But surely it's
risky, not having a US ambassador for a whole year, hinge! How can the US president be so certain our government will do the right things? Without proper guidance.:wink:
Well I guess while he's got his little sheriff on the job he feels quite comfortable. Extrapolating - when an ambassador is appointed it will be just weeks before JH announces his retirement....
If only!
The retirement bit, I mean!
You looking forward to Costello or Abbott... or Turnbull? Maybe we should organise a sweep?
Oh, I think Costello's a goner, hinge. The press has been so willing to publish all that damning stuff about his treasury nominee (forgot his name, sorry. You know who I mean!) Someone, very, very important has decided he's had it. He's looking like a loser, too, having backed down on his "challenge" to JH. Hmmmm, Abbott? I can't see it somehow. Much as he's worked on humanizing & sanitizing his image ..... I doubt the bulk of Oz women would vote for him for a start. :wink: The internal polls must be telling the Libs that! Turnbull? Possibly, just possibly ..... He'd certainly have the necessary powerful connections. What do you think?
I was kind of hoping for bird flu in the cabinet...
Are there any wets left? I have no respect for the lib pollies I know about.
Nelson?
Vanstone? (then she could sing and would it all be over)
Tuckey!
There just isn't an obvious choice is there? There is no Keating to Howard's Hawke....
Bodes well for the next election though (o gawd, beazles! Must be time to emigrate)
Beazles? It's a bit like playing Where's Wally! Where the hell
is he when we need a leader?
But where is Julia, come to think of it?
OK, my choice for the next ALP leader is ...... >>>> Greg Combrey (sp?), or Sharon! I'm dreaming, obviously, but they'd be pretty good, hey?
Any wets left in the Liberal ranks? Hardly!!
Hey, I could go for Tuckey! Now that would be
interesting. Not a boring moment!
Maybe they could entice Bob 'Mad as a' Katter back into the fold. As long as it's not Ruddock!
Bring Bronwyn Bishop Back!
The more I think about the personnel the more depressed and amazed I am at how they've won every election since 1996....
But, hinge, my dear ...... They are going to
lose the next election!
Not because Labor is looking great, but because this flirtation by Australians with the
dark side is wearing off! And the cold, hard reality of what's actually happened to this country is not looking too good! The IR stuff is just one of the last nails in the coffin. I sincerely believe this ..... I think! :wink:
Oy.
This fella said what I think!!!!
"3. Racism and xenophobia in Australia's pigsty
Columnist, former political advisor and former Liberal Party member Greg Barns writes:
A few weeks ago, in my regular column in the Hobart Mercury, I reflected on what the Cronulla riots said about Australia in 2005. With reference to the horror of the Tampa incident in 2001, the scandal of detention centres and the recent dismantling by the Howard government of the rights of workers and the dispossessed, I argued that "Australia has become a pigsty" where "the majority of voters have succumbed either to materialism or to the underbelly of their soul, an underbelly that gives free rein to fear, racism and xenophobia."
A few days later one of Australia's leading daily commentary websites, Onlineopinion, republished the column, after which three conservative-with-a-capital-C commentators – David Flint, Janet Albrechtsen and Hal Colebatch – attacked me for using the word "pigsty." (A flogging, it should be said, that is as painful as being mauled by a dead sheep.)
What a pity that these commentators did not bother to publish some of the 220 odd comments on my "pigsty" piece in the Onlineopinion forum section, a treasure trove of xenophobia, racism, fear mongering and ignorance. As if on cue, my article brought to the fore the underbelly of this nation that an opportunist politician like John Howard takes pleasure in probing from time to time, for base political advantage.
Take this post from "Boaz _ David" on Thursday, 22 December 2005 at 12:21 pm, accusing me of racism against people of Anglo/Celtic background. "[Barns] clearly hates white people. Loathes them, Despises them. Acts on this loathing, by writing disparaging articles against their legitimate right to protect their culture" are the particulars of this "offence."
On 22 December 2005 at 2:02 pm Vinny wrote that "these left wingers have a check list they go thru no matter what the issue and in the end it's always johnnie howard's fault."
En passant Vinny also observes, in another post, that Indigenous Australians are "mostly incapable of adapting to a western style civilisation" and that the "only hope for our natives is if the children are sent to boarding school where they would receive proper care and a good education which would enable them to integrate into white society."
And as for the media, particularly the ABC, and academia, well they destroyed this country, according to Mickijo on 22 December at 2:53pm:
I would recommend that Greg Barnes apply for the posts of being in charge of the Australian media and the ABC. They have a cultural cringe and loathing of Australians so he would not feel out of place.
What a pity he was not around in the '70s and '80s, that was when the media and the academics really decided that this country was of such poor quality that the only way to save it was to let it be overrun from outstanding humane nations like Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, various sections of Africa and the many Pacific superior islands.
Not to be outdone, Harry 34 was up early the next morning to fill us all with Christmas cheer. According to Harry 34, Greg Barns "will only be satisfied when all of Australia's culture and traditions have been destroyed or swamped by accepting millions of migrants."
Then there's this from Jenab (4:45am on 27 December). "Racial mixture causes racism. Racial mixture has never led to anything except trouble. And when you find any person or organization hell-bent on promoting (or requiring) racial mixture, you have usually also found someone who wants trouble to happen."
He goes on: "If the Whites want to be racially segregated, then for what purpose do leftists go to such lengths to deny the Whites their wish?"
And of course there's plenty of Islam-bashing in amongst the 220 odd comments. Benjamin's post – 2 January at 2.40pm – is probably the nastiest of that tawdry lot. According to Benjamin the Islamic faith has a greater preponderance of paedophiles among its clergy than the Christian churches. "In truth though, the mosques would be the worst for it," he writes. "I seen a case in Britain that a family brought forward against a cleric assaulting a six-year-old girl (although to be fair, the cleric would only be following the prophet's example) but it was dropped because of death threats from other parishioners! Nice people hey!"
Lest anyone think this is a swipe at Onlineopinion, it's not. It's a fabulous site and its forum section an insightful window into Australia. In this case it's a window looking into a pigsty. "
From Crikey
A "window looking into a pigsty", indeed, Deb!
I noticed that concern about "reverse racism" was expressed on that very insightful, site referred to in Barns's article, Deb.:
Take this post from "Boaz _ David" on Thursday, 22 December 2005 at 12:21 pm, accusing me of racism against people of Anglo/Celtic background. "[Barns] clearly hates white people. Loathes them, Despises them. Acts on this loathing, by writing disparaging articles against their legitimate right to protect their culture" are the particulars of this "offence."
Do you think it's catching? :wink:
Reverse racism.
It betrays a misunderstanding of the power differential implied in most working definitions of racism.
If you look at a definition including power over, it is a ridiculous charge.
If you just mean that most cultures are racist, it's true.
Racism including power over can happen anywhere.....in Oz, it generally happens to non Anglos.
But not always.
I think you might just be preaching to the converted here, Deb! (It was an A2K-related comment. :wink:
I know.
WEIRD thread, no?
Yes.
But then, maybe this one is, too?
You think the cartoonist's stealing ideas from A2K? - JH even has the sheriff badge....
