Views in Verse on faith, finality & foregiveness

Faith, Finality & Forgiveness

Politician, lost at the sphincter of life
Fighting hard to pass on through;
The laird’s answer a simple but firm denial.
Corrupted by life itself
Stilted fate, rusted gate
And values surely broken....

A beggar spoke: "I’ve suffered long
While traveling here
In search of someone who's kind."
"The search for it alas
Has cost me my faith,
Despairing too in my place and time".

A preacher now lurched between the two
Seeking loose alignment...
"My friends, once I had a key but I'm sorry I maligned it."
"Help me now to find a way...
Compass lost, my breast is crossed
Prayer alone can help me find it".

The politician searched his pockets deep
T'was nothing there he offered,
The moment full sweaty with indignity.
The beggar in turn growled
Such the clang of the moment terse;
Suppliant words uttered in contrition
...irreverently.
.
From the desktop of Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on Responsibility

Views in Verse on Responsibility

JUSTIFIABLE CARELESSNESS

Is there anything quite as vulnerable
As the last child crossing the road?
Society comes as a triumph to all, less one,
The dispossessed wander off alone.
Is ‘justice for all’ just a pipe-dream?
Dark chasm, maybe a lie?
Is there anything more uncaring,
Threatening, contrived
Than the wink in a politician’s eye?

Do we need to callously use
Fear as a weapon …?
A peep behind a veil
May only expose a tear.
Is there a path beyond detention…?
Is there love for the gay we hold?
Can we assume that people
Simply make it on their own?
Are we protecting due rights of the old?

Does the media care at all for justice?
Or is indifference the palette they choose?
Feigned reality always has it's own killing field
Is truth the real victim of our news?
When we choose our leaders
Do we search at all for integrity?
A key ingredient …down the road
The alpha wolf always leads from the rear
Never leaving the weak exposed.

From the desktop of Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in verse - Weekend Warriors

Weekend Warriors

Trump just can't put a foot right it seems
The Redhead's lighting mad Calwell's dream
ISIL now up north declaring war
Indonesia warms to Shariah Law
And ...what damage 'Malcolm in the muddle'...?
Abbott's banking on a second stumble
Blimey! Let's all go out and 'stone the bloody crows'

But, things really aren't quite so bad today...

Electricity's gonna send us all to the cleaners
Coal's good enough to export, not for sensitive demeanours
The government appears a hapless party in it all
Indeed if you made an enlightened call
You would think our political system is bloody imploding
As with the rest of the western world…

But you know, things aren't really quite so bad today…

Rupert's army has all the questions and the cure
Vegemite has mysteriously lost it’s allure
The power of celebrity is defying common sense
Bloke in the pub reckons the world's about to end
Old Fred says we've given up on god
Surrendering 'the ashes' without turning a sod;
Might just be the sad finale to it all!

But you know ...things really aren't quite so bad today:

'We enjoy the odd flutter to raise good cheer
We've got our smokes and few daily beers,
Improvements to health and school have left
The missus 'grinning ' from what she hears
The kid is doing fine in the rugby league
The daughter's loving the fizzy and the dancing beam
Parra showing them a little cheek
The Swans are taking it week by week
With the Blues in the hunt as well...

While ‘the best of it all’ THE WEEKEND's only a day or two away...'

Things REALLY aren't ...quite so bloody bad today!l

Sent from my iPhone Grahame j Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on 'the natural order of things'

.

DOGS OF WAR

I was so peacefully sleeping inside my little box
When I thought I heard a threatening sound
Better to bark than simply pretend that I’m not there
In the face of louder barkers all around

So I fired off a shot that others might not 'get'
In the hope they wouldn't know from whence it came
Then from a long way off a confronting answer came on back
Someone perhaps in tune with the bigger game ...?

The loud barkers don’t like it when odd strangers interact
It bothers them that they might just get upstaged
I hope they haven’t tweaked that I’m the one who faltered
It’s hell when they get so full enraged

I ventured on out in case I’d overstepped
Not like me to be so concerned about my fate
But in that moment I was frozen in by fear ...!!!
The chance that someone had left open the front gate …???

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn - Views in Verse

Views in Verse on Aussie democracy! (or is it?)

We like to think that life in 'the olde penal colony' is about as 'liberated' as it gets these days.

And, I guess, no-one is complaining either. But perhaps we just don't. Complain, I mean. We make the decisions these days ...don't we? We have 'personal rights'...





I say this after mulling over this weeks debate on ABC's Q&A program. (No, not bloody Clive - that was the week before!).

The subjects debated were as many and varied as always ...given they are 'thrown into the ring' by the crowd.

A few common threads did come together however around the opening and the closing topics: 'assisted suicide' and 'abortion'. It was clear to all and sundry in the studio that the very 'personal' nature of these matters really called for 'personal' decisions.

Paul Kelly (the revered journalist & feature guest on the program) very soberly reminded the passionate throng in closing that these matters are not 'personal' but are matters that have to be decided by 'society'; interesting choice of word as this gathering appeared to me to represent a very good cross section of 'society'.

What he meant of course was that such social mutterings indeed need to be ratified by our government and the processes that underpin it. Thereby the influences that control it - policy, strategy, media, churches, conservatism, vested interests, lobbyists, short term thinking, Eddie Obeid, Clive Palmer, or ...indeed, failure to make that "courageous decision, minister" (ex 'Yes Minister' BBC TV series).

The subject didn't come up. But I can't help but throw 'gay marriage' into this mix as well. Being supplementary to these matters in that 'we - persons in society' would love to change the 'status quo' of this matter as well. However we cannot influence it at all either, as our politicians are too busy 'rabbiting on' about matters that quite frankly no-one should really need care about at all (eg: a budget - due process - duh!).

Kevin Rudd campaigned in 2007 on a 'for gay marriage platform' and yet then lost interest as soon as he was elected. Julia Gillard, in going forward with it, dismissed it summarily as "not happening on her watch".

So, it kind of takes me back to where we started with the convicts and the imperial masters way back in our colonial days. There is only one group making decisions and it sure isn't the convicts. But hey we 'convicts' make our own decisions these days ...don't we?

Is this democracy? Perhaps, I'd better start this again. I don't think it is.

What the hell is wrong with our political system? More to the point ...what is right with it? All this current comment re '24x7' media is becoming increasingly pertinent - no one is game to make a decision as someone out there mightn't like it.

There is a new factor here we bring - 'social media'. We can influence, but we can't change. Maybe we just have to try a little harder. Our regimental cigar smoking 'masters' also need to find a way to deal with it (other than the ostrich approach) as it isn't going away soon.

This current senate stand-off with the budget is relevant in only one real way; we elect these people and give them a mandate to make decisions. They need to be able to make them or we really will have a society in crisis and everyone will have to just make their own 'personal' decisions.

But somehow I think that is what is happening anyhow! So why the hell should people feel guilty over making their own personal decisions then worry about getting thrown into jail for doing so?

Bloody stupid eh? But what would I know ...and what right have I got? ...my forefathers were convicts. I've paid taxes for forty years though. Mmm ...perhaps I'd better start over.

Might start a senate party campaigning on 'personal rights'.

PS: Clive, you'd better stop watching the headlights soon 'laughing boy' or you'll get run over by a mighty big truck (perhaps you feel you are bathing in a spotlight!) You should know Aussies don't suffer fools for too long mate!

Right of Passage

It's your time 

Lovely boy

your hard work's almost done

Acceptance wasn't easy

in a school designed for some

Your progression has been honest

Your plans so well thought through

Adulthood came quickly 

from your trials

Yet it'll take time

Lovely boy

to see a fairer state

In a society
designed just for some

Why do politicians we elect

hide so well from truth?

Can we allow this 

mere 'opinion on the run' ?

Own the space

Lovely boy

look to those who lead

Accept things that can't be changed

yet fight for what you need

Equal rights are there for all

no matter how it sometimes seems...
Don't let anybody
keep you

from your dreams!!!

Forwarded from my iPhone - Grahame J Flynn

Views in verse on Clive Palmer

Clive Palmer 'the populist'

snidely 'second guessing' the easy winners 

Wit and policy 'on the fly'

Racism - It's a hit and miss affair

Several commentators mentioned of Clive's appearance on ABC's Q&A panel the other night - where he had so cleverly picked up on the  'populist winners' as they were delivered from the audience. Easy pickings!

How he had garnered the easy points that were there and just cast them into his policy bag as he went along ...just another night at the office.

Until he delivered a colourful rant against 'Chinese Bastards' as the debate went on. This was then seen as: a side issue, to do with his company problems, more just Clive being Clive. Perhaps not.

If you roll it up with all the other populist points he tucked away during that debate ...this I suggest was just another. As soon as he sensed though how poorly timed it was, he then attempted to 'wrap it up in a blanket of concern' re: communism, "shooting their own people", buying our ports...facts instead of his summary views.

Clive Palmer, just like Pauline Hanson before him, has a mistaken belief that all Australians if given the chance will respond to a racist call. I suggest that Clive was simply 'tucking another populist point in the bag' when he second guessed himself on racism as soon as the words slipped from his mouth. The tirade that followed was then camouflage for what he had unwittingly allowed to creep into his agenda . Quick wit and 'policy making on the fly' are strange bedfellows.

But why did he then carry on so to such an extent? He knows that that he cannot afford to be compared with Hanson. She proved that Australians will think through the real issues over time and see racism calls for what they are. Bunkum!

I blogged on 'White Australia policy' in this country only five days back. It is well and truly buried and so will Clive be if he allows himself to put up side by side against Hanson. People will readily see a lot of comparisons to her that will not speak well to his judgement. Voters at the end of the day in this country, once the fanfare is done, try to seek out 'integrity'.

Perhaps the 'populist' Messiah has fallen at the first turn...

There is a chap in a social club to which I belong who regularly emails around racist rants to 'all and sundry' on our common email list. He has been admonished time and time again by return emails. But he just doesn't get it. Regardless of what continues to happen, he just keeps sending them. He believes in his heart that everyone thinks the same way he does. He will keep doing it. Somehow he filters out the reality. Sad really.

Just getting back to Clive as he delivered his rant about "Chinese bastards" ...sitting right next to him was Penny Wong . I was embarrassed for you Clive and if per chance you don't think to apologise to her ...I will right now. Sorry Ms Wong. He knows not what he does.

The Others

You took me in when I needed help

I know that you are my friend

He vouched for me also at that time 

A ready hand to lend

She too was like a sister to me

Without asking a thing in return

But it's not about them of whom I speak

It’s the others that I spurn

I didn’t mean you, when I spoke of ‘a plot’

I didn’t mean him, involved he’s not

I didn’t mean her, I’d be needlessly hurting

It’s the rest of the others to whom I’m referring

It’s all the others, who offer a threat

It’s all the others, whose intent I get

It's all about them, their motives aren't true

I know this just simply, because …I do!

from my desktop Grahame J Flynn

Views in Verse on political intransigence (and ALL that goes with it)

I watched the ABC's Q&A tonight...

A panel of big name & no-name Aussies up for comment on current issues

Conclusion - Talk is great guys but hey...

It's time to DO SOMETHING!



The Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss was there as the spokesman for the 'everything that could go wrong has gone wrong ' nearly one year in office Coalition government of Tony Abbott. Given the array of issues tabled there was little that could really stick to Mr Truss as so much seemingly needs doing. Funnily enough a great smokescreen.

But look lets get a little more focussed here. A little John West. What are things that really matter?

There was an underlying fear of unemployment in the room - fear of an economic indicator increasingly peddled currently about that has about as much statistical accuracy as odds on the horses. However the dissonance remains. The mood in of late has been peppered by such things as closure of the car industry, offshore outsourcing and a realisation that manufacturing in the traditional sense is all but gone.

However, one needs to look through the whipped up scenarios of doom... and focus on the BIG issues. What must be done ...not what can't be ...nor what probably won't ever happen.

Nevertheless, my only really galling moment watching the program was when Mr Truss offhandedly expressed the view that we simply need to focus on the right types of industries so as to ensure employment. We - who is we? More importantly - when? The time to act has come. And his timing could not been worse than today.

Mr Truss's cavalier comment came on the same day that CSL, one of our largest and most successful biotechs (one of the industries we are talking of rebuilding on), advised the media that its' manufacturing will be moving offshore along with (firstly) 500 jobs. They cited all the usual reasons (all valid by the way - tax, red-tape, inflexible labour force). Thereby, the benefits of making these products, innovatively developed here over the past decades, will be lost to its' local workers.

The addressing of all these key issues are the 80/20 things that the Government needs to be getting on with - the rest, yes - just noise.

But Mr Truss, Mr Abbott (wherever you hide these days) Joe (perhaps its all getting too hard) and the remainder of the highly mandated new Government of 2013, it is time to hit these pressing 80/20 issues and FIX THEM!

No stress ...just do what has to be done.



One day at a time

Lots a trouble in the world my friend
That's something that we all know
Seems to me that we hear it each day
But it ain't gonna stop the show
Cause dwelling on the downward spin
Only makes your misery grow...

So when people say:
"Nice to see you old mate...
how are you going today?"
Might be the sky is falling in
But I just simply say...

 I've been living my life
One day at a time
Just watching the sun
Rise and fall
Life sure is good
When all that you do
Is done for your one and all
My family and friends
Mean the world to me
I listen when I hear them call
I'm living my life
One day at a time
Winter spring summer and fall

Too much talk about
religion and war
And money that's for sure
It's all just 'cock and bull'
The glass is half empty
Seems all of the time
whenever man is it full?

So when people say:
"Nice to see you old mate...
how are you going today?"
Might be the sky is falling in
But I just simply say...

 I've been living my life
One day at a time
Just watching the sun
Rise and fall
Life sure is sure good when
All that you do
Is done for your one and all
My family and friends
Mean the world to me
I listen when I hear them call
I'm living my life
One day at a time
Winter spring summer and fall



Sent from my iPhone - Grahame J Flynn

Views in Verse - on Intolerance

Views in verse on intolerance

I grew up an Irish Catholic boy well imbued by the White Australia rantings of Arthur 'Cocky' Calwell -  the (then) Labour Party Leader of Australia. The white hat says it all!

His deluded views about Communism and Asian folk as its weapon of destruction spread into an Australian form of McCarthyism - 'reds under beds'.






My father too (sadly) became afflicted by these 'ratbag' teachings which were so manifest throughout the Catholic Church at the time. My father (as a convert) to 'the faith' swallowed it all - no questions asked - as did many - given that broad media communications of the day were highly limited.

This backdrop was then a ready justification for the Vietnam War scenario. The Catholic vote was at that time massive compared to what it is today. The decision to fight (often put down to American pressure) seemed a natural progression given the 'story' spawned from within society as a result of Calwell and the church.

All of this seems a vast world away from the social issues we deal with today. However allow me to dwell for a moment...to colour the hatred that was allowed to become manifest yet perhaps has now hopefully died with my late father's generation.

At my infants school our class was subjected to a Sister Vincent (a St Joseph's order nun) who on a daily basis would deliver us a Calwell-ish rant against communism and share her fear that we would soon all be overrun by the people from the North. The woman had clearly 'swallowed a pill' that her protected 'religious' life was not able to rationalise for her. Hatred can do that to people - it is counter to all our basic learnings in life.

Sister was thankfully relieved of her duties half way through that year and quietly taken away. No-one would ever know however of the damage done; the fear she had injected into the seventy odd  children she 'taught'.

Me, I would myself suffer from a recurring dream of 'reds' climbing over our back fence at home for many years to come. Perhaps the bigotry she practised was taken on board by many of this group as a form of self-defence; again I will never know. I somehow suspect not however, despite what we sometimes read in our papers in relation to visiting students and Australian intolerance. Yes, there is history, but today...? Naa.

For my part, only twenty years later on , I married into a Chinese family. Perhaps I should come and chisel that into your gravestone 'Cocky' as a post script to your planned impact on the next generation.

For the Catholic Church bit, I no longer practise. As my life evolved, I looked for integrity in my roots and found too many 'contradictions' coming to the surface that I, like Sr. Vincent, couldn't swallow. Intolerance of any kind I still struggle with today. Religion - everyone is entitled to their own beliefs - how can we question that? Well, how can we? We must respect people's rights to make their own decisions.

* Frank Hardy's 'Power without glory' is an excellent text that conveys the social tensions of this 'colourful' time and the destructive scourge that comes with rising to positions of power.

* Arthur Calwell must be noted as voting against going to war but it also must be noted he was Opposition leader at the time



And justice for all...?

A wild but stumbling rush
a thirst for brother's blood
a victim falls hard before a baying crowd
A lusty blow is struck
just one with any luck
roars of faith ring out for hours
good and loud

The wild group arrived
a sword strapped by the side
the verdict a prescribed but grisly fate
A rigid but cruel
right of tribal rule
it seems justice can be swift
no need to wait

A bunker lit up bright
well into winter's night
Top brass around a massive table
Seems the generals have their say:
"Sir,there is no other way...!"
"but to hit this region hard
to keep it stable!"

The cameras whirl and play
at church that very day
it didn't really matter it wasn't Sunday

"God bless this call we've made

there'll be so many saved"...
(except for thousands there trapped
along the way)

It seems the rules are clear
handed down o'er many years
for a phalanx to extol it's common call
It's well known far and wide
that with god at your side
his will is clearly done
through one and all


But is it really fair?
whose premise we compare...?
seems they'll all see fit to make a rightful plea?
Appears there's justice there for all
for help with righteous cause
as long as one goes down
on bended knee...?


from my desktop Grahame J Flynn

Views in verse on the one great single class society

 Australians - whatever it takes ...together! He who chooses to talk and not act will not be rewarded afterwards.

Views in Verse on the one great single class society



Joe Hockey has long been lauded as a key contender for leadership of the Australian Liberal Party given he has appeared in the past 'electable' in the eyes of the Australian public. Son of a migrant - common appeal - easy going style - no pretension to grandeur.

Now he gets the Treasurer's job: fails to sell his first budget, can't legislate it, unable to collaborate on it, no alternative floated and yet ...amongst all of this he is 'writing a book'. And then ...despite the carnage around him he ...goes ahead and formally launches the book. So in the space of a few weeks he has gone from being Joe, everyone's mate, to Joe the Treasurer given to 'hubris' (something Australian voters will not tolerate!).

In this same space of time, Julie Bishop - another of Abbott's senior ministers, formerly a twenty year practising lawyer, and probably not seen as warm to the electorate because of her stern demeanour; in the meantime. she simply gets on with her Foreign Affairs role.

The first major challenge she has in her role, the loss of 28 Australians over the Ukraine. Julie Bishop simply goes out and successfully takes on Vladimir Putin. In doing so, represents to the world how we as Australians like to be seen to support each other. No need to promote herself. She just went out and did her job as best she could. Australians love to see their representatives 'doing the hard-yards' as they do themselves in their own work every day.

We see ourselves as a single class society working together as one - there is no room for 'hubris' in getting things done - chest beating doesn't pay - all uphill from here Joe!

Good luck! Get some new advisers!

The Rose, the Sun and the Sea

She was the kindest of woman

her beauty long lost to the sun

She came to this port as a stranger

for the love of "a wayward one"

Most thought:

 "he'd since died a sailor"

Put it down to his 'late father's bent'

But back to this headland

she'd return each day

Early ...without relent

After this vigil

She'd walk through town

Shoulders thrown back as she'd go

Watching out 

for new arrivals

the coachman's brow would lo'

In the early years 

neat and composed

Never missing the odd chance to talk

Her appearance waned

with each new year

yet purpose still clear in her walk

She'd stop and she'd chat

to the waifs and the needy

A port town carries it's share

Helping out at the sailor's home too

Plenty of work to do there

She also worked hard for a living

under the Milliner's shop

Until one grey morn'

when the Constable announced:

"her rounds had come to a stop"

It seems the Squire

from a nearby cove

had called that very same day

With ghastly news 

that a body was found

Floating ...face down ...in the bay

Her funeral was said to be touching

All of the children were there

Even the seamen 

made their way up the hill

with flowers ...to rest in her hair

The Mayor declared her (to be)

"of good breeding"...

who came to us 'through the back door"

Describing such situations as "travesties..."

"...such things shouldn't happen at all"

Most would have noticed too

a stranger there...

Sitting amongst the throng

A refined old woman...

Who said not a word...

In a short while she was gone

The Landlord later noted:

"personal things were taken...

...right to the very last one"

All that was left 

in his seaward loft

Was a rose...

...now bleached by the sun.

Forwarded from my I pad - Grahame J Flynn

  

CBA - it's a matter of trust!!!

CBA - it's a matter of trust

Views in verse on trust

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the clumsy handling of it's recent client crisis really needs to take a good look at itself. Honesty is always a good start.

The CBA has carried the (almost) unquestioned trust of the Australian people since I can recall from my childhood days. Days when we were introduced to them at school as ...'our bankers'.

We have seen them grow into one of the largest banks in the world on the back of our common nation building. Mr Narev (being a new Australian) may be excused  for not appreciating the full depth of this trust and the responsibilities it carries. He cannot however be forgiven for spinning more lies in the face of his overdue responsibilities.

The tardy response to this recent appalling wealth building by the bank and its focus on crisis management  falls well short of what CBA owes its 'family' of members. The excuse that there were a few 'rogue individuals' involved is utter rubbish.

To be allowing our peoples' lifetime endeavours to be committed to risky revenue options without disclosure or allowance for clients' individual needs is 'professional negligence'. When this is driven by sales schemes that encourage 'rogue-ish' behaviour of its sales teams 'year in year out', it is clearly appalling management not just a few crafty individuals to blame.

Anyone in commerce knows that objectives drive set goals and that these goals then drive behaviour. The individual salespeople do not create the sales schemes ...management do. This is a matter of planned deception. These stakes are always too high for retiring couples ...they were not given the whole truth

Anything the bank does or says now cannot excuse lies and misrepresentation to its customers when this had already occurred and been reported on (ABC - Four Corners). The late responses by Narev were indicative of crisis management and thereby the containment desired. That Narev should now go for the false spin laid out on these years of deception is unforgiveable.

Simple truth was called for. Refunds, where due, were of course mandatory ...purile lies to accompany it were utterly uncalled for and in the face of all of this historical deception this is simply too much!

What have the Board done since? ...let's get some transparency here. Where is the real accountability? Not good enough fellahs!


As a segway into reconciliation of wrong doings: The Abbott Government as though to apportion some understanding of the 'few suggested rogues' theory has coined a term 'conflicted' earnings instead of simple 'commissions' for the purposes of banking reform.

In so doing unerringly touching on the truth ...the sales people involved over many years would indeed have been 'conflicted' in whether to do the right thing or the wrong thing working within a scheme that so easily richly rewarded inappropriate behaviour.

*Escape to Paraguay

The last of the leaves
are now falling
A cold winter coming our way
The days too are
getting much shorter
A chill wind blows hard down the lane
Another bad day at the office
My best efforts going astray
Can I just suspend all reason?
...escape to Paraguay?

The train travel goes as expected
Jam packed and running late
Once home I'm pained by the sight of
the landlord
Leaning across of 'his' gate
I suffer a self-serving sermon
Of finance in deep disarray
Where can I go to find refuge...?
...escape to Paraguay?

My wife is busy with dinner
Kids screaming ...the TV loud
We kiss ...she says to me smiling
"How can you come home to this crowd?"
"I just saw the grim reaper at you"
"...I paid them early today"
What makes people go and
behave this way?
Can we ...escape to Paraguay?

The bank's taken leave
Of their senses
They give ...then they just take away
Call to 'explain' far too often
Who cares what they 'don't' have to say?
Sometimes it wells up inside you
Twisting your head every way
Today my thoughts turned to folly...
The Forests of Paraguay


* the the 1890's hundreds of hearty Australians in the face of disenchantment with their lives in Australia set out to start their lives again in the forests of Paraguay. 

forwarded from my I phone - Grahame J Flynn

Clive Palmer - the new messiah

Views in verse

- on a call to integrity!

What a showman! But the real challenges await round the bend... how will he respond?



Clive Palmer gave birth to a new party at the last Federal election (PUP) and it seems that the mining magnate, now politician, hasn't stopped creating mayhem ever since. We have been treated to a political whirlwind these past few months; he has created a PR freight train to usher in his new senate team which it seems will hold power over decision making therein. The major political parties at his mercy? Is this a new dawn in Australian politics?

The most amazing thing to be sure (not the sight of this 'coalman' standing on the same stage as Al Gore last week) is that his senators are only now taking their seats this month. The scene is now set by Palmer for a critical awareness both inside and outside parliament of who will be wielding power going forth! How will he use it?

He has achieved this on a wave of popularity supporting everything he sees is good but without having to at this time make a single hard call. Good politics Clive and good luck. No doubt a great showman; the call to integrity awaits around the bend ...let's not set our hopes too high shall we? Many have said that his true motives lie in 'get squares' aimed more at his local Queensland rivals than any true platform of any national macro reform.

There's only one thing I know for sure is that objectives drive behaviour - what he does from here on will set the scene for why he really got into all of this in the first place. Time will tell.


The new messiah

Follow me
If you're tired
Of the way that it's all wired
We know
There's gotta be a better way

Follow me
If you're angry
About politics at large
I know we can both see a better day

Follow me
If their outlook's
much more vague
than yours and mine

Follow me
I know we'll
Get along
just bloody fine

Follow me
When I promise
About the changes we will make
Listen well as I explain
That things may change.

Dream on
As my intention
And promises to you...
Seem to float
Just like sweet bubbles
down a drain

From my iPad - Grahame J Flynn

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... let's get the priorities right!

Views in Verse

on Priorities

Let's celebrate our economy ...but let's get the priorities right!



Australia's fresh new Liberal Coalition government this week produced its first budget and, despite our lowest government debt standing in the western world & firm AAA rating, went straight to work on a budget deficit ...gutsy stuff featuring:

- getting more young unemployed people trained to work
- creating a massive plan for infrastructure building to offset our peaking mining boom
- opening a firm funding discussion for what can be afforded over time in health & education spend
- hitting 3% highest income earners to address immediate fiscal debt (3 years only)
- involving middle class to share in longer term budget savings
- opening a new medical research global centre of excellence as a centrepiece for new markets

All sounds good despite some frenzied discussions about broken election promises here or there but...

The buck stops at pensioners. Mr Abbott's insistence that ALL Australians share the weight of this recovery is commendable but amending the indexation base for pensioners and removing standing bonuses is just not fair. These people have paid their taxes ...leave them alone.

And despite the firm view of the Government that they have really considered lower income earners; let's keep a close eye on this end of the spectrum ...many of these people have NO tolerance for adjustments to their income AT ALL. Let's not presume anything!!!



SOLSTICE

Enter the darkest of seasons

As a draft cuts cold

 'neath the door

Winter

brings a need for reflection

...just like others gone before

But how does one 

fathom the years?

Let alone 

make sense of it?

The lethargy builds

as the months go by...

not helping one little bit

Beyond ....to the window 

my meanderings drift

People rush along through sleet

Covering their heads 

as best they can

A spray fizzing up from their feet

I see a weathered gent

with much slower steps

His greatcoat hides his all

He stops to sit 

for reasons all his own

beside an unwelcoming wall

Below me the leaves have all fallen

They await a day in the yard

There they will stay 

till spring comes again

Right now 

it seems far too hard
 

Forwarded from my I phone - Grahame J Flynn

Views in Verse on perdition road

 













     The artful rogue...   "So see me not ...yet know I'm here ...I'll take your pride then go"


There has been an alarming trend in Australian public life these past few decades where noticeably unsavory characters have been surfacing among us who seem to carry undue influence compared to their peers. Their perceived power being not in keeping with their own lesser roles in government. Pride of place in the news over many years appears to be a recurring theme.

The common factor - active interests in the commercial world and also in the political world. One foot in either camp. Their common driver - greed!

The most disturbing factor going forward ...how hard it must be to use 'the law' (as we know it) to stop 'seeming' criminal activity as it crosses back and forth over private/ public life and through the chasm that's between. Which government bodies really police this ...?????? Do we need a new one? Can legislation alone do it?


For folk from other parts of the world, I now sense that you may be wondering: why this concern may be the least bit surprising ...?

Well, I might say that we have always had somewhat higher expectations of our politicians, perhaps not with morality, but at least in relation to perceived criminal activity. Perhaps naive ...but a real expectation just the same.


Perdition Road

Neither black nor white am I
just a slip in-between
you'll not see me coming
nor know where I've been
You'll think of me as one of you
but won't know what you've seen
I'll live there about you
familiar and serene

I'm moving, you're not watching
my hands move expertly
the light shines not upon me
the shadows cover me
Your own unwilling scent
may indeed hold the key
for I carry something with me
a fragrant stench indeed

I slid into the darkest well
A place few others know
I saw no reason to abstain
t'was tempting me so low
So see me not...yet know I'm here
I'll take your pride then go...
there's others waiting for me there
along perdition road


from my desktop Grahame J Flynn

Enter 'the bear' - he's out of the cave

Views in verse on 'the cut and thrust'

Joe Hockey has had a subtle introduction to Australian public life as our new Treasurer since September '13. No longer...

These past few months he has 'arrived' and is running a cool yet fearless program designed to hit anything that smacks of high subsidies or tariffs. This is designed of course to give life to the realeasing of public funds to infrastructure oriented projects (the backbone of the Abbott election campaign). Behind this of course: anything towards better productivity. 

The latest: stonewalling with CC Amatil, the owners of SPC Ardmona, against requested taxpayer funding to save jobs there. However, despite the real impacts, he is showing both consistency and starch given his firm hand shown with our lack-luster motor vehicle industry demands and subsequent implosion. The recent Simplot scenario appears a more viable model to meet his objectives. To their credit it seems the company sorted that out themselves! 

The farmers are now bleating again too given the growing drought. Perhaps, they'll be next for Joe's tough love approach. Now that'll take 'ticker' given the Liberal's Country Party commitments.

However, despite his familiar maudlin look at times, it seems that there is an icy demeanor lurking below. Especially given all of this is being matched by the growing risk of unemployment. He's even challenging the building unions! I hope he's sleeping well at night with that one.

He clearly loves the cut and thrust. I wonder what he does in his spare time ...?

FRENZY

A full-on frenzy take me there
Brings a rush beyond compare
Feel the heat ...stinging treat
cop it hard ...cop it sweet

It's a wild man let loose inside
Living with that white ball's ride
Cold sweat upon the brow
The devil's laughing at me now:

"Risk it all ...time to call
Bet the lot ...feel the shock
Golden tokens ...far too hot!
Think ...the family ...it's all you got"

Then the wait... the sudden fate...

"it's black and high my friend"

Panic subsides,

your mouth is dry...

...time ...to go again!

Forwarded from my I-pad - Grahame J Flynn