AUSTRALIANS ONLY HAVE FIVE COMMANDMENTS

(We are great abbreviators). The quiz I put up recently about knowledge of Australian slang seems to have been very popular so I thought I might re-post the observations below:

From its foundation in 1788, Australia has always been a traditionally unholy place with a very low rate of churchgoing. Americans trace their founding fathers to religious zealots but Australians trace their foundations to convicts. And other major population elements in the white settlement of Australia -- such as goldrush "diggers" and Irish rebels -- did little to alter the culture originating from our convict origins. Only about 3% of modern-day Australians have convict ancestors (I am one of the 3%) but the early days formed a culture that has been passed on to others as they arrived -- just as only a small minority of Americans now have primarily English ancestry but English is nonethless the language of America. And Australia's only national hero to this day is Ned Kelly -- an Irish highway robber who eventually was hanged for his undoubted crimes.

So how come Australia is a civil, prosperous and pleasant place to live? It is because Australians DO have a widely agreed-on moral code -- but it is not a Christian one. It originates from the values of the English working class of yesteryear and can perhaps be conveniently summed up (in its original Australian slang) as the following five "Commandments":

* Thou shalt not dob in thy mates
* Thou shalt not bung on an act.
* Thou shalt not be a tall poppy
* Thou shalt give everyone a fair go
* Thou shalt be fair dinkum

Translating these into standard English yields APPROXIMATELY the following:

* You must not incriminate your friends to the boss, the police or anyone else. Loyalty to your associates is all-important.
* You must not be ostentatious or pretend to be what you are not.
* You must treat others as your equals. If you are seen as being better than others in anything but sport you will be made to suffer for it.
* You must be fair and permissive in your treatment of others.
* You must not be insincere or dishonest.

From Hammurabi onwards, most moral codes have had much in common and the Australian and Christian moral codes do also have things in common but the Australian moral code is not preached in churches. It is simply traditional and widely heartfelt.

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ELSEWHERE

I have regarded Andrew Sullivan as contemptible since 2002 but nothing I say of course has any impact on as big a fish in blogging and journalism as Sullivan is. I am therefore pleased that the widely-read Taranto has a similar view of Sullivan, with a particularly nice innuendo at the end of his latest post. Taranto has of course been having fun with Sullivan for some time (e.g. here) -- often by quoting from earlier Sullivan posts that contradict Sullivan's present stance. Keith Burgess-Jackson also thinks that Sullivan argues disreputably.

California: Dems claim Bush tax plan targeted at them: "A tax reform proposal agreed upon Tuesday by President Bush's advisory panel would eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes and sharply limit the tax break for home mortgage interest. That's leading some Democrats in California and New York to assail it as an attack on the blue states -- the ones that voted Democratic in the 2004 presidential election -- which tend to have higher taxes and housing costs. 'The Bush panel's recommendations are a double-barreled blast aimed squarely at California and the middle class,' state Treasurer Phil Angelides said in a press release. 'These recommendations are good for Texas, but bad for California.'"

How long could your state run on ANWR oil? "Recent disruptions in oil production caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, coupled with America's increasing dependence on foreign oil, have once again exposed the frailty of our nation's energy supply. And as Americans continue to face sticker shock at the pump and quiver in anticipation of expensive home heating bills this winter, the need for increased domestic production has reached the forefront of the American psyche."

UK: Microsoft warns of ID card security risk: "Microsoft has warned the UK government's national ID card plans pose a huge security risk that could actually increase the likelihood of confidential personal information falling into the hands of hackers and criminals. A top security and identity management expert at Microsoft said the current technology proposals are flawed and criticised other IT suppliers for failing to speak out publicly about their concerns for fear of damaging any future bids for a piece of the lucrative ID cards contract."

Locking up more criminals for longer works: "The nation's murder rate declined last year for the first time in four years, dropping to the lowest level in 40 years. Experts said local rather than national trends were mostly responsible. The rates for all seven major crimes were down and the overall violent crime rate reached a 30-year low, according to the FBI's annual compilation of crimes reported to the police. There were 391 fewer murders nationwide in 2004 than the year before. The total of 16,137 worked out to 5.5 murders for every 100,000 people."

I have just put up a new post on my Leftists as Elitists blog that looks at one long sneer at Australia and Australians from a noted Australian playwright. He actually manages to make HIMSELF look ridiculous in the process.

Les Bates has a pungent reply to a Leftist assertion that "liberals and progressives are not communists or socialists".

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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