Posts by Michael Fitzgerald
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I don't like Clark for her personal insults to my family on the West Coast (that's of the Sth Island. The East Coast is only in the Nth Island :) & oh yeah the out lawing of basic human rights to test laws in court of a specific 'race', or as Kai Tahu are to me, my cousins.
That said Clark is strong and I believe highly respected overseas, 3 terms PM has gotta count for something.
Of the 3 women mentioned, Ghandi, Thatcher, & Merkin. Clark does fall into the cat. of "other women" (might be the only time she's termed in such a way) as Hillary called them.
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'82/'83 I was at kirkwood Intermediate. Intermediate schools are an odd concept and for land & buildings alone are a waste of resources.
The Teachers wanted to get to know us and so started with that most boring of questions, "What do you do?" Except we were kids and so the question was "What does your Father do?" No pc here.
I dreaded it and feeling sick as the kids answered, mechanic, lawyer, undertaker, bank manager .... I knew there was one other kid whos Dad was unemployed, a new phenomenon in the '80s. He was not my mate and had a deprived childhood in more than one way. You could pick him out of the crowd and knew he never had a chance. All my mates were pretty normal & mostly middle class.
When asked what my Dad did I sunk into the floor, hope ebbing away . "He's unemployed" came my stunted response. We were supposed to give a little more than just a title. In a little shock the Teacher wouldn't leave it and wanted to know what Dad used to do. All the kids knew this and a few helpful ones answered for me. "He was that striker, at Firestone." By this stage I'ld stoped listening & just lowered my head.
In the days NZ thought an infrastructure was a good thing.
The Firestone Strike & '81 Tour swirled around like a double helix on talk back radio.Firestones longest strike was about conditions, specifically the absense of the companies contribution to their super fund. '81 Tour I'm sure you're all familliar with. The Left & Right of the debate fitted nicely into either camp. Anyway at the end of the strike the company paid up what they had previous agreed to & with fear of Reds under the Beds Dad got the sack over a load of bollocks.
A year or so after Dad got the boot he finally got employment and a manager who though himself a money whiz had lost the the whole company super fund and taken his own life.
That other kid whos Dad was unemployed shot himself with a shotgun in a stand off with police about '92.
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"The sanctimonious nature of everyone in that ALAC ad is enough to drive anyone to drink."
I don't know, the situation of that ad was someone elses wedding and Dad & his daughter were guests and it was closer to how I remebered the last time I did a back spin at a Xmas party.
4 lovely ladies "Is he with you?" My Mates "No".I like these ads a heap better than the bloody grewsome driving safety ads. A few years back I had to change channels when one of them came on. I really don't like to be brutalised by TV shock ads.
That we see Phil Giff on TV again, there are worse things.
What does Moore do these days?
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"Going from being 'ugly' to having strange, drunken men giving me flowers."
Sure we haven't met Emma?A soccer comp at Timaru in the early '90s. The team were staying at the Hydro or the Grand (both as bad as each other) and a few of us popped into the lounge bar & grabbed a beer. Just then in walked four or more skin-heads, at least two couples. They were roudy and then the arguement had one of the guys punch his girlfriend in the face. We stood up, more in fear than chivalry. His girlfriend shook her head, lent forward, smack, nutted the tall skinny f*&ker clean out.
We were still laughing as the nice bar staff sheparded us out the back and into the safety of the public bar. -
Paul
True enough, for the Islands to become economically strong will require domestic production. Fair Trade if you will.I was concerning myself with the various legal status of the workers and their freedom to move to better their condition, as I can if I so wish without a loss of human rights & dignity.
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Joe that's my point. That "I'm a good person doing good" doesn't mean good is being done. Even the idel-rich (volunteers) need to open their eyes and ask a few questions.
Off Topic (as I think we can all agree we've done it or ourselves to death).
This link might shed a little light on why I'm banging a lone drum on PI Labour. I see it as "Black Birdiing" (Slavery) & the reason Aust isn't coming in on it with us, they're taking a moral stand!
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Is this any of your do-gooding Joe?
Tarnished Philanthropy: China Questions Recent Medical Supply Shipments from U.S.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3863
Appetite Stimulants for the Starving
http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/starving.html -
Joe & Sue
Have you spoken to any producers to check their reactions to fair trade?Sue
Your own example shows fair trade is a maketing ploy that does a lot of good for the conscience of the idle rich & limited good for the desperately poor.I'm sure there is more on fair trade and coffee but that's my 2 cents.
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Rob
So did Helen do this purely for self promotion or was it a step back from the right? -
Sue, I'm puzzelled how you can acknowledge that Fair Trade doesn't pay as much as Illy and not see it as a sham.
Volunteer for who ever you like. Our world is a better place for it. But the after mass cuppa at my parish doesn't claim to be a business model for cafes.
Fair Trade as used by these charities will keep the producers in poverty (as opposed to absolute poverty) & is not fair trade.
Trade Aid, Oxfam et al need to be accountable or they'll all be WorldVision & CORSO money making ventures who have lost sight of their purpose.(World Vision does have unstated purposes of course).