Posts by Stephen Judd
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andin, thanks so much for that! Muito obrigado! I am loving what I read about Curitiba and Lerner:
Like many cities, Curitiba is bordered by floodplain. While wealthier cities in the United States such as New Orleans and Sacramento, have chosen to build expensive, and expensive-to-maintain levee systems to build on floodplain. In contrast, Curitiba purchased the floodplain and made parks. The city now ranks among the world leaders in per-capita park area. Curitiba had the problem of its status as a third-world city, unable to afford the tractors and petroleum to mow these parks. The innovative response was "municipal sheep" who keep the parks' vegetation under control and whose wool funds children's programs.
When Lerner became mayor, Curitiba had some barrios impossible to service by municipal waste removal. The "streets" were too narrow. Rather than abandon these people, or raze these slums, Lerner began a program that traded bags of groceries and transit passes for bags of trash. The slums got much cleaner.
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should we make the effort to find another word?
Yes, we should. What am I supposed to call actual fascists if you keep calling every authoritarian right-winger a fascist?
I'd prefer you didn't play Humpty Dumpty and found some other more accurate term, or invented one.
Actually, what's wrong with corporatist? Eg, a defining characteristic of fascism is nationalism, which actually isn't present in the people you want to apply it to -- if anything, they're globalists of the sort actual fascists would despise.
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I don't think it's a matter of cheapness. I reckon many who would reject a million dollar bribe as an insult to their ethical standards would still have warm feelings towards someone who provides a kind word and a nice day out. People are funny like that.
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Old. Boys. Network. Crony. Capitalism.
Thinking about the ECan scandal as well, I think it's about time another C-word came out of mothballs too: corruption.
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Dunno about you lot but I am off to a political shindig all day tomorrow, having become a Labour party member for the first time in years recently. There's plenty of time between now and the next election for people to figure out what's going on if we communicate it the right way.
Don't forget that right-wing parties are funded by people with deep pockets, and can afford to spend a great deal on research and communications professionals. They don't need members, just donors. Left-wing parties need volunteers and members.
Returning to George's question, I think a lot of us lost steam and enthusiasm in the mid-00s as it became clear that slow tinkering was what we were going to get. I don't really believe that people in general are more selfish now, or less compassionate. I just don't think they're exposed to a clearly articulated vision of a real social democratic New Zealand in recent times.
I hope some of the emotion I read in this thread is translated into action. Join! Organise! Lobby! Campaign! GET SHIT DONE.
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Oh yeah I think barley is a great addition. And the Jewish version should really have matzo balls in it...
... they're the only part of the matzo you can eat.
(The hot tip for not having matzo balls like rocks is to use soda water for the liquid, according to my sister, who is my go-to source on Jewish food).
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I hope they don't come after people who sell those lamps.
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Make your own soup -- just the smell of it cooking will do you good. My sister insists you have to cook it for at least four hours but I reckon you can get away with two.
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I wish PAS had been around when Dr Cullen introduced the 39 cent rate back in 2000. No doubt it would have been cheers and beers all around.
I was above the 39% threshold then, as I am now, and I thought it was a good idea. It seems like you think most people are really venal, but I'm not sure that they are. At least I'm not.