A little bit of investigation on Booligirl a troll commentator on some my Posts

B'H
The Internet is an amazing tool. I made some comment a few days ago about Julia Gillard having a 'Severe Borderline Personality Disorder Axis II with interestingly enough Paranoid features'. It was tongue in cheek. It was actually a diagnosis that I was labelled with after being severely bullied at Deniliquin High School and literally had my life both personal and professional, destroyed when the Head Teacher of English in 2006 Leanne Jones with the Principal Bernie Roebuck of that school harrassed and rebuked and rebuked me without end until I left on workcover. It is actually called Mirco Management and it is a way of destroying an employee psychologically by belittling them and picking fault with everything they do, making fun of their values, comments about their life which are calculated to wound and to demean in order that they either end up completely cowered in fear and do exactly what you want whether ethical or not, or leave or commit suicide from the resulting depression because of unemployment or employment in menial mind and soul destroying work.
I do not want to go into the finer details of what they did, but they know exactly what they did. They have done it to others and in an interesting co-incidence, in 2002 I was at Fairfield High School in Sydney. The principal of Fairfield was keen to have me at the school as I am an English/ ESL specialist teacher and have also had experience in other subjects related such as Drama, Junior computing and History. The principal tried to get me as a permanent teacher at the school but it does not go on who the Principals want in the city. They have some power but not a lot. I was 39 on the priority list and an Indian teacher was coming in from Deniliquin on a compassionate transfer. Apparently he had had horrific time there and it was even known by the other teachers and to their credit, they did complain about Leanne Jones's treatment of him. She made a comment to me while showing me the resources book room when i first arrived there that they had had Indian teacher and no one could understand his English. I had happened to meet the guy before I left Fairfield for Narrandera High School in early 2003 and to be honest, his English was very good, better than many Australians I have to add, who think they know English perfectly because they happen to be born in this country. So I answered that her comment was perhaps overly harsh and not exactly true. I got a very hard and calculated stare, as if to say, you stupid little classroom teacher, you are questioning me(?) the head teacher of this School in your faculty.

Anyway to cut a long story short after being put on a 'teacher improvement program' within three weeks of being at the school and being bullied and bullied without end, I left on workcover a the end of May 2006 suffering what I now believe to be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  I could go into all the tactics and unprofessional conduct that they indulged in but it would be book length and serve no purpose here. It will one day be a book that may be useful for understanding what bullying in the teaching profession is and what it does to people and how to combat it, but that is not for now. I was sent to a Psychiatrist called Dr Peter Snowdon who in a three hour consultation wrote pages and pages of notes from which he wrote a report that got facts wrong, twisted things I said and I feel deliberately, asked personal questions about my life and my present lifestyle which had nothing what so ever to do with my teaching skills, made insinuations and assumptions about how I was supposed to have hated the Principal Gerard Jongsma of Narrandera High School. Not true.  I did not have much respect for him because of the way he treated his staff, talked about them behind their backs in the staff common room and held one staff member in particular when I was around up for ridicule, a woman called Stephanie Strong who was a good strong member of the teaching team. Also when I went to see him with regard to some behaviour issues with students and other matters pertaining to my role in the school, he regaled me with tales about him and Cheryl his wife and their children and mentioning all the time that his daughter was an up and coming member of the Australian Federal Police. To be honest, I did not care one wit about his family life. I was juggling a full working life, a new baby and while they wanted to force me to leave the teaching staff there because they had a young primary trained teacher they wanted in my permanent position, I had no choice but to stay on because of financial reasons although I was desperately unhappy at the school and with the way I was being treated.
Students were encouraged to make fun of me. I was and still am a single parent. The fun they had with me was often of sexually explicit comments and even staff joined in and I was told that I had depression because I was not in a sexual relationship or I must be a lesbian or something of the sort. Utter rot. I actually think there was a lot of jealousy because I was on a good wage and competent in my work and did work hard. I did not socialise but then also others chose not to socialise with me. I was not even invited or 'left out' of functions held for staff so I did become far more dependent for psychological support from friends in Melbourne. What was also interesting is that the Christian Evangelistic Group of which the Principal and the Librarian where strong members even tried to start hupping me over to their minister and I believe now they they were very critical of the fact I had had a baby at 49 and were looking for some way to have the child taken away from me as they believed that I was not a suitable parent merely because I was not a Christian and a Jew. In other words they wanted to 'save' my child through developing in him and me a 'belief in JC the saviour.' the problem with some of these really fanatic Christians they cannot cope with other religious belief systems and they are so insecure in their own faith and have doubts about whether he is really their messiah so they have to destroy the lives of others in order to bring them into their way of thinking.  Hateful and spiteful people really.
Now I got a little inkling of the extent of their spite. This Booligirl who commented on my site, she is from the Riverina. Surprise, surprise, NOT. I investigated her a little and lo and behold she has a store and is probably somehow connected to what happened to me. They probably made fun of me, held me up to ridicule because that is what bored spiteful people do.
During my time at Narrandera High School, I really had time for little in my life but visiting my mother during the holidays or friends who are closer and better than family in Melbourne, looking after my son and doing my work. My life was quiet and peaceful, except for an attempted  break in to my house at 47 Twynham Street while I was away one holidays, my life was pretty serene except when I had to deal with the financial mess I was left in by my ex husband who has a car that we bought jointly and who still has not fulfilled his financial obligations and as a consequence I have had to deal with collection agencies day after day, month after month and year after year.
I made a complaint about the Narrandera Principal because of his and his Deputy's handling of an incident with a student who made an explicit sexual comment to me and I felt it was both demeaning and out of order and needed to be dealt with seriously. They made me a fool. I was sick to death of being made fun of for my conservative and moral beliefs. I tried to talk to Jongsma about the kids having phones in class because they were accessing porn and according to the two girls in my year ten class able to photo shop head shots of the girls and myself onto prostitutes doing G-D only knows what and distribute it on the net.That is why I promised one stupid child that if he took a photo of me with his phone, I would take him to the police and have him charged, because I knew what he intended to do with it. I advised the girls they should do the same. Jongsma said that there were problems banning phones in classrooms. I could not see the problem. If some one said to me that their mother or father may need to contact them in a hurry, my stock answer to that problem was simply, the front office has your timetable and they know exactly what classroom you are meant to be in at what time. End of story. No phone. It is that easy.  I hate teachers who are wishy washy and too friendly with students. I am a teacher, not their peer, not their friend because I have my own circle of friends and often that includes colleagues and SASS staff. You can be friendly to students and look out for their welfare but you are NOT their friend or their parent or their psychologist. You are their English teacher, Maths teacher, Science teacher or what ever teacher and you need to keep a healthy and objective distance. If I had really had a Severe Borderline Personality Disorder Axis II, I would be a substance abuser, over friendly with students and in other words a total suicidal flip out. I have never crossed that line and never will.
Booligirl obviously has guilt pangs and I am willing to bet that she has some connections somewhere in either Narrandera or Deniliquin. The fact that she feels the need to come on my blog and denegrate me is interesting in the extreme. Here is her website for sales. I hope her business flops like the ALP's election hopes.
 http://www.etsy.com/search?q=&view_type=gallery&ship_to=AU&page=2



Going by some of the trashy articles on sale at the site, (example above) I think I can understand just the sort of person she is and the sort of person she would like to see in teaching. Probably a fan of the fellow who took pictures of himself and his ex student doing the deed and putting it on the net. Where are people's moral guidelines today?

Julia Gillard on the back foot as Tony Abbott raises serious allegations

B'H

Julia Gillard ends up looking like a naughty school girl caught out when Tony Abbott asks her to please explain events of 17 plus years ago.He is right of course, in that these events do raise serious doubts about her credibility and cunning. One she lacks and the other she has heaps of now she is fighting like a cornered rat.  She tries to use the office of Prime Minister to hide behind and blusters on, but how dare he question a Prime Minister and she is of course, pretty good at running smear campaigns herself, so she would know all about what smear campaigns are and are not. She talks about this being a movie rerun. Well if it is a movie, it is a bad one and it looks as if Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop are ultimately better screen writers than she is. She would like the movie to end with questions unanswered. Bishop and Abbott want answers as do the rest of us about what really went on. Trouble is Julia was in bed with one of the main players, Wilson and allowed her better judgement to be clouded. As a lawyer, you cannot afford to do so. You have to be a guardian of the law and your own morals. Abbott and Bishop are coming from a far higher moral ground and she knows that. That is why she is not answering their questions directly and sidestepping, but for how long? The wolves smell blood and they are circling. The fact that she left Slater and Gordon under a cloud before she was sacked is also quite damning. This is not the end of it.

The pro ALP media hacks like Michelle Grattan who I believe is in the last stages of 'deluded media dementia' because she seems to have lost her journalistic edge by insisting that this is old news dead and done, will not be able to save Gillard. She is a magnificent performer, that is true, but the Australia public want good ethical leadership and truth, one would hope. A woman who had showed such questionable judgement in her bed fellows, plus now denies having anything to do with shady dealings and uses her office to hide behind is not a worthy person to hold the highest office in the land. What is happening in society that we allow this sort of person just because of her gender to administer our country? To lead our country no less.
I say, if she had any moral turpitude she would resign and allow for an investigation to be held. She needs to be held responsible for the damage done to the Union Members. After all it was over $400,000 of members' money, the rank and file working class members of the AWU who were cheated. Don't the ALP have enough respect for their voters and supporters to at least give them the courtesy of justice?
Perhaps we should not go there. There would be uncomfortable answers to prickly questions in more ways than one.
Maybe she can take up writing her memoirs. She certainly spins a good yarn and makes it believeable. Julia that is. Michelle Grattan is old and tired and a deluded ALP hack. Where are the clear thinkers and the hard nosed journalists who will follow a story through.
This situation is complex but do not insult the general population by telling them, 'Now, now this is a very complex situation but it is all under control. It's been dealt with.' It has not. It is simply an ALP attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet. Well, sometimes we have to deal with the nasty to get to the truth. Lies don't get less with time. Sometimes they grow and fester.

The Age - the bias towards the ALP goes so far as to become less than ethical..

Media is biased and while it can represent either side of the political spectrum through objective presentation of facts, it is often not the case. More often than not, journalists choose to present an event or a person's actions in a particular light that ignores glaring discrepancies in the story if they are favourably disposed towards a particular political view or platform. themselves.  Take the article by Lenore Taylor for example, in The Age. Taylor steers her readers to belittle Opposition Deputy Julie Bishop's interogation of Julia Gillard's alleged involvement in fraudulant slush funds setup by former associates Wilson and Blewitt. We know immediately whose horse Taylor is riding as she stridently proclaims in the title, 'Bishop bluster loses wind in an obvious absence of evidence.' She belittles Julie Bishop by calling her questioning 'bluster'. A good use of alliteration with the B of both Bishop and bluster and this is further reinforced by the use of an idiom 'loses wind' which rejects the validity of Julie Bishop's line of questioning to a sailboat in becalmed waters. Sort of saying in other words, Julie is making a storm in a teacup or a mountain out of a mole hill.
Lenore, who is paying you to write this? The Julia Gillard defence fund or are you defending her because she is just simply another woman who the men are trying to pull down from her perch? I wish it were so simple, but it is not.
Lenore, there is evidence and maybe more will come to light? Who knows? This is going to get very, very ugly and the public will probably see the public dismemberment of Julia Gillard's career. The disappearance of files from the WA archives is suspicious in and of itself. How do files disappear? I imagine it is quite easy if you are the party in power. But hopefully someone has copies and has put them away for a rainy day. I am sure they will be delivered to the right address and people one day. Files just do not disappear. Good and all as a liar, Ms Gillard is, but while she may say she was an unknowing accomplice in this fraud of some magnitude of the Australian workers (they do say the ALP represents the Australian workers, don't they? Or did I just dream that up?? I wonder.)
Let's have a look see at this article.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/bishop-bluster-loses-wind-in-an-obvious-absence-of-evidence-20121127-2a5ud.html

The picture of Julie Bishop is also hardly flattering. It makes her look like a wide eyed fanatic about to anounce a fatwa on Julia Gillard. Very cleverly slanted article with a shameless lack of substance. It says nothing really but wastes space defending a crippled and bleeding Prime Minister.
The only things obvious Lenore, is your lack of objectivity and journalistic integrity. No wonder they closed comments and you got so many.
The Gillard media support will eventually 'lose wind' to use your phrase, and if we are getting into idioms it will mean the opposition 'will gain ground' very happily towards the next elections where they will have a resounding victory and Labor will be out of power for a few good years licking their wounds and trying to work out what did go wrong. The problem with the Labor politicans is too many personalities and they clash rather than working as a team. Despite the differences of approach, the Liberals do know in most cases, when to pull their heads in if they have to come together for a bit of old fashioned team work. Labor tends to fight it out and make its fights very public. Bad news if you are a pollie. The independents like good ole Bob Katter are what keeps many in Parliament honest. He says what he thinks and he will go out on a limb to defend what he believes is right and slam what he thinks is wrong. However, if you are a party pollie, you have to think very carefully before you cross the floor and what you say.
The people put up front in a Prime Minister's office need to be above question. That used to be the case. Not so today. We start to look like a Nigerian Parliament where the biggest crooks have the highest office.
What will come of this affair that Julia was involved in in more ways than one? Let's wait and see. Those who want to protect the integrity of the PM's position are trying to spin the media a tale of innocence and naivity. The Co-alition are saying simply, 'Hey wait a minute, we are talking about a lawyer who is supposed to be doing her job here. This is gross incompetence at the very least. She did not do her job properly and she allowed $400,000 of Union Members funds to be siphoned away by a pair of crooks. There is the Craig Thompson affair. Another sleaze bag who uses Union funding to feather his own nest.
Not sorry Julia and your media hack Lenore, just how stupid do you think we all are??

The demise of Australia's first female prime minister

When you examine the meteoric rise of Ms Gillard to the highest political office in the land, you are struck by the ultimate ruthlessness of this woman. She should have remained a lawyer. Maybe if she had continued to practise law, some sense of ethics and compassion may have rubbed off over the years.

Is she ambitious? Yes, she is and is not adverse to using her parliamentary colleagues backstabbing and undermining one with the best of them to climb to the top of the pile.

Is she corrupt and not beyond covering up her wrong doings or using her position to cover the wrongdoings of others?

Well, there have been all sorts of funny goings on at top government and parliamentary levels it seems and disappearing files from the WA archives no less. That is possibly why she has stated with supreme confidence "That no documents have been produced."  We'll if someone has been paid to make them disappear then, of course there are no files. Our PM is a brilliant liar in that she can be very convincing on the surface, but when you start to scratch below the surface, boy oh boy, there are some surprises in store for us all I am sure. This extract is from an Age article below:

"Slater & Gordon said last month that that file had disappeared and a file held in the WA archives relating to the establishment of the Workplace Reform Association is now reported to be empty."
Now this is the article it is from.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/document-contradicts-gillard-fund-claims-20121128-2aep3.html#ixzz2DYAVx1hu

Is she a liar? 

Well we knew that beforehand that she lies and lies consistently. On that she is very consistent. Think Carbon Tax. She is going to be caught in web of her own making. Power is heady stuff. Trouble is you should never ever think you are invincible and you should live a pretty honest and law abiding life without any deviant little twists and turns in your personal life.

That being said, I do feel for some sense of compassion for Julia as she did lose her father recently, but I am not sorry enough to want to vote for her or her party. I think of the thousands upon thousands of people who have had their lives ruined or messed up by people like her. Power hungry, they are out to satisfy their own deep inner personal needs  in their bids for ultimate power. They do not care about this nation. They used the membership fees of the AWU to set up their own slush fund. Then you have the Craig Thompsons of the ALP. Also not adverse to using the money of the rank and file members to visit brothels and finance their own personal entertainment agenda. 

I think the average Aussie has had enough of the ALP. They pretend to care for people. They do not. They care about power, personal agendas and just feathering their own nest. At least the Howard government had an agenda that looked at the needs of Australia as a nation. Let's hope a. Abbott or a Turnbull government will be able to clean up is mess created by yet another ALP government.

Poor Julia Gillard - the Internet trolls are out to get her Maybe she has a Severe Personality Disorder Axis II with 'interestingly enough' paranoid features?

B'H

It is gruesome sport watching poor Julia Gillard squirm like a worm on a hook in full media spotlight. These days she is in her death throes politically. These latest allegations are not pretty. You lie down with dogs Julia and you come up a scratchin'. You needed to have had your Frontline monthly and to have kept away from places where you are likely to pick up fleas for many a year. Blewitt and Wilson may be dogs and just doing what crooks,...sorry, err dogs do naturally.They are instinctive creatures and driven by survival and are not driven by a vision for the future or by higher ideals. You may have had the higher ideals, but you let yourself be led by the nose. You should have been a better judge of people and your colleagues. They betrayed you rather badly and I am sorry to say, you were more than naive, if you are to be believed. but you see, I don't believe you. You profitted from this association and that is obvious. You just don't like being found out and shown for the schemer you are. You would sell your own grandmother if it fitted the scheme of things Julia and have no conscious about who you hurt, except if it is you. You, Ms Gillard are a white collar crook and you helped other crooks. You can hardly call yourself little Miss Innocent, now can you. You profited from these people and the unionists put you where you are. You are lost and betrayed.  You see it in Julia's eyes, she is in desparate straits and knows she has made some really bad mistakes and been betrayed rather badly. All because she thought it was well covered up, she now is fighting like a cornered rat. Tony Abbott is not the barnyard bantam bully he is made out to be. He is letting his deputy Julie Bishop slice Julia up for dinner, breakfast and lunch for the media and the public too.
Those of us who publish things about Ms Gillard on the Internet, we are called Internet Nutjobs. Good one, Julia, if you can't think of anything to say to defend your actions, let's just defame and belittle those calling for the truth and try and discredit them. Afterall you are Prime Minister and well, you are supposed to have integrity and ethics, aren't you?
Well that remains to be seen. You will resign before the next election if more of this comes to light. You liked the position of PM, didn't you? All the media attention, the power and the travel and other benefits without too much responsibility. We will see. You definitely could never step into John Howard's shoes. The only thing I have to say in your favour is the fact that you now acknowledge that he was a decent and good human being and so you should.
Interesting reading all this.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/julia-gillard-unleashes-fiery-attack-on-union-bagman-ralph-blewitt-calling-him-an-imbecile-and-a-sexist-pig/story-e6frf7kx-1226524528685

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/firm-couldnt-report-bruce-wilson-and-awu-slush-fund-to-police-slater-and-gordon-say/story-e6frf7jo-1226524718954

A bit more balanced than the Herald Sun but then The Age would cover for the ALP PM.
Ralph Blewitt comes across as a bit more rational than Julia and her vigourous denials do leave one wondering just what is going on. Yes, there have been no smoking guns and the detail of this is complex, but it will lead some where. Whether the average person has the intelligence and the stamina to see it through, remains to be seen.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/pm-sought-to-hide-siphoning-bishop-20121127-2a4e3.html

A lesson from this week's parsha Vayishlach

B"H
The Torah is an eternal document of truth. We see in this weeks's portion how Ya'acov Aveinu deals with a very difficult situation and from it we learn what is important in dealing with our own challenges.
Ya'acov prepares himself in a number of ways for this encounter where he faces potential death by the hand of his twin brother, his own family. His brother, from whom he supposedly 'stole' the birth right which was his by right as it was Ya'acov who was meant to be the first born but Eisav pushed ahead of him.
Not one word or phrase is wasted in Torah. The phrase 'belila' is repeated three times first in perek you'd dalet, chaf beit and chaf gimmel.
Ya'acov has to make a three fold emotional adjustment in order to deal with this very challenging situation. He deals with it on three levels, but first let's look at the thee elements of the situation. There is fear, fight and prayer. He is very fearful because it is his own brother he is confronting.  His brother who has sworn to kill him once their father has died and is no longer around to be grieved by the conflict between the two brothers. How does he deal with the fear, but through gifts and an approach of loving kindness. He is submissive on one level and in his instructions to his servants who go ahead, he tells them, when you encounter my brother Eisav and he questions you tell him,'We belong to your servant Ya'acov. This is a gift sent to my master, to Eisav, and - look - he comes after us. Ya'acov instructed all the groups, the second and the third to speak to Eisav in this manner and all the groups after them.
He appeases, but not just appeasement is his goal. He has in his heart love and kindness - goodwill but he also knows his brother's character and who he is so he prepares himself to fight. He understands the treachery in his brother only too well. he prepares to save his family and divides his camp by sending his family and possessions across the Yabok River. Tragically he hides Dinah in a chest to save her from Eisav and later she is raped by Shem. She does have potentially, the power to transform Eisav to allow him to realise his righteous qualities and to fulfil them.
It is said that the fact Ya'acov does not allow this meeting to take place, results in her rape later and the destruction of a city of people.
So he prepares his family and household for battle first by dividing them into two camps. He does this during that night when he gets up. He is no fool and also understands that in order to succeed and live a wholesoome life in this physical world he must strengthen himself spiritually. He gains insight and part of his preparation for war is spiritual preparation and reliance on Hashem and Hashem's ultimate compassion and mercy. He is afraid. While he has ultimate trust in Hashem as the one truth and one judge of us all, as one who fulfils all promises he looks to himself and he sees himself as small, perhaps unworthy of Hashem's promise to be saved. He thinks 'maybe I have become soiled with sin?' How can a tad dim who has not sinned think thus? A perfect tzaddik, one who is pious does not dwell in one place but constantly grows spiritually and moves from one level to the next. He sets higher and higher spiritual goals which means that which happened before can be viewed as 'sins' or aveirot - metaphorically.
So what can we learn from this? When faced with challenging situations, we must not operate on a simple level of understanding and dealing with them, but a multi faceted approach is needed. We need to have a basic approach of loving kindness, understanding and compassion, but prepare for war and take measures to protect our family from attack and to pray to Hashem with heartfelt fervour for mercy and spiritual strength to do the right thing and to be strong and have trust that the outcome will be the best for us and right.
Rashi is troubled by the fact that Ya'acov first appears to make his own preparations before appealing
to Hashem in prayer and concludes that the preparations were part of his appeal to G-D in prayer. Prayer - heart felt prayer whether in good times or challenging times, Simchat or tzarot we have to turn our thoughts to the Cretor for guidance. A bride and groom fast on their wedding day and say tehillim and are in a state of absolute purity for this momentous time in their lives where they go from one state of existence to another, like true tzaddikim. They do not remain static, they grow and move from one level to the next phrase in their lives where they become even closer to Hashem with the potential to create new life both for themselves and for the future. The sacredness and holiness of this day is for both participants contained in the holiness and sanctity of the union they are about to enter, both awe inspiring and a state of complete joy in being partners with G-D in creation.
That is something that two men or two women cannot and never will replicate.

The Blackwood annexe and a vision of a boarding school

In my search for suitable employment, I have uncovered a place about 15 kms south east of Drouin which is attached to the Drouin Secondary College called the Blackwood Annexe. What is the Blackwood Annexe? It is a group of buildings in an idyllic bush land setting used as a Learning Centre for around 20 students per intake on six month programs. So approximately 40 students each year are processed through the Blackwood Annexe. I had read some of the information on the program, but had not found their website.  I read the website information after attending their information session for prospective students and their parents. It explained some things which I will explain later.

http://www.blackwood.vic.edu.au/

My first impression of Blackwood Annexe was good. Beautiful settings, friendly and down to earth staff, and seemingly good facilities. It is cozy and provides an intimate setting for kids who are underachieving in their secondary schools to make the appropriate lifestyle and attitudes needed if they are to survive and thrive into adulthood.  The head of the Blackwood Annexe is David Hayes. He is a Maths teacher from Drouin Secondary College who started this centre some twenty years ago in 1994.Their program is good and reaches out to students who might otherwise fall by the wayside and continue a downward spiral into all sorts of unsavory and negative lifestyles. They have around one staff member for every two students. I was quoted one to three but when I looked at the website it was higher. I spoke with a woman called Annie and she seemed also to be impressive, until I asked her about how they selected students for the program. She explained to me that the students had to want to make a change in their lives at the point of the interview. To illustrate this, she explained that one child she interviewed had been in trouble with drugs, stealing a car etc  etc  and had asked her and the parent with the student, ’Why should I change/ What’s wrong with me?’ That child she told me, a little too smugly is not ready to come to Blackwood. That is where she lost me and I began to get this familiar queasy feeling in the pit of my guts. My role as an educator has always been to get them to come to that point through the work I do in the classroom and they do not have to become a Jew to do so before or after. They have to learn to value themselves and to understand how valuable a being they are, just by the mere fact of being born here on this world at this time.

Don’t misread my intention in saying this. What they are doing at Blackwood is great work. They take kids – secondary school students who are either in a rut or on the brink of wanting to make radical changes in a negative outlook and lifestyle and assist them to get out of it and to walk the walk on the mainstream success highway. What really worries me is the students who they do not bother with or who they throw back in the gutter by the road. Where do they go? There is also another aspect to it that worried me and it is their very insular outlook. From being very keen for me to come out there and on the point of accepting my offer of volunteer work because I had hoped for some sort of reference which might lead to paid work, all doors slammed shut when they met me. I dress conservatively, because I am a conservative in my outlook and my lifestyle. My dress reflects this. I am precise and down to earth and I am a hard worker. I don’t like bullshit and that was what I smelt at Blackwood that Friday.

All the talk about teamwork and the other niceties they espoused is simply a cover for their Christian brain washing of vulnerable adolescent minds. Yes, they do put students on a better life path, but I want to ask what about the drug taking car thief? Do they care what happens to that child? See for me, that child is the one that you need to corral into more positive choices. The others are already half way there. After looking through the staff profiles I noted that the staff without exception were from strong Christian backgrounds and that is why it was suggested to me, again to try the Christian Schools? Whoa, already been down that path and been told that they want their teachers to ‘have a Christian world view.  Thank you very much for applying and we wish you every success in your search for teaching employment.’ Nice, but narrow minded and a very insular outlook. I did reply and explained that my Orthodox Jewish world view is very tolerant of other world views, religious, cultural, gay or whatever.  I may not agree with the different world views professed by some,  but in the interests of common peaceful goals, I am tolerant and respectful. How did someone from one of the Gay and Lesbian Support Groups on another blog post term it, that’s right, ‘I abhor your so called loving rejection of marriage equality.’ Little did that person really understand that while I will reject same sex marriage and religious beliefs that I believe from my perspective and understanding of Torah values are wrong, I do validate that person’s right to exist and hold such views even if they are contrary to mine. It is called respect and giving credit where credit is due.

While they may do some very good work at Blackwood, I for one, dislike the sanctimonious and holier than thou attitude of the staff and I do understand now why they rejected my offer of volunteer work. They rejected it for the same reasons that Gerard Jongsma the Principal of Narrandera High School  rejected my offer of volunteering an after school literary program in the school for the year 9’s and 10’s who were having difficulties. His words to me were simply ‘I do not think you can offer anything of value to these students.’

I did not understand what he meant. What he meant was simply, ‘You are a Jew. We want someone who is Christian and involved with the Church groups. ‘ that is the only reason I was undermined and belittled both privately and publically by this man.

Personally I think it is time some of these Christian groups grew up. They do good work, but not everyone has to be a Christian and there are good people in the world who hold non Christian views.  If the Catholic Church is anything to go by, they have also destroyed a lot of vulnerable people’s lives.

If only I could win lotto or get someone to finance a school I would do it and set up programs for kids who would come to the door telling you where to get off and angry as hell with the world and have them leave after one year calmer and more reflective human beings. I would want such a school for city kids who were having problems in many areas of life and not just kids who were underachieving and handpicked to succeed.

It would have to be a boarding school and have no more than 32 students a year. Four houses with eight students in each house and a married house mother and father in each house. People who have raised their families or their youngest child is in the teens and they are very stable solid parents who have successfully raised children and married them off. A program of studies can be created around improving literacy, numeracy and sciences with elective topics. Students would have the choice of going back home to their families on the weekend or remaining at the school and doing supervised activities on the weekend that was in line with their beliefs. Jewish kids would be encouraged to go home and the non Jewish students would have a program over the weekend that would involve meditation programs and sports activities with Non Jewish staff. Jewish kids and staff would have a Shabbat program with visitors from Melbourne. You could only have boys or girls not both and my thinking is that such a program could be set up with animal husbandry and horse riding as elective subjects. It sounds a crazy idea and unless I win lotto, like at least 15 million to buy the farmland, build buildings and get staff and create a program, it is not going to happen. The government would need to fund it as well as private donors. It ain’t gunna happen though. But it would be good if it could and it could turn 32 young people’s lives a year around, maybe more. You also take kids with learning and life challenges because through them,  you learn and the kids learn to be better citizens. Success in this life is not counted only by academic achievements, but it helps kids’s self esteem and builds their character.

Dream on Ilana, dream on. I am dreaming only of work now and how to get into paid work and complete my  cert IV while trying to feed my son and myself as well as have money for utilities etc etc.

Wasted a morning when I should have saved myself the trouble and gone to see my son's sports day

B'H

Wasted a morning going out to a school to be part of a tour. Took notes but after talking with the woman there, I came away feeling that I might as well do away with myself. At least I will write an article on it because it is worthwhile, but if it was up to the woman I spoke to about work, I would never be hired as a teacher again. I could read it in her body language, the veiled way she spoke to me and her suggestions to me which all screamed 'What is this idiot woman doing here and what does she want from me?? How did this woman get to be a teacher?'  I could see her thinking, 'I would not even hire this hag for a cleaner. She should go away and die somewhere quiet and not bother the rest of us.'
G-D only knows how we will get through the next months with no income other than centrelink.

Xenophobia on public transport

B"H
It is interesting reading reports and watching the video clip of the xenophobic attack on a group of  young French women and then you read the hundreds of comments on the incident. Some people actually defend the vile behaviour of these three bogans on a Frankson bus. One of them is pushing a pram. Yikes, you think, this idiot is breeding and raising more of the same. Awful, simply awful. Mr Chief Foul Features himself is screaming 'endearments' to the women at the back of the bus and I thought to myself, watching his display of malevolent macho, please don't tell that he thinks he is a typical Australian. However, some people do and defend his actions and that of the two breeding bogans with the baby bogan-to-be in its pram. They say they do like peace and quiet on public transport. However much I or anyone likes peace and quiet, we do not have to become frothing at the mouth maniacs to get it.
They could have said: "excusez-moi, s'il vous plaît pourriez-vous chanter plus doucement. J'ai une gueule de bois et je suis susceptible de transformer en cochon sale gueule fracassant la fenêtre si vous contine à chanter en français."

Which simply translated means,'Excuse me, please could you sing more softly. I have hangover and I am liable to turn into a foul mouthed window smashing thug if you continue to sing in French.'

The Met must design a system of travel for people like these ones who cannot take a bit of culture with their public transport. I could suggest a cage trailer. It would be most attractive with cheaper economy fare structures, no need for air conditioning and a roof provided in winter and we could have loud speakers with Oi Oi Aussie Aussie Oi Oi between songs of Slim Dusty and Chad Morgan. I do want to suggest this song as an ode to our 'friend' the lover of French singers.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?
v=6zUx6YGt7rE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6zUx6YGt7rE&gl=GB


It's called The Sheik of Scrubby Creek for those unaware of the cultural cringe / divide among the less academically inclined of the outer burbs.

I wonder if this guy will ever show his face on public transport again. Maybe he will buy a car or a face mask. Grow a beard or a moustache? He could go to Paris for a week? Imagine the welcome he may receive at the airport in France at Charles De Gaulle airport. The French crowd could gather to serenade him with a few old favourites like Edith Piaf's

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=slHjkszSAKs

The BBC Bias and the myth of de-development of the highly skilled and educated Gaza population

I have just been looking for news on Israel and the situation there and found the biggest load of crap, well written, but biased totally against Israel.
Here is the article and it is on the BBC site. No surprises there.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20388298

I have taken an extract out of it and analysed it to show how the bias of the writer is cleverly embedded through out the text and it is this sort of clearly clever misleading bias that we need to counter act in world media. It is not enough to say tehillim and daven, G-D helps those who help themselves and we must, MUST get the truth out there. Here goes. I have picked one of the worst but you can see there is much more.

Apart from talking about this non existent blockade here is what one of the oil sponsored scribes has to say about the reasons for the conflict.

"The blockade and the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem have been cited by militants in Gaza as reasons for their continued attacks on Israel since the 2005 withdrawal. Despite carrying out scores of air strikes across Gaza, Israel has failed to halt rocket attacks. This led the Israeli military to launch of a major ground offensive in December 2008. Operation Cast Lead dealt a serious blow to the capability of Gaza's militant groups - and also destroyed much of the territory's civilian infrastructure - but they gradually recovered and rocket-fire resumed."

The 'reasons' for the rocket attacks have been cited by the 'militants in Gaza' as 'the blockade and occupation of West Bank and East Jerusalem. REALLY???????? since the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. Of course, also let's conveniently forget about what was done to the infrastructure left by those families who withdrew from Gush Katif. Businesses and houses were all destroyed along with synagogues and other buildings in the town. And has there been a blockade or occupation of West Bank and East Jerusalem?? I thought they were talking about a blockade of Gaza which is also a Hamas generated myth.

Next we have some rather illogical sentence structure.
Despite carrying out scores of air strikes across Gaza, Israel has failed to halt rocket attacks. 
Let me rewrite that sentence for you.
Despite Israel carrying out scores of air strikes across Gaza, the Hamas rocket attacks have not halted.
or
Despite Israel's IDF carrying out scores of air strikes on militant terrorist launch sites in Gaza, they have been unsuccessful in halting the rocket attacks from these sites.
It is all in the language, isn't it and the way it is reported.

Operation Cast Lead was also attributed to destroying much of the territory's civilian infrastructure and the journalist very cleverly neglects to mention it is Gaza that he is referring to, so the reader could come away with a perception that the Israeli military entered the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza and went around wrecking houses.
Then he or she states,"they gradually recovered and rocket-fire resumed."  It is as though the writer is talking about the people and not the terrorists and by the way, these brave terrorists use schools, playgrounds, child care centers and other civilian areas to launch their rockets from.

I will end with one last little sentence of the numerous rather shocking untruths unveiled in this piece of utter journalistic crap, well written though it may be, and that is the real problem.

"For the last decade, the people of Gaza have suffered severe socio-economic hardship. Eighty per cent of the population is dependant on international assistance. Israel's blockade, which was tightened with Egypt's co-operation in 2007 to weaken Hamas after it came to power and to end rocket attacks, has resulted in what the UN describes as "the impoverishment and de-development of a highly-skilled and well-educated society"."

Let's look at this section:
Spelling first, I would have thought the BBC could hire someone who can at least spell 'dependent'. I, as an independent little blogger can get away with the odd typo and a bit of a ramble, because I am not being paid big buckaroos to write crap for a major News organisation, so I flip rambles off the top of my head without too much editing at times and it shows, I know. But if I sit down and write a structured piece, it has to be perfect. Checked and rechecked as I am a major anal retentive when it comes to some things and I am aware that I am a big butt ache for those who I taught and worked with. I demand perfection of myself and others in the writing area and my students used to thank me for it. They would leave after a year with me, writing commonsense articles and understanding how language is structured.
The UN must have only seen a small section of the community in Gaza. During my seven years in Israel, I taught some people from the Israeli military who used to be stationed in Gaza, English in private classes for the Israeli Foreign Ministry and they described the poverty and subjugation of the population there by their own people. Gaza has received billions and billions of $ in aid and what have they done with it??? Certainly not put it into Education or infrastructure for their civilian population who come second to the police forces and terrorist army built up there. Maybe their propaganda unit also receives some of the UN funding to falsify stories about Israeli brutality and it is typical Avoda Aravi. Flaws everywhere. They are even using pictures from the Syrian massacres that the BBC conveniently ignores. Too dangerous there as there is no IDF to attempt to check the excesses of the Terrorist cells.
The civilian population of Gaza has NEVER been well educated and highly skilled. Although, the lying and corruption of their leaders is high skilled and their education is basically in propaganda to discredit the good  and the prosperity that Israel has built in the region. If, and I say If Israel is ever destroyed, it will be a larger version of Gush Katif and become a waste land. Mark my words well, because the Arab nations have not one vision or plan for the future for Israel. They simply want the destruction of a small vibrant country whose people are innovative and hard working and who seek to do much good in making the world a better place for us all.
We should all pray for peace for the innocent and those who want nothing but to be able to come home of a night after work and have money in the bank to pay bills and to be at peace with one's little family or big if it is. Hashem should keep the soldiers safe and they should return home speedily in whole health with Hashem's help.
Israel's only help is G-D  in these times and in G-D we must trust and do more mitzvot and expose the lies that are spouted forth day after day by those who seek to discredit and destroy a brave nation of souls.

People With Disabilities Understand a Lot More Than Some Would Think

B'H
I was not going to post again tonight but  I have to get on a favourite hobby horse of mine. I was at a function and had the most uncomfortable few minutes where I was itching to say something biting and sarcastic, but kept minding my manners as it was not the right time or place to do so. A woman at the function was extremely rude and tactless to a friend's daughter and for that matter to the mother herself.
We all know that there are people who are born different in the world. Some are more different than others. They may have Aspergers, Down's Syndrome or Cerebal Palsy or they may be a quadriplegic through some accident or have another challenge like deafness or blindness or even Dementia. The fact that these people do not or are unable to respond in social situations as clearly and coherently as most of us does not make them unintelligent or unfeeling as lumps of wood.

My friend was sitting beside me with her child who has had a rather more challenging life than many of us. This woman's child is a special human being whom I feel is on a very high spiritual level. She has the most generous and giving spirit of any person I have ever met. There is not an ounce of malice or bitterness in this child. The woman who was sitting opposite us, started to stare at my friend's daughter. She then began to actually ask her mother personal questions about her medical conditions with the object of her questioning sitting directly opposite her. She did not address any of her questions to the daughter, but simply spoke to the mother who was also getting distinctly uncomfortable and trying to field some of these rather searching questions tactfully and respectfully, despite the fact that it really was none of her business. Yes, this girl has some disability issues, but that does not make her less able to comprehend conversations. She is not an object. She is a human being. She did not talk to her. She talked to her mother as if she was not present and or as if she would have no idea what the conversation is about.  She is only too aware. I was so gob smacked by what was being said to the mother that I was speechless. I looked across at the girl to see how she was reacting, concerned for her feelings. She has by this time in her life developed a stoicism to certain things and I guess this is one of them.
For example, she said to the mother, 'does that girl belong to you?' Not 'Is this your daughter?' and 'Gee, is there something wrong with her eyes? They seem kind of strange.' I found it hard to believe what I was hearing and I could feel and see enormous restraint being practiced by the mother who did not wish to make a scene at this function and also not to further embarrass her daughter. It was actually quite strange that someone could be so tactless and mindless of the feelings of the girl and her mother and the rest of us who had to witness the bad manners of this woman.

We need to respect those who may not have our knowledge and our understanding of a topic and allow them to develop. We need to listen and to feel what the other person feels. Apart from that personally I feel it  is a privilege to teach someone with Down's Syndrome or Aspergers or Autism or Cerebral Palsy because they will end up teaching you so much more than you will ever teach them. The fact that some people will see them as lessor human beings or flawed human beings shows how little they really know. A person with a disability teaches you about absolute unconditional love and compassion for others. They have compassion on us lessor human beings who do not understand how much they understand and see through us and our little arrogant mindsets.
If we make fun of a person with a disability we are making fun of ourselves, we are bringing ourselves down. We are showing what shallow helpless human beings we are. We cannot cope with them. They cope with us and they understand all too well. They understand just how limited we so called 'normal people' are.
I first observed this sort of phenomena of people from migrant backgrounds being yelled at because the person talking to them thought they could not understand and that if they raised their voice they would understand. If a person has limited English vocab, it does not help to yell at them. They may be Russian with a PHD in nuclear physics and definitely not stupid, but they probably feel it when people raise their voices and yell simple sentences at them. The same thing when people talk to a person with disabilities. They are often yelled at because people think the louder they talk, the' better'  the person with the disability will 'understand them'.
Talk normally and clearly. Then wait for a response, don't barge over them and assume they do not understand. Talk to them with respect and don't talk about them as if they are not present, despite the fact that they are sitting opposite you.
 Their responses to your questions may be slower because they are struggling to arrange a response in the appropriate way that they think you will understand. Maybe you needed to rephrase your question or you were not clear. They may have things to say that will blow the socks off you. People often ignore someone with disabilities and in social situations they will talk to those around them but ignore the very real human being sitting in front of them.
Give them validation and acknowledgement like you would give any other human being. Ask them how they are and listen to what they have to say. Show your humanness and drop the idea that they are unable to or cannot communicate with you. Connect with them. Be surprised, amazed and connected to some very wonderful human beings who are a little different, but valuable and gorgeous human beings.

A Journalist with Belly Rash

B'H

I find myself disliking the mainstream media more and more. Why well you may ask? Well there are a number of reasons. I am very glad I am neither a lawyer nor a journalist. These people should have the highest of ethical standards in all things, but all too often, members of these two professions turn out to be bottom-feeding mollusks that eat feces and churn out more of the same only refined and iced or dressed up to be something else.
1. They should be able to read in-depth and write insightful and concise articles about world affairs and the current events of these troubled contemporary times. However all too often, they make errors that make even a layperson such as myself cringe in embarrassment and wonder. But often they don't do their research and they write half cocked stories about situations that would be embarrassing in a year 10 Middle East History essay unless the teacher of such subject was being paid by a pro Arab Spring supporter to teach a very biased version of historical events and facts.
2. They ramble and they lie. I am allowed to ramble as I am writing for myself. No one pays me to write and for me to sell out on my integrity and write something that I know was not true, but someone was paying me to write it, I will just tell you get stuffed. I write the truth and even if it hurts, sometimes we all need a bit of truthful hurtfulness in our life to grow and to heal. If I am writing something and it is paid, it needs to be correct, but honest. I owe that to my employer, but I owe myself integrity and honesty fully.
3. Lawyers and barristers often simply want to make a buck and they will lie in order to do it. They do not care for justice and for truth. Those are flexible concepts for good lawyers, depending on if you are prosecuting or defending. To my mind anyway. I would love someone to say, 'Naw, Ilana you have it all wrong. The law is straight forward and protects the innocent.' I can then answer,"the law is perhaps straight, but the people that operate it ain't straight, by a long way.'
Now journalists, G-D you have to love them. No one else does.
Take this Paul McGeough who is the so called Chief Foreign Correspondent at the Sydney Morning Herald. I read his piece of muddled tripe on the situation in the Middle East and thought to myself, either some oil rich Saudi is loading this guy down with some good malt whiskey and good food, filling his head with lies at the same time and then he is going back to lodge his stories with the AAP and his moronic editor publishes this pathetically biased piece on the situation in Israel and the Middle East.

Here it is
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/rash-israel-lights-arab-spring-powder-keg-20121117-29ism.html

If Paul McGeough even got out of the bar he is holed up in long enough to break wind, he would have known that for the past year or two, Hamas and other terrorist organisations have been raining rockets down on towns in southern Israel like Sderot and Ber Sheva to name a few. Israeli school children have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter as does anyone else if the siren goes. That also goes for child care centres in Israel. The metapelot (child care workers) have 15 bloody seconds to get their tiny charges to the safety of a bomb shelter if they have one. Sometimes they just bunker down under a table and hope for the best. Unlike many parents in Aza, the Israeli parents tend to work very hard and often both parties have to work to support themselves and pay taxes in a country that has been constantly besiged by wars for most of its nationhood. By the way, the parents in Aza would probably love to be working in peace and their children in childcare centres while they go across to Israel to work, as they used to before the Intifada stuffed that up and the "wise" leaders of the so called Palestinian state to be, carried on with all this sabotage and idiocy.  He starts talking about movie massacres in the United States. Is he for real, a journalist?
In the second paragraph, he compares King Abdullah II of Jordan and his Palestinian Queen Rania to the King Louis XVI of France who was beheaded 21st of January 1793 and calls Rania  a Marie Antoinette. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Jordanian monarchy, since the present King's father ruled and now this king, had one of the sanest heads of state and government in the Middle East, despite previous histories. They are one of the few really worthwhile countries that tourists can visit without too much bother and the population is fairly stable and the country run in a fairly orderly fashion compared to Egypt. Syria, Iraq and Iran.I wonder where McGeough gets his facts from. Hearsay or the bottom of a whiskey bottle? Who cares? We all should, when people like this can write trash like he has and have it published in a national newspaper. One would hope he has an editor above him to look at his pieces for credibility.
He needs to be edited for credibility and for facts.
'Rash' indeed is how he describes Israel. Does he know the meaning of rash. Maybe he thinks it is spots. In the movie Holes which my son presently is watching for the tenth time to follow the adventures of Stanley Yelnats and Zero, (I love that guy Zero, he told me, he's like me) there is the Yellow Spotted Lizard. Maybe Israel is the Yellow Spotted Lizard of the ME.  Guards the treasure and bites only the bad guys who try to get it and leaves the heroes alone.
Here are some definitions of Rash just for Mr McGeough to

rash/raSH/

Adjective:	Displaying or proceeding from a lack of careful consideration of the possible consequences of an action: "a rash decision".
Noun:	An area of reddening of a person's skin, sometimes with raised spots, appearing esp. as a result of illness.
Synonyms:	adjective.  hasty - reckless - thoughtless - unadvised - imprudent noun.  eruption - exanthema

revise meanings.

Rash is the adjective that can be more properly applied to the Hamas and terror organisations of Aza area and the filth that is rising to the top in the Muslim Brotherhood in other Arab countries. They are they ones that are lobbing rockets into another country on a constant basis. They are the ones constantly pursuing the Israelis with intent to kill their children, their loved ones and to exterminate the Jewish State of Israel. I want to ask McGeough how many sorties into Aza has he witnessed of IDF soldiers going in Jeeps with sub machines and mowing down the stone throwers?????? None. Because that is more the late Saddam Hussein style or the leaders of Syria or Egypt. No body argues with those guys or dares write about the thousands of civilians killed in Syria for example. No one cares for the Coptic Christians copping it in Egypt or parts of north Africa. The Israelis leaflet and warn the civilian population of the impeding bombardment and allow them to move out of the way. Trouble is that the 'lovely and humane' Hamas Free for All fighters use kindergartens and schools or hospitals to launch their rockets from. Now isn't that caring of them. Are they using those sites because they care about defending those kids???
NO, definitely not. BUT, they do know that it will look bad for Israel in the world media when and if Israel retaliates.
Aza is a pussing open sore of terror cells and terrorist organisations and frankly it needs to be cleaned out and  cauterized to allow the healthy flesh to heal and renew itself. It needs to be under a strict military rule. All those with terror connections and guilty of terrorism need to be routed out and the the population seriously put to work on bettering conditions there for the common people who do I believe want peace. You feed people and give them gainful occupation and their self respect, they will change. The Arab leaders who have kept these people subjugated and submerged in the mire of poverty and blamed Israel for the ills of the Palestinians as a nation, they are the ones who should be bearing the blame for their inept and pathetically corrupt leadership and the conditions of their citizens.
I hope Paul McGeough can get his head out of his backside long enough to write a decent article on the middle east and one that is more factual, not some opinion piece that leaves the reader thinking he has been locked in a movie theatre watching goodness knows what lately. He ends with this pathetic line.


 The Palestinian Authority has always been about managing the Israeli occupation on behalf of Israel and the US. The Arab Spring could change all that - maybe.

Really, was he drunk when he wrote this? This may be what he wants us to believe about the Palestinian Authority. But the sad truth is the Palestinian Authority has never been about leadership and nation building. That is the pity and the tragedy for its people. It has been about war and building police forces and keeping control of the people who protest its corruption. 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/rash-israel-lights-arab-spring-powder-keg-20121117-29ism.html#ixzz2CZFzaZD3

DO NOT FORGET ISRAEL THIS SHABBAT

B'H

Prayers on Shabbes have special power. So please say tehillim 20 and think,pray,plead with the Abishter this Shabbes for Our Israel.
Good Shabbes
Also 23

The Politics of Restraint in Relating to Others - connection with Toldot

B"H
Itzhak and Rivka has two sons Ya'acov and Esav. From the their conception to their birth and beyond they struggled with each other. Two very different people, and one was flawed and the other strove for perfection and sought to I come his limitations. Ya'acov who was conceived first, should have been born first. But it was the younger hairy red Esav who pushed to the front to attempt to steal the birthright from his brother Ya'acov, who was allowed later to regain the birthright both through the actions of his mother Rivka and Esav himself.
What does Esav represent for us, but a person who does follow his own desires, a hunter and a trapper of men with his tongue. He is actually cleverer, more cunning by far than Ya'acov. Ya'acov dwells in tents, he is a civilised and sweet human being, a bit naive, gentle and compassionate. He does not want to trick his father, but Rivka knows that for his own survival in this world he must develop insight and vision in dealing with the Esav's of this world even though they are his own brother, in ord to survive. Esav is a hunter, a cunning predator and Rivka knows that if it suited him he would have no compassion or conscience about even killing Ya'acov if he could benefit from it. He is a person who follows only what is best for Esav. He is all ego and a me first person. Ya'acov who was born hanging onto his heel, is no match for him when he is younger. Rivka knows this. Ya'acov who dwells in the tents, does care for others. He is cooking the meal of mourning for his father Itzhak at the death of Avraham when Esav comes in and demands of him,'Give me some of that red stuff,'  He has been out in the fields while Ya'acov has tended to the needs of the dead and the mourner. Ya'acov has instinctive insight into fulfilling the needs of others on many levels.
Esav does not. He is a person with great potential but all of it is used for his own gains and nothing for others. He is potentially very dangerous to cross. When Ya'acov takes back his birthright, Esav wants to kill him and that is why Rivka tells Ya'acov to flee.
The lesson that Ya'acov has learnt with his own family does him in good stead when dealing with another trickster Laban.
If we see into people that we come into contact with we can see both the qualities of Ya'acov and Esav. There are those who are very much immersed in the physicality of this world. Their senses are closed to the spiritual realms. It does not mean that they can not comprehend different dimensions, they can, but they do not want to do so. It involves too much effort and self sacrifice. They have to step out of themselves and imagine how another person would feel or why they act as they do. They are locked within their view or perspective of the world. To step into the realms of another view we need to focus on that person and see them with compassion and understanding.  The Esav's of this world are focused only on their appetites and immediate satisfaction of physical desires.
Ya'acov contemplates and strives to understand a situation, a person and a concept. Ya'acov looks to the future and not just of the first generation but succeeding generations. Ya'acov himself was also flawed in his absolute love for Yosef at the expense of his brothers and also Yosef himself.
There is a little bit of Ya'acov in all of us, just as there is the Esav. The latter, untrammelled desires, doing what we want without thinking of our family and those around us, eating and drinking, using our resources with abandon, pleasure seeking hedonists are the Esav's of this world. Many of them are such sad and bitter people, because nothing will ever be enough or fill the void. They are rarely content and seek to always get what they want and more and more. Their eyes search hungrily for the next thrill, sexual adventure, people to trick and deceive to make money and who cares if they swindle and cheat and destroy to do so, they do not. They swallow all in their path if they can.
Ya'acov on the other hand, contemplates, learns and is a builder of the generations - a family man and a maker of peace. Think how hard it must have been for Ya'acov married to two sisters. That in and of itself, must have been a feat of extreme sensitivity and compassion on his part.
Ya'acov teaches us the fine line between excessive controls and fulfilment of desires and how to do the right thing when all our instincts and passions may be saying 'Oh G-D this is so unfair! Why,why me? We must learn patience and perseverance and fix we have to trick in order to gain back what is rightfully ours or to survive murderous intents of others, then we must.
Shabbat Shalom

A Tragedy that could have been AVOIDED

B"H

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/
national/mans-body-found-near-waterhole-in-mutawintja-national-park/story-fndo317g-1226516860468

Today there is a report in the paper about a group of three people who did something so unbelievably foolish. They were in outback NSW and had a crash. It is November and getting very warm during the days but still very cold at nights in some of the desert areas out near Broken Hill.
The first thing they did wrong was to leave their car. One wonders if they had enough water on board as well.
I used to travel with my son who was a baby at the time to see my mother in Charleville. It was a long trip. We used to go up through Griffith to Hillston on the Kidman Highway through Cobar, Bourke and on to Cunnamulla, Wyandra and then finally to Charleville. It was a long and tiring trip but I did it despite the expense (I can no longer afford to see my mother since I have been out of work for years) because my mother did enjoy our visits I did think.
However some tips for travelling.
I always made sure I had two twenty five litre containers of water and a fuel container with a spare fan belt and spare oil. You do not travel those roads unprepared. Have a recent road map on board, a phone charger that works. If there is an accident and you do not know where you are and there is no reception you are in big trouble. However, what many people do is keep friends or the police in the next town notified of their location. If you make an arrangement to check in with a friend or two every couple of hours then it is easier for the SES to locate you. For example, ring when you start out in the morning or sms this rellie or friend and check in again at lunch time or around 12 noon and then again at say 3pm and when you finish driving for the day. If something happens, DON'T leave your bloody car. It may be the only shade you have and you should be carrying spare water for a couple of days at least.
The Barrier Highway to Wilcannia and Broken Hill is even more isolated than the road between Hillson and Cobar.
When you are tired, you rest. I used to rest every couple of hours but still had an accident one trip when a front tire blew out just over the border into Queensland. I had just had a break of an hour or so at the truck stop just below the border in NSW at Barringun. I was tired as we had only another 125 kms to Cunnamulla and I was thinking to drop in and see my Aunt who was the Nursing Supervisor there and stay over night with her before continuing on to Charleville another 200 kms north.
As it was I did not handle the blowout of the tire despite it happening when I was only going 80 kms an hour and the car over turned. I used to be a bit of a speed hog before my child was born. It's funny how having a kid changes your perceptions on what is acceptable. I used to think that doing 140 on the back roads of the country, even dirt tracks was ok because there were no other cars around and you would only kill yourself, no loss to the world I used to think.
All that changed when I had a child to look after as well as myself. His needs come before mine. They still do. Your children are the reason we are put in this world. Yes, I agree some who choose to be or do not choose to be childless do have other missions to fulfil in the world. All who are wanting children badly and have the means to support and give them loving homes and raise them to be good people, honest people and compassionate people, G-D should bless them in revealed ways.

Gay Rights to Rites - HAD a GUT FULL of them!

B'H
Just picked up my mail in the post office today and had a chat with my postmistress. We often have a little chat. One of the benefits of country living is that you can form close chatty relationships with people like the Post mistress, the school teachers that teach your child, the garbage truck collector and the local shire people that you normally would not even give the time of day in the city because you are too busy rushing here and there. The country pace of life is slower and more civilised.
These are the normal every day simple folk who go about their business and are salt of the earth, commonsense individuals. We talked about the push for these same sex marriages and the Hu Ha about gay peoples' rights to rites and frankly both of us found it disturbing. As she said, we can't get away from them and just have a normal TV experience, we have to have gay people in soaps, gay newsreaders, gay radio shows, gay politicians (quite frankly they are the worst), gay bars,gay events, gay movie stars and the rest.
I used to go to the movies, but don't any more or if I do, I can only watch the kid shows or G rated stuff. Some of the PGs are now too adult for me and mine. Do I want to go to the movies and be confronted with two women pawing each other's naked bodies on the big screen? NO. Do I find the sight of two men simulating G-D only knows what on a big screen? NO, NO. Do I want to view a man and a woman being intimate in a way that they should be behind a locked door at home in private on a big screen in front of me?  NO, definitely NOT.
We have become such a vulgar society. What is worst is that it is seen by younger under thirties and even the forty and fifty somethings as 'normal'. Don't ask about the younger teens and twenties group. It is all they have ever known and having video games with androgynous females being battered and thrown about, is entertainment. That is the scary part that nice society and manners has all gone out the window. We are all about the rights of this and that person or group, that we really do not know who we are or what we are.

Look at the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Yes, she is a woman. Is she an appropriate role model for young women? Think again. She has been cohabitating with her  current partner for and does not marry him despite holding the highest government office position in the country. Is that what one wants for a daughter? Not at all. But these are modern times. They also had 'modern times' in ancient Rome and also in Egypt. She has also had some very questionable dealings involving finance and while Slater and Gordon are good at covering up what happened to these funds, there is only so long you can keep the lid on a simmering pot and one day it will boil over with the help of one of her political rivals. Julia needs to watch her back.
Then, we have our dear Craig Thompson. How a person like that gets into Parliament and we pay for a greasy pig like that to represent an electorate who knows?  This country is really going to the dingoes and the rabbits.
With John Howard there was not a whiff of a scandal and the guy led a boring life, but he did the job he was paid to do. Not so these ALP coots. The go to see a bit of lap dancing, fiddle with funds that they should not have their dirty little fingers on, visit a massage parlour or two and have a little bit of R and R at the expense of the tax payer or the Union members and we say and do nothing. It is beyond a joke.
Then they want in NSW to educate kids that being gay is 'normal'. Where is it going to end?
I say let's start a Radio Station for Rednecks and get Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones to hit the airways. Let's call it Radio Rednecks United with Bogan Conservatives. We could have talk shows for the norm of society and we will not discriminate against gays.
 We will put them on for an hour a day at midnight (past the family hours) with Alan Jones, Tony Abbot and Fred Nile if he is still alive, or maybe we could call him back from the other side, and let them present their case for equality despite being a minuscule cult part of the population. This gay cult thing needs to be stopped in its tracks before they destroy the minds and intellect of our young and vulnerable.

Workshop on Behaviours in Secondary Schools

B'H
I went to a workshop on secondary school students and management of behaviours. I cannot say I was impressed. The gentleman giving the workshop and I have totally different approaches. I am, I guess what he would call a 'rule Nazi' and he is into being friendly and casual with students. We do agree on some points however, like no handing out of personal mobile numbers or allowing students to 'friend' you on FaceBook.
I have one main rule in the classroom and that is 1. > 10. Follow the teacher's instructions. We usually discuss it on the first day and do a quick brainstorm on expectations for the class room with a flow chart for consequences both positive and negative with student input.
He was right in the way the classroom rules were set up, but I did not like his attitude. Students need boundary s and feel more secure with structure in the way the lesson progresses and also consistent and fair rules, but they also need interesting and engaging work to involve them. Positive reinforcement and praise he hardly mentioned and also he backpedaled from something thrown at him by a young male teacher who was obviously undermined. He steered in a cowardly fashion away from criticizing the principal who bought back into the classroom, a boy who had been quite violently physically towards this teacher.
That is where I have a problem. I think constructive criticism of peers (not in front of students as was done to me by my so called HT when she did not have the full story) should be par for course.You do not bring a violent or badly behaved student back into a classroom. If you are a principal, he is obviously in your domain for a reason, that reason being that a higher authority and an investigation is needed to deal with the boy's behaviour. Throwing him back into the classroom disrespects the authority of the teacher who sent him to you in the first place and please hear the teacher's side of the story. There usually is more to the story.
Give teachers credibility and credit for commonsense. Yes, I know there are teachers who are stupid and use their phones to make soft core porn of their marital life and bring it to work or teachers who are over friendly with students, BUT that is NOT all of us and for every DUM DUM who behaves badly and it gets into the media, there are thousands of decent, caring and compassionate individuals who are teachers and work their ass off in schools to educate kids for the future, theirs, yours and ours. We need to ensure that our kids have the correct values systems in place, before they hit the streets of life running after we finish with them in the school system. They need to be resourceful, responsible and respectful young adults with healthy self esteem that allows them to be respected by others, happy and able to trust. I have found that the best young people have the ability to be friends with people younger than them, they can be nurturing and allow themselves to be nurtured and mentored by older adults as well as their peers. We all have something to learn from others. I learn from my son things that I had forgotten from my childhood. We needed to have known then what we know now and it gets harder as you get older to understand yourself and how you acted at an earlier time.  Does that make sense, probably not. It is late so off to meditate and go to sleep.

Walking Boundary Fences

There are some who love lines
Drawn deep in sand, dragged out furrows
That make impressive barriers
Until the ocean waves swoop and swallow
Them whole, chanting all the time,'that's mine, mine.'
A lisping whisper that becomes a roar
of robes and placards stating'death to freedom'
Or is it death through freedom unbound?

There are some who love walls
That will tower tall over us all.
That will keep us locked in
Away from me, you, them and him.
We have our own little enclaves and heaven help us
If our slaves will mingle and our worlds collide thus
There will be hell to pay for the sins of the bound
And those too different dare not make a sound,
There are hidden doors somewhere but hard to find
Even more difficult for those who are blind.

There are some who love fences
And I must say, with that concept I am quite taken,
but not fences of razor strands stretching out
for miles and of the worst kind, without a doubt.
But fences of netting and these are the best
especially with a gate here and there
To allow some fingers to poke through
To the other side and contact and to see
what might be on the other side of the fence.
Netting is strong for the job, it keeps pests out
for the majority and confines the beasts
To the appropriate pastures
At the appropriate times
But still it needs to be walked
Regularly to repair breaches
to close the holes like all good husbandmen
Would do to keep the soul whole
for this day and the next.

The Catholic Church really needs to do some work on itself

B'H
There are big problems for the Catholic church in Australia with this latest spat of child abuse cases bursting from the woodwork like maggots from a rotting corpse being dug up after a few weeks in the ground. It just goes to show that you deal with problems now before they get bigger and more rotten by the week, day, hour or minute. Up to 70 % of an order of priests are connected to child abuse. Shocking, but it appears to be that more than a few paedophiles found a literal 'garden of Eden' in the young, very vulnerable children that they had access to unhindered in homes set up to help and 'nurture kids in poor or no family situations. They were able to abuse at will because they were in a position of trust and power within this organisation. Who would believe a little boy of ten or eleven when he says that the priests had taken him away for an orgy of buggery? There is an old saying that 'birds of a feather flock together'. How very apt when applied in this case. These kids with no real family to look out for them were ideal victims. They could be raped and abused with ease and when they became substance abusers because of the abuse, well, they were bad boys to begin with weren't they, telling lies about the priests?? Think about what happened and it makes your blood run cold.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pell-urged-to-close-order-over-abuses-20121111-296ng.html

A Dr Michelle Mulvihill who actually at one time worked for the order in dealing and negotiating with child abuse victims, has apparently stated, over 75% of this particular Order of St John are paedophiles of the worst type who pack raped vulnerable children and possibly killed two boys, apart from the boys whose death by suicide because of childhood abuse is possibly not attributed to the abuse they suffered in a home run by these insidious people. Often these sick individuals will find ways to blame the victims as they are shifted from parish to parish to parish as the Catholic Church protects these vile individuals hiding in the folds of their priestly cassocks. 
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/list-grows-of-abusers-moved-from-parish-to-parish-20121111-296ht.html

One wonders how the Catholic church can produce people like Mother Theresa and people who devote themselves to helping others and then protects the social filth or bottom of the barrel scum like Father David Daniel or a Father Terence Pidoto? It does not make sense.  If we protect this scum in society and allow religious organisations like the Catholic church to defend these evil people, then we are doing a disservice to our future generations.
I think the problem probably lies within the Catholic Church itself. One wonders how an organisation that insists its priests and nuns not marry is able to adequately understand and support 'family' as an institution within its spiritual structure. Catholicism probably should have died a natural death centuries ago. However there is a level of hypocrisy within Catholicism that is astounding when you come to examine its philosophies and theology closely. Most of the Catholics I know are lapsed ones. That tells you something. I went to school at PGC with one Catholic out of the school of 200 boarders. When I saw the film The Godfather I was intrigued by the aspect of Catholic forgiveness. This Mafioso boss goes and garrotes a guy and then goes and confesses to his priest and he is forgiven?? I asked Curly Morris who was our token Catholic at PGC, is that true, you can confess to the priest if you do something wrong and you are forgiven? Yep, she assured me. I somehow never found that an attractive option.
I grew up with the idea of consequences. My late father would have made a very good Orthodox Jew.  If you did something you did it right. If you made a mistake, you went back and corrected it and did it again and again until you got it right. If Dad built a fence, it was built to last and last a long time. If he welded a cattle or sheep crate for the back of a truck, it could properly last a century or more. Dad was not sloppy in his approach. He was never messy. His workshop was amazingly organised and neat. When I researched our ancestor Rachel Aaron I was not surprised to learn that her mother married to Yosef Aaron was descended from German Jews from Hamburg.  The Yeker strain - like attracts like.  My mother is Austrian and also a Yeker. Forgiveness for us in our family might happen on the rare occasion,  but we never forget a slight.  The family also having a strain of Irish Catholics on my father's mother's side must have mixed with some Jews somewhere in county Cork in Ireland because we just do not forget things. My father was fond of telling about two Irish great Uncles who ran a painting business down in Goodiwindi on the NSW Qld border at the turn of the 19th Century early 20th Century. They had a falling out for some forty years of their lives and still ran their painting business together. They communicated through a sister who lived with them and did their housekeeping. She was unmarried. I asked my father, when I was around ten or so, why didn't she just tell them to go to the buggery and elope and what happened when she died, how did they communicate? My father, very tellingly, told me that she knew she had to outlive them both and as for the other, well she also knew that she had to look after them as she was the oldest in the family. The females in the Kirby families tended to be overlooked in the marriage stakes because they were overprotected and needed in the family businesses or to look after the children of the married brothers. Kind of a sad state of affairs, but I have diverged.Let's get back to the Catholic Church and its role and responsibilities.
If you have institutions set up to look after vulnerable and defenseless children, don't hand them over to sicko priests with perverse tastes to administer. Find stable family people = an experienced mother and father who have had experience in raising kids to administer the home and hire suitable staff. It  is like letting a pack of hungry mice or rats take care of a drum of horse feed or a block of cheese.
Maybe priests and nuns should only be occupied in making olive oil, wine, cultivating orchards and such pursuits that do not involve the care of the vulnerable young of our societies.Even when the monasteries and nunneries were close to each other, many did not keep their vows of chastity. Under many of those nunneries have been found the corpses of fetuses and new born children probably strangled or smothered at birth. How convenient for the nuns to be wearing those long flowing robes. I guess they hid pregnancies very well and the priests and nuns could present the facade of chastity etc etc and go about their 'good works' during the day and go hell for leather at night with each other, then go to confession and its all OK  all forgiven and if a pregnancy resulted the babe could be disposed of at birth and thrown into the sewers that ran under the converts. The whole structure of such an organisation is rotten. However, at least they are hanging on to the vestiges of decency and are against gay marriages. That is something to be thankful for and a hint that there is some normalacy in the organisation. Unless some of the gay priests get in on the act and infiltrate the higher echelons of the church and all of sudden the Catholic Church will start to support gay marriage.
We need Torah and Torah values now more than ever in our society.
"Good fences make good neighbours", states the poet Robert Frost's neighbour  in his poem Mending the Wall. This adage is talking more about the setting of boundaries and understanding where we stop and the other person's property begins. Paedophile priests or child abusers do not have personal boundaries where their sexual desires are concerned and do not allow others to have them. They like the vulnerable children because the child does not know yet how to set boundaries or to enforce their personal boundaries when harassed by an adult who uses them for their own purposes. That is the pity. Children need to be healed from abuse and validated in their belief that the abuse was and is wrong. When we protect abusers of another person, WHATEVER age they may be, we hurt the victims more and allow the abuser to be validated in doing what he or she does. The abuser feels powerful and vindicated in his abuse, whereas the abused feels that he or she is somehow the one who is wrong and has somehow 'asked for the abuse' for any number of stupid illogical reasons.
We MUST start to protect the victims and NOT PROTECT abusers. I hope the Catholic church takes note of this.