Hello world and welcome to the blog...and my version of Ground Hog Day...same day, day in day out, day after day...and the loitering humour that I too had a day now long distant where I 'frolicked like an otter in the warm waters of a tropical paradise' and 'why can't I have that day over and over instead of this one'...(paraphrasing Bill Murray from the movie GHD).
Whilst I'm sure that some people are sick and tired of me banging on about the St Martins Issue, please consider that it's with me everyday, all day, not least of all because I can't avail myself of the news without running into something from the latest Royal Commission or Inquiry, or the latest child rape in a South Australian primary school, etc...and when I discuss St Martins, the respondent observations that there must be some sort of 'paedophile ring' operating in Mt Gambier.
Because I can't walk down the Main St or go to the supermarket without running into shrekin' Lutherans or a City Councillor or an ABC staffer or someone from The Border Watch...yesterday it was a TBW reporter, the other day Stuart Stansfield, day before that 3 Lutheran staffers at the shops, when I volunteered at the Show it was a senior Lutheran......can't listen to the ABC without having my ears burned...
And right on cue, the completely impartial BBC World Service Radio news is running the story of the first Queensland man to face Court re the recent world-wide Child Pornography ring busted by Operation (Whatevs?)...one charge for one man of 33 in the state and 60+ across Australia...one charge for possessing thousands of images.
Can't get through any day without being haunted by the memory of that one day in May 2002 when I walked into the classroom to get my child for their piano lesson, and saw teacher Glyn Dorling with 2 girls heads on his lap and his arm around a third girl standing next to him...and thought nothing more of it than a spontaneous show of affection as some of the kids had shown me...and how could I have possibly known?
How could I have known that this was part of a broad series of daily psychological, emotional, and physical abuses planned and executed by teacher Glyn Dorling with a view to controlling the children for his prurient interests?
Can't go one day without wearing the guilt for failing to recognise that brief moment for what it really was...an orchestrated manipulation carefully organised to make the children available for escalating abuses...and that it continued for 2-3 weeks after I could have stopped it...but ultimately would it have made any difference?...it's been very carefully, thoroughly, professionally covered-up so would a few weeks have made any difference?
I ain't Robinson Crusoe in applying the logic of Sherlock Holmes...(all you need is a Great White Whale tilting at windmills with Great Expectations-Ed)...nice...when people come to understand that successive SAPol Superintendents Harbour, Fairney and Twilley, former MP Rory McEwen, current member Don Pegler and Mayors Steve Perryman and Peter Gandolfi, current senior staff at St Martins, senior members of Mt Gambier City Council, etc, etc, etc, have all participated either directly or indirectly in the cover-up of Child Abuse at St Martins School, they inevitably come to the conclusion that there must be collusion and corruption...but why?
Apply the logic and trim away the rest and what you're left with is a group of people who are knowingly protecting a paedophile who has abused 7 year old children...and as put to me repeatedly - is there some sort of a 'Paedophile Ring' operating in Mt Gambier?
People like Rory McEwen who have acted with deliberate intent, eg, denigrating us parents in the local media as 'conspiracy theorists who have actually hounded the teacher' (paraphrase from TBW May 2005)...or Steve Perryman who has direct involvement with the Lutherans, mouthing off in my ear at the March 2010 state election Forum, apparently trying to start a fight so as to stop me talking about the issue...
And let's not forget the extraordinary involvement of the ABC and The Border Watch...when push has come to shove has come to metaphoric blows, successive TBW Editors and staff, and multiple senior ABC staff attack me and abuse me and I'm banned out of TBW and off the ABC...and this corruption and censorship is clearly being run from 'above and behind', by the people who own TBW and senior Adelaide ABC staff.
I refer to my previous posts about the bizarre contradictions in the letter from the ABCs Graeme Bennett where he accuses me of lying, then repeats exactly the facts that he just called me a liar for claiming...says I'm not banned off talk-back radio, and then explains how I'm not allowed on talk-back radio...says 'our Legal Dept is reading your blog' but fails to acknowledge the outrageous conduct of Stuart Stansfield let alone do something about it or do anything about the St Martins Cover-up.
The ABC Legal Beagles are sniffing around my blog and are therefore fully aware of 1) the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, 2) the conduct of Mt Gambier ABC staffer/producer Stuart Stansfield, and 3) the actions of multiple senior ABC personnel, eg, Simon Royal, Ian Henschke, David Bevan and Matthew Abraham, Stan Thompson, Alan Richardson, Four Corners, 7.30 SA, 7.30 (National), etc, etc, in constantly ignoring the St Martins case.
People want to know, I want to know, how it is that this can be so thoroughly covered-up?...how a class of 7 year old children can be grossly and systematically abused by their teacher; and when that abuse regime is exposed by the activism of parents, every authority, every fine upstanding citizen doesn't just turn their collective backs on it, they act deliberately to protect the teacher.
And the more parents expose the unpleasant realities, the harder authorities like SAPol and the Teachers Registration Board and the Crown Solicitors Office and the Lutherans and their lawyers Piper Alderman and MP Rory McEwen, etc, etc...the more we expose the disastrous truth, the harder they fight to bury it.
The answer inextricably presents itself as being 'that there must be some sort of paedophile ring operating and these people are either directly involved or corruptly complicit' (paraphrase)...and that is an ugly truth that I have lived for over a decade now...every day...whilst constantly under attack from those same people.
And Stuart Stansfield repeatedly taunting me over the phone late last year "You just don't get it do you Nick?' and all that infers...he was laughing at me about how he was in charge and was fully intending to help his 'mates' like Rory McEwen shut me out and shut me down...and I have no problem pointing to that as an indicator of the complicit nature of the St Martins Cover-up...and from there how far to the 'Paedophile Ring' that people keep telling me my explanations describe and define?
And I just don't want to even discuss today's extraordinary front page of The Advertiser newspaper about the numbers of children just "disappearing" from state care...I haven't read it right through yet, and quite frankly it just makes my skin crawl over blood run cold to even think about it...it is my personal experience that South Australia is wholly controlled by pro-paedophile interests and I genuinely fear for not just those children but all who will inevitably follow.
That's for another day though because I've had a gutful for this day. As much as this 'venting' helps me to a better personal place within this nightmare, eg, I may well be well shreked up by this stuff, but at least I'm not one of these spineless, corrupt shreks, ultimately it still demands it's tithe.
Tomorrow: Some Shizzle I'm Sure
Sorry about the lack of humour in today's post but I just didn't have it in me...oh, and Australia has just won the Ashes Cricket Test Match in Perth and therefore the series 3 - 0...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Monday, December 16, 2013
Post 351ish: Just Motoring Along
Hello and welcome to the blog and the 351st post...and '351' is of course a famous number when it comes to Australian vehicle manufacture...I just can't remember if it's a Holden or a Ford engine...or is it a Chevy?...(come on, it's un-Australian to not know what car the 351 engine goes in-Ed)...I know, whatevs...but my fallback position is the classic Ford 351 GT 'Shaker', the fastest 4-door production car of it's time...(and for some time thereafter-Ed)...and now worth squillions, eg, $200,000+.
Ah, The Finnigan Defense Ag'in: Former Labor MLC Bernard Finnigan, arrested 3 years ago whilst Acting Police Minister, for a raft of 'Child Pornography Possession' charges (22-23?), has had the charges changed, dropped, re-instated, dropped again, re-instated but changed, etc, in and out of different jurisdictions...(Magistrates and District Courts I believe-Ed)...whatevs...and is currently defending the sole remaining charge via his lawyers - 'it's not a Statutory Offense because you can't tell if the children in the images are under 14 years of age'...(deadset-Ed).
The same defense has just been used by a Kings Cross (Sydney) 'Brothel' owner who was convicted of 2 counts of prostituting a 14 year old girl, only to then receive a 2 year suspended sentence...and her excuse was that the girl approached her, and she didn't know she was 14 and she didn't ask...(seriously?...oh gee whiz sorry I prostituted that 14 year old but I didn't ask so I didn't know...and a suspended 2 year sentence?...deadset-Ed)...
And taking the ABC TV series Rake as my muse, one can't help wondering if the defense didn't employ the famous and very effective 'And Remember Your Honour That I Still Have Those Photos' defense...(ah, the old ARYHTISHTP defense...clever, clever-Ed)...what can I possibly say about this suspended sentence that doesn't make itself immediately obvious...(I'm struggling sorry-Ed)...well if conviction for prostituting a 14 year old gets 2 years suspended, with a defense of 'gee whiz I didn't know', then the precedent is set there, the bar is set there...(oh-Ed)...
So it's open season on 14 year olds and all you have to say is 'Gee whiz, I didn't know skipper'...and the case precedent is set for a suspended sentence...even after conviction...(and the Rake thing?-Ed)...that was supposedly 'based on actual events' about lawyers, politicians, etc, and the drugs and alcohol, etc, and the prostitutes they engaged, dated, etc...but moving on...
Immigration Health Advisory Group: has been suddenly axed by the Abbott government without any specific explanation. The group of 12 psychiatrists, psychologists, and other 'independent' experts was established in 2006 to provide unbiased advice re the Mental Health and other general health issues of people in detention, and was partly due to the Immigration Detention of Australian citizen Cornelia Rau who was suffering a Mental Illness at the time.
There will now be a one person independent panel, former Chair Dr Paul Alexander, but the IHAG spokeswoman states that he has no specific qualifications in the fields he is advising on, and it appears possible that the fractious nature of the IHAG that Mr Abbott is alluding to as the reason for axing it, may well be due to the actions/behaviours of Mr Alexander...I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if a functioning panel of relative experts were replaced by one person who doesn't really know and/or is compliant.
For me this has the whiff of the unilateral appointment of the completely none-qualified Labor 'hack' Mia Handshin to the head of the Environment Protection Authority...or of Grant King to the Regional Development Australia and the Health Advisory Council...an appointment that guarantees no dissenting opinion emanating from said authority, and a massive slice of plausible deniability...I wonder how long it is before they start saying 'Orr, give 'im a chance guvna', he's only one man!'
And there are about 33,000 people waiting to have their applications processed and that number steadily increases...and many of them are 'genuine refugees' by anyone's definition, eg, survivors from war zones...but if you don't want to have to deal with the realities, ditch the panel and appoint a 'silent expert'...this is purely my theory...Mr Abbott obviously feels that they have to go, but why?...and why only one person to replace a panel?
In ignorance of the actual facts I must identify that perhaps the reality is that the entire panel were rabid Labor devotees appointed only months ago, in the looming shadow of an Election 2013 wipeout, to give the Liberals an absolute caning re the treatment of refugees...I recall that the $10billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation was set up in such circumstances, and continues to dosh out taxpayers cash to Wind Turbine companies, amongst others...however, the CEFC set-up does not prove that the same has happened with the IHAG.
A Glowing Report:...not...for the future of Nuclear Energy and therefore Uranium mining and therefore the likelihood that BHP will invest in the massive expansion at Olympic Dam (Roxby Downs, South Australia) that former Premier Mike Rann made a huge song and dance about announcing back in 2011...(signed in Melbourne mind you-Ed)...quite...before BHP only months later scrapped said expansion...(and not quite the same pomp and ceremony for the dumping, eh-Ed)...indeed.
According to the BBC World Service ongoing problems with the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan nearly 3 years after the March 2011 Tsunami all but destroyed it, have dampened global enthusiasm for Nuclear Energy, and that's on the limited information available from the same authorities that have previously outright lied about the situation...can't help feeling that the only one's getting any sort of glow out of this are the reactor workers and stubborn locals who refuse to budge.
So what does this mean for Prime Minister Tony Abbot's statement that SA needs to focus it's future on that mining expansion and should go a courting that fair maiden BHP? Was it a genuine 'plan' or did Tony just grab the one thing he knew about South Australia and trot that out to defer away from the reality of what is going to happen in SA when Holden departs? And who do you believe about that?
Did the Liberal's refusal to discuss increased funding push General Motors Holden out of Australia, or did GMH grab this refusal as 'justification' for doing what they intended to do anyway? Is this an unavoidable reality of globalisation, or should the Federal government provide increased funding to match the support/subsidies/trade restrictions, etc, that other governments provide their vehicle manufacturers?
Which then leads into the stupidity of the 'Trans-Pacific Partnerships' that we are currently signing up to...allegedly Free Trade agreements that clearly leave Australia disadvantaged and in some circumstances open to legal action from private companies claiming 'losses' due to internal political decisions...and the proof is already in the puddin' in that international Tobacco companies are using a Hong Kong Statute to challenge Australia's 'Plain Packaging ' laws for cigarette packets.
And I cannot address any of these issues without the crass hypocrisy of South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill looming large in my mind...bleating about the jobs at Holden and 'Federal support packages' for the workers and the effect on the economy and why does Canberra treat us like this?...and there are apparently plenty of people in the South East who share my sentiment that Mr Weatherill had no such concerns for us when selling off the SE Forestry Estate...
I do not, however, share their enthusiasm for this Karmic Scrotum Kickage that Adelaide has just received, because as stated in a previous post, this will go very, very badly for the SE and all of Regional SA...if what has been happening for the last decade with the Forestry Sale to pay for the reworked Adelaide Oval, other privatisations, cutting of services, job losses, etc, all focused on pork-barreling the people of Adelaide with 'Bread and Circuses' governance...if that has happened in the good times, what the shrek are we in for now?
I'll pull stumps here with the observation that,
Tomorrow: Is Another Day That Never Comes
(Whoa, deep man-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
Ah, The Finnigan Defense Ag'in: Former Labor MLC Bernard Finnigan, arrested 3 years ago whilst Acting Police Minister, for a raft of 'Child Pornography Possession' charges (22-23?), has had the charges changed, dropped, re-instated, dropped again, re-instated but changed, etc, in and out of different jurisdictions...(Magistrates and District Courts I believe-Ed)...whatevs...and is currently defending the sole remaining charge via his lawyers - 'it's not a Statutory Offense because you can't tell if the children in the images are under 14 years of age'...(deadset-Ed).
The same defense has just been used by a Kings Cross (Sydney) 'Brothel' owner who was convicted of 2 counts of prostituting a 14 year old girl, only to then receive a 2 year suspended sentence...and her excuse was that the girl approached her, and she didn't know she was 14 and she didn't ask...(seriously?...oh gee whiz sorry I prostituted that 14 year old but I didn't ask so I didn't know...and a suspended 2 year sentence?...deadset-Ed)...
And taking the ABC TV series Rake as my muse, one can't help wondering if the defense didn't employ the famous and very effective 'And Remember Your Honour That I Still Have Those Photos' defense...(ah, the old ARYHTISHTP defense...clever, clever-Ed)...what can I possibly say about this suspended sentence that doesn't make itself immediately obvious...(I'm struggling sorry-Ed)...well if conviction for prostituting a 14 year old gets 2 years suspended, with a defense of 'gee whiz I didn't know', then the precedent is set there, the bar is set there...(oh-Ed)...
So it's open season on 14 year olds and all you have to say is 'Gee whiz, I didn't know skipper'...and the case precedent is set for a suspended sentence...even after conviction...(and the Rake thing?-Ed)...that was supposedly 'based on actual events' about lawyers, politicians, etc, and the drugs and alcohol, etc, and the prostitutes they engaged, dated, etc...but moving on...
Immigration Health Advisory Group: has been suddenly axed by the Abbott government without any specific explanation. The group of 12 psychiatrists, psychologists, and other 'independent' experts was established in 2006 to provide unbiased advice re the Mental Health and other general health issues of people in detention, and was partly due to the Immigration Detention of Australian citizen Cornelia Rau who was suffering a Mental Illness at the time.
There will now be a one person independent panel, former Chair Dr Paul Alexander, but the IHAG spokeswoman states that he has no specific qualifications in the fields he is advising on, and it appears possible that the fractious nature of the IHAG that Mr Abbott is alluding to as the reason for axing it, may well be due to the actions/behaviours of Mr Alexander...I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if a functioning panel of relative experts were replaced by one person who doesn't really know and/or is compliant.
For me this has the whiff of the unilateral appointment of the completely none-qualified Labor 'hack' Mia Handshin to the head of the Environment Protection Authority...or of Grant King to the Regional Development Australia and the Health Advisory Council...an appointment that guarantees no dissenting opinion emanating from said authority, and a massive slice of plausible deniability...I wonder how long it is before they start saying 'Orr, give 'im a chance guvna', he's only one man!'
And there are about 33,000 people waiting to have their applications processed and that number steadily increases...and many of them are 'genuine refugees' by anyone's definition, eg, survivors from war zones...but if you don't want to have to deal with the realities, ditch the panel and appoint a 'silent expert'...this is purely my theory...Mr Abbott obviously feels that they have to go, but why?...and why only one person to replace a panel?
In ignorance of the actual facts I must identify that perhaps the reality is that the entire panel were rabid Labor devotees appointed only months ago, in the looming shadow of an Election 2013 wipeout, to give the Liberals an absolute caning re the treatment of refugees...I recall that the $10billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation was set up in such circumstances, and continues to dosh out taxpayers cash to Wind Turbine companies, amongst others...however, the CEFC set-up does not prove that the same has happened with the IHAG.
A Glowing Report:...not...for the future of Nuclear Energy and therefore Uranium mining and therefore the likelihood that BHP will invest in the massive expansion at Olympic Dam (Roxby Downs, South Australia) that former Premier Mike Rann made a huge song and dance about announcing back in 2011...(signed in Melbourne mind you-Ed)...quite...before BHP only months later scrapped said expansion...(and not quite the same pomp and ceremony for the dumping, eh-Ed)...indeed.
According to the BBC World Service ongoing problems with the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan nearly 3 years after the March 2011 Tsunami all but destroyed it, have dampened global enthusiasm for Nuclear Energy, and that's on the limited information available from the same authorities that have previously outright lied about the situation...can't help feeling that the only one's getting any sort of glow out of this are the reactor workers and stubborn locals who refuse to budge.
So what does this mean for Prime Minister Tony Abbot's statement that SA needs to focus it's future on that mining expansion and should go a courting that fair maiden BHP? Was it a genuine 'plan' or did Tony just grab the one thing he knew about South Australia and trot that out to defer away from the reality of what is going to happen in SA when Holden departs? And who do you believe about that?
Did the Liberal's refusal to discuss increased funding push General Motors Holden out of Australia, or did GMH grab this refusal as 'justification' for doing what they intended to do anyway? Is this an unavoidable reality of globalisation, or should the Federal government provide increased funding to match the support/subsidies/trade restrictions, etc, that other governments provide their vehicle manufacturers?
Which then leads into the stupidity of the 'Trans-Pacific Partnerships' that we are currently signing up to...allegedly Free Trade agreements that clearly leave Australia disadvantaged and in some circumstances open to legal action from private companies claiming 'losses' due to internal political decisions...and the proof is already in the puddin' in that international Tobacco companies are using a Hong Kong Statute to challenge Australia's 'Plain Packaging ' laws for cigarette packets.
And I cannot address any of these issues without the crass hypocrisy of South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill looming large in my mind...bleating about the jobs at Holden and 'Federal support packages' for the workers and the effect on the economy and why does Canberra treat us like this?...and there are apparently plenty of people in the South East who share my sentiment that Mr Weatherill had no such concerns for us when selling off the SE Forestry Estate...
I do not, however, share their enthusiasm for this Karmic Scrotum Kickage that Adelaide has just received, because as stated in a previous post, this will go very, very badly for the SE and all of Regional SA...if what has been happening for the last decade with the Forestry Sale to pay for the reworked Adelaide Oval, other privatisations, cutting of services, job losses, etc, all focused on pork-barreling the people of Adelaide with 'Bread and Circuses' governance...if that has happened in the good times, what the shrek are we in for now?
I'll pull stumps here with the observation that,
Tomorrow: Is Another Day That Never Comes
(Whoa, deep man-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
Sunday, December 15, 2013
350th Post - In My Own Defense Again
Hello and welcome to the blog...and welcome to the 350th post...or there abouts...and what is there to say but this...
Today is the official funeral of Nelson Mandela, and I ask again that readers pause to honour his life and acknowledge his passing...May He Rest In Peace.
Even today when I want to do an almost whimsical recount of some stuff that hasn't quite worked out for me in Mt Gambier, it by necessity immediately descends into an almost libelously scandalous diatribe about 'why does this crap always happen to me?'...but first this...
Lutheran Christmas Lunch: yesterday I cracked wise about 'the disenfranchised' not being able to get to the City Council sponsored lunch the Lutherans are 'hosting' in the Old Town Hall on Christmas Day, but it's 'alleged' to me that there may be a shuttle bus running...don't know sorry, didn't hear that in the interview, but I did miss part of it...strictly for balance if not accuracy, There may be a shuttle bus running...(go on, you know you want to...(he's going to say 'who's bloody paying?')-Ed)...and who's bloody paying for that?...(you are so predictable-Ed).
(But sorry no, I don't know what 'Council's sponsorship' of the event entails...but it may be 'free use' of the Old Town Hall and/or money for the catering...or maybe petrol money for the highly contentious alleged 'shuttle bus'-Ed)...you're hilarious...but I'll tell you someone who's highly contentious...Toronto Mayor Rob Ford...(highly contentious?...I'd say more like 'contentiously high'...see what I did there?-Ed)...yeah, that was actually the joke...anyhoos...
The point I was trying to make was not that I'm opposed to Christmas, I'm not even opposed to Council supporting a Christmas lunch for 'the disenfranchised', but the facts remain that 1) in whatever way Council 'sponsors' that lunch, that is all ratepayers money...Council money is ratepayers money, I don't care whether it's Federal or State Grant or rates or borrowed, whatevs...and 2) when that money is being used by the Lutherans for a grossly hypocritical self-gratification of self-congratulation, ratepayers are paying for that...and that ain't right.
I'm not going through it all again today, but please review my previous posts about the Lutherans and St Martins School, and the actions and/or inactions of Mayor Steve Perryman and Mt Gambier City Council...it is not my place to specifically discuss the trauma that the Lutherans have deliberately visited on other parents in order to protect a "text-book grooming paedophile", but I have watched it happen and had it all done to me...and I have suffered for it...
Amusing Anecdotes of Self-Defense: Unfortunately, my AASDs don't offer much real humour apart from this...(now?-Ed)...yes, now...(huhhmm...Why do people take an instant dislike to Nick Fletcher?...'cos it saves time-Ed)...thankyou...and now 2 amusing tales I'd like to call 'My Cover Stories' because both of those individuals specifically involved have ended up on the cover of the Mt Gambier Phone Book.
Down In A Hole: was where I regularly found myself back in 1999 as a volunteer cave guide for Lifeline at what was then their Engelbrecht Cave. Shortly after I moved to Mt Gambier in late 1998, an Adelaide parking ticket I didn't even know I'd received caught up with me as a 'Warrant' and so I ended up at Lifeline for 3 days, and they asked me if I would give their cave-guiding a go, which I did for about 6 months...and I was very good at it.
Not long after I started there, a woman claiming to be the married coordinator's 'girlfriend' began ringing and then coming to the Cave office wanting to know where he was...at first politely and then more and more insistently...apparently by this stage he was already avoiding her...and then she started coming around the counter and effectively cornering me and making suggestive comments, etc...I found myself in the middle of some sort of 'extra-marital affair spat' being 'sexually harassed' by the woman involved...
I verbally reported this to my 'superiors' but it was already well known what had happened and what was now happening because the woman involved had called the Lifeline warehouse a few times as well...but before it could be resolved, one evening she showed up at my caravan asking if I wanted to have dinner...fortunately I had my child there and so could justifiably decline, but she insisted, I again declined, she left, and I went immediately the next day and lodged what I thought was an official complaint.
I was assured again that it was all in hand, but a few nights later she showed up at my caravan again, and I politely tuned her in about how inappropriate it was, and reported it again...and have a wild guess who it was that was kicked out...(well you, obviously...even I saw that one coming-Ed)...damn straight...as it was explained to me 'gee whiz, sorry, but it's all a bit difficult because he's the coordinator so we're going to have to ask you to stop cave-guiding for us...oh, but you can keep working in the filthy, grotty warehouse busting your back hauling bales of clothes, etc'...(that'll teach you to be so damned gorgeous-Ed)...hilarious...
And I was the best guide they had too...go there at 8am approx, get the keys and cash from Andami supermarket, open and clean up the office and caves, greet tourists and take the tour money, do the 50min long tours, run the short movie at the end...do that 5-6 times a day...up and down 4-5 flights of stairs whilst gabbling away about the geography, European history, etc...and then close up and return the keys...and I loved it.
One day a couple were hanging back and asking me why I was there, and I explained moving from Adelaide to see my child, and being unemployed, and the volunteering, and the lady quietly said something to her husband, they both nodded, and he reached out to shake my hand...and there was a $20 note folded in his palm...I said that there was a donation tin just there on the counter, but they insisted it was for me...I was shocked, but they accepted my explanation that I was their as a volunteer to raise money for Lifeline so we all agreed and that 'Redback' went in the tin.
Then, shortly after it all unraveled for me because of the jilted girlfriend, the gentleman concerned was lauded for being a champ on the rear cover of the Mt Gambier phone book...(hilarious-Ed)...yes, nearly hilarious as seeing ADASE founder Helen Williams on this years front cover...ADASE being Anxiety Disorders Association South East Inc...hilarious because the only time I met her, in 2006, it was in a meeting/appointment organised by and conducted with my Disability Support Provider (somehow I was dumped into the DSP Sector in 2003, but remained on only Newstart Allowance payments and received no official counselling, etc).
I was shocked because Ms Williams just glared at me from the moment I walked into the room and then right through the 'appointment'...I hadn't said a word, never met her before, yet she scowled at me with the authority of someone who apparently knew all about me...and whatever it was she thought she knew, she hated me for it...and made no attempt to hide it...ironically, it was her immediate, unprovoked, and undisguised dislike for me that made it easy to deal with, but the fact remains that I was really struggling at that time and her behaviour was grossly unprofessional and potentially very damaging.
After the meeting my DSP worker apologised profusely, stating that he didn't know what had happened nor why...he was very supportive of me and clearly quite shocked and disappointed with Ms Williams...I just assumed she was aligned with the Lutherans or something like that...don't know, don't care...I'm not making any judgement of ADASE, I'm just stating what happened to me and how Ms Williams behaved in that one meeting.
In closing I'll just note that the cave-guiding is who I was and what I was capable of when it came to being publicly confident before the St Martins Lutheran stuff broke me down...working hard whilst dealing with unemployment, part-time parenthood, etc, in a town where I really knew no-one.
Tomorrow: Wind Turbine Stuff
And probably a bunch of other bits and pieces.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers, thank you for your patronage, and laters.
Today is the official funeral of Nelson Mandela, and I ask again that readers pause to honour his life and acknowledge his passing...May He Rest In Peace.
Even today when I want to do an almost whimsical recount of some stuff that hasn't quite worked out for me in Mt Gambier, it by necessity immediately descends into an almost libelously scandalous diatribe about 'why does this crap always happen to me?'...but first this...
Lutheran Christmas Lunch: yesterday I cracked wise about 'the disenfranchised' not being able to get to the City Council sponsored lunch the Lutherans are 'hosting' in the Old Town Hall on Christmas Day, but it's 'alleged' to me that there may be a shuttle bus running...don't know sorry, didn't hear that in the interview, but I did miss part of it...strictly for balance if not accuracy, There may be a shuttle bus running...(go on, you know you want to...(he's going to say 'who's bloody paying?')-Ed)...and who's bloody paying for that?...(you are so predictable-Ed).
(But sorry no, I don't know what 'Council's sponsorship' of the event entails...but it may be 'free use' of the Old Town Hall and/or money for the catering...or maybe petrol money for the highly contentious alleged 'shuttle bus'-Ed)...you're hilarious...but I'll tell you someone who's highly contentious...Toronto Mayor Rob Ford...(highly contentious?...I'd say more like 'contentiously high'...see what I did there?-Ed)...yeah, that was actually the joke...anyhoos...
The point I was trying to make was not that I'm opposed to Christmas, I'm not even opposed to Council supporting a Christmas lunch for 'the disenfranchised', but the facts remain that 1) in whatever way Council 'sponsors' that lunch, that is all ratepayers money...Council money is ratepayers money, I don't care whether it's Federal or State Grant or rates or borrowed, whatevs...and 2) when that money is being used by the Lutherans for a grossly hypocritical self-gratification of self-congratulation, ratepayers are paying for that...and that ain't right.
I'm not going through it all again today, but please review my previous posts about the Lutherans and St Martins School, and the actions and/or inactions of Mayor Steve Perryman and Mt Gambier City Council...it is not my place to specifically discuss the trauma that the Lutherans have deliberately visited on other parents in order to protect a "text-book grooming paedophile", but I have watched it happen and had it all done to me...and I have suffered for it...
Amusing Anecdotes of Self-Defense: Unfortunately, my AASDs don't offer much real humour apart from this...(now?-Ed)...yes, now...(huhhmm...Why do people take an instant dislike to Nick Fletcher?...'cos it saves time-Ed)...thankyou...and now 2 amusing tales I'd like to call 'My Cover Stories' because both of those individuals specifically involved have ended up on the cover of the Mt Gambier Phone Book.
Down In A Hole: was where I regularly found myself back in 1999 as a volunteer cave guide for Lifeline at what was then their Engelbrecht Cave. Shortly after I moved to Mt Gambier in late 1998, an Adelaide parking ticket I didn't even know I'd received caught up with me as a 'Warrant' and so I ended up at Lifeline for 3 days, and they asked me if I would give their cave-guiding a go, which I did for about 6 months...and I was very good at it.
Not long after I started there, a woman claiming to be the married coordinator's 'girlfriend' began ringing and then coming to the Cave office wanting to know where he was...at first politely and then more and more insistently...apparently by this stage he was already avoiding her...and then she started coming around the counter and effectively cornering me and making suggestive comments, etc...I found myself in the middle of some sort of 'extra-marital affair spat' being 'sexually harassed' by the woman involved...
I verbally reported this to my 'superiors' but it was already well known what had happened and what was now happening because the woman involved had called the Lifeline warehouse a few times as well...but before it could be resolved, one evening she showed up at my caravan asking if I wanted to have dinner...fortunately I had my child there and so could justifiably decline, but she insisted, I again declined, she left, and I went immediately the next day and lodged what I thought was an official complaint.
I was assured again that it was all in hand, but a few nights later she showed up at my caravan again, and I politely tuned her in about how inappropriate it was, and reported it again...and have a wild guess who it was that was kicked out...(well you, obviously...even I saw that one coming-Ed)...damn straight...as it was explained to me 'gee whiz, sorry, but it's all a bit difficult because he's the coordinator so we're going to have to ask you to stop cave-guiding for us...oh, but you can keep working in the filthy, grotty warehouse busting your back hauling bales of clothes, etc'...(that'll teach you to be so damned gorgeous-Ed)...hilarious...
And I was the best guide they had too...go there at 8am approx, get the keys and cash from Andami supermarket, open and clean up the office and caves, greet tourists and take the tour money, do the 50min long tours, run the short movie at the end...do that 5-6 times a day...up and down 4-5 flights of stairs whilst gabbling away about the geography, European history, etc...and then close up and return the keys...and I loved it.
One day a couple were hanging back and asking me why I was there, and I explained moving from Adelaide to see my child, and being unemployed, and the volunteering, and the lady quietly said something to her husband, they both nodded, and he reached out to shake my hand...and there was a $20 note folded in his palm...I said that there was a donation tin just there on the counter, but they insisted it was for me...I was shocked, but they accepted my explanation that I was their as a volunteer to raise money for Lifeline so we all agreed and that 'Redback' went in the tin.
Then, shortly after it all unraveled for me because of the jilted girlfriend, the gentleman concerned was lauded for being a champ on the rear cover of the Mt Gambier phone book...(hilarious-Ed)...yes, nearly hilarious as seeing ADASE founder Helen Williams on this years front cover...ADASE being Anxiety Disorders Association South East Inc...hilarious because the only time I met her, in 2006, it was in a meeting/appointment organised by and conducted with my Disability Support Provider (somehow I was dumped into the DSP Sector in 2003, but remained on only Newstart Allowance payments and received no official counselling, etc).
I was shocked because Ms Williams just glared at me from the moment I walked into the room and then right through the 'appointment'...I hadn't said a word, never met her before, yet she scowled at me with the authority of someone who apparently knew all about me...and whatever it was she thought she knew, she hated me for it...and made no attempt to hide it...ironically, it was her immediate, unprovoked, and undisguised dislike for me that made it easy to deal with, but the fact remains that I was really struggling at that time and her behaviour was grossly unprofessional and potentially very damaging.
After the meeting my DSP worker apologised profusely, stating that he didn't know what had happened nor why...he was very supportive of me and clearly quite shocked and disappointed with Ms Williams...I just assumed she was aligned with the Lutherans or something like that...don't know, don't care...I'm not making any judgement of ADASE, I'm just stating what happened to me and how Ms Williams behaved in that one meeting.
In closing I'll just note that the cave-guiding is who I was and what I was capable of when it came to being publicly confident before the St Martins Lutheran stuff broke me down...working hard whilst dealing with unemployment, part-time parenthood, etc, in a town where I really knew no-one.
Tomorrow: Wind Turbine Stuff
And probably a bunch of other bits and pieces.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers, thank you for your patronage, and laters.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Thick As Thieves - Council and the Lutherans
Hello and welcome to the blog...and at a rough 'guesstimation' this is the 349th post...so today the latest seething hypocrisy from the Lutheran Church...and then tomorrow, a bit of In My Own Defense...but let's get started on this latest load of self-satisfied hypocrisy from the Lutherans, conducted with the financial support of a complicit Mt Gambier City Council.
And I'll Just Chuck In The Qualifier: that I don't think that every Councillor is actually a corrupted public official, but as an elected body, everyone on Council has to take responsibility for the actions of their collective colleagues...that is, those same 'ties that bind' to find Councillors then bound by restraints of silence and solidarity, then tar with the same brush for their less pleasant faults, failings and irregularity.
But First: The East Timor 'Spying Scandal' continues to go round and round...almost like one of those issues that government wants to just quietly go away without actual resolution...but like a children's party game of 'Pass the Corrupt Parcel'...(more like 'Pass the Ticking Time-bomb of Accountability-Ed)...quite...whenever the music stops, it's my mate former Foreign Minister, lobbyist, and now head of the South Australian Liberal Party, and the second greatest Tidy Gentleman's Perm in the history of Australian politics...drum roll please...Alexander Downer.
Whenever and wherever the debate stops about 1) who was responsible for the 'bugging', and 2) why it was done, there's Alex left holding the baby, holding the can...it happened when he was Foreign Minister and he is a 'lobbyist' for Woodside Petroleum, the company who ultimately profited from the East Timor Resource Agreements...this issue is well covered in the media I know, but I just so love Downsie's shenanigans that I had to mention it.
Typical of the 'class structured, born-to-rule' attitude of so many others around him in the Liberal Party, I've covered previously his costly dummy spit...(a silver dummy mind you-Ed)...nice...when he quit Federal politics after the 2007 election loss...(can't have young Alexander slumming it there in Opposition-Ed)...well certainly young Alexander can't have Alexander slumming it...and the first greatest 'Tidy Gentleman's Perm'?...another South Australian Liberal alumni Christopher Pyne.
Hilarious: being such a small town it's pretty difficult to go anywhere without running into Lutherans, Councillors, SAPol officers, etc. For example, recently I went to buy bananas and there was a gaggle of Lutherans nattering away in the doorway and they definitely couldn't see the 6 foot hairy man-bear that is me standing just 10 feet away...but Stuart Stansfield sure as heck saw me when I ran into him at the supermarket yesterday.
Just coming 'round the corner and there it was...and it did start, and it did fluster, and I looked at it and it looked away and I just kept walking...only to cross it again in the car park 10 minutes later, and again I just walked on by...and not a squeak out of it...no taunting, no goading, no ridicule, no laughing at me, no yelling abuse and then hanging up the shrekin phone...not a shrekin' murmur...and I didn't need to say anything or do anything, I just needed to be...(whoa, deep man-GTS)...thanks Giant Talking Squirrel...say, how's old Toronto Mayor Rob Ford...(nah he's good, he's good...crackin' along-GTS)...excellent, excellent.
If you think I'm being harsh and/or unjust on Stuart by referring to him as an 'it', please review my previous posts about my struggles with the ABC Mt Gambier and Adelaide, including the extraordinary behaviours of alleged professional Mr Stansfield as described above, eg, repeatedly taunting me, abusing me, and hanging up on me...and include the posts re St Martins Lutheran School and the ongoing Child Abuse Cover-up...which all segues rather definitively into the latest bollocks from the Lutherans.
(Sorry, segues 'definitively'?-Ed)...yes, the seamless dove-tailing of a discussion about Stuart Stansfield with issues re the St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up 'defines' how complicit he and other ABC personnel are in that Cover-up...for shrek sake, they all know it's happened and I'm the one banned off talk-back radio for trying to pursue it...banned because I 'might say something'...and please review the posts re Lutheran Pastor Wayne Kerber and the crass pro-Lutheran propaganda that the ABC and The Border Watch were running this time last year.
Christmas has become for me very much like the June long week-end anniversary of the 2002 'removal' from St Martins of teacher Glyn Dorling, described by Flinders Child Protection Unit as a "text-book grooming paedophile"...I cannot not find offensive the gross self-glorification that the Lutherans indulge in every year around this time with the complicit support of the local media.
I know there's going to be a flood of pro-Lutheran propaganda spewing out of the local media, an avalanche of hypocrisy...and I've learned to just take a deep breath and let the trauma and anger, etc, wash over me for it is futile to resist...(you're just going to get hammered by the reality that everybody in your society knows this abuse has happened, and that it's being certainly suppressed if not quite successfully Covered-up-Ed)...well exactly.
And good ol' Pastor Kerber...he's also SAPol's minister, so there's a lovely little collusion...the 2 key players in the Cover-up of the abuse of dozens of 7 year old children...and Wayne is apparently also officiating...(more like pontificating-Ed)...nice...at the Council run Christmas Carols...and Mayor Steve Perryman has direct links to the Lutherans and is himself a key player in the St Martins Cover-up...and all Council knows and by it's failure to act, is implicitly complicit...thick as shrekin' thieves.
And thieves they be with their latest piece of hypocritical bastardry...City Council is 'sponsoring' the Lutherans to help them hold their 'inclusive Christmas lunch' at the Old Town Hall on Christmas Day...and yesterday there was a long Stan Thompson interview on ABC Local Radio with a senior Lutheran (Lee Marcus I think-sorry) where the guest lavishly praised up himself/themselves about how they do this for those poor people and how 'there are so many Lutherans who want to volunteer'...
In fact he said 'we've got heaps of volunteers, what we need is cash, send us some cash'...and Stan was straight in there with 'if you don't spend it all, you can use it for next year'...deadset...the guest kept banging on about 'the disenfranchised who are looking for fellowship' and generally just praising up the sharing, caring Wonderland that is the Lutheran Church...oh, and of course lashings of praise for Council...shrek me...
I say thieves because whatever happens around that lunch is being payed for by the ratepayers of Mt Gambier...I have covered in numerous posts the rank nepotism surrounding the Ratepayer Funded Commercial Function Kitchen/Centre that Council has handed to Des Muttons' son and his associates...and the astronomical running costs paid for by ratepayers...so Council is being incredibly trite in supporting the Lutherans in this way because it's ratepayers paying for these clowns to praise each other up.
It never ceases to amaze me just how generous Council can be with ratepayers money when it comes to the Main Corner and/or their mates, but yet has no money for public transport, a covered pool, etc, etc...so all in all a right load of bollocks from corrupted, colluding chums who are collectively responsible for the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...may they all have a very merry Christmas...
And as someone who has been deliberately targeted by the Lutherans for abuse and blame, for 'Pariahtisation', as someone disenfranchised from his community by his community, I feel that that qualifies me for attending that lunch...oh, and I hope the 'disenfranchised' don't need to catch a bus to get to the 'inclusive lunch' because there is no public transport on weekends or public holidays...(they can Park and Stride-Ed)...hilarious, but if they don't have cars?...(oh yeah-Ed)...
Tomorrow: More Wind Turbine Deceits
Round and round and round...and the same old deceits and manipulations and denials and propaganda...and things are going to get even worse now that Holden's foldin'...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
And I'll Just Chuck In The Qualifier: that I don't think that every Councillor is actually a corrupted public official, but as an elected body, everyone on Council has to take responsibility for the actions of their collective colleagues...that is, those same 'ties that bind' to find Councillors then bound by restraints of silence and solidarity, then tar with the same brush for their less pleasant faults, failings and irregularity.
But First: The East Timor 'Spying Scandal' continues to go round and round...almost like one of those issues that government wants to just quietly go away without actual resolution...but like a children's party game of 'Pass the Corrupt Parcel'...(more like 'Pass the Ticking Time-bomb of Accountability-Ed)...quite...whenever the music stops, it's my mate former Foreign Minister, lobbyist, and now head of the South Australian Liberal Party, and the second greatest Tidy Gentleman's Perm in the history of Australian politics...drum roll please...Alexander Downer.
Whenever and wherever the debate stops about 1) who was responsible for the 'bugging', and 2) why it was done, there's Alex left holding the baby, holding the can...it happened when he was Foreign Minister and he is a 'lobbyist' for Woodside Petroleum, the company who ultimately profited from the East Timor Resource Agreements...this issue is well covered in the media I know, but I just so love Downsie's shenanigans that I had to mention it.
Typical of the 'class structured, born-to-rule' attitude of so many others around him in the Liberal Party, I've covered previously his costly dummy spit...(a silver dummy mind you-Ed)...nice...when he quit Federal politics after the 2007 election loss...(can't have young Alexander slumming it there in Opposition-Ed)...well certainly young Alexander can't have Alexander slumming it...and the first greatest 'Tidy Gentleman's Perm'?...another South Australian Liberal alumni Christopher Pyne.
Hilarious: being such a small town it's pretty difficult to go anywhere without running into Lutherans, Councillors, SAPol officers, etc. For example, recently I went to buy bananas and there was a gaggle of Lutherans nattering away in the doorway and they definitely couldn't see the 6 foot hairy man-bear that is me standing just 10 feet away...but Stuart Stansfield sure as heck saw me when I ran into him at the supermarket yesterday.
Just coming 'round the corner and there it was...and it did start, and it did fluster, and I looked at it and it looked away and I just kept walking...only to cross it again in the car park 10 minutes later, and again I just walked on by...and not a squeak out of it...no taunting, no goading, no ridicule, no laughing at me, no yelling abuse and then hanging up the shrekin phone...not a shrekin' murmur...and I didn't need to say anything or do anything, I just needed to be...(whoa, deep man-GTS)...thanks Giant Talking Squirrel...say, how's old Toronto Mayor Rob Ford...(nah he's good, he's good...crackin' along-GTS)...excellent, excellent.
If you think I'm being harsh and/or unjust on Stuart by referring to him as an 'it', please review my previous posts about my struggles with the ABC Mt Gambier and Adelaide, including the extraordinary behaviours of alleged professional Mr Stansfield as described above, eg, repeatedly taunting me, abusing me, and hanging up on me...and include the posts re St Martins Lutheran School and the ongoing Child Abuse Cover-up...which all segues rather definitively into the latest bollocks from the Lutherans.
(Sorry, segues 'definitively'?-Ed)...yes, the seamless dove-tailing of a discussion about Stuart Stansfield with issues re the St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up 'defines' how complicit he and other ABC personnel are in that Cover-up...for shrek sake, they all know it's happened and I'm the one banned off talk-back radio for trying to pursue it...banned because I 'might say something'...and please review the posts re Lutheran Pastor Wayne Kerber and the crass pro-Lutheran propaganda that the ABC and The Border Watch were running this time last year.
Christmas has become for me very much like the June long week-end anniversary of the 2002 'removal' from St Martins of teacher Glyn Dorling, described by Flinders Child Protection Unit as a "text-book grooming paedophile"...I cannot not find offensive the gross self-glorification that the Lutherans indulge in every year around this time with the complicit support of the local media.
I know there's going to be a flood of pro-Lutheran propaganda spewing out of the local media, an avalanche of hypocrisy...and I've learned to just take a deep breath and let the trauma and anger, etc, wash over me for it is futile to resist...(you're just going to get hammered by the reality that everybody in your society knows this abuse has happened, and that it's being certainly suppressed if not quite successfully Covered-up-Ed)...well exactly.
And good ol' Pastor Kerber...he's also SAPol's minister, so there's a lovely little collusion...the 2 key players in the Cover-up of the abuse of dozens of 7 year old children...and Wayne is apparently also officiating...(more like pontificating-Ed)...nice...at the Council run Christmas Carols...and Mayor Steve Perryman has direct links to the Lutherans and is himself a key player in the St Martins Cover-up...and all Council knows and by it's failure to act, is implicitly complicit...thick as shrekin' thieves.
And thieves they be with their latest piece of hypocritical bastardry...City Council is 'sponsoring' the Lutherans to help them hold their 'inclusive Christmas lunch' at the Old Town Hall on Christmas Day...and yesterday there was a long Stan Thompson interview on ABC Local Radio with a senior Lutheran (Lee Marcus I think-sorry) where the guest lavishly praised up himself/themselves about how they do this for those poor people and how 'there are so many Lutherans who want to volunteer'...
In fact he said 'we've got heaps of volunteers, what we need is cash, send us some cash'...and Stan was straight in there with 'if you don't spend it all, you can use it for next year'...deadset...the guest kept banging on about 'the disenfranchised who are looking for fellowship' and generally just praising up the sharing, caring Wonderland that is the Lutheran Church...oh, and of course lashings of praise for Council...shrek me...
I say thieves because whatever happens around that lunch is being payed for by the ratepayers of Mt Gambier...I have covered in numerous posts the rank nepotism surrounding the Ratepayer Funded Commercial Function Kitchen/Centre that Council has handed to Des Muttons' son and his associates...and the astronomical running costs paid for by ratepayers...so Council is being incredibly trite in supporting the Lutherans in this way because it's ratepayers paying for these clowns to praise each other up.
It never ceases to amaze me just how generous Council can be with ratepayers money when it comes to the Main Corner and/or their mates, but yet has no money for public transport, a covered pool, etc, etc...so all in all a right load of bollocks from corrupted, colluding chums who are collectively responsible for the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...may they all have a very merry Christmas...
And as someone who has been deliberately targeted by the Lutherans for abuse and blame, for 'Pariahtisation', as someone disenfranchised from his community by his community, I feel that that qualifies me for attending that lunch...oh, and I hope the 'disenfranchised' don't need to catch a bus to get to the 'inclusive lunch' because there is no public transport on weekends or public holidays...(they can Park and Stride-Ed)...hilarious, but if they don't have cars?...(oh yeah-Ed)...
Tomorrow: More Wind Turbine Deceits
Round and round and round...and the same old deceits and manipulations and denials and propaganda...and things are going to get even worse now that Holden's foldin'...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
Friday, December 13, 2013
1950 Here We Come
Howdy y'all and welcome to the blog...and it's a non-stop shenaniganfest from our illustrious leaders as Mt Gambier City Council steps briefly out of the 1960s...into the 1970s...whilst Prime Minister Tony Abbott does his level best to drag the rest of Australia back to the 1950s...(so where, or rather when, are we now-Ed)...Friday 13th 2013...
Helping the Little Ladies: realise their place is in the home looking after the children, and getting dinner ready for their husband, who has to be a man...(cos' you see the problem with unemployment is all those women not maintaining a home for their 'bread winner' and taking up valuable jobs that a man could and should have-Ed)...but what about secretaries and nurses and stuff?...(oh well, yes, that's women's work-Ed)...
Obviously I'm being incredibly facetious about the Liberal party announcement that they will not honour pay rises for Child Care Workers granted shortly before the September 2013 election...and I know there's an argument to be made sometimes about 'pork-barrelling/bribing/whatevs' certain sectors, groups, electorates, or even suburbs prior to elections, but I understand that these pay rises were/are well over due and hardly excessive.
This looks like an ideological 'slap-down' that will have a massive negative effect on the provision of official Child Care services as people decide...(are forced to concede-Ed)...quite...that it's no longer a career worth pursuing, and will inevitably lead to the creation of umpteen 'unregistered' home based child minding/care/sitting groups operating without regulation or oversight...(so it's all good news then?-Ed).
Beyond that, it appears to be part of the broader sub-text of heavily opinionated fundamentalist Christian values and 1950's gender roles that the intensely closeted Liberal Party are clearly committed to foisting onto Australia...(I mean, why would women want, indeed why do they need careers when they could be looking after their children and keeping a tidy home and getting dinner ready for their hard working man-Ed)...sarcasm?...(barely disguised contempt actually-Ed)...fair enough.
And thank goodness we've got the Christians - the Catholics and the Lutherans and the Anglicans - and all those other fine upstanding gentlemen to tell us how to run our lives, how we should think, how we should live, who we can and cannot love, and how we will and won't die...it's just a little bit unfortunate about all that institutionalised child rape and/or other abuses, and systemic official Church cover-ups of those abuses...thank goodness we've got the Royal Commission to sort that out...(sarcasm?-Ed)...not quite...more like abject loathing to be read through gritted teeth.
Coupled with the High Court ruling that the Australian Capital Territories 'Gay Marriage' laws are unconstitutional and/or conflict with the Federal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman...(to be consummated no doubt in the Missionary Position and then only for the purposes of procreation-Ed)...indeed...thank goodness that we have sensible White Catholic Men running the show now...none of this ridiculous respect or equality or basic compassion for your fellow human being...
And if you think I'm being overly critical, just tune into some of the extraordinary admissions and/or discussions coming out of the latest Royal Commission hearings; the simpering, empty 'mia culpa's; and even worse, the continuing denials and attempts to defer responsibility...I know I'm not the only person who finds it incredulous in the extreme that the Catholic's lawyer opened with a quote about "bring unto me the little children", but can't provide the Commission with an actual copy of what 'Towards Healing' actually is, eg, a mission statement, guidelines, etc.
And I don't know which bishop it was (and I really don't give a damn) blathering about 'attitudes of the time' and 'distinguishing between the needs of the victim and the Church, because we were focused on Pastoral care', and nobody's kept proper records of anything...and then it descends into a pedantic exchange about 'the Church as an entity is separate to the individuals and no-one can be held responsible for some-one elses mistakes'...
But the truly sickening thing about the Catholic's 'testimony' is that they continue to deny all the realities that they have worked so hard to cover-up and suppress, eg, 'Toward Healing' has been purely about gathering information and then locking it away with 'Confidentiality Clauses' whilst dolling out money to buy that silence...followed by yet more empty apologies for this carefully orchestrated bastardry.
They have knowingly moved paedophiles from diocese to diocese, attacked those who speak out, cover-up, lie, and deny...until held to account in the public eye, and then it's all pathetic 'oh gee yeah that wasn't good was it' and 'oh gee whiz we didn't realise', etc, etc...it makes me sick to my stomach.
Sitting Pretty: But to their credit, the Liberals have worked hard to find a place for women in Parliament, and that place appears to be on TV...and I know that Labor used to do it as well, but has anyone else noticed that during 'Parliament Question Time' as televised on ABC TV that in the cropped shot of the government member at the microphone, nearly all of the members sitting behind them are women...(I had-Ed)...thankyou, I know you have, you're the one who pointed it out to me...(well I find it quite incredulous that with only a handful of Liberal women in Parliament, that nearly all of them are sitting right in shot, giving the impression that there's lots of them-Ed)...
Are you suggesting it's a deliberate manipulation to convey a false image and therefore a deliberate deceit?...(exactly...you disagree do you?-Ed)...no, no, fair point...and I'm not casting nasturtiums about the 'attractiveness' of female members with 'Sitting Pretty' other than to state that there are some very unattractive men in Parliament...(thank heaven we're all so attractive here at TMGI-Ed)...speak for yourself...but seriously, it's hardly coincidence that with only a handful of women in the parliamentary Liberal party they all happen to find themselves 'framing' any TV footage.
So, no money for lower income workers in the Child Care sector, and you gays are third class people...what an enlightened society we live in...(yay-Ed)...
And good ol' Mt Gambier City Council have momentarily lurched out of the 1960s in deciding to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders flags in Council Chambers...(only 30 something years after every other Council in the land-Ed)...one musn't rush into these things...(musn't one?-Ed)...no, one musn't.
As Explained To Me: and pardon my ignorance in that I note that there are separate Aboriginal flags and Torres Straight Islander flags, but I'm not sure how Council will address this in Chambers...I had thought that the Aboriginal flag (Black/Red with a Yellow centre) could be used as a collective flag, but the Torres Straight Islands are considered a separate nation with their own flag.
At this point I'd like to have something witty and insightful to say, but I'm tired, angry, and deeply, deeply concerned for where we are as a Nation...and even more concerned with where we are clearly heading.
Tomorrow: Have A Very Lutheran Christmas
There'll be turkey, puddin', and the ever present steaming pile of crass hypocrisy...and the insidiously complicit behaviour between Council, who all know that the Lutherans are covering-up the gross abuse of children at St Martins School, and that pack of sanctimoniously self-important Christian folk, the Lutherans themselves.
I am Nick Fletcher and I am not a happy camper...and this is my blog...cheers and laters.
Helping the Little Ladies: realise their place is in the home looking after the children, and getting dinner ready for their husband, who has to be a man...(cos' you see the problem with unemployment is all those women not maintaining a home for their 'bread winner' and taking up valuable jobs that a man could and should have-Ed)...but what about secretaries and nurses and stuff?...(oh well, yes, that's women's work-Ed)...
Obviously I'm being incredibly facetious about the Liberal party announcement that they will not honour pay rises for Child Care Workers granted shortly before the September 2013 election...and I know there's an argument to be made sometimes about 'pork-barrelling/bribing/whatevs' certain sectors, groups, electorates, or even suburbs prior to elections, but I understand that these pay rises were/are well over due and hardly excessive.
This looks like an ideological 'slap-down' that will have a massive negative effect on the provision of official Child Care services as people decide...(are forced to concede-Ed)...quite...that it's no longer a career worth pursuing, and will inevitably lead to the creation of umpteen 'unregistered' home based child minding/care/sitting groups operating without regulation or oversight...(so it's all good news then?-Ed).
Beyond that, it appears to be part of the broader sub-text of heavily opinionated fundamentalist Christian values and 1950's gender roles that the intensely closeted Liberal Party are clearly committed to foisting onto Australia...(I mean, why would women want, indeed why do they need careers when they could be looking after their children and keeping a tidy home and getting dinner ready for their hard working man-Ed)...sarcasm?...(barely disguised contempt actually-Ed)...fair enough.
And thank goodness we've got the Christians - the Catholics and the Lutherans and the Anglicans - and all those other fine upstanding gentlemen to tell us how to run our lives, how we should think, how we should live, who we can and cannot love, and how we will and won't die...it's just a little bit unfortunate about all that institutionalised child rape and/or other abuses, and systemic official Church cover-ups of those abuses...thank goodness we've got the Royal Commission to sort that out...(sarcasm?-Ed)...not quite...more like abject loathing to be read through gritted teeth.
Coupled with the High Court ruling that the Australian Capital Territories 'Gay Marriage' laws are unconstitutional and/or conflict with the Federal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman...(to be consummated no doubt in the Missionary Position and then only for the purposes of procreation-Ed)...indeed...thank goodness that we have sensible White Catholic Men running the show now...none of this ridiculous respect or equality or basic compassion for your fellow human being...
And if you think I'm being overly critical, just tune into some of the extraordinary admissions and/or discussions coming out of the latest Royal Commission hearings; the simpering, empty 'mia culpa's; and even worse, the continuing denials and attempts to defer responsibility...I know I'm not the only person who finds it incredulous in the extreme that the Catholic's lawyer opened with a quote about "bring unto me the little children", but can't provide the Commission with an actual copy of what 'Towards Healing' actually is, eg, a mission statement, guidelines, etc.
And I don't know which bishop it was (and I really don't give a damn) blathering about 'attitudes of the time' and 'distinguishing between the needs of the victim and the Church, because we were focused on Pastoral care', and nobody's kept proper records of anything...and then it descends into a pedantic exchange about 'the Church as an entity is separate to the individuals and no-one can be held responsible for some-one elses mistakes'...
But the truly sickening thing about the Catholic's 'testimony' is that they continue to deny all the realities that they have worked so hard to cover-up and suppress, eg, 'Toward Healing' has been purely about gathering information and then locking it away with 'Confidentiality Clauses' whilst dolling out money to buy that silence...followed by yet more empty apologies for this carefully orchestrated bastardry.
They have knowingly moved paedophiles from diocese to diocese, attacked those who speak out, cover-up, lie, and deny...until held to account in the public eye, and then it's all pathetic 'oh gee yeah that wasn't good was it' and 'oh gee whiz we didn't realise', etc, etc...it makes me sick to my stomach.
Sitting Pretty: But to their credit, the Liberals have worked hard to find a place for women in Parliament, and that place appears to be on TV...and I know that Labor used to do it as well, but has anyone else noticed that during 'Parliament Question Time' as televised on ABC TV that in the cropped shot of the government member at the microphone, nearly all of the members sitting behind them are women...(I had-Ed)...thankyou, I know you have, you're the one who pointed it out to me...(well I find it quite incredulous that with only a handful of Liberal women in Parliament, that nearly all of them are sitting right in shot, giving the impression that there's lots of them-Ed)...
Are you suggesting it's a deliberate manipulation to convey a false image and therefore a deliberate deceit?...(exactly...you disagree do you?-Ed)...no, no, fair point...and I'm not casting nasturtiums about the 'attractiveness' of female members with 'Sitting Pretty' other than to state that there are some very unattractive men in Parliament...(thank heaven we're all so attractive here at TMGI-Ed)...speak for yourself...but seriously, it's hardly coincidence that with only a handful of women in the parliamentary Liberal party they all happen to find themselves 'framing' any TV footage.
So, no money for lower income workers in the Child Care sector, and you gays are third class people...what an enlightened society we live in...(yay-Ed)...
And good ol' Mt Gambier City Council have momentarily lurched out of the 1960s in deciding to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders flags in Council Chambers...(only 30 something years after every other Council in the land-Ed)...one musn't rush into these things...(musn't one?-Ed)...no, one musn't.
As Explained To Me: and pardon my ignorance in that I note that there are separate Aboriginal flags and Torres Straight Islander flags, but I'm not sure how Council will address this in Chambers...I had thought that the Aboriginal flag (Black/Red with a Yellow centre) could be used as a collective flag, but the Torres Straight Islands are considered a separate nation with their own flag.
At this point I'd like to have something witty and insightful to say, but I'm tired, angry, and deeply, deeply concerned for where we are as a Nation...and even more concerned with where we are clearly heading.
Tomorrow: Have A Very Lutheran Christmas
There'll be turkey, puddin', and the ever present steaming pile of crass hypocrisy...and the insidiously complicit behaviour between Council, who all know that the Lutherans are covering-up the gross abuse of children at St Martins School, and that pack of sanctimoniously self-important Christian folk, the Lutherans themselves.
I am Nick Fletcher and I am not a happy camper...and this is my blog...cheers and laters.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Beholden Unto BHP
Hello and welcome to the blog, and the day after 11/12/13, the 11th of December 2013, which is apparently the last time the date will be sequential until next century, about 90 years away...(01/02/3003 in fact, February 1st 2013-Ed)...thankyou Ed...and as it happens 11/12/13 will be the day that defines South Australia for this century...
Holden On For The Ride: For all my criticism of Adelaide as a narcissistic and voracious Succubus, for who's benefit Regional SA is being dismantled and scavenged, nobody wants to see it collapse under the weight of it's own corruption, gluttony, avarice and destiny...(woah, that's a tad biblical for such a part-time Atheist as yourself...and almost vaguely sympathetic...are you feeling alright?-Ed)...fine, thanks for asking.
But I don't think that 1) a touch of Apocalyptic imagery is unwarranted, because 2) if the good ship Adelaide goes down it will clutch at every straw, sell every straw...and we in Regional SA are the straw coloured camel that has already had it's back broken by the burden of the Forestry Sell-off...and you can only flog a dead horse through the eye of a needle so many times with a bloody stone.....no, hang on, flog a stoned camel in the bloody eye with a horse needle......stone a dead camel with water whilst drinking a rich man's horse?............sorry, what was the question?
(Why the biblical Apocalypsisms?-Ed)...oh oh yeah...because as it goes down the ol' plug 'ol, what few bits and pieces Adelaide hasn't already ripped up around from elsewhere and shoved into the gaping maw of reality that is consuming it to try and stem the flow, then with the suction it's eventual demise creates, what little is left will get dragged in behind it...and that's us...(oh, happy days-Ed)...
And I will go there...(oh no you didn't-Ed)...and make the observation that at great cost, the wreck of the City of Adelaide clipper is on it's way to join another wreck, the City of Adelaide...(ouch...and true, which just makes it ouchier-Ed)...ouchier?...(yeah, more ouchy than just plain ouch-Ed)...and I'm just paraphrasing my own agreeance with other observers that Adelaide has no jobs to replace these Holden ones, and once the flurry of development activity on North Tce subsides, it may well find itself "in Recession".
Many pundits have been saying that the Holden closure, particularly following on from Ford's recent announcement that they are closing manufacture in Australia, will trigger Toyota's withdrawal probably sooner than later, and that both SA and Victoria may well find themselves not just in Recession but in 'a Depression'.
But it's not all doom and gloom, Business SA is saying that the closure of Holden is a good thing because it provides good opportunities for South Australia to now focus on food and beverage production...(you're joking aren't you...this Rann/Weatherill Labor government has treated Regional SA like a disposable inconvenience and it's decision processes have been wholly about serving Adelaide's wants and needs...and as soon as the crap hits the fan, it's all 'hey yeah we love you farmer persons, save our freakin' bacon'-Ed)...
A slight exaggeration Ed, but I take your point that Rann/Weatherill have shown nought but contempt for Regional SA and that their decision making has been wholly focused on what is best for themselves as politicians and their own personal glorification, the Labor party as the vehicle for that rabid self-worship, 'carpet bagging' or 'pork barrelling' Adelaide electorates to maintain their support, rabidly corrupt planning and development decisions for their mates...actually, when you start to break it down, you're absolutely right Ed...
(Damn straight I am...and I concur with your observation yesterday that this will open the floodgates on Mining, Wind Turbines, etc, with the current scant Environmental considerations conveniently shredded because, 'oh we need the jobs'-Ed)...fair point, even if I did say it so myself...and that is the sort of language that's being heard out of Canberra already.
Our almost invisible Prime Minister Tony Abbott has, as I predicted yesterday, popped his little head out to hit my nail on the head with his very specific statements that South Australia needs to focus on BHP and the Uranium mine at Olympic Dam (Roxby Downs)...according to Mr Abbott that is what SA needs to do...oh, and apparently there'll be some bit-piece funding for 're-training' people to make them 'skills ready' for mine work...
So according to the Federal government South Australia's best hope is to go cap in hand to BHP and say 'excuse me sir, please come and save us'...what a con...we are meant to beg BHP to come back to us and we'll do anything for their attention...which puts us completely at the mercy of BHP which means they can completely dictate terms and conditions of any proposed expansion...and that reeks of potential collusion, corruption, and guaranteed environmental devastation...
And straight away the SA Mining Council's Jason Kuchel (?spelling) is on the ABC saying that those minerals and resources belong to all the people of SA, and that their calls to 'relax restrictions' are not unreasonable and don't compromise any landholders rights or the environment or threaten food production, etc, stating that 'less than 1% of South Australia is being used for mining so it won't affect food production at all'...(but isn't SA about 98% desert?-Ed)...I don't know the exact percentage, but there's certainly not a lot of ground suitable for cropping.
Mr Kuchel (?spelling) stated that 'farming needs to understand mining better' and vice versa, and that accessing land to 'realise those assets' has benefits for everyone...and surprise, surprise, he stated that 'approval processes are holding us back' and called for Federal approval processes to be scrapped and only state approvals to be used...(could there be less regulation?...'mining' has carte blanche now to go anywhere and do pretty much anything, eg, go on to farmland in the name of 'exploration'-Ed).
Disclaimer: Yet again my precision predictioning re the call for 'mining, mining, mining' is barely more than sticking a label on a steaming pile of 'Bleedin' Obvious'.
And Tourism SA reckons that they're now focusing on Regional SA when it comes to expanding state Tourism...(what a load of rot...Mt Gambier remains virtually invisible to Adelaide...wasn't it last year, year before, that Mt Gambier wasn't even on the official Tourism SA maps?-Ed)...yeah, 2011 I reckon, not even on one of the maps...but the umpteen millions they've poured into advertising Kangaroo Island and the Barossa Valley whilst effectively ignoring the South East, show exactly where the focus remains, on Adelaide and it's immediate surrounds.
Even in an interview this morning with Tourism SA's Rodney Harricks (?spelling) on ABC Local Radio, there was a lot of generic up-talking of the regions, including quoting the money spent on KI and BV as part of a rotating focus covering different areas, and how the super-dooper Adelaide airport created a "hub and spoke" effect that saw people flying into Adelaide and then travelling out to the regions, and so on and so forth...and of course a mention of the Lonely Planet rating as 'One of the Top 10 Cities for Whatevs'...(I don't think it was 'Whatevs', I think it would have been 'Visiting' or something like that-Ed)...whatevs...
But the conversation returned to how Tourism SA is now focusing on "the Greater Adelaide area" under the new plan named I believe 'Adelaide Plus'...(it's a 'hub 'n spoke' thing right?-Ed)...probably, but it ignores the fact that the majority of tourists through the South East are travelling 'through' the area rather than 'to' it, eg, taking the Great Ocean Rd, maybe one night in Mt Gambier, then via Penola to Adelaide...few tourists fly into Adelaide and then do day trips to Mt Gambier.
And in closing, Time magazine has made Catholic Pope Francis their 'Person of the Year'...(yay-Ed)...and apparently Syrian President Assad was on the short list...and of course there's the famous Adolf Hitler win back in the 1930s...(seriously?-Ed)...yeah, 1930 something...pretty sure...but I think the criteria don't necessarily include 'niceness'...I think it's more about influence, impact, etc.
Tomorrow: Bibs, Bobs, and Bulldust
An eclectic collection of random items loosely cobbled together, most of which I've yet to actually figure out...but there'll be something about City Council deciding to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander flags in chambers...and the PATS Review stuff...and a more thorough explanation of the contradictions in saying 'farming will save us' and 'mining will save us' and then trying to do them in the same place.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters.
Holden On For The Ride: For all my criticism of Adelaide as a narcissistic and voracious Succubus, for who's benefit Regional SA is being dismantled and scavenged, nobody wants to see it collapse under the weight of it's own corruption, gluttony, avarice and destiny...(woah, that's a tad biblical for such a part-time Atheist as yourself...and almost vaguely sympathetic...are you feeling alright?-Ed)...fine, thanks for asking.
But I don't think that 1) a touch of Apocalyptic imagery is unwarranted, because 2) if the good ship Adelaide goes down it will clutch at every straw, sell every straw...and we in Regional SA are the straw coloured camel that has already had it's back broken by the burden of the Forestry Sell-off...and you can only flog a dead horse through the eye of a needle so many times with a bloody stone.....no, hang on, flog a stoned camel in the bloody eye with a horse needle......stone a dead camel with water whilst drinking a rich man's horse?............sorry, what was the question?
(Why the biblical Apocalypsisms?-Ed)...oh oh yeah...because as it goes down the ol' plug 'ol, what few bits and pieces Adelaide hasn't already ripped up around from elsewhere and shoved into the gaping maw of reality that is consuming it to try and stem the flow, then with the suction it's eventual demise creates, what little is left will get dragged in behind it...and that's us...(oh, happy days-Ed)...
And I will go there...(oh no you didn't-Ed)...and make the observation that at great cost, the wreck of the City of Adelaide clipper is on it's way to join another wreck, the City of Adelaide...(ouch...and true, which just makes it ouchier-Ed)...ouchier?...(yeah, more ouchy than just plain ouch-Ed)...and I'm just paraphrasing my own agreeance with other observers that Adelaide has no jobs to replace these Holden ones, and once the flurry of development activity on North Tce subsides, it may well find itself "in Recession".
Many pundits have been saying that the Holden closure, particularly following on from Ford's recent announcement that they are closing manufacture in Australia, will trigger Toyota's withdrawal probably sooner than later, and that both SA and Victoria may well find themselves not just in Recession but in 'a Depression'.
But it's not all doom and gloom, Business SA is saying that the closure of Holden is a good thing because it provides good opportunities for South Australia to now focus on food and beverage production...(you're joking aren't you...this Rann/Weatherill Labor government has treated Regional SA like a disposable inconvenience and it's decision processes have been wholly about serving Adelaide's wants and needs...and as soon as the crap hits the fan, it's all 'hey yeah we love you farmer persons, save our freakin' bacon'-Ed)...
A slight exaggeration Ed, but I take your point that Rann/Weatherill have shown nought but contempt for Regional SA and that their decision making has been wholly focused on what is best for themselves as politicians and their own personal glorification, the Labor party as the vehicle for that rabid self-worship, 'carpet bagging' or 'pork barrelling' Adelaide electorates to maintain their support, rabidly corrupt planning and development decisions for their mates...actually, when you start to break it down, you're absolutely right Ed...
(Damn straight I am...and I concur with your observation yesterday that this will open the floodgates on Mining, Wind Turbines, etc, with the current scant Environmental considerations conveniently shredded because, 'oh we need the jobs'-Ed)...fair point, even if I did say it so myself...and that is the sort of language that's being heard out of Canberra already.
Our almost invisible Prime Minister Tony Abbott has, as I predicted yesterday, popped his little head out to hit my nail on the head with his very specific statements that South Australia needs to focus on BHP and the Uranium mine at Olympic Dam (Roxby Downs)...according to Mr Abbott that is what SA needs to do...oh, and apparently there'll be some bit-piece funding for 're-training' people to make them 'skills ready' for mine work...
So according to the Federal government South Australia's best hope is to go cap in hand to BHP and say 'excuse me sir, please come and save us'...what a con...we are meant to beg BHP to come back to us and we'll do anything for their attention...which puts us completely at the mercy of BHP which means they can completely dictate terms and conditions of any proposed expansion...and that reeks of potential collusion, corruption, and guaranteed environmental devastation...
And straight away the SA Mining Council's Jason Kuchel (?spelling) is on the ABC saying that those minerals and resources belong to all the people of SA, and that their calls to 'relax restrictions' are not unreasonable and don't compromise any landholders rights or the environment or threaten food production, etc, stating that 'less than 1% of South Australia is being used for mining so it won't affect food production at all'...(but isn't SA about 98% desert?-Ed)...I don't know the exact percentage, but there's certainly not a lot of ground suitable for cropping.
Mr Kuchel (?spelling) stated that 'farming needs to understand mining better' and vice versa, and that accessing land to 'realise those assets' has benefits for everyone...and surprise, surprise, he stated that 'approval processes are holding us back' and called for Federal approval processes to be scrapped and only state approvals to be used...(could there be less regulation?...'mining' has carte blanche now to go anywhere and do pretty much anything, eg, go on to farmland in the name of 'exploration'-Ed).
Disclaimer: Yet again my precision predictioning re the call for 'mining, mining, mining' is barely more than sticking a label on a steaming pile of 'Bleedin' Obvious'.
And Tourism SA reckons that they're now focusing on Regional SA when it comes to expanding state Tourism...(what a load of rot...Mt Gambier remains virtually invisible to Adelaide...wasn't it last year, year before, that Mt Gambier wasn't even on the official Tourism SA maps?-Ed)...yeah, 2011 I reckon, not even on one of the maps...but the umpteen millions they've poured into advertising Kangaroo Island and the Barossa Valley whilst effectively ignoring the South East, show exactly where the focus remains, on Adelaide and it's immediate surrounds.
Even in an interview this morning with Tourism SA's Rodney Harricks (?spelling) on ABC Local Radio, there was a lot of generic up-talking of the regions, including quoting the money spent on KI and BV as part of a rotating focus covering different areas, and how the super-dooper Adelaide airport created a "hub and spoke" effect that saw people flying into Adelaide and then travelling out to the regions, and so on and so forth...and of course a mention of the Lonely Planet rating as 'One of the Top 10 Cities for Whatevs'...(I don't think it was 'Whatevs', I think it would have been 'Visiting' or something like that-Ed)...whatevs...
But the conversation returned to how Tourism SA is now focusing on "the Greater Adelaide area" under the new plan named I believe 'Adelaide Plus'...(it's a 'hub 'n spoke' thing right?-Ed)...probably, but it ignores the fact that the majority of tourists through the South East are travelling 'through' the area rather than 'to' it, eg, taking the Great Ocean Rd, maybe one night in Mt Gambier, then via Penola to Adelaide...few tourists fly into Adelaide and then do day trips to Mt Gambier.
And in closing, Time magazine has made Catholic Pope Francis their 'Person of the Year'...(yay-Ed)...and apparently Syrian President Assad was on the short list...and of course there's the famous Adolf Hitler win back in the 1930s...(seriously?-Ed)...yeah, 1930 something...pretty sure...but I think the criteria don't necessarily include 'niceness'...I think it's more about influence, impact, etc.
Tomorrow: Bibs, Bobs, and Bulldust
An eclectic collection of random items loosely cobbled together, most of which I've yet to actually figure out...but there'll be something about City Council deciding to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander flags in chambers...and the PATS Review stuff...and a more thorough explanation of the contradictions in saying 'farming will save us' and 'mining will save us' and then trying to do them in the same place.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Everything's Hunky Dory
If by 'Hunky' you mean 'Shot', and if by 'Dory' you mean 'to Hell'...hello China, Poland, Russia, and the United Kingdom, and welcome to the blog...and if you don't include the economy, the environment, politics, paedophilia and corruption, everything in South Australia is going just swimmingly.
Listening to the Conversation Council yesterday stating that the Environmental problems currently experienced in South Australia would warrant a Royal Commission were it in another field or context...and this coupled with Labor minister Tom Koutsontonis's statements about "cutting Green Tape", and the government's attitude to 'Fracking' in the South East, oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight, a massive Copper mine on Yorke Peninsula, etc, it doesn't look good for the environment.
Oh, and the Murray River's rooted...we're burying all our prime agricultural land under suburbs, eg, the corrupt Mt Barker rezoning/redevelopment, or turning it into mines...and government recycling Authority Zero Waste will be axed in early 2015...and the Gulfs are already heavily polluted, particularly from the run-off from Adelaide...and if 'Global Warming' moves the Goyder Line (which roughly indicates the rain patterns in SA; wetter South, drier North) then we lose vastly more cropping land...and forecast reduced rainfall will further impact farming elsewhere, in The Murray, etc, etc...(yay-Ed)...
And all this nonsense opposing the idea of Climate Change as being a man made problem...get a grip...it is incomprehensible that we as a species can change or completely destroy natural environments, eg, deforestation leading to desertification, damming rivers, pouring chemical pollution into the atmosphere, building vast concrete/bitumen jungles, etc, and not affect the Climate...yes, there are natural processes at play but we are influencing them by our actions.
Clearly our actions do have an effect, albeit as only one of a number of stressors or influences, eg, solar radiation spikes raising global temperatures...the debate opposing 'Man Made Climate Change' seems to be more of a smokescreen for distracting away from addressing issues of gross pollution, ie, Climate Change isn't real, therefore we can keep on polluting without repercussions...because dealing with chemical/industrial waste is costly and might cut into company profits and executives obscenely high salaries...and we couldn't have that...(Communist-Ed)...I prefer Humanist...(fair enough-Ed)...
East Timor Bugs Me: and if they're not, I'm fairly sure SAPol, and/or ASIO, and/or some other government agency, official or otherwise, is monitoring my various electronic communicationings...(paranoid much?-Ed)...and/or delusions of grandeur?...possibly, but then I refer readers to previous posts about such issues, eg, that in 2005 the office of the Speaker of SA Parliament Peter Lewis was either bugged or the phone tapped, whatevs, by SAPol.
I stand by my previous claims that in 2005 senior ABC 'journalist' Ian Henschke was shown a fax/email(?) as sent to a Victorian police officer by a senior SAPol officer, referring to a phone call made from the Speakers office to that Vic officer...(so?-Ed)...and that the fax/email itself showed that it was sent whilst the phone conversation was still underway...(oh-Ed)...
Nelson Mandela's Funeral: attracted world leaders, but current South African President Joseph Zuma was booed for several minutes when he tried to speak at the memorial ceremony...guess he'll just have to go back to his $25million compound, payed for with taxpayers money, and comfort himself there with some Caviar and Bollinger, also payed for by taxpayers...and I'm not the only one to ask, 'Is this the South Africa that Nelson Mandela envisaged?'...millions still living in abject poverty with no electricity and/or running water and/or sewerage, etc, whilst their President builds himself mansions...
And it's not inappropriate to make the comparisons between this and how South Australia is governed, eg, selling (giving away) the SE Forestry Estate to build a Sports Stadium, pouring millions into the Main Corner to build a Commercial Function facility and then hand it to a Councillor's son.
And I couldn't suppress a wry smile on Monday when the ABC Local Radio's Mark Jeffery was speaking with a journalist who had been working in South Africa for The Guardian (I think) during the Apartheid era, and the control and censorship of the media, etc...and I couldn't help thinking about a certain young man in Mt Gambier...(oh boy, here we go-Ed)...who finds himself censored out of the local media by vested interests concerned not with democracy or the truth, but rather protecting themselves, their mates, and their collective self-interests...(actually, when you put it like that-Ed)...
I am not for one moment comparing myself to Mr Mandela, I'm just identifying the bitter irony and burgeoning hypocrisy of an ABC Mt Gambier interview about censorship, when they have banned me from Talkback Radio...(fair enough-Ed)...to gain a further understanding of this 'irony' please review my posts re the ABC.
And we interrupt this post with the sort of breaking news that General Motors Holden is ceasing manufacturing in Australia by the end of 2017, meaning the loss of 2,900 direct jobs, with many 10s of thousands more jobs lost in the supply chain, etc...this is all over the media as I type, and currently GMH's Mike Devereux is on the ABC TV24 praising up the quality of their Australian product, and citing a range of global financial 'negative' influences, eg, the high Australian dollar.
This follows Mr Devereux's evidence to the Productivity Commission this time yesterday, that GMH had 'made no decision'...and he is stating that he received a phone call from Detroit, USofA, just after giving that evidence stating that the decision had now been made...and that Holden will continue to operate in Australia but as an importer of cars.
Over the last few days there has been widely ranging debate about this, eg, Alan Jones was going off this morning about 'not chasing them (GMH) down the road waving a cheque', but an Australian Manufacturing Workers Union rep (?name sorry) was interviewed just now citing the already massive unemployment rates for Elizabeth (in Adelaide) namely 14% adult and 40% youth unemployment and saying that the Liberal Party would be "popping champagne corks"...but the realities for the South Australian and Victorian economies are beyond political ideology.
(Remember too that if you're working 1hr per month you don't count as officially unemployed-Ed)...I know, crazy stuff...and only last week Mr Devereux was assuring workers in Adelaide that GMH was going to continue to manufacture in Australia, the same workers who recently took a small wage cut to ease the wage burden for GMH...but it is possible that he has been making these statements in good faith on behalf of people who have been deceiving him...
I'll stop here and cover this more thoroughly,
Tomorrow: Implications of Holden Closing
As part of the AMWU reps interview, he stated that 'there are no jobs in Adelaide'...and 'no jobs' means massive pressure to expand mining, Turbines, etc...as night follows day...and Toyota may also fold given that the 'Parts and Service Sector' will struggle to service only 1 manufacturer, so their costs will go up, etc, until their product is unsustainable.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...where to from here for Adelaide?...laters...
Listening to the Conversation Council yesterday stating that the Environmental problems currently experienced in South Australia would warrant a Royal Commission were it in another field or context...and this coupled with Labor minister Tom Koutsontonis's statements about "cutting Green Tape", and the government's attitude to 'Fracking' in the South East, oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight, a massive Copper mine on Yorke Peninsula, etc, it doesn't look good for the environment.
Oh, and the Murray River's rooted...we're burying all our prime agricultural land under suburbs, eg, the corrupt Mt Barker rezoning/redevelopment, or turning it into mines...and government recycling Authority Zero Waste will be axed in early 2015...and the Gulfs are already heavily polluted, particularly from the run-off from Adelaide...and if 'Global Warming' moves the Goyder Line (which roughly indicates the rain patterns in SA; wetter South, drier North) then we lose vastly more cropping land...and forecast reduced rainfall will further impact farming elsewhere, in The Murray, etc, etc...(yay-Ed)...
And all this nonsense opposing the idea of Climate Change as being a man made problem...get a grip...it is incomprehensible that we as a species can change or completely destroy natural environments, eg, deforestation leading to desertification, damming rivers, pouring chemical pollution into the atmosphere, building vast concrete/bitumen jungles, etc, and not affect the Climate...yes, there are natural processes at play but we are influencing them by our actions.
Clearly our actions do have an effect, albeit as only one of a number of stressors or influences, eg, solar radiation spikes raising global temperatures...the debate opposing 'Man Made Climate Change' seems to be more of a smokescreen for distracting away from addressing issues of gross pollution, ie, Climate Change isn't real, therefore we can keep on polluting without repercussions...because dealing with chemical/industrial waste is costly and might cut into company profits and executives obscenely high salaries...and we couldn't have that...(Communist-Ed)...I prefer Humanist...(fair enough-Ed)...
East Timor Bugs Me: and if they're not, I'm fairly sure SAPol, and/or ASIO, and/or some other government agency, official or otherwise, is monitoring my various electronic communicationings...(paranoid much?-Ed)...and/or delusions of grandeur?...possibly, but then I refer readers to previous posts about such issues, eg, that in 2005 the office of the Speaker of SA Parliament Peter Lewis was either bugged or the phone tapped, whatevs, by SAPol.
I stand by my previous claims that in 2005 senior ABC 'journalist' Ian Henschke was shown a fax/email(?) as sent to a Victorian police officer by a senior SAPol officer, referring to a phone call made from the Speakers office to that Vic officer...(so?-Ed)...and that the fax/email itself showed that it was sent whilst the phone conversation was still underway...(oh-Ed)...
Nelson Mandela's Funeral: attracted world leaders, but current South African President Joseph Zuma was booed for several minutes when he tried to speak at the memorial ceremony...guess he'll just have to go back to his $25million compound, payed for with taxpayers money, and comfort himself there with some Caviar and Bollinger, also payed for by taxpayers...and I'm not the only one to ask, 'Is this the South Africa that Nelson Mandela envisaged?'...millions still living in abject poverty with no electricity and/or running water and/or sewerage, etc, whilst their President builds himself mansions...
And it's not inappropriate to make the comparisons between this and how South Australia is governed, eg, selling (giving away) the SE Forestry Estate to build a Sports Stadium, pouring millions into the Main Corner to build a Commercial Function facility and then hand it to a Councillor's son.
And I couldn't suppress a wry smile on Monday when the ABC Local Radio's Mark Jeffery was speaking with a journalist who had been working in South Africa for The Guardian (I think) during the Apartheid era, and the control and censorship of the media, etc...and I couldn't help thinking about a certain young man in Mt Gambier...(oh boy, here we go-Ed)...who finds himself censored out of the local media by vested interests concerned not with democracy or the truth, but rather protecting themselves, their mates, and their collective self-interests...(actually, when you put it like that-Ed)...
I am not for one moment comparing myself to Mr Mandela, I'm just identifying the bitter irony and burgeoning hypocrisy of an ABC Mt Gambier interview about censorship, when they have banned me from Talkback Radio...(fair enough-Ed)...to gain a further understanding of this 'irony' please review my posts re the ABC.
And we interrupt this post with the sort of breaking news that General Motors Holden is ceasing manufacturing in Australia by the end of 2017, meaning the loss of 2,900 direct jobs, with many 10s of thousands more jobs lost in the supply chain, etc...this is all over the media as I type, and currently GMH's Mike Devereux is on the ABC TV24 praising up the quality of their Australian product, and citing a range of global financial 'negative' influences, eg, the high Australian dollar.
This follows Mr Devereux's evidence to the Productivity Commission this time yesterday, that GMH had 'made no decision'...and he is stating that he received a phone call from Detroit, USofA, just after giving that evidence stating that the decision had now been made...and that Holden will continue to operate in Australia but as an importer of cars.
Over the last few days there has been widely ranging debate about this, eg, Alan Jones was going off this morning about 'not chasing them (GMH) down the road waving a cheque', but an Australian Manufacturing Workers Union rep (?name sorry) was interviewed just now citing the already massive unemployment rates for Elizabeth (in Adelaide) namely 14% adult and 40% youth unemployment and saying that the Liberal Party would be "popping champagne corks"...but the realities for the South Australian and Victorian economies are beyond political ideology.
(Remember too that if you're working 1hr per month you don't count as officially unemployed-Ed)...I know, crazy stuff...and only last week Mr Devereux was assuring workers in Adelaide that GMH was going to continue to manufacture in Australia, the same workers who recently took a small wage cut to ease the wage burden for GMH...but it is possible that he has been making these statements in good faith on behalf of people who have been deceiving him...
I'll stop here and cover this more thoroughly,
Tomorrow: Implications of Holden Closing
As part of the AMWU reps interview, he stated that 'there are no jobs in Adelaide'...and 'no jobs' means massive pressure to expand mining, Turbines, etc...as night follows day...and Toyota may also fold given that the 'Parts and Service Sector' will struggle to service only 1 manufacturer, so their costs will go up, etc, until their product is unsustainable.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...where to from here for Adelaide?...laters...
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