tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56996252011-11-28T10:55:26.376+11:00He not busy being born, is busy dying.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-52721072828418456202011-09-03T11:02:00.001+10:002011-09-03T11:02:06.262+10:00

How can Julia Gillard, the Prime Ministers Department staff and all her senior advisors not understand the role of the High Court? How elsecan you explain her recent comments. I am gobsmacked that in the middle of a crisis of confidence in her leadership she fails to grasp a fundamental feature of our system of government!- Posted using BlogPress from my mobile deviceLocation:Jannali, NSW

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-53319315683054192502011-05-14T08:45:00.001+10:002011-05-14T08:45:00.645+10:00

For years, and I mean a couple of millennia, Buddhism and yoga, have said that a key to having a more tranquil mind is to be attentive to what is happening at the moment. There are a lot of ways this advice has been expressed to the extent that it has entered popular culture- "be in the moment", "be present" etc. This idea encourages people to, for example, think only of eating when you are

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-73331096788625546462011-05-03T23:11:00.000+10:002011-05-03T23:22:03.340+10:00

Osama Bin Laden is dead and many people are rejoicing.I am disturbed that so many find pleasure in the death of any person. Don't get me wrong. I understand that Bin Laden claimed he helped plan the deaths of thousands of people and the events of 9/11 have changed the world for the worse. Many people who lost relatives or were maimed by his actions would feel some satisfaction in Bin Laden

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-40344491890863529492011-02-01T11:19:00.001+11:002011-02-01T11:19:00.173+11:00

We all value an orderly society except in exceptional circumstances. In Egypt disorder has currently been chosen by the people as the only lever they possess to force a change in government.Shops, buildings and vehicles are being burnt and people are combating police because the regime in power has outlived the patience of the people.Violence, secret police and corruption have been used to keep

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-68314648730185448162010-09-29T21:32:00.002+10:002010-09-29T21:34:52.349+10:00

This week in Parliament is a contest between Abbott trying to gain an advantage over Labor by characterizing the Gillard Government as breaking an electoral promise and Gillard allowing Abbott to adopt the position of being the bully. Just so long as the Labor Government doesn't lose the initiative on policy formation Abbott will be shown up as a bully and Gillard a leader. This will be a long

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-2090147798039214442010-07-10T13:10:00.000+10:002010-07-10T13:24:59.763+10:00

Why are we afraid of boat people really? Long sea journeys, routine law enforcement & prohibitive expense mean that we will never have the same problem with illegal immigration as Italy, Germany, Spain or England. Yet the hot, urgent fear of "boat people" motivates Australia to detain people for long periods, impose off-shore processing and cause significant mental trauma. The response is out of

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-61977140757254947652010-05-16T09:28:00.000+10:002010-05-16T09:28:09.090+10:00

I remember seeing the moon landing with a group of fellow 11 year olds in a crowded school room but it didn't happen the way I recall it or so I am told. We were not where I think we were, I wasn't with the people I remember were with me and we didn't see what I recall seeing. My memory is vivid through regular exercise and reinforced by numerous viewings of TV footage of Armstrong & Aldrin but

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-52926832894795250592009-10-25T11:32:00.000+11:002009-10-25T11:32:39.477+11:00

I hope we are ready for the smaller consequences of climate change. For no matter what they do in Copenhagen, there will be big changes and smaller changes and the world will have to cope. For some the changes will be drastic. Several Pacific Island nations will disappear and their populations will be forced to migrate to nations like Australia. Land which is no productive agricultural land will

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-18312633117441497122009-10-12T23:13:00.002+11:002009-10-13T07:59:41.591+11:00

The debate in Australia about climate change appears to be between those in the Rudd Government who want to make a token gesture and the Liberal-National Opposition who don't want to do anything. It is a rare thing for Malcolm Turnbull that a sizable number of people feel sorry for him but I suggest that is the case at the moment. It appears that he wants to lead the Opposition to a point where

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-11443591280241374062009-09-17T23:21:00.000+10:002009-09-18T08:19:47.339+10:00

After the end of the cold war we could have expected a thousand years of peace but tragically death, injury and fear are ever present in many communities as a result of terrorism.What extremists are trying to achieve is not being clearly articulated by them or understood. What is happening through the West is that Moslems are being alienated and are treated either suspicion. The separation of

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-4867021316439546262009-09-11T06:51:00.000+10:002009-09-11T06:51:09.830+10:00

As the Howard years came to an end many in Australia felt as though they were being released from prison. For many for the same people to talk of Howard is to set off the touch paper of spectacular rants about Aboriginal rights and boat people so let us not dwell but move on to the Rudd Government. Does the release from Howard Prison mean we must like Rudd Freedom? In a strange way the writer

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-16891507476614139132009-09-02T17:46:00.001+10:002009-09-02T17:46:58.253+10:00

The "revelations" about Della Bosca's love life were puerile and unremarkable. He's gone to the back bench to plot his way into a lower house seat and for what? Nothing.He didn't lie about it in parliament and he didn't break the law so why did the Daily Telegraph give it all that space?Because it was lurid, voyeuristic and childish just like their paper.Della will no doubt feel distancing

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-22278581603565553112009-08-25T07:00:00.001+10:002009-08-25T07:00:08.266+10:00

Riding a bicycle is fun & healthy but dangerous! In Europe bicyclist are an accepted feature on the roads and more care and courtesy is shown by drivers towards bikes.In January I drove two thousand kilometres through France, Italy and Switzerland and I observed patience and acceptance of bikes to a degree way beyond that shown here.During the last few days we saw a terrible accident on Southern

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-4225903286215553822009-08-23T01:00:00.002+10:002009-08-23T11:12:10.763+10:00

At one time the overwelming theme of history seemed to be that science was advancing everywhere and the main dynamic was the competition between two opposing rational economic systems. (Does anyone now remember Marxist-Leninist- Maoist theory?)Now we seem to have a degeneration of culture across the globe. Fundamentalists are threatening to overturn social order and freedoms to exert religious, (

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-63077828191773441802009-08-20T21:26:00.002+10:002009-08-23T11:13:06.347+10:00

The "War on Terror" combined with the creeping anxiety which has overtaken so many has lead to greater powers being given to law enforcement authorities.These powers are often in the form of the authority to detain people for longer periods without trail or without a lawyer or without contact with family. Also new legislation allows greater powers of search or restrictions on disclosure of the

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-63507610947611010312009-08-19T19:26:00.003+10:002009-08-23T17:54:14.855+10:00

So Nathan Rees, Premier of NSW compares climate sceptics to the those who followed the policies of appeasment in the 1930's and he gets soundly criticised by the media.His analogy was not flawless but why was he so rubbished and why did he back down?Those who criticised him were kicking a man who it would appear is without prospects. An unpopular leader of a government "on-the-nose", Rees

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-31108126310407865892009-08-18T17:55:00.002+10:002009-08-23T17:54:59.231+10:00

We can all be revolutionaries by refusing to borrow. Karl Marx never imagined how working people could be enslaved and pacified by the great seduction of debt. At one time only the aristocrats could borrow. They had land and they had honour- a name to protect against the great shame of "not being able to pay your debts".Now a steady income means anyone can have a personal loan, a car loan and at

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-928664478459857132009-08-15T12:22:00.002+10:002009-08-15T13:25:50.404+10:00

So much of popular culture seems like a drug for the masses to keep the generic person focused on fashion, celebrity, weird behaviour on reality TV and trivia rather than refined debate, rational analysis, fine art, writing, good music and generally uplifting forms of expression.There are broadly two ways of looking at this:People do the selecting and if they didn't want to watch stupid talent

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699625.post-85876244527717019492008-05-23T22:16:00.002+10:002008-05-23T22:20:23.318+10:00

The weather is growing cold and I am facing the challenge of finishing a novel. This week I turned fifty and over the last few weeks I decided to more consciously be disciplined in both my thinking and actions.Let's see how long this lasts

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454733868562407336noreply@blogger.com0