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  1. Rosemary (@RosemaryJ36)

    Who is God? We are NOT America and I am sure those in detention do not feel that their gods would be blessing the enterprise, judging from efforts to date!

  2. roscoe

    may god bless. it is a new three word slogan

  3. Free-Thinker

    As you demonstrate Kaye, drawing on contemporary Catholic Church sources, the medievally-minded Abbott is now our nation’s anti-Christ.

  4. Matters Not

    It’s a strange, strange world we live in where the majority of voters either approve of what is being done or think that the ‘authorities’ should be even tougher and stranger still is that it has overwhelming political endorsement’

    Lest we forget!

    The education system has much to answer for.

  5. Galley Boy

    I reckon it is time that all living thinking people understood the negative value of being ruled by dead schizophrenics. It just breeds more evil politicians

  6. philgorman2014

    Sickening, truly sickening. I cannot adequately express my distress and disgust at this government and its masters. The Abbottoire is the evil that needs to be stopped.

  7. David

    From all I have read and heard of Fr Maurizio Pettena he is an honourable man, doing his utmost to help Asylum Seekers and improve the appalling conditions Abbott has approved for them to barely exist in.
    Now is the time for Fr Pettena and his Catholic colleagues to take the fight right to Abbott’s front door. Not in letters, email, social media but in person waving the Popes recent words in his face and as a Catholic Priest demand Abbott as a Catholic start respecting the words of Abbott’s Catholic Leader HH Pope Francis.

    It is not good enough for the Catholic Church, well not all the Church as many of the Priests and Bishops are too comfy in their cosy privileged world to upset abbott to any degree. However there are some who are very unhappy with abbott and his policies, they are the voice that abbot must hear and he must be given the message it is not good enough to play at being a catholic when it suits his political agenda.

    We know he ignores just about everybody, however with the Church he still retains some respect for it and that Church has a duty to take this monster aside and tell him in no uncertain terms, what he is doing to Asylum Seekers is against the teachings of the Church and the Pope himself. Fr Pettena also must ensure abbotts actions and policies are known to the Holy Father.

    As a Catholic I am totally ashamed the Church is not doing its duty and taking steps at the top to bring this physco PM into line with human decency, more so since last weeks Papal Encyclical and the Popes words on refugees

  8. Margaret McMillan

    Agree philgorman. When I read that he, Abbott, had said that, I felt ill. Each day brings its new horrors from this wicked government. Never before in over 60 years of voting have I seen a government that not only does not represent the interests of all Australians, but actively works against them.
    Abbott, as a Catholic, should believe that if he goes against the laws of the church, he will go to hell. I think that it is apparent to all now that he has absolutely no belief in an invisible entity or anything like consequences for his actions after his death. In my opinion, he is not a christian at all.
    Get religion out of our politics!

  9. townsvilleblog

    Kaye, you never miss a trick, I’m glad that you are on our side.

  10. lawrencewinder

    How warped is this man’s mind? How skewed are his “Catholic” values? His abhorrent actions can only lead to civil discord.

  11. Annie B

    Kaye –

    Your article is brilliant … and your latest comment ref. the link a real eye-opener. …

    I wonder how many more protesters have been ‘removed’ in the latest 11 months ? … Not something we hear about because of what I now see as forms of censorship of certain media. ( not Murdoch rags of course – but even they have had a few go’s at the prime em. recently ).

    I too felt ill, when I read the ” God Bless you’s” that he heaped on his now ultra important head of the new Australian Border Force. …. ‘Force’ – not a kindly word in any way, conjures up another arm of the military ? … and that is precisely why it’s been named that way. ….

    ………..

    David ….

    Your post says it all … totally agree that the Catholic Church should haul their errant member in to answer some very pertinent and hard questions. … He needs to be stopped, and perhaps his church is the best instrument to start it all. …

    He’s not a christians’ bootlace.

  12. Kyran

    “May you’re God go with you” was how Dave Allen finished all of his broadcasts. For those not old enough to remember him, it’s an easy “Google”. Way before his time, the assumption was ‘You can have your God and go in peace”. It was accepting, not disparaging, that there were different Gods. It assumed that one God was not greater than another. It, to me, assumed that all God’s were equal in the eyes of their believers. It never, to me, presumed that you, having your God, gave you a right to lecture me about my God, or lack thereof. When ‘the State’ invokes the protection of a God, over the teachings of the God (most of the scripture’s I have read relate to ‘Do unto others’ more prolifically than ‘An eye for an eye’), I recall a sign my brother had in his shop.
    In God we trust. All others pay cash.
    By any definition, he is not invoking the help of the God’s, he is seeking the blessing of the godless. What a miserable excuse he is, for anything. As, always, grateful, Ms Lee. Take care

  13. brickbob

    ‘Have to agree with your article Kate,you have nailed it,and to me the most disturbing part was Abbott and staff singing the national anthem along with the border force officers. The first image that flashed into my head were images of the Nuremburg Rally,the only difference it was done on a much smaller scale of course,but the comparison was similiar,all that was missing from Abbott and his staff were the uniforms and it should have made any Australians blood run cold.”””””

  14. David

    Hey Kyran, thanks for the Dave Allen input. I have been a great fan of his humour and with a Co Cork dad, many an hour we laughed at his oft irreverent humour directed at the Catholic Church (being a self confessed atheist, lapsed Catholic himself, so he claimed ) gave him a great source for his jokes.
    I was toying with a post similar since reading Kaye Lee’s contribution, but you have said it eloquently. Dave Allen was a gem and while he made fun of the Catholic teachings and the religious I never regarded his humour over the top. I doubt abbott would have been amused, publicly anyway.
    Allen never suffered fools such as abbott kindly.
    if anyone hasn’t seen/heard Dave Allen a short example…may your God go with you, will enjoy it too

  15. stephentardrew

    I am past revulsion.

  16. aravis1

    I have shared your article, Kaye; but I find myself unable to comment – like Stephentardrew, I am past revulsion. I have arrived at fear.

  17. Annie B

    aravis1 ….

    May I respectfully suggest you leave your arrival point, and retrace your steps.

    To ‘arrive at fear’ is EXACTLY what this vile spokesperson ( in particular ) for this government … wants to happen.

    He wants that form of dominance over the entire population. … I am not afraid of this mongrel, and I never will be … not in my heart or where I live in my soul. ….

    Never give him the satisfaction.

    ….

    I too saw the line-up of anthem singing monsters on TV and my flesh crawled. …. If ever there was a perfect portrait of this alleged leader, it was then – a cruel countenance taken from side on, head stuck out in a defiant and hostile way ( and frankly, I don’t think he knew all the words !! ).

    Body language speaks volumes. …. I hope he cringed when he saw the replay.

  18. kerri

    When will the Catholic church ex-communicate Tony Abbott?
    How can the church claim to be humane and caring whilst they allow him to terrorise innocent people?
    Tony Abbott, earlier this year said he wished the heads of the Muslim faith would say that Islam is a religion of peace and mean it. I wish the Catholic church would call out Abbott for being the war mongering, child abusing, un christian, torturer he is?
    I guess that’s why I’m a staunch atheist.
    The hypocrisy is unconcionable.

  19. mmc1949

    The Jesuits publish some welcome thoughts in Eureka Street but I do so wish they would speak out directly, front and centre, about the products of their education system – Abbott, Hockey, Shorten et al

  20. Kaye Lee

    Students from Tony’s old school sent a letter to him, Barnaby Joyce, Christopher Pyne, Joe Hockey and Bill Shorten – all Jesuit educated.

    “We feel compelled to express our disappointment that, as graduates of our Jesuit schools, you would allow those principles, cultivated in our common tradition, to be betrayed,” Henry writes.

    “We look for heroes among our alumni, for insignes (generous and influential people, as Ignatius styled them). Instead we see only allegiances to parties that trade human lives for political expediency, that choose the lowest common denominator to woo the populace, and that speak of economic problems rather than the dignity of the human person, especially the most vulnerable.”

    The letter says the policies of the Coalition and Labor “betray our national character of being large-hearted, of giving someone ‘a fair go’, and of ‘helping the battler’. They lack moral courage and, in the light of our international obligations, may be illegal”.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tony-abbotts-old-school-hits-out-at-asylum-seeker-stance-as-betraying-moral-values-20130821-2savt.html

  21. aravis1

    You are right, of course, Annie B. Fear is not usually my reaction to him and his works; but it’s getting to the point where a comparison to Hitler is no longer over the top. I remind myself that he is terminally stupid, but then I see these signs of psychopathic cunning. I’ve never lived in such a place before. I can only hope that as it gets worse, we may draw together and unite against him. The damage he is doing to our society is appalling. Long live decency! Australians, let us all UNITE.

  22. Kaye Lee

    “Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

  23. Kyran

    Hey David, he was a gem. “Allen never suffered fools such as abbott kindly”. Try some of Barry Humphries stuff for the Australian contemporary. It’s not about the church, or the ideology, it’s about the extremism. Ms Lee’s last post distracted me. “Dirty Boulevard”, Lou Reed. Take care

  24. David

    @Annie…I nearly threw up such is my revulsion of this foul lowlife abbott. You hope he cringed on viewing the video, view he will have most certainly done. Here’s your answer of him cringing..he didn’t, wouldn’t, can’t.
    He is narcissistic personified. The world renowned Mayor Clinic lists a Narcissistic person as…take your pick, you can’t lose.

    DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:

    Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
    Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
    Exaggerating your achievements and talents
    Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
    Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
    Requiring constant admiration
    Having a sense of entitlement
    Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
    Taking advantage of others to get what you want
    Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
    Being envious of others and believing others envy you
    Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner

    Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence, it’s not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.

  25. Ken Butler

    Is it possible that the choice of that sharp, black uniform for the border Force is a quasi nazi Freudian şlip??

  26. Annie B

    David ….

    You are right. As soon as I had hit ‘ post comment ‘ … and had not availed myself of the 4 minutes edit time, except for some piddly little alterations, did I realise that the comment I had made was superfluous – about the p-m cringing at his own displays.

    A person of his ilk, would most likely be super proud of his appearance, no matter where he is, or in what clothing he wears !!! . …. Narcissistic personalities don’t care how they look – as long as they are seen, noticed and have opportunities to display their own self-importance. … One can only hope that the fragile self-esteem that lurks behind the narcissist, comes to the fore at some time – if for no other reason than to turf him out on reasons of unsound mind, and put our country back on the track to which it belongs – and has belonged for many many decades ( give and take at times ).

    I don’t believe that 100% of Liberal MP’s are goof-balls. …. They would see what is happening, and be very concerned about it – and in the near future, DO something about it. …. Unless that is, he has them also by the proverbials ? … He seems to have managed to hoodwink Shorten ( or has he ? ).

    Guess anything is possible from a person so hell-bent on dictatorship and power over all he surveys.

    ….

  27. olddavey

    I’m getting to the stage that every time I see Abbott doing a presser I feel a bit ill. And there is always some strange looking person(s) standing behind him nodding and licking their lips.
    Luke Hartsuyker (rhymes with…) comes to mind as a favourite.
    At least when Ball Scrotum gets on air, the head wobblers look usually like normal people.

  28. Kaye Lee

    “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
    ― Mahatma Gandhi

  29. Annie B

    @ Ken Butler.

    Something else did make me feel very uneasy when I saw that newly elected leader of the Australian Border FORCE, appointed – and speaking. …. I could not at the time put my finger on it, it sort of ‘filtered through’ – but I realise now it was the blackness of the uniform ( to my knowledge we have NEVER had black uniforms for anything, ever before in this country ) … it rang a few muted bells ( I had about 4 things going on in the kitchen at the time ).

    The bells are no longer muted.

    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/border-forces-menacing-logo-a-lesson-in-getting-design-right-says-its-creator-20140715-zt7pk.html

    This link shows the prototype of a logo to ( perhaps ?? ) be used by the Australian Border FORCE … albeit maybe a mistake by the artist ? … but the comments below the post say a lot. … It was there, it stood on display, and as was stated in the article ” these things tend to have a life of their own.”. …. The lid might’ve been put on it rather quickly, or not. ? …. Remains to be seen. … The ‘faceless ones’ – once seen, forever etched in the memory. … hmmm.

    I am now waiting for the next step – will it be the ” Totenkopf ” … the skull and cross bones used by the 19th > 20th century German military and the Gestapo SS during WW 2. The insignia has been used by a number of countries over the centuries, including the U.S. Airforce 400th Missile Squadron, but that was allegedly, a ‘modified’ version. ??

    Surely the LNP – because of their leader – are slowly and ingloriously, hanging themselves ?

  30. Annie B

    Thank you Kaye Lee …

    for that insightful reminder, from the great Gandi. ….

    We should all make that our personal mantra.

  31. abbienoiraude

    When I saw the title of this piece I very nearly did not open it.
    BUT it being written by Kaye Lee I thought I would give it a go.

    Oh my goodness!

    Every time I read Kaye’s well researched and composed pieces I am gobsmacked. Every time I hear of Abbott’s latest ( for I cannot always watch him) I think it must be the lowest ebb THIS time. And then this.
    God this God that God God God.

    I have had two very good Christian aunts. They were feisty opinionated Right wingers who were considered ‘the salt of the earth’ and very ‘good Christian women’. Whenever they rang to talk to me they would let loose their judgements about anything from ‘single mothers’ to ‘homosexuals’, from Muslims to ‘foreign doctors taking over our hospitals’.
    At the end of each call they would intone after the hour long diatribe where my silence was ignored;
    “Goodbye dear and God Bless”.

    It seems to be a sign of ignorance, or selfishness, or ease of throwing a crumb from the high fallootin’ to the poor relative. Either way the Narcissism was always evident.

    And now this from our cruel, self serving, brainless, compassionless Prime Minister.
    Disgusting, shameful and frustrating. Frustrating because there is not a goddamn thing I can do about it.
    From the saying of the “Lord’s Prayer” in Parliament, to the influence of a paedophile protecting Priest, I feel the Australian Constitution is so thin, so weak, so tame, so plain re the separation of Church and State that I feel a lost person in this sea of religious hypocrisy that seeps throughout our Land.

    I am sad and powerless. Not only am I a woman, a mother, a carer, a grandmother and a socialist but I am the picture Abbott paints every time he wants to vilify and demean an example of ‘bludger’, ‘against us’, ‘bleeding heart’, worthless piece of a citizen.
    The only hope I feel is that I am his enemy, his real enemy, in that I represent every thing he does not understand and wants to get rid of out of ‘his’ Team Australia.
    Well suck it up mate coz I am here to tell you I will see the end of you yet!

  32. John Fraser

    <

    Abbott is Militarised, Corporatised and Americanised.

    All Australians should feel safer now that there is another "Force" to protect them.

    Only Abbott & "god" knows why Customs and the RAN couldn't do the job.

    Kaye Lee stand clear …. another Abbott fear bomb will be landing in your and our lounges.

    It's now become a daily event.

  33. corvus boreus

    Kyran and David (Daffyd),
    Sincere thanks for the Dave Allen reference and post. Even as a kid I loved his humor.

    May your God bless you,
    In the name of the father, the son, and in the hole he goes.

  34. aravis1

    I talk with people on pages on Facebook, Annie B, – not the LNP pages, which have banned me – and Shorten is angering almost all progressives, myself included. But I am forced to wonder if he knows things that we as lay people, cannot see. It’s not only Bill; none of the Labor leaders, except for a few specific comments, say much. An agreed policy? Probably. But can we take hope from that? These are experienced politicians, they see and hear close-up views and talk. They know, as we do, that the Libs are another form of political life, and are digging themselves a deep hole. They must be seeing as we are, that the slippery slope the Libs are on is getting slipperier by the day; black uniforms! God bless! Insanity creeps.
    What worries me most is that the Prime Moron is putting us at odds with each other. He has caused such anger at Bill Shorten that one cannot attempt to reason that Labor is necessary for getting rid of the LNP, without being charged with one-eyed stupidity. So that instead of talking about how to get them out, we find ourselves fighting with each other. The anger is being deflected, onto ourselves. That does suggest more than stupidity; it suggests an agenda learned from others in other parts of the world. But how to change it? I’ve worn myself out, with “sweet reason” and it is ignored. As if blinkers had been clamped on the majority of us. Is this what Germans experienced, in the decade before WW2?
    May I ask that we all who care about our country, try to talk with our friends and acquaintances and help them see that unity is vital in this fight. Disunity may have an unthinkable result.

  35. David

    Ditto re Gandi quote…made the start of another day with the physco abbott at the helm, a little easier to take.

  36. Annie B

    To : aravis1

    I hung on for a long time, long after others had begun to give up, to the thought and belief that Bill Shorten is actually playing a very very hard game in the sport known as ‘politics’. …. And then I began to doubt, seriously, his ability to do anything, to say anything or to look in any way effective. …. You have echoed here, what I still have a thread of hanging on in my mind … that Shorten and his party know, what we as laypersons cannot see. ….. And that it well might be an agreed policy, to largely keep their mouths shut. …. The ALP giving the LNP enough rope to hang themselves ?

    In Parliament, the abbutt makes bullets, but it is the Beehive Bishop who fires them. … Abbutt spits and blusters his daily imaginings, and when queried by the opposition, the queries are shut down from the speakers chair ( admonishments and shutting down of questions to date – 400 against ALP – 7 against LNP ). .. Which effectively takes away MSM interest – how can one report on someone who does not – or is not permitted – to say anything. …. No-go.

    We all know the abbutt does a lot of lying. …. is Bill Shorten doing the same thing ? …. most likely yes – by agreeing to bipartisanship on certain matters ( with provisos, many of which have been successful in reducing / restricting the guv’mints intentions ) …. with a future plan to restructure / destructure much of the leglisation that has been passed by the current Senate – after the ALP gets into power. … It’s been done before, and can be done again. …. Apparently, all is fair in love and war – and politics.

    However, it is a gamble – and a big one at that. …. The government has managed to pass so very few actual bills through the Senate ( so something must be working ). … and their resultant ‘back door’ way of changing laws, defunding anything and everything they can get their hands on, and flying in the face of e.g. climate change, which IS reported by the MSM. …. Less reported in MSM however, is the shocking mis-handling of refugees, the wicked dangers they face, the complete lack of care and consideration by this government, in that situation. … It is left up to international outcry to deal with it. … yet there was bipartisanship on parts of that as well ??

    IF the abbutt has succeeded in getting us to fight with one another – then he has won – as it would be one of his prime intentions to cause discord within the populace. … But are we indeed fighting with one another ? At ground level – no.

    Leopards do not change their spots – and Shorten has shown himself to be a hard, harsh, competent and at times devious player in the past – he’d have had good grounding in that during his Union affiliation days, and certainly showed his proclivity for same, when involved in the shuffling around of leaders of the ALP ( which ended up being a mistake, shown most effectively in the 2013 election ) … I doubt that Shorten has changed.

    *******
    Interesting to date, that the polls still reflect a preference for Labor over Liberal – 2PP – ( admittedly tho, that can change in a heartbeat ) ….

  37. aravis1

    Well summarised, Annie B. Time… time will tell. Not sure how I am going to wait though; fraying nerves are causing me problems! Will try to return to my usual optimism… 🙂

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