Australia - Land of the Free? column

Column by Reece Pocock

Australia\'s Secret Independence
[pic3] There was no struggle of Australia wanting to go it alone or wars being fought. No dramatic lowering of one flag and the raising of another. No, it was the other way around. It was Great Britain that pushed Australia kicking and screaming int..read on

Bad Government Decisions to Cost Australia Billions
The decision to withhold funding to the railways and promote road transport over Government run rail transport meant Australians paid dearly. Trains cause less pollution, are far safer, and should be carrying more freight and passengers. The Road Tra..read on

Politics of Global Warming
World leaders have to overcome centuries of products that have made living easy for some people - mostly the rich nations. These commodities and the easy living they provided have contributed to global warming. How do our leaders ..read on

Drought is on the Land
Unfortunately, Australia was settled by the English who brought their northern temperate practices to a drought-prone country. So, we see acres of lawn, northern hemisphere plants, and trees that require extra water above what the climate can..read on

The car and the penis
Road traffic accidents, traffic collisions, auto accidents, road accidents, personal injury collisions, motor vehicle accidents, and crashes kill an estimated 1,200,000 people worldwide each year and injure an estimated 48,000,000 people. If we quote..read on

Will the Real David Hicks Stand UP
Most of the news reports have been about how badly the US and Australian Governments have handled the capture and subsequent incarceration of Hicks. But, what about the man? This is important for the people of Adelaide like the w..read on

Will David Hicks live Happily ever after?
Now that the hearings for David Hicks have been decided, he will soon be leaving Guantanamo Bay to serve out his sentence in South Australia. Does that mean he will live happily ever after? His first obstacle is to get out of the clutches of..read on

Slaughter of the Innocents
Anzac Day in Australia has come and gone for another year. This holiday commemorates the day Australian and New Zealand soldiers stormed ashore at Gallipoli in 1915 to confront the Turkish Army. They not only showed extreme courage and suffered over ..read on

Howard cancels Australian Cricket Tour of Zimbabwe
The Australian Government have overridden Cricket Australia and cancelled the proposed tour of Zimbabwe by the all-conquering Australian Cricket team. This decision could have grave consequences for worldwide cricket. The cancellation is mor..read on

Oh! What a world?
It seems as if it’s a human condition to focus on the negative. Read any newspaper and for some reason they believe that we only want to read bad news stories. Those of us who live in democracies have it rammed down our throats how bad a government i..read on

Howard Australian Government in Trouble.
Australian Government in trouble. You would expect if you were a democratically elected government, the economy is the best in the region, there is almost full employment, your people are prosperous, the poor are well supported by social securit..read on

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.
What is the base impulse that makes some of the human race want to abuse children? What is it in the community that allows this to be tolerated and turns a blind eye to the destruction of children? This abuse is happening in Australia, a supposedly f..read on

What Does Al-Qaeda Want?
What does Al-Qaeda want? What are their aims? What will stop them from sending out their killers (or freedom fighters from their perspective) to cause havoc on the world? The United States Department of Defense defines the organisation as – A ..read on

Is the World Changing too fast?
After I wrote my last article about ‘What does Al Qaida want’ a friend of mine suggested that the problem is just resistance to change. It is a human condition to refuse to accept c..read on

My Granddaughter\'s Visit
There is a special relationship grandparents have with their grandchildren. It’s hard to define why but maybe it has something to do with the authority of the children’s parents and somehow the grandparents become children again to their children and..read on

Okay for Wannabe Australian Prime Minister to visit Strip Club
If you want to be the Australian Prime Minister is it okay to visit a strip club and ogle semi nude women? ‘Yes,’ say the Australian people. The leader of the Labor Party, Kevin Rudd, admitted to visiting Scores Strip Club in New Yo..read on

Comedy Team makes the World laugh at APEC security
APEC security breached by Comedy Team. Sydney Australia, Thursday the 6 September 2007, Security for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was breached by a team of comedians from the popular Australian Broadcast..read on

ProTour Cycling Goes Down Under
ProTour Cycling Goes Down Under. President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UC), Mr Pat McQuaide, announced the ProTour series will kick off in South Australia in January 2008. ‘I’m very pleased with the news today from the Pro..read on

What is it about Strong women that makes us feel uncomfortable?
The very ambitious Julia Gillard the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Opposition is one such woman but for some reason both men and women fail to warm to her. If she were a man, her achievements and how she conducts herself would mean she would ..read on

Women Leading the New Revolution
Business is learning that to attract women employees, changes are necessary to employment conditions. At the same time, the bottom line looks much better when arrangements are made to attract this dynamic part of the workforce. With near ful..read on

The Great Interest Rate Con.
Reserve Banks or whatever their equivalent in countries around the world is orchestrating the biggest confidence trick ever known to mankind. The great gullible public are told that interest rates have to rise and fall to control a country's..read on

John Howard\'s Australian Government smashed in a landside defeat
Saturday November 24th proved to be a bad day for Prime Minister John Howard. The Australian people said we want change. They elected the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd in emphatic fashion. Labor will have a majority of about 25 sea..read on

Just a Common old Tuesday - or is it?
Once again the 11th of December roles around - the 76th anniversary of Australia's Independence - with no recognition of the date, but how can anyone in the great brown land recognise it if they've never heard of it? It's interesting the re..read on

\'Osama is a lovely Brother\'
'By the way,' wrote David Hicks in a letter home to his parents in May 2001, 'I have met Osama bin Laden 20 times now, lovely brother, everything for the cause of Islam. The only reason the west calls him the most wanted Muslim is because he's got th..read on

India getting Beaten - wants go home
I sat down on Sunday evening and watched on television Australia's miracle win in the Second Cricket Test in Sydney. I thought it would be a good article for my column; I even had the title picked out 'Miracle in Sydney'. By the next morning however,..read on

Clash of Cultures
It's interesting to compare attitudes to cricket's disciplinary processes by Asian teams and by the Australian team. For instance, let's look at three cases, namely Arjuna Ranatunga from Sri Lanka at Adelaide oval, Darren Lehmann from Australia at Br..read on

The Real Story about Heath Ledger
We read with sadness and watch on television endless stories about the tragic death of the Australian actor Heath Ledger. While I sympathise with his family I am seeing a part of society that bothers me. Everywhere you go, the supermarket, o..read on

Whale Killing - who is Japan trying to kid?
Japanese whalers must think the rest of the world is stupid. No one is going to accept that killing whales is for research. How can the photo from the Australian Customs Service, that accompanies this article, be scientific research? Two dea..read on

Do You Have to be Poor to Succeed?
It's surprising that many of the successful people in the arts, music, writers, poets, sport, politics, and even in business started from very humble beginnings. Is there something in us that has to be brought out by a will to succ..read on

The Meeting
They arrived at about the same time. He came from the left, she from the right. They looked at each other briefly. Then he walked to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He gazed into her eyes and took her in his arms. She had changed..read on

Is Bindi Irwin Exploited?
Bindi looks to me to be a beautiful little girl and every time I see her on television I'm pleased to see her talent and enthusiasm, but somehow the primary reaction is sadness. Before you say that is because she lost her father Steve in suc..read on

Understanding Peer Pressure
I wrote this article for children. I'm sure some of TheCheers readers have children. Show them this article. It may help to explain the pressure some of their peers place on them and how to deal with it. Who are your peers? They are someon..read on

Is the USA Alliance still good for Australia
This week Australians have witnessed our new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, swanning around Washington. Our newspapers and TV screens have been full of self-satisfied grinning faces of Rudd with Bush, and the three presidential candidates. Aus..read on

Why Bow to the Queen?
In a recent visit to Queen Elizabeth 11 the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd nodded slightly instead of the traditional head bow on meeting the Queen of England. Back in Australia there was some debate that the PM didn't show proper respect to t..read on

How to stuff up a Mighty River
Australia's mighty River Murray is in danger because of greedy water extraction policies. The upper reaches of the river system have had good rains but almost none of the flows have reached the lower areas in South Australia. Toxic River Bed How's..read on

A Welcome Visitor
I heard a noise outside my house. When I investigated there were quite a few neighbours watching a koala climbing a tree. Birds had been dive-bombing the little guy who was frightened and seeking protection. Close-up to the koala By this tim..read on

ARE WIND FARMS THE ANSWER?
In Australia in the last few years there has been a huge expansion of wind farms. Because they are a renewable resource with almost no emissions, they are being touted as the answer to all our prayers to reduce the speed global warming catches up wit..read on

WHY DO GOVERNMENTS FAIL SO MISERABLY?
All around the world governments are failing. It doesn't matter whether people live under mad dictators or benevolent democracies; their leaders are inept at running the country. Democracies elect their own governments but that doe..read on

Time to stop Electing Idiot Politicians
When we vote for someone to represent us in Parliament, what are we saying to that person? Okay, I've listened to your policies and heard how you are as a person; I am going to give you my vote. For that vote I expect: You to ensure that..read on

ARE SO CALLED DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS DEMOCRATIC?
We go along on Election Day to vote thinking we are participating in one of the great privileges of modern society - the democratic election. But, let us examine what really happens. First of all, the cabinet is the decision making body of t..read on

The Olympics - a world political force
Wherever you are in the world, I hope you enjoyed the television coverage of the Olympic Games from Beijing China. You were no doubt thrilled by the exploits of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps and many others as they performed feats that are ..read on

The Case against America
The United States under George W Bush has bungled the war on terror by concentrating on Iraq. The real danger from terrorism was always in Afghanistan. Transcripts from the Robert Greenwald film "UNCOVERED" prove the reasons for the Bush administr..read on

The Rise and Rise of The Russian Federation
Those of us who watched the wall coming down in 1989, and the subsequence demise of the Soviet Union, can only look on in wonder at how quickly the Russian Federation has asserted itself to become a world power again. The Russian Prime Minister, V..read on

Sex, Sex, and more Sex!
Some advertisements use porn to sell their products, and it is a reflection on society that it works. However, sometimes the advertisements go too far and cause a backlash against the product. But the trick is to use sex in advertising – more accu..read on

Christmas - Hypocrisy gone mad!
So, the cards are all sent; received cards are standing on any exposed surface with sufficient area to take them. The presents are all wrapped and under the Christmas tree waiting to be distributed on the day, or hidden until Father Christmas leaves ..read on

Cry from Zimbabwe - Please Save us
"We are all terrified at what they are going to destroy next........I mean they are actually ploughing down brick and mortar houses and one family with twin boys of 10 had no chance of salvaging anything when 100 riot police came in with AK47's and..read on

Down with Minority Groups
For observers of our planet, the above sentiment is the only conclusion they could arrive at when they see race hatred, ethnic bias, gender, and religious discrimination endemic to most communities on Earth. Government, business, and in almost eve..read on

THE REAL CSI
We have all been given to understand the life of a glamorous Crime Scene Investigator is all excitement and checking to make sure their lipstick and eyeliner is on straight. Or, that Gil Grissom (the lead character in CSI) is going to walk in with so..read on

The Second Battle
The Battle of El Alamein was one of the great battles of World War 2. For about fifteen terrible minutes the weapons thundered. Then suddenly, far to the east, two searchlights flashed into the sky like a celestial sign and remained stationary. ..read on