Posts by Kyle Matthews
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I wanted to vote from about the age of 11, and always wanted to be a politician. I used to be determined that I would first be PM then receive US citizenship and run for the Presidency.
You'd have needed to change the constitution first. You can only run for President if you were born a citizen I believe.
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Oh, OK. You can be a habitual and reflexive liar (or just not terribly bright, which isn't much better) -- about matters great, small and absurdly trivial -- who doesn't take kindly to any scrutiny, and that doesn't matter as long as you're popular? What is this - high school?
I think it's the US Presidential race running par for the course.
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The state of the US financial markets and economy is a worry. I haven't followed it closely, but my impression is that they've bailed out a couple of major players, and now run out of their ability to bail out any more.
Yet they don't seem to be addressing the underlying problems that are leading to these businesses falling over. So more will collapse as the country heads further into recession. They're heading for much bigger economic trouble, and that's going to be bad for them, and for us who will get dragged down with them.
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And three more: Bank of New Zealand?
1, 2, 3... 4. I'm just saying Craig.
But yes, sounds like Cullen is drawing a ridiculously long bow.
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Who really gives a toss what her rating is in Alaska. It's utterly irrelevant and a really silly thing to throw into the mix.
A whole 3 electoral college votes! Which have gone Republican since LBJ won the state in 1964.
I would have thought, if you were going to pluck someone out of obscurity, you'd pick a battleground state to try and lock up 20 or 30 votes with a local boy/girl.
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I possibly would've written more however I didn't see the game. Was it replayed on a free to air station at a reasonable hour? I didn't see it on the programme list, which, it's fair to say, is shit.
My web site which I get tv listings from (nzcity had the game starting at 11.40. When I switched over before that time (umm, about 10.30?) the game was already 55 minutes in.
So it was on at a reasonable hour on free to air Prime, it just wasn't advertised as such :P.
Good 25 minutes of rugby league though. Number of times the Warriors got close to the line and pulled down by desperate Storm tackles. If they create that many opportunities they'll be odd-on to beat any of the five remaining teams.
Vatuvai's setup of the last try where he committed both defenders was really classy. I just about threw the remote at Michael Witt on my TV though.
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I stayed on Prime after the great Warriors win to watch Rodney at work. Impressions count.
I caught a little of it. I would never vote Act, but it was nice to hear him say two good things about Helen Clark in the five minutes I watched - one that she'd advanced the NZ-USA relationship well, and two, that he was wrong and she was right about going into Iraq.
It would be nice to hear politicians admit that they were wrong occasionally. They tend to be at least 50% of the time.
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Too much of this, makes me wonder how the hell a Palin-McCain Administration would react to a rough couple of news cycles, or a disobliging Democratic Congress. Not pretty.
There's some golden "couldn't make this shit up" stuff in that article that Craig linked to:
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.
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Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.
When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger, records show.
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Not deeply versed in policy, Ms. Palin skipped some candidate forums; at others, she flipped through hand-written, color-coded index cards strategically placed behind her nameplate.
Before one forum, Mr. Halcro said he saw aides shovel reports at Ms. Palin as she crammed. Her showman’s instincts rarely failed. She put the pile of reports on the lectern. Asked what she would do about health care policy, she patted the stack and said she would find an answer in the pile of solutions.
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The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.
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Many lawmakers contend that Ms. Palin is overly reliant on a small inner circle that leaves her isolated. Democrats and Republicans alike describe her as often missing in action. Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor’s mansion in Juneau, records show.
During the last legislative session, some lawmakers became so frustrated with her absences that they took to wearing “Where’s Sarah?” pins.
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It's the Greens environmental policies, I find a tad questionable at times rather than there social justice philosophy.
I like one of David Haywood's early guest posts in which he discovers to his surprise that "The Green's energy policy is by far the most detailed, comprehensive, and well-considered of any political party." (2005).
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Lol; so that would be finishing bang middle of a 15-team competition then?
And staring at a thrashing next week…
Heh. I think someone didn't keep the faith.