

Hard News: The witless on the pitiless

282 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 8 9 10 11 12 Newer→ Last

  • recordari, in reply to Danielle,

    which I found delightful.

    Squee! Except, could someone reach into my brain and extract the damn bouncy Beyoncé ear-worm. I keep doing involuntary chicken dances.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    National and Labour make Muldoon look like a socialist.

    Economically, he pretty much was.

    Socialism run by tories.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    There are reports, such as this one in the NY Times, and this one in the ABA Journal, that the US had 'a team of lawyers, translators and interrogators on stand-by in case Osama bin Laden was captured alive'.

    The NY Times story notes that White House officials: "acknowledged that the mission always was weighted toward killing, given the possibility that Bin Laden would be armed or wearing an explosive vest."

    However, if true, this story does suggest that 'the mission' wasn't purely intended as an assassination.

    Although it could all just be a cunning double-bluff.

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

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to tussock,

    John Key for instance, quite happy to cut from the poor to give to the rich, because he honestly thinks people choose to be poor (as he chose to be rich and is, begging the question being a common human failing). So he thinks hurting the poor just gives them more incentive to choose wealth. Evil, and innocent.

    And when the poor do actually do their sums, they're pilloried by the Joneses for choosing to hang on to their 10-year old Toyotas and Fords.

    The Joneses want to have their cake and eat it too, but the cake is a lie, so they simply lecture everyone below to let them eat cake.

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

  • tussock,

    I don't think that doing your sums thing works anyway, it's just a lie the Right tells it's supporters. The dole was set 20% below subsistence levels in Shipley's time and has never grown beyond inflation since (aside from the rent subsidies, which rent rises ate up in no time, driving the housing boom). You're supposed to get poorer on the benefits, that's the idea, incentive to work and such, typical misunderstanding of Hayek.

    Yes, you can pay for power, rent, food, and have a tiny bit left to let you get to and from where the food's sold, but if the fridge coughs you're completely fscked. All the real incentives are to not own anything, pay more in rents to avoid possible repair bills, buy $10 shoes that fall apart if you walk in them, eat cheap fatty meals to make up for the ones you miss, do less so you don't get as hungry, and take stupid gambles because there is no other way out once your good clothes are no longer fit for a job interview, not that there's enough money to travel for job interviews anyway.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to tussock,

    it's just a lie the Right...

    and the alleged Left...

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to giovanni tiso,

    O yes- which is why my whanau are already looking around for Rino's stance. And - other options-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX,

    I responded in Bomber's blog about some of the things he is saying re the Hobbitt and RB which I know to be wrong - and as it so happens these responses along with those of others remain hidden.

    I consider the purpose of reading, following and posting a blog is to expose oneself to a range of ideas and viewpoints that are not your own, and to share and then modify your own ideas.

    It is a pretty dull world (blog) where one has to present as always right, where mostly everyone else is always wrong and one has to resort to censorship to maintain that illusion.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to DexterX,

    +1

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to DexterX,

    I responded in Bomber's blog about some of the things he is saying re the Hobbitt and RB which I know to be wrong - and as it so happens these responses along with those of others remain hidden.

    Blogger has this great comments moderation feature called "Stalinism". Works superbly.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to giovanni tiso,

    Blogger has this great comments moderation feature called "Stalinism". Works superbly.

    So basically less of the Reductio ad Insertespacehereum.

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

  • Russell Brown, in reply to DexterX,

    I responded in Bomber’s blog about some of the things he is saying re the Hobbitt and RB which I know to be wrong – and as it so happens these responses along with those of others remain hidden.

    That’s a bit unfortunate. I think what I wrote, citing Paul L, was in the spirit of vigorous debate. But it seems the Hobbit thing is catching on. It seems a bit unfair, given that I’ve discussed those issues quite fairly with protagonists from either side, on stage or on camera, and asked pretty pointed questions of the producers’ side in the same context. Basically, it’s odd that I’m good with Robyn Malcolm and Peter Elliot but still a class traitor to the Standardistas.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Needless to say, I won't be reading the thread. I know how that one goes already.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I must admit that I have a strange form of selective synaesthesia or experience a version of the the McGurk Effect whenever I see the word “Solidarity” in T’ Standard: reading it, I hear the voice of George W. Bush saying, “You’re with us or against us” or some boofhead yelling, "Whaddarya?!"

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But it seems the Hobbit thing is catching on.

    It really is quite silly isn't it. I didn't agree with everything you said on the Hobbit dispute. And yet I agree with much of what you say about the Operation 8 "terrorists".

    Either one or both of us is a class traitor, or it's not actually that easy to put everyone into a clearly defined political box and give them no independent thought.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Seems immature of some not to grasp how criticism can strengthen - and can be motivated by caring. And that is a sad thing.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • chris, in reply to Steve Parks,

    It’s hard to tell what you’re on about here, but Russell wasn’t “imposing” his perception of Osama’s thought processes. If you’ve got evidence to suggest OBL held quite different views to those attributed, feel free to share.

    I’m simply suggesting Dr Ranginui Walker, Willie Jackson, and all who never met the man don’t have enough first hand knowledge to make any strong case on this subject. Leaders have been known to make compromises in exchange for support, as well as exhibit hypocrisy

    Where Russell said:

    No, about their culture. He would have despised it, for the reasons I noted. Do you seriously think he’d have embraced a culture in which music plays such a part? In which carvings, and whole houses, are imbued with the wairua of ancestors?

    Despising something requires a very strong emotional bias, What are the lesser of the comparative evils? Certainly he may not have been an avid fan of Māori culture, but would he have despised it? Would the Māori resistence and resentment towards the imperialist colonialists not count in their favour? Or would Cultural features such as art and music simply overshadow this?

    Who’s to know?

    OBL "was interested in “earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants” on the one hand, but rejected “chilled water” on the other."

    OBL was as nuanced as anyone else. Certainly he rejected music, but would he reject a culture because music played an important part? Why whittle Māori culture down to its music and its carvings to make a case for why one would despise it. It’s not as if sections of Māoridom and the Colonial imperialists haven’t stood toe to toe on countless occasions.

    But most poignantly, If he really despised music that much, why would he tolerate sharing a city with fahadthakur100, in a country with a rich and varied architectural and musical tradition, home to Peshawar (a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution center for Afghan music abroad),Lollywood, and Alam Lohar, a nation which counts cricket as its most popular sport?


    Any port in a storm. We’ll never know.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to chris,

    Certainly he may not have been an avid fan of Māori culture, but would he have despised it?

    My contention is that he would have. It is basically composed of things he thought were the work of the devil. I honestly do not believe he would have had a shred of respect for Maori culture, in which song and idolatry (and I do not use that word in any negative sense) are so central.

    Would the Māori resistence and resentment towards the imperialist colonialists not count in their favour? Or would Cultural features such as art and music simply overshadow this?

    He regarded all the other resistance movements in Iraq as backsliders and mere nationalists. So, yeah.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    Thanks for taking the time to reply there Russell. Respect.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I honestly do not believe he would have had a shred of respect for Maori culture, in which song and idolatry (and I do not use that word in any negative sense) are so central

    For that matter, I fail to see any evidence than Bin Laden and the Talitubbies have any respect for great swathes of Islamic art, literature and society. That’s a tragedy that should be pointed out more often.

    Would the Māori resistence and resentment towards the imperialist colonialists not count in their favour?

    Chris: If Harawira wants to be a radical chic tweenie in the throes of his first crush, I'd respectfully suggest there are better candidates closer to home. Hone may be Team Osama; I'm on Team Te Whiti o Rongomai.

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

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Russell Brown,

    If the two of them met in person, Bin Laden would probably have declared Harawira a disbeliever, and have him lined up against a wall and shot.

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

  • TracyMac,

    Belated thanks to Islander and others for chiming in on the pakeha vs tauiwi discussion. Hey, takata pora sounds excellent as well, both in terms of "ship people" and "white turnips". Sounds similar to my teasing certain English people of my acquaintance with their lovely "lobster look" in summer. :-)

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • chris, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Re: Team Te Whiti o Rongomai. Yes!

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Rex Widerstrom, in reply to Idiot Savant,

    even murderous religious fascists deserve a fair trial

    Coming very late to this debate, but having read the very many well considered opinions I come back to NRT's as the one which best encapsulates my own. We caught someone whose ranking on the 'evil scale' is up there with Stalin and Pol Pot - yay!! We shot him in the face when he was unarmed - y... wait, what?

    Francis Bacon's essay "On Revenge" is, IMHO, still a touchstone in these situations:

    Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out...

    The most tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one.

    We have laws capable of taking our revenge, even for genocide in the name of bigotry. Abandoning them emboldens our enemies and dispirits those who would otherwise cheer the accomplishment without reservation.

    Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Hey, takata pora sounds excellent as well, both in terms of "ship people" and "white turnips".

    Yes, a lot of Swedes came to Dannevirke.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

First ←Older Page 1 8 9 10 11 12 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

Please sign in using your Public Address credentials…

Login

You may also create an account or retrieve your password.