Red Flag waving Chinese alarmed Bob Brown

Green leader Bob Brown commented critically on the large number of Chinese Olympic supporters and the sea of red Chinese flags, associating them with Beijing’s Communism. Perhaps Bob Brown should be reminded that many people love their country and are proud to be hosts to the Olympics without necessarily endorsing the politics of their leaders. Certainly, many Australians who waved the Aussie flag and supported the Sydney Olympics were, like Brown himself, much against the politics of the then Prime Minister John Howard.

Howard's Legacy?

A group of aboriginal youths was asked to leave a backpacker hotel in Alice Springs because of the colour of their skins. Apparently the excuse was that there was complaints from “Asian tourists”. Strange that tourists going to central Australia would object to facing real life aborigines.

Australians are known for their ability to stand up and speak out and even defy world opinion, such as with Kyoto and the refugees issue. Why is it when asked to commit as racist act the person responsible is so quick to comply? Well trained by John Howard, perhaps ?

SIEV X - Will it be just a memory ?

In October 2001, 353 asylum seekers drowned on the way to Australia. Questions remain on the involvement of the then Howard government which was determined to disrupt the flow of refugees into Australia. Why was the government so determined to prevent the disclosure of information regarding this "incident" ? What was the involvement of the Australian Federal Police ?

Even the construction of the memorial to the victims was discouraged. Today the "temporary" memorial still stands on the bank of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. It was a remarkable project created with the involvement of schools and other communities.

For a helicopter view of the site, click on the object below (sourced from Youtube). (Visit http://www.sievxmemorial.com/ )

Not happy about John

Someone not happy with John Howard standing outside his campaign office in Eastwood demonstrating his displeasure.

Howard's Transformation

This cartoon in the Weekend Australian of 13-14th October 2007 summarises it all . . .

Howard and the Aborigines

Speculations are rife as to the real reasons behind John Howard’s latest backflip – that over the status of the aborigines. For more than a decade he had resisted any kind of reconciliation and refused to provide a formal apology for past atrocities. Recently he even introduced draconian measures to deprive aboriginal communities of some basic rights. Then suddenly yesterday, he declared that the aborigines were deserving of special status in the Australian society and he would initiate a referendum to incorporate that in the Australian Constitution !

Some guessed that he had a true change of heart and perhaps was worried about his legacy in the face of imminent election defeat. Others believed he was pleading to more progressive constituents in his electorate so that he might snatch a win from the jaws of defeat.

There could be another reason. He might be attempting to create fear among his more ignorant constituents. By making a symbolic accommodation with the aborigines he might be indicating that Labor would be doing much more and therefore something to be fear for.

Contrasts in Leadership

Peter Beattie, Premier of Queensland has just stepped down after 10 years saying that leadership renewal is in the interest of the party. Recently other State leaders had stood down for the sake of leadership renewal.

In contrast, the Prime Minister John Howard who is 13 years older, is saying today that he intends to contest the next election because he is the only one who could win it.

The comparison is most striking - Howard is only there to win elections and nothing else matters more.

As Paul Keating said, the "desiccated coconut" is "Araldited" to his seat.

Collaborating in Silence

Steve Burrell of Sydney Morning Herald on Aug 14, 2007 ( http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/nobody-tackles-after-pm-throws-a-hospital-pass/2007/08/13/1186857430882.html )

listed for comments a number of Howard government’s targeted pork barrelling in recent months in a cynical and desperate effort to survive the next elections. The list included

- Taking over a non-viable hospital in Tasmania

- Funding legal challenges to amalgamation of local councils recommended by an independent review

- Propping up a timber mill that was in danger of losing supplies after breaching contracts with the state NSW government

All the interventions were in marginal seats. All were directed against reforms which governments and businesses advocated.

Burrell’s main point was not that the Howard government’s desperate intervention was surprising. It was the deafening silence from the business sector. A sad state of affairs indeed !

Howard on his knees?

No, he wasn't appearing before George W Bush. The poor guy just had a fall, just like his ratings. Will he get up again?

Watch out for the Asians, John

Telstra's Phil Burgess has raised a new excuse for keeping out Singapore-owned Optus from the broadband competition. "We're talking about turning over Australia's only nationwide telecommunications network to a consortia run by the Singapore Government. .... that executes people...." he said.

(see
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21883831-2702,00.html)

Burgess' past record on the issue of capital punishment is not known. But cautioning John Howard about an Asian threat is a well proven tactic, one that was successfully used by Qantas when Singapore Airlines wanted to take over the failing Ansett.

Just mention to John Howard about a potential threat from the Asians. It always works.

Howard's Legacy

Kay's letter published in the Sydney Morning Herald today -

RUDD vs HOWARD

For the past week, we have been hearing John Howard and the rest of his cabinet pouring smears on Kevin Rudd over his presence in three gathering which included Brian Burke.

Rudd has been trying to explain it all in his usual analytical and rational way. Along comes Paul Keating and contributed the best lines of the debate so far:

“Look, look, Kevin has done something, he's met Brian Burke. But I'll tell you what he hasn't done - he hasn't lied to his nation about reasons for committing Australia to a non-UN sponsored invasion and war. He hasn't turned his head from the plight of a boat full of wretched individuals looking for shelter, and then adding insult to injury by saying they threw their kids overboard first, you know. And he hasn't prostituted the UN Oil-for-Food program by falsely declaring that Australia's wheat shipments were not ultra vires of the UN guidelines. Now, this is what this prime minister has presided over, you know …I mean, look, you know, Howard has, you know, lied to the country about the reasons for going to war, going to war for God's sake, and now he wants us to believe it's a major problem if Kevin Rudd meets Brian Burke, you know, Brian who?”

and

“Well, the thing about poor old Costello, he's all tip and no iceberg, you know. He (laughs), you know, he can throw a punch across the parliament, but the bloke he should be throwing the punch to his Howard. Of course, he doesn't have the ticker for it.”

Perhaps Rudd needs to learn to use the old methods to deal with Howard and Costello. From Keating.

WHY HOWARD ATTACKED OBAMA

Interesting point made by Michael Gawenda in today’s Sydney Morning Herald -

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/howard-has-tarred-himself/2007/02/14/1171405293594.html

that John Howard attacked only Obama Barack but not other Presidential candidates - like Senator John Edwards (and, if I may add, Senator Hilary Clinton) for opposing the Iraq War.

Why?

Of course, John Howard has a long history of targeting those who are not Anglo Saxon. Is he up to his tricks again now that the polls are going badly against him?

PM Howard to advise US on Iraq?

No doubt standing on a high rostrum looking down on the battered George W Bush, Howard has suddenly found his courage to tell his good friend what should have been done in Iraq.

But what was he doing before the disasterous (for Republicans) mid-term elections? Cheering Bush on while following a safe distance behind.