Posts by Rex Widerstrom
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Kracklite,
Thanks Kracklite. Time was when I popped up here more regularly, but I imposed some self-discipline time-wise. But now I have my own infrequent journal (I'd never call it a blog... that implies some consistency and effort) I figure I've breached my own moratorium so what the hey... clients only set deadlines as guides to when they'd like stuff, right?
perhaps it’s time that Phil realised that Waitakere Man is a minority too and throws him under the bus?
We could be underestimating him. He's refused to rule out clasping Winston to his bosom (and, like Key, has even danced round the possibility of working with a NZF not led by Peters... and whe all khnow who that whould mhost lhikely be).
But who needs the handful of rapidly extinguishing voters Winston can bring you if you out-Winston Winston and get them yourself?
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(Yes alright I'll shut up in a minute)...
Amongst all this deserved condemnation of Collins I have yet to see much of Goff for his "court martialed and shot" comment, which he later - in true "Crusher" Collins "I meant double bunking, not rape" style - tried to pass off as a joke.
Same standards apply. Other people, especially victims in the midst of a tragedy, get to make intemperate renarks. Cabinet Ministers and would-be Prime Ministers don't. And Goff doesn't even have the excuse of a double digit IQ and choleric disposition.
What's he doing, trying to hoover up the voters who have no home now David Garrett's gone?
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Judith Collins is in a defamation seeking mood.
She is?! Can someone please get her to Google my name, Kiwiblog, and her name? Coz I'd just love to run a defence of justification, or even truth, on that...
[Okay I'll stop here, before I add to the damages :-D ]
Seriously, it's become so that threats of defamation are the last vestige of the scoundrel (c.f. Lhaws). I'm fresh off winning two defamation cases, I might as well go for the trifecta.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Peter Darlington,
I'm truly saddened to hear of the young man who died in custody Peter.
I've long pondered the thought that NZ needs its own Deaths in Custody Watch Committee and your comment has crystallised my thinking.
Would the family to whom you refer have any interest in being the kernel of such a thing? It's bereaved families who give DICWC WA its focus and energy - and provide one form of counterpoint to the Sensible Sentencing Trusts of the sector.
If so, I'd be happy to effect introductions. Or indeed for anyone else interested.
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Other means of paying for a public service channel have been explored and found wanting.
Not in Australia they haven't. While there are regular grumbles from the right (and the ABC do themselves no favours by providing a home for several superannuated old hippies with nothing new to say, like Phillip Adams) no one seriously begrudges the the 10.6 cents a day they pay for the ABC.
And for that they get four TV channels (including a dedicated children's channel and a 24 hour news channel), the great iView online streaming site, a comprehensive news site, in-depth sub-sites for a myriad of TV and radio programs, Radio National, NewsRadio, Classic FM, the brilliant Triple J (if I'm ever fortunate enough to return home, a live stream of the Js will be a must), Radio Australia, and local radio across a huge continent.
We're only talking one, maybe two TV channels, given that RNZ is a separate entity. Okay, so there's less of us - a fifth of the Australian population, give or take. Worst case (assuming two smell-of-an-oily-rag channels cost as much as the entire ABC) that's 50 cents a person a day.
I regularly scan the TV listings for NZ and suspect the only thing I'd ever watch was TVNZ, with the very occasional foray into One. So, like DeepRed, I probably wouldn't bother with a TV.
Not that I have mine on all the time over here, but if I go a week without TV I can barely contain my excitement to get to iView and see what I've missed. TV is still a part of the nation's consciousness in Australia and that's thanks almost entirely to the ABC and SBS (also partly government funded).
Surely the Australians can't be smarter, and more deserving than us?! (and right there is a cunning marketing ploy to generate acceptance of the 50c contribution ;-) )
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Up Front: Giving Me Grief, in reply to Jackie Clark,
Thanks so much for that Jackie. I kinda understand what Kubler-Ross was getting at, and on one level I think she’s right. On the another level entirely, I tend to want to hit things till they comply with my view of how they should be. Heaven help the PC that tries that BSD BS in my presence ;-)
What I want more than anything is to challenge Death to feats of strength, and win back what I want more than anything in the world right now. I’m sure that’s a very male perspective. And possibly a somewhat NZ one as well.
I’m sure that will pass. I certainly hope it will. Meanwhile the inanimate objects that surround me are being very well behaved of late.
Danielle, Robert, thanks to you too. Robert, suicide is far from painless for those left behind. Not that I’ve had that happen to someone particularly close, but a work colleague… the “should I, could I, what if” treadmill can become exquisite mental torture. Truth is, we know less about our own minds than the farthest reaches of the universe, so none of us “could have, should have” acted other than the way in which we did (if that makes sense).
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Thanks Russell, Emma, and Islander.
I've never been much for the "five stages of grief" theory. This situation went from "slighty off colour" to "deceased" in three days, and I had to make decisions on treatment, advised by what seemed like a confident doctor but who I now recall as more a cocky know-all.
Since my default mood tends to be "mildly irritated" it therefore progresses to "anger" fairly easily. So at present I'm alternating between anger at myself for my possible gullibility and at the doctor for a quick and somewhat glib diagnosis he didn't bother verifying, and debilitating grief.
Oddly I find I can still rant on blogs, though I can't do any work - a focus for the anger I guess. Someone should write a thesis on "Redbaiter as therapy" ;-)
Whether I'll get to the other stages or not remains to be seen. They've never really happened in the past, but maybe with age comes (greater) wisdom...
Good luck with the trusteeship, Islander... it's something I've seen it send people to the edge of sanity. There has to be an easier way, surely.
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So about 2 hours ago someone I cared deeply for died in my arms. Pretty much alone - still - in a strange country, fate - or maybe the mixture of Scotch and Valium I've been downing since - brought me here.
And suddenly the uncomprehending emotiveness and the forgetfulness that they're no longer there - even this soon after the event - crystralised beautifully.
Thanks Emma, for the strength I'm finding in your strength. Kia kaha.
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That the same Doug Hood who did Radio Windy drive for a while?
He'd be in the booth grooving away, perm a'shakin (at least I assume it was a perm, as surely no one is born with hair that bouncy outside of a L'Oreal commercial) and he kept getting interrupted by this earnest young boy-journalist who was certain that what his mellow fan-base needed was a good dose of hard current affairs up 'em every hour at 20 past the hour.
He was remarkably good-natured about it, as I recall. Where is he these days?
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Ardberg for when you want to drink it with people with whom you don't mind sharing. Peaty enough to satisfy me, mild enough to be acceptable to all but the wimpiest malt drinker. But when I want indulgence and / or to deter my companions from sharing ("Here, tray a cip. Oh you don't like it? What a pity, I don't seem to have anything else...") it's Laphroaig.
I even own a small piece of the land on which the distillery stands (become a "Fried of Laphroaig" and you can too).
I've been to whisky tastings and even sat and watched Laphroaigs video streamed "tasting notes". But it had never occured to me to cook with it. Until now.
And though not a great lover of desserts, I can't help thinking ice cream...
(BTW, is that wonderful whisky bar still in Wellington past the end of Courtenay Place, tucked up behind the movie theatre?)