OMG I'm in the news! - Sydney march pic

Well sort of :)  I'm in this news picture posted on the ninemsn website, and SBS. Bottom left of the picture directly underneath the bloke with the flouro yellow vest. 

Will post my own pictures tomorrow.

 

Adam Hills replies to Westboro Baptist Church :)

Is Abbott a dual citizen? If so.......

It seems nobody can find anything in either England or Australia, saying that Abbott had renounced his British citizenship before entering parliament in 1994. If he hadn't denounced his British citizenship then he entered parliament illegally. 

Very interesting indeed. Supporting documents can be seen at the link:

Dual nationality is considered an acknowledgement of allegiance and entitled to the privileges of citizenship of a foreign power disqualifies people from standing for parliament. 

Mr Abbott stood for parliament knowing he still had dual nationality, Australian gained in 1981 and British from birth. The Australian Electoral Commission advised me Mr Abbott was considered appropriate to run for parliament because he was on the electoral roll and they do not check nationalities of candidates. 

Will you please investigate and see if a crime has been committed? 

Will you please investigate and dismiss Mr Abbott from parliament and recover all monies paid to him as salaries, superannuation, travel allowance, meal allowances, staff allowances, electorate office expenses, ministerial office expenses. The Attorney Generals office need to be contacted to see if any ministerial decisions made by Mr Abbott are legal and if not they must be overturned as soon as possible. 

There is no FOI proof that Mr Abbott has renounced his British citizenship. It seems he has stood for parliament on 8 occasions as a dual national, well aware that doing so is in contravention of the constitution. This goes beyond forgetfulness into the realms of possibly intent to defraud the Commonwealth. more  

Looks like a great day for a protest!

After two weeks of unrelenting wind and rain, this morning has cleared and blue skies prevail. Looks pretty good for most of the other capital cities too. It's stick it to Abbott day.

Mr Lawrey says earlier protests were made up of people who did not vote for the coalition at last year's election, but that is changing. 

"What we're finding this time is a lot of people who did vote for them have come on board because they can't believe the extent this government is going to, the lies and misrepresentation that have happened, and the broken promises," he said. 

Mr Lawrey said March Australia held rallies on Saturday at places including the New South Wales towns of Armidale, Bega, Goulburn and Gosford, at Caboolture and Toowoomba in Queensland, and Geelong, Horsham and Wodonga in Victoria. 

He said another 16 marches would be held tomorrow, including in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. Read more

Protestor pours fake blood on stage - WCFuckwits

.

 

The protests continued yesterday as the World Congress of Fuckwits began crapping on about things, after finally getting a venue. Such gems as this:

A day after state and federal Liberal MPs pulled out of the World Congress of Families in the face of a political backlash, US campaigner Larry Jacobs added to the controversy surrounding the event by claiming poverty could be reduced if only children were raised in traditional families. 

.......................................... 

Controversial American breast cancer doctor Angela Lafranchi was one of the headline acts, pushing research suggesting a link between abortion and breast cancer. Reverend Nile, leader of the NSW Christian Democrats, called for more Christians to get involved in politics. And Paul Hanrahan, the executive director of Family Life International Australia, used his speech to suggest abortion was worse than terrorism in Syria. Read more

I dunno where these idiots dreamed up these crazy ideas, but I'm pretty sure they've successfully advertised themselves to the Australian people by spouting such drivel, as well and truly round the bloody bend.

But hilariously this woman managed to get on stage and poured fake blood over herself, to the shock of the poor dear innocent peace loving christians:  

But despite the late withdrawals, dozens of protesters gathered at the entrance of the venue on Saturday, heckling guests as they entered. 

One protester managed to sneak in as a registered guest, storming the stage and pouring fake blood over herself in front of NSW MP, the Reverend Fred Nile and his wife. 

"We don't want your backyard abortions," she yelled, before being marched out. 

Guests at the event were visibly rattled by the breach and turned to prayer as the woman was ushered outside. But despite ongoing protests at the gate throughout the day, the rest of the conference was incident free. Read more

Gay couples react to anti-gay marriage adds :)

Abbott about to attack workers - email crossbenchers now

The Abbott gov is about to try and get through the senate (this Wednesday the vote looks like happening) new anti-worker laws, that can only be described as a great leap back to WorkChoices. You can email the cross bench senators here:

BTW look over there, there's a war on the other side of the world.........

Dear Senators, 

I can’t afford for you to cut my pay and conditions. Please vote NO to stop the Fair Work Amendment Bill. 

No matter what Senator Abetz is telling you, the reality is that this Bill does everything for bosses and nothing for workers. This bill: 

· Reintroduces unfair individual contracts that can cut take home pay including weekend and penalty rates 
· Gives employers a veto over industrial action. 
· Allows employers to not pay-out some annual leave if we’re sacked or leave a job. 
· Gives mining and construction employers a special deal that allows them to write their own Enterprise Agreements. 
· Reduces the rights of workers to talk to their union at work if they need help. 

This Bill is an attack on the Australian way of life and will make my life harder. There is no room for negotiation. No room for amendment. Please vote NO. Email cross benchers here  

SSJoe's budget flying machine - cartoon :)

Newscorps declining Oz business - Media Watch

"Sexual extremists have launched a smear campaign" - WCFuckwits

OMG! Look out! The World Congress of Fuckwits Families reckons there's danger about in Australia. Radical sexual extremists! They go about targeting innocent people who've always been peaceful, smearing their name across the newswires.

Hang on..... smearing their name across the newswires..... oh, well, shoes on the other foot this time isn't it.

This is from the US, an article about those poor dear innocent christians being persecuted by radicals in the land down under. It's a really funny read actually, describing such people as me as being involved in a dastardly evil campaign against them or some shit.

"Radical threats of violence to speakers, participants, and organizers at three prior locations have now created a security risk for high-profile speakers such as Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke where it would be inappropriate to continue to the World Congress of Families event at a fourth venue," said Larry Jacobs. 

Jacobs added: "Attacks on proponents of the natural family and marriage are part of a cynical campaign by sexual extremists to avoid an honest discussion by labelling those who disagree with them as 'hateful.'" 

Unlike the protest groups targeting the World Congress of Families with threats and violence, the World Congress of Families is a recipient of an international peace award, "The Pax Urbis Award" given to institutions and cities in their work in promoting peace. 100 Cities for Peace presented this Peace Award to World Congress of Families in Madrid (2012). 100 Cities for Peace is an international movement that identifies and disseminates the practices of cities and social institutions around the world that are committed to promoting a culture of peace. The movement supports the values behind the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. 

Jacobs continued, "Much of the commentary about the Melbourne WCF Conference has been grossly misleading as sexual extremists have launched a smear campaign alleging that the WCF's goals to affirm the dignity of human life, the sanctity of human life and the importance of the natural family as the fundamental unit of society (from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948) is hateful and bigoted towards LGBTIQ individuals and mothers." more

Oh my heart bleeds. But just for clarification, the first part of the article quoted is a lie or a mistake. The police shut down the first venue as there were concerns over such a large number of people, traffic, a school very near. The organisers hadn't even arranged liability insurance. The police shut it down for that, nothing else. The language of the article makes it sound like they couldn't find a venue solely because of protests. Truth is they themselves fucked it up right from the start.

Protestors block entry World Congress of Families opening

You go Aussies! Stand up for yourselves to these pricks :)

About 100 protesters blocked the entrance to the Catch the Fire evangelical ministries in the Melbourne suburb of Hallam on Saturday morning, where the controversial World Congress of Families conference was scheduled to begin. 

Many speakers, including the American campaigner Angela Lanfranchi, who planned to speak on the thoroughly debunked link between breast cancer and abortion, were unable to get through the gates in their cars. Their path was blocked by protesters holding signs with slogans such as “Our bodies are our property” and “Women are not incubators”. 

More than 30 police officers formed their own barrier on the opposite side of the gate in the quiet street of Star Crescent, located in an industrial area. It forced attendees to trickle through the gates one by one as church security struggled to establish whether they had registered. The Monty Python satirical song Every Sperm is Sacred boomed from a sound system organised by protesters. 

The protests were vocal, but largely peaceful. Two protesters were removed by police. more

 

Oz Politicians pull out of World Congress of Families :)

Even Kevin bloody Andrews has pulled out. It seems the World Conga line of Fuckwits (World Congress of Families) far right wing anti-science nutty agenda, is even too nutty for the gov. And they're nutbags in their own right.

The organisers are evidently mystified as to what's all gone wrong. They seem completely unable to understand that they're religious extremists, thinking that their view are the only right and normal ones. I'd say this is a lesson for them in Australian tolerance and acceptance of difference, and perhaps an opportunity to access their own intolerance and non-acceptance. 

Senator Larissa Waters, the Australian Greens’ spokesperson for women, said that Andrews opening the conference would have sent a message that Australia accepted international campaigns led by the congress to criminalise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and to restrict access to abortion. 

“Australians value equality, diversity and autonomy, as shown by the passionate public opposition to political representatives supporting the Congress and spreading its unfounded myths, including the completely discredited link between abortion and breast cancer,” she said. 

“There’s still so much more work to be done to secure women’s and LGBT rights and freedoms in Australia – we still have not legalised equal marriage and abortion is still a crime in some states. 

“We can’t afford any backward steps, which is why it’s so important that the community has stood up against attempts by Abbott government ministers to drag us back to the 1950s.” more

 

Official charity case - the cost of discrimination

It's official. I am now a charity case. I've been poor before but I've never ended up an official charity case :s

We got the visit from the food people last week and I signed up for a box of fresh fruit and vegetables delivered once a fortnight, all for $12. Being as I'd already explained a lot of the situation we talked about our circumstances and what had led up to us being as fucked as we are now. 

Surprisingly there wasn't a need for giving them a DNA sample along with our life history attached as in Centrelink. They seemed genuinely concerned about us and were extremely nice people.

One of the things that came up near the end, was that they mentioned the community centre local here just down the road, and they could refer to others services if we needed it. That was much appreciated by me as I said it was hard to know how to access charity (even though that was Centrelink's instructions) as I'd never had to before, and neither had David. 

In fact this whole present situation with money would never have happened, had David's work not chosen to endorse the discrimination from it's staff member and force him out. Apart from anything else that discrimination and resulting victimisation has imposed a huge financial toll on us as a couple. We're afloat for the moment, but really I can't see any way out of this new debt now other than bankruptcy. There's no way we can even service the debt anymore with what little we're getting; we made up this months payment from the bit of back pay David got from Centrelink, but fuck knows what we're going to do next month.

We are meeting with the lawyer next week. 

Sept 21: Global Day of Climate Action - GetUp

Being as I'm a charity case, I sadly have no $ to contribute. Oh how I would love to though!

GetUp is planning events for the Global Day of Climate Action in Sept and they're asking for donations for the cause. You may contribute if you so desire following the video links:

 

Abbott gov declares war on solar small business & prepares for war overseas

This gov is rotten to the bloody core.

 

Bizarre shit from New Zealand :)

I have no idea what this shit is :s... but it's very well done :)....

 

Senator Milne bins renewable energy target review :)

Senate urges ministers to boycott WCF this weekend

The senate has reacted angrily to the World Conga line of Fuckwits (World Congress of Families) having their silly conference go ahead courtesy of Kevin bloody Andrews. So angered are they, that the senate has passed a motion urging all ministers not to attend.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters moved a motion in the Senate to urge Mr Andrews and any other Government MPs planning to attend the conference to cancel. 

"By opening the conference, Minister Andrews is legitimising the prejudiced, bigoted ideals of the World Congress of Families," she said. 

"The Abbott Government and its backward views are completely out of touch with the Australian community." 

The motion to the Senate was endorsed without the need for a formal vote. more  

Taking part in new study - HIV meds taking

I'm off to a new study today, organised through my HIV GP. When I was there the other day he mentioned it to me and gave me some info about it, and the trials people rang a few days later. 

This one is interviewing people about what does and doesn't affect their adherence to pill taking; a very big requirement for HIV+ people on meds. Interviewing people and finding out if they've stopped or had problems with taking their HIV meds properly. What reasons led to this. Those kind of things. The aim is to see if such factors can be addressed to encourage more rigid intake of meds.

I have a problem with the evening pill; I keep forgetting to take it and end up taking two of them in the morning. There was also that minor kidney failure problem where I stopped all HIV meds for two years. Maybe I'll be an interesting case  :) 

Clarke and Dawe - "Some slight difficulties in the workplace" :)

Australian companies and their tax dodging

So why am I being asked to pay to go to the doctor with money I don't have, when these pricks are getting away with daylight robbery?

Almost two-thirds of Australia’s top 100 companies listed on the stock exchange have subsidiaries in tax havens or low-tax jurisdictions, a new report shows. 

Thirteen of the top 20 companies, including two of the big four banks, have entities in well-known tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda. 

A Uniting Church report, Secrecy Jurisdictions, the ASX100 and Public Transparency, reveals 61 of the top 100 companies held subsidiaries in ‘‘secrecy jurisdictions’’ as of April 2011 that have been targeted by tax authorities for sheltering companies dodging tax. 

News Corporation, Westfield and the Goodman Group were among the worst offenders, the group said, holding more than 50 entities in low-tax jurisdictions each. 

The report shows that while many of the companies may do legitimate business in low-tax jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and Singapore, many subsidiaries exist with little evidence of commercial activity. Read more

Age of entitlement over eh? *coughs* 

"Diversity cripples" - Amercan Family Association

Being as the World Congress of wacko Families (WCF) is having their crazy conference in Canberra now, I noticed in the last story I posted below about it that the WCF is associated with the "AFA" in Australia, namely the Australian Family Association, which has I guess it's main office in the US under the American Family Association.

So upon a bit of an investigation, here we have some incredibly outstanding bullshit from the American Family Association, by implication in the same league as the World Congress of Wacko Families. The AFA reckons that diversity is fucked, and we should have "unity". This from that wacko extraordinaire Bryan Fischer himself:

Perhaps the most sinister and dangerous lie the left has beaten into the brains of unthinking Americans is that there is strength in diversity. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Diversity, as the first syllable in the word implies, divides. It does not unify. It fractures, debilitates, and diffuses. Energy that could be harnessed through unity of purpose and values is frittered away. 

America became the greatest nation the world has ever known - freer, stronger, more prosperous, more stable - for one reason: an unshakable commitment to common core values and standards. That’s not diversity, that’s unity. 

At the time of the founding, 99.8% of the population of our fledgling nation was Christian. And 98.4% of the population was Protestant. It is no exaggeration to say that the Protestant faith, particularly its moral values and its work ethic, made America what it became. Read more  

More love from the christians...... Typical.

No wonder the World Conress of wacko Families had to be bailed out by our gov of bitter old white catholic men. Nobody else in the country thinks they have any bloody sanity. Australia is the most multi-cultural nation on earth (look it up if you don't reckon so) and we're proud of our diversity. Yes we've had problems, but overall our diversity has become our strength with people from all walks of life and from all parts of the world contributing to society. Multi-culturalism/diversity has been a success in Australia and has bettered us as a nation. For someone to question the benefits of diversity is to question the very fabric of Australian society; an insult. 

SSJoe's co-payment dead parrot - cartoon :)

World Congress of Families given parliament venue

It was Kevin bloody Andrews to the rescue for the World Congress of wacko Families, who suddenly found themselves without a venue and the reality that Australians aren't nearly as far out nutbags as they are. In fact Australians protesting at how nutbaggy the WCF's was. After having four venues cancel on them, Andrews offered them the main committee room in parliament house.

Well what more would you expect from this gov of old bitter white catholic men? Something secular? Lovely isn't it. Our parliament house playing host to a bunch of crazies. The saddest thing is, likely the only ones that will find representation in the wacko's is the gov itself - they're full of wacko-ness. 

Social services minister Kevin Andrews has booked out the main committee room of parliament house on behalf of an anti-gay marriage organisation which is linked to the controversial World Congress of Families. 

The Australian Families Association (AFA) is commemorating the tenth anniversary of the redefining of marriage as “between a man and a woman” in the 2004 amendment of the Marriage Act with a conference on “strengthening the family”. 

In past years the organisation has held public events at parliament house. This year’s affair is a private event with all MPs invited to attend. The committee room must be booked by a sitting member. Andrews booked the room for the organisation, but is not attending, a spokeswoman told Guardian Australia. 

The AFA conference on Wednesday will hear from a number of speakers on “relationship literacy for youth, strengthening marriages, family-based taxation and the economics of the family”. 

The organisation will call for the government to “renew a culture of strong and lasting marriages by educating young people about the benefits of marriage and getting government taxation and support structures right,” the AFA’s national president Terri Kelleher said in a statement. more  

Latest housing meeting

We had another meeting with the Housing bloke today. Since that really bad panic attack recently even if it's a friendly meeting I start feeling really nervous. Told David so, and asked "Is there any reason why I should be feeling nervous"? No.

So it all goes smoothly. We've accomplished quite a bit of the necessary requirements needed for the ever thickening form. I had finally gotten the doctors medical report after having to cancel twice with him because of Centrelink. Plus now, David and I both have very official print outs of a Centrelink Income Statement each, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt our poverty with just two pages. 

We're having another meeting early next week which will involve Housing, the social worker, and ACON legal.  

March against Abbott this weekend

With the budget still stuck in the senate, now is the time to march against it. This will be the biggest march yet. Be there or be square baby.

What: March in August Sydney 

When: 1pm this Sunday 31 August 

Where: Hyde Park link

 

Budget "Illegitimate" - Opposition leader Shorten

You go boy......

 

"The real motives behind Tony Abbott's budget" - Greens senate

You go girl.......

 

Senate crossbenchers dig in over harsh budget measures

Nope. Still no sign of the slightest budge from the crossbench senators needed to pass the most unfair and unpopular budget measures. In fact I'd say it's going disastrously for the gov:

On Sunday, Finance Minister ­Mathias Cormann said unless spending was brought under control, it was inevitable that taxes would have to rise if the budget were to be balanced. 

This was perceived as a threat by Labor, the Greens and the Senate crossbenchers. 

The Palmer Unite Party, the support of which is critical, had met on Sunday and leader Clive Palmer told The Australian Financial Review it has not changed its mind on the many budget measures it opposed. 

PUP senator Glenn Lazarus confirmed this with a statement lashing out at Senator Cormann and the ­government, saying he “would not be bullied into agreeing to budget ­measures which are unfair, cruel and unnecessary”. 

“This is simply another hollow and desperate threat on the part of a very arrogant and out-of-touch Abbott government to push through harsh budget measures so they can fund their own pet programs,” Senator Lazarus said. 

“I was voted in to look after the people of Australia, not to take basic support away from pensioners and hard-working Australians. 

“I think it would be political suicide for the Abbott government if they did try and introduce more taxes to the Australian public and I can’t see that happening.” 

Like Mr Palmer before him, Senator Lazarus said Australians did not vote for the more harsh budget measures last year and “if the Abbott ­government wants proof of this, they should go back to the polls”. 

He advocated income tax cuts to stimulate the economy and singled out for specific disdain the proposals to apply a Medicare co-payment and deregulate the university sector, which would cause the cost of a degree to spiral. “Education is one of the most important assets in our society and we should be making it more accessible to our people, not making it more ­expensive and difficult to access,” Senator Lazarus said. more

 

Operation Budget Repair - first dog on the moon :)

Abbott uses entitlements to attend fundraiser

Another thing poor people don't do; snouts in the fuckin trough. Does it get any clearer than this? Abbott was late to a regular party meeting. When asked why he was late this was his reply:

The issue came to a head when LNP senator Ian Macdonald, who has been a frequent critic of his own side since he was demoted from the frontbench after the election, told Mr Abbott his priority should have been the regular party room meeting, which is held every Tuesday morning when Parliament is sitting. 

But Senator Macdonald was swiftly rebuked by colleagues including backbencher Ewen Jones, who said Senator Macdonald's constant criticism of his own team had "overstepped the mark". 

"I have the highest regard for Ian as a man but the direction he has taken is unfortunate," Mr Jones said. 

Several government sources told Fairfax Media they were stunned to hear the Prime Minister respond to Senator Macdonald's complaint by saying he had to schedule an official function on Tuesday morning so he could justify being in Melbourne for a fund-raiser the night before under entitlements. Read more

Age of entitlement over eh? 

Coalition sources have told the ABC that in explaining the delay Mr Abbott said he scheduled the morning media event at the cancer clinic to ensure the travel costs could be claimed. 

A statement from the Prime Minister's office confirmed Mr Abbott attended a private function on Monday night, but said all travel was undertaken within the parliamentary entitlements rules. more  

Newstarve - better than nothing

At last David is on Newstarve after two months nearly of fucking around with bureaucrats. He got a bit of back pay which will stave off the Capitalist pigs for the immediate future, however it's hardly any kind of lifestyle choice. It's a grand total of $470 a fortnight. We're saved!

Better than nothing though. Will be enough to pay a weeks rent for the fortnight. I still have to get the form done at my doctors for the Carers Allowance, think that's about another $100 or so a fortnight. After the last two times of panic attacks, I can't imagine having to go through one of those again on my own. 

Australia tells World Congress of Families to fuck off - no venue :)

Oh how delicious! The World Congress of wacko Families, extreme far right wingnut churchies, is trying desperately to get a venue for their silly conference in Melbourne this weekend. Because of their extremism, and the resulting media publicity in Australia, venues have been cancelling on them. So far four of them. They still have nowhere to go. How poetic. Australians tell the far right churchies to fuck off :)

The controversial World Congress of Families conservative Christian conference is in chaos only days before its scheduled start, after four Melbourne venues backed out of hosting the event. 

High profile speakers have agreed to speak at the congress on Saturday, including the anti-abortion campaigner and Victorian upper house Liberal member Bernie Finn, and the federal government social services minister, Kevin Andrews. 

The line-up of anti-euthanasia, anti-divorce and anti-gay speakers from around the world has drawn condemnation from civil rights groups. 

“It’s a mess,” Margaret Butts, one of the organisers told Guardian Australia. “We have no venue at the moment – the police are telling us it’s a safety risk because of planned protests and demonstrations. 

“We are frantic at the moment trying to organise something else, we’ve had four venue cancellations. I can’t talk to you because we are just too busy right now.” 

Guardian Australia understands that despite the prominent speakers and hundreds of people expected to attend on Saturday, organisers had not planned event security or liability insurance. more  

Barnaby goes bananas

This is the same bloke who said roasts would be $100 under a carbon tax. Now he's claiming this will happen if the Lieberals don't get their way with the budget:

Joyce said on Monday that if the finances of the nation aren’t turned around, “we’ll be closing hospitals, we won’t have an ABC, we won’t be able to defend ourselves because we will have run out of money”. 

“Now the only way you can fix it is to fix it early, this is our first budget, I understand the concerns people have, I fully understand them, but what is our alternative?,” Joyce told ABC radio. more

Are Barnaby and SSJoe smoking the same shit? "What is the alternative"? How about not getting pensioners to cough up to go to a doctor? How's that sound? How about raising taxes then, getting the big end of town to pay their way. How about stop sucking up to Miss Piggy? This idiot expects us to believe there are no alternatives?

World Congress of Families - Australian venues cancel

It seems the radical hate group the World Congress of Families is having trouble finding a venue for this weekend as they keep cancelling on them.

Since it was announced a few weeks ago, the conference has been besieged by drama caused by concerned members of the community who don’t want it to go ahead.

Minister for Employment Eric Abetz was originally on the speakers’ line-up but has pulled out, though the Federal Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews is still scheduled to give the opening address, and also involved is virulently anti-gay and anti-abortion parliamentary crusaders Bernie Finn, Fred Nile and Cory Bernardi. Victoria’s right wing Attorney-General Robert Clark is also on board.

After two venue changes so far, the Conference is now scheduled to happen at Brunswick’s Aurora Receptions on Saturday 30 August, though Same Same understands that the management of the venue is now considering cancelling the booking. more

Unfortunately, that one just been cancelled on them too :)

And, unfortunately for the World Congress of Families, Brunswick’s Aurora Receptions just canceled on them too. more

Now the WCF's has written a letter to all Australians, wanting us to stop cancelling on them.

International Pro - Family Leadership Open Letter to the People of Australia 

In the name of fairness, and in response to unremitting and grossly misleading attacks on an August 30 conference in Melbourne, t he undersigned pro - family leaders worldwide wish to bring the following to your attention: more

Gay add banned in Lithuania

There's some law over there about minors and how dangerous the add could be to them. So here it is. Anyone in Lithuania wanna see the banned add?

 

"Ten years hard labour for gays" - US pastor

More love from the Christians. This nutter pastor in the US seriously wants homosexuality to be recriminalised and gays given ten years hard labour. Fucks sake, what is this loony on man. Yet if I protest at his "sincerely and deeply held religious views" then we are being intolerant? Oh please.....

Centrelink to the rescue!

David's had to go running off to Centrelink earlier this morning, after they sent him a text that he had an interview at the local Centrelink office here, in one hour. He was really pissed off, running around making sure he'd gotten everything you need for a Centrelink visit (I usually take my whole file of important papers just in case) and was out the door. Dunno WTF they want to know about him now, he's already supplied just about his DNA sample to them. Hopefully it's just finalising finally the end to our starvation. Could this week be the end of it? Seven weeks now since first contacting Centrelink with nothing except my lowered pension.

Update:

It's done. According to Centrelink both David and I will have money in our accounts tomorrow. David is getting $1,000 in back pay. I dunno how they'll figure all the payments out with mine but at least now the on-the-verge-of-disaster thing has been avoided for now. All we have to worry about now is the fuckin great massive credt card bill. 

Fox News confuses ISIS with Ferguson :s

Ferguson looks like doesn't fit the agenda/propaganda of Fox News. I'm not sure what to make of this video. The Barbie doll is raving about ISIS and then on the screen comes live pics from Ferguson US. The Barbie doll gets pissed off and wants to go on preaching about ISIS and the beheaded guy and the death of an American. Why are American deaths made out to be more valuable than others?. And why is a black American's death less valuable than a white Americans? In the end it's a split screen with her on about terror, and Ferguson pictures.

 

Palmer kills AMA co-payment proposal

Well that's it for that one. I dunno how much effort the Australian Medical Association put into their proposal but it's kaput now. Palmer has rejected it, and any notion of any sort of co-payment:

Labor and the Greens oppose a Medicare co-payment as a matter of principle, asserting that it would undermine the principle of universal access to healthcare regardless of wealth. The measure cannot pass without support of the Palmer United party (PUP) senators. 

“We’re against any co-payment,” Palmer told Guardian Australia on Thursday. 

Asked whether he had a favourable view of the AMA compromise, including exemptions for pensioners, the PUP leader repeated his general opposition: “We’re against any co-payment – can’t be more clear.” more 

Newsflash - fix pollution by pricing carbon!

Australia loses Chinese solar investment/R&D

Ignoring solar power also ignores solar power investment, which is exactly what the Abbott gov is doing. He's making it so unfavourable for solar power companies in Australia that companies will simply up and leave for greener pastures. Which is exactly what's starting to happen now that Abbott has ripped the guts out of the clean energy industry here. "Open for business"?

Exit one huge Chinese solar company's R&D investment in Australia.

Suntech, founded by Australian-trained former "Sun King" billionaire Shi Zhengrong, will next month close its Suntech R&D Australia unit with the loss of about a dozen jobs. 

The company, now owned by a Hong Kong solar tycoon Cheng Kin Ming and renamed Wuxi Suntech, said in May it invests more than $3 million a year in Australian research and development. 

"Suntech wants to continue a relationship with Australia, but it no longer makes the same sense to keep a research team [here]," Renate Egan, managing director of the Sydney-based R&D unit, said.

Dr Egan said Wuxi Suntech recently announced a plan to consolidate most research activities at its base in China. The Abbott government's signals that it will cut the national renewable energy goal also reduced confidence about future opportunities. 

"Clearly the market's not going to grow here," Dr Egan said, referring to large-scale projects. Read more 

More cracks appear in the Lieberals

Finally, finally.......  It seems to be starting to sink in to their thick bloody heads that the key budget measures will not get through the senate in anything like their present form. I don't know how many times they've been told over and over that their cruely doesn't want to be on the senate's conscience. Seriously, who would want suicides to deal with - blood on their hands? Because that's exactly what will happen if some of these harsh measures go through.

Now suddenly there's no more "budget emergency", and a way is being opened for the gov to try and save a bit of face and get out of this whole budget mess; to simply say Oh well, there might have to be tax increases at some point in the future. Evidently that's supposed to be some kind of threat? *pfffft* Sounds good to me. How about they actually get highest income earners paying their fair share of tax for a start. 

In line with the government’s dramatic rhetorical shift about the “budget emergency” last week, the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, insisted there was “no rush” to win Senate approval for budget savings measures but added that if spending cuts could not be achieved over time the government could be left with no choice but to raise taxes. more  

OMG! Smokin Sloppy Joe = SSJoe :)

Ha ha ha ha ha .........

I've always in recent years referred to Joe Hockey as "Sloppy Joe" as that's what he's been known on the internet as, well back then anyway. In recent times, after his unforgettable cigar incident filmed on National telly, he's become known as "Smokin Joe". So I just added it all together and have recently started referring to Hockey as "Smokin Sloppy Joe".

I just realised. That's "SSJoe" :) 

SS in the sailing world means "steam ship", the inference therefore in SSJoe is that he is a steam ship. A steam ship blusters a lot of steam doesn't to for little avail really..... ha ha ha haa.........

I hereby then christen Smokin Sloppy Joe forever more on this blog as SSJoe. May he sink soon :)

 

Newscorp in decline in Australia

Little wonder. His stuff is so biased readers are turning away. It's easier just to read what's on the Lieberal party website, why go read a paper saying the same thing?

Media analyst Steve Allen from Fusion Strategy has looked over the documents and says Mr Murdoch will soon have to make some tough choices. 

"The first set of decisions would be how could we substantially slim down, how can we make all of our operations more efficient?" he said. 

"Because the trend says they won't be making money in a year or two." 

Independent financial analyst Mark McDonnell says he is staggered at how inaccurate News Corp's own internal forecasts are. 

"Pretty much for every area of their business, their internal forecasting is woeful," he said. 

"It's very surprising, it's even more surprising that external analysts can get a better fix on the companies performance than people internally. 

"The rate of decline in those titles - the Herald Sun, the Daily Telegraph in Sydney - is well into the double digits and in earnings terms is highly material and very concerning." more 

Adam Hills in Britain on Westboro Baptist Church :)

I didn't know he had a show in England. He's from Australia and been on the telly here a lot. Here he does an hilarious rant about the Westboro Baptist Church and their intention to picket the funeral of Robin Williams:

 

  The WBC said Williams was ‘burning in hell’ for being an outspoken supporter of the LGBTI community. One of his most famous roles was the cross-dressing Mrs Doubtfire, and also played gay in the films Boulevard and The Birdcage. - See more

Smokin Sloppy Joe "The Herdsman" - Moir :)

Officer in anti-gay racist rant - US

This from an officer FFS:

 

Keeping the $wolves at bay

Had to come up with a plan of action to keep the $barbarians from the door for this coming week. David and I are both now waiting for Centrelink back pay, and for our money to be put at a survivable level. Meanwhile another week goes by with virtually nothing. This week the situation is made even worse as the credit card is so high now that the minimum payment each month is getting rather a lot. If I miss that the bank will chuck a fit and freeze the account, and then we'll be really fucked won't we if Centrelink is still fart assing around with our payments.

So I've paid the rent with the credit card again. I get the meager pension amount on Wednesday, in time to meet the minimum payment date on the card. So I can use the pension money, what it is at the moment, to cover next weeks rent and the credit card minimum payment. The $wolves will be kept at bay. 

Of course that means living off the credit card whilst waiting for Centrelink now.

David's fish

He's been getting some little fish lately, he finds it very relaxing. Knows quite a bit about it all as well. These are Mexican fighting fish. They're really aggressive. Or is it foreplay? He put the female in with one of the males. We were seeing if we could get anything last night like a good picture. These were the results:

"The poorest should not bear the burden of the budget" - Falzon

A brilliant little piece rejecting the idea that the poor should pay for fixing the deficit. 


 

Douche of the week - racist Chinese coffee shop owner - video

Centrelink responds to my complaint

*faints*

Well blow me down with a feather. Centrelink has actually responded to my online complaint I made a couple of days ago. It was limited to 1,000 words so I had to make it brief. It seems though that my brevity paid off (ack, such a butchery of the language) and I was rung today by a Centrelink complaints person - an actual human being to boot - who was wanting to know all about what had happened. After getting up off the lounge from my faint (thankfully not a panic attack this time) I managed to start spluttering something. This was the warm up......

The conversation eventually started after my shock at actually getting a call from a Centrelink complaints person. I'm terrible on the phone, I think it's because I can't see the other person, but on this occasion I happily talked normally and relaxed. I explained what had happened since July 2nd when the Intention To Claim was registered, the fuckup with Births Deaths & Marriages, and Australia Post, meaning the form didn't get lodged until late July. That David's work had lied and fucked up his whole Sickness Allowance claim by saying he resigned. That he was given the impression on the phone that the switch to Newstart after that would be a simple procedure as it was part of the initial sickness claim. That a whole new claim was started for the switch to Newstart right from the beginning. That he ended up back at square one with Centrelink wanting an Employment Separation Certificate that work wasn't going to give to him. That I went to the local Centrelink office 4 times in two days, at one point in tears, at another point being told to get help from charity. That I'd worked 30 years, that I was now on the DSP, and why is this being done to me? These were some but not all of the points raised.

She offered to put me through to a social worker right then and there. I said that was OK as we'd just been assigned a brand spanking new one that we were going to see next Tuesday. Then she put in a thing that some other head honcho Centrelink person would ring me in the next few days to bla about it all. Why not? I agreed.

So in the next 2-3 working days some head honcho Centrelink person is going to ring me and bla further about all of this. How interesting. Needless to say I will be bla-ing like there's no tomorrow!