MavEtJu's Distorted View of the World - Politics
"457 bludger wants taxpayers to pay"Putting one and one together
Election auctioning
Politically Correct is wrong?
NSW State Elections 2003
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"457 bludger wants taxpayers to pay"
Posted on 2008-03-07 19:00:09, modified on 2008-03-07 19:00:00
Tags: Politics
This evening I was walking through Cronulla with Hanorah in a sling while passing the restaurant Sombreros. It's a Mexican food restaurant and they have great sangria.
Only, today there was a huge group of people outside with flags and handing out leaflets. The story goes that one of the workers in the restaurant was sacked because he had to undergo cancer treatment. Oh, and he was on a 457 Business Workers visa.
Such a visa is for employers (i.e. the restaurant) to bring employees (i.e. the worker) into the country (i.e. Australia). It's not cheap and not a choice you make easily. So why did they decide to sack him so easily once he wasn't available? Questions questions questions, but no answers.
Anyway, on the way back I walked past them again and there was a woman standing in front of them with a sign saying "457 bludger wants taxpayers to pay". "457" refers to the visa, "bludger" to a lazy person, "taxpayers" to everbody who pays taxes and "to pay" probably relating to the medical treatment. Fair enough, Australia has a kind of socialistic medical system which gives everybody who is legally in the country access to it.
I exchanged some words with her and she said it wasn't her sign, it was made by the people inside the restaurant. So I asked her if she agreed with it, because if she didn't she shouldn't hold it up. She said that the people inside the restaurant made her do it. So I asked her again if she agreed with it, and I told her that if I was asked to hold up a sign I didn't agree with, that I wouldn't do it. My own pride above that of my employer.
So she started a tyrade about how her tax-money would be used for this. I said that I paid taxes too. She packed her sign and went inside. And I went on with my walk, knowing that she wouldn't change her mind, but at least she was off the street.
From the people protesting outside I heard that she was the owner of the place...
Too bad of the sangria, but the Mexican restaurant El Sol Tortillaria on the Kingsway is now my restaurant of choice for Mexican food in Cronulla.
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Putting one and one together
Posted on 2007-08-29 08:00:00
Tags: Politics, Tin-foil hat
If you see this Mystery trader bets market will crash by a third:
An anonymous investor has placed a bet on an index of Europe's top 50 stocks falling by a third by the end of September, as world equity markets plunged for a third day and volatility hit a three-year high.
The mystery investor has bought put option contracts on the DJ Eurostoxx 50 index that will result in a profit if it plunges to 2,800 or below by the end of September. Based on the 2,800 strike price, the position covers a notional #6.9bn, and potentially even more using a market price of about 4,100 when the trades were done on Tuesday and Wednesday.
and you know this APEC and Australia:
In 2007 the Australian Government will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
APEC is an inter-governmental forum facilitating economic growth and prosperity, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region, and operates on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants regardless of the size of their economy.
Established as an Australian initiative in 1989, when Canberra hosted the first informal dialogue with 12 members, the forum has since grown to include 21 member economies and over 100 formal and informal dialogues and meetings annually. The 21 APEC members, referred to as 'Member Economies', are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States and Viet Nam.Sydney is a truly global city with extensive experience in hosting major international events. From 2 - 9 September Sydney will once again be on show when leaders and ministers from the 21 APEC economies come to Sydney for a series of meetings. It will be the most significant gathering of world leaders Australia has ever hosted.
Then it's not so difficult to put one and one together. Ban the APEC 2007 :-)
Now where did I leave my tin-foil hat?
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Election auctioning
Posted on 2006-10-29 15:01:46, modified on 2006-10-29 15:05:16
Tags: Rant, Politics
Labour: We will employ 600 extra police men and women.
Liberals: We will employ 700 extra police men and women.
Labour: We will employ 750 extra police men and women.
Liberals: We will employ 800 extra police men and women.
Labour: We will employ 850 extra police men and women and we will give them a water cannon!
Liberals: We will employ 850 extra police men and women and we will give them two water cannons!
Going once... going twice...
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Politically Correct is wrong?
Posted on 2004-06-07 11:12:52, modified on 2006-01-09 16:29:22
Tags: Rant, Politics
Prime Minister John Howard has accused the ABC of running a "politically correct agenda" ...
Getting to hear that kind of accusation from our PM really makes me wonder in what dreamworld he's living in.
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NSW State Elections 2003
Posted on 2003-05-23 20:12:30, modified on 2006-01-09 16:29:23
Tags: Memories, Politics
March 22nd, 2003. Naomi has just become a member of The Greens, the major minor party in Australia and volunteered for handing out pamphlets at the polling booth. And asked if I could help her in the first hours with it.
Of course, no problem. On the Friday morning before, I thought it would be somewhere in Cronulla. On Friday afternoon, I knew it would be somewhere in Sutherland. On Saturday morning we found out it was as far west of Sutherland as possible: Wattle Grove. A beautiful area, surrounded by bush. Occupied by the Australian military forces. We were in the middle of a military suburb, with names like Infantry Road and ANZAC Street. *gulp* You have to be brave as a No War party to go there... Or very new to things.
When we arrived at the polling booth (five past eight, it was further than we expected). We were greeted by an overwhelming amount of Labour and Liberal posters. Here we came with our two A-frame stands. But, it all turned out nice:
- Because all the space was already occupied we had to place our A-frame stands before all the others.
- We had to stand as the last ones in the line to hand out the how-to-vote pamphlets.
- And of course, with the smile and the accent of a Dutchman, it wasn't hard to win the hearts of these tough military guys and girls: "Hello, please vote for the Greens today!". Oh my god, they've already invaded our country!
Because the whole day went a little bit different than I expected (I expected Naomi to be in the neighbourhood, then somewhere in Sutherland which would be easy to do by train and in the end about two hours away by train from where we live) I didn't make any pictures. But I got a nice t-shirt out of it!
The result for our Menai-region was as follows (the first goal was to get at least 4% in all regions)
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53.14%Thanks to the friendliness of the people at the polling booth, the ones from the Labour and Liberal party and the people voting, we had a great day!
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