BONO inspires US ,but lets make emotion work

Dear BONO My question: What stands in the road of a better future for semiarid Africans?
The glass is certainly more than half full, but if we are going to keep the momentum going ---lets be realistics the glass does have some leaks .
What stands in the road of the future? Sometimes the audience themselves. That means aid agencies and the media don’t even know what they do wrong . I know many many caring people in the system who do not know or see the dangers of misplaced interest in the rural poor in particular. Its their particular economic and environmental homes we should know about ---to care about

Guilt, tokenism , projection, empire building, wannabe well known and racism infiltrate what should be a professional and team effort to tackle something which you rightly and wonderfully say is “Africa----- up to us !” Please do not encourage the Political correct , but the increasingly absent medium of expertise on environmental planning – despite appearances there is a lot of quick fix force talk in the agencies talk --that will hurt real people on the ground .

POINT : poorer countries need professional planning advocates who care closely – EVEN more than they need money

Really caring about committing suicide

The wrong road travelled --looks ok and sounds ok but is it what people need ?

Someone I know quite well was sent a counsellor at maybe $1000 a day because he was on the risk list - he cared about the profession he was being sacked from . He was one of those public servants who should be quietly reminding the medai that all is not well financailly with the house of Bracks .He had to go as he didn't repeat the cuurent logic and wasn't part of the pack.
The point was that real caring is not always bought ; the cool commitment to listen ( only one part of caring, the other being prepared to act for the powerless maybe) made this bloke even more depressed.He enjoyed the fact that this guy really listened but later realised that for all that time he could have done something more - made a few pnone calls; coached him in communication , held a joint meeting ; not just tested his mood. the same thing is true of too many ads and media calls on the subject - OK but only to a point .
Is Bracks funding ads, DHS or Lifeline to do the work ? we must have more secular counsellors? - you mean more contracted caring or just more a confused mix Persoanl means one person responsible as Scott peck insisted d not this grab bag where real people fall through the cracks in the name of secular 9-5 professionalism ?

The deep reality, not yet faced by our bungling brackians, is that mere talk of caring can drive people to "do it" Impersonal or mere talk care can make matters worse .
Bracks is quietly sacking people to fund his meddling . If DHS really cared it would support families and institutions to do ther own caring and not parm it off as they NOW do to an expensive range of 9-5 professionals .

It is no cooincendence that Mr Kennett is leading beyond blue . He didn't care for people who cared ( the nightingale factor) . I wonder if the Bracks governmnet has done anything to restore the nightingale factor or has been dulled by interanl ideology and Political correctness in the public service that kill off the personal and connected rather than contracted ( turn up and talk ) type of care we used to know .Tell me i am wrong; tell the truth....... care!

Origins of dependancy come from attitudes of dependancy ?

Sally does a good job of reminding our overloaded health care system that we may be overloading the system with misplaced concerns and compassion. Why should DHS woory? They get more jobs and more care - but its TOO OFTEN not working for the people they say they care about!
Careless talkers are using the ideas to get funding to perpetuate powerlessness amongst the people they say they are protecting.
I mean, this is no time to be clever - the next generation of taxpayers may well dismiss the misadventures of the current crop of intellectually impoversished ( and yesmen driven )bureaubrats............and then noone will care?
As Sally says perhaps predicting the dark mood (of those who do not insist on facing the critical debate she is calling for to help resolve the issues of care0?
"Do we blithely dismiss the child "-

for whom we once exhibited concern and compassion - as irresponsible or undeserving if they experience difficulties as an adolescent or adult?

In the public dialogue on poverty, we have not paid sufficient attention to understanding a complex problem and creating a forward-looking agenda. We have been concerned with counting, passing judgement and apportioning blame. These are choices and responses which impoverish all of us.

The full reports discussed in this article can be found at www.ucareqld.com.au/ and www.qcoss.org.au

IDEAS ARE EVERYTHING
Grahame morris made the point very well on LATELINE last night , but is anyone in the major parties really listening .


Take the public expenditure on environmental and health care mangement. ITs all over the place like a dogs breakfast and just as appetizing .


ONe man with one idea could stake a election win on substance over superficial . but will they consult those who know?

Obesity - how disgusting !!!

Underneath every stone there is a frog ready to croak .When its wet anyway . No more so too than when someone makes us feel bad about ourselves . " we must do somethin about it" said the press in a fit of self righteous anger at someone elses inaction; the shallow crowd of practically naive polys who get there by appealing to them clap/croak loudly in agreement .

Blissfully Unaware of what goes on underneath to create the disease in the first place .

Too bad the disease is really cloaked in sweeteners and distractions ( as Towards 2000 predicted ).

"Stop the fat flow " they cry . As any health prof knows, if all the money that goes into another quick fix on advertising before an election .THE POINT --money will be diverted from the essentails- for quickfix ends .

A little more attention to payshents ( did you like that you wonderful client orientated types) ,,,, we might find the money for obesity control would be better adrresed to real causes of obesity like depression and post modern aliments of alienating thinking and stupid unthinking cliches about "self cenetredness knows best " .
Always better to treat the cause mate .
Are Those who treat only symptoms quacks? What do we call some of those who like just to hear themelves solving the world problems day after day in quick succession?

Killed by Care is great . Thanks to Chris masters and ABCTV for bringing it to us .
Will the program set the brief for effective change?
Who will win? --the culture of blame or the hospital systems new fame game .

the reseachers were right - someone has to get mad before this false sense of bad is rooted out of govrenemnet thginking - its really mangements problem as the CEO's say. leadership But noone will get mad - only many thousands of austarilins driven mad .

Unfortunatley the feds will have to abandon their first love in "effeciency knows best" and any apology for stupidity may take more deaths , more coverups , more nightingales pushed out and more complete crap from people who can't talk about their failures because it would/ could easily considered a sin. what religiuos crap has overtaken out so called leaders that they sing the same silly simplistsic tune that DOESN"T WORK . When complexity and human fraility are NOT matters of simple sinning . we are not breeding risk taking and caring but risk avoidance and indifference .

Frank ( All saints DOCTOR) is just oh so good. The epitamy of the current struggle of the BUSY caring individual VS corporation and the individaul VS those who use power and process so wel weighted in their favour (Deanna). Yes the efficient deanna is actually helped along by an overly willing business like BUT less busy and fat lined ( eg call meetings whenever they like) process empire builders.
The balance is wrong and wrong because our leaders think business knows best .
The reality is that business knows best how to look after itself - creating their own cosy process building empires at the expense of people who actualy do the work . and true carers can go jump cause they multibag .Now there is a skill you can't fit into those silly myopic performance assessmnent methods these powerbrokers use to whitewash the sepulchres.

Most importantly for those who want to ACTUALLY avoid the neccesary bureaucarcy from becoming its its own worst enemy ( are you really listening - MS PIKE )IS the idea that you must INCREASE the ability of professionals to make decsion --the wider community ( not you !)agrees that they Are BEST to do the job -- and not polys or those who use power and process to win ---politically (Are you listening mr hulls on development along the coast or just hoping the problem will go away . Why would your children train to be planners? why would the gretaer geelong council even bother to do do the big picture study when the govt will predicatbly find the big picture decision too hard and go lokin in the sand for answers professionals can and should make . stalemate or stupidmate?

Whatever happened to Ian Campbell,the parrot producing minister , you say on cuttingedge conservation . He like so many environmental ministers before him wants to believe that you can get credit for pinning the tail on the donkey with a blindfold on .
The greatest evil is being done in the name of environment . The safety paralient needs, it is eroding, by making a joke out the very things that scientifically and practically detremine our childrens future .
Why aren't the people alarmed ? , we don't blog . ?
Scientists are being treated like a joke.We learn to check our facts . Polys need to check whether what they hear is mere echo ! After all every really important env decision will ofetn require more DISCUSSION than determination, before IT ACTUALLY WORKS CHANGE . As cutting edg carers know ,ideas are fine but implemenation is the big issue and is for real experts to sort out .
If you want your kids to end up in a dead end career, let them train in one of the most complex areas ever and then let them try to influnce the wilful bunch of environemntal experts who get the very TOP jobs in that portfolio.I know i have ben there!

DEPRESSION, DENIAL And NANNY MCPHEE -it isn't all bad - provided our leaders stop approaching things the way they have been.(WA premier resigns)
Premiers Kennett and Gallop’s awareness of a very common risk with sword bearers is a beacon of hope for the country. That they care is not in question, because it seems that only those who care get the disease. How they care and how they fail, though, can be the reason for the disease. The fast new road most traveled by many industry knows best leaders is often a big hitting , big careless breaking cul de sac and the quicker they get out of it, the quicker they will win back the confidence of the people and government .

Depression can be nature's way of reminding us we have been heading up the creek without a paddle, up a blind alley with no way out .
Recognize the sign on the way in .The direction is fine, but distractions occur . Our leaders need to find that sign -both major parties are on the same road, singing the same silly tune that leads to depression. Cul de sac ideas like ;that efficiency leads like a beacon to effectiveness ; That industry knows best ;That what the people want is what they need.
Many leaders are in denial about whether they believe in goverenmnet at all, and that depresses those of us in the system, who do . They think they can rid the world of “ Big Nanny” . But without Nanny there is no way to deal with public governance’s biggest problem - its actual ability to be proactive in the long term interest of ' the family' , not the petty , noisy interests, or even other important noises in the household . With all the noise, coming from all directions, leaders need to know who to listen to and whose watching more carefully to what's really happening. Listen to everyone, but listen more to the voice of experience and observation of those who can stand back from the household – walking in and out from time to time . Those with the skills of observation beyond the clean cut four walls of one industry, one household, to the big picture from outside. Government is necessary, but big government can seem just like a big nuisance. Careless jabbing and jousting, like infighting, will not, however, cut it where it counts.
The big nanny will not go away. Getting the right kind of nanny is the issue, not this otherworldly nonsense about getting rid of her and the sustainable perspective she alone can bring to the situation . We need nanny’s who know , from being outside , where to cut where it counts !

Depression NOW is very common in the public service because many leadership groups have lost sight of how to be effective, but don't want to admit it. If affects both parties (Ask Mark Latham ), and that’s the key - both parties have got some serious blind spot about how to make government more efficient. Depression gets to the sword carrier after the last deaths don't make the needed difference ( see Lawrence of Arabia ) just as fickleness is the feature experienced at the battleground level by the troops when enthusiasm fails to sustain what experience used to obtain.
George Santayana knew this issue well and its relationship to the fanaticism and fickleness we see all around us. Getting to goals is like in winning in Tennis. Depends largely on how much practice and experience you have and how much you know and respect the limits of the territory -- not a matter of changing direction all the time, rather knowing what long term interest is. its risk boundaries and sticking at winning within them . .
The way out of this unnecessary nonsense involves working with the enemy in practical and sustainable ways; Getting involved at the ground level. Respect those who train and put the hard yards in and resist the flighty quick fixers and change everything often mangers now common in the court. Leaders of both parties, for example, have convinced themselves that blind competition and change is progress policies are the very swords that will cut kindly and cleanly through bureaucracies belligerence; something that is simply part of their nature. Too many leaders deny the demons they must work with and like the innocent Don Quixote, think a mere sword will kill them . Such leaders are not realistic and are heading for depression.
Much good mental health will be restored across Australia when our Don Quixote’s accept reality rather than deny it. You don't rid the world of bureaucratic belligerence - you work with it. You don’t listen just to one voice, but seek out the small one.
Churchill’s famous quote about democracies choices points to clearly to the acceptance of the reality of inefficiency in them. Now there's a realist and an effective leader. If we all model yourselves on him, much of our current depression will disappear.

Like NANNY MCPHEE, what’s looks all bad at first , may well look a lot better when you accept the critical need for her experience and wisdom. The longer view of those well educated and experienced hands on housekeeping servants who can see through the noise ; not denying any members voice or , those with a legitimately short term view, but more able to see how we can keep the diverse economia we call home together .