Abbott works a shift at the fire front

 The cartoon (right) by Bill Leak of Adam Bandt and Tony Abbott has proven prophetic.  Bandt attempted to use images of the fire front, burning houses, and fleeing residents to accuse Abbott of causing more of this because of his intention to repeal the carbon tax.

Over the last couple of decades bushfires, which were previously part of the Australian scene, have become a sign of global warming climate change.

Meanwhile Tony Abbott has joined up with his volunteer fire brigade and done a fourteen hour shift at the fire front: 

FOR 14 long hours over the weekend, Tony Abbott was just one of 1392 anonymous, sooty-faced firefighters battling to keep the relentless NSW bushfires at bay. 

His favoured white-shirt-blue-tie combo was swapped for yellow overalls as Australia's 28th prime minister joined his Davidson RFS brigade on a back-burning operation in Bilpin, near the Blue Mountains, for a night shift that began at 6pm Saturday and finished at 8am yesterday. 

If not for a couple of photos circulating on Twitter, it's a fair chance that Mr Abbott's weekend exploits would have gone unnoticed. His office did not issue a statement until the blurry image of the PM giving the thumbs-up from behind the wheel of a fire truck appeared on the social media site. 

While many Twitter followers praised his volunteering spirit, others questioned the wisdom of the nation's leader putting himself in the line of fire. But for Mr Abbott, it was just another day as a volunteer firey with his local brigade, something he has been doing since 2001. 

Prior to the election, Mr Abbott, a keen cyclist, runner, surf lifesaver and firefighting volunteer, vowed to continue his community activities should he assume the prime ministership. 

Last month, his NSW Rural Fire Service brigade captain Trent Dowling told The Australian the Prime Minister was just another volunteer when he was on firefighting duties. 

"It is the whole thing the brigade and the service is built on," Mr Dowling said. "It doesn't matter what you do outside, whether you are a plumber, a student, unemployed or, in this case, the Prime Minister. The rule that we have at our station is once you pull that uniform on, everyone is in the same boat. 

"Anyone who bags him for pulling on the uniform and thinks it is a picture opportunity, I would suggest they do the course and join the brigade and come and see what we do.”

In times of emergency it is common for state and national leaders to turn up at the scene for photo opportunities, looking suitably grave, sympathetic, or in control if things are going well.  Abbott deserves praise for putting himself on the line where the rubber hits the road.

There has been some hand wringing about putting his protective detail at risk, but they were probably not needed in any case.  Rural firefighters are a pretty tough bunch and anyone who threatened one of their members might need to be protected from them.

While regular readers are aware that this site has little time for politicians and other political parties, Abbott is the genuine real deal.

While I am at it, here's a shout out to a few good mates from down there who are probably involved right now.  

Farewell Hazel Hawke

 Hazel Hawke, 1929 – 2013. 

Hazel was the former wife of former PM Bob Hawke, and was widely respected among even those who couldn’t stand Hawke himself.

An unpretentious person, she lent dignity, integrity, and a common touch to her position which made her widely loved, and may be part of the reason the Hawke government stayed in power as long as it did.

Usain Bolt, tax resistor

It is difficult to work out whether the following article “Usain Bolt is wrong to oppose our tax laws” is satire or written by a total creature of the state.

H/t; Hey... What did I miss?

Usain Bolt became a byword during the Olympics owing to his incredible performances getting a gold medal in each of, the 100m, the 200m, and the 4 x 100m relay. What the various networks failed to mention is that he is a tax resistor. Bolt refuses to perform in Britain because of their tax laws there.

This seems to have aroused the ire of George Eaton from The New Statesman, who is outraged that someone would dare to opt out of competing there over a mere 50% cut being taken out of his prize money and sponsorship. George works himself up into a bit of a lather over his insistence that Usain would be nothing without big taxes and that not enough countries tax visiting athletes:

Bolt's objection is to a law that allows the government to take a cut of his sponsorship and endorsement earnings as well as his appearance fee, which is currently taxed at 50 per cent. For instance, were he to take part in 10 meetings worldwide, with one in Britain, the Inland Revenue would tax him on 10 per cent of his worldwide sponsorship earnings. None of which is objectionable. Without tax funded events such as those in Britain, Bolt, who earns around £10m a year, would have no platform on which to perform and, consequently, no sponsorship. Those countries that don't tax non-resident sports people, as Britain does, should do.

The law was waived for the Olympics at the behest of the IOC (one wonders if we would have seen Bolt otherwise) and the government is now under pressure to permanently suspend it. But given the revenue it would lose from those athletes who do grace us with their presence, it is understandably reluctant to do so. Instead, it is Bolt who should reverse his stance and accept that it is legitimate for him to pay a proportion of his worldwide earnings to the British government. After all, having spending £9bn on the Olympics, we could do with the money.

Bolt's management complain that "his tax liability in the UK would exceed his appearance fee". Yet if true, that is only because his sponsorship earnings are so exorbitant to begin with. In any case, is it utopian to hope that athletes might be motivated by something other than money?

Athletes of Bolt’s standard have a short time span in which to make money, before the next hopeful comes along to knock them off their perch. After that, unless they can successfully make a go of it as a coach they have to rely on declining sponsorship money while gaining another career.

This sort of carping over ‘exorbitant earnings’ is very reminiscent of the old attitude that existed before the age of professionalism during which sportsmen were expected to do it for the sport and the glory of the fatherland or whatever. It was prominent during Kerry Packer's takeover of cricket. In those days, great athletes appeared but were mainly rewarded with accolades which didn’t put much bread on the table. Today’s standards are much fairer.

Ray Bradbury; seeing the future.

Image: (Not to be confused with Fatso’s Fahrenheit 9/11)

Andrew Bolt has paid tribute to writer, Ray Bradbury who has just passed away at 91 years. A prolific writer for most of his life, Bradbury had the ability to identify trends and project them into the future with a fair degree of accuracy, as Bolt points out in the following quote:

From Fahrenheit 451, something spookily modern:

“Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don’t step on the toes of the dog-lovers, the cat-lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that! All the minor minor minorities with their ears to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did. Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla tapioca. …

“There you have it, Montag. It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time. …

“You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, what do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn’t that right?...

“Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it. Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator …

“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none..."

2012 State of Origin.

State versus state; mate versus mate.

Cartoon: By Warren.

Well, it’s on again. It’s time to give New South Wales a footy lesson, this time we will concentrate on the mateship.

(L) 'The King’ Wally Lewis discussing the progress of the game with Mark Guyer in 1991.

(R) Queenslander, Carl Webb about to help NSW prop Luke Bailey to his feet.

(Below) Queensland’s Gorden Tallis checking whether New South Wales player Terry Hill has something in his eye.

Farewell, Andrew Breitbart.

It was something of a hammer blow this morning to wake up to the news of the loss of Andrew, prematurely at the age of 43. While most tributes to him describe Andrew as a great conservative, he has been a good friend to the libertarian movement.

A tireless worker, and courageous fighter for liberty, he will be sorely missed. We offer our condolences to all of those close to him.

Steve Jobs Galt statement.

Image: The Late Steve Jobs.

John Aglialoro, the producer of Atlas Shrugged has raised an interesting quote by Steve Jobs, which sounds rather Galtlike:

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs, commencement address to the graduating students at Stanford.

Compare it with:

"For centuries, the battle of morality was fought between those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to your neighbors-between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of incompetents on earth. And no one came to say that your life belongs to you and that the good is to live it." – Ayn Rand, John Galt speech.

The man who put parliament in its place.

Thanks to Economics.org.

The late Kerry Packer was probably one of the most courageous Australians who ever lived. He was a man who politicians loved to hate, and despite the risks of retribution, attempts at which were common was prepared to stick to his guns and stand on principle.

In 1991 parliament decided to make an example of him, and in my minds eye I can still see an Australian Democrat Senator saying how he would be brought to account. The result was that Kerry put them right back where they belonged with his unique straight talk. Once PC is disposed of, politics has little to support it.

Here are highlights of Kerry Packer's 1991 House of Reps Select Committee on Print Media Appearance. It includes perhaps the most famous Australian anti-government quote, where Packer says that anyone who pays more tax than they can get away with needs their head examined:



Bloody hell, I miss this guy.

John Hospers, RIP.

The following is from Wayne Allyn Root.

I have sad news to report...John Hospers, the very first Libertarian Presidential candidate in 1972, has passed away. John was 93. Because of our close friendship, I was asked to announce his death to the LP and his many fans and supporters.

John passed quietly away in his sleep, on Sunday morning June 12 without pain and suffering, of natural causes. He died only 3 days after his 93rd birthday.

He was a true friend of individual liberty and freedom.

A sad day for all. But a devastatingly sad for me, because John was a true friend to me as well. I spoke to John often. He was a trusted political advisor and confidant. And in his last years, when he was in the hospital, his friends always asked if I could cheer him up with a call. I came to enjoy those calls. John was my personal "Tuesday with Morrie."

He was the sweetest man alive, and a very loyal friend of mine. He will be greatly missed by all. The Libertarian movement has lost a pioneer and hero.

I send my condolences to the Hospers family.

And I wish a lifetime in heaven for John.

Many of us in the libertarian movement know of John Hospers who was the LP’s first Presidential candidate in 1972. The ticket was made famous by receiving an Electoral College vote, when Roger McBride, a Republican delegate felt he could not support Nixon and opted for the LP candidates. I was fortunate enough to meet Roger when he addressed a Progress party meeting in Brisbane.

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.

An old dog with plenty of fight left in him.

Those who read the comments section of the online editions of the Australian or Courier Mail will occasionally run into some rather pithy and ‘right to the point’ ones from regular contributor, Ron Kitching. Ron is one of my regular contacts, a friend, and a guy I have got to know well since I worked for him in the early 80s. He was a supporter in my unsuccessful campaign for Bob Katter Senior’s seat in a federal election back then.

Ron was in fact probably one of our first Classical Liberals/libertarians, having freed his mind of the clutches of the state after reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged while trying to find out how and why governments could regulate the economy to such an extent that an ostensibly booming industry (like mining) was reduced to penury.

An author, life member of the Mont Pelerin Society, and a major contributor to F.A. Hayek’s lecture tour of Australia in 1976, Ron at 80 years of age still has a great deal to offer. His comment on the article, “Kevin Rudd may give ground to miners,” is telling:

I am annoyed by Rudd's talking up economic nationalism, insofar as he has been braying that BHP is 40% foreign owned and Rio Tinto is 70% foreign owned. The implication is that foreign owners are enemies and criminals and should be heavily taxed.

Then Rudd claimed in a TV statement that his wonderful reforms would increase exploration and mining by 5% plus. And Treasurer Swan keeps parroting "These are the resources of the Australian people".

That implication indicates that ALL business resources including farms are the resources of the Australian people.

I thought the remarks of Mac Nichols, in a letter to the press, spot on:

Any of these resource rent or royalty tax legalised plunder initiatives are based upon the premise that mineral wealth is for all to share. Each and every mineral deposit is a testament to our indomitable spirit, is a patentable invention and not a public asset.

A legally plundered mining royalty is identical to the concept of a government demanding a tax from a current model Intel Computer CPU, as the ideas were always there, it just happened to be Intel that discovered them.

And again the following:

I well remember how Whitlam's reign wrecked Australia's Exploration and mining industry during and for long after his disastrous term.

There is no such thing as a windfall profit. Huge profits indicate that a producer is serving his customers well. The social benefits of profits are that they generate new capital.

New Capital generates exploration activity. Profits also induce competitive producers to enter production.

The Rudd government's Resource rent tax is a capital destroying exercise and as such becomes a job and production destroying activity.

It also leaves countless millions of tonnes of otherwise productive ore in the ground. Low-grade producers are wiped out completely.

Jasper Schuringa, Hero in airline attack.

Photo: Jasper Schuringa.

H/t Libertarian Republican (second Post) and Worldwide Liberty.

Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director appears to be the hero of the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253. He was seated in the same row as the terrorist but on the other side of the aircraft, and saw what looked like an object on fire in the suspect’s lap and “freaked,” he told CNN.

“Without any hesitation, I just jumped over all the seats,” Mr. Schuringa said, in an account confirmed by other passengers. “I was thinking, oh, he’s trying to blow up the plane. I was trying to search his body for any explosive. I took some kind of object that was already melting and smoking, and I tried to put out the fire and when I did that I was also restraining the suspect.” “I just jumped. I didn’t think. I went over there and tried to save the plane.”

He was then assisted by flight crew and other passengers in putting out the flames and dragging the perpetrator to the front of the aircraft where he was handcuffed and held.

Dutch Member of Parliament and PVV leader Geert Wilders called Jasper Schuringa a hero for saving the Delta flight. "He deserves a royal honor." Wilders says he will ask the Dutch government to award such grant. Schuringa is already hailed in the American media as a hero so such an action from the Dutch government would be fitting even if it arouses anger from extremists.

This seems to imitate what occurred before Christmas in 2001, when an Islamic zealot tried to ignite plastic explosives hidden in his shoe on a trans-Atlantic flight and was overpowered by fellow passengers. United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11 is another example of decisive action by passengers ending a terrorist attack. Regrettably the plane crashed, killing them but they prevented the hijackers carrying out their mission.

The heroic action of otherwise ordinary people will always be a serious encumbrance to those who seek to harm the innocent. Evildoers are drawn to situations where the authorities are not likely to be present to hamper them. Be there as much security as can be placed in the way of these terrorists, the last line of defense will always be the unassuming guy who when he finds himself in the face of danger, charges into harms way.

The (Dutch) National Coordinator for Counterterrorism (NCTb) says that an initial investigation has revealed that Mr. Mutallab did pass through a security checkpoint when he changed planes but security officials did not find anything untoward. The NCTb says all procedures were followed correctly.


Geert Wilders is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party. The PVV is pro-free market, and pro-civil liberties, yet stridently opposed to Islamization of Europe. Wilders is currently well ahead in polling to be next President of the Netherlands.

Vic Summers: Competing at 90.

Vic Summers (foreground) on the way to winning his first heat at the Gympie Show. (From Gympie Times)

Vic Summers must be one of the most retiring guys I know, it seems that every time I have spoken to him over the last 20 years or so he is retiring from competition in wood chopping. This year is no exception although he has left it a little open, stating that he might keep going if he wins, and he won the Veterans Standing H/cp.

Vic was a world champion and a legend of the sport when I was knee high to a grasshopper, and is still a great competitor at the age of 90, although less well known outside the sport. Handicapping seems to be a feature of these competitions, and he always seemed to be the last one starting, even to the point where some of the competitors would be well into the other side of their block before he was allowed to strike a blow, and he would still give them a run for their money.

I hope to see him there next year, I am betting he will have a go. Unless he stops enjoying the sport, or can’t compete to his own satisfaction, I think he should keep going after all it would be a shame to toss away about 80 years of experience.

Bobby Knight, Discipline and Success.

Indiana coach Bobby Knight, left, and team members Scott May, center, and Quinn Buckner, are all smiles as they hold the trophy for winning the NCAA Basketball championship in Philadelphia on March 30, 1976. (Image: from Associated Press.)

I received the following from one of my blogging friends today, and find it very relevant as in the paper is news of the latest scandal involving some of our foot ball players, another in what seems to be a never ending stream from high profile sportsmen. In looking for an illustration I found a lot of negative news items on this guy.

Much of it seems to boil down to his being a tough no nonsense coach from an era before political correctness polluted objectivity, and men were big enough to take harsh criticism if it was warranted. Bobby Knight has a record of success that makes him a legend.

From C.B.

I sent this to the local paper as a guest editorial. I doubt they'll print it, but who knows?

I lived in Bloomington for over thirty years. Bloomington and IU have their problems, but absent problems are something you take for granted, things that don't happen here. There are many things you can say about Bobby Knight, many of them not very positive, but the one way in which he had an immeasurable impact is this:

He was squeaky clean, and he ran a squeaky clean athletic program. He had the highest graduation rate over his 29 years at IU than any other NCAA coach in history, and although the athletic program does employ tutors, I was never pressured to up an athlete's grade, and never heard of anyone at IU who was.

The General coached at West Point before he came to IU, and he brought a drill sergeant's approach to coaching with him. At IU, it was Bobby Knight's way or the highway. Period. Athletes at IU were among its most upstanding citizens, because Bobby Knight would tolerate nothing less. Before the season began about 10 years ago, one of his freshman players to be called his professor a bitch in class. Bobby Knight heard about it, and threw him off the team for it. And it wasn't only the basketball team that was clean. It was the whole athletic program, because Bobby Knight owned it. If a coach was pulling strings under the table for his players or tolerating bad behavior and Bobby Knight had found out about it, he would have had the coach fired.

For those thirty-some years I lived in Bloomington, athletic program scandals were something you read about in the paper that happened at other campuses. The last athletic scandal in Bloomington I can remember happened in the late 80s or early 90s when a football player was shot and killed -- and the football player was trying to bring down a drug dealer.

Here, every week, there's a story in the paper either about some Penn State athlete (usually a football player) being charged with a violent felony, or an update on a trial of an athlete being tried for a violent felony. Assault, rape, manslaughter, you name it. It's hard to get used to after 30 years of squeaky clean athletics. Strike that last sentence, because no civilized human being should get used to it. It's disgusting. It's embarrassing. It's downright unacceptable.

People here (and in nearly every other college town) shrug their shoulders and say, "That's the way it is." Well, it may be the way it is, but it is not the way it has to be. Bobby Knight is proof that you don't have to tolerate criminals or criminal wannabes or anything less than "yes, sir" behavior to win -- and nearly every other college coach in every varsity sport, including Joe Paterno, would give his right arm for the record Bobby Knight achieved at IU. It's time that the Penn State athletic program figured that out.