Post Election 07

The Coverage

I wanted to watch the Channel 7 coverage because they said they will bring all the results without the boring bits. Unfortunately I was at a camp where they had only tuned Channel 9 and ABC into their TV. Boy was it boring, and I have found election coverage very interesting in the past but couldn’t take much this time even though it was one of the more interesting elections in my voting history. Channel 9 promoted their coverage as “Ray and Laurie’s Election Extravaganza” (Ray Martin & Laurie Oakes). It was anything but. ABC is always boring with ‘Death Warmed Up’ Kerry O’Brien. Although they have, in my opinion, the best stats man in the business.

Time To Prove

The Liberal Party doesn’t rate him and his team as competent economic managers. Well, he got the emphatic vote from the public so it really doesn’t matter what The Liberal’s think, for now. But it is time for Kevin Rudd to prove his credentials, otherwise his fresh leadership rhetoric will back to haunt him. If he fails then we could get the Liberals back in 3 years time. If he does well, then we live well and our nation continues to prosper. Win/Win

Scare Campaigns From All Sides

Liberal

• Economic L Plates
• Wall to Wall Labor
• The Unions are coming back

Labor

• A vote for Howard is a vote for Costello
• Don’t let him take workchoices futher

Unions

• Disappearing nurses
• Your rights at work

Hard to find the truth amongst all the scare tactics. The facts of past labor govt’s incompetancies just didn’t hit the mark the same way the exaggerations from the unions did.

This Makes Things Interesting

Peter Costello has chosen not to take the leadership of the opposition. Sky News reported that the Liberals are now in a shambles and that this is the perfect start for Kevin Rudd. They say this as they rated Costello as the best performer in parliament the opposition will have. On the contrary I say, as it is not Peter Costello who has to perform in parliament for the next 3 years, it is the aforementioned Mr Rudd. There is still plenty of enthusiastic MP’s ripe and ready to take it up to the new PM.

Where To Now For The Liberals

In footy parlance this will be a rebuilding phase. How quickly they can do it will determine how well they fare in future elections. I think they will be able to find their feet very quickly as they have been given a clean break from the Howard/Costello led Coalition courtesy of Mr Rudd. But who is next in line? Hopefully someone who has a bit of charisma, so that leaves out Alexander Downer. Abbott? Hockey? Nelson? Or even Turnbull? My smokey for a shadow portfolio is MP for Mitchell, Alex Hawke.

Need For a Change

This is one of the poorest reasonings for changing leadership I have ever heard. It is impossible to gauge how many people voted purely and simply on the premise that we need a change but people who know more than me about this are rating it as a big reason. Rudd wasn’t hugely different from Howard after suffering (or revelling) from a huge dose of MeTooitis. But the Australian public think that 11 years is too long despite the nation being as prosperous as it ever has. I think as a nation we shoot ourselves in the foot like this. By getting rid of leaders that are good but are carrying the public perception of being there too long.

A PM For All Australians

Kevin Rudd proclaimed he will be a “PM for all Australians.”

Put simply, that is impossible and reeks of idealism and fantasy.

Eg:

• Keep unions happy = Small business unhappy
• Keep environmentalists happy = primary industries unhappy

Kyoto Hang Ups

The issue of the Kyoto agreement and whether to ratify it or not is baffling.

What is Kyoto and why is it such a big deal?

Mmm, a piece of paper with some signatures on it. It is, however, without the signature of Australia and many of it’s economic competitors. Competitors who just happen to be the biggest polluters in the world.

What is the importance of it being signed?

Pure symbolism it appears to me. I haven't heard of any punishment for not meeting targets. It's a goal without any affirmative action

Can’t we move on without it?

Well, we can but some people choose not to.

People seem unable to move on with helping to form environmental policy unless it is signed. China didn’t sign it, and I learnt recently that if they had signed then John Howard would have signed. So how come there hasn’t been a big deal made of china and their non-signature?

My New Mac Book

I had been talking about buying a Mac Book for months, even putting it off till after my overseas tour claiming financial constraints would prohibit a purchase prior to then.

Before having a Mac Book I was using Danny’s iMac, which acted as the family computer. Unfortunately its hard drive was continually reaching capacity. I received the blame constantly due to my large iTunes collection, photos and all my short movies. Most of the time the blame was unwarranted however, Danny did sometimes take responsibility for his contribution to the hard drive filling.

The new Operating System (OS) had just been released so the timing seemed right. Might as well get a new computer when the OS is brand new and not when it’s getting old and another new OS is being bandied about.

I have only had my Mac Book for a few weeks and I love it. I feel comfortable with a Mac and feel I can rely on them more to deliver what I want, not that I am overly demanding on my computers outcomes.

Failure To Launch – Movie Review

My mum wanted to watch this movie, I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because up until this year she had both her adult sons living at home despite them being in their mid to late 20’s. It was easy for her to relate to the parental characters played by Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw, as easy as it was for me to relate to the three male characters still living at home with their parents.

Matthew McConaughey plays the ‘child’, Tripp, a successful boat broker who at 35 breaks the mould of what you would expect from someone that age still living at home. On the contrary he is quite adept socially, being able to form new relationships with the opposite sex.

Dig a little deeper and you find insecurities in everyone. Tripp is no different as we discover his break up routine of bringing girls home to meet the parents when they are getting too close. The parents want to stop his turnstile relationship history and hire Paula, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who has made it an occupation to launch unsettled bachelors out of the nest. Paula appears perfect and knows all about relationships yet has insecurities of her own, as she discovers a life that is empty and lacking substance.

As far as RomComs (Romantic Comedy) go, I quite enjoyed this as it has enough Com and genuine blokey banter to keep the fellas interested and laughing right to the inevitable end where guy gets girl.

Rates 'Hike' #2

I've been on about about it before but everyone keeps talking about an interest rates hikes with the realisation of another rise prior after immense speculation .

Firstly a definition from the Apple dictionary:

Noun
1. A long walk, esp. in the country or wilderness.
• Informal a long distance.
2. A sharp increase, esp. in price: fears of a hike in interest rates.

Funny how it actually uses interest rates in its example. But also notice how it mentions a sharp increase as the correct definition for a hike. Is 0.25% really a sharp increase? Even if you get 3 or 4 in the space of a few years as we have, I still don’t believe it equates to a sharp increase. Go back to a time in the not too distant past when interest rates rose by 1% in one hit. Now you can talk about sharp increases.

Who is really to blame for interest rates anyway? I feel this is another area that people choose to blame the govt instead of looking at their own behaviours and seeing how they are contributing to the current situation. I’m no economics genius (for that go here) but I did do Economics in Yr 12 and it taught me a lot about how he economy works. A very intelligent teacher broke it down for me and my class. When this is done it’s actually quite easy to understand. Interest rates are trying to make you stop borrowing so much money and instead save a bit more and hold onto your money. So perhaps your credit card habits need to be looked at. Borrowing to pay for the house, car, lounge suit and whatever else simultaneously is probably not a good idea.

For those of us already in a loan, yes of course it is going to sting a bit, but if people got in over their head then that was the individual’s fault not the govt’s.

People tend to look to the govt first instead of looking to themselves first. You’re looking at your own habits to help the environment, now look to how you can help the economy.

Cuckoos Nest – Book Review

“One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest” – Ken Kesey

Well it took me about 4 months of on again / off again reading to get it done but I finally finished it while on my recent trip waiting for a delayed plane in Las Vegas.

Cuckoos Nest was my Yr 11 text. I had never read it properly as I always struggled to read a book when I had a deadline. Instead I relied on the movie and York’s notes to explain the general story and hopefully give some insight into the literary content. The Board of Studies always tended to ask about the literary content and not the movie unfortunately.

While the Oscar winning movie, starring Jack Nicholson, was very good in it’s own right, the book (as most books) was much better than the movie. However, having seen the movie did help me visualise what was happening as I read book.

The story is set in a mental institution in the mid west state of Oregon, USA. It’s narrated by one of the committed patients, Chief Bromden. Nicknamed Chief Broom, as he is a native Indian who doesn’t speak at all, instead spending most of his time cleaning the floors with a broom given to him by the staffers on the ward.

We are introduced to Nurse Ratched. She runs a tight ship and enjoys having a strict, inflexible routine, which must be adhered to at all times by all patients on the ward. It’s therapeutic she would suggest.

To shake up her world and that of all the patients on the ward, in strolls Randall Patrick McMurphy. A career con artist who appears to be faking mental illness to get out of the prison work farm. He turns the routine upside down through his brashness and confidence in his ability to get “up Nurse Ratched’s skirt.” McMurphy continues to get up to mischief even after finding out he won’t be let out until the doctor’s and nurses agree that he is ready to be let out. He never lets up until the very end where you will have mixed emotions as to what happens to all the patients in the ward.

One Year On

I have now been working with the Ambulance Service NSW for just over a year as a Patient Transport Officer. It was my first major career change since starting out as a PE Teacher in secondary schools. It was not a career change that showed much foresight, as I was never sure whether I wanted to take the only chance for advancement and apply to become a Level 1 Ambulance Officer. That hesitation says to me that I shouldn’t take that step as it is one of those occupations that you need to be passionate about. No use trying it out just to see what it would be like, as lives are at stake.


Over the year I have learnt a lot. Mainly about hospital and nursing home locations and also how they work. I also get to know many nurses personally, especially at our regular stops such as Westmead discharge lounge.

I joke around with mum that I know the best nursing homes for her to be put in if that time should come. Of course I wouldn’t want it to come as even the best nursing homes can be very depressing places.

So where to now if I’m not going to AO's? Well I felt that I was being led back into teaching. However finding PE teaching jobs in Sydney is continually hard and the market is still very competitive. I may have to be satisfied with my lot as a PTO for an extended period. Unless another twist and turn comes along to take me on another journey.

My “Non-Obvious US Cities To Tour” Tour

When informing people of my various destinations on The Convicts tour one stood out as strange. Louisville, Kentucky was to be the venue for the US Footy National Championships yet when people hear it their response was usually, “Why are you going there?” This was a very reasonable thing to say, as I would have thought it myself.

What I found though was that there is a surprisingly large amount of stuff to do in Louisville. Problem is that there is no chance that an organised tour would ever travel through places like Louisville. For starters, you can only fly in via Chicago. Tours are more likely to pass through our other destinations, such as: New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Las Angeles.


Based on my experiences in Louisville I am proposing a tour with the working title written above. it may never happen because it would be somewhat of a logistical nightmare and would need a lot of preparation and research which might be why I’m starting early.

First step is to come up with a list of cities that don’t get all the kudos as cities tourists would go to. Louisville is definitely on the list. What else? Perhaps Pittsburgh, PN and Dallas, TX. Any suggestions?