Posts by Katharine Moody
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Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to mark taslov,
New Zealand, great place if you know how to find it.
Haha, indeed. But of course for most when raising a family, the rat race is almost a necessity if you want to take the kids overseas and such like. Once we got rid of the kids and the mortgage, we did the move to the provinces and bought 36ha. I soon learned I was not a country girl - not that we weren't close to a city (we were), but we got the requisite animals and every time they 'sneezed' (well, okay most times they were sicker than that) but I had to call the vet. I was no good at holding anything with horns still whilst hubby administered the medicine/procedure etc. And I was worried he'd hurt them anyway :-). And then there was the constant upkeep on the property/infrastructure when it wasn't the animals. And then there was burying the animals that did die. And so on and so forth.
We made a very nice, untaxed capital gain after 'doing it' for three years. Better than the gains in the city, for sure.
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Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Jack Harrison,
Incredible chart. Non-voters numbers are incredible, not all are passive voters, many are just so dis-engaged from the process, that it means nothing to them.
And the main thrust of the whole of the IMP campaign was to try and capture that "missing million". We should all thank them for that and collaborate with them on whether they think they found some of them, and if so, whether they know if they did/didn't translate into votes.
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Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to mark taslov,
I have friends who are dedicated to finding out what’s going on and in no way does the future look bright.
My strategy is to hope to disappear in to the crowd :-). Luckily I haven't used my social security number since I was 21 and I won't be renewing my US passport.
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Jack Harrison,
Maori, of course have a special interest in the laws because they are a treaty partner who haven’t been partnered to their expectations .
Co-governance, the Treaty intention in words, but never in action.
Labour have never in my experience ever co-governed with their Maori caucus. If they did, they'd have co-leaders - one from the general roll, one from the Maori roll.
Personally, given the crisis we have in constitutional terms, I'd like to see a bicameral Parliament here someday and think it would be totally appropriate in respect of the Treaty for the other House to be a House of Iwi (kind of a House of Lords equivalent in powers). No ability to make laws but an ability to send laws back to the House of Representatives (at least that's how I understand it works in the UK, but I'm not a constitutional expert) where the Maori seats are abolished. Point is, Maori should have a true shared governance function - I don't see how the Maori seats have ever been of serious benefit to Maori or to NZ.
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Jack Harrison,
Maori regionalism is a big part of Maori culture. The regions see things differently
This is a big part of the problem - the regions are dying. The future of Maori is in the cities where their majority live. And their majority aren't on the Maori electoral roll - another problem.
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Katharine Moody,
Maori, I believe, are far better represented with an independent voice/party in Parliament.
In having an independent voice in Parliament, the Maori strategy should be to develop their brand; during the period between elections recruit more and more tangata whenua to transfer from the general to the Maori roll; eventually stand candidates in general electorates as well and seek co-governance through ensuring that in this MMP environment they always hold the balance of power.
I think the French called it revenge of the cradle.
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2. The Maori electorates are now effectively Labour’s Heartland.
This is a huge problem for Labour.
Maori, I believe, are far better represented with an independent voice/party in Parliament.
And Labour for some, will struggle to be considered a truly centrist party whilst they contest and hold the majority of the Maori seats.
Unfortunately, I believe there are a large number of pakeha New Zealanders who are prejudice - who object to ToW issues/status and the Maori seats.
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Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to mark taslov,
we’ve been in FIve Eyes since 1954 as I recall and before that, always allied with the worst of ’em.
It's got far less to do with mass surveillance (although it's part and parcel to achieve their ends) and more to do with FATCA and the TPPA - much, much more.
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Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Jack Harrison,
Yes, lower vote turnout is not good for a democratic society, a society which gives us a strength to change. A million missing people who don’t engage.
" The highest measure of democracy is neither the extent of freedom nor the extent of equality, but rather the highest measure of participation."
Alain de Benoist
" The obstacles to democracy have little to do with culture or religion, and much more to do with the desire of those in power to maintain their position … at any cost."
Kofi Annan
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Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Farmer Green,
What’s the hold-up?
I recall the days of the NZDB. Seemed to me the whole strategy then was developing added-value brands for export .. Zap, and that sort of thing. Most highly prized marketing jobs in the country were with NZDB.
Fonterra seems only to be focused on more volume/commodity production (and management salaries, of course!).
But, I'm not in the industry so would be interested in your thoughts.