Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

After eleven years of policies to wedge, divide and frighten our community, it is reasonable to feel insecure and afraid of the future.

The Howard "New Order" has never tried, nor has it intended to try, to unite our nation, especially when considering the blundering immigration policies that challenge us to become multicultural.

As Bob Hawke once stated; "We have to populate or perish!"

The days of Bob Menzies' white Australia is being converted by the Howard government into a white coolie poor workers' society.

Menzies' failed referendum for his onus of proof legislation based on the concocted fear of Communism has been altered by the Howard government into the pseudonym of anti-terrorism laws - and by Howard's normal method of deceit.

Now, Howard wants to outlaw unionism – to remove any organised opposition to a fascist government. And my pet dislike, Barnaby Joyce, who the media has used extensively to excuse the blatant bigotry of the Senate, will have to be silenced by our votes.

Gee, when did that happen? What, no referendum?

The Salvos will tell you that it takes an awful lot of poor citizens to make just one millionaire.

The corporation union bosses who control the Howard government (both here and in the US) have been slowly but surely exposed during the last nine years.

I believe that, as it happens in fascist countries, initially the powers that be welcome a government that provides biased and lawless freedom to those of great financial power.

But as surely as God made little apples, they too will pay the price of apathy and greed.

You just cannot trust a megalomaniac who has been committed to absolute power since his early days.

Nor can you trust the people who serve him blindly with their own unaccountable behaviour for the underlying objective of personal glory and financial gain.

Pigs in the trough of public apathy. So far so good is not good enough.

Surely Howard's absolute power was evident when he stared down those who would disagree with him and he has them all too afraid to mention the splits in their cabinet?

Who knows where the skeletons are and what will happen if the truth is ever known?

They give the impression of one for all and all for one but, already some of the Liberal and Nationalist back-benchers are promising that nuclear reactors will not be in their electorate.

We do have the choice of believing that, after eleven years of subjugation, these parasites with nothing to say will suddenly defy Howard's US sponsored demand for nuclear reactors – fair dinkum?

"Never ever" trust the Howard "New Order".

Vote anything except Liberal or Nationalists or A Fascist Australia will be Howard's threat of "I have a lot more to do". I kid you not.

NE OUBLIE.

A Sydney court has ordered the Commonwealth Government to pay $30,000 for breaching its own industrial law.

Last month, the Federal Court found the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations had advised other government departments not to grant leave to public servants who wanted to attend a protest.

The union-organised rally in November 2005 was against changes to the Workplace Relations Act.

Today, the court ordered the Commonwealth to pay the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) close to the maximum penalty of $33,000, for what it described as a serious contravention of the law.

Thank God for the Federal Court, it is all that stands between workers and the tyranny of the Howard Government.

They are as predictable as they are untrue.

See Australia can't walk away from climate action and scroll down to my article on November 15, 2006.

I quote only the first section as a reminder of Howard's consistent and totally unreliable election antics.

With respect to the latest Costello fire and brimstone warning of financial disaster, I recommend Govt can't stop rate rise

The longer this election campaign continues the worse it will become.

The Howard "New Order" are all tarred with the one brush. Something they have always used against opposition to their fascist policies.

They have linked all Muslims to terrorism because their illegal invasion of Iraq happened to be Muslim. So there!

Recently my wife and I watched a show on ABC about the saving of six Irishmen who were jailed in WA for treason against the British Army in which they had enlisted.

These men were praised as patriots because what they did was to free their country from the British occupation.

NOT terrorists - patriots. NOT traitors to the oath they took - patriots.

The murders and brutality of the IRA was recognised in the US as a fight for freedom and the invaders were the terrorists. They even contributed enormous sums of money to support the insurgents.

As one with a part Irish ancestry, I agree with that fight for freedom.

So why not the Iraqis? Do as I say, not as I do - Bush Administration style?

It seems that only one country in history regularly prospers financially when at war - and that is the U.S. And what a cost in human life?

Others may gain land but, that usually becomes a burden with (the CIA description of) insurgents upsetting a God-given right to invade, conquer and exploit.

What hypocrites we Westerners are - following the lead of the world's biggest terrorist and calling it democracy.

NE OUBLIE.

It has been my personal opinion that the Hawke/Keating Australian Labor Government was the best government since WW 2.

IMHO, Howard should have lost the election in 1998.  Kim Beazley won the most people's votes but, not in the areas needed.

Since 1998 Howard used and abused the public service - High Court appointments - stifled opposition - increased secrecy - denied Freedom of Information - lied, deceived and wedged our nation.

But, was it his brilliance as a politician or was it the assistance he received from the powers that be?

If we consider his shocking debating skills, once lauded by the media, he could only be effective by having presidential style media releases with journalists personally selected by him.  No "Crickey" there!  CIA maybe but, no Crickey.

The media of all types excused his many blunders, verbally and politically, and his misuse of cliches like national interest, choice and even fair.  None of which had any currency after investigation.

As the old adage warns, truth will out. It seems that that is happening now.

After the introduction of anti-terrorist and sedition laws, some of us even warned the media that they could be next. 

Now the major players in the media are crying "Right to Know" and have commenced lobbying for the removal of, according to them, 500 restrictions on that which they are allowed to broadcast.

Perhaps their more even style of news reporting now is partly due to that and the fact that Howard has "never ever" been as alone as he seems to be now.  He built himself a personal ivory tower and he can't handle it.

His wife has been quoted as stating that he is not into firm commitments.  I would interpret that to mean he is not into keeping his word.  Amen to that.

It is probably just too simple to say just don't believe him and "never ever" trust him.  But, if people could adopt that with plenty of justification, we would not have to listen to his daily propaganda of high five salutes and canned laughter.

Howard is preaching his normal American style negative politics, and his conga-line of robots repeat it, word for word.  He says he has plans for a future that only the "New Order" can provide.  Now there's a statement for you!  Fair dinkum.

He and Costello are warning doomsday is coming and only they know how to save us from it!  After all, who would know better since they created the problems.

"Look out, the world economy (which we said would not effect us), IS affecting us and the nine increases in interest rates (which we said would be kept at 30 year lows) would be worse under Labor or, come to think of it - any party but us - so there!"

Well might we say - "How does Howard get away with it"?

Campaigning for the 1972 election on an ‘It’s time’ slogan, Whitlam declared:

Men and women of Australia! The decision we will make for our country on the second of December is a choice between the past and the future, between the habits of the past and the demands and opportunities of the future. [Substitute 24 November]

NE OUBLIE

While the public considers the diversions provided by the Howard government, has anyone considered the tactic they use to defend their draconian WorkChoices?

As a successful migrant, Joe Hockey should take a good look at his attitude to the rights of workers under his government's WorkChoices.

The Nuremburg defence of "I was ordered to do it" doesn't work with the families being subjugated by these laws and their possessions being up for grabs.

Mr. Hockey could only have achieved his success by hard work and the necessity for our society to embrace his rights as a citizen.

Could it be that Mr. Hockey, now that he has reached the "have" status, is prepared to join the crushing pressure on Australian workers that would have prevented his achievements if it had existed when he was new to this country?

The egalitarian attitudes of union activities, which mark the university students of any democracy, for a better world, only fails when they forget their beginnings and the unions who helped them to survive and prosper.

I find it terribly hard to come to terms with the seemingly accepted hatred of the word unions when that word alone is the basis of a successful democratic society.

Along with WorkChoices, climate change, nuclear Australia, education and health - I consider that the undemocratic attack on trade unions is probably the most heinous crime of the Howard "New Order".

It is an attack on every member of our society in that they have convinced a significant number of us that trade unionists are not entitled to the same consideration as our Constitution allows.

Another denial of human rights.

Please think about it. To permit this, even if it was based on a universal truth, is to allow Howard to achieve that which Menzies at least had too much class to steal.

This election is indeed between the Howard "New Order" versus the Australian people and our future.

NE OUBLIE.

Another officer cited the case of David Hicks. “One of our staffers was present when Vice President Cheney interfered directly to get Hicks’s plea bargain deal. He did it, apparently, as part of a deal cut with [Australian Prime Minister] Howard. I kept thinking: this is the sort of thing that used to go on behind the Iron Curtain, not in America. And then it struck me how much this entire process had disintegrated into a political charade. It’s demoralising for all of us.”

It seems like David Hick's former jailers are determined to reveal the truth about the deal Cheney and Howard made over the sentencing of Hicks. 

Howard has denied being part of any deal that has kept Hicks gagged until after the election. Yet another lie from the man that has taken Australia down a very dark road. Who knows where Howard will take us if he wins another term. 

Ernest William:

For public scrutiny, I have for many years believed that true socialism could be the only way for the entire world to join together to improve and sustain the planet.

So why are you supporting Rudd so strongly? Rudd has gone some way to assuring business, and the investment community he is not a socialist and neither is any party he leads. He has also given a big tick to neo liberal economics. He has also said he will run government similar to the State Governments. That is, business will be given the premium seat at any table. Is Rudd a liar? If he is should he be punished for lying to the conservative swinging electorate?

Ernest William says:

The Nazis’ most organised enemy in the 1930's (besides the persecution of the Jews) was the Communist Party. They were in fact the first political force to fight against the Nazis, and when outlawed for their temerity they moved to Russia where, after WW 2, they were part of the Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were allies at the start of WW2, jointly invading Poland and dividing it between them, effectively starting the conflagration that engulfed Europe.

Your version of events must be from one the many official Communist Party revised editions that came out after the summer of 1941 when Hitler double-crossed his mate Stalin and invaded Russia.

Quite apart from the Communist Party, the Social Democrats were far and away the most significant opponents to Nazism in both Germany and Austria before and after the Anschluss.

Then there were people like Fritz Gerlich, the heroic anti-Hitler Munich journalist who paid with his life for exposing Hitler's gang, shot to death at Dachau in 1934.

His newspaper Der Gerade Weg was both anti-Communist and anti-Nazi, so he had little chance of survival, did he?

Then there were the Munich Post newspaper journalists Rudolph Olden, Konrad Heiden and Walter Schaber, the last fortunate enough to survive by escaping to the USA where he was still alive in the 1990s.

Communists were opposed to Hitler simply because they were opposed to everyone that got in their way. They were opposed to the Social Democrats and the Nationals as much as they were opposed to Hitler.

Communists put much emphasis on their "opposition" to Hitler after 1941 and before September 1939 in order to disguise their own complicity in Hitler's crimes.

But when it really counted, and when it suited them, they lined up with him.

G'day Alan,

You wrote: "This is the sort of union-speak that people are frightened of. With all due respect, Ern, you have no conception of the Hitler years."

When WW 2 began, my two oldest brothers joined the Army, initially one served in the Middle East and another in the Islands.

Later the Labor government brought both divisions back to defend Australia.

I was aged 12 when the Japanese midget subs invaded Sydney Harbour, and a larger sub shelled Sydney a month later. 

At this time, along with schoolmates, I was attached to Leichhardt School Air Raid Patrol (ARP) as a despatch rider (push bike of course).

I had my own helmet and gas mask, Alan, and the PMG bike was flamin' heavy.  I remained in that "reserve" type of messenger service until the war ended when I was 15.

Yes Alan, I have a very good and personal reasons to have been conscious of the Hitler years.

Cheers Ern G.

Surely by now all voters would have realised the similarity between Bush's America and fascism?

Also, we should recognise that Howard's servility is not to the American nation but to their real life fascist and his good friend, George W. Bush. Struth.

I read an article entitled HowardFacts which provides some very interesting facts regarding Howard's eleven years of lies, obfuscation; wedging, and dividing our nation.

There has "never ever" been one policy from the Howard "New Order" in those eleven years that was intended to unite our people. Quite the contrary, every move has been calculated to keep us separated so that we are weaker and more vulnerable to an autocratic regime.

Today I watched Peter Costello on Insiders. His latest attack on Julia Gillard regarding that terrible word "socialism" would make the monks of old Baltimore weep.

See DESIDERATA: "Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit".

Costello claimed, without his normal smirk, that Julia had links to the Communist Party because of the title of Socialist Forum, a debating society of which she was a member as a university student.

So Howard's new unsubstantiated attack is that any party with the word socialist anywhere in its title, is now linked to communism. The old Menzies' trick of "reds under the bed".

However, if we take a look at Mr Costello himself, we discover that he was involved with a Party called the Socialist Democrats. Aha, then by his own criteria Costello is a communist!

Then we have the Nazi Party: (Nationalsozialistische) or National Socialist Party of Germany. So they too have communist links Costello?

The Nazis’ most organised enemy in the 1930's (besides the persecution of the Jews) was the Communist Party. They were in fact the first political force to fight against the Nazis, and when outlawed for their temerity they moved to Russia where, after WW 2, they were part of the Soviet Socialist Republic.

Now they are communists! As is China, Vietnam, and North Korea - and their regimes were to destroy our democracies!

When Howard says he has more to do, he means more of the fascist policies and laws that he has been cultivating for eleven painful years.

Already Ruddock has intimated that he will widen the censorship laws;

Costello has stated that all workers, including the police, the nurses, and the emergency workers, will be forced onto individual AWAs.

State governments will be emasculated to the point where they are anachronistic. That will disenfranchise State voters and seriously reduce the sharing of power.

Howard demonstrates his objective every time he calls a presidential locked down press conference with the exact same entrance, between flags, as does his mentor George W. Bush.

And be sure that every time the "New Order" accuses their opposition parties of anything, it is because they are doing it themselves and think that "me-tooing" will negate the issues.

"Never ever" before has Australia been such an upstart of a nation with terrible records in all matters concerning human rights.

"Never ever" has Australia been subjected to the draconian legislation and the removal of civil rights when not at war.

Like democracy - the War on Terrorism is just another fascist style marketing ploy.

Let's keep our eyes on the Party that will improve services instead of a temporary and inflationary tax cut.

NE OUBLIE.

As I observed to Richard off-Diary yesterday, the prize for "Pin the AWB on the Foreign Minister" should go to the competitor with the most creative solution. Would you accept online entrants, Rich, as well as those at the Gov?

Mary J thanks for that info - I have found the link.

During the last election I was in Ireland - have been there before - family came from there - and I couldn't believe the contrast between there and here as it was not evident ten years earlier. Ireland in 04 reminded me of the Australia I once knew and I realized that though I had been watching what was going on with the Howard government I hadn't really noticed how much the changes had affected the feel and tone of the society around me. After the dreadful election result I went back with the intention of living there but missing friends and family here was too much. Since then I have lived with a bubble around me - so as to speak - I still watch what is going on but I have an eye always to the day that this government is gone - which could be this election. Here’s hoping !

Ha Richard that sounds like a fun game - can I join too?

In Bennelong today, unused to being heckled without an umpire Howard called "Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker".    How mad is the man?

Australia is a place I don't know, a foreign country in fact, that I have lived in for almost 55 years.

My 34 year old daughter finds it uglier for her 7 year old than she had it and doesn't like it one bit.

As Ben Cousins was jumped on from the tallest building in the country for being a drug cheat out of season and was only taking valium one wonders when the AWB criminal mass murdering cheats will ever be questioned by the federal police?

Richard:  A Mayo electoral poster has fallen into my possession.  I'm thinking of a session of "Pin The AWB On The Foreign Minister."  Care to come and play, Marilyn?  It's primitive, but oh so cathartic. 

Perhaps the failing is not democracy, but of people. Of humans.
 For long years I was always puzzled by the fact that decent Germans did nothing to stop Hitler. Note that I assumed that ‘decent people’ would have wanted to stop Hitler.

Then came the invasion of Iraq. No outcry.  The looting of treasures of world significance never raised a murmur.  Then came the irrefutable evidence of torture, rape and murder. Still silence.

The clear evidence that the reasons given for going to war were nothing but lies. The evidence that ‘security personnel’ were out of control and answerable to nobody, the news of the attempt by Bush and his cronies to write into law that none of them could be tried for war crimes. The claims that torture was justified. All this brought only silence.

The kidnapping, renditions, holding without trial of people ‘thought’ to be connected with ‘terrorists'. 

In Australia the coalition's treatment of refugees brought no response, no outrage.  The holding of them on outlying islands, and island nations beyond the reach of Australian law brought no response.
At what point were Australians going to stand up, demand that the rule of law be adhered too?

But of course you are sure that at some point the Australian population would have stood up, aren’t you?

Me, I have no such certainty. Had the government shot the refugees, do you really believe anybody would  have cared? I can imagine that the cost of bullets might have become an issue. Could we not just knock them on the head? Or perhaps gas them? Wouldn’t that be cheaper?

Preposterous!

Really? Why?

The Americans, the Brits and the Australians each had an election, a chance to disown these war mongers and none of them took it.  Australians voted on the erroneous belief that a Howard led government would keep their interest rates a few points lower than would  a Labor government.

Check the recent  polls, Iraq does not rate a mention.  In the recent  SBS Insight  program featuring first time voters from Moreton, a south Queensland electorate, only one lass raised Iraq as an issue.

The only rational conclusion is that people do not care. The Germans did not care. The Japanese did not care. Americans, Brits and Australians do not care.

What is abundantly clear is that ‘democracy’, whatever you conceive that to be does nothing to ensure any level of decency, no more than does a dictator, despot or god king.

The US model —  where  recent elections  at least would never have passed scrutiny had observers foisted upon others to ensure ‘free and fair elections’ been present —  where the recently elected Democrats have no control over a deranged and out of control president, clearly illustrates that a ‘democracy’ can be just as demonic, brutal and self serving as any other form of government that has flourished in the past one hundred years or so.

It is of no comfort to the invaded when their homes, hospitals and country are destroyed, homes and  national treasure looted, the  population tortured, raped and slaughtered, that the perpetrators are from some ‘democracy’.  Certainly the pain and the hate that is generated are no less.

Australia in fact does not have a ‘democracy’. Certainly not a ‘by the people, for the people’ type of democracy. Nor does it have a representative democracy — where the person elected  represents the interests of the electorate.

There is in fact only one party-based  MP who consistently represents the interests of his constituents, Senator Barnaby Joyce of the National Party, and he is constantly  referred to in the media as a ‘rebel’.

A strange appellation indeed for a man doing the job for which he was elected!

Among the few independents in parliament, Bob Katter MP for Kennedy,  Queensland, an ex National Party member, is another who has consistently represented the interests of his constituents, although he eventually had to leave the party to be able to do so.

Ben Quin, who was the Liberal candidate for Lyons, had to resign from the Liberal Party to be able to voice his opposition to the Gunn’s Pulp Mill proposal.  He is now standing as an independent. The oft repeated ‘no party led by me will ...’ by John Howard is being parroted by Kevin Rudd, notably on the issue of making representations over the death penalty for ‘terrorists’.

So the Australia political system is merely a modern twist on the ‘god king’ beliefs of old that I at least believed had long ago been discredited.

It is clear that Australians accept that upon election the leader of that party becomes ‘all knowing’ and omnipotent. The question this raises is why do Australians tolerate and pay the expenses of the detritus that remains from the once democratic system that the ‘god king’ has replaced?

The Mixed Member Proportional representation (MMP) as practised in Germany and adopted by New Zealand in 1993 — although NZ politicians  appear to be attempting to stuff it into the old two-party mould — seems to offer some hope of  fair and equal representation for all members of a society.

Perhaps we could tweak it a bit.  No public funding of parties or candidates. A strict limit on the level of  political donations —  the Canadians do not allow business or trade unions to donate to political parties —  limit the  person standing to spending only the donations raised within  their electorate, limit political participation to a maximum two fixed, three year terms.

Once elected outlaw any electoral lobbying, or any activity aimed at influencing government for a five-year period after the completion of their term.

Such a system would keep a fresh flow of people still connected with the community coming into the decision making sphere. It would break the power of political parties  greatly lessen the opportunities for graft and reduce the chance of people selling their soul to cling to ‘power’ for just one more day, or one more hour.

It would slow decision making, giving the community a chance to really influence events, and prevent any one person from wielding any great power.

If we grafted a president into the mix, a non party political position where a person with negotiating skills represented the interests of Australia on the advice of the government, but with only a ceremonial significance internally, we might just have a system that reflected the will of the people, without granting any great degree of power to anybody.

Nothing could be worse than the present system.

[I am a member of the   Sydney Democracy Forum, University of Sydney.  Program Coordinator Ro Mueller:  E-mail: rmueller@usyd.edu.au, SDF web page: http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/cah/news/sdf.shtml .

Professor John Keane was the speaker at the recent ‘The twenty-first century enemies of democracy,’ lecture at the Footbridge theatre, and provided an opinion piece to the Sydney Morning Herald,  Opinion, October 11, in Democracy: some don't want it, many don't care. A part of this is lifted from my reply to that opinion piece.]

Richard: Thank you, Peter.

He said the dreadful bombing in Karachi aimed at Benazir Bhutto was done by Al Qaeda (how could he or anyone know so soon?) although Mrs Bhutto claims it's her enemies in the current Pakistan regime.

Then the innocent Ben Cousins came on for a pasting but the self-confessed rorter Dick Pratt was praised as a "good friend" who donates money to charity (ours, by the sound of it).

But the Chasers team, dressed as rabbits, about summed it up as they swarmed around him walking about Kirribilli – "you are funnier when you’re attacking live people," said Howard. Quite. The man is rattled.

What is that, anyway? I mean, besides being a kind of speak Hitler would not have liked.

With or without due respect, is union speak one horror story being likened to another? Or did some 1930s German trades unionist compare Himmler with Ruddock?

Margo wrote Trusting Howard on August 30, 2004. This is just a part:

On the surface, Howard’s shock insistence that the election is about trust is ludicrous. After all, he’s running to an election to avoid scrutiny of the lies he told in the final week of the last election about children overboard.

He’s even had the gall to let the Senate come back today and tomorrow, while not allowing the People’s House to question him on children overboard and revelations that contrary to his assertion that invading Iraq would make Australia safer, experts advised him the opposite was more likely.

Trust? Well, yes. Howard’s attempt to co-opt the issue that threatens to destroy him is just another aspect of the relationship with swinging voters in key seats he nurtured in 1996 and has been living off ever since. It’s the core promise thing, stupid.

NE OUBLIE.

Take the example of the Corporations Law Agreement of 2000 which was organised by the then Liberal Attorney-General Darryl Williams and Joe Hockey the then Minister for Financial Services and Regulation.

This is the part of the Agreement that disturbed me:

To address the States' concerns that the Commonwealth might use the referred powers to assume greater control of workplace relations, it was agreed that the Corporations Agreement will specifically exclude the use of the referred power for the purpose of regulating industrial relations.

In addition, the objects clause in the State referral legislation will include a provision to the effect that the referred powers are not to be used for this purpose.

This will not prevent the inclusion of provisions in the Corporations legislation necessary for corporate and securities regulation.

I suggest to the swinging voters and the small "l" Liberals that this is what happens when the Labor States try to work with the Howard "New Order".

NE OUBLIE.

What Mike Clancy is really writing about is the symptoms of a collapsing society, with no hope of recovery from the downward spiral we are on. Nothing will stop the current power mongers from their quest for total control over every aspect of our lives for the sole economic benefit of a minority. This election campaign has been going on for months and yet it is only now that signs are beginning be seen as to the outcome. It looks to me that we will again have a lib faction running our demise. If they get back in, the effects will be horrendous as they will be so puffed up they will sweep freedoms, the environment, health and welfare out the window. Sadly they are being aided and abetted by their brothers in economic insanity, the labs, who have only produced a me to, don't have any answers for the people, just for ourselves policies. I've read the lib web site and there are no policies on it. The labor site is just lots of useless semantic waffle, probably produced by the many lawyers in their ranks, just like the lies and subterfuge produced by the heavily stacked number of lawyers within the lib faction.

We are lost unless the people wake up, and from the past experiences and by the ridiculous rhetoric and head in the sand revolving door attitude of lib/lab apologists, we can see nothing will change. The media won't put the greens forward on an equal footing, just as they never put any candidate but the lib/lab in the lime light, unless it's for a negative purpose. Except for Bob Brown, it seems the greens have gone to ground and following the lib/lab of only putting forward their leader, to reduce any individuality and reasonable responses from individuals. This is not an election but a forced dictatorship of single point control and policy. The people have no say, nor do the supposed candidates who are supposed to represent the people, so this is not a free vote but a contrived and corrupt take over. It's following the same patterns we have seen throughout history as societies have collapsed.

Our people of all nationalities; faiths; politics and Rich or Poor will have but one more chance to stop the Howard fascism that he and his robots have so sneakily forced upon us.

That is on November 24 2007.

He has already skewed all variables in his favour - 143,000 have been removed from the AEC list.  He reduced the time for registering to avoid the new 18 year old; he tried to prevent all prisoners from voting even for minor offences and yet, most of his entire federal Liberal/Nationalist hierarchy are rorters, incompetents, facing prosecution or investigation.

This was the major pre-requirement to be in Hitler's Gestapo (ASIO?) and the S.S. (AFP?).

I can even picture the similarity of certain Howard "choices" like -Attorney-General Ruddock with Heinrich Himmler.

We should read and learn from the experts in A fascist Australia?

I know I harp on this but, I would hate to have an election result that proves that I, and many others, awoke to Howard's ultimate objective shortly after 1998.

I quote Webster's Dictionary:

• Fascism:  Political Group.
• 1.  the doctrines, methods, or movement of the fascisti;
• 2.  a system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic exercise under centralized government control, belligerent nationalism, racism, and militarism.
• 3.  a political movement based on those doctrines and policies.

and then Fascist:

• 1.  a member of some similar party: Nazi; Falangist etc.

I can remember the fear and loathing of the Mussolini and Hitler fascist regimes and how the then free world took six (6) long years of universal suffering to remove them.

The people said they didn't know - how sneaky was Hitler then?

We should also remember that Howard said that the "never ever" GST was good and it "all went to the States".  He lied.

Costello regularly withholds GST from the States unless they bow to his demands - like removing Corporation taxes.  So really, the GST is being used to blackmail the States.

We should all keep our eyes on the real issues since the all too familiar "tax cuts" are only giving us some of the taxes he has ripped off us.  The "New Order" is still the highest taxing government in our history and they are only following the international trend of tax relief.

Fascism - WorkChoices - Climate Change - Education - Hospitals funding - Aged Care funding - Health - Security and Howard's Nuclear ambitions.

On the latter two - judge the effect of cutting the funding of the Quarantine Authority and being warned of a catastrophe three years ago - Howard dismissed it - now we have the tragic and massively expensive Equine Flu.

Judge also Howard's obsessive and foolish lust for Nuclear Power plants and nuclear waste, the sites of which will be decided by Commercial Interests. Struth.

We live in Eden-Monaro where there is plenty of lakes and ocean foreshores.  Don't you think we will be one of the first targeted? And Gary Nairn says they haven't made up their minds about Nuclear Power plants yet.

NE OUBLIE.