JOHN HOWARD SAYS WHOOPS TO A WAR CRIME

^{Pic by ABC}

In an interview on Seven’s Sunday Night, John Howard says he was “embarrassed” to decide to go to war in Iraq based on wrong intelligence. Yes he said “embarrassed”. 600,000 people were killed in that war. He attacked and persecuted whistle blowers who kept telling the US, UK and Australian governments the intelligence was wrong or false. Bush, Blair and Howard cherry picked the data and used it to justify tearing away our civil rights and caused tensions in our community. Cronulla anyone? He, along with Bush and Blair illegally concocted the invasion of Iraq based on a scam. Bin Laden was never there and there were no chemical or nuclear weapons. Embarrassed?? After leaving the nation a bombed out lawless mess, we now ask ourselves why we’re seeing the rise of organisations like ISIL? Really?? Not understanding that is an embarrassment. He’s embarrassed?? Tell that to the tens of thousands of coalition troops and their families devastated by the effects of PT...

I was only in primary school in the late 1960s. But I have vivid memories of hearing and watching news reports on the Vietnam War on radio and TV. We would tune into the news at half past six and watch front line footage from war correspondents embedded with Australian or American platoons out in the field with the ocassional glimpse of North Vietnamese troops firing back. We’d see footage of burnt out villages and Hueys coming into land to evacuate wounded troops. We would hear crackling telephone lines on the radio as journalists filed their pieces and we’d see the photos in our newspapers. In those days the only media access people had was the radio, a black and white TV and the newspapers. But it was the coverage of that first television war, the first rock’n’roll war that raised awareness and questioned the governments reasoning for taking part in the first place. The TV footage, the sound bites, the newspaper photos gave us a much clearer understanding of the horror of war. This...

Whoever came up with the line, “sing like nobody is listening” can claim one of the most misrepresented quotes of all time going by what I have been hearing on the radio and on stage of late. I agree with the sentiment of the quote. Get out there and release your energy and feel whatever sense of freedom that releases you from the shackles and hum drum of everyday life and the burdens that that pin you down. Just don’t charge punters while you’re doing it please. If you think you’re good enough to gig then sing like people are listening because those people are not interested in your shower set list. I went to an outer suburban venue this week catching up with friends and there were two young ladies performing as an acoustic duo who, going by the poster performed there regularly. They looked nice. Anyway… I asked the venue manager about their live entertainment roster and he said, “we’re not continuing with it. It doesn’t seem to work here”. Now if these two kids tethered to an iP...

If Kevin Rudd keeps his seat, I think an appropriate penance for him would be to serve for another three years as leader opposite the most unpopular Prime Minister this country has ever elected. Thanks Kevin. You couldn’t let it go could you. You couldn’t accept the umpires decision back in 2009 when your party saw you were unfit to continue as its leader. You knew you didn’t have the numbers so you didn’t call a spill and resigned and made it look like Julia Gillard knifed you. Thank you Kevin for plotting your revenge from day one and sabotaging the 2010 election resulting in the most vicious hung parliament this country has ever seen. Thank you Kevin for your continuing undermining of the achievements of the Gillard government despite being in minority government. Thank you for prostituting yourself the corrupted Canberra Press Gallery with your leaks and leadership speculation that suffocated the air out of your party’s visionary achievements. Thank you Kevin. Your actions fr...

I was having lunch with a dear friend of mine recently. She is also a musician but spends most of her time writing articles for music websites in Australia and abroad. We were having a long overdue catch up. We talked about life, the kids and then went on to music. As musicians do. We got on to talking about why we write music and in part of that conversation I said, “I don’t care one way or another if any of my tunes get commercial airplay or not”. She instantly went from musician mode to interviewer mode and remarked on how interesting that comment was for a recording artist to make. After I reminded her that as a middle aged independent artist, no commercial station would give a shit but if by some weird chain of events it did happen that was great. The thing is, I don’t write or record music for the sole purpose of getting airplay. I do it because its what I love to do and if I get to hear it beaming off a transmitter then its a bonus. She then threw another hook and asked me if...

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I’m going to start by saying that the ANZAC legend is born from bravery, mateship, resourcefulness and the fire in the belly of men and women who sacrificed their lives to ensure future generations inherit a world of freedom, peace and tolerance. This is not about our diggers. This is about the fine line between national pride and nationalism. The other day we witnessed yet another racist rant on a train and what struck me was the way she mentioned Aussies who fought in the war to justify her racist logic. When did Australians start becoming a nation of brainless fuckwits? When did Australians stop learning that we were not the only ones to fight and die in war? More Africans, Arabs, Asians, Islanders and Europeans got slaughtered in two World Wars than the allied forces put together. When did Australians forget that without locals in countries such as Papua New Guinea or Egypt or Indonesia they would have been slaughtered by the Germans or J...

I don’t know why I keep doing it but I somehow always seem to find myself dragged in front of the TV when The Voice, X-Factor or one of those “reality” talent shows are on. Now don’t get me wrong. I have no trouble with talent shows. My earliest memory of TV Talent Shows goes back to New Faces on Channel 9 with Bert Newton or Pot of Gold with Tommy Hanlon Jr. and Bernard King .. The original 'Kyle Sandilands arsehole' judge. Now I will save my thoughts on the current crop of TV talent shows for another time but the thing that makes me yell at the television is the crying and the bloody sob story that comes with contestants. OK.. The kid tells us a story of misfortune, heartbreak and misery. What would be even more heartbreaking is if after all of that, they’re shit! I should also add that My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef have the same sook segments too. “It would me a lot to me (sniff) to win… I live for food (sniff)”… WE ALL LIVE FOR FOOD! Now COOK! Now before I get accused of bein...