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The pre-election post...
OK, here's a pitch to the few of you out there who haven't made up their mind on how they're voting on Saturday. I'm not going to suggest who you vote for, but rather I will suggest who you shouldn't vote for.
Democracy is a system of government which was not won easily. People - invariably men - of power and property, fought tooth and nail to ensure that we "common folk" were not allowed to directly influence government. On the other side, rationalists argued that any person, when provided the opportunity to make an informed decision, is capable of correctly choosing their representative. Supported by the "intellectuals" of the day, and a bit of industrial muscle from the labour movement, we won that battle - and it wasn't that long ago.
However, when that principle of making informed decisions is taken away, you may as well not have elections at all. When there is a cynical excersise of mass deception in order to gain power, there is no democracy, merely a campaign of the biggest lie.
I ask you then, before you vote, to read the following. Yes, it's from an ALP site. But I've checked each quote carefully and they are accurate.
http://www.alp.org.au/features/lies.php
A vote for John Howard is, effectively, a license to lie. It is a vote that permits someone to deceive you. Don't do it.
(And cut-and-paste and forward this on to all who haven't made up their mind).
Via![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
adricongirl and erudito - and from one of the more sensible people whom I've discussed such matters with, Brian Palmer's
political test (for this election)..
My results are: One Nation: 22%; National Party: 17%; Liberal Party: 31%; Labor Party: 77%; Democrats: 95%; Greens: 86%. It's probably how I'd vote as well...
Also fromadricongirl (who is obviously paying attention to this election)... According to Family First, followers must "pull down Satan's strongholds" which includes mosques, Freemasons' temples, brothels and bottle shops. Further, they've had to discipline a campaign volunteer who claimed that "lesbians are witches and should be burned to death". They have also decided that the lesbians (they do have a thing about them, don't they?) won't receive preferences.
They've also decided to propose an
annual fee on all Internet users to block at a server level things they find objectionable. On a related matter, Manhunt has been banned. *grumble*
Was very impressed by Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, both of which I finally got around to seeing withcaseopaya last Friday. Mike Moore does go straight to the source, and I like that. He's also been receiving some mail from
US troops in Iraq.
In other news, I fixed a very recalcitrant DHCP/ICS problem on Monday along with zone file problems for the website and email and on Wednesday my second meeting with DEWR representatives went really well. My business plan is considered "extremely viable". w00t! On Friday I hand it in..
Democracy is a system of government which was not won easily. People - invariably men - of power and property, fought tooth and nail to ensure that we "common folk" were not allowed to directly influence government. On the other side, rationalists argued that any person, when provided the opportunity to make an informed decision, is capable of correctly choosing their representative. Supported by the "intellectuals" of the day, and a bit of industrial muscle from the labour movement, we won that battle - and it wasn't that long ago.
However, when that principle of making informed decisions is taken away, you may as well not have elections at all. When there is a cynical excersise of mass deception in order to gain power, there is no democracy, merely a campaign of the biggest lie.
I ask you then, before you vote, to read the following. Yes, it's from an ALP site. But I've checked each quote carefully and they are accurate.
http://www.alp.org.au/features/lies.php
A vote for John Howard is, effectively, a license to lie. It is a vote that permits someone to deceive you. Don't do it.
(And cut-and-paste and forward this on to all who haven't made up their mind).
Via
adricongirl and erudito - and from one of the more sensible people whom I've discussed such matters with, Brian Palmer's political test (for this election)..
My results are: One Nation: 22%; National Party: 17%; Liberal Party: 31%; Labor Party: 77%; Democrats: 95%; Greens: 86%. It's probably how I'd vote as well...
Also from
adricongirl (who is obviously paying attention to this election)... According to Family First, followers must "pull down Satan's strongholds" which includes mosques, Freemasons' temples, brothels and bottle shops. Further, they've had to discipline a campaign volunteer who claimed that "lesbians are witches and should be burned to death". They have also decided that the lesbians (they do have a thing about them, don't they?) won't receive preferences.They've also decided to propose an
annual fee on all Internet users to block at a server level things they find objectionable. On a related matter, Manhunt has been banned. *grumble*
Was very impressed by Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, both of which I finally got around to seeing with
caseopaya last Friday. Mike Moore does go straight to the source, and I like that. He's also been receiving some mail from US troops in Iraq.
In other news, I fixed a very recalcitrant DHCP/ICS problem on Monday along with zone file problems for the website and email and on Wednesday my second meeting with DEWR representatives went really well. My business plan is considered "extremely viable". w00t! On Friday I hand it in..
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Heheh... I thought something quite similar! I mean, how many votes do they think they'll get with that? Does anyone (with the exception of Biblical fundamentalists) really dislike lesbians?
The other thing that came to my mind is Indonesia.. Oh yeah, I can just see the reports in the Jakarta Post. "Australian politician calls Mosques Stronghold of Satan"
Stupid, just plain stupid...
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Oh come now... The Indonesian version of Islam is just the version that should be enouraged... Calling them Satanic will just drive them into the arms of the fundamentalists, whereas at the moment, well, they're very liberal by my experience..
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Ahh, the problem of lack of tone in email...
I remember when I got off the plane in East Timor the broad smile when the customs people went through my bag and the first thing they pulled out was a copy of "New Internationalist" with the cover headline "West Papua Will Be Free!"..
Poor ol' Indonesia.. If only they were a democratic federation rather than a unitary state... I mean there's 300 languages in the place.. How can you possibly have a centralized government?
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Speaking of which, what do you think of SBY, the new president? I'm not to keen, given him being chief of security in East Timor in the late 70s-early 80s, married to the daughter of the guy who invaded Papua and was quoted earlier this year saying security was more important than human rights.
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Yeah, PNG does pretty well with the languages, doesn't it?
Agree with your comments about the new President and I'm equally suspicious of his background as well...
What Indonesia needs is a political movement dedicated to changing the entire country into a voluntary federation rather than separatist movements per se (I'd exclude those places which were forcibly integrated of course)... It's even remotely possible that with a federal structure Malaysia and - just imagine it - Singapore and Brunei could come to the party...
Wow, a pan-Malay federation... Wouldn't that make the white power people in Australia tremble?
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You're right, I hadn't thought about China's and the US' reactions... The Chinese would undoubtably be worried on a cultural level - unfortunately the Malay people have traditionally used them as a scapegoat because they're so commercially minded, they work hard and there often communists :/
A SEAEU... Oh yeah, I'd like to see that..