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Last updated on July 2nd, 2017 at 08:41 am
Former Australian of the Year Dick Smith – some honour that turns out to be – sticks up for Hicks:
Convicted terrorism supporter David Hicks is a decent Australian who has never supported terrorism, adventurer and businessman Dick Smith says.
He’s never supported terrorism, but he has “spent around three months in a muslim military training camp in the mountains. I learnt about weapons such as ballistic missiles, surface to surface and shoulder fired missiles, anti aircraft and anti-tank rockets, rapid fire heavy and light machine guns, pistols, AK47s, mines and explosives. After three months everybody leaves capable and war-ready”. Decent Dave also fired hundreds of bullets at Indian troops, and regarded Osama bin Laden as his “lovely brother”. Carry on, Dick:
“I was going to Adelaide so I rang David and said, ‘Can I come talk to you because you’re looking for a job and I’m happy to help with that but I’d want to get some answers to some questions’,” Mr Smith told ABC radio in Sydney …
“I asked him why he was in Afghanistan and it was quite different to what we’ve heard about … (it was) all about trying to help independence movements.
Yes … but independence from whom, and for what? As Hicks himself previously wrote: “The West is full of poison. The western society is controlled by the Jews with music, TV, houses, cars, free sex takes Muslims away from the true Islam keeps Islam week and in the third world.” Dave’s “independence movement” is otherwise known as the Taliban. It might interest Smith to know that Hicks – hit that same link above – also believes that Osama bin Laden isn’t a terrorist (“the only reason the West call him the most wanted terrorist is because he got the money to take action”). Question for Smith: in your world, what might it take before someone qualifies as a terrorism supporter?
“One of my views has changed completely and that is … he shouldn’t earn any money from this.
“But I’ve changed my view completely now because he’s said he’s never supported terrorism and most journalists I talk to and all lawyers say that the particular plea bargain is just terrible because he would have agreed to anything to get out of there (Guantanamo).”
Apparently you’re not a terrorism supporter unless you say you are. An intriguing legal theory, that. Make note of Smith’s businesses and boycott them.
(Via Opinion Dominion)
UPDATE. Several readers point out that Dick Smith Electronics is no longer owned by Dick Smith. In fact, Dick Smith Foods may not be Dick-owned either. In which case both should be boycotted for their mere association with the idiot.
It’s been said before, but Dick Smith is the classic case of the guy who thinks just because he’s made a lot of money doing one thing, he thinks that makes him an expert on everything. Non-Australian readers should picture him as a small-town version of Richard Branson, right down to the ridiculous ‘adventures’. Some years ago, he ran very large, expensive print ads during an election, telling people how to vote. He was genuinely shocked when it was pointed out to him that he really had no business telling other people how to vote.
“spent around three months in a muslim military training camp in the mountains. I learnt about weapons such as ballistic missiles, surface to surface and shoulder fired missiles, anti aircraft and anti-tank rockets, rapid fire heavy and light machine guns, pistols, AK47s, mines and explosives. After three months everybody leaves capable and war-ready”.
It’s quite obvious that Mr. Hicks was just in training to deal with rogue clouds approaching the Beijing Olympic’s opening ceremony.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 02 04 at 02:07 AM • permalink
I thought David Hicks alias “Abu Muslim al Austraili” alias “Muhammad Dawood” was planning to attend university and undertake some environmentally friendly degree, so how could Dick possibly be of any help?
Come to think of it, maybe Muhammad should be applying here for a job, because these people mean business and will need real coercive hatchet men in the years to come. Standover tactics and the ability to field an AK47 would be very useful indeed in the compliance business. Why he may even be able to team up with some like minded souls.
While DSE might be rubbish, they’re not owned by Mr Smith (who is a tosser, etc etc.) Coles owns DSE.
Posted by tortfeaser on 2008 02 04 at 02:14 AM • permalink
- The damage Mr Smith inflicted on Australian aviation with his “affordable safety” crusade is incalculable.
The staggering thing is that people in high places kept appointing him to tasks which were totally beyond his capacity and knowledge.
The power of marketing is a very dangerous tool (pun intended) when it is in the hands of a fool.
Uh… hold up. Jews give us “music, TV, houses, cars” and “free sex”? And there isn’t a long line of people waiting to convert to Judaism? Something is wrong with the world.
Okay, I get that for guys that circumcision thing is a bar, but at least in the States it mostly isn’t a problem (we tend to snip you guys at birth regardless of parental worship-place), and I’ll bet if you decide to go Reform you can get a letter or something from a rabbi giving you a stay. I heard it somewhere. Pinky swear.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2008 02 04 at 02:23 AM • permalink
Yeah, Woolies bought him out completely in 1982. The only think left is the Dick-head. Don’t boycott them, they’re innocent in this.
Dick Smith Foods is still his, but market forces seem to be boycotting them already.
Posted by Mr Hackenbacker on 2008 02 04 at 02:26 AM • permalink
Dementia sets in early in entrepeneurs eh what?
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 02 04 at 02:26 AM • permalink
Smith has long been a blow-hard poseur with an ego the size of New South Wales. I never buy his products. He lost me when he started up Australian Geographic and told porkies to sell subscriptions.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 02 04 at 02:27 AM • permalink
Note – Dick Smith Electronics (and Tandy Australia) is wholly-owned by Woolworths and has been for at least a decade.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 02 04 at 02:28 AM • permalink
#10 Woolworths owns DSE, not Coles. I’ll bet that today Woolies executives were wishing that he’d shut up, as they paid a bit for his ‘image’ and old Dicky is devaluing that image with stupid comments like these.
Actually, my one and only protest was at Dick Smith’s “Temptins’” court case. Arnotts predictably were upset at someone piggy-backing on their trademark and took him to court. Smith responded with nationalist bunkum including a protest in Martin Plaza.
I happened to be holidaying in Sydney at the time and a mate’s woman insisted we go, even though we kept telling her that Arnotts were perfectly within their rights and that Smith had no case. She was insistent, and because we like her and considered the issue harmless we relented.
We went and stood like knobs amongst a bunch of flag-waving yahoos none of which looked like the seasoned rent-a-groups you see at typical protests. Dick arrived and played to the cameras, then everyone went down to the court to grumble loudly. Me and my mate were completely amused by this pantomime. Our female friend didn’t like our attitude, but we were there so she didn’t push it.
I can’t complain because I did get a free pack of biscuits. He would have had to destroy them anyway because of the packaging, so no skin off his nose.
I’m not surprised he can’t tell the difference between a terrorist supporter and a decent Australian. That’s because he’s a fuckwit.
Posted by Mr Hackenbacker on 2008 02 04 at 02:39 AM • permalink
- “DickS Lix Hick’s Stix”
Now that’s a headline.Posted by andycanuck on 2008 02 04 at 03:06 AM • permalink
I would boycott Dick Smiths Food business, if I knew where to buy them, so I could then not buy them.
However, I have not seen any of his Arnott’s biscuit rip-offs on the shelves for some time.
He offers an explanation as to why that may be. One possible reason not voiced is that supermarkets may like to stock their shelves with a variety of products. So if they have already stocked the original product, they may not see a need to also stock an identical product duplicated by Dick.
- Little ditty about Dick and Dawood
Two Australian fools, a nerd and a hood
Dickie looks like ‘Thunderbirds’ Brains
Dawood’s recently come home from Gitmo bayDickie’s on on a mission to help the talibani
Dawood wants someone with bigger tits
Dickie buys Dawood’s ‘innocent’ pleas
And he say, hey Dawood lets run off
In my helicopter,
And I’ll blow you a job
Let me do what I please
And Dawood says:Oh yeah life goes on
Long after the thrill of killin is gone
Oh yeah life goes on
Long after the thrill of killin is gone they walk onPosted by eeniemeenie on 2008 02 04 at 03:10 AM • permalink
Dick Smith Electronics is not owned by Dick Smith and hasn’t been for over 25 years.
Visit the link Tim provided to see what you should be boycotting, however feel guilt-free to visit “Tricky Dicky’s” for a new Illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator and other such doohickeys knowing it’s owned by Woolworths. There’s no reason you can’t draw a little burkha on their logo though.
- it makes you wonder how someone so gullible (as Dick) becomes so wealthy.
They say a fool and his money are easily parted but how did a fool come to have money in the first place.(W.C. Fields I beleive)
Regardless of whether or not dick Smith still owns these businesses I won’t be buying anything with his name on it. I simply refuse to give money to an organisation that funds terrorism.
There must be somewhere where I can voice this…. Any Ideas?? anyone?
I wrote to Dick last year expressing my displeasure at his support for Dawood and told him where he could stick his products.
Got this response:
I am not defending Dick, but I think you need to understand what he said.
He is not pronouncing on Mr Hicks’ guilt or innocence, only on his perceived
inability to get a fair hearing.I should also point out that the funds Mr Smith has donated are his own
personal money as a private citizen and that Dick Smith Foods has not been
involved with any donation to Mr Hicks; quite the contrary, we have donated
to the Australian troops in Iraq on a number of occasions.I would also like to explain the reason why Dick Smith Foods was set up. It
was designed to support Australian owned companies who provide jobs to
Australians and use raw materials produced in Australia. Helping
Australia’s farmers. The profits form the Companies that are associated
with the production and sale of Dick Smith Foods products retain that money
in Australia to invest in new projects. Since the company’s inception we
have so far donated over $3.5 million to hundreds of worthwhile causes.You as a free Australian citizen have the right to boycott these Australian
companies and provide jobs and profits to overseas companies and
multinationals.Kind regards
Andrew Craig
Dick Smith Foods
“As Australian as you can get!”
1800 65 65 99So Dick Smith Foods think that Dick is a dick!
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 02 04 at 03:35 AM • permalink
O/T – Avoid female Muslim doctors and nurses if you value your health:
Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs because they say it is against their religion.
Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 02 04 at 03:42 AM • permalink
I guess its true that little daewood hicks now has a little dick?
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 02 04 at 03:46 AM • permalink
Dick Smith is just trying to out do some Thespians and some in the media set, at being a bigger knobhead than the before mentioned. Like them, he is probably reasonably good at his field, but a total tool when it comes to the big world, even if he has seen it from a balloon. He is just another publicity junkie/wanker, who has been out of the limelight and wants back in.
- Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 02 04 at 03:52 AM • permalink
Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.
Well, then:
1. Don’t bloody well train in these professions, and
2. If they are really this strict then should they actually be out of the house anyway? I thought they were meant to sequester themselves away.
- 34. ilibcc
Exactly the same as his refugee stance then. He was donating money to many groups way before he started on his “I’ve just found out and am shocked…” public stance.The fact he pulled off the “Ive just found out…” crap about 3 times on this one issue does ring a bell.Hes also rumoured to be a doner to such upstanding mobs as this mob (alegedly).
So a typical millionare socalist really. Clever in the sense he started a major IMPORT business in an area that no-one else had covered before in Oz.
All downhill from there though.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 02 04 at 03:56 AM • permalink
Dickhead’s fake Tim Tam’s are as crap as he is. The only independence movements I remember when I was in Afghanistan were women, kids and the coalition.
Posted by AlphaMikeFoxtrot on 2008 02 04 at 03:59 AM • permalink
i seem to recollect that sanitarium took over Dick Smith foods for a while when Dicky boy got a bit tired of it. but Dicky got a bit dissapointed that Sanitarium seemed more interested in Weet Bix that his latest arnotts biscuit knockoff. So he took it back. Or something like that.
personally, I have always been at a loss to understand why the Dinky Di Aussie Oy! Oy! products need to be rebranded as a Dick Simith food if it was really about promoting home growm stuff. Why doesn’t he just promote the stuff under its own brand?
Unless it is really about self promotion to patriots the gullible
Dick Smith, Australian of the year? Can’t think of a less worthy person to have received the award and there have been some doozies on the list – climate scammer Tim Flannery, stolen/not stolen Aboriginal activist Lois/Lowitja O’Donohue and convicted corporate criminal Alan Bond.
For Smith to be praising Hicks there has to be a dollar in it. Would not be surprised to find Smith is mixed up in a book deal.
- Damn I cant find it on youtube but the goodies episode “scoutragous” sums up Dick nicely.
Word domination badge!!TBT: Right, I am Brown Owl, and I shall now recite the Scout’s Oath. A scout is always clean in thought, word and underpants. He is always polite, and he can do remarkable things with two sticks. On the other hand, he never has any unclean thoughts. And if he does, he immediately takes a cold shower.
(Tim pulls the chain hanging next to him and his showered in cold water. The rest of the patrol do likewise, including Graeme and Bill.)
BO: Flippin’ heck!
TBT: A scout is always clean of mouth. He is fond of his uniform, and he likes his silly hat. He does not indulge in woggle jokes such as: “Have you seen his woggle?” “No, but it’s a good trick is he can do it.”
(Tim and the patrol have another cold shower.)
TBT: A scout does not think much of girls, preferring, as he does, the manly comradeship of his chums. He is kindly to little boys and cubs…
(Tim reaches for the shower chain.)
TBT: On the other hand, he is not a raving poofter. Oh no. A scout does not wear make-up, except of course at the Gang Show, where, of course, he can also wear women’s clothes, which he likes very very much.
(Another shower.)
TBT: Right. Dib dib dib.
PATROL: Dob dob dob.
TBT: Meeting is closed.
BO: Let’s go to the pub.
(Bill and Graeme laugh. Tim looks at them censoriously.)
BO: Sorry.
(Bill and Graeme have another cold shower.)
(Cut to the Goodies’ office. Graeme and Bill are wrapped in towels, shivering and have their feet in mustard baths. Tim is sitting crosslegged on his desk, gloating.)
TBT: See? No moral fibre.
GG: It was all those cold showers.
TBT: You’ve got to be tough to be a scout. It’s not all fun.
BO: Fun? Fun! None of it’s fun. You don’t know what fun is, you, not real fun. Not real way-hey! cor-blimey! wallop! wow! I-should-say-so! fun. You don’t know what that is, do you?
TBT: Certainly not.
GG: Neither do I.A pile of burnt tyres as an offering to anyone who can find this for me!
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 02 04 at 04:20 AM • permalink
- ’He is not pronouncing on Mr Hicks’ guilt or innocence, only on his perceived
inability to get a fair hearing.’Garbage. Smith is pronouncing on the fact that Hicks did get a hearing [long delayed by his self-serving lawyers] and he didn’t get the result Smith mistakenly felt he ‘deserved’, though he reveals he knows almost nothing about the whole Hicks’ case.Smith would also have an opinion on the ‘bad’ treatment of Goering at Nuremburg, I presume.
- Again we all await the great Hick-up.
Or Dick down?Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 04:37 AM • permalink
Heres the ABC version of the interview.
“..He was involved in Kosovo. Crikey, I remember I’d sent money to the Timor independence movement. Does that mean I’m a supporter of terrorism? Of course it doesn’t..”
Yes because Kosovo was such a nice clean war???“He said to me … ‘I can’t even earn any money from the thousands of hours I’m going to spend in trying to write my story when I’ve done nothing wrong’ …” he said.
Boo fucking hoo, you fought for the losing side on a war. You fought against your own country.You fought for “adventure” and “pure Islam”. Your name should be ankles, cos your 3 ft lower than an asshole.“I think we’ve got to be very careful in saying that he’s a terrorism supporter when the circumstances on the plea bargain were that he had no other option.”
Pigs arse, he could have used his drama queen lawyer and fought the charges in court. Why do you think he didnt do that?“To have a fellow Australian, who I happen to think is a decent person, who went off to do good – he certainly got tied up with the wrong people but to then stretch that to him being one of the worst of the worst and being a threat to Australians..”
Pollyanna was a suicidal depressive compared to Dickyanna here.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 02 04 at 05:14 AM • permalink
Hicks gets a free ride from the media.
A little 1940s history, Australian Army Major Charles H. Cousens was a POW, had trouble after the war. And Australian Army General Bennett escaped from Singapore and again had trouble after the war.
While again Hicks gets a free ride from the media.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 05:27 AM • permalink
- 14,58
Save the Anteater!!
And how can a bloke do his “would you like to see mt elephant impression” if he been snipped??Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 02 04 at 05:34 AM • permalink
#45 Muslim modesty has no code of control.
I know of a local pharmacy where muslim females go for advice to avoid the costs of a trip to the doctor. Nothing wrong with that.
But they have no shame in drawing their tent cover right up in public to show the pharmacist the rash/whatever for an opinion.
One of them wears no undercover.
anyway, frollicking, I’d say more like a baby aardvark, meself.
- It all began when Dick went off on his round-the-world solo helicopter flight. He wandered hither and yon, one arm outstretched, holding a camera focused upon himself.
He’s still carrying that fucking camera. What a tool.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 02 04 at 05:48 AM • permalink
- #37
Pathetic.Did you hear about the little boy born without eyelids? His parents were quite concerned, however, their doctor said he might be able to help.
He said that as there would be a little bit of skin left over after his little operation he could make eyelids for the baby out of that.
The only catch was that the little boy might be a bit cock-eyed.
#67 kae – it gave him incredible foresight too!!!!
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 02 04 at 05:51 AM • permalink
- OT. I just finished watching Red Kerry interview Dear Leader Kevni. I’m positive that in the jovial end to the interview Kerry O’Brien called Rudd “mate”.
Can anybody else confirm?Posted by Hank Reardon on 2008 02 04 at 05:57 AM • permalink
Well, if we boycott both DS Electronics & DS Foods no matter who owns them, maybe Dickhead Smith’s comments will get a bit more publicity, thus improving the chance that someone will punch the little turd in the mouth.
And maybe DS Electronics & Food will change their names and/or logos to dissassociate themselves, thus hurting Dick where it will really count – in his ego.
Dick Smith. A rolled gold, handmade, precision-tested, A-grade, 100%, fuckwit.
Posted by Abu Chowdah on 2008 02 04 at 06:04 AM • permalink
How could a former Australian of the Year make such a stupid comment? Dick Smith proves that you don’t need brains to get far in life.
That should give all of us a lot of encouragement.
Indeed it does. Now if only someone could show that having no drive, no ambition and no talent also aren’t impediments to success…
This is pure Dick marketing. An extension of ridgy didge Dick. By supporting Hicks and generating all the associated PR that accompanies it, he will attract the Schapelle Corby supporters who I think are his target market.
His plan is to swing them all back into focus as to where they should buy their peanut butter and tim tams.
Mind you the Dick Smith breakfast cereal is an example of truth in advertising. Every time I see his mug on the box it gives me the shits.
Posted by Abu Chowdah on 2008 02 04 at 06:15 AM • permalink
UPDATE. Several readers point out that Dick Smith Electronics is no longer owned by Dick Smith. In fact, Dick Smith Foods may not be Dick-owned either. In which case both should be boycotted for their mere association with the idiot.
Can’t argue with that.
TFM – I searched for the goodies: scouting, scout, scouts, scoutrageous etc – no luck from 2500 odd videos of them – ffs! You owe me 1 minute!
- 71 Not in transcript.
The PM on his inflation battle plan
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 04/02/2008
Reporter: Kerry O’Brien
KERRY O’BRIEN: I look forward to that Kevin Rudd.
KEVIN RUDD: Do you want to come along?
KERRY O’BRIEN: We’ll see. In one form or another
KEVIN RUDD: You can participate it and cover it, whatever you like.
KERRY O’BRIEN: We’re out of time for tonight, thanks for talking to us.
KEVIN RUDD: Thank you very much.
KERRY O’BRIEN: Might be a little bit of conflict of interest – covering and contributing.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 06:18 AM • permalink
Dick Smith Foods does not manufacture its own food products. Instead, it sources products from other Australian-owned companies, which licence the Dick Smith Foods brand label.
Currently the company is managed, and its products produced under licence, by the Sanitarium Health Food Company, which pays Dick Smith Foods for the rights to the company’s branding. DSF then donates a portion of its profits to charitable causes. In 2004, Smith announced his intention to make Dick Smith Foods a commercial operation, and to list it on the stock market by 2009.[3]
Generally the brand focuses on producing local alternatives to products with large market shares like Kraft peanut butter and Vegemite. In October 2004, Dick Smith offered to purchase Vegemite from Kraft, but was unsuccessful.[4]
In 2006 the Herald Sun newspaper reported that Dick Smith Foods turnover had halved, due in part to the difficulty of finding local suppliers for their products.[5]
For the life of me I cannot understand why a local company would want to diminish their brand in order to promote Dick Smith. If you buy a Dick Smith product, do you learn who actually manufactured the product, or is it all hidden by the Dick Smith Foods logo? What a con! And why did Sanitarium get involved? They make the most popular breakfast cereal in the country – they don’t need the goose.
- Posted by surfmaster on 2008 02 04 at 06:36 AM • permalink
Some readers might recall the dick Dick made of himself in aviation in Australia. From the 7:30 Report in 1999—
KERRY O’BRIEN: The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is in further turmoil tonight after the sudden resignation of board member Janine Shepherd. Her decision comes barely 24-hours after the departure of chairman Dick Smith.
With Australia’s air regulator once again in crisis, it remains unclear whether Dick Smith jumped or was pushed.
But, by the time he went, the pressure on him from virtually all sectors of the aviation industry had become all but intolerable.
While the man himself says he had become a target of those trying to hold back necessary reforms, his many critics say it was Dick Smith’s style as much as his reforms that so deeply divided those with a stake in air safety.
David Hardaker reports.
JOHN WOODS: Dick was totally isolated because of his personality style, his management style.
MARK BARNETT: I understand that Dick can be a difficult man to work with and when you’ve got someone with a vision they often are like that.
They’re hard to work with and the bureaucrats within CASA—many of them have been there a long time—they may feel they can’t work with a man like Dick Smith so they entrench themselves.
That’s a pity, because may be if they listened to him a bit more, they would have got somewhere.
JOHN WOOD: His only friends left as of yesterday was the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association and the Government. He’s created havoc…
DAVID HARDAKER: For those close to the aviation industry Dick Smith’s departure yesterday was no shock.
Meaning: He’s a reckless loose cannon. Result of this and other foot-in-mouth statements about aviation in Australia: no one listens any more. No one in aviation gives him much credibility.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 02 04 at 06:45 AM • permalink
- I’m going o/t (so what’s new?) to comment on the day’s woeful coverage of the sorry saga. Shane Stone has been cast as berating the Libs for not getting onboard. It is instructive to read what he actually said (according to Glen Milne’s piece) in The Australian.
“Not all the Stolen Generations want an apology. Some express a view that as half-caste children their very survival turned on being taken. Not all Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders demand compensation. Rarely do we hear from the descendants of the Kanakas, who were treated in the most shameful fashion in the 19th century. Most indigenous people have a different take, depending on their circumstances.” Despite these caveats, Stone is unequivocal. An apology must be made. “That said, we as a nation should put to one side all the arguments about whose fault it was, whether we are personally responsible or in any way culpable for past generations, and in the spirit of friendship, and together as one people, say sorry for what has happened to all indigenous people, including the Stolen Generations.”
Stone raises one good point, and submerges it with the other one. There have no doubt been many wrongs against the indigeous peoples over the past 200+ years. The focus of the current sorry saga is the “stolen generations” rather than any arguable dispossession, or killing, or enslavement or social disadvantage.
As intelligent sceptics like Andrew Bolt argue with good reason, this is a difficult thesis for many of us. Removing children for welfare reasons, often with (however desperate) agreement from parent or guardian, does not raise our hackles. Removed children now loom large on the landscape of aboriginal leadership & coloured commentariat, and have done so for many years.
The disposession? Well, which European country was going to sit back and not invade Australia during that time? The Dutch? The French? The Portuguese, Germans, Russians. They were all sailing around these parts.
Various killings, real and imaginary, have been covered by Keith Windschuttle. Regrettable where they did occur, but hardly so monstrous as to require an apology now. Tribes used to kill each other for reasons of “land and women”.
Enslavement? This was not the Americas although examples of kanaka labour are there. The destruction of the paid employment paradigm of the cattle industry exemplified by the Wave Hill story is also there as a counter-narrative which links to the decline of social structures – hastened by free money, and grog to fill the gap left by unemployment. What was characterised as “underpayment” to those stockmen was actually the backbone of a social order. It is gone, and we now reap the willy-willy.
So let’s apologise.
(Take notes, Kevin and whatsername – the dozy one)
I am truly sorry that we have failed our aboriginal brothers and sisters. We have not had the wisdom to draw them into our privileged way of life in a way acceptable to them, or to provide for them in a way which has a future. Instead we have treated them badly by giving them no structure which works properly, and we hoped to assuage our guilt and failure with welfare payments in perpetuity.
We promise to give them better guidance about betterment of their lives and about preservation of those parts of their heritage which will be a proud monument in the future.
We also promise to stop the “activists” who keep them in their poverty and ill health by denying their real needs.
We value these people, we value their character, we value their knowledge of this vast country which is dear to all of us born here or living here willingly and happily. We want them to go on to greater things while preserving their unique heritage. If it takes tough love to achieve this , then this is what we will deliver.
We are sorry for our failures in the past, but are intent on making a brighter future.
There was a short film that got a run a while back, done in the style of a 50s newsreel, celebrating 35 years of King Dick’s rule over Australia. Quite funny, but it doesn’t seem to have reached youtube yet.
Our Dick as a benevolent despot. More despot than benevolent…
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 02 04 at 07:24 AM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 07:27 AM • permalink
Re Duck thread: Indians still wanky about Singh yet Willy Wonka is a character in the classic Roald Dahl children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 07:32 AM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 07:36 AM • permalink
- #95 There were seven and a hundred Trolls,
They were both ugly and grim,
A visit they would the farmer make,
Both eat and drink with him.
Out then spake the tinyest Troll,
No bigger than an emmet was he,
Hither is come a Christian man,
And manage him will I sureliePosted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 07:40 AM • permalink
Can anyone explain this to me (from the SMH)
Egyptian and Hamas forces have closed the Gaza border after reportedly agreeing to control the frontier blown open by militants nearly two weeks ago in a bid to break an Israeli blockade.
It’s on the border with Egypt. But somehow it is part of the Israeli blockade? Am I missing something really fundamental this time?
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 02 04 at 07:43 AM • permalink
#67 kae, I’d heard tell of a small town leatherworker who filled in at Temple as the local mohel—saved the skins and made wallets, apparently.
Remarkable really—a couple of strokes and you had yerself a suitcase…
Posted by MentalFloss on 2008 02 04 at 07:55 AM • permalink
#98 SMH mixing up which border is which that is Jordan or Gaza. But they do not let facts spoil a story.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 07:56 AM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 08:00 AM • permalink
Well, Stax, you know us jooos—dickering at least %5 off everything
Posted by MentalFloss on 2008 02 04 at 08:05 AM • permalink
103 Since 1948, it’s all the Israeli’s fault!
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 08:06 AM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 08:10 AM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 08:12 AM • permalink
107 circumnavigating out of here.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 02 04 at 08:25 AM • permalink
#105 Well according to Ghada Karmi it is. I made the mistake of borrowing her book, Married to Another Man : Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine, after hearing her interviewed on ABC radio. After wading through about a quarter of it I gave up as it was so one sided as to be laughable. Everything was blamed on Israel or their policies. She even argued that it was Israel’s fault that suicide bombers were used against them.
I finally twigged when I read the back of the book to find a glowing recommendation by John Pilger. Doh!
#112 I wonder why people of this ilk, and I include entertainers here, perceive that their opinions are more valuable than those of Joe average. After all, money can’t buy brains or rational and deductive thought processes that give a resultant opinion based on researched facts.
Dick does seem to be popping up wherever he perceives a human rights issue needs his influence/interference. I’ll go with the media tart theory mooted earlier in the thread.
Allow me to be the first to mention that Dick Smith Electronics is owned by someone else. I’m going to say Woolworths.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 02 04 at 09:56 AM • permalink
Forget all this rubbish about who owns the “Dickhead Smith” brand.
We must boycot it publically. Let it be know that if you associate with Traitors like Dickhead Smith, then we will reject you.
Who ever owns Dickhead Smith brands should publically appologise and remove his name FOR EVER, and adobt a new name and announce that they reject this traitor and his legacy FOR EVER. Otherwise I will never buy their product again
Also it gives DS brands an opportunity to rebrand itself as a true Aussie brand who does not support traitors.
Calls the Australian regional office of Paco Enterprises
Good morning, Suzie. Is Wombat O’Herlihy there? Thanks. Wombat? Paco. Listen, it looks like we’ve got a golden opportunity to capture market share from the Dick Smith brand. You’ve seen Tim Blair’s post, of course. What? Alright, alright; so you spilled whiskey all over your keyboard. Stop crying and go use your secretary’s computer. Here’s the story in a nutshell. Smith has made a huge public relations mistake by embracing David Hicks. What do you mean, you “didn’t know Smith was that way”? No, no, no! I mean he’s made some very public excuses for Hicks’ stint as a terrorist; even offered him a job. We should capitalize on this, immediately. I’m thinking new ad campaigns for our breakfast cereal line and our electronics division. “Sugar-Coated Paco Flakes – The Breakfast of Anti-Terrorists.” And maybe “Paco Electronics: Our Current May Alternate, But It Will Never Ululate.” Get on it.
- #27, Completely O/T but here is a worrying story about John McCain.
I have no idea what to make of it. Maybe someone here has more of a clue.I don’t know the particulars, Janice, but that site reads a little bit like a loony conspiracy website, only right wing instead of the usual lefty idiocy. I’d take it with a grain of salt until some proof is offered.
- #18
IIRC Dick created Australian Geographic magazine, courted loyal, patriotic patronage and then flogged it off for a fortune (c. A$30M some time back) … tried & true serial patriotism recipe …
I’m thinking new ad campaigns for our breakfast cereal line and our electronics division. “Sugar-Coated Paco Flakes – The Breakfast of Anti-Terrorists.”
paco! My wife served me Paco Flakes this morning instead of my belove Frosted Flakes. They were awful. Let me ask you something. That wasn’t sugar frosting, was it. Was it by any chance vegemite?
Posted by wronwright on 2008 02 04 at 12:47 PM • permalink
That wasn’t sugar frosting, was it. Was it by any chance vegemite?
If that’s what you’d rather believe, then, yes, it was.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2008 02 04 at 03:08 PM • permalink
“I asked him why he was in Afghanistan and it was quite different to what we’ve heard about … (it was) all about trying to help independence movements.”
Sure, Dick, sure.
Dick Smith thinks that David Hicks was also doing good things in Kosovo but somehow manages to ignore completely David Hicks’ anti-Semitic diatribes and comments, not to mention his fanaticism and particularly his support for the Taliban which destroys women.
For a start, Hicks has stated in letters that he was training with Al Qaida to bring an end to Western-Jewish domination so that everyone may once again live under Muslim law.
How can Dick Smith ignore these remarks, made so frequently before and during Hicks’ sojourn at Guantanamo? I would never have thought he was so gullible, or so out of touch with the real world. Does having lots and lots of money do that to you?
And, BTW – ONYA, NEW YORK GIANTS!
“Convicted terrorism supporter David Hicks is a decent Australian who has never supported terrorism…”
He was a total scumbag even before he was a terrorist, you nitwit. His primary accomplishments before he became a terrorist, were: getting kicked out of school, abusing drugs and alcohol, stealing (according to his ex), getting a girl pregnant a couple of times and then abandoning his kids and leaving the country.
He’s a worthless piece of crap, and always has been, terrorism or no terrorism.
If you want to feel sorry for this degenerate loser, that’s your business, but spare me the “decent” nonsense. If you feel the need to lie to justify your support for this animal, at least try and make it a plausible lie.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2008 02 04 at 05:48 PM • permalink
Sorry, #12,#20 are correct, Woolies not Coles. Mea culpa.
Posted by tortfeaser on 2008 02 04 at 07:11 PM • permalink
- Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 02 04 at 07:33 PM • permalink
- Why did Dick Smith even ring Hicks?
Why would he want to help him at all?I’m guessing (sheer speculation) curiosity (fair enough)
and the search for notoriety, piggybacking on a stupid, nasty man.Posted by carpefraise on 2008 02 05 at 05:55 AM • permalink
“Make note of Smith’s businesses and boycott them.”
It will be a pleasure.