Mood:
incredulousTopic: big media
The insulation controversy marches on, sadly. (The picture above is more to symbolise the role of greed in this situation than anything else.)
But we almost choked to read Glenn Milne run this opening line today in The Australian:
"more Australians have died as a result of the Rudd government's home insulation program, "administered" by Environment Minister Peter Garrett, than lost their lives in the Iraq war"
Now what the hell is the point of this weird compare and contrast?
Put aside 500K -1M deaths in Iraq, human beings but not Australians: The grotesque insensitivity puts xenophobia on a whole new level. Indeed 250-500K Sydney residents marched against the Iraq war in Feb 2003 exactly because they feared this disgusting outcome.
So what about the war 'in Iraq' that visited Australia with terrorist bombings in Bali #2? Jakarta hotel bombings? How many Australians killed there?
[Bali #1 with mass fatalities of Australians was in October 2002 some 5 months before the Iraq war commenced in March 2003. Bali #1 is probably better understood as Australia's 9/11 - attacked by Islamist fanatics, but then PM Howard was loudly posturing too about invading Iraq with POTUS Bush so one wonders the dynamic there. Refer Opposition leader Crean here 26 Jan 2003 : in "Crean Says Howard Has 'Gate-Crashed' Iraq War And Ignored UN" some 2 months prior to the invasion].
Australian blood has being spilled copiously have no doubt. At least in part, and arguably mainly, because of the Howard-Abbott Govt eager participation in the mad Iraq war.
