When The Rich Wage War, It’s The Poor Who Die

text of image: When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die. Jean-Paul Sartre

Australian Troops Out Of Afghanistan… one day

Prime Minister Gillard yesterday outlined plans to bring Australian forces home from Afghanistan early, in an address to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Australian personnel were previously expected to withdraw at the end of 2014, on a NATO timetable, but PM Gillard’s announcement says plans are for Australians return by the end of 2013.

This is a war with a purpose, this is a war with an end. We have a strategy, a mission and a timeframe for achieving it, PM Gillard said. Then proceeded to make her address where she did not state what that purpose was, or whether the war can ever end, but, there is a timeframe.

Afghanistan is known as destroyer of empires or graveyard of empires, and perhaps not enough thought was put into it, in the first instance, by John Howard when he sent other people’s children off to die in the name of bolstering our standing in the eyes of the USA, or in the eyes of his good friend George Bush.

But regimes change, and it is time to bring the troops home. Why are we waiting?

The price paid has been high, 33 Australians killed, however, as ABC Asia said Ms Gillard said she did not share the view that they had died in vain.

Prime Minister Gillard described the deaths of these military personnel as a sacrifice.

I believe in engaging in Afghanistan our mission has been clear, our purposes has been clear, our sacrifice has been great … But the families of the men we have lost are able to say to themselves in a time of shocking grief and desperation that their loved ones were out there doing something clearly in Australia’s national interest. the Prime Minister said.

However, it appears that withdrawal doesn’t mean complete withdrawal. According to Fairfax, some special forces may remain and some training of Afghan forces will continue.

Continuing to stay in a war that can never be won, does not honour those lives already sacrificed. It is not our sacrifice. It is the lives of the men who were taken in the name of national interest. Surely there are more worthy things to die for than so-called national interest. I thought we were liberating Afghanistan, or freeing them from the Taliban, or protecting the women and girls, or perhaps making the world safe for democracy.

National interest – isn’t that why the country has diplomats?

However, this was a war Australia got itself into, some believe, to stroke John Howards… er, his ego, when ever GW Bush praised him. And finally, an Australian Prime Minister has the strength to say that no more lives will be taken for a pointless war.

 

 

So, what does Tony Abbott say?
Before PM Gillard made her address, Tony said that he wanted the Australian military home once their job was completed. Abbott who was a member of the Howard Government that committed Australians to participate in this foolish war, really should not pass judgement on other politicians who inherited the mess that is Afghanistan. I have not reason to think that it shouldn’t be possible to finish the job sooner rather than later, Tony Abbott said.

Although, 10 years later, does anyone even know what that job was?

 

 

And in other news, about 150 high schools girls in Afghanistan were poisoned after drinking water which had been contaminated. Blame for the incident was placed on conservative radicals who oppose the education of women and girls
Girls have only begun returning to school in 2001, when the Taliban, who had banned educating girls, was overthrown.

As our leaders tell us, our job in Afghanistan is done.

Sources: Australian PM outlines plan for Afghanistan exit

How One Greens Supporter Sees Labor’s Recent Performance

Guest post by @greenat15, a proud Greens member (who has recently changed his handle to @greenat16)

Pondscum, what’s with that?

When I was on a recent walk, in lovely Sydney, I came across a billabong, a little stretch of water that was filled with an algal bloom – do we want for a better word than Pondscum?

I see many similarities with that primitive form of life and a certain political party. I see them both attempt to cling onto life when they are facing immense pressure to throw in the towel and give it all up. I see them both being tiny specs on the landscape, and I see them both refusing to move, refusing to adapt, refusing to change.

The Australian people hold much anger towards the Labor party, why? Because they are the same old stagnant rot that refuses to change, that recycles bad policy, bad leaders and bad ideas.

I am a 15 year old student, what does he know about politics? who is he? he can’t even vote! Well I have been involved in politics for over half my life, I live and breathe politics, I am not in the Labor party, but I am in NSW, I have seen what NSW Labor has done to this state and it ain’t good.

It’s understandable that the people are upset with Labor. It’s understandable that the Labor brand is dying. It’s true that Australians hate political domination, towards the end of Howards reign there was total Labor domination in each state and territory

Then there was the Ruddslide. The inevitable win from federal Labor, a win that was theirs for the taking but with that win came the inevitable loss of the states – Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and finally Queensland… Gone.

Gone, because the labor governments in those states took the people for granted, they raped the land and absorbed money from the highest bidder. They had to go, and Gillard’s leadership tussle gave the people the ultimate excuse for Labor’s removal.

Gillard and the faceless factional cronies (I’m looking at you Shoppos) signed the death warrant for the Labor party across Australia, they came, they soared and they gored – relegated to facing a government of 72 seats.

State Labor has also done much to ensure that they won’t partake in a big win for a long time, let’s take NSW as an example: they had countless MPs referred to the Corruption Watchdog, they had sex scandals, they had Ministers who announced things that knew they could not deliver on; that’s where the rot comes from.

NSW is the home of the gangrenous Labor limbs, heck, we even had a name for it The NSW Disease.

The recent Queensland elections further demonstrated the publics hate for the Labor Party, they were like a sponge (well, maybe that’s not a good metaphor considering the floods they had recently), they filled the Parliament with MPs that loved asset sales and then when it came to the March 24th election they were squeezed into oblivion, their water soul was shattered into a volleyball team of MPs.

The public hate the Labor party, but it is the Labor Party itself that is to blame for the death of the Labor party…

Opinions are those of @greenat16, and do not, necessarily, reflect those of TurnLeft.

Thank You for your post

QLD Election Blowback, this times it’s personal.

On March 24 2012 , the Word FUCK was heard around the world – QLD Election Blowback, this times it’s personal. by Delon de Circle en Rouge

One day you’re in power for 20 years dragging the state into the 21st Century and the next …Labor {is} falling short of official party status and relying on the incoming LNP government to grant it party offices, staff and resources* with only 6 seat won.

The blame lies with Anna Bligh and the Labor Party campaign. Anyone who had the sickening misfortune to watch the mawkish self-pity of Anna Bligh concede defeat before Saturday, can watch this and tell me would you vote, let alone volunteer to hand out How-To-Vote cards and campaign for our ALP cause, if you saw this video?

Campbell Newman didn’t win this election, nobody likes a smug millionaire with a chip on his shoulder. Although to be fair, a leader he is, much more so than Anna Bligh, and he managed to galvanise a talentless and listless bunch of LNP candidates from the reject shop. Whether they’ll be able to support his ‘vision’ remains to be seen.

ALP strategists should be immediately fired. They stuffed up our NSW campaign and completely fucked up our QLD one. Clearly a bold consistent message wasn’t in their planning. You can argue that Bligh broke plenty a promise; but you can argue that all politicians renege on promises when world reality collides with policy.

Time for a new strategy and strategists. Time for new leaders. Time for aggressive progressive policies. Time to Act. Time to bring in new and youthful ideas and enthusiasm. Time to destroy the left/right paradigm and deliver a more pertinent message one of which is the individual/community vs the Corporations as exemplified by the Occupy Movement. In this way the youth will come to think of ALP as a mainstream progressive political party that listens and not just a moderate Liberal Party that they’re fast becoming.

{edited to add: *source of this quote is behind a paywall – @redglitterx}

Will Gender Equality Be A Factor In The Queensland Elections?

ALP proportion of women MPs: 49%. LNP women candidates: 17.9%

tweet via @EMILYsListAus

Emily’s Lists supports candidate that embody these principles: Equity, Childcare, Equal Pay, Diversity, Choice

Their website Emily’s List Australia features 10 candidate during this election, with more information available on the website.

Clicking on candidates name will take you directly to their information page at Emily’s List Australia.

• Angela Zyla: for Burdekin (Margin: – 3.15%)
• Jo Briskey: candidate for Cleveland (Margin: -0.3%)
• Premier Anna Bligh: candidate for South Brisbane (Margin: 15.0%)
• Karen Struthers MP: candidate for Algester (Margin: 9.2%)
• Christine Smith MP: QLD state candidate for Burleigh (Margin: 4.9%)
• Mary-Anne O’Neill MP: candidate for Kallangur (Margin: 4.6%)
• Barbara Stone MP: candidate for Springwood (Margin: 4.1%)
• Mandy Johnstone MP: candidate for Townsville (Margin: 4.0%)
• Desley Scott MP: candidate for Woodridge (Margin: 25.4%)
• Virginia Clarke: candidate for Nanango (Margin: -19.0%)

text by @redglitterx