BigBlog

I’ve been neglecting the blog over the last few weeks.  

In my spare time I am a volunteer pension officer/advocate for war veterans and war widows. I help them claim their entitlements under the Veterans Entitlement Act through the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA).  I find it very rewarding and it keeps my brain active

Recently we have expanded further afield because of the lack of experienced people in country areas. We just completed a couple of days travel and seeing a number of people and travelling over 300kms. We are volunteers, we don’t get paid, although we do get accommodation and travel expenses reimbursed through grants from DVA.

Well I was attacked this week via the internet and accused of being deceitful, and that I was rorting the GST exemption provisions on motor vehicles given to disabled war veterans by the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

Now the one thing a pension officer values most is his honour and integrity. Loose that and you are no help to anybody. So that’s why I am bringing this out in the open.  

I challenge this person to put up or shut up. Here are the details of my transaction if you would like to pass them on to the ATO.

I purchased a 1998 Ford Mondeo registration number AE08EN, from Gateway Holden in January this year. If the person who says I am rorting the ATO GST exemption system would like to report me to the ATO, please be my guest.  

You know my full name.

This is some of the stuff she writes about me:

your reputation (from comments made to me) appears to be shot to bits.

One thing I have noticed is that these people who rort the system haven't got enough sense to keep their mouths shut

on this occasion, I felt the need to rub it in so to speak, to you.

by your attitude, deceitfulness, etc, you are not the type of person I would like to have as a pension officer

not worthy of being described as a "man". In my opinion, you are a spoilt little brat, who wants his own way all the time.

Most of the comments on your blogs are also in the negative, except the ones from those stupid sex orientated ones from who I can only imagine are teenage kids with no brains at all. You must be sick to leave them on your blog sites

Bloody Brilliant!

ABC TV 1 Wed 9.30 pm

ABC TV 2 Thurs 9.00 pm

Forget that Yank stuff.

Remember those hamburgers from the fish and chip shops years ago?

You know, real hamburgers.

Well next time you are on your way to Macquarie Pass, drop into the Albion Park Hotel and sample one of their hamburgers.

With chips, 10 bucks.

I have lunch there every Thursday.

Another book written by a soldier of the Vietnam War has been released and mentions some not very nice things that Australian soldiers did during the war.

I too went to Vietnam and served 12 months as a ‘grunt’. 

I am not aware of any atrocities committed by our blokes. 

Yet the author of this new book, Don Tate, mentions a couple of incidents where enemy bodies were blown up instead of being buried; and of dead enemy being dragged behind an armoured personnel carrier and dumped in the village with their heads missing.

If these things occurred, as reported by Mr. Tate, there should be an enquiry and those responsible should be charged with war crimes.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23991314-662,00.html

The buck stops with me.

I share the very real concern of the veteran community who feel they have been forgotten by this government.  I want to assure the veteran community that I will bring an end to the blame game and look after our most treasured citizens - those who put their lives on the line for this great nation of ours, ostraya.

I have therefore decided to act decisively in this matter, unlike the previous government who did nothing and nothing.  I want to bring to an end, the neglect to our veteran community over the past 11 years by the previos government.  So today I announce that the government will set up a panel whose terms of reference will be to look at how we as the new government comitted to the veteran community, will look into the adequacy of government support to those long suffering war veterans and their families .  It will be an all of government approach, not just a review of just the Department of Veterans' Affairs,  but a review of all government services to the veteran community. 

The government is committed to efficient, effective and long term stretegies of assistance to the veteran, not just a short term fix at election time like the previous government who neglected the veteran community for 11 long years.

To ensure a speedy response, the committe will conduct their first meet BEFORE December 2008.  The first agenda item that the committee will discuss will be a name for the committee.  The committee will report to my office NLT July 2009.

Once a name has been established, it will be enshrined in L-A-W law that this committee, by it's very name, will stand for fair and balanced treatment of oztraya's war veterans and their families.

Blah blah blah blah....

You get the picture now?

I saw Brendan Nelson speak a number of years ago.  He so impressed me that at the time I thought he was prime minister material.  However he has had a tough introduction as leader of the Opposition with his approval rating nearly in single digits.

But I commend you to watch him speak.  At the sorry day occasion, the prime minister ambushed him and only gave him a moment's notice to talk.  Nelson accepted the invitation, he stood up and he spoke very well, even if he was lambasted for what he said.  He spoke eloquently, with little notice, and without notes.

If you saw Nelson in parliament today you could not but be impressed by his ability to stand and talk from the heart. 

Firstly the prime minister stood and spoke for 20 minutes about the good job our military has done in Baghdad and it was time to bring the combat soldiers home.  He also stuck the boot in to the former government as to why we shouldn’t have been in Iraq in the first place. 

Rudd read from a prepared speech.

Nelson stood up in reply and I was mesmerised by his performance.  Without referring to notes (except to quote Rudd’s belief in WMDs prior to the invasion), Nelson gave a history on how we came to be in Iraq.  He mentioned dates, peoples' names, aircrafts, ships, units and places where Australian’s served. 

A mighty performance – all without notes.  It was a passionate, logical and detailed account.

We need to keep this man. 

He seems to be one of the few ministers in politics that believes in what he says; he is a person who can speak from the heart.

You see it everyday. 

Someone has a misfortune in life and we don’t even care.

Maybe at best we hope it doesn’t happen to us because we don’t really know how we would react to a life changing event. 

So today I want to tell you about Skip. 

I don’t know the man, but in many ways I do. 

You see Skip is a Vietnam Veteran, and the one thing we veterans have learnt is that life is a gift – so no sitting around on your bum, get out there and experience what life has to offer. 

Skip was doing just that. 

He flew to LA and planned to ride his motor bike to Washington to visit The Wall.  He even had some stuff to leave there as a tribute to the American Vietnam veterans.   

He didn’t make it. 

Four days into the journey he crashed. 

Skip is now a quadriplegic …….. 

There’s nothing more that can be said, except that his mates are organizing a fund to help him out. 

You can help too. 

Donations can be made to the following account:

Bank of Queensland
Logan Central,
Queensland,
Australia
4114

Account Name:  Bruce Eklom Trust Fund.
BSB Number: 124-034
Account Number: 20671437

Read about it here

http://www.qldvvmc.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=2  

Remember how Vietnam veterans were treated when they came home from Vietnam? 

Maybe we can put all that behind us and show our support for Skip, his mates and family.

OK, OK… 

I joke about being an old fart, if you can’t laugh at yourself… 

But there are a couple of signs… 

I’ve fallen over a couple of times in the last couple of weeks.  I’ve discovered that it takes longer for you to get up than to fall down! 

The first time I fell over, the day after I sliced through a live electric cord with the electric hedge trimmer, I was not aware that I was falling.  At about halfway down, I realized that I was heading for the speaker in the lounge room.  It all happened v-e-r-y slowly.  I reached out for the wall, but it was too late – I crashed into the speaker, pushing it off the stand and it crashed to the floor followed by me. 

A few bits and pieces were damaged and the speaker had minor damage as well. 

The second time I fell was yesterday, in Bunnings.  I fell backwards, in slow motion, onto a pile of their merchandise.  Paula saw it all, and couldn’t stop laughing; so I laid there until she helped me up! 

Falling is very weird. 

It happens in slow motion, as I said, but another phenomenon is that there is a point where time is suspended.  Where gravity ceases to exist for just a split second….. then you fall. 

You can see it on Funniest Home Videos – that pause I mean. 

Maybe I should carry a camera with me! 

 Am I really at old fart status?   

I thought that happened when you turn 60, and I don’t turn 60 until late next year.  But I have been contemplating putting a hat on the rear parcel shelf of my Fairlane, luckily I don’t wear a hat; not even those yank caps! 

And speaking of caps, what on earth are our authorities doing with the uniforms of our public groups?  You know, police, ambos; and the defence forces. 

All we need now is for the army to throw away the slouch hat and join the rest of society and the total change to American culture. 

But wait a minute. 

The yanks have great uniforms for their cops and defence forces – they haven’t changed them. 

We got our ideas from the poms, and now we are changing our uniforms to yank stuff that the yank public servants don’t even wear. 

What is going on? 

The army doesn’t have a winter uniform.  Well yes they do, short sleeve polyester shirt, long trousers and boots. 

Very bland. 

It pains me to say this, but the navy still looks good in uniform, that’s because they haven’t messed with traditional uniform. 

Look how the cops have messed up their uniforms.  No peak hat anymore, it has been replaced by the yank cap.  And look at their trousers!  They look like overalls!   I don’t think the police look smart anymore.  There is something to be said for a nicely ironed, crisp looking, shirt and trousers and shiny shoes. 

The yank coppers still have theirs, even with a bullet proof vest, the uniforms look much better than our guys and gals with their baggy pants and loose fitting shirts; and the collars are not ironed flat. 

I think I had better put an akubra up on the rear parcel shelf just to warn everyone of my approaching old fart status, or maybe I have arrived there already. 

There was a debate about family members of veterans marching on Anzac Day. 

Some say that this is a good thing, that relatives should be able to march for their loved ones.  After all, WWII veterans are in their 80s, and the youngest Vietnam veterans are now approaching 60. 

If family members don’t start marching then who will march in the future? 

Or should the Anzac Day march be limited to those who have served their country in times of war and conflict, including peace keeping?  Those who were prepared to lay down their lives for their country.   

We veterans march on Anzac Day to remember one thing – to remember fellow brothers in arms that cannot march – whether they died in battle, or died from old age. 

We march for them. 

It is an exclusive club.   

It’s about honouring the fallen. 

Now you may say that a family member, in marching on Anzac Day, is doing the same thing – honouring their fallen grandfather, father or brother for example.  Well that may be so, but should they march beside the veterans?   If so, is it open slather?   

Can anyone now march with the veterans on Anzac Day? 

This has to be a joke, right?

Diggers have been warned that if they are travelling to Anzac Day activities, they cannot wear their medals, or have them in their carry-on luggage, because they are regarded as a weapon.  It is the pin at the back that allows the medals to be pinned to the jacket that renders them a dangerous item.

For the first time in my life I am speechless!!!!

Are the Kovkos happy now? 

Jake shot himself. 

Not only did it confirm the Army finding that Jake was skylarking with his weapon, we also found out some new stuff - like Jake was sexually abused as a youngster, that he contemplated suicide, and that he had an affair prior to deployment to Iraq. 

Is this what his children will have to carry with them all their lives? 

I cannot understand what these women wanted, that someone murdered Jake perhaps?   

Don’t they understand that soldiers are prepared to lay down their own lives for their mates? 

In all wars there have been deaths from someone’s own hand, deliberate or by accident.  The Army tries to protect the family by announcing that the soldier was fatally wounded when a weapon he was cleaning accidentally discharged. 

But somehow this wasn’t enough for the Kovkos; they wanted the truth.   

Well now they have it.   

I hope they are satisfied. 

Did they consider for a moment that they may be putting the kids’ compensation payment in jeopardy now that Jake died as a result of a willful act?  

Rest in Peace Jake Bruce Kovko, from a fellow brother-in-arms.

Glenn Milne of The Australian wrote this today….

POLITICAL spin by its nature borders on deception. Hands up those of you who thought that Kevin Rudd clinched the deal John Howard could never close on the $10 billion Murray-Darling Basin rescue plan by giving the hold-out state of Victoria an additional one thousand million dollars? It was that money that allowed Rudd to portray himself as the saviour of the nation's food bowl and in the process claim to have ushered in a new era of co-operative federalism.

Except that the "extra" $1 billion that locked in Victoria doesn't actually exist.

Read all about it here…

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23456621-7583,00.html

I dunno why I am starting to write about political stuff here – I think I must be a biased old fart.  I must have been the only person in Australian (except for Jeanette) who regarded Howard as fair dinkum. 

Everyone else called him a lying rodent. 

I believe that Howard did what he felt was right.  And he stuck to his guns.  He is even ridiculed for this because he lost his seat as well as the government.

I guess that’s why we have politicians now who will not tell us what they think until they have checked the polls.

I look at what Rudd says - nothing except the same mantras over and over. 

No substance.

But again, it seems I am the odd one out.

So it must be me.

This old biased conservative fart is going to have a cuppa and a lie down

.

It’s all Howard’s Fault

Well I’m getting a little sick of hearing this everytime the new government looks at a problem.

Look at the economy – Howard’s fault – he did nothing about blah, blah, blah…

Do your eyes glaze over as mine do?

When will the new government actually do something constructive about the economy in stead of scaring the shit out of us about how bad things are and that it’s John’s fault.

So what is happening on THEIR watch?

Swan says that banks are running a business and they have every right to raise interest rates.

Costello would NEVER have said such a thing – or even more importantly, allowed it to happen!.

Swan lamented, “The inflation genie is out of the bottle!”  What inflation?  4%?  Gee if only the new government could keep it at that level – we’ll wait and see.

And now the Reserve Bank has said that the banks can raise their rates over the official rates.  Really?  Could you imagine Costello accepting such a situation?

WE have to feel sorry for the banks though.  Their job is to make THEIR profits with OUR money.  They invest in America and its housing market and when it goes belly up, they put interest rates up for Australians to pay more, and now with the blessing of the Reserve Bank as well as the Treasurer.

But wait a minute. 

Isn’t this loss a result of a BAD banking business decision?  Shouldn’t the banks carry the can for THEIR loss with OUR money?  I betcha they will still attain record profits this year even though they lost millions – but it is OK, the Treasurer and the Reserve Bank says it’s OK to get the money from home owners – we don’t want to put those records profits, and the CEO’s bonus, in jeopardy now do we?

So we now have higher interest rates and higher inflation.  Just wait for the union demands and when it all goes belly up we’ll still blame Howard, because when he was in government for 12 years he did nothing, blah, blah, blah.

Work experience for the Defence Force?

They’re kidding, right?

If you people knew what it was like at BASIC TRAINING in the Defence Forces – you wouldn’t sign up.  After all, not everyone is as mad as me and some my mates.

So how did it get to this? 

Easy.  Look at the publicity the forces have received since the year dot – Incompetent equipment purchases, the submarine fiasco, defence leaders are incompetent, soldiers are so poorly trained they discharge their weapons by accident or shoot themselves, and get this - they kill innocent women and children.

We only have ourselves to blame because we don’t have the numbers in the defence forces. 

Anyone who joined would be a fool. 

Defend one’s country?  – what a mug!

Poor press is the reason – there are NO STORIES on the good stuff the our forces do – I blame the Labor Government who came out with such garbage as – support the troops, not the war – then rubbished everything they did!

Now they are in government they have to fix a crises that they had a hand in creating.

Well I've been on this planet for nearly 60 years and I have suffered terribly.  It was all about what was about to happen to the planet and everytime they raised a new topic that was going to destroy the world as we know it I was scared shitless.

I speak of course about the following.....

The ice age.

Overpopulation of the planet - there will be standing room only.

Australia will become a desert

The Y2K Bug

Man Made Global Warming.

And now...... TA DA...Ocean Acidification!

Who can I sue?

ELCBs?
Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers


The power tripped when I sliced through the power cord with our new electric power hedge trimmer!
I'm a dickhead alright!
I'm lucky to be alive.

You get up and start gorging on Easter eggs.

You do this until lunchtime where you have a nice roast meal with some, ah, sparkling wine - hey it's tradition, remember?

A second helping of sweets and you stagger off to the loungeroom in a drunken stuper and collapse in a heap on the lounge.

Your eyelids are getting heavy, v-e-r-y heavy.  You are about to doze off to fairy land when you notice it.  You sit bolt upright on the lounge.  You can't believe your eyes. 

"Where are the Easter movies?", you proclaim in a slurred outburst. 

"You know.... 'The Robe', 'King of Kings', 'Ben Hur', 'El Cid', 'The Ten Commandments'..." your voice trails off as the alcohol and a second helping of trifle start to work their magic.

Banning these iconic movies, what were these network executives thinking? 

I really miss Charlton Heston with his fake beard and fake hair; and dozing off to his commanding voice as he pontificates to the masses who look more like Europeans than Arabs.

Damn, another tradition lost.

On second thought, it's probably a good thing. 

I have owned three Fairlanes.

Why Fairlanes?  Well I’m a big bloke and I like plenty of room.  I’m a Ford kinda guy and I believe that owning a Fairlane is a smart move. 

Fairlanes never get pinched.  They are cheap to insure.  They depreciate quickly, so buying a good second hand one can be a sound economic decision.  Petrol costs?  Wash your mouth out. 

For the size, interior space, comfort, refinement, creature comforts, reliability and just pure cruiserbility; you can’t go past a Fairlane.  If you still worry about petrol costs then read on……. and prepared to be educated. 

My first Fairlane was a 1978 ZH model.  It was a ‘500’, there was an even more luxurious model called the Marquis.  My car looked like this. 

Nice eh?  I paid $2,500 for it. 

I added the wheels you see in the picture.  They were Fairmont snowflakes.  My mechanic gave them to me for free.  I then got them polished (well cut really) by an engineering firm who also perfected any imperfections, so to speak.  They were originally the dull grey looking wheels.  I still have these wheels out the back somewhere. 

The ‘engineering’ cost me $60 a wheel. The ZH had the Sportsman pack.  This was a cosmetic job that included Volante wheels, pinstriping, chrome mirrors and colour coded vinyl roof.  The engine was a 302ci with a Ford thermo quad carby (it had massive secondaries) and was about par on fuel economy for V8 engines at the time.  It had a BW 3 speed auto with floor shift. Inside was similar to the XC Fairmont except that the speedo was a ‘strip’ type – apparently the yanks love these.  I had intended to fit an XC GS dash, but I never got around to it. 

I really loved this car. 

It was fitted with dual exhausts, not loud mind you, but just enough to give it that great V8 burble.  On the open road it was magic.  It handled quite well and a slight prod on the accelerator pedal gave it a nice surge along with a slight rise in the V8 ‘note’.  It was a little noisy – mostly from the wind as the door seals were a little on the thin side. 

The car had a great paint job, however the rust was not treated properly and began to manifest itself (I live on the coast).  I got a quote of about $2500-3000 to fix the rust, this included removing the vinyl roof. 

This is where I made a rash decision.  I decided that the car was not worth spending that amount of money on.  With just one month’s rego left, I sold it to a guy from Tasmania for $1200. 

I met him at Sydney airport and he and his mate drove it to Rockhampton over the next two days.  He was aware of the rust and he intended to do it up.  The only problem he had on the trip was that the lights went out at one stage. 

I should have warned him of this.  The ZH has four headlights – two low beam and two separate high beam lights – all sealed beams – read pathetic!  I changed the lights and got them rewired so that low beam was now a high/low beam.  The result was four headlights on high beam – just an acceptable amount of light.  It developed a problem though.  I think it was heat related.  Sometimes on high beam for an extended period of time, the lights would go out.  Flicking them back to low beam would light the road up again.  I think it may have been a relay problem.  As I never did drive it much at night I had forgotten all about it.  There was never any problem operating on low beam only. 

Depreciation over four years was $1300, or $325 per year.  Fuel costs – about 20mpg on a good day! My next Fairlane was a ZL – 1985 model with the fuel injected 6 cylinder motor.  I bought it off my mechanic for $3,000.  The motor had been rebuilt to run on unleaded petrol.  It looked really great, especially with those non standard wheels.

The car was lowered and had spacers to fit the AU offset rims.  I had been told that this was illegal, but at RBT stops I never had any problems with the Police. 

This car had the electronic dash as well as the trip computer, cruise control and a CD player with four speakers.  It was not a patch on the ZH. 

Why did I sell the bloody ZH? 

I think the fact that the ZL was only a 6 meant that it didn’t have the V8 cruiser sound.  Still it looked good and I looked good driving it.  Many people commented on how good it looked.  I did the interior up with second hand parts. 

I was able to track down a mint ZL that