100% Bike Lanes...But First

(Noooo, no no no no no-Ed)...so no then...(no, I mean yes...no...yes-Ed)...just quickly? come on...(ok, ok just quickly, go on-Ed)...hello Aotearoa (New Zealand), Czech Republic, France, and Chile and welcome to the blog...and apologies to Mr Johnathan Thurstons of the Queensland Cowboys for calling him thingy yesterday...had a blank and was too distracted, too lazy, sorry Mr Thurstons...and it was he what cut crook last year about the referee's decision costing his team the game, hence a place in the Grand Final, etc...(just saw him last night on telly being tipped to win the NRL Best and Fairest-Ed)...

2) Former After School Carer Mark Harvey who raped an 8 year old girl in his care, was convicted as a Child Rapist but sentenced to only 5 years, then was convicted of further abuses against 4 more very young kids and got another 3 years, for a total of only 8 years, non-parole of just 3 yrs 3 months...(absolutely outrageous, a bloody disgrace...3&3 for raping an 8 year old and multiple other abuses against 4 others, 3&3 as the total from 2 separate hearings...sickening pro-paedophile leniency-Ed)...indeed, it's almost like the Court...(2 Courts-Ed)...looks like 2 Courts, the Judiciary, Whatevs, doesn't consider raping an 8 year old to be such a bad thing...

A Purely Comparative Theorising: prefaced with a big thankyou to whoevs suggested some time back that I remove my Guy Fawkes joke...I was wrong, you were right, it's exactly the sort of thing that could be used against me given the current security frenzy...one cannot be too careful...(shh, what was that?-Ed)...that, sir, was you being a dick...(orr yeah-Ed)...anyhoos, purely as comparison, one wonders what the sentence would be for raping a Magistrate as compared to this sentence for the rape of an 8 year old girl in School Care...  

Mark Harvey has just had his ludicrously lenient sentence increased after an Appeal by the Dept Public Prosecutions...(well at least that's something-Ed)...to a grand total of 11 years with a non-parole of 6&6...(but that's still less than 7 years for multiple abuses including rape, against multiple victims, and that's the ones we know of-Ed)...indeed...it's a sickening, saddening disgrace that looks like an insidious game of manipulation to try and give the DPP some credibility...(or worse, it's just the reality of how pro-paedohhile the South Australian Courts are-Ed)...I reckon it's both mate...the Courts are effectively pro-paedophile and this is a stunt to try and get credibility for a wholly corrupted system...

What very much concerns me is that some other Child Abuse cases seem to have 'disappeared' off the media cycle, and in a state where we have a particular government Authority that I'm reduced to referring to as Club Go Go Bananas and the Banana Lord...(even though you've not been charged with anything-Ed)...indeed...the Banana Lord who has the extraordinary power to order absolute media censorship...(even if it's not an issue/case/whatevs before that Authority-Ed)...indeed, absolute censorship including not being allowed to report at all that you've been censored/silenced/whatevs...more tomorrow...

Bike Lanes: Thankyou for the 'Comment' that is a question and apologies that it is my style as such that I tend to ramble 'round to things and/but I have covered a lot of this stuff in previous posts...but here we are now...it is a very convoluted issue that has already been immeasurably complicated by ludicrous planning decisions that appear to have been made from a desk by a person who has never seen so much as a map of Mt Gambier...(he's trying to say that Bike Lanes aren't the problem, it's where they've been shoved and how and why-Ed)...thankyou Ed...and also where they aren't...

In The Beginning: is personal responsibility and mutual respect and co-operation that means that pedestrians, cyclists, and all motorists can interact to their collective benefit and safety...but unfortunately we live in this world so let's deal with that and in this world it's the mighty metal mangleboxes that do the most damage because they're big and like made of metal and stuff...it is incumbent of all vehicle drivers to be aware that their actions are the most critical...people make mistakes, do stupid things...(well you've had girlfriends-Ed)...but it's the car that usually wins so it's a driver's responsibility...

It's down to the vehicle driver to be aware of whom/what/where's that bastard on the motorbike who keeps lane swapping in and out of my rearview and what are those 2 bloody kids on skateboards getting near the kerb opposite Maccas about to do and can I drive up that bike lane/carpark lane or is it the bike lane hours, do I have to go wide, damn there's a parked car, are there people on that bloody 2m wide painted 'death-zone' bullshit island thing, etc, etc, etc...drivers have the responsibility and it helps if we don't sit in each other's blind spots, race up to corners where there are pedestrians, etc...  

Drivers do have the ultimate responsibility to be aware/beware/wee bare/whatevs and make adjustments and allowances, etc...problem is not everyone does that and that's right where ya' start havin' ya' problem right there...(ah yeah, I can just see it there-Ed)...yep, that's gunna' be expensive too...(oh dear-Ed)...gunna' have to get the parts in......anyhoos, joking aside, there will always be problems with cycles on busy roads because they are vulnerable...    

Right Down The Guts: is not just how ya' play ol' fashin' footy, it's exactly where Mt Gambier should already have a bloody great bike lane/footpath/whatevs...right down the guts right along the Ol' Rail Easement/Corridor...(orrr not the bloody Easement again-Ed)...indeed, but in a slightly different context, but a context that is irretrievably linked to the Rail Lands Retail Agenda because of the millions wasted on that site, at least some of which should have already been spent on this project...(I'll give you that one-Ed)...and years ago too...

Mt Gambier should already have a main arterial bike lane/footpath/third runway from one end of town to the other, and then take that all the way to Frances or Bordertown or wherevs and Portland in the opposite direction, whatevs, bring in family biking holidays from across Europe, Asia, etc...the perfect, safe family holiday cycling down through the South East on a designated track...link it up to the Great South West Walk thingy through Victoria...there's some gold-plated Tourism ideas right there...but back in the Mount, with this main corridor established, utilising the current rails as the form for the track, simply fill and bitumenise...it's literally that easy...camber off the side with crushed Limestone...

I personally believe that for the safety of the riders that cyclists shouldn't ride on the main sections of Penola Rd or along Jubilee Hwy because the traffic is too fast, too frequent and with plenty of trucks in the mix...it is a dangerous place to be on a bike...I'm a very confident driver but don't feel safe going through the Wireless Rd/Penola Rd in a car, forget doing it on a bicycle...there are also issues of cyclist/pedestrian egress at Jubilee Hwy, with only 2 signalled crossing points, 3-4 kms apart, eg, the Crouch St Nth Bike Lanes suddenly end just short of Jubilee Hwy at the very tricky S-bend Crouch St intersection, then start again just on the other side...

Because of the bend in the highway there is very limited eyelines for oncoming traffic but no protection at all for cyclists/pedestrians/poor bastards staggering off the interstate bus asking 'where the hell are we?', etc, etc...as stated in a previous post, I believe that those lanes should run down behind the Lady Nelson building to a staggered pedestrian crossing that leads directly across Jubilee Hwy, up the back of Frew Pk oval there, and onto Ferrers St, on through to the Rail Corridor Accessway...this utilises the much quieter Ferrers St which also runs right up to the Blue Lake...much more to come on bike/pedestrian/public transport to come...

In a nutshell, I believe that bikes can be used on roads that are naturally safer than others, but putting lanes in place just fro the sake of it, eg, Penola Rd at HungJs, that's a disaster...more tomorrow...and the Artificial Lake on the Rail Lands was yesterday fulled-up from the tap and according to the ABC there's been a huge response about the safety issues...you know what I think of it, so more bike stuff but also...

Tomorrow: Indignant Tones And The Death Pit Of Stupidity

Below please find attached 2 photos of 1) the large pipes that SAWater is installing from one side of the hill behind me, through here, and down to town basically straight ahead...another large pipe appears to be going right from here toward the Eastern side...and SAWater is sparing no expense, with state of the art technologies expertly applied for precision outcomes with this critical infrastructure...(so what's that second photo?-Ed)...that's a stick stuck in the ground with some pink ribbon tied to it marking where the pipe is going...(classic-Ed)...

Along with all the usual spray-painted grass markings', etc, there was this 'ere stick...(do you think we should tell them we moved it 2 feet to the East?-Ed)...probably not, what given that we didn't and all...and if we said we had moved it and they moved it back they'd be moving it away from where it should be...(thinking they're putting it back again-Ed)...exactly...but then again, if one wanted them to move it without one actually touching it oneself which would just be wrong, then one might attempt to create a false belief that indeed the super high-tech 'stick with a pink ribbon' technology had somehow been compromised...

(I'm confused, did you move it or not?-Ed)...no, no, it's just hilarious because that stick is an actual thing but I'm also just doing a 'dead joke zone' thang about how easy it is to create a falsehood should one wish and that it's never my intention to do that...I make mistakes, have my own biases, opinions clouded by trauma, etc, etc, but deliberate deceit is not my suite...

Written and Authorised buy Nick Fletcher I mean by Nick Fletcher ahaha haaaa...(do it properly-Ed)...sorry...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, Kooringa St, Mt Gambier...cheers and laters...

I Tried To Get On The Bikes, Honest

Hello India, Brazil, China, and Mexico and welcome to the blog...today I'd like to address the comment/question re Bike Lanes...(so more pedalling of your particular brand of political bastardry then...go on, what's wrong with bloody Bike Lanes?...you'll be having a go at the flowers next-Ed)...steady on, peoples is the problem not the lanes per se...(ahh yeah, whatevs-Ed)...but first...

It was way wet down Wye way when I went by that way on my way back from Portland the other day...(Wye?-Ed)...I was coming back from my knee appointment in Portland...(yeah I know, not 'why?', Wye?-Ed)...because my knees are buggered, I told you...(yes, I know that, but where is Wye?-Ed)...what? 'where is why?'?...(no not why, Wye, who what or where is Wye?-Ed)...Wye is where I was, why?...(so Wye is a where, but where is there?-Ed)...there is where I was when I was at Wye...........(ever feel like you've strayed into someone else's routine?-Ed)...who's?...(on first-Ed)......
Good Onya' Bike Lanes: because I do support people being able to get about safely on bicycles or as pedestrians or even as vehicle jockeys, but what should happen with Bike Lanes and what's actually happened/is happening in Mt Gambier are 2 distinctly different aminals...for example, what has been done on Penola Rd at Frew Pk, etc, is such an absolute debacular that, and may I be so very wrong, that it will cause accidents that will probably involve a pedestrian or cyclist...if you've got a free afternoon have a coffee at Hungry Jack's there and watch the disastrous confusion created by the Bike Lanes, side streets, multiple driveways, ludicrous 2m wide painted island, etc...it's a planning debasco of the highest order...

(If a debacle/fiasco is a 'debasco' does that make a spectacular debacle a 'spectacle'?-Ed)...quite possibly...just today I was through there and with a car parked outside the ABC and cars trying to turn into HungJs, etc, traffic was blocked and confusion reigned and it wasn't even very busy, just these cars stuck half across the painted island...etc, etc...similar incident on Wireless Rd this arvo...sorry to jump off Bike Lanes here but I do have many concerns about how they have been applied across Mt Gambier, but they are only one of numerous 'safe transport, safe transit' issues across Mt Gambier so that full post tomorrow...sorry...bottom-line, I support safe biking, etc, but what's been done in Mt Gambier largely justifies and/or creates opposition to lanes...tomorrow...

Men's Watch Suicide Prevention Program: is unfortunately a very necessary initiative and to be fully supported, which is why I didn't go to the Mt Gambier meeting...(is this that whole 'I feel when I show up it changes the tone of the room, and not for the better' thing?-Ed)...indeed, and thankyou for being aware of those issues, but you can remove the 'I feel' bit because it just is what it is...(ain't nuthin' but a Thang?-Ed)...indeed...and there have been a coupla' other Suicide Prevention events that I didn't attend for the same reason. eg, the Out Of The Shadows walk...

Even if it's 100% my delusional self-aggrandisin'...(but it ain't people, it ain't-Ed)...yes, but even if it is, consider living your life in absolute isolation, feeling massively vilified by the community you've effectively destroyed your own life to try and support and improve...(surely the duty of any good citizen in any society-Ed)...indeed...but alone, vilified and widely hated for the heinous crime of giving a damn, and know that the nicest thing you can do for Suicide Prevention meetings and/or Mental Health groups, etc, is to just stay the forget away...(yeah, that's some heavy shizzle dude-Ed)...

(Isn't that going to compromise your ability to function as Mayor though in the unlikely event you are elected?-Ed)...2 things, namely 2) it ain't as unlikely as some would choose/hope to believe...(damn straight-Ed)...and 1) it's a completely different context, and one where donning the robes perfectly suits me in divesting myself of my personal political accoutrement out of respect for the role/position...and on that point I have the right to expect nay demand that as Mayor I would/should/will be treated with the respect I intend to return to said office...

The ongoing/running joke is that anyone could be a better, more respectful Mayor just by showing up for shizzle...(hilarious but sadly true-Ed)...and I can personally demand that I be treated with the same respect and control and decorum as I have exhibited time and time again at dozens of Council meetings, forums, etc...(large angry hippy says what? every time you go near one of these things it kicks off...you've just said so yourself in this bloody post!-Ed)...exactly, which is why I can demand I be treated with absolute respect as should the office because the office should have the respect of the citizens...and it doesn't...

(No no no, stop that, I know you're trying to suck me into explaining your point for you, your self-justification, but I've been at those meetings and I've seen what a debasco they can be, and it's always you at the centre of it...always-Ed)...absolutely...(stop that, I was at those Budget 'Consultation' meetings last year and at every single one there was a broohaha involving you, often several-Ed)...yep...(yep? Councillors were waving their hands at you and talking over you and telling you to be quiet and up outta' their chairs a coupla' times half-yelling at ya', and twice you got into a confrontation with Mayor Steve Perryman and damn you you've done it again haven't you?-Ed)...yep...

(Yet again you've pushed me into explaining your otherwise ludicrous and extravagant claims-Ed)...yep...(because at those meetings all of the abuse and aggression and confrontation was at you not by you-Ed)...beautifully put Ed, 'not by me, at me'...I like it, I'm going to use it...(because you asked appropriate questions on critical issues in a polite, calm and quiet manner and were met with a wall of disrespectful abuse, up to and including Mayor Perryman twice trying to bully and intimidate you, actually trying to manufacture some sort of incident-Ed)...yep...

(Damn you...when Mayor Perryman went right around the room to come up behind you and actually lean on the back of your chair and lean over the top of you and start mouthing-off, and all you needed to do was stand up to knock him on his arse, but you didn't...and then he came into another meeting, again went right 'round the room to sit right next to you, actually moving closer and whacking his chair into your bag, and you just got up and moved across the room-Ed)...yep...(all of that was done to you not by you-Ed)...damn straight...

(And that is why you're so iffy about showing up for things, because this is what happens, and it's not how you behave, you just have to be there-Ed)...exactly...and I went to the Leukemia Foundation's Light The Night walk last evening because 1) I am a Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor, and 2) it was dark so there was a relative anonymity...ironically ran into a coupla'  people who were pleased to see me and there was much politicing, yay...(yay-Ed)...

And of course there was the attempted provocation at the March 2010 State Election Forum at the Helpmann Theatre, with Liberal candidate Mayor Perryman mouthing-off in my ear when the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up was raised during question time, trying to get me to react and therefore hopefully not get to address the question...(yeah, I hadn't forgotten...and then he, Labor candidate Viv Maher, soon to be Member Don Pegler, and Family First's Henk Bruins just sat there with their heads pathetically bowed and not one of them stood up to address a situation they all knew all about because you'd told them-Ed)...damn straight...

By acts of omission or averting their eyes...

Tomorrow: More Bike Lanes Stuff

(More? more? you've hardly touched it today, again-Ed)...yeah, sorry, it's not a deliberate ploy to get people to keep coming back to the blog to see if an issue is ever resolved/finalised/whatevs, therefore improving my 'view numbers'......(insert embarrassed silence here).......it's just how I roll...(what, off Relevance Road and into a field of bloomin' Distractions?-Ed)...hilarious...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier...cheers and laters... 

A Healthy Disrespect

Hello South Korea, Netherlands, Romania, and Poland and welcome to the blog...lots to catch-up on so let us all to be getting stuck in...and a pre-emptive apology for not getting to the Bike Lanes today...I consider this a very serious issue with many aspects and worthy of a full post, so promises he said, a full post tomorrow on Bike Lanes, Public Transport, the Rail Lands/Corridor debasco (debacle/fiasco), etc...

Went to Portland (Victoria) on Friday for my latest appointment re ma' knees and am on the list for an arthroscopy on one, a replacement for the other...(but you already knew that-Ed)...indeed, but had to sign stuff to get in line and stuff...(oh right-Ed)...which means that, minus say 3 months for appointments I missed because it is a 3hr+ round trip, that it's taken about 4 months even less to get a referral to Portland Hospital, an appointment with the specialist there, an immediate appointment for an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan in Warrnambool, a follow up in Portland and now I'm already on the public waiting list for surgery...

I offer in contrast my experience of the last 5-6 years of an uncaring GP and surgeon in Mt Gambier who in that time couldn't between them even organise an appointment in Adelaide to see if I'd get an MRI and never even mentioned Portland, etc...5+ years and not even the ridiculous 'appointment to see if I'd even get an appointment'...it is a clear indication of the gaping chasm between Health Care provision in Regional SA and Regional Victoria, a chasm widened by the practitioners I've had stuff me about so badly in Mt Gambier...(wow, say what you really mean-Ed)...no, forget them...

Forget them because I was already in trouble with my knees when I started down this road, and their collective incompetence and disinterest mired in bigotry and judgementalism have destroyed whatever hope I had of repairing that damage, next stop, The Bionic Hippy...(ok, ok sorry, I know your knees always hurt, and now one's completely rooted, I'm sorry, you're right, you have every reason to be furious and scathingly critical...it clearly goes way beyond mere incompetence and into the realms of deliberate maltreatment...and didn't you have problems with the same GP and the Disability Support Pension stuff?-Ed)...ah yes, thankyou so much for reminding me...

After years of being rudely shunted around the Disability Sector in Mt Gambier, I finally wound up with a professional psychologist who immediately diagnosed massive Chronic Depression, Agoraphobia, etc, but my GP initially refused to sign off on it...(whatta' bastard-Ed)...indeed...and please excuse Ed and I unloading anonymously on these 2 clowns re my knees, but it's probably best given what I'm currently saying about their multiple gross failures to engage in my Health Provision, and any potential future actions re these issues...

It's one thing to make genuine mistakes, even critical ones, but I'm not going to put up with some goose who has deliberately mucked me about and failed to provide even basic care let alone support...sounds like a bit of a whinge I know but I'll spell it all out in a post because I do genuinely believe that these 2 have deliberately stuffed me about, and at best have allowed their personal biases and opinions compromise the care I should have received...neither should ever happen...to anyone...

The Mayoringly Obvious: this is clearly a situation where the gross underfunding of facilities and services, and the $27m just spent on the Mt Gambier hospital will make little difference, particularly with Mental Health Care provision, these failures to fund and/or staff properly, combined with the escalating state debt and unrelenting Adelaidecentric governance, both courtesy of Labor, means that as Mayor of Mt Gambier I will happily albeit sans choice actively engage with the Western Victorian Health Services as being unfortunately vital to improved Health provision for Mt Gambier...

I put it to several people in Portland that my recent experience with them and Warrnambool confirms a point I've made previous like on this 'ere blog, namely, that Mt Gambier is in the 'Provision Catchment' of both these Victorian hospitals...the second largest city in SA and we have to go across that bloody imagined dotted line, that cartographic construct that sticks Mt G in the arse end of nowhere, in the bottom corner of who gives a damn... 

I note that in the same week that Turkey officially opened it's borders to accept refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq, that we sent Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to quaff champagne with the Cambodians to celebrate sending 5 Refugees there ...at a cost of $40m...pop!...that's champagne Foreign Policy right there that is...(wooooo...sorry, hang on, did you say 5?-Ed)...yep...(not 500, or even 50, 5?-Ed)...4 or 5, you know, don't want to rush into anything, commit to unachievable numbers and then have to pare it back...($40m for 5 people?-Ed)...not quite, $40m across 4 years, starting with 5 people in the first year...

(Tell you what...bring 'em to my house at say, $1m a piece, and I'll see they live a life of luxury, security and joy...and I won't have too bad a bloody time of it either cheers knuckleheads, I'm off to the Caymans-Ed)...but you don't have the money yet...(dah shit, I just got all excited and stuff...and it was such a good plan too-Ed)...yeah nah, never mind...moving on...

Didn't watch the AFL Grand Final yesterday, just can't be bothered anymore, it's an entirely corrupted and confected result mired in Victorian belief that they own 'football'...ít is run as a business not a sport...(isn't Port Adelaide the oldest, most successful club in the country?-Ed)...shhh, I'd thank you to not go bringin' ya' facts and truths onto this 'ere blog...when I look at the AFL I see so many things that are so wrong with our society...the AFL is the biggest boys club in the country and is completely compromised by a pro-Victorian agenda and associated corruption...

For some reason Round 6 2006 leaps into my mind as the day that the AFL decided that they had to regain control of their precious baby...on that date I reckon you'll find that nearly all the top 8 teams are 'interstate' with most of the last decades Premierships...even if that's just something I've concocted for myself at that time it's a fair summary of what's played out since...it's irrefutable that the entire AFL timetable is organised around ensuring Collingwood plays in certain 'blockbuster' games, eg, ANZAC Day...not my theory, I saw part of an interview with then AFL CEO Andrew Demitriou where this was put to him and he agreed, stating that it's because 'they have a big following'...(so it's 'bums on seats, laddie, bums on seats'?-Ed)...exactly...

How many games have I watched where dodgy umpiring keeps one team, usually Victorian most probably Collingwood, keeps them in the game until they can play for themselves...to quote my own joke 'ít looks like one team throws the ball to each other while the other team hits them in the head, and Collingwood gets the free kick'...(hilarious because it also covers Rugby, just with whatevs team for the NRL-Ed)...well it sure as heck ain't that whatevs Queensland team, because I remember an interview with their captain Thingy Thurstons (?) from last year when he straight out said they'd been shafted 2 years running and the whole thing was crook...

I've all but given up watching any sport, eg, Cricket, Rugby, etc...I watched some of the NRL (National Rugby League) finals and generally I've got no idea what's happening but even the commentators were identifying 'unfortunate decisions' that cost 2 teams their respective games, and that that one Queensland team had been knocked-out of the finals 3 years in a row now by dodgy refereeing decisions...this is what the experts were saying on the TV commentary...it appears that New South Wales considers it 'owns' the NRL as the Victorians reckon they own the AFL...

Most Unfortunate: when doing a story on morning TV about Pacific islands threatened by rising sea levels, under the heading, 'We Are The Canary' and in the ticker underneath runs 'RAAF to start bombing today'...they were of course referring to the current 'mission' in Iraq...(whatever 'mission' actually means-Ed)...well observed sir, well observed...(but you're right, it wasn't so much funny as jarring...getting "our hands to the plower", now that's funny-Ed)...'plower'? what's a plower?...(I'll explain tomorrow...

Just looking at my statistics page stuff for the 600th post and was surprised but not shocked that one of the leading 'Referring URLs' is also a direct link to multiple dating sites and/or straight to porn, webcams, etc...I was genuinely dismayed that a number of these sites were/are spruiking how their site will help you have extra-marital affairs without having to try too hard...(that really is rather sad-Ed)...indeed...for all my faults and failings, I have very strong beliefs re personal respect, etc, and that includes fidelity in a relationship/marriage/whatevs...being married and going onto websites to cheat, this is stuff that just seems really wrong and really sad...

(Does this mean people are searching for porn and winding up on your blog, or searching TMGI and finding porn, or even that it's just one of those 'trawling sites' that have keywords attached to draw in unrelated search enquiries?-Ed)...ummm, I have no idea, but I'd guess the last one...

Tomorrow: A Full Bike Lanes Post 

Excuse please these last coupla' jolty posts sans humour, but I'm trying to spend as much time away from the house as possible which means dragging this into the night 'cos I don't have a bloody laptop at the mo' to work on during the day...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier...yes, I know it seems a little ridiculous to keep saying this but as best I can tell it's the appropriate thing to do re the Local Government Election...cheers and laters...

600th Post Of Bike Words And Stuff

Hello and welcome to the blog...apologies for no post yesterday but long day, spent largely away from home including driving to Portland and back (220kms) and of course no laptop to work on, SAPol still have it...also went round and round in very small circles for days trying to prepare a polite CV for the Community Action Sustainability group re their material re the Local Government Elections...(how's that coming along then? he asked mockingly-Ed)...just swimmingly...

So Embarrassment: that I couldn't work out my new 'word document' program and had to just send CAS an email and then forgot to save myself a copy of my own email, after days spent trying to climb down off my high-horse, knobble my hobby-horse, retrieve moderation from the expired equine floggin' of relentless bloggin' and yet still say what I feel needs to be said...(well I think you do just fine, really I do, but I get the idea that it takes a bit to pull back given the momentum, dare I say it style, that this 'ere blog has-Ed)...cheers...

600th Post: is a bit of a guesstimation given various 'no post today's', etc, but never-the-less a perfect opportunity to respond to a comment recently left on the blog re Bike Lanes...(it really stuffs you up doesn't it when people are polite let alone nice to you?-Ed)...the cheap-shot answer is that I'm just not that used to it I guess...(fair enough-Ed)...but truly I feel obliged to be polite if people are to me and indeed it's my natural disposition...what really gets to me is when people say they trust me and/or rely on me...  

Someone else placing their genuine trust in me is a guarantee of reciprocated trust and commitment...deadset, when I commit I make the Terminator look like a temporary try-hard...people have politely noted that I can be 'rather intense'...(damn straight-Ed)...this is the stuff I've covered re why I don't attend some (many) functions, given that me just walking into a room can drastically alter the tone and the mood...and it ain't all bad...

Particularly with the Child Protection stuff I sometimes startle myself as to how strong I've been, continue to be...and within that the beautiful irony that for all I've the trauma and sense of failure and subsequent mental illness, etc, it is suffering born of strength and suffering bourne of strength...(whaaa?-Ed)...it is because I have been so strong in standing my ground despite what I've suffered for it that I suffer for it, and I manage to bear that massive burden because of that same strength...strength creates that which it helps endure...

(I will never grow tired of berating you about how annoying it is you constantly write absolutely contradictory statements that encapsulate perfectly the deep and abiding 'insanity' that is your greatest strength, you're just not normal people and it takes 'just not normal' to be able to do what you do-Ed)...ta' Ed...and whilst I do like to bang on 'bout how everybody hates me think I'll go eat worms', I would like to thank those who increasingly have worked past the 'Nick Fletcher's a crazy trouble-making bastard' stuff to the 'Nick Fletcher's a crazy trouble-making bastard, but he's genuine, and he's right'...

Also a perfect time to re-iterate that, whilst I'd prefer to be 'self-funded' rather than on the Disability Support Pension, and a home-owner rather than a Housing Trust Tenant, none of this dulls my keen sense of gratitude and appreciation that for all our faults and failings I live in a society (and hope to continue living in such a society) that seeks to support all of it's peoples...and so it is that I crash headlong through my personal gratitude to my personal and I believe collective National shame re the treatment meted out to Aboriginal people...I'm not ashamed to be white, but I'm deeply ashamed about how we as the dominant culture continue to treat Aboriginal people...

First peoples, First Nation, WWI and WWII heroes in Europe but not recognised as human back in Oz, their country, until 1966, etc, etc, and this week there's been a lot of stuff about the official Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal peoples...I do not understand this even as a concept...our Australia is Aboriginal country stolen with poisoned bread and velocitous lead and we are in their country to their great detriment... Aboriginal people are Australian people, end of story...clearly my layperson's understanding of the Australian Constitution  has not enlightened me as to the section that specifically dis-counts Aboriginal peoples as being Oz citizens...

(I'm no Constitutionalist traditionalist either but I think it's about the fact that Aboriginal people are not specifically referenced therefore considered excluded...but I agree that it's a white-boys argument about achieving white-boy gaols regardless of how it affects others, particularly Indigenous peoples-Ed)...I was just stunned to hear former Liberal Minister Amanda Vanstone on ABC/BBC Radio interviewing a former Keating Labor government Minister (name?-sorry) with Mr Minister rancidly vilifying Aboriginal people for all of 'the advantages they enjoy for being Aboriginal'...(deadset?-Ed)...I kept waiting for the bit where I realise that he was being completely facetious and sarcastic, but it just never came...absolutely atrocious...

This was on Radio National...whatta' bloody disgrace...I thought I'd tuned into the Opinionated Rascists Hour only to realise that yes I had...in a different story elsewhere it was explained how one WWI Aboriginal soldier was having his pay intercepted by authorities and taken when he sent it home to his wife and kids, and consequently the children were taken off the 'destitute' mother...I wept, like a child, tearing-up again now...what an absolute disgrace, and I don't give a forget that it was 100 years ago, it's just wrong, so very, very wrong...

I note that North Sydney Council is fighting back against the Mayor and Local Government Minister who claim that the entire Council is "dysfunctional and unwholesome" and are trying to suspend it...the Councillors claim that it's a confected conflict to justify/allow this move, possibly to remove opposition to some building developments...whilst I can't second guess each and every player, it appears to be effectively a different problem to Wangaratta Council in Victoria who have already been suspended...won't go into it here, but there's plenty on the Interweb...

 Apologies that I haven't actually got to the 2 things I wanted to cover today, namely the Bike Lanes stuff and my little day trip to Portland, but please excuse the indulgence of a little self-reflection for this 'ere the 600th post...(600 posts, 155,000+ views, hilarious-Ed)...indeed, but today's loss is gainage for...

Tomorrow: Bike Lanes and Portland

Please find attached a beautiful sunrise, just for the hell of it, that had this really weird rounded cloud hangin' in the middle there...and 2 photos of the Vally Lake, taken from the Nelson Rd as I returned from Portland yesterday...they're unfortunately not as clear as the actual event, but as that cloud pushed across Mt Gambier it appeared to be billowing out of the crater...this happens not infrequently as the wind sweeping over the lip drags cloud down into the Valley Lake crater, but this really looked like an eruption...you can sort of get the idea I hope...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier...cheers and laters...

And When I Said One, I Mental

Hello and welcome to the blog Hong Kong, Canada, the USofA, and France...and just for the record, when I talk about Mentals and stuff I talks about meselfs as what is someone finally officially diagnosed in late 2011with Acute Depression/Anxiety/Agoraphobia/whatevs and shoved I mean thoughtfully placed on the Disability Support Pension...after years of being bounced around the Disability Sector but on NewStart payments...(how does that happen?-Ed)...well, it helps if you're special...(very special-Ed)...very...

In My Defense: what I call a bad day is probably the equivalent of someone else's life-changing nervous breakdown...as put to me by a social worker in 2006, I presented with a 'raft of issues any one of which could effectively cripple someone's life'...I have had to become somewhat accustomed to existing in a state of perpetual stress and pressure that would render others catatonic...to the other extreme I enjoy the financial support of a 'poverty-wage' DSP, and partly-supported Social Housing...

On that issue, I consider the $63,000 plus allowances for the Mayorship to be a crass extravagance, an extravagance exacerbated by the spasmodic no-show attitude of Mayor Steve Perryman...it is a perfectly appropriate observation for any Mt Gambier Mayoral aspirant to make, namely, 'I only have to show up for the things a Mayor should...(and not lie when you're there-Ed)...okay, 'and not lie when I'm there', show up and not lie, to be a better Mayor than Mr Perryman...

This is clearly not a politically expedient criticism on my part and is indeed a frequent public criticism of Mr Perryman...and this is a problem now with doing the blog and effectively second-guessing what might be deemed to be inappropriate by authorities re the Local Government Election...but this stuff about Mayor Perryman ain't new news in this 'ere blog...(that and his shipload of 'Conflict Of Interests'-Ed)...absolutely...people are not happy to learn that, for example, minutes before voting to contract the Old Hospital Demolition, in itself a terrible decision, that minutes before that went to Adelaide based McMahons, Mayor Perryman left the Chamber citing a COI with McMahons...

(Ah yeah, I'd forgotten...owns a Motel and has an "Accommodation Agreement" with the 'outta-towners' what done get the contract...and apparently that's just fine-Ed)...just fine...(oh, and his contract with Beach Energy...and all the acts that the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre's Frank Morello pushes to Mr Perryman's Motel-Ed)...and that would be all the acts that go to the Helpmann...and this specific claim has been made to me by several business operators in Mt Gambier, and I'd be more than happy to line up the Helpmann's books with Mayor Perryman's Motel guest list...

I note that both Mr Perryman and Mr Frank Morello are candidates for Councillor...    

I think it says pretty much everything about Health services provision and particularly Mental Health care provision in Mt Gambier, when during Mental Health Week, our Medicare Local has declared a month long moratorium on Mental Health referrals because of "a backlog" of cases that they need to catch-up on...(but if there's a backlog now, and they 'shut' for a month, doesn't that just mean there'll be even more people waiting when they 're-open' and it'll be even more backed-up?-Ed)...and there you have it, I mean, for gourd's sake, between us Ed we're mentals enough for one man, yet we can both see the fundamental flaw in this 'defer-a-mental' plan...

(So you're suggesting that it's fundamentally detrimental to defer-a-mental?-Ed)...it's absolutely disastrous...and then there's the lingering fear that closure for now means closure for good...(oo oo, while I remember, the demise of Dimmey's store in Mt Gambier is not just greatly exaggerated but wrong, they're not closing as recently reported-Ed)...ummm, thanks for that, I think...(well it's a rare piece of good news I thought-Ed)...yeah, but it says a lot that a store not closing is the good news...(fair enough-Ed)...anyhoos...

Whilst I do not have a problem with Candidates appearing in The Border Watch when they acknowledge that candidacy and put their name, etc, I did raise an eyebrow when TBW ran a full page 'magaziney feature' about Mayoral candidate Karen Bracken, her husband, and their vintage car collection last Tuesday 23rd September, a story that doesn't mention Ms Bracken is a candidate...I also note that our fellow Mayoral candidate Bob Sandow has been on the ABC Local Radio several times, doing long interviews in his capacity as RSL (Returned and Services League) President, again without acknowledgement...

It has been commented to me that there has been a notable silence from current Councillors and yet more Mayoral aspirants Andrew Lee and Allen 'Is The Key' Smith...don't know what's happening there exactly...(probably the low visibility, small target, pray to god they don't hold us to account for the reality of our decisions and behaviours strategy-Ed)...ahh, clever...and as others have observed, the good news is at least one of them, possibly both, are now officially off Council...

I'm fascinated but no means surprised by the sudden flurry of things that Council can do when there's a Local Government Election on the horizon...finally display the Aboriginal/Torres St Islander flags in the Council Chamber after voting only 2 years ago to not do it, suddenly they're all over advocating for Mentals when, again, they voted against doing this a coupla' years back...(and they thought it was End of Days at the Vietnam Veterans Day when a plague of solemn Councillor zombies unexpectedly shambled onto the scene...unexpected in that apparently it hasn't happened previous-Ed)...indeed...

And I don't know who was there in previous years, but as explained to me and as Mayor Perryman himself confirmed that evening at Council's August meeting, he'd not been before...and it was very much noticed and not appreciated...and it has been further alleged to me that Council CEO Mighty Marky Mark Mc Shenanigans (Mark McShane) was overheard stating that Council 'wanted' to bulldoze/remove/whatevs the empty log cabin touristy kiosk thingy at Umpherston Cave...apparently the thinking is that empty ground looks better than an empty building...

(Wow, Council just loves bulldozing viable buildings don't they-Ed)...they certainly give that impression...(one in the Main St, the Old Hospital, what used to be where the Library carpark is now-Ed)...sweet baby cheeses...and don't be a healthy flowering native plant...(might as well chop ya'self down-Ed)...indeed...and then there's the Men's Suicide group and the Men's Shed opened this week and it all seems to be coming together for Council quite nicely...(and of course they've come up with the Children's Charter-Ed)...indeed, and they're going to have an official launch in October...

(Aren't they also having a big party on the Rail Lands before the November election so that they can, and I paraphrase, congratulate themselves for all the t'riffic work they've done there?-Ed)...you almost typed that with a straight face...yes Ed indeed they are planning a series of self-congratulatory events between now and November...and then there's the various contracts/decisions/whatevs they've finalised in the last few weeks, and of course the Financial Plan to be ratified next month...more on these...  

Tomorrow: She Of The Nanigans

And I just about fell over Tuesday when I saw a Bedford Industries man cleaning this graffiti off the bus stop just up the road from me...just so happens I have some photos of it as it has been for 6-7-8 years...that white strip is where I went up there 2 years ago to spray over some f***in' c***in'...it was the third time I've done that (possibly 4th, can't remember exactly) because I used to ring Council but nuthin' happened so I just started to do it myself...it was vaguely hilarious to watch him, across 2 days, scrub his way through this stuff to the paint I sprayed over the graffiti he thusly found under that...(layer upon layer-Ed)...

Tell me this isn't a farcical last minute attempt by Council to pretend they give a damn...(alright, this isn't a far...-Ed)...yes, alright, thankyou...(maybe Bedford's had this on their 'to do list' and just got round to it-Ed)...after 8 years?...(nah, fair enough-Ed)...I have covered at length in previous posts Council's abject failure to engage with basic social services, including and exemplified by the Public Transport issue...this is naturally a large plank in my raft of issues re Me4Mayor...more laters...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier...cheers and laters...

Just Some Random Bits And Pieces

Hello Bolivia, Brazil, Phillipines, and Argentina, and welcome y'all to the blog...in response to the oft asked question, no, I don't know what's wrong with me, but that's okay because apparently there are plenty of people in town who do...(if only they'd say what it is-Ed)....well apparently they do...(just never to your face?-Ed)...just never to my face...(ahaha-Ed)...ahaaa...and that was the sort of joke in yesterday's title declaring it's me, I'm here, and I'm a genius...

It's a play on the Oscar WIlde quote thingy when he was asked at a Customs desk if he had anything to declare, and he apparently responded 'nothing but my genius'...and my joke about 'go forward slash his tyres' is a play on the letter that St Martin's Principal John Alexander put in the school newsletter (2003?) re rumours, etc, that included a biblical quote that was a very thinly disguised entreaty to Lutherans to come and hassle us parents and get us to 'see the error of our ways'...apologies for forgetting to explain yesterday...

Local Government Elections: by definition/default/whatevs but hardly by design, will be prominent in this 'ere blog for the next couple of months...(orrr, a couple of months?-Ed)...gee, thanks for your support...(hey, don't get me wrong, I fully support your decision to appropriately engage in the formal processes, just, you know, a couple of months? really?-Ed)... and I wasn't surprised to see fellow Mayoral aspirant Leon Rigopoulos in today's The Border Watch, nor Councillor nominee Steve Paleokastiritis last week...

(Is TBW running candidate profiles?-Ed)...no idea, these were in the Letters To The Editor section...(are those letters correctly 'Authorised', etc?-Ed)...not sure, there are references to this in the Handbook, etc, but I don't personally really think it's particularly important...and according to the Australian Press Council TBW can do whatever they like, so I ain't gunna' waste my energy on it...remember at the 2010 State Election when Frank Morello was writing press releases for candidate Don Pegler, and Sandra Morello his wife was printing them verbatim in TBW under her byline as being actual articles...(ha! how corrupt is that?-Ed)..well apparently not at all...

(And isn't Frank 'The Ghost' also running for Councillor?-Ed)...apparently...and as a Country Arts SA employee he is exempted from exclusions of Council employees from LG Elections...(that was my exact question-Ed)...I don't think I have to say anything more about Frank Morello's bid for Council because his connections are obvious, eg, with The Border Watch as former Editor and husband of 'reporter' Sandra Morello, with former local member Don Pegler, and that means Rory McEwen, etc, etc...thick as thieves...

Quite Pissed Off: to read (but thanks still for sending me that stuff) about how Wind Turbine 'opponent' (Dr) Sarah Laurie is suffering a renewed attack on her personally from pro-Turbine clowns like alleged Prof Simon Chapman...(is he actually pro-Turbine or does he just enjoy slingin' abuse at people like Sarah Laurie?-Ed)...no idea, just an idiot lookin' for somewhere to happen as far as I'm concerned...availees will appreciate my sense of solidarity with Ms Laurie given the character assassination I myself have been deliberately subjected to in an attempt to cover-up the St Martins case...

And I don't attack Mr Chapman for his disagreeing with my opinion/position/whatevs, it's how he goes about it, particularly as he's an alleged intellectual...his shrill, emotive, entirely unscientific attacks on people who genuinely believe that there are health problems associated with Wind Turbines, problems that have never been formally studied apart from dodgy bit-piece attempts to discredit and dismiss these concerns, and those studies that have been done, eg, Acoustic Testing are dismissed or ignored...

Regardless of what you think about the science, or rather lack of, it remains an un-contestable reality that hundreds of these monstrosities have been erected in SA and there are multiple plans for many hundreds more, all without appropriate testing...just this morning on ABC Local Radio was another long interview with Russell Marsh of the renewable Energy Industry lobby group the self-titled Clean Energy Council, with Mr Marsh furiously defending the Renewable Subsidies that Turbines desperately need because they're so grossly economically inefficient...

(And was the rest of it one long waffle about how Renewables are bringing down energy prices?-Ed)...absolutely, so you heard it then?...(only all before, over and over, constant rhetoric about lower prices, rhetoric that flies in the face of the reality that SA has astronomical electricity prices, and they only ever go up-Ed)...well quite...sorry availees to go at it again after only doing this yesterday, but this is the crassly deceitful propaganda being spewed into the local media...(and not one call or message read out to counter Mr Marsh's extraordinary claims?-Ed)...not that I heard, but I could have missed it...

I further note that I contacted the ABC's 7.30 program and Four Corners yet again recently, via their own Interweb pages, and left my 'comments', and I received an automatic 'thanks for your email' from Four Cormers on August 7th 2014 but nothing since, and 7.30 didn't even respond...(well that's hardly a surprise is it...the ABC is openly complicit in the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, particularly the Adelaide office, and most particularly 7.30 SA-Ed)...indeed...

It's symptomatic of my life and a sad, sad reality that Simon Royal of 7.30 SA is just another senior Adelaide journalist with whom I have personally, repeatedly discussed the St Martins case...(and provided personal documents-Ed)...indeed...and include in that number former producer Patrick Emmett, of course David Bevan and Matthew Abraham, Sandra Winter-Dewhirst, and also of course the various senior ABC personnel, including apparently their 'legal peoples', as covered in this 'ere blog...

The Divine Reg Nelson:...omg, Beach Energy's Reg Nelson, fresh from his arrogant, angry spray last week at people opposed to his company's plan to come ploughing into the South East and Frack it all up for everyone, well Reg now reckons they've discovered a secret Aquifer that only they know about...(is that even possible?-Ed)...anything's possible...for me it just confirms that they don't really know what they're doing and cannot guarantee squat...I know nothing about mining, but I know that when you drill a shaft through umpteen different strata, Aquifers, etc, the driller is creating an artificial weak point, creating an unnatural fault...

(Absolutely...and you can fill that shaft with as much steel pipe and cement and shizzle as ya' shreckin' want, fill it right up, please, because the outside of the shaft remains a created space into which Nature will make it's in-roads...up, down, sideways, whatevs-Ed)...indeed, but most likely 'up'...and I note that Uncle Reg has failed in everything I've seen/heard from him to acknowledge that the previous drilling around Penola that he so loves to refer to as being proof that Fracking's just fine...(just fine-Ed)...even though he knows it's a completely different form of extraction...(extraction-Ed)...well that drilling has left a legacy of decaying bore holes...

And these decaying bores are wearing away around the outside of the steel casing as surface water is eroding the Limestone...and this is an escalating problem because some erosion quickly becomes a sump which rapidly increases erosion and so on as the problem spirals upwards...(or rather downwards-Ed)...well quite...

Forest Industry Advisory Board: is apparently one of 105+ Boards about to get the chop even as they hand down their first report...(geez, and isn't that a stunning study of obviousational observationings-Ed)...well quite...'we need to make more wooden shizzle'...wow...(and does it also say we need to burn wood to create electricity?-Ed)...you mean 'bio-mass'?...(well that's what 'bio-mass' means, so yes that's what I mean-Ed)...probably, and there's plenty of 'Pulp Mill' stuff, etc...it's all a bit bloody pointless when we've just sold-off the rights to log allocation...

Last weekend I watched The Neverending Story...and it bloody well does...whatta' rip off...

Tomorrow: Stuff

(I'm thinking of branching out into more mainstream media, TV I'm thinking, probably production-Ed)...oh yeah? anything 'on the horizon'? you know, 'in the pipeline'? some exciting new concept?...(yeah, I've been working on my Reality cooking show-Ed)...well that's nuthin' new...(yeah 'tis, it's all seafood and you have to go catch it all yourself first-Ed)...ah, so it's like one of those fishing shows and a cooking show combined?...(yeah, sortta'-Ed)...that is a bit different...you gotta' catchy title? gotta' have a catchy title?...(absolutely, that's the best bit-Ed)...and it is???...(oh, Master Baits-Ed)...charming...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier, SA...cheers and laters...

I Am Me And I Live Here - Declaring My Genius

Hello Aotearoa (New South Wales I mean Zealand)...(is that a wisecrack about how many Kiwis live in Oz, particularly 'round Sydney?-Ed)...well it wasn't anything but a genuine typo until you pointed out that it is a rather neat little mistake that encapsulates a socio-political reality...(whatevs-Ed)...and also howdy to, Ukraine, Argentina, and Germany and welcome to the blog...

Apparently I jumped the gun on the Spring Equinox 'cos apparently it's today at noon...whatevs...also apologies for spelling 'Poland' with a small 'p' yesterday, all sorted now...today I'll start with my own position as a Mayoral candidate...just received some documents from ECSA (Electoral Commission SA) re the Local Government elections and immediately ran into the dreaded phrase "A person must not publish..."...(ooo nasty, what with the troubles you've got us in with the Banana Lord stuff-Ed)...'I've got us in'? 'I've got us in'? why is it my fault?...(because I'm a fictional literary device, remember?-Ed)...damn you...

But Ed has a point...it is the 'cause to be published' stuff that is apparently the problem with the Banana Lord or rather the problem I have re the Banana Lord...so I've been through the LG Candidates handbook and it refers to electronic media, and spoke to the ECSA who sent me a link to the LGA Interweb site and Circular 23.6 Digital Media in Council Elections, and I went through that...(and the stuff ECSA sent you-Ed)...yep, and that stuff...(so that's cleared things up then?-Ed)...clear as mud...

I think it's saying that there are clearly gaping loopholes around issues of 'fact and context', but that there are also 2 specific criteria, namely that you have to put your name and address and authorise yourself on everything you publish...(does that mean every post or just the blog in general?-Ed)...I don't know...(and what about the various statements of fact that you've made re Council issues, assorted Councillors, etc, before officially nominating, many of which have since apparently been officially refuted and/or denied? where do these comments lie re 'fact and context'?-Ed)...I don't know...(can you, for example, discuss Councillor Von Stanke coming to your home with that threatening letter several years back?-Ed)...don't know...

(Do you now have to go back and put the appropriate notifications on each and every post?-Ed)...don't know...every post links to the blog and I've left my name and address on a number of documents I've used, and I put my name to each and every post...(yes, you do do that don't you...and SAPol Anti-Corruption certainly had no problem finding you-Ed)...exactly...and I'm not trying to be facetious here because I truly don't know exactly what they're saying when it comes to a blog and neither do the people I've spoken to, none of whom are lawyers though...to err on the side of caution I'll start putting my name, address, and self-authorisation on each and every post...     

Feedback: about running for Mayor continues, and stemming directly from that stuff I thought of something myself, namely, my belly-aching about the back-stabbing and personal denigration that has been levelled at me for over a decade...(well what do you expect? you get involved with the moral-less scumbags of Sow Strayan politics and ya' wanna' complain about it? suck it up buddy-Ed)...my point exactly...(sorry what?-Ed)...I have by necessity become used to existing in a paradigm where abuse and criticism are the norm, off the back of the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...

It is not a glib and flippant observation mired in melodramatic exaggeration that I have become most comfortable in a room full of people who hate me, because that's the way I've been forced to get used to functioning...(fair enough, but what's that got to do with chowing down a bowl of cement powder with a water chaser-Ed)...my turn, whaaa?...(what's that got to do with your need to harden the shreck up?-Ed)...ah yes, I see, nice...the point I'm making is that I was subjected to abuse, denigration, character assassination and vilification for years before I got specifically political, and I and other parents were (continue to be) openly attacked as the only genuine problem at St Martins...(fair point-Ed)...

For years I've been mercilessly slandered behind my back in exactly the same cowardly manner that 'Dick Stretcher' came on to this 'ere blog and tried...(and what a debasco that turned out to be-Ed)...indeed...it did nothing but confirm everything I'd already been saying...(perhaps they're scared of you, you are quite a large angry hippy and not everyone gets and/or believes the 'pacifist' stuff and/or would even know-Ed)...fair enough, but what am I s'posed to do? even when I'm calm and polite, which is 99% of the time...(indeed, just ask Rory '1%' McEwen-Ed)...classic...then people get even more twitchy...ah the bells, the bells, but I'm the Frankenstein, not Dr F...(nice mixed metaphor, I like it, I'm going to use it-Ed)...

For years I've been attacked, usually behind my back but not always, as being a disreputably unstable, lying, rumour-mongering troublemaker, a descriptor openly promoted by the Lutherans, former local Member Rory McEwen, certain members of City Council, SAPol, the Crown Solicitor, etc, etc...all of these good and godly people stampeding past the reality of the abuses committed at St Martins by teacher Glyn Dorling in 2002 (and previous years), charging past that to sink the boot into that bastard Nick Fletcher...and then when the worm turns and starts writing his own blog and spelling out the realities it's still all like 'boots on for a hippy-kickin''...

I re-iterate...confronting the abuse that has been levelled at us parents but me in particular, abuse conceived and perpetuated to cover-up the gross abuse of a class of 7 year olds, confronting all of those abuses, that is the primary motivation for me becoming involved politically...(I thought it was the St Martin's abuses-Ed)...indeed, that's what I'm saying, the one spawned the other...abusing me/parents has been a guilt-assuaging exercise mired in the pro-paedophile corruption of the Lutheran Church, SA political parties, SAPol, the Courts, City Council, etc, etc...to address the realities of St Martins I/we've had to dismantle this extensive and thorough campaign of denigration motivated by denial and corruption...

The un-challengeable reality is that I got 'political' to address 1) the abuse already being heaped on me as merely a parent trying to get something done about 2) the abuses committed against my child and dozens of others...(fair enough-Ed)...and in that context I have had the right to write what I think thoroughly beaten into me...(go big fella'-Ed)...and as arrogant and dismissive as it may sound, this LG Election is just the next chapter in the saga of the Monster of their own creation...(go you good thing-Ed)...

There's some stuff that has just hit the mainstream SA news about a farmhouse near Jamestown in South Australia's Mid-North where it is alleged that 2 Adelaide children Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon were held after being abducted from the Adelaide Oval back in the 1960s...unfortunately, some weeks ago I received several messages about this case, and when I see a SAPol officer standing there at a press conference saying 'nerrrh, people are ignorant...nothing to see here' it very much conflicts with what I've been reading about a dormitory like facility where many children were taken, there to be abused by paedophiles, some of whom flew into the local small airport...

Not my story, this is stuff that's been sent to me and I held it until it came up in the mainstream media, but what I've seen/read is very different to what is being portrayed in the media...what has been sent to me outlines not one perpetrator who died more than a decade ago, but an organised paedophile ring using a farmhouse to keep children, and may include murder of some of those children as well as Joanne and Kirste...I openly acknowledge my abject cynicism when it comes to SA authorities, but I know who I don't believe about this stuff...

And just to round out the day our charming Premier Jay Weatherill bangin' on about $5.5billion of 'Renewable Investment' thus far and another $4.5b more to come, and 1,000s of jobs, and blah, blah, blah, and the plan is Wind Turbines absolutely everywhere as Ray Jay sets SA's Renewable Energy Target at 50%...(oh my god, and most of that's Turbines?-Ed)...everywhere...and he made the ludicrous statement that he reckons they look elegant and have the same visual impact as a farmhouse on the top of a hill...(what, a 120m high farmhouse? a farmhouse with huge swooshing blades? in a line of dozens across every ridgeline in the state?-Ed)...yeah, exactly, that sort of farmhouse...   

And the Wind Alliance people have jumped right in there with yet more of these simply ludicrous statements about how Wind Turbines have lowered wholesale electricity prices...(but even if it is true, that doesn't take into account the massive taxpayer funded subsidies for Turbines, nor the reality that retail electricity in SA is now second most expensive on the planet-Ed)...I know, I know, don't tell me, tell them...

And Jay's also happily spraying praise for the great work he's done axing any Board that has the word 'Regional' anywhere in the job description...a full list of these Board cuts and/or changes is available on sa.gov.au and search Boards or whatevs...it includes Boards that have been 'reclassified' as not government Boards, eg, numerous HACS (Health Advisory Councils) across the Riverland and Mid-North that may even be replaced by private entities..JayDubbaya specifically mentioned saving Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs that he just appointed his former Education Minister Grace Portolesi to...basically it looks like exactly what it is, cutting the Regions loose whilst saving their mates new jobs they just gave them...(bastards-Ed)...to a man...but I like to be fair so...

An Interweb Site I've Created For People Whom Hate Me:...www.nick'sabastardsogo/histyres...(that sir, for someone whom is such an Interweb ludite, is actually quite clever...take you long?-Ed)...no, just was doing the sa.gov.au/whatevs site address thingy for finding those lists re Boards...(oh yeah, forgot about that-Ed)...and from 'forward slash' the rest took less time than to type it...in my brains and things the words go round and come out thusly...(you're a freak, that's what it is-Ed)...I'll have the croutons... 

Tomorrow: And Then This Other Thing Happened

(Of course it did-Ed)...I am Nick Fletcher and I live in the Housing Trust suburb of 16 Kooringa St in Mt Gambier and I authorise this 'ere blog and all who sail in 'er...(perhaps you should do it properly, just in case-Ed)...ok, ok...

Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, Kooringa St, Mt Gambier...cheers and laters...(cheers and laters-Ed)...

Just Stuff That Annoys Me

Hello St Lucia, Japan, Poland and Indonesia...hello one and all and welcome to the blog as we slip past the Spring Equinox...(in the Northern hemisphere one assumes it's the Autumn or fall Equinox-Ed)...indeed, the day when light equals dark across the planet...(and thus Nature restores the balance-Ed)...whatevs...sun up, sun down, little world goes round and round and yet here we remain...(oh look out, it's Capt Happy again-Ed)...

Yeah, I can only not apologise for talking my way through the truth again with the resultant (hopefully) outrage it causes...it's been a long week even without the Mayorshipness stuff...and what with Labor Education Minister Jennifer Rankine dismissing the Liberal's idea of a Children's Commissioner with investigative powers because 'it's unnecessary'...(yeah, 'cos everything is just going so well in the Education Dept-Ed)...indeed...so 11 years after the notorious 2003 Layton Report spewed out Recommendation 1, a Children's Commissioner, Labor are blocking exactly that...

Also this week PM Tony Abbott publicly endorsed Medical Marijuana...(sorry, what?-Ed)...you heard, and not just that, supported the immediate introduction, stating that the overseas clinical trials should be considered adequate investigation of the realities of the positives MM can provide...(wow-Ed)...I know...and this in response to Right-wing Radio Shock-jock DJ Alan Jones writing to him and running interviews and numerous stories, etc, in support of MM...(I, I, I think I'm losing my mind-Ed)...yeah, fantastic isn't it...

Correctly done this is a massive win for Chemo patients, those with some epileptic conditions, can help patients with wasting diseases maintain their appetite, etc, etc...unfortunately the Tasmanian company Tasman Health Cannibinoids is still moving to New South Wales because of the failures of Tassie parliament to get it's shizzle together...    

And as always I can't help a wry smile throughout the week when I hear all these local goodly godly people praising each other up about the great work they do caring for the sufferers of Mental Illness, embracing the broken and outcast for their trauma and suffering, for the wonderful acts of charity and Christian morality, yet I see none of it in my life...(me neither...what I see is a bunch of people saying 'that bastard mental person Nick Fletcher making trouble like a bastard mental person'-Ed)...so it's not just me then...(well technically yes it is just you because I'm a fictional literary device of inclusion...but no it's not just you-Ed)...

In my life I see a man who has fought quite literally tooth and nail for 12 years to have action taken re the gross abuse of a class of 7 year old kids, and has been deliberately, repeatedly, openly vilified, and denigrated and threatened and harassed and abused and generally used as a whipping-boy by people who appear to feel it is their god-given right to attack me...(and other parents-Ed)...well yes, those other parents who also have tried to get action against the "text-book grooming paedophile" teacher, Glyn Dorling...to attack me whilst/to continue protecting the paedophile teacher...

Feedback: as always is appreciated, and some think it's a good idea I should to run for Mayor, others not so much...(and plenty don't give a damn and/or wouldn't know-Ed)...fair point...some I've spoken to said they don't really care because they feel it is pointless, it doesn't matter who's on Council because Council ain't gunna' listen, never has...(yeah, and I've spoken to a couple a' me peep's who just don't care full stop-Ed)...indeed...

Just to quickly re-iterate, and to use that ol' political classic, several persons advised me to proceed in a Councilly direction, but I said all like nuh-uh and stuff, that'd totally suck ços' I'd be all like stuck in Council as 1 vote in 10...(isn't that by definition 'decimated', as taken from the Roman thingy of executing 1 in 10, and as it relates to the decimal/metric system of today?-Ed)...well spotted Ed, indeed it is...I'd be effectively 'decimated' whilst trying to deal with a Liberal controlled majority, and completely compromised by Local Government 'laws' re criticising and/or discussing issues re Council...(and all that powerless complication further compromised by a hostile local media-Ed)...now you're gettin' it...

So, I'd be stuck with an effectively worthless vote on a Council I couldn't hold to account in the ways I try to do now...(he means this 'ere blog-Ed)...damn straight I do...and that's a big part of what set me on this road to running for Mayor...I have no illusions about my chances as I have no illusions about the campaign of personal denigration that will come my way from people who are terrified of facing what it is I might say, people who cannot front me with their scorn and derision because they know it's a whole world of factual metaphoric hurt that's headed their way...       

Just a quick flash back to yesterday and a couple of things that I'd like to emphasise...firstly, if availees have not had a chance to listen to the Beach Energy (Reg Nelson) interview please try because I cannot adequately describe the disdain and vitriole spewing from young Reg as he denigrates people whom I know are just genuine people trying to protect their communities and environment...(to me it's a clear indication that Reggie is suffering in 'is jocks re Fracking at Penola...to me it says that those people are really pissing him off-Ed)...and hooray for them...

Uncle Reg's comments about how opponents are being funded by powerful lobby groups, as extraordinary as they are coming from a Mining executive, would seem to come from a very different man to the one whom only 6 months ago was all about charm and public consultation, etc...(well not quite, because he was always quick to jump on opponents, but now he's getting specifically nasty about people related to the Penola based opposition-Ed)...fair enough, but it does seem like the pressures gettin' to Super Reg...

Can I just say, forget you Reg, come down here with your bullshit and abuse to bugger up our Aquifers with ya' greed and bastardry, and then abuse those genuine people who stand up to your government sanctioned monopoly...(forget you pal-Ed)...it's one thing to be emphatic and enthusiatic and even a little evangelistic, but when you deceive people with such transparent lies about what sort of gas extraction you're doing, and then follow through with abuse when it doesn't all go your way, then you can expect a fair chunk of forget you right back atcha'...

Secondly I'd like to re-visit the re-attached The Border Watch article re the paving...after the extraordinary 'Council didn't buy the sweeper to do the pavers, they bought it to do the pavers' statements, I note the last bit that tries to casually explain away why Council has laid $1m of stained, mismatched ugly grey concrete pavers right up the Main Street...the question continues to be asked, 'who related to Council is getting paid a fortune for those bloody pavers?'...

Thirdly I apologise to the person who insisted the Fake Lake 'in' the Rail Lands was probably 10 feet deep and I said like "nah and stuff, it's about my head height"...but I was wrong...just in driving past and with a big digger in it, etc, it looked deepish, but I stopped by there on the weekend and had a walk around, and the bloody thing's at least 8 feet deep, 6 feet where the overflow cut-outs are, so 1-2 feet of mud with 5-6 feet of water over it, and then 2 feet of perfectly smooth concrete...if I fell in I'd struggle to keep my head above water and could only just touch the lip with an up-stretched arm...

This is a deadly drowning hazard...if someone, anyone, falls in, they will be trapped like a spider in a bathtub...bizarrely this point has been made by Council (attached TBW article) who have approved, financed, and built this farcical waste of $700,000, then turned around and said 'yes, we have to put a fence around it'...(and have built right next it a 'nature playground' to get the kiddies onto the site-Ed)...indeed, build a deadly drowning pit that will have to be completely fenced off, and then build a playground right next to it...may I be so very wrong, but it's a guaranteed recipe for disaster...
  
And good news from PM Abbott that I'll only have to give up 'a few' of my freedoms in the name of security, a security that I don't have anyway apparently because in literally the next sentence he stated that he can't promise no attacks on Aussie soil...you'll excuse me if, given that I've already had my home raided and I can't even name the government authority that relates to, even though I've not been charged, you'll excuse me if in that circumstance I get a tad concerned about how my rights and freedoms are about to be further curtailed...(fair enough-Ed)...
 

Tomorrow: Back To The Local Government Elections...Yay

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

Some Of A Beach Energy's Lies

Hello Macau, Czech Republic, Ukraine, and the still United Kingdom...and welcome to the blog...and the realities of what a corrupt and incompetent Labor government have done to South Australia and it's citizens, continues to play out across the board, as vital Regional jobs, eg, Forestry Industry (eg, ForestrySA) jobs and government depts continue to be decimated by cuts and Wind Turbines and Fracking loom large on the horizon...(whilst back in Adelaide, Labor is appointing to and even creating farcical positions for it's fundamentally incompetent and/or corrupt brethren, eg, Grace Portolesi (to Multicultural Affairs), Kevin Foley (to Motor Accident Commission), Mia Handshin (to Environment Protection Authority), etc, etc-Ed)...indeed...

***and I'm gunna' jump in here with a long list of post-script preemptive apologies because Mayoral candidate I may be...(for nearly a week already even-Ed)...is it really?...you know it seems like only yesterday that I began my stellar political career and...(mhmm-Ed)...oh right, sorry...but for the 12 years before that I've been a very angry, very traumatised parent locked in a pitched battle with authorities like SAPol and the Crown Solicitor, and both Liberal and Labor, and the Lutheran Church, just for trying to get something done about the gross abuse of a class of 7 year old kids at St Martins Lutheran School...

And dare I contradict myself by pointing yet again at the bleedin' pachyderm blocking the view of the band, and state that as always it seems that resolving the St Martins issue has become my primary motivation in running as Mayor in that that's where the desire/drive/need/whatevs to get political was originally spawned...(well that and the massive, crushing guilt you feel for 1) witnessing the abuse and not realising it for what it was at the time, meaning it went on for several weeks longer, and of course 2) failing to get it resolved since-Ed)...well yes of course there's the massive crushing guilt...

And 2 things really barked up my tree this week...firstly was former Labor Premier John Bannon (husband of notorious Robyn Layton, she of the 2003 Layton Child Protection Inquiry) and of the last 16 years on the Board of the SA Cricket Assoc, they what done run up a $90m debt that was payed-out by the Rann/Weatherill Labor government as a big bribe to get the Adelaide Oval Redevelopment done...(and bribe and building together just happen to equal exactly what Labor sold the South East Forestry Estate for, $670m-Ed)...indeed...

Well Johnno's mates have had a quick whip round and awarded him the, um...(the award for being another trough-romping stooge?-Ed)...indeed, close, 'Honourary Life Membership of SACA'...(well there's close and then there's exactly the bloody same, and that is exactly the bloody same-Ed)...ok, ok, fair enough...anyhoos, there's this little gem, and then there was the following button-puncher...***  

Indeed...had the pleasure of listening to part of an interview with that truly creepy piece of rank pro-paedophile corruption, the former Labor Attorney General who directed the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, that scummy bag of corruption and state-sanctioned paedophilia, my good mate and current speaker of Sow Strayan parliament, Mr Michael Atkinson...is there a more thorough personification of how paedophiles run South Australia?...(former Premier Mike Rann?-Ed)...well ok...(current Premier Jay Weatherill?-Ed)...yes alright...(former Mt Gambier Member Rory McEwen?-Ed)...ok, ok, you've made your point, they're all entirely complicit in the St Martins case...

Anyhoos, Mikey boy was holding forth on the ABC Radio as only the truly insane can about respect and appropriate behaviour in parliament and how he's had to remove so-and-so and such-and-such, and blah, blah blah...it was all about Michael and how great Michael is and the power and majesty of state parliament...(but SA state parliament is a stinking pit of pro-paedophile corruption-Ed)...well indeed...and in that same sanctimonious, self-righteous tone of voice so typical of a benevolent despot speaking down gently to the poor stupid flock...

And of course it was Mikey's close friend and free personal lawyer, Tim Bourne, who manipulated and betrayed us parents whilst supposedly acting on our behalf...Mr Bourne who complicitly colluded with the Lutherans and his Labor mates, including lawyer Peter Humphries, to manipulate parents into a financially vulnerable position, forcing the case to be dropped...(is that the case that was in Court allegedly, yet you had the Court's Mr Rice asking you during a tele-conference what sort of case it was?-Ed)...yeah, that'd be the one...

Every contrivance, every betrayal, every denial, every collusion...I look forward to engaging with Messrs Bourne, Humphries, and their man on the ground, parent's local lawyer Bill DeGaris, when they inevitably threaten me yet again with defamation for explaining to the world the exact reality of their rank corruption in support of the Cover-up of the gross abuse of a class of 7 year old kids at St Martins...

And I'm sure all these fine white men, Mike, Tim, Pete, and Bill, are all completely enamoured of themselves and each other, wholly taken with a sense of their own wonder, so very proud of what they have achieved as corrupted people protecting paedophile teacher Glyn Dorling and the Lutheran Church that harbours him...and I note that it is at least a year since Bill DeGaris threatened me with defamation, as per previous posts...             

(Ah yeah, look, I get it that you're really angry about the St Martins stuff and being so definably, so comprehensively betrayed by Bill DeGaris, Tim Bourne and Peter Humphries-Ed)...and the Courts...(and the Courts...but what has it got to do with Beach Energy and Fracking at/around Penola?-Ed)...just making the observation that we're dealing with wholly corrupt people and I reckon that flows 2 ways...by definition, to do business in a corrupt state you have to operate corruptly...(fair enough...and then if you add on that Beach aren't paying any royalties, it really does look like preferential treatment-Ed)...

And somehow they've also got their grubby hooks into the iconic old Glenside precinct (former Mental Health facility in Adelaide)...(yes, but still, what's that got to do with Fracking?-Ed)...just laying the table, mis-en-place I think it's called, everything in it's place ready to go...just establishing the very cosy relationship between Beach Energy and the Labor state government...(fair enough-Ed)...

Only a coupla' weeks ago Beach had a full page ad in The Border Watch, and not long before that Reg Nelson was on the ABC, again, and it's all about how people are ignorant...(nerhhh people are ignorant-Michael Jackson from South Park) when it comes to the realities of what Beach are doing re Gas Exploration around Penola, in the heart of the Coonawarra...(well technically Penola's on the edge of the Coonawarra-Ed)...shut it...but on Thursday morning 18th September Reg baby took a huge swing at local Anti-Frackers...

This appalling denigration of genuine people by a vain, arrogant man is currently available on the ABC Local Radio Reloaded for Thursday 18th Sept 2014...I urge availees to listen to it...it's all about how much Reggie baby knows about gas, and all the gas that's been extracted in the SE, etc, and just cobbling together completely unrelated technologies and outcomes that as an alleged professional in the field he should know, all to excuse/guarantee/deceive/deny/whatevs anything and/or everything about Fracking in the SE...

And again I completely reject this recent back-peddling nonsense from Beach about how they're investigating for natural gas pockets, because Reg explained very carefully some time back that they are going into the deep shale deposits that produced the already depleted Natural Gas pockets, eg, the Katnook site, to Frack that deep shale so as to release the gas within...anything since is a lie...(and a lie now bourne on wings of vile denigration and outright bastardry-Ed)...indeed...who the shreck do you think you are Reg?...  

Tomorrow: Back To The Local Election

And I've just added this gem below because I've read it through several times but I cannot get past the idea that this article completely contradicts itself...in one sentence it says that the street sweeper wasn't recently purchased for dealing with the atrocious grey pavers, but then says that it was recently purchased for the new pavers...(I'm gettin' a headache-Ed)...indeed...that followed by pathetic excuses about the stained, chipped, clearly C-grade pavers that Council has shoved into the Main Street...what a bloody disgrace...

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

Say My Name, Say My Name

Hello Italy, Singapore, the Netherlands and the USofA... and welcome to the blog...and this week I heard my name mentioned twice, albeit whilst being described as a 'last-minute Mayoral nominee', on the ABC Radio and WIN TV...(if you say your name 3 times do you magically materialise from the ether like Beetlejuice?...the movie not the star, spelled Betelgeuse-Ed)...

Apologies for no post yesterday but I was out most of the day and of course I no longer have a laptop to work on because it was grabbed by the Fuzz...(that sir, is a very old joke used in exactly the wrong context-Ed)...so you're suggesting that it's a perfect analogy for the raft of Labor stooges/former Ministers appointed to Boards over the last month or so...(actually no I wasn't, but I'll give ya' that one-Ed)...Boards that are apparently all going to be axed...(apparently-Ed)...except of course for Kevin 'Makin' Bacon' Foley (former Labor Treasurer and largely responsible for the disastrous position the state is in) he's now running the Motor Accident Commission...

(Yeah, but that's just to get it organised for sale so that Labor can pocket the $500m+ MAC Fund, built up over decades from peoples registration charges...that's our bloody money thanks very much-Ed)...well indeed...an old joke at play in exactly the wrong context re what's best for the people of South Australia...it's yet another Forestry Sale debasco, flogging off critical, profitable state enterprises so as to be able to fling cash into the Fiscal Abyss of their own creation...(wow, but what's the bad news?-Ed)... 

I'd just like to kick-off with the extraordinary pantomime played out in Sow Strayas's Parliament Thursday 18th Sept re the Marine Parks legislation and the abject betrayal of Regional communities by the Member for Frome Geoff Brock...on the night of the the March 2014 state Election, former Labor Treasurer Kevin Foley openly stated during TV coverage that 'we've got Geoff Brock so we've got the Election'...(but how could he be so confident with alleged Independent Bob Such still holding the critical vote?-Ed)...perhaps he was as confident about Dr Such's support as he was about Mr Brock's...

(Fair enough...and what has happened with Bob Such?-Ed)...I think he just went on some further Sick Leave, possibly open-ended I think...so Dr Such's electorate remains completely irrelevant because their vote didn't count in deciding the government either...(huh, welcome Seat of Fisher to living in Regional SA-Ed)...mmm, good point well made...that is if you are saying that Regional SA is irrelevant to the Adelaide-centric Labor government...(well apart from the bits that can be dug-up, chopped down, just generally sold-off, irrelevant, yeah-Ed)...or have a shreckin' Wind Turbine jammed on it...(well quite-Ed)...

And now their elected Member isn't representing them in Parliament either...and on that point I would thank our local Liberal Member Troy Bell for his efforts to gain information for me re the Banana Lord and Club Go Go Bananas stuff...(any luck?-Ed)...I take him at his word that 1) he has made these enquiries, and that 2) no-one wants to touch it and that he cannot even get some-one to give him an 'off-the-record' guesstimation/observation/consultation/whatevs because, and these are my words, because the legislation is so farcically unworkable that ain't no-one don't want not nuthin' ta' do with it...

Whilst I may be a Mayoral candidate, that does not preclude me from expressing my absolute contempt for Geoff Brock as being every bit the vacuous, self-serving, motor-mouthed, rhetoric-spewing disaster for Regional SA that he has already defined himself as being...I would fully concur with the ABC caller who asked that Geoff never ever be put to air ever again because they never ever wanted to hear him again, only I'd rather he be relentlessly badgered, harassed, jostled and generally held to account for what he has already done to betray South Australians in the 6 months since the election...(you mean beyond the betrayal of supporting Labor in the first instance-Ed)...indeed...

And he has this week also supported Labor putting through their 'Firefighters Compensation Bill' that excludes Country Fire Service volunteers, a bill that Geoff mate supposedly completely opposed going into the March 2014 election...(in the same way he supposedly completely opposed the Marine Parks Bill?-Ed)...in exactly the same way...(so a complete lie then-Ed)...absolutely, a complete and utter lie from a habitual liar...and good ol' Labor apologist alleged Prof Clem McIntyre of Adelaide Uni was on the ABC bleating about the emotion and affect on poor bloody Mr Brock...(unbelievable-Ed)...

Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head: because yesterday (Friday 19th Sept) on ABC Radio our charming PM Tony 'The Mad Monk' Abbott was asked to address the concerns raised about proposed new 'Anti-Terrorism' legislation being introduced in response to 'Islamic Fundamentalism' with the justification that 'this is the greatest threat we've ever faced'...(what about WWII where we had the Japanese fleet steaming South and their soldiers in New Guinea, all headed for Oz, dozens of bombings of Darwin and surrounds, Japanese subs shelling shizzle in Sydney Harbour, etc, what was that?-Ed)...well exactly...

(And what about the Red Tide of Communism that we apparently had to stop in Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia, whether they liked it or not?-Ed)...indeed...and I'm sure there's a scything hilarious parallel/irony/whatevs to point out given that Sydney Harbour will soon again be full of Japanese subs because we're going to buy a dozen thanks, preferably in white if you've got them...and I repeat that, if we must have submarines, we should purchase second-hand submarines from the USofA and develop an industry re-furbishing/re-fitting them...

And who else but themselves do the South Australian Labor government and the SA SubCorp have to blame for losing this contract given the sub-standard, vastly overpriced that even then goes over budget product that they produce...and I don't apologise for that pun...(well, everybody else I'd assume-Ed)...sorry what?...(I'd assume they blame everybody else-Ed)...oh, right, yes...regardless of the rank hypocrisy of the Abbott Liberal government in spewing rhetoric about Aussie jobs and then buying overseas, SA Subs have played their part in their own demise... 

Getting back to the point, apparently current Preventative Detention Orders allow Oz authorities to 2 weeks 'detention' without charge, but there's supposedly 'no powers to interview detainees'...these 'new powers' will supposedly allow for that to happen, and critics/commentators are identifying this as 'the right to torture, and in an ABC interview yesterday I heard DJPM Tones asked the direct question 'does this new provision allow for Oz authorities to torture suspects...(who by definition don't have to be have been charged with anything-Ed)...indeed, and he went off on some shreckin' waffle but never said no...

The Australian government is giving itself powers to snatch Australian citizens off Australian streets and detain and torture without charge, and short of rape and/or murder, with absolute impunity...and you'll excuse me if, given that I've been in a decade long pitched battle with Liberal and Labor as I try to get a "text-book grooming paedophile" teacher charged, etc, and both major Parties continue to act to cover-up those abuses and effectively protect that paedophile teacher, that I get a little twitchy and paranoid when I hear about this sort of stuff...

And of course at any point in time I can look forward to SAPol, also absolutely complicit in the St Martins Cover-up, exercising their absolute and unaccountable 'closed-loop' power to march into my home, again, and politely tazer me to death on my own loungeroom floor...and there'll be an SA Coroner's report in a coupla' years, maybe, and it'll be all like, 'ah, yes your Honour, the perpetrator proceeded to assault my baton with his bollocks, before my officers were forced to apply their tazers, 157 times'...'sounds a little excessive, Sargeant?'...'ah, he was a hippy ya' Honour'...'oh, then may I commend your officers on their professionalism and restraint'...

I Don't Do This For My Health:...I do it because it makes me feel slightly better than not doing it...(man I hate it when you completely contradict yourself whilst carefully explaining a vastly complex issue-Ed)...um, thankyou, I think...anyhoos, for example, Tuesday 16th September I lost just over 3.5kgs, roughly the same amount I lost when SAPol raided my home back in May...barely ate, lottsa' coffee, 3 trips to Council...(3 trips?-Ed)...lodged my nomination at approx 0915hrs, back at 1600hrs for the Ballot position draw, and then again at 1800hrs for the shreckin' Council meeting...

(So the Agoraphobia stuff is better then?...I meant to ask you about that as it relates to potentially being Mayor and having to front public meetings, etc-Ed)...fair question Ed and one that obviously was a considerable part of my considerationings re nominating...I don't know if I'll ever be 'better' because everytime I leave the house I run into people who avert their eyes and scurry away, but that's the difference because they used to abuse me, etc, and I have proven to all, myself included, that this is what I am good at and this is what I should do...ain't nuthin' but a Thang... 

Tomorrow: Stuff With Chips And Salad

If there's a draw at the International Boutique Beer and Cider Championships, do they have a decider?...(is that meant to be like a joke or something?-Ed)...just trying to break it up a bit ya' know, so it's not just disaster after bastardry after bastardrous disastery closely followed by a casual reference to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...(well when you put it like that-Ed)...I just did...(okay, dude, sorry, just joking-Ed)...no I'm sorry for being so snappy, it's been a very long week...

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