Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, what happened here? The media have been telling me this was a close race. They've been saying how Howard was toast because he was a Bush lackey. They were sure it would destroy the coalition (which, since they term the Iraqi invasion as unilateral cannot possibly exist anyway). Now how am I going to believe anything else I hear on ABCCBSNBC News?

Sad news. Australia has made her betting. Probably they have chosen the best path for their economy and their national pride. The easy path.

But they have chosen also the worst path for the World Safety.

I hope this is not a premonition about what is going to happen in USA. But don’t worry, being honest, I am pretty sure that the Republicans are going to win in USA again.

Fortunately, I am not so sure about what is going to happen in Italy and United Kingdom. My hopes are there. We need a united Europe as soon as possible to stop it.

VinoTinto wrote:
But they have chosen also the worst path for World Socialism.
--
Fortunately, I am not so sure about what is going to happen in Italy and United Kingdom. My hopes are there. We need a united Communist Europe as soon as possible to stop it.
--

I fixed your post for you.

Oh yes - congrats AE Brain, and congrats OZ :)

We Australians have voted in our national interest and in the interests of world safety. Iraq was not a very visible part of the campaign here, though the left wing letter writers and parts of the media very actively tried to use it against the government. As the result shows, the populace trusts this government on national security and on economic policy.

Re the misleading opinion polls before the election. The pollsters can't deal effectively with the "undecided". When someone answers that they have not decided, the pollsters take it at face value and effectively allocate them in proportion to the rest of the poll. In fact, many of those "undecided" are actually saying "I'm not going to tell you my intentions."

If there is a systematic support bias in those who politely say they haven't made up their mind, when they have, then the polls are systematically skewed.

Now who is more likely to be reluctant to express their intentions to anonymous pollsters on the end of the phone? How about the elderly (who tend to be conservative)? How about other conservative voters faced with a mass media which is dominated by a left-wing bias (in Australia as in the US)?

Our "letters to the editors" pages tend to be dominated by left wing writers, even though the election has just shown they are a minority of the electorate. So either the newspapers are skewing what they publish, or left wingers are just more vocal about their views. In either case the picture presented in the media is unrepresentative of the community.

This may be a problem you also have in the US. One other parallel is between the Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, and John Kerry. Latham had a different story every day. He appeared to think that whatever he said was right, because he said it, even when it conflicted with his previous comments/policies. No one really knew what he stood for -- just that he would say or do anything he thought would get him elected. Does that sound just a bit like John Kerry?

I see that our friend RedWhine is still trying to get someone to listen to his irrelevant drivel about more things that he has limited, if any, understanding of.

Good work, Australians. Steady as she goes.

Minarchist,

thank you for your fixing, but, please, next time leave my words as I typed them, because you could seem ridiculous and ignorant.

“But they have chosen also the worst path for World Socialism.” ---- Tony Blair is an outstanding socialist, and I bet he likes a lot the results in Australia.

“We need a united Communist Europe” ----- So, UK, France, Sweeden, Germany or Spain among some others, are communist countries…OK You are right. Sure.

OzMC,

Your point has many truth in it, or at least, it is well reasoned. But there are some things that I didn’t understand well.

“Iraq was not a very visible part of the campaign here” ---- Probably if Australia had a Muslim country crowded of Radical Muslim militants and 5 or 6 terrorist groups, ten miles away from you, the Australian people would think a little bit more about the war in Iraq.

“left wingers are just more vocal about their views” ----- This is true in all the western countries. But, the question is “why?”.

An answer could be that the right wingers are just least vocal.

Another answer could be that many people that vote the right wing, know that this is the best for their economy and the best for their prestige (USA is eminently right winged), but…this is not the best from the moral point of view. So they don’t say anything, and they vote the right wing.

Because in Italy, for instance, everybody know about the links between the mafia and Berlusconi. Everybody knows that Berlusconi controls all the press and TV media in Italy. Everybody knows that he leads Italy the same way he leads his companies, and not like a democratically elected president. Curiously, in the polls it seems that nobody is going to vote him, but the day of the elections, he wins. Why?

As one would expect from a guy with the handle "vino Tinto" there's a whole bunch of sour grapes in these posts.

I'd really like to see VT explain to us how socialism is more "moral". I'd like to truly understand how confiscatory taxes and burdensome regulations will somehow lead our species to a brave new world.

Not bloody likely.

I am very happy to explain you why the socialism is more moral.

As the very same word says, “socialism” is a policy oriented to the “social” well-being, as the capitalism is…well, it is just a policy oriented to the capital, i.e., policy oriented to the economic growing as far as possible and as much as possible for the whole nation, which doesn’t mean that everybody in that nation is receiving part of the benefits.

USA has a PDG per capita about 37.000 dollars, which doesn’t mean that each American gets 37.000 dollars in one year (Bill Gates, among others, receives your part, man).

Sweden is a country essentially socialist. Their PDG per capita is something like 26.000 dollars.

Well, you can bet your ass that the average Swedish home is far richest than the average American home, despite USA is richer than Sweden (and this is the main vantage for the Capitalism). Apart from this, the difference between the salary of the lower worker in the factory and the salary of the chief engineer, is far smaller in Sweden than in USA. In Sweden, both live almost the same way, both live pretty well. On the other hand, in USA...they DONT

Basically, the socialist governments use to look for the human factor before the economic factor in their national and international policy. There are exceptions like Tony Blair.

This is the reason because the socialism is more moral than the right winged capitalism.

This is the MODERN socialism, not the Vietnamese one. I like the Swedish path 1000 times more than the American path. And you should do the same. Forget what McArthur told you about socialism. He was talking about the old and failed socialism.

Ask a Swedish about socialism and the “confiscatory taxes and burdensome regulations”. I bet he will laugh.

I disagree with your basic premise VT.


There is one thing that both capitalism and socialism have in common: both are essentially rationing mechanisms.

In capitalism free markets (AKA free people) make rationing decisions.

In socialism (in whatever flavor new old or otherwise) the rationing decisions are made by some central authority.

We Americans, raised as we were without the vestiges of monarchy that you euro weenies tolerate, are often sceptical of centralized control. Our experience with socialism, either domestic experiments or international failures, is poor at best.

So the Swedes can keep it for themselves. We don't want socialism

“In socialism (in whatever flavor new old or otherwise) the rationing decisions are made by some central authority” ---- As I supposed, you, as the most of Americans have not a clue about what we are talking about when we talk about Socialism in Europe.

“the vestiges of monarchy that you euro weenies tolerate” ----- Again, your idea about European monarchies, seems taken from a Hollywood movie. Do you know what is the power of one European king in policy issues, economy issues, legislation issues, etc, etc? Of course you, as good American, have not a clue, since you are virtually ignorant in all the issues concerning Europe, despite probably your roots are here. So I will explain it for you: The politic power of the king over the country is NULL. I don’t mean to say small, but NULL. The kings say “yes” when the president say “yes”, the kings salute the flag in the National Day, he has some rides in Rolls Royce, he receives sometimes foreign presidents in the Palace, the Generals salute the king and the opinion of the king is not taken into account for anything, saving exceptional cases. In fact, the king votes blank.

Keep with your republican capitalism.

VT, you of all people should know that one simply cannot make good wine from sour grapes, and sour grapes are all you've got.

Just for grins I looked around my humble abode for something I cherish that was made in Spain. I found, as they say, nada. nada damned thing worth my money. OK so Freixinet is decent champagne at a decent price, but what else ya got?

My daughter, who is approaching the age where driving is legal wants to know about cars. "Why aren't there any French cars Dad?" Well the French make cars, but they suck I explained with my best attempt at a Gallic shrug.

You missed my point about monarchy VT. It isn't that monarchs are a force now and if you think I don't understand that well you've listened to that fat blow hard Moore too often.

The point is that after hundreds of years of living under central control you guys don't know any better. Socialism can be viewed as simply an evolutionary stage of the old monarchy, somebody in the capital takes your money and then gives you what they think you need.

Won't work here. Not only do we guard our freedom jealously, but hell, we're armed to teeth as well.

Capitalism is simply better than anything else we've come up with. Socialism might work in certain settings but it won't work on a grand scale. The cold war proved that. Freedom to chose, freedom to spend the money we earn as we see fit, that's what makes us better than Europe.

so yes, I'll remain a staunch capitalist/republican. And you labor on supporting idiotic bureacracies in Madrid and Brussels with your money.

*** * ***

The Unseating of the Howard Government was a major target and concern of the anti-coalition wing.

From top to bottom the left wingist, the terrorist, the UN Nationals, and the ' debate and wait'
crowd needed to take down the Australian Allied government

The timing of the Australian re-election in relation to the American election is an indicator of the ground swell.

For two years now we have been in the back rooms blogging it out with those strange creatures who are
opposed to bringing law and order to the world and to the Middle East in particular. ( The ones who make something out of the Han Blix affairs or the Illegality of the Liberation. )

The anti-Coalitionists were smugly proclaiming the up coming election as the end of the Coalition.
Like the election results in Canada the Australian re-election indicates the general vote in Allied Nations is to "Stay the Way "


Global Emergency Service*

-

Hey Skip,

the fact that you didn’t find anything made in Spain (apart from Freixenet, I guess the Jerez or the Amontillado are too much for a capitalist home) in your humble abode made me think about…So I looked around my no so humble abode for something made in USA…so…what a surprise: NOTHING. I mean, I have Nike soccer boots, but they are made in China. The French make good cars (Peugeot, Citroën), and also the Spanish make cars (Seat)…And I guess the Americans make cars, because I have seen it in the Hollywood movies. But I have seen a couple of American cars in my life. Well, I have seen some Ford, but made the European way, and not the American way…So, what are you trying to tell me? NOTHING.

The fact is that I have seen the UN 2004 report about the poverty degree in the world.

Do you know which one is the country in the World with a lower degree of poverty? Sweden!

Do you know which position fits Germany among the countries with lower degree of poverty? The sixth!!

France? The 8th !!

Spain? The 9th!!!

Australia?? The 14th!!!

USA?? The…17th ooooooooooohhhhhhh

This is the important thing, all the rest are silly circumstances. The 11 countries in the world with the lower degree of poverty are Europeans, and the most of them with socialist governments….

“that’s what makes us better than Europe.” Aaaameeeeeennnnn haha

augurwell,

Australia (USA, UK, etc) has her right to do what the Australian people want, no doubt.

But...this is just that I dont want to pay with my life her choice...nothing else

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