You will notice at the bottom of this article a couple of Internet addresses, one to the In Tents Thawt Blog and the other to a Yahoo groups chat site. I have been told that I can be overly opinionated and I figured that if I was going to open my mouth it would be wise to offer a conduit of response. So what I would like you to do is get onto these sites and discuss the various articles and opinions that have been broached in these columns.
Until now I have only been entering my own articles, but I shall also place other articles by contributors onto the blog for your discussion purposes. The Yahoo chat site I would like you to consider as a means of writing your Letters to the Editor. This is a much more responsive way of getting your point across and also having an interactive discussion of your thoughts with myself and other readers. Come on now, don’t be shy, drop in and say hello!
Gumfitti
It is great to see the powers that be try to get a proactive campaign up and running to channel the artistic talents of Melbourne’s graffiti vandals, but I wonder what they can do about the pigs that spit their chewing gum out onto the footpath and other public areas. Go for a walk in to Federation Square and have a look on the ground – disgusting! The only thing I can think of that is more disgusting is the idiots who fling their cigarette butts around the place.
It would be very hard to police though, unlike the Environment Protection Authority method of having registered dobbers for people littering from their cars, people do not wear obvious numbers, yet. With the proliferation of phone cameras though a site could be set up so that when you see someone gob their gum onto the ground you could take a happy snap of them and put them in the hall of shame at Gumfitti.com.au.(Just kidding!)
New Found Truths
I was fascinated by the apparent epiphany that has overcome one of the world’s leading feminist writers. Naomi Wolf was discussing her turn around in thinking in relation to the lessons her father taught and how she had been blinkered to these male concepts until recently when she started to understand that her father wasn’t coming from a patriarchal point of view, but purely humanistic expressions of truths.
This surprising back flip comes not long after Virginia Hausegger’s book Wonder Woman – The Myth of Having It All, a modern insight into the pitfalls that are there for women whose will to make it in the career world have impinged deeply on the want to have a family.
I think a lot of women are waking up to the folly of demonising the traditional roles that held humanity in good stead and the feminist movements that have marginalised and devalued the roles of males in society.
Desperately Seeking Representation
I am still on the bandwagon, pushing the idea of electing more independents into the various levels of Australian government. We need to be able to have representation that will listen to and act on the wishes of those that elect them.
I was disgusted by the attitudes of Bob Katter, as he was being interview on 774ABC. Bob reckons that he is salivating at the thought of being one of a group that will hold the balance of power following the next election. One of the scenarios he put forward was to tie himself to the coattail of Saint Steve of the Family First Party, as he thought that with him and one or two other likeminded power mongers they would be able to swing a win for this religious political movement.
This is the type of behaviour that I abhor, power for ego’s sake, nothing to do with the wishes of those that have elected him to office.
How do we canvas for capable people to take on the mantle of Independent candidacy? Do you know anyone in your area that has the skills, the time and the will to offer themself as a community’s voice in Parliament? I think we should be shaking the foundations to find a better way of administering Government in Australia, in a manner that serves the people, not the pressure groups that prop up the major Parties.
Henny Penny II
Well it looks like we are safe – for the moment! The 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann comet has flown past and we did not get smacked by one of its icy crumbs, although it may not be too late yet. Apparently Earth is going to wander through the outskirts of the comets trail until June 19th but we are only expected to see some shooting stars during that period as tiny pieces of the comet’s tail get drawn into our atmosphere.
