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.

New Stealth fighter online

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LANGLEY Air Force BASE, Va. – The F-22A Raptor — Air Force’s most advanced weapon system — is ready for combat, Air Force officials announced here today. In reaching initial operational capability, the Raptor is certified ready for operational use.
The first combat-ready Raptors are flying with the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing here. The squadron’s deployment capability is a 12-ship package designed to execute air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. “If we go to war tomorrow, the Raptor will go with us,� said Gen. Ronald E. Keys, commander of Air Combat Command.
Defence

Media create crisis

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JUST when President George W. Bush was expecting to bask in the success of the Iraqi elections, revelations that he secretly authorised telephone taps on Americans without court warrants has plunged his administration into another crisis. I just can’t come to grips with the lack of security in the media in relation to the War on Terror. They seem to have an agenda to put all the nations secrets on the front page to impede the nation’s ability to fight the war. I’m surprised they don’t publish the Order of Battle and deployment schedules for the US military involved in Iraq. The article originated in the New York Times and has grabbed the Lefts interest as another stick to beat Bush with Tim Dunlop makes a mountain out of it;
This one is a shibboleth: if you won’t condemn the president on this and hold him to account, you have lost any perspective and are nothing more than the worst sort of apologist. What’s more, you are no longer fighting terrorism but enabling it, doing exactly what they want, which is to undermine the legitimacy of one the most robust bulwarks against tyranny ever conceived, the Constitution of the United States.
 Different stroke for different folks I suppose but applying to a court for a wire tap takes the surveillance out of the Top Secret box and puts it too close to the public arena. I simply wouldn’t trust any of the US infrastructure at the moment with every step being analyzed as to it’s potential to do Bush harm by activists all too ready to photocopy any memo or court order and send it to the media. How did this get leaked for instance and under what motive? I for one do not care a fig for the rights of those who would do our society severe damage. They have abrogated all rights by their acts and clandestine covert ops are an acceptable answer. The Terrorists can do what they like and seldom get called to order by the media but Bush is expected to telegraph all of his intentions to the enemy via the media or, goddammit, they will seek out and tell the enemy themselves. The media, afer all, are defending the high moral ground and it is they who will decide what is right and what is wrong; not the people elected to defend society. Who’s side are they on? UPDATE: Another viewpoint from Defense Tech
That’s all assuming, of course, that the wiretaps in this case are the same as in any other. But maybe they’re not. Maybe there’s something different about this surveillance. It could be in its scope, as Laura suggests. But I’m guessing — and this is just a guess — that the real difference is in the technology of the wiretaps themselves.
 Another reason for it not to be in the public arena.
War on Terror

Beach Wars

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CRONULLA’S beaches might be divided into sections to remove some of the tensions that erupted into mob violence this week. No. A thousand times no! We shouldn’t even consider changing our lifestyle to accommodate thugs. They are required to mix in, not us and whereas pretty well every other group of migrants has settled into our national melting pot the Lebanese Muslims stay aloof. From the Thin Man Returns
“We don’t care where you are from, but once you decide to make this your home, you are Australian, becoming one people and one culture from which the best parts of the ‘old country’ are brought to the new.”
Terry Sweetman in Brisbane’s Sunday Mail can’t string two words together without slipping “Howard” in as a part of the problem.
However, it would be an act of denial of Howardesque proportions to pretend that there was not a huge element of racism behind the riots.
 It could also be described as an act of denial of Sweetmanesque proportions to ignore all the other evidence available. Having shown his colours he then proceeds to write several hundred words trying to prove that the 100 plus extreme right fools present at the riots were running the show.
Since the festering of One Nation, we have been deluged with the rubbish that wells up into talkback and spills into the public domain. The messages often feature animated Australian flags, rousing choruses of Waltzing Matilda and the authors glory in chauvinistic net nom de plumes such as “Aussie”, “Digger” and “True Blue”. They try to project an image of the blokey Australian as big as the land, although their thoughts betray small, mean minds.
 You’re most probably right Terry but there were about 100 plus of these idiots at Cronulla amongst the 6,000 odd rioters of both pursuasions and common sense would tell us they weren’t calling all the shots. Very few Australians listen to them, they’re just an aberation every society has to put up with – like journalists who simply don’t get the picture. If Australians are racist as some of the media, the Left wing and all the multi cults would have us believe why haven’t we had daily riots between Aussies and Italians/Greeks/Croations/Irish/Russians/Vietnamese/ Iraqis/Iranians and all the other races that go to make up our population base? Why is that the Lebanese Muslims are the only targets? In the meantime the real problems are best described by Platey Mates at Tim Blair Communities all over Sydney are caving into the demands of the Lebanese Muslims channelled through the Premiers Department and the Police commisioner to cancell Christmas events. Just in case you didn’t get the message the Lebanese Muslims have burnt churches to the ground and fired shots at others. Why have we surrendered?
Politics

A minutes silence

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It’s been two weeks since Nguyen Tuong Van met his maker on the road to drug trafficking riches and he is mostly gone and forgotten. What hasn’t been forgotten is the reaction of some to his death. Some 4,000 people attended his funeral in Melbourne, a city that had previously denied a digger the right to having his casket covered with the Australian flag and in Brisbane, the Premier, ordered a minutes silence in the House to mark his demise. This act alone inflamed the sensitivities of all of us who consider a minutes silence as a mark of respect for those who have died in the service of their country or community or have been the victims of terrorist obscenities such as Bali. In noway should it ever become a political statement as was Beatties call. I have reproduced two letters to Beattie, one from the Persident of the Royal Australian Regiment Association (Qld) and one from the President of the Qld RSL. I have deliberately delayed the posting of these letters to allow time for receipt and answer by Premier Beattie. We wait in vain.
6 December, 2005 Premier Beattie, Your decision to have the Queensland Parliament observe a minute silence in remembrance of Nguyen Tuong Van is considered offensive, disrespectful and an insult to Australian veterans and Australian families who have lost loved ones in service to Australia and in natural and man made disasters. The Royal Australian Regiment Association (Qld), the largest Army Association in the State, is appalled at your decision. It unanimously directed me to express their disgust to you. Never before have I seen such solidarity of the ex-service community with any one issue. By your act, under the explanation as “a mark of respect for the sanctity of human life� you have successfully alienated yourself and your Government from the services community. Most people do respect the sanctity of human life and choose to display that in a private and personal way. We will not let you demean the tribute principle of a minutes silence as a mark of respect for those who gave their lives in the service of their country or were victims of natural or man made disasters, by linking it to any convicted criminal. Duty First Lieutenant Colonel Ted Chitham MC (Retd) President
Naturally enough, as of Friday, the letter from the President remains unanswered.
6 December 2005 The Hon Peter Beattie MP Premier of Queensland PO Box 15185 City East QLD 4002 Dear Mr Premier I write on behalf of the Returned & Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch) members in regards to the minuteÂ’s silence that was observed in Queensland Parliament on Friday 2 December on the occasion of the execution of Nguyen Tuong Van. The RSL was deeply offended and strongly opposed to the Parliamentary move to recognise this event through a one-minute silence and we are extremely disappointed in your leadership in this matter. Our vehement opposition is rooted in the apparent disregard for the concept of silence for remembrance of departed comrades, who have sacrificed their lives and health for the sake our nation. Our members strongly believe the decision to move the momentÂ’s silence showed a complete disregard for the origins of remembrance silence, which is attributed to Australian journalist and returned serviceman, Edward Honey. HoneyÂ’s appeal for five silent minutes of national remembrance in 1919 was the beginning of what he described as a “very sacred intercessionÂ….communion with the Glorious Dead who won us peace…” The concept of remembrance silence remains an essential feature of commemorative services and League functions to this day. No matter how small, members stand in silence for a brief interval to remember their departed comrades. The RSL believes it is totally inappropriate to start using the moment’s silence for any other circumstance. To do so otherwise, is offensive to our veterans, war widows, and all those who have lost loved ones in the service of our nation. The fact that Queensland Parliament publicly bestowed the same honour and mark of respect reserved for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, on one who has been convicted of a criminal offence, was insulting and disrespectful. Furthermore, as Chairman of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee (Queensland) Incorporated, we believe you have a responsibility to uphold the objects of the Association, specifically: – the recognition of the gallant courage displayed by the Australian sons and daughters in fighting for the preservation of liberty and civilisation; and – the commemoration of our fallen and the acknowlegement of the suffering of our wounded. We strongly urge you, as Premier of Queensland, to exercise more appropriate discretion in future to preserve the sanctity of the minuteÂ’s silence so it remains as it was intended to be – a very sacred intercession. Lest We Forget. Yours truly, GW Mason State President Returned & Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch)
Politics

Beach Wars

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From the Australian
A SYDNEY magistrate has thrown the book at a 21-year-old man who was at Sunday’s riots in Cronulla, jailing him within hours of his arrest for carrying a tree branch as a weapon in the western suburb of Penrith. The swift justice happened because the man was charged with carrying an offensive weapon in a public place – a summary offence that is dealt with immediately, usually resulting in a fine.
He was caught carrying the branch at Penrith which must be 30 or 40 kms from Cronulla. Fair enough too but is he the only one to have been processed so far. The media have reported Lebenese thugs being involved in knife attacks and knifings, pistol shots, baseball attacks on hundreds of civilians and cars, churches burnt down, woman threatened with death and rape, men forced back into their homes at pistol point, shops destroyed with the shop-owners terrified and all we have done is throw the book at an Aussie thug caught carrying a bloody branch. Give me a break. THE ringleaders of Sunday’s protest at Cronulla Beach delivered written apologies to Sydney’s Lebanese community yesterday, saying it was meant to be a peaceful protest but spiralled out of control due to alcohol and a lack of leadership.
Troy Denenhy formally apologised to the Lebanese community, police, ambulance officers and the Sutherland Shire for his behaviour, which featured prominently in media coverage of Sunday’s riot.
 Now I wait with baited breath for an apology from the Lebanese Muslim community and an undertaking not to attack or insult our woman and kids.
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Hicks wins British citizenship

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AUSTRALIAN terrorist suspect David Hicks, held in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has won his court battle for British citizenship, which could pave the way for his eventual release. The High Court handed down its decision in London. I presume there is an avenue of appeal but we’ll just have to wait and see if the Brits use it. I feel a bit uneasy about the High Court forcing the Brit government to accept our trash. They have enough problems of their own. The Times Online carrys the story as well
War on Terror

Murdoch guilty of murder

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BRADLEY Murdoch was tonight found guilty by a Northern Territory Supreme Court jury of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio. The Broome mechanic was also found guilty of assaulting Mr Falconio’s girlfriend Joanne Lees and depriving her of her liberty. UPDATE:Murdoch gets 28 years
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The Rise of Middle Eastern Crime in Australia

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I have provide a link on the right hand menu bar to an article by Tim Priest and carried in the January 2004 edition of Quadrant Magazine title “The Rise of Middle Eastern Crime in Australia” It’s a longish article but you owe to yourself to read it…..and be concerned. via comments at Tim Blair
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Reports from the Cronulla frontline

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The press is full of comments today as the battle of the beaches continues. Amusingly Scott Poynting, of the University of Western Sydney, blames a contestant from Dancing with the Stars, a second rate TV show.
“There’s nothing unique about the insecurities of Anglo-Saxon people, particularly in insular cities that have been targeted by the politics of Hansonism,”
Academics, don’t you just love them. The police are keeping their distance.
Carload after carload of young men raced from Lakemba in Sydney’s southwest, ignoring speed limits and bent on revenge. They were followed by at least 12 police cars travelling at speed, lights blazing and sirens wailing.
Now let me see, would these be police cars with radios that are often used to set up road blocks ahead of trouble? Nothing’s new.
VIOLENCE between surfers and gangs of young men from Sydney’s sprawling western suburbs is not new – it started in the late 1950s and emerged again in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Only the names are different.
 The Far-Right were there but on the face of it didn’t seem to have enough numbers to impact significantly on the already dangerous situation. I watched Issa last night on TV. He came across as a reasonable sort of chap caught out in circumstances beyond his control and not of his making. But the thought crossed my mind that so far in the media we have seen a mob of rampaging hooligans on one side and a reasonable chap like Issa to represent the other side of the foray. Don’t cameras work when filming the Lebanese? As Vinny comments at Tim Blair’s blog;
how come the cops are never in the vicinity of a mob of rampaging lebos?? it’s incredible, 500 lebos smashing up cars in cronulla and not a copper in sight, but if white anglo aussies start any trouble there will be truck loads of those police quick smart.
Tim Priest, an ex NSW copper has his say and isn’t kind to the the NSW leaders.
Of course, the usual claque of agenda-driven ethnic community leaders were quick to condemn the Cronulla incidents as un-Australian and racist. Never mind the multitude of racist attacks on young Australian men and women during the past decade, which have now manifested into full-blown racial retaliation.
 As I said yesterday, I wasn’t impressed with the rioters at Cronulla but the problem is clearly deeper that the media would have us believe. We’ve seen the effect, can we now concentrate on the cause. The Age reports peace talks have already commenced between the Lebanese and the Bra Boys.
Lebanese Muslim leader Keysar Trad and Maroubra’s surfer gang, the Bra Boys, are attempting to broker a peace deal between rival groups following race riots in Sydney. Mr Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association, and two Bra Boys leaders, Koby and Sonny Abberton, have held talks about ways to encourage people to stop the violence.
 I note there is no mention of Cronulla. Maybe a Sydney reader could explain. Do the Bra Boys represent Cronulla? Sounds like two separate suburbs to me. UPDATE: Where were the police? TERRIFIED residents told yesterday how they were bashed, threatened with firearms and forced to cower inside their homes after up to 100 youths of Middle Eastern descent rampaged through Maroubra in apparent retaliation for the Cronulla race riots.
Lyne Sickle, whose Ford Festiva was vandalised, said she watched a police car enter the street and then turn away as a large mob of hooligans congregated. “I don’t know why they (police) didn’t do anything,” she said
 One man, Steve, said he was threatened with a handgun and chased inside his home when he went to investigate the commotion.
“I was at the gate and this big guy came rushing towards me,” he said. “I slammed the gate and … another guy at the car pointed a gun at me and said, ‘get back inside’. I ran inside and they chased us up the steps. It was terrifying.”
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Cronulla Flashpoint

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What price Multiculturism at Cronulla now? I wasn’t impressed with the rioters at Cronulla but the problem is clearly deeper that the media would have us believe. In all my years in Australia I have never heard of or witnessed such a mass display of anger and frustration and think the message to be taken from the scenes is much deeper than the mindless savagery displayed. I note the NSW police have suddenly found a supply of batons. Where were the batons previously? Certainly none at Redfern and there didn’t seem to have been any at Campbelltown or Palm Island either. Could I be forgiven for thinking that the batons are for Surfies only? Are the police issued with “tolerance kits” for trouble involving people of Middle Eastern or indiginous appearance and batons for yobbos. Could someone explain that contradiction. The world is busy condemning the ‘Nulla boys’ and rightly so but I can assure you if someone came to my turf and spoke to my daughters like the Lebanese did to the surfie chicks at Cronulla I would attack..no questions ask…no forgive me’s and no quarter given or taken. I have never been involved in a brawl in my life, drunken or otherwise, but would boil over in those circumstances. Al Jazeera carry an article on the riots and the quote Keysar Trad and Kuranda Sevit
Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, called on the police to “use the full extent of the law on these criminal thugs who behaved in the way that they did”.
 Damn right the police should use the full extent of the law which by extension means tracking down the Lebanese thugs who initiated the troubles as well as the Aussies who retaliated. Kuranda Sevit, the director of the Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations, said in a statement:
“We have over 3000km of beaches on the east coast, there’s plenty of sand and ocean there for everyone. “What happened to the Australian idea of a fair go and tolerance?”
 That’s true but if you are going to break into someones elses turf and treat their woman as the Lebanese have done then you must expect some flack. The Australian idea of a fair go and tolerance has been pushed to the limits and people are getting sick and tired of newcomers spitting in our face. Couple that thought with the obvious Aussie hooligan element at Cronulla and trouble is guaraneed. I leave the last comment to Di who commented at News.com
I work at Cronulla and everyday gangs come off the train and head towards the beach insulting anyone in sight along the way. Whilst I don’t support the action that happened yesterday, I understand the frustration of people in the Shire having to put up with this disgusting behaviour on a daily basis. The politicians need to address this situation now before we have more scenes like yesterday. This has been building for many years and last week’s attack on the lifesavers was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Our children have been targeted by these gangs whilst they are doing nippers and subjected to language that is very unacceptable in any part of the world. Stand up Mr Iemma and take charge!!!
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