Do not read this – it is an article about nothing
OK, so you are reading. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
There are several things I feel like writing about: the terrible news of another boat load of people seeking sanctuary suffering a sad fate.
West Australian Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said about 40 people were spotted on the upturned hull, others were in the water and up to 75 others may be dead.
‘‘We have grave fears for the remainder,’’ he told reporters.
Twitter is alive with people turning the deaths into a political football – AGAIN! How can humans do this, I wonder: use the lives of vulnerable people for their own political purposes?
I was too saddened by the reaction of some Australians who I felt should have behaved better to actually draft an article.
Julian Assange (Photo credit: acidpolly)
An Australian citizen, Julian Assange, is seeking political asylum, fearing the USA will try to extradite him. Julian has not been found to have broken any Australian laws.
WikiLeaks insiders yesterday said Mr Assange decided to seek political asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London because he felt abandoned by the Australian government.
This particular case does seem to be one where there is a degree of political bi-partisanship. The silence from both sides of Australian politics is deafening and defining. After the Lindy Chamberlain case, where Lindy was finally vindicated after some 32 years, the Julian case saddens me as well. So I shelved that as a possible article for the moment.
The first 2011 Census statistics have been released, showing 43.1 of us have at least one parent who migrated here and nearly a quarter of us were born overseas.
The latest snapshot of the country reveals a population of just over 21.5 million on census night last year – and 24.6 per cent of them were born overseas, up from 22.2 per cent in 2006, while 43.1 per cent of people have at least one parent who migrated here.
I had a look at those stats today and it seems to me the 43.1% is probably understated as it doesn’t include the people who didn’t answer the question about their parents’ place of birth. Many of those identified as a heritage other than Australia, so I estimate the real figure is quite a bit higher than 43.1%. I do wish people would complete forms properly! The release of some numbers was a bright spot for the day, but then I want to see how our politicians manage to turn statistics into weapons before I comment!
It seems the newspaper industry has finally woken up to the digital age and are downsizing in a big way. Did they learn anything from the music industry? Seems not, just like traditional publishing houses. I noticed that last month digital books out-sold the paper variety in the USA for the first time. I am sad for the people about to lose their jobs and for the young people studying or graduating this year with stars in their eyes.
If you have a spare $36 million, you can buy a really cheap 747.
Ten-year-old passenger 747-400s are worth a record low $US36 million
Not today, thanks. I think I prefer a more fuel-efficient model. As much as we love flying around the world, I have to wonder where the future of airlines are going. Most of the commercial airlines seem to be in financial strife, or at least so they say. Will we be back to travelling by ship in 10 years time, I wonder?
For someone with a bad case of writer’s block I’ve managed to waffle on for 600 words. I know what I really want to write about, but I can’t pull it together. I really want to write about how frustrated I am by the current crop of politicians and their seeming inability (there are a few exceptions) to display appropriate maturity and integrity.
Maybe I’d just be wasting my keystrokes…
On a good note, the kids now like peas with a roast!
Really interested to read about the Lindy C case finally being laid to rest as we were in Aus in the 80s so it was very topical.
Wikileaks is good – I think he is being strangled (hopefully not literally).
We get immigrants from North Africa all the time on flimsy rafts, some survive some don’t.
You did a good job pulling all that lot together in one post!
Isn’t it an odd thing? I didn’t like it much as it seemed “meatless” to me, yet it was retweeted on Twitter and all sorts of things.
I was just expressing how the day made me feel really.
Australia is SO far from everything, I am surprised so many take the risky journey, but I suppose when you come from the sorts of places these people are running from, even the risk of drowning at sea is not as bad. I feel for the displaced of the world. So many.
I am always amazed by the posts on my blog that get lots of comments and the ones that get lots of hits. And they aren’t the same. But either way, there is no consistency regarding the subject matter!
It’s certainly not too far to nip across the sea from Africa to Spain, but still, it doesn’t stop it being a hazardous enterprise. Desperation
The leaders of countries throughout particularly the western world are terrified of Assange because he has exposed many of them as liars amongst other things !
It is a very sad situation. I suppose he can be considered the whistleblower of all whistleblowers, really. He certainly demonstrated we have a lot of naked emporers.
Im had very mixed feelings about him but I certainly think he is being set up..
I have had mixed feelings too. He does seem strange according to some reports. However, being strange is not in and of itself a crime. I am constantly reminded of the Lindy Chamberlain case: people didn’t like her and look what happened!
I never thought she was guilty, I am pleased to be able to say.
Julian may be strange, but to most of us, so were many of our great artists and authors.