Fined for not voting in Council Elections ?

For all my life the only people who voted in Council Elections were home owners who pay Rates. Makes sense right ?

So sometime in the last few years the Law must have been changed to make everyone vote for Councils. Since I don't watch TV News, or read newspapers, I was completely unaware that the Law had been changed.

Friday morning I check my mailbox to find a notice from the Electoral Office saying I had 2 weeks to pay a $100 fine for not voting in my local Council elections !!!

It went on to say that if I paid the fine immediately it would only cost me $50, but will be $100 BY the due date.... which just so happens to coincide with me having to pay Rego on my motorcycle. Being on a Pension means you get paid once every 2 weeks and can only just afford to pay phone/internet connection bills after everything else is paid for too.

So I have to wonder why the Electoral Office only gives us 2 weeks to pay a fine that is huge compared to my income level. If not paid on time it will incur late fees and charges that will see it rise above $150. And then I will have to go through the SPURS system to pay the fine off... which also incurs more fees to bring the fine into the region of being $200+.

Seems to me these BASTARDS just keep finding ways to suck money out of everyone, and especially those at the bottom of the income pile... like us Pensioners.

Plain Packaging for Smokes.. what a dumb idea

Seriously.

This is such a dumbarse idea, more stupid than anything else I can think of.

Instead of spending all those dollars forcing this stupid idea through into Law, why not use that power to force Cigarette Companies to STOP using toxins in the manufacturing processes ? Yep, they would have to rely on the good old fashioned drying in the sun or shed method.

The health benefits to the nation would be instantly noticable.

Then the government could also force them to STOP adding coloured and flavoured FRUIT PULP to the tobacco to make it go further and thus increase their PROFITS.

Seriously.

Has the world gone totally INSANE ?

What is wrong with all the Politicians today ?

Can no-one see any sense these days ?

If I was Prime Minister there would be many things I would change for the better... not just looking like I am doing something about the problems.. but actually doing something about the problems.

Grrr at the new Qld Health Minister...

Bloody hell man... answer your email inbox!!!!

Or better yet, employ some lackies who will do their job properly and insure you read important mail.

Mr Health Minister.... Lawrence Springborg.. seems either you don't read emails, or your lackies don't pass them onto you, or you don't give a shit and couldn't be bothered to read what you need to know.

So now I have to print out the letter and hand it to you directly when you appear in my town again.. maybe you might read it then. And maybe then you might realise how important it is for you to do some damn thing about the Flouride Issue facing we Queenslanders.

Maybe you will learn how it is killing people, and thus how you as Health Minister could save 40 or 50,000 lives each year... simply by turning off the Flouride.

Maybe you would learn about the very negative health effects being recorded world-wide in countries and towns where Flouride has been in the water supply for years ?

Maybe you would read important statements by Professionals, Scientists and Health Care Researchers who prove beyond all doubt how bad this Flouride in water really is for the people you represent ?

Now that would be doing your job properly wouldn't it ?

Vinnies don't do Lay Buy !

Here's a sign of the times folks... another in a very long line of things to notice if you can that show us where we are in the big scheme of things.

St. Vinnies.. the place were so many of Australia's poor buy used clothing and furniture.. since that is all they can afford to buy.. has stopped allowing Lay-Buy since January this year !!

Seriously folks.

I went in to lay-buy a decent entertainment unit and was told flat out that they don't do lay-by. I asked since when and the old woman told me since January.

Then I asked her, "How are poor people supposed to buy stuff then ?"

I got no reply.. just a look.

This little snippet should tell you how bad things are getting when St. Vincent DePaul can't help the poor anymore to get furniture items... one small cog in the bigger machine.. and that cog isn't doing it's job anymore. Read what you will from that.

Winter .. or who turned the heater off ?

Three nights this week I woke up freezing cold, and it was too cold to get out of bed to go find another blanket, so I just curled up and waited for sleep to overtake me. Then woke up an hour later still freezing.

Still, that was nothing compared to riding my bike to the Big SMOKE a couple of weeks ago to see Karise Eden sing live. At 7:30am it was still -2.. I was heading out to the bike then.

By the time I got to the end of my street I was thinking of turning back for home!! Damn it was so cold.. my face hurt so much in the open helmet that it gave me a neck-ache and headache!

But the stubborn part of me, the not-a-wimp part wouldn't let me turn around and so once I got over the range and descended the air began to warm up. Just in time for a breakfast stop at Aratula and to peel off all the layers of clothing, coz now I was sweating golfballs... yep I have no balance at all.

The rest of the day was wonderful and warm, and Karise was truly amazing to watch live.. loved it. Bought the album and haven't stopped listening to it yet... two weeks so far. Even turned some friends onto her performances who had never heard of her before.

So, my original question is Who turned off that bloody big heater in the sky ?

Can we have it back on please ? Coz I am starting to be one of those old fogey's who try to avoid the cold at all costs.... not really but it sure seems that way some times. Most days my house never warms up enough to take socks and jacket off.. and yet in Summer it is stinking hot indoors all the time.

Anyway.. that's me late bleat for this month so far...... come on Spring time !!

Karise!! Karise!! Karise!!

She did it again.

A few weeks back I saw a young Aussie girl sing "It's a man's world" on the Voice website.. and from the moment she began to sing I melted, I was spellbound, addicted to this girl's raw and powerful voice... and how it made me feel, how it made my eyes water in joy.

So I followed her TV career in the hope she would make it even amongst the well trained singers and professionals who also got through their audition. I found out she has had a hard life and that made me even more hopeful of seeing her do very well.

Each time Karise sang it made tears of Joy run down my cheeks.. every bloody time.. and I am still addicted to how she makes me feel when she sings.

So tonight I got to listen to her twice. Her own song first, which was bloody brilliant. The type of thing that draws you into the story being told and how it feels. She showed us inside Karise far more than any interview could.

But then she backed that up later with "Stay with me Baby". Holy hell... blown away again!! Stupid watery eyes and wet cheeks again. I was moved.. deeply, totally and irreparably moved.

Along with maybe 7 or 8 others from that show, Karise Eden will have an amazing career.. and I will forever be a great fan. I will buy her albums. I will tell people to "be quiet" when she comes on the radio. And I will enjoy it all as much as I did the first time I heard her voice.

The Headline says "Flogged".....

I don't believe what I am seeing on the Nine MSN front page this morning.

In America.. typical... some nosey neighbour videos a bloke who gives his step-kid two smacks on the arse. And even though we can't hear what is being said, the guy recording video claims it is because the kid dropped the ball, he also claims the "Cowardly" man "FLOGGED" the kid.

Since when has a smack or two on the arse ever been Flogging??

To get a flogging means you were punched around a lot, or severely lashed with whips or other weapons.

Never can anyone say two smacks on the arse with a belt is equal to a Flogging.

Seriously.. the namby-pamby bleeding hearts have screwed things up for everyone when they don't even understand the difference between a smack and copping a flogging. Dickheads.