I get where you are coming from. And agree. I usually choose to ignore the site WO because I find it time I will not be getting back so why upset myself. I'm thinking that when I see a…

So if Cameron Slater has a mental illness that causes his outrageous comments and personal conduct, I doubt there is any simple solution.

Where "choice"…

Absolutely Rosemary, there are serious questions that need to be asked here regarding the support available…

Yep.

Logic tells us to discount such crap for the unfounded inflammatory rubbish that it so clearly is.

But when one's reaction comes from somewhere else...is visceral...when logic yet again kicks in it's obvious that…

No. He chooses to be an arsehole. His mental illness issues are shared by many others who manage not to be persistently nasty towards others.

Pity the family member quoted in the article you linked to has few qualms about using the potential power of this manifestation…

Exactly Rosemary, and that is why amplifying, emulating and disseminating that affected voice and advancing those page views is not in society’s best interests.He…

Good point.

However...

https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/january-16-nz-blogs-sitemeter-ranking/

and what with the other rabid right site having similar popularity...

we may be in the deepest of smelly stuff.

Public opinionwise...

Surely, if he wanted to deal with his issues ,first and foremost would be to stop what he's doing. And I know he would have been advised as to his ways not being conducive to any healing. He does literally make me feel…

After that, we could all do with a cheery up tune...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qRDg9WS7fk

Though not in his capacity as, uh, Prim Monster, so nothing to see there, yeah nah?

Should have put a double warning on that link....

Yeah, well...sorry about that...

When I read that (the Youknowhat blog), I had an epiphany of sorts.

His words...plus the words written by his followers...struck home.

You go out into the world with an obvious disability, or with someone with an obvious disability and you are…

This really needs a warning Rosemary, I now feel ill :)

And the story of Sam Kuha exemplifies this perfectly.

Y'all remember Sam...59 with a significant disability who was declined a food grant from WINZ until he had seen a budget advisor...subsequent advice was that he had insufficient income from…

Actually, beneficiaries are at the very end of the stick, where the stick resembles that of a baseball bat, where it is a bit…

No not exclusively, my last work provided full time contracts and had difficulty finding teachers willing to sign up for that. There is all sorts of work and plenty of opportunities available, long or short term, contracted or freelance, poorly remunerated for the most part but there all…

I guess that what I’m getting at here though is that regardless of any legislation that may be implemented, it’s the…

Nevermind Dunne....what about Te Ureroa, Pita and the matriarch Tariana?

Held/hold real potential legislative power over the Natz....and what did they do?

Well...what did they do?

Staying in the Far North (and why not:-))...the Maori Party and Hone Harawira seem to have failed…

I have white collar potential but all my pay rises to date have been government-mandated – in other words, I've only ever been on…

We gotta start somewhere. If we can find just one Minister ( it would be nice if it…

Really glad a cropping venture is doing well in Canty.

Here's what seems to have become of Solid Energy's Canterbury oilseed venture:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/cropping/72713156/oilseed-rape-goes-from-biodiesel-to-a-food-oil-crop

I'd be surprised if there's much canola still being grown in Canty. Dairy, dairy, dairy.

The new fish and chip shop (and wet fish too) is the same guy who had the Coopers beach one so that should be good quality. Other than that, the Sushi bar is all good too. I'm glad you like it Rosemary. I try…

http://busaboutnorth.co.nz/about/ and their parent group http://www.cbec.co.nz/

And yes...Kaitaia has more eateries per metre than any town we have visited...were we takeaway junkies we'd be in seventh heaven.

All happening in the Far North!

BusaboutKaitaia Timetable for Town, Pukenui and Ahipara routes.

Reasonable fares, and as an added bonus the buses run on 50% bio diesel made from refined cooking oil. Smell really yummy!

At the moment he's trying for equality on Northland Superannuitants getting Bay of Islands ferry rides out of their gold card. Let's face it, we don't got buses unless you count the 7am bus doing SH1…

Hey I remember that future:

__The future is now, but it's all going wrong
Bodies queue for nothing, but it's to nothing they belong
People say prayers and some work hard
If you give them all your money, they'll give you their hearts
This…

Mate...methinks the future is the now.

Peter and I were chatting to an Welsh fellow in the Far North a couple of weeks ago. He was on his way to some conference and was going to talk about workplace bullying and discrimination towards minorities...especially those…

https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/the-discredited-indefensible-work-capability-assessment-wca-in-the-uk-and-what-its-demise-must-mean-for-nz-welfare-reforms-part-2/

And where is the “transparency” re…

The weird thing is most folks really aren't selfish, they will happily donate to charities and relief funds or give their old sheets to refuges. But suggest for a second that…

Ms Greaves made two applications for her daughter, who has acute leukaemia. The first — a child disability allowance — is paid as recognition that a child is going to need extra care. A maximum of $46.49 a week is paid out and Ms Greaves had that approved.
She…

When National got in, they removed that and told the reserve bank to…

This is not generally true, but I well remember when managers were appointed at regional level in ?2010 specifically to reduce Disability Allowance spending by the MSD. These managers directly harassed Doctors over certifying their patients'…

To summarise: Work tests – for people who are working. Currently being trialled, low income workers who qualify for universal credits (in work tax credits) have to demonstrate that they are seeking to improve their…

Are there stats for how many of those…

WINZ is darkly classic “Catch 22” material–staff are personally rewarded for denying what their “clients” seek rather than providing it!

what was in earlier times Social Security is now a sadistic bureaucratic punishment maze, a family friend on late stage dialysis was called into a meeting (Henderson…

I have an aquaintance who was working in their call-in help centre until they quit in disgust. Apparently WINZ's funding is tied (in some complicated manner) to the number of beneficiaries in their books – if the official number drops, their __overall…

Off topic but this is happening with our children's school bus. The route isn't 'profitable' or something. The new price $2.90 a ride doesn't sound like much on its own, but for our family that is close $240-odd per month – this for…

And for those without the Gold Card, fares are increasing while the service degrades. They run the service down, fewer people use it, so the fares are increased to compensate, so fewer people use it...

or how impoverished you were before. For many disabled, if they achieve 65, they are better off than they have ever been in their lives. Is that reasonable?

The last I checked the free travel was limited to between 10…

Sadly I can't say the same for Workbridge, at least as far as the Wellington branch is concerned. They've had too much turnover of consultants to be of much use. I'm currently with an alternative supported…

When I catch the bus at off-peak times I look around at all the…

Culture pushed from Minister down, just like always. Public service managers know their 'customer' is the Minister of the day, and they make sure their minions all look in that direction rather than the people who really need their help and expertise. Bunghole rules.

ew. make it stop.

I was "on ACC" for 15+ years (late 80's – early 00's) after an accident. During that time I experienced the ACC attitude (policy) change from assisting the claimant to receive everything to which they were entitled,…

Over the over 65 rainbow. Somehow I doubt that the [[http://www.superseniors.msd.govt.nz/about-superseniors/minister-senior-citizens/ministers-welcome.html|flower lady will ever grasp the distinction…

because super is regarded as something you are entitled to, rather than begrudgingly 'doled' out with suspicion and resentment. At least it provides a good example of how it can be done properly.

If the same logic was applied by the IRD to tax haven funds, you can be sure the usual suspects will shout "STALINISM!" in unison.

For people with ASD and SAD, it's like being made to climb a greasy…

The constant pool of unemployed keeps wages low, hooray!

They should have to offer to accompany one of those 'opportunistic beggars'* to Work and Income and navigate the appointment process, the 45 page application form with its requirements for numerous forms…

So gross. The clearly deliberate loss of documents is all part of the punishment package, I assume.

Human Rights Commissioner has his worries on that score.

It's certainly still happening…

NZ needs to set up a branch of the Black Triangle Campaign.

When our children were little and we were living on an Invalid's Benefit because I was too…

The dosh hoarded by the uber-wealthy could easily fund a UBI – which has the big advantage of not sitgmatising people when they need income support.

W&I insist they sent a letter (they didn't) saying that he not only…