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get a life...I know the 13.8 billion year-old universe is divided along many fault lines and one of these chasms regards Julia... There are the Julia haters and the Julia "lovers"... Even this site, YourDemocracy, is divided... John does not like Julia Gillard one bit, while Gus is a supporter... I will say from the onset that everything Julia does is not pure gold.BUT!... But, but get a life!!!!... ---------------------------------- Out of all the Prime Ministers that have troded the Canberannean planks since the day I arrived in this country, Julia Gillard is by far the fairest and the most astute than all others. She is the coolest dude and has been the best so far [Gus rating 8.5 out of 10], by a million (well, half a million) miles. Whitlam [rating 7 out of 10] was witty, active, revolutionary and bombastic. After too many years in the wilderness against a Liberal Party barely surviving on a rumoured legend that had ruled like a fatherly figure, Whitlam had to work fast. He gave us free education and medicare out of all things... Menzies [rating 2.5 out of 10] (before Whitlam, Holt, Gorton and McMahon) had been head of table, in a family with mum doing the ironing and the cooking, while the four and a half kid would be slapped behind the ears should they speak up. The white picket fence in front of the measly house had been de rigour for too long. Menzies sold steel to the Japanese before WWII, knowing fully well, the stuff would come back as exploding bombs and midget submarines to haunt these shores — but like a true conservative profess, business is business... Holt [rating 0 out of 10] was too much of an obscurity before disappearing at sea, but John Gorton [rating 5.5 out of 10] was a fair man — and to some extend a damaged personality having had his face re-constructed after being blown up during WWII. Gorton was a socialist in a conservative mantle who voted himself out of the top job. McMahon [rating 0.5 out of 10] was a joke. He reminded me of a sleepwalking A B Santamaria — after having taken too many tablets. Fraser [rating 4 out of 10] was a tall stirrer who, after many years in the conservative party that calls itself "Liberal", has now become a rabid compassionate leftie. He hates miniature rattus Abbott... Good on Fraser... But his accountant was a cunning weasel called John Rattus Howard who stuck to politics like a turd hiding in the grooves of the sole of your shoes — the bad smell going with you everywhere, but so well hidden you don't where it comes from. Frazer was followed by mister personality plus, the silver budgie, womaniser, sinner, former champion piss-pot and a white-collar spruiker, leader of men in blue overalls... He teamed up with Paul Keating as treasurer, and while Keating was doing the hard work over a hot stove in the kitchen, Hawke [rating 5.5 out of 10] paraded like a white-feathered peacock at the front of the shop... Keating resented that, until one day he nudged the budgie off its perch and did a few good things thereafter. Keating [rating 7 out of 10] gave us the recession we had to have, like a kick up the front-tackles. Keating was witty too, was good, but eventually he got done for being too cocky by a sneaky John Rattus Howard [rating minus (-) 2 out of 10] — who was still in the political landscape after having cooked a few contenders like Peacock and Hewson — and as far as Prime Minister are concerned, was the PITS. The pits of DOOM with cash to spare... The cunning Rattus was a double-faced weasel who took this country to war in Iraq for no reason, who destroyed workers' rights, who tried hard to throw education to private enterprise, who invested zip in the infrastructure of this country and became Mr Scrooge with his lazy accountant, Peter Costello... Eventually, the people, kept in comfortable dreamland by Mr Murdoch's lying media, woke up for five minutes and threw him out because Labor had found a voice... That voice was Rudd... Rudd [rating 4.5 out of 10] made the right noises for a while, but as a Prime Minister he was erratic and uselessly busy like a fly caught in a jar. Sure he was as popular as a great sunny day at Bondi, but as annoying as the melanoma you get from over-exposure to it... Some "faceless men" saw that this was not going to work for much longer... We know who these "faceless men" are, they are mostly the new honest men of politics — apart from two weasels who defected to work for James Packer's new venture — a casino plonked on public-owned land... These "faceless men" were from the right-hand side of the Labor Party and decided to install — as they should have — the fair maiden from the LEFT, as Prime Minister... Rudd cried foul but he was too gutless to ask for a vote: he knew he would be rooted 100 per cent. But Rudd is not a fair maiden... He became a vengeful spiteful little man. He courted the boffins at Murdoch inc. and for the last four years has been plotting against the fair maiden. Now after being rooted three times, the Rudd issue should have died in the bum. But the merde-och press is still milking the issue, like the petty shit-stirrer Murdoch is... Now, Crikey is doing merde-och bidding... The grand old uncle of the media must be laughing his head off... Pissing in the aisle, cackling like a rooster who just scored a young chook... The article by Eva Cox, published by Crikey is yet another brick thrown by the Julia haters, and this time "because Julia is not COMMUNIST enough"... Crikey! Get a life... Please woman (I mean Cox— a former communist, still a commie, are we?) hold you fucking counsel!!!... You know better than that... You know that Julia is smarter than that... If you don't that's a shame... -------------------------- You should know that her support group/network of VIW (very important women with feminism/business record longer than the NBN network when it's finished — and with plenty of men there too) knows a things or two about the management of delicate issues... I know, I should not say, but I have informants there that tell me about the price of fish from time to time with utmost discretion. I won't repeat what I know, but trust me. For example it is common practice by the left to tell Julia to piss the Yankees off... by telling them where to jump on such issues as Julian Assange, the Jews, armies and their little wars which are now coming to an end, leaving a mess in Afghanistan like in Iraq before that... Well, if you were born before the deluge, you'd know that when Whitlam told the Yanks to sod off in regard to the Vietnam War, the Yanks got really pissed off and they cut the Aussie beef quota to the US down to nil, which made our farmers very unhappy — having to sell carcasses of prime lamb for two bucks a tonne... Then the CIA got into the act and entrapped the government with fake funds from the middle east — which to say the least would have been legitimate had the funds come directly from the Gulf States that were drowning in so much money that they were prepared to give it away. But this would have been bypassing the Yankee banking system that controlled every litre of crude around the world... The YANKS WERE REALLY PISSED OFF!!!!... ASIO as an ally of the CIA would have played its part in the downfall of Whitlam... So the fair maiden knows how to play a fish. You don't wheel it in by winding up the crank at hundred mile an hour... No... you give slack, you pull in, pull in, give slack... repeat... Smart. etc. You end up catching a two-hundred pounder on a five pound fishing line... And Julia gets enough bricks thrown on her head — from a ten storey conservative-leaning building — from that wrecking ball, Abbott (as thick as tonne of bricks and as popular as a tonne of bricks), helped by Uncle Rupe who throws bushels of boiling oil as well, from the next door capitalist building. Not only that... Julia and Swan have had to keep the big bad wolf away from the door... Actually, their are using the bricks and the oil to cement a solid bunker to protect us from the Global Financial Crisis which is still engulfing Europe (talk about happy chappies in Cyprus!) and the USA, despite Tony-the-idiotic-weasel-bum declaring, like Napoleon thinking he's winning the invasion of Russia, "the GFC was over four years ago"... What an ignoramus!!! What an idiot!!!! But the merde-och press let him get away with it... Let me tell you, Julia and Swan are doing an amazing job on this score.... Lucky, the fair maiden has a hide made of super cool stainless steel... She maintains an amazing freshness that infuriates the conservatives, the media and the PMT (Prime Ministerial Tensions) pads manufacturers... They are getting worried that they are running out of bricks and out of boiling oil... and of cotton wool to pump into our ears... to stop us realising that the chant is not coming from a siren, but from a Joan of Arc in battle. Meanwhile, it's business as usual, while Tony makes his stupid song and swagging imitation of a dance — and while Murdoch is really really pissed off that he keeps cranking it up with his personnel of dung beetles who push shit uphill... You know their names... ------------------------------------------- So Eva, I know you mean well, but let time be on Julia's side... You will be surprised... Say for example the media is lambasting Julia and Swan for the Mining Tax "debacle"... Well first it's not a debacle as it's a foot in the door so to speak... This tax can bring in the bacon once it's tweaked... But the TOTAL FAULT rests on the media and the opposition that made so much noise that the tax could not be fully implemented... Be patient... I know, we live in the instant soup era... We want it now... We barely can wait for the microwave to do its thingy... Ting!!!... Eva, go away and take a breather.... Please, DON'T DO THE BIDDING FOR MR MURDOCH, especially using a Crikey platform!!! That is idiotic... Super idiotic... Good things have already happened and more will come in good time... Please, Eva, SHUT UP!... Julia is not doing a Rattus... Far from it. Gus Leonisky
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wong is right... I mean correct.
Finance Minister Penny Wong has given the strongest signal yet that the Federal Government intends to change the tax on superannuation for high income earners.
There are reports that tax breaks for the wealthy will be cut in the May budget.
Speaking this morning, Senator Wong would not confirm the speculation, but said any arrangements would have to ensure a "strong, sustainable" system.
"I have a very strong view about the importance of sustainability into the future, whether it's super or other parts of the budget - you always have to look at what your decisions will mean looking out ahead," she told Sky TV.
"If you look at our past budgets and the number of savings decisions we have taken, over the opposition of Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey, if those had not been taken - things like the private health insurance rebate changes - net debt in 2020 would be $250 billion worse.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-27/wong-signals-sustainable-budget-super-changes/4597050
dante's inferno...
THE ENORMOUS INFLUENCE of the traditional media is becoming a serious danger for the progress of this nation. It is therefore essential that the suspended media legislation be retrieved and re-introduced as soon as possible in an acceptable form. Its major objective, creating additional diversity of media channels is obviously very important for Australia future governments but there are further aspects. We need freedom of abuse and political interference by journalists and media barons. In the recent political drama a number of disturbing aspects emerged:
The political commentariat performs as a group of extra-parliamentary politicians.
Some of these unelected politicians function plainly as agents of the plutocracy. This is particularly the case with News Corporation media outlets. The onslaught against the Gillard Government has been relentless. As they have 70 of the newspaper circulation this has been a major handicap for the Gillard Government.
In the Fairfax stable are housed several Ruddites who equally undermined the Gillard Government consistently. Jonathan Holmes, in a recent ABC’s Media Watch, correctly exposed this situation. In their defence they claim to have consulted “impeccable sources”, remaining anonymous though, and predicted a successful Rudd coup. How utterly wrong they were! More than half of them keep telling the readers, even now, that Gillard has been a “poor campaigner” and a disaster as a PM. These same, apparently highly qualified, writers informed readers that the winner of the drama was Tony Abbott.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/the-traditional-media-and-gillard/
The main stream media and the opposition have entered Dante's inferno, trying to take this fair nation down with it...
fuck off mungo...
From Mungo MacCallum
Let me start this piece on a personal note. The day after the tragic farce of the leadership spill, Julia Gillard paid a long-scheduled visit to my home electorate of Richmond in northern New South Wales, so I tagged along.
Richmond is held by Justine Elliott, a Rudd supporter: this gave the local media the opportunity to ask some rather silly questions about whether the region would suffer as a result of her former allegiance. The Prime Minister greeted them with the same amiable interest as she had shown during her inspection of the Bangalow road works site (although she did evince a glimmer of empathy when the site manager declared: “And now, we’re just going to go back to where we started from.”)
But she perked up noticeably when a female journalist asked her with obvious sincerity just where she got her amazing resilience from. “I’m someone who is made of pretty strong stuff, and I think that has been on display in the last few days,” she replied. “Politics is not an easy business.” The reporter confided later that she thought she knew something about toughness: she had been brought up with six brothers. But Gillard was way out of her class.
Indeed, tough is the word most often used by her colleagues in praise of their leader and is given as the reason they stick with her through the crisis, chaos and carnage that has dogged her term in office. She never seems to lose control, whatever the provocation; and even during a private, informal chat in a café she remained firmly on message: she could win, she would win, the polls had written her off before but she was indefatigable.
In fact, Gillard is not one of those politicians who thrive on crisis, in the manner of Paul Keating or John Howard, who tended to languish without it; when Howard did not have a Port Arthur massacre, a Tampa or Bali bombing served up to him, he found it necessary to introduce a GST or WorkChoices just to keep the adrenalin flowing. Gillard would really prefer life to be, in the mendacious words of the master of division, relaxed and comfortable.
Instead she has had to contend with one meltdown after another: natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, the continuing fallout from the GFC, the inflammatory hyperbole of Tony Abbott and, not least, the many unforced errors inflicted by herself and her colleagues. The fact that she continues to bounce back argues a perseverance bordering on insanity.
Sure, she’s as tough as nails – it’s impossible not to admire her. But it is almost equally hard to see her heading for anything but destruction. Even the hardest nuts will eventually crack.
http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/mungo-maccallum/2013/03/26/1364252555/resilient-gillard
The toughest nuts may crack if EVERYONE conspires to crack it... But some nuts don't even crack... And Julia is not a nut, she knows the price of fish... Julia does not need your final words, Mungo... She needs your fucking understanding, not even your lousy support...
Mungo you are an apologist twat... Why don't you concentrate your bile on that lying weasel Tony Abbott?...
AND NO... JULIA DOES NOT THRIVE BETTER IN CRISIS MODE... That is twaddle! But the media, the opposition and every man and woman with an axe to grind against their neighbours, family, boss, dogs cats and god — all driven in Mr Murdoch's media are at her throat RELENTLESSLY... Do you think she like it or thrive on it? NO FUCKING WAY... She'd rather be doing things without this kind of pressure... BUT SHE IS AN ATHEIST and let me tell you when you are committed in such way, the sky is the limit despite the knockers from hell...
trying Gus, trying ....
Hi Gus.
Yes, you are right, I'm not particularly partial to Julia, anymore than I'm partial to the mad monk!!
But my problem/concern is larger than either of these stars of mediocrity; it is the entire corrupt edifice that was once the proud Australian Labor Party.
Now some might argue that the health of the Labor Party isn't really my business, given that I'm not a member. however, I know that you would agree that given the nature of our democracy & the critical role played by both major parties, the "health" of the Labor Party is something that should concern everyone.
Now Gus, when I hear the current federal treasurer, Wayne Swan (Julia's #1 supporter) banging-on about "Labor's commitment to growth", I'm afraid I smell more than a rat.
Surely the central problem for the Labor Party is that it was created to work for & represent the interests of labour ahead of the interests of capital. When its objectives are pursued in the political arena, it obviously must take account of the interests of all Australians, but still put those interests ahead of those of capital. If it doesn't, it is betrayng its principles & the people it allegedly is supposed to be representing.
No Gus, my problem is not just with Julia; i's not just with the endemic corruption of Labor politicians & officials at all levels across the entire nation; it's not just with the sheer stupidity & ignorance of a government that professes a belief in discredited neo-liberal philosophies; it's not just my disgust with the likes of Julia, Wayne & so many others who seeem intent on "out-tonying" tony & his neanderthal mates; it's not just my disillusionment with Julia's moronic support of our involvement in Afghanistancal or for the zionist genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinians; it's not just our governmnet's cowardly & immoral treatment of asylum-seekers; it's not just the failure of Labor to address the imbalnce that has arisen in the sharing of our nation's wealth, where the % of GDP going to profits has never been higher & the level of corporate taxation being paid has never been lower; it's not just the fact that the big end of town can buy anything it wants from Labor: just name your price; it's not just the fact that Labot has no strategy, no plan, no sense of who it is anymore & where it is going, let alone where it is trying to take the nation; it's not just the failed mining tax negotiated by Julia & Wayne or the failed Media Reforms, again negotiayed by Julia; it's not just the unchecked power of the big banks, the pharmaceutical companies, the grocery duopoly; it's not just the criminal behaviour of the energy providers, enabled by Labor at both a state & federal level; it's not just the betrayal of Labo values & principles; it's not just the readiness of Labor to sell the people of this country to every second-date spiv & con artsist with a fist full of dolars & a fast line; be there name Watergouse, Packer, Rinehart or Maitland; it's not just the sheer incompetence of Julia, Wayne & the rest; it's not just the sickening & dishonest cries that "I'm being victimised because I'm a woman": no Gus, it's all the above & much more that I'm fed-up with.
And whilst you might choose to remain loyal to Julia to the end ... & the end is surely coming in September ... I for one do not accept that we should remain loyal to those who have betrayed us.
Cheers.
John.
circus de crap...
In any political party, anyone has to compromise to create an association with certain goals in mind... Ideals are cheap — making them happen is complicated.... At this stage, the Gillard Labor Party is the least compromised.
It got rid of Rudd who was not a team player despite his "popularity" that had been inflated by the merde-och press in order to be nasty to the fair maiden... Had Rudd come back, soon the merde-och press would have hit him in the belly, this time with the entire Labor Party going into the sewer... Why has the entire media been against Julia? Not because she's doing a bad job, but because she is tenacious and she might pull it off, once more... The media loves Tony... and the media would hate to see Julia win...
That is the nature of the beast... Either we compromise in various ways to stay arm-in-arm for five minutes or we end up living like anarchists — trusting no-one and having to rob everyone else to make a crust... Apart from the Rudd dissenters, such as Fitzgibbon — who can't shut his trap for one single second (he's got the verbal toilet runs... Have you seen the interview he did after Rudd got dumped? he was like a chook with his head cut off talking in a very snaky lingo that made no sense... not even to himself — he's a worry, let me tell you)... — we've got to sway with the best of the imperfect...
Should the world be perfect, YD would not exist... I'd be on a cruise somewhere, pushed by trades winds wherever they'd go and die happy with a near empty glass of syrah in my hand... Bliss...
On the other side of the scale we've got political parties of ONE DUDE such as the Packer for a New Casino in Sydney, New South Wales, that. even with not a single elected representative in parliament can make deals directly with a premier because... they've got CASH... Beyond this we've got shooters and fishers who have a slim vote base but have as much power as a 30 tonnes truck running into your house at 100 kms and hour, compared to you full-synchronised democratic Vdub... Let's not mention Fred Nile...
Sure, spivs have infiltrated democracy, but they exist on all sides of politics, but I bet my underpants the spivs in the Liberal (conservative) side are well protected, like Mal Brough, Pyne and their secret cash providers for the dis"honest politicians" trust fund...
The system is flawed... Democracy dooms itself every five minutes... But we cannot dwell on this for too long.
The amount of crap that politicians in power have to juggle to make a budget work is enormous — to fend off a nasty media, to accommodate every churches and their dogs, plus the business community never happy about paying one cent of tax that could be used to (necessarily) regulate the business community, dealing with the poor, the rich, the infirm, the sick, the public lavatories, the uneducated, th arts (Ah the arts!!!) and let's mention the farmers for whom the weather is too hot, too cold, lacking water, being flooded and has a zillion more issues including that "global warming is crap" — it will mean that even with the best outcomes, someone somewhere in a hole will whinge...
Of all the PM that have come like clowns in the Canberra Circus, Julia and her troops are quite discreet at making us laugh —She's a bit like Buster Keaton with a grin, compared to the hypocritical somersaults of "Cirque de Crap" that Tony and his dangerous knife-throwing midgets can do as well as bringing the big top down.
Julia's troop is more like an organic Fruit Loop circus... Wholesome entertainment for the family...
The media hates this, the media loves blood... and R rated porn... and (PG rated) war games that would make a four star general blush at seeing the realistic carnage.
But we are masochists and we want to be hurt by Tony, or even be killed in useless wars by Johnnee, oh so badly...: More like Destruction-4, the video game, where the nastiest people wins ...
Julia has more grace than this.
crikey is a small L liberal tabloid rag...
From Guy Rundle at Crikey
My god, what are we going to talk about when the ALP gets its crap together? Well that’s a problem for the 2020s. In the meantime, there are laffs aplenty just watching the great and good within this party trying to work out where the hell it has gone so wrong.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/03/28/the-15-shades-of-gary-gray-labor-on-the-edge-of-the-abyss/
It is possible that this was written tongue in cheek but I don't think so...
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Crikey was founded by activist shareholder Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of then Liberal Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.[2] It developed out of Mayne's "jeffed.com" website, which in turn developed out of his aborted independent candidate campaign for Kennett's seat of Burwood. Longstanding Crikey political commentators/reporters include former Liberal insider Christian Kerr (who originally wrote under the pseudonym 'Hillary Bray'),[3] Guy Rundle, Charles Richardson, Bernard Keane, Mungo MacCallum and Hugo Kelly.
In 2003 Stephen Mayne, the then proprietor, was forced to sell his house in order to settle defamation cases brought by radio presenter Steve Price and former ALP senator Nick Bolkus over false statements published about them by Crikey.[4]
Staff of then Treasurer Peter Costello banned Crikey from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Budget 'lock ups', in which financial journalists are shown the Federal Budget papers some hours in advance so that their publications can report the Budget in depth as soon as it is released, on the grounds that Crikey is not considered to be part of the "mainstream media".
[edit]Private MediaOn 1 February 2005, it was announced that Stephen Mayne had sold Crikey to Private Media Partners, a company, owned by former Editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, Eric Beecher, for A$1 million. Under the agreement, Mayne has occasionally written for the email newsletter.[5]
Under PMP's stewardship the publication aimed for "professional" style, avoiding the use of in-house nicknames and other idiosyncrasies of the original Crikey. In February 2006 the Age reported that a co-founder and writer, Hugo Kelly, had been sacked for reasons the company claimed were on the grounds of professional misconduct but which Kelly maintained because they had "no guts".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crikey
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It is disappointing to see an enterprise like Crikey becoming full of its own boots and spreading rumours thicker than those Uncle Rupe could even dare... The Labor Party is improving with new personnel... The old men of the catholic right have been routed. What's wrong with that? The lingering influence of A B Santamaria on the Labor Party has now been totally buried... Finished. Kaputed... The slow revolution can start in earnest and new things are afoot, but it takes a while to rally the troops... and weed out the traitors... Traitors being in numbers in any political outfit...
But Crikey does not want the fair maiden in charge to succeed, because if she managed to consolidate her position, Crikey like all the other crummy tabloids who have predicted her demise under the guidance of experts like Graham Richardson and the massive assault with Uncle Rupe leading the charge, would be proven crap, wouldn't they? and this cannot happen, can it?
Let me know if I missed the Rundle reverse satire...