Bobski

It has been a difficult day at work with a "restructure"... We all know what that means... This at least bought a chuckle or two - which I really need right now.

The radio was going on about snow in the blue mountains this morning.  Well I can tell you, at 4.30am, it sounded like a jumbo was landing on our roof.  That was hail, not snow.  I have a very poor quality iphone pic of a couple hours later.

Australian cricket is in the dolldrums, and I reckon India is about to start a decade of dominance.  The quality of their win against Australia in the second test blew me away.  While the aussies looked out of sorts and were at times reckless, they failed to bowl well on a pitch that was nigh unplayable when India took to it.  The 2nd innings ball that got Ponting was astounding. Iphone quality highlights of day 4 are available here.  I won't bother with day 5.  I will say, Ishant Sharma is all class - I liked him in Australia - but wow - now he is looking superb.  If he can stay fit, he will be the tip of the spear for India if they dominate world cricket.

http://www.cricket-highlights.com/2008/10/cricket-video-highlights-india-vs-australia-day-4-of-2nd-test-mohali/

The immediate problem for Australian cricket is we are well and truly rebuilding.  We have Watson, Haddin and White in the team, who are terrific one day players, but are questionable test batsmen.  We don't have that grit and determination in the middle order to eek out a 6 hour innings to save or win a match.  These guys might prove me wrong, but I don't like the chances given the amount of 20/20 and one dayers that are there to mess up their focus.  And then there's the problem of a spinner.  We went to india with 36 year old Bryce McGain who has a *very* unimpressive first class record.  If they were hoping for a Colin Miller type fill-in, they failed. 

I'd like to see Jacques get a run, drop White and slot in a young spinner with lots of potential (like Baily or Casson).  Get a terrific coach like Jenner or Warne in to coach the tits off them and bite the bullet.  At least while we're losing they are getting vital experience.  You simply can't compete on the sub continent without a competent spinner.  There... I said it!

Hayden was attempting to bash himself into form in the 2nd innings and got a very dodgy call (one of many poor umpiring decisions that went against the aussies).  I can see him making amends in the 3rd test.  We also need Lee to come good.

I was revved up *cough* to see the Top Gear Live in Sydney, but again I find the ticket prices hard to stomach.  Decent seats start at $120, the best are $250.  Excuse me while I say, fuck that.  They need to realise that the days of sky high pricing are over.  They'll struggle to find people to pay through the nose to see something like that (and its only 75 minutes long).  As a comparison, the monster trucks, demolition derby, Jet Van and sprint cars are on at Parramatta this weekend (my brother is doing the demolition derby).  Or the drags when they are on...  Usually tickets for those events are around the $25 mark.  Much more reasonable, and just shows how much you pay to secure a celebrity (which unless they are going to disembowel themselves on stage as a final act of exhibitionism - doesn't interest me one iota).

Speaking of cars... how good is this!?  This bloke built his own Lambo!  I admire the dedication!

http://jalopnik.com/5065896/hand+made-lamborghini-built-in-basement-finally-sees-light-of-day

And knockers that doors plus would be proud of.....

Naked Spanish Tourist Swims in the Imperial Palace Moat...  Gold... 

http://business.smh.com.au/business/the-mother-of-all-ripoffs-20080924-4mrb.html

My god, an article in the SMH with sense.  Next thing you know, Sonny Bill will return to the NRL.  This is the tipping point for the US economy, they can spend the next 10 years battling the ills of poor economic regulation... or the next 20...  Its like paying a credit card off with a credit card and then using the card you just paid off to buy a Ferarri.

On a lighter note, I was working out the back the other day on my retaining wall.  Come inside, and had a burnt arse crack.  Loz thought it was hilarious.  Think yourself lucky I didn't take a happy snap.

After embracing the practice, I've decided that showing the plummers crack is hereforth known as "busking for pens".

What's the deal with John Murphy's complaint about the caffeteria during question time?  I'm sorry, but that guy should lose his job and pension.  That is utterly ridiculous and shows the state of our politics and the caliber of people we have in positions of power.  God help us.  On the upside, I loved the idea last week, that if you leave elected office part way through your term of your own volition, your pension should subsidise the bi-election.  F*** yeah!  Lets make the politicians think twice before having a dummy spit!

Turnbull - big thumbs down.  He's going to have to work very hard to throw off the stigma of a silver spoon in his gob.   One thing is for sure, big business will get a fair shake if he ever makes PM.  And as we've seen in the US (which is quite literally f***ed for the next decade or more), letting big business call all the shots leads to disaster.  I'm just waiting for a Qantas jet to fall out of the sky to prove my point.  A point I'm happy to never have proven I might add.  But one I pondered 2 weeks ago while I sat on the tarmac in a Qantas 747. We were told that a generator wasn't working in the plane and this plane had been in the hanger for a couple of weeks (no doubt fixing the f*** ups from the cut price engineering services OS).  Good times.

I have a conspiracy theory.  No, seriously! Hear me out yah pack of c***s!

The NRL wants the Melbourne Storm in the Grand Final.  Watching the New Zuland Warriors win against the Storm at home on Sunday, I noticed many inconsistancies with the reffing and telecast.  For example, in the second half, there were penalties blown against the Warriors at critical times, that were very, very soft.  On a couple of occasions, those penalties didn't even warrant a replay from Channel 9.  Instead the commentators talked garbage while showing the player who infringed.  Normally they replay penalties at least once, and maybe blow up at the ref if its a bad call.  Yet somehow, there was no replay this time.  I also notice that the correct penalty count isn't on the NRL website.

Secondly, at one end of the field, Melbourne nearly score with one of the most blatent double movements you'll ever see.  The touch judge and ref are right on top of it.  Yet, they go to the video ref trying to find a reason to award it.  Just minutes later, under a pile of players, NZ nearly score - neither the ref or touchie have a clear view - and on first sighting it looks like a try.  Nope, no video ref, its no try.  Only after pleading, do they go to the video ref (who rules it a no try).  So why the double standard?

Now - I'm not impartial - while I think the Storm's brand of football is terrific, they are one of the dirtiest teams going around and I don't like them because of that.  There are constant complaints from teams about their tackling, and its warranted.  They constantly come down with arms, legs and necks being bent back on purpose.  Why has the NRL not done anything about it?  There's yards of footage every week of it happening.

And now, we have a 'sex scandal' involving the Brisbane Broncos (whom the storm are playing this weekend).  I'm not saying its completely made up - there is probably an element of truth, but now Lockyer has been dragged into it by video footage 'supposedly' of him.  He denies it is him, and even if it is - the footage looks playful - not as a 'tackle' that is being described by the media.  I think if Lockyer 'tackled' someone, they'd know about it.

Something smells.  Mark my words.  I can only hope that the Broncos knock the Storm out this week and we end up on a level playing field.

Loz and I have been super busy.  Where I can, I've been trying to get things finished around the house (and not being that successful at it I might add!).  I also have cricket season ramping up which will take a lot of my time.  The run into Christmas is not going to be fun, but I hope to catch up with our mates and family over the little holidays we'll get!

We had a full tank of fuel the other day and her Mum's new Aurion, so we went for a Sunday arvo drive out through Windsor, back up Bells Line to Mount Victoria and back home.   Ended up being a great drive on a great arvo.  Some pics below.  The iPhone shows one of its failings by being only 2 megapixel.  On the upside, at least I don't have to resize the images!

On the Megalong side of Mt Victoria.  Loz was struggling to not been blown into the waiting arms of the homeless guy hanging out in the wind shelter.

 Nice shoes darlin! :)

A tribute to Alf's porn star wang.  Also doubles as a monument to Blaxland, Wentworth, Lawson and Nash.

 Loz running towards the storm!

 This is a cracking storm that blew up over the central west.  Apparently Orange got hit hard!

 Obligitory group shot.

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones;
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so
That heaven's vault should crack.

Stealing this from Crikey...

Just had two weeks holidays where I spent some of the time working around the house, some of the time watching the olympics and the rest of the time worrying about not getting the stuff around the house finished. 

I've decided to replace the dodgy sandstone retaining wall at the back with a dodgy rendered retaining wall.  So I dug a big trench, put in a concrete footer and with Loz's help laid the first course of bessa blocks.  Loz turned out to be a pretty good brick layer (which I'm not), so anyone who needs a BBQ or great wall built, give her a yell.

Unfortunately, because its been so cold in the mountains, getting concrete to go off was like tugging your dick to Ray Hadlee calling the footy.  So I spent a lot of time waiting for concrete to dry.   I should have got more done.  As it was though, I really needed a break from work (don't get me f**king started) and as we're looking at either selling or renting  our house so we can move closer to the city, I'm really struggling to get the landscaping over the line.  I've got some pics of the dodgy work, I'll post em at some point.

I also engaged the services of a plumber to move our hot water system.  Thanks to Beechwood's stupidity, it was placed below the wet course and needed to be moved up (even after we complained and they -fixed it-).  3 hours work from the plumber.  $700 in parts and mostly labour.  Yep.  My arse is still ragged chunks of meat hanging from the bone.

Am I the only one who has the shits with channel 7's olympic broadcast?  I rarely watch commercial television, as I'm really impatient with a) the crapness and b) the ads.  So I've been cracking it everytime 90 seconds of ads come up.  And lets not mention the self serving attitude of having Sonja Kruger being touted as Channel 7's female answer to cancer.   It seems Channel 7 needs to cross promote and cover their arse so hard that you continually watch them circle jerking themselves while proporting to be about sport.

The only reason I'm watching the damn thing is to see sport.  The olympics is supposed to be about that right?  So why is it that half the telecast is a limited range of sport, where only aussies are competing (and importantly - they only get airtime if they have a chance at a medal), and the other half is talking heads talking shit, cross promotional bullshit, advertising, or Today Tonight style stories about shit no one cares about?  Are you seriously telling me that *anyone* except tragic f**king nuffies gives two shits about if two swimmers broke up?  Sure, tell us if they are f**king, and show us some pictures, but don't spend 20 minutes talking about their relationships like a bunch of f**king gossip columnists!  Where's the f**king Olympics sport????  It's f**king pathetic and not entertaining!  Let me give SBS a big rap here - they might be showing a lot of soccer, but they are also outside the box showing other sports, a limited number of ads and limiting the number of talking heads justifying their pay cheques.  Perhaps that was they deal 7 did with SBS.  You do the real work, and we'll tug our dicks for 18 days and spray our load over the viewing populace.  They'll love it.

Also on my holidays, I was "lucky" enough to catch commercial news.  Wow.  With the death of Sunday, the commercial networks have really made themselves immaterial.  Even if they have flashy ads trumpeting their credentials, commercial news is no longer on the plane of reality.  Feel free to compare the ABC or SBS world news to any commercial station's news.  You'll realise, it's all an absolute joke - aimed at making you stupid.  The only reason they now exist is to make money.  How do they make money?  Not by informing, but by entertaining.  News shouldn't be entertaining.  It's there so you know whats going on in the world around you.  But I suspect that most people can't see down the end of their street or past the fact that they have an SS commodore and a Pajero and petrol is $1.70 a litre.

And for all the Internet's abilities, you'll find that it too, is being driven into the ground by commercial greed.  The American Presidential race is a prime example.  They pay retainers to bloggers to write nice things.  And unfortunately, a lot of people believe what they read... 

Which swells my heart just thinking that some random f**ker will read my blog, and say "You know what?  I might not watch 'so you think you can dance with the stars because you have the x factor' - I'm going to switch over to SBS world news and learn about something not related to britney's vagina.".  And I say to that person.  "Good luck pal.  It's 2 degrees of Britney's Vagina out there mother f**ker."

/End Rant

On the upside, this made me laugh.  Hard.... damn hard.  in fact, it was like that movie  "Laugh Hard".  You know, the one where the stand up comic goes into Nakatomi tower, and has to fight of rampant German clowns with an inflatable hammer?  Oh yer... Not Safe for Work unless you have headphones - and you don't share half those headphones with the feminist complainer of the office.

Sometimes something is genuinely cool, and not in a nerd way like usual.

On two weeks holidays for... err... two weeks...  YES!

This had me in stitches, maybe I'm a little screwy because I need holidays.  Or maybe it was the whacky voiceover.  Either way.  Good times after a long hard week.

The other day, I was engaged in an email conversation about how Heath Ledger is a shoe in for a supporting actor Oscar because he's dead.  Cynical, true, but you can't claim that the voting for the Oscar's is a pure form of democracy. 

I'll admit I was wrong, I'm casting off my cynical predictions, taking a 180 and casting my vote for Heath.  His portrayal of "The Joker" in "The Dark Knight" is staggeringly good.  Ironically, my favourite movie villain has always been Jack Nicholson's Joker in the '89 Batman.  I'd have to watch the two movies together, but I think Heath has bumped Jack (oh that feels so dirty - but you know how it is - you turn up alone at a party, there's a bowl for your keys and Jack Nicolson has also come by himself.  It's happened to everyone I know at least once.).

Ledger blows Christian Bale into the weeds with his outrageous performance.  His tormented, bubbling rage had me transfixed.  The moments where Bale hits the screen offer breathing room, where his wooden character matches the stiffness of his movement.  The dialogue is all spot on, the plot (although somewhat predictable), is nicely put together.  And there are some plot twists you don't see coming, which is nice.

However, I  think its high time, that there was some sort of a "surprise and delight" measurement.  You know, a percentage weight on each and every movie to tell you just how much of the movie is regurgitated.  If I was to weigh this movie, I'd say its 30% new.  Which is, IMO, quite a high score.

I was reading comments from people who took their kids to see this movie (which is "M" rated btw).  They were complaining that it should be R rated.  Um.  firstly.  Great parenting!  No really, a thumbs up.  Of course that "M" rating means "Mothers knows best", not "Mature Audience Recommended".  Secondly, Batman has always been the darkest of the mainstream comic book heroes.  I don't expect every parent to know that, but I do expect them to take an interest in the content before subjecting their kids to it.

It is a scary performance from Ledger.  When he has me on edge (and I reckon I've seen at least 75% of all the teen slasher tit fest movies ever made), don't you think a 7 year old might be somewhat traumatised?  Just another case of parents not thinking and then complaining when the outcome has adverse affects.  Perhaps the government can set up a hotline for parents to ask a range of questions from "Is my 7 year old ok to drive?  No?  But he's mature for his age!"  to  "Can I wash my child in the dish washer?".  Go into this one with your eyes open!  It's not the care bears meet the power rangers, it's the Joker cuts off a care bear's head with a spoon, sucks out an eyeball out and spits gooey eyeball juice at a screaming pink power ranger - who he then rapes.

I was very impressed with "The Dark Knight".  I could only think of one word to describe it, which is "Terrific!".  Look for the disappearing pencil trick.  One of the all time great magic tricks...

So as a follow up, the emissions trading Greenpaper has been released.

I'm a little undecided on its effectiveness and the fact that the government is cusioning it's impact.  But as I said the other day, I'd have the country burning with my arm chair economic policy.  The fact that we're already on target with our Kyoto commitment means that the government really doesn't need to do anything drastic in the next 3 years to look like they are doing something.

I think we have two political arguments raging.  One from the Labor government saying, we need this now, now, now!  And getting something in place by 2010 to one-up the Libs (who propose 2012) and make it look like we're doing something.  And another argument from the Libs that are looking out for the big end of town and sticking to their let's not break the economy mantra.  When really, many of them are climate change denialists.

And the softly-softly approach by the Labor Gov't is exactly the right tactic.  They need to introduce something to make it look like they are acting, and they're compensating anyone affected in the next 3 years because they know we'll likely meet our targets anyway.  Look for them to bleat hard about how we're meeting our emissions targets come the 2010 election.  So Joe Blogs voter will think, well the gov't is doing the right thing for the environment, and I'm no worse off because of it.  Tick.

If my theory is correct, it's very cynical.  But it's politics and it's K-Rudd's spin machine in overdrive.  In that, I'm not happy.  But propoganda is nothing new and it's not going away regardless of good or bad intentions.

Regardless, three points spring to mind that reinforce my view that this is a poorly executed good start.

1. The Liberals are climate change sceptics and would never have instituted a carbon emissions trading in this term.   In fact, it'd probably take water and food shortages before they'd act - and only if big corporates couldn't ship it in from overseas.

2. Affected industries will cry and spin their case the loudest.  And with the advertising clout they carry with the media, I expect much of the coverage to be highly tainted.

3. The US supreme court has ruled that Carbon Dioxide is a harmful gas.  Enough said.  It's a pollutant - it should be regulated.

I'm not overly happy because of the early concessions, but time will tell.  There is now a starting point and more importantly, a framework to meet our targets.   However, in the short term, it appears we won't be any worse off.  And maybe thats the real tragedy here.

So today is response day for the government to the Garnaut report.

Today we see how long term the Rudd government is.  They were elected to fix the 11 years of neglect and nepotism of the Howard government.  They won an election that, frankly, Howard wouldn't have minded losing if he saw the global turmoil now unfolding.

Will Labor stand up and be counted?  Or will they bow to the scaremongering campaign of the opposition and greedy multinationals?

Early signs are that they can't win either way and its going to be a battle of the soundbites.  Information released yesterday indicates the gov't isn't going to be heavy handed with motorists.  They are going to cut the fuel excise and replace it with the carbon tax.  This means that fuel tax should remain about the same and heavens angels can sing while leprechauns fall from the sky.

The opposition and media are already crying foul that the gov't are backing down (after complaining from the highest hill for the last month about cutting fuel excise).  And even though, personally, I'm happy for fuel to go over $2 to really hurt us into action, I can understand why the fear of breaking our local markets is overriding a sledgehammer blow to curb carbon usage.  This is why I'm an armchair critic and not an economist!  If it was left to me, our currency would be underpants.

Inflating energy costs are already hurting and attitudes are starting to slowly change.  If people can get past the Brendan Nelson "won't someone please think of the poor gutter dwelling pajero driving ugg boot wearers" type bullshit, and see that cheap energy was always a fluke and a gift, then we can move on.

Triple M's spoonman was up in arms about the Government handing over $5 billion to the coal industry for carbon sequestration.  Aside from the fact that he's adept at arguing any case that'll get drunken retard campbelltownians calling, I'm also not totally convinced about this method;  However, I think its legitimate funding - no one wants nuclear power and our baseload can't be replaced overnight by renewable energies.

So look at it this way.  If carbon sequestration is a success, we have technology and know how that we can take (sell) overseas.  *We* could be the one cleaning up china's coal plants as well as our own.  People don't want nulcear power and they want to maintain the lifestyle  They want their 3 LCD TVs, their Internet porn and those pretty down lights.  They want to lie awake at night knowing that their 2 story 5 bedroom house is maintaining a perfect 23 degrees in every single unnoccupied room.  But they don't want nuclear, and they don't want to pay for green power.

It's a dirty, dirty decision to give away public money to an environmentally dirty industry.  But it's also probably one of the cheapest way to meet emission targets.  Coal isn't going to disappear overnight, so lets try to get it working as cleanly as it can.

Given that everytime I read something, its "just a theory" or "just a model" for fixing the carbon problem, I can't abide by the argument that sequestration won't work because its not proven.  We *should* put money into it even if it will flop.  Just as we *should* put money into green energy.  One thing we have going for us, is that the government coffers are full.  Now we can either have that as a tax cut and do nothing (ie, the last 11 years) or we can let the government make some really big decisions and trust that they'll get it right.

This problem *will not* be solved by the market in the short term.  Hands off governance doesn't work (just look at the US credit market) and public funding has to go in to make the market turn a corner.  Its as simple as that.

I think we'll see the Rudd greenpaper show that he wants to fix the carbon problem, but is very conscious that the solutions will hurt industry and more importantly voters.  The coal funding is a very good indication of this, he's after short term solutions to fix a long term problem.  But he wants to do it with a minimum of impact to his consituents.

I'm at odds with this - I'd prefer us to hurt so we drive the market to cleaner living - but I also realise that under my ecomonic regime, petrol would cost an unpalatable 9 underpants per litre.

It's that time of year, the Winter Grind.  Everyone is just getting through the winter.  Work is busy,  it gets dark early and the free time you have away from work its too blood cold to do anything substantial like - mow the lawn (and did I mention dark?).  Small blessings in that I'm not playing Broomball this winter.  My testicals can happily roam freely in their sack rather than burrowing into my brain for warmth.

I hate to use Digger's Jokes (because they are usually on par with being hit with a wet dog), but this one is a) pretty clean and b) reminds me of Alf.

An old man is sitting on a park bench crying. A young man is walking by and asks him why he's crying. The old man says, "I'm retired and I have lots of money, a huge luxury apartment, a beautiful 25 year old wife who loves me and has sex with me twice a day"

The young man says, "Well then why the hell are you crying!?"

The old man replies, "I can't remember where I live!"

Hardy Har!

Well the origin was a shellacking for NSW and rightly so.  That team was never going to fly at suncorp.  I hope the selectors pull their socks up and pick the best we have for the next game.  As I banged onto Loz about the other night, I think my favourite player in the NRL at the moment is Brent Tate.  For a Queenslander, he's a bloody top centre and good on him for having such a good game.

Anthski and I were looking at going to the origin decider, but the tickets were $130 to sit in some decent seats and $95 for the corner seats.  No thanks.  ANZ stadium is a crap place to watch footy and doing it from the cheap seats is worse.  Its no wonder they get poor turnouts to the game.  Forking that sort of cash out to watch a game of footy (OK, if the tigers were in the grand final again) is steep and as you watch belts tighten, crowd numbers are going to dwindle in all live entertainment venues (how they justify that sort of price and then gouge you for food and drinks is beyond me).  I love my foot, but I think $80 for decent seats was as much as I was willing to pay.

Looking for a sound system or gas heater?  Going to sell these on ebay for Mum, but if anyone wants to have a crack beforehand, let me know.  Both are in perfect nick.

Sound system - Sony STR DE989

Gas Heater - Rinnai Grenada Mk II

Happy anniversary O'Brien!

9 years since Loz and I met.  Were pretty non-plussed and don't know the exact date, so we just picked the queen's birthday long weekend.  This year we've both been working our tits off, so it kinda snuck up on us.  We ended up at the Hilton for a 21st.  I finally met Tom, the strapping young go-for at Loz's work (it was his party).  He's worked there for nearly 18 months and I was yet to meet him.  Turns out he's a terrific young bloke (not that I doubted Loz's judgement - or that he was a figment of her imagination).  Yeah, you know you're old when you want them to turn the music down in a bar so you can have a civilised conversation about how to get someone laid.  My topics of conversation will probably never change, I'll just need bigger hearing aids.

So we stayed at the Hilton overnight which was ok, even though I was battling vertigo and a teensy bit of apprehension at being 33 storeys in the air.  But as my old footy coach used to say, "Stop your whinging yah big f***in girl".  Then he'd make us run 20 laps until we puked. 

I honestly don't see the point to 5 star hotels (and Loz hates this!).  When I travel with work, they usually put you somewhere nice.  But to me, a room is pretty much a room, as long as its clean and has a TV with fox sports 1 and 2, I'm pretty happy.  And when your house has water pressure like a slap from Alexander Downer, having a long hot shower can make a cardboard box on the street at least 1 star.  Of the places we've forked out money for, some of the best places have been the least expensive.  We stayed at a cabin in a caravan park in Forster about 5 years back, and it was absolutely terrific - quiet, well maintained, right on the water with all manner of whildlife,  but it only cost about $80 a night.  And I've failed to mention the Hilton's hefty parking fees, overpriced minibar and truly arse gougingly expensive room service.  I suppose it comes down to people wanting the feeling of luxury, however, in my mind, if I'm paying twice the money for the name, I want a rub and tug to make it worth it.  And as I was told by staff, on more than one occasion, that was not part of the package.

Big sigh of relief tonight, I think without Lockyer, the Blues have a chance.  However, I still can't fathom Bird at Five-Eighth - don't be surprised if QLD ignore him as an attacking option and look to put pressure on Wallace.  If they put enough pressure on Wallace, there'll be some big question marks over the NSW kicking game, which as NSW have ruefully found out is not a good thing at Suncorp.

I have to admit though.  I'm sick of all the talk that goes on.  You never see good punch ups anymore - just blokes with big mouths being trumpetted by sensationalist sports writers.  I'd like to see a punch up in the first 30 seconds.  If Willie Mason and Karl Webb both headbutt each other and explode in a shower of blood, guts and white dust, all the better.  Is a player exploding considered an interchange, or do they have to take all the chunks off the field first?

The reaction is so Australian...

Someone seems to have truly checked their ethics at the door in our media.

Apparently it has suddenly become ok to show nude pictures of 13 year old girls in the mainstream media (I've included the abc article because its one of the few that has censored the pictures).  Anyone who knows me, knows I love my Internet porn.  I love tits, arse and gash.  It's awesome and I don't proclaim any moral high ground.  Child pornography is a no-go zone (like accordian playing midgets).  Its just not right to sexualise innocent kids.  They are innocents - have a conversation with a 13 year old and you'll realise they don't know anything about anything!  The best they can do is mimic what they've heard adults say -making them sound smart - but they rarely understand the concepts of which they speak.  We have laws to protect them for a very good reason.

Historically, pubescent boys/girls have been used as art subjects in paintings, sculptures etc and I have few problems with that - it is life after all - kids *can* be nude without any sexuality attached.  The trouble is that we have a corporate culture forcing sexualisation onto our children.  On one hand, you have the "human body is a beautiful thing argument - we should celebrate it".  And on the other hand, you have "that 12 year old girl is dressed in a boob tube and f**k me boots".  The point *is* that the girl is dressed provocatively - to what end?  Fashion?

This argument, "what is art" doesn't give licence to show child pornography on a website, or in the paper or on the TV at 6.30 am in the morning.  Once mass media shows the images, the line between art and child pornography blurs considerably.  And nothing guarantees that the artist's art will be appreciated as art.  You know what is going to happen to your art, Mr Henson?  It's going to be downloaded by sleazy blokes and added to their  pornography stash.  They are going to toss off over this poor 13 year old girl, who was either deluded into thinking it was 'art' or pushed by someone to do it.   I doubt very much that people have done that over a statue or a painting.

I'm not going to argue that Henson is a ephebophile - he may well be a normal guy pushing the boundaries of his work in our modern society.  But never-the-less, his work is child pornography to most and while the arty farties will argue in his favour to be on the side of art, our society just becomes more desensitised and our children's innocence dwindles even further.  The camera is a very powerful medium.  And as legitimate as Henson's claim might be, there are probably 10 illigitimate claims out there from photographers who *are* creating child pornography.

This is a "won't someone please think of the children argument".  And I ask in this case, why on earth would we do otherwise?

I also hope that some of these sleaze bag news editors have their heads roll down the street.  The ironic thing is, that the censoring that did go on, was provocatively done.  As if it was Angelina Jolie, and they wanted to show you tits, but knew that they shouldn't in that timeslot.  Err... Hello??  Its child f**king pornography!  I can see plenty of families out there eating breakfast thinking.   "WTF?  Did Bill Woods just show me a nude 13 year old girl?". 

Also catching my eye (how couldn't it?). Were the allegations of Tania Zaetta bonking some troops in Afghanistan.  

Firstly....  That... is.... hot!

Secondly.  My concern is not that it might have happened.  Its the lack of discipline from the military in leaking the details.  Someone needs to be drawn and quartered.  There is no room for leaks in the military.  Defending our country is a serious f***king business.  They are there to protect you, me and the nation.  It is not a corporation where bored white collared workers piss and moan about this and that.  Whoever did this should be made an example of.

And lastly.   There are calls for K-Rudd to do something about petrol prices.  The underlying suggestion is that he cuts fuel excise.  Yes.  And if you believe that he can without tanking the budget, you probably also believe fuel prices are an OPEC conspiracy.  The oil problem is a demand versus supply problem.  And the supply is maxxed out.  You can do the math on what that does to the price of oil. 

However, I agree.  Rudd should do something about fuel prices.

K-Rudd.  Please add another 20-30% tax on fuel for private motorists and a slight tax increase for business users.  Make sure there are no loopholes to allow private motorists to buy fuel through a business.

Then put those billions of extra revenue into mass transport and renewable energies.  Don't let private enterprise work on the major projects - instead, extend work for the dole and the pension and triple the payments while they are working  - give out of work Australians trades and experience - but more importantly a common goal.  You'll be unpopular, but if you do this right, we won't be in the toilet 15 years from now.   Anyone who worked on the snowy mountains scheme is as proud as punch, and its how you build a nation and an identity.  For too long, our nation has been left to whither and die under the silk ties of fat cat businessmen who'd rather turn a buck for a large corporate than do something great for our nation.

Historically, Labor governments look to the future beyond the next election.  K-Rudd claims to be of that ilk,  so now is the time to act...  *Best Picard Voice* Engage.

Good work from the NSW blues, knocking out a win in the first state of origin for 2008.  I have a few concerns, however...  Firstly, how on earth does Greg Bird snag the man of the match award when Anthony Quinn knocks out two tries and a perfect defensive game on debut.  Secondly, QLD are a far better side than NSW and didn't show it yesterday.  I'm concerned that the next two games will be a thumping.

I love this vid...  I wish more commentators would call out political zealots who are lying through their teeth.

Sometimes you just need to grin and enjoy someone evil getting their comuppance.

And sometimes, you just need a flying penis...

The new ivory tower is an upper middle class with an Internet connection.  I can't help myself, I had to read the comments on budget news articles.  And boy oh boy, did the whingers come out to play.

 The general complaints seem to be...

1. Why should we pay for getting an education and working hard.  What a kick in the guts.

2. We earn over $150k and now can't get the baby bonus.  Doesn't the government know how hard it is?

3. How dare they tax luxury vehicles.  People movers, an 4WDs are over $57k.  How dare you tax them!

4. Pensioners are on the poverty line.  They didn't get looked after.

5. Taxes on alcopops will add to inflation.


Well, I can't agree more with point 4.  I'm disappointed that the gov't has overlooked the pension.  However, it seems they are too and I'll bet you they address it.  It was one of the few Liberal handouts I agreed with.

Point 1 makes my blood boil.  I come from a poor family, where I saw my Dad work his arse off 6 days a week before blowing his back out.  He was doing a fitter and turner apprenticeship and had to  leave to support a young family.  Anyone suggesting to me that they're somehow superior and work harder because they have a degree is going to earn a pop in the mouth and a *real* kick in the guts.  

If you're posting on a news website in the middle of the day, you're probably an office worker, doing so on company time, getting paid very well because of a lack of skilled workers, rather than your worth to the company.  Get real f**kwits.  That building wouldn't be possible without blokes like my Dad working 12 hour days, drenched in sweat, concreting that building into existence.  People with these arguments make me sick.

Point 2. $150k is a lot of money.  In fact, its around about $2200 a week.  A family on *average* australian wages might pull in $100k which is about $1600 a week - thats the difference of about $350k in mortgage payments.  Oh, not doing it so tough are we?  Here's a thought.  Maybe you shouldn't have bought that $800k house?  Maybe you shouldn't buy a new car every 3 years?  The fact is that you *always* live to or above your means.  The fact is that if you do want all those nice things to keep up with the joneses, you are going to do it tough.  That's how it has always been.  The difference is now that you can actually *afford* luxuries like plasma TVs, Holidays and new cars.

Point 3. is utter tripe being peddled by the Liberals and the powerful car industry.  A base Tarago (the benchmark for people movers) is $49k, even with all the onroads (if you don't haggle your way out of them), its still not going to hit $57k.  You know when it will go over that?  When you get the *luxury* options for the car.  Or when you buy a Kluger (the other example used), you can have the base model for $39k, or you can have the *luxury* version for $64K.  Lets not start pretending that the tax isn't there for a reason.  Both the base models of those cars are going to have everything you need for comfortable transport, its only when you spec up to the luxury variants that you get hit with the luxury tax.  Shock F***ing horror.

Again, its another example of people complaining because their access to *luxuries* has been diminished.  Why should the government subsidise your affluenza, when it has people who are actually struggling to make ends meet, don't have somewhere to sleep, barely have something to eat, can't get medical attention or a good education?  Now they whinge about the government - that woe is me attitude is exactly what is wrong with these people.  I say, help the people that need helping, not the people that cry wolf.  You pay taxes so that if you, your friends or family ever need helping, the government is there.  That's living in a modern, civilised society.  We have a safety net.  Thank god.

5.  I agree with the alcopops tax, but I doubt it will curb binge drinking... but then again I don't drink and I come from a background littered with alcoholics.  I was listening to a girl on the train complaining about it.  And I was thinking, firstly, she's too young to be drinking and secondly if thats the sort of person complaining about not being able to *get smashed*, then *meh* what do I care.  If she's really committed to getting ratfaced and can't afford alcopops, then she'll probably drink something else anyway.  

Now that I've finished the rant.  Good on labor throwing a lot of money into infrastructure, education and hospitals.  Glad to see that mining money being put somewhere useful.