There are some opinions of we ordinary folk that just don’t find their way onto the pages of the mainstream media. Need I tell you what these are? Probably not, for we all know that if our opinions run counter to the media agenda then our opinions are promptly suppressed. Try and say something on Andrew Bolt’s blog, for example. The only arena where Cuppa could express his opinion freely was in the social media.
Cuppa, like us, is one of those good folk who don’t believe for one bit that Tony Abbott is poised to lead us to the promised land. Readers of mainstream media are led to believe that he will. Those people need to hear what others are saying. Such as Anomander who commented here the other day and like Cuppa’s earlier comment, is worthy of a post by itself. Here’s what Anomander had to say:
Just because a series of polls and a biased (manipulated) media say one thing, doesn’t make it true. Look how good the MSM’s predictions were in the US election?
This is a war being waged over the very fabric of our society.
Do we want to live as a serfdom for ultra-rich extremists or do we want our country back again?
Do we want to multi-national overseas companies to rape and pillage the land and strip it of all resources, or do we want to protect the environment for us and future generations?
Do we want a society where you are denied an education because you’re born in a lower socio-economic suburb or your parents don’t earn enough, or should all children deserve the right to the same educational standard and a chance at a worthwhile future?
Do we want a society where the aged, poor and infirm are thrown on the scrap heap when they’ve passed their use-by-date, or do we want a society where those in need are cared-for and supported to get back on their feet?
Do we want a country willing to invest in infrastructure that benefits all Australians or do we want to generate surpluses that are squandered on $3 per week tax cuts and hand-outs to the already wealthy?
Do we want a country where our assets are sold-off at bargain basement prices into private hands and we are forced to pay a premium to gain access to them again, or do we want fundamental services, local employment and control over our own future?
Do we want a future where food and asset prices fluctuate wildly based on the whim of an algorithm running on some supercomputer, or do we want regulation to ensure accountability, responsibility and governance?
Do we want real democracy where we all have an equal voice in how the country is run, or do we want powerful psychopaths dictating what we should see, hear, read and say?
Do we want basic rights, protections, a safe working environment and a wage that allows us to work, live and raise a family without having to forego food, shelter and warmth, or do we want an underclass working for $2 a day, unable to feed themselves, let alone consider raising a family?
Do we want a world where a bunch of fundamentalist zealots restrict your activities based on the words of some sky-god and the writings in a 2000 year old fictional book, or do we want a country where two people who love each other are not demonised and discriminated against?
You sit back and passively accept it, if you wish. For me, I know what kind of country I want to live in, and I’m prepared to fight to make it happen.
All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.
Now, just try and find gutsy words like that on the MSM.
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Hmmm, yes, as you run from the bear in the forest, be careful not to step in the cunningly concealed bear trap.
……and for those on their way to the election, be careful what you wish for, for that grass is NOT greener on the other side (Open your eyes, it’s BLUE).
Many of my cartoons touch on Australia’s political scene over the last year or two, as do some of my brief blog posts.
My editorial/political cartoons can be found here……
Cheers
Mick
Not for one minute! I have been deeply concerned, angered and disgusted by the way Abbott et al have tried to bring down the Labor government since 2010….Ashbygate, Jacksonville etc, and equally concerned, angered and disgusted at the sinister influence that Murdoch and the Murdoch cult have in the MSM and in the minds of the masses.
It is good to see so much great writing on these matters and to know that there are many, many like minded people!
Maybe it is not the polls that are the problem.
Maybe it is the blinkers many put on to read them
How one ignores, up to 30% of ‘undecided’ and ‘do not know’, is beyond me.
The lowest of these seems to be at least 15%.
When these people begin to get off that fence and make a decision. maybe then the polls will mean something.
What the body language of Gillard and Abbott. Tells one a lot. Body language is very hard to control.
…who can contribute to ensuring that Murdoch,Rinehart and Abbott will never become Prime Minister.
I bore people *hitless by pointing out the faults in the Murdoch empire, the “Slick” Abbott promises, the Pell anthology and the all round *ucked up attitude of people who are asleep at the wheel.
And I don’t care.
I will continue and know that I fought extreme religious right wing fundamentalists every inch of the way.
And sometimes I am pleasantly surprised to receive acknowledgement that I have made a point in an area that someone knew nothing about, did not even know existed.
Ain’t technology a wonderful thing.
What = Watch
Say “No” to Tony’s Tea Party News Ltd media mining magnates psychopathic agenda!
The ventriloquists who control the Abbott dummy are forgetting their artistry and are directly addressing the audience.
Work Choices, GST hike, bullying the ATO.
This long campaign has driven the Ugly Right of the LNP stir-crazy.
Min, yes Anomander certainly nailed it 😀 as I commented on the original post, agreeing with Migs comment 😎 Well said!
also posted my latest poem “Tony Abbott’s Budget Emergency?” 🙂
Cheers Seekers 🙂
Promised land = broken promises.
Tony Abbtt is not going to lead me anywhere because he is heading for a black hole. I cannot see how he is going to win. He needs the votes of the ‘Howard battler’ types. Why would they vote for Work Choices? What a great bit of propaganda two words can be?
I didn’t think I would see it but there is now emerging a very real danger that Abbott will get into the Lodge with no serious media or community scrutiny; I asked Q&A why they did not get Abbott on for a one-on-one with the audience as Julia Gillard has done, their response was that they had consistently invited Abbott to appear but always get a knock back.
I saw Julia Gillard doing the community cabinet last night (Wednesday) and could not help but be impressed with the way she responded to questions and her depth of policy detail and knowledge.
What we must do is keep the pressure on for at least three debates between the leaders, on the ABC; no more of this Sky News Community Forum which only attracts a miniscule audience (35,500 las time for Abbott). Only by exposing Abbott’s superficiality and lack of policy commitment will the contrast and ultimately the choice become clear.
Maureen, the thought fair or foul comes to mind. With this current opposition the tactics have mostly been foul.
Terence, of course. Abbott’s minders cannot risk his quite odd responses. He’s been under wraps ever since his peculiar *noddy* non-response.
And you wonder why they won’t let him go on Q&A..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXdcS_7CA1o
[quote]”Do we want a world where a bunch of fundamentalist zealots restrict your activities based on the words of some sky-god and the writings in a 2000 year old fictional book”,[/quote]
Be careful here. Not all Christians are LNP supporters. We don’t want to make the mistake of behaving like elitists as our oposition does.
Min I agree…foul is the word, and unfortunately many people do not see the situation as it is.
It seems that most people in the (bell-weather) electorate I live in, apparently believe that Tony Abbott is going to make them better off financially.
I am hoping that the truth about the LNP scandals will make it into the public arena sooner rather than latter….trying to stay hopeful!
Berny good point!
Hi Berny, my intention was never to tar all Christians with that brush – I was aiming the attack at the lunatic fringe – the self-righteous Fred Nile’s and Cory Bernardi’s of the world who fall back on some fundamentalist beliefs and selected passages when it suits their agenda or when it threatens the perceived power, yet conveniently ignore those sections that contradict their current stance.
The equal marriage case is a prime example, how on Earth does it affect them? I mean it’s not like it will be compulsory for heterosexuals to marry gay people. They are easily offended, but don’t mind shoving their opinions down other people’s throats.
Read Andrew Bolt on Abbott today. He really put the boot in. Abbott is Labor-lite. He will be almost like a Labor leader in office. According to Bolt the conservative zealots are now despairing that Abbott is not right-wing enough. Bolt says he hopes Abbott is only foxing and will reveal his true shade of Tory blue when in office.
Surely the are not dumping Abbott before the elections. I do expect that to occur quickly after.
The trouble is, that one does not know what they will get, if they vote for the Opposition. One3 casnn0ot tell me, that the shadow ministry will remain, as Abbott claims.
Well Fed up I am in the happy position of not believing Abbott will be elected. I think too that Turnbull doesn’t think TA will become PM either. Why would he be hanging about just to serve in an Abbott government? I would not like to be Abbott having to fend off the zealots.
Sceptic, I agree. By the body language of the Abbott mob, they also have similar beliefs.
I cannot think of one reason why one would vote for Abbott. Over on Cafe, the question has been raised many times, even posts, asking Coalition supporters why they believe Abbott would be a good leader. Not one comment in reply.
So I assume, there are none.
Could Bolt be losing viewers. Has to do something to get noticed.
Well written, truthful and to the point.
Thank you.
Sent from my iPad
I think people like Andrew Bolt are permanently outraged because their thought processes are circumscribed by ideology. They inhabit a very tidy black and white world. It is hard for them to accept that the art of politics is compromise. It has become clear to me over the past couple of weeks that the penny has dropped in right-wing circles that Tony Abbott may not be quite the saviour after all. Peter Reith has been hollering for Work Choices, Alan Jones belittled Joe Hockey on radio, the Victorian Libs have raised eyebrows by calling for the ABC and SBS to be sold, there have been many criticisms of the parental leave scheme and now Bolt has sunk the slipper. Interestingly Bolt has drawn attention to the fear a lot of Australians have that Abbott will not be the moderate leader he claims he will be. Bolt hopes he is fooling us poor old yokels.
Bolt …… The Rinehart Cowboy.
Thank you Min for publishing my thoughts. I am most appreciative and am buoyed to realise I’m not alone in my thinking.
If you will all indulge me a little more, I also have a few more of my deleted passages I’d like to share with everyone.
I look forward to seeing even more from the wonderful contributors here.
Do we want to live in an age where hundreds of thousands of completely independent and respected scientists are smeared, disparaged and ruthlessly attacked by gangs of ill-informed troglodytes, or do we want to encourage our children to see science as pathway to the future of endeavour and discovery, a future that expands our knowledge and develops our capacity as a species?
Do we want a government prepared to hand vast sums of our money over to massive polluters – timidly asking them to ‘try their best to not make a mess’, or do we want those who spew filth into our shared atmosphere to be held accountable and to pay substantial penalties for committing such unconscionable actions?
Do we want a society that values the wealth of our relationships, is prepared to sacrifice time and effort for the greater good and to freely offer service to the community, or do we want to be soulless individuals whose sole purpose is to be mindless ‘consumers’, working only to fill our lives with more and more pointless junk.
Do we want viable farmland and water sources that enables us to grow food enough to sustain us all into the future, or do we sully that land by permitting hydraulically fracturing, polluting and destroying our water supplies and degrading our soil, all in the sake of short-term profit for a select few.
Do we want to renowned as a people who are compassionate toward those prepared to undertake dangerous and arduous journeys, fleeing danger and hardship, or are we happy to be seen as self-absorbed and selfish with the good fortune we possess, choosing instead to debase their humanity and to imprison those desperate souls under inhuman conditions for many years, or worse still – turn their boats around.
Do we want investment into leading-edge broadband that will revolutionise the way we work, communicate and play in ways we have yet to even dream, or do we want a half-baked piece of outmoded technology, that will still cost billions of dollars, be redundant before it is even built, and will eventually cost ten times as much to be replaced?
Do we want to support local industries that create employment and generate local jobs, by producing the finest quality food, goods and services for a fair and equitable price, or do we want free-trade agreements where heavily subsidised overseas companies are encouraged to dump massive quantities of food and goods produced by people forced to work in appalling sweatshop conditions?
Do we want to believe that every man, woman and child has the right to free and efficient healthcare, access to world-class medicine and essential dentistry services, or do we want user-pays healthcare system where those who can’t afford even basic health insurance coverage are left to die slowly and painfully in a gutter?
Do we want to live in a world where 95% of the assets and wealth is concentrated into the hands of a group of immensely powerful psychopaths who treat people purely as commodities to be used-up and discarded when no longer required, or do we believe everyone deserves a chance to earn a decent wage for decent day’s work in a stable environment free of fear and intimidation?
Do we want to stand-up as adults, freely admitting and apologising for the the sins of the past, the atrocities committed in the hope of reconciliation and healing, or do we defiantly lie, to obfuscate the truth and to deny our choices in the fear of losing face?
Do we want to encourage investment in innovation and opportunities to deliver efficient, clean and pollution-free energy and the creation of whole new industries, or do we continue to provide billions of dollars to subsidise dirty, destructive energy-sources that destroy lives, ecosystems and our precious water supply.
Do we want a independent public network, tasked with broadcasting to the populace and across the region without the duress of commercial interest, or do we want a biased media, owned and manipulated by those only interested in delivering their own distorted point of view?
Do we want to be known as a paradise tourists from around the world want to visit, or do we want to despoil our natural assets, destroying and depleting them until we become a wasteland at the arse-end of the Earth?
Do we want our representatives to face enormous economic challenges and be prepared to act quickly, decisively and with forethought, to shield our community from damage, or do we want them to be stuck in a time-warp, clinging onto a theory that has been discredited over and over again?
Do we want a leader with strength of will, courage of conviction and vision enough to do what is right for ALL Australians, or do we want someone willing to sell their arse for a grab at power, whose allegiance is owned by wealthy backers and puppet-masters and who will eventually expect their support to be repaid?
Do we want our government to provide infrastructure and deliver vital services like health, education, emergency services, etc., if we do then we ALL need to agree to pay our fair share by way of proportional taxation for all individuals and companies doing business in Australia, or do we want hand-outs, concessions, write-offs, tax cuts, off-shoring of profits and tax minimisation schemes that permanently erode the tax base and undermine our capacity to deliver now and into the future.
As parents, do we want our children to have a future better than ours, free of conflict, full of promise, wonder, hope and opportunity, or do we want to sell out the young and have our generation cursed by all future generations for our greed, wastefulness and stupidity?
Anomander…I SAY YES and thank you for your thoughts!!!
Anomander
I agree. What you say is basic common sense – unless one has been brainwashed by an undermined MSM, then this sense becomes rare if not extinct.
I think Julia will win and that’s what people need to hear. Even rusted on Labor types are all doom and gloom. I’ve converted at least two swingers by talking up the positives of a Labor government. People may not like Gillard, but I don’t recall Howard being particularly popular and he won a few elections.
I am with you Ron. It is hard to think of a compelling reason why vital votes will head the Libs way. I have never believed people vote because they like someone otherwise Beazley would have been PM long ago.
Anomander,May 23rd………… and print……….. 🙂