Posts by Matthew Poole
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Still not as classy as Orcon's "Were providing faster internet" ad. I think that one was even on TV.
Did that happen? I'll have to give our Great Blend sponsors a ribbing about that. Perhaps I'll make it a grammar-contingent deal ...
Surely did. I have an MSN log from 16/3/05 where I mentioned to a friend that they got outed by that week's ComputerWorld. So it's even stored in print, if you can find a copy.
-
Personally I think Anderton, like Dunne, is a good argument for a reverse threshold.
I think Rodney's a far better one, personally. Anderton is in, all on his lonesome, as the MP for Wigram. He'd be there with or without MMP. Roy, Douglas, Boscawen and Garrett, on the other hand, are there only because of Rodders.
Or are you proposing that we tell electorates that, sorry, your first-choice MP's party is insufficiently popular with the rest of the country so we're going to impose somebody else on you instead? Tyranny of the majority much?
-
Still not as classy as Orcon's "Were providing faster internet" ad. I think that one was even on TV.
-
Her and Garner both reckon Lee's political career is over,
Couldn't happen to a nicer suburb-ist, says I. Good riddance to bad rubbish, really, though she was certainly, err, assisted by the motorway issue (where it's going, not who it's going to keep away :P ). If that's one of National's "high flyers", we're doomed!
As for Shearer, well done that man. Not that there was any significant doubt, but it's still impressive to increase on Helen's lead, in percentage terms if not real ones, and to do it in a by-election. It was National's to lose, and they surely did lose it.
-
*whoosh*
-
I just played it to Leo, who processes sound differently to most of us, and has very acute hearing.
Unprompted, he heard "I can't" and a hard "k" sound.
So it could even have been "I can't think" or "I can't... feel sick". There are numerous potential interpretations, and only one could be considered to be the alleged confession.
-
I'm in the "can't breathe" camp, and that definitely does fit with the general message being conveyed by David at that point: I'm freaking the fuck out and having a bit of a panic attack. I also agree with the Supreme Court in ruling it inadmissible, if only for the fact that a jury could spend hours arguing about what, if anything, was said. It's incredibly subjective.
In any case, if David did do it, he's hardly going to confess to it under his breath in a 111 call. If he didn't, then there's nothing to confess. Either way, trying to admit it as evidence and pretend that it's a solid confession is just nonsensical. The human mind tries to make order from chaos, it's one of the things we do very, very well, but that makes us susceptible to finding hidden messages that aren't really there. Recognition of that risk was apparent in the ruling.
-
if it were proven that a minister of the crown offered someone a public sector job or position on a public board in return for sexual favours, would that not be criminal behaviour? looks to me like if that were the case it is corruption. abuse of official power for private gain (even if it is not monetary gain).
I would appear that way, yes.
In s99 of the Crimes Act 1961, " bribe means any money, valuable consideration, office, or employment, or any benefit, whether direct or indirect.".
And at s102 we see that "(1) Every Minister of the Crown or member of the Executive Council is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years who corruptly accepts or obtains, or agrees or offers to accept or attempts to obtain, any bribe for himself or any other person in respect of any act done or omitted, or to be done or omitted, by him in his capacity as a Minister or member of the Executive Council."By my reading, and I'm sure Graeme will correct me if I'm wrong, it's not so much to do with the sex as to do with the offering the job. That there was sex is what makes it corrupt, but it's the job that makes it a crime. A second-year law student could shred the argument that sex constitutes a "benefit" for the purposes of defining a bribe, but a job is very definitely a bribe and it's unquestionably corrupt to be offering a job in return for getting one's end away.
-
On a related note, I can't see this idea taking off if Rodney has his way. I can't really see it gaining much traction even if we don't get councils sticking to their "core functions", but it'll definitely be a dead duck if this nonsense gets enacted.
Scary thought, really. I lived in Manurewa as a youngster, and took it for granted that public swimming pools were free. It wasn't until we moved to Hamilton that I realised that they're ordinarily not, something that I find rather sad.
-
calling people they don't like fascists
It's a bit beyond that Craig, and you know it. Rodney's actively trying to reduce citizen involvement in Auckland's local politics, and with this latest flight of fancy he's seeking to extend these ideas to the rest of the country. Getting DIA to review the LGA but not allowing submissions from the general public until there's legislation before a select committee is decidedly undemocratic.
Plus, quite why anyone would believe that we'll get a chance to discuss any such legislation, given National's love of urgency, is beyond me.