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Who’s running the country?

We are facing a disastrous situation. The Greens, who represent about 13% of the electorate are currently the defacto government. They have one, I’ll repeat that, ONE member in the House of Reps and they are driving the debate. Same sex marriage, euthanasia and climate change voodoo are not high priorities amongst Australians with the first two not even being on the agenda of the ALP or the Coalition and yet this morning’s papers are all over how the Greens have won “the debate“. Government of Australia is currently untenable and something needs to be done before we become a Green lead backwater of civilization and industry. UPDATE: Maybe sanity prevails; THE Greens’ controversial bill giving the territories the ability to introduce radical social agendas will be stalled in a Senate committee after a revolt by Labor MPs. Coalition and Labor senators went into furious negotiations overnight in an effort to sidetrack the Greens’ bill after a Labor backlash against the decision for the government to support the bill.
Labor ministers and backbenchers were furious the decision to support the Greens bill was not discussed in cabinet or the ALP caucus and scrambled to head off the bill.
It’s a start.

Carbon tax

My standard tariff electricity bill has increased from $417.00 to $585.00 for the summer quarter over the years of the Anna Bligh reign. Same usage with an increased rate – all courtesy of the Queensland ALP. Thanks Anna! Now Julia (there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead)Gillard is going to make electricity more expensive and uses this throw-away line to justify her back-flip.
“I also want to be clear about what it does. It has price impacts. That is the whole point. Consequently, things that generate a whole lot of carbon pollution will be more expensive … so that people adapt and go to low pollution alternatives,” she said.
What low pollution alternatives? There is no economically viable low pollution alternative available now, nor will there be for decades to come.
She also criticised some tabloid newspaper reports that the tax would push up electricity prices by up to $500 a year.
Speculation at this stage but I bet it will be close to the mark. As detailed above, my bill has increased almost $200 a quarter due to ALP ineptitude so $500 a year is believable with the insane Greens in the picture. She is getting a lot of flack for the fact that she promised not to do exactly what she is doing but I can see her point. Before the election she needed all the votes she could get and certainly didn’t want to get rational thinkers off-side. After the debacle that was the election result she now has to march to a different drum – a Green one – to stay in power. Gillard at the Media conference where she hands over power to destroy our economy to the Greens

Channel 7’s Riley insensitive

Tony Abbott has a private conversation with senior Army Officers in Afghanistan and a low life reporter from Ch 7 trolls through tapes of the conversation hoping to find something to make Abbott look bad. Aha! See here…he says “..shit happens” during a conversation about casualties. Maybe if we edit the tape so the public can’t see the Army Officers agreeing with Abbott then people may think he is talking about a specific death and then we can accuse him of being insensitive. Well, that worked a treat, didn’t it?. Tabloid TV thrives on comments taken out of text so they start leading news items like Abbott accused of being insensitive and setting up polls on websites that asks Do you think Abbott was insensitive? Well, no. I don’t think Abbott is insensitive but I do I think Riley is. He selectively edits a tape of a private conversation taking two words out of context, links it to the death of a digger and then tries to suggest Abbott is insensitive. Riley, or Ch 7, then make it worse by seeking the opinions of parents of deceased diggers by asking if they think Abbott saying the words Shit Happens is insensitive. No context and a suggestion that Abbott is talking about the death of their son brings about the predictable result. The fact that Abbott isn’t talking about their son is not mentioned. Have they no ethics at all? It quickly became obvious that Abbott wasn’t being insensitive, so to try and maintain pressure on him the media changed the line of attack to ‘What he said was OK but now the story is all about Abbott’s reaction to Riley ambushing him” Look at him…stunned mullett…a man who can’t think of a reasonable answer to Riley’s below-the-belt attack can’t possibly be considered for PM. When I watched to interview I was speechless with rage at Riley’s unethical, immoral and biased behavior and I can only imagine Abbott, being the actual target, felt it more so. You can almost see him thinking – what on earth is this scruff on about? Abbott should have just turned and walked away. He didn’t and his reaction, or lack of it, gives the loony left something to salivate over for another day or so. However, I do think you’ll find that the general populace will see Abbott as a victim of poor journalism and Riley as a biased, unethical scruff. At least, that’s how I see it.

Queensland and Climate Change

The looney Greens are queuing up to blame Queensland’s current problems as Climate Change caused and pointing out that Carbon Trading will fix the problem.
Greens deputy leader Christine Milne says the cyclone is another example of why it is important … “This is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy of climate change,” she said
Barnaby Joyce ponders;
“Maybe the Greens can now tell us what caused each one of [the cyclone] events back to the early 1800’s as they are obviously self endowed with the omnipotent capacity to do so.”
So tell me again, how will carbon trading change the climate?

Back on deck

Went south to Melbourne to help my forward scout from Vietnam celebrate his 60th. On the way I dropped into Belmont Hospital in the Hunter region to pay my respects to an old mate from RAAF Lang School class of ’66 and Vietnam class of ’70 who was on hist last legs. Had a couple of hours reminiscing about the good old days when we were corporals together. He died two days later. Sad and so very, very final. Left Melbourne with the temperature on 41 dec C all the way to Griffith and then locked myself in air-conditioning. Left the next morning for Brisbane with the temperature at 41deg C – damn thats hot! Arrived home and walked into the pool – a lot better. Switched on the computer this morning only to hear the dulcet tones off “Beep-Beep I have a RAM problem”. Took it apart, removed RAM chip..placed back in..computer happy now…hurry as I’ve got three funeral and two VSI Sick list notices to get up on my Battalion Association website before the funerals are over and the VSI’s become funeral notices. Another day, another dollar but I’m still vertical so no complaints.

Anna ‘talks the talk’

I must admit Anna Bligh did a good job over the week of the crisis in Brisbane – she definitely “talked the Talk”. People with the attention span and memory of a lighting bolt are obviously easily taken in by “the Talk”. How about this for over the top adulation…
“It’s hard to find enough superlatives to describe Anna Bligh right now. I want her to be my mum and my prime minister and my best friend. I want to sit in front of my TV and just watch her talk because with every sentence, she manages to strike an extraordinary balance of compassion and calm and heartbreak and resolve.”
Years of mismanagement all cancelled out by a couple of hours on TV according to writer Jessica Rudd (yes – that Rudd family) on mamamia I don’t think so – she needs to ‘walk the walk’ as well but watch her polls rise 10 or more points.

Its stopped raining!

Sunny weather in Brisbane invokes a surreal atmosphere as I know that the city will be flooded, albeit in sunshine. Two of my children, one near Ipswich and the other at West End are safe but isolated without power. It would appear that I will be totally safe where I live just 11 kms north of the CBD. An old soldier is always going to go for the high ground to set up his house. Of course I can’t travel far and we are stocked with batteries, ice etc to withstand power outages but that’s nothing compared with what my fellow Queenslanders are enduring. My wife has just come back from Woolworths, Taigum and reports no bread or milk! As an old soldier I can endure most deprivations but not having milk for my coffee is not one of them so I did a quick run to the local deli and got one of the last 2 lire milks he had. I can’t help everyone but I can help those of my regimental tribe who are in peril or have lost their house and contents. To this end I have emailed all 7RAR guys in Queensland looking for people in trouble. Altogether, 7RAR Asscn, both National and local, have donated a $1,000 to a Flood Appeal established by the RAR Qld Asscn. If you are ex-military or have an interest, you may consider donating to the following bank acct in the full knowledge that 100% of the donations will be spent on helping those in trouble.
Bank: Commonwealth at Stafford Name of Account; Royal Australian Regiment Corporation BSB: 064 127 Account Number: 1030 4915 Reference: Qld Flood Appeal 2011
Tonight and tomorrow still seem to be the problem time-frame as overflows from the Wivenhoe Dam and a high tide meet in the CBD. At least with the rain having ceased for the time being it will help Police and SES in the onerous task ahead of them. Here’s hoping for a safer outcome.

It’s still raining

I last posted “It’s Raining in October and was mildly upbeat about the 150 ml we had got overnight. Four months and almost 2,500 ml (100 inches) later I’m less upbeat. When I got up this morning the shock of the Toowoomba disaster with 8 dead and 72 missing has left me in shock. Two daughters have just been sent home to prepare for flooding and they are currently on a train that might or might not get past Bowen Hills station. Waiting for an SMS update. The Brisbane River is breaking it’s banks in areas around the city and my wife, glued to the TV keeps dropping in with snippets of doom. It’s going to be worse that the 74 floods being the one that grabbed my attention. I was here in Brisbane in 74 with young wife and son. My wife’s father had died on Christmas Day and when I had to report back to duty in Sydney we decided she would stay to help her Mother. I dove over the Centenary bridge sometime in January just before Brisbane went under and will always remember the huge barge forced against the bridge and threatening it’s integrity.

The Centenary bridge with attendant barge

I just got out but a few days later in Sydney I couldn’t contact my wife. No telegrams, no telephones and definitely no SMS then. My wife was seven months pregnant with our second child and I eventually found her helping friends clean out their flooded house. Tough bird! SMS back – daughters OK – Grandaughter collected from Creche and will all be here soon. My family is OK but thousands aren’t and some complete families have disappeared and are listed in the 72 missing. Queensland, perfect one day – recoiling in terror the next. God help them!
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