Posts by InternationalObserver
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"No, I'm teaming up with the Maoris, we have to ... I'll come and see ya, I can't f...... take the white man on without the c...s ... I'm declaring war on this country."
I'm assuming that's Jamie Lockett. But... uh... am I reading that wrong or does that quote have him calling Maori "cunts"
Yeah, you read that wrong.
"c...s ... " stands for cock suckers. (Obviously not talking 'bout Tama Iti then, eh?) -
is it too early to call "theatre" on all these threads? Can't we just agree that all these problems can easily be solved if we re-introduce Conscription? A wooden rifle, some bush training, and a bit of military discipline should sort these radicals out ...
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i'm switching everything off till the dust settles.
Ditto. And dubmugga's comment (page 4) best exemplifies why I can't be bothered getting into a debate. So I'll just leave you with a rant:
I think there's a lot of naivete being displayed here from some commenters. And worse there's a lot of apologists too.
I marched against the Springbok tour, even took part in some 'direct action'. I also pumped my fist and sang along with NWA on "Fuck Tha Police". I 'hate' Bush and 'hate' the attempts by his administration to control the world (and yes, he's just the current figurehead of that cabal) but that doesn't mean I'm ready to side with Al Qaeda who also hate Bush (etc) because I hate the War in Iraq/Gitmo. And it doesn't mean I won't call the cops if someone is doing something illegal (especially to me!).
I think some people on the left (especially the extreme Left) need to have a think about what was going and how they expect the Police to react. And be realistic about it. The Police had zero chance of raiding these 'camps' and catching anyone doing anything. The camps were too remote for any surprise visit (it's only in the movies where Special Ops can hide in a tree for 3 days so they can drop down on the baddies at precisely the right time) so they did the next best thing (from an operational point) and blocked the only road in and out of Tuhoe. Yes, it was a dragnet and a innocent people were affected. Why was the dragnet so tight? Because in previous years when pursuing gang members in relation to a murder the Police cordon wasn't so tight and the suspects were smuggled out of the area in a Kohanga Reo van.
To claim that some of these bugged conversations could be taken to mean the bugee was thinking of running for Parliament is facetious. Some of these conversations are BS 'fighting talk' but others clearly go beyond that and indicate that some people were willing to ramp things up. So what would you prefer? That the Police take no action and maintain a watching brief? If so then maybe we should form our own KGB to covertly follow suspects 24/7 so we can arrest them when they're in the car, outside the Beehive, with Molotovs in hand. And even then there would be people here on PAS claiming that those arrested were possibly only on their way to a BBQ.
Activism is a lot like buying property at an auction. You can go in with the best of intentions, knowing your limit, and be determined to not go beyond that. But as any auctioneer knows, it's not hard to get people to cross that line once you've got them emotionally involved. You just have to do it incrementally. Those camps in Tuhoe may have started out as opportunities to learn bush/hunting skills, but clearly (IMO) some people saw an opportunity to use them as training for a different purpose.
And clearly some people don't see it that way. Nothing happened, other than a major Police over-reaction. I can't agree with that, but I can agree with Sue's comment:
if the police hadn't been such fuck ups with [the] arrests and raids, I suspect public sympathy would not be with those arrested.
Although I would amend that to "...__**some**__ public sympathy..."
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I digress:
'The public'? Oh, you mean a self-selecting sample in a poll where it's possble to vote multiple times? (I know it's possible because I did it.)
The Auckland City Council do the same thing when they 'consult' with ratepayers about various issues. Anyone from anywhere can log on to their website and vote on whatever issue the council is interested in. And they make no attempt to verify your identity (in fact they don't even ask where you live) which is why I always smile (through gritted teeth) when some councillor/beauraucrat makes a media statement claiming support for their pet project based on this BS internet consultation process.
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Since Robyn has picked up on the other part of RB's blog ... can we just take a moment to consider:
A little entertainment news: people in this town are paying to go out and see live music. On Thursday night, both the Veils and Liam Finn sold out their shows, and the Electric Confectionaires packed 'em in to their abum launch at the Dogs' Bollix. On Saturday...
Sad isn't it that this is something worth noting?! Why back in my day, when I was a lad, last century, you could go to any one of 317 venues in Auckland to watch live music. Gluepot, Mainstreet, Powerstation, etc, and all sold out.
(Meanwhile I've been on hold with Qantas [planning my next international observation] for 8 minutes, they're not coming back are they??) -
'bout time we had a new vid to watch. This is the trailer for Beowulf, it features Ray Winstone and whatsername ... but the actual film will screen in 3D! (I saw a Shrek featurette in 3D recently so trust me, the new 3D technology deserves an exclamation mark!)
What have they done to "Beowulf," everyone's least favorite Old English epic about a hero's battles with a monster, the monster's mother and an annoying dragon that turns up 50 years later?
Director Robert Zemeckis not only deploys 21st century movie technology at its finest to turn the heroic poem into a vibrant, nerve-tingling piece of pop culture, but his film actually makes sense of "Beowulf." In Zemeckis' hands, it's an intriguing look at a hero as a flawed human being... (more)
This clip fails the New Zealand-related test, other than that the film will be screening here sometime (I s'pose)
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and the TV3 website is strangely barren on the subject too:
all they say isFri, 09 Nov 2007 07:42p.m.
Campbell Live has obtained the evidence collected by police which was given to the Solicitor General in an effort to charge people under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
The material has not been made public. It is part of the shroud of secrecy that has surrounded the whole "anti-terror raids" business.
The problem with such secrecy is that something always fills the vacuum it creates. Politicians wade in, the media have a field day - everyone expresses their opinion.
As a result, whole communities get tarnished with these allegations.
Yet what the evidence overwhelming shows us is that whole communities were not involved. In the evidence, the number of people saying things which may be described as violently anti-social numbers five.
Campbell Live speaks with former senior police officer Ross Meurant and veteran activist John Minto.
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this from the Stuff link above:
Crown lawyers last night stopped TV3's Campbell Live from broadcasting evidence in files prepared by police for Solicitor-General David Collins and leaked to TV3...... Lawyers for the accused discovered after 3 News went to air that the files had been leaked...... They contacted TV3 and threatened to seek an injunction.
A coupla things:
I was driving my car at 6pm yesterday listening to 3News simulcast on RadioLive. They led the broadcast with the announcement that Campbell Live had the leaked documents and would reveal its contents at 7 (I'm paraphrasing). So all we heard was a 'teaser' for what the documents contained.My first thought was 'how dumb are TV3?'. If you have the document you get it on air a.s.a.p. You don't telegraph that you have it and will broadcast it in one hours time. That's one hour for TVNZ to call the authorities and ask 'where's our copy?', that's one hour for the authorities to go to court and get an injunction to stop TV3 from broadcasting the (information in the) document. Were TV3 really that naive that they thought 'it's 6pm friday, the courts are shut, everyone's gone home, it'll be too late to stop us'?? Like, duh, this is terrorism matey ...
So I was out and unable to set my DVR remotely (ah yes, the day is soon coming when you will be able to call the machine and press record!) to record Campbell Live, but it turns out they were unable to reveal the contents of the documents anyway because ... because ... well, there was no actual injunction, just a threatened injunction.
Interesting.
Methinks TV3 didn't actually want to reveal the contents all along. Maybe they just wanted to look like they were on the side of 'the public's right to know'.
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Curious about the post title: 'Tapping out' usually means 'submitting', much like 'throwing in the towel'. Wondering if this was a wrestling malapropism, and you really meant 'tagging out' like in tag team wrestling, which is more like subbing, handing the floor to those who've still got some energy.
WWF (now WWE) has mushed your brain! He said 'tapped out' which means (colloquially) out of ideas/new things to say. From dictionary.com
Main Entry: tapped out
Part of Speech: adj
Definition: out of money or another resources, such as energy"tapping out" is defined (as you said) by Wikipedia as submission.
A submission (depending on the context also referred to as a "tap out" or "tapping out") is a combat sports term for yielding to the opponent, and hence resulting in an immediate defeat. The submission is commonly performed by clearly tapping the floor or the opponent with the hand or sometimes with the foot, to signal the opponent and possibly the referee of the submission. The submission can also be verbal, during which the fighter verbally informs that he is giving up. In some combative sports where the fighter has cornermen, the corner can also stop the fight by "throwing in the towel", which may count as a submission.
And I can't believe I've gone to such lengths to argue a minor point! Clearly I'm also 'tapped out' of new things to say about those other subjects (but that's not stopping some of the hair splitting going on in those other threads) but need my fix.__ Oh, if only Fiona would update her blog so the rest of us had something to continue yapping on about ...__
It.must.be.Friday.
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Actually I think I took a few $$ off a big casino/hotel in Reno the week after Burning Man - by the simple expedient of staying in one of their USD45 hotel rooms and not gambling a single cent. The place was actually cheaper than Motel 6.
Heh heh. I did the same a few years back, with a deluxe room at the Treasure Island in Vegas a few years back. Dialled their 0800 from LA and asked what their midweek specials were for Amex card holders. My GF (now wife) and I stayed 4 days and didn't gamble once. Until the last night, when we felt we should have a go, since we were in Vegas afterall, and only $100, US dollars, each.
I played Blackjack which bored my wife (if only I'd worn a Tux! She mighta thought I was Sean Connery) so she took off to the slot machines. Evidently women luuurve those flashing lights and twinkly noises, and she was no exception.
About 20 minutes later she was back, having lost ALL her money. I on the other hand was $100 up, so we were still even. But she wanted me to give her the $100 I was ahead so she could keep gambling. I refused because clearly she was on a losing streak and didn't know sh1t about gambling, unlike myself who was clearly the master of the tables. In a few more minutes buxom blondes would be elbowing my GF out of the way, and the Pit Boss would be coming over to usher me up to the VIP tables.
So she got really sh1tty and told me to hurry up cos she was bored, and stood beside me rolling her eyes, asking me the equivalent of "Are we there yet?" at every hand. She was agitated, which made me agitated, and it only took another 10 minutes for me to lose all concentration and the $100 I was ahead. The next $100 only took 5 minutes, at which point she was finally happy, because we were both losers.For a similar (okay, spectacularly worse) adventure I can heartily recommend this comedy (wife loses entire life savings while hubby sleeps in Vegas hotel room).