Sunday, October 30, 2005

Police shoot-to-kill powers

In the war on terror, there is a proposal of giving police the power to shoot-to-kill.

I have mixed feelings about this one….

It is good in one sense that if there is some little sheet-head running around with his bomb strapped to his body, or even his proteges running around in groups pack-raping Australian girls simply because they are not wearing some shitty rag designed by a confused paedophile. In this sense, I am very happy for Police to have a Glock on their hip because there are 15 bullets that can be best described as "a damn good start!"

BUT, the problem with this is that Police *are* human and with human nature, mistakes can be made either inadvertantly or willfully. The Police have a damn tough job at the best of times (I was going to join myself but didn't think much of the idea of fronting up to a domestic to help some woman being beaten and looking down the barrel of a 12-gauge being wielded by some drunk. Don't scoff - it happens!) but there are officers out there who bend the rules they have because they have to in order to catch *someone*… *anyone* thanks to insipid laws that limit them in so many ways.

How many times have you heard and seen underage crims being sent on their way with a mere slap on the wrist simply because they have blue eyes/red hair/freckles thanks to their great, great, grandmother/father being a fullblood? Yes - you can claim 'indigenous' status with just 1/16 of the heritage in you. Does anyone think it strange that the noisiest 'activists' are almost as white as the sheets that the KKK wear? Almost makes me wonder if they’re a stooge placed in the 'ranks' in order to help the Knights justify their actions….

I say that the shoot-to-kill powers be extended only to Police Officers involved in Tactical Response Groups or in situations where it be deemed necessary: this being like in Port Arthur where they should have taken that demented freak, Martin Bryant, and filled him with enough lead to sink the Titanic - again (but no, instead they were instructed to hold off because the government saw an opportunity to disarm the people. On a side note: dictators are always the first to disarm the people because they are the ones who got to where they were by the sword and they will die by the sword - take away the swords and declare yourself dictator-for-life and you can pass all sorts of stupid and inane laws!)

Police Officers on normal beat duty should not have these powers because there are a minority (like in everything else) who will use the powers in the manner in which they were not intended and innocent people will feel the brunt of it.

Perfect example of abuse of Police powers: (which has happened to all of us or someone we know at some time)
Driver is pulled over for a minor infringement and driver debates that it happened (eg: excessive speed reading on handheld radar or laser speed detection device but reading has come off another vehicle or has been used incorrectly resulting in an incorrect reading (which happens more often than people think and Police will admit to)). Upon questioning of Police Officer, he/she realises that they are wrong and caught dead-to-rights on it. They will then 'create' a diversionary tactic in which to justify pulling the vehicle over - this usually involves doing a roadside safety check on the vehicle - something which 95% of all vehicles will fail in one way or another.

Unfortunately, the problem that exists was not created by the Police but due to lawmakers who create laws that are selectively enforced by Police because *they* get raked over the coals by idiotic minority groups for doing their jobs. It also doesn't help when you have illiterate morons in shitty 6-cylinder Commodores & Falcons, and 4-cylinder wannabe boy racers in pretty little girlie cars with big wheels and milo tin exhausts (that sound like explosive diarrhoea) giving the Police lip and attitude because they got caught for doing something stupid. No wonder the cops are humourless when you try to talk to one.

In any case, the willingness to abuse the law in order to help balance the budget is so ingrained now that it won't be swayed with some words from the Commissioner or anyone else.

So the end result now has to be: NO shoot-to-kill laws for beat Police!

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Pauline Hanson & Ex-Gratia Payments

Well… look at that….

It seems that if you are a stooge of the Beattie Government, you can be sent to jail for corrupt practices and then sprung again on a technicality. You can then be on the fast-track to an ex-gratia payment of $475,000 and a typical bludger's job nearer to home where your ineptitude can continue unabated.

If you happen to be a political opponent who is a genuine threat to the union-driven pawns who sit on their lazy backsides and you get sent to prison on a conjured technicality and then freed because you shouldn't have been there in the first place, you get told to "bugger off" should the hand come out for exactly the same amount.

Can anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

I can just hear it now…. All the anti-Hanson-ites out there cheering and laughing at her for being denied the payment. Mind you, these are the very same MORONS who say that George Bush is illiterate and incompetent and only got to where he is thanks to daddy's money; that he started a war just to get oil, etc etc etc. Somehow I suspect that the mental midgets who rely on 'factual' information from their marijuana dealer who hasn't seen the business end of a shower for a fortnight, may not see the problem with this.

Do you want to know something? Do you want to know THE FACTS? Oh wait… I forgot that you left-wing, Marxist-types don't deal in facts - you deal in what you think the world is inside your head and that anyone who disagrees with this lovely, happy, friendly world view is a xenophobe, a homophobe, an envirophobe and maybe even a 'light globe' since you clowns have to have an 'obe' in any name you use.

Your so-called 'facts' are based on what the media tells you from their 'enlightened' position but continue to tell only the bits that suit their own political agenda.

Oh wait? You DO actually do your own research? Where? From the New York Times? From CNN? From the Michael Moore website? Yeah - good going… you looked for 'facts' in all the places where the opinion is the same as your own. If you were a truly objective individual and the free-thinker that you claim to be, you would have looked in other places where the opinion expressed actually differed from your own. You also forget that other people ARE entitled to an opinion and that opinion IS allowed to be different from your own. Welcome to the real world - on second thoughts, stay away - I don't want fools like you in my world.

The simple fact of the matter is that if you got your 'facts' about Pauline Hanson from some trashy rag like The Courier Mail, or worse, The Gold Coast Bulletin or The Toowoomba Chronicle, then you really have made up your mind about a subject without knowing the facts. Congratulations! You may now join the queue to get Senator Bob Brown's job down in Tasmania when his token, halfwitted, ill-informed arse rolls off to the big MELON* patch in the sky. (*Melon: What greenies in this world REALLY are: Green on the outside; yellow on the inside; gives everyone the shits).

Similarly, if you sit and laugh at GWB and claim him to be illiterate and everything else negative that you have conjured up about him based on the 10-second spot on the news that is shown on a weekly basis here (ie: exactly the same amount that I see), you either have ESP or are an utter failure at objective thinking (this means: making your mind up before knowing the full story).

The war in IRAQ is over oil? Holy crap! George TOLD you that? Man - that would be worth a fortune to the media to have the inside track on what he's thinking and he actually tells YOU and only you! I'm impressed. So, what am I thinking right now? Yep: "you're a total dickhead!"

The FACTS underlying here are:
- nobody really knows if Pauline Hanson is racist or not. She does and ONLY she does. You know jack shit about what she thinks and what her motivation is.

- Pauline Hanson was either denied true justice, or that true corruption exists at the state political level was the reason behind an inept judge getting that payment and PH being refused.

I'm betting on the corruption thingy……
Peter Beattie treats the public much the same way that Joh Bjelke Peterson used to, but at least Joh did some things for this state (as well as himself) as opposed to PB who just self-serves himself. He's just the same old bludger now as he was when he was secretary for the Station Masters Union when he was in Queensland Rail. The motives were driven by corruption then and they're driven by corruption now.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

In memory of a very funny man.....

I was sent this as an email today stating that this was something that is attributed to Ronnie Barker (of The Two Ronnies). I can't find anything that says differently, so I will leave it as his.... for now....


This was originally shown on BBC TV back in the seventies. Ronnie Barker could say all this without a snigger (though god knows how many takes). Irony is that they received not one complaint, must have been that the speed of delivery was too much for the whining herds. Try getting through it without converting the spoonerisms as you read.

This is the story of Rindercella and her sugly isters.

Rindercella and her sugly isters lived in a marge lansion. Rindercella worked very hard frubbing sloors, emptying poss pits, and shivelling shot. At the end of the day, she was knucking fackered.

The sugly isters were right bugly astards. One was called Mary Hinge, and the other was called Betty Swallocks; they were really forrible huckers; they had fetty sweet and fetty swannies. The sugly isters had tickets to go to the ball, but the cotton runts would not let Rindercella go.

Suddenly there was a bucking fang, and her gairy fodmother appeared. Her name was Shairy Hithole and she was a light rucking fesbian. She turned a pumpkin and six mite wice into a hucking cuge farriage with six dandy ronkeys who had buge hollocks and dig bicks

The gairy fodmother told Rindercella to be back by dimnlight otherwise, there would be a cucking falamity.

At the ball, Rindercella was dancing with the prandsome hince when suddenly the clock struck twelve. "Mist all chucking frighty!!!" said Rindercella, and she ran out tripping barse over ollocks, so dropping her slass glipper.

The very next day the prandsome hince knocked on Rindercella's door and the sugly isters let him in. Suddenly, Betty Swallocks lifted her leg and let off a fig bart. "Who's fust jarted??" asked the prandsome hince. "Blame that fugly ucker over there!!" said Mary Hinge. When the stinking brown cloud had lifted, he tried the slass glipper on both the sugly isters without success and their feet stucking funk.

Betty Swallocks was ducking fisgusted and gave the prandsome hince a knack in the kickers. This was not difficult as he had bucking fuge halls and a hig bard on.

He tried the slass glipper on Rindercella and it fitted pucking ferfectly.

Rindercella and the prandsome hince were married. The pransome hince lived his life in lucking fuxury, and Rindercella lived hers with a follen swanny.

Life Size Dolls


HOLLAND: New fast lanes for car sharers on Amsterdam roads have had an unexpected side effect - they've led to a boom in lifesize doll sales.

www.autoexpress.co.uk

...and with Amsterdam probably being the best place in the world to purchase a life-size 'doll'.... >:)

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Heritage Building Society & Rewards Points #2

Good news!

It seems that NOT being abusive or snakey at people who are just trying to do a job has once again proven to me to be the way to approach issues.

I have a mate who works on intimidation and abuse (well, he used to) to get his way and would then progressively abuse more and more people up the management tree until he got the result he wanted.

I received a phone call a couple of hours ago and was informed that I will be reissued with new passes in order to use the points I earned from using my Visa card with Heritage Building Society.

Not only did they give me the 1 month I enquired about, they were also kind enough to reissue them for a further 6 months.

Thank you, Heritage!

Since there are no sick family members to deal with or other major issues, I just need to find someone who is willing to go with me.... :) I've got no excuse if the passes run out this time.

Hey Nilknarf *.... (just kidding... coming up from Victoria just to go on rides is silly - like something I would do.... :) Did I mention that I once drove 2 days each way just to spend a weekend in Adelaide? Never been there before so it seemed like a good idea at the time. It certainly blew some cobwebs out of the Mustang too! :)

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Indy 2005

What a weekend at Indy down on the coast! *phew*

As per usual, there was the action that differentiates this event from almost all other race events around the world: girls on balconies who will display their 'wares' with the help of a bit of alcohol.

Of course, many of them are professional types as I see them enter the circuit in the morning and leave in the afternoon. They apparently make some good coin from it, so if they're happy doing what they do then I have no problem with it.

What makes me wonder about is the blokes with the beer on other hotel balconies and down on the street. Anyone would think that they have never seen a pair of tits before in their lives.

Yeah - OK - I tend to agree with Ron The Cable Guy (or was it Ron White?) (rent a copy of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour - VERY funny!) that if a bloke sees one woman naked, he wants to see the rest of them naked as well - even the old bikie molls with their bits hanging down around their waist. "Things that make you go..... Brrrr-rrrr-rrr *shudder*"

But to cheer and chant and then abuse a girl for not lifting her shirt? Maybe I'm just getting old or something. Hooties are nice to look at but treat them like the sun: have a quick glance and admire the scenery and then find something else to look at without making a big deal about it :) This is an especially handy principle to work on should the girl that they're attached to be hanging onto the arm of a bloke that makes your average testosterone-enhanced gorilla look like a 98lb weakling and has the temperament of your average man-hating, rabid lesbian whose 'cycle' lasts the entire 28 days!

There were some interesting things happening while working trackside - I mean, apart from the getting in for free and having a free pass to give to a friend to that they could get in for free as well. Who would have thought that it would be so hard to GIVE away a FREE 4-day pass into the Indy?? I have the FREE passes of 2 other people sitting at home with my own unused pass. Go figure...

Apparently there is also a big fight going on at racetracks all around the country now as those individuals who work the flags (Flaggies) are now seemingly not allowed to do their job and thus show the blue flag to slower traffic thereby allowing faster vehicles to pass. The order must now come from Race Control.

I don't care what anyone says - you can have your sensors on the track and be able to predict when and where a vehicle will pass but having worked on racetracks for the past 11 years, those up in the tower are NOT qualified to make a call about what is happening down on the track. Sure - they are very experienced people up in the tower but there is nothing quite like being on site. This "technology for technology sake" ideal that the wannabe technophiles have can be very disturbing at times. Will the computer push the cars or bikes out of the sand traps as well? I think not.

Anyway, with the events of the past year, we forgot to book the room for the extra night down at Sufferers Parasite (Surfers Paradise) and ended up having to get out of the room on Saturday morning.
Many, many, MANY thanks to Nick & Nora for being the most charming and pleasant hosts in putting us up for the night. I don't know how I can repay the favour but I'll keep trying :)

It rained on the first 2 days, but I can usually fluke it that I will be under a tarp somewhere. Failing that, standing in the rain is a good option as well. Why are people so afraid of rain? Are they all poms or something? Was there a bar of soap on the footpath? :D

It turned out that I was fortunate again on my corner with no major incidents happening. The crowd love to see crashes but some poor bugger has to pay for it! I was also a bit upset about one crew member from one of the V8 Supercar teams having a go at my dad in pit lane because his foot was about half an inch over the yellow line. He redeemed himself by apologising later so I won't make a big deal about which team and giving him a big raspberry over it. Being in a crew can be stressful when there is the money involved that there is and it doesn't help when you get *some* marshals who become wannabe cops when they go on duty (my dad isn't one of them).

So... anyone else want a job at Indy next year? I got my dad a job there and he is now based permanently in pit lane. I get a mate a job there and he's in pit lane in his first year. I've been there 7 years and never been in the lane once! Oh well...

One final note... isn't it amazing how everyone has a comment when they see something out of the ordinary but their comments are so lacking in imagination that you can hear the same thing called out 20 times from 20 different people in about 10 minutes! Since the Indy circuit is so long, we ride bicycles in & out of the circuit at the start & end of the day. It saves a lot of time and makes life so very simple. The mate whose first year it was on track had this loaner bike that stripped the thread on the pedal and needed a hand - so I hooked up a rope to the seatpost of my bike and towed him out and back as we didn't have bits to fix it. by the 4th day, he decided to ride it without a pedal on one side because it was easier to do that than listen to intellectual midgets so lacking in wit that it is almost impossible to put into words.

Politically Correct

Just a little social humour.

How to tell the difference between Liberals, Conservatives and Albertans (I know I'm not from Alberta but I really like the solution)

Pose the following question:

You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, raises the knife, and charges. You are carrying a Glock 40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.
What do you do?

*LIBERAL ANSWER*

Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!
Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the Clock have appropriate safety built into it? Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children? Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me or would he be content just to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? Should I call 9-1-1? Why is this street so deserted? We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day and make this a happier, healthier street, that would discourage such behavior. This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.


*CONSERVATIVE ANSWER*

BANG!


*ALBERTAN'S (& Jai's) ANSWER*

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! *click*.... (sounds of reloading)... BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! *click*

Heritage Building Society & Rewards Points

I've been banking with Heritage Building Society for a bit over 20 years now. Things have been pretty busy over the last 6 months what with work and the problems with mum having cancer and losing the battle. Let's see if they come to the party...


Hello!

I have a couple of passes that I have redeemed through Heritage Rewards for Dreamworld which have expired by 1 day.

I have contacted Heritage Rewards and was told (paraphrasing) "tough!".
Dreamworld have told me that they will not honour the passes because they say that they will not get paid if they try to present them to Heritage with an expired date.

I realise that I should have used them sooner but there are circumstances as to why this is. Feel free to call me to discuss these in the attempt to try and come to an amicable resolution.

I would like to add that I didn't abuse any HBS staff (even after trolling through the endless set of menus on the "help" line) and was polite but was still not given much help.

I will not get abusive now as it will not achieve anything but might I ask that the passes be extended by 1 month so that I may use them as they were converted from points I have earned and redeemed. Dreamworld have told me that Heritage gets billed afterwards for the passes so it's not like HBS is going to be out of pocket on this.

I am happy to make up the shortfall on points should there be a difference between when I redeemed them for the passes and now should there be a difference.

Thanks for your time. I eagerly await your reply.

ps: letter posted on my blog: www.spanishredneck.blogspot.com.au

Monday, October 24, 2005

Philips Senseo

My mate Nick Charles (complimenting half to Nora Charles) from The Thin Man Returns once advised me to post any letters on here should I write to anyone. I think this is a good start.

For those who have not seen the advertisement on TV, the Philips Senseo is a coffee machine that originated in Europe and has *finally* made it to Australia. I bought mine over there and brought it back because it is that good - even if it did mean that I would be relying on friends to mail replacement pods over to me.

I'm now down on my knees begging Moccona to import some decent coffee milk to use with the machine as well because there is no equivalent on sale here in Oz.


Hello!

This is not a complaint - about the Senseo anyway….

I was in Europe last year and managed to use a Senseo while in Holland. Upon my return, I approached Philips (email) and they put me through to Breville who said that there were no plans to import the device, so I purchased one in Germany and brought it back with me along with many, many coffee pods (Customs rolled their eyes at me but didn't complain :)

(stay with me, this is going somewhere….)

Anyway, upon my return, I discovered that Australia is …well… at the *rsehole of the world when it comes to coffee quality and variety and if Moccona and Philips *really* want to help this device gain a hold here in Australia (as opposed to the Russell Hobbes version which sells it's pods for a disgustingly expensive rate), I would like to make a suggestion that will be both advantageous to your company as well as myself.

Are you ready? Here it comes….

** Please, please, PLEASE start importing some REAL coffee milk like they have in Europe to use with the Senseo (did I say "please"? If not: "pretty please with sugar on top")

Using the Senseo (and the RussHob wannabe) is …uh… CRAP with normal milk. The same with cream. It is only bearable with 'The White Death' (Coffee Mate) - but NOTHING will sell this product like word of mouth and COMPLETING THE PACKAGE!! Senseo coffee is consistent and amazingly good when black but it is SO much better with the real deal in coffee milk. I can understand 'market forces' and supply-and-demand and such, but is there really a point to only half-completing a job? I see the Senseo dying on the market if left to be used with normal milk to be 'enjoyed'.

Please, do not think that you have seen the product of which I speak if you have never been out of Australia - it is not available here. I have been to specialist delicatessans and coffee manufacturers (local) and all sorts of places and people just DO NOT know what I am talking about unless they have been to the continent and actually used this coffee milk. I've even approached Aldi (supermarket) and asked them when or if they will be importing the milk. This is considering that they are based in Hannover (Germany) and even their smallest outlets over there have (maybe) 6 or 8 different brands available.

Shall I say "please" again?

On the upside, at least I won't be relying on friends in Holland & Germany sending me care packages of coffee pods anymore…. :)
I notice that there is a cash back offer on the device in Myer at the moment - I need to work on my mates getting one each so that I can have decent coffee when I go over there instead of (yecch) instant coffee [even though I assume that the Senseo *is* instant coffee, it is SO much better….]

Please be kind to this coffee addict.

Thank you for your time

**** *****
Ph: ** **** **** a/h
M: **** *** *** anytime

Ps: letter posted on my blog: www.spanishredneck.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Throwing good money after bad....

Those who know me know that one of my pet hates is that disgusting and foul waste of money that was constructed on the site of Lang Park in Brisbane. Of course I am referring to the Suncorp (Scumcorp) Stadium. $400 million of football stadium built out of QUEENSLAND taxpayers money so that BRISBANE can try to alleviate a bit of it's whiney I-wanna-be-like-Sydney-and-Melbourne disease.

We have hospitals that are having wards closed down (which started with the second most inept "health care professional" after "Dr" Jayant Patel: Wendy Edmonds. The minister for health who progressively closed down several extremely important wards at regional centres around the state. She's about 3 health ministers ago and pretty much the lowest on the "health care professional" tree. Here's a hint to what her qualifications were....

"Don't breathe - don't move. I'll just move behind this lead screen. (*bzzz* *click*) OK - you may get dressed and go now."

What does a stadium have to do with hospitals? How about Police? Teachers?

It all has to do with a fiddle-fuddling, jibber-jabbering, Joh Bjelke Peterson wannabe by the name of Peter Beattie (or Petie Beater if you see him for the feeder-of-chooks that he has proved himself to be on oh-so many occasions).

Here we have a state premier who seems to work on the old adage that if you surround yourself with fat people then you will look thin. His idea must have been that if you surround yourself with stupid people, the most gullible of people will think that you are not quite so intellectually challenged. Unfortunately, some of his ministers are obviously not as dumb as he once thought as for people like Wendy Edmonds and Liddy Clarke to be given ministerial positions means that they have the goods on him. If only I knew that info as well - I would make an excellent transport minister.

Before anyone says anything - don't go thinking this is a defence for Lawrie Springborg. This cretin should have been charged under the Domestic Violence Act about a week before the last state election but it is plain to see that he wasn't. Oh yes - remember the old days when people would say (while the state was in the hands of Joh): "Queensland Police: The best force that money CAN buy!"

Is there a point to this? You bet there is....

Here is Queensland. Broke. Screaming out for money. Can't afford police, nurses, teachers, hospitals, air conditioning for schools (or even to remove the asbestos off the roof of the schools). Queensland DOES have the money for ministers to redecorate their offices every time they move into a new one (WITH an upgrade of the air con system). They also have their fuel paid for when they wander aimlessly around the state while attacking cafe owners at Tin Can Bay, presumably not because of the environmental issue but most likely because the minister isn't scoring any coin out of the venture for the budget. Oh dear... seems the utter mismanagement of speed cameras in the state isn't enough to sponsor The Beater's 'study' trips overseas.

Now we get to the news of the last week (or maybe a bit more) where we hear that the Gold Coast is to get it's own football stadium. Fancy that... still short on police & teachers & nurses & hospital beds & the waiting lists are still at record lengths & illiterate halfwits labelled as 'heroes' by other illiterate halfwits (employed by Newscorp & such) get immediate medical attention after falling down while playing a game. Pity about those who actually NEED medical attention through no fault or stupidity of their own!

OK - since the last StuporStadium was handed over free-of-charge to The Donkeys who I detest not because they're not *my* team or anything pathetic like that but because everyone else thinks they are 'heroes' (simple-minded, gullible fools!)
Can you imagine what would happen if a father and son wanted to go to this PUBLICLY FUNDED venue to have a bit of quality time? Yeah - I know what would happen as well.

How many guesses does one need to work out if this new publicly funded venture down on the Gold Coast will have similar sized padlocks on the door?

I say that steps need to be taken to resolve important issues first. Empty out the senior 'executive' building at the end of George St and plonk in a few of those schools around the state that have been denied air conditioning because they are "just outside the boundary of those who need it" (ignoring the fact that the school is usually a demountable building with a perfect hiding place for brown snakes underneath while the outside temperature hits 40-degrees-plus.

Let us see how well parliament performs in those conditions while the future of the country and the world get a bit of luxury to help them learn how to run the world rather than learn how to run it into the ground.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Productive

I can't help it - I have to skite!

After this time of year that I hate so much (August/September) as it is so busy with something on almost every weekend (I know - I know - the answer is simple: "don't go to all those things!"). I just don't know what it is about that time of year that spurs everyone into action that they want to do things during these 2 months.

Anyway, I had almost a full 3/4 of a weekend to myself where I wasn't running around picking up stuff from one person or dropping stuff off to another. Not having to go to the local mega-hardware store to get building items while weaving between the blokes pushing prams with screaming kids (since when did a hardware joint become a shopping centre and thus a location for mindless wandering???)

After getting home on Saturday and avoiding going out again, I managed to relocate a 6' steel cabinet down the back and restock it with over a quarter-tonne of kitty litter (ask if you must :) and various bits destined to go on the hotrod, as well as reloading a huge kitchen bench with doors and wood onto the trailer to go to the investment property for when I rebuild the kitchen there.
Some heavy wood benches got set up in the garage and I managed to start the teardown of the engine out of the Mustang (which is in very good condition for a motor with 140,000 miles on the clock). The inside part of the split-system aircon has been hung on the wall; a few more movie posters were blockmounted, framed and hung; and another coat of paint inside the linen closet before I put the shelving back in.
All the while, cat-dog is following me around to supervise the work (I call her cat-dog because, being a persian-X, she is possessive and needs to keep an eye on me. It's good to feel wanted :)

Man it feels so great to get some of those jobs done.

It's a good start but there's still 515 more things on the task list to do. That's the main problem with having a PDA - you think of 3 jobs to replace the one just done and you can't conveniently forget about them.

I'm not looking forward to digging out half the yard to lay the concrete slab to go under the decks (yet to be built) but I think I will cheat and hire an auger to dig the post holes for me.

Now... back to me whinging about society again.... :)

More bombs.

So it has happened again....

Terrorists have again struck by detonating 3 bombs over in Bali and killed a significant number of locals and tourists.

What are they thinking?

"We must crush the infidel dogs by blowing up our own people!"

"I will get lots of virgins and a joyous afterlife by murdering innocents in the name of Allah!"

"I will blow myself up because I am far from being a man & are too cowardly to take responsibility for my actions!"


What this tells me:
- if Allah really does provide virgins and a joyous afterlife after attacking innocents in outright cowardice, then Allah is indeed a spoilt little child who deserves one hell of a spanking from a true and genuine deity.
- Allah is not good nor powerful if he/she/it condones this.
- If Allah is indeed good and mighty and powerful, one can only hope that those who murder women and children and people not interested in this pathetic fiction created by a confused paedophile (Mohammed) are facing an eternity of torture and pain commensurate with their acts, and then some.
- Those who are peaceful in their practices will be rewarded because THEY are the ones with the true enlightenment.
- Did I mention that suicide bombers are weak simpletons who pretend to wear courage as a mask for their inability to realise that they are a waste of oxygen and a blight on the name of their great Allah? Who would want a cretin to worship them? Not me.

So - this leads to the point about Indonesia and their treatment of criminals.

You have a known terrorist and the leader of an organisation who has no problem with attacking women and children and those unable to defend themselves (regardless of religion), and he gets a couple of years in prison.
You have a non-muslim who effectively imports ice into Antarctica and she gets 20 years.

Any amount of any drug can be purchased on the streets of Bali for a very cheap price but the law is tough on drugs coming IN to the country.

Hasn't anyone worked it out?

Here is a country that is rife with corruption but they choose to feign a justice-reigns attitude over one aspect of the law - what does that tell you?

It tells me that the criminals don't like competition.

I say: let the known Muslim terrorists stay in Australia. Let them live amongst us - just make sure that every town and suburb that has a football oval is left unlocked and accessible 24 hours a day. Why? So they can double as a suicide-bomb testing range.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Last days at these prices (free!) Bring your friends! Bring your Mullah! Bring their friends too! Come and test your home-made device in the company of all your compatriots just to make sure that it works. If it does work - GOOD; if not, trade some notes and try again... and again... and again."