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Issue No. 328 13 October 2006  
E D I T O R I A L

Straw Men
Somewhere between Bangalore and Surrey Hills a story about off shoring of Australian jobs got confused this week; unleashing a round of hand-wringing that speaks volumes about the political and commercial potency of this issue.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Australia�s Most Wanted
The ACCC is the latest state agency to turn its guns on the construction union. National official, Dave Noonan, discusses the implications.

Industrial: The Fox and the Contractor
With new laws looming for �independent contractors�, Foxtel subbies have had the carpet pulled from under their feet, writes Nathan Brown.

Unions: Industrial Wasteland
A group of inner-Sydney veterans appear to be working to strip their families of retirement incomes. Jim Marr records their desperation.

International: Two Bob's Worth
German and British workers are participating in business decisions while WorkChoices locks Australians out of the conversation, writes Anthony Forsyth.

Economics: National Interest
John Howard claimed that interest rates would always be lower under a Coalition government than under Labor, Neale Towart crunchess the numbers.

Environment: The Real Dinosaur
Economic ignorance remains at the top and the critics are oblivious says Sol Power

History: Only In Spain?
The experiences of self management during the Civil War have been the one positive factor to come from that tragic event, and the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation thrives today.

Review: Clerk Off
Nathan Brown draws solace from some fellow social misfits.

N E W S

 Activists Notebook

 Money Walks Over Jobs

 Classifieds the New IR Attack Dog

 States Keep Stakes in IR Blueprint

 Meatworkers Boned by WorkChoices

 Tune Up for Radio Rentals

 Democracy Overboard in Bass Strait

 Unionist Targeted for Deportation

 Taxpayers Taken to the Cleaners

 Staff Sunk By Float

 AWB Sets New Low

 Heinemann Pushes the Envelope

 Giant Catastrophe for Crew

 Workers Lose Right to Choose Lawyers

 Skill Vouchers A Dud, AMWU

C O L U M N S

Legends
Westie Wing
MLC Ian West ventures beyond Macquarie St and into the desert of the eco rats.

The Soapbox
Testing Times
Former RLPA secretary and Newcastle Knights prop, Tony Butterfield, fires up over dawn raids.

Obituary
Dare to Win
The union movement has lost an inspirational leader of working men and women, writes Jeana Vithoulkas

Fiction
Tommy's Apprentice
Chapter Two - Tommy�s Tale.

L E T T E R S
 Honest John, Would You Like Lies With That
 The Unpromised Land
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Tool Shed

The Unknown Tool


The only thing missing from talkback radio last week was the sound of duelling banjos.

If you needed any more proof that John Howard has turned Australia into a meaner and more backward place, it's hard to go past the dreck over the airwaves and in the letters page last week.

The yokels were baying for blood, because the Returned Services League had the temerity to allow a young man, who had burned the Australian flag during the riots last December, carry the flag during the Anzac Day march.

Any hope that the RSL's gesture might be taken as a sign of both apology and forgiveness was soon quashed, with the few-toothed-ones telling shock jocks they would hurl eggs, beer cans and pitchforks at the kid.

Loons with the cognitive ability to write sent their missiles through the Telegraph.

Port Macquarie's Ron Nichols wrote he would "happily do time" to ensure the RSL President and the former flag burner would "not get any more than 100m down the road on Anzac Day".

David Chambers of Burwood was a little more reserved, perhaps, in claiming the RSL's decision "shows ideologies of tolerance, diversity and forgiveness have become a psychiatric illness in this country".

These are probably the same people who profess that Australia is a proudly Christian country.

They must believe the only reason Jesus turned the other cheek was to reach for another can of whoop-ass*.

And sure, burning the Australian flag might be disrespectful, but apparently threatening to maim people marching in a parade for returned soldiers is acceptable.

Clearly, the thing that has become acceptable is for these morons to get about in their Reg Regan attire, sucking back on their tinnies, having a go at anything that's different or actions that might show an ounce of compassion.

These half-wits are the same ones going around saying new arrivals have to embrace Australian values.

This is all bullshit - the values debate is a case of labelling people from non-Anglo backgrounds the "other" so the insecure can make themselves feel more Australian.

In fact, they'd prefer if newcomers would not accept Australian values, because it makes them even more convinced they are the "real" Australians.

But, the bad news for them is they aren't - they are merely the ugly Australians that John Howard has turned into our flag bearers.

* apologies to the comedian I stole that line from.


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