Don't Vote For Dummies

The mainstream media being the only source of news for most people, it’s very likely you know that liberals are smart and conservatives are dumb. People my age remember how smart Jimmy Carter was running for president against Gerry Ford. Carter was a nuclear engineer. Ford was a football player and famously dumb. Lyndon Johnson said he played football too long without a helmet. Saturday Night Live showed him tripping over something every week.



The highly-intelligent Carter won, then made a weak economy many times worse. When our ally the Shah of Iran was deposed by radical Muslims, Carter sat on his hands while Americans were humiliated for a year and a half in the hostage crisis. Radical Muslims gained confidence and started believing they could bring down all of western civilization. After one term, Carter was seen as the worst president in the 20th century, if not for all time.



He was wicked smart though.



In spite of his vast intelligence, Carter lost the 1980 election to a dumb conservative. Reagan, the “amiable dunce,” presided over one of the greatest economic recoveries in American history by dismantling much of big government built up by the wicked-smart liberals. Reelected by an overwhelming majority, he proceeded to win the Cold War. Hard to understand how he accomplished all that being so dumb.



When his term was up in 1988, media found another wicked-smart governor in Massachusetts whom they figured would make a great president but they couldn’t sell him. Americans believed him a nerdy automaton and elected the first George Bush instead.



In 1992, however, the media found another wicked-smart southern governor in Arkansas whom they thought would make a great president. He was actually smart enough to realize soon after inauguration that Americans didn’t want nationalized health care and abandoned it. He was also smart enough to go along with the dumb conservatives who took over Congress halfway into his first term. He made their programs of scaled-back government and balanced budgets look like his ideas and finished two terms. He wasn’t very smart in his personal life and almost blew everything, but he managed to hang on for eight years.



Then media told us how smart his vice president was. He invented the internet. He figured out that burning coal, oil and gasoline was melting ice caps, raising oceans and killing cute polar bears. As you might expect, he was running against another dumb conservative - this one a cowboy governor from Texas and son of a former President. The media understand that all presidents have to go to church and pretend to believe in God in order to get elected. This guy was so dumb, however, that he really did believe, and didn’t try to hide it either. Somehow though, he won.



Then media found another wicked-smart nerd from Massachusetts to run against him, just like they did against his father. This guy had three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for bravery. People listened to him and questioned just how smart and brave he really was, but he wouldn’t release his college transcripts or his military records. Then it came out that the dumb cowboy got higher grades they he did at Yale, and other soldiers claimed that, while he puffed his chest a lot, he really wasn’t very brave either. He got medals for minor scratches and the dummy won again.



Then we got a wicked-smart guy from Chicago who was going to fix everything and lower the oceans too. He gave good speeches with his teleprompter, even bringing it to a fifth grade classroom. Media tell us he is so smart, he has an IQ of 160 - but he won’t release his college transcripts either. When he talks without reading he doesn’t sound smart and people are wondering about that IQ. Plus, he’s screwing up the economy even worse than Carter did. He said he’d been to all fifty-seven states, and didn’t know how to pronounce “corpsman,” saying “corpse-man” instead of “core-man.” Media ignored it, but those pesky conservatives on AM radio, the internet, and Fox News didn’t. People are thinking now that maybe he’s smart like Jimmy Carter - especially the ones who are out of work.



Wouldn’t you know it though, it looks like another dumb governor from Texas could be running against him next year. This guy actually believes in God too - and he shoots coyotes. He’s like a male version of that dumb woman from Alaska whom conservatives put up for vice-president. Saturday Night Live sure did a number on her, just like they did to Ford thirty years before. She actually believed in God too and shot caribou. Plus, this guy is even more of a cowboy than the last one. Like the Alaska governor, he didn’t go to ivy league schools either. What intelligent person ever came out of a state university?



This time the media aren’t wasting any time showing Americans how dumb he is. They started right after he announced he was running. They’re going to make sure this time that people don’t elect him over the wicked-smart president we have who only needs another four years to really fix things.

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

.... and i aint coming back ( til Thursday evening ). My bags are packed to head off and take the three flights it will take to get to Rockhampton for my annual work conference. It might sound like a bit of a junket - leaving good old DubVegas and heading to sunny Queensland - but if its any consolation it will be two days of pretty boring meetings and presentations. I may or may not have to eat my weight in mints just to stay awake.

Image from here

Anyhoo, basically this means i'm going AWOL from the blog for a few days. I'm not one of these awesomely organised bloggers who has some posts scheduled to go live while i'm away so, until Thursday night, you'll just have to get along without me. I know, I know, it'll be hard....

A Hopeful Resurrection, Contemplating Suicide and Saying Goodbye

 With so many colleagues on holiday last week (and next) it has been a week for taking stock, getting all those things done that have slipped down the 'must do list' in favour of addressing the latest crisis or meeting yet one more demand generated by others. That said, the week felt, for the most part, a relentless task orientated one with little time (or energy) left for blue sky thinking.

So I was glad to get to the weekend (a long one) and enjoy a chance to step of the merry-go-round for a few days. Whilst the weather yesterday was pretty mixed it didn’t prevent me from going out to the annual Bolton Food and Drink Fair. This year’s event appeared bigger than ever. It really was so good to see so many people crowding the Town Hall Square and the surrounding streets. The last few times I have been into Bolton it’s been dead, no noise, no action and not attractive at all. This weekend has clearly provided a boost and I hope it will be the start of Boltons resurrection so that once more Bolton will become a place to shop, visit and enjoy at a weekend.

This week I came across a newly published research study that examined the relationship between physical illness and suicide. The report, Hidden data provide new insights into life at the end: the truth about suicide was published by DEMOS. DEMOS are a highly regarded independent think-tank focused on power and politics. During 2011, DEMOS focused on five programmes: Family and Society; Public Services and Welfare; Violence and Extremism; Public Interest and Political Economy

And as the report notes, suicide continues to be an extremely important public health issue here in the UK. In the UK there is one death by suicide every two hours. Nearly four times more men than women die from suicide. Although over the last decade the overall rate of suicide has fallen, in the last two years there has been an increase. Indeed, data included in the Coalition Government’s recently published Consultation on Preventing Suicide in England suggest that the 20 per cent reduction target set by the previous Labour Governments National Suicide Prevention Strategy is unlikely to be achieved. Suicide rates tend to rise during periods of high unemployment or economic uncertainty. Some of the key risk factors for suicide are well known and include gender, unemployment, drug abuse and mental illness, the latter being considered as the most significant risk factors.

Of course this is not new. In 1897, Emile Durkheim, the French sociologist, published what at the time was a paradigmatic shifting thesis on the prevailing view of suicide. He described four subtypes of suicide: Egoistic; Altruistic; Anomic; and Fatalistic. For me it is the egoistic and anomic subtypes that are of most interest – both deal with the individual sense of self and self in relation to others, and perhaps more particularly the impact of perceived expectations of others on self.

Durkheim established through his work that generally suicide rates are higher in men than women, for those who are not married, or for people without children, for soldiers rather than civilians, and are higher in Scandinavian countries. This new study by DEMOS adds to our understanding of suicide and is definitely worth a read by all those interested in this aspect of mental health care and the care of people with long term conditions.

Friday was both the end of the working week, and unfortunately the end of a fabulous relationship. Lunch was spent saying goodbye to a wonderful colleague and friend who was moving on to a different place. Although I found lunch a very sad occasion, I was reminded that like all good relationships that involve hard work, there had also been plenty of fun along the way as well.

And fun it was yesterday – my grand niece was staying for a sleep over and although she is only four, sometimes she behaves as if she was 40 - and she certainly reminds me I am 56! When I asked her if she wanted to have some music on as she ate her dinner, without hesitation and in all seriousness she said she would rather like to listen to Coldplay! So that’s what we played and in truth, it was lovely to hear such fine music again.

Polly Dolly - Birthday Babe

You read it right - its another Polly Dolly. I'm running a little late on this one... partly because i work Fridays and partly because Polyvore was being a pain in my arse and it took me forever to get this set finished. But never mind that! This week the lovely Dani from Danimezza would like to see our cutest outfit for a .....

My little Flynn will be turning 2 on December 27th - the perfect time of year for a cute summer-y outfit. I found these great denim shorts ( which arent too long, but arent shorty shorts either! ) and paired them with this sweet ruffle top, in the perfect mauve/purple shade. Throw on a pair of gorgeous wedges for a bit of height, and some wooden bangles to tie in with the brown in the shoes. A pair of sunnies are mandatory for a summer party and then all thats left is the party! A " Sesame Street " theme would actually really suit my Elmo/Cookie/Ernie mad son so that great cake and some colourful balloons will be all we need!

Over The Hill And Far Away

So remember how i said i was trying to get all my ducks in a row? Yea, well - those ducks have officially flown off and deserted me. Gone north for the winter or something. Either way, those ducks are no longer lined up the way we wanted them to be, which means the dream of family home ownership is still not in reach.

There go my ducks... ( pic from here )

So - poo to that. Basically i went to the bank we are already with ( again - which bank? ) and basically got told we can borrow pretty much jack squat, and I got pretty basic customer service to go along with that little announcement. To be quite frank i got the feeling that i wasnt worth enough money to the bank for them to bother trying too hard to help me. So poo to the bank!

Then i went to Aussie Home Loans and spoke to a mortgage broker there who, despite telling me we could get a fraction more than jack squat ( which was better, but still not enough to buy a decent place ), was really lovely. She was really helpful - not only did she run the numbers to see how much we could borrow, but she also gave me some alternatives, and some advice in how to get moving in the right direction. Actually, she gave me such good customer service i think i might write a little thank you " Thumbs Up " into our local paper.

So basically - we arent in the position yet to sell my duplex and buy a family home. And where does that leave us, seeing as we are hoping to expand our family in the very near future? It leaves us with.... converting our garage into a third bedroom/playroom. I'm not sure whether it will add value to the property when we can afford to sell it but, seeing as we arent in the position to move, converting is what we need to do in order to have enough space for a growing family.

Have any of you converted your garages into "inhabitable " rooms? Any advice? Or anyone looking to donate a couple of hundred thousand dollars to a young family?

Right Rick

Was Texas Governor Rick Perry out of line to suggest that bald, bearded Ben Bernanke would be almost treasonous to print more dollars? No. I don’t think so. His remarks got a rise out of President Obama right away. Even former President Bush’s advisor, Karl Rove, criticized him. Bush, after all, was first to appoint Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, perhaps on the advice of Rove. Obama re-appointed him when he took office and it looks like Bernanke has been doing his bidding ever since.



Speaking in Iowa, apparently in response to an inquiry about the Federal Reserve, Perry said, “If this guy [Bernanke] prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. I mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history, is almost treacherous, er, or treasonous in my opinion.”Perry at CPAC 2011



When I was born, pennies were made of copper. Dimes, quarters, and half-dollars were made of silver. Even if people were to lose faith in the government that minted their coins and whose images they bear, citizens could still depend on the copper and silver being worth something. Paper dollars could be redeemed for a certain amount of silver or gold back then too. The paper dollar was understood to be the same as the personal check, and they’re about the same size as checks too. When I write a check to someone, he or she must have confidence that there’s enough cash in my account to back it up. I’m instructing my bank to “pay to the order of” whomever, a certain amount of cash. Paper dollars back then were called “silver certificates” which were instructions for government to turn over a certain amount of silver maintained by the federal government for such purposes. People didn’t cash them in for silver as a rule, but were confident they could if they wanted because they trusted their government.None of that applies anymore. Pennies are made of zinc with copper paint. Dimes and quarters are made of copper with silver paint. The paper dollar cannot be redeemed for precious metal anymore either - in any amount - unless you choose to buy gold with it from a private dealer. Not too long ago, you could buy an ounce of gold for about $40. At this writing, it would cost over $1800 and by the time you read this in a newspaper in a few more days, an ounce of gold might cost over $2000. Why? Several reasons, but mostly it’s because people don’t trust the US Government as much as they used to. Why not? Because Ben Bernanke has been printing trillions more dollars without putting any more gold or silver in Fort Knox to back it up. Why is he doing that? Because he can. Why can he? Because President Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1973. The amount of dollars isn’t tied to the amount of gold in Fort Knox anymore. It “floats,” say the economists.



A February, 2011 article in the newsletter Imprimis compared “floating” the value of the dollar with “floating” the weight of a kilogram. Seth Lipsky wrote that “a global scramble is under way to define this most basic unit after it was discovered that the standard kilogram—a cylinder of platinum and iridium that is maintained by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures—has been losing mass.”



Then he asked why not just let the kilogram float like the dollar? “After all,” he wrote, “when you go into the grocery to buy a pound of hamburger, why should you worry about how much hamburger you get—so long as it’s a pound’s worth? A pound is supposed to be .45359237 of a kilogram. But if Congress can permit Mr. Bernanke to use his judgment in deciding what a dollar is worth, why shouldn’t he—or some other Ph.D. from M.I.T.—be able to decide from day to day what a kilogram is worth?”Lipsky described how the Second Congress “established the value of the dollar at 371 ¼ grains of pure silver. . . . [and] did not expect the value of the dollar to be changed any more than the persons who locked away that kilogram of platinum and iridium expected the cylinder to start losing mass. In fact, in this same 1792 law, they established the death penalty for debasing the dollar.”We should demand a rubber glove and KY jelly at least



The death penalty? Hmm. That was the punishment they established for anyone committing treason as well. That's how seriously the Founding Fathers (many of whom were in Congress at the time) took their constitutional power to coin money.



Tea Party conservatives know the US dollar isn’t floating. It’s sinking, because Bernanke is printing them wildly. Those of us who have saved up dollars are losing wealth with every dollar he prints - and all that hard-earned wealth is going down the black hole of the federal government. It’s a hidden tax. Bernanke calls his money-printing “quantitative easing,” but it could also be called counterfeiting. It’s linguistic legerdemain for theft by a federal government which is driving America into bankruptcy.Maybe Bernanke and the president who appointed him think printing money is good for the economy and will save America. If they do, they’re both fools. If they don’t believe it, they’re intentionally sinking our ship of state along with our dollars. Tea Party conservatives like Perry see the practice as foolish at best and treasonous at worst.



Governor Perry is entitled to his opinion that it’s the latter.

What To Wear? What To Wear?

So - next Monday i'm off to a conference for work... in sunny Rockhampton, Queensland. I know its not going to be as glamourous or as exciting as Blogopolis ( oh yes, still harboring some jealousy here... ) but, like you ladies who were lucky enough to be able to attend in Melbourne, i need to figure out what to wear. I have a day of plan trips on Monday ( on the way up ) and Thursday ( on the way back ) and actual conference meetings and activities on the Tuesday and Wednesday. Bearing in mind that though this is technically a business conference the dress code isnt especially corporate, and taking into account what kind of weather northern Queensland is going to throw at me... what in the bloody hell am i going to wear?

The decision might be easier if i had a wardrobe like Kate Bosworths...

Methinks jeans and a comfy top are a no-brainer for the two days of travelling. I'll be buggered if i'm going to do a Lady Gaga and trip around Sydney and Brisbane domestic airports in my fanciest clothes. Nope - jeans and comfy cotton shirts, flats or possibly sandals and a slouchy satchel all the way for this little traveller.

For the conference itself - Day One i'm thinking a cute dress, black tights and boots. Khaki suede, stacked heel, ankle boots to be exact. Boots that say " Dont walk all over me, because i might just stomp back ". An outfit that shows my feminine side but that finishes off with a touch of hard-arse, i-wont-be-pushed-around attitude.

Day two , traditionally a bit more of a relaxed day - maybe slim fit dark jeans, white cotton blouse and flats. More formal and more pretty than the jeans-and-t-shirt combo, but still comfy enough to last through a day of (probably very boring ) presentations.

Yep, thats what i'm thinking. Of course, there is still the whole ritual of trying each outfit on, perusing myself in the mirror, and asking Mick what he thinks before i even consider packing my bags.... What about you? Do you pre-plan your holiday/conference outfits down to the day? Do you ponder each outfit option for weeks in advance? And do you think my boots are going to kick arse?

Each Piece Tells A Story

So - guess who's started sleeping in a big boy bed?

No, not Mick, he still has to share one with me (ha! ). No, no, at the tender age of almost-20 months we have decided the time is right to put Flynn into a " big boy bed ". No more cot, and no graduation to a toddler bed ( i cant justify the cost of a toddler bed... ) - just straight from cot into a standard sized single bed. A solid, retro style tubular bed, which has long ago been repainted blue. Why "long ago " and "repainted ", you ask? Because Flynns very funky new big boy bed used to be.... mine. Its been recycled and repurposed, thanks to the very generous donation of my parents and my sister ( who previously had it in the spare room of her old flat ).

Ignore all the spare blankets and bags of clothes stashed under the new big boy bed....

This bed started out life as a set of steel tubular style bunk beds, in a lovely, girly fairy floss pink ( as was chosen by my parents. I've never been much of a pink girl myself ). When i outgrew the novelty of bunk beds my very handy Dad decided to be thrifty, took the bunks out to the garage and, using an angle grinder and some precise measurement, sliced the bunk bed in half - resulting into two solid single beds. Not being a super fan of pink - and being a moody girl in her early teens by this time - i chose to repaint them blue. And now almost 15 years later, one of those repurposed bunk beds has ended back in my possession, and is a very reliable ( if not slightly pink flecked in places ) first big boy bed for my little man. Hows that for recycling?

A little toy corner - a mini wheely bin full of stuff, plus a book shelf of plush toys...

And hey - it may not be the coolest piece of very retro, almost vintage furniture to ever see the light of day, but at least it has a heartwarming story....

John Wesley's Quote

John Wesley said the quote that is in that picture. I didn't realize the significance of it when I first saw it though. I thought, "That's a neat saying," and I moved on. It turns out that back in Wesley's day saying something like this was a very controversial statement. You see, back then a minister's parish was all he was in charge of. He took care of the people in that parish and that was it. He wasn't to be concerned about anyone outside of that. So for John Wesley to say he was concerned about the world had to be mind blowing for those who heard. It's awesome to know such things were being said by such men as John Wesley. Without those like him sharing this world view Christianity would not be as it is today and it would not have spread to so many people. I'm thankful men like Wesley stuck their necks out and said radical things.

Strategic Thinking in Cheshire and Cello gets a new Soul Mate

Monday wasn’t the best day of the week for me. It was the start of what turned out to be an exhausting week, and the day ended with unexpectedly finding one of my female colleagues (and friend) had taken up smoking again. So I was more than interested in reading a piece in yesterdays Telegraph newspaper reporting on some recent research involving women’s belief about the seriousness of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the cancer that kills most women in Britain. The survey revealed that most women thought that 40% of sufferers would live for 5 years after diagnosis, whereas the real figure was only 9%. Smoking remains the biggest cause of lung cancer. That so many women are still smoking is amazing. This study appeared to suggest an almost state of denial being adopted by many women of the consequences of their choice to smoke.

And smoking was still on the agenda by Thursday when I drove to Cheshire to work with a group of mental health service providers on helping them to think more strategically about where they wanted to be. I went to work with the Executive part of their Trust Board. Two of this group smoked, and the time spent together was definitely punctuated by many so called ‘therapeutic smoking breaks’. While all staff are banned from smoking on any part of the Trust premises service users are allowed to smoke in designated areas. This approach sparked an interesting side debate about what message this sent in terms of promoting health and wellbeing across the Trust.

However, it was a lovely venue to hold a retreat and the group worked well over the two days in developing their understanding of the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning – the latter activity was one they were very good at doing. Unnervingly (for me) it was my analysis of the mental health world that was up for scrutiny – presenting an expert veiw in this kind of context is always a difficult situation to find oneself in. The conversations were, however very interesting. And as a group, they reached a consensus over what the strategic direction and intent was, only late on in the afternoon. But they got there and that made the second day a very productive one.

For me it was a real privilege to work with such an interesting and informed group of practitioners. Some definite opportunities for further collaborative work between the Trust and the School were identified. Driving back on Friday afternoon, although very tired, I felt in a very good place, and once again thought how fortunate I am to have such opportunities. It has made me more determined to try and ensure that others have similar opportunities to both grow and develop personally and contribute to the development of the services we prepare others to work within.

Yesterday, my youngest brother arrived. He and his family were to spend Saturday and today here before returning to the lost city of London. His two children were a delight and in turn, delighted Cello, who as always, is always up for as much attention as he can get. By late afternoon, my brothers daughter had formed a real bond with Cello and they were inseparable.

The children went to bed asking for the 100th time when were they going to get a dog. I certainly don’t envy my brother the drive back to London!

Getting All My Ducks In A Row

Alrighty - so you may have seen a few of my Tweets this past fortnight or so begging for someone to buy my house ( or to lend me a few thousand dollars ) ? Yes well, i have the itchiest of itchy feet.... our little duplex is great and all but i just want to start the next chapter of our lives NOW. However, until this week, i havent done anything to make that happen other than trying to will myself to win the lottery. Apparently, no matter how hard you wish, you cant attract absoluetly EVERYTHING into your life...

An " Edward Scissorhands " neighbourhood - that'd be nice...

So i've decided i'm going to be proactive about this whole " lets buy a house" thing. I've gone to an open home for a house that would be in our price range, and i've had a chat to the real estate agent there about the market, how much we could expect to sell the duplex for, and how long it might take.

I've made an appointment with our bank ( which bank? ) to see the home loan specialist, so we can figure out how much we might need to sell for to cover the existing mortage, plus commission/solicitor/etc blah blah blah, but also so that we can (hopefully) be pre-approved for a new loan. That way, Mick and I can have a realistic expectation of what we might be able to afford to spend on a new property.

I plan on making an appointment with a mortgage broker when i'm done at the bank. Mick isnt too keen ( he thinks we stand a better chance at the bank because we're existing customers ) but i want to know exactly whats available to us. I dont want to find "the" house, get a loan with our existing bank and then find out we sold ourselves short.

After all that, our plan is to list the duplex when we get back from our honeymoon, and begin looking for a new house right away. If everything fell into place ( which, lets face it - these things rarely do ) we would be able to sell the duplex and find a new house within a few weeks of each other, and move out of one and into the other before the 6 week settlement period was up. If we cant find and move into a house in that 6 week period... well, then it looks like we'd move in with my parents for a while. " Argh, no, dont do it! " i hear some of you shouting ( Holly is probably behind her screen screaming at me right now... )... but thats the only workable solution. If we did have that period in between selling and buying and we didnt move in with my parents we'd be homeless. And as frusturating as it may be to live in a household that would contain 5 adults ( including my sister ) and one toddler well... its gotta be better than having nowhere at all to live.

So - bring on November i say. Wedding, honeymoon, Wiggles concert ( i know - excited much!?! ) and listing a house.... you know, if my stress doesnt kill me first!

Polly Dolly - Ladylike Lingerie

Thursday has rolled around already and that means its time for Polly Dolly, as brought to you by the fabulous Dani over at Danimezza. This week Dani is being a bit saucy and wants to see Polly in her....

This is exactly the type of thing i'd love to have with me on my upcoming honeymoon - a silk chemise in a beautiful colour, matched with some lacy ( yet comfy! ) knickers. A spray of flirty perfume to help me feel super sexy, some candles and a glass of champagne to set the mood and.... bom-chika-wow-wow! Let the honeymoon baby-making begin! Some rocky road and strawberries to share afterwards ensure a sweet end to the evening... and maybe some  energy for round 2 (wink wink, nudge, nudge )...

Mob Mayhem

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs . . .”



So begins Rudyard Kipling’s century-old poem “If,” which comprised the text of a card I got graduating eighth grade and has stuck with me ever since. In the ensuing forty-six years I saw how rare it was for someone to actually do it - to stay centered within oneself in the midst of hysteria. To achieve that is to live beyond the influence of the mob.



Mobs are big news with riots in England and flash mobs assaulting people and property in the United States. The first night of London riots was said to be in response to police shooting a young black man, variously described as a “father or four” and “tied to London gangs.” That night’s rioting may have started spontaneously, but it continued and spread to other UK cities with electronic social network coordination, and that is a common thread in both the UK and in the United States. Another common thread is race, though the mainstream media in both countries try to ignore it.2011 London riots



As Kipling said, it’s indeed difficult to keep your head when all others about you are losing theirs because we’re all subject to peer pressure. If one is ever going to grow up, to mature, to become an adult, it is necessary to have made an individual decision. Each of us has to ask himself/herself one question, and it can be phrased in various ways: Am I the captain of my own ship, or am I at the mercy of whatever winds blow around me? Am I controlled from within or from without? Do I rule myself, or do others rule me? Do I behave the way I choose to, or do I behave the way I think others want me to? Unless each of us decides how to be and has the discipline to follow his or her own rules, we’re no better than herd animals - part of the mob.1992 LA riots



Meeting new people, it doesn’t take long to sense whether they’ve asked themselves that question and answered it. Personal rules vary, but contain common elements of respect for individuals, families, their dignity, their property, which successful civilizations championed for millennia.



Observing rioters in 2011 London or 1992 Los Angeles, it’s evident they have either avoided the question or never considered it at all. Each is controlled by whatever others around them do. There are no individuals who make choices and take responsibility. They’re part of a tribe, a race, a mob, and the mob is impulsive. It doesn’t think. It doesn’t reflect. It doesn’t make decisions. Pants hang below asses. Sub-woofers blare (c)rap music full of anger, hate, selfishness and nihilism. The mob acts it all out, mindlessly, in the default mode of the horde.David Starkey



British historian David Starkey claimed that white youths involved in last week’s riots were imitating black gang culture. Naturally, he was branded racist by the liberal media, and I’m sure I will be as well. As a long-time public school teacher, however, I can attest that white boys mimicking black gangster culture were consistently my least-functional students.Prime Minister Cameron



Groups of individuals tend to be civilized and creative. Mobs are invariably barbaric and destructive. Liberal mainstream media proclaim the young, all-black or mostly-black and male mobs making mayhem are comprised of frustrated victims of discrimination and lack of opportunity. Conservative media say they’re products of the liberal welfare state responsible for our “slow-motion moral collapse.” UK Prime Minister David Cameron blames: “Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort. Crime without punishment. Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control. Some of the worst aspects of human nature tolerated, indulged - sometimes even incentivized - by a state and its agencies that in parts have become literally demoralized.”Economist Thomas Sowell



Some officials in UK government threaten to cut welfare for anyone arrested during the riots. American economist Thomas Sowell writes: “While the history and the races are different [in England and America], what is the same in both countries are the social policies and social attitudes long promoted by the intelligentsia and welfare state politicians. A recent study in England found 352,000 households in which nobody had ever worked. Moreover, two-thirds of the adults in those households said that they didn't want to work. As in America, such people feel both ‘entitled’ and aggrieved.”



As my grandmother used to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s tools.”Mayor Michael Nutter



Here in the US, the mainstream media strenuously avoid the racial angle of destructive flash mobs springing up in Milwaukee, Peoria, Chicago, Kansas City, and other cities across the country. Liberal media rabidly report white-on-black assaults like the James Byrd case in Texas, or even imagined ones like the ludicrous Duke Lacrosse Team “rape” case in North Carolina. Mainstream media and government officials tripped over each other to trumpet their outrage over something completely fabricated. For black-on-white assaults and robberies, they’re virtually silent. If mentioned at all, young black men are called “youths.” The only media reporting it honestly are blogs and Fox News. The only government official confronting it is Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who told pillaging blacks in his city: “You have damaged your own race. . . . Take those God-darn hoodies down, pull your pants up and buy a belt ‘cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt.”



The demography of the mob may differ through history from biblical times through the French Revolution to the 21st century, but there are things common to all: they’re nasty, brutish, ugly, and enemy of the individual.

Adventures in Picnicking, Old School Style

Oh in the summertime, when the weather is high.... ok, so its not summer yet. Nor spring for that matter. However, over the past weekend we did have some lovely weather here in Dubvegas so we got together with my parents, my neices ( who were staying at Grandma and Poppys for the day ) and my younger sister to go on a proper, old-fashioned picnic. We packed ourselves some lunches, i made some delicious cheesecake brownies for dessert, and we took all the kids ( big and little ) out the park/play area at Taronga Western Plains Zoo ( our favourite playground in town! ). Unfortunately we missed out on a picnic table because when we got there every table was taken up by birthday parties - from what i could tell there was 3 seperate birthday parties going on....

 But no matter because there is lots of open space to run around in ( and a fence around the perimeter so little people cant run into the car park );

There is the great jungle gym/tree house. Flynn can climb up the ramp by himself and giggle his guts out when he goes down the slippery dip. The bigger kids climb right up the top and yell out at the top of their lungs " Hey Grandma! Hey Aunty Amy! Hey, i'm up here! "...

There were Daddies enjoying the sunshine on their picnic rugs ( looking good baby! )....

...and Poppies pushing little people on the swings. Flynn loves the swings and at the age of almost 20 months that the appropriate noise to make whilst swinging is " wheeeeeeeeeeee ! "

 There were also beautiful neices galore! The very cute MissB on the wobbly bridge....

 And the just as pretty, if not slightly more adventurous MissH at the end of her flying fox run.

 Then you had Grandma's playing hide and seek with cheeky little boys ( who then got bark in his shirt and proceeded to itch and scratch... )

And little boys who just l.o.v.e sand and dirt and all things grotty.

And, at the very end, there were silly Mummies ( with no make up, freckles and all ) and crazy Aunty Pippy's ( who had run out of bubbles to blow for the kiddies... ) making silly faces. Ah, a day in the park.... hurry up spring and summer can i do that every weekend!

More From Europe

This is the barbed-wire fencing around the top of the cliff at Point Du Hoc. It kind of surprised me how close you could get to to it. I'm pretty sure in the States you couldn't get within five feet of the edge.

Here's Big Ben. Except not really. Big Ben is the bell inside so this is technically just the Clock Tower. I like Big Ben better.

In all honesty I don't know whet this building is. Any guesses?

Best Bus Groups Ever! SLU 301 Bus Four.

This is from sailing across the English Channel. I like the random boat in it.

A street in London with double decker buses. In case you couldn't tell from the picture...

The crater holes at Point Du Hoc. It just looks like rocky hills but it's not. They're holes made by shells. It was eye-opening seeing these in person.

View of the cliffs at Point Du Hoc. They're 1000 feet tall and soldiers climbed them in the rain, on wet ropes, while being shot at. I can't imagine what it was like and just how impossible the task they face seemed to them.

Flags at Omaha Beach. I got to see the flag raising ceremony for this and it was quite nice.

Grave cross at Normandy American Memorial Cemetery.

The Eiffel Tower. I didn't go up, it was too expensive and I didn't have time. However, I did spend time around the bottom of it and it's truly massive.

A shot of Point Du Hoc. You can see those same cliffs at a different angle too.

Tower Bridge in London. It was pretty.