Author: Kev

Retired infantry officer. Conservative by nature and politics; Happily married and father and grandfather of eight. Loves V8 powered Range Rovers, Golden Retrievers, good books and technology and think there should be open season on Greenies. Born in the mid forties and overdue for servicing but most parts still work.

Carn the Wallabies

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I don’t care what the odds are. I don’t care that we haven’t been playing well. I do care about loosing and I believe that we can play to whatever level we are confonted with. Oh -and I also care passionately about beating the Kiwis- all the more sweeter if we do it in the last thirty seconds of the match. It amplifies their pain and my pleasure. With Carmen elected as ALP President I know there is a Santa – later tonight I want to know there is a God as well! It’s not just a game…IT’S RUGBY. It’s not about how you play the game…IT’S ABOUT WINING. UPDATE: It’s also about spelling…I meant to say it’s all about WINNING. (thanks Blue – see comments) Of course my poor spelling fades into insignificance when the mighty Wallabies rattled the All Blacks last night scoring 22 to 10. I kept on saying Eddie Jones has a plan and like a good general, he’s hiding his tactics. Everyone told me Eddie wasn’t smart enough but he’s the one with a smile on his face this morning. Beside winning last night he has just been handed another 12 month contract. We had a token Kiwi at the party and with it being a small TV I coudn’t see the time/scoreline and kept on kicking his chair and getting him to read it out. Mumble mumble ….louder, we can’t hear you. To soften the blow I told him in 1995 I was in Timaru in NZ and ended up watching the All Blacks and Wallabies play. I and my long suffering bride were the only Aussies in town and there must have been a hundred Kiwis in the hall where we were watching the match on TV. The Wallabies led throughout the match and I was beside myself getting up the locals. I’m sure they were thinking Hah Ha…funny fellow and getting a bit peeved until the last 45 seconds of the match when the All Blacks crossed the line, converted and won by the smallest of margins. All those nighmares were buried last night when the Wallabies won. Better than that, we played far better rugby than our southern cousins and deserved to win – the All Blacks were never in it from the first minutes. I’m of the opinion that the Poms one and only tactic is to play for penalties so Wilkinson can kick them to victory. They’ll need more than that to beat the French so I’m betting on an Aussie / French final. Read full game reports here and here UPDATE 2:I was wrong but in retrospect I’d rather we have to play a team that doesn’t play rugby. The passion of the French produces good rugby while the Poms buried the game when they decided to base their tactics on one kicker. Hang on to the ball and don’t concede penalties in the Pom territory and the cup is ours. It’ll be a long week.
Uncategorized

Illegals Again!

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Yawn!!!! With Stuart Rintoul’s tag on the article it has to be bleeding heart stuff. One of the 14 Kurds pointed at the word “refugee” in an English/Turkish dictionary. I hope one of the locals pointed out the word “illegal” from the same dictionary. I don’t care about semantics or who said what to whom. What I care about is that the elected government are the only people empowered to decide who immigrates to Australia or, indeed, who we accept as refugees. Not the Indonesian Immigration Department, not the people smugglers and definitely not (we’re on a descending values list here) the Greens or Democrats. And don’t you love this? Senator Vanstone denied returning the boat to Indonesia had fuelled tensions with Jakarta, rejecting a claim from Indonesian Immigration Department spokesman Ade Dachlan that Australia was treating its northern neighbour as a “dumping ground”. Hang on, who’s dumping here? Didn’t the boat set sail from an Indonesian port after Indonesian authorities had ignored the illegals presence in their own country after having received the appropriate bribe from the people smuggler? Keep letting them through Indonesia and our wicket keepers will keep sending them back. One day you will get the message. I like Amanda Vanstone. Her comments last week to media reps about how the Immigration Department operations were not set up just to accommodate the media has a certain firmness, some might a say, a ‘get stuffed’ attitude about it. To follow this up with instant return tickets for emotional blackmail/people smuggler run immigration makes me think there is a Santa.
Politics

Carmen’s Poisoned chalise

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As if Labour don’t have enough problems the Left is obviously in the ascendancy in the party as they hand Carmen (I can’t remember) Lawrence the poisoned chalice. Matt Price thinks her election refills the Coalition’s magazines here while Steve Lewis and Megan Saunders write on Carmen’s vowing to reach out to voters. Less than a year after resigning from the Labor front bench in disgust at its policy direction, Dr Lawrence has received a strong mandate from ordinary ALP members to soften the Opposition’s stance on border protection and national security. Try a different spin on that one. Less than a year after resigning from the front bench and only a few years since she was kicked out of West Australia after lying to a Royal Commission, Carmen has received a strong mandate from the party’s Left Wing to alter the ALP’s stance on illegals to one where people smugglers decide who Australia should accept as refugees. Go for it, Carmen.
Politics

What goes around comes around Richo!

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Graham Richardson has been riding for a fall all his life and now it looks imminent. ASIC are on the prowl over the Offline Press incident. This mornings Australian has the details Australian Securities & Investments Commission investigators, aided by Australian Federal Police officers, searched for documents relating to share trades in Offset Alpine through Swiss bank accounts. ASIC confirmed it had executed a number of search warrants in Sydney yesterday, but would not say whether Qantas director Trevor Kennedy and former federal Labor cabinet minister Graham Richardson were also raided. The trio have been exposed as the mystery owners of 38 per cent of Offset Alpine, a printing company that grew from an industry minnow into a printing powerhouse following a fire on Christmas Eve 1993. An insurance payout of $53 million on assets worth $3million bought state-of-the-art printing presses, which largely serviced Kerry Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press. Right..so this is how it is done. Buy shares in a run-down printing company worth about $3million and then subsequent to a “fire” claim $53million from the insurance company, buy new gear with the money and have a chat with Packer. Throw in a Swiss Banking company and you have the answer….fraud. I’d defy anyone to put a different spin on it. I’m sure ASIC would like to know who is on the board of the insurance company and what relationship they had with Rivkin/Richardson/Kennedy. I hope it’s not HIH! What goes around comes around Richo!
Politics

UN Still Spinning Left

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Good! That means we are conducting a realistic programme to counter illegal entry. In this article from News.com.au a rep from UNHCR takes us to task. The vessel, carrying 14 suspected Turkish Kurds, sailed into a storm of controversy when it arrived at Melville Island near Darwin a week ago. It was boarded by Australian defence force personnel and its engine was disabled under a tough immigration policy adopted in 2001. Can I have a check on that last statement. The way I remember it is – the crew of the Minasa Bone disabled the boat and placed engine parts in a container on board. On Nov 6 the Australian reported; The crew of HMAS Geelong searched the boat. They found the engines had been disabled, and made repairs before towing it clear of the shore. Full article here>> Lets not have the facts interfere with a put-down on Australia.
Uncategorized

Armistice Day

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Today we remember the sacrifice of diggers from the Boxer Rebellion through to Afghanistan. We remember those who gave their lives for freedom and particularly the boys from Gallipoli, France and the Western Front. Michael Evans has a piece on Australian diggers, the new memorial in London to 100,000 plus Aussies who have died in wars as allies of Brittain. Wallace Craig an American friend quotes a great article from 1993 by columnist Mike Ryoko………. I just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Veterans Day. They all said the same thing: working. Me, too. There is something else we share. We are all military veterans. And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don’t teach school. If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Veterans Day goofing off. Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous term of Veterans Day as a national holiday. The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans. So how does this country honor them? By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing. As my friend Harry put it: “First I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week. Then I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk”. “When I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn’t kill anybody and nobody killed me. But it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific”. When I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar he was a World War II vet told me I was a —-head because we didn’t win, we only got a tie”. “So now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work. You know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That’s because he works for the state. And do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school. Now, is that a raw deal or what?” Of course that’s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following: – All veterans, and only veterans, should have the day off from work. It doesn,t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists. Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: “Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road,” is entitled. – Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don’t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men’s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs. – All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual. – It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: “What time will you be home tonight?” – Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD. – Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day. Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments. Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila. Although in Australia we don’t have a holiday on Armistice Day we do on ANZAC Day and for too many Australians, ANZAC Day is a just a public holiday. Remember the sacrifice of these men and women, without fear or favour, whatever your political beliefs. Here dead we lie, because we chose not to shame the land from where we came. Life, to be sure, is nothing much to loose but young men think it is. And we were young. Lest We Forget
Defence

Leader of NT Opposition Denis

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Leader of NT Opposition Denis Burke gets offside with Gen Cosgrove by appearing to condone marijuana use in the military. Mr Burke had said recreational marijuana use by civilians had never bothered him. He had noticed while he was the leader of Second Cavalry Regiment that “there are many people that will not drink alcohol, but will have the occasional smoke”. “Now, you know, that’s for them to decide,” he said. Wrong! Drug use on duty is a command responsibility. One thing Burke should have learnt while he ‘commanded’ the 2nd Cavalry Regiment was that any sort of drug use is incompatible with maneuvering 14 tonne APCs. I have no axe to grind about smoking marijuana unless it’s in the military. Commanders have a chance of controlling grog as it’s hard to smuggle a carton of XXXX Lager into the field but not so with a small cache of marijuana. What a soldier does on leave is generally his problem so long as he stays within the law but the thought of marijuana in the field is terrifying. The guy smoking a joint is a danger to his mates if he then fires a machine gun or rocket or drives a vehicle, particularly a tank. Logistics stops the hard core drinker but not so the mary jane user. Tank drivers are always of concern to infantrymen. The later, who tend to sleep on the ground and like to lie very close to it while in action have always had to be very aware of tank drivers. If there is action Infantrymen have the dual survival role of dodging enemy bullets and friendly tank tracks as when tanks are under fire they tend to make alarming direction changes. Denis Burke is being irresponsible by playing down marijuana use in the Army and should take a hard line on any drug use while on duty. The commander of Robertson Barracks has a problem on his hand that has now been exacerbated by the local Leader of the Opposition. Trying to secure the votes of local users by appearing to be ‘with it’ should attract adverse comments from military leaders who are continually fighting a battle against a society and media that says it’s OK to use drugs. Before some readers start thinking drugs are a huge problem based on the statistics of the Robertson Barracks raid, keep in mind the subjects of the raid were targeted – the MPs knew from other sources who the problem children were. The nearly 50% strike rate reflect the quality of intelligence rather than indicating half of the military are on drugs. UPDATE: Cosgrove denies ‘goose’ comment. In todays Australian Gen Cosgrove denies calling Burke a Goose. Goose, not a Goose, It doesn’t change my thoughts on drugs in the Military.
Defence

She’s free! Pauline Hanson released

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She’s free! Pauline Hanson released and not required to stand trial again. Reported by SBS – as much as it must have hurt them to do so. Chief Court of Appeal Judge Paul de Jersey told a stunned courtroom that Ms Hanson and Mr Ettridge would not face a retrial. I’m not a Pauline fan but I was often beside myself with the treatment handed out to her by the extreme left. Screaming and physically attacking her every time she mounted the dias is not what we are about. We let Phillip Adams talk without attacking or screaming. Even Bob Brown is allowed to say his piece, in peace, as stupid as it is, and yet Pauline had to put up with the most foul abuse and physical threats. I was nearly moved to go find the baseball bat I had left on the verandah from the Keating days and pitch in to help her have her say. Watch the media tomorrow – the left will be screaming, the ABC will have endless debriefs and news leaders on how every one in SE Asia thought we were all racists because of one person’s opinions. Mahatir will be questioned by the ABC looking to give him a chance to say how racist we are and Kerry O’Brien will have to allocate another hour in the day to practise his sneer. By mid afternoon someone will remember that it was all Howard’s fault and some looney will ask him how come he didn’t have her shot on day one in Canberra. It might be a good time to get out the old Land Rover and go fishing. Update: Almost forgot – while watching the early evening news at 6.00 pm Channel 9 had daylight interviews of Pauline and the Ettridge chap free and surrounded by well wishers while at 6:30 SBS reported ‘they will be released sometime later tonight’ Get current guys.
Politics

ABC/SBS Bias

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Use the word bias with ABC or SBS and all the left wing luvvies and Friends of the ABC start screaming. At the risk of being repetitious I will point out that proof of bias rests in the fact that the left never claim bias. Greg Sheridan has an alarming piece in today’s Australian where he points out that; The SBS……….is using your tax money to broadcast the propaganda of the Vietnamese Communist Party as part of its regular daily news. It is airing each day the news program of VTV4, which is owned and controlled by the Vietnamese communists. VTV’s website says that it exists to “provide news and propaganda” to “serve the party and the Government”. The pure evil that was communism has slipped too quickly from the public mind. The tens of millions killed by Stalin, Mao and yes indeed by Ho Chi Minh too somehow or other have disappeared from public debate. He goes on; The cultural Left, the types who run organisations such as SBS, have never had much time for Vietnamese refugees because they are anti-communist. They didn’t fit the neat, simplistic formulas that hold that all victimhood in this world is caused by Western colonialism. When Saigon fell in 1975 the icon of such people, then prime minister Gough Whitlam, said to Clyde Cameron, among others, that he would not take in substantial numbers of Vietnamese refugees because “I will not have those f
Politics
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