PeterFromColo might not be a professional journo, but I think he’s captured the true essence of the current problems faced by our Congressional leaders in Washington D.C.
This just might appear in the dictionary under the word apropos:
Ollie asked his wife, “You never argue when I get mad at you.
How do you always control your anger?”
“I clean the toilet,” she replied.
“How does that help?” he asked.
“I use your toothbrush.”
WellPeterFromColo, I think this is a terrific idea. Let’s give it a whirl in here, shall we?
It’s time to clean up the mess in Congress. Our pollies need to know that we expect them to spend more time, energy and resources on solving problems rather than allowing some miscreant whingers to create new ones by reigniting the dead issues of racial and civil disharmony.
Just how many generations need to straddle a social ignorance the majority of us have outgrown and tossed in the bin the way a child outgrows a toy? Was the blood shed during the last 200 years not sufficient proof our moral compass points in a new direction? Are today’s Republican leaders so out of touch with reality they actually want us to go back and shed more?
How many generations must beleaguer a bigotry that serves no earthly purpose in our society? Why do Republicans, in their desperate scramble for votes, hang their political futures on a subject most of today’s mature voters are loathe to revisit and so foreign to young voters most can’t even get their heads around the concept?
Maybe if the Republican side of the aisle would read more Lincoln and less Reagan, quote more Ghandi and less Palin they would chuck fewer tanties and we could get on with truly important issues like health care reform and climate change, educating our young and keeping America safe from outside harm.
Thanks for the idea Peter! I’m for cleaning up Congress. And I’m for using the Republican’s toothbrushes to do it.
I just might send a few pollies a toothbrush along with a note:
On second thought… think I’ll be sending these!
…might even add more – who knows – one can never have too many cleaning supplies
[As always, feel free to copy/paste any portion of this post - OzMud]
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Giving Congress a Hand and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks!
…and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put the Republican Party back together again.
It should be sad watching an institution crumble but for me, watching the Republicans receive their much-deserved comeuppance this week was more like watching the Berlin Wall topple to the sound of several million cheering onlookers. The Republican Party who – in their haste to win an election – forgot their manners, disrespected the office of the President of The United States and acted on the advice of pollsters rather than constituents - is now gasping its last bit of air as a responsible representation of the American people. And try as I might, I’m hard-pressed to conjure up any sympathy.
For most of us, this week marks the burial of a campaign that should have died and been put to rest more than a year ago. It used to be that once an election was over, the losing side pulled up their socks and got to work for the people they represented. They worked with the guys who won the election to get the job done and gave America their full attention until the next campaign. Something about honouring a good battle and behaving like men. Attributes the current Republican leaders seem to have dropped along the way, I’m guessing somewhere between Alaska, Arizona and Iraq.
No, there’s no sadness in my home. There is, however, a sense of justice.
This week’s events have been marked by really excellent writings of bloggers, journalists, columnists and television commentators alike. So many, in fact, it’s truly difficult to pick just one. Starting with this article from the Huffington Post, for the rest of the week, I’ll be posting links to my favourites.
GOP Applies for Health Care for Self-Inflicted Wounds
Putting all your eggs in one basket is a good thing when it’s Easter. In politics, though? Not so much.
The Republican Party put all its eggs in the “Tear Down President Barack Obama and Defeat Health Care Reform” basket. This was a questionable action at best. At worst, they could end up breaking their own kneecaps.
Unanimously fighting health care reform was questionable at best because few in America didn’t think the health care system had to be fixed in at least some way.
But at worst – yipes.
Yipes, because the President of the United States won the election campaigning on it. Both houses of Congress won majorities campaigning on it. And from the start, polls showed that the majority of the public wanted some kind of health care reform. Including a public option.
Yet in the face of all this, the Republican Party in Congress put every single one of its fragile eggs in a single basket and chose to unanimously fight health care reform.
The bill contained over 200 Republican proposals, and Republicans still unanimously voted against it.
The GOP was simply going to do whatever they could – unanimously – to defeat health care reform and bring down President Obama. Turn “Yes, We Can” into “No, He Can’t.” Republicans didn’t just want the seats a party out of power traditionally picks up in an off-year election. They wanted it all…<snip>…
Mr. Elisberg goes on to fully describe how the Republican plan to derail the Democrats backfired in epic proportions and then… he drops this precious little gem:
Republicans, who are usually so good at coming up with fake catch-phrases like “Death Taxes” made their biggest gaffe of all. Gargantuan.
You see…for the past year, Republicans have called this bill (say it all together now) – “ObamaCare.”
Health care reform is now known to everyone – thanks to Republican Talking Points – forevermore as ObamaCare.
They gave President Barack Obama full name credit.
ObamaCare. ObamaCare. ObamaCare. ObamaCare.
Care.
President Barack Obama – cares.
And the Republican Party is the one who told you …<snip>
Oh maaaan you’re either all asleep or drunk already… WAKE UP WAKE UP ALASKA!!! I NEED VIDEO LINKS! I WANNA REPLAY THIS VOTE OVER AND OVER!
This is like being a little kid and waking up at 5am Christmas morning and realize you have to WAIT A WHOLE HOUR until mom and dad get up and let you open pressies
*impatiently dances by herself
——————–update———————
Well I haven’t danced this much in well I can’t even remember! [see comments] What good dancers you all are!
I woke up this morning with this song running through my head and thought oh oh! Must post so all the ‘happy dancers can sing too!
I’m renaming this: Sarah Heath Palin is Redundant Now (all of her death panels have disappeared)
…we need bright shiney new lyrics:
telegraph.co.uk
Sunday 21 March 2010
Alexandra Williams in Geneva
Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed 12 to14-year-olds did not use sufficient protection when having sex.
The study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Commission for Children and Youth, interviewed 1,480 people aged 10 to 20.
It showed more 12 to 14-year-olds were having sex, in comparison with the 1990s.
The Hotshot condoms, which cost 7fr60 (£4.70) for a packet of six, have been created by Lamprecht AG, a leading condom manufacturer in Switzerland.
The company has said the UK would be “top priority” if they expanded abroad, considering that it has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.
<snip>
Family planning groups and the Swiss Aids Federation campaigned to have the Hotshot produced after a number of studies, including the government study researched at the Centre for Development and Personality Psychology at Basel University.
Nancy Bodmer, who headed the research, said: “The result that shocked us concerned young boys who display apparently risky behaviour. They have more of a tendency not to protect themselves. They do not have a very developed sexual knowledge. They do not understand the consequences of what they are doing and leave the young girls to take care of the consequences.
“The results of this study suggest that early prevention makes sense.”
Well now… Cyclone Ului may have skirted our shoreline causing minimal damage, but leave it to the Swiss to slide into it’s wake bringing the mother of all storms
Hotshots! I can’t say I’m at all surprised. My first husband boasted of having lost his virginity at the age of eight on his paper route to a suburban housewife with an erm… abundance of knowledge. Throughout my lifetime I’ve heard more than just a few ‘men’ cop to having engaged in sexual intercourse prior to having two digits in their age number. So I guess I’m just not ‘shocked’ by the results of the above study.
And when you follow history from generation to generation, each becoming more educated and freer than the last, one can see that we inadvertantly expose our children to progressively more things that tend to quash their innocence at progressively earlier ages.
Case in point: My three year-old sister would never have been seated at a dinner table in front of television during a news story graphically depicting rape, torture and murder. My mother would have been mortified. My father would have called the television station and ripped the producers a new one. Today, my grandchildren are not only exposed to it – they’re expected to deal with it. It’s all around them. The sex and violence. It’s in advertisemets and youtube clips. It’s in everyday conversations and Facebook posts.
The primary target of video game creators is 15 year-old boys. That, by the way, is the universal age of consent in video game-eze. Packaging around the world on ‘adult-visual’ graphics in games contains the disclaimer “Not suitable for children under 15 years of age”. World of Warcraft, which has a following of more than 9 million players, has a parental mode installed which allows for the characters above the numbers on your keyboard (@#$%^&*) to automatically replace swear words in the chat fields. Then it pits your 12 year-old son in a bear costume against warrior women in skimpy bikinis and very, very big bossoms. Well it’s ok, really, they all wear helms and boots.
My point is, technology puts everything about life in our kids faces whether we want it to be this way or not. So while I’m certainly not advocating the loss of virginity at age 12, I also acknowledge that it happens, and with more frequency than makes the rest of us comfortable. So for me, the bottom line is – I want my grandkids to be able to make mistakes that don’t kill them the first time out. If that means giving the pre-teens access to condoms and educating them about sexual intercourse, then so be it. Beats having to measure for a coffin.
But putting all the philosophical waxing aside… I do so want to be a fly on the wall when the news of these little hotshots swishes up Sarah Palin’s skirt. And then I want to see her and Glenn Beck discuss it on the air – face to face – I’m guessing Beck wouldn’t be able to appear on camera without having a newspaper covering his lap.
I can see the veins on her rebuilt neck pulsating now…
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Extra Small Condoms for 12 Year-Olds Launch Their Debut In Switzerland and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
Cyclone Ului was downgraded to category three early this morning. Here’s a satellite (google search is amazing!) showing the size. What the photo can’t illustrate is how Ului’s momentum has dropped as it approaches shore. All good news.
And these are photos from my yard, at around 3:30pm. Not too drastic a shift from yesterday, but the planet is definitely darker today. Ului’s effects are not expected to reach my area until late Sunday afternoon. So – more photos tomorrow!
As the imminent threat of Ului subsides, my attention has been drawn to the two major wolverine problems facing Alaska at present.
The Mudflats shines a beacon of light on the unnecessary aerial slaughter of wolf packs in Denali State Park by what appears to be a corrupt Board of Game, headed by Governor Sean Parnell. I wept. Some of the wolves were collared, tagged as research animals, part of an ongoing study that’s in its sixteenth year. Reports describe how the shooters saw the collars, understood what the collars meant - and killed the wolves anyway, an overt act which only demonstrates how easily the current Alaska Administration thumbs it’s nose at their duty of care.
The second is the uncovering of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan has successfully bilked the city out of $193,000 in a story you have to read to believe. It begins in 1982 when his father, George Sullivan, retired as mayor. Having undergone triple-bypass heart surgery, the city administration (in testiment to the man’s years of service) voted to keep active his slot in their group life insurance policy aware that Mr. Sullivan would not qualify for insurance on his own (once he left office) given his age and medical condition. George Sullivan died this past year, around the same time his son became mayor of Anchorage. Two weeks ago, current Mayor Dan Sullivan took to his local Assembly the issue of payment of his father’s life insurance policy with the city Muni trust. They voted almost unanimously to pay an amount of $193,000.
Several problems have come to light. First, no one ever told the insurance carrier (Aetna) that an unemployed man was on their books as part of a group package. Second, the amount of the yearly ‘premiums’ paid by the Sullivan family beginning at over $900 per year in 1982 and dropping twice until it leveled out at $555 some years later is completely suspect. Third, and most damningly imho, is the manner in which Dan Sullivan put the issue to a vote without putting forth pertinent details (trust me, this is no big deal, just vote yes and we can all go fishing!) about the city’s factual obligation.
He then – and only then – let it be known that he was the executor of his father’s will, with full power to distribute the $193,000 as he saw fit – and as mayor of Anchorage, ordered himself to cut the check to give to… himself!?!?! And finally, he has withheld information as to the disbursal of the funds. (He does, however, have his eye on a honey of a boat..)
That’s hootzpah Mr. Sullivan. But not in a good way.
The single Assembly nay voter (Harriet Drummond) has called for a hearing. Mel Green, Alaska blogger extraordinaire has sifted through a 28 year paper trail of interoffice emails in an effort to put a timeline on the events surrounding the conception, maintenance and execution of Mr. George Sullivan’s city-owned life insurance policy. The hearing will take place this coming week.
I highly recommend both site articles be read.
It’s Sunday morning here. The sun is shining and Ului has touched down a few hundred kilometers north of us as a category two cyclone. It’s reported 60,000 homes are without power but damage cannot be assessed until the roads are safe enough for crews to traverse. An area already under a meter of flood water has so far accumulated 450 mm of rain since last night.
Clean up is going to be slow, wet and muddy. More later.
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Cyclone Ului – Saturday and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
Preparation for our share of tropical Cyclone Ului (pronounced you-lee) is complete. The only things left standing in the yards are the two trash bins, and even they are tethered to the porch with rope and D-Rings. BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) reports a slight subsiding in the strength of Ului as it enters our northeastern coastal waters. By the time it reaches southeast Queensland, it may be nothing more than a big spit. Wouldn’t that be perfect!
But one can never actually predict a storm’s path or muscle with 100% accuracy so we continue to err on the side of caution and reinforce our modest wooden nest.
Which brings me to these clever little gadgets! A few years back I stumbled across them in a bargain shop. I bought two on a whim and after seeing how well they worked, went back and bought several more. Throughout my house, they sit quietly on night tables, bathroom sinks, my desk and kitchen benchtops. Others, like the one pictured here, are mounted on the walls beside the light switches. When the lights go off you just smack the dome and *poof* there’s instantly enough light to get you across the room or down the hall.
This particular one is still using the original battery and I’m guessing it dates back to 2006 or 2007. We have at least three blackouts a year. Some result from storms, others from cars slamming into poles or workmen sneezing at the exact wrong moment and blacking out whole neighbourhoods for hours. Some are even the result of lightning strikes getting the better of our government-run power sources. (Oh dear me, did I say that out loud?) At any rate, at about $1.50 each, you can see we’re still getting our money’s worth after 3 or 4 years.
The idea is to smack one in a pinch. It gives off just enough light to find your radio, phone, torch, slippers or glasses. Then, as soon as you’re organized, you smack it off. When we’ve had houseguests, we leave one by the guests bed. No need to leave nightlights plugged in or wake up others when you’re making a nocturnal trip to the loo in unfamiliar territory. They allow you a guiding light without casting a glare on everything else. (No, the kids can’t shine them on the ceiling – lol)
The ones mounted on the walls all have frames painted white and coated with an irridescent-glitter varnish. The speckles pick up any light, anytime, making the domes easy to find.
[end of commercial]
These photos were taken this afternoon at about 3pm. We’d just come home from the last bit of shopping (you would not believe how noticeably empty the shelves were of paper towels, bottled water and matches) and the sun was shining as if it had no clue what was on the other side of the mountain. So after putting the last of the groceries and paper goods away, I took a stroll around the yards and pointed my trusty digital at the whimsical clouds and blue skies. There was a bit of wind, but the temperature was normal for early autumn.
At 3pm tomorrow, regardless of the storms progress, I plan on duplicating my stroll and we’ll have photos to compare.
(Click each image to enlarge)
Happy Hunkering to all my fellow storm-waiters – and thanks (also too) so much to everyone for the really gracious comments and prophecies of safety!
Stay warm and dry
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title ‘Twas The Night Before Ului… and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks, ozMud
Cyclone Ului (you-lee) has been upgraded to a category four cyclone and is slowly heading toward the east coast of Australia. While we aren’t directly in it’s path, we tend to get plenty of residual rain and wind from any tropical storm, far north, offshore or on.
So we’ve been in batten down the hatches mode for the past few days. I’ve just this evening finished washing every towel, blanket and sheet I could find, plus all our clothing. (Did you know that when all the washing in my house is done there’s actually not enough room to put it all away? Interesting arguement for letting it go, eh?) We tend to have water come under the front door with driving winds, and the downstairs laundry and craft room flood as they are built a meter below ground level, so when I know it’s coming, I like to pull the plugs on the machines and get everything mechanical off the floor.
Spouse is on resupplying torches and batteries detail, along with cleaning the camp stove and buying fuel. The larder is stocked with tins of food, drinking water and paper goods. Two things I can’t live without: Coffee and toilet paper. Everything else has a workable substitute – but you don’t want to be around me if I have to use yesterday’s coffee grounds in the morning and then tear up old magazines in the afternoon.
Patio furniture and garden tools like to take flying lessons in tropical Australian storms, along with my potted orchids and bromeliads. Having gained control of the inside, over the next two days I’ll be outside locking things away in the shed,making sure no loose items are hanging around, waiting to replay scenes from Harry Potter.
Then it’s the sit tight and wait game for the rest of the weekend. Hope you all stay warm and dry this weekend. Meet you on the other side – Oz
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Palingates posted a story on Sarah Palin’s upcoming television series (being produced by Fox as we speak) called ‘Real Americans’. The post, entitled “Real Americans”: From Neal Horsley to Sarah Palincan be read by clicking its title. And actually, to get the full import of my post, this post should be read first.
The final portion of the Palingates article deals with Neal Horsley, a man who has made his way into the news of late by advertising his candidacy for governor to the state of Georgia in the 2010 election, alongside a news article for having been arrested for putting a bounty on the head of Elton John. Because nothing says ELECT ME better than airing a hit list ?!?!
I was bemused reading about Mr. Horsley’s over-the-top religious antics, albeit a bit mortified at the reality some other nutcake out there might take Mr. Horsley at his word and actually try to harm Sir John for having dared to publicly show improper evangelical reverence to Jesus, the irony of which did not escape me.
Elton John referred to Jesus as a ‘gay man’, a remark which sparked frenzy in bible thumpers of all ilk. The irony, of course, is if one follows the teachings of Jesus, one knows he preached the turning of the other cheek and forgiveness. Nowhere in the bible does it say “when thine brother maketh a joke about you putteth his name on a list engraven in stone and in my and my father’s name cast rocks at his irreverent skull.” (pfft)
While reading about Neal Horsley I experienced one of those odd and somewhat annoying déjà’vu moments where you know you’ve experienced this before but can’t quite put your finger on when or where. So off I went to google and it took all of ten seconds for the memory to flood back with a troubling thud of clarity. The Nuremberg files.
First, the Nuremberg Trials were a very big deal when I was a kid. They were about making some sadistic people accountable for their part in the torture and killing of more than 6 million Jews during the 12 years of the Holocaust, prior to and during WWII. For almost thirty years the trials took place as survivors identified and authorities in all countries cooperated in ferreting out the sadists from their hiding places. It was a very big deal, indeed.
For Neal Horsley to create a public hit-list comprised of medical personnel who provided women with all sorts of health services including the legal option of abortion, and then name this contemptible list after the Nuremberg trials as if there were any connection, was morally reprehensible. When the news of his internet site was made public, I was among those who passionately followed the story. It was my moment of Zen. It was my reckoning with the internet and the realization that no one would ever have privacy ever again. And I tried desperately to make sense out of people who killed people in the name of God. I mean if your cause is one of hating perceived murderers, would you not want to refrain from advocating becoming a murderer yourself?
The Nuremberg Files made public how easy the internet was going to make it for people with felonious thoughts and intentions to find where anyone lived, worked, ate, shopped, schooled, walked, travelled, played or slept. And in the ensuing 11 years, nothing much has been done to reconnect us, the public, to our pre-internet privacy. Wiki has a comprehensive record of events surrounding this website here.
Of particular interest, the website for the political party to which Neal Horsley claimed qualification to run for governor was removed in 2007. I have not put any effort into researching where it went or what it may have become. Perhaps one of you would be interested in following that trail. The party name was the Creator’s Rights Party
I did pursue clips from the movies Neal Horsley produced about his beliefs, including one titled Soldiers in the Army of God. The movie info can be read here on IMDB, but I couldn’t find any clips or trailers. A review by Christopher T. Chase is telling:
“The fact that these extremists are more intelligent than one would expect, makes their fervent belief in their cause, and their willingness to do whatever is necessary to advance that agenda, that much more chilling. Perhaps the point best made by this doc is that if more talking were done, there might be a way to implement a better alternative to bombs, guns, assassinations and extra security at women’s health clinics. At least in the cases of those who are willing to explore such possibilities. As for those whose fervor has passed from pathology into absolute dementia, that’s a subject for a whole other documentary, one that would probably make a fitting sequel to this.”
Scanning youtube had nothing to offer (that I found) but it did give me the following video, which I have embedded in hopes you’ll buckle up and watch it straight through. I admit it’s a hard listen. But I highly recommend you hang on to the bitter end and then read carefully the editors closing comments. Then jump in a shower and wash it all off.
These are the numinous minds inspired by Sarah Palin. This is the reason we work to make her redundant.
And now that you’ve watched the video, remember that Facebook is preparing to launch a new feature – the ability for any reader to identify the current physical address of any FB client just by mousing over their avatar. One need not be a friend. Avatars appear on generic search lists. The Facebook locator will instantly show the reader the exact location (continent, country, county, town, suburb, streetname and number) of the person behind the avatar AT THE TIME OF THEIR LATEST POSTING. Which quite simply means any interested burglar can readily find when you’re at home, at work, just out shopping or on vacation.
Stalkers will be able to track you without leaving their couch. Kidnappers will be able to map your daily routine without ever risking being noticed. The FB Locator feature will be like a personal GPS for murderers, rapists, child molesters, kidnappers, thieves, home invaders and yes, even in-laws you told you’d be out of town when you weren’t. The ramifications of this feature are certain to make hit lists, such as those created by Neal Horsley, blueprints for the future of domestic terrorism.
On the other hand, this service will give away Sarah’s ghost-writers and show us where they’re all hiding. So maybe there’s a silver-lining after all.
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Sarah’s Followers: A Violent Breed and click on the word commentsjust beneath, Thanks, OzMud
Well this is the week for videos I guess – if you haven’t checked out the link provided by AKMuckraker over at The Mudflats, it’s must see, honest! I took her advice and applied it to my facebook name and it’s hysterical. Remember the little application that lets you elf or scrooge yourself during the holidays? Well fasten your seatbelts, this is way more sophisticated and so worth the few seconds it takes to do it to yourself.
I can’t post my clip here because my facebook identity is a secret (shh) admirer of Sarah’s and I don’t want to risk deletion from her friend’s list * evil laugh * Just follow the links over at the flats and get one for yourself
But wait! There’s more!
My firstborn daughter has a bad cold. My oldest daughter sent her this youtube link via facebook, with the comment “oh you poor, poor bunny!”.
Well of course mom had to check out the link… and then I howled! This is just so typical! I’m pretty sure none of my male readers will get it - but all the females will * smicker *
Really glad you guys enjoyed Miniscule. Working on my California RN interview – stay tuned
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title hahahahahaha!!! and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
@Laura – #7 comment from previous post who asks “…are those really big grasshoppers?”
Well yes, actually, we grow ‘em pretty big here. That said, I’ve seen actual locust just as big in Texas so size may be relative. But as long as we’re on the subject, let me introduce you to a five-minute ‘short’ series quite popular here in Queensland, used to fill empty time gaps between programs. It’s called Miniscule and this just mde me howl. It’s called Grasshopper Catapulte. Enjoy the No-Sarah break
Miniscule: Grasshopper Catapulte
Thank goodness the whole series is up on youtube! Spouse’s favourite is a fly that gets stuck to a bit of bubblegum on the side of the road. I laughed just listening to him laugh in another room
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Video of The Day and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
From channel 7 News [online] comes the story of how Queensland floodwaters are on the move. Some 1500 km north of yesterday’s huge storm in Melbourne, populated bits of townships and rural communities in my state are several days into isolation and government efforts are now mobilizing to drop food and supplies for both humans and livestock. If you scroll down, you’ll find a list of the affected areas and what’s being organized. The size of the list actually found me a bit overwhelmed. I had no idea that many places were without food or water.
Looks like we’ll all be getting off our duffs and helping out where we can. In the meantime, I’ve pinched this from the website. What a brilliant photo! And yes, the resemblance to the Palin clan did not escape me in light of the latest Swag hag description.
Heh – captions anyone?
“Grasshoppers cling to a fence post to keep out of floodwaters on Clifton Station at Windorah in western Qld.” Submitted by: Ross and Wendy Groves
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title: Photo Of the Day and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
Twenty-nine minutes before this video was taken, Melbourne’s famous Flemington racecourse was blanketed in sunshine with horses and riders in the last lap of the first race. Ladies, clad in light cocktail dresses and high heels, men in shorts and silk shirts were milling about on the lawns enjoying the day.
Twenty-nine minutes.
More storms are coming to this area. The areas in south eastern Australia that have already flooded do not have time to recover between downpours. My own state of Queensland, (aprox. 1300 k or 850 miles north east of Melbourne) has been so inundated with rain in the last several days, there are towns and suburbs completely cut off, surrounded by water. Rising water.
In 2007 a 15 minute hail storm wiped out a year’s worth of crops in northern Queensland. Sugarcane, bananas, avocados, citrus – nothing was left. When hail persists more than just a few minutes, it shreds entire trees. Literally shreds them bare. Often, whole shrubs have nothing left but their roots. In a state dependent upon marketing its vegetables and fruits, this can be economically brutal for thousands of businesses. Some of these businesses are just recovering. One more hail storm could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
It blows me away when I hear supposedly-educated people speaking of how wonderful these cold fronts are because they disprove global warming.
This IS global warming. And if we don’t, as caretakers of this fragile planet, come together soon to find a solution for the roles we’ve played in causing global warming, there’s not going to be much of a planet left for our grandchildren. And there certainly won’t be enough food to go around.
By the by -
- SES stands for State emergency Services.
- The green tinge throughout this video isn’t only from tinted windows. In Australia, when you look up at the clouds and they have this greenish-grey tinge, it’s a sure sign hail is on the way.
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title: Twenty-nine Minutes and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
Actual breaking news article found on news.com.au:
Search for missing pensioner
From: AAP
March 05, 2010 6:46AM
A PENSIONER has vanished in Sydney’s southwest after saying he was going to get his haircut, prompting police to comb the area.
* * *
It’s not physically possible to work up a good guilt lather while laughing your butt off, but I swear I’ve genuinely tried. This poor man may have fallen victim to some horrible deed yet here I sit – shamefully laughing so hard at this bad, bad pun there are tears in my eyes. God, I love this country!
To comment on this post please scroll up to the title: No, that wasn’t an earthquake, that was Walter Kronkite rolling over in his grave… and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
Well this just tears it. It seems the honourable Rev Fred Nile, Australia’s mirror image of James Dobson, has stuck his toe in the waters of Lake Sarah to test the political temperature. Wait until he finds out how much money it will cost him to stick his whole foot in there *smirk*
His bio reads like any other religious nutcake leader of the far right. He’s created a Christian Democratic Party and held its position as National Leader for something like 16 years with another 8 years to go. The party has changed names a couple of times, but it’s still the same narrow-minded people with their same intolerances toward humanity leading the same flock of I-dunno-where-this-guy’s-going-but-he’s-got-food-in-his-pocket-so-I’m-there sheeple.
The CDP hold seats in parliament, though are not considered part of the basic ‘five party system’ which is Australia’s answer to America’s house and senate. (I defined the Oz major political parties way back here.)
Here’s where my brain gets derailed trying to follow Oz Government:
Evidently, all you need to start your own political party and get a seat in parliament is to win an election in any electorate. An electorate can be as big as hundreds of thousands of people in multiple shires (counties) or as small as a township of about 200. So if you live in a rural area where say all frog lovers have migrated because the mud is particularly good for breeding frogs, and there’s one guy you all seem to look up to for frog advice, then you can elect him to represent you and your ‘electorate’ in parliament – thus procuring a vote in government for you and all the collective frog lovers.
(It might be interesting to note that an electorate of 200 voting-aged people can actually all be the same family, considering that the Australia Govt. rewards families for having big families, and there are women out there today who are celebrated and photographed on their 80-100th birthdays with their 18-25 children around them, and their 50+ children around them.)
It’s like having lots and lots of Independent parties each representing a unique belief and each having a small say in how government treats those folks who believe the same unique ideal as you. Not a bad system, really, but a bit cumbersome in major elections, as one needs to pull all these little parties together with dozens of different, albeit well-meaning, campaign promises, many of which are sure to conflict.
It’s how I perceive the inevitable downfall of the Tea Party. What began as a unifying love of ‘tea’ began to find people wandering in different directions as they realized that they didn’t all actually like the same kind of tea. (Hey, when I said I liked tea I didn’t mean THAT KIND of tea…) Pretty soon they were broken into smaller groups, divided between loving Earl Grey, Orange Pekoe or White Ginger. The variety of flavours have become so vast, organizers of any Tea Party function can no longer offer everyone in their community a simple pot of tea. Now they need to boil this huge kettle of water so people can have their own special cuppas while pretending to be united.
Only now what unites them is a diluted sense of outrage, not the same cup of tea at all.
Fred Nile leads his own brand of diluted politics based upon White Christian Supremacy. He’s known for standing up in public and screaming OVER MY DEAD BODY when the first Gay Liberations Parade was placed on the Sydney calendar. He repeated this war cry when several thousands of Muslim refugees, displaced after the events of 9/11, were headed to our shores. He continues the cry even now, in an attempt to purge Australia from anyone who is not white-skinned and does not believe in his chosen religion. He’s right, after all, and the rest of us are wrong.
On the other hand, he’s had little to no effect on immigration or gay rights. Or anti-abortion, abstinence-only teachings, keeping a woman chained to the stove while dad puffs his chest and forages in the bush, etc. And the only person in all of New South Wales showing the slightest interest in taking over his responsibilities to the CDP in his old age turns out to be his son.
So if Sarah (and this is a big, big if) deigns to come to Australia and patronize this Wassilan-like band of merry men, there won’t be much money in it for her and there won’t be much publicity because Downunder her books sit in storage rooms gathering dust and most people neither know nor care who she is or what she’s about. And her five children look pretty puny compared to the actual women here who have birthed dozens of children and sacrificed their own pursuits of fame and fortune to stay home and actually be hockey moms.
That said, there’s another uniquely Oz tradition down here. It has to do with greeting foreign dignitaries. If Sarah did come to Australia as a US political figure, she would be compelled to spend some time with our Aboriginal leaders as well. (One does not slight the original residents of The Land Downunder.) Now that’s a photo-op I’d truly love to witness – Sarah, surrounded by a troupe of Aboriginal dancers in full ash costume, engaged in conversation with Patrick Dodson.
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Crikey! Rev Fred [over my dead body] Nile invites Sarah [read my palm] Palin to Australia! And click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
Coffee Party activists say their civic brew’s a tastier choice than Tea Party’s
By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 26, 2010
Furious at the tempest over the Tea Party — the scattershot citizen uprising against big government and wild spending — Annabel Park did what any American does when she feels her voice has been drowned out: She squeezed her anger into a Facebook status update.
let’s start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss ‘em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let’s get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.
From their mission statement: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans.
Finally! A party I can actually enjoy with my morning bagel! Please go over to WaPo and read the whole article. The links are informative. The writing is wonderful. I know you’ll be pleased. Especially with the next to last line:
Within two weeks of forming, the Los Angeles chapter produced a five-minute video in which citizens yearn for sensible progress and lament obstructionist truth-twisting.
Gosh – obstructionist truth-twisting– To whom can they possibly be referring?
*smiRk*
PS. For my Oz friends – ‘Taster’s Choice’ is a classic brand of instant coffee in the USA. Made a clever title even more so.
To comment on this post, please scroll up to the title Coffee Party USA – I’m there! And click the work comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud
