Who’s being economically irresponsible NOW, Mister Howard?

The Howard-Hanson administration’s HUGE cash hand-outs during this last lap of the election campaign are insane but not un-expected. That’s AU$9.4 BILLION in bribes to voters. Howard is panicking, painted into indefensible corners of his own making. But it's a measure of his panic that instead of defaulting to typical Conservative Right-Wing solutions based on principles of 'small government' and 'market forces always know best', he is splashing tax money around like there's no tomorrow.
..... (Dear Reader, take a deep breath before reading the next sentence)

In his 42 minute campaign speech, Howard flung cash around at the rate of 3.7 million dollars per second.

...... Gee, the Left is the New Right.
...... Wrong... the Right hasn't left yet.

Why is it that we voters have had to wait for family assistance, community halls, childcare centres, and especially a half decent Education system, etc?
Odd how for 11 stressful years we somehow didn’t notice these details. This last minute desperate (non-core?) attempt at porking triggers the obvious question: How can Howard now continue claim to be the more responsible economic manager when his huge fiscal injection is certain to be inflationary? I can’t be bought, Mister Ducklips. Checkmate. I’m not your corporate whore. And of course, Howard tries to make lemonade out of lemons by accusing Rudd of being deceitful!!! The ultimate in Reverse 'Metoo'-ism. Trouble is, the old tricky-dicky Howard tactics won't wash any more.
Not for either Howard OR Rudd.

Australia is pumped full of steroids – financial steroids – mainly due to the success of the Chinese economy. (Note: not the Australian economy). As a result, Australia is doing very well thank you, but paradoxically, Australians are not. Many are struggling to meet their mortgage and food bills, while it’s the Corporations and bigger shareholders who are the ones creaming off the bulk of the profits.

Why? Answer: Corporate profits. That’s the bottom line of Howard-ism. It’s about greed, upper-class elitism, and ruthlessly exploitative Globalisation. Globalization's intention, as the replacement for Colonialism, is to provide an international mechanism for the Rich to get ever Richer. Otherwise, logically, they wouldn't bother going to all the trouble. Remember East Timor's oil which Downer unfairly ripped off? As they say -

...... The Poor complain - they always do -
...... But that's just idle chatter;
...... Our System brings rewards to all -
...... At least to all who matter. ............... [Gerald Helleiner]

The people who benefit most from globalisation are the very ones who will be blindest to its faults. Fish can’t see water. Likewise, wealthy silvertail aristocrats like Howard, Costello, Downer - and Bush - have never had to cope with the gut-wrenching anxiety of missing a house payment in order to keep food on the table.

Also…Howard is ignoring the elephant in the room. How can he expect voters to ignore the fact that he will only stay in the job for 18 months before handing over to THIS dude 8 The leader you have when you’re not really having a leader. Vote for A, get B. Why should the well-being of an entire country be held to ransom to satisfy one man's personal ego crusade to stay in office longer than Robert Menzies? In fact, Howard's historical legacy will not be quite what he thought. Historians won't be kind, and future generations will look back with shame like they do now with Richard Nixon.

So hopefully – this time – it’s Goodbye to the Great Deciever
"...I can still smell the sulphur". Vale Ducklips. Vale Fascism. Howard is embarrassing Australia in the eyes of the world, and some Australians are still so insular they can’t see it. Preacher Howard is (at last!) drowning in his own shameful legacy:

Undertakers may need to install a skylight so Johnny’s nose doesn’t dent the roof of the hearse. I'll be intrigued to watch the gory post-mortems in the Coalition party-room after next week.
BWAAA HA HA ha ha ha!!

All this media-driven emphasis on charismatic leaders takes focus away from the real political issues. Much too American for me. I’m beginning to favour the idea of an elected Prime Ministerial Team (PMT) instead of a single ‘front-person’ whose concern is mainly to do with self-image. Replace the Senate by a PMT elected by the Lower House? Hmm. I’ll let u know the referendum date.

Compare the campaign styles – Here in Thailand, politicians share a banana to demonstrate their unity. Try to imagine Johnny Dubya Ducklips , AlexanDUH Downer, and Tony ("The Priest") Abbott sharing a Pie-with-Peas on the steps of parliament?? Coooooooool. Where’s me camera?

Enough of my prattle. Nobody listens to bloggers – but gee wiz, ignore us at your peril. We are but humble earthworms, but without our work the Soil of the Farm will turn sour. We are the social barometers, the sacrificial ‘mine canaries’, Ye! Verily, we are the Prophets …and we're still allowed to vote. Amazing.

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Oi oi oi... It’s Time for more propaganda photos for you to steal and circulate during this final campaign week…

Howard has promised to ‘expedite’ the release of 961 hectares of Commonwealth land to help solve the housing crisis. That’s a miniscule amount of land in relation to the housing problem at hand. So, did I miss something? Will someone please explain? Australia is a huge continent with massive amounts of empty land… so why is there a shortage, and why does land still cost so bloody much? Is there a massive silent conspiracy among the wealthy classes? The laws of Supply & Demand only fail if artificially interfered with – ask any Capitalist. Peter Costly-ello, are you listening? Peter?

............................Oh, Peeeeeeee-ter...?!

P.S. This online Pork-O-Meter from the Age Newspaper will keep you up to date with who is spending what in the Australian Election Campaign.
And watch as Kirribilli is auctioned (Nicholson flash-animated cartoon). It'll lift your fading electoral pecker, fix your ticker, ...whatever.

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And to conclude, here's a very fun Must Watch video. These street interviews with a realistic Howard puppet tell the true story of Election 07. It’s not insignificant that the Sydney Morning Herald featured this video on its website. Read between the lines, folks. Read my clips ;-)

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The Parable of the Good Australian: John Howard as Failed Messiah

And Lo! There was a Shepherd in the Desert, tending his flock of Sheep and Lambs. The Shepherd could sell much Wool from the backs of the Sheep, so he offered unto them most of the best Water and Pasture, and they did thrive mightily.
The Lambs were small, so could not provide as much Wool as the Sheep. The Shepherd therefore offered unto them only Dry and Barren Desert, because they were less profitable than the Sheep. Thus did many tender young Lambs wither under the scorching sun of Mortgages and GST.
As eleven long years passed, the productive Sheep became grey and began to die of old age. The Shepherd then looked to his Lambs to render Wool unto him, but Alas! they were unable. And verily, the Economy spiralled into long-term Recession.

And lo! it came to pass that starving Lambs deserted the Shepherd in droves, even as the remaining wealthy old Sheep toured Australia in their freehold Winnebago 4WDs, reaping rich pickings from their bulging portfolios and not caring a hoot about GST. With such unholy Economic Growth came rampant Inflation, and the very Heavens were rent asunder by Bolts of Electoral Lightning hurled down from the Reserve Bank. Then among the down-trodden of the sacrificial Lambs there were Whisperings of Revolt, and sagging Worms of Discontent. Presently it came about that the Old Shepherd was slain and replaced by a New National CEO who, in turn, was also to rely on the Resources Boom, and never questioned Howard's beloved GST.

Hey, enough of this silly bible-speak. (Religion is not irrelevant, though, as both Howard and Rudd are desperate enough for votes that they have sucked up to religious factions in the same superficial way as American politicians do).

In this next pic, Ducklips Howard, AlexanDUH Downer and Tony 'The Priest' Abbott all appear sexy and cool during a fake workout, following the image-makeover example set by Mr Ras Putin:

...................................... [excuse me while I puke…]

........ (…....or are the rings simply failed attempts at multiple halos?)

Howard's basic Tory creed is that of Globalization, the latest form of Colonialism, whose unspoken motto is It’s OK for the Rich to get richer at the expense of the Poor. The apathy of the Austrayan voter to this growing inequality can be attributed to the persistence of the negative (and mostly false) "dole bludger" mythology, with its historical roots in the propaganda of the Protestant Work Ethic. Therefore neither of the major political parties sees potential votes in re-distributing wealth to support the needs of the Poor or minority groups. Ladies and Jellybeans of the Jury, I would like to announce the death of Leftist Compassion in Straya.

However, beware the Achilles Heel. Australia’s leaders ignore the needs of poorer people at the country's peril. A large proportion of these poorer people are young. If the core needs (including Education) of Australia's young Lambs continue to be marginalized, the future of the entire flock will be put at risk in the longer term. Howard's short-term thinking is dangerous and irresponsible, yet that’s the typical Conservative anally-retentive mind-set, partly imposed by three-year parliamentary terms, annual company statements, budgeting horizons, etc. Democracy does have its inherent disadvantages, of which Climate Change is likely to become an unfortunate victim. We have to look to the minor parties - Greens, Democrats, Independents - to find any remaining traces of Human Compassion, Good Samaritanism, and longer-term vision.

Howard’s right wing ideologies strongly favour the older Sheep Establishment – the Wealthy-through-inheritance, Baby-Boomers who had the sense to be born in an earlier time, investors in stockmarkets, the upper middle-class, etc. Company tax laws help to ensure that these already-fat Sheep continue to get the biggest possible patch of pasture.

On the other side of the coin, Howard’s draconian WorkChoices laws (boo hiss) ensure that the impoverished working-class employees – Lambs to the slaughter – get as small a patch as possible, frequently so small that both husband and wife have to get jobs (No wonder there are so few baby lambs these days… even with the taxpayers’ donation of $4133 for each birth).


Why not sign this important Anti-WorkChoices PETITION to tell Howard you object to his regressive legislation. You can add a personalized message if u wish. (GetUp.org; opens in a new window).

....................... Lambs of the World Unite!
............ You have nothing to lose but your Jeans!

We citizens insist on the democratic right to stand up for a fair workplace and appropriate pay (which, in case you hadn't thought about it, Mr Jerk Hockey, should hopefully amount to enough to cover both food AND rent for the average family). Poor people can only take so much workplace abuse, then we fight back. Slavery has been abolished before, but what-the-hell, we can do it all again. Even a Dove will eventually peck back in frustration.

Click here to get details of an anti-WorkChoices protest by GetUp outside Joe Hockey’s Sydney electoral office this weekend.

The new un-Liberal party spokesman, Mr Rubicube Hed. The task for the confused Voter is to pick which one of the mouthes is making the non-core promises. Check out this Pork-O-Meter - it keeps you up to date with Labor and un-Liberal spending Promises and Totals in the Australian Election Comedy Show. Have your sound turned up, too.

(See more amazing photos about Brigadier-General Howard's pre-emptive invasion of his own country, about the deceit of his weak suckhole mate Mal B. Rough, and about Howard's campaign of deliberate Racist hatred which he malevolently imagines is a vote-winner. Not in MY name, Mr Ducklips)

… To coin a phrase… “It must be well and bloody truly Time by now!”

John Howard, Bennelong, Climate Change, Kyoto, and the price of eggs

The Australian public is waking up to John Ducklips Howard. Tossing him out of office would be justified on the Climate Change issue alone. Hey, Australians don’t live in an “Economy”, we live in a country, and breathe the same air as other countries. Look, MISTER Howard, we breathe and we vote. In the interests of continuing to be able to breathe, FunkyPix2 is publishing a short photo-essay about Climate Change/Global Warming.

The Australian Federal Election, normally relatively unimportant on the world stage, is this time going to be vital to the direction of the world on the issue of Climate Change. Bush must be slapped, and slapped hard to shame him. What better way than for his rogue pariah lapdog (yes, Australia) to turn on him? Hopefully, 2008 may be a turning point if Australia ratifies Kyoto.

Recognising that History is the sum of individual actions, you can also personally put pressure on the US Congress by signing this Online PETITION. Changing America's stance is the only possible way to force Howard's hand. And remember that Rudd is not yet PM.
The petition opens in a new window for your convenience, so you can close it when you've signed and be right back on this page).
If Global WARMING is Dr. Jekyll, Global DIMMING is Mr Hyde. Global Dimming is like the kind old nurse who is later revealed to be a serial murderer. She quietly feeds her 'patients' palliative medecines so that they won't suffer pain from their disease... However, they're not so grateful later when they discover the palliatives have merely been disguising their illnesses, thus speeding their demise.

Global Dimming, likewise, disguises the planetary disease of Global Warming. It means that Global Warming is actually worse than scientists calculated:

Didn't know about Global Dimming? Read here or here, or (best of all) watch this disturbing BBC documentary on Youtube.

Be very afraid, John Ducklips Howard ...if you care at all:

...........Because we care about our children's future. Simple.

So here are more of my funky pix 4u2c… help spread 'em round the internet to punish Howard’s anally-retentive power-hungry addiction:
(right-click the photo and select "Save Picture As...")

…but fear not, FunkyPix2’s famous Online Catalogue can supply suitable footwear if you need some in a hurry:

Here in Thailand, for instance, Wat Jampalor (at Anthong) is already regularly awash at high tide. Also see this scary/amazing interactive NASA flood-map for the Bangkok region.

Capitalism , and its latest mutant robot (the Globalisation Monster), are mostly deaf to long-term issues like Climate Change. Their selfish strategies are limited to short-term goals: this year’s inflation figures, this quarter’s profit/loss statement, and never beyond the close horizon of the next election.

......... (Get more funky pix about APEC in Fortress Sydney here.)

This photo of a solar flare from the sun serves as a reminder that we’re very small players in the game of survival. The next cartoon shows some even smaller players:

FunkyPix2 has published other articles on Global Warming:

* Do you live in Sydney? Will your street flood when sea levels rise? Check here with this NASA-Google satellite map.

* Dinosaur Howard fears job figures more than extinction of the human species.

* ...or conjure up ALL my posts about ENVIRONMENT here. Most are directly relevant to Australian issues.

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Cartoon time for grown-ups! Laugh at John Howard's dismal week in these four flash animations by Peter Nicholson of The Australian newspaper. First comes Howard's oh-so-convenient eleventh hour conversion on the Road to Damascus, then you'll be astonished at what Howard finds under his bed in the morning ...and what does the Dalai Lama have to say to both Rudd and Howard?
Finally, Paul Keating is again the un-biased race-caller for the adrenalin-pumping pre-election Melbourne Cup. Who will win most efficiently?

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