My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

Somehow I've found myself here shivering from the cold and watching "mcleods daughters" on tv...i really need to work up enough energy to change the damn tv channel! save me! save me!

I planted trees all day Sunday! The world will be a better place for it! Sure it won't counteract all the cars, the pollution, the industry, and most of them won't last till next year...but at least some of them will make it through the year...and even if only one of them does it was still worth all the blisters I've got all over my hands from doing the digging...the digging that EVERYONE was meant to help with, but somehow, I ended up doing all the damn work!

Next pay day I think I'm going to go buy some CD's. The music I have at the moment seems to be getting old.

1) Hail to the Thief (probably won't be available in port macquarie)
2) Placebo's new album (probably won't be available in port macquarie)
3) Double Live Pearl Jam album (probably won't be available in port macquarie)
4) Powderfingers new album
5) or anything else I can find that actually is available in port macquarie that takes my fancy...

I think I might have an afternoon nap - I've already been woken from the first one because I had to go help them at APEX with something they really didn't even need help with at all but seemed more a team bonding exercise in doing nothing...let's hope the next one goes for longer (the next nap - not the APEX help)!

I love my afternoon naps - but they are better when someone is there to cuddle up with :(

Free Trade is still on the agenda - it was on the agenda a century ago!

Marx

This is what they said to the factory workers:

"The duty levied on corn is a tax upon wages; this tax you pay to
the landlords, those medieval aristocrats; if your position is
wretched one, it is on account of the dearness of the immediate
necessities of life."

The workers in turn asked the manufacturers:

"How is it that in the course of the last 30 years, while our
industry has undergone the greatest development, our wages have
fallen far more rapidly, in proportion, than the price of corn has
gone up?

"The tax which you say we pay the landlords is about 3 pence a week
per worker. And yet the wages of the hand-loom weaver fell,
between 1815 and 1843, from 28s. per week to 5s., and the wages of
the power-loom weavers, between 1823 and 1843, from 20s. per week
to 8s.

"And during the whole of this period that portion of the tax which
we paid to the landlord has never exceeded 3 pence. And, then in
the year 1834, when bread was very cheap and business going on very
well, what did you tell us? You said, 'If you are unfortunate, it
is because you have too many children, and your marriages are more
productive than your labor!'

"These are the very words you spoke to us, and you set about making
new Poor Laws, and building work-houses, the Bastilles of the
proletariat."

To this the manufacturer replied:

"You are right, worthy laborers; it is not the price of corn alone,
but competition of the hands among themselves as well, which
determined wages.

"But ponder well one thing, namely, that our soil consists only of
rocks and sandbanks. You surely do not imagine that corn can be
grown in flower-pots. So if, instead of lavishing our capital and
our labor upon a thoroughly sterile soil, we were to give up
agriculture, and devote ourselves exclusively to industry, all
Europe would abandon its factories, and England would form one huge
factory town, with the whole of the rest of Europe for its
countryside."

While thus haranguing his own workingmen, the manufacturer is
interrogated by the small trader, who says to him:

"If we repeal the Corn Laws, we shall indeed ruin agriculture; but
for all that, we shall not compel other nations to give up their
own factories and buy from ours.

"What will the consequence be? I shall lose the customers that I
have at present in the country, and the home trade will lose its
market."

The manufacturer, turning his back upon the workers, replies to the
shopkeeper:

"As to that, you leave it to us! Once rid of the duty on corn, we
shall import cheaper corn from abroad. Then we shall reduce wages
at the very time when they rise in the countries where we get out
corn.

"Thus in addition to the advantages which we already enjoy we shall
also have that of lower wages and, with all these advantage, we
shall easily force the Continent to buy from us."

But now the farmers and agricultural laborers join in the discussion.

"And what, pray, is to become of us?

"Are we going to pass a sentence of death upon agriculture, from
which we get our living? Are we to allow the soil to be torn from
beneath our feet?"

It's cold! woe! woe is me! woe!

Tate's just scored for Australia! Why is it the people, who simply should not even be in the Australian team based on form alone, always seem to be the ones to score first in the main matches? If he can play well for Australia - why the hell can't he play well for his club?

Ah - I've got nothing.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20030725/capt.sge.klu56.250703012952.photo01.default-384x249.jpg

Dead dictators son - or man in a badly glued on fake beard?

The eternal cynical skeptic.

This man in Australia was told by his local council that after buying his land it was going to be re-zoned as a flight path for the airforce, consequently, they would not approve his developement application for his house. In true Aussie fashion - he's seceded from Australia and formed his own country. The first thing he did as part of this was declare his country a no-fly zone.

I think there is a lesson in this for everyone - I'm not sure what - but I'm sure there's something to be learnt from it.

It is starting to look more and more like I'm going to be in Bourke almost full time for around about 6 months at least. If I do end up there, I'm going to *sob* be forced to get a mobile phone *sob* because there's no way in hell I'm paying to get a line hooked up for a short time, or paying for the phone calls at motel/hotel prices...

What the hell am I going to do in Bourke for 6 months? I'll be trapped - bored - and not know a single person! I'll basically have no car of my own for personal use, I'll be feeling like a prisoner! :(

I'm sitting here between puting the washing up on the line (yes at night - what?) and still waiting for the next lot to get through the wash. I'm contemplating whether or not I should retire my favourite corduroy brown jeans..they've been with me through thick and erm excuse the very bad pun thin....but the poor buggers are getting holes in them, the stitching is coming undone, and they're fading like you wouldn't believe....it's a sad state of affairs...if they make it through this wash, I think I'll keep them for a bit longer....if by the end of the year they are nothing but threads, then I'm going to give them a proper retirement into that big rag bin for polishing boots in the sky.....

It's a bit strange the way they're surprised that the Iraqi's want proof that Sadaam's boys are dead. I want proof that his sons are dead as well. Does that make me a traitor? No. Does that make me a Sadaam sympathiser? No. It merely means I am human. It is human to question. It is human to want proof.

We've heard it all before: that they were dead; that Sadaam was dead; that Bin Laden was dead; that Iraq has all these crazy bombs they were going to blow up the world with; that Iraq has germ warfare and chemicals they were going to use on the US forces - if they were going to use them, how come the forces never wore any of their protection they were supposed to wear for almost the entire operation? they obviously didn't think it was much of a threat now did they?

If the US military had a press-release that had some fact in it occasionally maybe people would believe them more often. No government ever seems to care about the truth. No journalist cares about the truth. No television network or newspaper cares about the truth - the truth never gets in the way of a good story. (and quite frankly, most people don't care either).

Ignorance is bliss.

10 hrs there. 10 hrs back. We travelled through 3 seasons in one day.

My brother smoked the entire time up and back in the car so I now smell like an ashtray. It was good to visit my family - sure they all come out with the "do you drink? do you smoke? do you gamble?" and I'm pretty much nil for three which doesn't help matters. Sure I drink - but their idea of drinking means you drink hard spirits everyday, sure i gamble - but their idea of gambling means you bet on the horses everyday, but the smoking part I can't claim to even do socially. I found out when my father's side of the family say they don't drink or don't smoke they mean that they drink beer weekly, and smoke once or twice per day. Does that put it into perspective for you?

Today was a good day. My car is fixed (I hope) - tomorrow will be the true test. Work wasn't too busy, wasn't too slow. But now I find myself home from work and sitting here with nothing left in the fridge and starving as all hell!

Well I've walked a mile or two in my lifetime
And I've travelled down some muddy tracks and dry
'Cause if I wanted to get where I was goin'
I knew I'd just have to walk that country mile

Now a country mile would be the longest distance
A man could ever travel when he's down
And you curse the never ending road before you
When you think you'll never make it into town

But you meet a friend or two along the highway
And you'll learn a lot you never knew before
And if the journey takes a lifetime
When you thought a year or two
Well you just don't give up easy anymore

And I've walked a mile or two-oo in my lifetime
And I've travelled down some muddy tracks and dry
'Cause if I wanted to get where I was goin'
I knew I'd just have to walk that country mile

Walkin' that long mile has shown me changes
Changes in the people and the land
But I'll bet the road to Marble Bar's no better
Than when I drove with trucks and caravans

And a country bloke is still the same old battler
No matter what the place he's workin' in
And although I've covered many miles
I still can't wait to see
What the next long country mile will bring

Well I've walked a mile or two-oo in my lifetime
And I've travelled down some muddy tracks and dry
'Cause if I wanted to get where I was go-oin'
I knew I'd just have to walk that country mile
Yes I knew I'd have to walk that country mile.....slim dusty

'Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.'

I'm cold. I'm hungry. I'm lonely. I'm sad.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

I seem to recognize your face
Haunting, familiar, yet I can't seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
All these changes taking place, I wish I'd seen the place
But no one's ever taken me
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away....p/jam

R.I.P

Carl Sutton.

I find myself feeling empty inside. Another family member has died that I never really got the chance to meet more than 10 times in my entire life. I find myself sitting here crying. He passed away in the middle of the night;peacefully, I hope. I just hope he realised how much I cared for him - I'm not sure he even realised I still existed.

I hope when my day finally comes that I have found peace with the world, and found peace with myself. I want to die in the arms of someone I love. I don't know many things for certain, but this I can assure you, the day I find out I am dying of cancer is the day I take my own life.

My Uncle is in a coma. If talking to people in a coma helps, then it means the person is still partially awake, and if they're partially awake then it means they can feel, if it means they can feel then my Uncle is in great pain. I don't want my Uncle to be in pain.

Bourke = fantastic.

Sure there were lots of flies, it was hot/cold, and really really dry...but the meeting went smoothly....i didn't come across as stupid as i felt...(so i've been told)...and there were actually people who turned up! what more could i ask for?

I'm flying to Bourke for my project management job. I just hope that some contractor also flies to Bourke to attend the pre-tender meeting otherwise I'm going to look a very stupid person. I've been trying to convince all of the contractors that it's not as bad as what people make out, and then the news keeps having all of these stories about how bourke has the highest crime rate per person in the country - they're making a liar out of me the damn media!

You can't phase me - I already am.

It's been a long week. Next week will be longer with 4 hrs of flights and meetings.

The "intelligence" was made up, exaggerated, and falsified.

A man awakens from a 19 yr coma - it's really strange - the first thing he asks for is a pepsi (caffeine is addictive afterall) - and the next thing he is going to be confronted with is 19 years worth of family photos with him being propped up in them like weekend at bernies! He'll probably have a heart attack seeing his family defacing him!

Today was the worst day for a while. I've spent most of the day faxing, photocopying, and preparing pre-tender meeting agendas for people who probably won't even turn up to the pre-tender meeting. I must say, fax machines are a terrible invention. They drop out half way through sending faxes, they run out of paper, all hell breaks lose!

Email is a much smoother transaction - but what do all of the companies do now? delete all emails that come with an attachment! It defeats the purpose of having email if you're going to delete it all! So back to fax sending I go....it's like we're regressing!

I don't know if it's just me, or every male in the world, but trying to urinate when wearing a tie is a hard task. The tie is not long enough to get in the way of the actual urine, however, it is long enough to block your view of the entire situation so you aim is in gods hands as to where the trail is going to end up - not a very pleasant feeling.

"Just as Darwin discovered the law of development or organic
nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history:
the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that
mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing,
before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; that
therefore the production of the immediate material means, and
consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given
people or during a given epoch, form the foundation upon which the
state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on
religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light
of which they must, therefore, be explained, instead of vice versa, as
had hitherto been the case." - An exert by Engels talking of Marx after his death.

This weekend gone by has been a good one. Good food (well, what little food I ate), good drink (what little drink I drank), and good company (or should I say fantastic?).

There were dolphins all over the coast in large pods (schools? pods? something?) of like 10ish and there were around 3-4 different groups of them. I pointed them out but SOMEONE thought I was crazy at first until we realised they were everywhere! One of them was surfing on a wave that came into shore...but it broke on the rocks, I saw him just before the wave crashed...either he was pulling off a surfing manouvre that was far better than anything I've ever seen before that it damn near went against the laws of gravity...or he got hammered! for the poor dolphins sake I hope it was the former rather than the latter.

IAG.AX 3.460 -0.020

They said that my IAG shares were meant to be sold when they were at 3.30 because they'd never get much higher than that..look at that! 3.46....sure they've dropped by like 0.020..but the trend for them is pretty damn good...shame I don't really have enough of an interest in them to actually make any money out of the whole transaction.

Why is it that Australia has decided to send in a "peace keeping force" to "help" out the Solomon Islands 5 yrs after they were overtaken by rebels? Is it because our foreign policy has changed to mimick that of the US? Is it because there is some monetary gain to be had from undertaking such a task? Or are we simply kissing Bush arse again?

"The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression. Mistrust of every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude toward the convictions that were alive in any specific social environment-an attitude that has never again left me, even though, later on, it has been tempered by a better insight into the causal connections" - Einstein on reading scientific books.

It's a really nice day today! and if it wasn't for the freezing cold wind, the fact it's the middle of winter, and the fact that i'm sitting here at a computer typing in my pj's at 12:30 pm I'd say it was a fantastic day!

Well back to doing weights for a bit longer - sorry to bother you with such trivial stuff.

It really annoys me when I hear people say that they don't like Simon Crean because he's an asshole when they don't even know the man. I hate Simon Crean - I will admit it - I don't know the man, but at least I know why I hate him.

The labour Government has spent the past 10 years brainwashing us into hating him so he could take the brunt of all of their unpopular decisions so their leader (at the time) could be loved by everyone. It is a very clever strategy - Bill Clinton used the same method with Al Gore.

I just wish that everyone could see that is why they hate him so much.

Why is it that America seems to think it has won a war when history has shown there are no wars of note that America has ever won?

Independance - French won it....
WW2 - the Russians won it with a little help from Hitler not waging war properly;
Vietnam - American could have won it in the first 2 weeks if they knew what they were doing, but in the end it was pretty much a stale mate;
Korea- no one won it and the way things are headed it may be happening all over again;
Iraq 1 - Bush Snr gets voted out, Hussein lived on;
Afghanistan/Iraq/War on terror - it's a little to easy to kick a man when he's down with regard to these feats.

On a lighter note...I got a ticket today for driving through a tollway and not paying when there was no tollbooth to pay at. I don't understand why anyone would create a tollway that you have to pay at the beginning of the week or you are not allowed on it because there is no tollbooth. It doesn't make any sense! They've created a road that is for the exclusive use of locals and locals only. How is an interstate person meant to realise that they can't drive on it because they have to pay else where? By the time you realise there is no tollbooth on the road you are through it and thinking to yourself "maybe it wasn't a tollway after all". I can say for certain that if the sign had said "Sydney for free -> this way" and "Sydney for a $45 fine for all people who do not have divine powers making them realise that they can't pay the toll fee on the toll and for stupid out of towners <- that way" I'd not have gone anywhere near the damn road! :(

Why is it that when people are found in their house after being dead for a few years they always seem to be from Germany or in Germany?