Best political & intergalactic tweets seen recently and other stray thoughts

rod3000 Can I suggest NSW Cabinet have a caged death match? Last one standing gets to be Premier for 18 months. ....from Tweetie

Since when is dying at 77 years and 6 months of age considered an "untimely death", when average male expectancy in the United States is in the vicinity of 77.7 years?

A Scots farmer is now officially riding on the sheep's back as he took home a record £231,000 for a stud ram, named Deveronvale Perfection.

GODWIN Grech, the Treasury official at the centre of the fake email affair, proposed a fee deal to the merchant bank running the OzCar fund whose chairman was a key backer and personal donor to Malcolm Turnbull.The effect of the deal was to enable Credit Suisse, the bank hired by Treasury to implement OzCar, to maintain its $5 million in fees, despite the fund being scaled back from $2 billion to $1.3bn. The Weekend Australian can reveal that John O'Sullivan, the chairman of investment banking for Credit Suisse, donated more than $20,000 to the Wentworth Forum, the Opposition Leader's political fighting fund. According to The Australian on 29th August 2009.

Australia spammed outerspace on 28 August 2009 with 25,800 messages from Earth to Gliese 581d, a planet outside our solar system which may support life of some sort. These messages will take 20 years to reach this planet - at which time expect an intergalactic spam filter to activate.

Best intergalactic tweet from the Hello from Earth project:
"Yidigunmardin nuruku yajingewa wuremulu jandange. Our dream, we're telling to them young kids. We're talking all this dream for the future.
Yidumduma Bill Harney
Wardaman people, near Katherine, Australia"

Senator "Barney Rubble" Joyce (playfully rewriting history) reduces investigations into Australia's breach of UN sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq to merely a matter of; "The main issue with AWB was there was a concerted effort, a political motive to get rid of Australia's single desk".

Amusing DIGG cover headline for article in the Seattle Weekly, USA; Gays Too Late To Ruin Marriage, Straights Beat You To It

The UK Telegraph posed the question last Saturday; "It's a question that all animal-loving Christian evangelicals must address: who will look after their pets on Earth when the Rapture comes and they are taken up to heaven?"

The Australian says general public won't find new Telstra CEO's email address easily. Really, truly? ROFL

This morning I read an online James Jeffrey snippet in The Australian which ended with:

In the meantime, Strewth's inbox has been on the receiving end of an avalanche of Telstra customers who are exceptionally keen to be given Thodey's email address. All we can say is, good luck.

All I can say is - really?

I suspect that all one has to do is use the Team Telstra email address and render it as David.Thodey@team.telstra.com .

This was a functioning e-address at time of writing this post.

So if you have a complaint or two..........

Heard about Mischief the foul-mouthed feline?

A bloke in the Northern Territory reckons his pet cat Mischief can speak English and has a vocabulary of seven different words.

The Northern Territory News reports that ex-boxer Robert 'RJ' Duncan, of Palmerston, claims his cat can say seven words: mum, no, now, what, f**k, pr*ck and why.

"He can't say 'dad' yet, which is a bit of a pr*ck. That's how he got the word 'pr*ck' I reckon, because I say it a lot."

When the Northern Territory News first visited Duncan, 34, and his wife Sandra, 32, at their Gray home, the house-bound moggie grumpily declined to comment.

Instead, he scratched Mr Duncan a few times before bolting to his bedroom and barricading himself in his cupboard.

During a second visit, Mischief was much friendlier - and more talkative. All gathered heard him speak to Sandra, calling her "mum".

Mr Duncan said the two-year-old cat - which he and his wife adopted from his feral mother in Katherine - was most vocal at night.

The Shooter's Party and hunting in NSW North Coast national parks

Borsak post-coital in Zibabwe from NitroExpress

The Shooter's Party is not playing well on the NSW North Coast where the natural environment and diverse flora and fauna are still our biggest tourism draw cards and, where residents appreciate their contact with wildlife.

I haven't yet spoken to anyone who favours allowing gun-toting hunters into national parks or the creation of private game reserves stocked with exotic or feral animals.

This 25 August 2009 The Daily Examiner letter to the editor expresses a common view:

Political shenanigans

THE media has had a field day of late reporting on the political shenanigans that the State Labor Government has been resorting to in order to get its legislation through the State's Upper House.

It is their cosy relationship with the Shooters Party and Fred Nile that has culminated in the controversial bill being proposed that will allow sporting shooters to hunt and kill feral animals and a range of native fauna on public land, including national parks, under the guise of conservation hunting.

That political bond saw the creation of the NSW Game Council whose current chairman, Robert Borsak, has political ambitions of his own, and apparently dreams of joining the former council chairman as an Upper House Shooters Party representative.

Last Friday, the ABC's Stateline program reported the scandal and alerted the nation to a website which contains Mr Borsak's account of an elephant hunt he undertook in Zimbabwe.

His gleeful description of the poor animal's screams and subsequent death throes (he had only managed to break its spine with his first shot, so inept are his shooting skills), is sickening indeed.

However, I urge any doubters as to the real motivation behind the Shooters Party move to log on and read that story so as to fully comprehend the implications of allowing the Shooters Bill to progress.

I believe that the majority of those that read and understand the blood lust that is clearly conveyed in the article, would not only refuse to countenance recreational hunting in national parks, but would support moves to put a stop to this barbaric sport altogether.

JOHN EDWARDS,

South Grafton.

Robert Borsak bragging about his kills in Africa.

Shooter's Party list of Robert Borsak forum posts.

Telstra gets another serve from the Northern Rivers as Saffin takes new charges complaint to Parliament

This time it's the hardworking Federal Labor MP for Page writing in the letters column of The Daily Examiner on 28th August 2009 concerning new over-the-top Telstra account charges.
Sic 'em, Janelle!

Telstra fee unfair

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with David Bancroft's editorial (DEX, August 24) regarding Telstra's unfair penalty imposed on people who want to pay their bills by phone or over the counter.
Earlier this month Phil Redpath also wrote (DEX, August 8) calling for people to write to Telstra and send copies of their complaints through to me in a campaign to have the new charge dropped.
I agree that people power can work in these situations, and ask that people send their representations directly to me if they prefer (Janelle.Saffin.MP@aph.gov.au ) and I will pass on to Telstra.
I have already contacted the new CEO of Telstra, David Thodey, calling on him to immediately withdraw the $2.20 charge, which is a penalty on those who can't or don't want to pay electronically.
This penalty is particularly unreasonable in the light of Telstra's announcement of an annual profit of more than $4 billion.
I have been working on the Telstra billing issue in Canberra with my colleague Sid Sidebottom, the Member for Braddon, and we will be speaking on a notice of motion on this issue which is listed for debate in the next sitting of Parliament.
There is a clear opportunity here for David Thodey to demonstrate he is genuine about improving customer relations by getting rid of this unfair billing charge.
Let's show him some people power at work.

JANELLE SAFFIN MP,
Member for Page

Update:

Tamanian MP for Braddon Sid Sidebottom's letter to David Thodley protesting new Telstra charges, 20th August 2009

Perhaps the pollies representing Clarence, Lismore, Oxley and Ballina (state), as well those looking out for Cowper, Lyne and Richmond (federal), might like to tell the world how they are approaching Telstra's latest attempt to gouge its loyal customers.

The League of American Voters gets down and dirty over Obama health care reform

If Republicans in America are to be believed - a reformed US health care system (that would not be even a pale imitation of the type of Medicare public hospital cover that Australians enjoy) would mean complete societal breakdown.

The League of American Voters is telling the world:

We are told they are working behind the scenes to change long-standing Senate rules so that they can pass their health plan with just 50 votes! This is again a desperate measure and an attempt to subvert our democratic and constitutional system.
I can assure you the League of American Voters is working day and night to stop Obama's plan.

This week the US far-right online organ NewsMax is sending out emails which states in part:

League of American Voters
Dear Friend:

I have some very shocking news.

ABC television has banned our TV ad from airing on its network.

Frankly, I was stunned when I heard the news from our media buyer yesterday.

Right now, our TV ad exposing Obamacare is running in 12 states.

You can see this powerful ad by Going Here Now.

With our success — thanks to your incredible support — we were planning to go national, so we sent the ad to the major networks.

This TV ad simply tells the truth about Obamacare.

It was crafted by Dick Morris, the Fox News contributor and famous campaign strategist.

This powerful ad features a respected medical doctor — a neurosurgeon, in fact — who warns that Obamacare will decimate healthcare for seniors and others in need of life-saving medical procedures.

As Dr. Cuffe explains in the ad, if Obama gets his way and adds 50 million new patients to the government system, it inevitably will lead to rationing of healthcare procedures and vital medicines for the elderly.

Dr. Cuffe says universal healthcare has led to this same situation in Canada and England......

We know why ABC is so afraid of the League's TV ad. It knows the message resonates with the American people.

This is the same network that aired an infomercial for the Obama plan directly from the White House.

Clearly, ABC knows seniors will not be hoodwinked by Obama when they learn the truth.

Despite ABC's brazen act of censorship, we need to continue to run this ad on other stations across the nation and on major networks.

The appearance of a very photogenic Dr. Cuffe in this ad seems to have increased the wave of paranoia sweeping across the USA if that were possible.

In a Free Republic forum thread which has since been pulled, Obama is accused of almost any vile deed that can be brought to mind:

Obamacare to use FAKE "Doctors" in DNC Plan to Exterminate the Elderly
and Deny Them All Independent Access to Real Doctors and Real Treatment.

and

DNC Death Panel: "You voted wrong. Your healthcare, and you, are terminated!!"
and
Obama agreed to pitch us older people over the cliff with his agreeing to hurt Medicare in return for getting his way
and
Obamacare, The Final Solution"

Update:

Yesterday FactCheck posted Twenty-six lies about H.R. 3200 in an effort to stem the flood of misinformation be spread by a viral e-mail based on one Twitter user's off the cuff assessment of the Obama health care reform proposals.

But wait, there's more.....

The National Republican Committee has been caught out trying to suggest that healthcare may be denied on the basis of political affiliation, with this survey question: "It has been suggested that the government could use voter registration to determine a person's political affiliation, prompting fears that GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system. Does this possibility concern you?"

75th Jacaranda Festival, Grafton NSW 30 October to 8 November 2009

2009 is the seventy-fifth year that Grafton's floral festival has been held, making it the oldest Australian festival of this type.

The festival begins on 30 October and the Clarence Valley hopes to see you there.

Preliminary Jacaranda Festival Program

2009 Junior Queen Candiates

Left to Right
Top: Brooke Townsend, Chelsea Cameron, Kristen Cotton, Summer Jones, Jamie-Lee Brown
Centre: Krystal Stoker
Bottom: Micaela Burgess, Bethany Tanner, Ashley O'Connor, Katlin Barrell

The Daily Examiner slideshow of candidate photographs here.