Justin Trudeau has been elected Prime Minister of Canada. This is good news. Wonderful even. He shows every indication he could be even more than his fathers son. Admittedly he has different skills than his father. He certainly mixes more easily with the public. In this last election he has campaigned with sincerity and honesty. And most importantly he has campaigned sensibly. He has stood up and looked the public in the eye. He has not been afraid to take on hard issues. He has not been afraid to answer direct questions with direct answers. He has resurrected the Liberal Party from what appeared a spent third party and has taken it back to where it used to be. He has not been afraid to debate difficult issues. He has raised Politics to an adult level not known in modern times. His father was undoubtedly a great intellectual - arguably of higher intellect than Justin - but Justin has a different intellect. I wish him all the best. Justin will be good for Canada. Good for the world. He will restore Canada to its proper place. Pierre Trudeau was one of my political heroes and I always took a personal interest in his children. I have followed Justin's life closely from when he was a boy and look on him as if he was my own son. Of course he does remind me of my own son. They share several attractive characteristics. This is how life should be. I salute you Justin. You have achieved a genuine triumph. You are a genuine hero.
There is a lot of opposition against Gas Fracking. Farmers object to it on the grounds that they are losing their land. Mining Companies can virtually come onto their land and start mining indiscriminately. Farmers feel they are virtually being forced off the land that has been in their family for generations. It is claimed that some people have committed suicide because of this.
What is happening is we have is a group of people coming into an area and exploiting the land in a new way. Without any degree of care concerning the current landholders. These people are more organised than people they are displacing and they have a superior technology. They can do this because the law says they can and they are extracting more wealth from the land than the current owners. The mining companies believe they can make better use of the land than the current owners. I cannot help but compare current farmers to the original aboriginal inhabitants. What exactly happened to the aborigines who in Australia before the British came? Surely the parallels are recognisable. What is happening is that farmers are being displaced in exactly the same way as aborigines were displaced. A new way of making money is allowing a new class of people to override previous economic activity. When the British came to Australia they came to a place where all the land was owned by someone or other. No part of it did not belong to the local people. The problem was the new arrivals believed they could use the land better than the people who were here. And they did not recognise the system of land ownership. Plus they had superior technology. I always feel country people whinge far too much. If suddenly they were making money out of fracking would they object so much? Have they considered the following. 1. Is it not true that all citizens have a right to mine? Is not this right a hard won right dating back to the Eureka Stockade. 2. Why do we not let mining occur but make penalties extremely harsh - 20 years in jail for all management when they do not follow regulations. This little girl is named Sharon Clark. My family fostered this little girl when she was 2 years old for only a few months. This little girl was amazing and she is still missed. She brought joy and happiness to a dysfunctional family. For a few months our family was shamed into being happy. Her sheer personality and the affection she gave us brought us together. How could we not respond to her? Our days were filled with happiness. After she left we went back to being unhappy. We were so lucky to know her. She was such a loving and affectionate little girl. I have made several attempts to trace her but have never been successful. She would now be over 50 years of age. I would like to see her again.
Postscript: In early Feb 2017 miraculously contact has been made. I will be writing further as things develop. Of course neither of us look the same. But for the short time she was with us I am eternally grateful. And I can only speculate how different my life would have been if she was able to stay with us. How do we solve the problems of the Middle East? Is it possible to bring peace to the area?
The Middle East is riven with seemingly unsolvable problems. People are in revolt. Violence and despair are everywhere. Humanity is being destroyed. Civilization is ceasing to exist. I believe the West can solve these problems. I believe the West should intervene in a big way and should solve the Middle East’s problems. By force if necessary. The Middle East Countries are a Western Construct. All the borders were imposed by the European Powers. They have been in existence for 100 years and some citizens have taken on a vague loyalty to a regional area. But all governments have only been able to stay in power through the use of force. Military, Religious and Secular Dictatorships have only been able to exist by the imposition of terror. There is not one country in the Middle East that does not owe its existence to the fact that its inhabitants are kept in a state of terror. When the rule of law is attacked or the state is even slightly weakened the country descends into chaos. Except for Israel. Israel is the only democracy in the region. It is the only country in the region that has any loyalty to the concept of the rule of law. It is a fact of History that a state of Israel existed in the region 2000 years ago until it rebelled. It was broken up by the Roman Empire and the Jews were expelled. The area and concept of Palestine is a Roman construct. But for the past 2000 years a Jewish presence has been maintained in Palestine and their religion has had as one of its precepts the desire to return to Jerusalem. Jews have clung to Palestine and Jerusalem and despite many attempts to expel them they have remained a constant presence. In the 19th century a secular movement called Zionism was established and Jewish migration back to Palestine was encouraged. By the end of the 1st World War the Palestine/Jewish population was approximately 50/50. After the 2nd World War the Western Powers being so ashamed of the numbers of Jewish people that had been killed were sympathetic to the existence of the State of Israel. And because of a self-interest they took the opportunity of removing whatever Jews remained in each European country by allowing the migration of the remaining Jews who wanted to leave and go to Palestine. Except for the Jewish Community in the UK pretty well all the remaining Jews of Europe did go. The British who held the UN mandate over Palestine did not want the mass migration of Jewish refugees descending on Palestine but they proved powerless to stop it. In 1949 the state of Israel was proclaimed and recognized by the UN. It has existed ever since despite all the other countries in the Middle East having the destruction of Israel as the cornerstone of their Government Policy. With every conflict with its neighbors Israel has increased its territory. They occupy large tracts of Palestine. The Israeli Government has unwisely allowed Jewish settlements to be built within the occupied west bank of the Jordan River. Any new State of Palestine will have to accept theses settlers as citizens. Israel is now recognized by some of its neighbors but its existence is parlous by any standard. And because of this insecurity Israel has instituted policies that unfortunately discriminate unfairly on its Arab Citizens and the Palestinian Citizens of the occupied areas. There are a number of conditions that have to be imposed to ensure peace and stability in the rest of the Middle East. These should be imposed by force if necessary. By Military means if required. All the countries of Europe including Russia will have to be involved. Egypt and Iran will have to be involved to the point of guaranteeing decisions that are reached. A State of Palestine will be recognized by Europe and the UN. It will include both the West Bank and Gaza. Israel will give up some of its territory to the new State of Palestine and will embrace the new State as its closest ally. The boundaries of Jordan will be re defined. Jordan will give up territory to the new State of Palestine but will be reimbursed with territory that is now part of Saudi Arabia. A new country of Kurdistan must be set up and recognized. The countries that now have Kurdistan areas within their borders must give up their territory voluntarily. Turkey will have to give up its part of Kurdistan but in return Turkey will be admitted immediately into the European Union. Iraq, Iran and Syria will all have to give up the Kurdistan territories within their current boundaries. Iraq must be divided into zones to satisfy their determination to split into factions. One of the zones or states must be classed as secular. The country of Iraq can continue as a National federation with a central government. But the separation of powers between the central government and the states will be strictly defined. The boundaries of Jordan will be redefined. Jordan will give up territory to the new state of Palestine but will be reimbursed with territory that is now part of Saudi Arabia. The size of Saudi Arabia will be reduced considerably. A new reasonably sized secular democratic republic will be set up from territory that previously was part of the northern area of Saudi Arabia. This new country will serve as a buffer between it and Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. The existence of both Israel and Palestine will be guaranteed unequivocally by the Western Powers. All the new borders of each Middle Eastern country will be recognized by the UN. Iran will immediately recognize all countries and guarantee their borders. Egypt will immediately recognize all countries and guarantee their borders. All countries will be encouraged to become democracies and to accept the rule of law as being paramount. Strong institutions rather than strong leaders will be the guiding philosophy for each country. The control of Jerusalem will remain in Israel’s hands. It might be possible to hand it over control of Jerusalem to the UN if Saudi Arabia also agreed to hand over control of Mecca to the UN. Both cities are religious icons and an argument can be put that the world would be safer if both cities were controlled by the UN. And religion was removed from the equation. This is probably not possible. Israel has been a benign occupier of Jerusalem and there is no cause for concern if Israel continues to control Jerusalem. The Caliphate of ISIL will be set up and recognized by all. Its borders will be rigidly defined and its borders initially will be controlled by a UN force. Once recognised and its borders defined the Caliphate will have to exist and deal with its own problems. Its reasons for attacking Syria and Iraq will no longer exist. Syria and Iraq will voluntarily give up territory and recognize the Caliphate State. The Caliphates size will be limited to more or less as the exact same size as Israel. If it ever decides to invade a neighbor all countries in the Middle East and the UN will come to the victims aid. The democratic States will be guaranteed investment from the West. All the defined democratic countries will be multi party liberal democracies. Market economies will be the stated desire. The West will show their encouragement by sizable investment. I no longer want to give blood. I have been giving blood for a number of years. Possibly 30. I have recently been giving blood at Shepparton. I no longer wish to. I have lost my confidence in the people who work for the organisation. I don't want to deal with them any more.
Some months ago I had a random blood test. This test indicated I had a slightly underactive thyroid gland. Shortly after this blood test I was scheduled to give blood in Shepparton. I reported this when I filled out the form you are always obliged to complete when you give blood. The nurse who interviewed me before taking my blood explained she was not sure if she could take blood from someone who had a thyroid problem so she would not on this occasion. However I should check with my GP and ask him if it was OK. If he said it was OK I could come back in 1 month. I asked her if she would take my word for it and she said yes. I thought about this and when I went to my Doctor I asked him if he would put his OK in writing. Knowing the Blood Bank was a bureaucratic organisation I thought it best if I got this permission in writing. I took my written permission thinking this would clear all obstacles but unfortunately no. The person who interviewed me was not interested in any letter from my Doctor. I insisted she phone a superior to clarify. She did speak to someone but it made no difference. She refused to accept me as a donor. I took the decision to cease donating blood. I have a number of issues. I feel they employ to many of the wrong type of people. I assume they will not allow their employees to exercise any initiative. I feel that they spend to much money on administration. Before you give blood you are sent a letter in the post reminding you when you are scheduled to next give blood. You are also sent an email. You are also sent a text message. This seems to me is overkill and must cost a lot of money. Previously I have asked the Shepparton office if they could change my place of giving blood from Shepparton to Benalla. I live in Benalla and it would be more convenient to me to give blood in Benalla. The Shepparton office advised me they are not permitted to do this. When this happened I had the distinct feeling that I was being fobbed off simpy because she could not be bothered. I know I could do a better job of administration than the people who run the organisation at the moment. I say this without any sense of false modesty. Benalla Art Gallery 5.10.2015 Presently at the Gallery there are 4 art installations. These installations have been presented by 3 artists from the Gertrude Street cooperative art studio based in Fitzroy. The studio enjoys a good reputation and has exhibited at several Venice Biennales. The art is interactive and the public are encouraged to participate. Indeed three of the art pieces rely on the public taking part. An installation of musical instruments built from metallic refuse collected locally relies on the public touching the installations for musical notes to be produced. Each artistic piece produces an electronic sound which is fed into a central speaker and music of sorts results as the artist who is also a musician intended. Another installation is an audio installation that runs for 6 hours where the artist reads out the total catalogue of art works held by the Gallery. Another installation is of several large garments resembling aprons which have quotations and slogans attached. The public are encouraged to put on the aprons and have their photo taken standing in front of artworks on the wall behind that have inspired the artist in making the garments. There are also helmets made of the same cloth so you can be photographed and retain your anonymity. The most accessible installation is a display of ceramic vases and pots that have been deliberately smashed. The fragments have then been repainted in colors of works of art taken from the Gallery Storeroom and which have been placed on the largest wall in the room opposite the ceramic display. The presenting artists were allowed access to the Gallery Storeroom and the pictures chosen are displayed in the Paris Salon method without any identification attached. The repainted ceramic shards in the colours of the paintings opposite have then been reconstructed and rebuilt into vases and pots which resemble the original objects. One does not immediately see that the vases and pots have been rebuilt until closer inspection shows they have been put together like a jigsaw. The total project encourages interaction and tries to involve the viewer. Hopefully to understand the creative urges of the artist. This exhibition however provokes the constant conundrum that is always present with any new art form – what is art and how do we recognize it? If we are told something is art should we accept it as art? There is no doubt that the artists themselves believe their installations are works of art. They themselves work industrially at producing art and want the public to share in their creative process. It is unfortunate that the paintings taken from the storeroom and placed on display are undoubtedly works of art. One’s preference is to look at the paintings and to try and recognize each artist rather than to become involved with the interactive installations. Most of these paintings have either not been seen before are only displayed intermittently in the open gallery. This begs the question whether there are many other good paintings held by the Gallery we do not see. In 1967 President Lyndon Johnson came to Australia. He was extremely popular. There was a lot of adulation given to him. He could have been a Roman Emperor visiting his colonies. Indeed years later it was revealed that in private he had said just this. Our Prime Minister had dedicated himself to be "All the way with LBJ" and could only be described as his close comrade in arms. It was claimed that there was even a close personal friendship. Large crowds all over Australia flocked to see The President. It was something of a triumphant progress. There were also a small number of protesters who followed him everywhere. Some were intent on violence of a type. At one point some red paint was splattered on The Presidents car. At another point some protesters had laid in front of his car.
At the time I worked in the Taxation Department. We were at the last moment given the afternoon off. We were given no instructions to welcome the President when he came to Melbourne - we were just told we could leave work early but I guess the inference was there. I disapproved of LBJ and his policies - indeed I had a deep concern about the Vietnam War and Australian American relations - but as I had to walk past the Town Hall on my way home I thought I would watch what happened. I was slightly surprised that there were not an awful lot of people lining Swanson Street and I was able to take up a position opposite the Town Hall. There were a number of well dressed young men sprinkled amongst the onlookers. I stood next to one. I did think there was some thing odd about them because they were all silent and they wore hats. Finally the motorcade drew up. At this point the well dressed men raised their hands above their heads and shouted "lets hear it for LBJ" in unison. They were obviously some kind of American cheer leaders. They then started cheering out loudly "Hooray for the USA". The car pulled up in front of the dignitaries that had assembled outside the Town Hall. LBJ saw a woman holding an American Flag and he literally leapt out of the car and grabbed the flag. He turned to the crowd and started waving the flag in a crazy looking way at the face of the crowd. The crowd then rushed towards him and he rushed towards the crowd and they became entwined. He was all the time waving his flag in an intense crazy way and cheering equally as crazy. He was shouting - this is the American Flag - look at it and be excited. Or something similar. It took a second or two for order to be restored. The Town Clerk who was dressed in his Official Regalia was almost knocked over. He had lost his shoe and his Magisterial wig was askew. My distinct memory is the look of annoyance on the Lord Mayors wife as she was pushed and pummeled by the crowd. She had lost her place as one of the dignitaries who was supposed to curtsy and bow to LBJ as he got out of his car. She was not a small woman and the look on her face said she did not enjoy being pushed out of the way by the lower classes. But everyone acted like riff raff. In fact all the dignitaries had acted like teenagers at a pop concert. LBJ was a cheap rabble rouser and the crowd were all cheap rabble. Especially the dignitaries. They screamed the most. They wanted to kowtow. The whole crowd had a mob mentality. It was all very undignified. I found the whole thing extremely vulgar. I did not move a muscle. I did not say a word. I stayed completely silent. I was in fact struck dumb, I had witnessed something extremely distasteful and demeaning. I was reinforced in my conviction that the Australian People were totally morally corrupt. This was damming evidence in front of my eyes. What were the Australian people doing? Why were they doing this? They were certainly proving themselves to be not worthy of any respect. Nor trust. The well dressed young American man standing next to me did look at me suspiciously. I didn't wait for the speeches. I left. I turned my back on LBJ and walked away. I believe that this is what all Australians should have done. We should have all turned our backs to him. But no one did. |
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