Farewell Doc Neeson

Image: Doc Neeson 1947 - 2014 Courtesy, The Australian

 You were one of the best and will be missed.


 

HUGE!!!!! Australia elects its first libertarian senator

After a history making effort, the libertarian Liberal Democratic Party is welcoming our new provisional senator, David Leyonhjelm who scored the fifth senate spot in NSW. Who said we would be battling it out for the final place??????

It could have been even better had the Liberals had the sense to preference us ahead of The Palmer United Party, which would have won us a second seat in Tasmania, where our candidate came a whisker short.  The Libs will pay for this in a big way, as we are essentially classical liberals while PUP has a populist grab-bag of policies varying from left of the greens, to the far right of Abbott.

In most of the other states we had the third or fourth highest tally of votes at the end of the night.

While we bask in the kudos of the breakthrough, everyone and his dog are talking about us and seeking more information to the point where our website crashed from overuse.  The Liberal Dems are on the way.

Not all of the conversation is happy talk.  The normally sensible ABC election annalist, Antony Green and others are claiming that David's position of first on the ballot caused Liberals to get all confused and in a tizz, bringing about his election.  While we probably benefitted from this, it is a little rich to claim that the 8.9% who voted for him were Liberal Party members who cant read very well.  We were conspicuously in second place on the ballot in WA without that happening, so perhaps Antony thinks WA Liberals are much smarter than NSW ones.

Perhaps some of the warnings that were issued by the Liberals, that the Liberal Democrats at the head of the ballot were not the Liberal Party drew some attention to us and caused people to have a better look at us and they liked what they saw.

I had a good result in WA with nearly 3.5% but lost out to the Sports Party. We got a little bit of favorable press this time, which was better than the normal cloak of invisibility that gets thrown over us.

Overall we increased our vote in every state except Queensland where the Palmer billions crushed us along with all other small parties.

Overall though, we are in a great position to go on to win from here.  In most states we achieved a sufficient primary vote to win with in any other election than this one, which had two new well-funded parties who took most of the oxygen out of the campaign.

We now have a voice in federal parliament, which cannot be ignored and a healthy base of enthusiastic supporters who have tasted victory and want to pig out on it.  The sky’s the limit, or perhaps even higher. 

Of the two new parties, Katter's saved Labor from defeats in Queensland, while both his and Palmer's did preference deals that resulted in the election of luddite Greens senators in both Qld and WA.  This should be neither forgiven, nor forgotten.

Slow Posting

Since the start of this election in which I am the lead Liberal Democrat candidate for the senate in Western Australia, I have moved my attention to my Facebook page, Jim Fryar Liberal Democrat for WA Senate.

 For those who are interested, here is a video prepared by our Queensland candidate Gabriel Buckley on where we stand:

 

 See you when this is over.

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.

Happy 70th Mick Jagger

I am conservative with a small 'c.' It's possible to be conservative in fiscal policy, and tolerant on moral issues or questions of freedom of expression. – Mick Jagger

 It would be difficult for any libertarian to find anything wrong with that.

 Anyway we can all be thankful you changed your mind about rather being dead than sing Satisfaction at 45.

 

Happy birthday America

Unprecedented tribute march for murder victim

Image: 30,000 people turn out. Picture: Aaron Francis Source: Herald Sun

Jill Meagher, a twenty nine year old Irish immigrant had a few drinks with friends at a Melbourne bar close to her home, left on the short walk there and disappeared.  Her body was found a week later when a man (for want of a better description) was charged with her rape and murder.

In an unprecedented event yesterday, some 30,000 people turned out to a tribute march for her.  Quite a few heads are being scratched today as the question is asked, why?  It appears that social media played a big part.

Her disappearance was a little higher profile than usual owing to her employment at the ABC, but apart from expressing concern for their employee, and grief when her fate was known, there was little out of the ordinary in the coverage.  She was not one of the faces seen regularly on the screen.  She was not a household name.  There was no ethnic angle.

She was attractive, but other murder victims have been as well.  A bright bubbly generous spirit has been mentioned, but only her workmates, family, friends, and acquaintances would be aware of that.

While her fate was horrible, the Anita Cobby case was worse.  Cobby was a beauty contest winner who in 1986 was abducted, pack raped by five men, including three brothers, and had her throat cut and was left to die.  Both were from suburbs of major cities.

There has been speculation that the public is fed up with violence, especially against women, but this feeling has been around for a long time.  It’s possible that there had to be a first time.

Perhaps this is the first time somebody has called for such an action.

Whatever the reason, this action will do some good, even if it has merely allowed people the opportunity to show that they care.  Perhaps her family will be helped to know that so many do care.

And perhaps the sight of so many taking to the streets will get government to concentrate on violent crime, moving resources away from non violent breaches of feel good laws that achieve nothing, such as marijuana offences.  The primary purpose of law enforcement should be concentrated against coercive acts, not enforcing petty regulations.

Our hearts go out to the family of Jill, and to her friends and acquaintances, and we hope that you will in the passage of time find peace in the memory of a lady who seems to have been someone very special. 

Flannery; on getting it wrong on Azaria Chamberlain.

Climate guru Tim Flannery has a history of being wrong in his predictions on climate change. This would not normally be that much of a problem as many others are wrong too. In Tim’s case though he has a significant role in government policy and has cost the nation untold millions of dollars with his predictions of everlasting droughts preventing the building of dams and causing the construction of desalination plants that were and still are, unnecessary.

He has never apologized for that but has made an apology over his belief in the guilt of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain over the loss of their child. The Azaria Chamberlain story is well known. A dingo was reported to have taken the baby, a Coroners inquest agreeing. Following a botched investigation charges of murder were laid and a guilty verdict put Mrs. Chamberlain in jail for three years until evidence was found, clearing her.

A further Coronial Inquiry, thirty years later has made a finding that a dingo was responsible.

The case probably ranks highly among the worst miscarriages of justice in this country. After the initial finding there seemed to be a deliberate and concerted effort to cast suspicion on the bereaved parents with a media frenzy fed by unsubstantiated claims by just about anyone with an opinion. Flannery’s article details some of the arrogance of the attitudes of the times:

… Australians should have taken more seriously the possibility that dingoes were responsible. Tragically, such was our naivety of the danger they represent back then that a media firestorm, the likes of which the country had never known, pushed people towards the wrong conclusions. Many of us were only too prepared to believe that Azaria was a victim of infanticide.

At the time of the first two coronial inquests I was a doctoral student in the biology department of a major Australian university, and my biases were such that I accepted Lindy Chamberlain's guilt uncritically.

Her religion was one factor. The Chamberlains were Seventh-day Adventists and media reports of the strange practices of their "cult" (as we were led to think of it) included inferences of child sacrifice that did not strike me as beyond belief. At the time I was one of many Australian scientists fighting to keep creationism out of the classroom, and fundamentalist beliefs were seen as the enemy.

But even more significant, I think, was Lindy's assertion that a dingo had taken her baby. Dingoes were introduced to Australia from southeast Asia around 4,000 years ago, and most Australians thought of them as part of the continent's native fauna. Biologists feared that they would face widespread persecution if the coroner found them to be the cause of Azaria's death.

Ah; the self-righteousness of callow youth, but at least he has had the decency to fess up.

From a personal perspective at the time, attitudes towards the Chamberlains were weird to the point of bizarre. People who should have known better, some of them from the bush, simply refused to believe that a dingo, which is a medium to large wild dog would take a child if the opportunity arose. It had to be the mother because they were from a non-mainstream religion.

One of the worst aspects was the published opinion that possibly one of the older children was responsible for it and the parents were covering up for them. Were the kids to have seen this, it is difficult to assess what the impact would be.

On the other hand a ninety-five year old neighbor made one of the most encouraging comments at the time. She stated that she had read everything she had seen reported on it and in her view it was wrong. She said, “Even if that woman admits to doing it in the future, there are no grounds to convict her at present.”

It’s a shame the public at large didn’t have such an open-minded attitude.

Press leads our 'cultural cringe'

Most Australians other than the self-styled cultural elite are pretty comfortable with who they are and don’t give a damn if others dislike it. On the other hand there are the breast-beating pompous prats who have a vision of excellence for us, which they firmly believe we should abide by to give the right image of the nation and its people to others. Governments are very fond of telling us what Australians ought to be.

The rest of us are fairly accustomed to the reality that our leaders are ashamed of us and feel we don’t deserve them and couldn’t care less about their discomfort. There are though, a small proportion of suck-ups who aspire to present an approved image. Leading the charge among these is the press, which tends to find every criticism of us justified.

As an example, the rather sycophantic Malcolm Conn of the Herald Sun had the following to say about the Perth Test Match drinking incident:

IT'S been confirmed to many millions of Indians that Australians are a bunch of drunks. (Awwwwww)

Just hours after India captain MS Dhoni made the spurious claim that Australia’s players concocted stories about his divided team over a few beers, India television showed a dozen WACA staff drinking on the Test pitch.

Australians it seems will drink anytime anywhere without any respect or regard. Is there anything more sacred or central to a Test match than the pitch on the evening before the match? And there they were, half of them sitting, half of them standing in the middle of the WACA wicket before a match that could well decide the series.

What an insult to Test cricket and the visiting Indian team. Perception is reality and this is now reality to a significant chunk of the largest and most powerful cricket nation in the world.

The reality is that the WACA staff were having their traditional pre match drinks when the curator decided to do a final inspection of the wicket. They walked out to watch the process and were filmed by Indian television. The Indian media tend to be extremely sanctimonious about Australians and thus, it hit the fan.

While it is desirable that respect be proffered to residents of other countries where it is due, it seems that in the eyes of those like Malcolm Conn that we should be properly obsequious to anyone who wants to bitch about us over anything at all, no matter how trivial.

Next time Malcolm; tell them to go take a running jump.

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.

Local soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Image: Corporal Ashley Birt, Lance Corporal Luke Gavin and Captain Bryce Duffy, who were killed in Afghanistan by a rogue soldier. Picture: Department of Defence Source: The Australian.

The news that a rogue Afghan soldier had opened fire on a group of Australian mentoring troops, killing three and wounding another seven was shocking enough to start with, but one of those killed was from Gympie, my home town. He was Corporal Ashley Birt, whose brother is serving there as well and will accompany him home.

I have not met him or his family, (I work away a lot) but while every death there is the loss of one of our own, this brings it that much closer. Currently, three of my family members are in the forces with one serving over there.

The Australian reports:

MTF-3 commander Lt-Col Chris Smith said the soldiers from 2nd Royal Australian Regiment had been standing with interpreters after the parade. They were all hit from behind.

"A member of the ANA - we think it's a junior officer or a senior non-commissioned officer - came up with a machinegun, came up to within 20 metres or 15 metres of our soldiers, and opened fire on them. There were 12 Australians in the group and all but two were struck," he said.

The surviving Diggers in the training team, including some of the wounded, returned fire and the Afghan soldier was killed. One of the wounded, a medic, paused only to apply a tourniquet to stop himself bleeding before rushing to the rescue of his comrades.

At that stage, with their platoon commander dead, the Diggers faced they possibility that the other Afghan soldiers could start shooting or that Taliban forces were outside the base and preparing to attack. The alarm went out and a strong Australian mobile patrol operating nearby in armoured vehicles swept down into the base to back up the Australians and to reinforce security.

The most disturbing aspect of this, the second such attack by members of the Afghan National Army on our mentoring troops, is that the perpetrator has been serving for three years without coming under suspicion. The reason for the attack may never be known, but it has to be of deep concern that at short notice, a trusted ally can turn deadly to the very people doing their best to assist him in defending his country.

Our deepest sympathies go to his family and those of the other soldiers lost in this attack.

Department of Money Giving?

Image: Daily Cuteness.

Some time ago, I mentioned that people in foreign lands who share a surname with me have really rotten luck, in fact lethal luck. Some time ago I received what is the third notification of someone with my surname meeting with a fatal accident in a far off land, after depositing a large sum of money in a financial institution, while being intestate.

Having a great deal of concern for my unrelated namesakes, I thought to do a post advising them to:

(a) Change their name before travelling overseas:
(b) Don’t deposit tens of millions in foreign banks, thus tempting fate. And:

(c) Make a will, so your family can benefit.

This morning I had the incredible good fortune to be contacted by the Department of Money Giving, who wish to deposit $3,680 in my account. It seems to be one of the more secretive government departments, as I find they are unlisted on the government website. But hey, it’s probably something to do with Julia wanting to stimulate the economy.

At present though, I am still arranging things with the African princess who wants a relationship with me and to share the $23 million her father left her, and my multimillion dollar winnings from the London Lottery, which I don’t remember buying a ticket in.

Because of these matters, I haven’t the time to deal with piddling amounts. Rather than waste the opportunity, I have put them in touch with my Nigerian banker who looks after all my financial stuff. The only problem with him is he gets damn hard to get in touch with, especially since collecting those fifty crates of gold bars and jewels from that New York bank on my behalf and losing the consignment note.

Private security should get rid of the dipshits.

Quite a few years ago I was working a job out in Central Queensland and staying in a motel on the outskirts of town. One night in the bar I noticed something going down with the manager and started in that direction. He flattened two guys pinned another and gave a fourth a bloody nose before the bouncers could react. The next night I remarked on the absence of bouncers and he pointed out that most were worse than useless, and some started more trouble than they prevented. The place ran smoothly for the rest of the time I was there without them.

I was reminded of this by an article in the local rag today on a private security guard who has been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm while armed after a man was knocked semi-conscious with a lump of wood. Apparently he is claiming he felt threatened when talking to two guys so he went to his car and got an axe handle, returned, and acted in self-defense. Oh well, it should be an interesting case.

There was a guard in one of the local shopping centers a few years back who I found to be rather disturbing in that he had the dead eyed look of someone with little in the way of brains and was associated with some of the far right haters in the area. I know I usually criticize the left but there are crazies out there on the right as well.

One of them came a gutser recently when he was attempting to take control of a local voluntary organization. Claiming vote rigging he turned up at a meeting with security to ensure that only members got in. The other side countered by having a press presence there.

There were some great photos in the next local paper. Two of my favorites were one of a seventy+ year old guy about 5’3’’ standing up to a couple of large security guys, pointing the finger and looking all indignant, and one of Mrs. X who was ‘distraught’ after being jostled by them, being comforted by friends. It wasn’t mentioned that Mrs. X was president of the local Dramatic Society, which was a nice touch.

I am not sure what the rightie guy’s motivation was, but this one certainly didn’t work.

I am happy with the concept of private security, I am all in favor of it, but for heavens sake, get decent people doing the job.

Celebrate Human Achievement Hour.

I notice a page on Facebook telling us that ‘Earth Hour is upon us again. On Saturday, the 26th of March all of the thoroughly indoctrinated, will once again go through the gratuitous gesture of turning all their lights out and holding a Barbie out on the balcony.

Last year’s Earth Hour winner, North Korea celebrates ‘Earth Hour’ every night. Compare it to South Korea that keeps its people warm, well fed and working (with the help of Australian coal)

Of course we will be subsequently shown TV images of the lights in tall buildings around the world going off. Call me cynical if you wish, but I tend to wonder when I see this, why the hell all of those lights are on in the first place. It cannot be for security as if it were they would hardly switch them off. Especially given that it is at an advertised time burglars are aware of.

If they are for security, then this idea is incredibly stupid, which I suspect is the case.

On 26/03 at 8:30 PM, rather than sit in the darkness feeling self righteous, join me instead for the joyous celebration of Human Achievement Hour, and leave your lights on as a beacon to all those poor brainwashed souls, sitting in darkness and despair.

My message of hope to humanity and especially those guilt ridden souls who have fallen under the influence of the drab grey messengers of doom from the greens, and all those followers of bizarre lines of thought that lead down the road to authoritarianism, is:



It’s OK to feel good about yourself.

State Of Origin; its back.

Cartoon: By Zanetti.

In case I don't get a chance to post before hand I'll put this up just for Joe and the other cockroaches from beneath the border.

Kiwi Rugby loss; “Karma.”

This post is designed to poke a bit of fun at “Old Mate” who just couldn’t help sticking it to us Aussies over losing the ‘crucket’ the other night. I just can’t help bowling an ‘underarmer’ on this occasion.

Press release.

New Zealand sporting authorities have concluded an in depth investigation into the humiliating loss by their best rugby team Waikato, who were flogged mercilessly by the lowest ranked team, the perpetual wooden spooners in the competition, the Queensland Reds. Announcing the results today, the chairman of Sports NZ, Mr. Rory Yapp said that sometimes these things happen for no reason that can be detected.

“On this occasion however this is not the case. Its not just a matter of the best team winning on the night, they obviously weren’t. Nor was it, as is usually the case when Australians win, a biased umpire. None of the usual excuses will work here,” he said.

“What we have found on this occasion is that a Kiwi mine manager in some remote town in New South Wales really put shit on a group of Aussies over their loss in the one day cricket match the night before. This appears to have created the situation where Karma has resulted in the Aussies being given the chance to get back at us.”

Photo: NZ rugby authorities are seeking this man as a “Person of interest.”

In conclusion Mr. Yapp stated, “It is hoped that the Aussies will maintain their usual graciousness in victory and refrain from doing to us what we usually do to them when we win.”

In a demonstration of the courteousness of Queenslanders one sporting fan celebrating the event said, “Them Kiwis ul just have to dry their eyes an harden the f**k up a bit before they take us on again.”

Jims New Toy

"Never ask a man what sort of computer he has, if its a Mac he's already told you. If its anything else, why embarrass him?" - Tom Clancy.

I have been a bit inactive here since I got home and the photo on the left is the reason why.

Its not really a toy but hell, I'm having fun with it. There is some frustration as well, mostly due to my amateur status but I think I have successfully got all the files on the desktop that I wanted on it, across.

I really needed it for work as I seem to be in the office more and need it for the paper trail that involves.

It will be great to finally be able to keep up with my mail while I am down there. Hell, I can even blog on the job, (Just kidding Mal.)

On the road again.

I'm off again to work. This time I am leaving you a music video from way back when.

The Four Preps were popular along time ago, and were one of those groups that had the ultimate college kids dream; releasing a world wide smash hit with "26 Miles."

One of their idiosyncrasies was novelty songs based on getting rid of other groups, and this one, "The Big Draft was one of them. Some of you will recognize the tunes as they take the piss out of them.



Another song in the same vein can be heard here.

Back to work post.

I am heading away again today but this time I leave you two offerings. Patrick over at Born Again Redneck is currently running a series of “One hit wonders” so I thought I would go into competition with the following, which was a hit in Australia, God only knows why.


But for those fans of Obama I give this to both of you.

Heading back to work, some fun stuff for you.

I posted this a fair while ago, and still love it so I'll share it again. This is the Leningrad Cowboys and the Red Army Choir with "Sweet Home Alabama," the best version you will find.