Posts by Heather Gaye
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No comment on Graeme's PR puff, & you make a good point about the word "allegedly". However, choosing terms like "bashing" isn't information, it's polemic.
Watching BBC World, I've been struck at how unruffled - even bland - their newsreaders appear, in comparison to kiwi news. I want to know the news, but I really don't need newsreaders to instruct me on how I'm supposed to feel about it, either by their choice of words or their dramatic expression. That's what I read/watch opinion pieces for.
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I think it perhaps reflected their perception of the risk at each venue.
I think it was partly just that they could. As opposed to central wellington or auckland, Ruatoki's a teeny township with a single exit point. To block off the entire town, you just need a roadcone, and a couple of burly bouncer-types. You can guarantee noone's going anywhere, unless your targets are an armed crack team with good training in bush skills...oh, wait...
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I'm really concerned that such a decision will be used to gloss over valid reservations about the TSA amendments: "no innocent activists were charged with terrorism, therefore the law works, trust us".
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...I meant that "no child left behind" because I thought you were promoting excellence in education for everyone.
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All we are asking is for the government and bureaucrats to trust us and let us get on with the job.
Ooh, hold on, I completely misunderstood your original posts. You're libertarian, right?
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The problem is a lack of resources being put into the excellence we need for long term sustainability
I'm all for "no child left behind". But while your primary argument is that NZ needs to educate top-flight personnel, you've also stated more than once that a major problem is the high-flyers are leaving the country because of the lack of career opportunities. How does better education stop our top people leaving?
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That vasectomy was probably the first step I took on the road to recovery.
OH, vasectomy... My brother and his wife had a couple of very disheartening false starts before they finally had their second (and decisively last) child. My brother was totally planning the vasectomy right from the three-month mark...and six months after the second was born, the third was on her way.
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last night I caught a glimpse of Eden Valley and the suburbs of Auckland stretching out west, and there were all these pretty bursts of fireworks.
Same, I sat on my stairs for half an hour & watched all the skyrockets out west. It was really cool. I also noticed that nearly all the fireworks had finished up before 11. I think that's reasonable.
I have to say I enjoyed it hella more for not having been kept awake by fireworks for a full two weeks out from guy fawkes.
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Boo to the far left, and its mirror image on the right.
I think the extremes in society do some important work in helping the moderate majority dwell in a fair&reasonable political climate; the centre of the bell curve is defined as much by the vocal fringes as by the general public.
For that reason I'm quite fine with the loony left and rabid right jumping on whatever political bandwagon they want. Voicing extreme views for which the moderate majority may hold qualified sympathy serves to edge society ever-so-slightly toward the perfect fit. Voicing wholly objectionable views does exactly the same thing, in the opposite direction (ref: enough is enough).
What I'm not happy about is the idea that we might now have a law that can be used to quash the fringe with threats of terrorism charges. Of course I condemn any kind of violent uprising, but it's anathema to me that an individual who is deemed unsavoury because of their firm & passionate beliefs (and a habit of speaking them, loudly) might have fewer rights than an individual who has cruelly & selfishly violated the basic rights of others.
I'm also extremely unhappy about the fact that I hadn't even heard of the Terrorism Suppression Act until a bunch of activists got thrown in jail. I'm not sure if it's my fault for walking around with my fingers in my ears, or it's the crappy MSM's fault for being more frenzied about parliamentary fistfights than any long-range-but-dull-sounding bills that're getting passed. What the hell else have I missed?
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The Herald rescues its reputation somewhat this morning with an editorial demanding open justice in the current proceedings.
Well, of course the media wants open justice - as long as the police don't say anything, the only exciting new developments they'll be able to spin will come from bloggers and bebo.