460 thoughts on “No Housework Day 7/4/17 Friday and other stuff”

1. Published: 21:48 +10:00, 25 April 2014 |

   Four decades after Agent Orange – heartbreaking pictures show even now babies in Vietnam are being born with horrific defects

   Babies in Vietnam still being born with birth defects due to Agent Orange, despite 40 years since conflict with U.S
   .
   Chemical was sprayed on crops, plants and trees by U.S. military to destroy cover for guerrilla fighters

   The dioxin can cause a range of birth defects as well as cancer and reproductive abnormalities

   Heartbreaking pictures were captured by British-born photographer Francis Wade on trip to Vietnam

   Said he visited the Thi Nghe and Thien Phuoc orphanages to show the devastating effects still being felt

   A new series of heartbreaking pictures has revealed even babies 40 years on are suffering the horrific effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

   Canterbury born Francis Wade captured the distressing images at the Thi Nghe and Thien Phuoc orphanages in Saigon, which are home to children born decades after the war.

   Yet despite the conflict ending in 1971, the orphanages are caring for children suffering disabilities thought to be caused by a chemical used by U.S forces, which was sprayed on crops, plants and trees.

   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2613038/40-years-Agent-Orange-heartbreaking-pictures-babies-Vietnam-born-horrific-defects.html

   • how is that not war crime?

3. Kikki.k's big secret exposed: retailer pays staff no penalty rates through expired WorkChoices deal https://t.co/mZC7CHc2t4

   — David Marin-Guzman (@dmaguz) April 12, 2017

   http://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/kikkik-exposed-to-higher-labour-costs-after-revelation-it-pays-no-penalty-rates-20170412-gvja7g

   Turnbull all but rules out super for housing https://t.co/MHYbf9XjHr

   — Phillip Coorey (@PhillipCoorey) April 12, 2017

   http://www.afr.com/news/malcolm-turnbull-all-but-rules-out-unlocking-super-for-housing-20170412-gvjlwl

   PR queen Heidi Virtue drank drove Mercedes three times over the limit after 20 hour wine binge https://t.co/5MazPMvG5L #ausmedia #auslaw

   — Leroy (@Leroy_Lynch) April 12, 2017

   http://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/pr-queen-heidi-virtue-drank-drove-mercedes-three-times-over-the-limit-after-20-hour-wine-binge/news-story/83b03226ae7a69561a9a92529c398fc8

4. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

   Looks like Trump is getting ready to dump Bannon. That will be a sad loss I must say.
   http://www.smh.com.au/world/straighten-it-out-or-i-will-donald-trump-distances-himself-from-steve-bannon-20170412-gvk0au.html
   And President Xi Jinping has urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to seek a “peaceful solution” on the Korean peninsula, in a phone call that came in the wake of Mr Trump’s latest tweeted salvo linking the issue to a trade deal.
   http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-rebuffs-donald-trumps-north-korea-tweet-with-niceties-20170412-gvjnnn.html
   Greg Sheridan says Trump has made a series of declarations and moves that suggest the world is closer to a hot encounter on the Korean Peninsula than it has been for decades. Google.
   /opinion/columnists/greg-sheridan/acting-on-north-korea-could-unleash-a-holocaust/news-story/72a5ec0ee5cf02094afadeffa3a9465c
   Robert Reich outlines 13 reasons Trump voters have buyers’ remorse. Ouch!
   http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2017/04/12/13-reasons-trump-voters-buyers-regret/
   Nick O’Malley can’t work out why the government continues to be wedded to so many bad policies. Well worth reading.
   http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-government-is-becoming-wedded-to-far-too-many-bad-policies-20170412-gvjfgg.html
   Michael Pascoe says “There’s a bigger economic threat starting to rumble ominously just beyond our immediate headline hogs of housing affordability and energy: What if inflation rises and wages don’t?” It’s a bit of a worry.
   http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/what-if-inflation-rises-and-wages-dont-20170411-gvj71w.html
   We can rely on Greg Jericho to lift the lid on negative gearing. He proves that the ATO day supports the proposition that negative gearing benefits the rich the most. He says “The time to move is now. Failure to do so will cost the government much more in the future and it will also be much harder to move should the practice become even more prevalent.”
   https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2017/apr/13/the-latest-tax-data-proves-it-negative-gearing-benefits-the-rich-the-most
   Nikki Savva writes that no one can remember a time when the Liberal Party was in such a parlous state. It is in crisis. It has no money, no modern campaign infrastructure and few experienced personnel. Like all disasters, this one has taken years to build up. So degraded is the organisational wing, it threatens dire consequences for the Turnbull government. She has forlorn hopes for the Liberal Party. Google.
   /opinion/columnists/niki-savva/tony-nutts-successor-must-rescue-liberals-from-crisis/news-story/ea6108a4466de9b09cd0e17997b001d4
   Turnbull is killing the Great Barrier Reef while keeping Australia “shackled to dirty and outdated coal technology for decades to come” and making us pay for it. RenewEconomy’s Sophie Vorrath reports.
   https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/australia-is-now-paying-for-adanis-dirty-coal-to-kill-our-reef2,10198

5. Section 2 . . .

   If you use Microsoft Word it is advisable to install an update pronto.
   http://www.canberratimes.com.au/technology/consumer-security/microsoft-moves-quickly-to-patch-fully-exploiting-zeroday-word-bug-20170412-gvj8xg.html
   Professor John Warhurst looks at negative gearing and the spin term “mum and dad investors”.
   http://www.smh.com.au/comment/negative-gearing-the-common-good-and-the-political-reality-20170412-gvjenk.html
   This AFR article says that if prices continue to leap along at double-digit rates, pushing household debt-to-income ratios further above their current record levels of around 190 per cent – then the chances of a nasty financial reckoning become more likely. Google.
   /real-estate/first-do-no-harm–australias-housing-debate-heads-towards-a-dead-end-20170411-gvih7j
   Tony Fitzgerald writes that a substantial number of people regard ethics and empathy as barriers to success and many politicians are in that category. In this good contribution he says that political ethics is an oxymoron.
   http://www.smh.com.au/comment/politicians-with-a-winning-at-all-costs-mentality-are-damaging-australia-20170411-gvif0c.html
   Ross Gittins laments the demise of the local school as a focal point of local communities. It’s a very good article.
   http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-local-school-is-in-decline-and-stratification-is-to-blame-20170411-gvibu8.html
   Rather a disconcerting experience on QF9 last week .
   http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-midair-incident-injures-15-on-flight-from-melbourne-to-hong-kong-20170412-gvjz5k.html
   Are Trump and Putin falling out of love (or whatever it was)?
   http://www.smh.com.au/world/usrussia-relations-have-degraded-during-trumps-presidency-vladimir-putin-20170412-gvjy2x.html
   Yes, Woolworths, we all believe you!
   http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/woolworths-making-cents-of-a-simpler-shop-20170412-gvjn12.html
   And it’s porridge for a NSW Liberal councillor and ex-mayor. He’s gone down for seven months but it won’t necessarily be in jail,
   http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ryde-liberal-councillor-artin-etmekdjian-gets-sevenmonth-sentence-over-taxation-probe-20170412-gvjpez.html
   United Airlines has succeeded in scraping off the last bit of gloss of air travel.
   http://www.traveller.com.au/united-airlines-passenger-removed-airlines-have-become-their-own-worst-enemies-gvjn7u

6. Section 3 . . .

   Public servants at Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support will up the stakes in their long-running fight with the Department of Human Services over pay and conditions, starting two weeks of rolling strikes on Thursday.
   http://www.theage.com.au/national/public-service/dhs-staff-escalate-pay-fight-with-two-weeks-strike-action-20170412-gvjmpc.html
   48 Australians who earned more than $1m in 2014-5 payed zero tax it has been revealed. And, of course, payed no Medicare levy. They deserve civic awards! And there has been a strong growth in the number of landlords with six or more properties.
   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/12/forty-eight-australians-who-earned-more-than-1m-in-2014-15-paid-no-income-tax
   Eddie Obeid is still trying to get out of jail. Money must be no object.
   http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/eddie-obeid-appeal-lawyers-seek-opinion-of-upper-house-president-20170412-gvjhrc.html
   Accompanied by lots of mealy mouthed justification the Berejiklian government has announced it will lease the state’s 150-year-old land titles registry to Hastings Funds Management and First State Super, after accepting their bid of $2.6 billion.
   http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-land-titles-registry-leased-for-26-billion-to-hastings-funds-management-first-state-super-20170412-gvjcfw.html
   A group of global institutions, including the World Bank, has told the Turnbull government that containing the effects of climate change must be a central pillar of Australia’s new foreign policy.
   http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/climate-change-curbs-must-be-central-to-foreign-policy-global-institutions-tell-australia-20170412-gvj82b.html
   In a desperate bid to sort out its fractious IT systems the ATO will shut them down all over Easter to give technicians a free rein to sort it out before 2017 tax time hits. The stakes are very high!
   http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/atos-easter-resurrection-will-makeorbreak-tax-time-2017-20170412-gvj826.html
   Turnbull has moved to shut down the unruly public debate over letting first-home buyers raid their superannuation, saying the issue had gone “round and round”. Another little slap at Morrison.
   http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-shuts-down-mp-debate-on-super-for-housing-deposits-20170412-gvjk18.html
   There is a quite a stench around the Adani coal project.
   http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/adani-boast-casts-doubt-on-1b-coal-project-loan-as-new-footage-shows-abbot-point-spill-damage-20170412-gvjt5e.html
   As TPG enters the fray bigly Elizabeth Knight heralds an upcoming mobile communication price war.
   http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/tpg-to-fight-telstra-vodafone-and-optus-for-your-mobile-phone-20170412-gvjeb6.html
   Lots of letters to the SMH editor criticising the NSW government’s continued caving in to Fred Nile over the non-offering of ethics classes in lieu of “Special Religious”Education”.
   http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/time-for-a-lesson-on-ethics-in-schools-20170412-gvjav4.html

7. Section 4 . . . with Cartoon Corner

   How social media are becoming the “third person” in relationship breakdowns.
   http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/constance-hall-when-social-media-is-the-third-person-in-your-relationship-breakdown-20170412-gvjdvf.html

   Alan Moir and the hapless Morrison.
   
   Broelman cruels Turnbull over Adani coal.
   
   Some disturbing work here from David Rowe as us uses the United Airlines experience.
   
   And he also has a crack at the Adani coal negotiations.
   
   David Pope has Morrison as the Easter Bunny.
   
   Andrew Dyson and the dream of home ownership.
   
   Poor Sean Spicer. Mark Knight looks at his education.
   http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/a666fbc070defde9bbcf84b57ff78ac0?width=1024
   And Jon Kudelka also has fun at Spicer’s expense.
   http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/f51ff5e3e61405f158a755263bf43a66

8. The NSW government and the Special Religious Education in schools debate –

   If you believe all the hype from ill-informed people who think the deeply flawed ‘Gonski’ is a magic bullet that will ‘fix’ this country’s public education problems then you will also believe Adrian Piccoli was a wonderful NSW education minister because of his support for ‘Gonski’ funding. It’s all rubbish.

   Piccoli was the minister who removed the ethics option from public school enrolment forms, effectively forcing kids into religious education classes run by bible-bashing organisations that make a lot of money from this. The days when the local ministers, priests, pastors or whatever and some nice ladies from the local churches would visit schools once a week for half an hour of bible stories and colouring-in, and do it without pay are long gone. These days big organisations, often run by the Anglican church, are paid mega-bucks to ‘educate’ kids on things that their parents might not agree with. Like this –

   Scripture material endorsed by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney and taught to NSW public school children as young as five includes dissecting an animal, encouraging children to have secrets with adults, linking a man’s blindness to his parents’ sins and reminding scripture teachers not to see children with disabilities as “unintelligent”

   http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4431811/dead-animal-dissection-and-the-scripture-class/

   And this –
   A NSW primary school principal removed a Catholic scripture teacher who took a brooch of two little feet into a class to show children “that was the size of an unborn baby’s feet”.
   http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4441340/the-trouble-with-scripture-consent-forms/

   The content of SRE classes is not approved by schools, it’s open slather with the SRE organisations doing whatever they like. This has been done with the willing co-operation of Piccoli in his time as former education minister.

   Still think the devoutly Catholic Piccoli is a good bloke and a wonderful (former) education minister because ‘Gonski’? Then think again. I haven’t mentioned his willing participation in the destruction of NSW TAFE, or his removal of LGBTI teaching resources from NSW schools, or his botched schools computer management system roll-out or his attempted removal of special transport arrangements for disabled kids. And that’s just skimming the surface.

   Current NSW education minister Rob Stokes has big, ugly clown shoes to fill and he’s off to a good (?) start. His refusal to listen to advice and his willingness to pander to the odious Fred Nile by keeping the ethics option off enrolment forms tells me he is going to be just as bad as, or maybe worse than Piccoli.

9. Well, so how’s this for a theory?

   1. Trump does dirty deal with Russians to get elected.

   2. Word gets out, and so he’s in trouble.

   3. Staffers start tumbling.The fingers are pointing at the top.

   4. Trump carries out a diversion by bombing Syria, Russia’s ally.

   5. Russians are warned. They are out of the area or hunkered down before the cruise missiles land

   6. Hardly any damage done. We know this because the Yanks may have bragged verbally, and news commentators may have told us that what we were seeing was “severe damage”, but neither the White House nor the media provided any of their own visual proof. All of the visuals came from the other side,showing little damage. If there had been severe damage we’d have seen it. Instead we got stock shots of Tomahawks being launched that could have been recorded any time in the past 25 years. And some aerials from Google Maps.

   7. Russian and American relations now said to be at their lowest ebb for decades. Both sides saying this.

   My opinion? It’s all a charade, put on to make out that Trump is tough on Russia,and to make Russia seem pissed-off at Trump, to deflect attention away from the cosy deal they got going during the campaign and before, and now during Trump’s Presidency.

   Results?

   * No damage except some paint scratched off a couple of old MiGs, and a pothole or two.

   * Trump now a hero, earned off the back of his battle for Freedom against the old foe, Russia.

   * Russia in retaliation closes down hotline used to liase between the two sides to make sure there are no unfortunate accidents while bombing Syria. Missions by the US Air Force actually DE-crease as a result.

   * Raytheon sells a quarter of a billion dollars worth of Tomahawks.

   * Numpties in the media looking for click bait and a “Presidential” Trump get their wish, with the sub-message being that if Trump was once friends with Putin, he isn’t any longer.

   * Nothing to see here. Move along.

   * Mission accomplished.

   • I love a good conspiracy theory. Factor all this in as well –

     If the Russians were given advance warning of that attack then so were the Syrians. The Russians would have told them.

     Trump supporters are angry about the Syria strike because Trump campaigned on not getting involved in the Middle east and he has broken that promise. Did anyone really expect him to keep any of his campaign promises? It seems they did. Whatever Trump’s reasons for the strike were he hasn’t done himself any favours at home.

     Russia is still sticking up for Assad and still blocking UNSC attempts to have Assad censured for his (alleged) gas attack.

     Putin believes the chemical attack was an attempt to set up Assad. Putin says it’s like the start of the Iraq war with the US using bogus accusations of WMD as the reason for invasion.

     Trump says he ordered the strike being ordered because Ivanka was upset about kids dying – I’m calling bullshit on that. I expected Trump to trot out the same excuse with Melania, not Ivanka being upset and I was surprised it took so long for it to happen. There’s a theory out there that says the strike had been planned for some time and Trump was just waiting for a convenient excuse. Hey presto! A chemical attack! There’s the excuse. I’m leaning towards that attack being either fake news, as Peter Ford thought, or an attack organised by the rebels themselves to make Assad look like the villain.

     Tillerson has had a very hostile reception in Moscow and the Russians talking about “primitiveness and loutishness are very characteristic of the current rhetoric coming out of Washington”.

     Trump is now looking at North Korea and in response China has been moving troops to their border. So you could say the Syrian thing was just a distraction while Trump moved things into place for an attack on North Korea.

10. Send out for more tinfoil 🙂

    • Take your point, but think of the objectives achieved.

      * Public’s attention off Trump’s alleged Russia connection,

      * In fact Trump has apparently “shirt-fronted” Putin.

      *Would you do that to someone who had the “Golden Shower”, corrupt bankers etc. video footage of you (and could release it any time he wanted to if you didn’t co-operate)??

      *No, this must mean that the alleged Russia connection is Fake News. QED.

      But what is the ACTUAL damage done?
      None of any significance. Bombing by US planes is actually reduced due to the closing off of the “Hot Line” used to co-ordinate attack missions. Airfield is up and running again, still bombing civilians.

      What are the advantages for Trump?
      * He is now an official “War President”, a “hero”in the eyes of much of the media and his redneck supporters (even my VERY cynical sister who normally hates Trump is saying things like “I’m starting to like him.”)

      * Russia influence story is defused.

      Advantages for Putin
      * His man is now seen as a decisive President, with corruption load lightened, if not disappeared altogether

      *Back to “business as usual”.

      Summary
      While this superficiallylooks bad for Russia, it’s actually good, because it makes their man in the White House look genuine, without inflicting any real damage on Russian interests (read:Putin interests).

      A scam like this would be routine daily business for the sophisticated Russian and American intelligence sources.

      They calledme a tinfoil hat when Ipredicted they might never find MH-370,and when I said I thought the “WMD” speech by Colin Powell at the UN sounded like a cheap Hollywood script.

      These kinds of conspiracies DO happen, and in this case the results – beneficial to both Trump and Putin – are documented.

11. 

    • Great!

12. So who’s going to hold Malcolm’s parasol when he comes home? Scummo?

    • One of these blokes?

      

13. High Jump Champion… pic.twitter.com/BYCqUpICBl

    — MacCocktail (@MacCocktail) April 13, 2017

14. Just one of these. He doesn’t need a servant to hold one up for him:

    

15. While on the subject of champion dogs …

    😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/bruyYSeNLT

    — Sir Andrew Aguecheek (@markhinton7) April 12, 2017

16. Atlanta / Baseball / Cat

    😆

17. Nice boys:

    Three Grenoble players — Ireland’s Denis Coulson, Rory Grice of New Zealand and France’s Loick Jammes — have been charged with gang rape, prosecutors in Bordeaux announced on Wednesday.

    https://www.thelocal.fr/20170412/kiwi-and-irish-rugby-players-face-gang-rape-charges-in-france

18. …😁 pic.twitter.com/T5iE0edsG6

    — Gaml .y (@m_yosry2012) April 12, 2017

19. F.M sinking in the boot

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/13/how-would-you-describe-the-turnbull-government-guardian-readers-respond

    • Read the comments on that First Dog toon. Hilarious

    • Would be a good collection of synonyms for “useless”.

20. Violets are so rewarding:

    

21. 

22. Australia set to supply uranium to India
    Australia will begin uranium exports to India as soon as possible, says Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
    http://www.dynamicexport.com.au/export-market/articles-export-markets/Australia-set-to-supply-uranium-to-India/

    I just don’t understand – this article is all about Australian exports of coal and uranium to India but there’s this –

    The joint statement said India welcomed the passage of the Civil Nuclear Transfers to India Act by the Australian Parliament, which could ensure commercial exports of Australian uranium begins soon.

    India is keen to source environment friendly fuels to power its growing economy.

    Mr Turnbull said his country was “pleased to be providing increasing quantities of high quality coal for steel making and increasingly for power generation with advanced super critical technology”

    I must be deluded, or stupid or perhaps suffering from dementia, because I have never though coal and uranium are ‘environment friendly fuels’.

    And we are ‘helping’ India with water management and sharing our ‘expertise’ in renewable energy. What a joke! Australia has just given a shonky Indian billionaire the right to trash the Great Artesian Basin, our government thinks renewable sources of power are abominations and eyesores and our emissions are actually rising while the rest of the world is reducing theirs. You have to wonder just what ‘expertise’ Turnbull thinks he can share.

23. 10-9-8-7-6……… until we next hear that taking nuclear waste produced by “our” uranium in India is the ‘responsible’ thing to do .

24. Easter Thread