Hard News: Graceless Islanders
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and on another note
how was telling them government types about blogging che?surprisingly full room!
couldn't get hadyn to shut the hell up and let me and jason ryan speak!
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The thing that bugs me more about her writing is the 'politics is a game' cynicism
music to my ears Terrence. skepticism is essential, but cynicism breeds disengagement and alienation in the masses, while the rich keep on voting.
I know it's just a bit of a gossip column but...
actually that makes it twice as effective as a propaganda platform. if it were overtly political people would filter it differently. because it's styled as it is, it's more like just a slice of life 'that's how it is' kind of thing. only it always has a political edge, is always redneck populist 'anti-PC', and always just happens to be pro-National.
i'm thinking about putting an add in offering a reward to anyone that can cite any piece of Listener writing Joanne Black's done that doesn't miraculously support her husband's boss's position.
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who was there che?
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re souvlaki, for souvlaki/Greek food historians - there used to be souvlaki in Auckland many, many years ago. There was a cart in Aotea Square in the mid 80's that did Souvlaki. Many of my fellow students at Auckland University frequented it, when drunk mainly, after things like pubcrawls etc. Otherwise, I think the souvlaki phase died a quiet death up here. It's intensely hard to find decent middle eastern takeaways in Auckland, I have to say. Although apparently Caravanserai does takeaways. Hmm, now there's a thought........
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JLM,
Yeah Riddley, that's what I meant about dog-whistling.
The Listener's free to take any position it wants, but I'm also free to decline to renew the two subscriptions I currently support.
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journalism meets The Dog Show
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Sue,
i know a couple of welingtonista's were in the crowd.
that Hadyn, is global JC craft domination not enough? -
if it were overtly political people would filter it differently. because it's styled as it is, it's more like just a slice of life 'that's how it is' kind of thing. only it always has a political edge, is always redneck populist 'anti-PC', and always just happens to be pro-National.
Yeah, that's what has always outraged me - that someone in a previously liberal mag is given a weekly platform to mouth conservative views.
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hadyn, the aforementioned jason and i participated in a panel discussion at govis yesterday afternoon.
"blogging in the public sector".
good turn out of policy wonks and e-tech people. it was a really interesting session.
and, sue, it was bloody stephen clover who asked the __really_ hairy questions... blimmin smart-arse bloggers.
AND! bloody hadyn... not only did he get a free day pass and the flash conference pack, the bugger tried to purloin my complementary gift voucher as well! the bloody cheek.
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You guys got Freestuff(TM)?
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not so much. it did however make me feel a bit like a "very important person (tm)".
bloggers are, after all, egomaniacs at heart.
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__The Listener's free to take any position it wants, but I'm also free to decline to renew the two subscriptions I currently support.__
Certainly... I've got to admit that I tuned out from The Listener back in the late 80's, not because I found the political content objectionable (even though I did) but because it was unreadable - the kind of clotted, pretentious, jargon-splattered prose Holcroft would have blue-penciled without mercy.
Which segues into this comment from Maureen Jansen:
__Yeah, that's what has always outraged me - that someone in a previously liberal mag is given a weekly platform to mouth conservative views.__
Strange it may sound from this Tory quarter, I spend quite a bit of time reading 'journals of opinion from all over the political spectrum like The Weekly Standard, The Spectator, The New Republic, New Statesman, The Nation, The Atlantic. Some are broadly 'conservative', others 'liberal', but they only interest me to the extent they provide a forum for lively, well-considered and interesting writing rather than impose some dull ideological orthodoxy - whatever it may be.
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Or I guess I could have boiled down all the above to one sentence: I don't read for confirmation bias, how about you?
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I take it you're referring to a certain sandwich chain
which sacked a developmentally disabled worker?May I say that I find this sort of disability discrimination
and heavy handed action absolutely disgusting. I will
be urging my friends and workmates to boycott the
wretched place until they rescind their ill-advised measure.Craig Y
(who has a physically disabled nephew
with osteogenesis imperfecta himself) -
If you're after Mediterranean flavours work with the C's Cumin Corriander (freshly ground seed in a mortor and pestle is best) and Cinnamon. We add lemon zest and olive oil to make a very nice lamb marrinade.
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Or a government funded addiction service who sacked two workers for taking prescribed antidepressants.
I just think that's terrible - and nobody seems to be interested. To me it's just as bad as sacking someone in a wheelchair because it doesn't match the decor.
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Wait a mo' - Unless you're privy to information I'm not, I've seen nothing to even imply that Jackie Lang was sacked because she has Asperger's.
To be quite honest, I found references to her Aspberger's gratuitious and irrelevant - or would her treatment somehow have been less appalling if she was"'normal"? Not from where I'm standing, Crag.
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Or a government funded addiction service who sacked two workers for taking prescribed antidepressants
Thanks for drawing my attention to that, Rich - when my blood pressure has climbed-down from the roof, I think a polite e-mail to the Health Minister will be in order.
And what an abso-fucking-lutely wonderful message to send to people with a sadly all too common form of mental illness: All those government-funded John Kiriwin/ 'know me before you judge me' ads are a load of balls. If you want to keep your job, don't get help, don't be up front with the people around you, just take some herbal potion and think happy thoughts. Grr...
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Sorry, hit post instead of preview but I wanted to close with this observation:
I'm quite upfront about being an alcoholic with a long-term history of depression which I'm managing with 'mind-altering' medication prescribed (and carefully monitored) by a qualified health professional. I'm amazed that the Higher Ground Drug Rehabilitation Trust doesn't see the distinction between an anti-depressant, and self-medicating with a bottle of bourbon. I can.
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addiction service who sacked two workers for taking prescribed antidepressants
if the facts of the case are as reported, they would have a pretty clear case, and the Trust's contract would be invalid.
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From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10438901
Police have dropped a theft charge against a Dunedin Subway worker who was sacked for sharing a drink with a friend during a break.
At a status hearing in Dunedin District Court this morning, police used their discretion and withdrew the theft charge against Jackie Lang.
Yay for police discretion, though a question should be asked of why the charge was ever laid.
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perhaps the charge was laid to bolster the shonky dismissal.
i heard it was laid in response to her kicking up a fuss, but i don't know for sure. -
3410,
A recent Listener editorial that pissed me off:
Very quickly, global warming has become the new bird flu... Further back it was Y2K... AIDS has had its turn in the role of global killer and although it has cut a terrible swathe through some populations, it has largely slipped off the front pages. Right now, climate change is having its turn as the latest scourge to fear. - Joanne Black, Doom du jour, editorial, The Listener, 17-23 Feb. 2007.
You'd be hard pressed to find another peice so appallingly shallow. That the Listener, with its long tradition of liberal attitude, would publish such completely uninformed drivel is just awful.
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I never cease to goggle at the trumpeting of Y2K as a non existent storm in a teacup.
Er... we did a shit load of work to ensure our computer systems kept going as they should the day the calendar ticked over, more than a year's worth with a dummy system in a time bubble.
There were date related bugs to iron out & no-one thinks all that testing, and assigning of resource was wasted.
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yep, that's pure, vintage JB alright. why waste time on reason or research when you can just vomit uninspected prejudice?
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