Posts by Joe Wylie
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BenWilson:
It is curious despite the massive transplantation of European ecology how much that is native survives, and how weak the introduced species can be when not supported by the entire backdrop of European horticulture. I often wonder how much of European flora and fauna are really that native either.
Isn't it fascinating. I came across a description of Europe somewhere as "a weed-infested peninsula off Asia". Large tracts of NZ, e.g. Waikato and Canterbury, have lent themselves rather better to a eurocultural makeover than the more unforgiving Australian ecology.
The changes seem to be ongoing, too. For example, paradise ducks were barely seen a decade ago in the semi-reclaimed swamp that constitutes much of Christchurch. Now they're aggressively asserting themselves everywhere. Sparrows were common in Sydney when I lived there through much of the 70s. By the early 90s exotic mynahs seemed to have displaced them. Natives ibises and rainbow lorikeets were rarely seen, now they're extremely common. It's been claimed that a major drought in the early 80s drove them to the city and they never left.
. . . one of the most striking observations I made in my last trip to Germany - that there seemed to be almost nothing wild at all. No part of the place had not had humans walking all over it, tweaking it here and there, killing this, encouraging that, for thousands of years. Tens of thousands, maybe. NZ is a pretty wild place, still.
Thanks for that. I was surprised recently - though I guess I shouldn't have been - to discover that Austria and Hungary manage their largely 'native' and 'wild' deer populations with massive winter feeding programs in national parks.
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Now, if you want to dump the flambé troll roast and bring a rational and froth-free dissent to the table instead, be my guest. But the Redbaiter impersonation is boring and obnoxious.
Boring, Craig? I've no recollection of undertaking to provide you with entertainment.
Assuming that swollen ego has receded to the point where it no longer afflicts your reading skills, I'll briefly restate my point, which you've hardly refuted:
The Salvation Army have, probably to a greater degree than any church which has received state funding to administer social welfare, used the opportunity to advance a moral position. While this has taken place mainly in the US and Australia, they're an international organisation. I provided further examples by way of agreeing with Hilary's position. That's all.
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Craig,
Your moral superiority - to me. at least - is beyond doubt. I'm only disappointed that, rather than deliver yet another of those pieces that helps make PAS such an eminently visitable place, you've chosen once again to simply draw attention to what an exemplary fellow you are. -
They are not being funded to prosletyse.
Sure Craig, no more than you're being paid to preach. What concerns me is the way the Salvos have allowed themselves to become involved in the justice system in places such as the US, with Army members acting in some states as unqualified de facto probation officers. A few years back in Florida, for example, a teenager was placed under the restrictive supervision of a rank and file Army member after being found guilty by a local elected judge of having produced an 'obscene' cartoon. If seems the kid's work had offended the judge's political sensibilities.
If the Salvos don't have a problem with lending their 'Christian values' to something that's plainly not a welfare issue then they should, just as they should never have become involved with John Howard's politically cynical manipulation of Australia's drug problem. Major Brian Watters is a total piece of work, and hardly representative of the attitudes of those few Army members that it's been my privilege to know.
Anyway, it's late. If it wasn't for your assurance that the Sallies have the plght of the needy under control I'd be wondering why you're prancing your high horse around the blogs, rather than being out there on the mean streets in your Mother Theresa getup.
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In those pre-election rumours the Salvation Army was mentioned as a possible organisation to lead a Mission Australia deal. Not casting any aspertions on the SA and its work, but interesting that it has one of the rare invitations to the summit.
To be fair to the Australian Salvos, they've been at some pains to distance themselves from such figures as their own Major Brian Watters, who during the Howard years enjoyed the PM's vigorous support when infamously opposing the treatment of heroin addiction as a health issue. It was Watters who Howard actively courted to oversee his reactionary drug policy, and who famously described heroin addiction as a sin, and "The wages of sin is death".
Hilary's right, though. The Sallies' willingness to not simply render unto Caesar, but to actively court becoming a de facto state agency, isn't reassuring. The Church did, after all, actively voice its opposition to basic human rights back at the time of the lead up to the passing of the Homosexual Law reform bill.
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You really want to start me up on bullshit "Oirishness", and the bog scum who should be dangling by their necks from my family tree? No you don't.
At the harvest fair she'll be surely there
And I dress in me Sunday clothes
And I said, said I
To a passerby
Who's the maid with the nut-brown nose?
You're right, Craig. I've had me fun. Let's not go there. -
Someone should have checked this press release from John Barnett of South Pacific Pictures, because it shows a fairly shocking lack of understanding of a range of laws:
That's a little disappointing, as John Barnett has been generally pretty much on the money in the past. It might be worth noting, though, that The Penguin Book of New Zealand Jokes , collected by John Barnett and Lesley Kaiser in association with Brian Schaab; and with an introduction by John Barnett and Lesley Kaiser, published in 1996, has a full chapter of not particularly NZ jokes openly acknowledged as being sourced from the internet.
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Irony, laddie. BTW, I notice that March 17 is impending. As always, I'll try to include in my prayers a wish that a cure may be found for the Irishness.
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Does that make you the Caledonian equivalent of a self-hating jew?
Whatever rocks your bonny boat, my McNigger.
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And I still don't care much for your tone.
I'm shaking in my boots.
Until you raised the nature or nurture issue I'd have put that down to genetic predetermination. I do happen to have a Scottish surname, which I acquired in the regular genetic fashion.