Yep good point Skeptic.I guess we’ll see about that.

Rudd used to be my local MP, and I saw him/chatted to him enough to know that he is a very smart man in the best Labor Right tradition.

A little shaky on the ethics as a AWU colleague of mine used to say, and happily, about the ALP Right.

John Greenfield Says:
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
John, I’m deleting this and anything further from you that contains references to “Luvvies”. If you can’t make your point without this tiresome stuff, please comment elsewhere - JQ

Though go through and check out how riddled with NON-tiresome stuff JQ’s world is.
John Greenfield Says:
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
John, I’m deleting this and anything further from you that contains references to “Luvvies”. If you can’t make your point without this tiresome stuff, please comment elsewhere - JQ

As I said to him Fair enough JQ. But I think you have thus made my point far more effectively than even I could.

I don’t know why either. Perhaps I have a mental illness?

JG, I don’t know why you bother with LP. Don’t you get enough of that from the ABC?

http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/04/19/spare-a-thought-for-jackie-huggins/#comment-459009

NO! You do not “agree with Adrien” you agree with ME! Come on, just come out of the closet, you will feel so liberated! Seriously though, I have always maintained that Rudd himself is in no way a Luvvie. In fact, he cannot stand them. I suspect your inkling about his Machiavellianism may indeed turn out to be a pas de deux with Mao.

Hope you’re right, SL. I would be surprised if he did a back flip and went with these idiots.. He doesn’t strike me as a guy that would take silly risks.

I found the thing quite offensive to be honest.

Think about this. There was a person who suggested the idea that we should all apply for our citizenship felt safe enough in that crowd to say such a thing. Now If I was in such a group and someone said that (yes I know it would be wrong) I would probably have lost my temper and done something I would have regretted.

There was no one there who walked out as a result of such a comment, which is itself pretty instructive in terms of who we’re broadly dealing with.

So even if Rudd is a good guy, he really has a mountain of idiots to climb and I fear one day he just gives in.

As Andrew Norton pointed out, these people love power, and are utterly convinced they (a) know the answer and (b) should be able to impose it on other people. This is nanny statism writ large, and reeks of Blairism.

However, contra Adrien, I’m hoping that Rudd’s decision to do the Chosen Kilo stunt now is appropriately Machiavellian, in that he’s fed the luvvie ‘chooks’ and - having got them on side - can now safely ignore them for the rest of his term. Rudd used to be my local MP, and I saw him/chatted to him enough to know that he is a very smart man in the best Labor Right tradition.

I’m really busy at the minute so I didn’t have time to check the papers ’til this PM. It seems pretty clear, especially considering Andrew’s experience, that the Jabberfest was essentially designed as an ‘elite’ endorsement of Keating’s cultural agenda.

Kevvie hasn’t learned either from Keating’s mistakes nor his accomplishments.

He shouldn’t be doing this now. He should wait. People in this country have been undergoing reform for 2 and 1/2 decades now and they’re tired of it. He should just consolidate, work on the health system and live up to his promise re fiscal conservatism.

However he hasn’t done this. He’s essentially simply re-reared the ‘luvvie’ vision of Oz especially the republic. As much as I find David Flint to be an SS officer in a pale blue silk suit he had a point viz the lack of monarchist representation. I’m a republican but the monarchists have a point - we have a de facto republic, the monarchy functions as a legal convenience that safeguards us against Fubaria, a shift would pretty much be symbolic and 55% of people voted against it less than ten years back. It ain’t the time.

But even if it was the monarchists deserve to be represented surely. Kevvie just doing what Howard did - marginalizing those he differs with.

As for all the palava re traffic lights on fatty foods and (yet another) increase on tax for alcohol and cigarrettes fucking forget it. I wonder where the toted notion of a voucher system re health went. If people fuck up their health on purpose let ‘em pay more. Skeptic’s right it’s nanny statism.

Thing is Kevvie should go back to ‘96 and ask himself: why did Keating get the boot? Hint: it wasn’t because of his ‘hard’ policies.

And also would someone tell him what the word ‘treaty’ actually means. FFS!