Posts by Tom Semmens
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I hold out a bit more hope for Foss than that.
You are a slow learner.
Foss, Tremain, Simon Lusk and Jordan Williams are all part of a Hawkes Bay based cabal whose political views are hard, hard right wing.
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This death was an "accident" in the same way Pike River was an "accident" or the Rena grounding was an "accident". In our obsession with "excessive" red tape and our constant search for magical solutions in deregulation we've forgotten that accidents are seldom that. An accident is an event that is unexpected and unpredictable - being hit lightning on a clear day is an accident. Jane Bishop's death is not by any ordinary use of the word an accident. The danger was identified four years previously. By all accounts, any number of regular users of that road regarded it as a notoriously life threatening spot. Yet nothing was done, until a life was lost. Only then the council acted, removing two car parks within days of her death - betraying that their corporate knowledge was aware all along where the danger was. Why isn't the council in the dock? Why hadn't they acted earlier? Was it just they were to incompetent or complacent or lazy or stupid (or all of them) to do their fucking job properly? These questions won't get to be asked in a public forum now. The fact of the matter is this woman is dead, the poor bugger who was the immediate cause is considerably out of pocket for legal expenses and no one in charge of traffic design and management is going to be held accountable. If there was ever a poster child for restoring the right for people to sue under certain circumstances, this is it. Even worse in my mind, no systematic public investigation into the reasons for and causes leading up to her death has been conducted. No lessons have really been learnt, beyond a pathetic "try harder next time".
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Hard News: Finally, the Teapot Tape?, in reply to Sacha,
It was bumped for a bikini photo of Sonny Bill Williams latest piece of fluff.
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what makes you think he was in charge of the campaign?
Oh, he is in charge all right. I think listening to the tapes you can now see the entire affair was inflated way out of proportion because John Key’s didn’t like it. His advisors probaly would have said to release them.
People make a big deal about about how he milked it to turn the tables on the media, but in fact the real impact of his tanty was NZ First back to parliament – something that took him to within 2 seats of potentially losing power.
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It seems clear now that Key’s furious reaction to the revelation of the tapes existence was based entirely on the fact he was personally pissed off.
In his massive over-reaction, the corporate culture of managerial bullying and intolerance to dissent that pervades his whole government could not be more starkly revealed.
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Mind you, one of them was finally cut from his panic room and found to have a shotgun for company. Does strike me as an especially paranoid bloke.
It astonishes me how many people allow their line of thinking to be formed by police press releases dutifully relayed through a friendly media. The police positively encourage people to install (legal) security systems. Panic rooms are common enough these days. Mr. Dotcom’s security systems were all legal. I would suspect Mr. Dotcom has an accurate assessment of how much effort international authorities would put in to saving him should he be kidnapped, which makes his personal security arrangements less paranoid than realistic. I note that the shotgun was legally owned and in an approved gun safe in the safe room and NO firearms charges in relation to them have been laid. God, the police couldn’t even score the trifecta of “guns, drugs and cash”.
The police propaganda machine has been in overdrive in inviting people to imagine Mr. Dotcom was sitting in some sort of aberrant fortress nervously fingering a shadily obtained sawn off weapon, and only the wise presence of overwhelming coercive state power prevented a Ruby Ridge in Coatsville. I suspect it was more about keeping the Americans happy than stopping a potential shoot out that dictated the police’s tactics.
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Q: What is the lesson of the events at the Chrisco mansion?
A: If you rip off the poor, you get to build the Chrisco mansion. If you rip off the rich, you get to be arrested in it.
I was shocked at the level of state force used in the raid – 76 armed police and two helicopters to arrest four geeks with no history of violence. Use of massive asymmetric force and militarised policing seems to contaminate every jurisdiction touched by the hegemonic U.S. police state apparatus. It certainly seems to feed the action man fantasies of our police force.
But I have been even more dismayed at the way the media has breathlessly acted as repeaters of a concerted campaign of character assassination and smears aimed at the Mr. Dotcom and his colleagues by the enthusiastic enablers of U.S. economic colonialism, AKA the New Zealand Police Force. The aim is clearly to have these guys convicted before they ever get near a judge and jury.
Another big worry is that is this is occurring against a backdrop of a hopelessly corrupt political establishment in the United States. Since, as Glenn Greenwald points out, the U.S. really is a society that simply no longer believes in due process that creates a toxic environment for anyone dealing in intellectual property who may happen to run foul of an American corporation. It seems United States companies now merely need to mention the word "pirate" and they can have anyone shut down without due process. Anyone who thinks this won't eventually be used to arbitrarily deal with competitors in all areas of IP and copyright is dreaming. Anyone in a patent or IP dispute with a US corporation is now at risk of -at the very least - having their domain name seized and servers confiscated for who knows how long it will take. At worst, you might find yourself languishing in a local jail, courtesy of an enthusiastic colonial police force. And in the meantime, the US business that made the complaint will sail on free.
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So if I read the article Ian linked, Lees quit BDO because he didn’t like what the nasty people on Facebook said about the shitty sub-par lineup?
Wow.
The number one sign a promoter has completely lost touch is bitterly complaining that the punters don't appreciate the enormity of the favour he is doing them.
it is tough game, innit.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Sacha,
Airfares are as cheap as chips
truly a man of the people
Could you perhaps take the trouble to explain what you mean by this?
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I think a friend of mine described the demise of the BDO beautifully:
"...From the NZ promoter:
"People are saying that they aren't appreciating this line-up - that strikes me as strange. I think it's strong. For whatever reason we're not selling tickets. We haven't got a roll on."For whatever reason???? THE LINE UP DOES SUCK! That's why people aren't giving a fuck. Don't forget as well as the Kanye thing, Odd Future debacle, and the downsizing, there was also the stupid way they launched this year, with the stupid social media drip feed of artists. How out of touch..!"
And it doesn't help that New Zealand promoters (traditionally under capitalised) now simply can't afford the skyrocketing fees and up-front costs of artists seeking to replace lost revenue from illegal downloading with concert fees. Once musicians could afford to play just because they wanted to do the gig. Not anymore.
The march to being a fully forgotten musical backwater continues. I've been to twice as many gigs in Sydney in the past year than I have in Auckland. Airfares are as cheap as chips.