Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi………….. (0)
Posted 26 January, 2008 in General, Diary
When I consider whether I’m giving my children the best chance in life that I can, the fact they were born in Australia is like winning Lotto. Peace, freedom, opportunity, wealth, health, space - it’s all here. Not to mention it’s full of some of the best people you’ll find anywhere! Is there really any doubt this is the best country in the world?
Happy Australia Day!
“Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the ‘Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence’ syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence.”
- Douglas Adams
Stop it early, before it gets this far (5)
Posted 20 January, 2008 in Diary, Politics
I was listening to ABC Newsradio this afternoon, to an article on Anne Frank and her diary. I can’t find a transcript on the ABC site, but I’m quoting as best as possible from memory. A fellow was being interviewed and my understanding is he was Jewish and had some experience of the holocaust, whether that was through personal experience or family I didn’t pick up.
He was speaking at 2:55pm EDT when he closed his piece. He said he was happy that the diary of Anne Frank was a school text in many places around the world. He also stated that he understood these events occurred a long time ago and that for many people this would be ‘the first and last book’ they read on the matter. When asked what the most important point he would want people to take away from this book, he replied that if this happens again we must ’stop it early’ before it gets this far.
Most readers would realise I’m raising this in the context of the War on Terror. Are the parallels between the WWII, Islamofascism and the War on Terror strong enough to make this comparison? I agree there’s a lot of room to find differences, but I don’t think the comparison is unreasonable. If we were to value this opinion then I’d be inclined to say that foreign military intervention is inevitable, sometimes, if we are going to ’stop it early’.
Give them guns (0)
Posted 20 January, 2008 in Diary, Politics
I love it when left-wingers turn on each other!
Protesters turn on each other in sea hunt for whalers
TWO anti-whaling groups harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean turned on each other yesterday.
Sea Shepherd chief Paul Watson slammed Greenpeace for refusing to tell him where the Japanese whaling fleet is, even though the Greenpeace ship Esperanza is right on the tail of the whalers’ mothership.
Nearly a decade ago I was deployed on operations with the military in East Timor, which was effectively the first time I’d worked with NGOs, aid agencies and the UN. The distrust and competitive nature between the aid agencies really surprised me, as did the general disdain the aid workers seemed to have for the local population, as did the way the aid workers treated each other. I still don’t understand why they would volunteer for that work if they hated everyone associated with it and I still don’t really understand their motivation. I think for most of them it was a weird mixture of wanting to be the centre of attention while doing something important which would seem cool in left-wing circles and get their face on the news. Strangely, to me at least, the prime motivation didn’t appear to be a desire to help people less fortunate than themselves. That was just an added bonus which gave them a vehicle to fulfill their ambitions.
But that’s left-wingers for you.
Thoughts and prayers for Tim Blair (0)
Posted 15 January, 2008 in General, Politics
Australia’s most prominent righty blogger has a bit of a battle with jack-the-dancer.
The right-wing blog scene won’t be same ’till he’s back on deck. Thoughts and prayers until that occurs.
Save the Second.com (1)
Posted 15 January, 2008 in Politics
Those of you with American friends who have pro-freedom and pro-constitution tendencies should suggest that they sign this: www.savethesecond.com
In a great victory for the American People, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the DC handgun ban saying it was a violation of the second amendment. For the first time in years a court held that the second amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. Defenders of the second amendment have been working hard for just this moment in history for years.
Last Friday, the United States Solicitor General filed formal briefs asking the Supreme Court not to affirm the lower court’s decision. This is just outrageous. The Solicitor General is the Federal Government’s lawyer. So, now we have the federal government using our tax dollars to argue for a delay on a ruling concerning our fundamental rights.
When a congressman is willing to make a stand like this it just proves to me that America is still the world’s greatest liberal democracy.
Personal political view challenged (0)
Posted 14 January, 2008 in Humour
I may currently be a libertarian but this makes me want to sign up with Fred Nile.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23032131-23109,00.html
Masturbators come together in Copenhagen
HOT on the heels of San Francisco and London, Copenhagen is to host a masturbate-a-thon in May which organisers hope will help break lingering taboos about self-love.
Pia Struck Madsen, a sexologist in the Danish capital, said her goal was to see men and women from all backgrounds join an event that promised “pleasure, relaxation and sexual self-discovery”.
“Masturbation is positive, safe and an erotic alternative,” she said ahead of the event on May 31, to take place at a yet to be decided venue with separate rooms for men, women and those who don’t mind mingling.
The original masturbate-a-thon took place in San Francisco in 1998, with participants raising money for good causes.
The placard waving, police bashing, weed-worshipers may protest about it… (0)
Posted 11 January, 2008 in Humour
Been done elsewhere but too funny to miss.
The placard waving, police bashing, weed-worshipers may protest about it, but it’s nothing a few blasts from a water cannon can’t fix. They could do with a wash. And if they’re still too unAustralian to chop a few chops for the rest of us, send them to Nauru. The refugee processing centre has plenty of palm trees they could hug………..
YouTube link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPGSs56lZEQ&eurl=http://www.sutcliffe.com/blog/?p=90&preview=true
Quote of the decade (0)
Posted 11 January, 2008 in Politics
“My mother always said democracy is the best revenge.” - Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the late Benazir Bhutto.
As much as I love to see Islamofascists and their terrorist brethren get dispatched for a trip on the Allah Express, nothing rubs it in the faces of these turds like seeing the populace embracing democracy, benefiting from it and nurturing it until it flowers in a society where hardliners had previously managed to smash it down.
Weekend at Bernies…for real!!! (0)
Posted 10 January, 2008 in Humour
People often consider it weird when I tell them I don’t read fiction and that I haven’t read a fiction book in 15 years. I generally don’t feel the need to retreat into fiction or believe it’s particularly valuable as a vehicle to explore ideas. That’s not to say it hasn’t been used in this role very effectively; Ayn Rand’s work being an excellent example. I simply believe that the real world is much more interesting and is just as diverse as anything the most imaginative writers can produce. When you consider the fact that things like the event below have actually happened in a first world country, in one of the largest cities in the world, then fiction can’t even compete as far as I’m concerned.
As they say, only in America. Surely this shit happens in other parts of the world? Is the reason we always hear of this stuff coming out of the US simply the social diversity, high level of individualism and media saturation within America?
Corpse Wheeled to Check-Cashing Store Leads to 2 Arrests
Even for the once-notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, it may have been a first: Two men were arrested on Tuesday after pushing a corpse, seated in an office chair, along the sidewalk to a check-cashing store to cash the dead man’s Social Security check, the police said.
When Virgilio Cintron, 66, died at his apartment at 436 West 52nd Street recently, his roommate and a friend saw an opportunity to cash his $355 check, the police said.
…..
Their sidewalk procession had already attracted the stares of passers-by who were startled by the sight of the body flopping from side to side as the two men tried to prop it up, the police said…….. While the two men were inside the check-cashing office, a small crowd had gathered around the chair. A detective, Travis Rapp, eating a late lunch at a nearby Empanada Mama saw the crowd and notified the Midtown North station house.
Bizarre.
Short documentary on why the UK sucks and the US rules (0)
Posted 6 January, 2008 in Humour, Politics
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0KhGJyayM
As much as I find Jeremy Clarkson a very entertaining guy and a great presenter (although, in truth, a pretty average motoring journalist), this very ordinary effort to send up all the US as a gun-toting redneck hicksville wasteland really only serves to reveal the true differences between the homeland of the presenter and the location of the documentary. One is still a free county where a ‘rugged’ individualist can actually do what they want in their own backyard, and the other is full of euro-wusses who try too hard to be all sophisticated and who can’t actually do anything without a myriad of government approvals and political correctness checks. One has hope for a future and the other is too far gone to be saved. Now, I’m not saying ‘Billy Bob’ is the epitome of the ideal man. But I am saying that any culture that mocks individualism, self-reliance, resilience and personal freedom probably doesn’t have all that much going for it.
What Clarkson would do well to remember is that he has made a very comfortable living out of promoting a macho-ish culture where he is the rogue who operates politically incorrect machines in an irresponsible manner - in fact, this is the essence of him bagging out the Toyota Prius. What he’s got with ‘Billy Bob’ is someone who does that better than himself. So I don’t know if it’s ironic or just simply sour grapes that he chooses to mock this guy and the US gun-totin’ God-fearin’ good ole boy culture this guy reflects. Either way, as entertaining as it is, it’s a bit of a cheap shot at the US.
(BTW: this rant aside, I think Top Gear is a great show.)
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