How is that no one can simply apologise these days? Geo Fungus – that left-wing tosser from way back – could not simply say he was sorry and get the rank of the soldier correct.
Negus sparked a storm of condemnation when he questioned whether Cpl Roberts-Smith was “up to it in the sack” on the Channel 10 morning show, which displayed a picture of the war hero in a swimming pool.
As I was flicking between stations last night, I happened upon the old boy sort of justifying his comments because he had travelled around the world – AS A JOURNALIST – and he had sometimes been in danger. Oh, so this justifies his vile and contemptible comments?
And then there is the little twink – does she have a degree in Jounalism? – gushingly announcing to the world that she is now engaged. Does this somehow justify her own vile and contemptible comments?
George Negus – war hero.
LOL.
That’s really the origin of all this. Negus (a washed up social studies school teacher) belongs to that band of insufferable wankers called ‘foreign correspondents.’ They wear faux-military attire and imagine themselves to be hard core. He simply couldn’t stand everyone lionising Roberts-Smith – the real thing.
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 11:30 am
Why even go there? A Roberts-Smith picture is displayed and Negus goes straight to wondering about the war hero’s sexual prowess. Is Negus related to Steve by any chance?
And oh! the irony of birdbrain Yumi suggesting Roberts-Smith is dumb.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 11:37 am
He also made a comment about him, “killing people for a living”… this last comment hasn’t had as much airplay in a media more interested in the sex-talk, but it alone should she him sacked.
Fleeced
1 Mar 12 at 11:41 am
The ADF deserve our support.
It is under constant pressure from the meida.
The biased 7.30 report about the unpolitically correct diggers facebook, on top of the snide comments about Cpl Roberts-Smith does not reflect badly on the ADF but on the media.
Shame on the ABC and Channel 10.
AD
1 Mar 12 at 11:42 am
The Channel Ten jaffle iron is a dirty, dirty place!
.
1 Mar 12 at 11:45 am
Roberts-Smith has shown more than a little class and dignity in responding; a very stark contrast to the behaviour of Negus and his sidekick Yumi.
Brett
1 Mar 12 at 11:45 am
I hadn’t seen his response – do you have a link?
BTW, who calls their kid “Yummy Stains”?
Fleeced
1 Mar 12 at 11:47 am
Never mind, got it:
Fleeced
1 Mar 12 at 11:51 am
True, AD.
But the ADF also deserves criticism, as I wrote on the OT…
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 11:52 am
Negus has proven how pathetic and envious he is when he sees a real man.
I’ve kept an eye out Fleeced as like you I noticed Negus still has not apologised for the final snide comment where he initimated Roberts-Smith uses the line “I kill people for a living” to impress women? [see the end of video clip at this link]
The clip of the apology Bolt has shows Negus being angry and terse about being challenged, does not sound since and does not address this point.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 11:52 am
Who hasn’t been in danger – just doing their job? The difference, George, is that Ben R-S personally stormed two machine teams exposing himself to exceptionally high additional risk in order to protect his comrades. The VC is issued for exceeding the normal expectations of operations in a life threatening situation where some one is deliberately trying to kill you. Unlike George, I can see the difference. But then I don’t have a journalism degree.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 11:54 am
Yumi just sounds like an airhead. George was being malicious.
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 11:56 am
Let’s face it, George is a small men. I’m not referring to his height nor the size of his penis. I mean in terms of stature and character, he is very small indeed.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 11:58 am
As Bolt points out: That wasn’t a dangerous situation… THIS was a dangerous situation.
spot
1 Mar 12 at 11:58 am
man…not men
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 11:58 am
I can’t stand any of these shows where people sit around chattering like those sluts from Sex in the City. I hear Channel 10 has now also replaced its evening news with Dave Hughes too. I mean WTF???
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 11:58 am
BOOM!
spot
1 Mar 12 at 12:00 pm
Yumi does sound like she is trying to learn from her mistakes, no matter how challenging that is for her.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 12:00 pm
I agree they didn’t choose their target very well. After all he was a courageous man, but no more so than many green demonstrators trying to save our forests. And it is quite true that George has shown he certainly didn’t lack courage in his field work.
Lighten up folks, they were just having a joke.
hammygar
1 Mar 12 at 12:02 pm
On the positive flip side the reports Chris Masters has done with the SF boys have been outstanding, absolutely respectful. Given his perhaps broader left wing bias I feared worse but in fact utterly fair and professional. What really impressed me is he consistently reports that the troops believe they are making a difference and he shows practical examples that they do. He doesn’t ridicule it or qualify it.
I think the silver lining to this current incident is how the general community is utterly outraged and smacks these clowns down in the plainest most direct terms.
kingsley
1 Mar 12 at 12:02 pm
Beware, flagrant troll droppings ahead…
Just walk around it…
Token
1 Mar 12 at 12:04 pm
The ABC is full of these wankers. Here’s another one.
All this moron does is abuse News Ltd and AGW sceptics.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 12:06 pm
Go away, Hammy. You’re not fit to clean Sparkles’ litter-box.
spot
1 Mar 12 at 12:06 pm
Seriously, these shows are a pussification of the culture.
Any man who goes on these shows as a host or interviewee has undergone an Obama ball shrinkage
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//2010/07/29/obama_the_view_424_370x278.jpg
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 12:07 pm
They are a joke. Just like the greenies screeching and fainting in the forests. What spectacular eejits, still they provide us with a few laughs at their expense. So I guess they do have some purpose,just like Negus and Dumi.
Lighten up, hammyburglar.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 12:07 pm
I think it a centrelink/GetitUP version of Arlene Composter. S/he’s not even funny.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 12:08 pm
Negus may be in danger again, if he has a beer in the RSL…
ar
1 Mar 12 at 12:08 pm
lol. Excellent.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 12:09 pm
Kingsley, I’ve always had a large amount of respect for Chris Masters. His investigative journalism has always been first class for mine.
tbh
1 Mar 12 at 12:10 pm
@jtfsoon
Is George now just a malicious journalist in “a good news program”?
Why isn’t he just a nasty leftist airhead as well?
What makes Yumi sillier than your hero George?
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 12:11 pm
@ Judith Sloan
Well said that lady!
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 12:12 pm
fuck off you leprechaun. I never said George was a ‘hero’. I said he used to be a serious journalist hosting a serious program which was of value.
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 12:15 pm
That’s supposed to be a defence?
If Negus is a “serious journalist” then really so is John Pilger.
Hey maybe your “serious” woeful excuse for a journalist and all round leftist clown Negus can win a Sydney Peace Prize too?
Hey Jason…. why dontcha nominate him?
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 12:25 pm
No one has made the obvious inference that George is probably crap in the sack – or at least is now given his age and likely decline in virility – and was projecting his own inadequacies.
Sleetmute
1 Mar 12 at 12:28 pm
Too true
Token
1 Mar 12 at 12:28 pm
JamesK are you trying to be nominated for Australia’s most objectiobable argumentative arsehole?
If so, congratulations!
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 12:30 pm
He was useless in the ack even as a young man.
Just look at him and and tell me I lie
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 12:30 pm
Too easy.
I know Roberts-Smith is a soldier and therefor will not indulge in victimhood, but how brave was it for Negus to attack R-S’s virility a day after the man admitted the family did IVF?
If it was George he would be screaming the house down with indignation with the rest of the luvvies.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 12:31 pm
James
If you’re not in a scrape every hour with your own side, you feel you haven’t achieved much for the day.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 12:32 pm
By George Yummi us funny.
On another issue is the RAR soldiers and ex soldiers and some distasteful private views aired on a private facebook account. Seems to me that the worst of it is being misogynistic and calling people ‘ragheads’ – neither of which uis a crime. Are these soldiers and ex soldiers entitled to air their private views, privately amongst themselves?
Rather than focus on the views shouldn’t we be concerned about the invasion of privacy by the employer and government here and the denial of freedom of association and speech IN PRIVATE. I can’t see that they have broken any laws. So why is it of any interest to the public let alone the soldiers boss?
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 12:33 pm
Anybody who thinks Negus is a worthwhle human-being has a cavern where a brain should rightfully reside.
Presumably George a “serious jounalist” to your way of thinkin’ as well IT.
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 12:34 pm
Look, I think Negus is a first rate wanker and self indulgent leftist dickhead. However he has also done some serious journalism.
I’ve seem him be both.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 12:38 pm
With regard to morality, as we know from the rationalisations of the warmanistas, it is relative to which team you are on.
As was noted yesterday, noone has mentioned how the same group raised over $20k for Legacy recently.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 12:42 pm
George Negus, war hero:
http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2010/02/17/negus_wideweb__470x373,0.jpg
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 12:43 pm
The only Negus interview anyone remembers was that one where he was destroyed by Margaret Thatcher.
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 12:44 pm
Where JC?
On the streets of Belfast?
I’ve never seen him do any good jounalism.
He’s pretty dim and always inane.
Moreover with a little reflection, it is difficult not come to the conclusion that he has done more harm than good.
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 12:44 pm
Fungus is an a*sehole, end of story.
Oh and yumi, dearie, please go back to selling mobile phone covers, at least it’s something you’re good at.
Stupid leftist tw*ts…
Rabz
1 Mar 12 at 12:47 pm
Hardly. He’s a contemptible piece of shit.
Wasn’t he a Cleo centrefold?
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 12:49 pm
IT,
the staple covered everything that counts!
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 12:50 pm
For those who think I’m ott, just reflect that ’6.30 with George Negus’ was axed but Negus is still on that contract and presumably is being paid a fortune.
And remember he is clearly a foolish old man now.
How on earth did he win the contract?
Presumably Bongiorno conviced the dupes at 10.
The Coalition never complain about journalists but I think they should go after one or two of the more egregious main players.
Labor are quite unafraid to go after Akermann, Bolt, Blair, Albrechtsen and Devine. They go after Shanahan and when it’s virulent he clearly tones down his previous justifiable critique.
It happens as predictably as day follows night.
Why do conservatives always accept the skewed terms of the debate and the language of the Left?
Negus should have been denounced two decades ago by conservatives and that way when he is appointed nobody can be under any illlusion that he’s ‘fair and balanced’ from at least one side’s perspective
Negus’ inanity alone should make him ineleigible but consistent Coalition complainst might have seen him unable to front jobs paid at $700,000/annum to exercise free and unencumbered bias and propaganda.
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 1:04 pm
lol Was he?
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:05 pm
John C, presumably the edition came with a free magnifying glass!
Rabz
1 Mar 12 at 1:06 pm
I may have confused him with Jack Thompson. I can never remember which of those two is the terrible actor and the terrible journo.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 1:07 pm
They are beneath contempt.
it appears they have no idea that potency is not the same thing as fertility.
So, in their own small minds it is OK to denigrate a family that used IVF.
I know all about being able to do sex without having along for child and I have IVF children in my outer family as quadriplegia meant normal methods wouldn’t work for creating a family for my niece.
Those two low lives should be sacked forthwith.
So, let’s hear if from Ch 10 before the ratings go sub zero
Jazza
1 Mar 12 at 1:08 pm
So what? He negotiated a deal with a private firm. At least he isn’t fucking over the taxpayer while he peddles leftist propaganda like his ABC compatriots.
What do you care.
They are softcocks. We all know, so stop whining.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:10 pm
Good ol’ thommo (no not shagger), a luvvie legend famous for engaging in a bit of free range polygamy and for learning his trade from the same fence post as bryan brown.
Rabz
1 Mar 12 at 1:13 pm
Negus is a high profile journalist but he isn’t a ‘main player’ in the sense that you’re talking about. In fact the incident in question wasn’t even related to party politics.
You’re basically advocating that the right side of politics attack, or ‘go after’, journalists that they don’t agree with. You seem frustrated because nobody else will play along with this hairbrained scheme.
That’s because your idea is not only stupid, it goes against fundamental principles of open society. Just because others do it, doesn’t make it right.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 1:21 pm
Dad
I would except ABC leftist twats though. They don’t fall into your category.
Furthermore since the media ‘quiry which was communist Bob brown’s attack on the media all bets are off on that score, as there needs to be serious payback.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:24 pm
Yeah but an industry restructure will take care of that. No need to ‘go after’ individuals. That’s the Gillard way.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 1:26 pm
Something about dishing it out but can’t take it, maybe?
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/goodbye_george/
Roberts-Smith ridiculed, Gillard fawned over. Two thumbs-up from George.
Ivan Denisovich
1 Mar 12 at 1:35 pm
What ultimately caused this incident was the increasing permission that the media has to voyeuristically commentate on, mock and inquire into, the lives of celebrities.
If they’d made the same nasty jokes about, say Tom Cruise, then nobody would care.
The mistake they made was mocking someone who commands genuine respect. Of course, that’s worse, but as I’ve said before, the culture of celebrity gossip is ultimately corrosove.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 1:36 pm
Dad:
Two things suggest the right should not ignore it and if they do they are simply exhibiting softcokckery, which the Libs are well known for.
1. Communist Bob Brown’s media ‘quiry
2. The attack on Bolt through leftwing laws.
There has to be swift harsh retribution. The ABC needs to be turned into 24/7 Landline with Tony Jones reporting on current year’s tomato crops in the southern regions. Anything less will be a terrible failure.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:36 pm
I’m in favour of Coalition pollies being more assertive. I think they were far too passive in putting up with Red Kerry’s crap, for example.
Ivan Denisovich
1 Mar 12 at 1:38 pm
No of course not dd. 3 hours od news and current affaies and 6-30pm and again latere in the evening.
There was The iron Lady
or
Newt Gingrich
Thinking is not your strong suit dd.
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 1:43 pm
I couldn’t believe just what panzies they were. It came from the top though because Howard always played defense.
Unfortunately Abbott plays Howard’s game.
I honeatly can’t see anything wrong in turning to a leftist dick like Kerry O’Brien or Tony Jones and saying…
You’re a leftwing twat and I’m not going to ever take any of your crap again.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:44 pm
Crickey! Who’d want to marry that? She’s sooo……….ugly?
Phil E Steyn
1 Mar 12 at 1:44 pm
There once was a time when George only had to throw a jacket over his shoulder while reporting from some foreign shithole and the Yumis of that time would swoon.
There was no real competition because Vietnam had only recently finished and soldiers weren’t held in as high regard by the public as they are now. George was the lefty girl’s action man.
Flash forward to 2012 and George is a washed up has been who’s lost his mojo. He winds up on some low ranking juvenile TV show discussing a genuine war hero who is braver, fitter, stronger and better looking than poor old George has ever been.
The other hosts of the show were too young to remember George at the height of his prowess. What to do? He must remind them of his better days and superiority somehow.
What better way than to denigrate the soldier’s sexual prowess in order to contrast it with (the memories) of his own.
What a pathetic tool George has become.
jupes
1 Mar 12 at 1:46 pm
It’s not as if they should attack all of ‘em just pick off 1 or 2 of the most egregious exemplars and make a precisioj aattack.
The rest will get the message.
I thought Malcolm Tuenbull’s finest hour as Opposition leader was that interview with O’Brien when he took him on…. the pregnant silence folowed by: “are you finished?”
Classic.
I suspect that ended O’Brien’s career on the 7.30 Report.
Well done Malcolm!
JamesK
1 Mar 12 at 1:52 pm
People here need to adopt a bit of humility.
Ms Sloan ‘wrote’ about the ALP fiscal history except she got her figures wrong as Stephen Koukoulas
showed. She neither got them from MYEFO or the budget. She then confused 1000 with 100,000 in the labour force figures.
no correction no acceptance she got her facts wrong
Steve Kates says there were 10 stimuli in Japan in the 90s. He also missed the 3 recessions in 7 years in the golden classical 1920′s decade.
no corrections no acceptance the facts were wrong.
Sinclair Davidson says the Auditor General says the Government ads on climate change was false except he didn’t read the footnotes in the graph he reproduced.
no correction. no acceptance the facts were wrong.
No we have have people here defending Andrew Bolt who not only got his facts wrong but could have been sued his toes off for his patent inaccuracies.
Look in the mirror my friends.
People in glass houses……
On your Marx
1 Mar 12 at 1:53 pm
LOL what the hell are you on about “on your marx”? hahahaha
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 1:55 pm
Homer claimed that “nothing of note” happened to the Jews before 1936. He didn’ apologise for that.
Fisky
1 Mar 12 at 1:55 pm
On your Marx – some people here have even stated that the Nazis were evil rather than humble opinion pollsters! Can you believe it?!
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
Stop trolling Homer. And you’ve posted the stupid comment on the wrong thread.
The seafood section wants you to go get a box of tiger prawns out of the freezer and take to them. Chop Chop Homes.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
.
Hey Homer
you missed the mess caused by the baby throwing up on aisle 5
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
Homer, didn’t you agree with Alan Ramsey that a Mack truck, driven by Opposition Leader Mark Latham, was going to run over John Howard at the 2001 poll?
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
“the Government ads on climate change was false”
“was”?
They WERE false you fucking idiot.
cohenite
1 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
oh wait!
Hey Homer go clean up aisle 5 and then take the box of prawns over to the seafood section.
Wash your hands after the clean up please.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 1:59 pm
He’s actually not bad at predictions if you always take the other CL. It’s 100% success rate.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 2:00 pm
The guy is white, straight, married, tall, muscular and heroic, a decorated soldier, a cleanskin with no whiff of scandal. Do you really wonder why such a person is screaming from the rooftops to be brought down a peg or two?
Nobody wonders why the chatterers don’t turn their attention to the Bradley Mannings of this world.
Viva
1 Mar 12 at 2:07 pm
The poor fool Manning, the pathetic cats-paw who was used ruthlessly by Assange is so riddled in his fears and inadequacies that he does not make Stynes & Negus feel inadequate the way Roberts-Smiths does.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 2:35 pm
Victorian President of the RSL – Major General David McLachlan talks to Steve Price about the insensitive comments made about VC recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 2:36 pm
George is correct to say words indicating that being in the military is no more risky than other jobs and is true at least since the Vietnam war but it is not appropriate to point that out when people are asking for an oppology.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 3:07 pm
Bullshit, Kelly. Whatever the superficial similarities you may find between yourself and BRS, parking at a taxi rank in Auburn is not more risky than fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 3:09 pm
I know. The office is a major war zone, what with terrible coffee and the imminent danger of paper cuts. Where’s my flak jacket…
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 3:09 pm
Paper cuts are frickin painful man. And just yesterday I walked into a desk after I caught a glimpse of the receptionist’s g-string.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 3:17 pm
Stop embarrassing yourself Kelly , you idiot.
Jc
1 Mar 12 at 3:17 pm
WOw. Surely that should see you getting a citation for DSM , IT.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 3:20 pm
Kelly seems like a decent bloke but he is a genuinely confused Ron Paul supporter who wants to tax your plasma TV and thinks that we need government intervention to set up canned fruit operations.
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 3:22 pm
Are you sure that’s not Benny or Bjorn from Abba?
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 3:39 pm
Gab and Soon
I only gave a generalisation which is correct. To say that being on a particular operation is more dangerous is true but in the generic sense of being in the military it is not true. 39 deaths since Vietnam war. With agriculture forestry and fishing the rate is about 8 deaths per 100 000 from 03/04 to 09/10 I couldn’t find historical personel numbers for the military but our current strength at about 60 000 should mean around 5 deaths per year to be as dangerous as farming and fishing.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 3:43 pm
You’re not brave if you don’t have the IQ to survive a tractor ride or use an auger.
.
1 Mar 12 at 3:46 pm
Please list the jobs that are no less risky than being an SAS NCO on constant operations.
Do you seriously believe that the act that won him a VC was an isolated incident?
Abu Chowdah
1 Mar 12 at 3:51 pm
Soon since you wanted to have a go at taxi drivers is it ok to kill at least one of us a year to keep us honest or something. “Taxi driving is one of the highest
risk jobs, with at least one taxi driver murdered on the job each year.” Getting killed by a passenger or for that matter by a drunk driver in another vehicle is still getting killed. You might feel all soppy about the soldiers getting killed but death is still death. As the ratio of taxi drivers to military personel is about 1:1 currenty and assuming this ratio hasn’t changed much, this means about the same number of taxi drivers have been murdered as soldiers have been killed in active duty since the vietnam war. If we then add in the not at fault deaths in traffic accidents it makes taxi driving more dangerous over this period.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:00 pm
Abu as i said I am not indicating anything about a particular part of the military or any particular operation just the overall numbers and danger.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:03 pm
Kelly, I can tell you’ve been hopping into the rice whiskey.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 4:05 pm
FFS Kelly what relevance does that have to what Ben Robert-Smith does? If it doesn’t have any relevance, why defend George’s excuse?
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 4:06 pm
IT no I am on my first beer.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:06 pm
you shouldn’t drink and drive, dude:-)
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 4:07 pm
To be clear Kelly, in your opinion are you saying you as a taxi driver are at equal risk to a SAS soldier in Afghanistan?
Is facing the a bunch of drunk passenger equal to facing a team of Taliban fighters at night?
Token
1 Mar 12 at 4:07 pm
How many will you get through in this session?
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 4:08 pm
I didn’t defend George I said it was innapropriate. Yes maybe I am a bit off the subject but not all that much I am guessing this is what was in his mind when George offended people originally but when he said sorry it was stupid to not just say sorry that is if he even did say sorry.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:10 pm
IT no idea normally about 8 to 10 I think as I never count then have a bit of rest. XXXX at $1.30 per can is cheaper than walking into a convienience store and buying a coke.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:12 pm
yes I know you weren’t defending him but you are saying that his claim is ‘correct’ when applied to the army as a whole. However whether or not it is correct, the fact is that it is irrelevant to assessing how risky BRS’s operational activities were.
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 4:14 pm
Kelly
Please stop embarrassing yourself, you idiot.
Jc
1 Mar 12 at 4:14 pm
To all above of course the particular operation was extremely dangerous and Cpl Roberts-Smith does not deserve insults like George did ok.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:17 pm
Kelly
You drive a cab with 8-10 beers under your belt? No wonder you think your work is more dangerous than the SAS fighting the Taliban!
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 4:17 pm
Oh brother. Will no one think of the poor taxi drivers?
Abu Chowdah
1 Mar 12 at 4:17 pm
Peter
no I haven’t got a cab yet but if i do in the next few weeks I am sure you will all miss me because won’t have time to be here all day.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:18 pm
Well if you ply your trade in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, could you please place a XXXX sign on your light, so I know which cab to avoid! I have a policy of never being driven by somebody more pisseder than I am!
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 4:26 pm
I think Kelly is in Brisbane. If he were in Melbourne or Sydney where he might risk getting caught in between some drive by shootings, he might have more of a case.
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 4:27 pm
Yes in Brisbane and not too bad, more shootings on the Gold Coast I think.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:30 pm
I don’t know about that. I’d wager The Paddington Inn at closing time is more dangerous than Kandahar.
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 4:31 pm
Creating a religious cult out of a war hero is not exactly a libertarian idea.
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 4:35 pm
Max, while I don’t think that is really what folks here have been doing, I gotta say I am completely over our media being dominated by “Gotcha!” moments from er – the media! ‘So and so said that so-and-so is a poo-poo head’ on their Twitter account? Really? Please.
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 4:38 pm
who’s creating a religious cult?
I suppose denigrating a war hero is? are you one of Sukrit’s libertarians?
Funding the police and the army is one of the few good things a government can do
jtfsoon
1 Mar 12 at 4:42 pm
That’s the deaths on active service.
What about training accidents etc?
Paul Williams
1 Mar 12 at 4:42 pm
Max I think your point is more that people get very emotional. This is not avoidable I think. It is part of the reason the Department of Defence can make such stupid decisions about aquisitions and get away with it. Every government on both sides has blown money on some overpriced equipment.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:44 pm
Never get photographed in your bathers/swimmers is the take home message if you don’t want people joking about your physique.
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 4:45 pm
Nice strawman you created there Max, were hoping to pop by later to set it alight?
Token
1 Mar 12 at 4:47 pm
If Rudd had a photo of Gillard in her bathers he’d be Prime Minister today.
And apparently there was some semi-naked swimming in the last days of the Rudd dynasty.
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 4:48 pm
Any joking about the corporal’s physique would stem from envy. I recall an account of him pulling a Taliban off his back like an insect and you can see how. What a powerfully built man!
Biota
1 Mar 12 at 4:49 pm
Interesting logic, so what’s you position about women who are raped that are wearing revealing clothes?
Following your logic it would seem such women were asking for it by the way they act and the clothes they wear.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 4:49 pm
I look forward to seeing Kelly marching alongside all the other survivors of the Fortitude Valley campaign this Anzac Day.
I thank you for your service and want to let you know that my heart goes out to all those brave men who lost their fingers in wooden bead seat cover accidents. Not to mention all the brave souls who had their stories about how they would fix the world cut short by sleeping passengers.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 4:51 pm
Paul
I don’t know the answer to your question but my point is about wrongful deaths you might say. I was only in the Army for about one and half years (yes I quit) and in a group of about 60 people was aware of 2 suicides one where the person was kicked out the other while still serving. So that number could be quite high depending how you measure it. Just as those who have returned from a conflict and commit suicide where the cause is from the military but often not included in statistics.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 4:52 pm
It seems that members of the ADF have all sorts of racist and sexist things to say for themselves on Facebook.
Maybe they need to stop listening to Negus after all!
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 4:56 pm
Personally, my take is that the only reason this story has legs is because of the truly awesome sight of this man mountain in his togs, covered in tatts, compared with the sight of the almost gawkish and geeky image he presented in his full-uniformed acceptance of the VC from the GG.
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 4:57 pm
You need to oil up again “Max/Phil” and toddle off back to Gra-Gra.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 4:58 pm
Peter further to your point is it suggested that this soldier can’t handle a comment by George? Surely if he can fight well in some battle he doesn’t need protection from the public against George.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 5:03 pm
kelly, now that the cat is out of the bag, it is impossible not to pour scorn on George Negus. I outlined above how I saw the issue. So when I heard a grown – old – man (Negus) see the issue as one of the corporal’s questionable masculinity, the old fossil tool deserves all the contempt and derision he gets.
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 5:20 pm
Airheads abound it would seem.
Clearly, when the SAS kill Taliban they are killing the wrong people.
Steve at the pub
1 Mar 12 at 5:21 pm
And what sort of man appears on the set of Attack of the Fat Chicks & Airheads aka The Circle.
Peter Patton
1 Mar 12 at 5:23 pm
We’re not actually killing the Taliban anymore. Were actually trying to talk them into running the country after we leave.
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 5:29 pm
Here is an extract from Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross citation:
No different to spending a day up a tree platform, eh Hammygar?
Fisky
1 Mar 12 at 5:39 pm
Shut up Phil.
Fisky
1 Mar 12 at 5:41 pm
Max,
I take it you think it is OK for the soldiers’ employer to monitor their private conversations in a private Facebook account. And you don’t see a problem with the former employer checking on the social attitudes of former employees.
The employer, who happens to be the government, has no business monitoring the private conversations of current and ex employees mouthing off about whatever they want to mouth off about, in private, to their friends in a private location. This is an infringement on the privacy, right to freedom of speech and freedom of association of all concerned. It doesn’t matter what their views are – they are not illegal and they have broken no laws.
Any minute now the civil liberties crowd will spring into action to defend these guys right to privacy, freedom of speech and association. These guys are being victimized by the State because they hold unfashionable views not endorsed by the State. Morrison should be forced to pull his head in.
John comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 5:46 pm
Obama is, yes.
Obama consults and apologies to the Taliban but does neither for Christians.
Barack Hussein was a Muslim in his childhood.
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 5:46 pm
Well he still is a Muslim becuase B. Hussein’s father was a Muslim. Thus B. Hussein is considered a Muslim, same as having a Jewish mothermeans you are Jewish, regardless whether religious practice is observed or not.
Gab
1 Mar 12 at 5:50 pm
BRS dodges bullets, they dodge soap and jobs.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 5:52 pm
There’s no privacy and it’s a even more a losing battle now. The so-called human right to privacy was always a canard and only excited those who had most to hide.
I’m all for freedom of information. It’s a civil libertarian first principle.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 5:52 pm
John it is not open and shut like that. If they were bringing the military into disrepute that is probably an offence in miliatry law. Soldiers give up a lot of there freedoms. It is not clear it was a private conversation that the public do not have access to otherwise how was it found out. The military does monitor all sorts of stuff about there personel the military is not some libertarian place it is quite the opposite.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 5:55 pm
Kelly, if you are talking about the Australian military, there are many public and private agencies monitoring its internal operations and culture. Unfortunately, all the monitoring in the world hasn’t resulted in any improvements, rather the opposite is true.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 6:01 pm
Yes, I think so.
He’s not a Christian, that’s for sure.
That was just ginned up so he could go into politics.
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 6:04 pm
The film’s called the Manchurian Candidate not the Muslim Candidate.
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 6:09 pm
Kelly
I was in the Army for a bit and took a holiday to Malaysia (noting need permission for that) When I got back they asked me where I was on certain days as I stayed at some small dodgy hotel, at the large hotel I stayed at for the rest of the days they had tracked me and this was about 10 years ago. There is no real arguement that can be made for freedoms of soldiers as they don’t have any which must be that case so they can send them to war etc. if needed. What you are talking about is more about military incompetance possibly suggesting they can’t improve things but it is not that simple as the culture is one initially of brainwashing and telling every one how good they are not that they are cannon fodder if it really comes down to it. This is so you can send people to there deaths by reducing their fear to do suicidal type things by saying they are better and stronger.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 6:10 pm
Who would make that connection? Raymond Shaw was a war veteran. Obama was a community organiser.
Barack Hussein doesn’t do anything under orders. He personally hates America and has the greatest affection for Islam.
C.L.
1 Mar 12 at 6:15 pm
Kelly, dig UP, you weasel.
Winston Smith
1 Mar 12 at 6:22 pm
Why am I a weasel?
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 6:23 pm
Obama got everyone to vote for Republican policies, a stroke of political genius!
Max Scream
1 Mar 12 at 6:32 pm
So Bob & Mary have turned into Max & Kelly.
Token
1 Mar 12 at 6:38 pm
I haven’t turned into anyone I am always Mr Kelly Liddle even using my own name.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 6:40 pm
Token Who the hell are you Mr/Ms/Dr/Miss/etc. _ _ _ _ you know who I am?
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 6:44 pm
Kelly Liddle have a look at “Kelly of Kenmore”
What a raving bullshit artist and a slimy apologist turd for totalitarianism.
.
1 Mar 12 at 6:50 pm
The number used above to reflect military dead actually reflects only combat losses. Off the top of my head I can also think of:
- 9 dead in a helo crash in Indonesia 2005
- 18 dead in a helo mid-air collision 1996
- 4 dead in a fire on HMAS Westralia
- 2 dead in a Blackhawk crash off HMAS Kanimbla 2006
- 1 dead in Lebanon as a Peace Keeper 1988
- 1 dead in a plane crash in Western Sahara in 1974,
and those certainly aren’t all of the training/non-combat deaths since Vietnam. Attempting to create a figure to compute some sort of ratio of comparative danger is as disingenuous, distasteful, and pointless as this line of argument.
Zatara
1 Mar 12 at 6:52 pm
Dot
What are you saying am I the wrong Kelly?
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 6:54 pm
Well duh.
.
1 Mar 12 at 6:55 pm
Kelly is right. Statistically, across the armed services as a whole and over the past few decades, it turns out that certain civilian jobs are more dangerous, and more likely to get you killed.
Even so, the equivalence that Negus drew between his own work and Roberts-Smith’s actions was nonetheless wrong, dismissive of armed service, and ridiculous.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 6:56 pm
Zatara It is not disingenuous but to get real figures is really difficult.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 6:56 pm
Deep sea fishing is the most dangerous civilian job, from memory.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 6:57 pm
That’s sad. The self-esteem movement has permeated the military. It explains why even mere soldiers think they are champions and have a bigoted view of women and other minorities.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 7:00 pm
Being a jockey wouldn’t be far off.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 7:00 pm
The most dangerous job , by far, used to be radar operator in the Iraqi military when they were being attacked by the Americans.
You turned that thing on and their would be a missile coming your way in the matter of minutes.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 7:01 pm
Kelly, it is disingenuous to use bogus figures to attempt to support an unprovable position. It’s not a difficult social rule, don’t make things up to put lipstick on a pig.
Zatara
1 Mar 12 at 7:05 pm
“That’s sad. The self-esteem movement has permeated the military. It explains why even mere soldiers think they are champions and have a bigoted view of women and other minorities.”
No I am not suggesting that at all. Possibly suggesting that this is the way it is and has been ever since armies or for that matter gangs have been formed as the same psychology is used. Also has little to do with minorities or women as they say civilians are inferior.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:05 pm
yay for unlimited government power!
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 7:09 pm
Zatara
I never made anything up. On the basic premis getting murdered or killed by the enemy is comparable so with murders of taxi drivers or being killed by the enemy with the military the statistics are simular. I even said that the non combat figures for military could be very high as the second highest or highest cause is probably suicide which is extremely difficult to gauge as militaries like the US military like to compare versus civilian for a particular age group which is probably misleading because you would think should compare to non drug addicted working population which could bring the civilian figure down a long way. Just as other causes of death for taxi drivers is hard to work out.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:11 pm
“Why am I a weasel?”
Kelly, I have no idea why you are a weasel. Who knows, it could be because of the turnips or something your mum ate while she was hatching you, you goose.
You just are.
Now get over it.
Winston Smith
1 Mar 12 at 7:12 pm
LOL I am over it
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:15 pm
Kelly, gangs are hierarchical.
The use of the self-esteem tool is selective, read biased and discriminatory. There is a vast international literature and (20th century film genre output) devoted to explicating this.
You recognise manipulation when it happens, don’t you?
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 7:15 pm
Is it just me or are the Leftard Zombies from Planet Zork invading Catallaxy Files again?
It seems to go in cycles, like every four weeks or so. The place is just humming along, then BAM! up to our necks in Creatures from the Black Leftgoon…
Winston Smith
1 Mar 12 at 7:17 pm
I think every time the Cat gets a mention over at Bolt’s the place get inundated with bruce’s from Taralgon.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 7:19 pm
Yes that is true but is more of a personality thing and I would say I don’t think applies to all the different jobs or units. I think you would find if my memory is correct that it might be the opposite in medical corps (dental and hospital) as there is more women. You can’t get rid of the hierachy in the military that is how it must be even if it is not efficient. The stuff with the facebook thing is most likely to be in the combat corps especially as they were talking about on the front lines.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:24 pm
Kelly L, what tangent are you travelling down now, dude?
Token
1 Mar 12 at 7:27 pm
The military is a vast enterprise, a broad church, even, containing with all sorts. Multitudes. But perhaps that is much less so these days when only the desperate or venal and perhaps one third naive/idealistic) would voluntarily sign up.
Kelly, you admit that it is inherently hierarchical and thus necessarily, dysfunctional and abusive.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 7:30 pm
Token none really just discussing. Suppose in a way pointing out to any libertarians that the military is the exact opposite of freedom, but could also argue in the other direction that joining the military is voluntary so giving up the freedom is acceptable. I just like arguing lol.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:31 pm
It’s these little pearls of wisdom that will make you very missed when you get that cab license.
The military is a hierarchy? You could have knocked me down with Wayne Swan’s intellect. I never knew that.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 7:33 pm
Please find something you’re better at then, Kelly.
Like breathing underwater, or drinking hemlock, or trimming nasal hair.
Currently, you’re just being annoying.
Winston Smith
1 Mar 12 at 7:37 pm
Chosin’ a man to defend me? Corporal Roberts-Smith – I’ll have that one, thank you. The pride of the Service, and rightly so. A gentleman soldier, distinguished in valour.
Also – Lest We Forget. I was in Sandakan in Borneo not so long ago and visited the Death March camp. Nothing to joke about, when it comes to things military. Serious, George, serious.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
1 Mar 12 at 7:38 pm
Kelly, joining the military today is much like entering the priesthood yesterday. It’s a trade-off. Security and onerous tasks in exchange for personal freedom. Not a good thing.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 7:41 pm
You mean like one Captain beats a full house of Corporals? Christ on a crutch, Kelly. No wonder you got chucked out. Did you salute Steve of Brisbanes kite flying duck on the assumption it outranked you?
Winston Smith
1 Mar 12 at 7:41 pm
“hierarchical and thus necessarily, dysfunctional and abusive.”
I would prefer you argue this point with someone else yes that is basically the truth and any libertarain would consider that to be true as libertarians generally consider the government to be totally incompetant and therfore should do as little as possible and therefore this structure must be inefficient. Although I don’t completely agree with what I just said the military is the best example of this as there can’t be any flexibility in some cases like if there is a war. I personally think though a larger reserve force and smaller permanent force might work better because I believe in the case of defence most people will fight for their country when it comes down to it so a larger number of trained people would make our military more effective without extra cost. When I joined the army for my short stint I thought it was a shit fight to use military termanology and taxis had better communication systems than our army meaning they don’t care about sending soldiers to their death possibly due to incompetance. I think most people would prefer that the military used better technology or at least the same as taxis.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:44 pm
Kelly of Kenmore, you don’t make much sense, but the sense you do make indicates a hostility for the military and a sympathy for wikileaks-style anarchism. I suspect that you’re a nutball.
Please confirm or deny.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 7:47 pm
Kelluy, I reckon you’re on you 8th or 9th can, plus a few sneaky ones you didn’t count.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 7:47 pm
Kelly Liddle, just a heads-up that Kelly of Kenmore seems to be trolling.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 7:48 pm
Kelly, I’m under no illusions about the technological, strategic or any other relevant ability of the military. It’s run by public servants. And so…nothing more to show.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 7:50 pm
DD and IT she or he probably is but I don’t mind. I think I should change my screen name from my real name to Thread Pirate as I tend to hijack threads.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 7:50 pm
David and Goliath is the greatest military combat and adversarial relationship story in all of human history.
Hierarchy turned on its head.
A libertarian’s wet dream.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 8:06 pm
liberty isn’t about overturning hierarchies.
There will always be hierarchies.
And in fact the various utopian movements that want to abolish them – such as communism, communalism, and anarchism, and so on – are either unimplementable or end in tears. The existence of hierarchies isn’t the problem it’s how they operate that is important, and what power is transferred through them.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 8:09 pm
OK, this is a Steve of Brisbane-type remark and I’m risking the kind of response reserved for him, but in teh modern parlance, isn’t a twink an attractive young unmanly gay guy?
Oh come on
1 Mar 12 at 8:15 pm
*ducks*
Oh come on
1 Mar 12 at 8:16 pm
Chris Uhlmann has just finished giving the head of the Army a hard time over the Facebook story. Isn’t somebody in charge? he asked. There’s a cultural issue. Something should be done.
I could ask why Marieke Hardy is still employed by the ABC after all the unsavoury things she’s said on “public” fora. Isn’t somebody in charge at the ABC? Don’t hey have a huge cultural issue with their overwhelming tendency to bag Tony Abbott and the conservatives, as noted by Andrew Bolt the other day? Four out of four on the Drum. This incredible bias is noted by many of us every other day. It is perverting the course of our democracy, but nobody in charge at the ABC appears to be doing anything about it.
Mark Scott, who came into the ABC saying that things should change and that we should be hearing some other voices, has had little if any positive impact. To hear that he’s in the running for top dog at the BBC might explain a lot of that fait non accompli.
blogstrop
1 Mar 12 at 8:22 pm
Is there a more striking difference between public & private broadcasting in the fact that Lachlin Murdoch got the two luvvie tools that were so offensive about Roberts-Smith apologised, yet _no one_ at the ABC ever apologised over the offense caused by Marieke Hardy.
The Censor Conroy should direct his lictors to address that failure of the media pronto…
PS: Finklestein reports tomorrow, we’ll see what that Conroy lictor has to say
Token
1 Mar 12 at 8:30 pm
Awesome! Best line I’ve read for a while. About time we had somebody get in a real shitfight with himself.
Les Majesty
1 Mar 12 at 8:45 pm
Strop
Uhlmann mentioned how the Facebook site was private. In fact it seems to me the ABC entered the site without any authority.
So he’s now suggesting the brass ought to conduct investigations into thought crimes and what people do in their private lives.
No thought or discussion given to the right to privacy.
JC
1 Mar 12 at 8:46 pm
JC,
You are right, this was a private site where people expressed private views to members of the site. Is General Morrison now going to monitor every discussion at the diggers boozer just in case someone says something unfashionable? There was a time, when I was a young Duty Officer in the Royal Australian Regiment, that it was accepted that the Diggers boozer was a place for the soldiers to blow off some steam and speak their mind. Officers and Senior NCO were not allowed there, except to close up at the end of trading.
Now soldiers have no right to anyplace where they can blow off steam, mouth off and say what they like. They can’t do in town less some petal is offended, they can’t do it after work at the boozer, they cant even join a chat private chat site.
There is no suggestion that these guys have broken any law or done anything more unsavory than spout some silly ideas. That’s their business and should be left that way. Do we really want to create a military under Stalinesque condition of permanent surveillance designed to root out and punish any unacceptable political views? Maybe General Morrison could institute political commissars to enforce the politically correct ideological orthodoxy.
I hope the civilians on the site lodge a complaint against the ABC for hacking into their private correspondence (something the ABC deplores when News Corp does it) and against General Morrison for eavesdropping on their site when he has neither authorization or reason.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 9:16 pm
because I believe in the case of defence most people will fight for their country when it comes down to it so a larger number of trained people would make our military more effective without extra cost.
The public feel safe with a corporate military, and a corporate military is more than happy to tell the public why it’s important and needs lots of funding. A corporate military is handy for corporate military interventions, but what the people don’t understand is their real security is always bought through their own sweat and blood anyway. The corporate military simply rides this reputation to comfortable well-paid careers between major conflicts.
John Mc
1 Mar 12 at 9:18 pm
Workplace deaths do not equal the heroism and daily risk taking of the special forces. Comparing a VC winner to an assault on a taxi driver is farcical and asinine.
The reason casualties in the SAS are so low is due to training, planning and the calibre of the troops, not because it’s a cakewalk. I know quite a few current and past members of SASR and the work they are doing in Afghanistan is of an order of risk well beyond the risks faced by some people in admittedly risky civilian jobs. There’re risks faced by prison guards, cops, intelligence collectors, ambos and, yes, taxi drivers. But they are not except in exceptional circumstances on the same order of risk as some trooper spending weeks holed up in Indian country with air support or SAR not guaranteed.
Negus is a goose to compare his correspondence activities with the daily risk of an SASR trooper, and Kelly is a bigger goose to stake a claim for taxi drivers.
Grow up, Australia.
Abu Chowdah
1 Mar 12 at 9:21 pm
John it shows that there are potential security risks the boozer is not the internet which could potentially have any one on it including foreign forces. I am sure (or at least hope) digital warfare is getting its fair share of attention.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 9:21 pm
Abu you are just as much a goose as me.
“well beyond the risks faced by some people in admittedly risky civilian jobs”
Abu why does everyone want to take me out of context. The risks I mentioned applied to total military personel most who are not special forces and so is nothing to do with what I said. I only gave overall comparisons so a desk jockey in Canberra who is some Major General or something faces much lower risk than say a taxi driver and so what?
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 9:28 pm
Not only do the ABC want it, they’ve gone and put it into practice. It’s arrived! The ABC is a government agency, and they are now playing the role of thought police. (Media Watch is a variant of this as well)
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 9:29 pm
Get real Kelly. If you are going to monitor private civilian chats sites where there is zero evidence of any crime, then why wouldn’t you monitor discussions at the boozer. Years ago the boozers were unit boozers now they are all multiple unit affairs. Who knows who is there at any point in time. Maybe Corporal Bloggs from the Mlitary Police who is keen to attract the attention of his higher ups by shopping some bloke blowing off steam butnnot hurting anyone or breaking any law.
We should not be encouraging the Chief of Army to intercept and monitor private electronic correspondence to enforce a political view. This is the Australian Army not the Red Army. Does Morrison have any legal authority to demand access to a private civilian facebook site? Surely he needs a warrant and some kind of evidence that crimes are being committed on the site in order to barge in on a non military site.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 9:31 pm
John I am pretty sure you would know if there was a Russian sitting in the boozer. Following on from your point why did the Army monitor me when I went to Malaysia and that was 10 years ago?
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 9:40 pm
Unfortunately Morrison says he wants a more diverse Army, which is code for a much more politically correct military where diversity of ideas are not allowed. We used to celebrate the larrikin digger who could think for himself. Now General Morrison wants to think for everyone under his command and criminalize those with an unacceptable diversity of unfashionable views.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 9:44 pm
I think you’ll find, like it or not, that the military, the police, ICAC, the Internal Audit Bureau and a host of similar government agencies have multifarious legal powers and common practices of surveillance, phone tapping, mail interception, electronic monitoring, and assorted undercover ops including the use of false identities as part and parcel of their routine MO.
Kelly of Kenmore
1 Mar 12 at 9:47 pm
If you travelled overseas you should have had a defensive travel briefing before leaving Australia. The reason for the defensive briefing was made very clear in the briefing process. If you didn’t understand the purpose of the briefing then I can’t help you. You either didn’t get briefed, didn’t get briefed properly or didn’t take note of the briefing yu got. I don’t know which it is. The briefing was almost exclusively for your own protection in case of something untoward occurring. Whilst nothing happened to you, as was the case for the overwhelming majority of military travellers, there have been occasions where that wasn’t the case and the pre briefing was important.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 9:50 pm
Kelly of K, sounds like you really have some genuine experience in that area, do you have any stories to share?
Token
1 Mar 12 at 9:52 pm
Kelly,
They may have such powers, but they cannot be arbitrarily applied without a warrant or judicial authority. There needs to be a reasonable suspicion that satisfies the oversight bodies that there is a threat to national security. Calling a female soldier a whore or an Afghan a rag head doesn’t meet that test.
I think you will find Morrison has no legal authority to arbitrarily intercept the private electronic correspondence of private citizens and some of his own soldiers. None pose a threat to national security or are breaking any laws. They should be left to mouth off in private.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 9:56 pm
No John it was interest about where I had been after I came back or given it was 2002 paranoia about islamic terrorism. Malaysia is our second allie with Singapore and comes just after NZ so we are terrified about our allies now are we? Smart answer though because I can’t remember but I am sure was some generic be careful message. I was travelling a civilian so if there is a problem overseas where some other country knows I am military this is answering your own question of why websites must be monitored.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 9:57 pm
Cabby Kelly
Oh lawdy, ALL overseas travel by serving military members must be approved via the chain of command. Some countries are totally out of bounds even for junior private soldiers, including Reserves, who wouldn’t know what constitutes an official secret, much less know any. Some countries are considered higher risk, and given the DFAT’s raised readiness state after 9/11, you may well have raised a red flag when you disappeared from your stated accommodation.
They are not out to get you, despite your paranoia.
FB and other military sites administrators are red hot on anyone posting stuff that might compromise operational security, and 99% of serving soldiers are painfully aware of the consequences of stuffing up. The 1% don’t stay serving for long.
Pedro the Ignorant
1 Mar 12 at 9:58 pm
Malaysia might be an ally, but that doesn’t mean every Malaysian is on side. Just the same as Australia is an Ally of Malaysia but not every Australian supports the Malay racial and religious apartheid regime. You get briefed going to the USA and the UK as well Kelly. Your point is ridiculous.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 10:01 pm
Pedro I couldn’t care less about the approval and has nothing to do with what I am saying. To monitor me in a country that is one of our closest allies is no more oppresive than looking at soldiers behaviour on the internet yet people here are saying oh no don’t you dare look at soldiers on the internet where they could interact with people from any military or security forces of other countries. Double standard against an antagonist like me it seems.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 10:02 pm
Kelly, are you trying to tell us you were assessed as a security risk? Were you the prospective Bradley Manning of the ADF whilst pissed in a rickshaw on a trap run in Penang? LOL!
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 10:06 pm
“Malay racial and religious apartheid regime”
Nice try and have to be nice to you know because you made me laugh. The affirmative action in Malaysia is not all that different to Australia except the affirmative action is towards the majority of the population in Malaysia’s case. No idea what they assesed me as only that they new which hotel I stayed in most of the time but can’t remember if paid by credit card so don’t know how they knew. I think I actually paid in cash that is why I was so surprised. But you do get my point then about keeping an eye on the internet?
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 10:14 pm
That’s a huge difference on its own.
daddy dave
1 Mar 12 at 10:24 pm
Kelly,
In Malaysia if you happen to be an ethnic Chinese, Indian or non Malay indigenous you cannot rise above Major in the Military or equivalent in the Public Sector. About 15-20 years ago the Malay Government mandated that 50% of all companies had to be owned by ethnic Malays, or so called Bumi Putra which means something like sons of the soil. This was a massive expropriation of Chinese and Indian wealth and a gift to the Bumi who are also almost exclusively Islamic. Malaysia is a genuine apartheid state, albeit not as harsh as South Africa.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 10:38 pm
Years ago I had a thing cut out of my leg. It was only a naevus.
I’ve called it George ever since.
kae
1 Mar 12 at 10:42 pm
John it is not quite what you say and as far as public service jobs I don’t know but the bumi putra is more about jobs where a certain percentage of board members must be indigenous not neccessarily malay. I have shares there and can remember that for example Bursa Malaysia or what we would call Malaysian securities exchange can be fully foreign owned.
kelly liddle
1 Mar 12 at 10:47 pm
Speak to Jason about Bumi Putra.
Infidel Tiger
1 Mar 12 at 10:52 pm
The military need to realise that if they don’t let their soldiers blow off steam occasionally it’ll probably lead to them having to mop up bigger problems down the track. As far as I’m aware the facebook page was a private one and entrants were supposedly screened, you could get through if you really wanted to but the stuff going on inside is of no use to anybody other than a bunch of journo scumbags looking for the next scandal.
And why do modern leftards hate the military so much? Is it because they secretly hoped the reds would come on over and “liberate” their supporters here?
Idiots.
Jeremiah
1 Mar 12 at 10:55 pm
IT your earlier posts were hilarious.
John Comnenus
1 Mar 12 at 11:09 pm
Jeremiah,
Leftward hate he military because it is the last institution in the country that the Left doesn’t dominate.
John Comnenus
2 Mar 12 at 12:03 am
I love the way they always preface any unhinged anti-military anti-war rant with
“I support the troops, but…“
No you fucking don’t. Stop lying.
spot
2 Mar 12 at 12:15 am
I dunno they’re getting close. Women in the trenches and now this PC bullcrap, before you know it they’ll be conducting studies on the most culturally appropriate way to shoot your enemy.
I want our military men and women to be efficient fighting and killing machines and I’ll support almost any method that adds to that. Anything that doesn’t should be viewed with disdain.
Jeremiah
2 Mar 12 at 12:47 am
Statistically the roads of the 70′s were more dangerous than Vietnam. That doesn’t mean everyone who drove a car was a hero; much more to the point would be, what percentage of the population would have done what he did, and what percentage would have survived the attempt?
People don’t appreciate just how loud and terrifying gunfire is. Combat would be emotionally equivalent to the first moments of a serious car accident, only going on for minutes or hours rather than a split second.
wreckage
2 Mar 12 at 1:11 am
The difference between driving and soldiering is that in driving you die by accident. It is unintended and not malicious. Even in the case of the murdered taxi driver it is usually a chance encounter with a rogue psychopath killing someone, usually for personal gain.
For soldier in a war, the death of a soldier is the very object of the enemy. The soldier at war knows that there is an enemy dedicated to killing him. The reason is rarely personal gain, but rather the opportunity to force an horrific political outcome on the population the soldier protects. As the good book says, greater love hath no man.
Soldiering is different and even in the base location there are rocket strikes and suicide bombings. Outside the wire the risks are greater still, the threat coming literally from anywhere.
John Comnenus
2 Mar 12 at 6:22 am
The funny thing thing about the word “bhumi Putra” is that it is Sanskrit. As mentioned above Bhumi = land/soil and putra is son.
vr
2 Mar 12 at 8:09 am
Kae, that would have been a Spider Naevus An insignificant red dot with lots of support structure, but no real danger.
Yep – that’s George.
Winston SMITH
2 Mar 12 at 9:37 am