nutty

Feel a bit like this 

 today.....

.

Hat in the ring?

Have a go, Joe.

The new book recently published by Penguin and written by Joe Hockey has caused an increase in volume in the chattering classes.

 Entitled "Not your average Joe" the new book ( populist title) is seen as Joe Hockey's intent to be considered a serious Prime Ministerial candidate. Cometh the hour, cometh the man?

Bill Shorten remains unimpressed referring to Mr Hockey as a "cigar-chomping Treasurer ".

 Perhaps the cigar is a hint?

Scots Referendum

Nutting it out

The time for the Scottish referendum on Independence is drawing nigh. At this stage it could go either way but statistically it's more likely that the Scots will remain part of the UK and not an independent state.

Currently, according to The Scotsman poll, about 48% will vote to remain integrated within the UK while 41% want independence and 11% undecided. 

It seems that the undecideds are shifting their preference towards the pro independence vote but as with everything change is always possible. It would take a major event to swing the vote for a decisive independence victory.

There is an enormous amount of talent within Scotland that could be utilised. However the problems facing a possible independent Scotland are enormous with the EU, Oil, Currency and the National debt posing major headaches, not insurmountable but nevertheless daunting.

Interesting to note that some 17% of voters say they would seriously think of leaving if Scotland succeeded in its quest. Not surprisingly the strongest "No"votes are from the older age group.

Would Hadrian's Wall be re-erected if the Scots were to go hae?

Cruisin'

Currying Favour

A bit of background for those who are not aware of the situation.

Around the 11th June a boat carrying some 150 Tamil asylum seekers that left Pondicherry in India bound for Australia was intercepted by an Australian customs vessel. They have been kept at sea for about a month, their exact whereabouts a closely guarded secret by the government.

Meantime , a deal has been reached with the Indian government , after a bit of shuttle diplomacy and "gifts" of a couple of naval vessels to the Sri Lankan Navy , by which the boat people will be off-loaded, probably on the Cocos Islands then transferred to the Curtin detention center in WA ( not an attractive spot in the desert)  where they will be interviewed by Indian consular officials. These will decide who to return to India (Indian residents ) and will consider taking Sri Lankan nationals.

There is the ever present risk that those being returned will face prosecution or persecution and despite a High Court challenge, in Australia of the whole governmental detention process, the immigration department under Scott Morrison is pressing ahead with arrangements to return the Tamils to India, which is not party to the Refugee Convention. Australia which has signed the convention seemingly trying to cherry pick its U.N. obligations as well as its legal obligations within Australia. .

The Australian government has been heavily criticised by the U.N. for its  hardline, military led border regime 

One would imagine that the 150 Tamils would be glad to get off the ship, get their feet on dry land and escape endless evening meals  of  baked beans on toast, Nor would it be too hard to imagine that  dyed in the wool, staunch Liberals would be complaining at the cost of it all , since they have to fork out through the nose when booking a four week Ocean cruise for themselves.

It beggars the question as to where all this money is coming from. Apart from these refugee policies there has been considerable outlays on the MH 370  and MH 17 disasters. Time and time again we have been warned that the economy is in dire straits with cut backs and Scrooge budgets reaching out far into distant time horizons. What gives or are we missing something here?

As a final note a recent poll found 26 % of Australian thought we were too harsh on illegals, some 30% felt our treatment was right and the remaining 44% thought we were not hard enough!

(OMG! To be fair, am not certain of the details of the poll but it was quoted by one of the technical gurus on the ABC's  The Drum, a week or so ago). Quite often those who arrived here with the "proper"process are often the most vociferous in voicing their opposition to queue jumpers.

Casualty of War

Mish Mash a la Russe

It's been a frightful week. Tragic. 

It's ironic that Putin's daughter is actually living in Holland . In Australia there have been reports of the Russian Association has been receiving abusive calls and veiled threats. That's the trouble with war, nobody really wins and the recent rise of Russian influence and politics is vaguely reminiscent of the resurgence of nationalistic pride in Germany after the WW1. Pride follows a fall. 

There have been some abortive attempts within Russia itself to impeach, for want of a better word, Gorbachev for his role in the collapse of the old Soviet Union. Listening to Russian citizens , both young and old, many are satisfied with Putin's performance. They claim to like a strong leader, one who can be admired and respected in the world. It is hard to imagine Russia directly implicated in the act, more likely it's an unspeakable action taken  by other factions on the ground. 

Needless to say, the separatists have not impressed the world by their behaviour.  

The one who pressed the button or launched the rocket which downed MH 17 will, no doubt, not be found. The confusion is too great and the political implications  too vast to be able to entertain any sense of real justice. 

In war everyone is a casualty, one way or the other not can conflict be isolated, in today's world, to any particular region.
PS: just learned  that Putin's daughter, Maria,  has fled The Netherlands for security reasons.

Better the devil.....

Today, Peter Greste's brother Michael announced a decision to appeal the sentence passed down by the Egyptian court against the Al Jazeera journalist.

Peter Greste, together with his colleagues , stands accused by the Egyptian government,  of consorting with the Muslim Brotherhood and by association sedition

The lengthy trail of the Al Jazeera  reporters was marked by delays and journeys back and forth from the jail to the court hearing where , caged and isolated,  they listened to the echoes of "justice " from the dim recesses of the judge's bench. In Australia, time has little meaning for hospitals, police stations and government agencies but the Arab sense of hours and minutes in comparison , puts these agencies working in double quick time . Inshallah, God willing, is as vague as a politician being confronted with the truth or something promised during an election campaign.. 

Appeals by the Australian Prime Minister went unheeded , while the judge further accused the journalists  of being "guided by the devil" in their work as reporters. Tony Abbott has more luck appeals to Putin than with the then newly elected President of Egypt.

We are all familiar with the devil, one way or another. Lawyers know that he hides in the detail while competitive sorts leave him to take the hindmost. The Inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition were also on first name terms with old Nick. For a while there he seemed to have dropped  out of sight but now he's back in the news. 

Acknowledgement to Warner Bros

In all fairness perhaps here , in view of the judge's remarks, the devil should be arrested. After all it seems he is the guilty party stirring up trouble. Too easy?

Mates talk

Boys Toys

Transport is big in Australia, a large country with huge expanses of nothing . Travel has always been a central part of the Australian psyche as many are of migrant parents and trips to Europe and other places are almost as normal as stepping onto a bus. 

Among mates,the subject of cars is important, nay vital. One has to be a sports nut as well as a bit of a revhead. Men know quite a bit about cars and will be able to tell you engine size, features , advantages and disadvantages of particular models as well as the price down to the last cent. 

Ask a lady what kind of car she has and she will answer "Green"or "Yellow"...(Well, most anyway).

In vino veritas...

Rite of passage

A wine tasting tour is a must . This is an essential part of being Australian. 

The Barossa Valley , Hunter Valley , Margaret River , Mclaren Vale , Yarra Valley ,Mornington Peninsula, Adelaide Hills , Clare Valley , Canberra District , Southern Tasmania, these names should trip off the tip of your tongues as easily as you can say "You bewdy!"

The more wine one consumes the more attractive or ugly one's companion becomes and the temptation to say so grows with each passing glass; regrets and embarrassment ensue the following day. Many a friendship has been cemented or shattered thus,

Henry Fielding, in  "Tom Jones" remarked that drink does not alter the character of a man, rather reveals it more clearly! So make sure you go with someone who intrigues you..you might  be surprised at what you discover by the end of the journey!

Last stop on the wine tasting tour

Other shoe, other foot...

MH17 crash: China says Australia's response 'rash' (Sydney Morning Herald July 19th 2014)

The official Xinhua news agency said in an English language commentary that officials from the United States, Australia and other Western countries had jumped to conclusions

"The accusation was apparently rash when the officials acknowledged they did not know for the time being who is responsible for the attack, while condemning Russia's military intervention, Xinhua said.

"" You tell 'em Chan!"

The news agency said the top priority at the moment was to co-operate to "find out the real culprits, if any".
"If the plane turned out to have been shot down by a missile, the perpetrators should be brought to justice despite their motives and excuses, as it was an intolerable terrorist attack," Xinhua said.

The puzzle here is the phrase "real culprits, if any". One can only presume that China envisages a scenario where the Boeing simply imploded of its own accord. It's a theory proposed by bit the flat earth society , for example, and claiming planes fly upside down when they reach the edge until their final destination.
Not so long ago China was throwing her weight around after the disappearance of MH 370.

In Memory

17/07/2014 MH 17

The loony side of the internet

This is so inane, it must be posted.
(I'm really glad that I live in my own world ,relatively "sane" world, particularly when I see items below  posted on the net!)

July 17 2014

Now confirmed and therefore top postedCONFIRMED: FLIGHT MH17 NEVER OVER FLIES UKRAINE, ESPECIALLY IN APPROPRIATE PLACE FOR SHOOT DOWN EVEN WHEN GLOBAL CURVATURE IS FACTORED IN:
And flightradar24.com says it never took off and was CANCELED. Is this “shoot down” really the disposal of flight 370? I am trying to figure this out,



Figure away Einstein!

MH 17

Bad News

Nothing today . The disaster in Ukraine is overwhelming for all concerned. Deepest sympathies.

Friends and neighbours

The recent trade deals with both Japan and China and the visit to Australia by the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe which included an address to the Federal Parliament have people concerned that we might be stepping on some rather large toes, notably China.
There are a number of disputes, mostly territorial , in between China and Japan and it is also probable that China has been flexing its muscle in the Northern Pacific and South East Asa.
Too much can't  be read into concerns raised that we are upsetting one or the other of the two countries involved but it does highlight our dependency on trade and international relations.
Who was it who said "Man cannot serve two masters..."?

Crimea river

Peace in our time? Probably not...

Since the annexation of Crimea earlier this year the situation in Ukraine is tense. In 2014 the estimated population in Ukraine was 44 million of which 17% were of Russian ethnicity.It is the largest country in Europe hence its importance politically and geographically ,
Putin denied the claims by Ukraine and the West that Russian special forces were fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine.
In June Gazprom, the Russian oil company, shut of gas supplies to Ukraine , an action which may threaten European supplies .
The stand off continues and while it bis reported  Ukraine has sufficient supplies to last until December of this year it's highly likely that the situation will again reach crisis point before the end of the year. 
With the new Ukrainian government taking a harder line towards the Russian separatists and Russia with its finger very much on the pulse and supporting the separatists if not morally,  the tension continues .

Business as usual

"No surprises , then.." 

The interim report by David Murray, ex head of The Commonwealth Bank, has found, surprise, surprise no concern for the dominance,  of the big four banks but confirms there is a healthy level of competition in the backing sector. 

Sixty years ago, or thereabouts, Fred Schwed published a crazy look at Wall Street and investment banking entitled "Where are all the customer's yachts?" Unbelievably,  is still in print and worth a read should you find a dose of humour would help you unwind. In the book Schwed describes how investment bankers charge commissions basically stating that the clients money was thrown in the air and what stuck to the ceiling was returned to them, the rest going to the institution. 

After the GFC the banks have emerged stronger and more profitable than ever . Having brought about the disaster with wacky lending practices they were heavily subsidised and bailed out. Not so in Australia but the implicit guarantee of the Australian Government helped. a

A few years back when interest rates were coming down most of the big four refused to pass on the total cut to their clients. The cost of funds was too high and they claimed gross shareholder disappointment if their margins were to shrink. 

It's little wonder that the interim report/study is a balanced staid and stodgy summary of the current state of the banking industry. The outcome could have been different but it's  steady as she goes

with some minor rumblings about possible crashes. But that is to be expected. Crashes and Wall Street collapses are the tycoon's nightly thrills, Oh! Shudder!

The Sydney Morning Herald  Thursday July 10th 2014

A judge has compared incest and paedophilia to homosexuality, saying the community may no longer see sexual contact between siblings and between adults and children as “unnatural” or “taboo”.

  

District Court judge Garry Neilson said just as gay sex was socially unacceptable and criminal in the 1950s and 1960s but is now widely accepted, “a jury might find nothing untoward in the advance of a brother towards his sister once she had sexually matured, had sexual relationships with other men and was now ‘available’, not having [a] sexual partner”.

 He said the “only reason” that incest is still a crime is because of the high risk of genetic abnormalities in any resulting children “but even that falls away to an extent [because] there is such ease of contraception and ready access to abortion”.

The above has been swiftly denounced by a;ll and sundry. Little wonder. 

Yesterday,the NSW Bar has forbidden Judge Neilson from presiding over criminal cases. It takes an act of Parliament to stand down or remove a judge.

It's a wacky world and we are entitled to out own opinions but too often people in positions of power or influence come to believe they are untouchable ; they have been chosen to lead the world into an er of enlightenment..provided of course this reflects their views.

Nuts!How would George Brandis (our Attorney General who champions the rights of bigots  ) treat this?

FIFA FINALS

Fairly evenly matched

Empathy and communication

Could be better (much actually)

It would seem that the current crew in Canberra might have a bit to learn yet. 

Everything was thrown into confusion yesterday when Clive Palmer backed out his deal with the Coalition on the abolition of the Carbon Tax , claiming perfidy and dark deeds by the Government. He then went on holiday to New Zealand .

It would not be surprising if the Abbott government had in fact done a bit of "fine tuning"to the deal on the table but they claim vehemently they haven't contributed in any way to the ensuing ruckus,

The current Prime Minister and his followers appear to be suffering from a lack of trust as well as an

inability to communicate with the populace at large as to what they are up to. It's little wonder. They have kept mum on the refugee question and denied  until they are blue in the face that anything is going on. It took the Sri Lankan navy to inform us that they had " accepted" some 40 refugees ( who will be tried for breaking immigration procedures ) and for news to eventually filter out that there are some 100 or more other refugees of Tamil origin who are drifting aimlessly in the ocean somewhere.

Finally there is the budget which is a popular as an al fresco cafe in a hurricane. Selling the budget has turned  into a titanic silent struggle. Paul Keating would have been out on the hustings convincing all and sundry that what was proposed was necessary and vital for  country. Instead , since the budget, there have been rare glimpses of Joe ; it's almost as if he's in a huff. 

Another factor to consider is the government's seeming lack of empathy. They're just not "clicking" with the electorate. This and the lack of communication is contributing heavily to their poor performance in the polls. No doubt, the Liberals would claim they couldn't care less about the polls but it is a measure that shows the performance of the government.

A little secrecy goes a long way ..( about six thousand kilometers actually)

According to the Telegraph U,K, Sherlock Holmes has been sent to North Korea to encourage change.

The British Foreign Office spent about Aus$500 to buy the rights to a Sherlock Holmes episode produced by the BBC for screening at the  Pyongyang International Film Festival in 2012. 

Sherlock could visit here to encourage change to the "return to sender" shipments of refugees. The hermit kingdom is not the only one suffering from a secrecy overload.

News Docos

Channel 7

Well, what do you know? It's not so long ago that the Murdoch's were in deep pooh through their phone hacking saga and we were happy that in Australia we hadn't plumbed the same depths as the U,K,

Obtained illegally , according to Pristorius' defence and broadcast while the trial is still underway in South Africa, the news doco presented by Channel 7 was a bit  "ïffy".
The facts are confusing enough  without further speculation being aired cto all and sundry.It's really a strange and weird case.

Of course , Seven feels totally justified in broadcasting the reenactment of the incident . What else?

Altzheimers

A cure?

The Telegraph in the UK reports  that a  blood test to predict if someone will develop Alzheimer’s within a year has been unveiled by scientists in a breakthrough which could see the disease become preventable.
After a decade of research, experts at Oxford University and Kings College London are confident they have found the 10 proteins which show the disease is imminent.
It means that clinical trials can now start on people who have not yet developed Alzheimer’s to find out which drugs halt its onset.
Alzheimer's is a heart-rending disease altering personalities and causing the patients to live in a world of their own eventually leading to death as various functions break down,
There are many people who have suffered from loved ones and relatives being struck down with the disease. 
It would be good news for quite a few of us . Who knows what the future holds ?

Pragmatism..' suppose

It is what it is.....

The ABC reported that  while in Myanmar the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop,  declared she will urge the Myanmar government to be inclusive and respect human rights as the nation moves towards democracy. This is a little at odds , ironic almost , bearing in mind the current proposal to send refugees to Cambodia and the recent reported return of a boatload of Tamils by Australian authorities to Sri Lanka. 

It would seem that asylum or economic refugees are not blessed with the right to be human. It's a big problem the world over .Oppressed, disadvantaged people will always look for a way out of their predicament. In our society it is admired and called ambition. 

Cambodia has one of the worst human rights records in the world while Sri Lanka has much to answer for following the civil strife that engulfed that beautiful island for decades. It's a question of " don't do what I do but do what I say" .           

Wise Move

So sorry....

Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev, came out and did it. Japanese style he apologised for the trauma caused to investors, some of whom had lost many thousands of dollars due to inappropriate advice from the bank's investment salesmen.

Of course, not everybody is happy .Some pundits claim in essence the bank was acting as prosecution, defence, jury and judge all rolled into one. 

The bank has probably acted sensibly and by presenting their plan have pre-empted further enquiry and examination which would have been much more damaging in the long run, 
It makes sense to control the enquiry, as far as possible ;  to do otherwise would be like giving your house keys to burglars and telling them to fill their boots.  Admittedly, investors are not in the same category as burglars but then,  there are always two sides to any story. 

We often seem to forget that if returns are too good to be true, tread with caution. There are exceptions but these are rare. When things are going badly ,  we are easily reassured by speaking to some who seems to know what they are talking about .Nine times out of ten they know little more than you. I recall,being advised that a certain support line was rock solid and most technical advisers agreed however,  when the crunch came,  the market fell through this " cast iron" support like a knife through butter.

It will  take a while before the Commonwealth Bank CAN get over the hurdle of client's memories. All the dilly-dallying cost them a considerable amount of goodwill.

Rooster one day............

...............feather duster the next.




The fall from grace must be painful. A number of icons have been falling over recently The conviction of Rolf Harris in London and now the arrest and charging of Nicholas Sarkozy for corruption,  in France are the incidents that spring to mind.
History is full of it! As long as we remain frail, a common human affliction and in spite of outward appearances , the tumbles will continue...ad infinitum.

Democracy on trial

Guilty until proven definitely guilty 

On 18th March 2014 the then Justice Head Adly Mansour declared he would  "spare no effort" in his attempts to secure Australian, Peter Greste's and his Al Jazeera colleagues release. Since then after a few fruitless trips to court where ,caged like animals, they awaited the judge's pleasure or displeasure , the journalists are still in limbo. The new Egyptian President , el- Sisi, despite calls from the Australian Prime Minister, has declared he will not interfere with the  Egyptian judiciary. (He obviously has a finely developed sense of irony . If it ain't working, don't fix it!) The ramifications of the Arab Spring are far reaching and Qatar's support of the Muslim Brotherhood, is not in the journos favour. The process is a farce and conditions outside the court and within the country are reported to be even worse than when under Mubarak. 

"Kiss my Asp"