Olive green, red and blue

I think if the government wants to discourage young people from eating take-away food to avoid obesity and diabetes in later life, then perhaps they should consider requesting fast food companies and those who market soft drinks and chocolate bars enclose their products in olive green wrappers -  the color of the 'new' cigarette packets, designed to discourage people from smoking.  Likewise, if olive green is supposed to be so unappealing (I think the Greens may disagree with them), maybe the government should insist that labels on beer and wine bottles also be this color, since so many injuries and deaths are caused by young people (but not only the young) who get drunk and then drive their cars. Hey, why not insist that all cars be painted olive green to put people off driving and inevitable accident and injury. If the government really believes that cigarette smoking is so bad for us why don't they just ban cigarettes and tobacco products all together? Probably because they collect over $8 billion dollars a year in revenue and many of our services are provided for by the fact that people are addicted to smoking. This new labeling is just pure hypocrisy it's just a way that the government can prove that it's doing something to address the health issues associated with smoking, but if you think about it, they're not really doing that much!  Fact is that people imbibe all kinds of things and substances that are not good for their body, and also absorb ideas that might not be condoned as well. People have been smoking since 5000 BC and over one billion people throughout the world currently use tobacco for recreational use, either as something they  inhale into their lungs or via snuff, which is insufflated through their nostrils. It's considered by many to be one of life's little pleasures. To others, smokers are simply people with certain personality traits, although the personality differences between smokers and non-smokers is usually small. And whilst I'm pontificating I would just like to say what kind of a weird world do we live in, in which a anti-smoking advertisement can show bright red blood on a handkerchief coughed up by a male smoker, but disguises menstruation blood on sanitary pads and tampon advertisements as blue dye? I do get it. We (smokers) are supposed to be frightened by the sight of blood because it's associated with  pain, trauma and death, but portraying menstrual blood as blue liquid is just wrong - it dilutes the pain that many women experience during menstruation under a purity rubric that may be associated with the white pad, but is certainly not experienced by the woman. OK, enough now, the sun is shining through the beautiful olive green leaves near my porch and it's time for me to get on with the day.

A load of old rubbish!

The Select Committee on the Scrutiny of New Taxes (set up by the Australian Government) is looking into Carbon Tax pricing mechanisms and so far has received 36 submissions. This doesn't appear to be a huge amount given the outrage by individuals for or against the proposed carbon reduction scheme. Maybe it's just easier for some to write a slogan on a piece of board and turn up to shout in a protest?

And talking about pollution, Bruce Guthrie's article Bright lights, filthy city in the Age this morning whinges about people discarding fast-food containers, drink bottles, cigarette butts and packs as well as ATM slips onto Melbourne streets. And whose being blamed? Goths, homeless people and scantily clad late-night revellers...it's pretty clear we're not talking about Collins Street bankers or Spring Street apartment dwellers, he said. There are 300,000 visitors to Melbourne on the weekends and they can't all be bogans (his word, not mine).

If the City of Melbourne is concerned about the amount of rubbish discarded on city streets on Friday and Saturday nights and with men urinating in doorways, maybe they should consider using some of the $170 million dollars they receive every year in rates from businesses and individuals to install more rubbish bins and public toilets. They publicize the fact that they have 28 public toilets (and intend to build 5 more by June 2011), but I really don't know where they are, the only ones I'm aware of (that is not one of those disgusting underground ones that no one in their right mind would visit) is around the corner from the Town Hall in Collins Street and those at Federation Square and Queen Vic Centre.

If Council wants Melbourne to be perceived as a locale brimming with life and activity that attracts overseas visitors then diversity of population has to be part of the attraction and that means the inclusion of  'desirables' as well as 'undesirables'. We live in a society that equates having a good time with drinking alcohol and I don't think that attitude is going to change anytime soon. Carbon Tax? Maybe the government should consider a Fun Tax?