Category: General Musings

Emptied the rain gauge at 3:00pm and went off to the club. It rained and when I phoned the bride to come get me she couldn’t. Roads were jammed in gridlock with people trying to get home. Cars were flowing down creeks where they crossed Sandgate Road. I spoke to one guy who just got out, locked his car and walked home figuring it was quicker. I walked home and found it flooded throughout. We live at the top of a hill but it was raining so much it simply couldn’t get away. Wet carpets and wooden floating floor. Hello Insurance company I text the bride and say stay where you are. I’m home, I’ve had a shower and I’m having a rum with Chloe the black lab (She doesn’t drink much but keeps me good company.) Just checked the rain gauge…190 ml and it’s just 8:0pm

Australian Catholic University has created two scholarships for Indonesian students to study in Australia named after Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The scholarships will cover the full cost of tuition for up to four years and be awarded on academic merit as well as an essay on the theme “the sanctity of human life”.

“In a small but deeply symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution towards the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia,” ACU vice-chancellor Greg Crav­en said in a statement. “The scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the reformation, courage and dignity of the two men.”

Ah, yes – “the sanctity of human life”. How does that play out with the four to five Australians who die of an overdose every day courtesy of dealers like Chan and Sukumaran. Not well at all in my opinion. Some other suggestions from readers at Catalaxy Files…

I’ve heard that in recognition of the 20th anniversary, Oklahoma City University will be establishing two Timothy McVeigh scholarships; one for organic chemistry students and one for a student for postgraduate study into “making sense of terrorism denial”.

and;

The University of Western Sydney needs an Ivan Milat scholarship for overseas students

…puts the matter in perspective.

A Sydney man facing the death penalty in China for alleged drug-smuggling has reportedly had his trial moved forward to next week. New Zealand-born Peter Gardner, 25, has been detained in China on suspicion of drug-smuggling since he was arrested on November 8.

He is accused of trying to smuggle 40kg of methamphetamine out of the country after customs officials allegedly found the drugs in two bags during check-in at Guangzhou airport.

I wonder if we are going to go through the same gnashing of teeth, the flailing of our minds, the endless wailing, the candle lit vigils, abuse of Indonesia and thousands of tweets blaming Abbott and/or the AFP for the recent execution of two drug dealers in Indonesia? Don’t think so. Do I feel sorry for the two drug dealers? In a sense Yes. It always sad to hear of untimely deaths and wasted lives but seriously I have much more compassion for the three to four Australians who die every day from drug overdoses. By the time my compassion is all spent on those who succumb to drugs, some of whom could’ve been supplied by the two dealers in Bali, all I can manage is a yawn and a move on, nothing to see here moment. Listening to the ABC where a guy from some Human Rights organization said we should stop all trade with Indonesia. Way to go dipshit! Indonesia imports about $12 billion in cattle and beef from Australia every year. How many small to large businesses would cancellation of that trade kill. If we are going to stop trading with Indonesia then we should, to be consistent, stop trading with other nations that have the death penalty. The USA and China spring to mind. Yep, that’s his answer. Totally destroy the nation’s economy because one of our trading partners topped a couple of drug dealers. These people vote……most probably for the Greens. Withdraw our Ambassador….reasonable thing to do. Tells ’em we are not happy. Indonesia yawns and says “Yea, fair enough we do that from time to time as well” Some time soon a shiny object off to the side, in the form of Kate Middleton having her baby, will distract the inane and insane Twitterverse and the ” executions were so last week” syndrome will apply and we will all move on. Except for the Human Rights industry – they never move on. As you may have gathered I don’t have much time for drug dealers and only a limited amount of compassion for drug addicts however, I have less time for those who say we should legalize all drugs and the problems will go away. No they won’t. The economic basics of drug dealing will change and the number of addicts will increase. I recently note a comment at Catalaxy Files and found myself nodding in agreement as I read it.

There is no “war on drugs” to be lost, talking about it as a war is completely idiotic – there is no “war”. People still murder and rape and steal, but no one talks about having “lost the war against murder” or “lost the war against rape”. Should we decriminalise rape because people still rape and clearly we’ve lost the “war against rape”? Obviously not – there will always be rapists amongst us even if you brought in the cruelest punishments against it. Just as there will always be heroin or cocaine users amongst us – and just because people still take these drugs doesn’t mean the laws have failed and should be abolished.

I was once at a BBQ with a senior AFP guy who had spent some time in Argentina trying to nobble the South American link in the drug logistic chain to Australia. I said “We need a war against drugs”. He said “We have one”. I said “No we don’t. I’m talking about D Day at Normandy. Tanks, Naval gunfire, missiles, flame throwers, artillery and bombing and staffing runs. Having problems with drug plantations in South America? Then fill up the bomb bays of the F11As with napalm (the BBQ was awhile ago) and give them a Pilot Mission Brief of seek and destroy” He smiled politely and started talking about how he liked his career and didn’t want to stuff it up by being proactive. He was posted to Canberra. I wonder if Kate has had that baby yet?

The Australian has stooped to quoting Lambie Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has met twice with Mr ­Abbott but remains unimpressed by his prime ministerial charm.

“He just sits there and ums and ahhs,” she told The Australian. “He’s either incompetent or doesn’t know the subject. The Liberal government is in chaos. It’s like having an office manager in the office that can’t run an office.”

Lambie can’t construct a sentence; is a bogan fool with little or no education; is in the Senate because she was bankrolled by PUP leader and gained only .046% of the quota and is remembered for saying, in public, that she is looking for a rich, well hung partner. And she suggests Abbott is incompetent or doesn’t know the subject.  Abbott was most probably using English which would’ve stymied Lambie. As witnessed by this quote on the 7:30 report

Yeah, I think [the vice chancellors] want reform. But what I’m hearing is they didn’t ask for a deregulation. So I’m going to double-check on that… But you know what? These [vice chancellors] are supposed to be the brains of the country. Why are we telling them how the universities should be run? So it’s about time they stood up, they stood tall and they help come up with the solution.

Judith Sloan answers that;

As everyone knows, apart from that left-wing poseur-fraud from the University of Canberra (and ABC fav), all the other vice-chancellors support fee deregulation, including the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania.

Lambie, the Vice Chancellors DO want deregulation and if you read any thing other than the fashion and pick-a-well-hung-hunk mags you would know. The Australian then lines up Windsor, knowing he will shit-can Abbott because he just hates him and he comes to the party and rattles on about how good Gillard was at negotiating when compared with Abbott. And then along come Lazarus;

Senator Glenn Lazarus, who split with the Palmer United Party last week, last year accused Education Minister Christopher Pyne of harassing him after the minister bombarded him with text messages “virtually begging’’ for his vote on the higher education reforms. (Mr Pyne said he had to resort to texts because the then-PUP senator was refusing to speak to him.)

As being in the Senate is marginally more complicated than playing rugby league, Lazarus seems to think that everything the government proposes has to somehow go back to the public and be voted on…..somehow.

Yesterday Senator Lazarus said the “government puts bills to the Senate that have not been developed in consultation with the community. The reason why the government is frustrated with the Senate’s refusal of bills is that many bills being put forward are not supported by the people. The Senate is simply reflecting the will and the view of the people.”

No Glen, the Senate already represents the will of the people.  That’s how you got there…there was an election. Remember? If you are going to vote in the Senate then you need to read up on the legislation, talk to the people putting it forward and to those who oppose it. You consult widely and then you the make a decision.  It’s what you are paid for. Putting your fingers in your ears and yelling la..la..la..la just doesn’t cut it. You don’t oppose it because the minister wants to talk to you about it.  That’s what’s supposed to happen, you dipshit. So, in summary, an important piece of legislation, supported by all but one of the nation’s vice chancellors, was rejected in the senate because the three independents voted with the ALP/Greens because………mmm…….I’m not sure why. They can’t articulate their reasons for voting it down and therein lies the crux of the matter.  The country is being dictated to by uneducated illiterates who don’t appear to have any idea as to where their responsibilities lie. Poor fellow, my country indeed!    

Beyond parody Ever watchful for a case to bash Abbott, the Canberra Times carries a headline;

Tony Abbott’s St Patrick’s Day message causes offence in Ireland

The offence? Mr Abbott signs off his St Patrick’s Day message with an apology that “I can’t be there to share a Guinness or two or maybe even three”. Yep! That’s it.  That has caused offence.  The Canberra Times quotes the Irish PM

TAOISEACH (Irish Gaelic for Prime Minister) Enda Kenny has dismissed the “perception” that Irish culture is synonymous with alcohol, following remarks made by his Australian counterpart.

The Irish are having a debate about alcohol at this very moment with shenanigans abound as the government’s campaign to stop Out of control drinking gets out of control

……. his comments came as a second member of the Stop Out-of-Control Drinking campaign resigned from the newly formed group. Founder of mental health charity MyMind, Krystian Fikert, cited “resource restraints” at his charity for his decision to leave the board, less than five weeks after the launch of the Stop Out-of-Control Drinking campaign.

The Irish Taoiseach has a domestic problem and he might be well advised to keep it domestic. And just to compound the sin; Defence Minister Kevin Andrews also drew a link between St Patrick’s Day and alcohol consumption, tweeting a picture of himself holding a can of Guinness. The shame of it! All of which makes me wonder; just how many people are employed by the media to just surf the web looking for something to bag Abbott about. You have to admit the “offence” is pretty obscure’ To all except the Nanny State, wowser Irish Taoiseach, I wish you a happy St Paddy’s Day and if you partake of the devils brew, then enjoy it and maybe toast the Irish chap and ask the leprachauns to give him a life. And a final word….

CLOSING townships is not the answer to improving health, lifting education standards and tackling dysfunction in indigenous Australia, experts declared, as community leaders rounded on Tony Abbott’s description of life in remote centres as a “lifestyle choice”. It may not be the answer but it is an answer. In making the statement below Abbott has wound up the Left generally and the indigenous industry specifically.  Everyone with a finger in the pie, whose livelihood depends on the indigenous industry, are up in arms. There is also a huge amount of traffic generated by the  “Hate anything Abbott says” brigade who spend their days littering the twitter wilderness with profanities and inanities.

 Speaking on ABC Radio in Kalgoorlie on Tuesday, Mr Abbott said governments could not “endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have”. “It is not the job of the taxpayer to subsidise lifestyle choices,’’ the Prime Minister said. “It is the job of the taxpayer to provide reasonable services in a reasonable way.”

Sorry, he’s right! “It is the job of the taxpayer to provide reasonable services in a reasonable way.” The “culture” and “country” that people use to justify outstations doesn’t feed anyone.  It literally keeps them down; keeps them in third world conditions and encourages the factors that keeps them starring in stats about incarceration, disease, women and child beating and worse. It doesn’t help them and when the government, hobbled by the obscene debt left to them by the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd debacle, question what is basically reinforcing failure, people scream. The answer can’t include reinforcing failure; it must includes health service, education and jobs. No jobs in a ten house camp on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. There are hundreds, if not thousands of towns across Australia that have closed down.  When the jobs run out, people with half a brain run out as well and go to where the jobs are; where they can educate their kids and where they can access reasonable medical services. Why is it that some Australians aren’t subject to that supply and demand factor that creates, then closes towns as industry, mining or agriculture come in then move on. The  debate started when the West Australian  government announced the closure of up to 150 of the state’s 282 remote Aboriginal communities. Premier Barnett has repeatedly claimed many of these communities were economically unviable, saying some only have 10 people living in them. Is the government really expected to fund a group of ten people living in the desert and provide reasonable services in a reasonable way?  A school and teacher for a couple of kids; a medical centre…a nurse; an industry with jobs? Or is everyone happy just to give them sit-down money to eke away their lives, and the lives of their kids,  in an environment that encourages substance abuse just to get through the day? Some obviously are but I’m not.  I want to help them and reinforcing failure doesn’t help anyone. We need a debate; a rational debate without ideology or emotion. Let’s have one and help our Aussie mates.    

Middle child and daughter Jennifer, has a photographic exhibition on at the moment at the Percolator Gallery, 134 LaTrobe Terrace, Paddington. One of the more adventurous of my brood, she has done the Sandakan Death March Trek, climbed to Everest Base Camp and wondered around Australia, PNG, Europe, UK and the Middle East with camera in hand. She has an eye for colour, perspective and different angles that I never have and even though I might be considered biased, she has some brilliant shots. The gallery is open from 10am to 6pm daily up to and including Sunday  8 March.  Entry is free. Included is a gallery of shots but keep in mind, framing brings them to life. [nggallery id=1]

Work involved in Databases and Photoshop work has impacted on my ability of late to post on the site.

The animated sign language expert captured the attention of television viewers as he translated the Premier’s updates on the cyclone at Emergency Management Queensland Headquarters at Kedron. The trouble is he becomes the centre of attention rather than the person giving the message.   It is so distracting that as soon as I see a person gesticulating I flick channels. There are approximately 30,000 Deaf Auslan users with total hearing loss and if they don’t have a caption function on their TV then give them one at public expense and let the other 23 million who don’t understand the frantic finger and hand language, concentrate on the message. At the very least put the translator in the little box in the corner where he belongs.

Picked this up on FaceBook – Clancy in modern times  

I had written him a text Which I’d sent, hoping the next Time he came in mobile coverage He’d have time to say hello. But I’d heard he’d lost his iPhone, So I emailed him from my phone, Just addressed, on spec, as follows: clancy@theoverflow

And the answer redirected Wasn’t quite what I’d expected And it wasn’t from the shearing mate Who’d answered once before. His ISP provider wrote it And verbatim I will quote it: ‘This account has been suspended: You will hear from him no more.’

In my wild erratic fancy Visions come to me of Clancy: Out of reach of mobile coverage Where the Western rivers flow. Instead of tapping on the small screen, He’d be camping by the tall green River gums a pleasure That the town folk never know.

Well, the bush has friends to meet him But the rest of us can’t greet him: Out there, even Telstra’s network Doesn’t give you any bars. He can’t blog the vision splendid Of the sunlit plains extended Or tweet the wondrous glory Of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting at the keyboard And I’m too stressed out to be bored As I answer all the emails By the deadlines they contain While my screen fills with promotions For ‘V1aggra’ and strange potions And announcements of the million-dollar Prizes I can claim.

But the looming deadlines haunt me And their harrying senders taunt me That they need response this evening For tomorrow is too late! But their texts, too quickly ended, Often can’t be comprehended For their writers have no time to think They have no time to wait.

And I sometimes rather fancy That I’d like to trade with Clancy: Just set up an email bouncer Saying ‘Sorry, had to go.’ While he faced an inbox jamming Up with deadlines and with spamming As he signed off every message: clancy@theoverflow

Kevin Myers  is an Irish journalist and writer and has a strong opinion on the West responding to all the save the children TV adds where emaciated kids make a plea for more food, or water. So do I.

Somalia is not a humanitarian disaster; it is an evolutionary disaster. The current drought is not the worst in 50 years, as the BBC and all the aid organisations claim. It is nothing compared to the droughts in 1960/61 or 73/74. And there are continuing droughts every 5 years or so.It’s just that there are now four times the population; having been kept alive by famine relief, supplied by aid organisations, over the past 50 years. So, of course, the effects of any drought now, is a famine. They cannot even feed themselves in a normal rainfall year.

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