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Issue No. 180 30 May 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Headless Nation
So the Governor-General has voted himself out of the Big House, recognising that his capacity to discharge his duties as Head of State had been fatally compromised by the skeletons in his Yarralumla closet.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Staying Alive
CPSU national secretary Adrian O'Connell talks about the fight to keep the public service - and the union movement - alive.

Bad Boss: The Ultimate Piss Off
Wollongong workers on poverty-level wages are losing up to $5000 for taking toilet breaks, according to the union representing staff at a Stellar call centre.

Industrial: Last Drinks
Jim Marr looks at the human cost of the decision to close Sydney�s Carlton United Brewery

National Focus: Around the States
If Tampa told us that John Howard circa 2003 is the same spotted rabid dog from 1987, this week�s assault on Medicare confirms it reports Noel Hester in this national round up.

Politics: Radical Surgery
Workers are vitally interested in Medicare, not least because they traded away wage rises to get it. Now, Jim Marr writes, the Coalition Government is tearing apart the 20-year-old social contract on which it was founded.

Education: The Price of Missing Out
University students and their families will pay more for their education following the May Budget, writes Tony Brown.

Legal: If At First You Don't Succeed
Love is wonderful the second time around, goes the famous torch song. But is the same true for legislation? Asks Ashley Crossland

History: Massive Attack
Labour historian Dr Lucy Taksa remembers the general strike of 1917 to put the recent anti-war marches into perspective

Culture: What's Right
Neale Towart looks at a new book that looks at the failings of the Left, while reasserting the liberal project

Review: If He Should Fall
Jim Marr caught Irish folk-rock-punk legend Shane MacGowan at Sydney�s Metro Theatre. He was surprised but not disappointed.

Poetry: If I Were a Rich Man
Through a distortion in the time-space continuum, we have found a recording showing how people a few years into the future will deal with health care.

Satire: IMF Ensures Iraq Institutes Market Based Looting
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to monitor the Iraqi economy to ensure that the reintroduction of looting into the economy conforms with free-market theory.

N E W S

 Sanitarium Casts Democracy into Hell�s Fire

 Mouse that Roared

 Abbott: Look After Number One

 Entitlements Revamp � Acid on States

 Strong Stuff � Commission Star in Court

 Think Before You Drink

 Maritime Hero Takes Final Journey

 All Ding but No Gong

 Aged Care in Terminal Condition

 Strathfield Joins War on Shonks

 AMWU Returns to the Fold

 Green Jobs In Offing

 Register for Action

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
What May Day Means to Me
Reader Marlene McAlear penned this tribue to May Day and worker solidarity.

Solidarity
The Toast
Labor Council secretary John Robertson's toast to the annual May Day dinner in Sydney.

The Locker Room
The Numbers Game
In life there is lies, damned lies and sporting statistics, says Phil Doyle - but who�s counting.

Postcard
Brukman Evicted
ZNet's Marie Trigona reports from the streets of Argentina in the rundown to last week's presidential election.

Bosswatch
The Costs of Excess
Some tall business poppies had their heads lopped this week as the laws of economic gravity applied their always chaotic theory.

L E T T E R S
 Language Most Foul
 Unions Deserve Reputation
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Letters to the Editor

Language Most Foul


Even though I am an uneducated person , I agree with P Kennedy in relation to the foul language , that is why I have chosen not to respond any of the opinions expressed in that manner.

Tom

NSW

The complaints by P Kennedy "Bad Language" issue 179 brought back many unhappy memories of my childhood in the 1950's and 60's and the beatings for speaking in a tongue incomprehensible to the pakeha thieves of our land who lived in large homes built on our land while we lived in tree fern huts living on mutton flaps , puha , dandelion leaves and rewena pararoa.

I and my Brothers and Sisters who were raised by our Grandmother who only spoke Maori, were beaten for speaking our own language and then beaten for using the words we learned from the children of the riff raff European thieves of our land.

Words are nothing more than a learned code, devised to communicate.

Sadly like every thing else the racist Anglo Celt touches language has also become a weapon with which to self righteously intimidate or used to steal through the ambiguity of the words in their language , and this pompous claim to offence is nothing more than another attempt at claiming the high moral ground while committing an act of bastardry . In this case, the condemnation of others, because of an obvious lack of language skills.

Did P Kennedy condemn the suggestions of violence?

It was this very manipulation , restriction , misinterpretation and deliberate deception in 1840 , that tricked some New Zealand iwi into agreeing to the Treaty of Waitangi , an agreement which the invader had no intention keeping , and has until this day abrogated their responsibilities through a manipulation of the language.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 19 enshrines the right to freedom of expression, P Kennedy appears to desire to restrict this right, only to those that use phraseology that complies with their personal values, it is censorship such as this that creates disharmony and War.

If in a world full of disposed people a few harsh words causes such grief, then you certainly have a satisfying life, and in all probability at the expense of the indigenous Australians whom you have dispossessed of their land, language and self esteem without even the integrity to educate them to enable a full and satisfying interaction with the invader.

I have only one thing to say to about the clumsy attempts at blackmail by P. Kennedy who is either an invader, a Descendant of an invader or kupapa ...

�ngutu taku k�ihe te koretake teke

Te Kooti

Aotearoa


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