Family First WTF??

[Djinn]

It wants to extend government-funded counselling for couples considering divorce and women considering having an abortion. (also like to promote the total myth about abortions giving women breast cancer)

Islam was an illegal religion because the Koran preached violence against Christians and Jews, ""The Koran contradicts Christian doctrine in a number of places and, under the blasphemy law, is therefore illegal," - according to FF # 2 Vic senate candidate Danny Naliah

their supporters atleast think "lesbians and witches' should be burned yet the Liberals (no surprise there) AND the ALP and Democrats preferenced these freaks befoer the Greens handing them the deciding vote in the Senate and most likely voting with Howard on everything as long as he throws them a few bones.

We've watched as Howard has succesively demonised Asian immigrants, Indigenous Australians, refugees and now it looks like homosexuality, women and Muslims (again) will next on the hit list.

If FF had campaigned more honestly and been more open about their agenda they wouldn't have got into the Senate right??? please tell me that Australians didn't willingly and knowingly vote in fundies

When freepville thinks someone is a good guy....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083523/posts?page=27

[foreigncorrespondent]

1. God!

They really give me the willies!!!

[gemini_liberal]

2. This sounds terrible, and I know this will probably be the only time I say

this, but I do hope that the Coalition can take the Senate... ok, before you throw daggers at me, I of course would prefer that the Greens had the balance of power, but if I had to have the choice between Coward having a rubber stamp and these fundie nutjobs having the balance of power - I would unfortunately choose the former...

Uggh, I feel so dirty....

[rooboy]

3. They aren't Family First, they are the Assemblies of God...

and are just as toxic as their US counterparts. I went to an AOG church a couple of times in the late 90's, and they were selling The Clinton Chronicles (Falwell's conspiracy video) in the foyer.

Sick and misled people, unfortunately. As silly as this seems, it's actually better that FF have the deciding vote rather than giving the deciding seat to a liberal. At least there's SOME prospect of dissent...

[anakie]

4. Howard will give them anything they want

to get his agenda through the senate. Abortion will be back on the agenda. Gay rights put back years.

I am so disappointed that the Greens did so poorly. From hopes of having the balance of power to being a side show. FF according to Antony Green on the ABC election site is even calling Christine Milne's senate seat in Tasmania now for FF, as well as a potentially third member in Qld - either them or the Nats.

What could have been. Bob Brown is just so uninspiring when he talks. In some ways it is such a pity that sell out Peter Garret didn't run for the Greens. At least then they would have had a person with a bit of media savvy to focus on and assuming he could inspire the electorate the way he did when he ran for the Nuclear Disarmament Party the Greens may have got the sixth senate seat in each state.

[Djinn]

5. Abortion will be too hard for them

the fundies in US (far more powerful than ours) can't get in outlawed there so I can't see many politicians here trying to restrict it, there may be some sop thrown to FF like extra mandatory counselling or something.

I think it'll be stuff like further delaying equal rights for gay people, funding for religious education and the further demonisation of Muslims (tho Howard never needed any help on that score)

[RFKHumphreyObama]

6. This is partially due to the fact that the ALP and Democrats

preferenced FF ahead of the Greens in some of the key states at this federal election. And I know several ALP supporters who are absolutely furious that they voted (1) in the Senate box above the line without realizing where their preferences were going. I did know and that's why, as an ALP supporter, I numbered my boxes 1 to 78 and made sure that the Greens came second to Labor.

This is part of the problem with the ALP these days -some the factional powerbrokers and party strategists consider the Greens to be even more of an enemy than the conservative side of politics and thus engage in grubby preference deals to keep them out of power. I remember watching "Stateline" a few weeks ago and hearing about a local council where the Labor and Liberal parties did a power-sharing deal between them so as to isolate the newly-elected Green councillors and marginalize any influence they would have on policy-making

I'm a paid-up and dedicated Labor Party member. But putting the conservatives over the Greens is just wrong IMHO and it leads to consequences such as we have now -where parties such as FF are allowed to gain a Senate seat in places such as Victoria despite receiving a smaller proportion of the vote than the Greens.

I disagree about Bob Brown. I know that he sounds uninspiring when he talks but I think the party is a much better position with him in charge than it would be under other circumstances. He may lack personality but he has deep convictions and he has often been the sole voice of dissent in an environment where both parties have chosen to endorse the status quo

[Polemonium]

7. Exactly Labor and the Dems lost the plot

Too busy with strategy, and not enough time spent on standing up for what is right. I'm truely at a loss as to how they could even consider preferencing FF.

[Djinn]

8. the ALP put the Greens last for much the same reason the Libs do

because they are a basically conservative group who believe in the primacy of big business and seem to have very little problem with the widening of the income gap.