AUSTRALIA PROGRESSIVE REVIEW? Part III - WHAT WE ARE MISSING

WHAT WE ARE MISSING

Yes, your lead editor has been having fun in and around Sydney, Australia doing things like learning to surf,

hiking around the beautiful cliffs on the coastlines, and photographing and enjoying the natural beauty to be found here on this interesting continent.



Yet, while Mattie holds down the fort at A.P.R.'s Chena Ridge/Fairbanks research centre, I still keep abreast of current events and am keenly interested in learning as much as I can about Australia, while I am here.


I want to share some the things I've learned from talking with the many friendly people I've met here. First though, I want to quote part of this very good article I came across today.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/15-4

"Obama appointed former Sen. Tom Daschle as secretary of health and human services, and director of the new White House Office of Health Reform. Daschle's health care book, "Critical," recalls historical failures to achieve universal care: "Like Clinton, Truman had reason to be confident. His fellow Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, and polls showed that Americans were anxious about the high cost of health care and eager for change. But both presidents underestimated the strength of the forces arrayed against them ... (s)pecial-interest lobbyists -- led by doctors in Truman's time, and insurance companies in Clinton's."
Obama knows well the issue -- while his mother lay dying of cancer, she still had to battle the insurance industry. He said in that 2007 speech, "Plans that tinker and halfway measures now belong to yesterday ... we can't afford another disappointing charade ... we need to look at ... how much of our health care spending is going toward the record-breaking profits earned by the drug and health care industry."
Yet Daschle proposes not much more than tinkering -- improving Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration, all examples of "single-payer health care" -- in which the government is the single payer for the health care -- while preserving the inefficient, multi-payer, for-profit insurance model.
In December 2007, the American College of Physicians compared U.S. health care with other countries', writing, "Single-payer systems generally have the advantage of being more equitable, with lower administrative costs than systems using private health insurance, lower per capita health care expenditures, high levels of consumer and patient satisfaction."
Michael Moore, in his film "SiCKO," includes a recording of John Ehrlichman speaking to Richard Nixon, discussing medical insurance profits: "The less care they give 'em, the more money they (the insurance companies) make."
Obama is in charge now. Who will he emulate -- Nixon or FDR? People across the political and economic spectrum, from big business to the little guy, are dying to know."

As you may or may not know, the U.S. is the ONLY one of the 25 "industrialized" nations without universal health care/access for it's citizenry. Michael Moore's movie "Sicko" was a very good description of why this is, and how it happened, and A.P.R. highly recommends it for those interested.

Here in Australia, of course, like all the other industrialized nations, universal health care is a given, no one I've met even questions it's existence. And, they've expressed shock and dismay when I tell them how it works in the U.S. That if you don't have medical insurance, that you will quickly go bankrupt if a major accident or illness occurs, and even if you are insured, this can happen. The quality of care here is viewed favorably by all I've talked with, which is similar with what people in Canada have said about their system.

What else does Australia have to offer, in common with all the other social democracies, but not the U.S.?

Every worker, from the entry-level janitor or fast-food worker, on up the ladder, receives a minimum of one month paid leave per year. Think about that.

The minimum wage in Australia is $14.38 AUSD, or about $10.50 USD. What is it now in the U.S., $6.25? And remember how long it took to go from $4.35 to that? Eleven years! $14.38 per hour here, gives you roughly the same standard of living that that rate would in the U.S., in USD. I can just hear conservatives howl if they were to read this, that businesses would go bankrupt, and unemployment would skyrocket. Well, there seem to be just as many small stores, delis, restaurants, and other businesses here as in the U.S., with enough staff to give decent service, so they seem to be managing. And, prices for their products/services don't seem to be any higher than in the U.S. Enough said.

Unemployment compensation does not expire here like in the U.S. It is $1543.00 per month, AUSD, which in a fairly expensive city like Sydney would only provide a simple existence, yet you would not starve or be forced into homelessness. Something which several Aussies I've talked with, expressed concern about, seeing the homeless people in the U.S. when they've visited. I've seen very few here. Again, the conservatives will try and give you those thinly-veiled racist stories about "Welfare Queens" milking the system and making out like bandits, using a variety of schemes to collect undeserved benefits. BULLSHIT! Those stories were made up, using that veiled racism they are so good at using on many white Americans, to end social spending programs. No one I've met here expressed concern about people abusing their system, and with proper supervision and oversight, fraud and abuse would be minimal.

What do you call the fact that many of the largest corporations in the U.S. end up paying almost no income tax, due to all the various loopholes in the tax codes? And of course, our 700+ Billion bailout of the criminally greedy financial institutions. How they pleaded, begged, and threatened for assistance when their insane actions led to their potential demise. Yet do they give a rat's ass when they let go 10,000 jobs, or whatever, as they shift operations to an overseas low-wage country? No, their executives get awards and raises for that.

Is there anything else Australia has the U.S. doesn't? How about this. University education is not free here, but tuitions are much lower at both private and public institutions. Everyone who can enroll is able to get NO-INTEREST (yes that's right, NO INTEREST) loans to pay for their schooling. And, payback only begins when you start working, and is wage-scaled, deducted along with your taxes.

Income taxes in Australia are slightly higher than in the U.S., and there is a gasoline tax, such that gas here is about $4.30 AUSD, or about $3.25 USD. No one complained to me, and part of the reason they are higher than ours, is that this country only has 20 million people in it, with a much smaller economy.

WHAT WE ARE GETTING
What are we getting in the U.S. with our tax dollars? Well, for about TWO BILLION DOLLARS PER WEEK for the last five + years, the country of Iraq has been destroyed and over a million people killed, in an unjust, immoral, and unprovoked war. Three to four million people have been driven from their homes and sought refuge in neighbouring countries. The economy of Iraq was destroyed, and unemployment there is still nearly 50 percent. People in Baghdad are lucky to have 2-3 hours of electricity per day, and access to clean water for drinking is very limited.

The U.S. defense budget increases greatly every year, and was over 600 Billion dollars last year. More than the next 10 countries combined. Why?


Are you happy that this is what you are getting with your tax dollars, instead of what social democracies provide?

Do we really need 700 + military installations in over 110 countries?




America lost it's most prominent leader for social justice on April 4, 1968. MLK was born on 15th January, 1929, so he would have been 80 years old yesterday, had he not been murdered.

(April 3, 1968): "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. I won't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land."

I know you've seen parts of MLK's landmark April 4, 1967 speech he gave in New York, where he publicly came out strongly against the Vietnam war, and which led to his death, exactly one year later. But, these words are more than ever needed to be heard and understood by all Americans. The full text of this amazing speech can be found here:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

"It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered...

...True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring...

...A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Can you imagine what MLK would be thinking of the Bush regime, and what they have gotten away with? And how Israel, with our financial, military, and political support, is engaging in genocidal actions in the Gaza Strip? Just think how different things could have been, had he lived, and were here now at the age of 80. The Vietnam War would have ended sooner, perhaps we could have even evolved into a less militaristic social democracy. But it was not to be...

But, if you read this, as you enjoy your well-deserved holiday of his birth anniversary, remember these words, and his legacy. They are more important than ever now. May he rest in peace.
Cheers.

AUSTRALIA PROGRESSIVE REVIEW? Part II, 4:48 TO KATOOMBA ~and~ WICKED FUN

While your lead editor really loves visiting and working in this interesting country of Australia amongst so many friendly and outgoing people, living in the busiest part of downtown Sydney is hard for me. So, let's set the politics aside for a bit (well, mostly anyway, I may have to rant and rave a little bit about the insanity and cold-blooded murder that Israel is perpetrating on the trapped civilians in Gaza, aided with your tax dollars and government support, but that could be a whole several articles http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/11-0 ), and check out the parts of this country I've been able to explore.


4:48 TO KATOOMBA

My second weekend in Australia, I took the train out to Katoomba, in the Blue Mtns., 40 miles east of Sydney, just to explore and hike in the national park there on some of the trails. I had a great time, just on that day trip. While browsing in an outdoor gear shop (I just can't resist going in those, which is hazardous...), I saw that a rock-climbing course was being offered the following weekend. I had never tried it, but now seemed like the perfect time. So, after another rushed and busy week of work and city life, after getting off work at 4:30 pm on Friday, January 2nd, I rushed right down to Central Station with my bike and pack, and caught the 4:48 to Katoomba.

My two day rock-climbing course, run by the Australian School of Mountaineering, was all day saturday and sunday, the 3rd/4th. I found a nice room in a hostel, and showed up, ready to ascend, at 0830 sat. morning. There were just three other students, a late 20s British tourist named Paul, and a married couple from Sydney, Michelle and Paul, who were about my age. Our instructor was a really interesting and fun guy named Andrew Sharps, who had us call him Sharpy. He's only about 30, but has been climbing since he was 14, and has gone through all manner of courses, certifications, and done some amazing (and downright terrifying, to me) things. And of course his outrageous Aussie accent made him all the more entertaining.

The first day we drove east of Katoomba to an area called Mt. Victoria, where some great rock walls are to be found, with very steep pitches. The rating system in Australia for climbing is on a scale from 5 to 34, 34 being the hardest and steepest. In the U.S., a different system is used, a decimal system where 5.5 is the easiest, and 5.15 the hardest. Just do give you some idea, even on the first day, we went right into moderate-expert pitches, 12s, 14s, and even 18s, on the Aussie scale.

Sharpy, to the right here, first "showed us the ropes" for an hour or so, before we started climbing. Explaining the rope knots and treatment, basic gear, and the different methods of pushing yourself up rock slabs, walls, and cracks using different foot and hand holds/methods. Then, it was time to head up. Ropes were set to hooks permanently attached on top of some of the faces, or metal tools were wedged into cracks. Attached ropes then were thrown down to the bottom. We attached one end of the rope to our climbing harness in a double figure 8 knot. Our partner attached a carabiner from the other end of the rope to their harness. The other end of the rope was also anchored to a tree or rock. The partners job was to belay while we climbed, meaning, just keep reeling in the slack on our rope as we ascend. So that if we slip, only a few inches will we drop. Even if they were to let go the rope, we would only drop a foot or two, so it was completely safe.

My first go at a moderately steep 14 face was, I have to admit, pretty stressful. Since I had never done it, and didn't really understand that to slip was no big deal, I put everything I had into it. And ended up scraping my knees pretty bad. There's a reason most climbers wear pants, a hard-earned lesson. I didn't slip, but it's amazing how exerting it is, when you use your whole body and mind to propel yourself up just 50-100 feet. My second climb was much better, Sharpy told me I used my hands/upper body too much, and to rely more on my feet (a common problem for men, since they usually have more upper-body strength). And, he told me to just let go and slip, to feel that, so I could understand, and try more edgier ways of foot and hand holds. So I did that, and it went much better. Realizing I was completely safe, I was able to extend myself more into different hand and footholds, and be more efficient. Like all human-powered sports, efficiency is the key to success! My partner was Paul, the British tourist, so we traded off belaying and climbing. We did four climbs that first day, up pitches of 60-120 feet, very tiring.

Day two's climbs were on Mt. Pennington, about 5 miles east of Katoomba.



These pitches were a little higher and steeper than saturday's, and we were going to do a couple of crack climbs, which require specific hand and foot holds. This is one of the pitches, to the left. Note the crack in the middle of the face below the tree branch. We used this crack to climb, and it was tough, having to brace your fingers in it, to help you get up. But we all did, and were quite happy. My fingers though got quite scraped up, but I think if I did this more often, they'd toughen up.
It was hard, and painful wedging your toes into the narrow crack, but I think with practice, my feet would toughen up for that too.






Here I am on that crack in the face, it took all my mental and physical focus to wedge myself in the crack and find other footholds at times, to get up. I think that's why I like climbing, using everything you've got to focus on a short-term task, is something I really like to do. Note, also that pants are being worn. My legs were much better off that day.

We all did another four climbs that day, and had great fun, and learned a great deal. All of us were novices, but came away from our course wanting to do more, and get the equipment we need. There are lots of great places to climb in interior Alaska, so this coming summer, that's something we'll be doing. Mattie might even get into it, and with her claws, she won't even need a harness and rope, I'm sure she could just zip right up those faces. But, I'll keep her harnessed, just to be on the safe side. Sharpy said when he was younger that he climbed, alone and without ropes for safety, 20 to 30 meter pitches! Just thinking about that made me shiver. He said he doesn't do that anymore, he doesn't want to die! Good on ya, mate!


WICKED FUN

It so happened that the weekend after my rock-climbing course was to be a three-day off one. I had seen funky little mini-campers zipping around Sydney, and so planned to rent one for that weekend, and hit the road. I had two goals, to spend the night and walk around the next morning on a beautiful section of coast to the south in an area called Jervis Bay, and to see Australia's high country and do one of my fast-packs there.

I picked up my Wicked camper http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/ on my lunch hour on Thursday Jan. 8th. What followed was my first leftie driving experience, since they follow the British model here in Australia. It was terrifying on the cramped, crowded, chaotic Sydney streets, clogged with mid-day traffic. I almost side-swiped a city bus on the way back to work, and arrived back sweaty and highly agitated.

After getting off at 4:30 I raced back to the motel and threw my stuff together, and got on the open road at 5:30 pm. I had good maps, and getting out of Sydney, the traffic got lighter. After an hour or so, I felt much more comfortable with the new driving method, and enjoyed the quieter highway in the cool, cloudy weather with a few showers.

It took three hours to drive 200 km south to Jervis Bay. The campground I had wanted to stay in was full, but just a little bit down from that was a boat ramp parking area, called Murray Beach, secluded and mainly empty. I pulled in there and hoped for the best. Sure enough, I had a nice quiet night, no hassles, and the gusty south winds and chirping of birds ensured a nice relaxing sleep in the comfortable camper. These little campers, based on a minivan platform unavailable in the U.S., have a bed, table, and little kitchen area, perfect for one or two people. Run by 20 something kids, the company is a classic hipster operation. Picking it up took a long time and was a chaotic affair, but worth the effort.

Here it is parked in our nice little spot friday morning. I sure wish I had one of these at home! It was fun to drive and got about 28 mpg.






Friday morning, I got up around 800 am, and after breakfast, hiked on the Murray Beach and Grosvenor Head trails. What awaited was Aussie beach/coast paradise. I don't know what it is here, but the water at all the coastal areas is the most beautiful pale blue colour I've ever seen. Hawaii and Florida come close, but don't quite match it. I just wanted to dive right in and stay in all day, but couldn't. I had alot of driving to do, to reach the Alpine country.





Still, it was hard to leave, I wish I had several days, my scuba gear, and a kayak, to use around this beautiful area, which is protected by two national parks.












I pulled out around 1100 and continued south on the coastal highway, south to Bateman's Bay, a beautiful resort/surfing town. Here I cut inland on the Kings Highway, a newly widened but still extremely windy road that ascends 2000 feet as it heads inland toward the capital, Canberra. Once inland through the moister coastal forest, the land opened up into wide valleys reminiscent of parts of Northern California and Southern Oregon. I turned south at Canberra, and dropped down to Cooma, a dry dusty town at the eastern edge of the Great Dividing Range, wherein lies the highest terrain on the continent.






I drove past the upscale little ski town of Thredbo, which has a downhill ski area of the same name. The base elevation of it is 4800 feet, and the top 6200. These are pretty low elevations for an area at only 36.5 degrees south of the Equator. What gives? In California at 36.5 degrees north of the Equator, you certainly wouldn't find a ski area at that low of an elevation.

What gives, is Antarctica. It gives the Southern Hemisphere colder weather all year, and especially in the summer. Since Antarctica stays well below 0F even in summer, this contrast keeps the summer jet stream, which is usually very weak in the northern hemisphere, much stronger. Thus, more frequent and stronger low pressure systems are pushed around by a stronger summertime jet stream in the southern hemisphere, keeping things cooler, than at similar latitudes, in the northern.

On the other side of a 5000 foot pass, Dead Horse Gap ( on the highest road in Australia), I stopped at a little camp ground at about 4300 feet. Here, while still cold enough for winter snow, live some of the largest trees on Earth. These blue gums can reach up to 300-350 feet, as tall as redwoods. I had a nice relaxing evening here after a short run through the forest, listening to the screechy sulphur-crested cockatoos.

After another wicked sleep in the camper, I hit the road back to Dead Horse Gap, to start my planned all-day hike over the highest terrain on the Continent. I got to the trailhead at 0930 and started in. As with all my fast-packs, I just had about 18-20 lbs. on my pack, my sleeping bag, in case of unexpected delay/injury, extra layers/raingear, and food/water. Unfortunately, in my mad rush to get out of Sydney, I forgot to bring my trekking poles, which was to have an effect. I then had to wear my hiking boots, instead of running shoes, since I needed ankle support, in the absence of poles, which also was unfortunate.





The trail quickly ascended from around 5000 feet through these snow gums, and rapidly got above tree line, which was only at 6000 feet. Vast wildfires in 2003 decimated huge swaths of this area. Tree-line in Calif. at 36.5N is about double what it is here!












When I got up and over the plateau that is around 6000-6500 feet, I could see a few small lakes, like that to the right, and vast areas of alpine tundra and rocks. What really struck me is how much this area looked like the White Mountains, near Fairbanks. Of course, there is no permafrost here in Australia, but the granitic rocks, and tundra were quite similar. One big difference was the higher sun angle. Even at only 6500 feet, sunglasses and good sunscreen were essential. The walk up to Mt. Kosciuzcko, 7316 ft., the highest point on the continent, was interesting. A wide paved track, the start of which was at the top of the ski lift from Thredbo. Hence tourists could ride the lift up, then just walk 5 km to Mt. K. And did they ever, there were hundreds, many on cell phones! Gawd, get me away from that s..t. Relief was just one km away, on a 25 km loop trail which traversed all the higher peaks and gave views of some lakes.



I really wanted to put my newly-acquired climbing skills to work on rocks like these, but didn't have time. Still, it was nice just being around such beautiful terrain. And once I was just a few km in on the loop trail, seclusion returned.














This is Blue Lake, at around 6300 feet. Glaciers scoured out this valley in the ice ages, and it is over 100 feet deep. What a great place for a dive that would be! If you look closely, there are still a few little snow patches above it. I've been told that many people cross-country ski here in winter, and saw many beautiful pictures. It's a six hour drive from Sydney though, so it's not something that could be done too often, unless you live close by.


All told, I walked for about nine hours, about 42 km. I think I managed to see all the terrain in Australia that lies above 2000 meters (6560 feet), as there are no other peaks above that elevation anywhere else. I had a great time, since very few people were on the middle parts of the loop. And I talked with some park rangers, at the beginning, and end, when they were laughing at/with me, for having hiked so long. I've never had problems on my other fast-packs of 25-40 miles (42-64 km), but the absence of my trekking poles and running or multi-sport shoes with extra cushioning took it's toll.

By km 35 or so, I knew I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet near my toes, and my hands swelled up some. That is because they are low and swinging all day, forcing fluid into them, turning them edemic. This doesn't happen on long ski outings or treks with poles, because my hands are higher overall through the day.



Dig these puffy hands, right as I finished. Usually my hands are thin and veiny, not today! I decided to get a cheap motel room in Thredbo to clean up and drink beer in, so after I got there and had a few, they returned to normal!


My foot blisters were hideous, but not totally incapacitating, and most importantly, my knees and hamstrings were not too sore, as it was quite an up and down trail, with 2500 ft. elevation gain in the first 8 km, then several 1000 ft. dips and rises thereafter. So, I was quite happy, my goal of a good, long, fast hike in high, somewhat secluded country was achieved, and I got all the city crud out of my lungs. Research now shows that people living in Southern California in one week get as much lung damage as from smoking a pack of cigarettes. I'm sure Sydney would be similar. Thank God A.P.R. is headquartered in the clean cool air, in the hills above Fairbanks!

The weather on my all-day outing was perfect, some building cumulus, but no real threat of storms. But, around 10 pm in Thredbo, a strong storm with frequent lightning and heavy rain came through and freshened things up. A great end to a fun day, and even better, I didn't get caught out in it, above tree-line.







The next day, I left Thredbo around 1000 and headed out of the mountains, back to Canberra, and Sydney.

Just about 10 km out of Thredbo, I saw a large dead animal by the side of the road. I had to stop. It was a wombat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wombat

These incredibly cute creatures are like koala bears but bigger, and ground-dwelling. This poor little guy was lying on his back, it's face grimaced in it's death's agony, probably from internal injuries/bleeding. I was very sad, remembering Coyote, Stikine, Nahanni, and Kiana, my former canid companions, who perished this way. I said some prayers for the poor creature, and turned it over. They are fairly rare too, all the sadder that this happened. I would have buried it, but I had no shovel.


That put me in a downer mood for awhile, but having to focus on the leftie driving snapped me out of it. I got to Sydney in just six hours, and drove straight to Bondi Beach, to cool off in the sparkling blue waters after the long hot drive. I'm not crazy about being in a city as big as Sydney, but the beaches here are so incredibly beautiful, and am so glad I got to see them.
Cheers.

LOVE LOVE LOVE ~ and ~ The Kindness of Strangers

This is an update from A.P.R., interrupting the current "Australian Progressive Review ?" series, which will resume next week. Sometimes we come across information or ideas which we feel are too important/urgent to let go, and immediate commentary becomes necessary.

"Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.
love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
Nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
It's easy.All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need."

Ah...the immortal words of the Beatles. I was reminded of this song the other day whilst running through Centennial Park, my main running route in the city of Sydney. Because I had read this article earlier that day, and it really got to me: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/27-0

I have to quote herein part of this article, since it really affected me, and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

"The secret to capitalism's success is its ability to take one of mankind's most powerful emotions - greed - and harness that emotion to drive economic progress. By greedily pursuing our own individual self-interests, the theory goes, each of us contributes almost accidentally to greater prosperity for everybody.

And for the most part, that's how it has worked. The innovation and risk-taking encouraged by capitalism have given billions of people a quality of life and security that would otherwise be unimaginable. If there is a better, more productive system for meeting the physical needs of human life, we haven't found it yet.
But then comes a year like 2008, a year in which capitalism has faltered and the security of millions of Americans is threatened. Trillions of dollars of wealth has disappeared in a remarkably short time, along with millions of jobs. Fear rather than optimism dominates the landscape, and everyone from economists to hairdressers to members of Congress is wondering just what went wrong and how to fix it.
There are technical explanations, political explanations and folk-wisdom explanations. There are explanations that attempt to get down into the nitty-gritty details and those that offer a big-picture analysis.
My own one-sentence assessment? Capitalism works by getting the best out of greed; it fails when we let greed get the best of us.
And that is a constant, never-ending problem. We have always known that greed is dangerous. Going back into time as far as the written word can take us, every major religion, every major culture has warned against the dangers of greed.
In a capitalist system, the knowledge of greed's dual nature - its power when harnessed, its danger when it is not - sets up a permanent, enduring tension. The trick is to give greed enough play to reap its benefits while minimizing greed's danger. In that sense, a greed-powered economy is like a nuclear-powered submarine. Both are driven by a potentially boundless but destructive source of energy that must be kept within bounds to operate safely.
But greed by its nature is seductive. Greed always seeks more, a little more, just a bit more, please. And greed can cause us to rationalize things that cannot and should not be rationalized."

GREED (grēd) n. An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth: "Many . . . attach to competition the stigma of selfish greed" (Henry Fawcett).
[Back-formation from greedy.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Now, the above article I just quoted comes from one of my favorite progressively-oriented web-sites, http://www.commondreams.org/. I had to highlight a few sentences from this article which left me dazed, and angry, I have to admit, as I felt they were stunning in their arrogance and deception. Let it not be said that I agree with everything I read on my news sources. Anyway, let's look at these, and see what you think.

Do you think greed is "one of mankind's most powerful emotions"? We sure don't, here at A.P.R. Love is the most powerful emotion. None of us would be here were it not for the unconditional love our parents gave us. Or, the love that couples have for each other when they have children. Love is what drove the victorious struggles for freedom and civil rights across the World over the past several centuries. To say that greed is one of our most powerful emotions is to give it more power and emphasis than it deserves. And to help perpetuate it's pre-emenance in our society.

The other sentence, "the innovation and risk-taking encouraged by capitalism have given billions of people a quality of life and security that would otherwise be unimaginable. If there is a better, more productive system for meeting the needs of physical life, we haven't found it yet!"

That writer needs to study history and environmental issues more. None of the benefits we associate with our modern capitalist system, fair labour practices, benefits, 40 hour work-weeks, etc.. were given, but had to be won through decades and even centuries of struggle by working people, at great cost in lives and livelihoods. Capitalism evolved over the past 400 years on the backs of slaves, then through brutal colonial policies extracting resources from countries and cultures not able to defend themselves. And now, left unfettered and unregulated, it seeks a global "race to the bottom" of continually moving production and support facilities to countries with the cheapest labour and most lax environmental regulations. Tell me what you think about this. Wild salmon, caught in the cold, clean waters off Alaska and Canada, is shipped to China for processing, then back to Alaska and Canada, to be sold frozen or canned. Now, is that the measure of a healthy economic system, one that is sustainable and rational? We rest our case. And, as Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, so eloquently put it, the Earth has a fever, caused by the capitalist development model.

What do we call unrestrained cellular growth in a body, and what does it do? Cancer of course, and it ends up killing the host. Modern capitalism is still predicated on unlimited growth and expansion of production and consumption, which is obviously impossible, since the resources of our planet are finite. Our entire scientific/technological/economic structure of the modern "western world", if left unchecked and unchanged, will bring catastrophic changes to the Earth's atmosphere and climate, leading to mass extinctions. At least 1.5 billion people on the planet do not have access to clean, safe, drinking water, and at least one billion are undernourished, while it's also "fouling the nest" and leading to global environmental collapse? Is that a system that is working?

All of us have at some time in our lives been engaged in meaningful work, where we committed all our physical and mental resources to the tasks at hand, because we believe(d) the results would be well worth the struggle. That drive to produce things or materials we believe in is very strong, and if harnessed by supportive governmental polices and institutions, would lead to great changes and results.

What alternatives are there to capitalism? Has anything "better" been tried? Well, certainly, any society that could have love, instead of greed, as a basis and motivating theme would be worth trying. The closest societies we have to that would be the social democracies of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and yes, even Cuba. Cuba has it's share of problems, yet somehow they have been able to maintain their socialist state for 50 years, in spite of great pressure from the spiteful empire to the north. We encourage people to visit all manner of countries, social democracies and others, to see for yourselves. What do social democracies offer? Universal health care, unlimited unemployment benefits, so people will not be thrown out on the street and starve if unable to find jobs, minimum vacation times of one month for all professions, and many other benefits. And why are these benefits offered? Because people in these countries care about each other. What is that? Love. Not that these countries don't have problems, by any means, but they all have:

- the highest life expectancies on the planet
- greatest percentage of literacy
- lowest violent crime rates - lowest incarceration rates
- lowest infant mortality rates

Needless to say, the U.S. isn't one of those countries, but it could be. That choice is up to us.

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

While greatly enjoying my time working and visiting in the vibrant city of Sydney, Australia, I still have to seek tranquility from the rigours of city life on my days off. Yesterday I decided to visit Royal National Park, 25 miles south of the city, on the coast. A large preserve of virgin coastline and expanses of the native gum/eucalyptus woodlands of the region. Just a 45 minute train ride from downtown led me to Sutherland Station, from which I had to bike another 8 miles in to the park. I got lost on the way down, so ended up doing 15 miles on that leg, in the hot 32C sun.

The woodland there is very pretty, with the smooth-barked trees and ferns all about. I brought my mask/fins/snorkel with me, so I could explore in the water, and try out my new underwater camera housing, in preparation for my Great Barrier Reef diving, three weeks hence.


After two hours pedaling in the hot sun, I decided to head for the nearest water, which was called Warumbul bay.

After setting up my beach gear, I headed in to the water quick, it was hot! I swam and snorkeled around for several minutes, enjoying the cool water, and views through my dive mask. I noticed and felt the bottom to be quite rough and rocky when I first stepped in, but was not sure why.











After being in the water about 15 minutes or so, I began to notice small jellies (jellyfish) all about in the water. Not sure if they were hazardous or not, and since I was not in a wetsuit, just swim trunks, I decided to beat a hasty retreat to shore. Unfortunately, when I reached the shallows, I stumbled on the rocks in my swim fins, and razor sharp oyster shells raked the back of my right calf, leaving a nasty gash. I also reached out to steady myself with my left hand, as we always reflexively do, but fortunately, just got scratches on it. I knew I did some damage to my leg though, so I managed to lift myself up onto some rocks.





Fortunately, a couple I had seen fishing earlier were picnicking right above, and saw a bloody American stumbling ashore. My leg was bleeding quite profusely at this point. We started talking, and when they saw my leg, immediately asked if I needed help. I did in fact, as all I had for bandaging material, was my own shirt, which I needed for protection from the blazing sun.


They cut up an old rag they had in their tackle box and we used that, along with some kleenex, to make a tight and effective pressure bandage, which did the trick. The deepest part of the gash was about an inch long, and needed direct pressure, to stop the bleeding.

With this tight and durable bandage, I was able to relax, and then hang out with Michael and Thea, as they introduced themselves. They live in Sydney and were in the park to fish and relax on New Year's Eve. They have visited America twice, and enjoyed it, and have a son living in Ohio. We had a great time hanging out for about an hour, before they went back to their fishing, and me to relax in the shade and have some lunch, before riding back in the hot sun to Sutherland Station to catch the train.

Had they not been there, I would have lost quite a bit more blood, and had to sacrifice my only protection from the blazing sun, in order to stop the bleeding. I would have had a very uncomfortable trip back, and probably would have attracted considerable, but unwanted attention. Isn't it nice when we chance upon kind and caring people? They are all around us, wherever we are, though it often takes something like this, to remind me of that. Cheers.

AUSTRALIA PROGRESSIVE REVIEW? - PART 1, a train for every city

No folks, you're editor is not going to flee to the southern hemisphere and take up residence in the friendly and interesting country of Australia. Besides, if the Alaska Progressive Review wasn't providing you with the most avant-garde, incisive, hard-hitting progressive environmental and socio-political commentary, someone else might be! But I have taken a great liking to this country and all the people I've met, and I want to describe some of the things I like here, in a multi-part series. To stimulate thought and action, so we can work to achieve similar things in our country.

So this first part will be about public transportation, specifically, light rail.








Sydney is a large city, almost 5 million people live in it's environ's. Nestled between a beautiful rocky blue-water coastline, and the gently rising Eucalyptus-clad Blue Mountains to the east. Looking much like Southern California, with similar

temperatures, but more rainfall throughout the year, it is a little greener, and instead of the Spanish influence in architecture and ambience, it retains the English character of it's first founders. With it's mild climate, relatively low crime rate, and scenic setting, it usually is in the middle of the World's top ten list of most liveable cities, when various organizations publish these.








Nevertheless, I am a country man at heart, since the headquarters of the A.P.R. is nestled in the birch and aspen forest atop Chena ridge on two acres, west of Fairbanks. I am not used to the rigours of city life, the traffic noise and fumes, bicycle riding amidst the higher densities of cars and pedestrians, etc..

So, I felt a strong need to get out of the city this past week and into the hills. But without a car, I thought my options would be limited, unless I was willing to ride my hybrid mountain bike 40-50 miles on crowded noisy highways and motorways, before I could get into quieter surroundings outside the suburbs. With great pleasure, I discovered the Sydney City Rail system.

Begun in the 1950s, it has gradually been built up and expanded out from the center of Sydney in all directions. Clean, quiet electric trains run frequently, every day of the week, and on holidays. The network extends well out into the country to the North, East, and South, and you can access several national parks.

http://www.cityrail.info/networkmaps/index.jsp

I decided to visit Blue Mountains National Park, on Boxing Day, the 26th of December, which is a holiday here almost equal in significance to Christmas (all of the former English colonies, save the U.S., celebrate it). I was told you can even bring bicycles with you on the train, perfect for me! So, on Boxing Day morning at 0630, I pedaled the four blocks from my hotel down to Sydney Central Station, the main station for the whole network, and bought my round-trip ticket to Katoomba, the gateway to Blue Mountains N.P., 65 miles northwest of downtown here. The fare was 16.50 Australian, round-trip (about 12.00 USD). Since it was a holiday, and more people were coming in to Sydney, to shop and watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, the train west was uncrowded, and I had plenty of room to bring my bike aboard. It was a two hour trip, with many stops, but I enjoyed the clean, quiet, comfortable ride, and the views of the new territory I was seeing.

The train arrived to the Katoomba station at 0930, after leaving Central Station at 0715.

I then had to pedal about a mile through the quaint mountain-resort town of Katoomba, to reach the trails in Blue Mountains National Park. Katoomba lies at about 3500 feet altitude, so it is cooler in general than Sydney, and just high enough to get a little snow in winter. It has the look and feel of a more mountain town, somewhat similar, but larger than those in Southern California, like Idyllwild, or Julian. The Blue Mountains are not very high, only 3000-4500 feet, but their claim to fame is that there are sheer 2000-2500 foot cliffs dropping down to a wide valley, all clad in thick Eucalyptus/Gum rain forest. This thick forest cover emits turpenes, a chemical which causes the signature blue haze (hence the name of the park), and which I noticed quite easily.

I spent about four hours hiking around on trails on the canyon rim, then down into the rain forest. The trails descend the cliff faces down a network of stairs and steps cut into them. Almost like rock-climbing! Very fun, for me, since I love being perched in high places. The humidity was too much for this Northern man though, I quickly became completely drenched, and decided to head up and out of the jungle, and back to Katoomba, to do some biking in the cooler, drier, breezy air there for the rest of the day.

Here though are a few pictures from the trails in this interesting park. Looking up here to the canyon rim, from about mid-way down, note the blue haze. The jungle vegetation is very thick, without a trail, bushwhacking would be incredibly difficult here. I didn't see any Joeys (baby kangas) or Emu, but I think they tend to favor the drier, more open areas. The sound and sight of many of Australia's colourful birds were present, Cockatoos, Lorikeets, Kookaburra, and many others. I am not too knowledgeable about the local birds here, but would like to learn more. Even better, would be to bring a Cockatoo home, I think one would be a happy addition to the A.P.R. staff, and would probably quickly pick up a diverse and colourful vocabulary.

There are numerous waterfalls and rivulets cascading down the cliff faces in the park, a great way to cool off in the subtropical heat/humidity underneath the jungle canopy.

After a few hours of biking in the fresh, breezy air around Katoomba, it was time to head back into the city. I just hopped on the most convenient train (they run hourly on holidays, every 30 min. during the week), and headed back with the bike, to Central Station, arriving at 630 pm.

I was quite happy, here I am, a visitor with no car, and yet I can get on this clean, quiet train, and in two hours get to enjoy myself in a wilderness/country setting, with my bicycle. Shouldn't every larger city in the U.S. have something like this? Fairbanks is probably too small, but even Anchorage would benefit greatly, and would have a large ridership, if lines were built from Girdwood/Alyeska, and Palmer/Wasilla, into the city. Some larger cities have limited light rail networks, like Portland, OR (a wonderful system, the Max line), Washington D.C., and a real nice link in Florida that connects Miami, all the way north to near Palm Beach. All cities should have one of these though, everyone would benefit, as would the environment.

How much will these cost, you say? Well, if our government can offer 700 billion dollars to prop up financial institutions crippled because of greedy, short-sighted policies/decisions, and therefore socialize their debts/losses, IT CAN NEVER SAY IT CAN NOT AFFORD TO DEVELOP/PRODUCE THINGS THAT WILL ACTUALLY BENEFIT ALL PEOPLE, IN A CONTINUING MANNER. We at A.P.R. urge you to think on this whenever any politicians express concern about social, environmental, or infrastructural spending projects. Remember, 700 billion dollars is going to go to criminally greedy financial institutions and the men that were responsible for bankrupting them, and what are you going to get for it? How about working for things like this instead, light-rail networks? Instead of bailing out the American automakers, our government should nationalize them and use their engineers and workers to develop and manufacture less polluting transport methods, like electric rail systems. Food for thought. Cheers.

SOLSTICE GREETINGS

Winter solstice in Fairbanks, a time of dim light, frequent sub-zero cold, and celebration. Each day will now get slightly longer, and the sun just a little higher. By the end of January, while still cold, there is much more light with which to enjoy our frozen landscape, and the promise of even more as we head into A.P.R.'s favorite months in the far North, February and March.

This year, of course, your lead editor is missing the winter solstice at home, and getting two summer solstices, the second one here in the southern hemisphere at latitude 34 South. The longest day of the year here begins around 0530, and ends around 2030. So far, during my time in Sydney, it has been unseasonably cool, only 20 to 28C for daytime highs (68-84F). But I have been assured by my mates in the B.O.M. office, that it can reach 45C (113F!), at any time. Certainly not something I hope happens during my time here!

Today, walking around the beautiful rocky blue-water coast around Sydney, it was cool and windy, with even a few showers, and temperatures only around 20C. Very comfortable for an Alaskan.
Surroundings like this always bring out my contemplative side, Being around bodies of water, whether it is the ocean, a lake, rivers, or fast-flowing streams, tend to have that effect on me. Today was no exception.

hol⋅i⋅day 
–noun
1.
a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.
2.
any day of exemption from work (distinguished from working day ).
3.
a time or period of exemption from any requirement, duty, assessment, etc.: New businesses may be granted a one-year tax holiday.
4.
a religious feast day; holy day, esp. any of several usually commemorative holy days observed in Judaism.
5.
Sometimes, holidays. Chiefly British. a period of cessation from work or one of recreation; vacation.
6.
an unintentional gap left on a plated, coated, or painted surface.–adjective
7.
of or pertaining to a festival; festive; joyous: a holiday mood.
8.
suitable for a holiday: holiday attire. –verb (used without object)
9.
Chiefly British. to vacation: to holiday at the seaside.
Origin: bef. 950; ME; OE hāligdæg. See holy, day

Winter solstice for me has always been my favorite holiday, after reaching adulthood and developing my own world-view.

at⋅a⋅vis⋅tic 

 /ˌætəˈvɪstɪk/
–adjective
of, pertaining to, or characterized by atavism; reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.
Origin: 1870–75; atav(ism) + -istic

at·a·vism

(āt'ə-vĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key n.
The reappearance of a characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence, usually caused by the chance recombination of genes.
An individual or a part that exhibits atavism. Also called throwback.
The return of a trait or recurrence of previous behavior after a period of absence. [French atavisme, from Latin atavus, ancestor : atta, father + avus, grandfather; see awo- in Indo-European roots.]

What better descriptions for the meaning of Solstice, to me and many other green-oriented/progressive type people in the European/Caucasian industrialized countries, than this? Our ancestors, before Christianity, lived lives totally in the rhythm of the seasons, and in the cool or cold European winters, the arrival and passage of the shortest day of the year had great meaning.

This is a great article, once again, not from a U.S. source:

How Astronauts Went to the Moon and Ended Up Discovering Planet Earth

Photos of Earthrise from Apollo 8 changed the way we look at the world
by Juliette Jowit

Forty years ago this Christmas the first human beings reached the moon. But their historic feat is better remembered for an image of what they left behind - planet Earth.

Earthrise from Apollo 8. (NASA)Looking back from more than 200,000 miles away, the crew of Apollo 8 saw Earth floating "like a Christmas tree ornament lit up in space, fragile-looking". They pointed their cameras through smeared porthole windows and began snapping. It seems almost incredible now, but nobody thought to take a photo of Earth until they saw it, because nobody had seen it before.

One of those photos, an Earthrise over the grey and inhospitable lunar horizon, has become one of the most reproduced and recognized pictures of our planet. LIFE magazine selected it as one of 100 photographs that changed the world; more recently it featured in an Oscar-winning film about climate change, An Inconvenient Truth.

"That one picture exploded in the consciousness of humans," said Al Gore, the film's Nobel prize-winning narrator and campaigner. "It led to dramatic changes. Within 18 months of this picture the environment movement had begun."

There is still some dispute over which of Apollo 8's crew took the first Earthrise photo, but the official version selected by the American space agency, NASA, was by Bill Anders, who spoke to the Guardian from his home in San Diego, California. "After all the training and studying we'd done as pilots and engineers to get to the moon safely and get back, [and] as human beings to explore moon orbit," he said, "what we really discovered was the planet Earth."

Anders and fellow crew members Frank Borman and Jim Lovell left on December 21 and began orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve. For the first and second loops, Apollo 8's crew faced backwards, but on the third revolution Borman, the commander, turned their capsule around. "Suddenly Borman said something like 'look at that' and here was the Earth coming up," recalled Anders. "There was a mad scramble for cameras: I just happened to have one with color film in it and a long lens. All I did was to keep snapping.

"It's not a very good photo as photos go, but it's a special one. It was the first statement of our planet Earth and it was particularly impressive because it's contrasted against this startling horizon."

In the following weeks it is estimated that 2 billion people - more than half the humans alive at the time - watched the blurred black and grey TV film of the moon and listened to crackling voices speaking to them across space as Apollo 8's crew read the first 10 verses of the Bible.

In what now seems symbolic of the impact of seeing the whole planet for the first time with human eyes, Borman appeared to cast off the nationalistic cold war fervor surrounding the mission and ended the broadcast saying: "A merry Christmas and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

The impact of the photo in 1968 was immediate in a world already shaken by Rachel Carson's explosive book on pesticide pollution, Silent Spring. Four decades later, climate change is the great environmental threat and Earthrise is still used by campaigners trying to draw attention to the problem.

Landscape photographer Joe Cornish said he had been haunted by the image: "It's a new perspective from space, but it's a totally new perspective when you see it in relation to another body in space."

For Anders, the fragility of life on Earth is shown even more powerfully by three photos of the Earth alone in space: "Earthrise has a reference - there's the moon and the Earth, you don't get a vastness - whereas the other ones, particularly the smaller one, it's Earth and black to the frame ... it goes on and on."

He added: "I think it's important for people to understand they are just going around on one of the smaller grains of sand on one of the spiral arms of this kind of puny galaxy ... it [Earth] is insignificant, but it's the only one we've got."
© 2008 Guardian News and Media Limited

Interesting, isn't it? The most advanced technology in the World at the time, manned space flight, a technology which if fully exploited would have serious deleterious effects on the environment, gave humanity a way of visualising the one-ness of all people and beings. Enabling us to develop a global consciousness necessary to start tackling global problems that technology is creating.

We here at A.P.R. do tend toward atavism in our spiritual outlooks. Mattie especially, with her animist beliefs, sees the sacredness in all beings and things, living always in the present moment. A constant inspiration for me, since I tend to focus on the future over-much at times. We view with dismay the major religions of the Earth, which cling to exclusivity, (Christianity, Islam, Judaism to some extent), i.e., that their spiritual concepts are the "truth" to the exclusion of the others, and that their adherents are either specially chosen and/or will only be granted true peace and serenity in an afterlife, whilst non-believers will be destroyed. It is not our place here to tell people how or what to believe, evangelism has always been something we detest, especially when the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses show up at our door. But, with the looming inter-related global crises of climate change, and overpopulation/resource-depletion, global solutions will be required. Exclusivity-based belief systems stand in the way of this, and make it easier for wars to occur. One look at Middle Eastern history and current affairs is illustrative, as well as the troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1960s-1970s, and the history of relations between indigenous peoples and Europeans in the Americas and Australia.

Our rule of thumb, here at A.P.R. in our spiritual questing, is very basic. We don't eat things that we know will make us feel bad. Similarly, we don't believe things that we come across, that will make us feel bad. When we are seeking, and come upon information or beliefs that resonate with us, we look at three prime qualifiers. Does the material openly and without hesitation accept all races, cultures, and beings? Does it or will it promote understanding and rapproachment between all other religions, cultures, and belief systems? Does it provide a framework in which our lives have true meaning and purpose? If any of these three questions are not met, we reject the material as not healthy for us.

A quick example: Pure science, in it's most orthodox sense, would say that we are essentially just a mix of chemicals in a random universe. That life developed and evolved it's extraordinary complexity by chance, and that the life we have now, is all that we will have. And further, that life necessarily then, is essentially meaningless. We rejected this long ago, as it did not make us feel good, and it violates the third prime qualifier.

So that's how we have chosen to act in our spiritual seeking, and for us, here at A.P.R., we find meaning in our lives, and see things in a larger framework. It goes without saying, that we believe many, if not all, of our problems on Earth, stem from a lack of spiritual consideration and awareness. The greed and short-sightedness of our Capitalist system is a prime example. Do you think people who had a true appreciation and understanding of the one-ness of all life would launch, or allow to be launched, a war based on lies, knowing that there would be large numbers of deaths and injuries, and suffering of those not injured? Or, would shift factories and jobs to poor countries, throwing people out of work, in order to seek higher profits from near-slave labor, and lax environmental regulations/enforcement?

What have we here at A.P.R. found in our years of seeking? Well, we have settled upon a "New-Age" belief system encompassing elements of Native American and other Indigenous peoples systems, as well as insights from modern day teachers and guides. One of our favorite sources is the Seth material, laid out in several books by Jane Roberts, two of the best being "Seth Speaks", and "The Nature of Personal Reality".

A very interesting psychic named Edgar Cayce lived in the southern U.S. from 1877-1945. He gave thousands of readings to people while in trance, about all manner of subjects, health/medicine, current affairs, spiritual matters, missing persons, etc.. He was investigated and tested by many prominent researchers in his day. He was able, while in trance, to pinpoint locations of hidden materials, and other things that would be impossible to know in our ordinary lives. He left a rich legacy of material that many people still study, including those of us here at A.P.R. Any bookstore in their philosophy/religion section will have a number of books about him, as dozens have been written.

In closing, I'd like to describe an interesting incident that happened to your lead editor last week, while at work. I was tired from lack of sleep, due to a bad head cold. After riding my bike to the office, and locking it up, I just left the keys on a wall by the bike, because of my grogginess. Upon leaving for the day, with dismay I realized I had lost my keys. After extensive fruitless searching, I borrowed a hacksaw, and began cutting the cable. As I was about a third of the way through, I noticed a wadded paper note stuffed in the seat. Opening it up, there were my keys, along with this message:

1153 am 17/12/2008

2 Whom it May Concern

1.) I just sat down in the shade 4 a smoke

2.) Keys lying there

3.) Hmmm.... - interesting!!!

4.) Keys fit mongoose bike lock

5.) I give u a Christmas present

God Bless U

(Jesus is born)

Now, there is a real Christian! Needless to say, I was speechless and had to show all my mates in the office the note, and it gave us all good cheer. Isn't it great when things like this happen, to show us that there are kind and concerned people in the World? Cheers.

Happy Solstice!