Giant Perspective Required

I got fed up with 'league heads' like Rebecca Wilson (columnist for the Daily Telegraph) having a go at the GWS Giants using flagrant falsehoods and hyperbole.  So I wrote her a letter. 

Take home message is to get some perspective.  Can't find the link to her article.  It was entitled 'No Marks For Giant Folly' from July 13th 2013.

Dear Rebecca,

I am disappointed by your article entitled 'No Marks For Giant Folly' dated  Saturday July 13th 2013.

My disappointment from people like yourself, who are from north and south of the border, is that you wrote off the venture from the start.  Never open to the idea for a second AFL team in Sydney.

People that share your opinion need a large dose of perspective.  We have a team that is two years old, that has made vast improvement in those two years and will make a vast improvement again next year.

You have written off the Giants before they are able to get a foothold.  So of course to you they have no hope.  Shame you didn't ask the players who have expressed the opposite view.  Many have signed on to extended contracts because of their belief that good things will come.

I'm glad David Matthews is standing up for the club.  He is a very switched on CEO and will take this club to great things but your colleagues choose to disrespect him and his role by your lack of perspective.

I'm doubting your knowledge of the game and how it's played.  I'm also unsure if you have an appreciation for how hard the game is to play at the highest level.

I see the skill the Giants have and how they just lack a bit of polish.  This will come with experience and recruitment.  Both of which will be addressed by the end of the season.  One player will make a huge difference.  Your claim otherwise is ridiculous.

Also ridiculous is your claim that the powers that be thought Israel Folau would set the place on fire and win a Brownlow.  Perhaps hyperbole on your part but still far from the truth.

Rest assured this will be a great club.  But you have to start somewhere. 

Tim Haynes

We’re To Blame

There is much controversy about gambling advertising.  But there is a reason why gambling agencies are able to do so much advertising and sponsorship.  And it’s not their fault.

Much of the population is very willing to throw away money into such institutions.  If these people think that gambling is a money making venture then they are quite mistaken.

Seeing the growth in advertising and sponsorship by agencies such as Centrebet, Sportsbet, Unibet, TAB, Tom Waterhouse shows which direction the money is going.

This industry is not to blame.

If you want less gambling advertising then individually and collectively we need to decide not to gamble, and to support those trying to end a dependence on gambling.    This will diminish their profits and therefore their ability to advertise.

Banning the agencies from advertising their product is not the solution and ignores the real problem.  The problem being us.

Feminism Has Worked

It’s time to tone down the ‘girl power’ attitude.  The ‘I am woman hear me roar’ cry

Feminism has accomplished many great things in advancing the cause of women.  Women now have more choice than ever before.  The problem is that if a woman makes a choice that doesn’t align with the militant feminists, then that woman is ridiculed.

The earnings differential between men and women is a major cause of angst amongst the militant feminists.  In pushing for wage equality they ignore the free choices women make in being homemakers or employed in lower paid occupations such as teaching and nursing.  Women in these occupations do so largely by choice and those that choose this path generally get where they want to go career wise.

The militant feminists are in the minority yet they are the most vocal.  They shouldn’t be allowed to misrepresent their sex in this fashion.  They don’t stand up for the ‘rights’ of women.  If they did they would celebrate women having the freedom to make a choice that was deemed in their best interests.

Instead they insult women for not making the same choice as them. 

Foreign Aid

There has been much media attention towards the foreign aid part of the budget.  Namely how it was not increased, as once promised.

I feel like the focus on foreign aid is enhancing the entitlement culture that is prospering at the moment.  All types of government handouts leads to decreased individual giving as the belief that the government will take care of it becomes prolific.  We become reliant on the government for our generosity.

Perhaps foreign aid advocates should change their focus.  Ignore the government and let them do with the foreign aid budget what they like.  Encourage individuals to be generous and give financially or their time to one of the numerous non-government organisations.

I have no doubt that this way the money will be better spent anyway.

Fed Frauds

The Teachers Federation say in their advertising that your children will be worse off under a potential Abbott government

Even though Tony Abbott stated in his budget reply speech,

“the key to better schools, at least as much as money, is better teachers, better teaching, higher academic standards, more community engagement and more principal autonomy”

The Teachers Federation isn’t for improved education.  They are for having as many teachers in jobs as possible regardless of quality as long as they are paying their union dues.

The Gonski review delivers on more paid teachers therefore any variation is bad for students according to the Teachers Federation.

Unfortunately for the Teachers Federation, what they want increasingly seems to contradict what the students need.

The coalition is offering a holistic approach and the Teachers Federation wants more money.

It’s little wonder that unions are in decline.