I will respond, in a general way, to the interesting posts so far on my essay. Recall its origin – I was invited by OLO to comment on the September featured topic “What creeds should we hold in common?. Is being Australian a feature of your geographical location, your genealogy or your culture?”. That brief invited an honest autobiographical approach – subject to the discipline of less than 1800 words. - about the stages so far in my life as an Australian, and where I am going now. I’m glad some people appreciated the frankness.

To those who thought I was being preachy, I assure you that I value Australian pluralism, our freedom to practice any religion or none at all. And I value our multiculturalism, also a red-rag word to some. On this, some correspondents just don’t know Australian history – to look back to some sort of imagined golden age of a homogeneous culture here before the Muslim/ Asian/non-Angloceltic migrants started coming here - take your pick on where you want to draw your particular discriminatory line in the sand – is a misreading of our social history, which has always involved conflict and accomodation between groups in tension.

On morality in politics, it seems to me that most politics these days – the issues that most matter – are moral issues: global warming, dealing with peak oil, surviving “work choices”, defending human rights under the contrived “War on Terror”, decent reception of asylum-seekers, are all moral issues, and they are all actually interlinked. The Politics of Fear (cf. Carmen Lawrence’s important new book) are designed to to anaesthetise our consciences on these issues. We have to oppose that. People of goodwill can come together to work for a better Australia, whether we are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian or of no religion at all – it doesn’t matter, we are all Australians. ( Part 1 of 2 parts.

(Part 2 of 2 parts) . My admission that I worked fairly comfortably and without many qualms within the system for over 20 years, irritated some people. I don’t deny that charge. I think however that my experience might be usefully indicative of the career experience of many people working within the governance system now –public servants, police, ADF personnel. One important thing I learned on my long walk in Spain is that such people are not the enemy. The enemy is the power structure that sets out to frame how we think and how we live. Those of us who want to improve society need to work out better ways to reach people earning their living within the governance system, people who still have minds and consciences and have the precious right to secret ballot voting There are a great many of them, and excoriating them is neither just nor helpful.

It won’t be any news to anyone who reads my website that I regard John Howard as a traitor to real Australian values and to our sovereignty, a weak and frightened man.whose every day in Kirribilli House (because he won’t live in the national capital) further damages Australia’s political and ethical fabric. But Howard will pass, as Franco passed in Spain, and we will rebuild Australia again. We have started on that agenda already, and it will go on gathering strength. People may like to look at the new item on my website, “Why I have joined the Greens” , 4 September.
http://www.tonykevin.com/JoinedGreens.htm

Tony first...

Your article was not in the least bit 'preachy' to me, so rest easy there. I simply could not see the validity of your final direction in regard to the symptoms you outlined.
Multi culturalism is only a 'red flag' when....its implementation results in the social and identity alienation of a largggge chunk of Australian social/cultural heritage. i.e. The Ango/Scot/Celt/Irish component. Dorothy Mckella said it all...in summary "I know from whence I came....but I love a sunburnt country". i.e. Australian first, ethnicity second. I only have a problem when someone says after 3 GENERATIONS "I'm so proud to be GREEK!" huh ? what ? I think you get the idea.

Pericles.
If you read Daniel 5 you will see that King Belshaazzar indulged himself in a degree of base extravagance which is paralleled by the likes of the ex HIH CEO and I'm sure many others. "Lust of the eyes, Lust of the flesh and the pride of life".
God basically said "Sure..Ok... have it your way, but tonight you will meet with the ASIC enforcers..(the Persians)" and on that very night, all his pride was destroyed, and he himself was reduced to a pathetic shadow of a man, languishing like an animal in the desert eating Grass.

I find the rise of the "Persians" today, worthy of interest. Can't read much more than that into it.
It all boils down to 'God is not mocked, that which a man sows, he will also reap'.

This applies to us as an 'evolving' nation also. If we use our freedom to display ever increasingly depraved Adverts (each time the last approach doesn't become 'normal', we have to go further to titilate and get attention- Jeans ad.) Its even mathematically verifiable :) 'increments'=function/direction. "With the limit as x->zero" Y=SomeValue. But you can only 'imply' the value of Y it cannot be calculated directly. Something like that.

Thankyou Tony Kevin for your fearless honesty. Your courage has inspired me and others in our work for justice for those denied a voice in this beloved but increasingly hostile country of ours.
Kate Maclurcan, Refugee Advocate

Tony

Thank you for your courage. And thank goodness Australia will continue to evolve, change is a wonderful thing. If we look across the centuries we can see that human beings are becoming better informed, less superstitious, more tolerant and more loving towards each other. In spite of the current fears, we actually live in more peaceful times than at any other time in history.

I believe the majority of people are good, while it only takes a few bad 'apples' to spoil things, I believe that they will go the way of the dinosaurs.

My apologies, Boaz, when you said

>>Do you know the meaning of those words ? "mene mene tekel upharsin"?<<

...I actually thought you meant

>>Do you know the meaning of those words ? "mene mene tekel upharsin"?<<

It now turns out that you were talking about some high-living king, who "saw the writing on the wall" the night before his city was invaded and he himself was killed.

OK, let's take a look at that little fable.

Please explain i) how Daniel managed to translate the writing where everyone else had failed, ii) why he invested three simple words with such embellishment and iii) was Daniel an agent of the Persians who coincidentally turned up a few hours later?

Lastly, where is the evidence that god was the agent of Balshazzar's downfall?

I know, everyone likes a good story, and seeing a bad man fall (especially when they are also rich and carry on a bit), but surely it is possible to come to a sticky end without everyone investing the event with mystical significance.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc rules OK.

Incidentally, re Dorothy McKellar you said

>>"I know from whence I came....but I love a sunburnt country". i.e. Australian first, ethnicity second.<<

Forgive my pickiness, but isn't the sequence actually "ethnicity first, Australia second"?