i am a rock

"I am an iiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiii-aaaaaa-land."

I'm sorry, I have to cave in, I cannot be a rock, or an island, while all this....stuff....is going on.

I've read more rubbish over the past few days than I ever thought I could stomach.

Mind you, once I'd started wading through this lot of comments, I wish I could have turned back time.

So, setting aside - conveniently - that the CPRS, as designed, is indeed a dog's breakfast, we have, variously:

"It's a big new TAX."

Well, no, actually it creates a market. In this case a tax would, in fact, probably be a preferable instrument at least in the short term. But market-based instruments is how we've been doing structural economic reform for some time now.

"It's a big new MARKET that doesn't need to exist."

Like I just said, this is the mechanism that governments of all stripes now prefer. Mind you, it will get rorted by the financial services industry sooner or later. That's why we have markets and a financial services industry.

"These millions of dollars will go to the UN."

Umm, well actually, no.

"It's a gigantic communist plot."

I think the only genuine Commos left are in Cuba, so probably not, actually.

"It'll force us to accept more government interference in our lives."

Well, no. Or alternatively, indirectly, yes because that's what structural reform does until the economy reaches a new equilibrium.

And as for something I read somewhere t'other day from a Liberal Party parliamentarian that a majority of Party the branches recently voted against the ETS so the Bill needs to be dropped...since when did Liberal Party branches vote in general elections?

Y'know...just askin'?

Too much fun.

gold

No, platinum.

I have raised over $1000 for Movember. I get a free pressie and a mention in dispatches (although re: the aforementioned issue of dispatches. the MoFolks do not reveal from whence to whom).

Anyway I am quite chuffed and I have learnt a valuable lesson, namely: when fundraising, if you wish to be successful, it helps to have mega chutzpah and no shame.

I will carry this lesson into real life.

Oh, I'm already there.

Well, can that idea then.

goodbye blackberry way

Well here are back from 'holidays.' Let me coin a new old truism: "When you have a BlackBerry (R)(tm)(etc), you're never alone."

Also, it's when you go away that everything happens.

By about day 8 I felt like I'd started to relax, but by then we were safely ensconced back at VVBSea.

Also, why you'd pay to go and overlook the sea when you do so for free at (well, except for rates) at home is probably a very, very good question. It was a darker, deeper sea with bigger waves so I suppose that's why.

Here at VVB, to the best of my recollection, we let the US election, including the whole Sarah Palin phenomenon, pass by without comment as any comment from here would have made superfluous look like a tautology.

Anyway I hadn't been for a look at The Economist website for a while, so off I went and, seeing a Palin article, I wondered what the comment threads at The Economic were like. A lot of it was very similar to what we read everywhere else except, in the main, better expressed.

Including this ripper:

That she makes helium look dense is largely irrelevant to modern American politics.

I'd also really, really like to say goodbye to the Blackberry (R)(tm)(etc). But that just isn't going to happen.

electric dreams

We're going on a short holiday, amongst the Mexicans.

Just me, Mrs VVB, the Blackberry and the laptop.

You may officially feel sorry for Mrs VVB.

Hooroo, or ta-ra, or something.

blue turns to grey

The blog?

The work.

The lack of interest in anything else but.

Except...

I'm growing a mo for Movember. I'd link to my mo page but bang goes the semi-anonymity if I do.

While I was working out west last weekend, I missed our 40 year high school reunion, but the news travelled back.

"The number of deaths, suicides in particular, since the last reunion left me quite affected. It’s a sad reflection that a strapping younger teenager can end up like that… You can only wonder what had gone so wrong…"

Over the last couple of years, three former classmates - all blokes - have committed suicide.

Part of the fundraising for Movember goes to beyondblue. If you know someone who's growing a mo for Movember, donate to them.

Seems like us blokes need it.