North Sydney Some Years Ago

At Victoria Cross, North Sydney, outside the Hotel on Miller Street and looking north up the Pacific Highway. c1950's Image Leon B Manny

The Fake Side Of Climate Change

The climate has always changed and there is nothing mankind can do to stop it and no reason to. We'd be better off looking for real ways to stop destroying the environment, not fake ones that involve buying carbon credits and pretending it helps.
 

Trumping The Polls

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The US presidential election has shown us something, it’s ultimately the people who can decide an election, not the political establishment, social activists and certainly not the media.

All kinds of tricks are used in elections such as calling a certain candidate’s supporter’s names or saying the polls have said who the winner will be while suggesting the polls are never wrong.

But wrong they are and they were wrong big time. Before the US election Hillary was said to be the winner by a massive margin and as we know that did not happen.

Many polls, such as this one by Huffington Post, declared Hillary the winner before the actual election

Now there’s mock soul searching by the media and others on why it did not go how they had wanted it to. They’re blaming non-existent racism, misogyny, they’ll probably even blame George Bush.

What it really comes down to is more and more people are waking up to how they are being manipulated and used to keep an elite group of people firmly entrenched in their in lording over us while ripping us off in the process.

Polls may be useful in gauging public views on various issues but as an election tool they are a load of nonsense designed to sway your vote and create talking points for election news shows.

So next time around completely ignore the social activists along with the media and their fantasy world polls. It’s your vote, not theirs. Vote wisely and vote like you mean it.

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Weathering The Current Climate

There’s a large storm brewing in South Australia that will also affect most of the country. I’m wondering how many blackouts South Australia will have to deal with as a large amount of their electricity is generated by so called renewable sources. 

Wind turbines which aren’t the most efficient form of energy generation at the best of times aren’t able to operate in high winds (although fees are still paid to the operators!) and of course solar power is useless when there is no sun.

It’ll be interesting to see how many climate alarmists go on about the storm (a weather event) being the result of climate change (which is they claim is completely separate from the weather) and claim carbon taxes would have somehow stopped it.

If the climate alarmists line is to be believed , the Earth’s climate was static and tranquil until industry started and then everything went crazy.

Of course we know it’s the climate alarmists anti CO2 line that is crazy along with their expectation we’ll believe all the climate fairy tales they make up.

The Mythical Gender Pay Gap

We hear about the mythical pay gap again. It’s been shown up for the nonsense that it is over and over and over again.

First of all it’s illegal to pay women less than men and it has been illegal for quite some time.

If it was really cheaper to hire women then the workforce would be full of women. After all businesses exist to make money, they aren’t some big men’s club out to forward some great male patriarchy. If it was cheaper to hire women they would hire them because lower expenses mean higher profits.

Some have complained how the physical requirements for some jobs discriminate against women and that standards should be lowered. If that were the case then businesses would actually be forced to hire more people to make up for a strength shortage and probably go out of business from carrying too high an overhead.

Firefighting is one of these areas that require great strength. From holding a fire hose (it isn’t a garden hose!) to carrying people out of a building. You can’t have people underperforming in disaster situations because they themselves become a liability and put other lives at risk. You have to be up to the task and it’s a task many men aren’t up to either. You can’t have two people carrying an average sized person down a ladder. If anyone has any complaints, refer them to nature. It’s down to evolution as to why some people can’t do certain jobs, not some male patriarchy holding people back.

Men earn more? The gender earnings presented are a collective measure which doesn’t tell you what’s really going on. What it’s down to is the choices many women make from working less hours to raising their children to not wanting to put in the long hours sometimes required to make the big money.

The left bleat about that as well as if those choices are not the best ones to make. From that you could say the left actually don’t want women to make decisions for themselves.

There are many women out there who earn more than men and there are plenty of well-paying heavy jobs many men are not likely to be hired for. Is it any benefit to them they are on the winning side of this so called gender pay gap?

“Geez, I don’t earn anywhere near as much as that lady down the road. She has lots of nice things and I’m barely getting by but hey, at least I’m on the winning side of the gender pay gap………….”

The gender pay gap argument put forward does nothing but cause division and distract people from the real problems we are facing.

Prove Them Wrong, It's Easy.

Being human we sometimes do not respond to things in a logical way or in a way that’s beneficial to us.

There are cases of people being told they will never do well for themselves or they’ll become a criminal by people they should not be listening to. Sometimes it’s people who are supposed to be friends but obviously these people are not friends because friends don’t talk to you like that.

For many of us it’s something we usually ignore. It might be a blow to the ego and it’s not nice to hear but we move on from it. For others though the response is “if this is how they think I’ll be then I’m going to be that way and they’ll be sorry!”

They won’t be sorry though, they’ll be happy you’ve proven them right. They said you’d be that way and lo and behold that is how you’ve turned out.

Sure, you may be able to blame them for what’s happened but that won’t really help you or undo the damage. And given that we are ultimately responsible for ourselves you’ll still be held accountable for your actions.

So here’s how to deal with it, ignore them and prove them wrong. It’s not a matter of becoming the world’s richest person, (but if you can achieve that by all means do so!) it’s just a matter of getting on with your life and dealing with what comes your way.

You don’t have to live up to a bad image others may have of you. If you’re overall not behaving like they claim you are or have just made a mistake and are getting back on track then their comments should be meaningless to you.

Disregard, move on and prove them wrong. And don’t prove them wrong just to get one over them, prove them wrong because it’s in your best interests to do so.

Social Media, A Tool For Effective Action

People get on social media and say politicians are out of touch. What we need to ask those people is did they actually communicate with their local member? Your local member will not know what your concerns are if you don’t tell them.

After all, while your local member is doing what they can to serve their electorate they are unlikely to be following you on Facebook or waiting on the edge of their seat for you to say something on Twitter. You can’t really call them out of touch if you don’t tell them what you think, how are they supposed to know otherwise? Don’t sit back and let the media or others dictate to them, they need to hear from the Australian people.

No need to be rude or insulting, just tell them what you think and tell them where they are going wrong. If more people discussed the issues with politicians they may find said politicians will be 'more in touch' with the electorate.

Social media should be where we compare notes on our interactions with our representatives and use that information as to whether or not we are satisfied with their performance. The current action preferred by many people of getting online and calling politicians out of touch is just a major waste of time.

If you get an unsatisfactory or no answers then get on social media to discuss it and compare notes with others.

And of course if you get a good response and see your local member is actually keeping their word get on social media and tell people.

Social media is the tool we can use to help get our country back on track. Don’t tell yourself it can’t be done because that is one of the attitudes that can drag us all down.

Like any tool we have to use it properly, once we do that we will see real change in our favour.

Stop Victim Blaming, Stop Supporting Crime

While there are those who criticise outlooks that treat women as fifth rate there are others who embrace aspects of it and play blame the victim. 

‘She shouldn’t have been drinking’, ‘she shouldn’t have gone where she did’, ‘she shouldn’t have dressed like she did’, ‘she shouldn’t have gone there alone’, she shouldn’t have been out alone at night’ etc. is what we sometimes hear when a woman is attacked. 

In other words she’s to blame, her attacker was not obliged to have any self-control and can do whatever he wants. 

The fact is though no one has the right to attack anyone, that’s an illegal act and that’s where the condemnation should be directed, not at someone who was engaged in lawful activities regardless of how foolish they may seem to be. 

Leave the culture of victim blaming to those who do not respect women. To blame the victim is to stand on the same side of the attacker and their criminal actions.

Never Mind The Chaos, Here's Your Independence.

The initial tone of this article was supposed to be a line of sarcasm aimed at the feel-good factions in the West who played a large part in Africa’s slide into chaos but in researching the various events I get the impression the people who called for the West’s uncontrolled withdrawal from Africa really believe they have done the right thing.

Africa, the story so far.

Some black people want white colonialism out of Africa. After all, the black people were being held down and the white people were racist and the source of all their woes. There are a group of white people who agree with them and chant a lot of slogans. The real issues don't seem to be addressed but some people get a jolly little feel-good moment out of it all

It’s only fair, give them back their countries, they deserve to make their own way and they will do it without white people around. A British politician not caring for how things will affect people on the continent talks of a ‘wind of change’ in Africa. It’s a speech that sounds noble to the naïve ears around the world but to the people with a clue it really tells of betrayal and changing large parts of Africa from safe and stable to places of absolute despair.

One by one the former colonies become independent. Most descend into chaos immediately. With a starry eyed disregard for what’s really happening Britain’s Harold Wilson brags that Britain has granted independence to more people than any other nation in history.  Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith responds by pointing out in one instance it resulted in a million people being killed in 3 days.

Most of Africa is now under black rule, this is also known as majority rule and somehow it is something special. However the anti-colonialist/feel good brigade aren’t as happy as they could be. Rhodesia and South Africa are still governed by white people. These countries weren’t colonies of exploitation, they have substantial white populations who actually live in that part of the world and aren’t too keen to give up what they have worked so hard to build.

The anti-colonialists demand that the white populations hand over their nations to majority rule and allow the black populations to enjoy all the benefits that such freedom will bring them just like the rest of Africa. Having had dealings with many of the people who actually left these lucky nations and hearing how the wonders of majority rule brought mass rape, looting and murder amongst other wonders  the Rhodesian’s and  South African’s, much to the surprise of the anti-colonial brigade, firmly decline.

Realising that the British government was more interested in appeasing the newly independent anti-white dictatorships of Africa and Asia than doing what’s in the best interests of their country the Rhodesian government declares its independence from the United Kingdom. It was already independent in practice so the declaration shouldn’t cause any real issues.

Shocked that the Rhodesians want to prevent their country from enjoying the benefits of majority rule most nations around the world condemn Rhodesia and announce sanctions. Rhodesia’s independence does not follow the general African example of plunging the country into chaos, in fact life goes on the same. This is not good for the nations black people appears to be the belief of all those crying foul. They must be right, just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean you can keep doing it. This is 1965 after all and somehow the current year is supposed to stop certain things from happening. Somehow.

Sanctions are enforced against Rhodesia. There appears to be no real legality in those sanctions but there are plenty of feel good moments in them for the starry eyed white anti-colonial brigade. There are also communist backed ‘freedom fighters’ who may be able to save the day for the white feel good brigade, they have an opportunity to go bring down a stable and safe nation in the name of freedom. There will be raping, looting and murdering while they fight for freedom. It’s for the greater good after all.

With those happy thoughts in mind the Bush War starts in Rhodesia. The freedom fighters go to war against the Rhodesian people to bring them the previously mentioned benefits of majority rule. The freedom fighters force tribal villages to provide food and shelter with no concern for the villagers own well-being and safety. The villagers are the first people in Rhodesia to experience the benefits that majority rule will bring everyone in that country.

The rest of the world praises the freedom fighters that are fighting bravely against the majority to bring the benefits of majority rule. Those nasty white Rhodesian’s are led by Ian Smith and although he is a hero of the Second World War who fought on behalf of Rhodesia and the British Commonwealth he is now considered a very naughty person for refusing to accept the wonders of majority rule. He stands for freedom and civilisation and that’s just silly! Such antiquated notions have no place in the modern world.

That naughty Ian Smith, the leader of an Incredibly Awesome Nation, is standing in the way of that wonderful majority rule that most of Africa has. The black people of Rhodesia do not support the Ian Smith regime bleat the anti-colonial brigade. All black people would never have a thing to do with him and the ‘whites’ whose army are illegally fighting against the brave freedom fighters whom all black people love and admire. For some reason it isn’t mentioned that most of the Rhodesian Army comprises of black volunteers. Maybe the feel good brigade know better than the people who actually live in the country and want to ensure Rhodesia gets the majority rule everyone really wants and but just don’t know it yet.

Rhodesian Soldiers

Rhodesia comes to a deal for majority rule that is different to the rest of Africa. It acknowledges that majority rule is inevitable and it also acknowledges that overall the majority of the black population are not yet ready to participate in a modern democracy. Given time they will be but this is not good enough for the feel good brigade and the communist funded freedom fighters. After all, it’s 1979. Somehow this means the Rhodesians should surrender since bad things can’t happen anymore.

Rhodesia is renamed Zimbabwe Rhodesia and has fair and free elections that all citizens can participate in. The communist funded freedom fighters back away from the idea of fair and free elections for some reason. The election is won by moderate nationalist Bishop Abel Muzorewa who wants to take advantage of the strong economy the new country has inherited and bring peace. He offers amnesty to the communist funded freedom fighters and points out the country has what they fought for, majority rule. They mostly refuse though. It appears they have a different definition of majority rule. They complain about the results of an election they actually boycotted and keep on fighting.

The West pressures Zimbabwe Rhodesia to give consideration to the definition of majority rule that the communist funded freedom fighters subscribe to. For some reason the wishes of those who boycotted fair and free elections must be given serious consideration over those who made the effort to run for office and those who made the effort to vote. Maybe the fact that the country moved to majority rule without the West’s starry eyed feel good guidance has ruffled the feathers of those who wanted to be able to take credit for guiding the country into the wonderful world of majority rule in Africa.

Britain takes control of the country and tries to pretend they were really in control all along by referring to it as the ’British Dependency of Southern Rhodesia’. The country had actually been ruling itself since 1923 and Britain heavily depended on Rhodesia’s help in several wars but never mind that, they must be taught a little lesson for daring to think for themselves and rejecting majority rule based on what they had witnessed it doing in other countries. If only they had accepted the official perspective that majority rule is wonderful! You just have to ignore the raping, looting and murder that always takes place, why couldn’t they do that?

Elections are held and on 18 April 1980 the country becomes the independent Republic of Zimbabwe. The country once again has majority rule. They actually had it before Britain took control but no one is supposed to take any notice of that. The elections are won by the communist funded freedom fighter Robert Mugabe who promises to fairly rule Zimbabwe and encourages the white people to stay. He is supported by former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith who offers advice to the new government. The future looks steady for the new country. After all, it’s 1980, what could go wrong?

Everything goes wrong for the country as the Mugabe government starts attacking white farmers. Mugabe complains that the whites have made sure they have the best farming land in the country quoting figures of how small the white population is compared to the amount of productive land they hold. Many in the West join the cry as well, shame on the whites they say, give it back to the blacks! Somehow this means nothing is really going wrong. Not many of the feel good brigade seem to notice that while Mugabe is crusading against the white farmers he is eliminating his political enemies as well.

Many white farmers lose their farms. Initially the farmers received payment but later on the farms are just seized without compensation. Farm production drops and Zimbabwe goes from being the bread basket of southern Africa to being a basket case. It turns out the white farmers weren’t actually hogging all the best land in the country but simply had the best worked land. The white farmer’s modern farming machinery and techniques provided them with the best yield giving them the most out of what they had.

The life expectancy of the people in Zimbabwe goes from 60 to 34. The economy collapses and people are starving. Zimbabwe follows what the rest of Africa experienced with majority rule. The people who helped bring down Rhodesia either praise Mugabe or are looking at white ruled South Africa while extolling the wonders of majority rule that other African nations have.

Zimbabwean children picking up corn that had spilled from a truck

Many in the West protest against apartheid in South Africa. They chant many things in solidarity with those living under it. Some come up with plans that are intended to force South Africa to end apartheid but most just chant some cutesy slogans then go to their nice homes and have dinner afterwards.

In a whites only election whites of South Africa vote to end apartheid and allow majority rule. They should have done this a long time ago bleat the protestors. They have no real grounds for concern, everything should be fine. It’s 1994 after all, bad things cannot happen now. Anyway the world is watching the brave new South Africa take its baby steps into nationhood, nothing can go wrong with the world watching.

The ruling African National Congress positions itself to hold power with little opposition, the nation’s constitution allows it a lot of leverage and the ANC implements affirmative action. Traditionally affirmative action is a form of state sanctioned racism designed to give certain minorities an unfair advantage to help fudge certain statistics. In South Africa it gives the racial majority an unfair advantage and helps bring down many businesses because they have to hire based on race, not qualifications.

Despite declaring they are against racism the feel good brigade who claim they ended apartheid are silent when the white people of South Africa experience racism. The racism experienced makes apartheid look tame by comparison but not a peep is heard from those who claim to have freed South Africa.

White farmers in South Africa are targeted and over 3,000 are murdered. The ANC shows its concern by chanting slogans in support of the murders. In general 50 murders are committed every day in South Africa and 500,000 women are raped every year. The numbers of child and baby rape are amongst the highest in the world. Maybe the feel good brigade think South Africa is simply overindulging on the benefits of majority rule.

The majority of Africans live in abject poverty, with starvation, crime and AIDS running rampant. Again, not a peep is heard by the people of the West who freed Africa from ‘the whites’. Perhaps they are busy rejoicing on their so called successes and looking for new low effort causes to champion.

               

While all this is happening many black people leave the chaos in Africa and move to the countries run by white people. Many do well for themselves but there is a large group within those countries who claim they are being held down and that white people are racist and are the source of all their woes. There are a group of white people who agree with them and chant a lot of slogans. The real issues don't seem to be addressed but some people get a jolly little feel-good moment out of it all………..

Jeremy Michaels for the editor.

The Howard Era In Plain Facts And Figures

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There are those who like to pretend that the Howard era was actually a debacle that was of no benefit to Australia. They’ll claim that the only way the Howard government paid down debt was by asset sales and follow this with claims Howard had left the country economically in bad shape.

So without the spin let’s take a look at the situation and the numbers, in 1996 the Howard government inherited the $96 billion debt from the previous Fraser and Hawke/Keating governments. To pay down this debt the Liberals continued with the Labor policy of selling assets. $11 billion worth of assets were sold outright and $53 billion in shares were floated for a total of $64 billion that was used to pay down the debt.

$96 billion minus $64 billion leaves $32 billion, this remaining amount was also paid down and not by the proceeds of asset sales. Not only was the debt paid but there were regular budget surpluses and by the end of the Howard government the Future Fund was in place holding $50 billion and there was $20 billion in the bank that was providing the budget with $1 billion in interest per year. If this was all solely down to the asset sales without any real economic skill then the Howard government certainly knew how to stretch a dollar.

During the nine years of the Howard government Australia functioned as a welfare state, was running continued budget surpluses, unemployment was low, the cost of living was at reasonable levels and the debt was gone.

Howard left the country in bad shape?

The facts and figures say otherwise.

Refer to http://www.finance.gov.au/property/asset-sales/past-sales.html for information regarding the asset sales.

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Criminal Economics.

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Crime would appear to be a necessity to the economy.

Basically Australia has a post industrial service economy which was underwritten by a mining boom.

Because one major economic performance measure looks more towards sales and services made by companies and not by the manufacturing of goods it’s pretty much the more sales the better.

Where crime fits in to the picture is really quite simple, a criminal breaks into your home and for example steals your DVD player and other sundries, there are then several expenses you face.

First of all you hopefully have insurance, your insurance company has been receiving money from you and the money you have been paying has been contributing to the insurance company’s bottom line.

Then you need to get the break in damage repaired. Usually someone needs to be employed for this task. That person will be doing a job and earning money that they otherwise would not be earning.

Then you need to buy a new DVD player and other items, retailers make sales that they would not otherwise be making if a crime had not been committed.

If you are assaulted maybe you will need medical treatment, medication will be prescribed, money for the chemist and if your clothes are damaged they will need to be replaced which means more money for a clothes retailer.

Maybe the experience has traumatised you so you seek help from an appropriate health professional, another patient for them and more money for their practice or maybe you just start drinking heavily which is more sales for a bottle shop.

Money is spent that otherwise wouldn’t have been spent. 

Because of crime more money is spent and in the process it’s helping keep people employed, helping keep businesses running and helping the economy so if a crime is committed against you don’t feel bad because it’s actually for the greater good since crime is helping this nation to have a strong economy.
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Scotland's Dawn: The Unionists Crow, The Losers Groan.

The recent Scottish independence referendum has brought out a group of people from outside of Scotland and the UK who thought they were somehow entitled to dictate to Scotland how they should vote. These outsiders then believed they are entitled to throw insults (from the safety of being many miles away) at the Scottish people when the result did not go the way some of those outside the UK wanted it to go.

When called out on their insulting behaviour they claimed to be exercising their right to free speech while trying inhibit that same right in the people calling them out.

Fact is their insults are not free speech, they are lame comments from people sulking that things go how they wanted.

Did people outside of Scotland have the right to say whether they believe Scotland should have voted yes or no? They did and that’s free speech. Did they have the right to say they felt the choice made by Scotland was right or wrong? They did, that’s free speech.  Did they have the right to insult the people of Scotland? No, insults are not in the category of free speech.

No one outside of Scotland has the right to try and dictate to the Scottish what they should do. Whatever reason Scottish people had for voting to remain in the United Kingdom is not up for the approval of others. Whether they voted to remain out of loyalty, history or whatever reason is solely their choice, after all they are the ones who actually live there and will be continuing to live there, not the people throwing the insults (from the safety of being many miles away).

Regarding the vote though it is a shame that final vote wasn’t more decisive but at least the people of Scotland were given an opportunity to vote on the independence issue. As far as the people who are insulting Scotland are concerned, they’re showing their true colours. People genuinely concerned with Scotland and its future would be wishing Scotland the best for the future and possibly offering their opinions on the impending restructure of the UK.

And with little concern for the little hissy fits from the people who throw insults (from the safety of being many miles away) Scotland the Brave will continue as a free nation within the United Kingdom, Scottish soldiers will continue to stand alongside all of their comrades in the UK, Scottish culture will still be a part of the UK and the Scottish people in general will continue helping to keep the United Kingdom united and the great country that it is.