From the Australian

 

Coalition senator admits meeting Burke

• Matt Price and Tony Barrass
• March 03, 2007

THE Howard Government's savage attack on Kevin Rudd backfired sensationally last night when Human Services Minister Ian Campbell admitted meeting in his office disgraced former premier turned lobbyist Brian Burke. The Weekend Australian learned of the meeting, which occurred while Senator Campbell was environment and heritage minister, as John Howard and senior ministers continued to assail the Opposition Leader for consorting with Mr Burke in 2005.

Senator Campbell's position in cabinet appears untenable after three days of relentless attacks by senior ministers, most notably Peter Costello, on Mr Rudd.

"Anyone who deals with Mr Brian Burke is morally and politically compromised," the Treasurer told parliament on Thursday.

 

 

From our lovely ABC

Campbell's admission catches out Govt, Opposition says
The Federal Opposition says the Government has been caught out after its attack on the Labor leader Kevin Rudd over his dealings with disgraced former Western Australia premier Brian Burke.

The federal Human Services Minister, Senator Ian Campbell, has revealed he also had dealings with Mr Burke.

In a written statement, Senator Campbell says his 20 minute meeting with Mr Burke and members of the WA Turf Club was to hear details of a development proposal.

The meeting took place in in June last year, when Senator Campbell was the federal environment minister.

Responding to Senator Campbell's revelation, a spokesman for Mr Rudd has told the ABC that "[Prime Minister] John Howard and [federal Treasurer] Peter Costello are now drowning in their own political mud".

The resignation of Ian Campbell is a very nice political stunt orchestrated by Johnnee Rattus himself to let us believe his government is clean and to throw a challenge to Mr Rudd.

But Mr Rudd should hold fast as it's not because one has a conversation with a crook (or alleged crook) that one is a crook... I am sure our own PM has had conversations and handshakes with people who are now in disrepute, bankrupt, or in prison. If Johnnee is crook it is on his own dealings with fake intelligence to go to war in Iraq and other piddly matters such as gaining the leadership of the Liberal party, making deals with Mr Costello that will never be honoured, by telling "never ever" when meaning for sure, and by manipulating the democratic process using undergrounds, religious and other means.... Just talking to president Bush should be a capital offence, but talking to VP  petrol-head Cheney... that should take the cake.

As usual, the grand-gutterists — the dung-beetles from the ratbag-right press — regal themselves on Rudd's left shoe that accidentally stepped into something smelly... Meanwhile the Aussie "economy" is booming to the tune of a trade deficit that would run several European countries national budgets.

Yes, even expert-economists — people who have not much clue about human relationships beyond the wedgee of hedges — measure the strength of an "economy" by the amount of activity there is, mostly stockbrokers and moneyshufflers frantically fluffing up cushions for a soft landing on their arse, while the hole in which the country's savings —apart from a scrooge government that has slashed all services to fill its coffers — have turned into debts that are going ballistic on its way towards China. Not even our superannuation that is baited on tenterhooks by the enforced-generosity (he'd loose his pants if he did not give the ageing public a bit of leeway) of a Treasurer can go against the flow on a good day. On a bad day we're bleeding to death.

Not only that, our gender equality advancement, moving up to 1996, has taken a battering under the leadership of a narrow minded PM, John Howard, who sees women not a notch above the "things-that-batter" of the Alexander Downer era when Alex was "leader" of the Liberal party... With a bit of "arm twisting" backstage, Johnnee took over. Sure Johnnee makes the right noises and employs the token fair-sex person, but he moulds them like play-dough. The maidens who may express some original and vaguely contrary opinions can go back to the kitchen and make beds.

One must admire Johnnee's running of his tight ship: if you are a Minister-he-loves but you piss on his firing cannons accidentally, you will be boned, quartered, keelhauled and asked to resign for the best of the next assault to show the world "see we are clean, our minister who had dealing with the devil — piddly compared to yours I may add — has resigned, we dare you do the same..." Brilliant but crooked like Captain Hook's far-right hand.

Thus, since we are at times of "true" confession, I cannot but not acknowledge that actually, one day I shook hand, accidentally mind you, with the PM, Johnnee. I'm not proud of this, you know...
A) according to Johnnee and his barking dogs' theory that if you shake hand with a crook you're a crook, I should have instantly turned into a Prime Minister and he should have turned into a cartoonist/satirist... or a toad, which I am at most times.
B) ...Err... nothing much happened... I had entered the wrong room at a function and got caught in the whirlwind, since I had a tuxedo on for a laugh at the expense of a friend who'd been a hippy all his life and celebrated more than 70 years, with a carrot-cake. Not only I had entered the wrong room, I was in the wrong building, wrong street... These were the early days of Johnnee, before the war on terra, when the goons, on seeing a bow-tie would let you in no matter what rattled in your pockets.
C) hum... actually, something happened... I must confess that since that day, it seems that Johnnee has become a caricature of himself as if he was peddling his "never-evers" with a sarcastic disdain for the public. But then I am not sarcastic thus he must have shaken hands — like Rummy shook hands with S'dam — with a few more disbelievers than I can count stars in the sky on that day.
D) on a totally different subject, has it occurred to the expert-economists that the Chinese sneeze on the stock market was no accident? In the days of tightening of purpose, denial of intentions and of rampant porkies, one could ask a few questions beyond the timing and reason for the sneeze... The reason put forward was that the Chinese government had a whispering suggestion it might try to stamp out illegal profiteering... but was it the true "original" reason? Methinks, the Chinese government wanted to test the water, to see what influence it had on the rest of the world and who would catch most of the "Chinese flu". It does not affect them, since their political and social construct is clear of the system — nor does it stops anyone buying more toys, since it's well known that when money is tight, people are depressed and want cheap toys to cheer up. The Chinese stockmarket is only there as an outlet/inlet for US dollars that comes from buying Chinese plastic thingies while the Chinese in return buy solid assets in the US... Sure, there are some complexities and displeasing anomalies, but these do not happen higgledy-piggledy... The Chinese would have a greater knowledge of true economic-social relationship build-up than all the Western experts, including Mr Greenspan in his retirement coffin... err... village. Even if the entire Chinese "economy" does not amount to a fraction of California's — the latter counting in "Hollywood dollars, not US dollars — California, itself the "sixth economy in the world", could sneeze without any ripple... California has done it for years, various deficit budget, etc... not a ripple passing the Rockies... But if China "looses" a few points on its own stockmarket, we all do it our trousers before having time to tighten our butts. On the other hand, I would not be surprised if some Western, or World, bank system would have seen the market was overheating and needed a "correction". But as we know, the "system" could not induce the correction itself so its "lodgers" might have asked the Chinese to act discreetly. Who knows... Let say nothing much happens by statistics and chance alone. That's why advertising and  endendlessly boring stockmarket reports go hand in hand.
E) And I did mention that despite OIL (operation-inforcing-law or let's-pump-in-peace), the average of death and injuries in Baghdad stayed on course during the short month of February. A bit high on the Iraqi casualty side, mind you. Our Grand-Porkyists, Blair, Bush and Howard are still in the same war boat, and we, the public-mushroom, have no clue as to where we're going or what we're rowing for. They lied to take us to war, they lie to let us row and they will lie more to beach us on a deceit island.
F) Thus, back to the press dung-beetles who have no shame in being biased beyond belief. But that's their nature: they were born to push shit uphill. Good day to all.

From the ABC

I was a fool to meet Burke: Campbell

Outgoing human services minister Ian Campbell says he was a fool to meet the disgraced former Western Australian premier Brian Burke.

Senator Campbell resigned from Cabinet on Saturday after admitting Mr Burke, a convicted criminal, attended a meeting in his Perth office last year.

The Government has been pursuing Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd over three occasions on which he dined with the former WA premier in 2005.

Senator Campbell has told Southern Cross Radio it crossed his mind that it was undesirable for Mr Burke to attend the meeting, but thought it would be rude to cancel.

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Gus: in many years to come, this little minion of Howardism will regret his resignation on such a trivial matter. That he expresses all kinds of "shouldhave" and "shouldhavenot" only shows he is a fool, full stop. Not for meeting Mr Burke, but for being like a drunk Howard stooge, jumping off the wall to please his master, killing his own politcal career for a stunt, while in the long run, Rudd will be Rudd will be Rudd... Campbell sacrifice will be seen as a political stunt depite the denials of the Rattus porkyi. Maybe, now you (Mr Campbell) can concentrate on understanding the truth of global warming since you'll have a bit more free time... but I'm not holding my breath for anyone in politics understanding the horror of what is coming towards the earth and humanity within the next century... And I mean HORROR! Open you eyes, the poles are melting fast! what does that tell you? what will happen next once they have melted enough...? a picnic?

From the SMH

Mr Howard stepped up his attack on Mr Rudd, saying the Labor leader had taken the moral high ground to "Himalayan levels" over the AWB scandal and must expect to be held accountable himself.

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Gus: If I was Mr Howard, on leadership challenges, the AWB and other little matters of grave importance, I would keep mum... — there could be a few loose end out there (... and there are), despite the tight-lid Johnnee puts on all his cooking pots... Including the  "poor" intelligence designed to go to war at any cost to suit his mate Bushit... 

Love Rattus' moral hyperbole that could soon hit him on the back of the head. 

 

From the ABC

Treasurer cautions against private equity trend

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says the use of private equity could be a future problem for the Australian economy.

Mr Costello is cautioning against the increasing trend towards private investors securing control of companies so they are no longer listed on a public stock exchange.

He has told a function organised by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission that private equity plays a small but important part in Australia's capital markets.

He also says there are regulatory challenges with private equity.

"The complexity and lack of transparency of many private equity investment products means potentially there are many financial credit and market risks associated with these investments," he said.

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Gus: Sure Mr Costello... So what are you going to do about it? The private equity system has got to have governments around the world very worried. It means that many public companies and even formerly public assets become under the control of just a few "managers" — akin to little kings. Public companies need a certain amount of disclosure to meet shareholding requirement, but when they become "private" they do not have to report to anyone but the "managers themselves — little despots" — who are using the money of many people who have no control over what the managers do with the money. Why worry? Because all transparency of transactions is lost and there is no control of unethical behaviour should this arise. Secrecy of behaviour becomes the screen behind which to "perform" anything, while making profit,  under ethical or unethical purpose, becomes the driver, creating many conditions in which social responsibilities are nil or zilch.