Ten Pound Pom

I’m not against immigration. I reckon we should bring back the ‘ten pound pom’ scheme.

 I mean, look what you get for 10 pounds these days.

Causation graph

Carbon Cops

Back in the vainglorious days of Bjelke-Petersen’s reign in Queensland there was a joke going around about how they tried to circumcise Sir Joh, but they couldn’t.

'There was no end to the prick'.

Perhaps it’s time to rewrite that joke for Joolia’s Labor Party. With eighteen months or less to an election, at which time they are on notice to a hiding, it is surely an act of chicanery (bastardry) to continue with programs that will be dismantled upon their losing office.

These programs include the establishment of the soon-to-be useless Flannery Centre, a $7.5 million investment in regional Australia with a ‘distinctly green agenda’.

Designed to do what?

According to the website,

“The centre’s main function will be to educate and empower individuals, workers and business people with the necessary skills and knowledge to cope with the challenges of the twenty-first century, challenges such as climate change, peak oil, population growth, biodiversity decline, water scarcity and pollution.”

Yep, I know plenty of ‘individuals, workers and business people’ crying out for government guidance on how to deal with ‘climate change, peak oil, population growth, biodiversity decline, water scarcity and pollution.’

Down at my local, that’s all they talk about.

‘Why won’t the government help me deal with peak oil?’

‘Another schooner thanks Mac, oh and why won’t the government empower me? I’m so worried about population growth.’

Yes, these are the important questions being asked across the nation.

Apparently, the Flannery Centre will do this through very practical measures – such as regular events and exhibitions.

Yep, that’s practical.

In other words, a complete waste of time.

Although the Flannery Centre isn’t quite ready to deliver ’empowerment and education’, progress has been held up by rain :), the Gillard government is forging ahead, wasting our money in other ways. With the very unpopular carbon tax about to become law, Labor hasn’t been tardy. They’ve foreseen that businesses may have a problem with their increased costs, and may even pass them on to their customers.

Fortunately, the profligate Gillard regime has come up with a solution.

At extreme cost to the taxpayer, they have established the ‘Carbon Cops’. These carbon cops, who have been trained to sniff out any resistance to the new ‘carbon price’, will turn up at your workplace at a minute’s notice should you mention that the price of your goods has gone up due to the carbon tax.

As this is such arduous work, Joolia has rented these fellows a new building to relax in after their carbon sniffing is over for the day. It’s a bargain really, only twice the price of their previous rental, and with the added advantage of it being a five year lease.

Bugger that Labor will be turfed out in eighteen months, but what the heck, let Tony deal with that, he can pay the lease, what do they care?

I mean, it’s a steal at $15,000 per employee. Yep, a steal from the taxpayer.

Thanks, Labor.

This Couldn’t Happen Here, Could It?

PS 368, a public elementary school in Manhattan,New York, has implemented a school-wide mandate that is capturing headlines. Principal Nicky Kram Rosen is requiring all 200 students in grades second through fifth to spend two 45-minute sessions each week learning Arabic.

The new curriculum

This couldn’t happen here, could it?

And of course, this isn’t the thin end of the wedge is it? Indoctrinating children into an Arabic view of the world, when they have grown up in a western society? It is strange that western society has enabled the prosperous society that these kids are growing up in, yet the Islamic world, which has achieved very little in the last thousand years, now insists on forcing Arabic on western children.

Mohamed Mamdouh, who teaches the pilot program, said, “Soon, Arabic will be a global language like French and Spanish. These kids are like sponges. It’s amazing to see their progress.’’

By all means offer Arabic as an elective in high school, but force-feeding six year old children mandatory Islamic/Arabic indoctrination is clearly wrong and certainly serves no purpose other than to legitimise the Islamisation of Western society. Of course children of that age are ‘like sponges’, and that is the very reason care must be taken to ensure that indoctrinatory agendas are not part of the curriculum.

This couldn’t happen here, could it?

Well, take a look at recent media reports of Islamic activism in Australia.

It seems that it is anything goes as far as Islam is concerned, including hate speech. However should a Caucasian make a similar comment, and they are immediately labelled ‘racist’.

Remember what ‘Mohamed Mamdouh’ said, “These kids are like sponges”.

This couldn’t happen here, could it?

Open Door Policy with Welcome Mat?

I see the news that the government intends to pay people to house refugees in their homes, instead of keeping them in detention, was received with some excitement. I suppose lefties everywhere will be lining up for the privilege to welcome a refugee into their home and hearth.

No doubt David Marr and Annabel Crabb are clearing out their guest rooms as we speak.

This also explains why we haven’t heard much from Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. He’s been too busy shampooing (a Hindi word) the carpet and putting out the welcome rug. Not that the welcome rug hasn’t already been given a good airing with the government’s refugee welcome pack.

That’s the welcome pack that refugees receive upon arrival to our globally-warmed shores. The ‘Welcome Pack’ is a cornucopia of western delights: ipods, ray-bans, nikes, suitably themed t-shirts, a plasma TV the envy of NASA and a free connection to the NBN*.
(* booby prize)

Nonetheless, there could be problems. What if a refugee’s billet is somewhere other than the abode of a political or media elitist? Will there be ‘refuge’ envy?

Mustafa: ‘I got a Greenie in Paddington’
Mohammed; ‘Curses, I’m stuck in Lakemba with losers from Lebanon’.

In detention centres, detainees are supplied with cigarettes. Given that the stipend offered by the government is $300, that doesn’t leave much left for room and board.

If cigarettes aren’t provided by the host householder, do the refugees climb on the roof and set the house alight?

These are honest questions.

Given that most refugees today are Muslim, does this mean that the host householder need make his home ‘Islam friendly’?

Ditch the pornos, stop drinking grog and tell the daughter to cover up? Of course more serious is the issue of diet. Does a recipient of this proposed stipend have to guarantee that all food will be halal?

These are important questions.

Which leads me to one conclusion.

This hair-brained scheme, given that our current influx of ‘refugees’ is of the Muslim faith, the only suitable hosts Australia can provide are Muslims.

Perhaps this should be called ‘Sponsor Your Muslim Cousins’. Which means, as a government, we can’t give the dole to new arrivals, but if we give it to you to give to them, well, we’ve achieved our aim.

It’s an Open Door policy no matter how much Labor and the Greens deny it.

Referendum

We’re about to be asked to vote in a referendum.

Marcia Langton is professor of Australian indigenous studies at Melbourne University. Megan Davis is professor of law and director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of NSW. They had this to say about the proposed referendum.

The hysteria manufactured about the panel’s recommendations, long before the release of the report has caused widespread alarm among ordinary Australians, who do not comprehend fully the simple fact of the inherent difference of indigenous people.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/an-answer-to-the-race-question/story-e6frgd0x-1226249768982

The ‘inherent difference of the indigenous’. Oh that is good isn’t it? So the Abos are different to the rest of us, that is the Anglos, the Mediterraneans, the Indians, the Chinese, the Asians, the Negroes and the Samoans and the rest of our multicultural society. So the Abos have some spiritual superiority over the rest of us. I call ‘bunk’, I call ‘bullshit’.

Name And Shame

After a week of naming and shaming, is it fair to expect or demand that India host a Western style games? By stretching and reaching, India will most likely pull it off. Many countries couldn’t. Does this mean they shouldn’t host the games at some point? According to India’s critics, it does. The toilets aren’t up to scratch. Athletes can’t sleep in anything other than 5 star accommodation.

What is the point of holding international games, whether Commonwealth, Olympic or otherwise, in a country, if the athletes and visitors require the same conditions they have at home. They’d be better off competing or watching from a purpose-built arena with video from the host nation.

However, what if the games were truly international? Rather than countries like India spending obscene amounts of money, which won’t benefit the populace once the games are over, why not have home-grown games?

Each games could show the culture and lifestyle of the host nation, and not attempt to emulate a Las Vegas resort.

It’s not about records, it’s about participation. Eric the Eel proved this during the Sydney Olympics when he swam home last in his race. Other than Cathy Freeman’s awesome win, Eric the Eel’s race remains in the hearts of most Australians as the most courageous effort of the 2000 Games.

Would it be so bad if runners ran on sand, in the Pacific Islands, if swimmers swam in the surf, instead of a 50 metre pool? Would the ratings suffer? To the contrary, this really would be reality television.

Enough Is Enough

Apparently one in three Australians want convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby to go free, even though only one in ten believes she is innocent.

In 2004, Corby was caught with 4kg of cannabis at the Bali airport. While this is not a hanging offence in Australia, it almost is in Indonesia. She got twenty years. Repeated appeals have faltered, her living conditions in the Indonesian prison have been well documented, yet her crime of smuggling marijuana is unproven.

Corby’s appeals to the Australian government have gone unheeded. Howard washed his hands of the whole affair, citing international protocol, “I hope justice is done and it’s a fair and true verdict”. The Labor Party agreed with him. Only Bob Brown dissented.

Meanwhile back in Australia, Tony Abbott, speaking at a public forum in Rooty Hill on Wednesday told the audience that he ‘had inhaled’ when at uni.

Enough is enough. If it’s good enough for middle Australia to enjoy a toke or two, how hypocritical are we not to demand Corby’s release into Australian custody? Even if she was guilty, she was only doing what our suppliers do on a regular basis for us.

Enough is enough. Bring her home.

Fence Sitting

While we wait out the remaining two weeks of the election campaign, words really seem wasted waxing any further on the attributes of either side. For every inch Gillard and Abbott gain, they each lose a mile the next day. Julia with her inconsistencies, and Tony with his continued ‘foot in the mouth’ affliction. It’ll be down to the wire, almost too close to call. I barrack for the Libs, not necessarily Abbott, but I reckon the crown will go to Labor.

That’s not fence-sitting, it’s an analysis of the electorate I live in, the media I read, and the mainstream blogs I visit. Sadly, I don’t hope that Tony takes the prize. Should his party gain the ascendency they’ll need to do a much needed overhaul of policy and cabinet ministers that could perhaps be better done in private. On the other hand, should Labor win, they’ll need to get quick smart back on that steep learning curve. The one where a political party learns how to go from being a populist choice to a stable government.

A Blowtorch to The Belly

Neville Wran’s classic line ‘a blowtorch to the belly’ could not be more apt now that Julia Gillard is experiencing a backlash against her honeymoon of approval. While enjoying overwhelming support from women and Gen Y voters, the media are biting at her heels to prove she has a chequered political past. It seems she was vociferously against parental leave and pension increases, belatedly for the cost, but in reality, because they were vote losers.

Not a good look for the new PM who uses the ‘jazz hands’ to ensure us she has the interests of ‘all Australians’ at heart. While these shenanigans by the dirt diggers may not be entirely ethical, they certainly open the curtains of a Cabinet that needs exposure if we, the general public, are to get beyond the spin that is this election.

Today Peter Hartcher, Herald journo, throws in with the suggestion that Labor have asked Kevin Rudd to campaign outside of his electorate for the Labor Party. It belies belief that they would do this, but given their desperation for re-election nothing is surprising.