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Issue No. 171 | 21 March 2003 |
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Shock and Awe
Poetry: If I Were a Rich Man Interview: League of Nations Industrial: 20/20 Hindsight Organising: On The Buses Unions: National Focus History: The Banner Room International: The Slaughter Continues Legal: A Legal Case For War? Culture: Singing For The People Review: The Hours Poetry: I Wanna Bomb Saddam Satire: Diuretic Makes Warne's Excuses Look Thin
The Soapbox The Locker Room Guest Report Seduction Bosswatch
 I Miss UnionsViva Le Imperialists!The First CasualtyRighteous indignationDead RightCalling All LibsIf George W Bush was an Australian Citizen...
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Letters to the Editor If George W Bush was an Australian Citizen...
Dear John, For us voters we have now made up our mind and reached the final days of decision. For more than seven years, many of us citizens have pursued patient and honorable efforts to tolerate your government of lies, deception and corrupt behaviour. Your government pledged to be an honest government and renew people's faith in our democratic system of government as a condition for being elected by us in 1996. Since then, many of us Australians have engaged in 7 years of patience and tolerance whilst your Ministerial code of conduct became a sham and a political liability. We have accepted dozens of your assurances in parliament that you are acting in our best interests and have given you the benefit of the doubt on a number of occasions. We have voted for you numerous times based on your promises to do the right thing by us and despite your assurances, our good faith has not been returned. Instead we have been given less public services, less share of the wealth we generate and less accountability. Your government has used diversion tactics, spin and plain lies to deflect attention and manipulate public opinion. It has uniformly defied United Nations resolutions and conventions that ask Australia to be a good global citizen. Over the years, you have derided and undermined those in the public service that have tried to keep your government honest. Honest and genuine efforts to reform your government have been blocked and denied again and again: because we are not dealing with honest men. "The danger is clear: a prolonged use of your government puts Australians at risk..." Intelligence gathered by us citizens leaves no doubt that your government continues to deceive the Australian people and that you possess motives that run counter to our interests. Your government has already used weapons of mass propaganda to win elections under false pretences such as the Children Overboard affair. Your government has a history of reckless behaviour driven by self-interest. It has a deep hatred of any nation, group or person at odds with your own ideology. And it has aided, trained and harbored union busting thugs, including operatives of Patricks in the MUA dispute. The danger is clear: a prolonged use of your government puts Australians at risk and could kill the faith millions of people have in our democracy. The people of Australia did nothing to deserve this threat. But we will do everything to defeat it. Instead of drifting along toward tragedy, we will set a course toward regime change and reform. Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed; at the ballot box. The people of Australia have the sovereign authority to use its electoral force in assuring its own national security. That duty falls to us, the citizens, by the oath we have sworn, to uphold the principles of democracy and good government. This is an oath we will keep in spades John. Recognizing the threat to our country, the people of Australia will vote overwhelmingly next election to force you and your coalition from government. This is not a question of authority: it is a question of will. Your government has not lived up to its responsibilities, so we will rise to ours. In recent days, some members of your party have been doing their part. They have delivered public and private messages urging you to change your ways, so that Australia can start to get itself out of the mess you have put us in. You have thus far refused. All the years of deceit and disingenuous have now reached an end. You and your coalition must call an election within 48 days. Your refusal to do so will result in your political destruction, commenced at a time of our choosing. For their own safety, all your political cronies should vacate the bureaucracy immediately. Many Liberal and National party members can hear me tonight and I have a message for them. If we must begin a political campaign, it will be directed against the spineless men who rule your coalition and not against you. As us citizens take away their power, we will deliver the good government you need. We will tear down the apparatus of political patronage and we will help you to build a new Australia that is prosperous and fair. In a fair Australia, there will be no more fear of your neighbors, no more detention centres, no persecution of unions or marginalised groups, no more contrived events for political propaganda. The little schoolboy tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near. It is too late for you to remain in power. But it is not too late for the coalition to act with honor and protect their government by demanding the peaceful resignation of your Prime Minister. We urge every member of the coalition, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own political life. And all the political appointees in the public service should listen carefully to this warning. In any conflict, your fate will depend on your action. Do not destroy, siphon off or privatise any public assets, a source of wealth that belongs to the Australian people. Do not obey any command to use lies and deception against the Australian people. Political crimes will be prosecuted. Political criminals will be punished unmercilessly at the ballot box. And it will be no defense to say, "I was just following John's orders." John, should you choose to be blindly obstinate and ignore our protests, you can be assured that every measure will be taken by the Australian people to remove you. Australians understand the costs of having gutless and dishonest leaders such as you because we have paid for and put up with them in the past. If you attempt to cling to power, we know you will become desperate and engage in more deceptive and harmful behaviour that puts Australia at risk. The terrorist threat to Australia will be diminished the moment that you and your government are removed from power. We are a laid back people - yet we're not a dumb people, and we will not be fooled by a political charlatan such as yourself. We are now acting because the risks of inaction would be far greater. In one year, or five years, the power of you and your government to inflict harm on all of us would be multiplied many times over. We choose to meet that threat now, making it known that we are consigning you and your flunkeys to electoral oblivion. The security of Australia requires the dismissal of the your government at the earliest opportunity. Unlike you John Howard, we believe the Australian people are deserving of a safe and prosperous future with accountable and honest government. That is the future we choose. Citizens have a duty to defend our country by uniting against the dishonest that act against our interests for the sake of their own. And soon, as we have done before, Australia and its people will accept that responsibility. Good night John, and may God save the Liberal Party because the rest of us we will be waiting for you and your pathetic party at the next election with a baseball bat. Yours Sincerely, John Citizen 
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