she just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich

So I'm working at this conference in DC and last night I finally escaped, well, was rescued, by a couple of friends that live in DC. We ended up at the Ghana cafe in Adams Morgan (outdoor seating, hoppin crowd, live reggae). We were accosted by some rambunctios cardiologists from Australia who were super nice and hilarious!

Facts that I learned about the land down under:

1. Aussies have a very poor opinion about the US and Americans (they said this trip changed thier minds though).
   
2. They have free healthcare, without all of the issues our gov't tries to scare-tactic us into believing. I asked how long you would have to wait in line to get a heart procedure, thinking it was probably something ridiculous; he said for an emergency procedure like angioplasty the wait is one day, and the cost is zero. Crazy! What are we doing here, why cant we get it right?? If you live in the country and have to travel to a city hospital and stay for a few days during a procedure, not only do they reimburse you for your travel expenses, but will find you a hotel ... and pay for it!!
   
3. No one in Australia drinks Fosters. They drink Coopers.
   
4. They do really call men Blokes and women Shielas.


5. They love vegemite but agree you pretty much have to be eating it from birth to ever be able to choke it down.
   
6. They really do say Crikey ("a legal way to say the F word on TV")
   
7. They recommend a band called Powderfinger.
   
8. There's a place in Australia called Coober Pedy (the opal capital of the world) where its too hot to live above ground so they all live underground like freakin Hobbits!
   
9. Their money is made of plastic, so you can't tear a bill in half!
   
10. Cigarettes in australia, by law, have to look like this:

which is obviously not effective since an entire group of cardiologists were smoking them!

Anyway, thats Australia in a nutshell!

Kermit is ready to defend against a police state - are you?

I forgot to mention at that party someone had a baby named Kermit Aloysius Giacomo Tillet (pronounced Kermit Alowishus Jakamo Tillet). Incidentally, Kermit as you know is the first name of the famous Sesame Street frog, but you might not know (as that kid's parents apparantly didn't) that Aloyisius is Snuffelufagus' first name, also of Sesame Street fame- whack!

I love this guy

OK now for the serious post, apparantly a military infantry company has been deployed on US soil for the first time in history. why??

Army to station active-duty unit in the U.S. for 'crowd control'
The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.
Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

should we be afraid? buy a gun? make a secret bunker? stash food and water supplies? run away to another country? stop freaking out and don't watch so much TV?