I pit 46.6% of Australian voters

[antechinus]

Clears the empty bottles away from the keyboard…

shit …it’s all coming back…Howard was re-elected…where’s that Jim Beam…

…I reckon, as Cuncuator and robinc suggested, people did not want to risk someone new when the economy was going so well. Hopefully Australians were not sucked in by the interest rates lie, but I think it may have worked at a subliminal level.

Lots of ‘work experience student’, ‘aint broke dont fix’ and ‘devil you know’ going on.

If Latham had the job as opposition leader for at least 2 years I reckon people would be more comfortable with him and forget the loudmouth he was. People seem to forget quickly how racist Howards remarks have been and the incredible amount of Howard lies.

Those who voted for the coalition are selfish and gullible.

And I agree with Desmo - you are a fuckin idiot Rune.

[Giles]

@Rune

So fucking what?! Since when has it been a good idea to vote according to what some camel loving terrorist think or do not think? Screw them.[/SIZE]

Screw the terrorists or screw the camels?

(And on a more serious note, it’s not about keeping terrorists happy: it’s about not creating more terrorists by invading countries like Iraq.)

[calm_kiwi]

@Giles

(And on a more serious note, it’s not about keeping terrorists happy: it’s about not creating more terrorists by invading countries like Iraq.)

Never a truer word said.

[Rune]

@antechinus

And I agree with Desmo - you are a fuckin idiot Rune.

yap.yap.idiots.run.in.herds.

@Giles

(And on a more serious note, it’s not about keeping terrorists happy: it’s about not creating more terrorists by invading countries like Iraq.)

Well, if that’s what you think Iraq is, I wouldn’t object so much to the conclusion, however that’s not what Keapon Laffin said. He was more concerned about what the (existing) terrorists think and sending messages and such. Noting about preventing new terrorists.

But since Iraq has already been invaded and can’t very well be uninvaded and unless you think a near immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops, Australian as well as American (and Danish) is a good method to reduce terrorism and a likely outcome of a Labour win it’s hard to see wherein Labour would have made a difference vis a vis terrorist recruitments.

[Ryan_Liam]

Thank God John Howard won the election, I couldn’t imagine that Labour retard in power in OZ.

[calm_kiwi]

Well maybe you can escape to Aus when the big bad Muslims take over.

[Silentgoldfish]

Why what an insightful addition to the thread Ryan!

Care to add anything to your comment that would lead us to believe you have any more than a soundbite understanding of any of the issues involved? (not specifically Iraq, that’s too easy as we seem to mirror the US on that one)

[Ryan_Liam]

I’ve already been there, maybe I should.

[Ryan_Liam]

@Silentgoldfish

Why what an insightful addition to the thread Ryan!

Care to add anything to your comment that would lead us to believe you have any more than a soundbite understanding of any of the issues involved? (not specifically Iraq, that’s too easy as we seem to mirror the US on that one)

Howards managing of the economy, which has lead to substantial growth.

[calm_kiwi]

I don’t think they want bigots.

[Gest]

@Rune

hard to see wherein Labour would have made a difference vis a vis terrorist recruitments.

Labor (get it right) would have shifted the foreign affairs focus back to engagement with SE Asia. Australia’s interests and people are more seriously threatened by Jemaah Islamiyah, Lashkar Jihad and about a dozen other Indonesian based groups. These have only the most tenuous and expedient links to Middle Eastern organisations.

Australia’s abandonment (as way many Indonesians view it) of the region has proven an enormous hindrance in fostering cooperation between the governments in the fight against terrorist groups. Howard’s eagerness to self-title himself as Bush’s deputy in the region aggravated the situation. For comic relief, his foreign minister espoused the view that we had a right to preemptive strikes in the region and then backpedalled by saying that, well, the right was reciprocal. This is precisely the opposite of what a foreign minister should be doing but at least they are consistent with regards to policy.

I’m of the view you break it, you fix it. The shape of the Middle East today is a product of incessant self interested meddling by the Great Powers over centuries. They have profited immensely from it and should be prepared to finally pay the price. Australia, through neglect, stupidity and malfeasance, needs to do the same in our own region before we start paying a similar toll to the one the Indonesian people are paying.

[Ryan_Liam]

@calm kiwi

I don’t think they want bigots.

Give it a rest. Just because I don’t like the labour leader in OZ doesn’t make me a bigot, and just because the present leader doesn’t want to withdraw from Iraq make me any more ‘Islamophobic’ than you currently think I am.

[calm_kiwi]

@Ryan_Liam

Give it a rest. Just because I don’t like the labour leader in OZ doesn’t make me a bigot, and just because the present leader doesn’t want to withdraw from Iraq make me any more ‘Islamophobic’ than you currently think I am.

I didn’t think it did. Some of your other posts made me think that though.

[Ryan_Liam]

@calm kiwi

I didn’t think it did. Some of your other posts made me think that though.

Well, we’re all entitled to our opinons.

[Gest]

What a completely meaningless statement.

[Keapon_Laffin]

@Rune

Well, if that’s what you think Iraq is, I wouldn’t object so much to the conclusion, however that’s not what Keapon Laffin said. He was more concerned about what the (existing) terrorists think and sending messages and such. Noting about preventing new terrorists.

Hey, you little fucktard, just because you can’t back your argument and want to withdraw, don’t blame your ignorance on me.

**You ** made the response. So don’t fucking use me as a shield when you get hammered for **your ** views.

[Kayeby]

I’m no expert on the Australian economy, so how accurate would you saythis article is? Some pertinent quotes:

Since the conservative government was elected in March 1996, the economy has grown by one-third. Unemployment has fallen from 8.5% to 5.7%. Mortgage rates have dropped from 10.5% to 6.5%. Inflation has been sleeping in a hammock, slung at a rate of 2-3%, for a decade. That’s the good news.

But household indebtedness is at a record level. Consumers are paying a higher proportion of their income to service their borrowings (and thus are more vulnerable, as is the economy, to a fall in asset prices or a rise in interest rates). Under Howard and Costello, foreign debt has doubled to $A393 billion (equivalent to 50% of national output). No wonder voters think the cost of money is the marker for economic safe hands - they’re geared to the back teeth, and interest rates will only have to rise by a few points to burn the most vulnerable.

After seven Budget surpluses, during a time of buoyant revenues, Costello could have retired more debt and spent more on public investment that will sustain future growth - in infrastructure and human capital. Indeed, these surpluses have been slight exercises in prudence in an era of prosperity. Asset sales, such as the partial float of Telstra, have helped create the illusion of fiscal frugality.

[Jervoise]

Foreigners: it’s the Labor Party. Not Labour.

I’m not happy, chiefly because since the weekend:

• the republic is off the agenda for another few years.

• same-sex civil partnerships are out of the question.

• for the first time since the 50s, a party of the fundamentalist religious right (Family First) has gained a seat in the Senate (with 1.9% of the vote :rolleyes: ). They may even end up holding the balance of power.

Some delights of Family First, from The Australian:

A leaflet recently published by Victorian Family First Senate candidate Danny Nalliah urged followers to: “Spot Satan’s strongholds in the areas you are living (brothels, gambling places, bottleshops, mosque, temples – Freemasons/Buddhist/Hindu etc, witchcraft. If you are ready to pray against it, do so. If not, bring it to your church and ask your intercessors, through the pastor, to pull these strongholds down.”

As a further illustration of what we’re in for, Family First had a deal with the Liberal to direct preferences their way, but in one seat refused to do so because the Liberal candidate was a lesbian.

–

As it turns out, I was in (small-L) liberal Amsterdam when I heard the election news. For a moment, I really didn’t feel like coming home for a few more years.

[Ryan_Liam]

@Gest

What a completely meaningless statement.

What a shame, I can say the same about your post.

[Burnt_Sugar]

@Silentgoldfish

Why what an insightful addition to the thread Ryan!

In all fairness, it’s no better or worse than some other contributions:

@calm kiwi

See this is where Americans need to pay attention! You need ZERO personality to win an election.

@mhendo

Fuck every cunt in Australia who voted for that measly slimebucket arsehole and his bunch of festering pustule cronies. I can’t fucking believe that you are all that fucking stupid.

Re this from TLD:

@TheLoadedDog

Iraq is actually a relatively safer place now than it was under Saddam’s “peace time”, in terms of casualties and erm… “disappearances”.

@Silentgoldfish

No it isn’t.

I don’t think this will ever be able to be proven definitively – there will never be stats on how many people Saddam ‘disposed of’, or how many Iraqis were living in fear.