Duroux Family History

Our trust shaken by mixed signals

I paused, however, just for a moment with my finger poised over the power button. Australian television recycles its "personalities" like plastic milk containers, the same tired faces, albeit occasionally re-dentured and re-botoxed, appearing decade after decade.

The face on the screen, however, was unrecognisable and its owner appeared to be giving away lightbulbs.

The exquisitely tailored Eddie McGuire gives away bundles of cash every night yet this yokel in the bad suit was giving away lightbulbs!

The rays of realisation were slow in dawning, an intellectual enfeeblement I attribute to the distraction caused by the glass of white wine I had just poured and the fatigue induced by a long day of toil.

Seconds passed as suspicion turned to certainty. I wasn't watching another game show at all! This was a pox of a different ilk. It was a State Government television commercial imitating a game show and being shown in prime time, produced and broadcast at what you can safely presume was enormous expense and all funded by taxpayers.

Its aim? To trumpet the green credentials of the Bligh Government and its ceaseless efforts to help you and me save a dollar here and a dollar there with its power efficiency guidelines.

It was not enough that I was about to be assaulted by a $12 million advertising barrage by the Gillard Government as it attempted to convince me that a carbon dioxide tax hatched to placate the Greens and thus keep the Prime Minister in a job was a good and a great thing.

I was also to now suffer another example of the Bligh Government's profligate self-promotion poorly disguised as public education.

On the verge of descending the slippery slope of despair, I reminded myself that things could be a lot worse.

I could, for example, have suffered the fate of Peter Beattie, who last week lamented his decision to accept the role as Queensland Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles when he retired as premier.

How awful it must have been for him in the City of Angels subsisting on $200,000 a year and a $7557-a-month allowance for a car and accommodation. Lord only knows how he managed to scrape by on $5735 a week.

"Anna (Bligh) had to talk me into it. Bearing in mind how much pain I've had from it, there are days that I regret taking the appointment," Beattie said. I did not hear him utter these words, but easily imagined him stifling a sob as he did so.

Pain? Ah, yes, the pain. This discomfort arose from allegations surrounding his appointment to that most trying of posts, the one he accepted after declaring that on his retirement he would not accept a government job.

Police Officer of the Year escapes conviction for - Queensland ...

Defence lawyer Bill Potts said police were subjected to the same 'failure, weaknesses and misjudgments' as everyone and Sen Const Froggatt accepted he had let down his colleagues and the community. But he said the community asked 'an awful lot' of police and Sen Const Froggatt had worked two 13-hour shifts before he was nabbed for drink-driving. "Is it any wonder a man has a drink to relax and take the edge off the tension of working in Surfers Paradise?" he told the court. Mr Potts said his client had also been shamed in the media. I am a 5'10" tall, jocular former university teacher aged 66 at the time of writing in late 2009 who still has a fair bit of hair. I am Australian born of working class origins and British ancestry. My doctorate is in psychology but I taught mainly sociology (Research Methods) in my 14 years as a university teacher. In High Schools I taught economics. I have taught in both traditional and "progressive" (low discipline) High Schools. My main interests are blogging, classical music, history, the stockmarket, current affairs and languages. I have been married four times to four fine women with whom I am still on amicable terms. I have one son born in 1987. I am totally non-sporting and have never owned a firearm. My brother has enough guns for the whole family. I did however enjoy my weapons training in the Army.

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