News roundup

1 Workchoices

According to the federal government, its somehow sinister and nasty that the union movement fund an advertising campaign against the Workchoices legislation, allegedly costing $70m (or $100m depending who you believe). The ACTU denies it is spending anything like this.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey claimed the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ campaign would outspend the Federal Government’s commitment by five to one and two-thirds of that money would come from unions. So what? I’m guessing here (I don’t think its much of a stretch) that whatever advertising Joe Hockey is talking about is going to be paid for by taxpayers, not by the Liberal Party, despite it being nothing but party propaganda.

So the government thinks its OK for it to spend taxpayers money on its own propaganda but chucks a sook when opponents use their own money to counter their arguments (by the way, I think the government has done an extremely poor job of arguing a case for Workchoices all along …they have been totally unconvincing).

2 Daily Telegraph vs Kevin Rudd

Isn’t the Telegraph trying to have a serious go at Kevin Rudd? All that beatup about the Anzac Day dawn service in Vietnam that the Sunrise program was trying to stage early so it could appear on their show is just garbage. So what, politicians stage contrived events for TV? Wow, news! Politicians lie …surprise me! I had a look at the Sunday Telegraph yesterday and there were pages on it.

Funny though how Rudd used the “my office didn’t bring it to my attention” excuse in denying knowledge of the dawn service being a stunt …convenient when in trouble, ask Alexander Downer and co, works all the time for them. They’re no doubt all fudging the truth.

Rudd has denied he’s knowingly told a lie or would in his political life. Talk about setting yourself up for a fall …just waiting now for one to be exposed, and no doubt there’ll be journalists on a mission to do exactly that.

3 Footy frolics

More footy boofheads at it again over the last week or so.

First, Sonny Bill Williams and his adventures with Candice Falzon in the toilet at the Clovelly Hotel in Sydney. There’s even photos of the happy couple courtesy of someone’s mobile phone.

A patron said it was obvious what was going on in the toilet.

“There were people in the toilets hearing them in action - they were certainly not discreet,” the source said. “There were a lot of people around who saw them and remarked how brazen they were.”

Sonny Bill is of course “ashamed and embarassed” by his behaviour but claims he was too drunk to remember. Then he grovels to his girlfriend via the press.

Williams said he was speaking out about the incident because he wanted his girlfriend of almost a year, Genna Shaw, to know he loved her.

“Football’s here for a lot of my life, but I want Genna involved in all of it,” he said.

Sweet! Maybe should have thought of that before letting his dick take control. In the mens’ at the pub, errk, how romantic! Surely Williams on his $500k per season salary could have gone to the expense of a room? But of course he was too drunk to remember …not too drunk to get it up though. “Dunny Bill” … what a champion!

Meanwhile, Falzon said her fling with Williams was a huge mistake.

“I’ve made a mistake and I’m very, very sorry about it,” Falzon said.

“I’m conscious of my image as a sportswoman and I’ve got a responsibility to young people.

“Young girls look up to me.”

I’d like to know which ones. She seems to be working her way through a team or so of football players … and she’s a follower of all - rugby league, rugby union, soccer … a true sports fan!

Second, Willie Mason proves himself a tool, yet again. This time he’s been in trouble for carrying on like an idiot after refusing an interview with Radio 2GB journalist Michelle Keighran. She was reduced to tears after Mason refused an interview with her, then interrupted her other interviews with teammates by yelling and imitating rap artists. Hey Willie, fair enough to refuse an interview …but can’t we do it politely like a civilised human, without carrying on like a dickhead? Mason turned 27 yesterday - still acts like a 12 year old much of the time.

To give him some credit, he did call Keighran today to apologise for his behaviour. Next time, Willie, remember, engage brain, then speak and you won’t have to go round apologising for being an arsehole.

Third, Michael Braun of the West Coast (Coke, and I don’t mean the black fizzy stuff) Eagles let slip the magic F word in his acceptance speech for the best player award at a game on the weekend, which was heard by the crowd and TV audience. Not a huge big deal, but I’d have thought the Eagles players would have the smarts to be on their absolute best behaviour at the moment … clearly not it seems.

Just more examples of young men with too much money and time on their hands, inflated opinions of themselves, not much brains, molly coddled by managers and team officials just because they are good at footy.

Away for a few days

I’ve been a bit slack on the blog front for a few days. Combination of being very busy at work plus going away to the Central Coast for the weekend to visit the parents.

Paid for the weekend away though last night … had to work till midnight or so to get the stuff I needed finished for a deadline today. Could have been worse, I did get a bit of unexpected net access at my parents’ place … thanks to the neighbours who kindly provided unsecured wireless access - beats Mum and Dad’s dialup.

Forgiveness, rehabilitation and second chances

 All of these come up with the appointment of new NSW Director-General of Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter.  There has been some objection to his appointment, given that he served nearly 3 years in jail at one time for drug offences.

The opposition Liberal Party education spokesman, Brad Hazzard questioned the appointment, thus:

“The question really is, how is it, that someone who had a nine-year jail sentence for drug importation and who has no educational qualifications ends up as the director-general of public eduction in NSW? And the answer might well be that he’s a Labor mate,”

Coutts-Trotter was convicted in the mid 1980’s for drug possession and selling offences.  He says of this:

“I need to explain the facts of my life and I’m quite prepared to.

“Twenty three years ago I was convicted of a very serious drug offence. I was a drug user and a drug seller and luckily and remarkably in life I’ve been given a second chance.

“For every job I’ve applied for, I’ve indicated the facts of my life. I’ve told people about who I am, what I’ve done. And I’ve gone for those jobs on merit.

“I’ve got 12 years experience in the public sector, much of it at a very senior level and I’ve been judged on performance, not on what happened 23 years ago.”

Fair enough, isn’t this a great example of someone turning his life around.  Why should this be criticised?  Should he bear the stigma of his crimes as a youth forever?  Hardly Christian or forgiving of his critics to use his dark distant past to beat him up over!

However, his rise through the public service ranks almost certainly does owe something to his political connections with the ALP.  He started in 1996 as press secretary to former NSW Treasurer, Michael Egan, and subsequently has been chief of staff, Director-General of the Department of Commerce among other things.  I’m sure he’s quite capable, but wonder how much opportunity he has been given because of his connections, that he wouldn’t have got otherwise?

His other ALP connection is that he is married to federal Labor MP, Tanya Plibersek.  (What is it with the ALP in NSW, seems they’re all fucking each other?  Better be careful or they’ll eventually get to the point of, as well as being full of hacks with no real world business experience, they’ll be packed full of inbreds).

Other critics of his appointment have been more concerned with his lack of background in education.  Fair enough, although personally I don’t see this as a showstopper … he is there to lead and manage the education system, and a key part of this is to ensure he has the right people around him to make sensible decisions and execute plans successfully.  He doesn’t need to be an expert himself … indeed it is often a good thing to bring someone in who doesn’t have prior investment in the system to take an unbiased view of it and shake things up where a shakeup is needed.

Try this

Pretty neat, I reckon!

Cashing in

The British sailors and marines captured by Iranian forces recently are now not allowed to sell their stories to the media, after the Ministry of Defence previously made an exception to their normal rules and had allowed them to. This backflip comes after criticism of the original decision to allow the former captives to cash in on their stories, saying there were “exceptional circumstances”.

Apparently Leading Seaman Faye Turney, the only woman in the captive group, received about 100,000 pounds for interviews with The Sun and ITV, and it was suggested the group could make double that between them. Attacks on the ministry and the 15 mariners mounted following the publication of Turney’s account in The Sun tabloid, while the Daily Mirror carried an interview with 20-year-old Arthur Batchelor, the youngest of the group.

Even one of the officers in charge of the seized naval personnel said he found the situation “a little unsavoury” as some of the freed sailors began recounting their grim ordeals for large payments. Royal Navy Lieutenant Felix Carman said he and Royal Marines Captain Chris Air, the two officers in the group, were not accepting money for their stories.

“I personally find the subject [of payment] a bit unsavoury, but I don’t begrudge people who have been through an awful ordeal making a bit of money out of this,”

Lord Michael Heseltine, a former British defence secretary and deputy prime minister, said he had “never heard anything so appalling” as ordinary troops earning little money while those captured earned a small fortune.

Sally Veck, whose daughter Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, was among four Britons killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq last week, told The Times newspaper it was a “terrible shame” that some of the freed captives had sold their tales.

“If you are a member of the military … you should do your duty and not expect to make money by selling stories,” she said.

Couldn’t agree more. These sailors should thank their lucky stars that they got out of the situation relatively quickly, keep their mouths shut and get on with their jobs. Its not as though their stories reflect much glory on them. Fair enough, they surrendered to the Iranian forces without a fight …no point committing suicide in a hopeless fight, nor in escalating a tense situation. This has dismayed some of the American hawks, who were gung-ho for the capture of the British to be used as an excuse to attack Iran.

What surprised me most in this incident was the speed with which the captives allowed themselves to be pressured by the Iranians into spouting their propaganda. I would have thought that the institution in which they were serving, ie the British Navy, would have instilled in its personnel more toughness in such a situation, as a matter of training and in the culture of the institution itself.

The whole deal about chequebook journalism bothers me. Just about anyone who suffers some sort of misfortune seems to head straight for a media agent with a view to cashing in for all they’re worth. Its like its their first thought upon getting through whatever their ordeal was.

Lethal accountants 2

We accountants can be dangerous. Anthony LaCalamita was clearly very passionate about debits and credits and all that stuff. Fired from his job at a Detroit accounting firm last week, he went on a shooting rampage, killing 2 former co-workers and critically wounding a third.

As I’ve said before, never get between an accountant and his money.

Sexiest body = Scarlett Johansson

That is, according to a survey of 5 000 women undertaken by “Glamour” magazine. Actress Jessica Alba was second and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen third.

Things we did this weekend

Apart from eating too much chocolate that is.

As usual, we stayed home for the long weekend … hate travelling on holiday weekends, too many dickheads on the road, and don’t particularly enjoy going to the same places as squillions of other people. So we found a few things around Canberra to amuse ourselves the last couple of days.

Yesterday, went for a look at the Mustang show down near old Parliament House. Now by no means am I are car nut, but I have to say there were some impressive cars that the owners clearly spend plenty of time and money on. We liked the red ones - as everyone knows, red cars go faster. Across the road from the Mustangs were hundreds of Austins, the oldest we recall dated back to 1914. My favourite was the little yellow and red one (above).

This afternoon, we visited the walk through bird aviary at Gold Creek Village. My daughter had been there a few months ago and raved about it, so convinced us to go again. Lots of parrots, galahs, cockatiels, budgies and other birds, many very tame …so they would land on you, allow you to feed them and all that sort of stuff. The galah in the photo above was very fond of my daughter’s hair band, watch, earrings, etc, and we had some fun with some Alexandrine parrots which were very interested in my glasses, ear lobes, shoelaces and camera strap. Well worth the admission price!

Don’t bring your weapons to the voting booth

I was listening to the radio while out in the car driving today, and was amused by a comment on the East Timor election tomorrow where authorities have appealed to voters “not to bring weapons into or near voting places”. As you need to be reminded of course. We’d better remember this when the federal election comes around later this year. Get my name marked off the roll, leave my guns, knives and knuckle dusters at the door (or better still at home).

Democracy in action, East Timor style!

Easter Sunday - breakfast

Anyone know where to get some chocolate bacon to go with the chocolate eggs?