First Australian senator elected on libertarian platform gives his maiden speech

All of Australia’s libertarians are feeling the joy today with the maiden speech of David Leyonhjelm in the senate this afternoon.  We have had to wait for nine months since his election last September, for this moment.

This is the first time in Australia’s history that a libertarian party has elected anyone into federal politics. Here is what he had to say:

This has been the culmination of a long haul for many of us.  From a personal standpoint I have pursued libertarian politics since the mid 70s with the formation of the Progress Party, and later with the Liberal Democratic Party.  A few others have been at it longer, as the Workers Party preceded the Progress Party.

Nonetheless, 40 years is a long wait.  Those years have flown by like a stack of papers caught in the breeze since I first walked into a meeting called by a group that inspired me with their message; that we should control the government, rather than have it control us.

Today might seem like a culmination, but as David says, “There is much to be done.”  And as Churchill said, “This is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning.”

Lets all work to take control and hand that control back to where it belongs; in the hands of the individual. 

Abbott wins; Labor thrashed

Image: Larry Pickering on our 'selfie' obsessed ex PM

Australia’s six years of Labor government with its inherently profligate spending, waste, disorganization, and leadership tensions are finally a thing of the past other than paying the price, which will take some time. 

Labor flared out in spectacular fashion, losing many seats in Victoria, New South Wales, and their bastion of Tasmania.  While the others remained relatively stable for them, these were states where they lost badly last time.  They failed to win back any of their previous losses and some former safe seats are looking decidedly marginal.

Current predictions are for a coalition win with a margin of thirty plus seats, with four still in doubt.  The Greens managed to retain their Melbourne seat and independents have two with the possibility of four.

Rudd’s concession speech was the most ungracious of any that have ever been made here.  He spoke on eternally, mostly about himself, failed to congratulate Tony Abbott on his victory, and to cap it off made a rather nasty aside about the Liberal candidate in his seat who gave him a scare, with; “It would be un prime ministerial of me to say Bill Glasson eat your heart out, so I won’t.”

He needn’t have bothered about being ‘un prime ministerial’ as effectively he was a thing of the past at the time.

After the 2010 election, the ratbag independent Rob Oakeshotte forced us to listen to a twenty plus minute diatribe about himself before telling us he was supporting Gillard into government.  By the time Rudd reached the twenty minute mark, he was sounding positively Oakeshottesque.

The Liberals have failed to win the balance of power in the senate, but enough seats have been won by other minor parties to tale that balance out of the hands of the luddite Greens.  To pass legislation after the first of July next year, Abbott will need the support of six of the eight minor party or independent senators.

Until that time, he will have the problem of the current senate which is Labor/Green controlled.

The great news is that our first libertarian senator has been provisionally elected in NSW, and we could have had another in Tasmania if the Liberals had preferenced us ahead of the whacky and weird Palmer United Party.

The high expectations of Katter’s Australia Party were dashed after preferencing Labor, causing a backlash in the bush, Bob Katter’s constituency.  Not only did he have to rely on Labor preferences to just get across the line in his previously safe (68%) seat, his team did so badly that they were hardly mentioned in the broadcast, being lumped in with ‘others’.

More on the libertarian senator shortly.

Muslim incensed at Australian stamp

Image: the offending stamp. (This appears to be the action at Tel el Saba, a Kiwi action.) Courtesy News .com.au 

The latest in Australian stamps that has been distributed jointly with Israel has incensed a Palestinian activist who is having conniptions over it being a ‘disgraceful insult’ to whoever.  The problem she is frantic about is that they feature the Battle of Beersheba.

The charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba is one of the iconic battles in Australian history.  The 4^th Light Horse was ordered to take the town by dark after the British XX Corps had attached the town for most of the day, making little headway against stiff resistance. 

The 4^th and 12^th Regiments were ordered to attack the Turkish trenches in a cavalry charge rather than the traditional tactic of dismounting and attacking on foot.  The town was secured within the hour. 

There only seems to be one complaint so far, but it has apparently been a slow news day: 

Australia Post's noble envelope-carrying mission is embroiled in controversy today - with the company accused of making a "disgraceful" insult to the Palestinian people in a range of 60c and $2.60 postage stamps. 

"Just the other day I needed a postage stamp," Australian Palestinian activist Sonja Karkar wrote on her blog, "I duly handed over my 60 cents at an Australia Post outlet and received far more than I bargained for - nothing less, would you believe, than a dollop of Israeli propaganda." 

The issue? The stamps feature World War I near the town of Beersheba where Australian soldiers fought the Turkish.  But Ms Karkar says the stamp is tied to Israel when Beersheba was a Palestinian town in 1917. Israel did not exist until 1948. … 

… An Australia Post spokeswoman said it received its information from sources including the Australian War Memorial. And the stamps were fact-checked by war historian Peter Stanley.

It is difficult to understand why this has been given publicity, given that the ‘outrage’ described consists of one blog post by a Palestinian radical who wishes to censor the history of this nation.  We can though, now expect plenty of bleating and bitching to follow from the usual sources.

Giving these idiots oxygen is only likely to result in more demands in the name of political correctness and the avoidance of offense to Muslims.  There is already far too much appeasement of these people who seem to find nearly everything ‘offensive’.

Probably one of the most ludicrous examples was a report by Veterans Affairs fretting over whether ANZAC day was likely to upset their delicate sensibilities: 

The Government squandered $370,000 so that Veteran’s Affairs Bureaucrats could finance a number of ‘Focus Groups’ to develop still more political correctness and tell us that ANZAC Day commemorations were “unpopular with younger people” and offend recent Islamic immigrants.   Someone forgot to tell the focus groups about the increasing numbers of young people that are attending dawn services and other ANZAC Day commemorations around Australia, at Gallipoli and other memorial sites on the battlefields of WWI and recent immigrants are offended by everything Australian. 

The Government then spent another $105,000 to measure the impact of ANZAC Day on recently arrived Islamic migrants and to tone down the commemorations by not mentioning the current and recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq as Muslims may be offended.  What consideration was give to the offence that will cause the survivors and/or families of those Australian servicemen killed or maimed in those conflicts? …

About the only offensive thing about this stamp is the cost of posting a letter.

The cost of the drug war Vs no benefit

Reason has posted a chart of drug addiction over the last forty years along with the cost of enforcement.  This was challenged when someone realized that the total of $1.5 trillion, did not match up with the yearly cost.  It turns out that the yearly costs are for federal enforcement, while the $1.5 T is the sum of the total costs of all enforcement.

Image: drugsnotthugs.com 

It also turns out that it is an underestimate:

But the massive federal drug control budget--for fiscal year 2013, it'll be $3.7 billion for interdiction, $9.4 billion for law enforcement, and $9.2 billion for early intervention--is actually a pretty small slice of the pie. States and municipalities have their own drug war expenses--investigating, trying, and locking up drug offenders--and those expenses actually dwarf what the federal government spends. 

According to The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society, last published by the Department of Justice in 2011, enforcing illegal drug laws imposes an annual cost on the American criminal justice system of $56 billion; while incarceration of drug offenders poses an annual cost of $48 billion. 

That's $104 billion spent annually by states and cities on two aspects of the drug war (and doesn't include treatment, public assistance, and a slew of other costs), compared to roughly $21 billion spent by the federal government. … 

… (though minus the "$1.5 trillion" in the middle of the image, the chart does accurately represent the growth of the federal drug control budget and the relatively flat rate of addiction to illicit substances). But even if the chart were designed to reflect "all costs associated with drug prohibition" over the last 40 years, with the right Y axis reflecting the growth of state and federal drug control spending, it would still be wrong, because $1.5 trillion doesn't nearly cover it.

Supporters of the ‘War on Drugs’ will probably claim that the expenditure has caused the addiction rate to remain stable rather than increase.  It is probably wise to remember that the 60s and 70s were the time of the drug revolution, where everyone claimed to be on something other than when talking to a cop.  It is therefore surprising that the start of the drug war had no downward tick.

Perhaps us old hippies did more talking than taking.

Full article here 

At last, realism on the industrial revolution

On many occasions we find out on deeper research, that some of the traditional villains of history have in fact been heroes who, rather than being simply predators actually improved the lot of mankind. Generally in the case of individuals who succeeded and made fortunes, that in itself has been held against them.

One such case that has been mentioned here before was John D Rockefeller, the man who saved the whales from extinction and provided the poor with affordable lighting. John formed Standard Oil and through efficiency and research lowered the price of kerosene to the point where the poorest households could afford it and so, put whalers out of business.

It is refreshing therefore to find an articulate supporter of Britain’s industrial revolution, which in the modern era has a bad reputation from it’s many detractors. London’s Olympic opening ceremony was a left wing propaganda fest in which that period of history was depicted by smoking chimneys and the usual imagery of an era where power generation was in its infancy.

Rodney Atkinson, brother of actor Rowan, has stepped up to the plate with a defense of that time:

Rowan Atkinson's amusing turn was one of the highlights of the Olympics opening ceremony, but his brother, Rodney, is not impressed with Danny Boyle’s production. “It had strong strands of the parochial Left,” claims Atkinson, who was annoyed by the ceremony’s “assumption that the industrial revolution was oppressive.”

“The truth was that it emancipated us all and especially the ex-rural workers who suffered heavy labour in cold, rain and heat. They then had, by comparison, much less strenuous, mechanised lives.”

The academic adds: “Obviously, the pseudo-intellectual Left have never worked on a farm, as Rowan and I did when we were young. The Left never understand internationalism and the wealth which arises from free trade among free peoples and cultures. That is Britain’s greatest achievement.”

"Their aim is supra-national, where peoples and cultures are subsumed, as they were in this ceremony, into a 'levelling’ Statist mish-mash, which inevitably leads to failure and conflict.”

The alternative to industrialization was the continuance of the cottage industry economy, where products were produced on a small scale by labour intensive methods at high cost. Prior to this era products, which we take for granted, were only affordable by the very wealthy. With the benefits of mass production, not only was the workforce transformed to better conditions, but were more productive and better off.

Anzac Day, with a tribute to Kapyong.

Map: Battle of Kapyong.

Korean war veterans tend to feel that they fought in a forgotten war. This is probably an overstatement as it gets mentions, but probably less attention than it deserves. Perhaps the fact that it sits between two longer wars – WW2 and Vietnam may have something to do with it.

The defining battle for Australians in Korea was the Battle of Kapyong, fought on the night of 23Apr 51 and through the following day. The 24th of April is officially ‘Kapyong Day’ but it is generally overshadowed by Anzac Day on the 25th. The Battle of Long Tan which was smaller, less significant, but no less courageous, has fared better with its day on the 18th of August.

At Kapyong the Australian 3rd Battalion and the Canadian 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry set up defensive positions on hills either side of the Kapyong Valley to block the Chinese spring offensive from reaching Seoul, and with some American tanks and New Zealand artillery were able to block a Chinese Division after heavy fighting.

The following transcript gives an idea of the situation:

Early in the evening, retreating South Koreans streamed past the Commonwealth position, with Chinese forces closely intermingled. Soon afterwards a platoon of American tanks supporting 3 RAR was overrun. The Kapyong valley was too large an area to defend with the forces available, and the brigade was spread very thinly.

Throughout the night the Chinese repeatedly pressed the Australian positions, attacking in waves over their own dead and wounded.

At dawn, A Company, under the command of Major Bernard "Ben" O'Dowd, found that the Chinese had infiltrated its position, but a counter-attack was able to eject them. Meanwhile B Company, which had spent the night on a hill near the riiver, discovered Chinese occupying some old bunkers on a small knoll. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued with grenades and bayonets. C Company, under the command of Captain Reg Saunders, was in position to reinforce both A and B Companies.

"Major O'Dowd then directed the radio operator to contact anyone. The American 1st Marine Division answered but their operator refused to believe who our operator was speaking for. Major O'Dowd took the phone and demanded to speak to the commanding officer. The general in charge of the [Marine] division came on the phone and told O'Dowd we didn't exist as we had been wiped out the night before. Major O'Dowd said, 'I've got news for you, we are still here and we are staying here.”

Both the Australian and Canadian Battalions were awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation for their actions (Image left).

It’s just as well they’re licensed.

Image: Melbourne Arts Centre fire. Source; Sun Herald.

Many years ago when fun was allowed you could use fireworks pretty much whenever you wanted celebrate in Australia. Guy Fawkes night on the 5th of November was the main one when they were traditionally used to celebrate the plot to blow up the British House of Lords in 1605.

The aftermath was usually a few injuries and the odd fire, and after a time the do gooders managed to have it stopped. The use of fireworks, like most other activities over here has been regulated and licensed to ensure that the ‘untrained’ are not able to access them. Who knows what might happen if the organizers of the new year celebration in Melbourne had not used qualified people to arrange the spectacle?

Possibly the whole Arts Centre would have burned down:

THE cause of a New Year's Eve fireworks mishap which saw the Arts Centre spire catch alight will be investigated. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the spire fire had not caused structural damage or endangered the public because of the exclusion zone around the site. …

The fire is believed to have started from one of the fireworks in the spire, that failed to discharge properly during the spectacular show, which was witnessed by more than half a million people. Mr Brinkman said the fire on the spire burnt itself out after about 40 minutes.

The area around the Arts Centre was evacuated immediately following the end of the of the fireworks. Large pieces of flaming debris fell at about 12.32am, causing smoke to rise from a lower level of the spire.

Of course accidents happen from time to time, but there would a full hue and cry were fireworks used 'illegally' to start a blaze.

A little late on Rememberance Day

Some years ago some of the fathers old mates were visiting and remarked that they had visited New Guinea and had tried to find the grave of my mothers cousin who was killed in action there. It seemed to have disappeared.

This year I happened to run into an image of it in Bomana War Cemetery to which it had been moved. I was intending to post it as a tribute to him but can't find it again. Instead I will go with this one.

An analysis of the Middle East situation.

Introduction.

What follows below is one of the best assessments I have encountered of the current events in the Middle East from Daniel Pipes. While most western peaceniks are inclined to lay the entire blame for the dictatorships that are being overthrown at present at the feet of the US, the reality is that Western interference was carried out to counter communist interference.

Much of the Cold War was carried out by proxy, both sides supporting for strategic purposes regimes that in a decent world would be lined up against the wall and shot. The greatest threat of the West to the USSR and its allies was not so much the armed force but the idea of liberty, or what passes for it today.

Both forms of authoritarianism, secular (fascism, communism etc) and theocratic, have reason to fear the idea of their downtrodden seeing the freedom of the west and asking, “Why not here?” Regrettably, with western governments becoming more authoritarian in their efforts to make nanny statism appear to work, we are losing that advantage.

One act of bastardry too many, caused a fruit vendor in Tunisia to self immolate, igniting seething resentment into full-blown revolution. This will probably not free the people from oppressors but will give them new tyrants, this time religious ones. Probably the only bright spot for the west is likely to be Iran where the population has shown a willingness to revolt against the sort of oppressors the newly 'free' seem about to install.

Friendless in the Middle East

Ah, the Malaise Speech, now that takes us back.

Cartoon; Pickering’s current ‘Whitlam cartoon’ draws attention to the similarity between the US and here.

In 1976 the American people were in a mood for change and were ready to vote for someone who could promise them hope. The Democrats put up a relatively unknown populist from Georgia as nominee, and with the assistance of sycophantic, uncritical, and groveling press coverage Jimmy Carter was elected. The rest is history, four years downhill.

It is assumed that protocols were put in place to ensure that such a thing could never happen again. (Just kidding, guys.)

Today is the 32nd anniversary of his ‘Malaise speech’, shown here with some uncanny modern parallels:

Defence Association opposes reopening Breaker Morant case.

Image: Breaker Morant.

Every few years there are calls for the case of Harry “Breaker” Morant to be reopened, usually over the discovery of new information in the case, which saw him executed by the British during the Boer War 110 years ago. Many doubts were expressed over the validity of the evidence used, and the Australian Government was only informed after the execution was carried out.

The Defence Association raises some interesting points in their objection to the current application:

Attorney-General Robert McClelland has revealed he will write to the British government requesting it re-examine Morant's case amid fresh evidence the Boer War lieutenant was following orders when he authorised 12 prisoners shot in 1901.

But Australia Defence Association Neil James said the decision could lead to an unwanted precedent.

“Our basic view is it is very dangerous for modern day activists to agitate for change without knowing exactly the historical circumstances of the time when decisions were made,” Mr. James told The Australian Online.

“Unfortunately it has become fashionable just to say, everyone in the past was dumber than we are now and therefore we need to change their decision. “It's a very arrogant, and in many cases dangerous, decision.”

Attitudes have changed considerably over the time since this case occurred and particularly over the last few decades. The defense of ‘just following orders’ was brought into perspective in the Eichmann case in the early 60s.

It is generally accepted that the prosecution was an effort to appease German outrage at the time and that a decision was made to make Colonials scapegoats in this effort. There is also little doubt that orders were made by Kitchener, which were carried out by Morant and others. There is also little doubt that he was guilty as charged.

Repeated attempts to review the case have been consistently rejected by British authorities. There is little reason to think that this effort is anything more than flogging a dead horse, and given that whether or not the order to execute prisoners was given is irrelevant in the modern era, there seems little point in raising it.

Given that actions taken in the past were carried out in the light of different social values, following this line creates the risk of some who are survivors of past conflicts being judged adversely for actions, which would have been considered honorable at the time they were taken.

Morant has been largely exonerated in public perception over the years and has been raised to the status of folk hero. He was no angel, and probably not a villain in his time. There seems to be little reason to disturb the status quo on this issue.

Remembering 9 11.

Well, it's that time of year again. Ten years ago, this was the image that had the most significant impact on me, more than the flag raising in fact.

Apart from the courage displayed by a young fireman in going up while everyone else was going down, there was the horrible feeling that he had no chance of making it out again.

I found out in later reports that he did get out. Whoever you are wherever you are, you are an inspiration.

Fraser’s memoirs; a new vision of the past.

Image: Fraser with Carter. From Wikipedia. Like two peas in a pod.

If Australians had to find a PM to equate to Obama, Malcolm Fraser would be a natural. He would probably be flattered by the comparison, as ideologically they are very similar. The trouble was that he led the conservative Liberal Party. These days he is mainly remembered as a constant critic of every Liberal leader since he lost power, losing his trousers in a seedy Memphis hotel, and being the ‘principal architect’ in the installation of Mugabe as Zimbabwean leader.

Mal has become well known over the years for his disparaging ‘recollections’ of prominent Liberal Party members that seem never to have happened. It appears that his memoirs follow the same path. A review of them appears in today’s “Australian,” which is actually scathing, and deservedly so:

MALCOLM Fraser's memoirs, co-authored with Margaret Simons, are the most error-riddled, factually unreliable, tendentious, consistently nasty and overall disgraceful political memoirs I have ever read. Naturally they won the NSW Premier's Literary Award.

This infamous award demonstrates why the Premier's Literary Awards should be abolished. In their nonfiction section, at least, they are not about literature but promoting ideological conformity.

Fraser was prime minister from 1975 to 1983. In office, he had the reputation of being an arrogant, right-wing bully. Later, he decided to reshape himself as a grand man of the Left.

I don't doubt his motives, though it is noteworthy that you get a lot more comfort, certainly more awards, on the Left.

Fraser now has the attraction for the Left of any radical convert. Metaphorically, he has crossed the Berlin Wall, except he went from West to East. The Left is constantly surprised that it dominates the culture in Australia but is repeatedly rejected by voters. In truth, it dominates the culture only because of its stranglehold on taxpayers' funds, such as these awards. John Howard's memoir - the bestselling political autobiography in our history - is truly popular. It will be fascinating to see if it wins any of these wretchedly compromised awards. Fraser's visceral hatred of Howard and his relentless denigration of him, often with highly dubious stories, along with Fraser's support of free entry for the boatpeople, more than anything else endear him to the Left.

Fraser's book contains some astounding factual errors. Two among many that Gerard Henderson has pointed out are that Fraser cannot even remember how many elections he won, claiming four, when in fact he won three. Fraser also claims George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four was inspired by British society of the 1950s whereas it was a satire of East European communist dictatorships. Henderson might have pointed out further that as Orwell died in January 1950 and Nineteen Eighty-Four was published two years before that, he couldn't have been inspired by much in the 50s. …..

… An even more bizarre claim Fraser makes, in rationalising his support for the Vietnam War, is that he did not know until 1995 of the US involvement in the coup against South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963.

Fraser was Australia's defence minister at the end of the 60s. If he didn't know about the US involvement he was surely the worst informed defence minister in the history of this country or any other.

The US involvement was absolutely common knowledge, a routine part of any discussion of Vietnam in those days. Morris West, Australia's bestselling author at that time, wrote a novel about the American role in the coup, The Ambassador, which sold more than a million copies. …

… His scabrous slanders of Howard, the worst based only on his memory and backed up by no corroborating testimony or documentation, reveal a nastiness of spirit remarkable even in the ego-mad world of Australian politics. This shameful book deserves no awards.

Well worth reading.

Bin Laden in hell, FAIR object to jubilation.

Image; America celebrates.

Well its official, a Special Forces group raided Bin Laden’s compound and shot him. Congratulations to all involved. I guess this one of the times the US taxpayer will enjoy seeing their tax dollars working for them.

There is a fair bit of speculation at present as to what effect this will have in the long run. It is not likely to stop the terrorists; they are spread across the world with leaders who are capable of committing their bastardry independently. The likelihood is that they have been given the disruption to their chain of command. Radical clerics are still stirring up hatred in many countries, and serving as recruiting agencies for their cause.

Bin Laden though, has been a sort of legendary figurehead for the extremists and his absence should place something of a dampener on things after a while. Possibly in the short term though, martyr status may bring in some more of them, and there will probably be some retaliatory efforts. The US has denied those who would use his burial site as a shrine the chance by burying him at sea.

George Bush made the valid point in his response by pointing out, “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.” Those who have given Bin Laden celebrity status over his ability to avoid capture, will now have to consider the possibility that they will never be safe from retribution.

America is celebrating the news. Crowds have gathered in a number of locations and are in a festive mood. Who could mind this?

Well for a start Kuranda Seyit of the Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations (FAIR) has called the US celebrations over the death Osama bin Laden "disgusting'' and called on people to be more reserved. Killing people over a perceived insult to your religion is apparently OK, but to express happiness over the exit of a mass murderer is obscene.

''(The celebrations) are just like the so-called reports by American television of Muslims celebrating after September 11, this is just as bad. "We need to show a little bit more respect towards humanity, even if they're the bad guys.'' He claimed; "A lot of people see him as a negative representative of the Muslim community, but then, other people see him as someone who is at least having a go at some of those colonial powers interfering in Muslim affairs.''

For a start, Americans are celebrating the death of a mass murderer who ordained the killing of around 3,000 of their people, mostly civilians. The only place where they attacked anything military was the Pentagon, where apart from the passengers in the plane, 125 people were killed, most of them civilians. Most of those in uniform killed on the day were firemen and emergency workers trying to get people out of the WTC.

The celebrations in the reports after 911 were not, “so called,” they were well documented, and were initiated over the murder of those mentioned above. Mr. Seyit should get his head out of his arse, if he wants to improve relations between the people he represents and the wider Australian community, and act with a little less bias in favor of terrorists.

And by the way Mr. Seyit, there is no point in waiting for confirmation, your hero is as dead as last weeks road-kill.

ANZAC day.

Today is the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, the day when we honour our fallen from all of the conflicts our nation has been involved in.

We will remember them.

Australian Politics, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

A cartoon from the era; by Mitchell.

A facebook posting by Benjamin Marks gave the alert that there were columns from some of the historical figures of the libertarian movement here from way back when. References to John Singleton were the big draw as he was probably one of the greatest original thinkers we had.

Of real interest though was a policy speech by Dr John Whiting for the Workers Party. The WP was the original libertarian party in Australia until owing to an internal dispute most members left and formed the Progress Party, which achieved fairly good results, with voting percentages in the double figures on many occasions.

Those who read Atlas Shrugged are often struck by the fact that the dystopian world described has remarkable similarities to today. Probably back when it was written, few really thought that it could happen.

The irony is that few people today seem to understand the situation described by Whiting over thirty years ago, is still happening today in government. People still see the political spectrum as Labor – socialist, Liberal – something different. The fact is that they are pretty much the same as Whiting described here:

As far as the majority of Australians were concerned the only way of stopping and reversing the actions of these dangerous men and women was to throw them out of office at the first opportunity and replace them by other men and women who claimed to be diametrically opposed to the bankrupt socialist philosophy of the A.L.P.

However, what most people did not know is that the hierarchies of the Liberal Party and the National Country Party had gone to considerable lengths, over the years, to cultivate the myth that their respective Parties were violently opposed to socialism and were the great champions of free enterprise and individual liberty. This myth was so deeply ingrained into people’s minds that nine out of ten Liberal and National Country Party voters were convinced that their Parties were philosophically about as far away from socialism as one could possibly get.

Early in 1975, however, the founders of the Workers Party together with the first members and supporters of the Party saw through this myth. As a group they were the only people in Australia who possessed the clarity of thought and intellectual honesty to recognise that the Liberal and National Country Parties were not an opposition to socialism at all. In fact, rather than oppose socialism, they actually accepted most of the premises upon which socialist ideology was built.

These Parties accepted the altruist philosophy. They accepted the Welfare State ideology. They accepted the concept that governments should be our masters and not our servants. They accepted — in fact, they actively promoted — the idea of an all-powerful central bank — the Reserve Bank of Australia. They accepted inflation as an economic weapon. They accepted crippling progressive taxation. They accepted the iniquitous death duties and gift duties. They showed a profound disregard for the sanctity of private property. In fact, believe it or not, they actively supported in toto or in part six out of ten proposal put forward by Marx and Engels in their Communist Manifesto.

These were the men and women of the Liberal and National Country Parties who had the effrontery to set themselves up before the gullible public as the arch-opponents of socialism and the champions of free-enterprise and individual liberty.

The whole thing is worth the read. While you are there check out Singo’s stuff.

Happy birthday Ronnie.

My first thoughts on doing this were to put up the clip of, “A Time for Choosing,” however it is a long one and time restricts many from seeing it right through.

One of the great ironies of our times is that his staunchest critic is his liberal piece of shit son Ron, while his most loyal defender is his adopted son Michael.

Ron, contrary to the way he was portrayed in the media had a ready wit, as seen here:


For a truly touching indication of the humanity of the man himself you can do no better than to read the post on the personal recollection of Dr. Sanity.

No pardon for “The Breaker.”

Image: "Breaker Morant."

The British have decided that no Royal pardon will be granted for Harry "Breaker" Morant in an appeal against the case that saw the Australian soldier executed. Morant, and Peter Handcock were executed after being accused of murdering prisoners during the Boer War. A third, Lt Witton was also found guilty and was imprisoned.

Australian military lawyer Commander James Unkles petitioned the Queen for a Royal pardon for Morant and Handcock. He was researching Morant's lawyer Major James Thomas when he became convinced the soldiers were innocent. "It became very apparent to me that a major injustice had been committed and the only way it was going to be addressed was by taking some action," he said.

It seems odd to me that in this day and age that we would bother to ask the British to act in this matter at all. We are big enough and old enough to decide the matter for ourselves. While the Australian War Memorial says that the evidence suggests that they were guilty of the crimes for which they were tried, there is some dispute about whether they were in fact acting under orders at the time.

Kitchener denied issuing such an order but significant evidence exists to the effect that he did. He was responsible for the placement of thousands of civilians into concentration camps in which many died. Images from these times remind me of the Holocaust. He also reportedly ordered that Boer women and children ride on trains to stop them being targeted by Boers. Such an order would be consistent with those actions. He was a butcher with little regard for human life, including those under his command whom he used as a blunt instrument.

Transcripts of the case ‘went missing’ and were thus unavailable for review, and witnesses included soldiers who were disciplined by Morant, one of whom stated that would walk 100 miles barefoot to serve in a firing squad to shoot Morant and Handcock." The Australian government was not informed.

Since that time, the Australian army never accepted British Army justice, in cases involving its soldiers. This has led to considerable ill feeling on the part of British authorities right through to the end of WW2. There were numerous approaches by British authorities, requesting the right to shoot us to improve our discipline, all of which were rejected.

It is reasonable to assume that they would have satisfied their blood lust by shooting Kiwis, Canadians, South Africans, Rhodesians, Indians, Pakistanis, as well as members of all other Commonwealth countries who were more than happy to allow them to do so, but they seemed to be obsessed with us.

While I was growing up there were a lot of WW1 veterans still around, and they roundly detested Kitchener. Generals like Kitchener were the people who gave rise to the Australian military expression from both World Wars, “England will fight to the last imperial soldier,” which was probably a bit unfair to the British soldier, but none the less heartfelt.

The case is irrelevant at any rate as “the Breaker” has placed himself solidly and immovably as part of Aussie folklore and is likely to remain there.

Daniel Hannan insights on America.

From Powerline Blog.

Hannan has released a new book, “The New Road to Serfdom.” The clip below is an interview from the Hoover Institution as part of its promotion.

Anniversary,Mount Mulligan Mine Disaster.

These cable drums were blown 50 feet from their foundations following a coal dust explosion. They each weighed two tons.

Last year I posted on the anniversary of the Mt Mulligan mine disaster of 1921. I will have to do it a couple of days early this year as I am heading back to work tomorrow. An anonymous commenter sent me a Youtube reference to it, which I found enlightening and for those who are interested it is here.

Unfortunately there is not an embed code.

I am not sure why, but I have had quite a few visits to that post from Google etc. searches. When I wrote it, it was mainly as something for my regular readers to share my experience, but the event seems to still draw enquiries.