The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > General Discussion > NSW power without pride

NSW power without pride

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. ...
  6. 22
  7. 23
  8. 24
  9. Page 25
  10. 26
  11. All
There was getting to be phlaigme everywhere one looked these days on OLO, Forrest thought. An OLO poster could easily become phlaigme-happy, shooting first and then reading carefully second. It had very nearly happened with this post: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=2583#58351

Fractelle had finished a post off with a sentence that included the words:

"..... an incandescent lightbulb in your lamp or a Hummer in your driveway ....."

Forrest's first thought was that Fraccers was having a go at his penthouse lifestyle and renewable-energy carpetbagging business methods, what with that reference to his Hummer that he garaged at the Borg Tower, and the good old no-longer-proprietary technology of the incandescent bulb. "Three cheers for good old Thomas Alva Edison" Forrest said out loud. "And no cheers at all for the dim bulb that forced upon us the flickering, buzzing, not-nearly-so-long-lasting-as-claimed, much more expensive, mercury-containing fluorescent bulb". "Thats right," thought Forrest, "mustn't forget three jeers for tokenism and the one-time environment minister that they bring to mind". It was just as well Forrest noticed the quotation marks at the end of Fractelle's post: it hadn't been her at all! It had been Gabriel, the Scientific American article author, and, unless he was also an archangel too, was someone who couldn't possibly have known Forrest had a Hummer.

Forrest had heard on the news only yesterday evening that Babcock & Brown, the merchant banking firm, had gone into (he thought voluntary) receivership. Forrest was sure that Babcock & Brown had facilitated wind turbine investment in recent years. In fact he had a recollection of a business entity called Babcock & Brown Wind Partners: he wondered whether that was caught up somehow in the receivership situation.

"Not my problem", thought Forrest, "I'm not an investigative journalist or a competent opposition parliamentarian. I can barely even spell 'register of pecuniary interests'." He didn't think anyone else was either, anywhere at all in Oz.

Forrest's latest Parliament Wind Farm acquisition truly was absolutely capital.
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Saturday, 14 March 2009 11:52:25 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Last night's big blackout of a quarter of the Sydney CBD had set Forrest to thinking.

"Is this going to prove to be a situation of pride without power?", Forrest asked himself. "Is the tack now being taken one of making the NSW public corporations responsible for electricity generation and distribution appear incompetent, as a backdrop for a renewed push for full sell-out, 'privatisation', of public utilities?", Forrest mused.

Not that the inconvenience had inconvenienced Forrest. The big gas-fuelled Caterpillar emergency generators down in the sub-basement could well have cut in for all Forrest knew or cared. There had been no interruption of supply to the penthouse of the Borg Tower in Hubris Place (off Gas Lane), nor was it intended that there ever should be. They didn't call it 'Gas Lane' for nothing. There were gas pipes underneath it, Forrest was sure, and a spur pipeline ran from there under Hubris Place direct into the sub-basement of the Borg Tower. Fuel for the big Cat generators was guaranteed whilever gas was available in the LNG distribution system, even if road transportation was brought to a complete standstill. They didn't call it Hubris Place for nothing, either. There was a hubris pipeline running all the way up the outside of the Borg Tower: the private external lift to the penthouse.

Forrest looked east from the 'thinking room' of the penthouse to Bondi Junction. Yesterday there had been a few problems for high-rise dwellers in that locality, with what was thought to have been a gas explosion in a service room at the top of the building. Bricks blown everywhere! Plumbers were thought to have been involved.

Forrest was very glad that the Borg Tower penthouse had no service rooms anywhere near the top floors, and that he didn't have any call for a plumber. Service rooms were like cars: people had accidents in them. Speaking of cars, Forrest had philosophised to the Tower plumber, Ron, only last week, saying "if you can't afford a Ford, dodge a Chev, Ron".

Gamelifting!
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 4:30:01 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
FG, I also suspect that the NSW Government deliberately mismanaged NSW railways in the 1970's and 1980's in order to provide a convenient excuse to cut back services and privatise much of it. In many ways it was nice to be paid for doing so little work in many parts of the Railways, but I think most would have preferred to have done a fair day's work at a civilised pace providing a useful public service if that would have made it possible to secure their long term employment.

NSW is now paying a terrible price for the wanton destruction of much its rail network in subsequent years.

---

There's a discussion about plans to privatise NSW prisons at http://larvatusprodeo.net/2009/03/27/sub-editing-fail/#comment-675737 in response to the article by chief Murdoch electricity privatisation propagandist Imre Saluzinksy at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25248776-601,00.html

As I wrote at the end, "In case anyone has forgotten Imre Saluzinsky's appalling misreporting of the NSW electricity privatisation issue last year, please read "Media contempt for facts in NSW electricity privatisation debate" of 18 Sep 09 at http://candobetter.org/node/765

---

It seems as if my long ordeal on the "9/11 Truth" forum at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/compose-message-general.asp?discussion=2103&page=81 over many months has paid off. The only denier with any grasp of the case of 9/11 Truth movement seems to have disappeared permanently from OLO whilst the near total ignorance of the rest is becoming too obvious for them to deny.
Posted by daggett, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 12:52:56 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Forrest had watched the Channel 9 TV news the other night. There had been a news segment in which a television reporter had performed a subterranean circumperambulation of the CBD in a special tunnel for electricity cables! From the television footage, it looked like this tunnel had been built for some time; ie. it was not currently under construction.

Then was shown a quick grab of the chief gamelifter, premier Nathan Rees, explaining that all electricity accounts would shortly have to be billed an extra $2 per week to pay for this tunnel and associated works.

Forrest was puzzled. If the electricity cable tunnel had already been built by a NSW government corporation, then surely its construction had already been provided for in previous budgets. Then Forrest had a thought: what if the cable tunnel had just recently been the subject of an agreement to buy it from some third party? Forrest seemed to remember something having been said about an entity called Transgrid. He didn't know whether Transgrid was a NSW government corporation, or a private commercial entity associated, perhaps, with a company like Transfield, a company that fabricated lots and lots of electricity transmission line towers and such like.

Forrest couldn't understand why any government, or government corporation, would sell the very means of distribution of its product, electricity: the grid. It didn't seem to make sense. And, for that matter, why would anybody buy into a distribution grid hardware asset when they were niether generator nor retailer of the electricity? You would have to have open slather with respect as to what you could charge generator and/or retailer for transmission through your grid for your business model to make any sense.

It would certainly explain the chief gamelifter's explanation that suddenly all NSW consumers would have to pay for this electricity cable tunnel if it had only recently been bought back from some other entity: it might not have been in the recent budget estimates if that was the case.

It was a big circuit! Forrest hoped it wouldn't short out.
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Tuesday, 21 April 2009 12:21:58 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Forrest had noted this post: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=8778#140927

Forrest agreed that the apparent level of migration indicated by the reported statistics was insane, given the circumstances of the GFC and all that.

Forrest wondered whether it was the case that the statistics themselves were perhaps becoming no longer dependable. Could it be that there was coming to be an acceptance that actual high levels of migration were no longer sustainable, but in the drive to inflate the electoral rolls no stone would be left unturned? Could it be that the population statistics of the Commonwealth were being deliberately inflated in order to keep the level of recorded electoral enrolments within the bounds of believability?

Forrest suddenly felt an overpowering need to wash his mouth out with soap! He knew he had uttered utter heresy. This was Australia! Such things couldn't possibly ever be allowed to happen here, could they? Forrest desperately wished that he was Jim Hacker, from a former time, and that he had a personal assistant named Bernard, and that Sir Humphrey Appleby would advise him upon a course of action. Jim would work it all out, wouldn't he?

Forrest could hear the answer already. "Yes Minister. Of course Minister! After all, Minister, we are the Elect. We know what we are doing."

What a relief, thought Forrest.
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Monday, 11 May 2009 10:03:57 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Great to know someone who is relatively sympathetic still reads my posts (as I read yours).

FG, It would be wonderful to be able to hope that your hunch that immigration figures being inflated for purposes of rigging elections.

But how could it be proven or disproven?
Posted by daggett, Monday, 11 May 2009 11:09:25 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. ...
  6. 22
  7. 23
  8. 24
  9. Page 25
  10. 26
  11. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy