The usual anti-conservative abuse

It isn't uncommon for conservatives to be labelled as people who are selfish and do not want to help those less fortunate. There is something rather ironic about this position. Namely, it labels all people who associate themselves on this side as tight, neglectful people who do not care about poorer people. So having a tirade of abuse towards Colin Craig saying school lunches should not be handed out comes as no surprise. Labour/Green Party Headquarters talks about New Zealand's desperate need for it, but today the focus will be on one particular person who goes by the name "Paul Le Comte." He writes...

You evil piece of shite. Everyone who agrees with you are evil pieces of shite, I'm not mixing my words with you tossers any more, I'm sick to death of bloody so called 'pull-your-socks-up' do gooders. You're small minded, have no capacity for compassion, have even less capacity for empathy & have the most incredibly ability to tarnish everyone with stereotypes. You have no idea why or how people's lives are affected by poverty - stories from the 1900s have utterly no relevance to New Zealand 2012. You people ask where is the personal responsibility? I ask you, for the 96 Hillside railway workers laid off 1 week before christmas, what part did they play in their economic hardship - none what so ever. But that doesn't stop you narrow minded tossers for playing the high and mighty. I ask where was the Governmental responsibility in giving the wealthy in NZ a $2B tax break & raising GST on every product in NZ - when the arguments for exemptions on fresh fruit & vegetables (as done elsewhere). Colin Craig is a despicable politician influenced by & seemingly willing to support even smaller minded & economically offensive twats. Hope you are all happy in your condemnation of others whom you have no idea of the individual circumstances. Funny my Gran taught me compassion and empathy are the greatest gifts of humanity, funny, the very same Christian values apparently Colin apparently is signed up to.

I shall break down everything which Paul has said and put my riposte underneath
You evil piece of shite. Everyone who agrees with you are evil pieces of shite, I'm not mixing my words with you tossers any more, I'm sick to death of bloody so called 'pull-your-socks-up' do gooders. You're small minded, have no capacity for compassion, have even less capacity for empathy & have the most incredibly ability to tarnish everyone with stereotypes

To begin, Paul makes personal attacks towards people whom he is unfamiliar with, offering up mindless abuse, and labeling conservatives as evil. When people often begin by insulting their opponents, it is often a sure sign of insecurity on their own behalf for their position. He believes that because the Conservative party does not approve of lunches in schools, it means they lack compassion. Why is that? In what way? Does a disapproval of this policy mean they are not compassionate in any kind of way?

Paul again
You have no idea why or how people's lives are affected by poverty - stories from the 1900s have utterly no relevance to New Zealand 2012. You people ask where is the personal responsibility? I ask you, for the 96 Hillside railway workers laid off 1 week before christmas, what part did they play in their economic hardship - none what so ever. But that doesn't stop you narrow minded tossers for playing the high and mighty

Again, Paul assumes his opponents are completely ignorant and void of knowledge. This is both wrong and inaccurate. He is more than welcome to present objective evidence of right wing people who have no idea about how their life has been affected by poverty. Like Paul, I have a heart for the poor and help where I can to provide help for him. If he wants my solutions to the situation he can read the post "Let us help the children," which includes a brilliant harvest fruit picking initiative which Di Celliers runs. So far, many boxes of fresh fruit have been delivered to low decile schools. A majority of this funding has been by private donors. Unlike Paul, who believes helping those in need cannot be achieved without the government dictating it, these clever initiatives shows that plenty of organisations exist to help parents provide food for everyone.

Paul continues
 I ask where was the Governmental responsibility in giving the wealthy in NZ a $2B tax break & raising GST on every product in NZ - when the arguments for exemptions on fresh fruit & vegetables (as done elsewhere). Colin Craig is a despicable politician influenced by & seemingly willing to support even smaller minded & economically offensive twats

The fresh fruit and vegetables debacle is a farce away from the main issue in the tax system. It was a shambles under Labour and continues on in the same face under National. If Paul wants fresh fruit and vegetables to be tax free, then it creates a difficult scenario? What is fresh? Does it count if it's canned fresh fruit? What about imported fruit? Frozen fresh veges? I know Paul isn't stupid, so he'll know that the GST tax lost here will be regained in another area, most likely in the form of personal income tax. If he is content to have lazy, incompetent and selfish politicians squandering his hard earned income that's fine. Conservative party supporters have had enough of the inept spending of our income taxes and the overly socialist generosity towards completely undeserving people. 

Paul takes a jibe at Colin and his supporters. He is again making assumptions on two accounts. One, that Colin is a politician (he is not), and second that he uses ad hominem arguments, rather than actually giving a rational, well reasoned argument for his need to support lunches in schools. His prejudiced slurs are a testament to his lack of reason.

 Hope you are all happy in your condemnation of others whom you have no idea of the individual circumstances. Funny my Gran taught me compassion and empathy are the greatest gifts of humanity, funny, the very same Christian values apparently Colin apparently is signed up to.

He concludes by stating a position he knows is neither true, or reflective of conservative voters. Following on, Paul concludes by telling us a grandma lesson, quite similar to Colin's and then jumps on bashing Colin for not being 'Christian' enough to adopt to his beliefs in what a Christian must say or do. Is Paul were to read the Bible book of Proverbs, he'd see that there is plenty of instruction from God about working hard. "Proverbs 14:23 - In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips [tendeth] only to penury." 

Paul asserts, in a rather smug way, that only his perspective is right, without providing any measurable rationale.

Going to New Zealand’s got talent, the alcohol debate and another long season

New Zealand’s got talent was quite an interesting experience. Whilst I have been sworn to keep the outcome a secret until the final was broadcast live on TV (Sunday night), experiencing it live was quite a special experience.

For anyone who doesn’t know by now, Clara Van Wel won. Without question, Clara was the best performer. Talented, intelligent and mature beyond her years, she outshone her competitors during top three's rendition of Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I used to know.’ Her song ‘Where do you find love,’ which she performed in the penultimate week won her the competition. As great as some performances were, nobody could match the dashing young girl from Marlborough. 

Seeing a television show being filmed became rather strange. After four hours of watching patiently, sitting in anticipation, the show came to an end. Even for a finale, everything was rushing by rather quickly. There was a double take gone on almost every sequence, except for Dane Rumble and Evermore’s performances, which was a pity, considering how brilliantly they performed. Whilst management people whizzed around everywhere, a rather hyperactive emcee was bouncing off the walls with all sorts of whimsical festive energy. It was also his job to get everybody up clapping, doing standing ovations and the sort. Some people seeking a microsecond of fame would have found this filming quite the experience, although I can’t see myself going back to a filming like that anytime soon. Far too fake and overhyped for me. The three judges were also receiving non-stop attention from makeup after every single take. Like most television related things, a lot of the requests made on us as an audience were plasticised rapturous applause, jingled stare fests at Tamati Coffey talking, or peeping through 

As it was my first time watching it (aside from seeing a few blotched auditions), it was promising to see that New Zealand does have some very fine performers. Many felt that J Geeks had been cheated out of a finals spot but playing with fire can only get you so far. New Zealand’s favourite singing granny put in a commendable effort…on a highlights reel.

Overall, being part of a live studio audience had both good and bad elements to it. Good because you got to see everything being done in its raw footage. Seeing Tamati blotch his lines, watching the drama unfold live, alongside the raw, unedited reactions of the finalists, the performances; everything. As I've explained above, there were some down sides too.

Watching the show live makes you appreciate the slick television editing that much more, although the editing has a fair way to go before matching the likes of X-Factor and American Idol.

The information Statistics New Zealand conveniently leaves out

The other night at a friend’s 21st, I bumped into the charismatic, rather pleasant Sean Topham. He will go far in politics if he stays loyal to the National Party.

Like most people associated with the Young Nats, I disagree with Sean on many things, especially the centre-right political status. Nonetheless, it was rather enjoyable arguing with him about important issues. Most prefer to dismiss conservatives as old fashioned and antiquated but Sean listens carefully and puts his points forth convincingly (even though I disagree).

There seems to be irony aplenty . The alcohol drinking age consensus is quite divided among people within National and Labour.Like many of his cohorts in the young Nats, Mr Topham seemed taken aback when I told him I believe that many 18 year olds are providing alcohol to their younger schoolmates. To him, this figure was “less than 10%.” I beg to differ and believe this statistic is far higher and with a proper investigation, this statement can be properly backed. Teenagers are not often pinching liquor from their parents’ personal stash. Often they source out older friends to provide them with cheap booze.

Alongside the sheer ignorance of many 18 and 19 year old teenagers, who often flock to the overrated Freguson bar at Massey or Deep Creek Brewery in Browns Bay, there is a consensus young people can do fine under the current alcohol laws. Yet again and again, it is young people causing trouble. Again and again, young people who are involved in the drunken driving car crashes. If these statistics were recorded, maybe those supporting a lower drinking age would be a bit more questionable of how irresponsible young drinkers are. The problems may begin at 15, 16,17, but they carry on far past those blissful years of ignorance.

What’s that, no one’s watching the Rugby?

Obviously, gambling money away is no longer sufficient for that shrivelled, manky Rupert Murdoch. With his empire’s decision to prolong the rugby season and have it run almost non-stop from February to December, the player’s wellbeing is barely intact. Injuries are no longer one off occurrences from heavy contact. Not getting injured is seen as weird. Super Rugby only stops in July (rather than May for Super 14). Who’s benefitting from it?

Many great rugby stadiums struggle to fill up halfway to capacity. Eden Park, which was stuffed with 60,000 people for last year’s Rugby World Cup Final, became the laughing stock of the competition, struggling to seat more than 10,000 for the Blues games. Then again, the Blues were awful this year.

The quality of Rugby has not gotten better either with an extra team competing. Get rid of the Rebels and Lions (or Kings) for good. 13 good teams competing in the toughest domestic rugby competition will revitalise an interest in New Zealand’s national game.

Rather than hearing “Right, time to watch the footy,” it’s “Oh, more rugby.”

Lose the money spinning stupidity or lose an audience of loyal viewers Murdoch. You decide what’s better.

I hear that the alleged comedian Russell Brand made an appearance in New Zealand. He’s never struck me as somebody who has a genuine wit about him or a particularly funny person. It was funnier hearing that hundreds of people had bought tickets to his show. Too often, his jokes are nothing more than a slew of stupidity. Some people may genuinely find it funny. I can concede that. Everyone has a different sense of humour. But Russell Brand has his own sense of humour; one which he picked up on some distant planet, well outside the Milky Way.