Harmony Day in Grafton, 27 March 2009

GRAFTON MIGRANT WOMENS GROUP

HARMONY DAY 2009

12PM - 1.30PM FRIDAY 27 MARCH

MARKET SQUARE, GRAFTON

PERFORMANCES
LOCAL SERVICE INFORMATION STALLS
$2.00 LUNCH - Satays + plain rice or Noodle dish or Fruit salad.

Clarence Valley Council will provide 2 small marquees, tables and chairs to be shared by local service providers. Other information stands are welcome. Please RSVP by 20 March 2009. Community Development Officer Tim Shearman Ph:66450232 or tim.shearman@clarence.nsw.gov.au

A Special Kind Of Vision: contemporary indigenous art on the NSW North Coast

On 5 March Arts Northern Rivers and the Retrospect Galleries hosted the launch of a full-colour book showcasing contemporary indigenous art titled A Special Kind Of Vision.

An exhibition of the same name is running at the gallery featuring the work of:
Albert Digby Moran / Alison Williams / Bevan Skinner / Brenda Webb / Frances Belle Parker / Garth Lena / Gilbert Laurie / Graeme Walker / Jacqui Williams / Joanne Lapic / Karla Dickens / Kim Healey / Lelarnie O’Sullivan / Les Evans / Lewis Walker / Lexie Donovan / Mark Deamon Noter-Browning / Michael Philp / Noel (Charlie) Caldwell / Oral Roberts / Penny Evans / Peter Robinson / Priscilla Sutor Anderson / Robert Appo / Timothy Ives.

Where: Retrospect Galleries, 52 Jonson Street, Byron Bay

When: Opening 6pm Friday March 6, exhibition runs till Thursday March 26

Time: Open 7 days, 10am to 6pm

More info: (02) 6680 8825 or www.retrospectgalleries.com

Painting is Alison Williams' Belonging from Arts Northern Rivers e-news

Copies of the book are available at Arts Northern Rivers and Retrospect Galleries for RRP $38.50

The Prim Minister and Senator Conjob go sensoring

With their national broadband plans languishing (will there or won't there be an announcement on Friday 13th) and the Great Firewall of Australia still not legitimately live trialled, I was amazed to see the Prime Minster's monkey Senator Conroy announce his burning desire not to produce "dumb projects":
THE federal Government is considering mandating that all major new infrastructure projects such as bridges, roads and railways have smart sensors built into them to monitor maintenance and help prevent disasters like the Minnesota bridge collapse.
Minnesota bridge collapse?
Yeah that's a big bridge. In America.
But most of our bridges are smaller ones dotted over the country and maintained by local government on shoestring budgets.
Will the Rudd Government's grand smart sensor implant hype plan actually come with increased funding for local councils so that they can boost the rate of upgrading and why isn't any of this proposed smart technology going into aging infrastructure like the 7,000-odd wooden bridges in NSW many of which are on the North Coast?
Surely the most vulnerable of bridges deserve the highest level of monitoring.

Water, water, everywhere....

Sitting here on the NSW North Coast congratulating myself on the blessed good fortune which meant that the weather has not dealt our region a really bad hand so far this year, it is hard to imagine the extremes experienced elsewhere.

This is the Burdekin Dam, northern Queensland in February 2009.

Thanks to Andrew, Monica, Samantha and Connor for the pics.

Best blog legend found this week

From Monbiot:

"Tell people something they know already and they will thank you for it.
Tell them something new and they will hate you for it."

Best blog comment found this month

From Deltoid:

The Washington Post would decide that George Will is entitled to s*domise puppies live on national TV if they thought they could make money off of it.
Posted by: Dunc February 27, 2009 11:34 AM

Queensland election: LNP candidate a ''serial carpark squatter''

Brisbane's Courier Mail reports that Michael Palmer, Lawrence Springborg's representative for Nudgee, knows a thing or two about bludging.

Palmer, described by the Mail as a "billionaire spawn", has been branded "an arrogant little sod" and a "serial carpark squattter" by a South Brisbane oral surgeon.

The 18-year-old aspiring pollie, and son of the state's richest man Clive Palmer, yesterday plonked dad's golden Mercedes outside the Hope St specialist - where he had no appointment - and wandered off for several hours.

The LNP Nudgee candidate has done this repeatedly in his campaign car, copping a written warning each time, Dr Matthew Voltz told Confidential.

"I thought enough is enough," he said.

When Palmer finally returned, the surgeon approached the Merc to discuss the issue.

But the young man in a hurry "reversed his vehicle away from me, almost driving over me in the rush to escape", Dr Voltz said.

"He saw me coming ... he gave me a wave and I thought, 'You arrogant little sod'.

"I pointed to the sign and said, 'Next time you'll get towed'."

When Confidential contacted Palmer, he said the specialist was "just taking things all a bit too dramatic (sic)".

"It's true that he did knock on the window there but I wasn't really sure what it was about," he said.

"I received the notice there and then I just drove away."

Asked if he'd return to the car space, Palmer spun us a yarn about making an appointment for the specialist next week since he had not been to a dentist in six months.

"I've had a few friends call me and, you know, word of mouth is that they're a pretty good outfit," Palmer said.

Yeah, right, Michael.

They're an oral surgery, not a dental clinic, so you can't make an appointment - you need a referral.

Grocery Choice staggers on

During the entire time the Rudd Government's Grocery Choice has been operating it has only received 68 comments and some of these were from the good folks at Choice who are taking over this website.

If you want to have your say on what information the new look Grocery Choice should contain you can post a comment here.

The latest grocery price breakdown for north-east NSW.
Click to image enlarge.

Teh Ecunomy: Are we scared yet?

Stephen Mayne of The Mayne Report gives us a "chronological version of the losses revealed by ASX-listed companies on Friday, February 27, the very last day of the worst profit reporting season in history" and says that "There's never been a flood of red ink quite like this before."
(Though none of that red appears to be flowing from Pacific Brands which is sacking Aussie and Kiwi workers left, right and centre while sending its famous clothing lines offshore. So come on Cashie give up those Bonds undies!)

Still, despite waking up yesterday morning to a murder of crows yelling RECESSION! on the radio and Malcolm Turnbull acting all coy, I rather think that most of us are as laid back about the economy as Crikey's First Dog On The Moon.

We know it will happen but it doesn't seem that much of a bogey man - yet.