| 1 MAY 2011 Another long weekend ... Labour Day holiday tomorrow here in Queensland. So in 14 days we've had 8 public holidays... if you include the Saturdays and Sundays!! We have one more public holiday in June for the Queen's birthday, then nothing until Christmas. The weather is getting cooler thankfully, haven't had my air-conditioner on for a few weeks. Get to open windows now and since we don't life in the 'big city' I can enjoy reasonably fresh air. Doesn't take much to make me happy... |
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5 MAY 2011 |
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8 MAY 2011
Mother's Day... Jason made breakfast for me ... first time I've had a cooked breakfast in years. Tasted better since I didn't have to make it *S* Had a nice day and had Chinese for dinner. I shouldn't read the Sunday paper... it always gets my blood boiling!! The headline on the front page.... SCHOOL DRUG BUST SURGE. "The State Government has declared war on drugs in schools after a large spike in the number of students being busted with illegal substances" (We have 1300 State schools, drugs were found at 165 last year, up by 35 on the year prior) How is the State Government going to do this????? "The increase came as Education Queensland took a tougher stance on the scourge, dishing out longer suspensions and expelling twice as many students." "Tougher stance"???? Bull$#!t !!!! They're taking the easy way out for themselves and the schools! A total of 144 students were expelled last year. What's going to happen to those 144 students???? Are they going to be denied an education and become a burden on taxpayers? The won't be able to get work without an education therefore they'll be relying on government handouts to survive. I'm totally against illegal drug use, I don't even like taking prescription drugs! The Arthritis drugs I've been given in the past 10 years have totally screwed up my body... I have no immune system left. All I have to look forward to for what is left of my life is chronic pain. BUT I can't see how suspending and expelling students for illegal drug use will help them or society. They need help! Instead of expelling or suspending them EDUCATE them... scare the hell out if them, show them what drug use can do to them! Our Education Minister, Cameron Dick said: "We are taking a very hard approach on this and principals and teachers are saying there is zero tolerance. We will continue to suspend and expel students. There is no place for illegal drugs in our schools." Good for you Mr. Dick!!!! This will really solve the probem... NOT! Pull your head out of the sand and get real. !! I don't remember any drug problems here until the American military came here on R & R in the 60's. They brought the drugs with them from Vietnam. Don't get me wrong... not all the Americans were into drugs, and I can only guess we had drugs here already but not in the quantity and use we have today. Everything went downhill from the late 60's. Paradise was changing... for the worse. I escaped any involvement with anyone who had anything to do with drugs until my last job, an advertising agency. I might add... that if my boss smelled drugs being used anywhere in the agency the perpetrators were fired! BUT unlike our expelled students they had the opportunity to find new employment. |
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| 9 MAY 2011 |
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10 MAY 2011 I listen to talk-back radio while I work on my computer each day. It's an education and a way to keep up with the political farce in this country. The latest is our illustrious federal leader's (Julia Gillard) answer to the illegal immigrants . She is unbelievable!!!!  We're going to do a trade with Malaysia... we'll send them 800 unwanted illegal immigrants and in exchange they'll send us 4000! This lady (?) has a screw loose! I'm wondering what the entire membership of our current federal government is on if they agree to this solution. It won't work... I was an immigrant to this country back in 1956. I came here from Scotland, with my parents, who filled out all the necessary applications before being accepted. My father had to have a job waiting for him before he came. He did... he worked for the Sydney Morning Herald from 1956 until he retired. This country was good to us. It was good to me up to a point. (That's another story... HERE) I had a good education (state) and even though I didn't go on to university I had great jobs and only moved from one to the next for more money. These "asylum seekers" come here on old boats, ditch their 'papers' and knowing full well that our government is soft and they will have a roof over their heads, get Centrelink payments each fortnight, have access to our medical benefits. If our government doesn't process them fast enough then they protest and set fire to buildings!! Do we want this kind of person in this country???? I think not! Years ago when the Greeks, Italians,Germans, Chinese, British etc emigrated to Australia they made the effort to assimilate. They started up their own businesses.... vineyards, greengrocers, restaurants, delis and so on. Many worked on the Snowy River Hydro scheme and were employed for years building the dam. They put roots down for the benefit of this country. These asylum seekers expect everything to be laid on for them. Some may be genuine but they need to go through legal channels to prove they are genuine. |
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11 MAY 2011 |
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| 13 MAY 2011.... BLACK FRIDAY Got my second Acterma infusion today at noon. Seemed to go well until I got home. My inner left knee gave me hell, hurt to walk and if I sat down I couldn't get up. Then my right ankle a foot started... the pain was excruciating. I decided to take a Celebrex tonight and a dreaded Prednisone so I can get through the day tomorrow ... grocery shopping...UGH!!!! I managed to make dinner but the longer I stood the worse I felt. |
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14 MAY 2011 Started the shopping early hoping to have it over and done early. By the time I got to Woolies I was glad to see someone had left their empty trolley so I could grab it and use it as a 'walker'. My feet were killing me. Jason took the first load of shopping home and came to collect me. I got home just before midday and it took until 3:30pm to get it all scanned and put away. I wasn't able to make dinner... too much pain. Got Jason to do it... chicken was cold :-( Jason had caught a couple of fish so he filleted them and I had to wash and pack the fillets for the freezer. No-one in this house ever asks if I need help! I was in a lousy mood all night because of the lack of interest. I can't get a conversation out of anyone. Jared spends all his time in his room playing on his computer and only surfaces for food. Jason spends his time playing with his phone or sleeping. I talk to him and don't get a response. OK... he drives me to the GP, hospital if needed, all the medical stuff BUT he gets paid for it! It would be more to the point if he picked up his stuff around the house. The whole place that took me months to renovate looks like a storage shed and I'm sick of it. Took some panadol and told Jason if I didn't feel better in the morning I wanted to go to the hospital . |
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| 14 MAY 2011 Took a Celebrex last night before going to bed.... if I had needed to go to the hospital today I would have had buckleys! Jason was nowhere to be seen until the afternoon! Another shitty day!!! |
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| 16 MAY 2011 HeraldSun, Monday, 16 May 2011 Mr Abbott said people are getting "very, very critical'' of the Gillard Government. (You've got that right Tony!!) "It's high time that the Prime Minister started listening,'' he told ABC Radio ahead of a week-long tour around the country. Mr Abbott said last week's Budget was tough on families but not on waste. "That's the problem," he said. "This is a government which never seems to learn.'' "He offers no vision for the country, he can't stand on his record,'' Senator Wong told ABC Radio, citing the Opposition Leader's support for Work Choices and his record as health minister in the Howard government. Mr Abbott was a man who liked a fight and was pretty good at fighting, she said. "But that doesn't make him good at leading,'' Senator Wong added. (Look in your own back yard Senator WRONG!!! What kind of a job did you do when you were Climate Change Minister????? You offered no vision for this country... except for increased cost of living for essentials! We expect more of the same in your Finance portfolio) "So he has to stand on his ability to have a political fight, I think Australians deserve more than that.'' (Australians deserve more than your party's continual utter waste Penny!!!) Speaking to the ABC, Ms Gillard said she did not concern herself with "day-to-day political plays". "I'm there, out delivering the policies this nation needs ... if you like, I'm there as the architect as we're building the nation," she said. (Fortunately... Julia, architects are held accountable if their plans contain flaws. I doubt you would last in the profession given how many of your plans have fallen in a heap!) |
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| 20 MAY 2011 - FRIDAY Got to my GP at 8:30am for a 9:15am appointment. She spotted me within 5 minutes of my arriving and took me right away!! Saved me a 45 minute wait... bless her!! I got a shock with my blood test results.... only one reading was in the red... cholesterol.... probably from the comfort food... chocolate and ice cream BUT if the Acterma is working like it says on paper I won't need the comfort food. The only problem is my feet... SPURS... not a lot I can do about them... don't want cortisone.... don't want an operation either. |
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| 21 MAY 2011 -SATURDAY Kept waiting to be wafted off up into the clouds.... was supposed to happen at 6pm today. Guess I missed out on the Rapture ... ROFL!!! However I have 5 months to repent and be saved before the world ends on 31 October 2011. It would seem some people are so keen to see Christ's second coming they would put their faith in a seemingly ordinary Australian man (Alan John Miller) who claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated. http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8249816#comments He lives in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia and miraculously he's found Mary Magdaline (Mary Luck) who "luckily" was also reincarnated at the same time as him and in the same place.... funny that !!  .  The world is full of whackos!!!! At least this and the supposed Rapture took our news media away from the world natural and man made sisasters for a short time. Good for a laugh for a change. *S* |
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| 22 MAY 2011 -SUNDAY A busy day for me updating so much stuff in my group... much needed. I overheard Jared making excuses to Jason to try to get out of doing the IT course in July. I'm beginning to think we have a dole bludger on our hands. I'm sick of it. I told Jason to inform Jared that if he doesn't go to TAFE in July and finish the course I'll be taking board and lodgiings from him. He contributes nothing... he does the dinner dishes every second night and occasionally vacuums for me... big bloody deal !! I'm on a pension and if it were not for me he wouldn't be eating, wouldn't have clean clothes or a roof over his head. It's about time Jason stopped being so soft and put his foot down or he'll be so very sorry. I can see him being one of the 'great never employed' at 40! |
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| 23 MAY 2011 -MONDAY Herald-Sun 23 May 2011 PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says Australia can't afford to accept false claims about man-made climate change. You've got that right Julia... so stop making false claims!! The independent Climate Commission today released its first report, The Critical Decade, which says global warming could cause the global sea level to rise up to 1m by the end of the century - higher than previously thought. Liberal MP Dennis Jensen, a climate change sceptic who has organised meetings to promote his point of view, told reporters in Canberra all the evidence pointed to global temperatures stabilising and a carbon tax would not achieve anything. Ms Gillard told reporters she and the government accepted the commission's peer-reviewed report. RUBBISH!! "We don't have time ... for false claims in this debate," she said. Like I said... stop making them! "The science is in, climate change is real. The science is clear - man-made carbon pollution is making a difference to our planet and our climate. You need to get the coffers back in the black after years of mindless spending by your party, that's the only reason you promote a carbon pollution tax. Carbon Dioxide is the life blood of this planet, without it we would not exist!!!! "We've got to get on with the job of cutting carbon pollution and having a rational debate about it." You only debate with people who agree with you. Ms Gillard said Opposition Tony Abbott and coalition MPs needed to acknowledge the facts. Take some of your own advice Julia!! "I know for example Dennis Jensen ... is out today with his climate change denial - that might be something that Tony Abbott agrees with, but this is credentialed scientific work now," she said. 'Credentialed' ..... that's a joke! They have their own agenda .,.. to agree with you..... "When I first met (Professor) Ian Frazer and he told me he had a cervical cancer vaccine that could cut the rates of cervical cancer for women and girls I didn't pretend to myself I knew enough about cancer to second-guess what he was telling me was right. A poor comparison Julia!! "He was right. He's a scientist. We've got climate scientists here who are telling us exactly the same about the nature of global warming and the climate of our planet." These scientists are in your pocket Julia... they'd tell you anything to keep getting paid by taxpayers funds. |
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| The Australian - May 23, 2011 THE Queensland floods were probably not the result of climate change but a natural part of climate variability, the Climate Commission has concluded. Is common sense finally prevailing??????? A report to be released today by the body set up by Julia Gillard to push the case for action to stop global warming says, however, the 2009 Victorian bushfires could have been the result of climate change. Knew it was too good to be true... "could have" being the pertinent words.... The report, by Climate Commissioner Will Steffen, says "the floods across eastern Australia in 2010 and early 2011 were the consequence of a very strong La Nina event and not the result of climate change". Good for you Will Steffen... finally someone with common sense. The underlying cause was climate variability and there was no evidence that La Nina events were increasing due to climate change. While there was no conclusive link with climate change, such a link was plausible and it would be prudent for planning authorities to factor in an increase in intense rainfall events in urban and regional design, it says. The report says the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires and the 2003 Canberra fires could possibly be linked to climate change and it suggests climate change could be linked with lower rainfall, higher temperatures and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide affecting the composition of vegetation and the fuel load for fires. The climate is changing all the time, in cycles... of course if we have an exceptionally dry season the vegetation is going to be tinder dry. Have you people forgotten that some of the Victorian Bushfires were started by ARSONISTS!!! Not Mother Nature! Drier conditions tended to make the fuel load more susceptible to burning and climate change increased the probability of extreme weather days, with extreme temperature, low humidity and high winds. HELLO.... do you need to be a scientist to realise this????? The report says the severity of bushfires in southeast Australia is strongly linked with low rainfall and high temperatures. |
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| The Australian - May 23, 2011 Climate report reveals Coalition divisions, as Lib sceptic calls it 'offensive'  Julia Gillard receives The Critical Decade report from Tim Flannery (left) and Will Steffen in Canberra. Picture: Ray Strange Source: The Australian ------------------------------------------------------------ A NEW report declaring mainstream climate science as settled has exposed deep divisions in Coalition ranks, with Liberal powerbroker Nick Minchin branding the study "offensive". Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt also backed the report, by climate commissioner Will Steffen, saying there was bipartisan support on the science. “The Coalition recognises that the world is warming, and that humans are having an impact on that warming,” Mr Hunt said. But Senator Minchin, who played a key role in terminating Malcolm Turnbull's leadership over his support for emissions trading, told The Australian Online there was still a legitimate debate over humans' contribution to climate change. “The so-called Climate Commission is a Labor government-appointed committee of known climate alarmists, selectively appointed ... to further the cause of global warming alarmism. “I think everybody should take anything they say with a grain of salt. “What's most offensive is (climate commissioner) Will Steffen suggesting the scientific debate is over. That's nonsense because there is a very lively scientific debate about the role of human induced Co2 emissions in climate change.” Senator Minchin is retiring in July but he remains a close confidant of Tony Abbott and his views as a party elder are widely sought. He is on the record as being sceptical of mainstream climate science, saying earlier this year he believed the world was more likely to be cooling than getting hotter. Welcoming the report today, the Prime Minister said the time had come for sceptics to stop second-guessing scientists. “We don't have time for false claims in this debate,” Ms Gillard said. “The science is in - climate change is real.” She challenged sceptics to submit their claims to the scientific peer-review process. “To anybody who says they have a better view of the science than the scientists who wrote this report then I trust they submit any claim they are making to the same kind of rigour,” she said. The Opposition Leader said the report backed the Coalition's direct action policy, involving planning trees and sequestering carbon in soil, as “more than enough” to reduce Australia's carbon emissions by five per cent by 2020. “Far from being unhappy, I'm actually very pleased to see the Climate Commission report,” he said. But Mr Abbott attacked Labor's carbon tax, saying there was no evidence it would reduce emissions. “But there is abundant evidence that it will hit people's jobs and hit people's cost of living,” he said. “This is a toxic tax.” Senator Minchin also argued the report provided no basis for the introduction of a carbon tax. “Given we are responsible for about one per cent of the world's emissions of Co2 and when it's clear that China's additional emissions over the next few decades will completely swamp any reductions in our emissions, anything Australia does will be utterly pointless and have no impact whatsoever on the global climate.” |
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| 27 MAY 2011 - FRIDAY What a week.... so many tornados hitting Missouri and Oklahoma.. the aftermath looks like a scene from "2012" the movie. In fact so many places around the world look like a scene from "2012" this year and it's not even half over. I can't imagine what it would be like to have everything I have in this world ripped from me. I don't know how these victims have the strength to go on.... I don't think I could. They all have my prayers each night. Went out for lunch this week to my favourite restaurant "The Black Dog". The food is exceptional, elegantly served and not that expensive. Honestly, I feel guilty enjoying myself while so much of the world is devastated. :-( Went to the bank yesterday to get forms filled in to allow Jason to do banking for me. There were 6 people ahead of me, with 3 information desks (assistants) working. We were all lined up waiting behind the middle desk and as each person finished the next person moved to the vacant desk... as one would.... Then.... a couple came in, ignored the line of people and waited for the first desk to be vacated...... I was thinking that they better NOT push in in front of me or they'll hear about it!! I'd been waiting for ages. Lucky for them the assistant in the middle became available first... right in front of me so I didn't have a fight on my hands BUT they pushed in and were seen to ahead of those behind me. No-one said anything... their problem!! The main reason for my getting Jason to do my banking was... I had a money order, made out to me, signed on the back by me and I had wanted him to bank it for me into MY account. He couldn't do it... can you believe it! Not that he didn't want to... the bank wouldn't allow him! Even though he had my keycard and it was to be deposited into MY account. I could understand if he was trying to deposit it into his account, but this was ridiculous! Anyway after 45 minutes everything was sorted including me organising a Debit card that I can use on the internet. Our demented government is carrying Big Brother to extremes. Now they are talking about smokers (of cigarettes) getting a licence to smoke! Depending on how many cigarettes they opt to agree to smoke each day the cost of the licence will vary. Have these people completely lost the plot??????? I thought the were in government to make decisions on the economy, health, education, infrastructure, immigration etc.... not to move into our homes and tell us what we can and can't do. They're already threatening to pass legislation to make all cigarette packets an ugly, putrid green colour with images that are supposed to be the results of smoking but are really photos of results of diabetes, parts of dead bodies and other diseases totally unrelated to smoking.. I'm a smoker desperately trying to quit. The patches aren't working..... and with so much government advertising on TV about the consequences of smoking I'm finding it hard. The volume of advertising in every other ad break only makes it worse for me. I immediately want to light up... and I do. If there were no 'stop smoking' ads I wouldn't even think about lighting up! So they're hindering my progress... IDIOTS!!!!! Then there's their ads about breast cancer, prostrate cancer, bowel cancer, diabetes etc., etc., etc. If you don't have any of these diseases yet, you will have by the time they're finished. I'm so sick of seeing a multitude of ads about sickness. I turn the sound off during the ads so I don't have to listen. How much are these ads costing the taxpayer????????? Are they making a difference????? Jason disappeared on me yesterday.... couldn't see him anywhere... then I realised the racket I could hear wasn't coming from our neighbour... it was coming from our roof.... he was up there with the pressure (water) cleaner cleaning the tiles! Lord... what a difference!!! They've got the green tinge again instead of looking brown from 27 years of dirt and pollution, they look fantastic! I wish he'd get the urge to pick up his stuff INSIDE the house and tidy up his bedroom that I cleaned out weeks ago!!! *S* I think he'd rather do anything than housework!!! |
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| 28 MAY 2011 -SATURDAY I rang my bank to find out why my balance hadn't increased since my pension was due today. After 10 minutes of listening to recorded instructions and pushing buttons on my phone I finally got hold of a human! No pension!!!! Centrelink screwed up... The pension came through about 3pm. I sent an email to Centrelink *S* |
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| 29 MAY 2011 -SUNDAY Shopping ... UGH!!! A day late because of the pension mix up. I hate grocery shopping at any time but now my Sunday was messed up. |
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| 31 MAY 2011 -TUESDAY I got Jason out of bed around 2am because I heard water running. I thought somene was having a shower at this ungodly hour so I checked... nope everyone was asleep. I went out to check our solar hot water tamk... nothing. Jason heard it too but was too dopey to do anything about it. |
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| WEDNESDAY - 1JUNE 2011 Jason went out the front this morning.... water was gushing into the gutter... he called the water company. They arrived within 15 minutes. It was their problem... too much pressure had burst the pipe next to the meter. They fixed it quickly but we kept note of the date just incase we get charged for excess water usage.... which we're not going to pay. |
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| THURSDAY - 2JUNE 2011 Got a call from GP's office today... said she wanted to see me about a problem with my toe.... I laughed and told them not to worry, my podiatrist was being overly careful. My toe is fine *S* |
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| SATURDAY - 25JUNE 2011 Haven't had time to fill in journal much these past couple of weeks. Grocery shopping today.... need I say more... exhausted by the time I got it home, scanned it for Nielsen Research and put away. We've had flights cancelled all over the country because of an ash cloud from a volcano in Chile. Some of the passengers were whining about the inconvenience.... would they rather the airlines took chances... and end up being dead???? That would stop their whining permanently!! Jared asked his Dad for a loan of $10 for his brother so his brother could buy a pregnancy test for his girlfriend! I couldn't believe my ears! I said nothing.... I waited to hear what Jason was going to do.... He refused, much to my relief! He lives with his mother and her partner and Jason said it was their responsibility not his! He didn't want to be involved. I can't believe that he could be so damned stupid! I'm sure he's only 16 and the girlfriend is under age!!! He's got more problems than he realises if she is pregnant!! Haven't these kids heard of THE PILL and CONDOMS????? Don't the kids today have ANY common sense????? Don't the consider consequences if somthing mght go wrong??? I'm no martyr BUT I always considered the consequences when temptation was put in my way. How times have changed!! She'll get a nice present from the government if she does have a baby.... $5000!!!! |
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| SUNDAY - 26JUNE 2011 Been sick with a raging cold and as a result never got my Acterma infusion this month |
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| MONDAY - 27JUNE 2011 Another month almost over and half the year gone already!!! Jason got boards to make shelves in the garage/storage shed and got them installed. Maybe.... finally we'll get rid of his junk lying around the house. No matter where you look here it looks like a storage shed inside the house. I wish I were physically fit enough to do something about it myself. We should be on the TV show "Hoarders" !!!! I've never lived like this and I hate it. We just had the first anniversary of Julia Gillard's assasination of Kevin Rudd... the Prime Minister we voted into office. The government here is still prattling on about the catastrophic consequences of climate change and God help anyone who disagrees with them! Of course the climate is changing BUT there's nothing a toxic tax can do to change Mother Nature! They have employed an ECONOMIST, Prof. Garneau to sell us on climate change. Seems to me they want the tax so they can recover the huge amounts of funds they wasted on solar panels, insulation bats, school buildings etc. CARBON: The chemical element of atomic number 6, a nonmetal that has two main forms (diamond and graphite) and that also occurs in impure form in charcoal, soot, and coal. CARBON DIOXIDE: Carbon dioxide (chemical formula CO2) is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state. CO2 is a trace gas being only 0.038% of the atmosphere. They're also hell bent on changing the packaging on cigarettes and tobacco to a dirty plain green colour for all brands. Like that's going to make any difference to smokers !! I hope the manufacturers sue them! Phillip Morris are threatening to take them to court..... if they succeed, that'll cost us taxpayers a small fortune!! They, in their eternal stupidity, have given us CFL light bulbs which are toxic if broken, and 3 times more expensive than the old light bulbs. It would be more to the point if this government concentrated on infrastructure, roads, hospitals, education, mandatory minimum sentences for crimes etc instead of turning this country into a Nanny State telling us how we should live our lives.... isn't that Communism???????? |
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