Yesterday, the news media in Australia carried a digraceful story of a high-ranking American political stooge and White House toady trying to use the Uniform Code of Military Justice to intimidate Major Michael Mori who had been appointed to defend an Australian detained at Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks..
Let's get a couple of things straight,
Firstly. ....
In my opinion, it is likely that many of the people held in Guantanomo Bay were up to no good when they were captured and the probably did not have our continued well-being as their first priority. Many of them are probably Baddies through-and-through.
It's also crystal clear that they should have been handled firmly and fairly and in strict adherence to both the letter and the spirit of the Geneva Convention. War is about victory or defeat - it's not about guaranteed employment to every weirdo, sociopath, drunk, bully, fanatic or sadist in the United States who fancies himself as an interrogator or as an "action-hero".
Secondly ....
Major Michael Mori is first and foremost a patriotic American. Never forget that. He has upheld the honour of his service. He has maintained the highest standards of the legal profession. He hasn't given 85% commitment, he hasn't given 99% commitment ..... he has given 110% and 120% commitment to his assigned duty.
David Hicks is lucky that Major Mori was assigned to defend him ..... and not to prosecute him because he would have been equally tenacious, vigorous and honourable as a Prosecutor!.
For Heaven's sake, Major Mori is a trained fighting man ..... so why all the hullabaloo when he gets up and fights vigorously to win? That's bloody ridiculous!! Australians admire a man who has the guts to "give it a go" and regular Americans admire a man with real fighting spirit too.
Washington, Farragut, Grant, Sheridan, Patton and Halsey would be proud to know that fine officers, such as Major Mori, who do not fear difficult tasks, still serve the people and the flag of the United States.
Of course there's a bit of shouting and shoving and swirling dust when free men and women speak their minds and stand up for what they believe ...... those of us who cherish liberty and impartial justice would not have it otherwise.
--------
So what can be done?
1. Promote Major Mori straight to full Colonel. If the United States is to survive, it must have talented leaders ..... and Major Mori has demonstrated that he has that in full neasure.
2. Kick that high-ranking boofhead who tried to intimidate Major Mori straight out into civilian life and make him work for a living. Can't recall his name; an utterly forgettable coward. What sort of a gutless oaf would hide behind all the fine print of the Uniform Code of Military Justice instead of tackling Major Mori man-to-man if anything was said that offended his delicate ears? What a wimp! What a sorry excuse for an officer! Chuck him out before he disgraces the United States further.
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Oh, by the way, we in Australia do have a regular and comprehensive legal system with roots that go back a few thousand years ....... and it is a legal system well experienced in dealing with crimes of violence, including terrorism and political assassination. It is a grievous unforgivable insult to Australia that the United States continued to hold David Hicks (apparently on nothing more than the whims of Mr Air-Guard-AWOL and three of his trans-Pacific sycophants).
He must be sent back to face OUR justice in Australia, whatever that may be.
05 March, 2007
12 February, 2007
social engineering and medical students
So we are expected to swallow the load of utter bollocks that there is no "social engineering" in the selection of medical students, are we?
If there is no "social engineering" then where the hell are all the Australian Viet-Nam War veterans who commenced studying Medicine in Australia AFTER Returning-from-Active-Service???????
Regardless of how many Returned Servicemen became doctors after the Second World War ...... there were only 2 [two] out of a cohort of 59 000 [fifty-nine thousand] identified as being ex-diggers who commenced study, graduated and became licenced to practice medicine in Australia after risking their lives in the Viet-Nam War ...... that's 1 in 29 500 ..... yet we are spun this nonsense that there is no "social engineering" in the selection of medical students.
There was certainly no lack of talent among Australian Viet-Nam War veterans - entry standards for the RAN, the RAAF and the ARA were exceptionally high; so high in fact that when National Service [= military conscription] was introduced, many university students failed to reach the minimum psychological and intellectual standard required for entry into the Army! Yet these war veterans were kept out of certain professions - such as Medicine - by very dodgy selection processes.
Many of these war veterans became registered nurses, ambulance paramedics and other health professionals so there was certainly no lack of ability to study difficult and ever-changing subjects and then to apply that knowledge successfully in their professional work; they dealt with emergency situations, conflicting priorities and complex ethical issues on a daily basis ...... yet only a token few were allowed to become doctors.
Read for youself the Letter-To-The-Editor in "The Weekend Australian" of 10~11 February 2007 by Bruce Robinson, Acting Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/letters/index.php/theaustralian/comments/we_want_doctor_diversity/
and journalist Janet Albrechtsen's blog and article in "The Australian" of 7 February 2007
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/yoursay/index.php/theaustralian/comments/questions_not_even_a_doctor_should_answer/p80/
Had Viet-Nam War veterans be allowed and encouraged to become doctors, many - if not most - would have gone to bush towns and Aboriginal communities so the shortage of doctors in rural and remote parts of Australia would not have reached the crisis we have today.
If there is no "social engineering" then where the hell are all the Australian Viet-Nam War veterans who commenced studying Medicine in Australia AFTER Returning-from-Active-Service???????
Regardless of how many Returned Servicemen became doctors after the Second World War ...... there were only 2 [two] out of a cohort of 59 000 [fifty-nine thousand] identified as being ex-diggers who commenced study, graduated and became licenced to practice medicine in Australia after risking their lives in the Viet-Nam War ...... that's 1 in 29 500 ..... yet we are spun this nonsense that there is no "social engineering" in the selection of medical students.
There was certainly no lack of talent among Australian Viet-Nam War veterans - entry standards for the RAN, the RAAF and the ARA were exceptionally high; so high in fact that when National Service [= military conscription] was introduced, many university students failed to reach the minimum psychological and intellectual standard required for entry into the Army! Yet these war veterans were kept out of certain professions - such as Medicine - by very dodgy selection processes.
Many of these war veterans became registered nurses, ambulance paramedics and other health professionals so there was certainly no lack of ability to study difficult and ever-changing subjects and then to apply that knowledge successfully in their professional work; they dealt with emergency situations, conflicting priorities and complex ethical issues on a daily basis ...... yet only a token few were allowed to become doctors.
Read for youself the Letter-To-The-Editor in "The Weekend Australian" of 10~11 February 2007 by Bruce Robinson, Acting Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/letters/index.php/theaustralian/comments/we_want_doctor_diversity/
and journalist Janet Albrechtsen's blog and article in "The Australian" of 7 February 2007
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/yoursay/index.php/theaustralian/comments/questions_not_even_a_doctor_should_answer/p80/
Had Viet-Nam War veterans be allowed and encouraged to become doctors, many - if not most - would have gone to bush towns and Aboriginal communities so the shortage of doctors in rural and remote parts of Australia would not have reached the crisis we have today.
27 January, 2007
Australia Day knighthoods
Australians are lucky; we have three national days.
First, there is the quietest and most unofficial national day: Boxing Day, the day after Christmas Day, it is the one day in the year when all Australians - regardless of their background - celebrate being Australians by doing all the things that define our nationality. It is also our unofficial Family Day; even for divorced families.
Then there is ANZAC Day, a day for solemn rememberance of those suffered and died, for our sakes, in war and in defence of the country. It is a day of mixed sadness and celebration for all Australians ...... and despite all the efforts of political and business interests to hijack the day for their own purposes and to enforce official control, it is a day that remains firmly in the hands of ordinary people and local communities (such was the effect on local communities of heavy Australian and New Zealander casualties in The Great War nine decades ago). In keeping with traditional Australian tolerance and a fair go, even former enemy who have migrated to Australia take part too .... and why not?.
And then there is the official national day, 26th January, Australia Day, which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet from England in 1788, a fleet made up of English "free settlers", military guards and "convicts" (petty law-breakers, English radicals, Irish and Scottish patriots and anyone else who annoyed the English aristocracy); their sudden arrival had a dramatic effect on Aboriginal Australians.
The government always issues an Honours List on Australia Day. It is the list of awards of the Order of Australia, and other awards, to those wonderful people who have done good work, often voluntary work, for their local community or for their nation or for humanity in general.
Sadly, along with all these well-deserved awards come outrageously undeserved awards to political and business buddy-pals - and everyone wonders why any scoundrel should get a prestigious award just for doing their grossly over-paid job or because they are in a mutual backscratching clique.
New Knighthoods were abolished in Australia a generation ago - but there are still old people wandering around with "Sir" or "Dame" stuck in front of their names.
I suggest we resurrect Knighthoods for really outstanding Australian ..... and here are my suggestions for 2007:
1. Terry Hicks. Father of Guantanamo Bay prisoner, David Hicks. No matter what his son did or did not do, Terry Hicks has shown himself a true knight - by his courage, his tenacity, his righteousness, his sense of duty and honour.
Terry Hicks has upheld the finest of Australian values in the face of all the nasty, dishonourable anti-Australia stunts by that miserable excuse for a prime minister and his gang of toadies.
2. Andrew Willkie and Lance Collins - who spoke honestly at a time when honesty was despised; who were patriotic at a time when Australia's political bosses were manifestly not so; who were professional in their conduct when others preferred to be crawlers and yes-men.
So ARISE ..... SIR TERRY, SIR ANDREW AND SIR LANCE.
To balance these new knighthoods, lets's have .... say, Knavehoods or Dingo-Of-The-Year(=douche-bag).
I reckon the clear winners of 2007 Knavehoods have to be the Department of Defence officials who tried to cheat an injured Special Air Sevice Regiment soldier, Bill Kennedy, out of his entitlements by using rules that didn't exist!!! Anywhere else in Australia, you would go to jail for that sort of fraud against a fellow citizen!!!
No doubt these knaves are the same sort who tried to cheat Mrs Kylie Russell, the widow of SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell who was killed whilst On Active Service in Afghanistan. As well as Knavehoods for these boofheads, let's award them the Osama Bin Laden Helpers medal too.
Links:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21068926-5006789,00.html
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=778ContentID=18857
First, there is the quietest and most unofficial national day: Boxing Day, the day after Christmas Day, it is the one day in the year when all Australians - regardless of their background - celebrate being Australians by doing all the things that define our nationality. It is also our unofficial Family Day; even for divorced families.
Then there is ANZAC Day, a day for solemn rememberance of those suffered and died, for our sakes, in war and in defence of the country. It is a day of mixed sadness and celebration for all Australians ...... and despite all the efforts of political and business interests to hijack the day for their own purposes and to enforce official control, it is a day that remains firmly in the hands of ordinary people and local communities (such was the effect on local communities of heavy Australian and New Zealander casualties in The Great War nine decades ago). In keeping with traditional Australian tolerance and a fair go, even former enemy who have migrated to Australia take part too .... and why not?.
And then there is the official national day, 26th January, Australia Day, which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet from England in 1788, a fleet made up of English "free settlers", military guards and "convicts" (petty law-breakers, English radicals, Irish and Scottish patriots and anyone else who annoyed the English aristocracy); their sudden arrival had a dramatic effect on Aboriginal Australians.
The government always issues an Honours List on Australia Day. It is the list of awards of the Order of Australia, and other awards, to those wonderful people who have done good work, often voluntary work, for their local community or for their nation or for humanity in general.
Sadly, along with all these well-deserved awards come outrageously undeserved awards to political and business buddy-pals - and everyone wonders why any scoundrel should get a prestigious award just for doing their grossly over-paid job or because they are in a mutual backscratching clique.
New Knighthoods were abolished in Australia a generation ago - but there are still old people wandering around with "Sir" or "Dame" stuck in front of their names.
I suggest we resurrect Knighthoods for really outstanding Australian ..... and here are my suggestions for 2007:
1. Terry Hicks. Father of Guantanamo Bay prisoner, David Hicks. No matter what his son did or did not do, Terry Hicks has shown himself a true knight - by his courage, his tenacity, his righteousness, his sense of duty and honour.
Terry Hicks has upheld the finest of Australian values in the face of all the nasty, dishonourable anti-Australia stunts by that miserable excuse for a prime minister and his gang of toadies.
2. Andrew Willkie and Lance Collins - who spoke honestly at a time when honesty was despised; who were patriotic at a time when Australia's political bosses were manifestly not so; who were professional in their conduct when others preferred to be crawlers and yes-men.
So ARISE ..... SIR TERRY, SIR ANDREW AND SIR LANCE.
To balance these new knighthoods, lets's have .... say, Knavehoods or Dingo-Of-The-Year(=douche-bag).
I reckon the clear winners of 2007 Knavehoods have to be the Department of Defence officials who tried to cheat an injured Special Air Sevice Regiment soldier, Bill Kennedy, out of his entitlements by using rules that didn't exist!!! Anywhere else in Australia, you would go to jail for that sort of fraud against a fellow citizen!!!
No doubt these knaves are the same sort who tried to cheat Mrs Kylie Russell, the widow of SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell who was killed whilst On Active Service in Afghanistan. As well as Knavehoods for these boofheads, let's award them the Osama Bin Laden Helpers medal too.
Links:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21068926-5006789,00.html
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=778ContentID=18857
08 January, 2007
America saved at last?
Over in the United States, Nancy Pelosi, a tough, intelligent, determined politician who was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, has become boss-lady of their parliament. That puts her in straight line of succession to become President of the United States .... as soon as George W Bush and Dick Cheney are forced to resign or are arrested (and happily both).
Americans were happy to have an outstandingly competent president,
Richard Nixon, resign over fairly trivial matters, when compared with what the G W Bush regime has done and had failed to do, and be replaced by an upright skilled politician, Gerald Ford.
Americans nearly lost another outstandingly competent president, Bill Clinton, because a tiny bunch of peeping-toms and s**ually-frustrated perverts and fake holy-rollers where envious about what two consenting adults were said to have done in private - it was none of their d*mned business.
Yet these same Americans have allowed a couple of buffoons and incompetent crooks, absolute born-losers, to bring ruin and disgrace on their own country and well as imperil the entire West.
It's time for the American people to sack these two, before thousands more good Americans get killed because of their folly and their neglect -----
and to put a R E A L President in their place.
President Pelosi? Now that does sound good.
UPDATE
Great news. President-In-Waiting Pelosi has just visited Baghdad. All that is needed now is for those two resignations/impeachments/arrests to go ahead .... and that will happen as soon as enough Republican Senators and Congressmen put their loyalty to the United States of America ahead of their loyalty to a pair of scoundrels and born-losers.
Americans were happy to have an outstandingly competent president,
Richard Nixon, resign over fairly trivial matters, when compared with what the G W Bush regime has done and had failed to do, and be replaced by an upright skilled politician, Gerald Ford.
Americans nearly lost another outstandingly competent president, Bill Clinton, because a tiny bunch of peeping-toms and s**ually-frustrated perverts and fake holy-rollers where envious about what two consenting adults were said to have done in private - it was none of their d*mned business.
Yet these same Americans have allowed a couple of buffoons and incompetent crooks, absolute born-losers, to bring ruin and disgrace on their own country and well as imperil the entire West.
It's time for the American people to sack these two, before thousands more good Americans get killed because of their folly and their neglect -----
and to put a R E A L President in their place.
President Pelosi? Now that does sound good.
UPDATE
Great news. President-In-Waiting Pelosi has just visited Baghdad. All that is needed now is for those two resignations/impeachments/arrests to go ahead .... and that will happen as soon as enough Republican Senators and Congressmen put their loyalty to the United States of America ahead of their loyalty to a pair of scoundrels and born-losers.
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