It looks as if the insured bushfire victims who lost their homes will have to pay rent on temporary shelters provided by the government. They will have to pay from $40 to $100 per week (provided by their insurance policies). This rent will only be charged after a period of three months of living rent free. But those homeowners who were not insured will be bailed out by the government. So what would Aesop and La Fontaine have made of this situation?

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More than a week ago I suggested that home insurance should be compulsory. Quite simply, if home owners can’t afford the insurance then they can’t afford to own a house. It’s gratifying to learn that the insurance industry has just come out with a similar statement. Australian insurers would like compulsory insurance for residents in bushfire prone areas. However, I would extend that to all home owners in all areas, not just the bushfire prone areas.

The following extract comes from Sky News March 1

Australian insurers are leading a call for compulsory insurance for residents in bushfire prone areas, in the wake of Victoria’s devastating fires.

The Insurance Council of Australia has also questioned, how much of the $200 million Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund, should be given to uninsured victims.

ICA boss Paul Giles says there’s no incentive for people to insure against bushfires, if their uninsured neighbours are going to be helped to rebuild anyway.

He also claims a compulsory home and contents insurance scheme would be no different to current Compulsory Third Party car insurance.

A Victorian government spokesman says the issue of compensation to uninsured victims, would be examined by the bushfire royal commission.

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Yesterday, I wrote that you cannot believe anything that was reported by Palestinians, the UN and left-wing media about the fighting in Gaza. Today in “The Australian” newspaper, renowned newspaper reporter, Greg Sheridan offers the same view. I heartily recommend his opinion column.

In his article, Greg Sheridan writes:-

The cost in innocent Palestinian lives was heavy and tragic, and the fault for this rests entirely with Hamas, the terrorist death cult that rules Gaza. I do not believe a single story of Israeli war crimes or atrocities in Gaza. There is no evidence of any such story beyond Palestinian eye-witness accounts and on countless previous occasions these accounts have been fabricated. Remember the reports of the so-called massacre in the West Bank Palestinian town of Jenin in 2002, reports buttressed by eye-witness accounts? Did you know that it never took place, as later international investigations acknowledged?

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While watching the BBC news on TV this morning, we held the following conversation.

“I didn’t know that lobsters could live for 140 years.”

“Course they can’t. Where did you hear that?”

“On the BBC right now. The ticker tape thingy at the bottom said that one hundred and forty year old lobster was released from a restaurant in New York.”

“Can’t be true,” says husband. “What they mean is that 140 lobsters who were one year old were released.”

“How could 140 lobsters fit into a tank in a New York restaurant? Must have been some big tank, don’t you think? Besides, why would that make it into the news amidst Gaza conflict, earthquake in Costa Rica and quarrels over halted Gas supplies from Russia through the Ukraine?”

Further discussions along the lines of what I thought I had read and husband being adamant that I had got it wrong.

“OK then, let’s wait until the ticker tape comes around again and we’ll read it together this time.”

But you know how things are in life. Just as it was the turn of the lobster story again, some commercial break interrupted the news. So my husband got out of bed and looked up the BBC news site on the internet.

“Well?”

“Yep,” the husband confirmed. “Apparently, a restaurant in New York had this 140 year old lobster in its tank for two weeks and some animal rights activists petitioned to liberate it.”

“Good for them,” I beamed.

I never did like any animals to be in cages. I even hate the idea of circuses and zoos and don’t get me started on pet canaries in cages and dogs and cats in the confines of apartment buildings.

“So how did they know it was 140 years old?”

“They can tell by its weight.”

Husband tried to get back to reading his newspaper. Not for long though…

” Hmmm. Must be a guesstimation. Cause it can’t be like telling how old a tree is on account of the number of rings. Couldn’t this particular lobster be obese rather than old? I wonder why human beings shrink as they get very old then? And another thing, why do ticker tape announcements disappear just when you want to read them again?”

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This year’s winner of six awards at the Australian Film Industry event was “The Black Balloon”. It’s exactly the sort of film that is keeping audiences away from Aussie films. In my previous blog I gave my views on that and “The Black Balloon” only reinforces my opinion.

I wish that Aussie film makers would face reality and get beyond blue, for a change.

Here is a typical scenario of a potential cinema goer. It’s Saturday night and you decide to take your girlfriend to the movies. Would you choose a film about a dysfunctional family—aren’t we all dysfunctional, anyway? Would you want to watch autism tearing a family apart? Would you want to munch cheerfully on pop corn while an autistic adolescent is ranting and raving in public on the screen?

Would you leave the cinema feeling happy and romantic and perhaps hoping for more than a cup of coffee at her home? Or would you just want to sit in silence wishing that you had chosen a different film?

Autism is a reality and yes, it is a tragedy, but during recessions and people losing jobs and homes, audiences need relief, unless they are some sort of sado-masochists who get off on other people’s suffering.

During the Great Depression, the American musical comedy was thriving. People went to see Shirley Temple and Charlie Chaplin, just to experience some moments of hilarity in their gloomy lives.

Here we are in the midst of a recession or depression or whatever you want to call it and people are hurting out there. So what does the Australian film industry produce? Misery, guilt and tragedy. That should brighten up a date!

I’m amazed that Australian film producers don’t include a whip with every ticket sold. A few scarlet welts should guarantee a perfect evening, for some people perhaps, but not for the average movie-goer.

Perhaps these films are made to win awards rather than box office success. In that case, the producers have achieved what they wanted. Lots of pretty little statues in their display cabinets!

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For quite a while I have been scratching my head in wonder at the unethical Artline by Pelikan ad which describes their pens as “the pen more people pinch.”

This ad works on the assumption that Artline pens are so wonderful that everybody will pinch them. I would have thought that it would be unwise to buy a pen that will be stolen because I’ll never have it when I need it.

On an ethical level it teaches people that stealing is acceptable and I find that very offensive. Furthermore, I don’t want children to be taught that it’s okay to steal other people’s possessions, no matter how tempting they are.

There is definitely a sadistic streak in commercials today and that’s because they are created by those ridiculous men in pony tails or those whose hair is gelled together into some kind of Great Wall of China effect.

I’m also put off by the ad in which the woman kicks her date out of her apartment because she wants to drink the cup of coffee all by herself instead of sharing it.

There is also that terrible ad about a little girl lying to her mother about some incident and blaming her brother for bad behaviour when she is the guilty party. The boy is sent out of the room while she pokes her tongue out at him and has the treat all to herself. No doubt she’ll grow up into that woman who hogs all the coffee after a date. Very admirable…

I’ve already criticised that dreadful ad in which the schoolchildren rush to falsely claim a Kellogg’s LCM Bar that has been found in someone’s blue lunch box.

It all smacks of selfish and unscrupulous behaviour which is being promoted by these companies. Blame someone else, steal, refuse to share. Sound familiar? These are the mores of the thirty-something and under ME generation. No doubt they are amused by all these ads just as they are by hooning, swearing and intimidating the rest of the world. These are the same people who see nothing wrong with living off their parents forever while they travel, party and spend their parents’ super.

Those parents who think that they can depend on such offsprings in the future had better stop dreaming and wake up and smell the coffee. That’s if the coffee has not been all used up by some greedy parasite who sees nothing wrong with pinching pens.

What are the authorities doing about these immoral ads?

In case you are wondering if I like any ads on TV, I absolutely love the DHL Sea Rescue ad in which a number of lifesavers and rescue vehicles are featured going through their paces. The background music to it is melodic and it always makes me watch the ad even if I’m reading a book in front of the TV. And surely that’s how ads should grab your attention. It’s soft sell with a lot of class.
Good on you, DHL! You support a fine cause.

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Now that we have settled into our new home in Melbourne we decided to register with a medical clinic. Naturally, the doctor wanted to know our family’s medical history and this is where I had to face my latest obstacle.

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There has been an intolerable spate of bullying in Australian schools. I’m not one for statistics because they are misused, but apparently 70% of senior students in our schools consider bullying a problem. See what I mean by a silly stat? I would have thought that 100% would regard it as a problem, but there you are. Your child has been bullied and so you do the right thing. You go to the authorities who should be protecting him or her. But the school headmaster and the police are derelict in their duties and nothing is done about it. So what should you do about the problem?

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In an affable meeting between President Bush and Aussie Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, Bush said he admired Rudd because he was like a Texan, a straight-shooter. Rudd reciprocated by saying that he will make Bush an honorary Queenslander.

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The latest obsession in the media is the number of young people who binge drink. It’s astounding how some old topics crop up from time to time. Nothing comes of the discussion. Nothing can come. Just a lot of hot air. Here’s more of it…

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