"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset"
LIBERTARIAN/CONSERVATIVE DIGEST AND COMMENTARY FROM AN ACADEMIC PSYCHOLOGIST in Brisbane, Australia. My academic publications are widely read
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I plead Guilty
Towards the end of last week, as the news broke about Australian, Asaf Namer, who was killed while fighting for the Israeli Army. Some callers were accusing people [commentators and the public] of having double standards, because some criticised Lebanese Australians for their dual citizenship and yet failed to criticise Namer for being an Australian, serving in the army of another country.
Perhaps the following might explain the supposed double standard.
And this is what they do to those on their side. Have they missed the moaning and whining by Kofi and his band of apologists, I don’t think so?
"Asaf, you were told not to be a hero but you were courageous and wanted to fight for the safety of the Israeli people. You were killed because you were defending others."
Perhaps the following might explain the supposed double standard.
A Sydney synagogue came under attack last night when a block of cement was hurled through the glass doors of an attached residence and the windows of two cars on the property were smashed, police say.When last did we hear of vandalism or crime being committed with reports of men of Jewish appearance giggling and fleeing into the night? Next, the protest for peace.
The attack happened at the Parramatta and District Synagogue on Victoria Street, Parramatta, about 9.10pm. Police are investigating the possibility that the attack was religiously motivated.
A group of about ten men, described by police as being of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean appearance, were seen by witnesses laughing and running north along Mason Street.
TWO men were charged last night with obstructing police and assault in violent clashes with police and the Prime Minister's vehicle as it tried to leave a Liberal party conference.When last did we hear of Jewish protesters violently demanding peace, when last did we hear of a politician/leader being mobbed by angry Jews violently demanding he grab an M-16 and board a black hawk, for peace!!
Protesters kicked, punched and fired projectiles at John Howard's car today after the prime minister, who has been supportive of Israel, emerged from a Liberal Party conference in Perth.
Mr Howard had used his conference speech to attack Hezbollah, which is fighting Israel in southern Lebanon. "It's not some kind of inspirational liberation organisation, it's a terrorist organisation," he said.
As the prime minister departed, the protesters surged towards his car, demanding an end to the war which has killed hundreds of civilians.
"We want peace,'' they chanted as they mobbed Mr Howard's vehicle.
And this is what they do to those on their side. Have they missed the moaning and whining by Kofi and his band of apologists, I don’t think so?
Palestinians stormed a UN compound on Sunday during a protest against Israeli airstrikes and the deaths of dozens of civilians in Kana, Lebanon, and security officials fired into the air to disperse them.Coming back to the lack of criticism of Namer, apart from the fact he wasn’t shouting hysterically for “bloody John Howard” to send a destroyer because he paid his taxes, this is what we see and agree with, Danny Morgenstern, uncle of Asaf Namer speaking at his funeral.
The protesters smashed windows of the UNSCO building with rocks after marching through Gaza City in the demonstration. At least seven people were wounded, including four policemen, officials at the Al-Quds and Shifa hospitals said. Five of the injured were hit by rocks and the other two by ricochets from the gunfire, the officials said.
The protesters - who were waving Lebanese and Hizbullah flags, and burning UN flags - quickly dispersed when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered Presidential Guards and Palestinian police to close the compound.
"Asaf, you were told not to be a hero but you were courageous and wanted to fight for the safety of the Israeli people. You were killed because you were defending others."
A Dirty Enemy
As the world starts to condemn Israel for the death of Lebanese civilians in Kana, it seems the truth once again, is hard to find or only a few bother to look.
From Jpost, to their credit, they have asked questions and it seems there is more to Kana than wicked Jews butchering cowering children.
It is easy for us to condemn Israel, but this gives Hizbullah a free pass, they wear none of it, no one is prepared to hold them responsible or to punish them. There are no statements of regret, no investigations, no inquiries, when Israelis are killed by rocket attacks or suicide bombs.
It might feel good to rant against the Jews, or help you score some points, but this only ensures it will happen again in another 10 years because the real villians go free.
The UN secretary general has called on Security Council members to take urgent action after 54 Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli attack on Sunday. More than 30 children died in the Qana attack - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July when two Israeli soldiers were seized.Does this also mean Hizbullah and Hamas will be suspending rocket attacks for 24 hours, don’t bet on it. While the rest of us around the world can issue condemnations from our safe areas, Israelis will have to brace themselves. They’ll have to turn the other cheek and lie down like good little Jews to appease our thirst for the supposed ‘perfect defence/war’.
Israel is suspending air strikes for 48 hours, according to a US official. The period would allow for an investigation of the Qana bombing, US State Department official Adam Ereli said, speaking after talks between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem.
Israel says it will work with the United Nations to allow a 24-hour period of "safe passage" for civilians who wish to leave the area, Mr Ereli added.From SMH.
The strike has drawn strong international condemnation and, correspondents say, given a new urgency to diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced Israel's "heinous crimes against civilians", in the wake of the Qana strike that killed displaced civilians sheltering in a basement.
Many countries condemned the attack, and France has circulated a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to the fighting. "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," Mr Annan told the council.
"I'm deeply dismayed that my earlier calls for immediate cessation of hostilities were not heard, with the result that innocent lives continue to be taken and innocent civilians continue to suffer." Lebanese envoy Nouhad Mahoud criticised the UN for not taking action against Israel - which was "committing atrocities against humanity".
But British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said on Sunday the situation could not continue and that all hostilities ought to cease once a UN resolution was adopted.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson, who is travelling with Mr Blair in the US, said the prime minister accepted that Qana had "changed things". In a joint statement issued with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Blair said "the tragic events of today have underlined the urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible".
Dozens of Lebanese women and children died in an Israeli strike on Qana, sparking renewed international calls for an immediate ceasefire.Don't expect them to do any investigating, why bother looking for evidence, why let facts get in the way of dragging those wicked Jews over the coals.
From Jpost, to their credit, they have asked questions and it seems there is more to Kana than wicked Jews butchering cowering children.
On Sunday evening, Air Force Chief of Staff Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel reported that some 150 rockets had been fired from Kana over the past 20 days.We regret the death of these innocent women and children and men, but it is simply impossible for 100% of Israel’s retaliatory strikes to target only her attackers when they hide amongst civilians.
Speaking to reporters, Eshel added that Hizbullah rocket launchers were hidden in civilian buildings in the village. He proceeded to show video footage of rocket launchers being driven into the village following launches.
Eshel also pointed out that the building was hit sometime around midnight Saturday night and didn't collapse until about 8 a.m. Sunday morning, leaving an unusual gap in the timing of the events which the IDF was investigating.
"It's possible that inside the house, something or other was being stored that caused an explosion - something that we didn't succeed in blowing up in the [initial] attack and that perhaps was left over there," Eshel said. "I say this very cautiously, because I currently don't have the faintest idea what the explanation for this gap could be."
Olmert said that the area was a focal point for the firing of Katyusha rockets on Kiryat Shmona and Afula. He said that from the outset of the conflict, "hundreds of rockets have been fired from the Kana area."
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz also expressed sorrow over the loss of innocent life. "We were operating in a place from where Katyushas are being fired and we distributed notices to residents. Unfortunately, people who assembled in the area, whom we were unaware of, were harmed," said Halutz.
But Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, said an immediate ceasefire would help the militants. "I am beseeching you not to play into their hands, not to provide them with what they are seeking while sacrificing their own people as human shields and as victims," Mr Gillerman said.
It is easy for us to condemn Israel, but this gives Hizbullah a free pass, they wear none of it, no one is prepared to hold them responsible or to punish them. There are no statements of regret, no investigations, no inquiries, when Israelis are killed by rocket attacks or suicide bombs.
It might feel good to rant against the Jews, or help you score some points, but this only ensures it will happen again in another 10 years because the real villians go free.
On April 18, 1996, Israeli artillery pounded a U.N. center crowded with civilians. Israel later said the attack was a mistake. At that time, Israel accused Hezbollah militants of hiding behind civilians.I'm sure everyone would be (at least publicly) for a free Israel, a free Palestine and a free Lebanon, but it seems no one but Israel is for ‘freeing’ them.
Restroom humour in Queensland beach resort incorrect
Toilet humour is alive and well in the Whitsundays but not everyone is laughing. A mural in the men's section of a new toilet block on the Airlie Beach foreshore has divided opinion in the tourist town. The mural depicts four young women above the urinal - an office type peering over her spectacles, a Jennifer Aniston lookalike stretching a tape measure, a blonde taking a photo with her mobile phone and another so bored she's blowing bubbles.
Some residents including the local newspaper editor are up in arms at the cheeky artwork. Airlie Beach local PR consultant, Tom Coull, who with newspaper editor Linda Brady has railed against the images, described them as "cheesy, tacky, not original and definitely sexist" and worried about explaining the images to his young son. Another resident. Lesley Campbell, reckons the murals are "disgusting, unnecessary and extremely suggestive" and gave a negative reflection of the town, even suggesting they encourage rape and sexual assault.
But most see the funny side and reckon it's a great idea. Fish D'Vine restaurant's Kevin Collins said many of his customers commented favourably. "They think it's cute, light-hearted. They haven't been offended at all," he said. "People have taken pictures with a mobile phone and they've been sent around the world in emails. "There can't be too many toilets that give this sort of publicity to a town," Mr Collins said....
Whitsunday Shire Council's corporate and community services executive manager Royden James said public feedback had been overwhelmingly positive, with only one negative response from the community. "If anything, most criticism has been that there is nothing similar in the women's toilets," he said in a statement.
The excerpt above is from an article that appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on July 30, 2006. There is an earlier report on the same subject here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Lost Australian literary heritage
Excerpt from an article by Imre Salusinszky that appeared in "The Australian" on July 29, 2006
The recent experiment perpetrated by The Australian, in which a chapter of Patrick White's The Eye of the Storm was submitted to 10 publishers and agents and rejected by all of them, tells us little if anything about literary genius, or about some purported decline in modern civilisation that means genius is no longer recognised.
It tells us something that is both more mundane and more interesting, which is that young commissioning editors in Australian publishing houses - those who did not simply bin Eye of the Cyclone after a glance but offered Wraith Picket remedial writing advice - have not read Eye of the Storm or sufficient Patrick White to recognise his style.
Have a look at a range of school and university curriculums across Australia and it is easy to see why. In the Victorian Certificate of Education, for example, students of English are presented with a range of perfectly worthy contemporary Australian texts but study no classic Australian literature, apart from a few Henry Lawson stories.
Meanwhile, in universities you will find plenty more contemporary Australian texts, this time grouped. explicitly according to the organising categories of cultural studies: race, gender, sexuality and class. What you won't find are courses with boring titles such as "19th-century Australian fiction" in which the organising feature is canonical; that is, these are important writers with whom any Australian student of literature should be familiar.
In a sense, we have returned to the situation of 30 years ago. When I was stumbling around the corridors of the University of Melbourne stoned out of my gourd in the 1970s, Australian literature was considered a minor offshoot that could be studied only around the fringes of the core courses in English (British) literature. The situation was not quite as bad everywhere, but neither was it good. All this changed in the late '70s thanks to the activism of a group of energetic young academics who formed the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. For a while, Marcus Clarke, Henry Handel Richardson, Shaw Nielsen and, yes, Patrick White loomed large in the window of Australian undergraduates.
But who was to know what a narrow window it would turn out to be? The study of classic Australian literature in universities thrived only during a brief interval - say 1975-90 - sandwiched between cultural snobbery (no Australian belongs in the canon) on one side and cultural studies (there is no canon) on the other. Unless the readers of the publishing firms caught out by The Australian were educated in that interval, I can easily imagine they would not have read The Eye of the Storm or much White.
Responding to a complaint by John Howard that the teaching of history in our schools has degenerated into a "stew of fragmented themes and issues", federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has convened a history summit to meet in Canberra next month. I would suggest that the teaching of literature has degenerated into the same kind of stew, partly courtesy of cultural studies, and that a national strategy to address that situation (with a special emphasis on the teaching of Australian literature in schools and universities) is long overdue.
Cultural studies is a perfectly legitimate area of study but one that should come after, not before, an immersion in literary works studied for their own sakes as imaginative structures. Proceeding in that order, students can make their own educated investigations into the ways that literature, along with other forms of symbolic expression, reflects cultural values. Taken in the wrong order, however, categories such as gender and class themselves become canonical, and education narrows into indoctrination.
As former NSW premier Bob Carr has argued in connection with the study of history, the study of literature, too, is a vocational necessity in an information economy where the ability to organise arid express complicated ideas is at a premium.
While I am a non-believer at the church of "national identity" and the cultural protectionism based on it, I certainly believe there are such things as cultural traditions. Unlike an identity, which cannot lead to a liberal education, a tradition is inseparably a part of all that comes before it and exists alongside it.
Just as Howard and Bishop have asserted that the study of Australian history requires a sound understanding of European history at least as far back as the Enlightenment, so the proper study of Australian literature requires a grounding in European literature as far back as Shakespeare. Bring on the literature summit!
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The recent experiment perpetrated by The Australian, in which a chapter of Patrick White's The Eye of the Storm was submitted to 10 publishers and agents and rejected by all of them, tells us little if anything about literary genius, or about some purported decline in modern civilisation that means genius is no longer recognised.
It tells us something that is both more mundane and more interesting, which is that young commissioning editors in Australian publishing houses - those who did not simply bin Eye of the Cyclone after a glance but offered Wraith Picket remedial writing advice - have not read Eye of the Storm or sufficient Patrick White to recognise his style.
Have a look at a range of school and university curriculums across Australia and it is easy to see why. In the Victorian Certificate of Education, for example, students of English are presented with a range of perfectly worthy contemporary Australian texts but study no classic Australian literature, apart from a few Henry Lawson stories.
Meanwhile, in universities you will find plenty more contemporary Australian texts, this time grouped. explicitly according to the organising categories of cultural studies: race, gender, sexuality and class. What you won't find are courses with boring titles such as "19th-century Australian fiction" in which the organising feature is canonical; that is, these are important writers with whom any Australian student of literature should be familiar.
In a sense, we have returned to the situation of 30 years ago. When I was stumbling around the corridors of the University of Melbourne stoned out of my gourd in the 1970s, Australian literature was considered a minor offshoot that could be studied only around the fringes of the core courses in English (British) literature. The situation was not quite as bad everywhere, but neither was it good. All this changed in the late '70s thanks to the activism of a group of energetic young academics who formed the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. For a while, Marcus Clarke, Henry Handel Richardson, Shaw Nielsen and, yes, Patrick White loomed large in the window of Australian undergraduates.
But who was to know what a narrow window it would turn out to be? The study of classic Australian literature in universities thrived only during a brief interval - say 1975-90 - sandwiched between cultural snobbery (no Australian belongs in the canon) on one side and cultural studies (there is no canon) on the other. Unless the readers of the publishing firms caught out by The Australian were educated in that interval, I can easily imagine they would not have read The Eye of the Storm or much White.
Responding to a complaint by John Howard that the teaching of history in our schools has degenerated into a "stew of fragmented themes and issues", federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has convened a history summit to meet in Canberra next month. I would suggest that the teaching of literature has degenerated into the same kind of stew, partly courtesy of cultural studies, and that a national strategy to address that situation (with a special emphasis on the teaching of Australian literature in schools and universities) is long overdue.
Cultural studies is a perfectly legitimate area of study but one that should come after, not before, an immersion in literary works studied for their own sakes as imaginative structures. Proceeding in that order, students can make their own educated investigations into the ways that literature, along with other forms of symbolic expression, reflects cultural values. Taken in the wrong order, however, categories such as gender and class themselves become canonical, and education narrows into indoctrination.
As former NSW premier Bob Carr has argued in connection with the study of history, the study of literature, too, is a vocational necessity in an information economy where the ability to organise arid express complicated ideas is at a premium.
While I am a non-believer at the church of "national identity" and the cultural protectionism based on it, I certainly believe there are such things as cultural traditions. Unlike an identity, which cannot lead to a liberal education, a tradition is inseparably a part of all that comes before it and exists alongside it.
Just as Howard and Bishop have asserted that the study of Australian history requires a sound understanding of European history at least as far back as the Enlightenment, so the proper study of Australian literature requires a grounding in European literature as far back as Shakespeare. Bring on the literature summit!
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Killer doctor still practicing
Yet Another case of your regulators protecting you
A manslaughter charge has been recommended against a prominent Queensland surgeon who continues to operate out of a private hospital with full registration through the state's Medical Board.
Four years ago, Nardia Annette Cvitic checked into Brisbane's Mater Hospital for a hysterectomy to be performed by David Ward, who was then a respected professor of medicine at the University of Queensland. But the 31-year-old mother of two died after a drain inserted into her pelvic area during surgery reportedly punctured a major vein - an error that was allegedly compounded by Dr Ward prescribing her a bloodthinning agent.
An inquest into Cvitic's death, headed by Deputy State Coroner Christine Clements, has heard evidence that after the operation the operating theatre resembled the scene of the Granville train disaster in NSW in the 1970s. The Weekend Australian has obtained a draft submission from counsel assisting the inquest. Richard Perry informing Ms. Clements and other parties in the case: "There is sufficient admissable evidence upon which a properly instructed jury could conclude that Dr Ward is guilty of the offence of manslaughter."
He recommended that Dr Ward be committed for trial. "Further, it must be acknowledged, and done so openly and honestly, that a great tragedy occurred in this case." Mr Perry states in his draft submission. "Ms Cvitic's death is one which was, in some senses, entirely avoidable, not simply because of what may or may not have occurred during the operation ... but also because her condition, however it was caused, was one which ought not to have resulted in her death."
Dr Ward's barrister, David Tait, did not return calls yesterday and Dr Ward has previously declined to comment. Cvitic's family was unavailable. Michael Coglin, medical officer for Healthcope, which owns the Sunnybank Private Hospital in Brisbane, said yesterday Dr Ward "occasionally" operated at the hospital and there was no reason for him not to do so. "In view of some of these concerns, we've checked with the Medical Board of Queensland and we've been advised that Dr Ward is in good standing with the board, he's fully registered, and there's no reason he should not continue to practise in Queensland and our hospital," Dr Coglin said.
While the Mater had referred Dr Ward to the Medical Board, a spokeswoman has said "all appropriate action was taken" and no conditions had been attached to his registration. A District Court judge recently sanctioned an out-of-court settlement in which the Mater, the University of Queensland and the Queensland Government will put $115,000 in a trust fund for Cvitic's 10-year-old son and $60.000 in trust for her 16-year-old son.
The coroner has heard there had been complaints about Dr Ward's surgical techniques and management style before Cvitic's death, and two professors who audited some of his patient files in 2003 warned: "Something is radically wrong and it cannot continue." Russell Strong and Alex Crandon, commissioned by the Mater to conduct the audit, raised problems over Dr Ward's surgical techniques, communication skills, post-operative care and medical judgment. In only three of the 10 patient files examined did they find Dr Ward had no case to answer.
The Mater subsequently withdrew Dr Ward's surgical credentials, as did the Royal Women's Hospital, and he lost his role with the university the same year.
The above article appeared in "The Australian" newspaper on 29 July, 2006
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
A manslaughter charge has been recommended against a prominent Queensland surgeon who continues to operate out of a private hospital with full registration through the state's Medical Board.
Four years ago, Nardia Annette Cvitic checked into Brisbane's Mater Hospital for a hysterectomy to be performed by David Ward, who was then a respected professor of medicine at the University of Queensland. But the 31-year-old mother of two died after a drain inserted into her pelvic area during surgery reportedly punctured a major vein - an error that was allegedly compounded by Dr Ward prescribing her a bloodthinning agent.
An inquest into Cvitic's death, headed by Deputy State Coroner Christine Clements, has heard evidence that after the operation the operating theatre resembled the scene of the Granville train disaster in NSW in the 1970s. The Weekend Australian has obtained a draft submission from counsel assisting the inquest. Richard Perry informing Ms. Clements and other parties in the case: "There is sufficient admissable evidence upon which a properly instructed jury could conclude that Dr Ward is guilty of the offence of manslaughter."
He recommended that Dr Ward be committed for trial. "Further, it must be acknowledged, and done so openly and honestly, that a great tragedy occurred in this case." Mr Perry states in his draft submission. "Ms Cvitic's death is one which was, in some senses, entirely avoidable, not simply because of what may or may not have occurred during the operation ... but also because her condition, however it was caused, was one which ought not to have resulted in her death."
Dr Ward's barrister, David Tait, did not return calls yesterday and Dr Ward has previously declined to comment. Cvitic's family was unavailable. Michael Coglin, medical officer for Healthcope, which owns the Sunnybank Private Hospital in Brisbane, said yesterday Dr Ward "occasionally" operated at the hospital and there was no reason for him not to do so. "In view of some of these concerns, we've checked with the Medical Board of Queensland and we've been advised that Dr Ward is in good standing with the board, he's fully registered, and there's no reason he should not continue to practise in Queensland and our hospital," Dr Coglin said.
While the Mater had referred Dr Ward to the Medical Board, a spokeswoman has said "all appropriate action was taken" and no conditions had been attached to his registration. A District Court judge recently sanctioned an out-of-court settlement in which the Mater, the University of Queensland and the Queensland Government will put $115,000 in a trust fund for Cvitic's 10-year-old son and $60.000 in trust for her 16-year-old son.
The coroner has heard there had been complaints about Dr Ward's surgical techniques and management style before Cvitic's death, and two professors who audited some of his patient files in 2003 warned: "Something is radically wrong and it cannot continue." Russell Strong and Alex Crandon, commissioned by the Mater to conduct the audit, raised problems over Dr Ward's surgical techniques, communication skills, post-operative care and medical judgment. In only three of the 10 patient files examined did they find Dr Ward had no case to answer.
The Mater subsequently withdrew Dr Ward's surgical credentials, as did the Royal Women's Hospital, and he lost his role with the university the same year.
The above article appeared in "The Australian" newspaper on 29 July, 2006
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
A letter to Mr Lefty
As regular readers of this blog will be aware, the comment threads on this blog tend to be frequented by a sour chap calling himself "Mr. Lefty". He has his own blog but I guess no-one reads it so he whines here. Another reader of the blog has got a bit fed up with him and has written a letter to him that I am pleased to post below. I do not agree with everything below but I think he makes some good points
No one on this planet has given me a clearer insight into the minds of leftists than Theodore Kaczynsky in his brilliant "Unabomber's Manifesto." Yet it still amazes me that in this day and age, seemingly normal people of at least average intelligence can actually embrace socialism, or any form of it when history has shown us that any country that goes down this path has also gone, or is going down the tubes of cultural and economic suicide. Someone once said. "Leftists of modern times have lost their power of rational, objective analysis. They are seldom realistic or pragmatic. There is a lot of grey area but these gentlemen view in only black or white, their vision clouded by their ideology."
So in my quest to have a clearer picture and see just what the local left actually believes in, I would like Mr. Lefty who has never been shy in expressing his views to answer the following questions with a yes/no or a more detailed response if he chooses. I ask that Mr. Lefty be given the chance to express his views before any others comment. Thanks....So Mr. Lefty-
(1) Do you believe that Muslim terrorism is a threat to the world- specifically Israel, the USA and Australia, and if you do - just how much of threat?
(2) Do you believe that the attacks on the WTC in New York were actually done by al-Queda or the CIA, or Castro, or Israel or some other group?
(3) Do you believe that the Holocaust actually happened?
(4) As I commented last year, our next-door neighbor Indonesia, is populated by some 230 million Muslims. Indonesia has a very shaky and corrupt government that could be overthrown in a coup at any time by Muslim extremists who are already attempting to impose Sharia law on it's hapless citizens. In the event of a coup these religious psychopaths would occupy territory, (West Papua) just over 100 nautical miles off the northern tip of the Australian mainland. An Islamic terrorist group, Laskar Jihad, had already sent more than 100 of its armed fighters into the Papua district of Fak Fak. The Australian army can not field even two divisions for more than six months in any overseas deployment such as PNG or anywhere else for that matter, as the Australian army with it's miniscule 25,000 troops would only have 15,000 max. troops who could actually pull a trigger without using all the cooks, drivers and clerks etc. so they could not realistically take on a massive Indonesia army of religious fanatics who are willing to die for Allah.
My question to Mr Lefty is. As it's only a matter of time before we will be engaged in fighting in West Papua and /or if China in it's desperate need for raw materials were to start clearing out the last of the rainforests of say nearby PNG, or wiping out our fishing grounds, or drilling for oil in the Australian Antarctic Territory,- do you think we should call on the US to help, or do we bravely go it alone with our massive military (to show those Yanks) as the Labor Party is crying out for - in other words, do you support the Australian American Alliance?
(5) Do you support leftist groups who want to shut down the Australian /American intelligence facility at Pine Gap - the primary source of intelligence for attacks on Australia or it's interests and armed forces overseas?
(6) A recent poll taken in Australia showed that around 50% of Australians preferred the ongoing abuser of civil rights, the seller of human (prisoners) body parts, and wholesale mass murdering regime of Communist China over the United States. This is thanks mostly to the hate America campaign of those Marxist vipers at the ABC, SBS, the Fairfax Press and the various teachers unions. Keeping in mind that you, Mr. Lefty, those anti-American vipers, and the rest of Australia, indeed the entire free world, after 60 years are still being kept nice and safe thanks to the military might of the USA with their nuclear weapons - yet these are the very weapons that the left believes the United States should relinquish.
The question is- do you too Mr. Lefty prefer and trust Red China over the USA?(7) Leftists who seem to hate the US so much that they can overlook the very real possibility of being vaporised have been writing to newspapers saying how unfair for the US and Australia to be criticising Iran and North Korea in their quest for nukes. Do you Mr. Lefty believe that the US and the West should allow these rabid western hating nations to develop their nukes? And do you believe that the left is correct in their demands that the US and the other western countries give up their nuclear arsenals first, and then trust that a nuclear Iran, North Korea, Islamic Pakistan, and Russia and others western haters to give up their's?
(8) During WWII, Australian communist wharfies refused to load ships transporting supplies for our Diggers and US troops in New Guinea who were battling a potential brutal invasion of Australia because Russia at the time had and non-aggression pact with Japan. These Communist wharfies were also stealing the troops personal items and essential war materials; Do you sympathise with those wharfies and believe their cause was just?
(9) I believe that John Howard is probably the best prime minister that this country has ever had. The economy is going gangbusters and his government has paid off the massive $96 billion debt that the Labor Party had left us, where housing interest rates were at 17% to now -what... 5-6 %? and unemployment is a third of what is was under Labor. Knowing that, what would your order of preference be if you were to vote today with the following candidates and why - John Howard -Kim Beazley- Mark Latham - Simon Crean- Paul Keating?
(10) As I'm aware the very concept of "the enemy" is alien to the non-judgment multicultural mind: There are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet accommodated. ....Mark Steyn.
The left is sold on multiculturism and today we are paying for this absurd idea that all cultures are equal. Third world migrants don't do all the crime but Lebanese Muslim and Vietnamese gangs do almost all of the most violent ones. They introduced the knife, sword and machete culture into our society and they run the majority of the drug trade, prostitution, kidnappings, car theft, re-berthing, home invasions, ram raids, standover crimes, muggings, stabbings, murder, welfare fraud and the list goes on.Dr Richard Basham said "Organised crime, drugs, gangs, extortion, tax evasion, fraud, these have now reached a level where they are damaging the national economy. What has happened at Cabramatta (or Bankstown) is just the tip of the iceberg but it often seems that anyone who dares to talk about Asian (or Muslim) crime in this country is shouted down as a racist."
So Mr. Lefty do you think that multiculture has been a success? And do you think that third world immigrants should still be allowed to come here regardless of their country of origin, or do you think we should be more selective in order to protect your fellow citizens which of course include your loved ones- keeping in mind that local Islamic cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika wanted to kill 1000 Australians to "please Allah" also keeping in mind that your kid could be a victim of ethnic violence - like being stabbed for a mobile phone, or if a female - an "Aussie pig/slut " be a target of ethnic pack rape.(11) If there is a socialist paradise on this planet it is Sweden. Sweden is already a banana republic, perhaps on it’s way to becoming an Islamic republic. Swedish culture is disappearing with astonishing speed in front of our eyes. If the trend isn't stopped, the Swedish nation will simply cease to exist in any meaningful way during the first half of this century. The country that gave us Bergman, ABBA and Volvo could become known as the Bosnia of northern Europe. The "Swedish model" will no longer refer to a stable and peaceful state with an advanced economy, but an Eurabian horror story of utopian multiculturalism, socialist mismanagement and runaway immigration. Sweden has national elections in 2006. This will be one of the last opportunities the country has to resolve its towering internal tensions in peaceful and civilized ways. Some fear it's already too late. As we see below:
.....The Gates of Vienna
Jens Orback, Democracy Minister in the Swedish government, said during a radio debate: "We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so towards us."
The PC Swedes and Norwegians in only twenty or so years may well be a minority in their own country thanks to the very large families that immigrant Muslims are having. Do you think that this is good for Swedes and Norwegians to be a minority in their own country, or do you think that this is one hell of a mistake as these immigrants are now demanding special laws and exceptions be made relative to their culture and religion? And of course when the Muslims do have a majority the Swedes and Norwegians will not have a choice, so Sweden and Norway will be in effect a "Muslim" countries. Do you think that this will be good for Sweden and Norway and the rest of the world because Sweden and Norway are not alone in this situation as other European countries,( which some now call Eurabia) are following Sweden's and Norway's PC multicultural pursuits, and as we have seen from British born Muslims, these Muslims have absolutely no allegiance to the country they were born in, educated by and cared for- but they will die...for Islam.
(12) A rhetorical question. Terrorists now occupy West Papua and they have been sending suicide bombers into Australian cities and towns, where for years they have been killing and maiming innocent teenagers in dance halls and families in restaurants. They have kidnapped Australian soldiers and are launching missiles as they have been doing for years, only now they have stepped up the quantity and the range where they can now reach into Australian port cities that contain huge petroleum and LPG storage tanks, which if these tanks exploded would take out large portions of the city killing thousands of your fellow leftists and other citizens, men, women and children.
Now would you want the PM to send in our armed forces to retaliate with just enough force to let them know we are not happy campers, but enable the butchers to keep on- business as usual, or would you want our armed forces to make sure that these bastards infrastructure, their command headquarters, missile storage areas and their supply lines were cut and as many terrorists be killed as possible so that your country with your family and friends would not be under the daily threat from these psychopaths for a while?
(13) Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have gained or retained their freedom and prospered under American might, but there will always be those who will keep whining and blaming America for the world's ills- as in the case of the Germans who want to deflect their responsibility for two world wars and the crimes against humanity they perpetrated. And let's not forget those other American haters, the French - who oppose and undermine every one of America's endeavours for solutions for the world's many ongoing crisis's at every opportunity. We know that the pathetic French still harbour delusions of glory. (It really has none for which it of course blames the Americans) US General George Patton said "I would rather have two German divisions in front of me, than a French division behind me." and we sure know why! We know that the French were responsible for the start of the Vietnam War and are lying hypocrites who sold huge quantities of illegal arms to groups fighting US (and Australian) troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite the large numbers of US troops who fell on the beaches of Normandy and lie in fields all across France, having fought twice to liberate France from their now good friends the Germans.
Ah the Germans! After defeating them the Americans generously opened up their US markets to them, helped rebuild, feed and protected them during the cold war until thanks to US President Ronald Reagan the wall was finally torn down allowing East and West Germany to be united. Are the Germans or the French grateful?.. Hell no... In fact they hate America and so do almost all of those nations that were under the murderous oppressive yoke of the Nazis and then the Soviet Union.The American haters most vociferous have themselves been supporters of, or apologists for dictatorial regimes.
Today the US faces a complicated challenge. It has been attacked by a fanatical movement whose goals are not an equitable settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the total liquidation of Israel, and of all Jews and Christians, and the creation of Islamic theocratic dictatorships worldwide-but the American haters can't see it - their "Great Satan" is the USA and they are blind to see the most dangerous threat to this planet than even the two world wars, yet they criticise Israelis and Americans when they step outside wars" Marquis of Queensbury" rules. It's OK for the terrorists to actually target civilians using anything to kill men, women and children, but the Israelis and Americans who take great care not to harm civilians are labeled "murderers".
When has the left ever demonstrated against murderous tyrants or fanatical regimes such as North Korea or Zimbabwe where their exulted leaders are starving millions of innocent people to death? Hey no time for that when they can protest against the Mickey Mouse "torture" in America's detention centers, where those civilian killers fighting against the west get visits from the Red Cross, are well fed and receive good medical care.
Envious nations of the world sneer and denigrate those "stupid Americans, but as Ted Kaczynsky wrote "Leftists hate America because it is good and successful" These nations are all members of the UN which itself is a bureaucratic swamp of corruption and mismanagement. Former UN Chief Boutros-Ghali estimated that half the aid money is often lost or stolen and dozens of agencies duplicate efforts. The UN has hardly achieved a single thing when not being led by the US. Most it's anti American members live under the protection of the United States but make no attempt to pay for or otherwise assume their fair share of the burden. Most of these countries have achieved next to zero in the last century in the advance of human knowledge or safeguarding us from our enemies. These "Stupid Americans" have by far the world's strongest economy and military, and have invented practically every thing that makes modern life so much better, more comfortable and safer - from jeans to jazz, electric lights to transistors, internet to GPS, and of course all the lifesaving devices and drugs and surgical procedures that have or will save your life Mr. Lefty.
While the US has landed men on the moon as far back as 1969 and will send them to Mars, European countries have yet to achieve hardly anything relative to space exploration, except launch a few probes that generally miss their target. . So if these Americans are stupid -then there should be more stupidity in the world.
Take any country off this planet and it would hardly be missed. Take away the USA and this world would overnight spin out of control, with rogue states destabilising the world order and not one country around that could stop them. If you don't believe that Mr. Lefty - I ask just which country would be able to restore order in the world - France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan the UN (joke) ?
And do you think as the US is actually carrying the burden of defending the free world that it is right for those being defended to protest against the US, especially in light of that they are not protesting against the very people who really want to kill and/or impose Sharia Law on us?
(14) Mr. Lefty-What are your feelings regarding the USA, by default being the "worlds policeman" as no other country can step up to the thankless job? Do you believe the leftist rants that "it's all about oil" and/ or "American imperialism" or do you think the US deserves credit and thanks for being the glue that has kept this very dangerous world mostly on track for the last 60 years? I might point out that if the US doesn't keep the worlds supply of oil running, the stock market in every country on this planet will crash bringing a disastrous depression, then not only will you Mr. Lefty, most probably lose your job, but your car and your house as well.Anyway Mr. Lefty, here is the opportunity to make your case for the left...
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
No one on this planet has given me a clearer insight into the minds of leftists than Theodore Kaczynsky in his brilliant "Unabomber's Manifesto." Yet it still amazes me that in this day and age, seemingly normal people of at least average intelligence can actually embrace socialism, or any form of it when history has shown us that any country that goes down this path has also gone, or is going down the tubes of cultural and economic suicide. Someone once said. "Leftists of modern times have lost their power of rational, objective analysis. They are seldom realistic or pragmatic. There is a lot of grey area but these gentlemen view in only black or white, their vision clouded by their ideology."
So in my quest to have a clearer picture and see just what the local left actually believes in, I would like Mr. Lefty who has never been shy in expressing his views to answer the following questions with a yes/no or a more detailed response if he chooses. I ask that Mr. Lefty be given the chance to express his views before any others comment. Thanks....So Mr. Lefty-
(1) Do you believe that Muslim terrorism is a threat to the world- specifically Israel, the USA and Australia, and if you do - just how much of threat?
(2) Do you believe that the attacks on the WTC in New York were actually done by al-Queda or the CIA, or Castro, or Israel or some other group?
(3) Do you believe that the Holocaust actually happened?
(4) As I commented last year, our next-door neighbor Indonesia, is populated by some 230 million Muslims. Indonesia has a very shaky and corrupt government that could be overthrown in a coup at any time by Muslim extremists who are already attempting to impose Sharia law on it's hapless citizens. In the event of a coup these religious psychopaths would occupy territory, (West Papua) just over 100 nautical miles off the northern tip of the Australian mainland. An Islamic terrorist group, Laskar Jihad, had already sent more than 100 of its armed fighters into the Papua district of Fak Fak. The Australian army can not field even two divisions for more than six months in any overseas deployment such as PNG or anywhere else for that matter, as the Australian army with it's miniscule 25,000 troops would only have 15,000 max. troops who could actually pull a trigger without using all the cooks, drivers and clerks etc. so they could not realistically take on a massive Indonesia army of religious fanatics who are willing to die for Allah.
My question to Mr Lefty is. As it's only a matter of time before we will be engaged in fighting in West Papua and /or if China in it's desperate need for raw materials were to start clearing out the last of the rainforests of say nearby PNG, or wiping out our fishing grounds, or drilling for oil in the Australian Antarctic Territory,- do you think we should call on the US to help, or do we bravely go it alone with our massive military (to show those Yanks) as the Labor Party is crying out for - in other words, do you support the Australian American Alliance?
(5) Do you support leftist groups who want to shut down the Australian /American intelligence facility at Pine Gap - the primary source of intelligence for attacks on Australia or it's interests and armed forces overseas?
(6) A recent poll taken in Australia showed that around 50% of Australians preferred the ongoing abuser of civil rights, the seller of human (prisoners) body parts, and wholesale mass murdering regime of Communist China over the United States. This is thanks mostly to the hate America campaign of those Marxist vipers at the ABC, SBS, the Fairfax Press and the various teachers unions. Keeping in mind that you, Mr. Lefty, those anti-American vipers, and the rest of Australia, indeed the entire free world, after 60 years are still being kept nice and safe thanks to the military might of the USA with their nuclear weapons - yet these are the very weapons that the left believes the United States should relinquish.
The question is- do you too Mr. Lefty prefer and trust Red China over the USA?(7) Leftists who seem to hate the US so much that they can overlook the very real possibility of being vaporised have been writing to newspapers saying how unfair for the US and Australia to be criticising Iran and North Korea in their quest for nukes. Do you Mr. Lefty believe that the US and the West should allow these rabid western hating nations to develop their nukes? And do you believe that the left is correct in their demands that the US and the other western countries give up their nuclear arsenals first, and then trust that a nuclear Iran, North Korea, Islamic Pakistan, and Russia and others western haters to give up their's?
(8) During WWII, Australian communist wharfies refused to load ships transporting supplies for our Diggers and US troops in New Guinea who were battling a potential brutal invasion of Australia because Russia at the time had and non-aggression pact with Japan. These Communist wharfies were also stealing the troops personal items and essential war materials; Do you sympathise with those wharfies and believe their cause was just?
(9) I believe that John Howard is probably the best prime minister that this country has ever had. The economy is going gangbusters and his government has paid off the massive $96 billion debt that the Labor Party had left us, where housing interest rates were at 17% to now -what... 5-6 %? and unemployment is a third of what is was under Labor. Knowing that, what would your order of preference be if you were to vote today with the following candidates and why - John Howard -Kim Beazley- Mark Latham - Simon Crean- Paul Keating?
(10) As I'm aware the very concept of "the enemy" is alien to the non-judgment multicultural mind: There are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet accommodated. ....Mark Steyn.
The left is sold on multiculturism and today we are paying for this absurd idea that all cultures are equal. Third world migrants don't do all the crime but Lebanese Muslim and Vietnamese gangs do almost all of the most violent ones. They introduced the knife, sword and machete culture into our society and they run the majority of the drug trade, prostitution, kidnappings, car theft, re-berthing, home invasions, ram raids, standover crimes, muggings, stabbings, murder, welfare fraud and the list goes on.Dr Richard Basham said "Organised crime, drugs, gangs, extortion, tax evasion, fraud, these have now reached a level where they are damaging the national economy. What has happened at Cabramatta (or Bankstown) is just the tip of the iceberg but it often seems that anyone who dares to talk about Asian (or Muslim) crime in this country is shouted down as a racist."
So Mr. Lefty do you think that multiculture has been a success? And do you think that third world immigrants should still be allowed to come here regardless of their country of origin, or do you think we should be more selective in order to protect your fellow citizens which of course include your loved ones- keeping in mind that local Islamic cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika wanted to kill 1000 Australians to "please Allah" also keeping in mind that your kid could be a victim of ethnic violence - like being stabbed for a mobile phone, or if a female - an "Aussie pig/slut " be a target of ethnic pack rape.(11) If there is a socialist paradise on this planet it is Sweden. Sweden is already a banana republic, perhaps on it’s way to becoming an Islamic republic. Swedish culture is disappearing with astonishing speed in front of our eyes. If the trend isn't stopped, the Swedish nation will simply cease to exist in any meaningful way during the first half of this century. The country that gave us Bergman, ABBA and Volvo could become known as the Bosnia of northern Europe. The "Swedish model" will no longer refer to a stable and peaceful state with an advanced economy, but an Eurabian horror story of utopian multiculturalism, socialist mismanagement and runaway immigration. Sweden has national elections in 2006. This will be one of the last opportunities the country has to resolve its towering internal tensions in peaceful and civilized ways. Some fear it's already too late. As we see below:
.....The Gates of Vienna
Jens Orback, Democracy Minister in the Swedish government, said during a radio debate: "We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so towards us."
The PC Swedes and Norwegians in only twenty or so years may well be a minority in their own country thanks to the very large families that immigrant Muslims are having. Do you think that this is good for Swedes and Norwegians to be a minority in their own country, or do you think that this is one hell of a mistake as these immigrants are now demanding special laws and exceptions be made relative to their culture and religion? And of course when the Muslims do have a majority the Swedes and Norwegians will not have a choice, so Sweden and Norway will be in effect a "Muslim" countries. Do you think that this will be good for Sweden and Norway and the rest of the world because Sweden and Norway are not alone in this situation as other European countries,( which some now call Eurabia) are following Sweden's and Norway's PC multicultural pursuits, and as we have seen from British born Muslims, these Muslims have absolutely no allegiance to the country they were born in, educated by and cared for- but they will die...for Islam.
(12) A rhetorical question. Terrorists now occupy West Papua and they have been sending suicide bombers into Australian cities and towns, where for years they have been killing and maiming innocent teenagers in dance halls and families in restaurants. They have kidnapped Australian soldiers and are launching missiles as they have been doing for years, only now they have stepped up the quantity and the range where they can now reach into Australian port cities that contain huge petroleum and LPG storage tanks, which if these tanks exploded would take out large portions of the city killing thousands of your fellow leftists and other citizens, men, women and children.
Now would you want the PM to send in our armed forces to retaliate with just enough force to let them know we are not happy campers, but enable the butchers to keep on- business as usual, or would you want our armed forces to make sure that these bastards infrastructure, their command headquarters, missile storage areas and their supply lines were cut and as many terrorists be killed as possible so that your country with your family and friends would not be under the daily threat from these psychopaths for a while?
(13) Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have gained or retained their freedom and prospered under American might, but there will always be those who will keep whining and blaming America for the world's ills- as in the case of the Germans who want to deflect their responsibility for two world wars and the crimes against humanity they perpetrated. And let's not forget those other American haters, the French - who oppose and undermine every one of America's endeavours for solutions for the world's many ongoing crisis's at every opportunity. We know that the pathetic French still harbour delusions of glory. (It really has none for which it of course blames the Americans) US General George Patton said "I would rather have two German divisions in front of me, than a French division behind me." and we sure know why! We know that the French were responsible for the start of the Vietnam War and are lying hypocrites who sold huge quantities of illegal arms to groups fighting US (and Australian) troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite the large numbers of US troops who fell on the beaches of Normandy and lie in fields all across France, having fought twice to liberate France from their now good friends the Germans.
Ah the Germans! After defeating them the Americans generously opened up their US markets to them, helped rebuild, feed and protected them during the cold war until thanks to US President Ronald Reagan the wall was finally torn down allowing East and West Germany to be united. Are the Germans or the French grateful?.. Hell no... In fact they hate America and so do almost all of those nations that were under the murderous oppressive yoke of the Nazis and then the Soviet Union.The American haters most vociferous have themselves been supporters of, or apologists for dictatorial regimes.
Today the US faces a complicated challenge. It has been attacked by a fanatical movement whose goals are not an equitable settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the total liquidation of Israel, and of all Jews and Christians, and the creation of Islamic theocratic dictatorships worldwide-but the American haters can't see it - their "Great Satan" is the USA and they are blind to see the most dangerous threat to this planet than even the two world wars, yet they criticise Israelis and Americans when they step outside wars" Marquis of Queensbury" rules. It's OK for the terrorists to actually target civilians using anything to kill men, women and children, but the Israelis and Americans who take great care not to harm civilians are labeled "murderers".
When has the left ever demonstrated against murderous tyrants or fanatical regimes such as North Korea or Zimbabwe where their exulted leaders are starving millions of innocent people to death? Hey no time for that when they can protest against the Mickey Mouse "torture" in America's detention centers, where those civilian killers fighting against the west get visits from the Red Cross, are well fed and receive good medical care.
Envious nations of the world sneer and denigrate those "stupid Americans, but as Ted Kaczynsky wrote "Leftists hate America because it is good and successful" These nations are all members of the UN which itself is a bureaucratic swamp of corruption and mismanagement. Former UN Chief Boutros-Ghali estimated that half the aid money is often lost or stolen and dozens of agencies duplicate efforts. The UN has hardly achieved a single thing when not being led by the US. Most it's anti American members live under the protection of the United States but make no attempt to pay for or otherwise assume their fair share of the burden. Most of these countries have achieved next to zero in the last century in the advance of human knowledge or safeguarding us from our enemies. These "Stupid Americans" have by far the world's strongest economy and military, and have invented practically every thing that makes modern life so much better, more comfortable and safer - from jeans to jazz, electric lights to transistors, internet to GPS, and of course all the lifesaving devices and drugs and surgical procedures that have or will save your life Mr. Lefty.
While the US has landed men on the moon as far back as 1969 and will send them to Mars, European countries have yet to achieve hardly anything relative to space exploration, except launch a few probes that generally miss their target. . So if these Americans are stupid -then there should be more stupidity in the world.
Take any country off this planet and it would hardly be missed. Take away the USA and this world would overnight spin out of control, with rogue states destabilising the world order and not one country around that could stop them. If you don't believe that Mr. Lefty - I ask just which country would be able to restore order in the world - France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan the UN (joke) ?
And do you think as the US is actually carrying the burden of defending the free world that it is right for those being defended to protest against the US, especially in light of that they are not protesting against the very people who really want to kill and/or impose Sharia Law on us?
(14) Mr. Lefty-What are your feelings regarding the USA, by default being the "worlds policeman" as no other country can step up to the thankless job? Do you believe the leftist rants that "it's all about oil" and/ or "American imperialism" or do you think the US deserves credit and thanks for being the glue that has kept this very dangerous world mostly on track for the last 60 years? I might point out that if the US doesn't keep the worlds supply of oil running, the stock market in every country on this planet will crash bringing a disastrous depression, then not only will you Mr. Lefty, most probably lose your job, but your car and your house as well.Anyway Mr. Lefty, here is the opportunity to make your case for the left...
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Your regulators will protect you (again)
Employing a loony as a psychiatrist was a good one!
Vincent Berg, the Russian immigrant exposed as an allegedly bogus psychiatrist at Queensland's "Dr Death" medical inquiry, is undergoing treatment in a psychiatric ward at the Gold Coast Hospital. Mr Berg, 54, was scheduled to face a committal hearing in Southport Magistrates Court on the Gold Coast yesterday on a charge of indecently dealing with a boy under 16. But the hearing was adjourned to January 25 next year after Mr Berg's lawyer, David Gilmore, told the court his client had voluntarily admitted himself to the psychiatric ward.
Mr Berg, who was in court for the brief hearing, is accused of sexually molesting the teenage son of one of his patients when he was employed as a psychiatrist at Townsville Hospital in 2000. The allegation was revealed during the Queensland hospitals inquiry by commissioner Tony Morris. Magistrate Ron Kilner expressed frustration that committal proceedings had still not begun, despite Mr Berg's arrest in September last year. Mr Gilmore said the defence required a psychiatric assessment of Mr Berg before he could face a committal hearing.
But prosecutor Mark Whitbread said: "He has had an opportunity to see a large number of psychiatrists, and no one has been able to give him the report he desires." Outside court yesterday, Mr Gilmore said he expected Mr Berg to apply to have his case heard before the Mental Health Tribunal. Mr Berg could face further charges resulting from his 12-month tenure as a psychiatrist at Townsville Hospital, using allegedly bogus qualifications. Geoff Davies, who took over from Mr Morris as health inquiry commissioner, recommended in his final report that police should investigate whether Mr Berg should be charged with fraud, forgery and "attempts to procure unauthorised status".
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Vincent Berg, the Russian immigrant exposed as an allegedly bogus psychiatrist at Queensland's "Dr Death" medical inquiry, is undergoing treatment in a psychiatric ward at the Gold Coast Hospital. Mr Berg, 54, was scheduled to face a committal hearing in Southport Magistrates Court on the Gold Coast yesterday on a charge of indecently dealing with a boy under 16. But the hearing was adjourned to January 25 next year after Mr Berg's lawyer, David Gilmore, told the court his client had voluntarily admitted himself to the psychiatric ward.
Mr Berg, who was in court for the brief hearing, is accused of sexually molesting the teenage son of one of his patients when he was employed as a psychiatrist at Townsville Hospital in 2000. The allegation was revealed during the Queensland hospitals inquiry by commissioner Tony Morris. Magistrate Ron Kilner expressed frustration that committal proceedings had still not begun, despite Mr Berg's arrest in September last year. Mr Gilmore said the defence required a psychiatric assessment of Mr Berg before he could face a committal hearing.
But prosecutor Mark Whitbread said: "He has had an opportunity to see a large number of psychiatrists, and no one has been able to give him the report he desires." Outside court yesterday, Mr Gilmore said he expected Mr Berg to apply to have his case heard before the Mental Health Tribunal. Mr Berg could face further charges resulting from his 12-month tenure as a psychiatrist at Townsville Hospital, using allegedly bogus qualifications. Geoff Davies, who took over from Mr Morris as health inquiry commissioner, recommended in his final report that police should investigate whether Mr Berg should be charged with fraud, forgery and "attempts to procure unauthorised status".
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
European Regulators Disregard Fairness, Undermine Property Rights (Again) ... While the U.S. Government Remains Silent
The European Commission (EC), in all its zeal to control competition worldwide by targeting successful U.S. corporations, has once again shown its anti-American stripes, disregard for fairness and contempt for intellectual property rights. This week, the EC issued an unprecedented ruling and levied yet another astronomical fine totaling $357 million against Microsoft Corporation for what the Commission said was the U.S. software giant's failure to comply with its 2004 "antitrust" order....
If this were just another ho-hum antitrust case, there would be little cause for alarm. Even if this was just about slapping Microsoft on the hand for some supposed offense, few would take notice. But clearly this case has significant ramifications. Indeed, the EC's latest action is further evidence that it cares for nothing more than controlling worldwide competition, and undermining property rights and the foundation of free-enterprise that is intellectual property.
You see, Microsoft's competitors want access to its valuable source code, which is the core of the company's business, so they can further profit from Microsoft's success by plundering its intellectual property. Failing to acquire free access to the source code, in which Microsoft invested tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to develop, under the terms of the company's 2001 court-approved settlement with the U.S. government and state plaintiffs, those competitors are now colluding with all-too-willing, power-hungry EC regulators. As the EC's arrogance grows, so does the threat to the U.S. economy. All successful U.S. companies, their employees and consumers worldwide beware!
The long-term impact of the EC's actions is nauseating to consider: It is a simple fact of economics - without private property rights, no incentive to innovate exists. No incentive to innovate, no innovation. No innovation, less jobs. Less jobs, less money for consumers to buy new products -- new products that won't exist because the incentive to innovate is eliminated.
It goes without saying that unchecked power in the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats is the most dangerous threat to individual freedom and free enterprise. Bit by bit they will undoubtedly and mercilessly claim one right after another until competition is eliminated, innovation is crushed, taxes are beyond oppressive and economies become trampled under the feet of unmotivated, apathetic consumers and business owners...
If the EC's unprecedented, self-appointed powers continue unchecked, coupled with its growing anti-American sentiment, no American company -- large or small -- expanding business overseas is safe from the foreign regulatory body's wrath or cynical manipulation.
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
If this were just another ho-hum antitrust case, there would be little cause for alarm. Even if this was just about slapping Microsoft on the hand for some supposed offense, few would take notice. But clearly this case has significant ramifications. Indeed, the EC's latest action is further evidence that it cares for nothing more than controlling worldwide competition, and undermining property rights and the foundation of free-enterprise that is intellectual property.
You see, Microsoft's competitors want access to its valuable source code, which is the core of the company's business, so they can further profit from Microsoft's success by plundering its intellectual property. Failing to acquire free access to the source code, in which Microsoft invested tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to develop, under the terms of the company's 2001 court-approved settlement with the U.S. government and state plaintiffs, those competitors are now colluding with all-too-willing, power-hungry EC regulators. As the EC's arrogance grows, so does the threat to the U.S. economy. All successful U.S. companies, their employees and consumers worldwide beware!
The long-term impact of the EC's actions is nauseating to consider: It is a simple fact of economics - without private property rights, no incentive to innovate exists. No incentive to innovate, no innovation. No innovation, less jobs. Less jobs, less money for consumers to buy new products -- new products that won't exist because the incentive to innovate is eliminated.
It goes without saying that unchecked power in the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats is the most dangerous threat to individual freedom and free enterprise. Bit by bit they will undoubtedly and mercilessly claim one right after another until competition is eliminated, innovation is crushed, taxes are beyond oppressive and economies become trampled under the feet of unmotivated, apathetic consumers and business owners...
If the EC's unprecedented, self-appointed powers continue unchecked, coupled with its growing anti-American sentiment, no American company -- large or small -- expanding business overseas is safe from the foreign regulatory body's wrath or cynical manipulation.
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Leftist State governments weak on terrorism prevention
Manuals instructing fanatics on how to build suicide bombs would be allowed into the country, federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock claimed yesterday after failing to convince his state counterparts to accept new book classification laws. He accused the states of not having "the wit" to understand his proposals, during a break in the meeting of federal, state and territory attorneys-general in Melbourne. Mr Ruddock, who wants the power to ban books that advocate terrorism, said Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hull had a "blind spot" on the issue, believing human rights should be absolute.
But Mr Hull said Mr Ruddock had arrived at the meeting with a "fictitious" and "half-baked" proposal and needed to refine his stance. "We have said to Mr Ruddock. "Go away and do some work". He came in here wthe a half-baked proposal and couldn't tell us where the gaps in the law were. So he's decided to that, he said.
Mr Ruddock said the nation needed to he able to stop publications that advocated and instructed in terrorism but did not meet the current definition of inciting it. He provided as an example: "Somebody is told through a publication how to acquire material to produce a suicide iacket, but they are not in the publication told how to explode it, or when to explode it, or where to explode it -- but the material is clearly preparing people for a a suicide mission. "But you cannot, under the existing law, demonstrate that somebody is being encouraged or incited to carry out a terrorism act. If you can't do that, publication can't be refused. "If you put in a new factor for classification- -namely advocacy - that step would not be required.
The states have agreed to have their bureaucrats give the issue further consideration, but Mr Hulls has suggested that Ruddock deal with the issue by changing federal criminal law.
Mr Ruddock moved to create tighter controls on such publications last year after the Classification Review Board cleared eight books alleged to promote jihad and incite terrorism. On appeal from Mr Ruddock, the board eventually banned two of the books. Defence of the Muslim Lands and Join the Caravan, but cleared the other six. The books were allegedly being sold by a Sydney Islamic bookshop.
The above article appeared in "The Australian" newspaper on 29 July, 2006
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
But Mr Hull said Mr Ruddock had arrived at the meeting with a "fictitious" and "half-baked" proposal and needed to refine his stance. "We have said to Mr Ruddock. "Go away and do some work". He came in here wthe a half-baked proposal and couldn't tell us where the gaps in the law were. So he's decided to that, he said.
Mr Ruddock said the nation needed to he able to stop publications that advocated and instructed in terrorism but did not meet the current definition of inciting it. He provided as an example: "Somebody is told through a publication how to acquire material to produce a suicide iacket, but they are not in the publication told how to explode it, or when to explode it, or where to explode it -- but the material is clearly preparing people for a a suicide mission. "But you cannot, under the existing law, demonstrate that somebody is being encouraged or incited to carry out a terrorism act. If you can't do that, publication can't be refused. "If you put in a new factor for classification- -namely advocacy - that step would not be required.
The states have agreed to have their bureaucrats give the issue further consideration, but Mr Hulls has suggested that Ruddock deal with the issue by changing federal criminal law.
Mr Ruddock moved to create tighter controls on such publications last year after the Classification Review Board cleared eight books alleged to promote jihad and incite terrorism. On appeal from Mr Ruddock, the board eventually banned two of the books. Defence of the Muslim Lands and Join the Caravan, but cleared the other six. The books were allegedly being sold by a Sydney Islamic bookshop.
The above article appeared in "The Australian" newspaper on 29 July, 2006
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
courtesy Infidel Bloggers Alliance:
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Dhimmi Of The Year
Jens Orback - Pussy without peer
Jens Orback, the Swedish Democracy Minister, recently uttered the most pathetic dhimmit statement I have ever heard:
Jens Orback, the Swedish Democracy Minister, said in a radio debate: “We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so towards us.”
There you have it. This is the mindset of the European elites. Not only have they already surrendered to islamofascism, they display a stunning ignorance concerning the consequences.
"Tolerance"? From primitive thugs who rape, torture children, saw off heads and bomb schoolchildren?
This cowardly bastard's lethal stupidity is bad enough, but who elected him on the understanding that he and his contemptible colleagues would hand over an entire country to human filth?
Feds take away the "obesity" rattle of the State health ministers
John Howard has described efforts by the nation's health ministers to restrict junk-food advertising on TV as a waste of time, saying it is an issue for media authorities, not health departments. In a letter presented to a health ministers meeting in Brisbane, the Prime Minister wrote: "Given ... the fact that regulation of media advertising is an Australian government responsibility, I see little value in continued consideration of this issue in the Australian Health Ministers' Council forum."
The letter, delivered by federal Health Minister Tony Abbott, has infuriated his state counterparts, who have been campaigning for junk-food advertising restrictions for the past 12 months. "We are not going to back down to the Prime Minister's bullying," Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said. "I do not believe it is open for John Howard to unilaterally dictate the ministerial health conference. "The fact that we now have a PM who is prepared to shut down debate on health is frankly unacceptable."
State and territory ministers agreed yesterday to establish a working party to review marketing and advertising practices with the industry, while looking at existing regulatory codes.
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The letter, delivered by federal Health Minister Tony Abbott, has infuriated his state counterparts, who have been campaigning for junk-food advertising restrictions for the past 12 months. "We are not going to back down to the Prime Minister's bullying," Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said. "I do not believe it is open for John Howard to unilaterally dictate the ministerial health conference. "The fact that we now have a PM who is prepared to shut down debate on health is frankly unacceptable."
State and territory ministers agreed yesterday to establish a working party to review marketing and advertising practices with the industry, while looking at existing regulatory codes.
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Lebanon: Australian-built Catamaran to the Rescue
Post lifted from Defensetech. The story seems to have been totally ignored in the Australian media
The U.S. Navy's evacuation of Lebanon is done. Now, the focus is on delivering humanitarian aid to the Lebanese. At the center of the effort: the Navy's giant, super-quick catamaran.
Until recently, the experimental, Australian-built HSV-2 Swift was working as a mine warfare command and control ship. But with "its enormous 28,000 square foot mission deck, the ability to traverse littoral waters, the capability of handling speeds in excess of 40 knots, and maneuverability that doesn't require tugboat assistance," as Navy Newsstand notes, the catamaran was a natural for the Lebanese operation. "The vessel has the cargo space of about 17 C-17 aircraft and the access of a Cyclone-class patrol boat," said Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Pournelle, executive officer of Swift's Gold Crew.
And it's not the 318-foot catamaran's first humanitarian mission. Back in January, 2005, the Swift sped to Southeast Asia, to deliver aid to tsunami victims. In September, it brought supplies to the Gulf Coast in the wake of hurricane Katrina. The Swift's predecessor helped sneak SEAL teams into southern Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
The "wave-piercing, aluminum-hulled catamaran," originally designed as a commercial vessel, now comes with military enhancements, "such as a helicopter flight deck, small boat and unmanned vehicle launch and recovery capability, and an enhanced communications suite," the Navy says.
But it's the catamaran's ability to quickly get to an from ports -- without help -- that Navy leaders seem to find most attractive.
UPDATE: HSV-maker Incat is also working on a funky heavyweight elevator for the catamaran. It's designed to take copters up to the flight deck, or lower amphibious vehicles straight in the water, between the ship's twin hulls. "Sounds like a perfect way to deploy a Marine platoon or company for quick-response missions like embassy evacuations and small raids," reader JG says.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The U.S. Navy's evacuation of Lebanon is done. Now, the focus is on delivering humanitarian aid to the Lebanese. At the center of the effort: the Navy's giant, super-quick catamaran.
Until recently, the experimental, Australian-built HSV-2 Swift was working as a mine warfare command and control ship. But with "its enormous 28,000 square foot mission deck, the ability to traverse littoral waters, the capability of handling speeds in excess of 40 knots, and maneuverability that doesn't require tugboat assistance," as Navy Newsstand notes, the catamaran was a natural for the Lebanese operation. "The vessel has the cargo space of about 17 C-17 aircraft and the access of a Cyclone-class patrol boat," said Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Pournelle, executive officer of Swift's Gold Crew.
And it's not the 318-foot catamaran's first humanitarian mission. Back in January, 2005, the Swift sped to Southeast Asia, to deliver aid to tsunami victims. In September, it brought supplies to the Gulf Coast in the wake of hurricane Katrina. The Swift's predecessor helped sneak SEAL teams into southern Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
The "wave-piercing, aluminum-hulled catamaran," originally designed as a commercial vessel, now comes with military enhancements, "such as a helicopter flight deck, small boat and unmanned vehicle launch and recovery capability, and an enhanced communications suite," the Navy says.
But it's the catamaran's ability to quickly get to an from ports -- without help -- that Navy leaders seem to find most attractive.
[Just before the Lebanese mission] "on the afternoon of July 11, Swift left Bahrain's Mina Salman pier with a shipload of cargo destined for USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) moored at Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. Twelve hours later, the Navy-leased catamaran arrived alongside Supply, ready to off-load.
"The cargo was only touched twice," said Swift's Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Rob Morrison. "[Normally] we'd have to load a truck with the cargo, off-load it at the airport, load it back onto an aircraft, fly it to its destination, off-load it, and move it by truck to the ship, where it's delivered to the ship and finally loaded aboard..."
Upon arrival, Swift's crew had the cargo loaded onto the flight deck, thus allowing Supply's crane immediate access to the palleted goods. Within an hour, the transfer was complete.
UPDATE: HSV-maker Incat is also working on a funky heavyweight elevator for the catamaran. It's designed to take copters up to the flight deck, or lower amphibious vehicles straight in the water, between the ship's twin hulls. "Sounds like a perfect way to deploy a Marine platoon or company for quick-response missions like embassy evacuations and small raids," reader JG says.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The poisonous British chattering classes
Below are some excerpts from a recent article by Melanie Phillips. It may be noted that the prewar equivalents of today's British chattering classes overwhelmingly supported Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. Their desperation to appear wiser than the common people cuts them off from all political reality
There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the cumulative effect of the BBC's poisonous distortions is to incite hatred of Israel in anyone who knows little about the region and is exposed for long enough to its TV and radio bulletins. The impact this is having on the general population is bad enough. The likely effect on those Muslims who are already prone to a hysterical sense of grievance against Israel and the Jews as a result of the propaganda pouring out of the Arab and Muslim world - and who believe that the BBC is to be trusted, heaven help us, as the voice of truth and objectivity - cannot be exaggerated in its potential for fomenting yet further evil. The BBC has now become one of the most potent weapons of the enemies of civilisation. It is the most prominent cultural symbol of a society that has turned upon itself and is hell-bent on committing collective suicide.......
In Britain, rampant anti-Americanism and hatred of Israel prevent many from understanding just what is at stake in the Lebanon crisis. But something is nevertheless shifting in Britain. There are now two reactions running simultaneously alongside each other. On the one hand, hatred of Israel - particularly among the educated classes -has reached an unprecedented pitch of hysterical distortion, even by the degraded standards of the past six dismaying years. But on the other hand, a heartening number of citizens who are neither Jews nor evangelical Christians - until now, the only constituencies which have defended Israel against the collective libels and scapegoating- are now saying that they support Israel in this great battle, that they understand very well that it is the front line against an Islamic threat that menaces all of us, and that they are astounded by the savage distortions of the BBC and other media.
A small anecdote from today illustrates a trend which I had been noticing since the current crisis developed. On a bus in London, I was accosted by a middle-aged, West Indian gentleman on the adjacent seat. Recognising me, he congratulated me warmly on what I had been writing about Israel. He had wanted to attend last weekend's Israel solidarity demonstration organised by the Board of Deputies but had been unable to find where it was being held. But friends of his had attended and shown him photographs they had taken of the event.
`What no-one has reported', he said, `was that there were many black people, Sikhs and Hindus at that demonstration because we all understand what is at stake here. We all realise that what Israel is fighting is Islamic terrorism, and that this threatens Jews, Christians and all of us. We local people all get it. What I can't understand is all this stuff about Israel being `disproportionate'. Why don't those people understand what is going on here?'
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the cumulative effect of the BBC's poisonous distortions is to incite hatred of Israel in anyone who knows little about the region and is exposed for long enough to its TV and radio bulletins. The impact this is having on the general population is bad enough. The likely effect on those Muslims who are already prone to a hysterical sense of grievance against Israel and the Jews as a result of the propaganda pouring out of the Arab and Muslim world - and who believe that the BBC is to be trusted, heaven help us, as the voice of truth and objectivity - cannot be exaggerated in its potential for fomenting yet further evil. The BBC has now become one of the most potent weapons of the enemies of civilisation. It is the most prominent cultural symbol of a society that has turned upon itself and is hell-bent on committing collective suicide.......
In Britain, rampant anti-Americanism and hatred of Israel prevent many from understanding just what is at stake in the Lebanon crisis. But something is nevertheless shifting in Britain. There are now two reactions running simultaneously alongside each other. On the one hand, hatred of Israel - particularly among the educated classes -has reached an unprecedented pitch of hysterical distortion, even by the degraded standards of the past six dismaying years. But on the other hand, a heartening number of citizens who are neither Jews nor evangelical Christians - until now, the only constituencies which have defended Israel against the collective libels and scapegoating- are now saying that they support Israel in this great battle, that they understand very well that it is the front line against an Islamic threat that menaces all of us, and that they are astounded by the savage distortions of the BBC and other media.
A small anecdote from today illustrates a trend which I had been noticing since the current crisis developed. On a bus in London, I was accosted by a middle-aged, West Indian gentleman on the adjacent seat. Recognising me, he congratulated me warmly on what I had been writing about Israel. He had wanted to attend last weekend's Israel solidarity demonstration organised by the Board of Deputies but had been unable to find where it was being held. But friends of his had attended and shown him photographs they had taken of the event.
`What no-one has reported', he said, `was that there were many black people, Sikhs and Hindus at that demonstration because we all understand what is at stake here. We all realise that what Israel is fighting is Islamic terrorism, and that this threatens Jews, Christians and all of us. We local people all get it. What I can't understand is all this stuff about Israel being `disproportionate'. Why don't those people understand what is going on here?'
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Completely useless
A Jpost Exclusive
The small group of Ghanaian soldiers manning UNIFIL Position 6-52, to the west of the village of Maroun a-Ras, less than a kilometer from the border, hasn't left its base in the last two weeks.
"Those are the orders of our superior officers," explains one of them who presents himself as commander of the post, but refuses to give his name. "We have been visited by our officers three times since the fighting began and a supply truck arrives here every three or four days."
Even the deaths of four UNTSO members on Tuesday night in an IAF bombardment, at a base not so far away, wasn't communicated to them from headquarters. That, too, they learned from TV.
The soldiers at the post are charged with patrolling and monitoring, with their single jeep, the area where the heaviest fighting has been going on for the last 10 days. The fact that Hizbullah has been well entrenched in the area ever since Israel's withdrawal six years ago - with hundreds of fighters, well stocked ammunition depots and extensive fortifications - seemed to have escape the Ghanaians notice. "I have never seen one of them," says the soldier. "You cannot easily identify them in the population."
The UNIFIL soldiers have "zero contact" with the Lebanese living in the surrounding towns and villages. At the beginning of the fighting, a number of bombs exploded around the UNIFIL post, including one 150 meters from the gate.
Two weeks later, the area around the post is quiet, except for the distant thud of artillery fire. Hizbullah has been banished from this small part of Lebanon. IDF Merkava tanks roar through a nearby opening in the border fence. There isn't even a guard at the border and Israeli and foreign journalists pass in and out unhindered.
The Ghanaian soldiers weren't even aware of the breach in the fence they are supposed to monitor, by mandate of the United Nations.
Forget even patrolling and reporting back to HQ, they can’t see, can't hear and won't talk to anyone, blind, deaf and dumb. So can we still blame Israel for bypassing the International community and dealing with the scum themselves.
The small group of Ghanaian soldiers manning UNIFIL Position 6-52, to the west of the village of Maroun a-Ras, less than a kilometer from the border, hasn't left its base in the last two weeks.
"Those are the orders of our superior officers," explains one of them who presents himself as commander of the post, but refuses to give his name. "We have been visited by our officers three times since the fighting began and a supply truck arrives here every three or four days."
Even the deaths of four UNTSO members on Tuesday night in an IAF bombardment, at a base not so far away, wasn't communicated to them from headquarters. That, too, they learned from TV.
The soldiers at the post are charged with patrolling and monitoring, with their single jeep, the area where the heaviest fighting has been going on for the last 10 days. The fact that Hizbullah has been well entrenched in the area ever since Israel's withdrawal six years ago - with hundreds of fighters, well stocked ammunition depots and extensive fortifications - seemed to have escape the Ghanaians notice. "I have never seen one of them," says the soldier. "You cannot easily identify them in the population."
The UNIFIL soldiers have "zero contact" with the Lebanese living in the surrounding towns and villages. At the beginning of the fighting, a number of bombs exploded around the UNIFIL post, including one 150 meters from the gate.
Two weeks later, the area around the post is quiet, except for the distant thud of artillery fire. Hizbullah has been banished from this small part of Lebanon. IDF Merkava tanks roar through a nearby opening in the border fence. There isn't even a guard at the border and Israeli and foreign journalists pass in and out unhindered.
The Ghanaian soldiers weren't even aware of the breach in the fence they are supposed to monitor, by mandate of the United Nations.
Forget even patrolling and reporting back to HQ, they can’t see, can't hear and won't talk to anyone, blind, deaf and dumb. So can we still blame Israel for bypassing the International community and dealing with the scum themselves.
Note well
Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the pacifist ideology that is rife amongst European Liberals.
Even when your opponent tells you, 'I don't want to talk to you, I want to destroy you,' the reaction is, 'Please, let's talk about the fact that you want to destroy me!'"Read the following words carefully anti-war moaners, dismiss them at your peril. Appeasing will get you nothing, running from Iraq and hiding at home means they'll come after you at home.
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader called Thursday for Muslims to unite in a holy war against Israel and to join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq." Addressing the world's "downtrodden," al-Zawahri said non-Muslims should join Islamic militants in the battle against "tyrannical Western civilization and its leader, America."No point moaning at Israel for ceasefires apologists, they are not interested.
"Stand with Muslims in confronting this unprecedented oppression and tyranny. Stand with us as we stand with you against this injustice that was forbidden by God in his book (the Quran)," al-Zawahri said.
"The war with Israel does not depend on cease-fires ... . It is a jihad (holy war) for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq," said al-Zawahri. "We will attack everywhere."See that "attack everywhere", doesn't matter that you followed their orders Spaniard, doesn't matter where you appeased, doesn't matter if you banned the cartoons, apologised for the crusades, banned the bible or banned a blog India, doesn't matter what concessions you have made, whether you have it recorded or in writing . You are still fair game.
Damned if you do, damned...
Many on the left are whining that Israel's response to terrorist attacks has been disproportionate. But will they, just shut up when Israel tries harder to avoid civilians, you know try to be more proportionate as everyone is moaning that they are not?
So why still, the whining? Is this an admission by the apologists that theterrorist scum freedom fighters are fighting from within the civilian population, using them as human shields and nothing can save the few civilians caught in the cross fire, no matter how hard Israel tries.
Perhaps, they don't really give a toss about the civilians, that's all just point scoring, perhaps what these weasels want is for Israel to stop thrashing their terrorist allies and instead extend the hand of cowardice, talk and waffle for a while, to give their allies time to rearm, regroup and recover from the hammers of hell, or lie down and die like good little...
British Foreign Minister Margaret Becket criticised the United States on Thursday for failing to follow procedures for international arms shipments after a US plane carrying a shipment of "smart bombs" for Israel stopped for refueling at Scotland's Prestwick Airport, Sky News reported. The foreign secretary said that it appeared that safety regulations had not been observed.Haven't these fools heard, the smart bombs have better targeting technology; you know to kill the bad guys and leave out the civilians. Would they prefer a Hizbullah style firing of missiles and bombings in the 'general direction' of Lebanon?
The New York Times [and we know how patriotic they are] reported Saturday that the decision to rush the shipment was reached after little debate within the administration. The "smart bombs" - bombs which are equipped with precision guidance devises, are part of an arms deal reached months ago between Israel and the US, but the fighting in Lebanon led Israel to ask for an expedited delivery of the bombs, before the agreed scheduled of supply.
An American - Islamic group - Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the Bush administration to stop the deal, saying that the rush delivery at a time of war would be "unconscionable."
So why still, the whining? Is this an admission by the apologists that the
Perhaps, they don't really give a toss about the civilians, that's all just point scoring, perhaps what these weasels want is for Israel to stop thrashing their terrorist allies and instead extend the hand of cowardice, talk and waffle for a while, to give their allies time to rearm, regroup and recover from the hammers of hell, or lie down and die like good little...
Loony Green/Left government in the Australian State of Victoria
In Victoria, rivers are no longer water SOURCES. They are now water USERS! Comment below by Andrew Bolt
John Thwaites says we use too much water and too many plastic bags. But our state Environment Minister uses too little of something far rarer than water and even better than bags. Try brains. Has any government put out anything more irrational and half-baked than did green-priest Thwaites last week with his "Sustainability Action Statement"?
Here is proof that the true battle isn't between those who want to save the environment or use it. It's between those who have given in to superstition and those who still defend reason. Last week's statement promised, without a blush of shame, to make your power bills rise, your water dry up and your shopping bills rise, yet -- incredibly -- the media clapped like mad.
Indeed, this was mad. Take Thwaites' promise to force retailers to charge you 10 cents for each of those wicked plastic bags you use to carry home the shopping. Says Thwaites's statement, 10 million of them each year become litter "that endanger the health of marine wildlife", clog drains or "detract from the beauty of our environment". So from 2012 the poor will be fined for using these bags of evil, forcing them to use something else -- a pram, perhaps? -- to get their tins and packages home. (The rich won't feel any hurt at a lousy 10 cents a bag, which is why the rich-pleasing media barely cares about all this.)
But does the 10 cents actually make sense? Not if you believe the Productivity Commission. A draft commission report in May found that plastic bags make up only 0.2 per cent of land fill, where they probably do some good, reducing toxic leakage and keeping the fill stable. And there was little proof the bags caused harm to wildlife, which tends not to shop with them anyway. They might make a mess here and there, but there were probably cheaper ways of dealing with that than a ban, said the commission's boss, Philip Weikhardt. Besides, they are just so useful, which is why we don't carry our groceries home in, say, an Esky or a suitcase. More than 60 per cent are reused lining bins or for other household jobs such as keeping food fresh. Heavens, that might save lives. In fact, as the Environment Protection and Heritage Council concluded: "Plastic bags are popular with consumers and retailers as they are a functional, lightweight, strong, cheap, and hygienic way to transport food and other products."
So what was the Government's excuse for slapping on the 10 cent fine when it makes so little sense? I think I've found the answer on page 47 of Thwaites' statement: "(P)lastic bags are a symbol of our inefficient use of resources . . ." Note that the bags themselves aren't inefficient. They are bad because they are symbols of other things that are. And so must go. Mad. Next!
Next is Thwaites' promise to force energy retailers to buy 10 per cent of their power from green-approved solar and wind generators. Which sounds so earth-cuddling. Except for this: these huge mills and reflectors of "green" power wreck our views more than plastic bags ever could. And they'll crank out power that costs us big without cutting global warming by any amount anyone can measure. Figure it out for yourself: Most climate modellers -- such as Tom Wigley, senior scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research -- say even if all the Kyoto-approved cuts to the world's greenhouse gases were put in place right now, they would delay the rise in temperature predicted for 2100 by a measly six years. The heat expected in 2100 will come anyway in 2106.
Now imagine what small contribution wind-power will make in producing that tiny effect. Break that down even more: what share of that contribution is Victoria's? See? These wind farms we're building will make all the difference of a bat-squeak in a grand-final roar. But measure the cost, and not just in ruined views. The Government says the extra green power will make your power bills go up by $1 a month. In fact, the Opposition is correct in warning the true cost is more likely to become more than five times that -- and we'll still need coal-fired plants as backup for the days the wind doesn't blow. Or blows too hard. Again, this is just an expensive symbolic gesture to please green gods. We must pay so Thwaites can pray.
Next! Yes, there is a next because the one thing we're not running out of under this Government is irrationality. Next is Thwaites's manic determination to stop any future government from building a dam for Melbourne on the river once set aside for that very purpose. Not content with already having turned the dam reservation at Gippsland's Mitchell River into a national park, Thwaites now says the Government will pass a law to declare the Mitchell a heritage river that can never be dammed. Don't think he doesn't know he's locking up good drinking water that one day we will badly need. His statement admits the "Mitchell River (is) the largest free-flowing river without a dam in southeastern Australia". So, you'll think there must be a good reason to deny us this water when our dams are already less than half full, with dry Melbourne expecting a million more thirsty residents within 25 years.
And I've found them. Well, not good reasons, but the only ones Thwaites's allies at Melbourne Water can dream up to justify their minister's dam ban. Says Melbourne Water: "New dams do not create any new water." How about that for a reason not to build one? Might as well not have built any of Melbourne's dams, then. None of them create water either, do they? On struggles Melbourne Water: "If a new dam were built for Melbourne, it would need to be filled with water that is currently used by rural and regional communities and the environment."
Pardon me? How is water "used ... by the environment"? Who can tell if a river really is "using" water, or just wasting it? And if a river really is "using" water, who says I can't take it anyway? But isn't all river water "used by the environment"? Um, well, yes, actually. So this nonsense statement tells us we should empty every dam we've ever built and never drink another drop of water that could be "used" by the rivers instead.
Indeed, this Government is already pulling the plug on the reservoir at Lake Mokoan, and promising to send more water from our dams down half a dozen of our rivers to flow to waste in the sea. This, during our worst recorded drought. You'll find all this hard to believe, so go check the October issue of Melbourne Water's A Source magazine. There you'll find Thwaites's plan for the giant Thomson Dam, which holds 60 per cent of Melbourne's water but is less than 40 per cent full. Does Thwaites plan to plug any leaks? Cut back on releases into the river? Hell, no. His big idea is to empty the reservoir of an extra 8 billion litres of drinking water each year to baptise more fish and bless more plants. So, while sacred fish soak we mere humans must heed Preacher Thwaites' call last week to "save the planet" by taking "four-minute power showers instead of the average seven minutes".
I cannot be the only person to think all this is so irrational as to border on the mad. Less water, dearer power and higher grocery bills -- just to genuflect to the earth gods that seem to have moved into Spring St. One day, of course, the crunch will come. We'll have a real water crisis. We won't have enough power to drive export industries such as our aluminium smelters. We'll price ourselves out of competition with our neighbours. Pray then to the nature gods of John Thwaites, asking them to return our pious favours. Learn then how deaf they are. And how pitiless.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
John Thwaites says we use too much water and too many plastic bags. But our state Environment Minister uses too little of something far rarer than water and even better than bags. Try brains. Has any government put out anything more irrational and half-baked than did green-priest Thwaites last week with his "Sustainability Action Statement"?
Here is proof that the true battle isn't between those who want to save the environment or use it. It's between those who have given in to superstition and those who still defend reason. Last week's statement promised, without a blush of shame, to make your power bills rise, your water dry up and your shopping bills rise, yet -- incredibly -- the media clapped like mad.
Indeed, this was mad. Take Thwaites' promise to force retailers to charge you 10 cents for each of those wicked plastic bags you use to carry home the shopping. Says Thwaites's statement, 10 million of them each year become litter "that endanger the health of marine wildlife", clog drains or "detract from the beauty of our environment". So from 2012 the poor will be fined for using these bags of evil, forcing them to use something else -- a pram, perhaps? -- to get their tins and packages home. (The rich won't feel any hurt at a lousy 10 cents a bag, which is why the rich-pleasing media barely cares about all this.)
But does the 10 cents actually make sense? Not if you believe the Productivity Commission. A draft commission report in May found that plastic bags make up only 0.2 per cent of land fill, where they probably do some good, reducing toxic leakage and keeping the fill stable. And there was little proof the bags caused harm to wildlife, which tends not to shop with them anyway. They might make a mess here and there, but there were probably cheaper ways of dealing with that than a ban, said the commission's boss, Philip Weikhardt. Besides, they are just so useful, which is why we don't carry our groceries home in, say, an Esky or a suitcase. More than 60 per cent are reused lining bins or for other household jobs such as keeping food fresh. Heavens, that might save lives. In fact, as the Environment Protection and Heritage Council concluded: "Plastic bags are popular with consumers and retailers as they are a functional, lightweight, strong, cheap, and hygienic way to transport food and other products."
So what was the Government's excuse for slapping on the 10 cent fine when it makes so little sense? I think I've found the answer on page 47 of Thwaites' statement: "(P)lastic bags are a symbol of our inefficient use of resources . . ." Note that the bags themselves aren't inefficient. They are bad because they are symbols of other things that are. And so must go. Mad. Next!
Next is Thwaites' promise to force energy retailers to buy 10 per cent of their power from green-approved solar and wind generators. Which sounds so earth-cuddling. Except for this: these huge mills and reflectors of "green" power wreck our views more than plastic bags ever could. And they'll crank out power that costs us big without cutting global warming by any amount anyone can measure. Figure it out for yourself: Most climate modellers -- such as Tom Wigley, senior scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research -- say even if all the Kyoto-approved cuts to the world's greenhouse gases were put in place right now, they would delay the rise in temperature predicted for 2100 by a measly six years. The heat expected in 2100 will come anyway in 2106.
Now imagine what small contribution wind-power will make in producing that tiny effect. Break that down even more: what share of that contribution is Victoria's? See? These wind farms we're building will make all the difference of a bat-squeak in a grand-final roar. But measure the cost, and not just in ruined views. The Government says the extra green power will make your power bills go up by $1 a month. In fact, the Opposition is correct in warning the true cost is more likely to become more than five times that -- and we'll still need coal-fired plants as backup for the days the wind doesn't blow. Or blows too hard. Again, this is just an expensive symbolic gesture to please green gods. We must pay so Thwaites can pray.
Next! Yes, there is a next because the one thing we're not running out of under this Government is irrationality. Next is Thwaites's manic determination to stop any future government from building a dam for Melbourne on the river once set aside for that very purpose. Not content with already having turned the dam reservation at Gippsland's Mitchell River into a national park, Thwaites now says the Government will pass a law to declare the Mitchell a heritage river that can never be dammed. Don't think he doesn't know he's locking up good drinking water that one day we will badly need. His statement admits the "Mitchell River (is) the largest free-flowing river without a dam in southeastern Australia". So, you'll think there must be a good reason to deny us this water when our dams are already less than half full, with dry Melbourne expecting a million more thirsty residents within 25 years.
And I've found them. Well, not good reasons, but the only ones Thwaites's allies at Melbourne Water can dream up to justify their minister's dam ban. Says Melbourne Water: "New dams do not create any new water." How about that for a reason not to build one? Might as well not have built any of Melbourne's dams, then. None of them create water either, do they? On struggles Melbourne Water: "If a new dam were built for Melbourne, it would need to be filled with water that is currently used by rural and regional communities and the environment."
Pardon me? How is water "used ... by the environment"? Who can tell if a river really is "using" water, or just wasting it? And if a river really is "using" water, who says I can't take it anyway? But isn't all river water "used by the environment"? Um, well, yes, actually. So this nonsense statement tells us we should empty every dam we've ever built and never drink another drop of water that could be "used" by the rivers instead.
Indeed, this Government is already pulling the plug on the reservoir at Lake Mokoan, and promising to send more water from our dams down half a dozen of our rivers to flow to waste in the sea. This, during our worst recorded drought. You'll find all this hard to believe, so go check the October issue of Melbourne Water's A Source magazine. There you'll find Thwaites's plan for the giant Thomson Dam, which holds 60 per cent of Melbourne's water but is less than 40 per cent full. Does Thwaites plan to plug any leaks? Cut back on releases into the river? Hell, no. His big idea is to empty the reservoir of an extra 8 billion litres of drinking water each year to baptise more fish and bless more plants. So, while sacred fish soak we mere humans must heed Preacher Thwaites' call last week to "save the planet" by taking "four-minute power showers instead of the average seven minutes".
I cannot be the only person to think all this is so irrational as to border on the mad. Less water, dearer power and higher grocery bills -- just to genuflect to the earth gods that seem to have moved into Spring St. One day, of course, the crunch will come. We'll have a real water crisis. We won't have enough power to drive export industries such as our aluminium smelters. We'll price ourselves out of competition with our neighbours. Pray then to the nature gods of John Thwaites, asking them to return our pious favours. Learn then how deaf they are. And how pitiless.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Britain's Equal Opportunites Commission celebrate thirty years of discriminating against men
They fight discrimination by practicing it!
Institutional gender discrimination is alive and kicking at Britain’s Equal opportunities Commission [EOC] .The annual report of the government funded 10 million pound quango reveals that male staff has been reduced to just 18.2% after an unfortunate blip the previous year when 19% was reached. EOC could surely win the prize for the most successful homophobic major employer in the country. It would certainly be hard to beat over the last thirty years.
Glamorous and charismatic EOC chair Jenny Watson could also boast how her organisation had frustrated an attempt to prevent Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire Police Services operating recruitment scams to arbitrarily exclude almost 300 men in favour of women. They were able to exploit their statutory powers to ensure these sexually discriminatory recruitment processes were successfully completed before making a pointless judgment on 26 June that they were unlawful, accepting a promise from the guilty authorities that they would not employ those particular tricks again. The cheats were allowed to walk off with their gains with no penalty.
Gerald Hartup director of civil libeties group Liberty and Law said: “ There is a lesson to be learnt. Rules are for little people. Why did I expect the EOC to act after informing them about discrimination so blatant that everyone knew it was a scam? Citizens clearly need to understand that for proper governance there is a requirement for double standards and to operate within the new system. Only in this way will they not be alienated from it. The EOC is the model to follow.”
Liberty and Law in November 2005 also reported the Metropolitan Police Service to the EOC over another version of institutional gender discrimination against men. It is confident however that the EOC is capable and determined to meticulously research the programme with the help of the Met with the result that no conclusion of any help to discriminated against men is arrived at.
Mr Hartup stated: “It will be another triumph for modern democratic management. The crude enforcement of the rule of law has proved to be unsatisfactory to progressives who require and can now utilize discretion to control the mob, the schmucks with their childish obsession with “objective justice". But we shmucks will still be shmucks.”
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Institutional gender discrimination is alive and kicking at Britain’s Equal opportunities Commission [EOC] .The annual report of the government funded 10 million pound quango reveals that male staff has been reduced to just 18.2% after an unfortunate blip the previous year when 19% was reached. EOC could surely win the prize for the most successful homophobic major employer in the country. It would certainly be hard to beat over the last thirty years.
Glamorous and charismatic EOC chair Jenny Watson could also boast how her organisation had frustrated an attempt to prevent Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire Police Services operating recruitment scams to arbitrarily exclude almost 300 men in favour of women. They were able to exploit their statutory powers to ensure these sexually discriminatory recruitment processes were successfully completed before making a pointless judgment on 26 June that they were unlawful, accepting a promise from the guilty authorities that they would not employ those particular tricks again. The cheats were allowed to walk off with their gains with no penalty.
Gerald Hartup director of civil libeties group Liberty and Law said: “ There is a lesson to be learnt. Rules are for little people. Why did I expect the EOC to act after informing them about discrimination so blatant that everyone knew it was a scam? Citizens clearly need to understand that for proper governance there is a requirement for double standards and to operate within the new system. Only in this way will they not be alienated from it. The EOC is the model to follow.”
Liberty and Law in November 2005 also reported the Metropolitan Police Service to the EOC over another version of institutional gender discrimination against men. It is confident however that the EOC is capable and determined to meticulously research the programme with the help of the Met with the result that no conclusion of any help to discriminated against men is arrived at.
Mr Hartup stated: “It will be another triumph for modern democratic management. The crude enforcement of the rule of law has proved to be unsatisfactory to progressives who require and can now utilize discretion to control the mob, the schmucks with their childish obsession with “objective justice". But we shmucks will still be shmucks.”
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
My thoughts about Europe exactly
By Spanish writer Sebastian Villar Rodriguez
I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world. The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
And under the pretence of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride. They have turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime. Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition. We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for hoping for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs. What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe. [Or at least by its many antisemites, of whom Nazis were only one manifestation]
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world. The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
And under the pretence of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride. They have turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime. Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition. We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for hoping for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs. What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe. [Or at least by its many antisemites, of whom Nazis were only one manifestation]
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Cut em loose
Some of you may remember I offered some free advice to the Democrats in the US, cut loose the far left, the anti-war activists, greens, hippies etc; I now offer the same advice to Beazley, if he wants to win votes, cut loose the same far left, anti-war activists, the eco terrorists, the greens, add to that the unions.
Beazley has angered the left of the left and the left of the right, in the ALP [I won't even start on the Greens], with his switch on the Uranium mine policy, but he needs to also change his Iraq policy of hanging the Iraqis out to dry, and more importantly the Unions.
Last month he really shot himself in the foot by stating he would tear up the IR laws. Granted at the time, it sounded like a good idea, with all those ads running in the media, about workers booted out of work, fired by sms and a general picture of families being thrown out onto the scrap heap. At the time [and probably still are] the Howard haters were predicting the end of Australia, we would all just be shackled together by our wicked bosses and beaten daily, stale bread scraps thrown our way once a month, the economy would be in ruins and it was all the fault of the Howard dictatorship.
He should have paid attention when ACTU Secretary Greg Combet expressed the desire for the unions to run the country, the previous day. Now it's only going to get worse.
Beazley has angered the left of the left and the left of the right, in the ALP [I won't even start on the Greens], with his switch on the Uranium mine policy, but he needs to also change his Iraq policy of hanging the Iraqis out to dry, and more importantly the Unions.
Last month he really shot himself in the foot by stating he would tear up the IR laws. Granted at the time, it sounded like a good idea, with all those ads running in the media, about workers booted out of work, fired by sms and a general picture of families being thrown out onto the scrap heap. At the time [and probably still are] the Howard haters were predicting the end of Australia, we would all just be shackled together by our wicked bosses and beaten daily, stale bread scraps thrown our way once a month, the economy would be in ruins and it was all the fault of the Howard dictatorship.
He should have paid attention when ACTU Secretary Greg Combet expressed the desire for the unions to run the country, the previous day. Now it's only going to get worse.
THE federal workplace watchdog yesterday savaged union boss Greg Combet, claiming he was to blame for the embarrassment of workers caught up in the ACTU's discredited television campaign. Office of Workplace Services director Nick Wilson fired back at Mr Combet yesterday after the union heavy hit the airwaves to accuse him of doing the Government's "dirty work".Hmmm, pot insisting kettle...
The brawl erupted after The Daily Telegraph revealed an OWS investigation into five workers starring in the commercials found they would have been out of work regardless of the Government's new workplace laws.
"The ACTU that dragged these individuals into the spotlight, not the OWS," Mr Wilson said. "ACTU secretary Mr Greg Combet should take responsibility for any hurt caused by the public comment that has arisen."
In a rare public outburst, Mr Wilson also shot down Mr Combet's repeated claims on radio yesterday that his office had never contacted workers whose cases were being investigated.
One of the workers Mr Combet said had not been contacted by the OWS, Lynne Barnes, claimed she was sacked from Windsor RSL because of her age. The OWS found Ms Barnes refused to do some duties in her job description – then resigned with a generous payout.
"Mr Combet's allegations made in the media today that the OWS did not contact Ms Barnes are false – we held several interviews with Ms Barnes as part of our investigations," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Combet claimed the OWS was "politically motivated".
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley yesterday accused the Federal Government of leaking the independent watchdog's findings and said Prime Minister John Howard was using his "secret police" to smear workers.No Kim, the secret police are just bringing us the truth while you are scoring cheap points. Cut em loose Kim, you know you have to.
No Compromise
Hang in there folks, the ratbags are being isolated and cut-loose. One by one they need to be hung out to dry and humiliated, don’t lose your spines now, just a little more to go. All we have to do, is shut up and let them get on with the dirty work that must be done.
I wonder if any of this would have been possible if there wasn’t the United States Marine, angry, battle hardened and armed to the teeth in Iraq, if there wasn’t a Jewish soldier unleashing the ‘Hammers of Hell’ against terrorist scum hiding behind women and children. If Iraqis and Afghans had not stained their fingers at the ballot box and betrayed mass murderers.
Would any of this have been possible if leaders in the US, Israel, UK, Australia and elsewhere had acquiesced to the moaning and feel-good chants of the anti-war movement and the terrorist appeasers.
I wonder if any of this would have been possible if there wasn’t the United States Marine, angry, battle hardened and armed to the teeth in Iraq, if there wasn’t a Jewish soldier unleashing the ‘Hammers of Hell’ against terrorist scum hiding behind women and children. If Iraqis and Afghans had not stained their fingers at the ballot box and betrayed mass murderers.
Would any of this have been possible if leaders in the US, Israel, UK, Australia and elsewhere had acquiesced to the moaning and feel-good chants of the anti-war movement and the terrorist appeasers.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak declared Wednesday at a press conference that his country did not plan on going to war with Israel, regardless of the latest conflict with Lebanon.Something that governments all over the world should be concentrating on. You listening Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran, they're coming to take out the trash.
"The Military of Egypt's purpose is solely to protect the country, and does not have any other objective," said Mubarak after pressures on his government to intervene by sending troops to Lebanon. "It is not its [Egypt's] war," Mubarak told al-Gomhouria daily, adding that Egypt had too many social problems at home.
The president also said that Israel would not attack Egypt "under any circumstances." "The time of foreign adventures is over," Mubarak was quoted as saying in a government newspaper published Wednesday. "This was possible at a time when the Egyptian population was 24 million only, but it is not possible now with 75 million citizens in need of development, services, job opportunities and residential projects," Mubarak said.
A view from close-up of a dysfunctional government health system
In Queensland, Australia
For many years I have been working as an emergency nurse at a busy Brisbane hospital. My first few years in emergency nursing were so rewarding. Every day I felt like the team I worked with was not only saving lives but also changing lives for the better. But soon the excitement wore off and the reality hit me of what was happening to the Queensland Health system. For years I have watched staff struggle to even keep their practice safe due to the conditions that we are enduring day in and day out. I have seen first-hand what it's like in the public health system. Let me tell you it's not pretty.
It is a harsh truth that there is a growing demand on the system and the money injected into it is not sufficient. Those who pay the price are not the politicians who decide how much money to allocate to health, but rather the likes of your loved ones and friends. There is increasing pressure on emergency departments due to many reasons:
* People are presenting with ailments that GPs could fix, but there are not enough bulk-billing services or after-hours clinics.
* Increasing lack of skilled staff in areas such as emergency due to high numbers of trained staff who are leaving the field.
* An increasing population, therefore an increasing number of people presenting to emergency departments, which means an increase in the patient-to-staff ratio.
* Not enough operational hospital beds. Hospitals throughout Brisbane have wards that are fully stocked but are empty of patients because there is no funding for staff.
Patients are waiting in emergency departments for up to 24 hours to get a hospital bed. Do you understand the implications of this? I am often forced to choose which patient should come off a trolley so that a more critically ill patient can have a bed. Sometimes I cannot take anyone off a trolley. Sick patients are put in chairs because there are simply not enough resources. I have watched patients have cardiac arrests on ambulance trolleys in the corridor while waiting for a bed in the emergency department. Ambulance officers can wait more than two hours to offload a patient at times.
I have seen nurses conduct cardiac tests on patients lying on the floor because there was absolutely no place to put this patient having a heart attack. Every day, patients wait far beyond their allocated triage time to receive medical treatment. As a triage nurse, it is terrifying to see someone with a potentially life-threatening condition wait up to three hours when they should be seen within 30 minutes.
The patients and their families become really angry about this and I don't blame them. Daily now I am verbally abused and so are my colleagues. It has become a frequent occurrence for an angry patient to threaten my life. I have seen the stress of working in this environment take its toll on many doctors and nurses, including me. Lots of excellent staff have left or are in the process of leaving because it seems the situation is only going to get worse.
Once we just had to deal and cope with the reality of what our jobs involved. Now we are not only trying to save lives, but also trying to do this within a system that is potentially killing our patients. I suggest to the state and federal governments that they send a representative to work a full 10 days straight with an emergency nurse - not just walk through an emergency department when you are campaigning. What true reality will that give you? It is obvious that you are not aware of the extremely dangerous conditions patients are being put in or I simply would not be writing this.
To the public I say, next time you feel like threatening a health professional, maybe instead you should consider voicing your anger in a letter to The Sunday Mail. It is time for you to speak up for your rights before someone you love is hurt by the public health system this State Government has created. I write this anonymously because I am bound to a contract with Queensland Health. A condition of my employment is that I don't disclose any information to the media or public regarding what happens within the hospital I work. So the sad truth is the public really have no idea what is happening behind closed doors - until it's happening to them.
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
For many years I have been working as an emergency nurse at a busy Brisbane hospital. My first few years in emergency nursing were so rewarding. Every day I felt like the team I worked with was not only saving lives but also changing lives for the better. But soon the excitement wore off and the reality hit me of what was happening to the Queensland Health system. For years I have watched staff struggle to even keep their practice safe due to the conditions that we are enduring day in and day out. I have seen first-hand what it's like in the public health system. Let me tell you it's not pretty.
It is a harsh truth that there is a growing demand on the system and the money injected into it is not sufficient. Those who pay the price are not the politicians who decide how much money to allocate to health, but rather the likes of your loved ones and friends. There is increasing pressure on emergency departments due to many reasons:
* People are presenting with ailments that GPs could fix, but there are not enough bulk-billing services or after-hours clinics.
* Increasing lack of skilled staff in areas such as emergency due to high numbers of trained staff who are leaving the field.
* An increasing population, therefore an increasing number of people presenting to emergency departments, which means an increase in the patient-to-staff ratio.
* Not enough operational hospital beds. Hospitals throughout Brisbane have wards that are fully stocked but are empty of patients because there is no funding for staff.
Patients are waiting in emergency departments for up to 24 hours to get a hospital bed. Do you understand the implications of this? I am often forced to choose which patient should come off a trolley so that a more critically ill patient can have a bed. Sometimes I cannot take anyone off a trolley. Sick patients are put in chairs because there are simply not enough resources. I have watched patients have cardiac arrests on ambulance trolleys in the corridor while waiting for a bed in the emergency department. Ambulance officers can wait more than two hours to offload a patient at times.
I have seen nurses conduct cardiac tests on patients lying on the floor because there was absolutely no place to put this patient having a heart attack. Every day, patients wait far beyond their allocated triage time to receive medical treatment. As a triage nurse, it is terrifying to see someone with a potentially life-threatening condition wait up to three hours when they should be seen within 30 minutes.
The patients and their families become really angry about this and I don't blame them. Daily now I am verbally abused and so are my colleagues. It has become a frequent occurrence for an angry patient to threaten my life. I have seen the stress of working in this environment take its toll on many doctors and nurses, including me. Lots of excellent staff have left or are in the process of leaving because it seems the situation is only going to get worse.
Once we just had to deal and cope with the reality of what our jobs involved. Now we are not only trying to save lives, but also trying to do this within a system that is potentially killing our patients. I suggest to the state and federal governments that they send a representative to work a full 10 days straight with an emergency nurse - not just walk through an emergency department when you are campaigning. What true reality will that give you? It is obvious that you are not aware of the extremely dangerous conditions patients are being put in or I simply would not be writing this.
To the public I say, next time you feel like threatening a health professional, maybe instead you should consider voicing your anger in a letter to The Sunday Mail. It is time for you to speak up for your rights before someone you love is hurt by the public health system this State Government has created. I write this anonymously because I am bound to a contract with Queensland Health. A condition of my employment is that I don't disclose any information to the media or public regarding what happens within the hospital I work. So the sad truth is the public really have no idea what is happening behind closed doors - until it's happening to them.
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Senator Santoro on public broadcaster bias in Australia
Excerpts from a recent talk
Recent weeks have seen terrorists yet again unleash their work of destruction. In Mumbai, as in London a year ago, indiscriminate slaughter has proven the terrorists' weapon of choice. And in the Middle East, Hezbollah and Hamas - evil twins born of, and sustained by, the same evil parents - have provoked violence, knowing full well the cost their naked aggression would impose not only on innocent Israelis but also on many tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese alike.
Faced with these outrages, it is not enough for us to shake our heads and hope that the world will set itself right. Rather, we must protect and assert the values that underpin our Australian society: values in which there can be no place for terrorism's supporters and fellow-travellers. To that end, we must affirm our commitment to those throughout the world who are on the front line of the fight against terrorism - a commitment which is not merely intellectual and emotional, but also practical: that is, we must contribute as fully as we can, to ensure that terrorism, and the vile threat it poses, is defeated and ultimately destroyed. The Howard Government's commitment to fighting terrorism has been and remains steadfast. Absolutely steadfast....
In an open, democratic society such as Australia's, the media plays a central role in shaping our understanding of the world. It is mainly through the media that we are informed; and it is from the media that we get many of the images and analyses that help determine the way we see the world. It is because the media is so important that we provide large-scale financial support to the ABC and SBS - so that the community will have access to the impartial information it needs and deserves. It is a clear indication of the on-going government support for the ABC that public broadcasting received a substantial funding increase in this year's triennial budget allocation.
I want to state clearly here tonight my belief that both the ABC and SBS in so many ways provide a valuable service to Australian public life. Australia would be a poorer place without so many aspects of the services provided by the ABC and SBS. However, the public broadcasters lets themselves down regularly by failing to apply the same rigour to the task of self-critique that they would claim to apply to the task of representing the truth to their audience. The ABC, for example, has a charter requirement to cater to all Australians. But if it was truly capable of honest self-assessment, the ABC would be more willing to recognise, acknowledge and correct the deep-seated and institutionalised bias that is manifested in its recent reportage of both domestic and international affairs. Some very recent examples I can quote here tonight are staggering.
Merely a week ago, Fran Kelly, the presenter of ABC Radio National's Breakfast program, chose to interview Robert Fisk on the events in the Middle East. Mr Fisk, she said, is a much praised and award winning journalist. And indeed he is - for he has received praise from no less a judge of character than Osama bin Laden himself, who, in a videotaped message on the eve of the 2004 presidential election in the U.S., commended Fisk by name for his incisive and "neutral" reporting. Did Ms Kelly disclose any of this? Obviously not.
As an aside at this point, I would like to quote the same Mr Fisk from an opinion column in The Canberra Times last week. In it, he quotes - without challenge or question - terrorist leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah claiming that in its rocket attacks on Israel "Hezbollah originally wished to confine all casualties to the military". Fisk then goes on to criticise the - quote - "cruelty of Israel's response" - unquote - to those unprovoked and deadly attacks. It's no wonder that he attracts rave reviews from Osama bin Laden!
To take another example, let's consider for a minute SBS's coverage of the conflict in the Middle East on its flagship 6-30 PM news for Sunday July 16th. Israel's military actions in Lebanon were described as variously "murderous", "illegal" and "contrary to the laws of war". As for what Hezbollah had done, and its disastrous consequences for the people of Lebanon, the report SBS chose to air - and I emphasize the word chose - cutely said this: that Hezbollah "had some little explaining to do".
The Prime Minister John Howard decisively attempted to stop the rot on the AM program on July 14th when he was asked, and I quote: "Has Israel gone too far?" Mr Howard asked the reporter why the question must always be couched in terms of what Israel has done wrong and whether it should be condemned. He was, of course, appalled by the loss of life on both sides of the conflict. But - and to quote again - the Prime Minister said "the assumption that it was started by Israel in this particular instance is wrong".
That the Prime Minister should feel the need to highlight to a reporter the skewed nature of the question he was being asked is indicative of a deeply-ingrained culture - a reflex anti-Semitism - in parts of the media. Such questions betray a belief that Israel is always at fault and has no right to defend itself in any way against attacks from terrorists such as Hezbollah. To say that this is outrageous, and a disgrace, is an understatement.
What makes bias so dangerous, and also so difficult to control, is that it is not only what is said, but rather what is not said, that can be profoundly misleading. Take the reporting - again on the ABC's AM program - of the statement by Mr Chirac that Israel's response to the invasion of its territory and the kidnapping of its soldiers was "disproportionate". Now, how often did you hear Tony Eastely note that this was the same Mr Chirac who merely a few months earlier, had said that were France subjected to a terrorist attack, he would not rule out retaliating through a nuclear attack? The simple answer: not once.
Nor did Mr Eastely make the same point when Mr Putin criticised Israel's response to the kidnapping of its soldiers as "disproportionate" and called on Israel to negotiate with terrorists. Surely, one might have expected our national broadcaster to ask how consistent this was with Russia's own behaviour in Chechnya - but no, yet again, the ABC chose the convenient course of silence.
Equally, how often have you heard the terms "indiscriminate", "illegal", "contrary to international law" and "disproportionate" applied by the ABC and SBS not to Israel, but to Hezbollah's and Hamas' practice of shelling civilian towns in Israel? The answer: not once!
And when the ABC and SBS interviewed Lebanese Government Ministers, who merely washed their hands of Hezbollah's actions, did you hear the interviewer ask how Hezbollah has been allowed to build up its arsenal in Southern Lebanon? No, of course you didn't - because they wouldn't even have thought to put the question, much less to fearlessly pursue the point. Similarly, how balanced is it for the SBS to selectively run commentary from the BBC - commentary which is systematically and aggressively hostile to Israel - rather than say, also running the stories aired on US channels?
Another form of bias is sympathetic language. To give just one example, the ABC refers to Kassam Rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian terrorists as "home made rockets." This has the effect of makings the Palestinians seem like the underdogs, battling away against the might of the Israeli military with home made weapons. In truth - as you all know - Israel is a small country with a small population, virtually surrounded by hostile and in some cases increasingly fanatical countries. The terrorists it faces are well-organised, aggressive and persistently violent. They are financed and armed by Syria and Iran, which are countries far larger than Israel. They cynically exploit the Western media's desire to convey graphic images of casualties by locating themselves in civilian areas, ensuring that women and children will be among the worst victims of the conflicts they ignite and promote. They are hardly the home-made Dad's Army the media language would suggest and would want us all here in Australia to believe.
The decisions to portray events in this way smack of deliberate, thought through, deception. They are what biased journalists do when they want to hide from claims of bias, while still slanting the way the news is presented. A few token interviews, ritualistically presented, with Israeli spokesmen or commentators, or others more sympathetic to Israel's predicament, only make this deceitful purpose all the clearer.
Blatant bias about Israel is nothing new. But the scope of the problems is far broader. When terrorists targeted the London underground, time and again our public broadcasters' reports linked the terrorists' murderous actions to the Britain's participation in the Iraq war - suggesting, if not stating, that the ultimate fault lay not with the murderers but with the Blair government. The further, important, inference was that - just as Blair had brought the wrath of the terrorists onto London - so the Howard Government was exposing Australians to unacceptable risks: risks that, according to many ABC commentators, had already eventuated in the Bali bombings.
Given that, one might have expected the ABC and SBS to at least comment on the fact that India could hardly be claimed to have any role in Iraq - a war it had actively opposed. Rather, here was further proof, if more proof was needed, of terrorism's indiscriminate character. But far from it: no such thought was expressed....
I believe a media which fails to distinguish between good and evil, and which equates `balance' with studied relativism, fails its constituency: if we are not willing to call terrorism evil, then we have lost any sense of truth.
If some journalists on the ABC and SBS are frankly sympathetic to Hamas and Hezbollah, or even on balance believe they have the stronger case, why don't they have the courage to say so, rather than hiding behind a pretence of moral relativism? The cause of truth is not well served when those who have so much power to shape perceptions refuse to disclose, and be held accountable for, the perspective they take.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Recent weeks have seen terrorists yet again unleash their work of destruction. In Mumbai, as in London a year ago, indiscriminate slaughter has proven the terrorists' weapon of choice. And in the Middle East, Hezbollah and Hamas - evil twins born of, and sustained by, the same evil parents - have provoked violence, knowing full well the cost their naked aggression would impose not only on innocent Israelis but also on many tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese alike.
Faced with these outrages, it is not enough for us to shake our heads and hope that the world will set itself right. Rather, we must protect and assert the values that underpin our Australian society: values in which there can be no place for terrorism's supporters and fellow-travellers. To that end, we must affirm our commitment to those throughout the world who are on the front line of the fight against terrorism - a commitment which is not merely intellectual and emotional, but also practical: that is, we must contribute as fully as we can, to ensure that terrorism, and the vile threat it poses, is defeated and ultimately destroyed. The Howard Government's commitment to fighting terrorism has been and remains steadfast. Absolutely steadfast....
In an open, democratic society such as Australia's, the media plays a central role in shaping our understanding of the world. It is mainly through the media that we are informed; and it is from the media that we get many of the images and analyses that help determine the way we see the world. It is because the media is so important that we provide large-scale financial support to the ABC and SBS - so that the community will have access to the impartial information it needs and deserves. It is a clear indication of the on-going government support for the ABC that public broadcasting received a substantial funding increase in this year's triennial budget allocation.
I want to state clearly here tonight my belief that both the ABC and SBS in so many ways provide a valuable service to Australian public life. Australia would be a poorer place without so many aspects of the services provided by the ABC and SBS. However, the public broadcasters lets themselves down regularly by failing to apply the same rigour to the task of self-critique that they would claim to apply to the task of representing the truth to their audience. The ABC, for example, has a charter requirement to cater to all Australians. But if it was truly capable of honest self-assessment, the ABC would be more willing to recognise, acknowledge and correct the deep-seated and institutionalised bias that is manifested in its recent reportage of both domestic and international affairs. Some very recent examples I can quote here tonight are staggering.
Merely a week ago, Fran Kelly, the presenter of ABC Radio National's Breakfast program, chose to interview Robert Fisk on the events in the Middle East. Mr Fisk, she said, is a much praised and award winning journalist. And indeed he is - for he has received praise from no less a judge of character than Osama bin Laden himself, who, in a videotaped message on the eve of the 2004 presidential election in the U.S., commended Fisk by name for his incisive and "neutral" reporting. Did Ms Kelly disclose any of this? Obviously not.
As an aside at this point, I would like to quote the same Mr Fisk from an opinion column in The Canberra Times last week. In it, he quotes - without challenge or question - terrorist leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah claiming that in its rocket attacks on Israel "Hezbollah originally wished to confine all casualties to the military". Fisk then goes on to criticise the - quote - "cruelty of Israel's response" - unquote - to those unprovoked and deadly attacks. It's no wonder that he attracts rave reviews from Osama bin Laden!
To take another example, let's consider for a minute SBS's coverage of the conflict in the Middle East on its flagship 6-30 PM news for Sunday July 16th. Israel's military actions in Lebanon were described as variously "murderous", "illegal" and "contrary to the laws of war". As for what Hezbollah had done, and its disastrous consequences for the people of Lebanon, the report SBS chose to air - and I emphasize the word chose - cutely said this: that Hezbollah "had some little explaining to do".
The Prime Minister John Howard decisively attempted to stop the rot on the AM program on July 14th when he was asked, and I quote: "Has Israel gone too far?" Mr Howard asked the reporter why the question must always be couched in terms of what Israel has done wrong and whether it should be condemned. He was, of course, appalled by the loss of life on both sides of the conflict. But - and to quote again - the Prime Minister said "the assumption that it was started by Israel in this particular instance is wrong".
That the Prime Minister should feel the need to highlight to a reporter the skewed nature of the question he was being asked is indicative of a deeply-ingrained culture - a reflex anti-Semitism - in parts of the media. Such questions betray a belief that Israel is always at fault and has no right to defend itself in any way against attacks from terrorists such as Hezbollah. To say that this is outrageous, and a disgrace, is an understatement.
What makes bias so dangerous, and also so difficult to control, is that it is not only what is said, but rather what is not said, that can be profoundly misleading. Take the reporting - again on the ABC's AM program - of the statement by Mr Chirac that Israel's response to the invasion of its territory and the kidnapping of its soldiers was "disproportionate". Now, how often did you hear Tony Eastely note that this was the same Mr Chirac who merely a few months earlier, had said that were France subjected to a terrorist attack, he would not rule out retaliating through a nuclear attack? The simple answer: not once.
Nor did Mr Eastely make the same point when Mr Putin criticised Israel's response to the kidnapping of its soldiers as "disproportionate" and called on Israel to negotiate with terrorists. Surely, one might have expected our national broadcaster to ask how consistent this was with Russia's own behaviour in Chechnya - but no, yet again, the ABC chose the convenient course of silence.
Equally, how often have you heard the terms "indiscriminate", "illegal", "contrary to international law" and "disproportionate" applied by the ABC and SBS not to Israel, but to Hezbollah's and Hamas' practice of shelling civilian towns in Israel? The answer: not once!
And when the ABC and SBS interviewed Lebanese Government Ministers, who merely washed their hands of Hezbollah's actions, did you hear the interviewer ask how Hezbollah has been allowed to build up its arsenal in Southern Lebanon? No, of course you didn't - because they wouldn't even have thought to put the question, much less to fearlessly pursue the point. Similarly, how balanced is it for the SBS to selectively run commentary from the BBC - commentary which is systematically and aggressively hostile to Israel - rather than say, also running the stories aired on US channels?
Another form of bias is sympathetic language. To give just one example, the ABC refers to Kassam Rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian terrorists as "home made rockets." This has the effect of makings the Palestinians seem like the underdogs, battling away against the might of the Israeli military with home made weapons. In truth - as you all know - Israel is a small country with a small population, virtually surrounded by hostile and in some cases increasingly fanatical countries. The terrorists it faces are well-organised, aggressive and persistently violent. They are financed and armed by Syria and Iran, which are countries far larger than Israel. They cynically exploit the Western media's desire to convey graphic images of casualties by locating themselves in civilian areas, ensuring that women and children will be among the worst victims of the conflicts they ignite and promote. They are hardly the home-made Dad's Army the media language would suggest and would want us all here in Australia to believe.
The decisions to portray events in this way smack of deliberate, thought through, deception. They are what biased journalists do when they want to hide from claims of bias, while still slanting the way the news is presented. A few token interviews, ritualistically presented, with Israeli spokesmen or commentators, or others more sympathetic to Israel's predicament, only make this deceitful purpose all the clearer.
Blatant bias about Israel is nothing new. But the scope of the problems is far broader. When terrorists targeted the London underground, time and again our public broadcasters' reports linked the terrorists' murderous actions to the Britain's participation in the Iraq war - suggesting, if not stating, that the ultimate fault lay not with the murderers but with the Blair government. The further, important, inference was that - just as Blair had brought the wrath of the terrorists onto London - so the Howard Government was exposing Australians to unacceptable risks: risks that, according to many ABC commentators, had already eventuated in the Bali bombings.
Given that, one might have expected the ABC and SBS to at least comment on the fact that India could hardly be claimed to have any role in Iraq - a war it had actively opposed. Rather, here was further proof, if more proof was needed, of terrorism's indiscriminate character. But far from it: no such thought was expressed....
I believe a media which fails to distinguish between good and evil, and which equates `balance' with studied relativism, fails its constituency: if we are not willing to call terrorism evil, then we have lost any sense of truth.
If some journalists on the ABC and SBS are frankly sympathetic to Hamas and Hezbollah, or even on balance believe they have the stronger case, why don't they have the courage to say so, rather than hiding behind a pretence of moral relativism? The cause of truth is not well served when those who have so much power to shape perceptions refuse to disclose, and be held accountable for, the perspective they take.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)
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