Cut & Run Good, Moronic Sloganeering Bad!

I’m sure we are all agreed that the next politician who uses the slogan Cut and Run should be taken by the next extraordinary rendition flight to the nearest secret CIA torture camp, there to have his or her human rights violated with a liberal dose of cruel and unusual punishment. This should preferably involve hoods, dogs and electrodes.

But what about this slogan? What does it actually mean?

The answer is that it is a nautical expression, which means almost the opposite of what its users apparently think it means.

Both meanings refer to actions taken by the captain of a smaller ship, who finds himself in conflict with a larger, faster vessel. The most likely meaning is cutting the ropes that hold the sails, so that the ship can run before the wind. The less likely meaning is cutting the anchor rope to gain a quick start.

Whichever of these alternative meanings you choose, Cut and Run means overcoming a tactical disadvantage by taking a bold strategic initiative. It has nothing to do with retreat, and nothing to do with cowardice. It is a bold move. Only with a degree of stupidity can this expression be used the way the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Australia have used it.

As is often the case, popular culture helps us to explain the behaviour of our politicians. In the film The Princess Bride, the character who regards himself as a criminal genius finds himself constantly exclaiming “Inconceivable” whenever one of his plans comes unstuck. Finally the giant, who is supposed to be the stupid member of the gang, suggests to him “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”

The Princess Bride is a fantasy adventure movie. Bush and Howard are political leaders. It’s a frightening thought.

Democracy Rules

I woke this morning to two news stories, which suggested to me that this was a red-letter day for democracy.

First came the news from Budapest, where the Hungarian people were celebrating the people’s attempted uprising against oppression 50 years ago. The Hungarian government, which had admitted lying to its people to win a recent election, joined in the festivities by using tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators. You couldn’t write that as satire, it has to be true!

Next came the story from right here in Australia, where a government Senator, George Brandis, from Queensland (where else?) wants to do a spot of book-burning. It seems that the good Senator is not content with the government’s current project to take Australia back to the 1950s. He wants to go back two decades earlier.

Apparently the Good Shepherd Catholic College in Mount Isa has been allowing its students to have access to a book called 100 Greatest Tyrants. What is wrong with that, I hear you ask. Well, among the tyrants listed in the book is Senator Brandis’ political hero, Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Bob Menzies.

The picture at the top of this posting is a photo of my first home. It was taken in the 1950s, when Menzies was Prime Minister. My family lived in that tent until I was in primary school. I hope that the good Senator will understand if the fifties are not wrapped in the same nostalgic glow for me as they are for him. As a youngster I learned to walk, I learned to talk, and I learnt that the party of Bob Menzies was my class enemy. And not necessarily in that order. Good on you, Good Shepherd Catholic College. Don’t give in to government censorship.

Howard and Iraq

Over the past week or so we have seen one of the weakest performances by a Prime Minister in Australia’s history.

John Howard took Australia into a war based on a pack of lies. Now that it is clear that his participation in the invasion of Iraq is one of the foreign policy disasters of the century, Howard is telling the Australian people that we can’t get out of this mess because that would send the wrong message to Jemaah Islamiyah. In other words, John Howard has handed control of Australia’s foreign policy to an Indonesian terrorist group!

I am a Vietnam veteran, and proud of it. I did my duty and I suffer for it every day. John Howard is the kind of politician I despise. He is an old man who wants to send young men off to war, but who has never spent a day in uniform himself. In the veteran community we have a name for gutless politicians like Howard, who is happy for others to do the sacrificing for him. He is a Chickenhawk.

Before the Iraq War began, I donned my Vietnam medals and joined many thousands of other Australians who took to the streets in protest at the prospect that Australia would join in an invasion of a country that had not threatened us or any of our allies. That protest proved to be futile, as it became apparent that Howard was taking his orders from George W Bush and not from the Australian people.

In February 2003, when there was still time for Australia to avoid this disaster, I wrote a critique of the twisted logic of the weapons of mass destruction argument. You may remember that this was the pretext Howard was using at the time for invading Iraq. My critique took the form of a Socratic dialogue, entitled George, Son of George. You can read it by clicking on the link. I believe it remains as valid today as it was then.

Now, it appears that Australia is doomed to remain in the Iraq quagmire for no better reason than that Bush has not told us we can leave yet. Howard is fooling nobody with his meaningless rhetoric about staying the course. There is no course. There has never been an exit strategy, and there is no exit strategy now. Like the spineless lapdog that he is, Howard simply waits for his master’s orders. Meanwhile, he continues to put other people’s sons and daughters in harm’s way.

Vietnam Memories

In a previous post I started telling the story of my own tour of duty as a young infantry soldier in Vietnam in 1967-68. I have decided that the best way to tell that story is in the History pages of my web site, with links from this blog to direct readers to the site whenever I have added a new chapter or a new page.

I have started writing an introduction, as well as my memories of the early days of the Tet Offensive. Just follow this link.

Writeway: Minister's Reply to My Questions

The Minister for Veterans Affairs, the Honourable Mr Billson MP, has replied to my questions about Writeway Research. Unfortunately, he has refused to answer my questions, and his reply to me can only be described as contemptuous, both of me and of the veteran community.

You can read Mr Billson's reply by clicking on this link to my website.

AFL Grand Final

The Grand Final is over for another year, and the Eagles won. It's good to be right occasionally. Things worked out pretty much as I had hoped. The Swans were at least as good as last year, but the Eagles had improved just that little bit more by getting their forward structure sorted out.

Needless to say, it was another thriller. Last year's Grand final was won by the Swans by 4 points. The two teams have now played each other three times this year, for a two point win to the Eagles, a one point win to the Swans, and now a one point win to the Eagles. I think it is fair to say that these teams are pretty evenly matched!

This result makes the West Coast Eagles the most successful team in the AFL. I know some supporters of Essendon and Carlton will disagree. They will want to count all of their wins in the years when the competition was the Victorian Football League and had no clubs from Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales or Queensland. But it has only been a national competition, the Australian Football League, since 1990.

In that time, the Eagles became the first team to win two premierships. That record was later equalled by Adelaide, North Melbourne and Essendon, before Brisbane rewrote the record books with three successive wins. Now the Eagles also have three wins. Looking for a tiebreaker, the Eagles have been runner-up twice to Brisbane's once. QED. That makes the Eagles the most successful team in the AFL.

It makes a pleasant change to support a team that has some occasional success. I've supported a soccer team in London called Queen's Park Rangers since 1973. In that time they have won exactly nothing! Two weeks ago they hit the bottom of the League Championship (that's the division below the Premier League.) They sacked their manager and have since won two out of two under the new man, so they might be due for some improvement.

But that's a story for another post.