Good points about excessive salaries OUG.

Contrast that with a report in the paper about the working conditions of housemaids in high class hotels - poor pay and failure to pay on overtime. Most of the staff are new immigrants - and we thought the WorkChoices mindset was dead.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/06/3030918.htm?section=justin

Very droll Houlley. Water tanks are a good start but in a drought they don't always last the distance. Mine has thankfully but we are also on mains so we don't depend on it 100%.

Dear Houellie,

Interesting that you should mention the Chinese and their inability to buy a telly.
I've posted elsewhere on this site about this issue in relation to people in Laos that have been relocated away from their former homes on the Mekong River because of a hydro-electric development (constructed by a Thai company to provide 95 percent of the electricity to Thailand)
In their new location, these people have built houses with their compensation money - they now have electricity and T.V., yet they have no access to their farms or the river because they are too far away. The Mekong is an abundant supplier of sustenance to all that live along its banks. Someone once said of the people who depend on this river that , although they are among the world's poorest people, they are the best fed. These people are now coming to terms with having to "buy" food - something they really find difficult to get their heads around.
You pointed out that the people in China depend on their "jobs" to buy tellys....they have obviously been through the same process, uprooted from an environment that was self-supporting and made dependent on industry for their survival (and their tellys)

cant/post..13/hours...grrr..[timming/is everything]

this/should-be...here
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=11043&page=0

i/hate..reading...[for/me...an illiterate...its truelly hard]

thus//in failing to read...my own posts...errors/have slipped...in

ok...my words/are riddled..with error
[thus..the injunction..to filter..all
any-one...says..or writes..
through your..own/filter...
judging good..[helpfull..from dangerous]

eg..i wrote..<<...'put/them..into coma'>>

which..is the worst/advice..to give...

[as spiritually...this/ties..their soul-body..to the flesh]

heaven/hell..have many....sleeper's.....
these/are/those decieved..into..awaiting/judgment-days/..delusion

as/well as those decieved..into thinking..
dead..to really/..mean...'dead'..

[and/they are..playing/thier-part
yet..not/morte..not/dead..
actually..just sleeping/..feigning/death]

[spiritually/speaking..of course]

these/types...are condeming/..them selves..to the worst/type of hell

[self-imposed oblivion]...this type...must/not*..be allwed..into
self-descriminate..themselves..into..this type-of/hell

killing such/as these..when/via ignorance..when-they/only..deserve a coma...
and regular/awakening..to try-to/correct..their/own delusions
[but..in the end...allowing/respecting-them..their-own..beliefs]

those/who know...of the/after-life...
also should/not be euthanised

except..in the most..extreem/of physical-pain..
in which case./.coma..is better/than...murder

any euthinasia..is wrong

worse..killing people...under the influence..of ignorance..or drugs

[hell/is..full of opium-addicts..completly..unaware..they/are..even dead]

often..suicides..are tied..to their corps

often..those of high ego..[body/'self'..whorship]..
are tied to their..dead corpse

[in many cases till/the body disolves-away...]

thus..any rule/..govt gives/creates...must/lead..to a better.remedy..

must not*/..see corpse-abuse..with the corpse..[body]..binding the soul

like/that of so many/of suicide...drug-induced..'deaths'
and those..so firmly..transfixed,..in their material-being

being cremated..[appears..the most caring resolution]..
to many..of these problems

but with statuted..sampling
/full accountable autopsy...
crime-scene/like..treatment..to void abuses

there is no sound/reasoning..
to try to relieve-pain
only to condem..their soul..to hell

these are..huge-issues..we are daring/to..discuss

and it..is not to/be taken...lightly

i wish..other's..better informed..were speaking..
that they..know/..can prove..to-be true

there is no reason..to prolong..
or induce suffering...even/in ignorance

specialists..and process..must/be speedy..yet fully compasionate

informing/fully..those passing-over...
and..those..who/shall remain..here..[for now]

death..is no..easy..es-cape

yes..its painfull..helping others

but remember..that you..do-to..other
you condem..god..to/endure...as-well

we have all..earned..our reward
cast our..life's-lot..

those decieved..by lies/delusions..it/is their right
to know/truth...that..alone..can set-them/free

but thee...who claim..to/know better...
well prove-it..seek-to/know....now

this is..a matter..of life-eternal
and/or..faux-death...and full accounting

are/you condemming..suffering
helping or hindering

are you blind..or
seek..you to see?

action..achieves
thought/prolongs

be guided/by..those who have thought/long/hard
then support/fully..properly..those..who actually..do..

helping them..to/do..the right
/good/proper/just-thing

what/would jesus..do?
[recall..he said/promised..'ye/shall-do/better']

That's what we call progress Poirot!

It's all very well to talk about a fantasy world where one can dream of being Tom Good of The Good Life, but until the rest of the world of Margos and Jerrys join the party, you might as well be talking to the birds.

In fact, often it's the Margo and Jerrys of the world that allow these romantic dreams (and even the opportunity) of environmental sustainability and a downsized simple life. It's all very well to have chooks in you back yard and trade eggs for panadol, but unless Jerry keeps working at the pharmaceutical company where will you get your panadol?

Your average Chinese man working in a factory will not thank you for deciding for him that he should go back to farming and enjoy his free fish any more than his own governmnet deciding for him that he's better off in his factory.

I read somewhere once that a left winger over 30 is a dreamer and a right winger under 30 has no soul.

It seems the choices in life involve either apathy or captivity. I choose apathy.

jerry stand up
pull back the curtains and let some light in
quit your job
because you hate it and it's wasting you

once upon a time you were running
singing to the ground every morning
once upon a time you were

jerry stand up
am i the only one who's noticed that you've been missing
remember yourself man
remember that you have chance and possibility

once upon a time you were running
singing to the ground every morning

once upon a time you were crazy

jerry
you're not getting any younger
all you need is fresh air
a nice new suit and a walk in the park every day or two
every day in every way

That's what we call "wage slavery", Houellie.

The man who once lived on the Mekong, catching his food and farming his plot - answerable only to his family and community - now has a magic window (telly) and a job in a factory, and money to "buy" his food...Voila!, his independence has vanished in the name of "progress".

Houlley
You assume that a Good Life cannot include factories and scientists that produce panadol as long as the Jerrys of the world don't have to work a 60 hour week to make the panadol because the CEO decides it is cheaper to reduce staff and make the remaining few work harder and longer.

I know you hate the world 'balance' but it really is all about balance - there is no other way to combat the extremities on both sides that might lead one down a different path to totalitarianism.