Ben @ the Beach

Couple of quick snaps of Ben 2.0 at the beach the other day. He's a big sandcastle man. I make em, he knocks em down!

Car Sizes

Why is it that families are now smaller but cars are much larger?

Big 4WD's should cost a lot more to register.

Compulsory 3rd party life insurance should cost more.

Driver's should have to pass a competency test before they can drive one.

And these new Chrysler dealerships being rolled out round Australia should have to pay an ugly tax. Let's leave these hideous yank tanks to the Americans & Saudis.

Sorry

Have to say I think Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations was a very important piece of Australian history and that he (and his speech writers) nailed it.

I'm a realist and my conservative estimate is that more than 50% of the population have racist tendencies (75% in the over 50 age group). I think Rudd's apology not only hit a chord with the Indigenous People it was aimed at but it also did a good job of explaining to Joe Public why it was necessary.

There were no qualifications about past policies being well intentioned as per Nelson. It was just a genuine heartfelt apology.

It was the first time I have actually considered him to be statesmanlike. Any qualms I had after his cheesy acceptance speech have breen dispelled.

And best of all, he took the opportunity to set some targets that have the potential to make a real difference to the well being of Indigenous Australians. Let's hope they can be met or at least some real progress can be made.

If a government was to come into my home and take Ben away and place him in another culture without a valid reason, and there was nothing I could do to challenge the decision or get him back, I know how I would feel.

What about you?