Friday 3rd of May 2024
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viva la revolucion

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And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win. 
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why, that I cannot tell," said he;
"But 'twas a famous victory."

The lines are from Robert Southey's scathing poem on the Battle of Blenheim, 1704, but they will do well enough for this week's Battle of Canberra.

Me, I am over the whole ghastly mess. I hope never again have to write a sentence that contains the words Rudd and Gillard. Let me just say that I am focused on getting on with the important job at hand. Going forward.

So here's an idea: bring on the republic. Let the debate begin anew. Let the Prime Minister demonstrate her commitment to a core Labor belief; that the English crown and monarch have no future at the apex of our constitutional pyramid.

 

Mike Carlton

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/plan-that-would-let-julia-reign-victorious-20120302-1u824.html#ixzz1nzkJat1Z

 

a carr out of a hat...

YESTERDAY'S press conference at which the Prime Minister announced the details of her reshuffled cabinet was remarkable in several ways, not the least being that for once Julia Gillard seems to have won a point. Her entry into the room, followed by Bob Carr, whom she has recruited to the Senate and to the office of foreign minister, had something of the air of the stage conjuror pulling a (tall, rather thin) rabbit out of a hat.


The idea of recruiting Bob Carr to replace both Mark Arbib in the Senate and Kevin Rudd as foreign minister was a good one. How good, Carr showed at his first press conference as foreign minister-designate. Diplomacy, the art of dissembling for one's country, was certainly necessary in the circumstances. The Herald's Phillip Coorey broke the story of the approach to Carr early this week - a report which was thought to have been leaked by those wanting to snuff the possibility early on. Gillard equivocated about her role in the approach. Carr issued a statement denying he was pursuing the position. Other members of the ministry - Simon Crean and Stephen Smith have been mentioned - had apparently succeeded in their machinations.
Then came yesterday's revelation. What had happened, exactly? The Prime Minister and soon-to-be foreign minister were asked several times. Both sailed smoothly past the dangerous shoal in their answers, saying a great deal but revealing nothing.

 



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/gillards-second-carr-trick-20120302-1u88x.html#ixzz1nzlk8GiA

 

 

 

of sausages...

Labor has come under attack for its 'faceless men', for 'secret deals', for sidelining 'we the people' from its internal processes. But in the public's eyes the problem was the opposite.

There was nothing very secret about this leadership spill. Or faceless. We saw senior members of the Government go public about what they really thought. We saw MPs take sides and hold media conferences to state their voting intentions for the ballot. We saw voters urged to contact their MPs and make their views known. We knew, to within a margin of perhaps three votes, what the outcome would be.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3869902.html?WT.svl=theDrum

-------------------------

At once, one must deal with the way perceptions are manipulated by the media... The media will use all the tricks in the book to create an illusion of deceit, secrecy and stab in the back. As pointed out by Gus for a long time, there were no "faceless" men in Rudd's demise. We knew from the start who "told him to go or face the caucus music"... Only one faceless thing: his own erratic performance had been hdden from the public at large though his popularity was tanking bad. The media (and the opposition) chose to play the "faceless men" devious game as to embarrass Labor and Julia, and to promote Tony. And the wrong moniker stuck: "faceless"...  It's like restaurant reviews... A reviewer could say rubbish about the sausages without even tasting them, only smelling them... from ten metres away... or say crap about them while someone else would find them quite good "on another day"... Like the insulation "fiasco": at one million homes insulated and only 400 homes with minor problems and a few with major problems... Is this a "fiasco"?... It's a success that many commercial enterprises would be proud of... But the moniker "fiasco" stuck in the mouth of grubby little men...

No-one's ever perfect.

flicking the royal flint...

Well, not one is lucky enough to be an Australian, and they all have an 85 year old grandmother who has been this country’s head of state for six decades, but who found the time in all those years to make just 16 visits.

If I happened to be a betting man, I’d have money on them tearing out their hair with disappointment each time we managed to get a medal in events in which their countrymen and women competed— and cheering victoriously when we were vanquished by the British.

But that’s not all.

Flint goes on — and I’m sure no Australian will fail to be horrified by his statement about our ambiguous flag.

He sees nothing wrong with the Union Jack flying alongside ours and New Zealand’s flags.

Then, drawing the longest bow ever in his crazy career, Flint uses the similarities (in colours) of the flags of Thailand Luxembourg, France, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Yugoslavia and Russia to make his point, which I couldn’t see — sorry!

Just as I can’t see the point of David Flint.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/australian-identity/republic/the-whinger-royale/

the sooner the better….

When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his ministry this week, one appointment jumped out to many observers: Matt Thistlethwaite, assistant minister for the republic.

For the first time, a government MP has been given official responsibility for shepherding the country towards embracing a native head of state. By a quirk of fate, it was just as Buckingham Palace prepared to host lavish celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

Albanese will light a beacon for the Queen in Canberra on Thursday night as part of Jubilee celebrations occurring throughout the Commonwealth.

Peter FitzSimons, chair of the Australian Republic Movement, said republicans felt “joyous” about Thistlethwaite’s appointment after having little to celebrate since the crushing defeat of the 1999 referendum.

 

“It is the greatest breakthrough for the republic movement in nigh on a quarter of a century,” said FitzSimons, a Sydney Morning Herald columnist. “We’re now on a countdown to another referendum.”

Monarchists, however, were incensed that a minister of the Crown was being paid by taxpayers to advocate for the removal of the Crown.

“It’s very disturbing, terribly unfair and undemocratic,” Philip Benwell, chair of the Australian Monarchist League, said.

“If it’s a level playing field we don’t have a problem with the government moving towards another referendum. The problem we have is that an unfair advantage is being given to the republican side. It’s not up to the government to push a particular outcome on people.”

 

READ MORE:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/undemocratic-monarchist-fury-over-republican-ministry-appointment-20220602-p5aqmj.html

 

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SEE ALSO:

https://independentaustralia.net/australia/australia-display/monarchists-seem-to-fear-a-popular-uprising,11770