Posts by George Darroch
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I share your anger that such negotiations are hidden from both the public, and our representatives the Members of Parliament.
It would be a simple matter to have all treaties and agreements our Government makes to be voted on by Parliament, and something that the Greens have been calling for vocally for a long time. It is an idea that both National and Labour treat with absolute disdain.
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Gregor, as a matter of general curiousity, how does your institution treat recycling sections of a writer's own work, eg. delivering different versions of the same paper in different contexts? Although not very germane to Ihimaera, it seems a lot easier to plagiarise yourself than it has been in the past.
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H1 and H2 managed to keep things seemly until well into the second term, despite the media waiting beneath the tightrope with bared, dripping fangs.
Not exactly. Everybody seems to forget that Labour chose to participate in the invasion of Afghanistan knowing it was resulting in civil war within the Alliance. The engineered collapse of your major coalition partner is hardly smooth running. It's history now, but history is important - without it we forget how things came to be this way.
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The University of Auckland does not care.
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I'm quite disgusted at how little coverage the issue between the Greens and National is getting from the MSM. So far I see one, fairly light-weight article at Granny, and absolutely nothing at Stuff or either of the major TV news sites.
Efficiency is actually a major issue. If the efficiency of our vehicle fleet improved by 50% in the next ten years (a very realistic figure), then we'd import a huge amount less oil.
This would improve our current account deficit. That in turn would reduce interest rates. It would also reduce pressure on the dollar (although the current account deficit also has a negative affect on th dollar). That in turn would allow the economy to grow, as productive investment would be encouraged. It would reduce our rather large Kyoto liabilities. And last, but not least (for anyone but the bunch of lunatics on the 9th Floor), we'd pollute a whole lot less and create less harmful carbon emissions.
So why not? Because improving vehicle standards is the work of a "nanny state". We can't be like Europe or Japan or China or California. If efficient showerheads were too much, god forbid we dare have efficient cars.
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I don't know why anyone would feel sorry for Ihimaera. His plagiarism is from many sources, in numerous locations across the book. This is no mistake, it is deliberate. It is also a deliberate act against his publisher, assuming (reasonably) that they were not colluding with him.
Best, at this stage, to send it to the paper recyclers.
I think that there is a strong case for intertextuality, and it sounds like if he'd been open about his appropriation and reinterpretation of the works he'd have a much stronger work, but a thoroughly different work.
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I think go-go dancing is perfectly comprehensible*: it is saying 'here, look at my bullet-bra boobs'.
I was distracted by their arms. Sorry.
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The word sorry also doesn't mean anything if you don't change your ways, and continue on with the same behaviour. People I know are beginning to wonder, or have for some time, what Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations (but not to Aboriginal Australia) actually meant.
Hone was on the lawn outside the Australian Parliament that day, talking to people and the New Zealand media, and I felt quite proud of him for representing Aotearoa. I still like what he stands for, but I wonder whether his ego is getting the better of him. That would be a pity, because he has always been a very sincere MP, in my experience.
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Holy shit, that video has go-go dancers. That dance is less comprehensible than crumping.
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I really do think that the law is applied differently depending on your income and social status. Not completely so, but outcomes seem to vary substantially. That's what I see when I'm around the courts (from time to time, for various reasons). I don't know how the courts deal with cases such as the one mentioned, so I won't comment on it in particular - I have no desire to in any case.
The HOS might have a case for making an argument about equality under the law, but their treatment of it is dire, as always.