>>Les Murray, bad poet of the rural-idiocy right.
here he is from the Sydney Morning Herald: " "I wrote the preamble," the poet said yesterday. "He [Mr Howard] made some modifications. He does the politics. I do the idealistics." Mr Howard put it a little differently: "There's a lot of Murray in it. The poetry in it is his. I certainly contributed the ideas ... The bulk of it is a combination of Murray and Howard, but listening to other people." " [Howard is our dribbling Prime Minister]
Catherine wrote:
>oh murray
>don't get me started -- what a fraud
>on the cover of today's Australian with the Queen
>coincidence?
creepy wasn't it? here are the boyos from TISM's (this is serious mum, pop sensation) ode to the idealistical Murray, called 'What Nationality is Les Murray?':
"The world is full of questions, they fill me with fear What of our beginnings? Why are we here? Is there a purpose? Is there a God? But one question troubles me Far more than this lot (chorus:) What nationality is Les Murray? Wherefore hails his ancestry? Whom does he call the mother country When he phones home through OTC?
Everyone is searching for the meaning of life Religion and politics, black versus white. Karl Marx played on the left, Ayn Rand played on the right But there's a much bigger problem. It stops me sleeping at night.
(chorus)
Les is More. More or Les. Les is more, but one regret; What is the origin of his descent?
Sweden? No Portugal? No Poland? No Iceland? No New Zealand? No Canada? No Bolivia? No Israel? No Yemen? No Ukraine? No Spain? No Monaco? No France? No
Is he from Austria? Algeria? Bahrain? Bangladesh or Barbados? Bulgaria? Cameroon? Is he from Chad? Chile? China? Germany? Greece? Great Britain? Is he from Guatemala? Guam? or Guyana? Les is More Haiti? Burundi? Zimbabwe? Les is More Kampuchea? North Korea? Tanzania? Les is More Senegal? Paraguay? Trinidad? Tuvelau? Ecuador? Uruguay? Les is More Azerbaijan? Madagascar? Swaziland? Guadeloupe? Les is More. More or Les. Les is More. Lest we forget. Les is more, my one regret; What is the origin of his descent?" -----------------------------------------------
>and of course the whole preamble thing is a set up
>nothing more likely to get Autralians to vote agains a republic than
>attaching some pompous hymn to the nation to it
maybe you're right, but I've been thinking of voting no to the republic question anyways. call it perversity, but I prefer having one's legal status in writing, even though the parties named are not really as accurate these days.
I'll also take bets that the preamble does much better in the referendum than the republic question... any takers?
Angela --- rcollins at netlink.com.au