"Tacks cuts a certainty", says Costello... "So is death" says Gus "Only one political party in Australia now reserves the right to disallow schedules which will give a tax cut to every Australian on July 1, 2005" he added... He forgot to say "the small shrivelled bit for donkeys and the big juicy bit for the richoes ...".

Seven  million people are left out of this tax cut.

If you're one what do you think?

A lot of your pictures (including this one) don't show on any computer I use. Several of your older pictures are just black (check page 5). What's the deal?

Hamish: the old (black) ones should work if you update your Internet Explorer or get another browser. I've changed a few of them to jpegs since we changed protocol anyway, and will get to changing more.

But I don't know about this one. The code is attached but there is no file on the server. Gus?

I use three browsers... Netscape, Motzilla and Exploreer and all show the pictures. These programs are not the latest versions either... The program that is used for the server works well for me as I upload from far away... The pictures are minimised Jpeg low quality low resolution in order to upload within the required size allowed... They are realised in an old Photoshop program too... should not be a problem. Most of the problems seem to stem from the service provider or the type of program used on PC and sometimes virus protection programs can interfere with reception of stuff (whether there is viruses or not) Video card may be too slow too....?

I've tried it on four computers and three different internet service providers.

1. Toshiba laptop, P4 1.8GHz, winXP, IE 6.02x
2. PC, P4 2.4GHz, win2000, IE 6.028
3. PC, P4 3.0GHz, 512MB RAM, Radeon 9200 SE graphics, winXP, IE 6.029
4. PC, P2or3, 228MB RAM, Matrox Graphics Millenium G200 AGP, win2000, IE 6.028.

All show the same problems.  Computer 1 has Norton 2003 and AVG, comp 2-4 have InnoculateIT.  All use Spybot 1.3.

I've gone through and done an audit of which ones don't display. "working the schedule" simply doesn't load (shows a frame with the little red "x" icon in the top left).  The others (listed below) appear as a black picture.

Unfortunately G.O.D. had limitations, democracy down the john, Guide to the Galaxy, full page porkie, psychopathic results, Another photo opportunity, On a beautiful afternoon in Italy, Canberranean trinitus, Evolution of sapiens, Evolution of recruitment posters, I wish Trumpo-angelo was here, Holy orders..., Behind the Scene at Punch and Judy, Buzzy Bee Clowner, road to glory, Promoting silence, another federal brew, Costello slams executives' pay jump, The government robbing us?.

But the rest work just fine!  I can think of no reason why this is happening at my end as I've tried it out on a fair diversity of computers (all late version Internet Explorer admittedly).

The pictures that can't be read by your systems are mostly the weird png format... these days they are all "JPEGs for web" at the bottom end of lowest definition for steam engine technology and old boot computers... I will try to reformat the pngs cartoons to JPEGS in the next few weeks, one at a time...The more recent ones seems to be okay except "working the schedule"... Weird... Since I use Apple Mac, I have no problem... Although it should not make any difference at the end result, I will try to save pics for PC and then for web.... See what happens Sometimes the main server of a site can go weird too and "unable to locate a picture" or a file... G

The picture link in the computer had disappeared... Now uploaded again.. C

Hi Gus,

After reading the "whale meat" thread, I installed Mozilla Firefox for my laptop. Works a treat. And yes, the png's look much better.

It seems strange that some png's work in IE, but others do not.  One solution to retain the integrity of your art and allow access for all users (if the IE png fix can't be made to work) might be to have the jpg images as hyperlinks to high res versions, maybe?

Perhaps at the bottom of each page on this website should be the text "Best viewed with Mozilla Firefox in 1024 x 768 pixels."

I think cross-browser compatability is important though, as many people don't have a choice over which browser they use.

From the SMH

Trade-off for tax cuts: lose your lurks

TAXPAYERS are likely to lose perks and deductions in exchange for big personal cuts in the budget, following the first major review of the tax system in more than 20 years.

The federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, yesterday cleared the way to cut tax rates and close loopholes in the system to bring it in line with international standards.

He has asked the business leaders Dick Warburton and Peter Hendy to prepare an "authoritative statement" on how Australia's tax system compares with others.

from the ABC

Opposition demands release of tax report
Federal Opposition is calling on the Government to release a tax report that will be handed to Treasurer Peter Costello today.

The report, commissioned by Mr Costello, has been written by a business representative and tax board chairman, Dick Warburton, and compares Australia's tax system internationally.

A spokesman for Mr Costello says it will be released sometime before the May Budget.

Labor's Wayne Swan says it should be released immediately.

"I'd like to get it out in the public domain as quickly as possible," he said.

"There's an urgency behind the task here to lift our productivity, to lift our competitiveness and to reward those workers, those middle-income earners who have been left behind by Peter Costello and John Howard."

Mr Swan says tax relief for ordinary workers and broader tax reform is overdue.

"Because the country needs productivity-enhancing reform, we have got some of the worse disincentives in the system in the Western world, particularly hitting middle-income earners when they work a bit of overtime," he said.
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Gus invite you to gawk at the cartoon that leads this line of blogs...

From news corp

State 'robbed' of $4bn company tax
From:
By Joe Spagnolo

April 30, 2006

A GREEDY Federal Government might deny West Australians millions of dollars in planned state tax cuts, Treasurer Eric Ripper warned yesterday.

Mr Ripper said Federal Treasurer Peter Costello was robbing WA of billions of dollars it was entitled to each year and this could jeopardise major state tax reform.
He said Mr Costello had collected $4 billion from WA in company tax, fuel excise, taxes and royalties on petroleum extraction and given the money to Queensland and South Australia.

A report compiled by the Department of Treasury and Finance, to be released in next month's State Budget, shows that the Federal Government received a whopping $28 billion from WA's V8 economy last financial year, but the state got back just $24 billion in grants.

Mr Ripper said it was an outrage that the missing $4 billion had gone to the eastern states.

read more at news corp

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see cartoon at head of this line of blogs...

From the New York Times

GILDED PAYCHECKS | TIES THAT BIND
With Links to Home Depot Board, Chief Saw Pay Soar as Stock Fell

By JULIE CRESWELL
Published: May 24, 2006
Every October, some 50 former Home Depot managers, calling themselves the Former Orange-Blooded Executives, after the home-improvement chain's trademark bright orange color, gather in Atlanta to reminisce, chat about new jobs and pass around pictures of their children.

The discussion inevitably turns to the changes at Home Depot under its chief executive, Robert L. Nardelli. A growing source of resentment among some is Mr. Nardelli's pay package. The Home Depot board has awarded him $245 million in his five years there. Yet during that time, the company's stock has slid 12 percent while shares of its arch rival, Lowe's, have climbed 173 percent.

Why would a company award a chief executive that much money at a time when the company's shareholders are arguably faring far less well? Some of the former Home Depot managers think they know the reason, and compensation experts and shareholder advocates agree: the clubbiness of the six-member committee of the company's board that recommends Mr. Nardelli's pay...

read more at the NYT
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New business tactic to line your pockets: earn money in inverse proportion to what you loose on others' account... Unfortunately it seems this is only the tip of the buck-berg... All done above board of course... Indecent? sure. Corrupt? who knows...