Here’s a little free advertising. In fact, here’s some gratuitous plugging on behalf of both this website and the discussion forum which compliments it.

If you consider yourself an astute adult and you’re interested in politics, science, religion or just general and current events, you might enjoy a conversation with like minds in a forum format at ThinkTank. It’s easy. Simply register yourself as a member of the forum and join the fray. We’re young at the moment, having recently established as a result of a split from another, much more closeted and confined format. In general, discussiuons will be Australian-centric, however we actively encourage discussion of any subject from any theatre.

Join us and broaden our horizons.

A Victory for Freedom or a huge collective sigh of relief from the coalition leadership triumverate? I’ve noticed the few blogs that I scan have all made mention of the show trial verdict to hang Saddam Hussein. ‘What the hell’, I thought, ‘I’ll wade in too!’

 Tracey Spicer is one of the most experienced and credible news presenters on Australian commercial television, with a career spanning 20 years, encompassing newsreading, documentary making, reporting, and radio broadcasting.

The nationally televised and supposedly impromptu performance by News Corporation journalist, Glenn Milne, at last nights Walkley Awards, was perhaps the funniest public display of drunkenness by a luminary your Bannerman has seen for many a year. In fact, I would put it right up there with Sir John Kerr’s Melbourne Cup Day blur and Michael Cole’s 1973 Logie Award performance.

Mr Milne, it seems, is not above making attacks on persons of any public stature, from the lowly to the grand, on the grounds of his perception of their pompousness. Stephen Mayne ought to feel priviledged to have been shoved off the stage by Milne. No doubt he does. Mayne’s rejoinders afterwards showed he clearly enjoyed the exchange from a variety of angles. One wonders today what Milne is doing, other than laying low and nursing a hangover. Perhaps he’s writing a resignation letter?

Fiji is now under it’s fourth Coup de tête in the last twenty years. This one by far the most insidiously crafted and most clumsily conducted.  Commodore Bainimarama has blatantly flouted Fiji’s constitution, basically ignoring it’s intent and casting scorn on it’s purpose. The common people have no say and it’s the common people for whom democracy is meant to hold the country in faith for. It’s yet another disgusting turn of events for that sorry nation, and one which will undoubtedly occur again unless the constitution is amended, removing the power over civilian administrators which the military continues to hold.

While it may well seem hypocritical of John Howard to decline the request for military assistance from Prime Minister Qarase, especially in light of the blindly faithful adherence to US demands Howard indulged in by taking Australia to war in Iraq, your Bannerman is in agreement with Howard in the withholding of military aid. Fiji – like Iraq – is not Australia’s fight and she must make it’s own way in the political and economic world. The Bannerman’s sympathies go to the business and general communities of Fiji during this difficult time. I trust……I hope, that Fiji in the future will see it’s way clear to hobble a rampant military.

Bannerman is smiling sardonically at the responses from the usual media suspects in regard to Kofi Annan’s farewell speech today at the Truman Presidential Library, Independence, Missouri.

Bannerman works from home. It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it, and Bannerman figures it might as well be him that adroitly avoids the peak hour crush; the over-powering scents of perfume & after-shave in the morning; perfume mixed with body odour and beer-breath in the afternoons; the ant colony-like streams of people into & out of train stations or the inanities of evening radio chat shows on the freeway.

Only a matter of time, is the way bannerman has viewed this occurence. With the much vaunted, yet clearly flawed Joint Strike Fighter delivery date being pushed further and further out – now slated for 2013 – Australia’s defensive capabilities were always going to be left wanting. This is a re-run of the late 1960’s purchase of that era’s leading edge tactical strike aircraft, the General Dynamic F-111.

The original invasion, disregarding the decisions of June 2002 by the Whitehouse, to invade Iraq in March 2003 now seem so much grist to the mill if Nuri al-Maliki is going to invite all former Iraqi army members/participants to reapply for their former positions.

Bannerman and his squeeze have returned! The wilds of Queensland’s Granite Belt were delightful…..for the first five days. Then came Boxing Day and the clammering hordes from coastal and interstate suburbia.

Amid the lowest world oil prices in 20 months, an investigation has found petrol retailers have not passed any of the relief on to consumers.

Herald Sun.

Bannerman is stunned, nay, shocked to read that oil majors haven’t been treating consumers honestly these last several months….years….decades. 

Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes is to undergo open heart surgery next month.

ABC News .

Bannerman wishes him all the very best. The Progenitor underwent the very same op in 2004, from which he never recovered. Still, thirty years can make a hell of a difference, despite a lifetime of booze, drugs and beating your body senseless. Bear up, Jimmy!

With yesterday's post in mind, Bannerman came across what turns out to be an older article on Space_dot_Com this morning, which reveals that the second brightest star in the southern cross is, in fact, a binary system. Beta Crucis, or Mimosa to give it’s common name, is classified as a blue-white giant, differing from our own Sun in that Beta Crucis is much, much larger and nearing the end of it’s main sequence phase. It’s partner, a smaller red giant star, orbits 8 AU,or eight times the distance which Earth orbits our Sun, from Beta Crucis.

This revelation raises a query in Bannerman’s mind. Should Australia amend the flag?

This article, among many, many others highlights the ever increasing focus by Australians on the plight of David Hicks. Politicians of every stripe except those of the inner circle of the coalition government are calling for, at the very least, an independent psychiatric assessment of Hicks. The inner circle appear quite satisfied with asking the obvious questions and receiving the obvious answers.

The time is long past for this man’s release. He is NOT charged. He cannot be charged with any supposed crime which in any proper court would survive the initial perusal of the presiding authority. He faces a kangaroo court of the U.S. administration’s convenience. His own government has abandoned him out of political convenience and he flatly refuses to see its representatives. Those representatives continue to force themselves upon him, despite his written proclamations refuting their ‘assistance’, and for that he is said to suffer retribution at the hands of a so-called ally.

When will Australia rise up against its government and demand this man’s release?

Global climate change is "very likely" to have a human cause

BBC NEWS .

Gee………..Y’think? It’s not only a question of climate change.

1 a (1) : of, relating to, or given to retrospection : based on memory <a retrospective report> b : being a retrospective <a retrospective exhibition>
2 : affecting things past : RETROACTIVE<retrospective laws>
3 : relating to or being a study (as of a disease) that starts with the present condition of a population of individuals and collects data about their past history to explain their present condition

In short, the word means acting, or an enaction on the present, taking into account something from the past. Of course, it means something completely different here in Australia, to what it may well mean in the United States english language lexicon. As Little Johnny Howler said today:

“What the Americans do is up to the Americans”

Interpret it as you will, reader. The intent is quite clear. Australia will do absolutely nothing to interfere with the American english dictionary, regardless of whether the life or mind of an Australian citizen is at stake. Let this be a lesson to those of you contemplating even thinking about becoming a soldier of fortune.

"This suggestion that because detainees are there, that that is in itself evidence of terrorism, or their being a terrorist, simply puts the lie to any attempt to deal with them in a fair and open manner,"
David McLeod, lawyer for David Hicks

(via ABC Online)

What defines a ’dangerous terrorist’? Someone’s say so? Is it necessary for said alleged terrorist to have killed someone? Fired a gun, carried a stanley knife, perhaps. Bannerman thinks that all of us could be classified as terrorists if the latter proviso comes into play.

Vladimir Putin has made what he says is "an invitation to think" to the United States of America. Using the term ’Unipolar’, he has openly accused the U.S. of overly provocative and internationally illegal tactics in it’s foreign policy of unilateral pre-emption.

A possible conversation between Alexander Downer and Robert Gates, as imagined by Bannerman

DOWNER: G’day Bob. I’d heard you were in Munich. Rattled any beer halls yet? [lightly chuckles]

GATES: Hey Lex......good to see you. Yeh, trying to drum up a few more troops for Afghanistan. You know how Europe is. You here on business or pleasure?

DOWNER: [nods knowingly] Well......business really. The Boss is getting jumpy over this Hicks thing, y’know. We have an election this year and the public have finally woken up that you’re holding one of ours at Gitmo. Bloody media prats don’t help either. [scowls] Look, when are you fellows likely to be doing something concrete, so we can tell the media to back off?

GATES: [casts eyes around furtively] Weeeeell, you know how the law goes, Lex. We got our butts canned last year and Dubya doesn’t want any repeats. He’s sort of inferred that he’d like the problem to just go away. [chuckles] Had to send an explanatory memo to the CIA on that one. They kinda got all excited.

[joint mirth on the part of both men]

DOWNER: [frowns] Yes, I know Bob.....but the Weasel’s got his election allergy acting up. Surely you can give me something to be going on with? Can’t you at least formalise those charges? Oh.....by the way.....nice one on the ’material aid’ bit. Next to impossible to disprove, eh? [elbows Gates, nudge-nudge style]

GATES: [frowns] Yeh.....next to impossible to make stick as well, what with the fact that some klutz has already admitted we know he’s never fired a shot at our boys. [shrugs] Still....he was in Afghanistan, so that has to count for something, I guess.

DOWNER: [looks hopeful] So....I can tell the Boss you’re gonna lay charges ASAP? A court date, maybe?? Middle of February is coming up fast.

GATES: [throws hands up] Awww look, Lexy. Why don’t we just send the asshole home? He’s yours anyway and getting him back would certainly kill any dissent in your media and lay public opinion. You could even sell the deal by telling the people what a great bunch we all are - you guys included, of course.

DOWNER: [gasps for breath and clasps hands around face. Voice rises several octaves] WHAT!! And admit that all the things we’d call him, accused him of and hidden behind while you held onto him were all a fraud???!!! Are you mad?! It would mean the end us politically.

GATES: [smirks knowingly] Well, look at it this way, Lex. I’ll be out of a job by years end and misery just loves company, right? Play your cards right, and you might still be in line for that chair at the UN.

DOWNER: [nods while searching for agreement] So.....what you’re saying is that I should just go home and tell everyone we’ve spoken about the issue, and leave well enough alone??

GATES: [gives ’Dolly’ the two finger pistol salute and winks] Y’know, for a guy with a public school accent you’re pretty street smart, Lex.

Journalists shown ’Iranian weapons’ in Iraq.

So, here we have Little Johnny Howler once again creating havoc in the playground by name-calling and picking on the new boy.

"One of the key points it made was that a premature withdrawal would be a disaster," - Alexander Downer
ABC News Online

Here’s a serious question from the Bannerman. Does anyone honestly pay any attention to what ’Dolly’ Downer has to say on any issue which originates from the mouth of his fearless leader? Take the above selective quote, supposedly originating from the Baker-Hamilton report on what is purported in the media lately as the primary recommendation of a staged withdrawal from Iraq by U.S. military forces.

Bannerman isn’t feeling all that charitable at the moment, so the reader will need to excuse him if he seems less then his usual ebullient self. Reason? Well, there are undoubtedly many, but for the sake of this post, let’s assume it’s to do with David Hicks.

Hicks coming home

’Mr Andrews says it’s not possible under Australian law for Mr Jovicic to be granted Australian citizenship at this time.’
Lateline - 20/02/2007

Bannerman draws the readers attention to the last three words in Kevin Andrews’ or his department spokesperson’s statement on the future of Robert Jovicic. "...at this time." Bannerman wants to know just when, under Australian law, it will become possible for Mr Jovicic to be granted at least a return to permanent residency, pending his citizenship instatement? Bannerman wants to know why the Howardian regime appears intent on toying with this man’s future, after bowing to the weight of public opinion and returning him to the country he has spent 99.95% of his life in?

Bannerman asks whether Australia is still the land of the Fair Go, or has it, under the conservative regime, become a society of moralising judgementalists? The simple facts are that Robert Jovicic is a human being. He has admitted he made mistakes in life. He is asking for a ’fair go’. A chance to prove that what he claims to be a changed persona is in fact that. Bannerman believes in the spirit of true Australiana. Jovicic deserves the benefit of the doubt. He deserves the ’fair go’ he asks for. He does not deserve to be treated as a disposable piece of humanity to be discarded at the whim of a bigoted, self-serving government which has form on the issues of regard for human rights.

A television alert from the Bannerman. Tonight is certainly David Hicks night on SBS. ’Insight’ at 7:30pm has Phillip Ruddock and Terry Hicks together in the same audience discussing the issue of David Hicks. Then at 10:00pm, SBS is replaying the documentary, ’The President versus David Hicks’.

To cap the television media pressure, we hear now that ’Dubya’ rang L.J.Howler at dawn, no less, today. He wanted to discuss North Korea. Little Johnny hit him up over David Hicks. Bannerman can imagine the tenor of the conversation, with ’Dubya’ wanting to talk top level stuff and L.J. whining about 2007 being an election year and he’s feeling the heat, George. Can’t you do something?

It’s tough at the top. Bannerman hopes it gets a hell of a lot hotter and tougher and in short order.

LP comments policy at Larvatus Prodeo

Bannerman chuckled, chortled and guffawed his way through the entirety of this Labia Prodders post. Clearly one or more of the rabid end in the blog spectrum - notice, ideology is not a factor in this post - has imitated the neighbourhood tomcat and sprayed up the walls at LP.

Bannerman briefly flirted with the idea of maybe, perhaps, outlaying the necessaries for a Crikey_dot_com subscription. He is ever so glad he didn’t waste the exorbitant sum of $115.00 per annum for this sort of trash which rolls up daily in his email box by way of tasty snifters, encouraging subscription.

"Ten years ago the Australian government took away the worlds first Voluntary Euthanasia law. Last year they banned Australians from using the telephone, fax, email and Internet to seek information about end of life issues. Now they have taken to banning and burning books." - Doctor Phillip Nitschke, Exit International

Bannerman is in mourning today, suffering the reminders of mortality that the ageing process delivers from time to time. The catalyst for this day of mourning and wallowing in the memories of times past is, of course, the passing of Australian rock pioneer and legend, Billy Thorpe.

"Now I think the best we can hope for is for the JSF to buck the trend in aviation projects and deliver the promised capability on time and on budget."
Andrew Davies - Program Director for Operations and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

An interesting, if succinct article on the government’s rather strange decision to outlay A$6billion on what is regarded as a stop-gap measure by purchasing 24 Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) F/A-18 E/F fighter attack aircraft. The questions Davies asks are valid. Are we, the taxpayers, being hoodwinked into believing that the JSF program is not in trouble and subject to delays? Is the government outlaying funds on a temporary stop-gap which is likely to turn into the first of two probable purchases of an aircraft which will in all likelihood be out-moded by the time any penny, with reference to the JSF program running into protracted delays and budget escalations, drops?

From Bannerman’s research into the Super Hornet, it is entirely unsuited as a replacement, either short or long term, for either the existing F-111 or F/A 18A aircraft fleet. By engaging in this purchase now, Australia is all but locked into further purchases should the JSF program be proven to have run into serious problems.

Well worth a read.

Prime Minister John Howard has defended a security pact to be signed with Japan this week, despite concerns from China and South Korea.

Yahoo!7 News

Sixty-two years ago Australia saw off the empire of Japan as the greatest threat to this country’s future security ever faced since the first fleet dropped anchor in Port Jackson. Today, we’re offering to stand by that nation, protect her and her citizens should she ever come under attack, as she supposedly pledges to stand by this nation likewise. The connotations are more than a little un-nerving.

The man to whom this tome is dedicated would spin in his grave if he had one.

Of course, a slightly more than skin deep appraisal of this ’security pact’ reveals a distinct flavour of Pax Americana. In conjunction with the security pact between Japan and the U.S., the Australia-Japan Defence Pact is aimed squarely at North Korea. The linked article’s oblique reference to the ’U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative’ is sufficient to qualify that claim.

Australia is no longer a nation with an independent position on issues of concern and import throughout the world. She is merely the obedient serf of the hegemonic master.

Guys, ever wondered why sex is such a sleep-inducing pastime? Ever wondered why ’getting it up again’ takes time and you’d rather watch TV instead of snuggling your partner?

Well, no, neither has Bannerman, but we all know, do we not, that the aforesaid are all part and parcel of being male. Bannerman came across this fascinating article recently, and thought his fellow male bloggers might like to take note and even bookmark it so that next time their significant others complain about post-coital somnolence, conclusive scientific research can be pointed to.

Women don’t have a patent on hormones as an excuse, it seems.

Bannerman has decided, probably against his better judgement, to resurrect the ThinkTank Forum which he initially created in December 2006, but locked off due to time constraints. ThinkTank is intended to be a discussion forum for mature adults who look for online interaction with like minds in the analysis of important issues which impact everyone daily. If you’re of a mind, and can’t find a suitable place to express your opinions and discuss issues of import without the almost inevitable personal abuse, innuendo and logical fallacy which seems to pervade almost every online forum, then Bannerman extends an invitation to you to sample ThinkTank.

Get in on the ground floor and help to create a place where freedom of expression in a proper, mature environment is the norm.

"There are many countries near to us - Indonesia comes very much to mind - where an initiative such as this will be very much welcome" - John Howard on the launching of his governments ’tree initiative’

(via ABC Online)

Bannerman’s having a hard time understanding the impetus on this one. Australia is contributing $200 million Aussie tax-payer dollars to places like Indonesia and Malaysia to plant more trees and help stamp out illegal logging of precious natural forests and their associated habitats, yet nothing towards doing the same thing at home???!

Bannerman wound up being quite touched by the interview on 7:30 Report this evening between David Hicks’ military defence lawyer, Marine Major Michael Mori, and Kerry O’Brien. Clearly, Mori wasn’t going to respond to several of Kerry’s questions as Kerry would have liked, but the one telling point in the entire interview came with the very last question. When he returned to his military career, would there be a price to pay for Mori, as a result of his staunch support for and defence of his client over the past four-and-a-half years?

The look of resignation and inevitability which passed across Mori’s chagrinned face spoke volumes, even if his mouth uttered a non-committal platitude. That one question and one facial expression is proof positive, as far as Bannerman is concerned, that the Hicks issue impacted negatively on more than just David Hicks. Kudos to you, Michael Mori. May your legal career rise to great heights upon your exit from the military. May that day come soon and bring you the justice you deserve. Bannerman applauds.

"They took everything from me apart from my knickers. Then some cotton pyjamas were thrown in for me to wear and four filthy blankets. The metal door slammed shut again."

NEWS.com.au

So says Leading Seaman Faye Turney, youngest of the recently released Royal Navy personnel from Iranian captivity.

"We're not about winning elections in a year, we're about winning debates over a decade. The conservative ideas experiment has been tried and it's failed. They've left Australia with fragile prosperity based on a boom, far too many kids left behind, a changing climate, a divided culture and knee-jerk responses to real security threats." - Michael Cooney, Policy Director, Per Capita Thinktank

BB picks OCD contestant | NEWS.com.au
Yes, reader......it's that time of year again...

BBC, Geldof to catalogue all human existence

Geldof, the former frontman for rock group the Boomtown Rats, says he was first inspired to act after hearing about disappearing languages in Africa 20 years ago.

Hicks father may defy gag order

Well, excuse the exclamation, reader, but WHAT FUCKING GAG ORDER!??

To the best of Bannerman’s knowledge, it was David Hicks, not Terry Hicks who wound up being shang-hai’d into holding up his hand when the Yanks asked who wanted to go home in exchange for calling ’terrorist’. Gag order, indeed! Any hold the Yanks think they might have over David Hicks is nothing more than a smoke-shrouded mirror anyway. Phillip ’I-may-look-dead-but-I-don’t-smell-that-way’ Ruddock even confirmed it for us earlier this month.

Apparently, this lecture thingo at University of Melbourne’s Law School tomorrow is being streamed. Bannerman has contacted the convenor with a view to obtaining the relevant URL. If he get’s a reply in time, it’ll be advised here.

In the previous entry, Bannerman wrote that he was about to complain to Network Seven re: their motorsport coverage. He did. He rang Seven at Epping to seek a means of access, as Seven don't have a corporate email address. (Shock! Horror!)

Actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise’s chief engineer Scotty on Star Trek, finally made it to space on Saturday (local time) as a rocket with some of his ashes was launched in New Mexico.

ABC News Online

When I first read this headline, I felt quite touched. James Doohan, alias ’Scotty’ or Leiutenant-Commander Montgomery Scott late of the United Federation of Planets starship U.S.S. Enterprise, registry NCC 1701-A, had at last reached the stars.

But if you read on, the flight was barely sub-orbital, reaching just 115 klicks before falling back to Earth, the containers with the deceased’s ashes parachuting to the surface, to be mounted on some glitzy plaque by the flight’s organisers for the benefit of the rellies. Well pardon me, but BIG FUCKIN’ DEAL! If Jimmy Doohan could have anything to say about the experience, I dare say he’d snort and claim he’d been gypped. Space be buggered! 115 klicks is barely non-atmospheric, let alone sub-orbital.

This is yet another example of capitalistic American business entrepreneurialism making a killing from the gullible. If you’re going to send a loved-one’s remains into space, or more to the point, if said loved-one WANTS their ashes sent into space, it has to be a one-way trip. Ashes, in rocket, light fuse, wave bye-bye and rocket leaves the Earth’s gravitational pull to sail onward forever and ever, amen. Not a brief trip akin to a reversed bungy jump.

If a launch into the upper stratosphere is the best I could ever hope for, being a trekker and all, I’d rather my genetic successors took my remains out to luggage point, dumped ’em and then spent an equivalent sum of money to the ’space flight’ on getting absolutely plastered in the old fart’s memory. I dare say Stephen Hawking went further and faster earlier this week. What a rort!!

By the time this post makes it to the internet, several days will have passed after these events actually happened, but I just can’t help convert them to text in the ether. For posterity, naturally. No names mentioned in order to protect the innocent. Me!

Greetings once again, dear reader. Part two of the business trip from.....not quite hell..... but by yesterday arvo, pretty close.

A Canberra microbiologist has warned that the use of recycled water poses the risk of a major disease outbreak and it should only be used for drinking as a last resort.

ABC News Online

So, pump the recycled water back into water supply holding reservoirs and dams. This argument that recycled water is dangerous has whiskers so long it’s proponents are constantly tripping over them. Professor Collignon seriously needs to pull his head out of his test tubes and take a serious look at the realities of recycled waste water. He’s doubtless already imbibing it to some degree if he’s a resident of the ACT. I wonder if he eats grapes or drinks wine? Perhaps he ought to visit the platapus at the Lower Molonglo River outlets.

As for the Professor’s protestations regarding the inaccuracy of references to Singapore’s usage of recycled water, ’almost entirely used in industry’ doesn’t quite bear out his case. Recycled water in Singapore is either drunk by the population, Professor, or it isn’t. Word is, that it is. QED.

The bags under ’Dolly’s’ eyes speak volumes about the difficult times the Howardians find themselves in of late. Doubtless, he’ll be glad to have the Hicks issue off his plate. I dare say the plane might even be in-country by the weekend.

Here’s a quick one aimed at a particular member of the audience, and you’ll know who you are.

It seems that of all the bastards incorporated, the chief can’t handle being chatted by those he chats. Registration required indeed! Yesterday was so different, then the Banner-bogey-man dropped by.

Thank you, you’ve been a wonderful audience. It’s just a shame we can’t debate and relate, but I’d hate to feel responsible for your sleepless nights. 2375506 - I won’t hold my breath waiting.

Do you know where your towel is? Better get it together in time for next Friday. Celebrate the life and wit of Douglas Adams by ensuring you take your towel with you, Friday 25th May, 2007.

Owner: Time Works Leasing LLC

Couldn’t resist the opportunity to see just who owns this aircraft. Oh, by the way, it’s the one which flew David Hicks home from the Cuban hell-hole he’s been held in for the past 5 years.

The Australian

Terry Hicks has indicated that his son is stubborn and rebellious. Perhaps after his five-year stint in Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks will now be prepared to listen to counsel from wiser heads as he navigates the difficult road ahead.

I get the email alert from Crikey each day which seems to be the penance one pays when one experiments with the freebie and decides against paying the exorbitant subscription. You can unsubscribe, but the mail keeps coming. And why won’t I pay the exorbitant subscription?

Because news isn’t news unless you’re the first one with it. If Christian Kerr had bothered to peruse this blog on Sunday evening, he’d have had his answer to "who owns the plane". Mind you, if Crikey wants me to write for them...........

There’s a dramatic difference between this political advertising, and this

Personally Addressed

crap

Both lots of mail are political claptrap, neither of which is going to sway me from my already chosen vote. The former was paid for by my taxes....and yours for that matter. The latter’s payment comes from the ALP coffers. Most likely contributed to the Party from various and many Union bodies, none of which I’m a member of, so I feel quite non-plussed about it’s receipt. It’s still junk though.

Perceptions, you see dear reader, matter.

Guantanamo inmate dead in suspected suicide. ABC News Online
and the longer the US illegally holds human beings incommunicardo in hell holes like Guantanamo Bay, the more likely this is to occur. The sad part being that there are those who will cheer this occurrence.

On this morning’s Radio National Breakfast, the usual Friday Panel segment after 8:00am looked at the ethereal subject of “Happiness”.

Watchdog probes Howard’s Kirribilli function.

My perspective on this shameful Kirribilli House party-for-the-rusted-on shindig is a plain and simple one.

Happiness is paradoxical. What we think will give it to us - invariably doesn’t. When we think we’ve got it - we invariably haven’t. We’re not even good at predicting what will make us happy people. From languishing to flourishing - can even the most troubled mind be primed for happiness? A panel of international trailblazers in the study of emotion, positive psychology and Buddhism get earnest about pleasure.

All In The Mind

The text from Radio National’s ’All in the Mind’ program which aired this afternoon. I happened to catch most of it while we were on out way to the cinema. I thought it quite pertinent and some of what the speakers had to say relevant to the ethereal nature of what we call happiness. Essentially, my own belief that happiness cannot be measured, quantified in any specific manner or nailed down to a certain thing or set of circumstances appeared to be borne out in this program. As Buddah tells us, learn to deal with what you have, not what you desire.

So, if you’re a John Quiggan or James Farrell type, do have a listen or download the podcast.

Couple married after meeting on Flickr
The power of the internet rests not just in delivery of information, but mainly in the ability for human interaction.

SS Dickey,

"No serious wrecks were seen on the southern Qld coast between 1889-1893 until a small steamer of 143tons, built in Germany in 1883 and measured 96.5ft long, 21ft beam went ashore above Point Wickham at Caloundra "and has ever since been there". She was on her last voyage to Brisbane, she fought a strong gale off Caloundra but was driven ashore. All passengers and crew landed safely despite the heavy seas. An inquiry found that her loss was due to negligent navigation and the master lost his certificate for 3 months."

I’ve just had a read through the Defence Update 2007. I have some questions.

Insiders - ABC

I don’t know about anyone else out in blogland, but I’m growing rather bored with Insiders.

The so-called Housing ’Crisis’. It’s a terrific word, isn’t it? "Crisis" Invokes all manner of dread and despair. But is it a crisis in reality?

Yonks ago I struck up an acquaintance with the fellow who wrote the email you'll find over the fold. He wanted to promote urban monorail as a mass transit system, and I saw benefit in helping him. I provided some HTML authoring and scrubbed up his dowdy website, but soon found the man to be not just obsessed with his pursuit, but dangerously one-eyed ideologically as well as just a little disingenuous of his promotion of a specific manufacturer for said urban mass transit system.

Mr McFarlane does not believe regulation is needed in Australia, saying competition will bring the fees down.

(via ABC Online)

"Such is the hatred of John Howard and his government, that the Left would prefer to support alleged terrorists against their own democratically elected government."

- Peter Faris QC
(via ABC Online)

There's something which has been niggling at me for some time now and that's our language.

I don’t often have the opportunity to sit in front of the ’puter and read blogs over a quiet ale, but today seems to be one of those oh-so rare Saturday’s.

Has democracy sunk to a new low?

"The water cannon truck will only be used in extreme cases of major public disorder..."

This is Australia, at least it was last time I looked. Our democracy entitles us to protest those issues we don't agree with in a rational, non-violent manner. Surely our police forces are capable of handling the odd rabble-rousing collection of attention seekers? If high-pressure water cannon are going to be on display, just in case, surely that's cause for the idiot elements to raise heads? I think it's called incitement to riot, which is a crime.

Absolute lunacy, and a complete waste of $600,000. The real irony though....a water cannon in the middle of a drought! As if we can afford to waste 12,000 litres at a time. Nice one, Morris!

I heard the news of Peter Andren's cancer prognosis on The World Today. I don't even know the man, yet my heart sank. It appears his chances of defeating the disease now hinge on diet and a positive mindset.

Why is it that these adversities always seem to beset those with the most to offer?

“As a city councillor I am appalled that we are allowing our government to gate off our city from the people who live, work and pay rates here. That we would spend $600,000 on a water cannon to be used against our citizens should they exercise their democratic right to demonstrate. That we have converted 31 state transit buses into ‘mobile holding cells’ and that during the APEC summit, it will cost the city of Sydney hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity that we will never recover."
Chris Harris

"The fence is ugly but it is there to keep delegates and people of Sydney safe from public order problems and the threat of terrorism."
Big, strong, ugly

Spotted on the way to work. 26 acres of virgin bushland, two access points, Moreton Bay views and a level house site. Just a mere $800,000. A snap for this kind of property on Brisbane's southern outskirts. Now.....where's that lotto ticket?

Today is race day at Sandown. The Just Car 500 for V8 Supercars. The main race hasn't started as I type this, but will do in 10-15 minutes. So I thought I'd acquaint you with one of the absolute essentials of motorsport analysis. Beer!

There's a few leftovers from yesterday's fiftieth commiseration and this little beauty is one of them.

Anyway, the main race is about to start, so.....cheers!

I....actually, we - as in Mrs B and myself - spent today on a marketing exercise on Moreton Bay's island community of Macleay Island. On a very serious note, if you're looking for a genuine real estate investment opportunity, you could do a whole lot worse than Macleay.

As a result of being 'overseas' all day, there's been no time at all for blogging, so I'll treat you all to a personality test I took late last night. Some things just don't change. I've been an ISTJ since my very first Myers-Briggs some 25 years ago.

Finally, amid all the hoo-hah of the federal election campaign, an issue close to the heart of all red-blooded, heterosexual males, and doubtless a huge majority of females has received attention. Boobs, and their restraint, management and general well-being.

Judging by the DT's article in support of the deceased vitriol vendor Stan Zemanek, radio in Sydney isn't at all about entertainment or information. It's about personalities and egos. Not being a commercial radio fan or listener, I think it's all rather sad that personal hatreds can be aired openly on commercial radio, with relevant management adopting nothing more than a 'tsk, tsk' attitude to their so-called 'stars' using air time to abuse and insult each other, let alone anyone else in the real world.

It's why I much prefer the ABC. More informative, less personal and a whole lot more rational.

If Jennifer Love-Hewitt is deemed by certain papparazzi and so-called fashion sites to be less than a shining example of womanhood then might I simply offer right here and now that I wish every single woman looked like she does.

On a serious note, feminine body image is not well portrayed by fashion designers and those who flaunt their wares on the international catwalks have much to answer for. Waif-thin models with fried-egg breasts, boyish hips and legs which look like toothpicks in heels are not attractive to your average male and isn't that why women like to look good? To attract their preferred male? Sure, women dress to impress other women, certainly not to impress men. As a male, I can categorically state that while I really enjoy watching a well dressed woman walk on by, I'm actually admiring how her body compliments the clothing, not the other way around.

No one woman, celebrity or not, has the perfect body. As human beings none of us are made that way, and neither we ought to be. Vive la difference and let's promote variations, but please, please........don't go deploring someone's body image simply because he or she doesn't match up to the fashionista's propagandised perception of what everyday feminity ought to be.

As an aside, I note none of the sites berating JLH on her cellulite thighs and love-handles says anything at all about her fiance's lack of six-pack abs and muffin-top middle. Hypocritical? Extremely so, in my view.

It goes on, still. We're now three weeks into the new, non-conservative, non-Howardian Australia, and still the conservative media commentariat refuses to let go of the past. So much so that I note Dennis Shanahan in today's Oz claiming that Kevin Rudd's stand on climate change negotiations in Bali is an echo of John Howard's.

Back to the land of the 24/7 connected and constantly informed. Strange as it may seem, I missed it not.

Back at the grindstone, but still enjoying the slow take-up of business activity in the post Xmas lull. That enjoyment extends to getting back to blogging, which had a respite over the last three weeks. One I think was well and truly necessary after a hectic, and somewhat unproductive 2007. A little harsh, I suspect, but at least experience has benefitted, if not the bank balance. Here's hoping the latest changes on the income front are for the better.

Dad's birthday today. He'd have been 85, but he's been gone now three years, this March. I still miss him like it was yesterday but given the loss of health at the last, I'd not wish him back.

Happy Birthday anyway, Dad. We can share an ale tonight.

Today's crash landing of a British Airways Boeing 777-200 will throw massive shocks through the aviation industry worldwide, if early speculation of a catastrophic power loss in both engines turns out to be correct.

It's occurred to me that perhaps the Oz should be updating some of it's columnists photos.

Glenn Milne's for example.

Too damn busy with work at the moment to take much time aside for the blogging hobby, so here's something I came across while reading the Brisbane afternoon daily, MX. Quite a fascinating pictorial project, I reckon.

I heard the news from East Timor this morning and can't honestly say I was very surprised. It's notable that while the political and social situation in that nation is far from stable, there appears to be a dedicated set of interests in train, with Ramos Horta and Gusmao swapping places over the period since independence. Clearly, the political power base which both politicians sprang from remains out of favour, either with the people of East Timor, or, and I suspect this is the more likely, those vested interests which want a non-Fretilin flavour to the Timorese government.

It's all well and good that Fretilin has condemned the assassination attempts however I'm left wondering just who was behind the attempts to begin with. I don't see Reinado being the mover & shaker, more likely to scape-goat. As events transpired, the sacrificial goat. Is Alkatiri in the mix? Who knows, but clearly being in a position of power in Timor-Leste is not a life-prolonging enterprise.

Here's something just guaranteed to give those legions (well, the odd right-winger anyway) of ABC-haters the screaming meemies.

No, not the angst of an enraged feline. The ability, or inability as it were, of human beings to recognise the inherent weakness built into our species through genetics, of our sexual desires.

It seems that someone at the Oz has taken some heed of Paul Keatings plea for rationalism on behalf of the MSM. Albrechtsen is now ranting about total irrelevancies on the ideology front which concern overseas personalities and environments!

Overnight, or rather late yesterday afternoon our time, QANTAS flight QF12, VH-OJE, known as 'Wunala Dreaming' due to it's livery, underwent an 'aborted take-off' at Los Angeles International.

What is it with American politics that any behaviour apart from the lily white, starched sheet kind attracts flies like a hot dung pile in summer?

The picture is very misleading, especially when you read on through this one, and it doesn't have wings. Wouldn't you think the media might match picture to story?

The UAV detailed in the story is http://www.defense-update.com/products/h/honeywell-mav.htm

If you've been subject to the demands of Microsoft's latest operating system, Vista, and some of it's little eccentricities, then perhaps you'd like to send Microsoft a message about it's planned obsolescence of Windows XP. As of June 30 this year, Microsoft will be withdrawing XP in all it's versions from reseller shelves, virtually forcing anyone who buys a new computer thereafter to install it's poor younger cousin, Vista.

Visit Galen Gruman's inforworld site to sign the online petition if you'd like to make an impact into this piece of commercial piracy by Microsoft. 111,543 (and counting) former Vista users can't be wrong.

I've no doubt made mention in this tome of the hobby I have which is both fulfilling and fiscally satisfying. I brew my own beer. Lager actually, but that's a technical discussion for another time.

A 24 year old woman decides to express herself by appearing tastefully nude in an adult woman's magazine. Then her employer finds out, and she's sacked!

Here's something of a philosophical question. Perhaps it's scientific?

As a committed republican, I find the perpetuation of Queen's Birthday Honours to be anathema to the very idea of Australian's in a huge majority supporting a republic.

Is this really the way Queenslanders want their state promoted?

Today, Honda Motor Company announced, what I believe, will be the next generation after fossil fuel powered road transport. The hydrogen fuel cell powered motor vehicle, which in it's current incarnation, Honda call FCX Clarity.

Here's something which took my fancy. I get to hear PM most evenings and a half of Australia Talks on the commute home. This evening's AT dealt with the impending importation, legally, of this artificially created domestic pet.

For those of you who missed Q and A tonight, you missed a very public showing of a Murdoch columnist making a complete goose of himself. Of course, I'm speaking of Andrew Bolt. A more ignorant, rude and abrasive human being in a public exhibition I've not seen on national television for many a year. Even Helen Coonan barred up, telling Bolt to pull his head in.

According to Bolt, in response to a climate change question on the melting of Arctic ice, he made the ludicruous and out of context claim that Antarctic ice was actually increasing. Ergo, no problem? Is this man a completely vacant brained ignoramus, or does he simply clutch at straws in a bid to keep his personal denial 'crusade' alive? Should the human species blithely sacrifice numerous arctic species on the off chance that just maybe Bolta's baseless claims are right? I can hear future generations asking now....."what's a Polar Bear?"

On questions about the Dennis Ferguson pedophile vigilantism issue, Bolta's response was to lock 'em up! Mind you, that wasn't the context of the question. On a question regarding the parlous state of Liberal party leadership and unity, Bolta proceeds to tell us all that he doesn't know just what Rudd stands for, then goes on to extol the virtues of John Howard, when he - Bolta - was the leader of the pack telling Howard to go when the polling was on the wall in October 2007.

My question for the panel would have to be, what does Andrew Bolt stand for?

Is the mainstream media deliberately spreading doom and gloom in reporting statistics such as those in this article or is it simply reporting the news of the day?

I'm in total agreement with Darryl Mason, and fail to understand the outpouring of anthropomorphises from Sydney-siders, and other sentimental souls across the nation over the fate of an abandoned baby humpback whale.

Life is almost always in flux, regardless of whether we recognise the fact or not. So it goes, that whenever I take a break from the hub-bub of the everyday, things happen.

Alan Carpenter looks like losing government in WA. NASA, because of the stupidity of American politics, looks like losing access to the International Space Station. It's all about losing control over something. Sometimes material, sometimes ethereal. Almost always involving a lack of attention to the detail of that control.

That's why, occasionally and far too rarely these days, I like to get away and let things happen around me. I haven't been to the seaside for many, many years and while four days seems such a scant period in which to unwind, relax and let the world drift past, I think I managed it rather nicely. I recommend regular R&R to everyone.

Listening to PM on the way home this evening, the lead article happened to be a report on the finding of 'not guilty' in the Jack Thomas terrorism re-trial. Thomas was found - by a jury of peers, as ought to be the case - not guilty on the charge of receiving monies from a terrorist organisation. The context of the verdict may be read here.

Here's a rare case of Janet Albtechtsen knowing full well what she's on about when it comes to fear and loathing. Her unstinting support for a conservative government which held this country hostage through it's use of fear and loathing for eleven years, stands her in good stead when identifying such tactics used elsewhere in the world.

I heard this piece of news on this afternoons NewsRadio, and frankly, my heart sank.

Roddenberry_dot_com reports this morning that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry has died. Those of us who know who she was, will mourn her passing as another part of the Roddenberry dream fading away. I suppose I feel sad because the passing of people like Star Trek's face and voice since the death of it's creator, remind me of my own mortality. We all grow old and die. Nothing alters that inevitability. We can hope for, and make efforts at ensuring along the way that we enjoy the Roddenberry ethos, however. That of the Vulcans. Peace, and Long Life. Rest in Peace, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry

Gerard Henderson takes aim yet again at his ideological opposites in his SMH column. His own words - irrationality and gross hyperbole - describe the content perfectly. I wonder if I could get a gig with Fairfax?

Ideological wars never really end, do they?

Here's an interesting proposition.

It's in today's news that actor, Ricardo Montalban has died, aged 88.

I have to relate something which really revolted me at the time, and has played on my mind ever since.

...establishing a Creative Commons License over the use of the phrase, "Stench Of Reality".

The following won't mean anything to anyone but me, however for reasons of my own, I have established a Creative Commons Licence applicable to any content which appears on this weblog. That licence - established under the Australian jurisdiction of Creative Commons is BY ATTRIBUTION only.

The Copenhagen Climate Change talks were always destined to be little more than a talk-fest.

Just about to doze off last night, with Radio National playing on the clock radio on a timer, when the midnight news came on.

Freebie advice today for Tony "judge me on what I say now & not what I've said before" Abbott from Peter Costello's former political advisor, Niki Savva. She's right too. Abbott is not a good speaker, despite how convicted his tone of voice. He gives the impression of someone who's always caught on the hop, not done his research, announcing new initiatives because they just came to him in a flash of inspiration. Not a good look for a pollie. Not good at all.

This is a flaw in a great many of our current crop of politicians. The inability to at least appear lucid and confident about what they have to say, and then say it effectively. There wouldn't be one Jim Killen or Fred Daly in either federal Parliament, and certainly no Whitlams or Menzies. The closest I've seen to a really cogent speaker would be Lindsay Tanner. I've not yet seen him on his feet without something pointed and authoritative to say, and deliver it without stumbling, uhm-ing and ahh-ing. Not a statesman by any means, but at least not painful to listen to.

The bulk of our elected representatives are what they appear to be. Former solicitors, bankers, union officials, doctors and indian chiefs. Mostly, the latter.