13 October
2006 Thought for the Week: The Pedigree of Ideas: The substitution of 'regional' governments for the States has long been the dream of those for whom centralism is favoured against the division of powers inherent in a federation The late Leo Port (The Australian 7/3/74) the works committee chairman of the Sydney City Council, warned what the plan entailed: "Australia's system of local and State governments may be swallowed up by large regional administrations responsible to the Federal Government Alderman Leo Port said this was the next logical step if council amalgamations proposed in the NSW government's Barnett Report were implemented. "The report is the thin edge of the wedge to gain control of local government functions by larger administration," he said. "This is what the Federal Government would like to see: the elimination of all State and local governments and a system of regionalised governments." -- Jeremy Lee in "Constitutional Vivisection," New Times Survey, August 2001. |
TWEEDLEDEEM AND TWEEDLEDUMBERby James Reed Megalogenis has done an excellent job of showing in full, terrifying detail that Keating and Howard are globalist, economic rationalists, who see Australia as being part of Asia. Debates over "national identity" are really only minor family differences. Keating did what he needed to do to meet the globalist agenda, and Howard did, what he needed to do in a changed historical context, to push the same agenda. Howard had to deal with the threat of Pauline Hanson and One Nation, a backlash of Anglo-Australia against the ethnic politics of multiculturalism. Howard and his team handled
the Hanson threat through working to undermine her (Tony Abbott being the henchman)
and also by adopting some of her policies, such as a seemingly tougher stand on
asylum-seekers. I say "seemingly" because the country under Howard was "flooded"
by black refugees in a manner that has alarmed some people, and landed Professor
Andrew Fraser in trouble with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission.
Under this smokescreen Asian immigration reached record levels - often greater
that 70 per cent - under the Howard regime. Howard on September 11 was proclaiming that
"People in Australia are in no doubt that extreme Islam is responsible for terrorism"
(The Australian 11/8/06, p.1). For
the superficial ones, who "want to believe", it looks like Johnny really cares
about our fate. |
THE MYSTERIES OF THE MINDby James Reed Consciousness
is an illusion it seems, according to leading US academic Daniel Dennett. I borrowed
a couple of his books to see if I could make sense of them, but over a glass of
red I thought: to what purpose? There is nothing so absurd that a philosopher hasn't supported it: often with ingenious arguments. But while the world burns, what a waste of life and resources! Maybe, just maybe, the economic rationalists are right in eliminating philosophy departments. Obsessive logic chopping should be seen as a form of mental illness. |
NATIVE TITLE? WE WERE 'DONE LIKE A DINNER'!by
Betty Luks Some
background history: Those who were around at the time - and I was one of them - know full well "Land Rights" was never mentioned in relation to the 1967 Referendum. The proposal, so the electors were told, meant no more than a minor amendment to the Constitution designed to delete certain words - regarded as offensive - relating to the Aboriginal race in order that Aborigines could be included in the five-yearly census, and to make it possible for the Commonwealth Government, in association with the States, to make special laws for people of "the Aboriginal race". The official "Yes" case specifically repudiated any suggestion of increasing the powers of the Commonwealth over the States. "There is no intention on the part of the Commonwealth that authority should be wrested from the States." The
"Yes" case read: Fifteen years later, when a High Court ruled in the Koowarta case that the Commonwealth could overrule the States on "Land Rights", the electors discovered - too late - that they had been seriously misled in the 1967 Referendum. Both the original words deleted from the Constitution and the addition meant that the only people referred to were direct full-blood descendants of the indigenous people scattered throughout Australia when European colonisation started. There were no references to part Aborigines. A revolutionary
move designed to fragment Australia: Peter English
in "Land Rights - Birth Rights", wrote: |
BODY OF TSAR'S MOTHER BROUGHT BACK TO RUSSIATo the sounds of a 31-gun salute, the
remains of Russia's last dowager empress returned to her adopted homeland almost
nine decades after she fled the Bolshevik revolution that claimed the lives of
her son and grandchildren. Descendants of the Romanov dynasty gathered at the Baltic port of Kronstadt as the tsarina's coffin, draped in the imperial flag, was brought ashore from a Danish frigate. A military band played a 19th century funeral march as Danish and Russian soldiers formed a guard of honour, marching side by side for the first time. After a brief ceremony, the tsarina's body was taken to the imperial summer residence at Peterhof, 20 miles south-east of St Petersburg, where it lay in state. The solemn commemorations marked the culmination of years of negotiations between Moscow and Copenhagen to repatriate the Danish-born empress. Born Princess Dagmar of the Danish royal house, Maria married Tsar Alexander III in 1866, arriving in Russia exactly 140 years before her remains were returned. She was to stay for more than half a century, becoming popular among ordinary Russians who admired her tact, beauty and charitable works. Maria
married Tsar Alexander III in 1866: Refusing
to accept the deaths at Yekaterinburg, she continued to write to her son and interviewed
several women claiming to be her granddaughter Anastasia, said by some to have
escaped the Bolsheviks. She died in 1928 and was buried at Roskilde, Denmark's
royal cathedral. Her spoken desire to be buried in Russia could not be contemplated
until the fall of communism. |
WHAT DO THE HUNGARIANS DO WITH LYING POLITICIANS?The BBC reports that several days ago, "Protesters tried to storm Hungary's state TV station after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted his party had lied to win an election. They used stones to attack the TV HQ in the capital Budapest, demanding to be allowed to broadcast their grievances." Hey, maybe they're onto something! The BBC article continues:
It is not clear how the tapes of the meeting which sparked the protests were leaked. In excerpts broadcast on state radio, Mr Gyurcsany says harsh economic reforms are needed. He thanks hundreds of tricks for keeping the economy above board. In a speech sprinkled with obscenities, Mr Gyurcsany says: 'We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening.' If anyone ever wondered what
politicians say or think when they're alone, now you know. Almost certainly a
new election will be demanded. The self-confessed lying politician will be lucky
if he avoids becoming an early Christmas ornament hanging from a tree. |
WHAT THE POLITICIANS DON'T TELL US - WE ARE THE LOSERSFrom September 20 to 22, the Cairns Group met in Cairns {Queensland} to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The Cairns group has been one of the premier voices on the international stage pushing for "freer" trade in agriculture. In
March 2006 https://www.tradewatchoz.org/enews/43.html wrote:
So much for 'freer' trade: The establishment of the G20 group of developing countries - which has pushed for agricultural trade rules which will actually benefit the developing world - in 2003 was a signal by many developing countries that what the Cairns group was pushing for wasn't really in their interests. The establishment of the G20 has seen most of the Cairns Group's influence in global trade talks disappear. Australian
Industry Group says Australia losing from trade with China: |
BRITAIN ISSUES WORLD BANK £50M ULTIMATUMThe Guardian reports that Britain will withhold £50m of funding for the World Bank unless the Washington-based institution stops forcing poor countries to liberalise markets and sell off public services. Hilary Benn, the international development secretary has told the Bank's president Paul Wolfowitz that Britain is unhappy about the lack of progress in removing conditions that tie onerous strings to financial help for developing nations.Conditions imposed in return for World Bank and IMF loans - most often privatisation of public assets and services, deregulation, and removal of "barriers to trade" - have been seen by many as responsible for increased unemployment, falling wages, falling commodity prices and poor public services in much of the developing world. The move is a win for many organisations around the world (and especially in Britain) which have campaigned for a reduction in these conditions. More: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1871913,00.html |
TRUE GRITby
Brian Simpson The history of this psycho-political warfare
can be seen in the movies of the time. Ultimately the western had to be abandoned
as a genre for Hollywood, to be replaced by the black/cop/ white/cop dumb/blonde
slut mode of action entertainment. I say this after watching a wide variety of modern "action" movies. The backdrop of all these movies is a civilisation in decay and rotting. John Wayne movies, for all their defects, at least were wholesome: what parades today as entertainment in film is often sinister and sick. Individualism, self-reliance and manly courage - the values of the John Wayne persona - have no place in the new world disorder of decadence, degeneracy and decay. Hero has become anti-hero. |
DEFROCKING 'AUSSIE' TONY"Up
to 20,000 demonstrators marched through the northern English city of Manchester
to protest the presence of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The protests
on Saturday took place on the eve of the governing Labour Party's annual gathering.
The Stop the War Coalition, which organised the march, estimated about 30,000 people were participating. Police initially estimated the crowd at 10,000, then doubled that figure. Speakers at a rally outside the conference venue accused Blair of following the United States into illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and failing to condemn recent fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerillas in southern Lebanon. George
Galloway, an outspoken former member of Labour, told the crowd that Blair "is
about to fall, not because of the economy, or a great social issue, he is about
to fall for one reason ... it is the wars, and the obscene Monica Lewinsky relationship
he has entered into with George Bush." Other speakers included journalist Lauren
Booth, sister of Blair's wife Cherie, who lambasted Blair over Lebanon. "I want
him to feel ashamed ... that he didn't push for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon
and let it be flattened," she said." |
A SORDID TALE - AND A WARNING?The following article from the Sydney Morning Herald is a very sad and sordid tale. It not only reminds us of Professor Andrew Fraser's concerns about present immigration policies but also the sad plight and behaviour of many of our young people which must appear 'easy pickings' to people coming from other cultures. The
headlines read: "Gang raped girl, 15, over two days of terror: police", by Louise
Hall, Sydney Morning Herald 3/9/06. When
the three Zambians appeared in Parramatta Bail Court yesterday, it was alleged
the girl had been drinking alcohol with friends around the streets of Hurstville
on Wednesday. The group was met by two of the accused, Likumbo Makasa, 25, and
Tyrone Chishimba, 21, who bought the group bourbon and cask wine. She fell asleep
and awoke to find a man on top of her having intercourse, which she had not consented
to, with the three co-accused and another man watching, the court was told. For
the next two hours the men allegedly "took their turn", sexually assaulting her
vaginally, anally and orally, often two at a time as the others looked on. |
GLOBAL WARMING BUNK?by James Reed David Bellamy the conservationist may take comfort from such research. He has said: "Global warming - at least the modern nightmare version - is a myth. I am sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world's politicians and policy-makers are not." Indeed: they have a vested interest in maintaining a state of fear. For
example, governments can use such issues as terrorism and the so-called environmental
crisis, to keep the "punter's" minds off of the real economic crisis that cannot
go away because of our debt-producing financial system. |
ENRON CFO SAYS BANKS WERE PART OF CROOKED SCHEMESAndrew
Fastow, Enron Corp's former finance chief and architect of the fraud that led
to the energy trader's bankruptcy, said company banks, including Merrill Lynch
& Co. and Credit Suisse, were in on his scheme. Fastow,
44, singled out Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group,
and Barclays Plc. in his declaration, which investors cited in their suit to help
recover an estimated $30 billion in stock and bond losses. Fastow, scheduled to
be sentenced for the fraud, has previously refused to testify, citing his right
not to incriminate himself. After
disclosing the misstatement of its income in 2001, the Houston-based company filed
the second-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history after WorldCom Inc.'s. More than
5,000 people lost their Enron jobs. Fastow testified against Enron's former chief
executive officers Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who were convicted of the
fraud in May. Lay died in July. Skilling, 52, is appealing. |
AN AUSTRALIAN JEW CONFRONTS THE "ISRAEL QUESTION"by
Betty Luks Rodgers
in his review says that Jewish federal Labor MP, Michael Danby in mid-2005 advised
the publisher, Melbourne University Press, to "drop the is whole disgusting project."
**Mr. Lowenstein's book, "My Israel Question," will be readily available from the League Book Services shortly. Price: $37.95 posted. |