Stephen

2010-06-08T22:12:00.001+10:00

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ANZAC Day, a day to remember those who fought for our country

2010-04-23T11:01:00.001+10:00

Those who fought for our country, for our way of life deserve to be remembered. Regardless of how their ideals may have been betrayed by politicians. Support our veterans and service men and women. Not war. People get hurt in war.

ANZAC, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, did not exist before Gallipoli. Gallipoli, planned and miss executed by Churchill. The way the men fought and died, for a lost cause, created the ANZAC legend.

Australians have volunteered and fought in many wars. As well as peace keeping and peace making operations.

Maori Wars 1860 - 1866 ( for England )
2500 served
20 died

Sudan 1885 ( for the Empire )
770 served
6 died

The Third Anglo-Burmese War 1885 - 1886 ( for the Empire )
1 served

Chitral 1895 ( for the Empire )
1 served

Boer War 1899 - 1902 ( for the Empire )
16,175 served
606 died

Boxer Rebellion 1900 - 1901 ( for the Empire )
556 served
6 died

WWI 1914 - 1918 ( for the Empire )
331,781 served
61,919 died

North Russia Relief Force 1919 ( for the Empire )
120 served

Native uprising in the British Solomon Islands 1927 ( for the Empire )

WWII 1939 - 1945 ( for the Empire )
557,799 served
39,366 died

Project Kingfisher a 1944 - 45 plan for Australian paratroops to rescue some 1,800 Australian prisoners of war held in Sandakan. It was planned and fully resourced by Australia except for the troop carrying aircraft. MacArthur refused to release the aircraft, despite the fact that aircraft were available and idle. Only one of the 1,800 or so Australian prisoners of war survived and returned home.

Korea 1950 - 1953 ( for the UN )
18,059 served
339 died

The first war that the Australian Regular Army fought in.

Operation Commando, the battle of Maryang San. 3 RAR dislodged an enemy, twice it's strength, from entrenched defensive positions, seized that ground and held it. 39 decorations were awarded for actions during this battle.

Malayan Emergency 1950 - 1960 ( for the Empire )
36 died

Vietnam 1962 - 1973 ( US request )
50,190 served
520 died

Long Tan. 11 platoon D company 6 RAR was ambushed by a company. It escalated and A, D and part of B companies 6 RAR forced the Viet Cong 275th Main Force Regiment plus and the D445 Local Force battalion to retreat. Some 230 members of 6 RAR defeated some 2,500 of the enemy, yes about 10:1. The Vietnamese left behind 245 bodies, total Australian casualties 18 dead and 24 wounded. Records later revealed the enemy lost 500 with 750 more wounded.

Indonesian Confrontation 1963 - 1966 ( for the Empire )
16 died

Fiji coup 1979
B Company 1 RAR was deployed aboard HMAS Success, HMAS Tobruk, HMAS Sydney & HMAS Parramatta off the Fijian shore.

The Gulf 1990 - 1991 ( US led )
959 served

RAN ships are still deployed in the Gulf.

1991 One SASR squadron ( 110 men ) joined some NZ SAS to form the ANZAC SAS Squadron in Kuwait for search & rescue.

Somalia 1992-1994 ( for the UN )
( Operation Solace 1993 ) 1 RAR, B Squadron 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment, logistic support & HMAS Tobruk were deployed.
937 served
1 died

Rwanda 1994-1995 - ( Operation Tamar )( for the UN )

1998 110 members of 2nd SAS Squadron and NZ SAS were deployed to the Gulf for combat search & rescue - ( Operation Desert Thunder )
( ANZAC Special Operations Force detachment on Operation Pollard in Kuwait )

East Timor 1999 - ( Operation Citadel )( Australian initiative )
over 5570 served.

Aidabasalala. A 6 man SASR patrol was ambushed by more than 20 militiamen. The militia being beaten off with 3 killed and 3 wounded. No Australian casualties.

Afghanistan " The war against terror " 2001 - ( US led )

The SASR has been praised for the success of it's reconnaissances patrols.

US Major General Frank Hagenback, Commander of Coalition Task Force Mountain stated "You won't find a more professional group than the Australians that have served here with us"

Invasion and occupation of Iraq 2003 ( Operation Bastille & Operation Catalyst )( US bullied )
some 2,600+
1 died

Australia had 1370 troops in Iraq ( 8-8-5 )

Weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq. Despite the fact that Colin Powell pointed to air photographs of Iraq and said there were weapons of mass destruction in those specific places. The US has now admitted that there weren't any. And the reason for the invasion has been changed, it was now because of the way Sadam treated his people.

The US and UK do have weapons of mass destruction! Seems like a double standard to me. In fact the US has plans to produce 125 new nuclear bombs per year! http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-blueprint-for-125-nuclear-bombs-a-year/2006/04/06/1143916656000.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

The US invaded Afghanistan to capture bin Laden, who they accuse of planning the ' September 11 ' hijackings. That's right, they invaded a whole country to capture one man after the Taliban refused or were unable to hand him over. But have so far been unsuccessful. And don't forget that the Taliban was the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

And the US has been critical of Israel's battle against terrorists.

Fiji coup 2006
Deployed off the Fijian shore.

As well as the above operations Australian service personnel are constantly involved in peace keeping / peace making operations and always on exchange with the forces of other nations, eg UK, US & NZ. Where they may become involved in operations of their host country eg KFOR.

In November 2005 there was about 1600 Australian defence personnel serving at different trouble spots around the world.

" The Government has approved the deployment of approximately 3300 Australian Defence Force personnel to 13 operations overseas and within Australia to protect Australia and its national interests. " The Defence web site at: http://www.defence.gov.au/op/index.htm 23-4-10

Our service personnel past and present serve us by protecting us and our country. They also carry out tasks allocated to them by our government. Even though you may not agree with some of the tasks they carryout, they deserve your respect. Especially those who have served in time of war.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/

http://www.defence.gov.au/army/ahu/index.htm

http://www.defence.gov.au/raaf/

http://www.defence.gov.au/

http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/

. . . . . .

" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "

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Australia Day

2010-01-26T07:47:00.001+11:00

To me Australia Day is a day to think a little more about the people who made Australia what it is. A decreasingly semi free country.

The Australian states started as English prisons. We still don't have any guaranteed ' rights ' and any that were part of English law can be legislated away by state or feral governments. We may have signed UN treaties, but they depend on feral law for their application here.

It has been more than sixty years since the feral government has acted in accordance with our constitution's written word. eg taxation.

Consider these events and people:

Reverend Samuel Marsden ( the flogging Parson ), assistant to the chaplain of the colony, then the chief Anglican clergyman in New South Wales, he recognized no other religion or denomination. Unsuccessfully tortured Irish prisoners for information at Toongabbie.

Vinegar Hill 5-3-1804 Irish political prisoners tried to escape from English imprisonment. Philip Cunningham was hung without trial by the New South Wales Corps ( Botany Bay Rangers).

The Currency Lads, born free in the colonies. They had no ' Ticket of Leave ' because they were not convicts and no identification because they were free. However under the ' Bushranging Act ' anyone could be arrested on suspicion of being an absconder. Since there weren't many police most arrests were made by ' farm constables ', ' trusty ' convicts. So it was common for free men to be arrested and chained and shackled by convicts. They then had to travel to somewhere with records, often Sydney. So it was not uncommon for a fee man to march in handcuffs 250 miles or more to prove they were not convicts.

The Eureka Stockade 3-12-1854 A clash protesting the denial of civic rights and excessive taxation.

Rottnest Island 19-4-1876 An English ship fires in an attempt to stop an Irish political prisoner escaping on a US whaler.

Rothbury 16-12-1929 Several men were shot, one died, by police during a union protest.

So for the benefit of all the people who say ' It can't happen here. ', it already has.

Australians are much better off than most of the people in the world. However we cannot be ' free ' till we have rights. Rights that are simple to understand. Rights that can not be misinterpreted by lawyers. Rights that can not be changed by governments.

"Effectively, Australia is now the only modern Western country that must face the challenges of the present age and the changes in the institutions of government without a constitutional, or even statutory, charter of rights to temper political autarchy with occasional judicial reminders of fundamental freedoms that must be respected," Justice Kirby.
http://smh.com.au/news/National/Call-for-human-rights-to-be-protected/2006/02/21/1140284066164.html

"Human rights have taken a battering by two forces - terrorism and terrorism laws," NSW Attorney-General, Bob Debus. "In some sections of the community, human rights are viewed with as much suspicion as a van with blacked-out windows parked near an embassy."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/human-rights-now-a-dirty-idea-says-angry-debus/2006/05/19/1147545529286.html

The New South Wales Police Minister wants to search every ones' SMS messages without a warrant.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1831129.htm

And you may not be able to board a Qantas aircraft if you are wearing clothing that they object to.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1831156.htm

Powers handed to Australian intelligence agencies to combat terrorism have been misused. Powers brought in because of the ' War Against Terrorism '. This simply looks like the feral government playing follow the leader. In fact in 2003 the Australian Government won the Most Egregiously Stupid Award for ' a litany of pointless, irritating and self-serving security measures '.

Stephen

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
Freedom is a well armed sheep.

................

http://www.ebearweb.net

Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/

2010-01-24T22:13:00.001+11:00

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2009-12-18T09:11:00.001+11:00

Net filters 'thin end of the wedge': Kirby

ASHER MOSES

December 17, 2009 - 12:38PM

Former High Court judge Michael Kirby has criticised the Federal Government's internet censorship agenda, saying it could stop the "Berlin Walls of the future" from being knocked down.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, announced he would introduce legislation before next year's elections forcing ISPs to block a secret blacklist of "refused classification" (RC) websites for all Australian internet users.

Most experts agree that Conroy's policy will not result in any meaningful dent in the availability of harmful internet content, will create significant freedom of speech issues and will be prone to abuse by politicians.

Former High Court judge Michael Kirby. Photo: Randy Larcombe

Almost 20,000 people have voted in a Fairfax Media poll on internet censorship and 96 per cent of respondents oppose the filters, which the Government itself has admitted could be easily bypassed and do not cover peer-to-peer, instant messaging or other communications protocols.

Nearly 120,000 Australians signed a petition against internet censorship by online activist group GetUp.

In an interview with Fairfax Radio this morning, Kirby said some circles feared the controversial policy would be "the thin end of the wedge of the Government moving in to regulating the actual internet itself".

"Once you start doing that you get into the situation of Burma and Iran where the Government is taking control of what people hear and what information they get," he said, adding that Australia's approach hadn't been attempted anywhere else in the world.

Google has also entered the debate, saying yesterday the scope of the content to be filtered went too far beyond child pornography and that the "heavy handed" approach would restrict freedom of expression.

"Refused Classification (or RC) is a broad category of content that includes not just child sexual abuse material but also socially and politically controversial material - for example, educational content on safer drug use - as well as the grey realms of material instructing in any crime, including politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia," Google Australia's head of policy, Iarla Flynn, said.

"This type of content may be unpleasant and unpalatable but we believe that government should not have the right to block information which can inform debate of controversial issues."

Kirby and Google's concerns mirror that of Sydney University Associate Professor Bjorn Landfeldt, who said yesterday that there was no clear definition of "refused classification" and the goalposts dictating what content is prohibited could be substantially widened in future.

Already, the refused classification category includes a significant proportion of legal material such as regular gay and straight porn sites, fetish sites, euthanasia material and innocuous sites that have been mistakenly prohibited.

"It was through 'public complaints mechanisms' like the one Conroy is proposing, that classic literature such as The Catcher in the Rye, Ulysses and The Story of the Kelly Gang were once banned in Australia," GetUp said.

Conversely, the Australian Christian Lobby has said it wants the mandatory filters broadened to cover all X- and R-rated content on the internet.

Landfeldt also criticised the pilot trial report used by the Government to justify the policy, saying the trials were designed to succeed from the outset, presented no new information and were now being used by the Government to further its political agenda.

The Government has said 15 other Western democracies have implemented the same filtering plan but most of the other countries have made the scheme voluntary for ISPs and the blacklisted content is limited to child pornography.

"Australia's proposed regime would uniquely combine a mandatory framework and a much wider scope of content, the first of its kind in the democratic world," Flynn said.

In a phone interview, Flynn said it was too early to say what effect the filters would have on Google's services but "if you were to look at YouTube today and ask: 'Is there material on YouTube which could be considered refused classification?', the answer would have to be 'yes' ".

Conroy's policy has attracted significant ridicule from international commentators and media, with news headlines such as "Australia plans Chinese-style internet filtering" and "Joining China and Iran, Australia to filter internet" appearing on the Telegraph.co.uk and FOXNews websites.

The Greens are expected to oppose the Government's censorship legislation, while Family First Senator Steve Fielding has said he would support it.

The Coalition has expressed "concerns" about the filtering scheme but it is believed the conservative leadership team would have difficulty opposing legislation designed to protect children online.

Liberal leader Tony Abbott said he was "open to proposals" yesterday but two Liberal backbenchers, Jamie Briggs and Alex Hawke, have already committed to opposing the policy.

"While our reservations about the effectiveness of the proposal are strong, we will examine and assess the detail as we have consistently said we would," Opposition communications spokesman Tony Smith said.

Conroy's spokesman has repeatedly failed to return calls requesting comment.

SMH 18-12-9

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/net-filters-thin-end-of-the-wedge-kirby-20091217-kyeu.html

. . . . . .

Murphy's Technology Law #7: All great discoveries are made by mistake.

http://www.ebearweb.net

Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/

Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/

http://s973.photobucket.com/albums/ae220/StephensSnaps/

Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.

2009-12-17T20:18:00.001+11:00

2009-12-17T09:28:00.001+11:00

Evidence-based policy? Not on this filter!

Stilgherrian

Politicians use the term "evidence-based" quite differently from police detectives or scientists.

Senator Stephen Conroy provided a glorious example earlier in the week when announcing that Australia will indeed get mandatory ISP-level internet filtering some time in well, maybe in 2011.

For politicians, "evidence" isn't something to be gathered with forensic precision and preserved through a documented chain of custody. Nor it is something to be compiled transparently, justified through meticulous research and refined in the purifying fire of peer review.

No. For politicians, "evidence" is something to be plucked from wherever it can be found and sprinkled to justify a previously-chosen policy like so much magic fairy dust.

The Rudd government's internet censorship proposal is not about protecting the children. It's about politics.

If the plan were really about protecting the children, and if it were really evidence-based, the government would have first have figured out what risks children actually face - online and everywhere else. They'd then figure out the best methods of countering those risks. Then they'd figure out the most cost-effective ways of implementing those solutions.

If we did that, we'd probably find that the risks are the very same ones that child protection experts keep banging on about. Bullying by their peers. Abuse from within their own homes and families. Poverty and its associated health risks. Obesity.

But this is politics, not child protection.

This policy is probably about a Senate preferences deal between Labor and Family First. It's certainly about the political demands of a small but vocal and well-connected minority of conservative Christian voters and the devilishly evil internet.

The political solution has already been chosen: compulsory censorship by an automatic filter. The political goal is to sell that policy to the voters.

This goal has been advanced through two means. One, framing the debate in the most emotive terms possible. Two, commissioning a field trial with such a narrow focus and vague success criteria that it was bound to generate some useful evidential fairy dust.

"Moral outrage is the most powerful motivating force in politics," said Republican activist Morton C Blackwell in his Laws of Politics.

Proponents of mandatory filtering have consistently mentioned only the very worst kinds of material that would be blocked, repeatedly, like a mantra.

Senator Conroy on ABC TV's Q&A : "That's material like websites that promote incest; websites that promote rape; websites that promote child pornography or child abuse"

Conroy again on SBS TV's Insight: "I have only ever identified [the material] as Refused Classification in terms of child porn, bestiality, rape, incest sites, those sorts of things."

Conroy yesterday: "RC-rated material includes child sex abuse content, bestiality, sexual violence including rape and the detailed instruction of crime or drug use."

Clive Hamilton, who's been pushing for mandatory filtering since he co-authored the 2003 report Youth and pornography in Australia: Evidence on the extent of exposure and likely effects, took this tactic to extremes in The Australian, leading his opinion piece with a 274-word fantasy about a schoolboy being exposed to everything from golden showers and fisting to defecation and something involving a horse.

In a fine piece of work, Senator Conroy kicked off this campaign on 31 December 2007 with the statement, "If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor government is going to disagree," simultaneously invoking the frame while denying it.

Hamilton and his compatriot Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby have also deployed this "extreme civil libertarian" straw man. Repeatedly. Yet they never name one.

Amongst all this rhetoric, Enex TestLab's report on the field trials almost seems like hard science, especially with 52 pages of graphs.

"Our pilot shows that ISP-level filtering of a defined list of URLs can be delivered with 100 per cent accuracy," Conroy said yesterday. "It also demonstrated that it can be done with negligible impact on internet speed."

But the trial was deeply flawed.

Conroy admitted to Triple J's Kate O'Toole in April that there weren't any fixed criteria for success.

O'TOOLE: So do you have a rate of over-blocking in mind that would be unacceptable?

CONROY: Well as I've said, let's wait to see what the trial shows us.

O'TOOLE: And then you'll put the goal posts up afterwards?

CONROY: As I said, you want to pre-empt the trial, then we're happy to wait to see what the trial comes back to us with. Perfectly happy.

Conroy's "100 per cent accuracy" doesn't relate to people viewing all child abuse material, merely that on the blacklist of "prohibited online content" compiled by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) following complaints from public.

ACMA has told Senate Estimates that on 30 September the blacklist contained a mere 1175 distinct web addresses (URLs). Of that total, 54 per cent were Refused Classification (RC), and only 33 per cent of the RC material related to child sexual abuse. The remainder of the blacklist was 41 per cent of URLs leading to X18+ material, and 5 per cent to R18 per cent material which didn't have a "restricted access system" to prevent access by minors.

This is, of course, a tiny fraction of the more than one trillion pages on the internet.

Conroy didn't mention that the filters tested by Enex can't deal with non-web protocols such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing or live chat - where problem material is more likely to be found - or that "a technically competent user could, if they wished, circumvent the filtering technology."

Despite all this, though, Conroy is actually delivering on Labor's policy.

Cut through the vague "protect the children" stuff in Labor's Plan for Cyber-safety and the filters may well actually "prevent Australian children from accessing any content that has been identified as prohibited by ACMA", and the government does plan to "ensure that the ACMA black list is more comprehensive."

Politics, not child protection.

ABC 17-12-9

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2773952.htm?WT.mc_id=newsmail

. . . . . .

He's not dead, he's electroencephalographically challenged.

http://www.ebearweb.net

Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/

Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/

http://s973.photobucket.com/albums/ae220/StephensSnaps/

Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.

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Remembrance Day

2009-11-10T14:49:00.000+11:00

        Remembrance Day is a day to remember those that fought to defend our country, our society's values ,our way of life and our freedom.

        People who volunteered to defend us against some great evils.

         Remembrance Day is not a day to ponder how politicians and big business have corrupted our society and betrayed those fundamental values and freedoms. Nor is it the time to ponder how a government can declare we are at war, when no army has attacked us or our interests.

        It's a day to remember those who fought for our country.

        At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

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