10,000 Years to Leader Rudd!

Courtesy Crikey:

Hicks Back for a Cameo

Remember this smiling face? Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it.

He's still languishing in jail under a legally ambiguous gag order. At the time he was freed under the very suspicious plea bargain, we all knew it was a political sew-up, but now it appears to be confirmed from the inside:

US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Prime Minister John Howard cut a deal to release Australian inmate David Hicks from Guantanamo Bay, according to a report published in the US today...

Unfortunately, their scheme worked pretty well and Hicks can't tell his story in time for the election. However, I'm pleased this story is getting an airing today - the electorate could use a reminder of this piece of skullduggery right now.

If Debate Mattered

If you go and check your favorite news site (unless, perhaps, it's The Oz) you'll no doubt find that Kevin Rudd has the consensus as victor in last night's debate. I thought it was a great performance - he was succinct, eloquent, composed and very forward-looking. Howard was grumpy, impatient and at places seemed to be making things up as he went along (the Howard "Education Revolution?"). When Rudd was asked what it was he stood for he came back swinging. If anyone doubted he's a credible alternative PM before, it's hard to think they would do so after seeing that performance.

Yes, the debate was riddled with cliches, "on-message" statements, and obfuscation. But there was some real content in there, and the leaders were facing pointed questions from each other and the media. Because of this, Howard will not let another debate happen, and it's a real shame. No more debates, and no leader would dare attend a public forum these days, so 30-second commercials and staged policy announcements are the order of the day from here on in.

Class war!

Get your pitchforks, comrades! Our glorious leader has declared a class war!

Well, what passes for a class war these days, anyway. The reported Labor tax plan will defer the tax cuts for people earning over $180,000 a year, to the tune of $2.9 billion.

The wealthiest Australians would pay $10 a week more tax under Labor than they would under the Coalition.

Mr Rudd denied Labor was engaged in a class war, saying his plan to flatten the tax system to three rates instead of the current four showed the opposition was proposing real tax reform.

This raises the question, did someone in the press gallery stick their hand up and ask "Mr Rudd, is this the first salvo in a class war?" If not, where have we gotten to where the minimum of fiscal prudence and investment in the country's future requires the leader to distance himself from a Bolshevik holocaust? $10 a week?

So, once the flames die down and the bodies of the landlords and bosses are all safely in their mass graves, I'm curious to learn more about this education credit. I'm in favour of any investment in education - so far, the "sound byte" version of sounds like a bonanza for laptop vendors, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Still, we're almost matching the Libs big cash giveaway. What a shame.

Vic ALP website updated

Well, we finally have a website for the Vic ALP. In this day and age it's getting harder to justify not having a proper web presence.

Without much lobbying from me, my step-dad has joined the Party (another member thanks to the Dark Lord). He tells me at their first branch meeting they passed a motion to fire off an angry letter to the state head office complaining about the crappy web site. So you know when a bunch of retirees in the country are angry at your web site, it's time to pull the finger out!

Now I'm off to digest the new tax plan.

This Man Stole From You

This man has billions of dollars, and wanted more, so he consipired to rip you off. Why he did so will always remain a mystery to me, since an extra few million will make no difference to the life of a billionaire. To me, my integrity is worth more than that, but I guess Mr Pratt feels differently.

I would love to see politicians distance themselves from such men. Yet I suspect his family will be offered a state funeral one day. That's not right.

Where are the "Tax and Spend" Liberals?

American conservatives like to demonize "tax and spend" liberals (with a small-L). I never quite followed this argument, as just the phrase itself was all that was offered. One supposes the that the inference is that the silly liberals will raise taxes and spend the money on silly things like magic beads.

To some degree this must have caught on in Australia because even Labor politicians talk about the "tax burden", as if trying to avoid the tax-n-spend label themselves. The way I see it, that's what a government does - levies taxes, and spends them on services the country needs. The tax rates should be fair - we need prosperity and consumer activity a lot more than we need communism these days. Both society and the economy benefit, however, from a functioning base of social services and solid infrastructure (and I think, benefit much more than the "trickle down" effect of tax cuts to the wealthy).

At the current time, nobody is complaining about too many services or too much investment in infrastructure. But by adopting the government's rhetoric, the ALP are in danger of painting themselves into a corner when it comes to maintaining the correct tax level. I'm looking forward to seeing Labor's tax policy, and hope it doesn't contain tax cuts. I am sure the public would rather see hospitals and schools improved than get $10 week back, and Labor should know that.