Anybody who watched Monday night’s episode of 4 Corners would be as appalled as I am that the situation in Syria is continuing on, with the rest of the world watching, mildly interested, but mostly apathetic.

And a warning, this post contains images that should disturb….

For those that missed it, it can be summed up quite simply… Torture, brutality, torture, inhumanity, torture, and misery, with a bit of torture thrown in for good measure.

In Syria, the regime that is running the country make Saddam Hussein look like Santa Clause. It is clear that there is systematic torture happening on a grand scale. Unmistakably clear.

What pisses me off in all of this, is that we do nothing. By we, I mean the West. We are big on talk and finger pointing, but at the end of the day, we would far rather have committees to discuss things for months on end, and official enquiries etc. Then a vote at the UN, next time they meet, which will decide whether anybody helps these poor souls or not. This will invariably be voted down by Russia, China, and Israel, America will back the Israeli’s every time and vote no, and nothing will happen.

So, what do we do? We shrug and go “that’s sad, I’m glad I wasn’t born there”…. Then we get some ice cream out of the freezer, forget what we just saw, and settle down to watch Julie Bishop look like an idiot, once again, on Q&A.

What does it take to get people angry these days? Have we, as a society, become that apathetic? Is human life that cheap?

What the 4 Corners program missed, that may have helped anger the public enough to act out and starting a campaign is this… animals were reportedly harmed.

Yes, there are thousands upon thousands of men, women, and even children being tortured, right now as you read this. Last night we saw images of 10 year old kids who had been battered within an inch of their lives, 12 year old kids with their bones crushed, teeth knocked out, penis cut off, then riddled with bullets. We heard stories of girls as young as 12 being raped and then tortured, old men having their teeth ripped out with pliers.

All these things are terrible beyond words, but what will probably upset people the most, is that I have it on good authority, that during these months of upheaval, at least one dog, and a couple of cows, like in the pictures below, may have been harmed.

I do not want to make light of the battle for the humane treatment of animals, far from it…But what I find truly disturbing is, knowing that last night, as I watched video of people being tortured and beaten in virtually the same manner as the cattle in Indonesia, that next week nobody will be talking about it, whereas we were still talking about the cattle program months later.

I think we as a society, have taken a wrong turn somewhere, when the poor treatment of animals in abattoirs gets more of a public outcry than the wholesale torture of people. Also, don’t bother with that animals are helpless argument either, a 10 year old child is just as helpless, especially when confronted with 12 troops from a brutal regime.

Something else that really gets under my skin, is when we see politicians visiting sites like the concentration camps in Germany and Poland, and when they say things along the lines of making sure this “Never Happens Again”…. What utter crap…. we see it over and over, in Africa, in the Middle East, all over ther world, and both sides of politics seem to agree on doing nothing, the apathetic approach seems to have bipartisan support world-wide…. One of those lucky rare things I guess….

Let me tell you, if Hitler was alive today and slaughtering Jews, he would have no trouble keeping right on going…. The UN would stuff about trying to form a resolution to sit down and meet to get another resolution for an agreement to put forward a ballot to allow debate on the matter at the next meeting so that a resolution may be formed……………………..grrrrrrrrrrrr

These horrendous memorials to genocide are supposed to serve as a grim reminder to world leaders so this doesn’t happen ever again…….. but yet it does, almost daily it seems… In Syria currently, it is daily, every minute of every day….

I don’t want to be a heartless bastard, but I do hope that a cow was hurt in Syria, maybe then something will actually get done…..

On Wednesday night in NSW, a stunning event occurred, it involved a sell out, and a celebration.

Celebrating were the likes of Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, Rupert Murdoch, Gina Rinehart, and so on….

Selling out were the Greens…. let me explain.

On Wednesday night a bill was to be passed through the NSW parliament by Barry O’Farrell and the Liberals, with the backing of the Christian Democrats. This bill changes the way that political advertising and funding work in NSW, for the worse.

The bill bans donations to political parties from Unions, Community Groups such as charities like Greenpeace, and the Wilderness Society, as well as corporations.

It then goes on to prevent unions from pooling funds for their own political advertising, such as the “Your Rights At Work” Campaign, or the campaign against the Liberals “Workchoices” legislation, which was so despised by the public that it is apparently now  “Dead, Buried and Cremated”. At least according to the self confessed liar that is the parties leader, until Malcolm gets some guts again…

You may think that all that sounds reasonably fair, however the legislation also allows individuals to donate up to $1 Million dollars to a political party. Hmmm I wonder which party will make the most from those donations.

The Greens did this deal with Barry O’Farrell and Fred Nile, of the Christian Democrats. For those of you who don’t know Fred Nile, he is the MP who every year tries to ban the Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras, and when that fails each year, holds prayer groups in Hyde Park before the event to pray for rain, hoping to ruin it…. In his spare time he speaks out against Islamic beliefs, and is hell bent (pardon the pun) on banning the Burqua….

Fred Nile and homophobes protesting at Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras Sydney

Nice choice of friends…

I wonder what carrot was dangled in front of them…. How could Bob Brown let the NSW Greens sell out not only their supporters, the states workers, and ultimately themselves like this?

Should we now refer to Bob Brown as Bob Brown Tongue? If the shoe fits…..

Do these morons not realise that these corporations that have been banned are run by individuals to whom a $1 Million dollar donation is a drop in the ocean?

Rupert Murdoch will be handing out Million Dollar cheques to friends, family, and co workers to hand over to the Libs.

As we all knew it would one day under the Coalition, the government of NSW is about to be privatised and owned by a boardroom full of rich folk. A true Manchurian government.

The Greens this week have shown us that all their talk of principal, actually amounts to shit. They are a party that will sell out to the highest bidder at the most crucial moments.

I sincerely hope that The Labor Party will consider this come election time and stop giving Bob Brown Tongue and his band of hypocrites any preferences.

Pauline Hanson has more integrity, at least she sticks to her principles.

I weep for the future….

If you feel as strongly about this as I do, please sign this online petition, we need as many signatures as possible… http://www.nswalp.com/home/we-won-t-be-silenced/

Please share, repost, retweet or whatever… just spread the word, we need this legislation overturned.

Today folks, I wanted to tell you all about a man I know named Ray Williams.

You may have seen him on the news recently, his hair freshly dyed, or maybe you read about him on the front page of the Telegraph, or the two page spread that followed on pages 4 and 5, you may have even heard him get called a “grub” on air by right wing 2GB talkback host Ray Hadley before hanging up on him.

It seems this former bus driver is too good for the buses now….

Ray "Fat Cat" Williams

Ray Williams likes to say he came from the transport industry, and he did, just as the people who clean the trains at night do. Ray was a bus driver with big plans.

Ray ran for Liberal pre-selection for State Government in the seat of Hawkesbury NSW, challenging sitting MP Stephen Pringle. Ray defeated Pringle under allegations of branch stacking.

Most shocking of all were allegations of Williams bribing a local pastor in order to gain congregation members votes. These allegations were never proved either way, it was one mans word against the other.

I am not going to suggest to you who should be believed, you can decide for yourself. The local parish pastor, or the dodgy wannabe politician. I’ve made my choice…

The Hawkesbury seat is the safest Liberal seat in the state, only a complete imbecile could lose it for the Liberals. Ray almost did that year….

Stephen Pringle ran as an independent, and scooped up a massive chunk of the conservative vote, it must have been a wake-up call to Ray, who seemed to think Liberal branding would make it an easy win….

Last years elections were a disaster for Labor, Labor lost an average of 17% across the NSW Electorates. In Rays seat of Hawkesbury, one of the electorates with the $20Billion promise of the Nth West Rail Link, Labors votes dropped 1%, in fact in the booths outside of the Rail Links influence, the Labor vote increased at every booth, some as high as 25% Even the Rouse Hill booth, where Ray spent most of election day, and is the major station on the promised rail link, Labors vote increased…

Ray claimed that he had the biggest swing to him in the state, and he did… as Stephen Pringle didn’t run this time, so all those conservative voters came flooding back to The Liberal Party. However, the fact is in terms of conservative votes, Rays seat had one of the lowest swings.

These things I know, as I was the Labor candidate for the Hawkesbury seat I have studied the figures in detail….

Rays election campaign focused on two things primarily, public transport, and government waste.

Public transport was a big one due to the promise of the Rail Link, and the debacle of the M2 that Nick Greiner, a previous Liberal Premier left us. The M2 only started to be widened under the previous Keneally Labor govt.

The supposed waste that Ray always went on about, was money that he saw as being spent needlessly by the government. Anybody that he saw as getting money needlessly Ray liked to call “Fat Cats”. These Fat Cats should be sacked, or made to resign was the message Ray preached.

Ray "Fat Cat" Williams in one of his forner 8 lives

Judging from what has emerged this week, I am assuming that Rays resignation will come any day now. I mean, if you don’t stand up for what you believe, or practice what you preach, you are less than a man…. In my view anyway.

This week, those of us who live in the North West of Sydney were outraged to hear that Ray Williams was in fact a Fat Cat. Claiming $259 a night of taxpayer money to stay in the city when parliament sits, as it is too far to travel for poor Ray….

You might think that $259 gets Ray a nice hotel room, but no, that money of yours pays off Rays mortgage. You see Ray got himself a city flat that we can all pay off for him…

The hide of anyone to campaign that they understand the transport needs of working families, when they are sitting in their inner city flat to avoid it….

Then again, maybe he stays in town to avoid getting busted for drink driving as his mate Liberal MP Bart Basset did last year.

As the local MP, you are supposed to be able to relate to your electorate, sympathise with their problems, understand their issues. Ray it seems, thinks he is above all of that, with one of the major issues in the area being public transport, and one of the others being the roads. Rays decision means he is totally unqualified to comment on any of these issues, and any comment he does make on the rail link, bus services, or the M2 should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

Someone so interested in local transport issues, you would think he would take the time to attend a meeting with the Hills Transport Working Group, but alas, this is yet to happen. But I will let him off this one, as I understand where they meet is probably too far from Ray for him to get to. They meet right under his electorate office…. Seriously, he is on level 2, the committee meets on level 1… It is comforting to know he takes an interest….

Ray thinks his electorate is rural, and thinks that he lives in a rural area… It is worth noting that Ray was given a promotion by Barry O’Farrell, Ray was made Parliamentary Secretary For Western Sydney. Note the last word in that title, Sydney.

This may be a news flash for Ray, but Sydney is the capital of this state, it is where Parliament House is, and it is where you charge us $259 a night to stay at your own place…

At this point I should point out that Ray is actually entitled to receive this payment, however, it is an option he does not have to take. Someone who made such a big deal about waste, should certainly not take it. There are other MP’s living further away from the city who don’t claim this entitlement, because they have a thing we call Integrity… Ray, it is called Hypocrisy, and in this case it is spelt with a capital H.

Ray actually lives in Rouse Hill, kind of… Let me briefly explain… Until a few years back, where Ray lives was called Nelson. When Ray was a councillor in the Hills Shire Council, he pushed hard to have the suburb boundaries changed. Eventually Ray got his way, and his house left the suburb of Nelson, and became part of Rouse Hill. The value of Rays house shot up immediately…

I have been lobbying the council for months to change the name of where I live to Point Piper or Vaucluse , but to no avail….

A quick look at Rays website raywilliams.com.au tells you that Ray has been quite busy. Ray has a fully staffed office at Rouse Hill, I know of at least 4 people that work there, not including Ray (after all I did say work)

Ray "Fat Cat" Williams plays with a stuffed toy during question time

Rays website, is where those people who put their misguided faith in him can go to see the work he is doing and all the great things he has accomplished….

Pardon the language, but sweet fuck all….

According to his website, he has done nothing since August 2009, that’s right folks, last decade.

You would think that with all of the staff we have been paying for,  they would have at least come up with a decent story as to what Ray has been up to, I mean other than fleecing the taxpayer.

To his credit, Ray has agreed to pay the money back, after seeing the outrage in the community caused by his actions. I hope we see this happen sooner rather than later, it may even give him something to put on his website.

Now that the “fat cat” is out of the bag, Ray has also yet to decide whether or not he will spend the $17,000 of taxpayer money on an overseas trip.

He had already applied for the money, but given the issues he is now facing, he is thinking twice about going. Still, at least he hadn’t decided where he was going to go yet, he just wanted the money side sorted out first I guess.

I could rattle on for ages about our Fat Cat Friend Ray, but I shan’t…. What I will do though to make it easier for anyone interested, is add a category to this blog site called Ray “Fat Cat” Williams and post previous blogs where he has appeared(there have been a few) in there, make sure you check out Christmas O’Farrell And The Plump Pussies.

I will keep you posted on developments…. Unlike Rays website….

This week I was trying to think of what the worst thing a government could possibly do was…. Privatise public assets, slash workers compensation to emergency service personnel, not tell a community for 5 days after they were exposed to a deadly chemical spill… Or maybe give a record number of MPs parliamentary secretary positions while cutting the entitlements of every other public servant in the state, it could also be betraying thousands by cancelling their government guaranteed rebates when they tried to do the right thing by going solar… Maybe slashing funds needed to upgrade hospitals like Blacktown and Tamworth all these things would qualify….and all are achievements of the new NSW government.

However, I think we saw the worst in NSW recently under the new Liberal government when they left hundreds of schoolkids stranded with no transport. Oh, and did I mention these kids are disabled?

It is hard to believe that any government, even this sad excuse for one, would leave 740 disabled children stuck at the side of the road. But what is even harder to believe, is that the Minister in charge of this fiasco, Education Minister Adrian Picolli, still has a job. Clearly he isn’t fit to mop Parliament House, let alone sit on the front bench….

Six-year-old Marquinn King, excited about his first day at school, waits with his grandparents Myrna and Sheldon Ross, for the school transport that doesn't come. Pic: David Marshall.

Then again, he does kind of fit in with brain-deads like Robyn Parker….

How did this happen? You may be wondering…. Well, the new Liberal Government decided to renegotiate the contracts with the people who operate the specially equipped vehicles. Desperate to save a few pennies, the government tried its hand at hardball. However the type of community groups that provide this service don’t have a great deal of room to move… Therefore the contracts were not finalised before the the previous ones expired. No contract, no transport…

Piccolli was told of this problem looming last October, yes that’s right, last year. How long does this inept excuse for a politician need to get his act together?

It seems inconceivable that a Minister would not realise that if there were no contracts in place that it would cause a problem. Unfortunately for Adrian Picolli, the magic buses that he thought would appear from the clouds, never showed up, and the kids were left by the roadside in their wheelchairs…

As terrible as that is, it gets worse…. Listening to callers affected on talkback radio made me ashamed to live in this state, as they described what this utter disgrace of a government used as a solution for these poor disabled kids..

Some of you may have seen the footage shown on 4 Corners, and pushed by animal rights activists of the live sheep being shoved into the boots of cars at markets in the Middle East… What happened under the control of the O’Farrell Government, and Adrian Picolli was along similar lines, and is nothing short of an attack on decency and morality.

We knew road safety was high on the O’Farrell agenda when in a vote grab, he promised to decommission some speed cameras…. A week after one of those cameras was removed a speeding ute collided with a truck, which ended up going through a house and killing a sleeping child at Urunga in the states north, right where the camera used to be….

Now we have this, an all new low in road safety…. To try and put a band aid on a gaping wound, we saw from this government makeshift chairs put in the back of station wagons, and disabled kids shoved in. This breach of virtually every road rule in existence was the governments solution. Cattle in this state are transported with greater care….

The future of disabled transport under a Liberal Government?

If I was driving a car with a child in the back like that, I would be made an example of… I would be in court real quick, probably all over A Current Affair as well.

Meanwhile, proud mother, and Community Services Minister, Pru Goward, has found a way to make foster care cheaper for the government. Simple, make the kids pay their foster carers….

You probably think I’m pulling your leg, but alas, if only… Goward and the O’Farrell brigade decided to punish foster carers of children aged 17 and over, by slashing their support payments by $214 a fortnight. These kids apparently don’t need feeding or clothing, and of course teenagers are cheap to bring up….

So Pru suggested to these foster carers, on the ABC Breakfast Show with Adam Spencer, that these carers attempt to make the kids pay them…. There are words I could use to describe Pru at this point, but I will refrain….

It amazes me how things can go so pear shaped in not even a year under an inept government….

If Barry O’Farrell wants to show us any integrity that he may be hiding, he will take away Pru’s ministry, and sack Picolli and call a bi election in his seat, as he is not even fit for a back bench.

Still, at the end of the day, we are really seeing nothing new….

Just another Coalition government attacking the states most needy, and leaving its most vulnerable left stranded.

Queenslanders, please take note….

This week in the Coalition… in pictures…

 Tony Abbott mentioned something that sounded like policy

 While back in Sydney, Scott Morrison met with his branch and advisors to discuss immigration policy

 Andrew Robb was excited to learn where he may find that pesky $70Billion

 But was disappointed to only discover workchoices documents in there

 At the National Party Headquarters, the search was on for new candidates that were not quite so Angry

 George Brandis tried to come up with another diabolical scheme to bring down Craig Thompson

 Joe Hockey was apparently disheartened when he found that what he thought was a new calculator, turned out to be scissors that only cut large holes in the Coalitions figures…. About 70 Billion of them…

 Gina Rinehart called for volunteers to decorate her new bathroom, and Barnaby Joyce couldn’t get his hand up quick enough…

 Gina was reportedly pleased with Barnaby’s efforts

 Greg Hunt was seen double checking the Coalitions environmental policy

Then triple checking…

 While Julie Bishop was told to try and occasionally force a smile…

Julie was the the first in the Coalition to lend support when she heard of Queensland flooding again, but stayed at arms length from the locals…

 It wasn’t all bad news for the Coalition though. With Q&A back on the ABC again, one coalition member was all excited and desperate to remind us he was still alive. I can’t remember the guys name, but he was seen auditioning for Q&A earlier this week…

 Still, never fear people, if the Coalition manage to win government next election, there is a group of professionals that have allegedly volunteered to jump in and help, should things go pear shaped. A group with far greater economic credentials, and a far better vision for Austarlia.

Don’t forget Valentines Day

Here in the Hills Shire, we are lucky. We are lucky in that if we want to see for ourselves what it is like to have a council that looks after the area, some of Blacktown City Councils suburbs are only a stones throw away. Still I guess it’s not fair to compare Blacktown City Councils area to the Hills Shire, after all, Blacktown is the Garden Shire… Oh wait, that’s right, that’s us, oops…

Driving around Stanhope Gardens (aptly named) or Kellyville Ridge, you would assume that you were in the Garden Shire. There are parks, trees with flowers on them, and manicured grass. Crossing back over Old Windsor Rd into the Hills Shire though, you see what our council calls a garden, a gum tree surrounded by a few weeds…..

Gum trees belong in the bush, not on someone’s back fence. Our council is so clever, that if you take a drive down Sanctuary Drive at Beaumont Hiils, you will find gum trees pulling up the pavement and dropping branches on parked cars, damaging their roofs and bonnets, on both sides of the road. Even worse, just for good measure, they are down the median strip as well. I hate to think what this street will look like in 5 years, after the gum trees have grown even more, and their roots start pulling up the median strip, and the road itself.

Don’t think it is just one road either, the council is continuing to either plant, or allowing developers to plant more gum trees all over the shire. Why? You may well ask, I think its not because they are native, it’s probably because they are cheap…. While you are driving around, you may notice the overgrown grass and weeds that make up our median strips. The so called gardens in the Hills Shire, with a couple of rare exceptions, are weedy, overgrown disgraces and eyesores.

No doubt driving around you will notice the obstacle courses that somehow pass as roads… Our shires roads have to be the worst in the western world for potholes. I don’t understand why… we pay high rates, our council is supposed to care… So I just don’t get why again if I cross over to the Blacktown side of Windsor Rd, all is fine, smooth roads, nice trees…

Roads like Annangrove rd are a disgrace, there are potholes there that are deep enough for a small child to hide in, Old Northern rd is another bad joke, yes the craters get filled in, but they are back again 2 days later… It is getting to the point where we will all need 4 wheel drives just to get around….. There are Extreme Sports Krusty Demon trail bike riders that would find Samantha Riley drive too perilous to tackle, which is a pity, as they would love to have a crack at the treacherous Glenhaven Rd at the end of it…. It’s not just to potholes either….

Don’t get me started on Showground rd, they must notice it, it’s just in front of council… We all use it…. We know that the vastly outnumbered Labor councillors managed to raise the funds to have the design work and planning done for the road to be upgraded at long last… Now if the Liberal councillors could all please put their infighting and factional brawling away for a while, maybe you can join those from the Labor camp and actually get something done about it…. While you’re at it, a set of lights would be handy at the corner of Glenhaven and Old Northern roads, and also the corner of Cropley Drive and Seven Hills Rd. I do realise it is Liberal tradition to wait until there has been the magic number of fatalities, permanent disabilities, and human vegetables stuck in coma-land caused by the intersections, before putting your hand in your pocket becomes viable. However, if you could hurry up before someone I know, or some poor child becomes another one of your necessary statistics I would appreciate it.

Before you think of saying that this is an RTA issue that comes under state govt, isn’t it your job to lobby them? I know you meet with them….

I am also aware that the new Liberal state govt has spent all of its money appointing more useless Parliamentary Secretaries, breaking its own promise and creating a bigger, more expensive government…. But surely this vastly Liberal council can convince just one of our Liberal state members to get off their fat lazy ass and ask the question…. Is that asking too much?

I am not saying they are asleep at the wheel, or they don’t know the area, however the last time I went to council, I complained about the lack of toilet facilities in our parks, and don’t even mention disabled facilities….

Many of these parks have BBQ’s, which to me would suggest people would be there for a while and may need a loo… I was asked by the new Liberal Mayor, Greg Burnett, for an example, so I told him Bella Vista Farm. Mayor Burnett assured me that Bella Vista Farm indeed had very fine public facilities, and that the Hills Shire website will be updated to say the park has toilets, and that I was wrong in thinking otherwise.

Now I am big enough to admit when I am wrong, and it turns out that Mayor Burnett was right, there are toilets at Bella Vista Farm.

Yes, I was wrong folks…

However, where I was confusd, and this was not indicated by the Mayor,is that the toilets are part of the Historic Bella Vista Farm, not the park…

Yes they are there, but you have to scale a 7ft fence with spikes on the top to get to them… not exactly ideal for the disabled, pregnant ladies or small children… actually anyone for that matter.

The other drama, is they are only open for half a day… once a month…. That’s convenient.

I think Mayor Burnett wants to make an Olympic sport out of bladder control, or does the council just endorse public urination?

But never fear though folks, if you are at Bella Vista Farm, and feel the urge, you are only a short drive from Blacktown councils domain, where there are plenty of public facilities available…..

I guess this is what happens when you have a Liberal dominated council… The developers flourish, while the ratepayers suffer….

I hope we all remember to address this come next council elections. Let’s put a bit more balance into our council, and make our Shire the envy of the country.

As it bloody well should be….

A warning before I start, there are images which may upset some, so proceed with caution…

I was forwarded an email by a friend recently that I wanted to share, I have changed some of the wording, but you will get the gist…. after all a picture tells a thousand words.

Some of you may have seen the Academy Award Winning documentary “The Cove” for those of you who haven’t, here’s a link to the preview.

There are also many who would assume that this slaughter of whales and dolphins is only performed by the Japanese… You would be wrong.

The following images are from the Faroe Islands, which are a part of Denmark. Yes that’s right Denmark, a Western Country.

The sea is stained in red and it is not because of climate effects or nature. It’s because of the cruelty of the human beings (civilised human) who kill hundreds of the famous and intelligent Calderon dolphins.

This happens every year in The Feroe Island in Denmark. In this slaughter the main participants are young teens.
Why? You may well ask
It is a celebration, to show that they are adults and mature!

Although the dolphins aren’t celebrating, and neither should we.

In this big celebration, nobody misses out on  the fun. Everyone gets to participate in one way or the other, either killing or cheering on the cruelty from the shore like a fan at a footy match.

At this point I feel it is necessary to mention that the Calderon Dolphins, are near extinction and they get near men to play and interact.
It is their way of showing and offering their friendship

Alas, these poor creatures don’t die instantly; they are cut 1, 2 or 3 times with thick hooks. And at that time the dolphins produce a grim cry like that of a new born child.

There is no compassion or mercy while this magnificent creature slowly dies in its own blood

I hope, like me, you have had enough of this type of treatment of these glorious creatures.

What can you do?

For starters pass this around, and get the word out there.

Then if you feel strongly enough below are the detail of the Embassy in Australia.

Embassy Of Denmark Australia

15 Hunter St

Yarralumla Canberra

A.C.T 2600

Phone 02 6270 5333

Fax 02 6270 5324

Alternatively, here is an email address you can send abuse/constructive criticism to… cbramb@um.dk

Let’s not let this continue….

Below is my twitter link, please don’t send the abuse to me…

Some of my opinions are often seen as straying a bit left of centre,  and on occasion I may put things across a little bluntly, but I rarely ask for anything more than an open mind.

So with that in mind, I have a favor to ask of the gay community.

Not really a favour, probably more of a suggestion, or bright idea, you may well say.

Although you may think this idea is strange, and a bit funny, I am as serious as a heart attack.

I would like the gay community to adopt the Southern Cross as a symbol.

The Southern Cross is an iconic symbol of our country, that has been hijacked by bogans and racists, much to the dismay of the rest of us.

I, for one, would like to see the Southern Cross being used as a symbol of love and unity, rather than a symbol of fear and hatred.

I’m not suggesting you go and get tattoo’s, but maybe some T Shirts, pink Southern Cross pict badges for profile pics, some signage in clubs and shop front windows, maybe even some Southern Cross decorated floats in the Mardi Gras parade, that should get some coverage.

I was thinking maybe a pink Southern Cross, with Gay Pride Australia as the slogan…

Gay Pride Australia?

One can only imagine the outrage this would create amongst the Neanderthal community of rednecks. I can almost hear the sound of a million stickers being peeled off utes, the crys of anguish as tens of thousands of racists and homophobes come to the realisation that their beloved tattoo now has to go.

If there are 2 things the majority of these imbeciles hate, it is immigrants and gays. Can you imagine if every time someone saw a rednecks Southern Cross tattoo, they assumed that  the redneck was gay?

Personally, I can think of nothing funnier, and no group of people more deserving of grief…

I would like nothing more than to see their symbol of hate, become something that they themselves hate. It would be like having an ex- wives name tattooed on your arm.

For those of you who had the Sothern Cross tattooed on their arm before the rednecks hijacked it. If this diabolical scheme works there may come a day when once again you can display your nationalism with pride.

So what do you think people?

I say let’s take back our national symbol, and teach these idiots a lesson at the same time.

Spread the word, repost, share, retweet, get the message out there.

Do it for your country.

I have been a bit absent of late, and it’s not for the religious reasons that you are no doubt assuming…. I have actually been rather busy, despite the holidays. I have been doing something that our local Liberal MP’s may have read about in a book, I have been out talking to residents.

For those of you who don’t realise, I live in Sydney’s Hills Shire. Don’t get me wrong, I quite like it here, but living in an area that is dominated by Liberal politicians, and religious nuts, often one and the same, it does have its occasional drawbacks.

So, “what have I been so busy chatting to people about?” You may well ask…Well allow me to explain.

Here in the Hills Shire, in February and March last year, we all heard time and time again how wonderful things were going to be with a Liberal government in control of the state. Things were finally going to get done around here now that our local MPs, in particular David Elliot, and Ray Williams, who suddenly appear at election time, now get to experience being a part of government, rather than opposition. Streets would be repaved in gold, birds would sing, the sick would be healed, I was ready to start bathing in champagne, but alas, things have not turned out quite the way we had hoped.

The big promise of the supposed North West Rail Link, has been an absolute farce under the control of the same incompetent party that brought us Sydney’s Airport Link line, you may have heard of it, nobody uses it. I talk of course of the Liberal Party. This is a party that would struggle to plan a pub crawl, let alone a multi billion dollar piece of infrastructure.

It is interesting to note, that the opposition spokesperson for transport, Penny Sharpe, has spent for more time in the area talking to residents, community groups, and businesses, than the Minister who is supposed to be in charge Gladys Berejiklian.

This rail link, we were promised, was going to put the Hills Shire on the map. It was going to be state of the art, an underground line that would have little to no impact on the environment, or the landscape. It was going to ease the transport system in the area, boost employment, and give our local economy a kick along. All of this and publicly owned to keep the cost of using the service to a minimum.

Now, that has changed considerably… Now we have a promise the O’Farrell government can’t afford, so privatisation is back on the table. Suddenly there is to be huge impact on environment and residents as the final few kilometres are to be above ground… So high above ground in fact the idiots running this project have now dubbed it “Skytrain”… I kid you not… It has gone from being underground, to being on Cloud 9.

To their credit, the artists impressions release by the O’Farrell govt, make it look nice. The train all nice and clean gliding over parks and trees…. The reality could not be further from the truth.

A govt artists misguided impression

The reality is, it will be a noisy, graffiti covered railway going though cheap hi rise housing… No parks, no trees, just another noisy train rattling through a slum.

Maybe I should explain…

In order for this inept excuse for a state government, the same government whose Environment Minister states that logging is good for Koalas, to raise money to pay for their promise they need investors. Alas, this kind of investment comes from people who actually think before they make promises. Private investment companies, such as Macquarie, or the Federal Government, who now under Labor, are quite prone to actually researching before making decisions.

What these investors require before they spend either their money, or taxpayers money in the case of govt, is to be assured that it is a worthwhile investment. The main way they determine this is by a population density ratio.

This ratio says that you need a certain number head of population in the region per $million spend, for it to be a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately for Barry, and those of us who live here, the area falls a long way short.

The solution by the Liberal dominated Hills Shire council, has been to rezone vacant land, in areas like mine, to allow for cheap apartments. This way they cover the foolish promise of a foolish Premier, and protect the local Liberal members from the dramas associated with a huge promise broken by their leader, by bringing in a huge amount of new residents.

The large vacant area near where I live was to be small retail, cafe’s, restaurants, and a motel, this sounded great and the residents were all happy with that. Just before Christmas however, the councillors voted to change the zoning, and now we have 6 storey apartments going there.

The plan is to put all these people in as fast as possible, years, probably over a decade ahead of the rail link. In the meantime there are no plans to increase public transport in the area, no plans to increase capacity on the roads. The local government seems to assume these people will not own cars, and will just sit in their apartments all day, and never leave…

Guys, and Gals, may I be so bold as to suggest a little bit of planning might be in order… Or better still, go back to plan A restaurants and cafe’s, plan B is utter crap.

Houses in the area range in value from $800K to $1.2 Million. So locals have invested a great deal in their decision to live here.

These residents have gone from having the promise of an underground railway within walking distance, and restaurants and cafe’s at their doorstep, to having a noisy graffiti covered eyesore on top of them, and a slum that blocks out the sun and the sky, built right next door. It is nothing short of a disgrace.

To say these residents have been betrayed by both the Liberal Party and the Hills Shire Council is an understatement of epic proportions.

I have spoken to 3 local Real Estate agents regarding this, and all 3 of them have stated that if the cheap housing goes ahead, houses in the area will drop in value anywhere between $150K to $200K.

To make matters even worse, the area is a flood zone.

The imbeciles running the state now, have said that this is why the rail has to be above ground, due to the flood zone. Tunnels can’t possibly go underwater… Clearly none of the Liberal MP’s attempting to run this state have ever noticed that little thing called the Harbour Tunnel… But hey, it’s cheaper to go above ground, and after all, they don’t have to live here…

Alas, even though their colleagues recognize flood zones, our local Liberal MP’s and Councillors don’t. Clearly they think cheap housing and flood zones go together like roast beef and gravy… Stack ‘em high and see if they float, seems to be the attitude. It was only 12 months ago we saw the once in a hundred year floods hit Queensland, do these Councillors have that short a memory span, or is it just Liberal Party policy not to care?

When council elections come up in a few short months, residents here will remember who stood for the community as a whole, and who decided to betray residents in order to prop up a failing Premier. We will also remember who puts a developers wants, ahead of the community’s needs.

Thank you for your patience and support.

I will keep you posted.

It has been a while since I posted anything, so I hope I’m not too rusty…

With Australia day looming, I thought I would write something about what seems to be a popular subject currently, Australians and racism.

We didn’t really need Dr Charles Teo to tell us that racism is alive and well in Australia, one only has to walk around with eyes open.

For those who missed the stories on Dr Teo’s words, below is a link to the story in the Herald.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/racism-very-much-alive-in-australia-says-dr-charles-teo/story-fn7x8me2-1226247766763

I do however applaud Dr Teo for having the guts to come out and say it openly. Considering he is going to say it as part of the NSW Australia Day speech shows not only great courage, but also shows that racism has clearly impacted his life. When the brain surgeon tells us that his young daughter has been told to “Go Home”, because of her Asian heritage, by drunken Aussie revelers, and that this happened while she was out celebrating Australia Day, which is the national day of the country in which she was born, is nothing less than a disgrace. But you know what? I probably wouldn’t care too much if it was an isolated incident, but the fact is, it’s not…

Much of Australia’s racism is brought on by ignorance and fear.

Of course this ignorance is not helped by politicians pandering to the fear merchants…

Idiots like Tony Abbott suggesting that Australia break international laws and turn around asylum seeker boats that are in Australian waters, or just plain bastards like Scott Morrison complaining that the government wasted money  flying a young child to the funeral of his family, after they were killed in the Christmas Island tragedy. I mean, how low do we really have to stoop?

Ignorance can be helped by education and experience. I find most people who have racist tendencies have not travelled much at all, particularly abroad. It would be nice if everyone had the opportunity to travel, but I am somewhat of a realist. With that in mind, more needs to be done to educate the next generation of leaders in our schools, however it is going to take more than that to get over the fear aspect.

Thankfully, Hollywood seems to be doing the right thing for once. Television shows like Big Bang Theory, Terra Nova, and The Good Wife (I mean what is there to not like about Archie Panjabi?) seem to be trying to paint inter-racial relationships as the norm, in terms of both friendships, lovers, and partners. Amazingly, it is being done quite well and not coming off corny either, unlike like the old token black characters of old. I do wish we could see more of it on Australian television though.

Archie Panjabi

Hopefully this will have an impact if it is kept up. I believe it will, as like it or not, most of us absorb what is pumped into us by the networks, usually without realizing.

The problem is though, there will always be elements of society that are racist, it cannot be stopped unfortunately. You can’t fight history….

Those who think that the racism issue in Australia is exaggerated, might like to plan a family holiday to Brisbane in April. There the whole family can enjoy the Neo Nazi Festival that is going ahead despite cries of protest. I would provide a link for the event, however I don’t want to promote this sort of ignorance and blind hatred, even unintentionally…

But instead of hating the racist elements, maybe we should pity them. It must be awful to live your life in such fear.

Racists, being so fearful, are clearly the weakest link amongst us. Weak in many different ways, they seem to only act on mass (think Cronulla riots), they seem to be suckers for peer group pressure (hating others because their mates do), they think understanding another culture is too hard (easier to reject it), if they can’t understand something they put up mental barriers (I don’t get it, so I don’t like it).

However, they don’t want to appear weak, so they put up the tough image with the Southern Cross tatts, and the “Fuck Off We’re Full” car stickers.

Although these things are a blight on our society, and although we may be ashamed of their behavior, for now I think we will just have to put up with it, as while most of us hate it, there are those who will continue to encourage it.

To those who do encourage it, I say “Australia has always been a multi-cultural nation, love it or leave it”. Weakness is not a virtue, being a racist does not make you more Australian, in fact, quite the opposite.

There is however one part of this debate that seems to have gone overboard and off the rails a bit. It centre’s around some of the extreme views being vented by some individuals who seem to believe they are representing our indigenous communities.

Just because somebody is born here, is white, and does not spend their entire life apologizing to the indigenous community, does not make them a racist. With this in mind some of the more outspoken activists out there need to take a step back, we all know that you mean well, but think before you speak. Abusing people to gain respect is not unlike fighting for peace, or fucking for virginity, it is a wee bit futile. Apologies for the language, but I wanted to emphasise the point…

I’m not going to mention any names here, but I think we will have all seen them… On TV, Facebook, Twitter, in chat rooms etc… I usually commend what they are trying to achieve, it is just sometimes the method…..

Nobody has a say in where they are born, or what color they are born, so we need to show some restraint. I mean, if I had been given a choice it would have nice to have been born in the Bahamas’ with Bill and Melinda Gates as my parents, but hey……

I know a lot of people who don’t know much about Aboriginal culture, and celebrate Australia Day not to celebrate any invasion, but because they love where they live. Again, this does not make them racist.

I think most of us agree that more needs to be done to ensure that the indigenous communities are given assistance where needed, and supported in their decisions of how they would like to see their communities run. I am all for the hand up, rather than the hand out approach. However people need to understand that abusing someone or calling them a racist, just because they have not followed the events, or do not understand the issue, is not going to win someone over and make them agree with you. Using that line of thought and logic is like saying we are all born racist and as we grow up we learn not to be. Utter Crap.

Racism is more about lack of respect than anything else.

If somebody is not politically active, and does not fight for indigenous rights, but instead offers respect and some understanding, then I for one am happy with that. I think that if more people showed respect for each other, regardless of race, we would be back on the path to being the friendly country we fondly remember.

That would truly make us the Lucky Country.