Posts by Joe Wylie
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Hard News: Hate and guns, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
And I think John Howard needs to pay a visit to the US again.
With all due credit to Howard's actions in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, the idea that he carries some kind of charismatic influence with the residue of his natural US allies is a joke. This is the guy who was demonstrably awkward with the Clintons at the time of their Australian visit. Jeanette Howard, who would have been one of the most hands-on Australian PM's wives in living memory, had a notably frosty interaction with Hilary.
Whatever political capital he built up during his enthusiastic mini-me phase with Dubya at the time of the Iraq invasion won't count for much with the currently shambolic GOP. While Australia's example in turning around its gun culture frequently comes up in online US discussions, positions are now so entrenched that the standard response goes something like "I couldn't give a shit what happens on Airstrip One."
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Hard News: Hate and guns, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
Blaming the NRA is ultimately a cop-out. A popular conservative US leader who wants to deal with this issue could. But none has.
Of course the NRA could be shown to be a paper tiger if your hypothetical US equivalent of John Howard called its bluff, but you don't provide an explanation for why this hasn't come anywhere near happening yet.
From my recollection of living in Australia in the aftermath of Port Arthur I can recall the usual NRA-style canard arguments being raised. That it was a false flag operation masterminded by British intelligence was a favourite that even surfaced on ABC talk radio.
Although the NRA provided material and strategic support to Australia's minuscule Shooters Party, nothing with that kind of scale and pervasity has ever existed there. Without a deeper understanding of the different situations in Australia and the US, downplaying the NRA's influence is empty hypothesising.
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Capture: Tribute - Dr Chris Ward, in reply to Lilith __,
Looks like a good pozzie.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Roger writes…, in reply to Rob Stowell,
One of the few cultural legacies of PEP schemes is one of Owen Marshall's more satisfyingly quirky short stories, The Frozen Continents, about a differently abled character encountered on a work scheme that involved dismantling an Antarctic exhibit at a Dunedin museum.
On his 1983 visit to Auckland David Bowie was supposed to have made a surprise visit to Ivan Zagni's music PEP scheme. Unfortunately they were all at the pub, and were supposedly mightily disappointed once they discovered what they'd missed.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Roger writes…, in reply to Rob Stowell,
It feels a tiny bit ironic now. Much of the music was effectively subsidised by the (relatively) generous and easy dole (or a job scheme that paid a union negotiated wage.)
Those Muldoon-era PEP schemes paid participants a union-backed minimum wage, though the only one I recall that directly fostered music was Ivan Zagni's Big Sideways project, which never seemed to quite engage with the zeitgeist. Were there others outside of Auckland?
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Access: Fighting seclusion with…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
While we're scrutinising Sam, who rather uncharacteristically ably fielded a question from Annette King about (potential?) means and asset testing for Home and Community Support Services for Older People inthehouse on Tuesday.
Thanks Rosemary. I guess that illustrates just how much Sam realised he was on a hiding to nowhere defending Ashley Peacock's mistreatment.
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Poor Sam Lotu-liga doesn't appear to be entirely in control of his own body. A bit like Doctor Strangelove's errant arm, Sam's bum seems to desperately seek to plant itself back onto the relative safety of his seat from the moment he stands up.
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Hard News: An interview with Ben Goldacre, in reply to izogi,
...a whole new type of influence has emerged in the hands of less predictable groups with vested interests (marketers, local and foreign governments, corporations, political parties), who are figuring out how to use social media and other aspects of the internet to manipulate...
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Access: Fighting seclusion with…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Attitude TV recently screened a documentary about an adult man and his family's fight to find him suitable housing. He now lives in a Spectrum Care (a local provider of housing and services) house in Auckland.
Many thanks for that Hilary. Some remarkably positive moments there, though Steven's parents expressing that we as a country have "gone backwards" on these issues is sobering.
