Tasmania bans abortion clinic protests

Image: Tasmanian Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne. (This explains a lot)

In a draconian move by the Tasmanian government, protests cannot be held within a one hundred and fifty meter radius of an abortion clinic.  At this stage there is no other legislation on the books banning any other protests in a similar manner against anything else.

This action is part of the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013, so it only applies to protests against abortionists.  It also compels doctors who refuse to carry them out on conscience grounds to refer patents to others who will: 

“The bill proposes a fine of $65,000 or a 12 month jail term for the newly created crime of protesting in an area within a radius of 150 metres from an abortion clinic. This is an inappropriate limitation on freedom of speech. 

“General laws against intimidation already exist in the law and they are appropriate restraints on unacceptable behavior.  

“Singling out particular premises for special treatment undermines equality before the law. This bill does not make it illegal to distribute material outside supermarkets or sports grounds, for instance. The Tasmanian government should not ban protests, whether they occur outside an abortion clinic or a timber mill. 

“The bill also threatens freedom of conscience by forcing doctors who have a conscientious objection to abortion to refer patients to another doctor who does not have such objections. A fine of $32,500 applies to counsellors who refuse to contradict their beliefs. This is a clear and unacceptable infringement of freedom of conscience,” said Mr Breheny.

Tasmania is a state with great potential but cruelled by successive governments over the years.  The current one is made up of far left Labor, in coalition with the Greens, who as close to Bolshies as you can get, this side of Stalin.  It is something like Australia’s California.

As much as the idea of abortion is distasteful, legalizing it creates a safer environment for women who undergo the process.  Its illegality has not prevented many from taking place, but has created a situation where women’s lives are at risk.  It is controversial however, and it is reasonable to expect protests against it.

The left though, regard it as some sort of sacred cow that must not be questioned, let alone be objected to. 

United Australia Party formed

After a couple of false starts and much speculation, billionaire businessman Clive Palmer has acted on his decision to enter politics, by starting his own political movement, the United Australia Party.  Labor and the LNP have greeted this with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

Much of the commentary at present is doubting that he can get it up and running in time for the federal election, due in September, and it will take a very streamlined organization to have the party registered in time with the deadline for applications somewhere around the middle of next month.  Palmer though, has a substantial business organization around him with the necessary skills readily available.  If anyone can pull it off, Clive Palmer can.

While the entry of the UAP adds to an already crowded field of new or smaller parties vying for their place in the sun, it is a good thing to see a political party led by a businessman who understands how the real world works.  The only other party with a businessman at the helm is the Liberal Democrats, the rest being led by political functionaries. 

Most new political parties are given the silent treatment by the major parties and the media denying them oxygen and coverage, however this is not possible with Clive at the helm.  He is a larger than life character who is not afraid to be himself, resulting in the situation where there is so much public interest in him that he is a publicity magnet.

Probably the snarkiest statement came, predictably from Labor with the comment by former NSW Treasurer, Michael Costa who said, ”… This is farcical, … look, this is a limelight deficiency for him and he is out trying to drum up some media attention and it’s a joke.  Joh [Bjelke Peterson] had some credibility, he was a state premier, a long serving state premier, but this guy has no credibility at all”

This highlights everything that is wrong with political perceptions in this country, in that it assumes that regardless of the quality of the people behind the party, it cannot work without experienced people of the sort who got us into the current mess in leadership positions.  It’s as if we need a solid core of those who know how to game the system and are prepared to play by the rules set down on stone tablets that guarantee that nothing changes.

After the next election, there will be numerous former MPs and departmental advisors who would be happy to advise a party of clean skins who have attained power.  With care, it should be relatively easy to hire the best of them as consultants if they are actually needed. 

The UAP can be found here. At present it is a bit light on policies but we shall see what develops.

Dutch abandon multiculturalism

Much of the Western world is in the thrall of multiculturalism, a bad idea whose time has passed.  In Europe, which seems to have embraced the concept like a viper to its bosom, serious problems have arisen owing to extremely liberal human rights laws of the EU, and a virtual open border allowing unrestricted migration from the Middle East and Africa.

The Netherlands, where Party for Freedom (PVV) leader, Geert Wilders (L) and former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali (R) live under constant threat of being murdered has had enough and are abandoning the concept: 

The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants create a parallel society within the Netherlands. 

A new integration bill, which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads:  “The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. 

In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role.”  With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.  

The letter continues: “A more obligatory integration is justified because the government also demands that from its own citizens. …

Among the changes, immigrants will be required to learn the Dutch language, a tougher approach to immigrants who ignore Dutch values or disobey Dutch law, no special subsidies for Muslim immigrants, and a ban on face-covering, Islamic burqas.

Irony lost on Muslims

The talking heads at MSNBC now have another issue to use for bombarding us with PC: 

Elmirza Khozhugov, 26, the ex-husband of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s younger sister, Ailina, said that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been enamored of conspiracy theories, and that he was also concerned by the wars in the Middle East. 

“He was looking for connections between the wars in the Middle East and oppression of Muslim population around the globe,” Mr. Khozhugov said in an e-mail. “It was very hard to argue with him on themes somehow connected to religion. On the other hand, he did not hate Christians. He respected their faith. Never said anything bad about other religions. But he was angry that the world pictures Islam as a violent religion.”

So be warned; the suggestion that Islam is violent will result in Muslims trying to blow you up.  Should you make such a claim, avoid standing close to anyone wearing clothing bearing the DuPont or Orica label.

Former Rep Weiner; more photos out there?

Image: Antony Weiner’s ‘self portrait’

Some disgraced politicians just fade out of the limelight, others accept the reality that electors wont support them and that their days in the sun are over. These are forced to join the first group.  Then there are the comeback kids like Sanford and Weiner.

Mark Sanford was the Governor of South Carolina who was censured for secretly flying to Argentina for an affair, and lying about it.  He is now standing for the seat vacated by Tim Scott.  The Republicans have taken a risk in nominating him, however the Democrats are running a leftist in the conservative seat, so he could just make it.

Antony Weiner on the other hand had to resign after tweeting images of his little ‘namesake’ to women.  Now that he is about to stand for NYC Mayor he has a problem in that it appears that there may be other images that have not come to light yet: 

Weiner resigned in 2011 after images of him in various states of undress surfaced. The New York lawmaker sent the images via Twitter to women he met online. 

“If reporters want to go try to find more, I can’t say that they’re not going to be able to find another picture, or find another — you know, person who may want to come out on their own, but I’m not going to contribute to that," Weiner told RNN-TV. … 

… In an interview with The New York Times earlier this month, Weiner said he was seeking "people's approval" with the inappropriate images. 

“I wasn’t really thinking,” Weiner said. “What does this mean that I’m doing this? Is this risky behavior? Is this smart behavior? To me, it was just another way to feed this notion that I want to be liked and admired.’’

Given that these people have by their own actions dragged their own names through the mud, it seems crazy that they would want to reprise the reputational damage by trying to go back into politics.  It is rather sad in some ways to think that these two are unable to come up with some honest form of living, and that their only form of existence is within the political system.

Anzac Day; QX 5005 Cpl Harry Skyring Baylis

As a personal touch to the day, Cpl Baylis was my mother’s cousin.  He was killed in action on the 10^th of November 1942, which according to the history of the 2/33 would have been at Gorari in PNG (7-11 Nov 42).

While this was going on, my father was involved in the battle of El Alamein.

Roll of Honour - Harry Skyring Baylis

Service number: QX5005

Rank: Corporal

Unit: 2/33rd Battalion (Infantry)

Service: Australian Army

Conflict: 1939-1945

Date of death: 10 November 1942

Place of death: Papua

Cause of death: Killed in action

Cemetery or memorial details: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea

Bill Maher gags on the kool-aid; calls ‘liberal bullshit’

Comedian Bill Maher is in many ways your average liberal progressive big government creature of the state, although he has on occasions disagreed with some aspects of it.  Recently he commented on the exorbitant California tax rates, stating that liberals could actually lose him.  This possibly indicated a move out of the state rather than any chance of him becoming a Republican or libertarian.

On other fronts, he donated a million dollars to the Obama campaign at the last election, and is not only anti gun, but also anti Second Amendment.

However, he is not into political correctness to the point where he is prepared to believe Islam is the same as other faiths.  On the suggestion that Islam was the same as Christianity on hypocrisy and doing whacky things he fairly gagged on his Kool-aid calling “liberal bullshit:”

 This will have more influence on liberal nut jobs than all the logic in the world, coming from one of their own.

Cows, Cars, and the Ethanol Con

By Viv Forbes 

Why are emissions from cows digesting grain classed as bad, whereas the same emissions from cars burning grain ethanol are lauded as green and good?

Consider a paddock of corn. Most of the carbon in the growing plant comes from carbon dioxide in the air which is converted to plant material using solar energy via the magic of photosynthesis. Other minor carbon compounds come from the atmosphere via busy microbes in the soil. 

This plant material, either biomass or grain, can be fed to cattle or other livestock, made into ethanol for motor fuel, or made into food for people. 

All cows, cars and people then use an internal digestion/combustion process to extract the energy collected and stored by the corn plants.

In every case, this process produces gaseous emissions, mainly carbon dioxide.

In cattle and people, some of the plant’s carbon is stored for a while in flesh and bones. The rest is emitted as the natural gases carbon dioxide and methane. This methane is soon oxidised in the atmosphere to produce carbon dioxide.

In cars, virtually every atom of carbon in the ethanol burned produces one molecule of carbon dioxide.

Over the life of a cow running on corn or a car running on ethanol, they both produce exactly the same carbon emissions from exactly the same plant input. Every atom of carbon extracted from the air by the green plant eventually returns to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the plant food. This is the natural carbon-based cycle of life.

It is therefore scientific incompetence or deliberate fraud by global warming alarmists, vested interests and “scientists” to claim that consuming ethanol in cars is good and should be subsidised but consuming the same plant material in cows must be rationed and taxed.

We are told that ethanol is a renewable energy. Closer inspection shows it ties up a lot of good cropping land; uses a lot of motor fuel to plant, harvest, and transport the grain; and then a lot more energy to ferment, distil and distribute it to make up its mandated proportion of motor fuel.  Even more energy is used to make, transport and apply fertiliser. Growing corn for ethanol is a zero sum game at best.

We can surely learn from history.

Back in 2005, US corn prices were $2.30 per bushel. Then the US Congress mandated the use of ethanol in motor fuel so that even before the recent US drought, corn prices had risen to $5.50 per bushel. In 2007, the US Congress increased the quantity of ethanol to be added to gasoline and the demand for corn again soared. Then the widespread drought in the US reduced the supply of corn, and corn prices rose again to a peak of $8.34 per bushel in August 2012. The US is now using 40% of their corn harvest to provide about 10% of their vehicle fuel.


Such foolishness has done NOTHING for the climate, but has increased food prices, put more land under cultivation, increased nitrogen fertiliser use, and caused starvation in countries dependent on US corn exports.

Ethanol madness has magnified the effects of the drought - twenty US ethanol plants have closed and cattle feedlots are closing because of a shortage of grain. 

And to cap the foolishness, ethanol production consumes more energy than it produces. It is an inferior motor fuel, producing lower km/litre and also damaging some engines.

An ethanol industry propped up by subsidies and mandates is un-sustainable. It increases the tax burden and pushes up the cost of grains, beef, pork, eggs, milk and cereals. Subsidising ethanol brings no benefits for the climate or the environment and harms the poor and hungry of the world.

And should the world move into a period of natural global cooling, which is at least as likely as a resumption of last century’s gentle warming, food production will plummet and a world-wide food crisis will be upon us.

It is time to end the ethanol con.

No more forcing motorists to buy it. No more tax breaks for construction of ethanol plants. No more subsidies or special protection for ethanol speculators.  Let ethanol production compete fairly with all other sources of transport energy.

And let’s have no more slander about emissions of the livestock industry which, when all is considered, is greener than the ethanol industry.

Sensible politicians need to stop pandering to the anti-human green lobby, stop posturing on the world green stage, learn some carbon chemistry, and stop burning food for fuel.

Viv Forbes is a geologist and grass farmer who has spent his whole life in the primary industries, farming and mining, mainly in coal, cattle and sheep. He is self-employed and should be retired. He fears for the damage being done to the energy and food industries by baseless scare-mongering about the harmless, non-polluting plant food, carbon dioxide. He is the founder of the Carbon Sense Coalition

Boston bombers; what will the media say tomorrow?

After days of claiming that the Boston bombers had to be right wing extremists, Tea Partiers, white Caucasian conservatives, military veterans, and everything else associated with the right, or the Republican Party, it will be interesting to see what MSNBC and other outlets have to say in the morning.

I just can’t wait.

Rather than being (as predicted) white male right wingers from flyover states, who are anti-state, anti-big government, anti-authoritarian, or just want to be left alone, unsurprisingly, the perpetrators turned out to be Islamic extremists from Chechnya, or Kyrgyzstan.

There has been a growing pattern from the Obama media echo chamber in every incident, of announcing that it has to be righties this time, despite everything we have learned from the past.  In every incident since 9/11, the media has attempted to blame the right only to end up with egg on their faces when the perpetrators turn out to be Muslim extremists, registered Democrats, or both.

PREDICTION:

A report on Fox News mentioning that the only thing that can be found on other networks is the sound of crickets chirping.

The Boston bombing and reactions

Our hearts go out to our American cousins over the terrible events at the end of the Boston Marathon, especially to the families of the dead and the injured.  It would be difficult to imagine any real motive for such a shameful and senseless act, other than a deep hatred of the American public at large.

There was no targeting of the authorities or any other group; rather the target seemed to be whatever random Americans and visitors happened to be in the way at the time.  9/11 made more sense than this.

The worst aspect of the event other than the casualties and grief entailed has to be the disgusting attempts to politicize it by the Democratic Party echo squad in the press.

 The injured were still being picked up off the road when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof leapt onto twitter to claim that the Republican Party was to blame for blocking the appointment of the acting director of the BATF to director.  He seems to be indicating that the bureau would function more efficiently if the person currently in charge of it is promoted to being in charge of it.  Go figure.

If as he is claiming the organization screwed up and allowed the bombing, then the acting director should be fired, not promoted.  As he is the guy who oversaw Fast and Furious, he should probably be fired anyway.

Perpetual Obama shill, Chris Matthews has come up with the startling statement that domestic terrorists are from the far right: 

During live coverage, the Hardball host highlighted a possible explosion at John F. Kennedy's presidential library and thought this could be a personal attack on the Democratic Party: "...But going after the Kennedy Library, not something at Bunker Hill, not something from the Freedom Trail or anything that kind of historic, but a modern political figure of the Democratic Party. Does that tell you something?" (Police are now considering the incident at the JFK library to be fire-related.) One can only guess what it tells Chris.

This will come as quite a surprise to Billy (Boom Boom) Ayers and the remaining members of the Weather Underground.  Chris and Co though, tend to regard Billy as a 'student activist', or perhaps a 'social justice advocate' rather than a terrorist.

Media personalities for want of another more appropriate word, too numerous to mention have drawn attention to the fact that it was Patriots Day, tax day, the anniversary of Waco etc, and drawing the conclusion that it had to be a home grown home grown terrorists, preferably from the right.

The fact they seem to be missing in all of this is that that day happens to coincide with the running of the Boston Marathon, which happens to create a large number of people in a concentrated area, ideal for the purpose of causing maximum mayhem.  Perish the thought, but it is just possible that the idea was to bomb the finishing line of the marathon, rather than to pursue some political agenda.

In any case, a politically motivated operative would work with the objective of attacking the establishment to the maximum, while keeping civilian casualties to a minimum in order to keep the people on side.  Primary targets would tend to be government orientated, such as the IRS, BATF, FBI, police, etc, away from the possibility of causing civilian casualties.   Even Billy Boom Boom did that.

Then you have the conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones.  Alex predictably thinks that it is an inside job. 

Added to this, there is Cynthia McKinney, who is shaping up into a nice montage of the political acumen of Maxine Waters, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, combined with the deep and incisive thoughts of Alex, to come up with the theory that it was something to do with the police department’s controlled explosions drill.  Apparently she has the view that the police bombed the crowd in order to practice the procedures involved in a real bombing. 

How Thatcher won Soviet hearts and minds

Image; Atbeshian’s tribute to Margaret Thatcher.

Since the death of Margaret Thatcher we have been regaled with images of haters, looters, and lefties celebrating the event.  The song ‘The Witches Dead’ we are informed, has hit No 3 on the British pop charts owing to a surge in demand since she passed.

One aspect that rings particularly false is the images of demonstrations with a lot of youthful people present.  Given that Thatcher lost the Prime Ministership in 1990, around 23 years ago and that it takes some time for kids to become politically aware, it is reasonable to assume that anyone under the age of around 36/38 would have no direct experience of her tenure.  To these people, the Thatcher phenomenon would be something they only have only been told of.

Oleg Atbashian had the experience of being born and raised behind the Iron Curtain in the Ukraine and has very different memories of her.  He credits her for his conversion from creature of the state, to a libertarian: 

As many Soviet kids did in the 1970s and 1980s, I occasionally tuned my shortwave radio to Voice of America or the BBC Russian Service, hoping to hear their alternative take on world events and, if I was lucky, get the latest rock-music updates. One of the functions of the Iron Curtain was to keep us, the “builders of communism,” blissfully unaware of the outside world. All our news had to be processed by the state-run media filter and approved by the formidable censorship apparatus. 

In contrast, foreign Russian-language radio broadcasts, courtesy of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, gave us unfiltered news and commentary. These programs were to the Soviets then what Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are for many Americans today — a gasp of fresh air for some, enemy propaganda for others, and an object of demonization for the official state-run media. 

Produced mostly by ex-Soviet exiles, these broadcasts never failed to satisfy my curiosity. The problem was that our government was mercilessly jamming their signal. … 

… A few times my friends and I tried to tape these programs simultaneously in our homes, so that later we could combine salvageable parts from two or more reels. That resulted in a much clearer compilation. We mostly did this for rock and roll programs, but political commentary would get into the mix as well — and it was just as fresh and exciting. 

If we had ever been caught, we could have been easily expelled from our state-run schools (paid for by our tax rubles) and become marked for life as “politically unreliable.” But we were too young and too reckless to think about it. … 

… One night — it had to be late 1982, when Margaret Thatcher was running for her first re-election — my shortwave radio caught a BBC broadcast of the Iron Lady’s campaign speech. … 

… Listening to Thatcher speak confirmed everything the Soviet media was reporting about her, and more. In a deep, powerful voice, she accused her socialist opponents of destroying the British economy through nationalization and presented the proof of how privatizing it again was bringing the economy back to life. The free markets worked as expected, making Britain strong again. The diseased socialist welfare state had to go, to be replaced by a healthy competitive society. … 

… So if everything had always been in private hands, what exactly did Thatcher privatize? And where did the free, cradle-to-grave government services come from? … 

… What started with me listening out of curiosity ended up with a sudden realization that she was right on all points. I instantly became Thatcher’s fan. The experience was inspiring. I remember how on the following day in school I described that speech to my friends, argued the prime minister’s points, and even attempted a voice impression, emphasizing the confident manner in which the Iron Lady spoke. Never before had I heard a speaker so full of conviction. … 

… After I moved to the United States years later, I also discovered Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises. But Thatcher was one of the earliest prominent guideposts in my intellectual journey, for which I am forever grateful. …

The greatest threat the West offered the authoritarian world was never military, but ideological.  Liberty, if fully understood, is the most powerful tool in the political armory.  To those ‘huddled masses yearning to be free’ the voice of Thatcher was an inspiration.

Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from Ukraine, currently lives in New York. He is the creator of ThePeoplesCube.com, a satirical website where he writes under the name of Red Square. He is the author of recently published Shakedown Socialism.

TOTUS stolen; President’s silence explained

A Breitbart report has solved the recent mystery of why President Obama fell silent for a week, causing some to speculate that he may have been suffering from laryngitis. It is now revealed that TOTUS (Teleprompter Of The United States,) was stolen along with the truck it was being transported in.

White House spokesman Jay Crony told reporters today that it is unusual to transport TOTUS separately to the President as it is needed at all times for those occasions when he has to make off the cuff remarks, or respond to people saying “Hi” to him.  “You have to feel for him” he said, “its absence created the situation where he couldn’t even tell us what the problem was.”

“Even after it was returned it had to be taken out of service almost immediately to remove malware that had been put into the operating system which may have been the cause of the rather erratic statement Mr. Obama made that afternoon.”

Mr Crony was believed to be referring to the speech made by President Obama in which he endorsed a possible Rand Paul/Newt Gingrich ticket for 2016, and nominated Glen Beck for inclusion into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame.  This caused considerable consternation at MSNBC.

A distraught Chris Mathews pointed out that while he would carry out the President’s wishes, a Rand Paul Presidency could possibly be dangerous to his health.  “The effect of the President’s speeches is OK at present while they are reasonably short, but a thirteen hour long leg thrill could be more than my heart can stand,” he said.

Some reports indicate that the theft was only discovered when First Lady, Michelle Obama asked the head of President Obama’s security detail, Mr Mohammed Ali Rasheed to investigate the absolute silence of the President over the course of several days. 

Mr Rasheed entered the Oval Office and discovered the President on the telephone trying to mouth words and staring bemusedly at the wall. This tipped him off that the teleprompter was missing and an investigation got underway.  It was found when the husband of a lady who bought it in a pawn shop, reported that she was telling him off with soaring speeches about hoping he would change.

The thief has been sentenced to seven years hard in the federal pen.  AG, Eric Holder admitted that the penalty may seem harsh to some, but pointed out that the dangers caused by the President being unable to communicate, especially when the North Koreans are threatening nuclear war, and more so, when John Boehner is making a real prick of himself, cannot be overstated.

The real story is here. 

Reported Bitcoin ‘crash’

The business section of the Courier Mail is reporting a crash in the value of Bitcoin, and asks whether it can survive the massive fluctuation in the marketplace: 

As currency crises in Europe piqued investors' interest, a growing number of businesses announced they were accepting bitcoins for an ever-wider range of goods and services. The value of a single bitcoin began racing upward amid growing media attention, smashing past the $US100 ($94.9) mark last week before more than doubling again in just a few days.Then came the crash. 

The price of Bitcoin has imploded, falling from around $US266 on Wednesday (US time) to just above $US40 on Thursday, according to bitcoincharts.com, which tracks trades across the Internet. The best-known exchange, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, has suspended trading for what it described as a 12-hour "market cooldown." By late Thursday, the currency was back up to just more than $US100. 

This is bad news for the notorious Winklevoss twins, who claim to own 1 per cent of all Bitcoins in existence according to the New York Times.

“An array of speculators have now bid up the price of the Bitcoin to the point where the outstanding supply of the digital money was worth $US1.3 billion at last count. The Winklevii — as they are popularly known — say they own nearly 1 per cent of that, or some $US11 million.”

While the drop from $266 to $40 could be described as a crash, itwould be difficult to describe the entire event as one.  Within 24 hours the price was back up to what it was prior to the speculative bubble, which seems to indicate that the market perception of the coin currently values it at about $100.

Certainly, such fluctuations would be unwelcome and were they repeated would undermine confidence in the currency.

Bitcoin being a free market product will tend to fluctuate in value, especially as official government currencies go down the gurgler with the continuing debasement of printing presses running at full capacity 24/7.