Mike Hitchen Online: Mike Hitchen Unleashed - telling it like it is!

Who was that boy, that youth, that man?

2012-02-18T19:58:00.001+11:00

Who was that boy, that youth, that man?
I knew them so well
In days long gone
In nights soon forgotten
In loves long loneliness
In dawn's empty bed.

Who was it who wore those shoes?
Soles well worn by souls so weary
I see their faces
I hear their names
Yet they are strangers to me now
For they were strangers to me then

I know no boy, no youth
Only one man
The man She helped me see
He had always been there
I just could not see
Until my name fell gently from her lips,
And led me from shadows, cast so long ago.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

You see this heart that lies upon my hand?

2012-02-16T21:25:00.002+11:00

You see this heart that lies upon my hand?
They have torn it from my very soul
Yet look closely
See how it still beats

They have deafened my ears,
So I can not hear their words
They have blinded my eyes
So I can not see their deeds
They have sewn my lips
So I can not tell the things I know
Yet they can not still my heart
See how it still beats

And you my people
Shall be my ears, my eyes, my lips
My heart is now your heart
It's beat is now your beat

Take it from my hand
A hand that has held no sword
Nor caused no man, woman or child to weep or to grieve
A hand that has gently caressed those I cherish
And toiled the soil of the Land I love
Our Land.

I can no longer walk among you
My legs weary from shackles and blows
I am The Past
This heart is The Future
Use it carefully
Not to hurt nor deceive
Use it peacefully
Not to avenge

Use it not in my name, nor even in yours
But in the name of Our Land
The young and the unborn
Do not let the heart of Our Land
Lie broken on streets of ruby red
Let it beat once more
Vibrantly, passionately
As it did before..
..before They ripped it from our souls

Part Three of a trilogy. See also

Part One:They say, 'seek and ye shall find'
Part Two: I am no stranger

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

I am no stranger

2012-02-15T19:08:00.002+11:00

I am no stranger
Though there are those who think it so
And many who wish it were
I hide not in shadows nor in darkness
Nor parade in colored cloaks on sunlit shores.

The King in his Counting House and The Beggar in The Gutter
Have welcomed or scorned my name
I care not which
I care not why
I care not who

Offer me no gold
Nor show me your tears
I see what I need to see
Beneath your finely woven clothes
And your tattered, lonely rags

I am no stranger
Though there are those who think it so
And many who wish it were
Though I never was, and never will
Be a stranger to hearts that beat with my name

Part Two of a trilogy. See also

Part One:They say, 'seek and ye shall find'
Part Three: You see this heart that lies upon my hand?

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

They say, 'seek and ye shall find'

2012-02-14T17:49:00.002+11:00

They say, 'seek and ye shall find'

They say, 'seek and ye shall find'
Yet those from distant and nearby shores
Know not what,
Nor where to seek.
Mere strangers to a shore
Where footsteps leave no mark upon shifting sands
For unfamiliar eyes to see
Where secrets lie in Hushed and Hallowed Temples
Places known only to they who walk the shores
The shores they call their own.
Or have trod in times gone by
Seek and ye shall find
Answers, seldom travel far
From where the question first begins

Part One of a trilogy. See also

Part Two: I am no stranger
Part Three: You see this heart that lies upon my hand?

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Too posh to play?

2012-02-08T20:23:00.003+11:00

Just outside my local supermarket is low wall about twelve inches high, that borders a small flower bed. Kids can not resist the urge to walk along that wall, (and if truth be told, I wouldn't mind having a go myself!) usually with their mum walking alongside holding their hands.

Today as I walked past, a little lad jumped on the wall and started walking. His mum was horrified and told him to get down. Not because he was might fall and hurt himself - oh no. As she explained in a snooty voice, 'You are drawing attention to us".

Huh?

So what?!

Darling, you are not exactly Posh Spice trying to sneak a quick trip to the supermarket for a packet of frozen peas. The kid was enjoying himself - so what if he was "drawing attention" to you both?In any case, until you opened your mouth, no one would have noticed because half the kids who go shopping with their mum or dads do it. I don't care that you made yourself look a total prat, your little boy must have felt pretty deflated as people turned around in amazement.

Wouldn't it have been a lot nicer if you had just taken his little hand and walked along with him?

It reminded me of an incident a couple years ago when a mother whose son attended the local private school scolded, "Don't be so loud dear - remember who your father is".

Considering that school has produced some our best known high class crooks and wheeler dealers, I wouldn't worry too much if I were her.

Let kids do kid things - never mind about "keeping up appearances".

Wherever you may be - be safeCopyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Respect?

2012-02-07T18:56:00.003+11:00

When we were young we were told to respect our Elders. But too many Elders fail to respect The Child - our future. The very thing so many "Elders" claim to be fighting for.

Our future lies bleeding and dying in front of our eyes, in too many makeshift hospital beds, in too many shattered, smoldering homes.

Yet it is they, The Elders, who say the young have no respect.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

What I feel right here, right now

2012-02-04T20:54:00.002+11:00

Put an end to the killing. to the crying, to the grieving, to the bleeding, to shattered broken bones, to shackles, chains, batons, tear gas.

Put an end to tyranny, oppression, agendas, greed, corruption and despotism. Put an end to the hypocrisy, the bigotry, inherited hate, the lies, the lust for power, the young marching off to die under the false banners of the rich and powerful.

There is no unseen power or phenomenon that cause any of the above. The causes are here to see, walking, talking, smiling, grinning, speaking their empty words of wisdom while their hearts and minds are filled with greed, evil and hate.

Put an end to what has has been, and put hope in the hearts of our children.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Cheer today. Wish them gone tomorrow

2012-01-31T20:23:00.002+11:00

End of January already.

January 2012 went quickly

Almost as quickly as the optimism and hope of Jan 2011.

An Arab Spring in an Australian's summer

Turned to Winter like so many times before

Heroes and Villains

Cheer today. Wish them gone tomorrow

Still there's always another spring or another branded revolution in designer colors.

One day, Change will come.

And it will stay

Not blown away by by greed propelled bullets like so many times before.

The question will finally be asked.

Not "What's in it for me?"

But, "What's best for the people?"

And He or She, will keep asking that question

And the people will answer

The people will sleep peacefully

They shall cower or tremble no more

They shall be free.

Not for a month, not for a year

Their nights and days, forever Spring

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Parable of The Meek

2012-01-28T20:49:00.002+11:00

And it was said, Blessed are The Meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

And it came to pass, that The Meek did inherit the earth.

The Meek saw the earth and saw that it was good. The Meek were pleased.

But there were those among The Meek, who saw the earth, and they too saw that it was good.

And while their Brothers and Sisters saw Peace and saw Contentment, they saw only Opportunity.

Soon, it came to pass that the voices of The Meek, were silenced by those who were no longer Meek.

Silenced with threats, with weapons, with fear

And it came to pass..

What was once before, was once again

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Down with everything. Well actually...

2012-01-24T19:35:00.003+11:00

People sometimes refer to me as an "activist" although I am not sure that label accurately describes my decades long philosophies and beliefs. For one thing, too many people are under the impression that if you are an activist, you automatically support every cause and every form of protest. I don't. Not everything governments or "big business" does is wrong, and not everything we "the people" do is right.

No, I see myself more as a, "That-Gets-Up-My Nose-Ist" although I have to admit, it's not really catchy enough to gain the foot-kissing devotion of the well-heeled ,dedicated followers of fashionable, plastic phony "human rights" gurus.

Don't get me wrong, I am quite content being called an activist and I would be quite happy putting it on any CV, and if anyone objected, well that would be more their problem than mine. Just don't expect me to support every cause that comes along, no matter how fashionable it is to do so.

I shall leave that to those who are so expert at it, that it has enabled them to forge a lucrative career out of it and live a life style most of their dedicated disciples would be unaccustomed to.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A Matter of Crass

2012-01-21T20:45:00.002+11:00

Have you ever had the urge to buy something that is really crass? The sort of thing you see in a shop and though you wouldn't want to be seen dead with it - you want to buy it. Just for it's pure crassness.

That first happened to me a few Christmases ago when I saw a plaster Christmas setting in a "two bob" shop. It was so awful I just had to buy it.

Now it has happened again, the object of my desire being - flashing cocktail glasses.

One has to ask oneself, who the heck comes up with these ideas, and why would anyone - including me, actually want one?

Not only do these glasses flash, but they are made of plastic for Heaven's sake. I would love to see the look on the face of some sophisticated lady if I poured her a glass of Babycham in a flashing, plastic cocktail glass and said "here you are love, get that down ya"

But somehow, it does have appeal!

For those of you who want to know the technical details, it's quite simple. At the bottom of the glass is a little button. Push the button and the spiral stem flashes in different colors. I rather liked the one that was predominantly blue!

However, I will resist the urge to buy one, if only because plastic lacks the sophistication of more traditional materials. You can't line up a row of flashing, plastic cocktail glasses and tap out, "Edelweiss" with a spoon like you can with fine crystal!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Oi, listen luv

2012-01-19T19:59:00.003+11:00

Yesterday I attended a meeting to discuss investment, tax, forward planning - all that sort of rather boring things.

The consultant used a new "business meeting communication strategy" which I probably should refer to as BMCS, if I want to sound buzz word savvy. The technique was simple. Talk about everything and anything at great length to the point where I, the listener, will eventually say "yes" to any proposal as long as I can escape and have a leak and a cigarette. On a previous occasion when something similar happened, I actually took out my iPod, much to the consultant's surprise and consternation, which I obligingly tried to alleviate by offering, "Tell me when you have finished the bits you've told me twice before".

Yesterday, the lady's strategy almost worked, except I picked up my ears, when looking towards the future she remarked, "Of course if you ever get a lady friend...".

Gee thanks for your confidence and incorrect assumption!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Write Stuff

2012-01-10T20:22:00.002+11:00

It's funny how your mind can surprise you. Just when you think you know it, it comes out with something totally unexpected.

I have been approached to write on a regular basis - and get paid for doing so.

I would have thought I would have been doing cartwheels at the prospect of such a thing, but instead, it felt slightly weird. I enjoy writing but getting paid for my views to be known and distributed, seemed somehow - very public and commercial all of a sudden!

Don't get me wrong, I am not going all idealistic here, there is nothing immoral or unethical about getting paid for your views. It's just that I am used to writing for myself and an audience I feel I know - not writing on behalf of another party.

One thing is for certain, is that if I do decide to embrace the offer, I will be paid to write - not paid to think as I am told to think.

There are others who are far more expert in that particular field

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Mrs. Lewis, do you remember me?

2012-01-07T21:00:00.002+11:00

Mrs. Lewis, do you remember me?

Let me give you a hint.

Do you remember a slightly shy (until riled) acne faced kid back in your English class of 1968? Yep - that's the one.

Do you remember having a go at him because you thought he was too young to talk about Richard Nixon? That's it - you got it now.

Well, that was me.

Do you remember an essay I wrote - an essay you derided as "far fetched science fiction" because it didn't fit in with the British education systems policy of discouraging kids to think? Oh you vaguely remember it, that's ok you were always pretty vague about things unless it was mindless, insignificant trivia - then your training ensured you were spot on. Funny how some things never change.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you something. My essay was about "The house of the future". You sneeringly explained to me that in my lifetime, it would be impossible for anyone to design a television that could be hung on a wall and broadcast in 3D with stereophonic sound.. You ignored the fact that I was intrigued by both concepts, and instead of encouraging me to explore them more, you advised that I be more practical.

Well guess what.

I'm about to buy one of those TVs. Not just in my life time, but in yours.

43 years on and I am still proving my old teachers wrong.

Like I said - some things never change.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Mysterious case of the uncooperative duvet cover

2012-01-05T21:12:00.002+11:00

This may seem trivial to many but it's one of those things that drive me mad. I am talking about a particular duvet cover.

I have this rather nice duvet cover with two narrow floral stripes down the centre of it's length - and that's the problem. When I have made the bed, I stand back and say to myself, "Those stripes are nice and straight - you've done a good job there old son". But do you know what? If I look at it half an hour later - they are no longer straight! So I shrug my shoulders and pull a bit here, tug a bit there, stand back and say "Those stripes are nice and straight..." and go on my merry way.

If only it were that simple. By the time I finally get to bed, those stripes will have been "straightened" several times during the course of the day. If I would have wanted a duvet cover with crooked stripes, I would have bought one - but I don't. I want it nice and - straight!

Like politicians, the stripes sometimes "lean" to the left or "lean" to the right. However, as I publish a news blog and don't work in Fleet Street, I refuse to get into bed with politicians - or a bed with sloping stripes!

I have however managed to solve this problem - or at least make it more acceptable. I scatter a few pillows on top, to give it a, "comfortable lived in" look.

The only thing is, when I nonchalantly throw the pillows onto the bed, some land sloping to the left...

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Year Ahead!

2012-01-03T10:25:00.000+11:00

Welcome back to regular readers and to those of you who are popping in for the first time - welcome to 2012!

So much happened in 2011 it is hard to give a blow by blow account. It was a year that promised so much, yet sadly delivered so little. Unity became Disunity, hope became deja vu.

Will 2012 be any better? Here are a few thoughts on the year ahead.

Russia: This will be the country to watch. The seeds have been sown and what has begun, will build throughout the year, possibly intensifying around May.

China: Everyone is predicting a slow down in Chinese growth. It may look that way for a while but it wont be the case for too long.

UK: More discontent as Cameron plays Pass The Blame, ensuring it falls straight into the laps of the disenfranchised youth and what we in Australia would call "battlers".

Iran: Well, they are going to nuke us aren't they - stands to reason like dunnit. All them mad mullahs running around with newclear weapons, a threat to democracy innit. Gotta bomb them and bomb them quick. That's wot the man on the telly said.

Al Qaeda: Al Qaeda of course will be everywhere, just like the cold war "Reds Under The Bed" scare mongering. Anything that goes boom, will be Al Qaeda. Unless of course it's NATO bringing peace and democracy by bombing innocent civilians.

North Korea: Gawd knows

Libya: In-fighting, disunity, factionalism.

Egypt: Spring turns to a long, long winter.

Australia: Australian retail management, communications and technology sectors, will continue it's relentless march towards 1982.

2012? Here's to the new year -= same as the old year.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Till next year!

2011-12-22T19:45:00.001+11:00

Time to take a break until Jan 03, 2012, when I will be back taking an irreverent look at plastic gurus, do-gooders, the Nanny State, dedicated followers of wanky causes, and out of touch politicians.

To all my readers, may you and your loved ones have a happy, safe and healthy festive season and new year!

Yawl come back now!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Of peace and of freedom

2011-12-20T20:08:00.002+11:00

You speak of peace, you speak of freedom
But peace and freedom cause neither tears nor sorrow
It is your bullets that cause the tears
Your bombs that spread sorrow across foreign lands.
All in the name of peace
And in the name of freedom
You wear those cherished words upon your cloaks of war
You use them to fool and deceive
To camouflage your hearts of hate and prejudice

You speak of peace, you speak of freedom
But the tears and the grief lay bare your lies
Your white hat reddened by the blood of the innocent
And you ask "Why do they hate us" yet you ignore the answer
As you ignore the misery you have caused so many, for so long.

There are those who speak of peace and of freedom
They speak not from behind desks nor bullet proof platforms
They speak on the streets, in the squares
Unprotected from the bullets and the gas you have sold along with your soul
Their bodies often broken and battered on the orders of those whose hands you have shaken
As you speak of peace, and of freedom.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Here's to the new year, same as the old year

2011-12-17T20:38:00.003+11:00

In two weeks time it will be New Years Eve. The time of year when we get together, chink glasses, look back on the troubles of the year and look forward to everything changing in the New Year. Just like a new exercise book in school, the first page offers so much potential. Things are going to be different, we tell ourselves.

I know all this because it has been the same every New Year that I can remember, and I have seen a lot. A lot of promises - nearly all unfulfilled. Thankfully not on a personal level, but on a global scale.

Revolutions named after seasons or colors offer so much, then provide so little.

Change can occur but first we have to change human nature, and that sadly, is the stumbling block.

Until we can do that, instead of singing "Auld Lang Syne" we should chink our glasses and raise a toast to "Here's to the new year, same as the old year".

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Smoker's Rights!

2011-12-09T21:19:00.003+11:00

Those who ask me not to smoke when sitting in a designated smoking area, will not get the response they want, but the response they deserve. I respect your right to a smoke free environment and I expect the same courtesy in return.

However, that is not the way it works with pious agenda pushers is it?

If you don't like me enjoying a legal product in a designated area - tough.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A future can not be nurtured by living in the past

2011-12-08T21:32:00.000+11:00

Ever since disenfranchised youth took to the streets in Britain, UK politicians have been lining up to announce all sorts of plans that (1) pander to populist opinion largely formed by selective memories of "the good old days" and incessant "youth gone wild" stories in the media. (2) pass the blame for successive governments failure to understand youth issues, and put the blame fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the young.

Most of the measures are quite draconian and involve increased erosion of the rights of youth.

What most, if not all of these plans lack, is any reference to giving youth hope, respect and dignity, These were taken away when Boadicea was a nipper, and have not seen the light of day since. The only time you do see or hear any reference to these basic rights, is from those outside of politics who care about youth, and who are instantly branded and derided as "do-gooder" and "trendies".

In no other country do you see a daily media and political assault on its youth. You reap what you sow and that is what we saw in the summer.

The children are our future - and a future can not be nurtured by living in the past

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Story of Christmas By Mr. X. Pert

2011-12-06T20:42:00.003+11:00

I am sorry to disappoint everyone, but there is no such thing as Santa Claus. As is the case with Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor, Santa Claus is a propaganda tool created by early Trade Unions to indoctrinate people - even kids - with the idea that you can get something for nothing.

However, the workers - i.e. management, did strike back with Coca Cola, who were responsible for the "traditional" image of American Santa Claus. Even Rudolph was a marketing ploy by a Chicago dept store, in the form of leaflets written by one of their copyrighters.

The character of Santa was also adopted by parents as a convenient but ineffective behavioral tool - the classic naughty and nice syndrome that has caused great distress to generations of vulnerable victims, who could well have cause to take a class action against parents for the trauma they suffered during each run up to Christmas. It also had the unfortunate side effect that kids learned not to trust anything parents said, after being disillusioned with misleading information about the existence of Santa, The Tooth Fairy and The Easter Bunny. It is this sort of irresponsible parenting that led to the disenfranchised youth taking to the streets during the UK riots, and I believe, is one of the root causes of generations of juvenile delinquency. social unrest and unwillingness to conform.

The story of Christmas itself is a corrupt influence on children, as it is believed Mary was actually 14 when she gave birth. I understand too, that although her husband was a tradesman, she herself was unemployed and was not in school, no doubt hoping to rely on the gold, frankincense and myrrh provided by generous philanthropists, and also an eye to proceeds from the sale of a book.

It is also highly unlikely that it would be possible to get Three Wise Men in the Middle East together at the same time.

It's doubtful Mary could have made the journey on the back of an ass, as they are very slow moving and stubborn creatures. In fact, it has reported that Joseph often had to urge "Come on Mary, move your ass".

So I am afraid there is no Santa Claus, no Christmas Elves and no Rudolph. Even if there were, with carbon footprints, global warming, climate change, melting glaciers, smoking and people driving cars on the road instead of riding bicycles on the footpath, there will be no White Christmases.

Happy Holiday Tide

X. Pert

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

They were so much better than they are today

2011-12-01T21:21:00.002+11:00

Maybe I am suffering from a text book case of, "things were different in my day" but there doesn't seem to be so much "excitement" or "anticipation" about new "things" these days.

I remember eagerly looking forward to each new single or LP by a favorite singer or band. Each new release had its own excitement and was something of en event. Even the covers of the LPs were exciting. Does anyone really look forward to seeing a new CD cover? In twenty years time, will people remember what they looked like? You ask me to describe Tapestry, Sweet Baby James, Harvest, or any of the early Elton John LPs, and I - and many others of my era, would be able to describe them in fine detail - even down to the smell of certain covers such as Elton John's classic "Tumbleweed Connection".

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have never driven in my life or ever owned a car. That doesn't mean I don't like cars, it just means I have never had any inclination to drive one. I remember some classic cars in my day and again, each new model was something of an occassion. A new Rover or a Jaguar - especially the Jags!

These days cars all seem to look pretty much the same - and that includes Jaguars which now seem to have followed the "back-heavy" trend so beloved by car manufacturers. Who wants a Matchbox collection of cars that look all the same?!

If I ever have the need to buy a car, it would be a Jaguar - and it would be an old XJ6 not one of the newer models! (although admittedly, I did see a great looking convertible a few years back!). Failing that, the little car Emma Peel drove in The Avengers, though Gawd knows how I'd get the groceries in the back.

Which reminds me, anyone notice that if you ever saw a white Jaguar in an old black and white movie or TV series, invariably it's brakes would fail and end up going over a cliff!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Cut to the chase

2011-11-29T20:29:00.004+11:00

On Sunday, I did something I have always wanted to do.

I took part in a car chase!

Now this may come as a surprise to many because of the fact, I can not drive. Apart from a few lessons when I was seventeen, and a short "just keep her straight mate while I have a kip" stint at the wheel while I relieved a driver as I hitch-hiked between Sydney and Brisbane, I have never owned or driven a car. Owning a car appeals to me - especially an open top Jag, but not driving.

It all happened as I was nearing my local supermarket. Two young women who had been sitting on a wall, stood up and walked away. I noticed something shining next to where they had been sitting. I didn't take much notice until it became clear it was a bunch of keys. Not just an ordinary bunch - a bloody huge bunch!

No worries, I said to myself. I picked up the keys and increased the pace of my walk. I would have caught them up too had it not been for the fact that a car pulled up and the two women jumped in.

I tried standing by the side of they car as the driver waited to pull out. They took no notice of this strange man standing by the window waving something shiny in his hand.

The car started to slowly pull forward so for some unknown reason I decided to jog ahead. I found myself in front of a slow moving car waving one hand and brandishing the keys in the other. Thankfully the driver realized what was happening and stopped.

The young woman who had left the keys behind, jumped out, ran towards me and gave me a hug. Normally this would not have been unwelcome, except it was a hot day and my body is not used to chasing after cars! Thank Gawd for Old Spice!

So next time you are out with a bunch of keys and a strange guy stands in front of your car waving like mad - don't drive straight on - you may not be able to get through your door when you get home!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

'Scuse me miss, how much is that...?

2011-11-22T20:36:00.003+11:00

I have never been a dog person, not even as a kid. In fact, I can not recall ever wanting a dog. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against dogs, it's just that like cars, I have never had the desire to own one.

Yesterday however, I was walking through a shopping mall and passed a pet shop. There in a glass "cage" in the window were several small puppies. I have no idea what breed they were other than "Cute".

I paused briefly and watched them busily digging away at the shredded paper that lined the floor. I was about to walk off when I saw a puppy in the corner of the cage. He was dividing his time between frantically digging and engaging in combat with a plastic water bottle lying flat on the cage floor. The puppy would never win any "Cute Doggie" contests as he had one of the weirdest faces I have seen on a dog. He may not have been, "Aaaw isn't he gorgeous" material, but his face proclaimed, "I'm an individual". I liked him.

Inside the shop two young women wanted to have a closer look at the puppies. An assistant walked towards the cage and the puppies went mad. They rushed to the front waiting for the upper hatch to be opened. For some reason the assistant had difficulty opening the hatch and getting out the puppy the potential buyer was interested in While this was happening, the dogs were frantically trying to get their paws to grip the ledge at the bottom of the partly opened hatch.

I became aware of someone standing next to me and turned slightly to see a stockily built man, covered in tattoos. He turned to me and said solemnly, "I can't watch this any more mate" and I agreed - neither could I.

The whole thing just somehow seemed sad and wrong. Every time the cage is opened for a potential buyer, do the dogs know what is happening and hope they will be chosen?

The thought of buying the puppy suddenly crossed my mind, but it would not have been fair on the puppy. As I walked away, I took one last look. There he was, busily digging away at the shredded paper. I thought of, "The Great Escape" and had a vision of this puppy digging his way out, making his way to the toy shop on the next level and making his dash for freedom on a toy motorbike, ala Steve McQueen,

Hopefully someone who knows about dogs will have snapped him up by now and given him a good, loving home.

I went on my way thinking to myself, even if I could give it the time and care it needs, how could I have walked into the shop and asked how much it was, without bursting into song!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

My theory on the effects of the sun

2011-11-18T21:08:00.002+11:00

When I was in school in Wales, I have to admit my prime aim in life was to wind the teachers up. Smelling of cigarettes and chalk, they assumed a superior air that belied their lack of ability or knowledge beyond their chosen subject.

I was thinking about this as I returned from a walk this afternoon and found myself walking directly into the sun. Although it was late afternoon, it seemed a lot hotter than earlier and I was reminded of my old school project on the effects of the sun.

I came up with a "theory" that if you walk directly into the sun, you will get sunburned a lot faster than standing or sitting while facing it. This was based on the 'belief' that if you walked into the sun's ray's you would crash into them a lot harder! How I managed to keep a straight face while explaining this to him, I don't know.

Of course the teacher scoffed at such a thing, quite rightly it is a ridiculous notion.

Or is it?

If any scientists out there can prove my theory so that I can notify my old teacher with a polite and respectful, "Up yours mate!" I would be interested to hear from you.

Meanwhile, I'll just go and put a bit of cream on this sunburn.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Children should occupy their time being children

2011-11-17T20:16:00.003+11:00

Here is a word for advice for those "occupiers" who complain that police are injuring children while clearing public places, so that others - especially those who actually live in the area - can return to lawful use and enjoyment of public places.

Children should not be hurt by police or by anyone else.

But who on earth would take children anywhere there is the distinct possibility of violence?

Children should be children - not political tools.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Not off the sheep's back

2011-11-15T20:55:00.004+11:00

Isn't it ironic, that the fate of asylum seekers and refugees who flee to Australia, is fought out on the floor of Parliament and studios of talk-back radio stations, by Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott - two political leaders whose families came to our shores in search of a better life.

But of course that is quite different.

Those branded "economic refugees" by the mass media and their fact-starved audience, are from countries the West historically brought freedom, civilization and democray to, by leaving their homes in ruins and condemning their countries to decades of political turmoil. But never mind about that - just send them back home, push them back out to sea, or send them to counties where human rights are empty promises made when in need of foreign aid.

Mind you, there are times when I also think, "send them back home." However, it only happens when I see Gillard or Abbott making yet another speech that erodes what used to be Australian spirit.

It is said this beautiful country was built off the sheeps back. It wasn't.

It was built on the backs of, and with the blood sweat and tears of immigrants.

Lest we forget.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A modern fairy tale

2011-11-11T20:59:00.003+11:00

I have started work on a new fairy tale - no I haven't been hired to speak on behalf of a media baron's son, this is the old fashioned kind of fairy tale - just a wee bit updated. The opening few paragraphs have already been put to paper.

Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a politically correct looking Princess.

She was a kindly Princess and often invited all the Persondom's noble persons to lavish banquets to discuss the hungry poor. It was her initiative that enabled the starving peasants to rummage for food from environmentally friendly, color coded garbage bins.

Often the peasants would complain about their harsh working conditions, low pay and extreme poverty. She would done her faux-mink cloak and ride in her golden green powered (horse-driven) carriage to the Town Square, and tell the downtrodden, 'We are all peasants today."

The single, childless, Princess, would hold the hand of a mother struggling to feed six hungry children, and give her kind advice on what she should do and what milk was best for her children. She would even pose with the bewildered but suitably awed mother, as the Royal Painter, captured this moving moment for all to see.

Sometime she would ask her Male Parent. if he could do anything to improve the lives of his people. Unfortunately he misunderstood her request and improved the lives of His People (which were not those in the villages) by granting His People even more land and power.

The story to be continued...for ever and ever.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Que Sera Sera - Song of the UK Education System

2011-11-08T21:58:00.004+11:00

When I was just a little boy

I asked The System what will I be
Will I be handsome
Will I be rich
Here's what They said to me

You're no good, you're no good
Laddie you're no good
Gonna say it again,
You're no good, you're no good
Laddie you're no good

When I was just a child in school
I asked an MP what should I try
Should I paint pictures
Should I sing songs
This was their reply

You're no good, you're no good
Laddie you're no good
Gonna say it again,
You're no good, you're no good
Laddie you're no good

And now I have children of my own
They ask The System what will they be
Will they be pretty
Will they be rich
They said what they'd said to me

You're no good, you're no good
Laddie you're no good
Gonna say it again,
You're no good, you're no good
Laddie you're no good

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

An employees gratitude

2011-11-04T20:26:00.001+11:00

The boss called one of his employees into the office.

"Rob," he said, "you've been with the company for a year. You started off in the post room, one week later you were promoted to a sales position, and one month after that you were promoted to district manager of the sales department. Just four short months later, you were promoted to vice-chairman. Now it's time for me to retire, and I want you to take over the company. "What do you say to that?"

"Thanks," said the employee.

"Thanks?" the boss replied. "Is that all you can say?"

"I suppose not," the employee said.

"Thanks, Dad."

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen

2011-10-27T20:31:00.002+11:00

You probably know how it is. You have been working late into the night, take a break to have some tasty nibbles while watching late night TV, then when you are ready to close down, just have that one last "flick" around the TV channels.

That's what happened to me last night.

And it stopped me in my tracks.

I had "flicked" to TVS, a community TV channel. There in front of my eyes was shaky, old, black and white footage of a TV show I used to watch before I even started school and ruined my education. Apparently they are re-running the show on Sunday evenings. We have all the latest shows here.

Accompanying the footage was a long forgotten theme tune. It may have been long forgotten but the words came back instantly and I found myself silently singing along to an old familiar refrain that would be known to many British readers...

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men
Feared by the bad, loved by the good
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood

Ah Robin Hood. The man who stole from the rich to give to the poor.

That's one good way to get a million Twitter followers and all the Plastic Luvvies sachaying out of their Knightsbridge home to be photographed standing up for your rights!

Of course if you happened to be one of the low profile poor and stole to feed yourself, the same people would be nowhere to be seen.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A time when everything was - pretty much the same as now!

2011-10-25T19:24:00.003+11:00

Sifting through so many articles dealing with war, greed, corruption and wheeling, dealing political snake oil hawkers, can sometimes make me think back to an era when life seemed oh so simple.

You know the sort of thing I mean - cars with proper dashboards that didn't talk to you, telephones with dials that made a tantalizing clicking noise on its journey to the next number - even more tantalizing if you were a teen sneaking away to make a forbidden phone call to the one you were convinced you would spend the rest of your life with (later to realize that you were glad you ran out of coins one fateful night!). A time when you could go to your fridge without worrying if the brand of cheese you fancy had featured in a "Killer Cheese" segment on a commercial TV current affairs program.

One way to do this mental time travelling is to watch some of the old TV programs I used to watch and enjoy. Lately one of our TV stations has been showing The Baron and The Avengers. Nice, simple shots of everyday life.

I was curious about the episode of The Baron, I watched in the early hours of Monday morning, so I went along to IMDB to check it out. Of course, I did not stop at one episode - I went on to check the next. Here is what I saw.

Season 1, Episode 4: Red Horse, Red Rider
Original Air Date—27 January 1966

Mannering agrees to travel to a country racked by civil war to transport a valuable statuette back to London. The rebel leaders hope that the art object will bring them money to buy arms and ammunition to overthrow the tyrannical government. During his flight from the country, Mannering is dogged by the secret police who seem to know his every move even before he makes it.

Maybe I had better stick to looking back on telephone boxes and Diana Rigg!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Revolutions - what you see isn't always what you get

2011-10-24T20:41:00.002+11:00

I was one of those annoying kids who was politically aware at a very young age, something guaranteed to annoy teachers of the day who believed, (as many still do) that "experience" equals "ability" and therefore no one should have an opinion until they were old and grey.

I recall getting into trouble for drawing a barbed wire topped wall with an American tank on one side and a Soviet tank on the other. Tssk, tsssk said the teachers, you are too young to know about such things, ignoring the glaring fact that I obviously was aware and obvioulsy knew more than they - even at my tender age. OK, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea for a nipper to tell them that!

Since then I have seen many revolutions, with many heroes. All too often it has been the same scenario. Blood flows in the streets, cries of help from the ruins of shelled houses, followed by promises of freedom, democracy and reform. Then a few years later we start all over again as new liberators liberate the country from the previous liberators. The leaders wear nicer suits and uniforms, they are feted by the world elite and dedicated followers of causes - and the people continue to die as quickly as the dreams and hopes they once had through what proved to be empty promises.

I recall when I was 13, I was full of optimism that the coup led by a dashing young Colonel, would bring true reform to Libya. I may have been politically aware, but it seems I was as naive as the world leaders of today. Soon I began to realize that nothing had changed. I was disappointed. Within a few short years, disappointment was sadly replaced by a feeling of déjà vue as one "popular" uprising after another, turned out the same way.

But cynicism and disappointment bred by years of hearing the same old song sung by different players, should not dampen anyone's dreams or hopes for a new beginning, a freedom not previously experienced.

But beware, when it comes to revolutions and revolutionary heroes - what you see is not always what you get.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Spot the difference

2011-10-21T20:23:00.002+11:00

Can you spot the difference between Libya's "heroic" "freedom" fighters and mad tyrant Gaddafi?

Don't worry if you can't.

There isn't any. Not judging by the lynch mob mentality we witnessed yesterday.

The lavish, fawning praises heaped upon so called freedom fighters, by the morally bankrupt and gutless Obama and Cameron, (two leaders who have lost control of their own countries as they stand helplessly by and watch their once mighty nations fall into social and economic decay) does not turn yesterday's savagery into a moment of glory. Taking the law into their own hands, these glorified football hooligans denied true justice and closure to untold numbers of victims of Gaddafi's cruelty and tyranny.

"Freedom" fighters, don't tell me not to spoil your "glorious day" for there was no glory. The historic moment was marred not by me - or by any other political commentator who feels the same way, it was bloodily tarnished by the heroes who so quickly and readily, turned into self appointed judge, jury and executioners.

Not one world leader has had the courage to condemn the actions of the frenzied mob who over the months have proved themselves to be no better than the man so many of us wanted removed.

We have come a long way from the days when a NFZ was required to protect peaceful protestors demanding reform. Unarmed protestors morphed into rebels, then Western armed and guided opposition forces, then into the NATO installed Pretendy Government's armed forces - with increasingly nicer uniforms and increasing abuses of human rights and disregard for the rule of law.

Go ahead Obama and Cameron, continue lavishing praise on those you would condemn in your own country. But we shall remember your glowing speeches while we watch with sadness, the inevitable and predictable descent into chaos and unrest, that for your own self-serving, nationalistic and political agendas, you actively and directly encouraged and fostered.

Just as with the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan, Libya will fall victim to the actions of the West - the so called, self styled "good guys"

Who's next? Iran? Syria?

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

PC or not PC? That is the question

2011-10-13T20:48:00.004+11:00

This blog has a Feature Page called, "Music Tells My Story". Many of the songs tell a story, or are songs going back to my early childhood that helped form early ideas, opinions, musical tastes - or those I just simply enjoyed for the sake of it.

While selecting some of the songs I have increasing realized how "PC aware" I have become when choosing songs that date back to the fifties or sixties.

For example, earlier this evening I was looking for a song by British comedian Charlie Drake, called "Only a Working Man" that I intended to dedicate to the "workmen" who again failed to turn up at my apartment block. I could not find the song, but came across that old favorite, 'My Boomerang Wont Come Back". Dare I chance it? No. The song has already caused quite a kerfuffle among the chardonnay sipping do gooders with sense of humor bypasses.

Then there are the old songs with the words "broad, dame, or bird" to describe the opposite sex. One has to be so careful these days. In fact, many years ago I worked for a government department and naively tried to impress a rampant feminist by telling her that I thought of her as being neutrally sexed. Somewhat ironically, that didn't go down very well either. Some times you just can't win!

Some songs I would never consider, as they are deliberately derogatory towards others. Most however, are merely innocent ditties belonging to a different era.

Is there is a difference between causing deliberate offence and innocent humor not intended to belittle or offend any particular group?

Yes there is, and perhaps if certain elements of society introduced a bit of reality into their self-built indignation, we may go a lot further, a lot faster, to achieving what so many of us want and have fought, sang and marched for while retaining a sense of humor and a sense of reality.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Curious Case of The Cat and The Man In Black

2011-10-12T19:57:00.002+11:00

Last month I described my encounter with a black cat that has taken a liking to my apartment building. Despite telling her of my reluctance to allow her to sit on her haunches right outside my front door, we have remained on good terms. In fact, as this photo taken a while ago shows, she is quite comfortable in my company.

However, the last week, things have changed. She has started running away from me! "I' don't bloody blame her" I can hear some cry, but it's not quite as simple as that. There is a pattern to her aversion. She will only run away if I am wearing black!

Whenever I wear another color, she will look at me and sidle up to my leg. However, if I am wearing black trousers, a black shirt or a black jacket - she will look, then run!

I really don't need a feline fashion critic hanging around my apartment!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Calamity Gillard and The Bali Boy

2011-10-11T19:53:00.003+11:00

Julia Gillard, when it comes to Australians detained overseas, you seem to have the knack of totally misjudging popular opinion. Considering your precarious popularity rating, for which you have no one to blame but yourself, I would have thought that you, and certainly your advisors, would take more care to gauge what the voters you so desperately need to woo, are thinking.

After previously declaring another Australian - Julian Assange "guilty" and providing him with scant diplomatic assistance, yesterday you personally phoned the 14 year old boy detained in Bali who allegedly bought a small quantity of marijuana. This is in addition to the personal intervention of Foreign Secretary Kevin Rudd, and intense, high level diplomatic assistance.

I am not going to go into the rights and wrongs of what the little prat did, apart from the fact that after years of having Schapelle Corby and the so called Bali Nine, shoved down our throats on an almost monthly basis, no one could legitimately claim ignorance of Indonesia's stance on this issue.

Your call was not seen as a friendly gesture to an Aussie in trouble, it was seen as a cynical PR exercise in your battle to retain leadership of the ALP, and therefore, your position as Prime Minister of a great country that under your guidance, is gradually but surely becoming an international laughing stock.

But you are not alone - Kevin Rudd has also been doing his knight in shining armor routine. An undue amount of money, diplomatic and political resources have been spent on this idiot. Why is it that until now, neither you nor Rudd, have shown much, if any interest in the plight of Indonesian juveniles in detention? Juveniles who unlike "our lad" do not have the benefit of being given mobile phones to access Facebook, or have their parents being allowed to sleep in the same police station.

This lad is not the only Australian teen involved with drugs. Others too need political help, but not having a high, politically convenient profile, or having access to PR advisors, their voices are unheard by you, your predecessors and a tabloid media that is rapidly becoming as seedy as the British media.

Will this lad bring about a change in government thinking towards teens and drugs? Or will he - and others - be put in the political equivalent of a shoe box in a cupboard under the stairs, when he has outlived his PR usefulness?

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Get lost kid, we don't want troubled youth at our conference on troubled youth

2011-10-07T20:11:00.003+11:00

i On Global Trends publishes a feature called, "Global Voices", which is designed to showcase issues, events or causes, that would not normally make the media or be appropriate for the main blog. I receive many submissions but only one article per day is selected for publication.

One submission I received required very little reading to eliminate. The release advertised a conference on what it called, "Troubled Youth". Don't get me wrong, I am not unsympathetic to such an issue - on the contrary.

However, I am fed up receiving such releases or reading about such conferences, workshops or think-tanks in the media, because they nearly always have the same inherent problem. Read down the list of speakers and so-called experts. All professors, doctors, pillars of society, politicians, media personalities. Well heeled, well educated experts who have never lived on the streets, never experienced the sheer, miserable desperation felt by so many youth - yet they know all about what makes troubled youth tick.

No they bloody don't - though many do know how to advance their careers and professional profile by using troubled kids as a stepping stone.

Next time you read an article on yet another conference or symposium dealing with troubled youth, look at the list of experts who will be expressing their ideas and their opinion - not one "troubled youth" among them - and if there are, too often they are hand chosen and readied for the occasion.

Just for once, let us have a debate on troubled youth, and let the self-appointed experts sit in the audience listening to what the real experts - the kids have to say.

We as adults are often quick to condemn kids, we are quick to recite parrot fashion all the usual, predictable and usually incorrect reasons behind their very real problems. We can do this because we have been told -

by adult "experts"

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Mr. Cameron, your own backyard needs a bit of a wash

2011-10-04T09:52:00.006+11:00

So, Mr. Cameron, now that you have committed so much money and resources to protecting, arming and training Libya's so called "rebels" from Gaddafi - what will you be doing to protect Libyans from the rebels? The people of Sirte for example?

Perhaps you could have a quiet word with the Pretendy Government you helped install, the ones who in a cringe worthy display of mass groveling, world leaders and the UN, fell over themselves to woo and embrace.

It's a pity that apart from wearing increasingly nicer suits and camouflage jackets, they have done very little in the way of actual governing or to curb the sickening excesses of an undisciplined rabble, that as forecast, took very little time to change from today's heroes to tomorrows villains.

Libya under Gaddafi was far from ideal. But what you have helped unleash, has the potential to be far worse.

True freedom for Libyans is still a long way off - thanks largely to the incompetent and deadly meddling of London, Paris and Washington.

Stick to sorting out the social and human rights problems in your own country Mr. Cameron - especially among the youth who are given little hope, little encouragement, little incentive and are put down with spiteful relish at every opportunity - after all, Britain has only had a few thousand years to get it right.

Your own backyard needs a bit of a wash Mr. Cameron - and I don't mean the usual whitewash.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Jailing doctors wont cure Bahrain's ills

2011-09-30T18:05:00.008+11:00

Over the years, I have published a large number of articles on Bahrain (over 138). I think it is fair to say that since the onset of Arab Spring, I have tried to give coverage to both sides of the dispute, as can be seen by the Bahrain articles on i On Global Trends. Of course readers tend to see the latest post or tweet and assume I am either pro or anti. In fact, both sides think I am on the other side!

I am neither - I am anti-bull dust whichever side is responsible for trying to sell us shoddy goods.

In the case of Bahrain, I am especially careful to present views form both sides. The situation in Bahrain is arguably more complex than in other "Arab Spring" countries. For one thing, there are good reasons to question Iran's influence in the uprising.

However, I can not let the shameful jailing of 20 doctors for treating demonstrators who protested against the ruling family, pass without condemnation.

The official statements of the ruling family have little credibility, and the sentences fly in the face of everything I had previously been taught and believed - that even in conflict, doctors, hospitals and medical staff were off limits.

Obviously that authorities in Bahrain do not subscribe to such a concept.

Doctors and medical staff have always treated casualties from both sides of any conflict - it is what they do. They ignore the danger to themselves to tend to those who need their skill, care and attention - and they will continue to do so, despite Bahrain's persecution of those who save lives instead of taking them.

Bahrain is of strategic importance to the west - especially the U.S.(Bahrain: U.S. Navy's 'ironclad' commitment to Bahrain) so as we have come to expect in such situations, western nations who are so quick and loud to condemn those who are of no use to their agenda, have responded with "caution".

They are not so cautious however when it comes to selling arms to Bahrain. As the ABC reports, "The US Defense Department is currently planning to sell Bahrain $53 million worth of weapons. Likewise, the British government invited Bahrain to the UK's largest arms fair earlier this month".

Just as well they are not trying to sell medical equipment - the powers that be would never allow it to be used by those who care more about a patient's life than about their political persuasion.

It's time - to get real

2011-09-27T20:28:00.003+11:00

Poor old Kevin Rudd, seems to be a favorite target for Australian voters devotion to irrelevancy. Last week, Kevin Rudd, Foreign Minister, was criticized for his travel expenses. It seems the Australian public would like nothing more than a Foreign Minister who thinks international diplomacy ends at Tasmania.

Yes, he does incur a lot of travel expenses compared to foreign ministers in other countries - that's because we are further away!

Of course that didn't stop the talk-back jocks ramping up the self-righteous indignation of it's fact-starved listeners.

Today Rudd again came under the spotlight when on radio he said he was "a very happy little Vegemite being prime minister" before continuing " ... being Foreign Minister of Australia".

Rudd had just returned from addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, so a slip of the tongue is quite understandble - especially when you consider that most overseas politicians regard Rudd as the real leader of Australia, and not the foot stomping, turn on the tears and get your boyfriend to defend you Gillard, who for now is masquerading as leader of this once great country.

Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, once used the campaign slogan, "It's time". I have my own version. It's time Australians stopped focusing on mindless trivia and tried to get a more informed grasp of the realities of the major issues.

I do not care how a politician dresses, I do not care what gender they are, I don't care how their partners dress - I want a politician who can deliver the goods and deliver on promises.

It's time we had one!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Ragged Stranger and The Lady

2011-09-22T21:17:00.002+11:00

She saw him through the damp, dark air occasionally dotted by poker dots of cigarette smoke. He looked forlorn, huddled against the cold. He look worried, he looked scared. He wore a tattered suit with trousers hanging precariously around his waist. His shoes were scuffed and road weary from treading life's long, pot-holed path.

She watched as he looked at her, standing aloof in her fine coat seemingly unaffected by either the gloom or his plight. She knew he would approach. Hope and even faith, would guide him towards her. She was his last chance - his only chance.

He pulled on his cigarette, flicked it to the ground - a gesture that was more of a statement of determination than the discarding of a last cigarette.

She smiled at him, slipped her cloak beguilingly from her shoulder.

"You like what you see?"

He swallowed hard, coughed.

"Yes"

'Do you need me?"

"Yes. Yes I need you badly"

She smiled alluringly, raising the hem of her cloak a little. For a moment, the light of hope lit up his dark, heavy eyes.

"I can do so much for you" she promised, blowing him a soft kiss as a sample of what she could offer.

Again, he cleared his throat. He spoke hesitantly.

"I..."

"Yes?"

"I....have nothing but what you see upon me. My pockets are empty, but so is my heart. Please can you help?"

She pulled the cloak back around her shoulders.

"In that case, I can not help you. What I offer does not come cheaply"

With head hung low, he turned and started to shuffle away. It was always the way for the likes of him.

He heard another set of footsteps. Louder, more confident. He heard the sound of laughter. He turned and saw her - laughing. So too was the man who had now joined her. He recognized him. A fine, upstanding man. A man of fine suits and a bulging wallet.

He took her arm.

"Come with me my dear, come with me" he urged. She laughed and hooked her arm in his.

The stranger stood, watching and listening as arm in arm, they walked away towards a mutually beneficial union.

"What's your name?" the man asked, though he had sought her out and knew quite well. She turned to him and smiled.

"You know my name, you just like to hear me say it" He smiled mischievously in response.

"Say it my dear, just say it". She kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear - a whisper that needed no amplification for the Stranger to hear.

"They call me - Lady Justice"

The Stranger laughed with irony, turned and continued his journey alone.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Hiya Doll

2011-09-20T20:15:00.004+11:00

I am not sure if this is a global phenomenon, (glad I don't have to say that without my dentures in place!) or whether it is a Sydney or merely local thing. I am referring to the habit of female shop assistants calling male customers "Doll" or "Darl".

I first came across this a few years ago, noticing that a waitress in a club restaurant would call me "Darl" while a local female shop assistant would call me "doll". Then all of a sudden it seemed to stop as quickly as it had arrived on the social etiquette scene.

Now however, it seems to have resurfaced with female staff in both my local supermarkets, greeting me with, "Hello doll, have you had a good day?" or bidding me farewell with a cheery, "Have a good day darl'. Neither am I the only male customer to be the recipient of such familiarity.

Don't get me wrong, I am quite comfortable with this greeting - although if they wish to address me as "Sir" who am I to complain!. However, I can't help thinking what would happen if the whole thing was reversed and I started calling every female I came into contact with, "doll" or "darl".

If I leaned on the counter at my local GP and said to the receptionist, "Hi doll - you're looking well" would I be greeted with a smile or a snooty look - which is par for the course anyway whichever way you greet doctors receptionists. Funny thing about doctors receptionists, they can't spell my name or get my date of birth right, yet they decide what's wrong with me before I finish saying, 'I'd like to make an appointment".

Perhaps next time I am called "doll" by a female assistant, I should get all indignant, demand to see the manager then sue the shop for failing to address sexism in the workplace.

But I wont.

For one thing I don't get steamed up about such things, and secondly, I doubt a male would ever succeed with such a case anyway!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Life would be better if...

2011-09-17T21:13:00.002+11:00

There is a trending topic on Twitter called "Life Would Better If". I had a think about this and came up with the following suggestions. I am prepared to listen to those who disagree with me - except about broccoli!

If people stopped blaming others for their own mistakes
If the media put the blame where it belongs, not on where it suits them
If world leaders stopped selling arms to countries they helped destabilize
If refugees and asylum seekers stopped being used as political pawns
If people looked after their children
If peace prizes were given to those on the ground, not those who hide behind tax payer funded desks
If cyclists used the cycle paths and not the bloody footpaths!
If politicians lived by the same standards they expect of "those people"
If the United Nations was - united!
Without "isms" and "ists"
Without broccoli
If experts stopped telling others how to live it

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Difference between "rebel" and "rabble"

2011-09-15T21:34:00.002+11:00

When you hear the words spoken, sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between, "rebel" and "rabble". Sometimes when you see news footage on your screen, it can be just as hard to tell the difference.

So when does "rebel" turn into "rabble"?

Is it perhaps when the cause is hijacked by those who see it as a vehicle to become what others marched peacefully and courageously, to replace?

Today's heroes, tomorrow's western backed villains - till the cycle starts all over again.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

What's new pussy cat?

2011-09-14T21:41:00.003+11:00

Leaving my apartment has become a somewhat hazardous business recently. It has reached the stage where I gradually and gently open the front door and sneak a quick look to make sure the coast is clear.

It's not that I am afraid of foreign agents or mysterious and seductively dressed Mata Hari's waiting to pounce - it's far simpler than that. It's that darn cat!

For some reason a black cat that has nothing to do with my apartment building, has taken a liking to me lately. I open the apartment door, and there she is sitting on her haunches waiting for the door to open.

It happened again this afternoon and I thought, "Enough is enough/"

I looked down on her (no, not in the way David Cameron does with young people) and said my piece - making my position clear from the outset.

"Don't get me wrong" I told her, "It's not that I am a catist - in fact some of my best friends are cats, it's just that cats do not belong in the hallway of my apartment - they belong outside" She looked at me as though to say, 'You do realize you are talking to a cat don't you mate - bang goes your street cred". I continued undeterred.

"I know what your game is - you are expecting a bowl of milk or a few of my fish fingers, well you are not getting any - and it's no use fluttering those eye lashes at me missy, that doesn't work when humans try it, so it's hardly likely to work for a cat". I continued. "And to be honest, you are better than that. Sitting there expecting something for nothing just makes you look like a bleeding trade union official"

I stepped into the hallway and down the steps in the hope she would follow, which she did. I was expecting her to follow me into the courtyard, and if that wasn't to her liking, into the garden, but she didn't.

Instead, she took up position outside another door!

And there was me thinking she had selected me for her attention. Hmmph - see if I care!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Freedom of Speech - try it now while stocks last

2011-09-13T22:08:00.003+11:00

Just a reminder to those who are fortunate enough to live in countries where free speech is a right.

When exercising your right to free speech, please remember terms and conditions apply and available to approved applicants only.

Should you stray from those conditions, you will be called names usually ending in "ist" by those who are often most ardent in voicing their support for free speech.

Never speak derogatorily of you-know-who or you-know-what, you will be instantly castigated and either asked a question ending in "Thought not" or treated to an abrupt statement informing you, "Enough said."

Remember that freedom of speech does not mean that you can express thoughts that are outside the norm. They must either be left, right, or centre and stick to parameters applicable to each. Should you fail to do so, your spelling and grammar will be picked through with a fine tooth comb until someone spots a mistake and cries "Eureka".

If you live in Australia, you can criticize any sportsman or sports woman as long as they are foreigners - preferably Poms or Kiwis but on no account, from you-know-where. Should you criticize an Aussie sporting icon who has won one event in 15 years, you are "Un-Australian".

Again to those living in this Great Southern Land, it is compulsory to believe in Global Warming, so unless you are of stout enough heart to subject yourself to a lecture by Julia Gillard, keep quiet button up your anorak and put on the warm woolen mittens your mum knitted you.

There is a saying "Don't mention the war!" but if you really must, remember whatever war it is, we were right and they were wrong, so serves them bloody well right.

If you are from another country and wish to express an opinion about conflict in the land of your birth, those who decide the criteria for free speech in the lands of the free, will allow you to do so - as long of course, as you "sod off back home" and do it.

Freedom of Speech - try it now while stocks last.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

An evening with George W.

2011-09-10T20:18:00.003+11:00

Come into my parlour said the spider...

TV Host: Mr. Bush, what were your reactions when you heard about the attack on America?

Bush: (Looking very sincere and emotional). I went back to the Whitehouse, sat in the Oval Office and started reading my Beginners Guide To Terrorism, flicking through the pages trying to find out who the hell this guy Al Keeda was, I turned to Laura, and we just stared at each other for a while. I asked her, "Honey, do you know what this means? 'Tell me George' she replied"
TV Host: Please continue

Bush: (grinning broadly) I slapped my knee and said "Honey - we're gonna have us a war! Hot diggity dawg"

TV Host: Mr. Bush, do you realize how many people have died in the aftermath of 9/11? How many innocent people have needlessly lost their lives in a so called war on terror - a war you started under false pretences?

Bush: (pausing for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, first I phoned Don, then Dick, then Tony, and finally that Aussie guy with the funny eyebrows and the pushy wife, and we all agreed - we're gonna have us a war, and boy was it a doozie.

TV Host: It still is a war Mr. Bush. People are still dying needlessly in Iraq and Afghanistan. How do you explain that Mr. Bush?

Bush: (standing up) If you're gonna sit there making trivial comments, I'm off. I have a peace prize to collect you know. It's my turn this year, Tony's turn next year. Makes me kind of proud. (Bush exits singing "America, America)

Meanwhile in Iraq and in Afghanistan, another mother, another wife, another father, another husband, sing songs of heartache and grief. Only their voices are not heard, they are not interviewed on endless TV Specials or "Anniversary Events". Their views, opinions and feelings are not considered as important as those of the men of peace. Men such as George Bush, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair or John Howard.

The people of Iraq and Afghanistan do not pick up Peace Prizes or Liberty Medals - they just pick up the pieces of their shattered, broken lives.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Of Hobgoblins and sunglasses

2011-09-08T21:59:00.002+11:00

There are times in ones life, when it seems that a beer and lager swilling committee of mischievous hobgoblins, plan and set in motion a chain of events that culminates in us looking a total prat.

Take the other day for example. Had I not finished a meeting earlier than expected, I would not have headed home at that particular time. Had I not allowed too much time to catch my homeward bound bus, I would not have sat in that nice little park adjoining the bus stop. Had I not sat there, I would not have taken off my sunglasses to look at the almost unviewable display screen of my camera.

Unplanned events that weren't meant to happen, but because they happened - well, let me explain.

The bus had travelled about 200 meters when I realized I could not find my sunglasses. They were not tucked into the open neck of my shirt as they normally are, nor were they in my brief case, nor on the floor or under the seat. It was obvious to me that I had left them on the bench in the park.

I stood up, walked to the front of the bus, and asked the driver if he could set me down at the next convenient stop or traffic light. "I left my sunglasses back at the bus stop" I explained.

The bus driver looked at me and very politely asked, "Do they look anything like the ones on top of your head Sir?"

Sure enough, there they were!

How they got there, I have no idea, as I never put my sunnies on top of my head - not since the first time I did it and the damn things fell down on the bridge of my nose as I was talking to someone. Sunglasses sitting casually on top of ones head may look suave and sophisticated, but not when gravity - or those Hobgoblins take over to make you look a prat!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Julia Gillard - a dangerous precedent

2011-09-06T22:49:00.003+11:00

Stamping her feet like a teenage girl denied permission to go to a disco, Julia Gillard intends to press ahead with her so called "Malaysian Solution" to process asylum seekers - despite being trounced in the court, denounced by the United Nations and condemned both nationally and internationally.

The picture she paints is quite clear - if she does not like the referee's decision, she will simply change the law. The full bench of the High Court is an essential part of our democracy. It is there to ensure governments act legally and responsibly. Without the High Court to act as an adjudicator, there would be nothing to prevent any government enforcing unfair, undemocratic legislation upon Australia.

But Gillard, a woman who likes to boast about her union background, has changed all that. Fine, she says - you don't like a decision take it to High Court, and if I lose, I will simply change the law - nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

We have reached a point in our history where the High Court of Australia, has basically been rendered null and void. Gillard has not only set a dangerous precedent - she has demonstrated that not even the values we have historically held in such high regard, will get in the path of her determination to have her way - even when every man and his dog knows it is the wrong way.

And now, the end is near
Coz I did it my way

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Funny how "They" said...

2011-09-03T20:53:00.001+11:00

Funny how "They" said, Iraq wasn't going to be another Vietnam," Now "They" say, Libya wont be another Iraq"

Which country is in line for "Them" to say, "it wont be another Libya"

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A man of faint heart will not fare well on these occasions

2011-09-01T21:44:00.003+11:00

There comes a time in a man's life when despite all fears, apprehensions and misgivings, he realizes a man's got to do, what a man's got to do. He has to be strong, confident, look the world straight in the eye and march bravely onward - knowing there can be no turning back. A man of faint heart will not fare well on such occasions.

I am talking of course about - buying undies.

It is not the selecting or even the cost that is the problem - oh no, that's the least of his problems. It's that no matter how long he spends sussing out the undies section of a supermarket or department store, or how clear the coast may appear to be, as soon as he starts looking, women will appear from everywhere to do the same!

To make matters worse, I have in the past been targeted by an unsure female shopper holding up a pair of briefs intended for her other half, and asking my advice!

All a man can do on such occasions is wipe the sweat from his brow and beat a hasty retreat to the toy section to look at the Dinky cars, and wait until the coast looks clear again.

Once the briefs, boxers or shorts have been selected, he has to brave the next stage. How come there are always a few males on checkout counters except on the day I buy new undies? You can bet London to a brick, that on that day, every counter will be staffed by females! Heaven help the poor bloke who has to brave and suffer the loud call of, "Price check for Bonds men's briefs please" and then has to stand there patiently, exchanging awkward smiles with the female assistant!

Of course there are men who experience no such fears - men such as me, men undaunted by such a quest. Men who have no hesitation, no qualms about - asking their wives or girlfriends to get them!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Waiting for the next freedom fighter to come along

2011-08-30T21:12:00.004+11:00

The overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, the man who since 1969, has ruled Libya with brutality, inhuman cunning, torture and help from Europe and the US, puts me in a bit of a quandary.

There is no doubt that Gaddafi was and is, all the things the pious Western media have accused him of being - as well as many things the same media would prefer their readers not to know - such as his implementation of a free housing program, which is more than can be said of Western nations.

The removal of any man wielding such power and with such brutality, is cause for celebration.

Yet, I find it hard to celebrate or be optimistic for Libya's chances of true freedom - free from corruption, infighting, factionalism and marginalization of different demographic groups.

Photos and footages of so called freedom fighters, looting and pillaging, do little to fill me with confidence. Nor does the sight of the so called Prime Minister of the new so called government, inspire me as he avoids the killing fields of Libya to parade around Europe wearing a different expensive suit each day.

Sometimes, it's all too easy to believe that freedom's just another word for someone else to benefit at the expense of the people.

The history of revolution is written with the blood of the meek and powerless, who dreamt and believed in the slogans and war cries of those professing to fight in their name. Yet before their tears of grief and heartache had dried, they wept again, as the heroes became the new villains.

The song of cruelty and oppression remained the same, and the meek and powerless were once more forced to do little but listen and endure.

Until the next freedom fighter came along.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A different sort of cover up

2011-08-19T21:11:00.004+11:00

As many of you visiting this blog will know, I also publish i On Global Trends which covers a wide range of heavy and far too often, tragic news stories. I see many press releases and every now and then I come across one that I would love to publish, but wouldn't be suitable for that particular blog.

This press release is one such story. Why I want to publish it, I am not too sure. I think perhaps it has an ironic absurdity about it. While people around the world die for freedom and end to tyranny, there are those who find issues such as this - important.

Don't get me wrong, everyone has the right to promote an issue they believe to be just and right. I guess, it's a matter of perspective!

Source: Raelian Movement

With the slogan, "Topless equal rights for all or none," Gotopless(.org) is summoning men across America to cover their chests on Aug. 21 in the name of equal rights.

On that day, for the fourth consecutive year, the U.S.-based organization will stage a national Go Topless Day protest to proclaim a woman's constitutional right to go bare-chested in public. During the protest, while participating women go bare, male participants will cover their chests with bikini tops or bras to proclaim equal rights for both genders.

Sound ridiculous?

"It's no more ridiculous than women having to wear tops at all time in this double-standard, topless battle that's being waged in public and in the courts," said Nadine Gary, president of Gotopless(.org).

For Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement and founder of Gotopless(.org), the equation is simple: "As long as men can go topless, either women should have the same constitutional right or men should also be forced to wear something that hides their chests."

"We will force men to legally cover up if women can't go bare," agreed Gary, who is also a Raelian priestess. "After 4 years, our national protests are starting to bear fruit, for a growing number of women across the country are reaching out to us. They're beginning to feel empowered by our demonstrations and the constitutional message we bring."

Gary noted that women in more and more U.S. cities are starting to exercise their constitutional topless right. New York City is a prime example, but smaller cities are also joining in, she said.

"On the legal side, we're happy to report that Madison, WI just passed a city ordinance in favor of topless rights after several topless women were arrested during World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR). But our larger goal is to bring about legal change at the national level. As part of our national topless march in Washington, D.C., next year, we will submit petitions with thousands of signatures to President Obama."

Gary said a shift of mindset concerning topless rights is under way across North America.

"Women are rejecting shameful, puritanical values about their bodies, nudity and breasts," she said, adding that such sentiments have recently been echoed in other social protests, including "Slutwalk," which Gotopless(.org) fully embraces.

For the Raelian Movement that sponsors Gotopless(.org), nudity has always been a non-issue.

The Raelian philosophy states that life on Earth was the result of scientific creation by the Elohim, an advanced, extraterrestrial human civilization mistaken for gods in the Bible.

"They created us in their image very scientifically, through genetic engineering," Gary said. "So how can the human body, a masterpiece, be perceived with shame?"

She said Go Topless Day is always held at the end of August to honor Women's Equality Day, Aug. 26, which commemorates the American passage of women's right to vote on Aug. 26, 1920.

Gotopless(.org) hopes for similar success with the right to go bare-chested, and is planning its events to draw attention to the issue and educate the public.

"Our Gotopless Aug. 21 events are planned not only for cities where it's illegal for women to go topless publicly, like Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and Honolulu; but also for cities where it's already legal, including New York City, Washington DC, Portland/OR, Austin/TX and Asheville/NC" Gary said.

**Raëlism (or the Raëlian Church) is a UFO religion that was founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon, now known as Raël.

The Raelian Movement teaches that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials, which they call the Elohim. Members of this species appeared human and when having personal contacts with the descendants of the humans they made, they were mistaken for angels, cherubim or gods.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Actions of the few are being used as an excuse to control and persecute a whole generation

2011-08-18T21:11:00.006+11:00

Youth of Britain, your rights are being eroded by knee-jerk politics and political back saving, that panders to manic populist and tabloid rhetoric.

To an extent I have never witnessed in my lifetime, longstanding British legal and judicial protocols are being swept away on a tidal wave of artificially inseminated indignation and outrage. Political interference in sentencing is the realm of the Western backed tyrants the UK so loves to criticize, (while providing them with the guns and bullets to kill their own). Britain's youth are being blamed for the mistakes, ineptitude and moral and social crimes of their elders.

You have become the scapegoats, it is you who will suffer as your libraries, youth clubs and community halls, vanish as fast as your rights. As the power dressing, dodgy dealers and old school tie back scratchers, wheel, deal and steal - everything that is so very wrong with the country will be your fault. Aided and abetted by the manic media, an uninformed, unthinking, unquestioning public will lap it up - like they did in my day - as they have always done.

Don't lose your rights, stand up for them - but for Heaven's sake do so peacefully and determinedly. The only thing that should be ignited, is your passion for your rights.

Use your voice, use the power of new media, use song. use the few freedoms you have left to march - or even sit down, (been there, done that)

But remember, what you achieve is in your hands. Prove to "Them" you have what it takes to let your grievances be heard without stones, Molotov cocktails or nicking TVs - there's nothing worth bloody watching anyway! It is the mindless minority who use violence and looting and hijack genuine, long-standing grievances, to use as an excuse for their vandalism. And no, I don't have a problem with those who commit such offences being punished - but sentences should not be disproportionate to the crime. Justice should not be fast-tracked and influenced by political and media interference.

You have been victimized and slapped down since long before a British grammar school taught me that you either stand up against the system and be counted, or lie down and be trampled on.

Now the actions of the few are being used as an excuse to control and persecute a whole generation that The System, rarely allows or encourages to show or develop it's true potential. Stifled, silenced and derided. The way it always has been - the way "They" want it to be. It is your lives, your future - not Theirs.

Take a look around at other countries. Do you see other countries constantly publishing negative stories about their youth, their schools, the alleged failings of kids? No you bloody don't - because that is not the way a civilized country should behave - it is the exclusive realm of your schools, your media, your expense fiddling, "let's have a lovely war and bomb the crap out of others in the name of democracy", politicians.

You have a voice. Use it to secure the door the system wants to break down to force their way in and steal from you, what they are always telling you, your forefathers fought and died for.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

A matter of respect

2011-08-17T21:01:00.005+11:00

Cameron, since the outbreak of rioting that blissfully for you, detracted from the hacking scandal you were struggling to survive, you have harped on about young people having respect for authority.

Good point - excellent old chap. Here here. Jolly well said.

Just one question.

With a whole list of county set Chief Constables, Deputy Chief Constables, police lawyers, and senior officers under investigation for alleged criminal activity; apart from the police canteen waitress, just who is left for the disenfranchised youth to respect?

You perhaps?

The man who has caused chaos in Libya? The man who tried to sell arms to an unstable political system in Egypt? The man who believes that anyone who, quote: "screws up" deserves a, quote: "second chance" when referring to Andy Coulson, a man whose integrity and honesty has at the very least, come under close and warranted scrutiny?

If a seventeen year old in Clapham was mixing with lads of dubious character, you would criticize everyone from the parents to social workers, to Margaret Thatcher, left wing do-gooders and Doctor Spock.

So why does Coulson, a man of questionable integrity, deserve a second chance, while those committing trivial offences deserve jail? Why is he worthy of your spirited and determined defense?

Does Coulson have something that the others do not?

And you can interpret that question any damn way you like Cameron.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Reaping and Sowing

2011-08-13T21:26:00.004+11:00

Breaking news. In a bid to bolster his popularity with tabloid readers, Cameron has followed on his gleeful support for forced evictions, ( Britain has spent centuries creating unnecessary IDPs in other countries, now they are doing it in their own) and announced a deal to buy one hundred Israeli bulldozers, to tear down the homes of children suspended from school for not having their ties done up properly, or for - shock horror -wearing the wrong color socks, (disgusting it is, disgusting innit).

Wearing his most pious countenance, he wagged a scolding finger and warned, "You can not loot shops, ruin homes and assault innocent citizens - you're supposed to wait till you get to the Costa Brava and then blame the foreigners"

He was greeted with roars of, "And about time too, weren't like that in my day" from tabloid waving, self-appointed Guardians Of Morality, who have forgotten, that yes it was, but have been conditioned not to allow facts to get in the way of a good old fashioned, self-righteous, quintessential British hypocritical rant about the nation's youth.

Obviously the education system failed them also. Otherwise, they would have been taught that well known phrase...

you reap what you sow

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

UK: Ask not what you are doing wrong, ask what others are doing right

2011-08-12T22:28:00.004+11:00

Mr Cameron, didn't anyone teach you it is disrespectful to point?

Yesterday, fresh from his holiday and a previous trip to sell arms to politically unstable countries such as Egypt, David Cameron, took a break from enforcing No Fly Zones through the bombing of women and children, to address the British Parliament.

The House of Parliament is a fine institution where the nation's pillars of society debate and decide the moral well being of the country by heckling, interrupting speakers and shouting insults at each other - at least those MPs that are not in jail for fiddling their expenses do.

Giving every indication that he was quoting populist rhetoric from an old copy of the News of The World, kindly donated by his fine upstanding friends Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, he laid out his grand strategy for dealing with the country's rebellious youth.

It was the same old, same old.

Ever since I attended what passes for schools in Britain, I have said clearly and loudly, that Britain's attitude to kids is a disgrace. Pick up a newspaper and you will see four or five negative stories about kids. Any kid who does manage to do something different or innovative, is immediately branded a "spoilt brat" and "what were the parents thinking of".

In no other country in the world, do you see such continuous and vicious negativity towards their youth. You only see it in a country where institutionalised pedophillia is not only rife but whitewashed, and the "Rights of The Child" (indeed the rights of anyone not approved by the tabloid conditioned mob) is regarded as "disgusting" and "laughable".

The persecution and put downs start in schools where devotion to irrelevant trivia and oppression, is more important than educating a future generation of adults.

There has been a lot of comment in the British press about what Britain is doing wrong. Such an approach will do nothing to help, because it only results in the same old answers that have been handed down for bloody decades.

Britain - instead of asking what you are doing wrong, ask what other countries are doing right?

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Mr. Cameron, can you explain

2011-08-10T22:04:00.002+11:00

Mr. Cameron, can you explain why those who destroy shops and streets, will quite rightly, "face the full force of the law" yet those who destroy whole countries...

...will not.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

David Hicks: Two men - Two "journeys"

2011-08-05T21:50:00.004+11:00

Photo Copyright Mike Hitchen. Taken at a protest rally in Dec 2006

David Hicks. The pawn used by then Australian Prime Minister John Howard, to curry favor with the then President George W. Bush. Two leaders who accompanied by their partner in crime Tony Blair, waged an illegal, immoral, inexcusable, trumped up war that has seen hundreds of thousands of innocent people perish.

In 2007, after five years of America's red-neck justice system, constantly changing rules and moving goal posts, Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge of providing material support for terrorism. The initial hearing was immediately thrown into disarray when the judge effectively disqualified two of his three lawyers. They refused to allow conversations with their client to be monitored.

Hicks admitted training with al-Qaeda, fighting with the Taliban and that a friend of his believed he had approved of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. It's nice to know that in the land of freedom and justice, hearsay evidence is admissible as long as it suits the authorities. Note the word, "believed".

Under a complicated plea bargain deal, Hicks received an incredibly lenient sentence that saw him returned to Australia. The U.S authorities had little or no solid evidence against him - only his own admission obtained under at the very least, severe duress. One Australian media analyst said at the time, that if he had spent five years in that hell-hole, he would have admitted assassinating Kennedy if it meant he was sent back home. The plea bargain included a ban on Hicks speaking to the media for one year, and a very interesting clause under which he agreed to say that he had "never been illegally treated by any persons in the control or custody of the United States".

Hicks subsequently wrote a book, mostly detailing the conditions in Guantanamo Bay. This week an Australian judge froze proceeds from that book. Associated Press reports, "The government has launched court action against Hicks, arguing that he should not be allowed to profit from his autobiography, "Guantanamo: My Journey," because he is a convicted criminal"

Any crimes Hicks was convicted of, were decided in a US kangaroo. Even the prosecutor admitted on Sydney radio, that legislation had been changed to fit what information they had about Hicks.

If Hicks did commit acts of terrorism - then it is perhaps right that the proceeds of his book be forfeited. No author responsible for acts of terrorism or for war crimes, should be allowed to profit from such acts.

It's ironic that the court froze proceeds from Hicks's memoir, just a few days after a lucrative Sydney speaking engagement, by former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, author of "A Journey" a title strikingly similar to Hicks's memoir.

Two men. Two "journeys"

One has paid for his alleged crimes. The other hasn't.

For more of my scribblings on David Hicks, click here

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

The Case of The Discredited Prime Minister and the Discredited Copper

2011-08-03T20:05:00.003+11:00

Julia Gillard, as Prime Minister, can you explain why you launched the book written by Christine Nixon, the discredited former Chief Commissioner, of Victoria Police who was criticized by the media and Royal Commission into her handling of the Victorian bush fires, and who also managed to stuff up her former position in New South Wales.

Taking a break from spending tax payers money to flog a tax no one wants, for a cause few actually believe, to promote a book by an ex cop few people trust, is not exactly the best way to win over a weary and wary public.

Especially when you get the title wrong!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Plastic Guru

2011-08-02T22:28:00.004+11:00

I have decided to have a change of career.

There are many options to choose from but I have decided that I want a career, that is lucrative, provides free travel and accommodation in four and five star hotels, ample opportunity to mix with B Grade celebrities and people who are famous for being related to some one who is famous for good reason, and above all is safe.

I have decided to become - a Leader In Exile

I haven't yet decided which country I am going to become Leader In Exile of, but it doesn't really matter. All I have to do is give myself the title, mutter something about "An unscratched back continues to itch" and the luvvies will spread the word as "it's so profound don't you know dahlink"

I will get the chance to win Peace prizes for making speeches in posh venues, while my country folk starve, (that's if they are not getting tortured, imprisoned or slain). It's a hard life, but as I sit in the First Class cabin with my feet up on my way to meet wars criminals, (or as we in the west call our war criminals - Statesmen) I know that I am doing it for my downtrodden people. As long as they don't expect me to go home and mix with them.

So if any country is looking for a Leader in Exile, please email me giving your location and most importantly - what's in it for me.

Peace my children etc. etc. etc.

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

No parole for the victims of Gunn-Britt Ashfield

2011-07-29T22:15:00.005+11:00

In 1993, John Ashfield, a six year old lad walked home from school unaware of the horror he was about to face.

As soon as he set foot through the door, he was set upon by his mother Gunn-Britt Ashfield , now known as Angelic Karstrom) and her partner, Austin Allan Hughes.

For several hours, he was savagely beaten and put under icy showers. His three year old sister and three other brothers, had to watch as they put John in a dress and beat him with a hammer and a phone book. They were forced to jump from bunk beds on top of the helpless youngster.

I remember well as a tearful mother and her partner spoke to a gullible media. Wiping away tears she explained how her six year old boy John Ashfield, had been set upon by a gang of youths and beaten to death. The gutter media had a "youth gone wild" field day with the mother's allegation.

They were both jailed for 21 years, which was reduced on appeal to 19 years with a non-parole period of 14 years

In 2009, Hughes was granted parole, and today it has been announced that Gunn-Britt Ashfield, is to likely to be released within days.

This is not justice. Even the original sentence was not justice.

How in God's name can a parole board look at what these two unremorseful bastards have done, and say they are fit to be let back into the community? Yes, there are restrictions placed upon both - but they are free. They can breath the fresh air, they can look at the sky, they can be part of the community - a community that does not want these two cold, calculating murderers in their midst.

We as a community are as one in wanting justice not only for John Ashfield, but also for the surviving children. There is no parole for the sister and the brothers, it is a life sentence of nightmares, hate and fear.

Melissa Ashfield, was three when she saw her brother beaten. The Sydney Morning Herald reports her appearance at the parole hearing -

Ms Ashfield opposed such a decision when giving an emotional witness impact statement at the hearing today. Karstrom was on screen via video link from jail as her daughter yelled at her. "She can rot in hell," she said. "The day I'll jump for you is the day you drop dead. And you can go to hell." Ms Ashfield expressed disgust as the parole board chairman read his decision, holding up a picture of her dead brother and declaring to her mother "Look what you did you f---ing dog" before running, crying from the court.

Can anyone - tell me this young lady has received justice, or that the impact upon her has truly been taken into account?

Or is yet another case of do-gooders ignoring the impact upon the victims and survivors of horrific crimes, so they can boast about "human rights'" and "rehabilitation" of people who can not be considered human and who will never be truly rehabilitated.

Whoosh - what was that?

That my friend, was Justice for children going out the window.

Again.

See also:

Unleashed!
Austin Allan Hughes granted parole - where is justice for the victim of a merciless child killer? Dec 08, 2009

Sydney Morning Herald
'Rot in hell': daughter to mother who killed brother
July 29, 2011

"Must never happen again" they say

2011-07-27T20:17:00.009+11:00

Biafra - They said, "Must never happen again"

Bangladesh - They said, "Must never happen again"

Ethiopia - They said, "Must never happen again"

Somalia - They are saying, "Must never happen again"

Concerts are never going to change the world, CD's are never going to eliminate the root causes of poverty or famine. The empty promises of those on six or seven figure salaries won't fill the empty bellies of the children.

It needs commitment, the willingness to strike at the heart of greed and corruption and tin pot politics.

Who amongst our leaders will stand up and say "We shall do that" then roll up their sleeves and damn well do it?

They are saying, "Must never happen again"

Wherever you may be - be safe

The Great Baked Beans Conspiracy

2011-07-22T22:07:00.003+11:00

There appears to be an international conspiracy going on. A conspiracy that gives every perception of being - sabotage!

What else would explain the fact that in BOTH (always use uppercase to raise indignation levels of your reader) my local supermarkets, EVERY (once again for good measure) can of Heinz English Recipe Baked Beans, is DENTED (the Daily Mail will admire my use of upper case)

When I say dented, I don't just mean a barely visible indentation near the bottom of a can, I mean they look like they have been hit by a Sydney driver trying to negotiate a roundabout. Every other variety of Heinz baked beans is left unscathed, it is only the English Recipe that has been targeted.

Are there home grown baked beans extremists in our midst, who have been radicalized by the mass media's incessant agenda to 'Buy Australian" even though it's crap and twice as expensive as imported products would be if incompetent, greedy self interest groups known as trade unions and farmers, allowed us to?

Why is the Baked Beans in Ham Sauce, in perfect condition, so too the BBQ sauce variety?

Perhaps someone involved in the distribution process has had their phones hacked by News of The World and are exacting their revenge on the bean counters!

If I wanted to buy something that is battered, I wouldn't buy baked beans - I'd buy fish fingers!

Heck, I don't even like baked beans!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Should AFP accompany our athletes to London in 2012?

2011-07-21T21:52:00.005+11:00

In light of the failure to protect an elderly Australian from a cowardly, unprovoked attack by a two-bob British thug, should Australia consider sending Australian Federal Police Officers, to accompany our Olympic athletes to London in 2012, to ensure that in a country notorious for home grown terrorism and keystone cop anti-terrorist units, our athletes are protected by highly trained, professional police officers and not by the Metropolitan Police. Even though it seems many of their officers are the best one can buy dontcha know old chap.

After all, such a proposal has been put forward on other occasions when Australian sports men and women have been competing in countries with lax and unreliable security agencies.

After all, not everyone can rely on their spouse or partner to protect them from attack.

Mind you, having said that, it must be remembered that our Australian athletes are only Australian if they win. If they flop, our media will refer to them as "New Zealand born"!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Two trials, only one may succeed!

2011-07-19T20:51:00.001+11:00

In a village in Uganda, the UN are trialing a scheme to slowly wean the residents away from dependency on aid.

Meanwhile in London, efforts are allegedly being made to wean the British Establishment away from its dependency on cronyism, nepotism, corruption and mutual back scratching.

Frankly, even the UN has a better chance of success in its venture!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Request from The British Establishment

2011-07-15T20:14:00.004+11:00

The British Establishment, has asked that the media and members of the public, refrain from using the word "scandal" when referring to allegations leveled against News International.

Speaking on behalf of the British Establishment, Sir Cedric Fortiscue-Crampton-Smythe, who was knighted in 1957 for outstanding endeavors in the Under 11 Tiddlywinks Championship, when he won two matches against "damn foreigners," referred to the friendly relationship between politicians and high profile media players alleged to be directly or indirectly, involved in questionable and/or potentially illegal activity.

"My dear chap, unless you're one of those who went to a state school, mixing with persons of dubious character is not a scandal or a barrier to career advancement -

it is what we call - tradition!"

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Supermarkets promoting Rights Of The Child

2011-07-13T17:58:00.002+11:00

Supermarkets promoting the Rights Of The Child. A place where children have the right to be as inconsiderate and bad mannered as the adults accompanying them!

If mum's trolley doesn't get you, little Billy's scooter will -

and it will be your fault!

Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Mr. Cameron, deliberate, informed decisions are not a "screw up"

2011-07-09T21:24:00.003+11:00

Mr. Cameron, the success of any business largely depends upon its personnel. That is why companies go to such great - even extraordinary lengths with recruitment campaigns to get the right person for the job. Background checks, references, character assessments and even Google searches, all play a part in modern recruitment procedures.

As Prime Minister of Great Britain, you are it's CEO - the head honcho. The man who makes the tough decisions. To do so you must rely on expert advise, intelligence information, cold, clinical assessment of a situation.

To stand up in front of the the World's media and explain that you ignored all warnings, dismissed professional advise and hired your mate merely on the grounds that you believe anyone who screws up deserves a second chance, not only smacks of unprofessional, unskilled behavior - it smacks of blatant cronyism. In any case, "screw up" implies an error of judgment, a mistake. It does not apply to making deliberate, informed decisions - even though many would like to claim it does if it helps to save their precious little aspidistras.

If you lack the skills and personal mettle to make an informed decision about the hiring of personnel, then all I can say is - God help Libya. And that Mr. Cameron, is another fine mess you've got yourself into.

Any more?

Motorola Xoom - it will be nice when it's finished

2011-07-08T21:36:00.004+11:00

Optus has sent me a Motorola Xoom Tablet, to trial for one month so I can blog and tweet my thoughts on its merits or negatives. I receive no benefit financial or otherwise for doing so. Here are my impressions after three days.

The Xoom is a nifty looking device all sleek and shiny - and so far, that's just about the only thing it has going for it.

Once you stop looking and pick it up, you immediately notice the weight - far too heavy to lug around with you all day.

Then you start using it, and that's where the problems really begin. It has one of the most frustrating and unusable UI's I have ever come across. Hidden menu bars appear from nowhere, then when you actually want them, no amount of touching will bring the damn things back.

Many simple WebPages wont fully open, forums do not display properly, (even though I can access and use them with a $44 phone!).

Once you have a webpage open, links either refuse to respond, or open by themselves. One minute you are in the middle of reading an article about Kate and William, than suddenly find yourself on the fashion page! When I use a touch screen, I expect speedy and consistent response - not hit and miss.

Videos are another problem, taking far too long to load and too many stutters. I have just played a 2 minute news video faster on the $44 phone, than using Xoom.

Google Earth works well and so does the "Navigation" facility and built in GPS, though to be honest, why I would pay upwards of $500 to find out where I am and where the nearest loo is, is beyond me.

Transferring files from my PC to Xoom was straightforward but that's a basic operation that not even Xoom can make too difficult. Sound quality on music files is reasonable but not sensational.

It seems that Motorola have fallen into the same trap as other companies in their eagerness to bring out a product to compete with Apple, and come up with an unready, bug ridden product with a dysfunctional UI, that renders it little more than an expensive MP3 player with delusions of grandeur.

I shall persevere for a month, seek out it's good points and keep you updated. At least I can use "Navigation" to find a hair clinic to replace all the hair I am likely to pull out using the almost unusable interface!

The Old, Old Story and the New Order

2011-07-07T20:57:00.005+11:00

Anyone who has read a newspaper over the last few days, (or what passes for newspapers these days) or has listened to or watched the news, will be aware that the British media has sunk to depths that makes, 20, 000 Leagues Under The Sea look like a paddle in the shallow end of a council swimming pool.

What I find amusing is despite the fact the British media has been the object of scorn and ridicule for many years, they remain smug, self-righteous and condescending towards the new media.

It very much reminds me of a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson, a brilliant writer who was scorned by the traditional media. Although Lawson died in 1922, much of this poem can be applied to the New Media/Old Media argument of today. We who have blogged or commented, have seen it all. Just to rub it in, the poem is followed by another of Lawson's barbed comments.

The Old, Old Story and the New Order

They proved we could not think nor see,
They proved we could not write,
They proved we drank the day away
And raved through half the night.
They proved our stars were never up,
They’ve proved our stars are set,
They’ve proved we ne’er saw sorrow’s cup,
And they’re not happy yet.
They proved that in the Southern Land
We all led vicious lives;
They’ve proved we starved our children, and—
They’ve proved we beat our wives.
They’ve proved we never worked, and we
Were never out of debt;
They’ve proved us bad as we can be
And they’re not happy yet.

The Daily Press, with paltry power—
For reasons understood—
Have aye sought to belittle our
Unhappy brotherhood.
Because we fought in days like these,
Where rule the upper tens—
Because we’d not write journalese,
Nor prostitute our pens.

They gave our rivals space to sneer—
Their mediocrities;
The drunkard’s mind is pure and clear
Compared with minds like these.
They sought to damn with pitying praise
Or the coward’s unsigned sneer,
For honour in the “critics’” ways
Had never virtue here.

They’ve proved our names shall not be known
A few short years ahead;
They hied them back through years of moan,
And damned our happy dead.
A newer tribe of scribes we’ve got,
Exclusive and alone,
To prove our work was childish rot,
And none of it our own.

The cultured cads of First Gem cells,
Of Mansion, Lawn and Club,
Not fit to clean the busted boots
Of “Poets of the Pub.”
They prove the partners of the part,
The wholeness of the whole,
The gizzardness of gizzards, and
The Soulness of the Soul.

They’ve proved that all is nought—but there
Are things they cannot do—
The summer skies are just as fair
And just as brightly blue.
They’ve buried us with muddied shrouds,
When our strong hearts they’ve broke.
They can’t bring down yon fleecy clouds
And make them factory smoke.

They’ve proved the simple bard a fool,
But still, for all their pains,
The children prattling home from school
Go tripping down the lanes.
They’ve proved that Love is lust or hate,
True marriage is no more,
But Jim and Mary at the gate
Are happy as of yore.

These insects seeking to unloose
The Bards of Sympathy!
Who strike with the sledge hammer force
Of their simplicity.
(They cannot turn the world about,
Nor damp the father’s joy,
When some old doctor bustles out,
And nurse says “It’s a boy!”)

They want no God but many a god,
And many gods, and none—
The preacher by the upturned sod
Shall pray when all is done.
Amongst the great ’twas aye the same—
The envious crawler’s part—
The lies that blackened Byron’s name
And banished poor Brett Harte.

We’ve learnt in bitter schools to teach
Man’s glory and his shame
Since Gordon walked along the beach
In search of bigger game.
Maybe, our talents we’ve abused
At times, and ne’er been blind
Since Barcroft Boake went out and used
His stockwhip to be kind.

But laugh, my chums, in prose and rhyme,
And worry not at all,
They’re insects whom the wheels of time
Shall crush exceeding small.
Have faith, my friends, who stand by me,
In spite of all the lies—
I tell you that a man shall die
On the day that Lawson dies.

###

Must I turn aside from my destined way For a task your Joss would find me? I come with strength of the living day, And with half the world behind me.

Wadda we want...?

2011-07-05T21:18:00.002+11:00

I am a great believer in the right to protest and the right to be an "activist" Heck, I have done my share of both and will continue to do so, but is is just me or is it a reality, that activists "just aint what they used to be!"

One of the essential components of being a successful activist is to live in the real world and not cloud cuckoo land. It is not sufficient to defend "the cause" regardless of reality or those awkward but important grey areas between black and white. Nor is it helpful just to stand around chanting slogans that a Sydney journalist once described as sounding like they have all been written by the Seven Dwarfs, (am I allowed to say that or will an activist write and correct me?). To be honest, some protest events I have seen, give every perception of being little more a nice day out in the park with a good old sing-along thrown in. "What do want..When do we want it..." Ask them "why" and I suspect half the time you would be listening in silence.

Whether it be the removal of burqas to prove identity when rightfully suspected of having committed a crime, the issue of asylum seekers setting fire to buildings, or "austerity measures" putting on oh-so-fashionable sunglasses to protect one's eyes from the glare of logic, does not help the big picture - it puts it totally out of focus.

A case of, 'Phone in and give us your opinion, the one we made earlier for you' ?

2011-07-02T21:04:00.004+11:00

Sydney's two main talk back radio stations appear to have an increased number of callers that give the impression they are reading from prepared statements that are invariably in line with station agenda.

On air or over the phone, the difference between someone speaking "ad-lib" and someone reading a script or statement can be quite noticeable.

It's also interesting to note, that these nicely spoken callers are allowed to continue without interruption or being subjected to the "talk-over" technique that many shock-jocks use to great effect.

Perhaps I am being cynical or my opinion is colored by the blatant populist agenda pushing that Sydney talk-back is known for, coupled with the knowledge that ever since newspapers first allowed "readers letters" pages, there have been those who are prepared to use a particular medium to tip the balance in favor of a given opinion or agenda.

Whilst researching old newspapers, I came across a lightweight and perhaps not totally relevant example of this ignoble concept. A now defunct Sydney newspaper ran a reader's opinion column and every few years, "someone" would raise the issue of married women in the workforce. Around about 1930 or so, a letter was published from a nineteen year old single female named "Bee Hive". Lucky old "Bee Hive" because she stayed nineteen for the next 25 years! Every few years exactly the same letter carrying the same nom de plume would appear!

Perhaps I should test my theory by calling one of the breakfast programs and reading a prepared statement in support of asylum seekers, and see how far I get before I hear, "Hang on a minute, are you honestly saying...what planet do you live on?...fair dinkum I'm all for free speech but really..."

The art of tolerance

2011-07-01T21:12:00.003+11:00

As you have probably realized, I am a patient, tolerant, easy going, que-sera-sera, sort of guy. There are not many things that irritate me, I take it all in my stride.

Take where I live for example.

If I turn off all electrical appliances, such as TVs, and radios, along with anything that needs to buzz, hiss or hum in order to function, (even when not in use) and ensure all the windows are tightly closed, and wait till everything is quiet inside and out; if I listen very, very carefully, I think I can hear the sound of someone's TV somehwere...

...how inconsiderate!

They wake each day and look at the sky

2011-06-29T20:12:00.003+11:00

They wake each day and look at the sky

They wake each day and look at the sky
Knowing today, they'll live or they'll die
It's been this way for many long years
The sound of the bombs ravaging their ears

They wake each day and look at the sky
Knowing today, they'll cause others to die
It's been this way for many long years
The sound of grief, falls on deaf ears

They wake each day and look at the sky
Mothers who grieve, and never stop asking, "why"
It's been this way for many long years
Streets stained with blood, hearts full with tears

They wake each day and look at the sky
Those who scheme, never cease telling lies
It's been this way for many long years
Streets paved with gold, seen through eyes with no tears

Prosecution Immunity Syndrome

2011-06-28T20:11:00.002+11:00

Left. An increasingly essential part of any modern legal team

Being charged with a crime has become a dangerous business. Not only is it a threat to one's liberty, but in recent times, it appears to have become a threat to one's health. Although this has not been recognized by the medical community, or even capitalized on by the major drug push.. I mean pharmaceutical companies - I call it "Prosecution Immunity Syndrome" (P.I.S.).

Once charged with a crime, the defendant is suddenly taken ill, or is found to be suffering from a previously undiagnosed disease. Invariably however, once freed, cleared or given judicial or political immunity or protection, the ailing alleged offender suddenly makes a miraculous recovery.

Prosecution Immunity Syndrome, does not strike everyone. My research shows that it mainly affects defendants who are "High Profile," either because of their political or social status, or because the media has decided it should be, even if the centre of the alleged crime is just some two bob yob.

Armed with Doctors and Professors, as well as solicitors and lawyers, an increasing number of defendants are opting to take the, "Prosecution Immunity Syndrome" defense. Or as my research paper describes it -

"Taking The P.I.S"

Walk This Way? Not Around Me Please!

2011-06-24T18:40:00.002+11:00

Is it my imagination or have people forgotten how to walk - and even stand! This is particularly the case in supermarkets or anywhere considered to be a shopping centre, shopping mall or shopping plaza.

I am not just talking about those with permanently bowed heads tapping or swiping away at a little box that has pitifully become such an essential part of their lives, that they see more 'Menus' and 'Options' than they do trees or sky.

No, I am talking about normally sensible people who for some reason suffer Common Sense Deficiency as soon as they approach any area that has has anything remotely to do with shopping.

Such people stand in the most inconvenient of places, oblivious to the fact that others are engaging in more side stepping than a politician on a drink driving charge.

Once they have finished 'Inconsiderate Standing', they set off and engage in, 'Inconsiderate Walking.' If you change direction to veer away from their path, you can bet London to a brick, they will change tack to ensure they are on a collision course. Of course, once physical contact has been made, they will give you a look that leaves you in no doubt that they think it was your fault. Perhaps they are right, after all is it too much to ask of us to anticipate in advance what the hell they are going to do? If so, how inconsiderate of us!

Then there are those who dash out of shops with the speed and accuracy of a NATO missile, making a direct hit on any innocent passer by. Again, it is your fault - even though you had allowed a safe distance between yourself and the shop doorway!

The Nanny State has taken away many rights and liberties in its self-righteous quest to protect us from Gawd knows how many dangers, perhaps shoppers should be issued with warning labels to remind us that shopping can be a frustrating past time, damaging to one's state of mind!

It makes you want to sit down next to a major road with buses, trucks and cars spewing forth their toxic fumes and have a cigarette. Accept of course you're not allowed to!

The whispering click of a key

2011-06-21T21:01:00.002+11:00

Back in the 90s I began research on a book about the early days of boxing in Sydney - but this post is not about boxing - it's about change, especially in the media.

Each day I would visit the NSW State Library and travel into the past. Hard copies of old newspapers, old magazines, pamphlets and microfilmed copies of long ceased publications, made up the essential components of my Time Machine. Interest and imagination made up the rest.

Sitting in a semi-darkened booth for hours each day made it easy to travel back in time. I became involved with the stories, with the people, with the journalists, editors and media barons. For a few hours each day, I was in a different era.

Often, I was able to follow stories for literally decades. A small paragraph would become a story, then headline news, and every few years the story would rear it's head once more. For example, I once read a small article about a murder. As more information came to hand, that small article became headline news for weeks. Every few years the story would crop up again, until eventually, thirty or so years later, I read about the convicted mans release. A man, a victim and a crime, long forgotten.

I became familiar with the journalists. Hard looking men with chins that seemed to have been chiseled out of granite by a short-sighted, first-day-on-the job, sculptor. Sometimes I was able to pick up copies of their biographies or autobiographies. They all seemed to be called, "Bill" "Tom" or "Harry"

Their articles were well researched, their tools were their pencils, their notebooks - but more importantly - their instinct and determination to get to the bottom of a story come hell or high water. Publish and be damned and often they were - but more often than not they were right.

The old boxers and promoters I researched are all long gone, so too are the journalists - and with them died true journalism and integrity in the media.

Gone are those who fight for a story because they believe in it, replaced by those who attend editorial meetings to be told what their opinion will be that day, and more importantly, who not to upset and who to screw.

A lead pencil is a simple communication tool, but produced so much more than is now produced on a state of the art laptop.

Truth does not need fine words with proper punctuation, grammar and use of big words. It just needs to be told by those with the integrity, determination and guts to do it. When those three virtues speak as one, then Truth is heard loud and clear.

Far louder than the whispering click of a key.

Cycle lanes - a safe place to walk!

2011-06-14T20:34:00.002+11:00

I would like to thank my local council for painting green cycle lanes in my street.

Thanks to their foresight, generosity and concern for the local community, law abiding pedestrians can now use the cycle lanes as a safe place to walk, free from the danger of being knocked down on footpaths by cyclists, who refuse to use the costly, but "oh so fashionable dahlink," cycle lanes.

In addition, it addresses the foreseeable issue of yuppie legislators bringing in legislation to prosecute footpath using pedestrians. who cause damage to bicycles that come up from behind and run straight up the pedestrians aspidistra.

Sod Off Santa!

2011-06-10T21:14:00.003+11:00

Picture this.

It is late afternoon, the lights of small shops seem to warm the damp chilly air. A cheery, "Ho ho" emanates from a political incorrectly shaped Santa hanging in a shop window. A sign bestows upon you Christmas greetings. There are Christmas goodies on "special" in the supermarket, local restaurants show laughing patrons sipping Christmas drinks in front of a roaring log fire. It's Christmas. Except...

It's not bloody Christmas!

This time of year heralds "Christmas in July" supposedly to compensate for Sydney's lack of a Bing Crosby weather system during December, (due to our geogrpahical position and not global warming!). Of course, the reality is that it has nothing to do with climate but all to do with marketing. Why catch the consumer just once a year when you can do it twice!

And people fall for it you know.

Let's get this straight. Christmas comes but once a year - in December. I do not want to see or hear anything about Christmas in June or July - especially when the ABC has broadcast, "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean" twice in eight days! We have more Christmas programs the rest of the year than we do at Christmas - even to the extent that for reasons best known to themselves, one channel once aired "Easter Parade" on Boxing Day.

I like Christmas. I enjoy Christmas - at the correct time. So for now as much as I like both, Mr. Bean and Santa can sod off till December!

Disgusting innit!

2011-05-27T22:08:00.002+11:00

You have to admire those who post comments to articles in the tabloid press. Either it takes a great deal of courage to parade one's ignorance, or the knack of being completely oblivious to how one is perceived.

Comments about kids and schools are the best examples. Things were never "like that in my day" or "what were the parents thinking of?" (usually referring to a young person actually achieving or doing something, while their own kids hang around malls). Then of course they advocate a regime and teaching style, that succeeded only in producing generation after generation of pupils who believed all they were told without question, ignorant of their rights, and capable only of creating written communication that only a tabloid newspaper would deem acceptable.

Another favorite tactic is to pick on other contributors spelling mistakes or grammar in the mistaken belief that ability in either or both, is a sign of intelligence. Some of the world's greatest writers and political figures could not spell or were noted for their lack of grammar - but of course they "were different".

My favorite type of contributors however, are those who have their little rant about issues they fail to understand, then finish with, "Disgusting". Whenever I see that at the end of a comment, I have this vision of middle aged women, standing on their doorsteps in hair net and curlers, stockings around their ankles, and arms folded in self-righteous indignation, wearing the mantle of hypocrisy with glowing pride.

There is nothing like a tabloid newspaper to give those who can't, such an air of superiority over those who "already have"

Hair today

2011-05-25T18:14:00.004+11:00

Australian customer service.

When you see those three words strung together, you just know that what follows next, is not going to be anything positive.

When it comes to customer service, all too many businesses appear to pride themselves on being a classless society - meaning, they don't make any attempt to have any!

Maybe I am old fashioned, maybe some would find it appealing, but quite frankly, when I have my hair cut in an allegedly "posh" hairdressers, I do not want what little I have, cut by a 20 something female whose non existent bra cup runneth over like an over filled dam, chewing gum with her mouth open!

The thing about doors is...

2011-05-20T21:24:00.004+11:00

The thing to remember about Australian workmen, is that all too often the word "work" is put there merely for the sake of misleading decoration.

For sometime I have had a problem with a "swelling" front door - especially in damp or humid weather. Today was the day for it to be fixed. After phoning twice for directions and eventually asking if I could meet him by the shopping centre to pilot him to my address (which I refused) the alleged workman was finally able to inspect my door, and hopefully rectify it.

He tried it a few times, and gave me his expert opinion, "Ah, you just have to push it a bit mate".

Fat lot of good that does me, I told him.

Reluctantly he took another look, and I left him to it while he made work like noises before finally informing me, "There ya go mate, should be alright now". Hopefully he is right.

Push the door indeed.

Doesn't he know - Australian management do not push doors - they kick them down!

Gimme space!

2011-05-10T21:42:00.002+11:00

Why do people stand so close behind others in queues. Do they really think that by standing so close that the Morality Police are put on high alert, they are going to get served any quicker?

And why walk on my heels? If I need to stop and you walk into me, don't waste your time giving me dirty looks as (1) it is your fault (2) I have no intention of walking around with a rear view mirror stuck on my shoulder (3) You can get stuffed.

Oh Gawd, I shouldn't have suggested rear view mirrors for pedestrians. Now some Executive Member of The Nanny State, will come out with a report and recommendation to make it compulsory!

Put The Brakes On Sydney Cyclists!

2011-04-27T20:56:00.002+11:00

Put The Brakes On Sydney Cyclists!

Quite frankly, like many other Sydneysiders, I am fed up with the most selfish bunch of inconsiderate, "look at me I'm being fashionable" cretins to be found in Sydney.

I am talking about the lycra clad terrorists known as cyclists - or as they like to think of themselves - God's Chosen People. Listen mate, if God would have wanted you to ride on footpaths and three abreast on main roads, chatting away oblivious to the traffic building up behind you - He wouldn't have Created the cycle paths that you refuse to use! And it's no use riding behind me on the footpath tinkling your little bell - I'm not the one who is going to go out of my way. You may think you're the latte sets answer to Lance Armstrong, but as far as I am concerned you can get on the road or cycle path where you damn well belong

I don't really care about your flavor of the month cause, I care about danger and the inconvenience you cause by your behavior such as regularly blocking the Harbour Bridge on a Friday night to protest your cause.

If you want to ride a bike - great - I used to regularly ride a bike to work. But use it responsibly like we cyclists used to before cycling became some sort of social fashion statement that saw manners and consideration for others, fly out the window faster than a pedestrian dropping to the floor after being hit by a statement making sweaty panted moron.

Sydneysiders who are constantly terrorized by Flying Fwits on pedestrian footpaths, and their selfish use of main roads, contact New South Wales Transport Minister, Ms Gladys Berejiklian willoughby@parliament.nsw.gov.au calling for legislation to be put in place to curb the irresponsible and discourteous behavior of Sydney cyclists.

Put The Brakes On Sydney Cyclists!

Integration

2011-04-26T00:13:00.001+11:00

This blog has now been integrated with i On Global Trends and can be viewed under the "Mike Hitchen Unleashed" label on that blog.

However, this blog will remain and I will still post to it - unleashing the occasional rant!

The "Life Wasn't Meant To Be Easy Club"

2011-04-12T21:42:00.001+11:00

You would think life would be hard enough as it is without those who should know better, going out of their way to make it more difficult for others. A few simple guidelines would make things so much easier.

Yummy Mummies take heed! Supermarket aisles are not training courses for the 2012 Under 12 World Scooter Championships. Neither are buses, as I informed one Yummy Mummy the other day. If your kids want to be track stars, enroll them in a local athletics club. Do not, as one mum did a few years back, stand in the aisle and act as starter for her kids to take part in the 20 meter Frozen Goods Aisle Sprint.

If you want to take Rover or Fido for a walk - fine. Take them to a park, not to supermarkets, shopping centers, or on extendible leads in shopping plazas - and certainly not bloody coffee shops. Why do Sydney-siders have to take their dogs with them everywhere they go?

Lycra clad terrorists known as cyclists. Tax payers pay for cycle tracks - use them. Do not use the footpaths expecting everyone to duck for cover as you make your flavor-of-the-month wanky environmental statements, or ride two or three abreast in the road chatting away while traffic piles up behind you - as you know damn well it is. My street has two cycle paths, yet I have not seen one selfish bastard of a cyclist use them.

That bit on the top and bottom of escalators is for people using escalators to get off - it is not a designated meeting place for the Darby and Joan Club.

Whichever way you look at it, a trolley overflowing with groceries rarely qualifies for the "12 items or less" aisle.

There that wasn't too hard was it? Or was that a stupid question?!

Cricket - Pakistan vs India, hats off to the NYPD

2011-03-30T19:29:00.004+11:00

Like almost every police force, the NYPD, comes in for it's fair share of criticism. Similarly, like almost every other police force, it is at times warranted. When it is justified, it makes the headlines. However, the good things police departments do are usually overlooked and community initiatives rarely make the headlines.

This article wont make national or international headlines, but deserves recognition.

Back in Aug 2009, I published an article NYPD using cricket to reach out to ethnic groups. Cricket is little known or understood in the U.S. but NYPD, cleverly use the centuries-old game as a good way to reach out to sections of the community. If you haven't read that article yet, it's well worth a read.

Shortly after the post was published I was contacted and thanked by the organizer - a guy who happens to be closely connected to Australia. Since then I have followed the program's progress.

This morning I received an email from NYPD Community Affairs Bureau inviting me to

Come Join Us For The Crucial World Cup Cricket Match PAKISTAN vs. INDIA
March 30th, 2011, 5am
Also, bring friends to come watch the match (on Big Screen) with fellow cricket fans regardless of who you support.

I hope the breakfast is a success it deserves to be and NYPD should be congratulated for their initiative.

Whoever you support, be united as one for a fine and noble game. May the best team win, but ultimately, let community relations be the real winner

A serenade to you

2011-03-19T18:49:00.005+10:00

To show that I am a sensitive, new age kind of guy, I have come up with a little love song.

Serenade

You are my woman, I am your man,
Coz no one cooks sausages, the way that you can"
And you make me happy, when I am sad,
For a woman your age, you're really not bad
I knew when we met, you'd always be mine,
I love how you hang, all those clothes on the line
You are my woman, I am your man,
Can ya fetch me a beer? I'm on my last can

Who do you think you are kidding Mr. West?

2011-03-15T20:11:00.000+10:00

Hey you - Mr. West, and you too Mr. UN. You who wear the white good-guys' hats and them fancy boots filled with self-righteous hypocrisy that you use to kick the downtrodden. Tell me something will ya guys?

Libya - you know the country that everyone knows has been run by a ruthless, cunning bastard for 42 years - you really don't want to help those poor folk fighting for that word you so quickly use to justify the atrocities you have committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, do ya huh?

You have the means, you have the backing of the opposition forces, and you have sure proved in the past that you have the determination to interfere any God Darn country you want - even if you do have to invent reasons, which in the case of Libya, you didn't need to do. The oppression, the atrocities, the massacres were - and still are - there for everyone to see.

So what was it that has stopped you? Yeah, I know - you had to get consensus, you had to get approval, all nations acting as one dontcha know.

Bulldust.

If you had genuinely wanted to help, you could have acted almost immediately - as you have before.

For every word of every speech you make, someone in Libya dies, is imprisoned, or tortured.

Perhaps you should ask a question of yourselves -

What good am I if I know and don’t do
If I see and don’t say, if I look right through you
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin’ sky
What good am I? (Bob Dylan)

If you can't answer that question - there are plenty of folk who can.

If you're going to be crafty, at least be clever!

2011-03-03T20:28:00.003+10:00

Jack Lang, usually referred to as J.T. Lang during his career, and familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella"

This isn't so much a post, more of an extra long Tweet rant!

I have been in Australia for three decades, and never have I been presented with a choice of such lack luster politicians.

All politicians are crafty bastards, but if you're going to be a crafty bastard, at least be a clever crafty bastard with a bit of charisma.

At Federal level we have Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who does more U turns than a stunt driver in a Hollywood police movie, and opposing her, Bovver Boy Tony Abbott, who struts around like a football hooligan leading a pack of MPS who are short on policy and large on school yard insults.

At State level, New South Wales voters are faced with a choice between Kristina Keneally and Barry O' Farrell. Asking us to choose is like asking a condemned man if he wants the guillotine or the noose - either way it's not going to end well!

Where are the Bob Hawkes', the Jack Langs'? the John Howards? It's not that I particularly admire any of them - but at least they were clever crafty bastards!

Shouldering responsibility

2011-03-02T20:07:00.003+10:00

Tonight's post covers a potentially touchy topic - one that has the potential to make me look like a fully paid up member of the Nanny State Brigade.

Nice as it is for fathers to carry their young children on their shoulders, I am beginning to have a problem with the practice - especially in my suburb where it is common sight to see kids, smiling with delight as they are carried shoulder high around the shopping plaza.

The dreaded words "Health and Safety" spring to mind, or as the British media like to call it to make fun of a concept that is often merely legal enforcement of common sense for those too thick to think of things themselves, 'Elf and Safety.

My suburb was largely built on swamp land, and fancy paving stones, bricks and tiles that are supposed to remain flat - don't. They stick up - all over the place. In the last few days I have seen three people trip and fall over, including a very elderly woman who was immediately surrounded by passers by offering assistance and protection of dignity. It happens all the time.
If a father were to trip while carrying a child on their shoulders, the potential consequences are horrific.

Give a child a ride on your shoulders by all means, but please - pick the place and time!

Oh and before you ask - the paving stones do get repaired. Usually just before the council elections!

That's not democracy, that's blind stupidity

2011-03-01T20:09:00.006+10:00

I haven't been able to update this blog as regularly as I would have liked due to lack of time. However, with a bit of luck, hopefully I can get back into the swing of things!

It's election time in New South Wales, the four yearly opportunity for us to decide who is likely to make the least mess of things. Voting is compulsory, which is just as well as the majority of eligible voters wouldn't bother to vote. Some will argue that such an attitude is a betrayal of democracy, and wax eloquent about forefathers dying in the war, and being one's duty. Others will argue that in a democracy, it is their right not to vote, and even justify their decision by claiming that abstaining is in fact, making a political statement. Both arguments have their positives and negatives.

What annoys me however, is the type of voter I heard on radio earlier today. Such people are invariably elderly and working class. Wherever you may live - you have no doubt come across them Those who proudly boast, 'I've voted Labor all my life and so did my dad."

That's nothing to be proud of - unless you happen to think stupidity is a virtue, which I don't, which is why I don't particularly fancy either of the main candidates in this year's election!

That is not democracy - that is conditioning and more of a betrayal of civic duty and democracy than those who decide not to vote.

It always seems to be Labor voters who adhere to such practices. Heaven knows why, I have lived under Labor governments in both the UK and Australia and in neither case have they done much for their working class supporters, but plenty for themselves - especially in the UK, where salt-of-the-earth, die-hard socialists end their political careers quite happily swanning around the House of Lords, wearing their Establishment peerages.

Vote for the best - or least worst person for the job, not illogical family or socio-demographic tradition! There are those around the world fighting and dying for the right to have such a choice.

Wherever you may be - be safe

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - NIMBY of The Week

2011-02-16T20:35:00.002+10:00

You have to give credit to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Apart from the other great warriors of Middle East peace Tony Blair, few people can be as openly hypocritical while keeping a straight face as the man with the dodgy jacket.

Only last week he was openly praising the protestors in Tahrir Square. Few believed the tiger had changed its spots and sure enough, this week we saw the henchmen of that great upholder of democracy, crack down on protestors around Iran. Its seems that to Ahmadinejad, democracy is a bit like many of those who support refuges - all for them - but not in their backyard. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - NIMBY of The Week.

As you read this, many of those who took to the streets to demand what should be basic human rights, are being beaten, raped, tortured. Many will be hanged, as happened last time there was unrest in Iran. Yet their passion for something we take for granted, sometimes to the point of abuse, (Hi Julian, how are the celebrity luvvies and the Army officer's country estate?) did not stop them taking to the streets, risking their lives, their bodies, their souls, their minds. When you watch TV and see a protestor being taken away, they are not just being taken away - they are being taken to be brutalized beyond belief - To listen to the sound of what one Tweeter called, "Evin Radio" the sound of fellow prisoners being tortured.

Protests movements in many countries around the world, are not just pictures on TV that we tut-tut at while waiting for the latest news on speed cameras Each and every protestor you see, is on that street or in that square - knowing what could very well happen to them. But they march and they chant and they hope and they dream.

It takes a lot more courage than the Ahmadinejads' or the Blairs' of this world, could possibly imagine.

Freedom's not just a one-off TV event

2011-02-12T18:56:00.005+10:00

The cry of "freedom" swept through Tahrir Square, carried by The Wind of Hope, to every corner of the world. People of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds gathered to celebrate and share the joy of the people of Egypt, who for thirty years have been shackled by the iron chains placed around their hearts and minds by Hosni Mubarak.

In countries far away from the banks of the ancient and historic Nile, people rejoiced and cried, "Mubarak is gone" "Mubarak is finished" "Mubarak has fled". Yet three weeks ago, many of those same people would have asked, "Who?"

The man who for the last 18 days has become the symbol of tyranny, went largely unnoticed by those outside Egypt, even though for three decades his thugs attacked the minds and bodies of those courageous enough to speak out or try to defy him. Yet the last 18 days have seen millions become instant experts on the man, his regime, and his deeds.

That's the thing about despots - they are there but few outside their oppressed domains take any notice until Prime Time News decide the deaths of activists make great viewing. Then, and only then, do the Unknown become Tyrant of The Month.

I'll set you a challenge. Stop 100 people in the street and ask, "What do you think of Alexander Lukashenko?" The vast majority would not know who you were talking about and no doubt you would be asked, "who does he play for?"

Since 1994, Lukashenko has been the President of Belarus. He has been labeled Europe's last dictator, and his oppression, brutality and total disregard for human rights in any shape or form, have been the hallmark of his corrupt reign.

Like Mubarak, President Lukashenko is a man who needs to be removed - but it is unlikely that will happen any time soon. Though even as we speak, there are those brave enough to take to the streets to protest his dictatorship, sadly for them, their cause is not seen as fashionable enough by the executives in media boardrooms, who decide who has enough pulling power to put viewer's bums on their seats as they eat their TV dinners and demand the resignation of a man they have only just heard of.

Let's celebrate the removal a man in Egypt, (though I remain skeptical that his departure will bring about the change we all wish to see) but let us also be mindful that there are Mubaraks in many countries.

Do not not wait until we suddenly have highly paid political analysts in nice ties and suits sitting in a studio giving us their opinion about someone that until then, we didn't know existed. Be your own analyst - raise your own and others awareness of tyrants and support those, who like the people of Egypt, march and die in the name of freedom and democracy.

Freedom is a lot more than a one off Prime Time TV event - it is literally a matter of life and death, and each person who marches or suffers the blows of a tyrant's henchman, deserves equal support, encouragement and exposure.

Hairy times in Canberra

2011-02-10T19:32:00.004+10:00

It appears that Julia Gillard, our wooden Prime Minister who can turn on the tears when politically expedient to do so, does not like men with beards.

During parliamentary question time she commented on independent MP Rob Oakeshott's new beard which he grew during the long summer break - proving he can grow a beard faster than he make a decision.

"I do think I should take this opportunity to record my objection to the beard too, something I said to him face to face"

Nice to see you do something face to face Julia instead of behind the backs of those you openly supported.

Referring to Dennis Shanahan from The Australian, she remarked, "I don't know what's happened over the summer season, we've got Rob Oakeshott here and Dennis Shanahan there, and they're both very poor judgment calls"

Her analysis should not be taken lightly - after all she is somewhat of an expert in poor judgment calls. She has made enough during her short time as Prime Minister to know what she is talking about.

Far be it from me to give you advice Julia, but if the Whitehouse administration eventually realizes you, and not Kevin Rudd, is Prime Minister, I'd stay away from remarks about Abe Lincoln's beard.

But do I sense a dastardly political maneuver? Were your remarks merely a harmless jest - or the vanguard of a plan to introduce a levy on beards!

One man's country estate is another man's solitary confinement cell

2011-02-08T21:02:00.002+10:00

As Private Bradley Manning languishes in solitary confinement at Quantico military base, the show ponies who have made their names on the backs of others, have been out in force to support the darling of the luvvies, the phony but oh-so-chic, Julian Assange.

As young Manning sits in isolation for 23 hours a day, ignored by the man he helped become more than just another blogger, largely ignored by the Jemima Khans' and the Bianca Jaggers' of this world, how must he feel about the way he has been forgotten, while Assange, the so-called antiestablishment warrior and so-called anti-war warrior strolls around the country estate of a former Captain in an army notorious for its human rights abuses in illegal or immoral wars.

Don't get me wrong, I support Wikileaks - but Wikileaks, despite what Assange would have you think, is not about Assange - it's larger than that. That is why I have criticized our Prime Minister for labeling his acts "illegal" criticized on the basis that government and the judicial system are, and must seen to be - separate from each other. It is not for a politician to decide what is illegal - it is for the courts.

This whole affair has now turned into a celebrity circus in which every B Grade celebrity or political has been, must be seen to support Assange - a man who leaks information while complaining about his own lack of privacy. A man with as many faces as he has mobile phones.

Certainly the action of the Swedish government appears suspicious, and questions should be asked - but they should be asked for the right reasons, and asked with an open mind.

Julian Assange is charismatic, fashionable and well connected - while Bradley Manning, the man mostly ignored by the cocktail circuit and legal fee fund raisers, is an unfashionable Private.

Freedom of speech is a noble concept that I full endorse, but with it comes responsibility - and equality. If you support Assange, then at least equal moral and financial support should be given to Manning.

We have seen the famous and fashionable chant and carry signs outside British courtrooms - will we now see them chant and carry signs outside Quantico military base?

The thing that bothers me about uprisings

2011-01-28T19:49:00.003+10:00

Politics and human rights have always been of interest to me. I was never shielded from the TV news, and what I didn't understand was explained to me in a way that was simple and unbiased. Of course British schools have never been fond of children who think for themselves, and I recall running into trouble for producing a simple sketch of a Russian tank on one side of a wall, and an American tank on the other.

I was very young, but I could work out that if two kids calling each other names in the schoolyard resulted in fisticuffs, then the same thing could happen with nations. My logic may have been simple but I prefer simple logic to well intentioned naivety - it's a lot safer.

Thinking about the recent unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, I felt the passion I felt so many times in the past. Revolutions, uprisings, popular resistance movements - I have seen and cheered many.

Today, there is a feeling of change in the air, that tyrannical regimes will be toppled and people will have food on the table, freedom of thought, freedom expression - of the kind enjoyed by those who live in Western countries whose governments prop up despots in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt.

Just one problem

The thing that bothers me about uprisings is the tendency to replace a despised corrupt bastard with a popular corrupt bastard.

To those of you taking to the streets today, my usual sign off is even more appropriate - wherever you may be - be safe.