Posts by Joe Wylie
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Hard News: A thundering clash of, in reply to ,
If Metiria really was motivated by altruism, that was fairly unencumbered by her own desire to score politically, she could always go out there as the lawyer she is, and do some human rights work. Possibly in the defence of people on benefits, who get pushed around by bullies.
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Hard News: A thundering clash of, in reply to ,
That question asked on Backbenchers about Robin Hood, reminded me how the Tops party would like to see superannuation beneficiaries means tested, then money that rich old people don’t need, transferred to children who do need it.
"He steals from the poor, and gives to the rich, stupid bitch."
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to Matthew Vink,
This is not something that Greg O'Connor personally supports. He said that only in his capacity as President of the Police Association...
Thanks for that Matthew, I'm somewhat reassured to read that and stand corrected.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to andin,
So, Finlay, the poor of this country would have been better served than by the likes of Metiria fessing up the way she did. Oh Really !!!!!! BY WHO?
Apart from the token bleeding heart "poor are always with us" window dressing, Macdonald's contribution to the pile-on is the kind of thing I'd have expected from Karl du Fresne. Describing Turei's supporters as "mewling" only demonstrates what Kiwiblog-style toxicity has reduced things to since Macdonald's Listener heyday.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to ,
The Green Party installed Materia Turei as there co-leader rather than Sue Bradford, who had been seriously working on social welfare. It’s anyone guess why that happened. I guess, they felt like haveing a “rebrand”.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to Rob Stowell,
It's a strange mix of social liberal 'evidence-based' and radical market.
It seems to be a feature of the petty personality cults that NZ politics throws up. Like Greg O'Connor, whose "progressive" attitude on drug law reform is touted as so compelling that we're encouraged to forget that given the chance he'd arm the police tomorrow.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to izogi,
the likes of Gareth Morgan
In the mid-90s I met a prosperous though mildly malcontented tradie who told me that voting was a waste of time. What the country needed was "the Warehouse guy telling us what to do". Around a decade later when our paths crossed again I asked if he still felt that way. He informed me that my recollection was wrong, what he'd advocated, and still stood by, was having "the TradeMe guy" run things.
While I was tempted to argue that TradeMe hadn't been around at the time of our earlier meeting I decided that it was better to accept nature's jewels as they were offered. If we meet again I might ask if he'd settle for the TradeMe guy's dad.
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Hard News: The new establishment, in reply to Sacha,
Share an Idea was a world-leading piece of civic engagement. Not every part of that Council was incompetent. Makes Brownlee's utter betrayal of the initiative even worse.
When none of the intended benefits ever materialised, who's to say that the 'award' wasn't just a form of circle-jerkery? A quick search reveals that Share an Idea still looks good on a few online CVs from back then, but that's about it.
While Council staff may have laboured in good faith on the project, at least they were compensated. Unlike the trusting citizenry whose submissions, given for no reward, were supposedly what Share an Idea was all about.
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Hard News: The new establishment, in reply to Sacha,
The Council acted in good faith in conducting it; Brownlee and chums shat all over that by ignoring it thereafter.
Share an Idea was an initiative of Bob Parker's Council. Despite, or possibly because of Brownlee blatantly referring to Parker as a clown, it's a real stretch to claim that anything originating from that regime was done in good faith. Perhaps it's worth remembering that the serial extortionist Council CEO Tony Marryatt cited the extra workload generated by Share an Idea when attempting to gouge a further salary increase.
Lest we forget, the depth of self-interested cynicism on display while aftershocks were still occurring was truly breathtaking, with Key and Brownlee offering tacit support.
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Hard News: The new establishment, in reply to Bart Janssen,
The smart thing to do is, when groups of people get together and build knowledge and expertise in an area, the government should listen to them.
This government has proven rather more cynically sophisticated than that. The Share an Idea initiative, set up to foster a sense of public participation in post-quake Christchurch, was never anything other than a deliberate and contrived hoax. Despite attracting more than 106,000 'submissions' and scoring international awards for the few aboard the gravy train, practically nothing from all of the freely offered public input has been realised in the ensuing 'rebuild'.
