Tuesday, November 26, 2013


Wonders of the North. A VISITOR'S VIEWS AND IMPRESSIONS

From the Hillston Spectator and Lachlan River Advertiser, Australia, Friday 16 October 1908

A former resident of Nowra writes: — I am still in the 'black north,' as some call it, I can hardly find words to express the pleasure I had in travelling in these regions.

My journey ended at the Barron Falls, where I made a turn for home. Such a pleasant  Sunday, amongst old cannibals [Pacific Islanders; Melanesians] in the coffee plantation, climbing the cliffs at the Falls, pulling bananas and paw paws, and oranges — all this was a new life to me.

You know nothing of paw paws. Well they are a fruit as large as a rock melon and somewhat similar in flavor. You can eat them all day. The grenadillo [granadilla, a tropical vine in the passionfruit family: Passiflora quadrangularis] (a fruit much nicer than passionfruit, but much after the same style, and as large as a small rock melon), is simply delicious. Then there are the mangoes and custard apples, pineapples and other fruit unknown to southern soils.

They get the heat here it is true, but they have many compensating advantages in tropical fruit. There is also the cotton (I am bringing some back in its native state) and cocoa, and indiarubber. All these are exceptionally interesting.

The creeks around here swarm with alligators but I am sorry I cannot afford time to go out. They are in the pools below the Barron Falls, and many a Chow has been swallowed holus bolus.

It is this way. The Chow goes down to the creek to wash his clothes. He goes down often. The 'gator, no doubt, saw him when he went down first. But he doesn't act then. He allows the Chow to come down often, and when the yellow-skin feels that everything is safe there at the particular spot the 'gator steals silently from the water, and there is one chow less in Redlynch — that is the name of the creek. 

There is a great hullabaloo in Redlynch that night among the Chinamen. Next day, or the day after, or a week after, that alligator comes looking for more Chow, but instead of that he gets a dog! (poisoned with strychnine). Then the hilarious Chows shout with joy as the 'gator jumps frantically out of the water in the middle of the stream, in his endeavor to form the letter G. All is soon over. The 'gator is cut open, and a few brass buttons are found, but no bones to send home to China.

The alligator is now and again seen in the ocean, but very seldom, as the shark beats him every time. If a 'gator wants co go from one creek to another he crawls along the beach inside the surf so that the shark can't get at him. The 'gator as a rule, but not always, immediately feeds off his catch, and then buries it for a week or more. He will bury a dog for that time, and then go up and devour him.

He will drag a horse or a bullock into the water and hold him under till he is drowned. A favorite, method is to rush anything into the water with its tail, then all is Over. He doesn't always grab with his claws.

Hundreds of cattle and horses here show marks of struggles with alligators. If an alligator grabs a horse which is out of the water, the horse runs away with him, the 'gator holding till the horse's flesh gives way. You next find the horse with a great piece taken out of him, but he usually recovers.

Alligator shooting with a dog tied on the water's edge as a bait, is common sport, The 'gator likes a dog better than anything else, except a Chow. It is cruel sport, but as it is somebody else's dog, Queenslanders don't mind.

There is a black' mission station at Cairns, where the blacks print a newspaper, maintain a band, have water and gas works, and grow everything known to a tropical country. They marry and bring up children, and generally spend a useful life.

The Chinaman is everywhere. Whole streets, like Junction street, with every shop Chinese, are common. In Geraldton [Innisfail] they own the sugar and banana plantation. Their joss-houses face the street. Chinese women and their families are in the streets just like white people.

All the pictures you see of Chinese in China are reproduced here. The big-rimmed hat and the umbrella — they are common. In going to Cairns, we had a special carriage on for them. Even the railway stations and villages bear Chinese names.

I only heard of one Chinese publican who refused to employ a Chinese cook 'What do you chink?' he used to say, 'that chow wants me to give him a job as cook. No fear, me keepee white cook!

Nearly everybody in Geraldton carries a blue umbrella.- When I inquired the reason, they told me the white ants eat up all the black ones. Geraldton is the wettest place in Australia; if not the world. Tney measure the rain by yards,' said a prominent townsman ; 240 inches a year — that is a record— 20 feet. What do you think of it?' 150 inches have already fallen this year. lt was raining all. the time I was there...

Well, I am leaving the north with very great regret. Although I travelled right through inland Queensland— 400 and 500 miles from the coast, there is still much I would like to see. It is all so very, very interesting. I have never enjoyed a trip better.

And it was a revelation. There are cities up here and thousands of people, white, black, yellow, and copper. Every town of any size has its two daily papers. All is reported here in the telegrams in the daily papers of the northern towns.

Every place is a centre, depending on itself. They don't send to Brisbane if they want anything — at least not necessarily. Rockhampton, Townsville, Cairns, Maryborough, Buudaberg-they are all centres.

They think more of Sydney than any other place outside their own towns. . .. The fact that I am from Sydney helps me in business, because they know Sydney can beat Brisbane. Of course, Brisbane is necessarily their political centre hut but necessarily their trading centre.

I have met no one up here from Illawarra, but my word, if a man liked to brave the heat, this is the place. Cairns, has Atherton behind it, 3000ft  up on the hills, a place like the scrub country of the Richmond River.

It is still in the primitive state, and likely to undergo a boom like the Richmond River. The climate is beautiful and land cheap. Atherton has railway communication and is about 60 miles from the sea. You mark my words; there will be a big rush as the land is thrown open There is plenty of timber on it and an inexhaustible supply — an Illawarra really in a tropical country.

I forgot to tell you the Barrier Reef is 30 miles from here and runs along the coast for over 1000 miles, consequently there are  no breakers of any size along the shores. The water is nearly always smooth.

Picnic parties go out and camp on it for a week or a fortnight. Plenty of fishing, and thousands of turtles. The Japanese fish all along it for beche-de-mer — something that resembles a sausage in appearance, and is dried and eaten — by Chinamen principally 

SOURCE

I have posted the old newspaper article above to show what the world was like before political correctness.  You will see that minorities were identified by mildly derogatory nicknames but the attitude towards them was amused rather than hostile.  What would now be identified as "hate speech" was in fact innocuous.  The Anglos and the Chinese just lived their own lives and did so in peace.  The area described is the Cairns/Innisfail area of Far North Queensland, Australia, where I was born. 

As I was born only 35 years after the above was written, I can recognize the accuracy of most of what is written there.  I even remember the Chinese joss-house that he describes in "Geraldton" (now known as Innisfail).  When I was a little boy, I occasionally went in there and banged the drum.  One day an old Chinese man who was a custodisan of the temple caught me doing it.  Did he abuse me, chase me or attack me?  No.  He gave me a mango.  Pretty relaxed race relations I think -- JR






Swedish Left Party moves to ban men urinating while standing

I would like to think this is a spoof but I fear it is not

The local chapter of the Left Party, a socialist and feminist political party, in Sormland County Council, Sweden, is pushing to make standing while peeing illegal for men using the county council's public restrooms.  Party officials are pushing to make public restrooms in the county council "sitting only."

According to the Local, supporters of the proposal say sitting while urinating is more hygienic and promotes sanitary restroom habit for male users. It will help to eliminate the problem of puddles on the floor and spray stains on toilet seats. They also argue that urinating while sitting will help to promote male health because it allows men to empty their bladder more effectively. Sitting while urinating according to advocates will reduce prostate problems among men.

The Local reports that as a compromise, the party has proposed that some toilets could, in the interim, be designated exclusively for men who must remain standing while peeing.

The Left Party's Viggo Hansen, who made the proposal, said that ultimately he wants office toilets in the council to be genderless and would thus like to see only "sit-down" toilets in county council offices.

He said that the move should not be seen as meddling in the bathroom habits of people. He told Sveriges Television (SVT): "That's not what we're doing. We want to give men the option of going into a clean toilet."

But proposals across Europe to enforce "sitting only" regulation in public toilets have been criticized. Dr. John Gamel of Louisville University, writing in the Naked Scientists, noted that the push to enact legislation banning men from standing while peeing in restrooms is spreading in Europe with feminists pushing similar legislation in Germany, France and Holland.

According to Gamel, "The liberated women of France and Germany and Holland have vowed to put their men down – on the toilet. They carry placards showing a huge red X scrawled across a man standing to urinate. They shout: 'Laissez tomber votre pantalon, et asseyez vous! (Drop your trousers and sit)!' 'Behalte deine Tropfen fuer dich (Keep your drips to yourself)!' 'Toch niet weer een vieze plas op MIJN badkamer vloer (Not another filthy puddle on MY bathroom floor)!'"

Gamel argues that legislation cannot force men to adopt more supposedly sanitary habits while peeing. He told The Huffington Post that the spray and spatter during "shake off" will not be prevented because "no man will want to shake off" while sitting on the toilet to avoid sticking the hand inside the toilet.

Gamel writes in the Naked Scientists : "...most of the stray 'sprinkles' that so enrage European women occur not during the act of urination itself, but immediately afterward, during a ritual men learn as part of their potty training... the various maneuvers required to discharge the urine remaining in the urethra... A man who tucks away his penis without performing these maneuvers will dribble half an ounce of urine into his underwear, causing an embarrassing stain in the crotch of his trousers, or an even more embarrassing streak down his trouser leg. To avoid this debacle, every sentient male, after every urination, carefully squeezes or 'milks' his member to assure that no stray drops remain within the urethra.

"Unfortunately, some men pursue this goal with excessive vigor, indulging in what can only be described as 'shaking off the last drop.' It is precisely these movements – and not the free-falling stream itself – that deposit most of the unwanted urine on lavatory floors throughout the world."

The Huffington Post reports Gamel concluded: "As a result, forcing men to sit while emptying their bladders will serve little purpose, since no man wants to shake himself off while remaining seated on the toilet."

SOURCE






Texas pro-abortion politician can't take criticism

The Texas Tribune recently noted that Wendy Davis sued the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1997 for publishing an editorial critical of Davis’ negative campaign tactics.

Wendy Davis’ libel lawsuit in the 116th District Court in Dallas (Case #DC-97-03532, Wendy Davis vs. Star-Telegram Operating, Inc., et al) could literally be used as a case study in over-litigation – the case was filed by a failed political candidate seeking damages for psychological pain caused by negative news coverage of her own campaign tactics and was thrown out in a summary judgment.

Thin skin much?

THE DETAILS

During her failed 1996 City Council campaign bid, Davis was the subject of negative news coverage in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, including an editorial which criticized her negative campaign tactics. Subsequent to her electoral loss, Davis filed a libel lawsuit against the paper, and parent companies The Walt Disney Co. and ABC Inc., to attempt to obtain an award for damages.

In her suit, Davis claimed that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s editorial had damaged her mental health and infringed upon her “right to pursue public office.”

Wendy Davis lost that race, and a few months later, she sued the Star-Telegram.

Just a few months after her suit was first filed, Davis’ libel claim against the newspaper was unceremoniously thrown out by the Court – as Judge Martin Richter granted a summary judgment against Davis without hearing any testimony. Rather than moving on, Wendy Davis appealed the case to a higher court.

In 2000, nearly four years after her loss, Texas’ 5th Court of Appeals rejected Davis’ claim that she was libeled by the Star-Telegram during her 1996 campaign for city council. Rubbing salt in the wound, the court wrote in its 3-0 decision that they “cannot conclude a person of ordinary intelligence would perceive the statements as defamatory.”

Wendy Davis pressed forward ever still with her libel case, appealing to the Texas Supreme Court, which declined to hear her case.

“It was a remarkable theory that Ms. Davis was advancing – that this newspaper could not comment on the various issues of her campaign, and that it could not express its opinion as to which candidate it preferred,” said Charles Babcock, the newspaper’s attorney. “If Ms. Davis’s theories had been correct, there would have been a serious chill on the media to report on campaigns.”

Indeed. Wendy Davis’ anti-1st Amendment libel lawsuit helped to clog up the Texas court system for more than four years and demonstrated that she is severely out of touch with not only Texans but the U.S. Constitution itself. Texas doesn’t need a thin-skinned, liberal trial lawyer who is antagonistic toward freedom of speech. Wendy Davis is wrong for Texas.

SOURCE





The New York Times And Racism - Peas In A Hateful Pod

The New York Times is known as the paper of record. At some time in history, having a paper that practiced actual journalism was important. Almost, valuable, one could say. But now, journalism is left for the bloggers, and the bravest of souls in the MSM (that's a Sheryl Attkisson/Mark Knoller/Jake Tapper shout out right there!) These days, the Times isn't interested in journalism, but sheer propaganda and name calling, and promoting the meme of racism in the name of their elitist beliefs

The latest missive of disinformation comes from the paper's op-ed pages. (One could argue that an op-ed is not journalism. But this is the same paper that referred to President Obama's repeated lies of, "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan" as an "incorrect promise," which came just after the editorial board stated that President simply "misspoke." Op-eds ARE journalism to them. Also, to misspeak is to tell your wife you were at the store when you were really at a strip club. Nope, that's a lie, too....but a lie that saves a lot more people than Obamacare ever will!)

In this op-ed Thomas Edsall, a professor of "journalism" at Columbia University, takes his swipe at Obamacare - where swipe means defense based on elitist desire. He writes of the difficulties to create a site like HealthCare.gov; the work and cooperation between multiple government agencies that were never designed to work together. He speaks of how the failure of the Obamacare roll out might affect, as Charles Krauthammer said (with much more clarity and efficacy,) the future of liberalism. If the idea (as bad as it is) of Obamacare can not be implemented, how, then, can a world dedicated to the concept of big government come to pass? Yes, Obamacare's failure is blow for liberalism, now and in the future.

Then, he goes where all the lesser minds of Progressivism/Liberalism go - to racism. Edsall opines:
In addition, the Affordable Care Act can be construed as a transfer of benefits from Medicare, which serves an overwhelmingly white population of the elderly – 77 percent of recipients are white — to Obamacare, which will serve a population that is 54.7 percent minority. Over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the Affordable Care Act cuts $455 billion from the Medicare budget in order to help pay for Obamacare.

Those who think that a critical mass of white voters has moved past its resistance to programs shifting tax dollars and other resources from the middle class to poorer minorities merely need to look at the election of 2010, which demonstrated how readily this resistance can be used politically. The passage of the A.C.A. that year forced such issues to the fore, and Republicans swept the House and state houses across the country. The program’s current difficulties have the clear potential to replay events of 2010 in 2014 and possibly 2016.

The problem isn't the inoperable, overbudget, poorly coded website, nor the inoperable, nonsensical, poorly planned law. The problem is white people who don't want to share with black people. How convenient for Edsall and the Times!

Edsall should have waited a day to consult the recent CBS poll, which shows only 7% of Americans think Obamacare is working fine. 93% want to change it, or get rid of it all together. (Elitists never check the facts, because its not about facts. It's about how they feel, and believing that their feelings - and you accepting their feelings - is the only thing that matters.)

Is Edsall claiming that more than nine out of every 10 Americans is racist? If so, 10 out of 10 Americans would have to agree that Edsall is a boob.

The New York Times has taken to promoting racism like a sale at Macy's; utilizing it as a cudgel against all those who may oppose the president's policies or the fanatical and fantasy desires of today's Progressives who parade around as the party of Kennedy (or worse, of decency and fairness.) They do so to protect their investments; the President and Liberalism being those investments. To end conversation, and to silence opposition. They promote racism because they believe in feelings, not facts; In good intentions, not real life consequences.

Without any evidence or facts, Edsall decided that the reason Obamacare doesn't work is because white people don't want to shift their money to black people. The New York Times supports and promotes this position. That is not a newspaper of record steeped in the proud tradition of The Fourth Estate. That is the work of propagandists unfit to be the official record of anything.

For Edsall, the New York Times and all elitists, Obamacare doesn't work because of white people, and Republicans. Certainly not because the idea is awful, and those tasked with passing and implementing the law incompetent. No....certainly not.

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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