Heard in the taxis and limos after last night's bash...

James Packer speech was the best. He was better than Jones Himself who, overwhelmed by the kisses from the adulating crowd, got lost in Roosevelt this, Roosevelt that and Roosevelt thus — and talked about his childhood at such a length that would have made Proust write another 150 books... But young Jamie assured and precise delivery won the night apparently when he related encounters between his boisterously quiet (you gotta be there then) famous dad, Kerry Packer, and Alan Jones — as a young lad... Alan wanted to go into politics. He wanted to joint the Liberals (conservatives). Kerry told him: wrong call.

Kerry Packer, like some of the many shifty versions of Murdoch, had a tendency to support Labor. For Kerry there might have been a larger common denominator to sell stuff to. And most of the Labor "men" then were quite boisterous, bombastic and witty like him. He might have liked the feel of Labor better too... As a fierce atheist, Kerry would have been proud of Julia's stand on this issue, I believe. The Libs then were bigoted stuffed shirts and still are, though young Tony (Abbott) is more like a stuffed-up budgie smuggler... But that's another story.

In my opinion, shifting camp, for Murdoch, was to build his power base by pitting people against each while each wanting his favours. He thus could measure his influence on policies, policies that would benefit his business... Since then the Murdoch "Uncle Rupe" has gone totally conservative, though he supported "New Labour" in England (a tradition of Thatcherism with a pink lolly flavour) and helped produce a movie like Avatar (a "left-wing" movie) I believe mostly for the gross profit he could rake with the lowest common denominator of people being given hope.

But back to Jamie, as heard in the taxis...

At the time Alan Jones wanted to join the Liberals (conservatives), the New South Wales Libs did not want to invest into some floodlights for the Sydney Cricket Ground... The Big Man (as Kerry was known), a cricket tragic who had launched the One-Day series (for those who do not know Cricket — the full length test-match is a game of attrition played over FIVE days where the public is expected to watch the grass grow) wanted lights there so he could have day-night one-dayers and show them to the populace on his personal TV network — Channel Nine — for profit via advertising. Win-win...

So Kerry told a budding Lib (conservative) pollie Jones: "wrong call" or such...

Then Kerry asked Jones: "do you want to be a politician or a millionaire?"

We know the rest, except some of the younger taxi drivers...

By the way, one driver barely heard that Lazarus' speech was crap, the worst of the night, as the limousine door was shut...

Jones himself told that sometimes he gets it (an issue) wrong too... Happy 25th...

James Packer speech had been written by Jones Himself and James was reading from a clear unseen "autocue"... Jones Himself quoted Jefferson this, Jefferson that and Jefferson thus...

It's hart to know, is it? Did Jones rant about Jefferson or Roosevelt, or did he rave about both?...

It should not matter, but people like Jones are more than mere barometers of political feeelings in a country, they influence the democratic weather — see Glenn Beck in America... So it's important to know where they coming from and where we can buy an umbrella to protect ourselves from their rabid rain and windbaggery.

After his outrageous “die of shame” comments about the Prime Minister launched a social media campaign that led to a stampede of advertisers off his morning radio show, yesterday he was told by Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that he must undergo “accuracy training” after being found out telling one too many porkie pies on radio.

Yes, for something like 25 years Alan has been spreading his pearls of wisdom, coated with his special brand of venom and spite, across as much of Australia as can tolerate him — and for most of those years he has enjoyed almost complete immunity from retaliation. Usually, all he has had to worry about is getting sued by those he’s defamed — and we know he does, as he loses a lot of court cases for exactly that reason.

What a good time, then, to stroll down memory lane and revisit some of Jones’ most outstanding performances.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/business/media-2/alan-jones-greatest-hits/

See toon and stories above...