In those heady days of childhood,back in the 1950's, I was like most kids. I ricocheted from one scraped knee to another. A fall off my bike and a chipped tooth, broken arm or head wound from a low flying rock hurled by a neighbourhood adversary were part of everyday life. I wore my scars with pride and valiantly returned to school the next day and limped or sighed in pain and recounted the tale of how I had been so afflicted.
Read more: I remember when... I was 10 feet tall and bullet proof
This morning, I read an essay written by an 12 year old who proudly hails from Canberra. He is an articulate and intelligent young man who loves his adopted country of Australia. The topic was Federation. I opened the email with eager expectation: what did a young Australian think about the creation of our Nation?
Read more: Open letter from a January 6th protestor - held in captivity for 9 months
The race for the governorship of the Old Dominion state was supposed to be a shoo-in for the Democrats, but it’s now neck-and-neck, with some predicting a Republican victory which would have huge ramifications for Joe Biden.
Recently, while boring a family gathering with an exposition as to how the liberals (not the political party) have hi-jacked the church to which I belong over the last fifty years or so, I was threatened by my daughter with banishment to eternal family darkness if I didn’t shut up - and rightly so. Mrs Flysa hates how I must always have the last word, but I ask anyway, how long is it since anyone heard any minister of religion mention the bleak prospect of spending eternity in a fiery furnace, if we commit those things which used to be known in the fifties as sins? Reference to sin is no longer permitted.
Western countries are leading the charge in restructuring their economies around the issue of climate change. They’re committed to a comprehensive agenda to “decarbonize” their economies by 2050.
To sum it up in one word, it’s insane. In two words, it’s criminally insane.
Read more: Climate Hysteria - the insanity of a woke world gone mad
Why do we fear ghosts and all things supernatural on this day in particular? The customs of Halloween go back centuries and are so deeply steeped in religion and tradition that nothing about this tradition seems strange when you understand where it comes from. Yet, I never grew up with Halloween.
It was 1939. My two older sisters and I were riding our bikes to school and Mum told Dad that she had heard a lady say “those Kirke children are strange, the eldest girl (Margery) rides along singing, the next girl (Mickey) whistles, and the boy talks to himself " … it's all true. In fact, I am not at all surprised that a couple of cats actually answer.
Read more: I remember when... I was one of those strange Kirke kids
My wife and are very fortunate to have been able to travel extensively and frequently. This trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway was the longest and one of the stand-out experiences of our lives. These days, with travel having been so severely limited, it is good to be able to share memories of past journeys and past experiences.
Lines are drawn on maps and continents carved up according to some pre-ordained or directed order: create a country, a state or a new political identity by drawing a pen line on a map.
Someone, somewhere, decides that this is where a border will go and so shall it be. The worker ants scurry off to carry out the master's orders.
When we line up to vote we do so because we naively believe that our vote means something. We listen to the policies and promises of each political party and decide which is the best fit for us.
Read more: The plunder in their pockets - at what cost Australia?
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the…
85 hits
RATTY NEWS SPECIAL REPORT THE PROFESSOR PECK PHENOMENON How Dusty Gulch University Accidentally Created the…
195 hits
Barefoot in the Grass: The Last Lesson My Father Taught Me My father passed away…
236 hits
Thomas Pritchard, Australia's last "Rat of Tobruk" passed away at the age of 102 on…
226 hits
From immigration policy to identity politics, energy to ideology - the erosion of Western society…
279 hits
Twenty-Five Teenagers. One Mother. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? When I was about twelve years…
257 hits
Swish, Swish... Off With Their Heads When I was a young lass, I was a…
254 hits
Mystery Deepens: Who Are the Chookhouse Four? By Roderick (Whiskers ) McNibble, Chief Investigative Correspondent,…
256 hits
The sea doesn’t warn you. It doesn’t care who you are, what rank you hold,…
304 hits
The Census Came for the Quiet Ones I have just finished the Australian Census. Had…
2766 hits
In a fast-changing Australia, where new cultures and identities weave fresh threads into our ever…
316 hits
“Every tyrant must begin by claiming to have what his victims respect and to give…
337 hits
At nine years old, I felt the silence of the lambs, long before I knew…
306 hits
While the new aces argue about the runway, the old crew still knows how to…
349 hits
Howling into the Abyss of Settler-Colonial Absurdism A Decolonial Reading of "The Werewolves of Dusty…
297 hits
RATTY NEWS SPECIAL INVESTIGATION THE WEREWOLVES OF DUSTY GULCH Project Howl, the Hacked Rolling Pin,…
378 hits
The Ghost Returns The first thing he noticed was the silence. Not the silence of…
346 hits
A Dream Needs a Driver: Sir William Hamilton, the Jet Boat, and the Men Who…
368 hits
When I tell people I’m a beek, inevitably the first thing they say is, “Yes,…
387 hits
He stood on top of the world - literally. But Sir Edmund Hillary never saw…
366 hits
The Basement at Yekaterinburg When People Become Symbols, History Takes a Dark Turn On the…
392 hits
In many Western countries today, we often speak of multiculturalism as though traditions no longer…
371 hits
RATTY NEWS EXCLUSIVE THE DUCKS WHO KNEW TOO MUCH How the Mysterious Death of the…
355 hits
In a world that seems determined to teach us to hate our countries, I remember…
423 hits
When the Bush Is No Longer Enough Just days after Sam Neill's passing on 13…
449 hits
Why Churchill Still Matters in Australia: Blunt Voices, Shared Goals, and the Fight for a…
438 hits
Bastille Day, Artificial Intelligence, and the New Reign of Terror The guillotine has gone digital.…
430 hits
How a turned head, a washing machine, and a handful of extraordinary coincidences made me…
411 hits
RATTY NEWS FILM REVIEW Dracula the Emu No Stakes... No Steaks... No Hope. Reviewed by…
455 hits
A 94-year-old’s heartfelt plea about cruelty to animals, the neglect of children and the elderly,…
422 hits
No, Sire. It Is a Revolution. It's easy to forget, but revolutions don't just fall…
420 hits