Backslapping replaces political debate
ABC reports on Gee Dubya's Oz junket that while the Green Senators were being ejected from Parliament for speaking out against war, John Winston was laying on the treacle. And Gee Dubya spread some honey around himself:
"You might remember that I called him a 'man of steel' - that's Texan for 'fair dinkum' - Prime Minister John Howard is a leader of exceptional courage," Mr Bush said.
I thought the "man of steel" was Marvel Comics Speak for "someone who wears their underpants on the outside of their costume".
"Leader of exceptional courage" of course must be Texan for "one who persistantly lies to their people and basks in reflected glory", based on Howie's track record. It sure takes a lot of guts to imprison and lie about refugee children for the sake of winning an election.
Hello Goodbye:
For the first time in Australian history, the "people's parliament" locked out the Australian people, while GWB gave his address. Security staff were busy ejecting the son of an Australian detained at Guantanamo, the subject of torture allegations, while Coalition MPs physically prevented the two Green Senators from contacting the Pres personally.
"Shuttle diplomacy on speed" the ABC called the visit; as it was Gee Dubya met none of the Australian people at all, apart from politicians and invitees to a taxpayer funded barbeque which still charged a hundred bucks a plate. Protestors were kept a long way away, even the kangaroos were prevented from seeing him. After all, he apparently spent half of his 20 hours here in bed sleeping. Well, what else is there to do in Canberra?
The prize for 'upholding democracy' surely belongs to those who decided that Australian television cameras in the Parliament were restricted from filming the Green's "unparliamentary behaviour", while the incidents were widely shown on CNN.
To top that fine democratic effort, today the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, addresses the parliament, the first time the floor has been given to the head of a non-democratic totalitarian state. And the Greens are still barred from attending, according to the House Speaker. Will someone be asking Mr Jintao how China also happens to be one of the most frequent sources of hacking attempts on Australian government computers? Of course, he won't be asked about Tibet or human rights, as trade with dictators is more important.
Update: An outstanding 48 hours for Australian democracy.
The Australian parliament now stands accused of allowing a Chinese secret service agent to determine which visitors were allowed into the public gallery during Hu's speech. Senator Bob Brown describes the events as "a shameful day" and "outrageous", but surely its all part and parcel of the total sell-out of Australian interests by the Government of the day?
Any day now we can expect the CIA to begin vetting our political candidates, while refugees who are denied asylum here will be sent to work in Chinese coal mines. Certainly some are anticipating "an American takeover of our entertainment and information" thanks to Man of Steel's Free Trade obsessions.
Item posted by AutoEditor at 12:22 pm ::
