Posts by jeremy gray
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Well, FPP would be a nightmare, but maybe we can sort out MMP a bit.
We could use the MMP method from the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg and proposed but turned down for Scotland. These guys don't have party lists - the list seats are instead filled by the candidates who lost their electorates by the smallest margin. This gives more chance of voters to keep out someone unpopular with them, but high in the party list (eg Roger Douglas).
We could also get rid of the 5% threshold - I can't really see any reason to keep parties out if they have enough votes for a representative.
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Text of the speech - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.text.html?_r=1
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I don't think the 10 conditions of love documentary was really that effective, sure China has done some bad stuff, but the coverage was so biased towards Kadeer it was impossible to know what was real and what wasn't (eg the scene at the beginning where one of her supporters is arguing with the wall street journal over uighur numbers, "Kadeer always says 20 million, you printed 10").
The Chinese response was ill thought out, mainly for me in that it 1. caused me to watch the doco, 2. played their counter against outrageous fortune.
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If you are gonna talk about the new the clean album, may as well chuck in the (great) album put out by the excellent morr music who are their label overseas. "- Not Given Lightly - A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand`s Alternative Music Scene". http://www.morrmusic.com/artist/Various%20Artists/release/118
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Re sport violence, please don't forget the recent choir violence in dunedin - http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/71812/pupils-dealt-with-appropriately-rector
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Isn't the sail pretty similar to what is on Wellingtons waterfront, next to the maritime museum?
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Another "ex greenpeacer" but even worse, I was on door to door.
The first thing to mention is that in NZ only greenpeace and amnesty employ their own fundraisers - everyone else (save the children, red cross) is run by companies which normally take the first year or so of donations.We were paid a base rate of $12, raising to $16 if we hit our targets ($8 worth of monthly donations per hour), so 2 months on average would pay the wages. The average length of membership is about 2 years, so there is a high return. They were pretty ruthless with firing people who missed their targets consistently.
The proportion that goes to actual work versus fundraising was on a little pie chart you carry around in your clipboard, ask the next one to see it.
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re the 'furious sleep' reference.......
Actually, I was referencing Chomsky on meaningless phrases - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously
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Who wants to sign my petition "Should purple monkey dishwasher sleep furiously?"
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Well crap, so much for NZ as a leader in environmental matters.
At least Kraftwerk were good last night.