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.

Inquiry into Stolen Generation compo

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Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett today said the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee would hold an inquiry into his Stolen Generation Compensation Bill 2008.
Under the bill, applicants – who could include living descendants of indigenous stolen generation members – would be paid out of a Stolen Generations Fund. Ex-gratia payments would be set at $20,000 as a common experience payment with an additional $3,000 for each year of institutionalisation.
They could be on a winner here; get removed from life threatening situations and be paid thousands of dollars for every year your life has been extended. But wait, there’s more. Applicants don’t even have to have been removed themselves; they simply need to be a descendant of someone who was removed. The mind boggles. Still, $20,000 will never do….wait for the legal attack as lawyers submit ambit claims for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I can see Andrew will be busy in the Senate today. I wonder if he will have time to contemplate his history and Rudd’s 53 million dollar Anti Binge Drinking campaign (otherwise known as ‘Get the oldies carping about allowances off the front page’ campaign). Probably not.
Uncategorized

Binge Drinking

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FEDERAL MPs are in disagreement over the extent of binge drinking. Well they would be wouldn’t they? Everybody has a different opinion on drinking from wowsers to alcoholics so by definition there will be little agreement. A woman is beaten up by her husband every time he drinks or I have half a dozen beers on a Friday night and get mellow. The wife beater and I could’ve consumed the same amount of grog but one wife hates binge drinking, the other is pleased about some quiet time for herself. Not wanting to sound like a wowser here but one way to slow down on excessive alcohol consumption is to restrict the hours one can consume. I have lived through the six o’clock swill, 10 pm closing, 12 pm closing to open all hours and some where between 6 o’clock swills of my youth and open all hours there is a balance- I would suggest it’s 12 pm closing. When I was a young player I would knock off work 5 ish on Fridays, be ready to play about six then drank, ate and tried to score for 4 odd hours. I went home mostly by myself and mostly happily inebriated but a long way from legless and the next morning I could function. Today the young knock off at 5 ish and have 12 hours to waste themselves, and they do, and you don’t hear from them until late in the wasted day. When people are intoxicated restraint is not normally present so if the bar is open they keep buying drinks until the bar is closed or someone in the hospitality industry remembers the rules about serving drunks. Look at the relevant state government licensing acts that are heavy on licensing/poker machine fees and light on social responsibilities. Could be cheaper than spending 50 plus million dollars telling young people what they don’t want to hear.
General Musings

Myths surround Islam – leader

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The federal government is considering plans for a new-look advisory body to help combat public perceptions of an overly-religious image of Islam.
Dr Ameer Ali, of the Regional Islamic Council, said he agreed with comments by the Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs Laurie Ferguson that the idea that all Muslims were religious was a “misconception”. “Islam has been portrayed as religion of violence, which is not true. Islam has been portrayed as a religion that promotes jihads … that’s not true,” Dr Ali told Sky News.
Misconception…Not true….fine. I don’t think any reasonable person would disagree with Dr Amir Ali. They are not all religious neither do all of them support jihad or violence but some of them do and therein lies the problem. Dr Ali says; “The Muslim problem is not a religious problem – it is educational, economic, humanitarian, social. It (the problem) needs a wider attack.” I agree the problem is educational – fix that and the other problems will dissolve. In the meantime Australian Muslim leaders need to be a bit more proactive. Heres an idea. The next time some radical idiot blows himself up taking innocents with him condemn the act. Call a press conference and denounce the violence. The next time a leader is reported as agreeing with jihad or condemning the west for taking action against the radicals call a press conference and tell Australians the person quoted doesn’t represent the vast majority of Muslims. Tell us that you have given his name and the names of his followers to the Australian Federal Police and that you have removed his power to represent Muslims. Tell us every day that first and foremost you are Australians and have no time for killers, murders or religious zealots.
War on Terror

The first 100 days

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Rudd has released a booklet on his first 100 days of government. I calculated the days from the day after his election win; Rudd says he calculates it from the day his government were sworn into power and fair enough too so maybe today is just an anniversary of a 100 days of my concern for my country. Either way readers can download a .pdf file of the booklet here. Chairman Rudd’s gospel is full of promise with a couple of achievements to date but if everything he promises does eventuate it will truly be a revolution. Revolution…nasty word that. Rudd says no to Left agenda and has assured mainstream Australia he will avoid radical social and cultural change by resisting calls to broaden his reform agenda and by sticking to his election promises. I know Rudd isn’t from the left but a lot of his team are and it is they that I worry about, particularly when one looks at Rudd’s achievements in this first 100 days. I think it disingenuous of Rudd to claim he is saying no to Left agenda in light of the following; #1..Climate Change. Signed the Koyoto treaty- a symbolic but meaningless act that has more potential to harm our economy than do the ecology any good. #2..Apology. Said sorry to indigenous Aussies and is having trouble putting the stopper back in the bottle of compensation. Is busy winding back Howard and Brough’s plan to actually help our mates and has reinstated the permit system that has helped to hide the horrific problems recently headlined in the Australian Although plenty of punters from all sides and age groups agree with the apology they are going to react differently when compensation is discussed. Should there be no discernible difference to Indigenous life styles a year down the track people are going to be asking hard questions. #3 Whaling. Sent a government ship on a fools errand at great expense for little gain, if any, that basically supported a radical greenie who has a history of ramming and sinking fishing trawlers going about their legal business, including indigenous ones. #4..Uranium. Renegs on previously authorised sale of Uranium to India Another win for the Left wing of the ALP with their ideological based hatred of uranium. Apparently it’s OK to cosy up to the Chinese Communist Dictatorship but not to sell a legitimate product to the Indian Democracy #5..Union Power. Initiates a review to clamp down on overuse of foreign-owned ships to transport freight around the nation’s coastline in a bid to bolster the shipping industry. Or, more importantly, from Albanese himself; blockquote>
“This review will be about boosting Australia’s international competitiveness and finding ways to increase coastal shipping’s share of the domestic freight market.
What Anthony means is the review will be all about reinstating the power of the Maritime Union of Australia enabling them to run our coastal shipping as they see fit and not have the industry run by any damn politician from Canberra. Climate Change, Apology, Uranium, Union power and Whaling are all causes initiated by the Left Wing and although some from the Center and even the Right of politics dabble in them from time to time depending on media coverage, they are clearly Left born. So far, if your Green or Left you should be happy. The other 85% of the country should be concerned. I wouldn’t deny there is some potential in his plans but the bulk of the booklet is about what he is going to do once the hundreds of reviews are submitted. A review of this; a committee for that – suggests he didn’t have a plan to start with and I wonder whether Bureaucrat Rudd is holding ascendancy over Leader Rudd. Time will tell.
Politics

More symbols

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From todays Strewth column in the Australian
Clueless Viking THE voyage of the Australian Customs Service ship Oceanic Viking ends when it docks in Fremantle this morning after a seven-week, 5000-nautical-mile voyage to monitor Japanese whaling activity in the Southern Ocean. About the only useful thing the ship did was to help transfer two anti-whaling activists, Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane of the vigilante conservationist group Sea Shepherd, from a Japanese harpoon boat back to the Steve Irwin. Crew aboard the Ocean Viking took photographs and video of the Japanese operations that it has been claimed may be used in legal action against Japan. Strewth hopes ACS chief executive Michael Carmody enjoys his home movies because legal experts are at a loss to nominate in what jurisdiction legal action can be taken against the Japanese.
I commented earlier
I do not sit easy with the fact that the government of a country like Australia is acting as a paid up member of a radical organization that terrorizes people going about their legitimate business. The entire affair is very untidy and leaves Australia’s reputation as a reasoned and intelligent player shattered.
Nothing is going to happen. Rudd got his mileage from the non thinkers by misusing a ship for political gain. The Greenies swooned, the young voters said ‘cool Dude’, the Japanese rolled their eyes and ignored the ship and all is sweet with the world of the crazy left. I would have to take DD McNicoll to task over his suggestion that transferring Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane from the Whaler to the Steve Irwin (so named to tug on warm and fuzzy Aussie heartstrings) was useful. The idiots should be have been left on the Jap whaler as playthings for the crew – their only chance in life of being useful. Anyone like to comment on how much each Greenie vote cost the country once the costs of seven-week, 5000-nautical-mile voyage are factored in. Even if it’s one cent per it’s too much.
Politics

Cate still playing Queen of the Fairies

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Women, well OK, some a few women are complaining about the lack of gender balance at Rudd’s 2020 talk fest. They should be more concerned that the only person representing their gender in Rudd’s major Distraction of the First Quarter is an actress. OK, so she’s a good actress but she cites Gore as her hero and lets face it, once fittingly played the Queen of the fairies.(LOTR) and has also worked out how to recycle and drink her own body waste. If I was a woman I’d be insulted as well. There are mobs of women better qualified and more acceptable to the non-left majority of the country but I guess that’s not the prerequisite for selection. A symbolic woman for a symbolic talk fest.
Politics

Fitzgibbon spinning

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HERE’S a hot tip. (from Greg Sheridan) There is not the slightest chance Australia will buy any F-22 Raptor aircraft, and there is almost no chance that we will ditch the F/A-18 Super Hornets that the previous government was going to buy. If the Raptor is not built for export why would anyone think the US would sell it to us. Well, actually people don’t but Fitzgibbon would have us believe it’s on the table so that he can look like he is managing the portfolio and in doing so pointing out how Howard’s government didn’t. The US have already refused to sell it to the Japs and to Howard so in what fairy story does a Republican lead administration change it’s policy for a newly elected Labour government. None that I’ve read lately.
Defence, Politics

Rudd’s takes an RDO

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Australia’s Chief Clerk, Kevin Rudd has decreed that all pollies should spend 5 days a week in the house. For a long time the house has closed on Fridays to allow our elected reps to work their electorates which I see as reasonable. On the first friday of sitting the house erupts as Rudd doesn’t even bother to attend – in person anyway. Cardboard Rudd I think it’s funny and they make a good point For the first time under the Rudd Government, parliament is sitting on a Friday to allow backbenchers to speak their minds – in a day that is already being dubbed Rudd’s Day Off or RDO. But Coalition MPs are angry that Fridays have no proper votes, no question time where ministers can be grilled by the Opposition, and quorum will not be recorded. In effect, Parliament is not sitting and the opposition question the legality of the Friday ‘Backbencher’s speaking their mind’ kind of day Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop told The Australian Online today the Coalition was urging the Government to seek legal advice on whether parliamentary privilege was still operating. Keep shooting from the hip, Kev – your bound to do some good for the country eventually.
Politics

Pit Bulls again

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Recently a pit bull that was ‘loved by everyone’ attacked two women, one of whom is the dog owner’s 11 year old sister who presumably doesn’t love the dog anymore. The young girl is recovering from re constructive surgery to her leg. People are actually having a debate as to whether the tradie who dropped the dog with a nail gun did the right thing. Some are saying “Dogs don’t kill people,” “people who breed killer dogs kill people”. Well, working on the basis that we can’t arbitrarily or summarily execute dog owners, the only way to stop the problem is to shoot the dog. More;
“The tradesman should be investigated and charged with cruelty to animals. No animal deserves to die.”
and, more wierdly;
“Everyone is always quick to put the poor dog down, even when all it did was act on instinct and do what it thought was right.”
The fact that crocodiles eat people ‘on instinct‘ while ‘doing what they think is right‘ is no reason not to shoot the beast as it tries to eat a member of your family. I bet these people even get to vote and voted for the shiny thing in the next paddock – Rudd Flashback: A family gathering at a small farm in South West Australia. Uncle Sam’s cattle dog bites me, a five year old, on the leg in the corridor. Uncle Sam, with my father breathing down his neck, kills the dog on the spot. Yep, in the corridor of the farm house. A .22 cal round in the head with some care taken as to ensure the bullet doesn’t ricochet ended that dogs attempt to climb up the evolutionary chain. That’s what you do with dogs that attack people. Anything else is ignoring the relevant species’s master/servant relationship. The distraught owner says she wants another pit bull and this link has a pic of her crying over the dog’s body. Her sister will be pleased.
General Musings
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