The Mumbai attacks, terrorism and Chuck Norris

First let me express my deep horror of the Islamist attack in Mumbai. I couldn't think of anything intelligent or original to say so have refrained from posting until now. Ever since that horrible day in September 2001 I have been waiting for another major attack. September 11 set the bar for terrorism, you can bet there is someone out there plotting a more terrible, more audacious attack against the West.

The Mumbai attacks were co-ordinated attacks by gunmen, not bombings, so that could be their new tactic. So how far could you take such attacks? Well back in 1985 the movie below was released.


It proposed communist guerrillas infiltrate the United States and dressed as police officers and other officials start shooting civilians , especially ethnic groups. The result is nation wide riots and panic. I still think the premise is terrifyingly possible. Unfortunately I think Mr Norris's help would be limited.

Back to bad old days

Our economy begins to slow and higher unemployment looms , so the Rudd government wants to bring back the bad old days of union power:

A RADICAL overhaul of workplace laws, to be unveiled by the Rudd Government today, will propose a vastly increased role for unions, venturing far beyond the policy Labor took to the election a year ago.

Business groups are already branding Julia Gillard's 600-page legislative package a "throwback to the Keating era" as unions stand to win back rights to demand industry-wide pay deals and access to the wage records of non-members.

Employers are furious that unions - which represent just 14 per cent of the private sector workforce - will get a seat at the bargaining table even if just one worker in a large company belongs to a union......

I hope the Opposition can stop it in the Senate. The government had a mandate to abolish Workchoices not bring back Union dominated industry.

I agree with Elton

Gay old pop star Elton John has a sensible view on gay marriage:

I don't want to be married. I'm very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership," John says. "The word 'marriage,' I think, puts a lot of people off.

"You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships."

If gays really want legal recognition for their relationship civil partnership should do. If they want more then that then we need to ask why?

The Obama revolution

Barack Obama may not be President yet but he has already revolutionized politics. He internet based campaign was several orders of magnitude more advanced then anything done previously. Patrick Rufini runs the numbers.

Jose Antonio Vargas breaks down some monumental numbers.

13 million e-mail addresses.

$500 million raised online.

6.5 million donations from 3 million donors with an average donation of $80.

3.2 million Facebook friends (to John McCain's 600,000).

2 million My.BarackObama.com profiles created.

One million participants in Obama's cell phone text messaging program -- this is less than the 6-8 million rumored but still massive.

400,000 volunteer blog posts written. 200,000 volunteer events created. 35,000 local and affinity groups created by supporters.

Three million volunteer phone calls made in the last four days of the election through the website without supporters having to step into a campaign headquarters.

The campaign had a full time chief technology officer in addition to a new media director. They had a full time analytics team whose job was to do nothing else but monitor site data.

Have a look at young Amy introducing the my.barackobama.com website. It blew me away.

This is completely different from the branch structure of current Australian parties. The question becomes why do we need formal branches? The parties who don't run with this technology are doomed to extinction.

Nicole can't act

Melanie Reid from the Times, has criticized Baz Luhrmann's decision to cast Nicole Kidman in Australia.:

Melanie Reid, writing in the Times newspaper, describes as a "big, big mistake" Luhrmann's decision to select Kidman for the role of Lady Sarah Ashley, who inherits a remote cattle station shortly before World War II. Reid says Kidman was an immediate turn-off for female cinemagoers who feel she is "one of the most overrated actors" in the world and who has "been the kiss of death in practically every movie she has starred in". The newspaper critic also slammed Kidman's acting ability based on her previous starring roles in films including Cold Mountain and Eyes Wide Shut.

From reading the report I doubt Reid has seen the movie , but I agree Kidman is an over rated actress. However no matter what women think of KZidman there is at least one reason which will ensure women will see the movie. Hugh Jackman.

India stops pirates

Pirates have been active lately, boarding a supertanker and holding it to ransom:

SOMALI pirates who hijacked Saudi oil super-tanker Sirius Star are demanding $US25 million ($A39.25 million) in ransom and have set a 10-day deadline, one of the pirates said.

"We are demanding $US25 million from the Saudi owners of the tanker. We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter," Mohamed Said said.

"The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous," Said added, without elaborating.

I'm glad someone trying to stop it:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – An anti-piracy watchdog group on Thursday welcomed an Indian warship's destruction of a suspected pirate vessel in waters off Somalia, where hijackings have become increasingly violent and the hijackers increasingly bold.

In a rare victory in the sea war against the Somali pirates, the Indian navy's INS Tabar sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats on Tuesday.

Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said he was heartened by the Tabar's success. "It's about time that such a forceful action is taken. It's an action that everybody is waiting for," Choong told The Associated Press.

World Toilet Day

You may have missed it but today was World Toilet Day and of course, the toilet industry has been told to do its part for the environment:

AS the world celebrates World Toilet Day today, sanitation experts have called for the end of the flushing dunny to save water and provide fertilizer for crops.

Leading health advocates have called for the use of "dry" toilets which separate urine from faeces and remove the need to flush.

Speaking at the recent World Toilet Summit in Macau, World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sims said the concept of the flushing toilet was unsustainable.

However toilets can soon have another role to play, tax collectors:

There have already been calls by Australian experts to reduce the amount of water wasted through toilet flushing with a proposed new toilet tax.

Adelaide University's Water Management Professor Mike Young said the tax would encourage people to take shorter showers, recycle washing machine water or connect rainwater tanks to internal plumbing.

"Some people may go as far as not flushing their toilet as often, as the less sewage you produce the less the rate you pay," Professor Young said.

Congestion charges

The Rees government has placed a variable tax on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Harbour Tunnel and called it congestion charging. Well, I'm all for market based solutions but this is a very poor congestion charge. It taxes motorists from one side of Sydney only. If the government was fair dinkum they would also place charges on the Anzac Bridge and George Street.

Here's a suggestion, let local governments impose congestion charges and let them use the funds to improve public transport. Parramatta Council is using parking fees to provide a free bus service. Pushing some responsibilities down to local government level is a good idea as long as its linked to proper funding. Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore is constantly proposing a tram service for the city. Lets give Sydney City congestion charging and let Clover build her trams.

BNP leader wants to visit

Mr Nick Griffen , the leader of the anti-immigration British National Party wants to visit Australia. Unsurprisingly some groups want him banned from visiting.

Anti-defamation groups opposed to the December speaking tour by Mr Griffin - a one-eyed Holocaust denier with long-standing links to right-wing groups in Europe - believe the free-speech argument has to be balanced against the harm done to local communities.

British anti-fascist activists who track his movements say Mr Griffin and the BNP have a history of fomenting racial hatred in Britain.

"Australia should not let the racist in. Nick Griffin is as dangerous to the community as any radical Islamic preacher," said Matthew Collins, a former BNP member who now works for a London anti-fascist monitoring service.

My view is that unless he is actively involved in illegal activity, let him in. The best way to counter such people is to let them have their say and expose them for the hateful bigots they are.

The premier's brothel

Mr Rees old office was down the road from me at Wentworthville. He decided move to Seven Hills after he become Premier, however his neighbors are a surprise:

NSW Premier Nathan Rees is unconcerned by allegations that an illegal brothel is operating above his office and does not plan to move.

Mr Rees moved his electorate staff to a small commercial building in Seven Hills in Sydney's west, on September 5 and in the same week discovered his upstairs neighbour was the Tiantian Chinese massage parlour.....

All I can say is at least there's one occupant in the building providing a service.

NSW in a hole

Paul Kelly tells us something every New South Welshman and woman knows. Labor have stuffed up the premier state. Unfortunately he has little faith in the Opposition:

IN an ideal world of Westminster democracy, NSW would go to the polls in the near future. That would be in the interests of Australia, the NSW public, the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Of course, it would not be in the interests of the decaying Labor machine that attempts to run the state Government lock, stock and barrel.

Yet an election would offer only marginal relief, given the unconvincing performance of the NSW Liberal Party, another instance of failure in the political market of Australia's largest state.

That generation of bright and reformist premiers - Nick Greiner, Jeff Kennett and Wayne Goss - has faded. Australia and the Rudd Government will carry the price since much of Australia's future economic reform depends on state governments.

Its important to remember all is not lost. Jeff Kennett (who has been giving NSW some free advice) did manage to rescue Victoria. And Giuliani did rescue New York City. The next election is not until 2011. Hopefully by then the Opposition can convince Mr Kelley and more importantly the voters , they have what it takes to reform the government.

Petrol at a dollar a litre

Back in May I said that petrol prices will fall and it looks like my guess was right.

THE petrol price pendulum has swung firmly in favour of motorists. Six months after predicting unleaded fuel would reach $2 a litre, analysts are forecasting prices to approach $1 a litre.

CommSec's chief equities economist, Craig James, said the falls - unleaded petrol is down an average 35 cents a litre across Australia since July - will have a much more direct impact on the economy than interest rate cuts.....

I'll be interested to hear what the peak oil types say over the next few months. In the mean time, vroom, vroom vroom!

Best bottoms 2008

Yes its back again, the Sloggi World's Most Beautiful Bottom contest has just ended and the winners are Melanie Nunes Fronckowiak and Saiba Bombot.

I just like to know why an astronaut is one of the judges?

Suckers

Suckers, thats us.

THE American owners of local Ford and Holden plants will be laughing at the Australian "suckers" who have handed them a $6.2 billion industry assistance package, former car company executives say.

Expressing disappointment yesterday at the latest industry handout, industry veterans said the money would ultimately end up back in Detroit rather than bolstering needy sectors of the local industry.

Former managing director of Mitsubishi Australia Graham Spurling said the car companies would get a "free ride" from the Rudd Government on research and development.

"They will say: 'Aren't we suckers'," said Mr Spurling, who led a South Australian government special automotive industry taskforce.

"We should be pumping so much - everything we can - into making the remaining car components people more efficient, more financially viable, less reliant on the vagaries of the car companies and their choices."

Thank you Mr Rudd for being so generous to those nice American companies.

Promote Monash posthumously to field marshal

That's what former Deputy PM and Australian Army Officer Tim Fischer suggests . Having recently read Roland Perry's "Monash the outside who won a war" I fully agree with him.

AUSTRALIAN lieutenant-general John Monash played a key role in turning the Allies' fortunes in World War I , yet is overlooked by history.

Monash, the Australian Army corps commander, made a huge contribution to victory at Hamel on the Western Front with his holistic battle method. This was followed by the Battle of Amiens, then on to Mont StQuentin and beyond.

"Monash was, according to the testimony of those who knew well his genius for war and what he accomplished by it, the most resourceful general in the whole British Army," wrote British prime minister Lloyd George. Anthony Eden, the PM after Winston Churchill, reputedly said of Monash: "There was no greater soldier in World War I."

Field marshal Bernard Montgomery said that if Monash had replaced Haig as commander-in-chief in early 1917, "World War I would have ended one year earlier".

Monash went ashore at Gallipoli one day after the first landings, learned much during the disastrous Dardanelles campaign and August offensive, and repaired to Egypt for retraining in December 1915. On April 25, 1916, the brigade commander initiated the first field Anzac Day service. Then it was on to the Western Front and the dreadful stalemates that dominated 1916 and 1917. It was not until July 1918 that he was given command and orders to conduct a battle from start to finish.

A thousand soldiers from the 33rd Division of the US Army swept into battle alongside 7000 Australians on July 4, 1918, at Le Hamel to take the village and surrounding plateau from the German army. Not only did it represent precision in battle, it was a turning point. Tanks were inserted with platoons for the first time. The artillery barrage was precisely co-ordinated to protect the infantry, and battle orders were explained up and down the chain of command.....

If there was ever an Australian story that's just waiting to be made into a big budget Australian movie its the Battle of Hamel. It was the first time Australians and Americans ever fought together and they did it under the command of an Australian. We have Monash, the outsider Jew, the conflict between him and Pershing as well as Aussie Diggers and American Doughboys getting to know each other. Unfortunately it remains the great Aussie movie never made.

UPDATE : The ABC will be running a docu-drama Monash: The Forgotten ANZAC on Tuesday, 11 November 2008 , 8:30pm . If its anything like the recent one on Menzies its will be very worth watching.

When is being dead, dead?

The Pope wants the scientific community to define death:

POPE Benedict XVI called on the scientific community today to find a new consensus to define when someone's life ends.

His comments, made during a meeting with a delegation of Catholic scientists and doctors, came two months after a Vatican newspaper published an article questioning whether brain death means the end of life.

While noting "new progress in the determination of the death of a patient", the pope said that "in an area like this there cannot be the slightest hint of arbitrariness".

"Where there is not yet certainty, caution should prevail," the pontiff said, according to a text of his speech released by the Vatican.

I like to know too, especially since it seems possible to bring the dead back to life:

SCIENTISTS have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans.

US scientists have succeeded in reviving the dogs after three hours of clinical death, paving the way for trials on humans within years.

Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a technique in which subject's veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution.

The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity. But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock.

Some American wins election

I was never very enthusiastic about either of the two Presidential candidates. Both were big government types. Although McCain did show some interest in Australia.

I was hoping Hillary Clinton would get the nod on the Democrat side. Her battle axe reputation would be a positive in the position. On the Republican side I was hoping for an experienced executive like Romney or Giuliani . But hey, what would I know I'm an Australian after all.

What concerns me is that neither Obama or McCain have any executive experience. They are both senators. Nearly all Presidents going back to at least Coolidge have been former vice presidents or governors. The only exceptions were Eisenhower, who certainly had top level executive experience as a general, and Kennedy.

Just remember that the closest the world has ever been to nuclear destruction was during Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis .

Alex Hawke

Alex Hawke is the Liberal member for the Western Sydney Federal electorate of Mitchell. Alex only entered Federal Parliament in 2007 but he has certainly impressed me as a man of true liberal principles.

He believes in free markets and has the sense to see that the solutions to the housing crisis depend on deregulation and increasing land supply not just throwing money at borrowers. He is a small government man who believes the welfare state needs to be controlled At the same time he supports voluntarism and understands the importance of family. While willing to support increased gay rights, he draws a firm line at gay marriage. And yes, he opposes mandatory Internet filtering.

He is only 31 years old so we can expect to see more of him in the coming years but have a look at his first speech and let me know what you think.