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Richmond
Melbourne.
(I thought we were just going in reverse order for once…)
Second and third, by the way.
Sasquatch.
Oh, and welcome back Kim!
Howard has just pledged another $15 million for World Youth Day after a request from the Catholics for more funding for the event.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=285478
Yep Ratty is giving money to help his Mate George Pell bring Pope Ratty over
(sorry, I couldn’t Resist)
No, he’s just giving more money to Sydney.
Silkworm, Frank Calabrese and 12-Gauge H&R:
J W Howard really has lost the plot if he thinks that this has locked up the Catholic vote [whatever that’s supposed to be these days].
Pumping money into a major event like this does make commercial sense - if a lot of the visiting youth stay a bit longer to see something of Australia.
Ratty is giving money to anyone who claims to be on his side of the fence by the looks of it.
Ratty is handing out white elephants to buy support from the Assembly of God, Family First and affiliated Howard cheersquad members.
Docutmented here
What do you do when you need right-wing votes and want to be quiet about it? Kick the trannies while they are down.
This one hits very close to home for me, as I got a limited validity passport just days after this was passed; I should not have been allowed to, apparently. Also, I will likely have to divorce my wife to get a full passport. When did the passport office get to decide who could and couldn’t be married?
Please read. Please repost as a proper post for a wider audiance. We need help.
The Democrats said something sensible yesterday. I thought they’d gone off and died under a rock but it appears they’ve woken up and realised it is an election year. Amidst the madness, someone in politics is not afraid to go after the not-rabidly-christian vote.
steve, as long as it can prevent videos of old men wanking on the internet, then I’m willing to consider it.
Speaking of old men wanking here’s the latest shot in the Blogging war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/6941392.stm
Last weekend Lee Hazlewood, this weekend Tony Wilson … which of my remaining musical heroes will die next week?
Gosh, how can we all get onto this gravy train? I could do with several million slung in my direction. For that sort of money I would have to consider swallowing my principles & voting for the scoundrel.
Howard is setting up a rational for withdrawl from Iraq, in case he needs it… :
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/11/2002515.htm
Steve your link to the “latest shot in the blogging war” is a pearler. Margaret Simons does a fine job at explaining recent blog history and cleverly repeating the haunting past words, of Ruppy the ghost, that surely keep old hacks up at night, crying into the last dregs of the Chivers Regal.
The article must be worthy of a thread of it’s own.
My older Jehovah Witness friends,when I see them, didnt deserve the problem of very limited financial resources, that Bob Brown,Bartlett, and Australian Families Fielding an others voted against in the Senate.In fact,why would the major parties deny a aged pensioner increase!? The answer is,obvious, they do not practice what they are so willing to preach!?And well even if you are a Jehovahs Witness, the contribution to the material side of Australia now, is known in part by me.And still sometime to a final destiny is reached,if, their health is allowed to be maintained and improved by a serious evaluation..that hasnt taken place.Do you think Bob is trying some sort of emotional blackmail of Christians for some other reason!? Dont think so! Is fielding being real,on this matter of pensioner payment increases!?He has to live with the fact he has been unsuccessful..which will tear at him.And AndrewBartlett and young family,much younger than Rudds….He could be very frightening on the streets,if by chance an older citizen is being badly mistreated! Act, you might say!?dont think so…Some things are high responsibilities and taken personally. I wouldnt be surprised down in Tasmania Bob Brown is greeted in a friendly manner by ex-Timber related people or present ones for showing something up about the two major party groupings. Very strange alliances and real ones can occur rapidly in times of deep distress,that could of been avoided by proper principles in place.
THinks must be desperate for the Libs if they have to rely on Julie Bishop to Criticise Julia Gliiard’s Dress Sense.
The war or words has sparked a catfight between two of the most powerful women in Australian politics.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to get dressed up in designer clothing and borrow clothing and make-up to grace the cover of magazines,” Ms Bishop told The Sunday Times.
“You’re not a celebrity, you’re an elected representative, you’re a member of parliament. You’re not Hollywood and I think that when people overstep that line they miss the whole point of that public role.”
But Ms Gillard hit back, labelling Ms Bishop the “mistress of the trivial issue” and claiming her
“inaccurate and inane” comments reflected a government desperate to hold on to power.
Ms Gillard described Ms Bishop as a “silly sausage” who should concentrate on her portfolio responsibilities.
“It shows just how low this Government has sunk in its bid to hold on to power,” she said.
Julie: Pot Meet Kettle.
First line should read Thingss Must be Desperste for the libs.
Why does a person have to go to the blogs to find out thenews?
firstly, the vasta thing.Don’t recall that on my ABC newlast night.
And Gillard being adhominem-ed by yet another slag from winc; a trollop who slept her way to the top; as a certain near-disgraced senator’s former bed moll.
Julia shines like a beacon of sanity…Miss Penelope Bishop moves jerkily to the manipulation of the puppetters.
Hope you had time to breath fresh air Kim…every good person deserves a change of scenery now & then.
Are you back on the vino again Frank. Your starting to slur a bit.
“First line should read Thingss Must be Desperste for the libs.”
Just read a good article in the Age. It seems that “Workchoices” is the main reason why the Libs are polling so poorly.
It also gives some good information on party internal polling and comes up with the finding that “Workchoices� is by far the primary reason for an 8 percent swing to Labor. It appears locked in and nothing short of the total repeal of workchoices will get any of them back IMHO.
I really loved this quote from Joe Hockey though.
Don’t you just love him! He even dismisses his own party polling. Talk about being in denial.
I forgot the Link sorry, here it is. Good reading on the West poll also.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/08/10/1186530622300.html
AM report re Westpoll.
CHRIS UHLMANN: Keith Patterson is chief executive of the company that produces Westpoll for the West Australian newspaper. A poll of 400 voters taken this week shows a complete reversal of fortunes for the Coalition in the last month. Labor leads now by nine points on the two party preferred vote.
Politicians on both sides contacted by Saturday AM were dubious about the figures. Liberal Member for Canning, Don Randall, says they don’t gel with his reading of the local mood.
DON RANDALL: This is probably a rogue poll, but in saying that, it’s always tough when you’re going for five terms, and it’s going to be a tough fight for every member in Western Australia. But in saying that, most of the electorates in Western Australia have a huge amount of people on Australian Workplace Agreements who know that if Mr Rudd becomes prime minister and Julia Gillard the industrial relations minister, they’re going to tear up their Australian Workplace Agreements, in effect tearing up their jobs.
CHRIS UHLMANN: The Labor member for Perth and Shadow Education Minister, Stephen Smith, is cautiously optimistic.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I think whatever Westpoll is saying today, what we do know is that in terms of marginal seats in Perth, it’ll go down to the wire. I do think that, as in the rest of the country, there is a mood for change. I pick up in Western Australia that people think John Howard’s past his best, that the Government’s run out of ideas, and they are looking for a fresh, positive policy approach which Kevin Rudd is providing in a calm and sensible way.
Even if the methodology and the sample are Roguish, this will really mess with Howard’s Head.
hmm, I’ve been Spaminated.
Watched the SBS show on the Triffids Born Sandy Devotional then trawled through youtube looking at Triffids/Black Eyed Susans videos…
Just remember … The sweeter the song, the sharper the rocks
http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,22049,22228745-5001021,00.html
bennelong blues
Meanwhile in Howard’s own electorate.
According to an exclusive Galaxy Poll conducted for the Sunday Herald Sun after this week’s interest rate rise, voters have solidified their support for Ms McKew, reflecting national polls that show Mr Howard has been unable to substantially cut Labor leader Kevin Rudd’s big lead.
The Prime Minister is facing a 7 per cent swing in Bennelong. That puts Ms McKew in a commanding position, with 53 per cent of the vote after distribution of preferences.
The seat needs only a 4 per cent two-party-preferred swing to change hands.
If beaten by Ms McKew, Mr Howard would be the first sitting Prime Minister to lose his seat since Stanley Melbourne Bruce in 1929.
Things ain’t looking good for the HMAS Liberal.
Hmm, and the Terrorgraph are getting desperate in slinging this bit of non-news.
The November 2003 letter is at odds with Mr Rudd’s more recent position, which is that Iraq is “the greatest failure of national security policy since Vietnam”.
In the letter, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Rudd told Mr Howard how to win in Iraq.
“Now that regime change has occurred in Baghdad, it is the Opposition’s view that it is now the responsibility of all people of goodwill, both in this country and beyond, to put their shoulder to the wheel in an effort to build a new Iraq,” Mr Rudd wrote in the letter.
Even though the Howard Government adopted the policies Mr Rudd recommended, the Opposition Leader now claims Australia’s involvement in Iraq is a disaster.
Mr Rudd, then Labor’s foreign affairs spokesman, recommended five new policies to Mr Howard.
But he made no mention of troop withdrawal, even though three months later, in March 2004, then Labor leader Mark Latham announced he would have the troops home by Christmas.
Poor Mr Howard. Facing annihilation in Bennelong. Who’da thought…
Well, I suppose the good folks of Bennelong can take some consolation in the fact that they are about to do somethingthat hasn’t been done since 1929 — voting down a sitting PM. That prospect must be just a bit exciting for these folks.
But back to poor Mr Howard…
If only he’d stayed on message with his themes of common decency, eschewing political correctness, encouraging good people to feel relaxed and comfortable, he may not be facing this humiliation right now.
Instead, once Mr Howard discovered the dog whistle and the wedge, and the extreme yet deliciously furtive pleasure he derived from manipulating them, he couldn’t leave them alone. Sadly, Mr Howard has expended himself with his self-destructive vice.
Nothing much for Mr Howard to do now but to start drafting his concession speech…
History provides a few guidelines.
Mr Nixon wrote one that put the best gloss possible on his mendacity. Of course, he already knew that Mr Ford was going to give him a presidential pardon, and that must have greatly eased his mind.
Instead, poor Mr Howard will have to deal with the bitter reproaches of fellow Liberals who believe that he has destroyed the dignity and credibility of the Liberal Party.
The Libs still have a chance, but if they do win, Bennelong would be some slight consolation.
The Happy Revolutionary on 12 August 2007 at 8:07 am
It’s looking more like they have two chances; Buckley’s and None!
You know the old saying; “Lay down with Dogs and you get Fleas”,
I think Crosby & Textor are the “Dogs” and he is following their advice to the letter.
Maybe they are Labor Secret Agents. LOL
if you have time, look at the GetUp campaign at http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/NoRubberStamp, and think about sending a message before Tuesday to the Senate, about the NT National Emergency Response laws - the senators are going to vote on the laws then, without having had time to read through the submissions to the hearing, or really think about the implications of controlling Aboriginal lives (lots of rights that most of us take for granted will be denied to Aborigines in the NT). The Law Council of Australia thinks this is undemocratic.
Hmm, If that happens, Katz, Jack Strocchi owes me $50. I wonder where he is?
Sir Henry, he was last seen running away from a religious schools debate.
This is a cast of his footprint.
News from the subcontinent, Gareth Evans spanks and gets spanked back,
R2P = Right to Protect
I just had a fantastic weekend in London. Just thought I’d share.
May I recommend the new Glenn Close show that has started in the States, Damages? Juicy legal thriller goodness. Also starring Our Rose.
Wikipedia entry, nothing really spoliery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damages_%28TV_series%29
Oh, and I saw the Transformers movie -it was totally awesome.
Oh dear, looks like Howard has become embroiled in his own “Burke Affair”
A TOP Liberal fund-raiser and friend of Prime Minister John Howard has been appointed to important Federal Government positions despite an involvement in questionable land deals.
An Age investigation of the property development history of Benjamin Chow, a member of the NSW Liberal Party’s fund-raising committee, has uncovered his key role in multimillion-dollar residential developments in Sydney and Brisbane that became beset by legal disputes, secret payments, false documents and allegations of fraud.
Described by Mr Howard three years ago as a “very good friend”, Mr Chow also admits lobbying immigration ministers up to 150 times on behalf of people in the Chinese community seeking favourable visa decisions, including while he served as a member of the Government’s Council for a Multicultural Australia in 2000-06.
The visa issue has caused trouble for the Government in the past. In 2003, then immigration minister Philip Ruddock faced a Senate inquiry into the “cash for visas” affair after it was revealed he made a number of interventions in immigration cases connected to a Liberal donor from Sydney’s Lebanese community.
The revelations about Mr Chow’s past conduct as a property developer, his friendship with Mr Howard and status as a Liberal fund-raiser are again likely to raise questions about the Government’s process for making appointments to federal boards and committees — which its political opponents have alleged are stacked with Liberal mates.
Katz’ comments alluding to “poor Mr. Howard” reminded me of a comment roughly attributable to Socrates along the lines of, people find it harder to do wrong than to do right.
Can you imagine how knackered Howard must be feeling.
Nowadays, especially, what with property prices falling in Bennelong, as some of dark complexion wonder, “goes ’round, comes ’round”?
Good to hear. London’s actually a pretty damn good place if you know what things you want to do there.
And I recently had a fantastic fortnight in Paris. Which is an equally great place if you know why you want to do things there.
Like idling an afternoon away at a cafe on the Boulevard Bourdon (the red one on the Rue de la Cerusaie corner) across from the canal, while the sound system played songs like this on a warm and jaunty Paris spring evening. Yes the fashions have improved but the flirting is still world best practice.
Nabs, I’m yet to spend any time at all in Paris. It’s something that I plan to amend in the near future.
Speaking as someone who’s France/Paris expeditionary incursions are now approaching double digits, I can confidently say do it! After all Paris may be eternal but you are not.
I’ve travelled quite a bit and I have to say the three greatest cities (with a capital C) I’ve experienced are London, New York and Paris. All sharing the same crackling ozone of a great metropolis yet each utterly different.
If you’d care to contact me at wilberforcepike at hotmail dot com, I can pass on some tips, contacts and recommendations about Paris you’ll never find in any hip travel guide. Like the real underground catacombs tour, how to get into the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz while stoned off your tits, where the Street of Paper is and how to properly organise brunch at the Market of the Red Orphans.
Mark, a Technical Request. Would it be possible for Each Week’s Saturday Salon to be “Stickey’ed to the top of the Front Page so it can be easily accessible ? Would reduce the number of off topic posts.