Diary of a Desperate Houso: Heat exhaustion

Rescue remedy for the Truly Desperate

2103 Update: Good Grief! This was written when Abbott became leader of the opposition. Now that the Noalition are back in business, it will be more relevant than ever! Except add the Prodigal Christian, Scott Morrison, and the horridly dweeby twins Tweedle-Brandis and Tweedle-Abetz. At least Mirabella is gone...

To be administered on accidental exposure to any of the above.

Take twice daily for next 3 years.

The majority of "the Stupid" is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.

Albert Einstein

Lowlights of the Howard Decade

The HowardSpeak Dictionary

Promise:
Previously an absolute value, now variable. Divided into non-core for the benefit of mugs, and core promises for the benefit of insiders.

Compassion:

Formerly a Christlike virtue, now a dirty word.

Elites:
Once referred to the aristocracy/ upper classes who had the gold and made the rules. Now refers to anyone who bases decisions on verifiable information and logic rather than resentment.

Reform:
Once meant a political change for the better. Now means demolition

Social security:
Once a form of insurance paid by workers and collected by the government on their behalf. Intended to provide security in the event of illness, disability, old age. Meant to to be contributed to by the elites via taxes, but mostly they manage to wriggle out of it. Nowadays, a dirty word.

Budget Bulimia

Bloating on money dragged out of the teeth of battlers then
disgorging it to special interest groups in marginal seats at election time

Darwinism masquerading as Christianity

Jesus would turn in his grave to see how Howard and Co have created a dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, the-strong-shall-inherit-the-lot Australia, all in His name, meanwhile ...
Good old Christian hypocrisy - the "Right to Life" for disabled people does not extend to the Right to a Good Life, which would require a decent level of disability funding

Centralism masquerading as Anti-Socialism

Liberalism used to mean opposition to Centralism. Howard had to be the most centralist PM we’ve ever had
He wanted to take over everything, no wasting money on planning or research, just dream something up overnight when the polls dip, and send in the army to back it up

Robbing the Poor to give to the Rich

the transfer of $3 BILLION from public housing into the pockets of private landlords: result: inflation
the "budget surplus" extracted from the nation's rotting teeth
the transfer of funding from the poorest schools to the richest based on the sham of postcode

Pandering to religious extremists

for blurring the hard won boundaries between church and state
no worries about fundamentalist extremist lunatics if they're Exclusive Brethren adding to election coffers
allowing Hillsong to rip off the welfare system

Pandering to racists

thick as thieves with the loony anti-semites of the League of Rights
Nazi Croat propagandist Lyenko Urbancic leading light of the Liberal party
playing the Muslim card when it suits them

Robbing Women and Children

gutting the childcare system set up by Labor. This policy has now coming to fruition with the collapse of ABC childcare

Robbing workers of hard won rights

Serfchoices
Welfare to Workhouse
fining individuals for striking
using the services of a a repressive Muslim state to secretly train strike breakers
the time-wasting conscription of disabled Australians into pointless low paid jobs

The Wedgie Portfolio

taking every opportunity to “divide and rule” by appealing to resentment, fear, downward envy, xenophobia
the harassment and villification of battlers via Centrelink while pretending to be on their side

Kafkalink

the deliverance of the effective CES (Commonwealth Employment Service) into the hands of unscrupulous private operators
Centrelink's punitive and humiliating regimes
the gutting of Centrelink’s administrative infrastructure subjecting welfare recipients to bungle after bungle and desperation-inducing delays in payment
miserable pensions that don’t keep up with the cost of living
breaching the weakest

The big lie, spin, propaganda

Is it $1 BILLION dollars of taxpayers money spent on Liberal Party advertising since they got in?
non-core promises
successfully slandering people with a social conscience as the “elites”, while the real elites have never been richer

Send in the army

Iraq? Refugees? Aboriginals? No problem. No plan either.
And of course no two diggers can get together for a quiet beer without our egregious PM suddenly popping up between them to clap them on the shoulds

Muzzling the press

stacking the ABC board with Howard’s cronies
Draconian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005
prosecution of whistleblowers McManus, Harvey, Kelly, check out the details http://www.alliance.org.au/resources/reports_%26_submissions/

Shaming Australia

Toadying to the imbecile Bush
Children Overboard
Christmas Island
detention centres run like concentration camps
incarcerating children in detention centres
Siev-x
the Tampa
Hicks
Haneef

Cricket

It just wasn't...

Can Labor get it right this time?

First posted Dec 2006. As at March 2008, all tenants are finally out. Read the whole story in Housolink

On Dec 11 2006, tenants in the Edward St block of the Lilyfield estate received a peremptory notice informing them that their homes were about to be redeveloped. With scant detail about when and where, many tenants were thrown into panic mode, with rumours flying that they would have to be packed before Christmas. An insensitive start to what is potentially a positive move by NSW Labor to upgrade and increase housing stock. After the debacle of Minto, after the draconian measures in "Reshaping Public Housing", and with populist "tough talk" bordering on the abusive from recent Housing Ministers, tenants are not surprisingly suspicious about the Governments motives. Lilyfield is a chance for Labor to show that they have not forgotten their bread-and-butter voters, or raison d'etre which is to represent low income workers and disadvantaged members of the community.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Heat exhaustion

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, in a glasshouse facing west, with no insulation in the roof, windows that open outwards to block crossbreezes that might cool the house down overnight. No air circulation. Thank God for global warming that has so far this season brought us bipolar weather, with more cold days than hot. Looking out of her window at a glorious summer morning, DH is very afraid. She doesnt know if she can bear another summer like last year. In the morning her child's brain fries in the corridor facing east that is her bedroom. From noon onwards, DH's bedroom temperature even with the blinds shut is at least 40 degrees. Like most of the people in her block, she sleeps either on the sofa downstairs or with the noisy fan on her full blast, and the spray bottle handy.

With the rental crisis in this state, DH feels reluctant to complain about such a small thing as Architectural Crimes Against Humanity. But then complaint is DH's brief, so what the hey.

Watch this space, because DH has in mind a new initiative to put the issue of design back on the agenda of affordable housing.

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