Saddam to hang - more trouble than its worth?

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death this morning.  In my opinion, all’s well that ends well.  Whilst I think the entire Iraq occupation has been a disastrous event in which the Americans have thinly disguised their true motives for oil with weapons of mass destruction and the removal of a dictator in the name of democracy, the truth of the matter is that Saddam Hussein being disposed has been a positive thing.  What will be the concern now will be what to do with the vacuum he will leave behind.  The pro-Saddam Sunni’s have been fighting for him and obviously for his release, but now Saddam will be martyred in their eyes and it will surely escalate the violence.

That great moron George W Bush this morning made a gloating speech and will see this as further justification, but what he should be really doing is either cleaning up the mess or get out with my preference being the latter.

I look forward to our own moron Johnny echoing George W’s words this morning as he always does.

Sunday Evening Post

Thought I'd recap the weekend with a bit of time up my sleeve...

Saturday was cricket and I had a very good day as we bowled our opposition Baulkham Hills out for 82 and in reply the Mighty Greystanes B10's are 5/164.  Yours truly opened the innings and was out on the 4th last ball of the day for 68.  Was bloody tired last night after spending the entire day on the field... but its a lot better feeling than getting a golden duck!  Next week, we'll push the lead some more and then try to score an outright.

Today we went to friends Angelo & Karen's to warm their new house.  They bought a really nice little villa in Greystanes and we descended where Angelo had cooked up a BBQ and Karen had splurged on the salads and deserts.  Very nice afternoon of sitting down eating and drinking... have had too many beers today so I will probably hit the hay early tonight.

On the gaming front, the seventeenth season of the SWL Bloodbowl League has started up on fumbbl and I am starting with a new Rotters team in the bottom divisions... I won the league in Season 5 but have been a long way away since... maybe this team will get there... Kudos to the reader who can work out the team name...

Subversive Censorship

The ABC show “The Glasshouse” has been cancelled due to “bias”.  The ABC, which is our Government Owned TV station has decreed that it shall show  “balanced coverage” and that it will not present shows that are “biased”.  I ask “Biased to what!?”  The Glasshouse, for those that don’t know of it is (was) a show that took the piss out of the media and the Government.  The name of the show is a reference to the “when in glass houses” cliché… The show was a bunch of comedians taking potshots at the news of the day which of course had a high level of political content.

Now the ABC has cancelled it because under its new policy, it doesn’t fit their “balanced and non-biased view”.

When you’re owned and controlled by the Government, this simply reeks of the fact that someone on high in Canberra (Johnny are you reading this!) said “get it off as it isn’t doing my chance of re-election any good”.

This dear readers is censorship for political gain.  This is what Dictators do.  This is what Saddam Hussein was doing in Iraq – swamp the public with pro-regime views and refuse alternate thinking to reach the people via media censorship.  I don’t care that John Howard denies it, the station is owned by the Government and hence someone in Government made a decision.

In another case, NSW Liberal Opposition Leader Peter Debnam wrote to NSW Premier Morris Iemma asking for bi-partisan support to denounce Sheik Hilaly and his “extremist views”.  Hello?  Not that I endorse what the Sheik said, but since when do we not live in a country of free speech and democracy?

I am not going to be naïve and believe this is a new phenomena but seriously, we have to realise that the Government is ever increasing its grip on what the people hear, read and understand.  The media is so far from an independent presenter of the facts and is now riddled with people vying for political gain.

PlayStation Portable - Good Or Bad

I have a thread going on the virtues of the PlayStation Portable (PSP).  Anyone with an opinion should go here.

Lucy Comes To Stay

Niki's mum and dad have headed for a 10 day tour of New Zealand and we've been charged with the responsibility of minding their 8mth(??) puppy "Lucy". Lucy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and is a lovely dog, but I just had to post this picture.

The thing on Lucy's head is a "snooty" and this head rug is so that she can eat her dinner without getting her ears in it! I have never laughed so hard as when I came into the kitchen to see Lucy in her "snooty" waiting for her dinner... LOL!

Of course, she gets the royal treatment from the kids and is constantly being groomed while poor old Zoe the Golden Retriever loses out.

And of course, she is very cuddly and this is what I saw after getting out of the shower this morning... Lucy and Brooke asleep in my bed...mmm...

Scary Girls

Just a snapshot from last nights trick & treating expedition... this was before they went and before they became suger-hyped lolly monsters at 9:30pm! LOL! :)

Halloween In Australia...

Last night was Halloween… did any of you dear readers get a knock on the door from kids looking for lollies? We only got one door knock from the kids across the road, but then my girls actually did go out with some school friends and tricked and treated around our suburb. Kate dressed as a witch and Brookie as Cinderella went around and door knocked. I got home from work during this and I went walking around the block trying to find them and didn’t see a soul. Mind you it was quarter to nine at this stage and probably too late. However one house had a jack-o-lantern on the front verandah and the girls did come home at 9:30 loaded to the nines with lollies and chips. One person even gave Kate, Brooke and their friends a $20 note!!

Niki said that whilst people were friendly and had stuff to give she felt very awkward knocking on doors, but the kids loved it. But why are we doing this? Even the media seems to be partially behind it and twice I have heard the story “its not American, its actually British”. What crap… yes, it probably is a celebration brought to America by British settlers on the Mayflower, but this doesn’t mean we in Australia need to celebrate it. Do the Americans celebrate the Queens Birthday like we do… yes, its British, but this bad logic doesn’t apply to them. Why do we need to follow American tradition and excuse it on the basis it originated in the UK? Seems like another case of Americanism gone wrong…

Having said that… I didn’t mind having a few chockies courtesy of the neighbours last night!