“So as I worked on my resolutions for 2010 I struggled for several days to get some achievable goals. I long to look back next New Year’s Eve and be proud that I did what I promised I would do 12 months earlier – Lord knows it’s never happened before.
And then suddenly it was all very clear. In truth we have little control of our lives and while we can certainly make some minor changes at a surface level, in reality life will take us where it will. Isn’t 12 months of life reward enough in itself? Wht can’t we just be happy with what we’ve got? Why not just enjoy the here and now while it is, well, here and now?
My resolution for this year is to be me. Warts’n'all, take me as you find me, like it or lump it. And if I make it to December 31 and I’m still smiling, then I will be pretty damned pleased with myself.
Happy New Year!”

“The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us.

It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

More here: Pale Blue Dot

“In many ways what’s happening … is what is going on nationally – a rejection of very polarised, conservative policies,” the director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Bruce Cain, says. “People are tired of the rancour, the failure to deal with important problems, such as immigration and Iraq. They want to give a signal they are ready for something more pragmatic and compromising.”

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named “Bushcronium.”
Bushcronium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311. These particles are held together by dark forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
The symbol for Bushcronium is “W”. Bushcronium’s mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons in a Bushcronium molecule, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Bushcronium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as “Critical Morass”. When catalyzed with money, Bushcronium activates Foxnewsium, an element that radiates orders of magnitude more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since it has 1/2 as many peons but twice as many morons.

This week our government is trying to push laws through that force all asylum seekers to be processed off shore and another that forces aborigines to swap title over their land for 99 years in return for basic needs such as housing and health.

I believe that reforming the Land Rights Act is necessary but we need more than a one day senate inquiry and disinformation from governement senators to determine what is the best course of action. This is a blatant and immoral attempt to open up the Northern Territory for the mining of uranium.

The Migration Act changes are simply horrible. “…between 1992 and 2005, Australia was the only country in the world to require the detention of both adults and children seeking asylum for the duration of their processing.” Now we’re going to do it again but this time in other people’s countries. We know the damage done to people kept in detention for years (especially children) and we now know that repatriated refugees are often killed.

But what are Australians worried about? The price of oil. Why is petrol so expensive? Well, apart from the fact that it is a scarce and diminishing resource we are also restricting supply from Iraq by maintaining a pointless and bloody war there. Greg Palast has some interesting points on this here. “The rise in the price of oil after the first three years of the war boosted the value of the reserves of ExxonMobil Oil alone by just over $666 billion. (The devil is in the details.)”

So what do you do if you actually care about the greater good and not just your hip pocket? One excellent idea is to get along to www.getup.org.au and sign their petitions. An even better idea is to ring your coalition senator and express dismay at the new draconian laws.

Fight the fear and get involved – these things only happen because we let them happen.

Austalians normally spend $14 million a week on bananas. Post cyclone Larry we’re spending $7 million per week. Whilst that is an impressively large number of the bendy yellow fruit – here’s a few other items on our weekly shopping list:

• Housing – $1.2 billion.
• Cars – $2.8 billion.
• Alcohol – $180 million.
• Cigarettes – $88 million.

Gee bananas don’t really rate do they? Adds new meaning to the term “Banana Republic.”

Based on 2003-04 ABS and 2006 NRMA figures and with thanks to crikey.com.

The following from Major Michael Mori’s guest blog at www.getup.com.au

David has been detained for four and a half years without trial, and has been in isolation for the past four months. He sits in a concrete room for 23 hours a day. He is allowed one book per week and one hour outside his cell for exercise in what best could be described as a large dog kennel, and to shower….The Australian government keeps saying we can not prosecute David in Australia. That is simply because David has not violated any law, Australian or international – not that the laws don’t exist. If the charges against David in the commission system were valid international law crimes, Australia could charge him with these offenses. But the charges made up against David by the commission system are not real. Every time the Australian government says “we can not charge Hicks”, they are in fact saying “David Hicks has not violated any law”. But the Australian government tries to use this as a reason to abandon him. It should be reason to stand up for him and bring him home to his family.

There is an extremely important principle at stake here – people can not be held without trial. No matter what your opinion on David Hick’s motives or actions, he is being detained illegally and our government does nothing because most of us simply don’t care.

Get over to www.getup.com.au and sign the petition – we must protect our basic rights.