Mainstream Akubra Man.

Commander in chief Howard triumphantly touched down in Hermannsberg, conveniently close to Alice Springs airport , to make it "very clear" to the community that the Government had a simple aim.

"And that is whilst respecting the special place of indigenous people in the history and the life of this country, their future can only be as part of the mainstream of the Australian community," he said.

"Unless they can get a share of the bounty of this great and prosperous country, their future will be bleak." In other words, if you want some of the funds we have been making from ripping up the ground, our ancestors stole from, you better drop your old ways and do what we say.

He then goes on to spell things out more clearly. "I want to assure you that we haven't come here to take anybody's land or to push anybody around." Directly translated from the Howardish ... "I have come to take your land and push you around".

Adele Horin, from "The Sydney Morning Herald", is about the only journalist to put one aspect of the Howard governments intervention in the N.T. under the spotlight. The end of the CDEP scheme. She identifies in this article how aboriginal employment has been cut by 8000 to fit in with generalised control freakery. As she points out, "It will turn many workers into unemployment statistics, rob communities of vital services, create havoc and potentially deal the death blow to 50 Aboriginal organisations". All aboriginals, regardless of perceived good/bad behaviour, are to have half their payments held, in Howards' new paternalistic world. Adele Horin continues...

"the real reason for the abolition of the scheme is that it is the only way the Government can get control of the money paid to such workers. Ironically, it must convert workers to welfare recipients and replace their wage with an unemployment benefit before it can legally quarantine their money to ensure it is spent on children not alcohol.

Regardless of whether the programs are effective, or the workers are model parents, the Government is moving against them. Will this sledgehammer approach deliver children better lives? We can hope. If it doesn't, the losses will be incalculable".


It is worth popping over to mattjjin-nehen to read a bit about this and the real squanderers of money claimed to be spent for indigenous needs. Also some very ugly propaganda that the government is pedaling in the top end.

Photo by Wayne Taylor.

UPDATE: See this Crikey report for advanced cruelty.

Were On the Road to Nowhere.

Click on the piccie for a larger view.

Naturally, when Gummo Trotsky at L.P. called for an "Apec Dress Up Challenge", the resident artist swung into action. It might not be real oz gear but they are talking heads.

We were thrilled today to find that violent protesters are to blame for the disruption that has not yet happened at the conference that is, so far, yet to happen. Good to get in early in the blame game, I guess.

Family Snapshots.

John Howard is often referred to as a clever politician. People go further and call him "tricky". Given this report, "devious" comes to mind.





Some interesting links on Exclusive Brethren and fundys below...
peebs
unBelief
EB

Wink, wink and say no more.

Postscript: Mud will stick. After all the discussion, about this storm in a teacup, organised by Poison Dewarf, the real details came through. Trouble is, the media cycle relys on the next 'big thing'. Which means that there is never a chance to catch up with the truth of the matter. Funny, that!

The Higher Plane

Says Simon Bowes from the British Airports Authority, operators of Heathrow, that the protest is "naïve" and further...

"If you look on, at what they're talking about this week, it's a version of sustainable living which involves no one going on holiday, veganism (phonetic), compost toilets and the end of capitalism, and I just don't see that that's a vote winner over in the UK, or in the rest of the world."

This bloke is the complete diplomat. The sought you need if you want to ark up WW3. It gets better. The powers that be most stupid are planning to invoke terrorism laws to quell this domestic protest. Yep, their idea is to deem it a terrorist activity. There are lots of interesting links/ pictures to this story, so I have no plan to give any more details.

Just saying, though, that what is happening there is likely to happen here. People have real concerns about climate change and aeroplanes are big polluters. They quite reasonably believe that world leaders are dragging their feet and want to let them know, predominantly, in a peaceful manner. When they are seen as terrorists for exercising their democratic rights it becomes clear who the legislation was really really drafted for. Not Bin Laden and co but to control the population.

"before the cock crows you will deny me three times"

How wimpy,sooky and spooky is this?

Peter Costello is likely to deny 3 times on his Leo-style, 50th birthday, that he ever had the ticker to take on his boss.
See hear for appropriate biblical references.

Shanghireing for Baghdad.

While Workchoices is proving a large pebble in the liberal party jackboot, locally, a little reported international story has taken my interest. It is to do with the movement of workers to places of acute shortage to fill employee needs. In this case a contractor with a need to build a very important structure. A new U.S. Embassy in downtown Baghdad. First Kuwaiti have been accused of fulfilling their needs in the modern day equivalent of shanghaiing. Go to You Tube to see the testimony of Rory Mayberry to a US Congress Committee on July 26th of this year. A couple of reports here. The first The Manilla Times and a more recent, official Filipino response.