Posts by giovanni tiso
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Speaker: Identification strategy: Now…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Just like Aussie Labor?
Aussie Labor is voting in favour of the ban on reporting cases of abuse of imprisoned asylum seekers, including children. New Zealand Labour is not quite that monstrous at present.
-
Access: Zero, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Same author as "finger shoulders", ie knuckles.
-
Access: Zero, in reply to Russell Brown,
We have a few of those too. Jim has always referred to bathmats as "floor towels" – and so do we all now.
Our latest is "leg wrists", ankles.
-
Access: Here's to them, in reply to TracyMac,
And all the people I know of in special needs education here are also outraged - there isn't a culture in that sector of the "naughty chair".
The culture in special needs education, from what I see from their leadership, is weak. The culture in most schools is weaker still. There is no accountability in the sector, no places other than the media for parents to appeal to and situations when kid get locked up - only marginally less gruesomely than the kid in Canberra - go unreported.
-
Access: Here's to them, in reply to TracyMac,
So while it's appalling, you have frontline staff making decisions that seem best for the majority of students in the class, while not having facilities to properly care for the kid who is having a bad and disruptive day, or who simply can't cope with the environnent on good days.
No-one wants kids 'caged' - especially not teachers in this sector - so please demand more information on the surrounding factors before issuing a knee-jerk judgement. Frankly, I think the Canberra Times needs to step up its reporting on this story. Significantly.
Sorry, no. Just no. Unless the basic details of the story are completely wrong, there is no amount of context that justifies locking up a kid. Which by the way happens in New Zealand schools as well.
-
Thank you for this, Russell. You and Hilary were the first people outside of some of our immediate family and friends whom we told about our daughter's diagnosis. Your writings, your outlook and your love for your boys have been an example and a very comforting place to turn to through difficult times.
(Also, how the first time we met in person, at a blend in Wellington, the first thing you said to me when we sat down in front of a drink was: "So, how's Lucia?")
-
Hard News: Haphazardly to war, in reply to Paul Campbell,
It was ISIL's throwing of gay people off of buildings then stoning them that got me thinking, the wholesale slaughter of people because of their religion or their sexuality and their goal of world domination isn't all that different from Hitler's - no apologies for the Godwining here, sometimes it is a fair thing to compare against.
Isn't that what we said about the Taleban? Didn't we say this about al Qaeda? How are those wars going?
I'm a pacifist, but recognise that not every conflict is an imperialist conflict. Sometimes you have to defend people from all out aggression and genocide. But it's hard to see a plan here, or accept that we are being told what we are actually going to be doing in the place. In fact Key has said out right we are doing 'the least we can do' (any less would be doing nothing, his words), because we can't do nothing. In spite of the fact that the West doing things is one of the main causes of death and extremism in the region.
The commitment it would take to genuinely protect the innocent represents a price no-one in the international community is willing to pay. We won't even raise our paltry quota of refugees, for heaven's sake.
-
That is wonderful. We talked to Lucia's class at school when she was older than that, but should have probably done it earlier - children respond well when they are given information.
-
Capture: From the Road, in reply to Shaun Scott,
I particularly loved your photo of the Rainbow confectioney factory, Giovanni. A really vivid shot,. We stopped in there last week, where my daughter felt she scored a bargain getting 2x 500g mixtures for, i think, $5.
It was a particularly cruel photo for me to take seeing as we weren't going to let the little diabetic in the back seat take advantage of the bargains!
-
Capture: From the Road, in reply to Soon Lee,
most of our outdoor attractions are not wheelchair accessible but one I remember that was are the pancake rocks at Punakaiki which was definitely worth it.
The pancake rocks are only partly accessible. You go around the first few bends on the walkway and then there's a rather grim sign - a wheelchair with a cross through it - that stops you going further. There are a lot of steps from there on in.