Posts by Paul Williams
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My judgment on the debate appears at odds with the first page or so of CNN commenters as recorded here
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Jesus, anyone listening to the debate; she's doing far better than I'd expected so either I fell for the GOPs strategy or she's a fantastic student.
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Clinton Smith is a bright young man. Under his blogging name, Steve Pierson, he's often sharp and energetic, and he does good graphs. He could be a serious commentator -- if he can develop some impulse control.
Clinton was part of the team that produced kiwiblogblog - an experiement that dragged on a little past its point of interest. I was astounded by his output and impressed by the sharpness of his focus. He could be caustic and abrasive, but this was often in response to equally aggressive commentary from Farrar and others. It seems as if the blogosphere has polarised and that most writers succumb to strict partisanship (PAS is a clear exception to this however). I don't, however, think that Cameron is even slightly disingenuous - the same can not be said the likes of Hooton - his beliefs are genuine and not simply tactical convenience.
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Not wishing to change the topic, however I'm interested to know the impact of this situation on private equity firms. For a while, in Australia at least, they were the obsession of the media (particularly following a attempt to buy Qantas that failed but cost Qantas's Chair her job). I'd understood that they were at the most aggressive end of trading so am assuming that means most exposed, most leveraged, most affected? So far the news is focused on the quantum of losses and the failures of large and previously reputable firms, I wonder when we'll start hearing about entire funds that have been wiped out?
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Islander: "rapt", thanks - my school's academic performance is unencumbered by my own unreliable capacity.
And I truly am.
This is a school with incredibly high numbers of kids who's first language is not English - many families are in fact relatively new to NZ. I'm enormously proud to be an oldboy.
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I've just spent the best part of an hour reading every post here, it is a little disturbing how many people recall regular and indiscriminant violence at their school.
By comparison with David's and others' experience, my secondary schooling was pretty bloody fantastic really - despite being a decile 1 school, despite being in Mangere East and even despite a fair bit of violence. I also remember the dawn raids; particularly in about 1982 when lots of kids at my school experienced them first hand.
I'm wrapped to see my school's done well academically, it always did well in sports, and that my brother's one of the illustrious alums.
I'll indulge one gripe however, the Deputy Principal, now deceased I understand, Lawrence Kliensmith (I think) was a sadistic wanker. I had the pleasure of declaring I'd be precisely like my brother was when he confronted me on my second day. Other than him, however I'd say almost all the teachers were professional, passionate and enlightened, particularly for their times. The principal, Br Pat Lynch, remains a role model to me.
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The mighty Wikipedia notes that there is this newish conception of 'federalism' in the US, and to new federalists this means that the federal government gives grants to different states to do with as they will, so they're more powerful and separatist.
Similar confusion is occuring in Australia too - federalist are usually understood to be advocates of more central government compared with the states-rights mob who want federal government to butt-out. That's all confused now by Rudd's new federalism, which is different from Howard's new federalism which was really just nationalism, he says:
Create a new federalism, with Commonwealth–state relationships on a new footing. There needs to be a set of co-commitments between and across government, including with state and territory governments, to give certainty and clarity.
There you go, sorted, right?
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CBS has the 'Supreme Court' question to both candidates up on their site now and it does Look like Palin couldn't name anything but Roe v. Wade.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/01/eveningnews/main4493062.shtml
The thing about Palin is that, despite having some principled and predictable positions, her range is so narrow. She'd struggle to fill up her morning with the issues she's concerned about. The VP role mightn't be large, but surely it involves more than reviewing library purchase orders and hunting season schedules?
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There's also some stuff about funding for rural schools put in by the Republicans. Is there any other major democracy where laws get made like this?
To an extent they all do, but I totally get your point.
Westminister systems don't generally permit anything like the level of member-sponsored, public or private, legislation as occurs in the US (which means the ratio of bills to laws is much higher) and which, I guess, accounts for a significant number of the unrelated amendments and attachments. Here's a useful flow-chart, including a page on the amendments process, for the truly dedicated... do I get a chocolate fish (or are you awating a more fullsome piece from Master Edgeler?
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Oops, in my enthusiasm to re-read the speech and have my prejudices about McCain confirmed, it appears I wasn't reading the intro closely enough... thanks for point this out Tim.