The Year Of The Horse

Hello Indonesia, Brazil, France, and Ukraine...(and China of course-Ed)...of course, and welcome to the blog...and of course welcome to the Chinese New Year and start of the Year of the Horse...I may have mentioned that by happenstance of birth I am a Horse (1966)...(and the rest please-Ed)...and a Scorpio...(and-Ed)...and actually a Fire-Horse...(so, a Scorpio Fire-Horse-Ed)...yeah well of course it sounds a lot worse when you say it like that...(what? you mean when I say it like it is...a rather apt metaphor for the entire blog really-Ed)..quite.

And I'm quietly confident that there are those whom will read Scorpio Fire-Horse and 1) promptly burn their laptop, flush their phone, put an adze through their hard-drive, whatever it takes to exorcise the blog...or 2) say "ah, that explains a lot"...or 3) not recognise or understand the implications of SFHness, look it up, and then follow steps 1 or 2...(and the bit about how in Ancient China SFH were killed at birth because they grow up to be 'problematic'-Ed)...charming isn't it...(but it gets even better-Ed)...I don't think I can stand too much more good news.

(According to this here thingy I'm lookin' at, you're also a Walnut Tree...ahaha, it's got 'nut' in it-Ed)...I knew you'd bring that up...please find attached one 'thingy' as a pleasant distraction, namely The Tree of Life (sort of) that is sort of aligned with Celtic Astrology...(so you're a Walnut Scorpio Fire-Horse...ahahahahaha-Ed)...whatevs...and I re-iterate that I don't live my life by this stuff, but the 'Walnut' definition is spookily accurate...(as is the SFH-Ed)...indeed.

Walnut Tree (Passion): unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egotistic, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often admired, ingenious strategist, very jealous and passionate, no compromise...(ahahahahaha-Ed)...shut it. 

Council Action: I am strongly conflicted by a sense of genuine loss that 1) Council is guaranteed to lose 2 of the imminently 'better' Councillors...(has already lost former Deputy Mayor Byron Harfield who has resigned his position and I believe moved to Adelaide-Ed)...of course...and Cr Jim Maher who will not re-nominate come the November 2014 Local Government elections...up against 2) my opinion that both these individuals have a responsibility to remain and at least try to clean up the disastrous mess they have been part of creating over the last 8-10 years.

Whilst I understand that there are many reasons for people to move, eg, be nearer to family, health services, employment, etc, I personally feel that these 'retirements' are fundamentally irresponsible and ultimately very selfish...I'm not going to go through the long list of corrupted, nepotistic, financially shambolic Council decisions they have been party to, because I can easily sum it up in 8 words - Rail Lands Retail Agenda (please see previous posts).

And even when I stand aside from my own opinion, and I do try occasionally, the irrefutable facts about the chronology of planning decisions, development, etc, and the doubling of Council's borrowing capacity, what that money is being spent on, etc, all of this remains as it is I would have you believe...well that's what I think anyway.

A Lack A' ICAC: in the local media re the letters I dropped into the offices of The Border Watch and the ABC Tuesday 21st January 2014...(unless we missed it-Ed)...indeed, then apologies...I've certainly heard nothing from either of them re those Independent Commission Against Corruption letters that completely exonerate Mt Gambier City Council, which I posted about roughly 2 weeks ago.

You Can't Please Everyone: but I'd like to think that most people reading the blog would allow and/or excuse me an occasional rabid swerve off the straight and narrow...admittedly I cringe at some of my own venting, particularly from some earlier posts, and I'm trying hard to express my emotions, concerns, etc,  in more 'respectful' and 'appropriate' ways...(which is quite difficult when you're dealing with such disrespectful and inappropriate issues and/or conduct from others-Ed)...particularly when it comes to 'authorities' protecting a paedophile whilst attacking parents.

Unfortunately Mrs Daw of 'Penola Anti-Fracking' fame is not such a person...yesterday I rang Mrs Daw because 1) she is arguably the 'public face' of opposition, having been on ABC Landline and a speaker at the Penola rally last Friday 24th January, etc, and 2) the announcement via TBW Friday 31st January 2014 by a Mr Steven Davies of Millicent that he intends to run as a 'Pro-Fracking' candidate at the March 15th state election...(deadset?-Ed)...apparently.

I rang Mrs Daw purely as a courtesy to say that when/if I run at the state election I will be making 'Anti-Fracking' one of my major platform issues, but I never got that far...Mrs Daw immediately stated that she had read 'some of the blog' and disagreed with how I went about my business, referring to herself as "an advocate" and to me as "an activist"...basically, she had 'relationships established over 6 years' to protect and didn't want to talk to me...(fair enough, she doesn't have to talk to you-Ed)...true, true...

Anyhoos, I said, as previously posted, that I was not looking for support or alliances and that I had spent most of the last 10 years pushing people away to protect them from the stuff going on in my life, eg, the personal attacks re St Martins...(not impressed?-Ed)...didn't even say 'sorry to hear about what happened to the kids'...don't think she was even listening to me...but I persisted and did the spiel about 'this is just a courtesy call...the election...Mr Davies, etc'...(still not impressed?-Ed)...nope, not really...

But when I tried very politely to point out to her that whatever relationships she thinks she has there's a drilling rig going right there, right now, she took even further offense, restating her commitment to those 'relationships'...again very politely, I explained that I've spent more than 11 years being royally screwed over by people who had promised to help, and Mrs Daw suddenly declared she was late for an appointment, then immediately said it again, and hung up...it was the politest 'hang-up-on-me' I've ever had.

And no Ed, I didn't actually say 'screwed over'...just paraphrasing myself...I was really rather thrown by Mrs Daw's response/reaction but contacted another person related to the Anti-Fracking group to just repeat the 'just a courtesy call, not looking for support or alliance' spiel...and that went a little bit better...

Suffice to say that at least I tried to let the appropriate people know what I intended to do...(a 'heads up' if you will-Ed)...exactly...if someone comes at them wielding a microphone and saying 'who's this prick Nick Fletcher? he says he's an Anti-Fracking candidate', then they'll know what's going on and won't look like bunnies in the headlights...'oh yeah, we know that ding-a-ling but he's not with us, next question'.

And in addition to the 'Anti-Fracking' Greens candidate Mr Baseley, apparently local Independent Member Don Pegler is also an 'Anti-Fracking' Fanatic and has been all over it for a year...(but didn't write to the Environment Minister until December 18th 2014 when the drilling rig was already on site...I'd suggest 'recent convert' rather than 'seasoned campaigner'-Ed)...it's also a very handy issue to include in one's election portfolio...I know I will be...if and when... 

Fetch Me A Bridge That I May Burn It: because I'm bitterly disappointed with the Mt Gambier Residents and Ratepayers Association's last couple of efforts in The Border Watch...I cannot understand why they have been repeatedly, lavishly praising-up Council for it's great work, and now editorialising about what a great bloke Don Pegler is as the Member for Mt Gambier...I'm not exactly sure what it is the RARA is trying to achieve with this praise and support, but they're not dealing with the realities...so what's the point?

Why have a RARA if all they're going to do is congratulate Council for the disastrous series of recent planning/development decisions, the relentless deceits, and the gross financial mis-management that define Council's functioning?

Enough for today, so a full Rail Lands post Tomorrow and then a Wind Turbine catch-up.

PS: I maintain, despite all of the professional observationing otherwise, that the Labor Party spat yesterday between Premier Jay Weatherill (the Left faction ) and federal Senator Don Farrell (Right) was an absolute stunt to puff up Jay as The Boss and exorcise the demons of Factional disunity...bang, bang, bang it's all over by mid-afternoon and Weatherill's in all the evening news services crowing about how great he is.

And briefly in one report I swear I heard something about Weatherill making a statement from Whyalla where he was reportedly announcing an increase to the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme...(but they've been flatly refusing to increase funding, instead doing a 'Review'-Ed)...I know...is there such a thing as wishful hearing?

PPS: Tree Thing as separate post following this one...too much on this post already...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters.