Oz Vies For My Affections

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I consider the Declaration of Independence, taken together with the U.S. Constitution, to be the pinnacle of human political achievement. There are things I love and admire about other nations, I understand the debt we owe to our European forebears & I don't harbor the illusion the US always lives up to its own ideals. But in principle I love America best. However, it cannot be denied that Australia rocks:


Animal activists bit off more than they could chew this morning when they chained themselves to the killing area of an abattoir at Ipswich in south-east Queensland. The 12 protesters got a fright when meatworkers took matters into their own hands and used angle grinders to cut the chains off the activists so they could get back to work.

Love it. And is it even imaginable anywhere else? Tim Blair (to whom curties) comments:
They called police to protect them from people who were determined to get to work. This might be the happiest news story of the year—made even more so by the fact the protesters were attempting to disrupt something called the World Meat Congress.

If silliness and bureaucracy are being defied rather than kow-towed to, it's usually an Australian story. It's become the last bastion of manhood (outside the military).