Earl Hood

Oh living under a bridge are we, sheer luxury, I say, Special. We grew up, whole family living in a shoe box on main road, up at dawn, off to mill, work all day, back for tea but there weren't none, just some coal to munch on, then a good flogging for our troubles. Aye sheer luxury these days!

Moons we have been through tough times especially 87 and 88 but somehow the relationship has survived.

Channel 7 M Stevens says yes Achilles soreness, likely to miss round 1 and Watts a starter for the game against the Weagles.

Hittites, the Battenbergs, and the dirty digger, Rupert, how the hell did we get here? Is there a Trump link?

Well eventually it was worth reading through this Breitbart article because at the end there was a visual link to Susan Sarrandon and her amazing cleavage, always worth another look. Otherwise I will await corroboration from some reputable organisations, other than an organ representing the thoughts, self interests and fantasies of Steve Bannon thank you. I am not totally dismissing the allegation it is just we need some objective evidence from reputable organisations before we make judgements. We can't keep responding to every ludicrous allegation from some nut job, conspiracy theorists on the web, as it is a receipe for political paralysis. And that is where we are.

As my wife said today as a Hawks supporter but having a soft spot for the Dee's for obvious reasons, she is worried about the hype around MFC this preseason, 3 page articles on big Max, the hype around Petracca, Viney elevated to co-captain, the numerous interviews etc. now we are talking of a Jimmy tribute! As she points out the Saints are travelling nicely under the radar, yet for many experts they are rated to finish above us. Interesting the club hasn't tried to keep a lid on things, but that is balanced by the need to sell the product and the fact we are training at Gosch's near the Pies and most TV stations versus the Saints at Seaford. I loved Jimmy as a player but his tenure as president is a mixed bag. Yes He reduced the accumulated debt and fixed things financially but that has to be balanced with the football operations decisions he oversaw that plunged us into a 10 year abyss that few clubs have ever experienced. The appointment of Cam Schwab as CEO and Chris Connelly as Footy manager after he had missed the coaching job to a novice in Bails. A recipe for trouble. And that is how it transpired. The way Bails was dispatched from the club after 186 and advice from GLyon vs C Schwab getting the full honours and payout always sticks in my throat. I think Jim had too much faith in certain MFC people that they would work tirelessly for the greater good of the club and that they had the ability to make it happen. We have learnt since that they had very limited ability. Great MFC icon but His legacy is a mixed one lets be honest.

The evidence?

Looks like Ophra is going to run, can't wait for that one. Will she give away a car or a trip to Australia to every American if she wins?

Context?

I was going to report that Malcolm in a muddle had actually done something, when the Fair Work Commission brought down their ruling on Sunday loadings. But now it seems Bill Shorten did it! Malcolm has walked away saying it is all Bill and the independent umpire. All a bit like Pontius Pilate I think in that he will not say whether he agrees with the ruling. I think he might have a few splinters up his clacker, that happens when you sit on the fence. By the way what a great ruling in an extended period of stagnant wages and surging profits and we wonder why the economy is a tad sluggish these past 8 years. Anyway I will be out and about on a Sunday drinking more coffee once these bastards lose their double hour loadings!

Is this the longest stretch without a post in the history of this thread? I am in the land of the long white cloud so I have an excuse for my absence.

Not sure of the definition of a hipster. I don't have a beard or tattoes but I do guzzle coffee in the morning after my trip to the gym and a Shiraz, Malbec or perhaps a Merlot later in the evening. Usually means I hit the deck quite early At night.

We don't sip by the way, in Fitzroy at least. We guzzle and it's not Chardonnay neither!

Well actually DC you are usually on the money but in this case if you had been a client of Storm Finance or certain rogue advisors working for AMP or the CBA and I think you can add in the ANZ and NBA you would have a very different view of the world of financial advice. Thousands of people have been taken to the cleaners And had their retirement aspirations destroyed by the financial advice sector. We saw the push for legislative reform and the subsequent push back for the usual self regulation, accompanied with thousands of dollars of donations to the LNP. BAU Australia, I call it, where the old boys club of CEO' s in charge of large companies working in oligopolistic markets in Australia work very hard to maintain the status quo, to reduce taxes and contain any regulations that may increase competition and impact on profit margins.

What's the old financial advisor's saying "if you have a tax problem you haven't really got a problem". If you have a big tax problem you definitely don't have a problem.

Hi ProDee Thanks for your well thought through, forensic analysis of the deficiencies of the left leaning political classes. On my first reading I believe you have made some assertions that can be challenged but at this stage let me take your post on notice so I can investigate this in further detail. I will get back to you once I have reviewed all the historical data. Yours in good faith Earl

My wife said both teams are playing near full strength squads! Ross may struggle again this year.

Was really looking forward to going to today's matches but on Friday I discovered my passport had expired!

Apologies to Bowie!

Wrecker Depends how you define progressive. The drift of my original post was that my beliefs hadn't changed since my early 20's which is 40 years ago not 50, although I can see how you made that inference, I was actually in my teens when Whitlam gained power, my fail there. That said my core values haven't changed, a fair go for all, justice, less inequality is better than more, look after the poor, rather than the interests of the rich. And look after the environment and protect what is left from the depredations of those that would destroy it for personal profit. But the the political middle ground has moved much further to the right after Reagon and Thatcher took power and we have kept going that way since, entrenching the Neo-classical economic theories of small government, minimal regulation, low taxes, flexible wage rates, hours of work and no organized labour unions. I am old school believer in a mixed economy of small and large private companies working in with government run organisations to deliver basic services and competition. We once created the CBA as a solution to keep private banks honest, now it is part of the problem. Once there was Telecom, has anyone done a cost benefit analysis on its privatisation? The sale proceeds went into the Future Fund and tax cuts to the rich, the costs were the loss of a billion $ a year of dividends to the Feds and the likelihood that KRudd's High performance NBN would have been rolled out 5 years ago to 90% of consumers across metropolitan Australia instead of the disfunctional NBN Corporation's high cost second rate copper to the node non solution to everyone.

Yes Nut you are probably right that you can't halt progress, however you define progress I suppose. But gee there is no shortage of forces today trying their best to halt technological and social change! Social progress - same sex marriage, euthanasia, that is my right to choose when I die, subject to medical checks of course, the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy if the woman chooses, all these progressive ideas are fought tooth and nail by certain religious and political groups. Then technological progress, well yes in theory progress is inevitable unless it upsets certain vested interests. Progress in the energy market points to solar and wind but our federal government is talking coal! Forget climate change issues, new so called high tech ultra supercalafragilistic coal fired generation plants are more expensive to build than equivalently sized renewable wind or solar plants. Vested interests will work very hard to halt progress. then there is on line shopping but don't get Gerry Harvey going on that advance.

You are probably right DC these days I probably am lurking in some far left wing subculture. I don't think my beliefs and values have changed since I was in my 20's, back then I was just left of centre and well in the mainstream when Whitlam was in charge for that brief period in the 70's. Gee I wonder now if Rex Conner had prevailed we might have full control over our energy resources and have control over pricing but no he was an idiot that threatened our international multinational partnerships at the time with local ownership and control of a nation wide LNG supply network. And in the same way that Malcolm Fraser was right of centre in the 70's but 35 years later found his values were so far to the left that the LNP disowned him, I find myself thinking like I am some sort of radical. The fact is for whatever reason the Anglophile West, the US, Australia, the U.K. has moved to the right and is now throwing up the likes of Trump and given new life to One Nation and their xenophobia, it was Asians in the 90's now it is Islamists. I blame Rupert and the influence of Multinationals and their think tanks for much of this move to the more extreme right and their beliefs in small ineffectual democratic government, no red tape, flexible working arrangements for employees, including their wages and hours of work and no unions of course. I am appalled at our treatment of refugees but that is a fruitless argument and then there is our failure to deal with climate change. I mean we now have federal ministers talking about taxpayers funding new coal fired power generation plants because the private sector won't touch them. Oh yes they are the new Ultra Supercalafragalistic coal fired generation technology so admired by Malcolm Trunbull and Barnaby but they are still high emission plants compared to every other green option. The intermediate option for base load power is gas fired power generation but guess what the gas price is too high to be economical for the privately owned generators to be bothered firing up even though we have the world's largest reserves of gas because we are exporting every cubic metre of it off shore at a world parity price to China and Japan. We have lost the plot and I am as mad as hell and I am not going to put up with it anymore!

DC are you one of those big picture technocrats? Obviously we are all going to die at some stage but my point is that quality of life and time on the planet is important to most people and that is not helped by avoidable poisons like tobacco. Her dodgy economic theory does not justify tobacco use and governments should do their best to discourage tobacco use amongst their constituents, short of making it illegal. P.S. I picked up the interview while I was perusing The Guardian on line I think.

I thought he was coming to join us hipsters in Fitzroy. Very disappointed. Malvern really, how bland! KB played part of the interview, the questions on Watts, on his show this morning, his take was that Watts may be down on training intensity and it was a credit to the coaching staff that they are sending a clear message to the squad that names and reputations don't count, you will have to perform to get a game this year.

If we can't find a sponsor for the front of jumper or is it back of jumper? Whatever if we can't find one why not hand over the space to a charity just for one year? I would put forward World Vision or if we go for environment entity perhaps Bush Heritage, that would be my pick.