Posts by Richard Aston
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Hard News: Interview: Glenn Greenwald, in reply to Myles Thomas,
Govt are specifically saying GCSB doesn't mass surveil. But what about NSA? Or another organisation using GCSB facilities? Words can be twisted so many ways, we could be paranoid, they could be lying.
Indeed and the meaning of the phrase Mass Surveillance can be stretched in different ways.
"We don't do mass surveillance ... only meta data which is very technical and you wouldn't understand. "
"We don't do mass surveillance of all NZers ...only 90% of them""I can advise that I have not identified any indiscriminate interception of New Zealanders’ data in my work to date" -.... means nothing really , she could be just incompetent , has limited access or has a nuanced view on the word indiscriminate or simply hasn't got across it all yet.
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Hard News: Privacy and the Public Interest, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Every so often there is a an event which moves our understanding of ethics on in a major way. The process takes a long time and is painful
Thanks Hilary for reminding us of the time frame for real change.
We can remain hopeful that National does not get back in and all will be sweet but the dirty political PR gaming stuff has become systemic and will need addressing anyway. Just having the "good guys" in power won't necessarily clean up politics.
If the Nats do get back in then the process continues - we hope - public perceptions will change over time , more will eventually be done to clean up politics and the PR industry generally.
Its going to take a lot of seriously pissed off people to continue to voice concern and rage.
I hope we all have the stamina , despair sits on our shoulders waiting to turn rage into a passive turn of the head and a whatever....
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Hard News: Show some decency, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
But I digress
Digress away Sofie its like I am trying to looking at this huge picture byzantine in its complexity, then a dog walks through the picture. Perfect.
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Hard News: Show some decency, in reply to SteveH,
There is definitely some interesting psychology going on.
You bet !
Willful ignorance and denial have been part of the human story forever.
Fear turns our eyes away from abuse and dis-ease
As Bruce Springsteen sang
Fear, its a powerful thing. It will turn heart black you can trust -
Hard News: Show some decency, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Is there a stage when you move past anger to sadness?
Skipped sadness went straight to despair , when will voters get the extent and dark depths of this shit?
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Hard News: Why we thought what we thought, in reply to Cecelia,
He made David Cunliffe look statesman-like – a major gaffe and unmade points notwithstanding.
Yes I noticed that , Key did the school yard larriken thing and showed us that nasty little side we see in Parliament debates , he seemed obsessed with "beating" labour
and as you said Cecelia David Cunliffe looked quite statesman like in comparison even to the point of acknowledging National had done a good job of getting through the recession .
The production values were bloody aweful through , audio levels all over the place , the intros were far too long and it was very hard for me to hear what Press Editor was saying.
I think Cunliffe did really well and it restored my faith a little . -
Hard News: Why we thought what we thought, in reply to nzlemming,
So, three things: 1. Long time lurker, first time caller: please be gentle.
You fool! Now they know you’re here!
Welcome Teej
Yes welcome Teej and as NZ Lemming said, you are now tagged.
You know that bit when the dictator takes over and they round up the intellectuals to be sent off to labour camps or killed.
Thats us . -
I am getting paranoid now . Been reading about spin doctor techniques
This
The most recent email release that lead to the PM sacking Collins as a minister was released by Slater - via Cathy Odgers in league with the PMs dept as a reverse straw man diversionary tactic.
This is how it rolls : One email released - PM fires Collins - PM sets up (limited) Inquiry - Don't worry folks we got rid of the evil one - Can't talk about this now while inquiry under way - Election - inquiry finds no evidence ( or Slater says opps I made that one up ) - Collins comes back - Dirty politics forgotten. -
Hard News: Didn't see that coming, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
I kinda expect to see IMP as a bit contentious too.
Yeah IMP is kinda Impish . I like that too .
When Hone is pissed off he says " I am pissed off" not I am displeased or other polite fluff -
Coming in late here but I admired Pam Corkery for speaking her mind in no uncertain terms. Yeah yeah we are all meant to be professional , well mannered and .. tidy but sometimes you just have to call shit what it is. She was right those reporters were trying to mine a piece of National PR spin - KimdotCom the evil one etc and completely missing the point.
""You puffed-up little s**t," she said. "He doesn't want to. He said three times, 'I don't want to give you an interview.' He's not a candidate. He doesn't owe you anything. When will you glove puppets of Cameron Slater just piss off?""
Brilliant !