Penny Wong for Prime Minister

That's right, I think the Labor Party should give the top job to Penny Wong until the next election. Why?
Because they're dead in the water anyway, so why not give the job to someone who has a hope of leading the party to election after a term out of office? And do they really think Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard could inspire enough confidence in the electorate to lead the party back after the chopping and changing of the last two years? Me neither, which is why, if they're going to consider dumping another leader now, they need to be thinking about the election after next.


Give Penny Wong a few months now to get used to what being prime minister entails. Give her a term as leader of the opposition when the Liberals take government at the next election, as they undoubtedly, but sadly, will. Then the country will have three years to get used to Penny and she will be a visible and viable option for the voters as next prime minister.


Now, before you start posting time-wasting comments, don't get me wrong. I am not:

• a Labor voter. I'm a swinging voter - I make up my mind on a one-off basis every single time I go to vote. My vote is cast for who I think will do the job best from the candidates on offer at the time, whether it's a local, state or federal election
• a feminist. I'm a 'people-ist'. Your gender is irrelevant if you can do the job properly.
• a gay lobbyist or closet gay. I just have no problem with having a gay prime minister. Again, it is irrelevant. What we need is someone who can do the job and do it properly. Sexuality, like gender, is irrelevant to this discussion.
• a political animal - these is simply my thoughts based on events of the last couple of years. Personally, I htink there's too much politics in politics, but sadly that's how it is and I can't change centuries of inherited tradition and behaviours. But I can think of ways to work around them!
• an admirer of Kevin Rudd.

However, what I am is:

• an admirer of Penny Wong's talent and personal bearing
• an admirer of mature, honest, hardworking people, particularly politicians
• an Australian who loves this country and just really wants some stable leadership which will take us into the 21st century.

So why do I think Labor are dead in the water?

1. Who in their right mind would vote for a party which axes its sitting leader when they hold the highest office in the country? This has nothing to do with liking or not liking Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, it's just plain political suicide!
2. Who in their right mind would vote for a party which then axes their sitting leader and replaces her with the original choice? I mean, seriously? Don't they have something more important than musical chairs to do? Like running the goddam country?!?!
3. Who in their right mind would vote for Kevin Rudd anyway, in light of what we now know and have seen? He's clearly a hypocrite. I mean, who goes to church on Sunday and then allows themselves to get pissed and be taken to strip clubs while overseas on official business? I'm sorry, those two forms of behaviour don't match for me. Your spiritual beliefs are your business, and if you want to get drunk and visit a strip club, fine, that's your business too. But don't parade your weekly holier-than-thou-look-at-me-I'm-going-to-church stuff for the cameras every Sunday when you're no holier than the rest of us.
4. Rudd's resignation speech as Foreign Minister last night was full of hypocritical holes. Take 'The truth is that the Australian people regard this whole affair as little better than a soap opera, and they are right. And under current circumstances, I won't be part of it.' What does 'under current circumstances' mean? I'll interpret for you. It means 'while I'm Foreign Minister', hence his resignation. He won't be part of a leadership challenge under current circumstances, so he'll change the circumstances and now he can contest the hot seat. And what about 'But I can promise you this, there is no way - no way - that I will ever be party to a stealth attack on a sitting prime minister elected by the people.We all know that what happened then was wrong, and it must never happen again.' Admirable, Kevin, admirable. But what that really means is, 'I'm getting ready to challenge. Julia wasn't elected by the people, so it's okay, it doesn't count.' If Labor manage to resurrect Rudd, then we will again face being led, for a short time, anyway, by a hypocritical, manipulative control freak. Just what every business needs. I mean, he's whingeing away about the faceless men who brought him down, and he resigns when he's overseas so he can come back and spend time gathering numbers with his own faceless men. Seriously? Grow a pair! Sorry, but Julia Gillard has got more balls than Kevin Rudd and I mean that in the nicest possible way, Julia.

Greg Combet got it right last night when he said 'enough is enough' and that Labor needs to get this sorted. What he forgot to add was 'and fast'. 

I dread the thought of Tony Abbott as our next prime minister. I would vote for Malcolm Turnbull - he's got business smarts and cares about our environmental future, which are two qualities I look for when voting - but the Liberals wouldn't dare do a dumping now in light of what they've said about Labor over the last couple of years. 

So where does that leave us? Oh yeah, Penny Wong!

Let's give Penny a go, and soon. She's:

• intelligent
• articulate
• educated
• understanding of minority issues
• honest and open
• got a nice voice, to boot.

Penny Wong for Prime Minister.

Because Australia needs it. And now.

Vote for her on Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Penny-Wong-for-Prime-Minister/335033339873430?sk=wall

Writing at Work - Ellis Morgan - Global eBook Awards review

To perform my 'judging duties' for the Global eBook Awards, I had to read ebooks - lots of them - over several weeks earlier this year. At first, I was a bit concerned that I might end up reading a load of rubbish, but we got off to a great start with Writing at Work - A quick and easy guide to grammar and effective business writing, by Ellis Morgan, published by UK's Dormouse Press. Well, I know what you're probably thinking: 'Yaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnn ...' But you'd be wrong. Ms Ellis is a proponent of plain English, which makes this book not only a neat, straightforward and very helpful read for the average busy business person, but also a must-have for the world's verbose and unnecessarily wordy writers (and tautologists) such as myself! This is not one of your dry, boring text books, it's a handy reference book for anyone that has to write anything for work - whether it be a letter or email, or something meatier such as a report, brochure or website. Despite being an IPEd Accredited Editor and having attended quite a few courses and workshops over the years, complemented by much reading on writing, there are still little things which pass me by from time to time, or of which I need to be reminded, so I found this book surprisingly helpful even for my own needs. And it has fun bits, too! For instance, did you know that a group of geese on the ground or water is a gaggle of geese, but once they take off and are in the air, they should then be referred to as a skein of geese? I kid you not.This book is not large, it's not a tome, it's a quick reference guide that's meant to stay handy and be read quickly from time to time as a refreshing reminder of what those poor old school m'ams were trying to get into our thick heads all those years ago!The only comment I do need to make is that you will probably find this more useful if you are writing for a British/UK or Australian audience, but not a US one, due to the different spellings and forms that exists between the two markets. But if you need to write anything at any time, this book is a good little investment.           
  

How to create a Facebook page for your business - ebook

I've finally done it! Last week I managed to release my little step-by-step, or rather, click-by-click, guide to building yourself a Facebook business page.


If you own a small business, or represent a band, an artist, or some form of charity or other group, a Facebook business page is a great way to help promote that thing, to get a following for it, to keep the fans involved and informed. And what's more - it's free.


While Google has Google+ and Google Circles, the Google users seem to be a different type of audience to the Facebook audience, and with over 800 million registered users, the Facebook community certainly is an audience that's worth targeting.


How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business (ISBN 978-0-9872551-0-5) contains more than 100 Facebook-approved screenshots and is currently available in ePub (which can be read using Nook, Stanza, Kobo, Adobe Digital Editions and similar programs) or in full-colour, printable PDF. 


Special offer - discount code
Regular retail price is $4.99 (all ebooks retailed on The MoshShop are listed at under $5) but if you want to purchase either e-version before 31 March 2012, just use discount code FB803103 to get 80% off. In other words, get it for $0.99 while stocks last!! :)


It should soon be available on Kobo as an ePub, and if demand warrants it, we will look to developing a print-on-demand version, but due to cost, this will be in black and white.


One thing to remember is that Facebook are continually updating their platform and systems, so what's published today regarding Facebook can be out of date within six months - hence the decision to release e-versions and print-on-demand. So if you purchase this book and find that when you use it, something has changed, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know so that I can include the changes in updated versions as time goes by.


Happy reading - see you on Facebook!