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I don’t particularly like Marieke Hardy’s writing but her article for The Drum on Australia Day is a winner.

Walking down the main street of Tamworth the other morning – gamely dodging yodelling couples in his ‘n’ hers double denim begging for loose change – I passed a man wearing a rather fetching navy blue singlet.

Written on the front were the following words: “THIS IS AUSTRALIA. WE EAT MEAT, DRINK BEER, AND SPEAK F-CKIN’ ENGLISH!” My first thought – outside of “I wonder if he’s single/looking?” – was that it must mean January 26th was just around the corner. Of course, I realised with a start: Australia Day is upon us. Time for those racist t-shirts to be dusted off and paraded about by small-dicked rednecks.

Australia was never a country for such overt displays of racism as patriotism. But the past few years has seen such sentiments as “We grew, here, you flew here” ,”100% Aussie Pride” and “Fuck Off, We’re Full” with associated displays of drunken thuggery rise as a chosen means of celebrating Australia Day over the traditional quiet barbie and a few beers.

There is nothing wrong with celebrating the national day. I’m love living in Australia. It is a great little nation with plenty to be proud about. But the nation has had trouble coming to grips with its past. It is no coincidence that those that eagerly take to Australia Day with an Anglo-nationalistic fervour are the same ones who would just as eagerly deny any of Australia’s many sins. They are also likely to be the first ones to scoff at Australia’s Indigenous population who, with justification, prefer the term Invasion Day.

Everyone from politicians down try and claim Australia Day for their own purposes. I’d prefer less of the overt nationalism that prevents clarity in both hindsight and foresight and more honest reflection and acknowledgement of the past and our shared future. That may be a way back to an Australia Day for all Australians.

This in mind boggling stupid. A US company that manufactures rifle sights has been found to be including references to Biblical passages on the rifle sights.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as “the light of the world.” John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

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I wanted a netbook for downstairs computing so I recently brought a Dell Mini 9 cheap from Grays Online. A lovely little machine and the first thing I did was blow away the default Windows XP and install Ubuntu. That all was fine until I learned that people had got the Mac OSX operating system running on Dell Minis.

I was a Mac user back in the 90s with a Mac IIsi and then graduating to one of the early Powerbooks. My Powerbook died just before I left the US in 96 and I drifted into Linux then Windows upon returning to Australia.

The chance to use Mac OSX was too good to resist. I did some research and found the following instructions. From eBay I got a 2GB ram chip and then brought a Toshiba 8GB USB stick. I had a few 2GB ones lying around for the boot loader. Of course, I got a copy of Snow Leopard from the Apple store.
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Dick Gross, an atheist, has a column in where he defends the canonisation of Mary Mackillop. It is a meandering, wishy washy post.

The first point I contest is the idea that saints, like MacKillop offer, consolation to the sick. It is a false consolation. Miracles do happen as described in the uncritical reporting of testimony of Kathleen Evans. She prayed to MacKillop and was then found cancer free. Indeed, her case is amazing and a wonderful thing to have happened to her and her family. But as I’ve argued before, it could very easily, and more likely, be a case of spontaneous remission.

There is a danger that that false hopes of saints could lead patients to place less faith in doctors and treatment and more in miracles to their own detriment. The charge that I may be taking away something positive away from cancer suffers is I accept but Barbara Ehnreich’s experiences show that positive thinking can be dangerous in itself.
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Australia has caused another racism ruckus (the Hey Hey black face episode being the previous one) with a KFC add that depicts an Aussie bloke making friends with a crowd of West Indians by offering them some KFC.

The cries of racism were directed at the ad for use of an stereotype that African-Americans like fried chicken. And if the ad was in an American context, I could understand the concern.

But the ad has nothing to do with US racial stereotypes. The black people in the ad are West Indians who are not part of the United States. KFC are a major sponsor of cricket here in Australia and the West Indies are one of (and a popular) side touring Australia at the moment. The ad is a mildly humorous take on what happens when you are stuck in the middle of the opposition supporters.

There are number of West Indian stereotypes that, if used, would make accusations of racism accurate and deserved.

That is not to say racism does not exist in Australia. We have yet to still come to terms with a abysmal treatment of the Indigenous population. The White Australia policy was still on the books until the mid-70s. The aforementioned Hey Hey incident revealed a disturbing, lingering element of casual racism in Australia. And the continued attacks escalating into murder of Indian students are frightening.

But KFC should be let off the hook for this one. It is a case of the Americans being remarkably insular and ignorant about the rest of the world and not Australian racism. And of course, Americans are guilty of the greater crime of not having a clue about cricket.

My main problem with the ad is that Mick is a know-it-all smarmy little git.