"The Socialist" Is No More

He arrived with fanfare. He left with a whimper. His name is Mark Latham and he was supposed to be the savior of the Australian Labor Party (the leftist party). Instead, he was seen for the agro bloke he is, for the bully he is (when he physically intimidated our country's leader in a chance meeting at a radio station), for the yobbo he is (when he assaulted a taxi driver) and for the disloyalist he is (when he just up and left his wife).

He has never had a job in the real world. And has only ever been in politics since leaving school. But he aspired to the top job in the country.

He virtually bankrupted Liverpool city council, and thought he had what it took to run a country.

He complained about unimportant things. Making mountains out of mole hills. But when it came to the truly important things, he was oddly silent.

And it is all reflected in the way he quit.

No speeches. No media announcement. Just a note saying he has resigned from politics. That's it. A note.

And the media have just bought it. Accepted the pathetic way he whimpered off, and have now begun concentrating on who his successors might be.

Imagine if one of the righty politicians would just send a note. There would be a media outcry. Demanding a more indepth explanation. A face to face announcement so a question could even be asked.

But no. Latham has been given ANOTHER pass by the media elite. They are quite content to let him slip away unnoticed without so much as a by your leave. And instead, keep pushing that some femi-Nazi could be in the running to take over as leader of the ALP.

HA HA HA! That would be the biggest joke going. Even members of her own party consider that she has two strikes against her... that she is as left as they come and, that she is a woman.

I don't think being a woman is such a draw back. But the type of woman you are. And in her case, a socialist femi-Nazi who would love to instigate across the board affirmative action (in private enterprise and in govt politics). The public do NOT want that.

It reminds me of when the other hopeful to take over, Kim Beazley, had just lost the election when he was leader. He urged the newly elected John Howard to "look after the average Australian". I couldn't help but think, "But Kim, me old matey mate mate, the average Australian you so deeply care about has just voted AGAINST you."

Maybe the ALP should let femi-Nazi girl-from-hell take over the job so she can well and truly put the party out of their misery. And "do it in" once and for all.

Who's the other ALP hopeful in the running? Who cares? Suffice to say, he is another favorite of the media elite. But he can't say too much at the moment because he is over in Indonesia having a look-see for himself, so he can also declare it a disaster, or whatever bullshit political thing he would call it.

Personally, I think Beazley has it in the bag - and I am not talking about the family size meal from Mikey D's he carries with him everywhere. I am talking about being the leader of the party. I think he is more affable - more like the "average Australian" blokey bloke and sheila he cares so much about. And maybe he might even win. For his opposition would NOT be Little Johnny Howard. But even if it was ball-breaker Bronwyn Bishop (a woman who the public might actually vote for leader of the country), or Mr Personality Alexander Downer who no-one can relate to, the ALP still wouldn't win. The swing that would be needed would be WAY too great. It would be a swing like never seen before in Australian political history.

No matter who they get, I think they need someone who can sit through at least two elections - the next one they will lose but which might see them crawl back some seats, and the one after which they might, by some strange quirk of world financial collapse or whatever the public would blame the righty liberal party for, actually win.

But to me, it doesn't make any difference who they get. I will still cast an informal vote by voting for Homer Simpson or some other fictional character (I wouldn't vote at all but I get fined if I didn't vote) because voting is a waste of time.

Relax Into It

Living in "The Sunshine State" is something a lot of Australian's aspire to do one day. They view the state (Queensland - Qld) as some kind of heavenly place where the weather is beautiful one day and perfect the next (which to them means, sunny and no rain).

As someone who lives in this place I can tell you it ain't all it's cracked up to be. The temperature might hover around 29C (about 84F) and seldom get above that - BUT - the humidity makes it oppressive. There is usually no breeze to speak of and so you just sit there and swelter.

Maybe the climate thus makes life slower. If, for no other reason than, it is to hot to be on the go go go all the time.

Up here, people walk slower, drive slower, think slower (although they are VERY patriotic to the state), and seem to have all the time in the world to get things done.

Of course, some of those people are retirees and holiday makers. Both of which are not governed by the clock as much as those of who are value-creators and who have clients to serve, businesses to run and jobs to go to.

But perhaps the first two things I noticed when I arrived here, and which drove me nuts, were the drivers, and how slow lines moved.

First the drivers: They are unable to merge effectively. It doesn't matter where two lanes turn into one, or one lane needs to merge into another, they are incapable of doing it.

Instead of getting up to speed with the through lane, picking a gap in the traffic and positioning to fit in, they EXPECT the through traffic to give way to them and let them in, all the while they are continually slowing down - sometimes coming to a complete stop. (I have even seen a woman stopped half way across a three lane bridge because she wanted to move into the next lane. As per usual, she kept slowing down trying to "merge". But that just made it more difficult. Eventually she came to a halt and caused a traffic jam half a mile long behind her while she waited for someone to let her in. It didn't matter that the bridge still had a mile to go before it ended.)

Even when they get onto highways they do it slowly and expect the highway traffic to let them in. And it doesn't matter how long the filter lane is, they will NOT get up to highway speed. They dawdle and dawdle, jump out onto the highway doing 20 - 30 less than the flowing traffic, and THEN get up to speed. The through traffic hits breaks, jumps out of the way into the next lane, now causing it to slow down because they hit breaks first, and gradually bringing the entire highway to a crawl until the on ramp is passed and people can speed up again.

The drivers have no concept of fast lanes. Many will do the speed limit and sit in the overtaking lane next to cars in the other lane. Granted they are doing the speed limit, but they are holding up people who want to speed, or whose speedometer shows a different speed. (Sometimes they won't even do the speed limit and will drive slow in the fast lane!)

They will NOT move over and let the faster driver pass. Which then slows down all lanes of traffic. (I've even seen one sit and block an ambulance. Sirens wailing, lights flashing, they drove along, occasionally looked back at the ambulance, and would NOT move over - even with other drivers yelling at them to do so.)

This initially annoyed me no end. But there was nothing I could do about it. Except accept it and relax into it. Be like a floating leaf on a river and go with the flow. And shake my head in amused amazement, smile and think "typical" when someone did something idiotic - which seems to be par for the course in this state. In short, switch off emotive reactions when driving, which is done by switching of the feeling of needing to get anyway in a certain amount of time, because in this state you won't be able to.

And I need to employ the same tactic when shopping.

To me, shopping serves a purpose. I am on a mission when I shop. I know what I want, where it is, and go right for it. But navigating through the shopping center is a nightmare.

First there is the car park - where people take five goes to park their little hatchback things (which I call "shopping trolleys with an engine"). And if not that, they will sit in the middle of the lane waiting for cars to leave - blocking all the incoming traffic when they do so - instead of driving into the next area where there is an empty space. "Relax into it" and you don't blow a fuse.

In the shopping center they walk as if in a daze. Stop at the top of escalators and travelators - hindering the people coming up from behind. Walk ever so slowly, five abreast, down the center walkways making it difficult for faster walkers to pass. They suddenly stop when they are walking because they think they saw something. Make sudden directional changes. Stand in groups at walkway intersections just chit chatting with people they ran into who they know. Block supermarket lanes with sideways trolleys while they take five minutes looking at the choices on the shelves. And the most annoying is, talking to the checkout operator.

At first, I was like "come on, get a move on. Pay for your shit and go." But the entire population is like this. And to stay sane I learned to relax into it.

I've seen people bang the side of there car and yell "FUCK" - and repeat evey minute or so - while stuck in traffic; I've seen women shake their hands at the cars to start moving, while being a couple hundred yards away from the lights which only just changed; I've been given the finger for calmly waiting for cars to drive across intersections; been given the fist for getting to close when the car in question suddenly slowed down by 20 along the highway and didn't move over. And I am sure you've also experienced "odd" things.

In my state, I see these odd things on a daily basis. And the only way to cope is to "relax into it."

I use the term "relax into it" after I discovered its power in the winter. It was a cold breezy day. I was standing on a train platform and started to shiver. To prevent myself shivering I "embraced the wind" and "relaxed into it." Kind of how you would relax into a nice warm bath after a hard day. Ahhhh, as you lower yourself into the soothing water.

Next time you're stuck in traffic and ready to pop, relax into it. Accept the situation. Embrace it. And life will be much calmer for you.

Beware The Tea. It Is Not As Innocent As You Think

Bloody supermarket. They just don't seem able to stock Rosehip tea. And when they do, no sooner is it out on the shelf, then it is gone. Of course, me buying four boxes at a time doesn't help. But I have to, otherwise I would never have any.

Oh sure they do have two brands available. In two different isles - for some reason. But it's still near on impossible to get the darn stuff. (And just a couple of weeks ago, one brand was on special all week but there was none on the shelf!)

Well today, there was a NEW rosehip tea available. It is called Organic Rosehip by the Nerada tea company. And one of its ingredients is... Lemon Flavor.

I called them up and asked them what this Lemon Flavor was. I was told...

It's lemon flavor.

Yeah, but what is it? What chemical is it?

Oh it's not a chemical it's a natural lemon flavor. Derived from lemons.

Look. Everyone says their product is "natural" these days and a look at the ingredients clearly shows they aren't natural. I have severe allergies and I am not going to consume something without knowing what it is. Maybe you can give me the supplier's number so I can call them.

They are in the US.

Do they have a website?

No.

So let me get this straight... you are adding a flavor to your tea and you don't even know what it is.

Of course we know what it is, I just don't have those details right in front of me at the moment... What I can do is look them up and call you back.

Oh yes please.

It's similar to the experience I had with the Keen company - suppliers of spices and owned by McCormick spices. I called them and asked them what this "all spice" was that was listed as an ingredient on one of their products. The girl told me it is all spice.

But what specifically is it?

It's all spice.

Look. There is no plant called an all spice plant. So what exactly is it?

I don't know. The barrel it comes in has "All Spice" written on it. I'll find out and call you back.

And have never heard back from them. Probably because the thing they were calling "all spice" was really another name for MSG or some other horrid additive.

Anyway. An hour after my conversation with Nerada, they did call back. They couldn't find anything specific but do have a Material Safety Data Sheet which is "for how to handle it". And they told me the product "rep" will get in touch with me as he may be able to share more information with me - such as how this mystical flavor is created.

And hour later the "rep" called me. He couldn't share anything with me at all. Told me the information was proprietary. Which means, I am expected to consume this food additive without being allowed to know what it is or what is in it. In short, I am deprived of information with which to make an informed decision.

Oh sure they will "try" and get me a copy of the MSDS - which they keep telling me is only for handling purposes. But I won't hold my breath waiting for it to arrive. And that's because he initially refused letting me see the MSDS because I was not a buyer of the product. He changed his mind somewhat (the actual buyer - Nerada - could forward a copy to me) when I pointed out that I was an indirect buyer AND consumer of it when I buy and drink the tea.

One thing during my conversation with the rep - he was as helpful as he could be under the "secrecy" circumstances he had to operate within - was the lack of understanding, by way of example, for me wanting to know. He seemed to think something added, even in a small dose, was ok. And I beg to differ.

I said, if I cover myself with tomatoes nothing bad will happen. But if I put this stuff on my skin and have a reaction, then why should I want to consume it even in small doses?

Follow this logic yourself...

You would NOT drink a cup of methylated spirits (or dishwashing liquid). Yet, if I put a drop into 100 liters (25 gallons) of water and then gave it to you, you "could" drink it without anything bad happening - at least nothing bad right away. But knowing the water had metho (or detergent) in it, would you still want to drink it?

I assume the answer is "no". And now you can understand my logic. If it is bad in its shipped form and needs to be diluted so it won't cause immediate harm, then I don't want to have it inside of me in any amount, period.

Oh well. Looks like another product I won't be having. Such is the price we pay trying to avoid consuming chemicals. But I tell you what, we feel a heck of a lot healthier for it.

Just got a call back from the "rep". He didn't give me an MSDS but he did mention the product's "allergen" sheet. You know, the kind of thing that mentions common substances that people are allergic to. Like lactose, peanuts, gluten, etc. Well it seems, this flavor has Soy in it, as it is listed as an allergen.

I asked, "so this contains soy?" and he said yes.

What on earth is soy doing in a lemon flavor? And why did I have to go to such great lengths to find out?

Now consider the person who is allergic to soy. They would drink this tea not knowing. And they wouldn't feel right. They might not ever discover that the tea has soy in it, because it isn't on the label.

And this brings to light the problem with labels. An ingredient may be listed, such as "flavor" but not what went into making that flavor. Same rules apply to ingredients such as "sausage" which might appear on a pizza box. And unless you know, you wouldn't know the sausage has gluten in it (by the way, all sausage has flour in it, and therefore gluten). So even eating a supposed gluten-free pizza could see you eating gluten.

I couldn't believe it when I found out. The Rosehip tea has soy in it. What the hell?

Just another lesson to be learned that unless an ingredient is specifically named, you cannot trust that ingredient. And this is why the food I eat is natural, unprocessed foods. To avoid this kind of thing.

I must thank the people at Nerada and the flavor guy. They helped me make an informed decision about consuming their product. Even if that meant I couldn't consume their product - which I can't, seeing as it has soy in it. Their help and effort to answer my questions has been very appreciated.

Oh. I guess using the word "Organic" to describe their tea is false now too. Seeing as this soy-containing flavor comes from the US, and 70% of the soy is grown by Monsanto who have genetically modified soy, the likelihood of the soy being "organic" is slim to none, and slim left town. And it also means it is certain that other food stuffs are also at risk of soy contamination. In fact, anything with an ingredient of Flavor.