Incompetence Vs Conspiracy

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

This quote from Napoleon Bonaparte is relevant in the context of a new book written by an Australian ex-detective.

The gist of the story is that John Kennedy was actually killed by a member of his own security detail on November 22nd in 1963.

That, on the face of it, sounds far-fetched, but given the variety and range of conspiracy theories produced since the Kennedy assassination, it’s at least as credible as most.

The interesting point, of course, is that he claims incompetence, rather than a malicious conspiracy, killed Kennedy, and given my personal experience and memories of the weapon in question, I find it strangely compelling.

Put briefly, McClaren (the author) claims that although Kennedy was wounded by a shot fired by Lee Harvey Oswald from the book depository, the shot that killed him was actually an accidental discharge from an AR-15 carried by agent George Hickey who was traveling in the open-topped vehicle following Kennedy’s car in the motorcade.

He bases this on ballistic evidence, and claims that he went to the case in the same way as he did as a detective, with no pre-conceived ideas, and relying purely on verifiable fact.

McClaren claims that the shot that killed Kennedy was a hollow point high velocity round fired from a .223 AR-15, a weapon which in 1963 was a novelty to the security detail. He says that Hickey was not trained on it and was carrying it for the first time on 22nd November 1963.

Occasionally I carried an Armalite rifle 40+ years ago. The Armalite is the military version of the Colt AR-15. I remember that the rotating safety switch had three positions – safe, semi and full auto. Safe was 180 degrees across from full auto. I remember an incident in my unit when a digger (a company clerk) went out on an overnight TAOR patrol carrying an Armalite.

In theory, he was trained on it (a couple of sessions in rookies in Oz), but had never carried the weapon in country.

On the way out through the wire, the clerk tripped, the weapon discharged on full auto, and the high velocity rounds did terrible mischief to the lower leg of the digger in front of him. This bloke was RTAd, and after extensive surgery, his leg was saved.

It was discovered that the weapon was on full auto, which the digger carrying it had confused with the 180 degrees opposite safe.

In the light of this memory, McClaren’s explanation of Kennedy’s death is entirely believable. It’s probably worth a read.

The Great Queensland Bikie Scam

Photo courtesy Mackay Daily Mercury

I've lived in Queensland most of my life, and have never had an encounter with an outlaw motorcycle gang.

That experience would be shared by most Queenslanders. I doubt many of us lie awake at night worrying about bikies.

The Newman government, however, have cottoned on to the obsession the media have with outlaw motorcycle gangs, and are milking it big time.

Big blokes with tatts, big black motorcycles, and fortress-like clubhouses make great TV.

Every night for about a week, the television news has featured a raid on a clubhouse. You'd wonder why they're not all raided at once, until you understand that there's more media mileage made out of stringing it out.

Our police minister says we will now all be able to sleep nights n the clear certainty that we are safe from bikies. I'm not sure that curing insomnia comes within the operational brief of the Police minister, but there you go.

I'm unaware of anywhere else in the world (including one-party and totalitarian states) where it's illegal to wear certain regalia. It was illegal to wear green in Ireland under the British occupation, so I guess it comes from the same colonial handbook.

You can also be charged with gathering in a group of three or more if you are a member of an outlaw motorcycle club. This kind of legislation is typical of one party states. Given the numbers in parliament, and our lack of an upper house, a one-party state describes Queensland pretty well.

Collateral damage is likely.

This article in the Mackay Daily Mercury describes the effect on the Vietnam Veterans' Motorcycle Club - a charity.

From that article -

Wolf believes all motorbike riders are being lumped in with the criminal gangs.
"It's not the guys up here that are causing the problem."
A big concern for him is being forced to remove his patches.
"We're Vietnam Veterans and that's something to be proud of and a way we express our pride for our country," he said.
"It's an insult to the veterans of this country if they try and take our patches off us."

Art Deco in Charleville

Sometimes you discover the completely unexpected.

This week I was in Charleville, and went for a walk in the early evening. It was 35 degrees maximum, so the early evening was the best time for exercise.

I took a detour down a lane near the railway station and came across this building.

It's not a very good shot (the iPhone was all I had), but it's recognizable art deco and a bit of a gem, I reckon.

It's obviously some kind of gate house setup, and probably harks back to the days when it was a much busier place than it is now. It's on railway property and given the air conditioning, is obviously still in daily use. 

The fence and signs don't help the appearance, but if you can imagine it without the add-ons, the integrity of the building is still there.

There must be a story behind the design. I'd love to know  it.

Collateral Damage

Here’s an extract from this article in today’s Catholic Leader –

Claims by the Federal Government that Sri Lanka is safe enough for the return of asylum seekers from Australia have been challenged by a representative of Brisbane archdiocese's Catholic Justice and Peace Commission.
CJPC executive officer Peter Arndt made the call after a recent visit to Sri Lanka as part of a group of 30 Catholic justice and peace workers from across Asia and the Pacific.
"My personal encounters with Tamils in the north of Sri Lanka have convinced me that the situation for Tamils and critics of the Sri Lankan Government is extremely difficult," he said.
"I came face to face with survivors of the civil war.
"The systematic way in which Tamil men are being arrested and detained indefinitely looks suspiciously like ethnic cleansing to me." He said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay had visited Sri Lanka a week before and came to the same conclusion.

It’s mind-boggling how systematic human rights abuses can be selectively ignored in the quest for stopping the boats.

Quite clearly, the end justifies the means.

That’s not a policy I thought I’ve ever see being pursued by an Australian government.

Hate Mail

I’m sure you get them now and again - hate emails that is.

I know I do, and generally ignore them. They come from a variety of sources, usually related to networks I belong to, or more often, used to belong to.

But this time I didn’t.

I thought it might be interesting to send the thing back with a correction, purely for the hell of it, you understand.

So here is the email –

 Boy o boy..... you got to read this one, can't stop shaking my head.

Is This for real ? Dhimmitude The word "Dhimmitude" is found in the new health care bill; so what does it mean? Thought this was interesting and worth passing on. Obama used it in the health care bill. Now isn't this interesting? It is also included in the health care law. Dhimmitude -- I had never heard the word until now. I typed it into Google and started reading. Pretty interesting; It's on page 107 of the healthcare bill. I looked this up on Google and yep, it exists... It is a REAL word. Dhimmitude is the Muslim system of controlling non-Muslim populations conquered through jihad (Holy War). Specifically, it is the TAXING of non-Muslims in exchange for tolerating their presence AND as a coercive means of converting conquered remnants to Islam. Obama Care allows the establishment of Dhimmitude and Sharia Muslim diktat in the United States . Muslims are specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance, and also from the penalty tax for being uninsured. Islam considers insurance to be ,"gambling", "risk-taking", and "usury" and is thus banned. Muslims are specifically granted exemption based on this. How convenient. So I, as a Christian, will have crippling IRS liens placed against all of my assets, including real estate, cattle, and even accounts receivable, and will face hard prison time because I refuse to buy insurance or pay the penalty tax. Meanwhile, Louis Farrakhan will have no such penalty and will have 100% of his health insurance needs paid for by the de facto government insurance. Non-Muslims will be paying a tax to subsidize Muslims. This is Dhimmitude. I recommend sending this on to your contacts. American/& AUSTRALIAN citizens need to know about it -- snopes.com : Health Insurance Exemptions Apr 13, 2010 ... Dhimmitude is the Muslim system of controlling non-muslim populations ... The Obama Care bill is the establishment of Dhimmitude and Sharia ... www.snopes.com/politics/medical/exemptions.asps/medical/exemptions.asp> Keep this going. Every non-Muslim needs to know about it.

So there it was. Choice stuff, as my father would have said.

One of the people who had been sent the same email took objection, and linked to this -  http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/government/a/muslims_exempt_health_insurance_mandate_2.htm

So I decided I’d do the same, with the following observation –

To all those who have received this email.

It is completely false – see the analysis below –

Analysis: These forwarded messages contain an astounding array of inaccuracies and exaggerations, beginning with the main proposition:

• Are Muslims "specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance, and also from the penalty tax for being uninsured," as claimed in the message?

The answer is no. This is a fictitious claim. There is no provision specifically exempting Muslims or any other religious group from mandated health insurance in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Nor do the words "Muslim," "Islam," or "Dhimmitude" appear anywhere in any version of the legislation.

See - http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/government/a/muslims_exempt_health_insurance_mandate.htm

I have no particular axe to grind, but I do object to hate-driven rubbish being left in my inbox. No sane person believes that religious bigotry has any place in this country.

Cheers

It will be interesting to see if I get any feedback.

It's Dry

Grassfire near Amby

In fact, it's bloody dry.

I took this shot near Amby not so long ago. For all you image Nazis out there, I know it's a poor shot.
It was taken from a vehicle moving at 100kph, and I was a passenger. I don't take photographs whilst driving.

Amby is between Mitchell and Roma

The fire was getting up a fair head of steam, and it had the wind behind it. Someone's feed was getting a caning, so I reported it (or tried to) by phoning the local rural firies. We'd just come into Telstra coverage.

They didn't want to know, and told me to call 000. Now I've always been reluctant to do this, because I believed that number was fore life threatening emergencies, but I did what I was told.

When I did, I was told that the fire had already been reported.

Someone else had come to the same conclusion as we had. Sure enough five minutes later the fire truck came into view heading West towards the fire. (We were heading East).

Anyway, I heard later that they got to it before it did too much damage. That was good to hear, as there's not a lot of good feed left out this way. The drought is creeping South and East. 

The first indicator is the ever increasing amount of road kill. The roos come in towards the road looking for a bit of green pick.

The grass is brown, and the trees grey. The colours always give it away.

It looks like it going to be a hard time until (and if) the wet arrives.

Eddie Cochrane

I realize this ages me, but it does bring back memories.

 As a kid I lived in North Queensland. Occasionally we traveled south during the Christmas holidays to stay with my dad's sister in Brisbane.

Her son (my cousin) was into the music at the time, and used to play this on a very large and imposing mahogany faced record player/radio which had great sound quality.

 Later on he became a successful DJ in the Brisbane (and later Canberra) radio scene.