Easter salutations

It is with some trepidation that I wish you all a Happy Easter.

The last time I politely wished a lovely old lady Happy Easter, she snappishly returned:

“Don’t say that to me! Don’t you know what happened on Good Friday? There’s nothing happy in that!”

I was too taken aback to say another word and today - two years later - think twice before wishing anyone happy Easter before Sunday.

Well, except for people I know… like you… :)

I hope you have a great weekend whatever you get up to. It’s a great chance to catch up with family and friends and relax.

Barack Obama v Matt Santos

If you’re looking for something to pod over the weekend and you’re a West Wing fan - Gerry Ryan has done an interview with someone who wrote for the series on the similarities between Matt Santos and Barack Obama.

Eliattie is A Writer And Producer Of West Wing - He Discusses The Final Seasons Of The West Wing.

A genuine question to Christians

This video is the second most watched comedy clip from Rowan Atkinson on Youtube.

And I’m wondering - if you’re Christian - is it offensive?

My opinion - and I wouldn’t call myself religious - that it isn’t. But then again, would I say the same about a similar sketch based on the Koran? I’m not sure.

Please let me know what you think in comments.

The demise of the real Christmas Tree

I’ve been running this little poll on the left hand side there about the type of Christmas Tree we choose for our homes and I’m surprised by the early results.

So far everyone has said they have a fake tree that looks real and I confess so do we.

I never used to. I always insisted on a live tree in a pot which I kept outside all year and brought in. The last one of these we used was an Albany Woolly Bush which have lovely soft leaves.

We also used a conifer in years past, now retired to the front garden.

In Broome, I had a ficus.

When I grew up I can remember we either had the carefully tended potted tree or one of those YMCA cut trees which slowly died and dropped it’s needles but smelled fantastic.

About four years ago, Groover went out and bought an enormous “real looking” fake Christmas tree and we’ve been using that ever since. It’s about 8 feet tall and lives most of the year in a large box in the back room.

It looks fantastic, creates much less mess, and I suppose is “green” in that I’m not killing a tree. However, a small part of me laments the lack of a real tree.

What do you do?

No home is complete without festive Christmas decorations and holiday gifts under the tree! Whether your Christmas tree is real or fake, you can find fun Christmas crafts online and create your own ornaments. Of course, you should listen to Christmas music while you’re making your crafts!

Trick or treating - do you let your kids beg for lollies

We don’t normally do the Halloween thing apart from making sure there are some lollies in the house just in case kids come a knocking.

Our kids don’t really do it mainly because of the apathy of their parents who frankly could care less…

The only ‘encounter’ we’ve really had is when Groover hit the security panic button (which called the cops) when he saw some teenage youths lurking around his car out the front.

Turned out they were trick and treaters throwing eggs at each other.

He was impressed with the quick attention of the police officers though rather embarrassed when they arrived. Teehee.

This year Junior Poshi is very keen to dress up and pester the neighbour for sweets. Her friend’s mum has offered to take her with them and well… okay then. Not that we need the hyper-results of all that sugar not to mention the dental bills (bah humbug!).

And this year our street has become organised… this arrived yesterday for our consideration:

Dear Neighbour,

As I’m sure you are aware Halloween is upon us once again much to the lolly-makers delight…

In order to bring some semblance of order to the ritual begging that takes place on this most auspicious of occasions, we thought it might be an idea to give everyone an option ot opt-in or opt-out of being disturbed on All Hallows Eve…

So, if you are up for being hassled, doling out goodies and generally being visited by lots of children dressed to thrill then please put this ballon on your door or gate…

—if you’d prefer the quiet life, then just don’t put anything balloon shaped outside!!!

We’ll tell the kids to just hunt selectively… at balloon marked houses…

Thanks in advance, etc

How good is that?!

I think it might be the product of quite a young suburb - the average age is 39 where we live - quite a few families living in our street so lots of kids. And the parents, on the whole (apart from us) are pretty much over-protective… which is interesting because we’re the ones who don’t let our kids out.

What do you do on Halloween - is your street as organised?

Halloween is a holiday that isn’t celebrated everywhere, but since children love dressing up in superhero and Disney costumes (and of course love eating candy), Halloween is the ultimate kid-friendly holiday. You can find lots of Halloween costumes online if your local stores don’t carry them. Who wouldn’t love a fun Batman costume to wear for a day!

Well, me. But I’m more a spiderman fan.

Wimbledon

The only thing I’ll say about Wimbledon is that it makes me happy that they enforce the “tennis players should wear white” rule.

It just looks right.

The only other thing I’ll say about Wimbledon is that my favourite sporting moment occurred there. Pat Rafter’s losing speech. What an example he was.

And now I will get my pipe and slippers and go find a rocking chair. Maybe schedule that blue rinse for Wednesday.

A human rights bill for Western Australia

WA Attorney General Jim McGinty is expected to announce a plan to introduce a Bill of Rights in WA tomorrow. A panel led by well known human rights advocate and all round good guy Fred Chaney will tour the state in order to gather opinion. It’s an interesting idea.

Apparently we’re the only Western country in the world without one [1]Â or a national human rights act. In Australia, the ACT has had one in place for a few years and Victoria’s comes into effect in 2008.

So are our systems working as they are? Do we need a Commonwealth bill of rights? Plainly we don’t want one that gives us the right to bear arms - just look at how that’s worked or rather not worked in the US, but given we have a gap in longevity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous folk approaching 20 years, I think the answer could be yes.

But would a Bill of Rights lead to a reduction in that gap? And where does it leave our illegal immigrant policy? Does our anti-terrorism legislation need to be put through the filter of a human rights act? [2]Â Our record book has been blotted in recent years. [3]

A bill of rights is consistant with Labor Party Policy and is unlikely to get through the Australian senate as it stands today. However if every state - all controlled by Labor at the moment - passed a human rights bill - wouldn’t that be enough? Would we have to pay more than lip service to disadvantaged groups?

And is the Bill of Rights the way to go anyway? Professor James Allan from the University of Queensland has this to say:

I think the case against bills of rights is a moral case. You either prefer these decisions to be made by your fellow citizens, secretaries, plumbers, than you prefer them to be made by committees of ex-lawyers who used to be commercial lawyers or barristers. And no matter how you dress it up, I think it’s hard to justify handing these decisions over to lawyers. [4]

In my opinion - despite this - I lean toward putting in place a Bill of Rights. I believe having a legislative watchdog over what our parliamentarians will at the very least force them to put human rights on the table, and I’m not confident that it is there at the moment.

On the seventh day he was arrested

Trying to explain the story of Adam and Eve (no mean feat for us of scant religious knowledge) at dinner I say “The first book of the bible describes how God made the earth in six days and on the seventh day he rested.” Dippity, after a pregnant pause says “Why was God arrested?”

The other night we trotted across the road for drinks with the neighbours, far too much wine later we staggered back but before then Groover, yes I’m talking about my husband here, was chatting to one neighbour who told him he had the aura of a Nobel Prize winner. I’m not joking. I don’t know how many Nobel Prize winners she’s met, but I am looking at my man and waiting for a sign… Perhaps some test tubes in the kitchen, maybe he’ll start ingesting odd bacterias, or maybe I could be living with the solution to world peace.

What do you think? Add your thoughts through comments.

As he says, it could be worse… she could have said he had the aura of a porn star… hmmm thinking about that one…

Good pick up line but…

New Model

First the mundane. Groover went to Rotto for a boys day out on the water today. I stayed home and cleaned the house. Sigh. Also had massage… VERY NICE. And went to school meeting… as Hugamuga would say… interesting.

New model refers to the Archetrek work I’ve been doing. They have simplified their model and I went to a feedback session on Monday night to find out about it. I have to say I am still coming to terms with the changes and that involves some “letting go” but I think after that process the new model will be more flexible and more approachable for new people to get their heads around. We’ll see.