BLISS BALLS…

Or, ‘where ignorance is Bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise’

(click to enlarge)

 
The York Consortium wishes to thank Mr. Richard “don't call me Dick” Bliss for his unsolicited but very welcome contribution to our blog.

 Richard and Nola Bliss selling antiques in 'Chalkies', now property of the Shire of York.  Richard is the old bloke on the right.

On the subject of Onan: Richard seems to be an avid reader of this blog, so I'm surprised he missed the cultural note appended to the original version of the article he is responding to, which appeared in the blog on 10 July.  Here it is again:

CULTURAL NOTE:  Onan was the second son of Judah.  His elder brother, Er, was slain by God for some unspecified wickedness, whereupon Judah ordered Onan to marry Er's wife and make her pregnant in accordance with ancient Jewish law.  Onan wasn't happy with this, so when consummating the marriage he 'spilled his seed on the ground', which means that he engaged in coitus interruptus rather than the activity later ascribed to him.  God slew him, too. It's amazing what you can pick up in Sunday school.

Readers will observe that my point here is much the same as Richard's, though delivered as one would expect with far greater wit, clarity and verve.

James Plumridge

*******

WHAT ON EARTH DID RICHARD BLISS THINK HE WAS DOING?

Jane E. Ferro

The letter Richard Bliss submitted for publication in the YDCM was one he should have torn up and burnt after venting his emotions / frustrations or whatever it was that was clouding his judgement. (I’ve scrapped the first version I wrote in reply to yours, Richard!)

We remember how the Blisses decided to ignore residents’ fierce opposition to the Shire’s purchase of their property, ‘Chalkies’.  To most of us, arranging the sale of a sub-standard property at an inflated price with the help of their friend James Best seemed like a desperate attempt to shore up a new (over extended?) business venture.

If the Blisses want to dispute this, let them explain why neither they nor the Shire procured a sworn independent valuation of Chalkies and the adjacent parking lot so that the matter could be put to rest.

Mr Bliss has added insult to poor judgement by introducing a classic ‘red herring’.  He has done this by attacking and blaming Shire President Reid and Crs Smythe and Wallace for the political demise of two very unpopular former shire presidents.

One of those gentlemen is still skulking behind the scenes, vowing revenge on the shire which didn’t appreciate his bullying at council meetings and elsewhere, or his underhanded methods of spreading untruths without being willing to stand up and be accountable in public.

The other half of this pair ended up facing a standards panel that publicly censured aspects of his behaviour as shire president. That was his own doing, even if he’d like to pass the buck to someone else. He has to wear the blame for his questionable actions as a councillor, though many of them resulted from his being too eager to do the bidding of a disgraced former CEO.

True to form, he then jumped ship when he became privy to inside information that our present councillors were facing suspension … for WHAT???... He didn’t want to be involved or implicated in that turn of events. We witnessed the lack of integrity of the bureaucrats who inflicted this uncalled-for suspension on our elected councillors. We came to realise that both of our former shire presidents identified and associated closely with those bureaucrats, and had no compunction in plotting with them to bring down our current shire president on trumped up ‘probity’ charges.

Cr Duperouzel was not pushed from office. He resigned after having made himself irretrievably unpopular by betraying the trust of the town. He was expected to represent our wishes at a JDAP hearing concerning a proposed metropolitan rubbish tip.   Very few residents support the tip. The few who do support it seem to be people who stand, or believe they stand, to benefit financially from it if it goes ahead.  (To be fair to him, Mr. Bliss is not the only York resident willing to enrich himself at the expense of everyone else.)

The proposed desecration of prime farmland also involves run-off that feeds into water catchment. (By the way, this is the water WE drink; Perth residents are being supplied with desalinated water.)

So why, you may ask, did Richard Bliss erupt with such vitriolic and (as it turns out) inaccurate criticism of Dr Plumridge’s coherent and detailed attempt to set the record straight after the publication in the local press of James Best’s deceitful ‘open letter to residents’ asserting that nobody connected with the Shire of York had ever done anything wrong?

In my opinion, Richard Bliss is attempting to distract residents from the events and issues Dr Plumridge set out in his response to James Best’s letter, especially issues arising from the Shire’s purchase from the Blisses of ‘Chalkies’ aka the Old Convent School.  Not content with his muddled and very personal attack on Dr Plumridge, Mr Bliss has foolishly upset many residents by childishly attacking Crs Reid and Smythe.  Those councillors have earned the respect of residents for their strength of character in rising above the humiliations heaped on them by the minister for local government to assume once again their rightful positions as our elected representatives.

Instead of continuing along his present vindictive and self-centred path, Mr. Bliss would do well to emulate Shire President Reid and Crs Smythe and Wallace in portraying such time-honoured values as honesty, justice, truth, integrity and fairness as they work for the good of our community.

He might also try to learn a few intellectual and literary skills from Dr Plumridge. Doing so might help him avoid making such a fool of himself in future as he has on this occasion with his silly and spiteful letter.