"we're showing our arses and that will raise awareness"

There's been a lot of debate lately, in Australia about what "our national character" actually is. Mostly instigated by our right wing nationalists ( self admitted, I'm not attacking him ) Prime Minister, who's even made up a series of questions for prospective new Australian citizens to have to prove their "australianness" or something out of his own insecurites. I know other people in the world think we just like to drink and say "G'day" a lot while we wrestle crocodiles and stingrays, ( well ok we do a lot of that ) but honestly, we're having a bit of a real debate as to what the Aussie character actually is over here.

Now, thanks to the expensive nightmare that is the APEC meeting, currently putting Sydney in lockdown and everyone being threatened with being shot by snipers if they even look at the helicopters buzzing overhead, things just got really, really good.

First, we had our top stunt comedy/hoax tv show get through this "tough security" with a fake motorcade containing an Osama Bin Laden look alike, and now we have have people showing their arses in a "bums for Bush" protest. Only stuffy nosed morons are against this stuff here. The rest of the country loves it and has remembered our most common trait is really liking to take the piss and mock authority.



Rock on pranksters and piss takers. Rock on.

Bare-bottomed activists scuffle with police

A PROTEST involving around 50 bare-bottomed activists spilled onto Sydney streets today, stalling an APEC motorcade and triggering scuffles with police.

The Bums for Bush campaign was hailed a success by organisers, even though drizzling rain kept many protesters away from the mooning anti-Bush protest.
Around 50 people lined up at Hyde Park's north end and mooned an audience of several hundred people, including supporters and media.
After two encores of the performance, rain dispersed the protest, which then moved to Elizabeth Street, outside the Sheraton on the Park hotel, where witnesses said protesters blocked an APEC motorcade.
Protesters took to the streets before police officers forcibly pushed people off the road, yelling: "Move, get off the road."
Around 200 protesters lined both sides of Elizabeth Street and played blaring music, as police on bicycles stood watch.
Barely minutes after many in the crowd moved towards the hotel, a helicopter swooped over the scene while a bus delivered an additional 20 police officers.
Protesters, carrying placards reading "Sign Kyoto, you wankers", cheered and clapped, chanting "Bush, Howard, USA, how many kids did you kill today?"
Police could not immediately confirm the reports that protesters had hindered a motorcade.
At the Bums for Bush protest, organiser Will Saunders said while the protest did not approach the mooning world record - 2,000 people, or 4,000 cheeks - it was enjoyed by all.
"Just because you feel strongly about an issue doesn't mean you can't laugh about it," Mr Saunders said.
"There's many ways of making a point, (this is) the Australian way."
The protest also involved a 21-bum salute to the 21 countries in APEC, some spelling out "bums not bombs".
High school students Ben Leffley and Daniel Holmes travelled for three hours from Lithgow, west of the NSW Blue Mountains, to attend the rally.
Mr Leffley, 18, said the war in Iraq was the biggest motivation for him to join the protest, and he did not believe mooning was the best way to oppose it.
"We've come here because we really believe what George Bush and John Howard are doing is not right," he said.
"(The protest) was good, though probably not the most effective way."
But Mr Holmes, 17, said mooning was an excellent way of attracting attention to a cause.
"It may be somewhat symbolic but it's more the fact that it's raising awareness ... people are going to want to find out why we're showing our arses and that will raise awareness," he said.