the balibo inquest brought up memories of the whitlam dismissal. i had been in oz for about 2 years and still was not in tune with local thinking. i was unsurprised by the dismissal, since i had read the constitution, and followed the newspapers. locals, on the other hand, were amazed, or 'enraged'.

ozzians that want an outsider's viewpoint of those events are invited to step over to www.democracy1point1.blog.com for insight in how i finally came to understand ozzians: they're insane.

there's a lot of that going around of course. my native land was insane in way that tended to lead to mass dieing if you obstructed them. i removed my tax contribution to their 'robust' program of democratization in south east asia, as a reasonable man's compromise between participation in 'free fire zones' and joining the 'weather underground'.

my wide acquaintance with american history, and intimate acquaintance with how the 'american way' has generally involved the exploitation any unlucky enough to have something americans want, leads me to laugh at people who say we need their protection. folks, we need to protect the world from them.

australians can protect themselves from anyone, as they are lacking in no resource save self confidence. their political masters encourage this insecurity, for the same reason that home loan guy keeps saying:

"we'll save you"

he just says it to get your money, pollies just say it to get your submission.

Demos,
As a good and honest and hard-working Australian of solid convict (as in first fleet) stock, I am proud of what I am and where I have come from.
Why don't you either get to know us or pop back into your rocket and go back to Mars!

goddess, yer warm and lovable as a group, but i'm having a little trouble accepting the notion that we should let politicians run the nation. i've met a few,and like actors generally, they're much smaller in the flesh. much smaller, especially across the character bone.

this is not a secret here. pollies rank ahead of reporters and behind pimps at the bottom of the 'respectibility index'. yet people you wouldn't loan a fiver to are given the keys to the national treasury.

we can do better.

DEMOS, I’d like to know just how you think this country should be run if you are dead against all politicians.