Well Frack Me

Profusest apologies one and all for missing post yesterday, and that'll mean this one plus one this arvo...sorry, had a bit of a shocker after being ill for several days...some sortta low-grade food-poisoning/bug thingy I reckon...didn't eat for 36hrs...(which is a long time for a large, angry hippy-Ed)...indeed...and then yesterday misplaced some documents I wanted to use for the post and spent nearly 3 hours sieving through paperwork trying to find them...

Had the whole thing half-sorted a few months back, but now it's once again a hectic mess of letters, newspaper clippings, documents, etc, etc...and my recycling crap is everywhere but that's a different story...it renders the whole 'doing the blog as a self-imposed job' thingy a bit like a duck at the moment...(whaaa?-Ed)...well, I'm going flat-out under the page whilst on it I seem to be just strolling along, casually occasionally dropping by...(fair enough-Ed)...

Anyhoos, sat down on the couch 'bout 2100hrs last night and went 'forget that'...knew they were 'mis-filed' somewhere but no idea where...started afresh this morning and bingo, within 10 minutes found those documents, etc, neatly 'mis-filed', and please find some attached below, minus the extra letters mentioned there-in...I'll do this stuff also this arvo when looking at the Fracking stuff...

When news that the Sow Strayn state parliament was gunna' have a Fracking Inquiry in the Natural Resources Committee...(as pushed by Mt Gambier Member Troy Bell-Ed)...indeed, well I was taken with a sudden rush of complete indifference...(what with your personal experience of SA parliamentary inquiries?-Ed)...exactly...and a brief researching has revealed that which confirms my rampant apathy about the announcement of said Frackin' Inquiry, a NRC loaded with Labor Members, with Presiding Member Labor's Steph Key...(oh gourd-Ed)...exactly...

Please note that the information provided to Ms Key in her role as the Minister for Social Justice was that the Lutheran Church was knowingly covering-up the abuse of a class of grade 2 (7 year old) children at St Martins Lutheran School, and attacking us parents as part of that cover-up...Ms Key then repeatedly tells me/parents to go back to the Lutherans...this is Social Justice SA style, 'go to the people abusing you and ask them to investigate their own corruption and find in your favour'...

I wrote back re-iterating the position in my first letter and pointing out that in the limited correspondence I had received from the Lutherans it states that teacher Glyn Dorling had "resigned", and there is no mention what-so-ever of any alleged 'counselling' being offered anywhere...Ms Keys eventually just hand-balled it to then Police Minister Kevin Foley...(hooray for her, just another senior Labor Minister who is entirely complicit in the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up-Ed)...find me one who isn't...(ummm-Ed)...

This Arvo: Some Mo' Frackin'

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

Conjugate The Verb, 'To Nanigans'

(Waaah?-Ed)...well give it a go first, just conjugate the verb 'to nanigans'...(how?-Ed)...strewth, here I'll start you, 'I nanigans, you nanigans'...(ok, ok, um, 'he nanigans'?-Ed)...yeah, keep going...(err, 'he nanigans, she nanigans, they naniorrr gourd I just got it...that's a shocker-Ed)...ta...welcome to another post on Shenanigans and hello and welcome to the blog Russia, Netherlands, Vietnam,and Singapore...apologies for no post yesterday, just doing the 'for the sake of your own health, do several posts then have a day off' thingy as advised some time back...

I'd also like to acknowledge all of those people still sending me stuff and/or contacting me, eg, re Wind Turbines, the Show Grounds, the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, etc, etc...just on that point, I note concerns that if Labor get in in the Victorian state election being held tomorrow (Saturday 29th November 2014), they'll remove the Set-back Distances for Wind Turbines currently in place, and have them set at the same 1km from Occupied Residences as here in SA, in a bid to 'promote investment'...I apologise that I've not kept up with these Turbine developments in Victoria...(got some work to take home on the weekend then?-Ed)...indeed, and some already waiting here when I get here...

My main concern remains that 1) the area from Allendale to Victoria is still very much in the frame for a massive 50-60 Turbine development/s, and that the vested interests the ilk of whom have acted with such disingenuous intent against residents, eg, developer Acciona and the District Council of Grant, are just waiting for some Statutory Regulation/timeframe/whatevs to lapse and/or be changed, etc, etc, as happened the day that farmer Richard Paltridge won in the Environment, Resources, and Development Court, stopping the Acciona/Allendale Turbine Project, and then Labor Premier Mike Rann, who's brother is involved with Acciona, immediately changed the law to deny non-host residents any chance to oppose future Turbine developments...

Furthermore, Labor have recently passed legislation that allows Turbines on 'Crown Land', which to my understanding and as I heard once stated, includes National Parks like Canunda near Millicent...(that's actually 2 concerns-Ed)...whatevs...whilst the massive Woakwine project has temporarily stalled, along with several other large projects across the state, the very real potential remains that there could still yet be Turbines from the Victorian border, right along the South East coastline...and local residents cannot in any way oppose it because they don't have one single legal leg to stand on...(go on Democracy, hop it buddy-Ed)...indeed..

Slight Revision: re my previous statement that SAPol (Sow Strayn police) are an unaccountable authority...I stand by this statement in that the SAPol Commissioner is the one who hands out the 6-month valid, open-ended, anonymous, go anywhere anytime seize whom and/or whatevs Search Warrants carried by SAPol officers, and the first process of accountability is through the Police Complaints Authority as run by police, but I acknowledge there is a Police Ombudsperson...I maintain, however, that this is merely another fascadious farce to give the impression of accountability, but SAPol remains itself a closed system with absolute and unaccountable power...('fascadious'?-Ed)...yeah, being like or as of a fascade, merely a front to some other...(ok, if you say so-Ed)...

This power nearly but not quite eclipses that of the Sow Strayn version of an Independent Commission Against Corruption, which has the authority to subpoena witnesses and then charge them for refusing to answer questions, shut-down reportage of any issue in the media, even if that issue isn't specifically before the ICAC, etc...(so that means that some poor stooge, eg, you, could get hauled in, charged and arrested for not answering by way of repeatedly answering 'the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up', and none of it could be reported if the ICAC decides, indeed, if the media are even aware, they'd have to ask for permission or face charges themselves?-Ed)...absolute Fascism, and the Adelaide media just lie down and take it...

And also thanks for the spasmodic support I've received for the Mayoral stuff...just recently had someone again say that 'we need people like you to keep the bastards honest'...and whilst I appreciate the sentiment, they're wrong, because I haven't kept nobody from not doin' nuthin'...point being, with the full and unwavering support of pretty much every local Mayor, Councillor, State and Federal Member of Parliament, heads of Party branches, eg, the local Labor Party...(and the Liberals-Ed)...yeah, fair enough...in full knowledge of the events that have taken place re the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, basically every local politician and/or public official is either directly by their actions or rather lack of, entirely complicit in that horrendous nightmare, and resultantly the rank pro-paedophile corruption that defines Mt Gambier and Sow Straya continues un-abated...

And I'm the crazy one...

Well Well: said the mining company with two, 4-km deep 'exploration shafts' already drilled through the Otway Aquifer at Penola...apparently, middle of 2015 sometime, a person called Robert Cole formerly of Woodside Petroleum will take over from my bestie homie Uncle Reg Nelson at those mad Frackers, Beach Energy...(gourd, imagine how that interview went...'Are you Robert Cole?'...'No!'...'Are you here for a job interview?'...'No!'...'Can anything ever go wrong with Fracking?'...'No!'...'Right, ya' hired'...'No I'm not'...'It's ok, the interview's over now'...'No it isn't'...etc, etc-Ed)...are you inferring Ed, not knowing nuffin' 'bout this 'ere Bobby bloke, that to fill Uncle Reg's clown-sized shoes, Bobby'd 'ave to be a bittuva' lyin' bastard?...(sortta', but not necessarily just that-Ed)...whaaa?...

(Well it's also just possible that 'Ol King is being brought in to retrieve the situation given the irretrievable swathe of lies that Reg dredged up and flung at the fans of reality, eg, the shizzle about how previous gas extraction/production from the Penola area is exactly the same as Fracking-Ed)...yeah, it's so transparently  immediately obviously not true that I can't understand why anyone would even try to make it fly...(yep, as they say down our way, it don't matter how many wings ya' stick on a pig, it ain't flyin' 'less ya' kick it off a cliff-Ed)...what a, um, charming saying...(yeah, well, the village  trebuchet wasn't working the day they came up with that sayin'-Ed)...right, 'cos flingin' a pig with a trebuchet is so way better than kicking it off a cliff?...(you tellin' me you've never been to a good 'ol down home pig-flingin'?-Ed)...no, I'm from the 'Ol School that believes that bacon's for fryin' not flyin'...

Spot The Storm Chaser:...when just now on the ABC TV News service they were running an interview with Queensland Premier Campbell 'This Is The End' Newman...had the sound down 'cos listening to the ABC Radio...(it's an illness I say-Ed)...well I prefer to look at it as one of the less pleasant obligations of my self-imposed 'job', namely doin' media monitoring for this 'ere blog...(fair enough-Ed)...anyhoos, the interview was clearly about the mad storm that ripped BrisVegas (Brisbane) a new one yesterday, with lotsa' damage but fortunately only minor injuries...

Anyhoos, the ticker across the bottom of the screen read "If you are concerned about your pet following the storm contact 1800-ANIMAL"...(why would your pet follow the storm?-Ed)...that's what I thought Ed...(and why 'This Is The End'?-Ed)...oh, it's just a 'Camp Bell End' joke...(cheeky-Ed)...and of course his government is notorious for slashing social services, etc, whilst going full bore for more mining, up to and including dumping a gazillion tons of dredged sludge from the Gladstone harbour expansion to facilitate more massively expanded gas export facilities, dumping that crap right on the Great Barrier Reef...right on it...

Admittedly that decision has I believe been reversed and that sludge will have to go 'on-land' somewhere, but it doesn't change the reality re the rapid removal of our natural resource, Gas, and the resultant pollution from ludicrously criminal practices like Fracking...to my naive mind, the very concept of Fracking, pumping tons of largely untested chemical crap into the ground, let alone through such a critical Aquifer as here in the South East, the mere concept is unacceptably stupid...anyhoos...

It appears that the apparent loss of availees in Turkey, Moldova, etc, is neither my clumsiness nor that they've grown tired of my relentless diatribing...a teenager explained to me that the Interweb site 'Blogger' or 'Blogspot' or whatevs, maybe likely being censored/blocked/whatevs by/from/whatevs service providers in those countries...(oh, and you thought you were so special-Ed)...I am special...(of course you are-Ed)...get stuffed...(fair enough-Ed)...

Am I Happy To See You: or did I just put a canoe in my pocket?...asked Lord Flashhart in BlackAdder (BBC TV), but ain't no-one bringin' the love when it comes to the Liberals Defense Minister David 'Whatchu Lookin' At?' Johnson and his comments re the Australian Submarine Corp...and it may just be the reportage thus far, but it seems that the Sow Strayan Liberals have been far more critical of Johnno than the usually effervescently present 'blamers', the Jay Weatherill Labor state government...

I reckon Ray-Jay et al are super keen to avoid discussing the arguably un-divorcable issues of 1) the conduct of the Australian Submarine Commission in failing to produce appropriate outcomes...('failing to produce  appropriate outcomes'?...wow, that's being very generous-Ed)...ain't it though?...outcomes/failures that are inescapable, eg, only 1 of 6 Collins-class subs in the water...and failures that by definition must be impacted by 2) the issue that cannot be ignored, institutionalised corruption in Sow Straya/Adelaide...(yeah, fair enough-Ed)...

Bronnie 'The Blade' Bishop: scythed her way through yet another day of record-breaking as Speaker (Lower House) in Federal Parliament when she went politely nut-sack crazy at the Labor Party, kicking out numerous Members...(again?-Ed)...again, shanking and yanking multiple Labor members from the Chamber for supposed infractions of parliamentary procedure...another 18 yesterday, a record for a single day, adding to the 200+ she's already booted over the past 12 months, itself a massive record...(goooooo Bronnie-Ed)...

Tomorrow: Shenanigeddon

The Coming of Daze that is the running of days one into the other amid the blizzard of haughty naughtiness I seem to witness on a virtually daily basis...yay...

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

Some Items Of Interest

Hello and welcome to the blog Singapore, Germany, Ukraine, and China...last evening I had the distant pleasure of attending the inaugural meeting of the new Mt Gambier City Council...(don't you mean 'distinct' not 'distant'?-Ed)...I know what I mean...and I'm pleased to announce that I was entirely wrong ...sortta'...(how can ya' be 'sortta' entirely wrong'?-Ed)...well when one says that strange shizzle will happen, and it does, only not the shizzle one quite expected...(ok, fair enough-Ed)...

Last evening was pretty much all routine stuff like swearing at, I mean in, the new Mayor and Councillors, passing through various issues re process, Committees, etc...but Council couldn't even get that underway without some bizarre distortion of proper process...new Councillor Frank 'The Ghost' Morello...(Frankieee, maaate-Ed)...was not in attendance but the meeting was started anyway and the new Mayor Andrew Lee and the 9 other Councillors were sworn in and away they went...dunno' what happened to 'The Ghost' because I saw him outside at the Smoking Ceremony for Mt Gambier's first Aboriginal Councillor Mark Lovett (congrats) immediately prior to the 1800hrs meeting...

Anyhoos, about 30 minutes in, TG strolls into the chamber and takes his place, and proceedings were temporarily suspended so that he could be sworn in, and then he literally immediately stood up and tabled a Motion to stop any Electronic Recording and/or broadcasting of Council proceedings...(well there's nothing like a good ol' chunka Censorship and Fascism to show the Ratepayers that their Council is genuine about Public Consultation-Ed)...excellent point Ed...what does Council have to hide from their standard 'open to the public' meetings that they need to ban recording?...

(I'll take that one...it's because even their standard 'open' meetings are such a litany of Corrupted Process, Nepotism, Conflicts Of Interest, etc, etc, that they couldn't possibly run the risk of some half-wit having a word-perfect recording to quote, say, on their stupid blog or some such shizzle-Ed)...interesting observation...(particularly given how inaccurate their own Minutes usually are-Ed)...true, and they know full well that none of it will appear in The Border Watch, so controlling the Chamber is paramount to maintaining control over the dissemination of information...

And I reckon that I may have broken one of my own 'Fundamental Rules For Attending Public Meetings', in that I may well have been 'glaring' rather than just looking at Steve Perryman when he was on his feet talking last night, because he looked out the door at me, faltered, recovered and continued on...(well consider your own words in that simply showing ya' ugly mug can be enough-Ed)...fair enough...and that's why I make such a point of not glowering at people on such occasions because it does lower the tone of the room...

It is the gifted burden of the large gentle person that they may cause dismay just by the way that they go about their day where any display of dis-ease brings the wringin' of sweaty hands and much gnashing of teeth...but I digress...  

This continuance of personnel and their participation in guiding new Councillors, advising on process, etc, is entirely appropriate in a Mt Gambier where everything I've put on this blog about Council corruption, etc, is just an inane load of bollocks, an insane ode to the frollicking voices in the meadows of my mind rather than a definitive diatribe on the state we all find ourselves in...(and believe me, we all wish it were so, we all wish we were just voices in your head-Ed)...hey! shut up...(no, you shut up-Ed)...no, you shut up...(no, you shut up-Ed)...no you shut up...etc, etc...but seriously, I've often stated my preference that what I blog about be my personal delusion rather than a continuing reality...

And unfortunately the word 'No' is in itself a deeply disturbing segue into yesterday's White Ribbon Day, and the 'Yelling No To Domestic Violence' thingy that they do here in Mt Gambier...I've been through this stuff before...I get that the idea is it's men shouting 'No To Domestic Violence', but the word 'No' is a word of control and arguably the one single word that defines DV, eg, can I have some money to shop?-No...can I have friends?-No...can I leave you?-No...can I escape you ever?-No...why not yell 'Yes' to equality and respect?

When Applying FRFAPM: always apply liberally...and so it was I came to not attend several events recently, including White Ribbon stuff, because of the potentially tone-lowering nature of my participation, and regardless of my deep cynicism for the said events, I'm at least prepared to acknowledge that they were important for their subject if rather empty in their application...and this White Ribbon stuff falls exactly into that category...the continuing epidemic of DV is far too critical for me to interfere in any action, albeit that I may not agree that's the way to do it...

But I do refer back to my most recent 'DV' incident where a young man was abusing the crap outta' a young woman sitting in a car, and when I intervened he got outta' the car and threatened me, several people rang SAPol, who attended, spoke to him, and then just drove off, letting him walk away...pathetic...following on from the numerous DV incidents that I've had scrolling through the house down the back, the times I've spoken out at the Housing Trust office, Centrelink, etc, etc...I don't need to attend any empty stunt yellin' nuthin' at no-one to show where I stand on this issue...I am the action these others speak of...

Up Shit Creek In An ASC Canoe: goes Adelaide paddling furiously as Liberal alleged Defense Minister David Johnson yesterday said in parliament that he 'wouldn't trust the Adelaide-based Australian Submarine Corporation to build a canoe'...this is the reality really hitting the fan, and it don't look real good for the ASC getting the contract for building these new subs ...Davo's thin-lipped ranting was "bizarre, ridiculous, unfounded" says Sow Strayn's own Senator Nick Xenophon...and he used the "up shit creek" line too...(rhubarb rhubarb-Ed)...yelled Ed...(actually I was saying 'you bastards, you bastards', but I had a mouthful of food-Ed)...oh right sorry, yes that makes more sense, 'you bastards, you bastards'...

As per usual, the truth lies somewhere in between...I reckon I've previously mentioned some of the issues with ASC cost over-runs, poor performance/maintenance records, only usually 1 of the 6 Aussie designed and built Collins class subs actually in the water, etc, etc...but Johnno yesterday was specifically cuttin' crook about the Air Warfare Destroyer thingos that the ASC is currently building...and the whole thing looks like a marginally justifiable excuse to ship our shipbuilding overseas regardless of the devastating effects this would have in Adelaide, the loss of not just many jobs, but also the accumulated experience and knowledge base of that workforce, the notorious brain-drain...

And that's where the Creek hits the fan for Adelaide because it's highly likely that there'll be a massive exodus from the ASC...and as with the closure of the Holden GM car manufacturing plant at Elizabeth, there's the multitude of peripheral supplier businesses, support businesses, eg, the local shops adjacent the site, etc, that will be immediately affected, and then the tsunami of resultant business problems as there's far less 'income' coming in to that community so people spend less at their own local shops, uniform and safety gear suppliers, stop buying new cars, etc, etc...it will be devastating...  

Turning Defense Into Offense:...(what did one sardine say to the other sardine as a submarine went past?-Ed)...dunno...(hey look, there's a tin of people-Ed)...where?...(no no, that's the punchline-Ed)...ah, hilarious...and shouldn't you identify that as a joke stolen from British comedian Spike Milligan...(spoil sport-Ed)...come on, you love Spike's work...(ok, fair enough-Ed)...and nearly as hilarious as Johnno's entirely disingenuous 'apology' made in parliament today, where-in he said "I regret that offense may have been taken"...(clever-Ed)...well I'd call it 'being a trite arsehole', but I'm sure that passes for clever in some circles...

That is a statement not an apology, not even close...it has nuthin' to do with the people he's abused, not addressed to them, and does nuthin' to address the offense he's caused...all this says is that the D-Man is pissed-off about the flak he's quite rightly copped for his ludicrous outburst...(yeah right, he's not sayin' sorry at all to the people he denigrated, or the ASC in general, he's actually whinging about the dis-ease his own comments have caused him-Ed)...exactly...this is an absolute insight as to how these people think and function, it's all about the White-Boys in the Liberal Party and how it affects them...pathetic and sickening...

And whilst we're dwelling in the costing of defending this fine wide land let's stroll into the field of bastardry that is the current 1% 'pay-rise' offer recently made to Defense personnel...(but CPI, the Consumer Price Index, is around 3%, so that means their wages need to rise 3% per annum just to stay with CPI, anything less than that is definitively, unquestionably a pay-cut, not a raise-Ed)...and hence the term 'bastardry'...(so the same highly paid desk-jockey bastards who are sending Oz troops into/over/whatevs Iraq amongst other places, and are constantly hitching their wagon to the 'brave diggers' paradigm, and constantly give themselves massive pay rises, those bastards reckon everyone else including defense personnel need to be 'efficiency dividended'...

The First Efficiency Dividend Is The Deepest: And the real genius of this bastardry is that it's being used as a wedge to justify an across-the-board Public Service payrise of 1%, whilst the Liberals try to hammer home the guilt factor about how our dudes in uniform are only getting this much so how dare y'all complain about getting the same...(yeah, I see what you mean, using an absolute bastardry to justify more mainstream 'efficiency dividends' through-out the Public Service-Ed)...indeed, where the Liberals are using the term 'efficiency dividends' as poli-speak for funding cuts and resultant job losses...(just charming-Ed)...indeed...

I'll pull stumps here and more;

Tomorrow: Some Stuff

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

DICHCTP Part II

Hello France, Italy, Spain, and to the incoming Mt Gambier City Council and welcome y'all to this 'ere blog...please understand that I'm not ignoring the rest of the world, but I'm just trying to deal with living in a wholly corrupt Fascist Paedophile state effectively run by the Lutheran Church...(and we're away-Ed)...well I really wouldn't know how else to describe it...(no no fair enough, just sayin'-Ed)...indeed, and I'll have a go at fixin' that, you all fix your bit, and it's sorted...and between us the world may yet again be a decent place to live...cheers...

The latest from the Child Abuse Royal Commission has them doing apparently their last hearings, in Tasmania, looking yet again at a known case from the 1960s-70s...(what, there's been no paedophile cases in Tasmania since the 1970s? what about that case 2 years back where a woman was pimping-out her 14 year old daughter to local men, including a politician?-Ed)...yeah, I think the CARC is only looking at 'Institutional Responses' and then that's it, and as terrible as that particular case is (a series/group of paedophile teaches operating at one school over many years) it's still 40 years old...the CARC is not coming to Mt Gambier, never even heard the Lutherans mentioned...in my reality, the CARC is a farcical joke, cynically manipulating the trauma of victims to justify that it's somehow enough to just talk about this stuff...

I was not the only parent who contacted the CARC re the St Martins Lutheran School Cover-up (from 2002 up to the present), and the CARC wrote back in acknowledgement...(but I thought you said they're not coming to Mt Gambier and haven't ever even mentioned the shreckin' Lutherans...how can the CARC be aware of the institutionalised failures evident in the St Martins case, be it the clearly obvious deliberate failures motivated by pro-paedophile corruption, or be it genuine mistakes on a monumental scale, either way, how can they know this and not act? particularly as this is a current case?-Ed)...all good questions that all answer themselves...

The CARC is not about genuinely exposing the continuing pro-paedophile attitudes/corruption that effectively run our society, certainly in South Australia, and most certainly here in Mt Gambier, it's purely about being seen to do something without actually resolving this ongoing nightmare of Institutionalised Pro-paedophile Corruption..speaking of which, in my fantasy interview lived large on the ABC this very morn, Stan Thompson interviewed Stuart Stansfield...(omg-Ed)...about the recently announced 400+ job cuts to the ABC...I missed a lot of it because I was in the car, but I heard the very ominous phrase 'fully autonomous' re the Mt Gambier ABC...in my experience they already operate as a law unto themselves under the specific direction and control of career paedophile protector Rory McEwen...(ah right, now I get it, that's what's set ya' off today, good ol' Rory on the ABC this morning-Ed)...absolutely...

For over a week Stuart Stansfield has been spruiking an interview with a 'famous local biker' and somehow the way he said it I knew it wasn't the famous Laurie Fox, or current race-ace Levi Day, or any such, I just knew it was Rory...and they didn't let me down as on 'e comes this morning for another glowing ABC interview with their bestie Rory...and again it's about what great work Rory is doin' for the kiddies, this time the Motorcycle Toy Run...(deadset? what was it the other week? Cheshire-Ryder or sumthin'?-Ed)...yeah, the ABC just can't get enough of Rory saying what great things he does for the kiddies...

(I can see how that might be mildly galling, what given his definitive pro-paedophile corruption re the St Martins Cover-up and the abuse he has sold SA children into by profiting by supporting a clearly pro-paedophile Labor state government-Ed)...and if any availees think we're being a tad harsh on poor ol' Rory, please go back through what he has done, eg, repeatedly promising to help us, then betraying us and publicly attacking us parents as 'conspiracy theorists' who had 'actually hounded the teacher'...my opinion is irrelevant, let his actions speak for themselves...

Feedback: quickly, stated to me that one person associated with the Vibrant Mount Gambier group (as below) is very genuine and will attempt to do good work...unfortunately this only confirms to me the agenda of said group, in that it therefore fulfils the Dodgy Group Template by including some people with real credentials and genuine motivations who'll give that group some credibility, but behind that are the vested interests furiously pushing their own barrows, eg, more money for the Rail Lands disaster and/or the Old Laundry, etc, etc ...

I've re-attached the letter from yesterday because it rather coincidentally covers many of the issues that the incoming new Councillors are going to be assaulted with and pushed by vested interests to finance...(and it'll be done by pushing on the new Councillors that they have to be good team players and 'you've got to vote to pay for this if you love Mt Gambier like we do, if you're a good team player'-Ed)...exactly...and when Steve Perryman says 'good team player' he means 'what gets ratepayers dollars into my corrupt li'l pocket'... 

No-one I've spoken to believes that the intensely loathed former Mayor Steve Perryman was genuinely the no.1 Councillor candidate with twice the votes of any other...nor that former Cr Andrew Lee was elected Mayor with twice as many votes as anyone else...everything I saw and heard before the election had people placing serving Councillors and Mayor Perryman last because of the corruption, nepotism, fraud, bullying, harassment and intimidation, etc, etc...the fact that these 2 were 'elected' so easily fully illustrates how corruptible this ludicrous 'Voluntary Postal Vote' system is...

The illegal rorts aside, really it's quite straight forward...many people weren't/aren't going to vote out of disgust/disinterest/whatevs, and that results in 7 outta' 10 votes remaining unaccounted for after the close of polls...all Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...needs/needed to do was get all his dodgy corrupt mates to vote for him, and all those charming, equally corrupt goodly godly Lutherans...there's clearly a whole raft of quite corrupt and/or easily manipulable drones who wouldn't know what the hell is really going on...and as their chosen pet Mayor, Andrew Lee also receives that same self-focused support...

(Don't like the Lutherans much do ya'?-Ed)...let's make that tomorrow's post and also tomorrow, starting off some of the new tangential blogs for each topic...I'll give the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, the St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up, the Main Corner, etc, etc, all their own pages/blogs so as to be able to put-up the extensive documentation involved...in closing...

I remind readers that Kirby Shearing is husband of former Councillor (2010-14) Biddie (Tietz) Shearing and is clearly getting massive and completely unwarranted support from his mates, or rather his wife's mates...several weeks ago he walked outta' the Laundromat Cafe thingy he was supposed to be running, owing money on rent, etc, and word on the street is he's on the way out of his current 'restaurant' at the Lakes Resort...I have spoken directly with people who have attended functions there and say they won't be going back due to his conduct toward them...

I further note that Kirby took over that 'restaurant' literally right before Council announced that they were going to purchase (and soon demolish) the adjacent Old Hospital, thus opening up a sweeping vista across Mt Gambier rather than staring at the side of a large derelict building...(it's almost like he knew that building was gunna' be removed-Ed)...that, or he knew someone who knew...(well that's what I was saying-Ed)...but I digress...

This incoming Council has inherited a host of half finished projects, eg, the Rail Lands, the Old Hospital Laundry, etc, etc, and massive debt...(and the ludicrous placement of the Jazz Course in the Old Town Hall-Ed)...indeed, and this will likely be first cab off the rank as new Councillors are pressured to find $millions more for further refurbishment of that building/site, arguably the 4th revamp in 10 years...as previously posted, this is exactly what happened with the incoming Council in November 2010 when new Councillors, in their very first meeting, were bullied and tricked into voting an extra $3m more for the Main Corner...

Please incoming Councillors, don't believe the hype, and don't let yourselves be bullied and manipulated into supporting yet more expenditure that the City cannot afford on yet more pointless projects...you have been deliberately herded into a blind gully of corruption and debt, and the one causes the other...good luck, you're gunna' need it...

Tomorrow: The St Martins Stuff Re-visited

Starting the revisionary/new blogs/pages/whatevs for the various topics covered here in, but admittedly I'm not 100% sure which way to go...I'll figure something out...

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

Dear Incoming Council, Here Comes The Pain

And it ain't me I'm talkin' about, The Pain is the vast and insurmountable wall of debt that this incoming Council has inherited from the last Council, combined with a series of unfunded and partially completed projects...a departing Council defined by it's fiscal incompetence and litanous corruption...('litanous'?-Ed)...if you wrote a list of what they've done, it'd be a definitive study in small town local government corruption starting with the Mayor and CEO, and downward from there...

Hello one and all and welcome to The Mount Gambier Independent 2.0, the Re-Boot...following the fragmented spasmodic postings of recent times, and my renewed decision to produce this 'ere blog, well, 'ere it is then...and I'm gunna have my work cut out just to catch-up with some of the stuff that's happened recently, eg, the latest changes to the Sow Strayn Independent Commission Against Corruption and their farcical carry-on about improving protection for Whistelblowers...(isn't that Federal legislation?-Ed)...I reckon their both talking about it...

And talking about it is about all they'll do...it's vacuous lip-service to 'Rights' to alleged protection that we as citizens don't really have now, and talking about 'improving' this legislation is completely ignoring the realities of how this shizzle currently plays out...for example, I made official reports via the official Sow Strayn Authorities about the clearly self-evident, epidemic, rank corruption in Mt Gambier City Council, and that was allegedly investigated and entirely cleared by the relevant official Authority despite the fact that these issues have been/are in TBW, Council Minutes, etc, etc, and it's then me that gets my home raided by SAPol Anti-Corruption detectives and my laptop seized as "evidence" whilst being told "expect to be charged"...

And even though I still haven't been charged, more than 6 months after this critically necessary raid, I can't say the Authority's name re this heinous crime what I done do, apparently, because that "might" be contravening the legislation that I have apparently transgressed, but I can't name/identify/discuss that either because that would immediately identify said Authority, etc, etc...(I know we've been through this before, but it just doesn't get any less bizarre and quite frankly scary-Ed)...damn straight scary...this Authority has absolute power above and beyond the unaccountable power of SAPol...

But to kick-off the re-vitalised blog, a classic 'vested interests' letter in The Border Watch...(oh not Graham Greenwood again, nobodies surprised to hear/see him churn out yet another rank chunk of pro-Council dross-Ed)...no no, far better than that...(better than that?-Ed)...indeed...here comes yet another self-appointed 'Community Group' to save the day...(oh boy-Ed)...oh yeah, and I just about fell over when I read it because right there's so much of what I've been talking about right here on this 'ere blog...(yeah mate , I just read that too, whatta' joke-Ed)...a joke with no punchline... 

Regular availees to the blog will be aware of my predictions that Council will move to 'restore' the Old Laundry on the now otherwise demolished Old Hospital site up on that thar' hill, and spend a fortune doing it, and it will involve a Councillor's relative...(deadset...all the ingredients are there...getting Council to finance a restaurant and use Kirby Shearing to do it...unbeshreckinlievable-Ed)...and then onto more money for the Rail Lands and some ridiculous nonsense about a lift down into the Blue Lake...I'll cover these at length tomorrow in Part II...

This is yet another blatant attempt to ambush public debate and attempt to manipulate the agenda with another self-appointed group acting on behalf of the vested interests that have caused so much damage to Mt Gambier with their greed and corruption...it's exactly the same as the recently announced Tourism Taskforce Roundtable Working Party thingy with Steve Perryman, Rory McEwen et al...both of these 'organisations' are clumsy and obvious attempts to use some farcical self-appointed group to push the Agenda on behalf of Council...

OMG: because I thought I was having a 'Brown Acid'  flashback (referencing Woodstock) when our charming Foreign Minister went into the United Nations Security Council and told the world to stop dragging their heels when it comes to addressing the current Ebola crisis in West Africa...(sorry what? us here in Oz, or more specifically the Tony Abbott Liberal government, have been absolutely recalcitrant even darn-right obstructionist when it comes to addressing Ebola...who the shreck are we to criticise others?-Ed)...hence the OMG...(OMG? more like WTF-Ed)...yeah, fair enough...

We in Oz have initially chucked small change at the problem ($20million qpprox), officially blocked our own people getting involved officially (meaning they'd not be covered by the government, etc), and then have given $100m(?) to a private company to set up a clinic in Sierra Leone...(sorry for the bad pun, but it's a bit like we/the Liberals are trying to wash our/their hands of the problem, ie, we've hand-balled it to a private company rather than deal with it ourselves-Ed)...indeed...why don't we send a large military medical unit or 2 and financially 'justify' it by using it as a hard-core training exercise?...(that's a great idea-Ed)...even if you do say so myself...

(Is this where you make note again that I'm not an actual person but a confected literary device?-Ed)...yeah, sorry, just quickly...(go on then-Ed)...ta'...Ed is not a person, well not another person...this 'ere shizzle is all my work, Nick Fletcher's work, and I use Ed as a way of creating a discussion, discussing conflicting views, setting up jokes...(oh we do jokes? I hadn't noticed-Ed)...and yes, you've never used that joke before either...but seriously, TMGI is just me regurgitating life as I experience it and Ed is I and I alone...

Furthermore, we've introduced (Oz has, not Ed and I) tough new restrictions for people coming into the country from West Africa, restrictions that don't ignore but rather far over-reach international guidelines that infection from indirect exposure is not likely, and screening procedures currently in place are sufficient to pick-up symptomatic travellers...and Australia has been officially named as a country that hasn't done enough...and yet off the back of all that, Ms Bishop felt it was appropriate to hold forth, berating the rest of the world for what we are 'guilty' of...     

Rusty Nails It: saw some reportage of a Russell 'Rusty' Crowe interview (Aotearoa (NZ) actor, eg, Gladiator, often called an Aussie) from last night in which he stated re Gallipoli that 'we invaded a Sovereign Nation'...and highly experienced  interviewer Mike Willesee stated that he'd 'never heard it put like that before'...(well then he's clearly not been reading this ' ere blog because you're always bangin' on about that shizzle, eg, 'we were sent as expendable cannon-fodder to serve British interests in invading a Sovereign nation, namely Turkey'-Ed)...yes I have said that on occasion...and as observed on Morning TV by host 'Kochie', the Turks were only defending their own country, and that these truths don't take away from the ideas of ANZAC...'get in there you Colonials as cannon-fodder' he said (paraphrase).

Tomorrow: DICHCTP Part II

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

The Fracking Lies In Beach's Wailings

Hello Japan, the USofA, your Northerly neighbour Canada, and of course us what is 'ere in l'il 'ol Oz, hooray for us...and as previously whinged, the reality of what happened at the CAS Mayoral Candidates Forum (October 17th 2014) hangs heavy on me still, and not as a cause for celebration but a harsh reminder of how much I've lost of myself...

(Sounds a bit like a self-indulgent whinge again champ-Ed)...yeah, I guess it is, but it's also a screaming indictment of the other candidates, because I absolutely metaphorically caned most of them in that forum, but did so as a barest shadow of myself...(fair enough-Ed)...I mean, so what that I can get up in front of people I mostly don't know and speak intelligently about things I've been involved with and/or have had a chance to research, and present that coherently in 1 minute blocks, so what?...that right there's just me being me...

For it to be considered such a triumph that I had half a room full of people come up to me afters and say shizzle along the lines of 'sorry mate, ain't gunna' vote for ya' because of whatevs, but hey, super performance tonight and very well done and good on you for having a go'...and several people said exactly the same thing, namely, 'been reading ya' blog and didn't like it, but having seen you talk, I get it now'...(so they were saying effectively that they didn't like you, because lets face it, the blog is you...talk about spilling ya' heart all over the page and suffering the slings and arrows and all that shizzle-Ed)...correct...but for all of that, and for it to be a triumph as such, that is really only a measure of how drastically I've changed...

That CAS Forum was supposedly catered, as whinged to me afterwards by others, but the food never showed..(or certainly not anything as expected-Ed)...well indeed, but I was a bit distracted by being in the Forum itself so's I can only go on what was said...all I know is that when I went to get a coffee and a sandwich at the end, there was no hot water left and no food at all...been to several dos now at the Main Corner where the snacks have not arrived or not been what was ordered... 

The entire Main Corner/Town Hall facility is a corrupt, bare-faced rort of public funds, of ratepayers money, an episodically nepotistic epic, an ugly pointless monument to the insular, corrupt, nepotist of Mt Gambier City Council...from it's inception through it's design, to the B-grade construction and on into the extraordinary 'leasing tender' process...(or rather lack of-Ed)...indeed...(and the recent 5 years re-leasing when Council  kicked the public out of the meeting before 'voting' on it...was there even a Tender process, any Expressions of Interest? or did they just hand it from mate to mate?-Ed)...didn't see any Tender advertised, may have missed it...regardless, it's simply bloody disgraceful, absolute rank corruption...

And trying to jam the James Morrison Jazz Course in there is yet further action in the same vein and I'll cover this in depth and at length tomorrow...please find attached another Lifestyle1 magazine article...(the free mag that comes with the junk mail and has TV guide, real estate ads, etc, and lotsa' these sortta' infomercial/advertorial type stories-Ed)...indeed...anyway, their latest offering re the Main Corner Commercial Function facility that Council wasted well over $10milion on...(apols for orientation, still can't work it out)...

For The Record: I don't blame these women for what is happening...never spoken to them, never met them, don't know...for all I do know they are completely innocent of any wrong-doing and are blissfully unawares of what's happening around them...nor do I blame Lifestyle 1 for running this sortta' stuff, it's what they do and provided they identify it correctly as the advertorial/infomercial/whatevs that it is, and they generally do, no probs...I've picked-up a coupla' times they haven't done this, but by and large they're cool...I mention them specifically because they've also come up in a coupla' other posts, eg, the Bill DeGaris SERDE Building Sale debasco (where debacle meets fiasco)...

And yes I am repeating myself from recent posts, but over the last couple of weeks I've been really struggling with the blog and a sense of futility about the rank pro-paedophile corruption that defines the society I live in...and today I decided what I need to do...and it was a decision made in no small part due to the news that  arrived yesterday courtesy of Australia Post, the Dept of Human Services and the Australian taxpayer...(whaaa?-Ed)...I received my latest Disability Support Pension Income Statement...(ahh yes-Ed)...it was a short sharp reminder of the extraordinary support I already receive...(even if it is because the rest of ya' life is so rooted-Ed)...well not all of it hopefully...but I digress...

Today's title refers specifically to the constant deceits being spewed into the media by Beach Energy's Reg Nelson...last week and again this on ABC Local Radio making the most outrageously erroneous statements and indefensible claims, pretty much without contradiction...the worst one recently though, was the ABC interview last week with Jason Kuchel of the Sow Strayn Chamber of Mines and Energy, where-in the J-man stated outright that there's been Gas Extraction in the South East for 30+ years and that there's never been a problem with that, and that Fracking is exactly the same so therefore no problems...(that's absolute bollocks...it's what that clown Reg Nelson keeps sayin'-Ed)...indeed...

But the real problem lies not so much in the telling of these lies as the dead-set flaccid response from the interviewer...pathetic is too polite...when presented with this statement, did interviewer Stan Thompson leap on Jason's metaphoric throat, savaging him with a scything synopsis of Fracking Facts vs Natural Extraction Actions?...(I'm gunna' guess no-Ed)...correct...immediately following this outrageous and fundamental lie, Stan's next question wasn't even that so much as it was Dorothy-Dixer request, 'could you please explain again the economic benefits of Fracking ?'...(deadset?-ed)...yep, 'fraid so...

(So following straight on from a clear lie about the safety of Fracking, Stan asked Jason to explain the benefits/profits, a question that in itself asserts/accepts as reality that there is benefit-Ed)...indeed...(and given that Beach will be paying no Royalties on that gas which is clearly for the export market, how exactly does the SA economy benefit?-Ed)...well Reg is part of the SA economy and he's going to profit very nicely...(oh super-Ed)...and speaking of Uncle Reg, he was on the ABC yet again this week with news that he's created a Roundtable...(oh my dear gourd, not another bloody Roundtable-Ed)...well quite...the whole interview was just more whinging and bleating about how everything's just fine and ignoring or misrepresenting the problems...

And always with that truly condescending tone of one whom knows better...(orrr mate I've heard 'im...pompous self-satisfied git who lies constantly...just the other day I heard him on about "honesty" and "truth", whatta' laughable nonsense-Ed)...yeah, that's the same interview...and in the context that Labor is going to force this through no matter what because they're morally and actually bankrupt, I'm sure Reggie man is feeling very confident in stating his lies as facts, knowing full well they'll go unchallenged...(if it weren't so terribly serious it'd be laughable, serial deceiver Reg Nelson talking about truth and honesty is an absolute bloody joke-Ed)...indeed...more to come on this in future posts I'm sure..

Tomorrow: A Dot Point Of That Council Inheritance Stuff

And as per my previous statement re re-assessing the blog, I've decided to have tomorrow off and then resume treating the blog as my job starting Monday...and as part of 're-starting' this 'ere blog, rather than try to back-index the whole damn thing (all 650 posts) I'm gunna do a series of 'Review Posts' specific to a topic, eg, the clearly corrupted SERDE Building sale to lawyer Bill DeGaris, and use these review posts to also address the relevant complaints that have seen me have 10(?) posts pulled down without me being notified...

And even as I write it I can see that that isn't going to work, so instead I'll do a series of parallel blogs, each one on a specific issue... just need a bit of tech-support to set them up propers like...(you mean a teenager to help you-Ed)...yeah that...this does seem the most reasonable solution to several problems, namely, trying to back-index the blog due to the scattered nature of the subject matter, and a chance to post the many related documents, complaints, etc...

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

FIFASR Part III - Plowing Ahead Regardless

Hello Ireland, Indonesia. Nepal and Ukraine, and welcome one and all to the blog...apologies for missing another day but I won't bore you again with my 'off-blog' shizzle any more than is necessary to address the issues covered in this 'ere blog...further apols for recently getting so bogged down in my own shizzle here on this 'ere blog to the detriment of other issues, eg Wind Turbines, but I would argue it is by necessity because this is just stuff that must be addressed and it's just that it's happenin' to/around me...(fair enough-Ed)...I can only promise that I'm trying and that that's just the way it is sometimes, sortta' plowing ahead regardless a bit, cheers...

I realise that the last few posts have slipped somewhat into self-excusatory whinging on more than one occasion and I'm pretty sure that we're there again, but whilst others continue to promote me as the only real problem, as the only issue, then 1) the actual issues continue, and 2) so do I...(nice-Ed)...and there's a time and a place that I'll call now, where being genuinely grateful for existing on the poverty line as a Housing Trust tenant on the Disability Support Pension somewhat loses it's lustre and the genuine reality of my situation closes in...but before I kick-off on a monumental whinge 'bout perrtty murch ev'rythan', these random bits...(wow, great intro, nice segue...work on that long did you?-Ed)...'bout as long as it takes to say 'get stuffed'...(fair enough-Ed)...  

Random Cut-offs: and no, we're not talking the odd pair of denim hotpants, but 1) the very odd timing on the ABC/BBC? Radio replay of the ABC TV's Insiders program, and during a discussion about 'terrorist-funding',  a guest(?) was partway through his statement 'íf you want to fund terrorism, then buy petrol' when an announcer suddenly cut-in and the radio program went elsewhere...could have been purely coincidence but it was one shreck of a coincidence..(were those comments referring to financial support from various oil producing nations whom we call 'allies', support for various groups we in the West simultaneously describe as 'terrorist' ?-Ed)...yes Ed, I think they were...

Cut-off 2) is just an insight into how my often schoolboy level of humour manifests itself, namely, when switching off the radio mid radio-play, the young lady's line went 'as I got out of the car, he held me gently by the ar...'...click...and straight away I just instinctively went 's'...didn't think it, it just was...I mean, it's clearly going to be 'arm', he's obviously held her by the arm, but I much prefer the hilarious mind picture I've conjured with my version of a young lady alighting from a vehicle as her young gentleman suitor politely requests she remain by gently grabbing a buttock with just enough pressure to indicate restraint, restraint both by the suitor and of the sort?...(where-in 'sort' is slang often used for an attractive woman, a 'good sort'-Ed)...thanks for explaining that...anyway, I thought it was funny that as she was getting out of the car, he held her gently by the arse...butt moving on..

The Two Greatest Catches Never Taken: were in the cricket game last night South Africa vs Australia when on consecutive balls the same SA fielder 1) dived backwards over the boundary, bunting the ball back into play, whilst in mid air 4-5 feet over the boundary...if he'd been on the field proper it would have been an extraordinary catch he'd have easily taken...next ball he ran and dived forward to catch the ball in one hand in another extraordinary piece of fielding, but the bowler had 'no-balled' (basically a foot foul), therefore that ball/delivery was deemed not legitimate and therefore the catch did not count...2 extraordinary catches that didn't count as such...

Feedback:  I was pleasantly shocked when someone recently congratulated me on getting (only) 70 votes in the Local Government Election...waiting for the punchline...but it never came, they were genuine...(that's 3 people in a week-Ed)...and that's just how it rolls and so roll I and sometimes if you don't roll with the flow you're just gunna' get rolled...(well I was going to say 'ya' gunna get royally shrecked-up', but rolled 'll do-Ed)...yes well quite...

And sure, much of my 'Mental Health issues' stuff is stuff I brought with me to Mt Gambier from childhood as such, and I've discussed this stuff in previous posts, eg, 'Self Esteem: The Issue I'd Love To Have', but then again it is my experience that Mt Gambier has a certain stifling, crushing depression about it...and having experienced the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, the rank corruption of Mt Gambier City Council, and a life of vilification, isolation, bigotry, and discrimination in a City that constantly tells me how welcoming and understanding it is, well, that's not my experience...my experience is one of Pariahtisation, isolation, being shut-out and judged, and a deep and abiding depression...

And a lot of it is me but it ain't all just me, 'cos although I've only really lived in Adelaide and Mt Gambier, others assure me that there's a certain something goin' on in Mt Gambier that just ain't right, a certain sense of defeat and resignation and depression...I know what I've been told, and I know better what I've seen, and I've lived what I've lived as covered in this 'ere blog...I refer back to the most recent post and the stuff about 'vexatious litigants', and how in contrast I feel that me having a whinge about some of this stuff seems like an obligation to be embraced, not a choice to be apologised for...(fair enough-Ed)...

Of course it is mostly me but also not about me but made about me so as to distract from what it is about...(you bloody hippy...where waffle meets poetry yet again...there are clearly things about you that make you stand out in any crowd, and to a degree you have brought much of this on yourself, but the vast majority of what is happening 'to you' is as a result of others actions in seeking to make you the problem, eg, to hide the St Martins Cover-up-Ed)...beautifully encapsulated sir....

I recently turned 48...(aha, yeah, of course, 'cos on the Chinese calendar 'round about November every 60 years it's Scorpio Fire-Horse season-Ed)...indeed, and that right there is not the template that I have chosen to live my life by, there-in lies the coincidental definition that best explains who I am and why I behave the way I do...(yeah...ManBear StuffPig Scorpio Fire-Horse-Ed)...do ya' reckon that you could say that with a little more of the 'self-deprecating flippancy' and a little less of the 'condemnitive finality'? could ya' do that for me?...(sorry champ, ain't nuthin' but a...-Ed)...I know, I know, ain't nuthin' but a Thang...

Death Pit Of Stupidity: aka the $700,000 drainage pond on the Rail Lands site, evaporates like a mofo...(well what d'ya' expect? it's on uncovered concrete pit with minimum 2 foot a' concrete permanently exposed...it's a massive concrete heat sump-Ed)...indeed...went past there nearly 2 weeks ago just after the hot days and the water level was 4-6 inches below the 'overflow parapet' thingy..(didn't they recently originally fill it up from the tap only the day before it rained and therefore overflowed into the 'rock-pool' drainage pit thingy bit at that end?-Ed)...correct, and after only a few warm days the level had dropped markedly...went past 2 days later and it was full again...no rain, but full again...

What's it going to be like in high Summer when it's 40C+ for a week at a time and the water, chockers full of the pollution washed in off the neighbouring roads, duck crap, etc, is effectively cooking in a giant stagnant concrete pot? and how much evaporation?...(and it's already deadly dangerous when as full as possible, 6 foot deep with a sheer 2 foot concrete face above that just to get back to actual ground level...it's a bloody death-trap-Ed)...indeed it is Ed, but remember, it's only money...(only money spent on a ridiculously needless, polluted, disease-ridden death trap-Ed)...well quite...

This is unfortunately one of the lesser problems that the incoming Council has been lumbered with by the previous...(and half the incoming is the previous-Ed)...I know, I know, it's an unmitigated disaster that is merely a continuance of the unmitigated disaster that proceeded it...a lesser problem amongst many others will be how to that keep that Death Pit 1) safe, 2) full, 3) clean, and 4) do these things affordably...it is going to require constant cleaning, topping-up, etc, and hangin' over all of that the risk of drowning created by the fact it even exists, a risk massively exacerbated by the extraordinarily dangerous design...

It's All About Context: said Liberal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the ABC about the ABC...(whoa man-Ed)...when he casually explained away PM Tony Abbott's rank deceit (just prior to the Federal Election September 2013) of "there will be no cuts to the ABC or SBS" followed of course now by the announcement of $50million per annum cuts to the ABC...according to Malcolm, it's not that the Mad Abbott lied through his teeth, again, oh no no, it's that we whom were lied to have failed to pull apart various
comments from various people and put them back together in the correct context so as to explain why Tony Abbott's outright lie isn't an outright lie...(I knew it was my fault, I knew my darling Tony wouldn't lie to me-Ed)...oh dear gourd...

More Fracking Context: as the Sow Strayn Liberal Opposition get up, or the Greens did, or they both did, I'm a bit confused, a Fracking inquiry, or some such...(I reckon the Libs knocked back the original Greens (Party) Upper House Motion for a Fracking Inquiry and chose instead to try for an Inquiry in the Lower House where it was destined to fail due to the numbers, and instead now the Greens have re-lodged their Motion more in line with Liberal desires/designs, and that has passed the Legislative Council (UH) easily (15-6?) with Liberal and Crossbenches support...I think that's what happened-Ed)...cheers...

However, this Inquiry is focussed on the South East but apparently won't be doing that by accessing the extensive evidence of Aquifer contamination, Methane pollution at well-head, seismic disturbances due to the Fracking-about with the various strata by pumping tons of toxic, largely untested chemicals underground to effect the 'fracking', etc, etc...(but how can they look at the effects of Fracking, in particular the resultant problems, if they don't look at where it's already been done?-Ed)...more tomorrow...

Mt Gambier's Liberal Member the Right 'Orrible Troy Bell says 'fantastic' that there's this Inquiry by/in the Natural Resources Committee, it's the "best option"...(well he would say that, wouldn't he? he's been opposed to Fracking right from the off and promised an Inquiry in his campaign for the March 2014 State Election, a promise he's repeatedly repeated since...oh right, yes-Ed)...quite finished?...he's been vocally opposed to Fracking,...well carefully cautious and quietly questioning in the politically politest possible way, but I'm gunna call it opposed...

And no surprise that of that 15-6, 'local' Labor MLC Kyam Maher was a sixer, and as identified by Mr Bell, alleged Independents Martin Hamilton-Smith and Geoff Brock went with Labor in the House of Representatives (LH)...(ahhh, Messrs Hamilton, Smythe and Brock, turning out some of the finest coats by order of the Parliament-Ed)...ahhh, professional 'Coat-turns'...(well did you know the term is actually 'Turn-coat' as derived from the original Medieval Ye Olde Englishe phrase 'lying, betraying bastards'-Ed)...wow Ed, what you don't know...(indeed, and what I don't know I make up-Ed)....cheers...

Tomorrow: More Fracking And Wind Turbines

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

FIFASR Part II

Hello to Finland, Venezuela, Ireland, and Hong Kong and welcome to the blog and an immediate apology for 1) missing a day again, not embarassed to admit I'm still strugglin' a bit with some of my own shizzle 'off-blog'...('off-blog'? what is 'off-blog'?-Ed)...come on Ed, we've been through this, you're not an actual person, you're a devised literary device that exists only here on this 'ere blog, a device designed to engage the availee in a conversation, albeit often an angry one, rather than a bludgeoning lecture...(oh yeah-Ed)...and apology 2) not doin' the Council Inherited Pain thingy post...(again-Ed)...again, but as I said, that can wait, and there's several loose ends from last week to tidy-up, not least of all the other day's post itself...namely...

1) FIFA Services Rendered: was most hilarious for me personally because of the openly ludicrous final report that had barely hit the table before the lawyer who prepared the original Inquiry/report/investigation was denouncing it as 'nonsense and a deliberate diversion away from the corruption of bid winners Qatar and Russia by attacking Australia amongst others' (paraphrase)...(classic paraphrase-Ed)...absolutely, but the personally hilarious bit, sorry, was the excuse from Russia...(ah yes, the Ryan Defense, clever-Ed)...so you spotted that too then...

(Absolutely...in explaining why they couldn't provide any info/evidence to said Inquiry the Russians applied the famous Ryan Defense-Ed)...indeed they did...(as in local lawyer Chris Ryan whom twice took you to Court for an 'unpaid account', twice had Magistrate Rice, currently in the news for apparently being threatened, twice coach him through it,  and who's defense for having no paperwork what-so-ever was that he'd 'lost his written notes' and re my account had "changed computer programs" and had "lost it" also-Ed)...hilarious and corruptly complicit with the Magistrate who just accepted this farcically unbelievable excuse and found in his favour...twice...(did you ever pay that idiot-Ed)...nope, ain't gunna happen...

But the Russians have refined the Ryan Defense of 'I've changed computers and lost it' and cut out the middle man completely by claiming to have lost all of the computers used for their bid processes...(the whole lot?-Ed)...the whole kittenkaboodle...(but there must be paper copies, copies with the FIFA dudes, etc-Ed)...there you go again with the bleedin' obvious...and across the debate runs the thread that this isn't 'corruption', it's just how business is done...

But for me of course it just represents the wanton greed and abject corruption, the like of which has fostered and supported the St Martins Cover-up...it has all the elements...a corrupt system largely populated by wholly corrupt officials has been caught red-handed, allowed to investigate itself/themselves using a raft of dodgy officials and/or lawyers and then clear itself/themselves, not least of all by attacking the whistleblowers involved, etc, etc...(well at least one of those lawyers isn't so dodgy because he's the one (they are-his law firm?) doing most of the crticising-Ed)...fair point...

(But I can see the similarities with the St Martins stuff...caught red-handed, a wholly corrupt system set out to deny it all at any cost, including denigrating and destroying those who speak out...that's the St Martins stuff right there...and ya' know, it does seem rather odd that you can keep on sayin' 'the St Martins Cover-up stuff', like literally over and over, almost mentioned every post, and apart from a few dozen vacuous defamation threats from various lawyers, the Crown Solicitor, etc, nuthin' happens, those posts, these posts remain....100's of mentions, documents, and specific accusations/allegations/provings/whatevs of the whole thing, and here it all sits-Ed)...well quite...and a statement that poses a question that answers itself...that's some bullshit poetry right there...(cheers-Ed)...

Vegetative Ligaments: are apparently a concern re the lack of exercise in modern society, but Vexatious Litigants is a huge concern for a certain Dr Grant Lester (Laster? whatevs) of the Uni of Giveadamn in probably New South Whatevs...(I'm sensing you're not real happy with Dr Lester-Ed)...ya' gettin' that then?...'Vexatious Litigants' was the topic of a long discussion on the ABC/BBC Radio on the weekend,  basically about people who constantly sue and use the Courts, etc, because of a sense of entitlement and/or injustice, narcism, whatevs, and end up hangin' around Courthouses just to have someone to talk to, etc...and the constant thing with the good doctor was that this was behaviour based on/motivated in/explained by...whatshreckinévs...some sort of psychological disturbance/imbalance/illness/whatevs...(settle big fella-Ed)...

No I won't, because I readily admit that his specific descriptions were very familiar in so much as I behave in many of the ways that he described, albeit short of the constant Courts stuff...(nah well fair enough, I know you've given up any hope of ever getting anything near a fair hearing in the Sow Strayn legal/Courts system...and a pure cynicism sans any paranoia as excised by the reality-Ed)...hey, I'll do the dodgy poetic philosiphisings thanks champ...(sorry-Ed)...and it ain't even cynicism, it is a reality that transcends cynicism...'tis nuthin' butta' Thang...(fair enough-Ed)...

And the interviewer (name? sorry) good on them, repeatedly persisted with the question 'what about people with genuine grievances, particularly grievances unresolved?', and Dr Lester repeatedly responded 'oh yeah' but then went straight back into the whole 'psychosis' thing that he was clearly pushing...it was absolute dross from yet another alleged expert in the field, clearly pushing a certain barrow, for whatevs reason...and it's exactly the sortta' line that has been used against myself and/or other parents for appropriately accessing the appropriate authorities, etc, at great personal cost, in trying to get something done about the multiple, sustained abuses committed at St Martins Lutheran School by teacher Glyn Dorling...

And so we're back here again on this 'ere blog because, well, if I'm the bloody problem then here I am and here's what I've got to say about it...and the ABC and The Border Watch know all about what I'm all about and why and how, and have chosen to foster and support indeed promote and proliferate the idea that crazy ol' Nick Fletcher is the problem and needs to be banned...     

 Oh, There Is A Mayor In There: as our illustrious new Mayor Andrew Lee makes a comment on the ABC Local Radio, after a waffle introduction about how he didn't want to comment until the outcome was officially declared and he didn't know that until late Friday...(but it was declared mid-week...this is a farcical introduction to how Mayor Lee will be functioning-Ed)...and there he goes congratulating those involved in a "fair" election process...(which reminds me that I must write to the ABC to ask them to explain why it's alright to censor a candidate out of the local Government Elections-Ed)...indeed...

And whilst you're there, ask them why it's alright to censor 2 candidates out of the election, because they did it to me as well...(I meant you you eediot...who do you mean?-Ed)...I mean me too...(no, not you, the other one...you said 2-Ed)...well of course there was l'il 'ol me, and there was Karen Bracken who was, to my understanding, also conveniently left out of the ABC's election coverage...(I heard her on for about 90 seconds, maybe less, on the Wednesday 5th November 2014, the day the postal option for voting effectively closed-ED)...yeah, I wouldn't call that equal coverage, particularly given the extensive interviews that the other 6 candidates received...(fair enough-Ed)...

This is a dodgy outcome to a dodgy election process that is so rabidly corruptible it's simply unbelievable that we would use such a haphazard and rortable system as part of an election process...(and that officials, eg, ECSA would continue to defend it-Ed)...absolutely...and given the rabid levels of corruption evident in Mt Gambier, it's Council, it's other elected and/or employed public officials, and that that corruption runs at least to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, given all that, 1) these vested interests are not going to run the risk of letting go of the reins, and 2) fixing such an easily fixable election would be, well, easy...but I still got it sortta' wrong...

I thought that former Cr Allen 'Is The Key' Smith was the lead stooge in a race of stooges supported by corrupt vested interests and therefore would be Mayor, but it appears that I got it half-right in that Andrew Lee is a borderline incompetent totally vulnerable to manipulation and direction...former Councillor now Mayor Lee is notorious for running to former Mayor now Cr Steve Perryman and/or Council CEO Mark McShane for direction on the least little thing...across 4 years he appears to have learned little if anything about Council Meeting processes, constantly being directed by others, eg, taking direction from then Mayor Perryman as to how to raise an Amendment during a Motion, etc...

Ultimately, all Mt Gambier has done is re-elect Steve Perryman to pseudo-Mayor with CEO Mark McShane immediately adjacent him, and behind them both Greg Muller and their mate, my mate, your mate Rory McEwen...and all of them, particularly Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...and Rory are immediately directly complicit in the St Martins issue...everything else aside, I refer to the fundamental statement made by then PM Julia Gillard when setting up the Federal Child Abuse Royal Commission, that people are complicit if they have "averted their eyes or committed acts of omission"...

Averted their eyes or committed acts of omission.

And Andrew Lee (in his first interview as Mayor yesterday on the ABC) and it was the usual vacuous waffle, the same as all the way through the election campaign, including a big thankyou to the Electoral Commission (ECSA) for running an election that was "transparent" and "fair"...(deadset?-Ed)...congratulated the Councillor candidates, and that he'll work hard, etc, etc...and he's honoured to be elected by the community...and finished with something about his "passion and integrity"...(dear gourd-Ed)...    

Tomorrow: A List Of Pains Approaching

A Quick Note: Labor's mates, Fracking mining company Beach Energy has set up a Mining Industry Roundtable thingy and a meeting of said at Penola today, but the LGA has declined to join...(but why wouldn't you want to be part of that group if it's such a critical issue?...is it perhaps plausible deniability? don't go can't know-Ed)...gourd knows...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...and pending approval, a hilarious...(Tony-TH)...Tony...(nnnHarrison-TH)...Tony Harrison story...(I peed a bit-Ed)...charming...

FIFA Services Rendered

Howdy y'all and welcome to the blog and profusest apologies for just not posting in the last coupla' days, I have no problems admitting that I'm forcing myself to struggle to give a damn...(sorry, what?-Ed)...I'm trying to let go a bit and 'move on' from havin' the trauma in my life run my life, and as cathartic and therapeutic as doin' this 'ere blog can be personally, this being driven/obsessed to post daily bullshizzle is just that, bullshizzle...so I'm trying to force myself to not give a damn quite so's much, largely for the sake of my own health, mental and physical...(fair enough-Ed)...

And in doing that it's a long way back with the inevitable over-compensation required to take me to a place where I struggle to care about giving a damn, not struggle with damned caring as a given...(dude, lighten up-Ed)...that's exactly what I am doing with this 'ere blog, lightening my oft self-imposed load of stress and anger, etc, and as previously identified, doin' this 'ere, it blog gives and it takes...(and that in itself is taken as a given-Ed)...exactly...

So hello to Pueto Rico, Singapore, France, and Ukraine...and hello to Turkey which came back for 2 days after 5-6 weeks 'absence' and Moldova which also featured daily then just stopped about 2 months ago...no idea...also, scared the shizzle outta' myself when discovered the 'history' bit where it says what sites you've looked at, etc, and up came 'heffernan pipe-bomb', and I momentarily thought 'crap, someone's put bomb thingys on my computer', but it was from months ago (6+?) when Senator Bill Heffernan went into parliament with a fake pipe-bomb to highlight problems with security...I must have looked it up at the time...

Lost - A Mayor In There: don't ask me what's happening because I don't know, but a week after the Local Government Elections closed (Saturday 7th November) and there's still no sign of our illustrious new leader...(didn't the ABC read out a message, something about how he'd only do a statement once the numbers were finally crunched-Ed)...norrrr, what is it with you and the Crunch? ooo there's a little bit of Crunch...(shut it-Ed)...yes, sorry, yes you're right, he did apparently state that to the ABC Local Radio...

I've been at multiple Mt Gambier City Council meetings across several years, and whilst Councillor Andrew Lee (now Mayor-elect) has repeatedly been subjected to completely inappropriate and clearly rascist disrespect from Cr 'Muttering' Des Mutton, a rascism that was repeatedly allowed/supported by outgoing Mayor Steve Perryman, Lee has himself been shown to have a very poor understanding of procedure, aside from the many times he has remained in the Chamber and voted on issues he had a direct Conflict of Interest with, eg, the Main Corner, liquor licenses, etc...a behaviour ecaserbated by the few occasions that he has declared a COI and left the Chamber...none of which gets reported in the local media...

Which segues beautifully into the fricking 'Dorothy Dixer' Fracking interviews that the ABC ran again this week with Jason Kuchel of SACOME (the SA Chamber of Mining and Energy),and my bestie Beach Energy's Reg Nelson, and a coupla' other bozzos who's names I didn't catch, but all of whom were adamant that there's been Natural Gas Extraction in the South East for over 30 years and that there's never been a single problem, not no contamination, not nuffin'...(but 'natural extraction' is a completely different process to Fracking, we've been through this before, and even if we hadn't it's so immediately obvious that to state otherwise would be a fundamental ignorance...that or a shrecking lie-Ed)...

I'll take Box no.2 thanks Ed...(and congratulations, you've won a trip to exactly where you are already, because the Fracking is coming to you-Ed)...oh thankyou Ed, it's everything I could have hoped for and so much more besides...(and don't you worry your pretty little head with all those nasty complicated numbers re 'Resource Royalties' because we've organised for them (Beach Energy) to not pay any 'royalties' at all-Ed)...mmm, the government who took the 'RR' outta Fracking...(and apparently it has to be done to ensure our domestic supply-Ed)...and thank goodness for that too, because Uncle Reg reckons that we are at the mercy of a "gas supply crisis"...

And that's it right there isn't it...it's not just the one massive lie from The Regstar about how 'Fracking is "exactly the same" as Natural Gas Extraction, but a series of lies about their (Beach's) intentions/aspirations/targets in the Penola area...he started a year ago or more with lengthy explanations about how they're targetting the deep-set shale deposits from which the original 'natural gas' pockets had seeped and gathered...(well that's actually true, so he wasn't lying then was he?-Ed)...fair enough, a tad pedantic but fair enough...

It is true that many of these deposits are many millions of years old, etc, etc, and have produced 'natural gas' pockets such as have already been depleted around Penola, eg, the Katnook site, etc, gas resources that were effectively 'unbound' and under their own pressure and therefore didn't require any Fracking and absolutely minimal chemical use, etc, etc...but for anyone vaguely informed let alone the head of the company to state outright that Fracking and this 'natural extraction' are "exactly the same", that sir is an outright lie known by the sayer as such...and so too the lies about a "gas supply crisis"...

All's Well Swell That Ends Well With Our Wells: which means not pumping many tons of largely unknown and/or untested chemicals through Aquifers into the ground under massive pressure, a pressure that will seek to relieve itself...(snigger-Ed)...there's nuthin' funny about this mate...(sorry, sorry-Ed)...that will seek to escape at the weakest point being the Fracking shaft itself...(and then Reg changed his story to something about finding previously unknown Aquifers and other 'natural gas' deposits-Ed)...indeed...the story from Reg constantly changes...oh, except for the denials, the denials keep flowing...

And Rego mate...(maaate-Ed)...coupled his explanations with generalised denigrationings of anyone who in any way questions and/or opposes his precious little meal ticket...well that's OUR gas champ, that's located under OUR Aquifer...(are you suggesting that Beach and Tommy et al can take their greed, their corruption and/or their collective fiscal incompetence and stay in Adelaide which quite deserves them?-Ed)...I wouldn't have put it quite so politely, but yes that's exactly what I'm suggesting...

(And I noted another brief mention re Beach Energy and their purchase/gifting of the iconic building/s on the Glenside site, until fairly recently SA's main Mental Health facility and now a film studio and some other bollocks-Ed)...not a fan then...and what's "purchase/gifting" mean? it's one or the other...(well there's always a third option, eg, sold dodgily at below correct value, sold but partly gifted, eg, the Mt Barker farmland going under massive housing developments that will soon to be suburban ghetto's, the Gillman Land Sale without a tender process for $100million instead of $400m-Ed)...fair enough...

(But with the reporting of the Beach Energy/Glenside mentionings I've not heard a specific statement that the site/building was 'sold to Beach', etc, it's just sortta' mentioned adjacently as being theirs-Ed)...well when you put it all like that...and with the monies involved in all that, $100s of millions, it makes the dodgy sale of the SERDE Building to lawyer Bill DeGaris...(a gifted sale indeed-Ed)...well quite...it makes that look like amateur hour, albeit an equally dodgy amateur hour...(right on man-Ed)...ta'...

Fee For Services Rendered:...(dah, now I get it-Ed)...indeed, fees re my 'professional bid consultancy' for the 2050 Soccer (Football) World Cup, now to be held in Kalangadoo...(oh well done sir, that's quite a coup for Kalangadoo-Ed)...yeah, yeah, just point me to my large brown bag of motivational persuasionings...(whaaa?-Ed)...the promotional incentivisationings material...(errr?-Ed)...the big bag of cash you idiot...(oh oh, yeah, that's all sorted, it's in the account, cheers-Ed)...and I'll be on my way, nuthin' to see 'ere...(thanks for ya' help-Ed)...never call me again (click).

It just doesn't matter how you look at it, the hilarity of the reality carefully avoided by the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is so hilariously glaringly obvious that even the lawyer who prepared it on behalf of FIFA is sinkin' the boot in...Qatar, winner of the latest 'bid' for the World Cup 'allegedly' bribed their way into hosting the 2018 World Cup and yet have been found officially to be without fault, and equally suss Russia claims to have lost their computers and therefore have no record of any of anything's stuff...about anything...more tomorrow...

The New Hunger Games Movie: describes exactly how this 'ere blog deals with the most upstanding and illustrious of all our leaders...(don't get it-Ed)...our darling Sow Strayn Premier Jay Weatherill...(ahh, now I get it, Mockingjay-Ed)...bingo...and there standeth one of the most complicit players in the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up whom as Family and Community Services (FAYS?, whatevs) officially blocked Child Abuse Comm Ted Mullighan from investigating, and as Premier has lied about it on ABC Radio (June 2011) and waved it away to be covered-up by then Minister Grace Portolesi...but I digress...

Tomorrow: The List Of Council Pains Awaiting

Sorry didn't get to it today, but there's no mad rush, first Council meeting on Tuesday 25th November 2014 and none a' that pain ain't goin' nowhere...

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

People Aren't Wearing Enough Hats

Hello Bulgaria, France, the United Kingdom, and the USofA, and welcome to the blog...and Capt Happy Chap rides again...(and with good reason too, if half of what you've told me is true-Ed)...well it's coming from Mt Gambier City Council so it's potentially at least half true...(that's very generous of you-Ed)...I refer of course to today's advertised post, which I've pushed to tomorrow sorry because after yesterday's vitriolic binge and/or purge (I'm never quite sure which it is) I'd just like to tidy-up a few loose ends in a slightly lighter tone...

And unfortunately the first end is the end of the Council meeting 21st October 2014 and the closing rounds of self congratulation from retiring Councillors Biddie (Tietz) Shearing and Jim Maher, and outgoing Mayor Steve Perrymen...whilst I've covered most of the detail from those speeches, I'd just like to re-visit the mutual admiration of how fantastic Jim thinks Stevo is, and likewise how Jim mate is Stevo's new bestie, etc, etc...it was truly sickening to watch these 2...and last gasp was Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...openly describing the structures of control and corruption that have so thoroughly rooted Mt Gambier and allowed/perpetuated/protected the St Martins Cover-up...

For minutes he went on about how fantastic Rory McEwen was/is, and how Rory had taken him (Stevo) under his (Rory's ) wing and introduced him (Stevo) to all the people who helped his career there-on-in...(and what great things Rory had done for his family-Ed)...indeed, and how great Rory's wife was to Stevo's wife and the kids and everything's fantastic and everyone's just super...absolutely sickening and an absolute indicator of how comfortable and self-justified these people are in their corruption...

In my rather unpleasant reality that's the person (locally) second most responsible for the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, second only to the person he's gushingly praising-up, and only just ahead of 'Labor stalwart' Jim Maher...so I get to spend my evening (21st Oct 2014) sitting right behind Viv Maher, herself complicit in the St Martins issue...(shall we give her 4th?-Ed)...yeah, go on, why not...listening to Jim praise-up Stevo, followed by Stevo slobbering all over Rory...(yep, that's ya' St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up Trifecta right there-Ed)...indeed it is Ed, indeed it is...

And when Stevo was done with his verbal Rory-fondling he went straight onto what a top bloke Greg Muller is...(and at that point I decided I'd had enough...but unfortunately I'm only a contrived literary tool utilised to 'engage with' rather than 'lecture at' availees of this 'ere post...if it wasn't for that, I'd have stormed out I would've-Ed)...but instead you stayed with me 'til the last, bless you... 

Ironying Out the Wrinkles: in that I'm hardly thrilled to come last in the Mayoral elections, an election where I didn't really expect to come much higher but would've been nice to not be last, but when having a mild whinge about it to someone, they said 'get over it, you've achieved exactly what I expected you to, it's the blog that's important, and the credibility you've achieved there-in'...(you're right, there is a certain irony in someone supportively saying that they expected exactly that you would run last and genuinely well done for it-Ed)...indeed...

And another day another whinge to another person was exuberantly and demonstratively contested with the observationings 'no way man, good on you for at least having a bloody go, we need people like you doing what you're doing'...I was floored that such a relatively reserved person whom I didn't think liked me all that much would be so openly and emotively supportive...(good on her, eh?-Ed)...absolutely...thankyou... 

Putin In The Ritz:...Obama in the Meridien, Abbott in the Surfers Paradise YMCA ...if this is the answer, the question must be 'where are our illustrious leaders staying whilst in Brisbane for the OMG20'...(and that's actually just the G20 Meeting of the 20 leaders of leading global economies-Ed)...well how the shreck did Oz getta' guernsey then?...(not sure, I think they have to invite the host don't they? can't rock up to someone's house for a party and not invite them?-Ed)...perhaps we're the USofA's 'plus one'...(maybe China's-Ed)...whoevs, the important thing is we're going...(I'll have to get a new hat-Ed)...oo oo, that reminds me...

People Aren't Wearing Enough Hats: is a collective title for several things in the media recently, namely...
Part 1: Is that whilst the whole Horse Racing thingy doesn't mean a whole bunch to me personally, I acknowledge that there's apparently an allied industry in aesthetically appealing generally revealing coiturey for the otherwise apparelly-challenged...and that includes hats...(fascinating-Ed)...ahaha, I'll give ya' that one...and associated business, eg, millineures (hat-makers)... 

And so when Lady Chamomile Smythe-Tompkinson visits Tristan, Millineure To The Stars, and he says, 'so now I'm gonna' make it look like a flamingo has collided with the back of your head, that'll be $4500 thanks' apparently this year they'll have not been harangued by the common soldiery wandering about the shoppe because the plebs ain't got the spare extra cash to spend on extravagant hats, etc...(I notice that it got so bad that some young women couldn't even afford underwear, leading to the introduction of related Dress Codes-Ed)...yeah I'm not sure that was a lack of finances so much as a lack of finesse...(I'd have said lack of self-respect-Ed)...maybe, a bit...

Part 2: As a twice-times Cancer survivor, the massive Lymphoma tumour in my chest that I had 8 months of Chemotherapy and 4 weeks of Radiotherapy to treat in 2004/05, that was my second 'episode', after having 2 'regressed malignant melanomas' removed in 1996...I continue intermittently to have moles removed as precaution...as a young and very vain man I spent a a lot of time sans shirt, hat, etc, but I rarely go anywhere now without a hat, long sleeve shirt, etc...and I'd like to pass on this observation as is the title...

I reckon I've made this joke previous but it certainly bears repeating, I continue to see the vast majority of people, eg, walking the magnificent Blue Lake, not wearing hats...(and lots of singlets, etc, meaning exposed necks, backs of ears, etc-Ed)...and many of the few hats worn are actually caps that similarly offer little if any protection to the back of the neck, ears, etc...Please People: and tell the people you know, particularly flabby white folk like me, please, please, please wear broad-brimmed hats and long sleeves and if ya' have to be brown, use a low-irritant fake tan and shizzle...

Part 3: Is about the increasing lack of and/or increasing average age of volunteers, etc, which itself ironically sees less people in our community wearing more hats each when it comes to running these volunteer organisations...(that is ironic, not enough people are wearing those hats so more people of the less people end up wearing more hats-Ed)...exactly...

And in closing, now the Sow Strayn Ombudsman is having a go at the SA Independent Commission Against Corruption...(what the Police Ombudsman again?-Ed)..no no, the Acting Ombudsman Megan Philpott, not the PO Sarah Bolt...(why are our Ombudswomen called Ombudsman?-Ed)...om stuffed if I know, but I'd guess convention...and the conflict appears to be about an increase in workload that is also then being duplicated within the ICAC as well...as with all these alleged conflicts, I struggle to see them as genuine, but rather as confected arguments to give the false impression of independence and credibility...

Tomorrow: The Council Inheritance Stuff

And freak me out to see on the news the window cleaner's swing-scaffold hangin' off the new World Trade Centre building, because I did that job on 2 buildings in Adelaide, namely the AMP building on the South West corner of North Tce/King William St, and the Grenfell Tower, and we also went onto the roof of the Commonwealth building along King William St...

First day (1989) was get in the open scaffold at ground level on the South face of the AMP building , 2 cables only on either end, not attached at all to the side of the building, and go up to the roof (18-20 floors) and then get out onto the roof across the foot-wide gap, to then see that the horizontal supporting poles for the scaffold were not actually attached to the building at all, but loose poles with heavy weights and sandbags stacked on the other ends...(omg-Ed)...indeed, and then fill up the buckets with water and back over the parapet into the scaffold, across that gap that now looked a metre wide...(I bet-Ed)...and slowly down floor by floor...(ick-Ed)...

And between floors no grip on the building at all and only little sucker things when we were stopped and thank gourd I only did that building that one day, because having seen how it was just hangjn' off the top of the building I'm not sure I'd have got in it a second time...the dude I was workin' with had been in it only weeks before on the Western side when high winds 'unstuck' them about 6 floors up and blew them out across the footpath on the other side of the lane, crashing back into the building several times before a brief calm allowed them to get back to ground level...(I think I just soiled myself-Ed)...fair enough...

I'm not great with heights but that day was particularly quietly terrifying...the other scaffold at the Grenfell Tower was absolute bloody luxury compared, up to the roof in the service elevator, to a fully enclosed and covered basket hanging from a crane that ran on rails around the top of the building and was attached by rollers to the side of each window frame...that sucker wasn't goin' nowhere but up and down...and we're cleaning windows when the bloody phone rings (and this was 1989, no mobiles then sonny) the cradle/scaffold thingy had a telephone, 2 in fact, and someone was ringing from the AMP building across town on North Tce to tell us we'd missed a window...hilarious...

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