I lost and never tried again - same with the lottery - I only ever bought one ticket and lost.
Banjo Patterson,
Now that's what we call a real Aussie battler.

no I don't think they will listen,
Praxidice,
If people were to develop an interest in our Constitution then they WOULD KNOW how to make them listen. Alas , thanks to our education system !

Banjo Paterson - FWIW, I usually get responses albeit after prompting from local & state representatives but rarely federal ones. Mind you they are noticeably quicker if the subject is agreeable to them. When they are being asked to get up off their invariably well padded nether regions, their attitude is demonstrably one of 'if I ignore this long enough it will hopefully go away'. Mind you the responses I do receive are typically blah blah blah style things that appear to have been written by a machine. To give him his due, General Disaster at least signs responses and often handwrites a line or two so it looks like he's on the ball. Like the vast majority of his ilk however, its a case of lights on but nobody home. There however are several issues of considerable interest to me that WON'T go away and I'll keep bashing away until the clowns sit up and take notice. The Chresby booklet just 'might' assist here, seems with 53 years experience in the area, he should have an insight superior to many.

As we've seen over the past twenty years or more, it doesn't matter one iota whether the blue team, the red team or the purple with orange spots team is in office, in all cases their objectives are cruising peacefully along whilst furthering the interests of campaign contributors, friends, cronies & associates, lining their own pockets, avoiding accountability for anything, going on as many junkets as possible & doing stuff-all else.

In theory at least, representatives are accountable to those who elected them & are overseen by the upper house, governors, governors-general the media, and to some extent at least, the judiciary. Clearly that concept belongs with 'Little Red Riding Hood' these days, all players are in it for themselves and the constituents can go jump. I'm hoping that the letter formats suggested by Chresby just might have some magic formula ... eg his point about making it crystal clear to the clowns that in affect 'you are hereby formally INSTRUCTED to do whatever'

in office, in all cases their objectives are cruising peacefully along
Praxidice,
That's because of the Labor back bone, the public service which doesn't change it's entrenched useless senior bureaucrats even though another lot has been voted in. UNLESS we CHANGE the SENIOR bureaucrates at every election we will continue on that dreadful journey.

Dear Shockadelic,

To teach science as science rather than as something else is not an anti-Christian Crusade. Parents are free at home to tell children anything they like. However, Creationism and Intelligent Design are not science. The mainline Protestant schools and the Catholic schools do not teach it as science. They clearly know the difference between science and Bible stories.

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Dear individual,

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Well that's not actually the full story.

I have, in fact, bought several lottery tickets for my mates and various friends and acquaintances over the years, usually for their birthday or a Christmas present or something. But none of them ever won anything either.

I figured that was the confirmation of what I thought from the start - that the dice were loaded.

Same thing for elections. I always go for the loser. So it's just not worth it.

That's probably why I'm sitting here in Paris too. Most of the traffic is in the opposite direction.

I guess my life is just one long story of going against the current.

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The boys had come back from the races
All silent and down on their luck;
They'd backed 'em, straight out and for places,
But never a winner they struck.
They lost their good money on Slogan,
And fell most uncommonly flat
When Partner, the pride of the Bogan,
Was beaten by Aristocrat.

"And then when I think that they're ready
To win me a nice little swag,
They are licked like the veriest neddy --
They're licked from the fall of the flag.
The mare held her own to the stable,
She died out to nothing at that,
And Partner he never seemed able
To pace it with Aristocrat.

Next week, under "Seller and Buyer",
Appeared in the Daily Gazette:
"A racehorse for sale, and a flyer;
Has never been started as yet;
A trial will show what his pace is;
The buyer can get him in light,
And win all the handicap races.
Apply here before Wednesday night."

The rushing of floods in their courses,
The rattle of rain on the roofs,
Recalled the fierce rush of the horses,
The thunder of galloping hoofs.
And soon one broke out: "I can suffer
No longer the life of a slug,
The man that don't race is a duffer,
Let's have one more run for the mug.

(from "Our New Horse")

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