Reflections on Fort Hood shooting

I saw news reports saying that the gunman was heard calling "Allah Akbar" as he rampaged through Fort Hood. There were also reports of him donning traditional Muslim garb and becoming extremely religious after the death of his parents.
What I find incredulous is that people are trying to figure out the motive for the gunman's rampage.
The use of language to filter ideas has already come into play as the man is now being described as a "rogue gunman" rather than a fanatical Muslim. His reluctance to do military service in a Muslim country is being downplayed whilst harassment of his religion is mentioned as a possible cause for his behavior.

What I think is that we should reflect on a lesson from history.
The Romans suffered their greatest defeat in Germany when their German commander Arminius aka Hermann turned against them and organized a series of ambushes with the surrounding German tribes. Hermann was a German who was trained by the Romans and fought for the Romans until they entered Germany. There he turned on his masters and used what they had taught him against them.
The mistake of trust was a very costly and humiliating defeat to the Romans. Have we learn't anything from this? Do we understand the nature of allegiance and loyalty or are we still making the same mistakes over and over again?

The Best of Gripes

I read in a blog "how to" article that it's a good idea to have links to the better posts from a blog.
Since I cover a wide range of topics (not recommended) I should provide a few links to those people who have visited my blog for various posts and hung around waiting for something else that's equally interesting (sorry but I don't like to repeat myself). In fact why don't you just scroll down to the bottom of this blog and check out the many subjects I've covered over the years.
I've made 27 posts on religion so I guess that's my favorite subject.
In fact, I made 30 posts on Australia. Actually more if you add the specific topics such as bushfires and high achievers worthy of a mention.
Film reviews have been few but then few films are worth mentioning.
Book reviews the same.
I've covered all the social issues, political issues and medical subjects that I consider interesting without undue repetition.
Islam and Muslims has been a constant ongoing theme but I restrained myself because there are so many other sites writing on the same theme, I didn't want to limit myself or my readers to just one subject.
Art has been covered when I've found interesting artists.
I can't fathom the degree of interest, and I should add, continuing interest in the post on Christian Nudist Convocation. If I had a $ for every hit on that subject I would be very wealthy by now. Go figure.
What has surprised me most is that looking at my opinions and the comments they generate,
I've come across as a right wing conservative. Dear reader, you might be surprised to know that I've always thought of myself as a rebel, someone who goes against the trend, someone who dares to question the conventional wisdom, so how did I end up in bed with the right wing faction? Curious and curiouser.
No doubt, most regular readers would have figured out that I generally express my opinions tongue in cheek, I hope I haven't misled anyone or alienated them with my style.

Why this post? I thought I would be able to list the "best of" but I think every post I've made has been relevant in it's own way. I do put very strict standards on my post even though it might appear that I have verbal diarrhea and mental constipation (thanks to Lawrence Sanders for that phrase).

So, let the show continue...

Fort Hood shooting

Should I say something or not? Have I said enough already?
I am sorrowed by the events in the news but not surprised. Is it appropriate to be surprised?
Not for me, and should I say, "wake up America!" ?

How much tragedy do you Americans need to suffer? Wasn't 9/11 enough of a wake up call?

Well, consider this, how many Muslims in America?
Think of that number as the total of sleeper agents waiting for a wake call, a call to arms, a call to destroy America.

Another C.I.A. failure...or should it be an F.B.I. failure?

Of course nobody wants mass hysteria and a targeting of Muslims for discrimination wouldn't be acceptable. Maybe that's because there are too many Muslims in America and they are mostly black.
There you have it, I've said too much already.

House for Sale

Selling house in three weeks.
I hope I get a good price, the property market has been setting record highs every week so it's definitely a good time to sell.
See for yourself.

Welcome to Australasia

Putting my house up for sale, the thoughts turn inevitably to the fact that there is a 99.9% chance that whoever ends up buying the house will be Asian. The real estate agents talk of nothing else but what appeals to the Asian buyer. In their minds, this is the profile of the potential buyer and the potential market group. The fact that my neighborhood is a popular area for Asian (read Chinese) people is in no doubt. The local shopping center is quickly being converted to Asian owned and run shops. There used to be a section of Melbourne called Chinatown. These days you can find a Chinatown in many suburbs. In many ways, this is good because the Chinese are fiercely competitive and sell goods at very low prices, CASH ONLY mind you. Great if you want to shop for a bargain.
Sometimes I think to myself, is it just my neighborhood or is the influx of Asians more widespread than just the local scene? The fact is you cannot depend on the accuracy of government statistics because they just don't reflect what I'm seeing.
So, when I read this news story, telling me that primary school children will be taught an Asian language (does anyone doubt it will be Chinese?) I'm left in no doubt that there are demographic changes occurring in this country that are profound.
I don't want to come across in any way as a racist. Consider that Melbourne has the largest population of Greeks outside of Greece and I am of Greek descent. When I was growing up there used to be suburbs that were characterized by large Greek populations. These were the inner city suburbs and most of those original residents would have sold their houses to the yuppies for a very handsome profit. There's not much left of the Greek end of Swanson street, famous for it's Greek restaurants and cake shops but never mind, you can find the Greek culture thriving in the suburb of Oakleigh.
These days there are suburbs such as Springvale, Richmond and Box Hill for example that are entirely Vietnamese. Similarly there are other ethnic clusters scattered all over Melbourne.
So in celebration of the new demographic makeup of Australia, I say welcome to Australasia.