There will always be areas where we can agree to disagree, Vanilla. If only my cynicism - and I freely recognize it as such - were not reinforced every day by the politicians themselves.

In fact, I would assert that the champion cynic has to be the politician themself.

How else can anyone, with a perfectly straight face, deny that they will be continuing to suck on the public teat, right up until the moment they decide otherwise?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23399872-601,00.html

I am not alone in my view, by the way

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I’ve come to realize there is a very close resemblance to the first.” Ronald Reagan

"Under every stone lurks a politician" Aristophanes

"Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, politicians." Dick Armey

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office" Aesop

>>Your view is way too cynical to be true<<

If only. There may actually be the odd politician who is motivated by the common good, as opposed to their own desire for advancement and riches, but if there are, they keep a very low profile.

Pauline can be simply summed up by the "tiger" bit in Apoc Now

"dont get off the boat, absolutely Godamm right, unless you go all the way - Kurtz got off the boat ..."

PC by nature is corrupt [eg Costello taking our money and running] so to go against PC at any one time is to invite a load of sh** to fall upon one, no matter talk good or not

But all of a sudden thousands of people were turning up to her meetings and she had the landslide in Qld and frankly I dont think she was ready for the attention, thinking orig of just pecking away in the background like a Don Chipp in drag

Bazz

The politically correct "seem to totally control the Greens and Democrats a significant part of the Labour and and Liberal parties.”

Gee, that’s a lot of people there, Bazz. Did it ever occur to you that you might be the one who’s out of step here?

Gibo

“Thanks Bazz. The Greens in particular have some really weird policies. Many seem to be gay or pro-gay which will weaken their strength...which is good. Even today I believe most of the ordinary folk dont like the gay movement.”

It only takes the mention of Pauline Hanson to flush the bigotry out of the woodwork. Just a few posts in and we’ve already given gays, the Greens and the so-called “chattering classes” a bashing. Who knows how long the list will be by the end of the thread!

Rehctub

“One policy that I did like, but don't fully understand, was her 'transaction tax' policy. From the little I did understand it sounded pretty good to me.”

This was a flat tax which by its nature is regressive and disproportionately hurtful to low-income earners. You can be sure Pauline didn’t understand it either!

I’m surprised to see people not necessarily supporting Hanson’s policies applauding her for having a go. Her “having a go” helped set back a whole decade of government policy. As pointed out by Foxy, Howard was able to sit back and let her divide the country with her outrageous accusations without him having to get his hands dirty at all. He just coasted in on her popularity and adopted many of her policy positions. The taint of Hansonism is still with us. If you doubt it just watch this thread.

Bronwyn

Anyone has the right to start a political party and say whatever they like (within the bounds of various laws).

Don't blame Hanson for John Howard's adoption of her policies, blame John Howard.

The word *eximosses* does not exist as has been proven however I am familiar with a couple of words that sound similiar.

First there is *ecchymosis* which is a fancy word for a bruise.

Or there is *exosmosis* which is a flow towards a solution of lower concentration.

Got that out of my system now.

or echynosis is when you cant stop sctatching your nose

please explain!