New Year 2007

I haven't wished you a happy new year cause it isn't much of a happy new year for many people around the world. Wars in the middle east and Africa. Bus bombs in Asia and floods and a drought affecting others. All I can say is stay calm and keep your head down, we could be in for a bumpy second half to this first decade of the new millennium.

On a personal note I am discussed in the hanging of Saddam Hussein, not because I have any sympathy for the man, not at all. I think if that is the only way to deal with tyrants like him we haven't learnt much about humankind in the last 2000 years. 15 people died on a bus within a few hours of Saddam's death. Retaliation? and there is much more of that to come. If the Americans continue to think that force will make the Iraqis stop killing each other, then again, they haven't been listening to other leaders in the region.

I hope it rains soon.

Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Shane Warne?

Crazy as it may sound I think the surprise announcement by Shane Warne that he is going to retire after the Sydney test is a set up by Channel Nine.
The test series against England is over, 3 Nil down and 2 matches to go. Apart from the barmy and army and some die hard fans who would bother to go to MCG on Boxing day.

A dead rubber is a dead rubber.

Not now, Shane has changed all that with this announcement and all the management at channel nine must be sighing a collective sigh. It has guaranteed an audience for the last two tests despite the no contest situation. Who wouldn't want to watch the worlds best bowler of the last century firstly get his 700 th wicket, and play in his penultimate and then his last test match.

The reason I link this to channel nine is that it is definite that he will work for nine on his retirement and so to kick off his career with nine he announces his retirement in time to maximise the interest in these last two tests. There you go simple.

Best of luck Shane enough said.

Woof.
Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Planes and Water

As the summer heats up and here in Melbourne we watch as our parks turn yellow and brown from lack of rain. We have been informed that as of the 1st of January we will be on stage 3 water restrictions. This means, I think that we can no longer use the watering hose as and when we like, and other water restrictions will be imposed. The government that is imposing these restrictions needs to reassure the public that they are on the case with regard to reusing the water we are already using. Not only that, but also how we are to find new water supplies from as many places and treatments as possible.
There are too many people living in cities like Melbourne to be left wondering about their future water provision and the quality of that water. So here's a water tip to the Brack's government announce some some water strategies so we can have a worry free Christmas.

Qantas is to be sold and now the pilots have come out saying they want to start a fighting fund to stop the takeover. If you read a previous blog you will see that I am against the sale too. So good on you pilots I'm right behind you.
Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Qantas

What the hell, The management at Qantas have agreed to be bought by a group called 'Airline Partners Australia' a bunch of faceless men who will now control our national airline. And all the minister responsible for this area could say was subject to compliance with regulatory blah blah blah and the share holders deserve a return on their investment. Again it is Macquarie bank behind this, the chief exec of Qantas is getting 60 million dollars for this deal so I wonder why the board caved in and sold. The chief exec is going to donate his 60 million to charity and in some way that will be alright.
So it is OK to fleece a major company of millions of dollars if you can be seen to be giving some of it to charity. Cause the CEO is not going to stop at the first 60 million he has many more where those were stashed.
The Macquarie pay their chiefs squillions and when asked just say that's what you need to pay them to keep good staff. Well try telling that to the hundreds of workers who will now get the sack so as to maximise profits to these new faceless owners. Not even a share holders meeting to air any grievances.
This government must take some of the blame for this they set up piss weak regulatory frameworks and then sit back and watch these companies get sold and their only comments are about market places and share holders.
If you want to run an airline and you have squillions to spend go make one for yourselves and try and make it profitable.
Woof.



Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

How we can't undo the done

An article today in The Age by my very favourite journalist Kenneth Davidson, is titled, 'The AWB scandal is a lesson on the pitfalls of privatisation'. And of course relates to the bribery scandal of the Wheat board and Iraq.

It got me thinking about a pet topic I have going around my head at the moment. That is that we as a species will find it almost impossible to wind back, unravel, undo, the way we survive. We are very good at inventing ways of survival, or reinventing our habitat. But if we were met with the challenge of undoing technology or reducing our populations, using less of things we consume as nations we don't just don't get it. We always want to do better than the last generation. We can pull together to improve our lot, but not to [in our eyes] diminish our standards of living.

Privatisation has been part of all that, because 'Wealth creation' is the corner stone of a capitalist society and by and large that is the predominant system around at the moment. I see privatisation as a last ditch attempt by big business to take from the many and give to the few. And I don't just mean the assets that they are taking, but the control as well.

If we want to control the green house gases, or the water resources, the energy consumption, Limit the population growth, protect the environment. All these things and more, require good unselfish governance, not privatised companies running these sensitive areas with profit as a motive, and a way out, if it all gets too messy.

An example of how bad governance that allows big business to get away with corruption. One response from the Government can be, 'I know nothing response.' If as prime minister you claim you haven't been told, you therefore don't know, so you can't be blamed. Or as our prime minster says of the AWB bribery scandal.


"There was absolutely no belief anywhere in the government at the time that the AWB was anything other than a company of great reputation. It had been involved in the wheat trade since the 1930s, it had not entered my mind that it could have acted corruptly."

This is a company that had been given the unique position of being the sole exporter of Australian Wheat. A monopolist in a capitalist world. Allowed by a government that professed to support free trade and enterprise. Note: [Take from the many give to the few] style of capitalism.

So in a world where we increasingly need to put our resources into sorting out our environmental problems our government shut their eyes to hundreds of millions of dollars going to a regime that we were at war with, in the form of bribes to prop up a dictator that we were being told had to be deposed with force.

Our government is a disgrace in so many areas, and to boot they have wasted the prosperity of the last decade on this kind of behaviour.

By the way congratulations to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. Lets hope they win the next election and bring about some honesty to governance in Australia.

Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

The sacred cow has gone mad

Stephen Hawking thinks we should look to other solar systems to survive. Please consider alternatives to this statement.
Woof.
P.S. I saw Kim Beasely looking very chipper at the MCG on Thursday a touch of madness in his eyes too. Today we hear there is to be a leadership challenge that is most likely to succeed. I probably saw him for the last time as the leader of the opposition.
Woof again

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Humans must colonize planets in other solar systems traveling there using "Star Trek"-style propulsion or face extinction, renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking said on Thursday.

Referring to complex theories and the speed of light, Hawking, the wheel-chair bound Cambridge University physicist, told BBC radio that theoretical advances could revolutionize the velocity of space travel and make such colonies possible.

"Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or a nuclear war could wipe us all out," said Professor Hawking, who was crippled by a muscle disease at the age of 21 and who speaks through a computerized voice synthesizer.

"But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe," said Hawking, who was due to receive the world's oldest award for scientific achievement, the Copley medal, from Britain's Royal Society on Thursday.

Previous winners include Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin.

In order to survive, humanity would have to venture off to other hospitable planets orbiting another star, but conventional chemical fuel rockets that took man to the moon on the Apollo mission would take 50,000 years to travel there, he said.

Hawking, a 64-year-old father of three who rarely gives interviews and who wrote the best-selling "A Brief History of Time", suggested propulsion like that used by the fictional starship Enterprise "to boldly go where no man has gone before" could help solve the problem.

"Science fiction has developed the idea of warp drive, which takes you instantly to your destination," said.

"Unfortunately, this would violate the scientific law which says that nothing can travel faster than light."

However, by using "matter/antimatter annihilation", velocities just below the speed of light could be reached, making it possible to reach the next star in about six years.

"It wouldn't seem so long for those on board," he said.

The scientist revealed he also wanted to try out space travel himself, albeit by more conventional means.

"I am not afraid of death but I'm in no hurry to die. My next goal is to go into space," said Hawking.

And referring to the British entrepreneur and Virgin tycoon who has set up a travel agency to take private individuals on space flights from 2008, Hawking said: "Maybe Richard Branson will help me."

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Terrance Cole

The 'Cole report has been handed down and as expected it lets the government off the hook. Having said that, I think there is enough in it to implicate government ministers and their staff. In fact if probably goes a lot further than that, if you only knew, as an insider would.

Below I have copied from The Age newspaper, a few lines quoting legal advisers to the AWB executives who say they didn't do any of the bribery for personal gain, and the government knew of these bribes all along.

I have always disliked people in power misbehaving with our money [taxes] or our trust. In this case one [money] led to the other. The opposition [Labor] are saying it is the biggest scandle in the history of the commonwealth. If it is found to be that the foreign minister [Mr. Downer] or the Prime minister [Mr. Howard] knew anything of this and have lied and purposely restricted the terms of reference for the Cole enquiry then they should go. And in the words of the Cole enquiry, 'They should be subject to the full force of the law'.

Woof.

The Age 28/11/2006

AWB figures implicated in the Iraq wheat scandal have threatened to call Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer as a witness if they face trial, with one vowing "my QC will rip him to shreds".

With the Cole report yesterday recommending 11 former AWB executives be investigated for possible criminal offences but clearing Howard Government ministers and officials, several wheat board figures embroiled in the scandal hit out at the Coalition.

"The Government knew, and what about the UN? They knew everything," said one AWB figure. "It's like Breaker Morant all over again. If I go to trial, then Downer will be the first witness called, that's a promise. My QC will rip him to shreds."

Another AWB executive said: "This is ridiculous. None of us got any personal profit, it all went to the farmers … everything was approved by the AWB, by our lawyers and the Government."

Re-Elected

Over the weekend we had an election, here in Victoria. That's just in case you missed. People in Canada probably missed it, cause we nearly did here. If it wasn't a case of you have to vote, then I think most of us wouldn't of bothered. Yes here in Australia all elections are compulsory, and you get fined if you don't vote.

The voting ritual goes a bit like this. You can vote on the day between 8 am and 6 pm. And you can send you vote in via the post. [Postal vote] or you can vote outside your electorate [Absentee vote] you just have to get your name ticked off the big register, one is held at all voting centers. The voting centers are usually primary schools, church halls, kindergartens. The scrutinizers are very strict with protocol but usually kind and helpful at the same time. There are things you can't do, usually to do with persuading others to vote a particular way or not vote at all. With in the confines of the voting hall you must wait your turn to see an election official who has the register, you give them your details they asked you a couple of questions.

'have you voted today?'

'What is your address?'

Then they line you off the register, and away you go with your voting papers in your hand.

We usually have 2 pieces of paper to vote on because the states have 2 houses of parliament and so does the Commonwealth. Which is the name we give to the Federal Government in Canberra.

Once you have sorted the voting out, which can be quite confusing, due to the number of candidates. If you were to tick all the boxes in the Senate you would need to have a pencil sharpener.

Back to state election, The queue of voters ran around the school, it took 25 minutes to get inside. While you wait, spruikers for the political parties approach and offer you 'How to vote' cards, which take the pain out of voting, that's if you want to vote the way your preferred party want you to vote. This means that the preferences of the candidates/parties will be distributed to their preferred candidates if and when required.

Don't ask me to explain this system, it means there is a lot of bargaining between political parties, much to the voters chagrin.

The election results were known by mid-evening and the incumbent Labor party were re-elected with a very small decrease in seats.

Woof.

T3 and the Supa fund

Just a quick note on the T3 float that has gone so well, due I'm sure cause you can get a fully franked share. Not being a share holder it doesn't make much sense to me, but I can't think why you would invest in a share that has consistently gone down.
Still that is not what I''m writing about. I have noticed that the 15.5 Billion dollars it has raised is going into the governments Future Fund. Which should really be called the Supa fund for Public servants. I didn't agree at the last election when the Treasurer said this fund would be set up to pay out the supa funds of our public servants. They get a disproportionate contribution and in the past it is paid by the current public servants contributions. Now we are selling publicly owned assets to pay supa. Whereas when Telstra was first floated for sale it was going to the environment a much healthier cause than paying out public servants.
Woof.

Mis-Spoken Beazely

A Yes Minister Sketch.

Dear The Age Letters,

Today Mr. Beazely claims he 'Mis-spoke. His exact words were,
"I would like to correct the record after I mis-spoke this morning,"

This was in reference to his attempt to offer his condolences to Rove
McManus on the loss of his wife Belinda Emmett. Instead of Rove
McManus he said Karl Rove.

I think if he was being honest about this he would say, I have made a
mistake. I have never heard the expression used in this way before. It
smacks of 'Yes Minister' speak to me. Who ever made the original
mistake should own up to it, either a staff member or Mr. Beazely
himself.

The sentiments behind an announcement like this is, of a personal
nature, and indicates a caring for the bereaved. When it goes very wrong like
this has, it diminishes the value of the sentiment.
In my book Mis-spoke doesn't exist, it's a cop out.

Woof.