brookvaleplus.com

The Member for Warrringah has done it again.  On ABC TV last night the Federal Minister for Health declared firmly that dental care for “low income” people was not his problem; the States are responsible for such things.  The main reason people who can’t afford to have painful and debilitating conditions treated are in serious trouble is that when the Howard Government came to office it abolished the $350 million Commonwealth Dental Scheme.  For the last 11 years the number of sufferers sitting on waiting lists has climbed to the point where some of them are looking at a four-year wait before they can see a dentist. As many of them are aged pensioners, death often ends the pain rather than a dentist

Former GP turned Federal Liberal MP Mal Washer is among the backbenchers in the Howard Governmant who think this neglect of the disadvantaged is not only disgraceful but dangerous. Dr Washer points out: “If you’ve got dental ill health or poor oral hygiene with oral infection you have a much greater risk of pneumonia and of heart attacks, of infection on prosthetic joints and on your heart valves. That affects the cost to the Federal taxpayer.”  Not only is it bad medicine, it actually costs a lot of money.  You’d think even John Howard could appreciate that.

There is a lot of boasting from Peter Costello at the moment about yet another Budget surplus.  Anyone can save money if they refuse to spend it on the necessities. 
 

Everyone is talking about it. Now you can calculate the impact you and your family are having on the carbon levels in our atmosphere on line.

Are you up to the challenge of becoming “Carbon Neutral”? Calculate your carbon footprint.
Interestingly, I noticed that Bendigo Bank in Harbord (and presumably all over the country) is now offering a carbon offset scheme, so you can pay for the damage you cause to the environment to be repaired. Generation Green

Here’s a nice site with a few entertaining, (if not that useful) insights into modern life.

” This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.”

http://indexed.blogspot.com/ 

Warringah is home to a new botanic garden with the Stony Range Flora and Fauna Reserve receiving official acknowledgement by the NSW Regional Botanic Gardens Network.

Warringah council press release