Holy fools.

In my hometown we have a chap who probably qualifies as a “holy fool”. (Ps: Im not religious myself)

 

In using the term holy fool I harking back to the old meaning of the term, a person living a life without regard for day-to-day realities, devoted to prayer and meditation.

Our own holy fool is Barry Kelly, I first saw him at a set of traffic lights in the centre of town, he took off his thongs (flip-flops for you Americans) placed his knees on them (for padding) and began to pray. The lights changed and I drove off, I told the other half about it and we both had a laugh at the “crazy” man.

Geraldtons own holy fool.

Then I began to see him walking along the main highway, covering large distances, sometimes praying, more often walking, head down, oblivious to the world around him.

Then something strange began to happen, instead of a figure of ridicule people began to feel protective of the bloke. I keep an eye out for him driving around, as do many others, its quite strange the effect seeing someone so “shamelessly” living their beliefs can have. There is already a facebook page, a newspaper article, what next a movie deal?

He has had abuse and objects thrown at him, and also had people stopping and giving him drinks, and in one case a local shop have him a high visibility vest.People have left money at the servo he stops at coffee for and nearly every person Ive spoken to about him is worried about his getting hit by traffic, rather than any “harm” hes causing.

 

Ill leave you with his own words from the newspaper interview.

“I just love walking and praying,” he said.

“There are so many bad things going on in the world to pray for, don’t you think?”

Is Gina Rinehart Australias Dagney Taggart?

Gina Rinehart is an interesting lady. Written off as no more than an heiress riding on her prospector fathers coattails she has become the wealthiest (on paper anyway) person in Australia.

He father was the legendary Lang Hancock, the man whos company pretty well started Australia’s Iron ore mining boom.

It’s difficult to think, Australia at one stage actually had a ban on exports of Iron ore because the governments of the day believed we were short of the stuff. Lang and his co-workers proved up vast tracts of iron reserves, and the industry was started.

I admit myself to thinking Gina would turn out to be a passive, or unwise heiress, boy was that wrong. She spent millions fighting various court battles to keep her company together.

Now have a read of this speech she gave at the start of her new coal mine, its a pretty precise dressing down of the “looters” mentality.

“For the cost of building this trial mine alone, I could have bought myself a beautiful new private jet, But you’ve seen those trucks and shovels out there. Who would be paying the wages of these contractors if I had spent that on a luxurious private jet and two pilots?

“Indeed, for the further costs of paying my terrific staff working hard on these projects and the consultants’ studies for the pre-feasibility study and the bankable feasibility study and now value engineering, together employing hundreds of people, I could have dotting for myself one or two beautiful yachts like many of my friends have and employed six or more yacht crew and taken off.”

She was apparently a little sharp on the imposition of new taxes into Australian mining as well.

“Rinehart also attacked the “left-wing media” for suggesting she was being greedy and attacking the taxes out of self-interest when she could afford to pay more. She argues it is all about Australia’s ability to compete and that Canberra simply doesn’t understand this…”

Absolutely right, shes as rich as Croseus, she could stick every cent she has into government bonds and still be unable to spend the income. Instead she risks her capital and employs thousands of people.

Rinehart was certainly keen to explain her views to those who had travelled long distances to get to the Alpha mine site. The audience, which included her daughter and son-in-law, included potential clients and companies involved in the project as well as a smattering of federal and state opposition MPs. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was represented by her Minister for Employment and Mines, Sterling Hinchliffe. No federal government minister was present

This just shows how intellectually cowardly this federal government is. So busy sucking up the arse of Bob Browns greens they wont attend the opening day of a major new employer which will generate massive income for the government and reduce unemployment.

She said the new tax policies — and the high costs of development and regulation — were the reason her wholly owned Australian company Hancock Coal would not be able to maintain as large an equity stake in the new projects as she had once hoped although it would still be “significant”.

Paging Bob Brown, a clue is waiting for you on line 1…. Dear old Bob was today wailing about how eeeeevil foreign corporations had large chunks of Australia’s minerals income diverted to them. The clue being, theres not a big enough pool of Australian capital to get such ventures up and running.

“Rinehart says Australia simply could not afford policies that deter exploration and investment.

“Despite these record prices, when our investment appeal and confidence should be at its highest, today’s policies have meant exploration is being discouraged and our exploration investment is back to 2003 levels. That is, pre-boom,” she says. “Where is Australian investment heading ? Offshore to the long-term detriment of our country and billions and billions of dollars being invested instead in West Africa, Brazil and elsewhere.”

According to Rinehart, Canberra doesn’t appreciate what is required to bring more investment and people to Australia’s north, including special tax breaks, few regulations and a welcome mat for overseas investment. Rinehart, with her father’s sense of determination and destiny, plans to use all her energy to change that equation.

More strength to her arm, I hope she continues to expose the bankrupt looters in Canberra for what they are, wankers playing with other peoples money.

Full text Of Ginas speech under the fold.

Original news story linked here

Thank God for the Patriot Guard Riders – Standing Between Westboro Nutters and Mourning Families at Military Funerals

These people are too awesome.  You’ll be glad you took the time to watch:

Erick Brockway explains:

A young wife says goodbye to her husband as he deploys overseas. In the back of her mind, like a nagging ghost she refuses to see, is the thought he may not return alive.

One day, a government vehicle pulls up in front of her home, and the uniformed servicemen and women come to the door with solemn expressions on their faces to deliver the news;

“The President and the Department of Defense regret to inform you…”

A life of worry becomes one of trepidation, angst, and then intense sorrow as one by one, family members hear the sad tidings.

Somehow they carry on, being visited by the Casualty Assistance Officers, visiting informational websites, and finally making funeral arrangements to say goodbye to their departed loved one/hero.

Then, the unthinkable. Some whacked-out supposedly “Christian” church is planning to protest at their loved one’s military funeral, with signs saying God supposedly killed their hero because “God hates fags“. When life seems to be at its lowest point for the survivors, a group of pseudo-Christians steps up to make bring more pain and make life worse.

In step the Patriot Guard Riders…

Click over and read the rest.

The same US Constitution which gives the hateful Westboro mob the right to protest at military funerals also gives the Patriot Guard Riders the same rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech – to counter those who would dishonour the men and women who sacrifice all to protect it.

Good on them.

Ode to Alene (apols. White Stripes) [Update: ABC moosed] [More Updates: #POPCORN!]

Alene Alene Alene Ale-eeene

I’m begging of you, please don’t leave your fans
Alene Alene Alene Ale-eeene
please don’t leave us just because you can
your snarkage is beyond compare
with flaming gobs of overshare
with shell-thin skin
and eyes of bilious green
your blog is such a poisonous thing
of your moose knuckles we do sing
Tim Blair cannot compete with you Alene
Bolt talks about you in his sleep
and there is nothing they can do to keep
from crying when we call your name, Alene
Alene Alene Alene Ale-eeene
I’m begging of you please don’t leave your fans
Alene Alene Alene Ale-eeene
please don’t leave us even though you can
well we can’t easily understand
how you can easily leave your fans
you do not know what you mean to us Alene
well you could have your choice of friends
but we could never laugh again
you’re the only one for us Alene
and I had to had to have this talk with you
my happiness depends on you
and whatever you decide to do Alene
Alene Alene Alene Ale-eeene
We’re begging of you please don’t leave your fans
please don’t leave us
even though you can
~dissolves into anguished sobs~

Show your support for Alene – vote here:

.

UPDATE:   Has Our ABC been moose’d ?  See comment below, then updates at Bolt’s, and this by Beck.

UPDATE 2:   So, whodunnit?  Your guesses here.

UPDATE 3:   MOOSE TRAP [Tim Blair]

UPDATE 4:  Bolt – “This is unbelievable. Insane anti-Liberal hatred is now so mainstream that not only is the most florid facsimile of it by a parodist published, no questions asked, by the ABC, but the Sydney Morning Herald still treats it as genuine even after the ABC very belatedly smells a rat.” CLICK

UPDATE 5:  Tim Blair responds to ABC online editor Jonathan “It was plausible!” Green – “I know this, son: if someone came to me with a story about moose and genitals and a female Labor premier, it’d have to pass some serious tests prior to publication.”  Click for more.

UPDATE 6:  She’s baaaaack! #WINNING

UPDATE 7:   Unjustly accused! Oh, c’mon guys.  Lies and calumny!

UPDATE 8:  Alene Composta {hearts} Jonathan Holmes! And Bolt has a look at Alene’s email to Jonathan Green.

UPDATE 9:  Oh, my.  Andrew Bolt’s column pinging Jonathan Green and “our” ABC; Tim Blair has the Compleat Composta Timeline; and yes: it is just like a “Car Crash In Slow Motion”.

UPDATE 10:  For any newcomers, I suggest you start with Tim Blair’s timeline of L’Affaire Composta which takes you from the beginning to today (19 March) and work your way back.

.

Slightly over the top eh?

 

From the Guardian, a slight bit of hyperbole regarding Winston Churchill’s teeth. 

“These are the teeth that saved the world.” 

We shall Bite them on the beaches...

 

I can see it now… 

We shall go on to the end, we shall bite in France,
we shall bite on the seas and oceans,
we shall bite with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall bite on the beaches,
we shall bite on the landing grounds,
we shall bite in the fields and in the streets,
we shall bite in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.” 

   

Crazy dog man!

It’s good to see suburban Australia still has well-balanced chaps like this on in it.

Ht: Shadowlands

Obama Chooses to be Overshadowed by Apple Tablet Computer

OK, see if you can discern the logic here. This morning, Apple sent out invitations for an unveiling event of a new product on January 27th, which is almost certainly going to be the long rumored tablet; the most anticipated Apple product since the iPhone. More anticipated than the iPhone, in fact.

Then, this afternoon, President Obama announces that he’s going to give his State of the Union Address, also on January 27th.

Now, the Apple event is scheduled for 10AM California time, which is 1PM Washington D.C. time, while Obama’s SotU speech will be at 9PM Washington time – eight hours after the Apple event begins.

Now, I had to ask myself, “Self, why would Obama announce, on the same day Apple announced, an event eight hours later, on the same date, January 27th?” Could he and his handlers be so stupid as to not know that the intertubes will be cooking with Apple Tablet talk when Obama and his Teleprompter take the stage?

mmmmmmmmNo. Probably not.

Then I had to ask myself, “Self, why does Obama want his SotU speech to be buried beneath an avalanche of Apple buzz?”

Could it be that, Obama’s Approval Index sucks, and he wants his SotU event to be off the radar?

Could it also be that, Scott Brown’s polling rocks, and he seems poised to pull the upset of the century by pulling, “Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat” out from under the DNC-anointed Martha Coakley, and that would be a slap-in-the-face referendum on the Obama administration?

mmmmmmYeah, that’s what I suspect.

Unbelievable.

Who Was Miep Gies? She Just Died at 100, and You Should Know

Miep Gies was in the family who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis for as long as they were able. Not only that, but she was personally responsible for saving Anne’s diary, and thereby informing the whole world of this little girl’s tragic end at the hands of her murderous oppressors.

“(CNN) — Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen’s arrest, has died. She was 100.

Gies was among a team of Dutch citizens who hid the Frank family of four and four others in a secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, during World War II, according to her official Web site, which announced her death Monday. She worked as a secretary for Anne Frank’s father, Otto, in the front side of the same Prinsengracht building.

The family stayed in the secret room from July 1942 until August 4, 1944, when they were arrested by Gestapo and Dutch police after being betrayed by an informant. Two of Gies’ team were arrested that day, but she and her friend, Bep Voskuijl, were left behind — and found 14-year-old Anne’s papers.

“And there Bep and I saw Anne’s diary papers lying on the floor. I said, ‘Pick them up!’ Bep stood there staring, frozen. I said, ‘Pick them up! Pick them up!’ We were afraid, but we did out best to collect all the papers,” Gies said in a 1998 interview with The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
“Then we went downstairs. And there we stood, Bep and I. I asked, ‘What now, Bep?’ She answered, ‘You’re the oldest. You hold on to them. So I did.”

The girl had chronicled two years of the emotions and fears that gripped her during hiding, as well as candid thoughts on her family, her feelings for friend-in-hiding Peter van Pels, and dreams of being a professional writer. Mixed into the entries were the names of the Dutch helpers, who risked their lives to keep the family’s secret.”

Every jew-hating leftard, every self-loathing jew, and every piece of jew-hating muslim filth in the world ought to be beaten about the head and shoulders with the blunt instrument of this great lady’s life and actions.

Godspeed Miep.

Remaking an Epic: Clash of the Titans

I’m an old-school retrosexual kind of guy, so I like epic movies like Gladiator, 10,000 BC, The Patriot, Apocalypto, Master and Commander – you get the idea; the more high-test testosterone, the better. Well, the original Clash of the Titans came out in 1981, and it was a pretty good action epic for the time – I actually have a Swedish friend named Anders who had a bit part in it – but after movies like 300, which have redefined the entire look and feel of action epics, I’ve begun to wonder what those kind of production values and CGI effects could bring to a remake of Clash.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that, not only is a remake on the horizon, but it’s finished filming and is already in post production! This flew completely under my radar. Here’s the trailer in formats up to and including 1080p HD (Which looks awesome on my Apple 23″ Cinema HD Display). HA! It sounds as if Bingbing did the film score: very heavy, which I like for this sort of thing (300 had a brilliant score).

It looks like they’ve done it right, with a big budget, no-holds-barred CGI effects, and a killer cast that includes Sam Worthington as Persius, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Liam Neeson as Zeus (!), Alexa Davalos as Andromeda, and my favorite babe-actress of the moment, Gemma Arterton, as Io.

I could so love her. LOL!

I don’t go to theaters to see films in first release much anymore, but this one I will. Of course, I’ll have to have the DVD too. In fact, this movie might finally spur me on to finally buy a Blu-Ray player if I like it enough.

I’m more psyched about Clash of the Titans than I am about Avatar.

Terrorist scum killed by farmers daughter, no virgins for you!!

From the Daily Telegraph

 

An Indian farmer’s daughter disarmed a terrorist leader who broke into her home, attacked him with an axe and shot him dead with his own gun.

I hope she does well out of this.

 

Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night.

….

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead.

She also shot and wounded another militant as he made his escape.

…

She may also receive a £4,000 reward if, as police believe, the dead terrorist is confirmed as Uzafa Shah, a wanted Pakistani LeT commander who had been active in the area for the past four years.

…

Miss Kausar said she had never fired an assault rifle before but had seen it in films and could not stand by while her father was being hurt. “I couldn’t bear my father’s humiliation. If I’d failed to kill him, they would have killed us,” she said.

 

I hope the girl and her family get their reward and are able to move/protect themselves. However it is a beautiful tale, on the one hand the terrorists were refused help by her brave father, then when the thugs beat him his daughter managed to fight them off, killing and wounding the attackers. If I didnt have a missus I might be in love…..

What is Wrong with This Picture?

Hint.

Hey FOX, if you’re going to do a “then and now” pictorial about an iconic TV show, the least you could do is get the most iconic actor of the series’ name and dates right. You got his age at death correct, so how is it you can’t subtract 1912 from 1978 and see that there’s a problem? 1978-1912= 68, see? It’s not even math, it’s simple arithmetic! As for the last name, there’s this thing called Google. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?

Jesus Xavier Fulgencio de Maria Rodriguez.

Ouch! Benjamin Zycher: “Michelle Obama… is an Intellectual Lightweight.”

Michelle Obama, Princeton Graduate

Here’s something that made me projectile-laugh hot coffee through my nose:

“Now, let me be blunt: Michelle Obama, the product of lifelong affirmative-action coddling, is an intellectual lightweight who fancies herself a serious thinker. Just read her Princeton senior thesis, an intermittently coherent stream-of-consciousness pile of leftist jargon, campus pseudo-seriousness, and racial-identity babble. Can there be any doubt that the Princeton administrators accepted it only because of her skin color?”

*golf clap*

Wow. Just wow. These are things to be thought and not spoken. I wonder if Ben will be banished from The Corner for this bit of unvarnished truth?

leftard/ Clearly, Zycher is a racist neo-con. /leftard

Aussie Ian Plimer: “Global Warming is the New Religion of First World Urban Elites.”

Here’s an Australian I actually like (As opposed to those who post and comment here. LOL!):

Humans are hard wired to be religious – that’s just a self-evident fact – and if you give up one form of religion, another will take it’s place. For the AGW crowd, this means that since Christianity and Judaism are pase and un-PC, Anthropomorphic Global Warming is the new politically correct religion.

“Ian Plimer has outraged the ayatollahs of purist environmentalism, the Torquemadas of the doctrine of global warming, and he seems to relish the damnation they heap on him.

Plimer is a geologist, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, [Mole must be this guy – Beef] and he may well be Australia’s best-known and most notorious academic.

Plimer, you see, is an unremitting critic of “anthropogenic global warming” — man-made climate change to you and me — and the current environmental orthodoxy that if we change our polluting ways, global warming can be reversed.”

Read the whole enchilada. We need more men like this, standing athwart politically correct and factually wrong PC dogma, yelling, “Bullshit!”

Here’s an earlier diatribe of his which hits every possible nail on the head. Again, digest the entire enchilada.

Fuck leftard urban elites. They don’t know Dick Johnson about Doodly Squat.

Rest In Peace. Our Last WWI Digger.

Lest We Forget.

THE end came peacefully, before dawn’s sleepy arrival. A quiet finale to a harsher era. Our last man standing from the Great War had finally fallen.

At the mighty age of 110.

Rest In Peace, Jack Ross.

My granddad fought at Fromelle. So maybe this is a nice touch.

Thank you to all who have and do serve.

Snakes on a Plane!!!!!

OK, I couldn’t resist, but Australia’s Quantas airline just had some “Motherf*cking snakes on a plane”.

A Qantas plane has been grounded after airline crew discovered four pythons escaped from the cargo hold.

Bugger, only non venomous, still room for improvement.

The plane was removed from service after the airline crew was unable to find the 15cm pythons among luggage in the Boeing 737-800’s cargo hold.

 

No word yet on where this bloke was during the incident either.

 

Qantas, after establishing that the snake was not threatened or endangered, fumigated the aircraft to kill the four pythons.

The full story, here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/802062/pythons-break-free-on-qantas-flight

 

UPDATE: [Beef] What amazing synchronicity! Mark Hemingway linked to this story at The Corner this morning, and so I sent him an email of my dad’s real life Snakes on a Plane story, which he published in an update.

“My father had the sine qua non of Snakes on a Plane stories. He was a USAF pilot, and flew the bodies of our dead servicemen home in C-141 Starlifters during Vietnam (I can’t go the the Vietnam Memorial without wondering how many of those men he flew home). He’d take cargo over from McCord, and bodies back via Hickam. One flight they encountered a strong jet stream headwind and were behind schedule, landing after dark in a monsoon rain. The coffins were on pallets wrapped in plastic, and were loaded hurriedly by a forklift. Once refueled and back in the air, the navigator told my dad and the co-pilot that he wanted to stretch his legs and walk around the cargo compartment.

There is a pressure bulkhead with an air tight door between the cockpit and the cargo compartment, and my dad said the navigator opened it, stepped through, and closed it behind him. Within seconds the door swung back open and the navigator dived into the cockpit. My dad told the conversation like this:

Dad: “What seems to be the problem, captain?”

Navigator: “Snakes, Colonel Pepper! Millions of them!”

Dad to co-pilot: “Take over for a minute, would you Major?”

So, dad looks through the door to the cargo compartment only to find that the loading deck is completely covered with writhing snakes of various kinds. Not millions, but certainly hundreds. They had evidently took shelter in the pallets, and when the cargo compartment got cold, decamped to look for someplace warmer. The solution dad came up with was brilliant: The took the 141 up close to its service ceiling and depressurized the cargo compartment, killing all of the snakes. Then, they went down to the deck, opened up the rear cargo door, and swept them out over the Pacific.”

LOL! /Beef

Actor, Democrat turned Conservative Ron Silver has Died

Ron Silver in The Shadow Zone

Actor and post-9/11 conservative activist Ron Silver has died of cancer. He was only 62 years old.

“Actor and longtime political activist Ron Silver died this morning, succumbing to a long battle with cancer, friends of the liberal Democrat-turned-GOP stalwart told The Post.

“Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him this morning,” said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped create.”

Godspeed Ron, I enjoyed your work immensely.

The Cowboy Way

In a polite rejoinder to a not-very-polite critic of another post here earlier this morning, our Angus Dei finished his comment with “Though I’m a knuckle-dragging cowboy, I still help out when and where I can. It’s called, ‘The Cowboy Way,’ and it rivals any Oriental philosophy …” That comment inspired me to dig up some of the various “Cowboy Creeds” we collected and printed up for a little wannabe-cowboy relative of mine.

Be patient; takes a while to load.  Enjoy.

Update on Sam the Koala, Bushfire Survivor [with video]

CFA volunteer David Tree helps a distressed koala in burnt-out forest at Mirboo North. Pic: Russell Vickery

UPDATE on yesterday’s post, “Here you go, Mate” — Hope from the Ashes

*New pictures, updates and new video below the fold to save loading time…

Photo & Video: “Here you go, Mate” — Hope From the Ashes

From the Melbourne Herald Sun:

CFA volunteer David Tree helps a distressed koala in burnt-out forest at Mirboo North. Pic: Russell Vickery

UPDATE : Please send your message of support to the fire crews battling the bushfires here – at the moment there are 2108 messages – please add yours!  And go here or here to find out how you can help.

UPDATE #2: The Australian Bushfires: An Ongoing News & Comment Round-Up

UPDATE: #3:   By popular request,  “How You Can Help – Animal Edition” – what you can do to help those like Sam the Koala!

UPDATE #4:  See here for Update on Sam the Koala, Bushfire Survivor with more photos and video, and indepth follow-up story.  Sam is in good hands now and doing well.

UPDATE #5: The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter which is now caring for Sam and other koalas that were burnt on 7 February 2009 now have a website with more great photos of and information about Sam the Koala, and they’ll be keeping it updated.  They are also, of course, looking for help in caring for her and the many other animals they’ve taken in.   http://www.samthekoala.com.au/

Pictures below the fold to save loading time:

The Australian Bushfires: An Ongoing News & Comment Round-Up [Updated]

Yesterday Nilk wrote an excellent post here at Tizona on the recent (ongoing) bushfire disaster here in Australia, and because of the number of hits it’s attracted and because of the still ongoing nature of the disaster, I thought I’d put together a collection of links in chronological order to the many updated reports both the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair and the Melbourne Herald Sun’s Andrew Bolt have been posting on this.

I’ll start with the first piece I saw, which was Andrew Bolt’s from Saturday night (Feb 7th) and continue in chronological order with his subsequent posts, then I’ll move on to Tim Blair’s from Sunday morning (Feb 8th) and similarly continue in chronological order with his subsequent posts.

Please please please, feel free to add via comments any other links you want added, and I’ll check back in the morning and add them in, and generally try to keep this updated as a general resource clearing-house, especially for our friends overseas who are touchingly concerned but are some of them having trouble finding very much news coverage or commentary on the issue.

All of the pieces linked below  have multiple updates, links to other news sources, and vivid if heartbreaking pictures, as well as Tim’s and Andrew’s commentary on many of the issues this disaster has brought up.

**List of links below the fold:

Australian of the Year 2009

The unequivocal winner of the 2009 Australian of the Year award will come as no surprise to anyone.

Refreshingly, this year’s choice is a completely apolitical and post-racial one, as our winner has chosen to spend his life in service to all Australians regardless of race, colour, creed or political leanings.  Our 2009 Australian of the Year is a brave yet modest  hero whose his skill and courage typify all that is great about our armed forces.

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of millions of proud and grateful Australians, I present the 2009 Australian of the Year award to Trooper Mark Donaldson , true Australian hero and the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross since 1969.

Trooper Mark Donaldson VC, Australia salutes you.

~~~

* Okay, in reality Kevin Rudd went for symbolism over substance, once again.  Quel surpris. Colour me distinctly unimpressed.  As is Andrew Bolt.  And Kae.  And Margo’s Maid’s Shadowlands, where they not only saw this coming but have a must-read post on he-who-doesn’t-deserve-to-be-named-in-this-post.  [Update:  via Kae, “Janet Albrechtsen at the Australian speaks about the ungracious winner“]

.

UPDATE: Speaking of must-read posts, if you click no other link here DO CLICK this one:  Australia Day 2009.   Private Greg Sher, deployed to Afghanistan with 1st Commando Regiment, served with the Special Operations Task Group. He was killed in a Taliban rocket attack on 4th January, 2009. Greg’s brother Steven wrote this piece.

My most sincere thanks  on this day and every day to all those who so selflessly defend our safety and freedom.  “Lest we forget.”

The Tizona Group has Lost a Precious Member

We of the administrative and editorial group at Tizona have suffered a tragic and devastating loss, as our administrator, Ash, was killed in a single vehicle accident. However, our loss pales next to that of her family, and our thoughts and prayers are with them all.

Ashleah was only twenty-two years old.

Ash was invited into The Tizona Group by the founder of our blog, and she was always a bit of a mystery to me, as she was to the rest of the administrative group. I don’t believe any of us ever actually met her personally, though some did speak to her by telephone, and we all had email exchanges with her from time to time.

As for myself, since I live in the US and Ash was Australian, these email conversations were often at very strange hours, which was a treat for me as I keep a bizarre musician’s schedule. Ash always struck me as very intelligent and well informed – quite remarkably so given her tender years – and it was always a distinct pleasure to correspond with her.

Though she leaves several unsolvable mysteries in her wake, one thing that was no mystery was the invaluable nature of her contribution to our weblog. I called Ash, “the enforcer” because she was such a dogged and tireless patroller of our reader comment sections, and she also brought a valued woman’s perspective to questions regarding the direction of our efforts. Plus, if any of us knot-headed editors forgot things like tagging posts, she always caught and fixed the errors and oversights… followed by an email admonishment, of course.

To say that Ash will be missed around here is an unfathomable understatement, but there are no words to adequately express how much of a void she and her work will leave at The Tizona Group. Nor are there any words that could properly express the profound sadness of we of the administrative group over this incomprehensible tragedy.

If you would like to pay your respects or post remembrances of Ash in the comments section, please do, but keep in mind that we will be sending this thread to her parents, so any and all offensive posts will be deleted.

In lieu of words, I simply offer a recording I made of Tears in the Rain by Joe Satriani.

Rest in Peace and Godspeed, Ashleah.

McCain’s Perfect Choice for a Running Mate: Governor Sarah Palin

While most of the pedantic, two-dimensional, inside-the-box-thinking, conservative political hacks are touting Tom Ridge for the slot (Not a bad guy, but…), David Freddoso notes a far superior choice has been proposed: The Republican Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

I believe this is a truly inspired idea. Gov. Palin ran as an anti-corruption outsider, and handily defeated a corrupt and entrenched Republican political machine. Plus, at 44, she would almost totally wipe the “age issue” McCain has off the slate, and since Obama is only two years her senior, there is no way they could attack her for her youth and inexperience: She has much more executive experience than Senator Obama has.

Not to mention the fact that, she’s a gorgeous woman who exudes mass quantities of charisma…

and has a super-solid family life.

Dibs on the eldest daughter! LOL!

This inspired choice would allow McCain to actually capitalize on his “maverick” persona, as Gov. Palin shook Alaska politics to the core: She’s a charming, charismatic woman, but she can also play with the big boys and kick ass.

What say ye?

UPDATE: Things are looking optimistic!

UPDATE II: Welcome to all 4500 8000 40,000 in the past few hours (so far!) people visiting us from Google. We’re a fairly opinionated right-wing blog, and you might like to take a look at our “About” page. You might also be interested in our other coverage of Sarah Palin and whether she becomes a prospective Vice President of the United States. You can find this coverage here and here. Personally, I hope she does, but you can feel free to debate the idea in comments below. All first comments are moderated, but unless you either insult or use severe profanity (and I mean severe by my standards, which generally only means the C U Next Tuesday word or the implication that someone has had a rather enjoyable erotic experience with someone who has borne a child), however if you come up with a new one, I may simply delete your comment. I, and all other contributors to this blog are more than fair in what we permit.

UPDATE III: Nayr Drahcir, don’t bother even trying. You will not be published.

UPDATE IV: A lot of people must like Palin.

UPDATE V: More coverage of Governor Sarah Palin and a theme song here.

UPDATE VI: Funniest observation on the announcement yet: “Put Obama and Palin on a basketball court one on one. Winner takes all!”

UPDATE VII: [spot_the_dog] No, we do not have any pictures of “Sarah Palin + Naked,” nor do we have any of “Sarah Palin + Swimsuit.” In the past 24 hours, there have been 157 separate searches on this site for “Sarah Palin Swimsuit,” and 161 separate searches for “Sarah Palin Naked.” I repeat, we have no bathing suit, swim suit, bikini, or naked pictures of Sarah Palin. What kind of people do you think we are, anyway? 😉

UPDATE VIIa: [spot_the_dog] Ace has noticed a similar search phenomenon on his blog and has a theory…

UPDATE VIII: A well-rounded view of the selection of Sarah Palin for the Vice President Nomination can be found here.

UPDATE IX:  We got it!  YES!  Nude photo of Sarah Palin right here!  (C’mon.  You know you want to click.)

UPDATE X: Feel free to visit our main page and read the latest posts we’ve written.

Messiah Worshipped

As I was purchasing the new Metallica album today, something caught my eye, and I had to pick it up and examine it further.

It was this DVD:

Barack Obama: His Story

For $18, I figured I may as well. $14.20 later (apparently it was discounted further. Bargain basement Messiah! Messiah for all!) and I now have a new DVD to watch. It was the blurb that made me did it.

Joe Satriani Sues Coldplay Over Viva La Vida

Satch is suing Coldplay over their mega-hit Viva La Vida.

Seems like a blatant rip-off to me.

Same melody, same chord progression, same key, and same tempo. Whisky Tango Foxtrot?!

Hope Joe gets a fortune for this. People who rip off other people’s music and claim it as their own are lower than lawyers.