Great Scot

It will be interesting to see if Scotland has the appetite for independence.

There are many arguments pro and con.  Only the people of Scotland can decide.  It is not for Englishmen or OZTRAILYANS or Europeans to tell the Scots what to do in their moment of choice.

Still, I hope that Scotland has the courage to seize its freedom and say 'aye'.  Scottish patriots have given their lives for the last thousand years in the cause of Scottish independence.  They fought to the death like men, in the face of daunting odds - they were hard nuts.

It would be a damn shame if their offspring - their modern heirs - quailed at their moment of truth.


Alias:  Frank Satyr

State of Origin

Queenslander!  QUEENSLANDER!!

If that rallying call means nothing to you, it's not your fault.  You born and raised under different skies.

If you are a Queenslander, however, you know that you are part of an enormous force of nature - a family of parochial northerners who will never give up or take a backward step.

They call us banana-benders.  Wrong.  The only thing Queenslanders have ever bent is the odds - the odds against us winning again and again.

Why?

For decades, Sydneysiders, Melbournites and even the snobs in Adelaide regarded anyone born north of the Tweed as some sort of second-class citizen: a semi-Australian redneck, perhaps, in their eyes.  This kind of shit eventually gets your back up.  It makes you want to prove yourself.  Again and again.

Queenslanders are proud of their achievements.  Like the good folk of W.A., we made something out of a vast, sparse area.  We made it our own, and woe betide anyone who ever forgets it.

We go to war with New South Wales every year to show that we are entitled to more than a bit of respect. This is more than just symbolism. 

They treated us like hicks for decades...scoffed at us and slighted our profound love of our home turf.  For that, they will pay forever more.

Every player who plays for Queensland knows that they must be willing to keep battering forward when every sinew and muscle is screaming with pain and exhaustion, for such is the spirit of a people who chuckle at cyclones and tell floods to XXXX off and die.  Nothing breaks us in the north.

This is the Queensland spirit. 

We are legion - we are drawn from so many small towns and places in a vast tract of land.  Our legend demands that we never give up - for we are - and will always be - Queenslanders.

Alias:  Frank Satyr

Judicial Shame - Only Four Years

There is something seriously wrong with judicial oversight in OZTRAILYA.

A thug recently went out of his way to punch a young kid with all of his might, for no reason whatsoever.  No reason, no provocation.  The young victim fell to the pavement and died: he was murdered, senselessly.  The victim hadn't even spoken to his attacker.

The murderer had punched at least two other people earlier in the day, before he engaged in this cowardly act.

To the distress of the young victim's parents, the thug was only jailed for four years, a disgustingly woeful sentence for the loss of a young life (from memory, the dead boy was only 17). 

The parents had to suffer the distress of the verdict as they mourned for their son. 

In my opinion, the judge clearly wasn't motivated by justice for the victim's family when he took to the task of sentencing.  He might have been more interested in some trendy new interpretation of the laws regarding manslaughter...who knows?  I cannot even put myself in the shoes of a judge; they seem so far removed from the reality of life for ordinary people. 

Let's play devil's advocate:  even if the prosecution didn't have the brain power to make the charge of Murder stick, Manslaughter was an open and shut case. 

The sentencing judge could have applied a sentence of ten years for Manslaughter without batting an eyelid - or worrying about its extent being revoked upon appeal, given the facts of the case.  Instead, he opted for a mild punishment.  Perhaps he had his reasons - but it is difficult to see what they possibly could be, given the cowardly, pointless nature of the attack and its deadly outcome. 

If judges in Australia continue to get it so WRONG, so manifestly wrong, one will not be surprised if relatives start waiting outside of courts with powerful weapons to deliver their own forms of justice to killers who are given token sentences by lame-brained courts.  By the laws of God and Man, it would be difficult not to side with aggrieved relatives who take things into their own hands when the State fails them and slurs the memory of their children.

A thin, mild-natured boy goes for a walk and a cowardly adult thug kills him without provocation. 

The killer gets a paltry four years.

 I have seen greater punishments given to people who mistreat horses!  This is how bad things have become.

Community standards are about what is decent.  There is nothing decent about placing such a low, low value on an innocent young man's life. 

Nothing to Say - And It's Great

OZTRAILYA has a new Prime Minister and a new Government.  Thankfully, they have not seen fit to call a press conference every two hours instead of running the country.  This is a wonderful development.

I have always thought that governments should be like children - seen and not heard.

I can only hope that this continues for the next three years.

Alias:  Frank Satyr

Blubbering

The next time I see an Australian Prime Minister blubbering like a child on TV, I'm going to throw a shoe at the screen!

This is completely embarrassing.  We OZTRAILYANS are made of sterner stuff.

Did the men at Changi cry during WWII?  Nope.  Did the ANZACs at Gallipoli cry?  Not aloud, they didn't.

Did Steve Irwin cry?  Nope.  He just grimaced and said, "Crikey, this hurts like a bastard."

That's the Aussie way.  Stoic, steely.  Harden up, people.

Alias:  Frank Satyr

It's a Bad Idea, Grasshopper

I have seen a few loopy people on the idiot box in my time, a few certifiable nut jobs. 

Few, however, were as eccentric as the guy I saw on TV the other day.   The loopy dude was from the U.N., that esteemed organisation set upon world government, global uniformity and blandness. The dude in question was telling everyone that, in thirty years, we would all be eating insects. 

I immediately recoiled.  F*ck off, I thought.  They might be doing it in Somalia, now, and in France in a generation, but I cannot ever see my fellow OZTRAILYANS setting aside their beef and choosing to tuck into ants and grubs.  WHAT THE?!

No doubt there would be those in the global elite who would relish the idea of dining on lobster while the billions of sheep under their watch around the globe tucked into bugs, but I, for one, cannot abide this ridiculous affront.

The nutty professor (the insect man) was broadcast by the ABC.  (Surprise, surprise.)  Not being content with trying to foist climate alarmism, Aunty is now telling us that protein = bugs.  I beg your pardon, douche?

I say, loudly, protein = meat = cows and chickens and Tasmanian salmon.

We do not have to tolerate this kind of absurd, tin-horn balony.   We should call it out when we see it.  Australia has enough coal, gas, uranium, sunshine, thorium and oil to have us living like kings for the next thousand years, if we choose wisely in terms of our potential development.

All this "low-calorie despair", to quote Steinbeck, is laughable.  Man up, laugh out loud, and claim your birthright.  YOU COME FROM THE LAND OF PLENTY.  EAT WELL.  EAT STEAK AND LOBSTER.   LAUGH AT THE F**KERS.

Alias:  Frank Satyr

OZTRAILYA

OZTRAILYA should not be confused with that other place.

In OZ, nobody ever tries to tell you that your opinions need to be moderated by a government-appointed Advocate.

In OZTRAILYA, a dying government is seeking to pass legislation to kill freedom of speech. 

It is of some reassurance that the current minority government will be kicked out in about six months.  They have no authority and no credible leader. 

Life in the land Down Under will then return to normal and all this Orwellian nonsense - this surreal effrontery - will end. Thankfully.

Alias:  Frank Satyr