Posts by George Darroch
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This also puts makes obviously false the claim that they would not start privatising functions of the state in their first term.
I still can't believe anyone took that claim seriously. Well, anyone apart from the muppets in the press gallery.
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EDIT - Just 2nd and 3rd stages. Teach me to read the Herald more carefully.
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Meanwhile, the Government today passed a private prisons bill under urgency. It was tabled, and then MPs were asked to vote on it before they could even read it.
It was introduced and then rammed through in hours. Boom, it's law.
No ability to have it debated in Parliament. No ability to have it sent to select committee. No ability to allow either Government or opposition MPs time to consider the bill and suggest amendments. No time to consider whether it should be passed at all. No time to have its impacts estimated by Treasury and other relevant departments. No time for submissions by experts. No time for submissions by the public.
By October the Government had passed 8 policy bills through all stages. By the end of this week it will be 10. There is little precedent for this kind of abuse of democracy - you have to go back as far the last time National got into power, in 1991.
Where the hell is our media in protesting these flagrant abuses of Parliament? Answer: chasing chickens around the grounds of Parliament.
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Speaking of muppets, Brenda did a lot of work adding relevant NZOnScreen links to appropriate Wikipedia articles. Highly relevant, highly encyclopedic multimedia stuff. Like the Chris Knox videos...
Then overzealous administrators decided that she was a spammer, blocked her account, threw a bunch of loosely applied rules at her, and removed the lot. I'll reinstate as much as I can, but it will take a while.
It's a shame, because there is some wonderful and valuable content there.
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The lesson here is that you should be very, very sceptical about anything major media claims unless it's backed up by hard numbers from outside sources. They're very good at coming up with theories that sound good, even plausible, and then announcing them as fact.
This thread has made me more tentative in my judgments on all of these issues.
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would be considered by most to be "right wing" but since 1999 when I wrote a feature on the death of James Whakaruru I have advocated repealing S59 of the Crimes Act. I appeared before the Select Committee in support of Sue Bradford's Bill. I wrote a piece for the "Vote Yes" website. I do not support Sensible Sentencing's vigilante cries for "having a crack" at offenders in court via victim impact statements.
Deborah, it shouldn't be the case, and I applaud you for engaging with these issues thoughtfully.
The right has traditionally placed much stronger emphasis on personal responsibility, in accord with the idea that people are responsible for their own destinies, whereas the left has placed greater emphasis on a person's place within a community. The right is also traditionally more comfortable with the idea of authority, and strong ideas about right and wrong. I generalise grossly here. I'm sure you know this. It translates into crime policy in that people think that individual responsibility means that people should feel the full force of their actions, and the best way to do this is lock them up for longer.
You can be in jail for ten days and realise your responsibility for your acts. You can be in jail for ten years and avoid it. What really pisses me off is that the tougher sentencing crowd completely ignore this problem. The correlation between longer behind bars and realising the implications of your actions is a weak one. We need programs that make offenders face up to their acts. Such programs are successful, but they're seen as namby-pamby liberal nonsense by McVicar and Garrett and the hang-em-high crowd. There isn't the money for them, despite there being money for ever more prisons.
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Teenage girls, if you believe medieval saints. Its practically a genre of medieval porn.
God did a 15 year old virgin, if you believe the orthodoxy.
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I forgot to link to Paul Buchanan's comment on the University of Auckland's highly inconsistent approach to employment matters.
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Um, have another look George. He's got the right king if it's guillotines & revolutions he's hinting at.
Absolutely. But comparing the present situation to the French Revolution... Is he suggesting that they'll storm the Beehive and hold public executions?
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More hilarity , deliberate speeling mistakes, someone probably taking the piss, and use of "Advice Dog".
This probably isn't ironic, but it's hilarious anyway: "Remember Louis XIV!"
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On the upside, there are going to be groups of people who feel betrayed by Key, whom they seem to have placed genuine faith in to address their pet issues.
His approach of smiling and saying he'll consider the issue is dangerous if it gives people false hopes.