Posts by Tinshed
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OnPoint: MSD's Leaky Servers, in reply to ,
Congratulations for Godwinning the thread.
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Legal Beagle: Election '11 -…, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Personally I don't see a fixed relationship between proportionality and effectiveness of a voting system, i.e. the greater the proportionality, the better the outcome, ad infinitum. Put another way, a threshold is A Good Thing.
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But not necessarily a better one?
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My favourite response so far as been "rm -rf /bin/laden".
As usual Metafilter has a good range of opinions. Most seem glad the OBL has gone, especially as it will only help Obama. Most don't like some of the gloating that has gone on since the announcement. However, for many Americans, in a very atavistic manner, this is a very good thing.
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Lovely to see the middle class celebrating our descent into feudalism.
You see, this is why no-one takes the Left seriously anymore. I mean, really, feudalism? I get that you don't like what has happened and consider it "wrong" in some way, i.e. a perceived loss of sovereignty by selling out to American movie moguls through additional tax incentives and changes to employment legislation at their bequest. I think most of us acknowledge that is a legitimate point of view, but to call that a descent into feudalism is just plain silly.
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I for one am delighted with the outcome - as I suspect the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders are. It is a Good Thing. (Actually a Very Good Thing.)
Did the PM sell-out to foreign interests? I think he made a very pragmatic decision and reckoned that the benefits far-outweighed any costs. And yes, that includes the political costs, which are pretty small. (Hand-wringing teachers don't carry much weight at the moment I'm afraid.)
One question intrigues me: would Helen Clark have done anything different? I suspect she would have managed the union side much better but assuming the same impasse was reached, would she not have done a similar deal? She might have packaged it differently, but she would have wanted the same outcome and worked to get it.
Anyway, I am still smiling ear-to-ear :-)
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As I continue to try to make sense of this fiasco, I ask myself, "Who has done more in their chosen field, who has achieved the most and who has done most for New Zealand?". I look at the list of protagonists: Helen Kelly, Robyn Malcolm, Simon Whipp or Peter Jackson? The answer is clear to me and given the claim and counter-claim, I can only but side with Peter Jackson on this. The names of the remaining three are now mud and the opprobrium that is, and will continue to be, heaped upon them is entirely justified. Most of us do not want to "union bash" or get personal, but these three between have enormous damage to New Zealand and its film industry. I'm mad as hell about it and hope that all three reap the appropriate consequences for their actions. One conniving Australian and two naive New Zealanders - what damage have they wrought upon us?
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I'm really amazed that a group of New Zealanders in a internationally-competitive industry thought that an Australian union had their interests at heart, especially when Australia subsequently put their own bid in for the movie.
Repeated for truth. Australian unions do not have the interests of NZ workers at heart and even less understanding of the different cultural norms here. This is my experience of many Australians (in the business arena) who come here, expecting to find a smaller version of a small Australian state. We are different countries with different histories, geographies, demographics and so forth.
I don't say this in the nationalistic sense, but rather that in my experiences many Australians aren't attuned the differences between us.
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And it sounds like Haden and his ilk haven't changed all that much since 1981.
I agree - they are very much the old guard of the rugby/racing/beer NZ male stereotype. The good thing is New Zealand has changed a great deal since 1981 and mostly for the better. We are are much more diverse country now with plenty of reasons to feel good about ourselves without having to rely on rugby prowess. Haden, Deaker et al do not understand this, don't like it and wish we were all back in the halcyon days when men were men and Meads was everybody's hero. Gladly, these days are gone.
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I agree with your views on Tony Veitch. He has come perilously close to sounding like he is as much a "victim" as the woman he kicked in the back as she lay on the floor. We have a long way to go, I'm afraid, before we confront male violence.