Posts by Andre Alessi
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Insync, is an incredibly difficult word to spell.
I think you'll find it's spelled N'SYNC.
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Funny, I keep hearing people talk about the New Moon. And then squealing and sighing. Maybe they're confused?
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Goff and dog whistling is a storm in a tea cup. Labour may occasionally whistle a bit - so what? - but they're never going to go rancid. It's not in their DNA (nor National's in fact other than at the idiot extremes). Calm down. All be gone in a couple of weeks.
Not sure I agree sorry, Glen. Statements like Goff's are an outgrowth of factions jockeying for position within Labour, and social liberals are losing badly. Even if this is just a play to grab more airtime, it has the effect of altering perceptions of what Labour is and what it stands for, and in politics perception is everything.
If this carry-on manages to drive away one group of voters and attract another, then it doesn't matter what their underlying policies originally were, they'll be shaped by who their supporters are.
The more I think about it, the more I see this as pre-emptive positioning to scoop up NZ First's base prior to Winston making some sort of comeback.
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As a "liberal lefty" myself, I can only watch the performance of Labour under Phil Goff with despair. I've been aware for a very long time that there was a socially conservative wing of the party that was interested only in trade protectionism and a narrow definition of workers' rights (i.e. job protection for old white men), but it's sad to now see that bunch as the face of the party. I can't see myself continuing to support them if this continues, which leaves me in a bind-I'm not comfortable with the anti-science agenda of some members of the Green Party, and ACT's economic policies are simply at odds with the role I believe government should have.
Interestingly, the demographic that Goff & co. represents isn't visible very often, which is why I'm so surprised Goff is trying so hard to angle for them: older Pakeha blue collar workers and some Anglican/Catholic voters (honestly, I've never met a more economically "leftish" crowd than at some church functions.) I'm trying hard not to see Trotter's piece as a more socially-acceptable version of "anti-elitism", just this time directed at everyone's favourite punching bag, "snooty liberals".
As for the climate change stuff:
In New Zealand, there's a philosophical argument within NIWA, in which scientists' natural preference for openness and publication is set against the fear that zealots will take raw data they don't understand and misuse them.
I read this and immediately recalled the disappointing coverage of Chris de Freitas' latest research. That particular "news" article made it appear that de Freitas had somehow managed to undermine the entire scientific basis of man-made global warming with a single article (helped in no small part by de Freitas' own hyperbole quoted in the article and in the research itself.) Of course, what he had done was shown a cyclical correlation between localised temperature variation and El Nino, then claimed that El Nino was responsible for most global warming temperature variation, then claimed that this showed that global warming must be a natural phenomenon, all without explaining what caused El Nino in the first place, or clarifying that he was generalising a great deal out of very specific data.
Of course, the majority of people who commented on the story had no clue that that's what was actually being discussed, and just took the statements of the news articles at face value. I think that what this shows is that raw data is in fact important, but what is even more important is a scientifically-literate media. Most people won't take the time to look into the data in more detail, so the initial reporting matters so very much (although let's face it, anyone who still believes that global warming isn't occurring and/or isn't caused by human activity isn't going to have the necessary level of objectivity to do so anyway.)
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With a name like Alessi (of which one of my tea pots is) I am not surprised :)
My last name is handy for exactly two things:
1) Impressing people when I pitch for web design jobs;*
and
2) Being able to buy kitchen appliances and keyrings with my name pre-printed on them (for the low low price of $500).
* It's a shame I'm such an awful designer, my only hope is to turn myself into the Damien Hirst of web design.
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Hey! I resemble that remark.
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Why is it this blog seems habituated by left wing radicals out of sync with the rest of society in general ?
It's the music, dude. Hard to be angry about brown people all the time when you're busy skankin' it up.
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NSFW language (and some blurry naked silhouettes too) but this is a great song to start your weekend off with.
EDIT: Argh, embed fail. try here for the most awesome music video you'll ever see.
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The Maori Party have the agenda of separatism , MP Shane Jones said that recently in the Herald.
So you're taking the statements of an Opposition politician as an indication of the position of a political party in government? Awesome, I guess that means I can say that the National Party is run by corporate whores and jackbooted thugs, since that's what other people have called them in the past.
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Can I ask what those were?
There's a quick rundown on their website (I was going to quote it, but it's worth reading in full.)
It's scary that I can agree with a party (ACT) whose typical supporter would quite happily abolish a large number of the services I rely on and support while the parties that are supposed to be my advocates play a short-sighted populist game.