Menzies House

S**t Happens: The Economics Version

2012-02-16T06:18:25+11:00

All you need to know about economics (warning: NSWF)

Digital Set-Top Boxes - Cheaper at Harvey Norman

2012-02-15T11:24:22+11:00

Every set-top box delivered under Labor's digital TV rollout could be costing the taxpayer an average of $698 - almost double the government's original estimate, more than 30 times the cost of a box bought at a department store and far more expensive than a new 106cm flatscreen TV.

In May last year, Senator Conroy put the average cost for each installation at $350, but recent figures provided to The Australian by the digital switchover taskforce show that the initial budget of $69.5m has delivered 77,400 installations, which works out at an average of $897 each.

With just days to go until the analog switch-off, and faced with the prospect of being left without a working TV, Ms. Pasco phoned the son of a well-known retired local TV installer.

He fitted a set-top box she bought from Harvey Norman for $48.

All up, the cost of the set-top box and the installation set her back less than $100.

Set-top boxes is item 8 from the top 50 ALP achievements since 2007.

From the same people who are spending $36 billion (plus) on the National Broadband Network.

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Government Lunch Box Inspectors

2012-02-15T09:16:42+11:00

RAEFORD, N.C. — A Hoke County preschooler was fed chicken nuggets for lunch because a state worker felt that her homemade lunch did not have enough nutritional value, according to a report by the Carolina Journal.

The West Hoke Elementary School student was in her More at Four classroom when a U.S. Department of Agriculture agent who was inspecting lunch boxes decided that her packed lunch — which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips — “did not meet USDA guidelines,” the Journal reports.

The decision was made under consideration of a regulation put in place by the the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs to meet USDA guidelines.

via myfox8.com

Just to be clear: the U.S. Government now inspects children's lunch boxes...

Kevin Rudd: The Bad Seed

2012-02-14T18:05:31+11:00

David Russell examines Kevin Rudd's character, and concludes that the Labor movement ought be very wary of him:

Some people are team players and some people are just arrogant, selfish b’s. Guess what category Kevin Rudd falls into?

Even those die-hard Labor aficionados who dare to dream that Rudd could – again – lead Labor out of the wilderness must still feel a knot tightening in their gut at the prospect of this man once more taking control of the parliamentary Australian Labor Party.

And, sure, one could validly argue that with a Gillard administration occupying the government benches in the national parliament, Labor is not in a wilderness. That, however, would be a fiction of rare delusion. Gillard is dead woman walking. Oh, she might even survive an entire parliamentary term and the history books will record a substantive feat. But on the track record of her administration thus far, the nation is unlikely to be much the better for it.

What is truly passing strange is the quasi-adulation that so many people seem willing to accord Rudd. Admittedly, the oft-repeated phrase that he is hailed like a rock star on his electoral walkathons more often than not refers to school students who do not yet have the vote. But with brand Labor so on the decline, any support is not to be disparaged by the true believers, both entrenched and nascent

What is worthy of consideration is the price that might be paid by Labor generally for allowing Rudd to return to the leadership.

The real issue with Rudd is his utter selfishness. Certainly he has a right to carry a chip on both shoulders for his unseemly demise as Labor leader. It was messy, bloody and, with hindsight, downright ill-considered. Consequently, Julia Gillard appears likely to win Time magazine’s endorsement as Patsy of the Century. Never mind that they don’t have such an award just yet: by the time Gingerella makes way for whoever is to be her successor, the editorial board will surely decide her mortal humiliation as Australian Labor Party leader is worthy of global recognition.

Yet does Rudd’s valid exasperation at his early defrocking in any way entitle him to push for reinstatement as vigorously as he is doing? A resounding No must surely be the answer.

The inescapable fact remains that at least one of the independent MPs upon whom the Gillard minority administration remains dependent has stated that a snap poll should result if Rudd should be returned as Prime Minister. Any Labor die-hard willing to wager on that outcome must fall into the ranks of the problem gamblers that Andrew Wilkie tried to save but suffered only public emasculation at the hands of Ms Gillard for his trouble. He might hate the Opposition but who would count on him supporting a new Labor regime under the potential leadership of Rudd?

It is also incontrovertible that Rudd is hated by so many in Labor’s own ranks. No, not the rank and file; the Cabinet Ministers who have worked with Rudd and suffered his bullying, arrogant and alienating hubris. Those who hope to save their seats by a reversion to Rudd are still far outweighed by those who prefer the potential loss of all rank and privilege to the return of the one they despise so much. It truly speaks of the real Rudd, not the one who masquerades at sausage sizzles.

There is a chilling menace to the way Rudd is playing Gillard off a break. But it is not a clash of ideas or ideals: it is simply ugly bullying. The man is not pleasant. He cares not who he hurts so long as he gets his way. He did it to Crean and he did it to Beazley: two remarkably loyal and successful Labor stalwarts. They deserve their place in the Labor pantheon. But they were just cannon fodder for Rudd in his desperate quest to be top dog.

Rudd is a spoiler. There were many good reasons that even Labor insiders named him Doctor Death when he was a key bureaucrat in Wayne Goss’s Queensland premiership. He carved people up just because he could. Not a nice person. And beyond anything else, it is not as if he needs the financial recompense of prime ministerial office. The family fortunes can guarantee him more perks than even on offer from the federal parliamentary purse. Then again, maybe it’s because his missus is more financially successful than him that drives him?

Certainly, it is not for the good of the common people that he so brazenly glad-hands the high and mighty of all nations in pursuit of his secondary goal of a seat on the UN Security Council. Our domestic political experience has never seen so much public funding lavished on such a singular, selfish goal. And he only gets away with it because so many of his own colleagues are happy to have him away from Canberra as much as possible.

It is not for the good of the Labor Party that Rudd drags all its elected and unelected members through the ordeal of fevered leadership speculation which is helping confine the core Labor vote to the rude 30s. No, it is a bitter, vindictive man bent on his own selfish ends.

At some point, the Australian people who favour a return of Rudd must ask themselves how such a twisted personality could possibly better the nation by gaining our next-to-highest office. He did it once with such marked lack of success that his own brethren tore him down.

Whatever the faults of Gillard – and they are clearly legion – there must be a better answer to our national leadership need from within Labor ranks if it is to retain the mantle of a political entity validly able to aspire to govern this country. Our nation is being as poorly served by Labor as Labor is being served by Rudd.

As a bad seed, he is sowing the destruction of that which he claims to love. As always, actions speak infinitely louder than words. The Labor movement should be very wary.

David M. Russell is a professional communicator with a passion for good governance. His personal blog can be found at davidmrussell.wordpress.com.

A Future US President in Waiting: Senator Marco Rubio

2012-02-14T15:46:16+11:00

Rubio is the man who should be running for the office of President.

Expect to see Rubio run in 2016 with hopefully Allen West as his running mate VP.

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MH Video Mashup: Julia Gillard To Sex Pistols' Liar Liar

2012-02-14T15:30:37+11:00

We hope you enjoy! :)

Christophobia Marches On

2012-02-14T12:43:48+11:00

George Christensen MP looks at the same-sex marriage debate through the prism of growing attacks on Christianity by the state around the world:

The sentiments behind the recent push by independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie to exempt churches from having to perform same sex ‘marriages’, if indeed they are legalised, are probably well-intentioned.

However, it is clear from the global experience that any such sentiments, legislated, codified or otherwise, will not withstand the ongoing march of Christophobia that is occurring throughout the Western world.

This Christophobia – this system persecution of the faithful – is not something new for Christians. In fact, Saint Paul’s second epistle to Timothy warns us that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”.

But such persecution is anathema to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states:

“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion… (including the) freedom… in public … to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching; (and) No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom...”

And yet in Great Britain the situation is that intolerable for Christians that in recent years, the Archbishop of York of the Church of England, the Rt Rev John Sentamu was moved to say that there are:

Those who … argue that they operate in pursuit of policies based on the twin aims of 'diversity and equality'... Yet … 'diversity' … means every colour and creed except Christianity… and 'equality' … excludes anyone … with a Christian belief in God.

And it is no wonder when we see recent headlines such as “Tory MP calls for churches to be banned from holding marriages if they refuse gay couples” from gay media outlet..

The article refers to a British Conservative MP who, in August last year, lobbied his Prime Minister David Cameron to compel churches to register civil partnerships, pointing to a precedent where Catholic adoption agencies were compelled to provide adoption services for same-sex couples.

In Canada, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal declared “unconstitutional” a proposed legislative amendment allowing Saskatchewan’s marriage commissioners to refuse to perform same-sex ‘marriages’ on religious grounds.

In the US, just last week, a New Jersey judge ruled against a Christian retreat house that refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony to be conducted on its premises, saying the Constitution allows ‘some intrusion into religious freedom.”

Outside of the same sex ‘marriage’ issue, we’ve seen Christian pastors locked up for speaking on the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality. In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green was sentenced to a month in prison for having offended homosexuals in a sermon.

In Ontario, Canada, the Liberal State government has attacked the Catholic church for failing to allow for clubs for homosexual students in its schools. The courts are now ruling against the church and ordering they provide them.

And it may be news to the secularists but church buildings are not where Christians check-in and check-out the practice of their beliefs.

Christianity is a lived experience and Christians are called to remain true to their faith in all aspects of their lives.

But, despite the admonitions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, nation-states throughout the West have effectively outlawed public observance of Christian belief when it comes to same sex related issues.

In November last year, Dutch MPs voted to prevent Christian civil servants refusing to conduct gay marriages.

In 2004, Mitt Romney, then Governor of Massachusetts, ordered Justices of the Peace to perform homosexual marriages when requested or to be fired.

Again in November last year, it was reported that a Christian baker in Iowa who politely declined to provide a wedding cake for two lesbians will now have legal action commenced against her.

Last week, the British Court of Appeals ruled that a Christian couple who own a bed and breakfast in Cornwall and who refused to allow a gay couple to share a bed in their establishment, must pay $5,700 in damages to the gay couple.

Another Christian, a café owner in England, in September last year, was warned by police to stop showing DVDs of the New Testament in his café after a customer complained about its passage against homosexuality.

This Christophobia, this systemic denial of Christians to follow their conscience, is happening all around the world and it will too occur here in Australia unless the law remains steadfast on the issue of marriage.

It has already begun to some extent. The Australia Education Union in its policy paper on GLBTI people states that they “will develop strategies to counter homophobia at an institution level” including in “religious institutions” which they say “are to be condemned for their discriminative attitudes and approaches”. Presumably, these strategies will take place in classrooms and we will have the children of all major faiths, Christian, Jewish and Islamic children, being told that their religion is to be condemned.

At the government level, the Attorney General has released a discussion paper on proposed federal anti-discrimination changes. That paper suggests some exemptions be offered to religious organisations, except from those connected with “sexual orientation”.

In a pre-emptive strike, Archbishop Barry Hickey of the Roman Catholic Church has flagged his Perth archdiocese will simply surrender its marriage license if they’re compelled to perform same sex marriages. Maybe this is the end result that the Christophobes are pushing for?

Because despite cleverly concocted exemptions that seek to dull the Christian voters’ concerns over proposed same sex marriage laws, if we redefine marriage nothing will stop the advance of Christophobia, a march that, in Australia, is done to the beat of both the Greens’ and Labor’s drum.

George Christensen is the Federal Member for Dawson.

Radical Greens Cause More Aussie Job Losses

2012-02-14T08:43:04+11:00

MALAYSIAN-owned wood processing company Ta Ann is blaming environmentalists for its decision to shed 40 jobs in Tasmania.

The company says sales of its products in Japan have fallen 50 per cent as a result of "market attacks'' by green groups.
Environmentalists recently visited customers of Ta Ann in Japan and mounted a cyber campaign to put their case that the company sources its products from high conservation value forests.
"Ta Ann Tasmania hopes that, as promised, the Greens will stop the campaign against Tasmania's overseas customers to save Tasmanian jobs," a statement from the company read.
Ta Ann, which sells wood product to some of Japan's biggest home builders, says a third of its $45 million contribution to the state's economy will be lost with its two mills operating at reduced levels.

via www.perthnow.com.au