A couple of pics from my trip to the Botanic Gardens

Believe it or not, this was the sign promoting a display of Orchids and carniverous plants. Sex and Death, I mean, how could I avoid going in to look at it????


This was a spectacular Dendrobium, covered in flowers - it was stunningly beautiful and the pic barely does it justice....

Time for an update....

I had been meaning to post for a while now...

For a start, there is my job at "that iconic and secretive American computer co", where I get to help people fix up their computers, and generally tell people how to use programs, about half of which I have never actually used myself, apart from in training exercises. Fun hey?

Then there was the experience with my singing teacher. He told me to go away and not come back to him until I found what it was that made me want to sing, and regain my love of singing. That HURT!!! But it was also true. I had lost my love of singing. I was only going through the motions, and now that I am not singing at the moment, I am doing some fairly heavy soul searching, trying to work out why it matters so much to me. I almost feel like I have hit that "in love with the idea" stage, rather than actually loving doing. Does that make sense? It sort of does to me at the moment, but I am not sure if it will in a couple of weeks time.

In the mean time I am trying to work my way through an amazing book called "The Artist's Way", by Julia Cameron. If you ever find yourself wanting to do something creative, but not able to take that next step, pick it up. I first picked it up about five years ago, when I was in a very dark place in my life. I actually think it was one of the reasons I got through that time. Those of you that know me may guess what that is all about. I have to admit though, I did not finish all of it then, and I did not complete all the exercises, but I was well aware of the influence it had on my life and how it lifted me out of the hole I was in and helped me to get my life back into gear.

This time round I am determined to make my way through it. I want to rediscover my creative self, to refind my love of singing, to rediscover how to be the best me I can be. Which ultimately, is all that any of us can ever hope to be.

Now, one of the things that "TAW" instructs you to do, which kind of sounds silly till you actually do it, is to take "artist's dates". That is, you take your inner artist out on a date and go and do something that you want to do, on your own, just you and your sense of awe and wonder. It is part of the process, sort of a refinding a sense of self, of who you are, so that you can then find that creative side of you that has gone missing.

Last week I went to look at the Botanic Gardens. I will aim to post some of the pictures online once I set up some room for them, and edit them to an appropriate size. I also plan to do quite a bit of documenting of the artist dates I take, to try to share my sense of the world as it is, and as it could be, as I work to regain what I have lost...

Open Letter to J Ho

I sent this to the SMH, but they did not like it... oh well, their loss...

Dear John,

I really do not want tax cuts thank you. I really think that a lot of the electorate do not want them either.

What I do want is for you to spend some of that massive surplus that the mining boom has created on fixing some on going long term problems.

How about getting together with the state governments and matching spending on adding public transport infrastructure. I know Sydney is screaming for a new rail line or too to developing areas and I suspect that most states could benefit similarly. You could offer to match state funding on the new lines, to ensure they actually happen closer to when they are needed, instead of waiting till it is too late. Not to mention, building new rail lines, to reduce dependence on private cars is also good for the environment, so it would improve your green credentials.

How about providing some funding directly for hospital capital expenditure too? Your reign over the country has seen federal expenditure on health decline compared to state funding, so why not offer to fund some new facilities, or some new equipment, things that our hospitals are crying out for in various places.

And of course, some more money for education would not hurt either, considering the way you have failed to adequately fund our public education system.

You could do all of these, yet still keep the budget in surplus, if you can afford the tax cuts. More to the point, these suggestions would help to reduce some of the pressures in the economy that are causing inflation. Not to mention, by not giving the tax cuts, you are reducing that inflationary action too.

But I forgot. You are not really interested in economic management, despite what you say. You really just want to get re-elected. And you have yet given me any reason to do so.

It's time to go J Ho!!!!

Dear John,

I am writing to you to tell you, I no longer love you. Yes I know you thought it was forever, but sadly, I have finally started to see through your lies and cruel behaviour. Trying to wedge us one time to many (well, it was far more than that, but finally I woke up!) - sorry, it just did not work anymore.

You know, it took a while, but I have finally realised, there is more to life than money, not that I am really sure you understand how to manage money wisely anyway. Talking about how the Labour Party cannot be trusted to look after the economy, then throwing buckets of money at us hoping we will still vote for you is just not going to cut it anymore. We want to see that you are putting money aside for the future, this mining boom is not going to last forever you know!!

And this drought thing. I am beginning to think that maybe the Greens and the others have been right all along. The weather pattern does seem different these days. This ongoing pattern of drought is destroying our land and our way of life. I am beginning to think that it is not that we cannot afford the economic costs of cutting greenhouse gases, or sigingin up to Kyoto, but rather if we want a future, we cannot afford not to do something. Sorry John, you are looking liike yesterday's man more and more.

And what about social justice? We used to be a nation that took pride in looking after those who fell throught the cracks, or who suffered for no fault of their own but for what they were? Where has the concept of a fair go, and looking after others gone? I don't like what has happened, and you have been in charge while it happened. I am sorry, you just have to go.......

Love (I think I still love you)

The Australian Public.

By the way...

I am guessing I should apologise or something for my shameless lack of regular blogging. (to whom I am not really sure, but consider me feeling guilty if you were waiting with baited breath for the latest installment of my life!)

Anyway...

Here are some updates...

I now live with the gorgeous one in a lovely little house in Camperdown (aka camp on down),just down the road from the memorial park, if you know the inner west of Sydney.

Since leaving the big T, I have worked for a couple of places, after a long break (the de-Telstra-isation), first of all for a financial co (did not work out), then for a well known hair products co in their professional division as a sales clerk (part of one of the world's largest American packaged goods companies), and now, I am working for an iconic computer company, as a tech support person. Yes, I am being trusted to help people fix their computers! Scary, isn't it?

I have to say though, that a large number of the calls are all about helping idiots who should not be let near computers learn how to fix the stuff ups they do. Regularly. Ah, the stupidity of the great unwashed. It never fails to surprise me!!!

Oh, and during the visit from my parents? They actually decided they liked the gorgeous one!!!!!

A new take on STI's

http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/2006/07/the_disney_prin.html

Seriously? This is wonderfully demented.... I laughed all the way through! (and no connection with reality of course!!!)

The Disney Princesses Talk About Chlamydia
by Wayne Gladstone

Approximately one million cases of Chlamydia are reported to the Center for Disease Control each year. This startling statistic is comprised of a disproportionate number of teenage girls; young victims particularly susceptible to misinformation and often unaware of the high risks associated with certain behaviors. In an effort to protect our nation’s youth and empower them with knowledge, the C.D.C. sought the perfect spokeswomen to reach these young girls before they came to harm. The Disney Princesses were the only logical choice given their staggering success selling shoes, dolls, dresses, pillowcases, sunglasses, posters, and other willy-nilly items. Now, the Disney Princesses offer their wisdom, compassion, and personal stories to today’s youth.

What Is Chlamydia?


Snow White: Chlamydia is a lot like swallowing a poisoned apple transformed through magic by a witch. Except, instead of a poisoned apple, it’s more like bacteria living on dirty dwarf cock.

Cinderella: The Chlamydia bacteria can grow in the throat, vagina, penis, or absolutely anywhere on that whore “Sleeps-Around Beauty.” Oh, I’m sorry. I mean, Aurora.

Pocahontas: Chlamydia is the only thing I still have from John Smith.


What Are The Symptoms?

Jasmine: I noticed an increased difficulty riding a camel. I remember the pain and swelling. I was so embarrassed I told people I had sand in my crotch.

Belle: The symptoms are subtle so they can be hard to detect. For me, it was a searing vaginal pain when being mounted by an enormous beast, but in a different, bad way.

Ariel: My Chlamydia makes Prince Eric have sex with men. At least, he says that’s why.


How Do You Get It?

Snow White: I’m not a scientist so I can only guess, but I think the smart money is on doing the rusty trombone with Happy.

Jasmine: Chlamydia was invented by Jews.

Ariel: I got it playing a game I like to call “Finding Nemo.”


How Do You Treat It?

Cinderella: Bag the pumpkin coach and use that wish for a clean snatch. Then just hoof it home from the ball.

Ariel: Ask your dad to zap you some new legs.

Snow White: Doc insisted the only cure was a strict two week regimen of dwarf “back door.”


What Are The Effects If Left Untreated?

Cinderella: No one will be friends with you except maybe that tramp, Aurora.

Pocahontas: Your movie will be only a mild success, your people will be slaughtered in the millions, and Disney will be forced to hire dark-skinned Latinas to portray you at their amusement parks.

Belle: Your man will lose most of his hair and shrink dramatically in size, leaving you perpetually dissatisfied.




We at the C.D.C. hope you found this information useful. For more information please contact www.when.you.itch.upon.a.scar.com.
Wayne Gladstone lives in Maine with his wife and children. Some of his work has been featured in McSweeney's and Opium. But all of it has not been featured in The New Yorker. If Wayne Gladstone were a restaurant, he would be a defunct roadside Roy Rogers sharing space with a wildly successful Bob's Big Boy. Visit Wayne at WayneGladstone.com

Um... and this helps the children how????

I am lifting this straight from Crikey.com.au as I am too mad to write something and besides it says it all!!!


Aboriginal assets to be seized, then rented back for profit

Darwin insider Henri Ivrey writes:

In moves seemingly impossible to reconcile with the protection of Aboriginal children on remote towns and communities in the Northern Territory, a document has come into the hands of Crikey that presages a federal government takeover of millions of dollars worth of assets owned by Aboriginal organisations.

At least Ned Kelly stole from the rich. Mal Brough is taking from the poor to establish a government-controlled property trust, from which he will then rent back to the dispossessed.

Organisational assets above the value of $400,000 are to be compulsorily acquired by Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) and transferred to a new entity, the Indigenous Economic Development Trust (IEDT), and then rented back at commercial rates to the same organisations from which the asset has been taken from.

In some cases this will make those organisations commercially unviable, leading to financial collapse and loss of Aboriginal jobs. Every reason for Aboriginal organisations for acquiring property as part of engaging with capitalism has been thrown out in favour of a centrally controlled government bureaucracy.

This is not about Aboriginal land in places like Arnhem Land: assets will be compulsorily stripped from Aboriginal organisations owning land and property up and down the Stuart Highway—Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs—no matter how well run, no matter what the level of services provided, no matter what those assets are being used for.

The early targets appear to be urban-based Community Development Employment Programs (CDEP). In a letter to these CDEP projects in towns and cities up the Stuart Highway, IBA’s "national manager business funding", Kim McIlveen is keen to introduce "new products and services that your CDEP organisation might qualify for".

One of these "new products" is "establishing an Indigenous Economic Development Trust, through which assets will be leased to Aboriginal businesses".

And he is cheerfully offering a helping hand.

"IBA staff and contracted service providers will be visiting each CDEP over the next few months to provide more information and invite you to discuss your business needs."

The sheer effrontery of it is extraordinary. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), in at least one instance, will be "resuming" an asset from an Aboriginal business which is being offered back for commercial rental to the very Aboriginal business from which it was compulsorily taken.

In many cases the assets have been built up over many years—in some cases decades. Some are jointly-owned assets. Some are leased to groups such as health services; some provide low cost housing. Some are funded through a combination of commercial income, commercial bank loans, soft government loans and government grants.

The latter factor seems to be the key. Any Aboriginal organisation that directly or indirectly received federal government assistance to acquire or pay off an asset—even in small part—now faces compulsory seizure of the entire asset.

Potentially, property and other commercial assets that are earning an income, and employing Aboriginal people, will be summarily resumed by a federal bureaucracy. At least one CDEP seems destined to relinquish the property it purchased, then lease it back from the IEDT.

And the amount of this Stuart Highway robbery could run into many millions of dollars if this principle is extended. In Darwin assets owned by Larrakia Nation and its business arm, along with the Aboriginal Development Foundation and Danila Dilba Health Service, face compulsory asset removal.

In Katherine the Jawoyn Association faces property losses as well as potential loss of assets in the tourist industry in the millions. Tennant Creek’s Julalikari Council owns low cost housing valued at more than $2 million as well as other properties.

In Alice Springs properties potentially being seized are owned by the Institute for Aboriginal Development, Tangentyere Council, Arrernte Council and Health Congress. Assets in all of these towns owned by the Northern and Central land councils could also face resumption by the feds.

John Howard visited the Aboriginal town of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) Tuesday this week.

"We have a simple aim," he told the locals, "and that is whilst respecting a special place of Indigenous people in the history and the life of this country, their future can only be as part of the mainstream of the Australian community.

"But unless they can get a share of the bounty of this great and prosperous country, their future will be bleak."

One can only assume the "special place of Indigenous people in the history and the life of this country" is something to do with continuously re-enacting those bits where land and property are stolen from them. Hard to work out where the "share of the bounty" comes in.


Now, can someone please tell me A) why it is necessary to take over assets owned by Aboriginal groups and RENTING them back to the same group they are being stolen from (let's call it what it is, outright theft!) At a commercial rent (how do you define a commercial rate when there is nothing to compare it to is another matter altogether!)

B) How exactly does this help the children, who are the whole point of the exercise, when all it does is increase the poverty in the community, which any social commentator will tell you WILL increase child abuse?

C) How can J-Ho still say it is all about child abuse with a straight face?

I would say more but I am just too mad right now!

OK so tell me this...

Today, I got told I did not get a job, a job that they acknowledge I could do quite well, because I was too dynamic. Um, too dynamic? This is a customer interaction role and I am "too dynamic"? WTF?????

Seriously, if you are responding to customer enquiries, and following up on problems they have identified, how can you be "too dynamic"?

Words fail me!!!

OK J HO!!! Enough, already!!!!

This just really gets my goat!!!!

Ban HIV-positive migrants: PM

*

April 13, 2007 - 1:00PM


HIV-positive people should be denied entry to Australia as migrants or refugees, Prime Minister John Howard says.

While saying he would like "more counsel" on the issue, Mr Howard said HIV positive people should not be allowed to migrate to Australia.

"My initial reaction is no (they should not be allowed in)," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"There may be some humanitarian considerations that could temper that in certain cases but prima facie - no."

Mr Howard said Australia already stopped people with tuberculosis coming in and this was why he supported stopping HIV-positive people as well.

"That's why I say prima facie, my position is no - although there can be some circumstances where there may be a humanitarian reason and under certain conditions for that to occur, but generally speaking - no."

Mr Howard was commenting in response to new Victorian health department figures showing the number of HIV-positive people moving to the state had quadrupled in the past two years.

He said he would look at changing the law to stop HIV-positive people coming to Australia.

"I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide and I know the health minister (Tony Abbott) is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up and I think people are entitled to be concerned."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/ban-hivpositive-migrants-pm/2007/04/13/1175971314887.html

Now, to me I fail to see what the problem is. It is not like HIV positive people are about to run rampant and infect everyone....

And one last Hicks related post for a while....

You can tell this has really annoyed me can't you....

There is a copy of the plea bargain details "here"

With all the talk of him not revealing any details of the treatment he has already admitted he suffered, what are we to make of "this???"


I feared they'd shoot me, Hicks said before gag


Mark Coultan Herald Correspondent at Guantanamo Bay and AAP
April 3, 2007



DAVID HICKS feared he would be shot if he did not co-operate with US interrogators, the Australian prisoner says in an affidavit for an English court case.

And his Australian lawyer says he was tortured during his time at Guantanamo Bay, contradicting Hicks's plea bargain statement, in which he said he had not been mistreated by the US.

Hicks, who has spent five years in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after he was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, last week pleaded guilty to a charge of giving material support to terrorists.

In the plea bargain document, Hicks said: "I have never been illegally treated by any person or persons while in the custody of the United States."

But the ABC's Four Corners last night reported that Hicks had recently signed an affidavit for an English court setting out ill treatment.

"I realised that if I did not cooperate with US interrogators, I might be shot," the ABC quoted Hicks as saying.

In the affidavit Hicks also claims that he was slapped, kicked, punched and spat on in Afghanistan, the ABC reported.

He could hear other detainees screaming in pain, saw the marks of their beatings and had a shotgun trained on him during interrogation.

Hicks says in the affidavit that by early 2003, he "felt that I had to ensure that whatever I did pleased the interrogators to keep from being physically abused, placed in isolation and remaining at Guantanamo for the rest of my life", the ABC reported.

He also details twice being taken off a US warship, flown to an unknown location and physically abused by US personnel for a total of 16 hours, although two US investigations have found that claim unsubstantiated.

The allegations were made in a document which was to have been presented to an appeal in London against the British Government's refusal to grant him citizenship.

In this he says he had been repeatedly hit on the back of a head with a rifle, slapped on the head, spat on, kicked, stepped on by troops and punched in the temple. He also claims that a piece of plastic had been forced into his rectum "for no apparent reason".

Hicks's Australian lawyer, David McLeod, made the torture allegation when asked about further interrogations that Hicks has agreed to undergo before he left Guantanamo Bay.

As part of his plea bargain, Hicks signed a document saying he would co-operate "fully, completely and truthfully in post-trial briefings and interviews".

Asked on Sunday about these interviews, Mr McLeod said: "Steps were taken this morning to introduce David to the interrogators here at Guantanamo and there will be a process which will unfold before he leaves. He will be asked to co-operate in a number of issues, but we don't see any problems."

When asked if this would take the same format as his previous interrogations, Mr McLeod said: "Well, hopefully without the torture this time."

His statement was provocative, given that Hicks is still waiting to be transferred to Australia.

Mr McLeod was able to speak more freely than Hicks's American lawyers because he was not a signatory to the plea bargain. Only US lawyers are allowed to represent the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

End quote

Sort of makes a total mockery of what he agreed to in the plea bargain doesn't it? But, do they really want to charge him with perjury, knowing what could come out? I think not!!!!!

And of course, The Shrub's Supreme Court stacking is now showing too...

Poor America... Land of the free and the home of the brave... Well, you were. Now, the guardians of your constitution, seem willing to allow it to be walked all over, in the name of the war on terror.

Time to start a War on Western Govt's that have lost their way I think...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/guantanamo-inmates-left-in-limbo/2007/04/03/1175366190344.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Guantanamo inmates left in limbo



April 3, 2007 - 6:12AM


The US Supreme Court has decided dozens of Guantanamo Bay prisoners have no right to challenge their detention in a US federal court, handing the Bush administration a major victory for its "war on terror" legal strategy.

Only three of the nine judges on the court said they would be prepared to examine the case, one short of the number required for it to be taken up by justices under their rules of procedure.

The petition was filed on behalf of inmates of the Guantanamo camp in Cuba, who have little prospect of facing formal charges, a tribunal or a return to their home countries.

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case left intact a ruling by the Federal Appeals Court for the Washington DC Circuit in February that the inmates had no constitutional right to challenge their detention before federal courts because they were not US citizens or on US soil.

That ruling upheld a law passed last year barring designated "enemy combatants" from challenging their detention in the US court system.

Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy wrote in a statement that the court should not hear the appeal because other legal options for the detainees had not been exhausted.

In a dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer disagreed.

"I believe these questions deserve this court's immediate attention," he wrote.

"If petitioners are right about the law, immediate review may avoid an additional year or more of imprisonment. If they are wrong, our review is nevertheless appropriate to help establish constitutional boundaries."

The decision was greeted with regret by lawyers for inmates at Guantanamo Bay.

"It's tremendously disappointing," said David Cynamon, who represents Kuwaiti detainees.

"It would be my hope that Congress would now recognise that the ball is back in their court to give the detainees some basic rule of law here."

Vincent Warren, executive director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which represents other detainees, said Bush administration policies on the issue were a "sham".

"The Supreme Court has once more delayed the resolution of the fate of these detainees - three quarters of whom the military admits it will never charge - who have languished without any meaningful way to challenge their detention for more than five years."

The decision was the latest dramatic legal chapter in a fiery debate over the treatment of Guantanamo inmates that brought the "war on terror" into conflict with civil liberties provisions of the US constitution.

Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, who is pushing new legislation that would restore basic rights to detainees, said the Supreme Court decision to decline the appeals was "extremely regrettable".

"It would have helped restore America's international credibility with respect to adherence to the rule of law," he said in a statement.

President George W. Bush has designated hundreds of suspected terrorists as "enemy combatants" and the United States has held them in Guantanamo for years without charge, pending appearances before military tribunals.

The Supreme Court ruled in June 2006 that the tribunals were illegal because they were not authorised by Congress - an omission the then Republican-controlled legislature remedied with legislation passed four months later.

The US government has said it plans to charge around 60 to 80 of those remaining at the camp, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks in 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

It has said it plans to send a further 80 back home, leaving more than 200 inmates in legal limbo.

But the remaining detainees held at the US naval base in Guantanamo, which currently has around 385 inmates, argue they were not covered by provisions of the Military Commission Act that barred all suspects from challenging their detention in civilian courts.

The appeals court ruling rebuffed as "nonsense" the detainees' contention that the law had a loophole that allowed them to file so-called habeas corpus petitions that contest detention without formal charges or proof.

The appeals court also rejected the detainees' right to claim that the act violated the US constitution that said habeas corpus could be suspended only in times of rebellion or other extraordinary circumstances.

Does anyone else think the David Hicks deal stinks?

Well, yes, quite a few it seems....

I have been watching this unfold with something like open jawed disbelief. Fortunately I am not alone. Even conservative commentators in America are getting concerned...

Here is what Andrew Sullivan had to say....

"Hicks, Cheney, Howard"

01 Apr 2007 03:41 pm

So Cheney goes to Australia and meets with John Howard who tells him that the Hicks case is killing him in Australia, and he may lose the next election because of it. Hicks's case is then railroaded to the front of the Gitmo kangaro court line, and put through a "legal" process almost ludicrously inept, with two of Hicks' three lawyers thrown out on one day, then an abrupt plea-bargain, with a transparently insincere confession. Hicks is then given a mere nine months in jail in Australia, before being set free. Who negotiated the plea-bargain? Hicks' lawyer. Who did he negotiate with? Not the prosecutors, as would be normal, but Susan J. Crawford, the top military commission official. Who is Susan J. Crawford? She served as Dick Cheney's Inspector General while he was Defense Secretary. Money quote:

As the deal developed in recent weeks, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the lead prosecutor for military commissions, and his team on the Hicks case were not in the loop. Davis said he learned about the plea agreement Monday morning when the plea papers were presented to him, and he said the prosecution team was unaware that discussions had been taking place.

"We got it before lunchtime, before the first session," Davis said at a news conference Friday night. In an interview later, he said the approved sentence of nine months shocked him. "I wasn't considering anything that didn't have two digits," he said, referring to a sentence of at least 10 years.

If you think this was in any way a legitimate court process, you're smoking something even George Michael would pay a lot of money for. It was a political deal, revealing the circus that the alleged Gitmo court system really is. For good measure, Hicks has a gag-order imposed so that he will not be able to speak of his alleged torture and abuse until after Howard faces re-election. Yes, we live in a banana republic. It certainly isn't a country ruled by law. It is ruled by one man and his accomplice.

End quote

Now, Andrew may not be the most conservative commentator around, he is moving to the left on a regular basis now it seems. But, he still writes in some right wing publications, and is very well connected in the Republican Party. He was at the love fest where Ann Coulter did that really bad Edwards is a faggot joke that got her in trouble. When he writes what he wrote above, you know it is true, and more importantly, something stinks to high heaven in the land of Gitmo....

Having said that, I love his last paragraph!!!! "If you think this was in any way a legitimate court process, you're smoking something even George Michael would pay a lot of money for." Indeed. Makes you wonder about J Ho and Downer and friends really, doesn't it???

As if we needed proof that family values are a load of crap...

One of the strongest campaigners in the recent past in the USA, Newt Gingrich, has been caught with his pants down... Literally...

From the Sydney Morning Herald...

Clinton foe Gingrich admits to affair

March 10, 2007 - 8:35AM

Republican Newt Gingrich, who led the US House of Representatives as it prepared to impeach US President Bill Clinton in a sex-and-perjury scandal, acknowledged in an interview that he was having an affair at the time.

Gingrich, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, was asked by James Dobson of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family whether he was engaged in an extramarital affair when former President Clinton was involved with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"The honest answer is 'yes'," Gingrich said in an interview released on the group's website. "But it's not related to what happened."

The affair has been widely reported previously.

Referring to his efforts as House speaker to oust Clinton, a Democrat, Gingrich said he was not judging the president personally.

"I drew a line in my mind that said even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept felonies and you cannot accept perjury in your highest officials," Gingrich said.

Gingrich stepped down as speaker and quit Congress in 1998 amid ethics allegations and Republican losses in mid-term elections.

Although the House impeached Clinton in December of that year for perjury and obstruction of justice, he was acquitted two months later in a Senate trial.

Gingrich has been married three times. In an often-told story, he discussed divorce details with his first wife, Jacqueline, while she was recovering from cancer surgery.

In 1981, he married Marianne Ginther, and they were divorced in 2000. Later that year he married a young congressional aide, Callista Bisek.


Sometimes, the hypocrisy is just breathtaking!!!!

New opera...

Well, I survived the audition I had on Saturday for a professional production of a new opera. It was an interesting experience. They asked us to prepare two pieces, one in English, then only allocate 3 minutes per performer, and warn those of us auditioning at the door that we will probably only get to sing 16 bars of music. Which I sang. And it was not in English... No criticism, no comments, just "thank you, that will be enough". Now, when exactly will you let us know we do or don't have anything? Um... Would have been nice to be told what will happen next?

Apparently I am dreaming to expect such. Seems professional companies tell you less than amateurs. WTF? Mind you, I suspect I will only get a PFO (Please F*** off) but, it would be nice to be told what the next level will be, or when you will hear something from them...

On the same style, I did an interview yesterday for a job. Second round, this time with the company not an agency. Again, no comment as to when to expect to hear, or anything, or if I was going to hear....

Please people!!! Stop leaving supplicants hanging on... It is bad enough waiting, without knowing when you are even going to hear, or if you are going to hear. Telling people what will happen next and an approximate timeline, is just common courtesy I thought... Oh yeah, courtesy... not something common anymore!!!

Well!!!!!

Talk about coming out of left field!!!!

The Gorgeous One proposed to me last night over a romantic dinner!!! On his knee!!! In a restaurant!!!!

Before I go any further, let me just say.... Would I be posting this if I had not given him a positive answer?

Anyway, no details determined yet. No dates, no site, no idea on ceremony, no rocks purchased, nada... Just had question popped and answer given... Oh, and much imbibing of adult beverages, including a glass on the house from the Restaurant (thank you The Razor's Edge!) and then popping of Cheesemaking Country's quality bubbles. YUM!!!

The best bit? The waitress coming up as The Gorgeous One was still on one knee and asking if he was proposing. Only in Sydney, as they say!!!

Anyway... going off to eat shortly, but, had to put it out there, everywhere!!!

Proof (if ir were needed) that J Ho is not serious about going green.....

Some of the Pacific Island countries are losing ground at a rate of knots. No surprise there, they are only just above sea level, and as the climate gets warmer, the polar ice melts, and the sea rises....

So... how does one respond to this? (direct from the Sydney Morning Herald)

Australia refused talks on sea levels, island nation says

Richard Baker
February 20, 2007

THE Prime Minister of a Pacific island nation in danger of being submerged if sea levels rise, Tuvalu, was rejected by his Australian counterpart when he sought a meeting on the topic, senior Tuvalu officials said.

An adviser to the Tuvalu Government's environment department, Ian Fry, said the Tuvalu Prime Minister, Maatia Toafa, requested a meeting with John Howard at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji in October to discuss the climate change crisis facing the country, but was denied.

Mr Fry, an environmental law expert at the Australian National University, said: "It's unfathomable to me as to why they don't want to discuss it."

A senior Tuvalu Government source said it was the second time in six years that Australia had refused such requests. "Tuvalu has been seeking bilateral dialogue at prime ministerial level with Australia but more than twice now we have been turned away," he said.

Neither Mr Howard's office nor the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday responded to questions on the claims. In November a senior foreign affairs official told a Senate estimates hearing that Australia had never been approached by any Pacific island government to make arrangements for its people to come to Australia due to rising sea levels.

A high-ranking official from another vulnerable island nation, Kiribati, said his country had also considered approaching Australia to discuss population relocation but decided such action would be futile because the Howard Government was "not sympathetic to the issue".

Pacific nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati could become uninhabitable within decades due to rising sea levels, reduced rainfall and more extreme weather events.

Tuvalu and Kiribati government officials, who wished to remain anonymous, said Australia had a record of softening the language used on the issue of climate change in recent regional communiques.

"Australia either effectively blocks discussion on the issue those times where it can and plays a deaf partner in the circumstances that it can't," the Kiribati official said.

Documents from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet state that although Australia would assist its Pacific neighbours, there was no such thing as an "environmental refugee" because it is not a category under the Refugee Convention.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/australia-refused-talks-on-sea-levels-island-nation-says/2007/02/19/1171733684529.html

Um, excuse me???

Did the Treasury Dept here in Australia really say this????

THE Treasury says it has not made any detailed assessment of the economic impact of climate change, and there is no urgent need to do so.

The admission came as the Federal Government was put on the defensive yesterday on the environmental issues of climate change and water.

David Parker, the executive director of Treasury's macroeconomic group, said although the effects of drought had been modelled, climate change had not. "It would be fair to say that, to date, the environmental greenhouse issues haven't been in a sense sufficiently large as to have an obvious macro-economic impact," Mr Parker said.

I am sorry, but our fearless leader J. Ho. has just lost any economic credibility he might have once had, if he has not had the country's leading bunch of economists not prepare a costing on what financial effect global climate change might have on this country....

This just leaves me speechless...

btw, full article "here"

Ah, Australia, I despair for your humanity....

Some of you reading this may have heard of Robert Jovicic. If you are reading this from outside Australia, you probably aren't, and you probably are not aware of what a scandal has developed with our federal government and its immigration policies, or maybe that should be their "kick them out if you can" policy.

There have been a number of highly publicised, and a lot more not, cases where citizens have been deported, largely because of the current policies brought in during the reign of J.Ho. Being a citizen seems to be no longer a guarantee of being entitled to the right to remain here, unless there is no doubt you look and sound "like an Aussie".

Well, Robert Jovicic is a slightly different case.

He was born overseas, in France, to Serbian parents, and came here as a two year old. Now despite having lived all his life here, and having a legitimate visa, the federal government decided to cancell his visa and deport him to Serbia, a country that he had never lived in, simply because they could. Now, granted he was not exactly of high moral standing, but, why send him to a country where he is not a citizen, that his main connection to is his ancestry? A country whose language he does not speak with any significant degree of fluency, a country that declared him stateless and offered no options to gain employment or access to any of the services a government would normally give to its citizens.

Well, now in a crazy piece of logic, the government is asking him to take out Serbian citizenship, to avoid being deported to Serbia. Huh? Is it just me, or does it sound like once again, they are trying to get rid of him and send him off to Serbia? Why not ask him to take out French citizenship? At least he was born there.

Ah, no, France has already (rightly in my view) stated that he is Australia's problem, not theirs. Which leaves no real options left. Looks like Robert needs to learn Serbian, and fast!!!!

Boys toys...

Well, on Australia Day, (aka "Invasion Day") I finally got my Christmas present from the Gorgeous One. Yes, I am now the proud owner of one of "these".

Yes, that is right, I have now entered the world of digital music on the go. It not only plays things that I have copied to it off CD or the net, it also records. So tonight, when we go to see Turandot at "Opera in the Park", I might even try seeing how well it records, without an external mic. Not that I am going to tell anyone of course, because, technically, I would expect I am breaking the law... Technically.

In other news on the home front, we are now the proud owner (well, technically, I am,) of a darlek that sits on the floor in Beatrice, connected to a window and the power and thus not able to go very far! Yes, that is right, after many years of saying I need one, I have lashed out and bought a portable reverse cycle air conditioner. It is noisy, but seems to do the job and keeps the humidity at bay, as well as cool the place down.

Looks like we will be able to sleep at night again! YAY!!!!!

YAY Tim Flannery!!

According to the ABC site "here," Tim Flannery has been voted Australian of the year. I have to say, while a little disappointed that the guys from WA that found the bacteria causing stomach ulcers did not get it, I am very pleased that Tim did, if only to imagine the look on J. Ho's face when he announced it!

I mean, here is one of the world's great environmental sceptics, awarding the prize to someone who has built a name for himself as an outspoken greenie. Someone who has built an enviable reputation for speaking out about the dangers caused by the way we are treating our world. Someone that has written books about the problems we have created with our wasteful way of life.

Ah, poor J. Ho! You have to deal with a newly reinvigorated opposition, your best buddy in the USA is fighting a hostile Congress, and so many of your pet ideologies and projects are all falling over while you watch. If it was not a refreshing change, I would be tempted to feel sorry for you.

Nah, who am I kidding? If you cannot get rid of "wretched Ruddock" in a cabinet reshuffle, you deserve everything you get. Unless of course, Ruddock has something on J. Ho that he is using to blackmail him with. We could only wish!!!

Who is your enemy?

You know I am not really sure how to react to this. There is a book out reviewed by the New York Times here". I really find myself at a loss to explain the logic of this author. But, maybe this snippet from the review might give you an idea why I find it so disturbing.


Susan Sontag never said we brought Sept. 11 on ourselves. Dinesh D’Souza does say it.

Dreadful things happened to America on that day, but, truth be told, D’Souza is not all that upset by them. America is fighting two wars simultaneously, he argues, a war against terror abroad and a culture war at home. We should be using the former, less important, one to fight the latter, really crucial, one. The way to do so is to encourage a split between “radical” Muslims like bin Laden, who engage in jihad, and “traditional” Muslims who are conservative in their political views and deeply devout in their religious practices; understanding the radical Muslims, even being sympathetic to some of their complaints, is the best way to win the support of the traditionalists. We should stand with conservative Muslims in protest against the publication of the Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad rather than rallying to the liberal ideal of free speech. We should drop our alliance with decadent Europe and “should openly ally” with “governments that reflect Muslim interests, not ... Israeli interests.” And, most important of all, conservative religious believers in America should join forces with conservative religious believers in the Islamic world to combat their common enemy: the cultural left.

The “domestic insurgents” who, in D’Souza’s view, constitute the cultural left want “America to be a shining beacon of global depravity, a kind of Gomorrah on a Hill.”


Does that sound like rational? I certainly don't find it so. Try the thoughts of someone so convinced that his beliefs are correct that he fails to see the problems inherent in his viewpoint. I mean, who in the Western World, apart from a few Governments that sometimes find it inconvenient, really thinks freedom of speech is a bad idea? And since when is there a cultural war being fought in the USA between the Left and the Right? Most USA reporting is so far right wing anyway, they would not recognise socialism if it bit them on the bum.

And decadent Europe? Shouldn't that be the decadent USA? Or maybe decadent Australia, seeing we are the number one friend of the USA at the moment, or at least of its Govt, according to G Dubya Bush...

Another gorgeous day...

The gorgeous one has taken the day off work, as much a mental health day as anything. But of course, then sits around doing nothing. Trying to encourage him to do something, rather than sit here and waste the day (as he criticised me on the weekend) and only now, after several tries, is he having a shower to get organised to do something. He was using the excuse of waiting for me to do some singing practice first.

Well, first of all, at the moment, I have enough trouble singing what I am learning, and working on the changes to my technique, without having to deal with someone listening, especially someone I care about. I really have to have the freedom to fail (that will make sense to some, but not all) before I can relax into what I need to be doing. Then there is the evilness of the current piece of music I am learning (Everybody says don't, a Sondheim piece that is one of his nastier pieces, not that Sondheim is ever easy!). It is full of words (not as stupid as it sounds) and funny, changeable rhythms. Not to mention, weird leaps all over the place, and of course, the fact that it is a totally ballsy, in your face, take no prisoners kind of song. It just can't be sung wimpily, and of course, that requires that freedom to fail thing. At the moment, I do not really feel I have that with the Georgeous One around, simply because I am not ready for him to hear "my new voice"yet.

Make sense?

Anyway, he is now out of the shower, so time for us to go and enjoy that gorge day out!!!

well...

Not a lot to report today, not got myself a job yet, but starting to think constructively about what I want to do, which I guess is a good thing. But can I make it reality?

So over this bloody Iraq war. What is it with our fearless leaders of the free world, that they cannot understand that maybe, just maybe, the concept of a democracy as espoused by the western world is not always the best option for countries where there are religious issues, or where not everyone has had a decent education, or access to media that enables them to get at least close to the truth...

Ah, it is so easy to criticise in hindsight, isn't it?

An article that says so much...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/opinion/01schlesinger.html?em&ex=1167800400&en=6f2dca41b779ad36&ei=5087%0A

I do not think that I need to add anything to Arthur Schlesinger's words... so I won't!

I survived the holidays!

Well, here I am, back home in Sydney. The trip to New Zealand was less stressful than I thought. The Gorgeous One's parents were lovely, and everything that his friends have said they were. The rest of his family? Well, let's just say, one should be able to talk about in-laws, and out-laws, and leave it at that, to avoid creating a international incident. We got to travel around a bit. I got to see some really big trees, lots of hills, and rediscovered that I have an allergy to pohutakawa blossom. For those that do not know, that is the NZ Christmas Tree, a common tree that has red flowers during the holidays. They are especially common around the coast, and of course, where was I staying, and where did I spend most of my time? You guessed it, the coast! AARGH!!!! So, having got that out of the way, what else can I say? Well, NZ is wet. Very wet. it rained for about 11 out of the 14 days we were there. When you have come from somewhere in water restrictions, somewhere that has been in drought for more than a year. Everywhere you look, the paddocks are green. It is small compared to Australia. From where my BF's family lived on the east coast, the west coast was less than sixty kms away. Our longest trip, when we got geographically embarassed was only about 500kms. Mind you, the problems was caused by the fact that the townsite on the map where we were due to take a different road was not marked, and the road we wanted, was also not sign posted. Well, that is what happens when you take B or C roads I guess! The picture shown is of a pair of Kauri trees in the Waipoua Forest. They are known as Darby and Joan.