Another Ace Up His Sleeve

John Howard's Prime Ministership got off to a flying start when his stalking horse, Pauline Hanson, set the racist agenda which he refused to condemn at the time and subsequently adopted via his own particular brand of what I call 'nudge, nudge, wink, wink' politics. ie he makes statements which are seemingly vague, inoffensive or harmless but which contain coded messages for those who are 'tuned in'. Here's some examples of how Howard's race cards have been played.

• He refused to condemn Pauline Hanson on the grounds that as a politician in a democracy she had the right to express her views. This was code to any racist worth their pointy white hood that he secretly shares her opinions on Aborigines, immigrants etc.
• "We decide who comes and the manner in which they come" was actually code for "If you intrinsically distrust foreigners as much as I do then vote for me"
• 'Children Overboard!' was code for 'these illegal immigrants don't even love their children; they are less than human; vote for me'
• 'Saddam has got WMDs' was code for '(Non-Anglo) World leaders we don't like have no moral scruples, let's get 'em'. Of course this neatly ignores the American use of napalm in Vietnam and radioactive ammunition in both Iraq wars, not to mention cluster bombs, the Daisy Cutter bomb etc.

Now the latest card from the PM's stacked deck is the idea of installing 'Chaplains' in schools. What a coincidence that this initiative is trotted out immediately following Sheik Hilali's silly and offensive statements about gender roles which disgraced himself and his followers.

The title 'Chaplain' was deliberately chosen by the PM. It is a word always associated with the Christian religion and no other. If he had sought to be inclusive of all religions he could have come up with a generic title such as 'spiritual advisor'. He chose not to.

The subtext here is plain- 'If you too believe that Muslims are a pack of rapists and terrorists, vote for me'.

It's all part of his 'divide and rule' strategy. The more division and distrust he can propagate, the more fearful the average citizen becomes and the more the fearful will look to the dealer to deal them a winning hand.

But if, like me, your not happy with the cards you are being dealt then perhaps it's time to consider installing a new dealer; with a new deck. Why let the Joker ruin the game? Roll on the next Federal election.

Another Milestone for Humanity

I just watched the counter at right tick over to $333,333,333,333
What a great achivement. Imagine the stimulus to the US economy as its factories churn out replacements for all those bullets, artillery shells and missiles.
How long till $ 666,666,666,666 ticks over?
Will we be twice as safe when that happens?
Will a boy named Damien be elected President of the World before then?
How many Iraqis will have died at at that point?
Stay tuned.

The View from the Other Side of the Fence

So North Korea has "The Bomb". Alexander Downwer, Kevin Rudd and others in the know are convinced that this is a bad thing and I suppose they are right. I can't imagine that another member of the Nuclear Club is something to rejoice about.

We should be afraid or at the very least be concerned, they say, since North Korea is in our area of the world and its' leader is nutty enough to do something silly with his new toy.

As much as I would like to jump on the 'let's do something about this disturbing situation' bandwaggon I can't help but wonder how my feelings of disquiet about the danger of Kim Jong Il's new toy stacks up against the unmitigated fear and terror that the average Iraqi must have felt in the weeks and months before the bombing and invasion of their country by the Coalition of the Willing.

Everything is relative I suppose but more than that it is subject to the perspective of the interpretor. We are, in some small way, in danger from a brain explosion by the leader of Nth Korea as he seeks to push his point of view.

The people of Iraq were, to a much greater extent, subjected to the threat of invasion; sorry liberation, by the Neo-Cons of the Whitehouse who, whilst not using any of their already existing huge arsenal of nuclear weapons, had at their disposal the most sophisticated array of 'conventional' weapons the world has ever seen.

Which of the beligerants acted out their threat? So far only the US and its pals, including Australia, have actually used military force to try and achieve a desired political outcome.

In the process 100,000 Iraqis are said to have died in the liberation and democratisation of their country. The toll mounts daily.

Kim Jong Il is probably a nutter but has so far not been responsible for a single casuality outside his own country.

The US has bombed 28 countries since the end of WW II.