Dear World ...

At 17.

2005-05-25T00:05:00.000+10:00

In Palestine, Chechnya, Congo (Republic of, and Democratic Republic of), Iraq, Uganda, Columbia, Rwanda, Nepal, Iran, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Algeria, and others I may have been in an armed militia, or opposition force for the last few years.

In other countries, I could be forced to work to support my family, earning less than a dollar a day, no future.

I wrote that a year or so ago, a few days after I'd turned 17. Nothing's changed for the people living in those countries.

Will it ever?

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

2005-03-13T12:13:00.000+11:00

Some absolute legend gave me some really good advice re. School today.
They said: "you just need to put in an effort now...... school will be over soon then we can't change the fact we didn't do any work. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Love you heaps the person who said that..... it's like the best advice :)

Very Long Time..... no hear

2005-02-19T17:29:00.000+11:00

Oh here we go....again....
I am so scared... my head is spinning....
(Courtesy of Pete Murray, "Bail Me Out").

Week 4, Term 2 of year 12.
240 something days unitl the Higher School Certificate.

I think it is finally hitting home exactely what the HSC is all about..... and exactely what I have to sign myself away to.

And its fucken scarey.

I love life at the moment...... I am happy..... I have the bestest friend ever by my side..... a group of people constantly around me who constantly make me laugh and enjoy life......parents and family who care so much it annoys me..... a school I passionately adore...... teachers who are like friends and who never stop receiving praise if anyone makes the mistake of asking what I think....... an environment which is one of the best in the world...... a shire full of crazy, random, yet entertaining and loveable characters.... and generally a lifestyle I love.

It feels like the world is at my feet.
And I don't want to give that feeling up. Even for 200 and whatever days.
I don't want to go back into that year 10 state of life being a chore.... and being completely burnt-out.
I'm scared that I'll end up like that again. I'm in denial that in 8 or so months, I will be at the school I have come to love, sitting near the people I have come to adore, with teachers standing outside, who have become more like friends and who I have the upmost respect for..... sitting an exam for the last time.

God dammit, why do they have the HSC in yr 12 at the peak of everyone's newfound independence and.... dare I say it.... empowerment in life?

Is it some kind of sadistic application of Darwinism? Whack everyone in the pressure cooker and see who comes out at the end? Survival of the fittest?
Another appropriate analogy could be drawn to a paper shredder.

Perhaps the HSC, as our equivalent of a "coming of age", rite of passage, is somewhat of a experience leading to the further empowerment of our innocent inexperienced souls....?

Maybe it does have positive outcomes as well.

Hopefully everyone will come out of it as more all/well roundeded individuals ready to face the world. We can only hope.

And I damn well hope I am not one of grains of rice that gets stuck to the bottom of the rice cooker..... while the rest is being rolled up into sushi.

Mmm.....sushi. I can't wait for that last piece. Pity I will be choking on it for 8 months until I can swallow it.

Until then it's going to be a long and hard battle.
I hope I win.

Anyway..... what was that Hamlet?

2004-08-08T23:02:00.000+10:00

Time: 2302 AEST
Current Activities: Blogging, Eating chocolate & other high sugar substances, listening to U2
Intended Activity: Completion of Assesment Task

For some reason I've only found the time to blog now, when I don't have it.

[forces mouse to assignment related window]

Changing my Mind.

2004-07-23T00:15:00.000+10:00

A year or two ago, I thought Michael Moore was a cynical, short sighted, 'typical' American. I'd never read any of his books, nor seen any of his movies or tv shows, but found myself disliking him for the way in which he expressed his views. I shared a lot of these views but found Moore rude, offensive and unintelligent, yet wasn't sure how I'd come to feel this way. My only exposure to him had been through the media and what I had heard from friends who had read his books (One of my friends was obsessed with him, and I suppose, due to this my opinion of him had been jaded from the start). Despite not watching Commercial News without a grain of cynicism, and firmly believing that my mind was to be made up for myself, I found myself disliking a person without having ever given them any opportunity to prove themselves otherwise.
I decided then, that in order to continue holding the opinion of him that I did, I really needed to have some basis - to, at least, have read one of his books. I reserved the book, and was put onto a list of around 30 for one of the local library's 3 copies. As time wore on I gradually progressed along the list, and my School Certificate Assesments approached. I forgot about the reservation, and didn't think about my decision until earlier this year, when a copy of the book "Stupid White Men" happened to be leant to me, along with a number of other books, by a family friend.
Reading through his work, I found a much more compassionate person than that which the media, or my own scepticism would have me believe. Moore was witty, intelligent, and passionate, and looked at a wide number of issues concerning current American policy with a matter-of-fact, yet funny style.
I spent 2 hours tonight watching "Bowling for Columbine". I was left feeling powerless, a common response after learning more about situations which seem so complex, and hopeless.
At a time where attacks on Moores new documentary "Fahrenheit 911" continuing from those on the right, I feel a reminder of what they are supposedly fighting for is in order. Freedom & Democracy.
Mr. Moore makes documentary's based on his opinion, and is therefore not restricted by the constraints of objectivity self imposed by many in the documentary making field.

"Fight for freedom", yet attack free speech.

Australia’s Treatment of Asylum Seekers - The Catholic Response. [cont.]

2004-07-19T20:24:00.000+10:00

146 Children, 142 Women, 65 Men.

Positions taken by the Australian Government after their 2001 election campaign prevented any attempt being made to save the lives of these people after the sinking of the Siev X, in international waters off Christmas Island, in late October of that year.

Crossing the waters between Indonesia and Christmas Island in search of a better life is an action taken by asylum seekers despite its dangers. In recent years, our country has made it harder for these people to achieve happiness, and has denied people not reaching the Australian mainland the right to seek asylum.

Those asylum seekers who have reached Australian Territories have experienced public hostility and are treated like criminals. These people are locked up, and isolated. The situation inside Australia’s Detention Centres is miserable. With many experiencing psychological problems caused by the physical separation from the freedom they sought & the uncertainty of waiting for a decision on your future, your life in someone else’s hands.

For those eventually granted refugee status, life is often difficult, as there are limited support systems, and large cultural and language barriers which often need to be addressed. Failings in the government’s welfare system such as this pose difficulties to many migrants in their initial adjustment to Australia.

The Catholic Church teaches that asylum seekers deserve to be treated with respect and compassion. It works to assist refugees and migrants in the community and in detention centres and advocates the plights of refugees migrant and within the church and in the wider community.

The wellbeing of those in detention centres is of great to concern to the Catholic Church, the violation of human dignity and punishment of innocent people are seen as offences against God’s people. By keeping children in detention the church claims the government is denying them the right to proper development in an environment suitable to growth as human beings.

Various church groups make visits to detention centres providing the people in the centres with outside support and regular contact, something which can keep people going, and inspire hope in an otherwise devastated and hopeless view of Australia.

Migrant and Refugee Offices throughout the states, along with institutes and organisations like the St. Vincent de Paul society provide support to refugees and migrants by assisting them in easing the transition into Australian society.

The actions taken in response to the issue are based on the principles of love for one another, and the sanctity of human life. These principles, along with stories from the Old and New Testaments, form the basis of Catholic doctrine relating to migration and refugees.
The stories of the Good Samaritan, the crossing of the Red Sea, and Jesus’ commandment to love one another as I have loved you, convey a message of compassion towards everyone, especially those who are fleeing persecution, and in spite of religion or race, the 2nd Vatican council builds on this calling on Catholics to be a “neighbour” to immigrants.

Jesus was himself born away from his home and forced into exile, and when he returned to Israel, he spent much of his life moving through towns and villages relying on the hospitality of those he met on his way. The welcoming of strangers was a characteristic of the early church, which provided and relied on this hospitality.

The people our government has locked up are not terrorists or “queue jumpers” they are human beings searching for a way to lead a better life, and a happier future, we have a responsibility to protect their right to live the gift of life.

“I was a stranger and you made me welcome” Mt 25:35

From Faiza

2004-07-18T18:18:00.000+10:00

I found nothing more beautiful than this poem, written by an American writer, thus making it a popular, folk song, at the time of World War 1…but I see it a poem that fits all wars…. Alfred Brian (1915), by the title: I Didn't Raise My Son To Become A Soldier… Ten million soldiers went to war, They might never come back. Ten million mothers' hearts are sure to break For sons who died in vain… I heard a mother, her head bowed in sadness, In her years of loneliness, Muttering through her tears: I didn't raise my son to be a soldier, I raised him to be my pride and joy, Who would dare put a gun on his shoulder, To kill another mothers' beloved son?

Australia’s Treatment of Asylum Seekers - The Catholic Response.

2004-06-28T22:12:00.000+10:00

2004-06-11T20:25:00.000+10:00

boat-people.org

BloggerBot: Photo One - "We are all 'Boat People'."

Homophobe Howard.

2004-06-06T20:49:00.000+10:00

Our beloved leader, His Honorable Prime Ministership, the virtuous and just, Mr. John Howard, attacked ABC children's program "Play School" today. Addressing outcry from certain factions of the Australian public, Johnny said "This is an example of the ABC running an agenda in a children's program,". After having sat through the Rumsfeld - Rice propaganda workshopping program early this week, he quickly took up the opportunity to show off his new polarizing skills.

"If people want to debate that issue, do it on a program like Lateline, but not on Play School." he decreed, adding later, that this was to allow him to continue to watch his favourite program in total ignorance of any non-nuclear family situations.

The Soldier Who Wouldn’t Fight

2004-06-02T19:28:00.000+10:00

We now return you to your regular programming.

“Anyone would have inhibitions about taking someone’s life, but there are a variety of ways that we’re indoctrinated and desensitised. The esprit de corps, the sense of pride they instil in us and each other, sometimes it seems like some sort of monastic brotherhood or cult. You learn unwavering devotion to each other. When we’re fighting it’s not for the cause or country. It’s for each other, for the person to your right and your left.

“That was the hardest thing, leaving my friends, people from my unit, having them go without me, dedicated, hard working people whose values are being exploited by the US government.” Jeremy Hinzman left his unit when it was sent to Iraq, having spent two years applying for conscientious objector status. He applied before his unit was sent to Afghanistan, requesting a transfer to a non-combat role. It was deliberately mishandled, the authorities claiming they had never received it but later giving the papers back to him in a package with a further application and advice to drop the matter.

One of two US soldiers who left the army and applied for political asylum in Canada on the grounds of refusal of his conscientious objector status, Jeremy now has a support base around the world, with his website, jeremyhinzman.net, having received ver 30,000 visits since it's launch in march.

In a recent post by british activist, Wildfire Jo, his time in the Military was described as training in the "dehumanisation of the people in future warzones". Jo quoted Jeremy as having said “It’s easy to get one person to shoot another. In the first week we shoot at black circles, learn how to aim, how to breathe, and the next week there are shoulders added and then torsos and then they become pop up targets, but all the time they’re targets, not people, and shooting them is a reflex."

"Recruitment starts in high school with glossy brochures, recruiters like car salesman cold calling to lists of students without a ticket into university, he explained, with an underclass maintained for precisely that purpose. Someone asked about the draft. The draft hasn’t been active since the Vietnam war but young men are still required to register for it. Failing to register with the Selective Service System means ineligibility for federal student aid , federal job training or civil service employment from the post office to the parks service and in some states you can’t get into state colleges."

I remember watching a documentry made shortly after September 11th 2001 about three "working class" americans, who'd signed up for duty in the Army. It followed there progress through basic training, and ended with two heading to Iraq and one going AWOL.

Searching for a foothold in this chaos...that is life....

2004-06-02T01:02:00.000+10:00

I don't know whether I'm Benita or Benji anymore than you do.... quite frankly.
I'm B to my cousin, Beni to my penpal/epal/Sarah, Bernie to Hannah, ernieB to Greg, Bonto (etc) to Anne and Christina, Gonzo to Christina, Ben to Anne, Corinne and Christina, Benji to nearly everyone at school, Benj to Maya, Benjita to Michelle and Benita to everyone else.......talk about multiple identities.

I was actually enjoying that post about your childhood............no it doesn't tell the world/me about you, however I didn't know that so called "trivial" stuff about you. No, you can't live your life in "trivia"....that *would* be painful......but everyone needs a healthy dose.

Don't be "lost" because you don't know where your headed. Seriously James, you have the wisdom/knowledge to get where you want and be happy....even if it is only running the local chip shop down the road.... you academicness or supposed "geekness" is only one of your assets.

Life is a learning process. Im 16....but i think I've had a bit of a taste of what is to come...and learnt some very valuable lessons *cough* Hurlstone *cough*. I am glad at where I am in my life at this current second. Sure I wish I was more knowledgeable and smart.......could be like those "school captain" types who I hold in so much regard.......public speaking.....academicness..... confidence......charisma...... charm........even if it is sometimes synthetic.....i wish i could do it. But I think/hope everything is gonna be okay. All I really want in life at the moment is to be happy, doing stuff that I love, with the people I love around me. Perhaps I'm not cut out to be that hotshot policy analyst for the UN....or whatever.....and yeah.....I know it's gonna hurt......and I know it's gonna cut if I can, but don't, get where I think I want to be.......my UAI will be the first test.......but not the last.

Moving on......
my gross over generalisations exhibited plenty-o-time in say.....the last term....are rash, irrational and plain stupid. Maybe they have a starting point.......potential........but maybe that's all....they shouldn't be strung out, like a basket of wet underwear, for everyone to see

That's the thing about blogs. You write things, in one state of mind, with a particular thought in mind/ point of view.....and then in the morning its....warped and distorted....shaped into something it wasn't meant to be.....in the cold light of day its stupid...........your mind, your soul, your passion vanishes from the screen. Words convey empty meanings. They convey different meanings. For me there is a horrible ridge between mind and matter, so to speak. You, or I, can't express concepts, thoughts, feelings, fleeting random sensations, into print without losing the passion/idea/thought behind them.
Something I honestly wish, in Benita's little secluded island from reality floating around in her head, is that there was some way to actually understand what people mean/think/feel. The only relation/link I have to make is in the book "Obernewtyn" by Isobelle Carmody, the main character has the ability to "farseek" (meaning she can talk/communicate inside another person's head and exchange thoughts, not just words with them).

Blogs are my dumping ground for emotional baggage....and fragments of my life.....like a journal. I want to be able to say what I think, feel, know and not necessesarily have to face it again. Baggage has a terrible tendency to have your name marked all over it.

It's been good blogging with you James, really it has......I hope you understood most of my half constructed thoughts/words.......I think that's why it has been good blogging with you....because I think you did.

Fighting off all nostalgia I might encounter, I'm not sure if i'll be able to put a detached "me" into my thoughts on this blog. Don't get me wrong politics, world affairs and the world around me is my life, and I always want to be attached somehow to that side of me, but, and I've never actually thought/ described myself like this.....but I have got a "spirtual" and "emotional" (for some reason those words don't sit well in my vocabulary) side to myself....that interestingly enough wants to be expressed.....I suppose it's that whole human thing of yearning for something else in life/ the hunger for comfort in something/one that "knows you".....the hunger not to be alone in this world of chaos.
Sarah Mclachlan as my inspiration in the background.......

So I am sorry for having "conflicting" roles in regard to my thoughts and them being expressed, hell no-one is a mind reader. I guess we didn't know what tangent this blog would take.......have we now hit the crossroads?

Funny......blogging....or one might say....self expression has taken up such a big part of my life. And I think its a good thing.

Should I read this back over to see if it will make sense, is fit for public consumption?......should I put a disclaimer on it? make it invisible (it's just not the same then...)?.......will i regret writing this in the morning? how will it look in the morning? will people look me in the eye the same?

Benji, B, Ben, Beni, Bernie.....Benita........ These are my ramblings. Taken out of context (ie today at 2:32am) they will be abused and misused. Trust me on that one.
Hopefully I will have the courage to leave this post visible on here.
To the World........
From Benita.............with love.....

*grimaces as she hits PUBLISH POST*

2004-05-29T01:35:00.000+10:00

I started writing the previous post quite a while ago, and so it's all over the place. It starts telling story about me, which is unrelated to the original point, and then stops after I realized I was talking about something completely different.

Basically, I'm not our partying, not because I am an "academic" stuck-up private school snob who studies continuously and who's closest friend is a computer, I don't think anyone can be all of those at once (I am though, in the many ways different people see me), but because I both choose to learn about stuff all the time (knowledge addict [but not a statistics freak]), and am too much of a control freak to get off my face.

I'm the only person, perhaps besides Benita, and some people who may not "know" me well who actually know me, with the last two probably having the best picture.

2004-05-28T22:50:00.000+10:00

its a friday night y arnt u out partying?

said Benita's sister when she saw I was logged onto MSN Messenger tonight. Or maybe it's Benji's sister, I'm not sure anymore.

I'd just finished reading her (Ben ji/ita 's) comment on Noushi, and so ... well it kind of reinforced the doubts I've had over the last few years about just what I'm doing with my life.

My first memories are of the time I spent as a little kid, playing with my next-door neighbour, Alison. We used to play in her cubby house, which was built across a bridge spanning a 3 metre drop from a retaining wall behind their house, dress-ups inside, "Mums and Dads", board games, and with dolls. Yep I had a doll, His (it was definitely male) name was Jack, I think. We had baths together, my hair had girly things put it in it, and I was always over at their house. We moved two suburbs away when I started school, and the friendship, whilst still there becomes more remote each year.

My Brother arrived when I was two, and from what my parents have told me, I was pretty tolerant of him, just ignoring him (and others in general) when they took my toys, and the like. We started going to playgroup when I was a bit older and for the first time I met people other than relatives or neighbours.

When Ali went to pre-school, I had a lot more time by myself, and my parents thought it might be time to send me to pre-school, to be around children my own age (Ali is 5 months older than me, and was therefore a year above me in the school system). I hated it. For the first week I cried every morning when my parents dropped me off, and I hid under the building in a sand-pit area with toy blocks, alone. My parents decided I wasn't ready and I spent the rest of the year at home with mum. The following year it was back off to pre-school, this year time with much more success. I was a quiet kid, and still am relatively quite now.

Throughout my early years of school, I didn't have a specific group of friends, I'm not sure anyone does, but rather, everyone gets along with everyone else. As the years progressed I continued to stay friends with everyone, and my time was spent with large groups of people. In year 5, with the introduction of 3 multi-age year 5 / year 6 classes, I was seperated from most of the people I had chosen to stay with (I was later to find out I had been moved to allow for a teacher to have a class with only one "trouble maker" whilst my original class had none), and my considered friends slowly focused in to a smaller number of people.

The people I had settled in with however, had not as much in common with me as they did with each other.

The following year, the boundaries set by our class allocations were gone, but I found myself, staying with some of the people I had been around the year before. Whilst being clumped up into groups of friends, I continued to mingle with the rest of the year. Year 6 was strange in that it seemed that the group as a whole became closer as our time at primary school drew to an end, with everyone being more accepting and open to each other throughout that year, with year wide soccer games, or games of tip not uncommon.

I was unique in that in the midst of the chaos which occurs on a primary school playground I once found the time to calculate the energy used for some activity using Einsteins E = mc ^2 written in the dirt near the cricket nets. I was a library monitor but played soccer at lunch with the others, was only in trouble twice my entire school life, and never had a detention.

I've always been a person who asks "Why?", not so much out loud, but in my mind, which resulted in me continuously thinking about the reasons behind peoples actions, and words, and about everything in general. This probably magnified in year 5 where I talked less than others in many conversations.

Over the holidays between Primary school and High School I began to listen to the BBC World Service late at night, after stumbling across it being rebroadcast on the radio (ABC NewsRadio - 630 AM). This led to my mind opening up to a much wider world, and I took a much greater interest in what was happening in the world . I picked up on High School quickly, despite not having any older siblings, and took to the 6 period day well, with results being maintained at a high level throughout 7 - 10. My english was pretty average in years 7 & 8 but a good teacher in the later helped me to improve to the stage where I was able to do Advanced English in the school certificate.

blah blah blah

None of this really says anything about me though. I think what I'm trying to say is that despite thinking and working and being nice to everyone, I have no real direction.

Warning - Random Thoughts Follow.

What am I doing and What is it that I want to achieve by doing so?

Why did I write this blog?

I don't go out on friday nights, but I'm not a slave to school or a workaholic and I haven't studied in a shamefully long time.

I know a bit about computers - so am I a "geek"
I get good marks (or used to) - so am I a "spock" / "nerd" / "stuck-up prick"
etc. etc. etc.

I don't know who or what I am or want.

edited 1:40 AM 29.05.2004

2004-05-26T23:56:00.000+10:00

The smell of popcorn from the local cinema's drifted over the road as I walked to the old station masters cottage where the drinks are stored at work. I was reminded of childhood trips, though there weren't many, and of more recent visits to the movies, with family and friends. A warm nostalgic feeling swept over me, and I opened the bolted door with a smile on my face.

Walking into the darkened storeroom, smelling the petrol from the gardening equipment kept on a shelf near the door, my smile faded, and I was reminded of the events which were occuring at that very moment, at different places around the world.

I felt sick and depressed.

Children starving while their mother makes your next pair of Nike$, rhetoric rhetoric rhetoric.

It's true, and It get's to me.

2004-05-12T20:26:00.000+10:00

Prisoners standing naked, and blind, dogs growling viciously, apprehension as to where the next blow is going to come from, and when. Footage of Iraqi's being forced into sexual positions, of an American having his head severed, of parts of Israeli bodies being paraded, of wounded combatants being tracked down and killed in cold blood.

I haven't seen much of the pictures, or footage (of either sides atrocities). I haven't wanted to. The reactions though have been explosive. And I expect a large reaction to the latest story, the beheading of Nick Berg. No doubt this'll be on the front of the sydney tabloid, the Daily Telegraph, tomorrow morning.

hello world.... ;)

2004-05-11T23:06:00.000+10:00

This new blogger format is horrible!! It makes me think I'm using a PC *shudders*.

The internet is weird lately.
I suppose I haven't been on lately (finally got my mac setup in my room). Salam Pax hasn't blogged in ages either. Ihath changed her layout.

In Iraq America and their allies are toturing Iraqis. In Townsville Australian officers are torturing kittens (doused 5 in petrol and set alight, dragged another along behind a motor bike and ran over with 4wd). The Federal Budget got released tonight. More wedges.
The Sydney Morning Herald should be a good read tomorrow.

Oh the state of the world-
And we're studying Shakespear's Othello in english *rolls eyes*!!

My cousin is going on exchange for 1 year next year to France or somewhere, I think that would be really fun- maybe I'll do something next year and do the HSC in 2006.
I have to go to bed....rambling to much.

2004-05-09T00:29:00.000+10:00

Here's a nice addition to my last post: http://www.ihath.com/2004_05_02_ctznofwrld_archive.html

P.S

2004-05-08T01:09:00.000+10:00

I will get my other gmail account AFTER they finish beta testing. mwhaha

From Faiza

2004-05-06T23:28:00.000+10:00

When I used to live in Amman my boys were young, and I needed someone to help me raising them. I hired a Sri-Lankan maid like most people there do.
When she arrived my boys gathered around her. She sat in her room having lunch. The boys were spying on her and say in childish amazement: mama, she is eating. Mama, she doesn't know how to use the spoon.
I laughed and said: yes, she is poor and from a poor country. She has a family and children and had to leave them to come and serve you because she wants to send them her salary so they could live a good life like all other people.
I cried all night in the first days after her arrival. I felt guilty. My boys have 2 mothers now while her kids have no mother now. How will they sleep? How will they spend their nights? Crying and missing her?
My neighbor laughed at me and said: don't worry about that?.They are poor,
they are not like us. Not like our families or children.
I wished I could punch her in the face and shut her up.
Is this arrogance and despising other people a culture Man acquired or is it a hereditary thing?
I think it's the latter. But the poisonous and stupid media make people know each other less and less. It separates them instead of bringing them together. It builds barriers instead of bridges. Why???

2004-05-03T16:22:00.000+10:00

Torfeida's got a much better post about the recent train problems over on his blog. He's even included pictures.

My thing was from the SMH, should've attributed. Got to get out of the house more, been to lazy to put effort into anything lately, schoolwork and blogging included.

Almost forgot.

2004-05-03T03:42:00.000+10:00

[signs back into blogger]
Benita. Over on ebay they are auctioning off gmail invites.
They're going for approx. US$70 each.

Blogger only gives you one per profile so I don't know how you're going to get those other adresses.

Dear World (And Benita),

2004-05-03T03:02:00.000+10:00

It's 3 AM and I've just finished:

sending a match report for my mum's netball club (for which she plays and is press secretary (my sisters all play for the club too) ) off to the local newspaper,

tracking down a site I visited earlier this week (randompixel) (I found it),

and reading a few blogs, articles & lot's of different websites [looks at history] : Syd Mob - Sydney Based Flashmob, 1000 Journals, BookCrossing, & RandomPixel.

It seems that I have a fascination with these kinds of projects / ideas.

I am off to bed.
'night.

Train Failures

2004-05-02T19:04:00.000+10:00

Tens of thousands of Sydney commuters were delayed or stranded today when most services ground to a halt after the rail network's communication system failed.

Crowds choked platforms with passengers left to endure lengthy delays, even after RailCorp said it had fixed the problem.

......

At the height of the problem, only 20 per cent of services were running, he said.

-SMH

From Sydney with love.

2004-04-27T15:52:00.000+10:00

I've had a pretty good holiday. Saw most of the people I wanted to. It's funny, I spent most of the time in the Blue Mountains and kept thinking of hippyville as my "home", whereas in hippyville I think of the Mountains as my "home". I guess I will have to let go of the Mountains *sniff sniff*.
One day. Something else I do all the time (i'm not sure if iv'e mentioned this before) is when I'm at school with my school friends I go "well my friends did that" referring to my mountain friends, then with my mountain friends I go "well my friends did this" referring to my school friends and either side go OHHH SOOOO we're not your friends?!! So now I have to insert mountain or school before the "friends" part.

The city hasn't changed. Still the lovely smell of pollutants, the 440 buses, the horrible transit police & bus drivers, late trains, nice food, night life, traffic jams and impending terrorist attacks (speaking of those, my aunty, my friend and I had a nice little discussion on possible places on the "hitlist" - we thought the water reserves is one (lucky I'm on rainwater), and whether or not national icons were a target).
My flight leaves at 6:30. Until next time Sydney,
Adious!

P.S there was a funny ad on the bus the other day, it was behind the driver and said "earn while you learn" i.e trying to get people to apply to be bus drivers. I thought that summed up city bus drivers quite nicely, earning while they're learning. Not sure if they should be advertising that though ;)

News, news, news.

2004-04-27T15:06:00.000+10:00

Another thing I miss out on in ~~hickville~~ hippyville is news.

I was at a party on saturday night (family friends had finally finished building their place and threw a party) and my *godmother* came. Anyway I was talking to her and we got onto the subject of the Rainbow Warrior and I had got and email from her about the open day of the Rainbow Warrior last weekend. Anyway I was going to go, but then couldn't be bothered, but she said it got cancelled on the sunday, and I am like "Oh why?"
and she's like (much to my annoyance) "Oh I can't really say, watch the news on about tuesday".
Oh I probably should mention at this point that she's quite high up in Greenpeace.
Then she tells me that she's going on the Rainbow Warrior for 2 months around the Pacific in July, chasing illegal fishers as well as educating people about sustainable fishing (i think that was it....).

Anyway I was walking past my grandparents room last night and I heard the familiar and much loved "beep beep beep" of the start of ABC news (they have ABC local radio on ALL night) so I stop and listen and I hear "the Rainbow Warrior has blocked the departure of a ship containing GE crops from Port Kembla. The protest is now at it's climax, with police boarding the Rainbow Warrior and removing crew".

Oh yeah I have more news about that Afghan refugee friend of ours, he actually spoke to his family, after about 4yrs of not knowing if they were alive. I can't remember what my last update was, but his family are in Pakistan, doing it real tough and he is trying to bring them to Australia. I spoke to him on the phone this morning, well afternoon for everyone else (ie 1pm or so), and he's so cute he's like "how are you, and mum and dad?" And asks me about school etc. You would never think he's my own age and he's only spoken english for about 4 years and he's doing yr 11 and living/supporting himself in a foreign country!!!

I'm getting a TV arieal so I can watch SBS/ABC news. The problem is I will watch more than just that. GRRRR TV is a no win situation.

There is a point.....

2004-04-27T14:35:00.000+10:00

I am at my grandparent's place in Belrose, Northern Sydney. Now anyone who has ever been here, or passed by and noticed the considerable decent of their car whilst driving through knows what Belrose is like. A town full of old people who love dogs (wait I think thats just my grandparents....). Anyway it's boring. And I hate not using my own computer and being forced to used this Piece of Crap.

I haven't been online, really, since I left and it's amazing how much you feel like your missing out on something. Maybe I'm obsessed. Actually I think that's more than possible. I really don't understand how half my friends survive without it. Ignorance is bliss i suppose.

Well in any case this time i actually did miss out on something. Gmail.
Nevertheless after nearly dying when I read one of James' emails sent from his brand new Gmail account and wondering why I couldn't get an account of my own (having not logged in to blogger) the internet promptly crashed and I couldn't get back on. So I went to bed and woke up having to think whether in fact the earlier than expected release of Gmail (I think i read about it first in Icon, Smh, or online somewhere) was just a dream. This was because I actually did have a dream that featured Gmail.
From what I recall it went something like this:
I was in the car with Ashmo, Riley and Nat and I was complaining because James had Gmail and I didn't know how to get it (i think at this point James appeared and I gave him a dirty look) and Riley or Nat goes "oh you missed out" and Riley then goes "I have 4 accounts, you had to go on the GAP site to get them between 3-5pm on friday" and I was like "awwwwwwww that's unfair, I was at so and so's on friday and they don't have internet".
Then we all suddenly appeared at the Blues Fest and Solomon Burke walked past and I yelled to Kas (sister who magically appeared) "Quick lets get his signature" and I ran off trying to find a blues fest programme for him to sign and instead went to take these cards from a card stall and got yelled at because they weren't free like I thought. But then I got my favourite "Sharpe" perminant marker and James Brown appeared and Femi Kuti and the lead singer from Burning Spear and I got them all to sign something.

I have weird dreams.
But when I did wake up I actually had to think whether Gmail actually existed.

The only part that really happened in real life (well kind of), was on Sunday night when I was in Liechhardt with a friend and we were out at Palace Norton St cinema after going out to dinner at Bar Italia. We walked over to the cinema and there was a stand of free postcards, and I grabbed a few cool ones and my friend was dragging me away saying "They are not free!!!" and I was evilly laughing at her. Oh yeah we saw a movie called "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" (or something like that) and the cinemas were really cool.

ANYWAY the point is I am applying for Gmail now ;)

2004-04-25T18:12:00.000+10:00

Didn't end up going to the ceremony with school today. Woke up at 5:30 and heard the dawn ceremony from Canberra on ABC Radio National though.

ANZAC Day

2004-04-24T20:41:00.000+10:00

Anzac Day's tomorrow. I'm debating whether I should go to a ceremony (as a rep. of my school) or not. On the one hand, these people died fighting a war, which we are told they fought nobly and for good cause, in the interests of our country, and for the betterment of humanity, on the other, tomorrow is, in a way, a celebration of the use of military force, we are not just remembering the deaths of these people, we are glorifying their actions, and giving justification to the militarist frame of mind.

ANZAC day is "a day to remember", whether you reflect on the loss of life, or on a sacrifice, it was undoubtedly an important date in Australian or World history.

2004-04-23T23:25:00.000+10:00

Heard the other day in an interview with a representative of the American republican party, discussing the American policy of non-involvement (not getting involved in overseas confllicts).

"We're all really inbred republicans"

Sorry, This blog is too political sometimes.

I've got Gmail

2004-04-22T14:14:00.000+10:00

Whooooo!

2004-04-21T13:33:00.000+10:00

Vanstone doesn't annoy me as much as Ruddock though. Even they're as equally inhumane. (actually it's probably because I don't have a TV anymore and don't hear her sound bites (mwhahah get the joke...? Don't blame me....Triple J started those jokes) .

I'm at a certain person's house who has a mini noticeboard/blackboard meant to be for shopping lists etc and it has always said "The trouble with political jokes is they often get elected", now it has a slight addition to the ending "i.e. Mark Latham". Me and Anne both noticed it and expressed our contempt for it (to eachother). That all happened with Fox News running in the background =)

On John Howard, John Laws, and Our rights.

2004-04-21T00:48:00.000+10:00

Over on little Johnny's website -

Lawsy and Johnny are having a good old chat about why we don't deserve a bill of rights.

LAWS:

It’s part of this new Bill of Rights. Have you had a look at that?

PRIME MINISTER:

Oh I’ve had a look at the Bill of Rights. I don’t believe in Bills of Rights.

LAWS:

Neither do I.

......... Some time later .........

PRIME MINISTER:

I think a Bill of Rights is a totally undesirable… I think it can end up restricting rights rather than enhancing them.

LAWS:

Yeah. We should have a Bill of Responsibilities.

PRIME MINISTER:

Well I certainly agree with that and I think the States should have that too. I think one of my complaints about the State Governments at the present time is they’re big on rights, but when it comes to any responsibility, they get into a jam and they say it’s the fault of Canberra.

So Laws wants us to be responsible (for giving him ridiculously large amounts of many presumably), and Howard wants the states to stop holding him accountable, (labour should be responsible, let me just screw up our country and put annoying stupid cows in cabinet positions *cough* Van - Stone *cough*

2004-04-20T21:46:00.000+10:00

That would have been funnier if it wasn't so true.
Especially the part when they went "We trust you had a comfortable trip" etc. When we got to the City Rail tracks 2 transit officers took over patrolling the train. =)

2004-04-20T00:08:00.000+10:00

As we speak, one Benita C-------, of unkown origins, is travelling by train, somewhere on the NSW central coast. This poor soul is enduring a night of cramped, sleepless, arse aching travelling.

"Welcome to Countrylink, I trust you have brought plenty of food and an overstuffed pillow, all passengers are advised that passengers travelling are required to undergo pillow searches, and that food labelled Ricola Alpine Fresh is strictly prohibited. This train will depart at 10:28 pm and arrives in Sydney at 11:40am tomorrow morning. Thankyou for choosing Countrylink, really, the only choice for travel - 'cos WE own the rails."

2004-04-18T19:56:00.000+10:00

And the satellite news says the cease-fire is holding and George Bush says to the troops on Easter Sunday that, “I know what we’re doing in Iraq is right.” Shooting unarmed men in the back outside their family home is right. Shooting grandmothers with white flags is right? Shooting at women and children who are fleeing their homes is right? Firing at ambulances is right?

2004-04-18T13:20:00.000+10:00

How about devoting the entire Military and NASA budgets to eradicating hunger, poverty, and disease.

The problem with those emails is that they are usually made up. They could have a basis somewhere, but along the way people change little bits of the story to support their perspective.

In the story the prisoner said:

"I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a Holy war against the infidels of the world"

Where did he pull that one from? Most Imams?, most Imams preach peace, the fundamental idea of the Islamic belief.

The sender talked about "the truth about the Muslims beliefs": I doubt she would know the truths about Islamic beliefs, or her own religion for that matter. The pope granted free passage to heaven for the crusaders. All they had to do was travel across Europe and parts of the Middle East killing people, not just Muslims or Jews, but other Christians ended up dying (they didn't speak English, so of course they couldn't have been Christian).

Another message for the ignorant girl from ~~Texas~~ New Jersey: Muslims believe in Jesus too. Stop believing everything the media, your church or your parents are telling you and find stuff out for yourself. Don't go through life blinding following everyone else.

What set me off on that tangent?

2004-04-18T01:46:00.000+10:00

No, It wasn't the Osama Bin Laden tape, although that was the deciding factor.

I have a pen pal who I have written to on and off for about 4 years. She is from New Jersey, U.S.A and is quite a laugh and fun person to email. Even though I'd always know she was pretty religious (never swore or watched highly rated movies etc) we still got on fine. But then tonight I get another religious email from her and actually decide to read this one, just because of it's subject: "Allah or Jesus".
Here it is:

"Allah or Jesus?
by Rick Mathes

Last month I attended my annual training session that's
required for maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the
training session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the
Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of their
belief systems. I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had
to say. The Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam,
complete with a video. After the presentations, time was provided for questions and answers.
When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked:
"Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?"
There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, "Non-believers!"
I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight.
All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who
is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"
The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."
I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to
imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your
faith or Dr. Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go
to Heaven!"
The Imam was speechless.
I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"
You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in
shame.

Senders words: Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the
'Diversification' training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of
dealing with the Islamic Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's
beliefs. I think everyone in the US should be required to read this, but with the liberal justice system, liberal media, and the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized. Please pass this on to all your email contacts.

This is a true story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well known leader in prison ministry."

Now I can handle the "God loves you" emails but this really hit the spot. I can't just ignore this- even if it is fictional.

So what do I do, whilst remaining religiously sensitive and let's face it, civil, in my fit of rage after reading such utter crap?
I explain to my penpal that I have a different view of religion and politics than she obviously does, and that I "oppose stuff like that (anti freedom of religion stuff)" and something of the essence of "not all muslims are like that at all, only extremists, and you have extremists in every religion (including christianity)" and suggested that this not get in the way of our pen-friendship and that we steer clear of politics and religion.

It's a shame really, that you have to steer clear of such matters.

Ihath sums it up nicely (as Ihath does...):
1. People believe what they want to believe.
2. The majority of people don't want to know the truth, they want to know things that they already know.
3. The vast majority of people are too emotional to form opinions based on objectivity.
4. There is nothing I can do, absolutely nothing, to change the view of somebody who is not objective.

http://www.ihath.com/2004_03_31_ctznofwrld_archive.html

God I hate religion (watch you do not trip on the pun)

2004-04-17T22:56:00.000+10:00

You can say you believe in freedom of religion, and I suppose in my case, if someone *has* to believe in a supreme being, then yes, I believe in the freedom that person has of choosing a religion, but really its the whole concept of the need for a religion that is the issue. I don't believe in religion full stop-which completely throws the matter of freedom of religion out the window.

I can understand the freedom of opinion stuff but realistically, I believe that I am right. I suppose you can call it human nature.

I always try and put myself in other people's position when confronted with a conflicting opinion, and always adjust my views when confronted with something far more sensible, wise, knowledgeable and rational, but I still can't understand, (and that is the key issue) why a person needs to believe in a supreme being to justify their existence. It's possibly an easy option to the question of life. Or is it that the millions of people for countless years have all been right in their belief of "God"?

My theory goes something along the lines of this: there is no proof of "God" or any of "his" pseudonyms, so one cannot possibly live under the illusion that there is a supreme being. One has to face the cards that reality deals, and not doing so results in one living under a false sense of security, false sense of purpose and false sense of existence. Now, if indeed I am wrong, and the masses have all been right in their varied beliefs, I have a back-up plan up my sleeve. It goes something like this: If "God" sends all those who don't believe in "him" to "hell", then I would really prefer being there than in "heaven".
You can see I have extreme troubles coming to the terms of there being other lands after death and you go to one depending on how "good" you have been. I mean how can one justify the existence of such imaginary places? Seems almost humorous, let alone being a bit too close to the story books I read as a child.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the person who invented the various religions had good intentions and probably didn't realise how damaging all the things that have been extrapolated from the fundamental concepts of all religions would be. But people we have a global disaster on our hands. Who would have thought that the underlying message of religion of "spreading the love" could go so terribly wrong.

So many tears, so much bloodshed, so many arguments, so much time, so much hate.

And all about a being that "could" exist outside the realms of knowledge.

We have people going to war on either side "in the name of God/variations", "on behalf of God/variations" or "with God/variations on their side".
Now, I beg to be corrected, but doesn't "God" supposedly say "Thou shall not kill"? And really, if the Almighty himself is so almighty, he really would have no need for his loyal followers to go to war in defense of him.

It's like there is a big hole in the story of life that, in order to live, humans are forced to fill. And I mean God really is the perfect answer, the justification for every unknown. Maybe that is the big fear of the human race- fear of the unknown.

I call for a solution to this mess. Something needs to happen, and soon. Have we reached near breaking point for this massive rift between religions?

I can think of one solution. Giving NASA the entire military budget of the US for space research and development, then flipping a coin to see what religion gets what planet.

Now one aspect I must clear up. Atheism doesn't mean not believing in anything. That sector can move to Mars as well. I think it is fundamental to humanity to believe in something. Love, peace, kindness, freedom, whatever, but believe in something you know exists. Keep it real.

Heck, believe in humanity!!!

New Bin Laden Tape

2004-04-15T19:57:00.000+10:00

The following is the text of the tape as broadcast by al-Arabiya:

Praise be to Almighty God; Peace and prayers be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and companions.

This is a message to our neighbours north of the Mediterranean, containing a reconciliation initiative as a response to their positive reactions.

Praise be to God; praise be to God; praise be to God who created heaven and earth with justice and who allowed the oppressed to punish the oppressor in the same way.

Peace upon those who followed the right path:

In my hands there is a message to remind you that justice is a duty towards those whom you love and those whom you do not. And people's rights will not be harmed if the opponent speaks out about them.

The greatest rule of safety is justice, and stopping injustice and aggression. It was said: Oppression kills the oppressors and the hotbed of injustice is evil. The situation in occupied Palestine is an example. What happened on 11 September [2001] and 11 March [the Madrid train bombings] is your commodity that was returned to you.

It is known that security is a pressing necessity for all mankind. We do not agree that you should monopolise it only for yourselves. Also, vigilant people do not allow their politicians to tamper with their security.

Having said this, we would like to inform you that labelling us and our acts as terrorism is also a description of you and of your acts. Reaction comes at the same level as the original action. Our acts are reaction to your own acts, which are represented by the destruction and killing of our kinfolk in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.

The act that horrified the world; that is, the killing of the old, handicapped [Hamas spiritual leader] Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, may God have mercy on him, is sufficient evidence.

We pledge to God that we will punish America for him, God willing.

Which religion considers your killed ones innocent and our killed ones worthless? And which principle considers your blood real blood and our blood water? Reciprocal treatment is fair and the one who starts injustice bears greater blame.

As for your politicians and those who have followed their path, who insist on ignoring the real problem of occupying the entirety of Palestine and exaggerate lies and falsification regarding our right in defence and resistance, they do not respect themselves.

They also disdain the blood and minds of peoples. This is because their falsification increases the shedding of your blood instead of sparing it.

Moreover, the examining of the developments that have been taking place, in terms of killings in our countries and your countries, will make clear an important fact; namely, that injustice is inflicted on us and on you by your politicians, who send your sons - although you are opposed to this - to our countries to kill and be killed.

Therefore, it is in both sides' interest to curb the plans of those who shed the blood of peoples for their narrow personal interest and subservience to the White House gang.

We must take into consideration that this war brings billions of dollars in profit to the major companies, whether it be those that produce weapons or those that contribute to reconstruction, such as the Halliburton Company, its sisters and daughters.

Based on this, it is very clear who is the one benefiting from igniting this war and from the shedding of blood. It is the warlords, the bloodsuckers, who are steering the world policy from behind a curtain.

As for President Bush, the leaders who are revolving in his orbit, the leading media companies and the United Nations, which makes laws for relations between the masters of veto and the slaves of the General Assembly, these are only some of the tools used to deceive and exploit peoples.

All these pose a fatal threat to the whole world.

The Zionist lobby is one of the most dangerous and most difficult figures of this group. God willing, we are determined to fight them.

Based on the above, and in order to deny war merchants a chance and in response to the positive interaction shown by recent events and opinion polls, which indicate that most European peoples want peace, I ask honest people, especially ulema, preachers and merchants, to form a permanent committee to enlighten European peoples of the justice of our causes, above all Palestine. They can make use of the huge potential of the media.

I also offer a reconciliation initiative to them, whose essence is our commitment to stopping operations against every country that commits itself to not attacking Muslims or interfering in their affairs - including the US conspiracy on the greater Muslim world.

This reconciliation can be renewed once the period signed by the first government expires and a second government is formed with the consent of both parties.

The reconciliation will start with the departure of its last soldier from our country.

The door of peace is open for three months of the date of announcing this statement.

For those who reject reconciliation and want war, we are ready.

As for those who want reconciliation, we have given them a chance. Stop shedding our blood so as to preserve your blood. It is in your hands to apply this easy, yet difficult, formula. You know that the situation will expand and increase if you delay things.

If this happens, do not blame us - blame yourselves.

A rational person does not relinquish his security, money and children to please the liar of the White House.

Had he been truthful about his claim for peace, he would not describe the person who ripped open pregnant women in Sabra and Shatila [reference to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon] and the destroyer of the capitulation process [reference to the Palestinian-Israeli peace process] as a man of peace.

He also would not have lied to people and said that we hate freedom and kill for the sake of killing. Reality proves our truthfulness and his lie.

The killing of the Russians was after their invasion of Afghanistan and Chechnya; the killing of Europeans was after their invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan; and the killing of Americans on the day of New York [reference to 11 September] was after their support of the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula.

Also, killing them in Somalia was after their invasion of it in Operation Restore Hope. We made them leave without hope, praise be to God.

It is said that prevention is better than cure. A happy person is he who learns a lesson from the experience of others.

Heeding right is better than persisting in falsehood.

Peace be upon those who follow guidance.

Not another Vietnam?

2004-04-15T16:03:00.000+10:00

Faiza:
Yesterday a young American from the south told me that they are using the same tactics they used back in Vietnam: evacuating villages from women and children and then burning them down with all the men inside.

2004-04-14T23:25:00.000+10:00

Benita just "pulled out (her) st george card to get numebr off it 4 internet banking and went to like insert it into the supposed non existant slot of (her) computer (mac paperweight) ...... (she) got a bit baffled".

It's strange how people get so used to technology that it takes over their lives subconsciously.

One year on.

2004-04-14T21:22:00.000+10:00

About a year ago el presidentè, "ruler of the free world", Mr. George 'dubbya' Bush, announced that hostilities in occupied Iraq had ceased. Another case of misleading the public?, or ignorance clouding the eyes of another stupid white man.
Today a ceasefire is on the verge of collapse in Falluja, and coalition forces are preparing for an attack on Najaf.

Blues'in and Roots'in in Byron

2004-04-11T15:49:00.000+10:00

Okay I think I have time to post.
My what a happy little blogger you've been, I see you've adjusted to holiday sleeping patterns exceptionally well ;)
I think anyone who would feel the urge to tap your phone would really be getting more than their 2 bob's worth when they realise they actually have to listen to your conversations........then again they would uncover your satanistic "evil" pacifist schemes..... oh whoops........ that's what *cough* echelon *cough cough* is for.

This is sooooo the best festival artist wise.
I'm seriously having like the best time ever!!
Last night at Spearhead's 2nd gig Michael Franti told everyone that Spearhead was going to Iraq on the 31st of May, to make a movie about the war from regular Iraqi's point of view, then they were going to Palestine after. Should be a really good trip.

Reminds me of that part in one song where they go "If i was in Baghdad I would Rock Iraq" looks like that is going to happen ;)

Better get ready for this arvo/tonight's gigs!!
ciao

2004-04-11T01:58:00.000+10:00

It's 2am again

- you home from the (byron bay) blues festival yet Benita? -

I've been reading Brooklyn to Baghdad, I want to go to Iraq

but first .... I'm off to bed.
Good night.

Phone Tapping, Religious Trekking

2004-04-10T02:10:00.000+10:00

The Phone Just Rang. It is 2 AM, I'm the only one up. there was no-one there, just a beeping. high pitched 1 second long and 2 seconds apart. i stayed on for a few seconds but hung up. then picked up phone again to see if there was a dialtone - nothing for a second then they "it" hung up.

Maybe I've been bugged.

On a completely different tangent, here in Aus there's a (smallish) group of people walking from Granville to Sydney right now to remember something that happened 2000 years ago, whilst in Iraq people are walking for 2 days (Baghdad to Karbala) in memory of the death of Imam Hussein. Two important religious historical events.

2004-04-10T01:45:00.000+10:00

Blood - Rich, lively red, giving life, love, surging, soaring, in intricate streams.
Blood - Seeking food, and air, and water, rushing, desperate, in need.
Blood - Spilt flowing, savage pulsating vicious enraged, dying.

Birds who don't sing

2004-04-10T01:41:00.000+10:00

Birds aren't learning to sing anymore. The city is drowning their tunes. Like concrete killing the shades of green and red, the noise of cars and people are taking away their thousands of songs.

If you go down to the Show today.

2004-04-10T01:20:00.000+10:00

Whilst the rest of the states schools were finishing up the term yesterday, Students from St. Columba's High School, in the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, were enjoying the first day of 2 and a half weeks of freedom. With the school being closed to allow teachers to pack up and clear out for the extensive maintenance and rewiring taking place over the next few weeks, students took advantage of their early leave and flocked in droves to Sydneys Royal Easter Show, hoping to avoid the massive crowds which come with the Easter long weekend.
The Show is a display of the great diversity within Australia, and an opportunity for many Sydneysiders to experience a small part of Australian rural life.

____________________________________________________

I started writing that this morning In a different mindset.

It seems stupid now.

Oh what a budding little global citizen I am....

2004-04-04T23:11:00.000+10:00

My community and family assignment (everyone else did issues on whether there should be more parking in Byron etc etc etc).......
I like assignments which you can pick your topic. We have basically the same assignment for society and culture except we HAVE to do it on teenage binge drinking. Oh how utterly boring.

Anyway here it is.......featuring *drumroll* James, Ihath and Christina.
I am not posting the original transcripts, by the way, unless you want to read what everyone said in its entirety (not that I left out much....).

The Iraqi War

The United States’ led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 is perhaps the most controversial issue of current social interest.

On September 11, 2001, the world was shaken with the collapse of the Twin Towers, marking a new era.

And a new political front.

Where once it was the “war” against communism, the world, led by the United States, had now deluged into the realms of terrorism and the fight against it.

The Iraqi war is a symbol for this sway in political tides, and has been, and continues to be an issue that can make or break various political parties world wide.

It is this reason alone I find the Iraqi war to be of interest and concern for the entire world, regardless of political spectra.

According to the White House, and seconded by many nations worldwide, hostile Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that were an extreme threat to the “free” world. This claim was used as the main driving force behind the invasion of Iraq, but was intermingled with claims of “liberation” for the Iraqi people- by removing this unquestionably merciless dictator. Thus was the case for war laid out and echoed worldwide. This caused millions of outraged citizens to rise up in protest around the world in opposition to the war with concerns about the humanitarian impact, the actual evidence for war, the US’ geopolitical objectives (most notably whether the US was indeed out to gain control of Iraq’s rich oil resources and to further expand its hegemony) and various basic, moral and ethical concerns. These concerns still ring unanswered with the complete failure of coalition forces to find the supposedly existent weapons of mass destruction.

Was the United States manipulating the public to believe the world’s safety was reliant on removing a dictator in the Middle East?

Was the “liberation” of Iraqi people more important than any second interests the coalition, namely the US, may have had? And where does this priority for Iraqi citizens come into play now?

Does the US now exert more than its fair share of global power? Is this really in the interests of the world?

These are some of the questions mingling with minds of millions as they carry out their lives in pursuit of the truth, in this highly divisive issue.

In order to find out various opinions on the Iraqi war issue, I approached three individuals to ask selected questions (see page 1 for questions).

The first person I interviewed was a 35 year old Iraqi woman known by the web name “Ihath”. Ihath currently lives in Canada and writes a popular “web log” (known as a “blog”). As a keen reader of this online journal, I thought it would be useful to contact her via email to gain a perspective of an actual Iraqi on the issue.

The second person I interviewed was a personal friend, Tina. Tina is a 16 year old high school student and lives in Western Australia. I contacted Tina via telephone and was able to obtain some conflicting opinions to Ihath’s.

The third person I interviewed was James- via telephone. James is also a personal friend and is 16 years old, living and attending high school in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.

By interviewing three people rather than the mandatory two, I found that I had a lot more opinions-both supplementing and conflicting- to work with.

On the issue of whether the US and it’s allies had a legitimate reason to invade Iraq, question 2, there was quite a contrast in the respondents’ answers. There was a strong notion on the fact Saddam Hussein had “committed human rights abuses”(James) however, on one hand, Tina was under the belief that Saddam was a threat to the rest of the world, because he had “terrorist links”, James was of the opinion that he had “made no active aggression towards the US, UK and allied forces”, therefore the coalition had no legitimate reason to invade. Despite this conflict in opinion on Saddam Hussein’s threat to the rest of the world, both expressed concern over his humanitarian impact on the Iraqi populous.
Ihath’s response was based on the belief that America’s reasons for invading Iraq we not valid i.e..... “ America invaded Iraq to control the natural resources of Iraq and boost the American economy”.

Flowing into the next question of whether the US acted in the best interests of the world, Tina again alluded to the belief that the world is better off without a dictator and a “terrorist” who “attempted genocide on the Kurds” however Ihath pointed out, in direct contrast with this, that Iraq is now, after the invasion, a “hot bed of terrorism” . Both Ihath and James commented on the current deteriorated situation of the world- Ihath saying it was “less stable” and James describing the invasion of Iraq as creating “an even more turbulent world environment with continued persecution and disregard for people from different parts of the world” and therefore, both believed that the US didn’t act in the world’s interests.

On the issue of whether the UN should pull the US into line over it’s defiance of it, in embarking on the Iraqi invasion, Tina, obviously said no, under the belief that the US was right in its motives for war and that “the UN was not effective in managing the situation at all and by the time they would have finished arguing, the problem would have escalated” clearly this shows the belief that the UN is not able to effectively manage a situation and supplements Ihath’s theory that the “US is the superpower, I don't think that the UN will dare to pull
into line” evidently both believe that the UN is unable to accurately control a situation- Ihath believing this is due to the might and influence of the US on the world political front and Tina believing it is just due to the ineffective inner workings of the UN. Whereas Ihath may have been answering the question based on what she thought the most probable thing that would happen to the US was, James answered on what he thought the UN should do- “the UN should immediately impose sanctions against the US and it’s position on the Security Council should be immediately revoked”.

As for the question of whether the Coalition fought a fair war, Tina declined to ellaborate- just “hoping” that they did, because “the news doesn’t tell us everything”.
Ihath, perhaps more informed and vocal on the issue, being an Iraqi herself, took the stance that it was not a “fair war” due to the unconfirmed fact that “more that 10,000 Iraqi civilians have died as
a direct result of the last war” and the belief that the “American army ruthlessly kills anybody that gets in their way”. James questioned the complete concept of a “fair war”, asking if it was “fair for anyone to lose their lives from the decisions of 3 “wise” men”. He also commented, as Ihath did, on the lack of concern for the safety of the population, highlighted with the use of “weapons which inflicted widespread suffering”, believing that the US and it’s allies were “more intent on imprisoning one man”. It is evident that all respondents were worried about the loss of innocent life, or at the very least, “hoped” that it wasn’t too widespread/caused by the negligence of the coalition.

Upon asking about the future governance of Iraq, all interviewees agreed that Iraq’s future should be in a democracy. While Tina thought that there should be imposed restrictions on the amount/type of weapons Iraq should be able to acquire, both Ihath and James commented on the concern they had regarding the imposing of a democracy by the US. Although Ihath wishes “to see a democratically elected government that represents the people of Iraq” she is “pretty sure that the US will install a client regime that is loyal to its interests”.
James’ response was very much of the same nature, saying “The majority of Iraqi’s do look forward to a democratic country, however the true nature of a government system arising from the decisions of a governing foreign council seem questionable”. A democracy that is put in place by the US and may not accurately represent the Iraqi people is obviously of concern to both of them.

Upon asking on whether the interviewees political preference had changed due to the Iraqi war, both Tina and Ihath responded “no”.
James did not directly answer the question, rather stated an observation he had made on the behaviour exhibited by political parties world wide during the Iraqi war. From his perspective, the Iraqi war showed “that politics is more about public relations than real values. Where once parties made decisions based by party ethos, they are now based on maximising their opportunities for a re-election”.

Perhaps one of the most heated debates of the whole Iraqi war was whether claims of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction were “sexed up” to mislead the public. Ihath’s response to this question was slightly ambiguous, however I am willing to make an assumption that when I asked: “Do you think the weapons of mass destruction claims were "sexed up" to mislead the public or were they a legitimate concern at the time, with the information intelligence services had?”
and she answered “Yes”, that she believed claims of weapons of mass destruction had been sexed up. James was also of this opinion. Tina however, thought that they were a legitimate concern at the time, with the information intelligence services had.

Ihath was the only respondent who further commented on the Iraqi war when I asked, showing criticism of the US’ foreign policy and it’s objectives. She believes “Iraq is just one piece of the puzzle in terms of US foreign policy in the middle east. If we study the US role in encouraging Israeli brutality against the Palestinians we will get a good insight into what the US has planned for Iraq”.

By undertaking this research it has given further proof to the fact that the Iraqi war is a highly controversial issue, in which strong opinions are shown by millions worldwide. I can see from the responses gained that the integrity of the US as a nation is very much shaped by this issue. The main criticism of the US was in its real foreign objectives and interests, and how it went about achieving them. Two of my respondents, James and Ihath, believed that the US and allied forces had no legitimate reason to invade Iraq, did not act in the world’s best interest and had little regard for the safety of the civilian population. Tina answered in direct contrast with James and Ihath, believing the war on Iraq was justified because the US acted in the worlds best interest by removing a potentially lethal threat to the rest of the world.
There not being any set right or wrong answers, means every individual is forced to reflect upon the information they are provided with, their experiences, their knowledge and their moral and value systems in order to make their respective opinions on the Iraqi war. We see in this research assignment, three vastly different individuals who have all been individually shaped by their environments to come to the conclusions they do.

The end.

Column 8 die-hards falsify childrens' documents to justify views - Defy UN conventions

2004-04-02T19:45:00.000+10:00

I thought that bit in Column 8 was a bit suss, when I was reading it the other day.

Column 8, Smh, 1-4-04

2004-04-01T23:29:00.000+10:00

"It's amazing how intuitive children can be, suggests Marion, who was surprised to read the following prayer that her year 1 son had written in his school workbook-'Dear God jon houwerd was very noty to send our soljers to war he dosent cer a bowt eny body it sept his self. thec (thank) you jesses for dying for us...amen.

Great news for us....pity it has to come this far

2004-03-31T20:28:00.000+10:00

@ 7:35pm

Several universities have already decided to raise HECS fees by 25 per cent, the maximum allowed under recent Federal Government changes.Several universities have already decided to raise HECS fees by 25 per cent, the maximum allowed under recent Federal Government changes.
But student unions are hoping to stop others from following suit, declaring today a national day of action.
In Melbourne, students have barracaded themselves inside the RMIT's administration offices.
Police say there are only about 50 students still occupying the vice-chancellor's offices on the seventh floor of the building.
Although scaling back their operation late this afternoon, some police will remain with protesters, monitoring the situation.
Another 70 students have occupied the foyer of the building.
Earlier, a peaceful march turned violent when students stormed the building and then clashed with a hastily set up police barracade.
At least one person was injured. Police say so far there have been no arrests.
It is believed the administration offices have been damaged, although it is not known to what extent.
RMIT says it is disappointed with the protest because a decision on whether the fees will rise is yet to be made.
A student occupation of the Great Hall at Sydney's University of Technology has ended peacefully.
A university spokesman says the 80 remaining students left the site this evening.
Earlier in the afternoon, about 400 students tried to storm the vice-chancellor's office, but were kept at bay by police using capsicum spray.
Students marched peacefully in Brisbane, staging sit-in protests at busy intersections.
Smaller protests were held in Hobart and Canberra.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1078289.htm

Cool.... how'd you do this? (new big titles)

2004-03-30T19:03:00.000+10:00

Don't.....you'll make me feel sick.......
Grrrrr

Guess what? BYRON GOT A GREENS MAYOR!! :D http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/news/200403/s1076662.htm 'bout time. Liechhardt got one too ;)

Bush - Finds suffering funny

2004-03-29T22:31:00.000+10:00

Jester of the Free World

2004-03-29T19:30:00.000+10:00

I read it online the other day, and tried to watch it on MSNBC (only place with video). They wouldn't let me watch it in Mozilla FireBird, but ended up having to use IE™ (capitalism eh?) - video ended up not working but got to listen to the stupid drawling voice of terristo numero uno cracking his stupid jokes.

Patronising tones not appreciated missy, so maybe I do deserve it (Re: comments)

That ABC thing sounds interesting.

Getting kicked off now, (family ganging up on me).

2004-03-29T18:26:00.000+10:00

Of course they are James, I mean geez we can't have the public exhibit that not-to-be-named word "empathy".

Now for your daily dose of "this is so gross I am going to throw up" medicine.
From todays SMH "Spike"....." actually before I type it out.....here's another: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/29/1080412294509.html

Okay..... "They have barbequed, gone to war and promoted free trade together, but the PM stops short of sharing a good belly laugh with his US counterpart, George Bush, when the joke is about WMDs. At a black tie media event in Washington last week, the US president made fun of himself and his staff for failing to find hidden WMDs in Iraq. As a slide presentation flashed up shots of him looking under furniture in the Oval Office, Bush's narration joked: "those weapons of mass destruction got to be here somewhere". As another photo showed him looking through a window, he quipped, "Nope, no weapons over there." Dubya's clowning got a chuckle from the audience of journalists, politicians and bureaucrats, but Mr Howard told Channel 9 yesterday he wasn't amused. "I wouldn't have told those jokes. I wouldn't have," he said. "Every country has its own style but I'm an extremely cautious person about those things."

Great......now its a bad joke is it?

Oh by the way, 6:30pm ABC this thursday YOU *HAVE* TO WATCH. Its George Negus holding a discussion with a panel of half public and half private yr11 high schoolers. I have to get someone to tape it for me....

Terrorists are human too.

2004-03-29T16:17:00.000+10:00

Now Howard wants to ban Australian citizens from writing books if they have any percieved terrorist links, stopping the public from being able to learn about what they did and why they did it.

[Howard wants Aussies] banned from writing books if they have trained with a terrorist organisation.

"Most people would regard it as pretty offensive that somebody can be associated with a terrorist organisation which has killed people including associates [who] may have killed our people in Bali and then they go and write a book about it," he said.
- ABC News Online

So now we have state censorship and human rights abuses being planned for introduction into Australian legislature, It's sounds like the old rhetoric from Cold War days is being reversed and put into use as party policy over in Media Wash HQ.

Our Troops, Our PM : Their War.

2004-03-27T20:28:00.000+11:00

John Howard wrote an article in the U.S.A's Wall Street Journal(not a direct link (what do you expect from wall street) it's the ABCs story) recently, raising a few questions in the minds of many Australians, well in my mind at least.
Why is OUR prime minister promising the american (re)public(ans) that we will commit OUR troops?
Why did Johnny say that our troops would be back within a couple of months, and then attack Latham when he said they should be brought home now?
And If

Dr. Condy's Mind Control a hit with Washington

2004-03-27T00:00:00.000+11:00

2004-03-26T21:23:00.000+11:00

I found out today that Bond Uni (on gold coast) only offers certain full scholarships to school captains *cough* discrimination *cough*.......but that was via word of mouth so you know how unreliable that can be...... But sounds believable.

Yeah James you *always* ask for consent for photos *choke* bullshit *choke*.
Anne and me (on phone) on train? Corinne with pen?

Yes this blog is still blocked......But so is yours and Salam's and Odins and like blogger.com/blogspot.com and heaps of other sites........I think its completely ineffective and random......Its the "asia pacific block" thing.

2004-03-26T20:17:00.000+11:00

It took me a while to realise who Mr Miknovich was.......I thought you meant Mr ummmm Mmmmm ahhh now I've forgotten.....who's the big guy who rides either a motor bike or drives a 4 wheel drive (can't remember which) and teaches english...... ohhh damn I HATE forgetting stuff.....quickly tell me before I go mad! ANYWAY.....if you had of said "stalky" I would have known what you were talking about!!

Yeah I agree that next generation could be less filter needing, however then you have the amount of media control we have and will continue to have, the lack of priority in education (no more Whitlam free education for all), forget about UNI people........ And then you have modernisation of the world, further globalisation/westernisation of partially developed countries.......the expansion of the American Empire ™ and corperatisation, more controlling governments, bigger bombs (bunker blasting at that...) more concrete.......etc etc....who knows? We could end up with a bunch of stupid, ignorant lemmings!! Oh and more television (*reality ™ * at that....).

Your going to hate me for this...... (i'll shorten)

One Nation under God
has turned into
One Nation under the influence
of one drug

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., it satellite links
our United States of unconciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
a 150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching

T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent of our
Nation reads books daily
Why most people think Central America
means Kansas
Socialism means unamerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy

absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find us
It shapes our minds the most
maybe the mother of our Nation
should remind us
that we're sitting to close to. . .

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is
the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd
bald eagles

T.V. is mechanized politic's
remote control over the masses
co-sponsered by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special

It's the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
the fastfood culture

Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
Race baiting is the way to get selected
Willie Horton or
Will he not get elected on . . .

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us or do we imitate it
Because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
twelve years old and we wonder how we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than abhor the horror

T.V. is the place where
armchair generals and quarterbacks can
experience first hand
the excitement of video warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background

Sugar sweet sitcoms
that leave us with a bad actor taste while
pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the only cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Allowance)
On Television.

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, "New and Improved",
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commericals

CNN ESPN ABC TNT but mostly B.S.
Where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"
"light yet filling" and "military intelligence"
have become standard

T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"Civilian death" to "collateral damages"
and being killed by your own Army
is now called "friendly fire"

T.V. is the place where the pursuit
of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects
Where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple

-The disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (Michael Franti's- Speadhead's lead singer- old band)

That song would have been written in like 1991 or so......sounds like it could have been written yesterday.

Of course if everyone was empathetic we would have less of a problem in the world, or as the painter working at our house on a regular basis (the one who talks way too much, swears even more and tries to convince dad to grow pot to earn some more money....lol) decided to preach to me the other day "the only way Australia will turn around is if every adult gets involved in politics".....not so sure about that one......but I definitely get his point.

Your setting me up for an argument.
Benita: Of course women are much more intelligent
James: BLAH BLAH BLAH *yells at Benita for being a bloody over-feminist*
Benita: calls James a chauvinistic, androcentric, patriarchal bastard.

No okay, you want to know what I really think? (and I hope you weren't implying I say whatever my aunty does........I can ask her though if you want..... me and Anne and her had a good discussion on women in various occupations and Sue (aunty) told us a figure she uses all the time that I've forgotten, but it was the number of women in the Rural Fire Service in NSW and it was like 1:3000 (total guess) or something which you went "yeah right....thats unbelievable!!")
It's probably because women haven't had rights for that long in the scheme of things and so men have a head start. That's a kinda basic explanation. But women haven't acquired the status in society as Alan Jones etc would have (ie. they're OLD..... & conservative and try and stop progress as much as possible).

2004-03-26T19:59:00.000+11:00

Geee don't feel you have to over exert yourself by posting that much.....hehehe.

I've had weird coincidences with you tonight. First you send me that blog link that has something about call centers in Bombay- the other night when we rang the snakeman to come and pick up that eastern small-eye that was on our verandah-paved-patio-ish thing, it goes to this paging service where you tell the person on the other end what pager # and they send the person a message. I was amazed that someone just sat there all day waiting just to take these messages when my parents explained how call centers work and stuff and dad is like "they re-direct the calls to workers in Bombay, apparently like 1/2 the call centres are there".

And then like 5 mins ago I was talking to dad who spoke to Sayed (16 [or 17] year old Afghan refugee, now with permanent residency who our family befriended- he lives with his fathers friends and basically survives by himself- family got left behind.....amazing story.... anyway James you know it) and Sayed finally got a message *this is the part where i get excited and have to restrain from talking in caps locks* FROM HIS FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my god, I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo like UNBELIEVABLY HAPPY FOR HIM. Like he has gone for like 4 yrs not knowing if they got killed after he fled and now he found out via a friend who went back to Afghanistan that they are OKAY and living in Pakistan. His father sent him a letter to.......I think the essence was "Do you remember me......the ring (he helped paid smugglers with, once at the boat).....etc".
Yeah and then you have stuff on refugees here.
AND guess what Sayed did after he got permanent residence??? Went and saw our fave-inhumane-bastard number #66767364862846826482648264- Phillip Ruddock and basically said "You know we are not terrorists and actually fled terror.....etc etc..." Dad didn't get whole story. Anyway I'll make my family take him out in the holidays or something- you should come and meet him.

Politics in the Playground

2004-03-25T22:35:00.000+11:00

Hehehe, I started this huge "discussion" (people talking passionately in raised voices) today about whether or not the School Captains of a Catholic School (such as the one I go to (hence the passion - interestingly the division) ) have to be Catholics. I myself was brought up in a family which goes to church every Sunday, everyone except for me that is. Now I don't actually want to be school captain, I rather working quietly in the background and talking with small groups of people than standing in front of school assemblies acting as an administrative mouth piece (available at a chemist near you!), but I am going to run for leadership council (who are all interviewed for the position (by prinicipals selection) of school captain (male and female ^) anyway (the council is able to do a lot more in changing the school than I am able to do by myself, I need to become more confident with my public speaking, and I like being able to do something for the other people in my year group / the rest of the school). I mentioned this to one of my friends the other day, and told them about how one of the student leadership council members, who a lot of people think should have been School Captain, was basically crossed off because he said he was an aethiest, despite this, he is one of the only SLC members who are actively involved in any social justice activity, he's the only one who I've actually seen talking to students other than his friends, and he's probably the only one who gives a stuff about most of the things happening around the school.

Anyway It was pretty funny, most of the people in my group of friends are relatively reasonable when it comes to religion, that is they aren't blind followers of anything and have made up their own minds. I think the people who do have a strong catholic faith don't talk about it much because the group of us who don't believe / don't know are so very outspoken (still everyones individual beliefs are respected). It's good to see that a few people just listened to what people where saying instead of jumping in and raving on about what they thought.
Good points from both sides - some struggles communicating thoughts - Some very strange analogies. But Overall a very entertaining lunch-hour (Lunch 50 minutes *)

(I think Luke has audio / video of it happening in the background, probably Riley filming though (on Lukes digital camera (a sony which has video with sound), Riley has the habit of going round taking photo's with it, so does Michaela. I used to take a heap of photo's at school, but mostly of the buildings and I tried to be inconspicious if I was taking photo's of people, and asked permission, instead of just running round shoving it in their faces / >down shirts< (more on that some other time)

Maybe this blog needs a content level rating, then again maybe not, I'm not to fond of censorship, Is this blog still blocked by the NSW public education system in North East NSW Benita?

Media, Me & the Masses

2004-03-25T21:47:00.000+11:00

I've got quite a few stories lined up for the Echo (school newspaper which fell apart) when it comes back (I bring it back) this year, two being:

"We're all in the same boat, People."
"Death to the Talkback Kings".

I got the idea for that second one during one of the workshops / skill session we had today during Day 1 of our Pastoral days (Today and Tomorrow). Mr. Miknovich (yes him ... teaching a class (about researching and the internet (he bagged out google :( ) ) ), who's about 45 - 55 years old (no idea really) was talking about how most of his generation grew up in a time where they had very little sources of information which meant that they trusted everything they heard - but these days because there is so much information, from so many different points of view about so many different things - they just apply a filter, to cut down on the amount of stuff they need to digest Enter Allan Jones & What's his name (*) ... So the reason so many people listen to those mindless drivel-ful shows is that they don't actually understand the concept of "being a critical audience", cross-referencing sources, and BIAS. "Mr. Jones said on the radio that "Illegal Immigrant Boat People Muslim Smuggled Terrorisers are Bad", they must be!!!"

My theory is that talkback drivel shows will die as the filter needing generations do, problem is we've got things like Fox News and CNN to fill in the void of rhetoric regurgitation machines.
I heard somewhere that the media today has so many different faces that to get a real (objective) picture you really need to read / listen to / watch a huge range of sources, to be able to see the story properly you needed to watch both the right and left media, But I'm not sure if that's the case. I suppose that you may become slightly paranoid if you are constantly having to think about the accuracy of the news stories you are seeing / hearing, but if you instead put yourself in the shoes of the person being portrayed as the bad guy (/gal), and tried to see their point of view surely we would all be a lot more considerate / understanding / compassionate / Intelligent.

*Benita, is it because women are so far more intelligent that they would never be something so pitiful? I need your knowledge oh knower of all things feminist (what's your aunty say ;) ? )

Assylum seekers, In and Out

2004-03-25T21:07:00.000+11:00

Worldwide Distribution of Refugees (Departure Country)

Worldwide Distribution of Refugees (Destination Country)

2004-03-24T22:18:00.000+11:00

LOL........oh thats cool.....I'll have fun with the Prime Minatures blog.

No Bar Italia isn't the place we got coffee and gelato.....that was "Gelataire" like duhhhhh james.....

What's a BAS for?

Johnny's Blog

2004-03-24T22:03:00.000+11:00

Hmmm the post I lost before was about this site: John Howards Blog.

2004-03-24T21:50:00.000+11:00

Here's that Chinese Horoscope thing from Odin (it applies to you too).
Fire hare of the Yin aspect:

Hares have a very strong social conscience, work tirelessly for the good of the world and are good political debaters.
Very expressive and people will listen and quite rightly as you know what's what.
Intuitive, psychic, sensitive, creative, hares care about overs. They are lone souls who deeply feel the pain of the world and often try hard to put it right. They love anything to do with mysteries and hidden knowledge, and are seekers of Truth. Invariably calm and moderate, quiet and refined, hares like to know secrets, which they are annoyingly so capable of keeping themselves.
They make good councillors and clairvoyants. They are well spoken and eloquent and have good taste and a strong sense of style.
Hares like to express their emotions and can be volatile if roused by cruelty or suffering. They have a strong sense of fair play but break a lot of rules themselves, and can be a bit arrogant, seeing themselves as a little superior to others. Hares possess genuine intuitive powers and need a calm stable atmosphere to survive.

Business, friends and children; Because of their sensitive nature and inherent good taste, hares will thrive in any business where they can use their flare for style and creativity. They suffer in routine jobs and need to work for themselves. They have many friends and will feel let down all of them as they can never reach the standards a hare sets [sic]. As parents, hares are wonderfully calm and kind. They aren't very good with rowdy or badly behaved children and can be very strict. They do inspire children to work hard though, and children adore them.

Hey........ at least I don't read the trashy horoscopes that tell you to beware of falling bricks etc.

2004-03-24T21:37:00.000+11:00

"Bar Italia", Is that where we had Gelato and Lattè's that day after the "Ferry Incident" (got drenched on the Manly Ferry) .

2004-03-24T21:35:00.000+11:00

Brb, got to lodge my BAS (Business Activity Statement)

2004-03-24T21:34:00.000+11:00

Was looking at his stats the other day, He's had 500,000 hits (excluding reloads) in half a year.

2004-03-24T21:24:00.000+11:00

If you have read Salam Pax lately you probably would have been here: http://www.blogjam.com/wires. It's pretty good.

lol I can't believe how famous Salam Pax is. I'm at a blog now that describes itself as "like Salam Pax but reporting from Crinklewood".

2004-03-24T20:14:00.000+11:00

Why not, I can see you writing about the fat evil plumbers who are ripping off poor convenience stores run by families, in the amount of food they eat whilst in the store, and who try and scam you by selling you bogus sheet sets.

When are you going to Sydney?? *sydddddnnnneeeyyyy* (I'm like having withdrawal symptoms.......the other day I had to have some Indian from the fantastic Indian takeaway shop on the corner of Marion St and the street that is 2 streets parallel west from Norton St, Leichhardt......you know the one?
Oh then there's my "chicken thai me down" kebabs from Miranda mall (the Kebab place not on the side of Macdonalds in the food court) ohhhh then I could go a "Darlo Thai" diagonal from St Vincents Hospital Darlinghurst (actually it may be closer to Kings Cross) ohhhh what about the middle eastern plate with turkish bread and hommus and eggplant etc etc from that "Citrus" place on King Street Newtown....you know the one with the cool bench seat covers and cool walls? Ok what about the 1/2 a kg of Baklava we used to get from that place on the way home via Newtown....or from the little shop tucked away on the main St in Cambelltown I used to go to when I got leave from that wretched boarding school...... Oh and I can't forget "Bar Italia" on Norton St Liechhardt..... mmmmm city............ hustle bustle, fumes, traffic and lots of people. I can't wait for the holidays....Mullum is getting slower and more laid back by the day......there was some guy who lit up a joint outside his cafe after he closed it yesterday..... talk about hippish. Oh yeah......at "Lu Lu's" (cafe in Mullum) (nicknamed "La La's" quite appropriately by my family) they take about 40mins to serve 1 latte (you know....have to roll their joint and do a bit of yoga before they become spiritually ready to bring it out).

I completely forgot what I was actually going to Blog about.

Oh yeah Australia followed the US (oh how surprising) by not actually condemning the killings in the latest Israeli/Palestinian clash I mentioned.

Your fave man, Latham has a new little "wedge issue" (see ...i *can* see through these things)- he'll bring Aussie troops home by xmas if he wins the election. I say leave them there and make them fix up the mess they have made. Can't leave a job half done- have to take responsibility.
Latham is just 1 point behind Howard in latest polls as preferred PM...... YAY

Speaking of YAY.....I have Mungo to read in this week's Echo.

Howard quote of the day: "I am always realistic, I won't be only listening to supportive radio programs and staying there at The Lodge. I'll be tuning in to the ABC every morning at 6:30am and sometimes getting flushed in the face WHEN I disagree with it".

I tell you what- I wouldn't be getting up at 6:30am if I was PM.

I am emailing Ihath for some research assignment I have, asking her questions about the Iraqi war, I'll probably make you answer them as well and I need conflicting views so I'd better call Christina.
Ciao.

2004-03-24T19:22:00.000+11:00

Hmmm.

British Army troops are covered in flames from a petrol bomb thrown during a violent protest by job seekers in the southern Iraq city of Basra.

2004-03-24T19:15:00.000+11:00

Through Australian Eyes – ABC Foreign Correspondents Since the 1930s is an exhibition celebrating the ABC's long and continuing commitment to foreign reporting.

The exhibition brings to life the history of the ABC’s foreign correspondents and bureaux from the 1930s to the present.

I think I might have a look at that before I go to the State Library (oops, I thought it was at Sydney Uni or UNSW, that's what I told Ms. Sato (Jap teacher) when she asked where it was, I'd better find her tomorrow) for my Australia - Japan Relations Essay Contest award ceremony (from the Embassy, presented by the Consulate General from Sydney)

I think I want to be a journalist (world, not local "interest"), or something like that.

2004-03-24T16:23:00.000+11:00

Same, I usually just write to you too. I have seen saddle club (3 sisters), but I can't talk now, I have to go to work. SHit! I'm going to be late (need to ride down :( )

Bye

2004-03-23T22:19:00.000+11:00

I take that last comment back, I would have never been that observant to notice we had a comment. Wow that's weird.......usually I write just like I'm writing to you, without actually ever realising that "someone may be watching.......". Hello world. (great now i have that song from saddle club stuck in my head.......have you ever watched that James? its the most satisfying piece of junky TV you will ever see). Yeah If there's anyone else out there who has stumbled across this blog please leave a comment saying hi like Suzie did (hi Suzie).

Oh yeah James I heard on AM this morning how the good ol' US of A is about the only nation not to condemn the latest Israeli killings. Saying "it is deeply concerned....but Israel has the right to defend itself" and when the Whitehouse got asked if it "condemned" the killings, the spokesperson basically said "don't put words in my mouth". That's my Bush ;) (i really need more of those epidoses.....can you burn me some for when I come down in the holidays.....or give me a url to them (not that I'm going to download them myself.....).

2004-03-23T21:59:00.000+11:00

I read the first few pages of the Alchemist about a week ago at Amazon. It's pretty good, you should take it off your shelf and get into it.

2004-03-23T19:28:00.000+11:00

OMG i cannot believe you ATE MOTH EGGS HOW UNOBSERVANT!! were they good?? hehe. They other day someone in my group had moth eggs in there museli bar and were going to send it back to gat free stuff.
James your the one who tells me to chill out about school work. I'm doing Trig now AND ITS HARD so get over your 61%.

Congrats on SRC rep, that's really good, I'm glad you got it. You out of all people know that a certain person (If im on the right track) is often completely so off the mark.
I have to do a prac english exam tomorrow and I still haven't got my stuff together. I'm going to have to get a strict schedule for study or im going downnnnnnnn big time.

I blogged about my weekend on my other blog.

Has Anne and Jess blown up the school yet? Remember... be alert not alarmed.

*twidles thumbs* I have to go and do work badly......Im soooo lazy.

Oh yeah I have decided on some of my problems the other day in the long car trip back from Brissy.

1) I'm a control freak (catalyst- Dreamworld rollercoasters we drove by. I can't stand not being off the ground or on unstable unpredictable things (ie anything that moves) because I can't let go of my desire to control it.)
Well maybe not a complete control freak but just with stuff like that.

2) I'm extremely extremely lazy about the whole "action/doing" bit of things.

3) I break alot of my own rules (catalyst- Odin's analysis of my chinese birth year)

I'll post that here actually....because alot of it was true. AHHH msn is stuffed I'll post later.
ciao.

2004-03-22T22:15:00.000+11:00

2004-03-22T18:20:00.000+11:00

I have to find related material for my practice exam essay on change on wednesday! AHHH help. I'm trying to find something off Australian Story. This looks Interesting: http://members.optushome.com.au/thesquiz/scatt.htm
I'll tell you about my weekend later....it was heaps cool though!! Hey did I hear correctly that you got Yr 11 SRC rep?

2004-03-22T16:15:00.000+11:00

Wow, long time no blog, Here or There - yours or there - mine.
How are Anne and Corrine coping being up there with you and all the (other) hippies? Has Corrine died her hair rainbow coloured or tie-died anything?, and has Anne attempted to buy any drugged up / technicoloured pets? I liked the photo. My list is .... well I don't really have one, I'd just like to go to a whole range of different places and stay at least for a few years (5 - 10).
I am probably going to Japan this year (After my persistent *lobbying* of Dr. Wenham [school principal] (more like walking in to her office saying "Hi Miss, is there any news about the Japan trip?", (what a great relationship, ) she is nice really, even if I complain sometimes, it's usually a school system / legal / money thing.) .
And then after school (2006) I want to go to Iraq, and then maybe Japan again (6 month Japanese government sponsored exchange program (assisting in english teaching in japanese schools), though I might do a small trip of Europe / Middle east as part of the Iraq trip.

2004-03-18T23:57:00.000+11:00

Te hehe The Alchemist has been sitting on my shelf for the last year waiting to be read, after someone, dad I think, said I should read it. I think I will now.

2004-03-18T23:52:00.000+11:00

Nepal would be good. or Cambodia or Vietnam or somewhere. Where/what else is on your "list"?

2004-03-18T23:29:00.000+11:00

I'm gonna live there:

or maybe here:

or at least have the view from my hammock like this:

you have to visit me someday........

oh...and visit this site too.....it's just amazing....

2004-03-18T21:54:00.000+11:00

I'd like to go to Nepal as well as those.

2004-03-18T21:51:00.000+11:00

I dont really know why i said Cuba there, I mean it would be cool to go and see communism in action....but it was a spur of the moment comment.......I hadn't even thought of going there till then. The other places I WILL go to though. The pic of the beach in Cuba were cool (last pic)

2004-03-18T21:49:00.000+11:00

[ BBC : The Age of Empire]

2004-03-18T17:19:00.000+11:00

Some pictures from cuba.
[ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/in_pictures/3513139.stm ]

2004-03-17T19:53:00.000+11:00

Your TV has already been hijacked by the right wing capitalists who own the tv stations. Well except maybe SBS and ABC. When we get an aerial Im not programming in anything but ABC and SBS (noone else can work out how to do it *rolls eyes*) I'm making my society and culture teacher get me 4 corners from monday night.

I need a holiday to think.

God* Mungo was funny this week. hehe

I watched a movie this arvo, called Frida, it was okay its won heaps of awards (not the tacky kind) except I was in the mood for some shoot-em-up hollywood crap. It's the first movie I have watched in like ages (have to sacrifice movies for internet and work how sad is that) it was set in Mexico...I so wanna live there for a while, there and Turkey and Ireland and Cuba and India.

2004-03-17T19:34:00.000+11:00

Argh, My TV has been Hi-Jacked. THEY ARE WATCHING POPSTARS.

2004-03-17T19:26:00.000+11:00

Lol, you should of just seen the reopening of Luna Park (some presentation thingy and only one ride (some big metallic slide (the ones they used potato sacks with)). Anyway they had all these 60 year olds who used to go there and they were going down the slides, pretty funny.

2004-03-17T16:08:00.000+11:00

I'm not attacking you, and the question answer structure was just mentally easier for me to write with. I do agree with you that the rich private schools don't deserve extra funding, I just get really pissed off when I walk into a newsagency which has a newspaper out the front completely writing off all schools that are not public.

"PM gives money to Catholics : Catholics give money to your newsagency"

I have to go to work so no more ~~arguing~~ discussion for the moment.

2004-03-17T16:01:00.000+11:00

Cleaning up chicken poop in Japan

Cleaning up the Locusts plague in Australia

2004-03-16T22:21:00.000+11:00

I don't know why that pissed me off, but it did. Go on ...be a typical guy and blame it on PMT or something.

2004-03-16T22:05:00.000+11:00

oh, and you wonder why we always end up in arguments? well maybe if you didn't refute everything i said and pick it to bits.....
By the way I don't think Latham is god, you really think im THAT shallow? Better than Howard though, at least your improving things slightly rather than taking an apathetic attitude and going "I don't care, they're all the same, dont vote.....". Working with something rather than against it. Pfttt I keep telling you it's my superficial blog, so I will stop posting on it if you are going to use it against me to imply me being shallow again.

Oh and of course all schools deserve funding/resources DO YOU EVER THINK I WOULD SAY THEY DIDN'T? But Howard is just taking all the PUBLIC resources away etc etc etc and yes I am making a generalisation based on the fact I believe public infrastructure should be upheld at the core of any government.

No i did not watch 4 corners, i don't have a TV (thanks Ihath, you make me feel so much better about it) but I'm going to borrow it off my society and culture teacher.

Yes, just imagine living under oppression caused by Western Capatalism.............

2004-03-16T19:29:00.000+11:00

Benita: What kind of world are we living in people?
James: One which would rather attack than help each other.

Benita: Thanks Howard, next time I'm in Sydney I might get blown up from catching a bus etc.
James: Don't worry next time you're traveling on public transport or sipping on your lattè in an Australian city you need not worry. The police chiefs from around the nation have committed to protecting our way of life, no starving, oppressed, terrorised (terror in its "acceptable" form that is (wars with "smart" bombs, collateral beings and "friendly" fire) ) need enter your thoughts, leaving room for more important things like your cousins exchange "pet" (student*), or those hot *German* guys from MUNA.

Benita: That's what you get for living in a country who allied itself with the bigger "axis of evil".
James: Biggest* axis of evil? I think most of us of the "First" world fit that description, at the moment anyway, and even if only by association.

Benita: Once you would have been proud to say "I'm Australian" now its shameful.
James: I am still proud to say that I am Australian (or "私はオストラーリア人です。"), I'm saddened at the willingness of many to denounce our country, sure there are some things we have collectively done that are shameful, but we can not just give up and walk away.

Why not be more like New Zealand? Well the accent is way to hard to learn, and besides all our sheep have died of in the drought, and you couldn't be a New Zealander without sheep (harmless joking, sorry if any offence taken guys).

2004-03-16T19:18:00.000+11:00

It's probably blocked because it says both "cr*p and sh*t". I'll try censoring out bits, see what that does. If it doesn't work you may have to write a letter to your principal, local members of Parliament, and the education office, outlining the ineffectiveness of their censorship, and that little thing they call the concept of free speach.

2004-03-16T18:43:00.000+11:00

Ok, Ok, Ok. You've got to stop posting multiple copies of entries ... we get the point.
Going to a school which is often branded as being one of "them bloody private skools" I have a bit of a different perspective on it. You've been there yourself Benita, have you really been sucked into the political propaganda whirlpool?,

(Read: Latham IS NOT a deity. )

do we not deserve funding because we've gone with a different schooling system? We do pay the same taxes as the rest of you, on top of these things called school fees (Skool* Fees sorry).
Sure the government shouldn't be funding the elite private schools (Kings, etc (anyone with enough money for Tennis Courts / Swimming Pools / Super Computers ) but branding anyone who's not with public schooling as undeserving of funding is wrong.

You're afraid / sick / distraught from reading a paper, imaging living under oppression caused by thoughtless western capitalism.

Did you watch Four Corners last night? I was in tears.