Martin Luther, time traveller extraordinaire

Following a link on An Onymous Lefty I landed on a 3rd October Catch the Fire Ministries post which began:

Dear family & friends in Christ,

It is reported that Martin Luther once said something along the lines of, 'Do not worry about what either people or the media says, both good and bad publicity is always good for the cause.'

Now Martin Luther died in the 16th century before there was such a thing as meeja, so he would have to had racked up more than a few miles inside a time machine to come up with something similar to that particular observation.

A little holy confusion with Dr. Martin Luther King perhaps?

LNP `poster-boy' Peter Dutton is a dud

170 LNP preselectors have told Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull his front bencher Peter Dutton is not up to scratch.

Senior Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton suffered a shock defeat in the preselection battle for the safe Gold Coast federal seat of McPherson.

Despite the strong backing of former prime minister John Howard and current Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Dutton was rejected in favour of local Karen Andrews.

Dutton, the Opposition health spokesman, now faces an uncertain future, having abandoned his own seat of Dickson when a redistribution made it unwinnable.

Read The Courier Mail's report here.

pic credit: smh.com.au

Taking Neighbourhood Watch that step too far?

Sometimes it's hard not to gasp aloud when a particular piece of local gossip comes one's way.

The latest is that a certain Neighbourhood Watch committee is tentatively considering allowing a person found guilty of criminal offences to join as a volunteer member.

A rather novel idea to say the least - stretching membership demographics so far.

I'm sure that the NSW Police Force as insurance policy holder for and active partner with Neighbourhood Watch NSW would be most impressed.

So impressed that a NSW Police Local Area Command could perhaps exercise the right to wind up any NHW group where police are satisfied that it is no longer functioning effectively?

No wonder the committee seems to feel a move like this might be explosive.

What on earth were they drinking thinking at the time?

Cartoon: Best of the Web

Northern Rivers Italian Festival at Lismore, Sunday 11 October 2009

The NSW North Coast has a strong and proud Italian connection. From the creation of a new homeland at Little Italy in the Clarence Valley by a group of shipwrecked Italian families, originally on their way to a new life in South America, through to Italian workers in Northern Rivers cane fields turned farmers themselves.

During October this history is being celebrated with a day of festival by their descendants and other Italian families living in the region.

Everybody is welcome. The Italian Festival will include fashion parades, Italian cooking demonstrations, Italian vehicle display, Italy vs Rest of the World Football game and a 'Best Italian Diving in the Penalty Box' competition, market stalls including books, wine tasting and arts and crafts, family entertainment ranging from balloon artistry and kids games. [Finda.com.au]

When: Sunday, 11 October 2009
10am to 7pm

Where: Italo-Australia Club

Address: Barrow Lane, Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia

Audience: Anyone

Facilities: Food & drink Toilets

Phone: 0401 917 258

Email: bronwen@omegahospitality.com.au

Picture from Google Images

Stoush in Liberal MP's electoral office

Alex Hawke (Liberal), the Federal Member for Mitchell, allowed his electoral office to be used as the venue for a meeting of Young Liberals.

Do other groups, say the local Greens, also get to hold their get-togethers in the office?

NSW police dismissed as a media stunt an attempt to drag them into the internal faction wars of the Liberal Party (ABC News).

The Herald reported that Hawke, who was described as a megalomaniac by a Liberal source , was desperate to shut down potential threats to his position in the party.

Hawke called police to his Castle Hill office in Sydney's northwest around 6pm on Wednesday after he said a mob had stormed into a meeting of the Baulkham Hills and Hills Young Liberals branches.

A Liberal source said the people standing outside were aspiring new Young Liberals and that Hawke barred them because he realised he didn't have the numbers inside to reject their applications.

The source said Hawke was reluctant to let the branches grow because new members, who may be aligned with his inter-factional enemy and former boss NSW upper house Liberal MP David Clarke, could end up threatening his position.

"It's all about a power struggle between himself and David Clarke," the source said.

"He sees David as the old school, and he wants to be the person down in Canberra that calls all the shots, and he doesn't want anyone to get in his way."

Fellow Liberal Party member and radio announcer Gareth McCray dubbed Hawke a "young upstart" following the fracas, which his two children were caught up in.

McCray said his daughter Laura, 20, and son Jacob, 18, had recently joined the Young Liberals and were trying to attend their first branch meeting.

"Alex Hawke had denied them access ... and one or two of his heavies were standing at the door preventing these people from coming in at all.

"Obviously, there was some sort of factional issue that Alex was paranoid about.

"For him to ask no more members to come in, clearly there must have been something going on that I wasn't aware of that had to do with the different factions within the Liberal Party - I'm assuming."

McCray denied the confrontation had been about to descend into a brawl.

"There was no reason to ring the police, because there was an orderly assemblage of 20 members trying to get into a meeting.

"There was no shouting or carrying on at all."

McCray said the incident had left him so incensed that he was thinking about renouncing his Liberal Party membership.

"After last night's fiasco with this young upstart, who I thought six months ago had some potential, I'm quite prepared to tear my membership up if the Liberal Party is not prepared to take some sort of disciplinary action against this man," McCray said.

Hawke wants an investigation too, but of a different kind.

He's asked the party's state director, Mark Neeham, to inquire into Liberal Party members who were present and their behaviour.

"(And) it is my hope that those persons who orchestrated the events of last night are dealt with swiftly by the Liberal Party and authorities," he said.

A police spokesman said a number of people were spoken to by police at the scene but no arrests were made.

No further action will be taken by police at this stage.

Sources: ABC News and The Sydney Morning Herald

Blog Action Day on Climate Change, 15 October 2009

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices. [http://www.blogactionday.org/]

Take a single day out of your usual blogging schedule and focus it on an important issue - CLIMATE CHANGE.

You can register your blog here.

Malcolm Who??

I've become used to not thinking much about that phantom of Australian politics, the Nationals Federal Leader, Warren Truss.

Recently I've also become rather comfortable with the notion that I don't have to consider another political fading star - the Liberals Federal Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

His economic credibility is shot, his environmental credibility never existed and he apparently has little political credibility left within his own parliamentary party.

If Oz is lucky last Thursday's hilarious gasping for oxygen utterance, along the lines of I'll only lead a party which follows me, and Friday morning's snarly comment about Coalition smart-ars*s, were probably the final occasions on which he really mattered to anyone except his own loving family.

So who is it exactly who's leading the Federal Coalition now?

Cartoon from Laberal