Posts by Tom Semmens
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Screw the impact on domestic violence, crime stats, road deaths and general mayhem that alcohol causes, a member of the grossly self-entitled chattering classes is incapable of planning ahead to stock up on Easter Sunday!
We must drop everything and change the laws to end this outrage now!
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The 1948 British Army handbook said the best defence from a nuclear weapon was not to be there when it went off. Perhaps the United States military should thumb through a copy of this manual when they consider the best way to avoid massacres of innocent people in Iraq.
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Russell isn't liked by the players in Wellington
So the non achieving rock stars of the Hissycanes don't like getting dealt to by the hard men from the franchise provinces? Well boo-hoo to them. That sort of whiney attitude is the exactly the reason the Hurricanes seek fufillment in makeup, stupid haircuts and on field insolence instead of doing the hard slog that is required to win.
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I trust you'll be asking the hanger and the flogger where he gets his funding from.
x2
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I more or less held out to Easter with my "no rugby until Easter and no rugby after November" rule, although I did get free tickets to watch the Blues beat the Brumbies.
The Hurricanes are dissolute, lackadasical and unwilling to work hard except when they realise - to late - it might be slipping away from them. I can't believe that the same Wellington closed shop who have foisted the useless Colin Cooper on us for years were able to appoint a complete outsider (the "up and coming" Mark Hammett if you believe the sycophantic poodles of the Wellington media) and ignore the the two fabuolus up and coming coaches in Peter Russell and Dave Rennie in their own franchise who together would have been a superb combination. The Hurricanes will continue to fail as long as the franchise is dominated by a bunch of second rate administrators in Wellington, and it'll serve them right.
Anyway I am slowly becoming a Blues fan. As a migrant from Hawkes Bay my natural disinclination to support Auckland has made this a long journey, but after seeing that uniquely Auckland combination of raw power and skill finally get combined with some old time Auckland focus and nous against the Bulls I am almost won over. That was a great game. Here is to hoping the Blues can keep it up - they'll make easy work of the declining Crusaders (memo to Richie McCaw: It is the rugby season, swanning about in F-18's at Wanaka might be fun, but it is doing nothing for your form) if they can.
I wanted to go to the RWC final, and was willing to play anything up to $4000 for two tickets, but the whole ticketing structure appears to be designed to soak foreigners (and locals) by forcing them to buy packages. It looks increasing like it might be held here, but it is primarily for the entertainment of our economic colonial masters.
Since I live less than ten minutes from Eden Park, I think I'll do what all my neighbours are planning to do - rent out my house for a grand a night and take a two week holiday in Thailand during the RWC.
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Dishonourable mention: the 1974 Commonwealth Games theme song, "Join Together".
Any reason why you would say that beyond a thoughtless and rather cheap cynicism?
As far as I can recall, that theme tune perfectly caught the pitch of the times and an event that is widely regardly as being just about the halycon peak of the Commonwealth games.
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The Feelers are the possibly the shittiest band ever. As a friend of mine said, "fucking worst fucking choice ever, even fucking True Bliss would have been better."
And to make it worse this bunch of wannabe nancy boys are not even singing a New Zealand song.
You want inspired rather than insipid bullshit for paunchy men to feel younger to? Pink doing the V8 Supercars - that is inspired.
Why not Ladyhawke belting out something ballsy???
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The thing is though National is desperate for money. Mining, a brown manilla envelope stuffed with Yen being handed to Mordor McCully at the next IWC meeting, money grabs from the supercity - they are desperate for anything. They have to give big tax cuts to their benefactors in May, but they don't have the pingers since they can't privatise anything just now. They are bringing out all the usual zombie suspects from the nineties for their razor gangs and Mr. Joyce is busily planting stories to smooth the path, but a cheeky 50+ million from the defence won't cut it.
The May budget is going to see some major slashing and burning to pay for tax cuts, so the dismal Mr. English can again subject us to the failed policies of nineties.
Beneficiary bashing, killing fragile nascent recoveries with black budgets and plunging us back into a deep recession just as the rest of the world recovers in the hope trickle down will save us - why don't they just make Jenny Shipley PM again and be done with it?
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Does worrying about this make me some sort of commie-socialist treehugger?
The government has plans for you as well - you'll be prevented from working anywhere but in the mining industry. As minister Bennett said on this matter yesterday "Sure, its a vindictive piece of discrimination but I think that is a discrimination that most New Zealanders will see as being fair and reasonable.”
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I've just finished mercilessly mocking some of my friends. Slightly flakey middle class tree hugger vegetarians of the new-age self help type, they voted National because they didn't like the nanny state - because if you just try hard enough you can achieve anything you want!!
They are now busily being alternatively horrified, betrayed and outraged at the idea of mining of the conservation estate and are signing up for the fight.
I've been loving rubbing it in.