Brainwashed
It's great to see that John Howard hasn't let his long tenure as prime minister change him in any way. He's still as slimy and as slippery as an eel. According to him, the debate before invading Iraq was about whether old Saddam would use WMDs, not whether he had any or not. News to me, Johnny!
Still this latest squirm from Johnny just goes to show us what a dumb lot of mugs Australians really are. Some major party stooge has been lying to us or selling Australia down the tubes for the whole of my life time and I'm 60 in a couple of months! We still haven't worked out the one way to cure them of this nasty habit. Don't vote for them! Dumb aren't we?
Maybe it's not that we're dumb? Maybe it's just that we let ourselves be brainwashed by the propaganda showered upon us by the media which is controlled by those who control the major party pollies?
Frank Brown
Langshaw, Qld
Iraq policy
An expensive glossy brochure in support of Coalition policy in Iraq has been distributed in the Fairfax electorate. It is authorised by the local Liberal Party member and may have been distributed at taxpayers' expense because it carries no authorisation from the Liberal Party.
John Howard stated on the 7.30 Report on August 9 that he respected people having differing viewpoints on foreign policy, but "staying the course" in Iraq expresses only the Coalition government's viewpoint.
A much higher level of accountability could be expected from a government which has been so mean spirited with public expenditure and legislation about working conditions.
A rising level of informal votes and even a slight decline in national voter turnout has been a feature of the Howard years. It is the responsibility of the Australian Electoral Commission to address these problems and to ensure that voters are aware of differences between state and federal voting practices.
In several federal electorates in Queensland, the level of informal votes exceeds 5% of the votes cast. This may be significant enough to change the result in the forthcoming election.
It is an insult to voters to be resorting to political propaganda like "staying the course" in Iraq as a substitute for essential public information on respect for differing opinions in a democratic society.
Denis Bright
Chapel Hill, Qld
Palestinians
Members of the Socialist Alliance have every reason to be proud of Rihab Charida, who has left the safety of Sydney to visit the Palestine refugee camps in the most dangerous parts of the Middle East. Her dispatch from Ain El Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon (GLW #592) is a factual account of the appalling conditions that the Palestinians have to endure.
It is information that the Howard government and the capitalist media would like to suppress.
We all look forward for the safe return of Rihab whose devotion to the Palestinians and their inalienable right to return to Israel after 58 years of exile deserves the highest commendation.
Bernie Rosen
Stathfield, NSW
Latham
Mark Latham's past behaviour in standing up for himself, places serious doubts on his ability to act in a manner which we have come to accept in a leader of our country. It is time we asked ourselves, is he capable of persistent obnoxious grovelling to a US president thus maintaining us as a dependent US protectorate? Could he lock Australian citizens out of their sitting Parliament should the US president wish to make a visiting address? Could he wrap himself in the flag to make emotional farewells to troops as they leave to mount mass murderous pre-emptive attacks on sovereign states out of favour with America? Could he allow an Australian citizen, with an Australian passport, to be kidnapped, tortured and locked away for years without charges or legal access, by our US ally? Could he maintain shameful lies that asylum seekers from a sinking boat threw their children overboard?
In respect to the last question, the probability is that he would unthinkingly jump in the water and try to rescue them himself, thus automatically disqualifying himself from the current leadership position on the basis of compassion, integrity and bravery.
Keith Mobbs
Lane Cove, NSW
Senate
The Senate has already proved to be a house of great value to defend what is left of Australia's parliamentary democracy. Mr Howard's attempt to curtail the power of the Senate this year failed. Voters rejected his proposals, but why not strengthen the Senate further?
Only voters can achieve that transformation by voting for reformist minor parties and independents in the Senate rather than major party candidates. After all, the Australian Constitution bestows real power on the Senate, in Section 53: "Except as provided in this section, the Senate shall have equal power with the House of Representatives in respect of all proposed laws", the qualification being that "the Senate may not amend any proposed law so as to increase any proposed charge or burden to the people."
However, at present less than 4% of major party voters vote for minor parties in the Senate. When voters reflect on their latent but habitually unused power to achieve system change, democracy could be reinvented in Australia — even before Christmas — by splitting their vote!
Klaas Woldring
Pearl Beach, NSW
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, August 18, 2004.
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