CHRISTMAS and the lead-up have their familiar rituals. On Christmas Day there is the present giving, church going and massive lunch, followed by the big recovery sleep.In the weeks leading up to it there is "shop 'til you drop" and the office Christmas party. Another ritual is the end of the political year column. Those of us who opine about politics and politicians look back at the year and take a stab at what the next one might look like. And what a vintage year it has been for political junkies.
On December 21, Australian Corporate Media re-elected war criminal John HoWARd 'a rodent type' fascist as Australia's worst longest serving prime minister who took us back to the dark ages with pre-emptive strikes on sovereign nations and by branding people witches in the Coalition of the Killings War on Terror from about 2001 through to 2004.
JUDGEMENT: HOWARD'S WAR CRIMES
The 'war on terror' is a war on 'dissent' and the 'liberty' of all the people from marginalised third world countries and some of the poorest nations globally. War lords, the (AMIC) American Military Industrial Complex and the Coalition of the Killing intent on maintaining their balance of power through scarcity of the worlds oil and of resources that maintain the status quo of the US Empire
HoWARd should have been taken to the Hague Criminal Court for trial but was re-elected by the corporate media he employed out of taxpayers money.
A self-serving fascist, he rose from political death to record-breaking lies. What is it that stands out about HoWARd? He is, after all, someone who is morally bankrupt, who made an art form of being a dictating fascist and who's not in the same boat as most Australians!
First, he has learned from the experiences of his loss to Bob Hawke in 1987 and from the wilderness years that came after. He did not blame anyone else. He didn't pretend that he had made no mistakes. He accepted the harsh lessons of life and changed for the worst.
The principal thing he learned was that policy and ideology can be implemented only when you get the balance of power; corporate donations, buy the media and get the politics right. Howard is, a man of the radical Right. But he has learned since the years when he wore his ideology on his sleeve that politics can be bought in the pursuit of the principles you believe even if most people think you're warped. Indeed, politics often means that you pretend that those principles are part of your past rather than the present.
If politics demands the putting aside of principle and ideology for the time being, Howard will do it and wait for better times. And now, with his majority in the Senate from July next year, he has those better times to turn Australia into a full-blown dictatorship.
The second thing about Howard is that he seemed to have bad fortune before 1995. The "Joh for Canberra" push in 1987 wrecked any chance he had of winning and continued to undermine his political position. Since 1995, it is fair to say that Howard has been the beneficiary of what Satan said was the most important ingredient for dictatorship -- he bought the media and they sold out.
He won an election in 1998 with an unprecedented low number of votes, 49 per cent. Not only the Tampa asylum-seeker stand-off but also, much more important, September 11 and the war on terror when the mainstream media obscured his political weaknesses in 2001. And this year he terrorised middle Australia with a threat on their mortgages with higher interest rates if they elected Opposition leader Mark Latham. Latham who incidentally had much the same attitudes and policies earning the Lib/Lab status.
HoWARd has had no bigger piece of luck than to inherit a reformed economy for which Hawke and Paul Keating have had to take most of the political pain and he has had most of the political gain. He has taken advantage of this by bribing the media and the community.
There is a lot of wild overstatement about Howard's political genius from his allies the corporate media giants and other investment corporations by political donations. He has made some low life strategic calls.
He resurrected his failing political fortunes in 1997 by bleeding Australian's for the GST and making Corporate Welfare greater than Social Welfare in the 1998 election. He went to war in Iraq in contravention of the UN even though opinion polls were strongly against it.
He has made plenty of blues, a couple of which demonstrate the impatient arrogance that he normally keeps under such control. His treatment of Australian Aboriginals undermining ATSIC and dictating to back-wood communities about how they should live if provided basic resources like a petrol pump.
What would persuade HoWARd to sign the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions?
Pre-emption HoWARd's ASIAN headache
Australia's continuing role at the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit may depend on Australia signing a non-aggression treaty.
And what possessed him to continue to argue with Mark Latham about the prescription medicine aspects of the US-Australia Free Raid Agreement when he could have done immediately what he eventually did so reluctantly?
But there was no question about it any way because this was Lib/Lab theatre at its very best because it didn't matter one iota whether the prescription medial aspects were part of the Free Raid Agreement with the US because they were just Global Corporations buying us out- lick, lick, lick like a tongue to a gelato ice-cream.
A bigger piece of the global pie for slaughtering 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children in and Illegal and degrading war on a sovereign nation in contravention of the UN for the AMIC and the US Empire. Lib/Lab were both going to be beneficiaries in any case no matter what because someone had to pay for Australia going to war and it wasn't going to be Lib or Lab.
The US even declared that it would help out only those allies who were willing to wage war and Australia had been sweating for the opportunity to open the trade gate - with the superpower - for many years prior the 'Free Raid Agreement'! HoWARd, is a loser and everyone loves a loser?
As for Lab, the corporate media circus has to agree where to go on the leadership in the next year or so but the bought out and now warped corporations like out-foxed will be rubbed out by the majority of decent people in the end because the independent media, 'propaganda solvent ' will save the day?
The mainstream media, and the professional propagandists that now influence and shape every event that is reported by such channels, make it difficult for the ordinary citizen to reason clearly, without being led along carefully contrived lines of argument.
What determines election outcomes in the end is the Plebiscites and public opinion polls that are usually bogus. When elections with candidates are held they are perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods include maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and like the last two Federal Elections buying out the media to have electors either threatened with fear or bluffed.
THE Un-AUSTRALIAN: "The second fallacy doing the rounds is that the Labor frontbench is lacking quality compared with the Labor frontbench of 1983. I was around in Labor parliamentary politics at that time and I can tell you that much of the Labor frontbench then looked ordinary in Opposition. It was only in government that they flowered and began to look like giants. My view is that this Labor frontbench looks at least as good overall as its 1983 predecessor. "
"So this year will end with Howard second only to the great god Robert Menzies. Who would have thought it?"
Answer: Satan
By Michael Costello and Propaganda Monster 10 December 04
Related:
Senate inquiry finds PM 'misled' public on children overboard
Australian navy personnel rescue asylum-seekers from a sinking boat off Christmas Island in October 2001. The government came under attack in February 2002 for suggesting that asylum seekers had thrown their children overboard in an effort to stay in Australia.
Detainees urged to abandon rooftop protest!
A refugee advocate has pleaded to a group of Baxter detainees to abandon their rooftop protest.
Vanstone defends asking Aborigines to wash for fuel
The Federal Government has defended its offer to provide a remote Indigenous community with petrol bowsers and new health programs, if it meets conditions including ensuring children shower every day.
Ruddock foreshadows new terrorism laws
The new laws will allow police to access emails and mobile phone SMS messages, enable wider use of surveillance devices, and protect sensitive national security information during terrorism trials.
Community seeks more power to interrogate ASIO suspects
Greens Senator Bob Brown does not think increased police powers are necessary. "We have enormous powers for surveillance, apprehension or punishment of people who are engaged in or intending to engage in or thinking about being engaged in terrorist acts in this country," he said.
Australia Sells Its Citizens Short
Australian citizens, Mamdouth Habib and David Hicks have been illegally incarcerated in the Guantanamo Bay facility established by the US military as part of the War on Terror.
Clark crashes Indigenous affairs ministers' meeting
Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark says he gatecrashed a meeting of federal and state Aboriginal affairs ministers today to highlight the plight of Aboriginal people.
'Pre-emption' Australia's ASEAN headache
ASEAN leaders pressed HoWARd to rethink his rejection of South-East Asia's non-aggression treaty.
Govt support for uranium enrichment research alarms Greenpeace
Greenpeace has called on the Federal Government to end its support for research on uranium enrichment carried out by a private company at the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney.
US may trial dumb bombs in Australia? How smart is that?
The United States looks set to test new generation weapons, including dumb bombs, in Australia within three years?
Australia must not be subservient to US military objectives
In a speech to the Senate last night, Senator Bartlett said that the Democrats support the US-Australia alliance, the ANZUS Treaty and appropriate defence and intelligence cooperation but not subservience.
Australian leaders congratulate Bush? Shit!
War criminal John HoWARd congratulates co-offender George Dubya Bush. HoWARd can relate to that because George Dubya is his co-offender in the illegal and degrading war on Iraq and especially now after the killings in Fallujah!
Boycott companies profiting from war: peace activist
Boycott call: Roy says companies profiting from the Iraq war should be shut down. She says a group of rich nations falsely accused an impoverished Iraq of possessing powerful weapons as a pretext for invading the country to further their own economic interests.
Sydney Peace Prize winner urges Iraqi resistance!!!!!!
"One wasn't urging them to join the Medhi army [in Iraq] but to become the resistance, to become part of what ought to be a non-violent resistance against a very violent occupation," she said.
Iraqi civilian deaths put at 100,000
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violence since the US-led invasion last year, according to public health experts who estimate there were 100,000 "excess deaths" in 18 months.
Downer floats media tip-off scenario in Baghdad blast
US Foreigner Alexander Downer says he is investigating whether the media was tipped-off ahead of yesterday's car bomb attack on an Australian military convoy in Iraq.
How Howard Won
This is a small attempt to answer how we have ended up with an increased Liberal majority in government, when they have done so much long term harm to our country.
A Call to Action: re election of John HoWARd?
I am fed up with the political apathy of the majority of Australians and depressed about the outcome of the election. I need to do something about it. Does anyone want to help me.
Govt eyes control of Senate
Prime Minister John Howard "the rodent type" has begun his fourth term in office with a quiet day in Sydney after the Coalition's victory in the federal election.
Nothing will save us from gullibility and greedy self-interest
A small book turned up last week entitled How to Kill a Country. It was written by three Sydney academics about our "free trade" deal with the United States.
HOWARD NO REMORSE!
Australian caretaker Prime Minister John Howard 'a rodent type' does not need to apologise for the illegal and degrading war in Iraq despite a new report that has found Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the US-led invasion.
Allies 'planned' Iraq war despite denials
The United States, Australia and Britain started to plan the invasion of Iraq months before the conflict, according to a report Wednesday quoting a leaked Pentagon document.
Hill primed for war!
Australian Caretaker Defence Minister Robert Hill has announced a multi-million dollar upgrade of the Pearce Air Force base in Western Australia. Hill says $87 million would be spent on a major upgrade of the base, which is Australia's main flying training facility.
Annan tells world leaders to respect law
United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan has made an impassioned plea to bring about the rule of law across the globe today. Mr Annan told world leaders to respect international law at home and abroad.
CO-OFFENDERS DO NOT REBUFF UN ON 'ILLEGAL WAR'
The 'coalition of the killing's' complicities - the US, Britain and Australia - have insisted that their countries' military action in Iraq was legal after they have committed war crimes against humanity.
Iraq war illegal, says Annan
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says the United States decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 was "illegal". Australia was a key supporter of the war on Iraq and sent troops to join the United States-led invasion last year.
Australia will not Save Your Soul
The Federal Government will not Save Australian Soul's? Even if you're an innocent bystander caught up in it. Despite a group claiming to have kidnapped two Australian security guards? The alleged group, which allegedly calls itself the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army, allegedly has given the Prime Minister John Howard 24 hours to end Australia's involvement in Iraq.
Apologise to children abused in care: report
A Senate report on children placed in institutional care has called for the Federal Government to apologise to those who were harmed by their experience.
Australian Govt human rights record 'worsening'
Community groups have given the Federal Government five out of ten for its record on human rights this year. Mr Purcell said the Government was also marked down because of the policy of holding children in immigration detention centres.
Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes
Complaint to Australian law officers about Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes.
Australia an unfair nation, say young and all!
Young people and older people think Australia is undemocratic and unfair. Young people cite their teachers as having the greatest influence on their political thinking, according to a provocative new national survey funded by the Government. Older people cite "injustice" amongst other things as a "bent legal system" favouring hi profiled superstars, corporations and politicians.
Downer guilty!
The agreement for going to war on Iraq carried with it and incentive and that was free trade with the US. The Howard Government knew about it and went along with it with the US under the guise of Iraq's WMDs. In criminal law this is commonly know as collusion to commit a crime.
John Howard blameworthy
General Peter Gration is the spokesman for a group of 43 ex-military leaders, diplomats and departmental heads who have criticised the Government, saying involvement in Iraq has put Australia at greater risk of a terrorist attack.
Court reserves decision on 'no war' protest appeal
Two men have asked the Court of Criminal Appeal to accept that they painted "NO WAR" on the Sydney Opera House, to defend people in Iraq and Australia from war.
PM's Fox Defence? Less the evidence?
The Fox went out on a chilly night. He prayed for the moon to give him light. For he had many a mile to go that night....
Australians to be sacrificed: Howard
Howard vowed hostages wouldn't sway policy? The Federal Government say they would not negotiate with terrorists if an Australian were taken hostage in Iraq.
PM Howard Morally Bankrupt
Prime Minister John Howard insists the war in Iraq was justified despite his British counterpart Tony Blair's concession that weapons of mass destruction might never be found.
Howard 'should be tried for war crimes'
Former Liberal Party federal president John Valder says Prime Minister John Howard should be tried and punished for war crimes over Australia's involvement in the Iraq conflict.
Troop deployment not a deepening of effort: Hill
Deploying an extra 30 troops to Iraq was not a deepening of Australia's involvement because they were being sent to protect those already there, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.
War on terrorism' could take a generation: Downer?
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has launched the Government's terrorism white paper, saying the "war" could take a generation.
JUDGEMENT: HOWARD'S WAR CRIMES
Howard Vs Regina in Canberra the Capital Territory of Australia- Friday January 30 2004.
'FACTOPHOBIA' HOWARD, BLAIR AND BUSH
Well think about this! Australia's intelligence agencies look set to receive a substantial funding boost in this year's Federal Budget, with the Prime Minister saying it is an obvious step to take.
Howard, where's your head at?
Australians living on the edge! Seems each time the bombs go off overseas Australians are living on the edge.
Should John Howard be locked up indefinitely?
Australian convicted mock terrorist John Howard is seriously considering appealing the precise time limit on detaining terrorist suspects.
Daily Terror rolled-over for Howard's war games
The DAILY TERROR is suspected of being the source of the news this morning that Willie Brigitte is a terrorist and that Sydney faces a bomb attack.
