Abbott the Unbelievable

Federal Nats MP for Cowper on the NSW North Coast and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business Luke Hartsuyker may have joined Malcolm Turnbull, Ian Macfarlane, Alby Schultz and John Forrest in a very public pollie sin bin for missing votes in the Parliament - in an email signed by Hon. Warren Entsch, Chief Opposition Whip, Patrick Secker, Nola Marino, Mark Coulton and Paul Neville and seemingly approved of by Tony Abbott.
But it's Opposition Leader Abbott the Unbelievable who comes out with egg on his face for repeatedly saying during radio interviews that the sin bin email which he approved "was not about any particular individual, it was about the principle that every one of the Coalition MPs has got to be there for every division."
At the same time studiously avoiding answering a direct question about his prior approval of this unusual email.

Parts of that email directly read into the Hansard record on 26th May 2011 by Labor's Anthony Albanese.
Last night we lost a division because the following five Coalition Members failed to support their colleagues:
Malcolm Turnbull (5 missed divisions)—margin 14.86%....
This behaviour is totally unacceptable and shows great disrespect to their colleagues and the Coalition as a whole.
As a result of the absence of these Members, the following Members missed an opportunity to raise issues important to their electorates....
It is an interesting point to note that all the Members who missed the division occupy safe seats, while, of the Members prevented from speaking in the adjournment debate three are first term Members and all occupy marginal or key seats.....
Members are elected to Parliament to represent their constituents. That includes being present when the Parliament divides on a question.

The Australian and Sheridan create a ranting LOL

This is what The Australian says in About Greg Sheridan……….

Greg Sheridan, The Australian's foreign editor, is the most influential foreign affairs analyst in Australian journalism.
After 25 years in the field, he is a veteran of international affairs who has interviewed leaders all over the Asia Pacific and America.

This is what Greg Sheridan writes in Fraser's unreliable memoirs rewrite history on 26 May 2011…….

Snapshot taken 26 May 2011

But even Henderson's splendid industry omits many of Fraser's howlers. Fraser claims the neo-conservatives wielded great influence in the Bush administration of the 90s. But George W. Bush was not even elected until November 2000.

Now 25 years in the field takes Sheridan the journalist back to around 1986. Surely that’s long enough for him to have formed a memory of the Forty-First U.S. President George H. W. Bush (term of office January 1989 - January 1993) who in 1991 sent 425,000 American troops into Kuwait as part of the multinational force taking part in Desert Storm, which resulted in the rout of Saddam Hussein’s military forces and their retreat back into Iraq.
Sheridan post-rant might even recall the that neo-conservatives existed prior to November 2000.

Karl 'The Terminator' Bitar finds another target

Not content with scuttling the future electoral chances of Federal and NSW Labor, Karl Bitar goes on to chance his hand with Crown Casino. Let the good bad ugly times roll!

ASX / MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
24 May 2011
CROWN APPOINTS MR KARL BITAR TO HEAD UP GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
MELBOURNE:

Crown Limited (ASX: CWN) today announced that Mr Karl Bitar has been appointed to head up Government Affairs at Crown Limited, subject to usual probity approvals.

Mr Bitar will be responsible for managing Crown’s relationship with the Federal Government across a broad range of issues including tourism, infrastructure development and responsible gaming.
The Chief Executive Officer of Crown Limited, Mr Rowen Craigie said, “All of us at Crown are looking forward to working with Mr Bitar.”

www.crownlimited.com

Help Jack fight the Polluter Giants

Fund Solutions Not Pollution

The big polluters don't need to pocket windfall profits from a carbon price - some of their profits are almost as large as the entire revenue itself! But still they lobby against our clean future.

The Government needs to invest at least $2 billion each year of the pollution price revenue on renewable energy and innovation to build a clean energy future. We know this can be done. The Australia Institute's reseach paper, commissioned thanks to GetUp members' donations and released today, shows just how easily that money can be found by cutting subsidies to the worst polluters.

This ad needs to start playing this week if we're going to strengthen the renewable industry's arm in these negotiations. With $100,000 we can buy out all the remaining Canberra TV spots for the fortnight. That's a good start - another $60,000 and we can buy out the last minute spots in several target rural electorates. Chip in so we can give the media buyers the go ahead.

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If you're happy and you know it clap your hands

Since he became Leader of the Opposition Tones the Terrible has been so unrelentingly negative about Australia’s present and future if he doesn’t get to lead the nation, that I’ve almost come to believe we’re all in a bad way
Then along comes the OECD’s Better Life Index which puts Oz into global perspective.
Seems Tony Abbott has a very jaundiced view. Because on the housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety, and work-life balance fronts we are doing very nicely thankyou when compared to the other 33 OECD countries.
In fact - overall Oz leads the bluddy world.

Click on graph to enlarge

When social media goes wrong: Does Glaxo Smith Kline know where their anti-smoking campaign is turning up on Facebook?

We’re encouraging Aussies to Pledge to Quit smoking for World No Tobacco Day on the 31 May. Take our pledge and share it with your friends, maybe we’ll even set an Australian record for Pledge to Quit! states Glaxo Smith Kline’s Nicabate Pledge to Quit team on Facebook.

Unfortunately one of the Facebook accounts which advertises the pledge campaign is Grafton Goss (online since 12 May 2011) which carries what has been described by The Daily Examiner as “vile” gossip.

Snapshot taken 25 May 2011

In fact unsubstantiated allegations made concerning the sexual activity of named young people are so unpleasant and language employed so crudely graphic that I have omitted a direct link.

This webpage will soon come undone as Grafton Goss’ creator is not as anonymous as first appearance suggests.

In the meantime Facebook users can make Zuckerberg live up to his social media site’s undertakings regarding privacy and appropriate content by going to the Help page and following the prompts to report Grafton Goss and its posts.