A General Apology

I just realised how hard it is to read some of the previous posts. I'll keep that in mind in future and not use small print.

Also I should probably try to use this for good not just vanity... so we'll see how we go with an attempt at relevance in a reality outside of my own mirror.

Deep end dive about to come:

Anyone else thinking that the new laws proposed to reduce the number of people in need of refuge coming to our beautiful counry hark back to an era before Mr Whitlam? To an age when men were rednecks and women were struggling to get the vote?

OK, so last comment not really fair. The White Australia Policy came in in 1901 as part of Federation; and the "new" Immigration Restriction Act which ended the employment of Pacific Islanders and placed tight controls on certain immigrants. The Act prohibited those considered to be insane, anyone likely to become a charge upon the public or upon any public or charitable institution, and any person suffering from an infectious or contagious disease 'of a loathsome or dangerous character' entry to Australia. It also prohibited prostitutes, criminals, and anyone under a contract or agreement to perform manual labour within Australia (with some limited exceptions). (Thank you http://www.racismnoway.com.au/classroom/factsheets/59.html)

In Victoria women got the vote in 1908. So until 1966 when the White Australia Policy began to be dismantled that statement was complete hyperbole.

What worries me now is that in our return to the fashions of an earlier more "innocent era" we might be adopting some of the darker aspects of that time too.

We have a war going on that I hope most Australians are against; Iraq and Vietnam.
We follow blindly a foreign power because they are our big brother/ally: America and America.
We have legislation before parliament that hinges on when life is thought to begin: Stem cell and Abortion.
We want to reduce the number of immigrants: English language tests and White Australia Policy Literacy tests.
We have a Liberal PM who has been in Govt for a long time that "no one likes" and is a staunch monarchists: John Howard and Sir Robert Menzies.

FUCK! Even Bob Dylan is in the charts (3rd in top 10: see http://www.hmv.com.au/charts/rockpop.asp for more details.)

So seeing as everything is going backwards, inclding my powers of logic, I'm going to bed.

I just hope when I wake up in the morning that it's 100% 2006. Not some weird blend of the last century.