Obama wants you in a car and on your way to Rhode Island - right now!

As the US presidential nominee race speeds up in both the Republican and Democratic camps, those e-mails from the Obama for America team just keep coming.

Yesterday's e-mail

Dear [redacted],
Rhode Island's primary is next Tuesday, March 4th, and you can play a major role in this important contest.

Talking face-to-face with fellow voters is the most effective way to spread our message of change and Get Out The Vote for Barack.

In the days leading up to the primary -- and particularly on Primary Day itself -- supporters all across Rhode Island are organizing a statewide canvass.

Take a trip to Rhode Island, and join your fellow supporters in canvassing for Barack:

http://my.barackobama.com/GOTVinRI

Grassroots organizing by supporters across the country has been essential to our success so far.

Thanks to you and your fellow supporters, we're going into the Rhode Island primary with the momentum of 11 straight wins.

The March 4th primaries could be the decisive moment that puts this movement over the top.

But in such a close race, we need to bring as many people into this process as possible.

The Rhode Island canvass can make all the difference -- but that depends on you. Help make sure voters hear about the kind of change Barack will bring to Rhode Island.

You don't need any prior experience to join this effort. The only requirement is your dedication to this movement for change.

Come to Rhode Island this weekend, meet your fellow supporters, and talk to voters about why you are part of this movement:

http://my.barackobama.com/GOTVinRI

When people work together toward a common purpose, anything is possible.

See you in Rhode Island,

Nicole

Nicole Derse
Out-of-State Volunteer Coordinator
Obama for America

I never had s*xual relations with that developer

Watching NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor's performance during an interview on Aunty's Four Corners last night left me with a strong suspicion that Mr. Sartor's denial of any knowledge of collusion or corruption may have had more to do with his personal definition of those terms, rather than an actual sequence of events.

Noticeably it was some time into Quentin Dempster's pointed questioning before the Minister used words such as 'no' and 'never' in relation to himself and President Clinton's famous denial of improper behaviour sprang forcibly to mind.

I was left wondering exactly what Mr. Sartor thought developers were actually doing with all those cigars.

Australian Yobbos

It is with great sorrow that I have to inform the general public that the Australian yobbo has extended its territory from pubs, football fields, backyard BBQ's and has invaded the field of politics.

This is evident in the behaviour of certain yobbo politicians during Question Time in federal parliament, where a cut-out cardboard replica of the Prime Minister was passed around the house.

The yobbos continued to rampage outside parliament by harassing members of the press, and so I'm told, any female they could see.

These non-repentant yobbos have vowed to continue their antics into the future.

Like the cane toads that have grown longer legs as they invaded more territory, so have the Australian yobbos changed their appearance.

They no longer are only found wearing singlets, stubbie shorts and thongs. Some of these wily beasts now wear suits, but their yobbo origins are plain for all to see when they open their mouths and talk.

I have included some statements that have been attributed to the members of this group:

• "John Howard did more for indigenous people than any other prime minister,"
• [On Wilson Tuckey] "He is a man who quite rightly fights for the things he believes in and if, from time to time, this minister goes over the top in a cause in which he believes, that is his nature, that is the nature of the man, that is the way this fine Australian operates,"
• "We ... made a mistake in November 2006 when we introduced Work Choices and most Australians were not able to understand why we were doing it,''
• Mr Turnbull said that giving up the allowance from tax payers would be a poor decision, and would put in question his position as an MP. "I cannot think of anything which would be worse for our democracy,"
• [Tuckey on the 2008 Parliament opening ceremony] "I'm horrified and concerned that we're going to turn the Parliament of Australia into a dance parlour,"
• "I will serve in whatever capacity I can make a positive contribution."

As we have been dealing with the invasion of cane toads, fire ants, equine flu we have taken our eyes of this home grown menace to peace and sanity. People of Australia we must act.

We must send a clear message to these yobbos and yobbettes (sometimes known as sheilas) that we are not pleased, and try to send them back to the jungle where they belong or at least devise some remedial help to try and rehabilitate these poor unfortunate creatures.

If that fails the only solution may be to use the same solution that this group has imposed on the indigenous people of Australia; "special treatment".
For more information on the habits and character of yobbos I refer you to the song in the Music from the North Coast sidebar, The Great Australian Yobbo.

North Coast Area Health Service background checks on medical practitioners need to be reviewed

When the Premier stood before the NSW Parliament yesterday and apologised for the abject failure to adequately check the background and credentials of one Bega medical practioner, he was speaking to a larger problem and one which affects rural/regional areas.

On the same day The Northern Star reported that "FORMER Lismore obstetrician Roman Hasil has had his medical registration in NSW and Queensland suspended after claims of lies, violence and fraud.
Dr Hasil worked at Lismore Base Hospital from 2001 to 2005 but left under a cloud after an investigation found he fiddled the books to claim money he was not entitled to, something the Czech-born and trained doctor denies.
Now a New Zealand Government investigation has revealed Dr Hasil lied about a criminal conviction and jail term in Singapore for domestic violence; was forced from a hospital in Victoria and suspended in New Zealand for drinking while on call; and botched about a quarter of the sterilisation procedures he performed on women while working at New Zealand's Wanganui Hospital."

The NSW Minister for Health, the Dept. of Health and North Coast Area Health Service need to get their act together, and conduct an urgent review of the level of supporting documentation required from doctors applying for hospital positions or privileges and the parameters of background checks on these applicants.
North Coast residents deserve a tangible assurance that due diligence is in place to protect their health and wellbeing.

Iemma squibs it on political donations

Morris Iemma managed to look sincere yesterday as he solemnly averred that there was no point in banning developers from making political donations in New South Wales unless the ban was imposed nationally.

"It is impossible to look at campaign caps, or banning a specific type of donor, unless laws are consistent at a national level," he said.

Now run that by me again. There is no point in stopping a source of corruption here unless it is stopped everywhere?

Oh, Morrie - just how simple do you think we are mate! A child could point out the flaw in that argument.

The BBC on New South Wales, Sydney, Wollongong and those 'Mezzo Sopranos'

This week the UK Beeb whaled into the international reputation of New South Wales and its government.

The serve was well-deserved. Especially in light of the Iemma Government's current push to legislate away local community input into development proposals and environmental and rezoning issues, as well as the blatant land grab on the NSW North Coast.

 

"Sleaze allegations

Certainly, there is the whiff of decay. Alarmed by the level of complacency, the Sydney Morning Herald noted recently: "No law says Sydney must be Australia's premier city. It will only retain its pre-eminent position if it is well planned, well managed and regularly upgraded. That is not happening now."

Now, the beleaguered Labor-controlled New South Wales government is wallowing in sleaze allegations, and stands accused of mendacity as well as mediocrity.
Much of the muck has been excavated from a made-for-the-tabloids sex scandal involving a town planner in Wollongong, a city to the south of Sydney which up until now has been better known for its seaside steelworks rather than its bedroom fireworks.

Were it not such a mouthful, it would be tempting to call it "Wollongongate". And yes, you did read that right: sex and town planning did just feature in the same sentence.------

The problem for the New South Wales government is that five ministers have links with key figures in this imbroglio, either directly or indirectly. Because some of them have Italian-sounding names, they have been dubbed "the Mezzo Sopranos".

The scandal has also shone a spotlight on the massive political donations from property developers to the two major parties.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, developers gave $A13,180,793 ($12m; £6m) to the New South Wales Labor party between 1998 and 2007, and $A8.2m ($7.6m; £3.8m) to the Liberal party over the same period.

Sydney has been disfigured over the past 20 years or so by some determinedly cheap and nasty developments. Many are naturally asking: is this the reason why?"

Aussie blogosphere typing and talking in 2008

NEILSEN/NETRATINGS

	Australia: Average Web Usage Month of January 2008 Home Panel   Sessions/Visits Per Person 38 Domains Visited Per Person 66 PC Time Per Person 35:55:25 Duration of a Web Page Viewed 00:00:52 Active Digital Media Universe 11,147,323 Current Digital Media Universe Estimate 14,787,181

 

Goggle Trends result for 2008 using search terms "kevin rudd" and "rudd government"

 

At least 11 million Australians are regular internet users and it seems that, in comparison to the global internet, local users spend slightly more time online per month on average than the rest of the world, visit fewer domains but visit more often, and spend longer on each web page.

Some reports indicate that Australians have created around 2 million blog sites.
Many of us are also likely to look up Kevin Rudd on Google.

On the NSW North Coast there are conservatively at least 80,000 people who can access the internet each day at home, work or by a public access site. 

All of which will make it interesting to monitor the progress of that new wiki Oz Ideas  (set up as an alternative forum to the Rudd Government's Australia 2020 Summit).