Thanks to Jaycee for this excellent thread-starter … which I only edited a tiny bit …
(Image Credit: Kalanchoe sp, Freedom Bells)
I have put this piece up without ANY editing for syntax, grammar or clarity of structure. I accept there are some typos, there are grammatical gaffes and some weakness in layout etc. I do this not because I am proud of my grammatical failings, they will always be there, my lousy education guarantees THAT! I do this because it must be realized that there are many who would like to contribute, to post articles, but are sometimes a tad awed by the prospect of judgement not on their opinions, but on their writing. There are many who do post here with admirable skill more accomplished than myself … Ian, GD, Fiona, BB, Aguirre, Kambah Mick, Puff, Leone2, Janice, and others (and I apologise for missing any, but you and we know you!) but I feel there are others who lurk here and who post commentary that would have bloody good yarns and stories to tell. I myself left high school after the second year to go into trade and never sat for another academic exam till my forty sixth year … and then it was touch and go! And THIS TOO is the Labor story … that those who have worked their way through life, perhaps raised a family, developed a trade, profession or business or are on PAYE employment, can draw from their own experiences and pass them on to a listening audience without fear of ridicule and rest assured that what they do pass on will be woven also into the Greater Labor story.
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Living by a Simple Philosophy
Or: “Old Ideas, New Australians”
(Image Credit: Fairfax)
1983 … Business … of Survival
With the Death of Richard, I must now manage alone, on one pension.
The house seems in good condition. No large account, only the small loan I had taken out, which finishes in June 1985. Must try not to take out anymore loans, to [sic] much drain on my low income.
I must try to live on produce from garden, with eggs to help out.
Try to cut down on weekly food bills, most of all on meat.
The animals take quite a lot (money) for food, reg, etc.
As the fowls are all getting old, must breed up some new hens.
That was from an aged pensioner’s diary … sure, we know she was not going to die of hunger or homelessness – or do we? She certainly was afraid of some vague uncertainty … and therein lies the simple truth:
A lifetime of habit, creates a certainty of belief a moment of uncertainty doubts a lifetime of belief.
For that lady, her entire life was constructed around hard work … the old-age pension that Labor and the unions put in place gave her a measure of security so she could live out her final years in dignity. That is a word well worth praising: Dignity. Let’s put that up there at the top of the page of Labor principles.
DIGNITY
(Image Credit: Ex-ceed)
And damn if a person who applies their person to contribute toward the social betterment of their family, friends and neighbours for their working life, they are denied that most basic of respects: Dignity! and it only comes from others who have walked that same path. The speculator, always on the make, always on the lookout for the next “win”, the next “deal”, has neither wish nor capacity for dignity … he has traded it away with a Faustian deal with capital … no need to look to him for a “fair go”, his motto is “Opportunity” … but does he seriously believe that if HE did not exist, there would be no work to do?
(Actually, the name that lady called her late husband was not quite correct … you see, his name really was Riccardo. He was an Italian … SHE was born in Australia of Irish / Cornish stock – now, THERE’S a mix! But you know, it is not at all uncommon – of the three sisters in that lady’s family, after the war, one married an Italian, one married a German (third generation Australian) and the third a Polish man. This idea that we are just lately become a multicultural nation is not true. For many years there has been intermarriage in the community … sure, the surnames may be Anglo, but there is mixed ethnicity in the family somewhere, and we should be proud of this … love knows no boundaries, children know no race.)
I keep hearing this catch-cry: ”What does Labor stand for?” To my mind, Labor stands for what it was raised for a simple measure of dignity … in work, in leisure, in the fair go for all people. I remember when I was about ten years old, with my older brother, selling newspapers at the Royal Show. The manager would allocate you so many papers for the day, you’d sell them, putting all the coins into a leather bag at your hip and at the end of the day, you’d give the bag over to that manager. He’d count out what you owed for the papers and any over (you’d get tips, but most times didn’t have the time to separate the tip from the coinage) incl’ tips he’d give back to you along with your pay. But there was this one big bastard manager one year, who’d keep back most of your tips. My older brother, being a stroppy sort of young fellow, challenged him (my brother was canny enough to keep a careful watch on his tips) and the manager got angry, saying, ”If you don’t like the way I do things, you can get off with yourself!” … and THAT included me. So a thirteen and a ten year old couple of kids get cheated by an unscrupulous manager (News Limited, by the way!) – nothing new, neither then nor now! .McDonald’s do it all the time – it’s called cheap labour – but to cheat kids … what sort of people are these? Vermin who steal the rights of their fellows. Labor with the unions, stand up for those rights Let’s put that up on the list.
RIGHTS
(Image Credit: Right Now)
And damn if a person applies their advantageous position to cheat even paper-boys … what sort of bastards are we up against? And they ask what does Labor stand for? Labor stands for what it was raised to stand for … the Rights of the everyday people to stop the vermin from ripping off the wages of ALL people and to bestow on ALL of us what Gough Whitlam called for and what Labor calls for now: “A fair go”.
Labor must think carefully before they pass these new “security laws” put up by Brandis. They are not to protect us from “terrorism”, but are deliberately being put in place to track and control our own citizens … it is as obvious as the nose on your face. There has to be a measure of restraint in how far we go to cow and threaten the populace. There has to be a measure of dignity and rights in our confrontation of any threat. Better we offer safe harbour to the majority of whom have been driven from their homelands in fear of their lives or livelihood, like those three men-folk above, than attempt to cow and oppress a minority for little more than their own particular culture.
Now read these comments and tell me they are irrelevant today:
As rivers glisten in different colours, but a common sewer everywhere looks like itself, so the all-powerful rule of capital ruined the middle class, raised trade and corporate agriculture to the highest prosperity, and ultimately led to a – hypocritically whitewashed – moral and political corruption of the nation.”
And:
“The leisure class lives by the industrial community rather than in it. Its relations to industry are of a financial rather than an industrial kind. Admission to the class is gained by exercise of the financial aptitudes—aptitudes for acquisition rather than for serviceability. There is, therefore, a continued selective sifting of the human material that makes up the leisure class, and this selection proceeds on the ground of fitness for financial pursuits.”
Both the above pieces are over one hundred years old The first by Theodor Mommsen on ancient Rome, the second by Thorsten Veblen on post-Victorian capitalism … yet they could both have been written today. Why is it that such rational observations go unheeded in our society? I read such and take them in and use them (as you see here) as moral and ethical fodder in my own life. Where do we see such civilized observations used widely? I don’t know! I don’t hear or see it in everyday life! Where is the scholarly debate among political higher learning in this nation? Education abandoned – that’s where. Let’s put that word up there too
EDUCATION
(Image Credit: Workforce Planning Tools)
And damn if the multitude of tomes of wisdom that have been written in the tears of humanity over millennium get abandoned for stupid, facile, quick-fix slogans. What sort of people are these who, flaunting their higher education, claim the high ground of public debate, yet cannot or will not learn from history and will not read from the wisdom of the ages? There are those who cannot claim education beyond the third year high school, who read and revere such books … their shelves a proud display of well-thumbed volumes. And some ask what should Labor stand for? Education … Labor stands for what it was raised for – Education for ALL peoples – not the abandonment of an age of learning but education.
The many different ethnic groups that come to these shores, from the earliest to the latest, have one goal in mind: ”Betterment” of their family fortunes, their security and their children’s education. It is that simple … sure ( and I mean no disrespect, only metaphor) they brought their metwurst and salami and tabouli and prayers with them – that is their immediate security – we all take a bit of “home” when we go on holiday. When one is driven in haste and fear from one’s house, what would YOU grab? a piece, any piece of home? That is what “culture “ is … a little piece of the past to carry with oneself into the future. In the worst case, it could be but a poem, a prayer, a song from the motherland … in the best case it is the family. How can one reject the call of assistance – not charity – assistance to a family in need and still shelter under the common name of humanity?
So there are the players, there are the situations … we know what the problems are today … what can be the solution?
Check this little piece from a short story by Eric Knight; see if it gives you ideas:
Never Come Monday
The Prime Minister thought of a lot of things all at once. Suddenly he called his secretary and said:
“Carrington-Smaithe. It is Sunday to-day, I hear, and it will be Sunday again tomorrow. Pack my things. We’re going away for the weekend.”
“But sir,” said the secretary “What about the international crisis? We have two ultimatums that must be answered immediately.”
“Dear me”, said the Prime Minister. “That is a nuisance, but all the world knows the British weekend is inviolate, and if this be Sunday, as it seems to me it must be, then I won’t be able to answer till the weekend is over.”
“But when will it stop being Sunday, sir?”
“Well, Carrington-Smaithe, how long will it take our fastest cruiser squadron to get around to that troublesome part of the world?”
“Oh, about thirty-six more hours, sir.”
“Hmmmph! Then I think it will stop being Sunday in about thirty-six more hours.”
There is a secret desire in that little piece of the realization of reality (it is well worth a read, by the way), a desire that is really a need for time off from work. But it can be more than that … it can be the barricade between capital demand and producer compliance, a demarcation line between demand and supply. I have never liked sacrificing my weekends for overtime, ever! Damn their work! No-one should be compelled to work on the weekend, and if they must, as in the emergency services then they ought to be suitably – VERY SUITABLY – rewarded. Work will be around a long time after we are ALL dead and gone! And there can be the solution to differentiating Labour from Capital … the inviolate weekend the compulsory time off for R & R. For as long as one stays healthy, one can always earn money … but time is of the essence. You will run out of time before you run out of money. Take the time; screw the money – let capital know it has no price for your free time. And they still ask what Labor stands for … Labor stands for what it was raised for … honouring the eight hour day or its modern equivalent, honouring “family time”, personal time, resting time. Those who would try to reduce the vulnerable to a kind of 24hr. slavery would love to claim ownership of the whole of our weekend … bugger them! They can’t have it!
The solution is that WE who are the producers, the consumers, the life and breath of business, take control of our working lives. WE draw a demarcation line between being compelled to work and a time for life. WE stop the machine for a pause in production so we can enjoy our family and friendships. I say WE take back our lives and deny the vermin their pound of flesh! It has never been the speculator who physically laid the “foundations”, never the stock-broker who mixed the “mortar”, never the wealthy who carried the hod of bricks to build our house. They don’t own it, they don’t own us – they OWE us!
THAT is Labor policy: Dignity, Rights, Education – and what flows automatically from those simple entitlements. Stake your ground, claim your rights and serve your people.
“The quality of mercy is not strain’d.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
THE PUB 
l2
We had for a few years in the late 80’s and early 90’s a “Special Investigations Unit” that was basically a Nazi hunting outfit.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2771091/Stop-toll-bells-Swiss-cattle-deaf-cow-bells-louder-chainsaw-say-scientists.html#ixzz3EqTBqI00
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
http://www.afr.com/p/national/hockey_budget_retreat_F9cOa6ytzY0nIapFw1dHaP
Hockey’s budget retreat
PUBLISHED: 8 hours 10 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 0 hour 3 MINUTES AGO
Laura Tingle and Phillip Coorey
The Abbott government has raised the white flag on up to $30 billion of four-year budget savings, deciding to push the remaining few measures which have Senate support through the Parliament before recasting its budget strategy in December.
The Senate standoff, a slump in iron ore prices, the soft economic outlook and a potential multibillion-dollar bill for a new military commitment in the Middle East have put a cloud over the government’s forecast that the budget deficit will shrink from $48.5 billion to $30 billion deficit this financial year and over the shape of its structural savings into future years.
The government has started work on a new, alternate round of savings – to be unveiled in the mid-year review of the budget in December – although sources concede the options are very limited.
http://www.news.com.au/national/treasurer-joe-hockey-and-finance-minister-mathias-cormann-deny-retreat-on-key-budget-measures/story-fncynjr2-1227076065482
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann deny retreat on key budget measures
October 01, 2014 9:05AM
Jennifer Rajca National Political Reporter
News Corp Australia Network
JOE HOCKEY denies the Abbott government is waving the white flag on key budget measures, despite facing a stonewalling Senate for more than four months.
The Treasurer this morning denied the Coalition was giving up on $30 billion of four-year budget savings, including the GP co-payment and university fee reforms, as reported in The Australian Financial Review.
http://www.news.com.au/national/julie-bishop-kills-off-speculation-of-a-homeland-security-super-ministry-in-slap-down-to-scott-morrison/story-fncynjr2-1227076021790
Julie Bishop kills off speculation of a homeland security super ministry in slap down to Scott Morrison
October 01, 2014 8:54AM
MALCOLM FARR, National Political Editor news.com.au
TENSIONS in cabinet have spilt over, sparking the queen of foreign policy to slap down the pushy baron of border protection.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has killed off speculation that a homeland security super ministry would be created, a move that is aimed directly at ambitious Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
The Immigration Minister is a hero to many Liberals for his record on asylum seekers as well as the“stop the boats” policy and has said he wants to stay in that job.
But cabinet colleagues also believe he is attempting to expand his responsibilities with a forced takeover of some of their powers.
http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/october/1412085600/steve-dow/state-arts
State of the arts
How the Abbott government is funding a high-culture war
By Steve Dow
October 2014
On a stormy Monday morning in August, the Australia Council released its strategic plan for 2015–19 at the Sydney Opera House. Heavy, angled rain battered the panorama of bridge and harbour visible through the wall of windows as everyone in the northern foyer of the Opera House stayed on message: Australia is “a culturally ambitious nation”.
The words “funding cuts” fell from no one’s lips. George Brandis, the attorney-general and minister for the arts, told the crowd he wants to support more “creative genius” outside the cities, in regional centres. The council reduced 154 grant-application categories to five; ushered in an “enhanced peer-review process” requiring a “stronger evidence base”; and promised somehow to boost investment in a “significant works initiative” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, all the while broadening the arts’ appeal for children and younger adults in some unexplained way.
http://www.thelocal.ch/20140929/giants-penis-bloom-in-basel-bigger-than-ever
gigi
And louder than your car is permitted to be.
ASIO. is becoming Abbott’s SS. and the AFP. their Gestapo.
foreverjanice
Loved our moo cows too. The old man was very much one for treating them nice. The gentler the treatment the gentler the herd the easier the life for the farmer being the logic. Even the dogs had to be on their best behaviour. Any nipping of cattle and they were gorn. As was any cow that was by nature a bit of a grumpy guts.
Cows kicking was never a problem with the herd but the risk of being crapped or pissed on in the herringbone milking shed had a big upside. It made me develop extremely good peripheral vision. Any hint of a tail being raised by one of the nearby cows was spotted immediately . Another good reason for not docking cows tails as some do.
As the Homer Simpson would say Doh !
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/30092014
Interesting discussion going on over on Bob Ellis’ blog about julia Gillard…suggest you join in!
http://www.ellistabletalk.com/2014/10/01/the-real-julia/#comments
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-01/pm-announces-andrew-colvin-as-new-afp-commissioner/5781796
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/who-is-andrew-colvin-20140918-10ijyq.html
http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/hired-gun-mick-batskos-to-help-keep-health-department-secrets/story-fnii5sms-1227075650125
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/final-68b-east-west-link-design-ignores-governments-own-expert-planning-advice-20140930-10o9j1.html
http://www.smh.com.au/world/fears-prabowo-coalition-will-abolish-direct-election-of-president-20140930-10o7ic.html
Ellis has certainly changed his tune on Julia Gillard over the past few years
Him on Gillard in 2011
And for good measure here’s his 2011 view on Abbott
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/julia-gillards-mouse-pack-and-other-dumb-stuff-20110110-19kbe.html
these aren’t paywalled
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/university-heads-divided-over-a-free-market-on-fees/story-e6frgcjx-1227075709667
University heads divided over a free market on fees
The Australian
October 01, 2014 12:00AM
Andrew Trounson Higher Education Reporter Melbourne
Julie Hare Higher Education Editor Sydney
ESCALATING concern over possible price-gouging by universities is giving rise to new calls for the government to dilute its free market plan for tuition fees and impose a mechanism to limit increases.
But the bulk of university vice-chancellors are divided over an independent body to monitor fees, as proposed by the Business Council of Australia, or a cap on student loans.
The elite Group of Eight universities want the fee deregulation plan to go ahead unchanged, which would allow them to use their brand power to charge what the market will bear.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/vicechancellors-favour-deregulation-because-they-have-lost-their-way/story-e6frgcjx-1227075464157
Vice-chancellors favour deregulation because they have lost their way
HANNAH FORSYTH The Australian October 01, 2014 12:00AM
THERE are several mysteries associated with the government proposals for higher education, but few are as inscrutable as the recent behaviour of many vice-chancellors.
University staff are puzzled that senior university administrators are actively supporting a very unpopular set of reforms. The fact that they are doing so when their students and staff are largely persuaded that deregulation would be very bad indeed suggests that somewhere in our past the interests of vice-chancellors and the interests of the broader university community have diverged, perhaps irrevocably.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/deregulation-of-university-fees-will-leave-the-disadvantaged-at-greater-debt-risk/story-e6frgcjx-1227075463321
Deregulation of university fees will leave the disadvantaged at greater debt risk
Sean Leaver The Australian October 01, 2014 12:00AM
IF there is one thing we should have learned from the global financial crisis, it is that free markets, deregulation and government-subsidised debt ultimately end up creating financial bubbles.
Stephen Koukoulas
Abbott and Hockey: Dodgy brothers budget repairs
http://thekouk.com/blog/abbott-and-hockey-dodgy-brothers-budget-repairs.html#.VCtYehaGeq_
I think it looks like a candle.
http://www.thelocal.ch/20140929/giants-penis-bloom-in-basel-bigger-than-ever
Barnaby Joyce – not as popular in New England as he might think .
Joyce targeted over renewable energy target
http://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/2594687/joyce-targeted-over-renewable-energy-target/
Interesting that Adam Marshal,l state MP for the area, is also a National but has a very different opinion to the federal government. Marshall once held dual membership of both the Labor Party and the Nationals. Do we have a potential Nats defector in the making?
Janice, KK, Ctar,
Your reminiscences of a farming childhood, with some resonance for me, particularly calls to mind Ken Galbraith’s response, when a Harvard colleague worried about his over-work – academic, public intellectual, books, television series etc. Galbraith replied “the trouble with you, my friend is you weren’t born on a farm; after that childhood, nothing seems like work.”
One of my little dogs is in hospital. He was not well and the vet found an enlarged prostrate gland, He is on IV fluids, and antibiotics, plus having tests.
I am worried about him.
Fiona
Dropbox
No rush, in your own time, I’ll be out for a while, bakson.
Anyway, I saw Julia.
The Camden Civic Centre was full: 500 people.
Julia walked on the stage to sustained applause. She gave an introduction speech followed by questions: AS, misogyny, social media, etc. She answered all questions well and with her usual sense of humour. A very friendly crowd, not an overington one. Frequent clapping.
She looked so petite on the podium and yet she’s as strong as a bull. A lovely black lacy top over a white background and black trousers.
I queued up to have my book autographed. As she signed it, I simply said: “we all miss you”, and “Happy Birthday.” To which she replied: “Oh, thank you,” with her hand pressed on mine.
I found this event a moving experience.
puffy
Sorry about your little dog being sick. Hope the vet finds a cure.
ckwatt put this song up the other day for Julia. So appropriate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBIOWOLH04
Nice one Gigi’…
Puffy,
Sorry to hear about your little dog being ill. Give him/her a gentle pat from me and hugs for you.
That’s awful Puffy. Probably nothing. Dogs are such actors. If they usually enjoy good health then being sick really gets them down and theatrical.
This is a drawing someone did of Bob a while ago. Hope it cheers you up, as it did me…
Thanks everyone. I do love Bob’s portrait.
On Uni fees, apparently Germany has just made university fees zero. Could not post link to article sorry.
Fridgo,
It is true. It was referred to in QandA as well as pointed out to Whiney PIney, If you have bright kids. move to Germany.
puffy
Fingers crossed for a happy outcome.
Julia Gillard and Cate Blanchett write for The Guardian on the importance of educating girls and women.
Educate women and their community will prosper. Deny them education and the world will suffer
We both grew up in Australia, where our education provided strong foundations to meet our potential as female leaders. Millions of girls throughout the world deserve the same chance
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/01/educate-women-and-their-community-will-prosper-deny-them-education-and-the-world-will-suffer
Last German state to do away with university tuition fees
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/last-german-state-to-do-away-with-university-tuition-fees/story-e6frgcjx-1227066213629
Puffy
Sorry to hear you have a sick puppy, Razz and I are sending you both some good vibes.
For sick puppy dogs
puffy
Think positive:
gigi
I glad you enjoyed. A coincidence but my former employers have me thinking on Camden as well but a different Camden.
The one where 1.2 miles of slow speed dual railway track to join HS-1 and HS-2 is going to cost a billion pounds because of bad decisions in the past. It will have to be tunneled now.
That’s my whinge for the week.
ctar1
I would imagine that here is more than one city in the world called “Camden.”
The government insanity continues. If the facts do not suit the government’s ‘climate change is crap’ line then what do you do? You order an inquiry. You could not make up his sort of lunacy.
Tony Abbott adviser calls for Bureau of Meteorology ‘warming’ inquiry
Climate change sceptic Maurice Newman wants a government-funded review to ‘dispel suspicions of a warming bias’
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/01/tony-abbott-adviser-bureau-meteorology-warming-inquiry
Thanks, Leone…I was going to put that link up, but it got lost in transit….yeah…they really are a disgrace to the gene pool of “Homo Sapiens”…..more like “Homo Criothans” !
Good grief.. There seems to be a high rate of such stoopid north on the Tweed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11334956
kk
There’s some Blinky’s around the place.
CTar1
There are indeed. I 😆 at this comment from the bloke. On the other hand— “That it has come to this”
This comes with a warning – may cause damage to the eyes.
Oh please. Hartcher writes:
F*ck that. We are NOT “going to war”. And we cannot defeat “them”. You can’t defeat an idea, no matter how screwed up it is… especially one based on religion.
IF – and it’s a big “IF”- we get the OK to participate from the Americans, we will drop laser-guided bombs on relatively stationary, defenceless targets from 35,000 feet, with not a snowball’s chance in Hell of any counter-attack (as ISIS doesn’t have SAMs or anything like them that could shoot down a modern jet fighter).
We are playing not much more than a video game with ISIS. We are taking no real risks in doing so. It is a complete sham of a “war”.
REAL men and women went to war in 1914. REAL men and women went to war in 1939. They fought and died. They didn’t sit in pressurized cocoons and kill people they couldn’t even see, utterly unworried about retaliation.
This is NOT War. It’s styled as “war”. It’s written up as “existential”. The dog whistle is that it’s a titanic clash of Barbarism (Hartcher’s word, not mine) against Civilization.
It’s nothing of the sort. It’s a few high trained pilots killing from afar and doing so free of danger. It’s costing a fortune. This “war” can’t be explained, can’t be justified and has no real purpose other than for Abbott to strut his stuff as a wannabee Churchill.
It’s not a war. It’s a turkey shoot.
leone
Between Abbott and Evans, I go for Cadel Evans:
Bob would have loved YOU, Puffy.
I would have loved Bob. Heck, I did.
puffytmd,
I share your love for animals so I wish you and your puppy a happy outcome.
Thanks BarryJ.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-01/australian-planes-to-start-flying-over-iraq/5782576
1st comment –