The Pandemic, or is that panic?

The Pandemic

It rose out of Mexico
this pandemic.
A local issue
reaching out.
Pig, bird or human?
None are safe!

The media have it now
this pandemic.
They call it
swine flu,
emergency processes
invoked

Australia
has the swine line.
Do you think
you would ever ring that?

The media have it now
this pandemic.
A few people
have died,
and yet
a lot more have not

Let us focus people,
sift through the facts,
and let nature
take her course
as she always has

The media have it now
this pandemic.
It’s bigger than Texas.
It appears
the financial crisis
is no longer rating

Financial markets drop.
Why?
Does someone have the flu
that should not
or are pork bellies the key?

The media have it now
this pandemic,
concerned
the world
has not been panicked
for days

What would we see on the news?
What would we hear?
If it had not been
for sick pigs

The media have it now
this pandemic,
turning it into
the biggest bug
since Y2K

It cannot be good
this lost art
of high-quality reporting.
It sees a reach
for sensationalism

The media have it now
this Pandemic,
only I wish
the media
did have it now,
this pandemic

© Bernard J Rossi

Dawn Service, April 25th 2009

The Australian War Memorial
a beacon glowing in the dark
for all those who seek to pay their respects

The sun is not yet up
it will not rise until we are done

Australian and New Zealand flags
fly at half-mast
surrounded by an immeasurable crowd
Many carry candles, others torches
some a heavy heart

Military men, active, retired
joined by civilians

Thousands wear medals on their left breast
a sign of their own commitment
Some wear them on the right
medals of relatives no longer here
to wear them themselves
Some have medals on both sides
a family tradition
Left, right
left, right
left
military precision


Cockatoos burst from a tree
white against a cloud filled sky
still waiting for the dawn

The lights go down
a man speaks
the service begins
in front of the memorial
now held in the glow of a single light
where a man will soon play
The Last Post

Showers come and go
nobody notices

Birds screech their approval
as background accompaniment
to the Padre’s words
thoughts and prayers for those
whose names appear on the walls
of the memorial
as well as those who returned
and were no less brave

For some of us
the alarm rang at three A.M.
to get us here on time
Why did we come?
Respect,
to remember
to say thanks
to represent some one long gone
or an ideal
to make a promise
that it was not for nothing
regardless of what madness
threatens our country

We will never forget
we will never surrender
we will never let you down
as you did not let us down

The sun is not yet up
but due to many brave young men
the sun will always rise

© Bernard J Rossi

Interest rates show up the Government's lack of bite

It was nice to hear both the Prime Minister of Australia and his treasurer talk tough on interest rate cuts and the banks not passing them, but what about some action? When interest rates were going up, and even I could tell they should not have been toward the end, the banks were adding their own rises in between. Now they are dropping and the banks are refusing to follow. Time the Rudd and Swan grew a pair and stopped being pushed around. The financial sector got us in to a huge mess and its time Rudd stopped jetting around the world and big noting himself and got on with taking action. So far it seems the Labour Government is not sure how to spell action, preferring rhetporic and fancy speeches but time is running out.

GE money and other similar companies charge as much as 34.49% interest and one has to ask why? Surely we can legislate to cap the rate at no higher than 19.99%. If they cannot operate ata profit within that then they are either in the wrong business or (as is what is happening) they are lending to the higher risk people they should not be financing in the first place.

While we are on lack of action did anyone notice the price at the bowser rising every time the price of a barrel of crude went up? Have you asked the question now how the price of a barrel has dropped to one third what is was yet what we are paying at the barrel has only dropped by a far smaller percentatge. Yes, there are other factors but nowhere near enough to make up the difference. This government was voted in on many promises, one of which was doing something about the price of petrol. Well they have talked a good game, as they always do, but where is the action.

The financial crisis hit and they think we have forgotten, but we have not! If you can't think of two things at once Mr Rudd then move over and let someone who can take the reins. The Howard Governement's C game was better than your A game, so why not put your hand up and admit you are not up to this and call an early election so we can get on with returning this great country to the strong position it deserves to be in.

We wont think any owrse of you for being honest (how could we?). If you continue to refer back to previous governemnts when you get a curly problem you can never move forward. Try honesty, try action, try thinking, and try taking the banks on with a backbone instead of slapping their non existent wrist.

The best job in the World is right here in Australia

I applied for this job and now I need your help. You may wonder why when there is only a little over 30,000 applicants last I looked, so why wouldn’t they pick me? I like a challenge. Anyway, there are two ways to get into the last eleven applicants. The first is through the natural selection process of the video and other information you can provide on the first go round (very scant but I am ingenious) and the second is through a popularity poll, and that’s where you come in.

For those who are happy to help, go to this link, http://www.islandreefjob.com/#/applicants/watch/drBJmKIVGSI and watch the video then rate it high, very high. It may take a while to load. You can also try this button below

Pass on to your friends if you are happy to.

Thanks to all

BJR

Swan's buck pass

I see Mr Swan is once again blaming the previous government for its problems, this time its the fixed interest rate people he is trying to defend himself against. You have been in power for fifteen odd months now Mr Swan so give it a rest.

Mr Rudd himself said in his election campaign that his government would not buck pass responsibility on anything, and as yet not one labour minister has stuck his hand up and admitted fault. Mr Swan is the treasurer and interest rates soared under him, not the previous government, when people like myself were warning we were heading for a major problem and they should be finding other avenues to use. We were ignored as usual, because Mr Swan was too busy trying to find someone else to blame.

The same thing has happened with petrol prices, the price per barrel is one third what is was and yet the Australian public are having their hard earned dollars stolen right out of their wallets by the petrol companies every time they fill their car. Mr Swan has ignored the problem because he does not know what to do about and people's minds are on other things just at the moment. I suspect he is currently looking for someone to blame just in case questions are asked of him again.

Give us a break Swan and Rudd, own up to your failings and stop this buck passing nonsense, its become repetitive and tiresome.

BJR

Tropical Rain

The air is so thick with this damn humidity
Ceiling fans beat at it with no impression
They move it around from place to place
But wherever it goes the feelings the same
Oppressing us constantly leaving us limp
So with humour and wit we fight the day
Knowing the summer rains will soon come
To wash away the stickiness of the tropics
And flood our lives with the nectar of life

BJR

Let form rule

I have watched closely over the last few days the Andrew Symonds issue, where he spoke on a radio station and people took offence to some flippant comments he made. The radio show, Roy and HG, is not a serious show, they are comedians and as such Andrew was drawn into having a laugh and being relaxed about it.

The journalists who have sought to ruin his career over it have done so only because they cannot run their own career on talent. If they could they would hunt out a real story to report on. All journalists who have written of this and tried to sensationalise something that was innocent ought to retire and go read a book or something. We do not need them.

As for Andrew Symonds, the decision on whether or not he should tour South Africa must be made on form alone. As it stands form might dictate that he stay at home but it should be used as the one deciding factor. I for one am sick of this rubbish of pretending sportspeople should be angels before they are human. Get a grip society, would you like to be sacked for making a mistake and lose your income? None of you would have jobs.

Let's get real and stop supporting media bashing by untalented journalists, too lazy to find a real story.

BJR

Australia Day, a day for all Australians

There has been a lot made in the media over the last 24 hours about the date of Australia Day. It is poorly timed and delivered without research.

This Day is one for all Australians to celebrate. Yes, it is a day that has history but the ancestors of ALL of us came to this great country from other lands. Even the ancestors of those now indigenous walked or came via the sea to this land and we should celebrate the events that brought us all together because we have all gained from the experience.

The earliest of travellers came here of their own free will looking for a better place, a paradise, and they found it.

Those who landed here with The First Fleet did not all come here of their own free will. Many were ripped from their homes and the arms of their loved ones, dragged to the other side of the world in appalling conditions and treated as if they were animals when they arrived here. They did not invade, they were thrust here without choice never to see their families again. Many died along the way. The families of these people have waited for their apology too.

Yet we all celebrate, and why?

Because we all have the great pleasure and the great honour to live in this wonderful land. My own family goes back so far we have no remembered or recorded history of our ancestors ever living anywhere else. Of coarse they did but it was so long ago. This is our birthplace and the birthplace of our ancestors and we love it as stong as anyone else in this land ever could.

It is ours and whilst we do not agree with everything that happens and we feel excluded from some of its great wonders we forgive and move forward, grateful to be in paradise.

Too many times we focus on how we have been wronged but on Australia Day and the days following we should reflect on what we have and give thanks.

Mr Dodson is Australian of the Year and that privilege comes with some great responsibility. He must represent ALL Australians equally, without prejudice or bias and we should allow him to learn that responsibility and to grow with it.

I wish him luck in the next twelve months and look forward to seeing him grow and bringing all Australians along with him. The hardships we face this year are not specific to gender or race but to all Australians and we need strong, fearless people to show us the way to lead.

2009 is not a time for agendas, or for talk of exclusions but a time to work together on the far more desperate issues that all Australians face.

BJR