Do billionaires get tax breaks in hell?

A rich man dies, so we give him a taxpayer funded, state funeral:

“Six people have been arrested while protesting outside a state memorial service at Sydney's Opera House honoring late media mogul Kerry Packer.

The four men and two women were part of a small group calling themselves the Kerry Packer Dis-memorial Collective gathered outside the Opera House to protest against the taxpayer-funded service.

The six, whose ages are unknown, were arrested for refusing police directions to leave, and will be taken to Surry Hills police station for processing.

One of the six was also arrested for hindering police.

The remaining protesters then dispersed as guests arrived.

Security is tight around the Opera House, where about 1,800 people are paying tribute to the billionaire businessman, who died on Boxing Day aged 68.

Mr Packer was Australia's richest man.”

Now, given the adage that you can ‘judge a man by those who attend his funeral’ (is that an adage, or did I just make that up?) what do you think the attendance of such quality personages as Tom Cruise, Alan Jones, John Howard or Russell Crowe testifies to the character of the man being deified today?

Australia’s richest man and noted tax avoider, Kerry must have been chuckling to himself from his taxpayer funded condominium in hell today. Such irony his condemned soul must have observed as, even from beyond the grave, he managed to suck a few extra tax dollars from the nation’s coffers.

In other news:

Greenland is looking like becoming the next tropical holiday destination. The ice covering Greenland’s landmass is melting at a rate that surpasses scientist’s direst predictions. I think that we’re probably fucked; I think that we’re all going to die; but, hey, I might as well blog right through till the end, eh?

Sorry about the pervading gloom. Every now and then the realization that we’re on the brink of an avoidable disaster gets me down...