15. Wikileaks - Rape Accusor Linked To CIA

One of the women in the alleged "rape" case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, reportedly has links to the US CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA). Does Anna Ardin have ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups? Described as a "leftist", she published her anti-Castro diatribes in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba.

While in Cuba, Ardin worked with the Las damas de blanco (the Ladies in White), a feminist anti-Castro group. A declassified 1976 document revealed Posada to be a CIA agent. He has been convicted of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of people.

The speed in which Julian Assange has been arrested is unbelievable. How many genuine rape victims see the "rapists" locked up in prison in so short a time? Real rape victims STRUGGLE TO BRING THEIR RAPISTS TO JUSTICE.

But then again, those men are not involved in the embarrassing of powerful governments. The US government want him locked up (in their gaol of course) so - Sweden calls for his extradition from Britain and if they succeed, the US calls upon the Swedish government for his extradition to the US and your guess is as good as mine what will happen to him then.

14. Wikileaks - No Condom, That's Rape

What a convenient coincidence that Julian Assange has been charged with rape. It certainly has come at the right time hasn't it? Just a little too convenient if you ask me. The might of the US govenment has been embarrassed and has egg on its face and has been shown to be no better than anyone else. For all they sprout about being the Land of the Free, that obviously doesn't include freedom of information if it doesn't show them in a shining light. America - your halo has slipped and it will be a very long time before you are looked up to again.

By continuing to pursue Julian Assange with the ferocity of a mad dictator, they show themselves for what they really are - a bunch of bully boys who can't stand that anyone has seen through them. And what they don't seem to understand is they are doing more damage to themselves than good by their actions.

So, let's just have a look at this so called rape charge. Apparently it is illegal in Sweden for two adults to have consensual sex without a condom and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of a minimum of two years for rape.
And for this, Assange is being pursued?

Sweden’s Public Prosecutor’s Office was embarrassed in August this year when they leaked to the media that they were seeking to arrest Assange for rape then on the same day withdrew the arrest warrant because in their own words there was “no evidence”.

Statements by the two female “victims” Sophia Wilen and Anna Ardin that there was no fear or violence would stop a rape charge in any western country dead in its tracks.

Ardin hosted a party in Assange’s honour at her flat after the ‘crime’ and tweeted to her followers that she was with the “the world's coolest smartest people, it's amazing!”

Ardin has sought unsuccessfully to delete these and thereby destroy evidence of Assange’s innocence She has published on the internet a guide on how to get revenge on cheating boyfriends.

Read the full story HERE and also HERE.

13. Strine

What is Strine? Strine is what we call real "Aussie" speak. Mum would have called it slang, but somehow over the years these words have become known as Strine. The word as far as I can tell, derived from the word Australian. Many Aussies pronouce it Ostrayan, or Ostrine which then led to "Strine". You may hear Australia pronounced as Austraya.

So, lets' take a look at some "Strine". We do tend to shorten some words and add an 'o' at the end. Like arvo, decko garbo etc. Now unless you're an Australian or have lived here for a good many years, you probably won't know what on earth we're talking about and would look like a stunned mullet!

Ambo - Ambulance, or ambulance driver
Arvo - Afternoon
Bizzo - Business
Compo - Worker's Compensation pay
Decko - Have a look (at something)
Doco - Documentary
Garbo - Dustbin man, municipal garbage collector
Goodo - That's fine, alright
Gyno - Gynaecologist
Journo - Journalist
Metho - Methylated spirits
Refo - Refugee
Rego - Vehicle registration
Relo - Family relative
Righto - Alright, yes I agree
Servo - Petrol station
Smoko - Smoke or tea/coffee break
Thingo - Whatsit, wadjamacallit, thingummy
Yobbo - A lout or uncouth person

Note
If you look like a stunned mullet, it means you have an expression of disbelief or incomprehension on your face. In other words, the sort of expression when you don't understand something.

12. Remembrance Day - Armistice Day

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns of Western Europe fell silent after four years of hell and bloodshed. The Armistice treaty was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest and marked the end of The Great War (now called WWI)

On the first anniversary of the Armistice, in 1919, one minute's silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony to remember those who had fallen.

The story of the Poppy

 

Above: Flanders poppy
Red poppies - Flanders Poppies - were among the first plants to spring up in the devastated battlefields of northern France and Belgium. In soldiers' folklore, the vivid red of the poppy came from the blood of their comrades drenching the ground. It is for this reason the humble red poppy is worn on Remembrance Day to remember, honour and pay homage to all those who died.

"Mateship"
The Great War contributed to the Australian definition of mateship as a shared experience based on mutual respect and the significance of Armistice and Remembrance Day has continued for Australians. Many households were cast into mourning in the face of such terrible losses. Many streets in towns and suburbs across Australia were marked by households bereft of men.


And so, every November, on the 11th hour of the 11th day, we remember those who have fallen and made the ultimate sacrifice in all wars, as we bow our heads in silence while "The Last Post" is played.


The Last Post
In military tradition, the Last Post is the bugle call that signifies the end of the day's activities. The Last Post is the trumpet or bugle call sounded at 10 pm each night to inform soldiers that they should be inside their quarters for the night. It is also sounded at military funerals and commemorative services ... to indicate that the soldier has completed his life's work and has entered into his rest.

Remembrance Day Service
There are four parts ~
The Ode
The "Last Post"
The Silence
"Reveille"

The Ode
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

From "For The Fallen" Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)

Remembrance Day 2010
I attended the service today at my local RSL. These photos were taken during the service and I also filmed the ceremony, the videos (in three parts) can be found at the end of this post. The first one is the longest whilst the other two are considerably shorter.

Above: Commemorative plaque

Above: Memorial Cross

Above: The Flag Bearers

Above: Placing a poppy

Above: Paying respects

Above: Two diggers

Above: Lest We Forget

11. Derby Day Deluge

Derby Day
Derby Day is the start of the Spring Racing Carnival and is held the Saturday before Melbourne Cup Day, and like Cup Day, ladies dress up in summery clothing, don fascinators and high heels. It's about looking good it's about looking your best it's about being dressy in your bits and bobs and having a wonderful day at the races ~ as well as having a flutter or two on your favourite horse!

Let's ga back a year to Derby Day 2009 - a lovely warm day with a pleasant breeze, blue sunny skies. What could be better? Below are a few shots from last year.

Above: A Bevy of Beauties

Above: Derby Day Damsels

Above: The Yarra

Derby Day 2010
Let's fast forward to this year's Derby Day on Saturday, 30th October and what a huge difference. The BOM (Beareau of Meteorology) had been predicting we would get a month's rain in two days! Well rain it certainly did. Melbourne received about 53 mm of rain on Saturday and in the north east of Victoria they had 50 - 60 mm rain.

Above Wet

 

Above: Wetter
That $200 fascinator that looked good in the mirror at 9.00am in hte morning wasn't looking its best by the afternoon and walking around in high heels in slushy, muddy, soggy grass isn't much fun but these gals still looked like they enjoyed the day.

Umbrellas were or course the most popular fashion accessory - and unheard of thing in Melbounre for many years due to the long drought we have been experiencing - as were see-through plastice raincoats. Your fancy dress that you got tizzied up in earlier in the day might leave you shivering but at least it was on show.

Above: Wettest
This young lad wades through the waters in a local street. Fancy a swim?

Rain, Rain, Rain,
The rain made quite a sound as it poured down and here's a short video - listen to the sounds of rain.

10. The National Anthem

Today on the radio they were discussing our national anthem - Advance Australia Fair, and giving opinions on whether people should sing along when it is played. One (or was it both?) of the radio chaps said people should not sing the words, said it was "un-Australian". Un-Australian my foot - whenever I hear Advance Australia Fair being played on the television (example just before the Grand Final or the Olympics, etc.), I always stand and I sing the words with gusto. I mean how could anyone say singing the words to your national anthem is un-Australian? Or un-French if you're French, of un-Greek if your Greek, etc? Bah, what a load of bollocks - sing, sing along I say and be proud.

The Littlest Republican
I remember when I was a child when we went to the pictures, God save the queen was always played before the picture (film) started and we had to stand up and it annoyed me because the seats would flip up every time you stood and fwit whack it'd hit you right on the back of the legs. When I asked mum and dad why did I have to stand up for I was told it was God save the queen. Who's the queen I wanted to know and on being told she was in England I took an instant dislike to her and wanted to know why do I have to stand up for some old bag in another country?

When in my late teens, every night when the television station closed for the night (there was no such thing as 24 hour televsion then) just before closing they played - you've guessed it. God save the blooming queen. As a young nineteen year old I made sure my derrière was firmly ensconced on the seat!

Change
Then some years later we at last had a national anthem that was ours - Advance Australia Fair. And about time too, who ever heard of a country having as their national anthem one belonging to another country?

A Little Bit of History
In 1860, Carl Linger from South Australia wrote ‘The Song of Australia’ and it was suggested to the Prime Minister in 1929 as a possible national anthem.
Before the 1956 Olympic Games which were held in Melbourne, the issue of an Australian national anthem was again raised (quite persistantly) and the two songs most in favour were "Advance Australia Fair" and "Waltzing Matilda". Waltzing Matilda was written in 1895 by Banjo Patterson, one of our most famous poets.

There were other, later polls and in 1974 "Advance Australia Fair" polled 51.4% and after this the  Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam announced that "Advance Australia Fair" would be the national anthem, except on specifically Royal occasions, when both it and God save the queen would be played.

Liberal Backflip
But in 1976, after a change of government, God save the queen was reinstated for Royal, vice-regal, defence and loyal toast occasions, with ‘Advance Australia Fair’ to be played on all other official occasions. (It should perhaps be noted for the benefit of non-Australians, that we had a Labor government in 1974 and a Liberal one in 1976)

So now we come to May 1977 and a national poll was conducted to get the public choice of a national anthem (more than seven million people were issued with ballot papers)and the results were - "Advance Australia Fair" 43.2%, "Waltzing Matilda" 28.3%, "God save the queen" 18.7% and ‘Song of Australia’ 9.6%.

Our own anthem at last
It was not until April 1984 that the Governor-General issued a proclamation that God save the queen was designated the Royal Anthem, to be played at public engagements in Australia attended by the members of the Royal family. "Advance Australia Fair" was finally declared to be the Australian national anthem.

I came upon this version of Waltzing Matilda and I must say it is really a wonderful rendition.


I would also like to add "Song of Australia", which to my mind is on a par with "Advance Australia Fair" and in some ways I think I like better.

Here is the first verse of "Song of Australia"
There is a land where summer skies
Are gleaming with a thousand dyes,
Blending in witching harmonies, in harmonies;
And grassy knoll, and forest height,
Are flushing in the rosy light,
And all above in azure bright -
Australia!

As there are five verses in all, rather than write them all, you can read them here which is from the Flinders Ranges Research and has information about its writer, Caroline Carleton.

9. Our Sally Wins Gold

Above: A victorious Sally Pearson
Sally Pearson won the 100 metre sprint in 11.28 seconds. Sally finished the final first ahead of Nigeria’s Osayemi Oludamola (11.32) and Natasha Mayers of St Vincent and the Grenadines (11.37), with England’s Katherine Endacott fourth.

Commonwealth Games Fiasco
Sally Pearson was stripped of her Commonwealth Games gold medal after a protest was lodged by the English team. Pearson had taken a victory lap and was preparing for the medal ceremony when she was told of the protest.

She (Pearson) was originally cleared by track officials to race despite appearing to false-start alongside England's Laura Turner. Time sensors at the stadium found Turner had broken from the blocks 0.001sec ahead of Pearson, but England's team management argued the margin was so small as to constitute a dual false start.

England's protest was eventually upheld – and survived a counter-protest from the Australians – after four hours of deliberations before an IAAF appeals jury. That allowed another English sprinter, Katherine Endacott, to be elevated from fourth to the bronze medal position and Oludamola to claim the gold.




Payback?
The claims that stripping Pearsons of her 100 metres Commonwealth Games Gold medal is payback by the English team could very well be true - Nick Honey from Athletics Victoria says there's bad blood between the teams after an Australian appeal at the last games saw the English team disqualified in the women's 4x400 relay.

Above: A devastated Sally Pearson
She may have had her Gold medal taken from her, but there is still the undistputable fact that Sally Pearson won the race and came first. And the English contestant came fourth. Had there been no false start, would Pearson still have won? Most likely. Had there been no false start, would the English contestant have won a medal? Most likely not.

So there you have it folks - payback, or getting even as some might say, is something that children practise. England may have a bronze medal but it is a hollow victory - Endacott won by default. It's a little like cheating in an exam - you might get a good mark, you might even get first in class, but deep down you know you didn't earn it.