They are coming back!

[Matt. K]

How bazaar is this? Individual photographers get roughed up by the police for taking photographs of the security fence. They have their IDs checked and their memory cards confiscated. The media film all portions of the security fence and flash it on national TV for 20 million viewers to see! What the hell is happening to this country? Where is this paranoia coming from? The citizens of Sydney are now second-class citizens so the likes of Putin, Bush, and the leaders of China and Indonesia can drink French wine and suck the flesh from lobster legs whilst discussing world poverty?
What’s not to protest about? When is the last time we had loudspeakers in the street, water-canon, armed American secret service agents sitting on park benches and talking into their cufflinks, closed the harbour bridge to traffic and locked down half the city, missile ready fighter planes flying overhead and helicopters full of snipers, made it illegal for persons non grata to enter parts of Sydney even though they were not convicted criminals, given the police unprecedented powers to detain and search citizens for no lawful reason, put a temporary halt to all elective surgery so that the hospitals can be on standby, deployed 1500 Australian troops in the streets of the city, shut down city traders so that they lose thousands of dollars of vital revenue, force workers to take an unscheduled holiday and tell them to get out of town? It can only mean one thing…ABBA are coming back to Australia![/b]

[dviv]

ABBA are coming back to Australia!

WooHoo! Bring back Retro!

I'd rather listen to ABBA than discuss APEC....

[Glen]

Very apt Matt and very accurate

[shakey]

Great rant....btw...your IP has been logged and forwarded to Homeland Security. . Expect a black helicopter soon.

[sirhc55]

Thank you Matt - it makes the email that I sent to the PM early tonight more meaningful

[Jeko70]

How bazaar is this? Individual photographers get roughed up by the police for taking photographs of the security fence. They have their IDs checked and their memory cards confiscated. The media film all portions of the security fence and flash it on national TV for 20 million viewers to see! What the hell is happening to this country? Where is this paranoia coming from? The citizens of Sydney are now second-class citizens so the likes of Putin, Bush, and the leaders of China and Indonesia can drink French wine and suck the flesh from lobster legs whilst discussing world poverty?
What’s not to protest about? When is the last time we had loudspeakers in the street, water-canon, armed American secret service agents sitting on park benches and talking into their cufflinks, closed the harbour bridge to traffic and locked down half the city, missile ready fighter planes flying overhead and helicopters full of snipers, made it illegal for persons non grata to enter parts of Sydney even though they were not convicted criminals, given the police unprecedented powers to detain and search citizens for no lawful reason, put a temporary halt to all elective surgery so that the hospitals can be on standby, deployed 1500 Australian troops in the streets of the city, shut down city traders so that they lose thousands of dollars of vital revenue, force workers to take an unscheduled holiday and tell them to get out of town? It can only mean one thing…ABBA are coming back to Australia![/b]

Well....
Matt do not be worried about it...
Next Monday will be over and no one will pay any attention on it or even talk about it.
People will be talking about (sick) horses, drinking beer and complaining about petrol price.
Welcome to Austra(sil)lia.

Ps: You know I come from Mafialand and it's not so different.....it is even worse.
Ignorance (because people want to ignore=in sense of "pay no attention to") it's everywhere and it's running this silly world.
You know my english I beg your pardon my Australoamerican, is not so perfect but try to read between the lines.

Cheers
Fab

[Greg B]

Nice post Matt. There are lots of issues, but I think you have nailed the critical aspects of all this. I think
it is symptomatic of some deep and serious problems myself, and reflects on the approach taken by
those in power in Australia and the US. Hopefully the next leaders will lead towards something better.

[gstark]

Hopefully the next leaders will lead towards something better.

Hopefully the next leaders will display some signs of .... leadership.

Be nice to everyone while I'm away.

Everyone except George and Johnnie.

...

Fab, I cannot believe how much attention is being paid to the equine flu disaster. This is a risk of being in that business. My favourite part of this was the Sydney news reader who stated (at the start of this crisis)that it was a goal to make Australia an "equine free country".

[Killakoala]

Bizarre indeed Matt. It would be cool to see ABBA again

Horse flu, bird flu, what's next? Cow flu, gerbil flu?

[Oneputt]

Onya Matt - what a gigantic waste of money this crowd are.

[radar]

Well put Matt,

too much power in the hand leads to abuse of power. I'm all for protecting us against the "bad" guys but some of these rules can certainly be abused.

André

[ozimax]

Bizarre indeed Matt. It would be cool to see ABBA again

Mamma Mia, here we go again, these APEC fellas will meet their waterloo no doubt, should we take a chance on Mr Putin? I think not, the winner will take all...

[dawesy]

Well said. I found it particularly amusing that they told EVERYONE when air force one was going to land. Living under the final approach, it was also kind of add to notice that around 10pm the flow of planes stopped completely for a while, before resuming normal consistent operations. Just to make his plane easier to spot I guess... Think I heard Air Force One, but wasn't really paying enough attention to see it.

Shame I didn't have one of those shoulder mounted rockets kicking around lately.

[sirhc55]

The best protest in the world would be for all tourists and residents of Sydney to make it into a ghost town - no one on the streets at all - as the Four Seasons sang ”Silence is Golden”

[Jeko70]

Ever wet yourself from laughing? I did indeed.

Fence, Car, Police, Ambulance, Blood bank, Security, Air One, Jet, SAS,.......

When he went to Rome in June this year to meet the pope, his Million Dollar Bomb Proof Limo did Break Down when he was on the way!!!!!!.
And he did not have any fence to protect him!!!!
Have a look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX4-a7VBr4c&mode=related&search=


I'm still loughing.....I almost wet my pants......again

Fab

[dawesy]

I'm still having a quiet giggle every now and then at the cop who fell of his Jet Ski out the front of the office yesterday. Puttering around a jetty having a looksee and couldn't quite maintain his balance in the standing position. When he got back on he was looking rather sheepish!!

Today they actually had a boat surrounded and sent a diver underneath it to check it out...

[Glen]

The best protest in the world would be for all tourists and residents of Sydney to make it into a ghost town - no one on the streets at all - as the Four Seasons sang ”Silence is Golden”

Very good, that would really surprise everyone

[Jeko70]

Just few more words about it:

It bloody ridiculous spend millions to put a city in Cage, pardon a fence, just not to protect 20 or more VIP from all around the world but just for one, the silliest! ....Perhaps two....
Do you think him/them care about prime minister of Chile, Viet Nam, Thailand, Korea, Mexico......and then giving them the same respect/attention/money and protection...... I don't think so!

So:
The rebel undoubtedly demands a certain degree of freedom for himself; but in no case, if he is consistent, does he demand the right to destroy the existence and the freedom of others. He humiliates no one. The freedom he claims, he claims for all; the freedom he refuses, he forbids everyone to enjoy. He is not only the slave against the master, but also man against the world of master and slave. Therefore, thanks to rebellion, there is something more in history than the relation between mastery and servitude. Unlimited power is not the only law. It is in the name of another value that the rebel affirms the impossibility of total freedom while be claims for himself the relative freedom necessary to recognize this impossibility.
The Rebel
Albert Camus

[digitor]

The citizens of Sydney are now second-class citizens

Well, this may be news to you guys, but the rest of the country already knew this..

so the likes of Putin, Bush, and the leaders of China and Indonesia can drink French wine

We wouldn't want to give them any of our good Australian stuff, would we?

Really, fellas, get a grip! I never noticed many complaining about world order before Sydney was slightly inconvenienced by this conference - I guess this is the price you pay for being a significant international city.

Do any of you really think things would be any different with another party in power? Perhaps we'll get to see if it does in the near future.

One poster (dawesy) suggested he'd like to have shot down "Air Force One" with a rocket launcher - "Shame I didn't have one of those shoulder mounted rockets kicking around lately." Is this sort of venom really necessary?

Come on people - it'll all be over in a week.

Cheers

[sirhc55]

Come on people - it'll all be over in a week.

Cheers

You should be here - helicopters night and day are driving me round the twist - thank God it’s freezing cold and wet - I hope they enjoy our fine weather

[gstark]

Now here's the real rub.

I've just spent the day wandering around downtown Shenzhen.

In Communist China.

Where there literally hundreds of small shops open, selling all manner of merchandise, the food is wonderful and plentiful,


And wandering around with a camera, and taking photos, I DO NOT FEEL LIKE A CRIMINAL.

For those of us who have been wondering about our losses of freedom, wonder no more. Communist China - this part of it, at least - looks like a paradise incomparison to how things have been in Sydney of late.

And Sydney is NOT going to be getting any better any time soon now.

[stubbsy]

Now here's the real rub.

I've just spent the day wandering around downtown Shenzhen.

In Communist China.

Where there literally hundreds of small shops open, selling all manner of merchandise, the food is wonderful and plentiful,


And wandering around with a camera, and taking photos, I DO NOT FEEL LIKE A CRIMINAL.

For those of us who have been wondering about our losses of freedom, wonder no more. Communist China - this part of it, at least - looks like a paradise incomparison to how things have been in Sydney of late.

And Sydney is NOT going to be getting any better any time soon now.

Gary while I think what is being done for APEC is reprehensible & a severe, unwarranted curtailment of our liberties and while I certainly disagree with the politics of the current government I have to take you to task over these comments.

As an outsider in China what you see is exactly what your are meant to see, but that doesn't mean China is a better place than here. While you can wander around taking photos without feeling like a criminal if you (or worse) a citizen took photos where the government decided you couldn't you'd be a criminal, instantly - no legal system would be there to defend your rights. Food and merchandise may be plentiful where you are, but the norm in China and the norm in Australia are wildly different. The sad reality is that food and merchandise are NOT plentiful in China, and by Western standards are less than what we are used to.

As for the appearance of where you are (and I know you've tacitly acknowledged that with your "this part of it, at least " comment) you see what the government wants you to see.

The reality is that none of us would be happier living in China than Australia unless we were part of the ruling clique there who have all the luxuries we take for granted. The majority of citizens have severely proscribed "freedoms" - the government chooses what they can access on the internet(in ways that make our porn filters look amateur), the media is run by the state, citizens have no say in who runs their country & its policies and the right to dissent & to religious freedom is also curtailed. No matter how bad things are here we'd never have a Tiananmen square outcome if we were protesting here. Hell, until very recently their government even limited the number of children they can have so they now have an almost 1.2:1 ratio of males to females (that's 300 million more men than women by 2020).

Bottom line, I am disturbed that the bogey man of terror is being used (and accepted by the population) as a reason to reduce our civil liberties, but I'd still rather be here than in Communist China.

I know you understand all of the above, but it's a point I feel compelled to make. When we argue emotionally about a topic it's very easy to lose a sense of balance.

China may be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there

[foonji]

The citizens of Sydney are now second-class citizens

Well, this may be news to you guys, but the rest of the country already knew this..

the convicts have been caged again... haha


adelaide FTW

*waits for abuse*

[Alpha_7]

One poster (dawesy) suggested he'd like to have shot down "Air Force One" with a rocket launcher - "Shame I didn't have one of those shoulder mounted rockets kicking around lately." Is this sort of venom really necessary?

Come on people - it'll all be over in a week.

Cheers

Well I work and know dawesy and he certainly wasn't serious about shooting down air force one, it's called a joke.

[digitor]

One poster (dawesy) suggested he'd like to have shot down "Air Force One" with a rocket launcher - "Shame I didn't have one of those shoulder mounted rockets kicking around lately." Is this sort of venom really necessary?

Come on people - it'll all be over in a week.

Cheers

Well I work and know dawesy and he certainly wasn't serious about shooting down air force one, it's called a joke.

Is it.

It's customary to use a smiley or similar, to indicate a joke - it's hard to see someone smiling as they type! Having said that, threatening to kill is not the sort of joke that I enjoy.

Well before 9/11 (in fact it was about a year after the Lockerbie disaster), I saw a couple of young lads in the transit area at Perth airport joking about a bomb. It was obvious they were joking, they were laughing and carrying on - two smartly dressed gentlemen quickly came and removed them from the queue, and took them into a room off to the side. An hour and a half later, when they emerged, from the looks on their faces, I could see the joke was over. They had, in fact, committed a crime, and had just been informed of that in no uncertain terms.

Cheers