I am so excited...

I just had to share this with you.

No it's not about a researcher called Tal Yarkoni from Washington University in St Louis who contacted me about research he was doing on personality and blogging. Do you think I should have been offended that he contacted me on the day I told the world I swore at a police officer? There seemed to be a lot of questions about anger, poor impulse control and paranoia. Is this guy related to any of you? Just asking...

Anyway, I digress.

I'm excited .......for another blogger.

I was just looking at the list of winners of the 35th Annual People's Choice Awards and at the very end of the list was an award called User generated video - Barack Roll.

This video was done by a 24 yr old Aussie blogger, video producer and lawyer called Hugh Atkin (his blog has not been updated since the end of November so he's obviously very busy). This is a fantastic effort.

I posted a few of his videos on my blog last August and I am reposting these again so you can see them. You will notice in the comment section that Hugh made a comment (in August) which said, "it's always a very nervous thing uploading a video (to You Tube) and not knowing how people will react".

Well Hugh, it seems 'the people' may have reacted pretty positively given the five and a half million hits you've had and given you've just won a People's Choice Award. What an understatement!

The winning video is the first of the three featured.

Whether you like these types of viral videos or not, it does show what can happen when someone's 'work' gets discovered on the net and how quickly it can spread. How exciting is that!

So go forth bloggers and do great things.

Some of you just don't know how clever you are. Shelia I am looking right at you - you took us all by surprise and revealed your truly wonderful drawing talents on your blog today!! Bravo!!

The Race that Stopped a Nation

.

In fact, there have been two races that stopped the nation - and all in the one week.

Close to home, the $5.1 m Melbourne Cup, the World's greatest handicap race, and its winner, Viewed, set the country abuzz. It's the one event of the year that literally stops the entire nation in its tracks.

Australians love their leisure and worship their sport. Everyone, of every age and walk of life, stops to watch this race on the second Tuesday of every November. It's the one race where any horse can come up and win despite the odds. This year was no exception.

How close is that finish? The winner got the most out of his mount to secure a memorable victory by the barest possible margin - a nose. It’s the one time of the year a big nose comes in handy. It gives me great comfort just knowing that, truly.

Of course every year I have a ‘flutter’ and every year I lose. I am not a quitter though. It’s too much fun! It’s not every day you get to wear a hat and drink champagne all day starting before breakfast!

Likewise, the buzz surrounding the most important race of all, the US Presidential Election, came to fever pitch today. Congratulations to president elect Barack Obama. He has made history and everyone will remember this day for as long as they live. Never let it be said that a nation can stop a race ever again.

Of course, with every hard fought contest, there is not only a winner but also a loser.

It’s like yin and yang, positive and negative, action and reaction, my ex and me, Bush and Gore. Although, sometimes the gloss quickly wears off the winner and they too become losers.

However, no-one likes a sore loser. It’s much better to smile than to pout, shed tears, throw a temper tantrum, punch someone, cry unfair, ask for a recount or ring your lawyer. As hard as it may be. As every plastic surgeon will tell you, appearances are everything. Particularly when you have billions of cameras focused on you, waiting for the smile to crack and the tears to fall.

John McCain could hardly be described as a loser, in any sense of the word. He was absolutely gracious in defeat and extremely sincere in his wishes for the 44th President of the United States. He showed real class after a hard fought battle.

Australians, for some bizarre reason, are fascinated by losers. We cheer for the underdog, pull for the downtrodden, and love watching them get up and win. We even go so far as to bet on losers to win (even though that may be more a matter of greed since the odds are so much better. Plus, if the dark horse actually does win, like at the Melbourne Cup yesterday, then suddenly there are two losers who for once turned out to be winners).

Everyone knows how to win. It comes easy. However, since we all have to lose at one time or another, as I do at every Cup day, here are a few simple guidelines which hopefully will make you a better loser.

1. Always smile and congratulate the winner, telling them how happy you are for them. Watch the Oscars to see how the professionals do it. Or better still, look to Susan Luci who missed out on an Emmy Award at least 5,000 times before she finally won one. Hopefully, you can be just a little bit more sincere then the Aussie cricket team who recently lost a cricket test to India. They suddenly forgot they had a TV audience of lip readers who recognised that the word they kept muttering over and over rhymed with the cricketing term ‘duck’.
   
   
2. Memorise as many appropriate platitudes as possible, like “May the best man/horse win”, “Winning isn’t everything”, and “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” Try to avoid saying things like, “Some things are more important than winning, like integrity and honesty”, “Cheaters never prosper”, “There are some defeats more triumphant than victories”, “The most dangerous moment comes with victory” or any word that rhymes with duck.
   
   
3. Remind yourself that no one loses all the time. Even Sylvester Stallone made some good movies early on in his career.
   
   
4. Know when to give up. Remember, Kenny Rogers once sang, “You have to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.” Of course he didn’t take his own advice when it came to plastic surgery but he still has some winning songs, particularly after a few drinks at the races and some pathetic sounding Kareoke...

In all seriousness, I wish the USA and its citizens positive days ahead. Maybe a few more well intentioned platitudes will help for those who feel the need for them. "Change is as good as a holiday". "It was a race well fought to the end". "The best is yet to come". "Every cloud has a silver lining" and "winners are grinners and losers can please themselves".

Even more seriously, I salute all my American blogging friends because no matter which side of politics you sit, you showed the rest of the world exactly what your country means to you. You involved us all in this great race. It was a contest fought with a great deal of passion and heart. And that, at the end of the day, is what counts. Your love and pride for your country and your strong views on your place in the world speaks volumes.

Everyone is sure to win as a result. You should all have a glass of champagne. Seriously!

PS. Rhonda asked me the obvious question. Which horse won? The top horse in the photo won by a whisker!

You just have to laugh...

For those of you who have not visited Hugh Atkin's blog, The Margins of Error, do stop by because you can't help but ......laugh out loud.

Here is Hugh's latest effort called, John McCain Gets Barackroll'd. I think you can laugh at this despite your political persuasions.




While you are here, do you have a blog or website that you regularly visit and you can recommend to others, whether it be serious, funny or anything in between?

And the Spin continues...just with a new face...

"Your basic extended family today includes not only your partner and children, parents and siblings but your ex-husband or wife, your ex's new mate, your new mate, possibly your new mate's ex and any new mate that your new mate's ex has acquired and on and on." So said Delia Ephron, screenwriter and producer of movies such Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.

I think she is right on the money if looking at politicians so called secrets is anything to go by.

How much more can they dig up, make up or uncover about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her extended family just a few days after it was announced that she would be on the McCain ticket?

First, there were rumors that her baby son was really her grandson. Then it turns out her daughter is 5 months pregnant. Then her husband had a drink driving conviction 20 years ago. And not let's forget the sociopath ex brother in law who has also landed her whole family in hot water. So now she is labelled by some quarters as white trash? And all of this is supposedly 'rocking the political world?'

P-l-e-a-s-e.....isn't it called real families???

Here are a couple of blog comments I found written about her which give an example of the wave of comments being made on blogs around the net.

This is absolutely unacceptable. She needs to step aside and take care of her many children and grandchildren if they are not more than one. This is the result of spending too much time in the office and less time with the kids. IS THIS A GOOD RESULT?

Take Care Of Your Family First Sarah. Being focused on power and promoting yourself as some big to do will always result in damage to your family. You are a Mother and about to be a Grand Mother, that is impressive enough, don't get you life and family tangled any further, get out before it is too late.

Oh, who would be bothered putting their lives under the microscope in such a way. The truth just gets twisted anyway.

I truly just do not get the fascination. Am I imagining this or would some of the questions being asked about Palin never ever be considered in regards to male candidates? She is a poor mother because she was working up until a month before her babies birth, she is a poor mother because her daughter is pregnant, she is a poor mother because she should not be running for such an office with five children at home and on and on.

She was an unusual choice in many respects but perhaps a clever choice in many others. Only time will tell but please.....none of us would pass the 'political acid test' I am sure if faced with that level of scrutiny.

The sooner politicians are treated as human beings who have the same family issues to deal with that the rest of us do, the more realistic our expectations will be and the less power they will have. Putting our politicians on a pedestal only makes them ultimately believe they deserve better than the rest of us.

And as for being a professional working mother of five children? My mother did it with five children many years ago and my brother and sisters all survived to tell the story without turning into anti social misfits (well ok, four out of the five of us turned out ok - he he).

Let's stick to the political agenda not the side issues involving a person's entire extended family unless it's going to bring a country undone.

What do you think?

I wonder why we choose to live in denial

about our global priorities.


Global Priority $U.S. Billions pa

Cosmetics in the United States 8
Ice cream in Europe 11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780

And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

Global Priority $U.S. Billions pa

Basic education for all 6
Water and sanitation for all 9
Reproductive health for all women 12
Basic health and nutrition 13

Why can't that happen? Well maybe its time we all learnt about the co-joined twins of the military and trade and their mother, world power.

Check this site out http://www.globalissues.org/ the facts and figures on this site will put politics in perspective for you.

We all need to be informed in order to make a difference and to have a realistic and accurate picture of how the west gets won at the expense of others.

Swept under the rug...

Sometimes, being serious has its place. Like today.

Today is the day when bloggers around the world unite to share stories about human rights issues. The internet has already shown us how small the world really is and blogging has shown us the true meaning of a global community. I am hoping that every one of our stories will highlight the need for all us to stand up and say NO to anything and anyone who infringes on the rights of human beings anywhere they happen to live on this great planet of ours.

There are many, many, newsworthy and visible human rights issues coming from all corners of the globe. Many of these occur in far away countries, comfortably out of sight, and many of them occur in our own countries, in our own neighbourhoods and right under our own noses. Yet still, we do not see them.

There is nothing grandiose about human rights. It simply refers to the basic rights and freedoms to which we are all entitled. These rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education.

I wanted to share a human rights issue that is very close to my own heart, abuse against women. It is now a social epidemic across the world.


Abuse against women is relentless, systematic, widely tolerated and even explicitly condoned. Millions of women throughout the world are deprived of their fundamental human rights for no other reason than that they are women.

In conflicts, such as those in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Iraq, women have been raped as a weapon of war with their attackers being granted complete impunity. Men in Pakistan, South Africa, Peru, Russia, and Uzbekistan beat women in the home at astounding rates, while governments refuse to intervene to protect women and punish their abusers (or they do so in ways that make women feel totally responsible for the violence).

As a direct result of inequalities in their own countries, women from the Ukraine, Moldova, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Burma, and Thailand are bought and sold, trafficked to work in forced prostitution, with insufficient government attention to protect their rights and punish the traffickers. In Guatemala, South Africa, and Mexico, women's ability to enter and remain in the work force is blocked by employers who use women's reproductive status to exclude them from work and by discriminatory employment laws or discriminatory enforcement of the law. Women in Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia face government-sponsored discrimination which leaves them unequal before the law and which takes away their legal authority and places it in the hands of male family members.

We also live in a world in which women do not have basic control over what happens to their bodies. Millions of women and girls are forced to marry and have sex with men they do not desire. Women are unable to depend on their governments to protect them from physical violence in the home, with sometimes fatal consequences, including increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection. Women in custody face sexual assault by their jailers. Women are punished for having sex outside of marriage or with a person they choose (rather than of their family's choosing). Husbands and other male family members obstruct or dictate women's access to reproductive health care. Doctors and government officials disproportionately target women from disadvantaged or marginalized communities for coercive family planning policies.

All of us should reject legal, cultural, or religious practices by which women are systematically discriminated against, excluded from political participation and public life, segregated in their daily lives, raped in armed conflict, beaten in their homes, denied equal divorce or inheritance rights, killed for having sex, forced to marry, assaulted for not conforming to gender norms, and sold into forced labor.

Arguments that support and 'excuse' these human rights abuses - those of cultural norms, "appropriate" rights for women, or western imperialism - barely disguise their true meaning: that women's lives matter less than mens. Cultural relativism, which argues that there are no universal human rights and that rights are culture-specific and culturally determined, is still a formidable challenge to women's rights to equality and dignity in all areas of their lives.

Ultimately, the struggle for women's human rights must be about making women's lives matter everywhere, all the time. In practice, this means taking action to stop discrimination and violence against women.

If you, or someone you know is a victim of abuse please read this story on the remarkable Mildred Mahammad, the ex wife of the Washington Sniper. There are many women living in fear of violence. It could be you, your mother, sister, daughter, friend or even your neighbour or work colleague. Sometimes the signs will be there. Sometimes you may never know. But one day, you may get the chance to offer the helping hand that they are silently crying out for. Please don't walk away.

NOTE: Matt from Matt-Speak, has posted an excellent human rights story on the growing epidemic of child prostitution. This is an extremely important issue and is very much linked to my call to stop violence, abuse and discrimination against females. Matt writes about many social and political issues and his site is well worth a regular visit.

Even his blind spots

are illuminating

Gore Vidal, the 82 year old American novelist and the Democrats elder statesman was interviewed on Australian television over the weekend and he commented on the current political situation in the US. I find him learned, funny and exceptionally clear-sighted. Or maybe that's just because I tend to agree with him. What do you think?

Here's part of the transcript -

VIRGINIA TRIOLI: Gore Vidal, you've watched Democratic primaries for decades now: so just who do you think will be standing on the podium in Denver in just a couple of months time accepting the Democratic Party's nomination.

GORE VIDAL: It's almost a toss of a coin now. They set out to wreck Senator Obama and it's just been a royal mess all the way through. Of the two, I prefer her, in the sense that she knows more what she's doing. His mishandling of the Reverend whatever he's called doesn't bode well for a conduct of, you know, difficult negotiations. So, that is a mess.

VIRGINIA TRIOLI: How do you account for this situation - this real mess - for the fact that these two very able candidates have been able to take part in this knock down, drag out contest? How do you explain that?

GORE VIDAL: Dare I say ambition? It is - she's quite experienced and I would feel contented with her as President. I don't know about him. He's inspiring, but then many people can do that. Even in a vacuum, they can inspire you, sort of. He doesn't know how rough it is. You know, all those things that she was saying about him, which everybody thought she was being mean-spirited and so on and exaggerating the perils of the Republican machine - she wasn't. These are dreadful people. You know, this isn't real politics. What you've got here is something - a war machine has been let loose on the world by Mr Bush and he's going to see to it that after he leaves office, the United States remains at war. And he set it up so that there'll be all kinds of things going wrong, all sorts of revenge to be taken. And I think, you know, what is it Tacitus said? "They made a desert and they called it peace."

VIRGINIA TRIOLI: The Democratic Party itself is charged with the very important task of knocking heads together, making this less of a mess, getting super delegates to pledge and the like. Why have they been seemingly standing on the corners, on the edges of this debate, ringing their hands?

GORE VIDAL: The Party machinery has not worked since 1945 which is when the United States conquered the world rather absent-mindedly, and we ended up with Japan, we ended up with Germany and we'd won everything there was worth winning in the world. Since then, there has been no plan, no brain to the party, Truman was the beginning of the end and he made - he started the Cold War. That's mostly his doing. And then you had a bunch of public relations people posing as the Republican Party. As bad as the Party is, it's not really quite as bad as these people like Karl Rove, that you may have heard of out there in the Pacific, who was a man who understood how to smear people. He was a merchant of slime. So, everybody was somewhat wounded by his long stay as the counsellor to George W. Bush. So, we are left with a kind of wrecked Republic. Bush saw to it, with his curious little Attorney General Mr Gonzalez. They left us with really no Bill of Rights any more, which means no Republic. And, we are sort of naked to the world now. And nothing can make any sense because everything is dislocated. Then they trot out McCain, a man who's only distinction is his plane was shot down. Well, many other people have had their plane shot down. He's introduced as a great hero and a great patriot. In a well run military - which we haven't had for quite some time, thanks to George Bush - in a well run military, he would have been court martialled for losing his plane and five years a prisoner, I'm weeping for him. Oh, God, how brave he was! Did he volunteer to be a prisoner? Who knows? He's a weird enough figure and all he can do is babble on and on a lot of nostrums that are just so dated. I mean, he sounds like cobwebs when he speaks.

To read the rest of his interview click here.

This should confirm

a lot of people's suspicions.


I have finally heard a politician give a direct, honest, concise, non evasive and believable answer. In response to a question from a journalist on our local radio station just a few minutes ago, a politician replied, "I wouldn't have a clue".

The Word from The Man

With the presence of Tibetan monks yesterday at the Olympic Torch relay, it got me thinking about the Dalai Lama, the fourteenth spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and his book The Art of Happiness. I thought I would reacquaint myself with its soothing messages which I have read and reread a lot over the years.

Now I've got to be honest, I didn't buy this book for any higher purpose such as delving into eastern philosophies. The real reason I bought the book was because I had a huge crush on Richard Gere for many years and, as everyone knows, the Dalai Lama and Rich are close....and that is where my thinking on the subject started and finished.

For those who want to know more about Tibet, its struggles with China and the Dalai Lama, watch this. Richard explains it so well.



Anyway, as it happens, I found the book full of good vibes and positive messages. His Holiness transcends cultural bias easily, which is perhaps what makes him such a powerful figure in our age.

This very eloquent man has some very simple answers to life's complex problems. And to be honest, if you are going to take advice from anyone then who better then a man decked out in bright orange robes and sandles.

So, while my crush on Richard eventually disappeared, my interest in the Dalai Lama, his books and his messages stayed strong. You don't have to be a Buddhist to appreciate his wisdom.

According to His Holiness "if you desire happiness you should seek the causes that give rise to it, and if you don't desire suffering, then what you should do is to ensure that the causes and conditions that give rise to it no longer arise."

Told you it was simple. In other words, life goes by too quickly so a wise soul should not walk in uncomfortable shoes. Basically we don't have to deny ourselves the more pleasurable of life's adventures. So, on that note, I am going for a ride in a hot air balloon on the weekend and have promised not to jump up and down...and turn happiness into suffering.

PS I just watched that video of Richard Gere (ok, maybe 3 times) and it appears that crush has come back again. The man has still got it going on........big time....

I See Red

everywhere

Today
one Olympic flame
a journey of harmony
a beautiful day
carnival atmosphere
20k of barricades
helicopters overhead

30 Chinese blue clad paramilitary flame attendants
80 Aussie torch bearers
a blanket of red Chinese Communist flags
10,000 loud pro Beijing supporters
500 pro Tibetan supporters
plus celebrity Buddhist k.d.lang
out swamped, out numbered, out voiced
10,000 bystanders watching, waiting
enormous media pack
500 police, costing $A2m
true democracy in action

Mainly peaceful, minor scuffles
7 arrests, no injuries
proud organisers,a big success
very symbolic, over and over

The flame intact, burning bright


Remind me again
What was the message?
I saw symbols today
Too many symbols
All too apparent

Building the great wall of China

in demountable form

I was driving towards our Parliament House this afternoon and noticed a lot of temporary barriers being put up along the roadway. I later learnt that the barricades are being erected to protect runners in Thursday's Olympic torch relay from as many as 20,000 protesters (pro China and pro Tibet). The entire 20 kilometre route is going to be fenced off from the public as the relay will pass some of the nation's most sensitive buildings, including Parliament House.

It is apparent that trouble is expected here in Australia's capital. There is a lot of talk that plain-clothes Chinese security officers will be infiltrating the crowd. In a bid to out number pro Tibet protestors, the press is also reporting that the Chinese embassy has hired more than 50 buses to bring in pro-Beijing protesters, offering free food for participants. A friend of mine in the Chinese community said the embassy was organising Chinese students to form a human wall behind the barricade.

It's going to be interesting what happens next Thursday given this is the only city in Australia the torch will be travelling through. I will be going to take a look and will let you know what happens. Let's hope democracy rules, peacefully....and that the pro-Beijing protesters realise that they would not be allowed to demonstrate in China....so no agitation is necessary here either...thank you very much.

See no evil, Speak no evil, Blog no evil

I was thinking today how great it is to be part of the blogging world and what a powerful way it is for so many people in so many countries from so many different walks of life to be able to have their say and share their opinions. I guess where I come from freedom of speech is something we take for granted.

I was still surprised to learn on the Reporters without Frontiers website that in 2007, 37 bloggers (internationally) were arrested, 21 were physically attacked and 2,676 websites were shut down or suspended. I thought the most danger you could get into as a Blogger was for Google to ignore you. I assumed that these bloggers must have been affiliated to mainstream media but I thought I would do some digging to find out more.

It just so happens that the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007 was released last week (featuring 169 countries). It seems that bloggers are now just as threatened as journalists in traditional media. And not just bloggers in war torn countries either.

As far as freedom of the press and where various countries rated, I was shocked at the results. For instance, Iceland was rated No 1, United Kingdom 24, Australia 28, United States 48 and Philippines 128. More predictable were the 20 countries at the bottom of the index, seven are Asian, five are African, four are in the Middle East, three are former Soviet republics and one is in the Americas. Click here for the full list.

Are you surprised where the UK, Australia and the USA rated? Then again, given our involvement in the Iraq War, why should I be shocked that government administrations wanted to have greater control over the media.

For those of us blogging away on the Internet and expressing our opinions left, right and centre, the following excerpt from a press release from Reporters without Borders is of interest,

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”

At least 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet. China maintains its leadership in this form of repression, with a total of 50 cyber-dissidents in prison. Eight are being held in Vietnam. A young man known as Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in Egypt for blog posts criticising the president and Islamist control of the country’s universities.

I know that over 70% of blogs out there are personal online journals. The most that we concern ourselves with is whether we may insult family or friends. I guess we should be mindful that our blogs have the potential to be seen by people all over the world. Some bloggers who live in countries in the lower half of the list have added concerns. Blogging is serious business after all and not just in terms of dollars and cents.

Perhaps I better give a few world leaders a break for a while.....just in case they slip down the list even more. We live in interesting times.

Bits n Pieces

Just a few things that piqued my interest this week.

1. Google goes dark - Google users would have noticed that they "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. How many of you out there heard the message?

2. The Pregnant Man - when I first heard of this I was hoping that this was going to start a trend as I think men should have equal opportunities to experience the delights we women share (just jesting you serious people). However it wasn't that straightforward after all - find out how it happened as reported on the Huffington Post.

3. Want to work out what volume of traffic your favourite sites get (or your competition for that matter)? Just go to Trafficestimate. com and key in whatever site you want to know about. It's kind of interesting and scary at the same time. For example, I checked a few of the 'big blogger' sites. The volume Perez Hilton gets is just astounding. Um, this site doesn't rate a mention, apparently my relatives don't bring me that much traffic.........

4. I know that you want to know how to find an easy way to cut your ferret's toenails or how to put a condom on properly or how to hide a key effectively or even how to have a beer in the shower without it getting wet. Seriously, along with these must haves, there is a lot of great information on a site called Instructionals - the world's biggest DIY and How to show & tell site . The site is not the most sophisticated of designs, but there are some useful tips on here if you are willing to search for them.

5. Well the week doesn't go past without lots of political stories which we now just shrug our shoulders about. However, there was one simple line of text that caught my eye and left me speechless. Vice President Dick 'Haliburton' Cheney was asked about the Iraq war US military casualty numbers which are now 4,000. He said that these soldiers were volunteers and knew the risks. Therefore, without saying it, does he want us to believe these deaths are acceptable because these soldiers 'volunteered' and therefore understood the consequences? I see it a bit differently. They were not aware of the real risks were they, because they were deceived. They were conned into protecting their countries with a whole bunch of lies. Many of these soldiers from low socio economic areas were enticed to go to War with the promises of great things and a whole bunch of slick marketing. They get to go to war to eat McDonalds plus risk their lives. Just like home

Cheney sounds like just another Sociopath to me. Seriously. If we cannot believe the Governments paid to serve us what hope is there in the World? He is excusing these deaths in the same way that - a murderer may say his victim is to blame because everyone knows the dangers in going out alone at night, or a rapist who says that his victim asked for it, or the Internet fraudster who says that his victim shouldn't have been hanging around the Internet believing his lies, or the abusive spouse who claims that their partner is to blame because they shouldn't express their opinion. Or the big corporate players who lie to their shareholders then claim the stakeholders should have known better when the company collapses. Sophisticated Con Artists that's all a core band of our politicians are. Preying on vulnerable people. No consciences. They are no different, in this context then any other criminal but a whole lot more evil because of the sheer global impact of their crimes. And yet they will not be the ones paying for their crimes. End of rant.

6. To finish up on a more positive note here are some highlights from the Best of China Fashion Week. All our clothes seem to be made in China these days so its good to know what they are designing for themselves. Not sure I have the figure that can wear these clothes but they certainly are different from the Paris catwalks and lots of fun. Click here

The Great Wall of China

The Great Fire Wall of China that is.

Meet China’s very cute “virtual police” who patrol the Internet to combat online pornography and other "illicit activity".

China has 30,000 virtual police and state owned Internet service providers who carry out online censorship in a way we could not even imagine. Their job is far more extensive than just censoring pornography.

In China, you are not allowed to look up bird flu on Google, search for an HIV AIDS support network on Facebook, search for religion on Wikipedia or access YouTube. Even trying to find this information could get you into trouble. Can you imagine?

And China, it seems, is far from the only country in which controlling information and opinion in cyberspace is pervasive. Based in Paris, where it's known as Reporters sans Frontieres, Reporters without Borders lists those nations considered to be among the worst "Internet enemies": Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Recent instances of online censorship in these countries include the total shutdown of the Internet in Burma during September's uprising to prevent dissidents from sending news to the outside world, Syria's block on Facebook in November and Iran's closure of 24 Internet cafes in December.

However, it is China that most often makes headlines for online censorship. The Chinese Government's latest attempt to control cyberspace was the January announcement that all video-sharing websites must have Government approval. Since February, only state-owned or controlled companies can gain a license to upload video content.

Because all ISPs in China are state-controlled and full identification must be shown at Internet cafes, those who try to look up blacklisted terms or websites can be identified. Access to those terms and sites fluctuate and the blacklist is not made public.

Since August last year there have been some cheerful little reminders about not looking at censored material: the cute animated "cybercops" shown above, trek across browsers every half hour. The official line is that it's to stop people looking at fraudulent or pornographic material but Amnesty International suggests "it's another reminder that the user is being monitored and they should be careful of all content they're looking at".

It is unlikely that the attention brought to Chinese censorship during August's Olympics will strike a fatal blow to the wall, as the government is expected to strategically relax Internet blocking in areas of Beijing frequented by foreign tourists and journalists during the games.

It surely is interesting.

Bits n Pieces

A few interesting bits n pieces I found this week were:

1. 2007 You Tube video awards for the following categories - funniest, creative, commentary, music, instructional, adorable, sports, short film, inspirational, politics, series, eyewitness. Check out the very clever nominees and winners.

2. This piece of research is VERY TIMELY for those who will be overindulging in chocolate tomorrow. Some scientists maintain you can be fat yet fit and healthy at the same time. In other words, jog and scoff chocolate at the same time.

3. Well last week's episode of South Park about Britney Spears certainly seemed to get people all anxious, but if you look carefully, they were not 'having a go' at Britney but more the vulchers who feed on celebrities. If you caught it, you saw Spears trying to get away from it all in the mountains near South Park when the boys had a run-in with her. Stan and Kyle got caught up in Britney’s celebrity and the never-ending feeding frenzy that follows her wherever she goes. In the end, a despairing Britney blasts her head off with a shotgun before being photographed to death. As the episode ended, we saw Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus becoming “the next big thing.” How ominous!!

4. On a more serious note, Obama got great applause for his speech which focused on the belief that "There is no Black America. There is no White America". I was therefore quite disturbed when I heard him on radio referring to his grandmother as a "typical white person" who fears black people. I think Obama has turned into his own SNL sketch.

5. Remember Paul McCartney's ex girlfriend from centuries ago, Jane Asher? Well, she has this very good website for all your cake decorating needs. I just love it. Check it out here.

6. Marc Jacobs has rolled out another ad featuring Victoria Beckham. I loved the first lot of ads but I am not sure about this one. I mean I have seen her in crazier clothes before but this one is a bit out there. What do you think - would it entice you to go out and buy something from Marc Jacobs?

7. Finally, you have got to love this adorable face (well I am hoping you do because this poor fella looks a bit like me when I wake up in the morning....before I apply the spacfilla)......

The Arghhhs and Ahhhhs of Life

An Arghhh Moment

What was meant to last 5 months has now lasted 5 years and resulted in the rather unpalatable and totally incomprehensible figures of:
nearly 4,000 military deaths USA, 175 deaths UK, 133 deaths other coalition
nearly 40,250 military wounded USA
nearly 150 self inflicted miliatary deaths USA
nearly 1,500 contractors killed
nearly 90,000 Iraqi civilian deaths
nearly 5,000,000 (35%) Iraqi children are orphans
nearly 4,000,000 Iraqi refugees
170 international journalists killed
4 soldiers missing or captured USA
5 post Iraq deaths caused by war injuries
For more details check out the statistics at icasualties.org

At a cost so far of $1.2 trillion ($7.1 billion a month -America), £16 billion (Britain) and countless many millions to the other coalition countries also involved. Done in order to find 0 weapons of mass destruction and 0 Iraq and Al Quaeda connections.

These number represent human beings. Think about those numbers. They will continue to grow and be replaced by others. Yet Bush says it was all necessary and the costs worthwhile. We have indeed paved the way to hell. Dear Mr President ........in the words of Pink, how do you sleep while the rest of us cry?

An Ahhhh Moment

Brad and Angelina are making the world a more attractive place one child at a time it seems......

They are reported to be having twins, a girl and a boy. This makes six children, three adopted and three from natural birth.

Regardless of what we may think about celebrities, Angelina has bought world attention to the plight of Iraqi refugees, who are very, very vulnerable people displaced in their own country because of the war.

It's all very well for us to now demand the withdrawal of troops and an end to the War but who cleans up the devastation and destruction left behind? It will not be a problem for the world leaders who made the decision to go to war. They will all, as soon as Bush leaves office in November, be sunning themselves in some far flung resort, patting themselves on the back for their gallant efforts and looking forward to their easy retirements. Other Government Administrations will have to come in and face the awful clean up job that will go on for many decades.

It's not about who is right or wrong anymore. It's been done. However, the wrong people are paying the price for others' mistakes. How do we cease the war just like that? How do we repair and rebuild communities and lives given the level of destruction? What are we doing to help the victims? The soldiers, the civilians, the orphans, the homeless?

Does anyone have any answers to the bloody mess that is?

What, now it's David Paterson too???

I am over it. I do not want to know about politicians sex lives any more unless it's causing harm to the citizens they represent or they are using public funds to pay for their jollies. We only need to know about this stuff if they break the law (and I don't mean God's law as that's a matter for them and whoever their God is. Besides, I doubt these guys concede that there is someone more powerful than they are anyway).

David Paterson, who succeeded Eliot Spitzer as governor of New York, has now come out and admitted his own history of extramarital relations. In this case, he and his wife Michelle admitted in a joint interview with the New York Daily News that they both were unfaithful over a two year period during a rocky patch in their 15 year marriage. But both denied the "sporadic rumour in Albany" that Paterson had fathered a love child. Gosh, why couldn't they have just have said they separated for a couple of years and reconciled? What is it, a badge of honour for politicians to 'come out' and confess all for fear of being 'outed'? Why don't we just hold an amnesty day where all politicians come forward and confess their sexual exploits to the media all in one go. A mass public confession.

This has been going on since the Kennedys, oh ok, probably since Lincoln for all I know. But at least in those days we didn't have it plastered over the media. Let's get some facts. How about we just assume that politicians are not really representative of the general population given their much greater narcissistic and, dare I say, sociopathic tendencies. It takes a certain type of person to get into these roles in the first place. We already know, that in Joe Public Land 60% of married men and 40% of married women have affairs. Yep, that's a well reported fact. Therefore, given the lifestyles that politicians have, and given their power base and narcissistic tendencies, it is highly likely that around 90% of them have affairs. Yes, you can quote me on this finely researched and statistically sound finding.

So politicians, I plead with you stop telling us about the bleeding obvious because you have either been found out or you are scared you are going to get found out. We already know on the Lilly Law of averages that you're all out there doing it for the good of the party, right? Building up social networks and all. Don't apologise to the public because we know you don't mean it anyway and we are not interested. Instead, focus on what you get paid to do and divulge your dirty secrets to the only people that matter, your families. And as for Rupert and his cohorts in the media, it's not like you can talk either. The lot of you are making yourselves look ridiculous and pathetic and you deserved to be mocked.

Personally I just want to bury my head in the sand and continue to read fairy tales of how life should be. I also hope that at least some of our politicians out there have the moral backbone and the common sense to keep their private lives behind closed doors where it belongs, far away from the maddening crowds.

Happy ever after...yes, that's what I want......except I bet that's what Silda thought too!

Junk Food for our Minds

Yesterday I saw an article in a newspaper about a 19 year old Texas teenager who will become only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor. She saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of trucks. After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, she ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away.

That's brave I thought before my eyes quickly glanced at the next headline about whether 26 year old Britney had split from her latest paparazzi boyfriend or how 48 year old Spitzer's downfall was creating a music career upswing for the call girl involved. All of it disposable news. All replaced by some other headlines in a few hours time. None of it I am sad to say meant a great deal to me. I feel numb to any news reports as though I am somehow removed from it all.

Late last night I thought some more about that young girl laying her body over wounded soldiers to protect them from gun fire. She is 19. That is heroic indeed. Not long finished high school. I thought about what I was doing when I was 19. The worst part of my day may have been that a finger nail broke, I had to study for a college exam or I didn't have a thing to wear out. Life was pretty carefree. This soldier is younger than my daughter.

Why do we become immune to the bad stuff? I know I have. Why aren't we marching in the streets given we know there was no valid reason to go to war and the world was lied to? A US military study has just officially acknowledged for the first time yesterday that Saddam Hussein had no direct ties to al-Qaida, undercutting the Bush administration's central case for war with Iraq. Why do we accept thousands of human beings with beating hearts just like ours are being used as cannon fodder, five years on? Are we just so over it all that familiarity breeds contempt?

I also just saw an email from a soldier in Iraq (although the internet has just been cut off so things can't be good there at the moment...),who cannot believe the range of food on offer in the camps. This is a war where soldiers get to eat Burger King, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Many soldiers gain more than 15 pounds on a deployment apparently. They are also seeing soldiers return from Iraq with higher cholesterol, mostly due to their eating habits. This is aside from any emotional issues they may have to deal with. How awfully civilised and well planned for the long haul it all seems. Seems like we are caring for them in every way we can. It is surreal. If the bullets don't kill them the junk food may. How disposable life is.

We live, to a large extent cocooned within our own worlds where all the hard facts are obscured, outsourced, offshored, prettied up or hidden away and locked down. Think about it. We fight all our wars over the horizon. We even tow our prisoners or even our refugees offshore. We outsource the care of our aged, frail and mentally ill. We do death and bereavement at a distance. We dispose of our waste where it's out of sight and hopefully out of mind. Then we get told what those in power want us to hear. And we believe it because we don't feel we have any options.

Then, when the truth is staring us in the face, we choose to make comfortable abstractions about all these tough facts of life, so they never really touch us. Well it's not ok to be comfortable and to rewrite history to help us sleep better at night. As my friend says, if you bury your head in the sand all others will see is an arse. We need to feel uncomfortable about what is going on around us. We need to clean up the junk we see, hear and taste.

This 19 year old teenager has really given me food for thought. Perhaps we all need to be just that much braver. It reminds me of a song I used to like in the 80s, I was only 19 by Aussie band Redgum. It's about the Vietnam War. No winners, ever.

What were you doing when you were 19? What are you going to do now?

Caught hooker, line and sinker

Did anyone watch New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's 'press confessional' and hope for a different outcome?

No, I didn't want him to resign exactly. Instead, I was willing his wife to drop her composure, push her pasty faced husband out of the way, grab the microphone and tell the world what she really thought of him.

While he was doing his best to be contrite for something he refused to confirm, (except we all know he was caught hiring expensive prostitutes in some illegal sex ring) his wife looked stoic, sad and in shock. Yet there she was, holding his hand and being supportive to the end.

Maybe she had already known about this for a while. This was, after all, a regular past time for Spitzer who evidently asked call girls to do things that 'were not safe'. My guess, from the look on her face, is that she did not know. Partners are often the last to know and the most easily fooled.

The issue is not that he was caught whooping it up with $4,000 a night prostitutes. It's the fact that this man, prided himself on his virtues and unyielding focus on corporate malfeasance. He made a lot of enemies in the process.

The federal investigation of the New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Spitzer's suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe he was hiding bribes. The suspicious financial activity was initially reported by a bank to the IRS which, under direction from the Justice Department, brought in the FBI's Public Corruption Squad. It was only months later that the IRS and the FBI determined that Spitzer wasn't hiding bribes but payments to a company called QAT, which prosecutors say is a prostitution operation operating under the name of the Emperors Club. An illegal sex ring.

Women in these situations should let their spouses face the music on their own. They don't need to give their husbands even a shred of credibility by standing strong, holding hands and parading before the press. Because, in doing so, they lose their own credibility. Gov. Spitzer wasn't thinking about his position, his wife or his children when he took the risks he took. Mrs Spitzer cannot win. You only have to look at message boards on the issue to see that people are either wondering, what is wrong with her that her husband has to look for it elsewhere, or, she deserves all she gets if she stays with him and doesn't kick his sorry ass to the side walk. The whole process just dumps more humiliation on his wife and daughters.

Gov. Spitzer was just lucky his wife didn't react in the same way as this well known Chinese journalist did. This you tube video shows her crashing a big Beijing Olympics press conference accusing her husband -- an even better-known Chinese broadcaster -- of having an affair. She dodges and weaves like a champion fighter, ducking and shaking off the security men who try to get her offstage. She still managed to say her piece in front of the world's press. However, her actions just forced the press to feel sorry for her husband. The next day's headlines spoke of her humiliating her stunned husband.

In a interview two years ago, Spitzer, then-attorney general, told ABC News he had some advice for people who break the law. "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need," he said. He should have also added, never keep bank records of purchases you don't want anyone to know about and never hire a prostitute who isn't deaf, dumb and blind. Did he really believe none of this would ever come out? Now, lets wait for the call girls to come forward with their intimate stories about their so called 'difficult' customer. I am sure the cheques are already in the mail. Along with his resignation.

I feel for you Mrs Spitzer I really do.

Jack & Hill

But are Jack's efforts going to stop Hillary from tumbling down......Capital Hill...