Okay... Loades sells car insurance, house and apartment insurance... Loades' NRMA would be keen to have more cars on the roads. Though liberating Parramatta Road from traffic could be good, having new apartment blocks all along the way, the traffic will soon become more jammed than ever... Hum, Who knows. Unless the new road is a 3 lanes deep tunnel each way, all BELOW ground, Parramatta Road will remain a snake pit — especially if it is done as a half sunk monster as per the 1980s Greiner plan, with more people living along it.

As more US presidential hopefuls are coming to the fore, and pandering shamelessly to the religious Latinos, one has to wonder about all the various Christian sects, churches and denominations in that country, as well as the various schisms in the Muslim religion of the Middle East and in smaller numbers across the globe. 

We need to inspect the multiple origins of modern beliefs since 4000 years ago in the human brain, including that of the people and their excellently recorded delusions as being exclusively chosen by god.

As the Joe Hockey Budget is looming on the horizon one can only expect some mediocre tempering on the previous budget which is still mostly languishing in the doldrums of the Senate, for good reason. But as usual, Old Gus could be wrong and we may be surprised... I thought I'd jumped the gun in making some dire satirical predictions... 

The year is 1834. Scotsman Campbell Drummond Riddell, treasurer of the new colony "Australia", begins construction of Lindesay House, the first major home built on the Darling Point peninsula in Sydney.

Together with his wife, Caroline, they enjoy commanding views of the glittering harbour from 17 acres of gardens, which sweep down to the shore. Four years later, they quietly celebrate the birth of their second son.

Following a week in Australia in which the words "heroes" and "heroism" bobbed on a tsunami of raw propaganda, a tribute is due to two unrecognised heroes. The first is Ray Jackson, who died on 23 April.

from Crikey …..

Blaming an Arab: Julie Bishop's guide to the War on Terror

Last night media watch gave us a lesson in ... Well I don't know what it was about...

Ruling classes around the world have their national myths. These attempt to tie working people to the capitalist class through the false idea of nationhood, itself a recent historical development.

by George Venturini