So you think you’re cultured?

Why Kevin Rudd is Julia Gillard’s nemesis

liligans Politics, So you think you're cultured?

Picture this. Your wife comes up to you and tells you that she no longer wants you. She explains to you that you are no longer the kind of husband she needs. Therefore, you should leave.

Pretty devastating news…but wait there’s more. She’s found somebody else more suited to her needs whom she’s going to marry. Painfully devastating news… but wait there’s even more.

She wants you to arrange the wedding for old time’s sake How about organising the flower arrangements, or even the catering? There’s so much to do, so how about lending a hand? In other words, help her “move forward.”

In essence, this is what Julia Gillard is demanding from Kevin Rudd. Never mind that he’s no longer wanted by the Labor Party and the unions as Prime Minister, but hey, how about helping out with the elections so that the party which stabbed him in the back can remain in government?

It’s a bit much to expect heartfelt loyalty from the ousted Prime Minister, isn’t it? Why, it’s only natural that Rudd should feel resentful towards the Labor Party.

So, is he going to jump out of his post-op bed to do his bit for Labor?

Of course he will, because there’s no better way to get back at Gillard and Co. than by being completely visible during the election. His omnipresence will act as a reminder of what they have done to him.

As Rudd himself has told us, he has a long memory…

Why waste your money on expensive cookware?

liligans So you think you're cultured?, totally absurd, What Pisses me off

We have thousands of cookware shops in Australia. They sell every gadget and the most ridiculously overpriced cookware.

I say it’s ridiculous because it doesn’t cook any better, nor does it last longer. Some of the cookware has a lifetime guarantee and I’m always puzzled by that claim. What does that mean?

And there are caveats to the guarantee. You have to use the cookware for the purposes for which it was intended.

I guess that means cooking rather than digging for iron ore. And I do suspect that in about ten years’ time you would have difficulty finding the manufacturer of said cookware to return it. They also want it to be posted and the cost of that postage would be prohibitive. That’s if you can unearth the receipt.

In other words, the cookware lasts for as long as it lasts and not any longer. Can’t argue with that existential concept.

If you read the fine print, you should expect the saucepan to show scratches. This will look bad but will not affect your cooking results. You can machine wash the cookware but it’s better not to because it may spoil its appearance.

Although the cookware has been tested in laboratories by a million jackhammers drilling the amazing bullet-proof surface of the pan, it is suggested that you stir your cooking with a plastic or wooden utensil.

All this in spite of a rather pretentious and misleading name like Swiss Diamond which gives the impression of a very resilient and indestructible surface. Not true. I know because I invested in the brand. I use the term “invested” since it cost a fortune.

I was informed at the time that Swiss Diamond never go on sale, but they were 40% discounted at some stores last week. So “Never” must mean the same as “Lifetime Guarantee.”

I’m also the gullible owner of some Circulon cookware. This one scratches, sticks and has grooves which are hard to clean. Ironically, there is a big ad campaign on TV at the moment praising this brand’s ease of use. I scoff somewhat bitterly at its claims.

Anolon was no better but I managed to return it because it warped. I was in one of those “I’m fed up and I’m not taking it any more” moods.

As for cast iron cookware, it’s good for casseroles, but who can lift the ruddy things? If you really want a physical workout try to pick up some Staub cookware. Now if you dropped that on the floor it would result in a crater and the Staub cookware would emerge in China.

The astute reader of this blog might have worked out that I’m fed up with falling for the hype. Cookware is cookware and you are better off buying a brand new pan every year at $29.95 as I have done recently and in ten years you will still be ahead financially. The pan will be lighter. You can machine wash it or not. If it scratches you don’t mourn the damage to its perfect surface.

And believe me, life’s too short to be fooled by promises of everlasting service or surface (as the case may be).

I wonder how long my new penny-wise attitude will last? Probably for as long those guarantees, I guess.

Solution for our Australian growing population problem

liligans So you think you're cultured?

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said that she understands the concerns of folks living in South West Sydney. She understands that they are overcrowded there.

So what is it all about? Well, it’s not about immigration, says Julia. It’s not about birth rates, says Julia. And it’s definitely not about refugees and boat people. It’s about sustainability which at the moment is unsustainable, according to the majority of the electorate.

So if you can’t curb population growth by cutting immigration and reproduction, the solution has to come from the other end of the life cycle, the senior citizens. Isn’t that all that’s left?

Some form of compulsory elimination, perhaps, once Julia Gillard’s “working Australians” are no longer able to work. We already have an effective process in place for that policy. It’s called “Forget about nursing home provisions and improvements in health services for the elderly.” Surely we can move forward on that and get serious.

We could perhaps adopt a new slogan for the Labor Party based on “Moving Forward. ” How about “Moving On Permanently” or “Moving out of the Way” or “Moving Aside? ” Or how about “Stop Moving Altogether?” Now that would curb our population growth by about 25% by 2050.

So how can that brilliant policy be formalised? Well, when you hand in your driver’s licence you are handed your orders to move over for Australia. How you do that is up to you. After all, we live in a free country. Simple.

Being kind to Hamas will not work

liligans So you think you're cultured?, Society, What Pisses me off

Imagine you are the leader of a Hamas terrorist cell and your daughter has a tumour in her eye. An Israeli aid organisation funds her successful operation in Jerusalem. The tumour is removed.

You then go back to your village in the West Bank and two weeks later you arrange an attack on Israelis. Three Israelis are ambushed. One who was about to be married is killed while the other two are wounded.

No doubt you think that you are a hero, but in reality you are the lowest of the low.

There is no honour in your actions. You, who are prepared to accept help from Israeli doctors and at the same time stab them in the back.

FOR SHAME!

Source for this article.

Why be offended by the “I will survive” Holocaust video?

liligans Politics, totally absurd

When I watched the video of a Jewish family from Australia dancing at various death camp sites in which Hitler and the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews, I wept.

I only heard about this video tonight on the Channel Nine TV news. Some people are offended by it. Some Holocaust survivors don’t approve of Jews dancing at Auschwitz, but I take a different view.

I say “Hitler tried to kill us all, but he is dead and we are still here. Let us rejoice.”

As a person who is involved in The Jewish Holocaust Centre I am well aware of sensitivities. We should respect and mourn what happened. We should never forget and personally I will never forgive.

But be damned if I don’t glory in the fact that all those Empires and civilisations which tried to destroy the Jews are dust.

So if 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, Adolek Kohn wants to dance at Auschwitz with his daughter and three grandchildren, good luck to him!

I’m sure he has shed enough tears in his lifetime and I would encourage him to celebrate to his heart’s content.

If you have not seen the video, here is the link:-

Grandpa Kohn’s words at the end of it are what made me cry.

Looks as if the video has actually been removed from Youtube.

Now it’s back again. I strongly recommend that you view Parts 2 and 3 of the video too. We’ll see how long this one lasts but just in case I’d better explain what I meant by “Grandpa Kohn’s words at the end of it made me cry.”

The family did some very simple unchoreographed dance steps at the various sites with their aged grandpa.

And then the mood changed and Mr Kohn reflected on his life to the music of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance me to the end of Love.”

“If you had told me 63 years ago,” Kohn says, ” that I would be here dancing with my family, I would have said what you talking about?…what you talking about?

Had Hilter achieved his aim then none of that delightful family would have been born. No wonder he marvels at being back where he could have perished. He considers himself blessed.

So many people did not survive, including many members of my family. I wept for them but I also wept with joy that Mr Kohn is alive.

Why the double standard is a compliment to Israel

liligans Politics, So you think you're cultured?, totally absurd

Imagine you are sitting at prayers in your local mosque on a Friday when suddenly thirty of your fellow worshippers are shredded to bits by a bomb. This is a frequent occurrence in Pakistan and Iraq. The murderers are Muslims themselves and we in the rest of the world no longer bat an eyelid on hearing of such an event. Why is that? Continue reading →

The Two Faces of The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

liligans So you think you're cultured?, totally absurd

I am astounded by the declaration this morning that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is proud of the actions of activist Peter Bethune. In fact, they will give him a hero’s welcome back home when he returns from Japan.

How can one believe anything that this organisation says when in June this is what they said?

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has cut its links with anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune after he carried a bow and arrows during confrontations with Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.

Below is what they wrote on the Society’s website, according to the ABC report on June 9 of this year

The bow and arrows revealed to be on the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil, and in the possession of Captain Bethune on that ship, are absolutely not in line with Sea Shepherd’s policy,” the statement reads.

This morning on the ABC the spokesman for the Society revealed his forked tongue, when he admitted that the above statements were a ploy to get Bethune off. I can’t quite understand how that would work but they obviously are still trying to pretend that they are a peaceful organisation. What a bunch of hypocrites!

Suddenly they are proud to align themselves with a man who behaved like a pirate and threatened the crew of a boat he boarded illegally.

What sort of friends are these activists who are ready to distance themselves from one of their heroes when he’s in trouble? And yet when he gets off with a very lenient judgement, a suspended sentence, they pretend that they support him totally?

All better now?

I don’t think so. This organisation has blotted its reputation by admitting to lying.

It is thanks to the Japanese that Bethune is not in jail. No thanks to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, though, for abandoning him.

My web site was down

liligans So you think you're cultured?

Last Friday afternoon my web site was down and I felt very frustrated that nobody could do anything to help me until Monday. It is now Sunday evening and the site is up again. Very strange…

I have no idea why this happened and why it mysteriously came back. Am looking forward to finding out why tomorrow morning.

Anyhow, Happy Fourth of July to my American reader!!!!

The anti-semitic bigots have come out of the woodwork to accuse Gillard

liligans Politics

It didn’t take long before the usual bigots brought up the subject of Israel after Julia Gillard’s defeat of Kevin Rudd. So what is the gripe this time? A former ambassador to Israel, Mr Ross Burns, has written a letter to The Age newspaper accusing Gillard of being soft on Israel. This opinion was repeated by another reviled former ambassador to Israel, a Mr Rodgers who is notorious for being anti-Israel.

What these two bigots are really saying is that unless you are vehemently anti-Israel then you are soft on Israel.

Prime Minister Gillard has denied this accusation. All this happened because Gillard’s partner, Tim Mathieson, works in real estate for an Israel supporter. Apparently, that’s a crime according to Burns and Rodgers.

Which brings me to the topic of our former Prime Minister. I first met Kevin Rudd a few years ago in Queensland. He attended a Jewish function, praised the Jewish community and generally sucked up to everyone there assuring the Jewish community of his true and genuine admiration and loyalty.

When he became Prime Minister, however, Rudd revealed his true colours. He took hasty actions against a member of the Israeli embassy long before other nations in the alleged passport affair. He also directed his representative at the United Nations to vote against Israel.

He did this because he was sucking up to the Arabs in the U.N. Rudd’s ambition is so rapacious that he would be prepared to court anyone who can support his aim of becoming a bigshot at the U.N. And that is why he joined the enemies of Israel.

But then Rudd’s popularity polls went south and he suddenly remembered that he had betrayed an ally and that he had wounded the Jewish community in Australia. So just a few short weeks ago he tried to win over the Jewish community once again by meeting with some leaders and assuring them that he was “a friend of Israel.”

We all know the saying “With friends like these who needs…”