Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses

13 hrs · Edited · 

 

"Here are these exquisite, immensely powerful creatures, who willingly give us their labor in return for our stewardship. They have attended us throughout history, bearing us across frontiers and into battle, pulling our plows, thrilling us in sport, warming us with their beauty. We owe them more than we can ever repay. To send these trusting creatures to slaughter is beneath their dignity and ours." ~ Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit

Majestic Eclipse was one of numerous horses sent to yesterday's Echuca sale by the same owner and he was bought by a knackery to be killed for dog food. He last raced just a month ago - only running twice and making $270 - less than what his body was bought for yesterday.

Horses like Majestic Eclipse epitomise the need for an industry retirement plan. These are the unsuccessful horses you don't hear or know about, and are regularly brushed under the carpet and sent to slaughter - never to be heard of or asked about again.

Last year, the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses presented the Australian Racing Board with a proposal to give just 1% of betting turnover back to the racehorse. This would be $143 million annually, and would help horses like Majestic Eclipse - who was only 4 years old and had his whole life ahead of him. Read and download the full proposal here: http://bit.ly/Just1PercentCPR

We occasionally hear stories of kind individuals intervening after auctions to purchase slaughter-bound horses. So if anybody has any information to offer about this boy, we'd love to hear from you if he is by some chance now safe.

Take action for racehorses here: http://bit.ly/IsThePartyReallyWorthIt

Last Cab Ride -- anonymous

The Last Cab Ride

I arrived at the address and honked the horn. 

After waiting a few minutes I honked again.

Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, 
but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. 

'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something 
being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. 

A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress 
and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had 
lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. 
In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. 

I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 

'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers 
the way I would want my mother to be treated.'

'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. 

When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 
'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly..

'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 

'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice.. 
'The doctor says I don't have very long.' 

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. 

She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived 
when they were newlyweds. 

She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once 
been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner 
and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, 
she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'.

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. 

It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, 
with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. 
They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. 
They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. 
The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I answered.

'You have to make a living,' she said.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. 
She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. 
Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life..

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. 
I drove aimlessly lost in thought. 

For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had 
gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But great moments often catch us unaware - beautifully wrapped in

what others may consider a small one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY 
WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID. BUT THEY WILL 
ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

Australia Computer Terminology - Getting ready for Broadband in the bush!!

LOGON: Adding wood to make the barbie hotter

LOG OFF: Not adding any more wood to the barbie.

MONITOR: Keeping an eye on the barbie.

DOWNLOAD: Getting the firewood off the ute.

HARD DRIVE: Making the trip back home without any cold tinnies.

KEYBOARD: Where you hang the ute keys.

WINDOWS: What you shut when the weather's cold.

SCREEN: What you shut in the mozzie season..

BYTE: What mozzies do

MEGABYTE: What Townsville mozzies do.

CHIP: A pub snack.

MICROCHIP: What's left in the bag after you've eaten the chips.

MODEM: What you did to the lawns.

LAPTOP: Where the cat sleeps.

SOFTWARE: Plastic knives and forks you get at Red Rooster.

HARDWARE: Stainless steel knives and forks - from K-Mart. 

MOUSE: The small rodent that eats the grain in the shed.

MAINFRAME: What holds the shed up.

WEB: What spiders make.

WEBSITE: Usually in the shed or under the veranda.

SEARCH ENGINE: What you do when the ute won't go.

CURSOR: What you say when the ute won't go

YAHOO: What you say when the ute does go. 

UPGRADE: A steep hill.

SERVER: The person at the pub who brings out the counter lunch.

MAIL SERVER: The bloke at the pub who brings out the counter lunch.

USER: The neighbour who keeps borrowing things. 

NETWORK:What you do when you need to repair the fishing net.

INTERNET: Where you want the fish to go.

NETSCAPE: What the fish do when they discover a hole in the net. 

ONLINE: Where you hang the washing. 

OFFLINE: Where the washing ends up when the pegs aren't strong enough.

Over 60 with Bryce Coe

Post Turtles

While stitching a cut on the hand of a 75 year old farmer, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

  Eventually the topic got around to politicians and their role as our leaders.

  The old rancher said, "Well, as I see it, most politicians are 'Post Turtles'.''

  Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."

The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb arse put him up there to begin with."                 

Best explanation of a politician I've ever heard.

    

Campbell Newman Shame

Campbell Newman Shame Files

A friend of the Shame Files shared this letter from a paramedic to Newman.

Dear Campbell Newman,

I am a paramedic with the Queensland Ambulance Service. I’m writing to you in regard to the changes that you are introducing to my conditions of service. Before I delve into the specifics, however, I’d like to give you some background information about myself:

I graduated from high school in the top of my class, a fair few years ago, gaining an OP 2. I then studied and gained a Biomedical Degree at the University of Queensland, before volunteering and later accepting a position as a paramedic with QAS. It wasn't part of my original 'life plan' but I found a niche in the world where I felt like I was making a difference. Since working for the QAS, I've completed a diploma, a degree and very soon a masters degree; furthering my education because this is an ever changing and important field and I like to stay at the top of my game. I became engaged to a fellow paramedic earlier in the year and we bought a moderate house in an moderate suburb together. We don't live extravagantly. In fact, because of rosters and the fatigue of our work, we are just home bodies who take our dogs to the beach for fun. He’s ex military, having spent five years working as a paratrooper and a medic before joining QAS. I'm not sure if you're aware but many in the service are ex military - hard working men and women with a strong sense of community who joined the ambulance service with life experience and the ability to operate well under pressure. Regardless of our backgrounds though, we are all here because we thought we could offer value to the community. We are people who were born with, or adapted ourselves into, an ability to handle situations that others find stressful. We are also professionals, who have studied and trained hard, learning the intricacies of medicine - albeit, in a more specific area than some. We are passionate about prehospital and emergency medicine.

The industrial commission handed down a decision this month that is going to have an almost inconceivably negative impact on the ongoing quality of life of my family. Their decision, with their hands tied by you, will mean, at first calculation, a drop in household income of at least $40,000. Now, we were not earning more than average income in the first place; in fact, this decrease will be more than a third of our household wage. Think back to your early thirties, could you have supported your family, and kept your house, if your wage dropped by more than a third? I'd also like you to be mindful of the fact that, unlike most other jobs, a decent pay point increase is never on the horizon, no matter how many years of service we provide.

As I write this to you, I'm in between night shifts having worked more than thirty six hours already this week without having one single thirty minute break. Some people argue that penalty rates are outdated, but we need some compensation for the hours we work non-stop. It is only just and fair that a worker is compensated for the impacts of their job. With morals intact, you had two choices: to put on more ambulance crews to decrease our workload; or pay us for our continuous demand. You chose neither. You chose to strip us bare as you knew that the importance of what we do, combined with our work ethic, meant we would be all but helpless to fight.

I'm unable to sleep because of an overwhelming feeling of not being heard or appreciated by the very person I helped elect to government.

This big difference that you think you're making to the community by your budget cuts is not being felt anywhere I've been. If your aim was to knock the very heart out of a thousand plus front line workers who give their all everyday - you've achieved it. Morale has never been lower. We watch your spin ads for Queensland Health and listen to Springborg’s comments regarding how he supports front line workers with nothing short of dark humour, contempt and restrained anger. I could name less than a handful of paramedics who haven't decided to look elsewhere for work. Do you know what this means? It means that you are preparing to leave the health of Queenslanders in the hands of brand new uni graduates with little to no practical experience on road. Those of the public, who have had the unfortunate opportunity to witness our work at times of real need, will know what a deadly mistake you are making. Thirty minutes is the very minimum amount of time from a 000 request before a patient will get to a hospital in Brisbane (no matter how fast we drive)... I can tell you from experience that is the difference between a life time and a grave for a drowned child, or a husband suffering from a heart attack, or a pregnant mother with pre-eclampsia about to seize.

If you think we don't deserve a decent penalty for no meal breaks in an entire week of work, at least consider the base rate you pay us. All we are asking for is a decent wage. A wage that recognises us as the professionals that we are. A wage that says that in someway what we do is actually valued. We are not asking you to bankrupt the State of Queensland. (And I say this with irony, for if you feel Queensland can afford a 22% pay rise for yourself, you can at least continue paying us the same for what we do...)

In a world where CEOs make millions, politicians have $167 meal allowances and a ticket to the footy costs 50 bucks, we at least deserve a salary that makes ends meet. We don't deserve to work harder, longer, with more training and experience, and get paid over 25% less. It's actually beyond belief, ridiculous. We deserve a salary so that when we retire after fifty plus years of night shifts, heavy lifting, stress, haunted dreams and missed Christmases, birthdays and simple everyday family life, we have a chance of living, maybe, just comfortably.

If you want to keep the type of people in the job who you would actually want to treat yourself, or your family, in a time of need, I would reconsider your position. What we do, as hackneyed as it may sound, very often means the difference between life and death. The mere possibility of a mass exodus of experienced paramedics from the stations you make work non-stop should have you very concerned. We want to help Queensland. How about you help us?

Yours Sincerely,

A Queensland Paramedic
thanks to Simone McArdle

The Age of Entitlement is over

                                               The Age of Entitlement is over

This is one idea that really should be passed around because the rot has to stop somewhere.                                         Proposals To Make Politicians and Bureaucrats Shoulder Their Share of the Weight Now That The Age Of Entitlement Is Over                                        1. Scrap political pensions.                             Politicians can purchase their own retirement plan, just as most other working  Australians are expected to do.                                                         2. Retired politicians (past, present & future) participate in Centrelink.                            A Politician collects a substantial salary while in office but should receive no salary when they're out of office.                             Terminated politicians under 70 can go get a job or apply for Centrelink unemployment benefits like ordinary Australians.                             Terminated politicians under 70 can negotiate with Centrelink like the rest of the Australian people.                    3. Funds already allocated to the Politicians' retirement fund be returned immediately to Consolidated Revenue.                         This money is to be used to pay down debt they created which they expect us and our grandchildren to repay for them.                                          4. Politicians will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Politicians pay will rise by the lower of, either the CPI or 3%.                                       5. Politicians lose their privileged health care system and participate in the same health care system as ordinary Australian people.                             i.e. Politicians either pay for private cover from their own funds or accept ordinary Medicare.                                         6. Politicians must equally abide by all laws they impose on the Australian people.                                       7. All contracts with past and present Politicians men/women are void effective 31/12/14.                            The Australian people did not agree to provide perks to Politicians, that burden was thrust upon them.                             Politicians devised all these contracts to benefit themselves.                             Serving in Parliament is an honour not a career.                             The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so our politicians should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.                                         THIS IS HOW YOU FIX Parliament and help bring fairness back into this country!

Please Explain?.......

Consider this.....

No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women who serve in the Australian Armed Forces for up to 20 years, risking their lives and limbs, protecting our freedom, only get a percentage of their pay on retirement:
While politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the Nation's Capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive a substantial pension for life after a tenure of risk-free public service. It just doesn't make any sense!
If each person who receives this, will forward it on to 20 people, in 3 days most of Australia will have gotten the message........ Including the politicians!!!
This is one message that really should be passed around. I just passed it on.... Will you?
If you choose not to pass this on then you have still made a choice.
Our brave Australian Heroes gave you that right

How to Achieve Inner Peace

I'm passing this on because it worked for me as my New Year's resolution.

A doctor on TV said that, in order to have inner peace in our lives, we 
should always finish things that we start. 
Since we all could use more calm in our hectic retired lives, I looked
around my house to find things I'd started and hadn't finished. 
I finished a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Pinot, a bodle of Baileys, a
butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a choclutz. 
Yu has no idr how fablus I feel rite now. 

Sned this t all ur frenz who need inner piss. An telum u luvum.

Aussie Aussie