The immortal words of Duncan Lewis

ASIO boss, Duncan Lewis:

"I have absolutely no evidence to suggest there's a connection between refugees and terrorism."

The New Order

                                                                       
                                                                  The New Order

                                                       In morning sun she pours tea,
                                                       reaches for the frying pan and eggs
                                                       four slices of bread, then stops
                                                       abruptly the way of things


                                                       for close on thirty years.
                                                       She takes the pan, wipes it
                                                       and returns it to a different place
                                                       in a far reach of the cupboard.

                                                     
                                                       He will eat breakfast with strangers
                                                       served at a table by strangers
                                                       who will tell him what time he can eat
                                                        and what is good for him


                                                      The garden beds soak up the recent rain,
                                                       the earth freshens, and parched bushes
                                                       uncurl their leaves, Fuchsias, Callistemon
                                                       and Banksia fight back, full buds ripe
                                                       for honey eaters in song and raucous calling,


                                                       She eats and drinks alone, takes
                                                       the newspaper, undoes
                                                       the plastic wrap.                                         
                                                     
                                                         Wendy Fleming

Unmentionable but obvious

When is one of the maddening crowd of savants, politicians, activists, feminists, clerics, academics, jurists, journalists,moralising celebrities and their like going to call out the judiciary for what it is - a lethal danger to the public?

Generational abuse

I was greatly amused to witness one of my twin grandchildren (aged 4 years) wrestling with his mother, laughing and accusing her of bullying.  The twins have just started their first year at school, and are obviously quick learners.  Bullying is currently the big No!No! in Queensland schools. This family play reminded me of my two youngest daughters (one is now the mother of  the twins), at the dinner table , threatening to report me to the police for child abuse.  "Dad! What you said is child abuse.  We know our rights, we are women of the world."  Back then, child abuse was the social topic of the moment, in Queensland schools.  Now the modern mood has turned in my favour. When in danger of losing an argument with the women of the world, I'm quick to claim elder abuse.

Magistrates and drugs

Mental illness sharply increases with the unfettered use of marijuana - witness Finland, Denmark and the US.  There has been no examination of the relationships between cannabis use and mental health in the Australian  population.  Incidentally, an alert observer can see that drug laws are almost wholly unenforced in Australian magistrate courts. Thus, the observer can't be criticised for suspecting that when an Australian magistrate sits high on the bench, above the assembled throng in court, she or he may be indeed just that.