Iemma hires Pope, Randwick Racecourse, to hear Houso Confessions

So now we know why Iemma and da Boys had to hire Randwick Racecourse and bring in the Pope!

It was the only way to fit in the 350,000 housos lining up to confess their sins in this month of the Tenant Fraud Confessional and Amnesty.

For whomsoever amongst us hath not salted away a bit of moonlighting income to pay the electricity bills or fix the kids' teeth, let them cast the first stone.

Housos Against Global Warming

DH calls upon all her fellow housos to give up their wicked fuel guzzling ways and donate their BMWs and Hummers to charity.

It's time to take a principled stand!

The Horror, the Horror: China, Zimbabwe, Iran, Indonesia, Burma

rHow UTTERLY repulsive it was to see China's show relay in Tibet

DH is usually pretty strict about keeping this blog within its parochial parameters

But enough is enough

Then there is Zimbabwe, And the mealy-mouthed African states totally incapable of standing up for justice for their own people.

Then there are the Muslim religious fascists who have declared war on the West,

Now poor Schapelle Corby is rotting away in an Indonesian sh*thole. No doubt she smuggled a bit of dope. But this is no way to treat a human being

Everywhere you look, rotten, corrupt states getting away with it.

And at every turn the Australian left has gone to the dogs and panders to worn out arguments that everything that has gone wrong in these benighted nations is the West's fault.

It's enough to make you sick

Still, it's true that we are oil addicts and are now beginning to pay the price.

Accordingly, DH now calls upon all her fellow housos to give up their BMWs

as a sacrifice to World Peace.

Holiday Choices, Labor's newest Affordable Housing Strategy?

Today's SMH reports:

"Under [Howard's] Work Choices employers and staff could cash out up to two weeks of an employee's annual leave each year. Labor's standard will allow individual industrial awards to include provisions for cashing out annual leave with no ceiling on the amount that may be paid out each year."

This from a Labor Government???

Is this some kind of backdoor "Affordable Housing" strategy, tempting workers to solve a systematic problem with an individual solution?

It is clear where the extra money will go.

Some Holiday Choices! Workers will be forced to make the agonising decision. Shall I sacrifice my rest, my health, my family time to catch up on my mortgage or rent arrears".

This "Sophie's Choice" should never be imposed on the vulnerable members of society.

Only yesterday. DH praised Rudd to the skies. Kevin Rudd, go back out in the cold please.

And only yesterday, under the heading NSW Govt exploits contract workers, DH explained very carefully how workers' entitlements are eroded by contract work, and how contract deals that looked so sweet 10 years ago are now leaving contractors far worse off in every way than permanent employees. All that is left is the illusion of freedom.

A corollary of this principle is that once employees trade their holidays away, they will never get them, let alone their health, back.

In what has been the most Judaeo-Ecumenical week in the history of this diary, DH, a card-carrying atheist yet, has had to remind Kevin Rudd once again to go back to his Bible and "Consider the lilies".

Dear friends, today's lesson calls Father Kevin to "Remember the Sabbath Day and Keep It Holy".

That simple tenet, the fundamental need for time for rest and replenishment, underpins the social justice ethic of Western Civ.

Not a good idea to throw this time-honoured principle to the dogs.

* The pic is a still from Sid Caesar's "Boardroom Lunch", which is not only brilliant slapstick, but in its ending, an education in realpolitik. Guaranteed to make your day

Praise Rudd and give the Della Bosca a rest

DH was a bit hard on Kevin Rudd about the work ethic, but the fact is that she thinks he's terrific.

 

She was fortunate enough to be in the audience at Q&A and was nervous as hell in anticipation of what she was sure would be a debacle.  She has never been one to take pleasure in seeing gladiators being thrown to the lions for the delectation of the mob.

 

But lo and behold, St Kev did battle with the lions and came out covered in honour and glory.

 

He was humorous, he was totally across everything,  he was compassionate, he was intelligent, quick on his feet, altogether bloody fantastic.

 

DH came away feeling that Australia couldn't be in better hands. What more can we ask of just one man?

 

* * * * *

 

Now poor Della Bosca. For heaven's sake, give the man a break. Does it ever occur to the ravening pack that what was at stake may not have been his own personal gain,  but also the stability and continuity of government. By all accounts, Della Bosca is an intelligent and competent minister.

 

How can anyone be expected to take on the vital job of government if they can be torn down for the slightest trivial character flaw?

 

Let s/he who is without blemish cast the first stone.

 

DH, BTW, has been convinced by people more knowledgable than herself, that a selective selloff of power stations is a good idea, what really matters is a strict regulatory regime to protect consumers against market failure. Still what does she know? Her general principles is, fools rush in, when it comes to difficult technological questions, but wise women abstain from taking sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NSW Govt exploits contract workers

Continuing DH"s theme that the NSW public service appears to be held together by rubber bands and sticky tape:

 

DH is looking for contract work in the public service and noted a Grade 9/10 role being offered at the rate of $40 per hour.

 

Assuming an average Grade 9/10 salary per annum is $85,000, then to arrive at that figure, you would have to divided by 52 weeks, at 41 hrs per week.

 

HULLO!!!!

 

The whole idea of contract work was that you were supposed to be paid an extra high rate to compensate for the fact that you get

• no holiday pay
• no sick pay
• no training
• no bloody nothing except the hour by hour sweat of your brow.

As an old leftie, she knew the argument against contracting was perfectly clear. It was an appealing bait at first to get people to give up secure  wages and conditions, then once the work force has lost its rights, the contract wage will gradually drop.

 

From the figures above it is clear that this is exactly what has happened.

 

Contractors now earn in real terms no more that abt 75-80% of a permanent wage, if that.

 

Factoring in annual leave and sick leave, compassionate leave etc, and public holidays, that 85,000 shd be divided by 45, minus, lets say $1000 a year in training, works out at about $50 an hour.

 

DH is pretty hopeless about money, so if she has got it all wrong, please email her at desperate.houso@gmail.com

 

Oh and that's where Centrelink's big stick comes in.

 

Woe betide you if you refuse to accept the rip-off.

 

That's the way we are turned into indentured laborers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brother Kevin, for God's sake, consider the lilies ...

[Told you so, continued: This is a reprint from 04 Dec 2007. ]

Dear Brother Kevin, DH has had to speak to you about this before, when you endorsed Howard's tough Welfare to Workhouse rules for the disabled. Which you announced, incredibly, the day after the Christmas holiday, 27th Dec 2006! Let DH remind you of Christ's words, and God knows, she's an atheist, so this should really not be necessary.

Consider the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do they
spin, but Solomon, in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew,
6:28)

Do you think Jesus might have been saying something about respecting each human's true nature, and allowing creation to take care of itself, without necessary flogging each creature to death to increase their production of beauty? And didn't God also admonish us, (more or less), to

Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy
Neither shall ye work thy Ministers too hard
Lest they become taskmasters over us all

The idea, Brother Kevin, was to lead Australia out of bondage, and free us from Howard's cruel Welfare-to-Workhouse taskmasters, not to lead us into bondage.

The idea of a Labor partywas not to make workers labour more. It was to make their labours easier. So take a moment to breathe deeply, and notice that progressives and humanists have won the election. There is no need to kowtow to the most punitive and retrograde elements of society!

Now please make sure our MP's and Ministers get adequate rest over Christmas, and set an example to all of us.

Read DH's Christmas 2006 Message to Brother Kevin