Australia has lost its 'commons'

(Gronnigen, The Netherlands, October 2010)


How did we (in Australia) get to where we are today?

What were we thinking when we allowed our 'community protectors' to behave like commandos?

Why do they have to?

Nowhere is safe from these trigger-happy-taser-touting rambos; definitely not our streets (& sadly neither our homes).

Tasers must be banned

Over 'here'...the Yanks are coming!

(Photos: Carlos Latuff, Deviant Art)

...& they won't go back til it's over, over 'here'!!!!!

During last night's drinks & nibbles following the Distinguished Flag-Waving series, I mused that what with....

$$$ Erin (aussie-wannabe) & Shine Lawyers

$$$ Better Place & Ben

$$$ Oceans 5 & AOA

$$$ US troops & Julia

...if I wasn't already paranoid, I'd be paranoid!!!!

"Reclaim the Lanes": who couldn't ♥ Newtown? xx

Once a year Newtown commandeers a few wheelie bins and realigns the Australian 'Road Paradigm' by taking back streets from motorists...

...& then...

...Newtown parties, parties, parties!!!

Why only 'once a year'????

Grow-up, Australia! - we're pathetic

[Photos: Flickr, Amsterdamized, 'Any other (Satur)Day']


(Raising children in Amsterdam where sanity prevails)

Australia has stooped a little lower into a quagmire of 'tell-tale tits' & 'scaredy cats'.

Yep - gone is any pretence of traits we normally cling to...

# hooroo, larrikinism
# hooroo, pioneering spirit
# hooroo, carefree swagman
...in fact even
# hooroo, mateship

Read for yourselves the drivel that truly reveals Australia as the cowardly custards we are.

"Dobbers wear nappies, wet ones too!!!"

" Breakfast at Ten "

(Photos: TEN Breakfast, Channel Ten)


...oop-la! - here we go again!!!!

...& just up the road round the corner, it was 'smoko' with the police!!!

Geez! - 'It's a long road to Tipperary' when you're Down-Under!

Big Corpa - our world unfolding

(Photos: Greenpeace Australia)


Read this and weep - our beautiful Barrier Reef.

How come unelected corporations are allowed to run (or rather ruin) our lives and homes in their unmitigated quest for supreme wealth and profits?

Who said they could?

We don't vote for Big Corpa but they dictate our actions as though they had a mandate.

$$$ Big Corpa - powerful

$$$ Big Corpa - omnipotent

$$$ Big Corpa - capable of morphing itself into self-identified community needs

$$$ Big Corpa - permanent recipient of politcal permission to create itself massive ready 'cash-cow' markets

$$$ Big Corpa - choker of the very lifeblood of diversity & sustainablitiy as it trashes its way through the trillions of dollars left to be mined or drilled

They're everywhere and one company can have such a big reach...

...& for example's sake, take this Big Corpa - is there any pie these guys don't have their fingers in?

Not content with dictating the 'what', 'where' and 'how' of bicycle helmets, they dabble in spot of mine protection here, and a spot of lobster protection there, and they're all over the legislation and commentary department, as well as the Australian International Design Awards of which their nom de plume 'Standards Australia' is the principal sponsor.

...and after to listening to Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini being rubbished on Late Night Live by Dr Paul Brent the chief scientist from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) with regards to 'Genetically Modified Organisms', it was with alarm I recalled that to get 'your copy' of Australian food standards, we have to go to the 'go-to people' - yes you've got it - none other than the Big Corpa who make us pay for bicycle helmet standards - SAI Global (and you'll find their Customer Service Centre in 'Sussex Street', a combination of words I am irrationally opposed to.)

There's a mighty lot of 'washing' being done - but it's mostly 'green' or a whole bunch of 'spin' - very little is getting clean.

Time to reclaim the 'laundry', guys, and get rid of the pests - save the Barrier Reef today

The Sheriff & me

(Photos: Simone De Peak, Newcastle Herald for SMH)


Despite the catastrophic Road & Obesity state of affairs evident in Australia, Australian Governments continue to persecute road users campaigning for the normalisation of cycling as a mode of transport.

Why?....because Australia is:

$ a ‘car culture’ & of the opinion that roads are the sole domain of motorists,
$ prepared to keep hopping in cars no matter how congested & dangerous this mode of transport is, & as a result,
$ very fat and scared

Despite having used cycling and walking as modes of transport all my life (52 years & counting!!!), I continue to be stymied in 'our' quest to win to win back the streets for others ‘other-than-motorists’ by repealing bicycle helmet laws. The NSW State Government, not content with cancelling my driver’s licence late last year, is now preparing to send in the Sheriff to seize my property in a bid to continue the ‘business-as-usual’ politics of global energy consumption.

After the property seizure order has been completed, what next will the state government come up with?

(check out same article in The Newcastle Herald for predictable comments from fellow Australians - talk about that '5 monkeys, 1 banana & self-policing' experiment, Steve!!!!!)