I see Amazon in Australia has set itself up in Melbourne, apart from its managers, without any permanent workers at all, none, no one...all casuals, and all pushed to the limit and sent home before a shift ends whenever the managers want. What a company. What a cunt of a company.

poem for George Pell: A Little Vanilla/ George Pell enroute to hell will spend the night in a cell. Around his neck there is a bell of the cries and screams of boys he fell to their little knees for him to please for his reptile rage to quell.

Some years ago I recall writing to the current Bishop of Cairns about various goings on in the Church etc more to do with persecuting folk who wanted euthanasia, and ending the letter with the biblical quote "Suffer little children to come unto me." He replied and invited me around for a talk and a cup of tea...and we had a cuppa and talked about my main interest at that time...the interplay between palliative care and euthanasia...and when he was pretty sure I had no evidence or no grist about child sexual abuse to discuss, he kind of lost interest. Nice man. Good wine cellar. (The bishops know a good red). He gave a big 'loan' of money to a guy who complained about sexual abuse, and gave the guy a job polishing the doorknobs of the cathedral in Cairns, just being kind. A few thousand dollars for polishing knobs seemed appropriate. I thought that was nice of him. ............ The problematic thing for the Church is that Cardinal Pell constructed the still operating legal rules (The Melbourne Defence) for dealing with child sexual abuse victims, and broke the Australian church into small little boxes who had very limited responsibility on a corporate basis, but thus shielding Rome from any financial unpleasantness at all. Pell is a savvy and Smart fellow.

Australia...now, lets see. The Australian Ambassador to the USA, Joe Hockey, owns a travel company in Australia that gives free holidays to the Australian Finance Minister and his family to go and have fun in Singapore...and the Finance Minister of Australia, the FINANCE MINISTER, Matthias Korman, doesn't even know that he hasn't paid for the holiday he and his family had...its just a mystery....and then the same Finance Minister advises the Treasurer on serious financial things for the whole Nation...hmmm. The best thing you can say about Matthias Korman is being amazed about how high you can rise in the world of Government Finance without knowing anything about...finance. Australia is a nation that lets even the most inept creep to the top.

olerance & Compassion. Imagine living in a country where the government has spent $20 billion dollars on an advanced internet system that delivers slower speeds and more expense whilst the money is given to important friends of the government in the USA. That's what I love about Australia. They just...take it and without any complaint at all. We are Saints of the West. We just want to belong.

I recall many times when I rode around from Cairns to Rockhampton, on the ex-Queensland Police white BMW K1100LT with its blue spotlights, and with me wearing a white helmet, that it was the safest place on the road to be. Drivers would just see you instantly, from miles away, and just give way, get out of your way. I repainted the bike black before I sold it and within a few days normal everyday drivers couldn't see me anymore and didn't give a fuck if I was dead or alive...and staying alive got really tricky for me...true. same roads, same people...on a motorbike, if you dont look like a cop, people can see you, obviously, but they really dont give a fuck about you. So, on choosing the black BMW K1300S, yes, I'd get a white helmet. Australians, whether in politics or on the road, only see what they fear. Its a national and racial trait.

Here's something nice and true: driving home from work in Melbourne city the other night, at a cross road with 5 roads and 2 tram lines, this guy, bedraggled, maybe 40 years old and worse for wear, was trying to get across the intersection. He didn't need any help crossing the road, but he was just so very very slow with elements of Korsakoff syndrome in his gait and a face that looked just like florid Meth...so, everyone, and I mean everyone, just stopped. No one went to help him because he didn't need any help, he was just really really slow in getting from one side of the road to the other...5 minutes. Everyone stopped. The traffic lights changed and then changed back again, and then again, and again, and again. No one honked horns. No one complained. He eventually got to the other side. There are some very nice things about Melbourne folk. Respect for the human journey.