ALP lost it years ago

The enemy within that killed Curtin

Labor's loss of direction

Rodney Cavalier: The political class has a deadly hold over Labor
[no longer linked]
Simon Crean has survived his preselection challenge, but union control of the ALP is killing the party
March 08, 2006
TRAVELLING the world in Her Majesty's survey ship Beagle in 1835, Charles Darwin found himself in conversation about observing the giant tortoise. These huge reptiles provided powerful supportive evidence of a theory he was developing: all species, including man, evolved according to natural selection. The local governor boasted that he could tell from which island each tortoise came by looking at the shape of its shell.
It was the Eureka moment in a voyage that has gone into history, the spark for a theory that altered our understandings of biology. As species spread around the globe: either they adapted to the natural environment or they did not survive.
During the weekend in five safe Labor seats, the second generation of the political class attempted to tip out the first generation political class. This is not renewal, it is replication. The ALP has narrowed its catchment for parliamentary preferment beyond the point of serious danger. The narrowing of its gene pool is characteristic of a species approaching extinction. The basics of the ALP decline and the situation in Victorian preselections are best understood through the world of natural science.
Since 1996 the federal ALP has suffered a spectacular decline in diversity and work experience. It is now the worst caucus in the history of Federation. It has become weaker at each election. It will become weaker after 2007 whatever the outcome. Only Mark Dreyfuss QC in the Victorian seats adds anything new today. The remainder of the 2007 intake will be the same person, the same genetic brew whose life has been lived inside the ALP culture. They are the political class.
The political class of these successive generations - union officials, ministerial staffers, employees of the ALP offices - has in common a complete adaptation of career, mobility, mating, pack mentality, ideological carapace and camouflage so as to secure their seats in a parliament somewhere. In the 1970s, as blue-collar unions were no longer able to rely on talent emerging from the ranks, their benighted, ageing leadership brought in tertiary-educated young blokes with a stint in the ALP.

Parliament be hanged

No mention of hanged, conventions or parties in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. The ALP media is making up stories again.

Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
Chapter I The Parliament
Part III—The House of Representatives 10

Part III The House of Representatives
Section 24
10 Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
Part III—The House of Representatives
24 Constitution of House of Representatives
The House of Representatives shall be composed of members directly chosen by the people of the Commonwealth, and the number of such members shall be, as nearly as practicable, twice the number of the senators.

40 Voting in House of Representatives
Questions arising in the House of Representatives shall be determined by a majority of votes other than that of the Speaker. The Speaker shall not vote unless the numbers are equal, and then he shall have a casting vote.

Part V—Powers of the Parliament 18


57 Disagreement between the Houses
If the House of Representatives passes any proposed law, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, and if after an interval of three months the House of Representatives, in the same or the next session, again passes the proposed law with or without any amendments which have been made, suggested, or agreed to by the Senate, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, the Governor-General may dissolve the Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously. But such dissolution shall not take place within six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by effluxion of time. If after such dissolution the House of Representatives again passes the proposed law, with or without any amendments which have been made, suggested, or agreed to by the Senate, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, the Governor-General may convene a joint sitting of the members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. The members present at the joint sitting may deliberate and shall vote together upon the proposed law as last proposed by the House of Representatives, and upon amendments, if any, which have been made therein by one House and not agreed to by the other, and any such amendments which are affirmed by an absolute majority of the total number of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives shall be taken to have been carried, and if the proposed law, with the amendments, if any, so carried is affirmed by an absolute majority of the total number of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, it shall be taken to have been duly passed by both Houses of the Parliament, and shall be presented to the Governor-General for the Queen’s assent.

ALP family GGs

1975 ALP appointed Governor-General then did was to remit the matter to the Australian people. Now Shorten and Quentin Bryce ALP family ties.

ALP to split?

Is the ALP going to split again? With the Greens getting the left vote?

ALP truth deficit

ALP adds $400 million to the budget deficit in two years' time.

Past and present

Bruce, Scullin, and Winston
Rudd/Gillard and Howard?

Change your name to protect your innocence.

Google boss Eric Schmidt warns on social use of media
Young people may one day have to change their names in order to escape their previous online activity, Google boss Eric Schmidt has warned.

Julia recycles

Maths lessons to manage mobiles under Labor plan to teach kids financial literacy

Comments on this story:
Jane of Sale Posted at 7:38 AM Today
Just saw Ross Greenwood on the Today show with a Wayne Swan memo from 2008 scrapping this Howard government policy. Dont politicians ever talk to each other, surely when Julia was planning on making this announcement someone in the party remembered this and spoke up, in particulary Wayne Swan, rather than trying to spin it as some great new intiative. Credit to Ross for exposing this and at last holding politicians accountable for their past decisions.

PM defends financial literacy plan

Coles, Wilson and Fadden

During 1940 Coles became increasingly disturbed by Australia’s `apathetic’ response to the war. On 24 September he was elected to the House of Representatives as the Independent member for Henty (resigning as mayor although remaining a councillor). He undertook to work towards a `government of all parties’, the nationalisation of resources, and the widening of social services (including national insurance, child endowment and public housing provision). In February 1941 he funded his own `unofficial mission’ to the USA and Britain to survey shipping difficulties and air-raid precautions. Returning in April, he presented a 23-point plan of action to (Sir) Arthur Fadden, the acting prime minister, centring on the expansion of central government powers over taxation, trade and employment. When (Sir) Robert Menzies returned from London in May, also emphasising the need for national unity, Coles committed his support to the United Australia Party. This trust was soon eroded by the circumstances of Menzies’ resignation—or `lynching’, as Coles saw it—as prime minister. On 3 October Coles resigned from the UAP and voted against the Fadden government with another Independent, Alexander Wilson, with whom he shared the balance of power.

Considered by the V.W.G.A.'s newspaper to be the 'only friend of the Wheatgrower in federal parliament', Wilson advocated an orderly marketing scheme for the commodity in the bad seasons of 1938-39. He defeated McClelland again in the 1940 election which left him and another Victorian Independent, (Sir) Arthur Coles, holding the balance of power in the House of Representatives. They kept successive prime ministers (Sir) Robert Menzies and (Sir) Arthur Fadden in power until 3 October 1941 when Coles announced that he would vote to bring down the government. Wilson, who had often voted with the Australian Labor Party and who had been assiduously cultivated by Bert Evatt, followed suit.

Japan man 'e cry enough, pack oop and go HTM

Chapter 10 – Operations on New Britain

On 15th August when the news arrived that the war was over it was received quietly. Native workers and troops were assembled and told the news — "Japan man 'e cry enough" — and native runners were sent into the hills to spread the news among the villages.

Next day Gracie Fields and a party of other entertainers arrived at Jacquinot Bay from Bougainville and in the evening performed before 10,000 troops.

Highlight of the night . . . was a half hour's non-stop entertainment by "Gracie " who at the conclusion of the concert said : "I hope it won't be long before you all pack oop and go H.T.M.—home to Moom." Ten thousand troops had exactly identical hopes and the thunderous cheering showed this in no uncertain manner.

hushed thousands of men

Chapter 9 – The Floods and the Cease Fire

By the first week in August the rains in southern Bougainville had put a stop to large-scale operations for over a month. News of the dropping of an atomic bomb in Japan convinced the troops that the end of the war was near. On the 9th came news of the dropping of a second atomic bomb and the invasion of Manchuria by the Russians. On the 11th the forward battalions were ordered to withdraw all long-range and fighting patrols forthwith, but to remain on the alert. On the 16th they learnt that fighting was to have ceased the previous day. But when would all the isolated parties of Japanese know what had happened? An Australia n patrol searching for the body of a man killed on patrol some days before met a group of Japanese who seemed to have learnt the news: "Neither party knew whether to advance or make off. After observing one another our party returned to company area." 7

7 The troops at Torokina knew of the surrender on the 15th. That day Gracie Fields, the English singer, had arrived at Torokina. In her autobiography Sing As We Go (1960), pp. 151-2, she writes:
The General who had showed me the jungle clearing where I was to sing that evening cam e up white-faced with a sort of dazed excitement. "
'I want you to come with me now,' he said. It was midday. "He took me to the huge clearing. Already it was packed with troops. With all the top brass I stood facing them. The boys must have wondered about the small odd-looking creature I looked, all muffled up in creased khaki.
"The General stepped forward.
"`Men, at last I can tell you the only thing you want to know. The Japs have surrendered.' In the second's silence of wonderment and before the cheering could start, he held up his hand. `I have England's Gracie Fields here. I am going to ask her to sing the Lord's Prayer.'
"He led me to a small wooden box. I got on to it. There was a movement as of a great sea — every man had taken off his cap. "The matted green of the tall dark jungle surrounded us, but above our clearing the noon sun seared down from the brilliant sky on to...bare bowed heads.
"I started to sing. `Our Father which art in Heaven. . ‘Because of my cold I had to sing in a low key, but there was no sound except my voice. The hushed thousands of men in front of me seemed even to have stopped breathing. Each note and word of the prayer carried across the utter stillness of the rows of bent heads till it was lost in the jungle behind them.
"It was the most privileged and cherished moment of my life.
"I treasure the letters from the many soldiers who have written to me since, telling me it was their most wonderful moment too.”

Howard's jobs go the way of Howard's surplus

The unemployment rate rose to 5.3 per cent in July, seasonally adjusted, from 5.1 per cent in June, the ABS said on Thursday.
Australia's patchy economic recovery is generating few job opportunities for the young, with the jobless rate among youth rising to its highest in about 9 years.

Warmists blame disasters on climate. But?

Weather blocker: jet stream stops and causes disasters
But less is known about what triggers this abnormal activity.
Climate change has been cited as one possibility, but scientist Gerald Meehl of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado told the New Scientist magazine there was no way to test the theory, as the resolution in climate change models was too low to replicate weather patterns such as blocking events.
Another cause could be low solar activity, Mr Fisher said.

Australia's business confidence 14-month low

A surprise drop in new orders in the manufacturing, retail and construction sectors has dragged Australia's business confidence to its lowest level in over a year.
National Australia Bank's business confidence index, a widely watched gauge on the corporate sector's sentiment, dropped to 2 points in July from 4 in June - the lowest level since June 2009.

Liberian refugee 'loves Liberal policies'

Tony Abbott with Mafata and Mohamed Kamara at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane. Picture: Glen McCurtayne
Unlike almost everybody else at the Brisbane launch, Mr Kamara knows the hardship of war and endemic violence.
It is that which makes his support for Mr Abbott's boat people policy - ''stopping the boats'' and toughening penalties for Australians who harbour illegal immigrants and people smugglers - perhaps all the more remarkable. Source: The Age

Hiroshima - peace just in time

Enola Gay navigator has 'no regrets'
The bomb killed an estimated 100,000 Japanese, but it ended the war and precluded an invasion of Japan, and Mr Van Kirk says he has no regrets. None of them did.

The last hurdle they had to pass was the final reduction in rations in 1945, and it is probably true that liberation came with a small margin of safety for many of them, in fact only just in time.

The news of the peace came just in time for some of the nurses, who were very weak.

Mitch Miller "Sing Along With Mitch" has died

Mitch Miller, a band leader who won fame as the host of the "Sing Along With Mitch" television show, has died.

They Sang Along With Mitch

The roles played by Miller, who died Saturday at age 99, were many.

High Court approves ALP vote fraud rules

ALP left branch
The full bench of the High Court handed down its majority decision at lunchtime, in the fastest-ever ruling for a full court hearing.
electoral-act-ruling

Where are the boats?

DIAC-newsroom no news
Home Affair Media Releases no news
On July 08, 2010 we read:

Gillard accused of delaying asylum-seeker boat arrival news

Darwin award nominee

Culling the Herd.

Electric shock kills suspected copper thief

COMPLEX ERUPTION ON THE SUN

COMPLEX ERUPTION ON THE SUN: On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more.
Different colors in the image represent different gas temperatures ranging from ~1 to 2 million degrees K. Watch the movie.

Kiesha Abrahams déjà vu

Dean Shillingsworth

Kiesha Abrahams parents

ALP China expert Harris optimistic hopes

China expert says academics claims China will 'dominate' in the next 30 years 'pessimistic'
Top thinker says China may 'push the US out of Asia'

Great foreign policy myths
In the lead-up to the 2001 election, several academics - including Ross Garnaut (formerly Bob Hawke's senior adviser) and Stuart Harris (formerly secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs) - issued a statement that was described by one journalist as amounting to a "devastating attack" on the Howard Government. They maintained that Australia's links with the Asia-Pacific region were "more fragile and less productive than at any time for a generation".