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The Left can take a break – 2GB is doing the job for them

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The ABC and the Fairfax Group are so shamelessly prejudiced in their reporting that it is embarrassing even to the conservative observer. The conservative prides himself on staying connected with the concrete multifarious circumstances of political issues and applying prudential judgement to their solution. So the sort of embarrassment we feel at people with their heads constantly in an ideological delirium mindlessly regurgitating the overdone rhetoric is the sort that we feel listening to someone singing horribly out of tune before a cringing audience.

Of course, any embarrassment the conservative expresses is of no account to the narrow-minded bigoted left. They keep at it, no matter what, doing and saying anything that is going to damage the people they judge out of line with their ideological dogma. Foremost among those out of line, their worst ideological nightmare, is Tony Abbott. They cannot bring to themselves ever to say anything good about him. No matter what the prime minister does, there will always be a way to cast it in a manner that will deliver the maximum damage to the man for whom they have an obsessive pathological hatred. It is the way of the mind infected with Marxism – whether of the Leninist, Frankfurt School or of the Gramsci sort. Tony Abbott is the objectification of all that the Marxist wants removed from society. There can be no compromise. He must be eliminated and the manner of assassination does not matter. Continue reading →

Australia in regression

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During this last week of Australia’s parliament, many Australians must have been sitting with their heads in their hands despairing that commonsense would ever appear in Australia’s political discourse. The Greens determined to lead the nation into social, economic and political collapse were mouthing their usual poison. The Labour Party has resorted to an all-out Alinsky-style assault on the government’s budget program regardless of the ensuing economic ruin. To top off the Greens/Labour alliance of insanity, the ordinary person possessed of reason was constantly tortured by the antics of the most ignorant irresponsible people that faults in the electoral system have ever allowed into Australian government. A Jacqui Lambie shows just how brittle our democratic system is. Glen Lazarus retired from football as a highly respected champion. His ignorance and irresponsibility is destroying all that. His wife should call him home before he makes a complete ass of himself. Paul Kelly describes below the worst of the week’s happenings. Australia weep.  Continue reading →

CONSTITUTING THE CONSTITUTION:

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UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION THROUGH THE BRITISH CULTURAL CONSTITUTION
by GARRETT WARD SHELDON

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Professor Sheldon provides an explanation of the differences between the concepts of a written, a codified and an unwritten constitution. An understanding of these differences is essential for students of constitutionalism. The essay is aimed at American students but is nevertheless of interest to those who have forgotten or never knew the background of their constitutional monarchy

Reference is often made to the legal, philosophical, and historical progenitors of the American Constitution in ideas derived from Great Britain, such as the writings of John Locke or William Blackstone, and familiar documents like the Magna Carta or The Petition of Right of 1628. Perhaps an even more significant constitutional heritage may be found in our inheritance of the British appreciation for the customary or cultural foundations of fundamental law. This appreciation for what is often termed the “organic” constitution, beholden philosophically to Aristotle, Aquinas, and Burke, emphasizes how a society or nation is “constituted,” and the implications of that social constitution for the written or codified document. In this respect, the example of British constitutionalism may be helpful in understanding the proper approach to American constitutional interpretation. Read on here

Why Victorians should re-elect the Coalition

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Josh Frydenberg outlines the case for re-electing Victoria’s Coalition government:

VICTORIAN’S PATH TO GROWTH

Victoria’s path to growth

THE 3.8 million voters in Victoria face a stark choice. If they re-elect Denis Napthine, they get another four years of strong economic management, record spending on health and education, and an ­effective federal-state partnership on infrastructure.

If they elect Daniel Andrews, they’ll return to the budget blowouts, infrastructure white elephants and union intimidation on work sites, symptomatic of the Bracks-Brumby years.

History shows the last one-term government in Victoria was John Cain Sr’s Labor government in 1955. Just as Napthine took over from Ted Baillieu mid-term, so Rupert Hamer took over from Henry Bolte in 1972 and went on to retain government in 1973, holding office for another eight years.

But history as predictor takes you only so far. Polls indicate a close race and the election is complicated by a major redistribution of electoral boundaries resulting in the abolition of two safe ­Coalition seats and the creation of two safe Labor ones. Five seats held by Labor MPs have become notionally Liberal. While the ­Coalition is well placed to win several of these seats, the redistribution has, as election expert Antony Green observed, removed the traditional advantage of ­incumbency Continue reading →

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s

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The Scriptures are an essential part of our literary heritage
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 22:15-22
After this the Pharisees withdrew, and plotted together, to make him betray himself in his talk. And they sent their own disciples to him, with those who were of Herod’s party, and said, Master, we know well that thou art sincere, and teachest in all sincerity the way of God; that thou holdest no one in awe, making no distinction between man and man; tell us, then, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar, or not? Jesus saw their malice; Hypocrites, he said, why do you thus put me to the test? Shew me the coinage in which the tribute is paid. So they brought him a silver piece, and he asked them, Whose is this likeness? Whose name is inscribed on it? Caesar’s, they said; whereupon he answered, Why then, give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. And they went away and left him in peace, full of admiration for his words.

Saving those who are lost

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How could one possibly understand a musical masterpiece like Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion with out being deeply acquainted with the New Testament? The same holds for so much of the West’s musical heritage.

9th November, 2014 – DEDICATION OF THE ARCHBASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY SAVIOUR (LATERAN BASILICAL)

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This is the anniversary of the day on which the Basilica of the Most Holy Saviour was dedicated, the first church of Rome to receive solemn consecration. It is the Cathedral church of the Pope, and consequently the chief church of the Catholic world. Several Councils have been held there.

GOSPEL READING

Luke 19:1-10
He had entered Jericho, and was passing through it; and here a rich man named Zacchaeus, the chief publican, was trying to distinguish which was Jesus, but could not do so because of the multi­tude, being a man of small stature. So he ran on in front, and climbed up into a syca­more tree, to catch sight of him, since he must needs pass that way. Jesus, when he reached the place, looked up and saw him; Zacchaeus, he said, make haste and come down; I am to lodge to-day at thy house. And he came down with all haste, and gladly made him welcome. When they saw it, all took it amiss; He has gone in to lodge, they said, with one who is a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood upright and said to the Lord, Here and now, Lord, I give half of what I have to the poor; and if I have wronged anyone in any way, I make resti­tution of it fourfold, jesus turned to him and said, To-day, salvation has been brought to this house; he too is a son of Abraham. That is what the Son of Man has come for, to search out and to save what was lost.

Conference on Edmund Burke

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A DIFFERENT WAY OF POLITICAL REASONING
Conference on Edmund Burke, Melbourne, 28th February 2015

Edmund Burke’s Club (Aust) Inc is organizing a conference on the life and thought of Edmund Burke for Saturday 28th February 2015. The theme of the conference will be Edmund Burke’s concept of political reason. The sessions will cover Burke’s political career from the time he left Dublin to enter the political world in London through to his last days when he maintained his rage against revolutionary France and rightly warned that their slogan Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité would end in subjecting France to a rigid military dictatorship. And so it happened.

The mode of Burke’s reasoning will be followed through the major issues he dealt with: the fight for Irish relief; the misuse and abuse of power, especially by the British throne; the conflict with the American colonies; the impeachment of Warren Hastings and the abuse of British rule in India; and the attack on the natural rights theory of Revolutionary France. The influence of some of the philosophers of the British Enlightenment on Burke’s thinking will also be considered.

The conference will be of keen interest to those who want to deepen their understanding of the man who is claimed to be the father of modern conservative thought. The keynote speaker will be Professor Garrett Ward Sheldon, The John Morton Beaty Professor of Political and Social Sciences, University of Virginia College at Wise. More details about the conference will be announced in the coming weeks. Any enquiries can be addressed to Gerard Wilson on 0419 002 163 or edmundburkesclub@bigpond.com

See update on conference HERE

The cream of Labor’s rabble turns up to honour their hero

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It was meant to be a gala event with the cream, the giants, the grand worthies of the Labor Party assembling to honour their saint and hero Gough Whitlam. But the cream, the giants and the grand worthies turned out to be your grossest, most vulgar rabble. When conservative Prime Minister Abbott arrived at Sydney’s Town Hall to pay respects despite being on the other side of the political field, the Labor rabble booed long and hard. Just as they unloose their foul mouths whenever they come across anyone that does not meekly fall in with their malignant policies.

‘The governments now in office are the heirs of the May ’68 generation, which is now at the apex of its political and cultural power’
Benigno Blanco, president of the Foro Español de la Familia in an interview with the Observatory of Cardinal Van Thuan

Getting the history right about political Islam

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It is almost a dogma, even among some conservative commentators, that there is a radical disconnect between moderate Muslims and radical Muslims. A charming young Muslim with an Australian accent and dressed modestly in a nijab appears on television to tell us that radical Islam is not true Islam. Islam is as peace-loving as she is. Indeed, she radiates peace as well as charm. ISIS warriors, brandishing their swords and mockingly dangling severed heads in front of us assure us otherwise. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the current President of Turkey has angrily rejected the distinction between moderate Islam and radical Islam. There is only one Islam he has insisted. Indeed, but what is it? Dangerous fish swim in calm waters. The ordinary person in the West is inclined to think of Islam in terms of Western thought and traditions, rendering their knowledge of it seriously deficient. Paul Stenhouse MSC Ph.D, an acknowledged expert on Islam and the Middle East, has included the following article in a recent edition of Annals Australasia of which he is the editor. Fr Stenhouse has kindly permitted us to reproduce it here.
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ISIS, stratagems, lies, Islamist terror, and political totalitarianism

IN PRAISE OF STRAIGHT TALKING

By Paul Stenhouse, MSC

YOUNG RELIGIOUS MUSLIMS from western democracies, impressed by the military hardware and the ruthless butchery and mayhem that the psychopathic, self-styled Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, spreads in the name of Allah in Iraq and Syria, have joined his band of young, brainwashed jihadists calling themselves The Islamic State.

Ai-Baghdadi has gone through many name changes; his latest nom de guerre is the title adopted by the legitimate Caliphs or Successors of Muhammad, viz.: Amir al-Mu’minin[Commander of the Faithful]. And he now wants to be called Caliph Ibrahim.

Whatever his name and his claims, would-be followers need to be aware that in the middle of the eleventh century AD there were no fewer than four self-styledCaliphsin Spain, each claiming to be the Commander of the Faithful, each claiming to be Sovereign over all Muslims in Andalusia: Hisham II at Seville; Muhammad I al-Mahdi at Malaga; Muhammad ben al-Qasim at Algeciras; and Idris II ibn Yahya [known as al-‘Ali] the rightful Caliph of Malaga.(1)

Their internecine quarrels unleashed murderous tribal, clan and personal vendettas between Andalusians, Berbers, Arabs, Slavs and Black Muslims in Andalusia that resemble the internecine bloodbaths still engulfing Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, and of the Arab Spring in Egypt and North Africa Continue reading →

Report EBC Annual General Meeting 10 October 2014

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There was a smaller number than usual for the 2014 Annual General Meeting of Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc. Some members for different reasons could not attend. But the meeting was no less enthusiastic and cheerful for the smaller number, as was the supper afterwards at the RACV bistro (see photos under ‘Gallery’ tab).

The President gave an account of the past year’s activities noting with satisfaction that the enthusiasm and commitment of members had not slackened. Overall there was much interest shown for Edmund Burke’s Club via the website and our Facebook page. The president noted the number of Spanish language names ‘liking’ the Facebook page. Our thanks for the interest from Spanish visitors whether from Spanish speaking countries or those in north America with a Spanish heritage. We are also delighted to see the high number of visits to the website from the US. Continue reading →