Goodbye Mr Howard

[loylty gets u nothing]

whilst jonny was not liked in the end

i find it hard to trust some1 whos been party leader for not even 12 mths

we are letting this jonny come lately represent us in the world,

sorry BUT rUDD imho is a dud..maybe he will prove me wrong

but where will the economic growth we have experienced go??

red i see it coming back....

bloody hell//......again

bil

[Xtal]

not political but heard sumone write about howards zero tolerance policy on drugs. Howard is zero tolerance on drug supply not the users.... thats Mr.Rudd. GUess just wait and c

[Tom]

Join a party and contribute to their policy making process, donate, volunteer, engage in political debate with friends and family, change people's minds, change people's votes.... there are heaps of ways to get involved.

Yeah, the main work is done behind the scenes and the parties/independents that don't belong to the 2 major parties are always under funded and in need of reliable volunteer help.

 

[urbanfarmer]

I'm a happy chappy, lt feels better already!

[Al B. Fuct]

So we have to choose the best of the bastards. No thankyou. I did have my say by refusing to vote. I refuse to vote for the best of a bad bunch.

 

A valid point and very well taken. Anarchism is a valid political stance and would ideologically demand one not participate in artifices of democracy. Might be your mob.

 

However, out here in the real world, one normally can indeed have an input on the structure.

 

You say 'jump in and change it' but how? As a person with a criminal record there is no way that I could ever participate without those bastards spending our taxes to ridicule, defame and basically stop me before I ever began.

 

Well, there you go producing one of the few examples that make it hard for a person to participate in the political process. It is not necessarily a showstopper- you just have to be clever about disguising your identity when supporting causes. For all you know, I'm a network syndicated journalist, high profile political activist or political party honcho, sneakily accessing a cannabis forum via various technical subterfuges... but of course, I'd never misrepresent myself...

 

Pauline Hanson may have had some bad policies but what they did to her was cruel. It was designed to shut up anyone that has an opinion other than theirs, and it worked.

 

Absolutely agreed. Abbott & the govt made a martyr of her, artificially inflating the value of her racism. Totally stupid. PH has now got traction for every far-right conspiracy theorist nutball in the nation. Would have been much wiser to simply add to the publicity of her repugnant views and rebut them- but instead, Howard chose to adopt her racism to get her voting bloc.

 

Howard's demonisation of Muslims is directly connected to the anti-Muslim flyers distributed by Jackie Kelly and Karen Chijoff's husbands out in St Marys- and other places known to me, since at least last October. The letterboxing expedition on which they were busted was NOT the only time they put out these pieces of tripe. Howard refused to sack Karen Chijoff, knowing that she was very likely in on the stunt. The result was a massive 10% swing to the ALP, when the strategy of 'name and shame' rather than 'adopt' was used by the ALP.

 

I honestly believe that the same decisions will be made, and it will not change anything. But I am happy Howard is out because he got too cocky and arrogant. He lied to much, and we never had a say.

 

I am with you to the degree that I doubt that Australia is about to become a progressive political paradise under Rudd. He's churchy and really quite conservative in a number of ways known to us so far, especially in drug policy and reform. However, come June 2008, when Labor can pass legislation in coalition with the Greens, that may well change. The Greens are known for a lot of small 'L' liberal drugs policies and may push Rudd down the road toward evidence based drug policy reform. Hope springs eternal.

[Al Fish]

To me, Kevin Rudd symbolizes and indeed represents - in a very subtle, yet pervasive way - a political Christ figure. Julia Gillard represents the Virgin Mary. Peter Garrett will reveal himself as Judas at the appropriate time.

What is left of the Liberal/National coalition will position themselves as Pharisees who piss in the River of Life! Malcolm Turnbull has been positioning and preening himself in the shadows for the role of Pilate. And he will rise up and wash his hands in the waters of Australia’s rivers!

People will turn to poison as quick as lager turns to piss! Yet in the very face of all opposition I will mull my heads and pull my cones! And I call to you to take up the challenge and get ripped as a stoned political protest to those sad individuals who would have us on our intellectually paralyzed knees.

Amen

Here endeth the prognostications.

[Al B. Fuct]

Yeah, the main work is done behind the scenes and the parties/independents that don't belong to the 2 major parties are always under funded and in need of reliable volunteer help.

 

 

Absofrickinlutely, Tom. Great point.

 

More than one MP or Senator has started out letterboxing, despite the parachuting of celebrity candidates into safe seats, by both the Libs and Labor. If you're a temperate and industrious volunteer, you might someday be a candidate, or at least land a supporting job in the party.

 

Australian politics is surprisingly accessible to average Joes and Janes... arguably too easily so in some isolated cases, like Jackie Kelly & Karen Chijoff... but one thing it's not is isolationist. You can definitely get in it if you want, barring some certain circumstances. Pauline Hanson knowingly hired a convicted paedophile as a worker in her last campaign. Not a good look.

 

However, a conviction may not always be a negative. I'd almost expect HEMP party candidates to have been busted for pot at some stage, if they're remotely serious about their party's agenda.

[Indycar]

Australian politics is surprisingly accessible to average Joes and Janes... arguably too easily so in some isolated cases, like Jackie Kelly & Karen Chijoff...

 

Too true, it is easily accessible... To the point my parents used to campaign for the Liberal party back in the Malcolm Fraser era, and similar shit was going on that Kelly/Chioff tried to pull this time round, but it was Blackfella bashing instead of Muslims . Not much has changed in the last 30 years...

 

It's not as isolated as most may think...

[llama farmer]

Well clown face has replaced war criminal, a healthy democracy.

[Al B. Fuct]

It's not as isolated as most may think...

 

*sigh* yeah, too true. It's not rare at all... but I'll suggest it's about to get a lot rarer, considering it didn't exactly have the intended effect this time.

 

I've come to learn that Kelly & Chijoff's smear leaflet had been distributed in Lindsay and other marginal electorates since last October. The ALP stakeout was tipped off many weeks ago and had observed this mob distributing this shitsheet several times over the campaign- but smartly decided to bust Gary Clark and Greg Chijoff just days before the election.

 

Considering the crushing, nearly 10% swing against the Libs in Lindsay, perhaps even pushing Maxine McKew over the line in broadly multicultural Bennelong, I bet you see this sort of KKKrap less often in coming elections.

 

not political but heard sumone write about howards zero tolerance policy on drugs. Howard is zero tolerance on drug supply not the users.... thats Mr.Rudd. GUess just wait and c

 

Howard policy was zero-tolerance for both users and sellers.

 

Rudd's policy isn't really clear yet. During the campaign, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said this:

 

Labor strongly condemns illicit drug use and supports a “tough on drugs” approach as a means of protecting Australians from the terrible consequences of drug use and abuse.

 

However, just after the election, on the 7.30 Report, while commenting about hospitals, Rudd said:

 

I believe in evidence-based policy not just sort of grand statements.

 

If Rudd believes in evidence-based policy for hospitals, his feet ought to be held to the coals about evidence-based drugs policies as well. Rudd is smart enough to know that drug abuse is a health problem. I can't tell you how excited I am that Rudd actually knows the term 'evidence-based.' Means he already has some knowledge of progressive drugs policies.

 

Remember Peter Garrett's "gaffe" about Rudd 'changing everything after the election'? You can bet that was no gaffe at all. Rudd ran a very low-risk strategy in the campaign, knowing that many voters had known no other govt in their adult lives than Howard. I expect Rudd to come out with a more progressive drug policy, but not immediately, probably after the new Senate is seated.

 

All the same, I think that there could be no better time than right-spanking-now to start sending letters to your local MP and perhaps even to Kev O'Sev himself, asking for evidence-based drug policy which treats drug abuse as a health problem, not a legal one.