Australia’s system of government makes sense. Its based more or less on the Westminster system, a Parliament, a Prime Minister, a House of Representatives and a Senate.
Our Constitution can be found here, if you’d like to take a look.
One of the pitfalls, flaws, call it what you will, is that we vote for a party and NOT a head of state or a specific President. Part of that is the fact that within a party, if they are in power, they can call whats known as a spill motion to throw out the leader of the party, who is at the same time, Prime Minister.
A few days ago, thats exactly what happened.
And for the fifth time in as many years, Australia has a new Prime Minister, chosen not by the people, but by a party room vote. Tony Abbott is no longer Prime Minister, instead we have a guy named Malcolm Turnbull, who managed to get enough votes to become party leader.
Depending on who you talk to, this is a good or a bad thing.
Personally, I am disgusted and furious, not to mention the fact that to a lot of people, they have been handed yet again a national leader they did not want, and did not vote for, when the election occurred. The sad part is what we have seen is a series of vicious personal attacks, white anting, undermining..all designed to bring him down. There are those who say he hadn’t “learned” enough to lead properly, and a lot of it can be sheeted home to whats called “poll panic”.
Look at it this way: based on polls you could have had Joe Biden step in and remove Obama as President….or have Hillary organise a “spill motion: and SHE would be President. How’s that for a nightmare scenario?
Your system of government doesnt allow for that. It may have its flaws, but that aint one of them.
Be very very grateful this is so.
There have been calls for an election , as rightly so, the people of this country have had a gutful of this kind of backstabbing and musical chairs with the office of Prime Minister..we need stable government and what we have is anything BUT. Both parties Labor (the left) and Liberal (supposedly conservative..yet these clowns are all for gun control, and happy with the nanny state we live in…blech), are very much on the nose with voters. This is seen as yet another Rudd / Gillard / Rudd fiasco..with a side comment on how long it may be before someone ELSE gets that “lean and hungry look” and decides to get the numbers to topple Turnbull.
It if wasnt so serious it would be funny….but it’s not a joke at all. I get this sinking feeling that we are indeed living in “interesting times”.
In the midst of too much bad news, I felt compelled to share the story of the two unarmed U.S. Marines who foiled an attack by a heavily armed person earlier today onboard a high-speed train en route to Paris from Amsterdam. Details are still coming out, but photos of the two Marines are appearing on Twitter, and the BBC now has some details. This has not yet been labeled an act of terrorism, but the suspect is a twenty-something year-old man from Morocco, so it certainly seems to be a real possibility.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve referred to the Marines as “…particularly courageous, and showed great bravery in difficult circumstances.” It seems clear from early reporting that the Marines averted a potential disaster by stopping the heavily-armed gunman quickly.
Count on the U.S. Marines to fail to get the message that Europe just wants to lay down and die in the face of violence and terrorism.
This is a great story that reminds me once again that who we are as a country is not defined by our government or our politicians, but by the everyday people who live with purpose and act when needed.
Oorah, Marines.
Update:
Early reports by most major media outlets of the Americans as Marines have turned out to be in error, although two of the three Americans traveling together were in the armed forces – Air Force and National Guard. This helps to explain a fact I could not understand based on the early reports – the gunman is still alive. The Americans were aided by a British man living in France who was in the same train car.
Wow..it’s entirely too quiet around these parts of late. My lousy excuse is that my current life has me working 90+ hours weekly. Not that it’s a bad thing, but sleep is at an all time premium for me. I’m on the mid-watch as I’m writing this, and this is my “full-time” job day off
Thanks for the seven emails I’ve gotten concerning the comments being automatically closed after a week. I didn’t do it, and I haven’t had that kind of capability for about three years now. All inquiries should be directed towards Misha. I do know that he really needs to upgrade the software here because he is
… since there isn’t anyone here to post something more substantial. So, scraping the bottom of the barrel again, you have to put up with me until someone else comes along…
I was looking for something to brighten my evening when I came across..this. That sudden spasm you will get in your calves? Is the cramp you get when you instinctively slam your foot on an imaginary brake They are amongst us….
I’m in a bit of a pensive mood tonight and finding myself the mid-shift Duty Officer, it seems as if I have the chance to get something up for us all to consider. Life indeed hands us some unexpected and downright unpleasantness. Be not troubled because He who is really in control has a plan
Yeah, I think I better explain this…
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July 5th, 2015
July 5th, 2015
Pooper Scoopers