The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

Yes, I got quite excited when I read Neville's article on Saturday morning, lezzles. Exactly what so many of us actually think! It just make me wonder, though, why it took so bloody long for someone in this country to state the bleeding obvious!:

".....The world is heating up, both climactically and militarily, and yet those leaders who are most responsible for underplaying global warming and overplaying the response to 9/11 are the least likely to look in the mirror and tell the truth - either to the voters or themselves.

While some pro-war enthusiasts have admitted their blunder, those politicians who led the charge seem incapable of facing the truth. To do so, would be to accept that their actions have multiplied the instances of worldwide terror and so contributed to many thousands of civilian deaths and maimings.

Perhaps this country's mad, authoritarian lurch to the right is an unconscious attempt by those at the top to suppress their inner shame. To distract themselves with propaganda, brass bands, tall stories of war-zone reconstruction, terror laws, show trials, fear-mongering and boasting. Having lit the match, they are surrounded by fire, and are desperately seeking scapegoats. Is it beyond their capacity to accept that they might be the arsonists?"

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/poor-poor-pitiful-oz/2006/09/22/1158431894367.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

:wink:

On the weekend the ABC ran a piece on "The Hungry Mile", which was a length of the street at Sydney's Darling Harbour where unemployed men would queue up every morning looking for work on the wharves during the depression years.

The piece included footage of these gaunt, desperate, tortured men, hoping against hope that they would be able to get work to feed their families. Only the younger, stronger men had a chance. The work was back-breaking, but it was work.

Now, that particular part of Darling Harbour has been redeveloped and the State Government, a Labour government, has called for possible names for the area, which includes a bright, open sunny park-like walk with cafes, etc to appeal to visitors.

The Maritime Union has strongly urged that "The Hungry Mile" be given that name officially in commemoration of those men, whose bodies and spirits were so badly bent but not completely broken.

The NSW State Government has scoffed at this idea as not having any relevance for the cafe latte trendies. (My words)

Is it any wonder their Federal counterparts are so weak-kneed in opposing the IR fiasco? Where are their guts and gizzards? Where is their commitment to the "labour" force? A couple of verbal snipes are all they have managed to produce so far.

I don't know why they want to change it. It's Millers Point, why does that need to change just because they are building a bunch of appartments?

Well, why not?
The Maritime Union's choice of The Hungry Mile appears to reflect some very real experience. Of real people. But, of course, this new name would be totally unacceptable. Not cheerful & optimistic enough! Wouldn't want the residents to even consider the plight of some folk living through such desperate times! :wink:

Well, they've decided to rename the part of Hickson street that runs along there the Hungry Mile. I can live with that.

Yes, I think it is wonderful. I'm not a rabid leftist, but these were real people, they were a part of our history and it is right that they be recognised and honoured.

So can I.
And you don't have to be a rabid leftist to appreciate that acknowledgment has been given when it's due.

.... Still waiting (& wondering) for this one to bite.
Hello?
All that AWB money to Saddam's coffers!
While Australia was being embroiled in the US's invasion plans!
At the very same time!
How come the Oz public doesn't get it?
Hello?

??
You think I'm going to bite? Why would I? I agree.
I am missing something?

Nah, I was wondering why this has been such a sleeper with the Oz public, despite the publicity about AWB's dealings. It's almost as though they don't get it, or don't care. Considering that Oz troops were sent to Iraq (& their lives were/are at risk) I find it odd, that's all. All people seemed to be interested in was wheat contracts. Strange.

Yet another issue Labour have let slip by without really capitalizing on...

Yes.
I wonder why?

When Labour initially went in hard on the issue John Howard, the other JH :wink: , came out with the whole, this will hurt Australian wheat growers, line. It seems to have scared Labour enough for them to keep quiet about it. It's a very stupid line of reasoning though, I mean, who around the world is going to even hear what Labour says about the issue? Let alone care. The only people in the world that are going to listen are Australian voters and they're not very likely to boycott Australian wheat are they?

... & this. JH sounded so "relaxed & comfortable" on The World Today in his response:

The Prime Minister says intelligence agencies are not always right and they were the source of the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

So that was that!
End of the report.
Nothing is his fault or responsibility.
Teflon man!


Last Update: Wednesday, September 27, 2006. 12:25pm (AEST)

US report 'devastates' Howard's credibility

The Federal Opposition says the release of a United States intelligence report torpedoes the Prime Minister's reasons for going to war in Iraq.

The White House has declassified parts of a leaked intelligence report which undermines its claims that America is safer since the war in Iraq.

Labor's Kevin Rudd has seized on the US report, which says the Iraq war is "shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders".

"This is a devastating report when it comes to the credibility of John Howard's case for taking Australia to war in Iraq," he said.

Mr Howard disagrees with the assessment but he says he is pleased that US President George W Bush has released parts of the previously secret report.

"I think that's very good, I think we often make a mistake in not declassifying more of these documents," he said.

The Prime Minister says intelligence agencies are not always right and they were the source of the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Mr Howard says he will look at the report and hopes to see the entire document.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1749944.htm

I thought at the time that most of the Labor objections were about the outrageous misuse of UN funds. I wished Labor had pushed it further. I mean, the government must have known where those funds were going & knew we'd be soon involved in the Iraq invasion. An incredible can of worms! Makes "Pig Iron Bob" look pretty tame, really.

And of course, there was that concern about losing those lucrative wheat contracts. Wouldn't want to be seen to be undermining Oz wheat producers! Unpatriotic.

Or, maybe Labor was more worried about upsetting the US? Being seen as opposing the invasion? Not being loyal to the "coalition of the willing"?

Anyway, they certainly blew it.

... & the Cole enquiry continues ... Those payments began in 1999!:

AWB used shipping firm to pay kickbacks
September 27, 2006 - 1:14PM

AWB funnelled illicit payments to Saddam Hussein's government through a shipping firm and a Hong Kong shelf company, the Cole inquiry has heard.

New documents shown to the inquiry reveal that AWB began the payments in 1999 through Atlantic and Orient Shipping, which forwarded the money to a Hong Kong shelf company, Cornflower Holdings.

Cornflower then ultimately handed the cash to a transport firm in Jordan which was part owned by Saddam's government.

The money AWB paid to the shipping company was for so-called trucking fees charged by Iraq.

The Cole inquiry has heard that AWB ultimately paid $290 million in kickbacks to Saddam's regime under the guise of so-called trucking fees to a Jordanian transport company, Alia, which was part owned by the Iraqi government. .....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/AWB-used-shipping-firm-to-pay-kickbacks/2006/09/27/1159036587072.html

So, let's see, AWB was passing on millions to Saddam's government for close to 4 years before Australian troops were involved in the invasion of 2003. And apparently no one in the Oz government had any inkling what-so-ever that this was happening. And this has not been a scandal of huge proportions for the government. Our major concern was possibly losing lucrative wheat contracts. Well, I dunno, this must say something about Australians!