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Dual Nationality

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25,000 Australians, 10,000 Britons,an estimated 40,000 Canadians, most of the 25,000 Americans there,1200 Belgians and about 1000 Danes all living in Lebanon with dual nationality. About 100,000 Lebanese, out of a population of 3.8m, have voted for the security and social standing of their country by having a Plan B for life’s little problems.

But what annoys me is that 25,000 Australian’s have done the same.

I’m also annoyed that we have immigrants who select Australia as a destination because they can come here, do absolutley nothing and get given, free of obligations, considerably more money than they could have earnt back home working long hours. It’s not the type of committment I would look for in aspirational Aussies.

I do not agree with dual nationality in any way, shape or form and I believe the people who choose to come to Australia should have sufficient committment to their new country and sufficient competancy in English so as to fascilitate gaining employment.

Just in case anyone is in doubt of my thoughts, I’ll state them in one line.

No committment, no language competancy, no welcome!

General Musings

Lawyers for the Terrorists

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I note at Larvatus Prodeo that their understanding of the War on Terror is all about legal interpretations of obscure points of law. The war to them is being fought in the courts but the innocents being killed and the military and Intelligence organizations trying to stop these deaths are fighting in a different theatre. Every time a terrorist is caught these lawyers cue up in their thousands to do their best to defeat the efforts of those doing the actual fighting.

It’s as if they are defending Jihad Jacks right to change the world through force.

Why?

From The Age

In an interview, Thomas said he did not like al-Qaeda’s methods but said he trained with them for jihad (holy war) and “to make America change its ways”. This could be done only by force, Thomas had said.

He said he had been at close quarters with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and had been told that bin Laden wanted an Australian to work for him in Australia locating military installations. Thomas said he had been told to return to Australia to work and create a cover.

He said he had heard of a plan to bring down a jet with the Pakistani president on board and a plan to break a detainee out of Guantanamo Bay. He had been given $US3500 and an air ticket home to Australia.

Thomas had falsified his passport to make it appear he had not been in Pakistan before the attacks of September 11, 2001, Ms Morrish said. He had been arrested trying to leave Pakistan in January 2003 with a falsified passport.

I don’t see the problem. If he admits to the above then lock him up.

But the lawyers want him free claiming evidence;

…. was allegedly based almost entirely on evidence extracted under torture in a lawless Pakistani military prison without the presence of a lawyer.

Torture has been so devalued over the period of the waging of this war that every interview in CSI Miami and/or New York could be classified as ‘evidence extracted under torture’ let alone the antics of the police in old shows like Homicide.

As I understand it, the quote from The Age wasn’t extracted under ‘torture’ in Pakistan by some S&M Specialist; it is a record of interviews conducted by Australian agents.

Defence say Jihad wasn’t acting voluntarily;

Jihad Jack’s senior counsel,Lex Lasry, QC, said an interview conducted while Thomas was held in custody in Pakistan in March 2003 should not have been allowed into his Supreme Court trial.

He said Thomas was not acting voluntarily when he gave the interview and he had no access to a lawyer, in breach of the Commonwealth Crimes Act.

Commonwealth DPP says he was;

Wendy Abraham, QC, for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, said Australian Federal Police agents tried to get a lawyer for Thomas but were thwarted by Pakistani authorities. She told the Court of Appeal that police informed Thomas he had a right to a lawyer but one could not be provided. He was given a choice about whether to take part, Ms Abraham said.

He agreed to the interview …he admitted his involvement with al-Qaeda.

Good enough for me.

War on Terror

Al Jazeera: fair and balanced

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Lateline, the ABC late evening news flagship carries a report from Matt Brown in Lebanon under the headline;

UN condemns Israeli offensive

MATT BROWN: Almost every night these southern suburbs of Beirut have been under attack. Now, rubble piles on rubble. The families are gone, but the signs of their ordinary lives are still here to see. On a tour of this former Hezbollah stronghold, UN humanitarian relief coordinator Jan Egeland called for Israel and Hezbollah to stop the fighting. He also condemned the Israeli bombing campaign that’s reduced this suburb to rubble.

JAN EGELAND, UN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF COORDINATOR: And I would say that this seems to be an excessive use of force in an area with so many civilians.

REPORTER: If it’s an excessive use of force that makes it a war crime?

I could see Matt almost pleading with Egeland to agree and say ‘yes, it does make it a war crime’ but he didn’t and in an obvious case of very selective reporting Matt Brown didn’t mention any other comments attributable to Egeland during his visit to Lebanon.

However AL Jazeera does. They report Egeland in full under the headline;

Hezbollah blamed for civilian deaths

Egeland was speaking to reporters at the Larnaca airport in Cyprus late Monday after a visit to Lebanon on his mission to coordinate an international aid effort. During that visit he condemned the killing and wounding of civilians by both sides, and called Israel’s offensive “disproportionate” and “a violation of international humanitarian law.”

He also addressed the root causes of civilian casualties

[He].. accused Hezbollah of “cowardly blending” among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel.

The militant group has built bunkers and tunnels near the Israeli border to shelter weapons and fighters, and its members easily blend in among civilians.

More balance at Al Jazeera than at the ABC…amazing!

War on Terror

Aussie VC sets record at Auction

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AUSTRALIA’S last privately owned Victoria Cross medal awarded at Gallipoli sold at auction tonight in Sydney, setting a world record price of $1 million.

The medal was purchased by a prominent philanthropic Australian businessman who wished to remain anonymous and who bid over the phone. Lot 1078 included seven other medals with a combined value of less than $100,000.

The $1 million price tag breaks the record of $595,000 set in 2005 for a medal won by captain Thomas Hardy at Lord Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805.

The medal was awarded to Captain Alfred Shout who was born a KIWI but trained by the AIF! He was awarded a Military Cross for his courage and leadership at the landing at Gallipoli and won the VC later at Lone Pine further up the ridges. Just being present and soldiering on at Gallipoli took a special type of courage.

Defence

Israel masses troops on Lebanon border

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ISRAEL massed thousands more reservists on the Lebanese border on Saturday to mount incursions aimed at destroying Hezbollah positions, warning it would not rule out a full-scale invasion despite increasing calls for a ceasefire.

As Israel’s air campaign entered its 11th day, the New York Times reported the United States is rushing precision-guided bombs to Israel, citing unnamed officials.

Good!

The Jewish state’s blitz on its northern neighbour has now killed more than 340 people, mostly civilians.

Bad! But then if Hezbollah didn’t use the tactic of locating their headquarters, troops, missiles and supply bases in civilian houses then the figure would be less. It’s a clever tactic as the west leap over themselves to take piccies of dead and wounded civilians to show how heartless the Israelis are. The Israelis are left between a rock and a hard place as to stop their country and people being rocketed they have to strike at Hezbollah’s sites.

Someone needs to bite the bullett here and close the cycle. It goes like this – Terrorists attack Israel siting their weapon systems and HQs in civilian enclaves…..after awhile Israel responds and kills some civilians while trying to stop the terrorists killing Israelis. The terrorists appeal to the world to get Israel to stop ‘murdering’ inncocent civilians…the world weeps over the ‘murdered children’ and force Israel to a ceasefire….during the ceasefire the terrorists rearm from the general Arab population and local collections of tribes posing as countries and then attack Israel siting their weapon systems……. you get the idea.

I feel sorry for all the innocent civilians caught up in the war but until the world start accusing Terrorist organizations of being explicit in the ‘murdering’ of civilians then the beat goes on..and on….

And on!

Cross the border Israel and pursue the bastards until they have no ability to wage war.  Try and not kill innocent civilians but I know hard that is. If you are a civilian in Lebanon then walk away from the Hezbollah, they are using you as a weapon of war and the more of you killed, the better for them.

War on Terror

Kovco’s magic pistol

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From this report on the the Kovco Inquiry comes this strange statement. At least it appears strange to this old infantryman and one-time captain of the Battalion Pistol Shooting team (undefeated Lavarack Barracks 1982)

The board had previously heard that Kovco’s gun had passed a series of tests proving it was unlikely to fire accidentally.

The fact that the bullet’s cartridge case was trapped in the gun’s mechanism also suggested it had been fired by Kovco himself, the board was told, as his subsequently slack grip on the weapon would have obstructed its normal operation.

The normal operation of a weapon, in this case it’s reload mechanism, is initiated by the firing of the round producing gases and pressure that unlock and drive the bolt rearward from whence it rebounds and picks up another round from the in-handle grip magazine, loads it in the breech and locks for another shot. This process is extremely fast and is not dependant on the firer having a firm grip. Once a round is fired it just happens and in Kovco’s case the pistol would have reloaded before it fell from his hand unless there were other factors involved.

Where was it trapped in the pistol’s mechanism? In the breech or had it only half ejected? Maybe I’m being a bit technical but statements like that would have me asking questions. Maybe the journalist just reports what he thinks is relevant and missed out on telling us relevant facts that would explain; but as given, I don’t accept that part of the evidence as reliable.

Any RAEME armourers care to comment?

Defence

New Honda

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2007 Honda Goldwing

Starting in spring 2006, Honda’s flagship motorcycle will be available with the world’s first motorcycle airbag, able to inflate in 0.06 second and fully absorb the rider’s forward energy in 0.15 second (less time than it takes to blink an eye). This innovation represents a major advance in motorcycle safety.

I suppose it could help if the prang was strictly in-line with the bike and no forces whatsoever impacted on the trajectory of the rider otherwise he slides and hurts like every other rider.

I remember when the Goldwing first came out a writer in Sydney commented “God help you if you put it down in a slide because he’s the only one capable of getting it back on it’s wheels again!”

*No matter how hard I look, I can’t see the ashtray!

*from the old saying… as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike..or a hip pocket in a singlet…or…nevermind, you get my drift.

General Musings

This beats my $150 speeding fine

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Don’t get caught in speeding in Jeddah

JEDDAH, 20 July 2006 — At the police station they registered my name and time of entry. It was 5.10 p.m. I was searched and deprived of my cigarettes, then escorted to a jail cell.

This would be my home for the next 24 hours. My charge? Driving 160 kilometers per hour down Jeddah’s Madinah Road. 

The law says you spend at least 24 hours in a jail cell and your car gets impounded for getting caught exceeding the speed limit. If you can’t pay the fine — SR500 (AUD 177)for speeding — then you get the pleasure of an additional 48 hours in the cage. (You also pay SR150 later to get your car out of impound.)

Wonder what happens when you rack up 12 points?

General Musings
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