It's happening now!!

[Azzuri]

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.


THE MODERN AUSTRALIAN VERSION..

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to
know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate like him are cold and starving.

The ABC and Channel 9 show up to provide live coverage of the
shivering grasshopper, with cuts to a video of the ant in his
comfortable warm home with a table filled with food.

Australians are stunned that in a country of such wealth, this poor
grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while others have plenty.

The Democrats, the Greens and the Coalition Against Poverty
demonstrate in front of the ant's house.

The ABC, interrupting an Aboriginal cultural festival special from North Queensland with breaking news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome."

Bob Brown (Greens Party) rants in an interview with Ray Martin (current affairs host) that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share."

In response to polls, the Liberal Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper Anti-Discrimination Act, retrospective to the beginning of the summer.

It is quickly passed through the Senate.

The ant's taxes are reassessed and he is also fined for failing to hire grass hoppers as helpers.

Without enough money to pay both the fine and his newly imposed
retrospective taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

The ant moves to Asia , and starts a successful agribiz company.

The TV stations later show the now fat grasshopper finishing up the last of the ant's food though Spring is still months away, while the government owned house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house crumbles around him because he hadn't maintained it.

Inadequate government funding is blamed, Kim Beasley (Senior opposition member) now is appointed to head a commission of inquiry that will cost $10,000,000.

The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug overdose, the Sydney Morning
Herald blames it on obvious failure of government to address the root
causes of despair arising from social inequity.

The abandoned house is taken over by a gang of immigrant spiders,
praised by the government for enriching Australia's multicultural diversity, who promptly terrorize the community.

Who says we don't live in a democracy?

:confused: :(

[Sleuth]

Why should OZ be any different? Depending on how people vote here in the US Presidential election, the same thing could happen here.

[oscarmitre]

Is this a comment about law enforcement in Australia?

[rggoodie]

Greetings from an ex pat now in the States fromally with the AFP that is after Canberra police became the AFP.
That in itself was an example of your story.

Combine a police dept and a security force and instant unrest.

Have been back recently and things seem to be working smoothly now.

Don't know which state you are in but stay safe and try to look at the bright side.

taking a little license with our most famous poem

God loves the Sunburnt Country - It's mounts and plains and all
the dedicated Law Enforcement officers who serve her.

Stay safe

[JohnKelly]

G'day rggoodie. It would be interesting to hear your stories on how some Americans view Australia. I have heard some stories that had me just shaking my head in disbelief.

Don't forget to mention our Olympic Medal Tally for a country that has the population of New York State. Tell them that if we had the population of the US, we would have a won 196 Medals.;)

I was around the traps when the Australian Capital Territory Police was amalgamated into the Australian Federal Police and I was also around the traps when the Commonwealth Police was disbanded and the members given the option of moving to either the Australian Federal Police or the Australian Protective Service.

Well mate, I don't know if you are up with the lastest, but it looks like they have reinvented the wheel in that the Australian Protective Service is to become a Branch within the Australian Federal Police.

Check this out. http://www.afp.gov.au/page.asp?ref=/Media/2004/2008ProtectiveRecruit.xml

The old rumour about the NSW Police taking over the Policing of the ACT still surfaces now and again, but still remains a rumour.

Cheers,

JohnKelly

[rggoodie]

Thanks for the note.
What area of the country are you in hopefully you are not in Queensland- I remember the song Let me see if I can quote it Blame it on the Kelly boys blame it on the Kellys. If my history serves me right that wasn't your family was it?

I have relative on the NSW dept. I was back in Canberra last year.Visiting Family (married to a former Auzzie) wife and kids have dual citizenship - talked with some of my old mates. When I was previously there it was the Canberra City Police and the AFP then they combined it. That was interesting to say the least we had Untrained (in police work traffic, homocide, etc) AFP officers assigned as SGts, LTs, and Captains to work with the City police for a while it made for some very interesting stories. Was there for the first Federation of Australian Motorcyclist ride on Canberra. It was interesting last year to visit the Abo village camped outside of the old parliment house. I have fond memories of my years in the land down under.

My memory is foggy about this one was it NSW who was assigned to stop motorist for good driving and give them commendations for same- that as I remember only lasted a day or two before there were so many complaints everyone had to stop.

Enough rambling
Stay safe,
God Bless

[krj]

Originally posted by JohnKelly
G'day rggoodie. It would be interesting to hear your stories on how some Americans view Australia. I have heard some stories that had me just shaking my head in disbelief.

Some of my experiences re: this:

I've met a fair number of guys who spent their leave during the Vietnam War down in Australia (usually Sydney) who LOVED the country ('course, they don't remember much about Oz aside from the bars and the women!) :D

I've had a couple of people who asked me if there were kangaroos running down the streets of the cities.

I've had people tell me that they know someone who lives in Australia, and then they tell me their name (and look at me expectantly, as if I should actually KNOW that person).

Many people ask me if it's as hot down there as they've heard, and I say "yes" but it can get just as hot in Tennessee

I've messed with people's heads a couple of times. I told someone about Skippy (the bush kangaroo - I can still remember the words to the song) - my favorite kids' show when I lived over there. Told him Skippy was akin to Lassie over here ie. going to fetch help when someone was injured. But then I made some stilted, robotic arm-movement that I said Skippy made when he wanted someone to follow him. It was hilarious to see the guy's look of amazement that they could actually train a kangaroo to DO that!

I also told someone one day that because Australia was in the southern hemisphere, toast didn't pop UP like it does here, that it actually falls DOWN (with, of course, a tray underneath the toaster to catch the toast). :D

Anyone who has visited Australia wants to give me their in-depth impressions of the country. Everyone (everyone) who I have ever told about my time in Australia, says they would love to visit.

Mostly Americans seem to think of Australia as some wild-west frontier cowboy kinda country (in good part, I suppose, because of the Crocodile Dundee-like coverage the country seems to receive).

[JohnKelly]

Originally posted by rggoodie
Thanks for the note.
What area of the country are you in hopefully you are not in Queensland- I remember the song Let me see if I can quote it Blame it on the Kelly boys blame it on the Kellys. If my history serves me right that wasn't your family was it?

Well, I guess that the Kellys' throughout the world are related in one way or another, and I think from memory that in ancient Ireland they married into the O'Neil Clan.

The song that you refer to is an Irish Australian Ballad about The Kelly Gang, a Gang of Bush Rangers, led by Ned Kelly.

Ned Kelly is regarded by some as a hero and by others as a common criminal, the fact of the matter is that in 1878 he shot three Police Officers. They were Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Constables Lonigan and Michael Scanlon.

When they hanged Ned Kelly, his final words were, "Ah well, such is life."

The Kelly Gang roamed all over northern Victoria and Kelly's last stand was at a town called Glenrowan. The three Police Officers that I mentioned were shot by Kelly at a town called Mansfield and there is a memorial dedicated to them in the main street of that town.

Last year, two of the Graduating Squads from the Police Academy paraded through the town of Mansfield and paid their respects to the fallen officers. There were many other serving members on parade, in Dress Uniform, including the Police Commissioner and members of Police Command. One of the serving members was related to one of the Officers that Kelly shot.

So, there you go, a little bit of Australian history.:)

Cheers,

[JohnKelly]

Originally posted by krj. Mostly Americans seem to think of Australia as some wild-west frontier cowboy kinda country (in good part, I suppose, because of the Crocodile Dundee-like coverage the country seems to receive).

Well krj, the fact of the matter is that in some cases, you would not have to travel far outside some of our Australian Cities to see such so called 'Wild-West Country.'

Cheers,

[krj]

Originally posted by JohnKelly
Well krj, the fact of the matter is that in some cases, you would not have to travel far outside some of our Australian Cities to see such so called 'Wild-West Country.'

Cheers,

You're right there John. My sister lived in northern Queensland a few years back, and in such a remote area that she was under the care of a flying doctor while she was pregnant.

My point in saying this (and I wasn't really trying to make a big point out of it) was that much of the image that Americans have of Australia tends to be one dimensional. While I was there I lived just outside of a major city - which had all the pros and cons of major cities anywhere in the world.