Who did we vote for? Refer to photo below
Good grief, what have we voted for?
We have a prime minister who refers to unfortunate members of our society struggling to put their lives together as "bottom feeders".
We have a deputy prime minister who thinks and says the same except he refers to them as "drop kicks".
He also denies the genocide in Gaza even as men, women and children are being butchered and starved to death, their homes, schools, universities and hospitals are being ruthlessly destroyed as they are forced from their land.
The third leader and his benighted group seem to be so far behind modern thinking they believe kauri trees should still be measured in cubic feet of sawn timber, whales measured in barrels of oil, and too bad about Freddie the frog as he goes under the the tracks of corporate bulldozers.
The Arctic and Antarctic are melting at an alarming rate, climate scientists are warning the AMOC or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation currents are slowing and may stop, catastrophically affecting planetary ecology, (including us or our descendants).
The known cause is ever increasing dangerously high levels of atmospheric CO₂ yet their response is a Trump-like, drill baby drill.
Really dumb. The question is, is it them and their beliefs, or us who voted for them?
Make it harder
I cannot believe that the government is considering making the learners driving test easier. With the number of deaths and accidents already on the roads, drivers needs proper training. Anyone can drive a car: that is the easy part. But the road rules are very important, and need professional training, and a defensive course has to be included with the test. Then, hopefully, road tolls may come down.
Accusations, confessions
It is hard to know where to start with your resident Israel apologist M. K. Cowan (Letters 9.9.25). At least he or she got one thing right: Hamas is the elected government of Gaza. The rest of their slightly deranged diatribe was reminiscent of the adage "Every accusation is a confession".
A handy cut-out-and-keep guide to voting
Thank you to Grant Miller for his thorough report and graph showing how present councillors have voted on important issues during their time as temporary leaders (ODT 6.9.25).
I already know who I will vote for from this group, and this graph only confirms my choices.
I want leaders who will work as part of a team, listen to the people and support our business people. I am now researching and studying the profiles of new candidates who have put their names forward.
It is a serious duty for every voter to vote wisely, and with real knowledge, about the qualities and experience of candidates.
With so many people standing it will be confusing for many, and if names were always listed in alphabetical order some very talented candidates could be missed out completely.
Each voter would be wise to keep pages 8 and 9, stick the two pages together and study the graph carefully before voting. Voting made easy.
Regret over Kirk shooting
It is with regret that we heard of the assassination of young American conservative Charlie Kirk.
I have watched with interest many of his events held at American universities.
The thing that stood out was his polite interactions with attending students, many who were extremely hostile towards him. He never name-called or abused them, he let them speak their piece without interruption and then dismembered their ideological arguments with logic, and using his impressive intellect.
He was the target of the Democratic Party supporters who demonised him as is the normal treatment dished out to conservatives. This unjustified demonisation was carried on by leftist mainstream media.
I would call on all media to call out incendiary rhetoric, in particular that emanating from Te Pāti Māori MPs..
[Abridged — Editor.]
Malicious, misleading
There has been some discussion in the media that environmentalist professor Mike Joy's tongue-in-cheek comments on X about hanging dairy industry CEOs is on a par with the 2022 protests on Parliament grounds, where there were calls to hang certain government politicians.
Equating the two is maliciously misleading because the mass protests on parliament grounds were overtly and physically violent, whereas Prof Joy is a longstanding and non-violent environmental activist with no history of violence.
That Federated Farmers, among others, are throwing tantrums about the comment on X, merely highlights what a bunch of entitled bullies and hysterical prima donnas they and their supporters are.
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