Another day... Another Prime Minister...

So, the Commonwealth of Australia has a new Prime Minister.
This means that we will have had 5 PMs in 5 years... I'd chalk this up to another achievement to the bloodsport that is Australian Politics!

As with everything, there is the usual cries of "We didn't elect this New PM..." which then leads to the insinuation that a Coup d'etat  has occurred within the Government of the day.

I would like to humbly point out that this IS NOT THE CASE.

In the Australian political system, a person votes for a local member of parliament, NOT a Prime Minister. Despite the "presidential" style of electioneering that is ever so popular in Australia these days, the Australian Citizen DOES NOT directly vote for a Prime Minister. We never have. And, Unless the entire system changes, We NEVER will.

"WE" (the electorate) vote for a local member to represent us in the parliament; the Elected Members who group together to form a government then get to choose the Prime minister. The states are governed in the exact same way.

I have never understood why there was so much confusion over this. It's not as though we directly elect our head of state; after all, Just like Canada & New Zealand & numerous other member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, in our constitutional monarchy style of Government, the King or Queen of the day IS the head of Australia; as this Monarch resides in England, a Governor (General) governs in their stead; why don't people complain about this lack of representation?

So to clear this up, here is my quick, rough & ready explanation of the responsibility of the elected governments:

"WE" get to vote for a candidate at an election.

The elected members represent the interests of their electorate in the parliament.

The Local representative in the Federal Parliament will act on behalf of their constituents in regards to Trade, Commerce, banking, International Affairs, Defense, Communications (and Marriages!) etc... What the Feds are responsible for is specifically written into the Australian Constitution.

The State Member will act on behalf of their constituents on Police, Health & education which is basically all the things that the Federal Govt is not specifically tasked with.

Local Government is effectively the the service provider government for the sates & also overseas those pesky noisy dog complaints... By the way, Local Government (City & Shire Councils) are not recognized actually constitutionally, so they are a bit different in what they are responsible for across the country.

So what am I going to do about it?
Well, I will point out the above fact to all those that say this is somehow undemocratic, or do not understand why these situations occur. I feel that the by increasing the understanding of the Australian Political Process & by increasing the engagement of the layman & woman to it, "WE" will get better value & representation from our elected representatives, AND, to anyone who has made it this far in my rant, I hereby challenge you to do the same!

Resilience

So a couple of months ago, we traipsed off to IronFest2015

For those that have never been, IronFest commemorates the start of commercial Iron production in Australia, Over in the Sandstone country, where the Central West hits the Blue Mountains; LITHGOW. Home of the once mighty Lithgow Shamrocks Rugby League Team!

Link is HERE! 

I will not put any photos into this piece as the pictures on the Ironfest page are of far better quality than the phone piccies that I took.

Well in truth, IronFest is an interesting piece of Nerd-ism. It is a funky mix of Historical re-enactors, History-buff-ness, Black-smithing, Old car & Bike restorations with a big mix of Cos-players, Steam-Punkers, Alternative therapy types AND Sci-fi fans... with a lot of food-stalls, merchandise & all sorts of cool stuff thrown in for good measure.

Far more fun than just some festival of steel production; or a Metallurgical lecture series...

So what is it that am I getting at? What has this got to do with the Resilience heading?

One word: nerds. The importance of not giving a flying tinkers toss about what tge "cool kids" think. Specifically, not caring about what others call you. Or think about you. Doing all this nerdy rubbish just because you are having fun. 

So, the link to the heading: there is a lot of cyber-bullying about these days. When I was a kid (about a Million years ago), bullying required you to be eye-balled by someone; you may have been a nerd, but a well timed push could end a bullies career... NOT these days, a bully can sit in their masterbatorium & spew-forth reams of foul bile upon someone who they don't like, or, who is different in some way or another.

Back to Ironfest. Nerds rule; the "different" MADE this great event! They made this event GREAT. The Bullies who sit in front of the computer spewed forth the bile at these creative types in the beginning, did nothing but throw forth bile and we owe the IronFest team much for ignoring the bile

So why is it that we pay attention to the masturbators hiding behind the keyboards & the false facebook identities?

We need to be validated; we (that is humans). Unfortunately, the bullies prey upon this innate piece of the human psyche, even remotely, with the snide nasty remarks...

So, as usual, I am going to ask the rhetorical question; what do we do about it?

I am not too sure on this front, but as usual, I reckon that my couple of small steps may assist if only in a small way... But, I do guarantee the following:

• I will not let children Bully - granted this is only when I am in their presence
• I will encourage all nerd-ist activities. It is creative in a way that "tasteful" activities are not

I will go back to IronFest next year too!

I hope to see you there!

Exotic Ingredients

Haggis.

Black Pudding

Offal.

Blade & Chuck Steak

None of which would set the world on fire if it was put up for sale...

On a recent episode of MasterChef, a lady (Of Scotch extraction) cooked Haggis to the absolute disgust of one of the judges & a lot of the viewers too.)

I suppose many were offended at the humble nature of the dish...

But I find this odd; in a world of super exotic ingredients, the only ingredients that count are the "top shelf sort"

Truffles

Scotch fillets only

Wagyu mince...

Himalayan Yak Butter...

Admittedly, some of this is the Heston Bloomenthal "Food as Porn" thinking & there is a place for this sort of display; & these shows should inspire us to use the ingredients to the utmost not snob ourselves out of the cheep cuts

I find this Odd; We watch House renovation shows & they do cool things with some not top shelf materials. This is Not the cooking shows; top shelf all the way & the same goes for most of us.

Say that you like Black Pudding & people look ill.

Say that you eat Rabbit & they sneer 

Then we gripe that meat is so expensive!

I take the view that an animal has died for this food, so embrace it & eat it all.

This brings me to this Rabbit Killed on Air. 

For the record; the rabbit was then cooked & eaten. The Announcer said it was to highlight hypocrisy about meat production in Denmark. I don't think so. It was a blatant grab for attention. The only reason that I wince is that it reportedly took several blows to kill the rabbit; This is the only "wrong" in my opinion. To break a rabbits neck should be a quick clean exercise. Again, from my experience - this is the what I have seen when animals are slaughtered; a shot to the head & it is over quickly for the animal. Butchered & then eaten.

AND regarding the rabbit in Denmark, I just don't care. And I am not Sorry to PETA either. All the Twitter feed outrage is crass. It is an animal that was destined to be eaten; get over it. 

I wonder how many people out there were upset that it wasn't a premium cut that the family ate?

So, how do we go forward? In Australia, the humble bunny is an absolute curse upon this land. I will now defend the consumption of rabbit meat as an important environmental initiative. And the consumption of all the other unfashionable cuts & I call upon anyone out there to do the same.

Leigh

Struggle Street Thoughts.

In response to the rather clever marketing, I watched the SBS show “Struggle Street”. To those that have not seen it, or, heard about it, this show is about life in the decidedly working class Sydney Suburb & predominately Housing Commission area of Mount Druitt, the struggles of the unemployed/unemployable in a complicated world. Whilst this Sydney location was highlighted in this case, In truth, this could have been set in many rural towns/cities; or in similar suburbs of Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra… ANY WHERE in Australia.

Chief amongst the complaints about the unfair portrayal of the citizens as a pack of toothless drug addled Bogans & ignored the positives (or at least downplayed the positive works) happening in this city – Indeed, a Highlight for me, was the positive action of one young woman who stepped in to save a young girl who had been kicked out of her home after a disagreement with here mother.

In many ways, the show seemed to be a soap opera, but with real people & very with real issues, not the saccharine sweet shallow Bimbo/Himbo seen on the Australian Soap operas that seem to be having a drama over someone kissing/shagging/hating/loving/stealing… The issues depicted in Struggle Street were very raw & very real. Consequences were dire for these people. To watch it in some ways was shocking; in other ways, it was, as someone described, it “Poverty Porn”.

To many this show represents a rallying point; that call to arms to Say to the Rest of Australia: We Have To Fix This! Others will just be dismissive, as they see themselves as far too removed from “those People”, safe in the knowledge, that they will never ever EVER have to live in “that sort” of housing, or in that sort of situation, secretly, getting off thinking about how their life is SO much better than the life of the residents depicted in this show… that typical dismissive of “OH, What a pack of Booners… AND …Gee, I’m Glad that I live in (insert Middle Class Location Here)…”

To my mind, however, what this show highlighted is the effect of the Weird upon every single one of us. I refer to the Weird in this case in its Scots or perhaps slightly archaic form meaning the Unearthly hand that governs your fate… Think of the Norns, the witches that governed your fate… To sum it up differently, “There, But for the Grace of the Gods, Go I”

What I saw when I watched, was, this is your life if something goes wrong. 

Suddenly. 

Brutally. 

Systemically.  

Not in any way your own fault. 

The Australian in this case rapidly finds out that Australia quite simply does not give a flying toss about them or where they end up. This Australian, unless they have very large support networks, will be made into the sort of Human Flotsam & Jetsam that they had previously sneered at on this show.

As always, it is just so easy to blame the victims; we have throw away lines about “well, if you only applied for more jobs”… “If you didn’t look the way you do” … “If your wore some Nice clothes” … “If you stopped taking those recreational drugs” … In all cases these little snide remarks hide the fact that the person usually making them is only a Norns burp away from a similar fate.

In Australia, we have long despised those that are not “economic”. That is actively growing the economy. We treat the disabled appallingly. We despise those that are not able to work; we tell those that have been feed through the corporate grinder of “downsizing” “Hey, It’s Just Business” & the law of Supply & demand - It’s not Personal…And to those whose industries are collapsing about them & leaving them with training & work experience that is no longer required we say; Just back on the band wagon.

All of which, the individual must pay for themselves. We continue with the Victim Blaming.

I support the Anger of the Mayor of Blacktown in the defence of his constituents. I too am sick of the poverty porn aspect of some of these shows & the middle class twat-dom that applaud the “edgy” nature of the work whilst knocking down that bottle of Sav-Blanc – these are real people & they are not there for the entertainment of the mortgage belt. Unfortunately, there has been a History of the press in “picking on” the residents of the Western suburbs & television shows can easily fan these flames even if unintentionally.

As an Australian, I am ashamed, that we have a country where we so readily accept that generations of unemployment, & lack of opportunity are seen as acceptable. We can’t deny this problem & the sooner we fix these situations the better the outcomes for US ALL. Just remember that old bar room quip about sports stars that don’t make it to the highest level of their sport: What is the most Wasted Natural Resource? Talent! How much Talent must Australia waste? The waste in this case is easily measured in the human terms.

So, as with all things; what can I do? I am continuing to stop the victim Blaming (I have said this before) and by challenging the bigoted throw away one-liners that we all say...

...AND by not repeating them

I will watch the last double episode of Struggle Street, but I will be Supporting the residents of Mt Druitt, because they are humans like me, & there, but for the grace of the gods, go all of us 

Leigh

An Open Letter to Mr Paul Gallen

This is a copy of a Letter that I sent to the Rugby League player, Paul Gallen.

The context is Paul's admission that he struck up a long distance letter friendship with the Convicted Australian Drug trafficker, Andrew Chan.

To often, we only criticise the modern sportsman; often ignoring when they do the right thing.

Here is my support for a "star" doing what I believe is "the right thing": 

7/05/15

C/O The Cronulla Sutherland RLFC

Dear Sir,

As the father of a Mad Cronulla Sutherland Sharks supporter, my son, is a fervent Paul Gallen fan & is playing in his first season of Junior Rugby League with the Bloomfield Tigers JRLFC (The Country Group 10 junior competition, under 8’s). He was most upset that he could not get the Number 13 jersey! (not being available in the under 8s competition). Given that my son is such a massive fan, I felt that I would take the time to write to you about your recent admission on the MMM football show, that you struck up a remote friendship with the convicted Australian Drug smuggler Andrew Chan.

Whilst Mr Chan & Mr Sukumaran were ultimately the victims of their own devices; they were fellow human beings. They were, (by all accounts) reformed & trying, in their own ways, to make the world a better place – I suppose, to an extent, they were atoning for their reckless & self-destructive pasts. I do not believe that the world is a better place because they are now dead.

Thus, I applaud your behaviour in relation to Andrew & treating him as a human being. Whilst it is easy to demonise anyone for their guilt, it is inspiring to see that you acted with the type of compassion that I would expect of a man, any fellow man, A REAL man,  when responding to another human being in a bad situation.

You acted with deep compassion & integrity. By tour actions you chose to become role model; the type of man that was sadly lacking from these guys lives; a man that, had he been there, perhaps could have prevented Andrew & Myuran from sliding down that awful path.

I feel that you have, very publicly, very correctly led by example & I congratulate you for this.

In relation to drugs, society has developed a very strong “moral code” that if broken causes much angst. This code is frequently hypocritical & forgets that the people involved & affected are still human, someone’s son or daughter, mother or Father, or, even grandparent. The argument of “Drugs are bad”, therefore “those involved are evil” does not quite work when you look at the individual men & women who are caught up in this maelstrom. Frequently, they are just “other people on the bus”. Prior to their executions, I saw the school boy pictures of these men & I thought of my children; I hope sincerely that my kids never end up in a similar situation. The heartbreak would be too much for a man like me. Against all this emotive arguments, you chose the compassionate path.

This is why I applaud your actions; you chose to be a man & exercise public compassion. You chose to help make the world a better place (in your own small way); by both offering the hand of friendship to a “sullied” individual, & by then not being ashamed of telling the community about that friendship.

Displaying Compassion is a character that I respect deeply in a man & in so doing; you have become a role model that I am proud to say that my son looks up to.

Best Regards

Leigh Meagher

(I Put my e-mail address here in the Original)

Note: I am not a convict, nor are any members of my family. Nor am I the holder of a hidden agenda; I just felt that you needed to be applauded for your act.

Feminism - Breaking Chains

In recent times, the Breast Cancer awarness campaigns have raised this incidious desease in the minds of many of my fellow men.

It makes sense too; as a man, it is my Wife, My Daughter, My Mother, My Aunts & My Female Friends & Acquaintances that will suffer from this disease. Thus, I would like to see it cured as I do not wish for any woman I know to get this disease. I have a vested Interest in this.

In the same sense, I wish nothing but the best for my daughter in here life; I want my wife to be treated as due to her experience & training (of which she has plenty)
I want my female relatives & friends to be taken seriously as employees & be offered opportunities based upon their skills.
A man should not get a role just because he is male, or happened to have goon to the same school, or belongs to the same footy club as his boss.

Further, I really want my Daughter & Wife & Mother & Aunts & Sister & Cousins & Friends to be treated well by their male relatives & associates.

Most men feel the same way. I do not think it is surprising really.

BUT, This outlook, actually marks me as a (male) feminist. I am proud to out myself as a Feminist too. I am in good company too.

So when Sarah Silverman - (a comedienne who I am not actually that familiar with if I am honest) recently released her "Ten Rape Prevention Tips" (Below) I was really surprised at the size of the discontent amongst my fellow males in response:

Twitter Here
Link Here

I like Sarah's piece. I support it. She is actually having a red hot go at the victim shaming rubbish that so many repeat.

It's message is simple; If a woman is raped IT IS THE FAULT OF THE RAPIST.

Simple & easy to follow advice for all young men. Stop blaming the Victims with that rubbish like "She should not have been drinking... Blah Blah Blah..." It is all rubbish & for you to repeat it makes you a lesser man.

This leads me to my veiws on some very shocking murders that have really gotten under my skin; poor Jill Meagher & Stephanie Scott.
These have affected me as I cannot remain "third party" removed enough. In addition to the general  tragedy of Stephanie, Stephanie grew up not that far away from where I live currently, in the same council area(Cabonne) . She was a teacher - a role that I respect deeply; she was at a workplace alone doing work because she cared.

Despite not being related to her or her husband Tom, the murder of Jill Meagher affected me as well. We share an uncommon last name; she was abducted after a night out after work with friends... A women just walking along the street by herself.

Just two modern women living life & having that life taken from them by a man

I think it was the proximity that I felt about both these cases that has irked me & caused me to write this piece.

As a man, I am deeply offended by the behaviour of the men involved in these innocent ladies. (AND the other unmentioned crimes against so many other innocent women). I am deeply offended by these sleazy pick up artists that preach that misogynistic "Women are for your Pleasure Rubbish". I am offended in so many ways that I would not be able to write this piece & finish before the year 2050.
There is no excuse for this "I am better than you thinking".

Most of this anger is purely because men treat women like rubbish; not like equal partners in life.

So, to those men that were offended by the Sarah Silverman comedy piece above, what do you really get offended by?

a). The poor behaviour of or fellow man? Repeating Victim Blaming statements? Not caring that either of these ladies that I mentioned could be your Wife/Sister/Daughter/Mother?

OR

b). The ironic insights from a woman about victim shaming & sexual Assault?

So lets put away the impotent twitter feed furry & do something.

So What to do:
Repeat after me: I will embrace the newly empowered male-feminist mantra & say to a fellow man when he repeats something stupidly blaming a victim of a sex crime "Mate, let's not blame the victim; the criminal is at fault here"
Simple & easy & Not aggressive enough to cause a fight & certainly makes a point about the responsibility for the act.

Finally, whilst he had many flaws, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk summed up my thoughts:

“Human kind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible that a mass is improved by the improvement of only one part and the other part is ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains and the other half can soar into skies?”
From this site

Brothers, Let's Break the chains

Leigh

Radicals...

There has been a few stories come to light recently about Australians going to fight in the Middle east; either for or against the terrorist group known as ISIL; most of the media coverage is in regards to those misguided individuals who go to fight with the terrorists. In addition, there have been some home grown burgeoning terror cells arrested, declaring that they wish to strike terror into the common Australian household as part of this "anti-western" or "Islamic" cause.

This has sparked much anti-Islamic rhetoric about the place (including the internet...). There has been much discussion about how to stop the "Radicalisation" of Islamic youth. At this point, I would like to repeat the quip that was posted somewhere "To a Muslim, ISIL is as religious & as representative as the Ku Klux Klan is to a Christian" & would not like my kids involved in any of those organisations.

On a human level, these kids are doing the exact same thing, that thousands of Australian kids did when they enlisted in the Australian Army 100 years ago. They want to belong to something bigger than them.

They want to do something that marks them as having made a a stand in the most manly & deliberate way

I do not know how we stop this, largely because I believe that it is so deeply engrained into our Human make up. Just think about it in the terms of what we define ourselves by. Religion, Nationality, Language, Ethnic grouping, Sport, Hobbies, the way we Dress, the list is endless. These are universal experiences to a Human & we are involved in these be cause we want to be bigger than just ourselves. The quintessential & basic "Us" versus "Them".

And we can all be part of "Us" in many ways... To explain-  I recently watched Russell Crows movie "The Water Diviner"; I found a poignant part of the movie where Russell's character apologises to his son for filling his head with guff about duty, king & country that lead him to enlist in the Army; the point being that this over-connection to the empire was the cause of the death of his two other sons. The belief that they would simply smash all before them & come home unscathed as they were British (as Australia was in those days).

Have a look at the results of some World War 1 recruitment posters that a quick Google search revealed (I have only selected the English language posters), but I wish to demonstrate a point;

We all have to do our duty... WE are "Us"

Imagine this if  the Military man was an Islamic State fighter... "Us" v "Them"

Both of these appeal to the side of every man out there to join in the noble cause; in this case the Allied side of WW1.  Further, I found this one, from Canada

We welcome all nationalities... into "Us"

This is the next step, at the time the Irish nationalist movement was beginning to take hold; but, here we have a colonial perspective appealing to those of Irish extraction who were also the sports types to join in the great sport, to put it simply, Appeal to a particular ethnic group & get them to join in on something that they are not really involved with; "Us" becomes ever wider...

Women could help as well:

In contrast, the Modern Woman can become a war bride if she so chooses...

The loving woman could give their child or sweetheart a white feather to further encourage them to join tge fight if they liked; Women are an important part of "Us"...

So, that was WW1; the same things happened in WW2 & Korea & so on (Google for your own & see!)

The next step in my argument is 1960's Australia & the Communist Party. There was a Television documentary on some of the subjects of ASIO watch lists Called Persons of interest (Facebook link here); many of those watched were Communists. The interviews with these now 60-somethings tended to show that at the time they were largely just University kids looking to rebel against something, anything; yet many were interested in taking things up a notch & bringing change & making statements that were not just words... They ultimately outgrew their radicalisation & became normal members of society.

The Commies did a Style of "Us" that was aimed at the "Workers"...

"Us" in the case above was Oz Communists bringing the religious fever to the Heathens that were not Communists... "Us" were just middle class kids with a cause that they felt passionately about.

It is still about too - look at this one from the George W Bush Era:

"Us" v Someone who is not part of our group...

This poster is directly appealing to the Irish & the globalisation debate; What if it were appealing to young Australian Muslims? What if it said: Won't you Come & Fight Bush, in Syria... Particularly after you (as a Muslim) had been targeted by thugs with southern cross tattoos on a train after going to the Beach at Cronulla. All of a sudden the "Them" & "Us" become clearer & the actions to someone who is young & angry about injustices then becomes a lot more justifiable.

Solutions???
Charlie Pickering on Channel 10s "The Project" called for a wide ranging enquiry about the radicalisation problem; I suspect that this would assist greatly if it is conducted, time will tell, & the Government will be persuaded to run an inquiry if more us us generally talk about this issue in open terms to the Powers that Be.

Ultimately, This problem is going to take along time; this radicalisation phenomena is not new & therefore will not change easily.

This is going to take tolerance; the fortitude to say to one of "Us" that "them" are not so bad or different, this applies to which "Us" you are...

This is going to take a lot of love. Compassion will win out, But, violence is not the answer on this front, unfortunately, Humans seem to be conditioned to accept violence as normal, indeed, when you look at most blockbuster movies, violence is the mainstay. This is going to be hard, very hard as it is easier to stay quiet & hope that the issue goes away

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but I feel that we as a group will ultimately beat this problem. I call upon all to discus this issue with a sense of compassion & with a mood to making the world a better place

Anyway, Those are my thoughts

Leigh