After a while of updating both a Xanga and a Blogger weblog, I find now I have to choose between the two.

My choice?

Blogger. It has more of the features that I want (including image hosting), and ease of use on the basic accounts.

If you want to find me, come see me at:

http://fallenangeloz.blogspot.com/

I hope to see you all there.

Kind regards,

Pete

Pride March Speech by Garrett Teters

So, now we begin to truly feel what Bush and his cronies started.

The beheading of a US civilian, Nick Berg, at the hands of hooded Iraqi militants in the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, demonstrates what the American President and those who advise him have wrought. They state now that "It shows the true nature of the enemies of freedom. They have no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children." What a shame that he doesn’t get the saying about the pot calling the kettle black.

The American President, no, the American president as I refuse to capitalise that office, lied. He created a war using fabricated issues and defied the authority of the UN. He continues to wage a war that has become too much for him, yet he spurts forth ridiculous diatribes all in an effort to keep his position. All of this has lead to a 26 year old civilian being beheaded. It has led to the US, both civilians and armed forces, being painted with the same brush used for those who committed the Abu Ghraib assaults. The entire country and its people are viewed by the world as some bloated beast attempting to control a situation well beyond its control.

Admit your mistakes Bush. Admit that you licked the boots of the American president for your own self-serving desires little johnny. Bring the forces home, and let the diplomats of the UN do what they wanted in the first place. Attempt to find a diplomatic resolution. I believe, unfortunately, that too much damage may have already been done for that to succeed. You can at least stop the slaughter of more innocent human beings, on both sides.

This is the picture of the Cherub in Centennial Park I was talking about. It's only had minimal post-processing done on it as the original was slightly over-exposed. I've darkened it and upped the contrast.

So much happening, so much to say, and so little time to say it. Throw in a healthy dose of lack of motivation and what do you get? No blog posts for a while.

Some things have been beyond belief at times; such as the Australian Prime Minister John Howard (or little johnny as we like to call him) proclaiming recently that he would once again kowtow to the demented fever dreams of the US President regarding the second-class citizen status of gays and lesbians. Little johnny has agreed that he needs to ‘confirm the bedrock understanding’ of the Australian people, and pass in to law that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. He has said that this isn’t in any way directed at gays and lesbians. I guess it’s just a side benefit for him then that they’re the only ones who’ll be affected by it. It lets him get that much more snuggle time with Bush as well.

Then of course there is the self-serving, schoolyard proclamations of said President stating, “It wasn’t me, it was him” whilst pointing to Defence Secretary Rumsfeld. This is relating to the pictures coming out of Abu Ghraib prison. Do any of us really believe that these atrocities are occurring only at one prison?

Of course, we must also remember that when this news first surfaced, both the Bush Overlord and little johnny stated to the press that, basically, they’re only Iraqi prisoners so why is everyone getting so upset? I honestly think that just because they’re now doing public protestations of what justice shall be carried out, that these “leaders” expect people to forget what they initially said. I hope that none of us do.

Naturally there is the much more important news of what’s been happening in my life.

I’ve started both my photography course last Wednesday, and going to a local gym last night. If I mix them up at any time I’m going to get some very confused looks in the gym shower room. Maybe some good shots as well.

The photography course is great. Even on the first session I was learning more about the camera, and the functions. At the moment we’re concentrating on f-stops, and mainly using the aperture priority mode on the SLR. The tutor, Tamara, is also encouraging us to use the manual focus option instead of the auto focus. This is so that we don’t get to rely on the auto focus too much so that if need to switch to manual for a shot, we’ll be confident in doing so. The homework she gave us last week was to bring in one picture that we’re proud of, and one professional picture that we think is pretty damn fine. I’m going to take in my shot of a cherub from Centennial Park that I’m rather proud of. I’ll put a copy of it up here tonight when I’m home.