Radical feminists push for Labour Party quotas

Just posted at Breaking Views, Radical feminists push for Labour Party quotas.

(An expansion on my earlier post in light of Shearer's response.)

Fifty percent of F... all

I blogged about Labour's daft quota plans when they were first mooted. (A radio news clip featuring a male conference attendee mildly questioning the merits of electoral quotas being jeered by others in the crowd has fixed itself in my memory. Labour women aren't victims, they are bullies.)

From the NZ Herald:

It is part of a bid to lift the proportion of women in caucus to 45 per cent by next year and 50 per cent by 2017.

50 percent of f... all is what they'll end up with if they keep going down this track.

Just another cause for internal conflict, and another reason for non-PC voters to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, one of the main benefactors will be Winston Peters.

Not a disappointed horse

Below is a stud horse recently imported from the US. He won a couple of races I believe and has already produced winning progeny. When I took photos of him (he belongs to a friend) I wanted to capture his powerful physique and the hot, bright, Manawatu day during the drought. It was a painting for no-one but me. If it worked I'd hang it above our fireplace because I've long wanted something there that'd exude light. (I tried a mirror once but it didn't work.)

So I indulged myself and bought an enormous canvas (which subsequently wouldn't fit into the car and had to be delivered). Initially the painting was in my usual style. Realist and quite thinly painted. But it was very dissatisfying. Lifeless and boring. I began thinking of it as only an under-painting. Just a sketch. It was problematic trying to work on it in my small studio because I couldn't get well back from it to gauge the effect.

Then we had a mini disaster. A rat's nest in the living area ceiling became apparent when the rats chewed through internal piping and water started to run down the wall behind the fireplace.The result is the wall and ceiling had to be hacked into and currently they still await re-plastering and re-painting. But this presented a perfect opportunity. I could proceed with my horse hanging on the living room wall. But it wasn't going to be with a brush and turps. Smelly business. If I used a palette knife I could just wipe it clean with a rag.

This is a big departure for me but I have been increasingly drawn to richer, more strongly contrasting colour and lots of it. So I set up the palette and stool and began. I'm a careful and tidy worker and there were no mishaps until ... Daisy walked through through palette and spread red and blue paw marks everywhere. What fun trying to catch her and clean her muzzle and paws up. Not.

It's still a work in progress but, I don't know, I think it's just the colours as much as anything else, it makes me happy. It hangs there and every so often I pick up the knife and move a bit of paint around. There are no fences yet and the tail and mane are discordant. But it's a very nice way to work. Just to contemplate day to day, and shape slowly.

(There's a very funny skit from Little Britain where a man goes into a antique shop and asks if they have "a painting of a disappointed horse. " For some reason the kids and I crack up over it every time we watch it. We still have no idea what a disappointed horse looks like, but this isn't it. What stud horse could ever be disappointed with his lot?)

(Left click on image to enlarge).

For fear of offending

Was it the intention of politicians to segregate us into groups that won't complain for fear of offending each other? Thus allowing them to buy, and continue to buy, our votes accordingly?

For example,  students have to pay to use public transport (in Wellington at least) and Superannuitants do not. But which group has an income? Students are reticent about complaining, though I note a new group has formed. Without researching them, I'm willing to bet they are calling for free or subsidised fares. Not for 65 plus to pay their way.

The pollies have got us right where they want us. It vexed me greatly when standing for ACT, that the idea of not dispensing privilege was so misunderstood and consequently, unpopular. The state has us pitted against one another in the never-ending scramble for a free lunch. And levering off this set of circumstances (which we call 'democracy') are armies of people researching and justifying those free lunches.

Compounding the reluctance of people to speak out is the fluidity between groups.  We will all be in one of the groups age-wise before we kick the bucket. Perhaps people in their 50s have less interest in stating that the age of Super needs to rise. But they bloody well should knowing, as it stands, the tax burden on their children will be greater than it was on them.

Youth have trouble speaking against privilege for the 'golden oldies' because they've got grandparents  affected. Do over 65s show concern or empathy for youth who are expected to incur debt to a degree that would have horrified them? I don't hear them.

Those same people though look at their grown-up children demanding Working For Families and Paid Parental Leave and wonder why they've become so self-righteously expectant of state largesse.

Unfortunately, to give voice to such sentiments isn't going to make for a conducive family get-together. Those are times for appreciating and enjoying each other.

So voters put up and shut up. Be it from self-interest or fear of offending.

We are divided and conquered. The systematic auction of goodies called 'elections' can persist unchallenged...

Will I need a booster seat to drive my car?

Isn't it always the way. As soon as public safety campaigners get their 'inch', they want a 'mile'.

The law is about to be changed to require 7 year-olds to be in car booster seats.

But now there are calls for the age to be raised to 11.

Gulp. Many, maybe even a majority, of 11 year-olds are bigger than me.

(And save me from kids riding backwards pulling faces and making gestures. They may be safer but the driver behind, the one they are irritating and distracting the hell out of, isn't.)

(Emotionally driven) Shearer goes up a notch...

Just saw a news brief during the ad break (watching X Factor) showing David Shearer hugging the Ikaroa Rawhiti winning candidate.

It was such a genuine, communicating, heartfelt hug. Can't ever remember anything like it from Helen, who even in victory seemed to have her emotions self-censored.

Shearer went up in my estimation. (It was like seeing the Queen unselfconsciously BEAM when she's watching her horses. Delightful.)

Cynics will say, no wonder - he's so grateful.

But there it was, fleetingly, a glimpse of who Shearer is. And perhaps it explains why he has been so undermined as leader.

Declining interest in by-elections

Why? You tell me.