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.

Its stopped raining!

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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.

7
General Musings

It’s still raining

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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!

5
General Musings

Tuscon, Arizona

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A nut case in Tuscon, Arizona listens to voices in his head and goes on a rampage murdering and wounding public officials and civilians causing the Left to listen to voices in their heads and start a vitriolic campaign to blame Republicans for the incident.

No evidence but that doesn’t seem to matter. Sarah Palin, of course, gets the blame for publishing a map targeting Democrats notwithstanding the fact that Democrats publish maps targeting Republicans.

Apparently that’s different.

Yes, one of the wounded is a Democrat but it would appear the nut case had a personal issue with her having previously questioned her and received an answer he considered stupid and ignorant.

It’s a weird world. It’s a tragedy and the vitriolic Left need to wait until facts are known before they spend endless hours and words blaming the Right.

Larvatus Prodeo compile a list of guilty bastards including Sarah Palin, the Tea Party and other assorted targets of hate that the Left amass and claim they will get away with their crimes but not

…the confused young man who bought their intemperate rhetoric and pulled the trigger.

Well there you go – LP rest their case. They want to hope that evidence is brought forward at his trail that mention his being brainwashed by evil Republicans otherwise they are going to have egg on their collective face.

That is in doubt but what isn’t is the fact that there will be no retraction from LP if he simply proves to be a nutcase.

Go read the hatred at LP and then go to Tim Blair’s for a bit of balance.

3
US Politics

Gee! Rudd was lying

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FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd began legal action against Japan’s whaling program despite strong opposition from senior ministers and bureaucrats who warned it was likely to fail and strengthen the hand of the Japanese.

In October 2008, as Australian officials were working to develop Australia’s case, the embassy reported to Washington that domestic political considerations were high in Mr Rudd’s thinking.

The embassy reported he was likely to eventually see international legal action ”as the least damaging politically of his limited choices in dealing with public anger over whaling”.

Which pretty well sums up my opinion posted over a year ago. Why is is that people couldn’t see Rudd’s actions for what they were – simply a means to put the issue on the backburner…..lying hound!

5
Politics

Tango Mike Mike

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Had a tough day or two lately….working too many hours…Boss giving you a hard time?

Check out this guys day at the office and stop your whining;

Courtesy Bruce Cox

5
Vietnam

Expensive shout

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DIGGERS serving in Afghanistan will be forced to pay $5 a can if they want to have a beer on Christmas Day.

The Defence Department is laying on the cheer by allowing soldiers serving overseas two beers this Christmas – but it’s making them pay, the Northern Territory News reports.

One soldier calculates Defence is making a killing. “That works out to be $120 a carton of beer,” the soldier said.

Peter Mansell, the Darwin RSL president, said that he personally thought charging for two beers would be “bloody wrong”.

But he also said there was no beer when he was serving about 40 years ago.

“We were in the middle of the jungle doing what we had to do,” he said

The Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans has Peter Mansell serving with 7RAR in Vietnam in 1970 and whereas it could be true (providing he was a rifleman) that he was often “in the middle of the jungle” it is also true that when he came off patrol he was allowed to consume alcohol…..

…at 12 or 15c a can and although there was a legal limit of “2 cans per day perhaps” this generally translated as “enough to get drunk and forget your problems” if you weren’t warned for ambush or patrol duties the next day.

I know, I was there Peter. Maybe you should stop suggesting us Vietnam Vets had it tougher than the Afghan boys. Remember how the RSL, some WWII vets and a host of hippies treated us when we came home and don’t fall into the same trap by denigrating their service

In their defence, Defence says;

… it already does a lot for its soldiers.

It pointed out it provided accommodation, food and welfare services to its deployed troops “at no cost”.

What are they suggesting. That they are nice guys for sending diggers to war and not charging them for accommodation, food and welfare services?

Get real!

9
Defence

Christmas Island tragedy

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Questions have been asked about why navy and Border Protection vessels did not intercept the asylum-seeker vessel before it got into trouble.

The Harbour Master has already answered that question so why has it been raised again? It appeared the boat’s attempts to reach the island’s only safe harbour in mountainous seas tragically helped them avoid detection. Wooden boats in mountainous seas don’t show up to clearly on radar and all service boats were on the leeward side of the island anyway as they should be.

From the Harbour Master;

s soon as the danger to the vessel became apparent, the navy patrol boat HMAS Pirie and the Customs vessel Triton launched fast, rigid inflatable boats. But they had to travel several kilometres through 5m seas before reaching the stricken vessel and pulling survivors from the water.

Locals at the scene said a navy vessel took between 30 and 45 minutes to reach the boat. By that time, it had been ripped apart after crashing into the cliff face.

Harbour master Dave Robertson says the navy and Customs acted swiftly and heroically in manouevring their inflatable boats in dangerous conditions. “What the navy and Customs did to save that many people in those conditions is extraordinary. Those coxman are heroes,” he said.

JULIA Gillard wants the Coalition to help the government determine the facts behind the deaths of asylum-seekers in the Christmas Island disaster.

The Greens are invited as well so we know the outcome already. It’s all the fault of the terrible People Smugglers and they will recommend that everyone who can afford the $10,000 or $20,000 boat fare be allowed into the country before the genuine refugees.

What it wont say is the government have been warned repeatedly that exactly this type of tragedy would occur if they didn’t fix the problem

They haven’t fixed the problem…a tragedy occurred.

0
Politics

Rudd on the loose again

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Greg Sheridan’s re-birthing of Rudd as a great Foreign Minister is becoming harder and harder to justify yet he sticks at it.

This week the third meeting of the Australia Israel Leadership Forum took place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with a day in Ramallah talking to Palestinian leaders. There is no doubt Rudd is well regarded in Israel and his authentic leadership on Iran is appreciated.

The last sentence raises my eyebrows and seems at odds with the restr of the article.

Sheridan goes on to say;

In an interview with this paper’s John Lyons in Cairo on Saturday, Rudd said: “Our view has been consistent for a long time and that is that all states in the region should adhere to the [nuclear] Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that includes Israel. And therefore their nuclear facility should be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency inspection.”

The Arabs love it while Israel is bemused.

With only one Israel and a host of Israel hating Arab nations having a vote at the UN I can’t help but think Rudd is just padding his resume for a post-politics appointment.

I hope he gets it real quick so we can stop putting our long time relationship with Israel in jeapoardy.

0
Politics
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