Posts by Don Christie
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To pick up on Richard Bartlett's point about free stuff from different parties...
To me the issue and division between the red and blue points of view has never really been about generosity and a desire to help folks do well. Both red and blue see themselves as generous in their own ways and I believe that self analysis is generally correct.
The fundamental differences are whether provision of help to people whether for education, health or cash should contain an element of judgment about whether recipients are "deserving" or not *and* whether this sort of help should be viewed as charitable or a right that citizens should expect.
My own view is that charitable work has its place and there are incredibly generous people both rich and poor who give away significant portions of their income and time because they see a need and want to do something about it. These efforts cannot be belittled.
We should recognise the fact that they also only represent the interests of the donors at a particular point in time. So when hungry school kids are off the front page and replaced with starving cats the chances are food for kids programms will turn into save our cats and we will be back to square one.
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Good to put a name to a face. Seemed like every time we were about to talk something got in the way which probably resulted in you missing out on a bit of
egotists who like the sound of their own voice
Do I really write like an old man?
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Maybe dad4justice can explain to this businessman how my incredible expertise in so many walks of life can should be applied to nutrition of children. Should we leave it to other businesses in the field, like Pepsi Cola, McDs or Pizza Hut? All seems pretty hit and miss to me.
The answer I experienced as a school kid myself was state supplied milk in the morning and decent, if slightly inedible, state supplied school meals. As a business man my taxes would go towards that, so my charitable ego would satiated...
If Keys had the gumption to support those two initiatives he would get my vote in the blink of an eye.
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There is something positively Dickensian about the ideas being thrown about right now on charity and poverty. Surely, regardless of political bent, we have moved on the last 200 years from solutions that were crappy even during the industrial revolution.
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So, to cut to the chase there are now a couple more foo entries in my blog. Also included is a PDF of the slides I presented. Given at least 112 folks missed my talk I expect there will be a lot of interest in this :-)
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Foo envy is everywhere...
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Russell, many thanks to you Nat and Rod. I have a day one write up over at planet.catalyst.net.nz.
I plan to do a complete write up by the end of today (Wednesday).
David Cunliffe was good but I fear that the filters of officialdom were girding their loins prior to the end of the conference. Having made the progress we did with the Minister that was the only disappointment of the weekend.
Great to met Davids Slack and Haywood as well.
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a bit OT, are all those Cunliffe's at baa camp related?
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The zoo is over rated? Are you mad? I LOVE the zoo. And that's all I have to say
I guess it got off on a wrong note when having just paid a hefty entry fee I forked out another two bucks for a crappy map of the place that I had assumed would be free as it was available under a tent marked "Information".
The Zoo is not bad...just a bit fussy a I suppose, not quite what I had expected. I like more open spaces of Wellington Zoo and we *had* just spent the morning in Auckland Domain which is about as open as spaces come. I wished I had spent the money on the MOTAT next door. Next time, maybe.
By all means, feel free to continue loving your Zoo :-)
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And, frankly, sit on North Head on a sunny Regatta Day and try to tell me that it is not as astonishingly beautiful in every direction as any urban area anywhere.
North Head was just what I did with my little girl as a "tourist" a couple of weeks ago. Only it was AmCup boats racing. Awesome and spectacular, especially with dark rain clouds hovering in the not too distant skyline. I also wish we had time to look at Western Springs and join the picnickers there. We did have to re-evaluate our Auckland prejudices somewhat (although the zoo *is* overrated, and what's with the 'voluntary' $5 dollar donation for the museum?). The suggestions above would really change the city for the better. Linking the domain to Albert Park to the water front.