Nation Building Shoulder Sealing
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sign up for Nation Building
Not only are the schools to be signed as economic stimulus, I just received a phonecall from a friend who is travelling in SA from the Barossa Valley along the highway between Gawler and Elizabeth... He tells me he's seen it all now, a portable illuminated sign, like the road works ones in a trailer, black screen little red lights which said:
ALP Theme song
The ALP shenannigans remind me of this (I think it's the "Tra la la, la la la la" bits). The names seem appropriate, too. Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky.
A gem of Goosiness from Lateline
LEIGH SALES: OK. Let's set aside that issue, because I think that that is a very separate issue to the way in which you are implementing the stimulus package. We've seen a $1.5 billion blowout in the primary schools infrastructure program and we've seen the Australian Electoral Commission now rule that the thousands of signs that you've put up at schools basically amount to political advertisements. Kevin Rudd acknowledged this week that there are problems with the stimulus implementation. How many more such problems await us down the track?Keep reading, it's a beauty!
WAYNE SWAN: Well, Leigh, there will always be some problems around the edges of any massive investment program such as this one. But this school modernisation program has been a spectacular success; a success in terms of creating employment and bringing confidence to the economy. It is going to leave a lasting legacy in our educational system and it's a very important part of the education revolution. And to trivialise that achievement by making some of the statements that Joe Hockey and Mr Turnbull has made means they don't even understand the problem.
LEIGH SALES: So as Treasurer, do you consider a $1.5 billion blowout to be a success?
Way to spread the blame
Redirect the blame to the rescuers, say they did the wrong thing.
AFGHAN refugees struggling in the ocean in the aftermath of an explosion aboard their vessel off Ashmore reef in April this year were allegedly kicked and fended off by Australian Defence Force members as they tried to climb aboard inflatable rescue boats.Of course. It was all the fault of the Defence members.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
QandA
Tonight's panellists
Helen Liddell - British High Commissioner to Australia
Tony Burke - Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Bill Heffernan - Senator
Anne Summers - author and feminist
Tim Wilson - Director of the IP and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs
Is it worth it?
It's all about corruption and morality. And Della Bonka.
Tony Bourke. "There's always been a price on carbon and what we've been doing it passing it on to the next generation..." Bourke is an appropriate name.
Next week might be worth watching. Maybe.
Bill's going for the throat. But what's he saying about 9B people on the planet?
This episode is shyte. Mostly drivel about AGW and how we have to save the world.
If you think the world is dying perhaps you should prepare to move out?
Helen Liddell - British High Commissioner to Australia
Tony Burke - Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Bill Heffernan - Senator
Anne Summers - author and feminist
Tim Wilson - Director of the IP and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs
Is it worth it?
It's all about corruption and morality. And Della Bonka.
Tony Bourke. "There's always been a price on carbon and what we've been doing it passing it on to the next generation..." Bourke is an appropriate name.
Next week might be worth watching. Maybe.
Bill's going for the throat. But what's he saying about 9B people on the planet?
This episode is shyte. Mostly drivel about AGW and how we have to save the world.
If you think the world is dying perhaps you should prepare to move out?
Hello Doctor II
Update: Oh, and did I mention the walk up to the hospital? This is the single biggest challenge when attending an appointment at PA Hospital in Brisbane... Will I make it up to those entry doors? I was discussing this feat with the receptionists at the cardiologists and they said that, just quietly, there is an achievement score for getting up the hill.... tee hee. Note the sign in the bottom right hand corner of the photo. Had I noticed men for $10 I might have got me one. Or two. However, I think that a $10 man might not be a bargain.
BP: 124/78. Hurrah.
It looks like I'm ready for another procedure.
First, cardiac ablation to burn out the excess nerves making the extra pathway in my heart which causes my SVT (Supraventricular tachycardia). Up through a tiny incision in the groin, through the artery and into the heart.
If he cannot reach the section within the heart which he needs to zap with diathermy he will then decide whether he will perform a trans-septal puncture to get the diathermy thingy to the section he needs to cauterise.
Oh goodie.
Worst, worst case scenario of any medical procedure, I'm an organ donor.
Worst case scenario, I'll need a pacemaker 'cos they diathermy too much.
Best case, I won't be needing to take three tablets a day to stop the tachycardia and I can switch to a different bloodpressure tablet, dearer, but less side effects with other drugs I may need (for example, asthma preventer). After I lost 10 kg a couple of years ago I halved the dose of blood pressure medication (metaprolol), so if I can stick to the dieting and exercising I'll probably not need any medication for blood pressure.
Now my cardiologist is making plans.... I should hear from him in a few weeks. EEK!
And I have to halve the metaprolol I take in preparation for the procedure. DOUBLE EEK!
Anyway, here's the moon and the evening star I took it about half an hour ago.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Hello Doctor
A visit to my GP today and find out I'm going mouldy*, I have to buy some paint for my toenails - strewth! I thought it was fluff from my new sox, or a stain from my new shoes, but it won't wash or wipe off. The treatment is $76 a throw from the discount chemist! Arrgh! This getting old truly is a crock of crap.
But my blood pressure! Woohooooooo! 128/70 something. FANTASTIC for me. Must be the place I'm working, it's not usually under 140/90!
I've been having some trouble with asthma lately and he suggests I speak with my cardiologist about medication for the asthma.
It so happens that I am visiting the cardiologist tomorrow so I shall see what happens. I just have to make it up the hill from the carpark at PA to the hospital itself!
*Doctor thought it rather amusing when I called myself a "mouldy oldie".
Update:
Cure toenail fungus with Vicks Vapo-rub. The expensive cure from the chemist only needs to be applied twice a week. Reading more now....
Update II:
Grr. My debit card ran out last month. I received a new one and promptly put it in a safe place. Not in my wallet until the changeover as I usually do. It was in such a safe place, I just spent a couple of hours looking for it, and of course it was in the last place I looked. Had I not found it I would have to visit either my credit union (difficult, not many branches, that's how they keep costs down), or my mortgage holder (a bank, another pesky detour), to get some cash out - I only have five dollars!
Ah well, I'd better finish my cuppa, get dressed and choof off. I think I'll give the vicks a go, stinking and full of nassssty memories as it is, I suppose I'm not smearing it on my chest (or up my nose).
But my blood pressure! Woohooooooo! 128/70 something. FANTASTIC for me. Must be the place I'm working, it's not usually under 140/90!
I've been having some trouble with asthma lately and he suggests I speak with my cardiologist about medication for the asthma.
It so happens that I am visiting the cardiologist tomorrow so I shall see what happens. I just have to make it up the hill from the carpark at PA to the hospital itself!
*Doctor thought it rather amusing when I called myself a "mouldy oldie".
Update:
Cure toenail fungus with Vicks Vapo-rub. The expensive cure from the chemist only needs to be applied twice a week. Reading more now....
Update II:
Grr. My debit card ran out last month. I received a new one and promptly put it in a safe place. Not in my wallet until the changeover as I usually do. It was in such a safe place, I just spent a couple of hours looking for it, and of course it was in the last place I looked. Had I not found it I would have to visit either my credit union (difficult, not many branches, that's how they keep costs down), or my mortgage holder (a bank, another pesky detour), to get some cash out - I only have five dollars!
Ah well, I'd better finish my cuppa, get dressed and choof off. I think I'll give the vicks a go, stinking and full of nassssty memories as it is, I suppose I'm not smearing it on my chest (or up my nose).
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Books
I love books. I was brought up to only ever look at a book, hold a book, read a book, with clean hands. Never fold the corners of the pages over. Never write in a book.
Over the years I bought many books. Some I kept, many I passed on. In the last 15 to 20 years my book purchasing has fallen off to nearly nothing. Aside from the fact that I was at work or commuting for 11-12 hours a day and so had no time to read (and if I read before sleeping I would find myself asleep within ten minutes, and then part of that ten minutes every night spent reading the same few paragraphs to catch up to where I was the night before prior to flaking out), books have become an expensive luxury.
Now I am working closer to home for a while I have time to do a little reading. At the moment I'm reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Infidel", finishing off Steyn's "America Alone", and half way through Ian Plimer's "Heaven+Earth". There are so many more books I'd like to read, but where to start! Another problem I have with reading now is that I can read a book and promptly forget the story (or large chunks of the story), my short-term memory is shot.
Back to the reason for this post... Books in Australia.
So, publishers and authors in Australia insist that the industry should be protected as we are some kind of niche, and new authors wouldn't be given a run without our market.
Sounds to me like it could be hogwash.
Over the years I bought many books. Some I kept, many I passed on. In the last 15 to 20 years my book purchasing has fallen off to nearly nothing. Aside from the fact that I was at work or commuting for 11-12 hours a day and so had no time to read (and if I read before sleeping I would find myself asleep within ten minutes, and then part of that ten minutes every night spent reading the same few paragraphs to catch up to where I was the night before prior to flaking out), books have become an expensive luxury.
Now I am working closer to home for a while I have time to do a little reading. At the moment I'm reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Infidel", finishing off Steyn's "America Alone", and half way through Ian Plimer's "Heaven+Earth". There are so many more books I'd like to read, but where to start! Another problem I have with reading now is that I can read a book and promptly forget the story (or large chunks of the story), my short-term memory is shot.
Back to the reason for this post... Books in Australia.
Cabinet is split on cheaper books as PM Kevin Rudd urged to keep ban.Late in 1991 I was in Hawaii. The two single great and good differences between Australia and Hawaii were Tower Records (CDs had just come on the market in Australia, vinyl had reduced from about $12-$21 per album to about $7, and CDs were being flogged off for almost $30 - please correct me if my amounts are wrong, my long term memory has holes, too!), and the couple of bookshops I saw in Honolulu. Tower Records were selling CD albums for $US11, at that stage the $A was about 81c/$US1. The bookshop had books from a huge variety, particularly biographical and true crime for about $US6 or so each. For me it was heaven!
AUSTRALIAN readers could continue to pay high prices for books, as the Rudd government faces increasing internal pressure to maintain restrictions on overseas book imports.
A special Labor Party working group will this week recommend the restrictions be kept, to protect local authors, publishers and printing workers.
The report says the government should reject an appeal by big retailers such as Dymocks and Woolworths that they be able to sell imported books more cheaply.
Federal cabinet is split on the issue, which it will consider within weeks when it receives a submission from Competition Minister Craig Emerson. He is understood to take the opposite view to the working party, backing instead a recent recommendation from the Productivity Commission that the import restrictions be removed.
So, publishers and authors in Australia insist that the industry should be protected as we are some kind of niche, and new authors wouldn't be given a run without our market.
Sounds to me like it could be hogwash.
Insiders
Julia Gillard - will she be burnt out?
Economic stimulus package, schools...
Kennedy funeral - yawn. Did Barry O know Teddy? I'd want a close friend to deliver my eulogy, not someone high profile.
Gerard Henderson, The Sydney Institute - child migrants to get formal apology. Don't forget the ones who did well and were looked after.
Dennis Atkins, The Courier Mail - What did he talk about?
Misha Schubert, The Age - big dry in Melbourne not drought, it's climate change*... scientists have said so. Misha says that she's disappointed that Andrew Bolt isn't there today to argue with about this issue.
James Anaya, UN examiner regarding the racism etc. in Australia against aborigines. And bloody good on Jenny Macklin defending 'looking after the weakest in the community'.
Tony Abbot, studio guest, talking about the indigenous affairs situation, and how Jenny Macklin has grown into a sensible adult from a leftist.
Your Shout... why is the opposition still out of style... asked at the fashion festival in Brisbane. (Will you hold that bloody camera still!)
* I call bullshit on that study. After all, in the recent history of Australia's weather we have excellent records since 1770... don't we? And the proof is that they are saying it is proof... I guess that as for a two-year-old the "because I say so" argument is enough for them to make us believe them.
Mischa and Gerard arguing about the UN diagnosis and verdict on the rights which should be given to Aboriginals to look after themselves.
Was Mischa listening to/reading a different Anaya report?
Economic stimulus package, schools...
Kennedy funeral - yawn. Did Barry O know Teddy? I'd want a close friend to deliver my eulogy, not someone high profile.
Gerard Henderson, The Sydney Institute - child migrants to get formal apology. Don't forget the ones who did well and were looked after.
Dennis Atkins, The Courier Mail - What did he talk about?
Misha Schubert, The Age - big dry in Melbourne not drought, it's climate change*... scientists have said so. Misha says that she's disappointed that Andrew Bolt isn't there today to argue with about this issue.
James Anaya, UN examiner regarding the racism etc. in Australia against aborigines. And bloody good on Jenny Macklin defending 'looking after the weakest in the community'.
Tony Abbot, studio guest, talking about the indigenous affairs situation, and how Jenny Macklin has grown into a sensible adult from a leftist.
Your Shout... why is the opposition still out of style... asked at the fashion festival in Brisbane. (Will you hold that bloody camera still!)
* I call bullshit on that study. After all, in the recent history of Australia's weather we have excellent records since 1770... don't we? And the proof is that they are saying it is proof... I guess that as for a two-year-old the "because I say so" argument is enough for them to make us believe them.
Mischa and Gerard arguing about the UN diagnosis and verdict on the rights which should be given to Aboriginals to look after themselves.
Was Mischa listening to/reading a different Anaya report?
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