Politics

Why Prime Minister Rudd hurried to Canberra

liligans Politics, totally absurd

You would have to be an absolute twit to believe that Kevin Rudd has scurried back to Canberra because of the Syrian crisis. This is the excuse he gave today for diverting his election campaign. He tells us that he has to confer with other world leaders (ha!) about what’s happening in the Middle East.

Apparently without our glorious leader the rest of the world would not know how to handle the latest developments in Syria.

Not bloody likely, is what I say.

My take on this is that the polls are looking downcast for Rudd; so he has skedaddled to Canberra to reassess his modus operandi in the campaign. Why he is doing so badly is what he has to discuss with the rest of the Labor mavens. What can be done to salvage an election campaign that is floundering.

Okay, so I’m a cynic about it all. I don’t believe the Rudd excuse that he intends to solve the Syrian conflict and that the people of Australia are waiting on his report. After all, it’s been going on for TWO Years now. Surely he cannot be that arrogant as to imagine that he has a contribution to make when it comes to the Middle East.

Not even Prime Minister Rudd can have such delusions of grandeur. And that’s saying something.

The Saga continues and our credulity is stretched even further.

It turns out that amidst this Syrian security panic briefing the Prime Minister found time to film a two-hour episode of Kitchen Cabinet. It’s a cooking show with celebrities being interviewed. Apparently, according to Rudd, the other participants in the Syrian saga roundup were not available, so Rudd had to wait for them and during that period he starred in a TV show.

So we are supposed to believe that the Syrian briefing was an emergency but not enough of an emergency, apparently, to make certain that everyone of the people involved turned up at the appointed time. That’s why Rudd had plenty of time to film the cooking show.

Clear as mud or is that clear as Rudd?

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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd cheated in the debate!

liligans Politics

Imagine you turned up to an exam with some notes on which you relied. Not nice or fair or honest, is it? Especially if you had been told that notes were illegal.

Well, guess what? It’s what our desperate Prime Minister did last night during the “The Great Debate” with Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott. Rudd referred to his notes all the time and this created a terrible impression. He appeared unsure of himself and became boring as he tried to include every point he had ever made.

He simply would not stick to the subject and answer the specific question that had been posed. Nor could he help himself about making long lists and enumerating them with the aid of notes.

Australians feel strongly about “a fair go”. They respect people who play fairly, who play by the rules or else it’s simply not “fair dinkum” and they disapprove vehemently of being conned. Unfortunately, Rudd is not above cheating in a debate as he demonstrated last night.

On being questioned about this unethical behaviour Rudd explained that he did not know he could not rely on notes. Hard to believe isn’t it? But let’s say that he really did not know, then how come his advisers did not tell him not to cheat?

Was it because they didn’t dare correct him since he is known to be such a tyrant who baulks at advice? Or was it perhaps because his advisers did not know about the prohibition of notes because they hail from the U.S.A? You see Rudd did not think that Australian advisers were good enough for him?

He could be right.

Yom Kippur! What a day for an election!

liligans Politics, What Pisses me off

You can really see the hand of Foreign Minister Bob Carr in setting the date for the coming Federal Election. How about the holiest day in the Jewish calendar? Well, that’s what the Prime Minister of Australia has done. It shows how little respect she has for the Jewish community.

I bet that she would not have dared to choose the most holy day for Muslims to hold an election.

p.s When a Jewish member of parliament queried the selection of the date on Judaism’s holiest day, Julia Gillard said that it was hard to choose a date because of some international commitments and, wait for it…Football finals. She chose football over franchise.

Don’t miss “Argo” the movie.

liligans Films, Politics

What can I say about “Argo”?

Amazing, exciting, brilliant story based on true events. The acting was superb, the editing, production etc were excellent. But most of all, it had me jumping out of my seat with the suspense.

Do yourself a favour and go see it. I predict that Alan Arkin will win an award for his performance.

It was gratifying to see how brave the Canadian ambassador was while the not so Great British Embassy was too cowardly to even give asylum to the endangered Americans who were trying to escape Iran. Oh how the mighty have fallen!

Barak Obama grovelled before the Arabs

liligans Politics

In yesterday’s third U.S debate, Governor Romney asked why the newly-elected President Obama avoided Israel on his visit to the Middle East.

Obama replied that he did visit Israel on a previous visit, the one that he made during his election campaign.

Any person can see through this ploy. He was courting the Jewish lobby during the election, of course.

Once he was became President, however, Obama felt that he no longer had to suck up to the Jews. So he blatantly omitted Israel from his visit to the Middle East.

I can still see the image of Obama grovelling to the Arabs, bending over and kissing the hands of the Saudis. It was a degrading act for the leader of a nation which fought and won independence from monarchy.

And there he was bending over and grovelling to the the nations that nurtured the attack on the Twin Towers.

Now in this third debate Obama said he stands with the Israelis.

Now what is that famous saying again? “With friends like these……”

It will be another four years of this and thank goodness that he can only have two stints in the presidency.

Shame on Kerry Stokes! Shame on New Idea!

liligans Politics, What Pisses me off

I cannot imagine what got into the heads of the advertisers of “New Idea”. This publication is run by Kerry Stokes and Seven West Media. In an effort to boost sales of the magazine the executives have decided to stoop to disgusting depths with their latest TV commercial.

They have decided to pick on the Amish!

Can you imagine a less offensive group of Americans who don’t cause trouble, don’t get political or use violence? They don’t carry guns. They don’t blow themselves up in suicide attacks. They just want to be left alone to live their lives.

So what does the TV commercial for “New Idea” portray?

Well, it shows a young Amish woman reading “New Idea”, removing her modest cap and shaking her hair provocatively. Another scene shows a young Amish woman (under the spell of “New Idea”) lifting up her skirts and poking out her thigh the way that Angeline Jolie did on the red carpet.

All this is done in front of stunned Amish elders.

This commercial is in poor taste and extremely offensive to the Amish. My consolation is that the Amish will probably never see or hear about the “New Idea” commercial but I would like the rest of the U.S.A to be aware of the shameful mocking of some of their population.

Just as our Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, is prepared to offend the people of New Jersey for his own political gains, I think it is immoral to make fun of a peaceful religious sect like the Amish.

My question to Kerry Stokes and “New Idea” is would you cowardly guys have dared to portray a Muslim woman doing the same as the Amish woman? I think not. The Amish are easy pickings, aren’t they?

Why Julian Assange is dangerous

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

Yesterday, we commemorated the contribution made by Alan Turing. Born exactly a hundred years ago, Turing was a brilliant mathematician who headed the codebreaking unit in Britain during the Second World War.

It was he who was largely responsible for inventing the Enigma machine at Bletchley Park, the secret British centre for codebreaking. His team could decipher cryptic German messages and this information was used against the enemy itself.

Naturally, it was crucial that the Germans not find out about the Enigma machine and so the secret of Bletchley Park was kept until well after the War when the danger was over.

It was the secrecy around the Enigma Code which shortened the War.

Which brings me to Julian Assange and why he is dangerous. In my opinion, had amoral Assange been around during this war and had he learned about the Enigma machine, I am convinced that he would have blabbed it to the World and endangered the lives of many millions of Allies.

Why is the ABC protecting Peter Slipper?

liligans Politics, So you think you're cultured?

At 5 am today I read that Peter Slipper, Speaker of the House in Parliament was being accused of sexually harassing, James Ashby, a young man in his employ.

By 6 am the story had disappeared from the ABC’s online site. Other online sites were still reporting the allegations while the ABC story was gone.

I was puzzled about this disappearance. Who told the ABC to remove the story?

By 7.30 am the ABC put the story about Peter Slipper back on its site.

Hmm…

Shame on Premier Anna Bligh of Queensland

liligans Politics

Politics is a dirty business and elections bring out the dirt in heaps. The Queensland elections are in full swing and things aren’t looking good for the incumbent Premier, Anna Bligh. Her opponent in the premiership stakes is Campbell Newman who used to be the Lord Mayor of Brisbane. And he was a good one, so good that Bligh fears his popularity and has to accuse Newman of all sorts of nefarious deeds.

Newman has denied any such activities, but Bligh is so desperate that she has continued to accuse him of corruption and nepotism. She would like to accuse him of causing the Great Flood of Brisbane last year but that has turned out to be her government’s mismanagement according to a recent report on the tragic events.

Because of her constant accusations, the CMC (Crimes and Misconduct Commission Queensland) has been asked to investigate whether Campbell Newman has done anything wrong. It turns out that there have been no improprieties in his dealings as Lord Mayor.

In spite of this finding, Premier Bligh has refused to apologise to Newman. He has in fact said that she owes an apology to the people of Queensland. She’s still banking on finding something nasty about her opponent if she skulks around long enough.

I expected better of Premier Bligh. How could she stoop so low and not have the guts to admit that she might have behaved badly?

Her government is on the nose at the moment. Queensland is praying for a regime change and I hope that the voters will disapprove of her muckraking.

Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is going to lose my support.

liligans Politics

How can Tony Abbott claim to be defending women’s honour when he demands that Defence Minister Stephen Smith apologise to the Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy?

I do not intend to go into the details of the scandal that took place in the Defence Academy last year. It’s far too complicated. There was some filming of a sex act which was broadcast simultaneously on Skype without the knowledge and permission of the woman in question. Minister Smith was rightly outraged when he was told about it and expressed his disgust at the way the woman was subsequently victimised by the Academy.

The person in charge of the Academy at that time was Commodore Bruce Kafer and a report on the whole business says that “overall” he is not to blame and will be reinstated.

Be that as it may, I feel that Kafer did not behave as well as he should have last year. So Stephen Smith is correct in not apologising to him.

On this occasion, Smith has been valiant and admirable in his criticism of the Defence Academy and its head.

However, I fail to understand why Tony Abbott, who claims to be a defender of female rights, should then decide to continue his Dr No impersonation and blame the Minister for NOT apologising to Kafer. Surely, this would have been an opportunity to support the Minister’s ethical stand. Abbott could have demonstrated that women should not be treated with such disrespect by the Academy.

But no, instead, he reverted to his silly stance of criticising everything that the government does, even if it’s good.

That is so disappointing. He is in danger of alienating Liberal supporters like me. I already disapprove of his ridiculously unrealistic and unnecessary maternal leave scheme which will pay high earners their entire salary for six months. Talk about absurd!

And now Abbott proves how erratic he is by siding against women in the Defence Force case, just so that he can attack a serving Minister who has some balls.

Abbott has done well to raise the profile of the Opposition, but he is in danger of spoiling it all by being too adversarial.