`H bombs’ and the grasping settler mentality
I spent my school years growing up in Wanganui, and for the time being I’m back here, taking care of family matters. Having grown up here as a Pākehā with strong connections in Te Ao Māori, I can say...
View ArticleA rhetorical Bermuda triangle
I love the description of the political strategy of turning an accusation about an action into a defence from a personal attack.
View ArticleFear itself
Chris Trotter seems to think I’m being culturally precious and pandering to Māori separatism with my post on the h issue. He misses the point, and fearmongers about vague Orewa-like shadows of a savage...
View Article`Iwi Tax’– top-drawer race propaganda
Hard on the heels of my article about giving the overworked minions of the Corporate News Machine ready fodder to work with, The Dominion Post this morning proves my case by running ready-made racist...
View ArticleCry havoc
DPF is up to his old tricks again – this one about Hone Harawira is content-free and David’s own comments are typically innocuous, but it functions very well indeed as a bone for the slavering mastiffs...
View ArticleContemplating the neofascist revival.
Courtesy of Rob Taylor back in Karekare, here is a link to an interesting article about the rise of a neo- or proto-fascist movement in the US. Although I have some quibbles with the structural as well...
View ArticleJimmy Carter is Right.
A furore has erupted in the US because former president Jimmy Carter has publicly stated the obvious: many of the people in opposition to health care reform, as well as the so-called astroturf “tea...
View ArticleThe r and the e: Lobby if you want ‘em
I agree with DPF, that for the sake of historical correctness, Wellington’s Majoribanks Street should probably be changed to Marjoribanks, and Nairn Street should probably be changed to Nairne, since...
View ArticleHorizontal versus Vertical Bigotry (somewhat revised but on point)
The national discussion about racism occasioned by Paul Henry’s ill-considered remarks have given me pause for reflection on the nature of bigotry. Although I claim no professional competence in the...
View ArticlePC priorities
The media beat-up du jour is the non-story of Te Papa Tongarewa “barring” (or “banning”, “forbidding”, other such absolute terms) pregnant and menstruating women from entry due to the nature of some...
View ArticlePlaying the denial and diversion game (with updated link).
In the aftermath of the Tucson shooting, it has been unsurprising but nevertheless amazing at how the US media Right and other conservatives have rushed to deny any linkage between the shooting and the...
View ArticleThe Penny Drops.
No matter how much electoral trapping and facade “democratic” niceties it may want to put on it, authoritarian rule is ultimately based on force. It is a limited or non-competitive form of political...
View ArticleRevealed preference
Former National leader Don Brash addressed the ACT party conference at the weekend, which was half “catching Australia” boilerplate and half a warming-over of the infamous “nationhood” speech given at...
View ArticleWhite Queen
Andrew Geddis has a good post up on Pundit about Hilary Calvert and her apparent ignorance of the Humpty Dumpty scene from Through the Looking-Glass. The extent of Calvert’s idiocy being so egregious,...
View ArticleMaster-race baiting
[Updated 10 July 2011 to account for Don Brash's statements in response to John Ansell, and Ansell's resignation from ACT.] Many have remarked on the appropriateness of the website of the ACT Party...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the ACT Party Regarding Candidate Selection
Dear ACT Party Leaders, As you may know, I was brought up in Wanganui, and keep an eye on events there. So it was with great interest that I received the below letter, published in the Wanganui...
View ArticleRioting Poms.
A short while ago we were treated to the spectacle of a Royal Westminster wedding, a royal tour of Canada and the US, then another lesser royal wedding. The UK and colonial media went crazy with 24/7...
View ArticleA Turn to Mean.
As I watched various labour conflicts over the past few months, then took in accounts of greed-mongering of various types (the wheel-clamping rort being the latest), I set to wondering if things have...
View ArticleIs Child Abduction Media Coverage Color-Based?
Does there not seem something odd about the coverage of the little white girl found with a Roma (gypsy) family in Greece? From what I have seen the coverage has focused on her supposed abduction and...
View ArticleThis is not the discussion you are looking for
“They are so many, and our country is so small. Where will we find space to bury them all?” – Finnish soldier during the Winter War, 1939 “We have won just about enough ground to bury our dead.” – Red...
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