Having read a certain book review in The Australian Literary Review last week by Antony Loewenstein I felt great sadness for his parents. How terrible it must be to produce a son like him, a self-hating Jew who continues to gets his rocks off by writing against Israel and Jews.

I could imagine his parents wondering where they went wrong. What had they done or not done to create a person who can actually praise the leader of Hamas who wishes to see the destruction of the Jewish state? That “The Australian” newspaper should have accepted his review of a book about the leader of Hamas is not surprising. Loewenstein’s views are controversial and he thrives on using his Jewish heritage to attack Israel. What better scandal than a modern Judas?

I don’t take seriously what he writes because he is a lost cause. He is like those Frenchmen, Ukrainians and Poles who collaborated with the Nazis and then were executed by them because the Nazis knew that they couldn’t be trusted in the long run.

My mind keeps turning back to Loewenstein’s parents and I weep for their shame. It must torment them constantly. Not that it would bother their son. As long as he can get into the news it doesn’t matter to him whom he betrays.

The actions of the Prime Minister of Australia seem to point to his wider ambition of strutting the world stage in global politics. Were it not for the economic recession, Kevin Rudd would be continuing his globe-trotting to ensure his ambitions after he has finished with Australian politics.

We witnessed his compulsion as soon as he was elected last year. In fact, during the early months of his tenure, we could be mistaken for thinking that Julia Gillard was our Prime Minister while Kevin was amassing his frequent flyer points in the global arena.

It could very likely be his ultimate ambition to become the Secretary-General of the United Nations. For this reason he has gone into politics after a long career in the diplomatic field. Whenever he travels it is with the intention of ingratiating himself with the big wigs on the world stage. And it is for this reason, in my opinion, that he is sending our Governor-General on a mission to to curry favour with the Africans.

The African vote would help Australia win a seat on the U.N Security Council. The Governor-General, who is the Queen’s representative in Australia and who should not be getting involved in party politics or politics at all, is suddenly becoming an ambassador for Rudd and I believe that it is inappropriate for her to be sent on this mission.

I have to confess that I squirm when Rudd announces what he is going to tell a certain world leader. He is a bit like the mouse that roared and it is embarrassing of him to pretend that he is of much significance in global politics. It would not hurt for him to display a bit of humility instead of the arrogance that must cause the U.S leader and those in Europe, Russia and China to ask, “where does this guy get off?”

To sum it up, there is basically nothing wrong with Rudd’s desire to be Secretary-General of the U.N. What worries me, however, is how much he will have to compromise in order to win the support of governments who may not be sympathetic to Australia’s interests.

I’ve been thinking about why the judiciary’s decisions outrage us at times. This is a complex issue, but nevertheless, I would like to offer some observations on the subject. These are simply food for thought.

It all boils down to the notion that we believe that judges should reflect the society in which they and we live. Whether they should lead or not is debatable. But, in any case, we should feel they are in sync with society’s expectations, which, by the way, are forever changing. Judges should be aware of this and should not lag behind.

When the law becomes a law unto itself it alienates the public which it serves. Continue reading →

It’s no wonder that the Australian public is fed up with judges. Yesterday, I expressed my disgust at one verdict and now we have another example of a judge being more sympathetic to the criminal than to his victim. Continue reading →

Shoot him

Whilst Pacific Brands would like to blame the firing of almost 2000 of its employees on the recession, I believe that it would have done so anyway. Here’s why… Continue reading →