Life is almost always in flux, regardless of whether we recognise the fact or not. So it goes, that whenever I take a break from the hub-bub of the everyday, things happen.

Alan Carpenter looks like losing government in WA. NASA, because of the stupidity of American politics, looks like losing access to the International Space Station. It's all about losing control over something. Sometimes material, sometimes ethereal. Almost always involving a lack of attention to the detail of that control.

That's why, occasionally and far too rarely these days, I like to get away and let things happen around me. I haven't been to the seaside for many, many years and while four days seems such a scant period in which to unwind, relax and let the world drift past, I think I managed it rather nicely. I recommend regular R&R to everyone.

Let's look back at the fiscal events of the past 12 months.

I had a listen to the latest Panelbeaters podcast last night, which to those of you not atuned to the V8 Supercar scene in Australia, might think of as a recording made by a convention of motor vehicle repairers.

It's a good time of year to be paying attention to the ebb and flow of politics within the V8 Supercar circus.

I'm afraid I don't think much of the mooted changes to V8 Supercar racing for 2009.

I've written what I wanted to write about Qualifying for this round yesterday, so let's concentrate on the main event itself.

Gerard Henderson believes Malcolm Turnbull is the goods as Liberal Party leader.

Most of us have heard Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch. If you haven't, you should. It's bloody hilarious.

I rarely read foreign blogs and even more rarely, American bloggers, but one I've found pretty much on the mark is Sean-Paul Kelley. The Agonist. He's written a very sanguine piece on the current financial crisis gripping his country, and his own experiences of what happens when we live beyond our means. It makes a good read and I commend the sentiments to all. We all tend to live beyond our means, and no-one is going to bail us out when the crunch comes. It will come.

Given the circumstances of drought, and legislative vehicles available to those willing to exploit them, I'm hardly surprised that primary producers are fleecing Australian taxpayers.

Given that a Howardian cabal created this regime, I'm not at all surprised. Anything to maintain the Nationals in a coalition, eh?

This here's something which has deserved exploration for many a moon

Selling short is now banned across the board on Australian stock markets.

It's quiet at the moment where I'm parked, so I decided to flit through the news.

An article by Anthony Klan in The Australian of 22 September, quoting Aussie Home Loans principal, John Symond, as sounding the death knell of ‘Low-Doc’ home loans is more than a little sensationalist. It could also be due to the fact that Symond no longer has a total say in what his business does by way of Low-Doc lending.

I'm bored, so I opened the Daily Telegraph. I know I shouldn't bother, but when needs must....

I had always suspected issues like this to be representative of Philip Ruddock's true stand on the Howardian mandatory detention regime. This from the man who so proudly, and hypocritically, wore the Amnesty International membership badge on his lapel. He should be publically stripped of that membership by that organisation.