Interesting Bundaberg Psychic

About two weeks since I wrote last. Where to start?

Probably the most interesting event was consulting a phychic for a one hour reading. I chanced across the lady, who lives in the Bundaberg area, but knew nothing about her. She knew nothing of me except my first name.

I didn't consult for any specific reason, it just seemed an interesting thing to do and other than a five minute 'fair ground' type reading 40 years ago I'd never had one done. Naturally I was sceptical. I've always thought some people could have a genuine psychic ability, but tended to believe that most people representing themselves as readers were in fact skilled in encourageing and responding to feedback and body language.

I was pleasantly surprised that Barbara's first words after a friendly greeting were to insist that I told her nothing about myself, and not to nod or respond in any way during the first 15 minutes. During that time, Barbara closed her eyes and repeated to me messages she said she was receiving from her spirit guides. And a huge amount was crammed into those 15 minutes!. Some of it was undeniably spot-on, though a few items I couldn't relate to. After that time we talked together about some of the messages, and I showed her some photos of the family which drew a couple of interesting responses.

Overall, I left after an hour (with a tape recording of the hour long session) feeling good about having visited her. If you're interested in contacting Barbara for a reading, her email address is
barbS@bigpond.com

Nancy Crick, John Edge's book, and more on Legalising Voluntary Euthanasia

Today there's an article in the Courier Mail about a book published by John Edge called 'Telling it Straight' which apparently includes more information about the assisted suicide of Nancy Crick. The article says that police will review the book with a view to reopening the case of Nancy's death.

This is a comment I sent to the online Courier Mail. I'm not sure whether it will be pulished or not, but I decided to save a copy here anyway.

Isn't it time the States introduced humane legislation which allows Voluntary Euthanasia? Lets have an end to the need for ridiculous clandestine activity, over-the-top publicity, and then the waste of police resources as they hunt down these wicked 'criminals'.

Even Amanda Vanstone, called the most poweful woman in the Federal Cabinet, supports the legalisation of controlled Voluntary Euthanasia. We need to see the end of uncontrolled deaths assisted by radical activists and the even sadder hidden suicides of the many desperate elderly terminally ill who resort to hanging, shooting, or drinking household poisons.

Amanda Vanstone's support for legalised Voluntary Euthanasia - read on for important link

I was delighted to read of Amanda Vanstone's recent public support for the legalisation of Voluntary Euthanasia. Encouragement from Amanda, and hopefully other senior players in the federal sphere, might help one or more States to take the long awaited step of introducing VE legislation.

Marshall Perron introduced the worlds first law permitting voluntary euthanasia in the Northern Territory in 1995. It had overwhelming support within the NT community, and all were devastated (even it's few NT opponents) when Kevin Andrews and federal colleagues treated the NT people like second class citizens by overturning the NT law in 1997.

This was only possible because the Northern Territory wasn't a State. If one of the States had introduced the same legislation, it couldn't have been neutered by Canberra.

One important document which I'd like all interested in the voluntary euthanasia movement to read, is here in the National Library archives.

http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/15050/20010614/home.vicnet.net.au/_vesv/marshallOct96.htm

Because of the publicity accorded Philip Nitschke and others during subsequent years, many people are not aware, or have lost sight of, the critical process and campaign between the time Marshall Perron conceived of the legislation around late 94?) it's subsequent historic passage in the NT Parliament in 1995, and the final gazetting the law in July 1996.

Any States considering the introduction of VE legislation will need an immense amount of fortitude to withstand the presure they'll be put under by powerful and rich opponents who want to derail it. Although a proven minority, their influence is considerable. But the end result WILL be worth the effort if legislation can be introduced which allows terminally ill Australlians to seek a humane death if they wish it.

I'll await development with much interest.

Election Postmortem

What an interesting five days it's been. Much to my surprise (and shock/horror?) the Labor party led by Premier Beattie romped it in as predicted by the polls. I don't understand it fully, but I did say "may the best team win" so I hope that's what happened.

I didn't post until now, because the electorate of Bundaberg was one of several where the vote was so evenly split between the conservative coalition (Liberal/National) and the Labor party that postal votes had to be counted before a winner could be declared. Even now there's some votes still to be counted, but with a lead of over 400 votes, the National candidate Jack Dempsey today claimed victory (I think that's what they called it. The Labor candidate Sonia Clearly hasn't yet conceded defeat as far as I know)

In an earlier post I pondered a scenario where the Bundaberg electorate was won by the Nationals but the overall State went to Labor. Even so, I decided to vote National so I'll have to wear it if the outcome isn't as good for the people of Bundaberg as I'd like it to be.

There's two ways of looking at it.

One is that the National partiy holding Bundaberg might give us a more forceful voice in the Parliament, as opposed to a tame Labor member who has to toe the party line. (With a big State wide victory despite the apalling state of health education water etc., will the Labor party be genuinely motivated to improve things?).

The second way of looking at it is that the Labor party could neglect Bundaberg more than ever before, because any improvements before the next election might be counted to the credit of the sitting National member, giving them an ever stronger foothold in the electorate next time around.

Other things I'll be watching out for will be the attitude and influence of the defeated Labor candidate. The last thing Jack Dempsey needs is to be whiteanted from within the ranks of the doctors and nurses.

What Jack does need, in my opinion, is a good crash course in public speaking and handling the media. His brief appearance on the ABC on election night caused me to cringe with embarrasment for him, and wonder whether I'd made a terrible mistake by giving him my vote. I'm sure he'll come good and grow into the role of State member, but he needs - and deserves - every bit of help his party can give him.

After all, over two elections he's achieved a swing of 15% or more against the Labor party which has been entrenched in Bundaberg for more than 100 years.

The Queensland State Election 2006

This is a comment of mine as it was posted on the Courier Mail site.

Posted by Granny Lynda on Mon 04 Sep 06 at 02:16pm:
I’ve done a lot of thinking during the campaign, and decided that the chance of the coalition developing into an effective working team with the interests of Queenslands people at heart, was greater than the chance of Beattie and his team? suddenly starting to perform (not as in a circus but as in achieving results).
As a result I’ll be voting for my local National candidate. The official policy launches, advertising and coverage since, have helped to confirm to me that I made the right choice.
The thing that could help to change my mind before next Saturday, is if Springborg and/or Flegg continue to cosy up with the Federal coalition. I think it’s desperatlely important that our State Government is always the servant of the people of Queensland, and not subservient to the influence of the Federal Government.
___________________
I probably won't be making another blog entry until after the election, so until then, all I can say is "May the best team win".

LANTUS Insulin now approved for PBS

Earlier in August I posted (on my old blog site) the following blog. I'm now delighted to report that LANTUS insulin has been approved for listing from 1 October 2006. I still haven't had a reply from Mr Abbott (The Federal Health Minister) to my letter - perhaps I never will. But the main thing is, the Lantus insulin IS finally approved, and we won't have to continue to pay over $100 for every vial.

"Since late last year we've been paying out over $100 a time for a small vial of insulin for my husband. For a long time he's been a 'brittle' diabetic with difficult to control blood sugar levels, but for reasons still unknown (we suspect he may have had a bad batch of insulin) he ended up with sudden very very high blood sugar readings which had him hospitalised for around three weeks.

During that time a doctor suggested his diabetes would be better controlled with an insulin called Lantus, which we'd never heard of. Our regular doctor hadn't mentioned it because we're pensioners and it wasn't on PBS. However in desperation we read more about it and were told that listing on PBS was likely to occur 'very soon', so we decided to use it.

The results have been remarkable. Hubby's blood sugar levels are much more stable with a corresponding improvement in his overall health, not suffering the side effects of wild swings, and no more hospital visits.

But now, nearly 12 months later and Lantus is still not listed on PBS. Why? How many hospital admissions could have been saved in that time if it had been more readily available for people such as my husband who have a particularly 'brittle' form of Type 1 diabetes?

In trying to find some recent news about the progress of PBS listing of Lantus, I found this transcript of interview on Sky News with Jan McLucas on 16 July 2006. Here's parts of that interview.
INTERVIEWER: You have been quite critical of the process today, how long do you think it should take for a drug like Herceptin to be passed by the PBS?JAN MCLUCAS: Well, it should be a lot faster than Mr Abbott has dealt with a range of drugs. The Lantus example is a fine one. He has had that recommendation since April the 26th and yet today on the program he gave no indication as to when it would be listed.He is right it has to go through a process and part of that process is fixing an appropriate price. But Mr Abbott has form on this. He clearly has an attitude of go slow when it comes to listing important medicines.
INTERVIEWER: Surely they have to be quite careful with the process. We know that it is very expensive as we have heard with Herceptin it will cost taxpayers as much as $400 million and there is any number of pharmaceutical companies out there with drugs to pedal. Surely we do have to be careful about how we go about deciding which drugs are added.
JAN MCLUCAS: Absolutely and we do not resile from that. There has to be a very rigorous process. But in reality, what is happening time after time with Mr Abbott in charge, is that that process is completed and then the documentation just sits on his desk and he doesn’t take it to Cabinet and therefore people for example with breast cancer or diabetes continue to miss out on important drugs that will assist them to deal with their health problems.
So, Mr Abbott our Federal Health Minister has had the recommendation since April and as of mid July it still hadn't been approved. What can be the cause of such a delay? How many taxpayer dollars have been spent on hospitalisations in that time which could have been avoided by a lesser expenditure on Lantus? To say nothing of the stress which severe illness brings to the diabetic and their families?
I sent an email about this to Mr Abbott last week (4th August). I'm curious as to if and when I'll receive a reply - and what it has to say"

Bundaberg Election 2006 - Sonja Cleary, Jack Dempsey or Greg McMahon?

I've been puzzled by the recent polls which show Labor might romp it in, in the forthcoming election.

But then I reflected on our situation in Bundaberg. Just who are our choices?

There's a nurse/academic Sonja Cleary. I chatted to her once in town and heard her once on ABC radio. Somewhat inarticulate - at least on radio - and doesn't come over as a forceful individual with the passion to help Bundy and its people identify and solve current problems. The only thing I recall from chatting with her was her concern about Federal Government policies, and I personally don't want another politician (like Nita Cunningham) who hides her head in the sand about State issues and floats on the 'blame the feds' platform. Also Sonja was on the district hospital council at the time the council wrote in support of Jayant Patel. She claimed "we were as disturbed about the letter as members of the community". As a nurse wouldn't she more than anyone have the inside running on scuttlebutt from the hospital staff? And if she didn't, can Bundaberg people be convinced of her ability to keep in touch in the future?

If Sonja gets elected along with a continuing Labor government there's a danger that she'll be (or end up being) a compliant mouthpiece for Beattie and of no practical use to Bundaberg.

Our other main party choice is Jack Dempsy. Nationals candidate and Bundaberg police officer. Already failed opponent when he stood against Nita Cunningham in the last election although I believe there was a swing in his favour. He's had a very low profile in Bundaberg since then, and I was surprised the Nationals put him up again. I just googled on "jack dempsey" national party candidate bundaberg and got only 12 hits. Take out the quite good and long articles from the southern papers, the last election, and the National Party site and there's not much left to indicate a positive local profile.

I've never met him, but had cause to speak to him on the phone once and wasn't impressed. Has he got what it takes? I don't know, but he hasn't got much time left to covince the Bundaberg electorate so he'd better get active.

Also anyone contemplating voting for him has to wonder what will happen to Bundaberg if a) he wins Bundaberg but the State stays with Labor, or b) if he wins Bundaberg and the State goes to a National/Liberal coalition with leadership uncertainty.

Finally there's independent Greg McMahon. Googling on 'Greg McMahon independent candidate Bundaberg' gave me a lot of background about his work with Whistleblowers Australia which goes back a long way. He was apparently kicked out of the labor party some months ago after revealing (via National party member Rob Messenger) some questionable financial goings on in the local Labor party. His reported vitriole against the Labor party since then makes you wonder about one report which suggests he nominated (or planned to nominate) as the Labor candidate for this election.

And although it shouldn't make a lot of difference, I couldn't find out anything from the 'net about other things I'd like to know. Like how old is he? what does he look like? where does he live? What does he do for a living? The only telephone number I could find for him was in Queensland but not Bundaberg.

Many people will be tempted to vote for an independent in this election, but as well as knowing the candidates (which is proving to be difficult) the issues of the unknown impact of preferences, and the outcome if the independent should win office, are key considerations.

The voters of Bundaberg definitely have some deep thinking to do in the next couple of weeks - and the candidates had better get cracking and make meaningful information available to the electorate to help them reach a decision.

I apologise in advance if I've missed finding information on the internet or misrepresented anyones position. Like many other older people in the community I rely mainly on the 'net for information. I've given up subscribing to the local newspaper because of it's lack of coverage of major issues, and large amount of group school and sport photos which it presumably resorts to to boost sales.

If you do want to make a comment on what I've said, in support or otherwise, please go ahead. Comments aren't moderated, but if I find later that you've put up something totally offensive or obscene I'll probably hide it from pulic view.