Blogger slams bank

Sam de Brito of the Sydney Morning Herald can write some pretty funny stuff, as well as cover some awfully cringeworthy topics. A few days ago was one of his best though. How he kept so much money in a Commonwealth Bank Streamline account for so many years after I’d done what he finally got around to and put most of my money in ING, is however pretty staggering. He would have missed out on literally thousands in interest. Either he’s a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal or has an even more chronic case of procrastination than I do!

 

Bottom line is, he speaks the truth about the Commonwealth Bank and the rest of them in a truly funny way. Some of the comments are worth reading too. Speaking of which, if I wasn’t so busy I’d be seriously considering going to Miss Emily’s party tomorrow night. Heck, I still might. But that’s another story…

 

 

Sorry, x3

 

"Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia."

 – Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister

 

 

Not a day too soon.

 

 

Sad day for all Broncos fans – Bennett’s last season

When Wayne Bennett joined forces with some adventurous businessmen and helped cobble together some impressive rugby league talent from in and around Brisbane to form the Brisbane Broncos, you could get a 3 bedroom house in Brisbane with a double garage and a swimming pool out the back for a bit under $100 000, and get into the southern outer of Lang Park for a showcase State of Origin match for $10 or less. Increasingly popular in homes was the Commodore 64 computer, boasting 64kb of RAM and able to load game programs with a cassette player if you were prepared to wait about 20 minutes – or in just one minute if you were lucky enough to have a floppy disk drive. People with big enough bank accounts and egos were starting to show off their yuppie status with brick-like objects called mobile phones. People in moderately wealthy households were able to record the broadcasts of the first Broncos games on scratchy VHS format video recorders. An exciting new concept in music, the CD, was starting to find its way into record shops, which featured chart-topping albums by INXS, Icehouse, U2, Bon Jovi and other quality bands, while Aussie band Midnight Oil were finding their first truly international hit success with the massive single "Beds are Burning". High grade rock songs filled top spots on the charts and were played on "FM104 – Rock in Stereo" (the later name Tripe M had not been heard of) and music had happily not yet been infiltrated with the cancers by the names of Technotronic and Nirvana and their thousand subsequent copycat bands. Hapless and shameless (and untalented) volunteer performers made fools of themselves on national television before being subjected to the ignominy of the strike of a gong by a tired old curly-haired bass player from 1970’s band Skyhooks every Saturday night, in amongst the charismatic Daryl Somers being rudely interrupted by a cheeky puppet who we only ever saw the back of. After taking tentative steps into the international spotlight with the 1982 Commonwealth Games, Brisbane was preparing for the massive task of putting on a huge 6 month show called World Expo 88 which lived up to every iota of hype that preceded it and would be looked back on as the city’s coming-of-age. During this time Brisbane’s people would be wowed with a showcase of culture and food from far flung corners of the world and spun out with cutting edge experiments in technology, including something called High Definition TV. And I was living in Brisbane and just starting to form an interest in football…

 

20 years later (a one club coaching record by a long way in first grade premiership rugby league) and Bennett is still coach of the Broncos, but only for 1 more season. Fans have had the joy of no less than 6 premierships, again a record for any coach in the top grade, and for 16 years in a row the mighty Broncos have made an appearance in the finals series, even if sometimes it was only a token 8th place and first week exit at the hands of the top team. These same fans participate in internet message board forums, text each other on their mobiles to arrange a place to meet before the game then set their HD-DVD recorders to record the broadcast of the game to watch later in high definition widescreen format on their giant screen plasma or LCD TVs, before slipping in their ipod headphones to relieve the boredom of public transport on the way there. We will probably never know how much Bennett achieved until he is gone. Past and present players speak of hanging on every word he says, of a character of the highest order and of someone personally interested in every aspect of each player’s wellbeing, giving this a higher priority even than winning football matches. Of a man who found the best qualities in a rookie player and extracted the maximum potential, turning promising youngsters into well-rounded characters and champion players. In all the ups and downs of the entirety of the Broncos’ proud history, he has been the one defining constant of the club. Players, directors, trainers and administrators have come and gone, but fans have never known anyone other than Wayne Bennett as head coach. It’s the least I can do to write a blog post to say my personal "thank you" to Wayne and wish him all the best for the future, after a Broncos premiership year in 2008 of course. The club now faces a challenge to find a new coach who might be able to have a shot at upholding the Broncos’ winning culture, and I say that rather than talk about finding a replacement for Wayne. He is a man who simply cannot be replaced, ever.

 

Links:

 

Brisbane Broncos club

 

BroncosHQ web forum

 

Bennett’s statement

 

Article by Roy Masters (Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Now playing: This Day – Steven Curtis Chapman

The music is back! I thought it a bit silly to keep the Christmas song on until I got back to Sydney, seeing I couldn’t change it since in Queensland I only had access to a Mac 😦 If you don’t have IE7 I suppose you haven’t been hearing the music anyway.

 

I’m going to start a practice of positing lyrics of the currently playing song for the benefit those who can’t hear it. Sometimes there will be a particular reason for playing a song, sometimes it will have no particular significance beyond me liking it and thinking it a good idea at the time. This song I thought was an appropriate characterisation of not just one day but pretty much every day since (and including) December 5th, and the response I’d like to be good enough to make to the situation.

 

Yesterday the sky was bright and clear
I could see the sun and I could hear the song
Faith flowed like a river free and deep
And grace was not so hard to be believed
But that was yesterday
And what was close enough to touch
Now seems a world away
So what about this day

This day all His mercies are new
This day every promise is true
Father, help me to believe
Give me faith I need to know You
And trust You this day
This day

Who knows what tomorrow’s light will bring
Tears to cry or maybe songs to sing out loud
But only God can see that far away
And He made us for living day by day
‘Cause He wants us to see
That the God that He’s been every day of history
Is who He is this day

‘Cause You are the same yesterday and today and forever
Through every season Your truth and Your grace never change
Oh, Lord, I do believe that the God that You’ve been every day of history
Is who You are this day

This day…this day

This day Your mercies are new
This day Your promise is true
This day my hope is in You, Lord
This day

Back to Sydney today – Recovery day 59

Just about to leave this place to go to Brisbane airport and get on a plane to Sydney. I’ll arrive there this afternoon. Finally time to get back to normal after this long lasting unplanned mess. Strength and movement continues to improve but is a long way from normal. Another physio appointment in Sydney on Monday. Meanwhile, enjoy the latest album – sampling the sights of the area I’ve called home since December 16.