Friday, December 15, 2006

Charity begins here


Took my daughters friends to her school carols last night.
I had to do two trips.
One for my family and the other for the four of them.
I didn't mind the running round coz it's Christmas and i know they have had a rough trot.
These girls are from war torn Sudan and are all extremely tall and quite clever.
Surviving in a war zone will do that I guess.
They've only been here for 4 years or so and are getting awards for their English.
Their father was murdered, I can't get the real story and don't really feel like prying but I know he was shot, perhaps defending the church or perhaps walking to the shop to get the milk.
So I am really proud that M has befriended them.
It must be strange to stick out in this milky white, homogenised neighbourhood.
So this morning I was a little perturbed to find the glorious city of Tamworth has rejected five refugee families from Sudan.
Seems they don't want these poor, traumatised black people drinking their water and bringing diseases.
They dont want another Cronulla riot in their town.
Merry Christmas Tamworth.
I can see you have really taken Jesus's message to heart.
The parable about the good Samaritan, remember that one.
To be fair they reckon they have had some trouble with the last bunch of Sudanese they took in.
People from different cultures in war zones can be tricky to settle down I guess.
If I'd been shot at and seen members of my family murdered or starved I 'd be tricky to settle down too.
Tamworth where is your heart?
Where is that famous country kindness?
Coz I reckon Jesus is ashamed of your mean spirited, ugly actions so close to his birthday.
Hell you don't even deserve an invite to the party.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Blogging is the new punk rock

Well isn't it?
First a little musical history ( or is it mythology) lesson.
By the mid seventies rock had become a bloated beast, at least there was a lot of progresive rock bands with arcane names like Matching Mole and a florrid and complicated aesthetic.
The rock no longer spoke for the people or so the story goes.
I guess if you were growing up on a grey council estate, unemployed then Genesis and Emerson , Lake and Palmer and top of the pops didn't really speak to you.
Along came the Ramones from Usa and Sex Pistols from England to revitalise the whole tired music scene.
It was like early Elvis, simple music full of energy and an Up Yours ATTITUDE.
But most importantly it said" Hey you can do this too".
It was a back to basics approach that screamed DIY.
Do it yourself.
And they did.
People like Blondie, The Pretenders and Talking Heads all sprung out of this scene.
Later punk came to mean something else again and god knows what it means now.
Just another marketing niche.
Anyway what attracts me to blogging is this same attitude.
You can speak your mind.
You can do it yourself.
You can say up yours to the cowering and bland main stream media.
And cover what you feel is important.
What speaks to you.
Of course just like punk or any other musical movement you have to search through a lot of swine to find the real pearls.
Go on Piggies get out there!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Mind control for the young at heart


Everyone is lazy let's face it, if they let themselves be.
The mind is incredibly good at justifying it's actions.
We usually think as a post script, most of us just use instinct and ritual to give us a semblance of a thinking person.

Effective artist/warriors/lovers have to conqueor the mind's tricks which allow one to do nothing or more likely something that adds up to nothing.
It is often said that the student house is cleanest when the essay is due and we have all noted how true that is.

This is a veiled aside at those students who aren't blogging at least once a week.
Is it that hard to find the time to post once a week?
Or are you thinking up pale excuses to justify your actions.
Can't do it coz the dog ate my computer, have sore fingers, don't like writing only like messenging my friends, blah ,blah blah.
You must lead the mind, beware of it's tricks because you will fall behind and only have yourself to blame ( although no doubt you will try to blame moi)


I only wish I had a student with an essay due at my house coz it usually looks like a natural disaster area. Having 3 rugrats and a home school going on makes it that way. Also my partner in crime is a bower bird, she hates to throw anything away. She wants to keep the strangest things, strange to me anyway.
This is usually our only source of friction.
I throw bits of crap out and she wants them back.
I have to pretend I never saw them.
Isn't that terrible?
Admittedly I have better things to do than pick up toys.
Grandparents always buy stuff that spears into your foot at 3 in the morning.
Lots of little sharp baby landmines to teach you a lesson.
My feet are bruised and pitted from these deadly toys.
Where was the warning labels for that?

"Warning contains objects that will cause severe damage as you try to pee in the night".

Have installed a pay pal donate button on my space rocker brothers blog.
It seems to be getting some subscriptions.
He has enourmous amounts of selective self discpline.
He blogs every day and it's nearly always good, funny and serious.
He has really connected with his small army of fans.
I thinks they understand him more now.
Selective self discpline because he would eat a whole block of chocalate in front of you, piece after piece.
But when it comes to writing blogs/songs/swimming laps he is the ruler of his mind and body.
I have observed that most successful artists have this ability- to be totally obsessed to the exclusion of all else with their thing.

I saw a real bower bird the other day in the Royal.
It had collected all this blue stuff for it's bower of love.
They only collect blue stuff.
Its that artistic exclusion at work again.
What did they do before whiteys came with their blue straws and cloths pegs I'm not sure but it was a sight I can't remember seeing before.
I only hope someone gets it a blue recycling bin.

Friday, November 17, 2006

The Customer is always right (unless they are doing a test)


Looking forward to 10 weeks of partial employment now that my big casual job is finished for the year.
I say that sarcastically coz of course poverty over Christmas sucks.
The family want to move back into the city too.
Which will be a joy.
Moving always is a barrel of laughs.
My big job has offered to let me apply for a permament postion and I had to fill out endless forms and waffle on.
Which I'm not very good at.
One of the criteria really got up my nose-A demonstrated commitment to quality customer service,
like I'm some fast food worker.
"Do you want fries with that diploma Miss. Have a nice day!"
It was making me ill just thinking about this.
Apparently even the CIA talks about it's customers now.
STOP IT NOW.
A customer is some one who walks into a shop and buys some thing aren't they?
A customer is someone you say what ever you think they want to hear in order to get them to buy your stuff.
"Yes you look great in that."
"Wow that really brings out your eyes which are beautiful by the way."
Is that how I should be teaching now?
I can't do it.
When my propective music students ask me for career advice I usually give them vague answers like
Put up a flag see who salutes it and
Many are called but few are chosen.
Coz making a living out of your Art is hard.
It is a rocky road.
Your car could break down.
You might get lost.
You'll be hungry.
You might be too early or too late
You might never get there at all.
But now I should tell them what they want to hear like a good sales man?
Yes Nigel stardom used to be a random event bequeathed by the gods but now if you do a Certicate 3 in Advanced Jiggery Pokery you can be a singing sensation in no time.
My beautiful ladyfriend works at the primo acting school, first lesson for this cream of the crop of applicants is "Most of you will spend most of the time looking for work".
In any creative field there is a huge amount of luck and doggered persistance that get you there .
And then your only there for a short time.
You're only as good as your last album, film, showing, whatever.
Not to even mention how likely it is that most of the money you do earn will dissapear somewhere........
Ask Les McKeown from The Bay City Rollers.
Their first two albums stayed on the album charts for a total of 99 weeks from 1974 - 1976.
"Bye Bye Baby", was the UK's biggest selling single of 1975.
Over a few years the band turned into an international supergroup, selling an estimated 300 million records all over the world.
But by the end of the 1979 Les was homeless and totally broke after quitting the band.
I once left my bass guitar strap at a gig in Balmain so I went back there to this big empty RSL the next afternoon and opened the dressing room door and who were there but The Bay City Rollers on ther 1989 reformation tour.
They looked so sad and despondent I almost asked them for an autograph to cheer them up.
I think that tour was organised by a revolting little English man called Mr Grit.
But thats another story.....
So would you like to upsize that degree?

Friday, November 10, 2006

Happy Tree Friends

Recently I showed my 8 year old son Happy tree Friends and he loved it as I knew he would.He also loves the Simpsons which contains the Tom and Jerry parody Itchy and Scatchy.
Happy Tree Friends is sold on the premise it is so full on violent that it shouldn't be watched by kids.
Of course it is not really any worse than Tom and Jerry or Roadrunner as a matter of fact it has some great lessons about life.
Basically that stuff can kill and maim ya.
Permanently.
It's sales pitch works like Parental Advisory Stickers. They are the only kind of records any self respecting teenager should buy of course. Putting a warning on something is like honey to a bee.
The forbidden fruit of consumer culture.
Most rap music works the same, selling itself as anti-establishment when it is really the opposite.
Instead of stick it to the man and march to your own drum, its message seems to be making lots of money and buying stuff will liberate you.Just like an ad for Rolex.
A matter a fact some Hip hop is an ad for Rolex.
Rappers spend an inordinate amount of lyrical space listing products coz they get paid to.

Did I mention that I'm one of those terrible people who don't have free to air TV at all?
How weird is that?
How do my children find out about the world?
Now do you mean the real world or the world of TV, you know what's going on in the OC?
Cause I can guarantee they are better informed than most kids their age.
Coz they don't have to swim through a great tide of garbage to get to the good stuff.
You find out about the good shows and get them on DVD.
We had 99 channels of cable crap for a while and it was truly horrible, over night the kids started talking with American accents and saying "You wanna piece of me".
It had to go.
So liberal with Happy Tree Friends, Fascist with TV in general
My parenting is a paradox, actually my life's one too.
One show I'll try and not expose them to is Southpark.
Yes I know your thinking this guy doesn't get it but I do.
I laugh and it's funny but it's also at it's center heartless.-
I was watching it from the beginning,but over the years come to realise there is a cold and inhumane personality streaking behind this creation.
I was drawn to Monty Python from an early age because there was a philosophy behind the humour that resonated with me and I am suspicious of Southpark for the same reason.
Of course it's only a matter of time before they are watching it but I'll try and be the gatekeeper for just a little longer.....

Saturday, November 04, 2006

The Sauce of Denial


Went round to my brothers place the other day.
He boils water in a very inefficient way in a kettle on an electric stove.
I had pointed out before that a $15 electric kettle would save him time and a fair weight of greenhouse gases.
When he started to complain about how long the kettle was taking, I tried to gentle remind him a small investment would soon pay off.
He went off his brain.
"I don't need this shit."
I wasn't just thinking of you I replied.
'Well I don't need to think about that shit either"
And there is the source of denial.
Because it is the small actions that we are all taking that is making our planet less habitable for our children and their children. Unless they are good at treading water, that is.
This is a big conundrum.

Nowadays every one knows cigarettes cause cancer but it wasn't always so.
For decades tobacco companies denied there was any link between their product and ill health.
They spent millions of dollars funding bogus research, buying influence in governments and paying mouthpieces to create a climate of uncertainty about the dangers of tobacco.
Did you know more people have died since 1940 from smoking than were killed in World War 2?
And that tobacco companies knowingly made cigarettes worse for you?
You can learn more about this in the excellent film "The Insider" with Russell Crowe.

One of the most vocal climate change deniers is a Fox News columnist called Steven Milloy. He also runs a web site called
Junk Science which a brilliant use of double think of course.
He is also not suprisingly funded by none other than the biggest oil company in the world Exxon/Mobil.
He runs several "thinktanks" with names like the Free Enterprise institute which collect money for their good work muddying the waters in the minds of Joe Public about our world wide changing weather patterns.
Read all about it here.
Well guess what Steven Milloy, your boss the Big Rup Murdoch has changed his mind about global warming thanks to his son James.
James is actually a pretty cool guy (and I speak from personal experience) doubly so if he's turned his dad.
So I'd be feeling a little nervous about my Fox column if I was you Steve because you don't want to go displeasing the Big Boss now do ya?
Hopefully you'll also choke over breakfast on the corporate fat you've been hoovering for up spreading your sneaky snakey misinformation for so long.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

This Time it's Personal

I know I've been a little strange in my last couple of blogs.
A bit Orwellian in fact.
So to make up for it all, here's some holiday fun.

Firstly am I brave or stupid.
Maybe a little of both?
One thing for sure I am already addicted to Youtube, what a great idea!
The whole world is up there.
To paraphraase Mr Cobain" Here we are now-Entertainment".
We are our own amusement.
Want to see the real Halo?
Check out
this.

Totally scary?
But for a real laugh you cant go past this one.

Careful at work.
Great to see the yanks having a laugh at the horrible situation they got us in.
Finally had the best bike ride native animal score yestaday.
30 kms through the Royal.
No I dont run them over, I just watch them on the trail.
Seems animals dont react to bikes the same way they do to footsteps.
So the sightings were....
Three lyre birds,
two echindas
And a goanna up a gum tree.
Beautiful animals living happily a few kms from my front door.
Steve Irwin RIP.
Next post I will give you my recipe for kangaroo curry which is absolutely delicious.
No I dont eat Lyre Birds or Echidnas but I did use goanna oil once.

Friday, October 27, 2006

See no*****, write no******


Apologies for the unpleasantness in my last blog.
After spending some time with some comrades at************ I have realized that I was an instrument of the traitor Goldstein.
From now on I will only give you fun and relaxing blogs.
I wont mention************ or **** ***** or anything else that may cause you alarm.
I was wrong to think that there was anything wrong with our glorious civilization.
Our shopping malls are second to none.
We have produced many fine actors and pop musicians and fashion designers.
There is nothing wrong with air conditioning, in fact if only we could build a really really big one we could all keep cool.
Don't listen to the fearmongers.
Our leaders have only our best interests at heart.
Put your trust in them, they know what's best for you otherwise how would they have become leaders in the first place?
There is nothing wrong with a country speaking in unison and we can thank Comrade Murdoch for helping us stamp out he unAustralian disenters and naysayers.
Ignore any feeling of emptiness.
Bow to authority.
If you haven't anything nice to say then shop until you drop.
If only the people of Sudan would spend more time in the shopping malls and less time squabbling it would be much more pleasant for all.
Remember if some one is poor or starving it is only their own fault for not trying hard enough.
We are the winners!
And to the winners go the spoiled.
Long live Big Brother and may his merchandise be consumed by all.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Where the truth lies.



Bulletin from the Ministry of Truth.
Our glorious leader welcomes the news of our victory over the insurgents in Mesopotamia.
Peace now reigns over that beautiful land.
Once the evil dictator Saddam Hitler was dethroned by the will of the people.
It was an easy victory with few casualties and much rejoicing.
As predicted the country was crawling with diabolical weapons of mass destruction.
We praise the armies of liberation.
Democracy is blossoming all over the world.
Our farmers will produce a record crop this year.
No heed should be given to alarmist elements who spread falsehood about our beautiful weather.
We are blessed, our land is bound by sea and plenty.
Our glorious leaders are without sin.
Praise be our freedom.
Praise be our wonderful shopping experiences.
Praise be or glorious celebrity magazines.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Bike riders on the storm.



Been on a cycling holiday of the Victorian Alps-well that sounds more impressive than it was but illusion is everything.
Still my thighs have grown a little from carting 20 kilos of stuff around on a bike over several hundred kilometres.
It's called the rail trail coz it is an old railway that has been converted into a bike track.
It never goes up by more than a gentle slope although the brochure makes it seem a lot easier than it is.
Scenery was magnificent though scarily dry.
We met farmers in the pub facing the grim task of selling all their stock because there is no water for them to drink.
There is nothing you can say to some one who is going broke because of the changing climate.
We promised to do a rain dance but it didn't work.
Today will be very hot and I definitly smelt smoke in the air and it's only just turned spring- we are in for a nasty summer.
I used to love summer but now after the terrible heat of Jan 1 it scares me a bit.
We only just made it out of the central coast before the fire came.
Lots of people were trapped on the side of the road in 40 degree heat.
That must have been hellish.
Wish it would scare Little Johnny Howard a bit too.
Although there are signs he is about to change his tune on climate change or climate chaos as I more accurately descibe it.
Because it's a security risk!
Yes burning and dying of thirst is a bit of a security risk.
I'm finding I prefer the cooler climates in my old age.
I grew up in Canberra after all.
Cold weather makes people snuggle up under a blanket but really hot weather makes people angry and exhausted.
This is an Australian perspective.
A sunburnt country an all that
The sun in Europe never has the bite ours has.
Today I start a new class of bloggers and podcasters on their journey.
Then off to the Enmore theatre for some Thai and some space rock.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Big in Sweden


Sweden is a wonderful country.
I would move there in a flash.
Love the food and the people and their outdoorsyness.
They are progresive and proud of their mixed economy and social welfare system.
Not sure about queing up to buy alcohol but hey no where is perfect.
Why am I so hot for Sweden?
Coz they have publish a story on me and my podcasting classes.
Podcasting is huge in education right now.
Every where you look someone is running a workshop on how to get your students into learning stuff through the magic of the pod.
I was so stoked with the publicity I bought myself a new Ipod for the family to "gift" me.
It plays videos an all.
It is semi justified by the fact it will come in handy to pacify my son with educational vodcasts.
National geographic, nature channel, one called Ecogeeks- all free too.
It is totally justified by the fact it is TAX DEDUCTABLE.
I always feel guilty buying stuff so I have to justify it to myself somehow.
Loving the new Itunes with the 3D flip through thingy.
Of course The Sydney Morning Herald is trying to beat it up as a lemon.
I feel I have to defend Apple.
I guess I'm branded and a Apple snob too.
But what other company generates such excitement about design and innovation?
Yes they arent perfect .I tried to argue with this Apple service guy the other day- it was like the scene from Dark Star where he argues with the computer.
Sorry Dave but i'm not programed for refunds or negotiation . This ship will self destruct in 5 seconds......
But I love them all the same.
That's customer loyalty for ya.
It works on gut feelings not rational thought processes.
Why do some people hate Macs so much?
I usually retort "What are you- a communist? You want the whole world on one operating system?"
Sometimes it works.
If they remember what a communist is.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Dilemmas of a Cyber Dad

Computers and technology are a twin edged sword.
It can cut both ways.
Sorry if that's stating the bleeding obvious but that's a nice way to lead into today's rasp.
There is an almost overwhelming tide of information flowing into my world at the moment.
I have to try and stay on top of developments in technology and audio software in order to teach my eager students.
(strangely, some of them are.)
Mining manuals, jigging guides, scouring sources, translating textbooks, fossicking on forums, it is a relentless quest for knowing a little bit more.
Of course the goal posts aren't being are just being shifted, they are driving porches, leaving you eating the dust of last months upgrade.
It's like you're mapping the coastline but the Teutonic plates are shifting every afternoon.
I geta few freebie Quick start guides and the like but by Jimminy they go out of date fast.
I was teaching podcasting with Audacity on PC then switched to Garageband on Macs.
Garageband is great for podcasting except for a few strange foibles like you cant export to MP3.
Meanwhile the new Beta version of Audacity is also a vast improvement.
You can move tracks around in relation to each other, reduce noise and export to mp3.
So I now use them both.
that's as well as
Cubase SX3- a very powerful but complicated audio app.
Reason-a totally awesome virtual studio.
Protools LE -simple and reliable
Not to mention all the other bit and pieces.
Even Itunes (which a groovey new version was released today) has got more and more complicated.
So I'm using all these programs and trouble shooting my Mac Lab (coz students do the strangest things when they don't know what they are doing).

Sometimes I have to go for a long walk in the bush , far away form things that go bleep and crash.
Another new problem is my two sons.
Marlon is 8 and has a type of Autism called Aspergers Syndrome.
He wants to be on the computer 24/7.
Now my other son Logan who is two can navigate his way around (this is kinda spooky to watch) the Mac I get no chance to get online at all.
Except for my secret Wi Fi hotspot that is.
Down the back of my house I can log in.
I don't know who paying for it but I thank them here.
Whoever you are you are saving my arse fella.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Dont feed the Non-Natives?



Watched "the New World" the other night which is the story of Pocahontas shot in a very realistic but dream like way by Terence Malick who made the Thin Red Line.
These stories of first contact between Native people and White men always choke me up.
I just want to yell -"Dont trust em-they will ruin everything".
Which is basically what Colin Farrell as Captain Smith says to Poc.
But she trusts him and almost gets taken to the cleaners but she survives and actually grows to have the supreme satifaction of rejecting Captain Smith years later.
Still in the minds of Native Americans was she a traitor coz without her the first settlers would surely have perished?
In the film they seem to have a perfect life. Hunting, fishing ,hanging out, smoking peace pipes. It looks ideal esp. compared to the white trash settlers who argue and spout the gospels as they cheat each other.
It is a wonderful film if you like long, love stories and frolicking in the fields.
There is a bit of carnage but probably not enough to interest the lads.
You see I want to go back to pre-Columbus America or pre-Cook Australia.
For a visit at least.
I want to work out whether they were happier than us.
Whether they smiled more than us.
Laugh more than us.
Argued less.
All those barrometers of well being.
Whether they were depressed and over-ate.
Whether they couldn't get up in the morning.
Or killed each other as much.
Or worked as hard.
Coz our modern life is a wonderful gift but to what can I compare my modern life.
I'm looking for a scientific control so we can acertain if it's all been worth it.
Progress and it's relentless march.
Does it play the tune you hum along to?

Friday, August 25, 2006

Uprooting the non-natives


Check out these big machines clearing the non natives for the new rainforest in my front yard bush care project.
They are noisy as hell but I don't mind as they are clearing the way for a little bit of paradise.
These guys were really impressed by how much we had done with only hand saws.
Council wont cover us for power tools.
I always admired the foresight of people who planted amazing gardens knowing only their grandchildren would enjoy them.
Coz trees take a long time to grow.
In 100 years this will be a rain forest Natures God willing.
I won't be here then but I probably wont be here in a few months.
The landlord in gunna sell this old place and they we build 20 town houses here.
It a very big block.
That means no more "Lodge" studio down the back with roaring log fires making music and playing guitars.
It was built in the 1920's and was the only cottage in the area.
Heres a snap.

At least the new people will have a rain forest to enjoy.
If they stick around for a while.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Love is in the ear

Spring is almost here.
I know that because the first flower of jasmine popped open yesterday.
It smells amazing.
Loaded with memories.
When I was a teenager I used to come up to Sydney from Canberra.
Canberra is very cold in the winter, ice and fog and layers of clothes, and I used to come up to Sydney and think it was a tropical paradise.
A real city with trendy punks, legendary live venues and exotic jasmine perfume. The stuff don't grow in Canberra.
A lot of stuff doesn't grow in Canberra -not back in those days anyway.
Sydney was a different place back then.
It wasn't yet an international city.
There was squats full of artists,cheap rent and a hint of danger and neglect -in other words a perfect city for a coming of age.
squatting is almost extinct in Sydney now but it was big back in the eighties.
There are laws about the use of disused property especially government property and you basically had to find an empty building and move in.
Sometimes the owner didn't mind too much as it meant someone was looking after the place.
I had friends who squatted in a huge old pub on William street, they used to have these famous parties and all sorts of people used to turn up. Artists, musicians, models and designers, street people and wayward youths, dealers and derelicts.
They didn't even charge a door fee.
I can see their faces and zany haircuts and I wonder what they are all doing now.
Some are dead and some are working for the man doing very well no doubt.
I wish them well through time and space.
Thanks for those parties.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

We are History's playthings

Recently was informed by a Indonesian student that protection of religious belief is enshrined in Indonesia's constitution. All 5 beliefs were protected he said. I could guess four ,Hindu ,Muslim,Buddhist and Christian but what was the other I asked?
Not Christian-Catholic and Protestant he replied.
Yes of course the writers of that document must have been aware that ever since Martin Luther banged his little protest note up on a church door Christians (whose central doctrine is surely love thy neighbour) have been at each others throats. We had the Thirty years war and The St. Barthothemew's Day Massacre, not to forget a couple of English civil wars and The Troubles in Ireland.. It's been going on for five hundred years and the good news is it's just about stopped. A war of centuries can turn to peace if there is sufficient will and disgust for blood shed.
Which brings us to the Vexed Middle East.
What can anyone say except the obvious-Stop killing each other!
I want to take neither side, a dead child is a dead child, hate begets hate, and two wrongs don't make a right.
Can you fight for peace? Or only pray for it?
Is love stronger than hate? People can forgive but can they ever forget?
In time anything is possible.......
Read some blogs below, make your own judgments what is truth and which is propaganda?
It's a very hard call.
An excellent article on blogging from Beirut
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
And in a strange twist of fate Mel "Passion of Christ"Gibson is the talk of blogs all over the world for his Anti-Jewish drunken rant at a cop.This is so strange how fortunes can reverse-See Andrew Sullivans blog.Was he some kind of lightning rod,picking up signals from an evil entity because for a Hollywood Star there is certainly no quicker way to stuff up your career than the words he spouted.
Like William Wallace he may find himself being hung,drawn and quartered...for a few days anyway, until the next Celebrity Train Wreck pulls off the station.

Friday, July 21, 2006

To the top of the blogcharts

I recently fixed some blogcounting chicklets to my brother's site.One from belligerent's and another from Top Blog sites. You can watch your self go up (or down) the charts, it's quite a interesting distraction. Currently he is number one in his section on Blogrankers which is smaller and Number 19 on top blogsites.He is in the personal section there along with the randy girls and chronic mastubaters and bottom smackers. He wanted to be there, don't ask me why.Maybe he wants some other blogs to "riff "off. I spent a bit of time perusing these sites and they really are rubbish,I admit. In a burgeoning field where one can write anything they want to, inspire some art and imagination and propogate worldchanging new thoughts but the vast majority of blogs appeal to the lowest common denominator, it's true. Celebrity blogs are huge and so are porn blogs.
Each to their own I guess, pun intended.
Hope you brought your headphones.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Never, ever trust computers.(and maybe teenage girls)

Bought a new piece of gear a little while ago for my studio down the back.
A Focusrite trackmaster pro. Sounds impressive, huh?
It is lovely bit of "frontend" a preamp which is the first thing a microphone hits and therefore is extremely important for audiophiles like moi. Focusrite are like the Rolls Royce of audio or one of them at least and actually it's the cheapest thing they make.
It does seem to make a real difference.
I got a chance to use it during the week as I got a little job recording a version of a Kev Carmody song called "the Streets of London".
Kev is an aboriginal singer of some note who I got to work with in a small way ages ago.
After working on this song for a whole day I went back to mix it a couple of days later only to find some of the tracks had disappeared totally.
I got a sick nauseous feeling like when the school bully singled you out for treatment after school.
After a bit of panic I realised we'd only lost a few things and luckily could get them redone with out too much bother but will it all be there next time I open it up?
I would feel better if I could constuct a theory.......
Well actually I can.
You see I was doing this round at a good friends house and he had had a visit from his teenage daughter and she loves to get on his computer and check her Myspace and stuff.
But I couldn't really make accusations.
It wouldn't have been right and besides it would have helped anyway.
So we re did the missing bits and will keep our fingers crossed.
Sadly the legendary recluse Syd Barrett died again yestaday.
Here is an excellent post with lots of links to early footage etc. about the man who started Pink Floyd and who spiraled into psychosis.
Without out him would there have been a David Bowie or a Robert Smith?
Certainly his brief career inspired a whos who of rock music.
Shine on you crazey diamond.

Finally a short message from our sponsor.
Do bring your headphones as tomorrow we will be entering the world of sound!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Declarations and Straussian Intrigues

Well it's the day after Independence Day which celebrates the day the New world broke from the Old.
You may have seen National Treasure with Nic Cage, you will know the almost mystical reverance that Americans hold this document.
And probably rightly so.
Have you ever read it?
Try it NOW .
Written by Thomas Jefferson , notice the use of the words Nature's God.
They were fairly enlightened the founding Fathers and most of them were Deists.
That is they believed in an organising cosmic intelligence but didn't subscribe to any creed of religion.
They liked JCs simple teachings but considered him just a man.
I like their philosophy.
However ever the current Administration may be under the influence of an entirely different fellow.
Meet Leo Strauss.
Straus apparently is admired by Richard Perle and a whole bunch of Project for a New American Century chaps.
Strauss is at the total opposite from The Lamb when he said "those who are fit to rule are those who realize there is no morality and that there is only one natural right, the right of the superior to rule over the inferior".
Sounds awfully like Darth Vader to me. Or some one even nastier.
Of course I've already warned you that bloggers are being watched. Heres some more proof straight from the Dept of Offence.
Yes your right they're only following orders from Big Brother. No No No, Not the TV show.
It's all so Orwellian. A great example of double think.
And seeing as this entry has ended a little darkly why not some light relief.
Yes folks sit back, break out the popcorn and enjoy 1984.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Elvis Who?

My next door neighbour is from a small village in India.
He came over here not so long ago to an arranged marriage to his beautiful wife.
I was talking to hima whil ago and made a joke about Elvis having left the building.
He replied Elvis who?
I said you know Elvis Presley "The King","The White Nigger",you know Heartbreak Hotel and several hundred other hits.
He said no he didn't know this man.
I was astounded, dumbfounded even.
So I asked what about the Beatles?
He looked at me blankly.
You know "I wanna hold your hand", Sergeant Peppers,Fab Four, Mop Tops....
Sorry he said.
They worked with Ravi Shanker....
Oh this man I have heard of, he replied.
We make so many cultural assumptions, not just and people from different places but from different time periods as well.
My Indian neighbour speaks english pretty well but knows no Rock n' Roll.
I have had a similer experiences with other friends who you do a Doctor Smith and the robot impersonation at (from the 1960s TV show lost in space) and they look at you blankly.They never saw it ,only the film version which was quite different.
Which just goes to prove the old saying
"Don't assume -it makes an ass out of U and me".

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Bloggers use their heads, not lose their heads

Well I'm back here again.
I must admit I'd had a kind of bloggers block caused in some small part by Mr G.Reaper who seems to have been harvesting souls near by.
Must return to the saddle of my trusty blog, dust off my spurs and barbs and head up a posse of thoughts your way.
Ever read the real story of Easter Island?
The Polynesians who landed on this most isolated of islands found a fertile forested paradise and their population soon swelled. To amuse themselves or as some sort of inter tribal art competition they started to build large statues called Moai and as competition heated up they made bigger and bigger ones. We suspect they used the forest trees to transport these heads all over the island. Shortly before European contact they cut down the last tree and their population crashed perhaps due to the fact they could fish anymore coz they also used the trees to make canoes. So they spiraled down into war and canibalism.
You can pretty much see the whole Island from the top of the mountain in the middle,
which means they knew they were cutting down the last tree.
Why didn't they maybe leave a few standing? Because to paraphrase a prominent American -The Easter Island way of life was not negotiable.Their society was doomed by group think, a herachical structure where perhaps no one spoke out.
Of course they didn't have Bloggers either.
Increasingly the voices reporting events from inside some of the worlds closed societies, the people saying hey maybe we should keep a few trees on the island, are bloggers.Including the Middle East amongst other places.
Heres a nice example of Arab lady who speaks her mind.
Of course she is risking her liberty and perhaps her life to publish this.
I only hope shes read Handbook for bloggers put out by Reporters without Borders.
We can only wish her good luck and safe passage and maybe an invisiblity cloak!

Friday, May 19, 2006

Two Funerals and a Creepy Lake


Been to two funerals in a week. I like wearing black but this is ridiculous, both sad days of not knowing what to say.All the big questions and what ifs come up at funerals but Life is a mystery and even more so is death.Of the two funerals, the less religious one for my dear auntie was actually much better, no spruiking for converts, just a celebration of someones life. Both choked me up because although there is often a lot fibbing about what a great person such and such was at these things both of these human beings were truly wonderful and my world seems duller without them even though I only saw them occasionally.
Permanence is the great myth. All things will pass. Change is the only constant much as we humans try to deny this. Yet we live as if we had all the time in the world.

Recorded a podcast on the way down to Canberra yesterday in the car. Which was an excellent way to pass the time and talk about obscure music facts and future projects although I'm not sure about the background noise. Note to self buy a Prius for future podcasting- they are sposed to be almost silent.Also not sure about the impact on my driving ,searching for CDs etc wilst careering along at god knows what speed.
Must mention spooky Lake George.The lake doesn't exist at the moment, it comes and goes depending on rainfall I guess. Driving along this non lake is always a spooky creepy experience for me and my brothers. It is the last place in the world I would want to breakdown. We always told ghost stories along this stretch, they have been several dissapearances and phantom hitchhikers and the strange encounter with the girl in the red cape as well as a whole canoe of sea scouts who drown there. So I'm wondering is this just us or does everyone feel this creepy vibe along that stretch of road?
Try it and see,just don't break down and remember the urban legend -whatever you do don't look back.

Monday, May 08, 2006

An Antipodean Gentleman retires from the fray





















You may have heard of the untimely death of one G.W.Mclennan of the Australian group The Go-betweens.
I was privileged to record an album Snow Job for this great lyricist and songwriter in the early nineties.
He was such a incredible gentleman of the sort that is now rare and which I can only aspire too.
A true romantic, a lover of love,music, women and books not nec. in that order.
We used to sing great harmonies together.
You were always a pleasure to spend time with.
You introduced me to some other great musicians and friends and novelists.
The candle that burns twice as bright only burns half as long I guess.
Hope you are hanging out with George Harrison and Kurt Cobain.
You left your mark on us and the world.
Be seeing you.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Bloggers are people too

Rather proud of some of the blogging that is going on in my classes.
There is some really interesting writing going on.
Some times the English is a little out there but who am I to talk.
Really I feel like I am in some sort of Sci -Fi cybernovel and feel very honored to be at the birth of a new generation of thinkers/dreamers.
Blog on you crazey Diamonds.
This is an interesting rasp on the price of petrol. Want to know how much energy is in a barrel of oil? About the same as a slave who worked for you 12 hours a day for 12 years and we get that for a measly $70. We are bloated on oil like the Maori were on moa birds before they went extinctomundo.
Yes although I like to adher to the myth of the noble savage and have several lovely Maori friends they made a few mistakes back in NZ. They ate their way through Eden and started on each other like a real life nation-wide lord of the flies.
Of course petrol is gonna get more expensive which doesn't worry me so much coz I've got a little Honda that sniffs petrol rather frugally. Also I can't wait for all those sorry mothers in their Toorak tractors who terrorized me much worse than Osama to abandon them on the side of the road.
Finally a cele-braty blogger . The man who writes Boing Boing a huge blog that would be worthy of a critique released his first book under a creative commons license. It's great read if your interested in aquiring stuff which I guess we all are.
What does blogging consume?
A little elect trickery and a lot of time.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Holiday in the Vic Alps





Look I don't want to bore you with holiday snaps but I feel it is my duty to point out this primo holiday destination with a few photos.
The Victorian Alps are an amazing place in Autumn. Lots of trees in a multitude of hues, berry farms and wineries and large (for Australia ) mountains.
I did a bit of trout fishing and manged to catch two (Alas at the trout farm).
Still delicious with fresh chestnuts and a mescal salad.
Oh and there was snow on Mt.Hotham which was totally great for the kids who managed to get soaking wet in a couple of minutes.
Theres my holiday plug-only seven hours by car from Sydney!

Friday, April 21, 2006

Modern life is a chinese puzzle

Looks like bloggers are the disproportionate makers of news and purveyors of influence acording to this article We are "influentuals" and you can ignore us at your peril. Of course the CIA being an intelligence agency have already figured this out.They trawl the blogospherelooking for clues and weapons of mass destruction. As one of the class found out the internet is a very public domain and you don't have to hold a seance to attract spooks.
The price of petrol is in the news again. It has rocketed from $10 a barrel in 1998 to over $70 a barrel today. Ask yourself why? Perhaps it is because we have picked all the easy fruit off the oil tree and now we have to clamber up the trnk amongst the thorns to get the fruit that's left.Don't believe me ? Read what "Rich Dad/Poor Dad has to say about it. He wouldn't lie to ya.
Which is why I'm taking my family on a road trip to the Victorian Alps for some walking and maybe some trout fishing.
Yes I know hypocrisy is the grease on wheels of our society.
Because I'm not just using petrol we may need to grow food and medicine, I'm also creating greenhouse gaseswhich will ruin the party for everyone.
Help me out of this morale dilema please.
Surely the rainforest I'm planting gets me off the hook?
And the worm farm that must be worth something too?
And that time I walked to the shops?

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

A Python Falls from the Sky

Went for a big walk in the Royal on sunday.
20 kms from Waterfall down to Lady Carrington and back to Audley then up the hill home.
We were walking through this lush rainforest when something crashed down out of the canopy.
"Look out theres a big snake fallen out of the trees" says Mike nervously from behind me.
"Yeah , sure there is" I say.
But there was and it was huge.
What are the hances of that ?Right in front of my feet .A beautiful 15 foot diamond python that had caught a flying fox and proceeded to crush it in it's coils.
We watched tranfixed.



Nature is cruel and takes no prisoners.
I take a few photos.
Don't get too close my friends say.
It's OK I know parseltounge.
It might bite they warn.
Maybe we should have lunch I say.









So we eat our lunch while the snake eats his.
Two coincidences.
My previous post was about a bat and I am currently reading a book on Monty Python.
Does this mean I am the new David Attenborough?
Or should I take up comedy?
Snakes don't fall at your feet every day you know!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Australia is a bat

In case you didn't realize Australia is the Saudi Arabia of uranium.
We have huge amounts of the stuff up north.
Soon we'll be selling the stuff to China and India or Chindia as some people have been calling these to new kids on the economic block.
Of course viewed in the long scale of human history they aren't new kids but great empires that had a couple of hundred years off.
Some supporters of Uranium mining claim it is better to risk radiation poisoning than global warming.
There is a couple of conundrums ( very tricksy puzzle) posed here.
Before WW2 we had a Primeminister called Pig Iron Bob who had no problem selling scrap iron to the Japanese who were at that time raping Nanking and soon would be bombing Darwin.
Now hopefully China and Taiwan will have a full moon party, get the love vibe and sort out their differences like sensible people but there is the chance that things will get out of hand and seeing that the US is the sworn defender of Taiwan and we are the Yanks obedient little brother it could get very scary and most unpleasant.
Especially unpleasant would be our own true blue yellow cake raining back down on us!
So how do you guarantee the stuff will only be used for peaceful purposes?
Our fearless leader is dedicated to the religionlaissez faire capitalism which means he believes the market is like a god that knows all.
The free market is great for some things and I love being able to sell stuff at whatever price to whoever but Mr Howards vision is to sell everthing the government owns to anyone who can afford it.
Witness Telstra. Why sell a profitable enterprise thats bringing in billions of revenue?Glad I never bought those shares!
NZ went further and sold all their power generation and surprise, surprise they suffered rolling blackouts because the companies generating power deemed it unprofitable to invest in more infrastructure.
So I take the middle path. Private enterprise good for somethings.State control good for others.
So selling uranium to China needs careful consideration and state control.
Will it help the cut carbon emmisions?
If you add up all the mining ,processing ,transportation, building and decommisioning of Nuclear power plants you probably didn't save much at all.
But who knows, the Chinese are clever people and have been investigating fast breeder reactors as well as pebble bed reactors so might know something we don't.
Finally an excellent article about Australias relationship to the rest of the world.
Are we a bat neither bird nor beast or something else. If this sounds obscure read it in the SMH.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

So Sue Me and a post script

Whoa, look out there flamers and name callers cause youll end up in court getting your pants sued off.
It happened in England it can happen here.
So stop calling me a silly person and a son of a hampster and blowing your nose in my general direction OK?
Can blogging save the enviroment?
We can only hope so coz things are getting so awfully baaad.
Remember Bladerunner and the scene with Decker and the artificial owl, well I hope it never comes to pass coz every extinction belittles us all and makes the world seem sader and duller.I wanna be where the wild things roam....
Lastly a sad post script to our post a few days ago.
After days of deliberation the jury let the dirty slime ball off.
The law can be an ass- which is a kind of donkey- and on this occasion it was indeed.
I don't understand how that could happen but it did so we can only hope for some sort of instant karma.
Anybody know vodoo?

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Almost invent a word again

Remember pog. It meant crap or rubbish,stuff lying around. My friend Ralph invented that, it's true.
Ever wondered who stared the saying "he's high maintenance" .That was mine, can't prove it but someone owes me big time.
So yesterday I was thinking about blogging and the bigots it attracts and it hit me -Bligot.
A new word .This time I wasn't gonna let it slip unauthored into the lexicon. I was gonna be lauded for being a clever chap.
Alas a quick google and the balloon of ego gratification popped with a smirk.
Here was a bloggers dictionary with bliggot and a whole lot of other words I probably would have thought of.Here is the blog of a bigot or a bligot. This guy wrote the book on smug and sneery so maybe bigot isn't totally correct.
Hey how about smigot! Now for a quick google.Yah for me! Hope the resident of the swedish town fo Smigot don't take offence.
Why dont we start an award for the worst bligot on the web? Hell, a least we'd have a lot of contenders.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Horrible Coincidence

For the last couple of years my wifes family has been involved in a terrible matter.
Seems 30 years ago a family friend used to molest her brothers.Her parents, who are the lovliest people never knew. They had kept it a terrible secret.
They have been in and out of court for a couple of years. It must be awful dredging this stuff up and I am totally grateful that I was never subjected to that kind of attention.
Anyway today is the day the court brings down it's decision which will be a relief for everyone no matter what the verdict.
Today a cyclone approachs Far North Q'land, Cyclone Larry is the strongest cyclone to hit Australia for decades.Perhaps the biggest ever.
Winds will be 230 kph, there will be a lot of destruction.Lives will be ruined.
What are the chances that both disasters would share the same name?

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Pluck some fruit from the Commentry

Sooo....bloggers are to comments what fish are to scales.
Not talking about the comments section,
although I could be but the art of gleaning through current news and issues
and adding your two cents worth. What do you think? If you think at all.
Freedom to think seems to be a hard to come by commodity in my busy life.
I have to snatch time inbetween a thousand and one distractions and commitments.
The Huffington Post is one of the big blogs at the moment,Arianna Huffington compares newsbloggers to the pitbulls of media journalism.
Can you believe a media baron like Rupert M declaring mainstream news in dead and blogging is the future, see I told you this was big.
Read it here. Yes we bloggers are the New Explorers sailing to whole new worlds of endless digital prarie. Uncle Rupert should know cause he just bought My space, the friend build community. Here is my my space for a record I did. Myspace now has 62,500,000 members 54 of which are my special friends. Lets make it 55 soon!
It's not all loving friendship thoughthings can get nasty.
Bloggers of course can get into trouble at work especially if you're a memeber of the police force.
As my mother used to say if you can't say something nice make a cup of tea.....
Bit strange my mum makes a good cuppa though.
You notice I called her Mum and not Mom. Heres a nice little rasp about the Americanisation of our dear language cobbers.
See all you folks in class.

Friday, March 10, 2006

A Brand New Class

Well great to meet all the newbies.
I am excited by meeting new people so much so that I want to hide under my desk.
But I made it through the day without running out the door.
Unfortunately we are in a strange room full of archaic computers and bad lighting.
We work in an epileptic induction zone.
Screens flicker, flouros flicker beating out a random pattern on your brain.
So we will take regular breaks.
In my other classes we play hackie sack in the breaks.
It is great fun and loosens you up after crouching like a gargoyle over your computer.
I am going to ask for a new monitor or else a new set of eyes like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.
Till then.....

Friday, February 10, 2006

Ink:Handle with care


Catoon by Alen Lauzan Falcon, Santiago, Chile












I've been wanting to talk about the Satanic cartoons controversy but I have to admit I'm scared.
So is most of the free press.
It wasn't Big Bro that brought them down but Big Mo'(PBAH).
I want to support our Princess Mary.
She gave up nice quiet Tasmania for the number one holiday destination for suicide bombers.
I've been to Denmark and it's a cool place.
They have a free state called Kristiana where anything goes.
It's insane to think a whole country should be targeted because of what a few people scribbled on a piece of paper.
Heres a debate on whether an Islamic state is compatable with democracy. I think the neo cons might have read this.But then why did they think they could spread democracy though the Middle East?
Heres what the Malaysian PM thinks.
Heres another point of view
Heres a moderate Arab voice.
The cartoons arent actually funny,you can find them at Wikipedia and it was deliberately provocative to publish them.
The strange thing is these cartoons appeared in October in Cairo but nobody got upset then.
Theres a lot we in the west don't understand about Islam.
Certainly the whole thing has made being a cartoonist a more interesting profession.
Does God bless free speech?
Maybe we should keep Him/Her out of the arguement!
I'm off to play with my Lego set .....after I finish eating my falafel roll.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Dessicated like Bourke and Wills

Went bushwalking with brother J and Frankie who's over here from Ireland.
Went from Waterfall to ulaloo falls,5 kms of easy if hot walking.
We stop at the falls which have stopped due to lack of water.
Have a bite to eat and carry on.
The sun comes out from behind the clouds.
We follow the track which suddenly dissapears.
Where has it gone ?
We start to augue .
It's stupidly brainfryingly hot.
My companions don't have proper hats.
J wants to backtrack.
We bush bash around looking for the track,paranoid we'll step on a snake.
A mild panic is setting in.
We follow the ridge back to the falls.
Dive into the water.
Rest and discuss if we should try again .
We head off down the same track which dissapears again.
We bush bash down into the gully for 3 hours.
Looking for footprints or a sign of humans.
We soak in small pools totally cooked.
This is how Burke and Wills felt, two Australian explorers who died in the desert.
Eventually we find our way to Karloo Pool which is beautiful and cool.
We walk out in the twilight,burnt and sweating, desperately thirsty.
We had a map and a compass and still we got lost.
I havent been lost for a while, it is a scarey feeling.
Panic comes from the Greek God Pan who waited to confuse people in the forest.
Thank you Mr Pan. Thank you Mr Sol.
A most exhausting but hard core day.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The wests secret weapon- football

People are starting to wake up to the prospect that we may be heading down the slippery slope towards another coalition of the killing,this time all steam ahead to sunny Persia.
Sanctions may actually hurt the west more than the sanctioned.
Coz the loss of the fourth biggest producer of oil could send the price of the stuff skyrocketing.
I can actually see why Iran might want the big stick seeing as the country next door got invaded.
Anyway it seems we have a secret weapon-football or soccer as it is called here in Australia.
Read these Iranian blogs
As well as coming across as.... well normal people worried about their shonky leaders, a lot of them are worried about being excluded from the world cup because of restarting the nuclear research.
Football is bigger than anything it seems and rightly so.
It's an international language.
The language of the boot.
This time lets forget the killing an destruction and just have a bit of kick around of a the ball eh?

Sunday, January 29, 2006

What hit me?

Thanks for the great night out.
Thanks for the bottle of red.
Thanks for making sure I stayed sober and an outstanding example to you all.
Enjoyed the toasts and the food and especially singing White wedding.
You gotta love Billy Idol.
Hope you all made it home OK.
Hope you find peace and happiness.
Or at least a good hangover cure.
I'm not drinking for a while.
I'm not very good at it.
That's not a very Australian thing to admit.
Went to Hustville and saw the lion dance or the dragon dance I'm not sure which.
Those guys are amazing, jumping from pole to pole dressed in an animal suit.
Very young too
Should take this op to wish a properous and faithful year of the dog to everyone.
I hope it is a good dog and doesn't chew anyones slippers or dig holes in the garden or anything else naughty dogs do.

Monday, January 16, 2006

The end of the affair

Citizens
Some of you may have noticed beneath my fastidious nature, military planning skills, attention to formalities and personal hygiene is the glimmer of a soft centre.
I may seem hard and unapproachable but deep deep down I am a quite sensitive fellow.Really.
So most times as I near the end of a relationship I start to reflect and ponder and get a little misty eyed.
I have met some lovely young people,shared some stories, had a laugh, showed them some tricks of the trade and sent them off into the world to who knows where.
Hopefully I have a positive effect.
Hopefully I am on the side of good.
Hopefully I might make a small difference to some one.
Maybe opened their eyes to some things.
Probably not for all, or even most but a few.
I know I had teachers like that who helped a little, made me entertain some possibilities, sheparded me towards........
Anyway I now have to put my service medals back on my chest and get into some serious marking.
How do you mark a blog?
Frequency is important.
Depth also.
Information?
Links, you need them.
Readability?
How about grammar and spelling?
Or creative use of the English language?
How about an original voice?
That's a lot to ask I know but there have been glimmers, little peeks of what might be.
Do you agree that the blog is king? Or at least something important?
It's certainly a great way to teach and get insights into peoples minds/lives.
I hope you got through the work load without stomach ulcers and that you get the marks you need to do what you want to do, be what what you want to be .
Occasionally pop into this blog, drop me a line, tell me you new book/film/expose/podcast is coming out and make me smile.
Untill then back to the marking.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Give me Liberty or give me shopping

Well we survived the silly season and it wasn't so bad.
Almost got caught in the bushfires on the hottest day of the year (although it's very early to make that claim).
Only a couple of weeks left to complete this pocasting /blogging module.
Heard of John Pilger? Heres an interesting read from the man who continues to be a thorn in the side of Governments and the media.Love him or loath him? He is a dedicated and persistant journo who exists on the margin.He talks of the Death of freedom.
Thought you might as well have a link to another interesting writer,George Monbiot.Here he talks aboutthe struggle against ourselves which may put you off shopping for a nano second, then again maybe not....
Still want more?
Probably not coz your all busy doing amazing podcasts but
Persons interested in democracy should check this out.
The American founding fathers should be an inspiration to us all.
Thom Hartman has a scary rasp on our rights as humans. If you are human.
Will Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin please reincarnate?
Before the next election?
Stuck on an investment decision?
Try investment blogs.
And if your still stuck for a blog to examine try the worlds bestblogs.In their opinion anyway.
And now for the fluffy animal story........
Whoops sorry got things mixed up...Here is the fluffy animal story
See you in class citizens!