Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s claims are libel.

Tasmanian Governor Will Cox’s Australia Day address focused on the racist actions of a tiny few (I’d venture to say just one isolated, bogan family) in Invermay, Launceston. Cox told Tasmanians to ‘remember’ to be tolerant to refugees and immigrants, and compared the Invermay attack on the Sudanese family to the Cronulla Beach riots. Certainly Launcestonians do not need to be reminded to not act like wankers, nor- for that matter- do Tasmanians more generally.

Cox is clearly not leading the ‘Australia/Tassie is racist’ bandwagon, however, and only another prominent figure to jump into the theme- another happy participant being the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, following the illegal removal of a sign reading ‘Australia Day Yes, let’s celebrate: Murder, Invasion, Rape, Theft’. The TAC claims that the country is becoming ‘openly xenophobic’ under, of course, the Howard Government.

I accept that Aborigines were indeed raped and killed, inter alia, but it’s sad that anyone would need to point out to the Aboriginal community and their self-loathing Western mates that the TAC is wrong. Unless, of course, the Centre can prove the libellous claim that, indeed, each year on the 26^th of January, Anglo-Saxon/Celtic Australians collectively celebrate any such offences.

Cox is verging on being a dodo, and the TAC breeds 'em.

Australia Day- Our Home is Girt by a Dodo Infested Sea.

Given the fact that it’s Australia Day, and drinking has made me lazy, I thought I would post what some of the bloggers out there are saying:

There are lots of activities going on around the country today to celebrate the beginning of the slaughter of the Aboriginal people who once lived here happily and in harmony with the land and with nature. Our forefathers sure put a stop to that idyllic lifestyle and stamped on them the British way.

Here.

Yes, of course, all Australians are today celebrating the conflict (much more complex than a ‘simple slaughter’) between white settlers and the native inhabitants, and other effects involved in settling a nation during an era of colonisation, rather than the Australian nation and its people. I’ll label that women a dodo.

Re-enactments of Phillip's landing continued to be an accepted part of Australia Day ceremonies around the country and it wasn't until the Bicentennial in 1988 that the New South Wales government refused to condone a re-enactment as part of their official proceedings.

Here.

Pelican Dreaming's Australia Day post has an assortment of such facts.

As a marking of this day known to others as "Australia Day" I have decided to reproduce a poem and words to a song that represent what this day means to me and will continue to do so until our leaders recognise the way this land was originally settled and its problems that our PM says "Weren't our fault". We need to apologise to the original peoples for our treatment of them in the begining and continuing till this very day. […] The first words reproduced here are from a song by our Indigenous singer/songwriter Archie Roach.

Here

Alison focuses on the stolen generation (ignoring a *certain* federal court ruling). She labels anyone who dare question the consensus that a generation of Aboriginals were ‘stolen’ from their always loving and thoughtful parents- as opposed to rescued from often-abusive families- as “right wing apologists”. Another dodo for Australia Day.

Australia Day is a national public holiday. For some years the holiday was held on the closest Monday, to provide a long weekend. It is now held on the actual anniversary, however should this happen to fall on a weekend, a public holiday is still held on the following Monday.

Here

A lesbian blogger. Can you go wrong?

My husband and I are always celebrating our wedding aniversaries on Australia Day. I was on my honeymoon on my 21st birthday. My husband had arrived in this country only 18 months earlier. We both survived the second world war as children, but then, while still a teenager, he went on to fight for his people's survival in Israel's War of Independence, together with his family. All the Arab armies together could not overrun the tiny newly declared State but as soon as those armies were defeated by the rag-tag army of untrained soldiers, mostly survivors of death camps,- my husband decided to see the world and got stuck with me in Oz! 48 years later we still call marvellous Australia home,- but we also love our spiritual homeland of Israel.
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY TO US ALL! […]Remember: January 27th is the UN-World Holocaust Memorial Day!

Here

I have to confess, not much on Australia Day or Australia itself, but a refreshing post anyway, and a reminder of what Israel and its nation of fighters has been put through, and continue to be put through by the feral-left. And, ashamedly, I have to admit I did not know tomorrow is the UN Holocaust Memorial Day. Cheers to Miriam and her blog.

25 years ago I was preparing to pack up and settle in beautiful Tasmania, Australia's island idyll. Cruel realities of life killed that particular dream; a dream that I return to from time to time with fond nostalgic memories of delight as I remember moments of joy I spent there in earlier years with my great Australian chums Rod and Annabelle [… Australia] I raise my bubbling glass to you!

Here

This one I liked simply because beautiful Tassie gets a mention (as we do below, actually).

The term "Un-Australian" has become one of the most overused adjectives of the last twelve months, and will probably continue its rise to prominance throughout 2006 […] "I think associating with a terrorist organisation demonstrates that you are un-Australian" Tasmanian MP Michael Ferguson.

Here

If anything is un-Australian, I think its fair to say it's associating with terrorists. Dodo. At least readers get a “Happy Australia Day” at the end.

Make sure you get a copy of a certain lamb ad from The Asylum, and give thanks to Tiberius for putting the download back up (just for this special day). Now use his bandwidth!

Happy Australia Day! Remember our past, as well as celebrate what makes Australia a brilliant country and what will get us through the difficult years that are no doubt ahead- our ability to survive and to struggle on in a world of shit and dodos.

Senator Abetz movin’ on up?

From memory, Senator Eric Abetz has been involved with the Liberal Party since his youthful days at the University of Tasmania (I’ve convinced myself he had an afro, enjoyed disco dancing, and had many women hanging from his arms), and a Senator since the mid-1990s. Hopefully the sign of an advancing career, Abetz has been shuffled from his position as Special Minister of State to the 'junior' portfolio of Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation.

For a Tasmanian Senator, Forestry and Conservation is a media-rich position, and will hopefully offer Abetz a chance to develop federal policy on issues of concern for the State. Unfortunately, I think it's unwise to hold my breath and wait for the Liberal's to address the Labor Party’s betrayal of Tasmania in 1983- that is, its use of the Commonwealth external affairs power to put its disgusting, traitorous, Hawke-Government foot, in Tasmanian affairs and damn this State to the fiery hell that is perpetual welfare and enviro-vote buying.

Despite his loyalty to the Liberal's, Abetz may very well be undeserving of his new portfolio. After all, while he had responsibility (not yet updated) over the Film Finance Corporation, inter alia, The President v. David Hicks somehow managed to get $400,000+ in taxpayers’ dollars! It’s highly doubtful that the documentary, a propaganda piece claiming that anal intercourse lover, Dave was a good Aussie boy travelling around (and not an enemy of the West), even needed such funding. A fool and his money are easily parted, a maxim Michael Moore has ensured will live on for some time.

Take a look at the full reshuffle here. No doubt the ALS will be pissed off that Costello is still Treasurer.

Snippets:

A fire-fighter has died in Victoria, and fires continue to break out across much of the country.

As firefighters struggled to contain at least six fires in the state's north, west and east, there were ominous warnings of searing temperatures across Victoria on Australia Day.

More than 136,000ha of land across the state have burned in the past five days.

Tassie’s fires are hammering the West Coast and threatening Zeehan.

Robert Hill retires.

The South Australian senator is understood to have accepted a move to New York to become Australia's ambassador to the United Nations, News Ltd newspapers reported.

His replacement could be Nick Minchin.

Russian democracy not good enough for the G8, according to Rice.

Since Vladimir Putin became Russian president in 2000, his government has established a firm grip over all national broadcasters, the parliament has become a rubber-stamp for the Kremlin and popularly elected provincial governors have been replaced with Putin appointees.

Women and IT, and middle aged folk and SMS.

(A little bit late, but…) A conference being hosted by UTAS will (did) address the lack of women entering the area of computer science, as well as middle aged folk and SMSing.

Over 250 delegates from around the world will be in Hobart to attend the premier forum for Australasian computer science academics and associated professionals being hosted by UTAS. The international multi-conference comprises seven interconnected conferences under the same roof dealing with everything from supercomputers to ipods.

The event will be (was) hosted at Wrest Point from the 16^th to the 19^th.

Take a look at some UTAS art.

The Academy Gallery represents the high profile public face of the School of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Tasmania.

Hmm...

Contemplating the future of our Arts edu-mac-ation.


.

“Cynics [regard] everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists [regard] everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves."
Robert Anton Wilson

Counterpunch is a load of horse-shit.
I recently finished reading Dr. Ariel Cohen’s article, War of Ideas: Combating Militant Islamist Ideology, which was published in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs last year (5;1, pp.113-121).

Cohen is a Fellow at the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies.

Here’s some more info on the man.

Afterwards, I went Googling for some of his work, and instead got distracted by this on Cohen at that rather unreliable site, Counterpunch.org.

The article's author, Anthony Gancarski, doesn’t bother engaging, effectively, with any of Cohen’s major arguments and instead goes on a rampage of snide, contemptuous and irrelevant comments:

It is perhaps fitting that America, having dumped its manufacturing base in favor of importing cheap and shoddy goods from foreign lands, has opted to do the same for its intellectual class.

Gancarski certainly doesn’t offer any solid reason as to why Cohen is a ‘shoddy’ intellectual, all he gives the reader is a continuation of such irrelevant personal attacks amidst ineffective and worn claims.

At one point Gancarski states that pre-War Iraq’s poverty was due to UN sanctions, simply labelling Cohen’s argument that Hussein ruined the Iraqi economy though nationalisation and warring against Iran and Kuwait as; “blatantly disingenuous” and a “re-writing [of] history”. Gancarski would have readers believe that Hussein did not run an economy geared for war, nor one which rewarded Saddam's buddies in Tikrit:

To hear Cohen tell it, there never were economic sanctions or repeated bombing runs over what passes for Iraq's sovereign territory. The implication is that "nationalization" and "central planning" were the chief causes of Iraq's current condition.

Interestingly, Gancarski leaves out the fact that such "bombing runs over […] Iraq’s sovereign territory" protected the Iraqi Kurds from genocide.

Gancarski continues his spree of personal attacks:

[…] Cohen is a war hawk. As long as he doesn't have to do the fighting, of course […] Ariel Cohen can write such dispassionate words about American wars precisely because he has no innate love for Americans […] Ariel Cohen loves neither God, man, nor country in any meaningful sense.

Imagine my surprise? An article *paid* for by those leftists at counterpunch, essentially labelling Cohen as 'un-American' (isn’t that the job of inbred, ignorant Republicans contra Democrats and anti-War protesters?), and using the same old, tired argument that because Cohen isn’t a soldier, he has no right to comment on the military aspect of US foreign policy. Still, no doubt the Counterpunch editors were proud of the work he rushed through.

The story behind the author, though, is a lot more interesting that either Gancarski’s article, or Counterpunch itself.

Gancarski doesn’t seem to believe even half of the content he writes, and is not of the far-left. Apparently he was but was not, and no longer is, or something along those lines. Instead, he describes himself as a ‘creative writer’.

Since his ‘discussion’ on Cohen, Gancarski has left Counterpunch, where he was paid $25 an article, and back to the 'other side'. See here, and here.

Ttruth really is stranger than fiction- although probably not stranger than the fiction Gancarski wrote while at Counterpunch.

Iranian Dodo Ahmadinejad with Syrian Counterpart, Assad.

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”
Margaret Thatcher.

Ramallah Lynching, October 2000.



"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations."
Yasser Arafat.

Inhonor.net

Margo reunion talk of the town.

I don’t normally get into all this celebrity gossip that a lot of fan-cum-stalker people seem to love so much. Who’s dating Jessica Alba matters none at all to me, seeing as I’m not dating her. Who the guy from 24 beats up in a pub doesn’t matter- because I'll never get a shot at old Jack Bauer. The last time I remember being into the celeb scene was when John Ritter carked it, bless his soul. I always liked him- up until his death he was a less funny, but living, Chris Farley.

One event that is no doubt exciting all celebrity-gossip editors out there is the recent decision by Margo Kingston to meet up with a few of her old mates from Uni (I think it was a French one, where they let anyone in... or the University of Tasmania).

I’m told that Margo had a wonderful time re-establishing her relationship with Master Bates, among other celebrities. Saddam Hussein even applied for bail for the occasion and in fact turned up to the event in order to let Margo know how much her support has meant to him over the last few years.

The celebrations were spoiled only when up-and-coming celebrity Regan vomited excessively throughout the Bates’ estate. Interestingly, her excuse was that she is "possessed by a demon of great evil". Mental health experts I’ve spoken to, however, believe that this ‘great demon’ is actually alcoholism, something the rising star shares in common with Margo.

Here’s a picture a photographer friend of mine took at the reunion, with the backdrop being the familiar Bates’ Estate:

Left to Right: Karl Marx, Master Bates, Damien, Margo Kingston, Old School Dracula, Michael Jackson, Saddam Hussein, Regan.

School of Government.

I’ve just been looking at the referencing guide for the University’s School of Government (the cool kids say SOG, but not to be confused with Tassie's Special Operations Group)

Here are some highlights:

It is imperative, when writing your essay, that you answer the essay question.

Or, if you’re a filthy Greenie, just bitch and moan about whatever you like.

There are no ‘correct’ essays in the social sciences.

This rule, of course, applies at virtually all Uni’s. Note that while there are no correct essays in the social sciences, no matter what the set question, the incorrect essay justifies a ‘Liberal’, ‘Conservative’, or ‘Market-Oriented’ world-view.

It is not sufficient merely to recite the views of others or to make assertions that lack accompanying evidence and reasoning. The marker is primarily interested in how well you bring together evidence, data and reasoned argument to establish a case. [emphasis added]

Hell, no wonder the country’s most hated Tasmanian (eh.. perhaps) had to go to the University of Sydney to graduate.

Avoid the use of ‘man’ as a verb. For example, instead of writing ‘to man the desk,’ you could write ‘to staff the desk’.
Avoid the use of sex-specific pronouns (‘he/him/her’) as generic pronouns. For example, instead of using ‘he,’ use ‘he/she,’ ‘she/he’ or ‘he or she.’ In many instances, it is possible to recast the sentence in the plural (so that a generic pronoun such as ‘they’ can be used), or to use ‘you’ or ‘one’ as the pronoun. It may be possible to eliminate the pronoun altogether.

To staff the desk? Oooook…

Aside from rediscovering the SOG’s referencing (oh, and essay) guide, I’ve also noticed my link to a certain Great Australian Yobbo is to an archive, no wonder I thought he- sorry, the individual in question- was inactive!

Worth a read.

On another note: while I've been working, ever-so Brave, Antony ‘Crazy Ant’ Loewenstein ‘discovered’ my letter to Tony Abbott. His reaction was to call me a hack and claim I want to see academia and the (Goverment-funded) media stacked with Liberals. That's not exactly what I said, but I'll settle for it. He can have (or continue to have, I should say) the ABC and SBS stacked with leftists when Australians vote Green at a Federal level. But the man himself puts it best:

Isn't it healthy to see a Liberal party voter supporting the idea of stacking academic and media boards with cronies? It's just not cricket, this man writes, that such "inflammatory" views are expressed in polite society.

Aaaah, isn’t it healthy to see a ‘journalist’ lacking in comprehension skills?

I'll make sure I post Abbott's reply, assuming I get one.

Snippets:

Tasmania is no longer the Welfare State, or the Apple Isle, but the Crash State. Blame is given to those who actually deserve it:

TASMANIA has the second- highest road fatality rate in the nation and dangerous driving is to blame, new statistics show.

Europe has gas.

Putin began the news conference by praising the deal, under which Ukraine will pay an average of $95 per 1,000 cubic meters for gas in 2006, nearly double the price it paid last year. Gazprom had demanded that Ukraine pay $230 instead.

(Oh, and Putin’s tie is much better than Yushchenko’s.)

Muscular Liberals recommend some good reading on a bad writer:

It's hard to believe that publishers are still willing to print books consisting of such long discredited arguments and even harder to understand how they keep selling. As Cushman says, once you've read one you've read them all.

Senator Bob Brown (Greens).


"Universal poverty establishes there universal equality"
Adam Smith

Letter to Tony.

(Edited for greater bloginess)

To the Honourable Tony Abbott, Member for Warringah:

I have noted with great concern the recent appointment of journalist Antony Loewenstein as a member of Macquarie University’s Centre for Middle East and North African Studies, and I am writing to you partly in protest.

While I respect the right of the Centre to conduct its affairs without censorship or arbitrary Government interference in its academic conduct, I do believe that as a Patron of the board, a prominent figure in the Liberal Party, a member for the people of Warringah, and as an Australian- you have a responsibility to censure the boards’ appointment of Mr. Loewenstein.

Mr. Loewenstein regularly makes highly offensive or simply inflammatory comments, although I recognise that this in itself is little reason to decry his association with the Centre. One particular statement, however, has stuck with me for some time, which will offer you an insight into the ideological nature of this particular Journalist:

The defeat of America and its allies in Iraq is vital to ensure similiar [sic] acts are not carried out again.

While Loewenstein denies calling for the murder of Australian, and American, soldiers, a defeat of the Howard Government’s aims in Iraq will mean not only a defeat for democracy and human rights, but the strengthening of the terrorist movement in Iraq- at the expense of Western forces serving in the country- something he wants to happen in order to change the direction of Australian foreign policy.

I would like to point out, again, that I agree with the right of Mr. Loewenstein to make any statements in our free and open society- but it is nonetheless upsetting that this journalist has been given such prominence by the Centre, noting his attitudes as well as his lack of formal qualifications- indeed, while he himself states he worked as a Journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald, it has been suggested he merely reviewed books at the paper.

Furthermore, I would like to remind the Liberal Party that while maintaining power at a Federal level since 1996 and introducing widespread reforms, it has had little achievement in gaining the appointment of either moral conservatives or free-market liberals to prominent positions in Australian academia, or- for that matter- at the ABC and SBS television networks, funded largely by the same tax-payers who have, in droves, supported the Liberal Party and the Howard Government in its elections since (before) 1996. To put it simply, I for one would like to see further returns for my vote, with the Federal Government using its funding power to influence appointments in the academic community, and certainly at the ABC and SBS. For you, Mr. Abbott, to rightly censure Mr. Loewenstein’s appointment, would be an excellent start (or you could try instead to justify it).

I await your reply, but would be upset to hear the common excuse that ‘diversity’ is required within the ABC, SBS and academic community, and the Liberal Party worries about smothering opposing views, as I believe the current situation goes far beyond a diversity of views, and is no doubt strangling to any individual who would dare support the Howard Government, or share the Liberal Party’s values.

Snippets:

Early March may very well see an election, with the Tas Lib's off to a quick start.

The launch of the first phase of the Liberal campaign has sparked the inevitable rumours that the Government might call an early election this Friday for a Saturday, February 11, polling date.

An election must be announced at least 34 days prior to the chosen polling date.

Conscription for all (kudos, anthony).

Aspiring journalist and general dodo, Antony Loewenstein (Tim Blair readers probably know him better as Crazy Ant), agrees with Labor's latest policy and states that;

“conscription is the most effective way to end rising militarism within Australia. Support for imperial wars would virtually disappear. I therefore support the move.”

Rising militarism in Australia?

Taking away the individuals' right to live without fear of being thrown in a barracks for six months will not have positive results at all- add this policy to a declining labour market and an ageing Australia- and you have another reason to avoid the ALP.

Fox has this timeline on Israel’s (possibly dead) anti-hero Ariel Sharon.

1971

Sharon is placed in charge of curbing terrorism in Gaza Strip. More than 100 suspected militants killed and hundreds detained. Attacks by Palestinians go from 34 in June to one in December.

Aaaah, Paint Shop Pro.

“I ask the rhetorical question on many occasions, where would this country now be, facing the difficulties we do, if we hadn’t paid off about $58 billion of that $96 billion of debt we inherited five and a half years ago. Where would we now be if we hadn’t reformed the Australian Taxation system? Where would we now be if we had 17 or 20 per cent interest rates which were a common feature of life only a few years ago? How would people be able to pay off their mortgages, they’d be paying at least $350 a month more for their average mortgage than what they are paying now? How would you run a small business again in that kind of economic environment? How would you if you were a farmer- and the rural community remains incredibly important to this country- where would you be in relation to the bill rates that many of the Australian farmers had to pay?”

John Howard (2001, at Brisbane).

Iranian nuclear aims.

Iran’s chief of the oligarchy, Ahmadinejad, expressed his desire to end the existence of the Jewish state not too long ago.

Now, European intelligence suggests that Iran’s nuclear program is not simply a figment of ‘US paranoia’, but a very real danger to Israel, the West, and any states that defy the fundamentalist Iranian regime.

“The 55-page report, dated July 1, 2005, draws on material gathered by British, French, German and Belgian agencies […]. It also says Syria, Pakistan and North Korea are part of a global black market in illicit weapons parts.”

“The document says Iran has built a web of front companies, middlemen and academics whose job is to find the information and materials needed for nuclear, biological and chemical arsenals, according to the Guardian.”

“According to The Guardian, the document details Tehran's attempts to build a missile capable of reaching Israel and southern Europe.”

Iran remains publicly defiant in its intention to develop nuclear capabilities.

Clearly, Israel is now under a greater threat from Iran and its supposedly ‘peaceful program’, than from its day-to-day absorption of suicide-homicide bombings and assorted attacks by Palestinian terrorists since (before) the formation of the world’s only Jewish state.

While the US has hinted it will introduce sanctions, and perhaps make the UN Security Council do something, this is simply an inadequate response to Iran’s clear aims- as is continued appeasement.

The world must take note of the example set by Israel in the 1980s (see, here), and take all measures to stop the development of Iran’s nuclear missile capability. In the hands of a regime that has publicly called for the destruction of Israel, has no respect for human rights, and denies the Holocaust (but wants one anew), it is not simply Israel which is threatened, but all Western states.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

- Niemöller

Snippets:

Costello has promised not to cut funding for fertility treatment in 2006.

Medicare continues to subsidise IVF treatment, even for women aged in their forties.

This is despite the added complications involved in pregnancies for those over thirty-five, including a greater chance a baby will develop down syndrome, and a 25% chance of a miscarriage for those over 40.

Sir. Winston Churchill wanted to see Hitler fry (perhaps; “on lend-lease”), had the Brits captured him.

Official documents declassified at the turn of the year reveal that Churchill was opposed to Allied plans for war crimes trials and wanted to summarily execute leading Nazi figures including Hitler, whom he regarded as "the mainspring of evil" and a "gangster".

Jawad Anani examines the future of the Middle East for the next fives years.

A mostly predictable 1103 word-article:

In short, the dollar is now on the rise, which enables the US economy to partly regain its international hegemony despite the successive upheavals that have shaken Bush Jr. administration. [sic]

[…] countries in North Africa including Egypt are increasingly emerging at the international scene.

If the current trends remain unreversed, the United States will certainly succeed, in the next five years, in re-dominating the world.

Such a ‘re-domination’ of the world, according to Anani, will come despite competition from China, the European Union, and India emerging as economic powers.

Those animal liberators at PETA have recognised Dr. Nigel Binns for his work in developing a ‘more humane mousetrap,’ and preventing unnecessary mouse deaths. Are biologist's running out of work, or something?

G8 Summit, Scotland, July 2005.

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
Sir. Winston Churchill.