We know that the Copenhagen Climate Catastrophe is failing when Prime Minister Rudd has to resort to quoting the advice of a six-year old kid called Gracie. When I heard Kevin reading a message from Gracie, I winced, I cringed, I shook my head in embarrassment. I can imagine the “hard-hearted” Chinese delegates muttering “Who is this Glacie?” This sort of stuff is undignified.

On reflection, perhaps it suits the atmosphere at Copenhagen with all those peace-loving protesters pelting one another. Undignified and unsurprising

To conclude that Copenhagen is a total failure is not quite true, however. It has brought lots of cash to the Danish nation. It will bring lots of cash to the Mexican nation next year when the climate change juggernaut heads there.

I wonder if it’s time we referred to the climate change talks as a roadmap???

So Iran has successfully launched a medium-range missile and this is worrying the West. Now this is in spite of Iran’s assurances that such missiles are to be used as a deterrent. Tut tut. Against whom, I wonder.

Will the West do anything about Iran’s blatant activities? Of course not. Iran can do whatever it likes. So can North Korea and Zimbabwe, to name a couple of countries that the West is also worried about. Instead, we will turn our attention to discussing the weather. That used to be a safe topic but now we have the zealots out in force defending their new religion. Oh what a farce at Copenhagen!

Some people say that the Iranian missile is a boomerang missile. Science Fiction? Watch this space. Yesterday’s Science Fiction is today’s Science Fact. The good news is that this boomerang missile returns to the place from which it was launched before exploding. Now that is mighty impressive.

What will the world media say about the latest wall being constructed on the Gaza border? I can’t hear any outcry nor complaints from all those who condemned the security barrier in Israel, the one that had to be built to keep out the suicide bombers.

This morning, 10th December, I googled to find any report about this new wall in the Australian media and found zilch.

Why not? Well, because this time it is being constructed by Egypt to stop the Palestinian smugglers bringing all sorts of stuff including weapons out of Egypt into Gaza. The other reason is that Egypt does not want Palestinians entering its country illegally. The wall will be made of steel. It will also go down about 18 metres underground to stop the Gazans from digging beneath it.

It’s always one rule for the Muslims and their supporters and another for Israel, isn’t it? Take the latest attack by “insurgents” on a school in Iraq. Children were blown up in the schoolyard, all victims of their fellow Muslims. I haven’t heard any outrage from the Muslim community. It was just reported by journalists without any commentary.

Very interesting, isn’t it how if an Israeli farts it’s an attack on the environment, but when Muslims massacre their own, it’s quite ok. Perhaps that’s because when a Muslim commits an heinous crime it’s what the rest of the world and the Muslims themselves have come to expect. It’s not a surprise.

p.s Just read an Arab blog which discusses the new tunnel. Apparently this is a ploy by the Israelis to stop the Gazans from smuggling food. Does this mean that the Egyptians are quite happy to see their fellow Muslims starve? Isn’t that what I just wrote about in my blog?

It wasn’t that long ago that the Labor Party in Australia was criticising former Prime Minister, John Howard, for being a minion of the U.S President. Howard was too close to him. Howard should have been more independent, according to the Labor Party. So what is the situation now with Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd?

Last week Rudd went to the U.S to confer with Obama. There have been many such visits to the U.S since Rudd became Prime Minister. Interestingly enough, I don’t seem to hear the Laborites complaining that Rudd is too close to the U.S. Where is their indignation now?

Rudd has even postponed going to Copenhagen until his big playmate goes there later on. In fact, Rudd would do nothing without the approval of Obama and this is amazing for a party that wanted Australia to distance itself from the U.S while the Liberals were at the helm. This is blatant hypocrisy.

Quite frankly, I am of the view that we need to be allied with the U.S and I always thought it was wise of Howard to maintain the bond since we don’t have many genuine friends in our region, but it annoys me when Rudd receives no criticism from the Labor Party for doing exactly what Howard did.

We’ll no doubt hear their outrage if Abbott goes to the U.S. Not that he will in the near future, though, because he is more concerned with what’s happening inside Australia than prancing around on the world stage.

When it comes to customer service Napoleon of Cosmetics fame is disappointing. I phoned his Australian Head Office in Sydney to complain about one of his products. In the past, his Cake Eyeliner Sealer has been very good but this latest bottle evaporated too quickly as soon as it was poured onto the cake of eyeliner.

The service person on the end of the phone said there must be something wrong with the product. On this we agreed. She then suggested that I post it Registered Mail to Sydney. Now that seemed silly to me because the sealer only cost $22. So then she suggested that I search for the receipt and then go to the shopping mall with it and have it replaced.

I asked her why I couldn’t exchange it at the local pharmacy which stocks Napoleon cosmetics, but she said that this is impossible because it is not a concept store….whatever.

It’s really not worth all the trouble, is it? I’m only writing about this because I had a similar problem with a Chanel product but Chanel’s service was totally different. Its Customer Service Manager sent me a postage-paid jiffy bag in which I placed the faulty item and returned it. I received a replacement in the next delivery.

That’s how you should treat customers and that’s how you will keep them loyal to your products.

When you compare our current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, with the current leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, it is noticeable that Abbott seems more Australian than Rudd. Continue reading →

We don’t buy books in Australia because they cost too much. And since the Australian government recently chickened out again over making books more accessible to the public things are not going to improve in the near future. That’s a great pity for a nation that wants to encourage reading.

I deeply resent protecting an industry which penalises the reading public. It is simply unfair to make us pay more just to please a small minority of inefficient publishers and their egotistical authors.

This protection policy must be quite a disadvantage for Australian booksellers and so one can’t blame them for wanting this system to be abolished. One has to wonder, also, what happened to the level playing field that Australia moans about when it comes to tariffs in other countries and yet it does the same for books here.

So for this reason we have been buying books from Amazon. com.

Our latest venture, however, in book buying has been from The Book Depository in the U.K. This company charges a little more for each book but there are no mailing costs, so it ends up being cheaper than Amazon. On my last purchase which arrived today, the book cost $8 less than it would have cost at Amazon. Not only that, but the book arrived in about a week, whereas our last purchase from Amazon took three weeks even though it was in stock.

Not bad. Hope The Book Depository continues to deliver. Well done!

Several years ago the wife of one of an Aussie Tourism Minister, John Brown, proudly declared that she had had sex with her husband in his parliamentary office. On his desk to be exact…

It was very risque, she said, and they often indulged in these parliamentary privileges. They have since been divorced. Probably ran out of desk space.

The came Bill Clinton, venerable president of the U.S of A, who preferred his under the desk. It appears that he enjoyed being on the job in the hallowed Oval Office.

Now we have the latest alleged “scandal” about another politician and a desk. Mike Rann, the current Premier of South Australia has been at it at his desk as well.

I am puzzled by this predilection for office desks as stages for hanky panky. Can’t think of anything as uncomfortable as the old, hard plank. It’s painful (I imagine) and if it’s expensive furniture think of the damage to the patina.

While watching The Antiques Roadshow I am constantly informed that patina is crucial. The experts even advise owners of quality furniture pieces not to expose them to the elements. They shouldn’t even place glasses or vases on them for fear of water damage.

One shudders to think, therefore, what they would say to having sex on a desk. Oh the Horror of it all!!! Surely this calls for real protection on two accounts. The patina of the timber, for one, and we mustn’t forget the aching bones. Ouch!

Now I’m not saying to avoid sex on a desk, but surely this calls for using a foam underlay that goes on top of a mattress (or desk). The comfort cushioning could be discreetly rolled up in the cupboard and brought out on special occasions. Now that’s what I call genuine protected sex.