And for the tender mother who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses his baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens who feed the eternal flame,

To save them from false Sextus, that wrought the deed of shame?

So many names… So many gone…

Throughout the ages, men have gone into battle in the name of honour. Cannon fodder for the political leaders of their times. Sent off to fight battles of honour, by the least honorable, a politician.

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–

What is honour? Who deems war as being an honourable cause? What honour is there amongst the political leaders who seek to gain from the deaths of their soldiers?

For with war comes the spoils. Perhaps not the spoils of old, where the soldier would help himself to payment for services rendered… No, today’s spoils are more esoteric, hidden, succinct. There’s money to be made in war, whether it be the spoils, the supply of tools, the treaties signed. All of which the soldier does not see, touch or taste. His reward is to be forgotten by his leaders and ignored when his wounds of war need tending.

I read a post on one of the Social Media sites today, which seemed to echo the subtle brainwashing set upon American children in their early, formative years. The woman went on about how the Australians shouldn’t pull out of Afghanistan because it would ‘dishonour’ the soldiers who had died in the last 5^th column ambush. Seems the Taliban are dressing up as Afghan soldiers and shooting as many UN troops as they can before being cut down themselves. More honour, I suppose… to Allah.

How much ‘honour’ must be spilt on the ground before the ‘honour’ of these dead soldiers is sated? The UN troops arrive at the behest of their leaders. Some depart, perhaps not worse for the wear except for the mental anguish of having to kill fellow human beings. Some depart in a hermetically sealed coffin, destined for a hero’s burial and posthumous ‘honour’.

Perhaps better off than the survivors of war. For the dead need not worry about their mental state, the lost limbs, the blinded eyes. They needn’t worry about how they will make a crust of bread for themselves while they ambulate on prosthetics or attempt to medicate themselves against the horror of war.

But what about the honour? Surely the loss of a limb, or an eye, ones mental health or even ones life is justified for honour. Surely troops must continue to battle on to honour those comrades who’ve fallen before them. Surely the war must continue until enough blood has soaked into the ground to sate the ‘Honour’.

Or perhaps, Australia and the rest of the UN troops should cut their losses, pack up their tents and let the Afghan people do what they will with the Taliban. Do the politicians of the day actually think fighting an unseen foe will actually bring peace? It has become impossible to tell the friendlies from the enemies. I recall another conflict where this became a problem as well. A time when a smiling child in Saigon would step up to your jeep and drop a grenade in your lap.

Now, it’s a dead dog on the side of the road, wired to explode as you rumble past in your armoured personnel carrier. To what end? Will not 100 Osama’s step up to become a leader as another is captured or killed? Will not the insurgent still believe his reward is a bevy of virgins in heaven?

These people live in a different lifestyle, with a different concept of God and justice. Many wish to be as the Westerner, many wish the Westerners would go away. Even more feel that the Western infidels should all be killed.

Time to look closely at an exit strategy and more so, rather than fight the insurgency on their home soil, a strategy to limit their access to our soil. Spend the billions on defence, rather than the war effort. If our soldiers are going to die, let them die on our our own soil in its defence.

Unless, of course, it’s not about defence of the home soil at all..

At one time, I worked for the Australian Capital Territory power company as their Manager of Network Services. My group had offices in the Computer Facility Campus, which also houses the electricity grid control room and the water testing laboratories.

The day after September 11th, 2001, I submitted a suggestion to my superiors that not only should security at this facility be beefed up, but perhaps they should start actually using the security gates which had been installed when the campus was built. I pointed out to my manager and the General Manager, that perhaps it would be prudent to limit access to possible terrorist activities.

After they both rolled their eyes at me, I was told, bluntly, that I had put forth a ridiculous proposal and I should try to reduce my level of paranoia. After all, this is Australia and nobody would ever think of terrorising us.

Six years later (I assume about the time ASIO was planning their new palace in Russell Park), the Government has audited the power company for security risks.  Guess what the Government demanded? They said to tighten up access to the building and close those damned security gates!

I’m told by a trusted source that management fought the Government edict tooth and nail. Something to do with “access convenience”.  For whom? Terrorists?

Fortunately for all of us in and around the ACT, this vapid idealism has been overruled and now the building which houses the electricity grid control room and the power company computer server room, is secure.

I feel vindicated!

I’ve shut down this sad addiction and leave the mindless masses to theirs. I’m sure I’ll be missed by the zillions of friends & followers I have accumulated over the last few years..

With all the hoopla about Digital Rights and the poor, hard done by record & film companies, I have a hard time justifying the use of OUR digital content by the powers that be. Whether it be our photos, our postings, or their ability to flog sinister ad content to us.. Frankly, I’ve had a gut-full.

So.. those of you who give a shit about what I might have on my mind, you’re more than welcomed to join me here and have a lively discourse without the watchful eye of the Great Zuckerberg..

Nestled high in the Molonglo Valley — Chlorine Gas

Why, you ask?
If you have the good fortune to visit the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre, the first thing you are subjected to, is a crash course on where the gas masks are stored, where the high ground assembly points are located and how the alarm klaxons will sound…. if there’s a Chlorine leak.  If you look closely at the picture of the LMWQCC, you’ll note a few large tanks to the right.  The larger tanks hold Ferric Chloride, which is used to precipitate out Phosphorous from the effluent.  The smaller, bright yellow tanks, contain liquefied Chlorine, which is injected into the purified effluent  at the final stage of processing.

The problem is the Chlorine is liquefied and there’s an awful lot of it.  Should those tanks develop a leak, or worse, rupture, the entire valley has the potential of filling with this poisonous gas, which being heavier than air, will settle in the lower parts of the valley until it dissipates. The effects of chlorine gas are severe.  Within seconds of inhaling its vapour it destroys the victim’s respiratory organs, bringing on choking attacks.  It was first used by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres on the 22nd of April, 1915.

I wonder if the land developers have included that little Chlorine gas factoid on their glossy brochures?

Pumps no more…

Karma! I believe in Karma!  Many years ago, I bought a property from a man who’s father owned the adjacent property to the North.  They shared the water from a windmill powered bore and the deal was, as long as I allowed the father agistment for his Murray Gray cows (and a shortcut to Macs Reef Road so he could get to the garbage tip), I could keep getting water pumped from his mill.  Worked for me and it kept the weeds down.

Some years later, the father sold his property and didn’t bother telling any of the neighbours (myself included). In the meantime, I was planting about 100 olive trees, which were watered from the bore.  The new guy shut off the water… My olive experience was a failure and a resulting odorous neighbour relationship ensued…

Well… In that I was the guy who used to service the windmill for the father, I was delighted to find the new guy was afraid of heights and couldn’t bring himself to climb the windmill tower.  Why is this important? Maintenance.. The windmill gearbox has to be maintained with the proper oil level.  Bearings will fail, seals will dry & crack.. A complex assortment of gears & reduction cogs…  all screaming, “Oil Me!”

Umm… They were no longer getting oiled…. 

In the last few months, I’ve been noticing the windmill making the familiar noises of a gearbox with bearing failure, a dreadful metallic squeal echoing across the valley in the light, early morning breezes.  I’ll be honest… I’ve been smiling to myself, knowing the bastards’ windmill would soon fail.

And…  Karma…  My wife said to me yesterday, “Your favourite neighbour was halfway up his tower a little while ago”…  I smiled back at her.

Today, I took a good look at the windmill through heavy lenses and verified the failure..  The rotor vanes are turning, but the reciprocator (gearbox) isn’t moving the pump rod…  In short, His windmill is cactus…

Not many windmill repairers around these parts (aside from me, as I happen to have the collection of spare parts)… It’ll be a most expensive exercise for him.  And to think he could have had a regular maintenance service…. If he’d only been a good neighbour.

Taxation by Stealth

It’s that time of the year when the Livestock Health and Pest Authority demand you file your rural holdings return.  This year, they’re threatening you with prosecution and a maximum fine of $2200 for non-lodgement.

The LHPA is merely a covert taxation arm of the New South Wales Government and has no counterparts in any other Australian State or territory.  They bully-boy you into filing a return on your meager rural holdings, so they can tack on the appropriate tithe to satisfy the voracious coffers of the NSW bureaucrats.

This year, you can lodge your return online, thus saving you the postage needed to send it via snail mail.

You’ll notice the online return has various boxes for ‘COMMENTS’..  I would suggest using the last comment box to include the words, “RETURN FILED UNDER PROTEST”.  One day, the court system might just find this collusion by rural taxation illegal and force the State  Government to refund our fees.  Filling under protest alerts the courts to the fact you would rather spend your money on yourself, rather than the State.

Better yet, as it’s a Council Election year..  Get your candidate to speak up against this blatant ripoff.. this Taxation by Stealth.

In the skies over Bywong

There, above our areas’ skies was a geologic survey aircraft, VH-KPY, owned by Fugro Airborne Surveys that does magnetic geologic surveys for mining companies and whoever else has enough money to pay for their services.

VH-KPY A Geologic Survey Aircraft

“So what?”, you all say?  Well, this little gem had been sighted several times in a few weeks, flying low altitude patterns over Wamboin, Sutton & Bywong, especially around William McEnally’s old mining area, ‘Macs Reef’.  One or two passes might have been the norm for a simple survey, but they  were making these low passes a habit, so I assumed they had found something interesting in their survey.

Keeping in mind that at today’s petrol prices and pilot fees, it costs a hell of a lot to spend a few weeks flying low altitude passes over the Bywong area. Must be something REALLY interesting in the ground around here.

Does everyone have their panning dishes handy?  In 1852 the NSW Government geological surveyor, Rev. W. B. Clarke, concluded that “gold in profitable quantities will hereafter be found in some part of the district of which Bywong Hill is the centre”.

The technology now exists to glean gold & other metals from low grade ores that would have been ignored in the past.  That, combined with the price of gold in recent months HAS made the smaller deposits look profitable again.

“Big deal!”, you all say?  Well…  Fugro’s mining company client has applied to the NSW Department of Primary Industries for an exploration permit.  They’ll rock up to your door and expect to drill some exploratory bores or dig a hole here and there.

How is this possible?  If you take a good look at your Land Title papers, you, like everyone else in this area, will find a little caveat that states the mineral rights probably belong to a mining outfit and in this case, it’s  CGNM Resources, an Australian Registered Company that’s owned by the Chinese. They just happen to hold the mineral lease on your property.

Yes folks, you only own what you can see.  And for the next two years, what’s below the surface of your paddock, belongs to the Chinese now, and there’s nothing you can do about it.  So, if you’ve been digging holes in your property, everything you take out, actually belongs to them.  So.. any nuggets you find…  you’ll have to turn in to the proper owners.  Right?

Go have a read of the Landholder Rights, pursuant to the the provisions of the Mining Act 1992.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/minerals/titles/landholders-rights/mining_act_1992

Know what they can and cannot do. Know your rights and you can use the miners to your advantage.  They MUST come to an access agreement with the landholder before they can start their hordes of Chinese geologists prospecting.  If agreement is not reached, it MUST go to arbitration.

How would Bywong look as a Strip Mine?

Now, I’m sure that if some large reserve of Gold, Silver. Copper or Uranium (Heh heh.. now wouldn’t THAT piss off Earth Mother Moore?), were found in Bywong, the Shire’s pillar of honour, Stainless Bascomb, would be soon filing writs of Compulsory Acquisition on everything the Shire could get it’s hands on.  And you could be sure that the Bywong/Wamboin area would become an open pit strip mine from the Lake George escarpment to Kowen Forest.  Probably larger, as these Chinese folks have garnered the mineral rights for about 200 sq kilometers around these parts.  From the ACT border to Gundaroo, Sutton to Lake George.  That’s gonna be one hell of a Strip Mine.

A few good things…. It would get rid of all the noxious weeds in the area and Bungendore would have to cope with being a mining town.. What a boost to their economy, eh?

As for me… I prefer not to live at the bottom of a Strip Mine.  Perhaps they’ll make me a sweet offer.  Might be time to head for the warmth of the Greek Isles.

Show Me The Money!

And there he was again, old Hamid Karzai… spruking to the Japanese and getting them to allocate a further 4 million dollars to the Afghanistan cause. Canada pledges, after she pulls out her troops, that she won’t let Afghanistan down in the money department either.. Poor old Hamid needs it to keep his Government going… or so he says..

Now, usually, I don’t bother with world politics and the counter terrorism mantra, but today on the news, something in this man’s demeanor struck a nerve and got me to thinking how great a little money maker this Afghanistan interdiction has become.

The lad spends most of his time wandering from country to country with his ‘hard done by” look, the Official Hamid Hat & Cape  and his hand out.  The World leaders seem to be more than happy to fill the lads pockets before he jets off to the next mark.

I’d like to know when the world leaders are gonna wake up to Hamid’s money scam.  Show some hard evidence that he’s actually working to eliminate the Terrorist/Taliban threat to his country and the rest of the world.

What I’d really like to see if if the crafty old lad has a numbered Swiss account…  Now THAT would be interesting..

There are options of off-shore processing, turning back boats, on-shore processing, more detention centres, more patrols…. the list goes on.

What hasn’t really been aired are the practical ways to deter these people from floating over, undocumented, with the help of the so called ‘people smugglers’.  A concerted effort by the Australian Government and the news media at large could probably put an end to the desire to sail to Australia from Indonesia.  But it would take a bit of intelligence on the part of the Government and that could be the stumbling block.

A possible solution to a practical deterrent is to make a trip across the Timor Sea… really life threatening and make sure the whole world knows it’s just that…  But in reality and aside from the real & present dangers in such a trip, nothing more than ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ on the part of the Australian Government.

Desperate people will attempt entry to Oz by sea…  period.  So you need to make a sea journey seem a really hazardous adventure that many would refuse to take.  But how?  Subterfuge and mis-information (the Government is already a stellar player in this game).

The Australian Coastal Authorities, be they the Navy, Customs or some Coast Guard entity, must quickly intercept these boats, jam all their communications and surreptitiously spirit these people safely away to be processed out of the public eye…  Completely hidden from view and isolated from the media, the UN, or any other world busy-body organisation who might be appalled at a Government who hides people away until processed.

The reason for the covert operation is the Government must make it appear the boats are mysteriously sinking, being wrecked, eaten by sea monsters… whatever it takes to instill the fear of the sea on those countries who harbour asylum seekers.  The world and those who wish to arrive on Australian shores by boat, must believe the journey is too perilous and perhaps it might be better to apply for asylum through proper channels, or at least arrive here with proper papers by air.

News Media: “What happened to that boatload of 120 asylum seekers sighted off Christmas Island?”

Govt. Spokesperson: “Umm, we don’t know.  We lost radar contact while they were still in International waters and believe their craft was sunk in rough seas and the survivors eaten by Great White Sharks. Unfortunately, we’ve found no remains of them or their craft.”….

Meanwhile, back on some isolated detention island or compound in the NT, under cover of darkness, 120 people are off-loaded from a Navy craft to be processed out of the public eye.

The rest of the world considers the fate of those poor 120 souls and the word to the media is spread to make sure countries that have potential emigres to Australia, get full news of the probably horrible fate of those poor asylum seekers.

Yes, outrage would seethe from all the organisations who claim to be the champions of the asylum seekers. Who would be to blame? The Indonesians? The Australians? Surely the people smugglers would be to blame as well.  And what of the 120 poor lost souls? Quietly processed and absorbed into Australian society, with a pledge not to reveal where they have been, lest they be deported immediately.

Who knows, a crazy plan like that could work… that is, if the Government had the brains to pull off such a charade.  I mean, they seem not to have a problem fooling Australians into believing their election promises… Why not a “Smoke & Mirrors” plan for asylum seekers?

We old radio fossils, leftovers from the days of real music, still ply the airwaves in spite of the emergence of the new “Shock Jocks” that seem to captivate the youth of the day.  More than a few holdovers who now lovingly embrace the words to ‘WOLD’ or ‘Guitar Man’ with a new symbolism.

Yes, I’ve been one of the chronologically challanged who found himself made redundant because he no longer fit the youthful ethos of the operation.  One just smiles, packs up his carton of memorabilia and moves on to a higher plain of existance.

I for one, care not to cry in my beer and reminice about “The Good Old Days”.  I prefer to make my own niche markets, keep playing the tunes and keep answering the request line.  I prefer to regard myself and my kind as the keepers of the music, the sages of the oldies, as there are very few of the new age DJ’s who even know of Robert Plant, Smokey Robinson or others who actually wrote understandable lyrics.

Yes, the repetative +20db Bass lines have their place in the aerobics gyms, but good Rock, Soul, Jazz & Blues and the people who spin it will prevail, whether it be via the Internet, Digital Radio or that semi-antique FM. I’ll keep playing the good stuff to my Baby Boomer audience, while they quaff that $25 Merlot and scarf down that boutique cheese at one of the local wineries.

All you need to do is find a Station Manager who has the foresight to know the Baby Boomer Market is a viable and still emerging entity. There are a lot of us out there and there’s still many a market for us old radio fossils.

My parting sage advice?  For what it might be worth to a few, “Follow the Grey Nomads”..