...And of course the even more stark reality, that of the total power and influence of propaganda, and the double-speak of the all-powerful political class.

All "official" histories (not just in Australia) are of course written by the winning sides. The sides that won the particular battle(s) in humankinds never-ending march of folly.
They are a combination of on the ground factual events, lies about the origins and consequences of those events, fantasies and jingoism.
Furthermore Western civilization as a whole was founded on religious lies, poltitical exploitation, and manipulative propaganda of all kinds.

Yes it is about time there was some honest history both here in Australia, and all over the world too.
In the case of Australia in recent times there has been enormous public resources committed into telling the "official" version of the Anzac myth/legend. A project that was put in place by the lying rodent and done largely via the Department of Veteran's Affairs.
What has financing and promoting "official" jingoistic versions of Australian military history (largely for schools) got to do with assisting with the very real and well earned/deserved needs of ex-servicemen and women?
Meanwhile in the context of "official" USA history I quite like this truth-telling site http://www.historyisaweapon.com
Howard Zinn of course served in the air-force during WWII, unlike all of the war-drum-thumping chicken hawks that gave us the never ending Orwellian "war on terror" as an already pre-planned response to Sept 11.

i agree with cheating keating

war is cccc-rap..ego based murder
good excuse..to rape pillage loot and plunder

one govt killing
the other govts youth problems

bankers FINANCED..EVERY WAR*
think about it..all that murder..to destroy
thats not productive..but it is capitalist..corporations/making profit for other shareholding corporations[no cooperation survive any war

ditto spying..thats about stealing patent
stealing factories..position/position..imposition

war booty=proceeds of crime
that has no statute limitations

teason..under times of war..is things
like bankers..bankrupting..the govt bank..top steal the mint the fed and the govt banks

[then loot their pensions
loot their..public services..corrupt govt..etc..

then bailouts/bail-ins..more wars
yep paul is spot on..[the latest time]

so was john lennon

think..who your fighting for..what f/u king..nor god
the land/cuntry..cant be taken..no where..[justice as well]

war is hell.

Interesting article, but:

I'm concerned about its concentration on What did WWI mean? and how the article seems totally-intellectually disconnected from the many Australian families wrecked by the deaths of their soldier fathers-sons-brothers or the wreckage following the return of the many more mentally and physically maimed.

In this way 100,000s of people around Australia suffered from the war. Such people might not give a stuff about symbolism, meaning or war memorials.

Who knows? The thoughts of these 100,000s never got reported and died in history.

Just official lines by ex-PMs and other ex-politicians - like Brendan Nelson - remain.

May the extravaganza of meaning industry bignote - next year, and big one 2015, out to 2018.

How about remembering the 10,000 Australian who died in the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919? or is that not officially funded history?
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/panflu/publishing.nsf/Content/history-1

Further to http://www.health.gov.au/internet/panflu/publishing.nsf/Content/history-1#1918 why isn't the following remembered with memorials and national days?:

"The Spanish flu swept across the world in three waves between 1918 and 1919

...More people died during the pandemic than were killed in the First World War."

Where does that leave politicians, official memories and purse-strings?

'What the Anzac legend did do, by the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, was reinforce our own cultural notions of independence, mateship and ingenuity.'

So did the WWI anti-war/anti-conscription movement, whose bravery and sacrifice prevented tens of thousands more Australian deaths on the killing fields of Europe, yet were hounded, persecuted, deported, jailed and by some accounts tortured for their efforts.

So did the labour movement, whose bravery and sacrifice brought us some of the most progressive and advanced working and social-welfare conditions in the world at that time, and were also hounded, persecuted, deported, jailed and by some accounts tortured for their efforts.

But the former has been officially disappeared from our history and the latter doesn't even have its own national day to commemorate itself and almost all of its achievements are now in their death throes.

But our military past relentlessly renews itself with ever-increasing taxpayer budgets devoted to ever-increasing, mawkish propandanda-fests devoted to its own self-glorification.

The main reason we don't learn from history is because we don't tell the truth about it.

<<So did the WWI anti-war/anti-conscription movement, whose bravery and sacrifice prevented tens of thousands more Australian deaths on the killing fields of Europe...>>

A classic a case of free-riding I'd say.

If hundreds of thousands hadn't gone off to fight (esp. in the second world war) I would imagine it would be a very different world today...I wouldn't envisage there would be any Killarney writing on any forum bemoaning the evils of the military-industrial complex and the (imagined) virtues of "progressive" politics. It'd be all origami, chanoyu and 1000 blessings to his imperial highness "Son of Heaven" in haiku every morning.

PS No disrespect intended to the wonderful people of Japan, any disrespect here is intended only for locally grown "progressives".

extracted/from
http://investmentwatchblog.com/metallic-money-goldsilver-vs-credit-money-know-the-difference/

14points deletted

..15..When the U.S. went off the gold standard in 1971, it changed the relationship between citizens and their government when government no longer provided that guarantee.

16. Defaulters are bad vs. defaulters are only partly bad. In a gold money system, a person who takes out a loan and does not repay it is considered a bad person, almost a thief. He has robbed his creditors of the money they were rightfully owed.

In a credit money system, however, the creation of new debt is so important that anyone who goes into debt is a hero of the economy.

That is why under a debt money system, it is considered more important that new debt be created (e.g., as student loans) than to worry about whether they will ever be paid back or to pin blame and guilt on loan defaulters.

Conclusion: As we see, it is no exaggeration to say that the transition from gold money to credit money changes everything.

It changes every individual’s relationship with his own money, with government, and with banks. It changes the power relationships within society. It changes the patterns of ownership and wealth accumulation.

It is very important that citizens and investors understand the credit money system that they are trying to operate within.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/metallic-money-goldsilver-vs-credit-money-know-the-difference/#4qeQsC48mQvsujH2.99

For people with over 2,500 years of experience with gold money, it is difficult to understand it and get used to it.

But anyone who does understand it will be better off because of making better-informed decisions. We might as well get used to it because we shall likely have to live with a credit money system for a very long time.

Thank you, Jeff, for an insightful and extremely important overview of the critical differences between credit money and gold/silver. The key distinction of all these important distinctions is the ephemeral nature of credit-money (and any form of fiat currency).

History teaches us that a financial-political crisis of sufficient magnitude reveals the underlying value of credit-money–i.e. zero–in a brief but cataclysmic loss of faith/trust.

As correspondent Harun I. observed in Why Is Debt the Source of Income Inequality and Serfdom?

It’s the Interest, Baby: “Governments cannot reduce their debt or deficits and central banks cannot taper. Equally, they cannot perpetually borrow exponentially more. This one last bubble cannot end (but it must).”

When the current bubble bursts, the difference between metallic money and credit money will be starkly visible: no one will trade gold or silver for any amount of paper/credit money, and the ephemeral financial instruments (“assets”) that dominate today’s financial system will be revealed for what they are: phantom promises of value.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/metallic-money-goldsilver-vs-credit-money-know-the-difference/#4qeQsC48mQvsujH2.99

let the ex treasurer..[who/gave away ourbank..explain]
or better kevi..who i told..about the right of seignorage.

yes..we missed the boat
first the queen..follows my advice
now obama..[see as sovereigns..ANYONE..has this right

Obama’s Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin

Ryan J. Reilly
huffingtonpost.com
December 3, 2013

The Obama administration was serious enough about manufacturing a high-value platinum coin to avert a congressional fight over the debt ceiling that it had its top lawyers draw up a memo laying out the legal case for such a move, The Huffington Post learned last week.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which functions as a sort of law firm for the president and provides him and executive branch agencies with authoritative legal advice, formally weighed in on the platinum coin option sometime since Obama took office, according to OLC’s recent response to HuffPost’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. While the letter acknowledged the existence of memos on the platinum coin option, OLC officials determined they were “not appropriate for discretionary release.”

HuffPost submitted the FOIA request when there was increased speculation about the use of the platinum coin option ahead of the debt ceiling crisis this fall. Under the compromise reached between the House and Senate following the government shutdown, the U.S. will hit the debt ceiling once again on Feb. 7, though the Treasury can use extraordinary measures to extend that deadline.

Supporters of the platinum coin option say that under a 1996 law allowing the Treasury Department to mint a platinum coin in any denomination, the president could order the manufacture of, say, a $1 trillion coin that would be deposited in the Federal Reserve. The Treasury Department would then use the platinum coin funds to meet government obligations without the need for Congress to grant any additional spending powers.

Read more

the good news is

http://www.infowars.com/trillion-dollar-coin-idea-to-save-the-economy/

http://www.infowars.com/if-obama-can-just-create-a-trillion-dollar-coin-then-why-do-we-have-to-pay-taxes/

no need to thank..me
it was my pleasure