Hello y'all and welcome to a hopefully 'lighter' post than yesterday's...I don't resile from any of it, still got plenty to say about ANZAC Day, and from what I've heard today, I ain't Robinson Crusoe...haven't read the specific 'tweets' involved (because I don't 'twitter' hardly at all) but apparently some SBS journalist set sail on a whole bunch of ANZAC 'myths' and said something about implying Aussie soldiers were rapists and plunderers, etc, and for his troubles, he got sacked...
(But wasn't he a sports journalist rather than say a political reporter-Ed)...think so, but I don't really care 'cos I'm not defending him specifically and haven't seen the 'tweets', what I does care 'bout is not who it is, but whether or not he's being punished for 1) gross errors in what he said, or 2) just for saying it...many alleged expert commentators have already defended this SBS dude, saying that what he said is crudely put but factually relatively accurate, stating that it's absolutely appropriate to move beyond the "glorification" of war and ANZAC, etc, that is currently happening (not my words)...and in context, I absolutely agree...(it's always about context with you, isn't it?-Ed)...context this matey...
Who is it dishonours ANZAC more?...1) the person who hazes and/or assaults and/or rapes a fellow soldier and/or 2) the senior person who covers that up...or 3) the person who writes about it on ANZAC Day...(well obviously the senior person who should have sorted it, they're first, they should resolve whatevs and prevent it ever happening again...second of course, the comrade who would behave like that toward a fellow 'digger'...and then last, and I'd need to read whatevs first of course, but I think appropriate discussion rather than this blinkered glorification is not just appropriate but respectfully mandatory-Ed)...beautifully said Ed, couldn't have put it better myself...(except that you did 'cos I don't actually exist so much as I'm a confected literary device utilised to engage availees in a conversation rather than a diatribe-Ed)...orrr yeah, well except for that...
And the glaring, gloomy, looming reality is that every year many Australian men are more than capable of assaulting, raping, and killing women and/or children, and each other, and stealing, etc, etc, and that's in the free, safe country that we apparently are...sticking masses of them in a uniform, handing them weapons, and then shoving them into the insanity of a war-zone, is not likely to change those behaviours for the better...again, not defending that dude 'cos I don't know what he said, but I agree with the broader discourse that these are real issues that we are obliged to acknowledge...moving on lighter matters...
Rude Joke Warning: 'cos I've been trying to get some earlyish nights recently, catch-up on some sleep, etc, so I put on my piggy-jimjams, brush my toothy-pegs, and go to sleepy-bobos (The Goodies-BBC TV)... but instead of extended restful sojourns, I wake up at ridiculous times like 0430hrs...(it's an 'old man' thing, ya' can't sleep more than 5 hours at a go-Ed)...well that's just great...anyhoos, this led me to be recruited by a TV Evangelist...(testify-Ed)...and I've heeded the call...(hal-le-lujah-Ed)...I've given from my very core...(give until it hurts brother, and give thanks that you have it to give-Ed)...absolutely...so I've sent them $1,000 of my seed.........(sorry what?-Ed)...yeah, $1k of Future Fletchers, just waiting for my cheque now...(oh dear-Ed)...what?...(how to explain-Ed)...use ya' words...
(Ok, well, I understand that it was early, you were sleepy, etc, but that ad actually said 'send us $1,000' as being 'the seed you will sew for others', that apparently grows into the Tree of Global Equality, or the Shrub of Salvation, the Hedge of Harmony, some bullshit, but the point being you're meant to send them $1,000 in cash, not as you have, somewhat more liquid assets-Ed)...sorry, I think you'll find they were spruiking for 'your seed at $1,000'...(no you idiot, 'your seed of $1,000...'of', not 'at'...you send them $1k and they'll apparently spend it for you on various 'Christian' projects, etc-Ed)...they want me to just give them $1,000?...(yep-Ed)...bollocks to that, they're not gettin' penny one from me the slags...and that was good seed to......(I think this joke's run it's course, shall we move on?-Ed)...indeed...
Fell Off My Chair Laughing: then coughed, farted, wheezed like an asthmatic accordion, burped, twitched, peed a bit, managed to get back on the chair, only to fall again and...(yes, we get the picture-Ed)...sorry...one was somewhat bemused to hear Bruce Lander, South Australia's ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) Commissioner, stating that 'recent issues/changes/reversals/whatevs occurring with the New South Wales ICAC, those changes won't affect the operation of our ICAC here in Sow Straya'...(but the SA ICAC is basically the absolute antithesis of the NSW one-Ed)...indeed, there-in lies the humour...
(Nuthin' funny about that...what we have is an absurd Secret Squirrel Star Chamber with frightening powers to completely quash issues, smother reportage, etc, etc-Ed)...right again...(the South Australian ICAC is not about exposing, addressing and resolving the corruption that defines South Australia, it has been conceived, constructed, and applied to maintain absolute control over continuing to cover-up corruption-Ed)...is that my hymn book you've got there?...(no no, it's my copy of The Gospel According To Charlie Drake*-Ed)...is this a cheese shop?*...(Norwegian Blue*-Ed)...
And I do not apologise for homaging Monty Python, again, because it doesn't matter what mood I'm in, that scene from Life Of Brian where Brian is captured and dragged before Pontius Pilate, is just the tonic...(he has a wife you know-Ed)...I don't know anything that comes even close in it's surgically insightful dissection of the human condition as The Life Of Brian, and with such ridiculous pantomime, and the stunning economy of language...it also demands of the viewer a certain level of understanding about the times/events/whatevs, and yet beautifully illustrates and educates...what have the Romans ever done for us?...(and albeit with men pretending to be woman pretending to be men so they can attend a 'Men Only' stoning-Ed)...for Jehovah's sake...(he's the Messiah and I should know, I've followed a few)...and you're all different - yes we're all different - I'm not......if you've seen it you'll know these quotes well...
More laughable crap on the ABC Local Radio this afternoon from the 'Renewable Energy' lobby group the Clean Energy Council re the whimsical wonderment of shreckin' Wind Turbines...and yet
another appalling 'Dorothy-Dixer' interview where-in the CEC
spokesperson just spewed-out unchallenged all the same ol' lies about 'the cost of
poles and wires' and 'once erected, Wind Turbines provide free energy',
and 'the prices are comin' down, any time now, honest', etc, etc, etc...and then a very lame attempt to address the issues of peak supply at times of minimal energy production...I ran into that problem I have where I'm trying to listen, honest, but the relentless rhetoric as heard so often before, that sortta' switches me 'off'...(its almost like some sortta' 'self-preserving sanity-saving pressure valve' kinda' thingy that just shuts out the bollocks when it gets just too bollocky, even for you-Ed)...yeah, I'll go with that...and I'd just like to close with a Rude Joke Warning...
Everyone Loves A Parade: but not apparently as much as ma' homies down in Ye Olde Melbourne Town (Victoria)...(how so?-Ed)...heard some official dude in an interview last week, talking about the AFL (Aussie Football League) Grand Final Parade and the fact that it's now a public holiday, or will fall on a holiday this year, somethin' or other, and the question was 'will it mean smaller crowds? will peeps go into the city just for the parade?' and similar...and official spokesperson says, 'no way dudette, they love it, there'll be heaps there'...(how could he be so sure?-Ed)...good question Ed...he was adamant that Melbournians had a great fondness for the AFL Parade, and indeed were very keen on any and/or all parades...
RJW:...(sounds a bit odd...exactly how keen are they?-Ed)...very keen...(only very?-Ed)...no, very very...(very very?-Ed)...look, I've got the quote here...(hang on, this better not be another long-winded lead in to one of your stupid pun thingys-Ed)...nah nah, gourd bless, gourd bless...(I gotta' say, you ain't fillin' me with confidence...go on then, so what did he say?-Ed)...yeah, he was certain that the locals don't just like a parade, they love a parade, and I mean like love a parade...(for gourd sake, what did he say-Ed)...hang on a sec...here t'is, and I quote..."You put on a parade and people will come"-The Official Dude.........(and that's why I hate you-Ed)...ta'...
Tomorrow: More ANZAC Stuff
As per feedback, I fully realise that the St Martins Cover-up is that by which I judge all other issues...I know, thanks, exactly how much it has dominated my life since 2002, but no, I don't know where I find the strength and courage to continue to fight, because I am neither strong nor courageous...(well how fortunate for you then that you've been blessed with such an abundance of ego, vanity and stubbornness that you can afford to distill it down to some vague semblance of courage-Ed)...I'll drink to that...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
**PS...just saw some of those 'tweets' on ABC 7.30 and must agree that there's more appropriate ways to talk about these issues...however, it is not inappropriate to question the "Legend Of ANZAC', etc, it is an obligation...(well I'd suggest use of the term 'Legend' begs appropriate discourse because it by definition identifies exaggeration even falsehood-Ed)...
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