Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the execution of Ronald Ryan. Just before 8 o’clock on the morning of February 3, 1967, Ryan declined a sedative but took a sip of whisky and walked calmly to the gallows trapdoor at Pentridge Prison.
Ryan addressed his executioner directly, “God bless you, please make it quick.”
Ryan’s supporters and opponents of the death penalty observed a three-minute silence. Protesters assembled outside Pentridge Prison in vigil.
The circumstances of his death at the hands of the state have led to great myth-making about Ryan. He has been variously painted as a bit of a larrikin, driven to crime by circumstance and little worse than a kite flyer (passer of bad cheques).
The truth is he was a career criminal and his crimes before his penultimate arrest, included what we would call today aggravated burglary and robbery in company.
His arresting officer on that occasion was Bryan Harding. I’ve known Harding for many years. He was an outstanding police officer and at various times headed up the Fraud and Homicide squads in Victoria. Harding is retired and now in his 80s; he remembers Ryan as a hardened criminal who showed little or no remorse for his crimes and gave nothing away under questioning.
Full column here.
George Christensen: “I’m not quitting but government ‘untenable’ unless it gets more Conservative”.
How much further right wing can the Libs go? Bloody hell! Even Howard has said the Looters have moved too far to the right from the centre party they used to be and have not ‘taken the people with them’.
He has also said disunity will kill them and it is on right now.This is proven by recent polls which show:-
The mob want-same sex marriage
-refugees settled in Australia
-action taken on climate change
This is NOT far right stuff George!
Further proof is the wafer thin one seat majority the Looters have. If George were correct Turnbull would have a thumping majority.
Bernardi is a disgrace and along with Abbott should leave politics. They are nothing but wreckers and are disloyal to the millions of dollars they have earnt by way of endorsement by the Looters at each election.
This is a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad government.
Bassy,
The mob don’t care about same sex marriage (unfortunately).
It has been proven time and time again they don’t want the refugees settled in Oz.
Climate change has left a sea of dead politicians behind it including Malcolm.
Also Bassy if you are right about Malcolm’s majority why didn’t Labor increase their vote at the last federal election? Why did people vote for Hanson? Again you are bought undone by ideology.
Between the 2013 and 2016 elections, here’s what happened to Lower House primary votes as a percentage of the total vote:
Labor up about 1.4%
Coalition down about 3.4%
Greens up about 1.6%
Xenphon up about 1.9%
PUP down from 5.5% to nothing
Total Independents went up about 1.4%
Total “Other”, including ON, went up about 3.3%
In the Senate:
Labor up 0.2
Coalition down 1.6
Greens down 0.6
ON up 3.8
Xenophon up 1.4
Lib Dems down 1.6
PUP down 5.4 to nothing
and a bunch inconsequential ups and downs for the remainder.
So Labor did increase its vote, and so did the Greens. The Coalition lost ground; and even so there is no clear evidence that Hanson was the main cause of that. There are plenty of other places the lost LNP votes could have gone. As you are always saying, you need to know the demographics. It’s just as likely that the rise in ON vote was just where all the PUP voters went.
Admittedly ON is polling as high as 1998 in its usual warm, moist breeding grounds at the moment, but we’ll see whether history will repeat. Didn’t turn out so well last time, and poor Pauline doesn’t seem to have learnt much about recruiting in the meantime.
1.4% increase! Lead to the second lowest vote in their history!
Both parties are on the nose because they ain’t listening!
Guvnor I don’t disagree with that point but I was replying to some unfounded assertions, which we hear a lot of lately, that people are flocking to the hard Right. The evidence to date doesn’t support it.
Razor says:
FEBRUARY 6, 2017 AT 8:23 PM
Liberals got only 29.4% of the primary vote-lowest ever at the last election! 50.6 per cent for the Coalition and 49.4 per cent for Labor. Nationals 4.9%, Greens 8.74%
I wouldn’t call that thrilling for The Looters.
At no stage did I call it thrilling…….
YOU SAY:-“It has been proven time and time again they don’t want the refugees settled in Oz”.
Scroll down…this is wrong. Rodent said this and I quoted survey results before the last election.
Too busy to scroll. Who was surveyed and who paid for it?
Bassy I scrolled……The Australian institute! Give me a break.
Oh my. only Breitbart the IPA and the Minerals council will do for razor.
I have never quoted any of those sources.
And did you read BASSMAN that Cory Bernardi had a “private” conversation with ex PM Abbott the contents of which later appeared in the Media! Bernardi now cites this betrayal by Abbott as one of the reasons for leaving the Libs. This Turnbull/Abbott government is not a government at all its a bloody shambles waiting to implode. I might add lastly that if Cory Bernardi thinks he is the Australian Donald Trump he is sadly mistaken, he’s a non event , period!
I can’t recall ever seeing anyone miss a goal kick in the gridiron; as a result I thought they were a waste of time. The patriots will need a miracle to escape defeat here.
Off to confession for you Milton.
Miracles happen, even in NFL, call it gridiron again and a 300 pound gorilla will jump on you and turn you into a fairly flat fellow. Well more flat, or is that flatulent.
It’s already being called the great escape, sound familiar?
There was a rule change from last year. They moved the extra point kick back five yards. The success rate dropped from over 99% historically to 94% this year.
Bill Burr (on Netflix) funny as. Audience goes dead quiet when he rips into “bravery” 6mins in.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cory-bernardi-set-to-split-from-liberal-party-to-form-conservative-party/news-story/219afac1491fd0e6cf775e854bccdbfe
Could this be the end of the Turnip
With polls like this I sincerely hope so
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/big-politics-on-the-nose-as-liberals-cop-caning/news-story/064a9785cf2ff4bb8ee91d2915ba241e
It does seem inconvenient facts get in the way of just about every cons con.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/three-killer-facts-about-corporate-tax-cuts-you-wont-hear-from-scott-morrison
Another bullshit opinion piece dismal
Robin,
Opinion pieces aren’t bullshit when he uses them. You should know that by now.
Good link Dismayed. Isn’t it astonishing how the forelock tugging brown noses have the snivelling gall to claim solid statistics and economic reality as “opinions.” Offering only emotive gainsay in response. It’s as if conservative wannabes are born with an instinct to bow and scrape to their “betters”, pleading for more for them and then begging for scraps.
Give ’em heaps.
You’re also quite adept at regularly offering a half-suppressed snigger yourself JB, as your post clearly indicates. But we understand me old mate, smirking and sniping is cheap. It’s funny too.
Michael West tells it like it is. He take on so called “clean coal” Postscript: Sid Marris, director of the Minerals Council joined the office of Prime Minister and Cabinet today (PMO), entrenching the long tradition of “revolving doors” between government and the mining industry in Australia
http://www.michaelwest.com.au/bewitched-by-clean-coal-fairies-government-hints-at-more-fossil-subsidies/
“Michael West tells it like it is”
In the alternate universe you live in dismal
You are like the Black Knight Robin. “No it isn’t, course not, didn’t happen, wont happen , cant be, that’s bullshit, you’re wrong, the bloke who wrote that is an idiot…………. ad nauseum, monotonousity incrediblus.
How about just once explaining why you think so. Write it in Rodentian if you’re not confident you know what you’re talking about, or overconfident but not quite sure how to put it in words.
BTW Today is Saint Bologna Fettucine Day, Patron Saint and Protector of Pasta Makers.
God bless you.
Which god are you referring to JB?
Whichever God would you would prefer to to be blessed by Robin.
God bless you, today too.
BTW! Today is “Saint Angelica de la Mare Day” the patron Saint of one legged seagulls.
Robin, I agree. You have been known to write intelligent posts yourself. So why is it that every time Dismayed posts something you automatically proclaim it to be bullshit. Why is it bullshit? Give us some other evidence to prove it. I used to quite enjoy your points of view, before you became a bit narky just for the sake of it
The constant abuse from a certain person, when you disagree with them, has made a lot of us narky Penny. When his stats from his rentseeker sites are proven wrong by official sites he obfuscates or pretends they do not exist. Most on here, whilst possessing a degree or bias, still concede points and try to be a little less partisan. He never does. He is an apparent expert on everything. Have you ever seen him criticise Labor, The Greens or Getup even when the regular supporters say a decision or policy was wrong? He is either acting on behalf of an organisation or he is an absolutist. If he is the latter they are dangerous people.
Still waiting for you to prove the stats provided by the reputable providers are wrong. You cannot because they are not wrong, They are the best available evidence based on the latest research and data. It is just inconvenient for you that that do not reconfirm you bias. So you then resort to your bully boy ways of abuse and as with all bullies you do not like it when I respond in kind and you run around claiming to be a victim.
Still peddling false information razor.
Bella – thanks for your link to the article on animal sentience below. I don’t think anyone who pays proper attention to animals could really be ignorant of the fact that they feel and think. Of course there are people who “read” animals better than others. A mate years ago went through a course as a Customs dog-handler and got rejected because he couldn’t read his dog well. Just as people vary in their capacity to read other people, so it is with their reading of animals.
As far as the scientific study of the subject goes, using ourselves as the base-line for intelligence and awareness and then declaring that anything that doesn’t measure up in the same way is not intelligent or aware has always seemed to me to be a very unsafe way to reach conclusions. Whether a rat can find it’s way through a maze or an ape can learn words doesn’t seem to have much to do with their ability to thrive as a rat or an ape. Put us in their worlds and I have no doubt we’d be wearing the dunce cap.
I agree. Critics say that it is anthropomorphising to infer sentience from animal behaviour, but it seems to me that’s exactly how we know other humans are sentient.
I agree. You seem to be anthropomorphising the Swantoon there and he shows some signs of sentience.
God bless you.
Depends on your definition of sentience. It’s not just about experiencing emotions etc, it’s about abstract subjectivity. Humans have language which enables thought about our relationship to the world outside of our selves.
While your dog will eat you if don’t feed it, your human friend will at least agonise over the idea, and might not even eat you at all.
Turned the Superbowl on for a moment and by golly, something actually happened! Not for long mind you but I was impressed.
Understood the Lady Gaga bit perfectly, bit of a bugger when you have to put up with all that running around in all directions stuff though.
Hey, hey. That’s my sport you’re talking about here! Only still watching because New England is losing.
Is it over yet? 🙂
Can you imagine the queues at Houston’s two airports today?
You could catch one of Travolta’s I guess. You’d just have to become a scientologist.
Having gone through both many times, yes. I’d just drive to DFW.
God it’s tedious though.
When did the sport happen? at half time?
Milton 04:19pm.
Looks like instability returns early Milton in this 2017 with Cory Bernardi shoving a rocket up the the Libs threatening inside 48 hrs to break from the implausable boring Turnbull mob .
In America ,the population saying “ditch the celebrities ” in election times . while here saying ditch poor old Malcolm .It is inconceivable to think the crazy Libs ditched their elected leader after condemning Labor Shorten mob on knifing Gillard , then install a pathetic Malcolm being much worse. They lack of clarity the team Libs now face , sees voters now implacable inside and out of parliament, is now gathering into firm backlash on our current leader . The smoke may be visable , but you can garrentee the fire buring in the smoke will surely be notable generating intense heat in the Liberal party ahead.
I agree Rodent. Enough problems in camp and Bernardi wants to dislocate the vote down stream. It’s a bad movie we are watching and the scariest scenario will be dismal, Bill Shorten victorious at the end. Avert your eyes mate, plug in the strat (or whatever) and play loud, as this can only get ugly(ier) unless Abbott is back in charge.
I see Gina Rinehart is beefing up.
The picture you paint is not a good one dear Milton.
Yes Milton, and on pure bred Wahgu too. You know, the one with all that marbled fat. I believe she is a bit of an expert on the subject.
She looks sexier by the day, Lou. If you’ve the contacts let her know that Milton would love to share a medium rare eye with mutchroom jus with her; with a view to marriage and no, I don’t do pre nups. Blind greed (woops. Delete that please, Jack) Love is everything. I think Ms Milton Rinehart would suit me. Plus my new flame has some nice digs near the Hamilton pub and the racecourses.
Well funny thing Milton, She was hot as a young Uni student I can tell you. I don’t have a link but Google Gina at 21. The only reason more horny guys in Perth avoided her was that growling old fart of a father.
Oh, and then there was the finishing school accent. Vomit.
Not really Milton – she’s lost a lot of weight!! Must have a personal trainer……
Unlike a key, Yvonne I am pretty sure she will find most of it again. More for me to love, I say. She’s sex on a spit, and Milton loves his cracklin!
oh…superbowl?