Hello and welcome to the blog and the actual Groundhog Day in the USofA...and I haven't seen the furry little fella's prediction but I'll take a wild guess and suggest that the near blizzard conditions across much of the USofA means that there will be another 6 weeks of Winter...'oh, and we can cross now live to Mr G Hog in Pennsylvania..."thathatha...thatha...thaaathatha"...and I have no idea what he just said Brian, but I'd suggest that being as he was under a metre of snow when he said it, I'd say there's a fair chance of 6 more weeks of winter.'
'But wait, the press conference is being ambushed by what appears to be a Giant Talking Squirrel, yelling something about a pipe...oh, no, my mistake...it's Toronto Mayor Rob Ford'...and isn't Woody Allen a charming individual...(okay...just takin' random potshots at people now?-Ed)...no, the GTS thing is a TMGI Blog in-joke, and the Woody Allen stuff was in the news this morning...and Mr Allen allegedly abused his adopted daughter (at about 7 years old) but he claims his ex-partner Mia Farrow 'coached' the young girl involved as part of an acrimonious breakup.
Now the daughter has re-stated her position that she was abused...(she's probably just jealous because he married the other daughter he adopted with Ms Farrow-Ed)...Ed! you can't say that, not even as a joke...(but it's not a joke, that's what he did, marry his other adopted daughter-Ed)...deadset?...(deadset-Ed)...I withdraw my previous objection with the condition that it be recognised that we're 'joking' about 2 very vulnerable young women and a man of absolute power in their lives who is supposedly their father...(recognised-Ed).
Apologies to postpone the Wind Turbine stuff again but it is something that is covered really well by websites like Stop These Things and National Wind Watch and I've covered my personal position in numerous previous posts...I maintain that there needs to be a formal inquiry into the connections and/or deals between former Labor Premier Mike Rann, the Grant District Council and all of it's senior officers elected and/or employed, and the Wind Turbine Developer Acciona...look it up yourselves and I believe you'll find that there's a direct connection between Mike Rann and Acciona.
I further maintain that Acciona withdrew from the Court Appeal because 1) Mike Rann changed the law overnight in September/October 2011 which meant that they could just re-submit another application and it couldn't be stopped, which itself means 2) that the connections between Rann/Acciona/Grant District Council re the Allendale Project as defeated by Richard Paltridge...(go you good thing-Ed)...can all be excised/exorcised and any malfeasance neatly buried.
It is just an educated, angry, hippy guesstimation/prediction but it wouldn't surprise me if all involved are waiting for some related 'Statute of Limitations' to pass, and therefore there won't be any investigation of any issues re the original Project, before re-submitting applications for Turbines around Allendale.
Were Turbines Operating?: yesterday when it was the hottest day ever recorded in Mt Gambier, reportedly 44.9C, breaking the record set only a fortnight ago, and even hotter than Adelaide at 44.6C...at Keith (half way between Mt Gambier and Adelaide) it was nearly 46.5C...today it's going to be only 25C in the Mount (made only 23C)...we may be 32kms inland but long live the sea breeze...still going to hit 40C across the Riverland...(strewth-Ed)...
The current drought across Queensland and New South Wales worsens to the point that farmers are set to if are not already shooting stock because they can't afford feed...(if they can get any-Ed)...indeed...and can't sell them...what a horrendous situation it is that the most humane thing farmers can do is shoot their animals...and there's the Nationals Barnaby Joyce braying about how terrible it is and how there should be money for stricken farmers...(and so there should be, you're not questioning that are you?-Ed).
Absolutely not, it's disastrous alright, I just don't know which Barnaby we're dealing with...the one who's vehemently opposed to Foreign Ownership and is battling for the average person on the land...or the one who flits about Asia in Gina Rinehart's private jet and celebrates the sale of a massive Northern Territory property to Indonesia...(you're suggesting that possibly Barnaby isn't quite as committed to Mr and Mrs Average Farmer as he perhaps once was-Ed)...I wouldn't have put it quite so diplomatically, but yes.
Plain Offensive: and wholly unbelievable and insightfully indicative...the Weatherill Labor government's sudden and complete about-face on the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme funding issue...(well the good news is you didn't imagine it then-Ed)... indeed, but I don't believe a word of it...this is yet another knee-jerk reaction from Labor in the same way they mimicked Liberal proposals from the 2010 state election, eg, duplicating the Southern Expressway and building a 'new oval'.
As late as Tuesday last week (28/01/2014) Labor's Health Minister Jack 'The Rat ' Snelling was ruling out an increase in funding as per his 'PATS Review', and only weeks ago local MP Don Pegler was supporting that 'Review' (previous posts)...since then I've heard them furiously cross-promoting each other and/or the sudden reversal by Labor...on the Tuesday Labor's all 'hey no way, get stuffed, stuff off'...then Wednesday the Liberals announce $1million for PATS and Friday it's all 'hey here's a massive 33% increase we completely ruled out 3 days ago'.
And the inherent reality is that both amounts are an offensive acknowledgement of the gross lack of services in Regional areas, in essence and by definition a handful of coins cast before the plebs by the gracious lord...(bloody hippy-Ed)...ci...I'm Nick Fletcher and if I'm the Member for Mt Gambier I promise to lobby for actual services in Mt Gambier and $3m more for PATS...nah, what the heck, make it $4m...dah, hang it all, have $6m, it's only money.
What these gracious remittances...bow, scrape, grovel...address, with infinite wisdom and guidance...genuflect, curtsy, sublimate...is only a very small part of accessing health services 450kms from your home...time, lost income, expenses in Adelaide, who runs the farm, who's looking after kids, family, etc, if their carer is looking after you at chemo, etc...the huge stressors involved in just accessing treatment has an officially recognised detrimental effect on health outcomes for Regional patients...
Further, I reckon this reversal is a bit of a nod to a degree of panic in the Labor Party that they now need to consider the possibility of a return to the 2002 election scenario where they needed 2 alleged Independents from Regional seats to form government...(well one alleged Independent, one alleged National-Ed)...true...from absolutely nothing to a 33% increase just like that...
Beyond that, it is absolutely unacceptable for local Member Don Pegler to claim credit for this bizarre and unbelievable Labor declaration...only weeks ago Mr Pegler was in The Border Watch, fully supportive of the current Labor 'PATS Review' that is/was about how to make the current $8million yearly funding go further by denying more people access to PATS refunds...(in fact he was taking credit for it-Ed)...quite...
It is only a matter of time before Labor praise-up their man Mr Pegler again, repeating their efforts of last week...and bingo Le Rat on ABC Radio praising up Don for all his great work...it's too much too cover here so I'll do some more tomorrow and/or the day after.
And just going through some more Salvation Army/Royal Commission stuff (ABC/SBS) so I've had enough for today...best to stop before I say something irresponsible...
Tomorrow:TFTIM Former Liberal Leader Rob Kerin
Ah, those heady days of flitting about the Hallowed Halls of Power in a drug induced haze...well if you include chemo and radiotherapy...days that included meeting Robbo maaate, my mate Robbie, the Robster, the Robstarrrr, Robbity-Bobbity, Kero...maaate...arsehole...(oh charming, I thought you were stopping before you were, and I quote, "irresponsible"-Ed)...just tellin' it like is...just another mealy mouthed liar who promised me, to my face, action on the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up and then did the best part of stuff all.
And this has current implications because Robbo, mate, was the first head of Regional Development Australia and is now head of Primary Producers...(strewth cobber-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters....maaaate...
No comments:
Post a Comment