What have we done to deserve an Opposition Leader like Tony Abbott?

I’m fed up with Tony Abbott and most of his Coalition team. I’m fed up with his unremitting negativity. I’m fed up with his destructiveness. I’m fed up with his nastiness. I’m fed up with his attitude towards women. I’m fed up with his rabble-rousing tactics. I’m fed up with his time wasting. I’m fed up with his deception, his disingenuousness, his misrepresentation, his downright lies, and his campaign of fear, uncertainty and doubt that they feed. Most of all I’m fed up with his ceaseless obstructionism, standing in the way of the party elected to govern this country, my country, your country.

Last year, the people of Australia elected 150 members to the House of Representatives, 72 were Labor, 72 were Coalition, one was from The Greens; the other five were independents. Three of the latter joined with the Green to enable Labor to form government, giving a majority of 76 to 74. So whatever Coalition people say, a majority of those elected by the people have formed a legitimate government, whose task is to govern this nation. Yet Tony Abbott is doing everything he can to obstruct the legitimate government from governing. Although Abbott has many, many faults, none is as reprehensible as obstructing the governance of the nation.

As a taxpayer contributing to the salary and functioning of the Federal House of Representatives, I resent the unrelenting Abbott-led attack on everything the elected Government is trying to do. I resent his continual attempts to pull things down, to block every move the Government makes to legislate on our behalf. I resent the irresponsible scare campaign he carries out day after day based on misrepresentation and blatant lies. I resent the way he uses the word ‘toxic’ to describe Labor, the carbon tax, the minerals tax, and anything else he wants to deride, smear, demolish, destroy. Assuming an average annual salary of $160,000 for members of the House, the 150 members cost the nation over $24 million a year for wages alone. I am not getting value for money from Abbott or his Coalition members.

I resent the way he and his Coalition members waste time day after day in Question Time asking disingenuous questions that are deliberately intended to mislead. I resent the maliciousness of his questioning style. I resent the viciousness of this pugilist’s words, the meanness of spirit he brings into the chamber day after day. I resent the personal remarks he makes about PM Gillard, calling her a liar in a dozen different ways. I resent his demeaning sexism directed to her.

Now before some Coalition supporter jumps in to comment that the job of oppositions is to oppose, let me disabuse you of this commonly held myth. Oppositions are NOT supposed to oppose EVERYTHING, as Abbott does. We all know, because it’s in his book Battlelines, that he believes in, and follows Randolph Churchill’s dictum: “The job of an opposition is to oppose everything, suggest nothing, and turf the government out.” Churchill was WRONG. So you ask, what is the role of an opposition?

In my view as a voter and taxpayer I expect an opposition to do these things:
To hold the government to account for its actions and behaviour.
To question government ministers and public servants about their activities, statements, intentions, policies and plans.
To contribute to the governance of the nation by supporting good policy.
To seek to improve legislation through amendments.
To oppose legislation only if it believes it is seriously detrimental to the nation.
To introduce bills via the private member bill mechanism.
To engage in the committee system in a collaborative way.

While it is appropriate to oppose legislation which it believes may be dangerously damaging for the country, and all oppositions justifiably do this, this ought to be the case only if it is not possible to amend it suitably. I know Coalition supporters will try to argue that what Abbott is opposing is bad for the nation. But he has chosen to oppose virtually everything, and even with the plain packaging legislation for cigarettes this previous health minister, this fitness fanatic, had to be dragged kicking and screaming to support it, as I understand because of threats from his backbench they would cross the floor on the issue if he opposed it. He even opposes good policy from the Howard era for which Nick Minchin has sought his support, declaring that when it comes to choosing between policy purity and pragmatism, with him pragmatism wins every time. Hillbilly Skeleton gave us a penetrating insight into this in her piece Post-Truth Politics. His opportunistic, pragmatic weathervane attributes were nicely illustrated in the graphic accompanying that piece.

How can a government govern if everything it tries to do has to be drawn through the long, tedious and time wasting process that opposing everything necessitates? Even savings measures designed to get the budget back into surplus are opposed. Why? Because Abbott’s Coalition does not want the Government to ever produce a surplus. That would put paid to Joe Hockey’s mantra: “This government will never produce a surplus budget.”

If any visitor to The Political Sword can name any legislation, other than machinery bills, that Abbott has supported, please inform us.

The macabre skeleton of Abbott’s objectionable attributes outlined above requires flesh to be placed on the bones.

First Abbott’s negativity: He describes the Government as the most incompetent in Australian political history. He sees no good in anything at all the Government does, except condolence motions for fallen soldiers and support for an Australian presence in Afghanistan. Everything else is awful, hopeless, bungling, flawed, useless, appalling, entirely without merit. Does he really expect any sensible person to believe that this Government can do NOTHING right? He must, because he goes on with this day after day, week after week, month after month.

Next his destructiveness: Every day he is out there trying to destroy Julia Gillard. He regularly calls her a liar, someone never to be trusted, unable to make decisions and keep her word. He labels her and her Government incompetent, unable to manage money, or anything else for that matter. Pink batts and the accompanying ceiling fires and deaths are still regularly thrown back at her, and the BER, despite its 97% success rate, is persistently lampooned as an example of Labor’s ‘waste and mismanagement’. He berates the asylum seeker policy as an abject failure, and no matter what she does to stem the flow of boats he finds something destructive to say about it, the latest being his cynical pseudo concern for the welfare of boat people, while when in Government he never showed concern – remember Tampa and ‘kids overboard’. And if you need any further evidence of his destructiveness think not only about his trenchant opposition to pricing carbon and the MRRT, but about his intention to ‘repeal these taxes in government’, in other words to destroy them. We got an inkling of his destructiveness early on when he instructed Malcolm Turnbull to ‘demolish’, or in other words destroy the NBN, and of course he hoped that in the process his rival Turnbull too would be destroyed.

But his destructiveness goes even further. Day after day he is intentionally trying to build in the mind of the electorate a way of thinking about Julia Gillard that conjures up images of untrustworthiness and ineptitude that the moment her name is mentioned, voters will automatically reject everything she says as spin, lies and promises she not only cannot keep, but will not keep. History has many examples of how vilifying a person or a group over and again eventually convinces the people. Joseph Goebbels said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” We know where that led. Abbott too knows this. That is why he viciously repeats lies about PM Gillard and her Government day after day.

Next his nastiness: Some will ask why he needs to be nice. No he doesn’t, but being civil and courteous are not incompatible with being in opposition. Kim Beasley and Kevin Rudd were able to be so; Abbott has chosen deliberately not to be so. As he asks questions in QT he exudes nastiness. He spits out his vitriolic questions with spite contorting his face. There is nothing attractive about his demeanour. The only time the venom, the nastiness, the cynical sarcasm evaporates is when he is seconding a condolence motion. Why should this nation’s PM have to suffer the indignity of this man’s unremitting viciousness and meanness day after day, in parliament and out; why should we the public have to witness this endlessly uncharitable and offensive behaviour?

Now his attitude to women: We have seen the disparagement that he heaps on women again and again. His ‘doing the ironing’ comment which enraged many women: "What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it's going to go up in price, and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up"; his refusal only last week to reprimand Senator David Bushby for his ‘meow’ retort directed at Penny Wong, instead calling Julia Gillard a ‘hypocrite’; his statement in the House that he looked forward to her becoming ‘an honest woman’, a clear reference to her marital status; his description of a woman's virginity as ‘the greatest gift’ she could give someone, and even his remark that his daughters looked ‘hot’ in Lycra on a bike ride; and perhaps most blatantly his standing in front of a placard labeling the PM as ‘Brown’s bitch’. He is sexist, but either doesn’t see that, or else he doesn’t care.

Next his rabble-rousing: The Canberra ‘revolting people’ rally was one of the more grotesque examples of rabble rousing, but there are examples every day of his inciting antagonism when he visits markets, greengrocers, butchers, drycleaners, newsagents, steel factories, car manufacturers, mines, in fact any venue he can lay his hands on so long as the media is there to give him his visual for the 6 o’clock TV news. The message is always the same. The carbon tax is toxic, will raise the price of everything, will destroy thousands of jobs, will ruin business and industry, will close down mines and plants, will create ghost towns, and will generally devastate our society and those thousands of good folk struggling to pay escalating household bills. But HE will save them from this ‘fate worse than death’! It’s boring, nauseatingly repetitive, but, if one can judge from the improvement of the Coalition’s position in the opinion polls, it is working for him as he systematically poisons the electorate against PM Gillard and her Government.

Next his time wasting: This is manifest grotesquely in QT, where he and his Coalition members ask questions, mainly on the same theme, to get a spot on the TV news and of course to embarrass the Government. They seldom do embarrass, and the responses of Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan, Stephen Smith, Jenny Macklin, Anthony Albanese, Nicola Roxon, Tanya Plibersek, Simon Crean and other ministers usually expose the disingenuousness of the question, the misinformation it contains, and demolish the questioner to boot. But Abbott does not mind. It’s the nasty question asked with such accusatory venom that he wants on the TV news. As that is what comes first in the news, he punts that the viewers will hear his vicious question that calls Government actions into serious question, but that they won’t listen long enough for the rebuttal. It’s cynical politics, but that’s the way our Opposition Leader does it. He doesn’t care how much of the parliament’s time he wastes achieving his sinister objectives. And this year particularly, in almost every QT, at around ten minutes before three o’clock, Abbott has moved a censure motion or raised a matter of public importance that he hopes will get on the 6 o’clock news. The matters raised are puerile, but that matters nothing to him, nor does the time he is wasting; all he cares about is gaining political advantage. If he were an employee, he would be sacked for profligate waste of time.

What about his deception, disingenuousness, misrepresentation and downright lies that feeds his campaign of fear, uncertainty and doubt? This is gross and occurs with almost every utterance. For example in QT last week he misrepresented a suggestion in Ross Garnaut’s final report: “I ask the Prime Minister: will she repudiate Professor Garnaut's proposal for an unelected, unaccountable body to set emissions reductions targets?” Garnaut never said that. The committee he suggested was to advise Government, which would then make the decision. Abbott knew he was misrepresenting Garnaut, but he didn’t care. What he wanted to do was get publicity by whatever medium for the notion that the Government was intending to abrogate its responsibility for setting emission targets. I could quote scores of similar misrepresentations, deception, and bald-faced lies perpetrated in the House. You know them too.

His deceptiveness is not in doubt. In that infamous interview with Kerry O’Brien on the 7.30 Report, he himself conceded that he does not always tell the ‘gospel truth’ and that only what is scripted and written down should be believed. You heard him in Whyalla telling workers that their steel industry will be destroyed by the tax on carbon and their city will become a ‘ghost town’. That is arrant nonsense and he knows it, but to him truth is irrelevant, so long as he can continue the poisoning of the public’s mind against the tax and perpetrate a corrosive atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and doubt, his stock in trade. Yet how often has his deception been exposed by the media? Seldom, even by sound journalists. And the likes of Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman, Terry McCrann, and shock jocks Alan Jones and Ray Hadley not only fail to challenge his lies, but laud his approach and give him an armchair ride in their outlets. Yet if they see the possibility of labeling Julia Gillard a liar, it’s JULIAR.

Finally the ceaseless obstructionism: This is what I resent most of all. It does not matter what PM Gillard proposes to do, or does, Abbott will criticize, find no merit in it at all, and do everything in his power to obstruct her and her Government. He obstructs every attempt to reach a budget surplus by opposing its attempt at savings, and there are many. He opposes any attempt the Government makes to tackle climate change with his ‘toxic tax’ mantra. He opposes every attempt to get miners to pay a fair amount for the minerals they take from the ground and sell at high prices overseas and urges miners to join him in his fight with the Government. He sends his Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband out to ‘demolish’, to destroy the NBN, to do everything he can to obstruct this most major of all infrastructure projects, even to the extent of his calling into question the integrity of the CEO of the NBN Co, Mike Quigley. Obstruct, obstruct, obstruct with the intent of making this country ungovernable is his aim. That over 100 bills have been passed since Julia Gillard became PM shows how ineffectual he has been to date in actually blocking bills, but only a fool would underestimate his capacity to delay, obstruct and eventually destroy anything in his path.

So do what have we done to deserve an Opposition Leader like Tony Abbott? The answer is nothing at all.

We have him as a result of the roll of the dice in a crap game played behind the closed doors of the Coalition party room on 1 December 2009 – yes it’s that long ago! The game was set up by Nick Minchin and a phalanx of climate deniers/skeptics in the party’s ranks who were determined to remove Malcolm Turnbull because of his support for Kevin Rudd’s ETS. But the dice rolled differently to what Minchin had planned after Joe Hockey, his preference for leader, equivocated over opposition to the ETS. So to everyone’s surprise Hockey was eliminated in the first ballot and Abbott then defeated Turnbull by a single vote. So sheer chance has given us this man – and we have suffered ever since. What an awful legacy.

Ten days after Abbott’s election to Opposition Leader, on 10 December 2009, I wrote a piece on The Political Sword titled The pugilistic politician. You may care to glance through it again. The last paragraph reads: “Until the election [that was the 2010 election], which Rudd seems likely to postpone until at least August, we can expect Abbott, the pugilistic politician, to attack Government policies and actions incessantly and relentlessly, to keep Coalition policies under wraps as much as possible to avoid having to defend them, and to exhibit venom, vitriol and vituperativeness the like of which we have not seen in politics in Australia for a long while. It will be unremittingly ugly. What a prospect for 2010!”

You can see that the only change in the intervening eighteen months is that Abbott has become even more extreme, more strident, more venomous, more noxious than predicted.

Fred made the first comment on that piece. It began: "The use of aggressive machismo language by Abbott worries the hell out of me." He concluded: "I really do strongly, very, very strongly, question the suitability of this person to have a major public role in this country." How right Fred was.

Given Abbott’s extreme behaviour, which balanced columnists acknowledge, it might reasonably be expected that there would be an outcry from those journalists who respect the democratic process, who give some weight to the need for truth and decency in political discourse, but sadly few voices have been raised in condemnation of Abbott’s demeanour, behaviour and utterances. Even mature and respected journalists like Paul Kelly decline to do so, instead, as Lindsay Tanner states so clearly in his book Sideshow: Dumbing Down Democracy, they see the contest between Abbott and Gillard as a sporting event, and gleefully report the scores, lauding Abbott for pulling the Coalition ahead in the TPP stakes and excitingly edging towards the PM in the PPM stakes. Not surprisingly, the likes of Dennis Shanahan delight in this; the Paul Kelly’s ought to know better.

Coalition supporters will ask: Is there nothing good about Tony Abbott. Well there is. It is reliably reported that he is a pleasant person to chat with over a beer. Journalists generally seem to like him. He is a family man devoted to his wife and daughters. He seems to have sincere affection for indigenous people. He is one of the few Liberal politicians who have put his values and beliefs into writing in his book Battlelines. He is a hard worker for his party, has abundant energy and keeps himself very fit. He has persistence. Some see him as a good leader, but the recent fracturing of Coalition unity calls that into question. He is a master of three word slogans and has learned to keep on message so long as he’s not probed too deeply. He has elevated his party in the opinion polls, although he has not done so well personally. Now I’m running out of admirable traits. Perhaps Abbott supporters can help me out.

It seems that Tony Abbott’s prime objective is to be PM, and judging from what the Independents say, will do anything to grasp that shining prize. Everything I have written here reinforces that argument; his ruthlessness in pursuing the prize is on display for all to see.

Yet what has he got to offer? His does not look prime ministerial (as does Malcolm Turnbull), he does not act prime ministerially, he lacks the skills and attributes needed in a prime minister, particularly an understanding of global economics, and instead offers all the objectionable and obnoxious attributes detailed in this piece. He is a hollow man, unworthy of this high office.

I’m sick and tired of the relentless attacks that this pugilistic Leader of the Opposition makes on the elected PM of this country and her Government day after day, his fists flailing wildly in every direction hoping he can land a punch and be seen doing so. In my own small way I’m punching back. If only more would do so, if only our MSM journalists would join us.

So I ask again: What have we done to deserve an Opposition Leader like Tony Abbott?

I can’t think of a plausible answer. Can you?

Rate This Post

Current rating: 0.2 / 5 | Rated 29 times

tredlgt

5/06/2011To Ad astra Hear Hear . Well said. I am also sick to death of the time wasting and am constantly surprised that there are no decent politicians in the liberals to pull him into line or at least openly oppose his bullshit. They would have nothing to lose because eventually abbott will be deposed and will be forgotten and the ones who stand up will be the winners.

Catching up

5/06/2011Thanks for telling it how it is. His only aim is to destroy anything that the government attempts, so matter how it harms the country. I am sick of the way he down talks the economy and the fear and gloom he is spreading throughout the country. In the past I can remember the governments accusing Labor Opposition of talking down the economy. That is what Mr. Abbott is doing, and sadly he is getting the results he is seeking. The only way he sees he has of succeeding in being elected in not letting Labor have any wins. Says a lot for his own opinon of his abilty.

Dwight Towers

5/06/2011Stop mincing your words - tell us what you really think! :) He is a cretin, isn't he? Why is this happening? Um, karmic debt for the invasion of Australia, attempted extermination of the humans living here, beserk environmental despoilation and carbon emissions that would make the worst petrol head in the United Arab Emirates blush? For starters... PS Love your writing.

Feral Skeleton

5/06/2011What I find interesting is that Tony Abbott has chosen to heed the words, not of the successful Churchill, Winston Churchill, who I am sure was smart enough to realise that to get into power from Opposition a true leader does not oppose everything that a government does, but the spectacularly unsuccessful Churchill, Randolph Churchill, who, for the life of me I cannot remember one singular political success that he had. Can you? Interesting how Tony Abbott uses the Churchill aura and name recognition to cloak his political skullduggery and bloody-mindedness in. Most people just recognise the name 'Churchill', not this one or that one, so think he is probably quoting from the famous statesman. When, of course, he disingenuoulsly is not. As per usual with Mr Abbott, it is a sleight of political hand.

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Tony Abbott certainly isn't Prime Ministerial, more like Dictatorial, which you could have explored as well if you had delved into his belief in 'Guided Democracy', the manifestation of which, in the mind of that man, I can only dread the possibilities of for this country. And the way he desports himself about the place, with his Bovver Boy phalanx, which includes a couple of equally nasty women in the form of Sophie Mirabella and Bronwyn Bishop, just makes me think of no one more than Alex and his Droogs from the film 'A Clockwork Orange', walking about like a tightly-coiled spring about to unload on someone should they say the wrong thing. Which almost happened to poor old Mark Riley after the 'Shit Happens' expose of Mr Abbott's callous and uncharitable remarks after the death of a soldier in Afghanistan. Not only that, but I can still remember the behaviour of Mr Abbott in the documentary of the post-election period, made by the ABC, over the 17 days of negotiations with the Independants to form government. He treated the female journalist who just wanted to question him with a summary viciousness that I have only ever seen in the most ruthless and heartless of individuals. Truly scary. And he wants to be our Prime Minister? No way, Jose. Not while this little black duck has breath in its body. Can you just imagine how he would change the country? It's bad enough as it is with him just as Opposition Leader. Like I said, he would emulate those charismatic, 'Guided Democracy' dictators, like Mugabe, Ghadaffi, Mubarak & Berlusconi, you know the sort, they construct the shell of a democracy and have elections which they miraculously always win with votes of about 80%+, but who leave a stain on their countries that is almost impossible to remove because they encourage only the worst in their people and it takes ages to rectify.

fiz

6/06/2011Abbott is a purveyor of demagoguery, plain and simple. I always thought that John Howard brought out the worst in this country, changing it's face into one of small-mindedness, greed, complacency, shallowness and with a close eye on 'what's in it for me?'. But I think he will have nothing on an Abbott prime ministership. Over 200,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2000 in a spirit of reconciliation. That was the last hurrah from the Keating years, his lasting legacy that spurred us on to be better. Can you think of any issue that would get that many people out in Sydney today? Howard's legacy diminished us all. I fear an Abbott legacy would cast an even more enduring and ugly stain Australian society.

David Horton

6/06/2011Remarkably thorough Ad, well done indeed, even if vey depressing on a cold wet morning! You have nailed down all the bits so comprehensively that I can think of little to add. It is worth noting that the "oppose everything" tactic didn't just arise out of the fevered brow of Minchin or Loughnane (is he still in charge?) but was borrowed holus bolus from the Republicans in America. The aim is quite simply to make the country ungovernable by a left wing party, and the Republicans managed to do it even without a majority by clever use of parliamentary rules. If the left ing party can get little if anything through, why then, must be time for a change back to the Right! If the left were to borrow the tactic then the Republican government would simply scream "obstruction" and the Democrats would back off. Abbott (or rather his tacticians) have also borrowed the "delegitimise the left wing government" tactic from the Republicans. We saw it in the US with Clinton, as they warmed up with court cases, and silly impeachments, but it went into top gear with the "birther" movement. Can't say Obama shouldn't be president because he is black, so you say it is because he was born elsewhere, or had a socialist grandfather. If the government you are opposing is illegitimate, nay, illegal, then this justifies any obstruction, any dirty tactics. Justifies getting the government thrown out after one term. Here there was a trial run with Whitlam, very successful. Now you can't say Gillard is illegitimate because she is a woman, oh my goodness no, it is because of something she said in the election campaign (hullo, non-core promises anyone?), because she isn't married, is nominally an atheist, has red hair, couldn't install pink batts, etc etc. Not legitimate, must be stopped, thrown out, new election. Very effective - politics no longer a contest between two valid forces, but between one legitimate party and one illegitimate one. So this stuff isn't just some quirk of the pugilist Abbott character, it is carefully calculated, in general and in detail. In detail? Well, the opposition, with the help of the miners and the business groups to both the mining tax and the carbon tax, and to any measures to increase revenues and cut programs is a deliberate effort to give the ALP absolutely no budget room to move, no ability to bring in its own likely-to-be-popular initiatives. No, they will be starved of the ability to respond to their own voters. Enormously effective. You suggest that Abbott, as one of his redeeming features, seems to have a concern for indigenous people. Sorry, but cynical old me doesn't see that. Instead I see a man applying his rigid doctrinaire neoconservative ideology to another area, and at the same time pleasing his corporate friends. The intervention seems to me to reflect the determination of the RIght to impose their will on every element of society that doesn't toe the Liberal line. Aborigines shouldn't be living in outstations, their culture is no good, they must be forced into mainstream Australia. Sound familiar? Of course it does, it is the disastrous 1950s (and earlier) assimilation policy. In addition, getting Aborigines out of the way gives miners free reign in lots of places they would like to get their hands on. Including Cape York, where Abbott's "acceptance" of Aboriginal self-determination only seems hypocritical until you realise that in that case one of the local leaders has a strong belief that self-determination means opening up the Cape to mining interests. So no, I wouldn't put his interests here into the positive side of the scales. And what did we do to deserve Tony Abbott? Oh, that's an easy one Ad, we gave the world Rupert Murdoch.

lyn

6/06/2011 [b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]Fast and Fatuous, Mr Denmore, The Failed Estate[/i] True to form, the ABC echo chamber dutifully ran with the story and we were off to the races before the ad had even aired on mainstream television. http://thefailedestate.blogspot.com/2011/06/fast-and-fatuous.html [i]Falling leaves drift by the window, David Horton, The Watermelon Blog[/i] Investigative journalists peering into the dark corners of politics, blowing fresh air into smoke-filled back rooms, bringing patterns to our attention from what had seemed merely a few random political http://davidhortonsblog.com/2011/06/05/falling-leaves-drift-by-the-window/ [i]Taxing credulity, William Bowe, The Poll Bludger[/i] And true to form, the Telegraph has today used the opportunity to run an editorial headlined “voters demand a carbon tax ballot”, in which it argues that “an election now is very necessary”. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2011/06/06/taxing-credulity/ [i]Say what?, Ash, Ash's Machiavellian Bloggery[/i] Where the ‘Say No’ rallies received front page pictures and headlines, the ‘Say Yes’ rallies have not. Dispute the number of people that came out to do what they say http://ashghebranious.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/say-what/ [i]New Trends and Gender Shifts, Possum Comitatus, Pollytics[/i] Labor government’s two party preferred vote has stabilised out around the 46% mark over the last 6 weeks. A lot of day to day stuff came and went, from budgets to http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ [i]Compare and Contrast, Meow edition, Jeremy Sear, Pure Poison[/i] Miranda Devine’s not-entirely-accurate summary of the Meow incident:Gosh, I hope Miranda’s readers don’t actually watch the footage: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/ [i]Katter's Australian Party launched in Brisbane, ABC[/i] "There are 20 to 30 per cent who refuse to vote for mainstream parties," he told The Sunday Mail. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/05/3235909.htm?section=justin [i]Climate rallies, Australian Politics TV[/i] Across Australia tens of thousands of people gathered in capital cities to loudly and unequivocally say YES to action on climate change. We were there in Melbourne where 10-12 thousand people made it out for the action. Here’s TEN’s take on them.[b]Estimates being reported suggest 45,000+ people attended Say Yes Australia rallies today[/b]. http://australianpoliticstv.org/2011/06/05/climate-rallies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AustralianPoliticsTv+%28Australian+Politics+TV%29&utm_content=Twitter [i]Thousands 'Say Yes' at carbon price rallies, ABC[/i] An estimated 10,000 people turned out in Melbourne while police said up to 8,000 rallied in Sydney in support of the "Say Yes" campaign. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/05/3235955.htm?section=justin [i]Thousands rally in Sydney for climate change, SBS[/i] As many as 8000 people have rallied in Sydney to urge the federal government to set a price on carbon, as part of a national climate change campaign in cities across the country. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1552456/Thousands-rally-in-Sydney-for-climate-change [i]When the US debt is downgraded? By how much? John Quiggin[/i] There’s no sign that the Repubs are willing to give an inch on tax increases. Agreeing to the cuts they want, with no tax increases would be politically suicidal for the Dems, which is not to say they won’t do it, but must raise the possibility of a breakdown. http://johnquiggin.com/2011/06/05/when-will-us-debt-be-downgraded-by-how-much/#more-9876 [b]Newspapers[/b] [i]Thousands urge Australians to 'Say Yes',HENRIETTA COOK, Canberra Times[/i] Canberra Safe Climate alliance spokesman Geoff Lazarus said about 10,000 people attended the Canberra rally, although there were more modest estimates of 3000 people taking part in the walk. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/thousands-urge-australians-to-say-yes/2185809.aspx [i]Families drawn to carbon rallies , Amos ZAikman, The Australian[/i] The atmosphere was in stark contrast with the vociferous protests that marked anti-carbon tax rallies in Canberra and Port Macquarie, 390km north of Sydney, recently. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/families-drawn-to-carbon-rallies/story-fn59niix-1226069746023 [i]Bob Katter's recruitment drive for new party ,Jessica Marszalek, Herald Sun[/i] He also called on politicians to jump ship and join him, although he said he was unsure he would want Queensland LNP politicians who had let the party machine dictate their leader http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/katters-recruitment-drive-for-new-party/story-e6frf7jo-1226069678687

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011David Horton, Well said. However, as we can see in all too stark relief today, one of the other major factors in the Cons playbook is to bring out a poll which is supposed to tell the legitimately-elected government that the electorate has lost faith in them...and so it's time to call an election which the Cons would no doubt win. Thus we see the polling group with the lowest believeability in their results, Galaxy, coming out with a poll of a whole 500 people which says that 66% of them want an election NOW! to decide whether they want to have a Carbon Tax or not. Truly a breathtaking presumption of finality around the debate to do with putting a Price on Carbon that I find absolutely shameless in its intent. As I said in my previous blog, the editors of the newspapers in this country have abnegated their traditional roles of impartial arbiters and become players in the political game. I mean, that Galaxy poll is simply a tool to allow 'Toxic' Tony to beat the government around the head a bit more this week when he goes around the country spreading his own toxic emissions wrt putting a Price on Carbon, so as to have an impact on CO2 emissions. What's the bet he waves that poll in the air today when he does his usual ABC Free Publicity 'Press Conference'? The guy is a cancer on the body politic of Australia. End of. And the media are helping the tumour to grow.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/LYNS-DAILY-LINKS.aspx

Steve

6/06/2011I agree with all your points about Abbott. My concern is that the Prime Minister is doing very little about the slow destruction of the democratic process and the erosion of parliamentary process. Let's sum up the current situation: - We have right wing domination of media; - Most of the military believe they are obliged to obey the Governor General not the current elected government; - a right wing Australian Police Force - and a political leader who will do anything to gain power. The democratic canary expired some time ago.

janice

6/06/2011Ad astra, You have come up with a comprehensive profile of the LOTO. As HS said, he is a cancer on the body politic of Australia. What did we do to deserve this despicable man? Well, in the first instance we have failed to educate our young people as to governing and governance. i.e. How government works, how revenue is collected and distributed, why revenue must be spent on infrastructure (plus what is infrastructure), the importance of providing opportunity for all citizens as well as caring for our aged and needy. Secondly, we have stupidly ignored the bit in the constitution about the separation of powers and have allowed religion to cross over into government affairs by stealth. They have been infiltrating the political parties where they have become able to wield power to divide and turn brother against brother. Abbott's tactic is simply "divide and conquer". He is a religious zealot devoid of tolerance and charity, and he will (and does) lie, cheat and corrupt in an effort to turn our society into his own version of christianity in the name of God. He is indeed a cancer running amok and will, if people continue to support him, do untold and horrific damage to this country.

Gravel

6/06/2011Ad Astra Your first paragraph said it all for me. I kept reading, relishing every word, until like David, I queried your belief that Abbott cares about indigenous people. I remember him saying clearly a month or so ago calling for another intervention, denying that the first one has been a quagmire. Feral Skeleton You picked up the other points well and added more meat to the very healthy body of Ad Astra's topic.

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011janice, Did you hear that Phillip Ruddock is being challenged from the rabid Religious Right for his federal seat of Berowra?

calyptorhynchus

6/06/2011Well, Randolph Churchill never became Prime Minister.

janice

6/06/2011And another thing. Abbott's concern for aboriginal people is just as misguided as those who were responsible for the stolen generations. He does not, nor will he ever, understand aboriginal people nor does he accept that their present plight stems from the white "interventions" of the past. Missionaries and do-gooders in the past were hell bent on making white people out of our black people. They couldn't change the colour of their skins (although they did think they could "breed" it out under their assimilation policy), but they went on a campaign to force them to ditch their culture and their beliefs in favour of "white" ones. They sent the kids to schools to learn english and forbade them to use their own language - a sure way to alienate them from their tribes. Then, to top it all off, the white people exploited the black Australians with gay abandon in every way possible. The exploitation still continues.

Acerbic Conehead

6/06/2011AA, A devastating critique, but very scary too. You have thrown light on the machinations of a truly Machiavellian character. FS, Great comments also, especially the warning about the implications of "guided democracy". But, be aware, the implementation of "guided democracy" has already begun. Large swathes of the media dance to his tune. Even the public broadcaster. Be afraid, Australia.

lyn

6/06/2011Hi Ad Thankyou so much for another genuine, article. I love your writing Ad,and I love your words. You and your sincere, thoughtful articles are what attracted me to "The Political Sword" in the first place. Now look what you have done,I am stuck here forever addicted to your writing. Ad, you have attracted some fantastic comments so early.I hope they keep up all day. Evidence, commenters appreciate an honest reliable article, enabling them to voice their own opinions and concerns. Your words: [i][quote]I’m sick and tired of the relentless attacks that this pugilistic Leader of the Opposition makes on the elected PM of this country and her Government day after day, his fists flailing wildly in every direction hoping he can land a punch [/i]and be seen doing so. [/quote] I have to try not to get depressed about this pugilistic behaviour. "The Political Sword"lets me do just that, reading others opinions and a place to talk. We are lucky. Have a happy day Ad

janice

6/06/2011[quote]Did you hear that Phillip Ruddock is being challenged from the rabid Religious Right for his federal seat of Berowra?[/quote] I did hear something somewhere that he was being challenged but nothing else. On radio one day I heard Phillip Ruddock say he wasn't going to be forced to retire. Anything else you can enlighten me with FS?

Sue

6/06/2011Well said I tried to rate the article a five star but it didn't work. I am so sick and tied of the pure nastiness coming out of Abbott. I suggest that he spend some time at home with his wife and family. Forget the touring, relax on the punishing exercise regime, let the contentment of family life heal his tortured and nasty spleen. And if he cannot let go of the nastiness then let his family be the ones who have to put up with it.

David Horton

6/06/2011FS - you know the country is in trouble when Ruddock is the least bad of two alternatives!

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011tredlgt, Catching up, Dwight Towers (welcome to [i]TPS[/i]), FS, fiz (welcome to [i]TPS[/i] too), David Horton, Steve, janice, Gravel, calyptorhynchus (welcome also), AC, Lyn, sue Thank you all for your comments. The piece seems to have struck a respondent chord. It is simply a statement of how I see Tony Abbott, and how I [b]feel[/b] about him. Lest Coalition supporters feel obliged to challenge me, they should remember that my feelings are as legitimate to me as the feelings of others are legitimate to those who harbor them. I hope they will respect the right of any of us to have our own personal feelings. Why Tony Abbott behaves the way he does is a matter of conjecture. Feral Skeleton and David Horton, you have probed behind the man and have given us your insights, referring to ‘Guided Democracy’ as a principle that Abbott espouses and therefore conditions his behavior. You are probably right. FS says: “[i] Abbott (or rather his tacticians) have also borrowed the "delegitimise the left wing government" tactic from the Republicans.”[/i] I agree. There seems to be a strong congruence of Republican and Coalition tactics. I sometimes wonder if Abbott’s behaviour is innate and reflex because that is just the way he is, or whether it is carefully planned by him or his tacticians. I suspect it is both. Because of his nature, Abbott finds it easy and indeed satisfying to follow his tacticians’ advice to delegitimize and destroy, whereas Malcolm Turnbull has shown that he does not; witness his less-than-convincing efforts to destroy the NBN. Finally, thank you all for your generous remarks and encouragement. You give me heart.

lyn

6/06/2011Hi Ad with regards to Philip Ruddock, there are serious problems in Mr Ruddocks seat of Berowra, looks like this will cause problems for Mr Abbott. [i]Opus Dei shapes as a challenge for Tony Abbott[/i], [quote]FACTIONAL forces linked to the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei are making an unprecedented push for power in Liberal veteran Philip Ruddock's safe northern Sydney seat of Berowra. Four state seats in the electorate have already been battlegrounds at preselections.[/quote] [quote]"This is a challenge for Tony Abbott as a lot of people are doing this in Tony Abbott’s name," one insisted. As reported in The Australian yesterday, 88 prospective new members have applied to join the Liberal Party in the past three weeks. Almost half of these appear to have links to the religious Right.[/quote] http://getafespain.com/news/opus-dei-shapes-as-a-challenge-for-tony-abbott

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Steve, I agree with what you say and also point out that if there's a copper in parliament they are tending to join the Coalition. Which is strange when you consider they, as a group, are staunch Unionists. Or, is that 'Police Associationists'? Though, when you consider that Tony Abbott is running around, like the 'Mini Me' Howard that he is, portraying himself as the best friend that the (Manufacturing) Worker has ever had, then I suppose that is understandable in a way. Especially when you take into account the analysis of one of the blogs lyn linked to last week which said that maybe Tony Abbott, as Bob Santamaria's voice from the grave, is not so averse to Unions anyway, as a DLPer. As I said recently, maybe what we are seeing here is a fundamental realignment of the political bases, where the Conservatives are taking ownership of the workers in the traditional industries. Which, as I said before, should encourage Labor to move into the territory Howard created when he cut loose tradesmen away from their Unions and turned them into Small Business Contractors and Sub Contractors. It's not looking so good on that front atm, but 'Moving Forward', if the government can capitalise on the new Green jobs that a Carbon Price will lead to, then maybe they might show their approval of the government with some support. Especially if they realise Tony Abbott would prefer to leave them in a hole as the rest of the world charges ahead with the Green Industrial Revolution. And charge them for the privilege of propping up his mates in the Carbon Intensive Industries at the Big End of Town. As Barry O'Farrell in NSW is trying it on with the federal government today. He wants them to pay a subsidy to keep Coal-Fired Power Stations running. What a hide!

Sue

6/06/2011hi lyn australian story did a story a few years ago about the Opus Dei and the far right trying to take over the branches. if memory serves me, the footage included the cups of tea and scones and the rough house tactics being applied by the far right. the story assisted keeping the libs in opposition in nsw.

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Sue, 'Splenetic' how apt a word to describe Tony Abbott. :D

TalkTurkey

6/06/2011Dwight Towers said "Stop mincing your words - tell us what you really think!" > Yeah I was wondering why Ad astra didn't say anything critical of Tony Abbortt . . . but you said it good . . . "He is a cretin, isn't he?" > Hey! Lay off us cretins! "PS Love [Ad astra's] writing. Dwight Towers" And so say all of us Dwight, and welcome to you. Fiz what a great gravatar, I couldn't agree more with your assessment of Howard, but Abbortt never "will" form a government, he has been dead for some weeks now. He is starting to realize it, but given that he is an idiot, as differentiated from us crever cletins, it is taking him a while to realize his new status. :) Welcome to you too. Welcome too to all you others who have been brought out like snails after rain by Ad's full-on manifesto here. Ad astra You say it so well for all of us who are not actually of the jj-ToM da Typo-Limpy type who of course see Abbortt as their rugu. ('Guru' I'm told means 'dark-light' meaning one who turns one's inner darkness into light . . . so, rugu . ? .) Yes what a malevolent attitude is his, and what a corrosive hateful attitude he and his own foul guru Howard have encouraged on our society! They are truly traitors. Patriots build up their nation's sense of identity and unity. The Coalons specialise in xenophobia and divisiveness. We are fighting for the future, as truly as did the Rats of Tobruk. And The Political Sword is the best weapon we have. Gee what a better job we could be doing if so many people weren't just opposers. We waste our best energies just fighting to gain the power to do anything decent. ABBORTT . !. ABBORTT .!. ABBORTT .!. ABBORTT .!. ABBORTT .!. BTW please let us all take on board (was-it-Janice's?)plea to use frequent paragraph breaks with spaces. It helps readability and comprehensibility, I agree. One completed short bracket of thoughts at a time is quite enough for me.

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011AcerbicC., I think Abbott does a merry jig to Rupert's tune as well. In fact, they are happy to do the 'Guided Democracy' Mambo together. Just imagine what they could cook up for our fragile democracy between the two of them. I'm still trying to imagine how you dance in hob-nail boots though. :)

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Well, the ABC have gone virtually dead on the 'Say Yes' Carbon Price Rallies yesterday, preferring instead to talk up the 'deepening splits within the ALP' over the so-called(by them) 'Malaysian Solution'. Sigh. Tony Abbott doesn't need to lift a finger.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Hi Lyn Thank you for your very kind comments about this post. I note your comments about Philip Ruddock's seat of Berowra. It is a very interesting situation. As he has refused to retire, it looks like there is a push to blast him out. I have just now sent you an email.

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Ash's Machiavellian Bloggery has a survey up on his website. He would be happy if as many of us as possible wouuld fill it in: http://ashghebranious.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/australian-politics-and-australian-media/

Patricia WA

6/06/2011What a brilliant article you've written here, Ad Astra, and shown too how accurate your forebodings where when Abbott first tricked his way into leadership of his party. I had not read your [i]Pugilistic Politician[/i] article before today; the two together are eerily depressing. It's not just Abbott who is the problem of course. There is plenty of misgiving about him as leader of the Coalition and mistrust of the man himself out there in voter land. Given a healthy democracy he would never be elected PM. But we are no longer a healthy democracy and David Horton in answering your question about our own part in this man's rise to power has really gone to the nub of our malaise. We have accepted media laws which allow Rupert Murdoch inordinate power and influence to manipulate the mindset of Australians. Even those elements of our media not owned by him are now being bought into on by the likes of Gina Rinehart. People like David, Mr. Denmore and Greg Jericho and many others like yourself AA, do a mighty job on the internet, to keep the record straight and point out bias but it's almost impossible to keep up with a media cycle which is so relentlessly determined and self reflective as Mr Denmore points out today in [u]The Failed Estate [/u] where he shows how [quote]......we are all being taken for a ride in this big, fast and fatuous media vehicle that manufactures news out of nothing and leaves democracy as the road kill. [/quote] I wonder how much serious work is being done to reform our cross media ownership laws? Searching the net today I found very little reference to recent movement in this area. Am I looking in the wrong place or have we passed the point of no return where for any party to attempt media reform would now be political suicide?

Jason

6/06/2011Hi all, I know this is off topic but disturbing none the less! The nut cases at catch the fire need 500+ people to join so they can interfere in our lives, and with gems such as this why wouldn't you? 20. While we recognise the Aboriginal people as the first people of Australia, we encourage them to accept our Government’s apology and invite them to issue a statement of thanks for the good that the British heritage has brought to our nation. Rise Up Australia Party (Keep Australia Australian) Your Voice to Protect our Nation in Parliament / by Rev Dr Daniel Nalliah http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/2011/06/01/rise-up-australia-party-keep-australia-australian-your-voice-to-protect-our-nation-in-parliament-by-rev-dr-daniel-nalliah/#more-5082

NormanK

6/06/2011Ad astra Very well written. A long slow burn is so much better than a flame out, isn't it? What particularly annoys me is that the press gallery recognise and acknowledge what you are saying and yet do nothing about it. For example, a single [i]Four Corners[/i] programme on Mr Abbott's approach to the climate change debate would expose him in all of his hollowness. I don't even mean analysis of his Direct Action policy - he is not in government. Just a methodical dismantling of the lies and exaggerations he has uttered over recent months (some of which you have cited). Drag them out into the light. If he claims the price of fruit is going to go up, acknowledge that this may well be true and then point out that at around $26/tonne the price rise is likely to be less than one cent per orange. The press are copping out on two fronts. "We are just reflecting public opinion." "We just report the news, we don't influence it." Both of these positions are patently untrue. Where are the intellectuals who care about the long-term good of this country and the health of our democracy? Unfortunately, they are writing blogs not news articles.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Folks Over at Club Troppo, Ken Parish has given the current piece on TPS a big spray, along with me as author. You regulars get a dose too as he characterizes TPS as a place where biassed lefties have their views reinforced.  You might be interested to read what he has written, and the comments at http://clubtroppo.com.au/2011/06/06/the-ministry-of-truth-left-the-building-some-decades-ago/ He seems to find justification for Tony Abbott's behaviour by comparing it with the behaviour of Labor when it opposed the GST and other legislation.  But does that behaviour justify Abbott's behaviour today?  If so, the political process seems doomed to be forever adversarial and combative. Ken paints Club Troppo as a site where moderate and balanced comments are the norm, in contrast to TPS with its "unremitting one-eyed left wing bias", which he describes as the ideological mirror- image of the Bolt blog. The current piece expresses my feelings about Tony Abbott's behaviour. That's how I feel, whether others like it or not.  Many of you agree. Does that make us rabid biassed lefties?  Or do we just share a level of disgust in Abbott's behaviour?

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Folks I'm out and about at present, and working off my iPad, but I needed to respond to the Club Troppo piece after Lyn alerted me. Thank you Lyn. I'll respond to other comments when I return home.

David Horton

6/06/2011Ad - I would ignore someone who self-describes as a "radical centrist" and quotes Noel Pearson on his masthead. He comes across as one of those apologists for the Right, found in America too, who delights in false equivalence arguments - oh the two sides are just as bad as each other - without actually considering the nature of the things being compared, almost inevitably apples and oranges. It is hard to see how anyone, genuinely concerned for the quality of political discourse, could really not understand the seismic shift in industrial relations that Work Choices was designed to bring about and did bring about. I have yet to see any equivalent genuine concern for an issue in any of Abbott's negativity for negativity's sake. I am somewhat more concerned about the Roberts article in Grist.

Michael

6/06/2011Australians consciously voted for Tony Abbott at the last election. Just over half Australia's (valid ballot-paper presenting) voters felt cheated that they didn't get what they wanted at the 2010 election - a Coalition government, with the PM in the Lodge who had convinced them while he was Opposition Leader that he would be THEIR PM in the Lodge. Tony Abbott. He's convinced even more people since, even people who don't 'prefer' him as PM, but most certainly prefer the Coalition as the Government. And he's done it carrying out precisely the amoral politicking that Ad Astra has so forensically laid out in his piece. He's the guy who should be at the top for a growing number of Australians who manifestly don't care that he's standing in the gutter every moment of his political life. He's their guy. And so, within a year or two, he may be 'our guy in the Lodge'. Our very own home-grown dinky-di clone Down Under 'Silvio Berlusconi'. Or a six-pack stomach variation on Boris Yeltsin. The battle must be taken up to Abbott and the Coalition stinktank at every stage of their lies and misrepresentations to Australia. So that he never becomes Prime Minister of Australia, so that Coalition "she'll be right, nudge nudge, wink wink" policies never lay out the future for this nation again, so that citizens never again allow themselves to make themselves fools out of fear and selfishness. Tony Abbott as PM? That's not what we deserve. What we get is up to us.

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011PatriciaWA, This article from new matilda reinforces what you have said about Rupert Murdoch's malign influence(as if we didn't already know, but what can we do about it?) http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/06/murdochs-champions-free-speech

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Amazing, isn't it how you not allowed to enthusiastically support the government any more? I thought this was a free country? No, you either have to be oh so politically correct and support the Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden Party, or the Hard Assed Party. You know what I mean. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not in either camp. Neither am I a member of the 'Coolly-Detached' ouvre that bloggers such as Ken Parrish like to style themselves as. I've read Club Troppo over the years, especially when there weren't very many other alternatives, and frankly that's where I think it has stayed, back in the early 90s era of Hawke & Keating. It's so dry and 'intellectual' and 'above the fray'. Or so it thinks it is. Plus it takes itself very seriously, styling itself as some sort of arbiter of the 5th Estate. Well, Ken Parrish can kiss my curvaceous white behind. I'll take what ever position I choose. I'll try and see through the emotive response that others have to the Gillard government's behaviour, in order to try and divine a deeper meaning than the all too common nowadays, ritualised misogyny that our first female Prime Minister appears to be engendering among inadequate male bloggers, whose greatest achievemnt in life appears to be as a poor man's plastic Delphic Oracle.

Sue

6/06/2011Oh Ad look at this Tony Abbott says a drop in the number of boats is not Labor's doing The Opposition Leader conceded fewer boatpeople were now making the journey to Australia. “There is no doubt the flow of boats has somewhat diminished,” Mr Abbott told radio station 2GB. “I suspect that a lot of it would be boatpeople would be deterred by the terrible tragedy on Christmas Island, and I guess some people...are thinking it's all getting too hard.” http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/chris-bowen-gets-veto-on-deporting-children-to-malaysia/story-fn59niix-1226070053581 I think I am about to be ill. It is more likely "the boatpeople" have read that Abbott is concerned for their welfare.

jj

6/06/2011AA, Yes it does make you a bunch of radical left-wingers! You like to whinge and complain about how one eyed Bolt is, and then you come on this blog day in day out doing the exact same thing, just from the opposite of extremes. Sure you are allowed to express your views, but so is Bolt (whether it be on Insiders, the Bolt Report, his blog or in his columns). Sure;y you want this blog, AA, to be known as a little more than just a one-eyed Labor Loving outlet! Dont you want what you say to be taken seriously? Because at the moment you are behaving worse than Abbott in terms of negativity, and worse than Gillard in terms of droning on and on. Unless you want to be viewed in the same way as Bolt, how about you try and balance up!

reb of Hobart

6/06/2011[quote]"he characterizes TPS as a place where biassed lefties have their views reinforced."[/quote] Gee, you don't say? You entire rant just confirms everything that gets posted here: Julia Gillard and Labor = GOOD. Tony Abbott and The Coalition = BAD. Other than that, nothing else to see here....

Adam

6/06/2011Sorry, I know I shouldn't feed the troll. I just can't help myself. jj, I don't consider myself left wing or right wing. I swing at each election based on the issues and I like to read each side of the argument and make a personal decision. The number 1 reason why Bolt is never included is the intentional use of false statements, lies, exaggerations and hyperbole he uses in order to confuse the facts and cover up any thing that is lacking from his own political base. Although there are members on this blog who are labor supporters through and through, I have found most commentators on here generally prefer to use facts as a basis for their argument. To compare this site to a Bolt commentary is a gross insult. To AA and co, keep up the work. I don't always agree, but appreciate the insight that is often provided here. Thanks

janice

6/06/2011[quote] Well, Ken Parrish can kiss my curvaceous white behind. I'll take what ever position I choose. I'll try and see through the emotive response that others have to the Gillard government's behaviour, in order to try and divine a deeper meaning than the all too common nowadays, ritualised misogyny that our first female Prime Minister appears to be engendering among inadequate male bloggers, whose greatest achievemnt in life appears to be as a poor man's plastic Delphic Oracle.[/quote] Beautifully expressed FS. :D:

Adam

6/06/2011Jason, Just checked out the link on the Rise up Australia Party. Terribly frightening if they get up and are provided a voice in parliament. I am sure they don't even understand the irony and hypocrisy in some of their aims ie. Reaffirm our Constitutional right to freedom of religion. Not withstanding the constitution is actually stating the Cth will not make laws imposing any religious observance, therefore I can choose not to follow/believe in a religion Yet then afterwards, they require a chaplain in all schools and want to "Recognise and affirm our Judeo-Christian heritage". So much for freedom of/from religion. Should they poke their head up in NSW, I will be in a difficult dilemma. Do I put the Fred Nile Party (CDP) last or this RUA Party on my ballot.

lyn

6/06/2011Hi Sue Thankyou for your link to the story in The Australian: Mr Abbott's comments and the Australian Reporting just goes to support Ad Astra's well thoughtout, well written, honest, article today. Sue I didn't see any proof to support Mr Abbott's wild statement did you? Tony Abbott says a drop in the number of boats is not Labor's doing , The Australian TONY Abbott concedes the number of asylum-seeker boats coming to Australia has fallen, but he has refused to credit the Gillard government's swap deal with Malaysia for the drop in numbers. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/chris-bowen-gets-veto-on-deporting-children-to-malaysia/story-fn59niix-1226070053581 Cheers

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Patricia WA Thank you for your very kind comments. We are indeed fighting a deadly battle against the media, particularly the News Limited press, which is collaborating with Tony Abbott and the Coalition in the perpetration of myths and often downright lies that misinform and mislead the public into a state of mind that is poisonous to the elected Government, no matter what it does to improve our country. It’s a shame when other blog site operators like Ken Parish castigate us for taking an extremely dim view of what the Opposition and the media are up to. It’s hard to see how one can counter the extreme positions taken by Abbott and his Coalition, and blogsites like those of Andrew Bolt and Piers Akerman by being ever so nice to these people whom we believe are destroying our country. We are meeting fire with fire, but for our trouble get a slap on the hand from Ken. Well, so be it. You may have missed it on the previous piece, but after reading your poignant pome on polliepomes, I dedicated this piece to you.

janice

6/06/2011Well, I'm absolutely gobsmacked that The Political Sword could be described as an "extreme left wing blog. Funny isn't it how easily the goal posts can be moved to suit perceptions? In actual fact it isn't so much "funny" as downright disturbingly scary.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Michael You are right – if we sit back and don’t counter what we see with a strong no-holds-barred counter attack, the Coalition forces and the Murdoch media will ride roughshod right over us. If Ken Parish, whom I respect, chastises us, I guess we’ll just have to wear it. But we must not shrink from this fight-to-the-death battle, no matter how pressured we are. To give just one example, when it comes to the climate change debate the future of the planet is at stake. That is too important for us to pussyfoot around with niceties. FS Thank you for the [i]New Matilda[/i] link that shows how dangerous the Murdoch influence is. sue Here is another example of how no matter what Labor does to stem the boats, it will always be due to something else according to our Tony. Is he becoming afraid the Malaysian arrangement will work and his ‘stop the boats’ mantra will become impotent? AC Thank you so much for your powerful response to Ken Parish on Club Troppo.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011NormanK Thank you for your encouraging words. You correctly finger the problem – where are the media, the great protectors of truth and fair play, when Abbott pours out his deception and lies. Nowhere to be seen; instead looking at the sporting contest it enjoys so much to see who is winning, that is in the opinion polls, the substance of far too much of their commentary. David Horton It’s disappointing when respected bloggers like Ken Parish give us a serve, but our task of countering the influence of Tony Abbott and his acolytes is too important to be deterred. janice That’s what Ken Parish thinks of us. It shows what an unequal fight we have on our hands when even a self-proclaimed centrist admonishes us.

jj

6/06/2011AA, Nobody is saying you cant criticise... but like Tony Abbott, this blog is just a continuous cycle of one-eyed negativity. Cant you see the irony in what you do? You criticise the media and the Coalition for being a bunch of Gillard haters, and that their mindless negativity wears thin, and then you come on here week in week out and do the exact same thing! If you want change in the media landscape, how about you practice what you preach.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Adam Thank you for countering the predictable jj. He seems to miss any criticism of the Government we make, for example its inability to get its messages across. He misses our attempts to point the Government to what we believe would be more understandable messages. He likes the extremes Gillard = Good; Abbott = Bad. Well he’s pretty right about the latter. I didn’t see him make any defence of Abbott’s behavior. Thank you for your encouragement.

NormanK

6/06/2011Ladies & Gentlemen Can we please not descend into a 'my cubbyhouse is better than your cubbyhouse' slanging match. No good will come of it. Relatively recently Billy Connelly passed on a bit of wisdom (yeh, who'd've guessed) during an interview when he described how for years he would have dingdong arguments with his son (with whom he had a strained relationship) over the type of music his son preferred to listen to. Billy loves his music so apparently the arguments would get quite heated and threatened to derail attempts at reconciliation. "I just don't get it," Billy would cry, "it's rubbish!" But then one day the penny dropped for Billy. The reason he didn't 'get it' was because it wasn't aimed at him. The artists were not creating music designed to appeal to him even though he thought that perhaps they should. They were creating music aimed at his son and he did 'get it'. Billy said that after that it all became clear - if he didn't like something on the radio all he had to do was change stations. I used this story to calm one of my brothers when we got into our usual arguments about comedy - what's funny, what's not. He loathes the Simpsons and I can't stand Rodney Rude for example but when I used Billy's logic that the reason he doesn't 'get' the Simpsons is because it is not aimed at him, it is not trying to entertain him, he realised that he could just let it go. Don't get stressed about it. If enough people enjoy it then it will survive, if not then it won't. So too with TPS. It is what it is and will attract a certain audience while others just won't 'get it'. Provided we strive to deal in facts and the truth (as we understand it) and make it clear when we are expressing a personal opinion which might not be verifiable by facts then that's all we can do. And play by the house rules of polite discourse. FS I'm afraid you are going to have to take one on the chin for the Grist article. A bit of attribution and a link would have avoided controversy.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Hi Lyn It will be quite an amusing exercise to contemplate what Tony Abbott will say next about asylum seekers. If the Malaysian arrangement works and the boats stop, expect him to become a ‘bleeding heart’ about conditions in Malaysia. He will likely claim that the ‘push factors’ have abated so that there are fewer that want to come to our country. Whatever, there will never be any acknowledgement that the Gillard Government has had success.

David Horton

6/06/2011Ad - it has been my experience, over many many etc years of political observing, that no politician, commentator, blogger, shock jock, column writer, is ever so far to the right that they don't describe themselves as centrist. In fact a scoop for TPS, the first statement of Horton's Law - "the further to the right a commentator or politician is, the more strongly they proclaim their centrism".

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011NormanK Thank you for your wise words: “[i] Provided we strive to deal in facts and the truth (as we understand it) and make it clear when we are expressing a personal opinion which might not be verifiable by facts then that's all we can do. And play by the house rules of polite discourse.[/i]” David Horton ‘Centrism’ is in the eye of the beholder. Those who like to feel they are balanced often lean one way or the other without noticing or acknowledging it. They all like to think they are balanced. I’m more interested in fighting what I see as wrong. If that results in my being seen as leaning one way or the other, so be it. I like the first statement of Horton's Law - "the further to the right a commentator or politician is, the more strongly they proclaim their centrism".

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Come on reb, you know us better than that. I see that I incorrectly attributed the Gillard = Good and Abbott = Bad to jj, while it was your quote. Apologies to you both. If you think expressing a strongly held opinion of Abbott is a 'rant', I suppose I'll just have to wear it.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Folks You may be interested to see what Gutter Trash has become: http://guttertrash.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/monday-by-the-magazine-rack-58/ Patricia WA Your friends are here.

Patricia WA

6/06/2011Ad Astra! Thank you for the compliment in that dedication! I had meant to mention it earlier but I was carried away with indignation about Club Troppo characterising your site as 'extremist' as Bolt's blog. I did eventually respond there, and only after posting did I see A.C.'s brilliantly succinct comment! I just wish I could have accomplished something similarly appropriate! Well done, A.C. I see that Reb has taken the opportunity to have another swipe at us there and to entirely misrepresent something I said here. Which I guess proves that buying into fights becomes entirely pointless. Though on this occasion I do think that 'extremist' tag had to be challenged. It is wildly inaccurate. Norman K is right about attribution when possible and appropriate, but Parrish was childishly pleased about uncovering what he thought was plagiarism. Although this is not an academic site, I would certainly appreciate a "How To" section for help with attribution, linkage etc. I am often at a loss on how to do that appropriately here, whereas I can easily do so at Larvatus Prodeo and Cafe Whispers.

lyn

6/06/2011Hi Norman K Thankyou so much for your words of wisdom, and your lovely little story about Billy. [quote]'my cubbyhouse is better than your cubbyhouse' [/quote] Love that NormanK, because you have hit the nail on the head, that is exactly as it is. Thankyou for making me feel better about a nasty depressing occurrence. We have 180 commenters on TPS and that is a commendable achievement by Ad Astra. I am delighted because I know they like us.

Jason

6/06/2011AA, Ken, As one of the “regulars” at the TPS when did we “one eyed lefty’s” become such a political force? as far as I know one of the leaders of the left from Victoria admits had he not retired at the last election he still would have lost the seat,and that’s what Tanner said! so he wasn’t “left enough” However who made you commissioner of the thought police?

reb of Hobart

6/06/2011[quote]"Folks, You may be interested to see what Gutter Trash has become" [/quote] Folks, You may be interested to see what The Political Sword has become: http://clubtroppo.com.au/2011/06/06/the-ministry-of-truth-left-the-building-some-decades-ago/ There are none so blind than those that cannot see.

lyn

6/06/2011Hi Ad Thankyou for all your wisdom too, you know that goes without saying. Ad I am glad you put that link up to "Gutter Trash" the comments over there are disgusting. Patriciawa don't be offended no emotion is necessary for those over there. We all think you are lovely we love your work, your new blog is a credit to you, congratulations. In case someone doesn't know, "Gutter Trash', that is their real name,imagine that, not kidding that is what they are called, promise, it's written on top of the Blog.

Bilko

6/06/2011Ad Astra one of the best pieces you have written in a while. As you know I have been advocating a firmer response from the Government for many months and issuing press statements or announcing it in Parliament re the ministers responsibly for the NBN and Defence recently is a small step in the right direction bypassing the media hacks at ltdnews inc. Abbort still thinks we are sleepwalking and will wake up soon clap him on the back and vote him into the Lodge. As my OH often says to me "are you looking for a smack in the gob"(nth country expression) from up over, whenever I come out with one of my brain farts but it is just what the mad monk needs on a regular basis.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Hi Lyn Thank you for your ressurance to Patricia WA, which we endorse. As reb says: [i]"There are none so blind than those that cannot see."[/i] Jason Touché.

reb of Hobart

6/06/2011[quote]"Thank you for your ressurance to Patricia WA, which we endorse"[/quote] Of course you endorse Patricia... That's all that happens here.. You'rec all drinking the same kool aid. Any Lyn, did you not used to include GT in your daily links - as long as it was posts critising Abbott and the opposition. Now you reveal that GT really means Gutter Trash like it's a surprise.??!! You knew all along..! The problem with you lot is that you just can't handle any criticism of the Gillard Govt, as Club Troppo righlty points out. Just a Gillard-apologist lefty love-in. Have a nice time congratulating each other.

Jason

6/06/2011 reb you seem to forget that your issues rate on anyone's list just above do cockroaches survive a holocaust? reb So what we don't agree with you all/any of the time, who cares?Do we have to? can we agree to disagree? what makes your opinion any more valid than mine? after all they are like arseholes everyone has one!

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Folks I believe we've had enough to-ing and fro-ing on TPS today in response to comments on [i]Club Troppo[/i] and [i]Gutter Trash[/i]. There are more important things to occupy our minds. As NormanK wisely says: Let us [i]"not descend into a 'my cubbyhouse is better than your cubbyhouse' slanging match. No good will come of it."[/i] So let's get back to discussing how we might counter Tony Abbott's disingenuineness - that's what is important.

2353

6/06/2011Somewhat related to the original topic (well written AA by the way) is to question the time, resources and money that the LNP wastes by putting things to an enquiry etc while at the same time criticising the ALP for wasting time resources and money. A large double standard is the elephant in the room here.

Tom of Melbourne

6/06/2011Have you people bothered to familiarise yourselves with stupid misrepresentation and mischaracterisation that Patricia engaged in to start this? She reflects (incorrectly) on the sexuality of individuals, then uses this to attribute political opinions! She makes completely incorrect assumptions, and comments personally on people not even involved in the particular thread. But that’s fine, as long as everyone at this site agrees with Patricia. Wouldn’t expect otherwise of people here.

reb of Hobart

6/06/2011[quote]"So let's get back to discussing how we might counter Tony Abbott's disingenuineness - that's what is important"[/quote] I think you have just validated Club Troppo's assessment of your blog with that remark. Don't you think...?

Sir Ian Crisp

6/06/2011 [quote]Come on reb, you know us better than that. I see that I incorrectly attributed the Gillard = Good and Abbott = Bad to jj, while it was your quote. Apologies to you both. [/quote] AA, I think if you search your topics and comments you'll find that I said something almost identical to what you now attribute to JJ or reb. Please let the record reveal that.

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Sir Ian If you say so, who am I to argue?

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011NormanK, You want to know the truth? I didn't directly attribute and link for 3 reasons: 1. I couldn't figure out how to attribute & link to something which was a touchstone throughout. I thought if I tried to it would have disturbed the flow that I managed to get into the post, which I was very proud of because I felt that that feeling had never happened to me when writing a blog before, and translated so well onto the page and I didn't want to put a Bibliographical reference at the end because I thought that would look too mannered. 2. I didn't know that I was going to be marked down, or incur the wrath of the censors from other blogs as a result, for not doing it. 3. As I tried to explain to the po-faced Blog Palace Praetorian Guards at Club Troppo, I grew up with the world of Rap Music and Improvised Jazz, among other things, all around me, where half the intrigue of a song was a result of the inclusion of one or a number of samples from other songs or even spoken word recordings, which were never attributed. But no one cared. So, you know, it just sort of made a weird sort of sense to me to use a piece of work as a 'Tone Poem' and then riff on it wrt Australian politics. So shoot me if I didn't follow the letter of Blog Law or something. Should I be more 'academic' in my future blogs? I suppose I'll have to now, seeing as how we appear to have professional arbiters hiding behind the curtains of cyberspace. Finally, let me just add that anyone who has monitored my output while I have contributed to this blog will know without a shadow of a doubt that I am 99% original. But, if it makes everyone happy I'll be scrupulous with my attributions wrt the other 1%. Sheesh!

Feral Skeleton

6/06/2011Since when did it become a crime to support the Gillard government and not support Tony Abbott or The Greens? We really have entered an Alice Through the Looking Glass World if it has got to the point that so-called 'Radical Centrists' and self-professed Inner City Elites from Melbourne and Hobart have become the Coalition's & Greens' defenders, and Labor Haters. I still can't figure out what the federal government have done that is so wrong as to be summarily peed on from great heights for attempting to support them. All I can see is misrepresentation of their attempts to do things for this country that desperately need doing, by politicians from all sides and the media. As I read somewhere else(and please excuse me if I don't waste an hour tracking down the precise reference for you all), but what we are seeing in Australia at this point in time is the result of 12 years of the Howard government poisoning the well that used to spring eternal with Australians' fair-mindedness. It has now been replaced by bloody-mindedness. And it's a bloody unedifying site to behold.

NormanK

6/06/2011Feral Skeleton Fair enough. There's a lesson in everything. A tip of the hat and a link would be the polite thing to do. That's all I've got to say on the subject, it certainly isn't going to keep me awake tonight worrying about it. I've never been called 'rabid' before (except by myself). Do you think this will enhance my new macho image? :D

Ad astra reply

6/06/2011Bilko Apologies, I missed your comment when it came in. Thank you for your kind remarks. Although some who comment here will not concur, I believe that those of us in the Fifth Estate who believe the elected Government should be given the change to govern and not obstructed at every turn by a combative Leader of the Opposition should speak out strongly against Tony Abbott and the Coalition’s behaviour. There are plenty in the Fourth Estate urging Abbott and Co on; our voice is smaller but needs to be heard, and we will not be deterred from speaking up no matter what criticism is hurled at us. 2353 You are right. The amount of money that is wasted through Coalition obstruction ought to be set against the ‘waste’ that the Coalition repeatedly accuses the Government of; the comparison might surprise. FS Did you see the video clip of Tony Abbott advocating a carbon tax in 2009, shown on [i]Q&A[/i] tonight? Christopher Pyne said he did know about it but Nicola Roxon said she didn’t, and presumably the Labor Party doesn’t either. So the Coalition has somehow kept it under wraps until now. It will make a great Labor ad. I see this evening he is on TV claiming that Labor backbenchers have been telling him how unhappy they are with Julia Gillard. Why on earth would they do that? Take a look at his face when he makes those claims and assess if he’s telling the truth. Folks It’s time we gave our brains a rest. Goodnight to you all.

D Mick Weir

6/06/2011Evening All, back from being deeply involved in some of my other lives and although I have been keeping up with posts and comments I have had little time (or brain power left) to be part of the discussion. As a student of life, art and politics the last couple of days have been interesting for the reactions to the thoughts and opinions expressed by others about this small corner (wing, of the extremely left variety?) of blogosphere. I am sure it has been expounded upon at length by scholarly types (and self-learned others) that when praised, our worth as 'serious and interesting' people is confirmed and when our opinions are questioned or attacked, we feel devalued and less worthy. When attacked most tend to dig a hole and return fire and usually confirm to ourselves that [i][b]I[/b] (the defender of truth) am right, and [b]you[/b] (the attacker) are wrong.[/i] Usually the defender becomes even more 'entrenched' in thier own view and stubbornly refuses to consider any thing else. (I must find time to trawl the interwebby thingy to confirm my view on this and possibly provide links!) It is also interesting to me that often, when the likes of jj pops in for a quick sortie s/he is attacked for not providing links to sources for comments and opinions that s/he expresses and some state [i]' ... we always provide sources/links'[/i] or similar. I will say no more about 'pots and kettles'. The 'outrage' (IMHO misplaced) created by the posts at Club Troppo may cause some to be blinded and attack in defence of our right to have an opinion and express it and possibly forget that equally 'those others' also have that right. There a couple of points that may have been missed in the furore. The Missing Link is about providing [i]'the missing link'[/i] which Don did. Don also wrote [i]'Some of Hillbilly’s post is very well written.'[/i] As the eminently sensible NormanK wrote @ June 6. 2011 06:02 PM 'A bit of attribution and a link would have avoided controversy.' Then again the controversy may have some as yet unknown benefits. Ken Parish in his post does (again IMHO) make some valid points about the biases here and so what? However, an impotant comment of his may be overlooked: [i]'Much more interesting would be an exploration of how (if at all) one might go about engineering more informative, honest political debate on all sides.'[/i] Have not many here been asking for the same in our (my) own less educated and unsophisticated way? Anyhows I will continue reading and commenting here AND also reading at Club Troppo (and maybe overcome my unlearnedness and inferiority and maybe even comment there)

Jason

6/06/2011DMW, What next? frontal lobotomies to be more in line with a better way of thinking?

TalkTurkey

7/06/2011Ad astrafix said "FS Did you see the video clip of Tony Abbott advocating a carbon tax in 2009, shown on Q&A tonight? Christopher Pyne said he did know about it but Nicola Roxon said she didn’t, and presumably the Labor Party doesn’t either. So the Coalition has somehow kept it under wraps until now. It will make a great Labor ad." > WHOOO-HOOOOO! Here it is Folks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcH0Wrmy74 This oughta just about abort Abbortt, whaddya reckon? The Poodle was as disgusting as could be on Q&A and Austen Tayshus' slavering Zionistic zealotry was jerking on its chain and scarcely controlled, not much funnyman. But Poodle didn't have much to say about Abbortt and his comments on the video. :) But Nicola Roxon is always, always excellent. She is one of the best of all. And so she was this time.

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011FS, your comment @ 09:59 PM came in while I was labouring over my comment above and I concur with NormanK @ 11:11 PM re attribution. [i]Finally, let me just add that anyone who has monitored my output while I have contributed to this blog will know without a shadow of a doubt that I am 99% original. But, if it makes everyone happy I'll be scrupulous with my attributions wrt the other 1%. Sheesh![/i] Maybe you could go with Pareto's Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule and being humble claim 80% originality. I, for myself, would be pushing to claim to be 20% original in my thinking :) Personally I would go with an aphorism that I will attribute to Einstien that goes along the lines of [i] ... 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.[/i]. :)

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011Jason @ 11:56 PM [i]'I would rather a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy'[/i] Apologies that I can't provide attribution for that quote as it at least 45 years ago that I came across it and well the memory is fading a bit :)

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011Ok Jason as usual Wikipedia sheds some light: From the entry on Spoonerisms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism [i]One example is "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" ([b]variously attributed to W. C. Fields, Tom Waits, and most commonly Dorothy Parker[/b]), which not only shifts the beginning sounds of the word lobotomy, but the entire phrase "frontal lobotomy". The preceding phrase was further developed by Dean Martin, who said, "I would rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy." A similar example is "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than give Drood a frontal lobotomy!" said by the character Durdles in the musical comedy version of Dickens' [/i]

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011Jason on further reflection I am going with Dean Martin's version. Henceforth my vote is up for buying by the party that promises no more pre-frontal lobotomies and lots of free bottles in front of me.

Jason

7/06/2011DMW, So as this is the hot bed of "leftisim" that seems to be a problem with "others" (see club troppo gutter trash)just in the intrest of fairness here is my ALP mebership number for the SA Branch 21062.

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011Gees I am a slow learner. This interwebby thingy is a wonder to behold and if I was more edumicatedified I would use it a bit more proper. FS, the aphorism about inspiration I [b]wrongly[/b] attributed to Einstein is: [i]Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.[/i] - Thomas Alva Edison http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison I am ok at the perspiration bit and have a lot of work to do on attaing even three fifths of five eighths of the inspiration bit.

Jason

7/06/2011DMW, Did you have a look at my earlier post from our friends at catch the fire?

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011Jason I am not sure why you need to tell me your membership details. I do recall you mentioning that you are secretary (I think) of your sub-branch. All power to you. My comment above was not about the rights or wrongs of any particular point of view or bias toward the left or right but [i]my interest[/i] in the reactions of people and how easy it is when we think we are being attacked we become (hyper)defensive and often dig a hole for ourselves. I took some time tonight to go back over the CT post and comments and the reactions here and the timelines of each. It was interesting to note the changes in tenor as it dawned that the Missing Link piece, percieved at first as praise, and then as comments came in at CT, as attack. The CT piece by Ken Parish, had some reasonable points and my comment about it is that for all its' waffling about [i]The Political Sword is the ideological mirror image of Andrew Bolt’s blog only much less entertaining.[/i] and Labor in opposition being as negative or more so than the current opposition many may have missed some common ground; that being; [i] ... more informative, honest political debate on all sides.[/i] Would we not be all better off if there were a more informative, honest political debate on all sides? Some here bemoan the current political debate and the parlous state of Question Time yet often succumb to the same low level of name calling and down in the gutter brawling. Which do you want?

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011Jason, I saw your comment and followed the link and well after the headline of Keeping Austalia Australian and protecting your voice in parliament and the first few lines of about the great joy and excitement and some feelings of Family First dejavu arising in me I couldn't bring myself to read it all at the time. Just maybe between journeys to Menzies House I will keep on my gas mask and read the rest of it.

D Mick Weir

7/06/2011I have now read the Rise up Australia Party page and yes Jason there is something to worry about. This bit rings alarm bells for me: [i]Let’s be proud and patriotic about our nation of Australia.[/i] Some quotes on patriotism from Wikiquotes - http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patriotism [i]Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.[/i] - [b]Denis Diderot[/b] [i]Patriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy.[/i] - [b]William Ralph Inge[/b] [i]Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.[/i]- [b]Samuel Johnson[/b] The Rev Dr Daniel Nalliah may wish to ponder if some of these are applicable to himself. What with Bob Katters Australia Party and Rise Up Australia it seems that the conservative leaning voters of this country are going to be spoiled with choice.

TalkTurkey

7/06/2011Swordsfolks, and Others, Gutter Trash, the ultimate wysiwyg! :) On the alleged extreme monolithic rabid sinisterism of The Political Sword: Well now I'd'a thought that might be a tad difficult claim to sustain: Lyn's Links extend into the infinite blogosphere as the dendrites of a neuron extend into the infinity of a human brain . . . Extremism is a state of mind that doesn't countenance other points of view . . . . . . So if TPS is monolithically rabidly sinister . . . so must be the authors of all these blogs and their contacts ! These are just today's! (Thanks as always Lyn . . .) Run your eye down them and then tell me TPS is dedicated to anything else but rigorous reading and conscientious communication of the Truth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fast and Fatuous, Mr Denmore, The Failed Estate thefailedestate.blogspot.com/.../...d-fatuous.html David Horton, The Watermelon Blog davidhortonsblog.com/.../ William Bowe, The Poll Bludger blogs.crikey.com.au/.../ Ash, Ash's Machiavellian Bloggery ashghebranious.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/say-what/ Possum Comitatus, Pollytics http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ Jeremy Sear, Pure Poison http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/ ABC www.abc.net.au/.../3235909.htm?section=justin Australian Politics TV australianpoliticstv.org/.../ ABC www.abc.net.au/.../3235955.htm?section=justin SBS www.sbs.com.au/.../Thousands-rally-in-Sydney-for-climate-change John Quiggin johnquiggin.com/.../#more-9876 Newspapers HENRIETTA COOK, Canberra Times www.canberratimes.com.au/.../2185809.aspx Amos ZAikman, The Australian www.theaustralian.com.au/.../story-fn59niix-1226069746023 Jessica Marszalek, Herald Sun www.heraldsun.com.au/.../story-e6frf7jo-1226069678687 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I would think that ought to be all that is needed forevermore to dispose of that puerile charge. Does say something about the puerile chargers though! As far as concerns the extreme right blogs that Lyn chooses not to include, why would she? If you want that stuff go find it yourself! There is no reason not to exclude their hatefulness. To claim that there is any equivalence between the rabidity of Bolt's blog and the stance of TPS is merely to detroy any claimant's own credibility. Just silly, or very dishonest. But if you notice too a dearth of moderately right-wing blogs on Lyn's Links . . . Guess why? . . ? . . - I'll tell you why: Because there's just about no-one who finds such a position tenable. The Government has all the sensible policy, and those on the Right are 'way gone out on an anti-intellectual twig. I wouldn't be feeling too proud of myself if I were one of those most closely associated with some of today's filthy flotsam amongst the Gutter Trash. Bit hard to back off from too. C'mon folks lift your game. We got badder buggers to beat.

Feral Skeleton

7/06/2011Can I class myself as an 'Iconoclast' now? :D

lyn

7/06/2011[b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]Egalitarian Incivility, Neil Cook, The Bannerman[/i] [I’m a “leftie”, therefore in the eyes of the nay-sayers I’m overly arrogant, and dismissible as someone worthy of holding an opinion. That’s fine, no skin off my nose, but I fail to understand the need for personal abuse which just keeps coming and coming in a bid to somehow either defeat my opinion http://www.waddayano.org/blog/2011/06/egalitarian_incivility.php#more [i]A close look at the Rise up Australia Party, The Conscience Vote[/i] So that’s the Rise Up Australia Party – a narrowly representative, single-agenda driven body directly linked to a religious organisation known for its bigotry, hate speech and determination to dominate http://consciencevote.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/a-close-look-at-the-rise-up-australia-party/ [i]Leading from way behind, Mungo Maccallum, The Drum[/i] if the carbon tax can be driven through parliament and bedded down by the middle of next year Abbott will be seen not only as a cynical fabricator of fear and doom, but will be put in the position http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2748190.html [i] Essential: is ‘cost of living’ a partisan issue?, Bernard Keane, Crikey[/i] On voting intention, there’s been only a fractional change on last week. A slight drop in the Coalition vote has the 2PP back at 53-47% where it was a fortnight ago. http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/06/06/essential-is-cost-of-living-a-partisan-issue/ [i]Murdoch's Would-Be Champions Of Free Speech, Bruce page, New Matilda[/i] monopoly over British satellite television, so as to create a total monopoly: one which, once sanctioned by the government, he undertakes to run with deep respect for all canons of liberal democracy. http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/06/murdochs-champions-free-speech [i]Threats may chill climate research in long run, Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation[/i] “Serious public policy debate needs civil and informed discussion. Aggressive abuse and hate campaigns make no helpful contribution to a crucial policy debate. They simply seek to silence unwelcome voices,” he said. http://theconversation.edu.au/threats-may-chill-climate-research-in-long-run-1689?utm_ [i]This time it's a recession we don't have to have, Ross Gittins[/i] Kevin Rudd, Ken Henry & Co timed their stimulus packages with the clear (if unacknowledged) objective of ensuring there weren't two quarters of contraction in a row. They did this in the belief that, whatever the realities of the situation, the fuss the media would make about ''technical recession'' http://www.rossgittins.com/2011/06/this-time-its-recession-we-dont-have-to.html [i]The impact of the carbon tax will be how small, Peter Martin[/i] Professor Bruce Chapman , How many jobs is 23,510 really? “When you talk about job losses people think about about jobs actually being cut whereas the industry is talking about jobs that would not be created. http://www.petermartin.com.au/2011/06/impact-of-carbon-tax-will-be-how-small.html [i]Once upon a time, understanding party politics was easy, Shaun Crowe, ABC[/i] It seems clear that Tony Abbott perceives the carbon tax to be his ticket to The Lodge. The problem for the Liberal Party, however, is that the imperatives of the climate debate are often at odds with its ideology in other areas. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2746972.html [i]NBN in review: Political wins, lingering doubts, David Braue, Technology and Games , ABC[/i] the Coalition's fixation on the situation despite Quigley's mea culpas led many in the media and telecoms community to lambaste the politicians' one-track minds as a Coalition-led smear campaign kept NBN Co on the defensive. The dramas got attention overseas, http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2011/06/06/3236384.htm [i]Wireless NBN for regional Australia, Paul Budde, BuddeBlog[/i] Fixed-wireless networks are used to connect stationary points – in this case LTE base stations to several households or businesses – enabling NBN Co to deliver a superior end-user experience http://www.buddeblog.com.au/news-and-views/wireless-nbn-for-regional-australia-3/ [i]The Hatter's Party, Jeremy Sear, An Onymous Lefty[/i] I’m not sure we’re crying out for precisely the same things that are important to Bob Katter, though. http://anonymouslefty.wordpress.com/ [i]Rundle: crazy Katter’s cut-price, fried policy chain, Guy Rundle, Crikey[/i] Judging by the how quickly the launch brought the krazee, I doubt that Katter’s Australian Party will be able to stay on the straight and narrow. But if he can manage it, it will be interesting times indeed http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/06/06/rundle-crazy-katters-cut-price-fried-policy-chain/ [i]Bob Katter launches new political party, Ben Raue, The Tally Room[/i] Katter is now 66 and may not have the time to wait until he is in his 70s to see a real payoff. It will also be made hard for his party in Queensland due to the fact that Queensland does not have a proportional upper house. http://www.tallyroom.com.au/ [i]An IPA condemnathon, courtesy of the ABC, Jeremy Sear, Pure Poison[/i] But the ABC actually just published such a piece of trolling by Ted Lapkin from the extreme right IPA, under the outrageously dishonest headline Greens’ conspiracy of silence: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/ [i]Mandates and Wages, David Havyatt. Anything Goes[/i] The second is to ask the question of whether there are massive productivity improvements possible in these three labour intensive areas? What is a productivity improvement in teaching - larger class http://davidhavyatt.blogspot.com/ [i]Reasons to be cheerful, Brett Evans, Inside Story[/i] Hung parliaments don’t come along very often in Australian federal politics. Tony Windsor clearly wants to make the most of the chance, http://inside.org.au/reasons-to-be-cheerful/

Bilko

7/06/2011One only has to look at the COALition front bench to see what a free frontal lobotomy results in. Abbort could audition for a part in a remake of the shining as jack Nicholson is past it.

lyn

7/06/2011Hi Bilko How are you? Good to see you yesterday and read your comments. Last election I was in my front garden when, the cross the road neighbors drove by and stopped, saying they didn't know who to vote for. I leaned over and said "take a look at the Liberals front Bench". Cheers

Ad astra reply

7/06/2011LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/LYNS-DAILY-LINKS.aspx

Ad astra reply

7/06/2011Folks It’s a new day, so let’s turn a new page on [i]The Political Sword[/i]. Yesterday there was a skirmish among some bloggers here and between bloggers on this and other sites. Some of the comments were not edifying, and some personal innuendo crept into comments. Several bloggers here made thoughtful and helpful contributions about the situation. NormanK, D Mick Weir and Talk Turkey made extensive comments that ought to be heeded. Last night Feral Skeleton gave her well thought-out response to the accusations made on [i]Club Troppo[/i]. We need to understand and acknowledge the significance of what she said. She is an outstanding contributor to this blog site; she has earned our support. Without minimizing the importance of the issues raised yesterday, they have now has a proper airing and it’s time to turn our attention to what this blog is about, namely a quest for a more honest and productive political process and a higher standard of political discourse in this country. So let’s return to our prime purpose. But in doing so let’s turn another vital page. Let’s get back to polite discourse free of personal comment about other bloggers or other blogsites. There has been a tendency for unpleasant personal comments to creep into what we say here about other contributors. That does nothing to advance our arguments; instead it serves to antagonize and evoke a similar personal response. So let us all respect this site, other bloggers here and those who blog elsewhere. We are entitled to disagree with other bloggers, but there is no place for personal abuse. It’s a new day, so let’s renew our determination to keep this as the excellent blogsite is has been, free of the nasty side of politics that distracts us from the real issues. We need to keep this aim before our eyes as we prepare our contributions and check that we are always playing the ball, not the man.

David Horton

7/06/2011Tomarto Tomayto This thread has raised some interesting issues that need addressing. I referred above to the "false equivalence" that is instantly swung into action by the Right in any political debate. The most recent example concerns the abhorrent death threats against climate scientists. The response to this, from the deniers, is, "oh well, we get called names all the time, see you just called me a denier and that is the same as holocaust denier, you nasty person you better not go into any dark alleys, or light alleys even." No sense, it seems, that threatening a scientist with death for doing science which has grave implications for the future of the planet is just a teensy bit different to becoming impatient, rude even (I plead guilty) to the ignorant fools who spout their ignorance on talk back radio and in blog threads. Which brings us naturally to the right-wing shock-jocks themselves. Worth noting, for a start, that even the term "right-wing shock-jocks" is a tautology. I can't think of any left-wing shock-jocks, can you? The reason is this. On the left we accept the facts, the real world, but have different opinions on the implications of those facts, and what should be done in response to them. On the right they can, and do, simply invent "facts" when the real world doesn't suit, and use those inventions to drive their agenda. A classic example the other day in America, naturally. Sarah Palin, queen of shock jock politics, had Paul Revere riding to "warn the British" not to try to take guns from the Americans (a foretaste I suppose of Charlton Heston's "cold dead hands"). Now even as a not-American I know this is wrong, coming from a former candidate for Vice President it is stunning (or would be if it didn't come as part of a long chain opf ignorant nonsense from Palin). Did all her former fans and supporters rise up in disgust and say "oh dear, I didn't know she was that ignorant?" No they didn't - they went to work on Wikipedia to alter the article on Revere to suit Palin's "facts". It is, in a nutshell (ha!) the approach of our own shock jocks to topics like global warming. On the left we need to stick to the facts, and debate opinions. We will often differ in those opinions, but I think we come at those disagreements from a general social democrat kind of background. Which brings me to another difference between "us" however defined, and the denizens of shock-jock-land. I don't remember ever reading or hearing a shock jock criticise his own side of politics, except occasionally for not being brutal enough in its treatment of refugees, or the poor, or the environment. On the left there are, and should be, frequent criticisms of the way Labor in government has dealt with an issue or proposes to, criticisms of the approach by the Greens to some issues. We see, I think, politics as arising out of such debate, the Right sees no need for debate, all questions simply being settled by appeal to neoconservative ideology. Again, no equivalence, and I think all of us on this side of the blogging fence should be proud of what we do as long as we maintain those approaches. Finally, and briefly, a comment on the issue of referencing other work. All of us in bloggerland get ideas from, are stimulated by, other people's work. It is one of the great beauties of the internet age. Sometimes an idea will lodge in your brain and lead to an essay, and you don't know where it came from. Other times you will lean heavily on what someone else has written and build on it. I think if the latter is the case you need to recognise the other significant work and link to it "the other day I read a great piece [here] on Sarah Palin which made me think of Pauline Hanson". If you are just writing your own thing from that point on that's it. If you quote from that piece then you need to enclose such quotes in quote marks, or format them differently. That seems to me it. I don't think we need to treat our writing like an academic journal article peppered with cross-references, but on the other hand we do nned to give credit where due (and let our readers go and have a look at the original as well, another great beauty of the internet). This blogging business is still evolving, and conventions like that are evolving with it. OK, that's my lot. [written before seeing Ad's post above, but still worth saying I think]

Bring Back Maxine

7/06/2011Hear Hear AA Abbott’s objectionable attributes highlight his open unrestrained lust for power. Abbott is morphing more & more into Brecht's Arturo Ui. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Resistible_Rise_of_Arturo_Ui The divisiveness he has caused in our society is utterly deplorable, and yet the MSM continually have failed to properly hold him to account. Thank you for succeeding where the MSM have utterly failed.

Gravel

7/06/2011Well, well, well, now I know why I love The Political Sword. Intelligent thinking people with well thought out posts. I was just pondering this morning when I woke up. Isn't it amazing that since the Coalition have won office in West Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, the trains, hospitals, infrastructure, education, oh just about everything is now working perfectly. No big headlines, no bad stories, of if there are hiccups, just a short mention once, then topic left to die. Thank you to all the wonderful TPS's here that provide me with links, discussions and thoughtful pieces. This is the only blog I feel free enough to comment without getting called all sorts of names. Please give yourselves a hundred gold stars.

TalkTurkey

7/06/2011Mad Katter's Tea Party? Oh yes, I seem to remember . . . YES! On Wikipedia, check out the original drawings from Alice in Wonderland of Alice, the March Hare and the Mad Hatter at the tea table. Google: . . . In this style 10/6 . . . , you'll find it about 3 refces down. Now, conjure in your mind, (or on a piece of paper if you have the caricaturist's skill), a subtle change in their faces . . . Abbortt as the Rabbit *J*u*l*i*a* as Alice Katter as Mad Hatter, yes. With an Akubra-brimmed-top-hat. Notice the price tag in his hat band. It says, in this style 10/6 which of course was ten shillings and sixpence, being a half guinea which was a crazy amount, 21 shillings, or One Pound One Shilling for Dog's sake. It was a pretty currency but pretty illogical. Anyway some dopey blogger in the US reckons it refers to the date and so that makes the 6th of October the day to do silly things. Stupido. That was England not the US and 10/6 meant theren and then as it means in every sane state to this day the 10th of June. My birthday is 9/11 and that's NOT the 11th of September it's the 9th of November. The Yank way of "dating" is even crazier than SA's half-hour-displaced time zone complicated by bloody daylight-scrambling-time. But do look at that picture. It is a classic, one of a series in Alice in Wonderland by Sir John Tenniel, another Knight of the real kind :) There's the 3 of them sorting out who's going to form Government . . . but it's the Mad Katter's Tea Party and he'll spout nonsense if he wants to . . . See him reciting Twinkle Twinkle Eff'N'Q on that same Wiki page . ! . BTW the hard-to-see head between the March Hare and the Mad Hatter is that of the Dormouse, who spends his time sleeping and half-waking, while the other two use him as a cushion. The other two try to stick the Dormouse in the teapot every time they have tea together, which is always, they are stuck in a warp where it's always 6 o'clock, tea-time, Rev.Charles Dodson aka 'Lewis Carroll' precursing the notion of Groundhog Day by a coupla hundred years . . . So . . . Who shall we choose for the Dormouse in the Mad Katter's Tea Party? Please supply reasons for your answers. Nominations: Barnyard; Brownie; Sloppy; Polly Pantsdown; Kevin11; The Poodle; Further nominations now being received. Anyway the urgent thing to consider is, WHAT WILL HAPPEN on 10/6 ? That's THIS FRIDAY! SILLY DAY! H'mmm. So . . . More of the same?

TalkTurkey

7/06/2011A little riddle I thunk of whilst in contemplation of the urinal: What's the difference between the metal silver and Chrissie the Poodle Pyne? I'll give you a clue: The metal silver is a kind of shiny white . . . :)

Feral Skeleton

7/06/2011Bring Back Maxine, The media continue to fawn at Abbott's feet. I can't understand it either. As do some academics, it seems, who you think would know better and be able to see through his chameleonic facade. You may ponder Brecht, I reflect upon William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'.

Feral Skeleton

7/06/2011David Horton, Sounds good to me. :)

Feral Skeleton

7/06/2011'Getting Better All the Time' http://www.smh.com.au/national/refugee-swaps-about-to-get-nod-20110606-1fpiy.html

NormanK

7/06/2011D Mick Weir Welcome back - you've been missed. As have your sensible comments. David Horton Although I don't agree with all that you've said in your comment this morning (too broad a brush for my liking) nevertheless there is much wisdom there. Thanks especially for the Palin Wikipedia heads up. I knew of Palin's comment but not the follow-up. It's very sad when it is not even hyperbole to describe this as an attempt to rewrite history. That is literally what they were trying to do by citing a former Vice Presidential candidate as an historical source. Remarkable. [b]Sarah Palin Fans Trying To Rewrite Wikipedia History Of Paul Revere's Ride To Match Her Crazy Version[/b] [quote]After riffing on Paul Revere's ride during her bus tour last week--and making a couple of basic factual errors--Sarah Palin has responded by arguing that she got the facts right. Sarah Palin's fans, meanwhile, have responded by trying to rewrite history, in this case on the Wikipedia page for Paul Revere.[/quote] http://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palin-fans-try-to-rewrite-wikipedia-history-of-paul-reveres-ride-2011-6

Ad astra reply

7/06/2011Folks You will not be able forget the image of Julia Gillard saying before the election: “There will be no carbon tax in a government I lead”. It has been played countless times on TV, and it has been referred to by Tony Abbott and his ministers repeatedly as an example of her ‘lie to the Australian people’. It has been used by the Coalition and the media to damage her by painting her as a liar, (in fact JULIAR by Alan Jones), never to be trusted. Let’s not argue the changed circumstances in the parliament that has led her from her preferred ETS to an ETS preceded for a short time by a tax on carbon, but instead focus on Tony Abbott’s statement about a carbon tax in an interview with David Spears in 2009, which has emerged from Sky News where it presumably has been under wraps. Here is the YouTube clip for those who have not seen it; this version also includes his statements on climate change http://youtu.be/oPpQisoZqx4 On that same YouTube frame there are several other interesting Abbott segments including the ‘shit happens’ encounter with Mark Riley. My question is: “How many times do you think this will be played on TV to display how Tony Abbott is now doing something quite the opposite of what he said in his David Spears interview?” Does that contradiction make him a liar also? He is now out in denial mode, saying that his statement was made in 2009 and he is now sticking to the policy of no tax on carbon that he took to the election, unlike Julia Gillard. He will wriggle and likely the media will let him do so. It will probably be played down as something two years old, and that as it wasn’t ‘written down and scripted’ he can’t be held to it, and anyway we know how Tony changes his mind. No one ought to deny a politician the right to change his or her mind as circumstances or evidence change, but can an argument be sustained that Julia Gillard may not do so, while Tony Abbott may? For Abbott to press this argument, in whatever convoluted form, would be further evidence of his disingenuousness, of which he is accused in this piece. What do you think?

Jason

7/06/2011AA, "The Burgerman" has just posted it on the drum twitter page! http://www.abc.net.au/thedrum/twitter/

Jason

7/06/2011Or this from the same page. latikambourke | 4 minutes ago Guess who agreed, in 2009, that a carbon tax used to fund income tax cuts would 'not be a disaster?' TAbbott: http://bit.ly/lfkOvg

NormanK

7/06/2011Ad astra I can't see that bit of video making an ounce of difference. Abbott's multiple stances on the subject are pretty well known - in fact he has at one time or other taken each and every available position depending on who he is talking to and what he is opposing. Unless someone pulls together a timeline of Abbott's dancing around on this subject and clearly links it to the audience he is addressing or the government policy that he is opposing at the time, no-one is going to take a blind bit of notice. The most important aspect of this recent footage is not that Abbott 'believed' a carbon tax was the way to go but that he was opposing Labor's ETS. Anything else is better than what Labor proposes. A really good stymie for Labor to put on Abbott would be to adopt (if they can afford it) some of his Direct Action ideas. Of course, he will insist that they don't go far enough but he would be hard pressed to oppose them. This is the irony of the current debate. Some of the Direct Action Plan has merit if it was used in conjunction with a price on carbon but the polarisation of politics means that now there is no middle ground. As an example, Tony Abbott's Green Army has a lot going for it - just not its name.

Patricia WA

7/06/2011Talk Turkey - thanks for your comment on the Mad Katter's Tea Party and your very appropriate question about the Dormouse. I think it has to be Rob Oakeshott, who sometimes is off dreaming somewhere as we saw recently when he upset the Speaker. Your comment reminded me that I'd already pondered on that a while back, and chosen Oakeshott for the teapot! I don't don't think I cross posted here all of my pomes about [u]Downunderland[/u] immediately after the election last year and all those negotiations and to-ing and fro-ing when I wrote about [b]Mr. Rabbit's Tea Party.[/b] Mr. Murdoch has encouraged me To reconstruct a once great party. I know the one he means, when Alice And me were received at the palace. Don’t try to say that was the March Hare. I’ve kept the pictures. That was me there! We squashed poor Dormouse in the tea pot. I’ll replace him with young Rob Oakshott. Then there’s that relation of the Queen, Tony Windsor, though he could be Green. Still, that not’s true of old Bob Katter, Made for the role of Oz Mad Hatter. Will they all join? Are we their first choice? Why can’t they love our Barnaby Joyce? And what’s so wrong with Hockey and Robb? Any fool can see they did a great job. Meanwhile Rupert’s so keen to kill ‘Time’ He won’t give a dollar, not one dime - Not if my tea party turns out a failure And that bolshie Red Queen gets to rule in Australia. Sadly Rupert seems to have thrown everything that News Ltd has to offer behind Mr. Rabbit even though the bolshie Red Queen did get to rule in Australia. I wonder if Abbott, supported by News Ltd., will have a go at destroying Katter's Australian Party, seeing it as the threat to the right as he did One Nation. I guess he'd be wary of tackling an old hand like Bob. I'm toying with that idea for a pome right now. Another theme which had occurred to me was to wonder if Bob in naming his party had been influenced at all by The Australian Sex Party. His color choice is remarkably similar. Some of their policies, like their serious commitment to certain civil liberties, may have real appeal to him!

Michael

7/06/2011Today's Bad Abbott. "Things were different then". Abbott defending his support of a carbon tax in a 2009 TV interview in contrast to his position now. Things will always be "different"... whenever Tony wants them to be. Won't that be a wonderfully sure way to run a country?

Sue

7/06/2011AD, Unfortunately I don't think the Skynews interview will make any difference. This interview has been around for 2 years yet the MSM has not thought to challenge Abbott. Abbott can continue to yell that the end of the world as we know it is upon us, if a carbon tax is introduced, and the MSM will continue to support him.

David Horton

7/06/2011Too broad a brush?! I'll take that as a compliment!

macca

7/06/2011Well, you must admit your a pretty diverse mob on TPS. AA...thoughtful,erudite and unfailingly polite. FS...damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead! NormanK....pensive and analytical. Lyn....goes above and beyond. AC....satire laced with arsenic. Talk Turkey.....always another side on veiw. PatriciaWA...political poetry of the soul. Jason...solid and honest. DMW, gravel and others.....always food for thought. macca(me)....tries hard, but can do better. I fully understand the r/w wanting to denigrate and insult us. A more dangerous cadre of fervent, ferocious and committed social movement has never been visited on the gentle, understanding, yet resolute, humanitarian movement that is Neo Conservatism.

macca

7/06/2011Re last post; Do you think they'll get it?

2353

7/06/2011Folks. I see the three usual suspected trolls were all here at once yesterday - claimed that someone had not followed the "rulez" and next thing we know is people are taking potshots at each other (no I haven't read the other blog by the way). To borrow a Kath and Kimism for a minute - "three words Kim; divide and conquer". Someone somewhere is worried about this blog me thinks!

lyn

7/06/2011Hi Macca You are brilliant thankyou for that interesting analysis, incredibly accurate, nothing wrong with your people skills, you see us exactly as we are. [quote]Do you think they'll get it?[/quote] "NO" :):):):D:D:D:D:D

lyn

7/06/2011Hi 2353 You got it. Initial shock, comparing us to Bolts blog. Thinking well! he receives 1 million comments doesn't he? the figure is often thrown around, not sure if it's a million a day, week or a month, but it's big time. So big it's great big, he has his won TV show, Radio show, mega star stuff. Ad Astra measures the hits but the numbers are not advertised because we don't want everyone to know, how great big we are. See so we at TPS are a big, big. blog. I hope the visitors count hasn't been leaked to the media.

Acerbic Conehead

7/06/2011Hi Macca, Great post and thanks for including me in such august company. However, the attributes you list in association with "Neo Conservatism" don't seem to gel with me. Maybe I've got a different understanding of the term.

Ad astra reply

7/06/2011Jason Thank you for your link to Tony Abbott’s July 2009 address to the David Davis Memorial dinner, while reveals his climate change skepticism even at that time. But the sentence that astonished me most was this one: “[i] As the ABC’s Chris Uhlmann has instructively remarked, if we can’t predict the weather a week in advance and can’t accurately forecast next year’s budget deficit, how can we be so sure about climate and its economic consequences in 100 years time?[/i]” Abbott is smart enough to know that statement is inane, yet he repeated it because he knew it would be accepted by the unthinking as gospel. We know Abbott’s form, but what does it say about Chris Uhlmann, who is touted as an up and coming star in the ABC firmament. The link to the Abbott address is here: http://bit.ly/lfkOvg

Ad astra reply

7/06/2011macca What a neat summary of the {i]TPS[/i] stars. Hi Lyn I think we'll keep the site statistics to ourselves.

Greg

7/06/2011I haven't read through all the comments so perhaps someone has pointed this out already. Your main premise is wrong: Abbott is not stopping the Government from governing. How many bills have passed through parliament this year? Over 70, last I heard. Abbott isn't stopping a thing. And he has even less chance of stopping anything from July 1st. Fact is, Abbott is not only negative and all the things you rightly point out, he is also a useless opposition leader.

TalkTurkey

8/06/2011Greg You're right. Abbortt won from that stupid vote against Turnbull with a majority of 1 vote. That makes him LOTO. Gillard won the election by 1 vote. That makes her PM. 1 vote is all it needs. The legislation they are passing might as well have been voted for unanimously. Power is so delicious when the legislation is good for the People, as it is so hurtful when conservative governments pass high-handed measures against us. Many of us here will have fought against the ultimate high-handedness, namely conscription for overseas military service in Vietnam in what was otherwise peacetime; a few here may have been its direct victims, the boys who were sent. Lest we forget, that was Harold Holt's Lib-CP Coalition that subjected Australia to that disgrace, and it was for cynical political advantage. And lest we forget too November 11 1975, it was Fraser's Lib-CP Coalition that staged the coup against Whitlam's legitimate government. There is nothing these ravening curs won't stoop to in their all-consuming lust for power, they are willing to take their homeland to the brink of civil war, and don't let anybody doubt or forget that. Abbortt is the worst of the lot. A majority of ONE! It's exactly what Abbortt can't stand. How grotesquely hilariously ironic, he beat Turnbull by one, he must have exulted, tee hee hee, then the Precious was snatched from his grasp by the same margin, BOO HOO HOO! SO-O-O-O near, and yet so far! I really think he's round the twist, maddened by the smell and sight of power so close, Dog he's an alpha male in his own eyes, I can just imagine how he feels as he catches a whiff of *J*U*L*I*A*s perfume when they force a division :) - Game On, she said, and her femininity and femaleness are all in the game. Not that she plays on that. She beats him all around the town on intellect and work and diplomacy. She is actually very proper, but an attractive woman she is. Poor Tony Abbortt. He is the human equivalent of a half-starved caged hyaena with a side of okapi just out of reach . . . Salivating . . . DROOOOOLING! . . . (and btw I mean it's the power he lusts for, it's just worse for him she's a girl.) Well he just can't have none, that's all! Gillard be it said has never deliberately taunted him over winning the confidence of the House, she does her job and answers with full cutting edge in QT but she is always proper and never nasty. (She only needs to outline Abbortt's actual statements and postures and that's nasty enough!) She is too shrewd to be shrewish, knowing well that women in particular would see through such a posturing and properly punish her. She is never tricksy, always sincere, she offers no handgrips to the Opposition except by the hair or the nose or the earlobes (all of which look very nice to me) or by her unmarried status or her agnosticism. They are reduced to playing the man, except she's a woman so there's sexism thrown in in gross measure. But it is coming back to bite Them all the time. None of Labor's women are of a mind to simper and wear it. Reowrrr! - indeed! This parliament will largely winkle out and hunt down the last bastions of institutionalised sexism in Australia, largely because the women on Labor's front bench are so formidable. All this panicky worry about Abbortt bringing the Government down, I reckon it's not to be worried about, there's nothing we can do about any circumstance that might lead to that anyway but the window of opportunity for Abbortt was always open only a chink and it's narrowing all the time. He's sort of crazy to think he would ever be able to govern from a forced early election, he WON'T control the Senate and they would be very hostile indeed. If he did manage to force an early election it would be an exercise in insanity and brinkmanship, and nothing to do with wise governance. Abbortt is very dangerous, but imo he's less of a threat than most on the Left credit him, and less of a threat than he fancies himself for at that. VENCEREMOS!

Patricia WA

8/06/2011Well said, TT! Goodnight! Sweet dreams! We deserve them!

TalkTurkey

8/06/2011Swordsfolks Earlier in the night I swear I heard an ABC24 announcer say wtte that now that we're losing more soldiers being killed in Afghanistan we must be making headway in the 'war'. . ! ! ! Anybody else hear that? I reckon that just about says it all. Military madness.

lyn

8/06/2011 [b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]What's eating you? Greg Jericho, Grog's Gamut[/i] Newspoll figures behind the paywall, but I bet by about 2 seconds after they are released I’ll know them from Twitter (in fact, given the Ghost Who Votes, it’ll be known on Twitter before hand). http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/ [i]It could go either way, Andrew Elder, Politically Homeless[/i] When you lie, you pollute the pool of information on which public debate depends. When you do that you can't complain that others aren't giving you information or are selling it badly. http://andrewelder.blogspot.com/ [i]Ye of no sin, cast the first stone, Ash, Ash's Machiaviallian Bloggery[/i] Mr Morrison keeps mixing up illegal immigration with asylum seeking. Or maybe he wants the two to be synonymous in the hearts of Australians. http://ashghebranious.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/yeah-of-no-sin-cast-the-first-stone/ [i]Paywalls and partisanship, Tim Dunlop, BSides[/i] The Australian is ground zero for hardline, anti-Labor, so-called "campaigning"journalism, a position that has solidified since federal Labor came to power in 2007 http://tjd.posterous.com/mr-murdoch-put-up-that-wall [i]You say culture, I say religion, David Horton, The Watermelon Blog[/i] religion is encoding misogyny, often extreme misogyny, as well as facilitating animal cruelty, encouraging the rape of the environment, and supporting repressive regimes, wealth disparities, http://davidhortonsblog.com/ [i]Emails reveal nature of attacks on climate scientists, Rooted, Crikey[/i] Yet at least one commentator in a newspaper, one of Australia’s highest selling tabloids, not only failed to condemn the actions of the perpetrators but suggested the scientists deserved it. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/2011/06/07/emails-reveal-nature-of-attacks-on-climate-scientists/ [i]We're keeping you poor for your own good, Jeremy Sear. Onoymous Lefty[/i] If you pay more money to the working poor who actually prop up this economy, well, we rich people will have to increase our demands too: http://anonymouslefty.wordpress.com/ [i]Well done, you finally believe the garbage we've been selling you, Jeremy Sear, Pure Poison[/i] outlets like News Ltd, in misleadingly stoking extremist fears about the carbon price, is in any way responsible for climate scientists receiving death threats and increasing amounts of abuse and harassment. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2011/06/07/well-done-youve-absorbed-what-weve-been-telling-you/#more-10517 [i]Speedo's on Fire, Still Life With Cat[/i] But when Tony Abbott does a complete 180 degree turn, it's because 'everything was different then'.And the reason for this is that, like, um. Because, erm. http://stilllifewithcat.blogspot.com/2011/06/speedos-on-fire.html [i]The Australian to adopt paywall in October, Michael Janda, ABC[/i] We believe that The Australian journalism has real value online as well as in print, and extensive research suggests our readers agree," he noted in a statement. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/07/3237643.htm [i]Swan’s modelling is long on good news but short on detail, Raja Junankar, The Conversation[/i] In most modern economies there is a vast amount of job creation and job destruction taking place simultaneously. Work by Bruce Chapman shows that the impact of a carbon price http://theconversation.edu.au/swans-modelling-is-long-on-good-news-but-short-on-detail-1718 [i]Austerity economics , Gary Sauer Thompson, Public Opinion[/i] Trickle down economics is the implicit theory of economics held by the Coalition' underpinning its 'reduce the debt' rhetoric. This assumes that raising interest rates and slashing http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/2011/06/austerity-econo.php#more [i]The innumeracy of the right, John Quiggin[/i] it’s pretty much routine for the rightwing side of the climate debate. Ludicrous numbers like Goldsworthy’s can be found on just about any rightwing blog you care to visit. I’ve pointed out similarly massive errors by http://johnquiggin.com/2011/06/07/the-innumeracy-of-the-right/ [i]When Julia Gillard Went to Canberra , Nick Bryant, Wall Street Journal[/i] Facile sloganeering, acrid debate and infantile behavior from lawmakers have brought the Australian parliament into disrepute. Earlier this month a Liberal senator meowed http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576369020502535768.html [i]Telstra contract to be completed next week, Jason Murphy, Financial Review[/i] The $11 billion contract, under which NBN will pay Telstra for the use or rent of its assets to help build the ” NBN over the next decade, is the culmination of months of negotiations. http://www.afr.com/p/national/telstra_contract_to_be_completed_q953a4zzRtvHkKS9eliLwN [i]Moral Failure The Crux Of This Policy Mess, Ben Eltham, New Matilda[/i] mismatch between the evidence of small and manageable asylum seeker arrivals, and hostile public opinion egged on by irresponsible media outlets and opportunistic conservative politicians. http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/07/moral-failure-crux-policy-mess [i]Climate change, doomsday and the ‘inevitable’ extinction of humankind, Darren Curnoe, The Conversation[/i] Our domestication of plants and animals, and the large-scale clearing of land, altered the history of many others as well. It paved the way for a rise in infectious disease, and social changes http://theconversation.edu.au/climate-change-doomsday-and-the-inevitable-extinction-of-humankind-1656

Sue

8/06/2011And Abbott's latest stunt is to fly to Nauru, but wants a government jet. Yep taxpayers required to pay for his fantasy flight.

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Ad Here is a come lately link, article on Abbott's gaffe video, but of course "that was before", things were different in 2009. Now That's different, not the devil's fault, not because it wasn't written down. [i]Howard's 'evolution' was one-way, Rob Burgess, Business Spectator[/i] The video clip circulated yesterday – in which Tony Abbott says "If you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax?" – [b]is very damaging for his leadership, for the party and for the Coalition[/b]http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Howard-carbon-tax-CPRS-Abbott-Turnbull-Swan-Gillar-pd20110608-HLT3W?OpenDocument&src=sph

Michael

8/06/2011Today's Bad Abbott. Tony Abbott wants a government jet put at his disposal so that he and Scott Morrison can be flown to Nauru today. There he plans to make TV news ready party political points about the Coalition's asylum-seekers' policy. Taxpayers to pay for his photo-opportunities, designed to do nothing but pump up a proven failed option (97% of Nauru detainees were eventually accepted by this country, which people smugglers are well aware of, so THAT won't stop any boats.) Of course, the man knows no limits to his gall. Perhaps he'd like an official welcome from Nauru's head of government for Australia's "shouldabeen PM" while he's about it?

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Sue and Michael [u]Tony Abbott "should pick up phone" to Nauru[/u] What's good for the Goose is ............ Then again, how can he get on TV by picking up the phone. Abbott to visit Nauru detention centre , News Com "Under the coalition, every convicted people smuggler would spend at least a year in prison, and the worst offenders and repeat offenders would face a minimum of 10 years behind bars." The Coalition would also tighten the current appeals system for illegal boat arrivals processed offshore and end Labor's no-document entry process for illegal boat arrivals. Mr Abbott will accuse Ms Gillard of saying no to Nauru simply because it was Mr Howard's idea first. http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/abbott-to-visit-nauru-detention-centre/story-e6frfku0-1226071390906 Cheers

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Michael Do you think this is a good idea, if you could post a "Today's Bad Abbott", everyday for us please. Cheers

NormanK

8/06/2011A quick prediction. Mr Abbott will be knocked back in his request for a government jet to fly to Nauru. When has a member of the opposition been empowered to negotiate on the commonwealth's behalf? I seem to recall talk during the election of it being unConstitutional for anyone other than a government official to discuss matters of state with a foreign power. Mr Abbott (King of the Trolls) wants to be denied so that he can claim victimisation and declare the government is 'too afraid' to let him go. While I'm here, may I condemn Tony Jones' attempt at a gotcha on Christopher Pyne with the Abbott video? It's good that the video got an airing but Jones is continuing down the sideshow path to poor journalistic practices. Unfortunately, many in Q&A's audience now expect this type of stunt and wait for it with bated breath.

janice

8/06/2011Oh dear, I don't know what happened to my post above - would you be good enough to delete it please Ad astra.

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Ad One tweet so far concerning Mr Abbott thetowncrier Jason Whittaker by Pollytics [quote]So Tony Abbott is flying to a country we have nothing to do with to tour a facility that doesn't operate and negotiate a deal he can't sign.[/quote]1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Janice Don't worry Janice, Ad Astra will come along and fix your entry for you. It has happened to me many times, it's to do with the cursor in the comments box. Ad Astra might know how this happens. Norman K probably could tell us exactly what goes wrong, he is our tech head. Also NormanK could you tell me how to stop my sentences from breaking up after I press enter,please. I think that has got something to do with where I leave my cursor I wonder. Cheers

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011janice Post deleted at your request. Please post it again. There must have been a lot of 'carriage returns' at the end of the text. Sorry for my slow response; I'm been having trouble accessing the Internet this morning, right in the centre of Melbourne!

lyn

8/06/2011Good Morning Ad Could you tell Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull please so that they would stop causing so much trouble over the NBN. Centre of Melbourne not exactly a remote area or out of range. [quote]I'm been having trouble accessing the Internet this morning, right in the centre of Melbourne![/quote] Hope you have a happy day Ad

janice

8/06/2011Thank you Ad astra. I won't bother re-posting - don't even remember now what it was so obviously it wasn't too important :) There is no doubt about it, Abbott has the hide of a rhino. I hhope the government is adding up the cost to taxpayers of all these stunts. He must be the most expensive LOTO in Australia's history. BTW, I was listening to our local radio this morning about 5.15am and heard the bloke from Westpac (based in London) say that there is more than deep concern about Greece, Ireland and Portugal defaulting on their debts. He said Greece looks like defaulting in a matter of a week and would be closely followed by Ireland and Portugal. The fallout from this could be dire.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011[b]Missing Aussie Hero Home[/b] [i]In news just to hand it has been revealed that an Australian soldier who had been working deep undercover in Afghanistan has landed on Christmas Island. The soldier, who, for security reasons we are unable to name, was taken prisoner by the Taliban near the Pakistan border with three locals who were working with him. They were able to escape, gather up some family members and smuggle themselves across the border into Pakistan. The group made the long and often dangerous trek on foot across Pakistan and with luck and help from locals were able to get a boat to Malaysia where they found some other refugees from the village where the soldier had been working. The group now numbering 26 then commandeered a fishing boat to make the dangerous voyage to Australia finally landing on Christmas Island last night. A defence spokesperson has said the soldier will be considerd for a medal for his heroism. He has been flown back to Australia for medical treatment. The soldiers travelling companions are being processed for return to ..... [/i]

NormanK

8/06/2011D Mick Weir What's your source? I can't find it. The government had better make an exception if what is reported in your comment is accurate.

NormanK

8/06/2011Hi lyn Your problem stems from old typewriter days where you needed to create line breaks using carriage return ('return' in computer parlance) in order to stay within the page. If you are creating your post in the comments box, the text as it appears in the box is not the same as it will appear when you put it up. I'll give you a long answer if this short answer doesn't work. Don't create any 'line breaks' (return) unless it is to start a new sentence on a new line or to double space between paragraphs. Write your sentences as one free-flowing string of text and allow the comments box to format line breaks. When you post the comment, BlogEngine will reformat it to suit the size of the comments section of TPS. The same advice applies if you are creating your comment on a notepad type application. Does that make sense? Less use of the 'return' button.

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Norman K You are my Tech Wizard, thankyou so much. So simple, think I've got it good. I always do try to fit my excerpts in the comments box also with my comments so now: Just let the blog engine do it, easy easy peasy. Cheers:):):):):)

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Ad Further to our earliear posts by Michael and Sue on Nauru: [i]Abbott's Nauru trip a 'stunt': Labor , SMH[/i] [quote]"Mr Abbott has been hiding behind rhetoric about picking up the phone to Nauru but has failed to answer significant questions," Mr Bowen said. He wants the opposition leader to explain how much Nauru will cost. "(And) will he monitor asylum seekers sent to Nauru like the last time round, when one man was there for over five years and more than 120 people were left to rot for three years or longer - including children?" Mr O'Connor said: "Mr Abbott has never explained how he will turn back the boats or even where they will go." Labor backbencher Graham Perrett said Mr Abbott's trip to Nauru was "a waste of jet fuel and money". "Why would the opposition leader have to go to Nauru for a bit of a television grab - it's just a stunt," he told Sky News.[/quote]http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/abbotts-nauru-trip-a-stunt-labor-20110608-1frta.html

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011FS Thank you for your email; I've sent you a reply.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011NotrmanK @ 10:34 AM lost contact for a while - keep getting some message about encoding errors Anyways, ummm, errr - the gerbrils and a vivid imagination :P

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011Hi Lyn I noted among your great set of links this morning an item from a blogsite I’ve not encountered previously called [i]Still life with cat[/i]. In a piece by Kerryn Goldsworthy titled [i]Speedos on fire[/i] she says: [i] And if I hear one more person say 'The Opposition's job is to oppose' then I will throw up. Of course it's not the Opposition's job to oppose. The Opposition's job is to provide checks and balances, to represent the people who voted for it, and to maintain itself as a viable alternative guvmint. Good luck with that.[/i] I’m pleased to see that people writing for other blogsites feel just as I do. Yes, I must write to tell Malcolm Turnbull how 'marvellous' wireless broadband is in the centre of Melbourne and ask him how much more marvellous it will become when the load on the network becomes more than it can handle, as in New York. Maybe we've already reached 'peak load'!

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011btw NormanK, thanks for a near as dammit tongue in cheek emoticon :) :P

Gravel

8/06/2011As I was unable to read TPS for a while, I may have missed some new commentor's. I would like to welcome you, and hope that your comments encourage other people who read this blog to put their 2bobs worth in too. It is good to have many voices to debate the issues. Abbott going to Nauru will be played in the media as if he is a hero. Need we say more than that. After the non-coverage of the Say Yes campaign, the discouraging negative coverage of Wayne Swan's NPC address, like it was Swanny's fault he was introduced as Wayne Smith for heavens sake........frustration abounds at the idiocy of it all.

NormanK

8/06/2011D Mick Weir You *&#$@&%! That was perfect. Do you know how long I spent searching for that story? It had just the right amount of plausibility and need for outrage. Very clever. You are most welcome to the emoticon but I will be keeping a close on your comments in future. Your encoding error messages are almost certainly about the server that handles TPS being down. It's been happening a bit lately.

NormanK

8/06/2011Ad astra Now that the dust has settled a bit on Club Troppo's comments can I suggest that from Ken's point of view his description had a certain amount of accuracy. Bear with me. Ken came in 'cold' in the sense that he has not followed this blog and knows little if anything about the material that has been canvassed here over time. He also came in 'hot' with disgruntlement over another issue. In that frame of mind if you go back and read your article in isolation from everything else that you've written, it looks like a blind rant. Regulars here know that it is the culmination of months of frustration at the completely obstructionist approach of Mr Abbott and that you were taking the opportunity to let off some steam. There is no way for Ken to know that this article is far from your normal style and content and it would appear that he has projected (as we all do) this unfavourable impression to encompass the entire site. The first couple of comments here reinforced that impression. Not that I'm criticising those comments - everything must be viewed in its correct context. It didn't help that Ken's remarks fed nicely into the themes of our current detractors. Viewed in that light, I wouldn't make too much of it beyond a timely reminder that we need to be cautious because quite often we get first time readers who have no context into which they can put articles and comments.

TalkTurkey

8/06/2011DMW Hey hey hey Hee hee hee Ya got NormanK But ya never got me! I did smell a dead herring. Your post was clever and poignant, and it could happen too. At least it could make a helluva good spine for a believable action movie. BTW I once sucked our good friend Nasking in to a bogus story about Murdoch establishing a fund to encourage political bloggers. I felt wonderfully bad after that. I did sincerely apologise but it was all good fun. As your post is. :)

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011NormanK, I went to send a further comment to follow up but I got those durnfangled encoding errors and lost it. (the comment and some of my sanity :) ) Basically the story was inspired by a conversation I had with some friends (true blue, dyed in the wool Liberal voters who have relatives in powerful positions in said party btw). Any way the guy kept on about bleedin' queue jumpers and much to my stunned amazement the lady said (xxxx) there is no queue and the people must go through hell to get here. Couldn't believe my ears as this lady is an avid Alan Jones and other similar types listener. I then put the scenario similar to my story and the guy still wouldn't let go of 'send em back, queue jumpers blah, blah, blah but the Aussie would desreve a medal. Hence my story.

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Ad This is an excellent article by Brian At Larvatus Prodeo: I will post the link again tomorrow in Todays Links for other blog sites that link to TPS. By the way, the list of blog sites linking to TPS and Today's Links, is growing fast too, I have a list must, be over 15 or more now. [i]NBN is becoming unstoppable, Brian, Larvatus Prodeo[/i] [quote]So increasingly it looks as though the deal is done, the die is cast, the horse has bolted, the train has left the station, the boat has left the harbour.[/quote] [quote]So if Labor run to 2013, they will have nailed both a price on carbon leading into an ETS and NBN implementation as well as other achievements in health and education which are unlikely to be reversed. But of course they are an entirely incompetent, do nothing bunch who don’t stand for anything[/quote]. http://larvatusprodeo.net/2011/06/08/nbn-is-becoming-unstoppable/

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011I have never come across cartoonist John Allison before (that I know of) His cartoon on plain packaging is subtle(!?!), to the point and probably poignant. http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/08/plain-packaging-0

NormanK

8/06/2011D Mick Weir I trust you have steered your friends in the direction of the SBS documentary series to air on 21st, 22nd and 23rd June called "Go back where you came from". Perhaps they may learn something. Six Australians were taken on a journey which was the reverse of an asylum seeker's. It looks as though they didn't enjoy it very much. I'm really looking forward to it and the response in the press afterwards.

lyn

8/06/2011Hi D Mick Weir I have been thoroughly enjoying your comments, thankyou. It was so good to see back yesterday you were missed. Cheers

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011Greg @ June 7. 2011 10:46 PM presaged another story/angle that I was working on but anyhow here goes ... [b]I'm Cranky ... [i]Mad as a Hatter[/i][/b] Did you know that on 12 April 2011, assent was given to the [b]Australian Civilian Corps 2011[/b] bill? Dammit, I don't remember voting for that sort of legislation. [i]Call an election.[/i] And not only that, on the 25 May assent was given to the [b]Australian Research Council Amendment (No. 1) 2011[/b] - who gave the guvmint a mandate for that? [i]Call an election so we, the people can decide[/i] And who knows what skulduggerry this one is about: [b]Autonomous Sanctions 2011[/b] given assent on 26 May - [i]we need an election NOW[/i] This is making me madder and madderer. You can bet this incompetent guvmint has ulterior motives with the [b]Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Dividend and Other Measures) 2011[/b] legislation assent given 26 May - [i]this should be put to the people[/i] And this doozie, given assent on 12 April: [b]Civil Dispute Resolution 2011[/b] bill. Whatha bleedin 'ell - [i]the only civil dispute resolution we need is another election [b]CALL IT NOW JULIA[/b][/i] Yes folks it seems this incompetent, no hoper guvmint is quietly passing legislation we the people know nothing about. [b]What right do they have to do it? Where is thier mandate?[/b] - [i]Call an election immediately - [b]if not sooner![/b][/i]

Jason

8/06/2011DMW @June 8. 2011 01:59 PM Very funny, you haven't been listening to "Adelaide radio" have you? That's what we get all morning except the "shock jock" thinks he is the Premier and Minister for everything, and gets very disappointed if his "advice" ignored.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011thanks 'tweetie' it is nice to back, if only for a few more moments - the sirens are calling, another life beckons all too soon. NormanK, that SBS doco will be interesting will try and talk SHMBO into watching or maybe recrding as it looks like I will be on the road again that week.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011Jason, unfortunately I haven't been called to Adelaide for more years than I care to recall. Don't remember any of the radio and only have very vague (intoxicated?) memories of some fine watering holes and music venues (and what a scandal it was when I visited some them!!!!)

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011re my rant on legislation being passed. I guess I could have done a bit of research to find out what some the legislation is about but why bother when I can cherry pick from the web (http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm) to make a (warped?) point. It occurs to me that a lot goes on in parliament that we never hear about that affects us. All we seem to get is same old rants from the great opposers and regurgitated by some in the media. If I can do a quick search and find this info how come journos can't? Oh that's right they are under so much pressure from the 24/7 news cycle. Bah humbug, over the last two weeks I have done about 70 hours in one job 30 or so in another gone on a two day mercy dash for family reasons and still had time to read countless blogs (and lots of comments) Bloody wimps :P

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011Folks almost time for me to do a 'Willie' http://www.absolutelyrics.com/lyrics/view/willie_nelson/on_the_road_again/ (the words) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TD_pSeNelU (the video) 'On the road again - Just can't wait to get [i]off[/i] the road again. The life I love is making [i]comments[/i] with my friends'

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011and now for a final comment (and link) for now. [b]A Martyr For The Truth - Austin Mackell, New Matilda[/b] http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/08/martyr-for-truth [i]'Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad was murdered last week outside Islamabad, the end of a fearless career reporting on the Af-Pak region. Austin Mackell recalls his encounters with Saleem' [/i] I can recall seeing some of his stuff while I was working in M.E. Good journo. and we think it is tough with trolls and the rants of opposers etc. Sobering, very sobering.

NormanK

8/06/2011D Mick Weir Surely by now you have made it clear to SWMBO just who it is that wears the trousers in your household. All that is required is a bit of positive reinforcement of the power structure and how it functions. Bribe her with a new pair of trousers. :)

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011NormanK @ 02:53 PM point taken - message absorbed, action pending :) bye 4 now

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011Folks NormanK is right about the [i]TPS[/i] server. I’m with Web Monkey at the moment. He is aware of the problem of accessing the server on occasions. He has been in touch with the technicians where the server resides. They are working to fix the problem or reduce its frequency. So please be patient if access is not always immediately available. Also you may have noticed that even when you have accessed the site, when you click ‘Comments’ at the end of the piece you get an error message along the lines: ‘Unable to decode raw data’. This is a separate issue and is being dealt with in another way – through a refresh mechanism on the server every 40 minutes. So again, if you are patient that problem will correct itself in a short time. There are a lot of hackers out there who are attacking servers all over the world, and as they do the servers are slowed down so that legitimate users cannot gain access. It’s a nasty cyberworld we live in and it’s likely to get worse. Patience is all I can recommend until a permanent solution is found.

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011NormanK I am writing a piece for next week titled: [i]Fair and balanced discourse – it that what we want?[/i] that has arisen out of this week’s skirmish with Ken Parish. I note your assessment of that episode at 1.03 pm, and will have that in mind as I prepare that piece. I agree that the current piece is one of the strongest statements I have made about Tony Abbott, or indeed about any contemporary politician. If I were told to rewrite it as it might upset some readers, I would scarcely change a word as that is how I felt and still do, and in fact after reading today of the publicity stunt of Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison going off to Nauru, I feel even more incensed with Abbott’s opportunistic publicity-seeking behavior. However, you are right. The tone of other pieces is different and anyone unfamiliar with the usual tone of material here who read the current piece might regard it as the norm, and therefore might quite reasonably regard it, and [i]TPS[/i], as pushing extreme views, especially as there were many comments supporting the piece, and conclude that [i]TPS[/i] has a “unremitting, one-eyed left wing bias”. But having said: “I seldom visit that blog”, his use of ‘unremitting’ is hardly appropriate. But as you suggest, he has extrapolated from that piece to the whole site and drawn an unflattering conclusion. Thank you for your comment.

Jason

8/06/2011Normank, The only problem I had with "Ken Parish" was when I first posted a comment at club troppo, and said what I said, he as "site administrator" just assumed because I have the same surname as a former Hawke/Keating Minister Gerry Hand, who is no relation as it happens, that in his opinion because of his shoot first policy my comment should be dismissed as crap because "Gerry " may have done that as minister! Yet here he is wanting honesty from others!

Michael

8/06/2011This http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/08/3238640.htm doesn't just display a Bad Abbott, it displays an Evil Abbott.

NormanK

8/06/2011Jason I'm not seeking to reopen debate. Pretty much everything that got said in those exchanges needs to be left in the dustbin. None of it was particularly edifying. I wasn't defending Ken or admonishing Ad astra, just looking to point out a different way of describing how the situation may have evolved. Ad astra I'm glad you took my comment at face value. I couldn't agree more with you in terms of what you have included in the above piece. Half a dozen times this year I have given up on watching what passes for political debate because the referee has abandoned the field. I look forward to your forthcoming piece. Now for something not in the least bit different. [i]It's just a jump to the right![/i] (sing along) [b]Abbott toughens asylum seeker stance[/b] [quote].... pledged to tighten the current appeals mechanisms by restricting reviews to just one case officer, and "end taxpayer funding for further appeals".[/quote] I wonder what the Supreme Court will make of that. [quote]"Using existing powers, the Coalition would ensure that destroying or discarding documentation gave rise to a presumption against refugee status."[/quote] If you haven't got papers - back home you go. [quote]"How does he propose to tow back boats without risking the lives of those involved and where will he tow them to, considering Indonesia has said simply returning boats would be 'a backward step'?" the statement[/quote] (from Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor) [quote]asked.[/quote] Not a bad question really. Any journalist care to put it to Mr Abbott? http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/08/3238640.htm

NormanK

8/06/2011Michael We were literally on the same page. Keep the Bad Abbotts coming.

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011Folks As they have been so objectionable, I have deleted all the comments of Reb and Jason in their spat here on this blogsite. I have also deleted my own response and the related comments of NormanK and 2353, with whom I happen to agree. I’ve deleted them so that we can put this unsavoury episode behind us, hopefully permanently. There is no place here for such unedifying comments from Jason and Reb. We have too much to do on the political front to be carrying on in this manner. I will delete any further unpleasant comments. If they do not stop I will close down [i]TPS[/i]. Surely we can be more mature.

jj

8/06/2011What the government has done on the live export front is just amazing! They have shut down a majority of the Northern territory, Northern Queensland and Northern WA agricultural industries without having devised a plan to deal with the ramifications. The Government obviously does not understand the domino effect such a decision is going to have in Northern Australia: Truckies who had 6 months work lined up are now stuck, the live export ships that have been hired by the exporters two years in advance have to continue to be paid (even though the producers now have no cash flow); those jilaroos and jackaroos that were working on the cattle stations will now be out of work; the feed and general agricultural suppliers will be decimated; the producers themselves will be cash strapped. This government obviously, just doesnt understand! I find it amazing that it was only a couple of days ago the Government announced a suspension of trading to the worst abattoirs shown on Four Corners, to be followed up by an inquiry into the whole issue, to now come out, without the suspension even beginning, and shut down the industry for the next twelve months! What has changed between then and now? Another thing that amazes me is the Governments willingness to have their policy decisions eb and flow with public opinion. All it took was one program on the ABC to change government policy! How he hell can a government devise a strategy and make sure they have a foolproof plan for the shutting down of a whole industry in only a week? They cant! This is exactly the sort of decision making that has led this Government to be seen as out of step and rushed. We have the mining tax announcement and then subsequent squabbling; we have had the no Carbon Tax, then the yes Carbon Tax; we have had the East Timor Solution, then woops! We announced something before we had even devised a plan; we have had the cash for clunkers and the citizens assembly, which was subsequently dumped; now we have the selective suspension/review, then total shut down without any details policy announcement today. It is no wonder people have given up on this mob.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011Only a short encounter with my other life this afternonn and I get back at the same time as jj Cool. Great to catch up again jj :) [b]Industry says it wants cattle trade fixed[/b] http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/08/3238891.htm?section=justin [i]Northern Australia's cattle producers are committed to fixing the live export trade to end the cruel slaughter of animals in Indonesia, an industry spokesman says. Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig this morning confirmed the Government was suspending all live exports to Indonesia [b]for up to six months.[/b] ... NT Cattlemen's Association executive director Luke Bowen says while the ban will hurt, producers are committed to improving the industry. ... Mr Bowen held talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard last night and says [b]the Government realises the importance of the live export industry[/b].[/i] Now what what were you saying jj?

sawdustmick

8/06/2011Perhaps jj you could explain the so-called domino effect that occurred to the live trade exports when john Winston Howard banned live sheep exports to Egypt. I believe that this also was a result of human outcry. Were you just as amazed at Howard's willingness to have his governments policy decisions eb and flow with public opinion.

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011jj You use of the word 'mob' shows your disdain for the elected Government of this nation.  Is there nothing at all that they have accomplished to your satisfaction? Please take good note of D Mick Weir's comments and tell us how you would have handled the live cattle export trade, and how the Coalition would have handled it in the face of the extreme public reaction to the Four Corners program. Please also respond to the information that DMW records in his comments.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011WOW check this out at The Drum [b]Asylum-seeker debate: in need of a politics-free message[/b] http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2751048.html [i]... national leadership is sorely needed now as our political parties participate in an unseemly race to the bottom on the issue of asylum seekers. There is an opportunity for the incumbent Governor-General Quentin Bryce ... and prick our collective conscience so as to hopefully begin to end the shame of Australia’s mean-spiritedness towards those who have suffered persecution in their homelands.[/i] Greg Barns is a barrister and former Liberal Party advisor. 'Tis a pity there aren't more advisers (on all sides) with the commonsense of this bloke. I even broke a self imposed rule and commented at The Drum !!!

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011sawdustmick @ 09:02 PM good one, I had misremembered that bit of [i]'trivia'[/i]

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011And now for something from one my other fields of interest: [b]Barnaby's choice (of words)[/b] - Peter Martin http://www.petermartin.com.au/2011/06/barnabys-choice-of-words.html [i]'This stunned all who saw it at the time. The transcript has just come out. Cast you mind back to Wednesday morning June 1, just before the negative GDP number came out (it was to be minus 1.2 per cent). Barnaby Joyce was grilling the Secretary to the Treasury.'[/i] Read it and weep (probably with tears of laughter) as you think back that Barnaby had some shadow economic portfolio or another.

Ad astra reply

8/06/2011D Mick Weir What a welcome presence you are on TPS this evening. Thank you for your interesting comments and information. I found the exchange between Barnaby Joyce and Treasury officials hilarious but alarming. No wonder the Coalition removed him from involvement with finance.

lyn

8/06/2011Hi Ad I will second that Ad, D Mick Weir has been entertaining me on and of all night. I will post Grog now for you all on Barnaby: The sublime and the ridiculous: Barnaby at Estimates, Greg Jericho, Grog's Gamut But just remember the first thing Tony Abbott did was appoint Joyce as his Finance spokesperson (an appointment so bad, even Abbott came to realise his fault). I guess “everything was different then”. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2011/06/sublime-and-ridiculous.html Cheers

Jason

8/06/20112353 Normank, I've been a fighter all my life! ever since the church got hold of me, an destroyed my childhood. Am I sorry about tonight? No! so that being said I shall finish posting on the sword at least for a while.

Feral Skeleton

8/06/2011Tony Abbott is the AntiChrist and Scott Morrison is Beezlebub, fair dinkum. I hope some giant Albatross drops a fresh load of guano on their heads while they are in Nauru. They, more than anyone else in contemporary politics, deserve it for the unremitting negativity and below the belt blows they have thrown at the government as they try to land a punch on them. Just one example should suffice to prove my point. When I was out today I dropped in to an RSPCA Op Shop. Pretty much up until today the ladies who staff the shop voluntarily have been your stereotypical sweet old things. Well, not any more. That old woman, Alan Jones, and his lickspittle, Tony Abbott, have well and truly soured their milk of human kindness. I was just browsing about and I overheard one saying to the other: "I'm never going to go to Malaysia for a holiday, not after the way I saw them treat the cattle." It was the RSPCA Shop, after all, and so you would expect them to have been horrified about the 4 Corners story. However, and you may have also picked up the fact that this old lady was referring to Malaysia, and not Indonesia. So, you won't be surprised that she followed that statement with this: "No wonder they treat those refugees over there so bad, caning them and beating them, if that's how they treat animals. I think it's disgusting how the government wants to send them there to that." At this point her friend picked her up for confusing Malaysia with Indonesia. To which she replied: "It doesn't matter to me, they're all the same in Asia." Which sounds fairly average ignorant comment. However, once she got on a roll, she came out with this: " I don't know why we give Indonesia $60 Billion per year to slaughter our cattle anyway." At this point I could hold my tongue no longer. I said, "That's rubbish. We don't give money to Indonesia to slaughter our cattle, and we certainly don't give them $60 Billion per year. I have the proof right here on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald, if you don't believe me." Well, just like Aunty Alan, she didn't take a backward step but turned on a dime and come out with an immediate rewrite of the statement she had just made a minute ago, now that she had been pinged. Guess what she said next? "Well, I was talking about the Aid we give them in Indonesia, billions, to do that and to build hospitals and schools, while we have to wait 252 days in Australia for an operation because we don't have enough money. We should just take that money back off them and spend it in this country." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At which point the conversation degenerated into, Me: "That's completely wrong and they're not related anyway." Her: "No, I'm right, it's true. Why should we have to wait so long?" Me: "That sounds like the sort of crap that comes from Alan Jones, and it's wrong." Her: "No, I'm right." Me: "No, you're wrong." At which point I metaphorically threw my hands up in the air and walked out of the shop. Exasperated that these people can't even think for themselves anymore, they just seem to be being fed lines and they swallow them unquestioningly. What's worse, it's going all through the age spectrum with Shock Jocks like Ray Hadley, former One Nation consigliores like David Oldfield, and their simulacra in other States, acting as self-serving Conservative meme peddlers, day in, day out. There's not even the semblance of balance anymore, it's just straight-out propaganda. And it's working like a charm for Tony Abbott. As you can see because that old woman certainly is in the habit of finding a way to blame the Labor government for everything. I can't see any way they can turn her opinion of them around, especially when the opinion-shapers in the media will keep rolling along, day after day, until the next election, making their best effort to ensure she stays fully-primed with talking points.

NormanK

8/06/2011A little light relief to round off a most unusual day. [b]The Bolt Report - The Steaming Toad with HG Nelson[/b] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-qe79Mz8do&feature=player_embedded

tredlgt

8/06/2011Norman K , It seems you are adverse to upset club troppo and poor ken. If ken has a problem, that is, he thinks abbott is hard done by, so what, he has the right to put his opinion. And as a centralist he most certainly will ,with none of the need to acknowledge that what AD has written has more than a grain of truth to it . Personally I don't think Ads article was anywhere near a blind rant at worst it read like frustration at the lack of critical scrutiny in the opposition parties by the MSM. And as for my comment well I admit I'm no centralist in fact I will easily put my hand up as a lefty and don't need you to 'not criticise those comments' for expressing my belief that the article I had just read had many good points and expressed a sentiment held by many none centralist. Finally what do you consider the correct context to view my comment. Should I first check with the centralists and right wingers before a comment is made or should I be allowed to make a comment as is without apology from a third party. If my comments offend ,tough [ I can live with the centralists being put out] they can be blocked it's not that important to me. I can still read The Political Sword ,one of the better blogs. The thought that Ad might close the site is sad but he has the right to publish what he wishes on his site without the approval or apologies of others.

D Mick Weir

8/06/2011thanks for that link NK gnite all

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011Ad astra Whatever else happens wrt interhuman relationships on this site, you have absolute right of mediation and there is no-one may gainsay that. Nor is there anyone in whom I personally would feel so much confidence that any decisions that might be taken would be sage and reasoned. I am only saying this to give voice to what all who support this site must feel. Should you ever wish to shut this site down Ad astra, I would fight you with every argument I could, but in the end it would still be your decision and yours alone. Swordsfolks let us all agree that whatever disagreements we might have with each other, The Political Sword itself is sacrosanct. Without it we would all lose. I cannot think that even jj would be glad. And fie on anyone who would be.

2353

9/06/2011Morning all, Here's a somewhat relevant article to discuss today. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/cane-toads-of-the-air-thrive-on-stupidity-20110608-1fsuj.html

lyn

9/06/2011 [b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]The sublime and the ridiculous: Barnaby at Estimates, Greg Jericho, Grog's Gamut[/i] But just remember the first thing Tony Abbott did was appoint Joyce as his Finance spokesperson (an appointment so bad, even Abbott came to realise his fault). I guess “everything was different then”. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2011/06/sublime-and-ridiculous.html [i]You can put lipstick on a glacier..., Mungo MacCallum, Northern Rivers Echo[/i] carbon tax can be driven through parliament and bedded down by the middle of next year Abbott will be seen not only as a cynical fabricator of fear and doom http://www.echonews.com.au/story/2011/06/09/you-can-put-lipstick-on-a-glacier/ [i]You don’t really expect us to pay them, do you, Jeremy Sear, Pure Poison[/i] I have no more intention of paying News Ltd to access the content that I fear is damaging the public debate in Australia than I do of watching tedious trolling television on Channel Ten on a Sunday morning (if that thing hasn’t been cancelled yet). http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2011/06/08/you-dont-really-expect-us-to-pay-them-do-you/#more-10529 [i]The great News experiment begins, Margaret Simons, Crikey[/i] Even if the model succeeds, it does not add up to a business capable of supporting hundreds of journalists. Rather, you are left with very modest profits if you assume a staff of perhaps 12-20 journalists providing the content. http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/06/07/go-ahead-for-oz-paywall-a-sign-of-the-times-news-boss/ [i]The finger points squarely at Tony Abbott, Peteringtime, North Coast Voices[/i] This is the bitter crop that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s rabblerousing and demonising has raised up.If someone gets hurt I will be pointing my finger http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2011/06/finger-points-squarely-at-tony-abbott.html? [i]The Australian to go behind a paywall , Gary Sauer, Public opinion[/i] I'm someone who would like to see News Ltd broken up because its media power is too concentrated in Australia and its political power too great. That power is being used like a sledgehammer. http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/2011/06/the-australian-12.php#more [i]Apparently that "toxic tax" was not so toxic after all for Mr rabbitt in 2009,[/i] Clarencegirl, North Coast Voices Something changed over the last three years..........Australian Oppostion Leader Tony Abbott in 2009: Video http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2011/06/apparently-that-toxic-tax-was-not-so.html [i]Should solar panel payments be taxed?, John Passant, The Conversation[/i] Until recently the Commissioner of Taxation in private rulings has said such payments are not income because the taxpayer does not have a profit making intention or is not carrying on a business so the payments are not assessable income. http://theconversation.edu.au/should-solar-panel-payments-be-taxed-1362 [i]A carbon price makes good economic sense for all Australians, David Donovan, Independent Australia[/i] by implementing a carbon price before moving to an emission trading scheme a floor should be able to placed on the market, thereby precluding the value of carbon falling too low to provide http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/business/climate-change-is-real-and-a-carbon-price-makes-real-economic-sense/ [i]One scary acronym: adaptation at the local level is now our Plan A. New Anthropocene[/i] If the media aren’t actively confusing or lying – viz Andrew Bolt, Terry McCrann, Miranda Divine, and Alan Jones – they’ve chosen to titillate us with dancing soap opera stars and reality television. http://newanthropocene.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/one-scary-acronym-adaptation-at-the-local-level-is-now-our-plan-a/ [i]NBN is becoming unstoppable, Brian, Larvatus Prodeo[/i] So if Labor run to 2013, they will have nailed both a price on carbon leading into an ETS and NBN implementation as well as other achievements in health and education which are unlikely to be reversed. http://larvatusprodeo.net/2011/06/08/nbn-is-becoming-unstoppable/ [i]Opposition would consider cancelling NBN Co vendor contracts, Computerworld[/i] Abbott argued speeds of up to 100 megabits were already “potentially available” to “almost every” major business and hospital, to most schools, and through high speed cable already running past http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/386402/budget_2011_abbott_says_spend_nbn_cash_roads_hospitals/

janice

9/06/2011Golly gosh, I missed the flame war that apparently went on last evening but just want to give my support to Ad astra to set the rules and enforce them. I am guilty of giving way to frustration and anger at times and no doubt post comments that should be kept to myself. [quote]Swordsfolks let us all agree that whatever disagreements we might have with each other, The Political Sword itself is sacrosanct[/quote]. Sage advice Talk Turkey. FS, [quote]Tony Abbott is the AntiChrist and Scott Morrison is Beezlebub, fair dinkum. I hope some giant Albatross drops a fresh load of guano on their heads while they are in Nauru. They, more than anyone else in contemporary politics, deserve it for the unremitting negativity and below the belt blows they have thrown at the government as they try to land a punch on them. [/quote] Abbott, Morrison et al have embarked on a divide and conquer tactic that can only lead to the destruction of all the values we hold dear and the consequences will be felt for many years to come. Abbott has trashed his own party's principles as he leads them further and further into fighting dirty politics for the sake of power, but the saddest thing is that he aided by the silence of those who are uncomfortable, or even disgusted with his leadership.

Ad astra reply

9/06/2011LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/LYNS-DAILY-LINKS.aspx

Ad astra reply

9/06/2011Folks After the altercations of yesterday, can we please now draw a line in the sand and return to polite political discourse about the matters that really matter. We can disagree all we like about the politics so long as that is done courteously and free of personal comments that may offend. While we are entitled to express our feelings and attitudes towards politicians, parties and political groups, let them be based on facts and logic. For any of you who may feel reluctant to return to the discourse here after yesterday’s exchanges, we ask that you put the recent events behind you and resume your involvement with [i]TPS[/i]. We value all contributions provided they are courteous, respectful and free of inappropriate personal remarks about other bloggers. As I have birthdays of a family member and a friend to celebrate today, and a long return trip to the south coast, I will be away from my computer much of the day, but will return this evening.

janice

9/06/2011jj is "amazed" that the government has suspended the live export of cattle to Indonesia. Well jj, I am "amazed" that you cannot think beyond a dollar sign. I am one of the 200,000 people who signed the GetUp petition and I did so because I cannot condone animal cruelty in any form. Those who mete out such suffering as well as those who condone it are the dregs of human kind in my book. Now, there is more to this issue than meets the eye in any case. The Meat and Livestock Assocation have been collecting some $60m a year to cover costs of monitoring the industry and to oversee the practices of slaughter houses. They have failed in their duty to use this money appropriately. Therefore the MALA must be held accountable and face their responsibilty for their non-action to take steps to ensure the cattle are slaughtered as humanely as is possible. There is absolutely no excuse for cattle to be made to undergo prolonged suffering. Buried deep within the live export trade are a lot of other issues that are fishy and there needs to be a wide ranging enquiry into the industry. That is, the real reason why live exports are favoured over the export of boxed meat. If you delve deep enough it is not difficult to find that the lack of freezer facilities etc are mostly smokescreens.

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011janice, I missed the 'polite conversation between friends' yesterday, too. :) I only saw one comment which was up on the site before it was removed which seemed to place me in stellar company on a par with a New York Times journalist and John Howard, who misled millions. Way above Julie Bishop, I note, who never copped the vitriol I did for her offence of a similar nature, committed multiple times. But then she is only the 'helpmeet' Deputy Opposition Leader, I suppose. ;-)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/20112353, What abrilliant illustration by Edd Aragon, I think I might print it out and put it on the 'fridge. :)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011janice, jj care about the suffering of lesser beings, when his mates in the Cattle Industry have been making a motza out of it, both here in Australia and in Indonesia(where wages are cheaper)? You've got to be joking! Don't forget the motto of the Natiional Party: 'Privatise the profits and Socialise the losses.' They've already got the begging bowl out, I see, and the MLA don't want to part with one red cent to pay compo to those same Cattle farmers that they charge their automatic fees to. I wonder if we'll hear Barnaby Joyce nailing his socialist colours to the mast today as well? :)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/20112353, That Elizabeth Farrelly article is fantastic.

janice

9/06/2011[quote]http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/tiny-nauru-back-on-the-coalition-map-20110608-1fsze.html [/quote] Interesting read about Abbott and his obscession with Nauru. Includes questions that the media should be asking Abbott.

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011I suppose with the 'Truth Overboard' regime of Tony Abbott, Peter Reith is the appropriate person to lead the federal Liberal Party.

janice

9/06/2011FS, [quote]jj care about the suffering of lesser beings, when his mates in the Cattle Industry have been making a motza out of it, both here in Australia and in Indonesia(where wages are cheaper)? You've got to be joking! Don't forget the motto of the Natiional Party: 'Privatise the profits and Socialise the losses.' [/quote] Unfortunately, too many peoople are ignorant about the goings on in the meat and lifestock industry. I give jj the benefit of the doubt that he/she is also ignorant of the real picture. I just heard PM Julia Guillard say that Minister Ludwig wrote a letter (back in January of this year) to the Meat and Livestock Assn about the issue of animal welfare which needed to be addressed. So 6 months later nothing had been done and the industry now finds itself in the middle of a suspension order as a consequence of taking the option of "business as usual".

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011Wrt to 'Toxic' Tony's Carbon Tax comments from 2009 and his recent prevarication and dissembling about them. He tried to make a big point of using the word "If", there were a Price on Carbon...then a carbon Tax would be preferable to other modes de emploi. Then he tried to validate his assertion about the big 'If' by stating that there shouldn't be a Price on Carbon, so his opinion from 2009 is now moot. However, what an enterprising journalist should have put to him is that, more likely than not, the country WILL have a Price on Carbon pollution by the July 1,2012 start date mooted by the government. Therefore, it will become a live question to ask him, "So, do you agree that a Carbon Tax is the best option for putting that Price on Carbon?"

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011janice, Take my word for it, jj would have intimate knowledge of the industry which exists around his neck of the woods in NW NSW.

janice

9/06/2011FS, but but but where do we find an enterprising journalist? I think they've become extinct or remain silent in the hope someone else will find the courage to stand up and be counted.

janice

9/06/2011[quote]Take my word for it, jj would have intimate knowledge of the industry which exists around his neck of the woods in NW NSW.[/quote] Perhaps you know more about jj than I do, FS, but judging from his/her comments I doubt very much whether he/she knows anything other than superficial propaganda put out by the party he/she supports. A bit like the oldies you met in the bookshop :'(

janice

9/06/2011Besides, FS, having intimate knowledge of the industry in NW NSW is a long way removed from the way the industry works in the top end of Oz. Considering that we are talking not about 'farmers' but about huge cattle stations owned by one company which comprises about 1% of the landmass and something like 19 (?) properties across WA, NT and nth Q'ld.

Ad astra reply

9/06/20112353 Thank you for the link to the Elizabeth Farrelly's article in [i]Brisbane Times: Cane toads of the air thrive on stupidity[/i]. It focuses on shock jocks and their Machievellian techniques, but goes on to address the place of logic and reasoning in political discourse, something sadly lacking in shock jock dialogue. Towards the end she says: [i]“…We're used to arguments about civilisation but seldom do we notice just how deeply argument itself underpins civilised life. In the classical tradition, this - rhetoric - was taught in schools. As a basic thinking skill, it came to govern public discussion and debate. We could do the same. The rules of logic are not difficult. As taught to philosophy sophomores, they cover deductive and inductive reasoning, true and false syllogisms, building arguments with consistency, validity and soundness and - crucially - how to spot a fallacy. Pretty basic. Without them, however, parliamentary democracy would be impossible. We'd never have risen from the yah-boo of the playground or the might-is-right jungle of silverback tribalism. You don't have to look far to see what happens without logic's civilising structures; it's the cultural equivalent of those Indonesian abattoirs….[/i]” The need for logic is what we have been arguing here on [i]TPS[/i] for a long while. Her article is well worth reading as it lays bare the shock jock scene in all its viciousness. The link is: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/cane-toads-of-the-air-thrive-on-stupidity-20110608-1fsuj.html

Ad astra reply

9/06/2011Folks I heard Barrie Cassidy on 774 Melbourne radio this morning relating how the Government's decision to temporarily halt the live cattle trade to Indonesia had almost total public support, yet the media was full of negative articles about that decision. He attributed that to the Government having no idea how to sell a story, in this case one popular with the public. It seemed as if it had not occurred to him that the media will make a negative out of any good story the Government had as part of the media's campaign to get rid of the Gillard Government, although Jon Faine picked that right away. To Cassidy, it was all due to the Government's mismanagement of the media message. He should re-read Lindsay Tanner's book. I'm getting on the road now - back this evening.

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011janice, Really? Just one company? Wouldn't have anything to do with the English Vesty family, long-time donore to the Coalition, would it?

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011Sorry, about the typo, it's too cold even inside the house with the heater on and so my wingies are malfunctioning. :)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011I keep waiting for the announcement that Pauline Hanson will be emigrating to the US to be Sarah Palin's Vice Presidential running mate. ;-)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011A voice of reason and eye candy to boot! http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/industry-heavyweight-backs-live-export-ban/story-e6frg95o-1226071985827

janice

9/06/2011[quote]Really? Just one company? Wouldn't have anything to do with the English Vesty family, long-time donore to the Coalition, would it?[/quote] FS, I don't know the structure of the company (if I remember correctly the Vesty family are "old hat" these days) but it is listed on the stock exchange and it wouldn't surprise me if there were large donations to the Nats at least. Suffice to say that we are not talking about mere "farmers" but a big (possibly even) a multi-national company which wields a lot of power in the cattle industry. Then we know a little about the decline in abattoits operating in the Top End of Australia which came after the live export trade got underway. Elders own an abattoir in Indonesia (Sumatra I think) and have some part in distributing Aust.stock to other abattoirs over in Indonesia. What I know is pretty patchy so I am of the opinion that it is time a complete enquiry is held and the public are informed of its findings and recommendations for forward procedures.

Sue

9/06/2011Grogs Gamut is such a good read why oh why do our journalists not pick up on Barnaby. It was good to have a laugh. Estimates is more fun than I had previously thought a shame it is supposed to be intelligent information gathering.

BSA Bob

9/06/2011Seeing Peter Reith's name again brought the memories back- how easy the Howard crew had it! The phonecard affair was the only instance I can recall of a genuine public outcry. Compromised ministers departing on a regular basis, non-core promises & the like & very few gave a rat's damn. Then suddenly "that bastard expects me to pay his f-----g phone bill" & they're in serious trouble. I think there's a lot in that, & I think the liberals understand it better than Labor. As usual the Murdoch press & their taxpayer funded subsidiary offer a one stop shop for those who seek to criticise the Government over the cattle trade. If you think the Government acted too quickly, too slowly, with or without consultation, puts the needs of animals over people or ignores the animals plight entirely, should or should'nt compensate, or if you simply don't bloody care, they've got a product line for you. On reflection this applies to most of the rest of the media too.

Patricia WA

9/06/2011[b]Barnaby Thinks He'll Soon Rejoice [/b] With my degree in accountancy I understand all about LSD. Which used to be our currency Before cents got used instead of Ps. Tony was right in choosing me For Shadow Finance Ministry. I could have solved the GFC Almost single handedly. But Labor had control, you see And I had to sit there quietly While they listened to Ken Henery And his guff about bank guarantees. So Rudd ruined our economy By borrowing Chinese currency. In ‘hock to our eyeballs’, weren’t we? How could Glenn Stevens disagree? That was when they shifted me To another Shadow Ministry For country things like water and trees. But I still keep an eye on Treasury. Those blokes there need the third degree. They break their own rules about secrecy. Look how the latest figures on the GDP Were leaked to the papers and the ABC! I’ll set them right eventually. Just wait till I get a proper Ministry. Me and Tony'll sort out this economy. It won’t be long now. You'll see.

janice

9/06/2011Great pome Patricia. When you listen to Barnaby and Hockey it is easy to understand where the term "creative accountancy" came from. :*-)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011janice, I thought that only the Coalition were allowed to have Inquiries and Reviews. We're getting them every other day in NSW and no one is saying 'peep'. I haven't heard the word 'chaos' yet, either, when a transport SNAFU occurs. Or 'Debt & Deficit', even as the O'Farrell mob are going to put the State into hock and dredge up those old PPPs again to pay for all their infrastructure promises to their base in the Religious Right of the Party in the Shire that counts, the Hills :D

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011PatriciaWA, Your pomes are a joy to behold. :)

NormanK

9/06/2011tredlgt Having reread my comment I find it difficult to understand what there was in it to which you could have taken offence. However. Let's not have a blue about this. I tried to choose my words as carefully as I could to convey to Ad astra (and anyone else who was shocked, as I was, by the application of the label 'rabid left-wing') that there were a couple of mitigating circumstances which might explain Parish's over-reaction. Understanding how it may have come about is altogether different from justifying it or apologising for it. Ad astra seems to have understood my intent when he replied with this: [quote]However, you are right.  The tone of other pieces is different and anyone unfamiliar with the usual tone of material here who read the current piece might regard it as the norm, and therefore might quite reasonably regard it, and [i]TPS,[/i] as pushing extreme views, especially as there were many comments supporting the piece, and conclude that [i]TPS[/i] has a “unremitting, one-eyed left wing bias”.  But having said: “I seldom visit that blog”, his use of ‘unremitting’ is hardly appropriate.  But as you suggest, he has extrapolated from that piece to the whole site and drawn an unflattering conclusion.[/quote] Obviously at some point I failed to make myself sufficiently clear. Nothing I wrote was meant to be a criticism of or an apology for Ad astra's piece or the comments that followed - all of which I agree with and have stated as such. We've had enough arguments here this week so would you please accept my apology for any misunderstanding that my poor choice of wording may have caused.

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Patricia Thankyou for posting another creative pome for our enjoyment, how lovely you are. Hey! see what Sue up above said about senate estimates. MSM journalists couldn't report like our talented thoughtful blog owners like Grog, and Ad Astra on our TPS. Did you ever watch poor Ken Henry in Senate Estimates, how degrading for him to say the least. [quote]Me and Tony'll sort out this economy. It won’t be long now. You'll see.[/quote] It's called OMG. Cheers:):):):D:D:D:D

janice

9/06/2011[quote]http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/jakarta-fights-live-cattle-export-ban/story-fn59niix-1226072202314 [/quote] The PM telling it like it is.

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011janice, I saw the PM's Press Conference from Darwin, where she was announcing the Northern Territory's first Medical School and GP Super Clinic, which the Coalition were going to defund as one of their 'Savings' measures btw if they had won the election last year(I wish there was a Grrr emoticon), and she was very clear that the MLA and the Cattlemen's Association had merely paid lip service to changeing the abhorrent practices in Indonesian abbotoirs when they had made submissions in January and March this year to the government, so she was not of a mind to compensating them for being pinged. Typical of the Coalition and their supporters though that they want to always find ways to put unseemly practices out of sight and out of mind in faraway 2nd and 3rd world countries, which they can also make a profit out of so doing. Just like I remember in Nauru when the Howard government shunted the Asylum Seekers over to there but made sure that Howard government mates got the contracts to supply the Detention Centre with its needs.

NormanK

9/06/2011Heaven forbid that the predictions some of us have been making here with regard to the South East Asian Solution might actually be coming to fruition. Unnamed sources but presumably the ALP seeking to pave the way for an upcoming announcement. [b]Refugees sent to Malaysia will be spared caning and human rights abuses[/b] by Simon Benson [quote]THE 800 asylum seekers Australia plans to send to Malaysia will be granted rare immunity from harsh immigration laws to safeguard them from the threat of caning and other human rights abuses. Instead they will be issued with special identity tags and released into the community after spending six weeks in a new local holding centre....... Clauses believed still in the final document would require them to carry identification tags on release and they would be under constant International Organisation for Migration monitoring. The Australian Department of Immigration plans to double the number of officers based in Malaysia to between eight and 10, to assist in the program. Malaysian Home Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap said Malaysia hoped the deal would improve its human rights standing. "If the arrangement ... results in better treatment of all refugees, that is something we would welcome," he said.[/quote] http://www.news.com.au/national/refugees-sent-to-malaysia-will-be-spared-the-rod/story-e6frfkvr-1226072104617 When will this government learn that no-one wants to see all irregular travellers throughout South East Asia treated fairly and humanely?

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011NormanK, What I'd like to see is Tony Abbott & Scott Morrison left on Nauru for 5 years to experience first hand what the Asylum Seekers they wish to send there will have to put up with. :)

Sue

9/06/2011Feral Skeleton maybe Tony and Scott could get a boat back to Australia to get the real "illegals" feel to the trip.

Sue

9/06/2011It appears Abbott has had to pay for his own electioneering. About time. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/a-big-night-for–star-treks-20110608-1fteb.html#ixzz1Ok78JPnJ

Patricia WA

9/06/2011FS and Janice, glad you liked my Barnaby pome. He always sets me off, particularly my Nationals' Anthem of which I've done several verses at polliepomes. First verse is below 'cos I still haven't mastered linking at TPS. Can anyone give me the formula, please? You know the tune, of course! Australian lefties all rejoiced! There once was Barnaby As Shadow Finance Minister Whose one and one made three! Queensland had given such a gift, A talent rich and rare. No need to rage, at every stage Their Barnaby was there! As Tony strained to make some gains His Barnaby was there!

NormanK

9/06/2011Sue For some reason your link was abbreviated. [b]ABBOTT ROLLS OUT NAURU SOLUTION[/b] by Damien Murphy and Lissa Christopher [quote]It is a bit like somebody asking to borrow your gun so they can shoot you. Tony Abbott wanted to fly to Nauru this weekend to tour the mothballed detention centre...... The only problem is that to get there, Abbott needed a government plane. Gillard .......... knocked back his request because his mission was not government business.[/quote] http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/a-big-night-for--star-treks-20110608-1fteb.html Patricia WA I'm not sure that I understand your request about linking.

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011Sue, :D :D :D :D :P

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011NormanK, I think PWA may be referring to linking to a You Tube clip, which involves embedding.

lyn

9/06/2011Norman K I think Patricia means linking her own blog to TPS Polliepomes: http://polliepomes.wordpress.com/ Cheers

Patricia WA

9/06/2011No, it's simply that on some blogs you can link in to your own or another site you want to refer to using a simple process. e.g at Cafe Whispers they have a "How to Section" where things like linking are explained with appropriatge formulae. Similarly Larvatus Prodeo have "Comments How-To: FAQ." At Grog's Gamut I have just discovered that choosing one's 'Name/URL' to identity oneself automatically links to one's website, though not necessarily to the specific item one is referring to. I imagine that by naming my website here above, which I have never done before, will link to 'polliepomes' and my latest post. I'd still like to be able to link within text here to other sites as I can at CW and LP, and, for example, as above, to those early Barnaby pomes without reciting them in full. Perhaps though, Ad Astra, would prefer to have them appear on site here. TT and AC will understand my reservations about that. PS Interestingly my polliepomes.wordpress.com website address has just been rejected here as an invalid URL.

Gravel

9/06/2011Just had a look at a few comments on the PC report on the CT. Sounds like Labor have made a good choice as usual. I'm confused, the media's first reports on Labor's decision to suspend live exports was positive, now they have gone all negative. Ah well, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Can't win either way.

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Patricia Is this what you mean, making your name Patriciawa when you sign off Link to your blog:

lyn

9/06/2011Patricia Click on Lyn up above and it goes to your blog Is that it: Cheers

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011I don't often hear (or read) the likes of Mr Jones, Mr Hadley or any of those other populist broadcasters that some refer to as Shock Jocks (and thank goodness for that he quietly says to himself) Any how courtesy of Nicholas Gruen this post of a transcript from one of Mr Jones shows I did read (even though it was tedious and laborious.) [b]I’m shocked – shocked: I had no idea things were this bad![/b] http://clubtroppo.com.au/2011/06/08/im-shocked-shocked-i-had-no-idea-things-were-this-bad/ [i]'... there’s something else going on in [b]Canberra[/b] which we ought to be [b]concerned[/b] about, and that is the utter politicisation of the bureaucracy. Now, of course, Wayne Swan yesterday would spruik Treasury modelling in support of a carbon dioxide tax. [b]Who is the secretary of the Treasury? Martin Parkinson.[/b] Where is all this climate change modelling coming from? Treasury. [b]What was Martin Parkinson before he became secretary of the Treasury? Secretary of the Department of Climate Change. We’ve never seen this in Australian politics.[/b] Even though the budget provided for another 200 staff members in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for Julia Gillard, she now [b]brings back the former head of the federal Treasury, Ken Henry.[/b] Now, we find that Henry didn’t really leave Treasury at all; he was on extended leave taking, quote, a well deserved break after years of outstanding service, according to Julia Gillard. Now, he’s going to come in as an adviser on a pro rata salary not far short of the half a million dollars he earned in his previous role. [b]Don Russell, who was a senior adviser to Paul Keating, he’s been brought back.[/b] Everybody thought this bloke, Henry, had left. Suddenly, we’re told, no, he hadn’t left the public service, he was just on leave. Now, he’s going to be part of a special prime ministerial advisory body, and that office – his office – has been specially created and signed off by the Executive Council and the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce. But Henry’s replacement as Treasury secretary is the former boss of the Department of Climate Change. You can’t trust a word these people say. Then you’ve got the poor battler out there worrying about how an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission can let Woolworths and Coles get away with murder. Well, Bob Hawke’s former principal economic adviser, Rod Sims, was last month named the new head of the Competition and Consumer Commission. Then there’s a new Secretary to the Department of the Environment – the environment hey. Global warming, climate change. They can rabbit on about all that stuff. A bloke called Dr Paul Grimes who was previous Associate Secretary of Julia Gillard’s Department. [b]Well one of the all time greats – I’m embarrassing him by saying this, but it’s acknowledged by everybody as head of Treasury – is John Stone. A man of impressive scholarship, but more importantly uncompromising integrity and independence.[/b] I thought I’d have a word with him about what he thinks is going on in Canberra with the public service. He’s on the line. John Stone, good morning. ...'[/i] (My emphasis added) First thing to note at no time during the friendly chat between Mr Jones and Mr Stone were we informed that this is the same John Stone that was a National Party Senator who during his time as a senator was no doubt still a man of [i]'uncompromising integrity and independence.'[/i] Regulars will know I'm not one for conspiracies (I much prefer see things as stuff-ups :) ) but well I wouldn't take too much convincing to see totally partisan chats like this as a 'conspiracy' to bring down a government. [i](Cue Mission Impossible type theme music ... and roll theme ...) Be warned should you accept the mission to read the transcript you may cause yourself to self destruct within seconds ...[/i]

Patricia WA

9/06/2011Okay, Lyn, so how did you make that link? I don't imagine that every time I click your name in future it will link to my latest pome! One of the things I find frustrating here is my inability to communicate what I am really trying to say, or ask for. Not anyone's fault. This is simply a new medium which uses a different language. I am a learner in internet communication. As a one time language teacher I am particularly disappointed in my inability to learn this new language and communicate in it.

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Patricia BSA Bob taught me how to do it. Above the comments box you have name Email Website Country Go to your website go right up the top of the page to http://www....... right click and then click copy Paste the website in the place where it says website BSA Bob's your word try it now Cheers

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011As I often do, I have had a rethunk about some of the statements in my comment @ 3:53 PM For all intents and purposes I near as dammit accused two fine and upstanding patriotic Australians of being part of a conspiracy. Oops I forgot to mention that at least one of the gentleman is a man of impressive scholarship, but more importantly both gentleman are men of uncompromising integrity and independence. (Stop laughing you lot - I am doing a mea culpa here and attempting an act of contrition) I toddled off to Wikipaedia to check out conspiracies and found this: * [i]Cabal[/i], an association between religious, political, or tribal officials to further their own ends, usually by intrigue * [i]Conspiracy (civil)[/i], an agreement between persons to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of their legal rights, or to gain an unfair advantage * [i]Conspiracy (crime)[/i], an agreement between persons to break the law in the future, in some cases having committed an act to further that agreement * [i]Conspiracy (political)[/i], the overthrow of a government After a bit of reading I have learnt that conspiracies are usually secret or covert and may involve revolutionary coup d'état or assassination. I apologise unreservedly to Mr Jones and Mr Stone. There is nothing covert or secret about what they are doing. The are only using thier eminent standing to further thier own desires and interests Which after all must be in the best interests of the nation as they are men of integrity. We know that because the have told us they are. Thank goodness they are not involved in a conspiracy - I was never a great fan of conspiracy theories :)

BSA Bob

9/06/2011Lyn I just looked in, & I'm afraid the above praise you've given me isn't deserved. I barely know how to turn computers on, it would have been someone else helping you here.

Patricia WA

9/06/2011Okayk, Lyn, I've just done a new pome in response to the proposed Victorian anti-swearing legislation. I'd like to draw Ad Astra's attention to that without actually printing it here, since there are few naughty words in it and I don't want to spoil the tone at TPS which we all value! Here goes.....

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011Well done PatriciaWA

Patricia WA

9/06/2011Wow! It worked! So here is the link to the my Songs of Joyce or National's Anthem which I wanted to link to but didn't want to interrupt the thread of Ad Astra's post by printing it out.

lyn

9/06/2011 Three cheers for Patricia

lyn

9/06/2011Hi BSA Bob You are just being shy. I have a photographic memory or that's how it feels to me never lets me down and is my best friend. Just joking with you BSA BOB Tell you how I know it was you. Your first comment here was 4thJan, not telling you what year. And you Mr BSA Bob are the only one on TPS that has their own name linking to "The Political Sword" except for Ad Astra and me since 4th Jan...... See that's how I remember, and that's how I know, now take your praise Mr Clever Bob's your Uncle.

NormanK

9/06/2011Patricia WA If you are looking to include a link in your post like this: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/2011/06/05/What-have-we-done-to-deserve-an-Opposition-Leader-like-Tony-Abbott.aspx it is done in the same way as at the Cafe. Copy & paste into the comments box and BlogEngine does the rest - shortens, underlines and highlights. You can gauge your success by using 'preview' - if you're not happy with it select 'comment' and edit your post. You can do this as many times as you like until you're satisfied.

jj

9/06/2011To All, On the Live Cattle Trade issue, I ran into the usual oppositional tone when i made my contribution to the whole debate surrounding the issue that has been dominating the news for the past couple of days, with Dick Mc whatever attempting to pull me up on two things: 1. He rejected what i stated about this suspension (ban...same thing) effectively shutting down the industry for twelve months, by highlighting some Labor Party talking points. What Dick does not understand is that this industry only exports for SIX MONTHS OF THE YEAR, and this suspension just happens to be right at the beginning of it. You see, cattle producers cannot get their cattle off their places during the wet season (6 months of the year) due to inaccessibility and so all of the moving to the docks and overseas has to be done in the dry season. This is my point! By shutting the industry down now you are effectively preventing these producers from accessing any sort of cash flow for this season, therefore effecting the next season also. 2. He also highlighted some thing about producers wanting to see their cattle treated humanely. I will let you all in on a little secret, these producers dont want to end up broke either! The Prime Minister continues to spin the same line that the producers love their animals and industry wants what she is doing... Bullcrap! Of course the industry was appalled by what they saw, but they do not control, nor know of the conditions that their cattle are subjected to overseas. These producers take advice from the MLA as well as other industry bodies, and it is here where the process has failed. But, what has the government done? They have punished the producers and all of the other beneficiaries of the industry. and for AA, You asked what the Coalition would do differently? Well, they have said that they supported the initial Government action to put in place a suspension on the worst slaughter houses and quickly begin an inquiry into the whole export process. I find it amazing that the Government can chop and change so quickly! They didnt even give their first plan a chance to work (which had involved consultation with the industry) before they popped another plan on them, which involved shutting them all down with no mention of compensation, decent time table or departmental assistance. I guess the Government doesnt care. They seem to be much like many of you on this blog, "Nah, they are just dumb National Party voting bogans!", there are no votes in it for us... but boy, look at those Getup and Greeny activists, we can win them over instead. As i said before, this government is great at announcing things before any proper thought has gone into the decision.

2353

9/06/2011Norman K Damn - beaten again :-) BTW - does anyone know if Abbott got to contribute to greenhouse gases at public expense by flying to Nauru?

lyn

9/06/2011Hi 2353 Sue reported: June 9. 2011 02:09 PM It appears Abbott has had to pay for his own electioneering. About time. Read more: www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/a-big-night-for–star-treks-20110608-1fteb.html#ixzz1Ok78JPnJ Sue

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011I just saw an Apple ad that had the very Alice in Wonderland Mad (K)Hatter's Tea Party image that I mentioned a coupla days ago, but coloured, and a little bit animated! :)

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011(K) I just discovered THIS one too! I wrote Hatter but preceded it with a ( and K and ) with no spaces, (so it was meant to be Katter as well as Hatter) and it turned into (K) ! I know these emoticons are common knowledge now but not to me -I've never tried any except :) but I've discovered 2 by happenstance in the last few days! Shows how many mistakes I make! (K) I hope this works the way I think it will . . .

NormanK

9/06/20112353 I'm not sure which one I beat you to but being a fair-minded chap, just give me a heads-up and I'll run interference for you next time. :D jj I don't care whatever else you say but don't put words in our mouths. [quote]"Nah, they are just dumb National Party voting bogans!"[/quote] No-one here is unaware of the hardships this [b]temporary[/b] ban for [b]up to[/b] six months will have on producers. I see you mention the MLA - where is your scorn for them? After all they are the main body supposedly overseeing the live export market. Have you looked at or listened to the words of some of the leaders of these cattle producer organisations? They knew some of what was happening and failed to act. They collect money from producers to perform just such tasks and they failed. [b]MLA knew of 'issues' in Indonesian abattoirs[/b] [quote]MICHAEL FINUCAN (LIVESTOCK EXPORTS MANAGER, MEAT & LIVESTOCK AUSTRALIA): We've been working up here for many years and we've always known there's issues......[/quote] http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3239281.htm If you haven't seen this interview you might like to read the entire transcript. It is not only Julia Gillard who has said that some industry leaders fully support the temporary ban. [b]Holmes a Court supports live cattle ban[/b] [quote]Cattle industry heavyweight Paul Holmes a Court has come out in support of the federal government's suspension of Australia's live cattle trade with Indonesia. His Heytesbury Cattle Co has six stations across Australia's north and is one of the largest exporters of live beasts to Indonesia, sending around 25,000 head a year.[/quote] http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/holmes-a-court-supports-live-cattle-ban-20110609-1fuos.html As BSA Bob said above, if you want to cherry-pick it is possible to find some section of the press that will reinforce your own particular stance so this is not an attempt to shout you down however some of what you attest is quite simply not true. You go off half-cocked, jj. Let's just hope this can be sorted out in six weeks, not six months, and that those whose livelihoods have been affected will be taken care of by either their own negligent federal bodies or the commonwealth or both.

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011This is my emoticon for such as Abbortt and Howard. ( * )

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011I find it amazing that the jj can chop and change so quickly! S/he doesn't seem to know his/her Dicks from his/her Micks I guess you can understand how easily s/he could get comfused when both D Mick Weir and Sawdust Mick responded to shim last night. jj, as I lived in Darwin for near enough four years I have some understanding of the wet and dry seasons in that part of the world. because I take care to read and understand what is written I was able to discern that there was a couple of words you may have missed in this statement [i]'... Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig this morning confirmed the Government was suspending all live exports to Indonesia for [b]up to[/b] six months.'[/i] UP TO six months. Neither you nor I can say for sure how long the suspension will last. jj, are you suggesting that the ABC misquoted NT Cattlemen's Association executive director Luke Bowen.

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Norman K Would you be kind to me and put the smiley combinations up again please. That's if you are not too busy and have some time. I know you put them up the other day but it was in the middle of a "hullabaloo" and I forgot to copy the combinations to file, now I can't find your post. I was going to try the Turkey Hatter one, but I'm not brave enough. Thankyou to our very own, in house, IT expert NormanK. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

lyn

9/06/2011You are a character D Mick Weir (nice one) shim! very funny, you make me laugh so many times. S[quote]/he doesn't seem to know his/her Dicks from his/her Micks I guess you can understand how easily s/he could get comfused when both D Mick Weir and Sawdust Mick responded to shim last night.[/quote]

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011Swordsfolks, Did nobody else notice this? Does nobody else care about Jason? I have talked with him and I know how he feels. Jason said [June 8. 2011 10:34 PM] "2353 Normank, I've been a fighter all my life! ever since the church got hold of me, an destroyed my childhood. Am I sorry about tonight? No! so that being said I shall finish posting on the sword at least for a while. Jason" From what he has said I am not at all sure he will come back. Some might think that he crossed the line but it was not he who breached decency, it was some hostile and insulting persons on another site attacking one of our regular contributors, in foul terms and on a public forum. He feels like the kid who gets punished for hitting back on a smaller kid's behalf against a persecuting bully. In his unique way he was sticking up for Patricia and for all of us. OK I wouldn't have said what he did but I'm not him and it's no banishing offence anyway. Jason's staunch and Left and I want him back!

NormanK

9/06/2011Hi lyn Blog Engine recognises: Tongue out :P full colon capital P wink ;-) semi-colon dash close bracket gasp :-O full colon dash capital O cry :'( full colon apostrophe open bracket embarrassed :$ full colon dollar sign kiss (K) open bracket capital K close bracket (courtesy of TT's nimble fingers)

reb of Hobart

9/06/2011Well done Ad Astra! Keep up the very good work!

Ad astra reply

9/06/2011TT We all want Jason back, and in my comment posted this morning I was particularly thinking of him when I asked that any who might feel reluctant to return to the discourse here after yesterday’s exchanges, put the recent events behind them and resume their involvement with [i]TPS[/i]. Jason has been a stalwart here, providing lots of interesting comments and links. I for one hope to see him back very soon.

Ad astra reply

9/06/2011reb I will take your comment as a compliment.

Ad astra reply

9/06/2011Folks Thank you for your interesting and informative comments and Patricia WA for your delightful pomes. I have enjoyed reading today’s contributions. NormanK and D Mick Weir, after reading your responses to jj, I need say no more other than to suggest that his three-line statement about what the Coalition would do about the live cattle export issue seems not all that dissimilar from what the Government is actually doing. Would the Coalition inquiry be any faster than the Government’s? And since the Government suspension is UP TO six months, presumably it could be discontinued as soon as the inquiry comes up with a solution, whoever is conducting it. The criticism of the Government’s actions seems a little premature. I note that although the Productivity Commission has concluded that a market based ETS is the most cost-effective way of abating carbon emissions, Tony Abbott is still arguing that it would ruin the coal industry and that his DAP is superior. Evidence and expert opinion are of no consequence to him. I was considering posting another piece of satire by Acerbic Conehead tonight, but I’ll leave it until tomorrow after what has been a long and tiring day. It’s titled: [i]Strutting the catwalk in Carbon Alley[/i]. I’m packing it in for the night’s TV.

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011jj, just to give you heads up so that yopu don't fall into the trap of saying that I don't understand what it is like to live in various parts of the country (really because I feel like big noting myself) I have lived in the following capital cities: Perth, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne and Canberra. I am not so good on rural and regional cities or towns as I have only lived in Riana, Penguin, Ulverstone, Devonport, Cethana, Georgetown and Launceston. I have worked for reasonable periods in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide as well as a fair number of towns along the Princes Highay from Brisbane to Portland, the Hume, Sturt and Newell Highways throw in Horsham, Bendigo, Ballarat umm a few others I forget like Young, Cowra, Forbes ohh and I have lived and worked in the Middle East. I'm sure you will find others here have lived and/or worked in a fair swag of places around the country so have some small understandings of the trials and tribulations of 'other places'. So be careful when you tell us 'we wouldn't know or understand' as in case you haven't worked it out yet [i]'to assume is to make an ass of u and me'[/i]

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Talk Turkey I want Jason back too. I have missed him already and he knows we miss him. Ad Astra only told Jason 2 days ago he is an asset to TPS. I wish Jason would build a bridge and come back. That was as I said a hullabaloo that had to be fixed at the moment it won't happen again. Cheers Talk Turkey (K) (K) (K) :'):')

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011TT @ 7:40 PM, thanks for your comment about Jason. I had wanted to type [i]'come back Jason, all is forgiven'[/i] but I was trying to work out a better way of saying it. Anyway Jason, in case you are lurking out there somewhere, it would be a pleasure to banter with you again. It might not be appropriate but I will send you this anyway (K) Just cos TT taught us how to do it :)

NormanK

9/06/2011TT What Ad astra said. Jason has to learn to control his temper though, no matter how noble the intention. I'd send him a few kiss emoticons but he might not appreciate that (I've got a beard). :)

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011Lyn Is a jj a she or a him? If it's sexual, we better say 'shim', But if hermaphroditic, like a germ or a worm, It's probably best if we just say "a-herm." Now look Lyn, gird your tailfeathers, go ( then K then ) without the spaces or the thens, and it will look like this! ~ (K) ! Well actually it won't until you save it! The moment I saw it it reminded me of Tweety, all tarted up fit to kill, looking straight at me and puckering up for a kiss! So this one's just for you, don't tell anybody! (K)

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Talk Turkey here goes well (thenKthen) (thenKthen) (thenKthen) Thankyou I hope nobody is listening. The boogies are hiding out there I saw one I did, I did. A whispering campaign outside our windows a gang. I hope TPS has the bolts on the doors otherwise we will have to call 000. We really have had a lovely day in TPS haven't we,once Jason comes home to TPS everything will be fixed. Cheers (thenKthen) (thenKthen)

Feral Skeleton

9/06/2011Jason, You come back here right this minute! If you're not listening to your mum atm, then you better listen to me, because I'm your blog mum and I'm telling you that you are missed and you are valued. (K) Both PWA and I have been the subject of some pretty intense blowtorch to the belly work via flamin' trolls, erm 'people we disagree with', this week, and we have just picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and we have come back to the fray because THEY are not going to beat US. You've got to realise that's how these people, like the academics that attacked me this week, get to where they are, not always with a shedload of talent in their respective fields but with a truckload of chutzpah and very sharp elbows and very sharp tongues. I've encountered enough of them at Universities to know this for a fact. They're just a better class of bustard. :) As for reb (et al.), well, what can I say? Anyone who uses Liberal stalwart Kamahl as their gravatar is suss from the get-go. I'd take him and his mate's opinions with a pinch of snuff. Who cares if they want to put us down for being the cuss-du-jour, 'Lefties'? If it is so it is a badge I wear with pride because it denotes that I still have a heart and a soul. Even if they may come back and say because we support the 'Malaysia Solution', or the temporary suspension only of the Live Cattle Trade, or haven't kissed the butts of those who support Same Sex Marriage now!...Not after the next ALP National Conference. As Ad Astra says, they are our opinions and we are entitled to them, and if the only argument that others have with us and our opinions is to denigrate us personally and our belief set, then that's not a very valid argument at the end of the day. As for jj. Well jj is jj, and, at the end of the day, you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the Moleskin mindset out of the boy. :)

lyn

9/06/2011Hi Hillbilly Well now, we have an in house IT specialist fantastic writer NormanK. our own poet, brilliant wordsmith trickety trick Talk Turkey. our own thoughtful confucius D Mike Weir. our own brilliance plus, comedy live theatre Acerbic Conehead Our own thoughtful analytic Pretty Patricia Our own wise philosophical high ranking professor Ad Astra Oh! I could go on there is more, but last tonight is Our own in house Blog Mum Hillbilly Feral: Jason you have to come back. Confucius D Mick Weir) said: [quote]To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. [/quote]

tredlgt

9/06/2011NormanK , Good o , If no offence meant my apologies for over reaction. Jason will miss your honesty off feeling and expression. Please rethink .

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011Hat Tip to Brian @ LP [b]Quick link: Gittins on poverty and social exclusion[/b] http://larvatusprodeo.net/2011/06/09/quick-link-gittins-on-poverty-and-social-exclusion/ To this article by Ross Gittins [b]Earning $150,000 and whingeing? Here's a reality check[/b] http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/earning-150000-and-whingeing-heres-a-reality-check-20110607-1fqsu.html [i]One thing I despise about public life in Australia today is the way power-chasing pollies and self-promoting media personalities seek to advance themselves by encouraging people living during the most prosperous period in our history to feel sorry for themselves. Apparently, the soaring cost of living is absolutely killing us. So forgive me but, just this once, we're going to worry about other people's problems, not yours.[/i] Whoa, I hope jj and his/her ilk have a read of this and absorb the message.

D Mick Weir

9/06/2011Lyn @ 10:24 PM [i]' ... our own thoughtful confucius D Mike Weir.'[/i] Tweetie you elevate my upon a pedestal I could barely begin to aspire to climb You're just so 'thweet'

TalkTurkey

9/06/2011Lyn said "Hi Talk Turkey here goes well (thenKthen) (thenKthen) (thenKthen)" Lyn! You only did that to make me look stupid didn't you! I said ( then K then ) without the spaces or the thens, so ( K ) and then delete the spaces! Then when you save comment it goes (K) but I can't send that because it goes (K) ! Heh. heh. Just thought: Tune: Hello my baby/hello my honey/hello my ragtime gal Hello there Tweety Hello my Sweetie Hello my Daily Bird! Send me a (K) by email! (Just as well you're a female!) Close K in a bracket Then you can whack it In your Save comment box Then type your Captcha word And tell me you're my Birrr-rrrd!

Patricia WA

10/06/2011Norman K, following up on your Paul Holmes a Court reference in the Age. There is an interest version at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/live-cattle-export-industry-in-danger-says-paul-holmes-a-court/story-e6frg6n6-1225834934063 which attempts to spin his comments initially to be anti-govt, and then anti-mining, with little reference to his comments re. the ranchers themselves veing responsible for the mess. I'm trusting your instructions re linking, but will check preview now. No. It doesn't suggest it's been appropriately formatted. Let's see after this. I will URL it below my name, as Lyn did one of my pomes earlier. That may work.

Patricia WA

10/06/2011Well, both worked! Thank you! Norman K, Interesting to see Paul Holmes a Court buying in to the live cattle issue and supporting the government against some of his fellow cattle ranchers, as your link above shows. Clearly he's a chip off the old block! A man of some conscience. I always felt that his father, Robert Holmes a Court, was a great loss when he died of a heart attack at 53. He and his wife Janet had begun to dabble in media with the Independent newspaper and I think one of the TV channels in Perth. We could certainly do with players with resources like his to balance out the Murdoch might today. I think he died intestate which meant his vast estate was divided equally between his widow and four sons. Reading about Holmes a Court just now brought up the story of dear old Alan Bond and how he over-reached himself and brought about his own eventual come-uppance. Wouldn't it be nice if a similar fate met another media magnate who shall be nameless, but TT knows him - [i]bigger than Walmart, bigger than Myers![/i] Dammit - I might as well practice my linking skills again!http://polliepomes.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/news-ltd-defends-its-proprietor/

lyn

10/06/2011 [b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]Steady as she softly grows, Greg Jericho, Grog's Gamut[/i] Labor will of course be fighting that battle as well – unlike Obama though it has (and will have) a good story to tell… it just needs to work out how to tell it. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/ [i]The herd mentality, Andrew Elder, Politically Homeless[/i] The government is the victim of poor media coverage, not the perpetrator of it - and according to the Insiders' insider, the perpetrators get off scot-free. If you can't blame journalists when they get it wrong, then they can't expect any credit when (if?) they get it right http://andrewelder.blogspot.com/ [i]Anti-News Unlimited continues campaign against Gillard…over a hot water system?!,[/i][i]Barry Everingham, Independent Australia[/i] Let’s cast our minds back to the time when John and Janette Howard decided that The Lodge wasn’t enough to satisfy their imperial needs.So, they lived in Kirribilli House, with awesome views http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/politics/anti-news-unlimited-continues-campaign-against-gillard/ [i]Own Goals,John Quiggin[/i] But after only a short period in office, it seems that both the NSW and Victorian Coalition governments are scoring own goals on a regular basis. In Victoria (as at the Federal level) there have been huge blowups http://johnquiggin.com/2011/06/09/own-goals-2/ [i]Parliament in Twitter?, Neil Cook, The Bannerman[/i] Whether the trolls from that hashtag can control themselves, or even how debates are intended to be conducted in 140 characters is yet to be revealed, http://www.waddayano.org/ [i]The carbon price debate as smokescreen for inaction, Tad Tietze and Elizabeth Humphrys, ABC[/i] That only two years ago Abbott was contemplating a carbon tax underlines the hypocritical nature of the national debate. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2751414.html [i]Productivity Commission backs Gillard on climate, Jeremy Thompson, ABC[/i] The report blunts attacks by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who has based much of his criticism on the notion that Australia is pricing carbon before competing economies. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/09/3239817.htm [i]Animal exports: how the industry controls research to shut down debate, Clive Phillips, The Conversation[/i] However, the live export revelations may yet be the catalyst to the development of an effective way of funding animal welfare research that is equitable, transparent and uses researchers that are truly independent http://theconversation.edu.au/animal-exports-how-the-industry-controls-research-to-shut-down-debate-1750 [i]I’m a beef farmer and I support the live exports ban, Rooted, Crikey[/i] Change always has its critics but in the years to come, in order to provide longevity http://blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/2011/06/09/im-a-beef-farmer-and-i-support-the-live-exports-ban/ [i]Asylum seekers in Australia - Lies, lies and more lies in Pacific Solution gambit , Mark Thomson,Seeking Asylum Down Under[/i] At least the Labor Govt is trying to operate within a regional framework that engages all the interested parties. The Coalition are not interested in a regional solution but only seek to wedge the Government politically. http://seekingasylumdownunder2.blogspot.com/2011/06/asylum-seekers-in-australia-lies-lies.html [i]The NBN adrenaline shot, Paul Budde, Technology Spectator[/i] The government did not launch its $38 billion plan simply to provide high-speed internet access. It did so because it could see the enormous economic and social benefits of such an investment, and e-health has always been earmarked as a key area here http://technologyspectator.com.au/emerging-tech/videoconferencing/nbn-adrenaline-shot [i]NBN BUZZ: A less perfect union, Alexander Liddington-Cox, NBN Buzz[/i] Turnbull’s comments followed pleas from Stilgherrian that this myth that ‘100 Mbps is a ridiculous amount of bandwidth’ be put to bed. He explains how 100 Mbps could be http://technologyspectator.com.au/nbn-buzz/nbn-buzz-nbns-less-perfect-union [i]United Nations report: Internet access is a human right, Los Angeles Times[/i] the Internet can be a tool of empowerment and aid in the protection of and access to other human rights -- as well as contributing to growth economically, socially and politically -- benefiting mankind as a whole. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/06/united-nations-report-internet-access-is-a-human-right.html [i]Apples for the teachers, David Horton, The Watermelon Blog[/i] Heard both another politician and Rupert Murdoch calling for “educational reform” the other day and shuddered. http://davidhortonsblog.com/2011/06/09/apples-for-the-teachers/ [i]Phone-hacking scandal widens to include Kate Middleton and Tony Blair, Guardian UK[/i] a notorious private investigator who was accused in the House of Commons on Wednesday of targeting politicians, members of the royal family and high-level terrorist informers on behalf of Rupert Murdoch's News International. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/08/phone-hacking-kate-middleton-tony-blair

Ad astra reply

10/06/2011LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/LYNS-DAILY-LINKS.aspx

lyn

10/06/2011Hi Talk Turkey Thakyou for a lovely little Tweety song, you are magic again today: Hello there Tweety Hello my Sweetie Hello my Daily Bird! Send me a by email! (Just as well you're a female!) Close K in a bracket Then you can whack it In your Save comment box Then type your Captcha word And tell me you're my Birrr-rrrd! I am trying again not you stupid Talk Turkey me stupid. (K)(K) (K) (K)(K) (K) (K)

lyn

10/06/2011Hi Talk Turkey Wow! I did it. (K) Sorry about no "n" in thankyou Guess thats a way of cutting down on typing leave out characters here and there. The younger ones do on Facebook, Twitter and text messages. (K)(K)

D Mick Weir

10/06/2011Oh dear, we already knew we lived in a whacky world and that meeja plays a big part in making it whackier. I probably don't have to let anyone know about the young girl who has had more than her fair share of her 15 minutes of fame over alleged involvement with various AFL identities. So now, the meeja not willing to let the whole thing go are reporting on how they should let the whole thing go. Various people are saying 'stop beating this up' and what does the media do report on how it is being beat up and everyone should stop talking about. They just don't get it

NormanK

10/06/2011D Mick Weir [b]HOY![/b] NO SHOUTING!!! DID. YOU. HEAR. ME????? [b]NO!!!!! SHOUTING!!!!!![/b]

D Mick Weir

10/06/2011NormanK [b]TOUCHE[/b]

Ad astra reply

10/06/2011Folks I have posted another clever piece of satire by Acerbic Conehead: "Strutting the cakewalk on Carbon Alley" http://www.thepoliticalsword.com After the heavy week we've had, this will give us a laugh over the weekend.  Enjoy.

TalkTurkey

10/06/2011Norman(K) Thank you for those emoticons. I have found two just by making mistakes. Dog though it might take a while for a monkey at a keyboard randomly to write War and Peace!

TalkTurkey

10/06/2011Did everybody get my clever visual pun on NormanK's name? See you write NormanK but you put the K inside the ( ) and you get Norman(K) see? :) You did see? Oh good. :$

2353

10/06/2011[quote] Anyway Jason, in case you are lurking out there somewhere, it would be a pleasure to banter with you again. [/quote] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What s/he said.
How many umbrellas are there if I have two in my hand but the wind then blows them away?