I never really reported back on “The Island” so here are a few pics for you – my beloved readers:

I’m a femminist and I do not condone the behaviour displayed here:

I swear I don’t know this person:

The camp site:

Oh yeah, there were some Motorbikes too:

I have a problem with visual recognition (and a piece of paper to prove it). Consequentially I’m a horrible speller. Anyone who has read this blog knows that hardly a post goes by without a spelling mistake.

I’ve decided that I’m going to start keeping a list of how much money spelling mistakes have cost me, starting with the latest one that cost me $132.

“What do we want?”
“Juctice (sic)”

“Poison In A Pretty Pill”

Your tactile eyes is running over glossy paper,
Printed on with tactile lies of glaze and gause.
They say, ‘Forget yourself, adorn with this disguise’,
This womanhood of smooth and tampered whores.
Let me warn you of their cold sensitivity,
They’ll have you gathered in a trap of glass.
Is your reflection all that you will recognise?
That cruel lie will stare you in the face.
Wrapped up in haze and flow of bridal gown,
They tell your lover he must hold a gun.
You’re the pornographic reassurance he’s a man,
They deal with flesh, incarcerate with rags,
Red lips, shimmer-silk and body-bags,
Hairless legs against the blistered napalms burn.
I want to rape the substance of your downy hair,
In that mist a gutted child fights for air.

(cross-posted at The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice’s Blog)

The most common Google search that brings people to this site is ‘Geoism’. It is of course referring to this post.

This belated comment has just come to my attention so I thought it would be remiss of me to leave it tucked away in archives. So Karl, here’s your right of reply:

hammy you certainly raise some valid points but these are common misconceptions to this rather radical change to the way our activities are guided. Geonomics (my preferred term over geoism/ georgism) targets the most unique economic asset. Land. At present those wealthy enuff to own a piece of the earth are subsidised to own even more (negative gearing). This means land is hoarded. No wonder we cant afford to buy land i hear you screaming! A Resource Rental charge forces this land to be put onto the market. This increased supply pushes the price down. So land doesnt become too expensive.

There is enough wealth in the land (incl. oil, coal, water rights, electromagnetic spectrum) to provide more than enought for FREE health and education. check stats here: http://www.earthsharing.org.au/taxcom.html

Structural change like resource rents, combined with the more trendy behavioural change is what we need to make people accountable for the use of the planet. the fact that there is so much wealth hidden in the vast amounts of hoarded land means that we dont need to charge resources thru the nose, we just need to ensure it is included in the accounting equation. this avoids the danger of the poor not being able to pay for food/water. did some corporation create the value of the planet? or should this value be shared amongst the community, abolishing the need for taxation.

to answer another of your points, economies of scale wont be discouraged in productive activities, they will only be curtailed in speculative activities. this is the key difference in todays economics, some work, but the privileged speculate on our pyramid society.

no doubt it is arresting to consider this 1st off, but investigate 1 of the co-founders of the US greens, Jeff Smith and his fresh writing
http://www.progress.org/geonomy/
Einstein, alfred deakin and recents like joseph stiglitz and herman daly have all stated the effectiveness of this system.

ahh finally i get this off my list, email for more, what the future cant ignore!

I’m still not convinced and still think it falls down in terms of its conceptualisation of the environment (too resource for human consumption based) and I’m not convinced it passes the economies of scale test but I’ll have to read a little further.

As I prepare myself to move this bad boy over to www.hammygoonan.com or www.goonanism.com I find myself asking Movable Type or WordPress?

I’m using WordPress over at democracyandjustice.org/blog and quite happy with it but I was wondering if there’s anyone out there that prefers one over the other.

I’m quite tempted to go with Movable Type just to see how it goes, but then again, better the devil you know.

I know WordPress is open sources so that gets a big tick. And it also seems to me that Movable Type only allows one author. Although there’ll only be one to begin with I’d like the functionality of multiple users.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I know I’ve said it before but I’m just reminded of it too often. The current ALP currently represents the greatest betrayal of working, left-leaning and thinking people Australia has ever seen.

If I may quote Big Kim: “‘I would say that the effect of (the factions) has been generally to produce good policy.’”

Get fucked Kim. Get fucked.

Hello all,

Just a gentle reminder that next Tuesday, everyone’s favorite NGO, the Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice, are holding their 3rd Monthly forum and it’s shaping up to be a ripper!

It will feature Anne O’Rourke (Liberty Victoria) and Greg Barns (Rights Australia) discussing the possibility of an ID card, the deportation of Scott Parkin, the new terrorism related laws and much more.

How do these things impact on a democracy and what can we do about it?

Both speakers are excellent and I’ll be moderating so it’s sure to be entertaining.

7 PM, Evatt Room, Trades Hall, Tuesday 18th October.

Do yourself a favour!

Well it’s that time again and frankly I’m peeing my pants with excitement. I’ve been told that I should discuss these things online considering my politics but today I’m throwing caution to the wind.

Evey year my fellow Motorcyclist and who ever wants to tag along comes down to Philip Island for the Moto GP (Motorcycle Grand Prix). My Brother is also coming down this year and bringing one of his drinking mates. And every year, I spend most of the weekend in hysterics. It’s wrong, I know it is, but god damn I love it.

So I thought I’d recap a few lessons learned from the last two years down at “the Island” (in no particular order):

1. When your mate is doing a burnout and the front tyre is slipping a bit, probably not a good idea to try and stabilise the bike by putting your foot on the front tyre.
2. Oil creates more smoke when your doing a burn out and if four blokes hold you there is no need to apply the front break.
3. If you’re trying to show the kids how wild you are by getting pissed, hooning around the camp ground on a pee wee, crashing, then wake up and realise that you’ve broken your ankle and have to get one of the kids to fetch an ambulance for you, as soon as you get back to camp hop straight back on that bike. “Our Dad is soooo cool right now!”
4. Fire won’t light? Hand your son an empty bottle and get him to fill it with fuel from the fuel tap on the motorbike.
5. If you throw empty cans and the band, they will punch the shit out of you.
6. Dancing on the end of a trestle table is not advisable. Particularly with a skin full.
7. Doing a ‘jig’ in the middle of a trestle table can be surprisingly impressive.
8. When some idiot is singing the national anthem horribly off key, just unplug the nearest speaker.
9. Camp fires should be lit at least a metre or two from your tent.
10. Despite what the signs say, fireworks are perfectly acceptable in the campground.
11. It is appropriate and not too poofy to clean the frying pan at least once over the weekend. Not doing so could be followed by two weeks of quick dashes to the loo.
12. Poor beer on the fry pan when cooking your sausages. Makes them taste better.
13. Barnsy is god.
14. So is Mike Doohan
15. If you really want to do an impressive burnout, just ride your bike into a toilet block and do one. That smoke really billows out of the windows.

There were many more lessons and I do look forward to regaling them to you when I return.

Update: while there are many lessons I left out of the above list, one important lesson that probably should have been mentioned what that you should never EVER accept any baked goods that a biker gives you. You won’t remember the rest of the night and will wake up with heart monitor things all over your body with no idea how they got there.

Via Dogfight at Bankstown we come across this:

Australia has been dealt a blow in one of its biggest wheat export markets, with the United States winning a contract to supply one million tonnes of the grain to Iraq.

The Iraqi government says Australia missed out because it failed to bid using a new tender system.

It just seems to sum up so much for me.

Nine days to go.

That is all.