The Old Tin Shed

What a horrible week for the USA, the bombings and then the fertilizer plant going postal. It was good to see how steady and assured law enforcement were, and how quickly they had identified the individuals responsible.  Then without fear they hunted them down, one died in a hail of bullets taking others with him and the second was captured alive today, although he was also injured. In a world where everyone is a potential terrorist, narrowing the events down and finding these men was a mammoth task, but it was done with quiet assurance.  The USA has learnt a lot since September 11th.  But even more important was the reaction of the people.  They were not scared they did not hide in terror.  They took to the streets today chanting USA USA.  They know as we all do, that standing together creates a strength that no terrorist can break. Now onto the other disaster for the USA this week, the explosion at the fertilizer plant.  It must have ...

Have been contemplating a post about this for a little while.  Today I was prompted to act from a post by American Mercenary The post is short story that quite abruptly shows how far things could come. It is my personal belief, that many of the important rights that we had prior to 911 have been removed.  Including the right that your government cannot spy on you without permission of the courts.  Her in Australia it is my understanding that any electronic communications are at least scanned for key words by our government. They tell us all its in the name of protecting us against terrorism.  That may be true, or it may be that the government took advantage of the situation to get greater details of any individual they want.  Ultimately it removes our right to privacy. My issue here has two points.  (1) I never voted on or agreed to any changes that have been applied to my rights, and (2)  That the terrorists have won  a victory, because ...

This unlike thousands and thousands of blog posts is not a tribute to those that were lost on that day but more of a reflection of what has happened since and how our worlds changed forever. This month Discovery Channel have been running a series of programs as September 11 draws closer and 10 years have passed.  I remember like millions of others watching the whole thing live on BBC World, I remember the horror as the second plane flew into the towers.  I remember thinking oh my god please let them get out. Even today nearly ten years on I cant watch documentaries that show any images of that day, I simply burst into tears, in fact even writing about it now is upsetting.  In those short hours our worlds changed for ever, our feeling of safety removed.  I was interstate on September 11 the following day I attended half a dozen meetings and it was all surreal, no one wanted to work, we were in a state of shock.  One of the meetings that day was in North Syd...

Of interest today has been Pakistan's continued assault on Taliban positions in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, their sudden willingness this year to take on this powerful religious group, and religious fundamentalists, seems to have come after a visit by Hillary Clinton. One wonders if Pakistan understood what a threat to its own security these people were, just weeks before the first offensive the government had done a deal with these extremists giving them a self governed region not 100 kms from the capital. The news report this evening on SBS world news, stated that the Pakistan army was moving well against the enemy forces taking a key town, and forcing the leaders higher into the mountains. They also stated that Taliban fighters were deserting and blending in with the local population fleeing the war zone. If the report is true and they are leaving maybe it means that they realize the fight is over for them. Only by securing these remote mountain areas on the borde...