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<center><h3>The best little toybox in the world: Voted Best Toy Store 2008</h3></center>
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It's not hard to see why the <a href="http://www.bdsmtoybox.com/AffiliateWiz/aw.aspx?B=28&A=607&Task=Click" Target="_Blank"><b>BDSM Toybox</b></a> was voted the best bondage toy store in 2008 by their peers and satisfied customers; they've really got everything from the greatest range of bondage toys (and so much more) in the world, fantastic customer service but perhaps best of all, very competitive pricing!
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Tease and titillate your partner with their delightful range of devastatingly sexy DVD's from mild to <i>wild</i>, including Harmony Concepts, The House of Gord, Gwen Media, Anton Video, The Bondage Channel, Julie Simone as well as rubber & latex, lesbian bondage, smothering, knockout/chloro, pet & pony and instructional for newbies hoping to "learn the ropes"...
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<FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, sans-serif" SIZE="5"><b><center><font color="#ff0000">Take 35% OFF <u>all</u> bondage & fetish DVD's through May 8th! (Use discount code DVD35)</center></b></font>
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<CENTER><H2>Rant n Rave</H2></CENTER>
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<CENTER><H3>where Priscilla, Newman and myself sound off...</H3></CENTER>
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There's days when I just feel like complaining about everything, so rather than bottle up everything inside me (they say that's bad for you), so I decided to share everything with you! Generous, aren't I? Like him, I've also got lots to say.
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The only thing you won't see here is politics; that's too extreme even for this opinionated individual: let's say that our "elected" so-called representatives are liars, cheats and hypocrites - in short, scumbags. and we'll leave it at that for now... (I reserve the right to change this policy, if aroused (and not in a nice sexual way either) enough...! Another thought: Never back yourself into a corner from which escape is impossible.
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<A HREF="images-rants/angler-fish.jpg"><IMG SRC="images-rants/angler-fish_t.jpg" WIDTH="250" HEIGHT="167" ALT="" align="left"></A>
Anyway, this is the first time I've tried something like this - therapeutic, isn't it?
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I might even drop a few positive thoughts inside along the way too - I think some folks call these musings "blogs" - but I'm not democratic enough to allow comments and posting to them can be a real pain in the butt too - how many people do you know are still penning their thoughts every day after beginning in a blaze of self-delusional glory, believing that their scribblings are gunna change the world? Mine won't but at least you'll know how I feel. Like the fish opposite...
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(FYI, this supremely ugly creature is an angler fish - Somebody must've really f**ked up in a earlier life... talk about karma, huh? Hint to self - that's you reader! - avoid this fate by contributing a donation to help our bandwidth costs... Just think how much worse it could be - you could become a POLITICIAN - imagine that!)
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<center><b>previous questions</b></center>
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<a href="robots.htm">The cost of oil...</a> <br>
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<b><div align="center">Archives</div></b>
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May 2008 (none yet)
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<CENTER><H2>Rant n Rave</H2></CENTER>
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How to use this page: Latest posts will always appear on top, obviating (we love big, impenetratable words around here) the need for lots and lots of scrolling...
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Monthly posts will appear in our archives section. If you've got any thoughts, feedback or questions you think we need to know or hear, just drop us a line at: <A HREF="mailto:mason_1966@hotmail.com"><B>mason_1966@hotmail.com</B></A> - thank you for your attention!
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<center><h2>10 July 2008: Allowed to die because...</h2></center>
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Sometimes, I really need to vent off steam, especially when I�m really angry and this is one of those occasions.
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My wife�s grandmother passed away a couple of months ago now and Melai was deeply upset to the point that she was just about inconsolable after hearing about her death.
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The greatest tragedy is that her death was entirely preventable, and this made it hurt all the more.
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The Philippines is a poor, Third World country but their medical system follows the US model; i.e User PAYS!! It is a country where they earn mostly sub-standard Third World incomes but pay First World medical fees for treatment!
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Fully qualified (university educated) schoolteachers earn perhaps 15,000 pesos per month (that�s approximately AUD$375 a month for a 40 hour week). Department store employees earn even less though � I�ve met people who take home just 3,000 pesos a month � and that�s for working 10 hour days 6 days a week � you do the math.
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Melai's grandmother had been suffering from diabetes which apparently led to sudden kidney failure (which I read is a common complication from diabetes) so she had to begin dialysis - this was around a year or so ago. Her treatment cost (including dialysis and drugs) something like 40,000 pesos every month (or around AUD$1,000).
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Her weekly dialysis was so expensive that her grandparents had to sell their house and land to finance her ongoing treatment � so her parents will never see a cent of their inheritance now.
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Then she fell very ill and had to go into hospital where they charged 40,000 pesos per DAY (this is not a misprint) - so they had to pull her out after only two days. Unsurprisingly, she didn't last much longer, passing away after leaving the hospital � and that�s why I�m really unhappy about what happened to her. I'm not in the least surprised though because I know how the system operates over there but it is a disgrace that people like her are allowed to die for want of funds!!
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I can only thank God that we have such a first class (read: "free") medical system in Australia!! My father is also undergoing kidney dialysis - 5 hours a time, 3 days a week at home (It's ten years now since he was diagnosed with kidney failure). He has his own machine set up at home with a recirculating pure, filtered water supply, all paid for by his treating hospital. A truck delivers dialysis supplies twice a month, again all paid for (free). If he was Filipino, he would have passed away years ago and my mother would no longer have a roof over her head.
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The amazing � and disgraceful - thing is that the previous Howard Government actually wanted to dismantle Medicare (which they complained was costing billions � read �it lessens our ability to pork-barrel like mad come election time so you�ll think we really care!�) in favour of the US system of medical �care� but it was greeted with such an outcry that they dared not touch a thing.
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If the current Bush administration actually spent a little less upon military spending (we won�t even visit Iraq, ok?), then they might be able to provide their citizens with a free, decent medical system that treated all for free and efficiently, regardless of race, gender or religious orientation!
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Then our pollies honestly have the nerve to wonder why so many � myself included � dislike them that intensely. Politics used to be the ultimate form of public service that anybody could aspire to, but nowadays it�s all about power, pushing personal ideological barrows, perks and ego, which is simply deplorable. Great countries like Australia, America and England are now democracies in name only, thanks to their abuse of their respective legal systems (think �rendition�) and vast spin machines attempting to justify their actions!
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<center><h2>3 May 2008: Filling up fills me with joy... not</h2></center>
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<A HREF="images-rants/plane09.jpg"><IMG SRC="images-rants/plane09_t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="114" ALT="" align="left"></A>
The other day, I was thinking about high petrol (gas) prices while filling up the car: for the first time, it cost $50 just so I could tank up... and it'll last one week or so... at best. I realised that I should not complain abouit the price of oil; instead I should be filled with gladness that we're helping subsidise these folk's lifestyles.
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The lovely jet below belongs to the Sultan of Brunei; apparently it's one of his favourite toys and it's not hard to see why. Kinda beats flying cattle class with Philippine Airlines, doesn't it? Apparently even this humble Boeing 737 cost the good sultan something like $220 million shekels - I wondered why until I saw these images.
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Those basins, folks, are not gold plated, they've been carved out of solid gold. Nice shower too. And so on, and so on... I'll think about him roughing it in his little 737 next time I fill up at the servo. (if you're not already feeling thoroughly sick by now, another Middle Eastern <i>dignitary</i>, deciding that his old 747 jumbo didn't cut it any longer, plumped for an Airbus A380 along with a $150 million interior design budget to pimp up his new ride... what's he's gunna get for his lazy $450 million plus? A luxurious eight-storey tall, flying mansion that will include just about everything you can imagine - then some - aboard his giant winged pachyderm. Including among other things, a bedroom that's bigger than many apartments, a grand entrance, two dining halls, a game room, a bar, a whirlpool, and other assorted bling.)
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<A HREF="images-rants/dubai10.jpg"><IMG SRC="images-rants/dubai10_t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="100" ALT="" align="right"></A>
But folks, it gets better. Apparently the poor burghers of Dubai (actually their Royal Family) have no idea how to spend the squillions that they earn through the entirely fortuitous accident of geography that helped make them rich. Can't leave all those petrodollars lying around doing nothing in the bank, right?
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So they had themselves built a little boat. It's only (at the time of writing) the world's largest motor yacht measuring some 530 feet long with a beam of 72 feet... Powered by 4 x's 9,000 horsepower engines, Dubai is anything but carbon neutral, is it?
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Dubai also emphatically proves that no amount of money is capable of buying taste. Frankly, Dubai is a dog's breakfast. So, next time we fill up at the petrol station, let us all remember where our money's going (don't even get me started on gummint taxes either).
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