Journalist looks stupid

A JOURNALIST fanatical, biased scribbler hurled two shoes at US President George W. Bush on his farewell visit to Iraq yesterday. Clown! Like David Letterman who seemingly has dozens of clerks searching film archives for Bush’s most inarticulate moments, the journalist misses one of hs trades rules – criticize but don’t ridicule the man – it detracts from the appointment of President and says more about Letterman and unprofessional journalists than about Bush. Still, the media will be all over it as if, some how or other, it makes Bush look bad.

Do the ALP now want to help Iraq?

CONTINGENCY plans are being prepared for an abrupt end to Australia’s military presence in Iraq within a fortnight unless a new legal accord can be hammered out by December 3. I think the article is a bit of a beat-up as Staff Officers will prevail and it’s odds on that a new legal accord will be hammered out by 31 December but this line caught my eye
“The expiration of the UN mandate means that we need to find an alternative legal basis to be in Iraq and to continue in our efforts to provide a long-term future for the Iraqi people,” Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told The Australian last night.
Joel…Joel, how can you say that. The ALP has had a stated aim of not supporting any sort of effort to provide a long-term future for the Iraqi people. Remember? Iraq was your idea of a “bad war” as different, for some inexplicable reason, from the “good war” in Afghanistan. On gaining the keys to the treasury bench you immediately withdrew those in the ADF helping Iraqis in their long-term future ideals leaving a few HQ guys and a security detachment at the Embassy. I could be wrong though, maybe the ALP has changed its policy – I just haven’t seen it written anywhere and in light of that I can only assume Joel is bullshitting.
Frank Devine on the Movie Australia Australia’s official movie agency has backed 1049 projects. Only seven became movies that attracted enough ticket-buyers to turn a profit. In short, Screen Australia (its new name) has picked 1042 losers, but still hasn’t gone broke.
However, no movie company can expect to flourish here if shackled by the not-sufficiently-Australian standards that recently saw George Miller and Warner Bros abandon filming in Australia of the super-hero flick Justice League Mortal, after being refused film production tax concessions, which Australia got, reportedly after surrendering to government pressure to tack on a Stolen Generations theme.

Now I’d like to know if there is any truth to that story and if there is then we need to haul in the blatant propaganda and expose the film industry in Australia for what it is – a platform for left wing causes.

It is encouraging however that the Australian public are generally ignoring the industry even though they are paying out billions for the privilege of not watching.

I guess it keeps the lefties quiet and contained where they can’t do any damage.

I’m back!

Missed the ‘pay me or your website is dead’ email and it all happened while I was enroute to Perth and then tied up in Albany totally involved with my Mother’s 89th birthday and three daughters, three sisters and a wife all talking at me. Its a wonder I could get my head together sufficiently to resolve the problem particularly as I didn’t bring passwords for domain name hosting with me. Something is wrong with Qantas.  Due to depart Brisbane airport at 1320 – got on board and buckled up to then be fed a line by the Captain…Skid brakes faulty..safety hazard and fair enough…then 20 minutes later…hand brake faulty….new problem or extension of original never said…then…you’ll have to disembark. An hour goes by waiting in the terminal to be told engineers are now stripping wire looking for problem….another hour and …we’ve given up and are waiting for a replacement aircraft coming in from…wait for it…DARWIN! Adjusted departure time now 1800.  During the course  of this debacle another Qantas plane at Brisbane goes off line. I’ll admit its the first time it has happened to me but then I seldom fly these days so I’m less than impressed and glad I’m flying back home with Virgin. I say that now but I bet I’ll find something to complain about on that trip with cabin staff acting like they’re being paid commission for selling Home brand muffins and John Wayne coffee. Bloody airlines…I’m driving next time. (my wife says I’ll be doing it by myself….hard decision that one!)

Breaking news

THE Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, is dead.

News.com has the initial report

He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It is understood he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest.

He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that’s when it occured.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

News Flash tip from daughter Liz

Muslim Integration

JOHN Howard has singled out Muslim migrants for refusing to embrace Australian values and urged them to fully integrate by treating women as equals and learning to speak English.
Mr Howard said: “There is a section, a small section of the Islamic population, and I say a small section … which is very resistant to integration.
He’s right. The comments prompted a fierce reaction from young female Islamic leader Iktimal Hage-Ali, a member of the Prime Minister’s advisory group. She accused Mr Howard of threatening to further marginalise Muslims. “There’s no value in pointing out the minority of the Muslim group,” she said.
“There’s a whole lot of other ethnic communities whose parents, whose grandparents don’t speak the English language, and it’s never a problem in the mainstream Australian community for them to go on living their everyday life without speaking the language.
Iktimal Hage-Ali needs to come to grips with the fact that Islam has the monopoly on terrorism.  The one common factor through all of the carnage throughout the world is ‘Islam’.  The terrorists are all either born or converts to Islam and that fact alone needs separate considerations.  Too many of the Muslims migrating here publicly put down on our way of life or stand silent as others do. Physician, heal thyself.

The magic missile II

The status of the missile is now clearly defined as having the software and mechanics to deploy a cross-tip screwdriver mid-flight to remove the top central air vent before entering the vehicle for final demolition.Some punters writing to the Australian editor clearly have not grasped where the media world is heading with one Luddite questioning Downer believing blogs before the Red Cross in Lebanon.
WHEN it comes to holes in ambulance roofs, Alexander Downer would rather believe a US-based blogger rather than the Red Cross in Lebanon. This is just more of the same from a person who took us into the Iraq fiasco for non-existent WMDs and can’t remember anything about Australian companies bribing Saddam Hussein. Iain Lygo Anglesea, Vic
Quite smart of Downers’s advisors really but then obvioulsy all of Iain’s rationale is founded on the basic premise that everything Howard/ Downer does is wrong anyway. Try to broaden your reading Iain – you might learn something. Andrew from Tasmania has a similar viewpoint.  In fact both letters smack of the Editor having a anti Howard/Downer (insert today’s events) software package that just churns this shit out.
THAT websurfing is dangerous, addictive and extremely time-consuming is clearly proven when our Foreign Minister relies on a blogsite report to make a statement on the war in Lebanon, yet has no time to read emails, faxes and cables with dire warnings about AWB’s dealings with Saddam Hussein. Andrew Wyminga Bicheno, Tas
Anyone who reads the Zombie report in full and thinks it doesn’t raise questions is far too blinkered by ideology to accept the fact that people like Martin Chulov have agendas to put Israel in a bad light and the terrorists on a pedastal. Common sense eventually prevails with Tony Parkinson, Downer’s media advisor, nailing the issue.     

The magic missile

Not surprisingly the left have attacked an article that raise questions about the ambulance supposedly hit by an Israeli missile during the most recent Middle East war.  When Downer quoted the article on Zombie it was just too much for them.
“What concerns me greatly is the evidence of dishonesty in the reporting out of Lebanon,” Downer said, adding later that “it is beyond serious dispute that this episode has all the makings of a hoax”.
The Australian carries a piece by Martin Chulov who has never met an anti-Israel that he didn’t like, who in retaliation merely recycles the original propaganda quoting locals as if they haven’t got an agenda.

I was in Tyre on the night of the attack and investigated the incident closely the next day. On July 24, with photographer Stewart Innes, we spoke to Qassem Shalin, who was recovering from a minor wound to his chin that nurses had bandaged to stop it from turning septic. We also visited Ahmed Mohammed Fawaz, whose lower left leg had been amputated and whose severe burns ironically had saved his life by sealing blood vessels and arteries. His son writhed in pain nearby, his stomach riddled with shrapnel and the rear of his scalp opened up.

OK, emotive but it doesn’t prove they received their injuries in the ambulance and visiting the alleged ambulance the next day doesn’t do much for his case either.

The original issue of the story showed the ambulance with a neat hole in the centre of the roof as proof of an Israeli missile strike and whereas the the vehicle could’ve taken a hit, it was much earlier than claimed and was, if anything, an airburst.  No missile entered that vehicle and exploded and after 25 years in the army I can confidentially state that’s a ballistic fact.

Chulov says he visited Qassem Shalin (Shaalan in a Times piece) who has been quoted as saying the missile punched a hole in the roof, as if that is proof positive of the event.  He  said so, ergo, it is true, is hardly proof positive.

We know that this type of propaganda is a terrorist tactic; they’ve done it before and will do it again and why not if the press accept it at face value.

It works.  The majority of the press believe it because they want to and the mug punters cop it as they get all their news from Channel Nine or similar and never question what a prima donna talking head says.

The tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

It all started with a $77.00 speeding fine and has mushroomed to a reputation destroying journey through the press. Marcus Einfield, once a hero of the human rights mob, has put into practice what he preached….life is all about rights, not responsibilities.
He claimed someone else was driving his car on the day in question…oops she died three years before the event. He claimed qualifications from a US degree factory…you know the type….send us $5,000 and we’ll send you a degree.  Ooops….poor form. He claimes he was a director of Marks and Spencer Ltd London when only in his 30s…..oops they can’t find any record of him.
It get’s worse.  Einflied’s mouthpiece got caught out with an ex legal secretary, now prostitute, paying $500 per horizontal dance and further muddied the waters. The woman, who didn’t really change careers, just formalized the one, had her 15 minutes of fame attracting more interest in the case. The original $77.00 fine has mushroomed to a potentially hefty legal bill.
Mr Einfeld also took steps this week to expand the capacity of his legal team. A junior barrister is being recruited to assist Sydney silk Winston Terracini, and Mr Ryan has been replaced by solicitor Tim Quinn of law firm Colin Daley Quinn, which is based in the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah.
Should the police inquiry go against Mr Einfeld, he risks being charged with making a false statement on oath, which carries a penalty of five years in prison. At what stage do you think he might have come to the realization that copping the $77.00 fine would have been by far the best solution? In his case, obviously too late.

The Pigs live again

My Vietnam almer mata was the 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR) (could media types note the correct nomenclature) and whereas yesterdays’ announcement by the PM that we are upgrading the Army by 2, 600 men, mostly infantry, will be discussed long and hard by the media and a host of  professorial type armchair warriors, I and a host of my Vietnam era mates will only take one message from John Howard’s announcement. 7RAR live again to fight the foes of civilization.  7RAR has a proud history of Vietnam service and I just know that the younger generation will meet with the high expectations of us old soldiers. The Pigs?  No we were not unhiegenic (although we might have been on the nose a tad after a four week patrol in the jungle).  The story of our mascot goes back to 1965 when the battalion was first formed at Puckapunyal.  The newly appointed Commanding Officer (CO) thought he would have a look at his command and went up to Puckapunyal on a weekend ….unanounced …sneaky bugger, to check them out.  The few soldiers who had gathered as the nucleus of the battalion had been in the habit of spending most of their weekend in the boozer and this weekend was no different.  There were few NCOs or officers posted in too date and the boozer was a mess of beer cans.  On parade the next morning the CO called them a bunch of pigs to be answered by a loud retort of oink..oink from the back row. For a long time the Generals and the Colonels fought the idea of a pig as a mascot which guaranteed it’s longevity.  Today it is on our banners, stationery and badges and will be around as long as history holds our attention. I’ll make a bet right now that when the new 7RAR is formed and has it’s first parade, some old grey haired or bald ex digger will be there with a pig in attendance, a real one, to remind the young ones of their traditions. Are you reading this Dave W? UPDATE:  The Battalion was first formed on the 1st of September, 1965 so next week, Friday, is our 41st birthday.  I wonder if the Army and/or Politicians have a sense of history and are considering releasing the official documentation to split 5/7RAR on the same day? It would be historically tidy.
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