Month: July 2017

Politics 29 July 201729 July 2017

Advance Australia Fair

Who is the one creating more wealth for toil:

the person pouring the beer; or

the person who took out a business loan to buy the pub; who paid for the pub’s fitout and facilites; who takes on the unending administrative and operational burdens imposed on the pub; the risk of the pub failing – and, who guarantees to the beer pourer (and all their fellow beer pourers) that they will enjoy the certainty of having an agreed amount of money deposited into their bank account at the same interval of time?

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Politics 26 July 201726 July 2017

Defending the Indefensible

The conduct and knowledge of Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters are things that the public is entitled to have examined by a court. The question is whether such entitlement will ever be enjoyed.

On the day of the Ludlam announcement, one of TMR’s colleagues (a lawyer, avid Ludlam fan and member of the Greens no less) had a crack at trying to defend Ludlam. To make things interesting, TMR handicapped himself with a few beers and some red wine before starting the great debate… via SMS!*

For your added entertainment, some of TMR’s post-debating notes and comments have been provided.

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Uncategorized 21 July 201721 July 2017

Mental Health Break

When TMR’s not busy being a lawyer, talking trash on a basketball court somewhere, tending to his fruit trees or lamenting the state of our nation’s finances – he’s working on his guitar skills. His latest foray involves compiling a jazz style arrangement for the timeless classic, Fly Me to the Moon – an absolute treasure trove of seventh chord variants to explore and experiment with.

As one typically does with this pastime, TMR went to YouTube and found the following three delights to draw inspiration from.

Coming in with the bronze medal was this beautifully understated composition by the very cleverly named ortoPilot and his capo:

Second place went to this unbelievable composition put together by Tommy Emmanuel and Emil Ernebro – which provided equal doses of jaw dropping amazement, inspiration and, of course, despondency!

However, trumping all of the above was this from (then) eight year old Norwegian girl, Angelina Jordan.

You may need a tissue:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Politics 20 July 2017

Where Does Our Foreign Affairs Money Go?

Hot on the heels of my earlier post on the UN’s nuclear weapons ‘ban’, a lot of people have asked me how much money Australia hands over to organisations like the UN.

It’s a question I’m regularly asked and very understandable: because once you see just how much time is wasted at the UN, it’s only natural to wonder how much of your taxes go into it and other similar organisations.

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Politics 20 July 2017

Everybody Relax: the UN Has Banned Nuclear Weapons

If you want to know how pathetic the UN truly is, look no further than its recent treaty ‘banning’ nuclear weapons.

In reporting this gross waste of time, the Pravda arm of Sky News (a.k.a. skynews.com.au) proudly proclaims that 122, yes, count them, one hundred and twenty two (!), countries have signed up to the treaty… to loud applause and cheers! Sounds like something important was achieved doesn’t it?

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Federal Budget, Politics 13 July 2017

Turnbull’s Last Stand

A lot has been made of Malcolm Turnbull’s recent comments that the Liberal party is not a ‘conservative’ party and that the ‘sensible centre’ is the place to be.

Whether you think his comments were right, wrong or reported by the media out of context, the fact is that only someone with a profound lack of judgment would open domestic political wounds in such a manner while overseas. It’s really is as if Turnbull said to himself:

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