False Media Reports

Of recent days much airtime & column space has been devoted to "shootings" & the like.
The streets of Australia are being painted as the scene of "drive-by shootings", "bikie vendettas" etc.

Rubbish! The news media should stop making things up. It is not true. These things didn't happen. These things cannot happen.

For in 1996 Australia had very strict gun laws imposed. To stop this sort of thing.

Thus the press is making it all up. Reading such poppycock is bad for the blood pressure!

***********

Or perhaps every poltician who voted for the laws, and every member of the public who supported/supports such laws, is wrong. Plain wrong.

What have gun laws achieved, except the disarming & subsequent harrasment of law-abiding citizens?

Every politician who voted for such laws, and every citizen who supports such laws, should hang their head in shame. Utter shame.

Not only for getting it wrong, but for being so blindingly stupid.

With friends like these...........

One of the benefits of the introduction of television service to the outer reaches of the nation is the televising of the Anzac Day march.  The televised march has usually been from the southern city of Brisbane, but with the introduction of multiple TV channels, we can now watch excerpts of the marches held in other (deeper in the south) cities.

Favourite part of the televised ANZAC day march?

The Military Police (or Provost Marshal's Corps, or whatever their real name may be) were preceded by a banner that accross the bottom had a slogan that read something like:

"Always with the troops, Always supporting the troops"

Leaves me speechless.

Mine Host's recommendation:  The returned servicemen former M.P.s meet after the march at a pub where no other returned servicemen are drinking at.

Being as none of the marching former M.P. Anzacs looked as robust as they used to be, and they no longer have the wrath of hell backing them up.

Memories are long, and the support the provos provided to the troops will be well remembered by those on the receiving end of that (*cough*) "support".

******************************
(Footnote:  The changes to blogspot?  They really suck!  -  After over 7 years of using the same format, I was quite happy with it, and am finding the new format heavy going.  Posting isn't as easy anymore, perhaps I'll change to another site, I'm not sure I'm prepared to go to the extra work that blogger is now putting me to).  I run close to half a dozen blogs, & they've all become hard work.

Does anyone have any recommendations/comparisons?

Breathing Trouble inflicted

Mine Host has lately been seething aplenty at the narrow-mindedness and obtuse stupidity of his urban TV-watching comrades from the deep south.

These are the people whose uninformed & ill-considered outcry (over cruelty they saw on their TV screen) led to the federal government mindlessly killing a productive industry. The northern cattle industry.

An industry Mine Host once worked in.

There is one universal sin in that industry. Commission of which will bring all walks of life together against you, and will have you ostracised, cast out, shunned, etc.

Cruelty to an animal.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

So picture this:

One of the men was sitting, pulling the wings off a fly. The boss, a big gruff and rough type, saw this and was troubled by the needless cruelty.

The boss roughly issued an order to the man:
"You kill that fly right now!"

The man laughed & released the fly.

The boss broke the man's nose.

Pause to Think

There's certainly some second thoughts going on about the advisability of going on strike.

The closure of Norwich Park mine has thrown quite a scare into some of the fellers. They've got it very good, and know it. It hadn't occurred to them until BHP just up & shut the mine, that there could possibly be a downside to biting the hand that feeds them.

Reference Check

Mine Host's preferred industry association has a partnership with a recruiting company.

This firm phones one day to conduct a reference check on a former employee, as they have a client with a position vacant that matches this former employee's qualifications & experience.

Mine Host gives very accurate answers to the questions he is asked. This is not well received, as the answers are rather negative. (The former employee left under the... ah... most questionable of circumstances)

Mine Host emphatically does not recommend the employee, and states that under no circumstances whatsoever would he re-hire the employee.

The recruiter stops there... pauses..... then says:

"This isn't a very good reference, I'm going to have to keep calling more people on the list until I finally get a positive reference, as we have to place this person in that job!"


Mine Host makes a note to never use that firm to fill any vacancies. Ever.

Rafferty's Rules

As will be known by every employer who has sponsored migrant workers, the dept of immigration is very arbitrary in the approvals process.

The people of Australia quite likely have a (reasonable) belief that there are a clear set of immigration rules and standards, which each and every employer sponsored migrant has to adhere to.

Ha ha haha hahaa...........

There is not. Each application is handled by a case officer.

There are rules, yes, but it is up to the case officer to interpret them how they wish.

Mine Host has often had the experience of having three concurrent migration applications lodged, each handled by a different case officer, and having to meet three entirely different sets of standards. Each of the three applications will require entirely different paperwork, with almost no documents in common.

Believe it or not, the case officers pretty much make it up as they go along.

They will change the rules as the application progresses. Arbitrarily.

Or they will not. It is all up to the case officer handling the application.

If the public knew how capriciously administered the immigration process was, they'd be marching on parliament house, armed with flaming torches and accompanied by baying hounds!

The way the immigration dept handles the various employer sponsored immigration programmes is a joke. Heaven knows where the blame lies, ministerial incompetence, or perhaps disinterested leadership.

Simple Directive

In the office with the Manager, for a stern interview, Mine Host starts the conversation in as offhand a manner as he can.

There is only one point of discussion, the major item. The matter of the manager's daughter being shacked up in the presidential suite with a boyfriend, both of them eating their heads off at Mine Host's expense. None of it paid for.

The subject is not addressed head on, for Mine Host is crafty.

Mine Host has noted that one other staff member is permanently housed in guest accommodation, as are other staff temporarily, from time to time.

Mine Host issues a directive that "All guest rooms are to be made available for the use of paying guests. It matters not if a guest does not check into that room and the room lies vacant for a whole year. The purpose of guest accommodation is to house paying guests, and that is the business we are in."

Rather than carry out this directive, the manager chose to summarily resign their position.

This was somewhat unexpected.

Mine Host stated that if this was the manager's considered position, then all he could do was give the manager as long a notice period as they wished.

The manager announced that they would work out one month's notice.

Stand by for the next, and most unusual, development.......

Fearless Prosecution

Being as his attacker was identified and spoken to at the scene by police, bar manager is keen to see the culprit charged.

How do the police go about this?

Try this:
When he attends the police station, the investigating constable informs him that they are "unable to take a statement in the police station" and makes an appointment to attend his home to take a statement.

The police do not keep the appointment.

Bar manager phones the police the following day, and is informed that police will attend his home at 3pm, to take a statement.

The police do not keep the appointment.

Bar manager attends the police station to try to get things happening, and is informed that police will call at his house "sometime tonight" to take a statement.

Police do not turn up at his house.

He rather emphatically makes his views known at the police station. (Days have now passed). The investigating constable has a chat, using lots of phrases along the lines of "Do you really want to do this?" and "He won't like it if he is charged, are you sure you want to rock the boat in this manner?" and so on & so forth......

Mine Host has a chat with the constable, who obtusely states that she is "unable to comment about an ongoing investigation" and tersely notes that Mine Host is not a complainant in the matter, and thus isn't entitled to know anything!

Oh boy, greenhorn Constables..... So Mine Host has an informal chat with one of the police Sergeants. The Sergeant points out that no complaint has yet been made, thus the police are unable to investigate.

This gives a good starting point to the informal chat. Mine Host makes it plain, (in the course of conversation) that members of the public who cannot even get a complaint heard by the police, let alone have their attacker charged, have considerable resources at their disposal.

The Sergeant doesn't miss this implication. He is aware that a complaint about poor policing, driven by Mine Host, will not only go direct to the correct authorities, but will be very well worded and will likely have maximum effect upon the Constable's career.

Stand by for a sudden reversal of policing policy.

Grassfed!

A randown snapshot, taken during service in the kitchens of the Wayside Tavern.

Note the yellow fat. This beef is grassfed!