Ignorance is Bliss?

I have had my head chewed off a little bit today because of posting about Australian current affairs.

I suppose I could have posted the following; Local Real Estate Company backup data program flops! When the secretary failed to update the computer program before the rollover nobody thought much of it. All January data was lost when backup data corrupted due to Y2K issues. It affected one secretary, a small business of 5 employees and somebody else. After many red faces a techno friend solved the problem and everyone laughed. Nobody was confused or lost money, and the secretary is much relieved and wiser.

I preferred to post about an issue of international business ramifications affecting 4 million or so Victorians, 1.4 million South Australians, Federal Government's credibility, declining real income for many people with clear implications for rural changes and so on. All over the world affairs are in rapid change. Infomagic may be so right, in a different sort of way. If in the following months Infomagic visions take form it will bring changes beyond mocking. Dramatic changes are happening without Infomagic assistance. Spiralling changes are a reality Down Under - ask anyone in the Western Districts of Victoria where lifestyles are in flux.

Because I am standing by the relevance of my posts I don't mind getting my head bit off. I do wish to point out though that Y2K is ushering in a new 'branded' world that is driven by many interests, digital interests is one. TB2000 could provide a vehicle of knowledgeable 'awareness' discourse and canvas current affairs centering on the digital industrial revolution et al. It could remain a tabulation house of minor and major digital calamity too. I know which I'd prefer.

Regards from OZ where beer per glass is up by 7% - it's a clamity!!! Where my ferret rodent when I need to protest!!!

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 08, 2000

Answers

Hang tight, senor. Your posts always have relevance beyond the merely "local". Ignore the cranks, and keep real news coming.

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-- Squirrel Hummer (news@youcan.use), February 08, 2000.

And get on board the freedom train to where real workers simply ignore whinging parasitic sheeple who want a ride for free. AU is no 'worker's paradise', no matter how often its morally bankrupt socialist 'leaders' say so.

-- Howard Roark (nowork@noeat.com), February 08, 2000.

Pieter, please continue to post. Have dear friends in Queensland and am worried sick about their wellfare [as well as yours]. Thank you for keeping us all informed about life in OZ.

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), February 08, 2000.

Just ignore 'em Mate. You do good work. Keep it up!.

-- XOR (drwizzard@usa.net), February 08, 2000.

Pieter.... Keep up the post please.....It's a small world

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), February 08, 2000.

Keep posting, Pieter. News from overseas is highly relevant to the changing concerns of this forum. Not only that, we have a not insignificant number of Down-Under residents and ex-pats and other British Commonwealth and former Commonwealth posters and lurkers.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 08, 2000.

You bet I want overseas news. I don't get it on the network nightly version!!! Keep it rolling, buddy.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), February 08, 2000.

Please keep posting! Your posts have alerted MANY of us to the Australian crisis which we'd NEVER have heard about otherwise. Thanks and keep up the good work

-- Your Fan (keepon@keepingon.net), February 08, 2000.

To Pieter's critics:

Don't think for a second that the same group of British investors can't and won't buy your job, your plant, your town. Victoria is an experiment, and the citizen's response to various levels of discomfort sends a message to the global financiers re: how to tailor their strat to similar cultures (ie the US, Canada,...).

Just how many freedoms and comforts will the Aussies give up for "the common good"...

See them turning against eachother now, taking money to bust into someone's home or business to bankrupt them with $10k or $1 mill fines? That would bankrupt most American households and business (the bulk of which are small).

How anyone can miss the "big picture" is just beyond me. Follow the money. Nestle in Chile, Dow Corning in Bohpal, ...ugh, I struggle to identify a global corp. that didn't screw the folks not on the headquarter's home field. World Bank in Brazil.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 08, 2000.

Dear TB2000 friends,

It takes talent and application to turn the most beautiful nation into something third world with averages wages declining, like those listed by the Bureau of Statistics.

It takes genius to reduce our farmers' statistical numbers from 225,000 to fewer than 100,000 in ten years.

Yes sir, the brilliance of having so many people relying on public largesse, unemployed for life in the third generation now. It's dazzlingly awesome.

A social engineering soup. Heavenly.

Then this 'fringe?' sentimentKKK Link

Ku Klux Klan meeting in Qld
From AAP
03feb00

3.36pm (AEDT) ETHNIC groups were today alarmed by reports white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, planned to stage a rally in rural Queensland later this month.

KKK leaflets have reportedly been distributed in the Darling Downs region inviting "the white public" to attend a KKK rally and cross burning ceremony at Brookvale Park, west of Toowoomba. Peter Coleman, the national spokesman for the KKK in Australia, today confirmed the Queensland meeting. "But I have no details. They run their own agenda up there," he said from Sydney.

The Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland said it would campaign strongly against the KKK if it tried to gain a foothold in Queensland.

"If the Ku Klux Klan is gaining a foothold here it is very disturbing," council chairman Nick Xynias Queensland police said they would take no action if the KKK rally went ahead because it would be held on private land.

"Brookvale Park is private property so it would be of no interest to us unless the law is broken, or unless the rally spilled over into the public in some way," a police spokesman from nearby Dalby said.

The owners of Brookvale Park, once open to the public as a native flora and fauna display, could not be reached for comment.

But the mayor of Jondaryan Shire, Peter Taylor, said the local council had no powers to stop a KKK rally on private property.

Mr Taylor said he was unaware the KKK was active in the shire of 13,000 people.

"I've never ever heard of a whisper of it here," he said.

Previous news reports have said the KKK had up to 60 members in south east Queensland.

Mr Xynias doubted the group would flourish because he said Australians were generally more tolerant of other people's views.

"It is wrong to criticise a person because of the colour of his skin or because of his religion or culture," Mr Xynias said.

The highly racist Ku Klux Klan was spawned in the United States after the American Civil War, and fought to deny the civil rights of the then recently freed African-American slaves.

Regards,

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 08, 2000.

Pieter, Years ago I used to not put a whole lot of interest in the Down Under, but about 10 years ago I fell in love with one while I was going through seminary... still didn't put a whole lot of thought there...but in the last couple of years I have grown to respect your country for the effort you have put forth, especially concerning prepardness... now I have to say... I highly respect your alert and strong reporting efforts... I wish my own country would wake up too. I used to love what America stood for... now I am embarrassed to call this place my home... Good thing I am a pastor and can just say "I'm passin through!" Keep up the great work...it doesn't matter who and what is saying things about you...what matters is doing what is right and never tiring of doing good!

BRyan

-- SB Ryan G III (sbrg3@juno.com), February 08, 2000.

Thanks for your encouragements. I couldn't resist the KKK article because of its sharp contrast to mainstream Australian thinking. It's ignorant to a point, but not surprising as a phenomenon. Under stress exotic ideals get a ready ear. Last weekend I visited another farm and we discussed politics in passing gossip, a la local member's chance of survival come next poll. Answer nil survival. Sentiments run deep you see. Some ignorant sentiments do rally in radical form and they organise. Some organise better than others.

Regards from OZ where it's pretty warm today.

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 08, 2000.

Pieter, I sort of recall that the KKK goes back even further than the Civil War, it moves to a place in our history that surrounds a conflict with the King of England... It was a secret society called "The Black Legion" I don't recall all of the specifics but I remember doing a study on it about 30 years ago... Boy, that sure sounds like a long time ago... I can't be getting that old... I took most of the study from a book called "Labors Untold Story" ...wish I could remember the authors... I try to search my aging memory ... Buy it started with only a few racist men and grew to pit brother against brother and father against son and country against itself for no more reason than the color of ones skin and misinterpretation of the Word of God... "Do not become unevenly yoked" I believe was the cornerstone. They believing this scripture implied to Moses wife, who was a Ethiopian... when the scripture actually declares seperating ones self from the unholy! Anyway Pieter, Thanks for your Compliment... it means a lot! Oh Yeh, that woman I fell in love with 10 years ago, we just celebrated our 9th wedding aniversary... and expecting our 3rd child in August... some great stock comes from Down Under... Thanks again, :)from not so sunny california, but from where the gaint redwoods meet the beach... at a whopping 39 degrees F presently... 10PM PST 020800.

BRyan

-- SB Ryan G III (sbrg3@juno.com), February 09, 2000.

Pieter... I don't refer to my wife as "stock" ...I am implying, she is of good roots... it was a compliment...not some masculine meatmarket statement on womanhood. I imagine you understood the statement, but because there seems to be a great many of "not-so-tuned-in" types roaming around looking for trouble on the web...I've taken time to just save them the trouble of chewing of my head a little bit! :) catch ya later. BRyan

-- SB Ryan G III (sbrg3@juno.com), February 09, 2000.

SB Ryan G III,

I think you were taught to be cautious too. Point left right, 7 x 3 ....; say hello to your lady. It must be cold for her.

Regards from the Deep South of OZ

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 09, 2000.

Pieter - I have to just skim, now, cause my job has gotten pretty busy. I always read your posts, but missed the abuse (my junk-filter runs automatically). Keep posting, ignore flying debris.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), February 09, 2000.