After being abducted and kept as a hostage for the past six years, Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages were rescued by a brilliant manouevre by Colombian forces. The military operation was perfect and Betancourt compared this operation with the skill of the Israeli military.

In “The Australian” she is quoted as saying:-

“We have an amazing military. I think only the Israelis can possibly pull off something like this.”

Anyone who remembers Entebbe will appreciate her comment.

I particularly like the fact that John McCain who happened to be in that part of the world gave all credit to the Colombian military even though U.S officials admitted that they had helped the Colombians. McCain was modest about American involvement as were the U.S officials in Bogota.

The only dark cloud over this amazing operation is that Betancourt seems to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and that after six years she is identifying somewhat with FARC, the guerrilla mob who kidnapped her. It is possible that she is being diplomatic so that no other hostages suffer in the future.

Once again, I am impressed by French Prime Minister Sarkozy’s response to a situation. Since Betancourt is French he thanked the Colombian govt and military for rescuing her.

Finally, the most important point about the operation is that although the govt of Colombia was being pressured by “Reporters without Borders” to negotiate with the kidnappers, this was not done. The founder of this journalists’ organisation, Robert Menard, admitted “Our insistence on the need to negotiate with Farc, hoping they would release their best card, was a mistake”

Let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks that negotiating with terrorists is a good idea.

The BBC just can’t help itself when it comes to bigoted reporting. Yesterday, a Palestinian terrorist on a bulldozer decided to attack anyone in his way as he ploughed into a bus and cars and pedestrians in Jerusalem.

He injured 40 people and killed 4. It was an intentional act of terrorism. So what was the BBC headline?

ISRAEL BULLDOZER DRIVER SHOT DEAD.

Really? Poor bulldozer driver. Tut Tut.

This terror attack took place opposite Jerusalem Capital Studios, the local headquarters for many international media outlets, including BBC, Sky News and CNN. BBC reporter, Tim Franks was able to watch the entire rampage from his office window and that’s all he could report?

Even when the Gazans are firing bombs at the Israeli towns, the best that the BBC can do is write “rocket injures dozens in Israel.” Rocket fired by whom? Martians? Why not get over your love for the Arabs and say “Arab rocket fired from Gaza injures dozens in Israeli town.”

Ever since T.E Lawrence demonstrated his unnatural love for Arabs, this trend has continued. It seems this predilection is ingrained in the BBC

Things were pretty twisted when Orla Guerin was reporting in the Middle East. Unfortunately, there are many more bigoted reporters where she came from.

Looks as if England has the same standards of teaching and marking as Australia. One pupil sitting for his GCSE exam in English wrote F***off in his paper. The Chief Examiner, Peter Buckroyd, explained to The Times newspaper that ‘It would be wicked to give it zero, because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for – like conveying some meaning and some spelling.’

Can’t argue with that one. The student is obviously a genius compared with the graffiti idiots who mispell every obscenity. You never know, he may become a famous chef one day. Or perhaps a chief examiner!

Flicking through the Foxtel channels in search of something that wasn’t a repeat programme, I found “Benidorm” on U.K TV.

Australia had its “Kath and Kim” and Britain has this very amusing satire about Brits holidaying in an “all inclusve” Spanish coastal resort.

There’s no need to say much more than watch it and enjoy an excellent comedy by an ensemble of talented actors. The script is good, the cringe factor just right and I had a good laugh.

We are now in Series 2 since the first series was nominated in the BAFTA awards for the best sitcom.

No doubt there will be a repeat of series 1 in a couple of months so you can catch up on it as well.

Take a pile of junk and hang it on the wall of an art gallery and it becomes art. If, instead, you put it in a skip and transport it to the local dump it is rubbish.

From what I can gather that is the essential difference between the two. Now I could say modestly that I don’t know much about art but I know what I like. Actually, I have studied art and have some familiarity with the subject even though I am far from being an expert.

I wish that artists would not be so keen to shock in order to get publicity. It degrades them. Henson’s photos of that prepubescent girl do not deserve any more respect than porn sites on the web. Surely it is the result rather than the supposed intention of the artiste that should be considered.

I find that empty frames with the title “Nothingness” leave me with the feeling that I have been conned. Anyone can do nothing. It’s no particular achievement.

It bothers me that laundry bills by Picasso could achieve high prices. It bothers me that art depends on who did it rather than whether it is any good. Just because something is by Picasso does that necessarily mean that it has to be good?

Sadly, the truth behind this art business is Business with a capital B. An empty canvas attributed to Picasso will fetch more money than a delightful painting by a nobody. That’s how Art imitates Life.

Yesterday, Kevin Rudd suffered his first electoral kick up the proverbial when the Nationals won the Gippsland by-election in a truly ROBUST manner.

Let’s sum up what Rudd has done so far in the seven months since he became Prime Minister. He apologised to the aborigines. That’s ok since it’s pretty meaningless anyway.

He insulted the Jews and the Muslims by his mishandling of the 2020 summit.

He insulted the Japanese by leaving them off the VIP list of neighbours to be visited.

He insulted his own public service for being lazy. Great move for a diplomat, isn’t it?

He is going to get rid of all nuclear weapons. Now that should help the economy!

He is going to save the world from global warming or is it climate change now? He is going to tax all of us if we use energy even though our contribution to the alleged climate change is negligible.

He is going to unite all of our South-East Asian neighbours with us as the leader of course. By the way, he has again insulted another of our Asian neighbours and fourth most important trading partner, South Korea, by not visiting it on this latest trip he’s about to take.

He is into travelling though and he collects lots of Frequent Flyer points.

He has set up lots of investigations into food prices and petrol prices. He then announced that he can’t do any more about them. Well done, Kevin!

So how were things last year when John Howard was in charge? Australia was doing well economically. Confidence was high and the atmosphere was optimistic.

Came the Rudd. Petrol prices skyrocketed, the stock market crashed, the U.S subprime problems became our problems. I’m not claiming that Rudd is responsible for these problems but he has shown himself to be the wrong man for the moment. If we are to apply Thomas Carlyle’s Great Man theory, which is that a great man is one who comes at the right time as Churchill did in 1939, then Rudd ain’t the man.

Instead of doing a New Deal, Rudd aggravated the problems by saying that things were bad. This was to get him off the hook, of course. He is not the sort of person to cop the blame for anything he does wrong. Was this supposed to make us and the economic pundits feel better? Well, it didn’t. Rudd’s tax cuts are now meaningless since interest rates and other hikes have eroded them. Wait until the carbon emissions scheme comes into effect and then we’ll be in even deeper trouble.

Former Prime Minister, John Howard did say that interest rates will always be higher under Labor and he was right.

No doubt we’ll be in for another summit of bright ideas. I can think of one right now and it’s a robust one. Say good night to the folks, Kevin.

Today is indeed a special day because my son has mentioned me in his blog. (lol)

Joshua has written a book on parenting, not that I seriously expect him to dedicate the book to his own parents. Reminds me of my favourite author, P.G. Wodehouse’s dedication to his step-daughter, Leonora, “without whose sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time.” Now that’s what I call a dedication!

I wish Prime Minister Rudd would buy a thesaurus. I am so utterly sick of hearing the word “robust” which was done to death during the election and now is being adopted by other politicians as well, including his deputy, Julia Gillard. Hearing it makes me feel as if every nerve in my body has been zapped. Rudd has robust discussions, robust arguments, robust investigations, robust breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Good old Peter Mark Roget offers several alternatives for Rudd’s favourite adjective. Among them are “stout”, “sturdy”, “hardy”, “rugged”, “burly”, “brawny”, “muscular,”, not to mention, “Herculean” and “Titanic” These descriptions don’t spring readily to mind when one thinks of Kevin Rudd, do they? Unless one is referring to his ego, that is.

Our Prime Minister is probably using robust to mean vigorous and lively, as in “we had a lively discussion.” That implies, of course, that there were two parties involved in the discussion, exchanging views and making suggestions to the other. A dialogue, in other words.

Now that’s very unlikely.

I doubt that there has ever been a genuinely ROBUST discussion on both sides since Rudd is known to be a control freak who brooks no opposition. So perhaps “robust” is being used in a novel Rudd connotation. “I told them what I thought. I told them what to do. They saluted and said “Aye aye sir!” and the robust discussion was over.”

Give us a break please. And while you are at it do not mention “the bottom line” ever again either. Enough already…

I have no quarrel with polygamy per se. If a man is silly enough to want more than one wife then he should be able to have that thrill in a country that permits polygamy. Continue reading →

In my opinion, Dr Patel, who was described by the media as Doctor Death because he allegedly maimed and killed patients at a hospital in Queensland, will never be convicted.
Continue reading →