Masters of
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Budget '02: Howard Beings shaft Human Beings yet again
Harold Hark
17 May 2002

"The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
- Plato

I once read a book in which politicians were portrayed not as real people but as heartless, soulless bots placed on earth to show ordinary mortals that until they get their shit together said politicians are going to keep rubbing their faces in it.

Barmy bullwhacky? You bet. Still, most members of the human race refuse to look beyond the closed shop of their solitary or familial units to insure that charlatans are kept out of the political process. Beyond going to the polls every few years (and roughly half in most countries don't bother) to vote for someone they normally wouldn't buy a used pencil from, they choose to opt out of the political process altogether. So decisions concerning their well being are made by opportunists who step into the void and do what they will.

Embarrassed when they realise they have elected a dill like John Howard, people continue to support him to save their pride. Or maybe they're just stupid or naïve. The rest of us aren't much better though. We may see through the lies but our refusal to participate still leaves us with an opposition candidate we wouldn't normally buy a used pencil from.

In either case, our unwillingness to pay attention costs us dearly. Whether this results in a Stalin or a Hitler or a Bush or a Howard, the quality of our lives are lived at anything but an optimum. We allow ourselves to be at their mercy.

Just look at Peter Costello.

Bill Leak, The Australian, 16/05/02

Here is a man with great power who has no redeeming features whatsoever. He's a walking, talking, lying, cheating fake, a condescending, doublespeaking nasty piece of work whose transparent charlatanry is of the breathtakingly lowest order...and he's the least hateful of the lot!*

Costello has just snake-oiled Australians for the seventh consecutive time and we're that slow we'll probably keep him around for a few more. And when he's gone, there will be another to take his place. For such is the Illiberal Party's finely crafted Orwellian ability to fool most Australians by saying one thing and doing the opposite it would seem they are here to stay. We are all suckers for confidence, and their unshakeable belief in the divine right to rule might as well be written in stone. As for Labor (and their clueless ideas like shares-for-the-homeless-if-only-they-cared), well they're just a fading mirror image. Or to paraphrase Simon Crean: The Libs are smirk and Labor is mirrors.

One can only hope that with this cruel, arrogant budget, a document that truly rubs our faces in the faeces of our inanition, the obviousness of Illiberal contempt will finally awaken the complacent. No breathing should be suspended, however.

National Security? The well known last refuge of scoundrels. The only country that needs to worry about national security is the United States of America, thanks to the Stupid White Men in charge. September 11 was the direct result of America-centric foreign policies in place over decades. You can hop the train to some other tortured analysis if you want to, and please, do enjoy the trip. But America's karmuppance is no reason for John Howard to slobber all over Dubbya's shiny shoes with his pathetic "Me too!" It's not The Weasel who will pay but the rest of us, particularly those of us who are gun fodder age. The Howards are using "national security" for only one reason: to stay in power.

Border Protection? Against whom? Desperate men, women and children fleeing tyranny? Those already "captured" are hopelessly languishing in concentration camps. Their lives count for nothing because they are from inappropriate cultures and their skin is not white. It is obvious to all but the brain dead that the Howards have portrayed these victims of political avarice as threats to our peace and security simply to stay in power. By doing so, John Howard has provided us with Australia's darkest hour.

So it all comes down to power and the ability to wield it. Perhaps the Illiberals are not racists after all. If not, they are worse. They exploit latent subhuman fears of The Other to get votes, to stay in power. And a majority of Australians still believe that is where they should be. In a lifetime of travelling the world (mostly on a shoestring) I have never come across such mean, heartless people as this majority. We're talking unevolved genetic garbage here, folks.

For the rest of this budget, well, private schools get $1bn, government schools get zip. Surely this is no surprise? Struggling families, many of whom voted for the Howards are facing an extra $6.20 per scrip. The government has no idea nor could they care less how this will eat into the budgets of families with several children, instigating a kind of benign "Sophie's Choice" over who needs the medicine most. Likewise the Gov is light years from comprehending that the extra buck for pensioner's scrips will eat devastatingly into already slim pickings.

Slugging the disabled? Great Illiberal fun. They've been shafting the wretched of Australia since Nineteen Ninety and Six. Here's Amanda "The Hun" Vanstone: "I have no doubt that many people with disabilities really want to work, and with this budget's new help, many will be able to do so. The whole community will be better for their contribution." Well there you go. Amanda (sounding like a store-front spruiker) has no doubt that Australia's fun loving physically impaired--especially those over 55--will simply waltz into rewarding jobs provided for them by a business community well known for welcoming same with open arms. And there is one essential reason for Amanda's lack of doubt; she's not a human being, she's a Howard being. Makes a lot of sense when you look at it that way.

Perhaps the ultimate image of the Illiberal Party under John Howard's "leadership" is that of the cigar chomping fat cat putting his Gucci into a crumpled cripple. It's an old image, right out of the last two or three centuries. But then, that's where home is for the Illiberal Party.

You've read all about this budget in the papers and heard the talking heads rabbiting on till they're blue in the face. (How they can discuss it seriously or contain their rage is beyond me.) In the end, I have nothing to add except my profound revulsion. The Howard Government deserves to be tried for crimes against humanity when this shameful era is finally over.

* (Forgive the name calling, but as one of millions of helpless individuals at the mercy of these evil phonies, that's about all I can do.)

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