Australian Muslims celebrate end of Ramadan

Muslims across Australia filled mosques this week to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.  It was cold and raining in Sydney on Thursday morning but that didn't stop the faithful from filling the Lakemba mosque.  Roads around the mosque were blocked off to allow the congregation to spill onto the street.


Lakemba mosque is one of the largest mosques in Australia and is owned and managed by the Lebanese Moslems Association.

Albanese has a beer with Craig Thomson

Craig Thomson

Someone took a picture of Anthony Albanese having a beer with Craig Thomson the other night and the Sydney Daily Telegraph played it up big time.  Today's front page shows Kevin Rudd as Colonel Klink, Anthony Albanese as Sargeant Schultz and Craig Thomson as Colonel Hogan with the caption "Albo's explanation for German beers with Thomson: I know nuthink!"

Craig Thomson is a pariah and Albanese should have known better, having a beer with him was a bad political mistake.  Thomson stole from the Health Services Union (HSU) and followed the tradition of other Labor union officials down through the ages - he discovered he had his own personal money tree at his disposal.  He could withdraw union funds at will and was accused of taking overseas trips, paying school fees, visiting prostitutes and taking regular cash advances of up to $100,000, all paid for by the poor suckers who paid him their union dues.

Anthony Albanese, Deputy PM

But although the Labor Party sacked him, it seems he's untouchable and will never be held to account for what he did because it happened so long ago.  He's even going to stand as an Independent at the upcoming federal election.

But we have long memories and every image of this despicable man walking around as though he's done nothing wrong, reminds us that politicians are a protected species and instead of having a beer with Albo, he should be in jail.

Major Nadal Hasan's revenge on America

On 5th November 2009 at an American military base at Fort Hood, Texas, a massacre took place.  A lone American soldier lost his mind, they said, and started shooting unarmed, unsuspecting soldiers, hoping to kill as many as possible.  Thirteen soldiers died and 32 others survived to tell the tale.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a US Army psychiatrist, 39 years old at the time.  He is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and if found guilty, will face the death penalty.  It was later discovered that he was in email communication with radical Yemen cleric Anwar al-Awlaki who helped radicalize him over several years.  He was born in America to Palestinian parents.

Check-in outside court

Hasan is paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair. He uses a catheter, wears adult nappies and has to take stretching breaks every 20 minutes.  After firing his lawyers, he's representing himself and will get to cross-examine many of the survivors.

In his opening statement, he apoligsed for his actions and said "We are imperfect Muslims, trying to establish the perfect religion."  He admits his guilt, saying that the evidence clearly shows he was the shooter.

It wasn't a spur of the moment manic frenzy as many believed at the time, Hasan had his attack all planned.  He bought a gun and went to a target practice range and deliberately chose a situation where unarmed, unsuspecting soldiers would be.  He chose a crowded Fort Hood medical building where deploying soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccinations.  Hasan actually sat down among them with his head down, before he suddenly jumped onto a desk, shouted "Allahu akbar" and opened fire with two handguns, pausing only to reload.

Judge Col Tara Osborne will not allow Hasan to argue that he made the attack in "defence of others", ruling there was no evidence the soldiers posed any threat to the Taliban leadership. The judge also ruled that the US commitment to the war in Afghanistan was not up for debate and he will not be allowed to make speeches about his beliefs at any time during the trial, especially when cross-examining surviving soldiers due to give evidence.

But the society we have created for ourselves in the West has given him an "out".  If found guilty and sentenced to death, Hasan will be eligible for numerous appeals and even if they are unsuccessful, it could be decades before his eventual execution.

Another nail in the coffin of Islam - the so-called religion of peace.

Peter Dowling MP, serial sexter

Peter Dowling MP

The LNP MP for Redlands in Queensland, Peter Dowling, has just announced he is stepping down while issues relating to his travel history are investigated.

But the suggestion that he rorted his travel allowances is the least of his worries because now his wife and family knows what type of man he really is -  a man who took a picture of his penis in a glass of red wine and sent it to his mistress on his mobile phone. "He wanted a red wine"....Dowling said in the text message.

There were several other explicit text messages including a full frontal picture of his genitalia.  Peter Dowling is obviously very proud of his manhood.

His mistress, who asked not to be identified, said her lover conned her into believing they would be united properly after the 2015 election.  He told her mother that he was in love with her and that the situation would change.

She said they had sex in his office at Parliament House and had visited him there at least 10 times. "I used to visit the electorate office at night when all the office girls would leave and we would have sex or on weekends, it would be during the day."

So what happened to end the affair?  They both received anonymous letters and Mr Dowling was warned by senior Queensland party figures and a Federal MP.

But here's the bottom line - this pillar of the community and conservative representative of the people, a man married for 27 years and father of two, is head of the Ethics Committee which deals with complaints about the conduct of parliamentarians. 

"I can't and won't defend any part of it" Dowling said.  "I am voluntarily stepping aside so this matter can be fully investigated and considered by the Clerk of Parliament."

NSW Labor must accept reform

Eddie Obeid

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has found that Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald engaged in corrupt conduct and their findings have been referred to the DPP who will decide if there is enough evidence to lay criminal charges.  Both men are still claiming they have done nothing wrong.

Ian Macdonald

Today, ex NSW Premier Nathan Rees wrote an article in The Drum, telling Labor Party members who continue to resist reform to get out.  He said party members who have been pushing for reform have had to "argue, push and cajole every inch of the way" and there are people within the party who are arguing strongly against any changes.

ex Premier, Nathan Rees

Nathan Rees writes:

I have a message for these people, you don't get it and you never will.  If you are not prepared to help modernize our great party, then at least be decent enough to resign.  Get out. Do not be the handbrake on our efforts to modernize the party so that we can deliver in the future for the millions of working Australians. Those Australians depend on a healthy Labor Party to represent their interests.  Our party is not a plaything, it is not your fiefdom and it is not your social worker.

Soon after Kevin Rudd was resurrected as Prime Minister, he organized a meeting with the NSW ALP national executive and this week, they unanimously endorsed a package of reforms. Faction-controlled tribunals will be replaced with an independent judicial body and any NSW ALP member found guilty of corruption or who brings the party into disrepute will be expelled.

But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said that Mr Rudd was only Prime Minister because the NSW Labor Party put him there.  "And if he ever seriously tackles the rottenness at the heart of NSW Labor, he will be dealt with by the warlords of Sussex Street again as he was back in June 2010."

Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott

The Opposition Leader said federal ALP could not escape the stench of its NSW branch and Kevin Rudd's acceptance of  NSW General Secretary Sam Dastyari into the Senate and former assistant secretary Matt Thistlethwaite, running for the seat of Kingsford Smith, was a sure sign that the "NSW disease was moving to Canberra."

The Federal Election is now just weeks away.

Roger Dean, age-care nurse gets life

Roger Dean, is an age-care nurse who set fire to his place of employment - a nursing home in Sydney - that killed 11 residents in 2011.  Yesterday he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder and 8 of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Dean was addicted to pain killers and stole over 200 prescription pills. As night manager, he had the authority and the key to enter the room where the drugs were kept, so he was able to help himself. But when the theft was discovered, he panicked and hatched a plan he thought would eliminate any evidence of his guilt - he would burn the nursing home down.

He lit two fires, one in a room where two helpless, elderly women were sleeping, knowing they were bed-ridden and would be burnt alive.

We saw him on the news that night, playing the distraught nurse, helping firemen and police move elderly patients to the ambulances. Three residents died at the scene while eight others suffered for days in hospital before dying from smoke inhalation.

Dean had the audacity to tell police that he "loved" his patients.  He was "corrupted with evil thoughts" and Satan told him to do it, he said, but the judge wasn't buying it and sentenced him to life without parole.

Watch the video of his confession

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3770435.htm

Kevin Rudd's two sons join election team

Kevin and Nicholas Rudd

The definition of Nepotism is favouritism  granted in politics or business to relatives, regardless of merit.

Kevin Rudd must have known he would be howled down for bringing his two sons on board Labor's election team, but he did it anyway.  He would probably argue that nepotism doesn't apply in this case because both his sons do indeed have merit, and are more than qualified for the jobs he's given them.

His eldest son Nicholas 24, a lawyer, was involved in drafting the reforms of the Labor Party that the PM announced earlier this month and he will travel with his father during the campaign.  Mr Rudd said he has just finished three years with Clayton Utz, a leading Australian law firm, in commercial arbitration and would play a major role in the campaign.  Marcus 20, has joined the ALP's digital campaign team as an unpaid volunteer.

Marcus with his father

"People are pretty pissed off that both of Rudd's sons are going to be there" a senior government adviser said.

But wait, there's more.  The PM will import several members of Barack Obama's campaign team to tell him how to win the election.

Tom McMahon, former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, Joon Kim of the consulting firm New Partners and British social media expert Matthew McGregor, will become part of Rudd's election team.  They all worked on Barack Obama's re-election last year and played a vital role in driving his social media campaign.

We sometimes forget just how important social media has become - it can make or break Presidents and Kings and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should be very worried.