The Down Under Lounge

[Botany Bay]

Game of the year at the MCG tonight with the Tiges beating the Swans by a point with a goal after the siren. Epic stuff. Well done both teams.

GWS Giants continue to win. A fairytale flag this year?

Maybe it's just me but I just saw a KFC ad that seriously turned my stomach. An attractive, slim 20 something girl (just the type you see lining up at KFC all the time) rips the rings off her fingers so she can race to KFC, devour a piece of chicken and suck the fat and oil off her fingers.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My cat is sick. I took him to the vet on Friday and have fast him over night and take him in again tomorrow morning, also have to get a urine sample from him which should be 'fun'.

 

[Botany Bay]

Hope he's okay.

In politics we're starting to see some polling in the western Sydney seats that Shorten must pick up to win. They show Labor close but not winning seats, and this is why the betting markets are showing the Coalition as warm favourites despite national polling having the 2PP at 50/50. There's a long, long way to go though. Still three weeks till the first pre-poll votes are cast.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My cat has diabetes. The vet bill was over $500 and now he is going to be on a special diet and have insulin injections twice a day.

I suspected diabetes as he had lost 1.5 kilos in weight and was always hungry and thirsty.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

How much are the insulin injections going to be?

 

[Miss Chicken]

It is a bit hard to say because we are starting him off on a very low dosage for safety reasons and this will be increased if monitoring shows in needs to be. However he is having human insulin so it isn't too expensive as cats need a small amount compared to humans.

My vet bill today was $543.50 but that included insulin, syringes and a packet of his diet food. I have to buy a glucometer from the chemist so I can monitor his blood sugar levels at home.

He has to go back to the vet next week so that will be about another $80 but once his diabetes is stabilised vet visits won't be all that often.

 

[Botany Bay]

Good to hear!

ALP factional heavyweight David Feeney (one of the senior architects of the disastrous plot to remove Rudd in 2010) is in a tight race with the Greens for the inner Melbourne seat of Batman. He may be under pressure after he "forgot" to declare a negatively geared property worth over $2 million on the parliamentary interests register.

The Greens are calling for his head, arguing that if NSW Premier O'Farrell had to resign because he forgot to declare a bottle of wine, Feeney should walk over something like this. They ought to be careful what they wish for, the ALP might find a decent candidate for the seat.

It's a strange one. I'm not sure what Feeney has to gain from trying to hide such a huge investment deliberately. On the other hand, it's not plausible to "forget" you own something so large that would have been earning rent each month and had a mortgage on it. As anyone paying off a house will tell you these aren't things you will easily forget!

 

[Marc]

It's a strange one. I'm not sure what Feeney has to gain from trying to hide such a huge investment deliberately. On the other hand, it's not plausible to "forget" you own something so large that would have been earning rent each month and had a mortgage on it. As anyone paying off a house will tell you these aren't things you will easily forget!

think it was joe hockey that forgot to declare a company ownership for 15 years so I guess it's easy to forget

Comment in another forum is the Libs will keep quiet on it - too much potential for it to backfire on them or as it was put "don't throw stones when you live in a negatively geared glass house).

 

[Miss Chicken]

I wish I had a house that I had 'forgotten' buying,

 

[Botany Bay]

I know, right?

Even if we're incredibly generous and say he was careless rather than deliberately attempting to mislead for whatever reason, championing first home buyers ("we support people looking for their first house, who bid against property investors looking to pick up their fifth") has been a winner for Labor, and as long as he's there it's going to be completely undermined. Feeney ought to do the decent thing and resign if his leader lacks the authority to remove him. His stupidity (or worse?) has probably gifted Batman to the Greens. Having this guy plastered all over the TV isn't a good look for Labor. Old school union backroom operators like him are better off hidden away in the Senate. Whoever allowed him to switch into the lower house mustn't be feeling too clever tonight.

Also, I'm not entirely sure how a trade union official amasses a $5 million property portfolio. I can only guess he's leveraged to the eyeballs.

Meanwhile, somewhere in New York, Kevin Rudd grins from ear to ear. Word is there's more to come on Mr. Feeney.

 

[Marc]

More embarrasment for david Feeney in that the tenents in his $2.3mil house are supporting the greens.

But from the picture in the ABC's report, it must be a case of location, location, location, cos that's not exactly and impressive looking house.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-...eney27s-home-backing-greens-candidate/7427452

 

[jaz'a]

Just found out a work colleague died overnight. In her sleep at 46. No one is aware of any illness but I suppose there must have been something. It's really bought home that time is short and we never know what is coming. It's easy to think 'oh grandad lived til he was 90, I've got heaps of time'. Yet we really aren't invincible and there is no guarantee I will life til I'm 90. Or even 47.

I'm feeling the fragility of human life at the moment.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My best friend when I was a child died unexpectedly when she was 11 years old and my best friend as a adult died during an epileptic fit when she was 37. Whenever I am feeling old at 58 and worry about how few years I might still have I remind myself that I have had 47 years more of life than Susan did.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I've had three good friends die, two from epilepsy and one from cancer. They were all older than me when we were friends and now I'm 10 to 20 years older than they were when they died. Enjoy everything! Love your family and friends and appreciate every cup of tea and new Star Wars movie that comes your way

I almost typed "sunset" instead of movie but I can't remember the last time I saw one of those

 

[Australis]

Friend of mine died when he was 60, too young. Still miss him.

We were talking of Tim Tams a while ago, I saw the 2 flavours that are slow to sell, Espresso Martini and Virgin Pina Colada. Odd.

What with our election, the US election, planes disappearing, Panama Papers, the Kardashians... we live in strange times. Saw an excellent quote t'other day: "Orwell got it almost exactly wrong. People buy the cameras themselves, and are upset if no one is watching them."

 

[Marc]

Just found out a work colleague died overnight. In her sleep at 46. No one is aware of any illness but I suppose there must have been something. It's really bought home that time is short and we never know what is coming. It's easy to think 'oh grandad lived til he was 90, I've got heaps of time'. Yet we really aren't invincible and there is no guarantee I will life til I'm 90. Or even 47.

I'm feeling the fragility of human life at the moment.

Been through something like that.

A friend died suddenly back in 2010. She was only 26 (her birthday had been at the start of the month).

Had spoken to her the evening before via IM around 7:30 and she passed away around 2:30am the next morning.

No know major health issues at time (beyond her Cerebral Palsy) but cause of death was given as heart failure.

 

[Botany Bay]

More embarrasment for david Feeney in that the tenents in his $2.3mil house are supporting the greens.

But from the picture in the ABC's report, it must be a case of location, location, location, cos that's not exactly and impressive looking house.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-...eney27s-home-backing-greens-candidate/7427452

I was thinking the same thing! Dumps like this turn over for $2.5m in Sydney. I guess property mania has hit Melbourne, too. Turns out the other story about Feeney was him charging the taxpayer for his Canberra accommodation when the money was ending up in his family trust. "Ahh, but it's legal to do this" says every politician ever caught doing playing this game. Well a) it shouldn't be, and b) it just adds to the cynicism and contempt most people have for this current crop of politicians we've been cursed with. Even the pious Di Natale has been caught out not declaring his farm and paying backpackers slave wages while he puts the boot into Feeney and champions weekend penalty rates! Sickening hypocrisy all round.

Turnbull looks flustered, and people are baffled about what the point of his leadership is. Shorten is having a great campaign on a personal level, but the Greens, and this collection of dreadful candidates he's been saddled with are probably going to see him fall an inch short.

 

[Botany Bay]

Newspoll is in, and little changed, except voters continue to punish Turnbull's lack of conviction and direction, and seem to be contemplating a Shorten Prime Ministership.

2PP : ALP 51 - Coalition 49
PV : Coalition 41 ALP 36 Other 12 GRN 11
Preferred PM : Turnbull 46 (-3) Shorten 31 (+4).

Still a long way to go, but we're still firmly in hung parliament territory, and, ominously for the Coalition, seemingly the longer he's in power, the less voters are impressed with Turnbull.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My cat, Spider, went back to the vets today and the vet is pleased with his progress. He has put on a little of the weight he lost, he used to be 6.1kilos, he went down to 4.2 kg and now he is up to 4.45 kg. The vet wants him to stay about this weight, maybe slightly more.

His insulin dose has been increased slightly and the vet reckons I have been doing a good job monitoring him. I won't have to go back to the vet foe a while, I just have to send in weekly glucose readings.

If I ever end up with diabetes I will know what to do.

 

[Botany Bay]

Great news. Hope he's continuing to do well.

Busy time for me at work and staying on top of my masters. The election has slipped into the background a bit for me. For most people I'm not even sure they're aware one is even on, and if they were paying attention, they'd be despairing over the quality of candidates on all sides. Seriously, where do they find these people? Or has the media, with all its "gotcha" bullshit scared off anyone with any brains?

In my electorate, there's no leafleting or signage so far. The only thing of note was a visit by our MP Plibersek, along with Shorten, to the Sydney fish markets, which had the tourists bemused and a bit annoyed at the hold up on their fish and chips. For shaking hands with people who actually vote, you'd be struggling to come up with a worse spot. Still, I suppose these things are about optics on TV, and there would have been a pretty shot of the harbour and plenty of blokes in hi-vis vests to be photographed with.

So at exactly half way, we have Labor in front on the 2PP, and the Coalition still a mile ahead with the bookies, reflecting the talk from insiders that the swing is very much on, but not where they need it to be.

Not game enough to call it. Today's Fairfax poll has Labor's PV on 36. If they can get it up to 38, it's game on. Even if the campaign isn't thrilling, the count could be a thriller.