It seems the Victorian Liberal Party is objecting to a website highly critical of Ted Baillieu, which allegedly happens to be the brainchild of certain headquarters staff.
The site Ted Baillieu Must Go: because he stands for nothing...falls for everything can now only be viewed by invitation.
Below is a copy of an 11 February 2008 post, from a front page which is still retrievable here courtesy of Alpine Opinion.
The bane of all would-be censors, Google cached posts are here, here,and here.
The blog authors have contact listed as byebyeredted@gmail.com.
Why not congratulate them for once again showing the nation just how united the Liberal Party of Australia actually is.
They’re coming to get you Ted:
There is a simple rule in conservative politics; if it’s in the Age it’s probably bullshit. Nowhere is this rule more relevant than when it applies to the internal machinations of the Liberal Party. Most liberals and conservatives understand this and give the contemptible, socialist rag a wide berth; that is, except for Ted Baillieu, Petro Georgiou and that epitome of treachery John Malcolm Fraser. If fact, you only have to pick up a copy of the Age to see the latest Liberal Party communiqué from Ted Baillieu’s office usually under his pseudonym, Paul Austin.
What Ted doesn’t understand is that the Age is not on his side. It is what we in business would call strategic objective misalignment. They simply want a different outcome to that of the Liberal Party – specifically the retention of the Labor state government. For the Age the battle grounds are drawn internally within the ALP. How do they, the leftist editors of the Age, exert influence over the dominant conservative Labor Unity faction within the party? How do they bring about their socialist utopia while undermining both a conservative state government and nullify the threat of an effective Liberal Party?
For the answer, again just pick up the Age.
Paul Austin’s latest contribution Baillieu scores a much-needed coup is a prime example of the Age strengthening the enemy of its enemy. By propping up an inept and gullible leader like Ted the Age can minimize the threat of someone electable taking the reins.
We here at hewhostandsfornothing know that the only coup needed is a coup d'état.
The coalition agreement is a positive step, we acknowledge that, but it is the minimum expected of a man who would be Premier of Victoria. Far from strengthening his position the coalition arrangement will damage Baillieu. By placing him and Ryan in the spotlight together the high performing National leader will by contrast highlight Baillieu’s inadequacy for office. The conservative forces of the old country party will not long stay silent, nor will they let anything get in the way of their primary goal - government.
The take away message for you Teddy is that the Nationals joined up with the Liberal Party not Ted Baillieu. Remember the nuance in Ryan’s statement ‘we are two independent parties coming together to defeat Labor and govern in Coalition’, it is telling.
But don’t worry I am sure they will give you 100% support, until the moment you are replaced.
Posted by Liberal Insider at 7:30 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Monday, 12 May 2008
The Hon. Malcolm not worried about any potential political dirt below stairs
Malcolm Turnbull's ambition is not in dispute nor are his leadership aspirations.
"It's too easy to blame Malcolm Turnbull, with his ego the size of Russia and his "look at me" grab bag of economic pronouncements. And then, there's his ambition — a political commodity that, when linked to Turnbull, has somehow become a pejorative.
Turnbull can smell blood: Nelson's today and Howard's previously. He would be stupid, which he is not, to be positioning himself any other way."
On the weekend this well-known William Bligh namesake stated he is quite comfortable with this and professes to be undisturbed by any hunt through his background for potential political dirt.
I wouldn't be so sure, Mal - I hear that your past casual domestic staff don't consider the wages you paid ensured a perpetual confidentiality agreement.
Mate, it's marvellous what staff can overhear.
Even if a knife is laced with the envy you are always decrying it will cut just the same.
"It's too easy to blame Malcolm Turnbull, with his ego the size of Russia and his "look at me" grab bag of economic pronouncements. And then, there's his ambition — a political commodity that, when linked to Turnbull, has somehow become a pejorative.
Turnbull can smell blood: Nelson's today and Howard's previously. He would be stupid, which he is not, to be positioning himself any other way."
On the weekend this well-known William Bligh namesake stated he is quite comfortable with this and professes to be undisturbed by any hunt through his background for potential political dirt.
I wouldn't be so sure, Mal - I hear that your past casual domestic staff don't consider the wages you paid ensured a perpetual confidentiality agreement.
Mate, it's marvellous what staff can overhear.
Even if a knife is laced with the envy you are always decrying it will cut just the same.
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Iemma and Costa miscalculate and the state suffers
With less than half the projected 'pilgrim numbers now likely to turn up, the Iemma Government's decision to go all the way with il papa and Cardinal Pell is likely to see New South Wales further in debt after the Catholic Church World Youth Day held in Sydney over 5 days of official events in July.
The only question seems to be; will the debt be larger than the reported $24 million that Toronto, Canada was left holding after it hosted this event in 2002.
The Daily Telegraph
THE State Government was forced last night to introduce legislation to appropriate an extra $400 million after finding itself short on cash to pay the bills.
Treasurer Michael Costa has asked Parliament to approve a transfer of funds to pay for "unforeseen" expenses over the past year.
They included horse flu, drought, new hospital beds, allowances for foster carers and $140 million to pay off rail debt.
Mr Costa claimed it was nothing out of the ordinary, calling it a "top up".
THE arrival of Pope Benedict in Sydney for World Youth Day is looming as an unholy disaster for the luxury hotels of Sydney.
Top-end hotels and businesses are reeling from the huge shortfall in predicted numbers. Domestic tourists are also reluctant to take holidays in Sydney because of the expected disruption to roads. One five-star hotel set aside 1000 beds and has not received one booking.
The NSW government has defended its decision to spend $86 million on World Youth Day, saying it would bring international attention to Sydney at a fraction of the cost of the Olympics.
The NSW government's spokeswoman for World Youth Day, Kristina Keneally, said the government would spend $86 million to support the event, compared to the $390 million it provided for the Olympics.
This figure [$86 million] does not include taxpayers' $42 million compensation payment - shared between federal and state governments - to the racing industry for use of Randwick racecourse as the venue for the closing papal Mass.
Sydney's deputy Lord Mayor says parts of Hyde Park will be closed for three months after World Youth Day to repair the damage caused by thousands of pilgrims using the area.
Tony Pooley says the northern part of the park will be affected by the heavy pedestrian traffic during World Youth Day events in mid-July.
Councillor Pooley says the rehabilitation cost of $100,000 is minimal when considering how much money the event will inject into the state's economy.---
"The Catholic Church has asked us to pay for those costs," he said.
Welcome to the World Youth Day 2008 HomeStay program.
This is your chance to play an important and rewarding role in Sydney's hosting of the world's biggest youth event.
We are asking Homestay Hosts to volunteer to host pilgrims from overseas - or from outside Sydney - from 14 July to 21 July 2008.
Pilgrims will be 18 years or older. Homestay Hosts are asked to provide bed and breakfast (cold or hot) on a complimentary basis.
Premier Costa? 2
Comparison displayed at Machine Gun Keyboard.In The Northern Star.
"Treasurer Michael Costa is the driving force behind the privatisation plan and Mr Smith said the blame for the situation the ALP finds itself in over this issue can be 'laid at the feet' of Mr Costa who has not been prepared to negotiate. "I was there representing people from the Northern Rivers and we don't want electricity privatised," Mr Smith said."
Saturday, 10 May 2008
How about this? Clotheslines banned in much of the USA
News from the home of prohibition, the USA, confirms the view that global warming doesn't rate too highly there.
Very few US citizens buck the system by having backyard clothes lines that dry clothes using wind and solar power.
However, civil disobedience is practised by some US citizens, including Sharon Vocke, who routinely breaches regulations when she hangs her laundry on her line, homemade of course - there is little joy for Hills hoist retailers here.
The town of Poughkeepsie in New York State has a "laundry law" and imposes $US100 ($106) fines on anyone caught drying on front porches.
Bans on clotheslines seem to be based on the opinion they are unsightly and a mark of poverty.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that electric clothes dryers in the US represent about 6 per cent of domestic power consumption and this doesn't account for commercial laundromats or the 17 million homes with gas-powered dryers.
Very few US citizens buck the system by having backyard clothes lines that dry clothes using wind and solar power.
However, civil disobedience is practised by some US citizens, including Sharon Vocke, who routinely breaches regulations when she hangs her laundry on her line, homemade of course - there is little joy for Hills hoist retailers here.
Mrs Vocke's line is rigged with a pulley system and slung from her porch to the garage in this affluent pocket of sweeping, unfenced gardens and sprawling homes.
"It takes me about six minutes to violate my neighbourhood covenant and it's worth every second to have my clothes smell nice and to know I am not harming the air we breathe," the 46-year-old said recently in a submission to Connecticut's General Assembly Energy and Technology Committee.
The committee was considering a law giving homeowners the right to use clotheslines despite neighbourhood fears that displays of underwear would undermine property values. But as with similar proposals in Vermont and New Hampshire, the reformers failed and bans stay in place.The town of Poughkeepsie in New York State has a "laundry law" and imposes $US100 ($106) fines on anyone caught drying on front porches.
Bans on clotheslines seem to be based on the opinion they are unsightly and a mark of poverty.
Premier Costa?
Privatisation of NSW electricity in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday."The joke in state political circles this week was that Morris Iemma finally found a backbone: the trouble was, it was Michael Costa's."
"Costa didn't care whether he destroyed the party, the factions or the Government as long as he got the result. For Costa, it was total war."
Would you like a little Horst Wessel with your gruel, Oliver?
'Jackboot Jenny' Macklin is goosestepping across the welfare arena again.
This apologist for the reich is suggesting that it will not just be parents with young children who may be issued with a Centrelink debit card instead of cash into bank account welfare payments - in future old-age pensioners may possibly be open to having their pensions quarantined and she is also not ruling out instances where 100% of a pension, benefit or allowance may be quarantined.
What the Minister for Community Services is signalling is that this Federal Government intends to follow the wishes of neo-con think tanks and the big retail chain stores/supermarkets and, turn as many Centrelink payment categories as possible into versions of 'food stamp' welfare.
It won't matter if you have no young children or don't drink, drug, smoke or gamble.
What the minister is progressing here is a move to a universal quarantine.
Just so that everyone who is now receiving any form of government pension, benefit, allowance or concession feels that all is well as their liberty is being crippled by Neu Labor, I have included a link to the Horst Wessel here.
Feel free to sing along as Rudd and Macklin turned us all into Australian untermenschen.
A little Northern Rivers art to brighten the weekend
Friday, 9 May 2008
If the killer tomatoes don't get you that half-glass of wine will!
Non-iodised salt is bad for you. So is refined sugar. Ditto caffeine, processed meat, dairy fats and all those trans-thingummyjigs. Nicotine of course will almost always kill you.
It's not healthy to drink water during a meal, it's unhealthy to drink water at the end of a meal.
Food dyes, MSG and food cooked over charcoal or in a microwave are harmful. No wait, well maybe. Fresh air good. Sunlight dangerous.
Exercise every single day to live longer. You don't have to exercise each day to live longer.
Don't make your home near power lines, main roads or mail clearing centres (someone may go postal).
Cities are unhealthy places, however you will get sicker during an illness if you live in the country.
Pain is universal, but you will feel less of it if you are well off.
Your fate is in your genes. No your fate is in your own hands.
In whatever manner you behave you might eventually die from SARS, bird flu, haemorrhagic fever, tidal wave, hang nail or an attack of the killer tomatoes. The experts all agree - every body dies!
Now we're told that imbibing any alcohol whatsoever will eventually raise our cancer risk.
For heavens sake - will those professional moral panickers forever running to the media give us all a break. Modern life is full of risk, every day and every minute. Life's like that. In fact it has been like that since the world began.
Because life is more than the political agendas of professors, politicians, parsons and bureaucrats.
It's not healthy to drink water during a meal, it's unhealthy to drink water at the end of a meal.
Food dyes, MSG and food cooked over charcoal or in a microwave are harmful. No wait, well maybe. Fresh air good. Sunlight dangerous.
Exercise every single day to live longer. You don't have to exercise each day to live longer.
Don't make your home near power lines, main roads or mail clearing centres (someone may go postal).
Cities are unhealthy places, however you will get sicker during an illness if you live in the country.
Pain is universal, but you will feel less of it if you are well off.
Your fate is in your genes. No your fate is in your own hands.
In whatever manner you behave you might eventually die from SARS, bird flu, haemorrhagic fever, tidal wave, hang nail or an attack of the killer tomatoes. The experts all agree - every body dies!
Now we're told that imbibing any alcohol whatsoever will eventually raise our cancer risk.
For heavens sake - will those professional moral panickers forever running to the media give us all a break. Modern life is full of risk, every day and every minute. Life's like that. In fact it has been like that since the world began.
Because life is more than the political agendas of professors, politicians, parsons and bureaucrats.
Psst....heard the one about a republic?
Anyone else notice just how fast talk of an Australian republic died down after Federal Labor's Australia 2020 summiteers disappeared into the sunset?
Roy Morgan Research gives a clue as to why in the results of a telephone poll taken last weekend.
In early May 45% (down 6% since Feb. 2005) believe Australia should become a Republic with an elected President, while 42% (up 2%) support Australia remaining a Monarchy and 13% (up 4%) are undecided — according to a special Morgan Poll of Australians taken last weekend (May 3/4, 2008).---
Gary Morgan says:
“Despite the discussion generated at the recent 2020 Summit on Australia’s future, Australians’ support for becoming a Republic with an elected President has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 15 years.
“Roy Morgan ‘Issues Research’ due to be released next week at the Future Summit shows Australians are more concerned with economic and environmental issues than they are with symbolic issues involving changes to the Australian Constitution that has worked well for over a century.
"What would please the Monarchists is 64% of those aged 14-17 say Australia should remain a Monarchy, with 23% supporting a Republic and 13% undecided."
“Kevin Rudd and his “Republican” colleagues should forget about changing the Constitution over the next few years and concentrate on making sure working Australians can “survive” with higher interest rates and higher prices.”
Even those of us, who are less in love with a monarchy than they are deeply afraid of what politicians and elites (who believe in the divine right of each to govern the majority) would do to the Constitution, will be pleased to see Kevin Rudd get a black eye on this issue.
It was arrogant of him to try and force a debate in the first place.
Roy Morgan Research gives a clue as to why in the results of a telephone poll taken last weekend.
In early May 45% (down 6% since Feb. 2005) believe Australia should become a Republic with an elected President, while 42% (up 2%) support Australia remaining a Monarchy and 13% (up 4%) are undecided — according to a special Morgan Poll of Australians taken last weekend (May 3/4, 2008).---
Gary Morgan says:
“Despite the discussion generated at the recent 2020 Summit on Australia’s future, Australians’ support for becoming a Republic with an elected President has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 15 years.
“Roy Morgan ‘Issues Research’ due to be released next week at the Future Summit shows Australians are more concerned with economic and environmental issues than they are with symbolic issues involving changes to the Australian Constitution that has worked well for over a century.
"What would please the Monarchists is 64% of those aged 14-17 say Australia should remain a Monarchy, with 23% supporting a Republic and 13% undecided."
“Kevin Rudd and his “Republican” colleagues should forget about changing the Constitution over the next few years and concentrate on making sure working Australians can “survive” with higher interest rates and higher prices.”
Even those of us, who are less in love with a monarchy than they are deeply afraid of what politicians and elites (who believe in the divine right of each to govern the majority) would do to the Constitution, will be pleased to see Kevin Rudd get a black eye on this issue.
It was arrogant of him to try and force a debate in the first place.
The low dingo intends government to be carbon neutral by 2020
Little Morrie Iemma was shouting it from the rooftops yesterday.
"The Government's plans to become carbon neutral include reducing green house gas emissions from building energy use to year 2000 levels by 2020."
Yeah right - take another twelve years to get government administrative operations and buildings to go carbon neutral.
While this year or next you privatise, and remove from full state control, that dirty greenhouse gas producing electricity industry for the multinationals to play ducks and drakes with.
Morrie you're a low dingo.
"The Government's plans to become carbon neutral include reducing green house gas emissions from building energy use to year 2000 levels by 2020."
Yeah right - take another twelve years to get government administrative operations and buildings to go carbon neutral.
While this year or next you privatise, and remove from full state control, that dirty greenhouse gas producing electricity industry for the multinationals to play ducks and drakes with.
Morrie you're a low dingo.
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Telstra drops appeal against ACCC now patchy Next G network in place
ABC News yesterday.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says Telstra has dropped an appeal against findings that the marketing of its Next G mobile phone network was misleading.
The Federal Court ruled that Telstra had been deceiving by claiming that Next G gives coverage equal to or better than the CDMA network.
Telstra must now pay the ACCC's legal costs.
This is what Telstra now says of Next G with the CDMA network finally closed down since the end of April.
Like any other mobile network, Next G mobile telephone coverage depends in part on where you are, what particular handset you are using and whether your handset has an external antenna attached.
Only in America......
Well there it is - an advert with the words Swiss, gold and terror.
I guess that it would only be in America that the history of gold, particularly Swiss gold, could be completely forgotten by advertising agencies.
For heaven's sake - towards the end of the Nazi era Swiss banks were allegedly accounting dental-grade gold from Germany, according to Adam LeBor's Hitler's Secret Bankers.
This internet image is not the smartest way to puff up an 'investment' firm which apparently specialises in US gold and silver coins.
Image came from www.worldnetdaily.com with this blurb.
A look back at the Carma Report. Has anything really changed in the politics of water?
For the last ten years public discourse in Australia has been focussed in large measure on what to do about water security.
In June 2007 Media Monitors put out a press release about this debate.
Watching the continuing debate in 2008 it is hard to see any significant progress made in either the level of debate or policy solutions offered.
It appears that the "drought of action" remains.
The Water Debate in Australia –
A Drought of Action; A Flood of Politics, Vested Interests and Nimbyism----
The analysis concluded that the Australian public is likely to be confused by the current debate as it is presenting dire warnings of a chronic water shortage, but little by way of agreed practical solutions to deal with the problem.
Among a number of key findings, the research found that the majority of discussion about water aired in the media continues to be in relation to the problem, rather than solutions.---
Furthermore, it reported that all solutions presented were being deadlocked in claim and counter-claim. "While some media have devoted space and time to presenting the public with simply explained factual and scientific information on water usage, storage and management, the vast majority of debate and discussion is contradictory claims and counter-claims by various Federal and State politicians,environmentalists, farmers’ groups and other vested interests such as landholders affected by proposed dams or residents potentially affected by infrastructure projects."----
The analysis, undertaken by the research unit of Media Monitors, reviewed almost 82,000 news reports, features articles, columns, letters to the editor and radio and TV program segments discussing water between 1 January and 30 April 2007 and conducted in-depth content analysis on a sample of 1,200 media articles in national and major metropolitan newspapers. The analysis was undertaken independently by Media Monitors with no paying client or sponsor of the research. Media discussion of water provided a total of 3.5 billion ‘Opportunities to See’, according to the Media Monitors study (the number of articles multiplied by the circulation of each media). "It is unlikely that any adult or child over the age of reason in Australia is unaware that there is a water crisis," the research concluded.
"What is less clear, however, are the most effective solutions to address Australia’s water shortage," it found. The analysis warned that there is very limited objective information and education for the public to make informed decisions.----
The report warned that there is a danger that when the drought breaks and dams fill, many Australians will believe the water issue has been resolved, as much discussion has focussed on drought, a natural disaster, as the cause of drying dams and river systems rather than fundamental endemic and systemic problems requiring a cohesive and coordinated national water management strategy.
Full Media Monitors 2007 Carma Research Report here.
This week's graph of domestic media mentions.
In June 2007 Media Monitors put out a press release about this debate.
Watching the continuing debate in 2008 it is hard to see any significant progress made in either the level of debate or policy solutions offered.
It appears that the "drought of action" remains.
The Water Debate in Australia –
A Drought of Action; A Flood of Politics, Vested Interests and Nimbyism----
The analysis concluded that the Australian public is likely to be confused by the current debate as it is presenting dire warnings of a chronic water shortage, but little by way of agreed practical solutions to deal with the problem.
Among a number of key findings, the research found that the majority of discussion about water aired in the media continues to be in relation to the problem, rather than solutions.---
Furthermore, it reported that all solutions presented were being deadlocked in claim and counter-claim. "While some media have devoted space and time to presenting the public with simply explained factual and scientific information on water usage, storage and management, the vast majority of debate and discussion is contradictory claims and counter-claims by various Federal and State politicians,environmentalists, farmers’ groups and other vested interests such as landholders affected by proposed dams or residents potentially affected by infrastructure projects."----
The analysis, undertaken by the research unit of Media Monitors, reviewed almost 82,000 news reports, features articles, columns, letters to the editor and radio and TV program segments discussing water between 1 January and 30 April 2007 and conducted in-depth content analysis on a sample of 1,200 media articles in national and major metropolitan newspapers. The analysis was undertaken independently by Media Monitors with no paying client or sponsor of the research. Media discussion of water provided a total of 3.5 billion ‘Opportunities to See’, according to the Media Monitors study (the number of articles multiplied by the circulation of each media). "It is unlikely that any adult or child over the age of reason in Australia is unaware that there is a water crisis," the research concluded.
"What is less clear, however, are the most effective solutions to address Australia’s water shortage," it found. The analysis warned that there is very limited objective information and education for the public to make informed decisions.----
The report warned that there is a danger that when the drought breaks and dams fill, many Australians will believe the water issue has been resolved, as much discussion has focussed on drought, a natural disaster, as the cause of drying dams and river systems rather than fundamental endemic and systemic problems requiring a cohesive and coordinated national water management strategy.
Full Media Monitors 2007 Carma Research Report here.
This week's graph of domestic media mentions.
Australia 2008: What the unions create the unions can take away
Neither Our Kev or Little Morrie have had their history hats on over this last month or so as they both push the privatisation of NSW power industry assets, in the face of widespread general public and union opposition to this plan.Both the Prime Minister and the NSW Premier are forgetting that in the 19th century it was the unions which birthed the Australian Labor Party and then nurtured it to adulthood.
With Labor now so far to the right of centre on the political spectrum that it seems almost indistinguishable from the Liberal Party most of the time, many ordinary Australians are browned off and beginning to ask themselves who represents their interests now.
Perhaps the time has come for the labour movement to birth another political party which more accurately represents the 21st century Aussie battler.
I know that if the unions put together another party based on notions of equality, equity and social justice I would probably vote for its candidates.
Any vote for Labor these last thirty years has usually been a compromise between a bad choice and an even worse choice.
Thanks to Club Troppo for displaying the pic of a young comrade.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Pope's holiday in Australian prior to WYD2008
The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Benedict will spend an extra three days holidaying in Australia prior to World Youth Day 2008 (WYD08), but those in the know about where the Pope will be putting his feet up are staying mum.
The Catholic Weekly reports that the Pope will undertake his longest trip to Australia, spending eight days here after arriving on July 13.
WYD08 co-ordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said the recommended venue will be a location that is serene, beautiful and suitable for the leader of the world’s Catholics.
“He will have the opportunity to see some of Australia’s beautiful flora and fauna.”
So, where will the Pope be holidaying?
Perhaps these locations are on the short list:
* the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo
* Nimbin
* Star City Casino
* Kings Cross
* God's waiting room (aka the NSW Central Coast)
The Catholic Weekly reports that the Pope will undertake his longest trip to Australia, spending eight days here after arriving on July 13.
WYD08 co-ordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said the recommended venue will be a location that is serene, beautiful and suitable for the leader of the world’s Catholics.
“He will have the opportunity to see some of Australia’s beautiful flora and fauna.”
So, where will the Pope be holidaying?
Perhaps these locations are on the short list:
* the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo
* Nimbin
* Star City Casino
* Kings Cross
* God's waiting room (aka the NSW Central Coast)
Sorry, Janelle - Rudd and Iemma just shortened your political honeymoon
When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd openly supported the Iemma-Costa proposal to sell-off NSW electricity retailers he ran the risk of tarring all his MPs with this unpopular brush, because let's face it - Australia is wall to wall Labor governments right now.
It was always going to be a hard ask for federal MPs to retain that just married feeling with their local electorates once the 2008 budget is handed down later this month.
However, a very competent Member for Page just had the goodwill precipitously wrenched away by the infamous privatisation plan.
North Coast residents on low incomes are well aware that no federal or state policy will be able to adequately compensate them for increased electricity costs and service charges.
The introduction of the Commonwealth Goods and Services Tax taught a well-remembered lesson in that regard.
Unfortunately for Janelle Saffin, not even the manifest inadequacy of North Coast Nationals and Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson's continual failure to grasp the issues will save her from the inevitable backlash.
It was always going to be a hard ask for federal MPs to retain that just married feeling with their local electorates once the 2008 budget is handed down later this month.
However, a very competent Member for Page just had the goodwill precipitously wrenched away by the infamous privatisation plan.
North Coast residents on low incomes are well aware that no federal or state policy will be able to adequately compensate them for increased electricity costs and service charges.
The introduction of the Commonwealth Goods and Services Tax taught a well-remembered lesson in that regard.
Unfortunately for Janelle Saffin, not even the manifest inadequacy of North Coast Nationals and Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson's continual failure to grasp the issues will save her from the inevitable backlash.
Whacking the global warming denial mole: some things never change
Tim Lambert posted this week trying to set the record straight on claims that global warming had stopped.I'm beginning to think that Tim is never going to be able to change the minds of those Australian journalists indulging in climate change denialism.
By October 2004 Andrew Bolt thought it possible that global warming was being caused by sun activity and by this year is inclined to believe that recent wet weather trumps climate change.
In December 2004 Michael Duffy was taking shots at the idea of man-made global warming and is still whiteanting way even now.
Also in December 2004 Tim Blair discovered where his audience wanted him to go and hasn't really deviated to date.
Neither the literary skills or the arguments of their respective denialist fan clubs have advanced in recent years and I suspect that most of those commenting in support of Andrew, Michael and Tim haven't ever had one thought beyond their original positions.
Graph found at Real Climate.
Labor betrays New South Wales and the Northern Rivers
The NSW Labor parliamentary party yesterday declared itself willing to trust to Morris Iemma's leadership on 'fire sale' privatisation of the state's power industry.
I hope these same pollies are willing to trust the electorate to remove them from their seats in 2011.
Deceitful, spineless, brown paper bag merchants one and all.
Not only are they condemning low-income eraners to electricity price increases which will go beyond what could have been expected under state ownership, they are placing NSW northern rivers under threat because certain multinational power companies have had their eyes on our fresh water for years with regard to proposals to build new hydro-electric schemes.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Southern Cross University to host July 2008 Second Regional Forum on Climate Change and Coastal Communities
The NSW North Coast's Southern Cross University will host the Second Regional Forum on Climate Change and Coastal Communities in July 2008.
Organiser Associate Professor Graham Jones said that while progress had been made in some areas since the initial forum, there were many challenges facing the Mid North and North Coast regions.
"We can expect the sea level to rise by at least one metre over the next 90 years and in some places that will have quite a substantial impact. If there's a one-metre rise, this can produce inundation of about 100 metres," Professor Jones said.
"This has major implications for planning of coastal developments."
People from the Coffs Harbour region north to the Queensland border are being invited to attend.
Speakers include Dr John Hunter, from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre at the University of Tasmania, who will provide an overview of the impact of sea level rise on the northern NSW coastline, and Professor Rodger Tomlinson, from Griffith University's National Centre for Climate Change Adaptation, who will talk about coastal erosion and the coastal planning that will be required over the next century.-------
Anyone interested in participating in the Climate Change Forum should contact the Centre for Regional Climate Change Studies on 6620 3650, email graham.jones@scu.edu.au or visit the website www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/
The forum will be held at the Whitebrook Theatre, Lismore campus, on July 3 and 4.
Charting inflation makes me feel soooo safe
TD Securities and the Melbourne Institute have created an inflation gauge to chart the rise and rise of the cost of living for Aussies on a monthly basis.
At over $600 a subscription it way beyond my wallet but I'm sure it will be useful to somebody.
What is interesting is that this gauge appears to heavily rely on the Internet to gather information for many of the 1,000 price lines it charts.
Given the laxity some companies display towards regularly updating their websites, this might really throw a spanner in the works.
Forbes reports that according to the gauge the year-end inflation rate has been running at over 4% for the last three months.
At over $600 a subscription it way beyond my wallet but I'm sure it will be useful to somebody.
What is interesting is that this gauge appears to heavily rely on the Internet to gather information for many of the 1,000 price lines it charts.
Given the laxity some companies display towards regularly updating their websites, this might really throw a spanner in the works.
Forbes reports that according to the gauge the year-end inflation rate has been running at over 4% for the last three months.
Iemma and Costa determined to give Spivs Inc [NSW] and Developers Unlimited mates a good deal on power privatisation?
With the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption replete with investigative files prima facie linking political donations with favourable actions taken by the NSW Government, one has to wonder whether last weekend's decision by an intransigent Morris Iemma and a 'tired and emotional' Michael Costa to defy Labor Party policy and the electorate, by forging ahead with plans to privatise state-owned power assets, indicates that some big business mates are already preparing to carve up those assets.
The recently created Alliance for NSW Future, whose sole purpose is to promote electricity privatisation, has member organisations which represent many corporations on NSW Labor's donor list.
Morris Iemma has presided over a government which is less than transparent over its dealings with political donors and he appears to have lost the confidence of a majority of voters.
Michael Costa has turned every portfolio he ever held into a public relations disaster and as Treasurer demonstrated this week why it might be unwise for such a mercurial and aggressive personality to continue to hold this ministry.
The Labor Party and Labor MPs need to ask themselves if they can afford to indulge a prima donna Premier who cannot eradicate a perception of corruption and a Treasurer whose emotional balance and judgement is now in question.
The recently created Alliance for NSW Future, whose sole purpose is to promote electricity privatisation, has member organisations which represent many corporations on NSW Labor's donor list.
Morris Iemma has presided over a government which is less than transparent over its dealings with political donors and he appears to have lost the confidence of a majority of voters.
Michael Costa has turned every portfolio he ever held into a public relations disaster and as Treasurer demonstrated this week why it might be unwise for such a mercurial and aggressive personality to continue to hold this ministry.
The Labor Party and Labor MPs need to ask themselves if they can afford to indulge a prima donna Premier who cannot eradicate a perception of corruption and a Treasurer whose emotional balance and judgement is now in question.
Monday, 5 May 2008
Caroline Kennedy backs Obama to the hilt
The Obama for America campaign team emails are coming thick and fast.
Yesterday's email sees Caroline Kennedy calling her father's mantle down on the senator from Illinios.
Though whether the name of a modern day political rogue and womaniser helps in his voter registration and volunteer drives is debatable from an outside perspective.
The email.
My father called on Americans to ask what they could do for their country.
Those who answered his call built a movement that transformed our country and brought out the best in our national character.
Barack Obama has followed in that tradition -- dedicating himself to public service as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago and then as a state and U.S. Senator.
Now, Barack is calling on a new generation of leaders to get involved and help transform this country.
The Obama Organizing Fellowship is designed not just to help win this election, but to strengthen our democracy by training dedicated volunteers in communities across the country.
Answer the call. Ask what you can do -- for this movement, for our democracy, and for this country.
Apply to be an Obama Organizing Fellow today:
Fellows will participate in an intensive and rewarding training program focused on the basic organizing principles at the heart of Barack's campaign.
Then, in June, they will be assigned to a community where they will receive a minimum of six weeks of real world organizing experience that will have a concrete impact on this election.
Organizing is about more than winning votes. It's an opportunity to help people realize the power they have to change their communities, and this country, from the bottom up.
Barack's experience on the South Side of Chicago transformed his life, and he wants to share that experience with you.
The application deadline is Thursday, May 15th, so apply now to be an Obama Organizing Fellow:
Thank you,
Caroline Kennedy
P.S. -- If you cannot make the commitment required to be an Obama Organizing Fellow, I hope you will pass this message along to someone you know who might be interested.
Now is the time for the party to sack Iemma and Costa
Enough is enough. When both Morris Iemma and Michael Costa publicly stated that they will proceed with their plan to privatise NSW electricity supplies, they not only went against the vote of Labor's state conference and undertakings to relevant unions they also went against the majority opinion of voters.
If the Australian Labor Party wants to see votes in the ballot box in March 2011 it needs to expel both of these arrogant men from the party.
If Sussex Street does not move swiftly to do so it will only encourage Kevin Rudd (who unforgivably supports Iemma in this) to walk all over the states next time he gets a similar stupid idea.
Nelson discovers infant equality but ignores the obvious tag line
It's hard to take a bloke seriously when his idea of tonsured elegance runs to a limp ferret prone on the pate.
Brendan Nelson made it even harder on Friday when he fronted the cameras to support non-means testing of the $5,000 baby bonus and repeatedly told us that "all babies are [created] equal".
Didn't he stop to think that in front of thousands of tellies people would be roaring with laughter and chanting back at him; "but some parents are more equal than others".
The poor man obviously forgot that during high school Animal Farm was required reading for the tail-end of baby boomer generation.
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Premier Iemma is orpheus rocker!
Contemptuous of Labor Party policy, ignoring public opinion, along with his attack dog Costa reported to have threatened ministerial staffers with the sack if they voted against power industry privatisation at this weekend's state conference, defying the 702-strong conference vote against his policy and saying he will privatise anyway - Morris Iemma is showing himself to be less and less a Labor Premier of New South Wales and more and more an arrogant dictator supported by big business and the multinationals.
Orpheus rocker? You bet mate!
NSW Planning Minister Sartor - fair dinkum or fraud?
The Daily Telegraph yesterday reported yet another political donation made to the NSW Planning Minister during the years development proposals by the donors were under consideration.
"The Mariner donation is among contributions of $106,097 that 26 donors say they gave Mr Sartor, on forms where they are asked to name the recipient in their official declarations to the NSW Election Funding Authority.
This does not match Mr Sartor's individual candidate return to the authority, in which he said he received $1800 for the 2007 election from four donors, none of them named companies."
Frank Sartor denies any of the money went to him or his election campaign. [Porcine aerobatics were observed in the skies over Sydney]
Orpheus rocker? You bet mate!
NSW Planning Minister Sartor - fair dinkum or fraud?
The Daily Telegraph yesterday reported yet another political donation made to the NSW Planning Minister during the years development proposals by the donors were under consideration.
"The Mariner donation is among contributions of $106,097 that 26 donors say they gave Mr Sartor, on forms where they are asked to name the recipient in their official declarations to the NSW Election Funding Authority.
This does not match Mr Sartor's individual candidate return to the authority, in which he said he received $1800 for the 2007 election from four donors, none of them named companies."
Frank Sartor denies any of the money went to him or his election campaign. [Porcine aerobatics were observed in the skies over Sydney]
Saturday, 3 May 2008
NSW North Coast braces itself for another hit as food prices continue to rise
According to FN Arena yesterday food prices rose by 1.7% in March, which was the biggest monthly rise in almost five years.
With the slowdown in consumer spending barely holding inflation in check and with that election promise millstone, tax cuts, just a few months away and likely to keep the inflation genie from ever getting back in the bottle this year; NSW North Coast fixed-income retirees and pensioners are beginning to worry that the second half of 2008 will see food poverty established in many households.
Memories of the Great Depression are still strong amongst the older folk and some are asking what went so wrong that a prosperous country like Australia should have again developed such a divide between the haves and havenots over the last 12 years.
Stories are also being told of less than a dozen ordinary unprocessed food items costing more than $50 at local supermarkets, and weekly shopping bills being 40-50% higher than three years ago.
Fifty dollars is around one-fifth of the total weekly income of many living in the Northern Rivers region.
A cynical George Bush advances US interests in the face of global food shortages
Two days ago US President George Bush announced increased food aid to assist with a global food shortage, partly caused by increased dedication of land to biofuel crops world-wide and in America $5 billion annually in domestic subsidies for bio-fuel production.
THE PRESIDENT: In recent weeks, many have expressed concern about the significant increase in global food prices. And I share this concern. In some of the world's poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food.
To address this problem, two weeks ago my administration announced that about $200 million in emergency food aid would be made available through a program at the Agriculture Department called the Emerson Trust. But that's just the beginning of our efforts. I think more needs to be done, and so today I am calling on Congress to provide an additional $770 million to support food aid and development programs. Together, this amounts to nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster global food security. And with other food security assistance programs already in place, we're now projecting to spend nearly -- that we will spend nearly $5 billion in 2008 and 2009 to fight global hunger.
However this aid appears to come with an US export promotion component, increased pressure to allow US free trade across the globe, a push for abolition of tariffs and wider acceptance of GMO technology and crops.
The Emerson Trust of course deals only in US commodities, so that most of the extra $200 million will not boost the domestic economies of struggling countries but will flow back to benefit American agriculture.
As the trust also appears to use commodity releases to compensate for food crop shortages in the US, it would seem that its own large food bank may contribute to the global problem in the first place.
The US Government Accountability Office was critical in 2007 of the wasteful nature of the US food aid program and the fact that non-government organisations receiving American grain act as grain traders in poorer countries and sell-on the scarce resource to fund their own programs.
Over the past four years at least $500 million worth of food aid has been sold-on in this way.
Morris Iemma is so out of touch that....
Morris Iemma is so out of touch that if he and Costa are rolled over the privatisation of NSW power industry at this weekend's Labor state conference, then it is odds on that he will still attempt to push the sell-off through parliament because Caucus is also seemingly becoming irrelevant to the parliamentary Labor right.
"Moggy Musings" [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]
Furry musing:
Bernard Salt, a self-styled demographer, says that in a few years about 30% of all Australians will live alone and that many will have companion animals instead of kids. He calls these households fur families.
I like it. Pets rule, O.K.!
You're my Hero musing:
This week Tuffy the Queensland kitten was rescued from the fatal clutches of a large python by her human, Ruth Butterworth, who was bitten twice and had her arm broken during the rescue. Ruth was a real hero and Tuffy is one lucky cat in March 2008.
An adoption musing:
Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home.
If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766
Bernard Salt, a self-styled demographer, says that in a few years about 30% of all Australians will live alone and that many will have companion animals instead of kids. He calls these households fur families.
I like it. Pets rule, O.K.!
You're my Hero musing:
This week Tuffy the Queensland kitten was rescued from the fatal clutches of a large python by her human, Ruth Butterworth, who was bitten twice and had her arm broken during the rescue. Ruth was a real hero and Tuffy is one lucky cat in March 2008.
An adoption musing:
Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home.
If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766
Friday, 2 May 2008
Macklin concerned about people fleeing her policies
Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin is reported across the media as being concerned at the number of indigenous Australians who are voting with their feet and fleeing the draconian Northern Territory Intervention.
Well the only surprise here is that it has taken so long to happen. This current small population shift is bound to grow bigger over time.
Nobody wants to stay in places where government agencies and personnel treat you like second-class citizens. Where everyone is reduced to using a form of ration card, stripped of what little dignity has been afforded them and handled as though they are idiots.
Last night Radio Australia told the world that part of the NT population is moving.
Embarrassing for the Rudd Government, but twice as embarrassing for all those who voted for a change in government attitude and behaviour.
So what are you going to do now, Ms. Macklin. Forbid people to move out of Northern Territory indigenous townships without a signed pass? Then you will truly earn the title Jackboot Jenny.
The NT Intervention used a model and strategies which were bound to fail because they were based on forms of coercion and racism.
The Rudd Government needs to pull out of this approach completely or lose credibility. Not next week, not next month - now.
There are better ways to address the well-documented problems in rural and remote communities.
Canberra show pony or prime minister?
So now the Prime Minister has backed away from his fulsome support of Morris Iemma's daft idea to privatise NSW power supplies.
Rudders, you should never have backed this nag in the first place.
It was wrong to open your mouth (for the sake of a media moment) and put this state's essential services further at risk by supporting privatisation.
Trying to straddle the electric fence now, by telling Iemma he should 'negotiate' with the unions, is nothing but show pony prance.
Mate - it's time you decided if you are going to be a Labor prime minister in the finest tradition or if you are going to be a closet Liberal with a well-to-do wife.
Just to jog your memory a bit. The electorate voted for a Labor man.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Is Obama experiencing donor fatigue or is the race thang starting to bite?
In the space of two days the Obama for America team offered two 'gifts' if I contribute to the senator's campaign.
- To meet this deadline and celebrate our grassroots donors, we've created a special gift. Make a donation of $30 or more before midnight on Wednesday, April 30th, and receive a limited edition Vote for Change T-shirt
- To meet this deadline and celebrate our grassroots donors, we've created a special gift.Make a donation of $15 or more before midnight on Wednesday, April 30th, and receive a limited edition Vote for Change car magnet
I have to wonder if Barak Obama's constant drive for political donations is starting to hit the wall.
Or is the constant race thread underlying Clinton and McCain campaigning starting to bite into Obama's support base?
On MSNBC last Sunday.
McCain spoke with reporters in Miami Sunday afternoon at a press conference that had been hastily arranged late Friday night. The ostensible purpose of the event was to allow the presumptive GOP nominee to continue criticizing Obama for not supporting his gas tax holiday proposal.
But what was seemingly meant as another chapter in an ongoing series of criticism quickly moved toward the issue of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the North Carorlina Republican Party's continued commitment to airing an ad referencing Wright's comments in connection with Obama. Over the course of an 18-minute press conference McCain used Obama's name an average of once per minute -- many times in response to direct questions but almost every time in a disparaging context.
But what was seemingly meant as another chapter in an ongoing series of criticism quickly moved toward the issue of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the North Carorlina Republican Party's continued commitment to airing an ad referencing Wright's comments in connection with Obama. Over the course of an 18-minute press conference McCain used Obama's name an average of once per minute -- many times in response to direct questions but almost every time in a disparaging context.
McCain's feeble defence of his covert support of this advertisement reported from a Democrats perspective here.
Has the American Far Right found the Australian Left's perfect storm?
It is a constant source of amazement to find that the topics global warming and climate change can generate such vitriolic nonsense.
Yesterday, American journalist Don Feder in Front Page Mag.
"Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society," Walters writes.
The left is incapable of viewing individuals as anything other than polluters, never as producers or innovators -- let alone seeing them in spiritual terms, as manifestations of God's goodness.
Global Warming is the left's perfect storm -- a force to demolish faith, family and freedom. There's no area of our lives that can't be invaded -- taxed, controlled, regulated or obliterated -- in the name of serving and protecting the planet.
Unlike food production and oil reserves, the myth of man-made Global Warming is resistant to factual analysis. The left treats it as revealed truth and skeptics are scorned as heretics and troglodytes -- the scientific equivalent of Holocaust-deniers. Al Gore, the movement's P.T. Barnum-cum-Grand Inquisitor, compares them to the cranks who believe the earth is flat.
If Global Warming didn't exist, the left would have to invent it. In fact, they did. As Nigel Calder, former editor of the British magazine New Scientist explains: "Twenty years ago, climate research became politicized in favor of one particular hypothesis, which redefined the study as the effect of the study of greenhouse gasses. As a result, the rebellious spirits essential for innovative and trustworthy science are greeted with impediments to their research careers."
Still, the evidence is there for those not blinded by dogma. Al Gore's brain is melting faster than the Arctic ice cap, which is making a spectacular comeback.
With a delicious touch of irony, a typical Australian response to the American far-right might be encapsulated in this picture found at Tim Blair's climate change denialist blog.
Yesterday, American journalist Don Feder in Front Page Mag.
"Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society," Walters writes.
The left is incapable of viewing individuals as anything other than polluters, never as producers or innovators -- let alone seeing them in spiritual terms, as manifestations of God's goodness.
Global Warming is the left's perfect storm -- a force to demolish faith, family and freedom. There's no area of our lives that can't be invaded -- taxed, controlled, regulated or obliterated -- in the name of serving and protecting the planet.
Unlike food production and oil reserves, the myth of man-made Global Warming is resistant to factual analysis. The left treats it as revealed truth and skeptics are scorned as heretics and troglodytes -- the scientific equivalent of Holocaust-deniers. Al Gore, the movement's P.T. Barnum-cum-Grand Inquisitor, compares them to the cranks who believe the earth is flat.
If Global Warming didn't exist, the left would have to invent it. In fact, they did. As Nigel Calder, former editor of the British magazine New Scientist explains: "Twenty years ago, climate research became politicized in favor of one particular hypothesis, which redefined the study as the effect of the study of greenhouse gasses. As a result, the rebellious spirits essential for innovative and trustworthy science are greeted with impediments to their research careers."
Still, the evidence is there for those not blinded by dogma. Al Gore's brain is melting faster than the Arctic ice cap, which is making a spectacular comeback.
With a delicious touch of irony, a typical Australian response to the American far-right might be encapsulated in this picture found at Tim Blair's climate change denialist blog.
Mrs. Iemma - do us all a favour and wash your son's mouth out with Sunlight soap
Little Morrie Iemma must be a constant shame to his mother.
His constant ducks and drakes approach to the truth would worry any parent.
It certainly worries NSW voters if the latest Newspoll survey, showing a 56% dissatisfaction rate for the Premier, is any indication.
Here is his latest.
"PREMIER Morris Iemma's office gave written assurances via email to unions three weeks before the 2007 election that it had no intention of privatising the power industry and that it would remain in public hands.
The unions have now released the correspondence to accuse Mr Iemma of lying to workers - and voters - who had no idea the power sell-off was on the agenda ahead of polling day. With only one in eight delegates expected to back the power sale at this weekend's ALP state conference, the emergence of Mr Iemma's post-election switch will further damage his standing. An email from Mr Iemma's senior staff to a key power union in March last year categorically rejected any plans for the Government to privatise the electricity sector, claiming it would remain a "key service" of government."
Meanwhile up in the top paddock.....
According to ABC News yesterday the Commonwealth Public Service Union thinks that "Mr Rudd is sending a clear message that he wants to return to a Westminster system in which public servants tell the Government what it needs to know, rather than what it wants to hear.
"Through a range of means it was made clear throughout the period of the Howard years and with some ministers in particular, not all of them, that it wasn't a career move to give certain sorts of advice on matters that didn't align with the Government's particular philosophy or view," he said."
But is that really what the Prime Minister is saying in his Address to Heads of Agencies and Members of Senior Executive Service in Canberra yesterday.
In a quiet way Kevin Rudd is signalling that tenure remains uncertain for senior levels in the public service.
His constant ducks and drakes approach to the truth would worry any parent.
It certainly worries NSW voters if the latest Newspoll survey, showing a 56% dissatisfaction rate for the Premier, is any indication.
Here is his latest.
"PREMIER Morris Iemma's office gave written assurances via email to unions three weeks before the 2007 election that it had no intention of privatising the power industry and that it would remain in public hands.
The unions have now released the correspondence to accuse Mr Iemma of lying to workers - and voters - who had no idea the power sell-off was on the agenda ahead of polling day. With only one in eight delegates expected to back the power sale at this weekend's ALP state conference, the emergence of Mr Iemma's post-election switch will further damage his standing. An email from Mr Iemma's senior staff to a key power union in March last year categorically rejected any plans for the Government to privatise the electricity sector, claiming it would remain a "key service" of government."
Meanwhile up in the top paddock.....
According to ABC News yesterday the Commonwealth Public Service Union thinks that "Mr Rudd is sending a clear message that he wants to return to a Westminster system in which public servants tell the Government what it needs to know, rather than what it wants to hear.
"Through a range of means it was made clear throughout the period of the Howard years and with some ministers in particular, not all of them, that it wasn't a career move to give certain sorts of advice on matters that didn't align with the Government's particular philosophy or view," he said."
But is that really what the Prime Minister is saying in his Address to Heads of Agencies and Members of Senior Executive Service in Canberra yesterday.
In a quiet way Kevin Rudd is signalling that tenure remains uncertain for senior levels in the public service.
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Smoothing Stephen's career path
Word is that a ministerial staffer has been attempting to organise an 'offensive internet material' complaint-a-thon to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, in order to boost the Rudd Government's case for a national mandatory ISP filter policy.
Apparently when Labor came to power it discovered that the number of complaints received each month was less than impressive for a country with a population of over 21 million and over half of these clicking away on the world wide web.
Is the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy giving this attempt a wink and a nod or is someone being a little too zealous?
Fruit from a poisoned tree may be the death of the Rudd Government
With the latest news on America's treatment of Guantanamo detainees, prisoner abuse and politcal interference, it is time that the Rudd Government addressed the fact that much of the advice it receives on both domestic and international anti-terrorism measures is fruit from a poisoned tree.
The Prime Minister's failure to either rise above the politics of fear or rid the public service of the principal supporters of such fear will result in retention of legislation which breaches international law and erases the common law rights of Australian citizens.
Federal Labor would do well to remember that, like a person who divorced their spouse, Australian voters having got rid of one government may fairly quickly rid themselves of another when next at the polling booth.
Mr. Rudd, we've broken the political marriage taboo - lift your game or pack your bag.
No-one's willing to tolerate an ersatz Howard Government, except diehard Liberal Party followers and those in the anti-terrorism 'industry'.
News.com.au yesterday.
AUSTRALIAN man David Hicks should never have been charged with terror offences, according to Guantanamo Bay's former chief prosecutor.
Colonel Moe Davis, who oversaw the prosecution of Hicks, quit the war court last year.
He testified overnight that evidence for the war crimes tribunals was obtained through prisoner abuse, and political appointees and higher-ranking officers pushed prosecutors to file charges before trial rules were even written.
Col Davis was giving evidence at a pre-trial hearing for Osama bin Laden's driver, Yemeni prisoner Salim Hamdan, in a courtroom at the remote Guantanamo naval base in Cuba.
Since the US began sending foreign captives to Guantanamo in 2002, only one case has been resolved - that of Hicks.
Tony Kevin writing in New Matilda has it right.
But are sections of the Australian foreign policy and national security bureaucracies still living, by force of habit, in a world mainly defined by fear? How much of the worldview so well analysed in Lawrence's lectures still lingers in Canberra? And do Labor Ministers have any idea how to re-jig their departmental executives' way of thinking towards the new direction Rudd is taking as Prime Minister?
It's a little like turning the Titanic around. If there is not a great deal of deliberate hard steering from the bridge, the ship will stay comfortably on its old course.
Take, for example, a recent speech by the Minister for Immigration, Senator Chris Evans. In an otherwise humanitarian speech, sensitive to the human rights of persons caught up in migration and refugee determination issues, he said this on border security:
It's a little like turning the Titanic around. If there is not a great deal of deliberate hard steering from the bridge, the ship will stay comfortably on its old course.
Take, for example, a recent speech by the Minister for Immigration, Senator Chris Evans. In an otherwise humanitarian speech, sensitive to the human rights of persons caught up in migration and refugee determination issues, he said this on border security:
"The Government is committed to strong border security, tough anti-people smuggling measures and the orderly processing of migration to our country... This Government will continue to look at ways to prevent, deter and enforce compliance to preserve the integrity of Australia's migration program, while treating individuals humanely."
Did Evans really understand what he was saying, or did he just uncritically accept a departmental draft? Does he understand that under Howard, terms like "strong border security" and "tough anti-people-smuggling measures" were policy cover under which the AFP and Immigration mounted questionable covert people smuggling disruption operations in Indonesia? Under which Defence intercepted boats and was in no hurry to rescue people at risk of drowning on crippled, sinking vessels?
Did Evans really understand what he was saying, or did he just uncritically accept a departmental draft? Does he understand that under Howard, terms like "strong border security" and "tough anti-people-smuggling measures" were policy cover under which the AFP and Immigration mounted questionable covert people smuggling disruption operations in Indonesia? Under which Defence intercepted boats and was in no hurry to rescue people at risk of drowning on crippled, sinking vessels?
Coming or going? Turnbull does the headline splits
Sometimes it is hard to decide if pollies actually lose track of the fine detail in their interviews or if they are merely cynical media pleasers of the moment.
Malcolm Turnbull provided a wry grin with these recent articles about teh economy, both published on the same day.
Don't be scrooge-like. Don't spend up.
Because our economy will not really be affected by the American slowdown. Because the American slowdown affects the Australian economy.
Talk about having a bob each way!
Govt does need to cut spending: Turnbull
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the government will be able to achieve that figure without really trying. "I think that is baked-in, ...
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the government will be able to achieve that figure without really trying. "I think that is baked-in, ...
Turnbull warns on 'overdoing' Budget cuts
ABC Online - Australia
Treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says any cuts may have a more dramatic effect than intended, because they could compound the effect of a slowdown in the ...
ABC Online - Australia
Treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says any cuts may have a more dramatic effect than intended, because they could compound the effect of a slowdown in the ...
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Views on the Iraq War five years on
It seems forever since I stood with hundreds of others on a NSW North Coast beach and spelt out the message "NO WAR!", before a crusading Howard Government launched Australia into the war against Iraq.
Despite claims to the contrary, the Rudd Government is not completely withdrawing Australian defence forces from that country, so the nation is still exposed to the vagaries and ramifications of this continuing conflict.
On Sunday 20 April The New York Times reminded us all on what dubious grounds the Coalition of the Willing attacked Iraq and maintains its presence there to date.
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded "the gulag of our times" by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.
The administration's communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.
To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as "military analysts" whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.
The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.
Yesterday San Antonio's Express News defended one of its journalists outed in The Times article.
Yesterday also the Labor View From Broome said:
I often wondered what credence we could give to the independence and objectivity of the regular war experts used by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other Australian media during the Iraq invasion. Former SAS commanding officer Jim Wallace was frequently used by the 7.30 Report.
His interview with Four Corners just before the invasion could have been scripted by Rumsfeld. Wallace is the Managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby. I wonder if he agreed with George W. Bush's initial metaphor for the war on terror as a "crusade". I do not recall any occasions on which Wallace's militant christianity was mentioned when explaining his credentials as an expert commentator on the war.
His interview with Four Corners just before the invasion could have been scripted by Rumsfeld. Wallace is the Managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby. I wonder if he agreed with George W. Bush's initial metaphor for the war on terror as a "crusade". I do not recall any occasions on which Wallace's militant christianity was mentioned when explaining his credentials as an expert commentator on the war.
Theology Web contained a blog defending the Bush-Blair-Howard war on the principal ground that it is not a failure because it is not as bad as some wars in the past.
The Guardian ran this opinion piece on Nicolson Baker's book to dissect the myths surrounding going to war.
Rudders steps in steaming meadow cocktail
Well, we were all just waiting for it weren't we?
You can't cobble together a summit born out of a media sound byte without quickly throwing around money to smooth the way.
* $60,000 to the wife of a ministerial staffer for the family company to handle summit media relations
* $284,5000 to Melbourne University for the loan of Professor Glyn Davis as summit convenor
* $71,000 for Australia 2020 website design and development
Rudders is walking around Canberra with a load of manure adhering to his heels.
Good one, mate. Really let's us know that the economy is in good hands, and that transparency and accountability are still the order of the day.
And Ernie Bennett demonstrates why NSW Nationals should not gain government in the next decade
The Tweed Daily News shows that Nationals Ernie Bennett is on his pet hobby horse again - the abolition of the states and the creation of 20 NSW super councils, with his favorite scenario being one fiefdom which stretches from Clarence to the Tweed containing advisory boards mirroring existing local government boundries.
Enrie obviously hasn't done the maths on any annual revenue required to support a super council.
With all the pressing issues that face the coast it is a pity that he is wasting his time as president of the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils in this way.
Monday, 28 April 2008
Window on a Gillard/McClelland/Conroy IT daydream?
One possible scenario envisioned by Labor ministers supporting corporate spying on email content.Cartoon found at http://xkcd.com/208/
Fully-wired catfish on the loose!
In an effort to conserve the Freshwater (eel-tailed) Catfish in the wild, the NSW Dept. of Primary Industries (Fisheries) will be releasing a number of radio-tagged catfish into the Clarence River system at Jackadgery.If you are dropping a line in the water over the next 12 months and catch one of these fish, please carefully return it to the river, creek or stream in which you found it.
Do your bit for declining coastal fish stocks.
Morris Iemma demonstrates why NSW Labor will not gain government again in the next decade
Morris Iemma turned Sydney CBD into a concrete gulag for the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, lost his sense of humour when The Chaser team showed that all that expensive and intrusive so-called conference security meant nothing, went against party policy to push for the unpopular privatisation of state electricity supplies, rolled back planning laws protecting home-owners from being swamped by rapacious developers, ignored holes in the political donations policy until predictable scandal surfaced, is underwriting World Youth Day's pinch penny pilgrims to the tune of tens of millions while the public hospital system haemorrhages, and yesterday had the hide to ban the general public from dedication of the statue of a New Zealand soldier on Anzac Bridge during the Anzac Day weekend.
Little Morrie Iemma is clearly as out-of-touch with the average voter as John Howard was in his latter years.
I see the same fate awaiting him and Labor, as neither are passing the pub test and Bluey is not happy.
Morrie may be content to take his super and run when the time comes, but if he continues in this high-handed strain until the next election he is creating a gold-plated guarantee that NSW Labor will rot in the wilderness for at least the next decade after.
Babbo!
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Laurie Oakes and Clarencegirl have a little something in common
In The Daily Telegraph last Thursday.
"Laurie Oakes (1942- ) is a broadcast and print journalist known for achieving political scoops," his on-screen profile reads.
"She started at the Sydney Daily Mirror and then moved to the Melbourne Sun's Canberra bureau before moving to television."
Oakes told Sydney Confidential it was a common mistake made by Americans.
"In fact, I once received an email from a strange web company congratulating me on my inclusion in an American encyclopedia of prominent women," he said, laughing.
"I guess it just goes to show I'm in touch with my feminine side. Still it's a wonderful honour."
Laurie Oakes obviously experiences some benign gender mistakes because of the spelling of his first name.
I may live in obscurity when compared with Mr. Oakes, but there should be no confusion as to my gender with a blogger name like clarencegirl.
I have long been accustomed to the northern NSW attitude that females are always supposed to be seen but not heard, however last week I was amused to see a humorous idea floated in the wider Australian blogosphere that clarencegirl might possibly be a middle-aged man in drag.
Shift along the bench Laurie, I'll join you in bemusement - but I'm d*amned if I'll get in touch with my 'masculine' side!
UN strengthens Australia's right for say over Southern Ocean whaling?
Australia has become the first country to be granted exclusive property rights in Antarctica, experts say, raising questions about the exploitation of biological resources in this sensitive and disputed territory.
The expansion of Australia's seabed borders this week by the United Nations includes the Kerguelen Plateau around Heard and McDonald Islands, which extends southwards into Antarctica.
"This is the first property rights allocation for the area south of 60 degrees south and it will be contentious, but it has been sanctioned by the United Nations, it's unprecedented," Tasmania's Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre law expert Julia Jabour said.
Although this extension of jurisdiction does not appear to cover ocean fisheries, it does cover part of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary seabed area.
Surely now that Australia is the only country with officially recognised territory this close to the Antarctic land and ice mass, it may be thought to have additional leverage in relation to the problematic issue of Japan's 'scientific' whaling.
Over to you, Minister for Environment and the Arts Peter Garrett.
Map of Australian territorial waters here.
Closer and closer it crept, until......
No matter how swift is John Howard's patter or how quickly his ghostwriter types those autobiographical pages, history is inexorably writing a thread the former PM will never escape from.
"Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for Western leaders including Australia's former prime minister John Howard to be charged with war crimes over the war in Iraq.
In a speech at Imperial College in London, Mahathir called for an international tribunal to try US President George Bush plus former prime minister Tony Blair of Britain and Howard for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim group that organised the event.
Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq told AFP that Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wanted to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq".
"On the war in Iraq, Mahathir spoke about "the thousands dying, the economic war, the power of oil and how we could utilise some of these tools to have a leverage against the people who commit countries to war", Shafiq said."
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Barak spins Pennsylvania and starts to work the Kentucky room
The emails from Obama for America just keep coming.Barak Obama's field director in Kentucky now tells the world that Our campaign has already generated incredible enthusiasm throughout Kentucky -- in towns from Paducah to Pikeville, thousands of people have turned out for registration drives, office openings and festivals to show their support for Barack.
While the campaign website splash screen (see picture) is so sugar-laden it should come with its own health warning.
Here is last Thursday's cheer team effort after missing out in Pennsylvania, including the usual 'show me the money'.
Last night, Senator Clinton used up her last, best chance to cut appreciably into Barack Obama's elected delegate lead.
She came up short.
In fact, she barely made a dent. At most, she picked up a net gain of 12 delegates
-- less than our gain, for example, in Colorado (where we gained 17) or Kansas (where we gained 14). Her gain in Pennsylvania was less than half of our gain in Virginia, where we added to our lead by 25 delegates.
But there is one measure by which her campaign's gains are real.
The Clinton campaign claims they've raised $3.5 million dollars since the polls closed yesterday.
We can't afford to let that go unanswered.
Please make a donation of $25 today to support this campaign:
https://donate.barackobama.com/thefacts
Grassroots support from people like you has the Democratic nomination in our sights.
Here's how it breaks out:
After Pennsylvania, we have a lead of at least 159 elected delegates earned through all of the primaries and caucuses so far. We have a total of at least 1493 pledged delegates.
Meanwhile, we've been rapidly gaining ground among the so-called superdelegates (elected leaders and party officials who get a vote to choose our nominee), cutting Senator Clinton's lead from more than 100 early this year to less than 25. We have a total of 238 publicly committed superdelegates.
The total number of delegates needed to secure the nomination is 2,024. That means we are only 293 delegates away from securing the nomination.
In less than two weeks, we'll square off in the key battleground states of North Carolina and Indiana, when there will be as many delegates at stake as there were last night in Pennsylvania.
To grow our significant lead and close out this race, we must remain competitive in these contests and the 7 others that will follow.
Barack needs your support right now to finish this contest:
https://donate.barackobama.com/thefacts
Pennsylvania was considered a state tailor-made for Senator Clinton -- she was always expected to win, and we trailed by as much as 25 points in the weeks leading up to the election.
But thanks to people like you, Barack gained support among key voters in the face of long odds and unrelenting negativity from Senator Clinton, and kept the margin close enough that her delegate gain was insignificant.
Indeed, the only surprising result from Pennsylvania is how much Barack was able to improve his standing among key voter groups since the Ohio primary.
Among white voters, Obama narrowed the gap by 6 points. Among voters over 60, he nearly cut the gap in half, from 41 points to 24 points. Meanwhile, we continued to run strong where we have all along -- for example, winning voters ages 18-24 with over 65% of the vote.
Barack campaigned hard in Pennsylvania. He talked about his plans to stand up to the special interests and bring people together so that we can change Washington to turn our economy around, make sure that every American has quality health care, and bring this misguided war to an end.
Your donation of $25 can make sure we grow our lead and finish this race in the final 9 contests:
https://donate.barackobama.com/thefacts
Thank you,
David
David Plouffe
CampaignManager
Obama for America
Here is last Thursday's cheer team effort after missing out in Pennsylvania, including the usual 'show me the money'.
Last night, Senator Clinton used up her last, best chance to cut appreciably into Barack Obama's elected delegate lead.
She came up short.
In fact, she barely made a dent. At most, she picked up a net gain of 12 delegates
-- less than our gain, for example, in Colorado (where we gained 17) or Kansas (where we gained 14). Her gain in Pennsylvania was less than half of our gain in Virginia, where we added to our lead by 25 delegates.
But there is one measure by which her campaign's gains are real.
The Clinton campaign claims they've raised $3.5 million dollars since the polls closed yesterday.
We can't afford to let that go unanswered.
Please make a donation of $25 today to support this campaign:
https://donate.barackobama.com/thefacts
Grassroots support from people like you has the Democratic nomination in our sights.
Here's how it breaks out:
After Pennsylvania, we have a lead of at least 159 elected delegates earned through all of the primaries and caucuses so far. We have a total of at least 1493 pledged delegates.
Meanwhile, we've been rapidly gaining ground among the so-called superdelegates (elected leaders and party officials who get a vote to choose our nominee), cutting Senator Clinton's lead from more than 100 early this year to less than 25. We have a total of 238 publicly committed superdelegates.
The total number of delegates needed to secure the nomination is 2,024. That means we are only 293 delegates away from securing the nomination.
In less than two weeks, we'll square off in the key battleground states of North Carolina and Indiana, when there will be as many delegates at stake as there were last night in Pennsylvania.
To grow our significant lead and close out this race, we must remain competitive in these contests and the 7 others that will follow.
Barack needs your support right now to finish this contest:
https://donate.barackobama.com/thefacts
Pennsylvania was considered a state tailor-made for Senator Clinton -- she was always expected to win, and we trailed by as much as 25 points in the weeks leading up to the election.
But thanks to people like you, Barack gained support among key voters in the face of long odds and unrelenting negativity from Senator Clinton, and kept the margin close enough that her delegate gain was insignificant.
Indeed, the only surprising result from Pennsylvania is how much Barack was able to improve his standing among key voter groups since the Ohio primary.
Among white voters, Obama narrowed the gap by 6 points. Among voters over 60, he nearly cut the gap in half, from 41 points to 24 points. Meanwhile, we continued to run strong where we have all along -- for example, winning voters ages 18-24 with over 65% of the vote.
Barack campaigned hard in Pennsylvania. He talked about his plans to stand up to the special interests and bring people together so that we can change Washington to turn our economy around, make sure that every American has quality health care, and bring this misguided war to an end.
Your donation of $25 can make sure we grow our lead and finish this race in the final 9 contests:
https://donate.barackobama.com/thefacts
Thank you,
David
David Plouffe
CampaignManager
Obama for America
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