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.

Iran ‘unable to take Australians’

Iranian naval forces in the Gulf tried to capture an Australian Navy boarding team but were vigorously repelled, the BBC has learned. The incident took place before Iran successfully seized 15 British sailors and Marines in March.
The Australians, though, to quote one military source, “were having none of it”. The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”
From the West Australian;
Petty Officer Andrew Keitley was awarded one of the military’s highest honours, the Distinguished Service Medal, for his actions as part of an Australian boarding party in the Persian Gulf in 2004.
PO Keitley led a party onto a ship in the Shatt al-Arab waterway when they were surrounded by five Iranian armed boats.
The Iranians menaced the Australians for about four hours and made a number of attempts to force their way on board. The Australians were eventually winched off the cargo ship by an Australian Seahawk helicopter.
The chopper pilot, Lt-Cdr Tony Johnston, was also awarded a DSM. Well done guys!

Howard bans alcohol, porn in indigenous communities

ALCOHOL and pornography will be banned in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory as part of a dramatic response to widespread child abuse, which was today labelled a “national emergency”. My first response – good! Second response – my, aren’t the lefties going to scream – good! They’ve had their go, now some hard work has to be done to recover from the damage. The police are going to be very busy and they’ll need eyes in the back of their heads. The last time I drove down the Arnhem Highway towards the centre we drove through the last town at about 4:00 pm. A dry town and all quiet but after having passed through there were a stream of locals walking back into town. Been hunting, said someone in the back…no such luck. A mile or two out of town was a cleared area full of hundreds of empty stubbies. The town was dry so they just went to the limits and sat down there. I agree with Howard – we have to be paternal to help and protect the next generation. They need to go to school and get a real education but there is little chance under the current chaos. Just the same it’s going to be difficult. UPDATE: Larvatus Prodeo are all over it…wedge politicsTampa 2007 and this waffle;
He’s had 11 years to starve them, drive up the negatives and drive down the positives and now he owns them. 
Just gets better and better.

Unionist being kicked out of the ALP

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd set the ball rolling yesterday after the WA Supreme Court released footage a tape showing the unionist abusing a company representative who tells him he can’t enter a building site. Rudd lays down the law;
“Under my leadership, I have made it clear that it is completely unacceptable for any member of the Australian Labor Party to behave in such a manner,” Mr Rudd said last night.
Might as well disband the CFMEU then if that’s his stand. We’ve known about McDonald and his breed for years and yet Rudd suddenly decides they have to go. It wouldn’t be just because of the videos…would it? Let’s have every building site on CCT for showing on each evenings news – just to remind people of what they are voting for. McDonald isn’t going easy;
“I would like to tell the Labor Party how hard it is to represent workers in the building and construction industry under the Howard Government’s industrial laws,” he said. “It is a story I intend telling them during the expulsion proceedings they are going to bring against me. “For this reason I am not going to resign.”
Do it mate, Get yourself on the front page every week until the election.

Hurley Not Guilty!

THE jury hearing the trial of police officer Chris Hurley – charged over a death in custody on Palm island have found him not guilty. No witnesses to the event and no apparent or obvious dereliction…..what else could they do? A political event that raised false hopes among the uneducated at Palm Island and has achieved nothing other than to make it extremely difficult in the future for Queensland Police to man their stations in indigenous communities. Who would want to serve there after all? If you are well intentioned you can still find yourself in court after an accident occasioned by excess alcohol and for just how long can a policeman hold his patience in these circumstances. Premier Peter Beattie said earlier today the verdict should be calmly accepted.
“This has been a difficult case … but I think it’s absolutely imperative that everybody, regardless of who they are, accept the decision of the court,” Mr Beattie said.
Good idea Pete….pity you didn’t accept the decision of your Justice Department in the first place and avoided all this angst.

Damn, it’s cold!

BRISBANE could be facing its coldest June day for more 90 years today as winter winds continue to lash Queensland. Winds of 75 km/hr on Moreton Bay and as I went for a drive to the shops the car dash says 10 deg outside. The winds are filling up the pool with leaves and other rubbish and blowing everything that isn’t nailed down around the yard. The dogs started barking at trees blowing in the wind so we are inside the office with the heater on. I only have one question….where’s the bloody rain?

Payne sells his VC

KEITH Payne didn’t have much time to think before taking the action which earned him the Victoria Cross in 1969, but he thought long before selling it.
On Monday the Vietnam War veteran, one of Australia’s last two surviving VC recipients, sold his cross for an undisclosed amount to Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum.
Keith gets financial security for his extended family and the buyer gets a draw card for his museum
“It was a hard call to make but I felt the time was right,” the 74-year-old former professional soldier said yesterday.
The buyer and curator, Mr John Meyers started the museum when he sold his share in a sawmill and hardware business.
“Keith’s medals will really help put Maryborough on the tourism map,” he said.
I know them both and wish them well.

Kirribili House Party

JOHN Howard has angrily denied running “a rich man’s government” as he fought off Labor claims of a cover-up over using his taxpayer-funded residence Kirribilli to entertain Liberal donors. Personally, I don’t see the problem. Prime Ministers of all persuasions, Hawke included, have held social gatherings at Kirribili with a view to bolster support but apparently it is only relevant when as ALP leader you are struggling to make any worthwhile hit on a competent government. Rudd doggedly attacks Howard all day in the house when he could’ve better utilized his time studying productivity and trying to understand why business and punters generally are worried about Australia becoming a Union controlled country under the ALP. I see your “Kirribilli Party” Kev and raise you ” Economics and wealth creation” Shannahan spends copious words in his article in today’s Australian denigrating the Coalition’s attack on the unions saying;
…Of course, the Government’s attack on the ACTU’s campaign against the Work Choices laws is total bunkum.
His point fails when he recognizes the problem the ALP has with this closing sentence;
The real trouble for Labor is that there are still a few ugly, foulmouthed bullies around in the union movement who by their very existence lend credence to the Government’s campaign. The election is six months away. Rudd hasn’t got a minute or a thing to lose by getting rid of them.
The “few ugly, foulmouthed bullies” have cost Australia millions of dollars and are subject to a host of court actions. Just follow the link for a litany of CFMEU excesses. Joe McDonald in West Australia is a particularly evil, foulmouthed bully and is a living, breathing, swearing, threatening example of why we shouldn’t risk an ACTU/ALP government. When the case is finished we may learn exactly how much he has cost the West Australian government just in the Perth-Mandurah railway line. The project is already three months behind schedule and $200 million over-budget and the unions have had a big say in that. There is talk of the Coalition using DVDs of Joe threatening bosses in West Australia as a part of their campaign to remind voters of what they can expect if they lose concentration on election day. Good tactic, I say. Paul Keating gets another gig in the Australian, this time urging the ALP to privatise. What he says may make sense but it doesn’t matter. What matters is every mention of Keating in the press reminds the voters of true arrogance, ALP version. I’d like to see Paul mentioned every day as a part of the Coalition campaigning. The Battle rages and war hasn’t even been declared yet. The real election campaign promises to be a humdinger as we start asking Rudd for policy details over and above “we’ll cut emissions by 60%….” without any costings or plans.

Four found guilty over Pine Gap break-in

Good. Donna Mulhearn, 37, Jim Dowling, 50, Adele Goldie, 29, and Bryan Law, 51, were found guilty of a total of 14 charges, including trespassing in a prohibited area, damaging Commonwealth property and taking unlawful photographs of a defence site. Bryan Law, the Cairns cab driver and anti-everything explains himself in this report at Web Diary;
in Alice Springs in May/June this year we’re running a parallel political program of information, protest and direct action outside the Court.
For those who come to Alice Springs, the nonviolence training will focus on foundation work for the formation and operation of small, autonomous affinity groups which undertake interventionary work against the U.S. war-fighting system. Intervention contains an element of physical disruption to the war machine. In December 2005 we forced Pine Gap to “lock down” for four hours. In later months the government was forced to conduct a security assessment of Pine Gap and improve their security at a cost of millions (so they say – we’ll find out). We have driven up costs and made operations more difficult. We are few in number and small in resources, and we constitute an efficient and effective means of addressing war and the emerging security/terrorist state. To promote further actions of this nature we’ll be working hard at diversity, mutual respect, cooperation, fun, spirit, miracles, and a relaxed but determined revolutionary zeal to manifest Peace on Earth in the ways that are available.
I’ve had some debates with him when he was writing his anti-everything diatribes at Web Diary and would gladly see him out of circulation for awhile.
….Crown Prosecutor Hilton Dembo said that the case was the first time intruders had reached the technical support area of the base, and said the case was exceptional in its nature. “They are serious offences striking at the heart of the national security and the national interest,” he said.
Our friend Bryan sees himself as a martyr and asks the judge to throw the book at him telling Justice Thomas that he “is prepared for a custodial sentence.”
“I ask that Your Honour does not grant a suspended sentence”, he said. “That would be cruel. “I would not be able to abide by its conditions and we would just end up in court again. “Lay it on me Your Honour, and I’ll serve it out.”
Another of the futile four tried to recruit the judge;
Jim Golding, said he did not want to go to jail and invited Justice Thomas to “join the resistance, the side that’s fighting for human rights.
The group will be sentenced tomorrow. They face a maximum jail term of seven years or a maximum fine of $46,200 under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act. I doubt if any court in Australia will give them the maximum but one can always live in hope Dropkicks!

On Leave

I’m off to Tasmania tomorrow morning for a two week drive around the island in a Britz Mobile Home. In the meantime check out the articles on the left under “The UN” and “Apocoholics Anonymous”. Both state my postition more knowlegeably than I can; particularly Apocoholics Anonymous (lifted from Tramtown) that supports my theory of Global Warming being the latest gospel in the Church of the Latter Day Alarmists.

Well worth the read.

Any readers from Tasmania who have a yearning to beat me over the head for my conservative views look for the big grey haired bloke in a Britz with petite brunette in the copilot seat but be very carefull, she’s Irish and attacks anyone who disrupts her orderly life, including me.

My plan is to arrive in Hobart, recover from Virgin Blues cattle seats, pick up the vehicle and then make a plan. Any tips or local knowledge welcomed.

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