MY FARM

The twin. Lisa had a twin brother, he was an attractive child, with a mass of thick blond curly hair and he was always happy and smiling. He stole all the limelight and Lisa who was rather plain and grumpy became a bit of an outcast and that had a profound effect on her life. There are no childhood photos of Lisa, she had destroyed them all. Well, eventually she grew up and escaped her situation, she became pregnant, married a dark handsome man and they had a baby boy. There were many compliments regarding the beautiful baby boy who didn’t look like his mother or father, he was more like Lisa’s twin brother had been as a baby. Instead of being happy she had a beautiful baby, Lisa resented it. The compliments filled her with anger. She felt she had a constant reminder of her own childhood and could not bring herself to love the child. So the boy grew up with no praise, encouragement, compliments or hugs. She could not stop herself from depriving the boy at every opportunity, she dressed him in second hand clothes that made him look like a refugee. She felt the need to handicap him because she resented the fact that he looked good. She did not take into account the fact that her child was not even aware that he was a good looking boy. He grew up feeling inferior, he was always trying to please his mother, but without success. Never thinking badly of his mother, just thinking he himself was inferior.

THE HAMMER - I was only about 10 years old and I wanted to be a carpenter when I grew up. My Uncle Ron was a carpenter. He gave me a cross pein hammer and I helped him to make some nail boxes. I was overwhelmed when he said I could keep the hammer because nobody had ever given me a gift before when it wasn't even my birthday. I never became a carpenter, but the hammer was in my trademan's toolbox when I grew up. I had it for about 25 years, during which time I replaced the handle several times. It was a sad day when I couldn't find it, I don't know what happened to it, but I never saw it again.
Even though it is gone I will never forget the gift and the kindness Uncle Ron showed me in my younger days.

GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY Trial by jury.
My advice would be, if you are guilty of the charges, you should go for a trial by jury.
Why? Because that will give you a 50/50 chance of getting off.
If you are not guilty, you should go for a trial by Judge, because that is your best chance of getting a fair trial.

Anyone who serves on a jury is not allowed to talk about the trial after it is over.
Why? Because then it would expose the fact that trial by jury is a farce, a bad joke.
A few facts.
The person being charged can reject jurors that they don’t like.
Most of the jurors will be in a trance after the first boring hour of the trial and this could go on for days. The housewife will drift off thinking about the kids. The men will be imagining the court secretary with no clothes on, by the end of the trial the whole courtroom will be naked.
If it is a trial concerning financial fraud (for example), hundreds of documents may be presented, complex deals involving facts and figures that only a good accountant could grasp. But there are no accountants on the jury, half of them can’t even manage their personal finances. What is the point in presenting complex evidence to a jury that has no hope of comprehending it. Half the jurors have not the faintest idea of what the trial is actually about. Those jurors will usually vote not guilty because they just don’t know and they wouldn’t want it on their conscience that they voted guilty.
Many jury members are influenced by the appearance of the person on trial. If on the first day of the trial the person on trial is in prison garb (they look like a criminal), they are already perceived as being guilty. On the second day the same person on trial is dressed in a suit (they look like an executive), the jury now perceive them as respectable. It is like a different person is on trial.

There are all these highly educated people participating in the trial process at massive expense and then the final result is decided by a random group of people who have no particular skills at all. The jury often come up with the wrong result. Innocent people are found guilty and murderers are getting off. It must be burden on jury members when they later find they got it wrong. There has to be a better way.

GLOBAL WARMING - Do you think that global warming is occuring in your country.
I live in South Australia, considered to be the driest state in the driest country on earth.
The Weather Bureau has confirmed that we are experiencing the effects of global warming in South Australia. Although it is normal for us to experience summer heat waves, the duration and intensity are more than ever before. We have been warned to expect more of the same in coming years.
We are having many days over 40 (104F) degrees and up to nearly 46 (114F)and one night was an all time record minimum of 34 degrees. In country towns they are recording up to 48 (118F) degrees.
There has been an increase in the number of deaths related to the heat and the morge is overfull. Hospitals are overloaded with admissions.
There are problems with insuficient electricity supply due to high use of air conditioning.
Many trees and shrubs are shedding their leaves in a bid to stay alive. We lost a 30 metre high gum tree last year and another one has just died. Our tree ferns are now copper coloured.
There are water restrictions in force all year round. Crop yeilds are poor.
We have had drought conditions for the past 10 years. Our winters are colder and drier. Things are not looking good here - How is it in your location?

The world financial crisis is bringing the world leaders together like nothing ever before. A crisis of this proportion has the potential to result in war such as it did in the case of the Second world war. Thankfully we now have some highly intelligent leaders working at resolving the crisis. I have no idea how they are going to fix the mess but I wish them success.