Posts by Ben Austin
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
The Big Chill though...boy...that place used to weird me out. Visiting it was like going into a time machine - no eftpos (well they rectified that I think), greasy takeaways, surly staff, and facilities that really had seen better days. I don't know about you all, but I prefer the mildly insincere "have a nice day" approach to the alternate surly "i'm doing you a favour by taking your money" school.
To be honest I don't really care what the DCC spends its money on anymore, since I no longer live in the city. Personally I'm not generally happy with L.A money being spent on non core things like expensive sporting facilities, given all their other responsibilities (like libraries yes, literacy is more important than sport or concerts), and their limited revenue collection abilities. However I do acknowledge that in most cases they seem to be the only body with the vision/ability to do so. I know the central government would never fund this type of thing for Dunedin, or in fact for any city (although Auckland came close?). So given that there is little alternative for Dunedin then I guess the DCC has to fill this role.
Perhaps my purist vision of what a LA should do is a little out of date, given the retreat of central government and changing expectations. If things truely have moved on then perhaps the funding model of LAs should be broadened. At least that way I wouldn't need to hear the annual rate increase cry as LAs try to fund their programmes.
-
A small organised group will always be able to dominate the discourse. This isn't a monopoly of the political Christian "I'd love to have a culture war" Right, in fact the first time I ever really saw it in action was in Dunedin, when I was a student there.
Back in Dunedin during the late 1990s-early 00s the International Socialists were the most consistent in their ability to have something to say about nearly every important issue (whether it be Kosovo or the St David St road bridge). I have no idea how many people their organisation had, but they seemed to work pretty hard at getting their view across. Sure Dunedin / UO is quite a narrow example, with some advantages - like a homogenous centralised community and a very apathetic polity (I don't think student voting rates for elections ever beat 20% while I was there, and the SGMS (lunch time votes) were nearly always close to failing through a lack of a quorom. But this isn't so removed from normal political life in NZ - the media is rather centralised here, and if one can get their talking points picked up by one of the majors then national coverage is guaranteed. Then the other(s) will pick it up as well (got to fill that looooong 1 hour news period somehow right?).
I would suspect that any group of people with ability to make a website, issue press releases, make cute myspace videos, make posters/newsletters, write letters to influential people, has an articulate spokesperson, turn up to Select Committees, and that can plan a coherent campaign would be able to get significant media attention in NZ if they worked on it. To be fair to the Christian groups they have been trying for some time.
-
Kyle, don't tell me you are not happy with the facilities offered by the Big Chill?!
-
Crusty Demon type events
Ok Kyle, I have to ask, what the hell is one of the above?
-
I will admit to being somewhat left cold by the list of groups (not individuals) fighting the bill. Generally (although there were a few exceptions) they were the kind of intolerant group that I'd usually oppose. The list of supporter groups however are mostly groups that I have respect for because they actually get out there and do good work, not just pontificate on the morality of things like science, the family and religion.
I had a look at the FF site the other day, and they explicitly state that every single problem in the world today is the fault of the decline of the nuclear family (no, really).
-
Didn't like the rhubarb analogy? Well, luckily I found some explanatory material that may help you. Sure its no palm oil bible, but it comes from the heart all the same.
-
You are right to be afraid. Your brain is like a giant bowl of rhubarb crumble, awaiting the steaming custard that is neololiberalism. Combining the two might hurt a little at first, but I'm sure you will find new friends who enjoy stewed fruit and milk desserts. You will lose your old, lactose intloerant friends, but hey, if they really like you they'd suck it up and live with the nausea right?
-
Perhaps your paranoia is your own way of coping with your personal deliberalisation? The only prescription for this is to speed yourself to a library and take a large dose of Mills.
-
ha-hah!!
a post on the de-liberalisation of frightened countries.
Where do you find these crackpots Che?
-
If you want to see objectionable behaviour check out the political debate channels on Efnet/Dalnet/Undernet. While they can be great for realtime discussion of events, they are also incredibly vulnerable to all sorts of abuse and require pretty active moderation (such as one can do on IRC).