“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.” Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Auckland election September 2010

Auckland is becoming a "Super City", meaning that we will no longer have separate councils for the different areas of the city. For example, I live in Waitakere, which has different rules about the sale of alcohol in markets than Auckland.  Once we become part of the super city, maybe I'll be able to purchase a bottle of wine at the grocery store. Who knows- there will certainly be both good and bad changes.  The new city needs a new mayor, so the election material came in the mail on Friday.  My husband pointed out these two winning candidates:
This is just too funny to be fake! This guy:
  1. Left school at age 14. Who wants a mayor with such a minimal education?
  2. He has smoked pot for 30 years, leaving school because of pot.  I can't imagine how he could avoid physical (and mental) damage from smoking unfiltered weed containing over 400 chemical entities.
Despite his admitted "criminal" behavior,  I'd vote for him before I'd vote for the following guy:

Abortion is legal in NZ, and I don't see any reason why it won't stay that way. I had a look at the statistics, and there aren't any discernable differences in the number of abortions in NZ compared to other developed countries. This guy is obviously a religious lunatic who can't discern where religion ends and civic law begins. Acording to the Libertarian Party newsletter (Oct '04), the Christians Against Abortion only put canidates up for local office elections, where they could have ZERO impact on abortion if elected.  
Apparently there are 23 candidates running for the position of Mayor.  Personally, I want to vote for the person who will make it a priority to build rail transport to the airport and the north shore, but I have no idea who that is.  I am not alone- "Rail to the airport has emerged as the most important transport priority in Auckland in the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey on the Super City." (Herald DigiPoll)
For the most part, I avoid getting invoved in politics, because I get annoyed with idiots. But I will vote.