Accused ‘spoke of killing Howard’; has ‘common touch’

Posted on February 21, 2008 by @ndy
    Dear Readers: If you are connected to the Internet or near a telephone or cell-phone, U.$. spies can track you and maybe even see you visually. Keep that in mind as you read slackbastard and other anti-Amerikkkan websites.

    Check your security first.

Accused ‘spoke of killing Howard’, Karen Kissane, The rAge, February 20, 2008…

In other news:

Kimbo!

Kimbo Slice made very short work (43 seconds) of Tank Abbott.

Chairman Mao!

The Rural People’s Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) continues to speak the truth in a manner that the Revisionists at LastSuperPower.net can only dream of, and while the MIM continues to be a w e s o m e, the RPP is a w e s o m e r: “Rural People’s Party and its Central cell are not comprised of privileged bourgeois, liberal-minded middle-class college students. RPP is comprised of actual lumpenproletariats, including rural and criminal elements, who by our upbringing and continued existence amongst the poor and repressed have a legitimate class hatred towards the bourgeois infrastructure and bourgeois societal superstructure and desire the realization of instruments of state repression utilized against the capitalist class enemy.”

Provocateurs! Wreckers! Librarians!

Someone claiming to be an anarchist and a librarian (but in all likelihood a right-winger and a football hooligan intent on wrecking stuff) asks “Why does the concept of property so thoroughly infuse our understanding of rights? Are our conceptions of privacy dependent on owning one’s individual “self”? If we own our identity, is our public persona a form of intellectual property, as a trademark is?” (Barbara Fister, ‘Face Value’, Inside Higher Ed, February 18, 2008). This is clearly intended to simply make it harder to build future protests and movements rather than constitute an interesting insight into issues of copyright and intellectual labour.

Lenin! Infants!

“Such is the general mechanism of the proletarian state power viewed “from above”, from the standpoint of the practical implementation of the dictatorship. We hope that the reader will understand why the Russian Bolshevik who has known this mechanism for twenty-five years and has seen it develop out of small, illegal and underground circles, cannot help regarding all this talk about “from above” or “from below”, about the dictatorship of leaders or the dictatorship of the masses, etc., as ridiculous and childish nonsense, something like discussing whether a man’s left leg or right arm is of greater use to him.”

Bizarros! Spiked!

The British Bizarros formerly known as the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) now operate Spiked! Online (as well as a quite lengthy list of front groups), and A Drink-Soaked Trotskyiste Popinjay For War is vewy angwy with them, the precise reasons for which escape me… which is to say, what else is new?

Ugliness

Last night I caught the tail-end of a neat doco on SBS. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the ad for Stiff & Stiff, or the one for men with weak or leaking bladders. Mister Brown, a local SBS executive attending a conference in the Bahamas probably feels the same way.

    Hot Docs: The Anatomy Of Evil

    This documentary, directed by Danish filmmaker Ove Nyholm, lets us meet the perpetrators of the worst war crimes committed over the last fifty years. The film is the result of research carried out by Nyholm, who has travelled the world in order to find the answer to the question: What makes ordinary people commit mass slaughter and indulge in genocide during war time? And how do they get on with their everyday life with having hundreds of killings on their conscience? A number of executioners speak about their personal history and their involvement in the most cruel genocides in Europe during the last fifty years – from the Holocaust to the recent tragedy in the Balkans. A Serbian paramilitary says he would go crazy if he tried to recall every murder while a former Einsatz commander during World War Two explains how they executed people most efficiently: women were forced to hold their children against their chest, so two people could be killed with a single bullet. (From Denmark, in Danish, German, Albanian, English and Serbian, English subtitles) (Rpt) M (V,A) CC WS

Chairman Miaow!

Cats are a w e s o m e and should be looked after properly. The Scottish Government’s Department of Cats has produced an informative guide to looking after the welfare of Felis silvestris catus. The duty of care placed on an animal owner or keeper is based on the ‘Five Freedoms’ and include:

* its need for a suitable environment;
* its need for a suitable diet;
* its need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns;
* any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals;
* its need to be protected from suffering, injury and disease.

Celtic Anarchy!

CelticAnarchy.org is a new site, the seeming brainchild of MC Lynx, and decsribes itself as “an open-source journal for anarchists, anti-imperialists, anti-authoritarians, anti-racists, internationalists, libertarian socialists, indiginists, and fellow travelers from across the Celtic nations and in the diaspora community. Our goal is to explore the connections between politics, history, culture, music, language, identity, & spirituality. This is not an exclusive community, we welcome contributions from everyone regardless of ethnicity or political affiliation, as long as that participation is constructive.” It hosts an article on nationalism and anarchism, which I may respond to later.

Nazis To Invade South-East Asia!

On another bizarro note, the bizarro racists of the New Reich are seeking interested parties to join with Welf Herfurth in May/June as the yuppie heads off on another one of his trips to south-east Asia.

Rebel Music!

We Want Rebel Music has republished an interview (Profane Existence, Winter 2007/2008) with Canadian punk rockers The Fallout. One of the band members was apparently featured on a Canadian version of Redwatch as a result of the band’s active support for anti-racist activism.

Redwatch Poland

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Redwatch Poland has been in trouble recently, with hackers apparently being able to (briefly?) disable the site. (Redwatch Poland is an outgrowth of the original, UK-based Redwatch — largely the work of Tony Foy, Simon Sheppard, Kevin Watmough and Carol White.) Redwatch Poland has a long history of harrassment of anarchists, feminists, leftists, people of colour and queers in Poland, but more recently, in January, Danielas Michalski, a Polish activist campaigning against homophobia, was featured on the site, along with calls for him to be shot. In May 2006, a Polish anarchist and antifa (‘Maciek D.’) was featured on the site, and subsequently stabbed. Jewish Poles have also been the target of Redwatch’s ire, but it was only when Poland’s Chief Rabbi was assaulted by a racist nutter that authorities acted. Thus in 2006, in response to public exposure, and national and international diplomatic pressure, a handful of Polish neo-Nazis responsible for the site were arrested by police. On the other hand, legal proceedings against them have apparently yet to commence, and the site itself remains active.

Well, until very recently. Currently, the site — redwatch.info — is down (Internauci kilują portal neonazistów, Jowita Kiwnik, [Electoral], February 18, 2008). Where Polish police and the American FBI have tried and failed a bunch of geeks — especially hardcore punks — have succeeded.

Note that Redwatch was a project of Blood & Honour Poland — part of the same neo-Nazi network The Birmingham Hotel in Fitzroy and the Melbourne Croatia Social Club in Sunshine have happily provided real as opposed to virtual hosting. It’s also noteworthy that, in terms of the reaction to Blood & Honour, gumby punks in Melbourne and hardcore punks in Poland are, literally, poles apart.

Boom boom…

See also :

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Anti-fascism, Cats, Media, State / Politics, Television, Trot Guide, War on Terror | 1 Comment

#1,001 : Music & Politics

Posted on February 20, 2008 by @ndy

slackbastard top ten in no particular order and chosen at seeming random from among the many that would otherwise qualify for inclusion in such a list

1) Pennywise — “Fuck Authority” (2001). Pop punk. Southern California. Epitaph. Bring on the Bro Hymn Choir dude. “A new album, Reason To Believe, will be released on March 25, 2008 free through Myspace, and in stores through Epitaph.”

2) Nicolette — “No Government” (1995). Yeah man. Great song, low-quality video. No government is a way of life / No government means to trust your friends / I know who I am, and you know who you are / If everybody knew what they wanted / There’d be nothing, nothing left / People would do what they wanted / And there’d be no government / There’d be no government / There’d be no government / People would do what they wanted / And there’d be no government…

3) Boltthrower — “Cenotaph” (1991). See, this is what happens when you have governments: you have wars. And when you have wars, you have cenotaphs. And when you have cenotaphs, you have bands like Boltthrower, who writes songs called “Cenotaph”. Oh… wait…

4) Boris Vian — “Le Deserteur” (1954). Ooh la la! So Frenchy! So chic! Mr. President / I’m writing you a letter / that perhaps you will read / If you have the time. // I’ve just received / my call-up papers / to leave for the front / Before Wednesday night. // Mr. President / I do not want to go / I am not on this earth / to kill wretched people. // It’s not to make you mad / I must tell you / my decision is made / I am going to desert…

5) Los Fastidios — “We Wanna Be” (2007). I wanna be watching bands like this in Australia… *sigh*

6) I’d like to have included The Isley Brothers — “Fight The Power” (and there’s another cover version of this on YouTube) but “Embedding disabled by request” (and while those crazy Japanese cats are pretty damn funky anyways) I decided to go with Doberman — “Bella Ciao”. Then I changed my mind. And thought I’d include Chumawamba‘s version instead. Then I realised the video was shit… *sigh* So instead of a song, here’s the first part of a documentary: Well Done, Now Sod Off.

7) Gil Scott-Heron — “Message to the Messengers” (1994). I saw Gil play live @ The Lounge in 1995. I had to borrow a mate’s shoes to get through the door. Gil was brilliant. “…But if you’re goin’ be teachin’ folks things, make sure you know what you’re sayin’ / Older folks in our neighborhood got plenty of know-how / Remember if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t be out here now / And I ain’t comin’ at you with no disrespect / All I’m sayin’ is that you damn well got to be correct…”

EIGHT) Phil Ochs — “Love Me I’m A Liberal” (1966). Liberal as in liberal, not Tory. Gotta love ’em.

9) Leadbelly — “Bourgeois Blues” (1938). Every town is a bourgeois town. Except for Barcelona in July 1936 maybe.

10) Hüsker Dü — “Don’t Want to Know if You are Lonely” (1986). 80s music. Flannel. Bob played Melbourne solo in ’91. He was really, really good.

Posted in Music, State / Politics | 6 Comments

Three Cheers & A Loud “Huzzah!” for slackbastard! Post #1,000!

Posted on February 20, 2008 by @ndy

Bloody hell, I think it may be safely said that, as far as slackbastard the blog is concerned, anarchy has well and truly triumphed over apathy. That said, I’m thinking of going into a new line of work. Care to join me, comrades?

ASIO : Recruiting Now!

A Career With Meaning… If You Want To… Protect Australia… We’ll Pay… Attention To You… ASIO Is Recruiting… ASIO

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia’s national security service.

ASIO’s main role is to gather information and produce intelligence that will enable it to warn the government about activities or situations that might endanger Australia’s national security. The ASIO Act defines “security” as the protection of Australia and its people from espionage, sabotage, politically motivated violence, the promotion of communal violence, attacks on Australia’s defence system, and acts of foreign interference.

ALL APPLICATIONS FOR EMPLOYMENT WITH ASIO ARE HANDLED IN THE STRICTEST CONFIDENCE. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU MAINTAIN A SIMILAR LEVEL OF CONFIDENTIALITY, AND THAT YOU NOT DISCUSS YOUR APPLICATION WITH OTHERS [especially not slackbastard].

Current Vacancies (February 15, 2008)

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) provides advice to protect Australia and its people from threats to national security.

Border Security Assessors
ASIO Central Office Canberra
ASIO Officer Grade 3
Salary range: $49,280 – $53,100 (plus superannuation and shift allowances)

[Et cetera]

Show. Me. The Money.

See also : Private sector spies an opening, Karen Dearne, Australian IT, January 22, 2008 | Australia ‘knew Habib would go to Egypt’, Amy Coopes/AAP, Herald Sun, February 1, 2008 (“THE first Australian official to gain access to former terror suspect Mamdouh Habib after his arrest in Pakistan says his transfer to Egypt [and torture] was a known possibility from the outset…”) | Australian police chief calls for media blackout on terrorism cases, Mike Head, wsws.org, February 4, 2008 (“Immense powers already exist to shroud police and ASIO operations in secrecy. Anyone can be secretly detained and questioned simply on suspicion that they may have “information” about terrorism. They can be jailed if they alert the media or even report their detention to their loved ones. Terrorist trials can be held behind closed doors, and secret evidence can be used, with the prisoner denied the elementary right to know its contents…”) | 30 years since Sydney’s Hilton Hotel bombing—the unanswered questions, Mike Head, wsws.org, February 13, 2008:

The bombing became a vehicle for the government to implement a sweeping build-up of the police-intelligence apparatus, the basis for which had been laid by the Whitlam government. Facing hostility in the labour movement over the openly right-wing activities of ASIO and the police Special Branches, Whitlam had commissioned a royal commission headed by Justice Robert Hope. In a series of reports, ultimately published in 1977, Hope essentially proposed legalising most of ASIO’s legally dubious phone-tapping and other surveillance operations, while recommending that the intelligence agencies focus their work more on socialist organisations rather than Labor Party and trade union figures, who posed no real threat to the political establishment.

In the meantime, however, Whitlam’s government had been removed and the dismissal fuelled further concerns about the role of the security services. In November 1977, Premier Don Dunstan’s Labor government in South Australia commissioned an inquiry by Justice White, which reported that the state’s police Special Branch, with the assistance of ASIO, maintained files on 40,000 people, including Labor MPs, union members, civil libertarians and peace protestors. Just four days before the Hilton bombing, NSW Premier Wran was forced to announce an inquiry into the links between ASIO and the NSW Special Branch. As a result of the bombing, Wran dropped the inquiry.

Three weeks after the explosion, an ASIO Bill was introduced into federal parliament. As proposed by Hope, the legislation authorised ASIO to intercept mail and telecommunications, use bugging devices, and carry out searches and seizures. Disclosure of the identity of ASIO agents became a criminal offence. Within two months of the bombing, former British police chief Sir Robert Mark completed a report to the Fraser government calling for the establishment of the Australian Federal Police and the creation of police para-military units.

These measures, the greatest expansion of the powers and resources of the police-intelligence apparatus since World War II, helped lay the foundations for the even more draconian police-state provisions introduced since 2001 on the pretext of combating terrorism…

No sorry for cleared terror suspect
AAP
Sydney Morning Herald
February 18, 2008

The federal government won’t say sorry to a Sydney man cleared of taking part in terrorist training. Neither will the government offer compensation to Sydney medical student Izhar Ul-Haque. “The government has no plans to make an apology or offer compensation,” Attorney-General Robert McClelland said in a message read to a Senate estimates committee today… Justice Adams accused ASIO officers of kidnapping, false imprisonment and violating Mr ul-Haque’s civil rights. He found the officers’ oppressive conduct had a flow-on effect in influencing admissions to the Australian Federal Police…

Secret policemen’s bill: $7.5m
Jonathan Pearlman
Sydney Morning Herald
February 19, 2008

MORE than 600 security officials around the nation have worked on the Mohamed Haneef case and the related British bombings in an investigation which cost more than $7.5 million, collected 300 witness statements and examined 349 forensic samples. And the result so far: one charge against the doctor that was dropped within a fortnight…

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Media | 15 Comments

Mensaje del Comandante en Jefe // Hasta la vista Fidel Castro

Posted on February 19, 2008 by @ndy

Queridos compatriotas… Fidel Castro has resigned as President of Cuba. After only 49 years! (Well, 32 years technically speaking, and a further 17 (1959–1976) years as Prime Minister.)

Herald Sun (AFP) | CNN | Anthony Boadle / Yahoo! Reuters | AP | The Times

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See also : Cuban Anarchism: The History of a Movement by Frank Fernández, Chapter Four: Castroism and Confrontation (1959-1961)

Posted in History, State / Politics | 42 Comments

Lefties!

Posted on February 19, 2008 by @ndy

The Socialist Workers Party‘s heydays appear to be behind it, which has got to be of some concern to its newly (re-)formed local franchise. Thus only last week, one of its approximately 6,000 members — who happens to be a member of a local council — split and, rather than establishing a new vanguard of the working class (as is the traditional and largely accepted practice), cut straight to the chase and joined the Tories. More recently, after 30 years more-or-less loyal service, some (apparently quite funny) bloke called Mark Steel ups stumps and leaves too (although not for the Tories).

Another Mark, Thomas, got pissed off with the SWP some years ago; its attempts to suck the life out of the ‘anti-globalisation’/’anti-capitalist’ movement in the UK was documented by Schnews a few years earlier. Funnily enough, while AWOL was attacked for all the usual reasons (“Anarchists! Sectarians!”), the “great” Ian Rintoul of Solidarity apparently proclaimed a similar policy at refugee activist meetings: no paper-sellers.

Speaking of Lefties, I happened to stumble upon davidthompson’s blog, and he’s re-published a BBC documentary on the subject of an abortive 80s leftist tabloid called The News On Sunday. It’s titled ‘A Lot of Balls’. The two other episodes in the ‘Lefties’ series are Property is Theft, ‘the story of Villa Road, a squatted street’, and Angry Wimmin, on the Revolutionary Feminists, authors of ‘Political Lesbianism — the Case Against Heterosexuality’ (available from your friendly local anarchist community library).

Angry Wimmin on Veoh “Wimmin. With Placards. I think most of these wimmin have had their brians replaced by lesbionic circuits. Or something.” | Property Is Theft on Veoh “Marxists, Lenninists and assorted middle class dimwits attempt to bring down the capitalist system by SQUATTING!”

Posted in History, Trot Guide | 5 Comments

G20: Wheels of Justice Grind On

Posted on February 19, 2008 by @ndy

Update (February 20) : G20 protesters plead guilty, Matthew Burgess, The rAge, February 19, 2008: “Three people have pleaded guilty to charges over violent protests at the G20 business summit in November 2006. Danya Bryx, 23, has pleaded guilty to two counts of riot, one count of criminal damage and one count of recklessly causing serious injury. Beth Nathan, 22, has pleaded guilty to one count of riot. David Nguyen, 23, admitted to one count of riot and one count of criminal damage. The three were among 21 people who faced a committal hearing earlier today over the protests against the international business forum. Magistrate Sarah Dawes accepted the trio’s application for summary jurisdiction, meaning they can be sentenced in the magistrates court. Ms Dawes adjourned their cases until April 7. Yesterday she granted applications by Eric Palsis, 38, and ***** ****, 26, for summary jurisdiction.” Also: Riot policewoman cops tennis elbow.

Good Cop:

Police have officially confirmed the findings of their investigation into police violence at the G20 protests in Melbourne in November 2006, findings originally announced way back in January 2007, then re-confirmed by Jeff Bracks in July.

G20 probe clears cops
Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
February 1, 2008

POLICE have been cleared after an investigation into violence at the G20 riots in Melbourne 14 months ago. The police ethical standards department wrote to the officers this week, telling them they would face no action over allegations laid by protesters at the forum of economic leaders that they used excessive violence. The accusations stem back to November 2006, when police clashed with some anti-G20 protesters outside the Melbourne Museum…

Silly hippies! Baton charges are cool!

Bad Cop:

G20 protesters plead guilty
Matthew Burgess
The rAge
February 18, 2008

Two men who have pleaded guilty to charges over the violent G20 protests will be sentenced in April.

Magistrate Sarah Dawes today accepted applications from Eric Palsis, 38, and ***** ****, 26, for summary jurisdiction, allowing her to sentence the pair in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Palsis and Jorm have pleaded guilty to riot and affray over the protests against the international business conference in Melbourne’s CBD in November 2006.

Jorm is also charged with recklessly causing injury and criminal damage.

Magistrates Dawes adjourned their sentencing until April 8.

A committal hearing begins tomorrow in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for another 21 people charged with offences including riot and affray.

Video footage from the protests was this morning viewed in the court in order for Magistrate Dawes to assess the seriousness of offences in each case.

Court hears how anti-G20 ‘true believer’ assaulted police
Kate Hagan
The rAge
February 5, 2008

A 29-YEAR-OLD man who hurled rocks at police as they sheltered behind a brawler van during anti-G20 protests was motivated by genuine political beliefs, a court has heard.

Akin Sari, a former Monash University commerce student, pleaded guilty in the County Court yesterday to nine charges including criminal damage, assault and rioting in connection with the G20 world economic summit in Melbourne from November 17 to 19 last year.

Prosecutor Chris Beale told the court that Sari made the guilty plea while in custody and was facing the prospect of spending years in jail awaiting a trial after a magistrate refused him bail following his extradition from Sydney. Police claim Sari travelled to Sydney last September to attend the APEC summit, which he denies.

Mr Beale said Sari was among a group of protesters who emptied water-filled barricades and used them as battering rams against about a dozen police, at whom they hurled glass bottles, rocks, milk crates and bags of rubbish. Just minutes later they stormed a second barricade and attacked police who took shelter behind a brawler van.

In dramatic footage played to the court, Sari could be seen wearing a white jumpsuit and going around the side of the van to throw rocks at police from close range. He is also seen throwing a metal traffic sign to smash the van’s window, and stealing a police log book from inside the cabin.

In separate incidents, Sari was among 20 protesters who stormed an Australian Defence Force recruiting centre, throwing chairs, overturning tables, tearing down displays and scrawling graffiti such as “lies”.

He also grabbed a metal pole from two contractors erecting barriers and smashed the windscreen of their ute.

In a victim impact statement tendered to the court, a policewoman said she was no longer able to perform operational duties after a barricade was ripped from her grasp at the demonstration, tearing tendons in her elbow.

Defence counsel Dermott Dann said Sari genuinely believed the G20 summit was “an instrument of oppression”.

“This wasn’t a man who came along for the ride one day in November 2006 for no other reason than amusement.”

Mr Dann said Sari, who had a history of mental illness, came to Australia in 2001 and obtained political asylum after being arrested in Turkey for taking part in a student demonstration.

Judge Roy Punshon will sentence Sari at a later date.

G20 rioter changes tune
Herald Sun
Emily Power
February 5, 2008

A PROTESTER involved in the violent G20 riots has denounced his actions.

Akin Sari was among a group of demonstrators who stormed a city office, attacked a police brawler van, rammed police lines with plastic barricades and hurled rocks, rubbish bins and milk crates.

The County Court heard he felt compelled to convey a message that the Group of 20 nations summit, held at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt in November 2006, was an “instrument of oppression”.

The court was told he had genuine political interests but now acknowledged his tactics were unacceptable.

Defence barrister Dermott Dann told the court Sari believed extreme measures were required but now understood they were unacceptable.

A statement from Sari explaining his opposition to the G20 summit was tendered to Judge Roy Punshon.

Footage of the riots at Collins St and the corner of Flinders Lane and Exhibition St were shown to the court.

Sari and others invaded the Defence Force Recruiting Centre in Swanston St on November 17 and damaged displays.

He smashed the window of a traffic event control car while two workers were inside, and then menaced them with a metal pole.

In the brawler van attack on November 18, Sari broke the windscreen with a traffic sign, stole a police log book and pelted police at close range with rocks.

Prosecutor Chris Beale said police feared for their lives, and some were picking shards of glass out of their skin for days after the attack.

Mr Beale said a policeman suffered a broken wrist and another had the tendons torn from her elbow.

Mr Dann said Sari, 29, was born in Turkey and became politically active at university.

He came to Australia in 2001, and was granted a protection visa on the grounds of political persecution relating to a 1998 student protest in Turkey over which he was charged.

Mr Dann said Sari had sought psychiatric care before, but was not mentally unwell at the time of the riots.

Sari pleaded guilty to nine charges including aggravated burglary, criminal damage, riot, theft, and assault.

He has been in custody for six months after he failed to return to court, and was arrested in Sydney.

Sari is the first of 28 people charged over the riots to be sentenced.

Another 23 defendants will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for a contested hearing on February 18.

Four youths will appear at a Children’s Court in April.

Judge Punshon remanded Sari in custody for sentence at a date to be fixed.

See also: afterg20.org | Statement from Federation of Community Legal Centres on baton charge investigation (January 16, 200): “The OPI’s report appears to accept that: – the protesters were protesting peacefully; – no warning was given prior to a running baton charge by the police; – police used batons on protesters; – a pram was knocked sideways during the charge and a woman was injured and taken to hospital. Despite this, the OPI found that the use of force by police was justified because police “suspected a breach of the peace may occur”…”

Police compo crisis
Peter Rolfe
Sunday Herald Sun
February 17, 2008

STRESSED and injured police officers have racked up $7.3 million in compensation claims in 12 months. Victorians are paying more than $20,000 a day to foot the bill for police compensation, documents reveal. Police accumulated 26,004 days of stress and injury leave last year. And stressed officers account for more than two thirds of 833 WorkCover claims lodged by police last financial year that led to more than $4.1 million in payments.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information reveal 239 Victorian police took more than 16,550 days off between July 2006 and June last year on stress leave alone. Inner-city cops were by far the state’s most stressed with 78 police taking 5684 days’ compensation leave.

Throughout the state, the average police claim was 31 days off work and $8869.50 in compensation. The average stress claim was 69 days and $17,465.50 in compensation. In Region 1, which takes in inner-Melbourne suburbs such as St Kilda, Richmond, Prahran, Collingwood, Brunswick and the city, 278 police took 8229 days off in compensation. Six of 10 individual claims worth more than $70,000 were by Region 1 police. One claim, for more than $93,000, was from an officer who had been off work for 295 days with spinal problems.

Police Association assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie said the claims were the tip of the iceberg with many more police “stressed to the limit” but too proud to seek help. He said even “hardened, career cops” were breaking down because of post-traumatic stress and injuries after conflicts such as the G20 riots…

Note that, according to figures provided by UNICEF, since the G20 summit ended on November 19, 2006 to today, February 18, 2008, 13,710,000 children have died as a result of ‘poverty’ (meaning: the inequitable distribution of resources under global capitalism). That’s the Bad News. The Good News is that The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty takes place each year on October 17.

Why not consider making a donation to your favourite charity, or writing a letter to the paper?

    “We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.”

Posted in State / Politics | 1 Comment

Love means never having to say you’re sorry // “It’s only a joke”

Posted on February 18, 2008 by @ndy
    Offensive ‘Sorry’ email hits in-boxes
    Mark Schliebs
    NEWS.com.au
    February 12, 2008

    AN OFFENSIVE “apology” to the Aboriginal population which caused outrage nearly eight years ago is being distributed online through a flood of emails.

    Email in-boxes – including those of media outlets – have been hit by the message entitled the “Australian Apology to the Aborigines/Aboriginal Population”, causing a backlash on message boards across the internet…

And this just in from the Department of Jackie Kelly Eat Your Heart Out:

Lib endorses racist ‘apology’ email
The Sunday Mail
Glenn Milne
February 17, 2008

BRENDAN Nelson has been embarrassed by a racist version of an “apology” to the Stolen Generations being circulated by prominent Liberals who don’t believe the Opposition Leader should have supported last week’s historic gesture.

The mock apology accuses Aborigines of being cannibals and ungrateful for the assistance they have received from white governments…

The document is being circulated via email in Sydney by prominent Liberal and businessman Ian Goode. Mr Goode, a former builder, is well known in Cronulla, the southern Sydney suburb that was the scene of ugly race riots in December 2005.

Mr Goode was quoted at the time for blaming the riots on Lebanese Muslims.

While Mr Goode yesterday denied being the author of the racist “apology” – which is headed “the APOLOGY Kevin Rudd should be giving to the Aboriginals!!” – he endorsed its sentiments at the top of his email with the words: “Not politically correct, but close to the point.”

Senior Liberal sources confirmed yesterday that Mr Goode was active in the party and had been chosen as a pre-selector in the recent controversial pre-selection for the Cronulla-based federal seat of Cook, though he was unable to take his place in that process.

Mr Goode also heads up the Cronulla Nippers Club – the biggest youth surf organisation in Australia.

“It was only a joke,” he said…

Jesus fuck a shit soufflé: KRudd’s apology to the Stolen Generation has really allowed the vicious underbelly of rank racism that permeates Australian culture and politics to overflow like an enormous bath full of mixed metaphors. Continuing to lead the charge is millionaire blabbermouth Alan Jones.

Radio callers outraged: I’m disgusted, says one
Paul Bibby
Sydney Morning Herald
February 14, 2008

WHETHER you call them the ignored majority or the ignorant few, it took only a mouse click and a quick flick of the radio dial to discover that many Australians did not welcome Kevin Rudd’s apology yesterday.

The words “We are sorry” from the Prime Minister sent talkback switchboards and internet servers into meltdown, as thousands rang or clicked in to register their disagreement and in some cases disgust at the new direction their leaders had taken. Calls and commentary on the Sydney radio stations 2GB and 2UE led the charge, with callers describing the morning’s events as “political correctness gone mad” and asking why it was an apology for “them and not us”.

“I’m disgusted … he [Rudd] makes out that we’ve done nothing but destroy this country,” one caller to Alan Jones said…

Top bloke, Alan.

Also unconvinced of the merits of a Government apology is Andrew Nut. I mean, Bolt. Bolt says pretty much what you’d expect him to say, and thus provides Ben Pobjie with some excellent material to work with: Andrew Bolt, Please Forgive Us, New Matilda, February 15, 2008:

The Herald Sun‘s esteemed opinion columnist, Andrew Bolt, is upset. Very, very upset. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to Indigenous Australians seems to have set something off in the poor fellow. He’s so apoplectic with rage he’s started making sheep noises. And I have to say, I feel a little bad for him. He just seems so furious, so desolate at the way the country’s going. And the fact is, we’re to blame. You and me, and our fellow left-wing, do-gooder, bleeding-heart PC Australians. We’ve given poor old Andrew heartburn. And at a time like this, I think it’s only appropriate that I offer, on behalf of the nation, an apology to Mr Bolt.

Meanwhile, in Sydney, Dr James Saleam is enjoying another of his brief moments in the spotlight, on this occasion as a result of his losing an upcoming election for local council in September.

Australia First to stand for council
Mark O’Brien
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
February 14, 2008

THE Australia First Party will run an “energetic” campaign in a bid to win a seat on Sutherland Shire Council at the local government elections in September.

Party spokesman Jim Saleam said the party was planning to contest at least one ward and was now choosing candidates.

The party entered candidates in the 2004 local government contests at Coffs Harbour [Darrell Wallbridge, 124 votes], Marrickville [South, James Saleam, 42 votes], Newcastle [2, Stuart McBeth, Robert McBeth and Jarrod Riches; 534 votes total] and Sutherland [D, Syd Cratchley, 289 votes].

“We didn’t actually campaign in Marrickville. I simply put my name down there as a provocation,” Dr Saleam said.

“We ran a candidate in Sutherland’s B ward and didn’t pull a massive amount of the vote.”

Dr Saleam said this year’s campaign would be as “extensive” as the party could reasonably make it.

“We will be confronting the multicultural policies of the council,” he said.

Dr Saleam said the country’s most pressing concern was population control and every effort should be made to cap Australia’s population, including cutting immigration.

He said people who came to Australia from other countries often left again and they should not be “replaced”, which would allow some room for Australia’s birth rate without increasing the total population.

Dr Saleam said that by joining local government, the Australia First Party could “use every power and technique available” at that level to mount an obstructionist campaign against the higher levels of government.

“We perceive this as almost a political guerilla war,” he said. “The desalination plant is linked to Morris Iemma’s target of 6 million people in Sydney by 2040. That would make the shire virtually unliveable.”

Mayor David Redmond dismissed the party’s ambitions.

“It appears to me they are very much a single-issue party,” he said. “The matters that come before council on a daily basis are pretty broad. A councillor should be able to speak and deal with any member of the community.”

As noted at the beginning of this post, one of the other responses to the apology to Australia’s indigenous peoples — aside from the gathering in Canberra — has been the circulation of a really funny text, one providing an alternative perspective on Australian history and relations between the indigenous and non-indigenous populations. Below are a few extracts and a few brief responses to them.

AUSTRALIAN APOLOGY TO THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION

1) “We apologise for giving you doctors and free medical care, which allows you to survive and multiply so that you can demand apologies.”

By almost any standard measure, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population experiences grievous disadvantage in the area of health. Or as the Office of Aboriginal Health puts it: “Aboriginal people experience much poorer health and die at a much younger age than non-Aboriginal Australians. For almost every health status indicator where information is available, the Aboriginal level is worse than that among non-Aboriginal Australians (ABS & AIHW, 2003).” According to the Victorian Government, “Indigenous people have a shorter life expectancy – around 18 to 19 years less than non-indigenous people. The average life span is 57 years for an Aboriginal male and 62 years for an Aboriginal female”; and again, “Aboriginal people have higher rates of ill health than any other group in Australia.”

2) “We apologise for helping you to read and teaching you the English language and thus we opened up to you the entire European civilisation, thought and enterprise.”

There are more than 200 Australian Indigenous languages. Less than 20 languages are strong, and even these are endangered: the others have been destroyed, live in the memories of the elderly, or are being revived by their communities.

3) “We feel that we must apologise for building hundreds of homes for you, which you have vandalised and destroyed.”

Uh-huh. Well, that’s what the anonymous author of some racist spam maintains. On the other hand, today, the ABC reports on the release of a new study by a public health professional with 25 years experience in the field of Aboriginal health (Indigenous housing grossly inadequate: report, Lindy Kerin).

As the Prime Minister prepares for a road trip to Indigenous communities, possibly with Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson, a report on Aboriginal housing reveals the extent of the challenge facing his new bipartisan commission. The report, which was published today in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, exposes serious inadequacies in Indigenous housing in the Northern Territory and four states. Dr Paul Torzillo from the Nganampa Health Council in central Australia says more than 4,000 houses in 132 Indigenous communities were surveyed. He says most were grossly inadequate in infrastructure, nutrition, safety and hygiene. “In only a third of these houses could you actually wash a child reliably each day,” Dr Torzillo said. “In only around 10 to 11 per cent of these houses did you have basic electrical safety. In less than 10 per cent of these houses could you actually store, prepare and cook a meal. So what these findings, what this study shows is that when you go and test the ability of these houses to provide the basic hardware that people need to live a healthy lifestyle, look after themselves and their families, then the houses perform extraordinarily badly.”

Of course, not having read the report, I’m unsure if it recommends Governments intervene to stop ungrateful blacks from destroying their own housing, but if it did, I think it would be newsworthy, don’t you?

4) “We apologise for giving you law and order which has helped prevent you from slaughtering one another and using the unfortunate for food purposes.”

We’re through the looking glass here. Yes: invasion, expropriation and attempted genocide is in reality the ushering in of a new, more civilised era for the violent blacks. Never mind that the history of the West is in large part a history of war, empire and genocide (as well as a not-coincidental history of technological progress and domination of non-human nature); forget that, as a result of the massive expansion in the forces of capitalist industrialism, the long-term survival of the species has been thrown into question; no, just remember — Australia’s indigenous peoples were in the habit of killing and eating one another, and Whitey stopped it.

No further questions…?

Honestly, you can’t make this shit up.

Oh wait…

And so on and so on. The text continues to make a series of unsupported and increasingly bizarre assertions regarding the enormous boon loss of sovereignty has been for indigenous peoples, from the provision of food, clothing and transport (“We apologise for giving you free travel anywhere, whenever”) to “allowing taxpayers’ money [to be] paid towards [your] daughters’ wedding[s]” of “$8,000.00 each”.

“It is clear that the Aboriginal industry is keen to belittle white settlement in Australia as a psychological weapon in making demands for such concessions as native title, and “land rights”. Pauline Hanson is condemned because she refuses to be intimidated by such propaganda” claimed Alexander Downer’s mates in the the Australian League of Rights (On Target, Vol.33, No.17, May 9, 1997).

Fuck ’em. Here’s an Aussie rock classic:

On a somewhat-related note, searching for a poem of his about re-learning Gaelic, I just stumbled upon online recordings of Jas H. Duke’s poetry. Jas was a Melbourne anarchist and poet, whom I discovered almost exactly around the time he died, in 1992. Jas wrote a few poems about Australia and colonialism for the ‘Bicentenary’ in 1988, one favourite of mine being ‘Happy Birthday Australia’.

You can keep your Opera House and your MCG
You can keep your company home it don’t mean nothing to me
We’re not trying to take away your suburban backyard
We won’t be spearing any sheep down on your farm
My life is different to yours
What are you worried for
You got the money, you got the lot
You got it all but you still don’t stop…

    :::::: APPENDIX ::::::

Carl D. Thompson (‘Wodensvolk’) — Queensland-based raging neo-Nazi, soliloquist and one of Stormfront Down Under’s favourite netizens — has some awesome raps about the womenfolk. On the subject of white chicks engaging in forbidden lurve (aka miscegenation), check this shit:

This happens because between the ages of about 15 and 25 women are terminally stupid, regardless of what their IQ score may be.
They generally make the worst reproductive choices possible because they are attracted to the ‘bad boys’, as a result of Jewish programming.
About the age of 25 some of them grow a brain, but by then they generally have a miscegenated mongrel or otherwise undesirable rug rat and no decent white man will touch them.
I can remember that girls who made fun of me when they were teenagers, or scorned me when they were about 20, just about kicked my door in to get to me by the time that they turned 30 and had grown a brain.
I can remember one girl/woman in particular who turned up on my doorstep (literally) with a rug rat she had to a Pacific islander.
She was a stunner, playmate of the month material. She apologised for the way that she had treated me and pleaded for me to give her another chance.
I told her in very clear terms that ‘once you go black we don’t want you back’ and left her there with her miscegenated bastard.
Now I am watching my own daughter go through this phase.
At least she has been thoroughly educated on the matter of race, so there is no danger of that problem . . . but every boyfriend she has had has been a loser who has been a waste of oxygen.
She has an IQ of 152, but functions at the level of an idiot when it comes to choosing male company.

Another meathead called SouthWesterner adds:

Have you got a daughter? Coz that[‘]s what they[‘]re here for.

The zionist-occupied-governments of all the White countries love to bring blacks into our countries for the purpose of race-mixing and therefore the destruction of the White race. Don[‘]t pay attention to the reasons (excuses) they are here, just understand that the alternative agenda is to misceginate [sic] the White Race.

The real haters are the jews. They’ve hated Whites for over a thousand years.

You’ve gotta laugh eh?

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, History, State / Politics | 3 Comments

Bloggy Monday

Posted on February 18, 2008 by @ndy

I’m curious.

Just how popular is slackbastard?*

According to Alexa, this blog is currently ranked #334,313 in the world. In Australia, #2,937. (On January 11, it had a traffic rank of 693,466; in Australia, 5,076.)

Several years ago, I can remember reading in the Green Left Weekly how popular it is:

According to Alexa, the GLW site is currently ranked 72,949 of all web sites in the world, and 78,829 according to Trafficranking. The next ranked Australian political site is Labor Net, ranked 83,812 by Alexa and 276,983 by Trafficranking, then the Australian Conservation Foundation (133,010 by Alexa), the ALP (245,782), and the Greens (338,208).

Some other Alexa figures: Chaser, 354,008; the US Socialist Worker weekly, 226,004; the Socialist Workers Party in Britain, including its weekly paper, 518,524; the Communist Party of Australia and its paper, the Guardian, 1,681,599; the Australian International Socialist Organisation and its paper Socialist Worker, 1,739,049…

More recently (August 2005), GLW was ranked #94,600.

Currently, according to Alexa, greenleft.org.au is ranked #267,145. In Australia, #10,634. In other words, according to Alexa, slackbastard — in Australia — is more popular than Green Left.

As Johnny Cochrane might say: “That… does not… make… sense.” So if there are any geeks out there who can explain this to me, please feel free.

*Not counting death threats or baseball bat-wielding punk rockers with fascists in their hair.

See also : antyphayes | ledlog | Cute Little Kittens

Posted in Media | 5 Comments

The Birmy // Brendon Rimmer

Posted on February 18, 2008 by @ndy

1)

    By way of FightDemBack!

Convicted hate-criminal amused by home detention order

While the [New Zealand] National Front have long claimed that they stand for law and order, FDB! finds it somewhat poignant that a long term member (and former NF Youth Representative) Brendon Rimmer has just been convicted for assaulting an Asian youth; yet another conviction to go alongside his conviction last year for drunk driving.

Man makes light of his home detention on net
New Zealand Herald
February 15, 2008

A Taupo man on home detention for attacking an Asian teenager allegedly spent his time at home posting white supremacist statements online and making light of his sentence.

Brendon Rimmer was sentenced to six months’ home detention in Taupo District Court this month and ordered to pay $350 reparation after pleading guilty to three charges of common assault. The charges relate to an incident in Napier in July when Rimmer approached a group of four teenagers — aged between 15 and 17 — and verbally abused them before assaulting some of them.

Police told the court that Rimmer asked “why are you hanging around with this chink”? He then asked an Asian teenager what he was doing in “my country” before saying “why are you here? Get out of my country”. The Taupo Times reported that Rimmer then spat in the teenager’s face before hitting him in the face. However, the paper said Rimmer operated a homepage on the website NewSaxon.org, a site described as Bebo for white supremacists.

After his sentencing, postings were made to his homepage making fun of his sentence and to organise a racially motivated online meeting. In one posting to the site he described how good his home detention had been. “Yeah mate not too bad, actually heaps of ladies have been around to visit, haven’t had a night by myself in bed all week,” he posted…

Asians are a fag? Hmmm…

For those of you who are coming in late, the NZNF tried to establish an Australian franchise a few years ago. In fact, it was this trans-Tasman initiative that helped spur the formation of FightDemBack!. Needless to add, they failed. But Blood Red Eagle — a Newcastle-based neo-Nazi band, lead by Douglas Schott — has maintained ties with pinheaded comrades in Kiwi, including Brendon: in 2007, the band travelled to Wellington to play a gig sponsored by the local Hammerskins chapter, and hosted by the Satan’s Slaves MC.

To celebrate Hitler’s birthday.

This year, rumour is another band will be heading over.

Speaking of which…

2)

The Birmingham Hotel (on the corner of Smith & Johnston Streets, Fitzroy) is apparently soon to be under new management. Or sold. Or something. Following the pub’s exposure as a venue for local neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour and the Southern Cross Hammerskins, in 2007 the Melbourne Croatia Social Club (As Seen On TV!: “It’s an unlikely venue for a neo-Nazi rock concert, but believe it or not…”) hosted the annual knees-up (which had in previous years been The Birmy’s most peculiar honour). This year? Who knows. Chances are it won’t be either The Birmingham or the Melbourne Croatia Social Club that hosts the boys. Chances are even better than it won’t be good for business, whoever it is.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Collingwood, Music, State / Politics | 4 Comments

Trot Guide 2008: Forging Unity For The Struggle Ahead!

Posted on February 17, 2008 by @ndy

Comrades! Let Us Forge Unity For the Struggle Ahead!
For The Defeat Of Ignorance Concerning Solidarity – From The Near East, To Ireland, The Caribbean and New Caledonia!
Rebuild The IST-Trainspotting Tendency!
Break From the Gouldite Leadership!
For The World Party of Socialist Revolutionary Trainspotting!

The ISO has finally got around to telling the world that on February 3 it successfully forged unity for the struggle ahead with the Socialist Action Group and Solidarity. The statement, dated February 13, reveals nothing with regards the reasons for the amalgamation, other than the experience of working together in the anti-war movement and in preparation for the APEC protest as having provided an opportunity for members of the three organisations to overcome whatever differences may have existed between them in the past. Outside of their relationship to the SWP International — aka the International Socialist Tendency — the chief difference between the re-forged Solidarity and its main rival in Socialist Alternative would appear to be the result of their history; in other words, personal differences between the party’s leaderships. In which case, at some point in the future, it may be that the two join together; alternatively, that there is a further split in SAlt. Note that SAlt split from the ISO in 1995; in 2002, it proposed the two re-fuse.

A Stronger Left and Stronger Socialist Organization : Forging Unity For the Struggle Ahead

On Sunday, 3 February, a conference of three socialist groups, Socialist Action Group, International Socialist Organisation, and Solidarity voted to merge their organisations into a united group to be called Solidarity.

The merger represents a significant step forward in re-unifying the key groups of the International Socialist Tendency in Australia and the emergence of a new national group committed to building the left and the social movements in Australia.

The merger brings together the members of three groups that have played an important role in the fight against the Howard government – in the fight against the cuts to Higher Education and the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism, against One Nation, on the side of militant unionism in the MUA dispute, the fight for refugee rights, against scapegoating Muslims and against the so-called war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Together with a joint commitment to the politics of socialism from below, it has been the experience of working together particularly in anti-war work and the lead up to the APEC demonstration against George Bush and John Howard in Sydney that laid the basis for forging the unity of the three groups…

The fight for social justice cannot be waged from the sidelines. The unified Solidarity is committed to throwing itself into struggles for social justice, to overturn the legacy of the Howard years and to strengthen the confidence of rank and file unionists on the shop floor.

We look forward to working in common struggle with other activists from social movements and the wider left to further these aims.

On Socialism From Below, see Tom Keefer, ‘Marxism, Anarchism, & the Genealogy of “Socialism From Below”‘, Upping the Anti, No.2, January 2006, for a cautious but still very useful critique of the concept which the IST, following Hal Draper (‘The Two Souls of Socialism’, 1960/1966), has claimed as its own. A detailed response to David McNally’s writings on the same subject — and employing essentially the same arguments as Draper — may be found in The Anarchist FAQ, Reply to errors and distortions in David McNally’s pamphlet “Socialism from Below”.

McNally performs the same role today as Draper served in the 1970s and 1980s, which is to counter anarchist criticisms that Leninism is an authoritarian doctrine, both in theory and practice. The idea that Leninism is somehow compatible with some form of ‘socialism from below’ has become increasingly untenable over the last few decades, not only as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Empire, but also under the impact of movements in opposition to neo-liberalism.

As for the SWP itself, following the recent (November 2007) split in the RESPECT coalition between an SWP-dominated faction (Respect — The Unity Coalition) and another (Respect Renewal), this week has seen one of its local councillors, Ahmed Hussain leave the SWP for… the Tories. The boofheaded leader of the SWP, John Rees:

…issued a press statement in the early hours of this morning [February 14] attacking the Advertiser‘s story as “a rumour”. They insisted Cllr Hussain remained firmly on their side. But after spending the night thinking, Cllr Hussain called the paper at 9.30am to confirm he was defecting. Three hours later, he met Cllr Golds and former Tory group leader Simon Rouse to sign his party membership forms, then emailed the council’s chief executive shortly after.

Here’s a man, they’ll say, who was first a Labour supporter, then a Respect councillor and then a cheerleader for the Socialist Workers Party. And now he’s a Tory!

Bring forth a beverage for Cllr Ahmed Hussain of Tower Hamlets, east London, who was said on Wednesday to be defecting from Respect to the Tories, a notion he dismissed. “There are some people who want to jump on any rumour,” a press release explained. But by yesterday the deed was done, completing Cllr Hussain’s passage from the George Galloway wing of Respect to the Tories via the SWP, a journey only equalled in length and complexity by the astronauts of Apollo 11. He must be tired. Get him a drink.

Ooops. For the record, here’s how Reespect handled the initial allegation regarding Hussain’s defection:

vers. 1.0 [since deleted] http://www.respectcoalition.org/?ite=1773

Tower Hamlets Councillor stays with Respect
14/02/2008
Tower Hamlets Councillor Ahmed Hussain quashed rumours that he had joined the Tory party today and insisted that he was sticking with Respect.

Following stories in the local paper, The East London Advertiser, the leader of the Respect group of councillors Oliur Rahman said: “I spoke with Councillor Ahmed Hussain today and he made it absolutely clear that he is staying with Respect and stands by its values.”

Councillor Rahman added, “there are some people who want to jump on any rumour that gets out to damage Respect. They would be better advised to check the facts with me. Our Respect group remains united and ready to join the fight against the Tories and New Labour in the Greater London Authority elections.”

And following the cat’s leap out of the bag:

vers. 1.1 [still current] http://www.respectcoalition.org/?ite=1774

Statement from Respect on Cllr Ahmed Hussain’s resignation
14/02/2008
We are sorry to hear that Cllr Ahmed Hussain has joined the Tories. We had discussions with him yesterday where he agreed that he was going to stay with Respect. We issued a statement saying that, in good faith, but clearly his assurances meant nothing.

He has joined a party which supports war and privatisation, which has little representation among ethnic minorities, and which has few supporters among working class people in Tower Hamlets or anywhere else.

This is a betrayal of the principles on which he was elected and will be a great disappointment to those who voted for him. He should resign immediately and stand in a by election, where voters will have the chance to cast their opinion on his change of politics.

See also : Inveresk Street Ingrate | On the Road from Trotsky to PNAC, see Ted Widmer, ‘What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been’ — “From exile to redemption to exile again: a history of the “militaristic idealists” known as neocons” — The Washington Post, February 3, 2008, a review of They Knew They Were Right by Jabob Heilbrunn, and this wicked chart; further disco at sans everything.

Posted in Trot Guide | 22 Comments