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Heading Towards Sunday
06.25.05 (4:38 am)   [edit]
Hi friends,

I've been very busy the last few days, mostly on political stuff, some housework that's built up all week. I'm helping to organise a social justice contingent for the big trade union rally on June 30th here in Perth. I will be handing out leaflets about the changes to the Disability Support Pension and the Parenting Payment Single outside Midland Centrelink on Monday late afternoon. The rest of the leaflets will go at the rally.
I understand that Premier Gallop is going to get up and speak so that will be very interesting to listen to the hecklers. Mind you I find you have little time to pay attention because you're busy selling papers and talking to people about the leaflets. It's more what happens after the rally itself that will also be very interesting.
For those of you who may not understand, Premier Gallop is the State Premier of Western Australia where I live. John Howard the Australian Prime Minister is introducing a huge raft of changes allowing all businesses less than 100 employees - 99% of all business - not to have to face unfair dismissal laws. His legislation also cutbacks eligibility for Disabled Pensions and also his changes to the minimum wage and industrial awards will mean lower pay-packets. Nobody voted on this during the election. These laws vary in timing, but most will come into effect when the New Parliament takes effect on July 1st.
So there's big trade union rallies around Australia. Most of the unions are trying to shift workers onto State Agreements, and many will pool resources to challenge the legislation in the courts. But come into effect it will I expect.

With Affection,
Matt D
 
A hilarious story about the National Churches
06.19.05 (5:38 am)   [edit]
Catholic Squirrels



There were three country churches in a small Texas town: the Presbyterian church, the Methodist church and the Catholic church. Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels.

One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.

The Methodist group got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creations. So, they humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

It was only the Catholics who were able to come up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.
 
Don't Spread Yourself To Thin - Trotsky
06.19.05 (4:40 am)   [edit]
I wonder what people think of the advice Trotsky noticed in this article written in 1937 reflecting on his wild youthful passion versus his older analysis and reflection. I found it most stimulating.

It certain seems much more profitable than depressed thinking about how unproductive life is to you. Perhaps this is just the problem with this blog a little - too variegated and needing more concise analysis - poetry, philosophy, and also a more planned approach to life. I wonder what you think.

In the meantime, I go and track down some jokes - smart clean ones this time. And maybe a good original poem tonight.

Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin
Dear Comrades:

You complain that you have not been able to read even one-tenth of the books that interest you, and ask how to rationally allot your time. This is a very difficult question, because in the long run each person must make such a decision according to his particular needs and interests. It should be said however, that the extent to which a person is able to keep up with the current literature, whether scientific, political, or otherwise, depends not only on the judicious allotment of one's time but also on the individual's previous training.

In regard to your specific reference to "party youth," I can only advise them not to hurry, not to spread themselves thin, not to skip from one topic to another, and not to pass on to a second book until the first has been properly read, thought over, and mastered. I remember that when I myself belonged to the category of "youth," I too felt that there just wasn't enough time. Even in prison, when I did nothing but read, it seemed that one couldn't get enough done in a day. In the ideological sphere, just as in the economic arena, the phase of primitive accumulation is the most difficult and troublesome. And only after certain basic elements of knowledge and particularly elements of theoretical skill (method) have been precisely mastered and have become, so to speak, part of the flesh and blood of one's intellectual activity, does it be. come easier to keep up with the literature not only in areas one is familiar with, but in adjacent and even more remote fields of knowledge, because method, in the final analysis, is universal.

It is better to read one book and read it well; it is better to master a little bit at a time and master it thoroughly. Only in this way will your powers of mental comprehension extend themselves naturally. Thought will gradually gain confidence in itself and grow more productive. With these preliminaries in mind, it will not be difficult to rationally allot your time; and then, the transition from one pursuit to another will be to a certain extent pleasurable.

With comradely greetings,

L. Trotsky
May 29, 1923

A letter to the Kiev comrades. From Pravda, May 31, 1923. Translated for this volume from Collected Works, Vol. 2 1, by Marilyn Vogt. From: Problems of Every Day Life by Leon Trotsky
 
Saturday - What No Football!?!
06.18.05 (12:54 am)   [edit]
Hi friends,

Today saw me getting up to my usual adventures on the weekend, namely, selling Green Left Weekly's - this time in Perth City, often otherwise at Fremantle. I did make one sale, but this young guy gave me $5 for it. This issue was a two-week one, there's been a lot of absences from the organisation, because of last week's national conference.
After selling papers, I met up with the friends of mine at the Resistance Centre, I talked about the changes to the Disability Support Pension, and Parent's Payment Single. Turns out existing pensioners aren't cut (this time around) but from June 1 2006 no sole parent with a child 6 years old or more would get the payment. Currently children get paid up to 16 years of age. The government sells it's measures as "Welfare To Work" but we see them in their true guise as "Welfare To Poverty". Emma and the other friends of mine said they would see who would be interested in a "Welfare To Poverty" contingent on the day of the big union rallies 30th of June, just before the budget measures take effect.
We also talked about the World Refugee Day protest we're helping other organisations put on tomorrow. High Noon at the Perth Cultural Centre, which is just outside the WA museum. I will enjoy hearing from the speakers, but I will also try to make a paper sale or two. I will have plenty of company. We just do everything we can to end mandatory detention and get back to the days of reception centres and speedy resolution of asylum claims.
Also discussed were the recent reforms Howard promised in trying to deal with rebellious backbenchers, who were threatening to cross the floor and put up a private members bill. I understand Kerry Nettle was quoted as saying the Greens would introduce an identical piece of legislation to the Private Members Bill to try and force through change before the Senate becomes part of the absolute majority the conservative Howard government one at the last election. I don't believe in miracles, and in any case the reforms don't go anywhere near our demands for an end to the prison camps and free movement around a free globe. But at least it's a sign of discontent in the ranks of conservatism in Australia. Now Howard cannot grumble, as conservatives around the world like to grumble about "political correct" people destroying capitalist values and traditions. This time he has an absolute majority, and that just invites a lot of splits. Everybody from now on in knows who to blame if things are going wrong.
So yes, Saturday has turned out well politically lots of things are happening. But no football. Couldn't watch a single game of state or AFL competition. Australia are currently playing Bangaladesh over in the UK, I guess it's time to check my email, and then follow the action.

With Affection,
Matthew D
 
Saturday's Jokes
06.18.05 (12:23 am)   [edit]
I thought these will keep my visitors smiling till I get the chance to post something more serious:

LIFE BEFORE THE COMPUTER

Memory was something you lost with age
An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity

A keyboard was a piano
A web was a spider's home
A virus was the flu
A CD was a bank account

A hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And if you had a 3 inch floppy ... you just hoped nobody ever found out!

This guy gets a raise, so he decides to but a new sight for his gun. Well, anyway, the salesman at the store is throwing his pitch, and he brags, "If you'll look through this sight, I'll bet that you can see my house in perfect detail, even though it's the whole way at the top of the hill."

So the guy looks through the sight, and says, "Yep, you're right... wait a minute... I can see some lady and a guy running around with no clothes on, too..." Shocked, the salesman snatches the sight back, and looks through it. Sure enough, he sees the same thing.

Infuriated, the salesman hands the guy a gun and two bullets, and says, "If you'll blow my cheatin' wife's head off, and that guy's dick off, you can have the sight for free."

The guy looks throught the sight again. "You know, I think I can do that with only 1 bullet..."
 
Stupid And/Or Funny True Stories
06.15.05 (10:33 pm)   [edit]
To receive study benefits from the government, Australians have to fill out some pretty crazy forms. My friend lives with her brother. The government knows this (due to many angry letters on her behalf) but every couple of weeks, in lieu of the fact her flatmate is male, receives questionnaires containing such choice questions as "How often do you and your flatmate have sex?", "Do you plan on becoming pregnant to your flatmate in the near future." The sad thing is that if she doesn't answer all the questions, she is not paid.

My mom had this credit card that she wanted to close out so she paid her bill for them and then called them and told them to close it. She had something like .82 cents left on the account but they refused to close it and held the account open even though my mom couldn't buy anything with .82 cents. She kept calling them and they still refused to close it. They sent her statements saying she had .82 cents left in the account every month. Finally, five years later they sent her a check for .82 cents and closed the account.

Back when the space program was really getting under way, the Americans spent millions of dollars and hours of research trying to find a pen that would write in zero gravity. You know what the Russians did? They used a pencil!


Occasionally I pick up a treat from work for my six-year-old son, Timmy. One day, after picking him up from school, I gave him a pack of Crispy M&M's. As we drove home, he sat silently in the back seat eating his candy. When we arrived home I asked how he liked his treat. "They were so good that I ate them one at a time so they would last longer" he told me. "So you savored every one of them." I asked. "No dad," he said, "I didn't savor any of them. I told you, I ate them all."

One morning I woke up hung over after a heavy night on the town. I was late for work and even though I was fairly sweaty I had no time for a shower. I sprayed on some under arm deodorant pulled on a shirt and ran off to catch the bus. The driver gave me an odd look and I must admit that my armpits felt fairly strange but it was not until I got into the lift next to my boss that I realized that in my haste I had sprayed a large quantity of shaving foam under my arms and on my crotch. Imagine that, but at least I drew attention away from my body odor problems.
 
Thursdays Bloody Thursdays.
06.15.05 (9:51 pm)   [edit]
Sorry for the delay in posting and jokes. Today has been raining cats and dogs in Perth. Thursday is also the night for late nite shopping in Western Australia. Of all the things you could forget to buy, I forgot the bloody garbage bags, and being such a lazy person, I am using the green environmentally friendly Coles shopping bags as temporary replacements till tonight or when the weather improves.
Tonight and tomorrow is largely studying up on the impact of the changes to Disability Pensions and Sole Parents Allowance for a political meeting on Saturday at East Perth in the Resistance bookshop. Then there's my preparation for the meeting of the Socialist Alliance Hills Branch on Sunday. I've got a couple of proposals - one for a public meeting on "Welfare To Poverty" combined with a screening of the documentary "Working Like Crazy" presenting the alternative of working-class people owning businesses with fellow psychiatric survivors.
Then I will suggest a survey paid for 50% by me and 50% by the party so that we can measure how members would like our Hills Branch email list to be run.
In between cramming all this I hope to be able to find some time to read Howard Zinn's "A People's History Of The United States".
I had a win in the fantasy football competition. My team "Freo Heroes" won by quite a margin, much more than my rough guesses based on scanning the AFL website statistics led me to believe. Mind you, I've got a tougher opponent coming up Round 13 with an average score much better than my 1,580 odd points.
Now I've registered in a public league for the cricket. Of course it's about the Australian and Bangaladesh teams playing off in the UK from the weekend on against the English, who have a much much better team this time around then last time the Aussies set foot on British soil when they got quite a caning. The funniest part about choosing my side "Sloggers@bat" was that I had to pick from the very inexperinced Bangladesh team 3 players. I don't know much about Bangladesh at all, and I had to go along to the Crincinfo site and search the Current One Day International Players. In the end I chose the skipper - a batsman called Shahriar Nafees Ahmed - the opening batsmen Javed Omar and the bowler Khaled Mahmud.
Of course, I will get points for each run scored, plus extra for good run rates per over for batsmen and for the bowlers obviously their economy rate and the number of wickets taken, etc.. My captain is the Australian batsmen Michael Clarke, I get double points for him, and he can bowl a little as well.
Now it's time for me to mine the net for a couple of good jokes. I feel like an amusing true story time joke like the one below.
With Affection - Matthew D
 
Article On Changes To Australian IR Laws
06.14.05 (12:01 pm)   [edit]
I thought this article was a very honest look at the upcoming changes to Australian IR law coming in July 1, when the government gets an absolute majority in both houses.
One of the proposals is to get rid of unfair dismissal laws for small and medium sized businesses.
I found it on Z magazine - this is the printer friendly version:

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article .cfm?itemID=8048§ionID =58" title="http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article .cfm?itemID=8048§ionID =58" target="_blank"http://www.zmag.org/content/p...

With Affection,
Matthew Davis
 
Amusing Story
06.12.05 (1:09 pm)   [edit]
The following is a humorous story reported in the Manchester Guardian some time in the late 1970's.

Ben McTaggart, a farmer in the Scottish Highlands, was apprehended by the local constabulary after a routine inspection of his croft revealed an illicit whisky still. McTaggart appeared in court next day to face charges of evading payment of excise duties and the illegal manufacture of alcoholic spirits.

Reviewing the facts of the case before pronouncing verdict, the magistrate declared - "Mr McTaggart, you have been found in possession of apparatus commonly used in the distillation of alcoholic liquors. Although this equipment was unused, and no trace of spirits could be found on your premises, the intent of the apparatus should be clear to all, and I am obliged to find you guilty of all charges brought against you in this court. Before I pronounce sentence, do you have anything to say in mitigation of your offence?"

McTaggart glowered at the magistrate and replied - "Your Honour, you can convict me of moonshining just because I have the equipment, but you'd better convict me of rape as well, because I have the equipment for that tae!"
 
Two More Jokes Picked From The Net.....
06.11.05 (3:44 am)   [edit]
Three nuns were talking. The first nun said, "I was cleaning the Father's room the other day and do you know what I found? A bunch of pornographic magazines!"
"What did you do?" the other nuns asked. "Well, of course I threw them all in the trash."
The second nun said, "Well, I can top that. I was in the Father's room putting away the laundry and I found a bunch of condoms."
"Oh my," gasped the other nuns. "What did you do?" they asked. "I poked holes in all of them" she replied. The third nun said, "Oh shit."

In Jerusalem, an American female journalist heard about an old Rabbi who visited the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day everydayfor a long, long time.

In an effort to check out the story, she goes to the holy site and there he is. She watches the old man at prayer and after about 45 minutes, and when he turns to leave she approaches him for an interview. "I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN, sir, how long have you been coming to the Wailing Wall and praying?"

"For about 50 years," he informs her. "That's amazing! What do you pray for?" "I pray for peace between the Jews and Arabs. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."

"And how do you feel, sir, after doing this for 50 years?" "Like I'm talking to a fucking brick wall."
 
Saturday In Perth
06.11.05 (3:38 am)   [edit]
Hiya Friends,

Today was spent at different places around Perth, the city I live in here in Western Australia. I went first to the Port City of Fremantle and had an unsuccessful try at selling papers for roughly 35-40 minutes, no sales but at least my chants generated publicity: eg "Australia's Most Popular Alternative Press - Green Left Weekly", "Bolivia, Iraq, World News and Environmentalism In The Green Left Weekly".
To tell you the truth the wind was very squally and as usually happens you have to keep putting stones and metal bars over everything on the stall. At least one of my friends made a good round - 5 sales, outside the Sail and Anchor Hotel in Fremantle.
Alex is one of the younger people that hang out with me from time to time. I gave him a copy of "Global Spin" a most excellent account of Corporate "Greenwashing" and attempts to circumvent curriculum review boards, dioxins are produced naturally by volcanes, and other furphies. The author is a socially concious engineer, Sharon Bader.
Another political friend of mine uses it in her trainee teachers job for high school students. I lent it to her a few months back.
Yes well anyway, Alex obviously is much better than the rest of us there, Amanda and some older guy whose name I keep forgetting. Oh well.
Then it was off to the Subiaco markets, by the standards of a small city like Perth quite a large indoor market. Both Fremantle and Subi are the places to go if you like coffee shops and food halls. I was feeling hungry - the Chinese place sold very good Mongolian Lamb Curry which I had with a noodle combination.
I thought the day's politics were over, but as I boarded the train at City station, I find out that Emma is going on to the Resistance bookshop to a young socialists meeting, so of course even though I'm 32, I still like to be around young people. The meeting was mostly student politics and a discussion of the proposed IR laws that are going to pass through Parliament.
So the whole day was lots of fun. I could tell you much more but this is already a long post - :lol:
So then I'll post up the jokes and tell you much more about those sorts of things a little later - as always,
With Affection,
Matthew Davis
 
Two Jokes - Comments Welcome
06.10.05 (9:27 am)   [edit]
Hot Dogs

Two nuns from abroad have just arrived in the United States by boat and one says to the other, "I hear that the people of this country actually eat dogs." "Odd," her companion replies, "but if we shall live in America, we might as well do as the Americans do."
Nodding emphatically, one of the immigrants points to a hot dog vendor and they both walk toward the cart. "Two dogs, please," she says. The vendor is only too pleased to oblige, wraps both hot dogs in foil and hands them over the counter. Excited, the companions hurry to a bench and begin to unwrap their "dogs."
One of them opens the foil and begins to blush. Staring at it for a moment, she turns to her friend and whispers cautiously, "What part did you get?"

New CEO

A company feeling it was time for a shakeup hires a new CEO. This new boss is determined to rid the company of all slackers. On a tour of the facilities, the CEO notices a guy leaning against the wall.

The room is full of workers and he wants to let them know he means business.

The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, "And how much money do you make a week?" A little surprised, the young fellow looks at him and replies, "I make $300.00 a week. Why?"

The CEO hands the guy $1,200 in cash and screams, "Here's four weeks's pay, now GET OUT and don't come back!"

Feeling pretty good about his first firing, the CEO looks around the room and asks "Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-off did here?"

With a sheepish grin, one of the other workers mutters,

"Pizza delivery guy from Domino's."
 
The Weekend Comes At Last
06.10.05 (8:27 am)   [edit]
For those fans of my blog who keep coming back for the jokes and social commentary, and if you haven't noticed already, last couple of days have been interrupted by Tblog improving their system, and so it's been awfully long to download my blog in this time and as such no jokes past 2 days. I promise I'll improve on this situation as I surf around today.
The West Coast Eagles beat Essendon last night, but I only watched half the match and felt mightly sleepy, which also explains how I am writing this entry at 1.18 AM Western Australian time. Early to bed and early to rise.
Yesterday was pretty eventful, I cleaned up around the house and then my friend Mark came over, after I called him feeling bored shitless. We put our Fantasy Football Teams for the weekend's action, and I played Joan Baez song "We Shall Overcome" and Arlo Guthrie, he seemed to like them but folk singing interests him less than the metallica type of music. Then of course we went into town, ate hot fudge at the Gelare Shop in Northbridge, I brought a discarded library book (Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States - $3.50 for christ-sakes). Even though it was cold and wet we had a fabulous time. Most of the talk was about how the media are portraying events in Venezeula.
Mark stayed on with Emma and Alex two mates of ours and sold Green-Left Weekly's in the city. I passed up on that because I will be selling them in Fremantle from 11 thru 1 midday today.
Mark and I were also talking about Russell Crowe and that incident that occured at the reception in his palatial hotel surroundings. I put it down to jetlag but Mark insisted it was because of his ego, and the enormous expectations that he built around himself. He said Crowe was a good example of what the Roman philosopher Seneca (who had the unenviable job of advising Nero) said about anger, which is at it's worst when people have great expectations of themselves. Interesting theory. Wonder what people might think?
Time is beating me and I've got to scan the web for the daily Znet news reports and humorous jokes, so I guess I wish all my friends a happy weekend. Chow -
With Affection - Matt D
 
A couple more jokes :->
06.08.05 (2:38 am)   [edit]
Czech walks into police station in 1968 during the Fraternal Assistance.
Czech: Hey, out there in the street, a Swiss soldier knocked me down and took my Russian watch.
Desk Sergeant: Come again?
Czech: Are you deaf? Out there in the street, a Swiss soldier knocked me down and took my Russian watch.
Desk Sergeant: You're confused. It was a Russian soldier who knocked you down and took your Swiss watch.
Czech: Well, maybe, but you said it, not me.

A Russian, Cuban, American and a Lawyer meet in a small hotel room one evening.

The Russian takes a bootle of the Best Vodka out of his pack; pours some into a glass, drinks it, and says: "In USSR, we have the best vodka of the world, nowhere in the world you can find Vodka as good as the one we produce in Ukrania. And we have so much of it, that we can just throw it away..." Saying that, he opens the window and throw the rest of the bottle thru it.

All the others are quite impressed. The Cuban takes a pack of Havanas, takes one of them, lights it and begins to smoke it saying: "In Cuba, we have the best cigars of the world: Havanas, nowhere in the world there is so many and so good cigars and we have so much of them, that we can just throw them away...". Saying that, he throws the pack of havanas thru the window.

One more time, everybody is quite impressed. At this time, the American just stands up, opens the window, and throws the Lawyer through it...
 
World Refugee Day 19th of June
06.07.05 (6:24 pm)   [edit]
Hi,

World Refugee Day is on Sunday the 19th of June which gives me the chance to attend the lecture from Human Rights lawyer Dr Scutt on refugee laws and of course the usual rally with speakers and march.
Given that there is not much chance of the private members bill reforming immigration policy succeeding in Federal Parliament, and certainly only to reform the worst aspects of a very expensive and inefficient bureacracy, that makes the job of opposition fall down to ordinary working class people like us.
It's a worldwide thing, while Canada can hold it's head held reasonably high on refugees, Australia on the other hand is on the other extreme, and many other countries around the world have ratcheded their eligibility rules so as to legally delay the invariably successful claims for asylum. So I would encourage people from all over the world to become involved in their local events on the 19th June. I realise people have many different circumstances making it difficult to attend rallies but I am glad we will all be thinking of a humane approach to immigration all over the world on the same day. As Lenin put it, there are lots of "fractions and shades" of working class opinion but it is important to support working class people having more control over their lives.
More jokes later on today I promise....
With Affection,
Matthew Davis
 
Another Joke At Religions' Expense
06.04.05 (4:32 am)   [edit]

Jesus and Moses are in Heaven, fishing from a rowboat. As they were fishing, they began to reminisce the miracles they performed when they were on Earth. Just to see if they could still had the knack, they each decided to do one of their miracles. So, Moses stood up and extended his arms. Sure enough, the waters of the lake parted and the rowboat settled gently to the bottom. He then lowered his arms and the waters closed back in. In a few moments, the lake had returned to normal with the rowboat floating on top.
"Pretty good, Mo," Jesus said approvingly. "Now I'll give it a try," he said as he climbed out of the boat. He took a couple steps and then began to sink quickly. Just in time, Moses reached out and pulled Jesus into the boat.
"Jesus Christ!" Moses exclaimed. "What do you suppose happened to you?" "Aw, Mo, I should have known better than to try that one," Jesus replied. "The last time I did that I didn't have these blasted holes in my feet."
 
Another Funny One
06.04.05 (4:13 am)   [edit]
It's my pleasure to share another longer joke for my friends. Incidentally, and against my prediction, Brisbane Lions thrashed Fremantle Dockers by quite a few goals.

A man enters a bar a asks, "Does anybody in here own the big black Doberman out front?" A large, muscular Hell's Angel type biker says, "It's mine. What about it?" The first man answered, "My dog just got into a fight with your dog, and my dog killed your dog." The biker said, "What kind of dog do you have?" The first man said, "A chihuahua." In disbelief, the biker went outside to investigate. A very large black Doberman lay dead on the sidewalk, but the chihuahua was not in sight. "Where is your dog?" asked the biker. The other man replied, "He's stuck in your dog's throat."
 
Matt D's Later Part Of The Week
06.03.05 (1:42 pm)   [edit]
I guess my friends must be wondering how I've spent the last couple of days. Well, pretty much making myself happier. The Strata Title meeting was fairly interesting, this new home-owner turned up and she was extremely pissed from the start about not being able to vote. Turns out her brother - who had nothing to do with her unit except legally being a co-owner - had not signed a document allowing her to vote.
And to top it off, my mother turned up at the meeting specifically because she was pissed about the new gutters the committee had decided to obtain. She did have a point, because the houses are only 17 years old, but still there was so much noise and interruption from those two that I decided to excuse myself and went out to get on with my housework. I had no particular reason to be there because they weren't talking about anything that concerned me in the first place. So I couldn't tell you how relieved I was to leave after 4 minutes into the 2PM meeting! 8)
Today the Fremantle Dockers are taking on the Brisbane Lions at their home ground Subiaco Oval. Brisbane are a good side and have players capable of superb footy - plenty of them - but I think the Dockers will win with their forwards in such good form, I also fancy our midfield to gather more possession.
The other business I want to attend to is to write an article about youth training wages into my political party newsletter "Alliance Voices", but when I searched on the internet I could find very little in protest at this unfair division of labor. That's terrible, because whether you are 17 or 20 or 23 shouldn't make alot of difference as far as the work performed is concerned, hence it's totally unfair. If the government wanted to attract greater investment in youth training they should try lots of alternative things like tax discounts or preferential treatment in the awarding of government contracts, etc. That way we aren't sinking young people (and in effect many low income households) into too much debt too early in life.
I think the smartest thing would be to introuduce a depreciation allowance on technology as well, which should also stimulate job training investment. I know in the recession of the early 90's Bob Hawke's depreciation allowance was an unsung success story, although the benefits do take a while to come on.
I know that if anything there is currently a shortage of labor in Australia, which also indicates if anything over-investment in training. But you could read all you like into the statistics - I think the onus is on the government to protect the people who in the vast majority of cases do want to work and are very productive. And I think the GST could be scrapped and replaced with a tax on business turnover - a VAT as in Sweden or is it Norway - which is one of the fairest consumption tax systems in the world. It acheives greater national savings which is the point of having a consumption tax and at the same time the tax burden is met mostly (because there would still be a small impact on prices) by the tops of business and transnational capitalism.
I wonder what people think about that idea. Thanks in advance for the regulars who keep coming to my blog, just over 265 hits in a week and a half is not too bad.
With Affection ----
Matt D
 
Adam And Eve Joke
06.03.05 (3:54 am)   [edit]
One day The Lord came to Adam to pass on some news.
I've got some good news and some bad news", The Lord said.
Adam looked at The Lord and said, "Well, give me the good news first."
Smiling, The Lord explained, "I've got two new organs for you, one is called a brain. It will allow you to be very intelligent, create new things, and have intelligent conversations with Eve.
The other organ I have for you is called a penis. It will allow you to reproduce your now intelligent life form and populate this planet. Eve will be very happy that you now have this organ to give her children."
Adam, very excited, exclaimed, "These are great gifts you have given to me. What could possibly be bad news after such great tidings?"
The Lord looked upon Adam and said with great sorrow, "The bad news is that when I created you, I only gave you enough blood to operate one of these organs at a time."
 
Bushwalking, Acting and Terror Scares
06.02.05 (6:40 am)   [edit]
Wednesday was fun, I met my mate Mark and we walked up the hill into John Forrest National Park and bushwalked a little. We saw a lorrikeet - a green and gold parrot and passed by school children who walked through the old railroad tunnel, and one who was put on a stretcher and taken to hospital - don't know why. The last thing ambulance officers like is for people to ask them questions at the scene of accident.
We also downloaded Black Sabbath music on WinMX, didn't have too many download problems.
Thursday I wrote up my article on "Campaign Enable" being run through the Australian Federation Of Disability Organisations. They will be targeting 16 seats where the number of disability pensioners outweighs the number of votes needed to change the seat. My own electorate of Pearce is not one of those mentioned, but I will be supporting the campaign.
The Sunday meeting with friends I mentioned a couple of posts back had to be cancelled. I am playing a cop - of all things - in a movie protest scene about mandatory detention. I got my roll call - for 7.30 AM on Sunday 5th of June outside Fremantle Town Hall. Should be a lot of fun, I've already sent the producer my measurements - 100 cm chest, ect.
Tommorrow is the Strata Title block AGM, so I will be turning up to yea and nay various items on the agenda. I'm sure most people know what the Strata Title meeting is about, but for those of you unfamiliar with it, i live in a Strata Title block, and that means I pay a certain amount of Strata Title fees for maintenance, gardening in front of the mailbox, etc.. You have to go through the committee to change insurance details, and to approve external fixtures on your house and probably a couple of other requirements. It's usually a formality unless someone wants to put a helicopter pad in their front garden.
And that about wraps up the past couple of days. I suppose most people would have heard the Australian news story of the week, concerning the Indonesian embassy scare in Canberra thought to have resulted because of the conviction of Chapelle Corby on marijuana import charges a few days ago.
About the Corby case - The legal system needs to recognise that baggage handling has been demonstrated to be full of corruption and drug peddling. I have watched a BBC reporter last year do an undercover investigation at a major UK airport and it was scandulous the level of apathy amongst the people who worked there. Recently a major investigation has found that baggage handlers at Sydney Airport were linked to organised crime and drug importation.
The case against those who planted the Lockerbie bomb that destroyed the Jumbo Jet in '89 has now to be regarded with similar suspicion. Perhaps a baggage handler was bribed to allow the Toshiba cassette player that carried the plastic explosive through customs, or maybe it was just simply not doing their job of investigation of baggage.
And that's all I can think of to say - I promise more good longer jokes as well within 24 hours. Keep on coming around for a joke and lots else besides.
With Affection,
Matthew Davis :wink:
 
Longer Joke (Very funny!)
06.01.05 (2:11 am)   [edit]
A little old lady goes into the Chase Manhattan Bank and says she wants to open a savings account. The account person asks her how much she would like to deposit to open the account, and the little old lady says, "Three million dollars."

The account person is startled, and says, "In what form?" and the little old lady says, "Cash. I've got it here in this bag." The account person looks and, sure enough, the lady has a big grocery bag chock full of green bills with big denominations.

This is a highly unusual event, and the account person excuses herself to get the president of the bank to handle this one. He arrives, and escorts the little old lady to his office to handle it personally.

Once in his office, he asks the little old lady where she got so much money.

She says, "Gambling."

"Gambling?" he says. "What sort of gambling?"

"Oh, I make bets with people on all sorts of things, and I usually win. For example, I've got one hundred thousand dollars right here that says by noon tomorrow, your balls will be square, and I'll even give you four to one odds. You got twenty five thousand dollars you'd be willing to wager on that?" she asks.

The bank president is shocked at this sort of thing coming from a sweet little old lady, but he didn't get to be the president of the Chase Manhattan Bank without knowing something about money. "I suppose I could come up with enough to cover that sort of wager, but I wouldn't feel right taking it from you. There's no way you can win a bet like that!"

The little old lady just shakes the bag, and says, "I know what I'm doing. I can afford to lose, though I'm not going to. Is it a bet?"

"Okay, have it your way," says the president, and they shook hands on it.

"See you at eleven-fifty-five tomorrow morning," says the little old lady, and with that she leaves.

The next morning at 11:55, the little old lady arrives with a younger man in a three-piece suit, and is escorted to the bank president's office. The president is a nervous wreck, though a happy one. He's gotten almost no sleep last night, waking every few minutes to feel his balls to check for impending squareness, but nothing happened all night. He has checked hundreds of times that morning, but still nothing.

When the little old lady arrives, he starts to relax, knowing he has won.

"Come in, please have a seat! Who might this gentleman be?" says the president.

"He's my lawyer. For a bet of this size I want to have a witness. Any objections?"

"No, perfectly understandable," says the president. "Well, it's now noon, and I'm still unchanged, so I guess I win!"

"Not so fast!" says the little old lady. "For a hundred grand I want to verify things personally! Please drop your pants."

The bank president is a bit flustered, but agrees that in her position he'd want proof as well, so he drops his pants. The little old lady goes over to him and reaches out to feel the organs in question.

"Okay, you win, here's your hundred grand," says the little old lady, handing over a bag of bills. As she does so, her lawyer starts banging his head against the wall and moaning.

"What's wrong with him?" asks the bank president.

"Oh, he's just upset. Poor loser if you ask me. You see, we had a million dollar bet that I would have the President of the Chase Manhattan Bank by the balls by noon today."
 
Lazy Tuesdays and Sunday Feasts
05.31.05 (4:32 am)   [edit]
Last night's trip around Australia's largest disability rights organisations proved a boon for me. I am able to announce that the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations has launced campaign "Enable", which is about putting pressure on the government to employ more people with disability and invest more in disability services, and reverse the terrible restrictions on eligibility for DSP announced in the Federal Budget of May 11.
Statistics show that the number of people employed in the civil service with a disability has declined markedly in recent years. In the old days, the target number of the disabled was set according to the percentage of people in the general population with disability, this is no longer the case.
It's also false to suggest the DSP was too easy to gain access to. In fact, only one out of six applicants succeeded in gaining the Disability Support Pension, making it very hard to access. The government's propoganda about bad backs is deceptive - for one, you would have to be in almost constant pain to qualify for the DSP with a back injury, of which there are also many different types. In fact, there is no basis for suggesting people are claiming welfare rather than working, because the last five years have seen a fairly large reduction of people claiming welfare payments.
What is really needed is a adequate DSP payment and more funding of disablity services that provide vocational rehabilitation. This is a much more sensible and rational approach then simply making new applicants undergo more work tests as far as producing greater numbers of oppurtuities for disabled pensioners to enter the paid workforce.
These points I got off the campaign kit that has been put together by the Aust Federation of Disability Organisations. Interested people can point their browsers to:
http://www.afdo.org.au/_docs/News/ENABLE_Camp aign_Kit.pdf" title="http://www.afdo.org.au/_docs/News/ENABLE_Camp aign_Kit.pdf" target="_blank"http://www.afdo.org.au/_docs/...
or for a text version:
http://www.afdo.org.au/_docs/Mews/ENABLE_Camp aign_Kit.txt" title="http://www.afdo.org.au/_docs/Mews/ENABLE_Camp aign_Kit.txt" target="_blank"http://www.afdo.org.au/_docs/...
Also it passed my mind today to organise a party with finger food and fruit cake on Sunday to keep my good friends informed about the Disability Activities going online and through the traditional forums of popular debate. I myself believe that when Australians know just how difficult it is to get by on such a low income, and to try to constantly look for part-time work when you have an episodic illness like an intellectual or psychiatric disability they will demand changes to the current policy approach which discriminates against people who cannot acheive the same employment rates as people who are healthy.
And that's what I did today (aside from boring things like cleaning up the loungeroom and going shopping that I won't bore you with).
Till next time friends - some more humor is on the way very soon ----
With Affection,
Matthew D
 
Jokes mined from the net - comments welcome!
05.29.05 (6:36 am)   [edit]
Okay, this bloke decides to have a fancy dress party, and so invites his three best friends.
His first mate turns up and is wearing a red tomato. The host says "Why have you come like
that?" and the guest says "I'm red with anger."
The second bloke turns up dressed as a green pepper. The host again inquires why. "I'm
green with envy." says the guest. "okaaay.." says the host.
The third bloke turns up butt naked with his nob in a bowl of custard. "why...?" says the host,
"I'm fuckindiscustard!" he replies.

On a train from London to Manchester, an American was berating the Englishman sitting across from him in the compartment. "You English are too stuffy. You set yourselves apart too much. You think your stiff upper lips make your above the rest of us. Look at me...I'm me, I have Italian blood, French blood, a little Indian blood, and some Swedish blood. What do you say to that?" So the Englishman replied, "Very sporting of your mother."

A general store owner hires a young female clerk with a penchant for very short skirts. One day a young man enters the store, glances at the clerk, and glances
at the loaves of bread behind the counter. "I'd like some raisin bread, please." the man says politely. The clerk nods and climbs up a ladder to reach the raisin bread located on the very top shelf. The man, standing almost directly beneath her, is provided with an excellent view. As the clerk retrieves the bread, a small group of male customers gather around the young man, looking in the same direction.
Pretty soon each person is asking for raisin bread, just to see the clerk climb up and down. After a few trips the clerk is tired and irritated. She stops and fumes at the top of the ladder, glaring at the men standing below. She notices an elderly man standing amongst the throng. "Is yours raisin too?" the clerk yells testily. "No," croaks the feeble old man.... "But its startin' to twitch."
 
The Weekend That Was
05.29.05 (12:50 am)   [edit]
Well the weekend has almost gone.
I didn't get a chance to watch the footy much at all, which is a pity because my favourite team the Fremantle Dockers pulled off an impressive win against the Geelong Cats at Skilled Stadium. We've now won 1 and lost 8 games there. We won from what I could gather, because mainly of Pavlich, Peter Bell's second half heroics and Farmer and the rest of the forwards pretty much shared the goals amongst themselves. With Fremantle though you can never read much into one week's game, it's been up and down again all season for them so far. Apparently our younger brigade shone quite brightly, which is even more pleasing to hear.
The gardening and washing being done, I went off to a meeting on Venezuela on Saturday afternoon. Me and my friends screened a film made by Irish journalists who just happened to be in Venezuela when the CIA carefully orchestrated a coup. The movie was called "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". The journalists were able to capture the emotions and distortions of the news being put out about social democrat President Hugo Chavez - "is he mentally ill?", "peaceful anti-Chavez protestors are being fired upon!" (all rubbish of course) - the first thing the coup achieved was to shut down the public broadcaster channel 8!
I guess most people seemed blown away by the video, we all know of the history of US military adventurism in the South Americas, but even by their own standards this was quite breath-taking in it's deception and the cynicism of the army officers in attempting to get Chavez out of the country before a counter-coup by the Palace guards and mass action headed it off, in 2002.
It's great to see new faces coming along. As I was having a smoke before the movie began, I met a lovely older man called Ian, who talked to me about the trees outside the St Cuthbertson's Church in Darlington, in the Perth Hills. You get enormous gum trees of all types there. And then I got back home. Today it's mostly been the Internet, downloading songs off WinMX, setting up this blog, mostly play-time. Tonight I guess it's reading John Pilger's collection of great journalists, "Tell Me No Lies" - I'm up to the Robert Fisk part. I've been very impressed by Fisk's coverage of the Iraq conflict. He has a webpage set up by an admirer on www.robertfisk.com I think it is...sorry if my memory is failing me.
Tommorrow I get my measurements done for playing a cop - of all things LOL - in a movie a young student director is making called "Underskin" - my job is to keep all the working masses in line in a part involving a Fremantle street demonstration. You don't get paid of course for being an extra, but you are mentioned in the credits, and you get a free feed as well. Love Fremantle, very multicultural with plenty of young people and tourists, the sea air, cafe's everywhere, all makes for a pleasant experience. My good friend the much younger man Mark K is joining me, probably though he will be one of the 50-60 demonstrators. Long credits! :lol:
And there's just so much to talk about - a great abundance of things political and personal and both. So I guess I'll take it one step at a time and end this article here. More to come soon, I'm scouring the net for good jokes and I'll share some soon enough, so keep on coming back for - at the minimum - a good laugh every 24 -30 hours.

With Affection,
Matt
 
Article On Changes To DSP - Comments Welcome!
05.28.05 (10:20 pm)   [edit]
Hi People,

This is an article that will be published soon in Australia's largest alternative press on the government's thuggish and arrogant attitude towards people on incomes through no fault of their own much less than the most junior of civil servants. Your comments are welcome....

With Affection,
Matthew Davis


Disabled workers paying the price

Matthew Davis, Perth

The federal Coalition government, through its May budget, has introduced tax breaks for the rich and a "blame and shame the poor" approach.

The measures, which will take effect on July 1, include tightening eligibility for the Disability Support Pension (DSP) to those unable to work 15 hours or less per week. Currently those unable to work for up to 30 hours a week are eligible. This restriction, along with other measures including subjecting new DSP applicants to a work test, is estimated to save the government $1.4 billion.

Maurice Corcoran, president of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, estimated on May 11 that "60,000 people with disability will be $40 a week worse off under the new DSP rules, while people earning over $100,000 will be $80 a week better off".

Corcoran added that "Young Australians with disabilities will be particularly disappointed. Not only is there no budget allocation for a National Disability Employment Strategy, but in future they will be financially disadvantaged in comparison to their peers."

What PM John Howard's government should be doing is increasing the DSP to a rate that reflects the needs and aspirations of some of Australia's most vulnerable people. The maximum rate for the DSP is variable from a base of about $180 per week, which many understand as below the poverty line, even before the cut-backs.

According to Corcoran, "The significant barriers of discrimination in employment and lack of access to public transport and the built environment have not been addressed in this budget yet again".

Large numbers of DSP recipients - and this is a very varied demographic - actually undertake many hours of unpaid domestic labour, voluntary work or vocational rehabilitation. Furthermore, as Australian Council of Social Service President Andrew McCallum pointed out to the Melbourne Institute conference on March 31, "The government does not need to take harsh action to counter a `crisis of welfare dependency'. In fact, reliance on social security has been falling for seven years. From 1998 to 2002, the proportion of people of working age on social security fell by one-sixth, mainly due to growth in full-time jobs."

The enormous growth of service industry casual employment over the last two to three decades and the collapse in real wage levels has meant that more people without disabilities are looking for casual or part-time positions as secondary sources of income. In addition, many students on subsistence incomes are taking on part-time jobs. As a result, it is more difficult for people who do have disabilities to find the part-time job that's right for them.

People with episodic illnesses like psychiatric and intellectual disorders or chronic fatigue syndrome are likely to fall outside the new regulations and suffer if they pass a work test or are judged capable of working 15-30 hours when feeling well. As one person with a disability, Ken Davis, points out on his blog (
Howard is ruled not by concerns about moving people from "welfare to work" or about "mutual obligation" but by keeping interest rates low in the middle-income conservative electorates and achieving the budget surplus. But would he spend that surplus on disabled workers like us? Or sole parents? I don't think so. His main actions as prime minister so far have been escalating the war in Iraq and trying to hide the hidden costs of Australia's most expensive and
inefficient civil service bureaucracy - immigration minister Amanda Vanstone's system of detention centres.

It is often said that we can judge a society by how well it treats its most vulnerable people. In spite of the miserly increases in propping up childcare funding, Howard's sexist and narrow-minded approach to work in the budget seeks to further entrench people with disabilities and sole parents into a lifetime of uncertainty and poverty.

[Matthew Davis is a DSP recipient and a member of the Socialist Alliance.]
 
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