New laws required
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange may not have broken the law by publishing leaked diplomatic cables, Treasurer Wayne Swan has conceded.
Then change the law!
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.
The Wikileaks cult
With the great Australian/US/Western civilization hater John Pilger supporting Julian Assange and his Wikileaks it is clear that the whole circus is about denigrating the status quo of civilization as we know it.
The Left are even suggesting that the public should know all about every diplomatic comment, thought or transmitted cable which of course is ludicrous.
Doesn’t work that way…never will.
We currently have the crazy situation where the world’s media are involved in serious discussion about the rights or wrongs of the agenda of an anti-western hippie.
There is no discussion. He is wrong to release all that information on the internet and Manning, his stated source, is clearly guilty, on his own admission, of providing Assange with classified information in contradiction of all the rules that apply to military personnel.
In previous days the crime of treason covered this type of activity but since the ascension of the anti-western human rights legal activists things are less clear. If that is the case then we need legislation to cover these types of anti-establishment crimes and we need it soon.
We need to get back to the real problem Australia has at the moment….the abysmal record of Julia Gillard and her government and what we can do about it.
Sacrifices to the Climate Gods necessary says Gillard
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has warned that Australians face a decade of rising electricity prices and the risk of blackouts unless a carbon price is introduced next year.
“What we can really do is be really honest with people about the causes of sharply rising prices – and people have experienced sharply rising prices,” she said. “One of the causes is under-investment in new electricity generation and a reason for that is lack of certainty about carbon pricing.
Well, yes, that could be one of the reasons for under investment but if Julia wanted to be really honest about the cause she could also mention that infrastructure has taken second place to the ALP buying Green votes.
And when she talks about lack of certainty about carbon pricing she is going to have to talk a lot more to sell the theory that offering financial sacrifices to the weather/climate gods will actually give a return.
Never seemed to work for the Incas.
PayPal acts responsibly
WIKILEAKS faced a fresh threat to its survival as the online payment service PayPal cut off the account used for donations to the whistle-blowing website.
Good! That’s a start. Now arrest the little hippy and close down his website before he does any more damage.
Garrett in the news again
THE launch of the Gillard government’s revamped My School website could be delayed for months after Schools Minister Peter Garrett was forced to concede that financial data for some private schools contained serious errors.
The much anticipated new version of the website, which was due to go live today, will not be launched until next year, Mr Garrett has confirmed.
Simply amazing that he is still a minister of the crown.
$46m for just one vote
THE HUMILIATION of winning only one vote from FIFA’s 22-strong executive committee this morning caught Australia’s 2022 World Cup bidding team off balance.
Bid leader Frank Lowy and his team were confident of at least making a strong showing but seemed stunned to find that some FIFA executives reneged on their promises of support.
The embarrassing harvest of just one vote meant Australia was the first bidder eliminated from the five-way race in Zurich after a campaign which cost $46 million of Federal Government funding and could have brought Australia billions of dollars in economic activity.
Other than the fact that the ALP spent $46m to get one vote the story is a great yawn to me, being a follower of the game they play in heaven.
I wonder how much Qatar paid?
Disappointed Aussies demand an explanation
MUA given more power
THE Gillard government has offered lucrative tax incentives to promote Australia’s domestic shipping industry.
At the same time it is cracking down on foreign ships operating on Australia’s coast.
Actually, the tax breaks are a part of the Maritime Union of Australia’s campaign for more money. The tax breaks are designed to force business to use Aussie Shipping companies to move their goods in and out of our ports.
This will in turn, open up more positions for the union as they continue their campaign for more money and more power.
Although they have been quiet lately in January they started their campaign for pay rises of $70,000 to $100,000 for their members, some of whom are nothing more than unskilled labourers.
Senator Abetz attacks the MUA in this article from January this year
The MUA’s outrageous wage demands would see maritime workers such as those employees working as kitchen hands, stewards, dishwashers and basic cooks potentially earning up to $230,000 a year”.
“Let’s consider that, if a Maritime union seaman whose job is to do the dishes for 15 crew three times a day, earning up to $230,000pa, working 5 days a week, that equates to almost $20 dollars for each plate in the sink”, says Senator Abetz.
Good work if you can get it but any tax advantages or pay rise will help the MUA only. Australia will simply have to pay more for export/import costs.
But then, thats the Labor way.
Greens losing ground
Good news from Victoria. It’s not just that the Coalition have won but that the Greens didn’t win any seats.
That is a positive for the whole country.
Adam Bandt, the sole federal Greens federal member tries to make a positive out of two negatives as he says;
[….] that a challenge for the future was to start winning seats outright rather than relying on preferences.
“We’re now in a position, even with Liberals preferencing against us, to mount that challenge at the next election.”
Bandt, you are only in parliament because of Liberal preferences. What do you think your chances are that the Federal Libs will do the same next time?
None, according to this article;
THE Greens will find it more difficult to win lower-house seats in state or federal parliaments at future elections.
Senior Liberals have vowed to use the Victorian template of putting the party last as a national strategy to cruel its chances of growing into a genuine third force
See? That’s the real good news.
Teacher lectures lesser mortals
In a letter to The Australian Pauline McCarthy from Kingswood, SA has her say.
Back in the 1950s, copper wire was rolled out in our suburb, but it was not until the early 60s that we could afford the telephone. It changed my life, for with three pennies knotted in a hankie I was able to freewheel through the illicit delights of adolescence.
But the telephone was essential for our neighbourhood schools, the hospital, business and industry.
It’s the same today. The ordinary homeowner may not see the necessity of the NBN, but as a school teacher, I can tell you it’s essential. Whenever we have two classes on line in our primary school, the rest of us have to whistle Dixie interminably. It’s the local businesses, hospital and schools which need this rollout. Soon our students will be adults, and then broadband connection will be as endemic as the old dial-up telephone became.
I think Pauline is a bit taken up with her being a teacher as she points out she is much smarter than the ordinary homeowners but she really misses the point that these non Dip Ed punters are making.
Her case is for for improved broadband, not NBN, and no thinking person would argue that isn’t a good cause. What people are arguing about is the cost of the NBN as proposed by the ALP.
Do we go from the current situation straight to $50 odd billion or is there a solution somewhere in between and do we put all our eggs in the fiber optics basket or is wireless broadband going to improve as the younger generation throw off the shackles of being tied to the home.
Reasonable questions that the ALP refuse to answer while it would appear that Pauline isn’t even aware that the questions exist.
No NBN scrutiny planned
THE committee being created to scrutinise the taxpayer-funded National Broadband Network will be stacked with Labor MPs and not operate until July.
The committee – promised by Julia Gillard to secure the support of independent senator Nick Xenophon for crucial legislation to end Telstra’s market dominance and pave the way for the NBN – will have 16 members, of whom nine will be Labor-nominated. It will be chaired by independent Rob Oakeshott.
With Oakeshott chairing and a labor majority it will produce no scrutiny.
Nothing to see here – just move on