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Street Swags

I am on the board of Street Swags, a registered charity that raises money to make swags to distribute to homeless street people. Head office is in Brisbane but we have expanded to the NT, NSW, WA and Victoria. So far we have distributed 17,0000 swags Australia wide. On Saturday12 November we are holding a concert at the Brookfield Showgrounds to help us raise funds for this most worthy of causes. You can book tickets through Tickertek Hope to see you there. [youtube]FyV4dRCEHik[/youtube]

Qantas flying again

From the Australian/Wall Street Journal; QANTAS hopes to have the first of its flights back in the air by 2pm (AEDT) today after Fair Work Australia early this morning stopped the carrier’s planned lockout of workers.
After 12 hours of deliberations, the tribunal’s full bench announced early this morning in Melbourne that it had upheld submissions by the Gillard government and Qantas to have the bargaining period terminated.
‘Bargain period terminated’ is what Qantas wanted so the sentence Fair Work Australia early this morning stopped the carrier’s planned lockout of workers. could just as well stated …forced the unions back to work. News Ltd puts it better;
QANTAS planes are set to fly again after Fair Work Australia ordered an end to union strikes and the airline’s grounding of its fleet.
All in all, the decision vindicates Joyce’s strategy. Bring the dispute to a head rather than face a slow bleeding.

Qantas fights back

QANTAS has locked out international pilots, baggage handlers and engineers, essentially bringing its operations to a halt. It has grounded all its entire domestic and international fleets indefinitely from 5pm AEDT. The airline announced minutes ago it was locking out all members covered by the industrial agreements currently being negotiated with the Australian Licenced Engineers Union (ALAEA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian and International Pilots Union (AIPA). As I figure the Qantas board runs the airline, not the unions, then that’s fine by me. The ALP, the gift that keeps on giving. Albanese believes Qantas should have talked to him earlier. Maybe he should have spoken to his union mates earlier. Why should Qantas put up with strikes that are costing them millions of dollars daily as the union fight to get the power back they had under Hawke.

Melbourne streets ‘Unoccupied’

POLICE have denied using excessive force on Occupy Melbourne protesters as wild scenes broke out in the city today. The police were ordered to clear the streets and did so. Of course the scuffs occupying the streets are going to say the force was excessive. If they had gone when instructed to do so the police would not have been forced to ramp up tactics.

Gillard opens our borders to anyone…anytime.

So yesterday the ALP/Greens took the first step in bringing in a Carbon tax that the people don’t want and now today they are adopting in-shore processing for unauthorised boat arrivals that the people don’t want. Just exactly who are they governing for? Radical Greens…Left wing nutters….human rights lawyers…unions. What about the rest of us – those determined to kick them out? Is it a death wish?
Some are concerned about the way people will take it in the community.”
Why? They never have before. Under a plan presented to the Labor caucus today, asylum-seekers will be processed onshore with fast-tracked health checks, the right to work and living money provided. …and a car and housing, I presume. If this actually happens they will want to stay in their bunkers – the bulk of the population will be furious.

Carbon Tax passed in lower house

The government’s carbon tax package was passed 74 votes to 72, with applause from the government benches as legislation was passed with the support of independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, and Greens MP Adam Bandt. Cost of living to rise with no benefit for the environment – sounds like an ALP plan. Now watch the pressure ramp up on the Senate. UPDATE: Latest NEWSPOLL has 60% of respondents against the Tax and that’s not going to go down when they start getting increased bills in the knowledge that their suffering won’t help the environment one little bit.

Money for nothing

Two months ago, Mr O’Connor became one of only 14 farmers in Australia to be issued with verified carbon credits that can be sold on international markets. In the next few weeks, he expects to sell more than 30,000 carbon offset credits, or units, generated on his historic property, Connorville, to global companies looking to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
At the current market rate of an average $15 for every carbon offset credit sold – equivalent to one tonne of emissions saved by not logging his forests and turning them into woodchips, paper or processed timber – it is a welcome cash injection of more than $400,000 annually.
Good on him but how is that sustainable?

How to reload your loved ones

AKA Ashes to ammo. A good friend of mine died and we cremated him in Mooloolaba. Before he died we were talking about what to do with his ashes. As he had spent most of his working life in Sydney he wanted them thrown over the Gap with all his Sydney friends present. We both laughed at the obvious outcome – there is always an updraft at The Gap and everyone would go home with a bit of Graham on their blouses or suits or in their hair. It happened and as we predicted everyone was covered in his ashes as they toddled off home. I imagined my friend giggling while he looked down on the scene. That was a good outcome but this is better Two guys are talking about what to do with their ashes after they are gone. They were both avid hunters and one remarked;
“I want my ashes placed into some good turkey-load shotgun shells,” he said. That way, someone could go kill a turkey with me . “I could rest in peace, knowing that one more turkey, the last thing he saw, was me screaming at him at 900 feet per second.”
If you don’t smile at that image then your just too serious! Soldiers could go on killing terrorists for years and dead coppers could keep on inflicting damage on the scruffs of the world. There are no limits. They set up a company Holy Smoke, which has been in business for a couple of months and charges $850 for a case of shells. The company has shipped out two orders. The feedback, Holmes says, is positive. I wish them well and if hunting Greenies ever becomes legal, I’ll be in it! If the last thing Bob Brown ever saw was me screaming at him at 900 feet per second my life would have meaning and I would know that even in death I had helped to secure Australia’s economic future. Just joking Bob;)

Thomson did receive credit cards

Senior NSW Police have been informed by American Express in the US that Mr Thomson and Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson were both supplied with credit cards by John Gilleland. Communigraphix, a graphic design business run by Mr Gilleland, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to produce the HSU newsletter, Health Standard. Senior police sources say Mr Thomson – who would be forced to resign from Parliament if charged and ultimately found guilty – had use of the American Express card for two years. Mr Thomson denies receiving any credit cards from suppliers when he was HSU national secretary from 2002 to 2007.

14 year old looking at Bali drug charges

A 14-year-old Australian boy arrested in Bali after allegedly being caught with a small amount of marijuana may have been set up, his lawyer says. Yeah…right! Still his lawyer has to do his job as he sees fit. Not only is the boy charged with possession but I note he was caught on his way to get a ‘massage’ Damn- they grow up so quickly these days, don’t they? Unfortunately for the boy, Rudd has stepped in. Mr Rudd said today that Australian officials were working closely with Indonesian authorities and had also been in contact with the family.
“I have just spoken with our ambassador in Jakarta (Greg Moriarty) and I have indicated to him that his number one priority in the immediate period ahead is how we support this young boy and his family and do everything we can to obtain his early return to Australia,” Mr Rudd said in Sydney last night.
I would have thought Greg Moriarty’s number one priority might be people smuggling or Australian Indonesian trade agreements or whatever issues that exist between the two countries and that he should just have someone keep an eye on the boy and his troubles. Still, that’s just me. I’m not trying to become PM or get a seat at the UN. Talking about Rudd, I picked up this quote from Latham at Catallaxy this morning;
(He) said that the reason that the public like Kevin Rudd is because they have never met him
Sounds about right.
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