Three HAG-lets

A: From Polly Watcher:

Yesterday (this is some days ago; Hag got lost in a bottle of Green Fairy Absinthe) we heard the strangest of statements from the Greens State Leader Peg Putt; here we are with no election called and Ms Putt is already claiming dirty tricks and issuing denials. Ms Putt stated that she is not planning to leave Parliament during the course of the next term.

News such as Ms Putt’s denial must have come as shock to the vast majority of Tasmanians who had not heard the rumour that has been on limited circulation around the coffee houses of Salamanca for the past couple of weeks. So why the public denial there are always rumours and always will be.

What I would now like to hear from Ms Putt is a denial of not part of the Salamanca rumour but all of the rumour which as I heard it goes into far greater detail about movements within the Greens in the coming months.

This is how Polly heard the rumour as she sat sipping her low fat, decaffeinated, Soya, dandichino outside a well known Salamanca cafe last week.

(1) Gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome had been dropped from the Greens Denison ticket (even before it was announced) in favour of former Duncan Kerr staffer and saviour of Ralph’s Bay campaigner Cassy O’Connor.

(2) Peg Putt and O’Connor will fight the good fight in Denison, (plan A) Putt retains seat sometime next year, Putt resigns seat and O’Connor takes it on a countback.

(3) (Plan B) Doctor Bob Brown retires from Senate to take a leading international role with the Greens; Putt takes Brown’s Senate seat.

All change at the top of the Greens with no need to consult the rank and file party members or have anything so grubby as a call for candidates or internal elections.

Still Polly might have heard wrong, she has been known to get things muddled in the past after a few decafs.

So why put pen to paper I hear you ask? After all it was only a silly Salamanca rumour wasn’t it? And as such would have stayed so until Ms Putt went public with her denial which leaves Polly wonder just which bits are in fact true and which bits are not; come on Peg/Bob do tell. I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting to know.

B: From Albert M. Dollar:

G’day Editor,

I found Lisa Singh’s recent spray (19/12/2005) on ABC Tas-mornings sad in its cynical attempt to shift the blame for the plight of under-privileged Tasmanians from Lennon Labor to the Federal Government. Seems everything she claims to stand for has already gone out the window at the expense of Labor party machinations.

Here’s a bit of verse for dear Lisa.

Singh for your Supper
by: Albert M. Dollar, Hobart

Lisa Singh,
Hat in the ring,
Says “compassion and social justice is my thing”.
Yet she’s happy to jump in bed,
With right wing goons like Big Red?

In her heart does she feel right?
One wonders how well she sleeps at night?
Singh wants to help to run this State,
but with Lennon and his corporate mates?

A caring Tasmanian with any guts at all,
would be working hard to get rid of Paul.

C: From Geoff Smedley, Trevallyn:

2005 will go down as another disastrous year for the Upper Tamar river, with what appears to be another P.I.H. (Plonk it here) decision having been made by UTRIA, (Upper Tamar River Improvement Authority?) creating another indignity to the city’s derelict waterways.

This organization set up to improve the upper reaches of the Tamar has failed that charter by concentrating efforts away from the river itself to secondary issues that in most cases have worked against the river’s environment causing even more rapid decay of the river system.

It is just not by chance that the makeup of this body has a vested interest in what’s been happening in the region, and until these issues are looked at in a proper way and a public enquiry called for, then the clouds gathering over this unhealthy alliance must end in a storm.

The latest issue is how easy it was for the North Esk Rowing club to be issued with a P.I.H.agreement without any discussion into the right or wrongs of this action, and no honest public submission put forward in the hope of once again hoodwinking the public.

It has become very pointed that these “in house” decisions are not just suppositions, but strong reasons for an enquiry into such matters to clarify the legitimacy of such an organization.

This exploitation of potentially valuable waterfront real estate land is reckless and demeaning to Launceston’s future with premature attempts already proving to be an environmentally disastrous for area producing dramatic consequences that will no doubt increase in the future.

It is to be hoped that 2006 will bring with it some real concern for the Tamar river as time has all but run out, at least some of our area politicians may return north for Christmas.

And,
Links courtesy of Leonard:
Racism is bad – so is self-delusion
Paul Theroux looking out of Africa:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/opinion/15theroux.html?th&emc=th

And,
Have a lovely Christmas, all my little darlings, from:

PS: Hag happily accepts bribes, especially bottles of Pol Roger and Green Fairy Absinthe …