The real reason as to why Labor is Dead, Dead, Dead

There is an extraordinary dichotomy in political donations.
Traditionally, industry likes to at least appear to be even-handed 

(or at least pretend to be).
No more.

This alone indicates to me that Labor is Dead, Dead, Dead.

Dichotomy in Mining Industry donations to major political parties

That chart comes to us, courtesy of Crikey.

The full article is available to be read here:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/02/21/the-rise-and-rise-of-mining-company-donations/

This has nothing to do with any supposed Challenge to the Leadership.

Really???

Well, just think about it.

It was Kevin Rudd 

who totally antagonised the Miners in the first place. 

Well, hardly  in the real "first place". 

Gough Whitlam had laid the groundwork of that, 

back in the Post-Menzian Days 

Links have been provided for any  

ABC Journalists who happen to read this -

 for they will have NO IDEA about whom I am talking.

But we all remember the anti-Mining Super Tax ads 

which were placed by the Mining Industry, 

and led directly to the sacking of Kevin Rudd.

So let us not kid ourselves that Kevin Rudd is likely to be the saviour of Labor. 

He killed Labor (as evidenced by that chart above)

before Labor tried to kill him.

Moir Cartoon courtesy of SMH 20 Feb 2012

And even that task has not yet been completed.

The "Undead" are emerging, again, it seems.

What ridiculously short-term memories the Media in Australia have.

And they assume we, the people, are as stupid as they, the media, are.

Well, they are probably right about that!

Its all enough to make me want to emigrate.
But where to?

The Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry

Topic: "That the Catholic Church is (or is not) a force for good in the world."

This was the theme addressed by Stephen Fry, actor and writer, in the "Intelligence² Debate".

He speaks beautifully on a subject which is clearly has troubled him for a long time.

I recommend that you watch this video.

The full video runs for approximately 20 minutes, but I believe it is well worth the time.

There are two series of Questions and Answers in furtherance of the debate.

Rooster One Day, Feather Duster The Next.

Matt Brown, Member for Kiama has been sacked (or has resigned) as Police Minister, after the leaking of a story about a party he supposedly held in his Parliament House Office on Budget night. In fact, he was apparently sacked for being less than frank with the Premier, when first questioned about the incident. He supposedly denied the details about inappropriate behaviour, but Mr Rees checked with other sources, then fronted Mr Brown again, who then confessed (supposedly). At that point, he was supposedly sacked by Mr Rees for not coming clean in the first place.
"It appears the leaking of the story was timed to either discredit the Minister who was promoted on Monday to the police portfolio or to destabilise Mr Rees." (Source: Sydney Daily Telegraph website.)

The Age website was more direct - allowing you to join the dots, as it were:

• "Mr Rees .... refused to speculate who may have leaked the story, and rebuffed suggestions it could have been Frank Sartor, whom Mr Rees dumped from the cabinet. "It would disappoint me, but I don't believe that's Frank Sartor's style. He's a more direct person than that."

• "Mr Rees said he was not aware of a meeting yesterday between Mr Sartor and News Ltd journalist Imre Salusinszky, who broke the story. "It would disappoint me [if Mr Sartor had leaked the story], but I have got no idea what Frank was talking about to Imre [Salusinszky]."

Well, Mr Rees, The Body Politic's resident graphic artist can show you his conclusion.

Frank Sartor, a proverbial Feather Duster himself, after being sacked last week, is showing Matt the tricks of the trade.

Aaah, such is the way of NSW Politics.

Fw: Is fascism is coming to America?

The following story comes to me via email.

As such I automatically believe it to be a true account, and unbiased. (NOT!)

None-the-less it tells me something very interesting about the US Presidential campaign.
Even if Sarah Palin is not as bad as they say, the Democrats see her as a demonic creature (ironically a Ultra-Right Religious Demon). In other words, the Democrats are panicking.

---

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross".

Sinclair Lewis, 1935

Sarah Palin's list of banned books:

Below is a list of the books Sarah Palin tried to have banned from the Wasilla, Alaska Library. When I was in Anchorage two years ago, residents of Wasilla I met described the place as a growing, more-and-more suburban community north of Anchorage. In her speech, Palin called the area "the valley." Mayor Palin would seem to be a strong force in the suburbanization of the village of Wasilla. When the Wasilla librarian refused to trash these books, Mayor Palin tried to have her fired. This caused a stir in Wasilla which then turned into a drive to protect the librarian. Some of my favorite examples of American literature are on this list.

This is the act of a patriotic American? No, this is the act of a religious fundamentalist trying to squeeze herself into the role of a mythic frontier American. The attempt to ban American literary masterpieces like Catcher In The Rye, Grapes Of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird, Death Of A Salesman, Leaves Of Grass, As I Lay Dying, Huckleberry Finn, Catch 22 and Tarzan indicates, flags and Bible citations aside, her ascendance to national power would be downright un-American.

In the realm of Rovian political marketing and the unfolding effort to win the Presidency not with ideas but with a cult of personality, McCain is the humiliated warrior ready to "go to the gates of hell" to preserve American exceptionalism and Sarah Palin is his fascist "bride," a mythic frontier mom able to shoot, gut and cook a moose while nurturing her family who has said publicly our war in Iraq is supported by God and people should pray to God to get the Alaska gas pipeline approved.

This is a pivotal moment in American history, and we all need to expose this cult of personality for what it is, a cynical sham. John Grant

• ---

  *This list is taken from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library
  Board. (I have highlighted some of the more striking selections for banning - in my mind - DJW).
  
  A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Eng le
  Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
  As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  Blubber by Judy Blume
  Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  Carrie by Stephen King
  Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  Christine by Stephen King
  Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  Cujo by Stephen King
  Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
  Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
  Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
  Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
  Decameron by Boccaccio
  East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
  Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
  Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  Forever by Judy Blume
  Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
  Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
  Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. R owling
  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
  Have to Go by Robert Munsch
  Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
  How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
  Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  Impressions edited by Jack Booth
  In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
  It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
  James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
  Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
  Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
  Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
  Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
  My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
  My House by Nikki Giovanni
  My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
  Night Chills by Dean Koontz
  Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
  One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
  One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
  One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  Ordinary People by Judith Guest
  Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
  Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
  Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
  Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
  Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
  Separate Peace by John Knowles
  Silas Marner by George Eliot
  Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  The Bastard by John Jakes
  The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
  The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
  The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
  The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
  The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
  The Living Bible by William C. Bower
  The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
  The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
  The Pigman by Paul Zindel
  The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
  The Shining by Stephen King
  The Witches by Roald Dahl
  The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
  Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
  To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
  Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth
  

  ---

  
  VFP31 Annual Banquet Speaker Chris Hedges wrote the book on people
  like Sarah Palin. It's called American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On
  America
  
  When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag
  and carrying a cross.
  Sinclair Lewis, 1935

Howard's Promise is yet more "Weasel Words".

Miss Eagle has given run the ruler over John Howard's statements on a "preamble" to the constitution, to acknowledge "the special status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first peoples of our nation". You can read her conclusions here.

For my part, I know for a fact that one claim in Mr Howard's statement is a self-serving lie.

Prior to the Howard Government being sworn in (but after it was obvious that he had won his first election (in other words, before he even took up office), I wrote to Mr John Howard, as Prime Minister designate. I suggested that he make a visit to the Northern Territory, to sit with some of the Aboriginal Elders, and that he make this his first tour out of Canberra. I recall saying "make this your first trip - before you run off to Washington or London".

What happened? Nothing!

After about 3 months, I rang Howard's office to ask why I had had not even an acknowledgement to my letter? (I had worked much of my career as a Ministerial Correspondence Clerk, so I knew that my letter ought have been handled better than that - even if the Prime Minister (or his staff) disagreed with the point of my letter. I was entitled to have my letter responded to.

I got a letter back, about 2 weeks later, from Mr Graeme Morris, who was then Chief of Staff to John Howard. He had the impertinence to rebuke me for the tone of my letter. Unfortunately I no longer have his reply (that's what happens when you move house several times). As an exercise in democracy, this process was an insult. It was an appalling way for Howard (and his Office) to treat me, as a voter.
But anyway, we all know that it took Howard many years before he visited any Aboriginal community. (Miss Eagle has documented this.) Meanwhile he had made numerous visits to Washington, and London, and other overseas destinations. So, we know he ignored the Aboriginal situation for a number of years.

I read in his statement the following: "I’m the first to admit that this whole area is one I have struggled with during the entire time that I have been Prime Minister."

So, when I read that sentence, and recall my letter and the reply I got back from his office (eventually) - then I say: Bullshit, John Howard, pure bullshit!

*****

The promise is meaningless anyway - he promises to put forward a proposal for a referendum to include some words in the Preamble to the Constitution. Big deal!

It will be meaningless, insignificant and anyway, and it might well be rejected by the people (as his previous pathetic "preamble" was rejected).

This is John Howard doing what he does best - spouting "Weasel Words". Wikipedia quotes the original use of "Weasel Words" as follows: "Why, weasel words are words that suck the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks the egg and leaves the shell." Thus, weasel words suck the meaning out of a statement while seeming to keep the idea intact, and are particularly associated with political pronouncements. Elsewhere Wikipedia points out that the problem with "Weasel Words" is that: "it is entirely easy to write an irrelevant, misinformative, slanted article composed of nothing but true statements".

My favourite of the various responses from the Aboriginal Community representatives is this:

"Central Land Council spokesman David Ross has described Mr Howard as a snake that has shed its skin. "He's got a brand new skin, but he's the same old snake, he's got the same old venom," he said."

Source: ABC News. 12 October 2007

Death Penalty "debate" is a disgrace.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

It violates the right to life.

************

The media is whipping up a feeding frenzy over Kevin Rudd supposedly "rebuking" the ALP's Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Robert McClelland for a statement he made yesterday about the Death Penalty.

The really disgusting thing is the way in which Alexander Downer has been whipping this issue up.I vividly remember Alexander Downer welcoming the announcement of the imposition of the Death Penalty on the Bali Bombers. I was appalled at the time, by Downer's statement, for it is in direct contradiction of Australia's bi-partisan stance in opposition to the Death Penalty - whether in Australia, or overseas. It is also in contradiction of Australia's ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. So much for Australia's Foreign minister representing this Government's official policy on international law. It is another example of the Government of Shame, in operation.

And Downer made feeble efforts to have the death penalty waived on an Australian citizen in Singapore (on the grounds of Australia's "high moral principle") - but let us not forget that the person concerned there was an Australian of Vietnamese origin. I would not dream of suggesting Downer is a racist bastard - you can make up your own mind on that. Hypocrite? Certainly!

As the Indonesian Lawyer Wirawan Adnan, who is defending at least one of the Australians convicted of drug charges in Indonesia (the so-called Bali 9) has said - this debate weakens Australia's arguments against executions of our citizens (abroad).

• We perceive this as a little bit inconsistent with the death penalty and makes it difficult for the Bali nine to go for a lesser sentence than death," Wirawan Adnan said.

  Another lawyer for the Bali bombers, Achmad Michdan, called Australia's position hypocritical.

*************

Here is a draft letter to Alexander Downer from a website about the Death penalty.

• [insert date]
• The Hon Alexander Downer MP

Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
PO Box 6022
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

• Dear Minister
• The worldwide trend towards the abolition of capital punishment is undeniable and Australia must establish itself as a clear opponent, unafraid to express its views.
• We failed in our pleas for clemency for Van Nguyen hung in Singapore in Dec 05 by campaigning too little too late, our apparent double-standards and inconsistent stance was widely noted at this time and surely had some bearing on the outcome. Now six more young Australian citizens, three of whom were teenagers when incarcerated, face the firing squad in Indonesia for being drug mules. Australia cannot be content with the death penalty, even when courts have discretion in imposing it. We must press for better protections of human rights, and awareness throughout the world that there cannot be a justice that kills.
• We acknowledge the need to address serious crimes, but there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Surely one of the principles of sentencing is rehabilitation; the death penalty renders this impossible with no opportunity to make better choices or the chance to return to society with a positive contribution, a second chance. The death sentence represents the ultimate failure of justice.
• Officially Australia has a long-standing principled opposition to capital punishment. In 1990 Australia signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which commits signatory nations not only to abolish the death penalty, but to undertake "an international commitment to abolish the death penalty". Australia's traditionally strong position on the death penalty has been undermined in recent years by what appears to be double standards. If we are to restore credibility when arguing for our own citizens to be spared, Australia must maintain a clear and principled stance against capital punishment in all circumstances.
• Yours sincerely
• [Insert Name and Address]

Bob Collins's passing - and the politics of hatred.

The death of former NT Senator Bob Collins has unleashed the "Politics of Hatred".

The News.com.au webshite - the "Newspulse", the email "flier" they send out - has a foul headline "Bob Collins killed himself- Report". The article to which it links is slightly more considered - but the NEWS LIMITED website editor had no such qualms - he states Collins's death as suicide, as fact. That is outrageous.

*****

News.com.au states:

"FORMER Northern Territory Senator Bob Collins may have committed suicide, according to a report to be published today. The report, by Darwin-based writer Paul Toohey in The Bulletin, says the Northern Territory coroner is to investigate whether the Labor icon took a drug overdose three days before his trial for child sex offences.
The article also says Mr Collins:

• TRIED to kill himself by driving his Toyota LandCruiser into a tree at high speed in Kakadu after the child abuse charges were first laid in 2004; and also
• TOOK an overdose of pills in hospital in Adelaide while recovering from bowel cancer.

Toohey told the Northern Territory News last night: "Collins didn't die of cancer - I know that for a fact."

*****

The Howard Government might now be thinking that they ought allow Parliament to return for another session, which would allow the Howard "Government of Shame" team of headkickers, and haters free reign vent their collective spleen in the safety of "Coward's Castle" under Parliamentary Privilege.

A proposed State Funeral offered to Bob Collins's family is likely to be withdrawn, or rather the family is being asked to reconsider their acceptance of a Government offer (in accordance with the Protocol Office standing rules). How gutless is that little dodge - putting pressure on the family, rather than the Government actually making a decision of its own.

So a major Politician, a former leader of the Opposition in the NT, and a former Senator for the NT, is to be buried under a slur of sexual abuse, which can never be tested in the courts.

Let me just say that from people who know some of the characters involved in this story, there are two sides to this whole business.

Let us not pretend that the Politics of the NT is above the Politic of Hatred. It is not. Lots of "respected people" in the NT resent the good things which Bob Collins did for the people of the Northern Territory. Those same people are prepared to listen to "tittle-tattle" from individuals with whom these "respected people" would not normally share the same room.

But if there is some "scuttlebutt" to be aired about Bob Collins, anything and everything is suddenly credible enough to be printed.

This is the Politics of Hatred - nothing more. It reveals the depths to which politicians and journalists will stoop.