The Farewell Gift from the "Fair Lady of the Hill"

by Nomad

One woman's last bequest will help provide shelter to Australia's homeless youth.

Last Friday, in a small ceremony, the final request of Lily Fardell, known locally as the "Fair Lady of the Hill" was formally carried out.
I'm sure you've never heard of her. After all, she wasn't a celebrity and lived a pretty average life.
Mrs. Fardell, a resident of the city of Newcastle, (the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales),  died earlier this year at the age of 96.

Her four-bedroom, three bathroom home, the historic Pacific House, was located in the prestigious suburb called "The Hill." 

And what a splendid home it is.

The home itself was built in 1871 and was sold to a couple living in nearby High Street. It originally housed Thomas Smith, a pioneering Newcastle builder who served on Newcastle council and was elected mayor in 1896.

With her husband, Noel, Lily moved to the Pacific House in 1958. Both of them were teachers. They were the actually the second owners of the wide-verandah home which looks out upon King Edward Park.
Pacific House became renowned for generosity and acts of charity and by all accounts, her home was filled with decades of pleasant memories.

When the Christmas carols were on across the road, she would host 40 friends who would sing along, drink tea and enjoy the odd tipple of good wine.

In so many ways, it was all that a home should be. A place of shelter where good things are shared with family, friends and even strangers.

For One Beautiful Moment...

by Nomad

Conservatives and the Fear of Alexis de Tocqueville

by Nomad

Sounds like a good description of the politics of Republican conservatives to me.

Allies and Enemies: How America's Saudi Arabian Double Standard Mocks the Fight Against ISIS

by Nomad

There's no question that ISIS is an embodiment of barbarity and a perversion of Islam. However, some critics of Western foreign policy in the Middle East might ask: Is Saudi Arabia- an ally- really all that much better?

One of the most perplexing and exasperating problems for anybody trying to create a sensible approach to the Middle East has been determining who your foe and who your friend actually is.. at any given moment.  

For Western policy makers, absolute impartiality is not an option. Attempting to please implacable enemies, like Israel and Iran, is an exercise in futility. And this, in turn, forces countries to choose based on criteria that seems as unstable as the shifting desert sand.

Concessions have to be made to keep everybody happy but with the rise of the brutality of the ISIS caliphate, the US and the West, in general, are forced to confront its irreconcible double standard. Does being a Western ally entail nothing more than shared self-interests?  What happened to shared core values and principles that defines "us" from "them"? 

Hundreds of Workers in Juarez Mexico Fired by US Company for Asking for $7...a day

by Nomad

Start giving Mexicans workers a living wage and the first thing you know there won't be an immigration problem at all.

"Hundreds of workers at the Lexmark plant in Juarez have been fired after they walked off the job last week, asking for raises, the right to unionize as well as other demands.

According to the Spanish-language website sinembargo, the labor dispute started back in early November, after workers asked for a raise of six pesos, or roughly .34 cents a day.

Lexmark, an international company producing printer cartridges, now pays workers a maximum of 70.10 pesos per day, or $4.03 daily."