Dear Individual,

It looks like there's a lot of wishful thinking going around in the world of politics today. Makes you wonder though what's really going on and what's going to happen next? It seems that they've all thrown the book of rules out the window - and now it's every person for themselves. Gee whiz.

King Hazza

>> Tony Abbot IS a psychopath and a moron <<

And that's an oxymoron. Psychopaths have excellent verbal skills and above average intelligence, they do lack emotional intelligence however.

Therefore, T Abbott is just your garden variety moron.

As for Julia - I really am having difficulties with her - not what she appeared to be.

Finally BOTH major parties have lost their way morally, and I don't see either side returning from the land of the emotionally bereft any time soon.

emotionally bereft
Ammonite,
Aren't you a little harsh there ? Julia shed some fairly big tears during the floods & Anna Bligh almost topped Julia's effort. A person has to have some emotion to get the idea of producing tears for the cameras.

Dear Individual,

Come on. How can you doubt their sincerity? It was a dreadful time for the entire nation. Anna Bligh was tremendously affected - she's a
Queenslander after all and these were her constituents. She behaved
beautifully, took control, and in my opinion was beyond reproach in the very difficult situation. And, for that matter, I don't doubt that
our Prime Minister was genuinely affected as well by what she saw.
How could anyone not be?

However, the Opposition leader in his budget reply speech was at the height of hypocrisy when he said he was reaching out to "police, nurses, the fighters, teachers," all of whom are dependent on direct
or indirect public funding. They would be the first to be out of work when an Abbott government cuts public spending.

Lexi,
How can you make such statements ? You're simply expressing your dislike for anyone that wants to & can do better than the people you'd prefer. I understand your loyalty but don't you think the evidence is all around us that you should seriously contemplate questioning your loyalty to these people who clearly aren't managing well at all. From what I have heard Anna Bligh is still hanging onto a lot of millions from the flood appeal. Doesn't she know that people desperately need help or is she just trying to collect more interest to pay for her treasure's incompetence.
You nor I have any reason upon which to base your assumption that he would put Police, Nurses & firefighters out of work. What economic sense would that make ? Clearly you object to anyone upstaging your academic friends in the field of competence.

Dear Individual,

I'm judging Ann Bligh by her behaviour during the floods and it was in response to your questioning her tears (and the PM's) during that
time.

As for my judgements regarding the leader of the Opposition. Those were made as a result of his budget reply speech - in which Mr Abbot
made it quite clear that his economics is to sustain and expand the Howard government's middle-class welfare. Mathematically, that means there would have to be deep cuts in all other areas of government spending - health, education, transport, security and all other public goods which provide material benefits and strengthen our economy.

If we are to compete in a tough world we need to invest in education, public health, infrastructure, environmental repair and industry adjustment - but these public investments would be sacrificed to sustain the Howard-Abbott weelfare system.

In his criticism of the Government's mild retraction of middle-class welfare Abbott would have us believe that a household income of $150,000 is commonplace. It is correct that many people, in around 45-55 age group enjoy high incomes for a few years, but the inconvenient reality is that only 17 percent of household have incomes of $150,000 or more and rthe median household income is about $74,000. We're yet to hear what Mr Abbott's National Party colleagues, elected by many farmers think about $150,000 as an income benchmark.