Sydney On Lockdown For Georgie

Looking at the streets of Sydney, you would think they were preparing for a full-scale invasion in the city. No, Tasmanians are not declaring war on the mainland, it is just that George Bush is planning to come to town. See, Australians hate him so much (except for their soon to be departed PM John Howard) they are going to protest him on an unprecedented scale. Apparently the riot police chief is shaking in his boots. Not that anyone wants to do him harm, they just want him the hell out of their country...and to end the occupation of Iraq. Authorities are going ape-shit anyways.

From RawStory:

Many of the city's usually bustling streets were almost deserted amid the security operation involving 5,000 police and troops, with just a few onlookers hoping to catch a glimpse of the US leader through the security fence.

Some retailers, particularly high-end fashion and jewellery stores, were closed -- with signs in their windows saying they would reopen after APEC.

Pavement garbage bins were sealed off with plastic covers while private security guards stood on duty outside office towers.

Some city centre businesses have reported a 50 percent fall in takings, although bicycle courier Rangi Smith said he had not been too badly affected.

"I can get around pretty easy on the bike but it's the pedestrians I'm worried about," he said, gesturing to onlookers near the security fence.

"They look like they're in a cage -- it's like they're imprisoned in their own city."

Sounds more like a raging case of paranoia and nothing that resembles sanity. The police seem to be creating something out of nothing. Protesting against a tyrant should be perfectly legal. The police do not want to give that impression for the media though, instead of showing Bush as the barbarian, they'll do anything to put the protesters in a bad light. Shame on the Aussie cops for this.

Lights Out In Sydney

For an hour earlier this evening, most of Sydney, Australia was shrouded in an unusual cloak of darkness. The problem was not a lack of electricity but the effects of a campaign to increase awareness for reducing energy consumption. It was a city-wide effort where the world-famous opera house, businesses and ordinary Sydneysiders (as they are called down under) took the time to shut their lights and remember that we need to conserve our natural resources.

Of course the one hour event will not do much in the overall scheme of things. Instead the organizers of the event were looking for people to realize their impact on the world and the reality of climate change. Australia may not consume oil and other natural resources like the U.S does, but they do keep the lights on like most countries in the Western world.

From the BBC:

Greg Bourne of environmental group WWF, one of the driving forces behind Earth Hour, said the big switch off took months to plan.

"The logistics is really quite amazing in the sense every tower block is owned by one company, maybe leased by another company, have 10 tenants in and a manager and working through all of these people has been fantastic."

Many restaurants signed up and planned to serve diners by candlelight.

The owner of the Newtown Hotel, which says it is Australia's oldest gay bar, told the BBC before the blackout that they would have fun while trying to send a serious message.

"Sometimes drag queens [female impersonators] do look better in the dark anyway," said Roger Zee.

"It's up to the patrons. They'll actually have their own torches so they'll be able to light up the drag queens on the stage themselves."

If the queens of drag can get involved so can the rest of us. No offense to drag queens of course. In all, climate change is serious business and we all need to do our part to sustain the planet that we live on. Conserving energy is the least we can do.