text:
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Use
FAIL (the browser should render some flash content, not this).
View our Latest Press Releases. Subscribe to the TMAP email
list if you would like to be notified of new postings on the site.
Click here to subscribe to the TMAP email list.
Our Next President is a Product?
Our Next President is a Product?
This article originally appeared in the Texarkana Gazette on October 26, 2008
Dr. Robert Owen, Associate Professor of Marketing, Texas A&M-Texarkana College of Business
What do John McCain and Barack Obama have in common with an automobile? Well, from my perspective as a marketer, they're merely products on the market, no different from automobiles that get promoted on billboards and TV. I sometimes wonder, however, if people put more thought into selecting their next automobile than they put into selecting the next president, representative to Congress, or county officials.
In the marketing courses that I teach at the university, we spend the first day thinking about how anything can be marketed as long as it can be classified as a product. A lot of people have the idea that we can only market physical things. If something is being promoted, but it isn't a physical thing and you don't pay money for it, then how can it be a product?
To understand how ideas, places, and people get "marketed" just the same as physical things, we have to start with the concept of a product. Take an automobile. It is a physical thing that could be shaped like a zippy sports car, like a muscle-bound pick-up truck, like a luxury sedan, or like a kid-hauling SUV. This product can be designed and built to have the physical features of any of these alternatives. Automobiles are distributed via a network of dealerships. Some automobiles are pricey, some downright cheesy. And to let people know what each marketer has for sale, automobiles are promoted on billboard advertising, TV commercials, and through the guidance of showroom salespeople.
The end result for the marketer who got it all right is an exchange in which the seller gets $20,000 and the buyer gets a physical thing that makes him/her feel safe, that gets him/her to work on time, and that projects an appropriate image of status for the next several years.
So can we design and build a political candidate just the same as we do with automobiles? How does a marketer, say, price a political candidate, how does the buyer pay, and what is being exchanged?
Just as an auto maker tries to design a car with features that will appeal to the greatest number of people, different political candidates also are chosen and prepped to meet the needs of the greatest number of people. You and I probably don't completely agree on what we like about different kinds of cars and we probably don't completely agree about what we like about each of the folks on each presidential ticket. Just like two makers of cars, each presidential ticket is trying to come up with some combination of features that will appeal to the most number of people. The car maker and the president maker have to try to design a product that has the biggest combination of features that both you and I and lots of other people like.
But if an American voter likes the features of one ticket better than the other, how is a purchase made -- and what is being exchanged? When you buy a car, you make a cash payment in exchange not so much for the physical thing, but for the promise of safety, reliability, and status that this thing is expected to provide for the next several years. It works exactly the same when you cast a vote for a political candidate: you give the candidate your vote in exchange for the promises that the political candidate made with regard to health care policy, foreign policy, the economy, and such.
If the car fails over time to meet your expectations for safety, reliability, or status, you probably won't replace it with another car of the same make. If the political candidate fails over time to meet your expectations, you probably won't cast a vote to keep that person in office, and might even decide not to cast votes for other members of the political party. If your local representative to Congress isn't responsive to your personal needs or concerns, the end result is the same as if the local dealership isn't responsive to your needs: you won't make a repeat purchase. If instead you have never had any bad experiences personally, perhaps you would be hesitant to consider promotions asking you to switch brands or to switch parties.
As we near election day, consider each candidate for every office with the same amount of thought that you would put into buying a new car. If you only bought the car because you like the new car smell, what happens after the smell wears off in a few months? If you stay with or you switch from the brand that you currently drive, does that decision necessarily give you a more or less reliable car for the next few years?
Dr. Bob Owen is Associate Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M University-Texarkana.


text:
megan lara, labyrinth, nouveau, art nouveau, mucha, jareth, hoggle, ludo, ambrosius
megan lara, labyrinth, nouveau, art nouveau, mucha, jareth, hoggle, ludo, ambrosius
I'm Megan: a 25 year-old illustrator with a ridiculous fixation on pop culture. You can find my work at places like Quantum Mechanix, ThinkGeek, Threadless, Level Up Studios, J!nx, Fangamer, Mighty Fine, Teefury and the Yetee. Currently I am creating covers for Dark Horse/Joss Whedon's new "Willow" comic series from the Buffyverse.
View Full ProfileLOVE IT! It's breathtakingly beautiful!
That is absolutely stunning.
One of the loveliest designs I have EVER seen… totally had to buy it for someone I love! THAAANKYEW!
I've just ordered 4 of your shirts (this one included!) and I can't wait to get them :D
I grew up with that movie x3 what an amazing design!
wow amazing colors. well done.
no poster? poo.

subset: commoncrawl


text: ObsMedia is an initiative of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC). The main purpose of this site is to help monitor alerts on freedom of expression affecting media worldwide, and to inform on regulations advances and setbacks in the recognition of community media. By providing updated information on the status of community radio and fostering information sharing, ObsMedia supports the development of community broadcasting as well as the action towards their recognition.


text:
Colin Williams – Private Sector Sales and Marketing
Colin has held sales, marketing and senior management roles in companies such as Glaxo, H.J.Heinz, Reckitt Benkiser and Alberto Culver.
Colin has also been very successful in an SME environment where he has completed company turnarounds, re-structuring, acquisitions, and built businesses for either sale or future growth. As an example, Colin took one company from a position of very severe financial problems to a profitable sale. He assisted the owners of another company to sell by restructuring the business relaunching many of the brands, helping to add over 50% to the value of the company in just 18 months.
He has recently returned to a business that had been allowed to stagnate. In less than 2 years as Managing Director it has been restructured and refocused, saving significant overheads and rebuilding it ready for further acquisitions to take place.
Colin is also very experienced in the International marketplace having launched brands successfully in many markets around the world and been Chairman of a European Independent Group of Distributors. Colin has held Managing Director/Chief Executive Roles in Fast Moving Consumer Goods for over 15 years and is a past Director of the Cosmetics, Toiletry & Perfumery Association, representing SME companies on the Industry body.


text:
The Lewis Wehrmeyer Family Home PageUpdated July 31, 2002 |
I am researching the WEHRMEYER family from Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. Lewis Wehrmeyer born in Grant County Kentucky on 1 May 1859 is the 4th child of John Henry and Anna Louisa (PALMEYER)Wehrmeyer who came to the U.S. from Germany. His sisters were Caroline (LUSK/BORDER)born 17 September 1852 in Cincinnati, Hamilton Cty,Ohio; Juli born 12 October 1854 and Mari(GERKS OR GIRKE)born 21 January 1861 in Kentucky. His brothers were George born 2 January 1854(married Bell PHILLIPS 24 September 1890) and John born 22 January 1863(married Mary KIRK 16 May, 1889. I don't know where the family was before the birth of Caroline in Cincinnati, OH. Family rumors are they were loggers and came from New Orleans. Have nothing to support this rumor. |
Mary Beth Wisniewski |
Edit Your Page |
The content shown on this page has been submitted by a Genealogy.com customer, and is not subject to verification by Genealogy.com. Neither Genealogy.com nor its affiliates are responsible for the accuracy of any information contained on this page. The opinions expressed on this page are the author's alone and not the opinions of Genealogy.com.
© 2009 Ancestry.com |


text:
Back in the day, my little brother had this rubber snake that he bought at one of those toy stores you stroll into on family vacation in Rehoboth Beach.
All of the feels.
Colorado-based YouTube prankster Justin Stuart came up with one of those "do something obnoxious somewhere on a college campus and see how people react" videos that are so popular with the kids these days.
Watch as that iPhone that people own ends up owning them thanks to the simplest of things: a little thing known as the notification ringtone.
A++ work to this Jersey bro with a muddy Jeep why you should never park like an asshole.
How do people react when a baby stroller with a fake baby falls off a pier into the ocean.
Very few things are funnier than almost inducing a seizure or heart attack in someone by shocking them awake when they're fast asleep.
If you're the type of person who doesn't ready Playboy for the articles, you might recall the name Amanda Cerny.
uess how many times she gets denied by these European dudes.
YouTube is a big opportunity for the enterprising youngster with an idea and the free time to execute it.


text:
4965 Dorchester Road, North Charleston, SC
(843) 744-5345
Free Design Consultation
| Showroom hours Mon-Fri 9-5 Tue until 7 or
by appointment
Exterior Deck
Powder Room
Foyers & Entrance Ways
Pool Decks
Interior Accent Wall
Living Room
Dining Room
Beveled Subway Tile Backsplash
This beveled subway tile backsplash is so clean and classic! With soft color tones on the cabinets, this clean white beveled subway tile really pops! One can never go wrong with the classic choice of beveled subway tile for a kitchen backsplash!
Inquire about Beveled Subway Tile Backsplash
Click here to book your Free Design Consultation now.


text:
Thank for the laughSubmitted by Retired Firefighter (not verified) on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 11:38pm.
Guest99x...You killing me smalls, you killing me. You haven't proved or disporved anything other than you know how to use Google. I know Dennis. He used to stop by "the big house" for coffee from time to time. He had some great stories of fires in the Bronx during the 1950's and 1960's. My wife lost her brother on Squad 18 on September 11, 2001. I lost my cousin on Rescue 3 the same day. I attended 54 masses and wakes in 38 days. Doesn't make me special but I have not hid the fact that I am an asshole. But how many people have you pulled out of a burning building when you are not manning up on here? You know how many medals and citations I had when I served? None. I am not a fag, so, I never went to "Medal Day" to have my decorations confered. What I haven't said is I want a new police chief and the moment he gets replaced by an current employee, scream cover up. I haven't screamed scandal out one side of my mouth while chanting I support the police out of the other side. When the SBI investigation determines Jayne is cleared of any wrong doings or criminal actions, guess that is a scandal of "brothers looking after brothers," right? I have not seen one person on these rants and raves yet say I am going to go sign up to get trained, try to get hired and attempt to make a change and difference from the inside or first hand. What I have seen on here is a lot of seriously unhappy people who are extremely paranoid about someone or something is out to get them. Throw away your tinfoil hats and take a pill. Not everyone is out to get you and after talking with my buddy down there, sounds like Sherry didn't have it to go as an officer anyways. If Sherry is as righteous as you guys claim she is, why would she wanna work in Leland? Why not go work for Wilmington PD or Fayetteville PD or Durham PD. Somewhere where you are gonna do some work and not just skate by or be a yard breather. Anyways, if you are not doing anything wrong, you got nothing to worry about. Including jayne. Including kblue and even pickey. And even you 99x. Sgt Coward...Your type is always the same man. Hang back at the bar fights a little. Not put your hands on someone resisting. You know the drill. People will remember that kind of shit when you are trying to switch shifts for a vacation, or your kids little league game or your daughters recital. Be a really bad day if you called for help(given you actually put hands on criminals) and no one showed up. Yard breathers, like you, always knock themselves out of the box sooner or later. Hope you don't get any of your "brothers" killed in the mean time. Hey Chef....sorry man, but failing to make the connection of Cain and Able to this thread. I know Cain whacked Able because of Cain's jealousy of Able. But not sure what you were inferring, implying or saying. Able to shed some insight? »
Reply |


text:
Give Now
WFIU Public Radio
WTIU Public Television
Choose which station to support!
From Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" to the hooded captive at Abu Ghraib, Cookman traces the photojournalist's desire to effect a change for good.
What is RSS? RSS makes it possible to subscribe to a website's updates instead of visiting it by delivering new posts to your RSS reader automatically. Choose to receive some or all of the updates from Indiana Public Media Arts & Music:
More Events »Submit Your Event »


text:
Travira 5-Piece Teak Outdoor Dining Set By Oxford Garden
Travira Teak Outdoor Dining Set
The classic yet sleek look of this set makes it suitable for any outdoor dinning situation. The light grey metallic powder coated lightweight aluminum frames combined with the sling seats and backs move and stack easily.
- Slotted table top crafted of beautiful teak, includes 1 5/8in umbrella hole cap
- Leg end caps provide protection from marring and scratching of surfaces
- Durable stainless steel powder coated frames resist weathering
- Teak weathers to a silver gray color and requires little maintenance
- Teak oil can be used to maintain color
- Rust resistant hardware
- Aluminum/Teak
- Stackable and lightweight chairs
- Chair frame includes an integrated handle for easy movement and stacking
- Sculpted wood armcaps of teak add contrast and warmth
- Composite sling fabric is comfortable, resists stains and weathering
- Assembly Required
Set Includes:
- TV39TA - Travira Table
- TVCHS - Travira Armchair
- Table - 40" L x 40" W x 29.5" H (28lbs)
- Chairs - 22" x 21.5" Back To Front x 33.5" H, 17" Seat Height (14lbs)


text: Presidential Image Gallery First Lady Caroline Harrison Source: The Library of Congress When her husband Benjamin Harrison became President in 1889, First Lady Caroline Harrison was appalled at the living conditions in the White House. The presidential mansion was cramped, shabby, and overrun with rats. She combated the rats by releasing an army of ferrets throughout the house, bought new curtains and furniture, renovated the kitchen, laid new floors, and installed private baths, electric lighting, and a new heating system. ← Return to Benjamin Harrison Gallery Presidents George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Harrison John Tyler James K. Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush Barack Obama


text:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article
The Honourable Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen KCMG | |
31st Premier of Queensland | |
In office 8 August 1968 – 1 December 1987 | |
Preceded by | Gordon Chalk |
Succeeded by | Mike Ahern |
Personal details | |
Born | Dannevirke, New Zealand | 13 January 1911
Died | 23 April 2005 Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia | (aged 94)
Political party | Country/National Party of Australia |
Spouse(s) | Florence Bjelke-Petersen |
Religion | Lutheran |
The Honourable Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen KCMG | |
31st Premier of Queensland | |
In office 8 August 1968 – 1 December 1987 | |
Preceded by | Gordon Chalk |
Succeeded by | Mike Ahern |
Personal details | |
Born | Dannevirke, New Zealand | 13 January 1911
Died | 23 April 2005 Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia | (aged 94)
Political party | Country/National Party of Australia |
Spouse(s) | Florence Bjelke-Petersen |
Religion | Lutheran |
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG (/ˈbiː(j)ɛlkiːpitəsn/, 13 January 1911 – 23 April 2005) was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland,[1] holding office from 1968 to 1987, during which time the state enjoyed considerable economic development.[2] His uncompromising conservatism (including his role in the downfall of the Whitlam federal government), his political longevity, and his leadership of a government that, in its later years, was revealed to be institutionally corrupt, made him one of the best-known and most controversial political figures of 20th century Australia.
Bjelke-Petersen's Country (later National) Party controlled Queensland despite consistently receiving the smallest number of votes out of the state's leading three parties, achieving the result through a notorious system of electoral malapportionment that resulted in rural votes having a greater value than those cast in city electorates.[3][4] The effect earned Bjelke-Petersen the nickname of "the Hillbilly Dictator". Yet he was a highly popular figure among conservative voters and over the course of his 19 years as premier he trebled the number of people who voted for his party and doubled the party's percentage vote, reducing his Liberal coalition partners to a mere six seats in the 1983 election. In 1985 Bjelke-Petersen launched a campaign to move into federal politics to become prime minister, though the campaign was eventually aborted.
Bjelke-Petersen was a divisive premier and earned himself a reputation as a "law and order" politician with his repeated use of police force against street demonstrators[4] and strongarm tactics with trade unions, leading to frequent descriptions of Queensland under his leadership as a police state. From 1987 his administration came under the scrutiny of a royal commission into police corruption and its links with state government ministers; Bjelke-Petersen was unable to recover from the series of damaging findings and after initially resisting a party vote that replaced him as leader, resigned from politics on 1 December 1987. Two of his state ministers, as well as the police commissioner Bjelke-Petersen had appointed and later knighted, were jailed for corruption offences and in 1991 Bjelke-Petersen, too, was tried for perjury over his evidence to the royal commission; the jury failed to reach a verdict and Bjelke-Petersen was deemed too old to face a second trial.
Bjelke-Petersen was born in Dannevirke in the southern Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand,[5] and lived in Waipukurau, a small town in Hawke's Bay. Bjelke-Petersen's parents were both Danish immigrants, and his father, Carl (known to the family as George), was a Lutheran pastor. In 1913 the family moved to Australia, establishing a farm, "Bethany", near Kingaroy in south-eastern Queensland.[6]
The young Bjelke-Petersen suffered from polio, leaving him with a lifelong limp. The family was poor, and Carl Bjelke-Petersen was frequently in poor health. Bjelke-Petersen finished formal schooling at age 14 to work with his mother on the farm, though he later enrolled in correspondence school and later undertook a University of Queensland extension course on the "Art of Writing". He taught Sunday school, delivered sermons regularly in nearby towns and joined the Kingaroy debating society.[7] In 1933, Bjelke-Petersen began work land-clearing and peanut farming on the family's newly acquired second property. His efforts eventually allowed him to begin work as a contract land-clearer and to acquire further capital which he invested in farm equipment and natural resource exploration. He developed a technique for quickly clearing scrub by connecting a heavy anchor chain between two bulldozers. By the time he was 30, he was a prosperous farmer and businessman.[7] Obtaining a pilot's licence early in his adult life, Bjelke-Petersen also started aerial spraying and grass seeding to further speed up pasture development in Queensland.[8]
After failing in a 1944 plebiscite[citation needed] against the sitting member to gain Country Party endorsement in the state seat of Nanango, Bjelke-Petersen was elected in 1946 to the Kingaroy Shire Council, where he developed a profile in the Country Party.[9] With the support of local federal member and shire council chairman Sir Charles Adermann and Sir Frank Nicklin, he gained Country Party endorsement for Nanango and was elected a year later at age 36, going on to give regular radio talks and becoming secretary of the local Nationals branch.[9] (The seat of Nanango was abolished in 1950 and from 1950 to 1987 he was member for Barambah). The Australian Labor Party (ALP) had held power in Queensland since 1932 and Bjelke-Petersen spent eleven years as an opposition member.
In 1952, Bjelke-Petersen married typist Florence "Flo" Gilmour, who would later become a significant political figure in her own right. In 1957, following a split in the Labor Party, the Country Party under Nicklin came to power, with the Liberal Party as a junior coalition partner.
In 1963 Frank Nicklin appointed Bjelke-Petersen as minister for works and housing,[10] a portfolio that gave him the opportunity to bestow favours and earn the loyalty of backbenchers by approving construction of schools, police stations and public housing in their electorates.[11] He also served as acting minister for education, police, Aboriginal and Island Affairs, local government and conservation and labour and industry.[11]
Nicklin retired in January 1968 and was succeeded as Premier and Country Party leader by Jack Pizzey; Liberal leader Gordon Chalk was Deputy Premier and Bjelke-Petersen was elected unopposed as deputy Country Party leader. On 1 July 1968, after just seven months in office, Pizzey suffered a heart attack and died. Although Chalk was sworn in as caretaker premier, Bjelke-Petersen—elected Country Party leader within days—refused to form a coalition government unless he led it. The Country Party had 27 seats in Parliament; the Liberals had 20. After seven days Chalk accepted the inevitable and Bjelke-Petersen became Premier on 8 August 1968. He remained Police Minister.[11][12]
Within months of becoming premier, Bjelke-Petersen encountered his first controversy over allegations of conflict of interest. In April 1959, while still a backbencher, he had paid ₤2 for an Authority to Prospect, giving him the right to search for oil over 150,000 km2 near Hughenden in far north Queensland. The next month he incorporated a company, Artesian Basin Oil Co. Pty Ltd, of which he was sole director and shareholder, and the same day entered an agreement to sell 51% of the company's shares to an American company for ₤12,650. The following day he sought the consent of Mines Minister Ernie Evans to transfer the oil search authority to Artesian for ₤2; the consent was given a week later. When the Taxation Commissioner's ruled that the ₤12,650 windfall from the ₤2 authority was a taxable profit, Bjelke-Petersen appealed, eventually taking the matter to the High Court. The appeal was dismissed, with Justice Taylor ruling that Bjelke-Petersen's six million percent gain from the ₤2 authority arose from "a profit-making undertaking". In 1962 Artesian transferred its Authority to Prospect to a new company, Exoil NL, for ₤190,000, and Bjelke-Petersen in turn bought a million shares in Exoil. On 1 September 1968, three weeks after becoming premier, Bjelke-Petersen's government gave two companies, Exoil NL and Transoil NL—in both of which he was a major shareholder—six-year leases to prospect for oil on the Great Barrier Reef north of Cooktown. Opposition Leader Jack Houston revealed the Premier's financial involvement in the companies at a press conference in March 1969, where he asserted Bjelke-Petersen had gained "fabulous wealth" from the ₤2 prospecting authority, which had now mushroomed into Exoil shares worth $720,000. Bjelke-Petersen said he had done nothing wrong, but resigned his directorship of Artesian in favour of his wife.[12]
The Country-Liberal coalition was returned to power in the 1969 Queensland election, with the state's system of electoral malapportionment delivering the Country Party 26 seats—a third of the parliament's 78 seats—from 21.1% of the primary vote, the Liberals taking 19 seats from 23.7% of the vote and the Labor Party's 45.1% share of the vote leaving it with 31 seats.
Further controversy followed. In June 1970 it was revealed that a number of Queensland government ministers and senior public servants, as well as Florence Bjelke-Petersen, had bought shares in the public float of Comalco, a mining company that had direct dealings with the government and senior ministers. The shares finished their first day of trading at double the price the ministers had paid. Bjelke-Petersen again rejected claims of a conflict of interest, but the Country Party state branch changed its policy to forbid the acceptance of preferential share offers by ministers or members of parliament.[13][14] The Country Party lost a by-election in the seat of Albert and by October a plan was hatched by nervous MPs to remove Bjelke-Petersen as leader and replace him with Ron Camm. Bjelke-Petersen spent the night and the next morning calling MPs to bolster support, surviving a party room vote by a margin of one, after producing a proxy vote of an MP who was overseas and uncontactable. Plans by Country Party members to support a Labor Party vote of no confidence in parliament were quashed after the intervention of party president Robert Sparkes, who warned that any who voted against the Premier would lose their party endorsement.[13][14]
Bjelke-Petersen seized on the controversial visit of the Springboks, the South African rugby union team, in 1971 to consolidate his position as leader with a display of force.[15] The Springboks' matches in southern states had already been disrupted by anti-apartheid demonstrations and a match in Brisbane was scheduled for 24 July 1971, the date of two Queensland by-elections. On 14 July Bjelke-Petersen declared a month-long state of emergency covering the entire state, giving the government almost unlimited power to quell what the government said was expected to be "a climax of violent demonstrations".[15][16][17] Six hundred police were transported to Brisbane from elsewhere in the state.[18] In the week before the match, 40 trade unions staged a 24-hour strike, protesting against the proclamation. A crowd of demonstrators also mounted a peaceful protest outside the Springboks' Wickham Terrace motel and were chased on foot by police moments after being ordered to retreat, with many police attacking the crowd with batons, boots and fists.[16] It was one a series of violent attacks by police on demonstrators during the Springboks' visit to Queensland.[19] The football game was played to a crowd of 7000 behind a high barbed-wire fence without incident.[15] The state of emergency, which gave the government the appearance of being strong-willed and decisive,[15] helped steer the government to victory in both by-elections held on match day. A Police Special Branch member, Don "Shady" Lane was one of those elected, becoming a political ally of the Premier.[20] Bjelke-Petersen praised police for their "restraint" during the demonstrations and rewarded the police union for its support with an extra week's leave for every officer in the state.[18] Bjelke-Petersen later described the tension over of the Springboks' tour as "great fun, a game of chess in the political arena". The crisis, he said, "put me on the map".[21]
The following May—six months before the landslide federal win by the Labor Party under Gough Whitlam—the Country-Liberal coalition gained another comprehensive state election victory: Bjelke-Petersen's party took 26 seats with 20% of the vote, the Liberals took 21 seats with a 22.2% share of the vote and Labor got 33 seats from 46.7%. It was the first state election to be fought following a 1971 electoral redistribution that added four seats to the parliament and created four electoral zones with a weightage towards rural seats, with the result that while Brisbane electorates averaged about 22,000 voters, some rural seats such as Gregory and Balonne had fewer than 7000.[3]
From 1971, under the guidance of newly hired press secretary Allen Callaghan, a former Australian Broadcasting Corporation political journalist, Bjelke-Petersen developed a high level of sophistication in dealing with news media. He held daily media conferences where he joked that he "fed the chooks", established direct telex links to newsrooms where he could feed professionally-written media releases and became adept at distributing press releases on deadline so journalists had very little chance to research news items.[22] The Premier's public profile rose rapidly with the resulting media coverage.[23] Bjelke-Petersen began regular media and parliamentary attacks on the Whitlam Labor government, vowing to have it defeated, and he and Whitlam exchanged frequent verbal barbs, culminating in the prime minister's 1975 description of the Queensland premier as "a Bible-bashing bastard ... a paranoic, a bigot and fanatical".[24] The pair clashed over federal plans to halt the sale of Queensland coal to Japan, take over the administration of Aboriginal affairs, remove outback petrol subsidies and move the Australian border in the Torres Strait southwards to a point midway between Queensland and Papua New Guinea. Bjelke-Petersen also vehemently opposed the Whitlam government's proposal for Medicare, a publicly funded universal health care system. The battles helped to consolidate Bjelke-Petersen's power as he used the media to emphasise a distinctive Queensland identity he alleged was under threat from the "socialist" federal government.[25]
The Queensland government bought a single-engine aircraft for the Premier's use in November 1971, upgrading it to a twin-engine aircraft in 1973 and even bigger model in 1975. Bjelke-Petersen, a licensed pilot, used it often to visit far-flung parts of the state to campaign and boost his public profile.[26]
In April 1974, in a bid to broaden its appeal beyond rural voters, the Country Party changed its name to the National Party.[27]
In April 1974 Bjelke-Petersen outmanoeuvred Whitlam after the prime minister offered Democratic Labor Party senator Vince Gair, a bitter opponent of the government, the position of ambassador to Ireland as a way of creating an extra vacant Senate position in Queensland. Whitlam, who lacked a majority in the Senate, hoped Gair's seat would be won by his Labor Party. But when the arrangement was disclosed by newspapers before Gair had resigned from the Senate, Bjelke-Petersen's colleagues in Canberra immediately devised a strategy[citation needed] in which Gair's seat would be declared a casual vacancy, allowing the Queensland government to fill the vacancy until the next federal election, thus blocking the ALP move to control the Senate. In Canberra, the Opposition conspired to keep Gair away from the Senate President (to whom Gair had not yet give his resignation) and ensured he voted in a Senate debate late that night to avoid any move to backdate the resignation.[28] At 5.15pm the Queensland Cabinet met to pass a "flying minute" and advised the Governor, Sir Colin Hannah, to issue writs for five, rather than six, vacancies, denying Labor the chance of gaining Gair's Senate spot.[29] Labor argued that Gair's appointment, and hence his departure from the senate, was effective from no later than when the Irish government accepted his appointment, in March. This was a matter of protracted debate in the Senate over many days, and was never resolved, but it was rendered irrelevant when Whitlam called a double dissolution of both Houses, in an election gamble he only narrowly won.
In October 1974 Bjelke-Petersen called an early state election for 7 December, declaring it would be fought on "the alien and stagnating, centralist, socialist, communist-inspired policies of the federal Labor government".[30] The premier visited 70 towns and cities in the five-week campaign and attracted record crowds to public meetings. The result was a spectacular rout for the Labor Party as a 16.5 percent swing to the coalition left it with just 11 of the state's 82 seats. The only seat Labor retained north of Rockhampton was Cairns, by fewer than 200 votes. The National Party, contesting its first state election under the new name and fielding candidates in just 48 seats, lifted its vote from 19.7 percent to 28 percent, creating a threat for the Liberal Party, and also picked up a number of city seats including its first in Brisbane, the eastern suburbs seat of Wynnum. The Australian newspaper named Bjelke-Petersen, whom it described as the "undistinguished" Queensland premier, "Australian of the Year", citing "the singular impact he has exerted on national political life".[30]
In 1975 Bjelke-Petersen played what turned out to be a key role in the political crisis that brought down the Whitlam government. When Labor Senator Bertie Milliner died suddenly in June 1975, Bjelke-Petersen requested from the Labor Party a short list of three nominees, from which he would pick one.[29] The ALP refused to supply such a list, instead nominating Mal Colston, an unsuccessful Labor candidate in the 1970 election, whom Bjelke-Petersen duly rejected. On 3 September Bjelke-Petersen announced that he had selected political novice Albert Field, a long-time ALP member who was critical of the Whitlam government.[29] Field's appointment was the subject of a High Court challenge and he took leave in late 1975. During this period, the Coalition led by Malcolm Fraser declined to allot a pair to balance Field's absence. This gave the Coalition control over the Senate. Fraser used that control to obstruct passage of the Supply Bills through Parliament, denying Whitlam's then-unpopular government the legal capacity to appropriate funds for government business and leading to his dismissal as Prime Minister.[29] During the tumultuous election campaign precipitated by Whitlam's dismissal by Sir John Kerr, Bjelke-Petersen alleged that Queensland police investigations had uncovered damaging documentation in relation to the Loans Affair. This documentation was never made public and these allegations remained unsubstantiated.[29]
Over heated objections by Treasurer Gordon Chalk,[31] Bjelke-Petersen in 1977 announced the removal of state death duties, a move that cost his state $30 million in revenue. So many New South Wales and Victorian residents sought to establish their permanent address in Queensland as a result, boosting state coffers with stamp duty from property transactions, that other states followed suit within months and also abolished the tax.[32] To help compensate for lost revenue, the government introduced football pools; four years later the government granted a casino licence on the Gold Coast, although this too was mired in allegations of corruption and favouritism.[33]
Issues of police powers and civil liberties, first raised at the time of the 1971 Springboks tour, resurfaced in July 1976 with a major street demonstration in which more than a thousand university students marched towards the Brisbane city centre to demand better allowances from the federal government. Police stopped the march in Coronation Drive and television cameras captured an incident during the confrontation in which a police inspector struck a 20-year-old female protester over the head with his baton, injuring her. When Police Commissioner Ray Whitrod announced he would hold an inquiry, a move supported by Police Minister Max Hodges, Bjelke-Petersen declared there would be no inquiry. He told reporters he was tired of radical groups believing they could take over the streets. Police officers passed a motion at a meeting commending the premier for his "distinct stand against groups acting outside the law" and censured Whitrod. A week later Bjelke-Petersen relieved Hodges of his police portfolio.[34][35] Secure in the knowledge that they had the Premier's backing, police officers continued to act provocatively, most notably in a military-style raid on a hippie commune at the Cedar Bay commune in Far North Queensland late the following month.[36] The police, who had been looking for marijuana, set fire to the residents' houses and destroyed their property.
Bjelke-Petersen rejected calls for an inquiry into the raid, declaring the government would believe the police and claiming the public clamour was "all part of an orchestrated campaign to legalise marijuana and denigrate the police". In defiance of the premier, Whitrod went ahead with an inquiry anyway and on 16 November ordered summonses be issued against four police officers on more than 25 charges, including arson. He chose the same day to announce that he was quitting his post. Whitrod claimed his resignation marked a victory for the forces of corruption, but said he had decided to quit rather than tolerate further political interference by the premier and new Police Minister Tom Newbery. Whitrod said Queensland showed signs of becoming a police state and he compared the growing political interference in law enforcement to the rise of the German Nazi state.[34] Whitrod was replaced by Assistant Commissioner Terry Lewis, despite Whitrod's warning to the Police Minister that he was corrupt.[37]
In 1977, Bjelke-Petersen announced that "the day of street marches is over", warning protesters: "Don't bother applying for a march permit. You won't get one. That's government policy now!"[38] Liberal parliamentarians crossed the floor defending the right of association and assembly.[39] One Liberal MP, Colin Lamont, told a meeting at the University of Queensland that the premier was engineering confrontation for electoral purposes and was confronted two hours later by an angry Bjelke-Petersen who said he was aware of the comments. Lamont later said he learned the Special Branch had been keeping files on Liberal rebels and reporting, not to their Commissioner, but directly to the Premier, commenting: "The police state had arrived."[39] When, after two ugly street battles between police and right-to-march protesters, the Uniting Church Synod called on the government to change the march law, Bjelke-Petersen accused the clergy of "supporting communists". His attack sparked a joint political statement by four other major religious denominations, which was shrugged off by the premier.[32]
The government's increasingly hardline approach to civil liberties prompted Queensland National Party president Robert Sparkes to warn the party that it was developing a dangerous "propaganda-created" ultra-conservative, almost fascist image. He told a party conference: "We must studiously avoid any statements or actions which suggest an extreme right-wing posture."[32] Bjelke-Petersen ignored the advice. He condemned the use of Australian foreign aid to prop up communist regimes, urged Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to stop criticising the governments of South Africa and Rhodesia and from 1977 proposed Queensland secede from Australia and establish its own currency.[32] He also accused political opponents of being covert communists bent on anarchy, observing: "I have always found ... you can campaign on anything you like but nothing is more effective than communism ... If he's a Labor man, he's a socialist and a very dangerous man."[40]
Three weeks before the 1977 state election 400 demonstrators were arrested in what a Melbourne newspaper called "Joh's War". Aided by an electoral redistribution that removed two Liberal-held seats, the Nationals won 35 out of 82 seats, compared with 24 for the Liberals and 23 for a resurgent Labor Party. It was the first time in Queensland political history the Nationals had outpolled the Liberals. Bjelke-Petersen used the party's strength to move key Cabinet posts that had long held by the Liberals into the hands of National Party ministers.[32] In October 1978 thousands of demonstrators again attempted to defy anti-march laws with a protest march in Albert St, Brisbane, which was again repulsed by police lined five deep.[41] In a Brisbane byelection a month later National Party support slumped to just 10 percent, half of what party strategists had expected. But by the end of 1978, both the state Liberal and Labor parties had new parliamentary leaders—the fourth Labor opposition leader during Bjelke-Petersen's reign and the third Liberal leader.[41]
In October 1980 Florence Bjelke-Petersen was elected to the Senate as a National Party member and six weeks later Joh won his fifth successive state election as premier, with the Nationals converting a 27.9 percent primary vote—their highest ever—into 35 of the parliament's 82 seats, or 43 percent of seats. It also created a record 13-seat lead over their coalition partners, the Liberals, who had campaigned by offering Queenslanders an alternative style of moderate government.[42] The Nationals picked up all four Gold Coast seats and all those on the Sunshine Coast. Once again the premier took advantage of his party's dominance over the Liberals in Cabinet, this time demanding that the seven Liberal ministers sign a coalition agreement in which they promised unquestioned allegiance to Cabinet decisions. The move turned the Nationals' 35 votes to a guaranteed majority of 42 in the House, effectively neutralising any potential opposition by the 15 Liberal backbenchers.[33] Bjelke-Petersen began making appointments, including judges and the chairmanship of the Totalisator Agency Board, that had traditionally been the domain of Liberal ministers, and accusations arose of political interference and conflicts of interest as mining contracts, casino licences and the rights to build shopping complexes were awarded to business figures with National Party links.[33] Accusations of political interference also arose when police released without charge TAB chairman Sir Edward Lyons, a National Party trustee and close friend of Bjelke-Petersen, after a breathalyser test showed he was driving with more than double the legal blood alcohol limit.[33][43]
Relations with the Liberal Party continued to deteriorate. By August 1983, after 26 years of coalition, they had reached their nadir.[44] Bjelke-Petersen was angered by a Liberal Party bid to establish a public accounts committee to examine government expenditure and refused to accept new Liberal Party leader Terry White into his Cabinet. The premier adjourned parliament—which had sat for just 15 days that year—declined to say when it would sit again and insisted he could govern alone without the need of a coalition, commenting: "The government of Queensland is in very, very good hands."[44] Labor leader Tom Burns said the closure of parliament showed "that no rules exist in the state of Queensland." In a fortnight of political crisis, Bjelke-Petersen defied an ultimatum by Liberal parliamentarians to accept their leader in Cabinet, prompting all Liberal ministers to resign. The premier replaced them with National Party backbenchers.
Watching with satisfaction as the Liberal Party engaged in vitriolic infighting, Bjelke-Petersen called an election for 22 October, claiming: "I really believe we can govern Queensland in our own right."[44] The campaign coincided with the launch of an "official" Bjelke-Petersen biography, Jigsaw, which lauded him as a "statesman extraordinaire" and "protectorate of Queensland and her people".[44] Further rubbing salt in the wounds of his former coalition partners, his campaign was boosted by the support of prominent Liberals from other states including Tasmanian premier Robin Gray and former Victorian and NSW premiers Sir Henry Bolte and Tom Lewis.
Three months before his 73rd birthday, Bjelke-Petersen and his party recorded a resounding victory in the poll, attracting 38.9 percent of the primary vote to give them exactly half the parliament's 82 seats. While the Labor Party, with 44 percent of the vote, won 32 seats, the Liberals won just eight seats—but three days later the party was left with just six members in parliament as two Liberals—former ministers Don Lane and Brian Austin—defected to join Bjelke-Petersen's Cabinet. The National Party had formed a majority government for the first time at the state level in Australia.
In 1984 Bjelke-Petersen was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for "services to parliamentary democracy".[45] Author Evan Whitton suggests the premier had made the nomination himself.[46]
In 1985 Bjelke-Petersen unveiled plans for another electoral redistribution to create seven new seats in four zones: four in the state's populous south-east (with an average enrolment of 19,357 electors per seat) and three in country areas (with enrolments as low as 9386). The boundaries were to be drawn by electoral commissioners specially appointed by the government; one of them, Cairns lawyer Sir Thomas Covacevich, was a fundraiser for the National Party.[47] The malapportionment meant that a vote in the state's west was worth two in Brisbane and the provincial cities. A Queensland University associate professor of government described the redistribution as "the most criminal act ever perpetrated in politics ... the worst zonal gerrymander in the history of the world" and the most serious action of Bjelke-Petersen's political career.[48]
A "Joh for PM" campaign was conceived in late 1985, driven largely by a group of Gold Coast property developers,[49] promoting Bjelke-Petersen as the most effective conservative challenger to Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and in the November 1986 poll he recorded his biggest electoral win ever, winning 49 of the state's 89 seats with 39.6 percent of the primary vote. The ALP's 41.3 percent share of the vote earned it 30 seats, while the Liberal Party won the remaining 10 seats. In his victory speech, Bjelke-Petersen declared the Nationals had prevailed over the "three forces" who had opposed it: "We had the ALP organisation with its deceits, deception and lies, we had the media encouraging and supporting them, and we had the Liberal Party ... our assault on Canberra begins right now."[50] It was the seventh and final electoral victory of the Bjelke-Petersen era. In January 1987 the premier handed control of the state to Deputy Premier Bill Gunn and announced he would seek election to the House of Representatives, formally embarking on his "Joh for Canberra" push. By early 1987 the campaign, with its promise of a 25 percent flat tax, was attracting the support of 20 per cent of voters in opinion polls.[51]
In late 1986 two journalists, the ABC's Chris Masters and The Courier-Mail's Phil Dickie, independently began investigating the extent of police and political corruption in Queensland and its links to the National Party state government. Dickie's reports, alleging the apparent immunity from prosecution enjoyed by a group of illegal brothel operators, began appearing in early 1987; Masters' explosive Four Corners investigative report on police corruption aired on 11 May 1987. Within a week Acting Premier Gunn decided to initiate a wide-ranging Commission of Inquiry into police corruption, despite opposition from Bjelke-Petersen. Gunn selected former Federal Court judge Tony Fitzgerald as its head. By late June the terms of inquiry of what became known as the Fitzgerald Inquiry had been widened from members of the force to include "any other persons" with whom police might have been engaged in misconduct since 1977.[52]
On 27 May 1987 Prime Minister Hawke called a federal election for 11 July, catching Bjelke-Petersen unprepared. The premier had flown to the United States two days earlier and had not yet nominated for a federal seat;[49] on 3 June he abandoned his ambitions to become prime minister and resumed his position in the Queensland government.[52]
Fitzgerald began his formal hearings on 27 July 1987 and a month later the first bombshells were dropped as Sgt Harry Burgess—accused of accepting $221,000 in bribes since 1981— implicated senior officers Jack Herbert. Noel Dwyer, Graeme Parker and Chef Commissioner Terry Lewis in complex graft schemes. Other allegations quickly followed and on 21 September Police Minister Gunn ordered Lewis—knighted in 1986 at Bjelke-Petersen's behest[47] and now accused of having taken $663,000 in bribes—to stand down. On 7 October Bjelke-Petersen, whose ministers had already begun opposing him in Cabinet meetings, caved in to pressure from National Party state president Sir Robert Sparkes to relinquish his position as premier and announced he would retire on 8 August 1988, the 20th anniversary of his swearing-in.[52] Six weeks later, on 23 November 1987, Bjelke-Petersen demanded the resignation of five of his ministers, including Gunn and Health Minister Mike Ahern. All refused. Gunn, believing Bjelke-Petersen intended taking over the police portfolio and terminating the Fitzgerald Inquiry, announced he would challenge for the leadership. Bjelke-Petersen persisted regardless and dismissed three ministers—Ahern, Austin and Peter McKechnie—on the grounds of displaying insufficient loyalty.[47][53] On 27 November the parliamentary party met and voted 38-9 to dismiss Bjelke-Petersen and replace him with Ahern as the party leader. Gunn was elected deputy. For four days Bjelke-Petersen insisted he was still premier, prepared to govern with the help of the Liberal and Labor parties, but on 1 December he formally resigned as premier and from parliament,[53][54] declaring: "The policies of the National Party are no longer those on which I went to the people. Therefore I have no wish to lead the Government any longer. It was my intention to take this matter to the floor of State Parliament. However, I now have no further interest in leading the National Party any further."[55]
Three months later Bjelke-Petersen called on voters at the federal by-election in Groom to support the Liberal Party candidate instead of the National Party's contestant. Bjelke-Petersen said the Nationals had lost their way and turned their backs on traditional conservative policies.[56]
In February 1988 the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal announced a hearing into the suitability of entrepreneur Alan Bond, the owner of the Nine TV network to hold a broadcasting licence. The investigation centered on the network's $400,000 payout to Bjelke-Petersen in 1985 to settle a defamation action launched by the premier in 1983. Bond had made the payment (negotiated from an initial $1 million claim) soon after buying the network and a major Queensland brewery and claimed in a later television interview that Bjelke-Petersen told him he would need to make the payment if he wished to continue business in Queensland. (In April 1989 the broadcasting tribunal found that Bjelke-Petersen had placed Bond in a position of "commercial blackmail".)[57]
Bjelke-Petersen was called to the Fitzgerald corruption inquiry on 1 December 1988, where he said that despite allegations raised in the media and parliament, he had held no suspicion in the previous decade of corruption in Queensland. He said a Hong Kong businessman's 1986 donation of $100,000 to an election slush fund—delivered in cash at the premier's Brisbane office—was not unusual, and that he did not know the identify of other donors who had left sums of $50,000 and $60,000 in cash at his office on other occasions. Questioned by barrister Michael Forde, Bjelke-Petersen—whose citation for his 1984 knighthood noted that he was "a strong believer in historic tradition of parliamentary democracy"—was also unable to explain the doctrine of separation of powers under the Westminster system.[58]
Under Ahern (1987–89) and Russell Cooper (1989), the Nationals were unable to overcome the damage from the revelations about the massive corruption in the Bjelke-Petersen government. In the 1989 state election, Labor finally overcame the Bjelkemander and handed the Nationals the worst defeat of a sitting government since responsible government was introduced in Queensland.
As a result of the Fitzgerald inquiry, Lewis was tried, convicted, and jailed on corruption charges. He was later stripped of his knighthood and other honours. A number of other officials, including ministers Don Lane and Austin were also jailed. Another former minister, Russ Hinze, died while awaiting trial.
In 1991 Bjelke-Petersen faced criminal trial for perjury arising out of the evidence he had given to the Fitzgerald inquiry (an earlier proposed charge of corruption was incorporated into the perjury charge). Bjelke-Petersen's former police Special Branch bodyguard Sergeant Bob Carter told the court that in 1986 he had twice been given packages of cash totalling $210,000 at the premier's office. He was told to take them to a Brisbane city law firm and then watch as the money was deposited in a company bank account.[citation needed] The money had been given over by developer Sng Swee Lee, and the bank account was in the name of Kaldeal, operated by Sir Edward Lyons a trustee of the National Party.[59] John Huey, a Fitzgerald Inquiry investigator, later told Four Corners: "I said to Robert Sng, 'Well what did Sir Joh say to you when you gave him this large sum of money?' And he said, "All he said was, 'thank you, thank you, thank you'."[60] The jury could not agree on a verdict. In 1992 it was revealed that the jury foreman, Luke Shaw, was a member of the Young Nationals and was identified with the "Friends of Joh" movement. A special prosecutor announced in 1992 there would be no retrial because Bjelke-Petersen, then aged 81, was too old. Developer Sng Swee Lee refused to return from Singapore for a retrial. Bjelke-Petersen said his defence costs sent him broke.[61]
Bjelke-Petersen's memoirs, Don't You Worry About That: The Joh Bjelke-Petersen Memoirs, were published the same year.[62] He retired to Bethany where his son John and wife Karyn set up bed and breakfast cottages on the property. He developed progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson's disease.
In 2003, he lodged a $338 million compensation claim with the Queensland Labor government for loss of business opportunities resulting from the Fitzgerald inquiry. The claim was based on the assertion that the inquiry had not been lawfully commissioned by state cabinet and that it had acted outside its powers. The government rejected the claim; in his advice to the government, tabled in parliament, Crown Solicitor Conrad Lohe recommended dismissing the claim and said Bjelke-Petersen was "fortunate" not to have faced a second trial.[61][63]
Bjelke-Petersen died in St Aubyn's Hospital in Kingaroy in April 2005, aged 94, with his wife and family members by his side. He received a State Funeral, held in Kingaroy Town Hall, at which the then Prime Minister, John Howard, and Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie were speakers.[64] Beattie, who had been sued by Bjelke-Petersen for defamation and was arrested during the 1971 Springbok tour protests, said: "I think too often in the adversarial nature of politics we forget that behind every leader, behind every politician, is indeed a family and we shouldn't forget that." As the funeral was taking place in Kingaroy, about 200 protesters gathered in Brisbane to "ensure that those who suffered under successive Bjelke-Petersen governments were not forgotten". Protest organiser Drew Hutton said "Queenslanders should remember what is described as a dark passage in the state's history."[64] Bjelke-Petersen was buried "beside his trees that he planted and he nurtured and they grew"[64] at the family property "Bethany" at Kingaroy.
In 2012 it was claimed that billionaire mining magnate former National Party campaign director Clive Palmer was planning to raise a statue in South Brisbane in honour of Bjelke-Petersen.[65]
Bjelke-Petersen's government was kept in power in part due to an electoral malapportionment where rural electoral districts had significantly fewer enrolled voters than those in metropolitan areas. This system was introduced by the Labor Party in 1949 as an overt electoral fix in order to concentrate its base of rural voters in as many districts as possible. Under Nicklin the bias in favour of rural constituencies was maintained, but reworked to favour the Country and Liberal parties.
The bias worked to Bjelke-Petersen's benefit in his first election as premier, in 1969. His Country Party won only 21 percent of the primary vote, finishing third behind Labor and the Liberals. However, due to the Country Party's heavy concentration of support in the rural and remote zones, it won 26 seats, seven more than the Liberals. Combined, the Coalition had 45 seats out of 78, enough to consign Labor to opposition even though it finished percentage points ahead of the Coalition on the two-party vote. While in opposition, Bjelke-Petersen had vehemently criticised the 1949 redistribution, claiming that Labor was effectively telling Queenslanders, "Whether you like it or not, we will be the government."
In 1972 Bjelke-Petersen strengthened the system to favour his own party, which led to his opponents referring to it as the "Bjelkemander," a play on the term "gerrymander". The lack of a state upper house (which Queensland had abolished in 1922) allowed legislation to be passed without the need to negotiate with other political parties.
Queensland political scientist Rae Wear described Bjelke-Petersen as an authoritarian who treated democratic values with contempt and was intolerant and resentful of opposition, yet who also demonstrated a down-home charm and old-fashioned courtesies as well as kindness to colleagues. Those who worked closely with him described him as stubborn with a propensity to fly into rages in which he would "rant and rave like Adolf Hitler, creating "fantastic performances" as he shook with rage, becoming increasingly incoherent. Many of his National Party colleagues were in terror of him on such occasions.[66] Raised by migrant parents in spartan rural surroundings, he combined a strong work ethic with an ascetic lifestyle that was strongly shaped by his Lutheran upbringing. As a young man Bjelke-Petersen lived alone for 15 years in an old cow bail with a leaky bark roof and only the most basic of facilities. He had a lifelong habit of hard work and long days and while premier often slept for just four hours a night. He valued "the School of Life, the hard knocks of life" more than formal education and showed little respect for academics and universities, although he accepted an honorary doctorate of Laws from Queensland University in May 1985, prompting criticism from both students and staff.[67][68] Wear dismissed Bjelke-Petersen's claim that he was a reluctant and accidental entrant into state politics, concluding that he "seized opportunity whenever it presented and held tenaciously to power", and was later willing to use any device to remain premier. She said that although Bjelke-Petersen denied ever knowing anything about corruption, "the evidence suggests this is untrue. He ignored it because to acknowledge its presence was to hand a weapon to his political enemies and because he was prepared to trade off corruption for police loyalty".[69][70]
Biographers have suggested that Bjelke-Petersen, raised under a resented patriarch, himself came to play the strong patriarch, refusing to be accountable to anyone: "Rather than explaining himself or answering questions, he demanded to be taken on trust."[71] He believed God had chosen him to save Australia from socialism[72] and also had a profound sense of Christian conscience that he said guided political decisions, explaining, "Your whole instinct cries out whether it's good or bad." A cousin of Bjelke-Petersen said the premier "has an inner certainty that he knows the answers to our political and social woes" and as a good Christian expected to be trusted, thus needing no constitutional checks and balances.[73]
Guided by media adviser Allen Callaghan, with whom he worked from 1971 to 1979, Bjelke-Petersen was an astute manager of news media. He made himself available to reporters and held daily press conferences where he "fed the chooks". Callaghan released a steady stream of press releases, timing them to coincide with periods when news editors were most desperate for news. For most of Bjelke-Petersen's premiership, Queensland newspapers were supportive of his government, generally supporting the police and government on the street march issue, while Brisbane's Courier-Mail endorsed the return of the coalition government at every state election between 1957 and 1986.[74]
According to Rae Wear, Bjelke-Petersen demanded total loyalty of the media and was unforgiving and vindictive if reporting was not to his satisfaction. In 1984, he reacted to a series of critical articles in the Courier-Mail by switching the government's million-dollar classified advertising account to the rival Daily Sun.[74] He banned a Courier-Mail reporter who was critical of his excessive use of the government aircraft and Wear claims other journalists who wrote critical articles became the subject of rumour-mongering, were harassed by traffic police, or found that "leaks" from the government dried up. Journalists covering industrial disputes and picketing were also afraid of arrest. In 1985, the Australian Journalists Association withdrew from the system of police passes because of police refusal to accredit certain journalists.[75] Journalists, editors and producers were also deterred from critical stories by Bjelke-Petersen's increasing use of defamation actions in order to try to "stop talk about a corrupt government". Queensland historian Ross Fitzgerald was threatened with criminal libel in 1984 when he sought to publish a critical history of the state.[76] The premier and his ministers launched 24 defamation actions against the Opposition leader and Labor Party and trade union figures, with 14 of them publicly funded.[74] He saw no role for the media in making government accountable, telling the Australian Financial Review in 1986: "The greatest thing that could happen to the state and the nation is when we get rid of the media. Then we would live in peace and tranquillity and no one would know anything."[74]
Callaghan's advice to Bjelke-Petersen included the recommendation that he maintain his rambling style of communication with mangled syntax, recognising it added to his homespun appeal to ordinary people and also allowed him to avoid giving answers. His catchphrase response to unwelcome queries was, "Don't you worry about that", a phrase that was used as the title of his 1990 memoir.[77] Wear wrote: "His verbal stumbling communicated decent simplicity and trustworthiness and, in order to enhance his popular appeal, Bjelke-Petersen appears to have exaggerated, or at least not tried to rid himself of, his famous speaking style."[74]
The premier showed little concern for heritage and environmental issues, attracting widespread public fury over the 1979 demolition of Brisbane's historic Bellevue Hotel[78] and favouring oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef[12] and sand mining on Moreton Island.[79] He opposed the expansion of Aboriginal land rights,[80] barred state officials from meeting World Council of Churches delegates who were studying the treatment of Aborigines in Queensland[79] and demonstrated a strong moralistic streak, banning Playboy magazine, opposing school sex education and condom vending machines and in 1980 proposing a ban on women flying south for abortions.[81] In May 1985 the government conducted a series of raids on so-called abortion clinics.[47]
Bjelke-Petersen had a confrontationist approach to industrial relations. As a backbencher he had made clear his opposition to unions and the 40-hour week and in 1979 he pushed for legislation that would lead to the lifetime loss of a drivers licence for union members using their own vehicles to organise strikes. In 1982 he ordered the dismissal of teachers who were conducting rolling stoppages on the issue of class sizes. The same year he invoked the Essential Services Act to declare a state of emergency when government blue-collar workers launched industrial action to support a 38-hour week. His biggest showdown with unions came in February 1985 when electrical workers, opposing the increasing use of contract labour in their industry, started a series of rolling strikes that led to two weeks of blackouts. The government declared a state of emergency on 7 February, sacked as many as 1100 striking workers but offered their jobs back if they would sign a no-strike clause and work a 40-hour week; most accepted but 400 lost their jobs and superannuation. Labor compared the government with the Nazi regime, calling the new laws "police-state legislation".[47][82]
Bjelke-Petersen believed that he and his government knew what was best for indigenous Australians. He excused racially discriminatory legislation as a protective measure and generally saw issues of Aboriginal self-determination as part of his state's crusade against the monolithic centralism of Canberra under Labor.[83]
In June 1976, Bjelke-Petersen blocked the proposed sale of a pastoral property on the Cape York Peninsula to a group of Aboriginal people, because according to cabinet policy, "The Queensland Government does not view favourably proposals to acquire large areas of additional freehold or leasehold land for development by Aborigines or Aboriginal groups in isolation."[84] This dispute resulted in the case of Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen, which was decided partly in the High Court in 1982, and partly in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1988. The courts found that Bjelke-Petersen's policy had discriminated against Aboriginal people.
In 1978, the Uniting Church supported Aborigines at Aurukun and Mornington Island in their struggle with the Queensland Government after it granted a 1900 square kilometre mining lease to a mining consortium under extremely favourable conditions. The Aurukun people challenged the legislation, winning their case in the Supreme Court of Queensland but later losing when the Queensland Government appealed to the Privy council in the UK.[85]
Bjelke-Petersen was opposed by Sir Robert Sparkes, church groups and the federal government over a 1982 push to abolish Aboriginal and Islander community reserves and to give title to the reserve lands to local councils elected by communities—titles that could be revoked by the government for unspecified reasons. Bjelke-Petersen claimed there were over-riding issues of defence and security because of fears of a communist plot to create a separate black nation in Australia.[80]
During his period in office Bjelke-Petersen frequently raised fears of a conspiracy of "southern homosexuals" to gain electoral advantage and to oppose the policies of the Federal government or other states.[86]
Considerable development of the state's infrastructure took place during the Bjelke-Petersen era. He was a leading proponent of Wivenhoe and Burdekin Dams, encouraging the modernising and electrifying of the Queensland railway system, and the construction of the Gateway Bridge.[8] Airports, coal mines, power stations, and dams were built throughout the state. James Cook University was established. In Brisbane, the Queensland Cultural Centre, Griffith University, the South East Freeway, and the Captain Cook, Gateway and Merivale bridges were all constructed, as well as the Parliamentary Annexe that was attached to Queensland Parliament House. Bjelke-Petersen was one of the instigators of World Expo 88 (now South Bank Parklands) and the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.[8]
His government worked closely with property developers on the Gold Coast, who constructed resorts, hotels, a casino and a system of residential developments. In one controversial case, the Queensland government passed special legislation, the Sanctuary Cove Act 1985, to exempt a luxury development, Sanctuary Cove, from local government planning regulations.[87] The developer, Mike Gore, was seen as a key member of the "white shoe brigade", a group of Gold Coast businessmen who became influential supporters of Bjelke-Petersen.[88] A similar piece of legislation was passed to allow the Japanese company, Iwasaki Sangyo, to develop a tourist resort near Yeppoon in Central Queensland.
From his youth he showed an entrepreneurial flair and a gift for invention and as premier was attracted to unorthodox and entrepreneurial medical and business figures such as cancer therapist Milan Brych and inventor Stephen Horvath.[89][90][91]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joh Bjelke-Petersen. |
Parliament of Queensland | ||
Preceded by James Edwards | Member for Nanango 1947 – 1950 | District abolished |
New district | Member for Barambah 1950 – 1987 | Succeeded by Trevor Perrett |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by Harold Richter | Minister for Works 1963 – 1968 | Succeeded by Max Hodges |
Preceded by Gordon Chalk | Deputy Premier of Queensland 1968 | Succeeded by Gordon Chalk |
Premier of Queensland 1968 – 1987 | Succeeded by Mike Ahern | |
Preceded by Llewellyn Edwards | Treasurer of Queensland 1983 – 1987 | Succeeded by Mike Ahern |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by Jack Pizzey | Leader of the Country Party/Country National Party/National Party in Queensland 1968 – 1987 | Succeeded by Mike Ahern |


text:
Aki Izayoi
A cold and ruthless girl with the power to bring the monsters and magic of Duel Monsters to life, an ability only used through anguish and sadness. Because of this, she chooses to distance herself from people, believing her power to be caused by the Dragon birthmark she possesses. |
Akito Takagi
Akito is a gifted man who had decided to turn away from academic success in order to pursue his dream of becoming a manga writer. Along with his friend and artist Mashiro he has formed the team of Ashirogi Muto and become one of the best selling mangakas out there. |
Gohan went on a date with Angela after he thought she knew his identity as the Great Saiyaman. They're potential relationship didn't work out. |
Chizuru Kirishiki
Went on a date with her victim Toshio Ozaki. Didn't end that well. |
Chun Woo Han
Chun Woo Han is the english techer and martial art master of Shi Woon Yi who is hellbent to take reveng for his master death on the Murim world. |
Hanon Houshou
Hanon is the Mermaid Princess of the South Pacific Ocean, and the keeper of the Aqua Pearl. |
Lucia's guardian who serves as her guide. |
Izuru is the first woman who appeared of the Dark Lovers. |
Kaito Domoto
Kaito, the son of a pair of musicians, is an avid surfer, as well as Lucia's love interest. |
Kaya Miyoshi
The self appointed "girlfriend" of Takashi who will do anything to help him make his dream come true. She is also the friend of Miho Azuki and wants to make her relationship with Mashiro come true. |
Lucia Nanami
Merimaid Princess of North Pacific Ocean, keeper of the pink pearl, the main character of the story. |
Makoto Onoda
Makoto Onoda is the husband of Yura Onoda. he loves his wife and despite fantasizing other women and other women falling for him and trying to seduce him he doesn't cheat on his wife. |
Miyu Yamazaki
Best friend of Ran and has feelings for Ran's brother, Yamato. |
Ran Kotobuki
She's the Top Kogal of the Shibuya District whom has a family bloodline of police officers. |
Reynalle is a Fallen angel. She disguises herself as a sweet and cute high school girl by the name of "Yuuma Amano" in order to win the heart of Issei Hyoudou. |
Rina Touin
Rina is the Mermaid Princess of the North Atlantic Ocean, and keeper of the Green Pearl. |
Tatsuki Kuroi
A "dancin' fool" from the Machida district that hangs out at Shibuya regularly. He's also Yuuya's competition for Ran's heart. |
Toshio Ozaki
Went on a date with Chizuru Kirishiki. Didn't end that well. |
Yamato Kotobuki
Big brother of Ran and proudly in charge of Shibuya's police box. |
Yuri is one of the evil, who try to take the pearls from the mermaids and get the mermaids as well. |
Yusei Fudou
The main protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and team leader of Team 5D's. He used his signature monsters to help him win during his duels including Shooting Star Dragon, Stardust Dragon, and Shooting Quasar Dragon. |


text:
Side Navigation
- New Arrivals
- Swim Series
- Swim Solids
- Bra-Sized Swim
- UPF 50+ Sun Protection
- Swim Tights
- Swim Dresses
- Tall
- Bikini Tops
- Tankini Tops
- Swim Bottoms
- One Pieces
- Rashguards
- Cover-Ups
- Accessories
Main Content:
Short Bikini Bottoms
Athleta Short Bikini Bottoms
Hit the beach in pretty, athletic style with the short bikini bottoms collection from Athleta. You'll love the coverage you get with every sporty piece. Whether you're splashing in the water or playing on the sand, feel comfortable while looking great. Short swim bottoms are designed with breathable and stretchy materials that help reduce bulk and allow the materials to move with your body. Pair with any swim top to complete you modest swim attire. With a multitude of colors and prints, you'll surely find something to mix and match your bottoms for a complete look. Also discover in this collection swim skirts for a more feminine look that is fun; a built-in bikini bottom avoids any embarrassing moments. Whatever image you're going for, let the bikini bottoms shorts from Athleta complete your waterside attire.


text:
Top 10 Universal Studios Hollywood rides and attractions
Image 1 of 11
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood pioneered the concept of the movie studio backlot as a theme park -- to great success. The age-old knock, of course, is the movie and television theme park lacks rides -- relying too heavily on shows and films.
Comments (0)
Add comments | Discussion FAQCurrently there are no comments. Be the first to comment!
Reporters and editors involved in creating and writing these cruise articles are in no way affiliated with any links that are placed on the pages. Read our full editorial policy. |


text:
latest music news
EBaccs will replace GCSEs from 2015
GCSEs are to be replaced by a new English Baccalaureate Certificate in secondary schools in England, representing the most radical shake-up of examination for 16-year-olds for a generation.
The new-style qualifications, to be known as EBaccs, will do away with the "modules" which allow GCSE students to retake parts of their course, cut back heavily on the use of classroom assessment and coursework and return to the emphasis on a traditional end-of-year exam, to end what Education Secretary Michael Gove called "grade inflation and dumbing down".
After Liberal Democrats resisted proposals for a two-tier system for students of differing academic abilities, Mr Gove said that almost all students in English schools will take EBaccs.
Where schools believe individual pupils will struggle with the test, they will be able to apply to defer them until 17 or 18.
The first EBacc courses in English, maths and sciences will begin in September 2015 and children will sit exams in these subjects in 2017, with the other core humanities and languages subjects following a few years later.
Just one exam board will be selected by regulators Ofqual to offer qualifications in each subject, following a bidding process, in order to prevent what Mr Gove said was a "corrupt... race to the bottom" in which boards sought to attract schools with easier tests which massaged up pass rates.
Announcing his plans in a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Gove said that the GCSE was "conceived and designed for a different age" when the school-leaving age was 16 and only a minority expected to go on to higher education. It was "no longer right for now", he said.
And he told MPs: "We believe it is time to raise aspirations and restore rigour to our examinations... After years of drift, decline and dumbing down, at last we are reforming our examination system to compete with the world's best."
But shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg said that the proposed system "doesn't reflect the needs of society and the modern economy" and urged Mr Gove to shelve his plans and consult with teachers.
"We need to face the challenges of the 21st century," said Mr Twigg. "I simply don't accept that we achieve that by returning to the system abolished as out-of-date in the 1980s... We on this side will not support changes that only work for some children."
Mr Twigg accused the Education Secretary of holding back the introduction of the EBacc until after the general election in the hope of swapping it for a two-tier system like the old O-levels and CSEs if the Conservatives secure a majority Government.
And teaching unions gave the proposals a hostile welcome.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the proposals were "entirely driven by political ideology rather than a genuine desire on the part of the coalition Government to reform the examination system in the best interests of children and young people".
Young people taking GCSEs over the next two years had been "told publicly that the exams for which they are working on are discredited and worthless", she said, adding: "The lack of concern for the impact and motivation of young people and teachers working towards GCSEs is disgraceful."
Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: "A new exam certainly should not be designed on the back of a restaurant menu as a short-term political fix by ignorant ministers.
"This is an insult to the nation's children who will have to live with the consequences if the crackpot ideas are implemented."
And the Edge Foundation charity, chaired by former Conservative education secretary Lord Baker, said the new proposals were "not enough" and neglected practical learning.
Lord Baker said: "It's vital that schools and colleges provide education which develops practical skills and personal qualities as well as subject knowledge. This has to include opportunities to learn by doing."
Mr Gove clashed publicly with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg earlier this year over leaked proposals for a two-tier system, which the Lib Dem leader warned could lead to young children being "cast on a scrapheap".
But following negotiations over the summer, Mr Clegg on Monday joined Mr Gove in a show of unity as they toured classrooms at Burlington Danes Academy school in west London.
Mr Clegg said: "Michael Gove and I have worked closely on this, we are both committed equally to greater rigour in the exam system, yet being inclusive and supportive within the system... I wholeheartedly support this, I think this is a really good reform."
And Mr Gove said: "What we have got here is the best of a Conservative aspiration, to increase rigour, and a Liberal Democrat aspiration, to increase social mobility."
Rejecting suggestions that he had undermined the value of GCSEs obtained between now and the start of the new system, Mr Gove said: "Absolutely not, I don't think that anyone who secures a good pass in any qualification should be told that it's worthless."
The plans will now go out for a three-month consultation, while the Department for Education will also consult on a replacement for the system of school league tables.
Exam boards are expected to begin preparing bids to Ofqual in the new year for the right to offer the new EBacc courses.
The reforms do not apply to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.


text:
Start learning with our library of video tutorials taught by experts. Get started
Learn about the history, types, and various implementations of web services—the standard method of communicating between applications and across the web.
"I send my customers to you all the time to learn. If I had more time in the day I would live on your site!" —Alan B.
more from our members »


text:
Not only is Tangerine Tango the hot color of the year but Peach is making it's way back into the fashion and wedding scene! We were thrilled when we were recently asked to participate in the annual Weddings in Woodinville event just outside of Seattle, WA and loved covering the Peach & Kiwi themed space! Kimberly from Style Unveiled created a fabulous blog about the event ~ click here to read about it and to get some great decor ideas for your next wedding or special event!
Peach & Kiwi Wedding Inspiration
Leave a Reply


text:
Alvin "Red" Tyler
Click here to purchase this album on Amazon.com
Alvin 'Red' Tyler followed his first Rounder album with another collection of gorgeous modern jazz compositions, from the Latin-tinged 'Count 'Em' to the elegant title cut, and interpretations of the standards 'Here's That Rainy Day' and 'Dreamsville.' Tyler is a member of the 'lost generation' of modern New Orleans jazz musicians who came of age in the 1950s, setting the stage for younger players like the Marsalis brothers. The band … MORE


text:
Welcome Guest [ Login | Register ]
Your basket is empty.
EVO 7,8 and 9 Brake Hose Set.
Ralliart braided steel brake hoses protect the teflon encased within. They will also improve brake pedal feel. Hurry as ther are only 2 sets left.
Part will be obselete when these two are sold.
Be the first to review this product!
Product Code: RACT9310S1
In Stock: 2


text:
11 Restaurants We're Looking Forward to in 2014
It happens every year. The minute your hangover subsides from New Year's Eve, it's already July. With half the year gone, we decided to look forward to some of the restaurants that are coming up -- mostly in the fall.Courtesy Mignonette Coming soon.
We're not listing restaurants that don't have a 2014 opening date, which is why notables such as Michael Schwartz's restaurant and beach club at Paraiso Bay and SLS Brickell's host of offerings -- like the Bazaar by José Andrés, Katsuya, and Michael Schwartz's restaurant -- didn't make the list.
Here are the restaurants we're most looking forward to in 2014. Start making reservations now.
See also: Best Restaurant yet to Come Miami 2014 - Tom Colicchio's Unnamed Restaurant
11. ZestCourtesy Ortanique
How does Cindy Hutson celebrate the 15th anniversary of her Coral Gables' Ortanique on the Mile? By announcing the opening of Zest and Zest Mrkt, located at the Southeast Financial Center. The 3,500-square-foot Zest will feature the chef's take on Asian, South American, and Caribbean cuisines. Hutson is known for her "cuisine of the sun," which showcases Florida and Caribbean flavors. Zest Mrkt will feature grab-and-go breakfast and lunch items sure to please Miami's professional set. Zest and Zest Mrkt are scheduled to open in late fall or early winter.
10. Shuckers Bar & GrillPhoto by Laine Doss New deck nearly finished.
Shuckers, the waterfront bar and grill on the 79th Street Causeway, was an institution for many who wanted to cool off with a water view and a beer. When the restaurant's party deck collapsed last year, at least two dozen people were injured and the restaurant was forced to close. Now it's poised to reopen with a larger and more structurally sound deck. The restaurant went on a massive hiring spree last week, and it looks like it's on track to open at the end of July. We can't wait to hoist a frosty mug with a view.
Location Info
Sponsor Content


text:
The Othel Neal Polson Family Home PageUpdated September 5, 2000 | |
Thaddeus Maxwell Morris, Nancy Hendricks, John Wesley Sears, Rebecca Bell Evans, Eddie Polson, Cecil Morris,H.R. Morris, I am researching the above persons, The areas they lived in are Oklahoma, Ohio, missouri. |
Trudy Mae Apel 3627 north 88th lane phoenix, az 85037 United States 602-877-2726 email@example.com |
Edit Your Page |
The content shown on this page has been submitted by a Genealogy.com customer, and is not subject to verification by Genealogy.com. Neither Genealogy.com nor its affiliates are responsible for the accuracy of any information contained on this page. The opinions expressed on this page are the author's alone and not the opinions of Genealogy.com.
© 2009 Ancestry.com |


text:
Lesson 1: Enter Eikichi Onizuka
Eikichi Onizuka's life is going nowhere. Six years earlier the former biker gang member and his best friend Ryuji Danma left for the bright lights of Tokyo in search of greatness. And losing their virginity. Now 22 years old, Onizuka's in a rut. He's got degree from a fifth-rate college, and still is looking for the job that will net him 8 million yen a year, the ability to rub elbows with celebrities and an unlimited expense account. Needless to say he isn't having a lot of luck with that and ends up spending a lot of his free time peeping up the skirts of girls instead.
A series of lies of increasingly outrageous magnitude made to impress a high-school girl (including trading his sneakers for a BMW) nearly gets him a kiss (and hopefully more) in a love hotel.. only to have the tryst interrupted by her boyfriend: her teacher! After the girl leaps (from the second story) into her teacher's arms, Onizuka decides that his path to greatness will come by becoming a teacher. He gets a haircut and a suit and begins his new journey to greatness as a teacher in training.
Upon arriving at the campus of Musashino Public High School, Onizuka encounters another teacher in training smoking on the school steps. He's been doing the teacher in training gig for a while, and sleeping with dozens of high-school girls in the process! Onizuka is then introduced to his students, the unruly Class O... and is promptly spat in the face by one of them. Though one student, Nanako Mizuki, does seem to be a bright light in the cesspool of a class.
Despite all that Onizuka remains resolved to become a great teacher (and to find the right girl in one of his classes and marry her). On his way home after classes one day he passes Nanako, crying in a park. She had had an argument with her parents and they kicked her out. Tearfully, she asks Onizuka if she can crash at his place. And with tears of joy, Onizuka says yes.
Lesson 3: Hooray For The Sensei!
After hastily trying to remove the layers of garbage and porno mags from the floor of his apartment, Onizuka is ready to play therapist to his upset student. Things move faster that Onizuka could have possibly dreamed as Nanako immediately proceeds to strip down to her underwear and move towards a stunned Onizuka...Which is when he sees the camera flash goes off. Some of the students from Class O have a nice little bit of blackmail planned for their dear teacher. One million yen in one week or the tabloids headlines will read "Teacher-in-Training Caught In Bachelor Pad Biology Lesson." Nanako cheerfully admits that she'll receive a chunk of the profits and they leave a stunned Onizuka in his apartment.
The blackmailers quickly learn what demon they've awoken however. While celebrating their soon-to-be new wealth in a park, Onizuka and an entire motorcycle gang surround them. After beating up the students and dunking them upside-down in the park pond, Onizuka promises that if their actions cause him to miss out on becoming a teacher, he will make the rest of their lives a living hell.
The next day finds a very reformed Class O dutifully cleaning up the school grounds wanting only for Onizuka to look good so he can become a teacher. The Principal is so pleased by the turn of events that he promises Onizuka a job once his training is over. It's not all clear sailing for Onizuka just yet though. Nanako approaches Onizuka after class and asks him for a ride home on his motorcycle. While suspicious of another setup Onizuka is convinced to help his student out when she tosses her panties onto his head, with the promise of letting him keep them if he gets her home.
Lesson 4: Happiness In A Six-Mat Apartment
After a stressful ride trying to peek up Nanako's skirt in the rear-view mirror the pair arrive at Nanako's luxurious home. Onizuka is in awe of his surroundings, and the giant plate of expensive sushi Nanako's parents had ordered in for her since they would be out that night. Nanako promptly dumps the sushi in the trash and decides that they ought to go to Onizuka's place and she'll make him dinner instead.
Over dinner Nanako talks about how Onizuka's bachelor apartment reminds her of the small, six tatami-mat apartment she used to share with her parents before they had a lot of money, and the fond memories she has of that time in her life. Nanako suggests she stay over at Onizuka's, and all the fun times they could have together before trailing off into silence. Onizuka instead takes her back to her parent's house.
Driving her back home, Onizuka tells Nanako she should be grateful for the luxuries she has and will miss them when they're gone. Nanako again asks if she can stay at Onizuka's and when he refuses she throws herself from his motorcycle, nearly being hit by a truck in the process. In tears, she says she'd rather die than spend another night under her parent's roof. Onizuka concedes to let her stay the night, and ends up sleeping outside the front door in a sleeping bag.
Lesson 5: I Want To Be A Wolf
Three nights pass with Onizuka sleeping outside his apartment. His fellow teacher-in-training who had slept with countless students finds out about the arrangement and encourages Onizuka to be an animal and to do the dirty deed. Nanako returns to Onizuka's apartment that night to find him wearing a wolf costume. Shrugging it off she happily begins to prepare dinner while behind her Onizuka unzips his costume, gets out the cologne and video recorder, and empties out a box of various perverted items onto the bed. Just as Onizuka is about to strike, Nanako begins to reminisce again about the happier times she had with her parents when she was younger and they had less money. She remembers how close they all were as a family, but now with the larger house, they all have their separate rooms and never seem to talk to each other anymore.
Nanako begins to cry, and Onizuka tells her that his apartment is not her apartment from the past, and that she needs to go home. Shocked, Nanako agrees to leave, saying she shouldn't have expected much from a damn teacher, and leaves. Afterwards at Nanako's house, both her parents are home at the same time, something that doesn't happen too often, and begin to argue about work, as Nanako watches television dejectedly in the background.
The doorbell rings, and Onizuka appears in the doorway to make a house call... carrying a sledgehammer.
Url: | |
BBCode: | |
Added by: | Whiskeyjack |
Date Added: | May 1, 2010 |
Url: | |
BBCode: | |
Added by: | RedRoses |
Date Added: | Jan. 13, 2009 |


text:
this wiki
Cinder (real name Ben Ferris) is a character featured in the Killer Instinct franchise. So far, he has only appeared in the original Killer Instinct, but he has been announced to return in Killer Instinct (2013).
Cinder's body, due to a chemical accident, is permanently on fire. His skin seems to have been transformed into a matter that resembles plasma, like the surface of the sun. The skin may be able to fluctuate its' own temperature however, because if it was plasma, then Cinder would instantly burn through whatever he was touching. So it may be that as a precaution, his skin can decrease its' temperature immensely on whatever ground it touches. Because of the high temperatures, Cinder has no hair on his body. His ears are gone, and he has no nose or mouth, but is still able to make noises and quite possibly talk. His eyes have been turned into red orbs.
Powers & Abilities
Having a body entirely composed of plasma, Cinder possesses pyrokinesis and is skilled at harnessing it. He can also morph his body to some extent, transforming into a spinning flame or turning invisible.
Killer Instinct
Cinder was a convicted criminal who agreed to participate in Ultratech's chemical weapons test in exchange for early parole. A failed experiment turned him into a being of living flame. He has now been offered freedom if he can defeat Glacius in the Killer Instinct tournament.
Ben Ferris, a small-time criminal with counts of assault, breaking and entering and arson on his record, is the latest convict to be bought out of jail for Ultratech's twisted uses. His fate is to be used as a human guinea-pig in the company's chemical weapon developments, an unexpected side-effect leaving him consumed by fire but somehow, much to his own horror, still alive. He is kept confined in a top-security block until Ultratech decide to enter him into the tournament under the codename Cinder to defeat Glacius fairly and in full public view, his freedom providing the ultimate incentive.
Stage: Desert Roof Top
- Inferno: Forward, Forward And Any Kick
- Fireflash: Forward, Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Forward, Forward And Any Kick
- Heatfist: Back, Back, Quick Punch
- Heatsink: Forward, Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Back, Back, Fierce Punch
- Mirage: Forward, Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Back, Back, Medium Punch
- Trailblazer: Charge Back Then Forward And Any Punch
- Trailblazer (In Air): Up, Forward, Forward And Any Punch
Special Moves
- Combo Breaker: Forward, Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Forward, Forward And Any Kick
- Ultra Combo: Back Then Forward, Fierce Punch
End Specials
- End Special 1: Charge Back Then Right, Any Punch, Medium Punch
- End Special 2: Forward, Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Forward, Forward, Any Kick, Fierce Kick
- End Special 3: Forward. Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Forward, Forward, Any Kick, Medium Kick
- End Special 4: Forward, Quarter Forward, Down, Quarter Forward, Forward, Any Kick, Quick Kick
Danger Moves
- No Mercy 1: [Stand 2 Character Distance Away] Back, Back, Back, Medium Punch
- No Mercy 2: [Stand 2 Character Distance Away] Half Circle Forward, Quick Kick
- Humiliation: Back, Back, Back, Back, Fierce Kick
Leaving as the champion of the tournament, a hostile police reception awaits him outside the gates of Ultratech. As no stranger to confinement from his former life of crime, Cinder has no intention of being imprisoned again. Using his newly acquired power, he easily evades the capture attempt, leaving his potential captors in his wake. Picking a location suitable for his current condition, he ponders his next move.
Killer Instinct 2
Cinder did not appear in Killer Instinct 2. In Glacius' character profile, the original Glacius was said to have earned his freedom after "slaying a fire being", implying Cinder was killed by the alien.
Killer Instinct 2013
Though not seen physically, Cinder's presence was hinted at the end of the TJ Combo announcement trailer. As Combo challenges UltraTech for a better opponent, behind him, something burns brightly as Combo looks over his shoulder.
Cinder has confirmed to return in season two as the eighth and final character.
Cinder has no weapons, but he can do a variety of tricks with his plasma-like body.
Cinder's "Trailblazer" ability allows him to condense his human form into a ball of fire and fly. Outside of combat, it seems like he has no limit on the time he can stay in this form, seeing as he flew from the city to a remote island in that form without seeming to stop.
Cinder also seems to be able to extend parts of his skin to a small distance as seen with his "Inferno" technique, in which he extends his hand and a small stream of his skin extends out.
Though not connected with his fire-like abilities, Cinder also has the ability to turn invisible until struck. This is probably another side effect, or possibly the goal, of the chemical experiments.
Signature Moves
- Mini Torch: (Back, Back, Light Punch) Cinder creates a small plume of flame in the palm of his hand.
- Trail Blazer: (Forward, Forward, Any Punch) Cinder transforms his body into a colossal fireball, charging towards his opponent. This can also be done in mid-air.
- Semi Invisibility: (Half-Circle Forward-to-Back, Medium Punch) Cinder dims the natural light from the chemically-induced flames coating his body, allowing projectiles to harmlessly pass by. In the arcade version, he completely disappears from sight, leaving only the red heat haze from his body.
- Invisibility: (Half-Circle Forward-to-Back, Heavy Punch) Cinder alters the composition of his flame-covered body to such an extent that he vanishes completely from sight. Unlike his partial invisibility, this doesn't allow projectiles to pass him by.
- Inferno: (Forward, Forward, Any Kick) Cinder ejects a flamethrower-like stream of chemical fire from his hand, stretching a variable distance across the screen.
- Fire Flash: (Dragon-Punch Motion/Forward, Down, Forward, Any Kick) Cinder leaps into the air, kicking his enemies off the ground with a somersaulting attack.
- Air Juggle:
Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct Xbox One