Candidates, scammers, and the FBI

I am not sure whether Nigerian bankers are targeting political candidates or whether Bob Katter or Clive Palmer have found a novel way to raise funds, but since nominating for the senate in WA, I have had an influx of scam letters.

It probably makes sense for them to target political candidates; some of the missives from a number of them, as well as the public statements of the Libs, Nats, Labor, the Greens, and both parties named after their founders indicate that they are probably susceptible. 

Anyone who believes as Labor does, that strategic positioning of naval forces means moving their base into a river where the PM’s seat is threatened, would take anything on face value.

So far, two Nigerian bankers have contacted me, one offering me about $15 million if I help him move it out of unclaimed accounts.  The other is offering $9.7 mil but he could be genuine as he is a ‘Reverend’ who is the final signatory on interbank transfers.

There is also a legal firm in Lagos informing me that they are sorting out the estate of a person with the same surname as me who died along with his entire family in a plane crash.  He left no will and his $21.6 mil is mine for the taking if I lodge a claim.

I don’t know why so many people who share the same surname with me have such rotten luck.  So far five of them have died without leaving either a will, or contact details for their next of kin and oddly, they all seem to have sums of around $20 mil in the bank.

The best though, is the one I received under FBI letterhead from a ‘Special Agent Colleen M. Conyngham, (BADGE NUMBER JTT047101111)’.  Its so much better to be contacted by a special agent rather than an ordinary one, although I would have preferred that rather smooth looking chick from ‘Criminal Minds’.  Anyway, Colleen has a rather fascinating tale to tell:

We have been informed through our global intelligence monitoring network that the sum of $10.500, 000.00, has been released from a bank in Africa bearing your name as the beneficiary without dist certificate to clear your name and fund from every terrorist or drug or money laundering activities 

We sincerely apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of a certified mail, phone call or a  face-to-face conversation,We will also send you a certified email later it is due to the urgency and importance of the security information needed. To checkmate financial recklessness, illegal gambling, racketeering and considering the effect of the global financial crisis rocking the United States, our government with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) Washington, DC and the internet crime complaint center (ic3),alongside the CIA  signed an agreement with U.K  police for an immediate release of all overdue funds presently logged in their treasury and to ensure it is disbursed to the rightful beneficiaries in all parts of the world. If you the beneficiary would adhere to our instruction it will help you receive your payment  immediately  

The bank knowing fully well that they do not have enough facilities to make this payment from any part of the world to your account directly, used what we know as a secret diplomatic transit payment (s.d.t.p) method to make the payment. direct transfers are difficult and secret diplomatic transit payment (s.d.t.p) are not  usually made unless the funds are  related to terrorist activities and we ask why must your payment be made in  a secret transfer if your transaction  is legitimate.  

We do not want you to get into trouble as soon as these funds reflect in your personal account, so it is our duty as an international agency to correct these little problems before this fund reflects into your personal account.  

we advise you to contact us immediately, as your funds have been stopped and are being held in our custody, until you are able to provide us with the dist certificate within 3 days from the country that authorized the transfer to certify that the funds that you are about to receive are terrorist/drug free or we shall have cause to impound the payment and subsequently prosecute you for cross border terrorist financial activites. 

based on our findings, our investigative department wish to warn you against some miscreants, hoodlums and touts who go about scamming innocent people by claiming to be who they are not and thereby tarnishing the image of this wonderful country. By sending out fraudulent emails without our official logo and emblem we shall release your funds immediately we receive this legal document and we will ensure that you receive your payment without any further delay.

It must be from a genuine ‘public servant’ as it ends with a number of dire warnings and threats that will be carried out if the information is disclosed.  There are a number of spelling and grammatical errors, but you know what they say about the US public school system.

That adds up to a total of $56.3m, which is quite a tidy sum to the point where my retirement could be fully funded.  Hell, if it all comes through in time I just might sling $5 or 10 mil to the Liberal Democrats to help them win the election. 

Liberal Democrats blast Rudd’s high-speed rail

Despite treasury warnings that the economy has entered a new phase where the rivers of gold from China are coming to an end and there is little left in kitty to splurge on election promises, Kevin Rudd has had a new thought bubble about high speed rail.

HSR is a great thing from a political perspective.  The very mention of it conjures up dreams among commuters of almost instant transportation from their current location to somewhere far away.  It’s a bit like, you buy the ticket and it’s “Beam me up Scotty.”

Labor has been promising this at every election for many years and will continue to do so.  They have an unhealthy obsession with big spending signature projects, and the Greens like it.

Liberal Democrats Senate candidate for Western Australia, Mr Jim Fryar has attacked Labor’s ‘high speed rail’ thought bubble.

“The idea of prohibitively expensive high speed rail from Sydney to Melbourne with an extension to Brisbane is symptomatic of an imminent election and synonymous with everything wrong with the way Australia is governed,” he said.

“While such projects readily lend themselves to soaring rhetoric, great visual graphics, stirring television advertisements, dreams of government largesse, and carries with it the potential to shore up marginal seats, the reality is that it has to be paid for and the benefits are far from proven.”

Paying for it is the part where West Australians, South Australians, Tasmanians, Territorians, and those Queenslanders living north or west of the Brisbane Gold Coast corridor come into it.”  “The South Easterners enjoy the benefits, while those of us out in flyover country get dudded with the bill.”

 “While there is some evidence that HSR can be viable overseas between cities with bigger populations than that of Australia, it must be efficiently run and it is unlikely that cutting a new railway line through vast swathes of the southern seaboard will be an economic proposition.  We will probably have to subsidise it forever”, he said.

The $52 million being blown in the Prime Minister’s announcement is not for construction; this is just to establish an authority to give the appearance of having a plan.  The expected cost on current projections is $114 billion, which is outrageous in our current economic situation.

“Given that the NBN was supposed to cost in the vicinity of $30 billion and is now likely to run to $90 billion and counting, while years behind schedule, this HSR proposal can be expected to cost around $300 to 400 billion,” he added.  “Even that will depend on how much is added to the original estimate at the behest of lobbyists and sectional interests.”

Mr Fryar said he was not surprised by the existence of a strong secessionist sentiment in the West.  “People are tired of restrictions on their personal liberty and economic activities, designed to assuage the conscience of the eastern latte set while paying for grandiose vote buying visions from Canberra, especially those like this one that will be of no benefit whatsoever to them.”

“Former Victorian Premier, Sir Henry Bolte once stated his intention to keep Australia’s money in Victoria.  Mr Rudd, while echoing the selfsame sentiment, is extending it to NSW and north to his electorate.”  “Canberra’s interest in the West, is about the same as a dingo has in a newborn lamb,” he concluded. 

Minor party alliance in meltdown

Don Chipp once said the Senate was there to ''keep the bastards honest''. I think it is a little simpler this time; we just need to know which bastard their bastard is passing your vote to." – Dale Stiller

One of the forces in the 2013 is the Minor Party Alliance, a significant grouping of small and micro-parties doing preference deals with the aim of getting a candidate from one of them across the line in the senate.  Unfortunately, its effectiveness has been reduced by the hubris and possibly vindictiveness of its organizer, Glen Druery who would otherwise have done a great job.

Now there appears to be major cracks appearing in the organization owing to the contention of the leader of the Australian Independents Party that they were screwed over and that others received the same treatment.  Police have been called in after alleged threats from Druery: 

INFIGHTING among minor parties has come to a head with election consultant Glenn Druery accused of a double-cross over preference deals intended to deny the Greens the balance of power in the Senate. 

Queensland candidate and leader of the Australian Independents Party Patricia Petersen said she had called police alleging Mr Druery had threatened her over the phone. Mr Druery is the brains behind a "minor party alliance" involving up to 35 groups on Senate tickets. 

He is alleged to have helped the Senate aspirations of the Shooters and Fishers Party, Fishing and Lifestyle Party and Family First. All are expected to fall well short of 14.3 per cent vote quotas needed for Senate spots. 

Mr Druery confirmed to The Weekend Australian that he was acting as a paid consultant but declined to name clients among the minor party alliance. "I don't think it's fair to identify clients," he said. … 

… Asked about Ms Petersen's allegation he had threatened her, Mr Druery said: "I don't do that.” 

Ms Petersen said she went to police this week after receiving a "threatening message" from Mr Druery when a preferences deal they had fell through. She said she had struck deals with the Fishers and Shooters, Fishing and Lifestyle and Family First parties, all of whom she claimed had paid Mr Druery to organise their preferences. 

When Ms Petersen found out about the botched deal, she sent a scathing email to minor party alliance members, alleging three parties, including hers, had been "completely screwed over" by Mr Druery. The election consultant is then alleged to have fought back, leaving a voicemail on Ms Petersen's mobile phone telling her to "cease (allegations) immediately" or "you won't see the f..king sunshine". … 

… Family First's Mr Fenn said he had not paid Mr Druery for preference negotiations but "perhaps for other things -- I don't want to go into it"

Yep, Mr Fenn, you probably wouldn’t want that in the public domain.

Druery is a disgruntled former Liberal Democrats candidate who just missed out on a senate spot in New South Wales during the 2010 election.  Subsequent to that he attempted to do a deal with the Shooters who demanded the right to veto members of our Federal Executive, something no party would stand for.  He resigned from the party when this was rejected.

As result of his animosity the Liberal Democrats were not allowed to participate in the minor parties alliance despite a healthy 2.25% vote in Queensland and NSW in 2010, thus denying the other parties in it a chance to throw their weight behind us with the potential to harness a solid preference deal if they came out ahead of us. 

We were invited in on the last day of dealing but by that time had our deals in place.

We look on with interest and no small amount of amusement.

How the Rudd snake oil works

Few, if any of us on the non-leftist side of politics had much reason for optimism when the ABC introduced its ‘fact checking’ service.  It was expected that it would be similar to factcheck.org in the US which maintained prior to the 2008 election that President Obama was a 2^nd Amendment supporter and that the claims that he was a gun grabber were false.

Somewhat surprisingly, it has called out Kevin Rudd on a couple of occasions in this electoral cycle. 

In the latest, they have revealed how Rudd justifies his claim that Abbott cut a billion dollars from health funding: 

In 2002, the states and territories negotiated with the Commonwealth over their contributions to health care funding for the impending 2003-08 Australian National Healthcare Agreement. The Commonwealth proposed lifting its contribution to $42 billion.The states argued this sum was $1 billion lower than they were expecting, based on earlier estimates for future spending published in Commonwealth budget papers. 

According to the 2003-04 Department of Health and Ageing's portfolio budget statement the cut was justified because public hospitals were treating a greater proportion of out-patients and because Commonwealth incentives to increase use of private hospitals were working. 

The states lost the argument and the $1 billion cut and the $42 billion funding went ahead. The health minister who oversaw these funding changes was Kay Paterson. 

After Mr Abbott took over the portfolio, he began managing the already agreed $42 billion provided in the new five-year Australian National Healthcare Agreement. The annual Commonwealth funding for public hospitals before he became health minister was $8.7 billion in 2002-3 and when he left was $10.7 billion.

Rudd is effectively claiming that as the figure offered was a billion dollars below the states expectations, it represents a cut.  He then goes on to blame Abbott who increased funding by two billion.  In non – government circles this would be seen as deliberate dishonesty given that Rudd has full access to all of the records involved.

This is similar to his description of the bank deposits tax as a saving.  Using the Euro zone/world bank model of the Cyprus bailout as a template, he imposed a similar tax on our bank deposits, albeit at a lower rate as a ‘savings’ measure.

A new tax cannot in any sort of reality understood by the vast majority of us, cannot be seen as anything short of a tax.  In the hallowed halls of Canberra though, it is seen as a saving, owing to the fact that Rudd and his cronies feel entitled to everything that we have.  Rudd actually feels entitled to a portion of our savings after we earn our wages and pay taxes on them, pay our expenses, and manage to save a little.

We have truly reached the stage that Thatcher described as ‘the tuckshop economy’ were all that we are entitled is that proportion of our earnings that the ruling class decides is fair to allow us to retain after they meet their own needs out of it.

Jim Fryar for senate in Western Australia for the LDP

The Liberal Democrats have chosen Jim Fryar (L) to stand as their lead Senate candidate in Western Australia in the imminent federal election.

Jim has over thirty years experience in mining and exploration and has gained a unique perspective on the nation, working in all areas from the hearts of cities to some of the remotest parts of the country, including extended time in the Pilbara and goldfields of Western Australia.

Mr. Fryar said that the three levels of government in Australia are out of control and all constantly pass rules and regulations that impact adversely on all of us as well as sucking up vast financial resource.

The mere fact that something is unregulated is now seen by the government as a reason to regulate it.  
From the time they register your birth, they inspect your toys, regulate your education, supervise your sports, set your working hours, register your occupation, tax your pay packet, license your marriage, medicate your water supply, broadcast your news, interfere with your children's upbringing, subsidise your competitors, resume your land, censor your entertainment, legislate your family arrangements, just to mention a few, and then tax everything that moves to pay for the administration of this.

When they finally drive you to drink they increase the excise on alcohol, claiming it is for the good of your health.  Wherever you go and whatever you do, the government and its associated killjoys are there to restrict you and extract a price.

The cost of this is borne on the backs of Australian taxpayers, especially in the resource rich states like Western Australia and Queensland, where the government watches economic activity with the same keen interest a locust displays towards a wheat field.

The Liberal Democrats is a party that will attempt to reduce the size, scope and cost of government in this country and the stifling effect of it has both on our economy and our personal freedom.  The federal government alone consumes around a quarter of GDP, which has a significant impact, including on household prices.

When you add to this, the depredations of state and local governments, the result is that we probably work for most of the first half of every year just to pay the cost of over-government. We reached the point where governments are acting with no restraint whatsoever and the Liberal Democrats intend to bring it back under control by limiting its functions to what is necessary, rather than anything it wants to do as at present.

“It makes me proud,” he said, “to stand with the Liberal Democrats in this endeavor.  All of us have had enough of elitists who think they know better than us how to run our lives.

Abbott remarks; storm in a B cup

Says attractive candidate (L) has sex appeal

Probably the biggest problem Tony Abbott has is his tendency to run off at the mouth; he tends to let out the clutch on his vocal chords without putting his brain in gear.  There have been numerous examples of this, including his infamous advice not to pay attention to his unscripted remarks.

His ‘suppository of all wisdom’ comment was just a slip of the tongue, but a great deal of histrionics is being employed in the Labor, Greens, feminist response to suggesting that one of his candidates had sex appeal.  Kevin Rudd, always the political correctness fanatic is being especially pedantic: 

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd says Tony Abbott would find himself in serious strife if he made his "sex appeal" comments in the workplace. The Prime Minister, campaigning in Cairns at the end of a sweep of marginal North Queensland seats, described Mr Abbott's comments as ''pretty odd''. 

“If any male employer stood up in the workplace anywhere in Australia and pointed out a female staff member and said this person is a good staff member because they've got sex appeal, I think people would scratch their heads at least and the employer would find themself in serious strife, ''Mr Rudd said. 

''In modern Australia sexism or racism or homophobia does not have any place,'' he said.Mr Abbott found himself at the centre of a twitter storm when he described one of the attributes of Liberal candidate for Lindsay Fiona Scott as having ''sex appeal''. 

On his first trip to the key marginal Sydney seat of Lindsay yesterday, the Opposition Leader was asked how Liberal candidate Fiona Scott compared with predecessor Jackie Kelly. 

"They're young, they're feisty and, I think I can probably say, have a bit of sex appeal," Mr Abbott said. … 

… Labor minister Kim Carr told the ABC Mr Abbott's words were ''pathetic''. ''Sometimes we should think Tony Abbott really hasn't crawled out of the 1950s.”

It’s good of old Kim to tell us what we should be thinking, but then, the doyens of correct thought and the current truth have been doing that to us for a long time now.  It’s probably time for us to stop paying attention to them.

Still, it’s given the remaining members of Julia Gillard’s old ‘hand bag hit squad’ a chance to wax lyrical on misogyny.

As for Rudd’s comments on statements in the workplace, he is probably correct but such a situation is wrong unless it forms a real part of some sort of sexual harassment.  Merely passing a compliment, albeit a clumsy one should not be the subject of condemnation.

It is also difficult to see where he is coming from on his ‘sexism, racism, homophobia’ statement.  It is not disparaging her, she is not of a different race, nor does ‘sex appeal’ appear to be homophobic, even if Ms Scott was a lesbian, something we have no reason to believe.  Rudd is merely trying to attach as many disparaging labels to Abbott as possible within the sound bite.

The media, which frequently uses such expressions as, ‘sexiest man/woman alive’, hot, ravishingly beautiful, and so on, are being rather hypocritical on this issue.

Abbott has many flaws and faults, especially on policy, but sexism is not one of them.

Had he referred to the candidate as, “Damn smoking hot,” it might have been inappropriate.

Katter Rudd preference deal???

Image; Courtesy, Smokers Rights Party. 

There is quite a bit of speculation around the ridges at present over the way that preferences will be allocated by the new parties of Bob Katter and Clive Palmer leading up to the election.  A couple of days ago there was the suggestion of a swap by both, which would make sense but they can’t agree over gay marriage.  Apparently Clive’s for it but Bob’s not that keen on him.

The ABC is now breathlessly talking up the possibility of a Katter’s Australian Party - Rudd preference swap.  This has caused some speculation that in return for ALP preferences going to Katter in the senate before the Greens, Katter would preference Labor in the House of Representatives: 

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has side-stepped questions about a possible preference deal between Labor and Katter's Australian Party.  Both major parties are courting Bob Katter for preferences. 

Campaigning today in the north Queensland city of Townsville, Mr Rudd has joked about Mr Katter being a good friend of his for years, saying it is odd given the two Queenslanders are from different sides of politics. 

But he would not say whether he is confident Mr Katter will direct preferences to Labor.  "On questions of preferences, they are dealt with through the parties' organisations," he said.

On the surface there is a remote possibility of some sort of deal between the two as Katter has a deep and pathological hatred of the Liberals.  On the other hand Bob has always presented himself as a conservative to his deeply conservative electorate, making it difficult for him to preference parties on the left ahead of other conservatives.

Were he to preference Labor it would be doubtful if many KAP supporters would follow the how to vote card, especially in the house election.  The knowledge that senate preferences were going to Labor in the senate might cause many Katter voters to vote below the line, or switch to the LNP.

If Katter were to do this, resulting in a Labor win, he would be in the same position that country independents, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott are in today as result of their support for the Gillard government.  Both have decided to quit politics rather than be totally humiliated by standing again.

If Katter inflicts Rudd on us for another three years he will be less welcome than a dose of clap in the bush.

Labor candidate disendorsed for abuse of wheelchair bound woman

Cartoon: By Paul Zanetti 

Irony seems to be lost on Kevin Rudd.  He has demanded the resignation of the candidate for Hotham after allegations surfaced that he had verbally abused a woman in a wheelchair some years ago when he was mayor of Monash.

On the surface the demand seems reasonable: 

In a blow to the Prime Minister's campaign, Mr Lake has admitted he offered a signed apology to fellow Monash councillor Kathy Magee over a 2002 exchange. 

"I leant over to Councillor Magee and ... said, "I can't believe what you did you f------ bitch. You are a f ------ for doing that", Mr Lake confirms in papers. 

Documents lodged with the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission included an admission that his conduct had been "demeaning and degrading", and offensive to women.Mr Lake said he deeply regretted his remarks. "It was 'slut' or 'bitch'. It was inappropriate," he told the Herald Sun. … 

… In a signed apology brokered by the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission in 2002, Mr Lake wrote: "I privately spoke and behaved towards Councillor Magee in a way that was demeaning and degrading and could be particularly offensive to females. 

''I acknowledge that my comments were totally inappropriate and I apologise.” Contacted by the Herald Sun, Mr Lake said: "If I had used any word other than 'slut' this would not be an issue.” 

Asked if it would have been a problem if he had called her a "f------ bitch", Mr Lake conceded it would.

Our Kevvie is probably correct to make such a call.  After all, a guy that would abuse a wheelchair bound woman could go on to abusing flight attendants who serve a meal that is not up to his epicurean tastes in taxpayer provided nosh.  Something like he did when in Rudd#1 mode: 

Mr Rudd, who had attended the Pacific Islands Forum, was told by the 23-year-old flight attendant that his request for a "special" meal - he is on a meat-free diet - could not be met.Sources said the PM reacted "strongly" and a heated exchange followed. 

The attendant burst into tears and reported the matter to the senior cabin attendant.  She later composed herself and continued with the in-flight service. "The crew were distressed but later in flight apologies were made by all," the report says.  

But when he was asked about the incident at the conclusion of the G20 summit in the British capital today, Mr Rudd said he did not "observe" any tears over the matter. "As I recall it, there was a flight, I think from Port Moresby, and I had a discussion with, I think, one of the attendants on the provision of food. It didn't last very long and if anyone was offended by that, including the attendant concerned, of course, I apologise," Mr Rudd said. 

 Mr Rudd said that as he recalled, he told a member of the crew not to worry about the language he had used.  "I said to the member of staff not to worry about it," Mr Rudd said

There is a definite probability that a 22YO who calls a disabled woman a F…ing bitch, and a similar type of slut, might go on to emulate the prime minister in the future, causing major embarrassment for the party.

Richard Dawkins hits the PC barrier

Prominent atheist, biologist, writer, and a number of other things, Richard Dawkins has run foul of the PC crowd over his comments on Twitter. 

Dawkins, who tends to be scathing about all religions, apparently made the mistake of thinking that given his across the board disbelief in all faith based thinking, it was OK to criticise the religion of peace: 

RICHARD Dawkins has sparked a backlash on Twitter after he claimed the world's Muslims have won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge, but added: "They did great things in the Middle Ages, though". 

The outspoken author went on to defend the remarks which sparked fury on the social network where he was accused of disguising his "bigotry" as atheism. 

A series of high-profile Twitter users weighed in to condemn the comments prompting Professor Dawkins to question what Muslims had achieved since the Dark Ages.
The row broke out after he observed: "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.” 

He responded to the barrage of ensuing criticism by telling his followers: "A statement of simple fact is not bigotry. And science by Muslims was great in the distant past.” In a further posting he wrote: "Where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?” 

He sought to justify the controversial observation by adding: "Why mention Muslim Nobels rather than any other group? Because we so often hear boasts about (a) their total numbers and (b) their science.” 

One angry Twitter user hit out at the remarks telling the author: "You absolutely disgust me.” Writer Caitlin Moran added: "Think it's time someone turned Richard Dawkins off and then on again", while Channel 4 News economics editor Faisal Islam questioned Prof Dawkins' "spurious use of data". 

Writer and commentator Owen Jones told Prof Dawkins: "How dare you dress your bigotry up as atheism. You are now beyond an embarrassment.” ...

It appears, that while it is perfectly fine to knock the Bible, dispute Judaism, criticise Buddhism, Taoism, and all but one of the rest, Islam must be given a pass, even among atheists.

There appear to be ten Muslim recipients of the Nobel Prize, although six of these have received the largely discredited, or at least, devalued Peace Prize.  Two have won the literature prize, one, Physics and another, chemistry.

Trinity College has 32.

Labor adopts desperate measures

Cartoon: By Larry Pickering 

The current election campaign is like something out of a poorly written fiction novel, or perhaps, Mad Magazine.  We have the odd scenario where both leaders of the big two major parties are campaigning as opposition leaders.

Kevin Rudd#2 (the kinder gentler one) is doing a great job of giving the impression that he is going to change all of the things that went wrong before under the governments of the last six years.  This sounds like a good tactic except that the last six years were led by Rudd#1/Gillard/Rudd#2 himself.  

Effectively Rudd#2 (the kinder gentler one) is campaigning against both Abbott and Rudd#1 (the nasty dysfunctional one)/Gillard.

Any mention of the record of Rudd#1 by the Liberals, especially using quotes by his former colleagues is considered as slipping into negativity.  But still, there are signs of desperation.

The first one is that Rudd#2 has announced that he is open to the same sort of deal with the Greens and whatever independents are left after the election, which led to the disfunctionality of the Gillard government, in order to form a minority government: 

The Prime Minister said Labor was trying to secure a majority government and attacked the Liberal Party for preferencing the Greens ahead of Labor in the inner-western Sydney seat of Grayndler held by deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. But Mr Rudd did not rule out a deal with minor parties in the event of another hung parliament. 

The latest Newspoll has the Coalition holding a 52-48 two-party-preferred lead but many recent polls have put two-party-preferred support at 50-50. Former prime minister Julia Gillard cited her deal with the Greens as a reason for her decision to impose a fixed price on carbon for three years. As one of his first acts as Prime Minister, Mr Rudd decided to move to a floating carbon price a year earlier as he moved to defuse anger over the policy. 

Mr Abbott, who ruled out leading a minority government on Sunday, hardened his language yesterday, declaring he would allow Labor to govern with minor parties rather than negotiate with the Greens and independents.

The second is his invitation to Julia Gillard to join him on the campaign trail: 

The Prime Minister said the former prime minister would be welcome to campaign with him whenever she liked to help him win on September 7. "Julia would be welcome to participate in the campaign in any way she chose fit," Mr Rudd told ABC's 7.30 program. 

"And as you know, when I've been asked about Julia in recent days, I've been very direct and very frank about the positive role she's played in our party and the contributions she's made to disability care policy, education policy and the measurement of academic standards of schools - great achievements.”

We’re not making this up folks; after white-anting her for three years in one of the most vindictive paybacks ever recorded in Australian political history, Kevvy is prepared to let her help to save him.  The degree of hubris involved should make an interesting case study for psychologists for years to come.

And finally, he has parachuted former premier Peter Beattie into the campaign for the seat of Forde in Queensland: 

Mr Beattie revealed that the Prime Minister rang him in the United States several days ago and asked him to run. After consulting his wife Heather, who once said she would murder him if he ran for Canberra, he agreed. 

Mr Beattie says he faces a tough fight to capture the seat, but he'd moved today into his brother's house in Forde and he'll be focusing his campaigning efforts on the electorate, held by the LNP with a margin of 1.6 per cent. 

“If elected I will buy and move to the electorate immediately,” Mr Beattie, who was premier of Queensland for nine years before retiring in 2007, said when presented by Mr Rudd today as the new, star Labor candidate. … 

… Tony Abbott today dismissed Mr Beattie's entry into the election campaign, saying the Coalition had nothing to fear from a man with a legendary ego who left Queensland's finances in disarray when he retired from politics in 2007, after winning three state elections. 

“(He's) another flim-flam man who hit people with record debt and deficit, who is just going to add to the leadership instability inside the Labor Party,” the Opposition Leader said. “You might say to me `Am I worried about Peter Beattie?', Of course not. But I bet Kevin Rudd is.”

  Beattie was to the economy of Queensland; the forerunner of what Rudd/Gillard/Rudd#2 was to the Australian economy.  From a relatively debt free state, Beattie took the reigns and ran it into the ground.  His only masterstroke, was quitting when the writing was on the wall, and handed power to probably the only person more incompetent than he, Anna Bligh.

Even an incompetent looks better if succeeded by a complete idiot.

The Liberal Democrats get their day in the sun

It is highly unusual for a minor party to get much in the way of publicity these days, especially during elections when their voices tend to be drowned out by the clamour from the majors, even if they were published in the first place.  Most of the media tend to pretend that they don’t exist, or think they are not interesting enough to warrant space.

Small parties rarely receive any electoral funding as opposed to the tens of millions awarded to Labor, the Coalition, and the Greens, therefore they have little chance of coming up with an advertising budget.

It was therefore gratifying to get some space allocated to us in an article in the Australian, slamming the incredible wastage of taxpayer money and its damage to the economy at large and the debt being handed down to future generations: 

... The government's formal intergenerational reports, undertaken by the Treasury, paint a depressing enough picture of the government's structural budget position out to 2050, but they naively assume future politicians do not impose new spending commitments. Carling shows that across the decade to 2010-11, government spending grew 4 per cent a year in real terms, three-quarters of which was a result of the addition of new spending programs, not the expansion of existing programs. 

Not many political parties have the courage to promise to cut spending or agencies before an election, although the fledgling Liberal Democratic Party is one exception. 

Its treasurer, David Leyonhjelm, who will stand for a NSW senate seat, tells The Australian his party's platform is to limit the federal government to defence, immigration, basic public services (such as passport services, regulation of hazardous materials, air and sea transport regulation), and assistance to the least well off. 

"The big parties just argue about how to spend our taxes, not whether to collect and spend them in the first place," he says. 

Certainly, too many Australians are quick to complain about big government and the regulatory burden but recoil when programs or bodies are suggested for the chop. 

Apologists for the government cite Australia's AAA credit rating and the projected return to a surplus of $4bn in 2017. Ratings agencies have been widely discredited and most European countries and the US were rated AAA before the global financial crisis, along with the mortgage-backed securities that were in reality a ticking time-bomb under the financial system. ...

It also has to be mentioned that the ratings agencies who give us a AAA rating are the same ones which gave the same rating to the mortgage backed securities at the root of the GFC.