From Alabama Gus, 15 year-old Ava Lowery asks …..

What Would Jesus Do?

Michael Gawenda is at it again. From Left, right and wrong:

... This liberal base of the party is essentially animated by a deep and abiding hatred of George Bush and everything he stands for. It is the Democratic Party's mirror image of the conservative Republican Party base, which believes Democrats and liberals are out to undermine American values and America's confidence in itself as a force for good.
Some people in Europe and Australia, who consider themselves on the left, have concluded that too many people on the left are so blinded by Bush hatred and by anti-Americanism, that they end up supporting terrorists, jihadists, and Islamic fundamentalists. This despite the fact that the core ideologies — let alone the horrific violence inflicted on innocent civilians — of these groups are contrary to everything the left should stand for. ...

Gawenda should, at least, give credit that some people can differentiate between the uselessness, even the wickedness, of cultivating hatred of another person (in his case, Bush) and the necessity to condemn the evil that people do. If Gawenda, himself, cannot tell the difference, then that might go some way to explaining the moral paralysis of Fairfax.

Gawenda drivels on about Left and Right, as though it means anything. It's certainly convenient for Tories to be "right", and to be able to refer to social democrats as "left (behind)". As one born in '46, I'm neither Left nor Right, but not indifferent to the brutality of power.

Soon after the winter break, the political analysts will be winging back to Canberra, and consulting their scripts for the coming year. They will note the sun, on the snow over the Alps, welcoming a new Springtime, and they will renew their marital vows with government. On the agenda will be seeking permission to start asking Howard when he is going to the polls. The media will troop up to these pathetic occasions of melodrama, as to another celebrity wedding. This is what it is all about for Howard. Bugger democracy! At a time of his choosing, he will pluck the choice date from our political pancake, and announce it with humble solemnity. With a bit of luck, he will have a dead soldier's scalp on his belt, as proof of his magisterial powers.

I challenge Michael Gawenda to take this notion - that the Leader should have it in his sole gift to determine the date of the election - to any hick town in Idaho or Iowa, and canvass it with the good folk of the USA. They will soon tell him where to stick it, and why.