Post by ppyenews on Aug 22, 2007 6:51:14 GMT -5
Welcome to ‘Talkback Topic’ – I’m Phillip Pye.
There is no doubt about it that Politics is often seen as a dirty game riddled with corruption, lies, character assassinations, and sheer dishonesty. In fact you could almost say that Politicians are like a bunch of bananas, they all come in green, they all go out yellow and there’s rarely a straight one amongst the bunch of them. Labor Party Leader, ‘Kevin Rudd’ stole the media spotlight for a few days recently over a night out on the town in the USA and rightfully he took it on the chin. There again, Kevin Rudd has never professed to being a Saint and at the end of the day, was anybody hurt out of it? His excuse was that he had imbibed a little too freely that night and I guess he’s in no way the first to make such an error, and definitely won’t be the last.
The latest question being asked in Political circles is ‘what was the purpose of Prime Minister Howard’s recent meeting with leading members of the ‘Exclusive Brethren religious sect’? Both Prime Minister Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello have remained rather coy over the meetings with the extremist sect saying that it is not out of character for the Prime Minister to meet with heads of any religious faith as at the end of the day, they are all Australians. The fact is though that the group ran pro-government advertising at the last election, and has engaged in personal attacks and smear campaigns against anyone who is not an "extreme conservative". The same religious sect captured the headlines during the last New Zealand elections for it’s anti Greens and Labour Party campaigns.
Exclusive Brethren is a religious sect with scarcely 20,000 members in Australia. Although members of the Exclusive Brethren are forbidden to vote, they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to influence elections in the US, New Zealand and Australia, both federal and state. They have sought special treatment under superannuation laws, workplace laws and the Family Court, illegally transferred tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and allegedly covered up child molestation. The Exclusive Brethren is one of the strands of the Protestant family that developed a separate identity in the early 19th century. It's not the same as the Brethren or Open Brethren, though both groups share a common heritage, coming from John Darby and the Christian Plymouth Brethren.
At the end of the day however, one must question any religious sect that blatantly calls and considers itself exclusive as such ideals are against the principals of true Christianity. It is of real concern that this sect can say they can get a meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia on no notice basis and with no agenda. Any Australian citizen should be particularly concerned to find out whether the current election campaign was discussed between Mr Howard and members of the Exclusive Brethren Sect and quite frankly, if Prime Minister Howard is not prepared to divulge such information he obviously has much to hide.
I’m Phillip Pye.
There is no doubt about it that Politics is often seen as a dirty game riddled with corruption, lies, character assassinations, and sheer dishonesty. In fact you could almost say that Politicians are like a bunch of bananas, they all come in green, they all go out yellow and there’s rarely a straight one amongst the bunch of them. Labor Party Leader, ‘Kevin Rudd’ stole the media spotlight for a few days recently over a night out on the town in the USA and rightfully he took it on the chin. There again, Kevin Rudd has never professed to being a Saint and at the end of the day, was anybody hurt out of it? His excuse was that he had imbibed a little too freely that night and I guess he’s in no way the first to make such an error, and definitely won’t be the last.
The latest question being asked in Political circles is ‘what was the purpose of Prime Minister Howard’s recent meeting with leading members of the ‘Exclusive Brethren religious sect’? Both Prime Minister Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello have remained rather coy over the meetings with the extremist sect saying that it is not out of character for the Prime Minister to meet with heads of any religious faith as at the end of the day, they are all Australians. The fact is though that the group ran pro-government advertising at the last election, and has engaged in personal attacks and smear campaigns against anyone who is not an "extreme conservative". The same religious sect captured the headlines during the last New Zealand elections for it’s anti Greens and Labour Party campaigns.
Exclusive Brethren is a religious sect with scarcely 20,000 members in Australia. Although members of the Exclusive Brethren are forbidden to vote, they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to influence elections in the US, New Zealand and Australia, both federal and state. They have sought special treatment under superannuation laws, workplace laws and the Family Court, illegally transferred tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and allegedly covered up child molestation. The Exclusive Brethren is one of the strands of the Protestant family that developed a separate identity in the early 19th century. It's not the same as the Brethren or Open Brethren, though both groups share a common heritage, coming from John Darby and the Christian Plymouth Brethren.
At the end of the day however, one must question any religious sect that blatantly calls and considers itself exclusive as such ideals are against the principals of true Christianity. It is of real concern that this sect can say they can get a meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia on no notice basis and with no agenda. Any Australian citizen should be particularly concerned to find out whether the current election campaign was discussed between Mr Howard and members of the Exclusive Brethren Sect and quite frankly, if Prime Minister Howard is not prepared to divulge such information he obviously has much to hide.
I’m Phillip Pye.