Australian Army boots politician
One of our fans in Australia send us a link to the story of Minister of Parliament Andrew Hastie. He was using a picture of himself in uniform in his campaign for office. The Australian Defense Force asked him to stop using that image, he refused, so they booted him from the Reserves;
Australian Defence Force members, including reservists, are banned from taking part in political activities while in uniform.
The ADF says its policy is designed to ensure the armed forces remain apolitical.
The image shows Mr Hastie in desert camouflage in Afghanistan in 2009 but also shows him holding newborn son Jonathan alongside his wife, Ruth, and is emblazoned with the slogan ‘not another politician’.
He has not taken down the image, which troops he commanded had taken, from posters and billboards.
‘It’s just a hint at, Hey, for the past 13 years, I’ve been serving in uniform’ and my formative experiences as a leader were with the Australian Defence Force,’ Mr Hastie told 6PR radio on Thursday.
‘I’m proud of that and I think it’s good to let taxpayers know that their money – a lot of it has gone into my professional development – has been well spent.’
Mr Hastie said the ADF had ‘used a bit of policy to try and push me around, basically’.
‘I had to decide whose authority I answered to. It was the people of Canning. As a federal parliamentarian, I don’t take orders from the military.’
The ADF is also trying to convince another politician of another party to do the same.
Category: Politics
makes ya wonder from the starting gate what rules/regulations/morals/ethics/laws he’ll think don’t apply to him
and speaking of Australia…I hit it.
Would you hit his old lady?
He may come to regret his Hastie decision.
“Mr Hastie said the ADF had ‘used a bit of policy to try and push me around, basically’.”
I observed long ago that when people begin or end a response with “basically,” the person is either full of shit or doesn’t know the answer to the question asked. In this case, the guy knows better. The policy is to keep the military and the civilian spheres separate. The rules or regs serve that policy by prohibiting the military uniform from being worn by candidates for public office. It has nothing to do with his service. Now, if the same rule were not equally applied to other candidates, I would understand his beef. This was just a bit of grandstanding on his part.
Back in 2013, the State Dept spokesman said, in answer to a direct question, that the US and Iran were not meeting when, in fact, they were. The video of that Q/A was cut from the press briefing video and there is now to be an investigation as to why it was cut and who ordered it to be cut. “That is basically because the secretary said he wants to dive deeper into this, look more into what happened, and try to get to the bottom of what happened.” That was a guy named Toner, the current State Dept spokesman. See what I mean about use of the word “basically?” It wasn’t the first word of the sentence but you get the point.
Usedtabe the story went that if you asked a Brit serving at an embass what his job was, if his answer started “well, actually” they were about to lie to you because they were a spook. Kinda like a salesman starting a sentence with ‘to tell the truth” or “honestly” – big flags.
Exactly. I find that the “smarter” bullshitters and ignoramuses favor “basically.” Lawyers are most fond of this word.
Whenever my ex-wife was lying, she always used the word “basically”… that’s why she’s my ex-wife.
Lighten up, Francis.
It’s just another way of saying “fundamentally” or “in a nutshell” or “the quick-and-dirty answer.” What it does is offer a verbal flag disclaimer that what you’re going to say is the simple version offered either as a courtesy due to time and brevity needs, or because the listener is a brain-damaged MFer who wouldn’t understand the longer form anyway. Basically.
Bye.
SO he doesn’t take orders from the military. Isn’t that Special????? If he does not follow the rules then how could one expect him to require others to live by them?
His billboard says, “Not another politician”. I take that to BASICALLY read. “I’m JUST another full-of-shit politician”.
As for hittin’ it, I’d have to see Mrs Hastie in a pastie….one will do fine thank you very much.