Monthly Archives: September 2007

Too stupid to be allowed to breed.

From the ABC:

A sexual health expert says up to 20 per cent of schoolgirls are not getting vaccinated under the Federal Government’s Gardasil program, which protects against cervical cancer.

Dr Edith Weisberg from the Sydney Centre for Reproductive Health Research says some parents are not giving permission for the vaccination because they are worried it could promote promiscuity.

So, I imagine these people would prefer their daughters died a premature, painful death? That’s as offensive as honour killing.

Annoying voters by phone-spamming.

The Liberal Party was roundly criticised in 2004 for phone-spamming voters with recorded messages from John Howard, and rightly so. It’s bad enough that telemarketers exist and that politicians have granted themselves an exemption to the do-not-call register laws, but to call someone and play a canned message at them is the height of rudeness.

Unfortunately, it appears that the Labor Party haven’t learnt anything from that exercise and are now doing it too. They claim they’re adhering to the do-not-call register, even though legally they don’t need to, but I wonder how long that will last when the election is finally called.

I recommend that anyone who gets one of these calls complain to the party concerned, and newspapers, in writing. This sort of campaigning should be stamped out before an advertising arms-race causes it to be an essential feature of elections.

A vote for John Howard…

…is a vote for Peter Costello. John Howard has all but admitted this on tonight’s 7.30 Report, by stating that he is highly likely to stand down at some point during the next term, assuming he wins the election. No prizes for guessing what one of Labor’s slogans will be now.

The Prime Minister does have a point, however, in saying that he is at least being upfront with voters about his plans. I’m far from comfortable with the resignations of Steve Bracks and Peter Beattie (and Bob Carr before them), mid-way through their terms. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with quitting as Premier, but they really did owe it to their electorate to sit out their full term on the backbench.

The question is, though, now that the people of Bennelong know that their local member is unlikely to hang around for the entirety of the next term, if re-elected, why would they bother with him at all?

The Final Lie?

“I’ll remain the leader of the Liberal Party as long as my party wants me to, and it’s in the party’s best interests that I do so”

Well, that was then. In fact, it was only last night that John Howard repeated that phrase that we’ve all heard for several years.

Today, however, he has changed his tune:

“It is not in the party’s interest to revisit it. That is my position, my very strong position” … “And I hope people understand from observing me in 30 odd years of public life, that I have never run from a fight before and I don’t intend to do so now,”

That – and especially the tone in which he said it – sounded borderline megalomaniacal.

So, he’s lied to the country, he’s lied to his Deputy … and now, it turns out he’s been lying to the organisation that he values the most, his party.

Let this be a lesson to backbenchers: you’ve been too gutless to stand up to this man for a decade. Now, just as he’s taking you to the brink of destruction, you’re incapable of doing anything about it.

Laugh, you bastards

You know that something is wrong when only Alexander Downer can see the funny side of yesterday’s Chaser APEC prank.

“Whatever you think of the humour of The Chaser, they were clearly not going to harm anybody in a physical way,” Mr Downer said. “They presumably were, as is the nature of their show, aiming to humiliate a lot of well-known people.”

I’m not normally one for giving credit to anyone from the right of the Liberal Party, but Downer has nailed it, here. This stunt was funny. And if it embarrasses the police for their over-the-top security and the utter waste of money being spent on this pointless exercise, all the better.

The police should be thanking the Chaser. It’s shown them a flaw in their security, given them a good live workout and demonstrated just how silly it is that society considers someone to be important just because they wear a suit and travel in an expensive car.