[Oe List ...] Aussies, catch us up
Isobel and Jim Bishop
isobeljimbish at optusnet.com.au
Sat Jun 26 16:49:35 CDT 2010
Hello Jaime, and colleagues,
One other thing is that most people spell the Australian Labor Party
with no "u" in it. From memory, I think that the Labour Party in
Britain does have a " u" in its name. Some of us Aussies are a bit
quirky, as you may have noticed.....
We are in a ' wait and see' mode down here, with Julia as our PM, I
think. We are not quite sure when our Election will be held, Julia
has already said some time before the end of the year. We don' t
have a fixed date, like your system. At the moment, ours is every
three years, or when the Prime MInister decides...
Grace and peace be yours,
Isobel BIshop.
On 26/06/2010, at 1:53 PM, svesjaime at aol.com wrote:
> This is a penultimate draft of an OpEd in the Saipan Tribune
> edition on Monday. Comments are welcomed. If you want to
> recommend changes, I am a day ahead of the rest of the USA (same
> time as Sydney, though).
>
> Rude ungently Down Under
>
> Well, it is actually Rudd, Kevin Rudd to be precise, who until the
> 24th was the Prime Minister of Australia, with an 89 percent
> approval rating in the polls early 2008. He was a “man of vision,”
> with the politics of decency as the centerpiece of his government.
> “Compassion is not a dirty word,” he said. “It is a hallmark of
> great strength.”
>
> “Time it was, and what a time it was. A time of innocence, a time
> of confidences,” of Paul Simon of long ago sounds appropriate. For
> it feels like only yesterday when Australia redeemed itself from an
> inglorious genocidal past in the Nation’s Apology, the “Sorry
> Ceremony” led by Rudd to expiate for the nation’s hideous sins
> against the Aborigines. Rudd the academic and diplomat, ushered
> the promise of new governance after the staunch reactionary
> government of John Howard whose vision of a “One Australia” was a
> silent affirmation but practical defense of the preeminence of the
> Caucasian race over everyone else, especially the Australian
> Muslims who were told to integrate, or else.
>
> Seen as steely in determination and polished in performance, Rudd
> grew up with a keen sense of injustice in a poverty-stricken
> environment, noting the acts of omissions of the State in its
> social responsibilities, and decrying the acts of commissions by
> genteel people against the marginalized and the downtrodden. Rudd
> heeded the likes of Dietrich Bonheoffer, the young German
> theologian who wrestled down the ethics of freedom and
> responsibility in Hitler’s Germany, and paid dearly with his life.
>
> The solitariness of lofty-minded Kevin of lowly beginnings would
> end up being his worst enemy. Unable to delegate responsibility,
> reminiscent of Jimmy Carter in the White House who bothered with
> the minutiae of the tennis court schedule, Rudd was seen as a small-
> minded technocrat, an autocratic manager rather than a facilitative
> leader. That left him exposed and vulnerable to the hubris of
> illusory personal certitude and delusionary self-confidence. Rudd
> stumbled along the nation’s desire to put a price tag on carbon
> emissions, and allowed the government to get into a shouting match
> with the lords of the mining industry. Non-consultative Rudd
> succumbed to the inevitable. He was rudely coup’d out of
> Australia’s PM office.
>
> The new head honcho in Canberra is a dashing brunette. And what a
> babe, this Julia Eileen Gillard! A woman in her own right, not a
> bloke in drag, she comes to the leadership of the ruling Labour
> Party as Rudd’s Deputy Prime Minister before she challenged his
> primus inter pares standing. Julia Gillard is not just a woman;
> she’s not married, childless, a proud undomesticated feminist
> unapologetically shacked up with a hairdresser. “There’s a Sheila
> running Oz,” headlines Online Mail, and the first female Prime
> Minister of Australia comes as a primordial shaking of the
> foundations of a nation heretofore thoroughly blokey.
>
> And she is a Pom (Brit), no less. Born in Wales, her family moved
> Down Under when she was not yet five. Of course, had her Welsh
> family moved to the NMI, she would still be a contract worker, but
> that is another story.
>
> Though Australia and New Zealand were the first countries to give
> women the vote, the islands are not known for recognizing female
> values and promoting feminine virtues. But Julia is no rude
> Sheila. She extolled Rudd for successfully shepherding Oz through
> the global financial crisis without the massive dislocation of
> workers as had happened elsewhere. She was also clear that the
> government “had lost its way.” When a ship of State flounders in a
> storm with unsteady hands at the helm sans the crew’s trust, then a
> singular decision before a storm emerges. Julia pointed her hairdo
> head-on into the tempest, and said, “I do!” The Labour Party gave
> its unanimous blessings.
>
> The historic ascendancy of lady Gillard to the PM office has some
> quiet supporting casts. The Governor General of Australia, Quentin
> Alice Louise Bryce wears a skirt, also a first. Professor Marie
> Roslyn Bashir has been the State Governor of New South Wales for a
> decade, and Chancellor of the University of Sydney. USA born
> Kristina Kerscher Keneally is NSW first and recent female State
> Premier, she with the discernable Ohio twang, following Victoria,
> West Australia and Queensland’s lead in the female Premier
> department. Clover Moore is currently the Lord Mayor of Sydney, a
> position she was elected to in 2004. Are we witnessing the
> shattering of the political ‘glass ceiling’, and would not that
> headwind be very welcomed in the CNMI?
>
> President Obama was developing close ties with Kevin Rudd, as
> George W. Bush did with John Howard (the latter accused of
> governing on the coattails of Uncle Sam); he congratulated the new
> lady PM. (Not too much enthusiasm in that statement, is there?)
> They would have met in the G20 summit in Toronto this coming week,
> but Gillard decided to stay and consolidate Labour’s facelift
> before the national elections this coming November. Ironically,
> Rudd’s declining approval ratings might have been averted had Obama
> proceeded with his State visit to Australia in March, but that
> speculation is as valid as saying that the immigration status of
> aliens in the CNMI would be clearer had the President done that
> trip and stopped over in Guam.
>
> Rudd is back-benching in Parliament these days, probably, humming
> “Rude it to me gently,” as he watches the chamber’s debate. PM
> Gillard would do well to “Rudd Kevin gently” to the Foreign
> Minister’s portfolio. Or, China’s Oz Embassy needs a new Ambo and
> Kevin speaks Putunghua. There’s a fit!
>
> Jaime Vergara
>
> All that was, Thanks! All that will be, Yes! All that IS, Amen!
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David & Lin Zahrt <chbnb at netins.net>
> To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at wedgeblade.net>
> Sent: Sat, Jun 26, 2010 4:01 am
> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Aussies, catch us up
>
> Here's a take on the new PM from a retired work mate of Lin's when
> we were in OZ in '70's:
>
> What do you think of our Prime Minister being rolled by his own???
> God help this country. Beryl XO Julia Gillard was born in Wales
> (UK) and migrated when she was 3, unmarried, in a de facto
> relationship with her hairdresser, and never wanted and still
> doesn't want children, a former industrial lawyer and a real red
> ragger Unionist. It was disgraceful what they did to their Leader,
> Mr Kevin Rudd, so sneaky. Intrigue! Intrigue! He made his
> mistakes but she was privy to them and in agreement, so was Wayne
> Swan her new Deputy. No-one in politics commands our respect these
> days! Beryl
>
>
> On Jun 25, 2010, at 2:47 AM, frank bremner wrote:
>
> Gday folks!
>
> It means that Tasmania (I think I'm correct here) is the only
> Australian state or territory which has not had a female governor,
> premier, or leader of the opposition. Currently South Australia
> has a female leader of the opposition. In the past Western
> Australia and Victoria have had female premiers, and the Northern
> Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have had female
> heads of government. And Queensland has a female premier.
>
> BTW: Julia Gillard went to Unley High School, in Netherby, an
> Adelaide suburb, and the almer mater of numerous (ahem!)
> interesting people.
>
> Cheers
>
> Frank Bremner
>
> David & Lin Zahrt
> 22133 Larpenteur Rd
> Turin, IA 51040
> -- Doorway to the Loess Hills
>
>
> <chbnb at netins.net>
> Skype <loesshills>
>
>
>
>
> =
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