I don't care if you lick windows,
see dead people,
or occasionally PEE yourself...
You hang in there sunshine,
My god - ess
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Memememe!
Today is International Disturbed People's Day. Please send an encouraging message to a disturbed friend... just as I've done.
I don't care if you lick windows,
see dead people,
or occasionally PEE yourself...
You hang in there sunshine,
you're Bloody special.
I don't care if you lick windows,
see dead people,
or occasionally PEE yourself...
You hang in there sunshine,
Monday, 29 October 2007
Four weeks to go.
The overt rhetoric is nothing compared to the underlying change Australia has had.
The right to lamblast those who are 'not like us', or those who appear weak and in need is too too awful.
This 'leadership' took the attitudes of Pauline and made them embedded in our society.
Howard's lies, his meanness, his overt shows of fear and hatred during the 'terrorism' upswing made us into a cowardly, sad, self serving nation.
The green stuck in his teeth is the residue of never having said 'Sorry'. His mother should have washed his mouth out first then kicked him out of home at 17 instead of into his 30's. He would have seen how life really is for the rest of the nation.
He has been fooled by surrounding himself with 'yes' men.
I remember when it was the Liberal Party who crossed the floor to vote on things of conscience, representative of their electorates and the people they cared about. It was always seen as abhorrant to some of us to see the stalwart rock steady voting of the Labor Party.
Now we have seen the guts taken out of the representatives behind someone like Howard.
There is so much to observe about this sad little man...a sad little powerful man who took us and fed us to the money grubbers.
But the most important thing of all were..the LIES.
Saturday, 27 October 2007
Rememberance
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sas-soldier-respected-the-foe-who-killed-him
/2007/10/26/1192941338552.html
A second Australian soldier has died in the 'war on terror'.
In his memory for this fool of a conflict:
Bob Gollan was a digger of the Second World War.
In August 2005 Gollan, then 87, got a letter along with a commemorative medallion marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WW11.
He wrote a letter back.
"A few days ago, like thousands of other old men and women, I received a shiny medallion and a letter signed by John Howard which thanked me for my part in protecting 'the Australian way of life in times of conflict' and for helping to build 'our community in times of peace'. It made me think of Ivan Barber, a West Australian wheat farmer who substituted for me on an operation so I could take a few days' leave, and who died in my place.
"I wondered what he and the more than 40,000 men and boys who died defending our country in WW11 would feel about John Howard's Australia. Certainly most people are materially better off. We have shared in the bounty of the one-fifth of the world which has become rich. But we have become a country governed by lies and fear.
"John Howard has surrendered the self-reliance for which we fought, to curry favour with the most dangerous military power in history. He has stoked the fear of terrorists who may target us because of his fawning subservience to US President Georg Bush. He boasts he stands for mateship and egalitarianism at the same time he attempts, by his industrial relations 'reforms', to destroy the institutions on which those qualities have been nurtured.
"The chief law officer (Philip Ruddock - the one who put children behind razor wire because they were seeking safe habour from horror as refugees) seems not to understand the principles of the rule of law. He and Howard undermine the very principles of democracy in the name of defending them. The Foreign Minister ( Alexander Downer - the one who called David Hicks names before he was tried) rails against those who don't accept his opinion, as fools. He supports his stand by some weird interpretations of history.
"Yes, we would not have survived (WW11) without the American alliance. But the Americans I served with believed, correctly, we were defending a great democracy. Today the alliance, for which Howard and his coterie are prepared to sell our soul, is a militaristic plutocracy."
He was hospitalised on 10 October this year. He said to an old friend:
"I"m going to walk out of here or leave in a wheelchair, then I'm going to hang in there long enough to vote that bastard out of office".
Howard called the election the next day.
Twenty four hours later, at 6am on Monday after, Bob Gollan died. He would have been 90 in December. He could not quite "hang in there" to keep his impassioned vow.
Hopefully we will all remember this amazing thoughtful man and do it for him!
(Thanks to Alan Ramsey of the Sydney Morning Herald for this piece.)
*italic pieces are my editorial
/2007/10/26/1192941338552.html
A second Australian soldier has died in the 'war on terror'.
In his memory for this fool of a conflict:
Bob Gollan was a digger of the Second World War.
In August 2005 Gollan, then 87, got a letter along with a commemorative medallion marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WW11.
He wrote a letter back.
"A few days ago, like thousands of other old men and women, I received a shiny medallion and a letter signed by John Howard which thanked me for my part in protecting 'the Australian way of life in times of conflict' and for helping to build 'our community in times of peace'. It made me think of Ivan Barber, a West Australian wheat farmer who substituted for me on an operation so I could take a few days' leave, and who died in my place.
"I wondered what he and the more than 40,000 men and boys who died defending our country in WW11 would feel about John Howard's Australia. Certainly most people are materially better off. We have shared in the bounty of the one-fifth of the world which has become rich. But we have become a country governed by lies and fear.
"John Howard has surrendered the self-reliance for which we fought, to curry favour with the most dangerous military power in history. He has stoked the fear of terrorists who may target us because of his fawning subservience to US President Georg Bush. He boasts he stands for mateship and egalitarianism at the same time he attempts, by his industrial relations 'reforms', to destroy the institutions on which those qualities have been nurtured.
"The chief law officer (Philip Ruddock - the one who put children behind razor wire because they were seeking safe habour from horror as refugees) seems not to understand the principles of the rule of law. He and Howard undermine the very principles of democracy in the name of defending them. The Foreign Minister ( Alexander Downer - the one who called David Hicks names before he was tried) rails against those who don't accept his opinion, as fools. He supports his stand by some weird interpretations of history.
"Yes, we would not have survived (WW11) without the American alliance. But the Americans I served with believed, correctly, we were defending a great democracy. Today the alliance, for which Howard and his coterie are prepared to sell our soul, is a militaristic plutocracy."
He was hospitalised on 10 October this year. He said to an old friend:
"I"m going to walk out of here or leave in a wheelchair, then I'm going to hang in there long enough to vote that bastard out of office".
Howard called the election the next day.
Twenty four hours later, at 6am on Monday after, Bob Gollan died. He would have been 90 in December. He could not quite "hang in there" to keep his impassioned vow.
Hopefully we will all remember this amazing thoughtful man and do it for him!
(Thanks to Alan Ramsey of the Sydney Morning Herald for this piece.)
*italic pieces are my editorial
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Marriage and Other Pains
Stephanie Coontz, a historian, documented what marriage used to exist for.
Marriage in the 'olden days' was a web of extended family obligations. For the upper classes, its purpose was to magnify wealth and power. For the lower, to choose a spouse who could contribute sweat or material goods to the small business that was each household ( farming, cottage industry included).
Gradually with industrialisation and the movement of jobs outside the home, love replaced the communal economic imperatives as the glue between husbands and wives, striking two blows to the institution.
First, romantic love isn't known for its long-lasting adhesive properties. Second, no-one is as deeply invested in a marriage as the two people in it.
The continuing argument against same-sex marriage ( or legal contracts) is a no-brainer.
The Church throughout the middle ages was more consumed with the consumation of the rich marriages as this is how the Church got most of its fortune.
In Britain the ideal of having a 'vocation' in the Church was a choice as one son would/could choose the Army, the family business ( landowners) or the church. It was not NOT a 'spiritual' calling. ( See "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austin).
The religious orders of all colours ( not just Christian) have always seen the need to control the woman. If they controlled her through her 'right' to marriage, bear children, closet her in her father's care then her husband's , they would have control over the great wealth of most lands. This is still clearly witnessed within the 'kingdoms' of Saudia Arabia et al.
Once women got control over who they marry, and then eventually over their own children ( not until the beginning of the 20 Century) they could then start to have a say over work, money, and then choice of representation...Finally in most Western Nations by the 1920's. ( Australia and New Zealand being the first two to give suffarage to women).
The importance of the 1960's was NOT the sexual revolution per se, however because of the right of women to control their own fertility (ie contraception..the Pill), the sexual revolution came along for the ride.
With this final right extending to the right to abortion the Church lost a great chunk of its power. The Christian church that is.
While guilt and blame are still the heavy burden for most religious minded women, foisted upon them by the (male) Church leaders, there will be a continuation of the power that once was.
What the new fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian faiths do is revert to 'type'. They enjoy in a perverse way the fundamentalism of Islam and other such faiths. Seeing the continued control of women, their choices, their suffarage and their bodies means the ancient faiths still wield unholy control of the nations.
What the ( especially American) Evangelists do is to re-gain the horror of the imaginary friend's displeasure at women's freedom to enjoy and hanker after sex without the worry of pregnancy, castigation or choice.
So the idea of continuing to hold to the 'sacredness' of marriage between a 'man and a woman' is historically nonsense and at the best a furphy.
(Actually it is completely and utterly bullshit, but I was trying to stay measured and calm throughout this post).
Hence the notion of gay marriages being wrong, abortion being against god (abortion has always been an option, legal or not, for women from time immemorial), or sex before marriage being 'sinful' ( it has always happened and always will) is nothing but a return to the control by Church ( ie men over women).
Hence a friend's son is now involved in a strange religion of which he is now studying to be a pastor. The church is full of young married people ..some as young as 17, most married before 20 years of age. Because the sex urge is to be controlled by the Church the children are having children 'legally' within the bounds of their religious brainwashing.
My ex- son-in-law is now involved in another form of these American evangelicals. I talked to him last month to find out how he is 'travelling' in his life post marriage.
I asked him to 'testify' to me as he would to someone in the streets as he does once a week.
He made the mistake of asking a confirmed atheist questions of how I am without a god.
I wanted to answer how he wanted me to so he could go onto his next 'piece' but I didn't want him to feel insulted by my condescension.
Sadly I just confused and befuddled him. I do love him still, as he was a part of my family for several years. He is a good person. He is a soft and gentle man. But..
He is judgemental of others who do not believe in the Bible as the 'truth'.
He is judgemental of women who have sex outside marriage.
He is judgemental of those who cannot claim Jesus as their saviour.
He is ...hurting, lost, trying to find a way out of his disappointment.
I held him to me and told him that he is a good person.
He said: "Only God is good. I am nothing but filth in comparison".
I said: "But isn't everything your god creates good?"
He stood back and stared at me. I wanted him to know that even on HIS God's terms...he is good. That his 'god' died for him...and that is how precious he is.
Somewhere there was a disconnect between what he was reading in his Bible ( that is all he reads now..refuses to watch TV), the understanding of the forgiveness and love contain ( in parts) therein, and the horror of believing in something that was written peace-meal over hundreds of years and re-hashed over centuries.
I left him with my love. I have nothing else to give him.
Marriage in the 'olden days' was a web of extended family obligations. For the upper classes, its purpose was to magnify wealth and power. For the lower, to choose a spouse who could contribute sweat or material goods to the small business that was each household ( farming, cottage industry included).
Gradually with industrialisation and the movement of jobs outside the home, love replaced the communal economic imperatives as the glue between husbands and wives, striking two blows to the institution.
First, romantic love isn't known for its long-lasting adhesive properties. Second, no-one is as deeply invested in a marriage as the two people in it.
The continuing argument against same-sex marriage ( or legal contracts) is a no-brainer.
The Church throughout the middle ages was more consumed with the consumation of the rich marriages as this is how the Church got most of its fortune.
In Britain the ideal of having a 'vocation' in the Church was a choice as one son would/could choose the Army, the family business ( landowners) or the church. It was not NOT a 'spiritual' calling. ( See "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austin).
The religious orders of all colours ( not just Christian) have always seen the need to control the woman. If they controlled her through her 'right' to marriage, bear children, closet her in her father's care then her husband's , they would have control over the great wealth of most lands. This is still clearly witnessed within the 'kingdoms' of Saudia Arabia et al.
Once women got control over who they marry, and then eventually over their own children ( not until the beginning of the 20 Century) they could then start to have a say over work, money, and then choice of representation...Finally in most Western Nations by the 1920's. ( Australia and New Zealand being the first two to give suffarage to women).
The importance of the 1960's was NOT the sexual revolution per se, however because of the right of women to control their own fertility (ie contraception..the Pill), the sexual revolution came along for the ride.
With this final right extending to the right to abortion the Church lost a great chunk of its power. The Christian church that is.
While guilt and blame are still the heavy burden for most religious minded women, foisted upon them by the (male) Church leaders, there will be a continuation of the power that once was.
What the new fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian faiths do is revert to 'type'. They enjoy in a perverse way the fundamentalism of Islam and other such faiths. Seeing the continued control of women, their choices, their suffarage and their bodies means the ancient faiths still wield unholy control of the nations.
What the ( especially American) Evangelists do is to re-gain the horror of the imaginary friend's displeasure at women's freedom to enjoy and hanker after sex without the worry of pregnancy, castigation or choice.
So the idea of continuing to hold to the 'sacredness' of marriage between a 'man and a woman' is historically nonsense and at the best a furphy.
(Actually it is completely and utterly bullshit, but I was trying to stay measured and calm throughout this post).
Hence the notion of gay marriages being wrong, abortion being against god (abortion has always been an option, legal or not, for women from time immemorial), or sex before marriage being 'sinful' ( it has always happened and always will) is nothing but a return to the control by Church ( ie men over women).
Hence a friend's son is now involved in a strange religion of which he is now studying to be a pastor. The church is full of young married people ..some as young as 17, most married before 20 years of age. Because the sex urge is to be controlled by the Church the children are having children 'legally' within the bounds of their religious brainwashing.
My ex- son-in-law is now involved in another form of these American evangelicals. I talked to him last month to find out how he is 'travelling' in his life post marriage.
I asked him to 'testify' to me as he would to someone in the streets as he does once a week.
He made the mistake of asking a confirmed atheist questions of how I am without a god.
I wanted to answer how he wanted me to so he could go onto his next 'piece' but I didn't want him to feel insulted by my condescension.
Sadly I just confused and befuddled him. I do love him still, as he was a part of my family for several years. He is a good person. He is a soft and gentle man. But..
He is judgemental of others who do not believe in the Bible as the 'truth'.
He is judgemental of women who have sex outside marriage.
He is judgemental of those who cannot claim Jesus as their saviour.
He is ...hurting, lost, trying to find a way out of his disappointment.
I held him to me and told him that he is a good person.
He said: "Only God is good. I am nothing but filth in comparison".
I said: "But isn't everything your god creates good?"
He stood back and stared at me. I wanted him to know that even on HIS God's terms...he is good. That his 'god' died for him...and that is how precious he is.
Somewhere there was a disconnect between what he was reading in his Bible ( that is all he reads now..refuses to watch TV), the understanding of the forgiveness and love contain ( in parts) therein, and the horror of believing in something that was written peace-meal over hundreds of years and re-hashed over centuries.
I left him with my love. I have nothing else to give him.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
CULTURAL CRINGE
The real Aussie Citizenship Test
LANGUAGE
1. Are these terms related:
chuck a sickie; chuck a spaz; chuck a U-ey?
2. Explain the following passage:
"In the arvo last Chrissy the relos Rocked up for a barbie,
some bevvies and a few snags. After a bit of a Bex and
a lie down we opened the pressies, scoffed all the
chockies, bickies and lollies. Then we drained a few
tinnies and Mum did her block after Dad and Steve had
a barney and a bit of biffo."
CUSTOMS
1. Macca, Chooka and Wanger are driving to
Surfers in their Torana. If they are travelling at
100 km/h while listening to Barnsey, Farnsey and Acca
Dacca , how many slabs will each person on average
consume before having a slash?
2. Complete the following sentences:
a) "If the van's rockin' don't bother..........."
b) "You're going home in the back of a........."
c) "Fair suck of the.........."
3. I've had a gutful and I can't be fagged. Discuss
4. Have you ever been on the giving or receiving end of a wedgie?
5. Do you have a friend or relative who has a car in their
front yard "up On blocks"? Is his name Keith and does
he have a wife called Cheryl?
FOOD
1. Does your family regularly eat a dish involving
mincemeat, cabbage, curry powder and a packet of
chicken noodle soup called either chow mein, chop suey or
kai see ming?
2. What are the ingredients in a rissole?
3. Demonstrate the correct procedure for eating a Tim Tam.
4. Do you have an Aunty Myrna who is famous for her
tuna mornay and other dishes involving a can of cream
of celery soup?
5. In any two-hour period have you ever eaten three-bean
salad, a chop and two serves of pav washed down with
someone else's beer that has been nicked from a bath full of ice?
6. When you go to a bring- your-own-meat barbie can
you eat other people's meat or are you only allowed
to eat your own?
7. What purple root vegetable beginning with the
letter "b" is required by law to be included in
a hamburger with the lot?
CULTURE
1. Do you own or have you ever owned a lawn mower,
a pair of thongs, an Esky or Ugg boots?
2. Is it possible to have a "prang" while doing "circle work"?
3. Who would you like to crack on to?
4. Who is the most Australian: Kevin "Bloody" Wilson,
John "True Blue" Williamson, Kylie Minogue or Warnie?
5. Is there someone you are only mates with because
they own a trailer or have a pool?
6. Would you love to have a beer with Duncan?
The people to be granted citizenship are the ones
who call it a crock and cheat.
LANGUAGE
1. Are these terms related:
chuck a sickie; chuck a spaz; chuck a U-ey?
2. Explain the following passage:
"In the arvo last Chrissy the relos Rocked up for a barbie,
some bevvies and a few snags. After a bit of a Bex and
a lie down we opened the pressies, scoffed all the
chockies, bickies and lollies. Then we drained a few
tinnies and Mum did her block after Dad and Steve had
a barney and a bit of biffo."
CUSTOMS
1. Macca, Chooka and Wanger are driving to
Surfers in their Torana. If they are travelling at
100 km/h while listening to Barnsey, Farnsey and Acca
Dacca , how many slabs will each person on average
consume before having a slash?
2. Complete the following sentences:
a) "If the van's rockin' don't bother..........."
b) "You're going home in the back of a........."
c) "Fair suck of the.........."
3. I've had a gutful and I can't be fagged. Discuss
4. Have you ever been on the giving or receiving end of a wedgie?
5. Do you have a friend or relative who has a car in their
front yard "up On blocks"? Is his name Keith and does
he have a wife called Cheryl?
FOOD
1. Does your family regularly eat a dish involving
mincemeat, cabbage, curry powder and a packet of
chicken noodle soup called either chow mein, chop suey or
kai see ming?
2. What are the ingredients in a rissole?
3. Demonstrate the correct procedure for eating a Tim Tam.
4. Do you have an Aunty Myrna who is famous for her
tuna mornay and other dishes involving a can of cream
of celery soup?
5. In any two-hour period have you ever eaten three-bean
salad, a chop and two serves of pav washed down with
someone else's beer that has been nicked from a bath full of ice?
6. When you go to a bring- your-own-meat barbie can
you eat other people's meat or are you only allowed
to eat your own?
7. What purple root vegetable beginning with the
letter "b" is required by law to be included in
a hamburger with the lot?
CULTURE
1. Do you own or have you ever owned a lawn mower,
a pair of thongs, an Esky or Ugg boots?
2. Is it possible to have a "prang" while doing "circle work"?
3. Who would you like to crack on to?
4. Who is the most Australian: Kevin "Bloody" Wilson,
John "True Blue" Williamson, Kylie Minogue or Warnie?
5. Is there someone you are only mates with because
they own a trailer or have a pool?
6. Would you love to have a beer with Duncan?
The people to be granted citizenship are the ones
who call it a crock and cheat.
Thursday, 18 October 2007
Warning - Only for those who can Laugh at Anything!
http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=32516&category=National%20News
(Please cut and past above link into address bar..can't seem to get a direct link)
Even Death should be laughed at!
There would be at least ONE person in your life that you can relate this piece to.
The Chasers are the last of our Satirists that are getting airplay.
(Please cut and past above link into address bar..can't seem to get a direct link)
Even Death should be laughed at!
There would be at least ONE person in your life that you can relate this piece to.
The Chasers are the last of our Satirists that are getting airplay.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Vale!
r191430_721150.jpg (JPEG Image, 285x190 pixels)
Lance Ferris of Ballina has died. He was known as the Pelican Man. He helped set up a sanctuary for seabirds, turtles and other marine creatures to help them when they were injured.
I had the honour of hearing him speak one year on his ability to grab pelicans when they were injured by fishing-line, hooks, plastic bags etc and save them from a horrible debilitating death.
I shook his hand and thanked him for raising my consciousness about what can be done to prevent such horrible disfiguring wounds. Ever since then I have been a Pelican lover.
I am a pelican.
I am Polly.
So to Lance and his fellow workers thank you for all you do for our marine creatures.
And to Lance, who at the too-early age of 60 died of a stroke, my tears were shed for you and your family and for the rest of the Australian community who admired and praised you.
Vale! Vale to the Pelican Man of the North Coast of NSW.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/15/2059743.htm
Lance Ferris of Ballina has died. He was known as the Pelican Man. He helped set up a sanctuary for seabirds, turtles and other marine creatures to help them when they were injured.
I had the honour of hearing him speak one year on his ability to grab pelicans when they were injured by fishing-line, hooks, plastic bags etc and save them from a horrible debilitating death.
I shook his hand and thanked him for raising my consciousness about what can be done to prevent such horrible disfiguring wounds. Ever since then I have been a Pelican lover.
I am a pelican.
I am Polly.
So to Lance and his fellow workers thank you for all you do for our marine creatures.
And to Lance, who at the too-early age of 60 died of a stroke, my tears were shed for you and your family and for the rest of the Australian community who admired and praised you.
Vale! Vale to the Pelican Man of the North Coast of NSW.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/15/2059743.htm
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