Hilarious! - the internet is for porn

It is hilarious and it is for porn... :-P



Delicate Genius Blog » Hilarious! - the internet is for porn

Stop With The Gimme Mentality

The fall out of the budget continues and the whining has started about the tax cuts only being $10 to the common man per week – not even enough to cover the cost of petrol rises.  Of course, those on higher incomes are the targets of the media vitriol and want the higher incomes to “give back” what they have been given.  But if you do the maths, the cuts are an evenish 4% on every band.  In fact, the tax cuts are fair, the question of course is should they have been more not should they be disproportionately skewed downwards.

Also, apparently only 3% of the Australian population earns over $125K and therefore any tax cut at that level is going to be a drop in the ocean in comparison.  So the question has to be considered if 4% is only $10 to the common average wage earner, what would be enough?  To give $100 of relief, therefore you need to cut taxes by 40% and that is not going to happen.

So people need to start realising that education, going to university and bettering ones self are going to be more important in the future.  Funnily enough, that was the subject of this mornings Sunrise programs viewer feedback and they were reading viewer emails with the consensus of dropping out of school at 15-16 ruined my life.  Not all of us can be a Gerry Harvey, John Singleton or even Frank Lowy – all who had minimal schooling, but made good – and that people need to ensure that their kids do the best that they can and give themselves the best chance at success (and how you define success is also broad and down to the individual) at life.

So ends today’s sermon :-)

 

SPECIAL EDITION: Lime Kettles Budget Review

Refrained from posting on the train as I wanted to peruse the press and find some tid-bits here and there about the budget.

Firstly let me start with the comment in p3 of the Aust Financial Review which says in bold writing about Peter Costello:

“He couldn’t risk things going pear shaped as he draws closer to gaining the Leadership”

Yes that’s right kids, the budget of the nation and where people base life changing decisions (e.g does the wife/mother work or stay at home?, do we retire now or in 5 yrs?) is determined on the basis of a single man’s political leadership aspirations.

When will we realise that we cannot combine the interests of the country at large with the interests of individuals and their political careers.  Why is the fiscal responsibility of the country given to a man who is more self centred than right wing?  I could live with high taxes and the like if I knew that the man making the decisions was doing it for the good of the country, but what I don’t like is that this budget was a cheap grab at electoral votes.

So a history lesson for us.  During the last election, Labor was crucified because they refused to rule out interest rate hikes.  Liberal’s lampooned Beazley about this and used a smear campaign that said a vote for Labor is a vote for higher interest rates.  End result, the Liberals won but our rates went up under a Liberal leadership.

Now we are being bought by tax reductions, yet the main feeling is that this will increase interest rates.  Whilst people will recall the days that we lived with 17% rates, the level of gearing in society was a lot lower and the mortgage to income ratio was also lower.  Large rate rises should be avoided at all costs and as such, again I come back to Costello delivering tax cuts for votes rather than for long term benefit of the country.  If Banks would stop being so ready to lend money against home equity, we wouldn’t be in this cycle, but the fact is we are.

What is the good if tax cuts deliver 4-5% savings on the income if the trade off is a 10% increase in expenditure.  Whilst I am happy to receive my tax cut, I am also concerned of the knock on effects over the next 6 months.

On other things in general… why are we so caught up about High to Middle to Low income earners.  I earn a “high income” by definition, but I am by no means cash rich.  It seems that the Tall Poppy Syndrome is well in effect when everyone says that low income earners should be given a better helping hand.  Well how about low income earners do something about it?  When they were wagging school, quitting in Year 10 and saying University is for nerds, well I bet you regret it now.  I know that that sounds harsh, but everyone I know at work worked hard to get where they are today and is now reaping those benefits.  It seems that I can hear A Current Affair or Today Tonight now, knocking on the door of some dole bludger in “Struggle Street” who will complain about all us ‘Richies’ in our Porsches.  *yawn*

Also, I hope whoever is sprouting the theory that there should be some tax relief to help people pay for Private Schools, they should be shot.  Private Schools are already heavily funded by the Government greater than the schools that they are supposed to be running for us.  To think that people should then get further discounts in their taxes to pay for that should be ashamed.  If you want to go to private school, fine but it must remain user pays!

Superannuation – the less tax on this the better.  We should try to make people self sufficient on their super to reduce pension costs and hence the removal of all exit taxes after the age of 60 is good.  However, we are yet to see the first people retiring on full working life super (ie people who started work in 1987) and wont for many a year yet.  The advice has to be don’t count on anything in this years budget being still in force when these people (namely myself) retire in 20-30 years time.

Funding for ChildCare places.  I am all for making child care more affordable, but what about making life more affordable in general so that mum can stay at home during the child raising years?  I would prefer to have a higher allowance for stay at home mums.  It would have more social benefits too to ensure that kids are looked after at home instead of pseudo foster care via Child Care Centres.  I never blame the parents for having to put kids through this as it’s the way society is now that 2 incomes is essentially a requirement today.  If Howard was more about family values, he’d be doing all he can to assist people keep the family unit together.

That’s about it… I think I have ranted enough.  Feel free to flame or praise me.

Media Circus?

The link below is to the smh.com.au blog for feedback on the Miner Rescue. Yes, amongst the bagging of the media is some praise for the guys who got out and their rescuers.

Surely media people must read this stuff and realise that they are going way too far with over the top coverage. I think any journalist who reads these comments should take the advice of the masses... please be informative and accurate and cut the jingoistic rubbish.



The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: News Blog / Trapped miners freed Archives

Late Posting Today

Battery died on the PC this morning before I could get around to writing something… now am in the office, and thru the usual morning email tick-tacking.

Two things today.  Firstly the miners in Beaconsfield are out and whilst I think its amazing how lucky these guys are and that they have been incredibly lucky, I can’t say that I will be sorry to see the media circus die down a bit.  Yes, tragic that one man died, amazing that two men survived (apparently so well) and that the other miners are all heroes too for their own bravery and dedication, but puh-leez can we stop now with the media coverage.  I watched the two guys come out from the mine this morning on Sunrise and you would think that the girl who was covering the scene from Launceston Hospital would be someone a bit better than the local Tassie work experience girl.  This reporter (Clare?) was so amateurish and giggly and so full of clichés that it was just sickening.  The icing was put on the whole thing in which she mistakenly thought that the fluoro stripes on their mine suits (which were glowing in the media spotlights) were actually straps.  She kept saying that the miners were “strapped to their stretchers to keep them from running off” when in reality the guys were lying there in fluoro striped mine suits.  Ridiculous.  Congrats though to the two guys though.

Secondly, one on the home front, I have just found out that Kate needs glasses.  She has been complaining about sore eyes and has been a bit sensitive to light so Niki took her to the Optometrist for what she thought was an overly precautious check up.  Turns out she has a significant problem in focusing causing eye strain and now distress to her and the solution is glasses.  I am not concerned she needs glasses as I think that in today’s society they are pretty much the norm and I think that kids have perhaps gotten over the “Four Eyes” teases… I guess only time will tell on that front.  Kate though is very excited and has apparently picked out her frames already and will get them Thursday but what does shock me is that she needs them in the first place.  Her reading has been good, she is doing very well, so we didn’t really expect any problems…

Of course now we will start looking at what having glasses does cost a parent and we also are aware she may need some major orthodontic work in the future, so we will be revisiting our health cover options…

Late Late Late

Overslept and missed the 7:08am then was running late and missed the 7:37am so I am now sitting on the 7:52am train with all the school kids… I wont be in the office until 9:30, but I don’t have any morning appointments so no big deal.

As I usually do on Monday’s, I give a bit of a weekend wrap.

Saturday I had the funny experience of going to the doctors for a check up and my GP was sick.  He was still there, but he had to leave the room twice to I presume hurl during my appointment.  He took some blood (for the dreaded cholesterol test) and when he took the needle out, he asked me to hold the little swab against the needle mark and then excused himself to rush to the bathroom.  Classic.  When I left it was me saying he should take it easy and perhaps see a Doctor (guffaw! guffaw!)

Then it was on to Dad’s 55^th birthday lunch at the Italian Forum in Leichhardt.  It was a good lunch with way too much pasta and then pizza.  Its good for kids though and the girls had a great time as well running around the forum and meeting kids of other restaurants.  By the time we got home it was 5:30 and we skipped dinner.

Sunday was a designated lazy day and I am glad that it was.  Niki took Kate to the shops and to help out her mum a bit so I had Brooke for the morning.  We took Zoe the Dog and did a bush walk and we were gone for an hour and made it all the way to Lennox Bridge at Mitchell’s Pass.  Brooke is a real power walker in the bush and grabbed a couple of sticks and marched through the bush with no complaints.  We climbed down the steep stair case under the bridge and mucked around there before we headed back.

In the afternoon, I was playing with the kids out the back and then started to feel really off colour.  The first thing I thought of was that I got the Doctors bug, and I spent most of Sunday arvo on the lounge watching football… what a shame.

I went on a bit of a nostalgia kick and scoured my old PC games and was looking for something to install on  my laptop to play on the train (other than blogging).  I found Ice Wind Dale II and am going to give it a burl now… cant remember how old it is, but it’s a Forgotten Realms role playing game… I am glad work gives us plebs admin rights on our laptops.

Anyways I am off to play a computer game amongst the kiddies…

End of Week Odds & Sods

Friday!  The week has flown by and I am looking forward to the weekend.  We have a fairly relaxed weekend with Dad’s birthday tomorrow, we’ll be having lunch at Leichhardt.  Other than that we’re pretty free and have no real plans.

Have a good Friday lunch planned today with old work friends and that will take up most of the afternoon.  Tiger beer and Chinese Lamb Pancakes… yum!  And the rest of the weekend will be spent relaxing.

Does anyone watch LOST?  Feel free to post your theories, but that was a good episode last night.  Met the leader of “The Others” and also some bizarre almost subliminal advertisement for the Hasbro Corporation.  The ad contained a 1800 number… I wonder if it is real?  This show would have to have the most intricate plot that I have ever watched before.  Every scene is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle and you really have to watch every episode.

And finally, our cat.  Tonya the Cat is 19 years old and has been having some health issues – namely she eats 7 meals a day and is awake crying all night but sleeps the bulk of the day away.  Turns out she has probably got an overactive thyroid, which is a common thing in elderly cats, and can be controlled by a tablet – but we have to await the result of a $170 blood test.  Ouch.  The tablets will cost us about $30 a month, but that will be cheaper than all the cat food we’re going through.  I don’t know if cats years are the same as dog years, but if so, she is over 130 years old!  She was Niki’s pet when she was a teenager… longest living animal I have ever had and apart from the thyroid problem (if its that) and a the fact that she walks around with a slight limp probably from bad hips, she is fine.