Hello and welcome to the blog and hope you had a great Christmas...and whilst I promise to shortly deliver a scoriaceous dissection of the whole affair re organised religion, etc, today I remain buoyed by the spirit of the season, so just some minor scathingness today...(scoriaceous is never a word-Ed)...uh-huh, yeah 'tis...from 'scoria' the clinker-like volcanic gravel or "the refuse, dross, or slag left after smelting" (Macquarie Dictionary).
(If today is Boxing Day -Ed)...yeah...(and boxing means punching-Ed)...different 'boxing' I think, not sure but I reckon it's about returning gifts, ie re-boxing to exchange or return...not sure, but carry on...(and today are also the sales where they all 'box on for bargains' too-Ed)...yes...(and punching means a fist-Ed)...yesss...(and yesterday was Christmas-Ed)...is this going to take much longer?...(well does that make today Fistmas?-Ed)...
I don't know whether to be more offended by the vaguely blasphemous nature of that comment, or by the fact that that is 30 seconds of my life I won't be getting back...(hey, forget you buddy-Ed)...
Laugh I Nearly: whilst channel surfing last evening, I ran into The Big Bang Theory
just in time to see character Sheldon repeat my spiel from a few posts
back about how Christmas is actually a Christian misappropriation of the
Pagan festival celebrating the Winter Solstice, etc...(yeah, but he didn't say anything about Ankhs or little men in spacesuits-Ed)...get over it...
Bandah Aceh: became synonymous world-wide with Boxing Day in
2004 when one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded triggered a
massive Tsunami that decimated the region, killing approx 150,000 people on
that island and over 250,000 in the region...I was deeply disappointed to
see/hear long reports on the ABC/BBC that there is still a lot of infrastructure, etc, that hasn't been
properly repaired or replaced, and wonder how this portends for the people of the Philippines.
And again it seems so glib to just churn out a few statistics and move on, so a potential support mechanism that I've identified and have discussed previously, and have also heard/read discussed, eg, turning Foreign Aid payments partially into support for producers in Australia, eg, citrus growers or cattle producers, and then providing food via our own Navy and Merchant Fleet, Airforce, etc...we could be...(and some would say should already be-Ed)...a 'Regional Food Store' providing Federal Government subsidised food aid to disaster zones in the region...
Comes Under Feedback Sort Of: I was politely shocked and genuinely joyed...(only joyed, not overjoyed?...don't want to overdo it?-Ed)...well quite...but I was 'joyed' that someone I know unexpectedly lobbed on my doorstep the other day with a couple of bottles of booze, saying 'Merry Christmas, I don't read your blog but I know plenty who do, we were just discussing it at a do the other day'...(a do the other day?...was it a doozy of a do the other day?-Ed)...move on...
'Don't read it myself, but rest assured that you're punching buttons all over town, and people are quietly cheering you on from the wings because they're as sick of this corruption stuff as you are'...well, I'd believe cheering from the carpark, 'cause I can't see anyone loitering in the wings...but I fully appreciate why no-one would want to be seen supporting me, let alone step out into the Spotlight of Retribution next to me...(well one can hardly wax lyrical about one's Pariahtisation as one has experienced it and then expect any other one to metaphorically stand next to one-Ed)...errr, quite...(and cop the same abuse-Ed)...well exactly...however...
Crunching The Numbers: via the rather erratic statistical graphs and meters about viewer numbers on the blog, indicates that a few 'regular' availees tuned in on Christmas Day...thankyou...and it makes me even more committed to trying to get my facts straight and my aim true, so as to send my barbs through the heart of the wee beastie...(after all, a Fletcher is someone who makes arrows, which by definition must be straight and true or otherwise useless-Ed)...highly educational and historically accurate yet whimsically philosophical without being a complete prat...you're a delight Ed, truly you are...
And I'm sort of half declaring this 'gifting' as I am after all at least half a sort of politician and this 'presenting' was self-identified as being sort of related to my 'politicking', but there's nothing to be admitted about how it might affect my behaviour politically...I am what I am and I do what I do and I say what I say because unfortunately I believe it to be true...and I'm not trying to be noble or even suggest my behaviour is beyond reproach...
And I'm certainly not above using my genuine surprise and pleasure at being acknowledged like that to quantify and preface re-referencing former MP Rory McEwen and the ludicrous and infamous The Border Watch '50c Scone Rort' report as mentioned in a previous post...off all the things to go Rory about...not paying for a scone...absolutely trite, absolutely collusive, absolutely ridiculous...what about the St Martins Child Abuse Issue?...why not go the former member about his extraordinary comments in TBW and his behaviour in general re St Martins?...but I digress...
The Droving: drives me mad, and I've just seen yet another report about it on the ABC praising up the stoic drovers, and the tradition, etc...fair enough...but the 2 main drivers behind the droving are 1) cost, and 2) my good mate Tom Brinkworth...(and yes, it's the same TB who left 100's of his cattle to starve and rot on a South East property several years ago, but the RSPCA ( Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) cocked up the paperwork and he actually received 'compensation'-Ed)...
I note that I have received vastly differing but allegedly definitive recounts of this RSPCA fiasco ranging from 'yes, it was a genuine paperwork mistake', right through to it was 'a deliberate mistake as part of a conspiracy to excuse TB'...gord knows, but the reality is that TB grossly maltreated cattle, and it's not the first time, and I fail to see why some blithe administrative mistake suddenly makes 100's of dead and dying cattle just disappear.
Several months ago there was a story (ABC Landline?) about this current massive cattle-drive from Winton in Queensland to somewhere near Hay in northern New South Wales that at least offered a partially balanced view of the realities about the devastating environmental and economic impact for property owners along that route...as one pastoralist said, 'we rely on this roadside fodder and dwindling creeks, etc, to get our own cattle through the season, and this drive will destroy local waterways and remove any and all feed.'
In an ABC Radio interview 6-7 months ago, TB openly if unintentionally identified the reality of this drive, namely, that he had brought 1,000s of cattle in Queensland and wanted to move them to a property in NSW, but there was no feed at the new site...forget the 'noble tradition' and no offense to those individuals involved, but this is an exercise in saving TB money, with a healthy dose of 'screw you' to everyone along the way.
Mr Brinkworth simply didn't want to stump up for 1) the trucking costs of moving those cattle, and 2) the cost of feeding them on the barren property in NSW if they were moved there immediately by truck...by 'droving' over several months he's not payed for food or water, or for trucking, and by the time they get to NSW, there'll hopefully be some feed grown there.
Is that the time already?...best pull stumps here for today...
Tomorrow: Strictly GDF Again
Rounding out a few more issues covered thus far this year.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers, season's greetings, and laters...
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