Posts by Joe Wylie
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Access: Privacy and the right to consent…, in reply to ,
Yes, the Privacy act isn't that much of a deterrent.
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Access: Privacy and the right to consent…, in reply to ,
There is the Privacy act. And that's not nothing.
Despite Paula Bennett being found to have breached the Privacy Act, any consequences were easily deflected by her minders.
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Access: Privacy and the right to consent…, in reply to Angela Hart,
We have no checks and balances on our Government, it can do whatever it likes as long as it has a simple majority in Parliament.
Even in Australia, with the supposed checks and balances offered by its Federal upper house and multiple parliaments, a government agency has done a Paula Bennett and released confidential client information for political advantage.
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Hard News: The long road to Hit and Run, in reply to Stephen R,
Does the irony meter of anyone else trigger on this sentence? Or is it just me?
Heh. For some reason this sprang to mind (scroll down slightly for full context).
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Hard News: The long road to Hit and Run, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Barry Soper is a ‘good ol’ National boy’ … see:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11823728“Nicky Hager adept at whipping up media frenzy” – could be paraphrased as “Nicky Hager – undemining small boys’ faith in their betters since 2002.”
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Hard News: What the wastewater tells us…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Ritalin isn't an amphetamine, it isn't even a phenylamine, so unlikely to test similarly.
Thought so. Back when recreational methamphetamine was sourced from compliant doctors, who'd prescribe pharmaceutical methedrine largely for weight loss, users disparaged ritalin as "plastic meth" once they discovered that popping it wasn't much fun.
As even those who weren't there know it was a pretty sexist world in the old days. Young women only had to express a wish to look like Twiggy in order to score from certain benevolent male MDs. I remember a chubby male acquaintance deciding to cut out the middle woman and try it for himself with a doctor renowned for his generous prescribing habits. Instead of the hoped-for scrip for a big bottle of black bombers, all he got was OK fat cat, here's a diet sheet and try to exercise more.
All of this of course is anecdotal, but if it's good enough for Bill English...
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Access: Privacy and the right to consent…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I thought it hypocritical of Paula Bennett to speak to the crowd yesterday encouraging the 'bravery' of the students, while her Government seeks to deny consent to some of the most vulnerable citizens.
Especially so considering Bennett's track record in releasing personal information for blatantly political purposes. One need only exercise a fraction of the kind of cynicism that's guided her career to assume that her minders decided that being associated Saturday's protest would enhance her 'progressive' image. That such an empty bottle could be considered potential PM material only demonstrates how National failed to nurture genuine talent through the Key years.
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Back when Sunday public speakers were a thing in Sydney Domain's version of Hyde Park corner, Webster was the undisputed king. When he appeared with his distinctive yellow ladder crowds would desert the freethinkers and the Bible Ladies for some real entertainment.Everything the Wizard knows about public speaking he learned back then from Webster. Before he fetched up in Christchurch, even before his first official wizarding gig as Grand Alf Wizard of Aus for the University of NSW, the Wizard would occasionally do a guest spot on Webster's ladder while the maestro went among the crowd browbeating holdouts into purchasing the single-sheet 'newspaper' from which he made his living.
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Hard News: Meet the new bots, same as…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
they are getting better at appearing 'real' ...
Jürgen Tomicek.
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Hard News: Drugs, testing and workplaces, in reply to Sacha,
NewShub backs the PM's desperate dog-whistling anecdata.
English's stiff and shallow attempts at justifying failed policy show that he hasn't learned much from the good years he enjoyed in Key's shadow. Back in the limelight there's no disguising that the old whiff of political death he exuded as opposition leader is as strong as ever. It's all a bit too reminiscent of this media-assisted humbuggery hiding to oblivion.
