tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31317410055701009392024-03-19T21:39:25.119+11:00The Body Politic<b>On 24 November 2007, the Australian Body Politic had a Heart/Brain transplant. So far, it seems the patient is making a good recovery, but we shall monitor progress. As of 31 December 2007, the patient has been moved out of "Intensive Care".
There was a period of uncertainty, under Kevin Rudd, and then Julia Gillard. On 14 September 2010 Julia Gillard was sworn in as Prime Minister, by the Governor General.</b>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-13746333048616824382013-08-04T19:30:00.003+10:002013-08-04T19:30:52.018+10:00Election has finally been called - for 7 September 2013The Federal Election has finally been called - for 7 September 2013<br /><br />My In Box has been filling up with a whole lot of stuff I don't need.<br />
<br />
Firstly, let me deal with <a href="http://www.stephenjones.org.au/" target="_blank">Stephen Jones MP</a> - the current Member for Throsby. An ALP member. I have met Stephen several times, and I found him likeable, and I thought, trustworthy,<br />
However, he switched his support to Kevin Rudd and has stuck with the Krudster even through the worst examples of anti-Human Rights diatribes I have seen or heard in my adult lifetime (apart from Pauline Hanson's efforts).<br />
<br />
I am appalled at the decision to refuse Asylum Seekers their legitimate rights to seek asylum in Australia. Instead under Rudd, we are dumping them in New Guinea and Nauru. <br />
<br />
Today I received an email from my local member, Stephen Jones, <br />
<br />
Here are three ways you might be able to help:<br />
<ol>
<li> Join with me and join Australian Labor</li>
<li> Invite me to a meeting of your friends, at your workplace, or with your community group</li>
<li> Make a donation to my campaign</li>
</ol>
Here is my reply to him:<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><br /></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">To Stephen Jones for Throsby</span></li>
<li><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
I am sorry, did you not receive my previous message re my total
disenchantment with your support for Kevin Rudd, following his
abandonment of basic human rights principles, regarding Asylum Seekers? This has blown away any hope of me supporting you, or Labor (generally).</span></li>
<li><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> </span><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">I shall be supporting Peter Moran, the Greens candidate for Throsby and Cate Faehrmann in the Senate.</span></li>
<li><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> I know I am not alone in shifting to the Greens.</span></li>
<li><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> Please delete my name from your email lists.</span></li>
<li>Denis Wilson</li>
</ul>
<br />No doubt there will be lots more about other Candidates from other parties, such as Angry Anderson, who is standing for the Nationals. Having watched him on that dreadful "Go back to where you came from" program on ABC a few months ago, there is no way I want to be associated with him, in any way.<br />
<br />And there is a young woman who is standing for the Liberals. <br />I saw a bunch of blokes in bright blue Tee-shirts with her name plastered on the front, coming out of the Robbo Pub this afternoon. I doubt they would have had much joy campaigning in there, unless they "Shouted the Bar". Glad I was not in there, as I would have been hard pressed to be polite to them.<br />
Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-68887816928219342972013-07-23T23:24:00.000+10:002013-07-24T01:33:29.688+10:00Royal interloper stands between me and full self-determination<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisMhX7ptD29iVzCUZ64vZDQ6sbMfEM6JnAKaG35vYi9l2eOANoK77E0Zstjm7z-DNipAoig8EDEjkiAUbkcp6zQxJ-npMuT3uJ9dp9KmYufb3n0qPgyrMvgbIln6Fu28fKEXLlHbOQA/s1600/For+unto+us+a+king+is+born+22+July+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
Personally I have nothing against a small cluster of cells which apparently have become fully independent living person, in a Labor ward in an exclusive hospital in London, England. But I am buggered if I am happy to have other people assume (without asking me) that this young person is entitled to be my Monarch.<br />
<br />
George Freidrich Handel wrote some beautiful music to celebrate another birth.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LFBIJgkj_-g" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
I don't even mind the English celebrating the birth of the new Prince of Cambridge. Just leave me out of it, please.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisMhX7ptD29iVzCUZ64vZDQ6sbMfEM6JnAKaG35vYi9l2eOANoK77E0Zstjm7z-DNipAoig8EDEjkiAUbkcp6zQxJ-npMuT3uJ9dp9KmYufb3n0qPgyrMvgbIln6Fu28fKEXLlHbOQA/s1600/For+unto+us+a+king+is+born+22+July+2013.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisMhX7ptD29iVzCUZ64vZDQ6sbMfEM6JnAKaG35vYi9l2eOANoK77E0Zstjm7z-DNipAoig8EDEjkiAUbkcp6zQxJ-npMuT3uJ9dp9KmYufb3n0qPgyrMvgbIln6Fu28fKEXLlHbOQA/s320/For+unto+us+a+king+is+born+22+July+2013.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Londoners celebrating the birth of the new Prince.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
.I think that my own self-determination is intricately associated with the self-determination of my country. And for the life of me, I cannot see why we, as a nation, defer to the Monarchy.<br />
<br />
After the way in which our Main Stream Media have gone bananas over the birth of the new Prince, I despair of my fellow Australians. <br />
Roll on the Republic, I say.<br />
I feel totally disenfranchised and disillusioned by this "Royal event".<br />
<br />
Please count me out - the sooner the better.Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-30283624529640809092013-06-22T17:13:00.001+10:002013-06-22T17:13:37.006+10:00A three year tantrum befitting a two year old toddlerIt is approximately three years since Julia Gillard became our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillard_Government#Gillard_becomes_Prime_Minister" target="_blank">first female Prime Minister</a> (on 24 June 2010). The forces of political darkness in Australia have refused to accept the legitimacy of her Prime Ministership. Even when she went to the voters, and subsequently formed a Minority Government, these same people have variously complained, sworn and abused her, and refused to accept the legitimacy of her Government. This is palpably silly. The more so, because of the "runs on the board" - a history of successful legislation across a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillard_Government#Policies" target="_blank">range of policy issues</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
Today The Age has run an Editorial which takes this silliness to its logical conclusion. The Editorial calls on her to resign "<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/for-the-sake-of-the-nation-ms-gillard-should-stand-aside-20130621-2oo6e.html" target="_blank">for the Sake of the Nation"</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />I invite you to go to my friend and Blogging colleague <a href="http://misseaglesnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/trying-to-avoid-government-you-deserve.html" target="_blank">Brigid's "The Network"</a> for a more sensible view of this issue. In particular I draw your attention to the three linked blogs from other early morning comentators who were all equally outraged by The Age's Editorial stance.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://theaimn.com/2013/06/22/it-is-official/">Victoria Rollison in The Australian Independent Media Network</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rkur30">Kieran Fitzgerald gives it to the Editor of The Age in the same fashion that The Age has given it Julia</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
The Conscience Vote - <a href="http://consciencevote.com.au/2013/06/22/for-the-sake-of-the-nation-the-media-should-do-its-job/">For the sake of the nation, the media should do its job</a></li>
</ul>
I especially like this <a href="http://theaimn.com/2013/06/22/it-is-official/" target="_blank">from Virginia Rollison: </a>"It’s not Fairfax’s role to decide who our Prime Minister is. Fairfax
should be telling us the news. Not trying to make it. And since they’ve
failed at telling us the news for many years now, who the fuck do they
think they are calling on the Prime Minister to resign as if it’s up to
them decide?"<br />
<br />
I sincerely hope that nothing comes of this Fairfax "Two-year-Old's Tantrum" equivalent.<br />Then, maybe, just maybe, Andrew Horner will have the decency to review his arrogant and deceiptful stance<a href="http://theaimn.com/2013/06/22/it-is-official/" target="_blank"> in this Video</a> he has posted where he tries to convince us that the Age is a Left-leaning Newspaper and has supported Julia Gillard's Government. <br />On both counts this is delusional nonsense.<br />
Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-16811213264486323552013-02-27T18:35:00.003+11:002013-02-27T18:35:45.222+11:00Pope Emeritus Pope Benedict <span class="userContent">XV! will retire on February 28, 2013. He will be known as Pope Emeritus once he has retired. He will still be entitle to be addressed as "Your Holiness". He will wear a white cassock.</span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /> I would have though Dowager Pope would have been a better fit</span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent">Read more here:<br /><a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/16248998/benedict-to-become-pope-emeritus-vatican/" target="_blank">http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/16248998/benedict-to-become-pope-emeritus-vatican/ </a></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhychZQoJPGmP_6E4zzYgRvAuoRLU7jadyPDta8M6TjCzHxIR1JL_Qkj0jLK9JtA1oLhzFmkXGV2DpTz2-boB7Csa1_zVsTLLEU1H5jHjvmCWs7FDOb6HFS4Fm-CB6KNMvo_TIthM0eLw/s1600/Papal+red+shoes+-+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhychZQoJPGmP_6E4zzYgRvAuoRLU7jadyPDta8M6TjCzHxIR1JL_Qkj0jLK9JtA1oLhzFmkXGV2DpTz2-boB7Csa1_zVsTLLEU1H5jHjvmCWs7FDOb6HFS4Fm-CB6KNMvo_TIthM0eLw/s320/Papal+red+shoes+-+web.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Esquire - Style blog<br /><a href="http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes" target="_blank">The Pope's New (bespoke) shoes.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="userContent">The only question the fashion conscious will want to ask is does he keep the </span>bespoke <span class="userContent">red </span>Stefanelli leather shoes <span class="userContent">he wore in Sydney?</span> <br />
<br />"But as he departs the Vatican, officials say
Benedict will keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he
plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico.
Artisanal, of course."<br />See more at: <br />
<a href="http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf">http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf</a><br />
<br />
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
But as he departs the Vatican, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/02/26/world/europe/ap-eu-vatican-pope.html?ref=aponline" target="_blank">officials say</a>
Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he
plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico.
Artisanal, of course. - See more at:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
But as he departs the Vatican, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/02/26/world/europe/ap-eu-vatican-pope.html?ref=aponline" target="_blank">officials say</a>
Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he
plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico.
Artisanal, of course. - See more at:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf</div>
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
But as he departs the Vatican, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/02/26/world/europe/ap-eu-vatican-pope.html?ref=aponline" target="_blank">officials say</a>
Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he
plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico.
Artisanal, of course. - See more at:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpufV</div>
</div>
</div>
Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-15443172710826520172013-02-20T11:22:00.000+11:002013-02-20T19:52:30.902+11:00Blinded by the Polls <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dear me, it has come to this.<br />The media are so fully inside their own vortex of criticism that they cannot see what they are doing.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>It seems to me that, like Manfred Mann, they are <a href="http://www.metrolyrics.com/blinded-by-the-light-lyrics-manfred-mann.html" target="_blank">"Blinded by the Light"</a> </b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Lyric"><span class="line line-s" id="line_81">Blinded by the light,</span></span><span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Lyric"><span class="line line-s hover" id="line_82"> <br />revved up like a deuce,</span></span><br />another runner in the night</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Has nobody yet thought that bad polls do not constitute a democratic process?<br />The Media are just listening to themselves talking to eachother.</b></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Th<span style="font-size: small;">e<span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/dear-julia-its-time-for-a-dignified-exit-speech-20130219-2epdo.html" target="_blank">particular <span style="font-size: small;">SMH </span>article</a> which has prompted my comment states:</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"Julia Gillard, it is time for you to make your graceful, dignified, humble, selfless exit from the <span style="font-size: small;">P</span>rime <span style="font-size: small;">M</span>inistership.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>
</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Stay and it's harder for those who love you to save the furniture and protect your legacy.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>
</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Stay and you will hurt more.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>
</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Forget Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. This is about you.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>
</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Forget the loss of face. Life's too short."</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Media are just listening to themselves talking to eachother.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>In fact, the "talking" has reached frenzy pitch.<br />They are screaming at eachother.</b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What will be the outcome?<br />The Media Scrum would have us believe that Julia will walk away.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Perhaps Manfred Mann has it right:</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Lyric"><span class="line line-s" id="line_94">She got down but she never got tired</span>
<span class="line line-s hover" id="line_95"><br />She's gonna make it through the night</span></span></b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.metrolyrics.com/blinded-by-the-light-lyrics-manfred-mann.html#ixzz2LOSl6cFX" style="color: #003399;">MANFRED MANN - BLINDED BY THE LIGHT LYRICS</a></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[5]"><span style="font-size: small;">Edit<span style="font-size: small;">/Update</span>:</span></span></span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[5]"><span style="font-size: small;"> <br /><br />T</span>he SMH is belatedly trying to redress the "Balance" (is there such a thing, these days?).</span><br id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[6]" /><span id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[7]">They gave Eva Cox a right of reply.</span><br id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[8]" /><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/why-julia-gillard-should-stay-20130220-2eqvz.html" id=".reactRoot[14].[1][2][1]{comment488701304527364_4406805}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[9]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/why-julia-gillard-should-stay-20130220-2eqvz.html</a></span></span> </b></span></span></div>
Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-30882866963336350782013-02-12T23:59:00.000+11:002013-02-13T01:01:36.612+11:00Pope Benny resignation - "Bag Out Benny" Day<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/pope-benedict-xvi-resigns-because-of-failing-health-20130211-2e95l.html" target="_blank">The news is everywhere</a> - Pope Benedict XVI has announced his intention to resign on 28 February 2013.<br /><br />When I was a Seminarian in Rome, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI" target="_blank">Cardinal Ratzinger</a> was a figure of loathing within the Vatican Heirarchy. A kind of marauding Evil Angel. My memory of him goes back to 1968. That's a long time.<br />At last he has gone. </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>No wonder I am going a bit "Spas" about his resignation!<br />I have loathed that man, and everything he stood for, for 45 years. </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd5I9qZbH380i5KNXX4mfpyfDczzN6CwW9LZPoPlOW8rFV2HFSK0dg0DQgqIAMBTPc6iZkq1_b4WY-N_bs9_qTLkQRcFmT8l6NTA6AKv_d9s8ucfwetHlQWmJVPyAQVluUqm3dr3qr9Q/s1600/Denis+looking+forward+-+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd5I9qZbH380i5KNXX4mfpyfDczzN6CwW9LZPoPlOW8rFV2HFSK0dg0DQgqIAMBTPc6iZkq1_b4WY-N_bs9_qTLkQRcFmT8l6NTA6AKv_d9s8ucfwetHlQWmJVPyAQVluUqm3dr3qr9Q/s320/Denis+looking+forward+-+web.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Me, in Rome, 1968.<br />A young Seminarian at Propaganda Fidei College.</b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>There is one other Australian, who has the right to be feeling somewhat satisfied tonight.<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Collins_%28Australian_religious_writer%29" target="_blank">Father Paul Collins</a>, a former religious broadcaster on ABC Radio, <br /><a href="http://arcc-catholic-rights.org/collins2001.htm" target="_blank">He resigned from active ministry as a Priest in March 2001</a>. The reason was: "After thirty three years I
have decided to resign as an ‘active' priest to return to being an
ordinary Catholic believer. Many people will justifiably ask: why?
The reason is simple: I can no longer conscientiously subscribe to
the policies and theological emphases coming from the Vatican and other official church sources."<br />He continues: "I have often been critical of the church's leadership,
perhaps too harshly at times, in books, broadcasts, talks and articles.
I have been concerned with ecclesiastical narrowness and the de facto
denial of catholicity. But I also constantly argued that it was only
by ‘staying in' the priesthood that someone like myself could influence
things and bring about change. But it was always an every-day decision
to continue the struggle through the internal structures of the church.
And there can come a moment when you decide that both conscientiously
and strategically ‘staying in' no longer remains a viable or honest
option. You realise that you can no longer collude in what is happening
by remaining in the official priesthood."</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>He names his nemesis as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - then Cardinal Ratzinger.<br /><br />That was Pope Benedict's name, while still working his way up through the Bureaucracy of the Vatican.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I wish Paul Collins all the very best tonight.<br />No doubt for him it will be a bitter-sweet event.<br /> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[56].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30596002}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[56].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30596002}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[56].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30596002}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">It has been suggested to me by Rosslyn, on Facebook, that we declare a festive Bag Out Benny Day:</span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Some jokes doing the rounds:</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">*** He will be known as the Breakfast Pope, </span><span id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[2]">Ex-Benedict. (apologies to </span>James Rolfe<span id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[4]">)</span></span></span><br /><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><a href="http://proxy.storify.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBC2EgSpCUAAkXdI.jpg" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[6]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://proxy.storify.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBC2EgSpCUAAkXdI.jpg</a></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0">*** Why is everybody surprised that Pope Benny pulled out early?<br />He's a Catholic, after all.</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><br /></span></span></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[34].[1][2][1]{comment10151721194509829_30595761}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0">*** This last one is a Divine Punch Line<br />Lightning struck the Dome of St Peters basilica just hours after the Pope announced his resignation.<br />I am suspicious of this image having been either saved up from a previous event, or simply Photoshopped, but it is presented by the mainstream media as genuine.</span></span><br /><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BC2h8wiCcAEuA05.jpg:large">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BC2h8wiCcAEuA05.jpg:large</a></b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>RT @AFP: #PHOTO: Lightning strikes St Peter's dome at #Vatican on day
the #Pope announced resignation, by Filippo Monteforte
<a href="http://pic.twitter.com/FehVjFYP">http://pic.twitter.com/FehVjFYP</a></b></span></span></li>
</ul>
Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-87765078928656693752013-02-07T10:19:00.002+11:002013-02-07T10:19:41.973+11:00Flushing out the "Loonies"My colleague Brigid. over at <a href="http://misseaglesnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-rise-up-australia-party-and-danny.html" target="_blank">The Network</a> has picked up this gem.<br /> <br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Nalliah" target="_blank">Pastor Danny Nalliah</a>, of Catch the Fire Ministries in Melbourne, is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Nalliah#Holsworthy_Barracks_terror_plot" target="_blank">well known religious zealot</a>. His pal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Monckton,_3rd_Viscount_Monckton_of_Brenchley" target="_blank">Viscount Christopher Monckton</a> is his secular (political) equivalent.<br />The two will be working as a double act, in Canberra, at the National Press Club, it seems.<br />
What were the Press Club people thinking?<br />
<a href="http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/?p=707" target="_blank">http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/?p=707 </a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyj0s6bC9Dx-lMaPJrG78kh9lHM5R4Rg3oksd6-FESkXm_TnkVi-rLmuZcmi0F7veodzYtPNS5QPag-B5FUe10LCzU-Allj3zoWUmBfmAHrSJEpvfYvX06j8T_pLud3qJ8G_CbJTU1bg/s1600/Monckton+-washington-09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyj0s6bC9Dx-lMaPJrG78kh9lHM5R4Rg3oksd6-FESkXm_TnkVi-rLmuZcmi0F7veodzYtPNS5QPag-B5FUe10LCzU-Allj3zoWUmBfmAHrSJEpvfYvX06j8T_pLud3qJ8G_CbJTU1bg/s1600/Monckton+-washington-09.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Christopher Walter Monckton, <br />3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJTKWuL0nwRPfaidl1iZ6Iu6aUy_ulHwRSvIc1zGOKX5k2K2WAsJdDL-whApEJNz3zn1Y9FpfXq6cUGt4P1gN2D8uWFjzDEE9iKbiM_vqqtnVtqBd-DZQCdpBn6yFQNclQiofQNF8lw/s1600/Marty+Feldman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
I am advised this is a privately booked event, and as such it is not an official National Press Club event, unlike their Lunches, which are regularly televised on the ABC. We can but hope the ABC does not televise this event. But the Media knows the pulling power of Monckton with his eyes reminiscent of the late, great, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Feldman" target="_blank">Marty Feldman</a>. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJTKWuL0nwRPfaidl1iZ6Iu6aUy_ulHwRSvIc1zGOKX5k2K2WAsJdDL-whApEJNz3zn1Y9FpfXq6cUGt4P1gN2D8uWFjzDEE9iKbiM_vqqtnVtqBd-DZQCdpBn6yFQNclQiofQNF8lw/s1600/Marty+Feldman.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJTKWuL0nwRPfaidl1iZ6Iu6aUy_ulHwRSvIc1zGOKX5k2K2WAsJdDL-whApEJNz3zn1Y9FpfXq6cUGt4P1gN2D8uWFjzDEE9iKbiM_vqqtnVtqBd-DZQCdpBn6yFQNclQiofQNF8lw/s1600/Marty+Feldman.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Late, great Marty Feldman<br />Famous British comedian</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-72926809151596505582012-10-02T11:16:00.001+10:002012-10-02T11:34:29.224+10:00Action against sexual offenders too slow<h3>
Priest (Fr. Tom Brennan) dies facing sex crime cover-up charges<b> </b></h3>
<b>I refuse to accept the line spun in this story by the Catholic traditionalists that Fr. Brennan is "being judged in another place". That is simply not good enough. After all, if Divine Justice (if it exists at all) were to be regarded as adequate, why do we have Police Forces, and Courts and Prisons?<br /> </b><br />
<b>Lets get real, folks. These crimes are real crimes - against children.</b><br />
<b><br />Lets remember that it is more than 30 years since these matters were first raised with Fr. Brennan. His initial response was to beat with a cane the children who dared to report the offences to him. Talk about punishing the victims.</b><br />
<br />
<b>The Church has known about these issues for decades, and now we are being asked for "respect, sensitivity and compassion". It is not good enough, Fr. Tunks. The Catholic Church must accept corporate responsibility for its failures in this and many, many other cases. Cardinal Pell, (who has his own history with regard to <a href="http://thebodypoliticisill.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/silence-discretion-or-straight-out-lies.html" target="_blank">"supporting" paedophile priests</a>) ought be forced to use his position as the Prelate of Australia, and show leadership - by bringing all known cases into the light.</b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxvB_X0YS3f_49r7ddhOcrobObnyUQC75in1FLI-4FJFMvvg56jiaNorNdvK9q5HohfoLpbtqrmzsiBMGgDBDVpXzZ-FT5fFkzDNjNH7Wey1JxxePs8ytvSjzOLFv-FwuzvgZtZMTgw/s1600/Pell+and+Ridsdale.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Cardinal Pell, (then Bishop of Ballarat) <br />supported<a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page116-ridsdale.html" target="_blank"> known sex offenders such as Fr Gerald Ridsdale</a>.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b></b><br />
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">Priest dies facing sex crime cover-up charges</span>. <a href="http://www.theherald.com.au/story/370437/priest-dies-facing-sex-crime-cover-up-charges/?cs=305" target="_blank">(Read the full story)</a></h2>
<ul>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">Newcastle Vicar General Barry Tunks asked the community for
‘‘respect, sensitivity and compassion’’ yesterday after the death of
controversial Catholic priest Tom Brennan. </span></b></li>
<li><b>Father Brennan’s death came only days after a Newcastle magistrate was
told the priest was too ill to attend court on two concealing crime
charges, and eight charges of sexually assaulting a boy, 8, at Waratah
in the 1980s. He was also charged with assaulting two boys by caning
them in the 1970s for reporting a priest had sexually assaulted them.</b></li>
<li><b>The priest died of cancer at Hunter Valley Private Hospital at 5.15pm on
Sunday after making history in August as the first Australian clergy
member to be charged with concealing the child sex crimes of a notorious
paedophile priest. (DJW notes: a different person from Fr. Brennan)</b></li>
<li><b>Strikeforce Georgiana Detective Sergeant Kristi Faber alleged <span style="color: red;">the
notorious paedophile priest sexually assaulted 31 boys</span> <span style="color: red;">after Father
Brennan</span>, a former principal of St Pius X, Adamstown, <span style="color: red;">was first warned of
the offences in 1978.</span></b></li>
<li><b>A Hunter man named Tom, who overcame Father Brennan’s false statement in
2000 to record the first successful action by a victim against the
notorious priest, said <span style="color: red;">Father Brennan ‘‘wasn’t big enough’’ to admit he
had been repeatedly told about the paedophile priest in the 1970s.</span></b></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;">Personal Disclaimer:</span> Fr. Barry Tunks was a class-mate of one of my brothers, and I knew him vaguely when I was a young Seminarian myself, back in the 1960s.</span> </span></b><br />
<br />Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-89088826704497721192012-09-05T19:37:00.001+10:002012-09-06T10:35:41.199+10:00Wingecarribee Local Council Elections<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Its that time again, folks - your chance to determine the local political team who will run the bit of the world closest to you.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Alternatively, yes, unless you turn up and get your name ticked off by the Electoral Commission representatives, you might incur a fine. Yes, voting is compulsory.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>It prefer to think of it as a privilege, and an opportunity to shape the future.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>***************</b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Here is the Council Election website page - with appropriate onward links. </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/council/council-election-2012" target="_blank">http://www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/council/council-election-2012 </a></b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>You can <a href="https://oevf.aec.gov.au/" target="_blank">verify your enrolment</a> there too.</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Here are the Candidates, as listed officially by the NSW Electoral Commission.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://candidates.elections.nsw.gov.au/default.aspx" target="_blank">http://candidates.elections.nsw.gov.au/default.aspx </a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Council Election - Candidates</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and Polling Places</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.highlandsalive.com.au/uploads/370/elections.pdf" target="_blank">Go here to download</a> the original document<br />which will be easier to read.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxdm-3uk3CVxLS1UXjzqdcP9U2ZBOAeBW7Y_FUC1q81KuM_xpMBqEM_syKyu3CYZVBbgC76zttr7SW52OntaMvT_QCPHzPWk91VYc9eV_4ADBu8zwZr4YsxiYgNIsboArc58IBj-kwg/s1600/Council+Election+2012+Candidates+-+sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxdm-3uk3CVxLS1UXjzqdcP9U2ZBOAeBW7Y_FUC1q81KuM_xpMBqEM_syKyu3CYZVBbgC76zttr7SW52OntaMvT_QCPHzPWk91VYc9eV_4ADBu8zwZr4YsxiYgNIsboArc58IBj-kwg/s320/Council+Election+2012+Candidates+-+sml.jpg" width="219" /></a></b></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Council Election - Candidates</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and Polling Places</b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>***************</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Having got that formal stuff out of the way, let me now look at the list of dunces, dead-heads and
self-serving people who make up most of the names of people who are
standing for "FAME AND POWER" (sorry - standing for Election to
Council). </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I do not propose to tell anyone who to vote for, but I will suggest a few people for whom I would definitely NOT VOTE.</b></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PpKYfDvHNJNQCkEA9gmvx6A2u3omfJBRSJIHMUW79Vb3AcAJ182Z3hzYaDVDD7fWdSDGDiJMS-g7QeMCf5Ex-D0uXqaCi7m45JIsDIQV1DrRgH62Gd7t7aPeaHp4EaVUweTV3chsyQ/s1600/Charlie+Johns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PpKYfDvHNJNQCkEA9gmvx6A2u3omfJBRSJIHMUW79Vb3AcAJ182Z3hzYaDVDD7fWdSDGDiJMS-g7QeMCf5Ex-D0uXqaCi7m45JIsDIQV1DrRgH62Gd7t7aPeaHp4EaVUweTV3chsyQ/s320/Charlie+Johns.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Charlie Johns</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Once, seemingly the Right Hand Man of Nick Campbell-Jones</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>until they fell out (under mysterious circumstances).</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Anyone not good enough to be a "mate" </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>of Nick C-J is to be avoided, I reckon.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>He also has mysterious "history" of debts to Council, </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>which were supposedly waived in mysterious circumstances.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The fact that he has been on the Edge of Politics in the Shire</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>for such a long time, <br />and is an incessant writer of Letters to the Editor,</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and is still so keen to get elected is a warning light to me.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>He certainly will not get my vote.</b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Do you remember the scandal of the stupid investment in the Lehman Brothers "<a href="http://www.blogger.com/It%20was%20a%20bitter%20lesson%20for%20Wingecarribee,%20a%20shire%20in%20the%20Southern%20Highlands.%20Not%20only%20had%20it%20invested%20ratepayers%27%20funds%20in%20a%20complex%20and%20risky%20financial%20product,%20it%20had%20sold%20at%20a%20very%20bad%20time.%20%20Read%20more:%20http://www.smh.com.au/business/dante-notes-led-to-a-financial-inferno-20110222-1b42w.html#ixzz25ZuZOvye" target="_blank">Federation Notes</a>" (better known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateralized_debt_obligation" target="_blank">Collateralised Debt Obligations</a>).</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"It was a bitter lesson for Wingecarribee, a shire in the Southern
Highlands. Not only had it invested ratepayers' funds in a complex and
risky financial product, it had sold at a very bad time." (Sourced from that SMH Business Day link above)<br />In other words, we bought badly and sold badly. Who is responsible for that?<br />Seemingly no-one. Certainly no Councillors have ever owned up to getting kick-backs, or commissions, but given the way that the investment industry works, almost certainly mates of mates did. No names are available. Such a pity the original meeting was never minuted.</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/dante-notes-led-to-a-financial-inferno-20110222-1b42w.html#ixzz25ZuZOvye" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/business/dante-notes-led-to-a-financial-inferno-20110222-1b42w.html#ixzz25ZuZOvye</a></b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>So I would not vote for anyone associated with that famously "un-minuted" Finance Committee meeting (the one which got us into the mess in the first place) or the decision to bail out of the litigation process (which other Councils were successful in pursuing).</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Here are some comments from a recent Meet the Candidates forum held in Bowral on August 28 put up by Travis Holland on a Highlands Votes website: Take these comments as you will.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.highlandsvotes.com/2012/08/meet-the-candidates-long-post/">http://www.highlandsvotes.com/2012/08/meet-the-candidates-long-post/</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">David Stranger</span> was previously elected on the Liberal Party ticket in the shadow of Juliet Arkright. He has since left the Liberal Party ticket, and has formed his own team Group B. Real Estate Agents always make dubious candidates for Council, in my opinion. The fact that he is apparently a turn-coat merely reinforces my suspicions.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">Duncan Gair</span> cannot seem to get the desire for power out of his blood. He as been on Council for many terms, some as Mayor. He is standing again, after previously indicating he would not stand again for Council.</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why, Duncan? </b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>“You look back and think, at the end of the day, <span style="color: red;">it may not have happened if you weren’t there</span>.”</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Looking back at the succession of bad decisions by the Wingecarribee Council, <span style="color: red;">all I can say is that statement is a "<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/double-edged_sword" target="_blank">double-edged sword</a>", Duncan. </span></b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The <span style="color: red;">Just Fix It team is headed by Ian Scandrett</span>. He still wears as a badge of honour his time in the Balmain City Council. If you remember the TV program "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rats_in_the_Ranks" target="_blank">Rats in the Ranks</a>" you might not think that's such a good thing to boast about. But his team is proposing an "Energy Saving Scheme" which sounds just like a Ponzi Scheme, to me, from what I have heard about it. Council is being "sold the idea", but Council will not actually get any earnings - the proponents of the scheme, however, might get some benefits. The details are sketchy in my mind, but I know enough people with experience in financial markets - who are wary of this scheme - that I simply flag it as a "warning" to others. </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">Graham McLaughlin</span> is heading up the Labor Team. I know Graham, and I admire his sense of humour and his musicality. But those factors do not outweigh, for me, his support for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-22/coal-war-rages-in-nsw/4087540" target="_blank">Boral and the expansion of the Berrima Colliery.</a> It already poses a threat to the integrity of the local Aquifers over at Medway and High Range and Joadja. It is also leaking polluted water directly into the main feeder river of Lake Burrogorang (Sydney's primary Water Supply reservoir). Sorry Graham.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">Edit:</span> I have received this additional information: " ‘<span style="color: red;">The Coalition Of Change</span>’
group - <span style="color: red;">Stranger, Turland and Andrews</span> are running together with <span style="color: red;">management</span></b></span></span><b><span style="color: red;"> from Nick Campbell-Jones</span>. Back to the future <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> for his
Mega Leisure centre project if they get elected."<br />So I have been told, from a source I trust.</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>***************</b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>So, who can I safely vote for, in this coming local Government Election?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Well, as far as I know <span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://nsw.greens.org.au/Wingecarribee/candidates" target="_blank">The Greens</a></span> will not do anything as stupid as their Sydney colleagues did prior to the NSW State Election (where they tried to impose bans on companies with economic contact with Israel). That cost them votes in Sydney and I assume that <span style="color: #274e13;">Jim Clark and Maree Byrne</span> will not make the same mistake their Sydney colleagues did. I know both these people - only vaguely, but over a few years, now. But I do sincerely trust their Environmental credentials.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Larry Whipper</span> is a local Robertson resident, and has been the strongest supporter on Council of the <a href="http://www.shoocockatoo.com/" target="_blank">Southern Highlands Coal Action Group</a> in its opposition to Hume Coal and also Leichhardt Resources, (a related company which controls the Coal Seam Gas licence over most of the Shire). Shoo Cockatoo's latest bulletin sings Larry's praises.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Larry's <a href="http://www.larrywhipperpeoplepower.com/" target="_blank">Team Website</a> is here </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #674ea7;">Jim Mauger</span> is standing as an independent. He has always been "independent" anyway, which is why nobody else on Council likes him much, but that is why I do like him. In a strange way, local interests, self-interest almost, can be a great predictor of what someone is likely to do when it comes to voting on important decisions. Big Jim will back Big Jim always and Robertson a close second (if not first, on occasions) That will do me.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Juliet Arkwright</span> is being harassed by the Liberal Party machine men, which straight away wins my sympathy vote. She must have done something worthwhile to get those Big End of Town characters off-side. Besides, she lives in Burrawang and does her shopping in Robertson, so that a definite plus in my view.</b></span></span>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-27093586006224517142012-08-31T13:33:00.000+10:002012-08-31T13:34:43.936+10:00Time long overdue to stamp out child abuse<br />
According to the <a href="http://www.theherald.com.au/story/284375/principal-priest-on-child-sex-abuse-charges/?cs=305" target="_blank">Newcastle Herald</a>, a senior Priest in the Maitland Diocese (which includes Newcastle and the Lower Hunter region) has been charged with what amounts to a "cover-up" of complaints of sexual abuse made by school-boys against a Priest, John Sydney Denham. The senior Priest was the Principal of the School at the time. Fr Denham was one of the teachers.<br />
<ul>
<li>‘‘It’s the first time such a senior Catholic Church leader has been
charged with allegedly concealing child sex crimes by another alleged
offender.’’</li>
</ul>
What did the senior Priest do when he was told about these "alleged offences"?<br />
He apparently caned the students.<br />
<br />
Yes, that's right.<br />
<br />
What is worse, the senior Priest has been charged with "eight counts of sexually assaulting a
boy, 8, at a Waratah church in 1984 and 1985, and two counts of assault." (Presumably the caning incidents).<br />
<br />
Following up the crass and blindly stupid comments reported from America yesterday, where <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/father-benedict-groeschel-teens-seduce-priests_n_1840900.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false" target="_blank">a senior Franciscan Friar</a> (albeit of a break-away group) tried to blame children for seducing priests. <br />
Can you believe that?<br />
<br />
Well, that's a long way away, but Newcastle is just up the road.<br />
<br />
<b style="color: red;">Personal disclaimer</b>: As many people know, I was once a Catholic Seminarian (student Priest). One of my classmates was John Denham, now know in Police reports as John Sydney Denham.<br />
He has a pile of charges against him, but has not yet faced a trial. <br />
<ul>
<li> "Father Denham has not entered pleas to 47 charges including indecent assault and buggery involving 14 boys in the 1970s. He will return to court in September."</li>
</ul>
Why these matters move so slowly mystifies me.<br />
<br />
Surely it is time for a Royal Commission in NSW into these Child Abuse events, not just relating to Catholic priests, but all teachers and persons in positions of authority (and trust) relating to children. <br />
<br />
But with the Far Right of the Liberal Party so completely under the control of the male Catholic (Jesuit trained) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabal" target="_blank">cabal </a>in the NSW Parliament, I hold out little hope that this will happen.<br />
But it should.<br />
<br />
Denis WilsonDenis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-28045372862465082532012-08-23T11:59:00.001+10:002012-08-23T11:59:36.721+10:00Tony Abbott speaks about Olympic Dam - without reading the BHP B reportThis is just amazing.<br />
Tony Abbott is sounding off about the Carbon Tax and the BHP Billiton announcement about deferring the huge proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam Copper, Gold and Uranium mine.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE7iLpKAenKmuR5nN_NtFl4-xiHJdKFZoga0zmZ4wKpbiY-J9thJHM7eJiJkCmMaL-UxC8iNRVq7sFEkOptt9V3etChCC-N9g0iBlkeCZp_BsJMYfo1bCgnP5Ve5GTXVpl4dcTgO3kMw/s1600/Tony+Abbott+-+on+7.30+report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE7iLpKAenKmuR5nN_NtFl4-xiHJdKFZoga0zmZ4wKpbiY-J9thJHM7eJiJkCmMaL-UxC8iNRVq7sFEkOptt9V3etChCC-N9g0iBlkeCZp_BsJMYfo1bCgnP5Ve5GTXVpl4dcTgO3kMw/s320/Tony+Abbott+-+on+7.30+report.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>Tony Abbott on 7:30 Report</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
And he does that without having read the BHP Billiton announcement!<br />
<br />
Watch it yourself, and be amazed. <br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3573785.htm">http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3573785.htm</a>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-82160091221778033662012-08-14T19:14:00.000+10:002012-08-15T00:32:24.342+10:00The Darker Side of London 2012 Olympics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAYOKHf66dohc7ueEUZfHhV92orTEpDSXl8bE166wPqenD6dBYxv65JM2Ch4b5n0ypFuyTG9x9lo5bRuw7BVX68mixZ0c9vC5khzDEKC7NYLTcxVpUWjhVSvyEenFShcada6Xsna7qQ/s1600/Olympics+Dow,+Maccas,+Coke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAYOKHf66dohc7ueEUZfHhV92orTEpDSXl8bE166wPqenD6dBYxv65JM2Ch4b5n0ypFuyTG9x9lo5bRuw7BVX68mixZ0c9vC5khzDEKC7NYLTcxVpUWjhVSvyEenFShcada6Xsna7qQ/s320/Olympics+Dow,+Maccas,+Coke.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
This is a classic post worthy of borrowing entirely from Public Service Europe if only because since I first found their Post on the Internet, they have "pulled" this image and replaced it with a nauseating shot of Prince William, His Royal Whatever, cuddling his wife, the Duchess of Whatever Else.<br />
That fact is now visible and <a href="http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/2308/the-darker-side-of-the-london-2012-olympics-an-activists-view#ixzz23QkTEk9q" target="_blank">verifiable on this link.</a><br />
<br />
Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, the original image is still accessible via the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/occupylondon" target="_blank">Occupy the London Stock Exchange Facebook site</a><br />
<br />
Thanks (in advance) to Steve Rushton and <a href="http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/2308/the-darker-side-of-the-london-2012-olympics-an-activists-view#ixzz23QkTEk9q" target="_blank">Public Service Europe for their understanding</a> that I believe what is written here is worth being read by as many people as possible.<br />
I have also "tipped off" Gruen Sweat who have been doing good work about exposing the "Corporate Branding" going on behind the scenes in the Olympics.<br />
<br />
The fact that the original illustration has been pulled just confirms my determination to publish this.<br />
<br />
<b>The full article is as follows:</b><br />
Everybody has enjoyed the sporting excellence and feel-good factor of London 2012, but there is a rather gloomy undercurrent to the Olympics – claims activist<br />
<br />
The circus has come to London and many people are excited by the spectacle. However, there are dissenting voices protesting against this event, which is mainly financed by British taxpayers. We are often asked the question: what have you got against sport? My answer is - nothing. I enjoy it. However, if you scratch under the surface and there are many sinister stories behind London 2012. This year's Olympic Games has had a toxic impact from the destructive shameful sponsors' alleged malpractices, to the cacogenic soil unearthed to build the games, its undemocratic imposition on East London and corrosive effect on peoples' lives. It also falls during a time when protest seems necessary and under threat, especially in light of the austerity measures at a time of massive corporate greed and the ecological devastation, and human rights atrocities committed in the name of corporate profits.<br />
<br />
The different injustices of the world are all represented at London 2012. Opposition to these issues, surrounding the games, has united more than 40 groups into the Counter Olympics Network. We staged the a demonstration on July 28, which attracted hundreds of people to march through East London and unite on the green of Wellington Park to hear speeches and share critiques. This group gained insight from the counter Vancouver movement and will pass on the flame to Russia and then Brazil. In the next Olympic cities, the machine is already being used to bypass the democratic process: to gentrify and commercially develop neighbourhoods, increase military-style security and prioritise the needs of the elites at the expense of the poor and groups that society deem undesirable.<br />
<br />
Save Leyton Marshes is one of the groups involved with the CON. It is a locally-organised group, which formed months ago in reaction against the destruction of this unique London ecological area. Their objections have been ignored, despite viable alternative venues for the basketball training facility. The bulldozing of peoples' lands and rights has similarities to the corporate sponsors' global malpractices with precious green space destroyed and dissenters even imprisoned for trying to prevent the destruction of nature. The Leyton residents' lives were also placed at risk when unexploded bombs were dug up and, as promised, measures were not implemented to deal with toxic and carcinogenic soil. This group has also been charged £20,000 in costs for daring to legally challenge the decision to wreck the marshes. It seems with democracy and the Olympics: you have the right to speak - as long as you do not disagree.<br />
<br />
Olympic dissent has also been generated because some of the 2012 sponsors allegedly profit from peoples' misery and destroy the planet, whereas other corporate giants that gain from the games branding have been key players in creating the banking crisis or the vastly unequal economic system. This includes from corporate crimes such as tax evasion. Sponsor Lloyds TSB allegedly invested in toxic loans blamed for causing the economic crisis. The British taxpayer bailed them out, with other failed banks, which cost Britain more than £124bn. This is the almost twice the amount the coalition government planned to cut in public services when it came into office. It's original austerity measures were set at £83bn over four years. Lloyds TSB is also under investigation as part of the Libor Scandal - perhaps the worst scandal to emerge about international banking. Furthermore, as shareholders, we have allowed them to use our money to let them sponsor the Olympics. Additionally, some banks also finance the illegal manufacture of cluster bombs. Why people striving for athletic excellence are connected to improving the reputation of these companies is beyond me. Three other London 2012 corporations and their actions make them focal points for global protest campaigns - DOW the "sustainablity partner", BP and Rio Tinto.<br />
<br />
Some partner companies allegedly finance human rights suppression in Colombia, destroy peoples' lands and lives in Papua, have created Napalm and Agent Orange, refuse to honour their responsibility for the Bhopal Disaster in 1984 and have polluted the Gulf of Mexico with 200 million gallons of crude oil – to name but a few misdeeds. The extent of destruction behind the Olympics is also shown by the actions of another famous company that is accused of stealing lands in India; complicity with fraud in Liberia; actively supporting the denial of Bosnian genocide and being about to the build the largest industrial development in the Arctic Circle.<br />
<br />
The scale of global social justice is a real endurance event to behold. The level of security and suppression of human rights is another example, from security fences, missiles on rooftops, warships in the Thames to curfew zones - where two or more people can be sent home after dark. London activists knew that the event would threaten the right to protest and civil liberties. However, the 182 arrests from a monthly cycling gathering, which coincided with the opening ceremony was shocking. Not least, the alleged level of repression by police officers including the use of pepper spray and a dubious blanket section order, which barred possibly 2,000 cyclists from cycling North of the Thames.<br />
<br />
The authorities applied a great deal of hope about the legacy London 2012 for East London, whereas many now speak of aftermath. Maybe a glimmer of positivity will be that it is a focal point to highlighting the inhumanity of corporate greed and the British Government's willingness to bulldoze local peoples' rights and needs. The number of unscrupulous actions connected to the Olympics raises the question why? On one level, possibly the Olympics attracts the worse corporates - who see it as an opportunity to improve their image without the expense of having to alter their behaviour. However, the links with the Olympics impact suggest a far more cynical narrative really describes the situation; feeding further fuel to the fire that highlights that corporations are ran for profit, and with the assistance of governments will ruin peoples' lives, livelihoods and lands.<br />
<br />
It would be amazing in the future if the question was to change to: why did you not protest against London 2012? Was that not one of the last unethical corporate games? The one where everyone started to realise it undemocratically imposed itself, attacking the community on the poorer side of a major city? After that one, didn't they start making it fit the ideals within its branding?<br />
<br />
Steve Rushton is member of the Counter Olympic Network campaign group as well as working as a writer and political researcher<br />
<br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/2308/the-darker-side-of-the-london-2012-olympics-an-activists-view#ixzz23Vd37zPD">http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/2308/the-darker-side-of-the-london-2012-olympics-an-activists-view#ixzz23Vd37zPD</a>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-45393942006917284452012-07-31T18:00:00.004+10:002012-07-31T18:01:04.506+10:00Politics of the BodyOlympic Politics of the Body.<br />
<br />
It is quite obvious a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shitfight" target="_blank">"shitfight"</a> is about to break out over accusations and counter-accusations about "doping", and "genetic manipulation" (whatever that is).<br />
<br />
Here is the opening salvo in the Media <br />
<br />
<table id="entries"><tbody>
<tr><td class="word"><br /></td><td class="word"><br /></td><td class="word"><br /></td><td class="word"><br /></td><td class="word"><br /></td><td class="word"><br /></td>
<td class="tools" id="tools_5867737"><h3 itemprop="name" style="font-weight: normal;">
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/30/ye-shiwen-world-record-olympics-2012?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">Ye Shiwen's world record Olympic swim 'disturbing'</a>, says top US coach</h3>
<div class="stand-first-alone" data-component="comp : r2 : Article : standfirst_cta" id="stand-first" itemprop="description">
• Chinese 16-year-old who swam faster than Ryan Lochte compared to East Germans<br />
• John Leonard says gold medal time was 'not believable to many people'<br />
<br />
And the Reply was a swift and equally serious bit of finger-pointing.<br />
<h3 class="cN-headingPage" style="font-weight: normal;">
'<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/news-london-2012/i-suspect-phelps-chinese-official-hits-back-over-ye-shiwen-speculation-20120731-23c6d.html#ixzz22BW8xQBu" target="_blank">I suspect Phelps</a>': Chinese official hits back over Ye Shiwen speculation</h3>
China's former Olympic doctor says he has long suspected Michael
Phelps of using performance-enhancing drugs, but has kept silent until
now because of the absence of evidence.<br />
<blockquote class="cN-quote">
"The Americans are very bad, they do a lot of evil"</blockquote>
</div>
</td></tr>
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It can only go down hill from here.Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-66641777248952915922012-07-17T16:18:00.000+10:002012-07-17T16:22:01.226+10:00Check out the new Rudd candidacyMy colleague and friend Brigid Walsh has written about the latest political candidate to emerge from the Rudd clan, from Queensland. Greg Rudd, brother of Kevin (do you remember the one from Queensland, who was "here to help"?)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlbphlvuWa5wQs5IoBSAfDi-C5qbKLfEyWAnxm8_hlayjOwezrT7rvF4U3EInJJdG7UKm3-kMTCtK03Odk5vjO9A6NzHNqBqNK8F_h-1JWoyrC6CRVDk6Fdbh_5YzNWVqnUg6qcOIng/s1600/Greg_Rudd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlbphlvuWa5wQs5IoBSAfDi-C5qbKLfEyWAnxm8_hlayjOwezrT7rvF4U3EInJJdG7UKm3-kMTCtK03Odk5vjO9A6NzHNqBqNK8F_h-1JWoyrC6CRVDk6Fdbh_5YzNWVqnUg6qcOIng/s1600/Greg_Rudd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greg Rudd<br />(Photo <a href="http://www.paydirtsuraniumconference.com/greg-rudd/" target="_blank">from here</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Brigid is well qualified to write about this, as a former political candidate herself (a long time ago), and she knows many if not all of the main "characters" in Labor politics and Union politics in Queensland.<br />
<br />
I suggest you spend a few minutes checking out the background to Greg Rudd's bid for public office on <a href="http://misseaglesnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/rudds-senate-bid-alp-factionalism-and.html" target="_blank">Brigid's Blog.</a><br />
<br />Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-48883160343677595642012-07-06T15:17:00.004+10:002012-07-06T15:28:54.643+10:00Silence, discretion or straight-out lies? Sexual abuse and the Catholic Church<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>This Blog post is about the Catholic Church and its apparent cover-up of sexual abuse incidents. A sub-theme of this article is the call by some people for a Royal Commission into sexual abuse in Australia.</b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZ9w00zcs_XwHVPGti33u9LbWLv7w1lIdHWcKYzTZTj_YwrLNKjwDN0aZem8I55f8k_busneT9RcFnC-liLIwUVFQihsLfOSXdY3LoPNyEppt4pX-vXNHaD-QYGtWqntlprozJBi9VA/s1600/Why+do+priests+wear+flowing+robes+-+Wilcox+-+SMH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZ9w00zcs_XwHVPGti33u9LbWLv7w1lIdHWcKYzTZTj_YwrLNKjwDN0aZem8I55f8k_busneT9RcFnC-liLIwUVFQihsLfOSXdY3LoPNyEppt4pX-vXNHaD-QYGtWqntlprozJBi9VA/s320/Why+do+priests+wear+flowing+robes+-+Wilcox+-+SMH.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Wilcox's brilliant cartoon <br />from <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/national/editorial-cartoon-20111021-1mbup.html" target="_blank">today's Sydney Morning Herald</a></b></span></td></tr>
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Firstly some disclaimers:</b></span></div>
<ol style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I was raised as a Catholic. I no longer practice that religion, but it is something which is part of my culture, training and family background. It is not something which I can ignore, nor deny.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I was never subject to sexual abuse at school - unless you widen the definition slightly, to include Bullying and aggressive and painful Nipple Tweaking by a sadistic Christian Brother. At the time I only thought of this as sadistic behaviour - in retrospect I am no longer sure it was as innocent as that. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I went through a few years in a NSW Catholic seminary (St Columba's at Springwood, NSW), between March 1966 and June 1968, and then went to Rome for a further 18 months. One of my seminary colleagues is mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald article. John Usher (now <a href="http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=2&articleID=6222&class=News&subclass=CW%20National" target="_blank">Monsignor John Usher</a>), was a "senior student" at the time, not a close colleague. He is now a highly trusted colleague of Cardinal Pell, and is now Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney (one of many other functions he fulfills).</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>One of my classmates in Springwood subsequently (years later) came to public attention: "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sexual_abuse_scandal_in_Australia#Diocese_of_Maitland-Newcastle" target="_blank">John Sidney Denham</a> pleaded guilty to 29 child sex charges involving 27
boys under his care while a Roman Catholic priest in Newcastle in the
1970s." At the time I knew him, I saw no signs of his propensity for abusing children. </b><b style="color: red;">But isn't that usually the case?</b></span> </li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald Editorial is worth reading in full.<br />it states, in part: </b></span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b> "When Patrick Parkinson calls for a <span style="color: red;">royal commission into sexual abuse</span>
and its cover-up in the Catholic Church, he deserves a good
hearing. As a Sydney University law professor, he knows a thing or two
about the machinery of inquiry and the suitability of extreme powers
possessed by royal commissions.</b></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>As an adviser to the Catholic Church on sexual abuse
cases,<span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: red;">he is well acquainted with the church's obstructionist culture of
concealment</span></b><b>. '<span style="color: red;">'We need a royal commission with subpoena powers,'</span>'
Parkinson said this week. ''The files of the Catholic Church must be
opened up.''</b></span><br />
<div class="hidden" id="adspot-300x250-pos-3">
</div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>"This is the running sore that won't leave the church alone." </b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/shedding-light-on-church-concealment-20120704-21hih.html#ixzz1zil8M4Td" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/shedding-light-on-church-concealment-20120704-21hih.html#ixzz1zil8M4Td</a></b></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>"<a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/whatsnew.html" target="_blank">Broken Rites</a>" story (updated on 9 June 2012) says:</b></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>
On 3 September 1991 (according to an official document in the possession
of Broken Rites) Father XYZ was called to a meeting at the Sydney
Cathedral presbytery, attended by three church officials:
</b></span></li>
</ul>
<ul></ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b></b></span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>
<li>Reverend Brian Lucas (then based at the Sydney Cathedral), who was involved in the administration of the Sydney archdiocese.
</li>
<li> Reverend John Usher, of the Sydney archdiocese, chairperson of the Australian Catholic Welfare Commission.
</li>
<li>Reverend Wayne Peters, a senior priest of the
Armidale diocese, whose responsibilities then included the Armidale
diocese Tribunal (Peters later became Armidale's vicar-general).<br />
</li>
</b></span></ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>
Interviewed by the three officials, <i>Father XYZ admitted that he had been committing sexual acts on young boys in his parishes.</i>
[According to the New South Wales criminal laws, these offences would constitute the crime of indecent assault of a child.]
<br /><a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page271-bishop-henry-kennedy.html" target="_blank">Source:</a> </b></span><br />
<ul></ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>That story has been followed-up by the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/06/28/3535079.htm" target="_blank">Four Corners program on Monday Night</a> - which I could not bring myself to watch in full, as I find the subject too stressful. But I did follow their main points.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />As I indicated in line 2 of my Disclaimer, above, I was never subjected to sexual abuse, but a number of my friends and colleagues were (but I only learned that much later in life). It is a painful issue, for sexual abuse is one of those things, where the pain continues for years after the incident. Psychologically, it resurfaces when one's vulnerability is greatest, and when one least expects it. A casual comment, a headline in a paper, or a familiar face on the street, can bring issues flooding back into one's head. </b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>I have followed at a distance, reports from the USA of the corruption in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_scandal_in_the_Catholic_archdiocese_of_Boston" target="_blank">Boston Diocese</a>, and more recently I saw much of a very stressful BBC program about an Irish-American priest who had retired to Ireland after years of sexual abuse of children. To say he lacked empathy and understanding of his offences is an understatement. It was shown on the ABC in May. The powerful and painful program, called "Deliver us from Evil", documented the long-term and systematic abusive behaviour and yet the apparent lack of empathy, or remorse, of the main offender, Fr. Oliver O'Grady. </b></span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"(The film's director, Berg) lucidly details how the Catholic Church knew about O'Grady, yet in
an elaborate shell game designed to avoid liability, lied to
parishioners and the police while shuffling him from parish to parish.
The church's obfuscation is almost as repulsive as O'Grady's crimes."</b></span><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/deliver-us-from-evil-sunday-may-6-20120503-1y0h1.html#ixzz1zjEJuOvA" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/deliver-us-from-evil-sunday-may-6-20120503-1y0h1.html#ixzz1zjEJuOvA</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>A "short" for the film is <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814075/" target="_blank">available here</a> (click on Watch Trailer). </b></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>There have been some rare, but famous cases in the USA where convictions have been recorded, not for perpetrators, but for other <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18560069" target="_blank">Priests who failed to act to disbar</a> offending Priests, or who failed to report them to civil Authorities - which would parallel the suggested legal action against the three NSW priests, mentioned in the Four Corners program.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>To read the open letters on the <a href="http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Message.aspx?b=37&t=1&ps=50&dm=1&pd=2&am=16706#m16706" target="_blank">ABC comments page</a> is an eye-opener.<br />And it goes without saying it is not just the Catholics, though as Wikipedia records, they are extremely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sexual_abuse_scandal_in_Australia#Archdiocese_of_Canberra_and_Goulburn" target="_blank">frequent offenders</a>. That is an appalling litany of offences - and they are only the proven cases.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>We all know that it is not just the Catholics, but lets state that "for the record".<br />Anglicans, Salvation Army, Jehovah's Witnesses (<a href="http://jwrecovery.org/2009/09/are-jehovahs-witnesses-a-cult/" target="_blank">whose victims are still so scared,</a> they talk on Facebook and the Internet in coded terms, for fear of retribution), and there is a big question mark over the Boy Scout movement in Australia, or specifically the history of sexual offences by Scout leaders. And <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s28363.htm" target="_blank">State-run orphanages</a> have been involved as well. And locally, we cannot forget the highly placed persons who were involved as collaborators in the <a href="http://www.apartmentwollongong.com.au/apartment-wollongong-articles/1998/2/10/former-bevan-boy-tells-committal-hearing-i-had-sex-with-frank-arkell-6-times/" target="_blank">Frank Arkell and Tony Bevan</a> circle of child abusers in Wollongong. </b></span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b> "... long running campaign to expose paedophilia in the Wollongong community and in the local Catholic Church. In 1993 the Mercury first revealed the problem of widespread sexual abuse of young boys by exposing two paedophiles, <a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page255-comensoli.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Father Peter Comensoli</span></a> and Brother Michael Evans. The Page 1 exposé was preceded by four months of investigation during which Mercury staff obtained statutory declarations from seven young men. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Involved in the paedophile network, as revealed by the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW police, was a former Wollongong Lord Mayor and Independent NSW MP, Frank Arkell.<br />When Arkell was the victim of a gruesome murder on June 27, 1998, about 10 weeks before he was to have appeared in court on sex charges involving young males, the Mercury published with its next issue an eight-page wrap-around, labelled “Arkell Murder Edition”. The<br />Page 1 story, written by Cullen, described the appearance of Arkell's body in detail: “His skull had been caved in, and a </b><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;">Rotary Club</span> pin</span> driven into one of his eyes. Tie pins were jammed into his cheeks.”</b></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>In many of these cases, there are highly placed members of the legal profession who act as cross-examiners, ridiculers and intimidators of inexperienced children trying to give evidence. They act to "run interference" on behalf of their powerful, deviant and abusive friends, and in all likelihood, some have been participants in the abuse themselves.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Educational Institutions, especially Boarding Schools, seem to be the greatest "targets" for paedophiles. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page132-christian-brothers.html" target="_blank">Christian Brothers</a> schools, <a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page152-kostka.html" target="_blank">Marist Colleges</a>, and in particular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Stanislaus_College_%28Bathurst%29#Child_sexual_abuse_allegations" target="_blank">St Stanislaus College at Bathurst</a> all seem to be magnets for these people. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Leading clerics, even the present Cardinal Pell, (then Bishop of Ballarat) supported <a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page116-ridsdale.html" target="_blank">known sex offenders such as Fr Gerald Ridsdale.</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXK5L1vGBUxRF1De98wnl6_y-WLF5PLajzf2vsn8YRGpNrIGJH6JbRQBiDaaKFhQsVU4XuRI4puRlz9ifkqlpRaPAZkdDFBqauiaF7BPf9WmgjMJmbGOC4m9qe6PN9diorijP3egUDBg/s1600/Pell+and+Risdale.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXK5L1vGBUxRF1De98wnl6_y-WLF5PLajzf2vsn8YRGpNrIGJH6JbRQBiDaaKFhQsVU4XuRI4puRlz9ifkqlpRaPAZkdDFBqauiaF7BPf9WmgjMJmbGOC4m9qe6PN9diorijP3egUDBg/s1600/Pell+and+Risdale.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why did Bishop </b><b>George Pell<br />
accompany Fr </b><b><a href="http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page116-ridsdale.html" target="_blank">Gerald Francis Ridsdale</a><br />
to court on 27 May 1993<br />
when Ridsdale was jailed for child-sex crimes?</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> And now a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/churchs-suicide-victims-20120412-1wwox.html#ixzz1zoUd1vOk" target="_blank">Victorian report</a> states:</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><b>CONFIDENTIAL police reports have detailed the suicides of at least 40
people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria, and have urged a
new inquiry into these and many other deaths suspected to be linked to
abuse in the church.</b><br />
<b>In a damning assessment of the church’s handling of abuse
issues, the reports say it appears the church has known about a
shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but has "chosen to
remain silent."</b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>It seems to me that wherever adults are involved in "caring for children" there is a great likelihood of abuse, unfortunately. It seems to me, that the first thing society ought change is that we ought to stop pretending that sexual abuse does not happen. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>IT DOES. AND THE PEOPLE WHO DO THESE THINGS LIVE AMONG US. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Let us all open our eyes and ears.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><b><br />After writing this I feel obliged to issue a general warning: </b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><b>please be careful with your children.</b></span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>****************</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>What are the chances that a Royal Commission will be called and given wide terms of reference?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>With regard to the possibility of a Royal Commission, one has to ask which level of Government ought conduct such an Inquiry?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Federal Government is currently not over-run with Catholics, indeed many profess to be atheists. But, certainly there are enough "cultural Catholics" amongst the Federal Government - for many of them might well have been educated in Church schools. Anthony Albanese, Tony Burke, Stephen Conroy, Craig Emerson, Laurie and Martin Ferguson, John Murphy, But if this call for a Royal Commission carries on until the next Government is sworn in, if it is led by Tony Abbott and his ilk, look out. There are many, <a href="http://m.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/sydney-catholics-dominate-coalition-20120701-21am4.html" target="_blank">many Catholic-trained politicians</a> on that side of Politics. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Abbott" target="_blank">Tony Abbott</a> himself, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hockey" target="_blank">Joe Hockey</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Pyne" target="_blank">Christopher Pine</a> and there are many more.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>In NSW, where the Liberal-National Coalition is in office:</b></span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Barry O'Farrell is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_O%27Farrell" target="_blank">Catholic educated, with an Irish family background</a>, but I see little evidence of his religious views. But it is one thing to not be an active supporter of the Church, and a totally different thing to preside over a Royal Commission into the Church. That's unlikely to happen. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Chris Hartcher is a Riverview boy, educated by the Jesuits, and I would describe him as aggressively Catholic in his attitudes.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Andrew Stoner, while seemingly not a Catholic, describes himself as a <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/andrew-stoner-alexander-downer-julia-gillard-in-facebook-folly/story-e6freuy9-1111117172684" target="_blank">"committed Christian"</a></b></span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>the "back-room boy" who controls the hard right grouping is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Clarke_%28Australian_politician%29" target="_blank">David Clarke,</a>
a member of the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/out-of-the-shadows/2006/05/05/1146335919295.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2" target="_blank">Opus Dei</a>, a right-wing religious organisation which has
managed to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2005/s1518645.htm" target="_blank">infiltrate itself deeply</a> within the power-structure of the
Catholic Church. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Greg Smith is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Smith_%28New_South_Wales_politician%29" target="_blank">NSW Attorney General,</a> and another active Catholic.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And there are many more.</b></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;">There is no way the O'Farrell Government will call a Royal Commission into sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, in my opinion.</span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Any Royal Commission on this subject would have to be called by the Federal Labor Party and quickly. Otherwise this idea is simply not going to get the necessary political support. Tony Abbott, who styles himself as a confidante of Cardinal Pell certainly would not call such a Royal Commission.</b></span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: red;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Catholics have achieved a strangle-hold on politics in Australia.</b></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>You might assume that many of the Catholic politicians are decent people:</b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>unless you are a woman, who wishes to control her fertility</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>or unless you are gay or lesbian.</b></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>but those are matters for another day.</b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><b>But after writing this<br />I feel I need a good shower.<br />But more importantly I feel <br />obliged to issue a general warning: </b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><b>please be careful with your children.</b></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>*********************<br /> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>If you can stand it, there is a vast amount of references available about sexual abuse in Australia. Here are just a few of the readily available sources:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>http://www.deception.com.au/images/<span style="color: red;">hypocrites</span>.pdf</b></span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;">http://<span style="color: red;">brokenrites</span>.alphalink.com.au/nletter/bccrime.html</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.<span style="color: red;">clergyabuseaustralia</span>.org/</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sexual_abuse_scandal_in_Australia</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.<span style="color: red;">snapaustralia</span>.org/</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.<span style="color: red;">eurekastreet</span>.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31038</span></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<br />Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-10440552261516948542012-06-18T14:02:00.000+10:002012-06-18T15:06:07.322+10:00Marriage inquiry: a 'consensus' of six divergent positions<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">This is not about Gay Marriage as such, but rather</span>,<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> is about "Leadership", in Australian Politics, or the lack of it.</span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">"half the four Labor members opposed reform on
the grounds that </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>society had not yet caught up</b>.</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">" </span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">That translates as we will lead from behind.</span></span><br />
Article courtesy of <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/06/18/marriage-inquiry-a-consensus-of-six-divergent-positions/" target="_blank">Crikey</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/author/harleydennett/" target="_blank">Harley Dennett, a freelance journalist and former Star Observer reporter, writes:</a><br />
<br />
A House of Representatives committee
has dodged the question of whether to pursue marriage equality after a
record 276,000 responses during its inquiry.<br />
Instead, the eight-member committee offered <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=spla/bill%20marriage/report.htm" target="_blank">six diverging views in additional comments</a> written by the members, which the chair Graham Perrett described earlier today as a "consensus".<br />
Only the Labor MP and Greens
representative Adam Bandt supported a change in the law at this time. In
a telling example of how the ALP might divide once the bills read the
floor of the Parliament, half the four Labor members opposed reform on
the grounds that society had not yet caught up.<br />
Liberal MPs on the committee wrote
that their party would oppose the bills as they would break the promise
the Coalition made before the last election to retain the status quo.
They also said marriage laws limited for heteros-xuals "is not
discrimination against people who wish to belong to same-s-x
relationships" due to the unique nature of the institution.<br />
Inquiry reports usually have at most one additional conclusion representing the opposition’s stance. This report had six.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
Public statements of support <a href="http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/wp/who-supports-equality/politicians/" target="_blank">collated by Australian Marriage Equality</a>
show only a third of the Parliament are ready to pass marriage
equality, and less than half of Labor MPs. Coalition MPs would have to
cross the floor to support the bills as Tony Abbott has not allowed a
conscience vote, so it is unlikely the bills would pass in the current
Parliament.<br />
A marriage equality inquiry in the Senate is due to report later this month.<br />
<br />
Full report available from <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/06/18/marriage-inquiry-a-consensus-of-six-divergent-positions/" target="_blank">Crikey</a>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-38449565815922563652012-06-07T00:22:00.000+10:002012-06-07T00:22:33.687+10:00Environment Groups National Summit on the threats to environmental laws<b>Environment Groups National Summit on the threats to environmental laws<br />Canberra 17th May 2012<br />Communique</b><br />
<br />Environment groups from across Australia met today in Canberra to challenge recent attacks<br />on Federal and State environmental protection measures.<br /><br />
We are alarmed at this attack on our environment protection laws. These laws protect our<br />way of life, they protect the environment which gives us clean air, clean water, protect<br />threatened species and the environmental values that are important to all Australians.<br />None of us are untouched by these threats to our land water communities and wild places<br />and none of us is willing to allow to be taken from us that which makes our lives meaningful,<br />beautiful and important. We represent a substantial cross-section of Australian society and<br />will inform and mobilise our communities.<br /><br />
We support measures that can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of environmental<br />regulation, and reject the concept of “green tape” as an industry-based construct, a Trojan<br />horse that is designed to achieve the winding back of almost 40 years of hard fought<br />environmental protection measures for short–term economic gain. It is a matter of grave<br />disappointment that our political leaders, sitting in COAG, have blindly accepted this rhetoric<br />and acceded meekly to the demands of business and industry.<br />Environmental policies and laws must protect our special places and should result in their<br />protection, not loss. This protection must be underpinned by science and evidence based<br />measures. Decisions around the protection of these species should not be fast-tracked or<br />streamlined but given adequate time and funding to allow full consideration of all available<br />evidence and scientific data.<br />
<br /><b>Reject the attack on environmental laws</b><br />Our organisations specifically urge the strengthening of our national environmental law, the<br />Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). The Hawke<br />Review of the Act proposed a reform package to streamline development balanced by better<br />environmental provisions and increased transparency, oversight and public participation. The<br />Government has rejected most of these “balancing” reforms, thereby ignoring the relevant<br />checks involved and placing the environment at greater risk than it is under the present Act.<br />
<br /><b>Abandonment of the Commonwealth’s environmental approval powers</b><br />We express our steadfast opposition to the proposal by COAG to fast-track arrangements for<br />the accreditation by the Commonwealth of State approval processes by March 2013, which<br />would result in the “turning off” of our most important Federal environmental law, the EPBC<br />Act. We reject the underlying assumption on the part of COAG that the exercise by the<br />Commonwealth of its approval powers in relation to projects that involve matters of national<br />environmental significance constitutes “duplicative and cumbersome environmental<br />regulation”.<br /><br />We urge the Commonwealth to retain this most important approval role as a means of<br />checking the unbridled pursuit of development at the State and Territory level, whilst also<br />maintaining its extensive international treaty obligations with respect to the Australian<br />environment. Our national environment values must be held in trust at a national level, and<br />not devolved to State and Territory Governments to make decisions on matters for which<br />they cannot have a national view. The Federal Government must not walk away from its<br />crucial role in protecting our environment.<br />
<br />We also hold deep reservations about proposals recently advanced by the Commonwealth<br />government outside COAG, in its response to the Hawke Review of the EPBC Act, to shift<br />the focus of its efforts under this Act to strategic assessment and regional plans, insofar as<br />this is intended to result in a substantial withdrawal by the Commonwealth from project-level<br />assessment and approval. Whilst we support robust strategic and regional planning to<br />address cumulative impacts, these processes cannot substitute for project-level assessment<br />and approval and believe the Commonwealth should reconsider its proposed approach.<br />“Streamlining” of State assessment and approval processes/ environmental standards<br />We have deep concerns about COAG’s proposals for States and Territories to propose<br />reform of their State assessment and approval processes for major projects for consideration<br />at the next COAG Business Advisory Forum later in 2012. In particular, we fear that the socalled<br />“streamlining” of such processes will amount in practice to a further weakening of<br />already inadequate assessment and approval processes within most States and Territories.<br />Similarly, we are sceptical of proposals advanced by COAG under its “deregulation” initiative<br />for the “improvement” of assessment processes for “low risk, low impact developments”,<br />which we believe is essentially code for the further dismantling of State and Territory<br />planning laws in order to meet the incessant demands of the property industry.<br />We also question the motives for, and the means by which, State and Territory governments<br />will pursue the COAG agreement for them to develop “environmental risk and outcomebased<br />standards” by 2012. Insofar as this might involve the substantial reform of existing<br />environmental standards of a different nature developed over many years, we believe that<br />any such process should be undertaken in an open and fully consultative manner. A 6-month<br />time-frame is not feasible for a proper process of review and reform of existing environmental<br />standards.<br />
<br /><b>Dismantling of carbon reduction and energy efficiency schemes</b><br />We have grave concerns about proposals by COAG to “fast-track and rationalise policies and<br />programs that are not complementary to a carbon price”, particularly if such rationalisation is<br />based on a set of so called principles that were developed without public consultation, and<br />tenuous assumptions about the capacity of the carbon price mechanism to deliver adequate<br />carbon emissions reductions by itself by 2020. We call on the Taskforce established by<br />COAG to consult publicly on its proposals before any revised principles are submitted to<br />COAG.<br />A carbon pricing mechanism with weak targets should not be used to stifle or diminish other<br />efficient policies and programs that reduce emissions and which would make it easier for<br />Australia’s National target and scheme caps to be tightened faster than the carbon price<br />acting alone. The carbon price should be used to enhance climate action, rather than<br />constrain and crowd out these efforts.<br /><br />
<b>A voice for the environment and the community</b><br /><br />COAG has provided an exclusive avenue for consultation by governments on high level<br />policy agendas with one, privileged sector of the community, to the exclusion of the rest of<br />Australia’s civil society, through the establishment of the COAG Business Advisory Forum.<br />Given the secretive nature of COAG processes, this is an unprecedented and inappropriate<br />form of privileged access for the business sector. It can only result in the type of distorted<br />and inappropriate policy initiatives that are manifestly evident in the COAG response to the<br />first meeting of its Business Advisory Forum.<br />We call on the Prime Minister, as the Chair of COAG, to rectify this inequity immediately by<br />establishing a parallel COAG forum for key representatives of civil society.<br />We note that business leaders have not approached us to discuss their concerns and we<br />would welcome an opportunity to do so.<br /><br />
We give notice that we will not stand by as vested interests seek to do secret deals with the<br />Federal and State Governments to gut environmental protection measures at a time when<br />our environment needs more protection. If, as a consequence of the reforms proposed by<br />COAG, there is a dismantling of these measures, and we return to the situation that existed<br />in Australia several decades ago, we believe there will be an inevitable return to the trench<br />warfare style of environmental activism that was also widely practiced at that time. When<br />governments move to abandon the ”rule of law” with respect to environmental protection,<br />such responses from within the community are inevitable.<br /><b> </b><br />
<b>About us</b><br />This communique is supported by the following organisations:<br />• ACT Conservation Council<br />• Australian Conservation Foundation<br />• Australian Marine Conservation Society<br />• BirdLife Australia<br />• Cairns and Far North Environment Centre<br />• Conservation Council of SA<br />• EDO Victoria<br />• Environment Tasmania<br />• Environment Victoria<br />• Greenpeace Australia<br />• Humane Society International<br />• International Fund for Animal Welfare<br />• Invasive Species Council<br />• National Parks Association of NSW<br />• National Parks Australia Council<br />• Nature Conservation Council of NSW<br />• Queensland Conservation Council<br />• Total Environment Centre<br />• Tasmanian National Parks Association<br />• Victorian National Parks Association<br />
<br />
<b>APPENDIX: The losing battle for Australia’s environment</b><br />Every year we see further decline in the quality of Australia’s environment. We see forests<br />cleared and swathes of bush destroyed. We have seen vast grasslands and bush sacrificed<br />to urban expansion, mines and coal seam gas wells that poison our water and air. Water is<br />treated as though it wasn’t a precious and life giving resource. We are witnessing the<br />greatest extinction rate of mammals of any country in the world. We are losing species that<br />exist nowhere else on earth.<br />Every 5 years the Federal Government produces a national State of the Environment Report.<br />Every report says we are going backwards. Information, evidence and data are all regularly<br />ignored. The few successes and few changes we see are overwhelmed by our failures and<br />our indifference. Just this week, a report by WWF ranked Australia as the 7th worst polluter<br />on Earth (behind Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Denmark, the United States and Belgium - one spot<br />worse than in the last report in 2010).<br />We reject the notion that the problem we face is duplication and red/green tape. The problem<br />we face is the highest mammal extinction rate in the world, the worst per capita rate of<br />carbon emissions in the world, contaminated rivers and water, clearing of forests and bush,<br />declining soils, overfishing and a host of bad decisions made every day all over Australia that<br />benefit the few. Our environmental laws need strengthening and increased funding to combat<br />these threats, not gutting.Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-8321327994368368412012-04-30T14:40:00.001+10:002012-04-30T14:40:14.618+10:00Gillard looks silly, today, more than last weekBernard Keane in Crikey says:<br />
<ul>
<li>Gillard is left looking like a politician who will do anything to
preserve her position, regardless of consistency, regardless of whatever
agreements she has made, regardless of the cost. Much of that has been
driven by the compromises and deal making necessary to minority
government, rather than reflecting on Gillard's political personality.
But when coupled with the circumstances in which she came to the prime
ministership, the way she treated Wilkie, and her inability to fulfil
her commitment to address the issue of asylum seekers, it is profoundly
political damaging for Gillard and her government.</li>
<li>The stench of death increasingly
pervades this government. MPs know it. Many are appalled by yesterday,
and particularly Gillard's abysmal press conference. The government may
limp all the way to August 2013 -- Thomson, after all, apparently
intends to continue supporting it in Parliament. But voters have made up
their minds, at least about the Prime Minister. And there's no evidence
whatsoever that she has the political judgment to turn that around, if
that was even possible.</li>
</ul>
And then adds<br />
<ul>
<li> Michelle Grattan came out hard this morning, calling for Gillard to
step down. That won’t surprise too many in the government <br /> But there’s no Rudd to blame for this...<br />
Indeed, did the party, even as it
handed Gillard a strong mandate in the February leadership spill, really
think the flaws in their leader’s judgment would vanish overnight?<br />
So now we'll kick off the leadership
issue again, because <u style="color: red;"><b>if Labor wants to survive as a major party it can't
be led into the election by Julia Gillard.</b></u><br />
<br />
As for Tony Abbott, he emerged yesterday to demand that the
government "disown the vote" of Thomson, a man who is yet to be charged
with anything. ,,,,<br />
Just another example of how Abbott has long since gone beyond
the boundaries of ordinary hypocrisy and into a postmodern zone where
neither reality nor consistency matter a damn to him.<br />
Nor does it have to. <b style="color: red;">At the current rate he's on course to inflict a truly monstrous defeat of Labor.</b><br />
We get the governments we deserve.<br />
<div style="color: red;">
<b>But quite what crime we communally committed to deserve two leaders like
Gillard and Abbott isn’t clear.</b></div>
<div style="color: red;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="color: red;">
<b><span style="color: black;">DJW : I second the motion from Bernard Keane</span></b></div>
<div style="color: red;">
<b><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></div>
<b> </b></li>
</ul>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-91610110736303845332012-04-12T17:47:00.000+10:002012-04-12T17:47:57.082+10:00John Howard - a non-Doctor - still a sycophant of the USA.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>You might wonder what has prompted my outpouring of bile against John Howard, our former Prime Minister.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>He always was a sycophant, but now he has gone over-the-top on the occasion of the award of an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the Macquarie University.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Shame on that University.</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And shame on John Howard for making such an ignorant and false claim as this:<span class="moreun" style="display: inline;"> </span></b></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;">"</span><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;">we have a</span><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;"> very big and enduring relationship with the <span style="color: red;">most peaceful</span> and remarkable country <span style="color: red;">mankind has seen</span> - the United States".</span></b></span></li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;">The definition of a Sycophant is as follows: </span></b></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="me"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">sycophant</span> </span></span></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">1537</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">(in</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">L.</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">form</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">sycophanta),</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">"informer,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">talebearer,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">slanderer,"</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">from</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">L.</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">sycophanta,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">from</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">Gk.</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">sykophantes,</span> <span style="color: red;"><span id="hotword" name="hotword">originally</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">"one</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">who</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">shows</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">the</span> </span><span id="hotword" name="hotword"><span style="color: red;">fig,</span>"</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">from</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">sykon</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">"fig"</span> + <span id="hotword" name="hotword">phanein</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">"to</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">show."</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">"Showing</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">the</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">fig"</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">was</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">vulgar</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">gesture</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">made</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">by</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">sticking</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">the</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">thumb</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">between</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">two</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">fingers,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">display</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">which</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">vaguely</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">resembles </span></span><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">fig,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">itself</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">symbolic</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">of</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">cunt</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">(<span style="color: red;">sykon</span></span><span style="color: red;"> </span><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: red; cursor: default;">also</span><span style="color: red;"> </span><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: red; cursor: default;">meant</span><span style="color: red;"> </span><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"><span style="color: red;">"vulva"</span>).</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">The</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">story</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">goes</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">that</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">prominent</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">politicians</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">in</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">ancient</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">Greece</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">held</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">aloof</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">from</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">such</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">inflammatory</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">gestures,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">but</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">privately</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">urged</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">their</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">followers</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">to</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">taunt</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">their</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">opponents.</span> <span style="color: red;"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">The</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">sense</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">of</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">"mean,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">servile</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">flatterer"</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">is</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">first</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">recorded</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">in</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">Eng.</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">1575.</span></span></span><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;"><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body">Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper <span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body"><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sycophant" target="_blank"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sycophant</span></span></a></div></span></b></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;"><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">******************* </span></span></div></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;"><div class="body"><h3 class="cN-headingPage articleHeading prepend-5 span-11 last"><span style="color: red;">Dr</span> Howard sees nothing but opportunity in emerging world order </h3><div class="push-0 span-11 last"> <div class="cT-storyDetails cfix"> <h5>David Humphries</h5><cite>April 11, 2012</cite></div><div class="cT-storyDetails cfix"><cite> </cite> </div><div class="articleBody"> <div class="cT-imagePortrait"> <img alt="John Howard: 100412: SMH News: 10th of April 2012: Images shows former Prime Minister John Winston Howard recieving an Honorary Doctorate at Macquarie University this afternoon. Photograph by James Alcock." src="http://images.smh.com.au/2012/04/10/3202349/art-353-3_John-20Howard-200x0.jpg" /> <br />
A new world order ... Dr John Howard. <em>Photo: James Alcock</em><br />
</div><br />
A QUARTER of a century after urging Asian immigration be ''slowed down a little'' to preserve ''social cohesion'', Dr John Howard yesterday told 260 new university graduates - half of them Chinese - that they were integral to a ''hugely optimistic'' Australian future.<br />
<br />
''Australia is blessed in so many ways,'' Australia's second-longest-serving prime minister and <span style="color: red;">new doctor of letters</span> told the graduating class of business and economics at Macquarie University. Australia had inherited all the great doctrines of Western civilisation, ''we live cheek by jowl with the fastest-growing economic region of the world'' and ''we have a very big and enduring relationship with the most peaceful and remarkable country mankind has seen - the United States''.<br />
<br />
He ventured an opinion on one of the more delicate issues confronting Australian foreign policy. Is Australia pro-China or pro-America? ''We do not have to choose between our history and our geography,'' Mr Howard said. ''We can have the benefits of both.'' He said he'd held this view for years. It signals one of the few issues on which he agrees with the federal government, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr, in particular.<br />
<div class="ad adCentred" id="adspot-300x250-pos-3"> <br />
</div>Later Mr Howard said the placement of US marines at Darwin - agreed to last year between Julia Gillard and Barack Obama, and begun last week - was sensible. When he was prime minister, he said, the United States had never demanded his government choose one or the other and had always been relaxed about Australia's growing economic relationship with China.<br />
<br />
The Chinese, he said, had a much more sophisticated understanding of relations with Australia and the Australia-US relationship than many commentators exhibited.<br />
<br />
He told graduates that the global financial crisis (''rightly dubbed the North Atlantic financial crisis'', he said) would not dominate future reviews of today's world economy, ''important as they were''.<br />
''The event that will stand out from the last 30 to 40 years has been the remarkable transformation of so many parts of the world towards greater prosperity.'' More people had been lifted from poverty than at any time since the Industrial Revolution and the centre of gravity of the world's middle class had shifted inexorably to Asia.<br />
<br />
He said this was the result of free enterprise. ''It was enterprise, effort and entrepreneurship that had built the prosperity of so many nations in our region, that has lifted so many from poverty.'' Some was due to the 1978 pro-market reforms of the Chinese communist leader Deng Xiaoping, he said.<br />
<br />
Graduates later queued to be photographed with an obliging Mr Howard, among the most awarded Australian prime ministers. In January the Queen appointed him to the Order of Merit. George W. Bush had previously awarded him the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and Australia had made him a Companion of the Order of Australia. He previously received honorary doctorates from the Notre Dame, Bond and Hebrew universities but yesterday's conferral was the first by a public university.</div></div><br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/dr-howard-sees-nothing-but-opportunity-in-emerging-world-order-20120410-1wmzq.html#ixzz1rnrlLNsP" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/dr-howard-sees-nothing-but-opportunity-in-emerging-world-order-20120410-1wmzq.html#ixzz1rnrlLNsP</a><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">Incidentally the "non-Doctor" reference in my title is supported by this convention:</span></span></div></span><span class="moreun" style="display: inline;"><div class="body"><ul><li>The Australian Qualifications Framework, which is Australia's national policy on qualifications awarded by educational institutions, states quite clearly ''the title 'Doctor' will not be used by those who hold an honorary award''.</li>
<li>thanks to <strong>Megan Kemmis </strong> Marsfield in the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/archbishops-modest-so-what-would-jesus-do-20120411-1ws64.html#ixzz1rmLChdBu" target="_blank">SMH Letters column 12 April 2012</a></li>
</ul><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/archbishops-modest-so-what-would-jesus-do-20120411-1ws64.html#ixzz1ro6jYuux" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/archbishops-modest-so-what-would-jesus-do-20120411-1ws64.html#ixzz1ro6jYuux</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">This is the White House's most recent statement on "Defense (sic) Policy".</div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/defense" target="_blank">http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/defense </a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> </div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">You may check on America's military strength here: </div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=United-States-of-America">http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=United-States-of-America</a></div><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">I set out to list the American military campaigns that I know they have been involved in since World War II and realised that there are so many un-declared military campaigns (covert activities, subversion and spying) that any list I could come up with would be merely scratching the surface.</span></span></div><div class="body"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body" style="color: red;"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">Peaceful? </span></span><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;"> </span></span></div><div class="body" style="color: red;"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="cursor: default;">I think not. </span> </span></div></span></b></span>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-70181421752895082002012-02-25T17:28:00.001+11:002012-02-25T17:28:34.249+11:00Is this "The Split" all over again - or merely the Bonfire of the Vanities?<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I am not a Labor Party historian.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
I am just old enough to have <i>some</i> political memory (more than most "reporters" in the Media, it seems).<br />
I distinguish "reporters" from "Journalists" who are few and far between in this issue.</b></span></div><ol style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Here is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Uhlmann" target="_blank">one</a> reporter who has tried to be <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3431809.htm" target="_blank">"a player"</a> in the move to unseat Julia Gillard - without declaring his various bits of "<a href="http://www.prolife.org.au/" target="_blank">baggage</a>"<span style="color: red;">*** </span>which might just <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/05/06/chris-uhlmann-a-pro-says-abbott-but-is-there-an-abc-double-standard/" target="_blank">influence his position</a>.</b></span></li>
</ol><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">*** </span>Uhlmann unsuccessfully contested the ACT 1998 general election for the electorate of Brindabella with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Osborne" title="Paul Osborne">Osborne</a> Independent Group, a strong <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_legalization_of_abortion" title="Opposition to the legalization of abortion">pro-life</a> ticket with stated objectives of blocking both euthanasia legislation and legislation to decriminalise abortion.(Wikipedia - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Uhlmann" target="_blank">Chris Uhlmann</a>) </b></span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>So, is it once again Queensland (this time Rudd) against Victoria (this time Gillard)? <br />
Or is it Catholics against the Non-Catholics?<br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>No doubt it is no that simple.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Such things seldom are.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>But consider <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/evatt-herbert-vere-bert-10131" target="_blank">HV Evatt</a> and <a href="http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/santamaria/" target="_blank">BA Santamaria</a> with <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gair-vincent-clare-vince-10267" target="_blank">Vince Gair</a> as the Wild Card.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Maybe it is simpler than that.<br />
There is a decided anti-feminist streak in the Santamaria and Gair groups in that scenario, and in the modern re-play, we know about Tony Abbott, and <a href="http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/has-kevin-got-woman-trouble/?from=scroller&pos=2&referrer=article&link=text" target="_blank">Rudd is not in favour of female Prime Ministers</a>, or at least, all of them we have had so far in Australia. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And then there is the mysterious link to <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/05/06/chris-uhlmann-a-pro-says-abbott-but-is-there-an-abc-double-standard/" target="_blank">Abbott's endorsement of Chris Uhlmann</a> and Uhlmann's own track record of anti-abortion advocacy.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>My own memory of The Split is limited. But what I do remember is very unpleasant, and at the time, mysterious.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><ol style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I remember, as a child, my Father getting very nervous when a couple of "nice men" in dark suits turned up to our house in Melbourne, and asked (demanded) to speak to my father, in private. They were not personal friends of his. Years later it turned out that these were "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Groups" target="_blank">Groupers</a>" BA Santamaria's people trying to pressure my father to assist them. He had no money to spare, but maybe they thought he had some influence. He went to ground for years after that. In fact, it coincided with him having a nervous breakdown, which was seldom talked about in my family. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Many, many years later (1976 to be precise), I remember being interviewed for a job by a senior Victorian businessman and Liberal Party officer, who was Chairman of a Tourism Board, (I was applying for a job on their staff). He was impressed with my credentials, then suddenly he asked: "Where were you educated". I told him of my University training, etc <br />
No, no, ....... I mean where were you educated? The penny dropped.<br />
He meant which School had I gone to.<br />
Part of me regrets not having answered "Grammar, Sir".<br />
I never got the Job.<br />
He wouldn't appoint a Catholic (even a "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapsed_Catholic" target="_blank">lapsed Catholic</a>") to the job. </b></span></li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I look forward to the time when the ABC holds an Inquiry into the goings-on behind the scenes before that <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/02/10/3427070.htm" target="_blank">4 Corners story</a> which played a major part in manufacturing this debate. There is so much more which has not been said about the role of the Media in all of this mess.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Ok, the Media did not create it, but they surely have poured a big can of diesel on the Bonfire.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>To steal a good title - "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonfire_of_the_Vanities" target="_blank">The Bonfire of the Vanities</a>"</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>**********</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>At the very least People ought declare their personal baggage in this debate, as I have always attempted to do (in this Blog).<br />
</b></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>My own personal baggage includes a stint as a former Seminarian. <br />
That give me a parallel, but <u style="color: red;">NO</u> link with Tony Abbott and Chris Uhlmann.<br />
But before anyone gets excited about that, it also links the three of us with<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalin.htm" target="_blank"> Joseph Stalin. </a></b></span>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-66197803119706752322012-02-22T21:23:00.001+11:002012-02-22T21:26:15.554+11:00Wayne Swan's statement on Rudd's resignation<h1><span style="font-size: small;">Wayne Swan's statement on Rudd's resignation</span></h1>Updated February 22, 2012 20:57:30 <br />
Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan has issued a statement slamming Kevin Rudd, following his resignation as foreign minister: <br />
<div><blockquote><div>Prime Minister Gillard and I and the overwhelming majority of our colleagues have been applying our Labor values to the policy challenges in front of us and we’re succeeding despite tremendous political obstacles.</div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div>For the sake of the labour movement, the Government and the Australians which it represents, we have refrained from criticism to date.</div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div><b>However for too long, Kevin Rudd has been putting his own self-interest ahead of the interests of the broader labour movement and the country as a whole, and that needs to stop.</b></div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div>The Party has given Kevin Rudd all the opportunities in the world and he wasted them with his dysfunctional decision making and his deeply demeaning attitude towards other people including our caucus colleagues. </div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div>He sought to tear down the 2010 campaign, deliberately risking an Abbott Prime Ministership, and now he undermines the Government at every turn.<br />
He was the Party's biggest beneficiary then its biggest critic; but never a loyal or selfless example of its values and objectives.</div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div><b>For the interests of the labour movement and of working people, there is too much at stake in our economy and in the political debate for the interests of the labour movement and working people to be damaged by somebody who does not hold any Labor values.</b></div></blockquote><blockquote><div>Julia has the overwhelming support of our colleagues. She is tough, determined, forward-looking, and has a good Labor heart. She has a consultative, respectful relationship with caucus while Kevin Rudd demeaned them. </div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div>She's cleaned up a lot of the mess he left her and has established a good, Labor agenda. She's delivering major reforms, and getting things done that her predecessor could not. Colleagues are sick of Kevin Rudd driving the vote down by sabotaging policy announcements and undermining our substantial economic successes.</div></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><div><b>The Labor Party is not about a person, it's about a purpose. That's something Prime Minister Gillard has always known in her heart but something Kevin Rudd has never understood.</b></div><div></div></blockquote></div><br />
First posted February 22, 2012 20:48:39 <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-22/wayne-swan-statement-on-rudd27s-resignation/3846188">From ABC News Site</a>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-38134851841219343092012-02-22T18:17:00.001+11:002012-02-22T19:59:35.745+11:00Rudd has "spat the dummy"Mr. Rudd has "spat the dummy"<br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-22/kevin-rudd-makes-press-conference/3845758">He has announced his resignation</a> with "Great Sadness" - what utter bullshit.<br />
Everything else in his statement is tainted by that very opening statement.<br />
<br />
He is saying to Caucus they need to choose who is best placed to defeat Tony Abbott.<br />
<br />
In answer to the query is he jumping or being pushed?<br />
He is doing the Jumping, even if Simon Crean and others were behind him on the Diving Board, bouncing the Board up and down - urging him to jump. <br />
<br />
The good thing is that if it goes badly for him (I hope so, but cannot be sure) then at least he will be seen as the one to have triggered the disaster.<br />
<br />
Not that it really makes much difference in the end.<br />
<br />
Bring on <a href="http://www.alp.org.au/federal-government/labor-people/penny-wong/">Penny Wong</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Plibersek">Tanya Plibersek</a> I say.<br />
<br />
Both good hard-working serious politicians.<br />
<br />
Personally I can not ever forgive Rudd for repudiating his statement that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqZvpRjGtGM">"Climate Change is the greatest Moral Challenge of our generation".</a><br />
That was the last thing he said WITH which I agreed.<br />
He walked away from it, in the face of pressure from the Miners.<br />
<br />
<b>THAT WAS A GUTLESS DECISION, LACKING IN LEADERSHIP.</b><br />
<b>LACKING IN INTEGRITY.</b> <br />
<br />
All that has happened since has been a sad decline in standards, judgement.<br />
His lack of political leadership was terminal, and remains so.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wwfPH9BraqvJLH1lhHg5dH1UQDJBe4Y6liWFKBeKjNEhTzjiSIDUhlJ6q80y28e_feKylY4Egjs2apgx2txI2cYMASAB5qDBbBIKl-LXBgjnn64KT8NOrHjIDclN6bReyauEjgoX3A/s1600/KRUDD+for+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wwfPH9BraqvJLH1lhHg5dH1UQDJBe4Y6liWFKBeKjNEhTzjiSIDUhlJ6q80y28e_feKylY4Egjs2apgx2txI2cYMASAB5qDBbBIKl-LXBgjnn64KT8NOrHjIDclN6bReyauEjgoX3A/s320/KRUDD+for+PM.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I don't think so. DJW</b></span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">All political comments are my own.<br />
I stand accountable for them.</span></b></span></div>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-48880202920000637292012-02-21T16:17:00.000+11:002012-02-21T16:17:58.999+11:00The real reason as to why Labor is Dead, Dead, Dead<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>There is an extraordinary dichotomy in political donations.<br />
Traditionally, industry likes to at least appear to be even-handed </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>(or at least pretend to be).<br />
No more.<br />
<br />
This alone indicates to me that Labor is Dead, Dead, Dead.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_PoWjX94Jb3skHnWRIXUHpthirRdGTbTb7ORv6HvXsWxYDnSXX9A966h8ZBMM_4Ggj1s7-qwTNf5VAQh0cg7q14bQYvqi3wx2F4_9Lgkf1a9I-uk9VRwsIPOWUtuFC2n2Kc8w-baeQ/s1600/Miner+Political+donations.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_PoWjX94Jb3skHnWRIXUHpthirRdGTbTb7ORv6HvXsWxYDnSXX9A966h8ZBMM_4Ggj1s7-qwTNf5VAQh0cg7q14bQYvqi3wx2F4_9Lgkf1a9I-uk9VRwsIPOWUtuFC2n2Kc8w-baeQ/s320/Miner+Political+donations.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dichotomy in Mining Industry donations to major political parties</b></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>That chart comes to us, courtesy of Crikey.</b></span> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The full article is available to be read here:</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/02/21/the-rise-and-rise-of-mining-company-donations/">http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/02/21/the-rise-and-rise-of-mining-company-donations/</a></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>This has nothing to do with any supposed Challenge to the Leadership.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Really???</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Well, just think about it.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>It was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Rudd">Kevin Rudd</a> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>who totally antagonised the Miners in the first place. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Well, hardly in the real "first place". </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam">Gough Whitlam</a> had laid the groundwork of that, </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>back in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Menzies">Post-Menzian Days</a> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Links have been provided for any </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3435302.htm">ABC Journalists who happen to read this</a> -</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> for they will have <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/cuhlmann">NO IDEA</a> about whom I am talking.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>But we all remember the <a href="http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/industry-group-launches-anti-carbon-tax-campaign/">anti-Mining Super Tax ads</a> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>which were placed by the Mining Industry, </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and led directly to the sacking of Kevin Rudd.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>So let us not kid ourselves that Kevin Rudd is likely to be the saviour of Labor. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>He killed Labor (as evidenced by that chart above)</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>before Labor tried to kill him.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjprznmG_agVFg_DARJX9hzxGcGIs4jSZtMKkleUGHBN8ZMaRddC7DMG98ckQlTPDIsIeEGiVH23uvKwE12ebJNQSVd0b53qBiI8pIvmcdOI0HH6INDtjlqJaPBpuzqjjohQkNwFEWc7Q/s1600/Rudd+-+I%27m+baaack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjprznmG_agVFg_DARJX9hzxGcGIs4jSZtMKkleUGHBN8ZMaRddC7DMG98ckQlTPDIsIeEGiVH23uvKwE12ebJNQSVd0b53qBiI8pIvmcdOI0HH6INDtjlqJaPBpuzqjjohQkNwFEWc7Q/s320/Rudd+-+I%27m+baaack.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/opinion/cartoons/alan-moir-20090907-fdxk.html">Moir Cartoon</a> courtesy of SMH 20 Feb 2012</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And even that task has not yet been completed.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undead">"Undead"</a> are emerging, again, it seems.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What ridiculously short-term memories the Media in Australia have.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And they assume we, the people, are as stupid as they, the media, are.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Well, they are probably right about that!</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>Its all enough to make me want to emigrate.<br />
But where to?</b></span></div>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-52358452188015703762012-02-18T17:11:00.001+11:002012-02-18T17:12:10.112+11:00Bloody Martin Ferguson AM, MP.Bloody Martin Ferguson AM, MP has no shame - or no understanding:<br />
<ul><li>The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP said, “The positive exploration figures are <b>good news</b> and reflect the continued strength of the industry.</li>
<li>“They are a <b>sign of confidence in our economy</b> and demonstrate the continued interest in Australia for <b>investment.</b></li>
<li>“Our natural resources, skilled workforce and balanced policy framework will go on prompting exploration on a vast scale. </li>
<ul><li>DJW asks: If it is about our skilled workforce, why are we agreeing to import short-term Migrant Workers from Philippines, etc, as slaves to work here???</li>
</ul><li>The publication also presents summaries of<b> Federal, State and Northern Territory government initiatives which assist the mineral exploration sector</b>.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://minister.ret.gov.au/MediaCentre/MediaReleases/Pages/AustraliaMineralExplorationRemainsVibrant.aspx">Source: </a></b></li>
</ul>This guy will single-handledly (well, he and the Miners anyway) destroy Australia's rural lifestyle.<br />
<br />
The city-dwellers will mostly be OK, as long as they can still get jobs somewhere, or the State can pay them to sit on their arses, and watch TV.<br />
<br />
But the Farmers will be driven off their lands, but the Grape-growers in the Hunter, and the Racing Stud Farms will both be OK.<br />
But broad acre farmers are stuffed. CSG mines will strip the water away, or poison the rest.Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3131741005570100939.post-71591498457794203902011-10-12T20:57:00.002+11:002011-10-12T22:40:40.655+11:00Death of Democracy - Indeed - but the Murderers were the ones who were disrupting Parliament<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Today - the protestors in Parliament were protesting the so-called "death of democracy".</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Indeed.</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEprazxQ-OcCykojR6NKD_8LnUDo03S-GiEeQmtZM2mX07rt09Mm0q0fegXrmuzqqViGi93Zs-Qg1T44QwBnAvzbbovFMFCm_7dICucZ1tosJ6BSk0759KW-m3pDjzbvFRnuyw3F_PWg/s1600/PROTESTORS+DISTRUPT+PARLIAMENT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEprazxQ-OcCykojR6NKD_8LnUDo03S-GiEeQmtZM2mX07rt09Mm0q0fegXrmuzqqViGi93Zs-Qg1T44QwBnAvzbbovFMFCm_7dICucZ1tosJ6BSk0759KW-m3pDjzbvFRnuyw3F_PWg/s320/PROTESTORS+DISTRUPT+PARLIAMENT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>But the Murderers of Democracy were the very people proclaiming the Death of Democracy - themselves!</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> They were the ones who were disrupting Parliament.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-12/protesters-disrupt-question-time/3553864">http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-12/protesters-disrupt-question-time/3553864</a></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Is that too harsh?</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Just ask yourself, what would the Conservative side of politics and the Far Right supporters of the Nationals and Tony Abbot and the Climate-Change Deniers say if the Parliament had been disrupted by so-called "long-haired hippies", OR Lesbians and Gays protesting inaction on Gay Marriage, or any other Left Wing cause?</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Alan Jones, Ray Hadley and other demagogues would probably be screaming "Shame, Shame, Shame", from their microphones.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>But will they denounce these disruptive practices in the Media tonight and tomorrow? We shall hear, tomorrow morning.</b></span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Is that the sound of silence I hear?</b></span></li>
</ul></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I note the involvement of the previous<a href="http://www.nocarbontax.com.au/anti-carbon-tax-rallies/"> "Convoy of No Confidence"</a> organiser (which <a href="http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/blogs/wokkapedia/a-disgrace-to-democracy-not-even-close-20110823-1j833.html">rally had the support of Alan Jones</a>).</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>This is part of what <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/anti-carbon-tax-protesters-interrupt-julia-gillard-during-question-time/story-fn59niix-1226164985865">The Australian's website</a> tells us: </b></span></div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"About 80 protesters chanted 'democracy is dead' and 'no mandate'. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"They included Peter Madden, who helped organise the anti-carbon tax Convoy of No Confidence in August.There were two teams of protesters, seated on each side of the lower house chamber.They stood up one group at a time to disrupt Ms Gillard as she attempted to answer a question from a Liberal MP. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The protesters were escorted from the chamber by security guards but could still be heard as they left the public area."</b></span></li>
</ul><h3><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>My only comment to the protestors today - look in your own mirror!</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>You and only you distrupted the Parliament of Australia.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Comments authorised by Denis Wilson</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Robertson NSW 2577</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Enrolled voter in the electorate of Throsby.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>I am posting a link to this page on Stephen Jones's Facebook page. He is the Member for Throsby.</b></span></div><br />
</h3>Denis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.com0