Posts by Idiot Savant
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I've done mine. I invited the committee to consider some imperfect analogies such as arbitrary increases to the number of Māori seats (though this engages s12), or the creation of a local body gerrymander by giving disproportionate representation to the residents of a particular district (say, rich or rural voters).
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Was doing some random paleontology, and found that there's an article about this place in the final Craccum of 1982. (you'll probably need to download it, as the web interface is a bit random about rendering).
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I'll second Tales From The Loop as slow TV. The quality of the stories is mixed - some are definitely better than others, and with some it feels like they're straining to find a story to wrap around one of those beautiful pictures. But its definitely worth watching.
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Westworld is definitely crossing over with Person of Interest, another concept show. Though that one in the end did deliver a satisfying ending (though after a lot of muddling around).
Devs started well, and I did like the slow and quiet vibe. But I found the avant-garde music stuff to be a distraction, and to take up space which could have been spent exploring its concept more fully. As for the ending, meh.
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Legal Beagle: Did Parliament give the…, in reply to Idiot Savant,
And related: the BORA assessment (which I think used an early draft) assesses the provisions to clear the court and issue suppression orders and finds them justified, but only in the context of powers of the Court martial or Summary Appeal Court. It does not seem to contemplate their use by commanding officers.
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Looking at the legislative history, it seems to be a cock-up born of a split at the select committee stage in the 2007 Armed Forces Law Reform Bill (AFLRB). As introduced, the provision was in new s144ZJ of the AFLRB, as part of new part 6A which established and empowered the Court Martial. But the select committee decided to yank out that part and move it around to form the new Court Martial Act. In doing so, they shifted most of the specific powers, but weirdly put old 144ZJ in its new place as s145 Armed Forces Discipline Act.
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I'll consider paying the Herald when they sack Hosking, Hawkesby, and the rest of their shit-posters. But I'm not giving a single cent to a company which gives those pricks money, and if NZ journalism burns because they insist on doing so, then it deserves to die.
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Hard News: The Midterms, in reply to Hilary Stace,
It can be done by referendum. It would be interesting to see some polling on whether people would support it.
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Hard News: The Midterms, in reply to Tom Semmens,
What would stop a National government led by a candidate selected from their Auckland Tea Party faction (Judith, anyone?) and infected by hard right GOP inspired radicals hell bent on trashing our democracy simply stacking the electoral commission with cronies, introducing onerous voter ID rules, then (on the advice of it's said cronies on the electoral commission, of course) almost completely de-funding the electoral commission, making the running of elections entirely up to volunteers?
Voters. NZ voters have made it clear we expect our elections to be free, fair and impartial, and _not like America_. They'd also need to change the law to introduce voter ID requirements, or pass a budget vote for the Electoral Commission, and that means we also have MMP as a defence. I'd expect the coalition partner(s) of any government which wanted to undermine democracy in this way to refuse to vote for it, and to pull the plug if they pressed the issue. And I think they'd do very well electorally out of the latter if push came to shove.
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Hard News: The miserable archive, in reply to Kevin McCready,
When I appealed, guess who heard the appeal? The same guy who made the original decision. These people are a joke.
That right there is an insta-fail on administrative law grounds.