Abbott is finished - Michelle Grattan

Abbott could be replaced as early as next week.

Abbott's leadership now in the "death zone"

It could have all been so different for the Lieberals. If they'd simply listened to the electorate instead of putting up last years budget disaster and defending the thing to the bitter end. Blind Freddy could have seen this coming, but not the Lieberals. 

Abbott's political demise is now plundering along full steam ahead. Who knows how many Lieberals will be caught up in the train wreck. The media is in a frenzy, gov leaks are like a sieve, Canberra commentators are predicting the end. It's not going to be pretty. 

Tony Abbott's beleaguered leadership has entered the phase where even baseless rumours tend to have a locomotive force. Such are the shadowy dynamics of leadership crises. 

Momentum is running away from Abbott with the danger to his leadership being clear and present. 

Colleagues are coming to the pragmatic conclusion that irrespective of the justice of it all, the sheer distraction of leadership instability may warrant a change. 

As such, a summary end to Abbott's troubled time as a Liberal prime minister has taken on a sense of the inevitable. 

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

This is about something deeper – namely Abbott's desperately low standing with voters, and the assessment of the Prime Minister's frontline colleagues that his trust relationship in the electorate is terminally rent, irreparable. 

MPs who had argued that the PM needed more time to turn things around have been embarrassed by the welter of contrary evidence this week exposing such an approach as wishful thinking and even delusional. 

Privately, they recognise it is Abbott himself that is their biggest problem, citing his worthy attempt to shift the conversation to governing – with a national security statement, restrictions to foreign ownership of real estate, and the McClure welfare reforms – which he then comprehensively skewered via a pointless and damaging culture war over the Human Rights Commission. 

The government bled all week in Parliament trying to defend its politically motivated attack on the HRC President, Gillian Triggs. There could hardly have been a more graphic demonstration of the political cost of having "Captain Combat" in charge rather than a mainstream leader committed to problem-solving. more  

Ex News Ltd boss says Abbott is finished

Just excruciating seeing the moron Abbott cling to power in the face of his slow but inevitable political death. Death throws in fact. 

The old leader of Murdoch's News Corp in Australia has now officially pulled the plug on Abbott, pretty much stating the blooding obvious. I particularly like the bit about Abbott not wanting to face up to his political reality. How many times have us mere mortals in the community at large pointed out that he's living in some kind of parallel universe la la land.

In this universe Abbott is convinced his gov is a good gov. He just can't understand why everyone has such a problem with it. He's confused as to why people aren't thanking him for being so good. His statement that Gillian Triggs, the Human Rights Commissioner he publicly attacked, should be thanking his gov for "stopping the boats" is a prime example.

But asked if the Prime Minister could turn around his political fortunes Mr Hartigan said: "No. I think his opportunity is gone. Even his strongest supporters are now detractors. 

"Something has got to give and he's obviously not going to take the tension on the line. 

"Someone else has to step in and do so because every day is a missed opportunity of taking this country in a direction and realising the potential of its people." 

Mr Hartigan said he remained a supporter of Mr Abbott. 'Not a participant': "When I say I'm a supporter, I'm an admirer of him. But as I say, he has appeared as if he doesn't want to face up to the realities of his political life. He is letting them slip through his fingers day by day." Read more  

"At a point in the future we will go broke" - Lieberal lies

The bluster of Hockey and the gov is exposed in this short clip from senate estimates. Lies, lies lies.

 

OMG! Spock is dead :(

Lenard Nimoy has died at 83 after a long illness. It's the end of an era. Pictures of his long life here.

 

McDonalds 4 year old burger and chips - doesn't break down

The chips look as fresh as a daisy. How is this possible? Are they made out of plastic? What does this do to a human body?

 

Corinne Grant clobbers Abbott :)

  

Cats on a lounge :)

Natasha has taken up watching the fish in the fish tank and falling asleep there.

Zach follows her around everywhere, and pretty soon he joins her.

Eventually they're sleeping together. Awwww.......

He's also decided he likes the computer chair. 

 

Net neutrality an evil plot against free speech - christians

The US has resoundingly voted to maintain net neutrality. However christians, for some reason that I can't fathom, reckons it's an evil socialist plot where the gov tells you what to think. WTF?

 

Men's sexuality is fluid

I'm often asked by confused guys about my late wife, and now about being in a gay relationship. They have trouble reconciling the two in their heads. My answer is always that it's about who you love, not so much gender. That sexuality is very fluid and you can't put it into a box and define it in a limited way. "Straight" and "gay" are really just human labels we put on people and can be very limiting if used as a definition of human sexuality. Particularly male sexuality because of the long held stereotypes associated with men.

As it turns out male sexuality is just as fluid as females:  

Individuals often react to these examples in one of two ways. Either they jump to the conclusion that any straight-identified man who engages in sexual contact with another man must actually be gay or bisexual, or they dismiss the behavior as not actually sexual. Rather, they interpret it as an expression of dominance, a desire to humiliate, or some other ostensibly “non sexual” male impulse. 

But these responses merely reveal our culture’s preconceived notions about men’s sexuality. Look at it from the other side of the coin: if straight young women, such as sorority pledges, were touching each other’s vaginas during an initiation ritual or taking shots from each other’s butts, commentators would almost certainly imagine these acts as sexual in some way (and not exclusively about women’s need to dominate, for instance). Straight women are also given considerable leeway to have occasional sexual contact with women without the presumption that they are actually lesbians. In other words, same-sex contact among straight men and women is interpreted through the lens of some well-worn gender stereotypes. But these stereotypes don’t hold up when we examine the range of straight men’s sexual encounters with other men. 

It’s clear that straight men and women come into intimate contact with one another in a range of different ways. But this is less about hard-wired gender differences and more about broader cultural norms dictating how men and women are allowed to behave with people of the same sex. Instead of clinging to the notion that men’s sexuality is fundamentally inflexible, we should view male heterosexuality for what it is – a fluid set of desires that are constrained less by biology than by prevailing gender norms. more

F-35 lemon files, senate estimates

Julie Bishop admits a role was raised with Gillian Triggs

Gillian Triggs - Angry Aussie... grrrrrr...

Abbott's taxpayer claims whilst in opposition

Abbottsolutely Hopeless

Day of total drama

Having a house mate can have it's drawbacks.....

So..., it was the late with the first rent thing. Not a promising start. I've told David that he's in charge of the money thing as my head is fucked with money these days. He is not impressed at all. The house mate says he has money in the bank, goes to get it out, and disappears for the day. Ends up out partying and betting at the TAB. He comes home and doesn't have the rent. WTF? Not a good start at all. 

He goes out again and doesn't come home the night. David sends him a text to come and pack his things and leave. He comes home saying he has the rent with him. He gets here and doesn't have it. David tells him to leave again. I stay in the middle of it all for moral support for David. The tension goes on and on. We just don't need this fuckin shit.

House mate's friend arrives to pick him up. The friend tries to talk sense to the house mate who has every excuse under the sun why he doesn't have the rent. I say David and I have a better excuse, saying we had to go to Vinnies to get food, but the rent was still paid. House mates friend gives a guarantee that the rent will be paid. David relents. House mate sees sense at last.

Fucks sake man. The guy is an adult and he needs educating about the importance of paying rent? Anyway he's staying on a two week probation period, if he fucks up again he's gone. 

David and I both stressed out. I go to bed for a bit and sleep for hours. Just so tired these days..... 

At home with Tone - Episode 3

UN enters the fray - Gillian Triggs

The UN has written to Abbott telling him to leave Gillian Triggs alone and stop the political interference. Whole letter here.

 

Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs gives senate statements

This is to do with the human rights abuse of children in Abbott's gulags, locking them up and causing untold mental health issues. The gov cried foul saying the the report handed down by the Commissioner was partisan, going so far as to ask for her resignation. She refused to resign as it's a fixed 5 year term designed to reduce political influence.

So that's the gov's response to jailing kids; shoot the fuckin messenger FFS. Playing politics with children's lives. Repulsive.

 

  

The real threat - domestic violence

Abbott is the minister for women. 

 

9 out of 10 new HIV infections are from people not on meds - US

This shows the importance of being tested and getting on meds, and how effective the meds are at drastically reducing the number of new HIV infections. This is from the US so I dunno how accurate it'd be for other countries. Possibly a reflection of the lesser access to health care that exists in the US. Still, the figures are emphatic.

More than 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States could be averted by diagnosing people living with HIV and ensuring they receive prompt, ongoing care and treatment. This finding was published today in JAMA Internal Medicine by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Using statistical modeling, the authors developed the first U.S. estimates of the number of HIV transmissions from people engaged at five consecutive stages of care (including those who are unaware of their infection, those who are retained in care and those who have their virus under control through treatment). The research also shows that the further people progress in HIV care, the less likely they are to transmit their virus. 

“By quantifying where HIV transmissions occur at each stage of care, we can identify when and for whom prevention and treatment efforts will have the most impact,” said Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. “We could prevent the vast majority of new infections tomorrow by improving the health of people living with HIV today.” more  

Pastafarians get FSM church in Germany

Meet Breruder Spaghettus, founder of the German Flying Spaghetti Monster church.Spaghettus, founder of the German Flying Spaghetti Monster church. 

The church even has a road sign.

 

Blogger is going bananas about nudity - new blog rules :s

Looks like the prudes are winning. 

Got an email from Blogger about explicit nudity. I had a minor disagreement with Blog Surfer (the red button on the left) a while back about some of the images on the blog. It got flagged and Blog Surfer cut me off. I protested and was reinstated with Blog Surfer, them saying I was cut off "by accident". Since then nobody has had a problem as the images link to safe sex campaigns and weren't nudity just for nudity's sake.

Until now. I received this email from Blogger:

We're writing to tell you about an upcoming change to the Blogger Content Policy that may affect your account. 

In the coming weeks, we'll no longer allow blogs that contain sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video. We'll still allow nudity presented in artistic, educational, documentary or scientific contexts, or where there are other substantial benefits to the public from not taking action on the content. 

The new policy will take effect on 23 March 2015. After this policy comes into force, Google will restrict access to any blog identified as being in violation of our revised policy. No content will be deleted, but only blog authors and those with whom they have expressly shared the blog will be able to see the content that we've made private. 

Our records indicate that your account may be affected by this policy change. Please refrain from creating new content that would violate this policy. We would also ask you to make any necessary changes to your existing blog to comply as soon as possible so that you won't experience any interruptions in service. You may also choose to create an archive of your content via Google Takeout

Oh good grief. I can see what's going to happen. Some prude will flag the blog and it'll be made private where no one can see it. Then I'll have to go through some bullshit procedure to get the blog made normal again and everything will be all fucked up. *sheesh* I just can't be bothered. 

So in the interests of keeping the blog going I've taken down the links on the right that prudes would find offensive. The blog is a major outlet to my frustrations and dramas and I'd hate to lose that.

In keeping with all of the above, I've also disabled the "Adult Content" warning when viewing the blog. 

Welfare facts - First Dog on the Moon :)

Asbestos found in trains imported from China

So we've had the Hep A blueberries. Now we have the Asbestos filled trains from China used for iron ore exports.

BOB NANVA, RAIL, TRAM AND BUS UNION: We had our maintenance workers repairing a number of diesel engines. They identified a lot of white dust amongst those engines and asked a question as to whether or not that dust was safe. 

BILL MUSK, PROF., CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSP., PERTH: I think there's been a breakdown in law enforcement and that's not good enough. 

MATT PEACOCK: The workers' concern was justified. White asbestos or chrysotile was found throughout the locomotives: insulation around the exhaust and muffler system, around coolant pipes and in the brake exhaust section near the roof of the driver's cabin. 

BOB NANVA: They were assured on numerous occasions that there was nothing to be alarmed about. But, on subsequent testing of that dust, they've identified asbestos. 

PETER TIGHE, CEO, ASBESTOS SAFETY & ERADICATION AGENCY: Well, it's another example, I think, of the lack of compliance in relation to certification from Asia and, more specifically, China: that asbestos free certification is really questionable out of those areas. 

MATT PEACOCK: Last month, at a cost of more than $1 million, the locomotives were taken from service. Most were quarantined here at SCT's centre at Adelaide's Penfield, where professional asbestos removalists in protective suits and masks have been stripping the asbestos out of the trains. 

The company's subsidiary, Specialised Bulk Rail (SBR), says its first priority has been the safety of its staff, some of whom it concedes may have been at "some risk" when the asbestos-containing insulation blankets were "damaged or ripped". 

BOB NANVA: These are maintenance workers that repair these trains day in, day out around and would have been exposed to these fibres in day, day out. more  

Would you like Asbestos with that free trade agreement?

I guess Asbestos Julie will be ecstatic. 
 

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel"

WTF is going on with no less than 6 Australian flags behind him? This was the other day when Abbott was doing the terrorist dole bludging citizenship thing.

 

Got a new house mate

We have cautiously taken in a new housemate. There's been so many dramas with people staying in the spare room, not to mention the dramas of ours, that it was virtually impossible to find someone compatible to live there. However this bloke seems fine. Recently split up from an abusive boyfriend he needed somewhere to stay, and since we get on well with him we invited him to stay here until he sorts himself out.

However he's found it's very close to his work. He gets on well with both of us, and now wants to stay for a while. May be the place will work out very good for him. We really do need to rent the room out anyway for the money. Has been very difficult to say the least since my daughter left in an almighty huff.  

Australian Super to the $rescue!

OMG! We're $afloat again! The credit card lives :)

And not a moment too soon. Thanks to that fucked up super fund HESTA (that name again, HESTA) who refused David's application to get $10,000 out for severe financial hardship, we were thrown headlong into abject poverty whilst we transferred David's super money to Australian Super. For about two weeks we were poorer than either of us had ever been before. I've never had to go to a charity for food before in my life. A week behind in the rent. The credit card was $300 over the limit, us wondering when it was going to get declined. Using gift vouchers that came to buy groceries. It was absolutely diabolical. Thank you HESTA for that. You are a really unfair and fucked up super fund. I would advise anyone in HESTA to roll their money over to another fund.

Australian Super was an entirely different story. The application was all done online, even including proving David's identity. There were no life history questions, not detailed report on personal finances, no explanation needed of how he ended up in this predicament. Just one question about debts, and he wrote the credit card debt. Just four days after lodging the application, the money was in his account. David couldn't believe how easy it was. I said that's why I was shocked at how HESTA was carrying on about it and that they'd fuckin rejected the bloody claim FFS. 

So thank you Australian Super for being such a good fund :) I would highly recommend it to anyone. HESTA really lost out with this. Because they rejected the claim of David's, he rolled his entire super balance of over $60,000 to Australian Super. Hesta lost the lot. And now both David and I are telling all how fucked they are.

"Because I Did Ice" - Afroman Parody, ha ha ha.....

Senate anger over tax avoidance - supertrawler company

Are the pollies finally starting to get it over company tax avoidance?

 

Will preferences decide the NSW election?

Who could forget how wrong the pollsters got it in Queensland, predicting a win for the Lieberals. The problem was that they distributed preferences in their polling as people did in the last Queensland election. However there was a very effective campaign up there to number every box and put the Lieberals last. It was those preferences that went very much in favour of Labor and very much against the Lieberals in the actual election, winning it for Labor.

Now we have the NSW state election coming up and the pollsters are still doing the same thing as they did in Queensland, distributing the preferences according to how they went in the last election when Labor was annihilated. It's seems to me it would be very unlikely that preferences would flow the same way as last time, which gives an entirely new picture in recent polling stats. There is also the Abbott factor.

Making things still more interesting is that all the numbers quoted above are based on previous election preferences, which blew pollsters nearly three points off course at the Queensland election. This is particularly significant given that Queensland and New South Wales alone share the optional preferential voting system, under which the previous-election method would seem to be especially unreliable. That is especially true when comparing a colossal electoral disaster for Labor with an election held when they are on the upswing – a situation which applies both in Queensland and New South Wales. 

On the primary vote, the Galaxy poll has the Coalition down two points to 43%, with Labor steady on 36% and the Greens down one to 10%. If preferences are allocated as per either the Queensland election result or the respondent-allocated preference flow from the Ipsos poll, the Coalition would either barely have its nose in front or be dead level, depending on how the wind was blowing with respect rounding. Which wouldn’t seem to bode too well so far as the short-term job security of the Prime Minister is concerned. more

 

The last McDonalds meal in Iceland - now a museum piece

The last ever McDonalds meal in Iceland was set up as a display piece in 2009. It's now six years later, and the Frankenburger remains mould free. You can check out the live feed from a webcam here anywhere in the world.

 

"Captain Australia" - securing the nation cartoon :)

A christian film review of "50 shades of grey" - ha ha ha......

I've not the slightest bit interested in watching soft porn in a movie. Just a waste of time. If you want to watch porn, just watch it. Soft porn is almost like being half pregnant. I mean, are you going to watch porn or something that pretends to be?

Anyway, I came across an hilarious conservative christian review of 50 shades. I think in reviewing it they sort of got quite into it.

In the meantime, though, there's not a thing about it that's worthy or respectable. And there's a lot in the movie that can't (and shouldn't) even be mentioned here. We will say this much: Ana, who is a virgin when the story starts, spends large quantities of screen time naked. Christian trades in his grey suit for his birthday suit quite often as well. The two have sex multiple (six or seven) times; sounds and movements are explicit, prolonged and repeated. more 

Um...... 

Obsession With Labor - Shaun Micallef :)

Luke Simpkins Awkward Interview About GP tax

This is the new "good gov"?? Nobody knows WTF is going on. Here Simpkins says the GP tax is scrapped and not scrapped in the same interview.

 

Abbott cuts pension by $80 a week, leaves wealthy pensioners

So it boils down to this. The gov chickens out on booting millionaires off the pension as they were afraid of the broken promise thing not to cut pensions. So they decided to change the indexation rate instead for all pensioners, including those like me. In 10 years those cuts would add up to an $80 a week reduction in real terms in the pension.

This is Abbott's world; make the poor pay and leave the wealthy alone. 

Ironically, the first option of kicking the wealthy off the pension would have probably gone down in the community a lot better than clobbering everyone on the thing. Certainly much of the outrage about the cuts to indexation was becasue it would be affecting some of the poorest people in the community. Australians don't like that sort of thing. It's currently stuck in the senate after getting the senate chop.

News Corp says the government's budget razor gang shelved a secret plan to get millionaires off the aged pension in favour of slashing the indexation of payments for every pensioner in Australia. 

It says the expenditure review committee was asked to consider slashing pension payments to wealthy seniors last year by changing the taper rate, the preferred option of former Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews. 

Mr Morrison said on Sunday he was not on the ERC at the time but there would have been a discussion about a range of options. 

"The great revelation here is the government decided not to do something," he told ABC television. 

"I think that is a bit of a beat-up about something that happened over a year ago." 

News Corp said senior ministers had confirmed they agonised over the prospect Prime Minister Tony Abbott would be accused of kicking seniors off the pension and breaking an election promise not to cut pensions. 

Instead, Treasury proposed a change to the indexation arrangements for all pensioners, meaning the rate of increase would effectively be slowed, from 2017. 

The change was announced in the May budget, with welfare groups and Labor arguing it would cut pensions by $80 a week within 10 years. more

See that's their so called solution to the discrepancy between Newstart and the pension; to index the pension at the same rate as Newstart, making the pension eventually as fucked up and unsurvivable as Newstart; currently about $470 a fortnight. 

Gay marriage will turn kids gay :s

Good grief. More ignorance from the christians. Gay marriage is bad because it will "encourage" kids to be gay. Evidently kids now have the ability to reach into their genetic make up and change who they are.

 

This weeks page views #1

Since my audience is a very international one, I may once a month or so give some feedback to who's viewing these days.

So here is the ten countries in the last weeks page views:

This week there's been a huge uptake in Canada, going from the odd pop in on the lower level of the top ten at about 20 or so views a week to over 200. Have I been discovered in Canada? Our brothers in arms against evil corporate gov's who want to fuck the poor?

As well, the Russian views have gone from about 20 or so a week to now over 100. Hasn't been that since I was spitting the dummy about Sochi. Nice to see them back :)

The US and France remain in the top two, often exchanging positions. I have no idea why people in either country would be reading my at times fringe dweller ravings. Perhaps there is still hope for humanity in those two countries? Are we the only bloody sane ones?

Another first. Australia for the first time ever has come in at only number 5, even though it's views have increased. As also it's the first time for Canada at number three.

India has made a long lost appearance, poking it's nose in at number 10 :) 

Abbott's creepy baby kiss photos - OMG!

Fucks sake. It looks like Mr Burns trying to be nice. Something dies in me when I look at these two pictures.

 

"Shake it off" - new Abbott music video :))

Is Welfare Rorting Rife? - The Feed

Welfare recipients numbers have fallen in the last decade, not increased. Unless you look at the aged pension individually, it being the only welfare that's increasing. Watch at the end as aged pensioners are asked if they're bludgers :s

 

Abbott wanted to send 3,500 ground troops to Iraq :s

The Australian newspaper, with much worry and consternation, is conducting an investigation into WTF has happened to the Abbott gov. Why it's so comprehensively in the shit. What they're finding out is enough to send a chill down your spine.

Abbott's sidekick Credlin has been all powerful, chairing gov meetings and playing a major roll in the formation of the disastrous May budget last year. But it gets much worse than that.

Last November Abbott actually suggested to Credlin about Australia sending 3,500 ground troops to invade Iraq, completely going it alone with even the US unwilling to do so. Credlin agreed. The suggestion of the invasion went as far as to seek advice from Australian military leaders. Needless to say they knocked the idea of the head, stunned at such an insane notion.

I think it's clear now, Abbott is isolated and unhinged. This is way beyond a joke now. He's looking a bit wacky dangerous.

TONY Abbott suggested a unilateral invasion of Iraq, with 3500 Australian ground troops to confront the Islamic State terrorist group. 

Flanked by his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, in a meeting in ­Canberra on November 25, the Prime Minister said the move would help halt the surge of ­Islamic State in northern Iraq. 

After receiving no resistance from Ms Credlin or his other staff in the room, Mr Abbott then raised the idea with Australia’s leading military planners. The military officials were stunned, telling Mr Abbott that sending 3500 Australian soldiers without any US or NATO cover would be disastrous for the ­Australians. 

They argued that even the US was not prepared to put ground troops into Iraq and it would make Australia the only Western country with troops on the ground. 

Asked this week about the suggestion by the Prime Minister of sending Australian ground troops to Iraq, a spokesman for Mr ­Abbott said: “The Prime Minister has consistently said that the Australian government will continue to talk to the government of Iraq and to our ­coalition partners about what Australia can usefully do to make the world a safer place and to make Australia a safer country.” 

The suggestion by Mr Abbott has been uncovered during an ­investigation by The Weekend Australian into how the Abbott government is working and why it has been hit with problems on several flanks. more  

Abbott's budget disaster all our selfish fault - The Australian

The Abbott cheer squad is going full throttle in Murdoch's failing newspaper The Australian. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth over Abbott's disaster of a gov. However, in this parallel universe that they appear to reside in, Abbott is being hard done by, and it's actually our fault that Abbott finds himself in polling annihilation land. We're selfish you see:

If it’s fair to censure the government for errors on the reform front, we should be equally straight shooting about the chief reason reform has stalled in this country. We, the people, are one of the biggest hurdles for a reforming government. 

According to record low polls for the government, we, the ­people, have told the Abbott government it will be obliterated at the next election for aiming for a budget that spends only as much as it earns. We have said we don’t much care about paying $100 million a day interest on our borrowings. more  

Really? Apart from it being delusional that this gov has any budget restraint at all, how can somebody be that ignorant of the reality of life for many Australians. What? We want to see a doctor for nothing after forking out for the Medicare levy each financial year? We want to have the PBS provide affordable medication that we need, as it was set up to do? We want our kids to be able to afford to educate themselves at Uni if they so desire? We want pensioners to actually be able to afford to eat without having them slowly starve over the years from indexation that doesn't keep up? Oh the humanity! How selfish of us! We're standing in the way of corporate reform! The poor must suffer for all of this "reform" apparently.

Perhaps corporations should pay their fuckin tax. How's that for a reform eh? Corporations actually paying the amount of tax they're supposed to. But oh no, that reform seems bloody impossible.

How about rewording the above quote; them, the corporate tax dodgers, are one of the biggest hurdles for a reforming gov. The only selfish ones are them. Too selfish to pay for the roads they use, the infrastructure they use. How many of them in the Australian corporate world have been in our hospitals? How many of their kids go to our schools? Fuckin selfish pricks won't bloody contribute.
 

Day of the migraine :(

Well it wasn't a full blown one like I used to get as a teenager, but it was pretty bad. Haven't touched a thing all day as far as food goes as have been on the verge of throwing up as part of it. Not that that's a new experience for me.

So it was the darkened room thing,  all the curtains pulled. Window open for a sea breeze. Luckily I was able to sleep a bit. Natasha the cat did her usual sleeping on the bed next to me in my hours of sick. David seemed rather worried as lunch time passed and I remained in bed. I just said it was nothing out of the ordinary for me, just another day of bla... He went and bought some Panadol at the servo nearby the dear. It does fuck all for that sort of headache but I said it was helping (in between trying not to throw up the tablets). Lovely thought of his to do that. 

Gladly I appear to have recovered enough to go to a focus group this evening. Is about some bla with this new thing they're bringing in where local chemists can dispense HIV pills as well as the hospital pharmacies. There's a lot of issues around that of course. My personal view is that I'd continue to get it at the specialised pharmacy at the Albion St Centre due to all the problems I've had with the HIV pills I've taken over the years. I seriously doubt my local chemist would be much in the know about it all. There's also privacy issues. Like what is the 20 something year old chemist hand going to think of me handing over HIV pills? 

Anyway I get paid $45 for my time. Fuck that's come at the right moment hasn't it.... 

Cat in a sink :)

Zach is very young and intensely curious. He likes to watch all the goings on in the bathroom when we're showering and all. He's now found a vantage point to watch it all; the bathroom sink :s  Lucky David shaves in the shower :)

 

Initial response from NSW minister - our Housing issue

Just to recap, I wrote to my local state MP Micheal Daley about the dept of Housing's assertion that $360 is an "affordable" amount of rent to pay, even though that amount is presently over 50% of our meager income. This when the Dept of Housing charges it's tenants only 30% of their income. Even those who are working. In fact on our present income I don't think we'd even be charged that much, as you have to earn about $700 a week each household to go up to the 30%, with people earning less only paying 25%. Unless the rules have changed in the last few years.

So Micheal Daley has taken it up with the NSW minister for Family and Community Services, Gabrielle Upton. Her initial response is below, saying the matter will be examined and a response given:

Not holding my breath, but like I said we qualified in every way to get on the priority housing list, only to have the whole application rejected because Housing said we could afford properties of $360 or a bit less. Impossible.  

Russell Brand, children in detention - Australia

I generally find it too upsetting to write about what both Labor and the Lieberals have done and are doing to refugees fleeing danger. I'll let Russell Brand speak for me on this one.

 

Picture faked of preacher in Nigeria - US

Here's the picture published in the Houston Chronicle:

It was faked, and the newspaper published it without asking questions. Here's the newspapers apology:

Lovely isn't it. Gotta manipulate the facts to suit their agenda. How very christian. 

"I want to be a real boy" - trangender, New Zealand video

This is how parents should behave with the issue of a transgender child :)  From New Zealand, the whole article is here.

 

Tobacco companies suing countries - John Oliver

This is a really fascinating bit of television. Oliver goes into how Australia was sued by big tobacco over it's plain packaging laws and won, the cigarette companies losing and having to pay the court costs. Watch what happens next to other smaller countries... 

 

Pension payments for millionaires

As David and I sit here contemplating not having a cent on us for the next few days so we can pay the rent, electricity, and phone this week, I was struck by this article about wealthy retirees getting welfare. 

How can people worth over a million get welfare, period? When I got my redundancy payout from work Centrelink made me live off it for an entire year before giving me the full pension. Before that it was only about $100 a fortnight. Why doesn't Centrelink make these people live off what they've got before handing them the full pension?

At $42 billion per year and rising, the Age Pension is the one of the government’s largest and fastest growing expenses. With the budget currently estimated to be in a $40–$56 billion deficit (depending on the source), the government needs to find savings from public spending in order to get back in the black. 

So far it has targeted unemployment benefits, education, a GP co-payment and family tax benefits as sources of revenue and savings to cover the debt. A raft of legislation changes, which include Age Pension indexation and eligibility age are waiting to be passed – such changes will hurt those on a meagre limited income, who can least afford to lose even a few dollars each week. Yet according to the NATSEM findings, around $500 million per year is being handed out to multi-millionaire retirees (with over $3 million in assets). A further $1.4 billion per year in benefits is being provided to those with a net worth of $2 million. These groups would seem ripe for the picking in order to refill the steadily emptying government coffers. 

An upcoming intergenerational report is set to spell out the exponential increase in spending on items such as the Age Pension. So, in order to balance the books, the government faces the tough task of implementing policies that may adversely affect a large portion of constituents – who may also be conservative voters. Still, it may need to be done, and rather than taking more away from those who need it most, the government needs to take aim at those who can realistically fund their own lifestyles without the benefit of taxpayer-funded handouts. more  

An interesting fact to go along with this from my own experience. Recently I re-did our phone on the do not call register as we were constantly getting calls from charities asking for money. Usually I'd just say "I'm on the pension" and that would be it, but on occasion I'd get an irate person on the other end of the phone telling me that pensioners were some of their biggest contributors. How the fuck is that possible?  

"I think I'm a poof" - Aussie dad's read a kids book, video :)

This is how parents are supposed to be with gay kids.

 

Where Nannas Hep A berries come from in China

Nannas berries are grown in the Shandong province of China, evidently the most polluted part of the country. They use human waste for fertiliser. So far 10 Australians have been diagnosed with Hep A from eating these berries. Hep A comes from human waste containing the virus being ingested. 

This is the river Jinling in the Shandong province, where berries bound for Australia are grown and packed. It's colour is from pollution.

The Red Cross has put a two month ban on anyone giving blood who has eaten these berries. 

Needless to say, anyone with HIV would be particularly affected by Hepatitis. I used to buy frozen berries a while back, thinking they were good superfood kind of stuff. I'd never have had them had I known where they were coming from.

Abbott's citizenship - his very defensive office

It's simple enough. There is no record anywhere, both here in Australia and Britain, of Abbott renouncing his British citizenship. You can't be elected to parliament in Australia if you're a dual citizen. 

So why doesn't Abbott simply produce the document? Why is that a problem? Instead his office is arrogantly saying it's a "ludicrous" question, he's the PM, and just don't ask such silly questions. Why go through all that when it'd be so much easier just to show the proof?

 

Seeing a new financial counselor

Dunno WTF he'd be able to do though. We're completely fucked :s

As I resigned as a client at BGF, the lady at Vinnies the other day organised me to go and see this bloke down the road in the community centre. Looks like an appt next week. The St Vinnies lady thought he was good. We shall see.

We just don't have any options left. Ever since those 4 months that David got fucked over by all and sundry last year and didn't get a cent for all that time, we've just not been able to recover from that. His Newstart payment when he finally got the thing was like a drop in the bucket and not at all survivable. I appreciate that if it wasn't for the credit card we'd have lost the rented place we're in, but now it just seems an impossibility to make headway on the thing. 

The gov has also shut the door on getting money out of super due to the stress of the debt affecting one's health too, so that option is no longer available. The severe financial hardship thing you're only allowed to do that once a year, and I've already done it.

It's not all $disaster however. David's super has successfully been rolled over from that pathetic moronic HESTA to Australian Super and his account is now active there. Hows that eh HESTA? Knocked him back on the financial hardship $10,000, now you've lost the lot; over $60,000. Suck shit HESTA. He's also got a few friends who are now switching from HESTA to Australian Super. 

We immediately went online to Australian Super and did the whole hardship application all online. David was even able to use their online tool to prove his identity online and so didn't have to stuff around with getting copies certified and snail mailed to them in Melbourne. It was just a few simple questions too, nothing like the bullshit life history HESTA form. So that application is away. I'll be very very surprised if there's any problems at all with it.

Also, the application came in the mail for David to switch from Newstarve to the Carers Payment pension, which I think is over $100 a fortnight more than Newstart. Every bit helps. It was the easiest form I've ever been involved in filling out. Most of it they'd already printed his details on there and it was just checking a box saying that they were all correct.

"Invisible Thread" video - Uganda

What a beautiful song this is. I had to do a double take when it said Uganda, but it's about their experiences as aid workers in Uganda. They're using the song to raise money for education over there. You can contribute here if you so desire:

In light of political developments regarding the outlawing of homosexuality in Uganda over the last year, we decided not to put our students at risk by featuring them in videos with us. Rather, we shot a music video of our song, Invisible Thread, and use it as a way to celebrate people all over the world who are fighting for their right to love whom they choose. 

We believe that education is the greatest deterrent to intolerance and hatred. With your help, we can send four of our students through their final semester of college and help them to become the next generation of enlightened leaders in Uganda. 

Starting Valentine's Day through the end of February, we'll be on a mission to raise $10,000 in school fees. Please show your love by helping us to empower the humanitarians and activists of the future! donate here

 

"Come home for the holidays" - PFLAG China

This is very well done, put out by Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays (PFLAG) in China. The Chinese new year is apparently a big deal over there and everyone goes home to families for the time.

I have to laugh at those who reckon being gay is just a lifestyle choice. Who the fuck would chose to go through this? It has a very happy ending though :)

 

Really sophisticated anti-gay Alabama sign

Seriously. This appears to be now the level of people not wanting gay marriage. Courtesy of Alabama. About the level of the ignorant desert dwellers 2,000 years ago.

 

"Electronic graffiti" - the emporor has no clothes

The days of broadcast TV and hard copy newspapers are dieing fast. I can't remember tha last time I sat and watched the evening corporate bullshit news on the telly. All my news I encounter is through this interactive plastic brain contraption I have here in front of me now. In fact going back to watching the 6pm news would be like getting a lobotomy. Gone are the days of Murdoch's power to brainwash the masses.  

It's astonishing in the extreme that Captain Call Abbott sees social media as electronic graffiti. Any politician today who ignores the internet and it's power to instantly share information, to fact check, to interact, is signing their own political death warrant. The information revolution is here, and they better get used to the extra scrutiny it provides.

Abbott has gotten away with being a lying conniving prick throughout his parliamentary career. Most of that however was before the advent of the internet as we know it today. His stupidity as PM is now there for all to see in all it's internet glory. Yet he doesn't realise, is in blissful ignorance, as he takes no notice of the internet and social media.

Abbott prances around, wondering why people think badly of him. We laugh and sneer, vomit and gasp at his incapacity, whilst he raves on talking about a year of solid performance and achievement. We ridicule him and he doesn't get why. We see through his shallow facade but he thinks he's a political master and we can't. He stands naked before us, his veneer a joke.

Indeed. The emperor has no clothes.  

Last year, Tony Abbott's election eve pledge not to cut health or education and not to change pensions or cut the ABC or SBS was seen by about 110,000 people on SBS's evening news bulletin. Its significance as a patent promise for which the Prime Minister would be judged in office was only revealed after that piece of footage had another 140,000 views on YouTube, thousands more on SBS online with literally millions of mentions on social media and the web editions of newspapers. It's much harder to break a promise with hundreds of thousands of citizen journalists recording and retweeting your every word. 

To make matters even more tricky for the Government, according to America's Pew Research Centre, 71 per cent of people under 29 consume most of their news online while just 22 per cent read a hard copy newspaper. The figures are just as disruptive when it comes to those aged 30-49 (63 per cent v 18 per cent). 

You can't be a successful leader in the 21st century without understanding young people and how they use the web. They're the ones with the time to track every promise and conduct instant fact checks. Through the likes of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, young people today have found their voice. They're also more demanding and less likely to vote or buy the same products as their parents or grandparents did. Brand loyalty is fading fast. 

In his book, The Menzies Era: The Years that Shaped Modern Australia, John Howard noted that Australians have become less tribal. There was once an expectation that 40 per cent of the electorate always voted Liberal and 40 per cent always voted Labor while 20 per cent swung between the two. These days, he's convinced that the middle ground both sides are fighting for has swelled to 40 per cent. more