Hard News: In the red zone
73 Responses
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Br'er Town...
cooking up a tar baby or three for the next mayor
...a new subdivision,
Briar Patch, perhaps?...the tossers thicket plottens!
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Key and Brownlee are throwing a hissy-fit at people who've lost everything. This is beyond unacceptable. They're supposed to be public servants.
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Hebe, in reply to
Words commissar says the term “tar baby” is loaded for Maori, so I must not use it. Okay, sorry for any offence that I may have caused. Substitute “big problem”.
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Sacha, in reply to
public servants
ahaha
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nzlemming, in reply to
public servants
ahaha
+1
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nzlemming, in reply to
They’re supposed to be public servants.
Technically speaking, they're not.
SSC has a list of all the public service agencies. MPs are employed by the Crown via the Parliamentary Service budget, and PS is most definitely not part of the Public Service. -
Lilith __, in reply to
They’re supposed to be public servants.
Technically speaking, they’re not.
I was speaking broadly. They serve the people of New Zealand.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Words commissar says the term “tar baby” is loaded for Maori, so I must not use it. Okay, sorry for any offence that I may have caused. Substitute “big problem”.
I was doubtful, but then found this:
Is tar baby a racist term? Like most elements of language, that depends on context. Calling the Big Dig a tar baby is a lot different than calling a person one. But sensitivity is not unwarranted. Among etymologists, a slur's validity hangs heavily on history. The concept of tar baby goes way back, according to Words@Random from Random House: "The tar baby is a form of a character widespread in African folklore. In various folktales, gum, wax or other sticky material is used to trap a person." The term itself was popularized by the 19th-century Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, in which the character Br'er Fox makes a doll out of tar to ensnare his nemesis Br'er Rabbit. The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby much like Romney used it, "a difficult problem, that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it." But the term also has had racial implications. In his book Coup, John Updike says of a white woman who prefers the company of black men, "some questing chromosome within holds her sexually fast to the tar baby." The Oxford English Dictionary (but not the print version of its American counterpart) says that tar baby is a derogatory term used for "a black or a Maori."
It still seems a shame to surrender such a rich concept on the basis of an obscure usage -- which seems only to be supported by one version version of the OED. Does Greg know any more?
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Great photos. Definitely a film-makers dream-set. A little reminiscent of scenes from around Chernobyl. But so much closer to home.
I think we may have bought our car from a lovely English couple who lived in the right-hand of the brick semis at the end of the cul-de-sac photo. They were both health professionals, in their thirties, two friendly young kids. Loved the neighbourhood but could see the writing on the wall.
It was late June, 2013. They had a holiday in England booked already. After the June 13 quake, they cancelled the return leg.
It was a good car, good price, quick deal. They were leaving for good two days later. They did say the suspension had taken a hammering on rut, hole and bump-filled roads. It’s still pretty loose :) -
nzlemming, in reply to
I was speaking broadly. They serve the people of New Zealand.
In that case I return to pointing and laughing.
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Hebe, in reply to
From Greg: No. I am a commisar, not a style guide ... I could just smell trouble with that term and it was the Romney gaffe that was bunting at the verges of me memory banks.Be warned young man: here be dragons.
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Hebe, in reply to
They did say the suspension had taken a hammering on rut, hole and bump-filled roads.
I'm sick of buying tyres. We have a win: the road cones have disappeared on the block from the St Martins roundabout to the supermarket. First time since February 2011 that the road is not like a riverbed. I think its another year to 18 months before it's worth buying a decent car round here.
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Key's latest spout-out is reflecting his increasing transition from "smile & wave" to "don't you worry about that!"
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I was friendly with the family who lived in the vandalized house.
The husband and wife were great enthusiasts for living beside the river. Like us, they could hardly believe that it was still so affordable to live in such a beautiful spot.
They used to feel quite aggrieved about the rubbish that ended up in the river (as I did myself), and every year they'd organize the neighbourhood to get together and clean up the river. We'd end up with a giant mountain of cans and bottles (plus the occasional shopping trolley and bicycle).
Given their love of the neighbourhood and their sense of pride in keeping it clean and tidy, it is ironic that their home has ended up in that state. Hope they haven't come back to see it looking like that.
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After nearly three years at the sharp end the Avonside Blog signs off.
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Hebe, in reply to
Key’s latest spout-out is reflecting his increasing transition from “smile & wave” to “don’t you worry about that!”
Joh Key?
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Blow Key!
Joh Key?
Don Key haughty,
blokey, smiley and wily
- with his on song,
A Key, Bray Key heartaha!
meet the all-time new Low Key
- our Trickster Prime Minister
son of Odium... -
Russell Brown, in reply to
A little reminiscent of scenes from around Chernobyl. But so much closer to home.
I was actually thinking more like parts of Detroit. That's one place where neighbourhoods are going back to the wild.
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Hebe, in reply to
Keep on Key-pinging on Ian.
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Tim Michie, in reply to
Yep. Pretty much my thought too. Thankfully richter not geiger counters required.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Key's Tone Cops...
Keep on Key-pinging on...
...I'll have no truck with
these Crumbs you're tossing...
;- )But you're right!
Curtis has the answer... -
Hebe, in reply to
I cannot exude
at your altitude
the dizzy heights
of satiric lights.If Curtis is the answer
then this is the question -
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
and other gorgeous Harrisongs...
then this is the question
Yay, verily....
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I appreciate the way you've written this Russell. I am one of those who pass through Red Zone (on way to visit rellies and friends in New Brighton mostly). It makes shudder I feel each time I go by. A sad ache for family places. It is an utterly different feeling from being in the knocking down/building up city - there is life and action there. The residential red zone is a place of ghosts and memories.
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Geoff Lealand, in reply to
There is a proposal to fence off areas of downtown, residential Detroit and return it to the state of a living, urban jungle.
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