Jack Kevorkian nominated as a candidate for the next pope

WHO HAS CAUSED THE HUMAN RACE MORE SUFFERING?
..........[a].....Jack Kevorkian
..........[b].....The pope

Odd, isn't it?

= Kevorkian sought to minimise end-of-life suffering in terminally-ill and willing people, and spent 8 years jail as a result.

= Pope Hilarious I continues to be responsible for thousands of women's painful deaths through illegal backyard abortions, and gets hero-worshipped as a result.

.............................. Oh, how the Right went wrong.

The pope's EFFECTIVE agent in Australia is the Howard Government's Health Minister Tony Abbott.
The pope's NOMINAL representative, Archprick George Pell, has no legislative power - and has recently painted himself into awkward legal corners by his stubborn Catholic Extremism. For we left-wing atheist ploggers (political bloggers), Cardinal George W. Pell represents the blogger's ideal whoopee-cushion target to put the Fun back into Fundamentalism.

Unbelievably, Tony Abbott would prefer to force Australian parents to give birth to unwanted children rather than give mothers a choice. Terminating a tiny insensate foetus will cause much less long-term pain than irresponsibly bringing an unwanted child into a lifetime of neglect and other abuses. Surely, NOT to do so might result in god getting all wrathful??

Would Jeshua (Jesus' real name) have taken the more compassionate decision on abortion? Of course. But committed christians will, as usual, automatically go in to bat for whatever their infallible pope star says. Herd instinct suffocates individual thought. But consider this:

"BELIEF IS NOT WANTING TO KNOW THE TRUTH".

Not only is the church losing the ratings game, it is actually speeding-in-reverse. Benedict's stupid revival of the Latin Mass will obviously become the main textbook for Church Suicide 101 in the 21st century although he's tinkered with the doctrine in small ways such as finally abolishing Limbo.

I found god on the side of this crocodile. Click here to see a fun gallery of other unusual places where Cheesus has been spotted lately. And more importantly, Elvis.

Online PETITION to support Dr Haneef

John Howard's final words: .."Believe me... I'm incredible".

PLEASE SIGN this online petion ASAP, and urgently circulate the URL widely:

PETITION TO SUPPORT DR HANEEF (opening in a new window).

This is the URL: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/justice-for-dr-haneef.html

There is also a permanent link in the sidebar of FunkyPix2, but for your convenience, here is a preview of the essential text in the petition:

Dr Haneef has faced a savage attack on his democratic rights. We therefore demand:
...
1. The immediate reinstatement of Dr Haneef's visa, and his immediate release from prison.
...
2. An end to government interference in Dr Haneef's case.
...
3. The scrapping of the new "terror" laws, which fundamentally undermine basic democratic and civil rights.
...
4. The spurious charges against Dr Haneef, which become weaker every day, should be dropped.

5. The Australian government to pay compensation to Dr Haneef and his family for the immeasureable damage they have caused him.

Howard's old tricks and media illusions can't fool the Australian public any more.

Howard is pressing the PANIC button. He can't turn Haneef into Tampa2 any more than he can get away with more lying about Climate Change. He can't turn lead into gold as he used to attempt. FunkyPix2 has an article on the hideous racism of John Dubya Ducklips Howard, and useful anti-Coalition material here, here, here and here. Alternatively, see my "Browse by Category" list in the sidebar, particularly the link to 'Australian Politics' so you can see them all at once. There's also an article clarifying the underlying differences between Right-wing and Left-wing politics, in which I demonstrate that the Liberal Party isn't a liberal party.

Howard's Immigration Minister, Kevin Suckhole Andrews, is weak and obedient to Howard - which is precisely why he was lumped with the "Haneef Sacrifice" job:

"Yes-man" Kevin Andrews harrasses the helpless victim (Haneef),
but keeps his eyes focussed firmly on the REAL bull ...the Election.

Election 2007 ...your BIG chance.
A lot depends on YOU.

China VS. America Trade Wars: “If ya can’t out-trade ‘em, discredit ‘em!”

Are we witnessing a Chinese bear market
...or is it all just a lot of Bu--sh--?

FunkyPix2 has previously blogged (blug? blag?) about the unfairness and social pitfalls of Globalisation as a re-packaged form of Colonialism and associated xenophobic exploitation (read here and here). Now the West is also beginning to re-think and back-pedal on Globalisation - yeehah!! - but alas, for all the wrong reasons.

Now that China’s economy is booming, the West is realizing that Globalisation is working too well. Globalisation is more than achieving what it promised. Outsourcing corporate capital to “Developing” countries has turbo-charged those countries to the point where their competitiveness is being assessed as “too strong”. That’s code for “They’re beating us at our own game – we can’t have that! We ain't willing to share profits to THAT extent!"

Cynics [eg, moi] are pointing out the 'convenient' timing of the USA’s recent accusations of poor quality of goods exported from China. If ya cain’t beat ‘em, dump on ‘em. Chinese authorities have predictably reacted to protect China's reputation. No doubt there's some fire where there's smoke, but I notice that no-one seems to be recalling or emphasizing the USA's own long and shabby track record of poor quality goods. Ralph Nader must have been silenced for keeps by the Big Money.

China’s walking a thin line between Progress and Modernity

The philosophical platform of the USA has so many holes in it that it’s astonishing anyone can still stand on it. Inconsistencies about democracy and trade abound. If the USA is so serious about Democracy, why isn't it acting more decisively on Burma?

For decades, China has executed more people than all other countries in the world put together. So why is there suddenly so much western media focus on the ONE public servant executed recently over food quality issues? Because it suits the USA’s trade agenda at the moment.

Progress has never been so popular since it went out of fashion with the Enlightenment. Here in Chongquing, China, a local resident refused to sell his property to a developer. Money sometimes speaks louder than Law.

Mixed signals sometimes come from China, but that’s better than
consistent lies from a no-longer-credible USA.

China is making a song and dance about protecting its reputation
in the face of a concerted smear campaign by the West.

Anyway, who is best qualified to judge food quality? This maggot factory in Shandong produces 30 tons of maggots a month – and not a peep of criticism out of the Yanks. Any volunteers from Republicans or Monarchists to review my forthcoming book “Delicious Corgi Recipes”?

China has some dicey credibility bridges to cross in the lead up to the Olympics. Besides food quality, there’s Pollution. But the Chinese are correct when they point out that China’s high carbon footprint is partly the result of western globalized corporations out-sourcing their own production to Chinese factories.

(And never forget that the country which has the highest carbon footprint per capita of any country in the world – including China – is none other than Australia.)

China is a remarkable country with stubborn resilience and a growing skill base, like this tea-pouring entertainer. In the 1950s, if you mentioned the term “Japanese car”, everyone would burst out laughing. “They’d never do it, ha ha ha ha!”
...

Ha. Keep your eye on China. And India.

China State Ballet’s interpretation of the Trade Index Tango?

UPDATE - Correct decision: Thailand's government rejects the bid to make Buddhism the national religion

Buddhist monks recently held a hunger strike while meditating in coffins. They were campaigning to get Buddhism nominated as Thailand's national religion.

My earlier post on this topic is here. It would have been crazy to make one group of people suddenly appear artificially elevated above others, especially in the current circumstances of the Muslim insurgency down in the southern provinces.

Buddhists naturally feel nationalistic about their majority status, but hopefully will have enough "metta" (literally "mother-eye" or loving kindness) to understand that nationalism can all too easily morph sideways into fascism and hatred of minorities. You need look no further than Australia for an ugly example of political abuse of nationalism. There is already a not-so-latent distrust of Muslims here in Thailand, as you find when chatting with taxi-drivers. That distrust should not be aggravated by downgrading Muslims' perceived religious status. Buddhism, likewise, must be allowed to rise or fall on its own merits, for its own good. Unfortunately, it has recently lost some public cred through corruption and the Jatukam amulet fad in particular.

I always feel a little uncomfortable commenting on the internal affairs of my host country, but do so if I think there is enough justification. It can be a cultural minefield. I always remember this un-flattering drawing of the Lord Buddha made by the first English explorers of Burma. They had neither artistic sense nor cultural insight in their un-insightful and demeaning assessment of Buddhism.

This pile of bricks at a local Chiangmai building site is the perfect metta-phor for Thailand's fragile progress towards its new post-Thaksin Constitution. Overall, I give the Surayud government a good mark for its work so far. An unenviable job.

Howard’s “pro"-life non-abortion policy is so misogynist that even his own Un-Liberal Party is revolting against it

Backyard abortionists can’t offer the luxury of a General Anaesthetic to poorer women, so the ‘patient’ must remain awake while seven agonizing needles are stuck into her cervix. Read more here.

........ ??? Did you know. . .

= that Howard does NOT ALLOW Federal government aid to be spent on abortion advice?

……………..…. AND

= that 13% of back-yard abortions result in the woman’s death?

Logical conclusion: This means Howard is prepared to accept that 13% of all women undergoing backyard abortions will die. This is hardly what civilised compassionate people do. However, Tony Abbott, Howard’s Kruel Katholic Killer, doesn't seem at all disturbed by the idea. I wish him a womb. Who has caused more suffering, Jack Kevorkian ...or Tony Abbott?

Fifty federal politicians from all parties, led by none other than a Howard Backbencher (Dr Mal Washer, GP), have rightfully lashed out at the cruelty of this out-dated and repugnant law. It was originally put in place to please fuddy-duddy Independent Senator Brian Harradine way back he held the balance of power. Dr Mal Washer and FunkyPix2 both say the law's an absolute insult to women, and that Howard should have repealed it by now.

The MOST insulting (and sickeningly ironic) bit, quite apart from the woman’s immense pain of and loss of dignity, is that if you happen to survive the ordeal of an illegal back-alley abortion, Howard’s government is happy to give you post-abortion counselling!!! That’s great for those who didn’t die, but for the unlucky 13%, counselling dead people is usually less than effective.

Right-wing conservatives like Howard find no contradiction in protecting insensate embryos the size of a pin-head, while feeling content to kill adults in war or in backyard abortions.

Moral of the Story? ..Don’t vote for Howard’s Un-liberal Party... or anyone else who marginalises, degrades or insults women.

---

Just how far will right-wing pro-life extremists go?
George W. Bush's mates in Tennessee are introducing laws which would require death certificates for aborted foetuses.

I imagine the next step would have to be birth certificates issued after “dinner and a movie”??

---

Will Australia benefit by staying in Iraq? John Howard should learn a lesson from LAOTIAN HMONG hilltribes

…........…. John Dubya Ducklips Howard has highly selective hearing.

John Ducklips Howard’s obvious folly of continuing to be Bush’s main ass-licking buddy is alarmingly paralleled by the ill-fate of the Hmong people from Laos. The Hmong hill-tribes supported the American CIA’s “Secret War” in Laos during the Vietnam War, but now America has betrayed them grievously by turning down their promised refugee status. In this article, FunkyPix2 asks the obvious question: "Why won't the same thing happen to Australia after Bush is dumped, 567 days from now?" Like the Hmong people, Australia is a relatively insignificant player on the international stage, a dispensable country of only 21 million.

The Hmong hill-tribes in the jungles of Laos fought and died for the US Military during the 1970s, based on the promise that they would benefit (either by getting their own Hmong homeland or, if the war were lost, a secure “Plan-B” escape route to the US as refugees with eventual citizenship). The US initially accepted a token few, but soon slammed the gate shut. Thousands are still left stranded in the jungles of Laos, rejected, betrayed by Uncle Sam, and persecuted to this day by the Laotian communist government.

Check out these photos we took in 2006 on Central Laos’s astonishing “Plain of Jars” - some show bomb craters, old trenches, and munitions, now overgrown. The mental scars on many residents, however, have not healed as well. After experiencing the trauma of tip-toeing through a minefield, I can begin to understand why.

The Hmong, who were staunch US allies on Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War have been handed a rough ride by the US. Oi, oi, oi! ..Unfair!

.................................Agent Orange juice, anyone?

Laotian Hmong have well-and-truly earned US citizenship, but have been cruelly ignored now that they are no longer of use to America. Recently, 152 descendants of former fighters had tried to flee to Thailand to escape persecution, but were deported to an unknown fate at the hands of the Laotian communist government.

Given this ongoing tragedy in Laos, John Dubya Ducklips Howard is, as usual, clearly unable [or unwilling] to learn from history. This right wing dinosaur doggedly insists on staying the distance in Iraq, despite warnings from George Dubya Bush’s own Republican Party that America is losing the war badly.


Dubya Howard somehow imagines that by being ‘faithful’ to Dubya Bush, Australia is going to be showered with gifts and benefits in some rosier future. Tell that to the Australian lamb exporters who were shut out of the American market a few years ago by the US Dept of Agriculture. Tell that to Tony Blair, whose only parting request to Bush was to ask for some co-operation on EU Climate change resolutions (as a reward for the UK sending troops to Iraq). Blair was simply ignored - because he didn't matter any more. Some gratitude. Howard should expect no more.

Toni Blair was stood up by Bush the morning after. Mr Blair doesn’t care any more – he’s comfortably retired and in the Pink.

The US only ever acts out of self-interest, and Ducklips Howard is deluded if he imagines otherwise. Australia could very easily find itself side-lined, marginalised and rejected – exactly like the Hmong in Laos.

Moral of the story?..George W. Snake cannot be trusted:

With US foreign policy, what you see is rarely what you get.
(View more weird FunkyPix2 body art here).

JOHN Dubya Ducklips HOWARD pre-emptively invades Northern Territory Aboriginal communities

Among Australia’s Aboriginal population there’s exploding anger about marginalization, neglect and now outright racist martial law. Graffiti ("SLAVE TRADER") on the memorial stone to Robert Towns, after whom Townsville was named, is eloquent testament to local Aboriginal and Islander resentments in North Queensland.

Australians, be they white, black or green, are not stupid. More and more people are seeing Howard’s cynical wedge politics for the racist and right wing extremism it really is. Howard’s working his way down a hit-list of vulnerable minority groups in Australia, treating then contemptuously as sacrificial pawns to his empty ambition of staying in power longer than his hero Robert Menzies.

Howard has already demonstrated that he’s prepared to stop at nothing to win an election. Tampa… Children & Truth Overboard… Refugees… he's willing to sacrifice anyone. Now, ironically, just as his little trained pet AlexanDUH Downer has been contemplating trying to haul Robert Mugabe through the International Criminal Court over his genocide of Zimbabweans, Howard turns his guns on Australia’s own citizens. It's now indigenous Aussies' turn to feel the stinging hypocrisy of Howard’s appalling prejudice. Aborigines have already been criminally neglected for 11 years. Now, six months out from a difficult election, Howard needs a fresh scapegoat. So he resorts to a gutless little game called “Blame-The-Victim” or “Kick-Them-While-They’re-Still-Down”. He gets to dress up as The Very White Knight, charging in with a legislative lance tipped with the deadly poison, Prejudice. That unmapped and darkest region of our souls. Guaranteed to pacify mindless swinging voters and devotees of the late John Laws:

Howard is taking back power and Land Rights from Aboriginal Land councils. Good-bye to the spirit of MABO and Reconcilliation. While other nations have said the ‘S---y’ word and moved on, Australia performs a callous U-Turn into its own sordid past - like a dog returning to its own vomit. Not in my name, Mister Howard.

It would be less racist if Ducklips applied the same criteria to white middle-class people living in Parramatta, Cronulla, or Saint Kilda… but those folks might actually fight back through the Media (=“Johnny’s Kryptonite”). Oops. They might object to Johnny’s Behaviour Police entering their split-level homes, checking what’s on their hard-drives, controlling how they spend their money, or reading their personal e-mails. Ooops. Howard says his martial law will apply to all people living on Aboriginal lands… but I’m sure there would be many white families judiciously overlooked by wary police and soldiers. Oooooops.

But today, it all the pieces of the jigsaw suddenly fell into place. I heard this report on Australian radio, in which Senator Heffernan (from Howard's Un-liberal Party) suggests that the Northern Territory has the potential to become Australia's foodbowl of the future, due to its water resources. Heffernan spoke well and convincingly, and under normal circumstances I may have applauded some of the strategies about logical use of limited water resources caused by Climate Change.

But hey, what rotten indecent timing on the part of Howard! What an offensively greedy corporate-minded strategy! The very moment when this region gains potential value as a profit-making food-growing concern, Howard takes steps to snatch it back under the pretext of child-abuse. Why else does he suddenly begin to care about child-abuse when he's spent ELEVEN years ignoring all the reports?? Now we understand. Any plausible excuse for a land-grab. I should have seen it coming, but I'm not devious enough, even though I passed Conspiracy Theory 101.

It's OBVIOUS. He denied it all, of course, which immediately confirmed that it IS a land-grab. Then he had the gall to indicate that the Aboriginal Land Councils would be compensated if, after 5 years, he decided not to give the land back. Which, clearly, he wouldn't. His smarmy words AND body language loudly shouted "Gotcha, ya black bastards! We whitefellas want the profits from Northern Territory food exports to Asia". .Now watch property values rise... for them wot's got the bucks.

Just as John Coward always chooses to attack the most defenceless minorities - society's low-hanging fruit - so this time he has chosen to attack the most defenceless state. In fact, constitutionally, the NT isn't even a state, so is even more at his mercy. And do you think for a moment that the NT's chief minister Clare Martin will choose to defend Aborigines Human Rights in favour of large-scale economic development?



............................... Howard's idea of cultural equality.

Howard’s propaganda Spin-Machine has pretended until now that the Federal Government is co-operating smoothly with Aborigines as a happy team. Butterflies & rainbows, etc. Trouble is, one Aboriginal generation’s already been stolen without apology, and now Ducklips Howard is attempting to steal the next. But now that his propaganda cover is exposed, he will be personally guilty of knowingly being in possession of stolen goods. Therefore he won’t have the lame excuse of avoiding “Sorry” because “...our predecessors did it in the distant past... it wasn't my responsibility”, etc.

Like many right-wing projects, Howard’s pre-emptive invasion of his own people is being done largely under the covering fire of 'do-gooder' religious organisations. Many of these (unlike Howard) do boast a track record of useful work, albeit at the cost of infecting Aboriginal culture with religion. Howard, by contrast, shamelessly co-opts these well-meaning organizations in order to achieve far more sinister purposes. His actions will increase communities’ dependance, not decrease it. Wrong Way, Go Back. What beats me is that he genuinely believes he’s correct.

Although Noel Pearson recommended to Howard that Aboriginal Communities be consulted and agree to any changes before they’re implemented, Howard’s draconian “Black Children Overboard” plan has no such restrictions. It therefore effectively constitutes Martial Law.
(I cynically note the glaring hypocrisy of Ducklips who dared just 6 months ago to criticize Thailand for its coup and martial law.

Before he gets kicked out of power, Howard is pushing to get maverick historians like Geoffrey Blainey (the same guy who coined the phrase "the black-armband interpretation of history") .to revise the schools’ history curriculum... doubtlessly in favour of the whitefella's image.

Whose version of Australian History is taught in schools? Did your teachers ever show you this map? Surely Australia’s history been whitewashed enough already.

INDIGENOUS people are being jailed in increasing numbers 16 years after the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody recommended prisons be used as a last resort. Another Howard tragedy... but so not surprising.
........ (Click here for details and photos of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy)

……….......................… Make that eleven… and the last.

Election 2007, when you too can maul Howard, is coming to a ballot-box near YOU. It’s become a FunkyPix2 tradition to include a pic of a shark mauling John Dubya Ducklips. Mm, very satisfying.

And while we’re on the topic of schools, here’s FunkyPix2's Anti-Howard Joke-of-the-Week (thanks, A&B!):

Prime Minister John Howard was visiting a primary school and he visited one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the Prime Minister if he would like to lead the discussion on the word "tragedy". So the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a "tragedy".
One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a 'tragedy'". " No," said Howard, "that would be an accident”.
A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying fifty children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."
"I'm afraid not," explained the Prime Minister "That's what we would call a great loss."
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. John searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of tragedy?"
Finally, at the back of the room, a small boy raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said: "If the aeroplane carrying you and Mrs Howard was struck by a "friendly fire" missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy."
"Fantastic!" exclaimed John Howard. "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?"
"Well," says the boy "It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss, and it probably wouldn't be a fu**ing accident either."