Political Commentary: The Politics of Execution

General Interest, Opinion Piece, Political, , ,
execution
ˌɛksɪˈkjuːʃ(ə)n/
noun
  1. 1. 
    the carrying out of a plan, order, or course of action.
    “he was fascinated by the entire operation and its execution”
    synonyms: implementation, carrying out, accomplishment, performance, effecting, bringing off, bringing about, achievement, carrying off, carrying through, completion, enactment, enforcement, discharge, prosecution, engineering, attainment, realization, fulfilment; 

    perpetration
    “the execution of the plan”




  2. 2. 
    the carrying out of a sentence of death on a condemned person.
    “the execution of juveniles is prohibited by international law”
    synonyms: capital punishment, the death penalty, being put to death, killing; 

    the gibbet, the gallows, the noose, the rope, the scaffold, the guillotine, the firing squad; 
    the (electric) chair; 
    informalthe drop; 
    informalnecktie party; 
    historicalnoyade


It is a word that disgusts me. In fact, capital punishment of any description disgusts me.

Our two Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were transferred from Kerobokan prison to Nusakambangan island, in a wave of world punlicity yesterday morning,  where they are to be executed by firing squad. There is a huge amount of controversy surrounding these two men, so I will add my two dents worth. But my personal feelings can ge summed ip in a very simple statement – executing people achieves absolutely nothing! (http://www.eaplstudent.com/publications/controversies/does-the-death-penalty-reduce-crime).
And so now, just to prove how absolutely sadistic they are, the conjrctured carrying out of this execution this coming weekend, has been changed yet again with the statement from President Joko Widodo this morning that they might be waiting there on “Execution Island” for yet another week or more! Now try telling me that these two unfortunate men are not being used as a political football! Seems the Indonesian government and “judiciary” want to see just how much begging we will do! 

By no stretch of the imagination can it be ssid thst these two men have had a fair go through the Indonesian judicial system. There was a feeling right from the word go,10 years ago, that evetything involving their trial and sentencing was already preordained. The whole appeal process – if it can be called that – is no better. It would appear that the law is filtered to suit the occasion. They never really stood a chance in the face of stubborn, retaliatory sadism.

There is no denying their crimes. And the societal requirement to punish is justified. They have been in prison in Indonesia for 10 yesrs now, and in any  country where prison terms are the sentence of the court, they would probably be due for release,mor at least paroled. The true grist of this story is not about sentencing but the imposition of a sentence that in any civilised country – disregarding some backward stares in America – is unacceptable.

If the true conclusion of imprisonment is reform and rehabilitation, then the sentence imposed by the Indonesian court has achieved that aim. It could be said – though there is no way we are going to find out – that upon release these rwo men could toddle off to totally accepted and fulfilled lives as beneficial members of society! This being the outcome of their sentence, the question has to be asked – why are they being executed! It is supposedly to set an example – now on the world stage – of what happens when you break the law on this tiny group of islands caloed Indonesia. We tiny islands with big boot! Well, it doesn’t work that way! 

Amnesty International state that there are 5 reasons for abolishing the death penalty:

1. You can’t take it back

The death penalty is irreversible. Absolute judgments may lead to people paying for crimes they did not commit. Texas man Cameron Todd Willingham, for example, was found innocent after his 2004 execution.

2. It doesn’t deter criminals

In fact, evidence startlingly reveals the opposite! Twenty seven years after abolishing the death penalty, Canada saw a 44 per cent drop in murders across the country. And it wasn’t alone.

3. There’s no ‘humane’ way to kill

The 2006 execution of Angel Nieves Diaz, by a so-called ‘humane’ lethal injection, took 34 minutes and required two doses. Other methods of execution used around the world include hanging, shooting and beheading. The nature of these deaths only continues to perpetuate the cycle of violence and does not alleviate the pain already suffered by the victims’ family.

4. It makes a public spectacle of an individual’s death

Executions are often undertaken in an extremely public manner, with public hangings in Iran or live broadcasts of lethal injections in the US.

5. The death penalty is disappearing

Out of 198 countries around the world only 21 continue to use capital punishment. And while countries that carried out executions in 2011 did so at an alarming rate, those employing capital punishment have decreased by more than a third in the last decade. With this clear downward trend, public pressure may help persuade the world’s biggest executors China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the USA to stop.

There are countless arguments for and against the death penalty. In an imperfect world where we can never be sure we have ever got the “worst of the worst” is it ever justified to take a life?

And the answer to that question is……no!

I was watching one of many series I watch on Foxtel, called “The Killing”, which ended by someone – not totally proven guilty – being execured by hanging. Despite knowing it is acted, the whole process was very realistically acted, and quite heart-rending. There are actually people there to witness it happening, and one would think that after withessing such a horrific and barbaric act, one would become a strong advocate against the death penalty. 

If Indonesia think they are big-noting themselves on the world stage, well they are…but not in the right way. They could have exonerated these rwo men, saved their parents and loved ones a world of grief. Indonesia could join the civilised world and eliminate this dreadful punishment all togethet! There is more admiration for humanitarianism than barbarism! After 10 years of imprisonment, there would be a lot less controversy by paroling and releasing them, then alliwing them voluntary access to the prison to continue the rehabilitation programs that they themselves have set in place. Not only would this be seen as just and humane, it would be of continuing benefit to other prisoners.

Much has been said about how they are drug traffickers, and deserve this penalty as it will save lives. What a load of bullshit that is. These two deaths, along with a string of others caught for the same crime in IIndonesia, is not going to save one single, solitary life! A drug addict is a drug addict, and what they can’t get from one person they will get from another! End of story! Perhaps Indonesia needs to look in its own backyard first!

The world is holding its greath, and this is just what Indonesia wants! The end of this story is, I think, inevitable. I would love to be proven wrong!

Tim Alderman

(C) 2015

PS for anyone interested to read a history of capital punushment (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/history.html), and a further interesting article on why the death oenalty is slowly dying in America after a botched lethal injection (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/execution-of-clayton-lockett-and-the-flaws-of-lethal-injection-a-992359.html).

  1. 

Political Commentary: Good Government Starts Today…Not!

Article, General Interest, Opinion Piece, Political, , , , , , ,

Well, the spill didn’t rid us of the cause of our bad government, though with 40% of his backbench voting in favour of spilling him as PM, Tony Abbott has had a big shock…though I fear not big enough! Not only is he extremely unpopular with the voters – he jeeps insisting he was voted in as PM, when in fact it is his PARTY (LNP) that is voted in, and as leader he becomes PM by default – but a large portion of his own party don’t support him! It’s a fiasco of the highest degree!

To make it worse, his Cabinet (Frontbench) have supported him, though in some cases, I would say, reluctantly! If there had been a vote in favour of the spill, it would have been interesting to see who would have pushed him into his grave – where he is toppling anyway – and taken over as PM”. So, we are stuck with an idealistic, ineffective, and unpopular PM, likewise for Treasurer, likewise for Education minister, likewise for Health minister, likewise for Immigration minister, and likewise for Welfare minister! Makes you wonder, doesn’t it! Philip Ruddock, a long serving Liberal minister going back to the Howard era, and who did nothing to halt the spill motion has suddenly been “retired” as party whip. Has Abbott seen him as a turncoat?

Despite not having the numbers to create the spill, it is touted that Abbott will not be around for a lot longer. His inability to be likeable, his low ranking in the polls, the voter backlash against him and his government, his inability to get the budget through the senate without either watering down policies, or dropping them altogether, the lack if support from his own backbench, and accusations of his lack of accessibility to his ministers, and giving his Chief of Staff, Peta Credlin, too much authority are pretty much sounding his death knell. It is being touted that the damage is so bad that this will be yet another one-term LNP government. Pass the poison chalice, please! “Captains calls”, as Abbott likes to describe any motion he independently puts forward ,without advice from his colleagues, have been nothing short of disastrous! Captains calls on the Medicare rebate (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-20/shelving-medicare-rebate-cut-not-captains-call-abbott/6028376), the absolutely ludicrous granting if a knighthood to Prince Phillip – not to mention the actual reintroduction of this antiquated system of honours – which was both farcical and embarrassing (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/newspapers-nationwide-condemn-tony-abbotts-captains-call-20150127-12yrzy.html), a “phantom” call on Renewable Energy Targets – considering how much international stick he has received on dumping the Carbon Tax, which nit only worked, but brought in revenue (http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/labor-accuses-abbott-of-phantom-captains-call-on-renewables), and the absolutely absurd news today that he wanted to commit 3,500 Australian troops on the ground in Syria to stop ISOS advance, without the combined aid of NATO and US forces, which would have been disastrous for the Australian troops (http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/report-reveals-tony-abbott-suggested-a-solo-austra/ab72fdc7-babf-41f7-84da-ee887b87dec9.htm). Please note: this man is currently “running” our country!

Of course, we can add to this his rude and unjust attack on a report into our abuse of the rights of asylum seekers in detention centres released by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Gillian Trigg, which caused a flood of controversy (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-21/bradley-triggs-and-human-rights-why-attacking-her-is-wrong/6030256) and so it goes on.

After a week of supposed “good government” (Heaven knows what we have had since his election!), Lyn Bender, a freelance writer, wrote a piece comparing Abbott’s blunders to what Sigmund Freud (she is a psychologist herself) would have to say about them. It is humorous….but also revealing;

“1. The suppository of wisdom

“No one – however smart, however well-educated, however experienced – is the suppository of all wisdom.”
Sigmund says: I am totally fixated at the anal stage.

2. Good government starts today

“All of us are determined to lift our game and the fundamental point I make is that the solution to all of these things is good Government, and good Government starts today.”
Sigmund says: My Government has been total crap until now.

3.“We are not the Labor Party”

“I want to make this very simple point: we are not the Labor Party, we are not the Labor Party and we are not going to repeat the chaos and the instability of the Labor years.”
Sigmund says: We don’t have a clue who we are, but we are not them and anything bad is all their fault.

4.Tony Abbott’s “knightmare”

Tony Abbott awards a knighthood to Prince Phillip on Australia Day.

Sigmund says: Australia is a British colony and I am a proud Englishman; I prefer the last century – or, better still, the one before – and want to go back there.

5. The Minister for Women and the carbon tax

“… as many of us know,women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550-a-year benefit for the average family.”
Sigmund says: Women’s place is in the home – shopping, cooking and ironing their man’s shirts – while men go out and run the world. And stuff the environment.

6. Prime minister for Aboriginal Affairs

“It is my hope that I could be, not just a prime minister, but a prime minister for Aboriginal Affairs. The first I imagine that we have ever had.”
On the morning of the spill, Abbott ignored the “Freedom Summit” of Indigenous people camped outside Parliament – as did the media – as he strode off to fight the spill. He paid no attention to the Aboriginal grandmothers protesting increasing rates of child removal.

Sigmund says: I said what I said to become prime minister — I’d sell my arse to be PM! The fate of Indigenous people means nothing to me in comparison to remaining in power. Their problems are not my problem.

7. No guilt about children in detention

Responding angrily to a damning Human Rights Commission report on the damage done by Australia to children in detention, Abbott declared:

“I reckon that the Human Rights Commission ought to be sending a note of congratulations to Scott Morrison saying ‘Well done mate because your actions have been very good for the human rights and the human flourishing of thousands of people’.”
When asked if he felt any guilt over the horrifying findings in the AHRC report, including the heartbreaking pictures of young children in locked confinement, Abbott replied: “None whatsoever.”

In fact, said Abbott, it was the Human Rights Commission that should be “ashamed of itself”.

Sigmund says: Thus spake the narcissist, in deep denial, projecting his feelings of guilt and shame.

Repressed denied impulses can break out, in spite of attempts to suppress them. That is why Tony Abbott keeps accidentally showing his true colours despite all his protestations.

The Liberal Party can now barely contain its rebellion, even as it protests its unity. The Party doesn’t need a facelift — it needs a heart transplant, writes columnist Waleed Aly.

Tony Abbott has revealed himself to be self-centred, cruel, mean, petty and concerned only with his own survival.

But he now claims to have changed, overnight. He has declared that the spill motion experience has been a chastening experience and that he has learned and is listening.

But his subsequent actions – such as blaming the Opposition for a jobs “holocaust” and using parliamentary privilege to politicise and prejudice an alleged terror attack investigation – show this up for the lie that, of course, it was always going to be:”

(https://mobile.twitter.com/lynestel)

After the sacking of Philip Ruddock as Chief Party Whip, Bob Ellis from the Independent Australia had the following to say on what nows seems the rapid demise of Abbott as PM

“With Tony Abbott sacking Philip Ruddock as Liberal Party chief whip yesterday, it is certain Tony Abbott has weeks, not months, left in the top job, says Bob Ellis.

In his film of Richard III, Laurence Olivier, felled by arrows, writhes and twitches on the ground while Richmond’s soldiers jeer him. Tony Abbott is now in a similar twitching and writhing.

The numbers on Monday doomed him, but the Ruddock sacking brought forward the day of his execution. It may occur, now, before Chan and Sukumaran’s, in ten or 11 days’ time.

What is going on in the Prime Minister’s head? If the sneered response “brain damage” can be discarded – and maybe it can’t – it has to be to do with his Catholic upbringing and the consequent abiding habits of mind.

Under Catholicism, you ‘wipe the slate clean’ by Confession, and a number of Hail Marys, and all is well. You admit, with words, your sin, and expiate your sin with words and are then, being cleansed, allowed to sin again.

And to Tony Abbott, the words matter, only the words matter, and the deeds that follow can contradict them.

There will be “no more captain’s picks”; yet the meeting was brought forward, Credlin retained and Ruddock removed. He said “good government starts today”, and a shambles ensues. It is revealed that child abuse occurred on Christmas Island, and like the Catholic church, he denies it, says he feels no guilt “whatsoever” and proposes to martyr Gillian Triggs for unveiling the truth: suicidal children, buggered by their guardians and bashed for talking about it.

And now we see Ruddock, past hero of ‘border protection’, auteur of the 2001 win, sacked.

It was almost certainly to do with his expression, and body language, when he revealed on Sunday it was Abbott, not he, who had brought the meeting forward, and it was, though he did not say is, a ‘captain’s call’.

It is likely now that Turnbull has about 47 votes, and five or six more will come across by the middle of next week.

And another spill vote will be put the following Monday, or Tuesday, or Thursday.

And Abbott and Hockey will go to the back bench and an early election occur, if the poll numbers surge, and they will, towards Turnbull, around Anzac Day, on April 30 perhaps; or soon after a well-crafted Budget comes down, and the Coalition’s numbers reach 49.

It is certain now Abbott has weeks, not months. He has tried the patience again of those who doubted him already and lost their regard forever. And now he is done and finished.

And writhing on the battleground.

(https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott-the-termination,7371)

The Sydney Morning Herald summed it up very nicely in this piece from the 15th February 2015

“That being said, Abbott’s ploy makes good political sense: in the face of terrible polling, rising unemployment, slowing growth, parliamentary incompetence and internal discord, the only card Abbott can play is the one marked “I’m keeping you safe from the scary things!”

The message ends with an assurance that part of that safety hinges on the successful passage of the government’s still-unpassed suite of laws forcing internet service providers to retain information on what their users do online – which, as attorney-general George Brandis has made clear, is an unfortunate but necessary step for our national security.

And to be fair, he’s half right: it’s definitely unfortunate. Luckily, it’s also definitely not necessary!”

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/view-from-the-street-tony-abbott-declares-no-more-mr-nice-guy-20150215-13fa8y.html?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn%3Afac-13omn1676-edtrl-other%3Annn-17%2F02%2F2014-edtrs_socialshare-all-nnn-nnn-vars-o

But there us worse to come yet with the potential signing of the TPP – Trans Pacific Partnership, which will, inevitably, prove disastrous for Australian business, manufacturers and consumers as the big countries boss us around. There us currently a big hue & cry over it (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-25/multi-lateral-trade-deal-inches-closer-with-sydney-meeting/5840762).

Details if the trade agreement have been kept secret from the Australian public, and The Greens have raised the issue in the Senate and requested the papers be made available for scrutiny (http://peter-whish-wilson.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/greens-continue-seek-end-secrecy-over-china-free-trade-deal)

So, I have waited two weeks for good government to start. It hasn’t! Nor, in my opinion, will it! We have a dud PM, and a good-as-dead government! Flogging a dead horse will not save it! It’s time for the voters to say enough is enough! Call another election and let true good government rule!

Tim Alderman
(C) 2015

P.S. Cartoons are too numerous to count, but here is an example:

IMG_3810

If you put lipstick on a pig it is still a pig.

IMG_3812

IMG_3811

Political Commentary: The Spill

Article, General Interest, Opinion Piece, Political, , , , , ,

I always try to keep politics out of my blog – considering religion and sex are there, a bit pointless really – but considering the current circus in both Stare and Federal politics in Australia, it is impossible to remain indifferent. Also, as a writer, it frustrates me to have articles in my head that are not being committed to hard-copy.

So a run-down on current events. The conservative right-wing LNP(Liberal National Party) have been ousted in both Victoria and Queensland recently, and are pretty well on the nose in other stares, and likely to be voted out at the next elections held. The Federal LNP government is in total disarray at the moment. It is a mess that is slowly being cleaned up, and the lessons learned are many!

Australia tends to be a bit of a laconic country, the people easy-going, not tending towards great political experiments, but rather politicians who will just do what they are supposed to do…run the country without corruption or ridicule, with fairness and equity for all. The era of “the fair go for all” is not over yet! In my own state of Queensland, this hope of fair, equitable government was destroyed by the recently ousted Newman government, headed by Premier Campbell “Can Do” Newman, who swept into power three years ago on a massive swing against the Labor government that effectively left us without an opposition party, opening the doors to excess and self-indulgent government in the LNP almost unparalleled. One of their first actions – granting themselves massive pay increases, while regaling us with tales of what an economic mess the state was in. This was followed up – not in order – by destroying both health and education systems, trying to force doctors onto contracts, the disassembling of sexual health clinics, disability services, cuts to arts funding, withdrawal of funding to support services, the instigation of new laws without consultation, the dismantling of the state corruption watchdog, increasing police powers, proposed legislation to allow mining near our protected Great Barrier Reef, proposed dredging in the reefs to allow ships to cross the reef, and the promised drop in our electricity bills that never happened etc etc.The list goes on and on! However, the sale (jokingly referred to as renting out) of our public assets was the straw that broke the camels back! The Premier himself was an arrogant, bullying man, full of his own self-importance. Three years was enough. We gave them a hammering two weeks ago that it will take them a long time to forget. His party not only lost power, he lost his own seat of Ashgrove. An instance if kharma at work! The second one-term government to be flushed down the toilet!

The political landscape has changed. Once upon a time we gave a governing party – irrespective of what doubts we may have had – two, even three, terms to get it right. Not any more! We are all so aware of the bullshit now, that all politicians are tarred with the same brush, they never keep their promises, and they are not to be trusted! But then, we have the two-party-preferred model here, and it is rapidly proving ineffective!

So the current circus with our Federal LNP government in Canberra comes as no shock to us! Also coming into power – by a VERY small majority – after a backlash against our Rudd/Guillard/Rudd Prime Ministerial fiasco (whereby our OM changed three times in six years due to party infighting and power-mongering, and as the result of some badly to instituted policies early on after their election, due to a rush to fulfill their electoral promises. Kevin Rudd himself, though popular, was a bad choice as PM, as he loved to micro-manage, and took more portfolios upon himself than he could manage. He also liked to spend a lot of time outside the country! Julia Guillard was a hard, pragmatic woman who stood up for herself against misogyny, and an unbreakable glass ceiling) has proven himself the class clown – though on an international stage! Being leader of the opposition for a long time, he has always been hungry for the position, and having been handed it on a silver platter, he is not willing to let it go. An ultra-conservative right-winger, a Roman Catholic, a climate change denier, anti-social justice, misogynist, a follower and idoliser of the philosophies of the (nut case) B.A. Santamaria, inept, stumbling and mumbling his Speedo-clad torso from one – embarrassing disaster to another on the world stage, disliked and alienated by other world leaders (who else could have a G20 Conference for world leaders in his own country, and in his opening address complain about local policy issues that are just that…local!) he has managed to lead his Cabinet (consisting of one woman, while making himself Minister For Women) and backbench almost back to the 1950s, an era he feels very comfortable in.

So far they have managed to disassemble our Carbon Tax policy (despite the fact it worked), our Mining Tax policy (pleasing no one except mining companies), we have no Minister for Science, no Minister for ageing or Disabilities. Funding has been slashed to the CSIRO (our internationally recognised science and research institute), our public broadcasters the ABC & SBS, funding to arts and cultural groups, medical and educational funding etc etc. in their first budget, they tried to dismantle Medicare (our “free” health care system that is actually funded through an income tax levy) by introducing a $7 GP co-payment, increasing costs of PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which gives us subsidised medicines), decreasing pensions (thus leaving many in dire poverty), changing how Centrelink and the dole works, the proposed deregulation of university fees (opening the doors to students loading themselves with $100,000 degrees and huge, unpayable HECS debts), a Paid Parental Leave Scheme tagged as welfare for the wealthy, unsustainable child-care costs, the supposed Stop-the-Boats…Operation Sovereign Borders policies, which has seen us treat asylum seekers like third world “illegal immigrants” and again the list goes on and on. Most of this stupidity has been stopped by a strong opposition and cross-bench. Their pandering to mining and big business has been truly out of control! Of most recent repute are Abbott’s reintroduction of knighthoods (the cause of much hilarity online), and his ludicrous, humiliating granting of an Australian knighthood to Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh! Talk about breaking the camels back! In the face of a neverending string of farces that have reflected badly on all of us, there has finally been a backbench revolt. In recent polls, the Labor party lead (in two-party preferred) 57 to 43. As preferred PM, Bill Shorten (the Labor leader) leads by 44/27. This could not be worst for the LNP government, so a change of PM and Cabinet is strongly on the cards!

Though that it will make any difference in the polls…I doubt it! Even if he wins the spill, his name is still mud, and it is highly unlikely he will go into the next election as PM. And whether they like to admit it or not, they are highly likely to be our next one-term government. I have never seen a worst performing PM, or government, in all my 43 years as a voter! I have never seen Australia more abused or humiliated, our reputation for equality and fairness in tatters, our belief in looking after those less able – low-income, homeless, disabled, elderly, indigenous – badly eroded, our cost-of-living rising while all the time – 18-months into their election – the LNP still like to bleat on about it all being Labor’s fault, that the national deficit is all Labor’s fault despite the LNP having more than doubled it. There us one thing they have taught us for sure – when it comes to fixing budgets, you make the elderly, disabled and low-incomed pay your way out of it, as the upper and of town – banking, big corporations – and mining companies get richer and richer. A car industry…we no longer have one! Whatever they choose to do, it is never going to put money in my pocket!

So bring on the spill, though what we really need is not a change of PM, but a change of government!

Tim Alderman
(C) 2015

IMG_3311

IMG_3313

IMG_3316

IMG_3314

IMG_3315

IMG_3312

Australian Icons:The Ferocious Australian Drop Bear

Article, General Interest, History, Humour, Travelogue, , , , ,

phascolarctos malum or Thylarctos plummetus, depending on what area they are from.

According to Wikipedia (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_bear) “A dropbear or drop bear is a fictitious Australian marsupial.[1] Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large, vicious, carnivorous marsupials related to koalas (although the koala is not a bear) that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above.[2][3] They are an example of local lore intended to frighten and confuse outsiders and amuse locals, similar to the jackalope, hoop snake, wild haggis or snipe.

Various methods suggested to deter drop bear attacks include placing forks in the hair, having Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears or in the armpits, urinating on oneself, and only speaking English in an Australian accent.”

I have never really looked into the lore behind our local super marsupial…the drop bear. However, this morning – it being Australia Day here – I jokingly made a reference to them in a Facebook post, saying to be careful, as I had seen them heading into the bush with a slab (carton of beer). Then my writer instinct kicked in, and I wondered just how had this mythology around the drop bear started, and just how ingrained into our iconology had it become.

Us Aussies find the whole tourist scare “campaign” about drop bears hilarious. I have a friend – an Australian – who lives in NYC and has a lot of American friends. He gets great delight out of scaring them to death, relating stories about the dangers of drop bears if touristing here, backed up with comments from us over here. I tend to wonder about the gullibility of people.

The wonderful thing about the drop bear myth is how it has come to be backed up with some pretty credible research from believable organisations and publications. It would seem that everyone wants to be in on the joke. This from the Australian Museum:

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Drop-Bear

If ever there was an institution to give legitimacy to a subject, anything with the word “museum” in it would be right up there. Also, some “serious” research work from the “Australian Geographic”:

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/03/drop-bears-target-tourists,-study-says/

The research, done in a NSW drop bear Hot-Spot, has found that talking with an Australian accent helps keep them at bay.

Needless to say, spoof sights for drop bears have cropped up as well, and one has to wonder just how many overseas tourists have clicked on this link and booked a Drop Bear Adventure. Too funny.

http://www.dropbearadventures.com.au/drop-bear/

And this from Buzzfeed:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/cconnelly/10-terrifying-facts-about-the-australian-dropbear-s3x

There are also three apps to play games of Drop Bear.

Drop Bears are a great example not only of the often perverse Australian sense of humour, but is one of our endearing qualities…not taking ourselves too seriously, and liking to laugh at ourselves.

This link has someone even creating a history for them:

https://picsandstuff.wordpress.com/tag/drop-bear/

But perhaps more than anything is the proliferation of photos and graphics that depict drop bears. You can never say Australians don’t have a sense of humour!

2015/01/img_3136.jpg

2015/01/img_3134.jpg

2015/01/img_3135.jpg

2015/01/img_3138.png

2015/01/img_3139.jpg

2015/01/img_3140.jpg

2015/01/img_3141.jpg

2015/01/img_3142.jpg

2015/01/img_3143.jpg

2015/01/img_3145.jpg

2015/01/img_3144.jpg

2015/01/img_3147.jpg

2015/01/img_3146.gif

2015/01/img_3148.jpg

2015/01/img_3151.jpg

2015/01/img_3153.jpg

2015/01/img_3149.jpg

2015/01/img_3150.png

2015/01/img_3152.jpg

2015/01/img_3154.jpg

2015/01/img_3155.jpg

2015/01/img_3157.jpg

2015/01/img_3156.jpg

2015/01/img_3158.png

2015/01/img_3163.jpg

2015/01/img_3161.jpg

2015/01/img_3162.jpg

2015/01/img_3160.jpg

2015/01/img_3159.jpg

Tim Alderman
(C) 2015

Daily (Or When The Mood Takes Me) Gripe: The Great Australian Cliche!

General Interest, Opinion Piece, , , , ,

I have nothing against Australia Day! I am very thankful that my ancestors decided to risk life and limb to get here by boat in the mid1800s, and the couple of convicts that have turned up in the family tree. I also empathise with the Indigenous Aborigines that the first settlement landings were an invasion that impacted greatly on their lifestyles and tribal systems. However, there is little I can do about that now, as here we are, and here we stay. So maybe it is just a matter of everyone agreeing that yes, these things happened, and moving on, albeit to separate ways of commemoration.

I live in one of the world’s most livable countries. We are financially sound, have low unemployment, great social welfare and medical systems. We were, until our current government – who will not be around much longer hopefully – the envy of the world! But we still have our “cringe” factor, though it is no longer a convict ancestry!

In fact, none of it is even Australian made. Our new “cringe” is an over-abundance of flag, and flag-inspired accessories and accoutrement. It is people wearing flag tee-shirts and boardshorts, almost undoubtedly with polyester Aussie flag boxer shorts underneath, topped with a Daily Telegraph (how hypocritical) free-with-every-newspaper flag bucket hat on their head, sitting under a flag umbrella, with a flag tablecloth, eating off flag paper plates, and wiping their mouths with flag paper serviettes. Their kids will be running around in identical outfits, with the addition of flag thongs, and waving made-in-Asia flags. In fact…it is all made in Asia. How perseveres these Asian manufacturers must think we are! Out in the ‘burbs, young etHnic boys, thinking they are showing off their Australianism, will be wearing the flag as a cloak, and clutching their Australia flag towels as they head off to the beach. It is all so kitsch…and cliche! Is this what being an Aussie has been reduced to! And to not do it!…well…that is just “unAustralian”!

No, I don’t hate the flag! I’m not overly keen on that little bit of Britain in the left top corner (in heraldry, known as thecanton), but that will be changed soon enough! I don’t object to people lining the routes for Australia Day parades, or watching the evening fireworks waving their little hand held (Asian-made) Aussie flags…though in all truthfulness I would rather see both the Australian and the Aboriginal flags together, as a show of respect and unity. It is the cheap commercialisation, the shoddy disregard and outright disrespect for the flag that I object to. To reduce it to an article of clothing, or an implement to slap some over-cooked steak and sausages on is, to my thinking, untenable!

I don’t even like people flying the Australian flag outside their homes. In my experience, those that are loudest about their patriotism are also the ones who are loudest about racism, discrimination, sexism, stigmatisation, prejudice, intolerance and racial “purity”…as if being a bogan – which they are – is something the majority of us aspire to. I remember an Australia Day street party held on the kerb outside a good friends home about 12 years ago. My friend was so glad that myself and my partner – male – turned up, as her next door neighbour was a bigot and homophobe. He was the only one there flapping a huge Aussie flag around. Yoboism is alive and well, though the yobo generation will soon have died out as well.

Whatever happened to quiet, fair patriotism? When did being an Australian – meaning someone who promoted a fair go for all, standing up for the poor, the oppressed, those suffering injustice, those being stigmatised and hated, – stop? Since when did we start to hide our compassion under an over-blown guise of patriotism? Did we learn nothing from Woomera, from Cronulla, from Manus Island? Being an Australian is not about waving flags, or purchasing over-priced supposedly patriotic products – dumped into the shopping trolley along with everything else – from your local supermarket! It is not about draping yourself in flags and dragging them through the dirt! It is an attitude, an innate “feeling” of belonging to something great! It is saying “no” to those robbing us of our freedoms, it is standing up for other peoples rights, fighting prejudice and intolerance! It is allowing everyone a “fair go”, fighting the hypocrisy of bad government, giving everyone the same rights as you expect for yourself! It is inviting your neighbour in, irrespective of colour, race, religion or sexuality! It is saying to them…welcome, and I respect you, and trust that our diversity will help us grow. It is throwing three-word-slogans to the fires of ignorance.

That is the Australia I want! Not the cliche! Not the yobo or bogan!

This Australia Day…pull it back a bit, willya! And have a great day!

Tim Alderman (C) 2015

2015/01/img_3092.jpg

Destroyed (or Almost) Icons: The Sad Life and Demise of a Majestic Cinema.

Article, General Interest, History, , , ,

What a sad story on the life of what was a majestic cinema. The old Mecca cinema in Kogarah, New South Wales, which was affiliated to the Mecca cinema (originally The Savoy) in Hurstville, New South Wales.

I used to go the beautiful Savoy cinema in Hurstville, as I’m sure my cousins Donna and Jeffrey would have done, as they wereliving in Riverwood at the time. My father moved us to Ocean St in Kogarah – the ugly apartment building is still there on the corner – in 1966, and I went to the Mecca there to see movies. In fact, I had a dispute with the ticket-seller on one occasion, after the new decimal currency had been introduced, and some of the coinage…I can’t remember which – had a double value until the coins went out of circulation. As a business they took the coins at the lower value. As a consumer I took them at the higher, and by law they had to take the coins at the higher value. She was trying to tell me I didn’t have enough for the ticket, and I was arguing that my handful of mixed currency was enough -to the cent/penny. I won! Lol

http://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2014/09/29/mecca-theatreresidential-kogarah-nsw/
That the two cinemas ended up in the hands of a “cinema Paedophile – follow the links from the first story – is indeed disturbing, though in a way adds to the colourful history of the cinemas.
Originally The Savoy in Hurstville – which became The Mecca – shows the very sad demise of the Grand Dames of Art Deco cinemas as the advent of television put a temporary halt – or rather a slowing – on cinema audiences. This was the Savoy on its opening night in 1937…

http://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2014/07/29/opening-night-at-the-hurstville-savoy-1937/
And this, sadly, is what it became…

http://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2015/01/22/intencitytarget-hurstville-nsw/
Just as an aside, right next to my home in Samford Rd, Gaythorne, there is a building that used to be a Civic cinema, but which is now a row of nearly all “For Lease” business premises. Another sad loss.

2015/01/img_3056.jpg

Tim Alderman (C) 2015

2015/01/img_3055.jpg

Unrequited (To Paul)

Poetry, , ,

Love
In its many incarnations,
Has led us both down different roads
And has now separated us yet again,
Though this time you are far away.
I remember fondly the years we spent together,
The sex, the holding each other tight
And smile gently as I remember
The look in your eyes whenever we met when out.
And that night so far away now
Before another love held my sway,
When you stared so hard into my eyes
And then just turned and walked away.
You knew then that I loved you.
Through all our other relationships
This love has never died,
And as often as I managed to tell you
Time was not to be kind to us,
And apart we are always to be.
But I still wonder, as I lay in bed at night
What would be the way
If suddenly you should reappear
And the love that, though not lost
Is rekindled to its passion.
Could I bear it yet again?
To be separated from you
Knowing that what we had
Should have been.
And only us, caught up in other lives
Denied what should have been.
Paul, I still love you
You are the unrequited love of my life,

Tim Alderman
(C) 2002

2015/01/img_2966.jpg

Bodies

Poetry, , , ,

This poem contains strong gay sexual content.
Please DO NOT READ IF SEXUAL CONTENT OFFENDS

If you are not offended the password is 4590.

Your thrusting flesh inside me
I sigh
The pleasure only for me
Your mouth all over my body
I moan
Sweat pores down over shiny skin
Hair drips on face
Testosterone aroma pervades the air
You sigh
I pummel into your body
I suck the love from you
You moan
Together in unison we cum
An ecstatic explosion of sex and pleasure
Lust
Desire
Power
Male to male
As one.

Tim Alderman
Copyright ©2001

2015/01/img_2803.jpg

Poem

Poetry, , , , ,

Metre and rhyme
So they teach
Is how the poem goes
Pentamic ways of old
Cat rhymes with bat
Love rhymes with dove
Aardvark rhymes with…..
Don’t write verse about
Aardvarks

Long short short
Short short metre of old
Dactylic hexameters…what the!
Classic poems of old
Lambic pentameter
Vedic and Sanskrit metre
Hendecasyllable which rhymes
With nothing

Lines and half lines
Stressed/unstressed
Ceasura…what the!
Trochaic, Spondaic,
Anapestic, Amphibrachic,
Pyrrhic
More like diseases than verse
All this to say
This is how I feel
This is today.

Lost in laws of language
Taught as days of old
All these strictures
All this binding
To confuse, confound
I choose to ignore
Refuse to conform
Free-form
As the words come
Commitment to paper
True from the heart
Unrhymed, unmetred
Fuck you I say
While thinking
Fuck rhymes with duck

Tim Alderman
(C) 2014

2015/01/img_2502.jpg