What a silly, spiteful little Balmain basket weaver this writer is. "Payback is a bitch". Good grief! Imagine feeling so inferior that you feel people are talking down to you. Your problem, not Johns, girly!
It is typical of the general lack of respect displayed by gen Yers such as Emma, though. Thinking you know more than your elders and betters. Hopefully she'll realise what a twat she's been in about 10 years.
That aside, I believe this elected government will have a honeymoon of 12-18 months before the unions start rattling cages and sabres.
Kevin won't be the answer to your prayers Emma. First decide what you want and then work out what YOU have to do to achieve your aims. You won't get anywhere, by the way, UNLESS you help others get what they require.So sorry, you're going to have to do some more work to get to your utopia.
Good fortune on your voyage of knowledge. I've a feeling you're going to need it.

tRAKKA, who were you addressing? The author of the article? As a mature babyboomer may I suggest that before you give a lecture on respect to elders to anybody of a younger generation at least know the name of the person you are lecturing. Especially if you are going to resort to disrespectful name calling and sneering comments.

Respect has to be modelled. Don't you have any children?

Truth Will Out

Urge Julia Gillard to do her stuff now in the Humanities.

Re’ recent news in our 'West Australian' about Israel illegally joining the nuclear club back in 1969.

Cannot believe as the article states that that Americans did not give permission.

Report that both Nixon and Kissinger were against it sounds like a deliberate lie.

If true that we let tiny Israel become a nuclear pariah power in the Middle East, with US permission to strike larger nations if needed, it should be regarded as one of the tragedies of modern history.

About Iran, said to possibly face an Israeli initial ariel attack next year, with American raids to follow? Though Iran should be able to stand up to America conventionally like Vietnamese cities also held out, looks like Iran will be suffering nuclear strikes from both America and Israel.

All this while Iran has never attacked another country in the Middle East, the US having broken just about every law in the book.

The latest piracy act by America is on right now in Iraq, the local Shias whom the US mainly went into save from Saddam’s Sunnis now look about to become America’s sworn enemies because they are related to Iran - while what’s left of Saddam’s crack 200,000 Sunni military force, looks like soon to be put on the US military payroll to help Cheney in his threatened attack on Iran.

It makes one wonder what will be eventually written about this stage of the Iraq War with so much muzzled by the media.

Now back to Mordecai - if the report is true that the US did not give permission for Israel to go nuclear, we might well ask who did with the UN apparently blacked out during this period?

So we are left with Mordecai trying to do the most Ethical Honourable thing towards world opinion, a poor bugger us cowards have let be virtually locked up forever for something the Israeli leaders should be the ones doing life for?

Come on Julia, please do something about it.

Cheers - BB, WA.

Dear yvonne,

How right you are! Respect has to be modelled and Clems parents weren't real flash apparently. Apologies to the Emmas out there. It's Clementine who's behaving like a twat...
I stand by my comments, nevertheless.
Her inferiority complex, resulting in, and please excuse the paraphrasing, "...being talked down to..." is hardly the mark of an objective or mature thinker. Prime requisites for reportage one would think...or is it OK for reporters to be vindictive?
I admit to a degree of ridicule in my comments... alright a lot of ridicule but I believe the dosage was less potent than the potentially orgasmic frenzy young Clem got herself into in imagining watching John being dragged kicking and screaming. Whichever you decide is the more disrespectful picture is OK with me!
I sincerely do hope that she looks back in 10 years and cringes. She might then take stock of the previous 10 years, realise what's involved in meeting the passing years just in her personal life and ask herself the question, "Could I, in addition to all that I've done and am now doing, enter the political arena and lead a country out of economic doldrums, shake it up, take some unpopular decisions, stay the course and be gracious in spite of success or failure?"
Smart money says that she won't. The ones who can keep their counsel and adopt an attitude of there being no bad examples just good examples of what to model and good examples of what NOT to model will probably still be providing her with opportunities to write... if she can find the time...
Defend her all you like Yvonne. I'm sorry that you beacme upset. If you look hard enough though, I think you'll find that you're critiquing the wrong person...
Have a nice day ;)

A funny thing happened on the way to this reply.

I started out incensed by the postings from Leigh and Hasbeen and others. Tired of dealing with such calumnies from the Boomers, I wrote a rant full of vitriol and intergenerational malice.

Then an interesting thought occurred to me- two actually.

Firstly, I decided that I wasn't really interested in being that guy. Denunciation of irrational comments is ultimately a pointless exercise.

But I do want to make one point.

As a fully paid up member of Gen-X, I find it hilarious to see the same slanders leveled against Gen-Y as against my own. What amazes me is where these comments come from: our parents and our grandparents. (Leigh- Boomers, not Gen-X, raised Gen-Y). You raised us, you educated us, taught us right from wrong, created the society we were raised in. If there's something wrong with our upbringing, why the hell are you looking any further than the mirror?

Nuff said.

Most importantly, I realized such criticisms from the Boomers are now effectively irrelevant. Kevin Rudd will likely be the last Boomer Prime Minister- especially if the ALP holds on for three terms.

That's a pretty momentous thought.

Over the next several years the Boomers are going to make a mass exit from business. While they will still remain a large voting block, their political capital will be vastly reduced.

With the exit of such a large slice of the workforce, both Gen-X and Y are going to be moving up the corporate ladder making both significant targets for the parties.

Is it any wonder then, that young people like Clementine feel that politicians are starting to talk to them, rather that over or at them. Was it a cynical vote buying exercise by Rudd? Maybe- but no worse that anything Howard engaged in.

In the words of Agent Smith: you've had your time. This is our world now- this is our time.

Howard is out and K.Rudd is in da house.

The post-Boomer world is dawning.

What an amusing little intergenerational spat this is. On the one side we have a girl who has obviously only recently won her journalistic spurs and on the other we have a group of what can only be described as dinosaurs bellowing rage at her presumption for having done so.

It's not often that we get treated to such a display of pique from those who should be old enough to know better. Truly funny stuff,

Oh, BTW, Howard's still gone and I still say "good riddance to bad rubbish". I hope that Labour lives up the hope invested in them, because if there is one thing this country needs after years of oppressive dishonesty from the Federal government it's a bit of positivity and a sense that people are actually important - not merely economic units for the exploitation of Corporations as the Howard view had it.