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| More!? More!? |
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| But Monsieur, it's only wafer thin! | |
Busted-arsed pacific Island nation Nauru has hit the headlines
again with news of a hunger strike by failed asylum seekers, which your (ever
balanced) ABC reports has now been going on for a month. Desperate people do desperate things, and the pro-asylum seeker groups are
clearly pretty desperate. Normally, of course, people who go on a hunger strike
lapse into a coma at 10-12 days, and die after three or four weeks. So it really is make or break time. No-one has died yet, and unless they
can produce a corpse, then their credibility will get stinky really soon. The
occasional snack is apparently slipping through the the stitching on the lips.
Asylum seekers are well known for their hunger striking strategies, which seem
similar to smokers giving up the habit. Going on a hunger strike three times a
day (after breakfast, after lunch and after dinner) doesn't really qualify. How seriously will people take claims of a hunger strike after two months?
At that time it will be pretty obvious that these people are cheating more than
the fat chicks at the
Jenny Craig clinic. The bankrupt Nauru government has been pretty keen to take full advantage
of the fuss too - insisting that the strain on their medical resources is life
threatening, and they need more money. But a little bit of history helps to put
things into perspective here. Before their asylum seeker led recovery, Nauru
was in pretty dire straits. In particular, Australia was gently
threatening to refuse further treatment until Nauru payed their medical bills
(for services provided by Australia). The obesity levels amongst the Nauru
population don't exactly make for a healthy population. Forgiving the debt and providing money for medical services was part of the
deal struck with Nauru for housing the asylum seekers, but that hasn't stopped
the politicking. Whining about imminent death may squeeze a few extra bucks out
of the Australian government, so it's worth a try. Interestingly there has been no official request from Nauru - that
might open a full can of worms, and start a bidding war between busted-arsed
pacific nations. The corrupt Nauru government knows full well that they will
lose power if Australia takes their asylum seekers elsewhere and turns it's
back on the busted arsed country. They may bark objectionably at any opportunity, but they are unlikely to
bite the hand that feeds them, and a stern word will reduce them to whimpering
dogs. They can't have their bone and eat it too.
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| Dissent Crushed in Iran | |
With between 10,000 and 50,000 dead Iranians buried in rubble caused by of
an act of God, looters from neighboring towns are helping themselves to other
people's property. Foreign aid teams have rushed to the scene to administer water, food,
blankets and heaters. Not bad for a country which just two years ago was an
'Axis of Evil' which Dubya seemed keen to dismantle in daddy's unfinished 'New
World Order'. God seems to have done at least some of the work for him, and every
politician knows that one man's suffering is another man's opportunity, so it's
be nice to Iran week for a new Coalition of the Willing. Saving the lives of a few Iranians might seem a pretty pointless exercise,
but it's all part of the master plan. Dubya's stick and carrot approach to foreign policy is having mixed
results: Iraq needed the stick; Libya salivated for a while and took the
carrot; North Korea is going to need a big stick; and Iran may have been
waiting for an excuse to take the carrot. Couples brought together by suffering can have their passion fueled by
mutual grief. Maybe the same thing can work for entire nations? Iran has backed down over nuclear weapons stance - a good start, but the
rhetoric has been pretty hard. Even since the aid was promised, both parties
are following the petulant 'I'm not apologizing until he does' line,
but it looks like a few secret trysts between suitably sensitive diplomats
might consummate the subtle overtures and thaw relations. It's good to see a international politics maturing. The paradigm of the
primary school bully has been replaced by the behavior of petulant hormonal
teenagers. Death and taxes may be inevitable, but it seems equally difficult to escape
the embarrasments caused by our children and our governments.
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| Avoid rape - dress sensibly | |
The word 'freedom' is a
powerful tool in political
argument. It is perhaps
unfortunate that most people regard freedom as the freedom to help
themselves to other people's belongings, or the freedom
to control other people's lives, but the race is not the swift, the fight is
not to the strong, and indeed the argument is not to the rational
thinker. Invariably, the argument is to the sophist. Perhaps in the midst of Libertaire, Egalitaire, Fraternitaire' the
French have lost their way with the proposed banning of Muslim headscarves in
French schools. Or perhaps they are dealing with an irrational situation in
the best way they can. Somehow, when the French opened their borders to the Muslim hoards they imagined they
would stay for a while, and either integrate or leave. Mais non, why
should people go back to an economic mess and leave the generous semi-socialist first-world welfare payments behind?
Sitting in a Parisian highrise flat watching Al Jazeera is not so bad if the
French taxpayer is paying for
it. And if young Abdul gets into a local gang .. well, it could be even worse
back home. They didn't go home, and they didn't integrate. In 2004, Franky Frenchman doesn't know how to cope with 5 million Muslims
in his country, or with the ethnic violence sweeping his country, and in any
case (other than France) one
could almost sympathize with people adopting irrational measures out of pure
desperation. The scarves symbolize the problems with France, and the
realization that, not only are some people free-loaders, but they aren't even
grateful! But there is also a more sinister side. With gangs of young Muslim men
forming rape packs and
singling out Arabic women without headscarves as their victims, it takes on a whole
new meaning. It is an effective means to preserving a cultural power base. It seems that many, possibly even most, women wear the head scarves not
through free choice but
due to the threat of violence. So what is the best way to combat this violence? One way is to try bring
the perpetrators to justice, and readers are welcome to discuss this at length
with the tooth fairy, Santa Clause, and the man-friendly lesbian at the bottom
of the garden. The other way is to ban the scarf - a clear violation of the rights of women who want to
wear it, but a removal of the violation of those who do not. There are of course other far more effective ways to combat the problem -
private schools, private cities and an abolition of welfare would solve much of
the problem, but the French are not ready for that solution yet. French
chauvinism is not ready to tackle the facade of French pride - but removing
the veils of Arabic women is easy. Removing women's clothing is a concept which
which the average Frenchman is quite comfortable with. And sophistry works best in small doses.
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| Arm twisting works for Maddog! | |
Yesterday everyone was referring to Mark (Maddog) Latham as The Loaded
Dog - he wanted to get close to everyone, but no-one wanted to be close to
him. Today Maddog is the man - winning leadership of the ALP against Kim (Fatboy) Beasley
by an overwhelming two votes! (Yup, count 'em two). Count 'em again - 'cause
Fatboy sure would have. Given the choice between the two-time-loser and an arm-breaking thug, they
chose the thug. At least he came out a winner against the taxi-driver. He must
have been practicing his political arm-twisting technique against the Sydney
cabbie. Fatboy's problem of course was that he was taken by surprise. Witnesses
said that when he heard of the Simon time-to-go shoulder-tap late last week his
face dropped - Fatboy hadn't know about it, and hadn't been working caucus for
votes. Outgoing Simon supported Maddog and presumably managed to deflect the
sympathy vote to him. This was Labour's last chance to do something sensible before the coming
election. Kind of like an old fashioned marriage where you had to stick with it
through thick and thin, the ALP is now pretty well stuck with Maddog until
after the next election. They could have just kept Maddog on a chain and let
him out occasionally to savage Peter (Smirky) Costello, but political nature
abhors a power vacuum, and Maddog rushed to fill it. Maddog of course is Labour's generational change - the younger version of
Paul (Scumbag) Keating, and the Gough (maintain-the-rage) Whitlam protege.
Except that Maddog has the foul mouth of Scumbag Paul and none of the wit of
either of them. Keating fancied himself a bit of a verbal bully. Maddog is the
real thing. This is not to say that Maddog is totally devoid of qualities. On the
ABC's AM
program he spoke about effective marginal tax rates.
the rate is a problem in that it adds to the disincentives for people to
work. We had a report two weeks ago showing that a million Australian families
have got an effective marginal tax rate of more than 60 per cent. That is, if I
earn an extra $100, the Government takes 60 of them.
At least he understands the problem. His degree in economics hasn't enabled
him to produce any workable solutions, but understanding the problem is a
start. Whenever Fatboy was asked about tax rates he just warbled about the
generosity of the Australian spirit. And on the asylum-seeker issue? Lets just say that Carmen
(open-the-borders) Lawrence is unlikely to become Minister of Immigration
anytime soon. But Maddog's biggest problem is keeping the indisciplined rabble of the ALP
in check so they can put up a united front for the next election. Maddog's
snarling, bullying and arm-twisting may be just what the party needs.
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| Demoted to Kitchen Duty? | |
For a conservative Texan oil-man, US president George Dubya is full of
surprises. People would have expected Bill (pants-down) Clinton to nip of for a
dirty weekend with one of the young interns without consulting the wife. But
Dubya chose a destination which, while his wife may have disapproved, wouldn't
make one think of infidelity (or even 'sex', as defined by
pants-down-Bill). Dubya nipped off to Baghdad for Thanksgiving dinner with his
troops, doing kitchen duty and serving hot turkey. In a top-secret operation worthy of the now-defunct KGB, Dubya didn't even tell
daddy where he was going - slinking out of his Texas ranch via the back route,
the trip was not even publicized until after he had left Iraq. Some of troops were expecting pop-star hottie Shania (I-feel-like-a-woman) Twain,
and they might have been disappointed by what they actually got to see - a
middle-aged man working in the kitchen, but few could have complained about his
daring. Of course leftist media outlets all around the world blasted it as obvious
electioneering only 12 months out from the US presidential election. Hardly
surprising - that is what the left always does when their opposition makes a
clever vote winning move. If John (why-didn't-I-think-of-that) Howard had done
it the left would have screamed 'wedge politics!' But with nearly one US soldier getting killed each day by a mish-mash of
Saddamite remnants, third-party American haters and run-of-the-mill Iraqis who
are just really pissed at so many uninvited foreigners in their country,
Dubya's visit is a huge morale boost. Of course the dish that Dubya really wants to serve up is Saddam's head on
a platter. But with neither leader willing to publicize details of their Iraqi
travel plans in advance, revenge may have to be a dish served cold.
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| 2001-2003 | |
The game of politics is
surely the creation of a sick mind, and certainly nastiest game ever invented
by man or beast. Seeking to control the people around you is hardly an
honorably profession and not highly regarded by many people, and failure
regarded even more harshly than success. Politics is also one of the areas in which an obituary can be written and read
before someone's departure from the game. Simon (i'm-outa-here) Crean is
standing aside in the hope that someone more popular can replace him. Unlike Kim (Fatboy) Beasley, who departed without having to be tapped on
the shoulder by wise men who believe in sacrifice for the Commoner's Good,
Simon had to told that he was a bit on the nose. There are some things that
your best friend won't tell you, but in friends there are no politics and
someone always will. Simon was told it was time to go. But in fairness to him,
he has (after a brief stint of denial and conferring with the missus) agreed to
fall on his sword and let someone else have a go at the achieving the
impossible - rallying a splintering ALP and trying to present a
coherent front to the electorate in the coming election campaign. And in fact one can't help but feel a little sorry for the ex-union thug and failed
opposition leader. His career as federal ALP leader may have been ineffectual
and largely un-memorable, but one is forced to acknowledge his lack of mistakes
in the role. There are no sound-bytes which will hound him for the rest of his
retirement, no 'life wasn't meant to be easy's, no 'please
explain's or even 'few too many Asians'. Simon even did a few things right - he pushed through badly needed ALP reforms
before the party was totally discredited by the influence of the union thugs,
and he held off the party's total disintegration in the wake of the wedgie
politics played so well by the coalition. The saddest thing for Simon is that in years to come he will be written up
as the born-to-rule leftie
who followed in his daddy's footsteps and failed. And, apart from a few
die-hard True Believers and academics in the history
department, he probably won't be remembered at all. Bye-bye Simon.
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| ALP Meeting | |
Every left-leaning citizen likes to identify with victims - it provides the
much needed justification for putting your hands in someone else's pocket, but
that doesn't mean that they like to be seen hanging out with total losers. As
soon as it is obvious that someone simply can't win, you may as well desert the
sinking ship. And Simon (still-in-denial) Crean is being deserted by just about
everyone. For the last 18 months, the ALP has been caught between two realities:
- Kim (Fatboy) Beasley is a better leader than Simon (Mr-16-percent) Crean.
- Fatboy has no realistic chance of winning the next election.
Like a gambler who can't decide between cutting his losses or trying to win
them back, they have been thrashing around unable to choose between losers. But now there is a plethora of candidates: Fatboy, Mark (Mad-dog) Lat ham,
Kevin (man-with-no-face) Rudd, Jenny (affirmative-action) Jacklin.
A new hope - an opportunity for generational change. Their only problem is that they can't win the next election. There isn't time
to regroup, unless the Coalition do something particularly stupid, and John
(consummate politician) Howard at the helm this seems unlikely. So the ALP's best strategy? Put Fatboy back at the helm for the next election
(and lose as few seats as possible), then turf him out and go for the big
reform just afterwards so there is time to regroup for a more serious challenge
in 2007. Of course a day is a long time in politics, and four years is a
political lifetime. The gamblers may get greedy. And for Simon, well there comes a point where a stiff upper lip is just an
indulgence. Simon, this is the part where the true believers need you to put
your legs up in the air and play dead. Lie back and think of the ALP.
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| Garbage in garbage out | |
Indonesian officials
were exhibiting their slimy sophistry today complaining that Australia was using
Indonesia as a human garbage dump by sending 14 Kurds back after landing on
Melville Island last week. Amanda (Killer Whale) Vanstone was quick to point out that the Indonesians
had been using Australia as a garbage dump for decades (giving asylum seekers water and
fuel and pointing them towards Australia). Presumably these particular
officials were unhappy about not getting a sizable bribe when Australian
officials negotiated their return. They are now claiming they weren't even
consulted (ie no bribe at all). Having people smugglers use
Indonesia as a garbage transfer station apparently isn't a problem (it's good
for the economy), but
returned packages with "delivery not accepted"? It's just not on! At least the Killer Whale's quip puts her back on the front foot after a
bad couple of days. The 14 Kurds have claimed that they asked Australian
authorities for asylum before being forced back Indonesia. After initially
saying that it wasn't true, the Killer Whale had to step back to saying it
makes no difference, they weren't in Australia's immigration zone
anyway. This may be true, but Australia is a signatory to the UN convention on
refugees, and the lefties are fond of reminding us that we have an obligation to not
push people back over the border. Well, not quite. Here's what the agreement actually says:
Article 31: Refugees Unlawfully in the country of refuge31.1 The Contracting States shall not impose penalties on account of their
illegal entry or presence, or refugees who, coming directory from a territory
where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or
are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present
themselves without delay to the authorities and show god cause for their
illegal entry or presence. Article 32: Expulsion 32.1 The Contracting States shall not expel a refugee lawfully in their
territory save on grounds of national security or public order. Article 33: Prohibition of Expulsion or Return (Refoulement') 33.1 No Contracting State shall expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any
manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom
would be threatened on account of his race, religion, national, membership of a
particular social group or political opinion.
In other words, they can be pushed back into Indonesia, because neither their
life or freedom was threatened in that State. So for the Kurds to complain about this, they would have to argue that they
were victims of repression under their democratic Muslim brethren, the
Indonesians. That wouldn't say much for the solidarity of the Religion of
Peace, and in fact most of them have now applied for refugee status in Indonesia. Apparently they want some time to collect the refund for the $4K they paid
for their ticket to Australia. A nervous people smuggler may be about to cough
up $56K.
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>> However, with minimum wages, welfare and Soviet health and education systems,
>> these new arrivals would probably find themselves in an unemployment quagmire,
>> with others chipping in, resentfully, for their health, education and basic
>> subsistence. The real problem (from the point of view of Australians) is welfare, and
socialist-style health and education for the new arrivals. Minimum wages are
not so much of a problem - if the new arrivals couldn't get a job at the
minimum wage (hard to do when you can't even read the 'Highly Flammable - No
Smoking' sign), then they would go hungry until they decided to return to their
own lower-wage countries where they could actually get a job making childrens
toys or whatever. >> Get rid of the government control (which requires being able to quarantine each
>> nation state from the other) and the argument against "open" migration starts
>> to look somewhat wobbly, in my opinion. Agreed, it's having these people step off the boat and put their hands
straight into my pocket that really gets me. Of course there is still the crime issue ...
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| The Killer Whale - Sinking her teeth into people smuggling | |
Most overseas visitors to Australia regard it as a pretty clean place. Garbage
gets picked up, and moved to somewhere out of site and, for most of us, out of
mind. The burden on the taxpayer may be quite high, but at least there is
little unwanted garbage in the streets. And those of us who thought that Amanda (Killer Whale) Vanstone had bitten off
more than she could chew in her new role as Immigration Minister can relax. She
seems to have taken this trend to heart in removing Australia's latest unwanted
arrivals - some 14 Turkish Kurds who landed on retrospectively-excised Melville
Island. These people have now, she claims, been removed to Indonesia. Australia, for many years regarded as the world's human garbage dump, the place
to send the unhealthy human offcuts, the surplus of humanity, the
trouble-makers and those who didn't want to fit in with their local
communities or those simply determined to cause trouble, is over. Australia
it seems, well known for being a net-importer of economic goods, is now going
to be a net-exporter of economic bads - refugees. But it would be very naive to think this hasn't come at a price. Why has
Indonesia, outraged in 2001 at the mere suggestion that 430 rescued Tampees
should be returned to whence they came, suddenly quietly accepted the return of
14 transitees? Well, the odd bribe going in the direction of Indonesian
officials might have something to do with it. Indonesia has been paid to take
them back, and the question on everyone's lips is 'how much?' Naively it might seem that paying Indonesia more than it would have cost to
process them here would be a bad idea, but Killer Whale (unlike most fat chicks) understands the
principle of delayed gratification (giving up something for the short term for
a greater long term benefit). Having 14 angry Kurds running around Indonesia
asking the people smugglers for their money back is a lot better than having
them running around Australia demanding welfare. And with Australia now a full regional sheriff, maybe we could deputize them
with full anti-terror powers before they ask for a refund. That would sort out
the people smugglers once and for all.
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>> Please Sir, I want some more
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| Feedback/Forum |
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- ANON -- Anonymous Coward 2011-12-02
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