Posts by Lilith __
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Capture: Besties, in reply to Russell Brown,
a seasonal set-piece
Flowering time for the southern rātā. A different style of tree from its cousin the pōhutukawa: it’s bushy and flowers all the way from head to toe.
It's also a bee-magnet! You can't tell from the photos but this tree was surrounded by an almost solid halo of flying bees. One tree, supporting all that life.
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Marama Davidson on Twitter today deserves a signal boost:
Final reading of Treaty Settlements in House 2day. Relevant since our whole country is apparently outraged about historic lying & stealing.
I give zero fucks about the details of Metiria Turei’s personal life, then or now. She stood up for those of us who are disenfranchised and despised. She did it because it was the right thing to do, not because it would be popular. She represented those of us too scared to speak for ourselves.
We know benefits aren’t enough to live on. They’re designed not to be. This is wrong, much more wrong than the actions of any individual could possibly be.
We also need an inquiry into the historic abuse of children in state care. While Metiria is excoriated for her devotion to her child, no one seems to give a rat’s arse about the thousands of children brutalised by the state.
Not to mention the ongoing suffering of dispossessed Maori that Marama Davidson is talking about.
Metiria and the Greens have cracked this conversation wide open. It’s not over.
I’ve never belonged to a political party before, but I’ve just joined the Greens. It costs $20, or $5 for those of us on low incomes. Metiria’s just one person: together, we have the power to make NZ a better place.
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I am beyond sickened by the self-righteousness of Metiria's critics. We need to change the system, and not just the welfare system. This National government has had an unending stream of conflicts-of-interest and potential corruption. Bill English falsely claimed a housing allowance as an MP, and he gets to be PM? He's lied to the public just this week about his involvement with the Todd Barclay affair. But we're not being judgemental about that? The Attorney-General just had to resign, and the public still isn't allowed to know why.
The hypocrisy just breaks my heart.
Here's a link to a story about poverty and choices. Y'all should read it.
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It worries me that some of my highly-educated and otherwise intelligent friends won't take Snopes as the end of the discussion.
Then it's "Oh yeah it's a badly written article. I'll have to find another one with citations cos this issue is important."
Or
"Well, it might not be right about everything but still some very valid points here".
Or
"Yeah it's fake, but still pretty interesting, right?" -
Hard News: The Oncoming Day, in reply to James Freeman,
With 20,000 patients not having medication coverage and a list price of over $100,000 NZD it adds up to 200 billion pennies.
Pennies =/= dollars even if pennies were NZ currency, which they aren't.
I get that the patented version of the drug is expensive, but as Russell has detailed in previous columns, we have a looming public health crisis of potentially 20,000 people with acute liver failure, which is a disaster in both human and monetary terms.
I'm delighted that generic-buying solutions are being found. And I hope all that human potential of people suffering with Hep C can be recovered. Such fantastic news for Martin Phillips and his family and friends and fans. Each person successfully treated is a life given back.
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Up Front: For Your Own Safety, in reply to Emma Hart,
Believe it or not, women bleed.
Some women bleed.
Fair enough. I hate that menstruation is so shameful.
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Does anyone else remember the Ladies’ at the Academy cinema in Chch? Vase of fresh flowers, picture on the wall. Extremely civilised. Toilet facilities don’t have to be only utilitarian.
Post-quake, some community portaloos got similar treatment. Locals kept them clean and fresh, and some with a jar of flowers in the corner or children’s pictures on the wall.East-Chch people I think are the least likely to be fussy about gender segregation. Something other than a hole in the ground you dig yourself? Total win.
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Up Front: For Your Own Safety, in reply to Simon Lyall,
the same amount of shit and piss events as the males but with the occasional added bonus of menstrual blood
Believe it or not, women bleed.
Just BTW, there's no law stating men can't piss while sitting down.
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Wow, that Nadia Reid album is awesome! Thx for heads-up. <3
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It’s hard to understand what possible advantage there could be in such creepy individual monitoring. I know there’s been talk of greater co-ordination between multiple government agencies and NGOs so that people get all the help they need. But I assumed that would take the form of some sort of personal mentoring, not a fucking surveillance state. Citizens need to be empowered, not spied on.
