READER CONTRIBUTION

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Byter, friend and regular contributor of things varied and interesting, Steve M, sent me an email which I post below.

Steve’s email brought to mind some thoughts . . .

A US President once said "You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong,” It has commonly been misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, it was actually said by Ronald Reagan.

• An illustration of the above in practice was that in the late 1970’s, Queensland Premier Joh Bjekje-Petersen (often portrayed and crticised as a political buffoon), removed death duties, streamlined development approvals and introduced favourable treatment for developers. Many elderly moved to Queensland, boosting the State finances to such an extent that other States followed suit. Development, including construction of apartments and high rises, boomed, with consequent trickle down for other parts of society.

• Australia’s richest man, Kerry Packer, once said:

If a British guy saw someone at the wheel of a Rolls- Royce, he'd say 'come the revolution and we'll take that away from you, mate', where the American would say 'one day I'll have one of those, when I have worked hard enough'. It's unfortunate we Australians inherited the British mentality.

• Most recently, an indigenous player for the Diamonds, Australia’s national netball team, objected to wearing a team uniform featuring the logo of its sponsor, Hancock Prospecting. The reason was comments made about Australia’s First Nations people by the company’s owner, Lang Hancock. During a televised interview in 1984, Hancock said he’d “dope the water up so they were sterile and breed themselves out.” The player’s objections were backed by the team. Hancock’s daughter, Gina Rinehart (Australia’s richest woman, head of hancock Prospecting which had provided scholarships, cadetships and employment for First Nation members) said fair enough, I’ll take my $15m sponsorship and go somewhere else. Netball Australia is now in severe financial difficulty.

Which leads me to Steve’s email.

You may not agree with all of it, perhaps not any of it, or you may nod in agreement.

You may think that his words are even more apt today than when first spoken.

(I do).

Thoughts?

Thanks for sending, Steve.

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From Steve . . . 

This bloke makes so much sense

THOMAS SOWELL

He's still alive at 87 (now 92 - Otto), but retired. So we don't hear much from him these days. Sowell grew up in Harlem, served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, Masters from Columbia, economist, social theorist, philosopher, author, Senior Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University, National Humanities Medal, Francis Boyer award.

MANY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES ARE OPENLY OPPOSED TO PERMITTING MR. SOWELL TO LECTURE THEIR STUDENTS AND FACULTY.