Posts by Lucy Stewart
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But how did we end up with a Foreign Minister who attempts to negotiate with a Fijian government created by a military coup, and then calls for the summary deportation of people sheltering Indian overstayers in the same week?
We were amused enough by Peters to let him hang around for twenty-odd years, that's how. (That said, I am continually surprised by his general lack of gaffes while representing this country overseas.)
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It seems that when you combine the word 'lesbian' with 'socialist', talkback audiences are somehow struck with contradictory impressions of sexual deviance, sexual puritanism and obsessive control over private lives. Or at least, that's what I got from the paper.
There's also the underlying implication that teh wimmenz are running around doing things without any need for men whatsoever - it's tapping into talkback callers' fear that they're unnecessary and irrelevant. Which, incidentally, is why lesbianism/bisexuality is considered perfectly acceptable by certain areas of society when it is explicitly being displayed for the approval of heterosexual men (two girls are hot, yadda yadda) but becomes frightening and deviant when it isn't. It's all about power and control.
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Wrt Owen Walker, it's meant to be about reform. Yes he needs to be responsible for the results of his actions but this is an 18-year-old man who has enormous potential, given the right direction and signals.
I think it's fairly self-evident that he didn't really comprehend the extent of the criminal activity going on using his coding, either - the crown prosecutor described him as "frank and co-operative" with regards to helping shut down the botnet. It was probably more an intellectual exercise than anything else for him.
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My favourite time to listen in is the real Geriatric Hour - Sunday evening with Sounds Historical , followed by the lovely Wayne Mowat and a barrel-full of golden oldies. Now that is vintage wireless....
Well, this twenty-one-year-old thoroughly agrees with you. Sounds Historical always brings up some lovely little treasure from times past. Sunday in general is a great day; I've had to miss it for the past two years due to work, but I've really missed the movie reviews. In fact, the only National Radio programme I generally dislike is Jim Mora's panel in the afternoons - sometimes it hits a good spot, but mostly it meanders. Overall, though, I'm a huge fan. It's the only radio station that ever goes on in our house.
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I have no interest in purchasing the iPhone (16GB of storage? Feh! Plus my annoyance with iTunes is well-documented), but I just clicked over to Vodafone to look at these controversial pricing plans. My initial reaction is: are they fucking kidding? DUDE.
No more than that Apple Australia guy who basically said that of course Apples weren't overpriced in Australasia, because people still bought them. As long as they have some kind of profitable market and a monopoly, they'll charge the earth.
The Vodafone guy on Campbell Live a few nights ago was quite funny, though - he only had five prepared lines, which summed up as "but it's really not that expensive, honest", and didn't deviate from them no matter how incensed Campbell got at his refusal to admit that Vodafone was preparing to screw customers for all they could using their iPhone monopoly. And when I say "funny", I mostly mean "irritating".
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Quel surprise. Anyone care for a wager on when the magazine cover comes out?
Tea Ropati got his last week, if that's any guide - not that drunken adultery and an acquitted rape charge is the same thing, but it's still rapid rehabilitation.
And Bridget Saunders started it in that column linked to by Craig above with her vapid maunderings equating Dunne-Powell's injuries with Veitch's loss of reputation, saying how sorry she felt for the poor man.
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Kicking them until their back breaks? That's a little more challenging.
Oh, just a little, huh?
looks like there's gonna be a lynchin', stand back so's you don't get run over by the posse
Yeah, gee, it's really sad how everyone gets all het up over minor incidents like this. I mean, the guy said he's sorry, right? On national TV and everything! What more could we possibly want?
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indeed. 'cunt' is a dirty word for a beautiful thing.
veitch is just a dirty word
Thoroughly seconded. If description is needed, I think "pathetic" and "disgusting" will do quite nicely.
Are there things we don't know that might count as mitigating circumstances?
What possible mitigating circumstance could there be for knocking someone to the ground and kicking them until their back broke? I think the fact that the best "explanation" Veitch came up with was "I was really tired and shit" demonstrates quite clearly that there is (and cannot be) any mitigation of what he did.
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what is the victim knew that if this became public she would become a public figure. maybe she felt she'd lived though enough?
Maybe that's what she was thinking, and that's entirely her prerogative. But the fact of the matter is that it _is_ public now (and didn't have to be - in fact, couldn't have been made public if it had gone to court and name suppression had been given). And, frankly, it's surprising it stayed quiet this long. Given how badly injured she was and how long she had to take off work, it was incredibly unlikely it was never going to come to light.
No matter how much Veitch goes on about counselling and being a better person, the fact of the matter is that he committed a very serious crime and then used money to hush it up and escape legal consequences. If he's really rehabilitated or rehabilitatable, if convicted, he would get parole pretty quickly. But that doesn't excuse what he did, or mean he doesn't deserve to be charged - and the way that he presented lots of "explanations" for his behaviour says that he's not exactly taking full responsibility even now.
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Up until I heard the viciousness of the assault I was fence-sitting, probably because of the image he portrayed on screen - I liked the guy (or the image) but if he's done what it has been said, there is no longer any doubt in my mind.
I wasn't horribly impressed by his description of it as "lashing out", either - if he'd punched her once, that would be apt. But pushing someone to the ground and kicking them so hard you break their back isn't "lashing out", it's - I don't even know if vicious is strong enough.