Workers pay for union bosses
The ABC and Fairfax press have self censored over the issue, but it is widespread and substantial. The much maligned Work choices had checks in place to prevent union corruption, but Gillard removed those when she put Fair Work in place of Work Choices. Even so, historical corruption regarding slush funds was clearly prevalent in union culture. Slush funds are not harmless. They involve unionists losing money for union chiefs to spend as they will. They also involve unions standing over businesses and extorting money, which is illegal. Some will say it is wrong to do that, and it should be illegal. But the fact is it is illegal to do that according to the statute books, and only legal if the courts choose to ignore the law, which they have no right to do. The very structure of the ALP is called into question over this. Maybe the ALP needs to reform by adopting a Liberal Party structure?
Ukraine has to answer questions over MH17
Findings of the inquiry into MH17 have suggested the bomb used to take down the aircraft was Ukrainian made, while the device used to fire it was Russian made. It looks like the Russian separatists fired the bomb at the aircraft, but only after Ukraine had presented the aircraft as enemy hostile. Precisely how has not been examined yet and the salient questions have not been asked of Ukraine. It would be good for Mr Abbott or Miss Bishop to discuss this matter with Ukraine. It might excite ABC interest if Mr Abbott says he will shirtfront the Ukrainian leader.
Green alarmism costs money
Australia under ALP shed some six hundred billion dollars with nothing to show for it. Left behind are costly and inefficient green projects, like desalination camps which aren't used because they aren't needed, house insulation poorly installed, wind farms and solar installations which don't reduce base load as well as crumbling coal power stations needing to be modernised. But had the money been spent wisely, flagship infrastructure which allows substantial growth could have been put in place. At about 1% of the cost of the waste, the Bradfield Scheme could have been realised. A wireless NBN could have been implemented. An NDIS could have been implemented and change sufficient to power innovation in industry would have been left over with surplus budgets. Instead, people have drowned for compassion, no animal has been saved and no forest is safe from environmental dangers. In fact forest fires have reputedly been caused by a failure to prudently back burn.
Plibersek plays lethal game re Ebola
Shorten has no policy on any thing. Plibersek is filling the vacuum by being stupid and risking the lives of Australian Health workers tasked to go to Africa to fight Ebola by an Australian government without infrastructure to evacuate if that is needed. Thing is there is sufficient aid from those who have the infrastructure and regional responsibility to deliver it. Plibersek's position is partisan and foolish. She is hostile to the action of the defence force tasked to face ISIL and has said so. If Plibersek were compassionate for the suffering of others, she would not try to drown desperate people wanting to come to Australia.
Poet short changed
Going by headlines this column condemned the poet Barry Spurr and it was wrong. The poet has had comments of his that were personal released out of context. Were they public utterances, they would and should be condemned. However, what has happened is an injustice which seems to have been wilfully perpetrated by a bad journal called New Matilda. New Matilda has form in illegally obtaining data and abusing it for sensational purposes. They appear to have done so here, and one hopes they are sued out of existence if they in fact have. Chillingly Sydney University have acted quickly to stand down the poet without apparent due process. Had the poet been left wing and given his thoughts in a writer's festival, publicly, one feels this entire issue may never have risen. Take as an example the graphic novelist Phillippe Squarzoni who has published an imagined, virtuous, assault with an assault rifle on a shopping mall.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle...
David Daniel Ball calls himself the Conservative Voice.
I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence.
I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections.
I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. ...
In Tanami’s red sands where spinifex grows,
Where waterholes gleam ‘neath the sun’s golden glare,
Lived Yaparla, sweet maid, with a heart pure as snow,
Her kindness a light in the desert so bare.
Her father, a wise man, kept songs for the land,
To guard the soak’s waters where life held its sway.
But drought gripped the earth with a merciless hand,
And he sought a new spring to ease their dismay.
Deep in a gorge where the rocks hid the sky,
He found a clear pool with fish dancing free.
But a voice shook the stones with a thunderous cry,
“Who steals my sweet water without leave of me?”
Out slid the Wanyarra, half-man, half a snake,
His scales flashed like opals, his eyes cold with pain.
“For your kin’s life,” he hissed, “one price I must take—
Send Yaparla to me, or your land drinks no rain.”
The father returned, his heart heavy with woe,
And told his dear daughter the serpent’s demand.
“I’ll go,” said Yaparla, her voice soft and low,
“For my people, my country, I’ll walk that red sand.”
She came to the gorge with her digging stick strong,
Singing songs of her kin ‘neath ...
AI adapted
To adapt the story of Bambi to the Dreamtime of Warlpiri culture in the Tanami Desert, we’ll reimagine the tale with respect for Warlpiri storytelling traditions, cosmology, and the desert environment. The Dreamtime (Jukurrpa) is a sacred framework where ancestral beings shape the land, law, and life, so Bambi’s journey will reflect Warlpiri values like kinship, connection to country, and survival in harmony with nature. I’ll keep the essence of Bambi—a young creature’s growth amid loss and discovery—while grounding it in the Tanami’s ecology and Warlpiri worldview. Since Bambi is a specific narrative, I’ll translate its core themes rather than reproduce the original text verbatim, ensuring cultural sensitivity. The story will be concise yet vivid, as requested.
Bambi in the Jukurrpa of the Tanami
In the Jukurrpa, when the Tanami Desert glowed under the first stars, the ancestral beings shaped the land. From the spinifex and red sand, they formed Jampijinpa, a young red ...
Created with Grok, Pictory, And Topmediai
Content from listening to podcasters Hunley and Groubert of America's Untold Stories. They tell it better than me
Folk Song: "The Ballad of Lee Harvey Oswald"
Verse 1
Oh, Lee Harvey Oswald, a man they did frame,
The deep state and CIA, they tarnished his name.
They said he went to Mexico, a lie they did spin,
While he fought for his service, his honor within.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 2
On that dark day in Dallas, they said he shot Tippit,
Left a wallet behind, but the tale didn’t fit.
Arrested with his own in hand, the proof was right there,
But the deep state kept spinnin’ their web of despair.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 3
They trained him in Russian, sent him off to the East,
A ...
