POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY....did the spirit get lost?

[cueperkins]

MENTAL AS ANYTHING isn't it? Spirit Got Lost    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_G5dpgeWb4

I've always believed in the 'Fair Go' principles and indeed history of the ALP, but I don't recognise this version of it.....did they lose the plot?...and with the only alternative being TONY, (who can't even string a few sentences together on short notice).....aren't we all feeling a tad........lost?...like are we ROOOONED?

...if only LNP, (or for that matter ALP) would change leaders to those we saw debating on Q&A, just before Christmas?....(Namely Rudd and Turnbull)....I was excited to see them both debate intelligently and HUMOUROUSLY.....so why aren't they the ones we're voting for?.  To hell with Personalities & this never ending 'War of the Egos'...I'd prefer intelligence.

I think Australia is in real crisis, and the choices aren't good...time to discuss how confused we all might be instead of the rubbish red vs blue carp.  Let's face it...BOTH SUCK !!!   Should we be focusing more on local MP's and what they have to offer their respective electorates? (irrespective of partisan leanings?)...isn't that what it's about?  REPRESENTATIVE Government?

BTW, this thread isn't an invitation to the spammers & belligerent bp'ers (hopefully we can discuss politics in general, without red vs blue condescension, insult, angst or bp'ing)....??

NON divisive humour is MANDATORY the other kind (i.e. sarcastic & divisive).... is not welcome....both sides are  open game....no holds barred.

It's wacking day, oh wacking day, our hallowed Pollie Head Cracking Day......

[cueperkins]

It's a horror movie.....

Yep, that's my impression too

Skyhooks - Horror Movie  - 1975

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7l8rlnMpCI

[cueperkins]

I think it started to change with John Howard and Pauline Hanson.

Something happened that was almost an invitation to be mean to each other.

School kids starting fighting each other over race and reconciliation was tossed onto the back burner. 

However, I don't think the country is in a real crisis.  I think we're being fed the line that we are hundreds of times a day to convince us that we are. 

I think you're right...it did start to go downhill with the Hanson ankle tapping,  and who was behind all that?  I can't seriously respect such a person as leader of this country.  I think Australia deserves better...same goes for the leader of the ALP.

freaky, I do think the country is in crisis....have you checked out regional unemployment lately?.......most regional cities & towns are going out backwards my friend with absolutely NO HELP from any level of Govt. and essential services going up and up and up with no jobs to supplement the increases.  = Poverty....people have to go without in regional Oz.

& they've been going out backwards since John Howards era when the infrastructure and front line service funding was stripped bear to get a surplus.........Our region had the highest unemployment in Australia in 2007, and it's even higher now....no difference to regional towns who gets into power...none can find us on a map unless there's a mine to plunder.

That's the part nobody is hearing about....those representing their regional electorates are pretty well GAGGED, and/or overshadowed by the TONY and JULIA show.  Only the independent regions are being pork barreled, which tells you there's a lot to be had in being a marginal independent seat. 

[i-need-a-martini]

I think you're right...it did start to go downhill with the Hanson ankle tapping,  and who was behind all that?  I can't seriously respect such a person as leader of this country.  I think Australia deserves better...same goes for the leader of the ALP.

It's not a case of when it happened.

It is simply a case of it happens when people get desperate and don't have the intellect or the staff to deal with their positions strategically.

If the power struggle at the moment was between Rudd and Turnball, I doubt very much we would be seeing what we have had to witness in the last couple of years.

[cueperkins]

Spirit got lost????

If there is grog missing then I would blame Sir Les

.... we need more speeches like this one 😐

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYpEIAeTfvM

:^O - I don't think we have a Minister for the Yarts anymore....you may be right...time for Sir Les to make a comeback....at least back then we had comedy taking the micky out of 'em...these days, it's a PC minefield.

(remember Max Gillies?) - did Pollies have a better sense of humour back then?...did we?.....this is what I mean when I say the spirit got lost....it seems nobody would get away with doing what Gillies did....too un PC these days...I laughed my posterior off....politics was more fun once....now it's brain numbing.

[cueperkins]

I think you're right...it did start to go downhill with the Hanson ankle tapping,  and who was behind all that?  I can't seriously respect such a person as leader of this country.  I think Australia deserves better...same goes for the leader of the ALP.

It's not a case of when it happened.

It is simply a case of it happens when people get desperate and don't have the intellect or the staff to deal with their positions strategically.

If the power struggle at the moment was between Rudd and Turnball, I doubt very much we would be seeing what we have had to witness in the last couple of years.

I totally agree with that....it was refreshing to see Turnbull and RUDD discuss our DYING manufacturing industry and what they'd do via bipartisan and partisan polices to fix that....they had the audience captivated and they were humourous.  Since then all the Pollies they've had on Q & A have been boring as bat excrement....they just don't know how to articulate without the slogans and finger pointing...boring.

I seriously believe both sides need to adopt the leaders most of us want to vote for...e.g. if Rudd didn't get in, I'd have no problem if Turnbull did..= both seem intelligent and motivated in a positive way....if Tony gets in...all I can say is I'm glad I'm gonna be on the road ignoring it all.

[i-need-a-martini]

The difference is that Gillies never attacked on a personal level. His was intelligent parody and commentary based.

Compare that to the Pickering that our spammers have such a fondness for.

It's a bit like comparing Belgium chocolate to a piece of snot.

[cueperkins]

I'm not comparing them...you are....I hate pickering.....isn't even in the same league as Gillies.....but I reckon if there were a modern day Gillies, Pollies might not take themselves so seriously....and the divisiveness might not be quite so prolific as it is all over the net.   decent leaders would be able to change that sentiment in a heart beat, just by having a sense of humour about them.

[cueperkins]

I'll give you a good example of hypocrisy at its finest and even ALP voters would be shaking their heads at this one....I know I was.

While Julia has been pointing the finger of misogyny, and equal rights for women, she was doing this...(what's the opposite of misogyny?)  i.e. when women undermine women?

"Senator Crossin, who in 1998 became the FIRST Territory woman voted into Parliament, was informed by Ms Gillard in January that she would not have her backing for the top of Labor's Northern Territory Senate ticket.

Ms Gillard said that she would instead use a "captain's pick" to parachute Ms Peris - the first Indigenous Australian to win Olympic gold - into the position"

"Senator Crossin, a passionate advocate for Indigenous issues, said Parliament needs more female and Indigenous representatives, but the Prime Minister's "preselection intervention" should have been a last resort. She said there are numerous Indigenous members of the Labor Party who were denied an opportunity to vie for the role."

"Do we need more women in Parliament? Well of course we do. But NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF EACH OTHER.... And do we need Indigenous representation? Most certainly, but not in a vacuum without a plan or without a strategy,"

Trish Crossin delivers parting swipe to Labor over 'undemocratic preselection 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-18/crossin-delivers-parting-swipe-over-undemocratic-preselection/4763468

& this is the very behaviour that cringes me out about Julia......she knifed Rudd to be the 1st female PM (not exactly something to write home about)......, and she's just knifed a female colleague in the name of tokenism politics.

Senator Cameron summed it up beautifully = a disgrace (I tend to agree with him) - this is a speech by both and then some...

Her career was 'snuffed out' in the blink of a superficial eye...I reckon Crossin should flip ALP the bird and run as an independent.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/senators-fire-up-at-the-pm-over-crossins-dumping-20130619-2ohid.html

[izabsmiling]

It could be us rather than them ?

Australians: whingers and worriers

DateApril 4, 2013

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/australians-whingers-and-worriers-20130404-2h8gg.html#ixzz2WimEhyFy

[cueperkins]

I don't subscribe to the old 'blame the victim' tactic of social psychology....Australia should NOT be comparing itself with the world but rather, comparing this period with other periods to see why we haven't progressed as well as we should have if for instance, MINING HAD BEEN NATIONALISED from the start. 

I tell ya one thing, unemployment would have been a non issue and the country would have been independently wealthy. 

As it is 83% of all mining profit goes OS.....how is that being 'the clever country'?.....and now, we're apparently going to let China establish a 'food bowl' industry on our soil?....why?....shouldn't Australians being trying to get that industry happening for the good of THIS nation?