Poor Guy

I feel sorry for any guy that looks like me! PocKet umm I mean TasChe, keep your sweet chestnut crust on elder sauce to yourself.

Community Service Announcement

Want to make sure you never have unprotected sex with a new partner ever again?

Women click this link.

Men click this one.

(WARNING!!! Graphic pictures not for the faint of heart!!!)

Buy This

But She's Too Young To Die!

After 20 years of service this type of bus will be phased out over the next few months. As they are powered by CNG their fate doesn't look good. Goodbye friends.



Is this what will happen to me when I get too old?

A Post To Save April

With my one woman cheer squad (the ever impatient PocKet) behind me I thought it was high time I posted to this waste of cyber space. Not because I have something to say, not because PocKet asked for it but because if I don't get a post off before midnight tonight, April will never make it to the Archives list.

Sure I could fake the date on one of my future posts but it just wouldn't be the same, I wouldn't be the same. I would know that stuck out there in the vast open realm of the internet a lie would be lurking and that I had put it there.

So here you go April, even though you suck because I have to buy an anniversary present and two birthday presents during your thirty day reign, I have saved you from being a gap in my Archives section.

Kite Of Mass Destruction

Can someone tell me how high you need to be before you enter 'airspace'?

During this years protests at the Baxter detention centre in South Australia it seems that a woman was arrested for flying a kite in restricted air space.




Have the media forgotten to report on something? Was this woman trying to fly it into the detention centre to drop off something?

If the only story here is that this poor woman was flying a kite in the wrong place then congratulations go out to the South Australian police, you have officially over reacted.

International Sport? Not In WA!

Since 1989 Perth has been the proud host of a FIA World Rally Championship round. Every year thousands of WA locals have been able to hold their heads high knowing that we had something out eastern states relatives didn't. Thanks to our newly elected government that could all change very shortly.




Today Tourism Minister Mark McGowan stated that the government are looking to end the contract with the FIA with the final Rally Australia to be at the end of the year. Claiming dwindling returns he said that the governments $4.7 million investment in the event could be better spent on other events and promotions.

So its goodbye to international fame (even if it is only in rally circles) and hello to Perth where?

I Am God!

Those of you who thought I was joking when I said that I am a God because I can create my own people be amazed as I have replicated that feat again. Eventually I will have made enough to create an army that will crush those that stand in my way.




Bow down before me now and join my army or die in the wake for I am God.

Results

Counting as finally finished and a result was declared at 90.38% of the votes.

Overall I came in fourth behind the Christian Democratic Party. I could gripe and say that if they just counted all of them I could have made it into third spot since I was making ground towards the end but it is unlikely.




The final results of Armadale are as follows.

BUSBY - IND 444 1.86%

MacTIERNAN - ALP 13,095 54.96%

GOIRAN - CDP 1,317 5.53%

BRENNAN - GRN 1,171 4.91%

JOHNSON - LIB 6,250 26.23%

RICHARDS - CEC 92 0.39%

BUTLER - ONP 700 2.94%

COULES - FFP 757 3.18%

Polling

The election is finally over and all there is left is the final counting. Unless there is a big surge of support from the remaining booths I will not have gained ground over the last result for the Greens in Armadale. If the trend continues to the end I will finish fourth behind the Christian Democratic Party. The party that claims that I am morally corrupt.




The divide between the have and have nots of politics are most apparent on election day, the major parties choosing to blanket each polling place with slogans and pictures of middle age try hards who are no smarter then Mr Joe Average while the Greens place one sign at each booth.


Where's the Green?

I spent the day traveling to most of the polling places that had Greens volunteers. I would like to thank each and every one of them for coming out, some for the whole day, and giving a great contribution to the Greens, to democracy and to the push for a safer, tolerant and a more harmonious society.

I will make sure to post the final primary results as soon as I see them.

Big Day

Tomorrow is the big day so if you live in WA don't forget to vote.

Please make your vote count and vote Green 1 before you preference either of the major parties.

See you on the other side.


Lee Bell, Candidate for East Metro with son Oscar at the East Metro Launch

Blogging, So Easy Anyone Can Do It!

Fellow candidate Graham Kierath has caught the blogger bug and is currently running a site at Talk With Graham. You might as well check it out and leave a message, I did.

Email

One of the big things about being a candidate is that you receive emails from people asking you to do something for them or from people trying to sell you stuff.

A usual day can consist of emails like......

Hi Jason,
I have been asked to host the state election special this Saturday (12th). Sorry about the short notice. I am inviting candidates from all parties within our license area tom come in and speak to the electorate for 5 mins. Can you make it?

My contact details: xxxx xxx xxx or email.

xxxxx xxxxx.

So I am being asked to do what? He talks about license area so I assume its for radio. Just before I started this update I did some research that suggests that this may have been for Heritage 107.3FM which would have been good fun because they are generally sympathetic to Greens issues but none of this was mentioned in the email.

If they are not looking to get you to do something they are trying to get you to buy something.

Dear Jason,

We are xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx, a local business specialising in mobile advertising solutions.

We still have some vehicles available to promote your election campaign at a discount especially for you.

Advertising in the form of mobile billboards and vehicle signage takes your ‘face’ and your message directly to where your electorate is most of the time- on the road, commuting, shopping, picking kids up from school, running errands, etc. It has proven to be more effective than stationary billboards in terms of rates of exposure, frequency, and message recall over other types of outdoor media.

Our mobile advertising solutions are cost effective compared to national mobile billboard companies.

If you have your artwork ready, we still have the following vehicles left to offer for your election campaign:

1x24-seater bus that runs daily in metro area,

3x12-seater vans that run daily in metro area,

1 trailer 1.8m long x 0.8m high, and 1 larger trailer that can be towed wherever you wish.

Please don’t let this opportunity pass you.

By all means, good luck in your re-election campaign!

Regards,

Its true, lots of people do buy ad space on the back of trailers and on the side of trucks during their campaign but not greens. Greens don't take corporate dollars so we are lucky if we can afford an ad in the local paper. It was nice to be wished good luck in my re-election though.

Advertising

Here is a copy of the ad that will appeared in the Comment News on the 15th with me and my fellow candidates. Its a very positive ad (just like the greens) stating what we are for, not against.


Click for Larger

The Other Candidates

With me in the journey towards the election are seven other candidates. Here is where you can find information on them.

Bret Busby, Independent

Alannah MacTiernan, Australian Labor Party

Madeleine Goiran, Christian Democratic Party WA

Diane Johnson, Liberal

Joyce Elizabeth Richards, CITIZENS ELECTORAL COUNCIL

Colin Butler, ONE NATION

John Coules, FAMILY FIRST


I don't understand why but the last three are supposed to be all uppercase. It seems a bit in your face to me.

Work, Work, Work!

I have been so busy between work and the election that I haven't been back here to post lately. At least there is only one week left to go. I have been posting at my other two sites though.

Check out Transit WA if you get bored and if ya like you can also visit my new election blog at A Green Election which will focus more on what its like to be a candidate instead of the election itself.

The Launch

I would like to officially launch my campaign as the Greens WA Candidate for the seat of Armadale.

Go over to my profile on the Greens WA website and check out my tired looking mug.

I shouldn't do too badly. The sitting member for Armadale looks as tired as I do.

Too Good to Miss

I thought this story was too good to go unnoticed so here it is in its entirety as seen on News.com.au

Just lie back and think of dole
From correspondents in London
February 01, 2005


A 25-year-old German woman is risking her unemployment benefits after refusing to be a prostitute.

The woman, an unemployed information technology worker, was contacted by her local job centre telling her an employer was interested in her "profile", Britain's Daily Telegraph reported. She was not told who the employer was.
The woman said she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

Only when she phoned did she discover she was being recruited by a brothel.

Prostitution has been legal in Germany for two years.

Under Germany's welfare laws, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit.

The woman cannot even sue the job centre because the job centre is not breaking the law.

Job centres can be sued by employers if they do not cut benefits to people who turn down jobs.

Labor WA slings big policy at families

It was announced on the 29th that if Labor retains government at the election students will have to pay no more then fifty cents to go to school no matter how far they need to travel.

In my eyes this is a big winner policy but only time will tell.

If you like you can check out the media release here

The Blogger Song Playlist

A new torch is now being passed from blogger to blogger. Eventually it will pass to everyone in the entire world. I picked up the torch at Too Many Losers. It is, Your media player's shuffled ten.

The rules are simple,

1. Open up the music player on your computer or iPod etc.
2. Set it to play your entire music collection.
3. Hit the "shuffle" or "random" command.
4. List title of the next ten songs including artist, no matter how embarrassing.
5. If the same artist comes up twice in the list you may skip it and list the next track, but you don't have to.
6. List the answer on your blog and link to where you found it.

Here are my shuffled ten,

1. Life on Mars by David Bowie
2. Righteous Love by Joan Osborne
3. Pretty by Danielle Spencer
4. Mysterons by Portishead
5. Mota by Offspring
6. The Twelfth of Never by Jeff Buckley
7. Torn by Natalie Imbruglia
8. Missing the War by Ben Folds Five
9. Blue Jean by David Bowie
10. Vibrate by Outkast

It's probably good to note that I share a computer with Tealou.

You can check out Sponky's list at Too Many Losers

Top 10 Albums of All Time

While watching one of the many music channels today I thought about this time old question. What are the top 10 albums of all time?

Well there are so many different ways too judge an album and so many artists too pick from so I just picked albums that I think have been life changing in some way. I'm sure a billion people would disagree but luckily for me only 3 people read this blog.

So in no particular order here is my top ten albums of all time, I'm sure I'll think of other albums that should be here later on.

Jeff Buckley's Grace

Paul Simon's Graceland

Joan Osbourne's Relish

Macy Gray's On How Life Is

Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Cat Steven's Tea for the Tillerman

Elliott Smith's XO

Leonardo's Bride's Angel Blood

No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom

Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill

So run off and get those if you don't already have them

Time is just an abstract

Since I have decided to write at least once a week, I am here writing. There, are you happy? Will my few feeble misspelled sentences keep you people satisfied for another week? No?

Fine, I will write more.

Today I was thinking about my friend PocKet. Well OK she is not my friend since I have never actually spoken to her but she is an acquaintance. Hmmm OK she's not an acquaintances, she's.........Oh I give up. She knows what she is. PocKet what are you?

Maybe she's my favourite author. No that can't be right, my favourite author is a short funny looking english comic. Could she be my therapist? Sorry, only Dr Phil can fill that position. Look anyway she (If she is even a she) writes a blog that I visit more then once a week.

So anyway I was thinking about PocKet today because today is Sunday and as everybody knows Sunday is Crap and Fish Sticks day. The only problem is PocKet lives on the other side of the world which is a whole twelve hours away, so while I'm about to go to bed after a hard day at the XBOX she still has all her XBOX fun ahead of her.

Anyway, the whole point of the problem is that its almost Monday yet Crap and Fish Sticks has yet to be updated due to the whole time difference thing.

It's not fair!

Quarter Life Crisis

While I'm here I thought I should mention that its my birthday on Tuesday. I will be turning 25 and I am having a bit of a quarter life crisis.




I suppose it could be worse, I'm not as old as this person and no where near as old as this poor Guy.

Oh and all gifts appreciated

The 2005 Australian Blog Awards

After checking out some of the West Australian blogs nominated in the 2005 Australian Blog Awards I have too say that most aren't anything worth spending time at. I'm not saying that mine are any better but at least I was nice enough not to get nominated.

There are two exceptions in the WA category. A Yobbo's View and Kitta.net are two good WA sites and should be given a few minutes of your time.

Oh I suppose I should mention Big In Japan was nominated and it is a great site but lately she has been mucking with her layout so it's not up to its usual standard of top notch content.

Happy Browsing

America chips in, eventually

Could it be that Bush just didn't get what tsunami meant? Could he be so ignorant that he just couldn't fathom the destruction that occurred in South East Asia?

Initially contributing 35 million dollars to the countries devastated in this weeks tsunami the United States has upped its pledge to 350 million dollars.

The White House has also said that the 350 million could rise after an evaluation of the devastated areas by Colin Powell and a team of delegates.

I suppose we can now all thank Dictionary.com and Encarta for showing Bush what a tsunami really is, or maybe he just saw a picture like this one.



Banda Aceh on northern Sumatra in Indonesia.
The top picture was taken on June 23rd 2004. The second on the 28th of December.