Posts by Christopher Dempsey
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Gay-pride hip hop?? You jest surely. Ahhh no, you don't on viewing the Vault. Interesting...
and on listening even better!! Thanks lovey.
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Ha! Did you see the lovely new architectural buildiing going up beside spaghetti junction, that adorned the front page of the Herald today. Wonder what colour that will be. my guess is, an enchanting grey like Watford.
It'll look like an office block with glass outer wall. Something that looks vaugely 80s but an office block. So no colour there, but lots of glass.
You build one little toilet...:) Kawakawa has never looked back.
I've been there and actually went out of my way to go there not surprisingly enough. That toilet is quite cool, and the success of it has meant that Kawakawa is now starting to talk about reviving the train journey that used to run from there out to the coast.
There's something to be said for small decisive interventions in the environment, urban or otherwise.
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Well you can read an ipad in the bath. But like a book, don't drop it.
Is there a non-slip version? You know, something with grips to hold onto while in the bath? :)
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There are plenty of 'Jamie Lerners' around. What we need is a mash up of South American direct actions within governance contexts, chutzpah, exposure to COLOUR, and a hefty dose of NZ sensibility that says, yeah, that works.
(I'm in my 'colour mood: why are all our buildings so bland? Where's the colour?)
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My personal test of new technology for reading things, like books, like magazines, like journal articles, is the bath test: Can I read it while I'm soaking in a hot bath?
If not, then it's no use to me.
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Gio (and correct me if I am wrong here) is talking about European experiences of fascism, particularly in Italy, which gives rise to a particular meaning associated with the word.
That meaning seems to be very particular, definite and ahistorical. The meaning seems not to be able to be applied within recent NZ history, for obvious reasons.
However, we have no experience of fascism as meant by Gio; rather our historical and present political experience has been one of a string of small minded men (and odd woman) making executive decisions in the belief that those decisions are best for the country (Rodney's behaviour has historical roots; think of Birch's Think Big projects, Douglas's use of the TINA doctrine, Richardson's Mother of all. Present day examples are clear; Rodney's SuperCity, Smith and Carter's ECAN'T debacle)
This political behavioural pattern is what is being described here, by many. This behaviour in today's context is over-reaching itself (as it did in past years), leading many to frantically cast around for some word to describe it - leading to an easy and clearly mis-appropriated use of the word fascist.
Should we adopt and lift fascist out of its European meaning for use here in Aotearoa, or should we make the effort to find another word?
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Evil neo-liberalism?
Poverty-inducing-neoliberalism?
Community-destroying-neoliberalism?
Bad-for-everyone-and-the-environment neo-liberalism?
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And then there's the interesting image that accompanied Rod Oram's opinion piece (in last month's SST) about the Auckland governance changes; looking out over Auckland (viewed from North Head), was a superimposed Hide with his arm outstretched in a 'heil hitler' salute. That's not to say that Rodney had actually done that salute; but a photo of him stretching out his hand to make a point had been slightly skewed so that the hand went up, instead of out. The intention of the image maker was pretty clear and no-one without a shred of history could not mistake the image.
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Hyperbole, much?
No.
If I might be allowed a whole phrase, I'd say "not big on process."
Not big on legitimate process?
I think this is one of the occasions where English fails us. We need a made up word (the German language makes up compound words to reflect new things) that 'reflects reality' (as Craig suggests).
So the National government is does-not-believe-in-legitimate-process?
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I really hate it when people use words like fascist (in this case), socialist, communist or nazi as some kind of generic terms for things they don't like.
Those words have specific meanings and there is no definition of fascist that covers whatever National is doing.
So the alternative is? What word exactly covers the general actions of National?
People are looking for some shorthand word to describe what they see happening, and the closest (albeit inaccurate) word is facist. Which is what people will use unless a better alternative comes into view and is adopted by a good deal of people.
Mr Hide said that when the Government looked at the long-term plans of the existing councils, it took out a lot of spending on things such as information technology.
The Transition Agency is solely responsible for such LTCCP reviews according to the detailed first Bill. Either the Minister is admitting that major decisions were made by the government instead, or he was actually talking about the ATA and the journalist recorded it wrong.
The ATA is a somewhat sober body I find, and not prone to making a stupid strategic mistake like taking out expenditure on ITC, and I don't think they have. I suspect this is an example of Rodders reminding the ATA who's boss and pulling an example out of thin air without thinking.
And finally, I find it a little touching and disturbing that I perceive commentators (perhaps I am wrong) as having a naive belief in the power of law in this context.
Currently, in realpolitik terms, local government law is one thing and the actions of men (straight white men mostly) is another. The two rarely meet in the context of this government. Actions trumps law consistently, and to increasingly to my mind to a degree that means law is merely an afterthought, manipulated and diminished. Put simply, what Rodney et al says, goes and law is changed to reflect this.