Tell that to Rupert Murdoch!
Here’s the story, and it’s brazen, baby, really brazen… Continue reading →
Politics is a full contact sport — but there are limits
“This is a contact sport, politics. You can’t complain about being attacked.”
— Bill Clinton.
He was probably quoting former US Senator Alan Simpson, who famously used the phrase ‘Politics is a contact sport’ in his 2002 Peltason lecture, and ever since, invoking it to describe his good mate Teddy Kennedy…
Politics is a contact sport. You’re going to get beat up, but never let them distort who you are.
Kennedy knew politics was a contact sport. He could handle things with good humor and a big smile and a huge laugh that was like the back room of an Irish pub.
But there are some things that are over the line, in my view, and the vitriol of some opponents would stretch even a saint’s good humour. One example is the HATEFUL portrayal of President Barack Obama promulgated in a series of ‘pro-life’ ads advocating Colorado’s Proposition 62 the ‘personhood’ bill seeking to outlaw abortion.
So-called pro-lifers displaying their hate. I'm glad they lost Proposition 62. Again. This is Evil.
A ghastly, shameful ad literally calls Obama ‘The Angel of Death’ and morphs his face onto a skeletal hooded angel image, then later morphs him into the ‘Joker’ in a dark portrayal a la Heath Ledger playing a murderous sociopath in The Dark Knight movie. Disgusting.
Although I have genuine sympathy for their cause, and respect their sincerity — and their faith — I find myself glad their proposition failed. Ad hominem tactics like that deserve no reward. The activists squander their moral authority and undermine their humanity with this evil garbage, in my view, despite their sincerity. What a trap.
On the same theme, George W Bush revealed this week that the ‘worst moment of his presidency’ was when Kanye West condemned him as a racist in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the botched response to the catastrophe of New Orleans. (West actually said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” at a Red Cross telethon fundraiser for victims of Katrina.)
Bush took that criticism very hard, he said …
“I resent it, it’s not true, and it was one of the most disgusting moments in my Presidency” … “the suggestion that I was racist because of the response to Katrina represented an all time low”
… which made me reflect on my comments about some of my fellow Howick residents and their campaign determinedly opposing a very small effort to teach Maori culture in Howick’s Garden of Memories.
I wonder if they take my description and interpretation of their actions and my criticisms as hard? (e.g. “Bigotry has to be opposed, whatever it is dressed up as.”)
Probably not. But I had a twinge of empathy.
—
Then tonight I went to the first meeting of the newly elected Howick Local Board and the politician who featured so prominently (shouting ‘I’m not racist!’ into people’s faces) during the ‘full-blown race war’ confrontation filmed by Marae Investigates, Michael Williams, was elected chairman. Continue reading →
Your tax dollars at work
image: http://picses.eu
This is how democracy should work. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Good on the Labour and Green MPS for pushing the issue.
[NZ Parliament’s] Speaker Lockwood Smith has caved in to pressure to release MPs spending on their travel perks after political parties rebelled against his initial stance by releasing their own expenses.
Today Dr Smith re-issued the last quarters’ expense disclosure with the cost of MPs travel perks included again. He said he would continue to include the costs of that travel in the future.
In a statement he said he had released the full set of expenses because of confusion created by the decision of some parties to release their own expenses. ….
Lockwood Smith is OK in my book. I could sort of see what he was thinking with his view that the travel perks were a legitimate entitlement MPs might feel embarrassed about using because of public scrutiny — sort of — but the public suspicion Members of Parliament act like ‘pigs at the trough’ (whether that’s a fair impression or not) can only be countered by full and regular clear disclosure. That’s the trend, chaps and chappesses, like it or not.
(Don’t get me started on Roger Douglas’s entitlement mentality, please. Or Rodney ‘perk-buster’ Hide.)
Let’s be reasonable…
Here’s a sign from the San Francisco satellite rally of Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity, inspired, I think, by a line he delivered on The Daily Show.
I think it’s just brilliant.
'I may disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.' (image Huffington Post)
In my dealings with those with whom I strongly disagree about things that are important to me, I make a real effort not to demonise them or write them off as idiots. I believe in dialogue.
For instance, I’ve emphasised to several members of the Howick local political community that I don’t regard them as insincere or corrupt, but I completely disagree with their stance on some issues and I’m critical of their actions. Further, I personally interpret their actions as based on ignorant racism and bigotry and also feel they don’t represent me or people like me.
I do and will oppose those actions. But that doesn’t make them fascists or Nazis in my book, and I don’t wish them ill personally. Likewise with the hyperbolic spruikers I tackle from time to time like Dean Letfus, Shaun Stenning, Steve Goodey and others.
I disagree with what they’re doing, and will say so … but I’m pretty sure they’re not Hitler.
UPDATE: Oh look, T-shirts! ..
That's entrepreneurial! (click)
Jon Stewart’s closing remarks at the ‘Rally to Restore Sanity’
Reportedly, 215,000 people turned out in Washington DC today (image: HuffingtonPost)
I was impressed with this (I’ve left it out of blockquote to help readability. It’s all Jon Stewart, including his description of the media as a “24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator”):
“And now I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity. If that’s okay — I know that there are boundaries for a comedian/pundit/talker guy, and I’m sure that I’ll find out tomorrow how I have violated them.
[Comment: not a complete transcript.]
So, uh, what exactly was this? I can’t control what people think this was: I can only tell you my intentions.
This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear–they are, and we do.
But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus, and not be enemies. But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.
The country’s 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.
There are terrorists, and racists, and Stalinists, and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned! You must have the resume! Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Party-ers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult–not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. Continue reading →
The superlatives still run hot for Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen in concert, Auckland 29 October (Pic: Dean Purcell, NZ Herald) click to read the review
Another night, another happy and satisfied bunch of Leonard Cohen fans. My pal Graeme went and sent me a text at the intermission, saying ‘Now I know what you were talking about!‘ Cool.
What a great comment!
I just had to share this neat little story. How cool.
from a comment thread at Huffington Post on an article about Jon Stewart's upcoming Rally to Restore Sanity (click)
As text below the fold Continue reading →
Nice to be clear – Mark Coker on e-Books
I enjoyed a fascinating and informative day at the NZ Society of Authors seminar, Publishing for Authors — the whole picture yesterday.
Inexorable trend — just a matter of time — Mark Coker
One of the keynote speakers was Mark Coker of Smashwords who talked about the past and preset of e-books, trends in the market, and the mistakes he sees US publishers making that perhaps we can learn to avoid. It was a really worthwhile session (see his slideshow below the fold).
I learned a lot from this likeable man whose business, which acts as a marketing/distribution platform for self-published and professionally published e-books, has experienced phenomenal growth as part of the wave. He told us Smashwords listed 140 e-books at the end of 2008, 6,000 e-books by end of 2009, and 22,500 by Sept this year 2010.
Mark’s analysis of the drivers of the traditional publishing model (mainly: control and, lately, risk mitigation) and the playing field-equalising effect of software and our move (headlong sprint?) to the internet really rang true. The money ‘equation’ and the prospect of added control means that more and more authors are becoming publishers, and more professional authors will go independent (becoming ‘indie’ publishers like indie filmmakers).
Publishers are losing control of the bricks and mortar, he said, which will, with the rise of e-books and print-on-demand solutions, become increasing irrelevant. Reading is unquestionably, demonstrably moving to screens. Continue reading →
Why do you think we call it a struggle?
I referred earlier this week in ‘Words that may not be spoken‘ to what I see as a subversive, long-running and concerted political campaign which aims to suppress Maori culture in Howick, Auckland, where I live. That’s how I see it. I’ll explain why.
Along with the rest of New Zealand, we’ve just had local authority elections.
Sadly, from my point of view, it appears that an unhealthy fixation with keeping Maori culture out of Howick — or at least keeping it ‘in its place‘ has survived the election process.
The 'repair' option (used as a delaying tactic by opponents of the 'rebuild' option) has been taken off the table. Pic by Peter Aranyi 19 October 2010 (click to enlarge)
Indeed, a majority of the newly-elected local board appears to want to prevent the reinstatement of the whare — a burnt-out little meeting house in Howick’s Garden of Memories, where it has been located since the 1930s.
The eight (of nine) have reportedly even gone so far as to sign a ludicrous petition to ‘declare independence‘ from the Manukau City Council (!) over its decision to proceed with the plan to rebuild the community-owned building.
As I see it, the campaign opposing the whare reinstatement project has a racist, xenophobic, even white supremacist undertone. (They deny this, of course, and it’s not very ‘neutral’ of me to say it so plainly, but actions speak louder than words.)
This is only the latest skirmish in the battle which has been underway for years. Far too long. As such it’s worth opposing. It’s a fight worth fighting. Justice delayed is justice denied and these time-wasters have cost us enough.
Here’s some background to the latest push: Continue reading →
Words fail me
What does it take? (click to be scandalised)
Not a good look for the Serious Fraud Office. Disappointing is an understatement.
When the brand is smokin’ hot …
You might remember my post ‘Talk about product placement!’ which featured President Obama demonstrating a new government health website on a MacBook Pro with the Presidential seal over the Apple logo…
Here’s today’s NZ Herald displaying no such coyness — in fact the article is about kids wanting Apple products for Christmas. (Enthusiastic consumers of trinkets just like their forebears.)
Product placement — what would an advertisement like this cost in the NZ Herald? (click)
As I mentioned in the earlier post, I’ve used Apple gear for decades, when only a few of us regarded it as cool — although educators have long seen the benefits of the Mac interface. I suffered through the wilderness years when using a Mac was almost an article of faith that the company would pull out of its doldrums — but always fed by finding delight in the elegance, the flexibility, the future-looking-ness of the software, and the irrepressible ‘attitude’ of the Apple geeks, hippies and aesthetes.
They made a few bum blind alley moves on the hardware front — falling into a beige box me-too bunker and sticking with Motorola 68XXX chips too long followed by the then promising but ultimately disappointing Power PC chips … before bringing back Steve Jobs, ‘buying’ his NeXT as the basis of OSX and switching to Intel and making silicon sing. Some of the software developers were geniuses, the da Vincis of our age.
Now Apple is custom-making their own silicon with the A4 chip in the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch — and it’s game on. Good on them. Apple is a business that succeeds with vision, style and substance. Not perfect, but the best, in my opinion.
Cher Lloyd: Good on her
Cher Lloyd competing in UK X-Factor (image: www.dailymail.co.uk)
A friend of mine spotted this young woman on YouTube — Cher Lloyd — she’s a contestant in the current British ‘X-Factor’. Watch her audition.
I like it that she credits the artist, Soulja Boy … and the Keri Hilson ‘version’ of Turn My Swag On she performs. Nice.
I like her a lot. She’s got courage and talent. She’s funky and entertaining.
There’s a hate campaign against her, apparently (… which the song actually anticipates: “… always getting haters like you wouldn’t believe – so wassup?”)
I wish her well. Damn the torpedos.
Video below the fold. Continue reading →
Farewell Limewire
Nice logo. Shame the business model is based on theft, huh?
As noted in this earlier post, high profile file ‘sharing (or stealing?) service’ Limewire lost a federal case brought against them by outraged record companies.
The death blow/shut down order was suspended in May while the victorious owners and licensees of the intellectual property at issue and the thieves who built a business distributing what wasn’t theirs, tried to see if they could work it out. From the earlier report:
The record labels and LimeWire are to meet with Judge Kimba Wood on June 1 to determine the next steps, such as a possible deal to work together going forward.
I thought at the time: Never.Going.To.Happen.
So, today:
LimeWire file-sharing service shut down by court — NZ Herald
Goodbye Limewire. Thanks for sharing. (Oh, not really.)
Bruce Sheppard — closing thoughts?
This looong blog post by Bruce Sheppard is worth reading in its entirety.
Part of it reflects on the baby boomer ‘inter generational wealth transfer’ conspiracy promoted by Bernard Hickey et al.
A bunch of kids were born in the 1950s mostly, and as a result nappy valleys appeared all over the western world, schools were built.
Now many schools are closing down, as we have fewer kids than we had at the peak.
Then they became young adults, these baby boomers bought cars and houses, and a consumption-led boom bedded in, the baby boomers gave the world their best shot in their 20s to 40s and produced significant wealth for the west. Now they are moving into wind down mode, and consuming their wealth.
Their kids, however, are a different bred, instead of the generation X and Y stepping into the productive cycle, many have not yet jumped out of the dependant cycle. They stay at school and home longer, and when they do work they over value their worth because PC nonsense has convinced them that everyone’s a winner…blah, blah. And they spend every dollar they earn. No wonder we have a balance of payments deficit.(Facilitating economic warfare from the surplus economies.)
Soon the baby boomers will be moving into expensive health care and retirement living, notice the booming retirement villages, in 40 years these too will be empty shells like the schools of the 50s as this wave of post war babies moves through to death.
This demographic wave combined with low birth rates is our undoing; it is the Achilles heal of our society, as the only way to keep up our lifestyle is to import labour and capital and the only way for politicians to get elected is to keep us happy by obliging. …
Sheppard has a number of other very intelligent and worthwhile things to say in the post:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/stirring-the-pot/4249073/Its-a-wrap#
Surely, even his critics wish the maverick Sheppard well in his new role as part of the establishment board of the Financial Markets Authority. I do. God knows we need to tame the frontier of our financial markets somehow, to instil some confidence in our investment and saving areas … or the future will look like the past.
I’m sure we’ll hear from him again.
