wobbles “It's interesting that most of the responses have little to do with what Ellis actually said in the (excert from) his article but more about his right to say anything at all.

Crackpot, stooge, loony lefty, academic, non-academic and so on but not much about the body of the text.

. . . .than REAL stooges like like Pauline Hanson, Alan Jones or Andrew Bolt. (Winner of the UnAustralian of the Year Award - congratulations Andrew, well done.).”

I think that “REAL stooges like like Pauline Hanson, Alan Jones or Andrew Bolt. (Winner of the UnAustralian of the Year Award - congratulations Andrew, well done.).”

Has little to do with the “body of the text”

and

Simply because you disagree with the views of Hanson, Jones and Bolt, it was you who brought up the right “to say anything at all.”

Now, is that 5 day old kipper or the irrepressible whiff of hypocrisy that I smell?

Actually pragma, I think the real cause of the problems we are having today is the tendency for governments to blatantly mislead and lie and for everybody to just accept their actions without question.
It's the responsibility of all citizens, particularly in a democracy, to keep their leaders under pressure to do the right thing and for the right reasons.

I can't see "anarchy spreading across the globe" from a second-rate struggling middle eastern country who posed no real threat to the west or even it's neighbours, despite the media spin it has been subjected to.

It's more likely to come from the growing global dissatisfaction of the actions of a powerful rogue state that wants to rule the world and decide who should lead each country and under what circumstances.

Or perhaps we should do what governments and religions want us to do -just keep quiet, follow orders and don't ask any questions because they know what is best for us.

Col Rouge, although I disagree with much of what Bolt et al have to say I still listen to their arguments and don't just dismiss them out of hand. Nevertheless I still feel that they have as much an agenda as anybody else but with massively greater influence. My remarks were a response to the tendency for people to play the man and not the ball when the law or the facts aren't on their side.

Hi wobbles,

You said ""It's more likely to come from the growing global dissatisfaction of the actions of a powerful rogue state that wants to rule the world and decide who should lead each country and under what circumstances""

And that is the main problem. Hussein and bin Laden were used by the US to serve 'their' purpose and once used, they were simply dismissed. How long before the 'new' people they have shuffled into power to serve their purpose before they too are dismissed ?

It has been both interesting and depressing to read the intemperate replies berating Bob Elliot [and me] for daring to expect our leaders to obey laws and behave with decency.
I realise that religious adherents are expected to obey their leader’s dictates unquestioningly – using faith instead of reason, but when did that attitude apply to our all too humanly frail elected leaders? Who decided they should be beyond the law?
Patriotism is commendable only if one’s support is for the welfare of the country, not its temporary leaders.
A leader who has no concern for the lives of innocent foreigners, will also not be too concerned about the welfare of his/her own citizens. I've been reprimanded for ‘biting the hand that fed me.’ That is stupid. I fed the politicians through my taxes.
This government has been credited on these pages with the fact that I am free to express my opinions. But this is false. It was earlier governments of Australia that tried to create a fair, just and tolerant society. This government has virtually dismantled the social security network, made it necessary to work longer hours, repealed most of the laws granting us freedom of expression and association, created concentration camps to house refugees, undermined the tenuous secularity of the state, undermined the judiciary, left one of it’s citizens to rot in a foreign concentration camp, gained office each time on the back of egregious lies, made us the lick-spittle of the U.S.A., and refuses to do anything at all about the greatest threat to life on earth – global warming.
Support them if you must, but it does you no credit.

When will Bush, Blair and Howard be tried for Crimes Against Humanity?
I will be castigated for this, but admire the Irony;

On Judgment day, so Hold your breath until then; If anything It would save Australian ; Hard Working –Thinking- and productive people some Looted billions in Legal WAFTAM’s fees.
And besides , there a a few thousand people ( And Climing) in your catagoury that will face anti intelligent charges before we weed out any other for perpetuating such stupid thoughts.

Your entire program is a war crime, and a crime against humanity.

Bravo ybgirp!

What ever happened the old Aussie ideal of "keep the bastards honest"

Whnever Bush, Blair or Howard say anything these days all I see are the nodding of the sheeples heads, like puppets on a string. People fail to understand that the 'War on Terror' is simply another means for the governments to gain more control over the people and bring back archaic laws that our ancestors fought to do away with.

Welcome back to the Dark Ages!