Fijian bloggers may be gagged by military government

It seems that Fijian bloggers may be gagged by the military junta running the country. Check out these three blogs for more on the latest. Intelligentsiya, ResistFranksCoup and Discombobulated.

My first editorial on my old Pasir Ris Mercury site, an early incarnation of a blog, back in 2000 was a comment on the previous coup in Fiji. History repeats itself.

The Lancet critical of John Howard and his government

It is pleasing to read in local newspapers here and also here that the internationally respected journal, The Lancet, is critical of John Howard and his government. The focus of the editorial is upon the Howard government's neglect of health and the silencing of critics. The editor also criticises the conservative outlook of the government with critcisms not only of Howard and the health minister, Tony Abbot, but also Malcolm Turnbull and his dismissive attitude towards the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change.

As the editorial in the Lancet concludes "This year provides an opportunity at the ballot box to bring a new enlightenment to Australian health and medical science" and an a new direction in the way Australian governments handle immigration, asylum seekers, refugees and the worker. It is time to vote John Howard and the Liberal ~ National Party coalition out.

Howard, Downer and the AWB Scandal

How can Howard and Downer stay in office considering the revelations of the Cole Inquiry into the AWB kickbacks scandal? In previous governments the ministers responsible for the respective departments would have stood down. Years ago two ministers stepped down because a TV set was not declared at customs. In this instance $300 million was paid by the Australian Wheat Board to Saddam Hussein via a dodgy Jordanian trucking company to guarantee wheat sales to Iraq. Bribery. The Australian government was warned by a variety of organisations here and abroad that the AWB was up to no good. Howard and Downer deny they knew anything about it. Time to go Howard. Time to go Downer. You are both an embarrassment. It is so shameful to be an Australian these days. 

Jingoism is alive and well in Australia

Well, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia are over. The Channel Nine broadcast is over. It was an exercise in jingoism. You would hardly know that other countries were involved. It was if the broadcast was scripted by that maestro of right wing nationalism, John Howard. I so long for the day that when he and his ilk no longer influence the society and culture of this country. Australia is becoming such a self-centered and pompous hole.

Pauline Hanson and John Howard draping themselves in the flag to peddle their jingoistic racist views

Ian Semmel of Maleny in Queensland wrote so well... "A pack of neo-Nazis go on a rampage under the banner of the Australian flag and in protest someone burns it. The penalty? Three months' jail. What sort of country has Australia become? I deeply resent people such as Pauline Hanson and John Howard draping themselves in the flag to peddle their jingoistic racist views, but nothing happens to them. The way Australia is at the moment, the flag deserves to be burnt." Letters, Sydney Morning Herald, 14th January, 2006.

Ian's thoughts reflect my own. Howard and Hansen... jingoistic, self-centred, ignorant and racist. Australia is going down the drain.

John Howard must be blind

Prime Minister John Howard has condemned the race-based attacks in Sydney, but says they don't mean Australia is a racist nation. "I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country,'' Mr Howard said today following yesterday's race riots at Cronulla Beach. "I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people.'' SMH. Monday 12th December 2005.

How can John Howard be so blind? His can he make these utterances? His government has promoted a campaign based upon politics of fear. Howard's government, like that of Bush and Blair, have over-emphasised the theat of terrorism across the world. The immigration and foreign policies of John Howard's government smack of jingoism and nationalism. Howard says there is no underlying racism in this country! The policies of John Howard's government breed jingoistic views that lead in turn to racism.

During John Howard's watch we have had Pauline Hanson's unbridled racist pronouncements, the Tampa incident, illegal deportations, appaling immigration detention centres, the Cronulla race riots and blind adherence to the insane foreign policies of the USA. Australia's image abroad has deteriorated during this time. We are perceived as racist by people overseas.

How can Howard deny there is underlying racism in this country? His government is promoting the environment that nurtures jingoism and racism. One only has to look at the sickening increase in the number of Australian flags fluttering in the front yards of Australian homes... misplaced nationalism. Pauline Hanson is now an accepted televsion personality... how appalling is that!? She should be in prison. She did more to tarnish the image of our country abroad than any other single individual in our history.

John Howard has an optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. Does he not realise that many people overseas have a dim view of the character of the Australian people due to his arrogance, jingoistic foreign policies and retrograde immigration policies?

Cronulla riots not racist?! PM Howard is an imbecile!

T-shirts that read "Ethnic Cleansing Unit" and SMS messages that read "bash wogs and lebs" not racist!? John Howard is an imbecile. The sooner he retires or is removed from public office the better.

It was probably the Liberal voters of the Sutherland shire that bred the rioters that shamed this country on Sunday afternoon.

Anger, frustration, sadness and shame

20 years from now history text books will set out Pauline Hanson, Howard, Ruddock, Vanstone and Downer together with their US inspired politics of fear and a jingoistic approach to foreign policy as the background causes for the riots at Cronulla and Maroubra.

Teaching students about the rise of Nazi Germany is so much more easier now. There is a rich source of similarities in Australia's recent history that a teacher can draw upon. Ten years of neo-conservative Liberal Party government, the shame that is Pauline Hanson, jingoistic foreign policies, inhumane immigration detention centres, the baby overboard debacle, illegal deportations, and the jewel in the crown... the Cronulla Race Riots.

Historical personalities like Howard, Downer, Vanstone and Ruddock espousing right-wing, nationalistic, pro-individual, selfish policies to the detriment of community and collaborative social values have their parallels in Nazi Germany as well.

Welcome to Australia... only if you are fair-skinned, sandy-haired and blue-eyed of course. You must promise to vote for the Liberal Party as well, just like the majority of Cronulla's residents. Australians of a caucasian background no longer seem to make immigrants and visitors of other racial backgrounds welcome. I first started observing this in 1996 or thereabouts.

It is so shameful to be an Australian now. This episode and the malaise that seems to be infecting Australia and its people makes me feel angry, frsutrated and sad. It seems to be vote '1' for individualism and selfishness in this country.

What has happened to the idea of a fair go?

Australia is becoming an increasingly unpleasant country due to Howard's authoritarian and callous leadership. The proposed anti-terror laws will bastardise our civil liberties. The IR reforms will enshrine the greed, individuality and selfishness that is fast becoming a hallmark of the Australian community under the auspices of the Howard government. Whatever happened to decency and the concept of fairness that used to characterise Australia and Australians? Is it lost forever?

Mr Howard at the airport

When PM John Howard flies from one place to the next does he also have to empty his pockets, remove his shoes, take off his belt and parade like a criminal before entering the aircraft?

Thank you Mr Howard for helping to create the social and political environment that led to these appalling impositions upon all air travelers within Australia.

Howard is terrifying

Terrorists do not terrify me. John Howard does. His policies breed terrorists.

The end of the week as we know it

"The Prime Minister has urged Australians to recognise the demise of the five-day working week." (SMH 10th Nov). Does that mean he is planning to introduce a working week of four days or less for all Australians? Ha!

He pontificates that "..the world has changed from the days when we were a five-day-a-week society...". Many employers and business owners are happy to work seven days a week. That is their right. But why should we allow these people to inflict their lifestyle choices and work ethics upon the rest of society via Howard's retrograde IR reforms?

Howard and political leaders all around the world should resolve to find ways to universally reduce the working hours of all people on the planet. Not increase the working week! What sort of an insane world is this?

Will the term 'week' cease to have any meaning in the future? Will the weekend evolve into the 'monthend' or 'yearend' in the brave new world that is Howard's vision for Australia?

UN wants to reduce US control over the Internet

There were a couple of newspaper articles about the UN wishing to reduce the control that the US government has over the Internet. The US government had indicated in the past that they would relinquish control but no longer. This is scary stuff.

Hear! Hear! for the United Nations. I would love to see the UN, Europe, China, Japan and a few other powerful countries sideline the present US government somewhow... economically, politically and militarily. It would be good if the world could boycott those right wing government bastards over in the USA. The present US government annoys me 99.99% of the time. When is someone going to put the world out of its misery and remove Bush and his ilk from the world's stage? The same for Howard and the Liberal Party in Australia too while they are at it.

The US government will not relinquish control of the net. When are these imperialistic, self-righteous crusading, selfish, imbeciles in this right wing US government gonna disappear off this planet?

More info about the US government and their monolitic control of the Internet here and there.

www.BANBALI.com

www.BANBALI.com

This web site is so typical of the "Home and Away" and "Neighbours" generation of selfish, narrow-minded, individuals that Australia is presently producing. The creators of this web site are ignorant and parochial. The reactions of these individuals and others, like Corby's sister and friends after the sentence was handed down, are examples of a selfish, Australian-centric view of the world.

Would they argue, debate and scream if a similar sentence was handed down to an Indonesian citizen here? Why are they so disrespectful towards the Indonesian government and its judiciary? Their naive view of the world and seeming interpretation that Australia is the greatest country in the world is beyond me.

Why should Corby receive monetary help for her defense while other Australians languish in prisons around the world unsupported? Will these people scream and shout and act irrationally when the two Australians arrested in Salt Lake City, USA recently receive 20 years or life terms for their crime?

The sooner this debacle blows over the better.

Crikey

Crikey. Bringing down governments since 1999. Well, this independent news service has just been sold. It was always worth a look to check out the archives.

Presidential motorcade or funeral?

This morning, while watching the news, I saw part of Bush's motorcade on the streets of Washington complete with black limousines and slowly walking secret service agents. My wife walked in to the room and immediately asked, "Is it a funeral?" If only.

His new black armoured vehicle with its half metre thick doors, a huge phalanx of motorcycle police, dozens of secret service cars and the aforementioned secret service agents all looked so sinister. It was like an outtake from "1984". The future is here and it is bleak. If he stands so much for liberty and freedom then why is he so cocooned by such a thick security shield? If that is his style of liberty and freedom then I don't want it. Surely Bush must realise that he must be doing something wrong if he needs so much protection. Years ago Jimmy Carter walked those few miles and shook hands with onlookers, etc.

Spending $USD40 million on the proceedings was obscene. I am sure that money would be better spent assisting people in poverty.

Perhaps it was a funeral... with the funeral director being Bush and the deceased being all fair minded, ordinary people of the world.