As many of you know I am a critic of the rodent and his greedy gutless government.
Having read Helen's story I am appalled at the heartlessness & brutality of howard, vanstone,(fancy a woman treating pregnant women the way she did-UGH!) downer and ruddock. What is worse is that these hard hearted,unfeeling, merciless,pitiless uncompassionate, totally mean spirited bunch of b******s have by repeating lousy lies (goebel's like propaganda) they have taken the Australian people with them. They have made us a hard hearted mean spirited bunch of b******s as well. How they must despise us as electors who voted for a man most of us see as dishonest. Why did we do so - they threw us pieces of silver to vote for them and their barbaric policies. If they have to pay for their bastardry then so will we as these-I hesitate to call them men & women)ignoble parasites did it all in our names. Regards, numbat PS. Editor:I hope this is fit for printing if not please censor it and put it on your page.

Numbat, while I wouldn't have expressed it in quite the same way I agree with your sentiments. Hypocrasy triumpant in Howard's government. Howard will be remembered in history but not the way he would like - truth does eventually rise to the surface. Howard's inhumane policies will reveal him for the great manipulator he is.
Cheers

Do howard haters realise they lose all credibility in a rational debate when they compare the current government to nazi germany.

It is an insult to the intelligence and morality of the Australian public and worse an insult to the six million Jews who were gassed during World War II.

So hate John Howard and Amanda Vanstone if you wish, but please do not lose sight of what real evil and hatred has gone on before.

t.u.s

Helens article displays the problem of all government - the exercising of "compassion".
Such "human" expression is only viable as one individual to another. In the case of the Mrs Hu - a ministerial intercession which will be measured as valiant by some and criticised by others.
The issue of the pregannt ladies was one which would also merit "compassionate" intervention (particularly with the benefit of hindsight) - yet government did not extend it.
All this comes down to -

how far should we go to support the type of political system which operates in China today?

Do we expect greater democratic change if we trade or if we isolate it?

Answer the latter and you will answer the former and maybe resolve the problem which initiates people fleeing from such political systems.

the usual suspects - yes I agree - it is inappropriate for people to criticise "Australian authorities" for the actions of "Chinese authorities" - unless someone is going to make the argument that we should colonise China for its own moral good.

DAMN! this 'selective' sensitivity makes me even angrier than I was! of COURSE we ought to be showing consideration to this old woman and her family. why on earth we DONT show the same compassion, or anything even remotely like it, to all of those thousands of OTHER worthies irks me. as a nation we're seen throughout the region (let alone afghanistan etc) BY THE CITIZENS to be a bunch of racists. elitists. smug white people. I sooooo wish I were kidding. if the tsanami had happened at any other time of the year, we would have been upset, and would have responded, but nowhere near as much or as fast as when we were hit on boxing day; snug, safe, and replete in our post christmas feast torpor. our guilt kicked in big time as we sat in front of the boxing day test or watched the sydney to hobart, and we as a nation sent the signals. howard expressed, for once, what we all wanted to say. damn pity we cant get him to see that we want other signals sent, too. I'm not suggesting we should make it open slather, but how hard can it be for us to not find a position for refugees? why cant we give them shelter, employ them at basic rates for a year or two in 'nation building' eg pipeline construction etc, help with language skills and keep them in good health, and then give them permanent residency after they've put in the hard yakka? at least they'd have demonstrated that they want to be one of us and have done something to contribute, which is more than many of us do who're born here. I wonder if any of us could cope with what these people have to live through....I'd lash out against such perceived injustice. hard. mandatory detention without limits just has to stop. send a message that if you're illegal, then you IMMEDIATELY go back where you came from. if you're genuine, then we'll put you to work. hard work, but honest work. earning your piece of paper.

omygodnoitsitsitsyou - pointless rant - shame you could not bother to break it up into paragraphs - I might bother to read it if you did.

As I said - compassion is a uniquely human quality difficult, except possibly for exercise of direct ministerial discretion (and all the hum-hums that raises), for any bureauracy to dispense/ administer - because it relies on treating people as individuals and not as "objects" within an anonymous mass of similar objects