*power to influence public opinion, which in a "democracy" is the ultimate power.*

That ultimate power as you call it, is really in the hands of the
PM and treasurer right now, for they have virtually unlimited access
to the press and appear on TV nearly every day, rolling out their
spin.

Greed for political power, as our pollies do it, can be extremely
damaging and self serving.

Right now we have a problem, in that Swann and Rudd are playing
politics, the miners are doing arithmetic and pointing out that
the figures don't add up.

Swan is simply distorting the figures, to suit his agenda. He's
now claiming that out of the increase in coal prices, companies
are only paying 10% and keeping the rest. That is simply not
correct. 10% is royalties to Qld. Another 30% goes to the Federal
Govt in the form of company tax, so Govts end with 40%. Now
they want closer to 60%. Its not unreasonable for miners to
point that out, when our pollies so distort the figures.

While the world mourns the willful destruction of the Gulf of Mexico and ponders the unknown ecological consequences, the environmental carnage and/or human rights’ abuses, committed by Australia’s hit and run miners, here and in faraway lands can no longer be concealed – Ghana, Peru, Indonesia, Philippines, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Nigeria, Argentina, South Africa etc etc.

Class actions and allegations of bribery, injuries, genocide, murders, community displacements, environmental destruction of lands and rivers, chemical poisonings etc abound while Australia’s merchants of greed pay their mining directors multi-millions of dollars annually whilst threatening to sack our workers.

Author and SMH finance journalist, James Kirby wrote:

‘Unless you have someone enforcing the law, the bad guys go about their business undeterred. In effect, it means that if you have a brown paper bag of unmarked bills under a full moon on the beach at Far Away Island you don't really have to worry about the ''Australian'' regulator. As for the local regulator … they might just be coming down the beach to meet you.

‘But you won't find Australian regulators doing anything here. The Rio scandal was uncovered by officials in China. The BHP case was started by America's powerful Securities and Exchange Commission.’

There’s always been something rotten in the state of down under whose mining barons pillage, plunder and pollute with impunity. Now they circle like buzzards, licking their chops - arrogantly confident that the current government will stagger into oblivion.

*While the world mourns the willful destruction of the Gulf of Mexico*

Ah the melodrama. So they did it deliberately? Tell me who did?
Bad judgement yes, mistakes made yes, but hardly willful.

The author writes that among those who will benefit from the tax are
'various other groups who rely on public spending. ' Maybe at the next CopenHagen fiasco we can fly 1000 delegates instead of hundreds, we can give shonksers a pay rise for installing pink bats or employ even more public servants in Canberra which no doubt will benefit the pensioners (not). If the Government was slightly trustworthy in its expenditure they would have a little more support. The worse Government for spending on record enthuses no confidence even among many of its supporters.

Messrs Mooney & Penter rant against the mining companise advertising campaign and donating money to the Liberal Party but conveniently forget the massive amounts of money spent by the Union movement in advertisements & donations to the Labor party both State & Federally - all without any approval of their members!!

REF

This is a labor party political broadcast.