http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2574225.htm

There is no Democracy and if u think your free, have a look around, open your eyes…
“freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”.

I will donate $100 to the chosen charity of the journalist who gets Kevin Rudd to say the words “deficit of $300 billion”. I will require audio proof.

I’m a registered crikey user, so they can verify.

Marsh

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6638231.stm

Unfortunately I don’t have any particular faith in the opposition to be any better (they may in fact be worse), I think it will be the greens for me next election…

Not having a go at you in particular D., but BH was/is quite literally in love with Kevin Rudd. Rudd could do no wrong. His fits and tantrums, refusing to answer any question in less than 140,000,000 characters…

Forgotten:
GroceryWatch (a piece of sh*t if every there was one)
FuelWatch (as above)
Sorry (OK, but Kev forgot to do his promised 1year report)
No Chinese security for Olympic Torch (who were those tracksuited people?
Inability to say “billion”, maybe he was hoping we think it was million?
Defense White Paper (hopelessly out of touch with modern defense)
Infrastructure=Primary Schools (what ?)
Internet Filter (bizarre)
AU$43,000,000,000 Fibre to the home (offset by filter to slow down any speed increase)

And that list is the short one…

Excellent article, naturally, but as this stupid clown (moi) who is a Labor voter…which brings me to ask: anyone here remember the days when Labor was a little left-wing; had a little idealism; a tad of philosophy-not much but some; the days which extended up to the Kym Beazley era; the days when Labor stood for the high moral ground; the days when one felt them to be helping the less well off in the community? Gone with the Advent of Kevin Rudd.
I knew-I’ve got the articles to prove it-that our Kevin was a fatally flawed person to become PM. I’m sure everyone else did too. Let me remind you HE IS A LITTLE MAN, who suffers from the LMS Little Man Syndrome. HE IS BLINDINGLY AMBITIOUS. And most fatal of all syndromes HE REALLY BELIEVES GOD HAD A HAND IN IT. He is a PRISSY LITTLE MAN. And the only high ground he believes in is the KEVIN RUDD high ground.

So, why did I vote for Labor? Well, only because I am a Greens voter and the first preferences went to Labor. Why didn’t I physically alter the voting card and direct my prefs to Liberal? Because I felt the coalition led by that most corrupt of all politicians in Australian history, John Winston Howard, and the wretched people who surrounded him, people like PHILLIP RUDDOCK…No I can’t go on and on. Fill in your own names. I actually felt the re-election of John Howard meant the absolute tyranny and corruption would destroy what we laughingly refer to as a nation(?) We can never call ourselves a nation whilst we are an outpost of Imperial Britain.
I felt it better to vote Labor and pray they would be better than the coalition. Silly me!
There was another factor to the equation. I happen to live in the electorate of Higgins and I would be happier losing my life than to vote for the mendacious, Pious, Peter the Putrid, Costello.

The Australian Citizens’ Parliament is a world first, but takes us back to the original conception of democracy, which pre-dates elections. The Citizens’ Parliament was an assembly of 150 citizens, one from each federal electorate, selected at random from the electoral roll. The youngest participant was 18 and the oldest 90. The initiators began by sending out letters to around 9,000 people randomly selected asking if they’d be interested in participating if they were selected. An astonishing 30% said they would be despite time demands explained to them.

I still produce a wry chuckle when remembering our philosophy lecturer saying that Utilitarianism isn’t practiced in public policy.

A more astute political observer would have been deeply concerned before the last election when Rudd refused to release any policy until the week prior.
The uncritical transference of worthwhile Labor principles onto Rudd was a mistake.

I am looking forward to, as the Psychs say, being in a state of “malicious glee”.

BUT, we get the politicians and the politics we deserve. If the mass media were doing their job, if the opposition were anything other than obstructionists and opportunistic dishonest ratbags, but most of all if the Australian public paid more than 5 seconds notice each day to important issues, and better, could come to rational evidence-based conclusions…..

Unfortunately the public and the media are what they are. Remember only a few hundred thousand watch Lateline while 1.4 mil watch 7 News and ditto those trash current affairs shows on the commercial channels. Look at how the News Corp papers twist even straight forward poll results 180 degrees. I wonder what else we could expect from politicians. And remember Mark Latham. Sadly, honesty and directness in politicians is a Darwinian dead-end.

Thank goodness I and others read Crikey for more comprehensive and independent analysis.

It sounds like the new government has simply taken to the same old ‘spin’ tricks and media manipulation of the previous government. Soon they’ll have ‘imbedded’ correspondents … and this comes from me, who actually supports Labor!

It all rather strangely brings me back to the very old rhyme … “liar, liar, pants on fire, your nose is longer than a telephone wire.”

What did you think of the press luncheon with Hockey,
I think this would of been a better topic.

And now that we have access to more sources for info than just the media we are more aware of what is going on. Lucky us - we can sort the wheat from the chaff.