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Hitting the ground in a coma

September 18, 2013 9:02 AM / 68 Comments on Hitting the ground in a coma

should we turn off the machine that goes ping for the ALP?

should we turn off the machine that goes ping for the ALP?

With the change of government comes a very big change of role for the Australian Labor Party they must get over their well deserved  humiliating defeat and rally themselves to be an effective opposition and try to redeem themselves enough in the eyes of the voters to earn enough ticks on the green papers to once again do the “live at the Lodge” show.

Sadly for the true believers like our mate Ray instead of getting down to it they have hit the ground in a coma rather than even making any forward motion at all. There is only one person to blame and that is Kevin Rudd because his misguided attempt to “reform” the way that the parliamentary leader is chosen will mean that it will be weeks before we know who to laugh at as the ALP tries to look anything but silly.

The fourth estate has largely been made to look as irrelevant as they increasingly are and all that they have had to run on is the lack of vulvas in the Abbott cabinet, like who cares about the contents of the inner ministry’s underpants? I for one don’t want to see anything even approaching “affirmative action” in the way that key ministries are allocated. It has to be all about merit when it comes to picking who can sit on the big chairs or sexism wins. If being a man makes up the biggest qualification for high office its bad then so too is being a woman. Abbott has a good team here and their performance will vindicate his choice and we can leave the whining about the gender of cabinet ministers to the minions of the left.

Cheers Comrades

bloody-dropping-broken-heart-graphic

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Call and Response

September 1, 2013 5:10 PM / 19 Comments on Call and Response

Kevin Rudd (labor@australianlaborparty.emailnb.com)
5:44 AM
To: Iain Hall

Iain,

I just finished officially launching Labor’s election campaign in Brisbane. You might have watched on TV or followed along online. I hope you are proud of our strong campaign so far and ready for the days to come.

You supported our campaign, and I thank you for that. But this campaign is far from over, and I need to ask for something specific now.

Can you donate one more time?

This election is there to be won if we work hard until the end.

There are two election campaigns happening. One is being reported by the pundits and on the frontpage of the tabloids. That the campaign is already over, and Tony Abbott is already as good as in The Lodge. But there’s another campaign – the real campaign, where we have had thousands of donations, just like the one you gave, and where thousands of volunteers are making calls and knocking on doors. If we keep focussed on fighting that campaign, there’ll be an upset on Saturday.

As voters think about the brutal cuts to the bone that Tony Abbott has planned, they are thinking again about their vote. We’re seeing it across the country. We have a strong argument for the closing week: Labor builds up education, health, our nation’s infrastructure; the Liberals cut, they tear down. It’s a good message because it is true.

In my launch speech, I talked about the work we all need to do this week That work will cost money. It will be strongest if we can club together. Please make a donation of $5, or whatever you can afford.

I am proud of the campaign we are running this country together, and I am grateful for your work.

Kevin

 

to which I Replied

  • RE: What we’re focussed on:‏

Iain Hall
7:04 AM
To: Kevin Rudd

Dear Kevin
Thank you for your email however I feel that in the light of the record of  the Labor Government over the last six years that either donating to the party would be a foolish thing to do. you see I have been profoundly disappointed by both you personally and the whole ideology of the party in general.

Worse yet  you seem to be following precisely the same path as the one trod by Anna Bligh in the last days of her government and frankly if you want  to do a truly good service to the Australian Labor Party  you will try to conduct your self with good grace as you make your way towards the defeat that you have so richly earned,
Maybe the ALP will be fit to govern again in the future but I fear that iot may well be something that I will only see in my dotage.

Sincerely
Iain Hall

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Gillard is definitely not drunk… or Conroy’s zombie hordes shuffle in time to the beat of his drum

March 16, 2013 6:36 AM / 3 Comments on Gillard is definitely not drunk… or Conroy’s zombie hordes shuffle in time to the beat of his drum

Earlier I have been suggesting that the whole Push by Conroy to reshape the media landscape was a convenient smokescreen intended to  distract attention form the leadership woes of Julia Gillard and now this morning  we have Peter Harcher of the Age making precisely the same claim but with the added flavour of his contacts within the Labor party.

But there is another explanation, too. ”Conroy’s view has been that the media stuff isn’t the worst thing in the world, and it’ll distract from leadership speculation and get us through to the end of next week,” says a senior Labor figure. ”Gillard’s entire world is an inside game,” of how to hold the leadership against any Kevin Rudd recrudescence.

The end of next week? That’s the last time Parliament sits before the budget, the last time the caucus will be together in one place, the last time there will be a venue and opportunity for any leadership challenge before the budget.

But Rudd is resolutely sticking to his pledge that he will not challenge again. This is frustrating some of his more determined supporters, but he is proving immovable.

Without any challenge, the onus for change rests with the senior Labor members who, until now, have been Gillard supporters. A delegation to tell her to resign, like the one that gave the same message to Bob Hawke in 1991, is widely mooted. Messy, unpleasant, and, so far, no volunteers.

Amazingly those who are in the Gillard Glee Club seem to be in absolute denial about any thing as Machiavellian in this rather  crude stupid  and unseemly push for “media”  reform. Instead focusing on shooting the messenger  who has been telling them that this “reform” will not get through the parliament and that it was never intended to in the first instance.  There is only one thing that Gillard is focused on an that her personally remaining in the Lodge until  September 14 and as I have said its all a smokescreen, and example of the old bait and switch and sadly there are far too many of the left who are letting their despair at the prospect of an Abbott  victory cloud their political judgement about the machinations of the regime that they would see endure into another term even though it is everyday shuffling more and more zombie like towards a horrid end.
Cheers Comrades
You can't start a fire, you can't start a fire without a sparkThis gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark

You can’t start a fire, you can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire even if we’re just dancing in the dark

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