An Act of Spite by Fairfax Media.

The Fairfax media (through "The Age") has run a mischievous piece of rubbish.

There may be some truth that some people are already framing a betting market about a change of Leader in the Labor Party.

But the real (and unstated) purpose of the story is not about betting, its purpose can only be to destabilise the Labor Government.

It is an act of spite, by a Newspaper which has been totally negative all the way through the Election campaign.

The story starts off saying:

• "Bill Shorten, the former union boss who orchestrated the execution of Kevin Rudd from the Labor leadership, has been backed by punters to lead the party to the next election.
• "While hundreds of punters sweat on the final election outcome, Mr Shorten, the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, has been installed as the clear favourite with bookies to topple Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is fighting to form a minority government."

What a bastard act, to run such a story, now, when Julia Gillard is negotiating with the various independents about which party will form a minority Government.

I refuse to give a link to the story (as internet protocol would normally dictate) as that might encourage you to read the story.

Please do not read it.

Please cancel your subscription to "The Age" (if you have one). I have just done that.

Are you interested in what people think?

Today's edition of The Age has a story on the expansion of the city boundaries of Melbourne.

There are 309 comments, (before The Age Closed down the "Comments" function). That's huge.

And you should read the tone of what they good people of Melbourne are saying:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/green-land-cut-back-as-melbourne-grows-much-bigger-20100729-10wvi.html?comments=210#comments

In a week when Melbourne has suffered a calamitous rail system failure, the good citizens are thoroughly pissed off.

Is Julia the answer?

Well, it obviously depends on what is the question.
The Age on-line poll does not look good for Julia and the ALP. (Go to the bottom of Michelle Grattan's report (see link above).

Poll: Are you more likely to vote Labor with Julia Gillard as leader?

Poll form

1. Please select an answer. Yes
2. No
3. View results

Yes

41%

No

59%

Total votes: 102966.

Poll closes in 3 days.

Disclaimer:

These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well, these self-initiated polls attract Nutters like myself, however, 102966 is a lot of people for such an on-line poll.

And so it really looks as if Julia might not be the answer at all.

Delusional Liberals rage at Howard .... but he was not alone.

It is fun to watch the Liberal Party trying to tear itself apart. And even funnier to see them all blaming John Howard. But I have a word for them (and the Labor Party). The last Government surrounded itself with "Yes Men", Toadies and sycophants. Nobody was providing the "Frank and Fearless Advice" which was the hallmark of the traditional Public Service.

Everybody was desperate to read the mind of the person above them, and to tell that person what they wanted to hear. And I speak of this pattern right down into the middle and lower ranks of the Public Service. This is the true meaning of the Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tale - of the "Emperor's New Clothes" - where all the courtiers were too weak, too beholden to the Emperor, to tell him what was as plain as the nose on his face, (or elsewhere, in that case).

"Children Overboard" is my supreme case in point, but just one of many examples. Right through to the David Hicks Case, the AWB Scandal, and the Dr Haneef case. People who knew the truth were rewarded for hiding the facts. The AWB scandal is possibly the largest ticking bomb, still buried within the Fairyland World of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs. Lets hope someone finds the moral fibre to stand up and tell the truth - at last.

From Day One (today) the Labor Party must ensure that they go back to that old principle of good governance - that Politicians and Public Service all provide "Frank and Fearless Advice". Otherwise, they will be destined to repeat the recent history of the Liberal Party Government.

---

But let us look at the Liberals for just another moment - for it is such fun.

Michelle Grattan, writing in "The Age" this morning has some wonderful quotes:

• "And, as anger mounted in the party towards John Howard, Peter Costello's father-in-law, Peter Coleman, declared "Howard's egomania" had blocked Mr Costello's "great promise". Mr Coleman, a former Liberal MP who writes a column for the ABC website, said Mr Howard had "a fatal flaw which brought him low and devastated his party. It is his colossal egotism."

And on Tony Abbott's withdrawal from the race for Liberal Party Leadership...

• "Mr Abbott described it as the "last supper at the Lodge for quite some time".

DJW writes: Typical Tony, Catholic mythology confused with myopia. No Tony, it is not "the Last Supper at the Lodge" - just the last one YOU are likely to be invited to. But that is a measure of nothing, when it comes to history, Tony. As they say: "Why is it all about you, Tony?".

• And Tony Abbott again: "I was a member of John Howard's praetorian guard, you might say. I always regarded myself as the honorary life president of the John Howard fan club."

DJW writes: Nice quote Tony. Thanks for that. We shall file that one away, if you don't mind.

Bloody Idiot.

He displays a lack of judgment, right to the bitter end.

Its as good as his "People Skills" quote from a couple of days before.

Didn't you know? Hicks was trying to "destroy our civilisation".

Guantanamo Bay "inmate"
One leading Liberal is blaming the Hicks team for the "timing" of the plea bargain.

They may as well blame him for trying to destabilise the Government for the last 5 years, by limping round in shackles and an orange jump suit, just to look good on Television, and to attract sympathy.

He is even accused here of trying to "destroy our civilization".

*****

If you don't believe me? Read it here:

According to "The Age" website: "Mr Turnbull said he had been wondering for some time what the motivations were behind stalling a plea deal.
crikey.com.au
"As a lawyer the thing that I find interesting is that Hicks' lawyers did not seek to get a deal done a lot earlier," Mr Turnbull told ABC radio today.

"I mean David Hicks on a substantive test, on a factual test, was always guilty - he was caught red-handed," he said.

"Whether he was a foot soldier or more important than that nonetheless he was definitely working with the terrorists, he was seeking to destroy our civilisation."

"Given those circumstances, I've always wondered whether his failure to get a deal done and the apparent lack of interest to get a deal done, I've often wondered what their motivations were there."

*****

Mr Turnbull: I must ask you: Hicks was always guilty of what, exactly?
Under which set of laws, Mr Turnbull?
Australian laws? I don't think so - otherwise we could have charged him here, which we all know we cannot do.
American "made-up charges", which are not real laws on the US Statute Books?

How could he have been always guilty of laws invented after his capture, and incarceration?

As Crikey.com.au suggested (see their courtroom sketch above) Hicks was guilty "by incarceration".

*****

Mr Turnbull, you said it, so please explain!

Oh, and by the way, under which of your portfolio responsibilities are you commenting - Is it as Minister for the Environment or Minister for Water Resources? Surely you are not commenting on matters outside your portfolio responsibilities?

Or are you speaking, from jealousy, that John Howard, Alex Downer and Phillip Ruddock are getting all the headlines on this story? Surely not???

The real cost of the "War on Terror"

Jeff Sparrow has written an article about the obsession with capital punishment in The Age, 1 January 2007. "Delivering convenient death shrinks all our souls". It starts out with a predictable question, along the lines of: "Why do people want to watch the death throws of Saddam Hussein" - which he refers to as "digital necrophilia".

But then, he switches tack, and comes up with these statistics - OK, he has borrowed them from "The Independent" in Britain.

"the Global War on Terror, ... according to Britain's Independent, has already taken the lives of 62,000 people, created 4.5 million refugees and cost the US more than the sum needed to pay off the debts of every poor nation on earth..."

There you go - they could have paid off world debt - but instead chose to fabricate a reason to invade Iraq - so that they could steal the resources of a sovereign nation. OK, not many people think kindly of Saddam, but he was as legitimate a ruler as many others I could name. And don't forget the Americans worked with him, when it suited them, (because of Iran).

It also shows that continuing world poverty is a choice made by powerful Governments.

The people who campaign to "Make Poverty History" must be spewing over these statistics.

As Michelle asks - Is he a Ruddy Socialist?

Well, Michelle Grattan, in "The Age" asks a good question: "Is he a Ruddy Socialist"?
I would like to know what the heck he means by all this word playing.
In addition to my list of "socialisms" in yesterday's Blog (Democratic Socialism, Chardonnay, Volvo, etc), Michelle Grattan quotes Rudd, from some time back, claiming to be a Christian Socialist (in the tradition of Keir Hardie, the famous British Labour Leader from the early 1900s). At least that is an honourable tradition.
Fair enough, I say.
But lets stick with a definition, and stick with a principle. Whatever you believe in Kevin, stick with it.
Wear the badge of Socialism proudly - or don't wear it at all.