Rural Aboriginal Crisis

For years upon heaped years indigenous Australians in remote rural communities have been neck deep in widespread serious problems to quote one of the authors;

“Breakdown of families, alcoholism, drug-taking, pornography, unemployment, overcrowding, lack of discipline, children not going to school — everywhere we went, they were the running themes”

These problems are all related of course and build on each other. Nor are they restricted to such communities but are far more public and widespread there. It took ABC lateline TV program (a curious mix of conservative and leftist ideologies that report on rural issues) to jolt an official government report into it. That too would have been ignored had it not been for the eager media and the child abuse in the report to corner the election sensitive Federal government into action.

It’s sad isn’t it? Everyone has minimised attention to this issue. You can’t absolve or fully blame Howard and the Liberals. It’s been on in Labour times too and before we blame the state, it’s not just in the NT where the report was centred that this happens. The police and other authorities have failed to deliver on criminal prevention and services. Australians have ignored it too. Even many Indigenous people.

So now PM Howard has acted. The action decided is quite authoritarian which is good in terms of getting things done which is definitely plus. Of course it is less good in terms of dependency and freedom. It remains to be seen what is actually done of course and how much real improvement results. On the whole I support the actions, they are late and easily debatable but we need immediate improvement not hand wringing, before we can move these places on into functional free communities.

That second step is going to be much more difficult.

 

Saddam’s Golden Gun

A hook post for the gun pr0noholics.

Like a bad Bond movie the villain had a shiny sparkly golden gun. Apparently this is an Iraqi made Tabuk assault rifle copied from the Kalashnikov AK-47. The special part, of course, being the lavish gold plating. They were used by his guards which certainly gives you a glimpse into the opulence of his personal life until his sojourn in the pit.

He doesn’t need it any more so it’s been given to the Australian War Memorial, a museum I didn’t know existed until I saw the article. Unfortunately their web site lacks any more detail.

Update:

There are loads more pics.  And of course these aren’t the only golden guns in the world.  You can order yours custom made here for ‘only’ thousands… US.

So… We Meet Again

Why am I back? After all that work the hordes put into getting rid of me i’d better get my excuses lined up. Things like realising I actually missed those multiple hours staring at text editors go without saying of course.

Truth be told I enjoy soapboxing my little views and the give and take of opinions (my opinions are titled facts btw ) can actually be educational. I’ll freely admit I’ve learnt a lot tossing myself into the den of military conservatives which, after all, doesn’t align with the kind of people one might assume would mix. Then there’s that little hope something I say might actually be beneficial out there in some form in some way.

Posts will therefore be mixed. A fair bit of politics and current affairs with all sorts of other things that strike my whimsical fancy and hopefully my readers interest. So to paraphrase some of the blogs I frequent.. the bloggings will continue until morale improves.

If you’ve wondered in here and are strangely compelled by my mystical powers of silver tongued reality editing enhancement to not desperately bash the escape key, you know you are one-of-us. You may be more enlightened by reading the About page. Assuming of course I write something for it.