Be Thou My Vision

Many thanks to Ed Nicholls for his beautiful accompanying music.
Also known as "An Irish Hymn"

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me save that thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, thou my true word
I ever with thee, thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I thy true Son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my battleshield, sword for the fight
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight
Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower
Raise thou me heavenward, O power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and thou only, first in my heart
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, after victory won
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

Homecoming, a Bruce Dawe Poem

I might not agree with Mr Dawe's politics, but he gets sympathy points for being a brilliant artist.

Tarisai Vushe Lynched From Idol

Tarisai Vushe
Originally uploaded by Sydney Weasel

The most talented voice in some years was voted out (5th) of Australia's Idol. She had been ambushed in a campaign against her by judges. The judges did not target her for her skin color, size or gender. They targetted her for her religion.

Tarisai only ever answered questions gracefully. Not prone to hissy fits, some judges viewed this as stage management incommensurate with Idol qualities. But her voice and musical choices were superior to the self absorbed lot. Carl might be interesting as a winner, but I've stopped caring.

U.S. Military: Iranian-Made Rockets Hit Base Near Baghdad

hizballah rocket, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

From Fox News
Rockets fired at a U.S. base southeast of Baghdad were manufactured in Iran, showing again that country’s continued logistical support for insurgents inside Iraq, U.S. military officials said on Saturday.

Nobody was injured in the October 23rd attack on Combat Outpost Cashe, but one U.S. vehicle was damaged, officials said.

According to the military, the 107mm rocket was made in Iran sometime in March. Troops investigating the launch site seized six rocket rails – used to aim and launch the rockets, an unfired rocket and a timing device.

The seized rocket is the 40th Iranian manufactured rocket that soldiers have captured in the last four months, the military said.

Who Will Pull the Strings if ALP Wins?

What a Georgia Youth and Iraq Have in Common

Never Give Up, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

A Georgia youth, jailed for haveing had oral sex with another teen, has been released today. He says he 'Never gave up hope.' Lord knows, his state needs him. Did Clinton or Monica come from Georgia? Why weren't they jailed, too?
===
Meanwhile, in Iraq, where the Democrats gave up long ago, all the major signs are that Mr Bush's policies have worked. as Bartle Bull writes
"The question is whether the war is winnable and whether we can help the winning of it. The answer is made much easier by the fact that three and a half years after the start of the insurgency, most of the big questions in Iraq have been resolved. Moreover, they have been resolved in ways that are mostly towards the positive end of the range of outcomes imagined at the start of the project. The country is whole. It has embraced the ballot box. It has created a fair and popular constitution. It has avoided all-out civil war. It has not been taken over by Iran. It has put an end to Kurdish and marsh Arab genocide, and anti-Shia apartheid. It has rejected mass revenge against the Sunnis. As shown in the great national votes of 2005 and the noisy celebrations of the Iraq football team’s success in July, Iraq survived the Saddam Hussein era with a sense of national unity; even the Kurds—whose reluctant commitment to autonomy rather than full independence is in no danger of changing—celebrated. Iraq’s condition has not caused a sectarian apocalypse across the region. The country has ceased to be a threat to the world or its region. The only neighbours threatened by its status today are the leaders in Damascus, Riyadh and Tehran."

Mr Bolt adds
"Professor John Wixted agrees with most of the analysis, and has more.

From the media coverage in Australia, you would find it hard to believe that any of this was really happening. Ditto from Kevin Rudd’s apocalyptic pronouncements.

Iraq is being won, however painfully, and most of your media never saw this coming. Nor, I suspect, did they want to. And perhaps the main reason it has been won is that George Bush was in the White House, and stayed there just long enough to see this through. Bartle’s analysis, which appears in the superb Left-wing magazine Prospect, makes that much clear, even if it avoids mentioning Bush’s name."

ALP Always Caves in to Labour Unions

MILITANT Perth unionist Joe McDonald has been expelled from the Labor Party.

Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said he recommended that the national executive expel McDonald after he warned Prime Minister John Howard he would be back after winning the first of six trespassing charges against him in court yesterday.

Mr Rudd said he told the National Executive the remarks by Mr McDonald were inappropriate, incendiary and unacceptable and he recommended he be expelled.

The moves follows yesterday's launch by the Howard government of a fresh advertising blitz attacking Mr Rudd's failure to expel McDonald from the ALP.
===
Rudd must have researched this aplenty before getting off the hands he was sitting on .. his own.

Department of Defence pays tribute to fallen Sergeant

Australian SAS, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

THE Australian Government Department of Defence released the following tribute to Sergeant Matthew Locke who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

It is with great sadness that the Department of Defence announces the death of Sergeant Matthew Locke, serving with Special Air Service Regiment in Oruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, 25 October 2007.

Sergeant Locke was on a patrol when fatally wounded by small arms fire from Taliban extremists.

Sergeant Locke was involved in Operation SPIN GHAR, which directly supported an ISAF and Afghan National Security Forces operation to target and clear Taliban extremists from the area around Tarin Kowt, in Oruzgan province.

Defence extends its sympathies to Sergeant Locke’s family and continues to provide support to them during this difficult time.

(more in comments)

Hatchet Falls

Joe Tripodi Letter, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

This is the letter that confirms the talentless state government of NSW is incapable of administering any issue.

The issues referred to include
* Harassment of a public servant, so that they felt compelled to resign after 16 years.
* Death of a year 8 boy in which details were apparently withheld from investigators.
* Bungling of a paedophile investigation, in which allegations were inflated to prevent a proper examination of events.

The letter has been modified to protect the identity of some involved.

Dr. Worm v PM MC & K. Rudd

Ray Martin, the worm is not about free speech, but the ability of a few journalists to impose their world view.

Prime Minister John Howard's leadership message

ALP's Policy Machine Breaks Down

Not a break dance, 'though

For Balance. A Kevin 07 Advert

You better not pout, you better not shout .. Kevin Rudd is coming to town ..

The Problem With Not Having An Opinion

From News.com.au
LABOR leader Kevin Rudd is sustaining discrimination by refusing to support homosexual marriage, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown says.

Mr Rudd today while campaigning in the federal election that he would not change his mind on restricting marriage to heterosexuals even if any of his children were gay and wanted to marry a same-sex partner.

"Kevin, you're wrong. Gay and lesbian people should be treated the same as heterosexual people under the law,'' Senator Brown said in Canberra.

"When people form a relationship, they love each other, they get together, they share their lives, then the law should not be an impediment and they shouldn't discriminate,'' he said.

"That means removing the discrimination that Labor and the Coalition have on marriage laws against this section of the community who happen to have same-sex relationships.''

Speaking on the Austereo network today, Mr Rudd remained committed to his party line that marriage is between a man and woman, but admitted it was not a popular view in some circles.

Debate Favours Howard, Journalists Favour Rudd

Socks, Clinton Kitty, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

Last night Mr Howard won the substantive issues of the debate. He had been repeatedly warned about speaking over time, as he hammered home specifics regarding the issues. Rudd only needed a little time to parrot out his slogans.

Meanwhile, Socks is looking for that worm. The worm clearly favoured Rudd. When Rudd hesitated, and spluttered "Well, I think .." the worm registered a peak. Says it all, really.
===
Rudd promised a scare campaign, and he delivered with his quips about Nuclear Power and Workchoices.

Nuclear Power is essential to Australia if the faux target of 60% emmissions is to be met by 2050, as Rudd claims. Nuclear power is the only viable Carbon friendly option, although it does produce steam, which is another greenhouse gas, but not carbon ..

Workchoices is touted by the ALP as being so weak it allows workers to have jobs whereby they are not paid. I had such a job under old IR laws where I delievered chicken for a major retailer. I was one of several drivers. Often hours would pass without delivery, yet we were only paid for any delivery. The truth is, Workchoices is superior to old IR laws in every respect.

Rudd was caught misquoting an OECD report. He justified the misquote, shamefully.

Speaking on the war in Iraq, Rudd spoke of security issues in .. South East Asia?

Towards the end of the debate, Rudd claimed Howard had said Australians had 'never had it so good' economically. While the statement is true, it was not made by Howard, although it is an accurate summation. Keating said Australians never had it so good in reference to Keating's achievements. Keating was wrong.

He Was Loved

Dean Shillingsworth, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

Found in a suitcase bobbing in a duckpond. For days, the world had not noticed this cherubic child's deathbed.

When the last election in NSW was running, the ALP slogan had been to improve on their past mistakes. I don't think they can do better than this. A boy caught in a tug of love. Authorities warned.

Outing A Fictional Character, Dumbledore

Dumbledore
Originally uploaded by Sydney Weasel

JK Rowling has invented a world which children play in. It is a fantasy world which occasionally resembles reality. Dumbledore, the Hogwarts School Principal is gay. So have been many eminent people. Does it matter?

The character of Dumbledore is wise and giveing. He is flawed, yet praiseworthy. Dumbledore being gay does not change, nor enhance that. But Dumbledore being gay is important to the storyline because it will satisfy those people who need to see Gay people as leading worthy lives.

The truth about Gays is that they tend to live with the fear that life can pass them by because they don't fit in. That is a truth which all must deal with, but for gays it becomes an issue because they often don't fit in, and their world is invisible.

In recent years, the well intended but misleading attempts to portray many, either fictional or real, as Gay has grown strident .. and ebbed.

Maybe Bilbo Baggins, or his nephew Frodo were not gay. But if they were, the story does not change, nor the beauty of the story. And for some, the world may seem less lonely.

Personally, I struggle calling Hermione a Witch .. but that is one of my issues :p

Wednesday Morning 3 am

I thought the song funny. I've cut up and sampled images from the brilliant production company Rumble Pictures. Rumble had made it for the gorgeous piece Homebound Carriage by the Closet Romantics. Check out their professional quality vid ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta29LWRbT0A
===
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=46920#
Wednesday Morning 3am Simon & Garfunkle
(If only it had been a soft liquor store)
(Is it legal to gaze at that?)
(What can one do in a few hours?)
(A scene badly written In which I must play??!!)

Our Economy Allows Our Growth

It isn't only about spending money. Mr Howard might have chosen to have blown everything he has gained, and more, and there would not have been an appreciable lift in service performance. In fact, it is the NSW experience that profligate spending leads to poorer service.

One need only list the services to see how bad NSW has been.
Trains. Roads. Hospitals. Schools. Police. Ambulance. Add to which we have an irresponsive administration.

Yet in Federal services, we maintain a high immigration rate because people want to come here. The dollar is strong because of good management. Spending on service exceeds inflation. We pay people to own homes. We pay people to have babies. We allow unhealthy people to get better.

How Do Union Officials Govern?

The ALP have an awful history of shady backyard deals. Unlike the open and transparent operations of conservative government, the ALP have had ministers involved with corruption, paedophilia, drugs and deaths.

The old ambit claiming that absolute power corrupts absolutely has truth to it. Conservative governments tend to be bound by due process. ALP governments seem to act beyond such process.