Random Politics

[chubby]

Originally Posted by Golden Teapot

Yes I think things would have been different. National has generally done things pretty well whereas labour tended to cock-up almost everything; I sincerely believe that had labour been at the reins through this we'd be much worse off than we are.

wheres the brave ab now,to protect us from authoritatively spouted drivel?
please sir..come and challenge this glass dragon.

[Ab]

There's nothing there that deserves challenging.

[chubby]

..i guess not then..

as an aside,racism in labour housing policy being unacceptable-
is it very nice for tim grosser to be using it as distraction in his capacity as our trade minister?

[Ab]

Context?

[chubby]

moves in sri lanka to question the safety of our dairy exports.

[Ab]

what's he done?

[fixed_truth]

Under proposed new law changes revealed today, judges would also have the power to ban suspected child abusers from being around children for up to 10 years without being convicted of a crime

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crim...abuse-suspects

[ZoSo]

Funny.

[ZoSo]

https://twitter.com/DrBrianEdwards/s...50704275038208

@JohnJCampbell Raving is not interviewing, John. A graceless and embarrassing performance. This from your greatest fan. Brian

Oh dear.

[Ab]

Holy shit, Brian Edwards just passed up an opportunity to put "Dr" in front of his name.

[fixed_truth]

I liked the part where Key said that The Law Society, the Privacy Commissioner, the Human Rights commissioner, former head of the GCSB Bruce Ferguson and Geoffrey Palmer are all wrong.

[Lightspeed]

There mustn't be a single moderate man in Egypt...

I can't see how this gets better before it gets worse.

[Lightspeed]

The military probably need to re-instate Morsi. They should have never deposed him, boot him during election if that's needed. Of course this will mean the Brotherhood will be a lot more bold, but that's probably better than chaos.

[Ab]

But... Arab Spring! Twitter! WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG?

[fixed_truth]

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

I liked the part where Key said that The Law Society, the Privacy Commissioner, the Human Rights commissioner, former head of the GCSB Bruce Ferguson and Geoffrey Palmer are all wrong.

Rodney Harrison: Wholesale spy power is precisely what GCSB bill means for Kiwis

In a nutshell, the reason why Mr Key is wrong as a matter of law in claiming that New Zealanders have nothing to fear from the GCSB bill is that his limited analysis of the three new functions to be conferred on the GCSB totally overlooks the point that the statutory intelligence-gathering powers of the GCSB are also being considerably expanded, at the same time as its functions are. When the totality of the changes is considered, we have a major increase in the overall role and powers of the GCSB. That, in some instances, the Prime Minister's authority is required for the GCSB to proceed cannot alter this.

[Lightspeed]

RBNZ imposes lending restrictions

A bunch of media seems to be coming out as if this is National's wicked doing, which I don't think it is really. In fact most of the reporting I heard at least seemed to indicate National wanted things to go a different way.

I think it's just whining about first home buyers really. I mean, housing prices going up and up isn't positive for people wanting to own a home (as opposed to people wanting a "sure thing" investment.)

[Jodi]

Can't wait for the stories of the parents that lose their house cos their children can't make their mortgage payments, and they forgot to limit their liability to 20%.

[ZoSo]

Policy, or rolled?

[StN]

Dead in the water. Like an undersize snapper.

[CCS]

Shouldn't have held up those fish in parliament.

[Lightspeed]

National mourns.

[Ab]

Remember when the government was on the back foot about the GCSB legislation and Meridian Energy and everyone was saying that the cracks were beginning to show in Key's public persona?

No, me neither.

LABOUR SAVES THE DAY AGAIN

[Lightspeed]

So how do things play out in Syria right now? How does the US slap Assad around a bit while not rallying support for anti-US and anti-Israeli groups. Maybe Russia will save the day somehow.

[fidgit]

Isn't Russia pro-Assad? So... it'll become another proxy by which the US makes threats but can't act because they don't want to poke Putin, while Assad keeps killing his countrymen because he can.

Meanwhile, North Korea will notice the US is paying it less attention now and start some shit with South Korea and the US has to juggle not starting a second proxy war with China.


Or, the French storm in, assassinate Assad and Democracy wins.

[Juju]

Syria has Russia's only port in the meditteranian. They ain't gonna give that up easily.

[xor]

The Persians support Assad as they are Shia Muslims as well.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by fidgit

Isn't Russia pro-Assad? So... it'll become another proxy by which the US makes threats but can't act because they don't want to poke Putin, while Assad keeps killing his countrymen because he can.

Meanwhile, North Korea will notice the US is paying it less attention now and start some shit with South Korea and the US has to juggle not starting a second proxy war with China.


Or, the French storm in, assassinate Assad and Democracy wins.

I was thinking maybe Russia step in and give Assad enough of a growling for Western powers to save face, saving the West from making the difficult decision of how to respond.

But no, it's all down to power which the Syrian people don't have.

[xor]

Quote from elsewhere:

Syria is a majority Sunni country, BUT, the ruling group (Assad's) are Shia. The other major country to note here is Saudia Arabia. Sunni Islam, and really dislike Shia muslims.

[Ab]

If the USA goes in to Syria it will be a clusterfuck on a scale that makes Iraq look like a trivial and easily-resolved disagreement.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by xor

Quote from elsewhere:

Syria is a majority Sunni country, BUT, the ruling group (Assad's) are Shia. The other major country to note here is Saudia Arabia. Sunni Islam, and really dislike Shia muslims.

And if you're Christian? Well, you get bombed by idiots in both groups.

Originally Posted by Ab

If the USA goes in to Syria it will be a clusterfuck on a scale that makes Iraq look like a trivial and easily-resolved disagreement.

This is the kind of thing that starts a world war.

[Juju]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

And if you're Christian? Well, you get bombed by idiots in both groups.


This is the kind of thing that starts a world war.

I tend to agree, but surely mutually assured destruction will keep things..i dunno...safer.

I just hope my nerd skills will allow me to avoid the draft.

[Lightspeed]

Putin seems to be doing his bit to keep things calm, at least according to the NYT:
Putin’s Silence on Syria Suggests His Resignation Over Intervention

[fixed_truth]

Interesting report on inequality from Bryan Bruce on Inside New Zealand tonight. *Viewer discretion is advised. The show's content may not be suitable for some nzgamers


http://www.tv3.co.nz/INSIDE-NEW-ZEAL...1/Default.aspx

[Lightspeed]

Hah! I suppose we can see a few more stories like that post Campbell's interview of Key.

[Ab]

tl;dw. Summary?

[Rince]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

So how do things play out in Syria right now? How does the US slap Assad around a bit while not rallying support for anti-US and anti-Israeli groups. Maybe Russia will save the day somehow.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/syria

[fixed_truth]

In a a few words . . . the neo-liberal reforms of the 80s fucked New Zealand and we need to cut that shit out.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

tl;dw. Summary?

Leftist propaganda. I stopped watching when Helen Kelly showed up. I mean, not that there was anything questionable, it was just laid on a bit thick.

Stuff we already know, really. There are more poor people in NZ than before, wages aren't increasing in line with production, current taxation favours the wealthy. Reading between the lines: the poors shouldn't vote for National.

[Lightspeed]

Study finds poverty reduces brain power

Pretty much stuff shrinks have suspected for a long time. It'll be interesting to see how this line of research progresses.

"The poor are often highly effective at focusing on and dealing with pressing problems," he said. "But they don't have leftover bandwidth to devote to other tasks.

"So, if you live in poverty, you're more error prone and errors cost you more dearly -- it's hard to find a way out."

[pxpx]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Leftist propaganda. I stopped watching when Helen Kelly showed up. I mean, not that there was anything questionable, it was just laid on a bit thick.

Stuff we already know, really. There are more poor people in NZ than before, wages aren't increasing in line with production, current taxation favours the wealthy. Reading between the lines: the poors shouldn't vote for National.

+1

It was typical Bryan Bruce, cherry picking facts and talking only to experts who support his chosen them. Interesting enough but a bit tiresome after the constant bombardment of (as LS said) lefty propaganda.

For some reason he goes to 3rd world countries for economic advice.