John Howard misleads public? (1 Viewer)

[Not-That-Bright]

lol from all reports it'll be a while before interest rates rise still...
i guess u guys will just have to wait before u can bitch about the tiny rise in interest rates.

 

[Scanorama]

lol from all reports it'll be a while before interest rates rise still...
i guess u guys will just have to wait before u can bitch about the tiny rise in interest rates.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/18/1108609385183.html
http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/20/1108834648690.html
It can be as quick as next month.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

They meet next week.
I believe the saying was "you can trust me to keep interest rates low" or something.

 

[berghousemaa]

My two cents.
Howard only lied if he knew beforehand the Dutch would pull out. We don't know this so can't say for sure. However the fact that he admits it is an unpopular decision seems to confirm to me that it was a decision taken only recently.
About the WMD's, doesn't the fact that Howard,Blair and Bush were so insistent they were there seem to confirm that they actually thought they were there.
Also 450 troops is not really a significant increase.
We also have to look at the attitude of the troops being sent. There is an overwhelming amount of volunteers to go, so the army would like to participate. Thus the arguement that we should be protecting our troops doesn't entirely hold mustard.
Based on thta logic, the only reason you could object would be becasue you are against the war.
Now regardless of whether you supported the invasion, everyone should hope for a reconstructed Iraq, and the only way of achieving stability atm is to increase the troop presence.

Finally to the person who wrote that we are fighting this war at the cost of our freedom and right to speech blah blah blah is going a bit overboard.
Every comic in the country pans the govt, every paper pans the govt, you yourself are able to pan the govt on this forum. We aren't losing our freedom at all.

 

[alphatango]

They meet next week.
I believe the saying was "you can trust me to keep interest rates low" or something.

Low, not static. Interest rates *will* rise, it's just the government's job to moderate the effect of the business cycle. And that's what they'll be doing.

 

[Jonathan A]

Who believes that John Howard has broken his election promise by sending troops to Iraq? It was announced last night that he will increase the amount of troops by 450 simply to support the country's move to democracy.

Discuss.

THere are some problems with the anti-war stance. Firstly John Howard is committing more troops to PROTECT Japanese engineers who are trying to rebuild the country. Australia is apart of a protection group and this is something to be proud of, it's not an offensive.

Secondly i find it amazing how bludging little war protestors have banners suggesting that Howard is forcing our 'kids' into war. Well they are not children or kids, and many of them are keen on going and have no problem with this. People don't seem to realise that, just because these war protestors are made up of some no-ambition, lazy bums, many without jobs and on the dole, doesn't mean we should all join them.

 

[Jonathan A]

Howard lies to the public. First he insisted there are Mass Destructive Weapons in Iraq before the war and during the war he insisted they will find it, just a matter of time. But recently, after the US report came out and said they found nothing about the weapons yet more troops are sent.

While Howard uses the money on the troops in Iraq, the money could have well spent on other things, such as education (from public schools to HECS), health (Medicare funding), and some other areas which can benefit all the Australian, not pleasing the American government.

The interest rate is about to rise very soon, I wonder how he will defend it.

Thats another reason and reminds me who to vote for in the next election.

Why not just add the money could go to Public Transport and Policing initiatives too while you are at it. Keep the Federal and State issues seperate mate.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I think most people feel that since we are in it we should go through with it.

The point was that Howard again, as usual, made a representation to the Australian people and then decided to break it. He does this mysteriously much more often than anyone else.

OF course the Australian people seem to think it's ok to misrepresent and trust Howard on the issue. OR perhaps they are too busy watching better homes and Gardens...who knows.

Asquithian that is because they believe that the state government isn't managing their budget properly.
According to you the state government could never do anything wrong, because the federal government should always be there to bail them out

edit: and he wasn't saying if you don't sign up you're a lazy bum, he was saying that protestors in general are lazy bums. But then again you think that people on the right are stupid, religious fanatic, rich people.

 

[Korn]

It takes a smart person to adapt to change, and he is responding to a change in the situation, he is doing the right thing, if he and America were to pull out Iraq would become a failed state and a nursery for terrorism

 

[Korn]

John Howard always misleads the public, unfourtunatley, most of the public doesnt seem to care.

what really gets me, is when some people do seem to care, they are immediatley labelled "bleeding heart liberals", the "late class" or "chardonay sipping socialists". People like Miranda Devine bitch and whine about how bad Howard UNsupports are, when the great majority of us are actually trying to keep some semblance of democracy and common decency in this country.

our human rights record is appalling, and anybody who criticies is immediately labelled UNaustralian, which 2 seem people seems to be terrorism.

at what cost are we fighting this "war on terror", i'll tell u at what cost, and the cost of OUR freedom, OUR democracy, OUR free speech, OUR human rights....in the mad dash to stop terrorism, we've done exactly what they wanted. destroyed our democracy that the REAL terrorists hate so much.

yet Howard continues to be in power, despite the flack i'll cop for saying this, i feel it has to be said: right now i am ashamed to be an Australian Citizen, and a British Citizen and an AMerican Citizen (yes, i happen to be all three), the world needs to wake up, and take back it's freedom, and not stand for misleading and hiding behind "national security", and respect the basic human decency that we should all be afforded

Were u born in america, and/or one of ur parents is american and one is British

 

[Not-That-Bright]

It's possible it's for political reasons, but if we were to listen to you it's impossible for the state government to ever mis-manage their budget because it always comes back to. "Well the federal government should give them more money".

I have no problem with protesters, i was just defending Jonathan however i think it's wrong for him to assume that all protesters are stupid, lazy bums. Alot of them are at the height of academia.

 

[Korn]

I see the violence today coming from two different groups:
- The people who attack the occupying forces or coalition in an attempt to get them to leave.
- The Iraqis (most likely Sunnis) who attack the Shi'ites because they are annoyed of the shift in the balance of power inside Iraq.

While i dont support Howard's decision to send more troops, the subject of foreign troops is a very difficult matter to discuss. The Shi'ites need protection since a strong Iraqi force hasn't been fully established yet. However, these foreign troops become targets for violence too.

And yes Howard did mislead the public. In the bulletin magazine he said that he would not increase the number of troops by a significant proportion or something. Also does anyone remember a few years back, i think Howard said Australia wont participate in the reconstruction of Iraq?

Isnt he only sending 450 troops how is this a significant proprotion its isnt even a full battalion

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I have a feeling you'd find with a liberal state government, there wouldn't be extra grant money.. more state liberals would be willing to give up control to the federal government which would then fund it.
I'm not claiming that labor state governments should relinquish power to the federal government, that's just how i see it.

 

[Korn]

Howard lies to the public. First he insisted there are Mass Destructive Weapons in Iraq before the war and during the war he insisted they will find it, just a matter of time. But recently, after the US report came out and said they found nothing about the weapons yet more troops are sent.

While Howard uses the money on the troops in Iraq, the money could have well spent on other things, such as education (from public schools to HECS), health (Medicare funding), and some other areas which can benefit all the Australian, not pleasing the American government.

The interest rate is about to rise very soon, I wonder how he will defend it.

Thats another reason and reminds me who to vote for in the next election.

THERE WERE WMD'S IN IRAQ, its just that Saddam sold them before he was caught, thats why he had so much CASH on him when he was found, if it was not a recent income then it would be in banks or capital! And America knew he had the weapons cause they were the ones who supplied him, in the 80s.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

THERE WERE WMD'S IN IRAQ, its just that Saddam sold them before he was caught, thats why he had so much CASH on him when he was found, if it was not a recent income then it would be in banks or capital! And America knew he had the weapons cause they were the ones who supplied him, in the 80s.

That's crazy

 

[Korn]

That's crazy

It was done so, in order to save american lives, as they wanted Iraq and Iran to go to war against each other, which they did. Its just when Iraq went after Kuwait that America got the shits and went to protect Kuwait.

 

[lukebennett]

Who believes that John Howard has broken his election promise by sending troops to Iraq? It was announced last night that he will increase the amount of troops by 450 simply to support the country's move to democracy.

Discuss.

i think it could be taken as misleading. however in the circumstances, more troops have withdrawn from other countries. it would be misleading if these circumstances were forseen but i guess he could have said that it depended on future circumstances. he shouldnt have made that promise imo.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

he didn't say "I promise we will not send more troops to australia" he said "we have no plans for future deployment increases".
They still didn't untill a short time ago, first when the british asked alexander downer he said no... however after the writen request from tony blair and the japanese came through the decision was made to increase troop numbers.

 

[Vangineer]

whoever answered "NO"
is stupid. Think rational!!!

 

[chookyn]

didn't he actually promise there wouldn't be any dramatic increase in troops sent to Iraq? IMO 450 troops isn't that big an increase... so he wasn't lying outright.. although it was misleading.

johnny has a track record of being misleading - like with the GST