“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.”
Read more: Government and Rule: The Bane of Humanity
The concept of Mother’s Day as we know it in Australia began in the United States in the days of the Civil War by two ladies who were Peace advocates and suffragettes. They started a campaign to care for wounded soldiers from both sides by creating Mother’s Day Work Clubs to improve public health.
They made a Mother’s Day proclamation in 1870 and called on mothers of all nationalities to join together and promote the amicable settlement of international disputes. The movement did not succeed. The lady’s name was Anna Jarvis but she persisted with the idea of setting aside a special day to honour all mothers because a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world".
What is it that makes us remember things from our past and, for some inexplicable reason, they stick with us?
Some things are from distant memories of childhoods lived and recalled with great fondness. Others talk about an incident from adulthood. In all cases, they feature an event that has stayed with us as a “ keeper “ in the file cabinet called our memory.
When people approach their end of useful life ( according to the young smart arses that think that they will live forever, or perish due to climate change before their 30th birthday ) it seems to be that our minds retreat to happier times that our brains chose to save, while deleting so many thousands of days.
Why is that?
Read more: The Flight of the Navigator - When We Knew We Were the Centre of the Universe
Martin Luther King Jr.(referred to as Martin) was born Michael King Jr in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on January 15, 1929. His father, Michael King Sr, was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. King Sr had attended the Baptist World Alliance in Berlin, Germany, in 1934, which condemned the rise of Nazism. On his return home, King Sr renamed himself and Martin as Martin Luther King, in honor of the Protestant reformer Martin Luther.
Martin had an older sister, Christine, and a younger brother, Alfred, who would play influential parts in his life.
At the time of Martin's birth, anti-African American laws, known as Jim Crow laws (Laws) were spread across the previous Confederacy and some other states. Jim Crow was a derogatory term for African Americans, named after a song and dance routine, Jump Jim Crow, performed by a white actor in blackface in the 1820s.
Read more: Martin Luther King The Anti-Segregation Warrior by Flysa
Last night, I watched a documentary about a man who, by being a spy, changed people's lives and, in turn, changed his own.
It began when he saw an advertisement in his newspaper that sought men between the ages of 80 and 90 to work for a 3 month job. The requirement was that the successful applicant had to be technically savvy and willing to deepen that knowledge. He would also have to live away from home for 3 months.
A number of older gentlemen applied. One man was selected and his named was Sergio.
Read more: The Spy Who Loved Them.... a Story of Warm Love from a Chile Place
On January 26th, 2023, Senator Lidia Thorpe addressed a crowd of Melbourne “Invasion Day” protestors. They had gathered at Victoria’s State Parliament to hear her latest racially-divisive diatribe. It was all characteristic and predictable Thorpe — a multiracial woman divided in her own ethnicity, yet ironically consumed by a crazed-monomania to achieve racial division. Incapable of reason, and fueled by discordant emotion, she is a prime example of the perfectly programmed “useful idiot.” The modern Left is dangerously riddled with them.
She is undoubtedly being used to advance an agenda that lies beyond the scope of her present awareness. Brandishing a traditional ‘battle stick,’ and podium-flanked by her red-haired multi-raced children, Thorpe theatrically declared, “This is WAR!”
Indeed, it surely is, but not as she knows it, and certainly not as the cheering throng might have hoped.
Anyone who has ever visited the beautiful town of Queenstown in New Zealand, will know the sight of the steamship Earnslaw.
The TSS Earnslaw is an integral part of Queenstown’s pioneering history and to this day a Queenstown icon. She was commissioned by New Zealand Railways to service the communities around Lake Wakatipu. Launched in the same year as the Titanic, the TSS Earnslaw’s maiden voyage was on 18 October 1912.
And this grand old lady runs on something that is demonised today - hard back-breaking work and coal.
On 7 May 2023, Charles Windsor was crowned King Charles III of England and its dominions with the crown of St Edward the Confessor, made for the coronation of Charles Stuart, King Charles II in 1661, following the Restoration.
The history of Charles II makes the St Edward Crown hardly fit to be at the centre of all the religious pomp and ceremony displayed.
The Battle of the Coral Sea is regarded by some as the action that saved Australia in WW2. That is an over-simplistic view in my opinion. It was certainly a major factor in turning the tide against Japan but it was one of a conglomerate of successful campaigns which, together, stopped their advance in the Pacific.
The battle was fought between the 4th and 8th May, 1942. It was the first sea battle between forces built around aircraft carriers and fought by aircraft rather than ships.
Read more: This Week in History - The Battle of the Coral Sea
I was 15 years old and I wanted to learn to drive. My brothers scarpered. My parents were extraordinarily busy and the queue of volunteers was surprisingly small; much like supporters at a Biden Rally, no one seemed that keen on the task. One of my brother's friends was conscripted He was the kind of lad ( 18 years old ) who would have been ordered to dance with the wall flowers at the school dance and would obligingly dance a waltz or foxtrot with the plain girl or the fat girl or the girl with crooked teeth.
I could never understand why no one wanted to teach me how to drive: I was pretty, blonde, slim, and had very nice teeth. I didn't smell awful and was, in all respects, fairly easy on the eye. But for some reason the prospect of sitting in the passenger seat while I navigated my way around a gearbox, a clutch and three little pedals didn't seem to be as popular as I had hoped.
Some time ago I watched "The Man who shot Liberty Valance " - it should be compulsory viewing for everyone in America right now, if not the entire world. What a spectacular tale about the value of a vote and the value of free and fair elections.
I have watched it before, but never before has that message come through so loud and clear as it did in my recent rewatch. .
What was it about? A bad guy and his bully mates trying to terrorise a community into submission. A weak Marshall, afraid to confront the baddies; a newspaper man frightened of the bad guys torching his newspaper office and or killing him; and townspeople too afraid to confront the menace that is ruining their lives.
Read more: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - The Power of the Man in The Shadows
While Britain danced in the streets and Europe breathed a collective sigh of relief, Australians,…
58 hits
It began quietly. No headlines. No protests. Just a story... odd, intriguing, almost heartwarming. I…
297 hits
In May 1942, as Japanese forces surged southward across the Pacific, Australia stood on the…
312 hits
When a nation loses its voice, it turns to memory. In these strange days, when…
369 hits
Factional ferrets, backstabbing bandicoots, and the great Teal tango - how the Libs turned on…
138 hits
In an era where technology dictates much of our daily lives, algorithms have become the…
332 hits
When you cast your vote, you’re not just selecting a candidate; you’re choosing the kind…
285 hits
When news broke that Australia had declared war on New Zealand, most assumed it was…
325 hits
Beneath the swaying trees and the green grass of Norfolk Island lies a brutal chapter…
351 hits
In a world that seems determined to teach us to hate our countries, I remember…
352 hits
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble In a stunning turn of events, Peter “Cooker” Fookit - who…
407 hits
For nearly three decades, the Port Arthur Massacre has been remembered as Australia's darkest day…
585 hits
Who pays the Ferryman? In the old myths, no soul crossed the river Styx without…
324 hits
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Special Correspondent for Ratty News Roderick Whiskers McNibble here, tail fluffed…
384 hits
Each war seems to produce its own under-appreciated heroes who, for reasons that have nothing…
434 hits
Just before dawn on August 7, 1915, the men of the 8th and 10th Australian…
421 hits
It is not often that a hero can also be a larrikin and vice versa.…
368 hits
On ANZAC Day we remember the fallen, the brave, the heroic. But behind every name…
393 hits
Magic happens everywhere and goodness, wonder and delight can be found alive and well throughout…
188 hits
How many people around the world have been warning about the danger we are in? …
200 hits
Two names. Two battles. One legend. At Chunuk Bair and Lone Pine, ANZAC soldiers faced…
527 hits
It has been truly said that Australia arrived in Gallipoli as six separate States and…
402 hits
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Investigative Reporter Extraordinaire The Ratty News Foreign Desk | Special Report…
442 hits
There are men who live great adventures and there are men who write about them.…
437 hits
When life collapses and the weight of grief threatens to bury us, we have two…
448 hits
He was short, wiry, and came from the dusty outskirts of Clermont in rural Queensland.…
536 hits
As the sun rises on another ANZAC Day in less than two weeks, and an…
315 hits
Some memories shimmer in the mind like a heat haze, half mischief, half magic. This…
310 hits
For over five years now, this blog has grown into more than just a place…
302 hits
In a stunning turn of events, Roderick “Whiskers” McNibble - microphone-wielding rat and founding fur…
420 hits
How did it happen? How did a failed artist and fringe political agitator rise from…
364 hits
What happens when the battlefield goes silent....but the war doesn’t end? When soldiers come home,…
496 hits