This time last year, it was revealed that Canberra "has provided a lot of counter-terrorist training to Burma", some of which is now being brought to bear on Buddhist monks. Makes ya proud. A whole range of policing skills have been passed onto the junta, including the "management of bomb sites". So if the police blow up a Buddhist monastery, Aussies will have played their part. Even our unsavoury Immigration Department has helped extend the junta's reach with "intelligence training", soon to be applied to activists heading for the border.

Burma's Generals and police have been welcomed at Australian courses on "major investigation management", another useful tool in democracy suppression. After welcoming our co-operation with dictators, The Australian's Greg Sheridan announced the "Burmese would like more assistance in their counter-terrorist efforts". His response? "Frankly, we'd be ill-advised to decline". Sleep well, Greg, when they start to beat the monks to pulp. . . read more

Gandhi said the victory is in the struggle itself. The struggle itself is the most important thing. I tell our followers that when we achieve democracy, we will look back with nostalgia on the struggle and how pure we were.

We will prevail because our cause is right, because our cause is just. History is on our side. Time is on our side. . . read more

One unique contribution of the Net is to provide a stage which is not bounded by demography, geography, economy or spin. Get ready for the ride. And watch this space! . . read more

In Tasmania, a large vocal minority of Greens will have the balance of power in a hung parliament, there will be infighting and bickering until the Liberal Opposition claims a minor majority and thrusts forward its impotent Premier into the melee.

In South Australia, Rann will win, but his bravado and virility will be curbed as his ability to nonchalantly wave around his policy penis becomes hampered.

What all this seems to show is that Labor is slipping, the Greens and the environment movement are gaining a lot of traction and Australia is divided.

Hopefully not to the point where Red and Blue States form which look at each other with systemic suspicion, but it does seem that these divides are becoming increasingly irreconcilable.  

Bet Labor wishes they could turn back the clock two years when they controlled every government at State and Federal level and do things a bit differently.  . . read more

On the harbour one bedroom apartments rent from $2700 per week up to $10,000 per night. In the suburbs away from the harbour people, like my sister Sharyn, try to catch a rooftop view of the fireworks (to avoid getting caught in a two hour traffic jam) but my sister discovered her renovations weren't tall enough. What she needs is a little tower, just a mini room size, going up a few floors - what used to be called a ‘widow's walk' where women would climb in hope of seeing their loved one's long lost ship return. Of course the municipal council will reject it on town planning grounds - they like to ‘level' things. In 2009 the world is hoping to see the return of a new future, finally going beyond the denials and stupidities of Bush, Howard and Blair. Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown will lose Bush as their excuse. Let's hope our looking and waiting is not as forlorn as the widows.

Matt from Leichhardt has had his rooftop view messed up by a new building development next door so his family was away and flying back into Sydney when the fireworks went off and he says it's funny that something so big on the ground appears small from plane level - except for the smoke haze after that covered so much of the city. Why does that image ring a bell? Happy 2009.

Photo by SilverLily

Until yesterday I don't think I fully understood how tight that market was and what people were willing to do to get a room.

The night before last we put an ad on Gum Tree for a small windowless room in Newtown for $160 a week, hoping, just hoping we might get some response.

In the few hours that followed (before phones were turned off due to the continuous ringing) we were called dozens and dozens of times with people begging to come in for an inspection.

Being boys and with such an oversupply of applicants there was a bit of fun to be had to see how far these guys would go.

Would you for instance join our acapella band whose signature number was "Hey Jude"?

Would you share a room with a goat (which you had to milk) and a priest?

Our applicants would.  

After laughter, and jubilation that we could pick and choose who we live with there have been some sombre moments of reflection.

All this has shown to me that people who go to university or work in the city are forced to fight to live close by because they know that any further out and the commute will be impossible.

A sad state of affairs to see and hear young vibrant people reduced to such desperation. . . read more

Even as the Chinese were attacking Tibetan protestors, New York City Police were beating up and literally threatening to kill "Free Tibet" protestors in front of the United Nations. It's all on video.

The Washington Post recently ran a story about how the Chinese people largely support the government suppression of the Tibetan protesters... "Beijing's Crackdown Gets Strong Domestic Support. Ethnic Pride Stoked by Government Propaganda." The article spoke of how Beijing officials have "educated" the public about Tibet "through propaganda".

That's a rather interesting concept. Imagine the Post or any other American mainstream media saying that those Americans who support the war in Iraq do so because they've been educated by government propaganda... Ditto those who support the war in Afghanistan... Ditto scores of other US invasions, bombings, overthrows, and miscellaneous war crimes spanning more than half a century. [More] . . read more

Protestors chained themselves together in the time-honoured fashion of the suffragettes. In contemporary Britain if it’s not 1917, it’s 1959 or 1968. Folks these are NOT the tools of revolution in 2007. Think social networking, identity change and deliberative democracy. The tools are in your hands; the power of mobile technology awaits.  . . read more

If we look back there is a well documented history of genocide, institutional racism, backwardness and fear.  . . read more