Posts by Joe Wylie
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Hard News: Media Take: The Panama Papers, in reply to Alfie,
Accusing his personal lawyer of many years of "name-dropping" and "misrepresentation" is merely Key's latest desperate tactic to try and distance himself from the Panama Papers fallout.
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Hard News: How the years flew by ..., in reply to Worik Stanton,
How are you going to keep people out of Auckland? Dawn raids? Internal passports?
Internal passports - if history's any guide, that's a slippery slope to starvation and cannibalism in the godforsaken hinterland:
"Many of the deportees were people in Moscow and Leningrad who had been unable to obtain an internal passport. The passportization campaign began with a December 27, 1932 decision by the Politburo to issue internal passports to all residents of major cities. One of their objectives was to "cleanse Moscow, Leningrad and the other great urban centers of the USSR of superfluous elements not connected with production or administrative work, as well as kulaks, criminals, and other antisocial and socially dangerous elements." -
Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I used to do a monthly newsletter for the Council Housing Unit, which kept people informed and connected, they organised social events and created a community (heck the Library bus would pull up at least once a week - it doesn't exist now!) – then new brooms swept all that unnecessary expense away...
There was even a City Housing quiz trophy, which my late mum's team carried home on several occasions. A Council minibus would collect participants and drop them home afterwards. All gone now.
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Hard News: Media Take: The Panama Papers, in reply to Alfie,
Nothing to see here folks, moving right along. Let's go bash some beneficiaries instead.
Here's Transparency International NZ Chair Suzanne Snively's open letter to John Key after the 2014 election. High-minded and positive stuff, though perhaps somewhat tainted by Snively having been outed only four months earlier for apparently exploiting her position for her personal benefit.
Transparency International NZ's media release from April 6 is pretty much an admission that the lofty principles promoted in their post-election open letter have been treated as window dressing by the Government. From touting for the role of John Key's Jiminy Cricket consciense in the golden years ahead, Snively seems to have moved on to hand-wringing over having been ignored.
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Up Front: Cui bono?, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
But, what we do know, is that Our Leader is a friend of Youknowhat....
Though not in his capacity as, uh, Prim Monster, so nothing to see there, yeah nah?
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Polity: Lady luck smiles more than we think, in reply to Hilary Stace,
In the disability world luck and love definitely play a part. For a disabled person life will be a lot easier if you are lucky to have the love of someone eg a mother, to advocate for you.
Personality and appearance certainly counts, for good or ill. A certain agency dealing with the intellectually disabled once ran a practice of placing what were cynically referred to as "model mentals" in token positions in their offices, so that Lord and Lady Bountiful might come away from their visit enthusing about what they were able to achieve with them.
On a visit to what was then the Auckland Sheltered Workshop a couple of worthies from said agency spotted an engaging little blue-eyed blonde chatterbox as having the right kind of potential. Their proposal was tactfully withdrawn after she insisted on bringing her six foot female friend, whose unfortunate tendency to sprout chin whiskers and inform everyone she met of her ambition to march in the dawn parade effectively disqualified her from dealing with an unprepared public.
"It's luck or loveliness, not who you are or what you do
That makles the world go round...." -
Up Front: Cui bono?, in reply to Lilith __,
I'd be surprised if there's much canola still being grown in Canty. Dairy, dairy, dairy.
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 -
Hard News: Labour's medical cannabis…, in reply to Alfie,
For reasons known only to himself, the NDIB's acting head at the time, DS Stuart Mills, refused to withdraw the report.
Detective Sergeant Stuart Mills, acting head of the NDIB at the time, wrote back saying while there could have been better consultation and peer review, the report would not be withdrawn as to do so would "impact on the bureau's reputation".
It seems that Mills's first priority was to "protect his brand".
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Up Front: Cui bono?, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
...the buses run on 50% bio diesel made from refined cooking oil. Smell really yummy!
While I haven't been able to find definite figures, all the evidence seems to be that most of NZ's biodiesel is from animal sources, e.g. meat industry by-products. While Solid Energy had grandiose plans before they went bust to buy up tracts of Canterbury for canola production, all the current production growth appears to be disappointingly meat-related.
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Up Front: Cui bono?, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
Mate...methinks the future is the now.
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 town ain't getting like a ghost town
It's getting like hell...Oh, what a perfect day
To think about my silly self
My feet are firmly screwed to the floor
What is there to fear from such a regular world?The The - Perfect, 1982