Good advice

Posted on September 5, 2005 by acb

No: better than that. The best advice you could ever give your children. (from Making light).

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One Response to Good advice

  1. Rod Olsen says:
    September 6, 2005 at 4:19 pm

    If only people in the United States would objectively read your brilliant critique on President Bush jnr’s unforgivable disinterest and tardy Administration response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

    However, as always when someone from outside makes constructively-critical comments about US Federal Government policy failures and inequity, I expect most US respondents to your column will just reply with cries of “anti-Americanism”.

    Indeed, many in the US – who themselves have criticised President Bush jnr – will rally to his defence from “yet another anti-American foreigner, ungrateful for all we have done for [actually ‘to’] him and his country”. Just as they condemn as “Left Wing” or “Communist” those US Columnists offering measured criticism of President Bush jnr in US East Coast, or other ‘quality’, newspapers .

    This is the great enigma of modern Reactionary politics

    [I deliberately use ‘Reactionary” as these governments seek not just to block change as ‘Conservatives’ do but work strenuously to re-institute the old inequalities as “World’s Best Practice”, or “Economically Rresponsible”]

    – =those in the lower socio-economic strata of society suffer most under modern Reactionary politics, yet;

    – they are often its greatest electoral supporters.

    > It was so under Prime Minister Thatcher in the UK

    > It has been true under successive Reactionary US Presidents, and

    > It continues to be true of my fellow Australians and our “tricksy, mean” Prime Minister (as one of his, former, senior Party officals recently labelled him).

    So, tragically for the poorer US victims of Hurricane Katrina, they will suffer most during the months – even years – of reconstruction. Yet they will continue to vote for those with policies designed to cut welfare, increasing these victims’ suffering, to pay for greater tax cuts to the most wealthy in the US.

    Greyollie
    Canberra, Australia

    PS: Please, pleae, please keep up your invaluable “The Wrap: A worm’s eye view” columns.

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